Wondering if there was also an EP capacity limit imposed by his soul strength, he tried to raise his EP capacity as well and found that the limit was 1 trillion EP. It would cost almost a billion GP. But, if he could not raise his EP rate, then he might as well raise his capacity to the limit so he could have more saved up when he needed it.
[Soul Strength Limit reached. Further EP capacity increases not allowed.]
The new message confirmed that he had also reached his soul limit for EP capacity. He checked his status again.
Energy Points (EP): 75,603,000/1,000,000,000,000 :-: (9,990/sec [10,000/sec])
Genesis Points (GP): 10,058,865,114
Soul Space Cost: 10/sec
Unsatisfied with his newly discovered limits, but with nothing he could do about them, he turned his attention back to questions he hoped to get answered. So, he activated his soul space assistant.
[Assistant Activated]
A figure appeared in front of him. It was human shaped, in the same way a clothing store manikin was human shaped. White and androgynous, it had no clothes, no sex characteristics, and no hair.
It clasped its hands together in front of itself, then bowed deeply before saying, "How may one be of assistance?"
Jack didn't want to spend very much time in the bathroom, because he didn't want Madison to get suspicious, so he focused on asking only questions he needed answered to figure out how to safely talk to Madison about Genesis Heart and soul bonds.
"Is it safe to talk to someone about Genesis Heart while in a simulation? Is there any way for them to get that information back to their real-world self?" He didn't think there was, but thought it would be prudent to ask.
"Yes, Young Master, it is safe to reveal the existence of the Genesis Heart to entities found inside a simulation. Only if they are linked to an instantiated sapient template or soul bonded to you, would they be able to retain memories of what happened inside a simulation. In the case of the template, they would be unable to communicate with the outside world. In the case of a soul bonded entity, they would be prevented from revealing the Genesis Heart."
So that meant it would be safe to talk to Madison in a simulation. And what was up with that "Young Master"? He ignored it for now. He didn't want to waste time asking about it.
"What if I meet someone in a simulation and only decide after the simulation started that I want them to remember what we talked about? What if I they agree to be soul bonded?"
"If you wish to create a soul bond with someone, you must first create a template. You can use the simulation version of a person as the basis for their template. Then the template will have the memories of what happened in the simulation."
So, if he talked to Madison in a simulation and she agreed to be templatized, and possibly soul bonded, then he could templatize that version of her, then initiate a soul bond. Thinking about the quickest way to convince Madison that she was in a simulation, he decided he would need to world outside his house obviously fake.
"Is it possible to create a simulation that has a small snapshot as a starting point, but with an artificial light source."
"Yes, Young Master, when you start a simulation, you will be provided the opportunity to edit the initial state before starting the simulation."
He created a new snapshot with a radius of 200 meters. As soon as he triggered the snapshot a sixth sphere appeared next to the other five, occupying a new cubby hole. He didn't bother counting the total grid size but it looked like it was approximately fifty by one hundred.
When he walked over and peered into the new snapshot sphere, he could see his house and a few houses around it. He checked and found that the snapshots were also listed in his interface and he could either mentally select a snapshot our touch one of the spheres to start a simulation. He reached out and touched the latest snapshot sphere and mentally triggered the start of a simulation.
He found himself back in his bathroom, sitting on the toilet seat. He could feel that his position had shifted from inside the mental box that represented his soul space to the simulation sphere that was inside that box.
He stood and walked out to the living room.
"That was fast," said Madison, still sitting on the couch.
He had checked his elapsed time clock just before he started the simulation, and only a few seconds had passed outside while he was talking to his assistant.
He walked towards the front door and said, "Follow me, I want to show you something."
"What?" she asked as she stood.
As he opened the front door, and while Madison was still walking across the loving room towards him, they heard a woman scream from outside. Madison dashed to catch up to him as he pulled the door open and stepped outside.
The sight that greeted him was surreal. Houses two doors down the street in either direction were half missing, replaced by a glowing white wall. The gently glowing white wall rose into the sky curving inwards to form a dome overhead. Across the street his neighbor, Harriot, was kneeling in her front lawn, staring up at the white dome over her head.
As Madison stepped outside with him, she said, "What the fuck? It this-" Then she stepped out onto the front walkway and looked around her. She looked down the street in both directions, then up at the dome overhead, then looked back and Jack. "Jack, why does the dome center on your house?"
He smiled and said, "What do you think?"
"No. No way! Is this a simulation? How? You picked that video on purpose!"
"Of course I did. I mean, I didn't know it existed until I saw it on the list, but of course I picked it on purpose."
She walked back towards him. While across the street was the sound of Harriot, quietly sobbing, hands clasped together, probably praying.
"This is a simulation, right?" she asked, a hint of awe and pleading in her tone.
"Yes, this is a simulation I started while I was in the bathroom," he said, then stepped back towards the open front door. "Let's go inside before Harriot notices us."
She followed him back inside and then sat on the couch facing each other.
"How long?" she asked.
Assuming she was asking how long he'd had the ability to create lifelike simulations, he answered, "Yesterday."
"How?" she asked, then added, "Come on, please don't make me play twenty questions. Spill it. How?"