The public release of the Jacob-Vanguard medical patents changed the world in forty-eight hours. Across the globe, "The Jacob Dividend" was being hailed as the greatest humanitarian act in history. Aging was no longer a death sentence; it was a manageable condition. But as Einstein sat in his small office at the advertising firm, he knew that the "Human Dividend" had a high price.
He was staring at a graph on his monitor. It wasn't a bank balance, but a population density map.
"If no one dies, the world starves in fifty years," Einstein murmured to himself. He was no longer the Sovereign, but his brain still processed global variables at a terrifying speed.
The door opened, and Felicity walked in. She looked troubled. "Einstein, there's a crowd outside. Not protestors—worshippers. They're calling you the 'Giver of Life.' They've found out where the patents came from."
"I didn't do it for the fame, Felicity. I did it to bankrupt the Accountant's legacy."
"It doesn't matter why you did it," she said, sitting on the edge of his desk. "You've made yourself a god again, even without the power. And the 'Unawakened'... they're scared."
The Great Divide
While the common people celebrated their new longevity, a new faction was rising in the shadows of the old world's universities and laboratories. They called themselves The Naturalists. They believed that Einstein had committed a cosmic sin by breaking the cycle of life and death.
That evening, Einstein was walking home alone. He enjoyed the walk; it reminded him of his delivery days—the smell of the city, the sound of the rain, the physical sensation of his feet hitting the pavement.
He was cut off in a narrow alley by three men. They weren't soldiers, and they weren't masters. They were students, dressed in simple grey tunics, their eyes burning with a zealot's fire.
"Einstein Jacob," the leader said, holding a simple wooden staff. "You have stolen the dignity of the finish line. You have turned us all into ghosts waiting for a haunt."
Einstein stopped. He didn't take a stance. "I gave you time. What you do with it is up to you."
"Time is a gift from the universe, not a gift from a fallen king!" the student roared.
He lunged with the staff. A year ago, Einstein would have caught the staff and turned it into splinters with a thought. Now, he had to rely on his human reflexes. He ducked, the wood whistling past his ear, and used the man's momentum to trip him.
But there were two more. One swung a heavy chain, catching Einstein across the shoulder. The pain was sharp, hot, and agonizingly human. Einstein stumbled, his breath hitching.
He wasn't a God. He was a man in an alley, bleeding into the London rain.
The Awakening of the Guard
Before the chain could strike again, a black shadow descended from the rooftops. It was Rhea. She didn't use a weapon; she used a series of precise strikes that sent the students scrambling away into the night.
She turned to Einstein, her face a mask of fury. "You're bleeding."
"It happens to people, Rhea," Einstein said, clutching his shoulder.
"This is exactly what I warned you about," she hissed, helping him up. "You've given the world everything, and now they hate you for the weight of the gift. You can't stay in this apartment. The Naturalists are just the beginning. The Global Ethics Committee has issued a warrant for your 'interrogation'."
"On what grounds?"
"The theft of the human soul," Rhea replied. "They're using the technology you released to track your own biological signature. They want the 'Source Code' that's still in your DNA."
The Third Gift: The Biological Vault
Einstein realized then that the First Disciple hadn't taken everything. She had taken the Seal, the external power, but his body was still a 25th-level vessel. His DNA was a map of human perfection, and the world wanted to dissect it.
They drove to a hidden Vanguard facility—not a palace, but a clean, white laboratory beneath an old hospital. Elara was there, her violet eyes scanning a series of glass tubes.
"Einstein, your blood... it's changing," Elara said, pointing to a microscope. "The Seal is gone, but the 'Echo' remains. Your cells aren't just stabilizing; they're evolving. You aren't becoming a God again... you're becoming a New Human."
Einstein looked at the monitor. He saw his own cells vibrating with a faint, white light. It wasn't magic. It was the "Dividend" he had given the world, working perfectly inside his own body.
"If the Committee gets a hold of you," Elara warned, "they won't just study you. They'll use your DNA to create a 'Master Race' that only they control. You've bankrupted the Accountant, but you've accidentally started a new arms race."
The Sovereign's New Mission
Einstein sat on a lab stool, his shoulder bandaged. He looked at Felicity, who had just arrived, her face pale with worry.
"I thought I was finished," Einstein whispered.
"You're never finished, Einstein," Felicity said, taking his hand. "You're the man who bought the world and gave it back. Now you have to teach the world how to use it."
Einstein looked at Rhea and Nick. "The Vanguard... we aren't security anymore. We're teachers. We need to find the leaders of the Naturalists. We need to show them that this isn't about escaping death—it's about finally having the time to live."
But as he spoke, the lab's alarms began to blare.
"Sir!" Nick shouted, pointing at the surface monitors. "The Global Ethics Committee is here. They've brought 'The Nullifiers'."
Einstein looked at the screen. A fleet of white armored vehicles was surrounding the hospital. Emerging from the lead car were men in suits that hummed with a strange, dampening frequency—the same technology the Accountants had used to freeze his assets, now refined to freeze a human heart.
Einstein stood up, the white light in his cells pulsing in response to the threat.
"Rhea," Einstein said, his voice regaining that ancient, kingly resonance. "Get the staff out. Felicity, Elara... go to the sub-level."
"And you?" Felicity asked.
Einstein looked at his hands, which were starting to glow with a soft, human warmth. "I'm going to show them that you can't interrogate the future."