====== Simulated Universe: Curios ====== ---- ==== Wish Upon a Star ==== Meteorites fell across all corners of the cosmos. People once claimed they could hear these rocks communicating with humans, luring people to wish upon them. Can they truly grant any and all wishes without a cost? It's said that there's an organization that strides between stars solely to uncover the mystery behind the meteorites. No one knows whether these rocks are an Aeon's blessings, or whether everyone has been drawn into an artificial conspiracy. ---- ==== Price of Peace ==== The Amber Lord Support Group rapidly expanded in the years after the Swarm Disaster, establishing themselves as the Interastral Peace Corporation, flourishing to unreachable heights. But, affected by the Borderstar Trade War and the Emperor's War, their road toward interastral peace grew increasingly arduous. After more than ten Amber Eras, this war ended with the fall of the Machine Empire. The second universe finally welcomed the "Second Prosperity" that would last for hundreds of Amber Eras. People believed this era of prosperity would never end — until the day the even more terrifying Interstellar Energy War lifted its curtains. ---- ==== Rationality's Fall ==== What is truth? No one truly knows. Supposing that "stupidity" is an incurable disease in this world, then disseminating knowledge counts as a treatment for the universe. But can "books" mend all living things? According to the Intelligentsia Guild's historical records, the Philosopher Union of the Laurel Wreath Galaxy once erupted in civil war, and blood and machine oil had stained all the books in the contemplators' corridors. Uncountable numbers of scholars died, and the IPC employees who witnessed it all deemed this occurrence "Rationality's Fall" — Through such absurd means, books cleansed a world of its impurities once more. ---- ==== Indecipherable Box ==== A box that can predict the thoughts of the one who opens it. When the box's hatch is lifted, the item within will manifest into what your mind envisions. Herta once rated it as one of the hardest Curios to deal with. She had butted heads with the Indecipherable Box numerous times, but never was she able to control the thoughts in her mind when she opened it. Finally, she cast it down and never touched it again. Perhaps Herta is capable of almost anything — except completely emptying her mind. ---- ==== Rotting Fruit of the Alien Tree ==== The Elixir Seekers once found a rotten Fruit of the Alien Tree. The color of its skin was already odd, having shifted from a faint yellow to powdery blue. To understand the pharmacology behind this fruit, a pair of Elixir Seeker twins separately ingested a normal Fruit of the Alien Tree and a rotten version. One of them immediately welcomed metamorphosis while the other instantly perished — But because there was no third party present, no one could confirm which twin survived, or which fruit he consumed. ---- ==== King of Sponges ==== In the Black Forest, a sponge miraculously became sapient. It tried to interact with the similarly sapient screws, but found itself hitting a brick wall. It pondered about its painful experience and learned too smooth away all the edges in its personality, allowing itself to constantly shine and climb up the societal ladder, ultimately turning into a smooth and slick sponge. Now, it dedicates its efforts to uplifting discarded sponges into developing their own self-awareness.