Deviant: No Longer Human

E(total) = constant

"Energy cannot be created or destroyed. That is the First Law of Thermodynamics."

Some students nodded. They already knew this.

"But think about what that truly means. If energy is never created or destroyed, only transformed—then isn't every reaction, every movement, every shift in energy part of a grand, ongoing cycle? A motion that never truly stops?"

A few students looked intrigued.

She continued, voice steady, deliberate.

"The universe itself is in constant motion. Stars are born, burn, collapse into black holes, and scatter matter back into space—forming the very seeds of new stars. Galaxies swirl in a cosmic dance that has been happening for billions of years. Electrons orbit atomic nuclei, never stopping. Planets revolve around stars, stars revolve around galactic centers, galaxies revolve within clusters. The cycle is endless."

She leaned on the podium, her fingers tapping lightly.

"Now tell me—if everything continues moving, shifting, transforming without true loss, is that not perpetual motion?"

The students stiffened.

Some began whispering, connecting the dots.

One raised a hand hesitantly.

"But that's not useful perpetual motion! It's not like we can extract infinite energy from the universe."

Isabelle's smirk deepened.

"You're thinking too small again."

She flicked to the next slide. This time, it was a human silhouette, surrounded by arrows.

"You are part of this motion. You consume energy. You convert it. You transfer it. You were born, you will die, and your body will return to the earth. The atoms that make you will break down, become part of the soil, the air, the oceans—perhaps even part of another living being one day."

Her voice took on a quiet intensity.

"Every breath you take is part of a cycle that started long before you were born. The food you eat was grown using sunlight—light that came from a star that has been burning for billions of years, fueled by reactions that were set in motion at the beginning of time itself."

She took a slow step forward.

"And when you die? The energy in your body doesn't just disappear. It returns to the earth, the atmosphere. It is absorbed, transformed, passed along. You are never truly lost. You are simply… converted."

The classroom was deathly silent.

She let the words sink in before delivering the final blow.

"So tell me—if the universe itself is a grand cycle of motion, if energy is never lost, if we ourselves are part of that cycle—then doesn't that make everything perpetual motion?"

She tapped her fingers on the podium.

"It just isn't the kind humans want."

The students sat frozen.

No one argued.

No one scoffed.

Because for the first time, they weren't sure if perpetual motion was a myth… or if they had simply been looking at it the wrong way all along.

"..."

"..."

A heavy silence.

For a moment, the students simply sat there—minds turning & twisting.

Had they really been looking at everything the wrong way all along?

Right.

The universe didn't revolve around humankind.

For centuries, humans had researched everything with themselves at the center—as if the grand machinery of existence cared about the whims of a species that had barely learned how to leave their own planet.

Even the gods in their scriptures—every single one of them—were conveniently human-like.

Why?

Because those books were written by humans, for humans.

Narrow. Self-absorbed. Limited.

No wonder Wang Xiao had felt disgusted by them after transcending.

Their perspectives were so shallow.

____

"Dr. Mercer, if the universe is a machine… who benefits from it?"

A new voice rang out—smooth, sharp, inquisitive.

The students turned toward the screen where the digital lecture participants were displayed.

It was Wang Xueying.

Her face was bathed in the cool glow of the monitor, her eyes gleaming with unusual seriousness.

An intellectual beauty.

A rare look.

A look that, in another time, Wang Xiao might have appreciated—if he wasn't too busy bullying her.

Isabelle's lips curled into a pleased smile.

"Very good."

She leaned forward, resting her hands lightly on the podium.

"If we humans try to create perpetual motion to benefit from it—an endless source of energy—then who benefits from the perpetual motion that is our universe?"

A click.

The slide changed.

And suddenly, the Kardashev Scale was displayed in front of them.

Wang Xiao, wherever he was, would have probably snorted in amusement—since he had been thinking about the exact same thing moments before.

But the students?

They simply nodded.

They had seen it before.

They weren't surprised.

And yet—Isabelle didn't dwell on it.

She clicked to the next slide.

"Now, let's jump ahead," Isabelle said smoothly.

On the screen, a new category appeared.

[Type VI Civilization]

"A Type VI civilization would harness energy not from stars, not from galaxies, not from even a single universe—but from the creation and destruction of entire multiverses."

She let the words settle, watching the reactions.

"The cause becomes the effect. The multiverse exists because an entity as powerful as this—somewhere out there—willed it into existence."

A pin-drop silence.

And then—

"Like… Heaven?"

A hesitant voice from the crowd.

Instantly, the other students glared at him.

This wasn't a theology class.

But Isabelle—surprisingly—didn't dismiss it.

She simply laughed softly.

"You might be right. You might be wrong."

The students froze.

And then—uproar.

The intellectual ones, however, remained grim.

Their backs felt cold.

So that was it?

They were just fertilizer?

Their entire existence—just the byproduct of a far greater civilization's energy production?

How sad.

How utterly insignificant.

"But wait," another student spoke up.

"If a Type VI civilization creates multiverses… then why jump to Type VI directly? Wouldn't a Type V civilization be capable of doing the same? Wouldn't there be a chain reaction from Type V to Type VI?"

Right.

Why did Isabelle skip Type V?

Why jump straight to multiversal entities?

Isabelle's eyes narrowed.

She smiled—a quiet, mysterious smile.

"Let's just say…"

She paused, as if considering her words carefully.

"I had a conversation with a being of Type IV level once."

The room stiffened.

Some students frowned, their expressions shocked.

But Isabelle continued as if she hadn't just casually dropped a bombshell.

"In his words, universes are connected. If he could travel from one universe to another, he alone could rise to Type V."

Her fingers tapped lightly on the podium.

"Which means your assumption is incorrect.

The true synthesis is that because a Type VII civilization exists…

The Outerverse exists.

Where Type VI civilizations create their own infinite multiverses.

Where Type V civilizations evolve and consume energy from within those multiverses.

Where Type IV civilizations fight, conquer, and expand.

And so on, and so forth."

The class felt a shift in their perception.

A vertigo-like sensation, as if they had just peered into something too large, too unfathomable.

But some—some weren't convinced.

"Dr., did you really have a conversation with a Type IV being?"

The voice was sharp, skeptical.

A challenge.

"Or are you just lying to us?"

Isabelle shook her head—but didn't elaborate.

Instead, she smiled cryptically.

"Let's just say… he wanted to know where GOD would be."

The room froze.

One true god?

One that was unmatched?

Unrivaled?

And he had been… her student?

For a moment, no one spoke.

And then—

Snorts. Scoffs.

A few students outright laughed.

Ridiculous.

Even for Isabelle, this was pushing it.

Famous or not, she was clearly joking.

Or was she?

Watching from her screen, Wang Xueying let out a bitter smile.

Because she knew.

It wasn't a lie.

Many weeks ago, Wang Xiao had asked Isabelle that exact question.

"If there is an unmatched power, where would it exist?"

And Isabelle had answered him, using the Kardashev Scale to map out what a true neutral entity beyond all existence might look like.

Wang Xiao had never believed in the gods written by humans.

They were nothing but powerless, glorified superhumans.

What he wanted to find was something greater.

And in that moment—he had given both Isabelle and Wang Xueying the first true awakening.

Because for the first time, he had revealed to them what he truly was.

On the Kardashev Scale, he alone… would reach Type IV.

That moment had shattered Isabelle's perception of reality.

Until then, she had assumed—at best—Wang Xiao was Type II.

Not Type IV.

And Wang Xueying?

She had been just as stunned.

But Wang Xiao hadn't explained further.

He let them sit with it, stew in it, wonder about it.

Because little did they know—

Wang Xiao could control all the dark matter in this universe.

Which meant… he could control the universe itself.