Chapter 376
Chapter 376
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 16
Chapter Title: The Saint and the Completer (32)
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Andrey Gedroits.
A genius who had churned out technology seven or eight generations ahead of the current era.
An arrogant genius who had foreseen the future, despaired at the unavoidable apocalypse no matter what he tried, and in the end chosen a “controllable apocalypse.”
The first time I saw his video in this place, I thought he looked the part of someone a bit unhinged.
But now, I had no choice but to believe his words.
“GG time multiplier adjustment authority, huh.”
“It means the owner of that authority can arbitrarily adjust the time that's set to a 1:5 ratio for regular players.”
Time.
When Gedroits's game first came out, this time feature drew more attention than the game's content itself.
People created private chat rooms, uploaded company documents, and handled what should have been a full day's eyebrow-raising workload leisurely inside GG, with time left over for leisure.
For the terminally ill, exam-takers, the elderly, and anyone else chased by time, this “virtual space that multiplies real-world time by five” was a revolutionary invention that could change the trajectory of their lives.
....That time, made several times, even dozens of times longer for the user than for others.
The first choice granted time to the “Completer.” Time to plan and prepare for everything.
“Drone Center administrator authority—how high a security level does that give? You're not saying they hand over full control, are you?”
“Kkiruruk! Not 100%, from what I know! Um.... They give a Lv.3 security card, so all info and operational authority except the drone production facilities!”
“Crazy....”
99% of wasteland dwellers used the community, and everyone who used the community used the community exchange.
Put goods up on the GG community exchange, deduct ceiling from the account, load the goods onto the arriving Gedroits Corp drone, and done.
‘Drone Center administrator authority. In other words, the ability to instantly obtain info on everywhere those drones reach.’
Information. Residential info on most normal survivors. Info on every area observed by flying drones. Environmental monitoring authority even the Dome—with its top-tier tech among existing groups—couldn't touch.
Hell, just load a bomb onto a drone and send it off to wipe out a survivor settlement without any risk. That authority alone could make a group comparable to the Dome.
Information and the authority to use it. The second prize handed over the most tangible power in this wasteland blending primitive and modern.
The third.
“Manned... spaceship base? Next Space? That even exists?”
“Do you remember the Creator's video from back then? ‘Extinction by disease, by atmospheric pollution, by meteor strike....’ No matter what means he tried, the old world met its end. ‘Next Space’ was one of the countermeasures prepared for the case where ‘Earth’ itself—the foundation of life—suffered irreversible damage.”
“....A base? Like Houston's NASA level? And it survived World War III?”
“Ah, not some grand base like that. More like.... a small factory? About the size of a personal workshop, they say. Not equipped for long-term living—purely a bunker to launch a single manned spaceship once. No food, no living facilities.”
“....But they say the spaceship's destination has facilities built to verify the viability of ‘Next Space.’ Unused so far, but made by the Creator himself, so no doubts about its quality.”
Aldar thumped the floor uncertainly with his blue tail, then pulled the vending machine on the cart closer and pointed to the lit-up product slot instead of explaining further.
The vending machine's slot held something like a cheap flyer.
=========
[Next - Space!]
- 50-person orbital habitat around Earth!
- Self-sustaining ecosystem with plants, insects, and other organics!
- Maintainable for ~430 years without repairs!
- Includes Earth observation gear and return ship!
- Forget the old world's mistakes! Time to leave Earth behind!
=========
Manned spaceship base. In an era when “space travel” was a bucket-list item for the wealthy, it wasn't pure fantasy.
50 people—in this society where human relationships had simplified to extremes—was enough to include all your precious ones with room to spare.
....The perfect retirement. Truly fitting the word “reward.”
Leaving this world full of blood and dust, this painful place, for a space habitat preserving past civilization.
A fresh start. To a place where you no longer needed guns and blades by your bedside. Leaving survival hell behind, to a paradise made just for them, as reward for trials and hardships.
The third prize promised survival. A perfect shelter no villain could reach. True, perfect peace at last.
And finally.... at the very bottom slot, past all that, it sat.
Gedroits's server room.
Where Andrey Gedroits—the genius scientist who single-handedly created World War III, the mutant virus, the wasteland, and GG—had vanished.
A place thought to hold more tech and inventions than all the prizes above combined.
As winters lengthened and radiation zones expanded in this dying world, a place that might hold clues to saving it.
Like El Dorado in the Age of Exploration, the vague image wasteland survivors conjured at the word “hope.”
Time.
Information and power.
Perfect survival.
The world's hope.
With these four lined up as prizes, one choice was granted to me.
None lacked appeal. So why did none feel right to grasp?
As my deliberation deepened and the cold coin in my fist warmed,
Suddenly, the guy who always slyly inserted himself when I got lost in such thoughts came to mind.
‘....Hey.’
[....]
‘Tenant. You listening?’
[....]
‘....Hyde?’
Splash!
The fact that he'd grown quiet at some point, like he wasn't even there.
Rewards. Things hidden behind the shocking rewards started surfacing one by one.
Why had I obsessed over clearing so much? Not for some grand prize, right?
“Aldar. Senica.”
“Kkeruk?”
“Yes, Saladin?”
“Once I make this choice, what happens to me? Last time I logged in, I was basically a vegetable, barely revived by linking game data with a thread of consciousness.”
“Ah, the admins are fully aware of that issue! No need to worry!”
Senica clapped her hands, beaming.
“It'll proceed just as Saladin knows! With 3rd World cleared, history flows to the next world, and in that process, all data souls return to the server room, memories wiped, assigned new roles! Ah, living NPCs until the next world are exceptions! Some long-lived species, if their lifespan allows, carry their current memories to the next world!”
“And in that process, Professor's data soul.... or whatever it's called, mixed with consciousness, gets safely separated from 3rd World and returned. Immortal-like inside and out!”
“Yeah.... That's right.”
Thump-
A small unease. An itch like gut instinct. The discomfort that signaled something wrong on the front lines, on the battlefield, seeped in.
My consciousness. My memories and mind, barely revived by patching on data soul. Yeah. I'd pushed so hard for clear to somehow survive and return.
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Ding-!
[....At this point, playing is a worthless waste of time.]
‘Still, it's different seeing it with my own eyes.’
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Of course, at some point I'd forgotten which was means and which was end, but the goal of clearing the world to untangle my intertwined consciousness and return to my real body remained clear.
However. If my game-trapped consciousness was perfectly separated and fully returned to my outer body.
“....What about Hyde, the other consciousness mixed with mine?”
What happened to the guy spawned through the medium of the game, embedded in my consciousness.
“Kkeruk.”
At my question, the siblings' ever-smiling faces sobered a bit.
The faint unease sharpened.
“First off.... it's such an exceptional case we haven't fully pinpointed the cause, but it seems he'll be separated.”
“And.”
“Individual ‘Hyde’ is confirmed as an existing data soul with ego and consciousness. Probably, like other data souls.... heads to the ‘next world’?”
“And.”
“Uh, um.... And....?”
“So. After heading there, what happens?”
Their trailing answers faded away.
‘So that's it.’
“How long has the World Tree known?”
“Uh.... Seems like quite a while....”
‘So that's why you got quieter over time.’
....Splash.
Closing my eyes spread a space like a dim night sky.
Memories neatly shelved like a library, with selected ones hanging like a mobile, a galaxy—Hyde's and my consciousness space.
As always, he lounged on the old sofa, back turned.
Splash. Splash.
Past the old sofa, reaching for the memory shelf he'd organized.
‘In the Empire, we were separated once. I rampaged to save it, you stayed alone with the World Tree.’
[....]
‘....Was that it? You heard then it'd end like this?’
Click.
Not that old a memory.
After Empire events, summoned by World Tree, hearing about admins, worlds, self-aware AIs, etc., before returning. The final moment.
=========
“Hey! What wish? Not some auto-debit— that's old news, why grant it now! Give it back! My backup personality, emergency pilot—give it back!”
『....I see. Your worries were pointless, so time to go back now.』
=========
Your worries were pointless, so go back.
Not said to me. As I stepped through the door from World Tree space back to Empire—right before calling me back, said wordlessly to Hyde beside her.
That day, there, she meant to part with him. If I hadn't called him, he'd have stayed with her.
[....Those damn former dragon, current admin bastards and their mouths.]
A grumble from the old sofa. He rolled over, bored face visible.
[Two consciousnesses in one body? Not normal, right? Like you said, I'm no mental illness—just an independent consciousness. Bound to happen someday.]
‘So. As 3rd World's end neared, you planned this quiet farewell? Tidied up memories for me to find without you?’
[We've seen all there is to see. No wailing or clinging, right? Hug your left arm with your right?]
‘Hey.’
[It's natural. Best for both. Time we both had some personal privacy.]
Like he'd mentally prepared staying with World Tree, Hyde's voice was resolute.
‘....Fucking bastard pulling bullshit to the end.’
That's why it stood out more. If it was just parting like this, Hyde would've thrown a fit, not humbly accepted.
Even inheriting all my memories, he'd only lived two years.
No way I'd miss the “resolve” in such a soul's eyes.
Pieces of unexplained unease slotted into place.
“....Aldar.”
“Yes.”
“Be straight. How far has the contamination progressed since my 3rd World?”
“Kkeruk?!”
Aldarshax. This guy had spoken casually to me in the desert. A long-lived species over centuries old. Too close in age for sudden respect, and not the loose-smile type.
“Me, closest to Completer since GG opened? Where are the explain-everything admins, leaving just you two rookie lizard apprentices?”
“Uh, th-that—”
“So busy? New worlds sprawling out of control, needing all your effort to fix?”
“Uh, Professor, that's—”
“Right? You who stake lives on Creator's words, even tweaking his ‘Completer Project’ dream—means GG's world has no time left? Contamination, data soul wear irreversible! Worlds repeating, souls eroding, madmen filling up! So you set the board for one shot verification in the least contaminated world!”
“So—”
“Tell me! What happens to those going to 4th World! What hell they get thrown into!”
“Ah, got it! Damn it, enough! Senica's crying!”
Unaware, my hand reaching for the lizard's neck was caught in blue dragon claws.
Half-shifted Aldarshax shoved my snarling self back, wrapping wings around his sniffling sister.
No more cute grinning hatchlings. Just two young admins bearing a crumbling world's fate.
“....Like human souls have lifespans, so do data mimicking them. Our world's denizens, up to finding you today, have repeated lives harshly. Worlds ending in pain and failure, again and again.”
[....Sharp-tongued, cowardly reptile brat.]
Hyde's quiet growl from within.
“The Creator said. World's end comes no matter what.”
“Gedroits's game is a perfect simulation of reality.”
“What happens, happens. Inevitable apocalypse comes to our world too.”
Hyde's resolve.
Unstoppable contamination.
Worlds filling with villains as it worsens.
4th World.
“....Those going to the next world have no hope.”
A death sentence in the name of the world-observing AI.
Tilted balance. 3rd World's victory a miracle—the scales tipping further toward evil ahead.
Meaning data souls crossing to next world faced worse hells.
Worlds near impossible for any player to clear.
Eternal hell repeating for GG's souls.
Suddenly, Thousand Stream Emperor's 4th World came to mind.
A world utterly dead, no human traces.
The one barely found was beast-like, no trace of goodwill, hopeless.
Thousand Stream Emperor was a living natural disaster. Player like a typhoon sweeping friend and foe alike.
Typhoons leave debris.
His 4th World had no human traces.
Perhaps. That desolation wasn't unique to his 4th World.
GG's countless souls left behind. Hyde, living as someone's 4th World self with them after I left.
.
.
.
.
Hearing all that, planning to just quietly let me go and leave—that guy.
What resolve had he steeled himself with.
A kid barely two years old.
In the pale truth revealed, the dragon's hand shoved the vending machine toward me.
“You could become one monopolizing near-eternal time.”
“You could hold power to monitor everywhere in the real world, contact any survivor without consent.”
“You could reach paradise made just for you and your loved ones.”
“Or forsake it all. Become a mere coordinate unreachable alone, the final waypoint pointing to world's hope—the hope itself. The Completer.”
“The choice is yours. Savior.”
My 3rd World took miracle on miracle to reach the end.
4th World—in GG's world with decades or centuries more history—would be harsher.
‘Hyde. You....’
[I already asked. To separate your data-mixed consciousness, I have to stay. Half-ass it and drag me along, your shell consciousness gets sucked in too. Real end then. Pure data soul, can't return to real body ever. You don't want that, right?]
Crunch-
Hyde turned to face me. Old sofa screamed.
[So, farewell here.]
[I know you best. You're not the idiot choosing power, authority, comfy retirement.]
[So shove that coin in, become the ‘Completer’ these guys wail for.]
[Saint. Completer.]
My right hand crushing the coin, softly supported by left.
Silver coin sucked toward slim slot.
Rattle-
Clunk!
Like light pointing final choice, all four vending lights blazed.
“Aldar, truly no chance? No one clears a more contaminated world, 4th World?”
“....Perhaps. You might. Perhaps. You, living miracle—if you swept away 3rd World's end, you might find a way to purge the disease ‘contamination’ spreading through Gedroits's whole game, save us. If you're the warrior Saladin I watched.”
“Then—”
“But!”
Aldarshax's firm gaze met mine.
“But, a journey incomparably longer than now. Fatal for you, living two lives.”
“Human Professor's data—half-fused with data soul—means logging in again recreates this state, unwillable return to reality. Until clearing 4th World, prisoner of this world once more.”
“Can you bear it? While you stay for that endless journey, guarantee your outer people won't bleed? That outside world, marching to scheduled doom like here?”
His cold reply settled on my desperate lunge.
Ottoman and Notum. Lakshasha. Borkka. Lucilla. Yggdrasil, countless with me.
Didn't want them wearing away in eternal hell.
Ian and Bex. Dana, Jokasss and chat people. Director and Cynthia.
Couldn't leave them to mutants and raptors either. Couldn't obsess over endless 4th clear while they died.
Choose.
As Saint, trapped in game-world, save those facing repeating dooms.
As Completer, step over their sacrifices, return to save reality's people.
Saint and Completer.
Moment to break the immovable scale.
Faces of those with me in reality and GG flashed by.
[....I believe.]
Hyde's soft cheer.
“Don't let our sacrifices be in vain.”
Young dragon's plea.
Slowly settling on choice's needle, fingertip moved.
Click!
Trembling finger pressed button.
Clunk, thud!
One shelf light out, selected prize dropped.
[You.... What the hell are you doing?]
“Saladin, why! I believed in you!”
“....Sorry, kids.”
Ignoring their raging roars, I picked up the prize in my hand.
Small plastic vial, floating data cache lump.
[Gedroits's Game, Time Multiplier Adjustment Authority]
“Heh, hehhehehe.... Can't find answer to unsolvable problem in choices....”
[You, you dumb fuck!!!!]
Grinning at Hyde hurling the sofa, I gripped hard.
Crack!
Thin plastic shattered, authority seeping into me.
Ding-!
[Player ‘Professor’ acquires partial admin authority. Can adjust play time multiplier via system. To what ratio?]
“....Maximum you can do.”
.
.
.
.
Ding-!
[....Request confirmed. Max allowance. Set to 1:0 ratio.]
[You crazy bastard....!]
“If it takes years unknown, then years, decades!”
GG simulated countless worlds for optimal.
Gedroits made and prepped game in mere years, running time for countless civilizations to rise and fall.
Essentially, near-eternal time in a real-world second.
“....We're doing one more round!”
This was my answer.
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