Chapter 398
Chapter 398
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 18
Chapter Title: World 4 (2)
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[World log]
[Baseline. Player death point]
『Crisis Judgment – Postwar Chaos / Overcome』
[year +0: Saint Professor's funeral. 15 attendees. The Saint's death is concealed.]
- The Saint had all his power stripped away by the Mutant Queen and, as a mere human, slew the Queen before perishing.
- The Saint's body was recovered by the Holy Knights and Priests who cleared the path to the nest, along with his comrades.
☆ You brought an end to the long Mutant race war.
- Joy was short-lived, as humanity now faced the wounds of a prolonged all-out racial war.
- The Knight Kingdom of Lordric saw over 90% of its territory reduced to ruins, and the Mutants' corrosion turned the seized lands into barren wastelands devoid of life.
- Lordric lacks the resources to restore its devastated lands.
- As the long human alliance front lines had foreseen, neighboring nations to Lordric declare "provisional administration" rights over adjacent territories under the banner of "recovery."
☆ Through your sincere persuasion, the young King 'Theod IV' was granted the 'King's Qualities' trait.
- Theod IV did not yield.
- In a miraculous diplomatic victory, Theod IV secured a promise from the Empire—which had sent the most reinforcements during the Mutant War—to protect Lordric, in exchange for 200 years of tribute while retaining the name of the Kingdom of 'Lordric.'
★ You failed to forge ties with the other war-ravaged eastern nations.
- The war inflicted massive damage on other nations as well.
- Starving citizens began turning to banditry.
- Some nations teetered on the brink of political and economic collapse, unable to survive without plundering others.
- To prevent rebellions and coups, another war loomed—but the sole deterrent was the overwhelming presence of the absolute powerhouse who saved the world with his own two hands, the Saint and Great Hero known as 'Professor.'
☆☆★ Choice: To avert the age of chaos, your death is hidden.
'The Saint sacrificed everything to save the world. If this barely saved world plunges back into war, it would be no different from spilling blood on the soul of the one who now watches over us as a star.'
- After fierce debates bordering on bloodshed, the Radiant Church, the Imperial Family, your comrades, and all who knew of the Saint's death chose to conceal it for the time being.
- It was announced that the Saint Hero suffered grave wounds in the final battle against the evil god and is currently recovering.
- Worship of the heroic Saint granted the Radiant Church immense influence and even greater divinity.
'The Captain is everyone's benefactor. For his selfless sacrifice to end in a death without even a grave... It's revolting, just sharing the same space as you humans.'
- Tushan and Marca, along with the beastkin alliance, left the alliance army.
'Now I don't even have the right to beg forgiveness. In my youth, I defied Ro Haram's will; in my old age, I squandered and discarded the miracle he bestowed upon us... This position was never mine to begin with. Forgive me not, oh forgive me not...'
- The Radiant Archbishop Norman, unable to bear his despair, returned to Ro Haram's embrace. Archbishop Senadis's faction rises.
- The heroes of the Mutant War traversed the continent without rest, extinguishing the embers of war.
Through the lie of the Saint's death, humanity entered a long, painful era of recovery instead of self-destructive war.
[year +24: Crisis, 'War for Recovery' averted.]
[Humanity has successfully risen from the agony of the Mutant race war.]
/////
[year +44: Golden Age, The Era of the Sleeping Sword Begins]
- The Empire swiftly regained stability through the New Imperial Family's strong centralization.
- As the main battlegrounds were confined to the Blueline East, the Empire lost vast numbers of soldiers and knights, but most high nobles survived. The Empire's conservative politics and culture endure.
☆ You brought forth the great inventor and Grand Magitech Engineer 'Roman Gacia Manson.'
'I said it in jest. That living like you, Professor, would make one drop dead in an instant. But... even saying that, I could never imagine your death. You loved holding back your laughter... I'm sorry. This time, I just can't laugh. Should've at least left you a grave.'
- Roman Gacia Manson, upon hearing of your passing, vowed 'never to let humanity face crisis again' and threw himself into research, forsaking food and sleep.
- Witnessing the might of the airships, the Aedran family—not to mention Teldrat—provided national-level support, leading to explosive advancements in magitech in a short time.
- The invention of the 'Stabilized Magitech Engine' allowed even non-magitech engineers to operate magitech mechanisms, unleashing a flood of inventions like 'Magitech Trains' and 'Magitech Carriages.'
☆ Teldrat's rise. Another Empire is born.
- In the wake of the Mutant race war, the Abundance Church could not tolerate the world's famine.
- The Abundance Church headquarters in Teldrat unleashed all their holy relics upon Teldrat's fertile plains, infusing them with immense divine power, resulting in unprecedented bumper crops in their history. The Teldrat royal family leveraged this 'relief miracle' for food diplomacy, gaining massive influence over the Blueline eastern nations.
- With food diplomacy dominating the East and magitech securing overwhelming power and technology, Teldrat absorbed the loose Free Trade Alliance and other eastern nations, proclaiming the birth of the 'Teldrat Empire.'
☆ You arranged the marriage between Teldrat's Golden Family and the Empire.
- Lucilla Aedran of the Aedran family—which controls both magitech and gold—remained as a comrade of the Saint, then stayed in the Empire to become Empress.
- The blood ties between the Imperial Family and Aedrans effectively absorbed potential friction between the two Empires, greatly contributing to continental peace.
☆ Grand Shaman Notum reigns over the Southern Great Plains' Highest Fang.
'Grraaak. Get along, all of ya. You're all my kids.'
- You saved a troll of unbelievable talent and introduced her to a fine mentor, allowing Notum to grow into a 'Soul Shaman.'
- After the war, to fulfill her wish of 'having a family,' Notum returned to the greenskins' homeland, the Great Plains, and spared no effort in guiding their unbelievably barbaric kin.
- As a soul shaman, she discovered most possessed 'unfathomably destructive souls' and rallied the still-pure-souled greenskins to launch the 'Fang Grooming War,' emerging victorious.
- Great Chieftain Notum visited her allied Empire to sign the 'Greenskin-Human Peace Accord.'
☆ Dwarves on the brink of extinction appear in the Western Empire
- These extremely reclusive and gloomy dwarves were nearly wiped out during the undead war. The surviving dwarves, stripped of all pride, dug deep into the mountains to hide—but one emerged to mine an open pit and spotted an airship.
'No way! Machines flying that high in the sky!'
'Humans gained life-and-death power over all dwarves while we hid! This is no time to cower—we need something to counter those flying ships!'
- To the heights-fearing dwarves who couldn't even ride horses, airships seemed like impregnable fortresses, implying their owners could toy with and exterminate dwarves at will.
- After much deliberation, these timid dwarf artisans decided to seek the greatest support from the 'Empire,' entrusting themselves to the magitech-distant Western Empire.
☆☆☆☆☆ Choice: The two superpowers focus on their own growth. An era of perfect peace and perfect development. The Golden Age unfolds.
- The East and West Empires maintained cordial relations and exchanged envoys.
- Dwarven metallurgy fused with Roman Gacia Manson's magitech, propelling human technology to leaps and bounds.
- Inventions like airships and magitech trains shrank the world's distances, drawing the twin Empires' eyes to uncharted lands they had no prior reason to explore.
- Exploration of the Eastern Great Desert, Western Great Jungle, Southern Great Plains, and Northern Permafrost began.
[year +60: Crisis, Greenskin Wave / Crisis, Nightmare of Transition averted.]
[The great heroes of the Mutant War grow old...]
- Emperor Gai Nax passes the crown prince title to his second son and dies. Empress Dowager Lucilla Gai Nax begins wielding influence in imperial politics on behalf of her still-immature son.
- Grand Magitech Engineer Roman Gacia Manson falls ill after witnessing a magitech weapon terror attack. He passes all his knowledge to two disciples before dying. The disciples split into the 'Free Magitech School' focused on weapons and equipment, and the 'Practical Magitech School' pursuing heating, plumbing, and daily-life tech, each erecting their own towers.
- The World Tree weakens. The forest elves fall into chaos.
/////
Thud.
"Everyone... You all lived hard without me. You really lived so hard...."
My death. The story after unfolded before my eyes in concise text and sometimes blurry visions.
Among the lines, the vivid red text caught my eye.
Crisis: War for Recovery
Crisis: Greenskin Wave
Crisis: Nightmare of Transition
Three times, no less. Considering it usually takes 70 years to transition from one world to the next on average, three near-extinctions loomed in a shorter span.
How much effort and loss were packed into those brief phrases of 'successfully averted'?
How many tales lay behind that single word 'victory'?
My comrades left in this world had guarded what we bequeathed them so admirably that my chest tightened with emotion at the sight.
The final line. [The great heroes of the Mutant War grow old.]
Time flows for all who fought beside me, drawing to a close—yet much of the history I must still witness remains.
The remaining records below, dotted with red text.
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[year +61: Golden Shadows, The Rusted Sword and the East-West Empire War]
★ Friction between the Expanding Twin Empires
- Exploration fervor toward the East, West, South, and North uncharted lands intensifies.
- As exploration sites marked by both Empires' flags proliferated, frictions in the polar regions escalated, sometimes leading to duels between nobles on expeditions.
- Even "fair" duels leave grudges.
- Tensions between up-and-coming nobles of both Empires deepen.
★ Magitech and Magic Friction
- Magitech inevitably consumes vast quantities of 'nullstones,' mana repellents.
- Mages, exposed long-term to nullstones' influence, risk their painstakingly gathered mana dispersing, naturally coming to despise magitech engineers.
- Most mages fled the magitech heartland Eastern Empire for the Western Empire, drastically reducing Teldrat Empire's mage vassals.
- Teldrat nobles, losing vassals, decried it as 'Empire's talent poaching,' pressuring to sever tech accords—and some houses did so.
- The Western Empire's entrenched nobles shot back calling them 'rootless upstarts,' cutting trade goods to Teldrat in retaliation.
- The Western Empire preserved mystery through tradition, nobility, and magic; the Eastern Empire contrasted with magitech, gold, and new liberal thought—splitting completely.
- Lordric, a Western Empire vassal, protruded east of the Blueline, becoming a constant border dispute hotspot.
★ Prolonged Peace, Blades with Nowhere to Go
- The Golden Age's peace was perfect.
- In an era valuing one magitech engineer over ten knights, idle knights sucking up stipends became thorns in nobles' sides.
- Knights' stipends began shrinking.
- Children treated knights as dumb barbarians, mages and magitech engineers as smart, learned folk.
- Knights lost places to uphold chivalry or earn merits. They were relegated to exploration parties into dreaded polars—where frostbite claimed limbs, swamps teemed with venomous bugs, and deserts scorched.
- Stubborn knights, contrasted with 'stubbornness.' Knight families' discontent swelled uncontrollably.
☆ The Last Knight King's Efforts for Peace: Theod IV.
- Amid disputes, Theod IV spared no effort to reduce frictions.
★ The Last Knight King, Theod IV Assassinated
- After the Mutant War, Lordric's king effectively handed territory to the Empire; neighboring lords harbored deep grudges against Theod IV for yielding lands that could have been theirs.
- Lordric, at the heart of endless East-West territorial disputes. Ultimately, the Last Knight King Theod IV fell to an unknown assassin's sniper shot.
- Both Empires accused each other of sending the assassin, igniting the powder keg of pent-up conflicts.
☆ Empress Dowager Lucilla Gai Nax's Efforts for Peace
- Recognizing the crisis, the Empire's Queen Mother brushed off bureaucrats' objections and personally headed to the disputed former Lordric capital.
- Queen Mother Lucilla's words carried weight with both Empires; she sat warring nobles at the negotiation table and launched a joint investigation to find the culprit.
★ The Rusted Sword's Betrayal. East-West Empire War Begins.
- What shattered the brink-of-extinction war's fragile peace were the Empire's border marches. These deep-rooted knight families guarded the borders, but growing knight disdain pushed them to breaking point.
- Three of the Empire's five border marches accepted Teldrat radicals' overtures, turning swords against their own—plunging both Empires into war.
★★★☆★☆★ Choice: The twin Empires enter endless war. Crisis, Duel of Giants begins.
War between magitech and magic, Empire and Empire erupts.
/////
[year +98: Falling Giants, Endless Nightmare]
- The protracted war flowed rivers of blood, tilting toward Western Baltin Empire superiority.
- Facing defeat, Teldrat turns to the forbidden choice.
★★★★★ Catastrophe. Leyline Twist
- The Free Magitech School's head dug up his late master Roman's grave, unearthing traces of research he had desperately discarded in his final days.
- Research on permanent magi-energy engines harnessing the leylines—the massive mana flows birthing the Blueline Mountains dividing East and West Empires.
- Teldrat magitech engineers planned to embed a massive device at the leylines' core, twisting them to unleash mountain-shattering power entirely upon the Western Empire.
- At the clandestine plan's climax, the Imperial Royal Knights pierced thick mana barrages, striking the 'Leyline Twist' core device in their tattered bodies.
- Ancient tongue for 'praise of god' 『A-』 and 'tomb' 『TOMB』 combined into 'God's Tomb'—the device 'A-TOMB (Atom)' rampaged under the knight's final blow.
- The shock rippled through the entire leyline network, exploding with countless tributaries.
- 90% of the Blueline Mountains evaporates.
- Adjacent territories to Blueline Mountains vanish.
- The mega-blast's quake topples city walls across both Empires.
- 30% of the continent's population perishes in one explosion.
- The 30+ year war, through four truces and escalations, ends without a victor.
★ Magitech's Fall
'Master was right. No, no!!!! Master was wrong! Magitech is the devil's art! This power should never exist in the world!'
- The 'Leyline Twist' mastermind, Free Magitech School head, went mad overwhelmed by the destruction his own hands wrought.
- Amid global sentiment treating magitech engineers worse than black mages of old, he summoned surviving disciples and engineers to his tower for countermeasures.
- The great intellects, core researchers who ushered the Golden Age, top magitech engineers—all vaporized in one mana explosion.
- When the Free School head visited his fellow Practical School head, he was already dragged out, beaten to death by mobs. Before his ragged, hanged corpse, he removed his hood; recognizing him, crowds surged with clubs.
- Alongside the two hanged magitech engineers' corpses, magitech lost most technologies that illuminated the era.
★ World Tree's Death
- The arduously enduring World Tree finally collapses from the mega-blast's effects.
- The World Tree's death drives most pureblood elves insane.
★★★★★★ Choice: War's End.
- The leyline twist mega-blast that split the world blew away decades of resentment, greed, hatred—along with billions of lives. Yet humanity's survival will still burns.
- Non-humans integrated into human society begin distancing themselves, wary of the humans who nearly ended the world.
- Madness strips sane, icy elven reason, drowning them in remorseless slaughter and cruelty. Sane elves maintaining the World Tree's legacy become high elves; mad elves, dark elves; half-elves untouched long ago by the World Tree, simply elves.
- Crisis, Catastrophe ends. Humanity endures—for now.
/////
Boom!
Rustle. Rustle...
"Don't fuck with me... You dog bastards, no, why!!!"
A bug. No, impossible.
"Atom, Atom! Cut the stupid pun! Even here, even here, you bastards always! ALWAYS!!!"
A-TOMB.
Atom.
Permanent energy research.
Power of the sun.
Nuclear explosion.
The force that once ended my world struck again.
In the hazy vision, the continent shattered like a cookie filled my sight.
The Blueline Mountains vanished without trace. Seawater seeped into the torn continent centered on it, forming straits.
Inland became coast, islands—most land now gone.
A historical inflection point. No matter how countless branching paths worlds take, the intersection all worlds must pass.
...Grind!
"Who the hell made this world like this..."
When Gedroits first ran the simulation and saw this repeating history, what did he feel? How could that man witness this and not smash everything in despair and suicide?
Staring at the world scarred by one misjudgment, my deep-buried confidence crumbled like sand.
And why. Why on earth.
"What's left... after this?"
Even in this state, GG didn't deploy a player.
What remains beyond? What more?
My finger trembled scrolling down the record.
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[year +132: The Forgotten, The One We Wished to Forget, The One We Had to Forget]
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And I read the next ten letters that followed. Read them, and read them again.
Unbelievable. I didn't want to believe. At the very least, this shouldn't be.
Eyes filled with crimson text.
If white stars marked positive events and black negative thus far...
★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★
"Th-this... This can't be... This is, this is really... It makes no sense!"
What explains this number if not a bug?
.
.
.
.
.
.
『Mutation Blood, Re-invasion』
No matter how many times I read, the phrase didn't change.
Whatever method they used.
How they returned.
Or if they're even the same kind as before.
Boom!
Crash!
Crack!
Boom!
"They're dead!"
"At least those ones I killed with my own hands! Crushed them! Killed them! KILLED THEEEEM!!!"
They returned. Returned to this shattered land. Once more, those tumorous bastards.
[The remnants of evil that hid in the deepest underground emerge anew, squeezing through the torn continent.]
Until I could accept the glaring crimson text, I hurled everything within reach.
This can't happen.
Shouldn't happen.
A result only describable as a bug-ridden game.
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