Chapter 234
Chapter 234
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Ace
Chapter: 234
Chapter Title: Combat Simulation (4)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Olivia arrived at the training grounds and stood before the students.
“Since this is our first class, I'll explain things myself. I know the sudden curriculum change must be confusing. But mages must be strong. I'm sure you've heard a thing or two about the Simulator 2000. It's a device developed by the pioneer of magic engineering, Mr. Louis Jacobin, a system designed to allow for combat that feels just like a real battle, even in a training environment.”
To Nade, the name 'Jacobin' boomed as if through a megaphone.
He was the world's foremost magic engineer, the very person who brought the unparalleled masterpiece known as the Image Zone into existence.
With the advent of the Image Zone, the Spirit Zone became visible to the naked eye, and that system eventually evolved into the Simulator 2000.
The public may sing praises of the brilliant reputation of combat mages, but who was it that raised them?
If not for the device Jacobin created, the standard of mages would have stagnated for at least thirty years.
“Professor Thadd, the master bracelets, please.”
Thadd brought over two bracelets. Olivia fastened them to her wrists and showed them to the students.
“Here we have a red bracelet and a blue bracelet. Each has a different function, so be sure not to swap them with your friends. The red bracelet converts the mage's condition into data, and the blue bracelet converts the external environment's state into data. This two-pronged information is then transmitted to the towers to manifest a virtual world. Now, you try.”
The students each received a pair of bracelets. As they fastened them on, red and blue lights illuminated.
“Now, we will activate the Simulator 2000.”
An administrator activated the system, and the ground began to shake as if in an earthquake. The physical blocks covering the floor shifted in height, forming a complex terrain that mimicked a natural environment.
As a virtual landscape they had never seen before was overlaid onto the environment, the students stared, their mouths agape.
They had heard about it from the graduating seniors, but experiencing it firsthand revealed a realism that defied comparison.
The virtual landscape was the urban center of Creas City. No people walked the streets, but the sight of hundreds of houses packed tightly together was so convincing it could have passed for reality.
“The city isn't ideal. Please change it to a different landscape.”
The arrangement of the blocks began to change. In the northeastern corner, the blocks making up a quarter of the total area descended in unison.
Water filled the sunken area, creating a lake, and with that as a focal point, the surrounding scenery transformed into a forest.
It was a pristine mountain forest, untouched by human hands.
“As expected of a prestigious academy. Even for the Simulator 2000, creating a lake is difficult. Over eighty percent of the natural features are physical blocks, but the scenery is entirely virtual. The blue bracelet receives the data and transmits it to your brains. Therefore, if you remove the bracelets, only the physical blocks will remain. For now, take a look around. I'll give you about ten minutes.”
The students entered the Simulator 2000 in formation. Though no one had ordered them to, the fact that they didn't break rank was a sign of their nervousness.
They were things one might commonly see on a mountain, yet even the rolling pebbles seemed fascinating. Shirone's group went over to the lake to take a closer look.
When Nade touched a tree, his blue bracelet glowed, and he could feel its texture.
“Incredible. This can't be a physical block, so is it really virtual?”
“The leaves look real, too.”
Shirone plucked a leaf. It didn't vanish, but rested on his palm like a real object.
Iruki approached the lake, scooped up some water with his hands, and took a drink.
“How is it? Does it taste like water?”
“It's more than that—it's actually quenching my thirst. An illusion, of course. My brain is perceiving it as water. This is a little dangerous.”
Shirone had the same thought. What if it had been fire instead of water? Would his brain register the information of heat and his body burn?
Since it wasn't real fire, it might not go that far. But he couldn't be certain.
Shirone turned to Nade, who was knowledgeable in these matters.
“Nade, this is...”
“Yeah! It's similar to the mechanism of the Spirit Zone! This is incredible! Louis Jacobin managed to manifest the human mind through a mechanical device.”
If a biologist's dream is to replace human organs with artificial ones, then an engineer's ultimate goal is a machine that thinks like a human.
That goal was still a long way off, but at the very least, Jacobin seemed to have succeeded in turning the human mind into data.
“I heard there was a huge backlash from the faculty when they decided to open the Simulator 2000 to the advanced class. Now I think I understand why. You could actually die in here.”
“Yes, you could die.”
Olivia had approached them at some point.
“If we could die...”
“But don't worry. We never set the sync rate to one hundred percent, except for the graduation exam. The filters are currently disabled for this demonstration, but when you use it, the rate will be around fifty percent. For the graduating class, it's eighty percent. These are regulations set by the Kingdom's Education Act.”
Iruki spoke up.
“Even at fifty percent, you can't say it's completely safe, can you?”
“You're surprisingly timid, Mr. Iruki.”
“I'd rather not be the fool who rushes in blindly and dies.”
Olivia stared intently at Iruki. He was once a boy considered to be on the same level as Dante.
But the Royal Magic Academy was not a place to tolerate a student's arrogance, and she recalled that he had ultimately dropped out.
‘Is that silver tongue all he has left? How pathetic.’
Olivia turned back to the students and said.
“Mr. Iruki is right. The Simulator 2000 is dangerous. But it is a controllable danger. At the Royal Magic Academy, they already conduct training that is close to real combat by freely adjusting the sync rate from one to one hundred percent, depending on the student's level. I'm not telling you to accept the risks, but rather that those risks can be controlled however we see fit.”
There was no need to apply a high sync rate. This was strictly for education, so by practicing at an appropriate level, their real-world combat senses would naturally improve.
Once the students returned to their places, Olivia began the Simulator 2000 lesson in earnest.
“Unlike yours, the bracelets I'm wearing are for masters. They are devices that can control the various functions of the Simulator 2000. Now, let me show you what's different.”
A red gauge, sixty centimeters long, appeared above Olivia's head.
“This is my mental energy, quantified as a percentage. Of course, you won't be able to see this gauge during practice sessions. First, I'll explain its function. Professor Thadd, please summon a monster.”
The master bracelets share their functions. The system was designed so that even if one instructor tried to endanger the students, as long as other instructors were wearing master bracelets, no harm could occur.
“Understood. But, um... which one?”
In a predicament like being asked to choose a lunch menu, Thadd simply passed the choice back to her.
Finding it just as ambiguous, Olivia rested her chin on her hand and pondered.
“Hmm, is this version 6.2?”
“Yes, it's the latest version. The data was updated ten days ago.”
“Then the demon race must have been added. Let's go with a succubus.”
The students' eyes widened.
“A-a succubus? You mean you can really summon a succubus?”
The demon race was a powerful species, on a completely different level from monsters. They were found in enclosed spaces like ancient towers or underground labyrinths untouched by humans, and the state prohibited entry to such areas for any party ranked lower than 6.
Given that the gods of mythology bore the characteristics of demons, the prevailing theory was that they were a projection of the ancient collective consciousness.
The fact that no new demons had appeared in the modern era, where individual identity is emphasized, was another point supporting this theory.
In ancient times, the concepts of good and evil were blurred, so taboos beyond imagination were practiced.
The stimuli enjoyed by the people of that era were so intense they couldn't be felt even in modern warfare, and the sublimation of that desire gave rise to the demons, also known as the ancient gods.
As the prevailing theory was that the succubus also arose from orgiastic rituals, it was only natural for the curious students to become tense.
“Then let's begin.”
After finding the codename for 'succubus,' Thadd transmitted the data to the central control room.
Beams of light shot out from four spires, and a translucent object shimmered into existence within the tranquil landscape before materializing as a succubus.
The students stared without even blinking. They had encountered the creature more in novels and myths than in academic texts and had held certain expectations, but contrary to them, its appearance was ghastly.
The naked female body was bluish as if bruised, and hideous bat wings were attached to its back.
It had long, slanted eyes, a completely upturned nose, and its teeth were so crooked that its lips protruded even when its mouth was closed. Its corpselike, bluish lips only added to the grotesqueness.
“Th-that's a succubus?”
The male students wore expressions of disgust. No matter how beautiful its figure was, the other hideous features provoked revulsion.
Olivia peered at the succubus's face. As an auditor for the faculty council, she had received reports, but this was the first time she was seeing it for herself.
Seeing that the features of the succubus she had defeated in her youth were accurately represented, she nodded.
“Hmm, this is quite good. I was skeptical, since there's so little data on the demon race.”
Olivia clapped her hands to get the students' attention.
“Alright, everyone. This is likely your first time seeing a succubus. This is what they look like. The monsters manifested by the Simulator 2000 are updated based on data from countless explorers and scholars. This is my first time seeing the demon race version as well. Now then, let's see how well it has replicated their alluring ability.”
As Thadd switched to test mode, the succubus's appearance began to change.
The students gaped with dumbfounded expressions. The boys, in particular, were practically drooling.
A succubus with straight black hair, pale skin, and an innocent face was smiling at them. She was, of course, completely naked.
“Um, Headmaster. There are still young students here, so this sort of thing is a bit...”
Thadd said, but Olivia, on the contrary, stepped aside to give them a better view.
“Well? Would you call this beautiful?”
A thunderous roar erupted from the male students.
“Whoa! She's the best! The absolute best!”
“I could take this class all day and never get bored!”
Olivia gave them a charming smile.
“In that case, you are all dead.”
The training grounds fell silent, as if doused with cold water.
“Regardless of its appearance, its essence is that of a demon. And what are demons? They are the hideous mistakes of humans who lived long ago. When you see a demon, there is only one judgment to make: can I kill it, or not? The moment you make any other judgment, your heads will be rolling on the floor.”
At Olivia's nod to Thadd, the succubus returned to its original, hideous form.
The thought that they had been entranced, even for a moment, by such a monster sent a chill down the students' spines.
“There's a saying: 'The mind becomes what it sees.' This means a succubus's appearance can disrupt your Spirit Zone. To face a demon, you need to form a party of at least rank 6. At that level, a single moment of carelessness leads to annihilation. Whether the swordsman's gaze wanders, or the surgeon rushes to the injured, the mage must not waver. It is because we are coolly observing the situation that our allies can carry out their duties at full strength. That is why the mage is the party's highest priority for survival, and why, even in death, they must be the last to fall.”
The students listened with rapt attention. This was the first class that had so starkly revealed the realities of the front lines.
This, too, was the practical, combat-oriented education that Olivia championed.
“What do you think? This is the effectiveness of the Simulator 2000. No matter how much I explain it with words, it's worlds apart from seeing it with your own eyes. Of course, fighting demons is something for your distant future. However, combat in the Simulator 2000 is one of the subjects on the graduation exam. If you make a mistake like this in the Colosseum, you will fail. Because sending a mage like that to a real battlefield would only get their comrades killed.”