Chapter 58
Chapter 58
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 58
Chapter Title: Three Divine Artifacts
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I had expected it.
But I hadn't been certain.
Before ascending to the throne, I never had a chance to enter the Imperial Treasury.
Even the princes weren't easily granted entry, so Deus would never allow a mad crown prince like me inside.
Only the emperor knew what lay within.
The fruits of the thousand-year empire.
Only treasures of overwhelming value among all treasures could enter the Imperial Treasury.
'In the past, they were all sold off for war...'
Thanks to Grand Duke Persepho collecting debts, war funds were short. Inevitably, treasures from the Imperial Treasury were sold to make up the deficit.
But when I inherited the Imperial Treasury, there were no standout treasures left. Places that seemed like important items had been cherry-picked and emptied.
Deus had gotten to them first.
To protect them from me, or from Grand Duke Carlos.
I'd expected it, but seeing it right in front of me left me speechless.
'One of the Three Divine Artifacts, Winter's Bow.'
A pure white bow, as if rimed with frost, hung there proudly on display.
Weapons called the Three Divine Artifacts. To think one of them, Winter's Bow, was in the Imperial Treasury.
The Three Divine Artifacts referred to three weapons made with technology modern humanity couldn't replicate. Far more intricate and powerful than spirit weapons, they were national treasures impossible to imitate.
Among them, Winter's Bow was the last of the 'Bows of the Four Seasons,' and the only one recognized as a Divine Artifact.
"Hah."
It was absurd.
One of the Three Divine Artifacts was in the Holy Church, and the other two had unknown whereabouts.
Who would have thought one was in the empire's Imperial Treasury.
The fact that even I didn't know meant Deus had hidden it.
No wonder. If a Divine Artifact fell into Grand Duke Carlos's hands, it was horrifying just to imagine.
The Three Divine Artifacts weren't just symbolic; they were famous for granting superhuman power to their wielders. Most notably, the leading theory was that they were crafted by one of the vanished mysteries: the dwarves.
Divine tools made by a mystery. No bow on the entire continent could surpass it.
'Beautiful.'
It was a massive longbow, over 1.5 meters in length. Its pure white body seemed otherworldly.
But there was no bowstring.
'The records say Winter's Bow doesn't need one.'
Records on the Three Divine Artifacts were quite detailed.
Winter's Bow compensated for the lack of a string by allowing the user to fire mana over long distances. It was hard to master and wield, but its destructive power could pierce the heavens and shatter mountains.
Mana—[Nano Machine Zero] inside the body rapidly lost energy once expelled. Even at its longest, it only reached a few hundred meters, and even archmages were the same.
This meant a spell's effective range ended where the nanomachines lost energy. One way to gauge a mage's skill was by their 'spell effective range.'
In any case, Winter's Bow extended that range several times over.
'It hit an enemy 30km away, if I recall.'
I remembered the records.
Honestly, an unbelievable range.
There had to be some exaggeration.
'A magic archer's arrow only reaches about 300m at best. Even an elite one manages around 1km.'
They accelerate arrows with mana to hit enemies beyond normal range.
A feat only magic archers could achieve.
Still, it wasn't much different from an archmage's limit.
Even if it could fire 30km, landing a precise hit was on another level of difficulty. Yet Winter's Bow made even that possible, earning it the title of Divine Artifact.
'Light.'
I grasped the hanging Winter's Bow.
Despite its massive size, it was light.
Unbelievably light material. It felt like holding a feather.
Zero spoke.
[A sniper weapon incorporating overtechnology.]
[It includes devices using nanotube technology to maximize nanomachine utilization.]
[A lightweight model achieved with superalloys.]
[Maker unknown. Engraved with unique code 'Dwarf.']
Overtechnology?
Meaning this single bow embodied transcendent technology far beyond this era's average.
Unique code Dwarf.
Did that mean the vanished dwarves possessed technology ages ahead of their time?
And with such power, why did they disappear?
Were they too selected for a 'Feat' and wiped out?
I couldn't know the exact reason, but their greatest creations remained.
Winter's Bow was one of them.
'The dwarves knew about nanomachines.'
They embedded nanotube devices into weapons to maximize nanomachine utility. In other words, they understood and harnessed nanomachines themselves.
Not vaguely lumping it as 'mana' like modern mages, but focusing on nanomachines to advance their technology to extreme heights.
"Zero. Is Dr. Park Moon-sik a dwarf?"
Zero was created by Dr. Park Moon-sik of the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology.
But the country Korea and the name Park Moon-sik were foreign to me.
If they handled overtechnology, Korea might be the dwarves' nation, and Park Moon-sik one of them.
[Data on the dwarf race is insufficient. However, Dr. Park Moon-sik's race is human, biologically classified as 'Homo sapiens sapiens.']
"Homo sapiens sapiens?"
[Literally, 'wise and clever human,' Master. There are slight differences from modern humans.]
"What differences?"
[Using the 'Scan' function unlocked by upgrading Admin Authority, modern humans have biologically evolved to store and utilize nanomachines. The estimated natural selection time for such evolution is at least 150,000 years.]
"...So Dr. Park Moon-sik is from 150,000 years ago?"
[Existing data doesn't allow direct comparison. Analysis of modern human DNA merely estimates that much time has passed.]
So Zero was created 150,000 years ago.
At minimum.
The empire had stood for a thousand years—150 times that. An astonishing number.
But it was hard to comprehend.
"If you were made 150,000 years ago, what about the data from then? You must have awakened before me."
[No prior memory data is stored. The first record is roughly 16 years ago, in Master's brain.]
"Could the memory storage be damaged or partially lost?"
[Impossible. If lost or deleted, backup data related to it would remain.]
I stroked my chin thoughtfully.
Zero was certain its memory was intact.
But 150,000 years.
Coincidences upon coincidences leading to awakening in my head after all that time defied common sense.
Unable to pursue it further, I focused on Winter's Bow.
I had almost no experience with bows, but this was a Divine Artifact.
Having seen it, I couldn't leave without it.
"This is?"
Distracted by Winter's Bow, I hadn't noticed the item beside it.
This area was specially made to store only Winter's Bow.
I thought it was just the bow, but upon closer inspection, there was another displayed item next to it.
A round, black box.
A very small ring box, in fact.
Opening the ring box revealed a single transparent ring inside.
I tried it on, just in case, but no reaction.
"Hm."
Something worthy of being placed with Winter's Bow had to be extraordinary, but was it not overtechnology?
As if voicing my thoughts, Zero said,
[It is locked.]
[Lock released.]
[A ring incorporating overtechnology for sub-space.]
[It possesses functions to store items in a special space and retrieve them.]
[Maker unknown. Engraved with unique code 'Dwarf.']
It was locked.
Preventing knowledge of contents until unlocked.
But Zero released it instantly.
We learned its name and use, but sub-space?
Swoosh.
Injecting nanomachines into the ring created a black space behind me.
'Is that black space the sub-space?'
I reached inside.
Withdrawing my hand, nothing happened.
I grabbed a treasure from the Imperial Treasury and put it into the sub-space.
Reaching in again, nothing.
'Does it vanish completely once inside?'
But it had a retrieval function.
There must be a separate way to take things out.
This time, with clear intent, I reached in. Visualizing the item I'd put in earlier, I felt something grab hold.
"I have to visualize the item inside to retrieve it."
Forgetting what I'd stored meant it was lost forever.
There might be things inside I wasn't aware of.
But unknowing, I couldn't retrieve them.
"Zero. Can you tell what's inside this space?"
[It is a completely isolated space. Impossible without technical disassembly.]
Zero lacked disassembly functions.
If even Zero couldn't, nothing to be done.
I shrugged with a smile.
'I've got something incredible.'
In any case, I'd obtained Winter's Bow and the sub-space ring.
No greater treasures existed in the Imperial Treasury.
A few spirit weapons caught my eye, but none were in perfect condition like Caliburn.
'Still, having come this far, taking just these two feels like a waste.'
The treasures here were as good as mine anyway.
I'd stash as many as I could remember in the sub-space.
Thinking of it as preemptively withdrawing a bit before becoming emperor.
*
After leaving the palace, I conducted several experiments.
First, nothing alive could survive inside the sub-space.
A bug I put in came out dead. It lived about three minutes, but anything longer died without fail.
No air inside the sub-space.
Short-term survival was possible, though.
Adventurously, I stepped a foot inside, but it was pure darkness.
Nothing but what I visualized appeared and vanished repeatedly.
Volume or weight seemed unlimited, as long as I could recall the contents.
'Perfect spot to hide the bond dragon.'
The bond dragon was in the Rokari Mountains. It could fly when called, but not instantly usable.
As a non-living entity, the bond dragon should be fine inside.
"...Unbelievable."
Turning, I saw a long-haired mage.
"What's your intent in hiding me here? Crown Prince Reinhardt."
This was inside my palace.
I'd secretly moved the mage from the Special Prison and confined him here for a while.
"I have questions for you."
"Planning to use me like a phantom thief and then kill me?"
The phantom thief who'd drawn the Imperial Treasury map.
I'd promised him freedom.
After treating him somewhat with potions, he vanished from the capital.
"What are you talking about? He was treated and escaped."
"No way. You ordered him killed once he left the capital. Otherwise, why isn't that knight always at your side visible now?"
He meant the knight, Arell.
"Sharp."
I acknowledged it lightly.
Arell was currently pursuing the phantom thief.
I'd ordered her to kill him the moment he left the capital.
This was also to test Arell's loyalty.
Did she serve Grand Duke Persepho, or only me?
If the former, she'd report hiding the court mage and looting the secret treasury.
Critical information that must be relayed if loyal to Persepho.
If the latter, she'd simply kill the thief and return.
To that end, I'd hired Mercenary King Karbal.
To watch Arell from afar without detection.
Where she went, whom she met.
'Croft lacks stealth skills.'
Karbal was perfect.
Expensive, but reliable results.
I'met Eugene's gaze and spoke.
"Void Mage, Eugene."
"...!"
Eugene's eyes widened enormously.
He'd thoroughly hidden being a 'Void Mage.'
Capable of chantless magic, yet pretending to be an archmage with chants.
A con artist through and through.
But it was too early to be surprised.
"Though honored as an Imperial Court Mage, you coveted imperial wealth—a crime landing you 120 years in the Special Prison. Correct?"
"...Correct."
"But that's a lie. You were imprisoned on purpose. To hide your Void attribute. Fearing you'd be hunted."
"What are you saying..."
"Dragon."
"...!!!"
Hearing 'dragon,' Eugene convulsed.
As expected.
Now I understood why he'd mocked me before.
Like him, I too had the Void attribute, so he'd preemptively sneered, assuming I'd be dragon fodder.
I knelt, grabbed his hair, and pulled his face close.
Much to learn from him.
Not just dragon info.
He'd recognized my Void attribute—Zero—long ago, just by looking. Something even I only learned after regression.
Eugene could detect epics. He might even know how to find them.
So.
"If you want to live, spill everything, Eugene."
End of Three Divine Artifacts