Chapter 63
Chapter 63
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 63
Chapter Title: Constellation
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Core of Evolution.
The aggregate of every bug triggered by the bone dragon.
It embodied the dragon's desire to evolve and attain uniqueness.
A core that accelerated evolution, devouring and transforming everything in its path.
Considering it wrought such massive changes in that brief span, it was clearly no ordinary object.
"I sense an ominous aura."
Arel tried to dissuade me.
Her instincts were screaming in warning.
Sharper than anyone when it came to death, she instantly perceived the menace harbored within that core.
'Ominous. Truly so.'
Yet I was curious.
Zero had stated that absorbing this core alone would elevate my admin authority.
Top secret. A chance to glimpse the secrets hidden even from Zero!
'On a whole different level from the nanomachines I've absorbed until now.'
This was far removed from mere rampaging nanomachines.
Differing nanomachines, each bearing unique command codes, had converged to spawn a colossal bug called 'evolution.'
Through the dragon's desire, the daemon's life force, and even me, it had mimicked 'gluttony.' The core itself amounted to an ongoing evolution.
Thus, it was a power that could not originally be contained.
A sudden question arose.
What if I'd left the bone dragon be?
After devouring every monster in the mountain range, it might have been enshrined as a feat and waged war against other dragons.
But what intrigued me more was the content of Zero's 'top secret.'
"Master?"
Despite Arel's pleas, I boldly seized the core of evolution.
With a crumbling sound, it shattered, spewing black smoke.
The smoke crept from my hand to my shoulder, my chest, permeating my entire body.
[Absorbed 'Core of Evolution.']
[Admin authority upgraded to Grade 3.]
[Top Secret section unlocked.]
[Access to 'Eden Project' granted.]
*
"Those nanomachines won't provide a fundamental solution, Dr. Park Mun-sik."
Inside the scientific facility, two scientists were locked in debate.
Park Mun-sik. The name of the doctor who created Zero at the Korean Institute of Science.
The white-haired Park Mun-sik shook his head at once.
"Zero was designed to prioritize human rights. Even if it takes time, it will guide humanity toward a better path."
"After the nuclear war, humanity was nearly wiped out. Humanity is flawed. To break this vicious cycle at its root, we must overhaul the entire system."
"Is that what you call the 'Eden Project'?"
"Yes. My creations, Alpha and Beta, will save the world. Alpha as the coordinator, Beta as the executor."
"Do you truly not grasp how dangerous it is to entrust the world to artificial intelligence?"
"It would be better than the current humanity, at least. The elites who launched the nukes fled to space to save themselves, leaving the rest to languish in this hellish inferno. Idealistic logic is fine, Doctor, but do you really consider this a normal world?"
Park Mun-sik swallowed hard.
He was his most brilliant protégé. The genius scientist who had co-designed Zero with him. Yet their visions diverged completely.
Park Mun-sik believed humanity deserved a choice.
But his protégé argued that granting humanity choice had led to the world's destruction, insisting the entire system needed reform.
The Eden Project.
It proposed creating superior AI and surrendering all human decision-making to it.
But the moment autonomy was granted to AI, no one could predict the catastrophe. Unfettered free will might deem humanity a planetary pest and eradicate it.
"Thank you for everything, Doctor."
In the end, their irreconcilable paths led the protégé to depart.
Afterward, the world underwent radical change.
The new stationary Earth crafted by his protégé began operating solely on machines and AI.
Their creed: mechanize humanity, fostering coexistence between machine and man to navigate this hell.
Such radical ideology inevitably sparked backlash.
War erupted once more, but the outcome was humanity's abject defeat.
Humanity, reduced to 1% by the nuclear war, stood no chance against mechanized AI'monstrosities.
Stripped of all resistance, humanity was subjugated by AI.
Alpha and Beta then created world trees to purify the world.
These trees endlessly produced and dispersed nanomachines, occasionally yielding 'cores of evolution' that were administered to humans, adapting them to the new era.
Most perished in the process, but survivors evolved to harness even the nanomachines within their bodies.
Thus dawned a new world.
*
"The results might seem positive at a glance. In the end, Earth was cleansed, and humanity adapted."
A pristine white space.
Park Mun-sik spoke while gazing at a massive cultivation tank.
"But humanity was robbed of its 'potential.' The chance to evolve on its own, the roots that could branch in myriad ways—it lost them all."
Humans are animals that evolve and advance.
Yet AI was stifling that progress.
Even in the realm of the brain.
"The AI'minimized the brain's 'creative domain.' But if it could be so easily blocked, humanity never would have become Earth's master to begin with."
Originally, humans could access all brain regions.
But after AI neutered it, intrusions into the creative domain occurred.
The problem was the unforeseen phenomena that began emerging afterward, beyond the AI's predictions.
"Scientific progress slowed, but evolution proceeded in other ways. Humans began harnessing nanomachine energy to surpass machines themselves."
Individuals emerged who wielded nanomachines to maximize their physical prowess.
The phenomenon resembled magic.
Even AI could not have foreseen this evolutionary trajectory.
"Once they realize it can't be controlled, the AI will seek to exterminate humanity. To prevent that, to restore humanity as Earth's true masters..."
Park Mun-sik placed his hand on the cultivation tank.
Within the transparent fluid, empty save for the liquid itself, lay 'Zero.'
"I had no choice but to reset Zero. After all, Alpha and Beta were born from Zero. The only means to control them is Zero itself."
Beeeep! Beeeep!
Red alarms blared throughout the lab.
This was humanity's final bastion.
The sole sanctuary harboring the scant survivors.
But even this refuge was ultimately discovered by the AI.
Kieeeek!
Grooooar!
Dragons appeared.
Having massacred the survivors in an instant, the dragons tore through the lab doors and charged in.
Park Mun-sik addressed one of the dragons.
"Do you believe in God?"
*
...Is he asking me?
For a moment, it felt as if Park Mun-sik's eyes met mine.
"Are you alright?"
I came to on Arel's lap.
I'must have passed out after absorbing the core of evolution.
"How much time has passed?"
"About half a day."
Hearing that, I propped myself up and shook my head.
My head ached. Likely from Park Mun-sik's memories I'd just witnessed.
Glancing at the sky, it was already evening.
I furrowed my brow.
'The Eden Project.'
Top secret.
The Eden Project's details.
Not exactly a pleasant tale: humanity, nearly extinct from nuclear war, subjugated anew by AI.
I also learned Zero was the prototype for Alpha and Beta.
It housed the function to control them.
Moreover, humanity underwent radical evolution via cores of evolution.
Not natural selection, but engineered, accelerated evolution.
Thus, far shorter than the '150,000 years for evolution' Zero had mentioned.
'Do Alpha and Beta know of Zero's existence?'
Zero wasn't merely a nanomachine for healing humanity. It was reset to control Alpha and Beta.
That explained Zero's full authority over AI.
All current 'epics' stemmed from nanomachines born of Alpha and Beta's world trees. Tracing back, the origin was Zero.
Since dragons had invaded the lab, they might know of Zero too.
Yet Zero's continued existence suggested they might not.
Fifty-fifty odds.
Of course, if Alpha and Beta caught on, I'd be priority target for elimination.
A being that must be utterly eradicated.
'No explanation for why Zero was in my head.'
Zero had been in the lab until the dragons invaded.
Even if devoured by one, it still wouldn't explain why it ended up in my head.
No... the slimmest possibility lay with the founding emperor who established the empire.
Passed down generations, activated in my reign.
'Do you believe in God?'
Even so, it offered no clue to 'time-space regression.'
Reversing time-space was impossible.
If the Twelve Gods ruled the world, they were mere created AI.
Products of science—no reversing time-space.
Then did Zero simulate my future experiences?
No.
The future I lived was real.
Not illusion or fantasy.
'If something sent me back to the past, that would be the true god.'
Thus, whatever enabled time-space regression would be the genuine deity.
I answered Park Mun-sik's question.
"I do."
"What do you mean by that, Your Highness?"
"I'mean I believe in myself. And in you."
"..."
Arel fell silent at the out-of-left-field remark, staring blankly at me.
*
I retrieved the reverted bone dragon into my subspace and returned to the palace.
Search parties from nearby territories had been dispatched in force; I couldn't linger.
"...Where have you been, Your Highness? It's about time you showed up."
Croft awaited upon my arrival at the palace.
I feigned ignorance.
"Just took a stroll."
"A stroll that took you beyond the capital?"
"Hm, weren't you busy with territory matters?"
Since returning to the palace, Croft had been run off his feet.
He'd decided he could no longer lurk in the shadows.
Granted a new title and lands, Croft plunged into central politics proper.
Noble backlash was lighter than expected.
Carlos Grand Duke focused on the northern expedition truce; Persephone Grand Duke had little interest to begin with; the rest were embroiled in the bloody aftermath of the 'special prison incident.'
The empresses were too busy fending off nobles to mind Croft.
'Bury one incident under a bigger one.'
Croft sighed.
"The capital's abuzz with tales of Your Highness lately."
"Criminals must face punishment."
"Your Highness. Do you plan to reinstate Yujin?"
As expected of Croft.
He knew me too well.
He seemed to have already sniffed out Yujin's hiding in the palace.
"Any issue? You know Yujin was framed, don't you?"
Innocent yet imprisoned on fabricated charges.
In the end, all imperial treasures were returned.
Yet he remained in the prison of his own volition.
Croft asked with concern.
"Will the current palace mage sit idly by?"
The current palace mage, Jenric.
Acclaimed as one of the 'three greatest mages' nearing 9th circle, he managed the palace barriers and ties with other towers—a pivotal role.
I shrugged.
"He's Carlos's man anyway. Besides, the palace barriers have been breached twice recently, haven't they? He lacks the qualifications."
"Weren't those both Your Highness's doing..."
As Croft said, both breaches were my handiwork.
I knew the weaknesses.
As Caliburn's bearer and Holy King.
But two blatant breaches were undeniable fact. It inevitably cast doubt on his competence as palace mage.
Such lapses never occurred under Yujin.
"If Your Highness acts directly, nobles and the imperial household will push back hard. Allow me to handle Yujin's reinstatement."
The nobles were already watching closely.
My direct petition for Yujin's return would surely provoke them.
The empresses wouldn't want my influence growing in the palace.
Even Croft stepping forward posed issues.
Me, coincidentally overseeing special prison, 'happening' to reinstate Yujin inside? Or Croft pushing it?
It would advertise Croft as my man.
"No need for you to step up."
"Then, do you have a plan?"
"We overlooked twice, but a third breach will force him out."
"You mean to breach the barrier again?"
"No. Others will smash it for us."
Croft's expression hardened.
In other words, the palace would be attacked.
I gazed skyward.
"Croft. Aren't the stars particularly bright?"
"...?"
*
The admin authority upgrade yielded more than mere information.
'Zero's true functions unlock at Grade 3.'
Zero's hidden true capabilities.
I looked up at the night sky.
A cluster of unusually bright stars.
That stellar realm was called 'Valhalla,' where great heroes' souls resided among the stars, or so people believed.
Tales so common that certain faiths even exalted star-blessed humans as 'constellations.'
'Artificial satellites.'
Yet no one knew those constellations were manmade satellites.
[ Constellation ] End