Knowing Something New Only Means There's More You Don't Know

A scrap of paper so small that, once you grabbed both ends and stretched it flat, it barely had room for two open palms. After Nia and Noise unrolled the tightly curled sheet, they noticed the writing inside — round, almost cute lettering, carefully set down in a neat hand.

Until the Scissors Blade had cracked it open, the shell had been locked behind heavy access permissions. That alone was enough to make them certain something important was written inside.

So without a second of hesitation, they sat side by side on the bed, shoulders pressed together, and began to read in silence.

Less than a minute later, both of them lifted their heads at the same time and stared at each other, faces openly startled.

"This is…"

"A letter, looks like. One that went back and forth inside the virtual world."

"From up above, yeah. Hmm…"

I watched Noise nod in agreement with my muttering, then couldn't help letting out a low groan, a complicated feeling settling in my chest.

Because this was nothing like what I'd been hoping for — a thoroughly private message with a very strong sense of self!

"Ugh, I thought it was going to be some incredible treasure or a priceless item! Who would've guessed it was just a letter stuffed into a really sturdy box… We got completely played."

"…"

I hadn't expected something so amazing it would flip our entire lives around with a single piece of data, but still — after all that trouble hauling it out of the Sea Cave, ending up with nothing but a simple mail was a real letdown, wasn't it?

Even after reading every word carefully, I still couldn't convince myself this was the kind of thing my instincts had been screaming we absolutely had to get our hands on.

And before any of those smaller reasons, the fact that the words written in this mail were hard to understand properly was doing its own share of work in stirring up that feeling.

"Paradise, BV, reform… Hmm, Noise. Do you know what any of these words mean?"

"…I do."

"Oh, really?"

"Yeah. Roughly. They're all common knowledge in the virtual world."

Noise muttered it without much thought, then rested her chin on her hand and stared into empty air, as if sorting her thoughts. She probably hadn't meant anything by it. For her, it was no different from simply stating a fact out loud.

But I, who had suddenly been cast as the person without common sense, could only laugh awkwardly and rub the back of my neck. Still, it was the truth, so what could I do?

"Before we talk about Paradise. Nia, do you know the fundamental laws of the virtual world?"

"Fundamental laws? Uh… something like Newton's laws?"

"Those are the physical laws of the real world. …Well, it's not that hard a concept. The fundamental laws are the three root laws the virtual world needs to keep existing."

Noise opened with that, then went on calmly, explaining everything in a way even someone as clueless as me could follow without trouble.

About ten minutes into that little lecture, I had a rough grasp of the virtual world's fundamental laws.

"So, basically, the virtual world periodically needs to delete data?"

"Yeah. That's right."

The fundamental laws of the virtual world — or, put another way, the three root laws — went like this.

First: the Law of Creation. In the virtual world, new data can be made, and that data draws no distinction between creator and consumer, matter and phenomenon.

Second: the Law of Isolation. Any data that has entered a state no one can access becomes the highest-priority target for deletion.

Third and last: the Law of Total Capacity. In the virtual world, data can only be created in the amount that has been deleted. And that total capacity is fixed.

Laid out like that, it was a string of sentences complicated enough to make your head throb and your stomach turn… but if you mixed the three together, you could boil them down to a single conclusion:

The total storage of the virtual world is fixed, and therefore, to create new data, you have to keep deleting old, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠outdated data.

I had no idea why they'd split that sentence into three complicated pieces, but the summarized version was a lot easier to swallow.

Deleting an old game so you can install a new one on a full hard drive is a pretty common experience. Thinking of it roughly like that was probably fine.

"Okay. I get the basic idea of the fundamental laws. But… what does that have to do with Paradise?"

Which meant one question had to come up here. I roughly understood that the virtual world had those laws. But what did that have to do with Paradise?

Noise nodded a few times as if she fully understood my confusion, then answered like it was no big deal, spreading her fingers.

"The virtual world has a concept called height. And the lower the height, the more strongly the Law of Isolation applies."

"Height, meaning…"

"Yeah. The Abyss is at the very bottom of the virtual world, the lowest layer. Paradise is the exact opposite — the place at the very top. …Probably?"

Noise had been laying out her claim with about ten percent more energy than usual, but she still couldn't claim a hundred percent certainty, so she tilted her head a little.

She probably had a head full of knowledge but no memories at all… so the fact that she couldn't clearly name the source of that knowledge was bothering her a bit.

But I could tell instinctively that the knowledge was very close to the truth. For one thing, it lined up with things I'd already felt through experience.

Well, if the whole virtual world lost data as fast as the Abyss does, this place would have been finished a long time ago. So this was designed for that purpose from the start.

As one more piece of knowledge about the Abyss settled in, a new curiosity slowly poked its head up.

Then just how good was the place at the very top of the virtual world, that it earned a name like Paradise?

Noise added a somewhat brief explanation to help me understand.

"Paradise is… a place where consumed data recovers even if you do nothing, as far as I know. And the residents who live there, the BVs, hold enormous influence in the virtual world."

"Heeh. Really?"

"Yeah. Apparently the most famous knight-commander among the BVs is strong enough to stand against a Predator Species."

That strong? I couldn't help gaping a little at Noise's next explanation.

As someone who had actually run into Predator Species a few times, I knew perfectly well how absurd it was to stand against those monsters.

So in my heart, my evaluation of that faceless knight-commander shot straight up like a rocket. So Paradise had its own monsters, huh…

Come to think of it, they said humanity can't go up or down past the Middle Layer.

Go up and you run into these mysterious things called BVs. Come down and Predator Species are waiting.

Somehow managing to slip into the space between them was probably an incredibly lucky break for humanity.

Well… if humanity had inherited the virtual world properly in the first place, they wouldn't have had to go through any of that trouble.

"And finally, reform is…"

"Reform is?"

"…I don't know. Looking at how it's not in my knowledge, it probably isn't common knowledge in the Abyss."

Noise said it without confidence, her brows faintly furrowed. She seemed a little restless about not being able to help with her knowledge.

So I watched her look faintly depressed for a moment… then lightly flicked that small, pale forehead.

Tok.

"Enyak! Uu… Nia, what was that for."

"…You looked like you were blaming yourself. You've already helped me so much I want to wrap you up and kiss you, but if you keep digging a hole in the ground like that, it's hard to even say thank you!"

"…But still."

"It's fine if you don't know. There's no way I'd get disappointed in you over something this small, right? Ehehe… you little cutie!"

"Ughgh… can't breathe…"

Noise really did have the sweetest heart. Blaming herself just for not being able to help. That was such a lovely personality you could hardly believe she was a virtual lifeform.

So I couldn't hold back anymore and pulled her straight into my arms, rolling around on the bed with her. Only after a long ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠stretch of that kind of contact could we finally pick the conversation back up.

"Mmm~ With this, I can work hard again tomorrow!"

"…I'm exhausted."

…Of course Noise was a tiny, adorable little girl. But please don't take it as some weird preference — just think of it as excellent communication between family. That's the kind of relationship Nia and Noise have!

Anyway, after topping up on Noise energy and getting back to my usual tension, I picked out something I'd suddenly gotten curious about and asked her the rest.

"Ah, then the Arcturus, Spica, and Rigel written in this letter are…"

"…I've forgotten all the personal names."

"Hmm, figures~"

Maybe names just didn't fall inside the range of what she could remember. Even looking at these, she didn't seem to dredge up any knowledge. Well, that could happen.

Which meant, in the end, we hadn't really gained anything. If I had to pick something, the word "traitor" in the postscript stuck with me a little…

But whatever I did in the Abyss wasn't going to affect the upper layers, and the reverse wasn't possible either. Best to just let it go. A hollow feeling seemed to spread through my chest.

Suddenly curious about Polaris, whom I'd called over and then completely ignored, I shifted my gaze to where she'd been — and found her already halfway through the tomato she'd been using as a chair, apparently bored while we talked.

The way she sat there beaming, eating a tomato as big as her own body, was so striking… that I figured I had nothing to lose and tossed a casual question her way.

"Polaris, do you know anything? Well… there's no way Polaris would know something Noise doesn't."

"…? …!"

"She's saying ask her anything."

"Ooh, as expected of a first-class interpreter."

Polaris straightened up with a little bounce and thumped her chest. Since she couldn't speak properly, I couldn't immediately tell what she meant by that gesture.

But Noise, who could understand her intent, added the explanation from the side, so I realized it was her own way of showing confidence.

Still… even if she says ask her anything. What am I supposed to ask? Aside from her pathfinding ability, she's an even purer kid than Noise…

"Um… ah, do you know where Paradise is?"

"…?"

"Then do you know where Arcturus, Spica, and Rigel are… ah, you don't. Hmm…"

Since Paradise and the Abyss sat at opposite ends of the virtual world, that ability didn't seem to ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠work properly, and finding people by name alone also threw errors because of the range problem.

Probably because her body was still so small she couldn't fully use her power yet. If we kept feeding her data through food for a few months and let her grow, maybe someday…

"…"

This was bad. Polaris seemed deeply dejected over the fact that she couldn't help me with anything right now.

Watching the corners of her eyes grow damper and damper, like she might burst into tears any second, tension started rising in my chest on its own.

Uh, what do I do?! Bribe her with food? But forcing food on a kid who just ate a tomato is a bit…

Handing more food to a kid whose belly was already full was a problem too. In that truly desperate moment of not knowing what to do…

Noise, who had been watching from beside me, suddenly stepped forward and spoke to Polaris gently.

"Polaris. Can you track where this mail was?"

"…?"

"This mail was heavily protected by access permissions and came down from Paradise to the Abyss without any loss to the original. That means this data should still have a path that can be traced… and that means your ability can help."

"Noise, what do you mean by…"

What was the point of tracking a data path?

I blinked stupidly and looked at Noise for an explanation, and she answered with her eyes sparkling more than usual, pushing the idea forward.

"Nia. This might be a chance."

"Uh… what kind of chance?"

"A chance to find a 'path.'"

A path. For a moment my reason couldn't keep up, then it caught up to my instincts and interpreted the meaning intuitively.

In other words… if data that had been protected so thoroughly it wouldn't even break down as a Virtual Beast's meal could still have its path traced…

Then in the case of data that came down from Paradise to the Abyss…

Reverse-tracking from the Abyss to Paradise?!

If Noise's guess was really true.

If Polaris's out-of-the-ordinary ability could reverse-trace this mail's path…

Then did that mean we could leave the Abyss? And upward, at that?!

"Polaris? How about it, think you can do it?"

"…"

I immediately put the question to Polaris, who was sitting on the opened mail, deep in thought about something.

Was it really possible the way Noise claimed? And if so, where exactly was that path?

"…!! …"

But Polaris, who had been wearing a deeply thoughtful expression, slowly looked up at me and tried hard to convey something with silent little mouth-movements.

So I slowly shifted my gaze to Noise, the Polaris translator… and Noise, sitting neatly on the bed, slowly nodded and interpreted her words.

"She says she can do it, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠but."

"She can do it, but?!"

"She says it's impossible right now. Not enough power."

"Hmm… I see."

Not enough power. Then there was nothing to be done. Polaris was still a tiny kid who had only just gotten a body. There were bound to be plenty of things beyond her strength.

But that was clearly good news. It meant that if we kept raising Polaris big and strong, someday we could reach a passage leading upward.

…Well, no need to rush. I don't know what's going on up above… but we still have plenty of time.

Besides, even if we did find a "path," I hadn't even thought about what we'd do once we got up there. Escaping the Abyss's environment was a positive thing in a lot of ways, but there was no need to get completely absorbed in it either.

I finished wrapping up the thoughts flooding my head… and decided to calm my feelings first. And once I'd recovered a quiet mood, I quietly sorted my heart and muttered lightly to myself.

I need to learn a little more about the virtual world. And one of those methods is…

The salvagers who go in and out of the virtual world all the time, probably.

Yeah. Just now. It felt like a good idea had floated up.