Chapter 85
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 85
Chapter Title: Data Storage Prototype
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They gave me puzzled looks at my question, slowly turning to gaze at me.
And at my following words, their faces drained of color.
"Bring it all."
Old knight Remble, who had finally returned to the household after finishing his shift in the Demon Realm, could only watch in heartbroken silence as Leon scraped together every last moonstone.
In truth, collecting moonstones was their hobby, but it was also clear evidence of slacking off on duty.
However, House Cascadia had always turned a blind eye to such minor infractions, so they hadn't thought much of it.
But Leon was different.
He prowled around with sharp eyes, unearthing moonstones like a ghost, even snatching the very last ones they'd hidden in their armor.
"Is this everything?"
Remble clutched his aching chest and nodded at the question.
"Yes, Young Master. That's all of them."
"Hmm."
"Ugh... Young Master, please. It's our only hobby in our old age. Show a little mercy..."
"Ow, come on. I'm giving you something better in exchange."
As Leon casually flicked his hand away, Remble's face turned ashen with despair.
Why did it have to be now, of all times? His luck couldn't get any worse!
If only he'd returned a little later, none of this would have happened.
Now he'd have to swallow his rage while watching the other knights show off their moonstones.
Remble felt like he was dying of injustice.
Just then, a voice slipped from Leon's lips that caught his full attention.
"Hmm. There's a decent amount, but it's nowhere near enough..."
Remble's eyes bulged at Leon's mutter.
"Young Master."
"Yeah? What is it?"
"There are more moonstones."
If I can't have them, I'll smash them all!
I won't go down alone!
And that was how Leon ended up raiding the Demon Realm watchpost's cabin.
After "humanely" acquiring moonstones from countless knights and soldiers, I gathered them all in one place, piled them up, and took stock.
"Hey, didn't you raid the knights' moonstones? What are you doing? You should just let minor stuff like that slide."
Melissa had a point. I knew full well the hardships they endured, so failing to overlook something like this would tank their morale in an instant.
"What are you talking about? You're the one who told me to build a welfare system, so here I am."
"What the heck are you even planning to do with moonstones?"
"Data storage."
More precisely, something to store specific information.
"Day... what? What's that?"
"Just watch."
Without hesitation, I placed my hand on the piled-up moonstones.
At the same time, the Machine God's Heart activated, and information about the countless moonstones and their impurities began flowing into me.
What I needed was 100% pure moonstone.
There was enough to fill an entire room, but even processing it all would yield only a portion of pure moonstone.
That didn't matter.
I could at least make a prototype for the watchpost cabin right away.
Having sorted all the information on impurities and pure moonstone, I began processing it swiftly.
Processing moonstone normally required investing a huge amount of time, but the Machine God's Heart was a single authority I'd gained in exchange for an enormous amount of mana.
In fact, if used well, this heart could turn weapons into scrap metal.
As a power specialized in altering materials whose information had been fully analyzed, it skipped all those processes entirely.
Soon, light enveloped the moonstones, separating them into a massive lump of impurities and pure moonstone.
The volume shrank from room-filling to just enough for two or three people, but I felt satisfied.
"Higher purity than expected. This should be plenty."
"Good lord... What is this...?"
Melissa muttered in disbelief, even seeing it with her own eyes.
"This is pure moonstone? The color is so strange."
"More precisely, it's transformed moonstone. The internal molecular structure has changed."
This process would normally require immense high-pressure, high-heat refining, but I didn't need any of that now.
I divided the finished moonstone into circuit-board-sized pieces.
Then I gathered pre-prepared materials and processed them once more.
For this kind of processing, I needed to have the information on the finished product in mind.
It required a whole different level of difficulty from simply purifying raw materials, but that was fine.
The information for the processed item—combining moonstone with a few special materials—was already crystal clear in my head.
About five seconds of sparkling later, the moonstone transformed into green-tinted gems.
I picked up one of the gems and immediately cast a necromancy spell.
Such necromancy wasn't allowed in the Hall of Sages.
So even for the same result, I'd needed other means, but things were different here.
I could use magic, and I was skilled with sword and martial arts.
In other words, I didn't need to rely solely on magitech for results.
[Memory Reloading]
This necromancy spell stores my memories as memory magic and saves them into a medium.
I didn't know much about elemental magic, but when it came to human memory or souls, nothing could surpass necromancy.
Normally, I'd write code instead of memories, but with necromancy for memories available, there was no need.
And with the Machine God's Heart, I engraved a magic circle onto the surface with exquisite precision and activated it.
After that, I dumped in a certain amount of pre-gathered materials to create a prototype.
The design was already complete. I'd made similar ones several times in Labyrinthos for other purposes.
To test the prototype, I gripped the finished product and generated a specific frequency.
Normally, another device would be needed to produce that wavelength.
But since I could use magic now, I generated the wavelength arbitrarily.
At the same time, the moonstone sparkled, and something connected to my consciousness in an instant. Refusing the odd sensation would have been futile; instead, my awareness blurred.
When I opened my eyes again, I saw an empty void—truly nothing existed there. But a smile tugged at my lips.
Librarian's Warning
[Prolonged stay in this space may place significant strain on the soul.]
I already knew the librarian's warning.
"Hmm. Let's add some code."
I spread my fingers and focused necromantic mana.
Then I scattered specific code everywhere.
Like electrical signals, it spread out, and light began bursting around me.
As if, at the genesis, light was born from the will of a god.
"Not bad."
What I'd created was none other than a multi-linked illusion space.
By processing moonstone—a special medium—with various materials simultaneously, linking them together, and drawing human consciousness into a hypnosis-like state without side effects.
Here, a person's awareness lingered in a specific space, as if trapped in an illusion.
That space was formed by coding fragments of memory via the Memory Reloading spell I'd just inserted.
What was this?
A similar concept had existed on Earth in my previous life.
Semi-virtual reality.
If you couldn't enjoy the sea from a mountain, just create a virtual sea space.
A week after sweeping up the moonstones.
I'd devoted myself in the workshop to turning moonstones into artifacts.
It didn't need to be flashy or overly intricate.
A wide, white beach lined with coral everywhere, schools of tropical fish swimming in droves.
A sun identical to the real one, but with no effect on the skin.
Yes, it was all fake.
A single hallucination dressed up to seem real.
Grasp the finished artifact and utter a special command phrase, and it activates, linking to the holder's mind.
In other words, the watch squad could enjoy a beach during breaks right in their cabin.
I'd succeeded first with the sea, but the rest were still tricky.
I couldn't code others' memories, so everything was based on mine.
"Very nice."
A parasol and sunbed on the beach.
And Luna lounging leisurely atop it, sipping a drink in one hand while enjoying the sea breeze.
One-piece swimsuit and sunglasses to boot. In fact, half the items here differed slightly from those on the Lazeros Continent.
"How is it? Any spots that feel off?"
"Not bad. If it's too realistic, it might feel disconnected instead, so this level is just right."
Luna replied with her eyes closed, slightly lifting the edge of her sunglasses.
Why wear sunglasses if her eyes were closed anyway?
As she said, since this was an illusion and not reality, I'd added various safeguards to prevent confusion with the real world.
A prime example was the massive magic circle constellations floating in the sky.
The huge stars visible even in daylight screamed "not real," periodically reminding users this wasn't reality.
Plus, to allow exit and implement conveniences, I'd added a command tab in the corner of the user's vision, like a game interface.
"Was all that really necessary?"
Then a voice came from below my feet.
It was Melissa, buried in a sand bath with only her head sticking out.
She'd claimed to hate the sea, but after trying it a few times for testing, she was hooked.
The sea had taken her family. Before slaying the kraken and weeping her fill, she probably would have shunned the sea itself.
The psychological safety of this virtual sea being 100% harmless surely helped too.
"Why keep implanting that it's not real?"
"Mixing reality and illusion can cause accidents. But you hated the sea—now look at you enjoying it?"
She fell silent at my question, then turned her head away.
Seemed she'd gotten so into it that she'd half-forgotten her own reservations.
Acting all sharp and tough on the outside, but what a scatterbrain.
"It's an illusion, after all. At first it felt weird, but the longer I'm here, the more it feels detached from reality."
Fair enough. That disconnect probably eased her aversion.
This beach was made for tourism in the first place.
It couldn't match the structure of natural landscapes.
"Nothing besides the sea?"
"For now. It's not easy to make."
In truth, since I'd tested a similar field in the Hall of Sages, this was relatively simple. Other places would need fine-tuning, taking more time.