Chapter 175
Chapter 175
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 175
Chapter Title: The Machine Age Emperor
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If one had to name Kyle Rak Orzen's current occupation, it would have to be emperor.
He was the ruler of a vast empire spanning two continents—the man who drew the closest scrutiny from the gods themselves.
What ordinary folk made of him went without saying.
Some dismissed him as nothing more than a pawn caught up in the gods' wars. Yet before he'd even turned twenty, he'd unified an entire continent. He had been the direct architect of countless wars and the advisor to Great General Basen, who had personally led the armies into battle.
On top of that, he'd discovered a new continent and expanded the frontier settlements.
He had formed an adventuring party to take on the gods' trials and ultimately succeeded.
Now, even on the western and eastern continents, just beginning their exchanges, word was spreading of the Great Blackscale Empire.
Merchants crossing the great oceans boasted that their own nations were the true superpowers, but none could hold a candle to Blackscale.
No matter how solid a foundation Apostle Rakrak had laid, Kyle's feat of forging it into a great empire stood shoulder to shoulder with that achievement.
Still, there were those who felt a twinge of regret.
Many believed this young emperor had no more great deeds left in him.
But Kyle's saga was only just beginning.
To Seong-un's eyes, had Kyle been born into a more advanced civilization, he would have become a scholar.
Not some run-of-the-mill academic, but one of civilization's rare giants—the sort who could single-handedly drag the world forward, unearthing discoveries and inventions that advanced humanity by entire centuries.
'But Kyle was born into this era.'
And that was precisely why he could accomplish something even greater.
Kyle hadn't started out as an ordinary man. He began from the throne of a king, one who could bend people and resources to his will.
Not only that—he enjoyed the gods' favor and the blessings of his ancestors.
When he slept, sages from ages past whispered secrets in his ear. When he gazed up at the night sky, Yacheon revealed divine truths through the stars.
Kyle went beyond merely following the gods' will.
He sought to divine their intentions—perhaps even those the gods themselves didn't fully grasp—and uncover the simplest path to their true essence.
That was why he'd backed the creation of steam engines as a man of science, designed automatic looms as an engineer, and foreseen the futures these machines would unleash as a futurist.
Even futures yet unborn, Kyle could sketch them out on blank paper.
'In the end, machines will change everything.'
It was only natural that Kyle threw his full support behind the steam engines, looms, and the countless other machines pouring from workshops.
While the Age of Adventure raged on across the Fourth Continent, the Third Continent sprouted factories without number.
By imperial decree, schools rose in every province to train scholars. Merchants were ordered to erect factories.
And technicians versed in these machines were given the respect they deserved.
To curb overcrowding in the cities, factory numbers were capped in each region—even at the cost of efficiency.
Surplus wealth was taxed and funneled to underdeveloped areas.
The local nobles, desperate for labor, shifted from oppressing minority races to wooing them instead.
To court these minorities, priests of the Pantheon ventured into the Third Continent's untouched wilds.
They spoke of how the Pantheon gods had once warred with clashing wills, only to unite as one—and how that unity had forged the history they now lived.
Those who had shunned civilization for generations now took the priests' hands and stepped from the forests onto the roads.
Water wheels—even the four at Automaton City—became relics of a bygone age.
Vast quantities of coal were devoured.
Kobold miners gawked at the emperor's staggering payouts, forced to unroll maps their ancestors had buried for even more pay.
The elves put their meticulous nature and keen intellect to good use.
Behind the massive production lines lurked numbers.
Administrative and accounting drudgery that would baffle other races suited the elves' pedantic dispositions perfectly.
Ogres hauled cargo between ports and factories, loading ships and wagons.
Centaur porters were ever a hit with merchants. Truth be told, hiring one centaur beat the cost of a horse and driver any day.
Halfling pickpockets ran rampant. But then someone realized their small frames were ideal for weaving through cramped machinery, and their nimble fingers perfect for coaxing cranky contraptions back to life.
The gnomes' precision differed from the elves'. They rooted out typos in newspapers and sniffed out the accounting tricks of greedy tycoons.
The real threats? Orcs who dangled their lives as collateral to become reporters.
And the winds stirred by the Third Continent didn't stop there.
The colossal upheaval overturning every industry swept onto the Fourth Continent.
The Age of Adventure might continue unabated from the Third Continent's view.
Pangolians, rakshasas, and all manner of minorities swiftly embraced the astonishing knowledge unearthed in their lifetimes.
Factories began rising—even in Basenial, deepest in the Fourth Continent.
It started as a mere hiccup.
As a brand-new city, Basenial had its share of shortcomings, and its spiral-wing and wyvern transport systems were glitchy.
Spiral wings failed often, and wyverns were too curious to heed their knight riders reliably.
One factory owner—a former adventurer—ran short on coal supply.
With deliveries looming, he sought the nearest jack-of-all-trades: the mage Mazdari.
The two were acquainted, and Mazdari took an academic shine to whether magic could substitute for coal.
Mazdari dusted off the rotational magic that had saved a plummeting Basen over a decade prior. In that time, he'd absorbed the new continent's lore—far beyond the flashy tricks of his youth.
Over the years, it evolved independently, not as steam engines but as magic engines.
As civilization's twin pillars intertwined and reinforced one another, the gale Kyle had summoned swelled into a storm beyond words.
Machines upended the continents and every life upon them.
And as that tempest raged on, the Age of Adventure—which had peaked for some twenty years—began to slowly fade...
Seong-un beheld what the adventurers had uncovered at the southern tip of the Fourth Continent.
A city.
A modest port city, teeming with civilized folk. But the shock came from their self-proclaimed affiliation—a name all too familiar.
The city belonged to the Danri Alliance Kingdom.
Adventurers not of the Third Continent had spotted signs of them before, but their origins were a mystery. Now, they'd traced it back to the source.
A whisper reached Seong-un's ear.
He received it via video chat.
A voice laced with metallic reverb rang out.
"Long time no see, Nebula."
Seong-un checked the sender.
A steel horn-helmet jutting from the head, crimson glow in the eyes—an unforgettable silhouette.
Final ranking second place. His rival before arriving in this world. The Lost World player against whom Seong-un had claimed his first victory over another player, long ago: Hegemonia.
Seong-un knew him well.
He tilted his head with a slight nod and said,
"Who was that again?"
Hegemonia bristled.
"You joking?"
"After about 150 years, easy to forget, right?"
"You remember. We've even chatted now and then."
"Something like that."
"Just say you remember already. I've got 150 years of grudges to settle."
Seong-un thought,
'Then maybe it's better if I don't?'
Hegemonia said,
"Nah, whatever. Doesn't matter if you don't."
"You'll do whatever you want anyway..."
As Seong-un shot back, he sensed Hegemonia peering past him.
Seong-un had mounted the podium in the conference chamber, with other players seated behind.
"Looks like you've picked up some stragglers in the meantime. Feeling full of yourself?"
"Stragglers? Harsh words. Don't wanna upset the stragglers."
Krampus muttered,
"You're the worst one here."
Seong-un ignored the whispers from behind and said,
"What about you? Solo?"
"Obviously. Never needed a team. Taken out five players so far."
With that, Hegemonia pulled five vassal idols from his inventory and gripped them tight.
"Five?"
Seong-un glanced back briefly, then eyed Hegemonia again.
"I've got seven, plus an evil god for eight. Guess I win."
Hegemonia smacked his hand away.
"Numbers don't count!"
Another mutter rose from behind Seong-un.
"Wait, is this asshole treating us like trophies?"
"Think it's our first rodeo?"
Krampus and Runda tossed in their quips.
Despite the jabs from front and rear, Seong-un stayed cool.
"Anyway, if you're here to brag, wrong guy. If it's just banter... not bad."
Hegemonia said,
"No! I'd beat you lot anyway, so I'm giving you one last chance before we talk."
"What's your basis for that confidence?"
Hegemonia, who'd been pumping his fists in excitement, suddenly went stone-cold calm. He crossed his arms and declared,
"I've got 'War'."
At that, even Seong-un couldn't help but feel a flicker of surprise.
It was that old sensation from countless Lost World runs—when a foe wielded a potent unique domain.
'Talk about unlucky.'
He hadn't confirmed it, but if Hegemonia held a high-win-rate unique like War, he might never have lost a game.
Just like Seong-un.
But Seong-un calmly assessed his own forces.
There was no reason to back down.
Seong-un said,
"One thing I'm curious about."
"Shoot."
"Got a hunch, but how'd you pop up in the south of the Fourth Continent?"
Hegemonia replied,
"I took the north of the Second Continent. Planet's round, yeah? The northern ocean route from there probably hits the Fourth fastest. Like this..."
Hegemonia casually conjured a Lost World map and traced the shortest path linking the continents.
Just as he'd said.
Seong-un snapped his fingers lightly.
"Ah, I get it now..."
Seong-un answered,
"So smash you, and not only the Second Continent opens up—the path to the First does too."
Flames sparked in Hegemonia's eyes.
"If you can manage it."
83 years after the war erupted between the Blackscale Empire and the Danri Alliance Kingdom on the Fourth Continent...
The two nations were still at war.