Chapter 249
Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 249
Chapter Title: Apostle Kyle and the Sanctuary
Kyle Rak Orjan became an apostle after his death.
On the final day of the funeral, the empire's citizens were finally able to compose themselves and rise only after the apostle Kyle appeared.
And Kyle came face-to-face with Rakrak at the entrance to the pantheon.
Apostle Kyle looked even younger than he had at the time of his death, appearing more youthful than Rakrak, who had reached middle age. Though his body wasn't frail from constant activity, the difference in their builds made them look like an adult and a child from a distance.
Kyle bowed his head and then lifted it.
"I greet Thunder Dragon Emperor Rakrak."
"Let's skip that. We didn't stand on ceremony when I was around."
"...Understood."
"Besides, we're old acquaintances, aren't we?"
"Yes."
During the war with the United Kingdom, Rakrak had shown himself frequently, and he had crossed paths with Kyle, who had commanded directly on the battlefield.
As Rakrak led the Kyle who had been summoned by Yacheon, he said,
"Moreover, Yacheon doesn't care much for all that pomp and circumstance."
"I thought as much."
"Uh..."
Rakrak pondered for a moment before speaking.
"That part will exceed your expectations. Whatever Yacheon says, don't be surprised. Still, he's a good soul, so it'll be a pleasant conversation."
"What do you mean by whatever Yacheon says?"
Rakrak crossed his arms and tilted his head at the question.
"...How should I put it? He'll ask if you can accomplish something impossible. For example, remember when I took down the five Guardians of the Furious One not long ago?"
"Of course."
Kyle nodded and continued,
"You were a great help back then, Rakrak. We could stand toe-to-toe with the United Kingdom thanks to your exploits."
"Enough flattery. Anyway, that's what Yacheon asked at the time: 'Can you win against those things?'"
"And you answered that you could?"
"No, I said I couldn't."
Rakrak added,
"But he just told me to do it anyway, saying I could."
"...I see."
"And I did it."
Rakrak grabbed Kyle's shoulder and said,
"The lesson here is simple."
"Understood. It means Yacheon knows us better than we know ourselves."
Rakrak blinked several times in surprise at the unexpected response.
"No, it means if he says jump, you jump."
"Ah."
Rakrak chuckled heartily as he opened the door, giving a slightly dazed Kyle a push on the back.
"Hope you have a good talk. You won't regret it."
That room would later be called the "Sanctuary," and in its center were Yacheon and Seong-un.
Kyle, who had spent most of his life as a king and then an emperor, sensed something in Yacheon's presence that surpassed all that.
Kyle even thought it might not originate solely from Yacheon. Creatures, apostles, and divine beings possessed a power called "divinity," and he had a theory that it exerted influence on those without divinity.
But seeing Seong-un, Kyle realized it wasn't necessarily the case.
"I humbly greet Yacheon."
Uncharacteristically tense, Kyle awaited Seong-un's words.
Seong-un said,
"No need for such formalities. Just a brief greeting from now on."
"Yes, understood."
"That tone too."
"Yes."
Seong-un rested his chin on his hand before diving straight into the main topic.
"Can you build the machine I'm about to describe?"
"...Pardon?"
What Seong-un described was a computer.
Of course, conveying the concept of a computer required several steps.
At the time of Kyle's death, even electricity was poorly understood, so they had to start with primitive calculators.
States that could be called 0 and 1, logic circuits that remembered and read those changes. Astonishing things those circuits could achieve beyond a certain quantity. This world itself might just be fragments of information. Perhaps that machine could even capture the world's form.
When the explanation ended, Kyle had grown deeply serious.
"A very... complex machine."
"Can you do it?"
"Honestly, I don't know."
Seong-un cut in.
"Wrong, Kyle. You can."
Kyle belatedly recalled Rakrak's words.
If he says jump, you jump.
The times that followed were anything but easy.
Kyle first gathered scholars and met other gods, learning about the machine called a *computer* from the gods.
The greatest and most valuable help came from Wisdom, unequivocally.
Given his history of fighting against Wisdom in the past, Kyle thought Wisdom might be uncomfortable, but the gods harbored no such sentiments.
Wisdom fully supported Kyle and the scholars, and within a decade, they produced a primitive vacuum tube computer. This machine could output solutions to simple equations.
Though electromagnetism had advanced within the pantheon, full-scale progress lagged, and it took another decade for electronic computers to emerge. The players' prior knowledge of computers' existence wasn't entirely helpful—it came from trial and error in reaching that point.
That's when momentum built.
The first electronic computer could perform three additions or subtractions per second; the next year, it managed sixty. Teams split to develop various versions, with clear goals and directions leading to more precise technological advances.
The computers' immense size consumed vast amounts of faith in their construction.
Once, players including Jangwan argued that it was all pointless, and Seong-un seriously contemplated it. A major battle with the United Kingdom had occurred, but insufficient total faith prevented a decisive victory.
Yet Wisdom, initially opposed to the plan, vigorously countered at that time.
The computers, showing satisfactory—if not modern—computing power, began evolving toward miniaturization to reduce faith consumption, but progress slowed again here.
Earth's modern computers were byproducts of diverse sciences: electromagnetism, semiconductors, quantum mechanics. Even the pantheon's scholars had limits. Scientific progress couldn't rely solely on an elite group.
Still, after a long time, though imperfect, Kyle could tell Seong-un,
"I can't say for certain yet, but we've reached the foot of what you requested."
What Kyle had created was quite close to a modern computer.
Wisdom and the scholars devised a new computer programming language together, reminiscent of Wisdom's own. The scholars called Wisdom's programming language sacred.
This was faster than any computer before.
And for good reason: the computing device in that small box filled an entire vast chamber. Divided only for heat dissipation, it was one massive computer, called the "Sanctuary"—named after the space itself.
The Sanctuary currently housed only one software.
More computers like the Sanctuary might emerge later, but not yet. Built solely for this function, changing it required further scholarly effort.
The software loaded in the Sanctuary was named "Lost World 2.0."
This software lacked elements simulating a real world as Seong-un had hoped. Instead, Lost World 2.0 was nearly identical to Earth's Lost World.
The players remembered every element of Lost World, but the difference was the additions from changes since entering this world.
The Fourth Continent, demon gods, unfamiliar races, and newly discovered unique domains had been incorporated.
And Lost World 2.0 included features unsupported in the original.
Setting a world and viewpoint, then simulating future events from that setup.
This was Lost World 2.0's core function, demanding the most effort.
Lost World 2.0 could run up to 120,000 such simulations.
And Seong-un confirmed that Kyle had reached the "foot" of it with those simulations.
Reflecting the current world in a simulation, the highest-match future matched reality.
A single simulation exceeded 80% accuracy; more simulations neared 99%.
The pantheon now truly possessed the power of foresight.
'Of course, nothing's perfect.'
But this immense computation consumed equivalent faith.
To power the computer's electricity, a single simulation depleted faith in percentage points, prompting Wisdom to research alternatives to electricity for the structure.
Of course, building their own power plant was ideal, but with the research group fixated on the Sanctuary, progress stalled. Certain resources consumed even more faith, so improving generation methods offered uncertain benefits.
Nevertheless, the Sanctuary's existence became the decisive factor in the pantheon's victory over Hegemonia.
Numerous choices stemmed from it.
Where revolutions would start, who would invent electricity, Hegemonia's strategies, the forces Hegemonia would bring to Rasdasil—all discovered or reconfirmed.
Outwardly, the pantheon seemed merely reactive against the Furious One, but internally, it achieved greater stability.
And again, at Seong-un's command, the Sanctuary consumed massive power to pinpoint Hegemonia's possession target.
Just minutes ago.
The pantheon's second apostle, Kyle Rak Orjan, possessed a skill inheriting his fame.
One Who Fulfills Heaven's Will
When directly commanding, divinity equal to the current divinity level is imbued.
And the mobile shells were under Kyle's command.
Meanwhile, Hegemonia could not predict any of this.
'...Divinity in a shell?'
Even Hegemonia's accelerated thinking, enhanced by divinity, required too much imagination for what Seong-un and the pantheon had wrought.
The irrational, absurd fact of preempting the possession site and striking it with a divinity-infused shell.
Yet Hegemonia didn't deny it.
Hegemonia knew nothing of the pantheon's Sanctuary but was aware of the elusive second apostle, always wary.
Even when the pantheon used less faith than expected, Hegemonia believed they hid reserves.
Gaps existed in the pantheon's movements. Hegemonia knew that.
'Those gaps... were for this? For this exact moment?'
He realized it, but could not respond.
The projectile from the mobile turret pulverized Orc-Hegemonia's body.