Chapter. 15. Can someone who has seen the end of the world plant an apple tree? (1)
****
A world that stands still. In the waves of system messages and unknown strings that fill your eyes so quickly that you can’t read them.
The professor desperately wants to know what he knows before everything he knows is thrown into chaos. I remembered things I thought I knew.
‘This is a game.’
Interface and Neurolink. No matter how much you eat to fill your stomach in the game, in real life your body is starving, so there is a meal feeder attached to the connector. They prove this simple and solid proposition.
GG, as the name suggests, is Gedreutz’s game and is a medieval fantasy game that embodies virtual reality. It’s a simple and clear fact.
Tiring. Tiring. Tiring. Tiring.
….actually. According to my own experience. It wasn’t that simple or clear.
Back when I lived alone. I’m sure it was created with data from my deceased parents, just like I saw the couple NPC in the small cabin here. The people I met here were all human clones that converted everything from past players and real people into data.
they cry Smiling. Anguished and conflicted.
‘Even if the data can be easily copied. I have the data of Ottman, Aldrich, Lucilla Borca, etc. in my hands and have to increase and delete it as needed. ‘Can I easily get my hands on their data?’
….At the point when I’m thinking about this, it probably means that GG is already out of the category of a simple game to me. Just as they wish for my well-being and happiness. Just as their eyes turn red when they break up with me and they force themselves to turn their heads in fear that those red eyes might make them hesitate, I also have the same feelings as them.
this is. Is it a game…?
****
Hwaaaaaaa!
The professor quickly came out of his thoughts as a feeling of floating overtook his mind. Since I was seventeen, 70% of my life has been unexpected. If he had been slow to respond to the changed situation, the boy Professor Park would never have survived to become Professor Park, a wasteland survivor.
The world stopped and system messages appeared one after another like a broken computer, covering him, and then a wave of unknown strings completely isolated him.
‘This feeling. I haven’t felt it in a few months, but I’m used to it.’
A feeling of your body floating, as if the ground beneath your feet is sinking or submerged in a dense liquid. It’s the same feeling I felt every time I logged in to the connector.
‘Or… log out.’
The professor consciously shook off the worst assumptions that came to mind. It is meaningless to think of situations that cannot be controlled. Given the situation now. Information given. Find your way with the abilities you are given. The only external information given to him right now is a short system message.
System message. okay. Something I haven’t seen in a while.
“Status window.”
A function that was considered meaningless at some point and was not used. When the professor said it, the words were forming themselves in a flood of strings, like a sandcastle rising from a sandy beach.
=========
Log/info
Name: Professor. Professor Park.
Occupation: Simulation No.3 – 437691 subjects. Approved finished product.
Race: Human (mutated)
Gender: Male
Origin: Downfall$^&@%*—– Individual survivor. Scavenger. Solver.
Age: 25
+Log
+Item
=========
“This… isn’t me.”
Unexpected situation. The most important thing in unexpected circumstances is to maintain composure. Anyone in the special forces would have heard this so hard that it would hit their ears. But…
=========
Characteristics: [Curiosity] [Observation] [Lack of affection] [Mental breakdown (overcome)] [Magic aptitude (not manifested due to environmental factors)]
====== ===
How many people can maintain composure in a situation like this? Status window. A status window that should display the character’s status.
In a situation where information about the human Professor Park was drawn.
The reason the professor was able to navigate the character information window with trembling fingers was probably not because of his great will, but because he desperately wanted to get rid of it right in front of his eyes.
Anything was fine, so I needed something to understand the situation. Something that allows you to accept this as part of reality and think about what comes next.
Fortunately, I had plenty to think about.
=========
+Log
[[email protected]*^ ‘professor’ has reached a crossroads in history – dldldldl]
[Externally linked exposed data. Blocking completed.]
[Simulation No.3 – 437691. Singularity reached.]
[….Confirmed that Player ‘professor’ data permission point has not been reached.]
[Nerve stimulation and brain wave disturbance for confidentiality… .. . . . . Error.]
[….Unconfirmed dummy data. ‘# Hyde’ on hold. Temporarily stored.]
[Infringes on the player’s rights for debugging and phase implementation.]
=========
First, the message containing my name. Because it means that there is a direct connection between me and something.
‘There was no foreshadowing that the situation would turn like this. If so, it would be difficult to judge that this is an in-game situation.’
‘….don’t be agitated. Don’t be upset. There are enough ingredients. If it were a situation that happened to me, I could at least understand the part that was connected to me.’
The starting point of the incident. It wasn’t difficult to recall it. The current situation was very foreign, and before I was dragged somewhere like this, I had already seen something that I shouldn’t have been here.
‘The flag of the new empire. And their flag used by the Dom.’
Anyone who knew the Dome’s flag knew that it had the same shape.
Underdome revealing the city and railgun turret defenses. The spherical border symbolizes the Upper Dome’s upper-class building and the dome’s shield located at the top. The central generator and Mayer Zeus skyscraper run through its center.
Conversely, the upper hemisphere resembles the fruit of a tree with long, spreading branches and leaves. The stem that runs down the center covers the top as if it grew from Lionel, the symbol of the old empire. Lionel, embedded in the ground, was creating a lower hemisphere with its roots that seemed to have grown the free will of the new empire.
Exactly the reverse with only a slight difference. As it was a complex pattern, the possibility of it being a coincidence was close to zero.
‘The intersection of history. Intersection…. The moment I discovered the flag, I was separated from the game at the request of the administrator.’
Considering that the process was carried out to ensure confidentiality along with the phrase that the data permission point was not reached, this means that players who did not meet the conditions should never see or remember this scene.
The death of the emperor and the flag handed to me. It must be in the same context that chat rooms and broadcasts were cut off around that time. A fact no one should know.
Crossroads of history. The part where reality and games intersect.
[Nerve stimulation and brain wave disturbance for confidentiality….. . . . . Error.]
[At the request of administrator ‘World Tree’—]
And the process that should have been carried out was interrupted by someone. According to the last message, the target is…
Tiring-!
[Load complete. Arrived at the backstage.]
The professor’s thoughts were interrupted by a white string that began to blink along with the mechanical voice of a notification sound.
[PLAY]
Blink. Flash.
A large letter blinked in front of him as if urging him to press it quickly.
The professor cautiously stretched out his hand, still with unanswered questions. With the hope that he would find out the rest from whoever invited him.
The waves of letters that had enveloped him dispersed.
****
Hwaaaah!
“Tsk!”
I don’t know how much time I spent caught up in the waves of text messages. It seemed like my eyes had time to adjust to the darkness.
Enemy territory. As the environment was unfamiliar, all of the professor’s senses were sharpened.
‘bright. There is no noise such as filament noise. It doesn’t have the characteristic bright heat that makes it similar to other electric lights. I can’t feel the sacred power of the Holy Light or the mana of the luminescent magic. It would be better to judge it as natural light.’
‘The smell of blood… no. It smells like iron. There is a faint smell of iron.’
‘I was placed somewhere, but I wasn’t detained. The sound of the robes rubbing against each other is strangely soft yet rough. tree? ‘Wooden chair?’
It’s been a long time since I was afraid to open my eyes. The professor carefully opened his eyes, imagining the cold truth he would face when he opened them.
and. When he finally confirmed the identity of what was revealed before his eyes. Just as reality had always been cruel and brilliant beyond his imagination.
“Ah…”
It had a double-faced beauty that instantly broke down the guard of a professor who had lived at the cutting edge of life.
tree. It is in the shape of a huge tree. The branches grow endlessly and cover the sky, and the lush leaves hang from the ends.
It shines majestically, as if embracing both dawn and dusk, and the ground below. Above is a thick trunk connecting branches that cover the sky.
Just by looking at the thick roots exposed on the ground, it is clear that they have reached every corner of the earth.
However, all this is different from its beautiful form.
Tirik. Dang. Tidig-
Blink. Blink.
Instead of the green color of growing life, the leaves were shining with the dizzying light of a bright display with a black screen. The tree trunks that supported the world were the color of cold metal and wires. It was made up of blinking machine lights.
It covered the sky and formed the earth. A being that encompasses the world with electricity and data instead of blue life force. A bundle of thick and thin wires and iron plates. A silver mechanical tree that grows with countless data chips, antenna displays, etc. intertwined.
This is the ‘Mother Tree’ that no player has identified. It was the truth of the world tree.
“Isn’t it beautiful?”
Suddenly, the professor realized that someone was sitting next to him and that he was sitting on a bench on a small hill with a clear view of the World Tree. A long bench left on a low hill. Himself sitting on it and someone occupying the seat next to him.
“It’s not easy to look up from below, so I enjoy looking at it from a distance like this. “I invited you here because I thought it was the best place, but… were you disappointed because it wasn’t what you expected?”
It looked like a girl wearing white clothes, a mature girl wearing the same clothes, or an old woman standing at the edge of twilight.
An antenna resembling a small sapling was growing at her feet, so the professor was able to carefully guess its identity.
“World Tree… are you there?”
“It’s called that too.”
A face that turns towards him with an answer.
…I don’t know if this sentence holds true.
The professor thought that the face looked like the face of a machine that had finally succeeded in completely programming the concept of ‘goodness’.
****
“….”
“….”
“….”
“….”
“….I am not so bound by the concept of time, so I don’t know the right time to say something. “It’s sweet.”
“….”
“Of course, it’s been a while since I’ve been a guest, so it’s nice to just watch you like this. “Living, breathing beings move without resting for a moment, so it’s fun to look at them.”
“….”
“….”
“….Let’s ask straight.”
Under the shadow of the World Tree’s machine. The professor, who was pondering the question of not knowing where to begin, opened his mouth in front of the invitee who seemed to have no intention of starting first.
First of all, I really don’t want to even think about it. Starting with the ones I can’t control, the most serious ones, and the ones with the highest probability that I’ve always thought they could happen at any time.
“if. My real body ended up dying. Am I now in the process of completely turning into an NPC? “Some sort of entry procedure?”
“hmm.”
“…If it is a question that is difficult to answer.”
“well…..”
.
.
.
.
gulp.
“No.”
“Puhaaa! Huh! Whoa! Say the damn thing quickly! It was already number 1 given the circumstances, so I thought of this as soon as I quit the game! “Are you kidding me!”
“I’m sorry. However, it has been rare to see such a dynamic expression, so I have to say that it was well worth the delay.”
“No, what…”
Aside from the fact that the World Tree had a bad personality, I felt a sense of relief that my biggest worry had been overcome for now.
As soon as I had the feeling of logging out, being covered in strings and being taken to a completely unknown place, that was the first thought that came to mind. A phrase like
[GAME OVER – You are Dead]
flashed before my eyes. Under the circumstances, that was the most reasonable thing to do.
Now that you’ve answered the most important question, it’s time to wait.
If you invited him, it means you want something from him.
Judging from the situation, it seemed like the World Tree wanted to say something to him.
‘Right now, everything is uncertain, so it’s best to keep your mouth shut and accept what’s being said… but like she said, if you wait, you don’t know how long you’ll have to wait.’
I have to start if she opens her mouth. I thought it would be a good idea to start by digging into the facts that we know to some extent.
The professor had difficulty opening his mouth to the humanoid of the World Tree, smiling like a living mannequin.
“You said you were the one who invited me.”
“okay.”
“Administrator ‘World Tree’.”
“As a manager, you are given that name.”
“What do you manage?”
“world. Or the story of everything the world almost became.”
With a short answer, she raised her hand, and one of the branches of the World Tree that covered the sky slowly bent towards her fingertips.
In the professor’s opinion, it is a sturdy branch that produces more fruit than other branches and emits a bright light.
“This is… the branch of the First Completer. Simulation No. 1 – 285034. Princess Rabbit was truly witty, wise, and lovely. Yes, he was a child loved by humans, gods, and dragons.”
“Princess Rabbit… Ranker Rabbit?”
“okay. The branches extending from here were also hers. “I thought she would sprout the next branch, but… it grew in a completely unexpected direction.”
Branches appeared one after another. Unlike the previous two, it was straight without any curves, but it was a dry branch without even a single leaf, let alone fruit.
“Simulation No.3 – 402998 This belongs to Emperor Chen Liu. He was a strong, upright, and unwavering child… but in the end, nothing could shake the child who had become so rigid that nothing could grow. “It was very disappointing.”
The professor’s eyes are dry and abundant. It passed by the World Tree looking at it one after another.
The previous two were Levitt’s.
The one that grew but dried up was that of Cheonryuje.
Considering the similarities between the two, it was not difficult to infer what a completer was.
“And this. “It is your branch that you just left behind.”
The professor’s eyes were caught by the branch that had fallen in front of him, one step ahead of the coming realization.
The branches of the machine tree boast abundant leaves, although they are still shorter than the previous ones. The fruits hanging at the end were polyhedrons made of small screens, each showing their contents to the outside.
Borka returns to the forest with the surviving children.
Roman let out a long-held sigh with a smile as the prototype airship finally came to mind.
One corner has collapsed, but there is no way you can’t recognize it. A young breeze above it.
And even though it wasn’t clear yet. All the faces I’ve passed by so far, sprinkling bright light with countless leaves and small fruits.
“It’s your world. Your concerns and choices. effort. sacrifice. “All of those things took root and sprouted… A beautiful world created by Professor Park of 3 World.”
The professor was so moved by the sight that he forgot what to say and had to struggle to keep his tongue from moving. You have to ask. What is all this for?
“Is this… a game?”
“It’s a game. Just as the land did not simply wait for a specific seed and collect its nutrients. Both for you and for me. “A place prepared not for my father, who created all of this, but for someone I don’t even know exists.”
Words that fall lonely like sighs and autumn leaves. The professor had no choice but to hold his breath.
“The introduction is late. I am the world tree. Admin World Tree and Gedreutz’s game. The one who observes all the branches and all the world that sprout every time a player is born. Of the two twin personalities waiting for completion, this one awaits the one who will grow within and be completed.”
And finally. The truth flowed out like a sentence from the mouth of the World Tree, who narrowed her eyes as if sorry.
“GG’s seven worlds… are all worlds of possibility that extend from reality. A destruction that would have happened someday. A disaster that would have happened someday. Split and split. Seven simulations that were barely rescued from the endless stream of possibilities. “The possibility of a world that could have become ‘reality’ rather than the name ‘March World’ with just one flap of a small butterfly’s wings.”
We know very well that no matter how old-fashioned and cutting-edge technology it is, it is a technology that cannot be achieved in the realm of calculation and prediction.
Even if it had been invented by a genius of the time called Gedreutz, he could have given more than 100 logical reasons why such technology did not make sense.
And now the World Tree is sitting in front of us. Despite that leap of logic. I could also tell that he was telling the truth.
“GG is a game that puts you above the future or the past that could have been. A world that has never existed in reality, but could have become reality through small choices. From the moment when humans split a long time ago when they flicked a flint to start a fire and when they died from the cold in a rain-soaked cave and created a spark with mana. Until the moment when the key to launch the missile was finally inserted and the moment when someone full of courage threw away the key and died. What we have succeeded in calculating and reproducing in this world of all possible possibilities. Seven histories connected by one line. Seven worlds. “That is the essence of Gedreutz’s game.”
“Then the intersection is….”
“History repeats itself. “Isn’t that what happens in any history?”
As the professor heard the World Tree’s words, he remembered the dome’s flag fluttering before his eyes.
A group that rose up and advocated for justice in a world collapsing due to war and mutations.
In a world collapsing due to the invasion of Mutation Blood, the Empire of the God Emperor collapsed at the hands of a witch and rose again.
“To the dome of reality. To the Empire of the 3 World. No matter what history we go through, that pattern appears with those who embrace the justice of the past and move toward reconstruction of the present.”
“now. Why this game? “Do you understand why we needed records and data from real people?”
In the end, the professor closed his eyes tightly.
This was a game, but it wasn’t a game.
****
The pattern of the dome. Central Power Plant and Mayer Zeus. The upper class buildings of the Upper Dome and the city of the Under Dome. The turret and electropole symbolize the city shield that surrounds everything.
The new flag of the empire. A giant tree bearing fruit covers the sky, and the lion sword that nourishes the giant tree is embedded deep in the ground, symbolizing the new free will of the empire growing together with its roots.
