HACKED 100

“You crushed our 1st Unit with only this much power. You must have suddenly fallen into another dimension and hadn’t even adjusted yet, so this is quite impressive. Oh, that’s right. Your power system must have sustained damage, so how on earth did you manage that? You look perfectly fine.”

Is he worrying about my well-being despite being an invader? He is the textbook definition of giving the disease and then the medicine.

“It did hurt, but only about ten-something percent was shaved off. At that level, shouldn’t it be fine if I just rest a bit and let it recharge?”

“Eh, no, what did you say? Pardon?”

Malchi’s jaw dropped with a bizarre expression. Then, the words came pouring out of him rapidly.

“Power system damage is something even most veteran Compilers cannot endure with their sanity intact. Every time you restore 1%, you have to pour in your energy while risking your life. There are plenty of Compilers who end up dying from shock because their life force was sucked dry down to the bottom. That is why the union suffers from a chronic manpower shortage.”

‘It hurt like hell every time the system took a hit, and I even coughed up blood… but it was that serious?’

It was so absurd that the back of my neck felt stiff. Looking to the side, Chirpy also looked clearly aghast, as if this was the first time he was hearing this.

“That is why during a merger, everyone tries their desperate best to invade the opponent’s Pantheon first. Even though they know perfectly well that defending from one’s own home base is far more advantageous in terms of strategy. It is because if the power system is damaged by even 1%, it is truly, so fatal.”

After a silence, I was barely able to say a word.

“…I did not know.”

“Hmm… I can understand the union’s perspective. At this level, even I would have been driven crazy with the desire to bring <UserMyeong808> in.”

“……”

“An ‘Excellent Incarnation’ will eventually appear if you keep pouring in resources to manifest them again and again, but an ‘Excellent Compiler’ cannot be obtained even if you give ten million gold. I suppose the aptitude for a Compiler is a realm of natural-born talent, something closer to a divine calling. There are limits to cultivating it through education.”

Was I, who used to be a hopeless C-class composer, an SSS-class Compiler in this other world, or something like that?

More importantly, ‘So they do use the term “divine calling” even in the 24th century. Or is it just translated and sounding this way to me while actually being a different word?’

I blankly drifted into other thoughts. Too much new knowledge had been injected all at once, so my brain wasn’t functioning well.

“The problem is that as much as the Narrative Compilation Union coveted <UserMyeong808>, the White Paper Legion would have coveted you very, very much as well.”

“The White Paper Legion?”

“This is also a rumor circulating among Compilers. There is talk that the White Paper Legion is forcibly seizing Pantheons that have good performance and solid lineups. They maintain the Pantheon itself but swap out the Compiler at the top with someone from their own faction. Some say the reason they caused the strange phenomenon called ‘Dimensional Merger’ was to utilize spies planted in that manner…”

“You mean the ‘Fake Master’.”

I blurted it out without realizing it in the middle of listening. The Incarnations on our side standing nearby all flinched simultaneously. Malchi, not knowing the reason, nodded innocently.

“Oh, that is true. From the perspective of Incarnations who were suddenly struck by lightning one day, they might think of it that way…”

“If the Pantheon was taken away, can’t it just be taken back?”

“No. It is impossible.”

He denied it flatly. Since his tone suggested there wasn’t even a slight possibility, I was momentarily at a loss for words.

“How should I explain this. It is difficult because I am trying to match it to 21st-century standards. Er, in your era, <UserMyeong808>, people flew in airplanes, right?”

“Airplanes themselves have existed since the 20th century.”

“Right. The people who invented the airplane, the Wright brothers! I learned that in history class. How fascinating. Anyway, let’s say <UserMyeong808> was flying in an airplane and dropped his wallet in the middle of the vast ocean. Can you find that wallet again?”

“…Realistically, there would be no possibility.”

“It is like that. There are infinite dimensions, infinite coordinate codes, and infinite worlds, so how could you ever find the place that used to be your Pantheon again? Even if you wandered through dimensions and found it by extreme luck, the authority over the power system would have already been usurped, so you would have no means to prove that you are the master.”

‘Then what am I?’

I certainly had my position as master usurped once. Even in reality, I was deprived of access rights to my Pantheon in the form of my game account being hacked, and in this world, the corpse of a fake master sits prominently in the central command room. That is an unchanging fact.

However, I became the Compiler here again. If the proposition that ‘it is impossible to reclaim a Pantheon once lost’ as Malchi said is true, then how on earth was I able to return?

“What if there really is a case of reclaiming it?”

“Oh. There is no way. That truly is a groundless rumor. It makes no sense.”

“……”

“……”

“…Uh, did you say that seriously?”

I remained silent. Malchi’s expression became serious.

“Then… well… I am not sure… perhaps coincidences overlapped upon coincidences like a miracle… or perhaps a corresponding price was paid.”

“A corresponding price?”

“You know the concept of ‘Probability’, right? The terms used seem to differ for each cultural sphere. Is it also called ‘Karma’, or ‘Dharma’? You know, that kind of thing. Basically, to cause an event that influences the world-line, you must pay something equivalent to perform an equivalent exchange.”

“Who pays that price?”

“I wouldn’t know that much. I am strictly telling you my own thoughts.”

Malchi finished speaking and took a deep breath. His face looked much paler than before. He was the very definition of ‘an introvert who burned pure white after pulling a week’s worth of social energy at once’.

“Um… can I go back to the main point now?”

“Yes. You said you wanted to quit everything.”

“I am going to give up everything. I have already sent back all my Incarnations, and I will hand over the Pantheon to you just as it is. I will also throw away my life. Instead…”

“……”

“Instead, please save just this one Incarnation.”

Malchi pointed behind him. Even though her master was making extreme statements, the Incarnation armed in a helmet and armor remained silent throughout. She simply stayed afloat in the air, fluttering the wings on her back at regular intervals.

“No, but, wait a minute.”

I raised an objection for now. Malchi’s eyes filled with tears, though I wasn’t sure how he interpreted my reaction.

“Please, okay? I am not asking for much. Just this one Incarnation. I beg of you. Please…”

I hurriedly cut him off.

“Please listen. It’s not that I’m refusing.”

“Please, please. I have done everything I could for you. Just this one condition… okay?”

“I mean, isn’t the victory condition for a dimensional merger ‘that all Incarnations of the other faction must be annihilated’? If that Incarnation of yours is alive, how do I become the winner?”

“Ah. So I had to explain from there.”

Malchi, who had been pleading while streaming tears and snot, stopped with an embarrassed expression.

“Um, <UserMyeong808>… you know what a computer is, right?”

“I don’t know exactly how old you think I am, but I know.”

Malchi’s explanation followed after that.

The condition for a dimensional merger is ‘to become the final winner’. Here, becoming the final winner means that only one Compiler authority must exist throughout the merged dimensions. It is a similar logic to how only one account can be logged into a site at a time.

To put it simply, let’s compare each Compiler to a ‘folder’ in a storage space. In this merged dimension right now, there is a folder named ‘DriedAnchovyLowerEnds’ and a folder named ‘UserMyeong808’. Inside each folder, files called their respective Incarnations exist.

The condition that ‘all Incarnations of the other faction must be annihilated’ is, metaphorically speaking, ‘that the capacity of all folders except for my folder must become 0’.

Method one to make a folder’s capacity 0: Delete all files inside the folder. Whether it is done voluntarily through ‘Narrative Restoration’ or forcibly by causing death through battle, the result of deletion is the same.

And method two: Temporarily move the files inside the folder somewhere else… for example, to the desktop. And then delete the folder. The folder itself disappears, but since it is 0 in terms of capacity anyway, the condition is met.

“And once <UserMyeong808> contacts the power system of my Pantheon and updates the authority, this Incarnation will belong to your side. I have never actually tried it, but it will probably work.”

After the dimensional merger ends, and before the winner occupies the loser’s territory… a brief gap where one belongs to no one. So it’s a kind of ‘Incarnation Transfer’ using that gap. I roughly understood.

“Instead, you must update the authority as quickly as possible. The power of a Pantheon left with only Incarnations and no Compiler is consumed very rapidly. So the most I can smuggle out… would probably be just this one.”

Malchi swallowed hard and tried to hide his trembling hands inside his sleeves. Tension was evident in his eyes as he looked up at me.

“I don’t think it is a deal where you lose out. …Will you, grant my request?”