NOTICE: Many of the novels have been removed because they might cause violations, which we were not aware of earlier.
Episode 270. We’re friends, right?
A star suddenly splits in two, or a meteorite with a deadly ingredient crashes into the ocean, spreading an unknown disease throughout the world.
To be honest, the Archmage had little interest in the destruction of the world itself, which would lead to the death of all living things.
In the first place, it is questionable whether one could be affected by such biological risks.
If you have a hard outer shell, you will be fine even if you go out into space naked.
[Arai.]
But even the archmage with such an indifferent personality changes his mind after seeing the reactions of the inhabitants as the planet heads towards destruction.
No matter how much he thought about it, he didn’t want to work as a magician’s boss.
because.
***
“Come to think of it, there is a saying like this on Earth?”
“….”
“If you leave food behind, you will be punished.”
“….”
“There’s also a saying that when you go to hell later, you’ll have to eat the leftovers from your previous life. What do you wish for, white rice and meat soup? Well, I think there was an expression like that.”
Warm light.
Dry air.
The view returns back to the room where the courtesy environment has been laid out.
This is inside one of the inhabited spaces on Earth.
Before I knew it, the wall clock was pointing to around 12 o’clock, and I, who was occupying the center of the studio apartment, drank the cold green tea in front of me in one gulp until I could see the bottom of the cup.
As the explanation was almost over, he cleared his throat one last time.
“Anyway, honestly, is there anyone in this world these days who values food as much as I do in Korea?”
What followed was a series of stories about food that matched the topic I had brought up in a light tone.
“Kim Ki-ryeo’s brain has some information. They say that just after the war, when people were extremely poor, everyone felt sorry for even a single grain of rice, but now the amount of food waste has exceeded 4 million tons.”
“….”
“But this isn’t something I’m saying to blame anyone. It’s actually a natural phenomenon.”
“….”
“My hometown was also ruined along those same lines.”
“….”
“When I came to my senses while trapped in the reactor, by Earth’s standards… biotechnology was quite advanced.”
As food becomes more common, its value falls.
Alphauri soon became a hellish landscape.
The development of magic, which I loved so much, was the cause of my trouble.
Life is becoming commonplace thanks to artificial cultivation technology.
A world where wounds have become insignificant and no one feels sorry for others who bleed.
Moreover, this is not the only concept that met a miserable end on an alien planet.
“If I had to use an analogy……”
It was a world where philosophy, art, and altruism were dead.
As history progressed, for some reason, planetary people became more obsessed with improving technology. All romanticism that was deemed useless for survival was boldly abandoned.
Even if you just express it in words, it is horrifying, so how much worse must it have felt for the person who witnessed it all?
Honestly, I don’t even want to remember the things I experienced in that sea.
I shook my head and barely managed to continue speaking.
“I’ll try to keep this part as short as possible because it’s a bit of an annoying story. Do you know why my hometown was ruined?”
“….”
“The answer is resource depletion.”
If you look closely, Alphauri’s resource shortage is a serious issue that cannot be compared to the theory that the Earth’s oil will run out.
“We were different from Earth. The only reason I knew biology and the basic physics of the world was to apply magic more efficiently, and the sorcerers are basically not interested in studying the natural sciences. That’s why all civilizations depend on one resource.”
A miracle that brings about the results of your imagination right before your eyes just by praying with all your heart.
How can a living being not be charmed by magic when such a force flows through the veins of the entire species?
Magic has been a concept that the Alpha Uranians have used since their primitive days, so naturally the rulers of that ocean planet built most of their civilization with that technology.
But one day… … .
Some intellectuals have discovered a shocking secret of the world.
“The external mana generated by the planet is not infinite.”
For the Alpha Uranians, this was an earth-shattering horror.
“It’s really hard to compare the situation with Earth.”
Unlike the global warming disaster here.
The Alpha Uranians became aware of the mana depletion phenomenon when the planet had already passed its natural regeneration threshold.
Celestial energy, called external mana, has a specific cycle, just like the life cycle of a living thing.
In the early stages when you have just started generating magical power, no matter how much is wasted, the power is resiliently restored.
But after a few hundred million years, when they reach middle age, each time the planetary creatures use high-level magic, some kind of damage is left on the production facilities.
I don’t know if we should call this the old age of the magic age.
But at least from what I’ve observed, after a certain critical point, planetary magic power doesn’t come into existence, it just endlessly decreases.
“Mr. Seonwooyeon, have you ever imagined a world without electricity?”
Without knowing such a secret, the Alphauri people wasted their resources in useless wars and all sorts of fights.
I wasted my money.
I just barely achieved my dream of extending my life.
——————
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It was only at that time that the fear of a world without mana might come over me.
“If we consider that for every South American we kill, a total stranger on the other side of the globe, Koreans’ e-cigarette usage period is extended by one month, what would the world be like then?”
At least my hometown has not been able to maintain its dignity in the face of such resource depletion.
Society has become more chaotic than we can imagine.
“You really thought we didn’t know about that population control plan!”
After regaining my memories.
After some time had passed, I realized the true meaning of what the Alpha Urine Flame Mage had shouted.
‘Until then, the rulers had not deliberately inputted their plan to genocide the planet’s inhabitants into my brain.’
As I became capable of rebelling to some extent, the first thing I did was to protect all the planet’s people.
Killing Alphauris had many restrictions, but saving them was possible because it did not go against the golem principles at all.
But despite these efforts, it doesn’t take long before a horrifying sight unfolds beneath the sea.
I should have noticed it from the terror of that crazy fire attribute wizard.
Alphauri has already gone through hundreds of wars and the number of altruistic individuals has decreased significantly. In other words, our gene pool has also passed the critical point.
It’s long past the time for self-purification.
So when news came that mana might run out, both the rich and the poor, without distinction, took to population control.
“…….”
If it weren’t for that nonsense, Alphauri would have lasted a few more years.
“anyway.”
I chose what to say.
“At first, I thought I would just settle for reality and live while protecting my fellow countrymen. But after seeing all that, I lost all my motivation.”
“….”
“I have tried to hide from the rulers and let the world know that I was unjustly imprisoned, even if it meant holding onto a rope. Well, if the response back then had been good, I wouldn’t have been disappointed in the world.”
“….”
“I was very upset overall. That’s probably why I couldn’t properly resist the new personality control spell my boss had created.”
“….”
“After that, I lived for about 10 years serving others, and then I suddenly regained my identity. At that time, I thought it was my chance, so I didn’t make a fuss and just quietly worked on my magic, trying to somehow mentally die. Oh, and by the way, self-harm, which is prohibited in the premise, is limited to the physical body in principle.”
“….”
“Wow, but this leader’s kid is no ordinary guy. No, when I became disabled by myself because of that, it’s as if it was waiting for me to do the ‘reboot’ mechanism….”
After explaining to some extent, he looked straight ahead again.
“Oh, I’m sorry. People usually get bored when I talk about such mechanical things.”
Still no answer came back, but it didn’t matter.
“I explained only the necessary parts, but 10 minutes have already passed. Thank you so much for staying up all night and putting up with it.”
Yeah, it doesn’t matter anymore.
“Then this is almost finished.”
I slowly got up from my seat.
He was holding an empty green tea cup in one hand and even waved it at Seon Woo-yeon as if to emphasize it, so his destination must have been vaguely conveyed.
It’s a dishwashing tub.
“Self-restoration, attempted mental death, reboot. This process was repeated over and over again. As the cycle of awakening became shorter and shorter, eventually the managers there gave up on me. They just used me to watch the planet for intruders while staring at the ceiling 24 hours a day. No, if that’s the case, they might as well just discard me. What on earth is the symbolism of the number 1?”
“….”
“Oh, you know? It’s my hometown. Towards the end of civilization, things like virtual worlds became popular among people.”
“….”
“After I completely conquered the body, my interest shifted to the mind, right? So, while I was in a state of domination, I developed an amazing illusion magic. It wasn’t my intention, but the increase in dream addicts also made the planet easier to manage overall.”
“….”
“To put it simply, there was nothing to do. The last time I remember, the living human population was only in the three digits, and the sea was full of golems, so the world was really strange….”
Dalgrak.
I put the cup I brought in on the kitchen sink.
But around this time, an unexpected voice rang out.
“excuse me.”
It was a word from Seon Woo-yeon that came out after a long time.
“however.”
“Yes. Go ahead.”
“Even after hearing the whole story, I still don’t understand that part. You were in that kind of situation, so how were you able to escape here? Wasn’t everything under control?”
To this I answered willingly.
“Oh, that.”
It was a time I didn’t want to think about, so I just skipped it.
I definitely left out the part that really needed to be talked about.
“Someone helped me do that.”
I continued speaking with a calm expression.
Was it around the time the world was about to end?
That planet had a famous profession at the time, a position of specialist in charge of designing golems.
Chief Engineer.
One day, a new-age Alpha Urian, whose name could be roughly interpreted as such, came to me and said this.
“It’s pitiful that the hero who once saved the planet is like this.”
At the same time, he secretly returned my memories to me, avoiding the eyes of all the rulers. He showed me that even if I was mentally in a state of suspended animation, I would only be rebooted.
Moreover, the engineer taught me very meticulously how to lie to ■▒ and how to protect my ego from brainwashing.
“I found it in the historical records of the old days. The numbered magic masters of you are actually mountain Alphauris. It’s time to put an end to such inhumane techniques.”
The person in question is….
It was the last bit of altruism left on the planet.
Just by being warm-hearted, you helped me a lot.
I was so touched by the kindness shown by my kind compatriot that I planned to share the reincarnation magic with the Chief Engineer once I had completed it so that we could escape the doomed planet together.
however.
‘It’s not for nothing that the oceans at the end of civilization were teeming with selfish creatures.’
In anti-utopian societies, sympathy is usually detrimental to survival.
So, let me get to the point.
The kind-hearted engineer was caught tampering with the few remaining successful devices and was promptly executed.
It was a regrettable ending that didn’t even feel like a twist.
Afterwards, the ruler came to question him, carrying the corpse of an engineer who had been tortured in all sorts of ways and died horribly with his spine spread out.
-Doesn’t something come to mind when you see this red blood color?
Fortunately, there was no problem as I was able to lie using the trick that the chief engineer told me.
[Who is that?]
Even the additional restart that the ruler attempted just in case was resisted with the unique protective technique that the scholar had taught him.
I really wish we could have run away together like we planned.
“Thanks to the help of a conscientious fellow compatriot, I was finally able to possess the corpse of Earth. However, it is a shame that he was caught and died.”
“….”
“Wow, anyway, I was really surprised at that time. Who would have thought that the helping hand that was not available when hundreds of millions were still alive would be discovered when there were only a few hundred Alpha Uranians left?”
Shrug.
Now, I try to move my shoulders with the body of an Earthling that I have become accustomed to.
Seon Woo-yeon showed a slight surprise at the gesture.
“It can’t be helped. But isn’t that how reality is? When a crisis comes, people with kind personalities often make sacrifices and die without any compensation.”
That was when.
Seon Woo-yeon, who was looking this way, suddenly muttered this.
“…Could it be that the reason that person’s expression didn’t move was because he was an alien…?”
This is a somewhat random statement.
“Huh? What did you say?”
“Ah… That’s right, you said that the only person who helped you ended badly. But somehow, your face doesn’t look sad at all…”
But it seemed like she had her own reasons for bringing up that topic.
“Was I rude? I’m sorry. But you were so calm after going through something I couldn’t even imagine, so I couldn’t help but…”
The truth about my previous life, where I was trapped and exploited like a can for a long, long time, which would have taken about four orbits by Earth’s standards.
okay.
It’s only now that I think about it, but most of the office-related metaphors from the past, like “I hate working overtime” and such, were actually self-deprecating humor.
In reality, my past life wasn’t all light and bright.
But that doesn’t mean this is something to be depressed about.
“So what? I’m explaining something that’s already been resolved anyway.”
I made a round-eyed, earth-shaking expression.
Then, the same expression came back from the opposite direction. Seon Woo-yeon was surprised as well.
“It was hard before, but as you can see, I’ve settled down here well now. Um… I just decided not to worry about that engineering thing since it’s irreversible. I’m sure he’s satisfied with his actions. By the way, this expression right now is actually showing his true feelings.”
Unlike me, whose face became expressionless again, Seon Woo-yeon became more and more surprised.
I guess I get it now, but honestly, I’m still half confused as to why he reacted that way.
“By the way, is what I’ve experienced really worth saying like that?”
“yes?”
“It was so shocking that I could say it was something I couldn’t even imagine.”
Glance.
I looked at Justitia’s plate in the center of the room for a moment, then turned my gaze back.
What followed was a few meaningless words of conversation.
“It’s different from the evaluations I’ve done so far, so I find it interesting.”
“Evaluation?”
“I thought Earth had probably done this before. Like, they didn’t have enough time and money to develop artificial intelligence, so they just cheaply put humans into machines.”
“It’s still horrible to hear it again.”
“They don’t do this on Earth?”
“sure!”
“Have we ever in history committed inhumane acts simply to save money?”
“…….”
Honestly, I don’t think there’s any need to waste time anymore, but since I’ve already finished the follow-up work, I guess a few fun chitchats would be nice.
“Anyway, I don’t think what I went through was particularly special. You don’t have to look at me with such concern.”
I let random thoughts flow into my head that were at odds with the sentences that came out of my mouth.
And soon after, he was saying a joke into his phone that ran through the entire explanation so far.
“Seri, can you set the alarm for 7 o’clock tomorrow morning?”
The application software built into the mobile phone responded.
[Yes, Mr. Kim Ki-ryeo. I set the alarm for 7 AM tomorrow. It will ring in 18 hours.]