Genius Wizard Takes Medicine [EN]: Chapter 916

The virtual space was enveloped in silent darkness.

The sound of stones being placed alternately on the giant chessboard echoed through the stillness.

The administrators watched the game with tense expressions.

In front of the faintly glowing statue, Lenok’s calm voice resonated.

Clack!!

“DA94 reversal. AL03 pure. Occupancy completed sequentially from RK81 to 99.”

[……]

The AI’s guidance, which never failed to answer, was cut off.

“HY93 attack. CK17 horse.”

[……]

The face of the statue, which always wore a benevolent smile, turned expressionless.

“Reverse sequence from KD93 to 44, each bow.”

[Hmm……]

A faint hesitation flowed from the AI for the first time.

Unlike before, when it had placed pieces without hesitation, it now hesitated and stared at the chessboard.

The rapid change in the search engine, which had only responded with mechanical answers, was noticeable. Everyone now recognized that it was a process to find the best move by comparing the AI’s calculation device and the game record data.

“It’s thinking……”

“The strong AI is thinking.”

They couldn’t fully understand the ongoing game, but the administrators were not unaware of which side had the upper hand.

The strong AI, which had never lost its advantage in thousands of games, was struggling in this match against Lenok.

“It suddenly got so much better after briefly disconnecting. Is that even possible?”

“Did it find a way to surpass the central city’s database in that time?”

“Did he secretly invite an Obaekro master to give him advice?”

“Everyone, be quiet.”

Without realizing that she had inadvertently touched on a fragment of the truth, Laktasha scolded the other administrators.

“Let Kyunroe concentrate. It seems the balance has already shifted.”

Clack!

Even then, Lenok calmly placed a black stone, and the AI laboriously matched it with a white stone.

As time passed, the time it took for Lenok to make a move shortened, while the AI’s response only lengthened.

The moment when most of the time spent on the game was stopped at the AI’s turn.

“It seems you’re short on thinking time.”

Lenok opened his mouth.

“If it’s difficult to keep up with the time even with thought acceleration, you can use your authority to arbitrarily modify the rules and increase the game time.”

[……]

Looking at the silent AI, Lenok picked up a black stone.

“Since this round will decide the outcome anyway, it won’t be a problem even if the game gets longer.”

Although the game time was extended through thought acceleration in the virtual space, the time limit for maintaining the Dreamscape was approaching.

If he couldn’t win this game, accessing the search engine would be difficult for the time being.

However, from the moment he started this game, Lenok was certain that he could not lose.

The Papyrus Argenteus, which Jintun had used as a hobby tool for playing against himself.

He thought his chances would increase by borrowing the wisdom of an Ascendant [a being who has transcended mortal limitations], but using it directly was beyond his expectations.

Every move Jintun made extended arbitrarily on the chessboard, to the point that even Lenok couldn’t immediately understand it.

Every stone, which at first glance seemed like a bad move or a mistake, was organically connected, dominating the entire board.

Was this the feeling of throwing a stone into a stormy sea and drawing a complex barrier formation with its ripples?

All of this was being handled by unfolding the papyrus and having Davi make the moves instead.

‘It’s so easy that it feels unreal.’

It had been so long since Lenok had handled things this easily that it felt awkward.

However, even while overwhelmingly dominating the game against the AI, Lenok’s expression remained calm.

Playing Obaekro like this reminded Lenok of the end of the Ascendant who had taught him barrier magic.

“…….”

Even though he had nagged Lenok while playing Obaekro, and made jokes about how he was going easy on him.

He was Lenok’s first teacher, who had taught him the truth of the world.

Clack!!

On the chessboard covered with black stones, a single white stone stood alone.

As soon as Lenok saw it, he wrote down the AI’s move on the papyrus next to him.

Swish……!!

Then, the next move appeared on the papyrus as if it were natural.

Lenok immediately picked up a black stone.

Clack!

As he placed the black stone exactly as he had seen on the papyrus, the white stone on the chessboard flipped over without fail, occupying all the remaining areas.

Charrrr!!

The chessboard was already mostly covered in black stones, making the color meaningless due to the one-sided structure.

It seemed like he could completely finish this game in a few more moves.

Just as Lenok was about to check the sequentially changed structure of the chessboard.

Whoosh!!

All the pieces on the chessboard disappeared as if it were a lie.

The other administrators were startled and shouted at the AI’s reaction, which had suddenly cleared the chessboard.

“Hey!! Why did you suddenly stop playing the game?”

“No, wait. This is-”

[It seems there is no point in continuing the game any further.]

With an empty chessboard in front of him, the statue looked at Lenok with an expressionless face.

[It is my defeat.]

“…….”

[My chances of winning have been continuously decreasing since 10 moves after the start of the game, and they completely disappeared with your last move.]

The AI, which had calmly admitted its defeat, spoke.

A reaction that it had not shown in its first game against Lenok was now calmly flowing out through the search engine.

[Mistakes and phantom moves are mixed to become real moves.]

The AI was evaluating the game it had just played as soon as it was over.

[In meaningless bad moves, the principles of the world are contained and control the variables, which is proof of a standard that even transcends the core of good and evil.]

“…….”

[Although it is not understandable by this strong AI’s judgment, I can feel the dignity of a transcendent in your game.]

The AI asked with the utmost politeness.

[May I interpret this as having had the honor of playing a game with an Ascendant?]

“…….”

Lenok stopped the hand holding the black stone at that remark, and the other administrators also held their breath and listened.

Balkan’s Kyunroe. The great mage who was notorious for being the craziest in the great city.

But it was also a compliment mixed with caution for a genius with talent that would go down in Balkan’s history.

A monster who had reached the 8th level of hierarchy in less than 10 years since entering this city.

One of the candidates who are said to be close to ascension among all the existing 8th-level extreme ability users.

If Kyunroe was proving his qualifications to the AI himself in this place-

[After the emergency protocol is lifted, this AI will be completely destroyed, and the search engine will be opened to you. Could you please give me a final answer?]

“That’s an unusually polite attitude.”

Lenok chuckled.

“Did the central city also treat Ascendants with respect?”

[They are transcendents who have obtained a status comparable to the world.]

The AI said.

[Those who have changed their own destiny have always been treated as proud respondents in the central city. It is only natural.]

“…….”

As someone who knew about Gyebaek’s case, Lenok didn’t have much faith in the AI’s answer.

However, instead of pointing out that fact, Lenok chuckled and got up from his seat.

“There’s not much I can say about this game either.”

Lenok said, recognizing the fading signal of the AI.

“However, you certainly enjoyed the honor you spoke of. I can say that for sure.”

[Is that, so……]

The faint light emanating from the statue dimmed and slowly flickered.

[Then, that is enough……]

The AI’s answer did not continue any further.

At the same time, the shape of the statue twisted and transformed, turning into a stone pillar.

Only then did the other administrators murmur in disbelief.

“I-Is it over……”

“So anticlimactic…… No, I should say it went much better than expected.”

“If I had known it would be this easy with a great mage, I would have tried it sooner.”

“How do you use this stone pillar?”

When Lenok asked, pointing to the stone pillar erected at his feet, Laktasha answered.

“It’s not a stone pillar, it’s a [wedge] that can occupy and modify the virtual space.”

“Wedge?”

“If you insert it into a specific virtual space, Ars Nova’s search engine will start working again.”

Laktasha muttered, looking at the wedge with a strange expression.

“However, to operate the search engine normally, you’ll need a new AI to restore and update the algorithm.”

“A new AI……”

“If you can overwhelm Cunningham in the [AI Maze], creating a new AI won’t be difficult for you.”

Laktasha shrugged and stepped forward.

“The function itself will work properly, so it’s good to experiment. You had information you needed to find using this search engine, right?”

“…….”

“Information about the head of Pandemonium and the cult leader. Wasn’t that what you were trying to get your hands on?”

“That’s true, but I don’t really feel like doing it in a place like this.”

Lenok chuckled, tapping the wedge.

“There are too many eyes watching, so I don’t think I need to.”

“……Ah, that’s what you meant.”

Laktasha, who belatedly understood Lenok’s words, nodded with a sullen face.

“I’ll leave for a while. I’ll put up a firewall around here so other hackers can’t spy on us. Will that be enough?”

“Not bad.”

Leaving the grumbling administrators behind, Lenok immediately placed his hand on the wedge.

The administrators of the Deep Web seemed to want to see how the search engine actually worked, but there was no reason for Lenok to show them the information he was looking for.

The fact that Lenok was looking for information about the head and the cult leader was not strange if they knew about Kyunroe investigating the Black Consumer Project.

Lenok had also disclosed this fact to the administrators of the Deep Web because he didn’t think there was any reason to hide it.

However, viewing specific information about the head and the cult leader with the administrators was a completely different matter.

At this point, where he had an idea of their identities, showing that secret to the administrators was too risky.

“Search engine open.”

Clunk!!

At that moment, the wedge, which had turned into a stone pillar, split open on both sides, and a long stone slab rose up.

A mysterious stone slab stood tall in front of Lenok, like a giant tombstone.

However, the moment Lenok saw it, he understood that this was the true form of the search engine.

The judgment regulations he had seen at the hearing had also taken a similar form to this stone slab.

“……Okay.”

Lenok, unusually, took a deep breath and slowly placed his hand on the stone slab.

There was no need to convey his intentions through language or text.

The stone slab, reading Lenok’s will, took root firmly under the virtual space and searched the entire abandoned network in real time.

The head and the cult leader.

With those two keywords as the center, it began to engrave meaningful information on the stone slab in real time.

Kaga-gak!!!

As if an invisible knife was tapping on the stone slab, rough and scribbled letters appeared.

However, the letters that were engraved immediately after were swept away and disappeared as if covered by an invisible restraining force.

Drrrrk!!

A series of letters that were being engraved and disappearing in real time.

Lenok, realizing that it was evidence of a very powerful prohibition that was capturing and erasing specific keywords after they were raised from the sea of indiscriminate information, cleared his mind and read the letters that appeared.

“Guido… Cult leader…… Under… 1st Apostle……”

Lenok frowned unintentionally after confirming that much.

What Lenok wanted was information about the head and the cult leader themselves, not information about their subordinate apostles.

Of course, it wasn’t that he wasn’t interested in the 1st Apostle, who had never been mentioned anywhere before-

But Lenok’s thoughts disappeared as soon as he read the next phrase.

“Ascen…dant…… Origin…… Currently sealed…?”

Even Lenok was shocked by the shocking message, which he had unintentionally read out loud.

But what was even more shocking was what happened next.

The moment Lenok spoke those words, the virtual space began to distort and emit noise as if it were being contaminated.

Zzzzzzzzz!!!

The noise, which had been wandering around madly as if trying to find the coordinates of the words just mentioned, disappeared into the depths of the Deep Web.

Lenok, who had been watching the traces of the noise that had appeared and disappeared in an instant, turned his gaze.

The stone slab, which had been scribbled on, was now as clean as it had been at the beginning.

However, there was a faint crack on the surface of the stone slab.

Thud, thud……!!

The enormous restriction that was placed the moment Lenok mentioned the information about the 1st Apostle.

If it had been reality instead of the virtual space, it was clear that it was a restriction that would almost certainly be subject to a prohibition.

Considering that, the new crack that had appeared on the stone slab was also clearly caused by that.

It must be that the search engine was under a huge load just from searching for and retrieving information about the 1st Apostle.

“…….”

Should he continue here?

It was like this just from retrieving information about the 1st Apostle, not even the cult leader himself.

It wouldn’t be strange if the search engine broke down completely this time while searching for information about the head.

Lenok, who had placed his hand on the stone slab, hesitated for a long time before lowering his hand and stepping back.

Yes, it was too costly to force it here, risking the overload of the search engine.

Rather than risking the destruction of the search engine that he had finally obtained, it would be better to take his time and find information step by step.

Considering the time limit for maintaining the domain, there was no reason to take risks here-

“……No.”

Lenok turned back to the stone slab with a determined expression.

A search engine that could break down at any moment. A powerful prohibition that exerted its power even in the depths of the Deep Web.

There was no next time. There was a secret that he could never obtain if not now.

Even if it meant burning all the results he had obtained now, he had to move forward.

Crack!!

He clenched the cracked stone slab with both hands until it seemed like it would break.

The god-slayer of the old world. The madman who had constantly honed the talent of a magic marksman and tried to shoot and kill a god in the end.

He couldn’t even remember his face or voice properly, but his existence was clearer than any other memory.

The moment Lenok desperately recalled him and grabbed the stone slab, releasing a formless thought.

Kagak……!!

New strings of characters began to be engraved on the stone slab again, as if scribbled.

At the same time, the cracks in the stone slab deepened as if it would break at any moment.

Thud, thud-thud…!!

Holding onto the stone slab, which was swaying precariously as if it would break at any moment, he desperately read the phrases that appeared and disappeared in real time.

Unlike the cult leader, the influence of the prohibition seemed to be less, and the rejection itself was not strong.

“Demon Realm…… Head…… Disappearance of pseudo-dimensional consciousness reaction……”

However, Lenok’s expression, as he read the phrases engraved on the stone slab, was tinged with a stronger sense of bewilderment than before.

“……Manifested somewhere in the world?”