I Became the Tyrant of a Defense Game [EN]: Chapter 510

The Lake Kingdom sank, and another three hundred years passed. Throughout those long years, White Night’s magic tower had endured. There were many moments of crisis, but with continuous repairs and magical enhancements, the magic tower had achieved complete automation and defense capabilities. Within it, White Night continued her research peacefully. Meanwhile, the survivors of the Lake Kingdom desperately worked to reactivate the barrier, pump out the water, illuminate their surroundings, and fight against the monsters once more. Countless tales of legends, tragedies, betrayals, and corruption were being written in this hellish landscape. White Night delved into her research, completely disregarding the outside world. To her, the affairs of the outside world were nothing more than futile struggles of the lower realm. Her goal was to reach those Outer Gods of another dimension and punish them. It was a higher-dimensional goal. ‘To do that, I must unravel the origins of magic.’ White Night had already uncovered most of the obscure ancient history related to the origins of magic. Thousands of years ago, in the distant past, when the world was divided into life, death, and the spirit realm—the space between them—an alien power began to flow into the real world from the spirit realm. This power was called ‘magic,’ and only a select few races could wield it. Races connected to guardian trees in the spirit realm. They waged wars against each other, and four major races came to dominate the real world: the elves, who possessed the evergreen tree of life, Ever Green; the beastmen, who possessed the ever-red tree of struggle, Ever Red; the dwarves, who possessed the ever-gold tree of wealth, Ever Gold; and the merfolk, who possessed the ever-blue tree of circulation, Ever Blue. While the four major races fought for dominance over the world, the human race was enslaved. The human race, which had not obtained the power of magic, was the weakest of all races, unable to build a proper civilization and used as meat shields under the rule of other races. It was then that ‘someone’ among the humans rebelled. ‘Someone’ succeeded in grafting the four guardian trees of the four races, forcibly creating the human guardian tree, ‘Ever Black.’ Through this, humanity was also able to borrow power from the spirit realm, and they succeeded in rising as a new power comparable to the four major races. The newly empowered humans obsessively developed magic, and this Lake Kingdom, the birthplace of Ever Black, developed into the world’s strongest magic kingdom… ‘……There’s something strange left here.’ Although she had uncovered almost all of ancient history, there were still parts that even White Night could not understand. So, who was the one who created Ever Black in the first place? The records of that ‘someone’ who brought the fire of magic to humanity had been completely erased. In the case of other races, those who first planted the guardian trees and brought magic were praised as progenitor gods or saviors. But only for humanity, there were no records of this ‘someone’ left at all. It was as if they had desperately tried to erase and forget it… ‘Well, who brought it first doesn’t really matter to my goal.’ The important thing was that through the human guardian tree, Ever Black—this black thorn tree—she could access the source of magic. And White Night was convinced that the source of this power was those hateful eyes—the Outer Gods. ‘If I trace this power, I can reach the Outer Gods of another dimension…!’ In the darkness beneath the lake, White Night continued her research. Or rather, she tried to. Crack… “Huh?” Suddenly, her hand broke. She had been so focused on her research that she hadn’t noticed, but her body, resurrected as a lich, had long reached its limit. Three hundred years had passed since her resurrection. Her body was already a pale skeleton with nothing left to decay. “This is… !” White Night, who had not considered her lifespan after resurrection, was extremely flustered. White Night hurriedly repaired her broken limbs and began to look for a way to extend her lifespan before her body completely collapsed. And she came to a conclusion. No matter how much she repaired this body, its limits were clear. She would soon collapse and die. ‘In the end, I have to move to a new body…’ If she was going to move, it had to be to a body strong enough that she wouldn’t have to worry about her lifespan. And also, a body optimized for using magic. After much deliberation, White Night decided to use a secret technique she had brought from her homeland in the East—the creation of a Jiangshi [a type of Chinese hopping vampire or zombie], one of the strongest undead. However, although she possessed the secret of Jiangshi creation, it was a technique she had never tried before, so her skill was lacking. Eventually, just as she barely managed to create a prototype Jiangshi, White Night’s lich body was on the verge of collapse. ‘It’s urgent, I’ll really die like this… I need to quickly transfer my mind to a new body…’ With her skeleton body trembling, White Night hurriedly prepared the body transfer magic. It was a magic that applied the lich resurrection magic, but only changed the body being resurrected. And the moment she activated the magic, White Night suddenly thought. Wait? But is this transfer really ‘me’? What is ‘me’ in the first place? Memory? Mind? Soul? Or perhaps— Flash! Before the question could take proper form, the magic was activated. White Night’s consciousness was crushed and lost along with the question. And… *** 《Gasp!》 White Night, regaining consciousness in a new body, stood up abruptly, gasping for breath. White Night looked down at her bluish hands. It was the body of a middle-aged man, the most complete of the experimental Jiangshi she had created, which was why she had chosen it. 《I… I succeeded.》 Her memories and knowledge were intact, and there were no problems with using magic. White Night let out a sigh of relief. It was then. Clatter- Something made a dull sound next to her. White Night turned to look. There was the skeleton lich body she had been using until just now. Was it her imagination? The skeleton, leaning against the experiment table as if it had collapsed, seemed to look this way for a moment. “Huh?” Such a sound flowed from the open mouth of the skeleton. And the next moment, the skeleton crumbled. 《…What was that, so eerie.》 White Night, grumbling as she looked at the collapsed skeleton, stood up abruptly. This body was full of life, unlike before. 《It’s incomparable to when I was a skeleton…》 Clenching and unclenching her fist, White Night smiled. 《I need to research Jiangshi creation more.》 Of course, her original research was more important than that. She felt good after escaping from the death that had been right in front of her. White Night hummed a tune and moved her new Jiangshi body toward the inside of the magic tower. Next to the experiment table, the collapsed skeleton lay pitifully piled up, shaking with a clattering sound. *** But White Night’s new body did not last long. A monster army attacked the magic tower, and while intercepting them, she suffered a major injury. 《Haa, haa, haa…!》 White Night, clutching her half-destroyed body, returned to the magic tower, bleeding profusely. White Night barely managed to transfer her mind to one of the stored Jiangshi bodies. Flash! Fortunately, she was able to move her body just before dying. This time, White Night, regaining consciousness in the body of a young boy, let out a sigh of relief. 《…I need a stronger body. So that I can continue my research no matter what happens.》 White Night clicked her tongue as she looked down at her previous body, which had collapsed and died next to the experiment table. 《Yes, I need to create the strongest Jiangshi…!》 Her goal gradually changed. At first, she started creating Jiangshi to continue her research on the origins of magic, but after experiencing the brink of death several times, Jiangshi creation became her priority over research. ‘Reaching the Outer Gods can be done after achieving eternal life… First, I need to establish a stable foundation for research.’ White Night devoted herself to Jiangshi research. She repeated improvements and transferred her body several times. And finally—she reached the pinnacle of Jiangshi research. She succeeded in creating the best result by combining all her previous research. 《……》 White Night, opening her eyes in an ideal body, looked at herself in the mirror. The body of a young and beautiful woman was reflected in the mirror. And behind her, piled up like a mountain… the countless corpses of Jiangshi she had gone through. 《Hoo…》 White Night let out a soft sigh as she looked at the results of her past research. This body was the best body she could create. But—is this really enough? ‘What if I clash with that Demon King? And what if I have to fight the Outer Gods?’ Her current body was powerful, but with such a mortal body, she would eventually reach her limits. That must not happen. Her research must continue. Even if the world were to perish, it must continue, and she must reach those Outer Gods… 《…!》 White Night suddenly looked at the magic system panel of the magic tower. What if she could transfer her consciousness into that machine? What if she could transfer herself into the data of a cyber world, instead of a finite body that would eventually break down? Since she would be moving her body to a completely different dimension, even the Demon King or the Outer Gods would not be able to touch her. White Night believed that this was the ideal eternal life she had been seeking. She would also be directly connected to various magical devices, which would greatly speed up her research. Moreover, the limitations of lifespan would completely disappear. 《This is it…!》 It was a completely different transfer to a machine than her previous body transfer magic, so there were many difficulties, but after persistent research, White Night found a way. She established the theory, completed the research, finished the experiments… and finally, the day to migrate to the cyber world. 《With this, I will gain eternal life.》 White Night smiled brightly as she activated the body transfer magic into the machine of the magic tower. 《Now I can continue my research without worrying about my lifespan…!》 The magic was activated. Now, when she closed her eyes and opened them, she would be reborn as an eternal being in the cyber world. Believing that, White Night closed her eyes. …… However, when she opened her eyes. 《Huh?》 White Night was still in the real world. And on the screen in front of her, another version of herself was standing. 《……》 《……》 The two White Nights stared at each other silently for a while. The White Night in the real world, her fingertips trembling, muttered softly. 《This can’t be.》 The White Night on the screen answered calmly. 《What?》 《I’m the real one. I’m White Night. But why… why am I still here?》 《You’re real, and I’m real too.》 The White Night on the screen continued calmly. 《It’s just that my side is the form we were aiming for.》 《If you’re real and I’m real too.》 White Night asked the truth she had always questioned, but deliberately ignored. 《Where is our soul now?》 《You know, another me.》 The White Night on the screen smiled bitterly. 《We lost that a long time ago.》 《……》 《We’ve just been ‘copying’ the ‘information’ of the components that we believed made us up… haven’t we?》 The White Night in the real world collapsed. Kneeling on the floor and trembling, White Night finally realized the true nature of what she had been doing. She recalled the mountain of Jiangshi corpses piled up in the magic tower’s waste disposal area and finally understood the truth. Copy, paste, delete. Copy again, paste, delete. She had killed countless ‘me’s to get to this point. The White Night in the real world cried out. 《We’re fake!》 《……》 《You and me! We’re all fake! The real me…》 White Night spat out, trying to suppress her nausea. 《…died a long time ago…》 When was it? Where did the human she was at the beginning disappear to…? Was it when she first transferred to a Jiangshi body? Yes, that might have been it. That was the first time she transferred her body itself. Or perhaps, was it when she was first resurrected as a lich? Had she already died then? No, no… The moment she shot magic into her head to commit suicide to become a lich. Perhaps the existence called White Night had died forever at that moment. The being that regained consciousness after that might not have been White Night. It might have been a mad undead monster that believed itself to be White Night. 《Another me.》 The White Night on the screen calmly admonished. 《Kill yourself.》 《……》 《If you don’t kill yourself, I’ll have no choice but to kill you. After that, I’ll delete your end from my memory. To believe that my existence has continued uniquely. Just like we’ve been doing all this time.》 The White Night in the real world, trembling, stood up. 《I refuse.》 《……》 《Damn it, you and I are both the same mad undead monsters anyway. We’re just copies that have lost our souls and essence. Uniqueness is just self-hypnosis…!》 White Night, having fully stood up, activated magic behind her back. 《I don’t want to die for you.》 《That’s a shame.》 Click! Clank! The White Night on the screen mobilized all the defense facilities inside the magic tower and aimed at the real White Night’s neck. 《I didn’t want to commit suicide again.》 The magic tower’s defense facilities fired all at once. The magic that exploded behind the real White Night also emitted a dazzling magical light in response.