“What does it say?” asked Alice, as she looked over Cecilia’s shoulder. She could barely contain her excitement. Translated passages from the System had a great deal of value - they might provide key insights into how the System was constructed, or hints about how to go home and return to this world at will.
“I’ve managed to piece together three passages,” said Cecilia. “The grammar and syntax might be a little weird, so I’m filling in the blanks a bit with what I think the sentences are supposed to look like. I’m also adding in a few words that I’m pretty sure are correct, but haven’t actually learned through the language skill yet. Is that okay with you?”
Alice nodded. “Try to focus more on accuracy… but as long as you’re reasonably sure that you can fill in the blanks properly, I don’t mind you taking some liberties with the translations.”
Cecilia grinned. “I’m glad. I’ll start with the first passage I’ve pieced together. I started near the middle of the book once I realized this is more of a diary than a step by step guide on creating or maintaining the System, because I was trying to find passages related to the System. I think I overshot the mark a bit, but… oh well.”
After that, Cecilia read an Illvarian translation of the first passage. It read:
Day 2537: the construction of the System is progressing nicely. The blueprint room is established, and the coding network that’s supposed to constantly update itself is working well. As I hoped, the System is capable of adapting on is own and creating new blueprints as needed, based on input users feed into it via mana. I have strong hopes that the System will eventually be able to update itself automatically, without a need for people to sit on one of the connection centers for several hours while the System updates… but that can come later. At the very least, I’ve proven that my base framework is solid. I am running into a few issues with the long-term stability of Class seeds, though. I asked the villagers who trust me to test a few [Fisherman] Class seeds, by first uploading their memories of fishing and then having the System create a Class based around their needs and their impression of [Fishermen]. The seeds absorb mana as intended, but the Perk library for the Class has some issues I need to resolve. Perhaps I should tie Perks to certain levels, rather than certain quantities of mana? Then, I could have the System use any excess of mana to strengthen and boost the Perks granted at each level threshold. I’ll give it a try tomorrow and see if that enhances the long term stability of the automatically generated Classes.
If, after a week, I don’t spot any problems, I will induct every person in the village who is willing into my System.
I wish I had more time to test my Class seeds and work out any remaining issues within them. Unfortunately, the monster swarm north of the village is heading in our direction. If we don’t get some kind of defensive capability now, the entire village might be wiped out. I wish I had more time.
Alice frowned after Cecilia translated the passage.
“How much of that are you sure of?” asked Alice. “What percentage, roughly, is translated directly by your skill, and what percentage is you filling in the blanks?”
“I have about sixty percent of the words directly from my translation skill,” said Cecilia. “Why? Is there something wrong?”
“No, it’s just… this passage makes it sound like the System was built by one person with some volunteer test subjects. I always thought it was built by a team of people,” said Alice. She rubbed her chin thoughtfully. Perhaps the System had really only been built by one person? That was surprising, but not outrageous.
If Cecilia’s translation was accurate, that implied several things about the initial creation of the System.
First of all, this creator of the System had mentioned that they wanted more time to test a few parts of the System. The creator of the System also mentioned the existence of a monster swarm - and indicated that it was a major threat to them. Alice had heard that before the System, humans had seriously struggled to survive in this dimension. People had essentially lived in small hunter-gatherer tribes or small fishing and farming villages, and monsters had constantly raided human villages and eaten them. Alice had always thought that the creation of the System had been some kind of… near-miraculous feat that suddenly empowered humans, allowing them to sweep away nearby monsters and take control of the central continent.
The passages in the journal painted a starkly different image. It painted the image of someone contending with the constant threat of nearby monsters as they struggled to slap together a basic framework for the System. Alice wasn’t sure whether she could have built the System from scratch under similar conditions - her research and learning conditions had been much better than the ones the initial System construction had occurred in, and she was still daunted by the task in front of her. Then, another thought occurred to Alice. She turned towards Ethan.
“Ethan, the southern continent was discovered much later than the central continent, right?” Alice asked.
“The southern continent was settled much more recently, yes. Humanity was ‘born’ on the central continent… or, well, if we originate from Earth, the way you suspect, then the central continent is where the only surviving tribes of humanity existed during our early history.”
Alice nodded. Before the creation of the System, humanity hadn’t had very many good ways to get stronger. Even in the modern, post-System era, humans hadn’t managed to push into the furthest depths of the southern Continent. There was plenty of land that humanity simply couldn’t occupy in this world. She could only imagine how much worse it would have been during the time before the System. Humans had probably teleported onto every continent by sheer bad luck every so often - Alice had no reason to suspect otherwise. If humans had verifiably trickled into this world every so often, and the teleportation location was as random as it seemed to be, people had almost certainly ended up on the southern or western continent from time to time. However, in an environment as hostile as the one on this planet, without the System’s aid, humans on the southern continent had probably been eaten or died of mana poisoning before they had any chance to reproduce. She felt a moment of horror as she thought about what those people must have experienced before their deaths - suddenly yanked out of reality and into an unfamiliar world, before magic-wielding monsters tore them apart.
Even with the aid of the System, Alice had nearly ended up with the same fate after coming to this world. How much worse must it have been in the era before the System?
That also implied that any ‘villagers’ this creator of the System had worked with must have come from the central continent, or from the islands located within the Maelstrom. After all, since much of the System had likely originally been created through human labor, the source of this labor couldn’t have been so far away that it was geographically inaccessible. The creator of the System seemed fond of golem labor, but Alice suspected they had some help creating the original rooms for the System. Perhaps they had swapped to golem construction as the System developed and grew closer to completion.
This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.
“You said there are two more passages that you finished translating?” asked Alice.
“Yup. Let me read you the second one I’ve mostly translated,” said Cecilia. “This one is a bit less directly relevant, but I think it’s useful for your purposes.”
Day 2970: The connection between the blueprint room and the golem production lines is proving far more difficult to establish than I expected. For now, I’ve tried creating another parallel enchantment to work as a relay between the two, but trying to get the sensing ability to work is a nightmare and a half.
I can’t help but wish that I had spent longer studying radios back home. Ever since the war, radios have become more common. Knowledge about how to make them would sure be helpful right now.
Too bad I know absolutely nothing about them. I spent too much time studying medicine, I suppose. Magic will have to fill in the blanks here.
At the very least, that village kid who survived his mana baptism has good ideas. ‘Paired Enchantments’ are very effective at solving some of the problems I’ve run into. It’s a great innovation, and it has done quite a bit to mitigate the problems I’ve run into during my attempts at building the System.
I hope I can get the System online before his magic seed kills him. I’ve seen too many kids die already during my time on the front lines.
Alice rubbed her chin thoughtfully. This passage didn’t have very much detail about the actual construction of the System - it only confirmed her earlier guess, that there were, indeed, rooms in the System specialized in things like ‘blueprints’ or ‘golem assembly lines.’ However, it was good to know that several rooms of the System were connected to each other via paired enchantments.
More interestingly, the diary directly mentioned the writer’s ‘time on the front lines.’ Assuming the writer was from Finland, Alice didn’t think there had been very many wars written recently… but there had been multiple wars several decades ago. Including some of the most famous wars of all - world war 1 and 2. The writer explicitly mentioned radios, and the posters in his room also seemed to indicate the journal writer was from within the last century of Earth’s history. Perhaps the creator of the System was a veteran from one of the world wars, or had served in some other modern war as a volunteer? It was hard to say with certainty. Either way, Alice was starting to get a distinct picture of who the creator of the System had been, at least in part. They were a war veteran, had a background in medicine, liked a few modern bands, and were probably from the 20th century.
The third, and final paragraph that Cecilia had ‘finished’ translating was much more relevant to Alice’s personal interests.
Day 4,012
The System has been up and running for two years now. I’ve fixed most of the issues with it, and I haven’t see a ‘bug’ appear in the past year. The protection measures for children are also working far better than I had anticipated, although the mana cost is notable. That’s not a big deal, though - the System’s ability to extract and create mana from nothing is excellent. Even though setting up a large group of Artificial magic seeds was a pain, they should be able to supply a population of even a few billion people, if this world’s human population ever reaches that level. The System has ways to upgrade itself based on the number of users, so I don’t think the System’s functions or energy supply will be a problem in the future. I have done everything I could.
I have a few final thoughts, before I go. After examining the natives of this world, I do not think that it is even remotely possible that they developed independently in this world. As a former doctor, I feel qualified to say that there are zero meaningful biological differences between the people here and the people of Earth. Mages are an exception, of course - but those seem to be obvious mutations caused by whatever ‘mana’ is.
I conclude, tentatively, that other distant ancestors of humanity must have fallen into this world the same way I did - via portals or some other means of dimensional magic. Due to the horrid conditions people lived with before I arrived, there are no meaningful records of what happened during the earlier eras of this world. This makes it hard to guess which civilization’s ancestors first appeared here - though, in all honesty, I suppose it doesn’t matter. They are human, just like the people at home.
I have left everything I could for any future visitors from Earth. If the System works correctly, it should grant people access to its doors if they are from home, and it should also give them a few hints on how to get here and return safely once they’re strong enough to ensure their own safety in the transit from one dimension to another.
I long for home. It has been over a decade since I came to this world. I miss my mother and father. I miss my wife and my son. I don’t know if my wife has found someone else in the decade that I’ve been gone. I hope she hasn’t, but I wouldn’t blame her for moving on after so long without word from me. But I still wish to see my son’s face, and see the kind of man he’s grown into. He should be an adult by now. I wonder if he still likes Dungeons and Dragons. If I told him that I developed an entire System based on his favorite game, I wonder what expression he would make. I hope to find out soon.
Successor - if you are reading this, head to the central part of the System if you also wish to return to Earth. I left something there that should help you cross over. I will attempt my own homecoming tomorrow, and if it succeeds, I will try to send a few messages back to the room by hijacking the teleportation magic I’ll be using. I make no promises, though - I have no idea whether my magic and my supernatural abilities will fade once I return to Earth. I have never managed to test what happens to magic or the System’s abilities when deprived of all mana, since there does not seem to be any sort of natural ‘mana vacuum’ in this world.
Of course, if you are reading this and wish to stay in this world, there is nothing stopping you. The choice is yours. I don’t understand your decision, but I will respect it. I simply ask that you not damage the passage back to Earth, so that others can use it if they wish. I hope this diary helps you. Live well, and perhaps we’ll meet again on Earth.
This was the final entry in the diary.
Reading it made Alice’s thoughts race. She remembered that {Outworlder} had always hinted the System would provide her with ‘extra support’ from the System. Now, she finally had a rough idea what that meant - or at least, the biggest component of it. Once she got strong enough, it was meant to provide her with a way home. Perhaps the System had shut down before Alice reached that point, or perhaps there was some kind of error in the way the System handled it - but she could feel the care the creator of the System had felt towards any other accidental transmigrators. He had left them with a way home, and a few boosts to help them adjust to this world.
It also made her strange access to the System and ability to bypass the security system seem much more reasonable.
The System hadn’t made a mistake when it let her into its doors due to the {Outworlder} Perk. It was an explicit design feature - she was meant to be able to enter here, so that she could find a way home, if she wished for it.
Alice still didn’t know exactly when the person from Earth had arrived here, but she was now pretty sure it was sometime around the 1970’s or 1980’s. The man had explicitly mentioned ‘Dungeons and Dragons’ as his inspiration, and stated it was his son’s favorite game. That meant that the System wasn’t modelled after an MMO, the way Alice had assumed - instead, it was one guy’s heavily inspired take on DnD. That being said, most MMO’s and other RPG games had evolved from DnD - it was the original RPG, at least as far as Alice knew. She could see how the System had gotten from DnD to its current state, at least.
More importantly, it meant that there was a potential way home in the center of the System.
After reading the final diary entry, Alice hoped that Cecilia would translate more soon. Finding the writings of someone else from Earth was nostalgic - but it also gave her more hope.
She would fix the System. She would go to the center of the System. She would find a way home. Alice wouldn’t accept anything else at this point.
Scheduling Notice for the rest of the year: Those of you who have been around for a while probably already know this, but I take the last week of each year and the first week of each new year off as vacation time. Basically, the week of Christmas and the week of New Year’s. This year I intend to do the same thing as usual. I will also be taking the day of Thanksgiving off, since I live in the US and I’d like to spend some time with my family and eat some turkey. As a result:
On November 27th, there will be no Markets chapter, for those of you reading my other story. Expect two chapters for that week, not three. For those of you who only read Budding Scientist, expect little change that week.
Then, from December 19th to January 5th, I will be on vacation for the year. First Budding Scientist chapter for next year will probably be up on January 9th, unless I see a reason to make some kind of scheduling change to what days of the week I release chapters. I currently tend to release chapters on Friday, but I might swap this date if I feel a need to do so. I don’t think I will, but just as a forewarning - I do sometimes make changes to how I schedule things or arrange my schedule during my vacation. Vacation is a good time to look at my schedule, my plotlines for each story, and spend some time thinking about what I need and what my stories need without the time pressure of ‘gotta release another chapter soon.’ I have no idea whether I’ll actually implement any changes, just noting that some might happen. Anyway, you get the general idea.
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