There was something unusual about the Gallery’s broadcasts.
Even if you didn’t know how to use magic, you could still stream.
It was strange that even people who weren’t fixed-nicks could stream, but there was something even more special than that.
Automatic censorship.
Broadcasts that exceeded the head mod’s processing limits had their own censorship function.
The censorship was fairly sophisticated, filtering out anything that might cause severe discomfort or mental shock to the viewer.
From the viewer’s perspective, they said black squares would be plastered all over it, making it impossible to recognize its shape.
In that sense, I wished my eyes came with a censorship function.
Even cyclopes that were little more than lumps of flesh weren’t censored for that many users. But the thing before my eyes right now was definitely being censored.
The information desk of the management facility.
The information desk of the enormous facility was spacious, a place that made anyone who saw it straighten up and observe proper manners.
Yes, if only there hadn’t been something inside it.
An arm had been distorted. No, I wasn’t even sure if that had originally been an arm.
All there was were dark-red veins and muscles tangled together.
There was more flesh at the eyes. Over bones that jutted out like horns.
The bones rose and rose, like trees blooming with scraps of meat.
“Urgh.”
A revulsion unlike anything I had ever felt surged up.
It wasn’t simply because its appearance was disgusting. I could faintly sense the intent behind it.
For some reason, I couldn’t feel any clear intent.
But from that fragment alone, I could tell how vicious an act this was.
And yet, there was a strange pull to it.
Even though my eyes and intuition were clearly telling me that sight was repulsive, I was drawn in.
At that bizarre form, a sensation that had been asleep within me sharpened and bristled.
…The thought crossed my mind that I would need to arm my mind from now on, too.
“Hoo….”
I blinked my dry eyes, which had not blinked once since seeing the thing before me.
The sensation of something unknown hanging over my mind flowed past.
Then my field of vision widened a little.
Things that had not entered my eyes entered them, and things I had not heard became audible.
“It’s quiet… and dark.”
The first floor was quite spacious. But there was neither sound nor light.
Aside from the thing sitting at the information desk, there was nothing to be seen.
Thump. Thump.
Like stones thrown into the still silence, the sound of Eosollujeun rang out.
When I turned my head, Eosollujeun was knocking on the elevator door.
ㄴTruth Scholar: Hm, it seems like it wants to go in?
ㄴDraw-Sword Saint: It acts as if it has no fear. Or perhaps it knows something.
I glanced at the chat window for a moment. The mood wasn’t all that different from before.
Probably because there was censorship. If there hadn’t been censorship… it wouldn’t have been a very good situation.
Burdened with those thoughts, I moved closer to Eosollujeun.
As if waiting for me to come, Eosollujeun stood in front of the door without any reaction.
When I drew near, Eosollujeun knocked on the door once more.
Thump. Thump.
The sound of the hollow door broke the silence again.
But that door didn’t seem likely to open.
An elevator wouldn’t operate without energy.
Still… if it was Eosollujeun’s idea, maybe there was something to it.
Seeing Eosollujeun place its hand on the door somehow reminded me of when it had handed me the map.
The way it had offered it to me, as if trying to tell me something.
“…What should I do?”
At my question, Eosollujeun placed its hand on the elevator again.
As if telling me to copy that action.
At that gesture, I followed suit and placed my hand on it.
Without a shred of doubt, I followed the being I could rely on most in the deep sea.
Then—
Wooooong—
A portion of my mana flowed in, and a faint light seeped through the gap in the door.
Soon, the door opened, and light from inside poured out.
Ding.
A clear bell rang.
The elevator opened as if telling us to get in.
Eosollujeun entered the elevator first, and I followed.
The elevator was quite narrow. As if it had been designed for one person from the start.
Whirr.
Eosollujeun raised its mechanical hand toward me. In a way that felt like it was asking to be held.
…Well, that was the intent I sensed. It wasn’t because I was mentally unwell.
In any case, I grabbed Eosollujeun’s caterpillar tracks with both hands and lifted it.
Eosollujeun stretched its mechanical hand toward the buttons, then pointed out two floors among the roughly twenty main buttons.
-100
-23
One was the top floor, and next to the other, something was written.
I couldn’t read it, but judging by its intent—
-Facilities Management Floor
It was probably something like that.
Ding.
With another clear bell, the elevator doors closed.
The inside looked the same, but from the sensation of sinking downward, I guessed the elevator was rising.
The elevator seemed fairly fast, because it arrived at the floor not long after.
The sensation of sinking downward slowly vanished, and the bell rang.
Ding.
At the same time, the door opened, and Eosollujeun went out through it.
I was about to step forward and go with it, but…
Whirr.
“…Huh?”
Eosollujeun spread its mechanical hand wide and blocked my way.
As if telling me that I had to go up to the top floor.
While I stood there in a daze, the door began to close mercilessly.
Thump.
Now, even if I wanted to leave, I couldn’t.
Left with no choice, I decided to go up to the top.
If it was Eosollujeun, it would surely handle things well in danger.
Once I was alone, the elevator felt empty, and my gaze naturally shifted to the chat window.
There were still fixed-nicks moving actively there.
ㄴTruth Scholar: I was certain it wouldn’t move, though. How can it move?
ㄴDraw-Sword Saint: Isn’t it obviously using Aurora’s mana?
ㄴTruth Scholar: No, Sword Saint?? Magic is not something that works that simply…
Hm, Truth Scholar was giving another magic lecture.
Perhaps because I had read Archmage Azentas’s book, there were parts I could understand, but I didn’t look too deeply.
Because I had arrived.
Ding.
Along with the notification that I had reached the floor, the door opened.
For reference, there were characters written on the 100th floor as well.
Judging by the meaning, this place was—
ㄴTruth Scholar: …It seems like a position from which one looks down upon everything and commands it.
The core of the management facility, the area where all systems converged.
It was the control zone.
When I stepped outside, the elevator closed on its own and its light disappeared.
Since I, its energy source, had left, that was only natural.
Step. Step.
In the quiet hollow, only my footsteps took form.
Since my heightened senses still felt nothing, I walked toward the front where the windows were.
Slowly, cautiously, I approached. The scenery outside the window came into view.
Buildings small enough to fit in one hand, and cyclopes moving faintly between them.
It resembled the scenery from a landmark I had once visited on Earth.
I turned my gaze away from the scenery outside the window and looked at the object below.
ㄴTruth Scholar: Is that a map? No, that’s… for management.
Where I lowered my gaze, I saw a screen giving off a faint light, as if it would go out at any moment.
Like the map Eosollujeun had handed me, it was a three-dimensional cluster of light containing every facility in this place.
But it was so faint, as though it would soon go out, that it was hard to check.
Like the elevator, it seemed to be in a state of energy shortage.
“…In that case.”
After briefly looking around as if keeping watch, I placed my hand on the screen.
Then a fairly large amount of mana flowed in, and the display brightened all at once.
The image of the city that had been faintly floating on the screen became clear, and the buttons of unknown purpose nearby also lit up.
At that sight, for a moment, I felt like I had become a control operator.
Since I couldn’t sense any presence around me, I immediately tapped the screen.
Then the screen moved, and various facilities appeared.
Several facilities, including the weapons factory and food factory I had seen before.
Among them, I pressed the food factory.
[Food Factory]
-Facilities (Operating)
-Security (Operating)
-Movement (Inactive)
-██ (Inactive)
Because of information concealment, I couldn’t see one item, but for now, I tried touching security.
When I pressed the operating security—
-Security (Operating)
Beep.
-Security (Inactive)
In an instant, the food factory’s security disappeared.
I hadn’t confirmed it in person, but intuitively, I knew the food factory’s security had stopped.
“Hmm….”
I thought for a moment.
The facilities here could literally be “managed.” Across the entire area, at that.
My mana was flowing in, but that much was manageable.
It wouldn’t be bad to take this chance to control every area in a way that made it easier for me to move around.
So, I tried touching another panel for rearrangement.
It was “Movement.”
With anticipation, I pressed the button.
-Movement (Inactive)
Beep.
-Operation impossible. This facility has been isolated.
“What…?”
A bewildered voice slipped out. Isolated?
But the messages did not stop there and continued.
-Isolation Protocol, “Zero,” confirmed.
-Isolation of all facilities, including control facility, will proceed.
-███ Project initiated.
-In accordance with the execution of “Zero,” only individuals with PN-grade authority or higher may release a portion of the isolation.
The successive wave of messages made my mind grow hazy.
Words like isolation, project, and grade suddenly poured out, making my head spin.
As if not taking my state into consideration, another message appeared.
-A specific key is required to release a portion of the isolation.
-If you are an individual with the key and authority, please insert the key into the slot on the right.
Following the message, I turned my head to the right, and a slot really had appeared.
A slot with a somehow familiar shape.
There was no way I had the key, yet for some reason, the shape of the slot looked familiar.
As I wondered where I had seen it, the chat blocked my view.
ㄴTruth Scholar: The shape of the slot is exactly the same as the scanner, isn’t it?
ㄴDraw-Sword Saint: Perhaps because you’re a mage, you do have a good eye.
At those words, I lowered my head and looked at the scanner.
It was true. An octagonal shape, like a rectangle with its corners cut off. A shape exactly like the slot.
Half in doubt, I inserted the scanner into the slot.
Then, my mana was torn away and drawn in once more, and messages rose up.
-…Key confirmed.
-…Grade confirmed.
-Information for the dismantling of isolated facilities will be entered.
-We pay our respects to you, who bear all hope.
Bzzzt!!
Along with the incomprehensible final message, the facility’s lights went out.
In contrast, messages of bright light rose from the scanner.
-A new blueprint has been updated.
-A new file has been entered.
-The operating AI of “Sphere” has been entered.