Chapter 2 : Short text 100 won, Long text 200 won

Falling asleep at my desk, the world created by my [Model Garden (LV.MAX)] skill unfolded. It was a simulation space, a magical environment perfectly replicating reality. Most of my magic experiments took place here.

‘What I need to create today is the transmission function. Simple transmission itself isn’t difficult, but if all of humanity tries to transmit simultaneously, the server will overload. I need a waypoint to process things sequentially.’

I implemented the Soul Stream within the Model Garden and began developing the magic. Developing new magic fundamentally relied on the skills I possessed, but modifying it required my own magical aptitude.

‘Ugh, I wish I had a hundred brains.’

This was a grand magic that connected all of humanity through the Soul Stream. Modifying it was an incredibly complex task.

I literally needed a hundred brains.

“I’ll borrow them for a bit and return them.”

I decided to borrow the brains of the academy students.

[Using Information Lifeform (LV.4).]
[Using Heart of the Swarm (LV.12).]

Magic that allocated brain resources by connecting to the unconscious.

It sounded terrifying, but it was just borrowing a little of their wasted spiritual resources. Rather, it would benefit the academy students’ growth by allowing them to experience a part of world-class magic in exchange for sharing a small amount of their excess resources.

The downside was that they would have difficulty reacting to sudden events. But it would be fine since it was class time.

“Let’s do this! My slaves!”

The Empire.

The Court Mage’s Tower.

“Communication magic connected!”
“Begin tracing immediately! Activate the magic circle! Even if we have to pour in all the Mana Stones, we must find a clue!”

The court mages were fully prepared to respond to the ‘unknown Archmage’s’ communication magic.

They had installed dozens of magic circles, such as calculation enhancement and magic resistance circles, and had all the court mages on standby in the tower.

[“Ahh, mic test. Can you hear me well today? Wow, there are already hundreds of attempts to reverse-engineer the magic or trace me. Were you preparing in advance? The challenging spirit isn’t bad, but it’s unnecessarily burdening the Soul Stream, so please refrain if possible.”]

“Damn it, the magic was forcibly canceled again!”
“Mages afflicted with Silence, step back and focus on mana supply!”

The moment a young court mage attempted to trace back, Silence activated, canceling all the magic the court mage was using.

The Empire’s Magic Commander clenched his teeth.

It hadn’t even taken a second for the magic to be forcibly canceled. He couldn’t understand why the tower’s magic resistance had been breached.

[“By the way, if you attempt to trace back, I can see everyone’s coordinates from here, you know? I see the Imperial Court Mage’s Tower working hard to analyze my magic, but while loyalty to the Empire is commendable, it’s pointless, so I wanted to advise you to stop. Ah, if His Majesty the Emperor is listening, please don’t blame the court mages too much, they’ve done enough. This magic is impossible to reverse-engineer in the first place.”]

The ability to breach the tower’s magic resistance meant…

This ‘unknown Archmage’ could turn the Imperial Palace into a sea of flames if they so desired.

“…A blatant threat. Damn it. This is humiliating.”
“Commander? What should we do?”

“We abandon the tracing. To openly ignore the warning and become hostile… is terrifying to even imagine.”

‘Oh. The tracing really stopped?’

There were still attempts to break through the firewall, but they had definitely decreased compared to before.

Sincerity truly was the key.

[“Okay. Since everyone seems to understand, let’s move on to the next step. It must be frustrating to be subjected to one-way communication magic, right? So I’ve created a new system that allows you to send messages. You must be curious how to send them, right?”]

Originally, I planned to implement real-time chat for everyone to see, but the simulations showed the server load was too high.

So I set it up so only I could see it for now.

[Real-time Chat]
[Anonymous (Magic Kingdom, 001.452): 1st!]

[“…Hmm? What’s this? Someone sent a message before I even explained how. How did you do that?”]

Huh? Someone already sent a message.

The method wasn’t difficult, so maybe someone out of billions could discover it by chance.

[“Anyway, the method is simple. Say ‘Message,’ and a blue window will appear in front of you. Push a low-grade Mana Stone into the visible window, and you’ll be able to enter a short text. The number of characters depends on the mana in the Mana Stone, so if you want to send a long message, use a mid-grade Mana Stone.”]

I envisioned a sort of ‘radio message’ system. Like ‘Short message 100 won, long message 200 won. Send your message to #1234’.

One low-grade Mana Stone was excessively expensive for a single message, but that was based on the text message prices of my previous life. In this world, it was an absurdly cheap price. The cost of communication magic was astronomical.

As soon as I explained the method, a flood of chats poured in.

[Real-time Chat]
[Anonymous (Empire, 121.152): Greetings, I am Dumbling, Commander of the Imperial Court Mages. Do you have any plans to provide magical advice to specific nations or factions?]
[Anonymous (Hyrule Kingdom, 301.111): Is this how you send it?]
[Anonymous (Demon Realm, 021.666): I am the Demon Monarch. I am intrigued by your nonsense of connecting the entire world. Are you serious about this ambition?]

[“Dumbling, Commander of the Imperial Court Mages? Sounds like a name for someone who’s good at somersaults. I have no intention of supporting a specific faction, so you don’t have to worry. And a message from the Hyrule Kingdom too. Oh, that’s how you send it. Aren’t Mana Stones really precious in that country? And from the Demon Realm… Are you really the Demon Monarch? Or an impersonator? Oh, connecting the entire world is my goal. The Mana Stones you send will be used for server maintenance, so send lots of messages.”]

And so…

The world’s first radio broadcast began.

The Western Sea of the continent. On the deck of an Imperial Navy ship.

It had already been several months since the ship left port. Since the only way to contact land was through military communication magic tools that consumed a tremendous amount of Mana Stones, Captain Hans was constantly worried about his pregnant wife.

Had she given birth safely? What if something went wrong during childbirth?

Of course, he knew that no news was good news, and if anything happened to his family, they would contact him even if it meant using the military communication magic tools, but he couldn’t help but worry.

‘Her due date has already passed… God, please protect my wife.’

One day, as he was spending the night watching the swaying waves…

[“Captain Hans of the Imperial Navy, currently sailing the Western Sea. Your wife asked me to relay a message. She gave birth safely, and it’s a healthy baby boy who looks just like you. As I mentioned before, this broadcast is worldwide, so if you have anything you want to say to your family, feel free to send a message. I can’t read them all, of course. Just a few at a time.”]

“Huh? Captain Hans. Isn’t that about you?”
“W-Wait a minute! Does anyone have a Mana Stone?! I want to send a letter to my wife too!”

Across the waves of the vast sea…

A letter arrived.

Tutankhamun Desert. The ruins where the ancient emperor was sealed.

The hero, who somehow broke the seal and saved the world from the awakened Evil Emperor, wiped away his pouring sweat and sat down blankly.

‘…I’m lonely. So lonely…!’

He had been visiting the desert traders’ village on a guard mission…

He’d stumbled upon a strange stone tablet, been chased by ancient monsters, fallen into a sand pit, tumbled into an ancient tomb, and ended up saving the world.

It was always like this.

He just wanted to help others, but looking back, he always ended up solving everything alone and becoming exhausted…!

‘I want to hear a human voice…’

All the entrances to the ancient emperor’s tomb were blocked with sand.

It was only natural, as it was a tomb buried in the sand desert. The thought of digging his way out of here with only his holy sword made him dizzy.

How many months would it take? Perhaps over a year.

[“Ahh, mic test. Can you hear me well today?”]

“Yes!”

The voice from the sky was nothing short of salvation, a divine revelation.

The hero, who had been diligently digging through the sand with his holy sword, sat down and nodded vigorously. He looked devout, like a priest receiving a god.

“Mana Stones?”

There were plenty of Mana Stones in the ancient emperor’s tomb.

He still had no idea how to escape this tomb, but the mere fact that he could communicate with someone brought him relief.

[“Tutankhamun Desert? This is an interesting place to receive a message from. ‘I was swept into a sand pit and trapped in an ancient emperor’s tomb. I don’t want to be alone.’ Uh, is this for real? I should visit sometime.”]
“Yes, yes! Please come! I’ll be waiting!”

[“Then the next message…”]
“Ahh, is that all for my story…? Please, just one more word…!”

The hero shoved Mana Stones from the ancient emperor’s tomb, sending messages continuously, but…

His message was never introduced again.

[Anonymous (Tutankhamun Desert, 333.123): Hello?]
[Anonymous (Tutankhamun Desert, 333.123): Please read my message one more time.]
[Anonymous (Tutankhamun Desert, 333.123): Mage-nim!!!] (TL Note: -nim is an honorific suffix in Korean.)
[Anonymous (Tutankhamun Desert, 333.123): Wouldn’t you read my message just once?]
[Anonymous (Tutankhamun Desert, 333.123): Read it read it read it read it read it read it]

‘There’s already someone spamming the chat asking me to read their messages.’

Since only I could see them, there was no need to block them.

Rather, it was beneficial since I could collect more Mana Stones.

[Anonymous (Tutankhamun Desert, 333.123): I’m really trapped alone in this tomb, so I’m very lonely and bored.]

He couldn’t be actually trapped in an underground tomb.

If it were a tomb buried underground for a long time, the oxygen itself would be scarce, let alone food and water, and there would be a high chance of it being contaminated with toxic gases.

But the person’s condition, checked through soul magic, was very healthy.

If he were genuinely stranded, he would have asked to be rescued with magic rather than asking for his chat to be read.

‘There are already role-players…’ (TL Note: Refers to people who adopt fictional personas online.)

The chat that claimed to be the Demon Monarch was probably role-playing too, right?

Some things never changed, even in a different world. The internet remained the same.