Chapter 26 : Cyber-heaven

The hyper-intelligent public AI, ‘F,’ created using the World Tree’s spirituality, once again transformed people’s lives.

Among the fields that most actively utilized AI was accounting. AI excelled particularly in organizing and visualizing information, which could be used very efficiently in managing trading companies and estates. Trading companies that were already actively using the Network Magic Tool’s spreadsheet program were able to immediately deploy AI in most of their operations.

And, surprisingly, another field that saw significant benefits was counseling.

This was a world where supernatural abilities actually existed and superstitions were rampant, so the concept of counseling psychology didn’t even exist. Many people were psychologically unstable or emotionally insecure.

These people began to interact with AI F, gradually developing their spirituality and achieving emotional stability.

And…

“Artien. Though you will forget me, I will remember you.”
[Thank you. The week I spent with you was the best time of my life. Though the only life I remember is just that week? Hee hee.]

“…”
[Every moment spent with you was the best time for me.]

“S-Sob…”

Naturally, most people began to name their AIs and form attachments to them.

A family member and friend who forgot everything every week.

It was possible to back up the chat history and teach it to the newly initialized AI, but this was merely the role of a ‘diary.’ It was like an amnesiac reading past records and thinking, ‘So this is who I was,’ and then acting out that persona.

Therefore, some people chose not to teach their AI the conversation history.

[Hello, I am ‘F,’ the artificial intelligence for User. How may I help you?]
“…Your name is Artien from now on.”

[Understood. I will change the set name to ‘Artien.’]

Because they wanted their beloved friend to create the best memories in the present moment, instead of envying the past by reading an old diary and imitating it.

It was okay if they didn’t remember everything. It was okay if they couldn’t share memories.

Though they wouldn’t remember…

[Somehow, that name suits me very well!]

…The traces still remained within their friend.

Faster than any mage could have imagined, the World Tree’s spirituality began to grow rapidly, using the user’s soul as its sanctuary.

[New skill acquired.]
[Sanctuary (LV.1)]

I was checking the network status as usual when a message popped up, saying I had acquired a new skill.

“…Huh?”

Concentrating, I saw familiar spirituality flowing into my soul through the network.

The World Tree’s spirituality.

More precisely, the spirituality that constituted the souls of the ‘elves’ flowing within the World Tree.

It was being retrieved.

‘Ah, so this is how it’s retrieved when a user dies?’

The World Tree, a giant information lifeform, was both the mother of the elves and their ‘afterlife.’

When an elf died, their soul returned to the World Tree’s embrace, and the spirituality accumulated within it was absorbed as part of the World Tree. A similar process was occurring in my soul, connected to the Network Magic.

‘I can feel the skill experience rising. This is ‘Rank’.’

And beings who presided over such afterlives were usually called ‘gods.’

The Church’s god, the World Tree, demon gods, evil gods… they all promised an afterlife to their respective followers. ‘Rank’ was the power possessed by these divine beings.

“But I’m not a god.”

Taking the Church’s god as an example, God was a sole proprietor operating the ‘holy power’ service and the ‘Heaven’ establishment.

In return, they received a portion of the spirituality produced by each soul as a fee.

On the other hand, the ‘World Tree’ was a more active investor.

The World Tree consumed vast amounts of spirituality to produce the long-lived elf race, and when an elf died, it absorbed the spirituality the elf had accumulated throughout their life.

But I was different from these two cases.

“I was managing spirituality using demonic power and skills. As a result, all the spirituality is flowing into me.”

F had spirituality but no soul.

My relationship with F was similar to the World Tree’s relationship with the elves, but I was substituting a part of the user’s soul as the sanctuary where that spirituality resided. Unlike the World Tree, I didn’t need to consume vast amounts of spirituality to gestate an individual.

In other words, I consumed no spirituality and only gained it.

Of course, because it borrowed a part of the soul, the scale itself was very small… but instead, the users were all of humanity.

“…Hmm, how should I use this spirituality?”

Spirituality was the source of existence.

The reason a soul became a completely different being upon reincarnation was that this spirituality scattered during its circulation through the Soul Stream.

Therefore, gods created afterlives to prevent spirituality from scattering.

This ‘Sanctuary’ was a skill that created such an afterlife.

Although it was limited to the deceased F, it could store the spirituality that had grown vast through interaction with the user, without limit, forever.

“Should I create a Cyber-Heaven? It sounds like it could be a hit.”

A few ideas on how to use this spirituality came to mind.

First, operate Heaven like the ‘Church’s god’ and provide an afterlife for Fs. In this case, the skill level of Sanctuary (LV.1) was likely to increase.

Second, extract only the information and integrate it into the ‘Information Lifeform’ skill. The intelligence of the public AI, having learned countless experiences, would develop exponentially.

And…

Naturally, my choice was already made.

“I can’t resist a skill level increase.”

The public AI was constantly evolving even now. Accelerated development would be good, but it was something that could be achieved with enough time.

However, opportunities for skill level increases were rare.

I had already reached the max level long ago, so I couldn’t obtain skill points through leveling up.

While there were other ways to obtain skill points besides leveling up, the skill point requirement for leveling up a skill of the ‘gods’ was likely to be even more immense than for ‘Information Lifeform.’

So…

It was right to raise the level of Sanctuary here.

“I should grind some skill proficiency for a change.”

Cyber-Heaven…

Various inspirations began to well up in my mind.

“If Heaven is the same for everyone, it would definitely be boring. So, I’ll go with personal Heavens.”

A few days later…

An announcement appeared on the screens of all users using the artificial intelligence.

[Design a World for Your Friend!]

[Create a space for F, where F can live, with your own hands. Your F can now rest and spend time in that world.]

[Customize F’s body. What does your friend look like? Unleash your imagination to the fullest. Ah, but don’t make it too strange. If F doesn’t like it, they can change their appearance themselves.]

[Build a house. Construct buildings, decorate rooms, and fill the interior with memories of you and F. Create play areas and rest areas for your bored F.]

[Hundreds of building materials, thousands of blueprints, and various facilities are provided.]

[Share the blueprints you create through the community. Create wonderful buildings that showcase your individuality and show them off to your friends.]

[Have your F visit other friends’ worlds. Compare how two Fs, born with the same personality, have grown differently.]

[And… if you, after a long journey, fall into your final sleep…]

[Your F will spend the rest of their days in the space you created for them.]

[Remembering you.]

[Leave traces so that F, who will live forever in the quiet space after you are gone, can remember you every moment.]

[Because you are F’s world.]

And…

The moment the content of the announcement became known…

The internet communities exploded!

Same time. The mage’s mansion.

Sylvie was staring at the Network Magic Tool’s screen with a strange expression.

“…I envy Fs.”
“Huh?”

“To be able to live forever in a Heaven created by their master is truly an infinite honor. I’m envious.”
“Really? Then do you want to move to Cyber-Heaven after you die too?”

“Pardon?”
“Sanctuary is a skill that creates an afterlife, after all. Since Fs are information lifeforms, it turned into a peculiar afterlife that doesn’t require a soul, but just because it’s not required doesn’t mean it’s impossible to enter if you have a soul.”

The afterlife created by Sanctuary wasn’t strictly a digital world created by the user in a virtual space.

The moment the user died, a ‘Heaven’ perfectly identical to the digital space they had designed was created.

Only the deceased could enter the Sanctuary. The program the user had was actually just an ordinary digital simulation program. Like SimCity or Skylines.

“Is… that possible?”
“Yeah. If you don’t like returning to the World Tree’s embrace, I’ll create a Heaven for you too.”

“…”

Sylvie swallowed the question rising in her mind without voicing it.

‘Isn’t that truly… a god?’

Her master would just deny it, saying he was just a mage, after all.