Chapter 266: Avartin, Yonda, Loom
The pantheon's Grand Library housed all the books of Avartin and more. The top of the towering height wasn’t visible even if one looked up, and the bookshelves filled six diverging paths.
There was no need to worry about how to reach the books on the high shelves, as each shelf level had corridors and ladders. Therefore, those reading and transporting books looked more like climbers than librarians, errand runners, or scholars. They searched for books on the desired shelves, checked them, and then scanned the library's upper, lower, left, and right areas to determine where the next book they needed was located, then descended ladders or leaped to the opposite corridor. If a book was too far, there were Dragonflies to turn to.
This library was not radially symmetrical but irregularly extended according to the major classification of each book. The highest shelf level in the library could only be interfered with by gods, and the level under the major classification of Earth was inaccessible to mortals.
Sung-Woon pulled a poetry book from the Earth section and then put it back. It was a collection of poems restored from memory by one of the players. Although called a library, all the books were maintained by a system that indexed their form, allowing for searching even down to each page's sentences. He returned the poetry book not only because it was uninteresting, but because the person he was waiting for arrived sooner than expected.
"A second moon has been known as a possibility already," Jerome, a player, approached saying this.
Jerome was the leader of one of the small groups among the players, but that fact wasn't very important. Players usually got together with those of similar tastes or personalities, and they often told Sung-Woon about such gatherings as an excuse to meet. Most players were members of several groups, sometimes three or four, and some held the title of group leader in several of them.
Sung-Woon himself was a member of groups like Plant and Animal Care, Programming Study, and Game Production clubs. He was also the leader of the most-subscribed Comprehensive Martial Arts group and a traditional board game group named Go Lovers that played games like Go. He was someone with very few hobbies in the Pantheon.
Jerome appeared to be made of several books. Where his forehead should be was two wide hardcovers showing its spines, his nose protruded, with a mustache of unfolded book bindings, and his hair and beard were white pages hanging down. In other words, Jerome looked like an old man made of books.
Jerome was the leader of the Old Content Restoration Team, Avartin's Classical Literature Group, and the Ancient History Research Group of Avartin.
Sung-Woon, knowing that Ion Iolkaf had proven the existence of a second moon, sought someone in the player community who could have information about it and that was why Jerome soon arrived.
"Was there a civilization on the moon?"
"It seems so to us."
"Why didn't I know? Well, um, we're not that close, but Eldar was also part of that...setting otaku group, right? Eldar would have tipped me off first. I hardly noticed that setting."
"Avartin's Ancient History Research Group."
"Yes, that one."
Jerome stroked his beard, which was essentially turning pages of a book.
"Hmm, the ancient history of Avartin is a mix of myth, legend, and actual events, so it's hard to know for sure. In our research group, when we consult Avartin-related materials, they appear in the system window within overlapping brackets, so we usually call them ‘overlapping bracket materials.' Most of these materials mix reality and mythology in their descriptions. And that part is the same today. People, when they see a miracle, can feel it's exaggerated even if it's factual. Conversely, even when exaggerated, we might think it's just the use of a Domain's power, or maybe magic, or perhaps technology we don't know of."
"So it's hard to distinguish."
"Yes. That's why even if we talked about the existence of a second moon, we thought it was just symbolic."
Sung-Woon asked while turning his head, "The problem is that we still haven't observed it, right?"
The power of the Pantheon extended only a bit beyond the atmosphere of the Lost World, the planet Avartin. Beyond that point, the system of the Pantheon didn't work. The miracles of various Domains only functioned within Avartin's atmosphere, but beyond a certain height, the gods' powers didn't reach.
'That reminds me of my last game with Hegemonia.'
At that time, Sung-Woon had used a loophole. He had launched satellites into orbit and attacked Hegemonia with projection weapons from there. Although it wasn't that novel a tactic at that time, it was a move that targeted Hegemonia's weakness, leading to her defeat.
Players believed that their powers reached every corner of the Lost World, but in reality, there were clear limits. Of course, such limits hadn’t been a significant issue until now. Players hadn't been interested in anything outside Avartin to begin with.
'Because the enemy was always on the planet's surface.'
Sung-Woon asked, "So what is this second moon?"
Jerome replied, "What is the second moon... The sun signifies the world and life, and the moon—the first moon Yonda, to be more precise—signifies cycles and flow. So, it aligns with our general understanding. A planet receives energy from the sun, so it signifies life, and the moon orbits Avartin regularly, signifying cycles. However, such interpretations also imbue mystery, making them feel more symbolic. That’s why we thought the second moon would be similar."
"What does the second moon signify?"
"Apocalypse."
Sung-Woon nodded as if interested. "It's bound to seem symbolic."
"Looking past mysticism and symbolism now, Loom was one of the old gods' ultimate weapons. It had so many capabilities that our research group just thought it symbolized a combination of apocalyptic powers."
"Like the powers of Domains held by players?"
"Exactly."
"The second moon, Loom, is that significant?"
"It effectively ended a war."
Sung-Woon recalled the general setting of The Lost World. The origins of the world were so ancient that they were unknown. Like the creation myths on Earth, it was a complex mix of who created whom or who was born from whom, and it was unclear what was true. The stories varied by species and even within the same species, depending on the region, so even the players hardly knew these ancient tales. The Avartin’s Ancient History Research Group labeled these as ancient myths—something that existed in the past but also mythical.
Then at some point, beings known as old gods appeared. Of course, when they first emerged, they were simply called gods, and they were the beings referred to in the creation myths and ancient myths. Whether they had always existed but hidden their presence, or merely borrowed that title upon their appearance, was unknown.
These old gods and the numerous species coexisted well, reaching a peak in civilization.
'I heard that scientific development was incredibly slow then.'
Due to reliance on the gods' powers, there was little interest in technological advancement like science. Sung-Woon thought they would have lived well even without such advancements.
Instead, they developed art and culture, mediated conflicts between species, and formed alliances beyond national boundaries. Of course, there were significant wars during this period, and relations among the old gods were not always good. This era lasted for about tens of thousands of years.
Players speculated that the common language, almost overlapping among different species, originated from this period. The common language operated by phonetic rules that could encompass species with vocal cords as well as those like the Astasidias, who had separate vocal mechanisms. It was sophisticated enough to accurately convey the meanings of even the most detailed languages.
'Compared to Earth, it's impressive, but if there was no thought of going beyond the planet...'
Additionally, if the old gods only had abilities similar to the players, or even somewhat similar, they wouldn't have felt the need to use them. They just passed the long ages without the need to develop their abilities further. If a problem arose, it was solved with the power of the gods.
'Couldn’t that also be a form of peace?'
In the setting, this was referred to as the Age of the Old Gods. Tens of thousands of years, almost an eternity for the individuals living through it. According to various scientific evidence, the life expectancy of the species was similar then as it was now.
However, Avartin was not eternally peaceful. Magic appeared. There was no record of how, why, or for what reason it emerged. The appearance of magic left more records than the entire tens of thousands of years of the Age of the Old Gods. Even though these were called ancient relics, they were relatively recent in comparison, but still overwhelmingly numerous.
Those who could use magic weren’t powerful enough to oppose the gods, but they formed their independent groups, not following the gods, and instead followed something other than the old gods. According to the setting, this was the precursor to the evil gods.
‘The world starts to get twisted from the emergence of ancient evil.'
The ancient evil, namely the evil gods, attempted to take over the world ruled by the old gods. The evil gods seduced numerous species, conquered communities, and, for some reason, the old gods were defenseless against them.
The legacy of peace that had lasted for tens of thousands of years began to crumble. The world was not overwhelmingly dominated but was swept into conflict, and the old gods had to live the remaining time without the certainty of victory in the future. The gods then realized they could only oppose the evil gods in another way.
'That's when they turned to science.'
The foundation for technological civilization was already in place, and perhaps because of that, the rate of development was as rapid as the development brought about by the players. A planet that had spent tens of thousands of years at a medieval level of technology developed scientific and technological advancements in just a few hundred years.
The aspects where the gods' powers fell short were compensated for, and there was no longer deficiency in opposing the evil gods. Therefore, they put an end to the war that had lasted for hundreds of years.
"So, Loom was the ultimate weapon that ended that war?"
"Yes. It was more of a huge artificial satellite than a spaceship. It could fire some kind of beam and also launch interceptors."
"But it seems hard to believe that such a thing was made in just a few hundred years. Even just to reach the moon..."
"Ah, I should have mentioned that." Jerome said. "In the past, the gods' range of influence was not limited to the planet's atmosphere, but extended to the moon. So by using the gods' powers well, they could send entities to the moon. It wasn't common, so it's not well-documented, and as I said earlier, we thought it was just a symbolic scene, but if it wasn't... Maybe the old gods gradually moved resources and people to the moon without the evil gods noticing and completed Loom there."
"So it was built as a secret weapon from the start?"
"Yes."
Sung-Woon was convinced. While the fight with the evil gods on the planet drew attention, the weapon was built in a place the evil gods couldn't detect, a classic backstab. Since it was intended as a secret weapon, it wasn’t strange that it had remained undiscovered until now.
Jerome continued, "It seems they were very cautious. Among the ancient relics, you find weird resources like lunar stones, right? They probably dug up the back of the moon and transported it here. So outside of research materials, players only find nonsensical, useless resources when exploring ancient ruins."
But even if the mass was somehow matched, a huge artificial structure like the second moon, called Loom, could’ve been discovered as observation methods became more precise, like Ion Iolkaf had found.
"I have two questions."
"Okay."
"One is about history. If the old gods won the war, why did they disappear?"
Jerome shook his head. "I don't know. Maybe the world became too devastated after the use of the second moon? It's said they destroyed all civilizations and buildings to prevent the evil gods from using them, maybe they just wanted to give up. Then they summoned us as the rebuilders of the next civilization."
"But then the ancient evil reappeared?"
"Perhaps?"
This wasn’t a satisfying answer. It felt incomplete and vague.
'Anyway, that's not the most important thing right now.'
Sung-Woon waved his hand dismissively. "Here’s my next question. I hope you have an answer..."
"I'm all prepared. You can expect a good one."
"If the second moon, Loom, is now in the hands of the evil gods,"
"Yes?"
"Why aren't they using it against us right away?"
Jerome raised his index finger. "That's the question I was expecting. The answer is causality."
"Causality."
"Just like we players couldn’t directly relay our scientific knowledge to the entities, the second moon, Loom, exists outside causality."
"You’re saying it's a thing beyond the current level of science and civilization."
Sung-Woon understood immediately. If it was outside causality, to bring it within causality, a significant amount of Faith points would need to be used.
"I don’t know how much Faith points they have, but it must be difficult for them right now."
"They?"
"Jeolyo, we discovered, is commanding the Fairy species. But if what you say is true, there's another one. It's just not listed in the player list because they exist outside causality."
"Ah, that makes sense. Hmm, even with two players, it would be difficult. Including Sha-Cha, that makes three, and the Black Order's population has decreased too much."
Jerome nodded.
Sung-Woon hoped Jerome would say, 'So there's no need to worry.' But Jerome didn't say that.
"But isn’t there another way to overcome causality?"
"What way?"
Jerome shrugged and said, "Unlike decades ago, downloading the music of an Orc rapper active on Sky Net is not a violation of causality anymore. If our scientific technology has caught up that much, they could cross causality with much less Faith points than needed."
"Sounds like a complex calculation."
"Not necessarily. The answer is always in the history books,” Jerome said this while rummaging through notes he seemed to have written himself. "Of course, it's not very clear. It's a calculation. But there are a few indicators of the level of scientific and technological achievement of the old gods’ civilization at the end of the ancient war. When our civilization reaches that level, we can say we're at the same level of causality as then."
"Even if we stop developing?"
"Stopping isn't enough. Even if it doesn't improve qualitatively, it expands quantitatively. To prevent the intervention of our evil gods, we need to reverse the development, not just stop it."
Sung-Woon realized that wouldn't be possible anymore. Even if the level of civilization was literally reversed, if the evil gods gathered Divinity faster, they would eventually face the second moon.
'We’ll have to deal with it before Loom shows itself.'
Sung-Woon asked, "Alright, the Empire has launched several rockets beyond orbit and has experimental satellites. But right now, we can't even reach the moon, let alone fight a giant structure on the dark side of the moon. How much time do we have?"
Jerome slowly stroked his beard and answered calmly, "Three years and three months."
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