### Chapter 321 – Re-entering Room 203, The Cursed Room – ‘A New Beginning’ (1)
—
[User: Han Kain (Wisdom)
Date: Day 138
Current Location: Level 2, Room 203 – Cursed Room ‘A New Beginning’
Sage’s Advice: 2]
—
– Han Kain
The moment I laid my eyes on the mysterious entity behind the door that Pride opened, I was left speechless.
Something so gigantic that it could easily fit an entire building felt cramped in this vast space.
It resembled a massive whale. The entity moved gracefully as if swimming through the air, its body adorned with tiny wings and fins that stirred up a beautiful light with every motion.
As the colossal being slowly turned to look at me, its eye, much larger than my whole body, cast an overwhelming pressure that nearly crushed me.
“Ugh!”
Just when I felt like I was going to drop to my knees, a hand from behind caught me.
“Adravita, now, now. You wanted your communication officer, didn’t you?”
As Pride finished speaking, the oppressive force weighing down on me vanished. Taking a moment to steady myself, Pride urged me.
“Han Kain, why don’t you say something? That thing is pretending not to hear me.”
“… Adravita? Do you hear me?”
From the looks of it, Adravita seemed to be the prisoner of this room. How could such a being react to human speech—
「I h□a□r.」
It responded? But what was that noise? It sounded like static!
“What do you mean?”
「I h□a□d 5□□ight, comm□unication fail□.」
“…”
This was weird. Adravita tried to convey something, but a mysterious noise interrupted.
I had a faint idea. Seeing the number ‘5’ made me realize that if this being was a prisoner, something in the hotel was blocking communication with us.
What could it be?
The scenario had flipped suddenly and turned the stage into a spaceship. Now I was having a conversation with an overwhelmingly transcendent being that looked like a prisoner from the get-go. Not to mention, the hotel was hindering that communication.
Just then, Pride spoke up from behind me.
“It seems like it can communicate. Han Kain, please relay my words to Adravita.”
“Got it.”
“Adravita, why are you suddenly spreading corruption and hindering ‘A New Beginning’? You assured us that you would assist human expansion. If you have grievances, please tell us.”
Corruption. A new beginning. Human expansion. Several keywords popped into my mind in a heartbeat.
Following Pride’s request, I repeated the message back even though I didn’t quite see the purpose of just echoing his words.
「□intr□.」
The reply from the entity was short. Suddenly, the next moment felt like a teleportation; Pride and I were thrown outside of the space.
In that instant, still dazed, I looked back at Pride, who wore the same dumbfounded expression as I did while borrowing Ahri’s body.
“… What the heck is going on?”
“It seems we’re being kicked out. Han Kain, what is happening?”
“Why are you asking me?”
“Are you still struggling to recall your memories?”
Ahri’s crimson eyes bore into me. Aware of the danger presented by whatever was in front of me, I found it hard to come up with a response.
[Advice: 2 → 1]
‘What should I say? Think fast!’
[I should be waking up soon. How far till we reach our destination?]
“I should be waking up soon. How far till we reach our destination?”
Did my response please Pride? The tense atmosphere lifted all at once, softening Ahri’s face with a gentle smile.
“Thank goodness. I was worried you might have been contaminated during cryogenic sleep. We had to purge a few crew members due to corruption.”
“… Purge?”
“We’re almost there. To be precise, we’ll arrive in 572 days, 16 hours, and 32 minutes.”
My mouth nearly dropped open. Almost there? What? 572 days?
As I struggled to control my expression, Pride led me to a location where a hologram was floating. What on earth is this place?
“Originally, this was an education device for newcomers, but I think it’ll be useful for you, Han Kain. Just watch this. I must attend to some urgent matters regarding Adravita.”
Once Pride left, I activated the ‘education device.’
*
… I got a general grasp of the situation.
First off, I was aboard the spaceship called ‘The Pride of Humanity,’ embarking on an utterly ridiculous mission of ‘interplanetary expansion.’ The entity speaking through Ahri was the main AI of the spaceship.
Second, the spaceship housed ‘crew members’ in cryogenic sleep and countless ‘human cultivation kits’ to rapidly grow humans upon reaching the new planet. All of these crew members were referred to as ‘Enhanced Humans.’
Third, Adravita was a divine being aligned with humanity.
Adravita had embarked on the spaceship to assist mankind in establishing itself in the harsh conditions of another planet and provided auxiliary power to the ship, in return for the rights to ‘spread faith’ at the colonization site.
Fourth, the AI’s claim that we were almost there wasn’t an exaggeration.
Since it had been a whopping 482 years since The Pride of Humanity began its journey, and with only 572 days remaining, it meant we were indeed closer to arrival.
…
All of this was awe-inspiring yet astonishingly perplexing.
Honestly, the scale of it made my mind go blank. Is this era really far into the future of humanity? A future where interplanetary expansion is a thing?
The fact that we ‘contracted’ with a being like Adravita also begs consideration. Contracts are made between equals after all.
Of course, on an individual level, humans might still seem insignificant to beings like Adravita, but in terms of the collective, humanity has enough strength to establish an equal contract.
So what do I do now?
First, let’s check the scenario.
『Scenario: The Cursed Room – ‘A New Beginning’』
The hotel party found themselves scattered in an incomprehensibly vast world. Suddenly awakening among primitive tribes who refer to themselves as ‘deities,’ Han Kain hears an alarming tale from an old man outside a tent…
“What the?”
I was taken aback. I recognized the content instantly.
At the first attempt in Room 203, we woke up in a primitive tent. The scenario understanding was providing guidance on how to act in that very situation.
If I stepped outside the tent, there would be an elder from the tribe called ‘Old Wolf Claw,’ and by talking to him, I would gain intel about a monster named ‘Twitching Teeth’ that would be attacking.
…
I got it, but why is this coming up now?
Can’t you see I’m on a spaceship? If the scenario has changed, shouldn’t the understanding provide useful information that aligns with the current situation?
With nothing meaningful written there about the drastically changed scenario, I had no idea what to do. Just then, Pride reappeared behind me.
“Have you received your re-education?”
“I understood the situation. I have a question.”
“Glad to hear it. What is your question?”
“You said you’re the main AI of The Pride of Humanity, right?”
“Yes.”
I tried to phrase my question carefully so that the AI wouldn’t become suspicious.
“So, as an AI, you’re fundamentally not, um, a being connected to a human body?”
“Of course not.”
“So your main body is this spaceship, correct?”
“Indeed.”
“What about your body?”
Why is this thing in Ahri’s body? How do I get it out and unseal her?
“Aha! That information wasn’t included in the education device. Miss Kim Ahri is the captain of The Pride of Humanity. The captain possesses the nanomachines, ‘Old Blood,’ which grants her remarkable body durability. That’s why during our journey, she has lent me her body.”
A multitude of questions suddenly got clarified.
According to the scenario, Ahri is the captain of this spaceship, and within, she’s treated as an immortal being due to the ‘Old Blood’ classified as nanomachines.
This means Ahri can endure a 500-year space voyage without cryogenic sleep. Consequently, the spaceship’s AI claims to use her body most of the time.
Is the reason for using a human body related to communication with Adravita? No clue.
My mind was flooded with so much information that it felt chaotic. I rubbed my forehead, trying to ease the throbbing.
Shouldn’t I look for the others? The ‘crew members’ wandering somewhere on the spaceship must be my companions, right?
“Where are the other crew members?”
“They are all in cryogenic sleep. You should also consider going back to sleep, Han Kain.”
“What?”
— Beep!
Before I could even register what was happening, an unknown noise rang out. Losing my balance, I felt Pride catch me as I began to topple.
“Excuse me, Han Kain. It seems your memory is still incomplete, so I feared you might take sudden actions, and I’ve put you under anesthesia. We will see you in 572 days and 16 hours.”
I could barely move my lips in protest as I forced myself to say, “Why did you wake me in the first place?”
“I mentioned before, didn’t I? Adravita suddenly began to hinder the journey, so we needed someone capable of communicating with it. Thankfully, Adravita has resumed cooperation. Thank you for your efforts.”
As my consciousness faded away, a lightning bolt of realization struck me.
*
[User: Han Kain (Wisdom)
Date: Day 683,615
Current Location: Level 2, Room 203 – The Cursed Room ‘A New Beginning’
Sage’s Advice: 3]
—
When I regained consciousness, fiery red flames of a campfire filled my sight.
The spaceship was nowhere to be found, and half-naked primitive people surrounded me. They all knelt before me, tears streaming down their faces.
“… No way.”
As soon as my voice broke the silence, the primitives erupted into tears of joy.
“Whoa! The deity has awoken! The deity has awoken!”
In the madness, my gaze shifted not towards the primitives but rather to the incomprehensible number of status windows flooding in front of me.
[Day 683,615]
In a frenzy, I shoved the people trying to grasp my hand aside and entered the tent. Luckily, the warriors didn’t intervene as I gathered myself.
I strolled within the tent, reliving the questions that had baffled me since I woke from the spaceship.
Why exactly did the scenario change? Initially, I just assumed it was due to Miro’s involvement.
However, returning to the flash of enlightenment that struck just before I fell into sleep and considering my reasoning once more.
What unfolded aboard the spaceship completely contradicted the scenario I had come to understand.
My companions, who didn’t awaken until the last moment, would have had no clue about the spaceship’s very existence.
Why was Adravita suddenly pulling some weird stuff trying to wake at least one of us?
… Perhaps the scenario hadn’t changed after all?
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