I Got a Fake Job at the Academy

Chapter 818 - Side Story 91: Artificial Sun (1)

Rudger erased all the corpses of the remaining forces of the Bretus Holy Kingdom with magic.

Aether Nocturnus voraciously devoured the corpses.

Aether Nocturnus mainly consumed the user's mana, but it didn't only eat mana. Fresh flesh still imbued with divine power like that was also a delicacy for it because it still contained life force and energy that hadn't yet been extinguished.

When the battle ended, Lexer appeared before Rudger in hologram form.

[What a complete mess.]

It was said while looking at the scene Arius had destroyed.

"Didn't I finish it quickly?" 

[Everything's destroyed.] 

"I'm not the one who destroyed it." 

[You could have finished it before destroying it. Or you could have suppressed the damage to the surroundings with that power.] 

"Because I didn't feel the need to. I still haven't properly heard what kind of facility these ancient ruins are."

In other words, ‘why didn't you tell me in advance?’ Lexer was at a loss for words and let out a sigh of exasperation.

He had tried to tease him once but didn't even break even.

[Fine. I lost. I lost.]

Just then, Casey and Veronica also arrived at the scene. Once everyone had gathered in one place, Lexer spoke.

[There are still some remaining bastards, but they're searching useless areas, so let's not worry about them for now. Let's continue the story we stopped.]

Lexer snapped his fingers. Blue lights ran along the corridor, flowing in one direction like guide lights.

Lexer walked ahead. The group looked at each other and silently followed behind Lexer.

[These ruins are a massive laboratory. As for what kind of experiments, they're in the direction of creating life forms.] 

"Creating...?"

Casey murmured in surprise. Wasn't that something only gods would do? At those words, Lexer laughed softly.

[Humans coveting the position of gods isn't something that's happened for just a day or two. There are even those who borrow the authority of gods and act as if they themselves are gods, so it's only natural to covet that position.]

Rudger recalled the forest around the ruins.

"The forest outside, the beasts living there, and the spirit beasts that evolved at the end are all results of that." 

[Right. Of course, the spirit beasts won't know that fact. If you must compare, it's like beasts released from a zoo as young living naturally in the forest. They don't know where they originated from or were born.]

As they continued walking following the light, a secret passage appeared.

Lexer brought his hand to the passage. A faint light seeped in and the passage opened smoothly.

Unlike the stone doors of other laboratories, this was a place that had been particularly thoroughly maintained. Or it had been specially manufactured to the point of working perfectly even through the ages. Whatever it was, it was the same in that it was a special place.

The opened passage led to stairs going downward. They wondered how far down they would go again, but they already knew there was a massive facility underground. It wouldn't be strange to go further down.

The stairs were like a narrow gorge. Light didn't come in properly, so without Lexer's guide lights, they might have misstep.

Of course, the people here wouldn't make such a mistake.

"Ah!"

At that moment, Casey missed a step. Since Rudger was right nearby, he naturally caught and supported her body.

"Th-thank you." 

"Be careful."

Casey shyly expressed her thanks.

"I think I'm going to misstep, could you hold my hand?" 

"......"

Rudger didn't answer. When Casey looked dejected, warmth was transmitted over her hand. Casey looked at Rudger with round eyes, then smiled broadly.

Lexer's eyes lit up watching that scene with jealousy.

[Ugh. Tsk. Some people's lives are so hard. Rubbing it in right before my eyes.]

At the words meant to be heard, Casey coughed, and Rudger responded with no reaction. Veronica, who was watching the scene from the rear, tilted her head.

'Mage Casey wouldn't be clumsy enough to misstep in a place like this, would she?'

She was a knight, so she was well-versed in the human body. Where, which muscles, how to stimulate them, and what results would come out. She could grasp that very meticulously. Naturally, she could grasp a person's basic physical abilities just from their body shape, gait, and mannerisms.

At least from Veronica's perspective, Casey wasn't that clumsy.

A certain thought roughly crossed Veronica's mind, but she didn't bother to open her mouth.

No matter how clueless she was, even she wasn't oblivious to that.

The seemingly endless stairs also had an end.

[Don't be surprised from here on. Among modern humanity, you'll be the first to witness this after me.] 

"By current time standards, we'd be the first among living people."

If only he wouldn't talk. Lexer glared sharply at Rudger before bringing his hand to the door.

Blue energy seeped into the door and soon drew beautiful patterns.

Like a tree rapidly growing through soil, blue patterns shot up like a fountain from the floor toward the ceiling.

The pattern was perfectly drawn.

-Rumble rumble rumble.

The door split left and right and opened. Pure white light poured out through the opening gap. Perhaps from staying in the dark for so long, it hurt the eyes.

As their eyes began to adapt to the light, the scenery beyond the light gradually became clear.

"My goodness."

Being a knight with fast recovery, Veronica let out an exclamation. Rudger and Casey could also see that scene.

"It's a forest."

Inside the underground facility was a forest. Unlike the primeval forest outside it felt like viewing a very beautiful garden touched by human hands.

From trees bearing all kinds of fruits to colorful flowers and gently swaying grass. Clear streams flowed here and there, and the light touching their skin was warm.

All of this was an artificially created place. Yet it didn't feel artificial. It was that natural. As if an actual space had been cut out and transplanted.

"Above all, this light."

Despite being underground, there was sunlight. Where was the source of the warm light? Right at the center of the forest.

A bright yellow sphere was floating there.

Everyone present felt it simultaneously.

That's a relic.

"Remarkable."

Rudger let out an exclamation. The source of light illuminating the artificial forest created in the cavity underground was a relic. That was close to an artificial sun.

"So that's why the temperature here was high because of something like that underground."

Casey also realized how the tropical rainforest outside the ruins came to be. That made it even more surprising.

"That thing, has it been burning continuously for hundreds of years?"

The probability it went out in between was low. If so, not only here but the tropical rainforest outside would have been ground away by the frigid environment of the Hyperborea continent.

The fact that the forest of that scale outside was maintained meant this artificial sun relic had never gone out even once. For at least several hundred years.

"It's literally perpetual motion."

Perpetual motion. If it existed, it would be an object that transcends the laws of physics in reality, something that would collapse the current system.

"Just because it's an artificial sun doesn't necessarily guarantee it's perpetual motion."

That sun might also have a lifespan. Since it had been burning for over several hundred years so far, there was also the possibility that its remaining lifespan wasn't much.

"But it still looks perfectly fine?" 

"At minimum, it can burn for longer than the years it's burned so far."

He didn't know if it exerted permanent effects. He was skeptical about that part, but it was remarkable nonetheless.

"What's more surprising is that heat generation isn't affected by the environment." 

"Right. Not only that. It's heat enough to maintain a tropical rainforest and warm underground weather, yet we don't feel hot at all being close to it now."

Normally, a heat source inevitably becomes hotter the closer you get. But that artificial sun wasn't like that. Considering the temperature and humidity of the tropical rainforest outside, this interior should have been hotter than a furnace.

But the temperature here was lower than the tropical rainforest. If it was midsummer outside, here it was the level of a warm spring. That's why the plant groups also had a high proportion related to spring.

"It can boil underground weather and completely reverse the glacier zone environment, and even the range and influence of that heat can be controlled."

It was truly an effect befitting the name relic.

Rudger stared intently at the artificial sun. Staring at dazzling light would blind one's eyes, but that didn't apply to Rudger.

The artificial sun was literally a giant light bulb. It was a metal sphere showing perfect curvature, and on its surface were grooves that appeared to be seams. It must have been made into one sphere by combining large pieces.

"A kind of vessel."

The fundamental energy source was inside that sphere.

And judging from the amount of energy flowing out, just using that thermal energy alone seemed like it could handle the energy consumption of a decent nation.

Even just boiling weather with that and turning turbines would be profitable. Anyone would covet this.

[You don't know how surprised I was when I saw this. To verify this, I really worked hard to take control of the ruins system.]

Lexer also muttered as if filled with new emotions while looking at the artificial sun. A bird's call came from somewhere, and small birds could be seen fluttering about.

There was a forest and flowing weather, so animals also lived there. Small creatures like squirrels and field mice showed curiosity upon seeing the people. Just the fact that an ecosystem was implemented in this underground was amazing.

Because it was technology on a different dimension from simply installing a greenhouse.

[This is why the Lumensis Church desperately tried to stop me when I said I was going to search for Hyperborea. It was because of this.]

Lexer thought the Church interfered with him at every turn because it didn't align with their methods.

That was true. But there was a separate fundamental reason. In the world, there were still many old remnants that the Church hadn't completely erased.

Because Lexer stepped forward saying he would find them, the Church judged him as a dangerous person. In fact, when he said he would go to Hyperborea, they blatantly pursued and tried to kill him.

The cause of death was injuries sustained while fighting the spirit beast of the forest. But if he had to pick the decisive reason, he was already in a state of greatly exhausted mind and body from the Church's pursuit before that.

If he had been in perfect condition, Lexer would have been injured but wouldn't have died.

[Even thinking about it again makes my blood boil. Damn it. I wanted to see this scene while alive.]

Leaving his soul imprinted on the ruins was his choice, but in truth, there was no choice. In a dying situation, he had to do something, and this was the best option.

[So. Now that you've confirmed this, what do you plan to do?] 

"It is a dilemma."

Having discovered something like this in the ruins, it was difficult to just pass over. It wasn't just anyone else, but Veronica had seen this.

She was a companion, but her affiliation was ultimately the Empire. Rudger also resided in the Empire, but Veronica's loyalty toward her homeland was much stronger.

"Honestly speaking, I do want to take it."

Veronica muttered awkwardly.

"Can we take that?"

It wasn't just anything, but an artificial sun. Right now it only felt warm, but what if the moment they tried to touch it, it suddenly became hot like a real sun?

Aura of cold? How could they freeze an artificial sun that created a vast tropical rainforest in a glacier zone? It was an output that even a Master-level knight couldn't handle.

Casey's gaze turned toward Rudger. She whispered softly so Veronica wouldn't hear.

"You. Can you take that?"

Rudger pondered for a moment at those words. Could he take that artificial sun?

Considering the total amount of energy that relic emitted, it was truly at a transcendent level. What would they need to do to take that?

"That's linked to the ruins. That heat spreads to the surroundings by spreading underground through the ruins. So that's the core, and the entire ruins are essentially a device that generates geothermal heat." 

"So, it's difficult to just extract that alone?" 

"First, we'd need to stop the operation of all ruins systems." 

"If that happens... the forest outside will be in chaos."

Rudger nodded.

"If the heat maintaining the forest disappears, cold waves will strike. Countless life forms living there will all die." 

"...The spirit beasts?" 

"No matter how much they're spirit beasts, they can't survive in an environment that changes so drastically."

Of course, some individuals with excellent adaptability would survive. But from Rudger's perspective, over 90% would be below standard. Spirit beasts were remarkably excellent beasts, but they were ultimately part of the ecosystem. If the ecosystem changed, even spirit beasts had no way.

Well, spirit beasts had the brains to think, so they'd move their residences. But then where would they go?

"Even stopping it is a problem. From what I see, the ruins itself absorbs that heat and plays the role of spreading it outside. The moment we turn that off, I can't guarantee what will happen to the heat that's lost its destination."

If the heat flowing outside disappeared, all that thermal energy might concentrate in this cavity.

Then what would happen? It would become an environment no one except the Fire Elemental Lord could endure.

"Truly a spectacle resembling an artificial sun would unfold."

Could he claim it alone with his own power without any support?

Rudger pondered for a moment before answering.

"It seems doable." 

"......"

Casey stared at Rudger with a dumbfounded expression.