[740] Toward the Stars (4)
In the so-called Hall of the Earth, a long silence followed Shirone's question, making the grand name feel hollow.
"Shirone."
Taeseong finally spoke, his voice heavy.
"Humans have the ability to give names to things that exist. That is intelligence."
Naming is the essence of intellect.
"But having the ability to know something doesn't mean you can know everything."
Countless scholars probe the edge of the universe.
"If you think you'll one day know everything, that's only the limitation of humans who haven't grasped the nature of intelligence."
Because the answer lies beyond the infinite.
"Therefore, even someone like me who knows everything in the world cannot assert what lies outside the universe."
"But I am here."
It wasn't a question about the outside.
"You can at least tell me what you see beyond the veil of Infinity from here, can't you?"
"I truly don't know. I have no reason to lie to you, Shirone."
"Can't you at least guess?"
"You mustn't guess."
Taeseong was firm.
"When you stand with your feet on the ground and look up at the sky, you can make countless guesses. It's free to spread the wings of imagination. But you mustn't do that at the edge of the world. Shirone, you know how dangerous that is."
You cannot treat the essence of the world as a matter of conjecture.
"Beyond the veil could be nothingness. This could be the beginning. Why deny that possibility?"
"I'm not denying it. I want to accept it. I heard Mr. Mahagaruta attained enlightenment. And he didn't come back."
Has Mahagaruta awakened from the dream by now, or has he dissolved into eternal nothing?
"I was able to return to this world because I let everything go in the domain of Infinity..."
This was why Shirone felt a deep sorrow.
"If I had crossed that boundary, I wouldn't have come back either."
You can't return from a dream outside the dream, and so he knew Nane was right.
"To stand against Nane and defend this world—or to surpass him—I think we must first define Hexa."
Taeseong exhaled deeply.
"Infinity is..."
Then he turned to Shirone.
"What is it? The Void? Humans? Stars? Everything is merely a name we give to existence. It simply is, and we define it for our purposes. So Infinity, even the Void, are names we invented."
Taeseong leveled his forefinger at the space between Shirone's brows.
"Even gods."
"..."
"For humans, the concept of god need not be complicated. It's a matter of faith; it's a name given for that purpose. But when the one who enters the realm of godhood—that is, Shirone, called the Infinite Mage—actually steps into that role..."
Taeseong lowered his hand.
"You run into all sorts of contradictions. You can handle all the world's information. You are a god. The problem is that information itself is defined from the human perspective."
Shirone had indeed become a god, but only a god definable by humans.
"I understand why you asked. The idea realized by the eighth sense simply exists; it neither needs to exist nor not exist..."
Thus it can control phenomena at will.
"But that is still an Infinity named by humans, so the true meaning might lie outside it."
Taeseong continued without pause.
"Also, Hexa is made of light, so—put another way—it's nothing more than an abnormal signal flowing through a system, not an individual entity."
Hearing that made Shirone's heart feel as if it stopped.
"In the end I..."
Taeseong's expression softened.
"This is my hypothesis so far."
"A hypothesis...?"
"Yes. Let's try. What you want to know—let's conjecture what lies beyond Infinity from the edge of the world."
Taeseong's tone grew kindly.
"As you know, Shirone, I am the reincarnation of a star. The name that governs all stars is Gaia. Suppose—just suppose—that I am actually a program. The Gaia program."
He emphasized it was only a supposition.
"When a universe is born, a natural order arises within it. Two enormous programs form that natural system. One is me, Gaia, overseeing planets. The other is..."
Taeseong's gaze lifted to the ceiling.
"The stellar program, Ra."
Ra was another name for the sun.
"The Gaia program uses energy transmitted by the stellar program to construct new systems. Subsystems of the natural order form, and from them a biosphere emerges."
"And from that biosphere..."
"It's still too early to speak of humans."
Taeseong cut in.
"When Gaia, powered by Ra, creates the environment, the life program Argones spreads cells. Evolution's permutations are infinite, but the underlying substance is the simplest information-transmitting matter."
Shirone's eyes widened.
"Argones?"
It was the name of the alien organism that made Pisho its host during the graduation test, when he majored in insect magic.
"Ra's power, Gaia's environment, Argones' cells. Combine those three elements infinitely and specific pockets where life can exist inevitably form across this vast universe. That completes the basic preparation."
"Preparation for what?"
"For users to use this world."
Shirone fell silent.
"I'm only speaking on the assumption your conjecture is correct. Even if life exists, constructing consciousness is another matter. First it must feel real, and yet it must counterbalance the terror of death."
"A god."
"Yes. The mind program—the God. Because it's a program derived from the star, the source of life, humans call it that."
Taeseong raised his index finger.
"Immortal Ra."
Anke Ra.
"Still, Anke Ra wouldn't know he's a program. He'd likely think himself some being who suddenly opened his eyes in the domain of Nothing. If he then subjectively defined all concepts and stored them in the Akashic records, those definitions would be transmitted to all life in the universe via quantum transfer. That's why Nane said this world is Anke Ra's dream."
Everything Shirone had perceived as nightmarish began to resolve into clarity.
"But an unexpected problem arose."
Taeseong's eyes grew dark.
"The mind program began to run, and all users were supposed to attain eternal life through reincarnation. But the first humans who emerged from Gaia—the Gaians—began to reject the God program."
Shirone recalled the records of the Gaians he'd seen in Babel.
"They tried to escape Anke Ra."
"Yes. It was a brutal war. Every time Anke Ra tried to fix the error and reset, Gaia fought desperately to stop him. They believed their enlightenment was more important than the universe, and they were determined to pass it on."
Shirone swallowed.
"Anke Ra marshaled every concept he'd defined to strike them. The tide turned against the Gaians; it seemed impossible to stop the reset. In the midst of that, someone among the Gaians found a way to preserve their enlightenment."
"That method was...?"
"Go outside and inject code directly. Penetrate and implant a special signal capable of withstanding the reset."
Shirone shook his head.
"How could that be? Once Mr. Mahagaruta had attained enlightenment, he couldn't affect this world anymore."
"There is one way."
Shirone's eyes flew open with sudden realization.
"No..."
"Yes. Geopin's erasure."
Taeseong waved his hand.
"At the moment of reset, depart the photon realm and inject a new signal. That is the truth contained in the first reset."
Shirone bit his lip.
"Then Hexa is..."
"The mind program transmits information via quanta, the life program via electricity, but ultimately the network is based on photons. Time, matter, energy—they're all light. And the Gaians named that unit of information..."
Taeseong spoke carefully.
"Hexa."
Tears slid down Shirone's cheek.
"Cause and effect are definitions Anke Ra's dream imposed at will. Hexa that came from outside this world has no cause. Thus it is free from Anke Ra's reset and uniquely lives outside his dream."
"Ugh... ugh..."
Taeseong's composure crumbled at Shirone's sobs, but he pushed toward a conclusion.
"The light that makes up Hexa mimics human information exactly. That's why you, Shirone, are human too. But from an outside perspective—as you suspected—"
Taeseong bit his lip.
"You might be nothing more than a single stream of signal."
Shirone's shoulders shook as he lowered his head.
"I am... I am..."
His parents who raised him, Amy whom he loved, his friends from magic school, the countless people he'd met in twenty years.
'Not a single one...'
None of them were truly connected.
He might be nothing but a program left by predecessors to escape Anke Ra's control.
"However, it might not be so."
At Taeseong's words, Shirone lifted his head.
"I said clearly, Shirone. This is only conjecture. I don't know the truth either. I only grafted what you realized at the Void onto an Infinity-scale perspective. I could invent other accounts if I tried. The biggest problem is that Geopin has already been erased."
"Why is that a problem?"
"I know the history of the universe, but I can't remember Geopin. The most curious part is why the Gaians composed Hexa using human information."
Shirone blinked.
"Even if this world sits somewhere in the Void, there's plenty of evidence that humans aren't the only users. The Terraforce species, the Gaians themselves—these suggest the model is far more complex than you imagine. Yet astonishingly, the Gaians chose humans."
"Hmm."
Finally steadying himself, Shirone rubbed his chin.
"You opened your eighth sense and became an Infinite Mage, but the Gaians opened the eleventh sense—the ultimate sense. Compared to you wielding omnipotence by human standards, they're on a different plane. So their analysis of the universe and their conjecture about what lies beyond the veil could be completely different from what you think."
"Beyond Infinity."
It was the line Geopin delivered to Shirone after the Gaia records ended and the screen reset.
"...Come to me."
Taeseong gripped Shirone's trembling shoulder.
"Hexa might not be just a signal, Shirone."
Geopin had been erased, but—
"You might not be alone."
"Not... alone..."
Hotter, harder tears flowed.
"Surpass Nane and reach the ultimate. And at the edge of this world, meet with confidence. Meet your real parents."
Shirone nodded repeatedly.
"Yes. I will... I will..."
At least for now, it wasn't time to give up everything.
"All right then."
Taeseong gave Shirone's shoulder a friendly clap and smiled.
"From now on, we begin the Star Conferment Ceremony."