Author’s Note: For those who are unaware, a chapter’s price is determined by the chapter’s length, not by author.
… Continue reading at empire
Daniel steeled his resolve.
He wasn’t going to give up.
“How do I put knowledge into this?”
Daniel’s brows furrowed.
He had to put information about the present and future into the cube.
The Records he would create were different from the Records that existed and were used by Children of Mana.
Or maybe they were the same.
Daniel didn’t care which of the two it was.
After he created his Records, he planned to connect them with the existing Records and bring out Selene through them.
“The plan is good, but how can I find all the information about the present and future to put into the cube?”
Daniel had an answer and a plan.
It was just risky.
His trait.
He could see the future through it.
Daniel met with Athena and looked into her future.
The sensation of being in the future in his soul form was both awe-inspiring and terrifying.
When his soul returned to his body, he used the transfer technique he had received from the system.
Wisps of white energy traced along his fingertips.
He took out the memories of the future he gained from Athena and placed them carefully inside the cube.
The crystalline structure absorbed them, glowing brighter.
He did the same with Emma, Zeus, Apollo, Kronos, Rhea, Perses, Poseidon, Ares, Atlas.
Not just awakeners.
He looked into the future of anyone he could meet and poured the knowledge of future he gained through them into the cube.
The process was excruciating.
Repeatedly tearing apart his memories began to leave holes in Daniel’s consciousness.
Daniel ignored the pain.
A twisted smile appeared on his face as the glow of the cube intensified.
His plan was working.
“I just need more information…
“If I can put all the information of a specific time period, the memories will become self-sufficient and they should start generating future memories.”
Getting all information of a specific time period was the same as assembling every part of a car.
If Daniel could do that, then his car would start working.
That is, the memories would start interacting with each other and move forward, forming a simulated world inside the cube.
To explain simply, Daniel needed to get all information about the world at—let’s say—4:30 pm.
At 4:30 pm, he needed to know what was happening to everything.
About the flowers outside his garden, swaying gently in the breeze.
About the neighbor next door, humming as she watered the plants.
About the monsters undersea, lurking in the ocean depths.
He needed to have knowledge of each and every object present in the world at 4:30 pm.
Then, he would put all that information inside the cube.
The world of memories within the cube would be no different from the real world for that moment at 4:30 pm.
After that, Daniel only needed to fuse those disjointed memories.
When the memories combined, they would start interacting with each other.
It was like putting two pre-programmed robots together and letting them talk.
Since the memories were an exact replica of the real world, the interactions between them would show what would happen in the real world.
If everything worked as planned, a simulated world would be created within the cube.
Daniel started to see the issues with his plan as time passed.
For one, he had to take a break every time he used his trait.
Secondly, he couldn’t see a specific time period’s future.
How far in the future he could see was not controllable.
But to make the memories inside the cube self-sufficient, he had to put all information of at least one point in time.
There was only one way to do it.
He had to look into the future as many times as possible and keep doing it until he got all information of a specific point of time.
“The problem, in the end, is my own mana capacity.”
Daniel decided to ask for help from Moon.
“Of course, I would help a friend in need,” the Moon’s consciousness agreed readily.
She promised to supply Daniel the energy needed to activate his Trait nonstop.
His pace of filling the information into the cube increased.
The dim glow of the cube illuminated the darkened room as Daniel worked tirelessly.
Shelves of books and scattered papers crowded the walls, filled with diagrams and notes on his work.
He started to experience memory loss as he ripped his own memories to put them into the cube.
It was painful.
Many times, Daniel would wake up, not knowing who he was or what he was doing.
He was starting to forget the faces of people he cared about.
Why was he doing this?
What was he trying to create?
Daniel was forgetting everything.
He continued to look into the future and take those memories from his head and put them into the cube.
Even though his memories were disappearing, a voice remained inside his head.
You can’t stop.
You have to save him.
You promised.
Daniel started to fear what was happening to him.
It wouldn’t take long for him to forget who he was and why he was trying to create the Records.
If that happened, he might not be able to save that man.
The wealth of memories inside the cube had grown, but Daniel wasn’t happy.
The memories were far from becoming self-sufficient.
At his current pace, it would take him thousands of years to create a simulated world inside the cube, if not more.
He had to do better.
He had to do it fast.
Before he forgot why he was creating the Records.
“This is the only way.”
Daniel decided to take a risk.
He was in his soul form, and his soul was in the future of his neighbor.
In that future, Daniel went to another person and used his Trait on him.
He tried to look into the future of a person he met inside the future.
It allowed him to collect information of the future at a fast pace.
His speed of collecting memories increased exponentially.
The risks he had taken put immense burden on his mind.
He withstood the burden with sheer will.
Daniel had lived over a thousand regressions.
His mind was not so weak as to break as soon as it was under pressure.
However, not everything could be withstood by will.
Daniel was overexerting his Trait.
Traits were like muscles.
Training them would make them stronger, but overdoing the training would harm the muscles (Traits).
Daniel started to lose his strength.
He was growing weaker with every activation of his Trait.
Ironically, Time did not allow his strength to grow; however, it let his strength regress.
It was Time’s curse for going against it.
Centuries passed in a blur.
Daniel remained in his room as he looked into the future.
Since he started to use his Trait while he was in the ‘future’, he no longer had the need to find more people in the ‘present’ to use his Trait on.
The once vibrant walls were now dulled with decay.
Food, water, and recreation—Daniel forgo everything.
Mold started to creep up on his walls.
The table in the corner of the room began to rot away.
He never noticed those things.
All of his focus was on one thing.
Completing the Record.
Days upon days passed.
Daniel had long forgotten how many people’s memories he had looked into.
Why was he doing this?
He couldn’t remember anymore.
The only reason he used his Trait every day was the inner compulsion that told him to finish the Records.
Piece by piece.
Daniel tore apart his own memories.
Pain became a constant companion.
It lingered in his chest like a dull ache that would never disappear.
He started to lose himself.
Who was he?
Now, he could barely remember anyone.
The only reminders of his life were the notes he left in his room, scattered across his worn wooden desk.
He would read them every day.
[I’m Daniel Caelum.]
[A regressor who has gone through countless loops.]
[I’m a Grim Reaper too.]
[I like jazz…]
[I…]
Every day, he would learn who he was from the notes.
Every night, he would forget who he was.
Then, the day would start anew, and he would read the notes again.
Sometimes, he would chuckle at his past self’s actions.
Sometimes, he would be disgusted.
Piece by piece.
He ripped his own existence to build the Records.
And finally, they were completed.
The memories put into the cube connected.
They started fusing, becoming a perfectly oiled machine, a perfect replica, which was no different from the real world.
A smaller world, exactly the same as the real world, was born inside the Pandora’s box.
He had created the Akashic Record.
However, there was something more he had to do before the Akashic Record could be considered ‘completed.’
“My friend, it has been centuries since we’ve met. I thought you had forgotten about me,” Typhaon said with a smile.
His bark-like features twisted gently, happy that Daniel finally contacted him.
“Uh… Hello,” Daniel answered.
The dim room felt colder as he looked at the tree-like humanoid monster.
He didn’t know who Typhaon was.
The reason he had called Typhaon was the notes in the room.
Ask for Typhaon’s help after you finish creating a simulated world, a note had said.
Typhaon’s face froze when he noticed Daniel’s expression.
His features shifted, the wood-like skin tightening as his smile faded.
He hated seeing a friend in pain.
The blame weighed heavily on him.
If only he had not asked about the red-eyed swordsman, Daniel would not have gone to the erased timeline, and he would not have started his quest to save that ‘man.’
Daniel, unable to understand the cause of Typhaon’s fury, explained why he had called him.
“You are saying I need to connect this Akashic Record with the World Core?” Typhaon asked.
“Yes, the existing Records that Children of Mana can access are stored within the World.
“That’s why Children of Mana think the information is given to them by the World.
“We need to store the Akashic Record I’ve created inside the World Core.
“In there, both Records will connect, and I will gain access to the original Records where ‘Selena’ – the Child of Mana we are trying to save – is through my Records,” Daniel explained.
Connecting Records wasn’t simple.
The original Records were transcendental existences.
They existed in past, present, and future.
But they didn’t exist at the same time. After all, they had not been created yet.
By now, Daniel understood he was the creator of the original Records.
His Records would evolve in future, and become truly Eternal.
For now, connecting both Records would fuse them and allow the original Records to manifest into the ‘present,’ not just exist as abstract concepts.
The original Records only ‘existed’ in the present and thus couldn’t be accessed by anyone but Children of Mana.
After the ‘manifestation’, everyone would be able to connect to the Records.
Typhaon continued to stare at Daniel instead of doing anything.
Daniel misunderstood his gaze and clarified.
“Don’t worry. I’ve read the notes, and I know I had a deal with the Awakeners to allow them access to Records.
“I’ve made arrangements for it,” Daniel said.
He had given different levels of access depending on the qualifications of the Awakeners.
“Nobody can edit or make the Records, though,” Daniel explained. “The simulated world is delicate.
“If a foreign existence makes changes in it, the simulated world will start predicting the wrong future.
“It’s like injecting foreign objects into a controlled system.
“When that happens, the Records will become useless, and they won’t give us any correct information.”
The Records contained a simulated world.
The simulated world allowed anyone to see what would happen in the future through the ongoing simulation within the cube.
However, the Records would become corrupted if even a slight change was made.
As long as no change was made, they would mirror the real world and show the present and future.
“I’m not asking about that. I want to know if you are happy,” Typhaon said softly.
“….”
Daniel couldn’t answer.
He had finally created the Record.
But he no longer remembered why he was doing it.
The notes he had written told him it was to save a man.
However, Daniel didn’t feel anything anymore.
Or so he believed.
“Forget I said anything. Let’s complete the Record,” Typhaon spoke up, his voice gentler this time.
He took the cube and closed his eyes.
Divine Energy began to fluctuate around Typhaon.
While Daniel had been busy creating the Records, the world had ascended, and a few awakeners had become gods.
Mana had transformed into Divine Energy.
Typhaon concentrated on fusing the Akashic Record into the World Core.
Daniel’s heart started to beat faster without realizing it.
What if all the theories he had built were wrong?
What if his Records were not a perfectly simulated world and they predicted the wrong future?
The more he thought, the more fear crept into Daniel’s heart.
It was cold and consuming.
His trait could not see paradox timelines perfectly.
It made paradox timelines were hard to integrate into the simulated world.
What if there were some paradox timelines he hadn’t accounted for?
That would ended up ruining his simulated world.
His breathing became heavy with fear.
The dim room seemed to close in around him.
For others, Daniel had been creating the Records for centuries.
But only he knew he had been doing it for far longer.
He had seen millions, perhaps billions of years, worth of future.
Even if he couldn’t remember those futures anymore after he put the memories into the cube, the exhaustion and pain he spent building the Record were crystal clear to him.
Just the thought of failure was enough to make him shiver uncontrollably.
If he failed—
Ding!
A sound echoed in the silence.
Words materialized before him, glowing faintly in the air.
[Synchronization complete]
[Registering user…]
[User, Daniel Caelum, registered in Akashic Record]
Daniel stared at the screen, stunned.
He couldn’t describe how he felt.
“This screen is the proof that Records have fused and they are giving access to everyone,” he muttered in a daze.
The hard work of countless years had borne fruit.
Just then, he heard a voice he thought he had long forgotten.
“Brother?”
Typhaon and Daniel both heard Selene’s voice.
The room seemed to brighten as the cube pulsed with a soothing rhythm.
“It works…” Typhaon said. “You’ve succeeded, my friend!”
The smile on Typhaon’s face only grew wider when he noticed Daniel’s expression.
Tears were falling out of Daniel’s eyes, reflecting the gentle light of the cube.
“H-huh, why am I crying?”
“Because you’ve saved them both!”
Typhaon hugged Daniel while laughing loudly.
The warmth of his embrace contrasted with the cold, dimly lit room.
The cube in Daniel’s hands pulsed gently with a soft, ethereal glow.
Daniel couldn’t stop his tears.
They streamed down his face, warm and relentless.
Typhaon was right.
He had saved them both.
His sister and the man whose name and face he could no longer recall.
“I… I did it…”
Even though he could no longer remember why he had started walking on this journey
Even though he had gone through struggles for countless years.
Daniel felt it was all worth it.
The air around him seemed lighter, as if a great burden had finally lifted.
His heart was filled with happiness and relief.
“I… saved them.”