Past Life Returner - Chapter 376

Science Mission Department of NASA.

A yellow dwarf star that was identical to the sun was observed, and there were several planets orbiting it. One of these planets, which was in conflict with the association, had been identified by the association as Dragorin.

One of NASA’s scientific missions had been to find out where Dragorin was located in space. Some inquiring minds needed to discover the unknown. Furthermore, they wanted to find out if the distance between the two planets was close enough such that their attacks could be carried out through other means than the gate.

Their sun was twenty percent brighter and ten percent larger than the earth’s sun. Also, the radius of Star Dragorin, which considered the dwarf star as their mother star, was 1.6 times bigger than that of the Earth. Looking at these two alone, the most likely candidate was Cygnus, which was fourteen hundred light-years away from Earth.

NASA had already discovered a yellow dwarf star in similar condition and super-Earth in distant space around 2015. They named the dwarf star ‘Kepler-452’ and the super-Earth ‘Kepler-452b.’

Interestingly enough, the planet Dragorin’s mass was greater than Earth’s, yet its gravity was comparable. This necessitated a slight deviation from the established laws of physics to explain its characteristics. In response, Professor Glick from the science mission team was waiting for Star Dragorin’s observation data to come in.

Originally, he was supposed to have received the information around June 2nd, which was a month ago. The investigators who had entered Dragorin as a part of RMC (Rothschild Military Company)’s mercenary team were expected to send the data, but there was a tragedy in which not a single one of them returned. They had all been burnt to death, and there were no corpses to recover. At their funerals, the relics and tears of the widows replaced their bodies.

Glick hesitated as he was about to hold the coffee pot because the black color of the coffee reminded him of the scene of the tragedy. The scene that was captured in the picture was truly disastrous.

What kind of attack would have caused that? Does that happen when the land is directly exposed to the sun?

The melted fortress, which had later hardened and turned into a lump of rock, was all black just like this coffee. When the mission assistant station gave him a telephone call, the coffee had already cooled down.

“Everyone, come here. It is here.”

Glick called in his team members. As he pressed the enter key, a stream of observational data that had been obtained at a great cost flooded the monitor. It was a five-day observation report of Franklin Dukedom, where a small civilization was located in Star Dragorin.

The fact that Glick received such a summary meant the second group of investigators had returned safely without going through the tragedy that the first group experienced. Glick and his team members were relieved.

Soon, countless data-generated stars popped up on the monitor. Observation clips were played on the other monitor, and they showed a beautiful night sky that couldn’t be imagined in the land of chaos.

They could see the moon and a blue planet quite adjacent to Dragorin. Despite the fact that Dragorin and the blue planet were in close proximity and their gravitational fields were interacting, no observable natural phenomena that were influenced by the gravitational pull had been identified yet.

As Glick and his team stared at the monitor in silence, they started frowning at one point and exchanging glances in excitement and bewilderment. It was because there was no single corner that matched the Earth data that had been organized as a control group and the observation data from the video.

None of the constellations that mankind had given all kinds of names existed in the night sky of Dragorin.

Our technology is not complete. But this is…

Glick had to ponder before coming to a conclusion. He was one of the few astronomers who treated multiple cosmologies critically, but the fact was that new stars existed in different locations. This data proved the multiverse theory. The outcomes matched those of the initial team of researchers who had identified them through visual observation.

Glick pointed at the monitor and said, “At this point…isn’t it clear that they are in a different universe from ours?”

***

Safety Department Official Only Zone in the World Awakened Association Headquarters.

Around seventy days ago, on the last Sunday of April, a team consisting of the linguist Ling Wei and artificial neural network programmers was led into the headquarters of the association. There was also an Awakened who had the mental skills.

Their duty in the prohibited zone was to decipher not only the guts of the Dragorin language, but also everything about it. The alien language exhibited characteristics typical of the traditional Germanic language, such as employing a dental consonant for the past tense instead of apophony, dividing verbs into weak and strong conjugations, and placing emphasis on the root of the word.

There was no difficulty like in the movie [Contact] as their language wasn’t deviated from Verner’s law[1]. The fictional aliens dealt within the film were a completely different being beyond time and space and possessed a completely different concept of language from mankind.

However, the real aliens in the Star Dragorin weren’t like that as they looked similar and also used a language style as humans. Therefore, Ling Wei first listed the basic noun vocabularies that were bound to exist in Dragorin’s civilization – for instance, me, mom, dad, food, and water.

The first day of the work proceeded in a strict environment as if Ling Wei was interrogating heinous death-row convicts. The two Dragorin inmates were confined and were present at the scene. There were also Awakened with automatic rifles.

However, Ling Wei had been trying to change the environment because she believed she needed voluntary cooperation from the two Dragorins. She expanded the prison space, and provided beds and a nutritious diet. Also, she gradually lowered their restraint levels depending on the degree of their cooperation.

Therefore, unlike how their entire limbs had been bound in the beginning, only microchips were now embedded in their body, as freedom was guaranteed in the space beyond the reinforced glass wall.

Ling Wei first obtained fundamental noun vocabularies followed by verbs and then constructed simple sentences with the intention of learning the Dragorin language rather than teaching them Earth’s language. Therefore, it was a one-sided interaction. Typically, she relied on language learning videos or flashcards designed for children, demonstrating specific actions for which they would then respond to with sentences.

The two Dragorin inmates, Elland and Malus, were brilliant aliens, and the study was successful. They went through complex sentences after the basic ones.

And now, it was July 3rd. Ling Wei faced the two inmates with a reinforced glass wall in between them.

“There is a high chance that you guys will be transferred to another place tomorrow. Just wanted to let you know.”

Elland replied in Dragorin’s language on the microphone, “I doubt we’re going back home. Don’t you think so, Ling Wei?”

“What do you mean by transferring us? Did you even deliver our message? We told you that we will cooperate with you guys if you let us go! Please!” Malus shouted.

It wasn’t that Ling Wei never sympathized with the two of them, but the Awakened with the mental attribute who ordered her to carry out the research was appallingly strict. In fact, there was a period of time during which she had been reprimanded for becoming emotionally attached to the two, which nearly led to her expulsion from the study.

Of course, she had better control of her emotions now. Around June 2nd, she became aware that the two captives were adversaries of humanity after hearing about the human defeat in a battle. It was a tragedy where so many were burned to death at the Franklin Dukedom. Since then, it hadn’t been too difficult for her to regard the two as mere research subjects.

This is wartime, and they are captives.

Ling Wei cut off the sound from the two and turned her back toward the Awakened with a mental attribute who had given her to order.

“Do you think they are honest?”

She responded promptly, “That one is, but the other one is not.”

“Please report that to the higher-ups… Thank you for everything you have done so far.”

Ling Wei didn’t know what decision the superiors would make, but it was out of her control. There would be no more interaction with the two inmates.

When she got up, a screen blocking the view of the glass wall came down with a motor sound. There were artificial neural network programmers in the space right next to it. They joined the association by signing a secret contract from Googol and were skilled in translation technology.

“Today is the last day.”

Ling Wei joined them. Although the translation program was at its beginning level, it was almost completed. While upgrading the unnamed application, recollections of sleepless nights and days flooded her mind. She had provided three million sentences to the programmers. In a short period of time, she was able to secure that much with just over twenty linguistics.

After testing the application, Ling Wei confirmed the completion of the application, then she returned to her team.

Perhaps because the association was notified of the completion of the project, people were applauding them. Some linguists seemed to have been relaxed as they decided to stay in the association while others were debating over whether to return to the university research institute or not.

They were scholars who could use the extraterrestrial language without using the translation program. Ling Wei herself had decided to remain in the association as the representative who would oversee them.

The fact that she had to implant a microchip in her body to become a member of the association bothered her, but she understood why it was necessary. She concurred that it was imperative to exercise inevitable control, given that the matters the association dealt with were intimately linked to the destiny of humanity.

After she signed the contract, she headed over to get the chip implanted. Then, she realized that the atmosphere of the association was different from usual.

“It seems that a lot of outsiders have been introduced. Is something going on today?” she asked.

The Dragorin translation project was being carried out in private, so it was not related to her work. The high-ranking official of the association replied as if it was nothing to hide, “It’s because of the trading system. If you are not too tired, why don’t you introduce the translation program together this time?”

“Ah…the trading system is opening up, right? It must be good news for the Awakened.”

The official nodded. “Yes. We are thinking of preparing a conference for your program after this.”

“Yeah, I’m ok with that.”

There was no reason to refuse because it would be the first stage where she would put her name on the history.

***

What happened that day was enough to alert the Awakened and capitalists who were on a roll in the small places such as the Franklin Duchy and Xyliver Kingdom. I had removed all four hosts of the Spirit Kings, but one of them had attacked the Franklin Dukedom before that.

It was disastrous. Many of the RMC group’s attack squads were sacrificed. A number of mercenaries died, so the Rothschild family was suffering from compensating the bereaved alone.

In fact, the Spirit King had melted the star itself and created the biggest flame I had ever seen. The route they traveled reminded them of the last day of Pompeii. What if all the four Spirit Kings attacked me with all their might? What if I gave them time to prepare? The tragedy that struck the Franklin Dukedom would have destroyed all the Awakened who had entered the continent.

Anyway, the Spirit Kings had been kicked out from their hosts by me, but they were indeed entities that would cause disasters.

That was why I had remained in the Franklin Duchy until now. Our next course of action would be determined after seeing the Awakened occupying the five hundred thousand square kilometers of the area that included the Franklin Dukedom and the Xyliver Kingdom. I also planned to wait until the system would take place so that my territory wouldn’t be recklessly beaten even if the Spirit Kings came while I was gone.

Starting tomorrow, products bearing the name of our deity and distinguished by A and higher-class insignias would be made available for sale in the market. Awakened would have to lavish their money earned here on equipment, and each squad team would have to prepare joint operations in preparation for a crisis.

In order to do so, the capitalists had to give more money to Awakened by using translation services. It was crucial for humans to expand and establish dominance in various industries by constructing cities and extracting gold from mines, as well as by subjugating the aliens and strengthening their armies. This had to be achieved in the same way that the Barba Crops were divided between the ruling-class reptiles and the subjugated-class rats.

I could guarantee that human capital forces could lead this place much more productively than the aristocrats here. They came in to solely generate revenue, and they were born with that talent. Therefore, they were already proceeding with projects to gain profit even though they couldn’t properly communicate with aliens here.

Thus, the aliens in this realm would come to the realization that being governed by the Demon Corps would be preferable to their previous rulers, as they would at least avoid starving to death under my rule. Also, they would be fascinated by the new culture we had.

This was how individuals were supposed to occupy other territories. Rather than creating dungeons across Dragorin to use the Awakened there, I had to establish a secure zone within the Greenwood Continent and then gradually expand my power, similar to the manner in which an infectious disease grew and spread.

However, that evening Doom Caso, one of the Seven Demon Kings, contacted me by sending a messenger.

1. A historical sound change that explains how certain voiceless fricatives in Proto-Germanic became voiced when they occurred after an unstressed syllable. ☜