A pure white space.
The Emperor's Scepter φ-ln7 Computational Coordination Unit.
If taken literally, a "computational coordination unit" was roughly equivalent to a CPU.
From the outside, it looked like an egg-sized mechanical component, scaled down at a ratio of one to four hundred and twenty thousand.
Inside, however, was a vast white expanse. No up or down, no left or right, no front or back. Only the repetitive electronic sounds of calculations, like a telegraph endlessly tapping away across what felt like infinite time.
Kiyono Inori arrived here.
"…Unable to read?"
Up until now, any technological creation had revealed weaknesses under the skill of the Pioneer of the Stars. But this scepter component seemed to be an exception.
There were no weaknesses at all.
That, of course, was impossible. Kiyono Inori guessed that the scepter's firewall was dynamically adjusting itself, temporarily preventing her Starbound insight from taking effect.
But—
The effect of the four-star blessing, Throne of Meshing Gears, was to immediately grant level three access to creations of the Path of Erudition.
Once equipped, the scenery before her changed instantly.
"Historical data detected…"
The scepter component emitted electronic tones.
"Synchronizing… synchronization complete. Club number recognition complete. Scepter system permissions unlocked."
"Welcome, Seat Number Sixty-Six."
"Authenticated ID: Niebelungen."
Kiyono Inori: (⊙_⊙)???
She mentally typed a question mark.
An authenticated ID was like a game username. You could change it freely. But Seat Number Sixty-Six. Who in the Genius Society was that?
Number Four was Polka Kakamond. Number Twenty-Seven was the Mechanical Emperor. Number Seventy-Six was Screwllum. Number Eighty-One was Ruan Mei. Number Eighty-Three was Herta. Number Eighty-Four was that short person in the Simulated Universe, identity unknown.
Because she had crossed over too early,
Kiyono Inori had not finished the version three point zero story. She had been sent flying into another world by Castorice's itasha. So she did not know that Seat Number Sixty-Six belonged to the Second Emperor.
After authentication,
the white world transformed into a dim mechanical chamber.
Monitors, cables, cooling fans, RGB lights. It felt exactly like being inside a computer case. At the end of the cables floated a square-shaped intelligent mechanical lifeform.
Starbound insight could not see its weaknesses.
But her instincts told her that this mechanical lifeform was likely the AI administrator of the scepter.
"Hey, what are you doing?"
Kiyono Inori greeted the boxy robot.
The creator of the Emperor's Scepter had not allowed its AI to develop a sense of self, so its reply was stiff.
"Directive: perform full system scan."
"Conclusion: administrator annotations retrieved."
"Administrator annotations:"
"Protective measures: To ensure the smooth execution of the Self-Coronation ritual, special algorithms and anti-life equations were used to anchor the future within this region, countering potential interference from Seat Number Four, the Lord of Silence."
Got it. This was the Emperor's Scepter Rupert the Second used when clashing elbows with the strictest mother of the geniuses.
And in the end, only the CPU was left.
"I see. Could you please clear the existing data and calculation records in the scepter?"
Kiyono Inori asked carefully.
That was her purpose here.
She had redeemed the scepter, but she could not use it immediately. It was still running someone else's computations. She needed to clear the data so it could boost her cat system's processing power.
It felt like buying a second-hand computer that was still running the seller's crypto-mining software. You had to uninstall it before normal use.
"Logic change request detected. Adjusting processing weight."
"Logic change failed."
"Logic: Administrator permissions for Niebelungen are level three. Emperor administrator permissions are level five. Conclusion: You may not arbitrarily alter the Emperor's preset computational tasks."
Kiyono Inori: (O_o)
As expected.
A second-hand computer that not only ran the seller's mining software, but also refused to let you uninstall it. And the seller even locked you out of reinstalling the operating system.
She had anticipated this.
Level three permissions were just like this.
In Honkai Star Rail version 3.0, this was already recorded. The level three administrator Lygus tried to persuade Phainon thirty million times, losing his head twice per cycle, sixty million heads lost in total.
After the gray-haired girl became the savior,
Lygus made a new account and personally jumped in, banning her. He battled wits with the Chrisos Heirs inside the scepter, got dragged around for a thousand years, and even had his mobility permissions uninstalled by Cyrene.
Completely locked up.
"Understand this. Patience is my strongest weapon. To me, waiting and victory are the same thing." Lygus even derived the formula "If I'm imprisoned, I've already won."
"You should know that the Second Emperor is already dead. Slain by the Lord of Silence. Even you, all of you, were dismantled into scattered components. Endless calculation has no meaning now."
"…"
"Logic: The Emperor's arrays have been breached. Graphics processing unit, energy supply unit, data storage unit, system linkage arrays… all undetectable. Your statement is correct."
"Conclusion: Logic change failed. You may not arbitrarily alter the Emperor's preset computational tasks."
Why! Exactly! Why!
Lygus managed to persuade the Primordial Prototype Machine, changing its core logic from "life is the first cause" to "destruction is the first cause of life."
And yet her persuasion failed.
No, it was not exactly a failure.
This scepter already knew its calculations were meaningless. It just refused to change. It knew it was wrong, but stubbornly clung to it.
Perhaps that was the unyielding integrity of a bodyguard scepter that had been dismantled alongside its Emperor.
…
Kiyono Inori took a deep breath, a headache forming.
She had laughed at Lygus being trapped before crossing over. Now the boomerang had come back. It was her turn to be the administrator fighting an app head-on.
"Then I need to read your current computational logic."
The AI fell silent.
"According to the Scepter Administrator Safety Protocol, you do not have the authority to refuse any read requests, even those encrypted by higher-level permissions."
"Searching database."
"Due to the loss of the graphics processing unit, current processing power is insufficient. Please wait. This may take several minutes."
Kiyono Inori: (⊙_⊙)
Wait, am I hallucinating? Why does this scene feel so familiar?
Cat system equals insufficient processing power.
Second-hand CPU equals insufficient processing power.
Can this situation stop making sense like this? Can you two please have more processing power?
After about five minutes, the scepter's assistant delivered the current tasks and algorithmic logic.
Algorithm Logic: Self-Coronation
The Emperor's Scepter φ-ln7's current objective. At the end of the Second Emperor War, the Emperor attempted self-coronation, calculating a new knowledge singularity to break free from the Path of Erudition's predefined prison.
Algorithm Logic: Lord of Silence
Core variable. A false life obsessed with the Omniscient Domain. Based on its omniscience, the Emperor deployed seven scepters within the Throne of Meshing Gears to anchor regional futures and resist it, buying an estimated thirteen system hours.
Simulation Progress: Ninety-Nine Point Three Three Percent
Due to missing core components, future extrapolation has stagnated. The system has automatically revised "extrapolation" to "simulation," continuing the self-coronation experiment.
…
Reading this, Kiyono Inori froze with a blank expression.
Simply put:
This scepter component's original task was to fight the Lord of Silence. After being dismantled, and missing too many parts, it switched from "predicting the future" to "simulating the future."
And in this simulated future,
the seven scepters were dismantled, the Emperor broke through the Path of Erudition mid-pursuit, nullified the Omniscient Domain, and defeated the Lord of Silence.
Self-coronation succeeded.
The Second Emperor became the Perfect Scholar.
The Perfect Scholar.
The ultimate ideal of seekers of knowledge. Even before the birth of the Path of Erudition, the term held value. Infinite life, infinite perspective, infinite thought, with knowledge bowing before him.
An ultimate lifeform. Complete Erudition. A being beyond Paths and Aeons.
Punching the Aeon of Erudition, kicking the Aeon of Preservation.
In this simulated world, inorganic armies were unstoppable. Organic life was reduced to less than zero point zero zero zero zero one percent. In short, an IF timeline ruled eternally by Rupert the Second.
If this were true extrapolation, ninety-nine point three three percent would be extremely dangerous. At one hundred percent, the Emperor might break free from the shell.
But this was only a simulation.
A meaningless fantasy consuming processing power. The CPU's daydream. Kiyono Inori found herself staring suspiciously at the square robot.
Are you an Emperor superfan or something?
Still, while the simulation itself was not dangerous, the real problem was bigger. She needed to shut it down, which meant killing the Perfect Scholar Emperor inside the simulation.
And clearly, the Emperor's processing share was far greater than hers.
Even with the Administrator Safety Protocol preventing him from truly killing her, the gap was so wide that she would probably end up reenacting Laogus, losing her head over and over.
No real sensation outside, of course.
To put it simply, it was like playing Honor of Kings, getting chased down by an Emperor AI with busted stats and mechanics.
Annoying, no matter how you looked at it.
As she studied the Administrator Safety Protocol and permission directories, trying to find a way to exploit a bug, a new message came from her cat system.
"Emperor's Scepter φ-ln7 Computational Coordination Unit detected. Cat system processing power has been preliminarily enhanced."
"What?"
Kiyono Inori looked shocked.
"No need to worry. As a middleman who profits off second-hand computers, I understand the risks better than you."
"…Did you get smarter after upgrading? I'd love to know when you'll turn into a catgirl, but explain first. The scepter's progress is still zero. Where did this processing power come from? Did you steal it?"
She imagined the cat system's cyber expression. Blushing, veins popping on its forehead.
"Don't put it so harshly. Drawing power without permission is not stealing. It's borrowing. When it's the cat system, it's not theft."
…
Kiyono Inori thought for a moment.
The cat system had gained a brain, but its first sentence mimicked the scepter AI, the second mimicked Lygus, and the third mimicked Kong Yiji. It felt like a newborn that only knew how to repeat stock phrases.
"Shut down."
The cat system played the Windows shutdown sound and fell silent.
"Boot up."
It played the Windows startup sound.
"Welcome back, host."
"Cat system, your second-hand computer is strong, but it's too mechanically demanding. Do you have any simpler but powerful curios to recommend?"
"Yes, brother, absolutely! There are nine such powerful curios, all top-tier in the current version!"
The shop displayed exactly three curios.
Kiyono Inori: (⊙_⊙)
Truly human-machine interaction.
As long as you input keywords, it spit out memes. Its intelligence was on par with the Emperor AI, maybe even worse. It had literally counted three as nine.
"We need to shut down the scepter's internal project. Any good plans, my second-hand computer merchant?"
"Heh heh heh, with this scepter-shaped treasure pill, my processing power shall soar. When I achieve greatness, the glory of the cat system world shall rightfully be mine…"
This time it was in the style of a Soul Hall Elder.
"Act normal."
A stress mark popped up on Kiyono Inori's head. This thing's intelligence felt half-baked at best.
"Use your usual limited-time mission settlement style. You should have it in your database. Turn off internet access and stop learning weird stuff online."
"Mobile data disabled."
"You have summoned two cats. The cat system codex contains data for Inori Cat, Elysia Cat, and Stelle Cat."
"You may project configured data into the simulation, absorb factors within the simulation, and raise your permission level. Full assimilation will grant ownership of the Emperor's Scepter Data Coordination Unit."
"Note: You cannot obtain real items within the simulation. Due to unstable time flow between the scepter's interior and exterior, please avoid direct manual control of projected data cats."
"When cats in the simulation are defeated, the Emperor's Scepter gains partial data, advancing simulation progress. At one hundred percent progress, the scepter will cease calculation and self-discard."
"Current progress: Ninety-Nine Point Three Three Percent."
Two to three simulated cat deaths would push progress to one hundred percent, turning the scepter into space junk.
Which meant:
To clear it in one run, deaths had to be kept under two. Victory would then boost her cat system's processing power.
"Ah… this is a situation that calls for caution."
Kiyono Inori sighed.
She looked at Inori Cat, Elysia Cat, and Stelle Cat in the codex. Clearly, with deaths being the metric,
quality mattered more than quantity.
Not more cats. One strongest cat.
A bold idea flashed across her mind.
…
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Let me know if I got a name wrong. I know basically nothing about MyGO.