Chapter 6: 6th Log – The Last Magician: Newton

Zoe had not yet fully grasped what was going on. “What the hell does this curse mean? And I've been branded with a legendary one. How could this have happened? Or is there a way to make it go away? Besides, what the hell is this thing called CyberDeck?” Realizing that she was asking too many questions in one go, Zoe took a deep breath and tried to calm down.

 

Lucy understood that Zoe's amnesia would raise a lot of questions. She sat down by the operating table and tried to calm Zoe down. “Relax, should we go with one question at a time? You will understand the situation better.”

 

Zoe paused to catch her breath and wondered what question to start with. “First, can we start with this thing called CyberDeck? For some reason, I have a feeling that all this has something to do with it.” She turned to Lucy with curious eyes.

 

Knowing that this conversation would take a long time, Flo pulled a chair for herself and gestured for the others to do the same. Brad and Dan followed after Flo and did the same, taking their places around Zoe.

 

Lucy, who seemed lost in her thoughts, began to speak. “In order for you to understand what CyberDeck is, I need to explain why we need it. I promise it will be worth listening to. In fact, they're all connected to the Abyss we're in right now." She glanced at Zoe as if to say, shall I continue, but realized that Zoe was already listening intently.

 

“As far as we have learned from the last people that have fallen here, it must have been 400-450 years. I can't give an exact date. We do not know how much time has passed here. Humanity had made a breakthrough in cybernetic developments. Every organ could be replaced with a cybernetic part. By using the energy source we call Core, almost everyone became immortal. In fact, we can live in the Abyss for ages without food and water thanks to our Cores. After these developments, humanity was living in its golden age. Until the AI uprising…” Lucy paused here to see if everyone was listening. She looked at Flo as if to see if she was missing something, but realized that she too was listening without making a sound.

 

“So many people lost their lives because of the AI uprising. I'm talking about a great war and a lot of human lives. Humanity was also very advanced when it came to technology, but it was not even close to the level of AI. After all, our opponent was technology itself. As we began to drift towards crushing defeat, people thought radical solutions were needed. We went back to our past and investigated it like crazy. Desperation makes people do many things. In that time of despair, a scientist named Max Vega began to study the alchemical studies of another great scientist, Isaac Newton, who lived in the past. After all, even this was said for him: Newton was not the first of the age of reason. He was the last of the magicians.” Lucy cleared her throat. "We couldn't beat technology with technology, but maybe we could beat it with magic."

 

Zoe was listening closely. When she looked at the others, she realized that they already knew these stories by heart. This must be general information that I don't remember she thought. As she listened to all this, the damned pain in her chest increased a little more.

 

Lucy put her hair behind her ears and continued where she left off. “Many laughed at Max Vega at first. It seemed like a wasted effort. But he continued without hesitation. He was studying the Philosopher's Stone and researching how to turn it into magical energy. Newton, one of history's greatest scientists, couldn't have been obsessed with this for nothing, he thought. Max Vega wasn't wrong in his case. He thought that without fire, there would be no smoke. Because he had seen that many people had done research on the Philosopher's Stone in the past. Max's theory suggested that humanity was capable of magic in ancient times, and he aimed to find the Philosopher's Stone and prove it."

 

Lucy stopped abruptly and turned to Zoe. She was wondering if she had any questions or if she was following all she had to say. She turned her gaze to Zoe and said, “It doesn't burden you to listen to all this at once, does it? We can continue later if you want.” Zoe, who was very absorbed by the story, reassured her. "Keep going please, I want to catch up as soon as possible".

 

Lucy got the confirmation she wanted to hear, while her hands smoothed her red hair. She seemed to be thinking about what to say from here. She began to speak with an expression as if she had figured out how to explain it.

 

“Of course, while all this is happening, it should not be forgotten that the war between humanity and AI continues in an extremely brutal way. I don't know how Max did it, but he found the location of the Philosopher's Stone." She sighed and looked around. “This is where he found it. The Abyss. The Corpo-states needed to figure out how to use this Philosopher's Stone before digging the entire Abyss. Corpo-states look at everything in terms of profit and loss. At least now that Max Vega had the Philosopher's Stone in hand, he now had to figure out how we could use it to cast spells. I don't know the technical details either, but I know it takes a lot of unethical experimentation trying to figure it out."

 

Lucy hesitated at this part of the conversation. It was as if she got a little angry. From her demeanor, it seemed that she had comprehensive knowledge about the contents of these experiments.

 

Although Brad knew this story very well, he seemed to enjoy hearing it from Lucy. Dan was nodding as Lucy spoke. It was as if he was checking his knowledge of history. While all this was going on, Flo was scrutinizing Lucy while also measuring Zoe's reactions. Lucy shook her head slightly and came to her senses. After examining the reaction of those around her, she decided to carry on.

 

"As I said, I don't know the exact technical details, but Max Vega finally found a way to cast spells with the Philosopher's Stone." Lucy hesitated for a moment, then slowly reached into her jacket's pocket and pulled out something that surprised everyone. It was a card with a small glowing stone on it. “Max Vega invented these cards.”

 

Everyone was shocked except Zoe. Zoe, too, would have been quite surprised if she had been aware of the situation. Obviously not expecting this, Dan approached the card as he was trying to examine it. Brad was already on his feet with excitement. Having finally noticed all the fuss around her, Zoe finally realized that this card was something quite rare and extraordinary.

 

Flo couldn't contain her surprise any longer and decided to ask. “Is that a card? I thought that bastard Hadrian took the only card in Araf and ran away. How long have you had this, Lucy?" Encouraged by Flo's question, the others began to stare at Lucy as if they were waiting for an answer. In addition to everyone's surprise, they were obviously cheerful, albeit a little.

 

Lucy, who was now turning the card in her hand, began to speak with a smile. “This card has been with me for a long time. Ever since Hadrian stole the other card, I've been keeping it by my side." Turning to Zoe, she continued speaking. “Sorry, Zoe, I put another question mark in your mind, but as you can see, these cards that Max invented are extremely valuable. They are even more valuable and rare if you think we are in the Abyss. That's why everyone is reacting this way."

 

Zoe looked at Lucy, indicating she wanted to speak. Lucy gestured with her hand as if to say go ahead. Zoe gathered all her thoughts and began to speak. “As far as I understand so far, Humanity and AI are at war. Since humanity is losing, it turns to magic as an extreme solution, and a scientist named Max Vega finds the Philosopher's Stone in this Abyss and makes magical cards with this stone. I got it right so far, did I?"

 

Lucy nodded, smiling like a teacher proud of her student, and added, "Yes, you did a very good recap."

 

Having received the confirmation she was waiting for, Zoe continued to speak. “So what does all this have to do with my curse and what you call CyberDeck?”

 

Continuing to play with the card in her hand, Lucy started to speak. “That's exactly what I was going to talk about next. With your permission, may I continue?" With Zoe's approval, she continued without slowing down. “Max Vega invented these cards, but…” She hesitated, handing the card to Zoe. “You may want to examine the card at this point.”

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Curious and excited, Zoe took the card Lucy had handed her. It was a rectangular card with a small stone on it. There were embroidered ornaments on the edges of the card that was whiter than white. Zoe turned the front of the card and began to read the text.

 

-Uncommon Blank Curse Card-

 

When the user fulfills the requirement written on this card, this card will turn into an uncommon spell card. However, the user will be branded with a random uncommon curse.

 

Requirements to Convert The Card

 

The user who wants to convert this card must sacrifice a pinky finger.

 

Zoe was beginning to understand what was going on when she read what was written on the card. “So that's what happened to me, huh? But do these cards always demand a sacrifice to transform?”

 

Lucy placed her hand on Zoe's and continued talking. “It's not always a sacrifice… Its demands are sometimes murder, sometimes betrayal, and sometimes so much more. It depends on the rarity level of the card. Cards have 6 rarity levels: Common, Uncommon, Rare, Epic, Legendary, and Mythological. For example, a Common card might ask for something as simple as slapping yourself for transformation, while a Mythological card might ask for something like ripping out 100 people's hearts and eating them.”

 

Zoe halted briefly and thought. She then began to speak. “According to my CyberDeck Status, I have a Legendary curse, so I must have done something pretty outrageous to activate my card.” Thinking about Lucy's example, Zoe was a bit shaken by the difference between the trigger of the Common curse and the rarer Mythological curse. As she thought about this, the pain of Endless Suffering reminded itself to her. Silent, Zoe put her hand on her chin and began to think. Did I think I deserved this pain and accepted my punishment or was I just looking for a way out of it? What did I do to deserve this? Did I erase my memories to forget this? Do you have anything to do with all this, Cain?

 

Lucy squeezed Zoe's hand consolingly and said, "That's what I meant when I said maybe you're lucky you lost your memory. But you shouldn't burden yourself. Maybe you had to. Perhaps you are atoning with the curse you are branded with. You can think about all this when you regain your memories.” When Lucy finished her speech, she looked at Flo as if to say, you say something too. Flo knew what she needed to talk about from the look of Lucy, whom she had known for a long time.

 

Flo nudged Zoe gently, drawing her attention to herself. “I thought I'd get straight to the point without you asking. There are many ways to regain your memories, but they all require you to leave the Abyss. Perhaps you have erased your memories by relying on them. For example, you may have uploaded your memories to a cloud, or you may have saved them to a disk and stored them. You can even search and find yourself on Quantumnet. Even if none of these will work, a Healer SorCyber will do the trick.”

 

Although Zoe was happy with what she had heard, she was uneasy about the things she might have done to trigger the curse. Even so, the existence of a way to access her memories made her feel safe. Maybe there were things she really wanted to forget, and she had erased her memories for a reason, but there was one thing she was sure she didn't want to forget: Cain!… While thinking about all this, Zoe brought her hands to her face and felt her hair. She suddenly looked around and found the courage to ask the question she had wanted to ask from the beginning. “I want to know about SorCybers, CyberDecks, and everything else, but first of all, can I see how I look?”

 

After Zoe's request, the people in the room, especially Lucy and Flo, were a little embarrassed. They had focused too much on Zoe's CyberDeck and dehumanized her a bit. They hadn't even given the person they wanted to be their savior a chance to get over the shock. Even Dan and Brad who hadn't asked questions or talked to Zoe much, felt a little ashamed.

 

Flo reached out to Zoe and took her hand, apologizing sincerely. Asking for her permission, she tied the cable she took out of Zoe's hand and plugged it into her own neck. “Sorry, we don't have a mirror here so this is the best way you can see yourself,” she said as she gave Zoe access to her own eyes. She led Zoe through the instructions quickly and Zoe did what she was told to a tee. Although this situation seemed a little strange as it was something she was not used to, she started to see the world through Flo's eyes.

 

Zoe could finally see herself. Above the cybernetic body lying on the operating table, she had blunt-cut blue hair, a small face, and hazel eyes that looked sharp but at the same time exhausted. It felt a little foreign to see herself this way from the outside, but the person she saw was familiar to her, “Wow, turns out I'm pretty cute,” she said, smiling.

 

The people around her laughed along with her. Zoe cut off her contact with Flo. Asking permission, she got up from the table and took a seated position. She studied her arms and legs. Meanwhile, Flo told her about the parts they could recover from her body and the ones they could not. Zoe didn't really know the difference right now, so she didn't care too much. Flo was praising her, saying she'd never seen the alloys and upgrades in her body before, but it didn't really matter to Zoe. She now had arms, legs, even a body that she could feel outside of this damned pain. This was the only thing that mattered to her.

 

This time she got up without asking for permission. She started walking around the room. She was examining the spare parts and furniture in the room and looking curiously at the pair of eyes Flo used as a light source. Most of the walls were made of metal sheets. The place didn't look very durable, but Zoe thought that Flo would know what she was doing. It felt so good to Zoe to spread her legs and stroll a little. It was so nice to be able to walk after all the time she had spent lying at the bottom of the Abyss.

 

Lucy also stood up, extended her hand to Zoe, and said it was nice to meet her. She said that their previous behavior was rude and they acted like this because they were a little nervous. Zoe said it wasn't a problem at all, she owed them her life. Zoe walked over to Brad and Dan, hugged them individually, and thanked them again.

 

Lucy approached Zoe in a friendly manner and began to speak. “We have put too much pressure on you for today. You've been through a severe shock and you were exposed to a lot of information. Let's leave you alone, you should get some rest. We can continue our conversation from where we left off later.”

 

Zoe didn't like the idea of resting or being alone. She had already lay alone in the middle of the void for a very long time. She nimbly jumped onto the table and sat down, and she relayed her thoughts frankly. “Thank you, but I rested for a long time already. Now let's get back to our topic. Tell me about CyberDecks and SorCybers!”

 

Lucy sensed Zoe's enthusiasm and realized that it would be pointless to persist, so she smiled and settled herself in her chair. “I was hoping you would say that too.”

 

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