NOVEL NEXT Chapter 36: Chapter 36: Ancient Computers (2)
"The last host was around the time of the Napoleonic Wars... making it nearly two hundred years ago. And the guy didn't even reach the 'bug stage.'" I provided her with a brief summary of what I had read.
"Bug stage?" she asked, her expression a mix of confusion and slight amusement.
"The Balance Breaker is essentially a 'bug stage' that developed due to the lack of maintenance on the Sacred Gears for the past two thousand years," I explained, gently stroking her long hair as I spoke.
"I thought it was because no one has been sitting in the chair up there?" she said, pointing upward.
"It's the same. The chair is empty, and no one can properly maintain the system." I sighed in disappointment. It was a shame that the previous host was dead. He would have made for an intriguing conversation partner. I could only imagine how much better his art would have become over the years.
"You sound disappointed."
"Of course. I lost an interesting individual to talk to. I bet his gears would have improved significantly if he'd been around." I said this with a genuine tone.
"...Only you could consider the Biblical God a potential chat buddy," Serafall remarked, shaking her head in disbelief. The beauty in my arms clearly couldn't fathom the idea.
"Possibly," I replied with a shrug. "Anyway... it's time to run some maintenance on the gear." I said, starting to run diagnostics.
"...What exactly are you going to do?" Serafall asked, a hint of concern in her voice.
"I'll run some maintenance and clear the cache. You wouldn't want him to accidentally achieve Juggernaut Drive just because Gremory or your little sister refuses to show their breasts—or something equally ridiculous—right?" I spoke bluntly, though my tone made the point clear.
"He... could do that? Achieve Juggernaut Drive just for that!?" The beauty on my lap said, her voice tinged with a mixture of shock and unease.
"There are close to a hundred remnants of angry hosts... especially due to the rivalry between those two heavenly dragons. It gets worse because this pervert's drive is extraordinarily powerful when it comes to... breasts. He could easily achieve both Balance Breaker and Juggernaut Drive."
I leaned forward, speaking sharply to her. "I won't risk him gaining Juggernaut Drive while I'm running tests in the area."
"...Yes, it's better this way..." Serafall nodded, her face a little paler now. It seemed she had grasped the gravity of the situation.
With a few clicks of my mouse, the Boosted Gear was now cleaned. The maintenance had fixed the issues within the system.
It was safe now. No more ridiculous power-ups coming from things like breast-related antics or some other lust-driven nonsense that might push the brat toward Balance Breaker.
Still, I would keep a close eye on this idiot.
The dragon factor is truly fascinating. And now, I have a living test subject, not just data to analyze.
"All done. You can take him back to his house now," I told her.
"Okay… but, where does he live?" she asked, the obvious question.
"Take my Aurora Glasses." I handed her a case with the glasses inside.
"They work in Kuoh?" Serafall asked, a hint of curiosity in her voice as she took them.
"Yes, the internet is a thing, you know." I shrugged casually.
"...You're using the internet?"
"More like hijacking it. The firewalls are primitive," I said with a grin, recalling all the times I had hacked my way through security measures.
"I don't even want to know how many laws you've broken with that..." Serafall said, shaking her head as she got up from my lap.
"A devil worrying about human laws? Now that's a new one..." I muttered.
She rolled her eyes at me.
"I don't care about them. But you're the one who broke them, so that's why I care," she responded simply, her honesty evident.
Trying to earn a few brownie points, no doubt. As expected of my cute, sexy, not-so-magical-girl, Sera.
"I see... Anyway, let me disconnect this guy before you send him on his way." Skipping over the conversation about breaking the law, I stood up from the couch and walked over to the pervert's side. I removed the scanners and recalled the Sacred Gear back into his body.
"On a different note, Master… can you recreate the Boosted Gear?" Serafall asked as she prepared to teleport away.
"Recreate? I can't recreate Ddraig—not yet. But making something better? That's easy. My M.T.M. is already superior to Ddraig for the simple reason that Ddraig has a limited amount of energy, while my M.T.M. can generate energy indefinitely. Both Boost and Pierce can be easily replicated. I could even tamper with Transfer."
I paused for a moment, then added, "There are many ways to improve upon this, Sera. You forget that this gear was created nearly 3,000 years ago. It wasn't designed to evolve, like the Juggernaut Drive or Balance Breaker Scale Mail. Over time, people have slowly been breaking these 'toys,' and since they haven't received maintenance, I wouldn't be surprised if the stronger gears with beings sealed inside them started to explode or break down in some way."
"I thought he made them impossible to break..." Serafall said, sounding perplexed.
"Such a thing doesn't exist," I responded, shaking my head. "The Sacred Gears are resilient because of the alchemical metal they were created from. Now that I've scanned the Boosted Gear, I'll be able to recreate this adaptable metal. But like I said, there's always a breaking point."
I leaned back in my seat. "Maybe 100 years, maybe 1,000, or even 10,000. But the weight of those souls inside the gear would drive the host mad, unless the host learns to deal with the previous ones themselves."
"So... either the remnants of the souls or the gears themselves..." she said thoughtfully.
"The Scale Mails weren't supposed to exist. They're a bug. Each time an excessive amount of dragon energy leaves the gear, it damages the Sacred Gear."
I gestured toward the logs. "Simply put, don't use artifacts in ways they weren't intended."
"The Gear had to adapt to 1,340 different bursts of energy. While it survived and will continue to survive, there's always a chance it could break." I looked at her, my tone serious.
"I see... so you could create a gear that's actually designed to achieve a Balance Breaker, instead of one that's just a bug in the system," she said, nodding in understanding.
"And I could easily upgrade it later. Unlike these gears, which can't be upgraded unless they're taken back to Heaven for maintenance. The worst part is that the user still has to maintain a good relationship with the dragon sealed inside." I added. By this point, Serafall understood what I had explained, and she disappeared with the brown-haired pervert.
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