Chapter 123
The advancent of technology accelerates.
This is the sa in any industry. When a new standard erges, compatibility with the previous generation gradually diminishes.
The data chip field, in particular, undergoes generational changes and specification updates so rapidly that within just a few decades, ordinary people can no longer even attempt to use older models.
Moreover, the chip I had brought was from the era when Agatha Custoria and Noel Mullizcane were still actively in service.
Gilda stared at the holographic screen and searched the network for specifications on the chip. However, as she struggled to find any clues, her eyes narrowed.
"If there’s not even a trace of information online... hmm."
"Ah, it’s probably a chip that was manufactured before the Empire settled on Planet Novus."
I added. Gilda’s eyes widened before she uncharacteristically furrowed her brows.
"You should’ve told that sooner! Not a hundred or two hundred years ago... this thing was used around three centuries ago. Well, now I’m really feeling the challenge."
Rolling up her sleeves, Gilda headed into the storage room. She returned carrying an armful of books that slled strongly of dust.
Thud!
Gilda dropped the pile onto the table, sending a cloud of dust swirling into the air.
"Look for anything that looks the sa or similar. Also, check for any matching numbers or letters. If you find a model with overlapping features, let know imdiately. It’s likely from the sa manufacturer or at least the sa standard."
Judging by the covers and titles, all of them were books related to electronic devices.
Gilda and I flipped open the books, our eyes darting back and forth across the pages.
Shffft.
I turned pages at a much faster pace than she did. Gilda shot a startled glance before refocusing on her own book.
I finished a book in about thirty seconds.
Even for , reading at that speed wasn’t feasible. But since I was only scanning for matching letters and images, it wasn’t an issue.
"Ugh... what the hell happened?"
In the anti, Gabriel groaned as he sat up, clutching his head.
"You were completely drunk and collapsed. Try drinking in moderation."
I spoke while flipping through the pages. Gabriel rubbed his jaw as if it felt sore and tilted his head.
"R-Really? I passed out from falling? No... I feel like sothing important happened... Damn, what was it?"
Gabriel blinked in confusion. I tossed a book at him and repeated Gilda’s instructions word for word.
"Start looking through this first. It’s important."
Still dazed, Gabriel flipped through the book with his thick fingers.
Gilda’s hand, which had been swiftly turning pages, began to slow. She alternated glances between the chip and the book.
"I think I found it. Hold on."
The first to find a clue was Gilda. She sat in front of the holographic screen with an old book open beside her. Dragging and overlaying information across multiple holographic displays, she consolidated everything into a single screen.
"No wonder I couldn’t find anything! This chip could easily bypass the highest security clearance of its ti, and its capacity is absurdly large because of its stacked interlocking structure.
Stacked interlocking ans it’s layered like a puzzle, fitting into empty spaces instead of just being piled up... Ah, never mind, you probably don’t care. Anyway, it’s an excessively advanced chip that condensed the cutting-edge technology of its era.
It was so expensive that there was almost no demand, so only a small batch was ever produced. Honestly, it feels like it was made just to show off their technological prowess.
The company that manufactured it even created a separate top-tier category called the ’OOPArts Grade’ to classify this chip. Though, by today’s standards, it’s nothing special—you can find chips of this level anywhere on the street now."
Gilda spoke excitedly and added that it could fetch a considerable price on the market.
"So basically, it’s expensive?"
Gabriel, who had been listening absentmindedly, suddenly perked up at that part.
"So, can you extract the data?"
My only concern was its contents.
"If we line up computer terminals from different generations and transfer the data step by step through compatible formats, it should work. Once we convert it to a standard from about a hundred or fifty years ago, reading it won’t be a problem.
But there will be data loss and corruption. I don’t know what’s on it, but if it’s a program, there’s a chance it won’t function properly. Also, the security system is vastly different from modern standards, so..."
Gilda continued explaining why the process would be lengthy, but I didn’t bother listening. I intended to leave everything to her.
"Ah! I rember now! Luka, you bastard!"
Gabriel suddenly snapped back to his senses and shouted.
"If you wanna punch , go ahead. I’ll take it."
"That’s not what I ant! Whatever, I’ll let it slide this ti. Because you, with that smug mouth of yours, actually said... sorry!"
Gabriel emphasized each word, pressing them out with exaggerated force. I had an overwhelming urge to take back what I said. But once spoken, words couldn’t be undone.
Crash! Thud!
Gilda was busy dragging out electronic equipnt that was practically antique from the storage room. She was completely absorbed in her work, paying no attention to us.
"So, you’re saying you were an orphan and then got adopted into a noble family? Damn, you’re one hell of a guy. No wonder you didn’t have that typical noble brat vibe. I kept thinking it was weird—so lowborn bastard claiming to be a noble."
Gabriel nudged with his shoulder as he spoke. Apparently not tired of drinking, he pulled out another beer and handed one to as well.
"I didn’t tell you because it’s too complicated to explain."
I was thirsty too, so I drank the beer. Compared to other alcohol, it was more like a soft drink—easy to drink, and I didn’t feel drunk.
"But still, you could’ve told , Luka. I was kinda hurt, you know."
Gabriel, now completely over his earlier anger, grinned and joked around.
’Gabriel is a failure from the lower districts.’
When I first t him, his prosthetics were barely functioning. They were so unbalanced that it wouldn’t have been surprising if they malfunctioned or broke down at any mont. At that rate, he wouldn’t have lasted two or three more years before dying. It was a predictable outco.
’He spends his days drinking and partying, and whenever he cos across a lump sum of money, he wastes it all within days. A short-sighted idiot.’
That’s why Gabriel never made it up the ladder and ended up living the life of a failure. He was exactly the kind of person I despised the most.
If not for our interactions and the bond we had built, I wouldn’t have even considered him as the sa kind of human as . And in the past, I acted accordingly.
...But now, I don’t dislike Gabriel. I don’t feel the need to look down on his life either.
’Everything about this is just funny.’
Just because you’re close to soone, you start overlooking their flaws. Once, I had despised that kind of attitude, seeing it as hypocrisy.
’Well, Gabriel still seems pathetic to sotis... No, not sotis—almost all the ti.’
Yet, even this pathetic Gabriel wasn’t all that bad.
If I had to put this complicated feeling into simple words, it ca down to one thing—if Gabriel died, I would be sad.
"Luka, can you see my wing tattoo?"
Gabriel pulled down his coat, exposing his back. His shoulders, covered in scars, bore an oddly out-of-place wing tattoo.
"You don’t have to show . I have no interest in looking at another man’s back."
"The na Gabriel is pretty common, right? My mom tattooed this on so she could find again. Apparently, Gabriel was originally an angel’s na or sothing."
"Yeah, sounds fitting. I don’t know much about angels, but I guess they must all be handso like you."
"I used to be pretty good-looking before my face got wrecked. If you go through about three rounds of facial fractures and reconstructive surgery, you’d probably end up looking like too."
"At least you have an excuse for being ugly."
"Ha, shit, I swear I wanna beat the crap out of you. If only you were weaker than , I would’ve—"
Gabriel clenched and unclenched his fists, barely holding back his irritation.
"Well, at least you rember your mom’s face. Not that I’m jealous or anything. I’m not that sentintal."
"I wasn’t originally born in Akbaran. To be precise, the Empire isn’t my holand."
I hesitated for a mont and glanced at Gabriel’s profile.
This was sothing new. The Empire’s database didn’t keep detailed records on every lower-class citizen. Its information network wasn’t that ticulous.
"So, you’re from Corite or Bellato?"
"Not that either..."
Gabriel smirked and let the suspense drag out, clearly trying to get on my nerves.
"...I was born in the Wastelands. I’m a Nomad, soone who lived a free life."
There was unmistakable pride in his voice. That only made want to stomp it down out of sheer spite.
"You an those holess vagrants with no proper houses?"
"Hey, you—!"
"I’m kidding. I know who they are. Still, that’s unexpected. A Nomad, huh?"
It was a term I almost never heard.
On Planet Novus, there were wandering groups that didn’t belong to any nation. They were called Nomads. Calling them a faction was a stretch, as the term encompassed nurous small communities with no real collective presence.
More importantly, the Nomads were a mixed-race society, with humans making up only a part of their population. To the human supremacist Empire, they were an impure elent, not worth engaging with.
I only knew they existed—nothing more.
"I was only about four or five back then, so I hardly rember anything. But thinking back, my group must have been in danger. They paid to leave at an orphanage in Akbaran. Since I haven’t heard from them in over twenty years, they’re probably all dead."
At least he was lucky that the Empire didn’t treat him as a non-citizen and throw him out of the orphanage. A different boy nad "Gabriel" had died in an accident, and the orphanage director, wanting to keep collecting subsidies, forged records to replace the dead child with this Gabriel. It was a common form of corruption.
After that, Gabriel’s life was no different from any other boy in Akbaran.
During the aptitude screening, Gabriel failed to et the requirents for military service and was assigned to a vocational school. After a short training period, he was sent to work at a construction company, but an accident cost him both of his legs, leaving him on the verge of being discarded.
’This is the first ti I’m hearing about this.’
Gabriel spoke about his past in a calm tone.
"So, out of spite, I robbed the boss’s safe. Since I had no legs, my body was light, which made it easier to climb up walls. Anyway, I used that money to get combat-grade prosthetics. I didn’t bother calculating compatibility or anything—I was desperate, so I just had them installed. Looking back, I was lucky. Those legs let take down the company goons who ca after ."
After bouncing from one disaster to another, he had made it here.
"I used to be pretty confident in a fight. That is... until I t you. I’d never been beaten so thoroughly before."
Gabriel stared at his hands. His arms were crude lumps of tal. To grow stronger, he had continuously replaced his limbs.
I silently drank my beer as I listened.
It was clear why Gabriel was telling all this. Regardless of how we had gotten here, he knew about my past, and this was his way of sharing his own.
"That was just bad luck. You don’t run into soone like in the lower districts every day."
I set my empty beer bottle down as I spoke.
"No, I think I was lucky. After all, it led here. See you around, noble hunter Luka."
Gabriel threw out a aningless remark as he stood up. Stuffing his large hands into his coat pockets, he left the workshop.
I stared at the door he had walked out of, lost in thought.
Creak.
About ten minutes later, the door opened again. At first, I thought Gabriel had co back because he had forgotten sothing.
Whoosh.
A cold gust of wind swept in through the open door. The sun was setting, but even if it weren’t, I would have still felt a chill run down my spine.
The warmth in my chest froze solid.
I squinted slightly and fixed my gaze on the man standing at the entrance.
’...Kinuan.’
Kinuan casually took off his coat and stepped inside the workshop.
"Ah, Luka. You’re here too. Gilda, it’s been a while. You seem busy with work, but I trust you’ll still accept my greetings."
Kinuan brushed past and took a seat.
...Think, Luka. Why has that monster co here?
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