CHAPTER 136: COMPREHENDING REGISTERS (2)

Even with the advantages of a 64-bit design, he still wanted to make it more efficient and faster to get spells saved in memory.

Because he was grouping 64 latches together, they’d all have to have their separate pathways, leading to the main pathway to send their information all together as one coherent spell. This was the area he was focusing on streamlining.

And for that, he created the next thing he and Aegis had discussed to address this... A Multiplexer.

Basically, he could squeeze out exponentially more efficiency by arranging each group of 64 latches into a grid format—an 8x8 grid format, and leaving a little bit of space between each for them to be serviced by just two general pathways, vertically and horizontally.

So rather than having each one of the 64 latches send their saved part of a spell to the main stream individually, which would require direct connections to each, he now only needed just one pathway vertically, and one horizontally.

Instead of 64 individual ’roads,’ he now only needed 8 roads horizontally and 8 vertically to reach every single register, cutting down on time even more.

That was only one group of 64 latches he’d grouped out of the whole 833,333.

To make another 13,019 of these to make the first level of streamlining.

Yes. The first level. After Zephyr would make all 13,020 groups, each capable of 64 bits of spell processing, he would still do the same as he had before—he’d still group the 13,020 registers into groups of 64, which had their own horizontal and vertical roads, and then also spoke with their own individual groups of 64 latches within each of them...

That would also mean he’d now be working with 203 arrays of registers.

This was basically what a processor really was. A structured arrangement packaged into another layer of arrangement and another... just scaling up into higher levels of abstraction.

But it was good to see Zephyr’s processor begin to take on this form... It was beginning to turn into something complex... complex but still structured in its own way.

In fact, as Zephyr continued to build, straining his mind to achieve the level of precision he wanted, the complexity itself made Zephyr unwilling to refer to what he was now doing as ’comprehending’ any longer.

It felt like an insult to him to use that same term everyone used when he was sure no one even came remotely close to the levels of architecture, design, control and precision he was operating at right now.

This was design. Period.

Not comprehension. Not an epiphany. No. There was no stroke of luck or the like here. Everything was very purposeful.

So from henceforth, Zephyr had decided to refer to his as designing.

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Zephyr stayed in his mana core space for eight days.

It had taken more time than he had expected mainly because of the level of precision he was going for. He had been very careful all the way, even with Aegis’ help, hence, the amount of time spent.

Komi had been worried, but because of Zephyr’s prior warning, she had waited patiently without disturbing his seclusion. And when he finally came out, the relief on her face was evident.

She held him up as he staggered out of the seclusion room. Even with the preparations he made, this was still cutting it way too close.He had spent four times the time he used to comprehend—no—design his logic gates!

Maybe it was because of the way his body was built differently, but it seemed the hunger pills were only serviceable to his body for a short period of time. Whatever energy they gave to the body clearly had diminishing returns after a certain amount of time.

His body probably consumed more towards the later days than it did at the beginning, simply because it wasn’t a true energy source.

Zephyr grasped Komi’s scaly arms as he staggered for support. "Suc—Success. I succeeded—" he stuttered out incoherently.

"I had no doubt that you would," Komi nodded, "I was simply worried about your body state... but it seems I was worried for nothing. I keep forgetting you’re not human," she deadpanned without a trace of humor, like she had actually come to that conclusion as the only logical explanation for Zephyr’s... existence.

Zephyr wanted to laugh, or even muster a chuckle to lighten the plain humorless tone with which she said it, but he couldn’t. Partly due to his current state, and also because it felt pointless. Like there was no use denying it any longer.

Zephyr was fundamentally different from anyone at all. And he’d finally accepted that fact. He wasn’t simply human. There was Aegis, and his mana core space, and the moderator, his father’s weird origins, his mother’s also kind of weird origins.

All these were more than enough for him to realize it... But surprisingly the realization hadn’t come from any of them. They had played a part, but not as major. The final realization had occurred when he was healing Komi. Right as he watched the nanites seep into her body.

An extension of him inside her.

He could feel everything they were doing. Not like on a visual level, but like... aware. Just a general sense of awareness of these million little things.

He knew what he could do to her there and then. Knew how far he could take things... how far he could change things in her body... it gave him ideas... Made him realize why Aegis had never expanded on the capabilities of his nanites... never made him see the full picture...

And in that moment... he felt alien.

He, Zephyrus Sol Ra’Elis, was a totally different creature compared to any other, anywhere. Both in his world and in whichever world.

So he needed to start acting like it. Start evaluating himself on a different standard.

He locked his face in a blank look, not denying Komi’s words.

She noticed his purposeful silence too, but chose not to speak, and that silent agreement simply passed between them—Zephyr’s assent to her conclusion.

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Conflux. The Capital City of Planet Apraxis...

"We hail thee Oh Exalted One! We hail thee Oh Exalted One!!" Cries of jubilation and triumph fulfilled the streets of the Capital City.

The pious who journeyed from distant reaches of the planet cried out with tremendous vigor, shaking the foundations of the whole city. Everywhere was buzzing.

News had spread that the Freehold Sanctuary that had eluded the Exalted family for years had finally been found and wiped down to the roots.

The news couldn’t have come at a better time. The pious had congregated here for the Sojourn that happened every year—their religious celebration.

And this year’s Sojourn wasn’t just like any other. It was to fall on an auspicious date. The new Saintess was going to be chosen, and along with her, her servants. The Exalted One was going to reveal himself for the very first time since he’d been titled The One. It was said that he even planned to give an address.

Each Sojourn every other year was already always filled with pious believers. The city would usually be filled to the brim on the day of the Sojourn itself. So one could only imagine how many pious who came this year were.

The whole city had already been filled to the brim a month before the Sojourn was to begin. Even neighboring cities closest to the capital—Conflux—had been filled.

So bearing in mind all these, there was now the breaking news that the Exalted One had wiped Freehold from the face of their planet.

The overall mood was frenzied, bordering on manic zealotry.

Even the less pious believers were actually shaken by the overall mood.

Traces of this mood also carried into the towering castle the Exalted and their families resided.

The Exalted One had returned after destroying Freehold, and along with him were Cipher, Florian, and Rita.

Despite the Exalted One’s disappointment at losing the Pathfinder, Zephyr, there was still a trace of fulfillment he felt immediately he set foot back in the capital. He’d done something that had plagued Exalted Ones before him.

His name would forever go down in the history books as the one to achieve this great feat.

But he didn’t show this outwardly, simply maintaining his usual composed outlook.

He’d immediately ordered the search for the Pathfinder, and his order was carried out with full vigor.

Spatial experts. Exalted. Half-Exalted. Everyone put every of their effort into finding the space where this Pathfinder was hidden.

They knew it was still somewhere in their world. The laws of spatial travel they knew told them it was impossible otherwise. So a planet wide search was launched. A manhunt for the Pathfinder.

But this was only for those in the know... the masses were still in the dark about this, and the Exalted One wanted to keep it like so. There had never been a time when the pious, and even the masses in general had been this frenzied in their belief.

For the content of the address he was going to give, he needed every bit of blind belief he could get.

A/N: Only 1 Chapter today... Sorry guys. I’ve been bogged down for a while. Wasn’t in the right mindset to write at all, but I made sure to finish this Chapter at least.

I’ll make up by pushing out more Chapters tomorrow.

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And also: special shout-out to Mlbarton and John Smith for the Golden Tickets.You’re both carrying my book rn...

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Cheers

Astrl