CHAPTER 610: A

Infinite Realm: Monsters & Legends

Changes

Atalar, the Machine God, was a being whose existence was unique in the Infinite Realm. In some ways, it operated with thousands of minds, all working in sync, all capable of being independent, all capable of joining into one. It split its attention; it worked on thousands of different things at the same time. But some tasks required more than others, for some it dedicated more processes.

It couldn’t think in the same way that a being of flesh and blood could. It was not even designed to mimic it, what would be the point? It was made to be better than its creators, to be more. The parts of it that roamed the Plane of Knowledge gathered information and recorded it in its storages. All information that was encountered, was documented, no matter how trivial. Then, the processing units combed through it, assigning importance levels to every new piece of information gathered.

There was a lot of low-level information, though nothing was truly worthless to Atalar. It knew that a small child in a city of Harus, in the Kingdom of Leoas, had lost its favorite doll. It knew that the doll was stolen by the child’s older sibling and a friend, then thrown into a well.

It knew that a man was being kept captive in a dungeon of a queen of the Queendom of Laika, and that he was being used for sexual acts. It knew that he wasn’t the first and could project that he wouldn’t be the last.

Compared to other information it gathered, these were low level, but not worthless. The child lived in a kingdom that had only recently joined the Exalted Empire, serving as a semi-autonomous kingdom. It had bowed instead of fighting, but resentment within its people remained.

It was trivial for Atalar to send an order through one of its tools, a Voice that would speak its will. The imperial enforcers keeping the order in the city of Harus were notified and a group dispatched to recover the doll, then returned to the child. It was a small, inconsequential thing, but to the child it was everything. It looked up at the cthul enforcers with wonder in its eyes. From now on, its feelings toward the empire would be far more positive. Those feelings would grow, be fostered. In a generation, any idea of rebellion would be minimal.

An anonymous letter sent to an upstanding and moral officer in the guard of the Queendom of Laika, put him on the right path to discover a series of disappearances and link them to their queen. The Queendom of Laik had rebuffed the Exalted Empire’s attempts at absorbing them. Their territory was smaller in size, but their military formidable enough that Atalar did not council aggression, there was no point in losing the number of troops it would take to conquer them. Instead, the truth would serve as a far better weapon. Its projections showed a period of unrest upon the truth being revealed, civil war. A much better opportunity for the empire. Within two years, the Queendom would be brought into the fold.

Atalar handled thousands of such instances every second all across the Infinite Realm. Its processors worked with no break, reading and extrapolating the best possible outcomes to meet their goals.

It was because of this that it noticed when the projections started to shift. It had put extra processes into watching the war with the Sects. The recently revised projections suddenly turned an even more downward trend. Atalar knew that it lacked information, but it always worked within the margins. Yet, it had started to become clear to it that there was something that it did not know which had a far greater impact on its projections than it had allowed in even its worst error margins.

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A secret that Atalar didn’t know. The Sect response came about too fast, the battle lines were buckling in real time. It adjusted the threat levels for the Constants of the Twilight Melody Sect, then adjusted them again as it triple checked its analysis. Its failure to eliminate them had been a small possibility, but still something that it had taken account for. When taken in concord with the events that followed, a far different picture was painted. Atalar and the world population at large was underestimating their power greatly. Far more than even the most favorable simulations should allow. Ergo, there was something that Atalar didn’t know.

It scoured through every data entry related to the targets, searching for anything that it was missing. Even without being able to find what it was missing, it generously adjusted their capabilities, then ran its simulations and projections again.

Quickly, it came to a worrying conclusion. Their timetable suddenly shifted greatly.

It halted all low-level data processing and focused solely on their most important task. Then, it formulated a plan and reached out through one of its Speakers, sending a representative to its ally.

It found Ra’azel at the site of their great work. The Speaker walked up to him and Atalar narrowed its existence and conveyed its intent. The Speaker’s mind converted the intent and meaning of a being far greater than it, and then spoke.

“Ra’azel Equinar, an issue has arisen.”

The yeti turned his head, glancing at the Speaker, then paused in his work and stood to face the conduit fully.

“An issue?” the yeti asked.

“Projections indicate that the Sects will reach this location before the work is finished.”

“A new projection, I assume,” the yeti said with an expression that showed all of his sharp teeth. Atalar understood it as a smile, a sign of entertainment or happiness, amusement. It took it barely a second to understand that in this context it was meant to be mocking. Atalar had no feelings to be insulted, so it ignored it.

“It has become clear that there is information that we lack.”

Ra’azel chuckled and nodded his head. “Of course there is.”

Through the Speaker’s eyes, along with the countless cameras and sensors around the territory, Atalar noticed every single movement of the yeti, every twitch of his muscles, every change in his body.

“You are aware of something we are not.”

“Many things,” the yeti said.

“We are allied; such information must be shared.”

“The same way you shared everything with me? I don’t think so. We are allies of convenience, our goals align, let’s not pretend this is anything more.” ŘàΝo͍ᛒΕ𝙎

Atalar’s processors whirled, quickly going through all the records of the work the yeti had done on the project. It ascertained that the likelihood of him sabotaging the great work was low. The yeti wished for the same outcome.

“Our timetable needs to be hastened.”

“As things stand, that is not possible,” the yeti said, but its grin stretched wider.

“What do you need?”

“A deeper understanding of the way reality works a direct link with influence over a plane of existence.”

Atalar knew of what he spoke, a Way. It was a recent development, but it had gathered enough whispers of data to get an idea of what it is.

“All beings possessing such knowledge and power are hostile to us or untouchable without sacrificing a significant amount of our resources.”

“Well, luckily for you, I know of one that is… isolated, and a perfect target for what we need.”

“Resources for negotiation can be allocated—”

“—No, no, no. Why negotiate for what you can take? I need only a little bit of help, and soon enough I will know what it is that they’ve achieved. Such complete insight into a Plane of Essence will hasten my work greatly.”

Atalar knew enough to see through the yeti, but in the end Ra’azel was correct. They were aligned, for now at least. The risk was worth it.