Hyperdimensional Player

Chapter 200 Mechanical Tribunal

Nest City, Upper Level, Data Sanctuary.

Looking down from this towering data tower, the entire cloud layer lies beneath your feet. This ravaged land is riddled with potholes and scars. Apart from a few agricultural areas protected by terrazzo and glass barriers, the rest is mostly littered with highly polluting industrial waste and household garbage. The earth's surface is riddled with bottomless ravines and fissures, which are the result of mines that were dug directly to the earth's core. A catastrophic earthquake once caused severe leaks in all the mines.

At this moment, a figure draped in a silver-gray mechanical monk's robe respectfully entered the Data Sanctuary.

His silhouette looked rather thin, but he was nearly 2.4 meters tall. Data interfaces that dragged on the ground were visible from the hem of his robe. His segmented prosthetic limbs resembled reptiles, and several mechanical arms attached to his spine looked like outstretched spider legs. After one of the mechanical nerve bundles extended and connected to the port of the gate, the heavy runic gate slowly opened.

"Identity confirmed!"

“Welcome back, Sage Pris.”

Behind that heavy door was a mechanical angel resembling an infant, with short wings on its back and an anti-gravity engine installed on its lower body. The early Mechanicus did not have the concept of reproduction because the severe mechanical modifications made it impossible to have offspring. This kind of holy infant angel was created about a thousand years ago and has a special meaning within the Mechanicus.

They flew busily through the data sanctuary, which had seven floors and was filled with countless heavy data processors whose surfaces emitted a dim mechanical light.

On both sides of the passage are the temple guards in hibernation and standby mode. Although they still have human outlines, the biomass inside has been completely replaced with mechanical structures, and their consciousness has been uploaded to the database. As long as they are maintained with holy oil regularly, they can be used for hundreds of years.

Sage Priss entered the rear of the temple, where a magnificent prayer hall was nestled among a dense array of data processors. Directly in front of him were twenty-seven steps leading to a long bench made of magic steel, with dozens of data interfaces extending from either side. A hunched figure shrouded in a rusty mechanical robe sat upon it.

The front of the prayer hall features floor-to-ceiling windows.

The figure looked down at the vast city below like a silent king. From the floor-to-ceiling windows, one could see a large number of bulky manned aircraft busily moving between different areas. They were like busy worker ants, constantly transporting supplies and people.

Compared to the dark, narrow, and cramped lower levels of the city, the middle and upper levels, apart from severe industrial pollution, are barely habitable.

"Prosius the Great Sage".

The man knelt respectfully on one knee and bowed to the hunched figure on the bench directly in front of him, saying, "The Inquisition has discovered that the rebels have infiltrated Sector F46."

"They did not steal the fragments of the Holy Relic as planned."

On the bench.

The figure known as the Great Sage slowly raised his head. He was practically no longer human, as apart from a skull, he possessed almost no human structure. Even the inside of his skull had been hollowed out and replaced with an artificial mechanical brain. His left eye socket was a hollow darkness with a faint blue light emanating from it, while his right eye socket was a sophisticated mechanical eye, directly connected to the artificial brain via bionic neural bundles.

Beneath his adamantine spine, a dense array of data ports connected to the temple's processor. As he stood up, the dozens of nerve bundles inserted into his spine tightened as well. The infant angel nearby quickly flew over to re-secure the connection points between the nerve bundles and the processor.

The Great Sage Prosius is the de facto ruler of this vast hive city, because only he can maintain the data operation of the entire hive city.

The area under his jurisdiction has a population of approximately 1.6 million.

At this moment, the completely mechanized data sage stood up. His voice was devoid of any emotion, like a cold machine, and he slowly said, "Where are those cultists?"

The technological sage below the temple respectfully said, "They have already begun their operation."

"But there was no cooperation from the rebels."

“These cultists alone cannot make much of an impact; the regional archbishop and the steel-cast guards can suppress them.”

"And their target is not the fragments of the Holy Relic."

"Even if the cultists succeed, they will only cause large-scale chaos in the lower levels of the hive and try to summon the Void God."

hum.

The dense array of data processors around him began to operate. The Great Sage Prosius slowly turned around, and as he raised his silver-white mechanical hand, countless images flashed across the projector in front of him. These were images captured by the surveillance cameras throughout the entire hive city, as well as data streams uploaded to the Data Temple from various areas.

In one of the fleeting glimpses, the figure of the third human host can even be seen.

The data terminals around the hall were running at full speed, and more than a dozen Holy Infant Angels were busy soothing the machine souls. They chanted mechanical mantras. Such a huge amount of computing power would always make the machine souls feel tired and dissatisfied. If the machine souls were not soothed, they would sometimes go on strike.

The Sage Priss looked shocked and humbly lowered his head, awaiting the Great Sage's new command.

He knew that the Great Sage was 'foreseeing the future'. The Data Great Sage possessed extremely terrifying computing power. He monitored the data changes throughout the entire hive city. After collecting countless pieces of information, the Data Great Sage could cast spells using computing power and source power.

This predictive ability far surpasses the great prophecies of the mystical age because it is based on massive amounts of data and computational deduction to simulate a mechanical causal law.

If you are skilled enough, data analysis can simulate countless possible future scenarios and identify the one most likely to occur.

I don’t know how long it took.

Even the Sage of Priss could sense the exhaustion of the surrounding machine spirits. Finally, the Great Sage Prosius sat down again, his mechanical eyes flashing slightly, and said in a low voice, "They have discovered a dwarven ruin from the mythical era." "Have the Inquisition send people to suppress them and send the rebels back to their predetermined fate."

A data stream was sent to the Sage of Priss, containing a detailed plan, including the latest movements of the cultists and the rebels' plot to steal the relics of the Holy Relic.

This kind of future prediction based on massive data streams can only be performed by sage-level mechanical monks.

"Yes."

"Prosius the Great Sage".

The technological sage before them bowed respectfully and slowly withdrew from the data temple.

Most of the entire hive city was under the Great Sage's surveillance, as he controlled the most basic means of production. The rebels seemed to have stolen a lot, but in fact, these were all 'given' to them by the Great Sage, in order to actively create opportunities for them to rebel.

All of this was for the fragments of the Holy Relic.

The great sage Proseus has already ascended to the pinnacle of mortal power, and to go further, he must rely on ancient relics.

However, such behavior is not permitted by the cult of the seven guardian angels, because the Cult of Mechanism no longer allows the birth of new guardian angels.

After the technical monk in front of them left.

The Great Sage Prosius projected images into his right eye, showing more than a dozen different figures, including the figure of the third human host. Besides these, the others scattered throughout the hive included cultists, heretics, gang leaders, upper-middle-class hive nobles, and monks from the Cult of Machines.

They all share a common characteristic: they all have some connection with other deities, whether they are evil gods of the void or gods of esoteric religions.

The Great Sage Prosius glanced at these people and raised his hand to soothe the machine spirit beside him.

"The opportunity has been given to you."

"Do not disappoint me!"

After he finished speaking, the faint light in his eyes gradually faded, and he sat on the bench in the Data Temple like a mechanical statue, his mind already immersed in the endless stream of data.

Initially, all the nests were controlled by the will of the mechanical god.

However, a major upheaval later occurred within the Cult of Machines, and the Machine God no longer controlled the data hub of the hive. These technocratic sages then became the hive's terminal processors. This responsibility also confined them within the Data Temple; if they were to disconnect all their data interfaces, at least 35 percent of the hive's infrastructure, supporting over 100 million people, would be completely paralyzed.

Within this hive city, the Great Sage Prosius possesses almost supreme power, controlling the life and death of hundreds of millions of people.

However, within the entire world controlled by the Cult of Mechanism, the Great Sage Prosius was merely an 'ordinary' member of the Council of Sages. This land was home to thousands of massive hive cities, ranging in size from a population of only one hundred million to several billion.

Even for a great sage like him, it is extremely difficult to advance further within the rigidly hierarchical Mechanicus.

He must find the unstable variable in the data.

………………

Underground ruins.

The Mechanicus arrived even faster than expected. When Duncan saw the dense markings above the passageway, he knew that the Inquisition member had already sent the message back to the Mechanicus. It was almost as if the Rebels had just arrived, and the Mechanicus followed right after.

—Court Deacon (Four-star Silver Gray).

— Steel Cast Guardian (3-star silver-gray).

—Insightful Sect Data Monk (3 stars).

—Cult of the Machine God Guardians (One to Two Stars, Silver Gray).

A dense array of red markers appeared from God's perspective. Duncan glanced at it and immediately knew that the Rebel Alliance had been thoroughly investigated. Fortunately, his identity had changed. He had cleared his name by controlling members of the Inquisition and became one of the people assisting the Inquisition's secret operations.

"His Majesty!"

The lich Kangus's deep voice rang out: "As you instructed, the awakening ritual for the Scourge has been arranged."

"Earthquake magic can be activated at any time."

………………

(End of this chapter)