Dream Life Vol II Chapter 83.3: “Professor Elvine’s Research Notes”

~Kitley’s Perspective~

　In that state, some still retained some reason.

　When the change in appearance ceased, the Cunaan Syndrome entered its final stage. The final stage was a change in memory and personality.

　The memories were rewritten, so that not only were they unable to recognize things they should have known, but they also had memories that had nothing to do with them, a change too great to be called memory confusion.

　And there was a gradual change in their personality as well. This change was characteristic of all patients with Cunaan syndrome. They became extremely aggressive and attacked people around them with their claws and teeth, as if they had lost control.

　The survivor later discovered a being who closely resembled the end result of the Cunaan Syndrome. It was three thousand years later when he connected his laboratory to the outside world.

　The beings he saw a striking resemblance to were the many monsters in the Caeum Mountains.

　The humanoid demons, such as orcs and goblins, closely resembled patients with relatively mild symptoms, while the reptilian and insectoid monsters closely resembled the end result of patients with severe symptoms.

　When the Cunaan Syndrome began to spread, the ancients thought it was just a disease, albeit a bad one. Looking at the symptoms alone, they were not wrong.

　But Cunaan Syndrome was not a disease.

　At the same time that organisms, including humans, change, the magical tools developed through magical engineering begin to go haywire. It was a small malfunctioning error at first, just like when it appeared in humans. Gradually, however, the functions began to go haywire, and they became completely useless.

　What happened?

　The words of the witnesses are described as they are remembered by my information source.

“…thought that the information had been altered. The same is true for people and organisms; genetic information must have been rewritten. The crisis, the great calamity, as it is called, was caused by the alteration of information…”

　I don’t understand “genetic information”. I heard that genetic information is like a blueprint for the body, but I could never understand it from what I had heard from Mr. Lockhart, my information source.

　In the blink of an eye, this catastrophe spread from the continent of Patria to the continent of Noum, and then to the continent of Tria. The community where the witness was located was a group of researchers called Bioengineering, which could be considered a group of doctors. As such, they had been taking measures to prevent the spread of the disease since the early days of the outbreak of the Cunaan Syndrome. This ultimately delayed the “corruption” of their community.

　According to the witness, within a year, contact with the rest of the other communities was impossible and no information was available.

　Fortunately, their community had stockpiled a large amount of food. In case an accident occurred in the course of their bioengineering research, they were able to survive for about a hundred years even if they were cut off from contact with the outside world.

　The witness feared that his laboratory would be contaminated, so he took his share of the stockpiled food and holed himself up in his laboratory in order to cut off all contact with the outside world. The laboratory where he holed up was a place where the flow of time was slowed down. It seems that he intended to return to earth after the chaos of the catastrophe was over.

　After that, 60 years passed in his experience and 3,000 years in the outside world. Therefore, we have no idea how his community collapsed. When he connected to the outside world 3,000 years later, even the topography had changed, and it was a virgin forest with no trace of those days.

　The world three thousand years later was a disappointment to him.

　There was no trace of a highly developed civilization such as those with magical engineering, and imperfect people continued to struggle with creatures that appeared to be descended from patients with Cunaan’s Syndrome. People who were poor and seemingly devoid of any semblance of culture… To him that is how the world looked.

　Disappointed, he decides to begin to ponder the causes of the “Great Calamity”, the collapse of the world. He created a kind of golem to enable him to conduct a more detailed investigation and began gathering information around the northern part of the Caelum Empire. Originally, he did not have much mana in reserve, so he cut off unneeded facilities to give mana to the golem. To do so, he gave up his own body and sealed his soul and memories in a machine.

　He then conducted decades of research. But he found no evidence of a direct cause.

　He stopped his investigation and decided to consider the matter through thought.

　After twenty years of consideration, he was finally unable to come up with an answer.

　Perhaps he had a few hypotheses in mind, but he never talked about them.

　Mr. Lockhart, the information source, had one hypothesis based on the stories of the witnesses.

　He thought that the information was altered by an invasion from another world.

　By rewriting the rules of reason in this world, they tried to destroy even the gods. But the invasion did not succeed.

　The basis for his belief that the invasion had failed was the fact that magic, though imperfect, remained. Although the letters were rewritten, the composition of the magic circle, in other words, the theory of magic, remained unchanged from the time of the ancients. Then, they must have failed to rewrite all of the world’s principles.

　Did God intervene? Did the ancients stop the invasion? Or was there another being? Mr. Lockhart did not speak of any further considerations, saying he had no way to prove his hypothesis correct.

　I had a feeling he knew something.

　He is a man who adheres very strictly to his contracts. His contract with me states that he will disclose all information regarding the ruins, so he must have told me everything he learned at the site. I have no doubt about that, but it is not in the contract to disclose his theories. Perhaps there are more detailed theories in his mind.

　On a different note, I was astonished to hear the witness say that he had intended to tell me first. I was not chosen because of Mr. Lockhart, who had all the attributes. When I heard the story, I was so angry with him that I wanted to kill him.

　No better opportunity for a researcher would ever come along again. I resented the fact that I had been deprived of this once-in-a-thousand opportunity.

　But as I listened to his story, I realized that the ancient man who testified was right.

　Perhaps even if I had listened to him, I could not have gathered as much information as he did. If it had not been for Mr. Lockhart, the ancient person would not have told me so much.

　I realized this and, conversely, was grateful for the coincidence that brought him to me. I find it funny how much my thoughts changed, but I suppose I am justified in thanking him because it turned out to be for the best.

　I have not yet published my findings.

　I have not compiled them into a thesis, but only left them in the form of notes in my research notebook.

　It is a significant finding that should have been published immediately. However, although the fact is so shocking, there is almost no evidence to support it. The few ancient magical tools that have been recovered cannot be used as evidence, since similar items have been unearthed at other sites.

　If presented under these circumstances, it would probably be considered a wild fiction. Perhaps Professor Ruspede could defend me, but even then, few researchers would believe me.

　Another concern is that this fact is very dangerous.

　It could even create interspecies conflict. This is because the monsters and beastmen exhibit characteristics of the Cunaan Syndrome, while the human figure is closer to the ancients. This may spread the idea that humans are the legitimate successors of the ancients. The Light God Church, in particular, will surely try to take advantage of this story when they hear it.

　This interspecies conflict is not what I had thought on my own. Mr. Lockhart passed it to me.

　He implied that if we were to go public, we should gather evidence and make sure that the beastmen were not treated in the same way as the monsters.

(As usual, he’s a terrific kid. I would have published it even if it would have confused the academic community. I can’t even think that far, let alone realize it. …But we absolutely have to make this fact public, and to do that I need to gather evidence. Well, how should I go about gathering it? The only thing I can think of is to do a steady survey of the ruins.) (Kitley)

　I asked my informant, Sai Furman, to gather more information about the ruins.

(I can do this because the reform of the academy has made the budget more plentiful, but I have to thank Mr. Lockhart, no, Mr. Zack, for this as well…) (Kitley)