Ex-level Player With the Greatest Civilization of All Time - Chapter 45

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 45

[Special Unit: TYPE-Γ AI Support Unit. Krayle has reached the limit of his current class.]
[Will you proceed with Model Replacement for Krayle?]

-[Replacement Model: Swift Mesa]
* Upon model change, skills from will be deleted.
* Krayle’s equipment and appearance will change to match the new model.
* Memory data will be retained.

I scanned through the message in full and found myself hesitating.
Was this really a decision I could make on my own?
Everything changes except his memories.
It reminded me of some remark an old corporate chairman once made….
In any case, this was a choice with such profound consequences that it couldn’t be made lightly.
‘The explanation is too vague for comfort.’
What troubled me most was the part about equipment and appearance.
It made sense that things would change with a Model Replacement, naturally.
But if that were the case, why not show me what he’d look like afterward?
If handsome Krayle somehow transformed into a sparrow, that would be genuinely awkward.
Under normal circumstances, I would have refused. I should have refused, but….
Krayle wanted strength. That was the reality of his situation.
In that light, this was undoubtedly the best opportunity available, which made the decision all the more difficult.
And critically—would turning down an upgrade event really align with his true wishes?
“…….”
“Why do you hesitate, sir?”
When I fell silent unexpectedly, Krayle, unable to bear it any longer, asked me that.
“Mm….”
I still couldn’t decide.
Because if I made this choice arbitrarily and it led to an outcome he didn’t want, then….
I’d be stuck bearing his resentment, and I wanted desperately to avoid that situation above all else.
So I settled on simply asking the one who mattered most.
After hearing the full explanation, he answered without hesitation.
“I’ll do it.”
“You’ll do it? That’s not the kind of decision you can make so casually.”
“It’s fine. More than anything, this current helplessness pains me more. I’ll be content if I can at least preserve my memories.”
He seemed to have already made his peace with it, but I couldn’t honestly accept it.
“Commander. Or rather—Krayle.”
“Yes.”
“Why are you so obsessed with Spec Up?”
This was something I wouldn’t normally have brought up.
I certainly hadn’t after the Feronta incident.
But now I had to ask.
“Before, I didn’t press the issue. But you don’t need to stand shoulder to shoulder with monsters like Ar and Cermin. You’re already invaluable in more places than you realize.”
“I suspected you might think that way. But would you grant me this—the ambition of a soldier who walks the Battlefield? I wish to live as a soldier, and to die as a soldier.”
“…I see.”
I checked the Model Replacement alert again.

[Will you proceed with Model Replacement for Krayle?]
-[Replacement Model: Swift Mesa]

Swift Mesa.
From what I’d reviewed before, that model was a support-type unit with avian characteristics.
Did he understand there was a possibility—in the worst case—that he might become not a person, but an animal?
I started to look him in the eye to press this point further and make absolutely sure, but I stopped myself.
“I respect your decision.”
Committing Krayle’s final form to memory, I slowly initiated the Model Replacement.
“Grow stronger. And be of real use to the City—to me.”
“Thank you.”

[Special Unit: TYPE-Γ AI Assistant Module. Initiating Model Replacement for Krayle.]

Whirrrrr—
A mechanical hum filled my ears as Krayle was engulfed in light.
The brilliance was blinding—so intense I had to look away for a moment.
The light gradually dimmed, gathering into the outline of his form and taking shape.
I watched until the glow faded completely, and I couldn’t help but feel bewildered.
“Huh…?”
“Does the new form appear unfamiliar?”
It seemed Krayle had misread my silence.
But it was the opposite.
“Go check the mirror over there.”
I gestured toward the full-length mirror in the corner.
Krayle moved to it and examined his reflection, then turned back with a reaction much like mine.
“This is…?”
“Yeah, I don’t get it either. Why hasn’t anything changed?”
The notification had clearly stated that both his armament and appearance would be modified.
Yet apart from his clothing shifting slightly, Krayle looked exactly the same.
He wore the same military uniform as before, now covered by a Long Coat that fell to his knees, and perched on his shoulder sat a single hawk.
I couldn’t make sense of it.
“Don’t you feel anything different?”
“If there is something different, it would be memories I didn’t have before… that is to say—”
Krayle stroked the underside of the hawk’s beak with practiced ease as he spoke.
“I possess memories of moments with this creature. There’s no sense of dissonance—in fact, the memories feel unnaturally seamless.”
Krayle seemed pleased, yet an expression of lingering unease crossed his face as he continued.
“But this situation differs from what I was told, so I’m anxious. Could this have failed?”
That worried me too.
Had the Spec Up actually gone through properly?
Then a thought suddenly crossed my mind.
“Oh, what about the skill aspect? Were any deleted?”
That was precisely what had caught my attention.
The earlier notification had mentioned that skills Krayle possessed would be deleted during the process.
If the Model Replacement had succeeded, that change should be clearly visible.
“Everything remains intact.”
So it really did fail then…?
My thoughts were spiraling toward failure when Krayle spoke again.
“However, strangely, I have acquired multiple new skills.”
“You could have mentioned that a bit sooner.”
“My apologies.”
Relief washed over me at Krayle’s words, but my confusion only deepened.
‘Wait—so the skills that should have been deleted are still there, and new ones were added on top of that?’
That should be incredible…
Yet somehow, that made it worse. The strangeness of it only amplified my unease.
“This doesn’t sit right with me—ugh!”
As that thought crossed my mind—
A sharp, stabbing ringing suddenly erupted in my head.

Shrieeeeek—

I cut off mid-sentence, my face contorting, and Krayle immediately looked at me with concern.
“Are you all right?”
“Of course. Just a slight headache…”
The ringing was fading as I answered him.
Ding— Ding-ding-ding—
Multiple notifications chimed at once, and messages cascaded across my vision.
The headache vanished as if it had never been.

[Error… Unexpected variable detected.]
[Krayle’s sense of self resists the Core replacement at the data level.]
[Model Replacement has failed.]
[Forcing immediate termination of the Model Replacement process.]
[Searching for alternative computational pathways.]
[The existing Core attempts absorption.]
[Congratulations. Special Unit: TYPE-Γ AI Support Unit, Krayle has successfully absorbed an entirely new Core.]

“Are you really all right? We should have you transferred to the nearest Medical Center….”
“Wait, it’s not like that.”
I cut Krayle off and continued.
“So what you’re saying is… you absorbed the Core that was supposed to replace yours.”

* * *

When things go well, they go almost too well.
Is it really okay for everything to work out this positively?
In any case, I’d had a lengthy conversation with Krayle afterward about the notification.
“So that’s what occurred.”
Because Krayle had absorbed the Core that was supposed to replace his own.
The original skill that should have vanished persisted, while only new abilities emerged.
He’d gained something beyond a simple Spec Up.
And I’d managed to preserve that handsome face of his.
“Krayle, you’d suit looking distinguished.”
“Is that a compliment?”
“It is, for what it’s worth.”
Krayle had been rattling off his newly acquired skills, one after another.
But honestly, hearing it all secondhand didn’t quite sink in.
I’d sleep on it for a while, then we could verify everything in the Dungeon.
So I’d arranged to hear the full breakdown from Neia later and confirm the rest on the Battlefield, but….
“Still, something doesn’t sit right.”
“What might that be?”
“Why this happened at all. The Core resisted, but I suspect there’s a reason it wouldn’t have done that without cause.”
A situation that would introduce an error into the process.
This sort of thing shouldn’t occur often.
It would be an event accounted for by standard variables.
Isn’t the Tower System absolute, at least within its influence over the City?
“I’m not certain, but something does come to mind.”
“What is it?”
“It must be because of you, Successor.”
This was Krayle’s explanation.
Originally, Krayle was nothing but an illusion.
An artificially manipulated heap of data—a personality.
A body completed from assembled components.
But the desire to become stronger.
The desire to be acknowledged.
These aspirations gave meaning to the existence called Krayle.
If that Unique Memory resisted the Core replacement, well—doesn’t that make a certain amount of sense?
It was speculation, of course, but it held remarkable credibility.
The notion that someone else had reestablished their existence because of me felt genuinely strange.
“Not bad. Krayle Mark Two.”
“It’s Krayle.”
“Right.”
He’s no fun to joke with—
too earnest, too serious.
I’d just finished my conversation with Krayle.
The light of the Gate flickered irregularly, and someone stepped through into the room.
It was Ar, who’d been waiting outside.
“Why are you taking so long… Aagh!”
Krayle’s hawk—spotting Ar—launched from its perch and landed on the crown of his head.
As I helped Ar to his feet, still nursing his bruised dignity, Krayle addressed him.
“He seems like good company too.”
Then Krayle turned to me.
“Once again, thank you for everything, Successor.”

* * *

After seeing the two of them off,
I started experimenting on my own.
“Now that I think about it… what happens in this case?”
Until now, the idea of opening multiple Gates at once had never crossed my mind.
The Gate was a secret I couldn’t afford to expose, after all.
There was no reason to leave them scattered about, and so I’d never even considered the possibility of opening several at the same time.
But things were different now.
I’d promised Ar I’d keep one open at all times.
I wanted to honor that promise if I could.
“Gate: Open.”
I opened another Gate without closing the existing one.
Flash—
At least it opened.
I’d wondered if it might not.
But that wasn’t the case.
“Now I just need the one behind me to stay put.”
I turned and checked the original Gate.
“Still there…!”
I’d worried it might vanish, but it hadn’t.
“Hmm….”
A new question occurred to me then.
What happens in cases like this?
I was curious how many I could open at once.
I scattered Gates throughout the room.
The result:
“Maximum of three, then.”
The moment I opened a fourth Gate, the oldest one vanished—a clear pattern emerging from the observation.
So the reverse question:
“What happens when I close one?”
When three Gates were open at maximum, what would happen if I closed one?
Would they all shut at once?

Click—

Contrary to my expectation,
only the most recently opened Gate closed.
In a way, the most logical outcome.
If the older Gates closed first, I couldn’t use the strategy of opening a Gate at a safe location ahead of time and retreating to it when needed.
“Thanks to Ar, I’m learning something useful.”
I smiled as I considered where it might be best to station one.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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