Chapter 541: Chapter 51: Informationization Instance

Failed?

Aske furrowed his brow.

Although he dealt with applications every day as a professional esports player, he had no clue about computer technology.

Not to mention this world, which had artificial intelligence and whose technological strength was countless times higher than Earth’s, the relevant professional principles were even harder to comprehend.

If you asked him why he had failed, he wouldn’t have the slightest idea. The only reason he was frowning was because he had never heard of this plot mission in the game world of “Song of Iron and Fire”.

The butterfly’s wings had stirred up a storm, and fate had already begun to deviate from the track he knew all too well.

“Did the analysis fail because the original data was only 73% recorded?” Nora asked softly.

“That’s a possibility,” Valian replied, “But another problem is that within this 73% of data, there are numerous traces of encryption.”

Encryption? A classic line suddenly popped into Aske’s mind:

There’s a mole!

“Do you suspect someone from the Church Court is messing around?” he asked, as if he had a sudden realization, “To avoid Raphael’s monitoring, did they specifically choose the eve of the Magic Tide to act and deliberately encrypt the data to delay your decryption process?”

“Yes,” Valian sighed, clearly frustrated with this outcome, “Right now, it seems that anyone who has the authority to encrypt data through Raphael must be an insider of the Church Court… and their position can’t be low.”

“The access records haven’t been preserved, so we can’t find out who this person is. What’s worse, the internal data of the convolution network is in chaos, resulting in fragmented and incoherent data we obtained.”

“It’s like a huge jigsaw puzzle that was shuffled before it could be put together and then caught on fire. We only managed to copy 73% of the fragments in time, and among them are also pieces of the box’s outer shell, that is, fragments of the encryption program code, which makes it difficult for us to restore it.”

“I don’t really understand technology,” Aske said, “But if it’s in fragments, then this encryption program should be ineffective, right? Can’t you just filter it out with your super artificial intelligence?”

“It’s not that simple, Lord Aske,” Valian said with a bitter smile, “Let me explain it in simple terms.”

“This encryption utilizes a cloud code configuration, a complex code consisting of many subprograms. Even in fragmented form, as long as the granularity isn’t cut too fine, the subprogram segments will still retaliate against data reading behavior.”

“Moreover, since the encryption fragments are mixed with the original data and lack the external recognition structure of the MK5 code, it makes Raphael’s efficiency in logically removing the encryption fragments extremely low—because it may mistakenly damage the original data that’s mixed in.”

Aske: ……………..

Although this explanation sounds simple and I can understand each vocabulary word when taken individually, when put together it’s just…

“So in short, Raphael can’t solve it, right?” Aske focused on the core issue.

“It’s not that it can’t be solved; it’s that the decoding cycle is longer than what we can accept,” Valian hesitated before asking, “Lord Aske…”

“The Law you command…it’s ‘War’, isn’t it?”

“Uh-huh,” Aske admitted, as this wasn’t something that could be concealed permanently.

“To remove the encryption fragments, apart from having Raphael logically clean them up, we can also try some Transcendent methods,” Valian cautiously suggested.

“For instance, we could encode your information and then generate an identical version of you in the virtual network, namely, an information ‘Aske.'”

“This ‘Aske’ would be akin to your information body within the virtual network. When controlled by you in the information environment, this body can exhibit all your Sequential and Law Abilities, as has been proven feasible by past quantum ghost experiments.”

“Then, you could infiltrate that corrupted information world and use Conceptual War Law Skills to remove the encrypted program fragments.”

“To put it metaphorically, if all data blocks were locks: Raphael’s logical approach is to perform extensive compute analysis to determine which locks are encrypted fragments and which are source data, then generate corresponding syntactical keys to unlock the encrypted fragments before destroying them—this method is too inefficient due to the massive computational effort involved.”

“What we need you to do, on the other hand, is to approach the data blocks with your information body and use your Intuition Sequence Ability to discern which are dangerous encrypted fragments, then violently destroy them with War Law Skills. Of course, Raphael will assist you throughout the process, balancing efficiency with safety. What do you think?”

Aske turned to look at Nora, who cast a worried glance back at him. Clearly, the method wasn’t as risk-free as Valian had described.

From his description, it was understood that there are two types of data blocks in the convolutional network: source data fragments and encrypted program fragments. Due to their chaotic state, these two types appear indistinguishable from the outside, and can only be identified by investing significant compute effort by Raphael or by having Aske, in his information state, use his Intuition Sequence Ability to probe for dangers.

So, what kind of dangers that could trigger the Intuitive Ability were they talking about? Even though Valian hadn’t specified, it was clear they weren’t something harmless.

“Can I take this as a job offer?” Aske asked with a smile.

“Yes, the Church Court can enter into a contract with The Azure Longsword,” Valian agreed without hesitation, evidently having been briefed by the Pope on this matter.

“Aske,” seeing that the Squad Leader seemed inclined to agree, Nora couldn’t help but whisper through Mind Communication, “I just asked my brother about it.”

“In your information state, your original physical abilities become meaningless. The speed at which your information body acts is entirely dependent on your response and computational power.”

“Moreover, these encrypted fragments will attack outsiders through the information stream. If your information body is destroyed…”

“I would die?” Aske asked.

“Not exactly,” Nora explained, “because you’re simply attaching your thoughts to the information body; your flesh remains intact in the outside world, so there’s no threat to your life.”

“But from a Transcendent’s perspective, it means a serious blow to self-perception. It’s said that it carries a certain probability of becoming more insane.”

“Oh,” Aske immediately understood. Becoming more insane, that’s just ‘Sanity’ property, right?

Sanity is a property high-level Transcendents need to pay close attention to. It defines the connection between one’s true self within and the world outside.

It’s a well-known fact that once Transcendents reach Level 20 and cross the Demigod threshold, they inevitably start to experience occasional hallucinations and whispers, causing their sanity to gradually deteriorate and increasing the risk of losing control.

Higher levels can cause these hallucinations and whispers to evolve into alien creatures that attack the Transcendent’s own body. And if these creatures manage to deal damage, the Transcendent’s sanity suffers a significant blow, leading them into states of semi-madness, madness, and even total loss of control.

There are only two ways to recover sanity: one is to wait for time to heal naturally, and the other is to purchase potions with RMB. Of course, in this world, the latter is impossible, so the only option is to avoid being damaged by hallucinations and whispers as much as possible.

What Nora referred to as a “severe blow to sanity” meant that although Aske hadn’t reached Level 20, if he were to be harmed by the encrypted fragments while in an information state, his sanity would still be reduced, prematurely subjecting him to the kind of tribulations only Demigods have to endure.

However…

“First, let me see the reward you’re offering for this task?” Aske said.