Level 636

"Legends from Ancient Lands..."
The question of whether this level is real or not is still debated, as there is no record of any wanderer successfully accessing the level. All information about this floor comes from the manuscript of Dr. Ludwig H. Forcer, a renowned archaeologist and philosopher of the time. The manuscript was written while he was researching a document that had been unearthed many years before, but was now lost. Fortunately, Dr. Forcer's records are so detailed that we are now making them public so that wanderers can have a deeper understanding of the level.
==Description==
An excerpt from an original text
It was a magical dream.
Setarcos woke up from the dream and he still didn't understand.
"What does it exist for?”
His students usually would not let him think for long, and the questions they raise were countered or defused by his intelligence. But this time, all of his students got together and asked the unlikely question: "Why does the universe exist?"
Setarcos decided to go back to the place where he had been banished, to the center of civilization, and ask the Sage in the Temple about this perplexing problem. Even though it might cause him to suffer the cruel punishment he could have escaped.
Setarcos entered the city and made his way to the Temple in the center of the city amid many surprised stares until the guards stopped him.
Setarcos stared at the gate of the Temple and said to the guard, "You can report it, but I have to go in."
The guard tried to say something, but a voice from inside the temple interrupted him: "Let him come to me ——for the last time."
The guard then withdrew. But the people of the city learned that Setarcos has returned and then surrounded the Temple. Naturally, word of this reached the rulers.
The shadowy temple was suddenly illuminated by the dazzling light of the dome, and in the center of the pure white background, a human figure gradually became clear from obscurity.
"Poor, cunning, foolish, wise Setarcos, what have you come for this time? Your questions are always so fascinating, brief, but profound."
"The All-knowing Sage, I am just wondering: What is our universe for?"
Silence.
The response Setarcos was waiting for did not come, except that the dark figure he called "the Sage" seemed to tremble and then ambled toward him. Although Setarcos is one of the few people the Sage respected, he had never seen the figure in his true form.
The brim of his black cloak was clearly visible, but no matter how Setarcos focused, he could never make out the hidden face. The Sage bent down and whispered in Setarcos' ear:
"Three days from now, at noon, I will take you to find the answer."
(There are some irrelevant interjections here, which are omitted)
The door to Setarcos' cell was opened. Two guards bring his last meal to him. He saw vegetables, beef...And a small glass of clear wine.
Setarcos was not afraid of death.
"The time is almost up, so eat." One guard looked at the glass of wine, then at the dishevelled Setarcos in the corner, shook his head, and left.
"Yeah, it's near..." Setarcos said to himself. He ignored the gaze of the guards outside his cell and happily ate his lunch.
The glass of wine is drained, and Setarcos closes his eyes. His consciousness is fading.
"He drank that glass of wine and the poison should have kicked in. Just remember to lift him out later." said the guard.
Suddenly, the Temple in the distance lit up with a harsher light than ever before, and even in this cell, the guards could not help closing their eyes. When the light finally faded, the stone bed on which Setarcos lay was already empty.
Annotations:
1.	Setarcos, an ancient Greek philosopher who was persecuted and expelled for his many heated debates and embarrassments with the ruling class, took in 23 apprentices and wrote down and inherited his main ideas. Setarcos was sentenced to death for returning to the city without permission. Strangely, no historical record of his body has been found, nor has any trace of his students. 
2.	The Temple: The residence of the Sage who regularly receives offerings from the inhabitants and answers their questions. If one is respected by the Sage, one can ask questions without offering.
The above manuscript is from Dr. Forcer
Dr. Forcer's record of the basic appearance of the contents from the document
2018.5.6
After I studied in detail what happened to Setarcos next, I came to the conclusion that he was one of the few people who entered the backrooms in ancient times. More than that, he entered a level that we never recorded, and something on that level could subvert our worldview. I think the world is going to have a hard time believing all this, thus, I'm going to call it "The Myth."
Level 636, the last universe before the creation of our own, is about one-third the size of our universe in three dimensions. In this universe, there are habitable planets like Earth, there are advanced civilizations, and there are even their frontroom and backrooms. It is just that this civilization is much more advanced than ours. We don't know exactly what other civilizations in this level's universe look like, but what we do know about this specific great civilization, which Setarcos called "the Beginning of Everything" (or BOE), and it is already fascinating enough.
The planet on which the BOE is located is divided into three layers: the ether floor, the solid floor and the core floor.
*The ether floor is the vast area of space in the upper atmosphere of the BOE planet up to the space between the three moons. The ether floor is the main residential area of the BOE and contains 16 "blocks". These include 4 main blocks located in synchronous tracks and 12 dynamic blocks are in motion, and more than three-quarters of the population is settled here. They rely on spherical vehicles of unknown principle to travel to and from the various residential areas. Direct communication between the ether floor and the solid floor depends on such vehicles. In the case of mass transportation, the spherical vehicles are transformed into cubes of the same size, which are then put together to form a collective cube. The collective cube can then be turned into a giant sphere again, shuttling from two floors with great efficiency. These residential areas, called "blocks", consist of extremely long cylindrical buildings suspended in space. There is also a manager's residence, which is always in a circular orbit formed by four main seats, conducting business at all times. Due to the advanced civilization and the latest discoveries of BOEers, their fertility rate is extremely low. The iteration of life is basically completed by "rebooting". After a BOEer dies, their memory will be uploaded to the household registration center, and they and the administrative staff will jointly decide whether to "reboot". The "reboot" will completely import the memory into a new individual and re-enter society as an adult. The number of newborns is very small, but it will continue the tradition that the household registration center monitors their potential and compares it with their actual preferences every four years. If the agreement rate is greater than 70 percent, it will be directly assigned a job. At present, there are no exceptions.
*The solid floor is basically considered the surface of the planet. It is represented by an almost unexplored protoecosphere, consisting of plains, mountains, oceans, rainforests, glaciers, and other distinctive ecosystems. As the environment here is protected by all BOEers, there is a strict limit on the number of people that can be accommodated in the solid floor at the same time. BOEers who come here feel relaxed and at ease with themselves, although they cannot explain how this positive psychological effect works. There is a ring of structures at the equator of the planet, which are the only man-made structures visible on the surface. They serve as a gateway from the ground to the core floor, and create a powerful force field that protects the entire surface from alien objects.
*In the core floor, energy is collected and transformed from the planet core. This energy is transferred through an unknown route to the solid floor, the ether floor, and even the required zones on the three moons with minimal loss. Because the resources are so convenient, many researchers have set up experimental bases here to conduct research.
As for the three moons of the BOE planet, data show that BOEers have established interstellar exploration bases on two of them. But the destination and results of their interstellar voyages remain unknown.
==More Detail==
===Setarcos===
Dr. Forcer's analysis of Setarcos' subsequent stories
Setarcos is not afraid of death, because he knows that it is coming.
His appointed time with the Sage is approaching.
It was as if he had entered that dream again, where everything was so different, so holy, so beautiful...He looked around aimlessly until he turned his head and saw the magnificent starry sky spread out before his eyes...
A sense of reality overwhelms Setarcos, who was both familiar and unfamiliar with the scenery. It was as if there was something more... on the black background he usually looked up at.
Three moons.
He suddenly finds the clue. Yes, there are three moons in the night sky that he knew well at the same time. Two of them were so close that you had to look very carefully to see the other, the farthest crescent.
(Here is a description of Setarcos' gradual acclimation to their environment and the basic introduction made by the Sage, omitted)
"You want to know why the universe exists, right?” says the saint, opening yet another door. The Sage motioned for Setarcos to enter, who marveled that he had never seen anything so white and empty.
Then, the Sage unlocks a mysterious device and calmly looks at Setarcos, and tells him about this part of history...
"No one knows...Nor will anyone know."
(Extra information is omitted.)
Above is the original text. Here is Dr. Forcer's summary and explanation:
*One theory about how Setarcos gained access to this level is that it has to do with some special mechanisms of the Temple, and the other argued it is mediated by the Sage.
*Our universe is a future form of the universe in Level 636. According to the dialogue between the Sage and Setarcos in the document, the universe of Level 636 is in an unstable state of rapid collapse, which will inevitably lead to the demise of BOE civilization eventually. This instability indirectly leads to contact between the level and one (some) other level (s), allowing BOEers to discover the existence of the backrooms (our concept) for the first time. BOEers then hoped to stave off disaster by migrating into the new universe after the collapse. However, they did not expect that in the chaos of the early creation of the new universe, countless new levels were created, and BOE civilization had to take a desperate risk and send many volunteers to try to no-clip, to the alien planet they locked on —— the Earth. But out of the nearly 100 million volunteers, only a few were lucky enough to reach safe levels, adapt and survive. And only one BOEer —— “the Sage” actually made it to his destination. BOE, an already sparsely populated civilization, could not afford such a sacrifice with a remote probability. Therefore, BOE civilization changed its strategy decisively and built a spaceship named "The Spark", which carried only one thousandth of BOEers. It slowed down the speed of time by sailing at extremely high velocity and tried to find a way to no-clip before reaching the edge of the universe. Their fate is still unknown.
*The device in the room was supposed to be a model of the evolution of the new universe, but it malfunctioned due to chaos in the backrooms and cannot be extrapolated into the future, only providing real-time data.
==="The Sage"===
"He came into this world like a god, and like a lost child trying to hold back his tears..."
He walked all over the planet.
It was as beautiful as the solid floor of his home.
Only the bright moon at night reminded him that he was in a foreign land.
Then he was tired. He built a white dwelling modeled after the administrator's mobile mansion.
After an unknown amount of time had passed, he was awakened by a roar.
It was a brontosaurus tearing at the leaves.
And he went back to sleep.
Suddenly, he felt the earth shake. He went outside, and the terrible shock wave sent thousands of branches rushing toward him. He hurried to light the dome.
He made it through all right.
After some unknown time, he heard a noise outside. He went outside again.
As soon as he appeared, the noise ceased. Hundreds of people who had gathered in front of his house spoke to each other in amazement and then knelt down.
His heart trembled. These living creatures, shaped like his own, suddenly gave him a sense of belonging. Even though it still felt strange.
He looked around. It was a small town. His shelter was in the center of the city.
He lifted up all the worshippers in turn. He said something to them.
From then on, whenever people had any doubts, the light of the Temple would shine and their doubts would be answered.
But the simpler the question, the more there is to offer.
He thought this was the way to stimulate people's minds and, at the same time, find a successor he was satisfied with.
(Omitted)
Above is the original text, and here is the summary and explanation given by Dr. Forcer:
*The Sage lived on the Earth for about 90 million years, most of it in an unknown state of dormancy. The Sage last awoke in 506 BC and was no-clipped by unknown means in 399 BC, returning to Level 636 with Setarcos. During this period, he was regarded as “the Sage” due to his great wisdom and mysterious appearance. The dwellings he built were called "the Temple".
*According to later documents, Setarcos learned the history of Level 636 when he was chosen by the Sage to succeed the Temple because he realized the purposeless nature of the universe.
==The last page of Dr. Forcer's manuscript==
2022.1.29
Scientists aboard “The Spark” built a three-dimensional universe at the microscopic level by neutralizing the cosmic parameters in the new universe and those of Level 636. The update to the ship's engines slowed the speed of time again. As a result, BOE civilization changed from macro-civilization to micro-civilization, and continued the spark of civilization in the new world. Their homeland is under construction, and the search for those pioneers who tried to noclip is still going on. Of course, there are still some BOEers who do not choose to live in the micro-universe and stay on their original planets.
The Sage taught Setarcos how to use the light of the Temple, and then returned to the micro-universe. Setarcos then has an accident while trying to return to the Temple and is now missing. It seems that around the same time, the Temple in Athens disappeared without any warning, and that became an unsolved mystery.
==Entities==
According to the document, no harmful entities were found.
==Colonies and Outposts==
As access to this level remains unstable, there are currently no colonies or outposts stationed in this level.
==Entrances and Exits==
Attention: The following information is Dr. Forcer's conjecture, unconfirmed.
===Entrances===
*Any action of noclip may lead you to this level.
*Entering the original site of the Temple may lead you to this level.
*If you can, at any level that is accessible to space, keep going in the same direction through space and you may be brought to this level by "The Spark".
*Ask a question on Level 635 that the Temple cannot answer and you will reach Level 636.
===Exits===
*Any action of noclip may take you out of this level. But the destination is unknown.
Category:Cluster I
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zh:Level 636
Category:Levels
Category:Safe
Category:Unconfirmed Levels
Category:Cluster I
Category:Format Screws