NOVEL NEXT Chapter 212: Discussions in a Workshop
The moose did not join us for the return trip, but Roril assured us he would be fine. After several questions and answers to fill in Elody and Pryte on what had happened with the primal mana beasts, and why the bear had joined us, we bid the last two paladins farewell as they had other duties to get back to.
"Maud, could you take the bear to Trolke and work out a living situation with him. Also, if you would like a name, Ms. Bear, just let us know," I said, not really sure still how to speak to a talking bear.
"My name is Red in the White, She who Rends," the bear answered.
I assumed that was the best way the System could translate the bear's natural understanding of itself within its own species into English. It would not work as a name. But that was something we could address later.
"Got it, come on, Red," Maud said as she led the bear away. Or we could address it now.
"So was that a positive outcome to the paladins or not?" I asked. Cecile had been silent since they left, but he and his brother were still standing nearby.
"That likely depends on who you ask. But I do think it went mostly well. Some people probably have more to dwell on than others," Pryte answered, gesturing to the brothers as he spoke.
"Hey Cecile, I want you to know that you are a valuable member of this community. You are almost like a son to me, and no matter what happens or what you choose, I will do everything I can to protect so." I put on my best dad voice as I said this, giving the Twinoge a strong smile, hoping he got the full intent of the words.
"Thanks, I appreciate it, I really do, but uh, I think I just need to spend some time in the fields, if that's okay with Elicec," Cecile replied, sounding distant.
"Absolutely, you got some heavy news today, and deserve a chance to work through it. I need to practice some mana shaping anyway, so let's go get to work," his brother replied, kindly.
"Well, I think I'm going to go play around in the simulator then. If anyone needs anything, I'll be in the workshop. I've been putting training off for too long," I said.
Pryte and Elody said their goodbyes, and I headed for the building I planned to spend the rest of the day in. Karlinovo was sitting in a large chair, currently trying to run something through a small cable he had strung across two miniature towers that were similar to what we had built around the town. Every few seconds, a flash of purple ran across the wire.
"What are you up to?" I asked, grabbing the seat next to him.
"Testing if we can run soul mana across some of the wiring we have available. It would interfere much less with the signals your electronics make. And I would love it if we could get some of your wireless technology to function correctly again. Ralph and I had a discussion on how far your planet came without magic, and I think there could be some great advantages if we keep it working," Karlinovo replied.
"Where would we even get soul mana for that? As far as I know, I'm the only one who produces much of it. Wait, where did you get the mana for the experiment?" I asked, confused and surprised he had any.
"Eh, oh, one of the Reltleon kids apparently formed a soul core. You should probably take a look at the school records when you get a chance. Lots of interesting talent there. She was able to get me a bit into one of these mana shards. It's not much, but it will do for my experiments," he answered, still not looking up from the table.
"If we can make this work with our wireless signals, it would be a great idea, but we'd still need a bigger source. What else do you have cooking?" I asked, curious about where the man's mind had been recently.
"My own core is my other main focus. I never expected to get a chance to start over, which means as we've discussed, I can put all my theories, and your discoveries into practice, at least in theory," he answered, finally having turned the chair and looking at me.
"Why only in theory?" His experiment had finally stopped, which I assumed was the real reason he actually moved.
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"I'm still not sure what it means that I'm a mana beast in the form of a human. Mana beasts, of course, are entirely capable of forming cores, but it usually takes much longer. That said, it also takes much longer for them to have the level of intellect I do, so this is all going to be a very unique experience going forward," he replied as he stroked his beard.
"Everything we do seems to be unique. What even do normal factions do when they join the Spiral?" I wasn't sure there was such a thing, let alone that Karlinovo knew the answer.
"Part of what makes this all so unique is the manner in which we are forming. Newly integrated independent factions are rare even during rapid expansion, and from what I gather, within the Spiral, it is now basically non-existent. So by its own nature, everything we do will be strange and unique. We will need to work out our own ways of doing things. One of which is that I want to integrate all of Earth's technology into our advancement as much as possible. If we can avoid taking ten steps backward as most worlds are forced to do, it will greatly help our future," Karlinovo answered.
"Alright, I've got some questions, maybe you can answer. There are a few things that have confused me. Why does it seem like technology is so limited in the Spiral in some facets, but then there is a ton of it in others?" I asked.
I was finally voicing a question that had plagued my brain since this all started. It had grown even stronger on my return to Earth. In theory, with how weak the Orcs had been, we, as in the human race, should have been able to beat them back, but that just hadn't seemed possible. Did magic really trump technology that much that people didn't bother with it after integration?
"It's incredibly complicated. Believe it or not, there are technology mana orbs out there. They are rare and highly controlled. I doubt even Pryte has ever seen one in use. Part of the issue is that new technologies that can replace mana-based solutions are a problem for those holding the power, so they do their best to control the flow of those. As for how developed your world is versus others, a lot of these delicate computerized things get quickly destroyed in a conquest, and the tech is often lost in the years of brutal slavery that follow the invasion," he explained.
I did my best not to consider what would have happened to Earth had we not freed it. That just caused my mind to focus on the Twinoge's world, and whatever hell they had gone through. I resolved myself yet again to get them free.
"So long term, do you think we'd have been able to beat the Orcs back or not with the tech Earth already had?" I asked. This was a question that had come up a few times in meetings, especially with the United States-Canadian alliance. No one had a good answer.
"Again, very hard to say. My guess, though, is no. After their initial wave of chaos, they'd likely have opened a beachhead, built a gate, and started bringing in even more of their people beyond the initial exploration wave. This course is a lot of assumptions, but from what I've heard and read of past invasions, the chaos step is the key. Most planets just are not ready to handle a force teleporting from one location to another, unleashing unexpected magics across a planet," he answered, leaning back in his chair and staring at the ceiling as he did so.
"So basically, toss in some chaos, a little magic, and an unsuspecting people and see what happens," I replied.
"In a nutshell, so to speak. But they bit off more than they could chew here with the surprise appearance of Sanquar. Well, surprising for them at least," he said, straightening out his chair and swiveling back to his experiment. "Dave, just how much free rein do I have for experiments?"
"In the immediate? Nothing that will hurt anyone or damage the planet in a way that is detrimental. In the long term? Well, once we have safe areas off planet to run experiments, as long as we aren't ending the universe, I think most things will be on the table," I replied, not sure how big Karlinovo was envisioning.
"I can work within those boundaries." A giant smile spread across his face as he answered, almost making me worried about what kind of mad science I had unleashed, but considering the effects so far, I couldn't argue with the results.
"Well, have fun, but try not to go crazy. I'm going to go hit the simulator. I want to play around with the new functions, see exactly where I can push myself," I said.
"Ah, yes, gotta make sure Mel doesn't yell when he returns, obviously," Karlinovo replied.
"Yeah, something like that," I said as I left the room for my private area and took a seat at my desk. I had stolen it from the main house as one of the few things I cared to keep as my own. My books had moved to the meeting hall for anyone to read through.
I sat back and pulled up the simulator, looking at my new options available.
Technology mana orbs are a closely guarded group of orbs, so incredibly closely guarded that I have only ever seen two in my life. This makes it exceedingly difficult to paint an accurate picture of exactly what they can do. Both of them were able to automate the building of simple machines on the fly. Each wielder claimed they were capable of greater feats, and while one of them even walked around in what looked like some sort of mana-powered metal armor, neither was willing to demonstrate much beyond that. Like other similar mana orbs, I believe that each technology orb differs greatly from another as the host specializes it. I theorize that weapon orbs may actually be a derivative of some ancient form of technology orb, but I have no real proof of that.
Mana Orbs, Mana Types, Mana Fields by Henjen Klank