NOVEL NEXT Chapter 102. Interroot
"Alright." After hearing the System, Cedric prepared to take a [Divine Intervention: Word] to message Ghiana, Eikard, and other important people and make them block the knowledge related to earth for two hundred years.
When he had just prepared the sentences he was going to send, the System sent him a new message.
[Wait a moment, that steam engine pump and its related knowledge shouldn't be enough to cause that much damage. From the System's calculation, the steam pump and other related knowledge should've only been responsible for slightly more than half of the damage.]
Cedric frowned and used his mental power to check the Crystal Cube world once again.
He spent a whole day thoroughly observing the dwarves before finally checking the elves.
Once he started observing one of the elven cities, Cedric got the biggest shock of his life.
Inside the city made of plants, there are a lot more rainbow leaves that show advertisements for shops, movies, and other things. Cedric already knew about the rainbow leaf, so he isn't all that shocked.
What dumbfounded him was a set of intricate plants connected to rainbow leaves of varying size. Almost every house in the city has that plant, with some even having more than one.
Cedric saw an elf sitting in front of the plants while pressing several plants. After several soft tapping sounds, the sight displayed on the rainbow leaves changed. From what Cedric could see, the rainbow leaf seemed to be showing some kind of forum.
He rubbed his eyes several times to make sure, but the view Cedric saw through his mental power didn't change. That elf is indeed browsing and chatting inside some sort of online forum.
"Are my eyes playing tricks on me, or did the elves somehow invent PC and the internet?" Cedric isn't even sure if he muttered this out of sheer shock or if he wanted to receive an answer from the System, but the System still appears regardless.
[It… It seems to be so?]
'Damn, even the System sounds doubtful.'
Cedric refocused his attention on the elf's PC and then observed several other elves' PCs. After checking they are indeed PCs and seem to be connected to some sort of internet, Cedric immediately activated his Past Observation.
Through Past Observation, Cedric followed along the PC's past. He saw who placed the PC, then followed the person who placed it to find the place that sold that PC. He continued to retrace the past until he arrived at the moment the prototype of a PC plant was created.
Watching Ghiana playing around with a plant, Cedric sighed, "So Ghiana is also the one to create this plant? Thanks to her, the elves and dwarves' technology trees are a bit too skewed, aren't they?"
[Yes. Also, don't forget to remind those people to block the knowledge related to the PC and the internet. Although Ghiana has somehow utilized the magical plants inside your world to create the PCs and internet, which decreased the damage it caused to the world's balance. But the knowledge the technology is based on still came from earth, so you need to spend time to let your world adapt to it.]
Although Cedric is curious about how Ghiana actually created the internet, he indeed has something more important to do.
He picked the [Divine Intervention: Word] he has prepared to send several messages.
Because it's extremely important, Cedric has sent the message to every involved person and high-ranking member of the dwarven and elven races. First, he sent the messages to four dwarves, which are the three new faction leaders who take over after the previous three died from old age, and the old-looking Einkard who has become the leader of steam engine research.
[Children of the Crystal Cube world, I have seen your effort to understand the world. It pains my heart, but I must bring you bad news. Please cease any further study on steam engines and related knowledge for the next three hundred years. Otherwise, a worldwide disaster will affect the world. In the meantime, try to focus on studying Mana and blessed abilities.]
Cedric requested the dwarves to seal that knowledge for three hundred years instead of two hundred years just to make sure the damage to his world's balance has been thoroughly repaired. He also gives advice on the path they can take while waiting for the world to get used to the foreign knowledge.
'Three hundred years is beyond the lifespan of a dwarf. Which means if the knowledge had successfully been sealed, everyone involved in the study of steam engines would've died by then. This will definitely delay the dwarf's advancement, but I must choose the lesser evil.' Cedric sighed, 'Compared to those crazy disasters caused by the world's damaged stability, I'd rather have the dwarf's technological progress delayed by a few centuries.'
After sending the messages, Cedric looked at the dwarves.
The four dwarves have varying responses to his messages. The three new faction leaders seem to be shocked by his existence, while Einkard is extremely devastated.
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Cedric can understand Einkard's feelings. He has spent most of his life studying the steam engine, but now a random person has said he must stop studying it. If someone told him to stop studying how to create dragons, he would also get devastated.
After he sent several messages to the dwarves, he also sent similar messages to the elves. As for his target, they're Elisa, Ghiana, and the new elf queen who has been crowned after the previous elf queen's passing.
Cedric also used Past Observation for a moment and found the elf queen had died twenty seven years ago from natural causes.
After feeling a bit sad from her passing, Cedric sent the messages he had prepared.
[Children of the Crystal Cube world, I have seen your effort to understand the world. It pains my heart, but I must bring you bad news. Please cease any further study on steam engines, the internet, and related knowledge for the next three hundred years. Otherwise, a worldwide disaster will affect the world. In the meantime, try to focus on studying Mana and blessed abilities.]
Except for asking them to stop researching the Internet too, he basically copied and pasted the messages he sent to the dwarves.
For Elisa and Ghiana, who came from another world, Cedric even added an extra message.
[NB: I am not joking, nor am I threatening you. But the world needs a moment to digest the knowledge and invention you brought from Earth. If this continues, the world's balance will collapse and unnatural disasters like double suns and whatnot will appear.]
Cedric saw both Elisa and Ghiana stare at the extra note he added. He found Ghiana frowning after she finished reading the messages. Meanwhile, Cedric couldn't see any change in Elisa's expression because he didn't have the ability to see the expression of a tree.
While observing them, he saw Ghiana mutter, "So, I can't continue studying things that use the knowledge I bought from Earth? This requirement is kinda vague. Am I not allowed to research anything at all, or am I only not allowed to mimic Earth's items and invent items that are too advanced? After all, there's a common knowledge shared between the two worlds. So, am I allowed to invent something using the knowledge that has existed in this world? Also, am I allowed to continue producing, preparing, and teaching the existing knowledge as long as I make sure no one continues to further the knowledge, or do I need to stop even that?"
Cedric got dizzy after hearing Ghiana's endless questions. He thought about it for a moment and prepared his answer.
Before he sent his prepared answer, Cedric asked the System to make sure, 'Hey, do you think the answers I sent are correct?'
The System immediately responded.
[Yeah. You just need to add a few details like this.]
The System added a few additional details to his messages.
After receiving the System's approval, Cedric sent it to Ghiana.
[I overheard your questions. Anyway, to answer your questions. First, you're allowed to invent things with the knowledge that has existed in the world. But I don't recommend it because you'll subconsciously include the knowledge you've learned from Earth during your research. But if you insist, you'll need to separate the foreign knowledge you brought from Earth and then only use the knowledge that has naturally appeared in the world as the base of your research. During your inventing process, it's also necessary to stop yourself from …]
The messages Cedric sent to Ghiana are so long that the [Divine Intervention: Word] in his hand has dimmed by the moment he finished.
Once Ghiana finished reading his messages, Cedric also answered a few of her questions until the [Divine Intervention: Word] in his hand lost all energy.
After the question and answer session with Ghiana, Cedric observed the people he messaged for a whole year. He is going to make sure they block most of the knowledge related to the steam engine pump and the method to create the internet.
He knew it was absolutely impossible to instantly stop every related study. But as long as they can greatly slow it down, Cedric is already satisfied.
Time passes, and a year instantly goes by.
This past year, although the knowledge hasn't been completely blocked, studies on steam engines and the internet have greatly decreased. If this goes on, even if the related field still slightly advances with time, the world should be able to slowly adapt.
Now that he is certain the world's balance won't break anytime soon. Cedric finally has time to use Past Observation.
To be honest, he is curious how Ghiana actually created that internet in the first place.
After using Past Observation inside Ghiana's workshop, Cedric saw the situation inside a few decades ago.
He secretly spies on Ghiana while she does her research. During this, he also occasionally gasped in surprise from the sheer genius of the idea she used.
Especially after Ghiana returned from studying Elisa's abilities and created the prototype of the internet soon after.
"So, she used Elisa's ability to connect with plants inside a certain radius as the base concept. Then, through her power as a Nature Element blessed, coupled with Elisa's incredible attainment in nature element, she artificially mutated several plants to gain the ability to transfer biological signals between similar plants without any losses."
After the prototype is created, Cedric saw Ghiana creating several other plants that are used to store the biological signal to work as servers, plants that have some computing power to work as the processing unit, and other plants with related functions.
Cedric continued watching until he saw the finished product.
Looking at the biological marvel consisting of several different kinds of plants, Cedric must acknowledge that Ghiana's skill in some area is far above his.
From watching Ghiana's process while inventing the internet, Cedric felt he had opened a new perspective and saw a new direction in creating creatures.
"With this knowledge as the base, I might even be able to create some sort of hive mind creature. But it still needs to be further studied. After all, the internet Ghiana created doesn't possess natural intelligence, so I might encounter some difficulty at this part."
While half of Cedric's mind is busy thinking about the possibility of creating a hive mind creature, the Past Observation continues to show Ghiana.
After she tested the internet successfully, Ghiana caressed the plant used as a processing unit. "This internet utilized roots as the means of transferring information. So, I don't think network and internet are a suitable name for it. Perhaps I should call it rootwork now? So, interroot?" Ghiana slightly chuckled to amuse herself.
"Although the internet or interroot is only in its basic form, Elisa should be happy after seeing this. After all, she can finally surf the internet once again." Ghiana gently looked at the result of her research. "Although I don't know how long you can live as a tree, I have a gut feeling it'll be much longer than me. I hope this internet can accompany you even if I inevitably leave first. I also hope this can give you the power to go on even when I am not there with you."