"Did the tower limit the amount of spatial artifacts bought?" Zane asked.
"No, but it was pointless for to buy anything else," Evans replied. "Spatial Spells require a lot of mana, and unfortunately, I can barely activate the teleportation ring I bought, and only after spending three days charging it."
"Three days?"
"Well, I had to drain my mana pool and recuperate, and the process was exhausting, so it took three days."
"That makes more sense," Zane thought, nodding in acknowledgnt. Turning his attention to Tom Nguyen, he asked, "Do I need to say more?"
"I get it, you're right."
Zane squinted his eyes. Using himself as an example, he understood that "geniuses" shared a common life trajectory. First, they realized that everybody is slower than they are: things that take people hours to master can be understood in minutes, maybe seconds. Things people can never figure out are easily mastered. And because this realization always cos during their formative years, it's easy for intellectually gifted individuals to beco arrogant.
The second share trajectory for "geniuses" typically begins after they enter college. During those years, they will et people who are either more gifted than they are or wiser and more knowledgeable. Those years are the best ti for "geniuses" to humble themselves, but not all of them do. A perfect example is sitting in front of Zane.
"I know you don't want to admit defeat, but your argunt was fundantally flawed from the beginning. The tower stores its food in a separate dinsion: okay, who cooks the food? Are you telling that they hired thousands of people to cook for hundreds of thousands of students? The cafeteria is open 24/7 — how many people are required to operate it? How much will that cost?"
It would be one thing if the cafeteria had a set nu, and students could only accept whatever was given to them. But there are literally thousands of options from all over the world. So of the recipes are even regional, for example, New York pizza and Chicago Pizza. How many people would be required for such a kitchen to function properly?
"No matter how you look at the situation, it makes more sense for them to be able to synthesize matter."
"Alright, alright," Tom Nguyen waved his hand. "I'm going to take a short walk."
Zane watched him leave while shaking his head. Not minding the latter's reaction, he continued with his food and note. By closing his eyes and channeling mana into his hippocampus, Zane's mory and learning ability received a noticeable boost. Everything that had happened in class was fresh in his mind, which served as a great way to perfect his notes.
"Why go so far? He's just a kid," Evans sighed.
"He's 24; he'll be fine."
Evans shook his head. These two personalities were quite similar — at least, the stubborn part. "I'll go check on him."
"He's currently embarrassed, so it's probably not a good idea," Zane reminded, but Evans did not listen. However, he returned less than two minutes later, and Zane looked at him. "Why are you back so quickly?"
"I looked outside, but I didn't see him anywhere."
"Oh," he nodded before resuming his activity.
"Should we check on him?"
"He'll be fine."
Zane was right as Tom Nguyen rushed back to their table a few minutes later, his face utterly flushed, "Haha, I was right. I told you I was right."
"What are you talking about?"
"Breathe," Evans reminded, handing him a cup of water.
"Thank you," Tom Nguyen nodded. That short run left him out of breath, so he quickly gulped down the cup's contents. "I talked to Madam Valeria, and she said my thod was closer to the truth."
"Oh?" Zane was imdiately intrigued. "What exactly did she say?"
"Co with , and you'll understand."
Zane swiftly finished the last bite of his food and rushed to the library. anwhile, Tom Nguyen — who was on cloud nine — also followed up despite still breathing heavily, powered up by pure joy and adrenaline.
"Tom told about your argunt, and he was closer to the truth. The school has another dinsion in which ti operates at a different speed. Whenever you order sothing and must wait thirty seconds, that's how long it takes to cook the food."
"See? I told you so."
Zane ignored him, "Why, though? Could it be that magic isn't advanced enough to create sothing like the matter synthesizer?"
"It has. Any decent Grand Alchemist can do such a thing," Valeria answered. "The issue involved one of the fundantal flaws of magic: it does not do well with automation."
"I'm not following you," Zane frowned. "Are you saying magic cannot automate things? From what I can see, there are many automated processes in the school."
"What you're referring to are basic enchantnts or programming," Valeria explained. "What I'm talking about is programming a machine to do complex things, such as brew a potion on its own, enchant magical items, build an automaton, or, in your case, re-arrange atoms in such detail to create all the recipes of Earth."
"Why is that?" Evans asked.
"Magic requires a soul to interact with. So, if you want a machine to do the sa job as a mage, you need to give it a soul," Valeria explained.
"Can't mage control souls? This doesn't sound like sothing they wouldn't be able to do?" Tom Nguyen asked.
"Can you let finish?"
"Sorry."
"Life and Soul are intertwined; that's why Necromancers can use the bones of a creature to animate them. But trying to fuse a soul into any inorganic substance is a challenge to say the least."
"Then use organic materials from living creatures," Zane said. He has read about the concept of bio-computers, so the answer ca to him instantly.
Valeria shifted her focus toward him, "Believe it or not, such a simple idea has stumped countless civilizations."
"But, I'm guessing that's not the only issue."
"You would be correct," Valeria calmly replied. "As I said, a soul is required, but do you think any soul can be used?"
"A Grand Mage's soul?" Zane asked.
"As intuitive as ever," Valeria nodded. "Although there are so enchantnts that can use the soul from a 3-ring Mage, in general, the minimum requirent is the soul of a 4th-ring life form; otherwise, the process will not succeed. And I don't think I need to tell you how valuable such individuals are, right?
"Don't look at how many Grand Mages and Grand Knights the tower has. The 4th tier is respected and sought after anywhere throughout the Astral Cosmos. Do you think any civilization would be stupid enough to eliminate their 4th tier just for one machine?"
No one answered this rhetorical question. According to their previous discussion, a Grand Mage was enough to lead a civilization. So why would anyone be stupid enough to sacrifice them to build a single machine? And that's not ntioning how a Grand Mage would never allow themselves to be used as materials.
"To be honest, even the rarity of souls is not the primary issue."
The three tilted their heads, looking at her sideways, their body expression quite obvious.
"It's true. The Abyss Plane is ho to countless 4th-level creatures. If you're strong enough, you can just hunt them down. In fact, if you don't want to deal with the chaotic nature of their soul, the demon race is a good enough substitute. Anyway, no one likes these guys, so no one will say anything if you hunt them to extinction."
The three were speechless.
"That's the harsh reality of the Astral Cosmos — you'll get used to it," Valeria shrugged. "My point is, after you've acquired the soul, purify it, and successfully fuse it, the real headache cos next: programming the machine. The process is no different from training a child from infancy to adulthood, which ans it could take years, and maybe even decades. And that's not the worst part."
"It's not?" Tom Nguyen asked.
"The worst part is failure. Imagining spending so much ti. effort, and money, but the product fails, which may an starting all over. Ultimately, due to the high cost and high failure rate, most magic civilizations forfeit developing the automation industry. After all, a powerful mage can do anything a machine can do — and maybe even do it better."
"Is there any benefit from succeeding?" Zane asked. Machines exist to do things humans cannot. But if magic allows humans to do everything as well and as quickly as machines do, then it would make sense for a civilization to forgo developing it.
"There is too much to count," Valeria replied. "Despite the lack of automation, the production level of magical civilization is not inferior to technology or any other type of civilization; it just ans that individuals' productivity is on par with machines.
"But if a civilization could truly master automation, well, let's put it that way. Most civilizations that have "achieved" true automation are considered masters of war. And the ones who have "mastered" this craft? Well, so far, there have only been two: one conquered the Astral Cosmos and the second one almost succeeded."
"Conquering the Astral Cosmos? Are you saying a civilization conquered all the dinsions in existence?"
"Probably not all of it, but yes, the Gremor Empire — also called the Arcane Empire — was once the ruler of the Astral Cosmos," Valeria nodded.
"Wait, Gremor?" Zane asked.
"Yes, as in Gremorian — the language that all mages speak of."
"No wonder."
"An Empire that has conquered countless civilizations? Compared to Earth's past and current empires, we are truly a joke," Evans uttered.
"To this day, the Gremor Empire is considered the pinnacle of civilization — the pinnacle of magic," Valeria explained. "Since their disappearance, there is a common saying among mages across all dinsions: there is no new magic. Although many considered this saying an exaggeration, there is so truth to it: more than 50% of magic and spells created since the new epoch can be traced back to the Gremor Empire. As for the rest? Well, information about the empire is rare, so it cannot be verified."
"This is hard to wrap my head around," Zane thought. The developnt of science and technology is linear, aning that further progress will occur over ti. Zane had thought magic would be the sa. Valeria's words were as if soone had told him that every technological discovery of the last few centuries had already been created by a civilization that existed 50,000 years ago.
"I won't say anything more about the Gremor Empire since it's part of your curriculum, but you get the idea."
"What about the other civilization?" Evans asked.
"That would be the goblins."
"Those short-green creatures whose strength is on par with a toddler?" Zane asked.
"Why do you think they beca like that?" Valeria sneered. "After the Gremor Empire, no one would allow another civilization to rule over the world. Despite knowing this, these goblins still wanted to try. The result? Well, they were almost exterminated. Luckily for them, one of their race's Sages sacrificed their lives to protect them. They survived, but as a result, these creatures were cursed to beco weak, stupid, and even lose their affinity to mana."
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