Chapter 55 - Laying Foundations (1/2)
Amber’s words had always ignited feelings between wanting to punch her and really wanting to punch her in other people. If this was any other day, Gawain would already have drawn his Sword of Pioneers and pinned her against the wall. This time however, he did not squabble with her.
Because he was in high spirits right now.
He was even in the mood to discuss a slightly more serious question with Amber. “Do you know how invaluable this magic circle is?”
“How invaluable it is?” Amber blinked. To be fair, this half-elf miss was quite confident of her magical accomplishments—she was so convinced of her ignorance on this subject that she was not ashamed to admit it. “I can’t even read the magic runes that have been used, so how would I know what their value is…”
Gawain was not expecting her to be so frank and almost choked to death right in front of her. Luckily, he had lived in the Internet age in his past life, and had encountered even more ignorant people than her. Thus, he adjusted his state of mind quickly and said, “Let me ask you in a different way then. What if everyone was able to use magic, or ‘borrow’ it? How valuable do you think this ability will be?”
Amber was momentarily stunned. In disbelief, she only spoke after half a minute. “So you mean… the magic circles can change or transform everyone into a magician? Have you gone mad from looking at the sun for too long in the last couple of days?”
Gawain ignored the latter part of her response even though she deserved to be punched for it. Instead, he shook his head good-humoredly and responded, “They won’t be able to turn everyone into a magic user, of course, but they’d allow everyone to access an extraordinary power. I’m afraid that Herti hasn’t realized the true significance of the magic circles. They aren’t as simple as ‘something a bad caster creates out of basic runes’. Their significance lies in the three words, ‘universality, commonality, and accessibility’. In order for his daughter, who has no magical talent, to receive magic, the rogue mage drew up a magic circle that could provide a constant and adjustable output of magic. And before this… no distinguished mage in the world had thought of a concept like this, because these mages had always completed this process with their own hands.”
Amber was unable to understand Gawain’s train of thought. “Isn’t it more powerful to be able to control magic with your own, rather than borrow power from a huge magic circle like that rogue mage?”
Gawain looked into Amber’s eyes. “A giant mountain ape is able to crush a brown bear’s head with a slap, but a human can only do the same thing with the aid of a warhammer. Who do you think is more powerful?”
Amber uttered, “… Huh?”
Gawain did not reply to Amber, who was in a state of shock and thought. Instead, he stood up and went towards the opening of the tent.
The treasure left behind by the rogue mage not only included the magic circle, but also extensive research notes in his notebook. As an “underachiever” who was extremely limited in his spellcasting ability, he had to make up his shortcomings with calculations and progressive ideas, which were detailed in his notebook. Gawain had been deeply surprised when he had first read it. He was in disbelief that they had been recorded by a person who had lived in the Middle Ages of ignorance and repression.
Automatic operation, compatible transmission interface, a control interface designed for “dummies”, and even rune arrangements based on geometry, simplified rune formulae…
If it had not been for the open-mindedness he learned from his other world, these “uncivilized struggles” would have probably been swept into the trash as he adopted the views of the majority here. This was because any caster who reached a mid-level casting ability would actually be able to skip the stops recorded in the rogue mage’s notebook directly as a result of various metamagic skills. These spellcasters would never have entertained the fantastic thought of “allowing untalented magic users or the ungifted to gain the ability to control magic”.
Those formidable mages who could single-handedly wave around big fires or lightning were perhaps deserving of fear, but to Gawain, it was only until an untalented rogue mage separated magic from being a “gift” to a tool and liberated it from his own hands, that this mysterious and powerful skill became sublime, for it transformed from a fist into a weapon.
It was a breakthrough akin to the first time humans tied a stone to a stick and killed beasts a few times larger than themselves.
What was unfortunate was that the humans of this world were still making warhammers after hundreds of thousands of years.
Gawain felt like it was time he equipped a rocket booster onto this warhammer…
Aside from having to study how to construct the treasured magic circle with Rebecca Cecil, the process of clearing what would be the Cecil’s land began when most of their manpower arrived on the third day.
Food, clothing, shelter and transportation. No matter how many noble plans Gawain had that involved steam powered engines and rocket-propelled hammers, he had to first ensure that the stomachs of his people were filled.
They had procured sufficient supplies of food in Tanzan Town, and the King had even promised to supply the territory with food and cloth for their first year. However, these were only for transitional usage, and long-term survival required self-sufficiency. Although it was not impossible to use resources from the mines to purchase grain from neighboring lords, Gawain, as a pioneer from China, had the same compulsion that most Chinese people had—
An obsessive compulsion with regards to avoiding food shortages.