Chapter 4 - Rune-Tech Magic II
CH4 Rune-Tech Magic II
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Thanks to a series of portals and magic elevator platforms, Alex quickly arrived at the top section of the five hundred metre high central Enclave tower where Merlin's office was located.
"Alex, you are here? I wasn't expecting you for another half hour. The Tower Master isn't back yet." Zora raised her head from the piles of documents she had been buried in.
Alex's enthusiasm deflated instantly.
He wanted to float the vague idea he had by his master before he lost the flash of inspiration.
Zora noticed the change in the youth's expression.
"Did you have something you urgently needed to tell the Tower Master? Is it about your Class?"
Alex nodded, "Yes. I just got an idea for my class, but I am not sure if it is tenable, much less if it is feasible. I was hoping to run it by Master."
Zora looked at the piles of documents on the table, then back to the boy.
"You know what? I have been looking for an excuse to get out of these documents. Would you like me to listen to your idea? It could help you flesh it out before you present it to the Tower Master."
"Really? Are you sure? You seem busy."
"Don't worry about it. I am sure."
"Alright then." Alex smiled.
For some reason he wouldn't explain, Alex felt a truthfulness towards Zora.
It wasn't based on any logic, but rather on an instinctive level.
He had thought it was because she was a beautiful woman, but he quickly realised that it was more than that.
Whatever the case, he was more than willing to share his idea with her.
Then again, it wasn't like she or anyone else but him for that matter could pull it off.
Alex tried to gather his thoughts which were all jumbled in his head.
"Don't try to force it. Just let it flow out naturally." Zora suddenly said.
She had a calming smile on her face which steady the boy. He nodded. He followed her advise and just spoke.
"The advice Master gave me for choosing a Class was to choose the one that appealed to me the most. Maybe a Class that had a magic effect I liked or could help me get what I wanted.
"My goal for coming here to study magic is to gain power; both personal strength and military might in order to take the reins of my family as its rightful heir. In that case, I decided to upon choosing a Class that could offer me both."
Zora nodded in understanding.
"I don't suppose that was easy." She commented.
"It wasn't. They either offered one over the other or not enough on both ends." Alex concurred. "I realised I couldn't get what I wanted within the current available path- at least, not without paying a significant price.
"I concluded that I needed to come up with my own path... I needed to think outside the box if I wanted to get what I wanted. So, I looked back at all the lectures I attended within the month, and I found the answer...
"Runes!"
"Runes? You intend to become a Runesmith or an Array Master?"
"No, Runesmiths engrave set known Runes to empower weapons and items in a defined manner while Array Master use Runes set up large spell formations that can affect their surroundings. Both Classes are external in nature. While they can help me obtain military might, it is difficult for either of them to help me on the personal strength side. Besides, they both only make use of known runes. What I am thinking goes further than that."
He looked at her and declared, "I intend to master all runes."
Immediately, Alex noticed the look of disappointment on Zora's face.
In the best case, one could say she was sceptical about his idea.
In the worse case, she dismissed his idea as the grandiose thinking of a child.
"Please hear me out." Alex quickly said. "This isn't just childish thinking, please."
Zora looked at him for a moment. She realised he was serious so she decided to postpone judgement until she heard him out.
"Ok, fine. Go on."
"So, in my last class, the lecturer said something that caught my notice. Each plane has laws and power system that must be respected if one wants to grow within that plane. This stood out to me because it indicates that planes operate on some sort of logic system. Then, in that case, there must be a set of instructions that guide that logic system."
Alex raised his hand and insta-casted the Magic Arrow Spell. Same as before, the magic arrow hovered over his hand without firing.
He intentionally weakened the spell, making the arrow smaller. The arrow wasn't what he was trying to show her. Instead, it was the Spell circle.
He used Spiritual force to make the Spell Circle as visible as he could.
"Whenever we chant for a spell, our Spiritual force instinctively forms a spell circle which are made up of runes, through which a mana flows and activates the spell.
"Look here, if I modify the spell chant and my mental state, I can alter the spell circle, thus altering the spell."
Alex pointed to some part of the spell circle. Wherever he pointed, Zora saw a noticeable change in the tiny rune glyphs forming the circle. This then corresponded to a change in the floating magic arrow.
Under Alex's control, it enlarged, shrank, span horizontally and finally vertically. It was clear the boy was in full control of the spell.
If nothing else, the mastery he showed over the spell was enough for even Zora -a genius twenty-something Elite Mage- to take him seriously.
"From this, I concluded that the logic system for mana -for our Pangea plane and other like it that have mana- is for mages to use runes in form of spell circles to issue instructions to mana to achieve a certain goal.
"In that case, if one can fully master runes, one could in theory issue any command to mana as they want. For example, I could cast any spell I want, ignoring all conditions. As long as the spell is activated by mana, by mastering runes, I will be able to use it.
"A plane and its laws are integrated as one. So if there is a law or logic system which allows this, then it must mean the planes accept it as part of its power system. So, if I can truly achieve this, my theoretical magic would be recognised as a valid Class in the power system."
Zora looked at Alex with some measure of shook. The level of thought and the quality of thoughtprocess in his idea was beyond anything she would've ever thought a ten year old would be capable off.
"Your reason is definitely tenable. However, that is all." A deep voice suddenly sounded before Zora could speak.
Merlin had arrived.
At some point, a portal had opened in the room, unbeknownst to Alex and Zero,
The DragonHold Enclave Tower Master looked at his latest student with some appreciation in his eyes.
He took a seat and continued, "You need more than a tenable idea to create a new Class. You need something feasible. A lot of people across time have tried to master runes like you. So far none have succeeded. What make you think you can succeed when all these genius scholars and mages of their time have failed?"
"I don't intend to solve the mysteries of runes myself. Instead, I will get the World's logic system and the runes themselves which forms it to help me master the runes." Alex responded.
Due to the prior exchange, neither Merlin nor Zora dismissed his words. Instead, they waited for him to explain.
Alex paused for a moment to think of how to articulate his idea, which was based on his work on AI in his previous life, to people who don't even know what programming is.
"In Spell Formation class, we were taught that there are three levels to Runic inscriptions; Single Runes, Rune Circuit and Runic Arrays.
"From this, I understood that each rune is like a set command to manner. For example, a Heat Rune is a command for mana to heat up or warm an object, a Light rune is for illumination and so on.
"A Runic Circuit on the other hand are runes linking together to something akin to a sentence. For example, imagine a runic circuit formed from Heat Rune + Activation Rune + Threshold Rune; the runic circuit will allow the object heat up (Heat Rune) when touched (Activation Rune) but only to certain extent (threshold rune) thanks to linking of the runes.
"This circuit is better than just an ordinary single rune because it prevent mana waste/ drain. In doing this, we have created automation i.e. an automatic response. This is essentially a form of conditional logic albeit a simple one like an ON/OFF switch.
"If we look at arrays, instead of one linear sequence, we have a series of multiple circuits, linked to the same energy source, that are modifying each other continuously in response to the real-time situation.
"Based on this, we can already see that runes are adaptive and change according to the situation. In that case, if I am able to string together the right series of instruction and commands in the form of an integrated web of Runic Circuit and Arrays, I can teach my Rune formation to deduce other runes and their meanings. Then, they take those newly understood runes into the formation and used them to learn about other runes and so on, until all runes are understood."
Only after Alex finished did he realise he had gone on a nerdy rant. He didn't know if his audience got the idea or not. So he added,
"Basically, what I am trying to do is create something like a mathematically formula. If I plug in the runes I already know into the formula, the formula should be able to derived other runes. Then, the formula by itself takes in the new runes and improves itself in order to derive more runes that it didn't before. This sparks a continuous automated learning process that continues until the system has an understanding of all runes.
"If it succeeds, I would be able to trace back all runes to their source,"
"And if you do that, all you have to is instruct the array to carryout a particular takes and your array would string together the sequence of runes to make that task possible." Zora said. "Hence, why you think this system will allow you to use all magic."
"Yes! Yes, exactly." Alex heaved a sigh of relief seeing Zora understood him.
Even in his previous life where computers and programs were already a part of everyday life, it hadn't been easy to explain how automated self-learning systems -so-called AIs- worked to people.
It was a relief someone without the basic background still understood him.
Zora and Merlin looked at each. Father and daughter could see the amazement in each other's eyes.
Perhaps if this came from scholar from Merlin's generation, they wouldn't have been so surprised. But this came revolutionary idea came from a ten year old boy!
"Your idea is certainly... Fresh." Merlin commented. "What do you need to make it work?"
"Knowledge... I need as much knowledge on runes and spell circles as I can get. The more runes I can use to form the foundational work, the better." Alex replied.
Merlin nodded. He inwardly curated a timetable of lecture subjects that would aid Alex in his endeavour.
"Your idea is certainly intriguing. But at the moment, that's all it is. From your own explanation, being able to use all types of magic by just stringing together runes isn't something that would happen anytime soon. It would take years or even decades before you can achieve it. But I can see how it has the potential to become the foundation of a new magical Class.
"What you need to do now is to provide a proof of concept. Show me that your idea actually has merit in the real world."
Alex nodded in understanding. Creating a prototype is the basic common way of proofing an idea isn't just that- an idea.
"How much time do I have?" He asked.
"Ordinarily I would give you six months, but due to the novel and challenging nature of your endeavour, I will give you until your first anniversary as my student. Show me something solid by then, or you will walk a path of my choosing." Merlin said gravely.
Alex just smiled. This wasn't his first time facing a deadline.
He wasn't pressured like Merlin expected. Quite the opposite, he found himself in his comfort zone.
Suddenly, Zora pinched her father. She made some subtle motions with her head.
Merlin seemed to understand her intentions. He gritted his teeth and unwillingly said,
"In addition, you will receive the Enclave's grant in order to support your research. All your expenses, including lectures, study resources and valid research materials will be discounted by 30%-"
"Cough!" Zora faked a cough.
"50%." Merlin corrected himself.
"Also, if you succeed, the Enclave will cover the cost for setting the foundations for your magic." Zora added.
Merlin's eyes flamed. Clearly this had surpassed his bottomline.
Before he could complain though, Zora motioned towards the mountain of paperwork on the desk she had been working on.
Merlin's anger vanished instantly. He even put on a flattering smile. Zora humphed and turned back to Alex, who was amused by the Father-Daughter pair's silent exchange.
"By the way, have you thought about what you intend to call this new magic, if you succeed?"
Alex thought about it for a moment.
'Naming was never my strong suit... Well, the basic premise is to fuse of Runic and magical knowledge here with the science and technology from my previous life. So...'
"Rune-Tech Magic!" Alex answered.
***