Chapter 344: Chapter 96: Subjects and Magic

"Sigh, it’s not that your method is bad, but..."

"I’m just not sure we can wait that long," Robson said, looking at Falan.

"Advanced Magic Arrays need time to settle. This amount of time is necessary," Falan said, shaking his head.

Robson frowned. He walked up to the Magic Array and, looking at the strange, mesmerizing Magic Runes, suddenly thought of something.

"Hey, don’t you have no Mana? How is this Magic Array still operating?" Robson asked Falan curiously.

It wasn’t that people without Mana in this world couldn’t use Magic. In fact, many Peasants knew a trick or two; it was a natural law of this world.

But the key was, this Magic Array was far too advanced!

Peasants might be able to manage some simple runes, but no one had ever heard of a Peasant participating in the creation of an advanced Array.

Hearing this question, Falan also seemed surprised.

"Why would not having Mana stop someone from engraving a Magic Array?" Falan asked, puzzled.

’So you can engrave it even without Mana...’ Robson mused, stroking his chin as he stared blankly at the Magic Array before him.

"In that case, do you think we could have the Soldiers help us engrave this Magic Array? After all, it can be engraved without Magic..." Robson wondered aloud.

"The Star School?"

Hearing Robson’s words, a golden light flared in Falan’s eyes.

"You think so too?" Falan’s voice was tinged with excitement.

"The Star School?" Robson looked at Falan in confusion.

"I mean, your idea is very similar to a school of thought from my time. I don’t remember the specifics anymore.

I only remember that they wanted to complete a magnificent Magic Array to save humanity. That Magic Array was to cover an entire planet and required hundreds of thousands of... well, Great Mages to complete.

Their idea was somewhat like yours—to have commoners participate in the construction of the Magic Array," Falan explained.

Listening to Falan’s explanation, Robson felt a chill run down his spine.

The languages and scripts of this world were closely related to its Magic Runes, which was why everyone spoke the common continental tongue.

Robson could understand Falan’s words perfectly.

Just now, he had clearly heard a certain word: planet!

In all his time since crossing over, this was the first time Robson had heard that word.

’Planet’. That single word represented so much. The civilizations of this world had no such concept.

Although he had his suspicions, it wasn’t until Falan said that word that Robson was certain: Falan might truly not belong to this era.

That was a terrifying thought. Falan had once told Robson that in his own era, he wasn’t considered a true genius.

’If Falan, with his repository of knowledge, isn’t even considered a genius, then just how terrifying was the civilization that produced him? And why has there been no word of such a terrifying civilization?’

’Just how dreadful was the disaster Falan spoke of?’

’If it’s about saving the world, the only thing I can do to help right now is to hand Falan over.’

’But... Falan once said he was part of a plan, that he wasn’t special.’

The true upper echelons of this world couldn’t possibly be completely ignorant of these things, yet to this day, Robson had never heard any related news.

Robson’s mood suddenly grew heavy. After a moment of thought, the weight lifted a little, until finally, nothing was left but a sense of relief.

Everyone has heroic sentiments, but one must consider the circumstances. He, Robson, was just a minor Viscount who had made his fortune through wars with the Beastmen.

To human civilization as a whole, the wars between the Frank Kingdom and the Beastman Empire were practically a natural phenomenon that occurred every thirty years, not a major event.

For now, he, Lord Robson, first needed to complete the spring planting and make sure everyone had enough to eat before he could consider more macroscopic matters.

"So, does that mean there’s a solution?" Robson looked at Falan.

But Falan just shook his head.

"I’m not sure. The Star School was designated an evil organization by the Empire and has always been hunted down. Their theories have never been proven.

My memory of the Star School is so clear because of my teacher..." As Falan spoke, his expression darkened.

"Back then, at the final moment, the Star School did something truly great. I don’t know what it was, but my teacher participated.

So, I’ve always felt that the Emperor of the Empire might have misunderstood them..."

After Falan finished, Robson understood.

’They’re all cut from the same cloth.’ Robson knew exactly how a so-called "Star School" could be branded as terrorists.

Perhaps the school had initially just wanted to do something for humanity, but they got caught up in the Empire’s various political games. Once you’re entangled in some things, you can never get out.

None of this had anything to do with Robson yet. He wasn’t the emperor of the entire continent; on the contrary, he wished all his subordinates were Extraordinary.

"This Array is still too advanced. Even if we have the Soldiers participate, it would probably be difficult for them to achieve absolute precision.

Is there a way to simplify this Array so they can also take part?" Robson asked Falan.

Falan shook his head.

"Simplifying it further would be useless. At the end of the day, they can’t cultivate Magic, and they don’t know even the most basic spells.

At the very least, they need to understand measurement magic and basic calibration magic, right?

When we Mages build a Magic Array, we first construct a model in our sea of consciousness, then use experience to calculate the result.

The reason I can build such a massive Magic Array is because even though I don’t have a sea of consciousness that can store magical power, my soul’s sea of consciousness is still at the level of a Magic Master," Falan said, shaking his head.

"Measurement magic..." Robson pondered.

"Could we... make a ruler? You know, the kind they use to build houses..." Robson said.

"A ruler? But how is that possible? How can the rulers they use to build houses be used to build a Magic Array?" Falan asked, puzzled.

"We establish a standard! That’s right, we can make a ruler and use it as the unit to replicate the design," Robson said.

What Robson was describing was, in fact, one of the foundations of industry: a commonly accepted measuring stick, a standard unit of measurement.

"I know, is it like..."

As the two were discussing, a voice cut in. Robson looked toward the sound and realized there was someone else there.

It was a woman. He didn’t know when she had arrived, but she was the only Tier Five Mage from the Edward family’s Mage Corps.

’Who was this again?’

For a moment, Robson couldn’t remember the name of the person in front of him. It couldn’t be helped; the last time he interacted with the Edward family’s Mage Corps...

...it seems he hadn’t interacted with them at all. No wonder he didn’t recognize her.

"Good day, Lord!" the Female Mage said, looking a little nervous.

"Mm, what were you about to say?" Robson asked, looking at the Female Mage.

"Oh, oh, it’s about... books! Did you know? My ancestors were actually merchants from Weitman, in the south.

We were responsible for printing books, and back then, we used a book as a standard. Roughly, the length of a book.

Just like... this diary..." the Female Mage said, pulling a book out from behind her back.

"We basically used a single book as the standard for printing. Although this isn’t exactly a book, it’s about the same size," the Female Mage said, showing him the book in her hand.

The book was square, with a visible cowhide texture. On its cover, written in large letters, were two words: Connie’s Diary.

Robson remembered. This girl’s name was Connie.

Standardization was already beginning to appear in various parts of this world.

Especially in economics and at the macro level. For weight, the Frank Kingdom had the Fake. For military purposes, everyone had established a concept of kilometers based on their own territory, and even had their own basic units of measurement.

However, no one had ever thought of having Mages and commoners use the same standard to build an Array.

Establishing a single standard that both Mages and commoners could use to build a Magic Array together—that was the core of this idea.

"So you’re saying... we act like printing artisans, using a ruler to measure Magic?

Ha! Why didn’t I think of that! What a brilliant idea!" Falan exclaimed in astonishment.

"If that’s the case, it might just work. No, it will definitely work.

I can simplify the Magic Array, and they can draw out my design. Why didn’t I think of this! Even the complex parts can be handled by Mages, who can also follow this standard.

If we do this, the idea of the Star School can be realized!" Falan said excitedly.

’He couldn’t even think of this?’

Robson was now genuinely suspicious that the so-called Star School might have been a political organization.

After all, if the concept of standards was already emerging at this world’s current technological level, how could it have been absent in Falan’s era?

Of course, he couldn’t be sure. Sometimes, all that’s missing is that single moment of inspiration.

Time would certainly roll forward, but when it would take that crucial step was another matter entirely.

"Yes, that’s exactly what I meant," Robson said with a nod.

"So, how should we define this standard of measurement?" Falan looked at Robson. This was the kind of decision the Lord had to make.

"Let’s take the length of this book and multiply it by five.

And we’ll call it... one Book Ruler?" Robson was a little uncertain. He remembered that in his past life, standard lengths were initially established by convention, and it was only later, when tied to astronomy, that the ’meter’ became the standard.

’Whatever. It probably won’t affect its usability.’

"Alright then, I’ll go back and try it out tonight."

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