Machinist of Mana Chapter 132 Messages

All things must end, as so did my time with Greta and the island. I moved onto another, slightly less populated boat, and we set sail. My former companions had left me, unable to go where I needed to, or unwilling, though I surely wasn't alone.

First were the tutors, multiple, who were trying to drill into my thick head the last bits of grammar and vocabulary. They... made me miss my former teacher, and were neither as skilled at instruction, nor as interesting as I'd found him to be. Nevertheless, I persisted and found that the dialect I was learning was becoming easier almost by the day. Turns out that if people will only speak to you in a language (Except to correct your screw-ups) you pick it up pretty quickly.

There were other things too though that I was being drilled on. Most of that was my cover, as I needed one. Humans, even ones with elven blood, were pretty rare in the various elven kingdoms, and I was going to stick out. We can add as well that on average humans were not much liked in the land I was going to, with no small amount of propaganda being made to tell how they'd 'stolen the elven birthright' or some such nonsense.

To this end it looked like they'd scored me something akin to a visitor's pass. I was a traveling youth, interested in my family's history and the greatness of my elven ancestors and their many works and bits of culture. Following that end there were all kinds of plans for me to travel around the country, with tour guides even arranged for various places for the locals to show off things that had been build thousands of years ago and not matched once yet. They were very, very proud of their heritage, though didn't bother to grow it by any meaningful way in far too long for my opinion.

Sadly it wasn't likely I'd be able to score any real new tech for myself, since... well they didn't really have much. The best bits these people had were ancient, or made from ancient designs, repeated but seldom improved. It was like marveling at a sword that was beautiful, from a people that were still living in huts in the modern age. It wouldn't take from what their people had done, but they were doing nothing but copying their ancestors.

“Don't bring that up in front of the southerners, they're very proud,” my tutor warned me when I voiced that opinion. “And frankly it's kind of insulting to all of us.”

“It's not meant to be, you can all do better, everyone can do better.”

“Even your people?” he asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Especially my people. Goodness, we'll get there, but it'll take time. Look how much we've changed in just the past few hundred years.” I mused as to why it was so slow, but then it struck me, it was magic.

Magic was a cheat code for society, letting us do things that even those of Earth would have struggled with, but here, you just used magic. Healthcare? Magic. Transportation? Magic. War? Magic ruled there too. And because it was so powerful, and how much one potent magic user could do on their own, innovators could be crushed by pure magical might.

“You're not wrong, but after a certain point we reached the limits of what we could with information. Without a better way to store data and use it there is really only so much we can advance beyond small changes.” He sighed. “And one mind just can't keep all that together in their head.”

“A point I guess, humans may not have reached there quite yet.”

“You will soon though,” he pointed out. “On another note, these are for you alone.”

The man pushed some small cylinders across the table to me, clearly some kind of magical item, but I'd never seen them before.

“They contain information, and your mana alone will be able to unlock them.”

“How's that work?” I asked.

“State secret, not even I know. Also, there may be additional protections, so follow the directions exactly, and only open them when alone. Just put some of your mana into the top there and be on with it.”

I took them and he left, but as he went I began to think. The cores had to be the answer here, they were effectively massive data storage devices, in fact every magical item was. There was no way, no way at all that the directions for making magical effects were less than a coding language, and if there was a coding language then you could make something like a computer there, maybe not the best one, but decidedly better than what was bouncing around.

As soon as I realized it I frowned. I knew a bit about coding, but I was no genius at it, and while I might be able to make a few small things here and there, a full operating system was well beyond my abilities. Someone had to have tried though, someone better than me, and maybe if I studied enough I could cobble together, not a full computer, but something like an old information processing system, spreadsheets for spellcasters, or maybe something like presentations, slideshows inflicted upon an unknowing populace. Was I that evil though?

With a dark chuckle I entered my quarters and popped open the tubes. The first was of course full of rolled up papers, though fewer than I might have expected. Mostly directions on how to meet handlers once I'd gotten to Elazia. I was supposed to go to a certain bar near my hotel and wait, exchanging passwords with someone who would come. I sighed as I read the passwords, because someone honestly expected me to say such a thing.

After following the instructions by memorizing, then burning the papers I moved to the next cylinder. Just as with the previous one I gripped it and ran a finger gingerly along the top, pushing just a bit of magic into it. The tube lit up, the top popped off, and a small horde of spring, loaded puppets flew from the top. It was far too slow to scare me, but it did throw little goblin-faced streamers into my face.

With a deep sigh I remembered that at least two of my nearest accomplices in this whole trip were effectively children. There was a note at the bottom too, one small paper that fluttered away. With a frown I picked it up and began to read.

“Greta suggested we do something like this before the whole finding all her people dead thing, and while she may not get to see it, we'll let her know her joke lived on. Kindly take it in the good humor with which it was intended.

-a friend”

I sighed again, but without trying I could feel the corners of my lips rise. Sure, they were stupid, but this wasn't wrong. He was doing this for a friend, how could I begrudge him that?