19 Magic

With a loud thud, Nathan opened the makeshift gate towards their cave.

Himel had a look of surprise at the boy's chosen abode, what if there were dragons or other mythological creatures written in those books?

As a man where information travels extremely slowly, Himel could not comprehend a single bit of what Nathan and Vin talked about. Whether it was about the concept of a faucet or the internet, he was at a complete loss.

Aia, however, only listened indifferently. Her robotic demeanor gives Nathan the creeps while Vin kept staring at her with curious eyes.

Himel had met with Aia on the first day like Nathan and Vin, but it wasn't just them. For the first week, they actually formed a group of six.

Unfortunately, on the fourth day, as Himel and Aia went out to gather fruits, their encampment was besieged by Mesozoic beasts as the corpse of different dinosaurs and humans were scattered.

Compared to the peaceful days of Nathan and Vin in the cave, being out in the open where an unknown number of species is really dangerous.

That was why, at the first mention of the cave, Aia agreed to go with the boys. Himel could only follow along.

As Nathan showed around the cave, Aia had her eyes sparkle as she finally saw the very first technology that humans developed.

Stone tools.

For the first time in her life, she felt excited.

Vin saw this and couldn't help but feel surprised.

He knew what kind of a human Aia is. Her name is actually AI-A. The very first computerized human augmented intelligence.

Aia was a human bred through scientific means. Both her parents were actually women who converted their cells into sperm and initiated the reaction in an incubator.

And her main objective is to help those who are away from the home solar system. Using an improved communication technology implanted to the zodiac beasts, their neural internet worked through the vast space as if using the space itself as the conductor.

As for Aia, she was meant to be the server of the operations. All information that was found by the colonizers was sent to her as her brain basically functions as a godly computer that only needs food for energy.

Vin, being a third-generation colonizer, already had interactions with Aia. More than anything, if one were to ask who understands Vin more, Vin would actually point at Aia.

Being experimented on, Vin had to submit standardized logs that were taken daily at a specific time of the planet they were in. And with the invasive nature of the neural internet, all the fluctuations in his emotions were recorded.

Hence, she trusted Vin. Even without the neural internet, she can still recall how Vin is using her data bio-drive, which was the evolution of storage drives.

Unlike Nathan, Vin already understood how vital a processing ability is for creating spells and re-inventing technology. Aia understood what Vin wanted and agreed.

Nathan: "Hey, you said that Aia was important throughout the entire space colonization era, right?"

As soon as Himel heard the term space, he immediately fled the scene. "I'll build two more rooms for us," he said.

Nathan and Vin agreed at the same time before going back to their discussion.

Vin: "Yeah, I did say that. Why?"

Nathan: "Isn't she a little too young?"

Aia: "I was stationed in a place where time moves slower compared to the rest of the universe as a way to preserve me."

Vin: "Yes, from what I heard, that station is actually at the event horizon of the black hole in the middle of the Milkyway galaxy. With the incredible use of space energy, data transfer was fundamentally instantaneous regardless of distance. And even if Aia is moving slowly compared to us, she can answer back in real-time."

Nathan: "No wonder she's still a kid. Having to take care of so many people, how did you manage?"

Aia: "Whenever computing is required, I, as a person, deactivates and enters a state where my brain stops its typical function in exchange for more processing power. I never actually noticed as changes happen every second to the point that I never once saw where I was due to the sheer amount of data I had to process."

Nathan: "Then, how do you know that happened?"

Aia: "Every single data I have processed are moved to my databa... I mean, my memories. Regardless of my emotions halted, I could still recall everything."

Nathan continued to stare at Aia in awe while Vin blushed.

To the 21st century people, it was akin to showing people your internet browsing history. If this weren't the norm in the future, Vin would've already perished from embarrassment.

After a few more questions, Nathan brought Aia and Vin to his workshop, where he showed all the spells have learned.

As a layman, Nathan did not understand how important his findings were, especially the [Flame Burst] spell, as that was one of the spells that did not follow any scientific explanation.

To Aia, this was a paradise. Apart from tweaking her capabilities, they also made it so that she feels ecstasy whenever her brain computes at its best.

All the spells, including her ice and Himel's laser-like fire beam, was developed solely by her.

Deep-IEQ from pre-war to post-war had continuously developed new theories concerning the usage of physics and energy. What helped Aia the most are the blueprints of the terraforming tech, which is very applicable for creating spells such as her [Hale Shower]

[Hale Shower]

Creates small shards of ice by condensing water vapor and mana. The number of shards depends on the mana used by the user. Spell not available in arid areas.

To Aia, mana is an omnipotent mana source while the body is the transistors that decide which way the output is produced. Other body parts, such as the eyes, palm, fingers, and even the feet, are the nodes to show the output.

After reading the spells, Aia couldn't help but ask, "Why did you classify their elements based on fantasy?"

"Well, that..." Nathan trailed off with a blush. Getting asked by a kid about why making all of these like those games, he couldn't help but feel embarrassed.

"We found it easier to use spells by comparing it to our past experiences," Vin answered for Nathan.

"You mean you're making spells based on the rules of a fantasy world?" Aia inquired.

"Basically, yes." Vin nodded. So did Nathan. Vin continued: "We actually separated the spells into incantations and invocations."

"Aren't those two just synonyms?" Aia considered.

"Technically, yes. But making new words are bothersome. Incantations are spells that rely on logic to produce magic. Invocations are just willed into existence, like a god commanding their subordinates." Vin replied.

Aia: "I see, I was trying to formulate new names for those too. But what's the difference?"

Vin: "You see, incantations requires building the theory in your mind. These calculations will form itself in a spell circle with different shapes we call nodes. In short, chanting spells creates something sort of an experiment table that shoots out its results. Whether if the theories made are necessarily correct or not, we can't tell with what we have right now."

Vin: "For invocations, it usually starts with the words I want. Right now, we're still stuck at using invocations with basic spells such as [Earth Manipulation]. Our theory is that, if we're akin to the general, then mana is the Lieutenant, while non-organic things are the colonel who follows orders."

The three suddenly fell into silence.