After sleeping, I woke up feeling refreshed. And as always, Albert was "sleeping" by my side on a chair."Lord Knight. Sir Artmer wishes to meet you to discuss the rewards. He"s currently busy and can"t come visit, so he asked for Lord to either wait for him or go to Mi-jo"s Spellcraft Emporium at the north side of town." Albert reported.
Lazily I sat on the bed and looked for Sixth. It seems today he is playing a MMORPG with someone, he kept screaming: "d.a.m.nit Devil! You"re a Cleric, so get the f.u.c.k off the Vanguard! Daoist! Your Monk can"t f.u.c.king fly even if he has a sword! Stop h.o.a.rding them and give me some!" he screamed, probably lecturing some noobs. He seemed different from usual, and his emotions showed a lot more than usual… Although his mocking smile was still there, as usual.
I swear it is really weird to see his smile all the time.
Getting up from the bed, I dressed myself in my black n.o.ble clothes and went downstairs to have breakfast. After doing so, Albert and I went to the north side of town, asking for directions until arriving at Mi-jo"s Spellcraft Emporium.
The Emporium is a large structure, like a fancy supermarket from our modern time. Many Magi entered and exited the Emporium, most of the first and second level, while I saw one or two of the third level. Some Magi dressed like n.o.bles, while others like old hermits and many of them even had heavy plate armors and greatswords on their waists.
Differently from many novels and RPGs, Magi aren"t a solely ranged cla.s.s, they are instead extremely versatile and can have myriad combat styles and specializations. For example, a Magus that has earth as a core element could use earth armor with wind magic as an auxiliary to become a moving battle tank. Or a mage that masters Elemental magic and incorporation magic could fuse with elementals to become a semi-ethereal combatant.
I was gazing at the Magi with an indifferent expression, even though my heart was filled with admiration when I saw wind Magi flying or summoners with a thunderbird on their shoulders.
Regaining my composure, I entered the Emporium and asked a clerk if she knows where Artmer is.
"Are you Sir Vrygewig? Young Master Artmer said your lordship might come. He"s currently in the office of the head tailor, your lordship can follow me." The female clerk said with a deep bow. It seems that being considered Artmer"s friend instantly qualified me to the t.i.tle of "your lordship".
I followed the clerk, through a hallway where only scholar-like old Magi could be seen walking around with doc.u.ments. The atmosphere should have been a solemn one, were it not for the fact that Sixth opened a rip into s.p.a.ce that connected with the hotel, so he could follow me and play at the same time. (Although I know he can easily create a clone, but I can"t be bothered with his antics anymore.)
The clerk and I arrived in front of a door. She knocked thrice and said: "His Lordship, Sir Vrygewig has come." After announcing my arrival, the door opened, and the clerk left.
Through the opened door, I could see Artmer speaking with an old man.
"I already said boy! More than a dozen of our people have already tried to make the spell you requested, but none of the tailors can tackle it in the right way! Too much mana is consumed to cast it correctly, and it ends up being a third level spell instead of a second level one. We can"t do much about it with the current deadline!" The old man argued. He is the first person I"ve ever seen calling Artmer "boy" and speaking to him in that way, but he"s allowed to do so with his status.
Head Tailor of Mi-jo, Naveed Sa"d Ghayth Sharif. Mi-jo is one of the four big merchant guilds, and an ally of Bosta. They specialize in magic tailoring and creating magic tools and weapons, so having a good relationship with Bosta, who owns many mines and has a large share of the mineral market, is a great deal.
Naveed is the brother of the current head of the Ghayth family, and second only to him in the guild. To him, Artmer is just a junior from Black Gold that still smells like baby powder.
"I see… I cannot afford to extend the deadline with my current finances. In the end, I won"t be able to sell this Animation spell…" Artmer sighed. It seems like he just lost a business opportunity.
But… An Animation spell?
"Hey Artmer. Mind if I have a look at it?" I said, entering the conversation.
Artmer and Naveed finally paid attention to me. Artmer looked at me angrily, while Naveed looked curious.
"Vrygewig! This isn"t something you should intervene in! You"re just going to shame yourself!" Artmer said, although he meant that I would shame him.
But Naveed reacted differently.
"No, no. By all means, do try. It"s not like not being able to solve a difficult problem is a matter of shame, instead, trying is a proof of courage and curiosity. Both are traits a Magus should have." Naveed said, handing me a page with four circles.
This is a four-layered spell, which is equal to sixteen spells of the same level, and much more complicated than a basic spell. It should have been even more difficult for me, who still doesn"t have knowledge on magic theories beyond the first level…
However, this specific spell is from an area that I know about! AI!
I studied it, and with the little knowledge I have, noticed that the raising part shouldn"t have any problem, but that"s the simplest part that only occupies one circle.
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The other three are the AI of the animated object. How it reacts to commands, the logic algorithm, what to do when encountering an error. It"s not much different than back on earth, however, it is badly coded in my opinion.
"You have used too many loops, and some commands are repeated. Try to make the loops into standalone commands and fill a circle with them, you can then use the same loop more than once with just a few variables changing. That way, the energy output will be the same as a second level… If you give me a week to clean it a little, I could probably make it into a first level five-layered spell." I answered after a.n.a.lyzing it.
In my view, the errors in this magic are blatant and obvious. This level of bad coding is something a recently graduated programmer would scoff at.
However, the Head Tailor took the doc.u.ments from my hand and read them once again. After a.n.a.lyzing the circle, he noticed I was really right!
"The loops really consume too much energy… If we do as you said, it is possible to turn it into a second level spell! How could we have not noticed that before! It"s a basic theory!" Naveed facepalmed, disregarding his senior position. He looked like a college student that missed a small detail on a test and failed because of it.
Of course, the Magi of this world aren"t dumb. They have already managed to study and apply things people from earth only dream of. Like Absolute Zero or curing cancer.
But some areas of their knowledge aren"t as good as ours, some of their biology, philosophical and of course, their coding logic. Although those areas are already developed to a good extent, they can only be considered baby steps compared to ours. Programming habits for example, are still not as good as ours. Magic circles are, after all, just programs that use the world as a hardware.
When the Head Tailor approved of my theory, Artmer was surprised, even more than when I saved us using the deathsworn ghouls.
"Vry, you are a Spell Tailor?!" He asked, not even addressing me formally.
I nodded. "Yes. These subjects come easily to me, and my magic theory is solid enough for me to dabble." I answered, looking all smug after surprising both of them.
"Hahahaha! Good! Good! We definitely have to recruit you now! A twenty-years-old Spell Tailor? How many of those exist in the kingdom?!" Artmer laughed, patting my shoulders.
"Boy. Would you like to join Mi-jo? We promise to give you twice as much of anything they offer, and an officer position right now." Naveen promised, although he was calmer than Artmer, his hands were trembling. A young accomplished Spell Tailor is as rare as a young scientist, a definitive genius!
However, I denied it.
"I"m sorry, Lord Naveen. But my friendship with Artmer is great, and I owe him too much. I can"t join Mi-jo." I apologized with a bow, although that was a lie.
Artmer knows of my ident.i.ty as a necromancer, and I can"t stay as Vrygewig forever anyway. I don"t really have a choice other than joining Bosta now, it"s not like I can win every time, right?
The old man Naveen sighed and shook his head, but let it go either way.
"You made the task possible and I can"t deny that, so I"ll send you twenty percent of what this boy promised us. If you ever change your mind, Mi-jo will always welcome you."
"Now, please leave. I still have to receive other guests. Come by any time you want to buy a new spell."
Naveen sent us out, and Artmer praised me all the way to the outside of the Emporium. When we exited, he said.
"Also, my father wants to meet you. The executives also decided that you will be paid a hundred thousand gold coins for helping me, and for the equipment of those guys from Pica. Don"t think that"s too much, we can make five times that if we auction those items." He declared smilingly; this guy is still a merchant after all. "Also, they allowed you to choose as many items as you want from the caravan this time. All of them aren"t too expensive and the only really important item was with me."
I already have a good grasp of this world"s finances, and although a hundred thousand isn"t much for a duke or a big merchant, as well as some counts, it is equivalent to one year of taxes from a Baron"s territory. And those items he said aren"t that valuable? I already saw some, and there are even a few that go for hundreds of gold!
Two young me that smiled like they were stupid walked towards the warehouse of the Bosta merchant guild…