Chapter 359 — The Research Project

"Shorthand magic..." Gao Yi nodded slightly. "I know of that spell. It's one of the relatively low-level but very useful formal spells—Arcane school, isn't it?"

"Yes," Rebecca said, nodding and gesturing as she spoke. "On enchanted parchment soaked in a special potion, shorthand magic can directly transcribe clear images from a mage's memory into text or patterns. Without enchanted parchment, a mage can also use an enchanted quill for a less efficient form of 'shorthand.' The spell has another name—transfer magic..."

Gao Yang raised an eyebrow. "Your theoretical knowledge isn't bad at all."

Amber stuck out her tongue. "When I was little, if I couldn't memorize it, I'd get spanked. My aunt said that as a mage, if you can't learn other spells, that's a limitation of talent and there's nothing to be done—but if you can't even manage theoretical knowledge, then you're simply not trying, and you need to be properly punished."

Gao Yang: "..."

"Shorthand magic is roughly a direction, but it still can't solve the problem of rapidly converting text lines into impressions, and I recall shorthand magic has no magic circle—it's a spell that must be cast by a mage," Gao Cen said, after silently lamenting how hard Rebecca's childhood must have been. "So current runic logic can't handle it, and it doesn't fit our principle of 'making it usable by ordinary people.' Still, keep this idea in reserve—go back and research it further."

Rebecca left with the half-finished printing press design and a head full of half-formed ideas, while Gao Yang strolled to the floor-to-ceiling window of his study and gazed at the slowly sinking sun outside, lost in thought.

As he had thought before, his own store of knowledge and creative power was ultimately limited. Even with memory enhancement and insights beyond this world and this era, he was still nothing more than a mortal man.

He could propose the idea of a new-style printing press, but he could not ultimately provide a concrete, fundamental technical solution.

Yet he felt no regret about this whatsoever, because he had recognized it from the very beginning.

This world had its own technological system, and the people of this world had their own wisdom and creativity. He did not need to become a universal genius capable of inventing every technology and every institution; all he needed to do was gather people of talent onto his territory as much as possible, organize them rationally, and give them a "direction."

He could not figure out how to manufacture a printing device capable of continuous, swift, and convenient operation—but he could tell the territory's technicians that he needed such a device. He could also roughly describe the general concept and technical requirements, and that alone was already enough to dramatically accelerate the pace of technological development.

He did not know whether this path of development was the right one, but he believed it was the path best suited to himself, best suited to Cecil Territory, and best suited to this world.

He withdrew his gaze, returned to his desk, casually pulled out a sheet of paper, and began writing a new plan with swift, scratching strokes.

The technological攻关 for the new printing press would not be completed in a matter of days, but before that, certain things could still appear ahead of schedule—at worst, with somewhat lower efficiency.

Beneath Gao Yang's pen, a line of large characters appeared:

On the concept of the newspaper, and the plan for its publication.