Chapter 449 — Rebecca's Cleverness, Truly

Rebecca was still explaining the technical details inside the drum. She had clearly noticed the surprise on Gao Yang's face, and being able to startle even this ancestor of the Xuanyuan Sect, who always thought further ahead than anyone else, had evidently brought the girl enormous satisfaction. She spoke with glowing animation: "...It's not that I just stuffed the Magic Web communicator's projection crystal in there directly — I adjusted it carefully. To make sure the arcane phantom projected by the crystal lands accurately on the inner wall of the cylinder without distortion, I placed a set of lenses around the crystal — lenses just like the lens assembly on a crystal resonator...

"In addition, I redesigned an input device to match the arcane transfer cylinder, used to transmit images and text to the projection crystal inside. Its basic principle is similar to the process by which a Magic Web communicator receives images, except I added some things: I made a giant palette of all twenty-eight letters and a few common symbols, so that whoever makes the plate can edit text directly on the machine. Of course, if you don't use the palette, you can also just hold a page of handwritten text up to the input device and let it take a look, and it will convert that into an image projected by the crystal onto the inside wall of the cylinder. But operating these things is still rather troublesome, because ordinary people can't control illusion spells directly with magical power the way mages can — they have to use a whole array of rune triggers to adjust those images. I tried it privately, and even people who can read and write have to practice for a long time before they can master how to use that input device..."

Rebecca chattered on and on, while Gao Yang stood beside her, stunned. It wasn't that he couldn't follow the girl's line of thought — it was that he had never expected this girl to have stumbled, all on her own and without any teacher, onto a concept like a "keyboard." This silly deer might well become the founding ancestor of keyboard warriors in ages to come...

Of course, his amazement at the "keyboard" was secondary. What truly astonished Gao Yang was the workflow of the entire device: directly "scan" a real object or a sheet of paper, then transmit the image to the projection crystal, then use the projection crystal to produce an arcane phantom, project the phantom onto the back of the mithril alloy coating to create a "hot plate," and then have the "hot plate" transfer those images onto paper...

This process was so exquisite, so interlocking, so... beyond his expectations.

And he had taken almost no part in any of it.

At the very beginning he had merely sketched a rough diagram for Rebecca that had no practical value whatsoever, and explained to the girl the features and requirements of a new-style printing press — as for how such a printing press should actually be realized... he himself had never figured it out.

Yet Rebecca had succeeded... no, it wasn't that she had succeeded — it was that she and the team she led had succeeded.

This project should be credited to the entire Magical Technology Institute.

Which naturally included that Mr. "Cohen," the arcanist from the royal capital who had originally belonged to the traditional mages.

Rebecca was still describing her wildly imaginative technical ideas with great animation, but she soon noticed that Gao Yang's expression had turned a little strange, and so she could not help stopping: "...Ancestor, what are you thinking about?"

Gao Yang started out of his musing. He did not answer; instead he ruffled Rebecca's hair with a touch of indulgence: "Nothing. You did very well. And that arcanist named Cohen — he did well too."

Just as he had realized before, this world's technological accumulation had long since matured, and the local people had never lacked wisdom or creativity. Even the traditional mages, regarded as "stubborn, conservative, and backward," were not backward for lack of intelligence.

Gao Yang, a soul from Earth, could not be any sort of inventor in this world that followed the magical technology route, nor any sort of prophet or sage — but he could find the people with those abilities, give them a suitable environment and conditions, and let those talented people grow.

The "Cecil research and production system" he had painstakingly built was already beginning to reveal its value and strength.

Rebecca blinked. She had no idea what the ancestor of the Frostvein Sect was sighing over in his heart, but that did not stop her from smugly rubbing her head against Gao Yang's palm — from childhood to now, her skull and the palms of her elders had rarely enjoyed such a harmonious relationship.

And after rubbing twice, the girl suddenly stopped, a thoughtful look coming over her face.

Gao Yang grew curious: "What have you thought of now?"

"Ancestor, something just occurred to me... You said this transfer cylinder and the input device both use technology from the Magic Web communicator — so couldn't this whole set of things simply be hooked up to the Magic Web communications network and used that way?"

Gao Yang stared at the girl, dumbstruck; even Nikoxi Egg, who had been silent all this while, emitted a peculiar humming sound from within his body — clearly this iron-sphere visitor had been struck by Rebecca's idea as well.

Rebecca went on: "We could hook the printing press up to the magic net, couldn't we? Its core component is just a magic-net communication projection crystal anyway, so with a few adjustments, its crystal and the signal inside the magic-net communicator can be completely... what was it you called it... oh yes, completely compatible. That way, the people at both ends of the communicator won't just be able to talk — at important occasions they can directly print out documents... The government offices all over the Southern Region would definitely find that useful!"

Gao Yang remained dumbstruck. "..."

Seeing his reaction, Rebecca grew worried at once: "Ancestral Inkstone... say something, won't you? This idea of mine... is it too unrealistic?"

Gao Yang blinked, looking at the Rebecca before him the way one might look at a transmigrator: how on earth did her mind manage to leap from one thing to the next at that speed?

After a long while, he finally broke the silence: "Let me introduce you to two things... one's called a fax machine, the other's remote printing..."

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