Chapter 742 — Value Beyond Measure

"Uh... actually... not entirely," Ferm said, struggling to marshal his words. "Some of it is what I saw aboard that mechanical ship, but the stories behind those passengers, the circumstances from which they set out, the various experiences they had after reaching the Southern Frontier—all of that contains exaggeration and imagination. Especially the passages describing what the passengers did after arriving in the South... those are entirely imagined. After all, once we disembarked we all scattered, so I could only guess at what those people might have gone through based on what I myself witnessed."

As he spoke, Ferm could not help feeling ashamed. He knew that this "vulgar" story depicting the lives of migrants aboard a ship was utterly unpresentable on an occasion like this. There were no noble knights in the story, no valiant battles, no wise admonitions from the gods and ancient sages—not even heroic monologues or narrative verse. Such a thing would seem crude even performed on a street stage during the Harvest Festival, let alone here in the imperial palace...

Yet he saw the Emperor before him smile and nod: "Interesting..."

Gaoyang closed the notebook and glanced at the somewhat dumbfounded Ferm.

"Very few playwrights write this sort of 'practical,' 'logical' thing. Very few focus on an interesting story rather than an elegant heroic mask. And you have also cut the narrative verse and formulaic monologues that serve no purpose in the plot... Does this story have a name?"

Ferm was still in a daze; almost without thinking, he answered instinctively: "I call it 'Going South'..."

Gaoyang was taken aback for a moment, then could not help laughing: "...That really is a simple, straightforward name. It has a certain charm, too."

Ferm immediately lowered his head: "Your Majesty, I am ashamed..."

"No, do not be ashamed. The name is good, and the story is good too, even if it cannot yet be called a script," Gaoyang said with a shake of his head. Then, looking into Ferm's eyes, he asked, "You have already recorded a segment of a magic-shadow play with a Magic Web terminal—so have you noticed how performing beneath the recording crystal differs from performing on stage?"

Ferm had not expected His Majesty to suddenly ask him such a detailed and professional question, but he had indeed noticed certain things in this regard, so he answered quickly: "The traditional stage is open and fixed—actors and scenery are presented directly before everyone. But the Magic Web terminal is like an 'eye,' and its 'stage' depends on the 'range of its gaze'..."

Gao Song's questions, however, did not stop at one. He continued to ask:

"Have you considered how to transition between scenes beneath the recording crystal?"

"Have you considered what differences there are between the script format required for a magic-shadow play and that of a stage play?"

"The rhythm of a magic-shadow play is different from that of a stage play—have you noticed that?"

"Under a photography crystal, illusion magic can produce better effects than on any stage. Do you have any thoughts on that?"

"Let us conceive a story—one that is to be presented in the form of a shadow-play..."

Gao Cen threw out his questions one after another, growing more and more excited; the emergence of this new thing made him feel once again the stirring sensation that the age was advancing before his very eyes. His conversation with Ferm grew deeper and broader, and soon the topic had reached a point where outsiders could scarcely follow—even Rebecca was left gaping.

She could not help going over to Amber's side and giving the latter's arm a careful poke: "Hey, hey—what is that Zuyan fellow saying over there?"

"How would I know?" Amber pursed her lips. "Let me tell you—the moment he suddenly starts rattling off a pile of topics you cannot make heads or tails of, you had best not strain to listen, or you are guaranteed a headache. I speak from very special experience..."

"...Wow."

Eriwen, who had barely gotten a word in since entering the room, now sank into the same bewilderment as Rebecca and Amber. It was instead Fendir, standing behind Ferm, who—because he had often discussed shadow-plays with the man during their journey—could vaguely make out a thing or two.

And so he quickly arrived at the same peculiar thought as Ferm.

That His Majesty Gaoyang, when confronted with such an entirely new thing, could extend the discussion to such fine and concrete detail—could even extend it to the thing's future development—was almost as if he had thought of this thing long ago, had even foreseen its future!

Fine sweat seeped once more onto Ferm's brow; the questions Gaoyang raised were not so easy for him to answer. Even as the inventor of the shadow-play, he had never thought about so many things, had never had the chance to discover so many problems. After laboriously answering a long string of questions, and after Gaoyang had finally granted him a moment to breathe, this young man from Barron could hold back no longer. Summoning his courage, he spoke again, hesitating: "Your Majesty... have you, in fact, already thought of such a thing as the shadow-play long before?"

The moment the words left his mouth, the more he thought about it, the more likely it seemed—after all, that thing called the arcane-net broadcast was said to have been first proposed by His Majesty Gaoyang Cecil...

Hearing Ferm's words, Gaoyang reacted at once.

He had perhaps asked too much, said too much.

So much that this amusing young man before him was beginning to doubt his own life.

"No—I am merely good at discovering the qualities of new things," Gaoyang said, shaking his head with a smile, his gaze settling on the young man from Barron. "Mr. Ferm, the shadow-play was created by you—that is absolutely true. Do not doubt it for a moment."