Chapter 134 — What the Hell Did I Just Hear?!
Blade of Dawn · Page 1 of 4
As for that fragment of the eternal stone tablet, Gao Yang had not yet figured out how to begin studying it, but regarding that cultist wearing the mithril ring, he felt it necessary to consult the young agent lady from the Mithril Vault.
After all, she had promised at the time that as a major client of the Mithril Vault, he could approach her for advice at any time—no reason not to make use of it.
And if the territory was to develop, the Mithril Vault might well lend some assistance too. Gao Yang would never pass up anything that could be of help to him.
He rubbed the mithril ring that was his own, and following the method Meitzen had taught him, channeled mana into it. As his spiritual power surged, he sensed a delicate spell within the ring being activated; the metal began to warm slightly, and peculiar magical fluctuations radiated from it.
Watching the faintly glowing ring, he could not help but wonder: what exactly was the principle behind this thing?
He still could not determine whether this world could use electromagnetic waves for communication (most likely not), but magical transmission technology did exist. It was an ancient and mysterious art that enabled an otherwise closed magic array to exchange information with the outside world. Though its function was singular, its casting tier was as high as the fourth rank due to the absence of records on the original spell model and the existence of a technological black box—even Hedy could not use it, and anyone who insisted on doing so had to rely on aids like magic arrays.
Magical transmission was constrained by many factors: the caster's skill, the quality of the casting materials, interference from the mana environment, and even the difference between day and night could affect its range and efficacy. The most powerful magical transmission device was the "Eye of the Myriad Stars" artifact atop the Sunlit Dome, which allowed that floating city to send messages across the entire Silver Empire—but as for the specific principle behind it, even those Silver Elves could not figure it out.
Gao Yang had always felt that this magic capable of transmitting information over distance might be related to the essence of this world's "mana environment." Yet both the spell model and the array model of transmission magic belonged to a kind of "black box"—things inherited from ancient times. People knew how to use them but not why they worked; for so many years no one had managed to optimize them, nor could anyone work out the mechanism of those runes. And after so many years of copying the original, probably no one even knew what the original "model" had looked like anymore.
And this tiny mithril ring actually possessed the capacity for spell transmission—the technical strength of the Mithril Vault seemed far from ordinary...
As Gao Yang mused over these odds and ends, he suddenly felt the ring vibrate, and then a slightly distorted young female voice came through: "This is Meitzen Bernia. Duke Gao Yang Cecil, I am delighted to receive your transmission—it seems you have finally found a use for the Mithril Vault."
This thing even had a vibration alert? Gao Yang blinked, then held the ring to his lips: "I want to consult you about something."
"Ah, as a senior client of the Mithril Vault, all consultation services are free. What would you like to ask?"
"When your Mithril Vault selects major clients... are there screening criteria?"
"Screening criteria?" The person on the other end of the ring seemed to pause, then answered, "Of course there are screening criteria. Becoming a major client is not so easy, but this involves a rather complex review procedure, and explaining it would..."
Gao Yang cut Meitzen off: "No need for a detailed explanation. I just want to know—if someone were a cultist, could they become a major client of yours?"