Chapter 753 — Neural Thorn
Blade of Dawn · Page 3 of 4
"In essence, it's still a neural interface device, used to connect the human brain with external arcane equipment. But beyond that most basic connective function..." Pi Yun finally raised his head and pointed at the dark red fibrous structure at the end of the artificial nerve cord. "It can also be used to break the boundary between ordinary people and extraordinary beings—truly break it."
Byron's brows furrowed slightly, his expression turning serious: "...Could you say that in the common tongue?"
Pi Yun could not help rolling his eyes at him. "Read a book now and then, or once Pea enters the Imperial Academy, you won't even be able to understand her textbooks."
On the other side, Kamael floated over. After greeting Byron, he said in a buzzing, quavering voice: "His Majesty once pointed out that current arcane technology has a flaw—namely, that all extraordinary power is realized through machinery. A person operates a runic trigger to achieve the spell effects preset within the machine. This manner of realization has inherent limitations.
"Arcane machinery can only be used to execute those simple spells that do not require 'spiritual power' to sustain and guide them, such as fireballs, ice spikes, arcane missiles, and the like. But once a spell requires the caster's spiritual power to guide it—such as illusions, dream spells, or larger-scale ritual spells—then arcane machines are powerless."
Byron laughed, nodding as he spoke: "Now that I understand."
Every Transcendent knew this much: spells fell into two categories by the manner of their control. The first was the "form-and-fulfillment" type—once the spell model was constructed, all that remained was to trigger it, and the full effect would be unleashed, as with fireballs and ice arrows. The second was the "spirit-guided" type, which was usually sustained in nature; throughout its release the caster had to maintain constant control at the spiritual level, and the moment that control broke, the spell would disperse at once.
Plainly, the arcane machines of the present day could perform only the former kind. The latter, constrained by the way it had to be maintained, was doomed never to escape its Transcendent "operator."
That plainly contradicted the very ideal of arcane technology—"to bring the Transcendent down to the common folk"—and in practice it shackled the field's development.
Indeed, the constraint had already begun to show itself in the current development process: the virtual interface the immersion pod had to present after linking with a human brain, the "writing" of certain parameters for the Magic Web broadcast system—processes that could not be governed by a simple rune-trigger and demanded the operator's spiritual participation—still depended entirely on true mages to carry out.
This was one reason the immersion pods' output had been so slow to rise: every pod required long hours of hands-on tuning by a certified mage. How many mages did the institute have to spare for such work?
Byron had a vague guess at what this so-called "neural thorn" was for: "So... this thing can let an ordinary person use spiritual power to control those guided spells?"
"More precisely, it lets an ordinary person 'sense' magic." Pi Yun smiled and said the words that would have stunned any traditional Transcendent.
Let an ordinary person sense magic!!
Byron's eyes went wide. Several seconds passed before he grasped what the bizarre-looking object before him truly meant.
The dividing line of magical talent was the sensing of magic—the first threshold by which an ordinary person entered the Transcendent domain was likewise the sensing of magic.
Only by sensing magic's presence could one possibly control it, wield it, and thereby achieve the Transcendent. Yet this particular gift was possessed by only the rarest few of outstanding natural endowment.