Chapter 31: The Ambition of an Engineering Student and Magic

“What? You’re still working on that?”

Karkov spoke with a bored expression. This mustached young man was a fellow computer science student like Victor, and he was always thinking about ways to make money. Even now, he was doing contract work from a software company he had connections with.

“I’m almost done. Other than the part you helped with last time, there wasn’t really anything difficult about it.”

Being too obsessed with money was a bit much, but Karkov liked Victor’s realistic perspective toward technological research, so they had become close friends. Of course, that wasn’t the only reason they were friends. They also got along well in many other ways.

“By the way, have you seen what that game developer posted on the bulletin board?”

“Hm? Ah, that person named Epek Ras? Yeah, I saw it. Huh? Looks like you’re interested too?”

Victor asked Karkov back instead. He had already seen it earlier and had been pondering its feasibility.

He wasn’t particularly interested in games. To be honest, he thought there was no way crude graphics and sound ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠could provide a truly satisfying experience. But regardless of what he thought, the reality was that many people were buying games.

“Computers are products in the end, so they have to meet consumer demand.”

“Yeah, yeah, that’s always what you say, Victor.”

Karkov dragged over a chair, sat on it, and chimed in at Victor’s words. His tone sounded slightly mocking, but he actually agreed completely. After all, what meaning did a machine have if it failed to meet the needs of the people using it?

After that, the two spent several days discussing ways to make this graphics device a reality. Most of it was technical discussion. In the end, they concluded that it was entirely possible.

To Ras, who had already lived in a world where ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠such things were commercialized, this was unnecessary. But people of this world like Karkov and Victor had no knowledge of such technology, so they had no choice but to examine it this way.

Moreover, since they genuinely intended to research and implement it, they couldn’t simply think, It worked on game consoles, so it’ll work on computers too, and recklessly dive in.

“But do we really need to cooperate with the existing manufacturers?”

Karkov suddenly said something like that. He was currently working on conceptual designs for graphics cards, while Victor was thinking about how to persuade computer manufacturers.

“What are you talking about?”

Victor, whose mind was already cluttered with thoughts, scratched his face and asked back irritably. But he wasn’t stupid. He quickly understood what Karkov meant.

“So what you’re saying is...”

“Yeah. Why don’t we just make the computers ourselves?”

To be honest, Victor had considered the idea before. He disliked the thought of giving up favorable terms to persuade manufacturers, and with games booming in popularity, he believed computers with enhanced graphics would undoubtedly become hits.

He had definitely imagined how much money they could make if they kept all those profits for themselves instead of sharing them.

But he had concluded that two people alone couldn’t accomplish it. And when he thought about the time, money, and risks required to establish a company and gather developers, he decided cooperating with manufacturers would be the wiser option.

“Is it possible?”

Victor reconsidered the judgment he normally trusted without question and turned toward Karkov. More than pride, his desire for profit had grown stronger.

“Well. I don’t see why not.”

Hearing that plain answer, Victor jumped to his feet and pumped his fist with a loud cheer. Karkov was the type who rarely gave definitive answers. An answer like this was practically the same as certainty.

“Great. Then let’s build it ourselves.”

Victor spoke with a broad grin, and Karkov silently nodded.

However, despite coming this far, the two had never once discussed cooperating with Ras. His funding would surely have been a great help, yet there was a reason for that.

To begin with, Ras thought releasing a graphics card before 16-bit computers appeared would be meaningless, but that judgment came from his understanding of computer history. He had failed to realize that people in this world had never even seen a PC CPU other than 8-bit processors.

Thus, if a computer with improved graphics performance appeared, instead of thinking of it as another 8-bit computer like Ras would, people would simply see it as a more advanced new product.

From Victor’s perspective, this was a business that could generate immediate profits. There was no reason to wait, nor any reason to accept investment and give up shares.

Another misconception was his belief that computer development was an ultra-high-difficulty industry impossible for a small number of people to accomplish.

Of course, for things like CPUs and memory, he was correct that such fields were difficult to challenge with small capital. But building computers using those components was another matter entirely.

This was still the dawn of the PC era. Since accumulated technology was still limited, even electronic calculator manufacturers with relatively modest funding and scale boldly challenged the field.

Moreover, for a genius like Karkov, this was an era where designing an entire system alone was not impossible. There was no need to follow Ras’s proposal of making graphics cards and waiting until new CPUs arrived.

In any case, whether Victor and Karkov would succeed or not was something only time could tell.

Meanwhile, after successfully releasing Land of Adventure 2, Meta Soft entered a vacation period. The rhythm game was not yet complete, but they couldn’t very well make everyone else stand around watching while only Nebrania worked on music production. On the other hand, sending everyone else on vacation while forcing only her to come to work would have been too harsh.

Yeah, that wouldn’t be right.

More than anything, Ras wanted to rest too. They weren’t developing games under strict deadlines, so there was no crunch time, but he was ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠still exhausted.

And these days, there was something else besides game development he wanted to focus on. He wanted to dive deeper into the study of magic, which he had been casually reading about in books until now. He wanted to shut himself inside his house for days without going to work or doing anything else.

Ras had originally been interested in magic, but when he met Nebrania in that alley before and witnessed the strange Dryad magic she used, his interest had flared up intensely. Seeing and experiencing it firsthand felt completely different.

After reading introductory magic books, he had gained a rough understanding of what magic was in this world.

The core of magic in this world was “transaction.” In premodern worlds, mysticism tended to involve vague and metaphysical concepts. Even theories consisted of things like the five elements or four-element theory, which had later been proven nonsense. In contrast, modern magical theory was surprisingly rational and clear.

According to modern theory, magic involved paying a price to beings of the Four Realms and borrowing their power. Most modern magic was conducted through transactions with beings of the Material Realm, particularly entities called spirits that possessed almost no self-awareness.

Spirits?

The term sounded related to elemental theory. And in fact, the word itself had originated from elemental concepts. However, the term remained only through convention and habit, and extensive research had revealed that spirits had no connection to elements such as water, wind, earth, or fire.

The beings of the Four Realms, including these spirits, all truly existed. Nor were they immortal. Most lacked the concept of lifespan, but they still clearly existed within the realistic framework of birth and death.

But that didn’t mean they were the same as ordinary lifeforms or matter. In particular, although spirits belonged to the Material Realm, physical observation of them was nearly impossible.

In the past, people had believed the tiny beings materialized through magic were spirits. But in the modern era, they realized spirits were closer to laws that couldn’t be understood through physical interpretation. Or more accurately, perhaps they were overwritten laws.

There were books thick enough to cover only the understanding of spirits, so explaining them fully would never end.

In any case, the important part of magic was how to conduct transactions.

First, one had to communicate with spirits, and for that, Rune Language was necessary. After all, a transaction could only be established if both sides could understand what was being offered and what was being requested. The origin of Rune Language itself had never been clearly uncovered.

There were hypotheses claiming an ancient archmage created it or that it had been bestowed by a god, but neither could be proven, so they remained only theories.

The other requirement was magical power. Since Rune Language itself was magic, without magical power it would merely be meaningless sounds incapable of conveying intent to the beings. Furthermore, magical power connected the various components of magic: the target where the spell manifested, the caster, the being involved, and the price being offered.

When Ras read the explanation about magical power in the book, he had looked down at his own hands and body.

Do I even have magical power?

If there had been some way to test it, he probably would have tried immediately. But magical power in this world wasn’t something one could awaken through meditation like in the novels he used to read.

Some people born with exceptionally powerful magical power were different, but those cases were extremely rare. More commonly, people awakened to it ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠by somehow coming into contact or resonance with beings.

Usually, though, one only found out after personally attempting magic.

However, magic wasn’t simply about reciting spells. One had to communicate with the beings. The magic book Ras read described it as putting one’s heart into it.

At first glance, this seemed to directly contradict magical devices, which were the core of modern magic. But that misunderstanding came from viewing communication only as something happening in real time.

It was a somewhat complicated matter, but simply put, magical devices themselves were not the true agents of magic. During the design process of the device, magic was cast and contracts were established with beings. Once the devices were built according to those contracts, they naturally became incorporated into magic and functioned according to the prearranged terms.

In any case, to communicate, one first had to share a language, so mastering Rune Language was essential. And although it was called communication, the beings differed greatly from intelligent creatures of the Middle Realm and were not equal to them, making it difficult to understand the responses they gave.

Occasionally, there were kind beings who adjusted themselves to human-level intelligence. But even with spirits, the beings modern mages communicated with most frequently, beginners often wondered whether the spirits were truly listening at all.

That meant one could only determine whether they possessed magical power after mastering Rune Language and attempting magic countless times.

Well, the book said it’s possible within a year if you work hard enough.

Rune Language was difficult, but in the end it was still a language, and the magic required for testing was extremely simple. The book emphasized that anyone who truly aspired to magic should never give up.

As Ras diligently memorized Rune Language, he also flipped through books about the beings of this world out of curiosity, though such knowledge was unnecessary for a beginner like him.

The existence of worlds like the Heavenly Realm and the Demonic Realm, and the fact that transcendent beings truly existed... As someone from Earth, Ras couldn’t help finding it fascinating. It felt like reading some elaborate setting encyclopedia, except this was reality, which left him strangely dizzy.