2425 Price of Progress (Part 1)

Lith nodded in reply and Meron continued.

"Yet once Forgemastered, even a power core can't be altered. If we have to craft a new main unit at every step of the project, the expenses will become prohibitive. To make matters worse, the more widespread the Tablets become, the more expensive every update will be.

"I'm afraid that in the long run, the Crown will lack the necessary funds and the isolated areas would end up being neglected."

"You would be right if the main unit worked like an enchanted sword, Your Majesty, but that's not the case. There's no need to craft new ones because the enchantments will be the same, only the contents will change."

Lith pushed the blueprints in front of him aside until he found the one for the external layer of the main unit.

"Those spheres you see on the sides aren't mana crystals that fuel the main unit, but memory banks that hold the information that will be accessible from the Tablets. I designed them to work akin to the network of military amulets.

"They too have access to several databases that can be upgraded without changing the amulets. Just like it happens for the libraries of ancient families like the Ernas."

"That's completely different." Sylpha shook her head. "The army network resorts to arrays that constantly scan the contents of the library and then share the information with the amulets when requested.

"If we have to build one such library for every central unit, the costs far outweigh the benefits. The Tablets are supposed to be short-range and rely on a local network exactly to prevent their abuse."

"There's no need for such a thing." Lith replied. "The spheres will scan and memorize the contents of any chosen library without the need for constant access. This way, the original database will be safe here in Valeron and its contents will be under the direct supervision of the Crown."

"Are you telling me that you've reverse-engineered the army amulets on your own despite the cloaking spells of our Royal Forgemasters and found a way to improve them?" Meron was so shocked that he stood up, slamming his hands on the table in surprise.

"No, I just took inspiration from them." Lith lied through his teeth.

The concept was derived from his research on memory crystals. Lith had consulted Orion before the meeting and the god of the forge had guaranteed him that the Royal Forgemasters had no idea that memory crystals were even a thing.

Admitting to having really stolen the orc crystal and revealing what Lith had discovered from it would have only aggravated his position with the Kingdom. To avoid such a problem, Lith had devised a convenient lie that covered all the bases.

"Once I knew it was feasible, I worked to create something similar, developing Double Edge first and the Tablets later. The principle is the same. My blade and the main unit have their own power core but they are also capable of hosting another and adding the second power core's capabilities to their own.

"While Double Edge synergizes with War to reproduce its enchantments and give me a weapon I can use in my Tiamat form, the main unit will process the data contained in the sphere's core and relay it to the Tablets."

Lith gave them a practical demonstration by conjuring the hologram of what the forgemastering procedure would look like.

Just like any communication amulet could scan its surroundings, the spell would scan the library during the forgemastering process and permanently store the information it contained in the power core.

A simple pseudo core couldn't handle dozens or hundreds of books at the same time but a power core could thanks to the pseudo cores it was comprised of. Each one of them had a specific role in sorting the pages and associating them to a specific tome in a specific order.

Without the main unit deciphering the data, the sphere would provide only a jumbled mess. Without the spheres and their forgemastering method, the main unit was just an expensive piece of junk.

"Splitting the data from the main unit not only will greatly reduce the cost of the upgrades, but also works as a safety measure. Only the Royal Forgemasters will know how to craft a data sphere so that once the local lords get their hands on a main unit, they will be incapable of altering its contents in any way.

"Even if someone as capable as Thrud were to conquer part of the Kingdom again, she couldn't use the Tablets against us."

"This is brilliant indeed." The Queen and the rest of the convened Archmages nodded, wishing that Lith had actually cracked the code of the army amulets.

It would have been a major security breach, but it would have also meant that Lith had just improved something pre-existing. Having the rest of the Kingdom no concept of memory crystals, it looked like Lith had reinvented the wheel from scratch and developed a maglev train from it.

The design of the main units and data spheres apparently proved that their Supreme Magus only needed to know that something was feasible to achieve on his own which had taken the Royal Forgemasters generations and made it better.

It proved Lith's worth and made him more terrifying than any Divine Beast. Meron's knees buckled and he was happy to have a chair right below him.

'Good gods, if it wasn't impossible, I'd say that Lith is my lost son.' Orion was as pale as anyone else, but for entirely different reasons. 'Aside from Jirni, I've never seen anyone spewing so much bullshit with a straight face.

'I know he's lying only because Vastor, Balkor, and I helped him develop this technology to improve Double Edge and craft his golems.'

"Also, I've come up with another idea that will further reduce the costs and facilitate the spread of Tablets." Lith pushed another paper, making its copy appear in front of his hosts.

"Another?" Sylpha echoed, gripping the armrests of her chair and bracing for impact.

"Yes, but this time it's something simple." His words made everyone sigh in relief until the hologram of what looked like a mage tower nearly gave them a heart attack.

"I call them Boosters. Their purpose is to pick up the signal from the main unit and expand their range. This way villages and small cities will still be able to use the Tablets while leaving the main unit in the safety of a city with a Warp Gate." Lith said.

"The advantage of using Boosters is that they are much cheaper than a main unit, they need no upgrade, and each one of them doubles the range of the signal. The problem is that they still require maintenance and since they would be located in isolated areas they can be sabotaged.

"Take down one Booster and all the areas that rely on it will experience a signal blackout, making the Tablets scrap metal. The best cost-benefit approach is to consider the event of sabotage or monsters destroying the Boosters as an acceptable risk and keep the main units safe."

"It's nice for once hearing a Mage that talks like a bureaucrat instead of an idealist."