The Queen Villainess Eavesdrops on My Heart and Won’t Let Me Slack Off – Chapter 185

Chapter 185: Mechanical and Biological Engineering Are Natural Enemies

Lydia’s defining trait has always been her willfulness. She pushes the boundaries of being a reclusive researcher to the extreme, always finding excuses to avoid meetings of the Arcane Society.
Therefore, Roger has never actually met Lydia. Based on her voice alone, she seemed like a mature and elegant lady, but in front of him appeared a somewhat spoiled and tsundere-like loli…
The contrast is quite significant.
Compared to her outstanding research capabilities, one can only say that her soul is a giant, but her body forgot to grow.
Roger shook Lydia’s hand with great caution, secretly worried that strange saplings might sprout from her body or that she might bite him.
Fortunately, the loli’s hand felt like a normal human hand, with the same touch and temperature.
Lydia’s appearance in person signifies that after their conversation, she has come to trust Roger more, deeming him worthy of her time for personal negotiations.
It also indicates that the recent experiments have yielded some interesting results, prompting her to discuss them with Roger face-to-face.

“As per Your Excellency’s request, we have used different processes to create ten Magic Cores that meet the critical standard. The cost has indeed decreased significantly. If we can find a suitable method for mass production, the cost should be further reduced, possibly to under five gold coins.”
At this price, there’s a possibility of popularizing them among the general populace of the Empire.
Roger was naturally delighted. “Thank you for your cooperation, Ms. Lydia. With your technology, we can quickly grant the new generation and the current working adults of the Empire basic magical talent.”
The Empire has many technologies, but in the past, the pursuit was solely about becoming stronger. Mages focused on large-scale destruction and direct combat.
This mindset cannot be corrected overnight. Thus, Lydia had never considered the new applications that “weakening” might bring.
It’s similar to how the Empress of Eternal Night first heard of the Magic Core concept. Magic wasn’t just about controlling vines to grow rapidly and creating restraint spells that give enemies ample evasion space.
It could also involve extracting the effect of stimulating plant growth itself, transforming it into a burgeoning industry that drastically improves agricultural output.
This idea, first proposed by Roger, was quickly adopted by the Arcane Society, ultimately leading to a steady increase in the Empire’s grain production.
Combined with the state-run farms operated by the Empire, extensive use of alchemical farming machinery, and advanced disease-resistant seeds, the Empire’s agriculture experienced rapid development in a short period.
Now, only one-fifth of the former population is needed to meet the needs of the entire nation, preventing famine and improving the quality of food.
There’s even surplus grain that can be exported for revenue.
This is a great achievement that no previous, however mighty, empire had accomplished, yet it was realized with the help of the Magic Core.
This shows how much changing one’s fixed mindset can revolutionize magical civilization.
Roger founded “New Arcana,” which essentially introduced many technological ideas to the Empire’s current mages.
With their intelligence, they helped the Empire’s technology to transform.
However, not everyone can change immediately, nor can past cognitive inertia be overcome every time.
The pursuit of greater strength and direct self-enhancement through magic is already ingrained in their DNA.
When Lydia mastered the Magic Core as the key to magical talent, the first project she conceived was to provide the Empire with a way to mass-produce powerful individuals.
Then, the invention’s cost was too high.
Besides being a high-level reward for the Chosen of the System, only the children of future wealthy families would be eligible for such modifications.
However, without using rare materials and complex procedures to simulate advanced talents, a Magic Core that merely detects the presence of magic at a critical level does indeed significantly reduce production costs.
But Lydia couldn’t think of a use for it.
Now, Roger’s willingness to wait for a result genuinely sparked her curiosity.
A young man who could create such a groundbreaking work as “New Arcana” would certainly not be acting without purpose, coming all the way to the Life Ritual to engage in utterly meaningless work, right?
Therefore, rather than reporting the experimental results of the day, she was more curious about Roger himself and his imaginative ideas for this technology.
As the Empress of Eternal Night’s personal physician, Lydia noticed that since Roger became active in imperial politics, a series of events had occurred without the Empress having to exert herself to the extreme.
Consequently, her physical condition naturally improved, requiring less of Lydia’s attention and worry.
Naturally, Lydia was very grateful to Roger for what he did for the Empress of Eternal Night.
Of course, it’s also because the Empress of Eternal Night no longer causes trouble, freeing Lydia from constantly caring for her and allowing her to dedicate more energy to her own research…
In retrospect, the latter reason is more significant.
“Plastic sisterhood” couldn’t be more apt!
Now, with Roger’s wild ideas, Lydia, whose surrounding experiments were concluding, couldn’t resist coming to see what this newly appointed Duke looked like in person.
Well, he has two arms and two legs, nothing special. She thought maybe he’d have tentacles on his hands~
Lydia discussed some technical details with Roger, reminding him:
“Currently, this is all theoretical feasibility. The implantation of Magic Cores will also be a difficult hurdle. You must consider the time cost; it will still take a significant amount of time for this technology to be truly popularized on a large scale.”
Lydia paused and added, “If it’s convenient for Your Excellency, could you tell me what this ‘waste-level’ magical talent is specifically applied to?”
The Magic Core organ appears in the cells of everyone in the Eternal Night World.
However, the minimum threshold for detecting magic varies from person to person, creating different magical talents: some are born mages, while others cannot even sense magic.
For example, Angelina has what is called a “zero magic constitution,” considered to have no talent.
But even among those with talent, there are degrees of strength. Some have very weak talent, only able to sense magic, making cultivation impossible.
Their speed of meditating and absorbing magic is slower than its dissipation. They cannot even accumulate enough magic power to cast a simple trick spell, thus they can never become mages.
This is a worse magical talent than Roger’s, the “wasteful” younger brother.
Back then, when the Empress of Eternal Night wanted to teach a young Roger a simple trick, it took her a whole afternoon, making young Ao realize for the first time that there were such笨 things in the world.
Isn’t magic just about reciting incantations?
Roger didn’t answer directly. Instead, he asked Lydia a question: “You should have installed the latest Magic Crystal Energy Array here to maintain the full output of your wizard tower in combat mode, right?”
Lydia nodded. “Yes, the combat power provided by these machines has surprised me, greatly increasing the safety factor of the Life Ritual.”
Roger nodded inwardly. The “safety destroyers” she mentioned were likely not external enemies, but the various creatures she harbored and modified here…
“So, this illustrates one thing: why should humans personally do what machines can do?”
Roger smiled. “The Magic Crystal Devices we recently manufactured have a hidden threshold for operation: magical talent. Even the weakest talent can directly operate Magic Crystal Devices; without sensing magic, one must rely on a Phantom Soul Bracelet, which significantly reduces operational precision and reaction speed.”
“Is this still related to the Virtual God Plan?”
“More than that. The new generation of Magic Crystal-powered mechanical equipment from the Chapter of Imbalance all possess this characteristic because the control chips can be greatly simplified, and the output ceiling of the manufactured devices is higher.”
Roger explained the core revolutionary idea of Frankenstein’s genius concept, which was to be promoted as the standard for second-generation Magic Crystal Machinery.
This standard could be established primarily due to the popularization of the Phantom Soul Bracelet.
Not everyone would explore the Fearless Space, but the Phantom Soul Bracelet, functioning as a watch and capable of sending messages via brainwaves anytime and anywhere, is becoming indispensable for ordinary people.
This was a feature that the Arcane Society developed after Afu’s ascension, researching the relationship between gods and faith. Based on prayer rituals, a small kernel update was pushed to the Phantom Soul Bracelet to achieve this function.
The core change was in the Fearless Space, where the simulated divinity served as the server’s receiver.
This way, users of the Phantom Soul Bracelet could mentally recall specific ciphertext beginnings and send them to the server, which would then forward the content to designated users based on divine revelations.
This point-to-point messaging method is akin to a brainwave version of WeChat. By using voice messages, it avoids the problem of low literacy rates for many people, greatly enhancing communication efficiency and lowering communication costs in this era.
Another killer feature is that this service is free.
Every message sent by a user is interspersed with emotions, serving as a form of feeding for Eris Demon Worms.
The amount is very small, but collectively, it accumulates. Relying on the vast user base and long periods, not all Eris Demon Worms will have the luck of Afu to ascend to godhood, but their vigorous growth is inevitable.
With growth comes a broader and more realistic Fearless Space, capable of accommodating more users. Thus, users are also a valuable asset, and the Empire would not dare to charge them fees.
Only the Terra Kingdom is preparing to update this function, selling Totem Bracelet 2 and harvesting the powers-that-be.
It is precisely this brainwave communication function that has made the Phantom Soul Bracelet an essential tool for the people of the Empire, with a penetration rate of over 95%. Even the elderly have accepted this trendy product.
With such technology, Frankenstein’s bold vision for the new generation of Magic Crystal Machinery had a foundation for realization: with the help of the Phantom Soul Bracelet, they could simplify many mechanical control structures, with the Controller themselves acting as the mechanical control terminal.
This could not be achieved on Earth, as no one could control the flow rate of electrical energy or the movement of internal combustion engine pistons without switches.
This is the Electromagnetic King.
The essence of Magic Crystal energy is the output of magic power. People in the Eternal Night World inherently possess the potential to control magic power.
However, many people have very low magical talent or lack professional training, preventing this potential from being realized.
It’s like everyone has a voice, but not everyone can sing high notes; some things fall into the category of talent.
After trial production by the Arcane Society, the new generation of Magic Crystal Machinery has removed the control center, reducing costs by over half. Furthermore, through the human body, it achieves more refined sensing and control, with significantly improved output ceiling and stability.
These Magic Crystal Machines include, but are not limited to, agricultural tools, home appliances, vehicles, combat equipment, and more.
Any alchemical creation that is based on Magic Crystal energy and has its own power source can be controlled by human simulation.
Or, one could say, alchemical creations manufactured using this approach represent this world’s original intention.
Because the earliest alchemical creations were made by mages for their convenience, they naturally required magical talent for control.
Later, when Roger brought Earth’s mindset, the first-generation Magic Crystal Machinery incorporated control centers within the equipment, emphasizing “plug-and-play” usability.
Now, Frankenstein is leading everyone back to this world’s original path. The second-generation Magic Crystal Machinery sacrifices the range of adaptable users in exchange for significant advantages in cost and performance. The Arcane Society universally approves of such changes.
But this presents a problem: 60% of the Empire’s population exhibits no discernible magical talent. They can only control second-generation Magic Crystal Machinery through the Phantom Soul Bracelet.
Even though they can use it, achieving better effects than the first generation with the same energy consumption, their performance is far inferior to those with actual magical talent.
The extra layer of the Phantom Soul Bracelet as an intermediary is like playing sports with armor on. The brute force might be the same, but many fine manipulations cannot be performed.
Thus, Roger pondered, since Lydia has found the core of magical talent, could they perhaps enhance the magical talent of those with “zero magic”?
“Frankie… she really does love to cause trouble.” A glint flashed in Lydia’s eyes, igniting a fierce fighting spirit. “Don’t worry, Your Excellency, I will definitely solve this problem!”
Seeing her so motivated, Roger naturally offered his full support and promised to continue investing in this project. He also reminded her, “Safety first; don’t be overly ambitious for the sake of competition.”
“Don’t worry, I’m not that kind of person!” Lydia said goodbye to Roger with a radiant smile.
Roger didn’t expose her. *You are exactly that kind of person!*
Your wild ideas have caused no small amount of trouble over the years; otherwise, why would the military be so hesitant to touch your equipment?
Both Lydia and Frankenstein can be considered “great inventors” of this era, with many talented individuals under them, producing a large number of patents annually.
However, Lydia’s inventions always have a peculiar flair, coupled with poor aesthetics, leading to a subconscious resistance towards bio-alchemy.
Consequently, Lydia has far fewer patented inventions actually converted into products than Frankenstein, which greatly displeats her.
Back at the Royal Academy of Magic, she always outperformed him on every exam!
When magical industrialization began, Frankenstein completely outclassed Lydia. The Empire poured all its resources into arcane equipment because Roger, at the time, was also thinking of all sorts of steel machinery…
It wasn’t until the battle of Sophia that Roger personally witnessed Lydia’s power, realizing that he might have overlooked a treasure of a loli, leading to today’s conversation.
The results were naturally very fruitful!
From Base Coral to critical Magic Core modifications, these are projects he views with great optimism and immense potential.
Leaving the Life Ritual, Roger used his Phantom Soul Bracelet to message Margaret, informing her that he had finalized the arrangements.
Margaret quickly replied: “What a coincidence, I’ve finally managed to deal with that foolish Crown Prince!”
This had been a long-delayed matter. The military had been preparing on all fronts, and the Life Ritual had promptly delivered the first batch of equipment.
As Roger has no pressing matters in the near future, he decided to join Prince Shaq’s fleet supporting the Sea Kingdom, intending to personally witness this tribal contest of the sea races.