Chapter 932
Yulia, Who Wants to Be a Heavenly Envoy
“…That might not be the case.”
Upon hearing Yulia’s words, Eivass felt a bit awkward.
To be honest, Doctor Gatling’s original intention in inventing the Gatling gun was to increase firepower, thereby reducing the number of casualties on the battlefield…
…How should I put it? If this line of thinking is taken to its extreme, it’s not entirely wrong.
Because when firepower increases infinitely, until weapons capable of truly destroying everyone are born, the number of casualties on the battlefield will indeed decrease—using the same logic, when the machines that improve productivity evolve to their peak, Yulia’s concept might actually come true.
However, before that happens, the development of events is unlikely to proceed as she imagines.
Despite this, Eivass still gave Yulia’s research his full affirmation, “However, I think this line of thought is fine. In fact, Yuli—you’ve greatly underestimated all of this.”
“…Underestimated?”
Yulia was surprised by the extremely high praise from Eivass.
She was familiar with Eivass.
Given Eivass’s personality, he always spoke his mind on such crucial matters.
He would never give inaccurate evaluations to pander to the emotions and pride of his friends and family—though it’s said that good advice doesn’t save those who don’t want to be saved, and mercy doesn’t help those who bring about their own doom. Even if the other party clearly didn’t want to listen or showed strong resistance, Eivass would still say what he needed to say and offer the advice he deemed necessary.
“That’s right, the machines you’ve developed are no longer just about ‘driving the development of the era.’ If all goes well, this could even be called an era leap—it could become the greatest invention in human history!”
“…Is that really possible?”
Hearing this, Yulia seemed a bit hesitant.
“Yes, that’s the case,” Eivass nodded seriously. “Because for most inventions of humanity, the old civilizations basically invented them once already. Even for things they didn’t invent, they were merely products of compensating and optimizing the inherent flaws unique to humans, who are ‘beast-like descendants of elves.’
“In other words, these inventions are ‘beneficial to the progress of human civilization,’ rather than ‘beneficial to the world.’ To take a step back, even if these things were to be born, they could have been invented by other races such as elves, dwarves, or dragons.
“But your invention is different—this is something only humans can develop.”
“…Only humans… Why?”
Yulia was stunned for a moment.
At that instant, she felt as if she had dimly grasped the crux of the matter—
“Because humans are the most comprehensive race, and also the weakest race.”
Eivass replied, “Humans inherit the instincts of devotion, balance, beauty, and twilight from the elves, love from Hengwo, and transcendence from Father Snake. They adapt through the instinct to survive, gain authority through the instinct to unite and form groups, and gain wisdom through the instinct to pursue truth…
“Humans are the only race with adaptability to all nine Paths and whose adaptability to the nine Paths is perfectly balanced. Apart from humans, any other race, upon naturally reaching adulthood, will tend towards a certain Path… Only humans are different.
“Only humans, while growing naturally to adulthood in a healthy, happy, and relaxed state, will not lean towards any specific Path. In the Church, elves without the desire for devotion are considered anomalies; but among humans, anyone who completely leans towards any Path would be called ‘extreme’ by us, a sign of a rather poor mental state.
“—And precisely because of this, only humans naturally lack any racial extraordinary abilities.”
Eivass said slowly, “But from another perspective, this is precisely what makes them unique—only humans view things from the perspective of ‘discarding all extraordinary powers.’ Therefore, rather than saying humans are the children of Hengwo and Father Snake, it’s more fitting to say that humans are the darlings of the Hourglass.
“Achieving your design goal is not difficult. Necromancy has the ability ‘Summon: Ghost Sage,’ and the Path of Devotion can directly pray to the Discs of the Path of Balance for calculations. The Path of Wisdom is even less of a question.
“As for elven or Star Antinomy alchemists, just as you said—they would create calculating devices that use mana. Such devices, based on elemental transformation or rituals, would be superior in difficulty and stability to your ‘Analytical Engine.’ ”
“…Brother means,” Yulia finally understood, “this is an invention that other races could never have conceived?”
“That’s right. Just as humans breathe and can smell, they wouldn’t bother inventing a device that allows ‘species unable to breathe to also smell.’ For example, Atlanteans, these beings with scales can move freely in water; they simply wouldn’t consider how to allow surface dwellers to infiltrate the sea.”
Eivass nodded and said earnestly, “The machines you’ve invented are ‘completely disenchanted calculating devices’ that only humans could have invented.
“…You will surely become a pioneer, Yuli. If all goes well, you might even have a chance to become a Heavenly Envoy!”
“If I can become a Heavenly Envoy in the future, that would be for the best,” Yulia sighed. “Thank you for your kind words… I will strive towards this goal from now on.”
Her words were not lighthearted like a casual remark—precisely because she was confident in her potential, her words carried weight and seriousness.
It was an undisguised thirst for power.
Because Yulia had nearly died in her childhood, she craved abilities that would allow her to survive even more.
“There will indeed be a chance—or rather, it’s almost inevitable.”
Eivass’s words were so certain, as if he had already witnessed such a future: “In the future, these devices will be miniaturized infinitely. Everyone will have many such calculating units. With these calculating units, many daily tasks will be automated, akin to having several attendants by one’s side… and all of this won’t even require mana to accomplish.
“When conducting population censuses or tax calculations, there will no longer be a need for hundreds or thousands of priests to pray day and night, waiting for the numbers to appear in the blanks; instead, it can be easily calculated using human power alone.
“The calculation and prediction of trajectories will no longer be exclusive to Extraordinary beings of the Path of Adaptation and the Path of Wisdom. With sufficient convenient computing power, data can be compressed and decompressed—telephones and telegraphs will no longer require lines, and one might even see the face of the person on the other end!
“If you want to buy specialty products from a distant location, you won’t need to find someone to buy it for you; instead, you can remotely browse product features and prices anytime, anywhere, place orders remotely, pay remotely, and then have the goods automatically delivered to you—all of this can be easily accomplished with sufficiently cheap computing power!”
Eivass’s words even filled Yulia with confidence.
Her eyes lit up, and she happily hugged Eivass, “Brother, you’re a genius!”
From Eivass’s words, she gained many inspirations for inventions—many of which could even be considered for implementation right now!
What Eivass was contemplating was a future where this computing power, once disenchanted, would become cheap and accessible to the masses.
Even now, it was possible to supplement computing power with spells to complete some parts in advance—for example, cross-sea wireless audio-visual communication, which currently requires at least Fourth Tier rituals, and the model of remote ordering and logistics delivery, both had considerable room for development!
The former could be made into a detachable, portable, fully automatic Ritual Array—for instance, by hiding the key components in a mirror, it could be used to communicate with friends at any time, or to set up surveillance at home that could be checked at any moment.
This was not difficult… It is said that the Church has similar technology, but it has not been commercialized.
The latter was even simpler—remote ordering was easy, the difficult part was the payment process.
This required banks to establish credit systems for currency… When the bank confirms that the buyer’s account has sufficient funds, it can record the transaction and generate a bill for the seller, automatically deducting the money from the buyer’s account. Finally, a batch of paper currency would be mailed to the seller periodically, and such a transaction could be completed without any physical contact.
As for shipping… that would have to rely on large freight companies.
However, it felt like it was actually feasible!
The only problem was that the workload for banks would increase by an unknown amount… It was truly as Eivass said, this step could only be fully completed when there was enough computing power.
Thinking of this, Yulia admired Eivass even more.
Eivass, however, could only give a wry smile and shake his head, “This is just knowledge borrowed from another world, or rather… stolen knowledge. If I truly had this ability, I probably would have already walked the Path of Balance.”
As he said this, he felt a sense of powerlessness.
Ai Shiping, the original Transmigrator, had invented so many things and made so many friends when he was a Samsara Heavenly Envoy. He possessed complete knowledge of the other world, unlike himself, who only had a superficial understanding of the “game memory” that might or might not be true.
He could invent all sorts of miraculous things and had a strong adaptability to the Path of Balance. Unlike him, who had no talent for balance.
As a human, a “darling of balance,” Eivass himself lacked adaptability to the Path of Balance—especially when his “main body” had almost become a Pillar God of the Path of Balance.
All of this was so ironic that Eivass began to doubt… Was he truly just a tool, a consumable? Was his fate predetermined, just a pawn being manipulated? Was his perceived resistance like a puppeteer controlling a puppet to cut its own strings…
“—I don’t think it has anything to do with that, Brother.”
Just then, Yulia suddenly spoke softly, “Whether this knowledge came from another world, was taught to you by someone, learned from books, or realized by yourself… it is all new and undeniably real to me. If I hadn’t heard your words, I wouldn’t have been able to achieve this step; if I can achieve even a little success, it will definitely be related to your words.
“…I don’t know why, but I feel like you, Brother… pursue ‘truth’ a bit too much.”
The white-haired girl gazed at Eivass, her tone tinged with confusion, “This doesn’t seem to be the first time… Why is that?”
(End of Chapter)
