A mage? A spell engineer!

Chapter 330 Folk Magic Enthusiasts

When Rorschach first saw it, his immediate reaction was "false advertising!"

It's fake, definitely fake. After all, in my previous life, deploying AI with intelligence comparable to the Tower Spirit required computing power that surpassed the limits of a personal computer. How could mere mechanical calculations possibly compete with semiconductors? The number of transistors was in the hundreds of millions! And the abandoned prototype that Rorschach and the others saw back then, while indeed the size of a building, probably had computing power similar to a calculator from my previous life.

Even engineering students working in the sewers of a sinkhole will stand tall with pride when they talk about the crystallization of human wisdom from the past—chips—and the glory of their engineering profession—space machines!

Rorschach wanted to put down the manuscript, but he hesitated because magic clearly existed in this world, and there was a ready example: the Tower Spirit.

Compared to engineering documents, Rorschach first looked at the inventor's manuscript:

"At first, the spellcasters of Storm Tower were willing to cooperate; they were very friendly and open with their knowledge."

"But when we mentioned wanting to study the tower's oldest and most core secret—the tower spirit—these mages immediately changed their expressions. Fortunately, my assistant eventually persuaded a mid-level mage. Strangely enough, I don't even know what happened between those two grown men last night."

The inventor doesn't know magic? Rorschach gleaned this intriguing fact from the few words he heard. In his past life, there were pseudo-scientists; now, it seemed he was seeing an ordinary person who was very interested in magic and possessed a certain level of intelligence.

There are many such people; who isn't interested in magic? This inventor's greatest qualities lie in his inquisitive mind, as well as his considerable wealth and power. He gave himself the nickname Count Apple, not only sponsoring enormous sums of money for the Mage Tower but also organizing his own research team.

To construct a tower spirit with intelligence, the prerequisite is to integrate the construct into the entire building when designing the mage tower.

This is easy to understand. Just like the automated system that Rorschach introduced to Andre, first there needs to be an input end, which is the senses, and then there needs to be a terminal that can be taken over by the tower spirit, such as a defensive magic circle, a magic lamp, and its sound-producing element. Among these, the sound-producing components include specialized [communication] magic circles, bells, automatic clocks, and other similar parts.

Once the prerequisites are set up, the next step is to create a core that possesses intelligence.

Rorschach was somewhat surprised. All the information above was written in the inventor's notes. The mages of Storm Tower had indeed been very open with their patron.

However, in Rorschach's view, it was less a matter of their good intentions and more a matter of the Storm Tower's spellcasters being arrogant enough to think that telling that rich Muggle about the above technology wouldn't be a big deal.

So, quite miraculously, Rorschach obtained a "Tower Spirit Creation Guide" written by a non-spellcaster.

Rorschach continued reading, and the scribe's notes at this point resembled a memoir: "After finally transferring the three Southshire estates, they agreed to show me how to create intelligence."

"First, alchemy is needed to create a vessel for the mind. When they demonstrated, they took the brain of a hound in front of me and told me: This breed of dog is smart enough to be equivalent to a five- to eight-year-old human child."

"Then the whole fresh, fragile tissue was placed into a container I couldn't understand, a round metal can covered with magical loops, and the inside was the same. Then boiling molten metal was poured in."

"The monks told me that the whole process had to be very careful. The original brain tissue would be destroyed, but its symbolic structure would be 'imprinted' by the alchemical alloy."

With the container in place, the final step was for the sorcerers to cast a magical spell called "Enlightenment." They made many preparations before casting the spell on the metal spherical container filled with the dog's brain. The author describes it as follows:

"The white light gathered from who knows where, and I am quite certain that it did not come from the caster. When it gathered to a certain extent, the light wrapped around the mage's hand as if it had a physical form, and he then guided it into the prepared container."

"According to the mages of the Storm Tower, this magic is very difficult. If the same spell is applied to a pure construct, even a great mage who has studied this art can succeed."

"Fortunately, the demonstration went smoothly. The spherical tank was put into a suit of armor, and the armor came to life, understanding our simple instructions and trying to follow them."

There's a strange feeling in an expert analyzing a layman's words. In Rorschach's eyes, this means that directly "enlightening" a construct can only be done by an archmage who excels in this area, and judging from the level of difficulty, it's at least an eighth-circle spell.

The Storm Tower's demonstration to the author was likely by a mid-level mage; the highest level of [Enlightenment] he cast was only sixth rank, but the effect seemed quite good.

"The spellcaster told me that the white light I saw might be the substance of a soul, and the metal can and the processed dog brain were the containers. The higher the original intelligence of the containers, the smarter the intelligence created by the spell would be."

"At the time, I asked, where do these 'soul matter' summoned out of thin air come from? Do we live in a world full of ghosts?"

"The other party just tapped on the armor and smiled superficially. But I had an even more chilling question I didn't voice: how were the Storm Tower's spirits, so lifelike, created?"

In Rorschach's view, the intermediate mage had taken a clever approach; the "dog brain" was a crucial casting material, essentially imbuing a dead organism with intelligence and enabling it to function. In other words, the sixth-ring version of [Enlightenment] sounds impressive, but it might actually be a necromancy spell.

It's not that necromancy is necessarily evil, but the mysterious white light, the need for biological tissue, and the creation of a puppet that obeys the caster's commands after casting spells—at least these are spells that teeter on the edge of the gray area.

The legend of the Tower of Arcane Arts states that a dragon was directly turned into a tower spirit. It is likely that the dragon was killed first, and then such magic was used to create an intelligent being that obeys the spellcaster's commands. If the "container" is strong enough, such as a dragon brain, then the memories of its previous life can be preserved.

As a result, the inventor acquired the technology to manufacture the "iron can," or at least the alchemy that his research team could master. However, he insisted on not using the necromancy version of [Enlightenment].

He sought out Babbage, the designer of the Difference Engine, and designed a core unit capable of performing all simple calculations. Crafted by the most skilled watchmakers, it had even more parts than the Difference Engine, representing the pinnacle of a simple calculating machine.

Then they actually invited a great mage who was interested in this ordinary person's wild ideas, and used a ninth-level [Enlightenment Spell] that did not involve the dead body.

"To witness a Grand Mage personally cast a ninth-circle spell in this lifetime, my life has been worthwhile! What does losing the ownership of thirty sugar plantations matter?"

I was wrong. This guy isn't an ordinary person; he has the power of money. He only knows one magic that can create miracles—scattering money, which makes intermediate and archmages bow down to him.

A miracle occurred. The "container" centered around the computing unit did not accept the "white light" they had seen before, but instead began to mechanically execute commands like a created construct. The anonymous archmage was also surprised, but that was all, because it could not communicate with people like a true tower spirit; it could only input punched paper tapes and then spit out more paper tapes.

Previously, to perform a calculation, it was necessary to input raw data and then adjust the machine's structure at the physical level to determine the calculation steps. Now, only two paper tapes containing data and formulas need to be input, and the "enlightened" calculation core can obtain the result on its own.

"The farce is over, Mr. Generous and Mr. Who Likes to Watch Machines Do Calculations." This is what the inventor recorded as the last words the Archmage said before he left.

Babbage and the inventor were overjoyed with this achievement. Babbage proposed that the outer magic loop should be modified. Since the input and output are paper tapes that only machines can understand, why not provide more computing and storage units on its periphery to obtain a machine that can solve all mathematical problems?

(End of this chapter)