With Yznera's "gift" out of the way, I moved to the second item on my agenda. Learning how to use the fairies' mushroom rings to teleport. Nenandil was clueless about that.
I teased.
In fact, I think there's a point to be made about why magical fantasy cultures stagnate. During my travels and observations, I noticed that magic is the go-to solution to all problems, mundane or otherwise. The System giving people superhero powers left and right also has a saying. Why develop a machine when a person can do the job just fine? Most [Farmers] don't even use beasts to plow their fields. In a few cases, not even the plow, for that matter.
Such stagnation can be explained using the Kardashev Scale. The demand for more energy propels civilization forward. While the knowledge of magic was low, the civilizations were forced to evolve, to develop. But magic can offer any amount of energy to a civilization. Once enough magic knowledge and application are known, technology stagnates because all the brilliant minds focus their efforts toward magic.
Would Plato and Aristotle sit on a rock and think about the world if they had magic to play and solve their problems with a snap of their fingers? Hell, no. They would research more magic. Or at least I think so.
But back to the Kardashev Scale. How can a magical civilization harness all the energy of their planet if that energy is infinite? They don't. They reach stage 0.3 or something like that and then stagnates. Well, they don't stagnate. The gnomes, for example, are making contraptions but using magic as a motor force. So we have small increments in "hard" technology but with magic as a backdrop. It is slower but it exists.
And people are envious and paranoid of each other. A powerful mage wants nothing more than be secure at the top of the arcane food chain. That's where magic rears its ugly maw once more to keep the stagnation. Because mages are walking nukes. Magical disasters are mini-Chernobils. It would be like a medieval Mahouka where everyone can be Tatsuya but nobody is as cool as him. Large-scale magical disasters erase too much knowledge.
Homeostasis. That's the term I was looking for. For a technological society, it can be argued to be inexistent. The inexorable climb up the Kardashev Scale guarantees that civilization evolves. But magic breaks the laws of thermodynamics. And society stagnates.
----------------------------------------
While I pondered about the predicament of magical societies, I walked down the busy streets of Windemere, sampling the food stalls. Truly, I had to eat only eighty calories each day to survive, but I liked the food. The academy changed the lighting in the main streets. Enchanted crystals now hang from overhang poles attached to the outside of the houses. The apprentices recharged the crystals every now and then but anyone that knew the trick could send MP to the crystals at a range. I saw several merchants and passersby making sure their favorite spots were well-lit by doing so.
I'm surprised by two extremely pretty lamia girls playing on the street with their friends. They are small and wearing linen shirts and canvas skirts just to keep other people from having bad thoughts. I think their tails are not even two meters long. One of them is green with dots of red and black, and the other is brown with flecks of gold and silver.
Lamia girls! It meant they are daughters or granddaughters of the two lamias I brought with me from the Vintis Archipelago. Their tails were magnificent. If I had to guess, they were green and brown lamias, able to evolve into Forest and Earth subtypes, respectively, should they choose that path. The color of a lamia's scales determines her affinities.
I moved out of traffic and leaned against a wall, watching the children play with a mote of envy floating in my heart. I grew up in a necropolis, basically. After a few minutes, I noticed two people, a male halfling - not an eleon - and a female human watching the same group of children. I used {Appraise} on them.
> [Merchant]
>
> Level 35 male aldoen
> [Bodyguard]
>
> level 47 female human
Aldoen, that's the name of that tribe of "halflings". I kept one eye on the children and another on the couple. The play took the kids into a back alley and the two followed. I saw the woman unsling a burlap bag from her belt and I felt a knot on my throat.
I made sure nobody was looking at me and slipped in behind them. I heard a muffled squeal and saw the burlap bag squirming with the tip of a green snake tail jutting out from the bag's mouth. The other kids were ducking out of the alley on the other side.
I didn't hesitate. Decades of training spoke louder and I tossed {Force Bindings} at the two would-be kidnappers. The aldoen and the human were bound and gagged by the invisible bands and the woman dropped the bag the ground. Wasting not a moment, the two girls slither out of it and don't look back as they go down the alley into the next street.
With the two neutralized, I took my time to write a note to Kazuyran and send it via summoned bird.
> Kidnappers attempted to take two lamia girls. Slavers? I'm interrogating them. A full report will follow this.
Next, I grabbed them both and climb the alley wall to the rooftop. Searching the two, the only suspicious thing I found was an enchanted ring on the merchant aldoen's ring.
"Nice ring. Do you want to tell me what it does?" I asked the guy. He shook his head slightly.
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I tugged the ring and found that it was attached to his finger. Part of the enchantment must be some anti-theft measure. I bent down and licked the ring. After a few tries, I got what I wanted.
> Enchantment learned: Spatial Storage
>
> Base cost: 5.
Oh. Expensive!
Like, is that a thing now? The little guy's hands were conspicuously free of calluses. And his baby fat and smooth complexion betrayed a wealthy upbringing. I stared into his eyes as I created a tray of Force underneath the hand. Using {Silent Voice}, I gave him a mental command.
> You won the contested Ego check. Royal Geas is active.
>
> You lost the contested Charisma check. Target resisted your Royal order.
He resisted and took the damage. Once. He stared at me with hateful eyes and obeyed the geas.
Yznera could've asked for anything but my womb and I would've obeyed. Ten points of Ego would greatly improve my life.
I stored the objects in my item box as they came out. I didn't see them but the auto-inventory function told me what they were. He had merchant goods, luggage, clothes, slave collars, weapons, armor, naughty sculptures, books, writing implements, soap, slave collars, a tent, bundles firewood, a horse saddle adapted for his small build, more slave collars, a few tower shields with interesting attachment points to bind them to one another, and did I mention slave collars?
These guys were slave merchants and they tried to kidnap the wrong girls in the wrong country at the wrong time with the wrong witnesses. They were basically begging to die and I would happily oblige.
I brought Alloralla's dagger to my hand and put a {Death Contract} on them. The woman's eyes went wide and I knew she could detect them. Was she an [Assassin]?
I was about to stab the guy's brains through his earhole when I sensed someone else on the roof. I stowed the dagger and turned to see the newcomer.
It was Gandalf. Not sir Ian McKellen, Tolkien's character, Ed Greenwood or J.K. Rowlings's ripoffs, or some other insect isekai announcer. Okay, not Gandalf, but if you looked at him you'd say, "Hey that guy looks like Gandalf."
Gray robes, long white beard, and a staff. If he told me to "stay awhile and listen", I would.
> [High Elementalist]
>
> level 105 human male
>
> Charisma 100
>
> Magic 100
>
> HP ~ 350,000
>
> MP ~ 4,445,000
Second rank too.
"Greetings, [Archmage]. What brings you here?" I bowed slightly without taking him out of my sight.
He scratched his beard, "Girl, that was a splendid display of Force magic. You're a natural!" He gushed with great enthusiasm.
I wasn't supposed to even have a System. But let the mage have his fun. I went with the flow and beamed a proud smile back at him.
"Thank you, sir. I'm just finishing with these two slavers here, would you give me just a minute?"
He waved his hand, "By all means, do your business. I can wait for a minute or two."
Turns out he was the one staying a while and listening. Oh, well. Fuck that. It's murder o'clock. Yeaaaaah. No. The mood is totally ruined. I spun a full turn in place to face the mage again.
"These two are not going anywhere anyway. How may I help you, sir?"
"Your mastery of Force magic is superb. I must say, your innate magical potential is the greater I've ever seen. The amount of magic funneling into your person, it's almost as if you are a nexus of magical power, a... wellspring of mana."
The only way he could've creeped me out more as if he'd wiggled his eyebrows.
"Well, thank you. I've trained a lo-o-o-o-o-o-ot!" I drew out the 'O' and shut my mouth. What the hell was I saying? "I shouldn't be using magic out in the open, but I couldn't let these slavers kidnap children, you know?"
"I agree completely. Wasn't you going to murder them with that fancy elven dagger?"
Just kill me. Before I die of embarrassment. Wait, why was I behaving like that? I checked his Status again. Oh. I bet {Pinnacle of Charisma} had something to do with that.
"Yes, just a moment."
One stab each. A few dozen billion Exp. The bodies vanished into my item box before my dagger got out of their heads. The aldoen's slaver ring fell on the tray and I tried to store it.
> ERROR: Objects with sub-dimensional spaces attached to them cannot be stored.
Fine. I took the ring and put it on my finger. After tweaking with its resonance for a while, I managed to bind it to myself. Once I did, the [High Elementalist] spoke.
"Greetings, milady. I'm magister McCalister, a professor at the Windemere Magical Academy."
The title of "magister" meant he was in the second echelon of the academy. "Archmagister" was a title reserved for the top magical dog in any organization.
"I'm pleased to meet you, magister. I'm sorry I can't introduce myself now as I'm working undercover. But you can call me... Blossom."
He smiled, showing no sign of being annoyed, "Miss Blossom. I believe by your fighting style that you prefer I go straight to the point. I want you to attend the Academy."
Oh. Going to school! Making friends, and... damn, his Charisma was already at work again.
"Could you tell me why? I might not have money for tuition."
He waved a hand and smiled, his teeth perfectly pearly white. He had that grandfatherly aura... yeah, it wasn't funny anymore.
"Don't worry. His Majesty King Eric Windemere told us to scout promising youngsters in the population and bring them to the academy. You are the most promising one I've..."
I raised a hand and he stopped. "I can assure you that Eric hadn't me in mind when he set this scholarship program. And I already know enough magic."
His smile didn't fade. "I can assure the lady that you don't. Can you allow me three questions? I won't pressure you further if you do."
"Sure, go ahead."
"Are you the nexus of this city's mana surge?"
Straight for the kill. I frowned. "Magister McCalister, would you give me just two minutes. I need to talk to my guests before my time runs out."
He stared straight at the two ghosts. Yeah, this guy was the real deal. I was just a street magician compared to him. I interrogated them quickly. They were from a slaver guild and to them, Windemere was a treasure trove of rare creatures to sell elsewhere. I bit the ten percent Exp penalty and contracted both ghosts to me. They all had important information.
"Okay," I addressed the gray-bearded man again. "Yes, I am. I have some Perks that create this field where everyone's MP regeneration is doubled and the excess that would be wasted by them is channeled to me."
He nodded, "Therefore if you were to leave Windemere, this field would end."
I nodded. "Second question?"
"How do you hide your Status? I can't see anything about you, but I know you dealt three hundred thousand HP of damage on a single blow to that woman."
"Another perk. I have a lot of 'em," I bragged. {Pinnacle of Charisma} sounded every second more like a cheat. "Last question."
He smirked like the cat that got the mouse, "By what titles are you known out there?"
I tilted my head, "System titles or honorific titles?"
It would be good if he was thrown off the bridge now but that didn't happen. But I crossed my arms and stared at him, daring him to push forward.
"Fair enough. I know more than the necessary already," He gave a toothpaste commercial smile and bowed reverently. "It is good to know you are still alive, [Sorceress] Rosewise. I'm terribly sorry for the death of your wife, the Queen."
"Lorna lived two lifetimes already. She wanted to rest," I said and regretted because I'd confirmed what he wanted to know.
"I'm sorry if I irritated you. That also explains the Force magic. I was there defending the Dungeon against the first outbreak. The spell you used on the tunnel still baffles me. I owe you my life, milady. Can I make up the interruption today by taking you to dinner? I know an excellent place."
Hard to tell if this guy was flirting with me or if he was just being nice. I raised an eyebrow. His pearly whites didn't stop gleaming for a moment as he took a step back in our conversation.
"I know you have no interest in dating men. I'm a diviner by specialization. May I instead help you root out the slavers in Windemere?"
I smiled back, "Now you're talking. Murder always gets me hungry. I'm taking these two with me, they are important sources of information yet. They won't eat though." I said about the ghosts.
He chuckled, "Of course. This way, please."