_________________________________________

Elaria

Last night Elaria was starting to reconsider her relationship with Leo, as he essentially declared that he wanted to take on the entire world. Luckily he explained to her that it would be years, maybe even a decade, before he was prepared enough to be able to start a ‘revolution’, because he needed to actually build up the power and connections to really back one. The thought of it actually taking so long relieved her, as she believed that he might give up on the suicidal task at some point.

Leo told them that it was going to take so long because he needed to learn ‘everything’, master magic, earn a fortune, acquire connections, consolidate political power, and find more allies. This explanation prompted both Allis and Elaria to ask if he was high nobility or royalty, because that level of planning took them both by surprise. He laughed, while saying he would probably be his kingdom's equivalent of a peasant, and that wealth, status or lineage does not denote your intelligence. Allis tried to ask how a ‘peasant’ would know so much, and he told her what his trade was, and tried to explain something called the ‘Internet’.

After a few hours of conversation, mostly exchanging information on each other's worlds, Allis went home, and Elaria passed out on the bed with Leo. They were both too exhausted for any ‘pleasurable’ activities, as much as they wanted to relieve the stress of that day.

When they woke up the next morning, they got ready and had breakfast while they waited for Allis, because she was going to teach Leo how to make runes. He seemed excited at the chance to start learning, as he said that if it was as ‘broken’ as he assumes, then he’ll make his wealth in no time. Elaria knew that mages sold rune enchanted items for up to full gold coins, but Leo said that if the runes are easy to make, then he'll sell things for a few silver each. Opting to make his money quickly enmass, rather than looking for one large payout.

Leo tried to explain what some of the things he was going to make were, and they all sounded ‘very’ useful, but she was still confused as to how they were originally made without magic.

Elaria tapped her claw-like nails on the table as she propped up her head with her other hand. “Leo, last night you told us some pretty amazing things that your world had, plows that let a farmer plant whole fields in less than a day, towers that scrape the sky made of glass, ships that fly, a world of information accessible to everyone. But, how is any of that not magic?” She asked skeptically.

Leo leaned back in his chair, and scratched his chin in thought. “Eh, there's a quote from a writer on my world that can best explain why you may think that it's magic, but it's not. ‘Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic’. Say for example, if you were brought to a world where all people fought with were rocks and spears, and you were armed with a steel sword and armor, what would they think of those items.

“They would be too primitive to under..stand…. You think that we’re primitive savages?” Elaria responded while sounding slightly insulted.

Leo's eyes went wide as his brow arched. “No no no no no no, your technology is primitive. Just because my world has created such advanced technology, doesn't mean I know how to make it myself, just how to use it and the basic principles behind its function. You may know how to use a steel sword, but can you make one?”

Elaria shook her head, and started to connect the dots. “So you would just be introducing something new that would take us a long time to figure out on our own?”

Leo smiled. “Exactly!.... Well, more or less. Magic kinda fucked your technological development, because it took us only a few hundred years to get to where we are from the point your at. But you've been stuck in the same rut for what I assume to be tens of thousands of years, because no one with the education wants to create anything new, it's all focused on magical development. And why waste making anything for the peasantry unless they can pay for it.” He explained impassively.

‘That, actually makes sense….’

A greedy grin replaced Leo’s warm smile. “With the concepts that I know, I can create things that will make life easier for everyone, and by selling them cheap I'll make more money than I’d know what to do with, because no one is selling magical tools to the peasants. I will have that entire market to myself, at least until merchants and aristocrats catch on, but by then I'll have a monopoly on, well, everything.”

“Wow that's, wait what's a monopoly?”

_________________________________________

Leo

Leo was initially annoyed at having to explain yet another concept, but a smile came to his face as a road map for changing the world started to form in his head.

Using his knowledge of economics and technology he could easily work to undermine the powers of the kingdom, then spread out his influence to the others. He doesn't actually want to rule over anyone though, because he didn't want to have to deal with game of thrones style power plays for the rest of his life, not to mention the paperwork. After his revolution, he would just reform and restructure the selarin government, and then make them so prosperous that they influence all the other kingdoms.

‘I always liked a good culture victory. I'll still have to make a few basic magic rifles for a private army to protect my stuff, but that's a few years down the line. I have to establish myself first, and that's going to take some time. Not to mention dealing with the dragons, but as soon as I find out what they are actually capable of and develop some countermeasures, I'll basically be ignoring them. Even though I don't wanna kill anyone, I’m not above defending myself. There's no fight that can't be solved with a few hundred G’s and some, ‘lead?’ no, just very fast rocks… So lead. Hopefully it will never come to that though, because I still don't wanna see what that actually does to something that's alive...’ Leo’s mental planning was interrupted when he saw Allis enter the inn.

Allis slid over to their table, while carrying a few large books. “Hello Leo, I brought the books you asked for.” She said as she laid them out on the table.

Before Allis left last night, Leo asked her to bring back some books, one on the general history of Selaria, one on the world, one on the study of mana, and one on runic magic. Leo wanted to start the long and tedious process of research, but if he had to be honest it felt more like he was about to read some entertaining fictional lore.

Leo smiled as he looked down at the books. “Thanks Allis, I should be able to knock this out in a few days. I'll mostly be focusing on runic magic though, so could you go over the general setup to start.” He asked as he picked out the book on runes.

Allis nodded, and took on the air of an instructor. “Well, to actually start making runes is easy, the difficulty stems from its long process and construction. The runes are essentially words of power given form by the mage, and just like a language these words can be structured to-”

“Yes, yes, I get it. Can you just show me how to make one?” Leo interrupted, waving his hand dismissively.

Allis’s eye twitched, and she tensed up. “You can't jus-...” She trailed off, realizing that she was about to go into the same rant she gave him when they first met.

With a resigned sigh, she relaxed. “Fine… Just direct your hand toward what you want to enchant, focus your thoughts on a single word that has meaning, then push your mana out onto the object. The rune will start to grow out from a spec, and the speed of it's growth will depend on how well you can direct your mana. It usually takes a few minutes for-”

“Done.” Leo interrupted, gesturing to a rune about three inches in length that was glowing faintly on the table.

Allis blankly stared, mouth agape, at the newly created translation rune. “What the hell are you….” She asked in disbelief.

Leo smirked as he waved a hand over the rune, dissipating it instantly. “A little annoyed by how easy that was, but let's continue. How do I structure the runes and how are they powered?”

Allis glared at Leo for a few seconds before realizing her own expression, and then apologized for the look, but Leo told her that he did deserve that one. “Well you simply thread mana between one rune to another with an intent on how they should affect one another, and they are powered by ambient mana. They siphon mana from the air around us, the bigger the rune, the more mana it can siphon and the stronger it becomes.”

Leo gawked at Allis, and minutes passed by as he tried to process what she told him.

Elaria waved a hand in front of his face. “Um Leo? Are you alright?” She asked worriedly.

Leo snapped out of his daze, and directed his attention to Allis. “Allis… Can a rune ever cause the area around it to run out of mana, even momentarily?......”

“No, or at least there have never been any recorded cases.”

A single solitary thought echoed through Leo's head as he struggled to process the implications of her words, while he directed a thousand yard stare to where the translation rune was.

‘Yeah, that seems perfectly balanced…...’

_________________________________________