Argul finished her carving some time after dinner and, as the last touch, grew the stone sphere into the socle in the center. Overall she had achieved what she wanted. The pattern looked quite good, the hands were somewhat recognizable as hands and the camera lens drew the eye away from the hands. It was her trinity of perfection.
All in all she was very happy and satisfied with what amounted to her first try at carving something more complex than a sharpened stick holding a sausage. Yet, all that was overshadowed by her excitement at being able to observe how the intent she produced during the process influenced the final product.
At some point during her carving training Argul had actually received the skill [carving]. Whether that was by her own merit or her daughter playing favorites she didn’t know. Alyra wanted the system to support sapients in their strive for greater heights. How strong that support would end up being was still in flux since it was pretty young and ultimately not finished, so both were a possibility.
Argul didn’t really care though. Fact was that she now had the skill and that it had helped her progress tremendously. Without it the hands would have driven her into despair, though that might be slightly exaggerated.
Either way, the only reason she thought about it was that the skill allowed her to make an interesting observation. The better she became at carving, the more potent the intent she passively produced was and, more importantly, the more of it actually entered the plank. Had she not improved considerably thanks to the skill, the difference would have been too small for her to notice.
Before Argul could make any guesses about possible implications though, she had to figure out what the intent did in the first place.
Originally, she had intended to use the rubies that Jack had mined as test subjects, but she really wanted to know now, so why wait?
Well, since it was a present for Alyra she would have to limit herself to visual, and magical, observation only. No matter how much she wanted to figure this out, damaging or outright destroying the gift was an absolute no go.
With that in mind, Argul put aside anything else and began to study the plank intensively. There wasn’t much to be seen at first, though she quickly found out that the additional intent caused the density of mana inside of the plank to increase slightly. The intent also strictly stayed attached to the plank, no matter how much she moved it around, so it was safe to say that it wouldn’t bleed away over time, or if it did then so slow that Argul wasn’t able to notice.
She might be able to forcibly push the intent out of the plank, but she considered it to be part of her present and thus doing so would be the same as damaging it.
Figuring out what the intent actually did however, turned out to be a bit of a headache to Argul and it took her at least an hour to stumble upon the answer. By then, it had already turned dark outside and Mia and Luna had gone to bed. She didn’t know about Arthur and didn’t care too much either, she wasn’t his mother.
Back on track, the intent made the plank look slightly better as long as it didn’t come under intense scrutiny. The edges looked a bit smoother, the lines of her pattern straighter than they actually were and a few nudges and small mistakes weren’t noticeable at all. Only once she completely focused on the looks did the differences become apparent and when they did it was a bit like staring at a selfie of herself. The longer she looked the more things to criticize she found.
So, in conclusion, the intent made the plank look a bit better. Considering that Argul had been focused on making the plank look good the whole time it made sense that the effect reflected that. There was a plausible connection between the two, namely beauty.
Now this case could be an exception of some kind, but she found that very unlikely. Magic and the effects it created were created by the intents, whether they came from an outside source or the object in question itself, and while similar intents could combine to create an effect, that wasn’t really the case here. Argul’s longing for beauty thus created an effect related to it.
What really excited her was how this impacted the world at large however. It possibly changed the way of crafting entirely. A good smith who focused on sharpness during the creation of a knife would possibly create a knife that was actually sharper. An artist who wanted to convey an emotion through his creation might do so with a lot more impact.
Though the second example may have not been the best since the profession could get quite abstract, it changed not the fact that mana was about to bring a crafting revolution, especially once the system really got going. Argul could practically taste the shift from machine to human that would take place in the next few decades, even bringing back electricity wouldn’t change that.
Machines wouldn’t be able to influence tools in the same way that humans could. Sure, they could potentially produce something like a knife en masse, she believed their ability to actively infuse the tools with intent would be questionable at best for the time being. They simply lacked a sophisticated mind to produce and manipulate intent of similar potency to humans.
In conclusion, mass production was about to become a lot less attractive. Why buy a normal knife if you could buy one that might be a bit cruder, but potentially sharper and more importantly stayed sharp even if it was used a lot?
Of course this was all Argul speculating and things could end up differently. Nonetheless even these simple applications already made her giddy for the future. She didn’t want to think about more complex things such as armor in fear of ending up disappointed by what humans came up with.
Hard simply didn’t do it and neither did safe. What was safe after all?
Intending the armor to keep someone safe wasn’t specific enough and if Argul had learned one thing when it came to mana, then the less specific you are about what you want, the more mana it would take. The intent to keep someone safe might end up creating nothing at all.
The intent of hardness on the other hand, was a lot more likely to create an effect and it was likely going to be stronger as well. Yet, while hardness would definitely help an armor out, it needed a lot more to be effective like proper force distribution or durability. Hardness and durability were not the same!
Argul shook her head. Didn’t she want to not think about this?
Trying, and failing, to distract herself with something else she began to clean her working place. After banishing all the wood chips and her improvised stone pole she threw away her four practice planks into a rubbish bin by the door and then brought her knives as well as the fifth plank into her room.
Once she was done she sneaked back down again, mindful of the others that were already asleep. Alyra was the only one left in the common room, which suited both of them just fine as they wanted to have some alone time together.
Argul then sat down on the couch opposite of her largely unresponsive daughter and studied her still form. From an outside perspective it might seem weird that the two of them stayed silent like that, she didn’t entertain the delusion that Alyra had to stay at her beck and call the moment she as the parent wanted something however. Her daughter had enough to do with the system as it was and Argul could be patient if she wanted so she had no problem with waiting.
A few minutes later Alyra entered her avatar and woke up in a sense. At the same moment something crashed against the window, pulling Argul out of her musing in a rush of adrenaline. She hadn’t prepared to be surprised like that.
Whatever it was that had just tested the windows stability was humanoid, but definitely not human. As long as the curtain hid the thing though, Argul couldn’t tell more.
Instead, she turned back to her daughter. It wasn’t too difficult to connect the wakening of her daughter and the uninvited visitor.
“What the hell is that?”
Alyra winced slightly. “Ah, it’s not exactly dangerous, but before I answer your question you might want to take a look yourself.”
Argul squinted at her daughter for a moment because of the slightly suspicious answer, but let it slide and went to the window.
Dragging the curtain aside revealed, for the lack of a better term, a dark shadow that was pressing itself against the glass. The figure had an abnormal long head and the eyes gave Argul the impression of staring into a black abyss. Slowly, the shadow cocked its head in an owlish manner and began to smile eerily.
Argul closed the curtain again, having decided she had seen enough and went back to the couches, though this time she sat down next to her daughter.
“You know, I really wanted to sleep tonight?”
“We both know that that wasn’t gonna happen either way. You haven’t slept for weeks.” Alyra teased back and she was right about that. Argul had started to like watching her domain much more than actual sleep.
“Anyway, back to your question, that thing outside is another type of specter, a being of mana formed by all the human stray intents. The best way to describe this type is as a sleep paralysis demon. They are creepy as hell, like to creep out their victims and have a limited ability to interact with physical objects. They aren’t really dangerous though, more annoying if you look past their visual appearance.”
Argul shuddered a bit. Of course mana had to magic sleep paralysis demons into existence. Why wouldn’t it?
Stuff like this always reminded her that she had to find a solution for the intent pollution somehow or even more creeps would plop into being.
“What is it doing here of all places though?”
Alyra gave her a look, suggesting she had just said something stupid. “You do remember that you increased the mana density in the inn to around level 9 during your crafting session, do you?”
Ahh yes, there was that. The few mana beings that had already been born in the city were probably drawn towards their place like moths to the flame.
Argul scratched her cheek sheepishly. Maybe she should be more careful in the future, though it wasn’t like she had done anything wrong or outright dangerous either so maybe not.
There wasn’t much she could do now to clean up her mess but wait for the mana to disperse slowly so she might as well get on with the conversation and distract from her mistakes. What’s done is done and all that.
“Ahem, so about the army…”
Argul finished her carving some time after dinner and, as the last touch, grew the stone sphere into the socle in the center. Overall she had achieved what she wanted. The pattern looked quite good, the hands were somewhat recognizable as hands and the camera lens drew the eye away from the hands. It was her trinity of perfection.
All in all she was very happy and satisfied with what amounted to her first try at carving something more complex than a sharpened stick holding a sausage. Yet, all that was overshadowed by her excitement at being able to observe how the intent she produced during the process influenced the final product.
At some point during her carving training Argul had actually received the skill [carving]. Whether that was by her own merit or her daughter playing favorites she didn’t know. Alyra wanted the system to support sapients in their strive for greater heights. How strong that support would end up being was still in flux since it was pretty young and ultimately not finished, so both were a possibility.
Argul didn’t really care though. Fact was that she now had the skill and that it had helped her progress tremendously. Without it the hands would have driven her into despair, though that might be slightly exaggerated.
Either way, the only reason she thought about it was that the skill allowed her to make an interesting observation. The better she became at carving, the more potent the intent she passively produced was and, more importantly, the more of it actually entered the plank. Had she not improved considerably thanks to the skill, the difference would have been too small for her to notice.
Before Argul could make any guesses about possible implications though, she had to figure out what the intent did in the first place.
Originally, she had intended to use the rubies that Jack had mined as test subjects, but she really wanted to know now, so why wait?
Well, since it was a present for Alyra she would have to limit herself to visual, and magical, observation only. No matter how much she wanted to figure this out, damaging or outright destroying the gift was an absolute no go.
With that in mind, Argul put aside anything else and began to study the plank intensively. There wasn’t much to be seen at first, though she quickly found out that the additional intent caused the density of mana inside of the plank to increase slightly. The intent also strictly stayed attached to the plank, no matter how much she moved it around, so it was safe to say that it wouldn’t bleed away over time, or if it did then so slow that Argul wasn’t able to notice.
She might be able to forcibly push the intent out of the plank, but she considered it to be part of her present and thus doing so would be the same as damaging it.
Figuring out what the intent actually did however, turned out to be a bit of a headache to Argul and it took her at least an hour to stumble upon the answer. By then, it had already turned dark outside and Mia and Luna had gone to bed. She didn’t know about Arthur and didn’t care too much either, she wasn’t his mother.
Back on track, the intent made the plank look slightly better as long as it didn’t come under intense scrutiny. The edges looked a bit smoother, the lines of her pattern straighter than they actually were and a few nudges and small mistakes weren’t noticeable at all. Only once she completely focused on the looks did the differences become apparent and when they did it was a bit like staring at a selfie of herself. The longer she looked the more things to criticize she found.
So, in conclusion, the intent made the plank look a bit better. Considering that Argul had been focused on making the plank look good the whole time it made sense that the effect reflected that. There was a plausible connection between the two, namely beauty.
Now this case could be an exception of some kind, but she found that very unlikely. Magic and the effects it created were created by the intents, whether they came from an outside source or the object in question itself, and while similar intents could combine to create an effect, that wasn’t really the case here. Argul’s longing for beauty thus created an effect related to it.
What really excited her was how this impacted the world at large however. It possibly changed the way of crafting entirely. A good smith who focused on sharpness during the creation of a knife would possibly create a knife that was actually sharper. An artist who wanted to convey an emotion through his creation might do so with a lot more impact.
Though the second example may have not been the best since the profession could get quite abstract, it changed not the fact that mana was about to bring a crafting revolution, especially once the system really got going. Argul could practically taste the shift from machine to human that would take place in the next few decades, even bringing back electricity wouldn’t change that.
Machines wouldn’t be able to influence tools in the same way that humans could. Sure, they could potentially produce something like a knife en masse, she believed their ability to actively infuse the tools with intent would be questionable at best for the time being. They simply lacked a sophisticated mind to produce and manipulate intent of similar potency to humans.
In conclusion, mass production was about to become a lot less attractive. Why buy a normal knife if you could buy one that might be a bit cruder, but potentially sharper and more importantly stayed sharp even if it was used a lot?
Of course this was all Argul speculating and things could end up differently. Nonetheless even these simple applications already made her giddy for the future. She didn’t want to think about more complex things such as armor in fear of ending up disappointed by what humans came up with.
Hard simply didn’t do it and neither did safe. What was safe after all?
Intending the armor to keep someone safe wasn’t specific enough and if Argul had learned one thing when it came to mana, then the less specific you are about what you want, the more mana it would take. The intent to keep someone safe might end up creating nothing at all.
The intent of hardness on the other hand, was a lot more likely to create an effect and it was likely going to be stronger as well. Yet, while hardness would definitely help an armor out, it needed a lot more to be effective like proper force distribution or durability. Hardness and durability were not the same!
Argul shook her head. Didn’t she want to not think about this?
Trying, and failing, to distract herself with something else she began to clean her working place. After banishing all the wood chips and her improvised stone pole she threw away her four practice planks into a rubbish bin by the door and then brought her knives as well as the fifth plank into her room.
Once she was done she sneaked back down again, mindful of the others that were already asleep. Alyra was the only one left in the common room, which suited both of them just fine as they wanted to have some alone time together.
Argul then sat down on the couch opposite of her largely unresponsive daughter and studied her still form. From an outside perspective it might seem weird that the two of them stayed silent like that, she didn’t entertain the delusion that Alyra had to stay at her beck and call the moment she as the parent wanted something however. Her daughter had enough to do with the system as it was and Argul could be patient if she wanted so she had no problem with waiting.
A few minutes later Alyra entered her avatar and woke up in a sense. At the same moment something crashed against the window, pulling Argul out of her musing in a rush of adrenaline. She hadn’t prepared to be surprised like that.
Whatever it was that had just tested the windows stability was humanoid, but definitely not human. As long as the curtain hid the thing though, Argul couldn’t tell more.
Instead, she turned back to her daughter. It wasn’t too difficult to connect the wakening of her daughter and the uninvited visitor.
“What the hell is that?”
Alyra winced slightly. “Ah, it’s not exactly dangerous, but before I answer your question you might want to take a look yourself.”
Argul squinted at her daughter for a moment because of the slightly suspicious answer, but let it slide and went to the window.
Dragging the curtain aside revealed, for the lack of a better term, a dark shadow that was pressing itself against the glass. The figure had an abnormal long head and the eyes gave Argul the impression of staring into a black abyss. Slowly, the shadow cocked its head in an owlish manner and began to smile eerily.
Argul closed the curtain again, having decided she had seen enough and went back to the couches, though this time she sat down next to her daughter.
“You know, I really wanted to sleep tonight?”
“We both know that that wasn’t gonna happen either way. You haven’t slept for weeks.” Alyra teased back and she was right about that. Argul had started to like watching her domain much more than actual sleep.
“Anyway, back to your question, that thing outside is another type of specter, a being of mana formed by all the human stray intents. The best way to describe this type is as a sleep paralysis demon. They are creepy as hell, like to creep out their victims and have a limited ability to interact with physical objects. They aren’t really dangerous though, more annoying if you look past their visual appearance.”
Argul shuddered a bit. Of course mana had to magic sleep paralysis demons into existence. Why wouldn’t it?
Stuff like this always reminded her that she had to find a solution for the intent pollution somehow or even more creeps would plop into being.
“What is it doing here of all places though?”
Alyra gave her a look, suggesting she had just said something stupid. “You do remember that you increased the mana density in the inn to around level 9 during your crafting session, do you?”
Ahh yes, there was that. The few mana beings that had already been born in the city were probably drawn towards their place like moths to the flame.
Argul scratched her cheek sheepishly. Maybe she should be more careful in the future, though it wasn’t like she had done anything wrong or outright dangerous either so maybe not.
There wasn’t much she could do now to clean up her mess but wait for the mana to disperse slowly so she might as well get on with the conversation and distract from her mistakes. What’s done is done and all that.
“Ahem, so about the army…”
