A Budding Scientist in a Fantasy World

Epilogue – 1

Ethan felt a twinge of irritation as he stood in front of a certain room in his manor, and then he waited. And waited. And waited. As minutes passed by, Ethan’s irritation started to turn into anxiety.

Where was she?

Alice usually sent her clone over to this room once per month. It was the easiest way to make sure that she could keep in contact with people and make sure everyone’s schedules lined up. She came over once a month, and everyone knew what day and time she was coming so that they could get a meal. After that, Alice would give Ethan updates on what she had been working on recently, and then go off to enjoy herself for the rest of the day - whether that constituted walking through the capital and surrounding countryside, catching up with old friends, or playing board games for several hours straight. Alice was usually quite punctual about the whole thing. She always came on the first day of the new month, right at noon. She hadn’t changed her schedule once in the three and a half years since they fixed the System and returned home. Alice had always seemed to look forward to her monthly excursion, which made Ethan feel even more puzzled. As much as Alice was a bit of a homebody, she still enjoyed the occasional trip out. Why was she late this month?

He felt a twinge of worry.

Had Alice just decided to stop coming? That didn’t seem likely. Alice was the kind of person who would have at least let someone know if she had decided to stop sending clones over. It also didn’t seem likely that she had forgotten. Alice was a person of habits and routines, as much as she could get lost in her own world sometimes. If she wasn’t here, there must be a reason for it.

Which led Ethan to the most unnerving possibility.

Had something happened to her?

Alice was an Immortal now. She was strong enough to take care of herself in most situations, but a part of him still worried about his former apprentice. She was simply too young as an Immortal - and like all Immortals, her growth speed had slowed down considerably after she reached Immortality. Perhaps the Sigmusi had found the System, despite their best efforts? If they had sent in an army, or a few specialized [Assassins], Alice might not have been able to handle it. They had suffered quite drastically under the chaos from the collapse of the System… but that was also the time when a nation was most prone to making drastic and poorly thought out actions. There was no time more unstable than when a major world power was collapsing and a new power was rising.

As Ethan debated going to his spy network to make sure there wasn’t some new piece of information he had somehow missed, he felt the mana in the air start to condense and gravitate towards a certain spot in the room. A moment later, a person snapped into being. One that looked remarkably similar to a sixteen year old girl with brown hair - although Ethan knew her real age was approaching twenty now. Ethan relaxed. At the very least, Alice was still capable of sending her clone over. That meant she wasn't dead.

“You’re later than usual,” said Ethan.

Alice beamed at him. She had the eager expression of someone teasing a cat, or perhaps someone eager to show off something new.

“I know I’m a bit late today… but there’s a reason for it! Today I ran the final few tests for the project I mentioned a few months ago. I’m pretty sure that I found a way to make mana baptisms safe!”

“Wait, really?” asked Ethan. He blinked in surprise.

Mana baptisms were one of the scariest things that someone could undergo, but it was also one of the more common ways for the truly impoverished to die. After all, Mages held a considerable status in most countries. At the same level, a Mage was stronger, had higher economic productivity, and even had a longer lifespan. If Alice had truly found a way to make mana baptisms safe, that would be revolutionary for the entire human species. It would signal the beginning of a new era. Ethan wasn’t even sure how much it would cause the human situation to change, because it would make every single human in the world healthier, more productive, and more powerful on a personal level. It would not only equalize one of the innate advantages some people were born with, but it would also probably make every single economy in the world soar to new heights.

Of course, while Ethan wasn’t entirely sure what the world would look like with access to safe baptisms… he had a sneaking suspicion it would look a lot more like Alice’s home world. After all, one of the defining factors of a ‘first world country’ from her home was the fact that every single citizen had a much higher level of wealth - and they also had access to machines that made one person’s labor equal to ten people’s labor in a less developed country. The System in this world equalized some of that difference in productivity… but if everyone was a mage, it might truly bring this entire planet out of the ‘middle ages’ and into a pseudo-modern one.

Ethan took a deep breath, and reminded himself not to imagine too much of the future. There were a lot of more immediate concerns - and he still needed to verify it.

“It took me a lot of messing around, but I finally figured it out,” said Alice. “A big part of the reason mana baptisms are so deadly is because outside interference is basically impossible - or so most people think. After all, from my initial observations of mana baptisms, if anyone tries to use mana to interfere with a mana baptism while it’s in progress, any external mana will basically get ‘eaten’ by the mana baptism, and make the process more dangerous. However, I also remember that the System itself was able to assist people in mana baptisms, albeit to a limited extent. I realized that’s due to the fact that belief mana can kind of sneak around the whirlpool of mana that forms during most mana baptisms, so I relied on that to find a bypass. From there, it was just a matter of finding a way to ‘carry’ more useful kinds of mana by smuggling it into the human body using belief mana. It took me a while to figure that out, but from there, the actual process of fine-tuning a mana baptism proved much easier.” Alice grinned. “They just need to wear a new ring I developed. I originally thought that it might be a good idea to just add it to the System itself, but then I realized that I should run some clinical trials first. I also need a bigger foundation of belief mana to make this whole setup work - so I kind of need some public visibility. Once enough people wear the ring and get the impression that mana baptisms are safe, I should be able to use that belief as a kick-starter to fuel the System version. For now, we’ll be stuck using rings, though. In a way, this is also a good thing, since it makes sure that there are some proper tests done before I integrate the whole thing.” Alice handed Ethan an enchanted iron ring.

“Are there any restrictions on who should wear this ring, or how it should be used?” asked Ethan, as he idly fingered the ring. He couldn’t detect any mana fluctuations from the ring at all - which, if anything, was testament to Alice’s growing understanding of the System. He didn’t know of anything else, besides the System, that could consistently pull off ‘invisible enchantments’ the way the System could.

“As long the person undergoing a baptism is using regular mana and not broken mana, it should be fine,” said Alice. “So basically, get a few Mages with pure mana seeds, then have them set up an artificial room made of pure mana. Also, I’d appreciate it if you only run trials on someone who has already resolved themselves to undergo a mana baptism. Just to make sure that my creation doesn’t accidentally endanger someone who wouldn’t have already been in danger. If this hits about fifty or sixty successes without any failures, I’ll be happy enough with the results to update the System’s mana baptism protocols.”

Ethan nodded. Alice’s request wouldn’t be hard to fulfill.

In the years after the collapse of the System, even though Alice had restored the System, it was still a very different world from before.

Monsters and the wilderness were dozens of times more dangerous than before. Monsters, in particular, had grown more intelligent, and more capable of working together. Environment,s such as Fendrallia’s swamps, had also become far more dangerous - even though the restoration of the System had limited their spread and turned down the danger levels to more manageable degrees. Most countries had lost control over huge parts of their territory during the ensuing chaos, and while civilization had rebuilt itself from the ashes of the old world, it had still been a catastrophe. Plenty of people were willing to go to extreme lengths to grow stronger, due to the new threats that humanity faced. This was more visible in the southern continent, where civilization had always been weaker, due to lower soil fertility on the continent and higher mana density, but it was also true on the central continent. It wouldn’t be hard to find people who were already about to undergo a mana baptism. Ethan also didn’t think Alice would give him a faulty product - if Alice was advocating trials, she must be fairly certain it worked already. She had probably as many Perks as she could to verify the enchantment before even moving to this phase.

Then, Ethan had another thought. While integrating the enchantment from a ring into the System would eventually happen anyway, the fact that Alice had given the ring to him also meant that, for a brief period of time, this enchantment would only be available in Illvaria.

Ethan’s thought started to head a little bit closer to the immediate future. His previous thoughts were about what humanity as a whole would look like - but what would Illvaria’s future look like, if it was the birthplace for safe mana baptisms? It meant that for a short period of time, Illvaria could have a population comprised entirely of Mages, unlike other countries. That would create such an overwhelming advantage in economic and military power that Illvaria could potentially accomplish a goal that had eluded the country for centuries - kicking the Sigmusi out of the southern continent entirely, ending the practice of slavery on the southern continent, and shattering the Sigmusi empire’s status as a global power. Even better, this would mean that Alice would no longer need to fear attacks from the Sigmusi within the walls of the System. One of the biggest reasons Alice was in danger was because the Sigmusi controlled all nearby coastlines and shipping channels. The moment she was exposed, she would face attacks from every direction, and it would be very hard for any friendly forces to reinforce her. If the Sigmusi lost their foothold in the southern continent, then Alice’s safety margin would drastically improve. Ethan wasn’t a warmonger - but the Sigmusi’s previous actions, as well as its status as the only country where slavery was legal - made him feel that a bit of war was justified this time.

If Illvaria actually succeeded in kicking out the Sigmusi and devouring a good part of their territory, the southern continent would become a much safer place as a whole. Ethan spent a few moments simply dreaming about what the future could look like, and then smiled.

However, as if Alice could read his thoughts, she frowned at him.

“I don’t mind Illvaria using this technology earlier than other nations, at least for a brief period of time. It's normal for a nation to seek economic and military advantages, and I really don’t like the Sigmusi. I haven’t had any luck totally wiping out Classes like [Slaver] yet, although I’ve been trying. I would be more than happy to burn their country to the ground. But, I do expect that this invention will ultimately be available to other countries as well. I also want it to be rather easy to access for people within Illvaria - something like a public service. That’s the only way I’ll be able to integrate it into the System properly, anyway. If only the rich elite get access to it or something, it would defeat the entire purpose of the ring. I want to help the human species as a whole. Not one specific country.”

Ethan nodded. Alice was the creator of this enchantment, and he would respect her will. Besides, it would probably be impossible for Illvaria to keep a monopoly on this enchantment long-term anyway. If Illvaria provided no method for other people to get perfect mana baptisms, they would be beset by an endless plague of [Spies], [Assassins], and invaders knocking on their door in an attempt to steal the enchantments and technology for themselves. Providing some way for other countries to diplomatically access it would make it much less dangerous for them, even if it meant that Ethan’s thoughts about a superpowered Illvaria may not be quite as possible to realize. But Ethan wasn’t too hung up on it. At the end of the day, what mattered was keeping the people of Illvaria safe. As long as they removed the Sigmusi as a threat, Ethan would be happy enough with the outcome.

Besides, even from a purely practical perspective, pissing off the girl who, at least to some extent, controlled the System was a poor choice. Alice was reasonably constrained by her own perspectives on morality and ethics, so Ethan didn’t think that Alice would lash out at Illvaria if they went against her wishes - but it would certainly create a sour feeling in her heart. That might come back to bite them in the butt a few centuries down the line. Not to mention, in the five years since Alice has arrived on this world, this was the second time Alice had done something that could literally reshape the entire planet and change the world forever. The first time was when she saved the System, and now she had created a way to guarantee safety for mana baptisms. Losing a connection like that just wasn’t worth it. Alice had more than proven her abilities already.

“We’ll start with some test runs, then I’ll offer it to [Nobles] first. But I’ll make it very clear that it’ll be available to everyone else a few months later. That should assuage [Noble] egos enough that it doesn’t become an issue, and it should still make it publicly available soon enough. It might still run into a few political issues and challenges, but I’ll talk with the other Immortals and the Crown to make sure we’re prepared for them,” said Ethan. 

Alice paused for a moment, before she nodded. “Good enough, I guess.”

Ethan smiled. Life for humans had gotten worse after the collapse of the System, what with the constant rebuilding efforts underway, the more powerful monsters, and the terraformed and terrifying terrains. However, with this little change, the rebuilding efforts would shift a little further in the right direction. The world was new, more dangerous, and more magical than ever before - but that didn’t necessarily have to be a bad thing.