320 One Studen (2/2)
[That's the plan.]
[I'm in.]
***
So he said, but the plan really had five Phases.
”First, we need a full-scale transition from magic to technology. The goal of this phase is to maintain our current standard of living without the use of mana.” Remian said. ”The second phase is to build spaceships. Third, we need an efficient form of access to space, like a space elevator…”
Alani raised her hand. ”Teacher, I have a question!”
”Yes?”
”Where is everybody?” Alani asked. ”Where's the rest of the school?”
”This is it.” Remian told her.
Alani looked around. Other than herself and Remian in a newly cleaned building of the Three Pines Black Ruins, there was nobody else there.
”Just me? I'm the only student?!” Alani gaped.
”And I'm the only teacher. For now.” Remian nodded. ”We're just getting started.”
”Right…” Alani trailed off. ”Second question!”
”Yes?”
”Why can't we use mana?”
”This world's mana is already depleted. That's why the Quarin left.”
”But didn't mana come through the Rift?”
”That's from dead worlds that the Spectres already destroyed. Elsewhere, they're actually called Star-Eaters, and if we let the Rift keep growing, bigger and bigger ones will come through and eventually they'll destroy our whole world and eat the sun.” Remian shook his head. ”Let's keep the Rift sealed, please.”
”What does 'elsewhere' mean?”
”It means other worlds. See all those stars at night? Our sun is just one of them. Every star is a sun. Out there there are worlds like ours who might call one of those stars their sun.”
”Ah. Right.” Alani nodded.
That was it. She didn't choke, didn't show even an ounce of disbelief. She seemed to completely take it in stride.
”Can we get mana from those worlds?” Alani asked.
Remian grimaced. ”They're too far away, and we can't get to them. I think the dragons can, and maybe the Dragon Empire is sneaking some in from Elsewhere, but the rest of us don't have anything that can reach those other worlds.”
”Oh.” Alani paused. ”What about Chaos Magic?”
”Messing around with Chaos Magic is actually very dangerous. It's quite common for entire cities to get blown up because someone messed up.” Remian winced, thinking back on how he had blindly experimented with it before. ”Actually most of what we call Chaos Magic only gleans power from the eddies of Chaos Energy, not Chaos Energy itself. That's what the Quarin did.”
Alani's hand shot up. ”Who are the Quarin?”
”The Black Ruins Civilization.”
”Ah.” Alani looked around. ”Can we do the same thing? Or would it destroy us like it did them?”
”Well, they're not destroyed. They actually abandoned this planet due to depletion of mana, and they still occupy some thirteen stars in this star cluster. Their civilization is based on a mix of magic-reliant technology, so they only go for worlds that have mana.” Remian paused. ”The ruins we're in now actually seems to be a factory town for magitech components. It seems we have a main power transmitter station and a Chaos Eddy Collector Array, but the buildings themselves aren't much use without the equipment that did the work. We don't have the magical power, or the know-how to build those. Short of magitech, our only means of using Chaos Magic is to do it manually, at personal risk. That takes special talent to avoid blowing yourself and your whole house to bits. It's not something everyone can do, so it's not going to help the whole world.”
”But you can. You have that sort of talent, right?” Alani asked. ”I've seen you do stuff with magic that nobody else could do.”
”Maybe I can, but everyone else can't, so that's not going to help much.” Remian repeated. ”And it's risky and dangerous, even for me. I won't be able to safely use it without a lot of careful experimentation and self-discovery. That could take years, and we don't have the time.”
Alani paused. ”What if we made another Rift? This time, to a Quarin world? A small one, just for the mana?”
”I only know of one Spatial Node on our world, and the world it leads to has already been destroyed by the Spectres. As for making a new Spatial Node… even the Conglomerate would have difficulty doing that. It's easier to just build a Warp Gate.”
”Then, what if…” Alani hesitated.
”It's okay. Feel free to ask.” Remian invited.
”What if we spied on the Dragon Empire to find out where they're getting their mana crystals from?”
***
Over at Fal'Herim, for some reason, in the middle of the hot afternoon, Tim suddenly sneezed.