785 Distant View (1/2)
Seeing how stunned and confused Heidi was, Lucien said with a smile, ”I like to listen to and write music when I am free, and Mr. Oliver likes to watch and create plays. That's essentially the same as you playing games. It's just a form of recreation. As long as you are not addicted to it and your arcana studies and magic abilities are not affected, there will be no problems at all.”
Whether a thing was good or bad highly depended on one's attitude toward it.
Heidi and the students were not exactly scared of being criticized by their teacher. It was just that Lucien's criticism often came with a lot of ”homework”, such as the studies on the quantum field theory and the exercises about the new products in mathematics. It was a nightmare that they could not forget for the rest of their lives.
”Rest assured, Master. We have only devised the game to test certain modules. We won't be addicted to it.” Heidi promised Lucien on behalf of her team.
Looking at the game on the screen, Lucien had a lot of mixed feelings. Although it was rather shabby, it already had the looks of the game that he was familiar with. ”Let's call it Ally Tetris. As a matter of fact, game design is a good thing.”
Huh? Even the shy, introvert guys like Annick were surprised.
”Sorcerers need relaxation and entertainment too. Do you not feel that the regular ways of entertainment, like opera, play, concert, ball, and Arcana Voice, are too few?” Lucien said half-jokingly. As for hunting and the other activities that nobles liked, they were not very popular among sorcerers. ”Also, it will help build up the image of arcanists and sorcerers. Think about it. If there is a game that simulates adventures so that ordinary people can play as sorcerers and sense how marvelous magic is when it is used to deal with monsters and in daily applications, they will be more and more into magic.”
Heidi's eyes beamed with interest, but she immediately frowned and said, ”Even though the ordinary people can afford such games right now, the 'artificial intelligence' at present cannot support such a complicated game at all. Also, we are too busy with all the research programs in hand to design any other games. We have to continue the studies on magic crystals, and we need to try to melt alchemical life and artificial intelligence…”
”I'm not asking you to design it in person. There must be a hundred arcanists who are studying 'artificial intelligence' with you, aren't there? You can let them play a part. Also, the design of a game can be separated from magic. It's like writing a 'play' in the language of 'artificial intelligence'. In such a way, the job can be outsourced to the ordinary people who do not have talents in magic. You'll be creating new jobs for the kingdom,” Lucien suggested casually.
”Outsource?” It was the first time that Heidi heard the notion, but she understood her teacher's meaning well. After all, her teacher was most famous for the terms that he invented. ”In such a case, the simple modules can be outsourced too, but we have to devise courses… However, the most important thing right now is to improve the performance of 'artificial intelligence'.”
Speaking of games, she suddenly remembered something else and asked in confusion and curiosity, ”Master, the massive live stream screen was ready to be manufactured half a year ago, but why hasn't 'Arcana Voice' been live-streamed yet?”
Thanks to their studies on ”artificial intelligence”, the screen that could display images was invented very soon. Although a lot of efforts were spent on lowering the cost, maintaining the color, and reducing the size, and there were no products available for even the nobles yet, the large live-stream screens could already be manufactured and deployed in the squares of important cities. Thankfully, there weren't many such squares, so the Congress of Magic could still afford it. Heidi had also obtained abundant revenue through the patent from it.
”'Arcana Voice' is a radio channel. All the programs have been designed for the sound-only feature. Now that the screen displays images, many programs are no longer appropriate. So, we have to devise new programs. The interviews, interpretations, and music shows can be live-streamed, but not the others. Otherwise, why would we bother to use images? To see what the storyteller looks like?” Lucien had been teaching the Sky Radio Station new concepts and recruiting new workers.
Some of the new recruits were even ordinary people without any magic talents, but they were smart and had the most creative ideas.
Heidi understood what her teacher meant and nodded with mixed feelings. ”I wonder when we can see the first real live stream…”
”Perhaps, it will be sooner than you expected…” Lucien smiled subtly.
...
A few days later, at the beginning of the Month of Scorch (August), in the city square of Rentato…
A white pillar of water erupted to the sky from the pool made of stones and fell to all directions like a waterfall, raising spindrifts on the clear water. It was noisy and loud, but no one around was upset. They even approached it, trying to drive away the heat on them.
On the opposite side of the famous spring was a weird enormous screen. It was transparent and complicated, and unique parts could be vaguely seen inside.
”Why do you think there have been no live streams when the screen has been established for five months?” A citizen asked Longman, his child.
Longman was much taller than before. As a student of the fourth grade in the first generic school, he was already a knowledgeable scholar in the eyes of neighbors and friends. Although he lacked extraordinary talents in magic, he was praised by his teacher for distinguished mathematical aptitude. Longman's parents were very proud of him and subconsciously considered their kid as a scholar, asking him whenever they had a question.
”'Live stream' is not an activity, but more like a program like 'Arcana Voice'…” Longman explained according to what he learned in school.
Right then, the enormous screen suddenly emanated gentle brightness.
”It's glittering! It's glittering!”