NEC Chapter 121: "Arcane Origins”, Ideographic Writing!

Chen Mo arranged the military training time for three weeks. That is to say, he planned to launch exploratory development of Blood Fortress in late June.

From the beginning of the Year of Thunder of the Resting Moon, arriving at this desolate land with only salt frost covering the ground and ruins scattered about, in over five months, the territory had achieved construction accomplishments that drew attention from all informed parties.

During the period when the troops were sharpening their weapons and actively preparing for war, Chen Mo had deeper communication with Scholar Aidan Elliott.

Elliott was very interested in the electrical energy system of the Mechanical Sovereign behind Chen Mo, while Chen Mo was also very interested in the Magic Academy's spiritual energy conversion research. Both sides, based on principles of honesty, friendship, cooperation, and mutual benefit, established the following cooperation plan.

Chen Mo would regularly and freely provide Elliott's team with photovoltaic power generation equipment, energy storage equipment, and electrical application equipment to assist Elliott's team in their research.

As equivalent compensation, Elliott would provide Vast Sea Territory with his two most recent research results involving the mutual interference and influence between spiritual energy and other energies.

This was the first time Chen Mo learned that the Magic Academy had so-called internal academic journals.

Most mages weren't particularly short of money, but earning money still had distinctions between fast and slow, difficult and easy.

The kind that followed mercenary groups through wind and sun, life and death struggles, earning unpredictable and fluctuating blood money, was undoubtedly the lowest level.

Entering the ranks of various kingdoms, accepting patronage, usually taking students during peacetime and accepting conscription during wartime, this was the most common state for most mages.

That's right, as long as you erected a magic tower within a country's borders, you were by default considered that country's official contract mage. Once the nation had issues, the mage's disciples, the mage's vassals, and even the mage himself could potentially be conscripted to the front lines.

Otherwise, why would the country give you such generous treatment? Did you think operating licenses were so easy to obtain?

The highest level was these big shots from the Magic Academy. They earned money through research.

For example, a certain grand mage, after years of research, improved a wind-type magic array model, adding a speed enhancement effect that increased the original foundation by another twenty percent.

If this magic master had his own channels, he could directly cooperate with enchanters, directly applying it to armor, weapons, or even cavalry, taking all the profit from this technological innovation.

Or he could directly sell the technology, earning a one-time buyout payment. Even if there were no further achievements afterward, he probably wouldn't worry excessively about money.

Of course, if he wanted to earn even more, he could submit his results to "Arcane Origins."

This was the Magic Academy's internal journal, specifically providing a display platform for mages with new discoveries and new creations. They only needed to report their results to the Magic Academy and conduct one or two field tests. After obtaining the Academy's confirmation, they could publish their related achievements in "Arcane Origins."

This journal would be distributed to various countries through mercenary guild channels, placed before that portion of people qualified to read it.

Of course, the published research results only described effects without explaining causes, obscuring principles and hiding models.

This was equivalent to a commercial advertisement facing the entire Starry Continent, allowing for orderly competition where the highest bidder won.

Elliott and his team conducted basic energy research, belonging to the category where results came slowly, and even when they did emerge, one couldn't immediately see any "money prospects."

But the Magic Academy equally needed such research results. First, they could fill gaps in the journal when there were no major achievements. Second, certain results could provide reference and inspiration for other mages' research.

Of course, what Elliott provided to Chen Mo in exchange wasn't the superficial version from the internal journal, but the kind that could be referenced and replicated. As for whether there were any secrets held back, Chen Mo couldn't tell at all since Elliott provided the Mistmoon Divine Court text version, and they didn't share a language.

That's how it was published originally, so it couldn't be considered deliberate obstruction, but it was somewhat unfriendly to small places like Vast Sea. Vast Sea's translation personnel could handle daily matters fine, but for such professional literature, translating it was equivalent to having pages full of X's or circles.

However, Chen Mo didn't mind.

He had specifically collected complete language databases from various countries and sent them back to East Xia long ago. With the level of those language and writing experts, they could decipher even heavenly books, let alone currently used scripts.

However, Elliott's slightly self-aggrandizing cooperation display made Chen Mo realize a problem.

The Magic Academy had academic journals!

Could he let this pass?

Chen Mo shamelessly clung to Elliott, absolutely demanding back issues of "Arcane Origins."

"I'm also a mage! I'm also a lord! No way, you have to share with me."

"What? Vast Sea doesn't have a mercenary guild? I'll establish one immediately!"

"Where do I apply? The Emerald mercenary guild headquarters, right? Don't worry, I'm sending people there right now!"

"Call Herlan over for me. Isn't he well-connected with broad relationships? Take people, take money, take enough gifts! Take Vast Sea's sincerity and get this matter settled for me!"

This was the first time Elliott had seen this usually calm and composed lord so anxious and agitated. He could only reluctantly agree to Chen Mo's request, providing cloudstone versions of the two most recent journal issues.

Chen Mo secretly recorded data from Elliott's magic cloudstone displays, finally obtaining some "professional literature" from the Starry Continent.

Although many descriptions in these journals only covered "appearances" rather than principles, Chen Mo had no doubt that the research workers back home would treasure them.

Just like when East Xia was newly established and spent precious foreign exchange resources to purchase foreign scientific journals.

To obtain more sharing of "Arcane Origins," Chen Mo waved his hand grandly. Except for a very few core equipment areas, Vast Sea Territory opened most areas for Elliott's visits and research access.

For example, the saltwater rice greenhouses.

The saltwater rice brought by Lord Chen Mo was like a miracle in Vast Sea Territory, but the Seven-Radiance Garland Trading Company that came and went previously showed no interest whatsoever.

The reason was simple, who would want to plant rice in saline-alkali soil?

In this world, it was always those who didn't grow grain who never lacked grain.

As for those who did grow grain, first, they lacked the ability to develop large-scale planting in saline-alkali land, and second, even if they managed to grow it, they probably couldn't protect it.

Moreover, Chen Mo had priced the saltwater rice seeds at an astronomical figure and stated bluntly that the offspring of these seeds would show significantly declining yields.

So whether it was Farrell or Oren, they only looked for novelty.

The Magic Academy was different. This group specialized in various research, and anything novel, strange, or peculiar was a research topic to them.

Elliott showed intense interest in the saltwater rice, especially this kind of saltwater rice that grew rapidly in special environments.

Grain crops that could be planted in saline-alkali soil with decent yields, this magical plant characteristic quickly attracted Elliott's attention.

Elliott himself wasn't conducting this type of research, but that didn't matter. Getting hold of such interesting new specimens, he could exchange them with colleagues for experimental subjects and magical materials.

In the hands of some old fellows who studied plant production research, this could easily generate ten or eight articles for "Arcane Origins."

In this atmosphere of mutual enthusiasm, the cooperation between both sides became increasingly harmonious. With the saltwater rice seeds, Elliott provided two more copies of the Magic Academy's internal journal.

There was another point that Chen Mo completely hadn't expected: Elliott displayed an attitude of admiration and amazement toward East Xia's writing system.

After extended contact with Vast Sea Territory, both Oren and Farrell knew that this necromancer lord had accidentally connected with a mechanical construct plane and gained the favor of some "Mechanical Emperor," which explained all these strange otherworldly artifacts.

To make it more convenient for the territory's people to use the "Cyber Sovereign's" equipment, Chen Mo had even brought over the other party's writing system and taught it publicly in his territory. This could be considered a reasonable matter.

Farrell and others curiously studied it briefly, only finding it extremely complicated and not taking it seriously. But falling into Elliott's eyes, what the scholar saw was completely different meaning.

"This is... this is ideographic writing!"

"What about ideographic writing?"

"No, Farrell, you don't understand what this means!"

Elliott's hand caressed those square characters representing "mountain," "fire," "water," and "sun," his eyes sparkling.

"From the Year of Sky's Bloom, Starry Continent mages who had initially mastered spiritual energy laws attempted to seek the universe's ultimate truth from one plane after another in the name of summoning."

"The final conclusion: spiritual energy is the only answer!"

"But I... actually saw ideographic writing on a mechanical construct. This is truly miraculous!"

Farrell's curiosity grew stronger. He humbled himself to ask for instruction, "Respected Scholar Elliott, what's special about ideographic writing?"

"The writing itself certainly has nothing special. What's special is the history behind it!"

Elliott used a light spell to write East Xia's character for "fire" in front of him, raising a flame beside it. The flickering firelight and the gently moving "fire" character seemed to overlap through the air.

"Master Lamar of the Magic Academy once wrote a brilliant analytical article about writing that I still remember vividly."

"Any civilization, at the moment they transition from having no writing to having writing, what they create must be ideographic writing."

"Because no one knows how to say what 'fire' is, so whether the drawing resembles it becomes the first step for mutual communication at the dawn of civilization."

"Individual graphics accumulating into a complete writing system, this is the writing characteristic of enlightenment civilizations."

"But ideographic writing is too complex. I have to learn its form, learn its meaning, and separately learn its pronunciation."

"Well, there might be more than one pronunciation!"

"Later-born civilizations lack the ability to complete such complex creation. They directly learn the writing of enlightenment civilizations, imitating and modifying to create their own writing. This is imitative writing."

"Imitative writing has already lost ideographic function, becoming only a... mechanical, childish imitation."

"Finally, as long as history is slightly interrupted, all writing will take the path of convenient, rapid phonetic writing, because this is simply too convenient. If you can speak, you can read and write. It spreads like a plague, infecting everyone."

"Look, throughout the entire Starry Continent, only Sky's writing still shows traces of imitative writing. All other writing systems have become phonetic."

"So what does discovering writing that's primarily ideographic mean?"

"It means this is a primordial enlightenment civilization that emerged from having no writing at all, having experienced who knows how many eras with never-broken inheritance."

"This is simply... unimaginable!"

"I'm already imagining how crazy Master Lamar would become if he saw this kind of writing!"

While Farrell and Oren were still somewhat puzzled, Elliott, with a pilgrimage-like attitude, reached a complete agreement to exchange "Arcane Origins" for East Xia writing.

Both sides got what they needed, each thoroughly satisfied.

The technical cooperation progressed quite smoothly, and collaboration regarding ruin exploration was also advancing in an orderly manner.

The magic array that could drive ruin cores, or nest cores, though expensive, wasn't a problem for current Vast Sea Territory since problems solvable with money weren't problems.

Chen Mo also kept one eye open regarding ruin exploration.

Or rather, mixing truth with deception.

The truthful part was excluding Thunder Plain. That place was too far from the orc's uncontrolled zone and had already shown trends of becoming a Starry Continent "internet celebrity check-in spot."

Not only had mages who enjoyed studying lightning set up observation stations on the wasteland, but some high-level warriors who liked tempering themselves in various ways would also draw lightning and endure electricity on-site, claiming to enhance their lightning resistance.

"In this situation, with our small arms and legs, let's not join the excitement!"

The deceptive part was when the lord waved his hand grandly at the joint meeting with the Magic Academy!

"The primary target is still Falling Feather Canyon!"

"We're a pioneering territory. It's better not to get too close to the orcs. Mixing in human territory feels somewhat more secure!"

Scholar Elliott and High Priest Farrell looked at each other and shook their heads. For these people who had long been active in the north, humans were far more sinister and despicable than beastmen. But such matters couldn't be discussed deeply with this lord given their shallow relationship, so they could only smile and let it pass.

As Lord Chen Mo made Falling Feather Canyon the first priority target, the entire territory began moving.

The Vast Sea Council began issuing missions to mercenary guilds in the southern Crescent Moon Federation, purchasing information related to Falling Feather Canyon.

Three advance teams departed in succession, directly conducting specific investigations of the situation around Falling Feather Canyon.

They hired mercenary groups and teams with regional exploration experience to begin establishing Vast Sea outposts.

Transport teams began constructing temporary warehouses in the southern desert, gathering supplies as transit stations for the expeditionary force.

Of course, as a backup plan, they also sent two reconnaissance teams to Blood Fortress to gather information and conduct preliminary exploration.

Days passed one by one. The centaur troops' "armored transport tactics" drills became increasingly mature. In mid-June, as Farrell and Elliott's visiting delegation left Vast Sea, Vast Sea immediately began a major pivot.

The lord personally led the team: ten squads of centaurs, all skeleton regiment warriors, over three hundred human auxiliary troops, assisted by the sand people's camel beast brigade, conducting continuous forced marches directly toward Blood Fortress.

When they reached Blood Fortress's outer perimeter, it was exactly the first day of late June.

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