Chapter 620

The habitual flushing syndrome, a chronic disease of the paktong, still hasn't been cured despite the time spent together. However, the place that Harriet brought me to was her research lab in Lazarke. Every time I saw this place, I couldn't help but feel sorry. Harriet's exclusive research lab didn't have impressive facilities. If there were research facilities as huge as the Temple of Magic University, what could Harriet have done? It may be ridiculous to assume, but I couldn't help feeling sorry every time I saw it. The magical research facilities in Lazarke couldn't even compare to the Temple of Magic University's club facilities. Our paktong. It's like watching a daughter of a strict man knitting socks because her nose is crooked. In fact, she's a princess. When I see her trying to do something with what she has, I wonder if our paktong is actually a person with strong vitality. He's met a man with the greatest talent in history and can't even properly display his talent. What should I do? I'm the biggest obstacle in Paktong's life. Other kids make Titans and even create armies called Immortals. Our kid, who has no reason to be jealous of them and has even greater talent, is groaning in this attic-like research lab because he met the wrong man! "I'm sorry." "Suddenly? What?" "I'm just sorry about everything." "What are you talking about, out of nowhere?" Harriet pursed her lips, saying not a word of complaint, which made me feel even worse. "Anyway, what is it?" I admit that my thoughts are like that, but my words come out like this. "Look at this." Harriet pointed to a flat metal plate. It had a lot of patterns on it and, to be precise, looked like a stand for something. With a slightly bulging shape, it looked like some kind of machine. And it wasn't just one. It was a pair of metal plates. "Paktong, I'm not a genius like you, so I don't know what it is when I see it. You have to explain it to me." "If you're Paktong, you're Paktong, and if you're a genius, you're a genius. Do you want me to do only one thing?" "Paktong, I'm not a genius like you." "Really!" -Pak! "I said only one thing!" "You're so loud!" Even if I follow what she said, why did she hit me? Anyway, there's no end to the quarrel. It's so much fun that I can't stop. Harriet also knows this and sometimes only says what she wants to say. Harriet placed a pair of metal plates on either end of the desk. As she began to fiddle with them, the thin plates started to move and take shape. They transformed from a stand to something resembling a pair of metal plates with patterns on them. Harriet then took out a metal rod-like object from among the clutter in the lab and inserted it into one of the blue sparks that had started to fly out from the plates. Soon, a blue sphere began to take shape, and the inside of the sphere was tinged with a dark color. The protagonist was amazed and wondered if it was a new warp gate. The development of logistics and distribution is important for society's rapid advancement, and the protagonist reflects on how the empire's golden age was not due to the conquest of the demon realm, but rather the development of warp gates. Before the development of logistics, most cities had to be self-sufficient in terms of food, commerce, and manufacturing. However, if logistics and distribution are extremely developed, cities specialized in commerce or manufacturing do not need to produce food at all. Of course, the problem is just importing it. And that can be done in cities or countries with an agricultural specialization. For example, let's say there is a mine in a cold climate city with a large amount of magic stones stored. If distribution is unstable, the city must have a system that can self-sufficiently produce food to some extent even in a cold climate, and ultimately, it will be difficult for people to live there. So inevitably, development will also be difficult. But what if there were only warp gates? Food would only need to be imported from somewhere, so it would become a mining city that could mass-produce magic stones. The reason why Hwangdo Gradium, where logistics was heavily concentrated, could become the empire's largest city was because it had the most warp gates. People, goods, and materials gathered there. So Gradium had to be the largest city. The food problem in Hwangdo Gradium is also a problem that occurred because Hwangdo was not a city of agriculture. If distribution is blocked and the city is not self-sufficient, it must produce food by force and cultivate land by force to secure the safety of other areas and produce and supply food. But since there is no permanent transportation facility like a warp gate, all work must be done through the mass teleportation of archmages, not to mention the lack of production itself, and if production was done in a place other than Hwangdo, only highly skilled personnel like archmages would be required for material transportation. After the gate incident, the warp gate became a completely worthless technology. The reason is simple. The imaginary dimension, a kind of virtual dimension, became dimensionalized, and the monsters of the gate took over it. Of course, it is not impossible to make a warp gate. They can make it. Monsters just pour out from there. "So you made a second imaginary dimension?" "Yeah." "I don't know much about it, but people haven't thought of it until now, right?" "Maybe not?" It's almost the first time I've had this thought. I feel like hugging Harriet tightly and giving her hundreds of kisses. "So you're so great that you made it possible?" Even people with the best facilities couldn't do what you did by heading straight for the ground. Harriet's face widened and she wriggled her fingers. "...I don't want to say it like that." "Yes, you do. Just say it." "Uh...yes..." She knows how great she is. Even though she caused a major accident, she looks embarrassed and twists her body. She looks much cuter and more impressive than usual. "Let's hug, Baktong." "No, I hate it!" "Why not?" "I hate this! It's like praising a dog or something!" "Who said anything about a dog?" "In the end, whether something was done well or not, the result is always the same - a fight. I wonder what it was like to create a new imaginary dimension. Although I don't know much, the warp gate was not originally invented by just one wizard. According to what I heard from the Grand Duke of Saengtuan, it was a project that the emperor almost staked the fate of the empire on. The best wizards of that time would have worked on it, and it would have been the result of the best wizards of that time coming together for a very long time. The warp gate is the result of research and experimentation accumulated over a very long time. It is not the achievement of just one person, but Harriet did it alone, even without proper facilities or equipment. Harriet researched the warp gate and related materials on dimensional magic when I couldn't grasp the cause of the gate incident. The knowledge that had already been accumulated was in Harriet's head, so it wouldn't be exactly the same as the pre-warp gate development stage. But the fact that Harriet achieved what no one else could remains unchanged. Anyway, unlike the original, Harriet doesn't fight for the purpose of fighting. She doesn't always stay on the battlefield. So, although it's not perfect, she had time to think and found her own way to revive the warp gate technology. Of course, it seems that the fact that Harriet did research on the warp gate that she shouldn't have known about because of me played a significant role. In the end, the truth is in front of us. Harriet succeeded in devising a new warp gate system. 'How far can it go?' 'I tried it to see if it works or not, so if it's enlarged, the distance will naturally increase. It's difficult to use it for any purpose at this level.' 'If you have the ability to enlarge it?' 'It's not much different from the existing warp gate system. You know that the warp gate is linked to all the warp gates within its range, right?' 'Yes.' 'And I created a gate passage that can reach the destination in one breath by constructing a warp gate network, do you remember that?' 'A little bit.' The existing warp gate system, in other words, the subway line, was built in a haphazard way, with too many transfer stations. It's like the feeling of a very outdated subway station where the first subway was built. You can't see the outdated appearance, but that's what it feels like. But this is what Harriet designed from the beginning. You don't have to get off and on at the gate transfer point to travel long distances like before. 'In the end, there must be a middle transfer point to travel long distances. We need to build a Nexus for that, right?' 'Nexus...?' 'It's a connection point for amplifying the warp gate signal. It's just a function of the warp gate that serves as a transfer point, and people don't actually come and go there.' 'Did you develop that too? That bird?'" "...Of course. If you only make half of the warp gate, it becomes a Nexus."

"Huh?"

"You don't understand?"

"Of course not."

"Let me explain. Let's say we have a straight path."

"Yes, sir."

"...What are you saying?"

"Nothing, explain it to me."

"So, originally, you had to make all the warp gates to connect points 1, 2, and 3. Right?"

"Right."

"But now that most of the cities have been destroyed, there's no need to build a warp gate at every point. Right? Point 2 doesn't even have a city. But we want to connect points 1 and 3. However, points 1 and 3 are too far apart. Let's assume that."

"Uh-huh."

"Then you don't need to fully complete the warp gate at point 2, just make it a halfway point. Do you understand what I'm saying?"

"Like a stepping stone?"

"Yes. If you use the previous warp gate technology, you would have had to build a warp gate at point 2 as well. But then you would be investing unnecessary resources in building a warp gate at point 2, which is only used as a transit point. You can shorten that process and only have a structure that can perform certain functions of the warp gate at point 2, where there is no reason for people to go. The Nexus is just a convenient name, and if you make a little bit of a warp gate, it can serve as a Nexus. If you later need to build a warp gate at point 2, you can complete the Nexus as a warp gate. It's basically the same structure."

"Hmm."

I still can't fully understand, but I understand enough of what he's saying.

It's like installing a temporary station and just connecting it for now, and then completing it as a station if necessary.

And.

It means that the cost of connecting the entire continent with warp gates can be drastically reduced. The inefficient technology that has been carried over from the development stage has been completely eliminated, so now it is possible to operate with complete efficiency.

Harriet smiles at me, even though she is still unsure if I fully understand.

"Do you know why I told you this long story?"

"How should I praise you?"

"...How do you see me?"

She rolls her eyes at my attempt to praise her.

"It's not that I said this to be praised. I'm saying that it's not impossible to connect the empire and Edina with warp gates. It can be done at a much lower cost than before."

I couldn't help but widen my eyes at that statement.

Connecting the empire and Edina with warp gates.

That's a dangerously risky thing to do.

The empire still doesn't know where we are. That's why we can be safe.

But Harriet isn't saying this because she wants to destroy Edina.

"The anti-imperial forces in the Yellow Sea can be brought straight to Edina. Then no one will have to shed blood."

"...."

"I was thinking that if something happened, we would have to lead those people and leave the Yellow Sea. You know that's impossible." "The seed of division has already been sown, sprouted, and is growing. The moment it becomes thorns, an enormous number of people will die. There is a choice to destroy the empire, and another choice. There was a way to leave the Yellow Sea with those who follow me and head endlessly south towards Edina. Both war and a journey would clearly sacrifice an enormous number of people. It is foolish to lead people to the abyss of death in order to avoid war. But is it wise to cause a civil war in Gradium at the moment when this division becomes thorns, just because it is foolish? I didn't choose what to do. I just thought that I might have to do it. It is clear that connecting the empire and Edina with warp gates is a very risky thing to do. But if tens of millions of people can be torn apart without fighting, it will be better than a journey. "It's not necessary to do that." "......" "But we have a new possibility, and we have gained a means that is essential for rebuilding the world, even if it's not necessarily in this way." Depending on its use, the warp gate can be a technology for war or for prosperity and reconstruction. "And I'm thinking primarily about connecting the islands. If the travel time between the islands is shortened, the cohesion and central administration's control will increase. Do you know why the imperial power was absolute after the development of the warp gate?" First, reconnect the Edina Islands with the warp gate. The next thing is the next thing. Such a technology that can change the world came from a small, cute head. "I'll grant you one wish. What is it?" I can do anything with this feeling right now! Even if you tell me to bite my tongue and die, I can die! What do you want? I'll do anything! Just say it! Anything! "It's burdensome!" Harriet, who didn't expect my intense reaction, pondered for a while and then sighed. "Okay, forget it. Just play with the cat." What? Suddenly? "Why again! You did it last time...!" Is this one also a severe cat syndrome patient like Ellen? She always asks for it! And is that all? "Don't you like it?" She looked at me as if to say, "I said I'll do anything for you." Well, if that's the price for creating a new warp gate... It's not too bad for me, is it...? In the end, that night, I had to fall asleep hugging the vacuum cleaner in the form of a cat. Honestly, it's not a loss, but just a good thing for me...