ALL NOVEL B2 – Lesson 29: “Ignore The Ominous Lightning Flashing in The Background”
Boarslayer folded her arms. "I don't get it. What's the big deal?" she asked, frowning.
Dr. Maria twitched, her eyes snapping toward the large goblin. "What's the big deal? What's the big deal?! You don't get it! Tablets don't work like that! Arrays don't work like that! There's a reason we do things the way we do! These… MUDs totally unweave tens of thousands of years of established fact! That's what the big deal is!" With each breath, the doctor's words became more frantic and crazed as she waved a finger at Boarslayer like it was a club.
For a moment, Alpha feared he might have broken something in the old human woman. Thankfully, Antchaser stepped up, standing between Dr. Maria and Boarslayer.
He cut the woman off and held up both arms to block her. "Hold up, now. You're going to have to break this down for us, doctor. Remember, Boarslayer and I barely have any experience with arrays, let alone tablets."
Dr. Maria froze. Then blinked.
"Ah, right… I apologize," she said as the crazed woman disappeared and the stoic doctor once more took over. "I guess some explanation is in order."
She cleared her throat and raised a finger. "First, let's see how much you do know. I'll start with a basic question. 'What are arrays?'"
Antchaser and Boarslayer exchanged a look before the former shrugged. "Arrays are… arrays? You draw patterns, inject Spirit Energy, and get an effect," they said.
Dr. Maria chuckled. "That's not incorrect, but it's not the answer I wanted. At their core, arrays are instructions — more specifically, instructions to Spirit Energy."
Boarslayer frowned. "That doesn't make any sense. Spirit Energy isn't a living thing. It doesn't 'think'. How can you give instructions to something that doesn't listen?"
Sure, Cultivators could 'direct' Spirit Energy, but that was them imposing their own will on it, not 'asking' it to do something.
Dr. Maria smiled. "Again, you're not wrong. Spirit Energy doesn't have a will of its own, but it does have tendencies — habits and patterns that we, as Cultivators, can exploit. By moving Spirit Energy in certain patterns and in certain ways, an array manifests an intended effect on the world. Like a seamstress weaving an elegant dress out of raw thread."
She held up her hand, and the fingers warped, sharpening and turning a shiny grey color. In only a few seconds, each finger had transformed into various medical tools: a pair of forceps, two different scalpels, a long needle, and even what looked like the end of a stethoscope.
She wiggled the metal digits around and continued, "In fact, when a Cultivator uses a spiritual technique, they're creating a type of array by moving their own Spirit Energy through their meridians in specific patterns to create their desired effects. If the Cultivator is the seamstress and the Spirit Energy the tread, then manual casting would be like knitting by hand, while arrays are more akin to using a loom and patterns."
Antchaser and Boarslayer both stared, wide-eyed. Neither had really considered too deeply how their techniques worked the way they did or their connection to arrays. Did a swordsman question why his arm moved, or the bowman why his arrow flew?
Okay, so some probably did. Otherwise, how would new and better creations come into being? But those people were elites with the time and resources to question more than 'does it work.' Those people weren't Antchaser and Boarslayer.
Alpha, on the other hand, found the entire subject fascinating. That simple explanation alone answered more questions than weeks of independent research.
What do you mean that's my fault?! You can't ask questions you don't know!
Alpha chose to ignore the string of messages from his Sub-AI and instead turned to the doctor.
"With that in mind, why use… spiritual techniques… at all? If an array is a loom, why bother 'knitting?'" Alpha asked, using what he'd come to all his 'Dungeon Core tone.' It was useful for getting the natives to offer information up without letting on he didn't already know the answer. Is this what therapists did all day? Maybe Alpha would take up psychiatry when he got back to the Federation!
Dr. Maria folded her arms and nodded her head. "Thank you, Mr. Alpha. I was just getting to that." She then turned back to Antchaser and Boarslayer. "As Mr. Alpha said, with that in mind, one must ask, 'What's the point of spiritual techniques then?' And that train of thought isn't too far off. In fact, it is often said an Array Master is someone who has taken that thought to the extremes. Someone who has forsaken personal techniques in favor of arrays. But —"
She paused and held up a finger.
"—the profession also acts as a perfect example of the pros and cons of either philosophy. In their territory, an Array Master is peerless. Even powerful geniuses from the Five Pillars will hesitate to fight a proper Array Master on their home turf. Whether speed, power, or efficiency, arrays simply outperform what any individual Cultivator could hope to accomplish. Returning to our analogy, a seamstress using an advanced loom could create far more, far quicker than one relying on their own two hands. But therein lies the problem…" Dr. Maria let the statement trail off, eyeing both goblins.
Antchaser narrowed his eyes, considering the unspoken question. It took a moment, but then it finally clicked.
"In their own territory…" he breathed, almost as if to himself.
Dr. Maria grinned and nodded as Antchaser continued the thought;
"It's like you said… they're peerless… in their own territory. Give an Array Master the time and resources to set up; you'll never pull them from their shell. But catch them off guard and under-prepared, and they're far easier to deal with. That's basic knowledge."
Dr. Maria laughed. "Correct! Now you've got the idea!" she said. The doctor paced back and forth, some of the manic energy returning as she spoke with her hands. "You hit the nail on the head, my dear boy. Array Masters are some of the most dangerous people you will ever encounter… if you give them the chance."
She stopped and whirled, holding up three fingers.
"That's the key. Time, space, and resources. This is the core of the choice that every Cultivator eventually faces. Do you refine your personal techniques, which are generally weaker and slower to master, yet flexible and 'free,' but for your own time and power? Or do you focus on arrays, whose power is available to their wielders at the snap of your finger yet are inflexible, cumbersome, and expensive? For most, the answer lies somewhere in between, and the truly strong know how to make the best of both."
Alpha nodded along at the explanation. That made sense. It was the classic 'grind-to-win' verse 'pay-to-win' debate. Did you focus fully on training your character to do everything? Or did you buy some OP equipment to cover the areas your build couldn't?
Boarslayer was next to speak up, after having remained uncharacteristically silent for the longest time.
"Okay, I get that… kinda… But what does that have to do with the MUDs? How do they play into all this? Is it just because the machine can churn them out so fast? I feel like an Array Master should be able to do at least something similar, right? Even if it's not worth their time," she asked with a frown.
Dr. Maria turned toward her, grinning. "That's part of it, sure! But a device capable of automatically engraving simple arrays with minimal effort isn't anything new. Some workshops use similar concepts for basic, everyday items. No, the crux of 'problem' — if you could call it that — is this!"
The doctor held up the two connected MUD tokens and channeled energy into them, though without the third token, all they did was light up. Once the energy had faded, she reached over and 'snapped' the fused tokens apart, though with no apparent damage to either. Again, she channeled energy into them, and again, they lit up, though this time Antchaser could tell there was a distinction. Where before, the two MUD were like singers harmonizing with each other to sing a song, now they were two voices trying to 'sing over' each other.
Antchaser tilted his head. "So, they can… what? Combine? Is that supposed to be hard?" he asked, his eyes narrowing.
Dr. Maria threw her head back and laughed. "Hard? No, my boy, it should be impossible."
"Why?" Boarslayer followed.
"As I said before, arrays are instructions, and like any good instructions, you can't just slap words together willy-nilly and expect them to make any sense. Each individual seal —" she held up the MUDs to show them "—is its own 'word' or letter. They're parts of a whole that connect and intermingle in different ways to form the greater whole we know as an 'array.' What seals are used and how those seals are arranged in relation to each other determine the effects of an array. This is why Array Masters go to such lengths to obscure their work. If you know how to 'read' an array, you can learn what it does."
She held the MUDs next to each other, and they once more clicked into place.
"But like words on a page, once the ink is dry, they're set. You can't easily change an array without knowing what you're doing, or the results could be devastating. At best, you could ruin the array. At worst, you could cause a catastrophic feedback loop resulting in a massive explosion —"
Alpha whistled off to the side, trying to look innocent.
"—or even cause unintended and totally unpredictable side effects. Only true masters, or those rare gifted geniuses, can ever hope to truly 'crack' an array and produce a stable result."
Antchaser nodded, following along so far. Still, he felt the need to ask.
"So what you're saying is these tokens can be mixed and matched to produce stable arrays? Like someone cutting words out of a scroll and gluing them onto a new one?"
Dr. Maria snapped her fingers and pointed at Antchaser. "That's exactly it, my boy! Good analogy. Yes, these MUDs are similar in concept to what you describe. However, instead of gluing them to another scroll, you're creating an entirely new scroll out of pieces of others. It might not look pretty, but for the purposes of giving instructions, they work. They work when everything we know about arrays says they shouldn't."
Boarslayer folded her arms and frowned. "Why not?" she asked. "It seems like a smart idea to me. I'm surprised no one's ever tried it before."
Dr. Maria shook her head. "Oh, they have," she responded. "The issue lies with the third problem with arrays. Resources. Arrays are expensive. They need to be. After all, they don't have a will to direct them like our internal Spirit Energy does. The energy must be guided and directed in the right way. Array Master accomplishes this through various materials and resources, each acting as a sign and guidepost for Spirit Energy so that it can flow properly. For simple arrays, this is as simple as using a homogeneous medium, such as [Spirit Iron], to channel the energy. For more complex arrays, things become… tricky."
Dr. Maria pulled a ring from her finger and held it up for them to see. At first glance, it seemed simple: little more than three intertwining bands of gold, silver, and coppery-red metal. If one looked close enough, however, they could see dozens of tiny seals engraved along its length, hopping between the bands at set points but otherwise not touching.
"Not all materials get along well with each other, nor do all materials like every seal. Suppose the materials used to make an array aren't comparable with the array or other materials. In that case, issues can occur, from decreased efficiency to dangerous reactions. What's more, the more 'accepting' a material is, typically the rarer and more expensive it becomes," she finished.
Alpha's mind wandered to some of his more recent experiments and their disastrous results. Could that be the reason why he'd hit such a major roadblock until now?
Antchaser sighed. "So you typically can't mix arrays like this, because the seals that make up those arrays might not agree with everything else. That can cause it to break at best and become a dangerous mess at worst," he asked.
Dr. Maira nodded. "Correct. Array work is all about making sure all the parts, be they seals, materials, or energy, all work together in a carefully orchestrated dance. Disrupt one part, and it all goes haywire."
Boarslayer frowned. "Hold up, that doesn't make any sense. You already say that arrays mimic what we Cultivators already do internally. Or maybe the other way around? Not sure, but that's beside the point! What I'm saying is that if the various materials are there to make sure everything 'plays nice' together, then how do techniques work? After all, I'm just 'me.' Why don't I explode?"
Dr. Maira smiled from ear to ear. "Great question! And the answer is simple. You don't explode, despite not being made up of rare material, because — as you put it — you are 'you.' Remember, the reason the materials are used in the way they are is to mimic a guiding will. You don't need to do that because you are the guiding will."
Antchaser finished the thought. "So Cultivators rarely need expensive material because they're already able to guide the Spirit Energy into the correct patterns themselves?"
"Correct!" Dr. Maria said.
Antchaser narrowed his eyes and stared at the two small tokens in the doctor's hands.
"But wouldn't that mean…" he said, his eyes suddenly growing wide.
"That's right! These MUD… they're alive!" Dr. Maria whispered, her eyes sparkling as she giggled like a schoolgirl.
"Well, kind of. But also, not really. Allow me to explain," came Alpha's response.
As one, Dr. Maria, Antchaser, and Boarslayer turned to look at him.