Applied Immortality

“This is the Numerical School leader’s keepsake—ain’t that the same as the Myriad Arts Sect Leader’s keepsake?”

It finally dawned on Wang Qi just how incredible it was, and the ring weighed much heavier in his hands.

[Is it historical value or power?]

[Am I holding on to a piece of history or power?]

[Maybe both?]

In the middle of his infatuation with Math’s over-the-top importance, Zhen Chanzi said, “Myriad Arts Sect Leader should be on Argent Mountain. You could always show him Math and take his place.”

“Ha-ha, what am I, a fool?”

Doing that was no different than digging up the Imperial Seal of China back on Earth’s 21st century, and then crossing the seas to take the throne. 

The only way this would work was if you were a direct descendant. Otherwise, any fool stumbling upon the symbol of power could be king.

“It’s an antique! One with special historical value!”

Zhen Chanzi asked, “Does it do anything?”

Being Ephemeral Tranquility Palace’s obsession for thousands of years, it would be wrong to say he didn’t care about it, just a little.

“This is a calculator magic item,” Wang Qi said.

Zhen Chanzi gasped, “Calculator magic item? As in to calculate?”

A calculator magic item, or calculator for short, was coined by Myriad Arts Sect Unfettered, People’s Champion Neumann, in his Calculator Mind Theory. It was the iconic magic item of the modern system. By ancient cultivation’s classification, calculators would be a support magic item. As for the modern system, a magic item that could operate with dizzying factors and exponents was attributed paramount value. It got to the point of being put in a separate class, with a price many times that of other offensive and defensive magic items.

Wang Qi would lament the lack of a calculator each time he cultivated.

“You got just what you needed, lucky brat.” Zhen Chanzi sighed, “Wasn’t the Immortal Alliance’s All-immortal Mirror the only immortal calculator of this age?”

The All-immortal Mirror, supporting the All-immortal Realm, was one of the Immortal Alliance’s cornerstones. If Math was at the same grade as it…

“Don’t go delusional on me, old man.” Wang Qi’s face was devoid of amusement, glaring at Math with a long face. “This thing’s nowhere near the All-immortal Mirror’s level.”

“What’s with that look? Could you at least tone it down on your utter disappointment?”

“You go out and buy yourself a ladle only to find out it’s a skimmer.” Wang Qi said, “Hence the look.”

An immortal calculator felt like a supercomputer to Wang Qi. But even supercomputers differed. Comparing the All-immortal Mirror to Tianhe-3 from Earth would make Math the equivalent of ENIAC, or ABC (Atanasoff-Berry computer). 

Why, you’d ask? While ENIAC was worse than a modern smartphone, as primitive as it gets, there was no issue with programming. As for Math, it was impossible for it to build an arithmetic construct akin to the All-immortal Realm. It was totally the same kind of useless as ABC in terms of being unprogrammable.

Without spiritual energy, Divine Province’s means of avoiding Earth’s power source limitation, Wang Qi’s judgment of Math would’ve been harsher, putting it on the same level as Babbage’s difference engine and analytical engine, or stepped reckoner. All these machines were steam- or human-powered, but they were binary at the very least.

[But this junk’s decimal!]

After Wang Qi’s ranting explanation, Zhen Chanzi asked, “What’s the difference between binary and decimal to you?” 

Wang Qi held his head and said, “There isn’t one. With a bit of time, I can devise the art of making an arithmetic realm based on the decimal system. But never forget that while I do that, Unfettered Contraption Elder Turing and People’s Champion Neumann, in the lead of thousands of disciples from Contraption Pavilion and Myriad Arts Sect, are involved in making the binary arithmetic realm. How could I compare?’

Zhen Chanzi fell silent. Genius as Wang Qi was, he was not the sum of thousands of cultivators, to say nothing of the every bit as talented Unfettered leading the project. 

Zhen Chanzi sighed, “Refined at long last, finding its use, yet it’s all for nothing.”

Wang Qi sighed, “Not exactly. It’s faster than me when it comes to basic arithmetics, exponent calculations, and plane geometry; I’ll give it that much. Though it can’t parse essence equations, complex geometry is reduced to meaningless results, while geometry and numerical theories are kept separate. Truly advanced algorithms are beyond solvable. Which is why it’s just an antique, a relic.” 

An antique had no intrinsic value. Some bronze beast head’s had some worth, but not when turned into a bathtub faucet—around ten bucks, probably.

Zhen Chanzi asked, “What value does this ring have to you?”

“Baring historical and nostalgic values, it’s a second-rate calculator. At instrument grade, unable to connect to the All-immortal Realm, it’s more like a dumbed-down version of All-immortal Mirror.”

All-immortal Realm was Divine Province’s cultivation community’s version of the Internet. In the 21st century, going online was a basic requirement for any electronic device. A calculator unable to surf the web was the same as a brick phone. 

Even if it is a glorified immortal item.

Having evaluated Math’s uses, Wang Qi stood up, stretched, activated Celestial Entropy, and burned all notes. To finish, he scattered the ashes with a flick of his hand.

The math language was that of Earth, and using its symbols drew unneeded attention. With cryptography being a branch of math and taking into account Divine Province’s innovations in arithmetics, it wouldn’t be hard to find experts capable of cracking them. The symbols were easily explained, just shift the blame on ancient math. But Earth’s advanced computational theories were another matter. Ever since Li Ziye held him in suspicion back in Albion Village, Wang Qi made sure to put caution first, second, and third. 

Wang Qi went to the mess hall to grab dinner before visiting Su Junyu to tell him he planned on staying in his room and reviewing for the evening, not joining the extra lessons. 

Su Junyu believed him, since tomorrow began the monthly examination.

The night found Wang Qi sitting at his desk, placing a ring on a stack of papers.

“The moment of choice.”