Chapter 243: The Arcane-Industrial Integration Package

Chapter 243: The Arcane-Industrial Integration Package

Over the following several days, Noah attended the scheduled lessons on meditation and Law comprehension. The instructors introduced the basic exercises, corrected mistakes in the students’ concentration, and explained how regular practice could help a planetary lord begin understanding a Law.

They also reminded the class that comprehending a Law did not guarantee it would suit the development of their planet.

Noah participated in the exercises, but he had not comprehended anything yet. In the evenings, he read sections of House Aelwyn’s World Integration Technique and compared them with his notes.

He understood more of the terminology than he had when Garran first gave it to him, although he still had several passages marked for further study.

The final lesson of the week ended earlier than Noah expected. The instructor dismissed the meditation exercise and waited while the students put away their materials. Instead of leaving the classroom, he activated the main display. A notice from the military administration appeared above the instructor’s desk.

"Before you leave, check your military accounts," he told the class. "The Mission Point rewards from your previous assignments have finished processing. You should be able to see the new entries in your transaction histories now."

The announcement interrupted the conversations that had started between the rows. Students who had already stood up sat down again, and several terminals were opened almost immediately. Noah stayed in his seat and looked toward the display. He had been checking his own account regularly, but the balance had not changed since the trainees returned to the camp.

"Are all the rewards there, including those from the last deployment?" a student asked from the front row.

"That’s what the notice says. If your account shows a problem, submit it through the usual military channel. Give the records time to load before deciding something’s missing." The instructor closed the announcement. "You can redeem your points through the reward catalog. Some of you have been holding on to them since your first assignment, so this is a good time to review what you’ve earned."

A few students laughed at that. Someone behind Noah said he had been watching the same item in the catalog for weeks. Another student was already searching the listings, asking a friend to remind him of the name of a technique they had discussed. Their conversations followed Noah into the corridor as the class finally dispersed.

During his earlier missions, Noah had found an item that he could not afford at the time: the Arcane-Industrial Integration Package. The exchange price was 3,600 Mission Points. He had left it in his saved rewards and avoided spending his points on smaller purchases, even when there were useful items available at lower prices.

He walked past the students gathered outside the classroom and found an empty seat near a window in the common study area. He opened his military account on his terminal, intending to check whether the newly issued rewards had brought his balance to the required amount.

Noah signed in to his military account and selected the Mission Point section. His transaction history opened first. He scrolled past the entries from the Khelron Defense Mission and the Karthis Supply Corridor Mission. The earlier assignments still showed their base rewards of 1,200 and 600 Mission Points, respectively. Those figures alone had not been enough for the purchase. Beneath the older entries was the newly processed reward from his latest deployment. He checked that it had been added to the balance already accumulated on his account.

He read the entry, then returned to the main balance. The account had updated. Noah checked the figure again, compared it with the price he remembered, and opened the saved-item list to make certain the package had not changed in cost. The Arcane-Industrial Integration Package was still listed for 3,600 Mission Points. His available balance was now sufficient to redeem it.

Noah opened the latest transaction and checked its status. The points had already been credited to his available balance, allowing him to spend them immediately. He returned to the saved-item list and selected the Arcane-Industrial Integration Package to review its details before completing the exchange.

He remembered the first time he had found the package in the catalog. At the time, the price had been far beyond his available balance, and several cheaper rewards would have provided immediate assistance to Eldrath. He had left those items unclaimed because they offered resources and equipment his goblins could eventually develop or manufacture themselves.

Understanding mana presented a different problem. Eldrath already possessed magical crystals, but its researchers lacked the knowledge and equipment necessary to study the magical energy associated with them. Producing additional conventional laboratory equipment would not solve their inability to detect or measure mana. The goblins needed access to knowledge their civilization had never developed.

Noah opened the Imperial reward catalog and entered the package’s name in the search field. The result appeared immediately, with the same title and exchange price as before. He selected it and brought up the complete description.

The package was intended to provide a technological civilization with a foundation for investigating mana. The introductory materials covered the study of magical energy and the technical work necessary to investigate its potential uses. Further sections dealt with the relationship between that knowledge and industrial development.

Noah expanded the description and read through it again. The package contained research materials that would need to be studied and applied by qualified specialists. Its contents were not finished machines or equipment that could immediately be incorporated into Eldrath’s industries. His researchers would have to examine the information, establish appropriate experiments, and determine which findings could be applied using their existing facilities.

Eldrath already had magical crystals. Their existence had caught Noah’s attention long ago, but the goblins had no reliable understanding of how to detect or measure mana, much less manipulate it for practical purposes. Their laboratories could examine a crystal’s physical properties, yet the magical energy associated with those materials remained beyond their current knowledge.

He returned to the first page of the description and considered how the reward could be used. Eldrath possessed established manufacturing facilities and researchers experienced in developing industrial technology. Its engineers could construct equipment, improve production methods, and develop new machinery based on the findings supplied by scientists.

With access to the package, those scientists could begin investigating magical energy using technical information developed by civilizations already familiar with mana. They could compare the provided materials with their existing knowledge of magical crystals and determine what equipment would be necessary to conduct their own experiments.

Noah examined the listed research subjects more closely. He expected the scientists to begin with the fundamentals of detecting and measuring mana before attempting more complicated applications. Without reliable measurements, they would have difficulty confirming their experimental results or determining whether the methods described in the package worked with Eldrath’s available materials.

He also reviewed the conditions attached to the listing. The package was classified as a research-oriented reward. Its usefulness would depend on the receiving civilization’s ability to understand and apply the information. The goblins would need to organize the necessary research, construct suitable equipment, and conduct experiments before developing any practical magical technology.

Noah checked the price once more before selecting the exchange option. A confirmation window appeared, showing the item name, the cost of 3,600 Mission Points, and a notice that the points would be deducted once he approved the transaction. After verifying the information, he confirmed the purchase.

The page refreshed. A completed exchange record appeared in his account, and the updated balance reflected the deduction. The Arcane-Industrial Integration Package was now listed among his redeemed rewards. Noah opened the accompanying instructions and checked how he would access the materials and complete the arrangements for receiving the package.

He saved the confirmation and the relevant instructions in the same folder. He had already obtained the reward he had been saving for, so he closed the catalog’s other listings. His next task was to arrange for the package’s contents to reach Eldrath’s researchers.

As he prepared to leave the common study area, a voice beside him interrupted his thoughts.

"You found something already?" A student from his class had stopped near the table, holding a terminal with the reward catalog open. "I’ve been looking through this thing since the instructor mentioned it. Half the items sound useful, and I can’t decide what to take."

"I’ve had one saved for a while," Noah answered. He minimized the page showing his purchase. "I was waiting for my balance to reach the price."

"That must be nice. I keep changing my mind whenever I see another listing." The student glanced at an alert on his own terminal and sighed. "I should probably go back through them before I spend everything. Anyway, I’ll see you in class."

Noah nodded and watched him leave. He had also considered purchasing smaller rewards during his earlier missions. Several offered equipment and resources that Eldrath could have used immediately, but none addressed the lack of knowledge preventing the goblins from studying mana. After examining the catalog again, he had decided to continue saving for the Arcane-Industrial Integration Package.

He returned to his quarters and reopened the redemption instructions on a larger display. The package’s materials were intended for scientific research, and he began considering which specialists on Eldrath should receive them first. He planned to provide the information to researchers already familiar with the magical crystals, allowing them to compare their previous findings with the materials contained in the package.

The first task would be to establish a clear account of what was known about the magical crystals. Noah could request reports from the researchers who had already examined them, then provide the new materials to those best equipped to compare the earlier findings with the knowledge in the package. The researchers would be able to tell him which equipment they lacked and what experiments they could reasonably attempt.

He opened a blank document and began writing instructions for that initial assessment. He requested a review of existing crystal samples, laboratory capabilities, and any previous attempts to investigate their unusual properties. He also asked that the responsible specialists identify facilities suitable for further study. Noah kept the instructions focused on the information he needed from them, leaving the experimental procedures to the scientists who would be conducting the research.

He considered how the research might be organized. The scientists familiar with the crystals could begin by examining the package’s introductory materials. They would then determine which experiments were possible using their available equipment and what additional facilities might be required.

Once the researchers established reliable findings, engineers could examine whether those results had practical industrial applications. Noah planned to request regular reports documenting the experiments conducted, the observations recorded, and the problems the researchers encountered. Their conclusions would help him decide what additional resources to allocate to the project.

He also intended to have the research teams document unsuccessful experiments. If an approach failed, they needed to establish why it had failed before repeating the same procedure. With mana being an unfamiliar field, the researchers would likely encounter difficulties that could not be resolved through their existing knowledge of conventional technology.

After rereading the draft, Noah removed a line requesting immediate practical applications. The scientists had not even received the package yet. They would need to understand the material and establish reliable methods for investigating mana before proposing new industrial equipment.

He checked the redemption record again. The reward had been purchased, but receiving its materials and distributing them to the right people would require the arrangements described in the instructions. He completed the available preparations and kept the confirmation accessible so he could follow the remaining steps when needed.

Eldrath’s researchers already possessed considerable experience in conventional scientific and industrial development. They had learned to manufacture increasingly complex equipment through experimentation and the gradual improvement of their designs. Noah planned to give them access to the Arcane-Industrial Integration Package and allow them to apply those same research practices to the study of mana.

The initial research would likely require specialized instruments, repeated experiments, and careful measurements. Even after establishing reliable methods for studying mana, the scientists would still have to determine whether their findings could be incorporated into machinery or industrial processes. Noah planned to evaluate their progress through the reports they submitted and provide additional resources when their work required them.

His terminal displayed a reminder about the next set of lessons at the camp. Noah checked the schedule and saw that Law comprehension would continue alongside the trainees’ other studies. He still had sections of the World Integration Technique to review, and the instructors had assigned further meditation practice. He would continue those lessons while Eldrath’s specialists handled the research associated with the new package.

Noah moved the package confirmation into his active documents and placed the preliminary research instructions beside it. Once the materials were ready to be delivered to Eldrath, he would send them to the appropriate specialists and ask for an initial research plan.

He saved the files and closed the military reward catalog. The next step was to complete the package’s delivery arrangements and provide its contents to the researchers on Eldrath. Once they had examined the materials, Noah would receive their assessments of the equipment, facilities, and personnel needed to begin investigating mana.