CHAPTER 595: WHY I DON’T USE MAGIC

TL: Rui88

After Ladi asked this question, Paul hesitated in his heart for a moment.

“My dear Ladi…” he replied hesitantly but with an incomparably sincere tone, “if my next words offend you and the group you belong to, then I apologize here first.”

Hearing Paul say this, the doubt in Ladi’s heart grew even stronger.

Paul stood up, faced the window on the south wall to look outside, with his back to Ladi. He seemed unwilling to face her.

“In my opinion, magic is an extremely unstable power at present. You could say my worry is like a joke about the sky falling, but I do not want the development of human society to rely on a power that is not yet stable.”

Paul’s words made Ladi understand a little. She knew her own business. Magic was indeed, as Paul had said, very unstable. The instability was first reflected in the birth of spellcasters. This seemed to be an extremely rare and random occurrence. You could not predict whether a person could become a spellcaster or when they would become one. Although there had always been a rumor among spellcasters that if both parents were spellcasters, the probability of their child being a spellcaster was higher, there was indeed no definite statistical data to support it. Another point was that the abilities of spellcasters were uncertain. Some spellcasters could master all kinds of spells, while others could only master one or two types. Before one truly came into contact with spells, it was impossible to predict what spells they could master. Even the spells themselves were uncertain, or rather, mysterious. People did not know why they had to chant spells that way, why they had to make those spellcasting gestures, why they had to prepare those spellcasting materials. Everything seemed to rely on the experience accumulated by generations of mages…doing it that way had an effect, so they did it that way.

“But, it’s just an experiment. Is it necessary to be so guarded?” Ladi was still puzzled.

“It is necessary. This is called nipping it in the bud!”

“Nipping it in the bud?”

“Yes, I don’t want the scientific development of humanity to rely on so-called magic. Not even a hint of it is acceptable, even if magic becomes stable and easy to control on some future day. Oh, perhaps stable and easy-to-control magic would make things even worse for the vast majority of ordinary people.”

Paul spoke a little quickly, inadvertently giving his words a rather impolite tone.

This made Ladi feel very uncomfortable. She felt that she was faintly becoming angry.

“Paul, and you say you have no prejudice against magic?”

Paul waved his hands in front of his chest. “My lady, I’m not trying to make you angry on purpose, you know that.”

Ladi also noticed that she was getting a little emotional and tried hard to calm herself down.

“Based on my observation and judgment, no matter what, spellcasters are an absolute minority in the human race. It is very dangerous for human society to become dependent on such a small group. Firstly, when the dependence has reached a certain level, if for some reason the number of spellcasters is greatly reduced, it could cause the development of human society to stagnate or even regress significantly. Just think, in an extreme case, all technological paths might have to be started over. What a terrifying prospect. Secondly…”

At this point, Paul’s words faltered for a moment.

“Although I don’t want to speculate on people’s hearts in a negative way, when spellcasters discover how much the entire human society depends on them, will they still consider themselves a part of humanity, a friend in ordinary people’s lives, an assistant at work? If you ask me, I’m afraid spellcasters would think themselves superior. Some extremists might even see themselves as the saviors of human civilization. At that time, a ruling class so powerful that it is almost unshakable will naturally be born.”

“Heh heh, Lord Grayman, as a nobleman, it’s rather amusing for you to say such a thing!”

Ladi said with some sarcasm. It was the first time she had spoken to Paul in such a tone.

“Ah, yes, that is indeed an embarrassing fact.” Paul rubbed his nose, accepting the barb in Ladi’s words.

“But, it is precisely because I happen to be in a similar position that I am certain that if spellcasters were really in such a state of high dependence, human civilization would one hundred percent slide into a terrible future. Moreover, the things that the nobility uses to control ordinary people…honor, oaths, bloodlines…are all rather abstract things. When people’s thinking develops to a certain extent, these things will naturally lose their effect. But spellcasters are different. Their abilities are a real and tangible constraint on ordinary people. The deeper they are bound to human society, the stronger this constraint will become. Spellcasters may thereby obtain the most powerful ruling power in history, truly achieving an unshakable position for ten thousand years.”

Paul’s words made Ladi very dejected. She stamped her foot on the floor. “I didn’t expect you to think so much. I… I just wanted to help you.”

“Oh, my dear Ladi, I thank you for your kindness,” Paul comforted her. “Actually, if all conventional means are truly exhausted and the goal cannot be advanced, I don’t mind accepting the help of magic. But, it is far from that time yet.”

“How is it not that time now? Look at how much of a headache the alchemists have,” Ladi asked.

“No, it is far from that time yet,” Paul repeated with great certainty. “There must be some means to overcome the difficulties of Wells and the others.”

He winked at Ladi. “Let the mortals try to overcome all kinds of difficulties themselves, give full play to their talents, and establish a development path that completely belongs to the majority.”

…

Tennyson walked out of the chemistry laboratory’s archive, utterly exhausted. He had not slept for two consecutive days and nights, during which he had frantically searched for information about phlogiston.

He felt that he should first figure out what phlogiston actually was.

With this thought in mind, Tennyson once again walked towards the school cafeteria. “Hey, isn’t that Tennyson? I heard you offended Lord Grayman?”

After turning a corner, Tennyson ran into someone, his former classmate, Nick.

Speaking of this Nick, he was an enviable figure in Weiss Academy. After the end of the Usurper’s War, the Administration Council had sent out several surveying teams to Emden for mapping, and Nick was in one of them. But this fellow was very quick-witted. He solved the problem of artillery surveying with trigonometry and was rewarded by the lord after he returned.

Now, Nick no longer frequented the academy. He and a few friends had established a company that specialized in selling so-called optical equipment, things like rangefinders and telescopes.