2601 A Page in History (Part 1) "Because the prototype mainframe I built served solely to showcase the potential of the Tablets. I don't have the time and energy to set up the real thing, especially for the benefit of just a handful of people." Lith replied. "Especially when the Royals were working on it already." "Congratulations, son." Raaz hugged him just the time for a couple of pats on the shoulder. "I'm not big on reading like your mother, but I can already tell you that you are going to have lots of fans." He pointed out at Aran, Leria, and the few kids that had already gotten their Tablets and were engrossed in reading The Basics of Magic by Lochra Silverwing. "Lots of haters too." Lith replied. "I can already hear mobs of angry parents cursing my name after their children have practiced magic indoors with predictable consequences." "Those curses will turn into blessings once they realize their kids' talent. Remember that people like me can barely light a match. To make as much damage as Aran, one must have his same predisposition for magic." "Dad!" Aran turned to a shade of purple, still ashamed of his past lack of control and discipline. "Please, don't turn me into a cautionary tale." "You and Leria turned yourself into a cautionary tale, young man. You didn't need any help." Raaz ruffled his hair. "By the way, I'm going to buy out of my pocket a second Tablet for all of my farmhands. "This way grown-ups and kids won't have to share. On top of that, finding their children will be much easier since they will be just a call away." After the Verhens came the Larks, then the Distars, and lastly the Royals. Solus felt left out since outside of the family no one knew of her involvement in the development of the Tablets nor considered her a full member of the Verhen bloodline. Elina and the others would have to wait until they went back home to congratulate her in order to avoid arousing questions they couldn't answer. "Congratulations, Lith." Solus said while extending her hand. The happiness in her voice was tainted by the sadness caused by the realization that even now that she had gotten her human body back, she was still a spectator forced to watch from the sidelines. "Come here." Lith pushed the hand away, enveloping her in an embrace like the ones he had received a moment ago. 'Congratulation, Solus.' He said via a mind link. 'Thank you for everything you have done.' Kamila appeared as well, hugging her from behind. 'Even though people might never know, you've made the Kingdom a better place.' 'Congratulations, dear.' Raaz and Elina joined them in the mind link. 'Congratulations, Auntie.' Aran and Leria wrapped her in a telepathic embrace. 'Thank you, Solus.' Senton and Rena said. 'Thank you for always taking good care of our family.' 'Way to go, Solus.' Tista said. 'Stand tall and demand from Lith your fair share of his income. Don't trust that cheapskate.' 'Thank you, guys.' Solus inwardly and externally sniffled. Even if the rest of Mogar might never be aware of her efforts and achievements, her whole world knew. Their recognition meant more to her than any parade and their gratitude was the only thing that mattered. *** Saying that the release of the Tablets caused big changes in everyday life wherever they were available was a huge understatement. Until that moment, communication amulets had been luxury items that only wealthy families could afford and only nobles owned one per family member. Tablets had a much shorter range and only worked in proximity of a mainframe but they cost one silver coin instead of ten. Their actual value amounted to two silver coins apiece but the Royals had decided to follow Lith's advice and sell them at loss to collect as much data as possible during the first phase when they still had a capillary control over the experiment. The students of the six great academies received their personal Tablets for free along with their uniforms and it deeply affected their academic life. The amulet not only worked just like a Ballot, allowing a student to call for help and record threats or hazing, but it also incentivized anonymous complaints. Those who witnessed acts of bullying just had to take a picture of the event and forward it to the mainframe instead of a member of the academy staff to nail the culprits without getting personally involved in the matter. On top of that, students would now receive their tomes during the lesson in a digital form so that those who couldn't afford a dimensional amulet weren't recognized anymore simply because they carried their books around by hand or in a bag. The academy's library was available from the Tablets so there was no need to compete for the rarest tomes and there was no waiting line to borrow them next like before. Librarians were still necessary to regulate access to books whose contents were deemed controversial or unsafe for mages of insufficient skill. As for the libraries, they were now a safe space where to study or search for detailed explanations about difficult subjects like dimensional magic. The amulets also worked in the academies' forests, helping the groups of students to coordinate during exams or requesting help when they faced a human, beast, or plant above their level. The only complaint that Lith and the Royals received from the vast majority of the students was that taking notes with a Tablet was too inefficient compared with water magic. The digital pad was perfect for those who had yet to master chore magic and learn how to spread the ink according to their will, but the moment a student reached that level, even the fastest typer lagged behind the rest of the class. On top of that, whenever a class required them to draw a magic circle or to write down runes, the Tablet was useless. There was no drawing software and there were too many runes to add them to the keyboard without making it several meters wide or long. Lith received lots of suggestions about devising a Forgemastering spell that would connect the user with the Tablet so that their thoughts would be printed on the digital pages as it happened on a physical one with water magic. "Ungrateful brats! Do they even know the meaning of the word prototype?" Lith grumbled during breakfast in his dream house, after moving the tower away from Lutia and onto the geyser in the Rekar mountain range. "Also, what kind of moron would ask for something as complex as a neural interface and pass it as an easy spell? Do they really believe no one ever thought about that before? "That their seniors are just a bunch of lazy bums? I'm one of the few people on Mogar who can craft memory crystals and I'm nowhere near something like that! Back in my day, I accepted free stuff without looking the gifted horse in the mouth. "Solus and I had to go back and forth to that goddamn library so many times that I lost count. Our friends risked their lives because there weren't enough Ballots."