As the sun slowly rose overhead, Arthur and Myrddin continued their discussion on the possible links between Special Dungeons and those who clear them.

Though Myrddin did suggest that the Dungeon of the Twelve were especially linked to Arthur. At best, it was still theoretical. After there are many names in the Realm and coincidences, do occur.

However, the idea still merited investigating at the very least.

Nevertheless, as Arthur and Myrddin enjoyed their tea in the rising sun, around noon, they began to clean up and handle their respective tasks for the day.

Myrddin headed back into the Village Hall while Arthur flew towards Mount Prometheus.

Entering through the arch behind Village Manor, Arthur once again stepped into the sleek laboratory of Mount Prometheus. Pristine dark grey floors layered the incredibly sizeable circular space, giving off a brilliant sheen. An elegant white counter encompassed the outline of the room. At the center of the room, was a floating white circular table with a small hollow middle, which was projecting blue particles in a diamond shape that occasionally moved - Jarvis.

Around Jarvis were Marie and five assistants, each with a floating white table and light blue screens before them. Aside from them, there were another ten assistants in different parts of the space working on different things.

Everyone seemed incredibly busy as their hands moved all over their screens dragging and calculating things.

As Arthur approached Marie’s area, he noticed what they were all busy working.

Before left leaving with Cisse to the dungeon, Arthur asked Jarvis to inform Marie to begin working a form of identification for the populous. The earlier one was made, the more convenient things will become as they grew over time.

Of course, what Arthur didn’t know was that with Marie’s intellectual nature and access to runes, her perfectionist nature had risen to create the perfect form of identification.

As Arthur walked into space, Jarvis welcomed him. Hearing Jarvis suddenly speak and sensing someone behind her, Marie turned around and found a face full of curiosity.

“Hey, Marie.”

“Um, hello, your hi- sir. You are here?”

“Of course, I came to check out your progress and how you guys are adjusting to this space,” Arthur smiled.” But you know, you don’t have to be so formal. You can just call me by my name.”

Hearing this, Marie froze for a second, but still nodded in agreement.

“So, what are you guys working on? It seems awfully complicated.”

Regaining her composure, Marie’s blonde ponytail danced as she turned back around. Shifting her body to the side, she presented Arthur her screens.

There were three screens in total, each with a floating card engraved with different runes.

“After Jarvis informed me about creating identification cards for the populous. I first thought that you would want a simple card with the ability to record a person’s general information. And so initially began with just looking into forming a compound rune that can record that information with just a blood sample.”

“But as we were working, inspiration struck. The more we learned about runes, the more possibilities appeared, and so we decided to create something more. On top of the binding process of the card, we wanted to add a person’s contribution points status while enabling them to exchange those points with just the card, a map, and a communication factor in allowing communication between people in different parts of the territory.”

“Currently, we have completed the binding process and the exchange system of the card, but the communication aspect is proving to be a bit difficult.”

“Oh?” Said Arthur as his eyes lit up. Marie’s work definitely exceeded his expectations. If one were to ask what Arthur wanted from his people, it was this, the ability and drive to do more than what was expected. Hence, his education system.

Nevertheless, he was still curious about the three cards displayed before Marie. “That is honestly brilliant, but why the three different cards. Looking at them, they seem to be completely different.”

“That?” responded Marie with a bit of pride. “That is how we are imputing various runes together while avoiding any conflicts. You can view the middle card as the processor and storage for normal runes and compound runes, while the third card as the base set to activate the certain rune set in of the middle card. And the first card contains the set of runes to display the output of the process of the bottom two. Together they create a sandwich that makes the identification card.”

Intrigued Arthur, pulled a screen toward him to look at the runescape of the card. “Hmmm, wouldn’t a combination of all three make the card a bit too thick?”

Hearing this, a prideful smile appeared on Marie’s face. “Initially, we did run into this problem, but a combination of compression runes we were able to reduce the thickness significantly. But we did run into a problem of a material that could handle so many runes while being compressed that much. So while working with Tubal on finding such a material, we ended making a breakthrough in steel production and found that it was an excellent material for runes. Currently, though, the amount being produced is low.”

As Marie said that she pressed an area on her floating table, which then prompted two rectangular depressions in the table followed by the appearance of two cards.

Picking up the two cards, Marie showed them to Arthur. They are simple but intricate. The overall body was silvery, while an intricate white design graced the edges and corners. At their center was a replication of Avalon’s Loyalty Mark, a white diamond star at the center of a simple white crown. Simple but beautiful.

Marie handed a card to Arthur as she promptly slapped the one in her hand on her left wrist.

As she did this, the card wrapped around her wrist like a bracelet while the mark of Avalon moved until it showed a circle with a small dot at the center. After a second, the dot enlarged to fill up the ring as an image of Marie appeared on it.

“Wow!” breathed Arthur as he looked at the card in his hand. With a closer look, he now noticed a thin white line running between the top and bottom part of the card.

Taking note of this, Marie explained. “We added a feature to the central part of the card to allow additions of other runes via similar cards as we develop them.” She then smiled, “you should have seen the look on Myrddin’s face when I told him this. He grinned so and hard and went on and about selling those auxiliary cards will be huge moneymaker among the people.”

Hearing this, Arthur smiled too, but he still couldn’t suppress the shock he just went through. This was way too brilliant. ‘Just what kind of ability was [intellectus].’ Even with the seven to one-time acceleration within Mount Prometheus, the maximum everyone in here worked was 12 hours of the time outside, meaning only around 24.5 days had passed for them in the space since he left, and they have made this much progress in runes. ‘Wow.’

Nevertheless, despite Arthur’s amazement, Marie proceeds to show some of the added functions of the card by touching the white circle that now encircled the image of her face. She showed the point exchange function, a map function, and the work in progress communication function.

Seeing this, Arthur couldn’t help but start thinking through a few possible ideas that would enable communication between the cards without causing any conflicts now or in the future.

“I might have an idea.” He said to Marie as his eyes shone with determination.

“Jarvis?”

“At your service, sir.”

“I need a work station. “

“Done.”

A sleek floating white table appeared behind Arthur with a few screens already up.

“Oh, yea Jarvis. What is the current energy consumption of the territory?”

“56%.”

“What about after the implementation of the ID cards to everyone, including a communication factor?”

“63%.”

“Perfect.”

It should be known that for runes to work, they need a power source. For most settlements, the power source is drawn from a settlement creation crystal which draws energy from the Realm. The higher level the settlement is, the more energy the crystal can draw, thus increasing how many runes can be powered within the territory. As for settlements created without a settlement crystal, the process is a bit more complicated. Not only do they require a power source but a runic array to map and connect those runes. As for being outside a settlement’s territory, since everyone holds some form of Realm energy within their bodies, they can power the runes with themselves.

Nonetheless, after receiving Jarvis’s reports. Arthur, along with Marie, began to test out a couple of hypotheses.

First, it was obvious that they needed a large processing unit to act as the mainframe for connecting the cards together in addition to serving as a database for them.

After twenty-three hours within Mount Prometheus, a blueprint for the mainframe was drawn with the help of Jarvis. The goal of the blueprint was for Jarvis to manage the incoming packets of data while acting as a central transport station of those data to their respective destinations. But to not overcrowd Jarvis’ primary tasks, the mainframe needed to handle such tasks, while still giving Jarvis the ability to access and manage them if needed.

After handling the central part of the network came how to interconnect the cards and with one another and the mainframe.

Many ideas were bounced around, such as may be building posts that were connected to the mainframe through wires allowing communication from those positions. Or create a copy of a card and sharing it with those you want to contact and the mainframe to act as the mediator.

However, those ideas were scrapped when the concept of vibrating small strands of realm energy to create frequencies that can be picked up and interpreted between devices and mainframe. This idea was brilliant, but the process of ensuring it worked without any problems required a bit of time.

And thus, around eight in the evening, everyone exited the Mount Prometheus after finalizing the development plan for the identification cards and communication. The settled on the idea was innovative and brilliant, and there would definitely be room for growth.

Nevertheless, after wishing everyone a good night, Arthur returned to his manor with his mind still buzzing from all the work his brain had to go through.

…

Seated in his office, Arthur pulled out a journal from his desk’s drawer. The Journal was small, and on its cover was a beautiful golden crest. With an outline of a shield as its border, the crest showed a noble-looking dragon holding a quill and a sword. It was as simple yet majestic.

Opening his father’s Journal to the second entry. Arthur began to read.

Journal Entry 2

Day 8

<>

Just like I said, it was one helluva of a week. But it wasn’t all that bad, mostly due to the assistant of a hundred people raised to for sole task of aiding princes like me in establishing a settlement.

Of course, before we could build anything, I had to first clear my Sovereign’s trial with the settlement creation crystal my father gave me.

Not to brag or anything but I, yours truly, took on an army and slew a dragon. And the most challenging part of it all? I had to look good while doing it. Mhm Mhm Mhmm, I was flawless.

The battlefield is truly the stage for glory.

...

Okay, fine, it wasn’t a dragon but a midget dragon – a wyvern. But I still looked good while doing it, and that my friend is the takeaway.

Anyways after clearing my trail, I was award a white and silver sword called Durandal. I never knew I was so lucky, cuz even though he is in a sealed form, Durandal has the ability of space manipulation. Virtually every cut and slash I make can cause spatial tears. Of course, the only way to unseal it is for me to grow stronger.

But other than that, Durandal has this cube form that allows him to talk. I have heard of some powerful treasures being able to do that, but they are soo rare. Imagine how ecstatic I was when I received him.

To be honest, it is probably going to be the highlight of my year.

…

Oh yeah, for this week, we were able to build houses for everyone and have begun searching for raw materials while irrigating some land for agriculture.

As for the name of our village, it is Brittania.

<>

Finished with the second entry. Arthur smiled. Comparing the writer to the firm and stoic look of his father, he couldn’t see any relation between the two.

Regardless, after storing the Journal in the Ring of the Twelve. Left the study and towards his room.

.

[Historical Tidbit: Marie Curie, a physicist, and chemist who conducted pioneering research on radioactive decay, was the first woman to receive a Nobel Prize in Physics and became the first person to receive a second Nobel Prize in Chemistry.]