Chapter 19

Opening the door to the room I was relieved to see that there were other people inside. At least I wouldn’t be waiting by myself for over an hour. From the looks of things the five people sitting down were also new swarm barons. Their guards and the rest of their retinue were all standing along the walls. The one thing that surprised me was just how young all of them were. I'd be shocked if any of them were older than sixteen. The two boys looked a year or two older than the three girls sitting at the table. Which made me guess that the test was administered at some point during or after puberty since girls matured earlier than boys.

For a moment all five of them looked at me in confusion. Then one of them spoke up. “Are you our guide?” One of them finally asked.

“Nope. I’m one of the new barons like all of you.” I said while taking a seat at the table.

“Would you like anything to eat sir?” One of the servants said while the five swarm barons stared at me. I waved the servant away.

Being stared at by a bunch of teenagers was starting to get annoying. Apparently I had underestimated how rare it was for someone to not be tested for swarm talent in their teens. It was like seeing someone my age at the table had short circuited all of their brains.

“Surely you mean that you are a baron switching their allegiance to Queen Andrea? If so, you are in the wrong waiting room.” One of the boys at the table finally said. It was said with a bit of disdain and clearly the others at the table found the idea of someone switching allegiance distasteful.

I shook my head. “No. I come from a planet that lost integration with the swarm. I just took the test to see if I have talent this week.”

There were shocked expressions around the table but after a moment there were a few nods and the expressions changed to understanding. “It’s certainly rare but not unheard of for a planet to lose integration.” The same boy said.

“It must be tough growing crops and fighting monsters without magic. What was it like living on a planet that didn’t have magic?” One of the girls asked.

I shrugged. “It probably was tough early on.” I said thinking about cavemen and early human history. “Eventually we learned how to do everything without magic. In fact I think there are a few things we do better.” I said.

That last part resulted in a couple more frowns and surprised looks. “Like what?” The second boy at the table said.

“Administrative work is a lot easier. We have things called computers that can do math and record information for us.” I said giving an example.

“How is that better? Administrators can do math and you can use storage crystals to record information.” One of the other girls said disdainfully.

“It can do it faster, better, and uses less space. Plus anyone can use it. Which means you don’t have to be a mage.” I had spent a bit of time studying the difference between technology and magic. Most simple things done with technology could be done with magic. Magic had limits though. Specifically it could never match the precision of modern technology.

In a lot of ways magical technology was equivalent to technology prior to the industrial revolution. Machines existed that were powered by magic. Magic had never passed this level for two reasons.

Cars were a great example of both those two reasons. Theoretically a mage could create a car. It would be a time intensive project though and the result would likely be little better than a horse drawn carriage. In addition, trying to do any type of mass production would be impossible.

The first issue was precision. Mechanically you could make the body of the car easy enough with a bit of magic. If the car door was a fraction of a centimeter off it wasn’t that big a deal. But engine parts were less forgiving. To create a working engine an unlucky mage would have to create the same part hundreds of times. And that was for every single part of the engine.

Of course there were workarounds. And some mages had even managed to figure them out. Mage inventors had long ago invented everything needed for a modern machine shop. Which meant that creating a working engine was possible. It took a combination of magic and technology. Something few mages understood.

That led to the second issue. The car would still require a source of power. Which meant a mage was needed to supply that power. But in that case the mage could just use force magic instead.

The mage would take the place of the engine. In fact you didn’t need the vehicle at all. The mage could just use force magic on themselves. If they needed to transport anything they could whip up the equivalent of a cargo container and then use force magic on that. No engine, no wheels, no seats required.

Of course in a universe spanning innumerable galaxies that by itself didn’t explain why nobody had ever created a computer. It wasn’t like physics itself had changed. Magic could be used as a power source. Technology could then be used to create the computer with no magic involved.

It had taken me a few hours but eventually I had discovered the issue with this. Magic was a terrible power source. It was prone to fluctuations that would easily fry any piece of modern technology. Which meant the closest you could get to an actual computer would be one of the early versions. The type that took up the space of an entire room and was less powerful than a calculator from the dollar store.

So administrators did math by hand. There were also magical crystals that could be created to store data. Although a crystal the size of your fist could only store a hundred books or so. Unlike a modern harddrive which could store entire libraries with room to spare.

“Well that’s interesting but hardly useful for a swarm lord. Like Victoria said, we have administrators that handle math and record keeping for us.” One of the boys said. I realized that my thoughts had drifted on to a bit of a tangent.

“Speaking of things that are useful. Do you have an account with the galactic swarm bank yet?” The other boy asked me.