Conceptual Armament

"Good afternoon, class," our professor greeted.

"Good afternoon," the class replied in unison.

"Most of you probably know me already, as I see a lot of familiar faces. I'm Tristan Quintus Aurum," he introduced himself.

"Okay, without further delay, let's get started," he continued.

"Perc, why are there no vehicles inside the GRIDs?" Professor Tristan suddenly asked.

"Because the old vehicles use non-renewable energy and contribute to pollution," Perc answered.

"Partly correct, Perc. But we have Magnetic Shuttles between the Black and White Quadrants, which are based on trains that use electricity," Professor Tristan replied.

"But the Magnetic Shuttle uses a Magnetic Field and Elementary Particle Catapult System, rather than just electricity," Lia interjected.

"Correct, Lia. But the point is, both the Magnetic Shuttle and classic trains are vehicles, and they run on what is supposed to be clean energy," Professor Tristan explained.

"Electric cars are vehicles that run on electricity and were invented in the 21st century.

Can't we just use those?" Professor Tristan suggested.

"What are your thoughts, Rin?" he asked, turning to me.

I forgot how much he loved asking questions, but I didn't mind, it made everyone think, and it was actually quite fun.

"To avoid accidents that could lead to injury or untimely death," I replied.

"As usual, correct, Rin. Vehicles are removed because they pose a danger to the user and the surroundings," he stated.

"But can't Akasha protect the user and others by just placing conceptual barriers around them?" Perc asked.

"Perc, what do you think would happen if two identical glass balls collided with the same force and speed?" Professor Tristan asked.

"Theoretically, the two glass balls would bounce off each other, conserving kinetic energy and momentum."

"But that's almost impossible in reality.

Even with the same conceptual barriers, when two objects collide at varying speeds, which correlates to force, the conceptual barrier of one or both will shatter," Professor Tristan explained.

"I don't think I need to describe what would happen if you crash or get hit without a conceptual barrier," he continued.

"I think I'm okay with just using the Looper and Magnetic Shuttle," Lia said suddenly.

"But there is one vehicle available for use outside of the Fruma Matrix, the hoverbike, which is mostly used by protectors and travelers."

"Have you ever used one, Leo?" Professor Tristan asked.

"I was able to ride one, but my dad drove it," Leo replied.

"Moving on with vehicles, what do you think is the best invention of old humanity?" Professor Tristan asked.

"Fire," one of my classmates chimed in.

"Fire, or the ability to make fire, is both a discovery and an invention that is incredibly important. Some might even argue it sparked human creativity, especially in cooking food," Professor Tristan said.

"Good answer, Roan Octi Ventus," he added.

As far as I know, Roan usually doesn't participate much, so I guess he really enjoys this kind of discussion, I thought.

“Although I already called on Rin, what’s your thought on the best invention of old humanity?” Professor Tristan asked.

“Language,” I answered.

Everyone seemed a bit surprised by my answer, it’s simple, something we use every day.

Language, the ability to express oneself and understand others by interpreting meaning.

“Interestingly, my students typically answer with things like vehicles, electricity, farming, and other important inventions humans created to meet their needs,” Professor Tristan remarked.

“This is the first time someone has mentioned language, the ability to understand others and one of the main pillars of humanity’s advancement.”

“Why did you choose language over the countless inventions of mankind, Rin?” Professor Tristan asked.

“Because without language, I wouldn’t be able to learn about the world’s beautiful past, its harmonious present, or the world’s unknown future,” I replied.

Professor Tristan smiled at my answer.

“Okay, class, your assignment today is to write an essay on what you think is the best invention of classic humanity,” Professor Tristan announced.

“You can send it to me using your personal device by next week. Class dismissed.”

After that, Professor Tristan left the classroom.

Liz just stared at me.

“I want to eat some ice cream, my treat,” she said.

Liz always eats cold desserts after discussions.

It’s her unique way of cooling down her brain.

After enjoying some ice cream, we headed home since tomorrow would be a long day for Liz.

Honestly, I was excited to read the books I had picked out earlier.

In the year 2099, despite losing half of the world's population, humanity managed to bring the Great Mechanical War into a stalemate with the use of Conceptual Armaments.

These armaments were specially designed weapons to combat unexpected enemies where conventional weapons would fail.

However, most of the seven Conceptual Armaments were still in the prototype stage and had not been tested at that time.

Each armament was intended to protect the world and annihilate enemies not originally part of it.

These weapons were highly classified and designed in secrecy.

Unlike conventional weapons, Conceptual Armaments are extremely complex and can only be reproduced using the Imaginary Blueprints.

After reading for a couple of hours, I realized the fatal flaw of most of these weapons, they require an enormous amount of energy to use.

Although each Conceptual Armament was incredibly powerful, humanity couldn’t effectively utilize them due to a lack of energy, leading to their eventual uselessness and humanity’s gradual loss in the war.

What intrigued me, though, was the realization that one of the armaments was missing from the records.

Looking at the blueprints of the existing Conceptual Weapons, they were clearly complex but not impossible to replicate, especially with Akasha’s help.

Each Conceptual Armament requires hundreds of condensed black cubes' worth of elementary particles just to materialize, and probably even more to operate.

Each weapon concept was unique and fascinating, but the material demands were overwhelming.

It seemed mathematically impossible for a neoman to carry that much material at once.

Having access to the blueprints of each Conceptual Armament would certainly be useful in an unexpected situation, I thought.

"Rin, dinner’s ready!" I heard my mom call.

"I’ll be there in a minute, Mom," I replied.

I quickly disabled the perception augmentation, making the projection of the Conceptual Armaments book vanish from my view.

I couldn't help but wonder what kind of weapon the seventh Conceptual Armament might be as I made my way down the stairs.

"Rin, are you going to the Autumn Festival venue tomorrow?" Dad asked.

"I’ll be there to check on Liz," I replied.

"I see, make sure to treat Liz nicely," Dad reminded me.

"I will, Dad," I answered.

"Liz looked beautiful in her ceremonial dress," Mom suddenly said.

"I wish I could’ve seen it," I replied.

"Weren’t you there?" Mom asked.

"I arrived a bit late since I needed to talk to Akasha," I explained.

"When I got there, Liz had already changed back into her school uniform," I added.

"Well, you’re in for a little surprise, Rin," Mom said with a smile.

"For sure," I agreed.