C3: Can Trucks be Stored in Flash Drives?

Well, there has been some trouble in the "acquiring a driver's license" part of the plan. Becoming a citizen of a country is a more complicated process than I thought. I have managed to find two candidates for countries I might be able to get some citizenship in. The first is a country where you can buy its citizenship, but it is pretty expensive from what I have gathered of this world's money. The other country is free to get into but would require me to buy a house there, also a costly venture. Basically, even though I had thought I might be able to survive in this world without money, it seems that it is not the case. It wasn't just about wanting to eat food anymore.

I missed the adventurers guild. At least there all it took to get identifications was the ability to sign your name and some skill in combat. 

It looked like I might have to get a job somewhere.

Working isn’t something I’m particularly bad at, it’s just…

I’ve kinda held the same job for over 200 years.

Being an advisor to human monarchs is great job security. After a few generations, you have been there longer than they can remember, and they trust your judgment and give you extra funding for experiments.

...What? Don’t look at me like that. If it weren’t for my schmoozing, er, keen persuasion skills, then I wouldn’t have invented the data crystal.

Ah yes! My data crystals. It was one of my greatest discoveries in Photomancy! It even won me respect from the dwarves if you can believe that. The way it works is simple. Using a weaker form of the Photomancy spell Photo-Genesis, you convert inanimate objects into light matter. This is much easier than the higher tiered version of the spell needed to transform living beings into light. Anyway, the object is broken down into a series of alternating flashing lights that can be compressed and stored between the lattices of a magically-inclined crystal structure. How much data can be stored depends on the size, quality, and type of crystal. For instance, a small quartz crystal would be able to hold maybe a picnic lunch or a few books, while a diamond of the same size could contain a carriage and a tent for traveling.

That discovery had led not only to an economic boom, but also the rise of the crystal storage culture. Merchants could carry more merchandise than ever before. Some magical beasts were able to be stored in crystals as well, making summoners a viable career after Dimension Magic had been lost and the Skill Trees had been destroyed. Crystals of all kinds were a hot market item. Supplies were able to reach disaster areas quickly and efficiently. Even the military saw the use of it as a way to quickly transport weapons. It's what finally got me the title of a Rainbow-Class magician: Someone deemed worthy by the Temple of the Rainbow to connect with the Source of Photomancy.

However, I only managed to bring a few data-crystals with me to this world. None of which contained food.

I had thought of trying to sell the concept in this world for money, but the lack of magicians means that there would be next to no one willing to try it. And even if I did manage to cause an economic boom with it, I wasn't in a position of authority in this world like I was on my own.

However, I did manage to find an interesting alternative to data crystals in this world. It was called a “flash drive.” It apparently used math or something to store information on these little devices. I learned about them in trying to research computers at the library, but I don’t think I am quite ready for that amount of culture shock yet… I’m still working my way up to Trucks!

Anyway, the "flash drives" don't seem to be able to store as much light data as the crystals I am used to, but it still seemed to be worth researching. The one I was given for free by the librarian says "2GB" on one side, and the library's name on the other. I haven't quite figured out what that stands for, but it seems to be about the same as a jade-crystal of the same size. Working for the kingdom, I had a fair supply of diamond crystals of this size which hold around 2-3 times the amount of data for comparison. Come to think of it, the jade crystals held about the material of 2 garnets, so I guess for now GB can stand for a garnet base.

As for the contents of the data crystals I still had on me: I had a canteen I refill at the library, a trunk with a few changes of clothes, one containing a large towel, my wallet containing some gold from the kingdom and my keys to my lab, a few others with miscellaneous personal belongings, and then one containing the Holy Sword Claidheamh Mòr. 

Holy Sword Claidheamh Mòr is a sacred tool that was given to me directly by the Prophet of Light. Well, the sword is actually able to be used as a conduit for Photomancy that's the main reason I hold onto it. I tried using it as a data crystal for storage, and it was able to store an entire wing of the castle! The maids weren’t very happy for my experiment, however. It… may have stored their clothes while they were in the bath.

And then… there’s the crystal storing the Fae Queen May Weather I accidentally captured during the Rixle incident. I was trying to intimidate her by storing her clothes in the crystal but it turns out that fairies could be stored. Further testing showed that certain magical beasts could be captured as well, leading to the resurgence of summoners I had talked about before. I just kept her in the crystal because doing so solved the conflict peacefully, and she probably would have killed me if I let her out.

Regardless, not much of this would give me any advantages in this world. It was mostly a peaceful one compared to my world. While there were still wars happening around the planet, they were only wars between humans. I admit, the human's technology for war has far surpassed how it had been on my world, but still, even their greatest explosions paled in comparison to even those possible by elemental magic. If not for the fact that the planet itself was reinforced by the Sources and restorative magicians, it may have very well been destroyed by magic itself millennia ago. I have heard several stories of evil sorcerers destroying the moons, only for them to be restored later.

Regardless, in a world of machina and humans, someone like me specialized in fighting dragons and behemoths would be mostly useless. Even if I could destroy the moon (which I most definitely could, probably, if I tried real hard) it wouldn’t get me anywhere closer to my goal.

Which led to my decision to be a street performer.

Frankly, it did not go well.

Other than the initial incident, there hadn’t been anything quite as exciting. After a week, I managed to make a grand total of thirty dollars and fifty-nine cents, if I was counting correctly. I wasn't entirely sure how much money was worth here yet, but that was a pretty low number compared to my goal. On top of that, a few times I had to make use of my Invisibility spells to disappear away from people whose apparent turf I had intruded upon. I guess bandits were still a problem in this world after all.

If only there was an easier way to earn money…

Well, at the very least I should go for a bit of shopping to try out this money.

*Ding Ding* I was a bit surprised as the door to this store opened on its own. I wonder what kind of magic devices they have set up to get this to happen? I know elemental magic users sometimes use earth magic to move stone doors, but this door seemed made mostly of metal and glass. Well, this will need to be some later investigation...

The prices seemed to be fairly metric in nature. Usually, the items seemed to be close to a full "dollar" amount or about halfway there, likely to entice you to buy two of an item to get to a full dollar amount. The store had many different kinds of beverages, pastries, and other food items I had never heard of. The cheapest food I could find was called "instant ramen in a cup" and appeared to be some sort of noodles. It claimed that it just needs hot water to prepare the dish. Is that really a thing that can happen? I grabbed one just to try it out.

One other thing that caught my eye was a box with a colorful character on it. It looked to be some sort of sweet cereal. It had a colorful circle in the corner with the phrase "One in six boxes has a special prize." This prize looked to be some sort of toy to me, but still…

That was gambling, wasn't it? And aimed at children no less.

Gambling had been outlawed in my kingdom not long before I had become the Royal Magician. This was unfortunately also due to something I had developed...the mid-tier light spell "See Through." It allowed you to reflect light around surfaces or even use high-frequency waves, I think they call them "X-Rays" here, to be able to see through solid objects. I had originally designed this as a technique for gathering information on enemy camps and fortresses, but some of the nobles took to using the technique for gambling purposes. It allowed them to see what cards their adversaries had and even, with enough training, which cards were on top of the deck. Not only did gambling become outlawed due to the huge swings in wealth that happened at the time but the use of the "See-Through" spell became forbidden. Of course, it would still happen in bars or in sketchy neighborhoods, but there wasn't really a way to stop that. Adventurers will be adventurers after all. 

And those were forbidden in my world at least. Here, there would be no such restrictions! This could be my ticket! If I could find a way to gamble, I could use “See-Through” to give me an advantage in games!

It was time to find a place I could gamble, and also try out whatever this “instant ramen” stuff was. I also got some disposable bowls and silverware and some other things I had been lacking and ended up spending most of my money. I would be able to store most of the stuff in my crystals, so it was better to have some useful items on me.

I took my ramen back to the library roof to eat. I managed to get the water to boil using UV beam. It took a while, but it was the best substitute I had for fire magic. I really did envy the old man sometimes, he was able to make tea so easily. 

After a few moments, the ramen was ready and I was excited to try a bite. It was my first meal since arriving in this world, so I had no expectations on the taste. Would it be salty? Sweet? Was it like Balalaki Pasta? With anticipation, I opened the cup with the steamed ramen. It seemed to have become a soup of sorts. I let the aroma waft into my nose, the pleasant smell of meat and vegetables. Some people think that elves are vegetarians, but that's because elven cooking uses meat as seasoning and not as a main course. 

I took a bite, and the flavor was remarkable! It was like nothing I had ever tasted and required so little preparation! This would be a super helpful item for adventurers who usually relied on simpler meals while travelling. Even the ones that did use data crystals tended to keep meals more on the side of bread and jerky as those were easier to store.

What I didn't notice during my meal, but I would find out soon, was that someone had found my little nest. And she was even watching me eat on that day from the shadow of the building.