Kays Translations

Chapter 184: The Former Magic Circle 

In the past, when they discovered what appeared to be leg parts of Avalushi’s magic giant golem in the ruins of the rocky desert, they also found documents in what seemed to be a laboratory, suggesting a remote-control system.

The magic giant golem before them now also used a remote-control system, but it was quite different from the design found in those earlier documents.

The design concept of the schematic they found was that the operator would physically move their own body, and those movements would be transmitted to and reproduced by the golem in a distant location.

Although it seemed like an intuitive control method, there were various potential issues with it. However, the actual golem they encountered incorporated a vastly superior mechanism known as a “mana pass,” leaving the group somewhat perplexed.

“This one we found seems to actually reproduce the operator’s movements.” 

Isamu explained.

“I see… but why bother leaving unused functions? Isn’t it just a waste of space?” 

Eto asked.

“I think it’s because this was probably the first completed prototype of Abel’s machine.” 

Isamu speculated. 

“So, like a final prototype, huh?”

“Exactly. The other yellow machine doesn’t have any such comments left, so I assume they built the version with physical movement first and then gradually modified it, commenting out unnecessary parts along the way.”

“Hmm, in the prototype stage, it’s often the case that the previous design was better, so it’s probably better to leave it in rather than erasing it entirely.”

“That’s what I think too.”

During the prototype phase, not all new ideas are adopted, and often the original version turns out to be superior. Unlike computer programs, where you can take a backup and easily revert or copy and paste the changes, with handwritten magic circles, it’s not so simple.

Thus, Isamu speculated that they left parts of the original magic circle while experimenting with additions and revisions to bring the prototype to completion.

“Actually, parts of the initial magic circle have been reused in the current active one.” 

Isamu continued.

“Interesting.”

“Unfortunately, the part related to the mana pass seems to be unreadable, but after the data passes through the mana pass, it seems the golem is operated in a manner similar to the original magic circle.”

“Fascinating… but why go to the trouble of redesigning something that already works? Normally, you’d think there must have been some sort of defect.”

“That’s the question, isn’t it? It must have been something pretty significant to warrant such a large overhaul.”

“Hmm. Have you made any progress with decoding the cockpit seat?”

“No, we’ve only been focusing on the golem side for now.”

“I see. Changing the control system would mean modifying the cockpit seat as well, wouldn’t it? If the seat in this village is paired with that purple machine, it might reveal something.”

“You’re right, Eto-san! I’ll check that right away. Greg-san!!”

Without wasting a second, Isamu rushed toward Greg, who was inspecting the control seat.

“Isamu is as eager as always.” E

Eto sighed as he watched him run off.

“Indeed, I heard this cockpit was always used by the big boss.”

“Really!? That’s what I thought!”

Upon confirming with Greg, it turned out Isamu’s prediction was correct.

The cockpit seat had been used by the master until their death, after which it was hidden along with the purple machine in the village.

“Can I take a look at this cockpit seat? I might be able to figure out the pre-mana pass control method.”

“What!? I’ve heard that Matsumoto-dono can read magic circles, but can you figure that out too?”

Greg was understandably surprised since he had only heard vague details about Isamu’s abilities but had never seen them in action.

“By all means, please examine it. If it helps us learn more about the big boss’ machine, it would be a great benefit to the people of Avaruus.”

“Thank you!”

With Greg’s permission, Isamu began investigating the magic circle in the control seat.

Since the priority was to master the operation of the magic giant golem, the investigation of the control seat had to be done during breaks and training sessions.

“Given how the golem was drawn, the cockpit seat should follow a similar design…”

Isamu focused on finding the commented-out sections of the magic circle to save time, targeting the abandoned control method.

That very night, Isamu found the relevant comments.

“Narrowing down the search worked out.”

“Yeah, glad we found it relatively quickly.”

In the now-deserted hangar after the day’s training, Isamu, Eto, and Willem gathered around the cockpit seat.

Next to them lay a simple flowchart Isamu had created, summarizing the magic circle’s functions, which Willem was studying intently.

“If this revision is accurate, the mana pass seems like an incredibly groundbreaking invention.”

“I think so too. It’s not something that could be easily implemented just because someone wanted to.”

“Indeed. Who would have thought that it literally connects the soul to the golem?”

The three of them let out a low whistle in unison.

Through decoding the magic circles in both the golem and the cockpit seat, they uncovered two major revelations.

First, how the master-slave system was originally implemented.

And second, how it was ultimately altered.

As for the former, the process was quite straightforward.

The operator would attach small magic devices to certain parts of their body, enter a space designed to read them, and when the body moved, the flow of magic power inside the body would be detected via these devices.

This information was then compressed and converted into an attribute-less magic wave, which was transmitted to the golem.

The golem would receive the wave, convert it back into the original magic power flow, and pass this information to the corresponding magic circle to reproduce the movement.

It was similar to the motion capture technology used on Earth, where a special suit is worn to capture physical movements.

The method of data transmission also resembles Earth’s concept of data communication.

The details of the magic circle that replicated movements were still unclear, but the material seemed to contract and expand like artificial muscles.

As for the latter revelation, the process became even simpler.

First, the operator’s soul would be scanned as a mana pass and sent to the golem.

The golem would extract the soul’s movements and pass them through the magic circle used in the previous method to replicate the operator’s physical movements.

While the process itself was simple, the technology required was extraordinary.

—

“So, it seems like it requires using quite a bit of magic power to keep the pilot and the Magic Giant Golem continuously connected.” 

“Well, you’re linking souls together, so of course that would use a lot of magic…” 

“When that connection is smooth, I think it not only reduces the magic consumption but also makes controlling it easier.”

“And that smoothness is reflected by the magic path’s score, right?”

“I think the score likely accounts for both the smoothness of the connection and how well the pilot adapts to the Magic Giant Golem once connected.”

He guessed that the overall score reflected both factors, and just having a high score didn’t necessarily mean the pilot would be exceptional.

“I can’t quite understand the mana pass part, but I can read the control methods that don’t use the mana pass, so I plan to find some time to experiment with that.” 

“Oh?” 

“My guess is, since there are more steps involved, there’s more information being exchanged, which might have caused a delay in the movement. Plus, there’s the need to exchange visual information from the Magic Giant Golem itself.”

“I see. So, once you’re connected through the mana pass, everything is handled within the Magic Giant Golem, making delays less likely, right?”

“Probably, yes…”

For example, if it takes 0.5 seconds to transmit the visual information seen by the Magic Giant Golem and another 0.5 seconds to replicate the movement after seeing it, there would be a 1-second delay. 

And in combat, a 1-second delay could be fatal.

“That’s why I want to test whether there’s really a delay, how long it is, and whether it’s affected by factors like distance or complexity of movement.”

“But right now, you’re able to move it without any issues using a different method, so is it really necessary to test this?” 

“Yes. Even if there is a delay, if we find a way to make it work without problems, this technique could be incredibly useful.”

“Hmm…?” 

Eto seemed unconvinced.

“Let’s see… for example, imagine creating a magic tool that can replicate hand movements remotely. You hold a pen and write on paper, and a Magic Giant Golem hand placed in a distant location does the same. If both have pens and paper…”

“Wait! That means… you’d be able to exchange written messages remotely almost instantly!”

Eto raised his voice in realization.

“Exactly. It’s not quite the same as talking face-to-face, but even with a delay of a few minutes, it would still be much faster than using a hawk for communication.”

While the method may be somewhat analog and limited to one-on-one communication, the ability to exchange information in near real-time would be incredibly valuable.

Additionally, just by adding a middleman, like an operator from the old days of telephones, the convenience could be further improved.

“Indeed, that sounds worth testing…” 

Eto murmured thoughtfully.

The training for piloting and deciphering the magic circles of the Magic Giant Golem continued simultaneously.

More than half of the magic circles, especially those related to the mana pass, remained unreadable, but there were still some that could be understood. After another week of deciphering, they discovered several magic circles that appeared to have uses beyond remote control.

One of the biggest findings was a magic circle for weight reduction. A fragment of this had been found in the ruins before, but Abel’s machine had a fully readable version intact.

“This is a major discovery.” 

“Yes. While it can’t be used on living beings, its applications, starting with magic vehicles, are quite broad.”

Since it required dark-attribute magic, and no such magic stones had been found yet, they’d have to extract dark magic from attribute-less stones, but the potential uses were vast.

Another complete magic circle they deciphered was one for sound collection and amplification. It was located in the part of the Magic Giant Golem corresponding to its ears. While the data ultimately gets transferred to the mana pass and becomes a black box, it remains as information right before that transfer. If they could successfully extract and output it, it could be applied to devices like microphones or speakers.

They also found something similar to optical cameras, corresponding to the Golem’s eyes, and a magic circle that seemed to function as a thermographic sensor, similar to what they had suspected during a previous encounter with another Magic Giant Golem. However, while they deduced its function from the magic stone embedded in it, they couldn’t read the magic circle itself. Since the information gets outputted when transferred to the mana pass, that would be a subject for future investigation.

Meanwhile, the piloting training was progressing smoothly. Though only Isamu clearly benefited from the cat’s support, everyone’s piloting skills had improved significantly. Seeing that they could all move the Golems with a certain level of freedom, Norman made a suggestion.

“A competition for piloting skills, huh?”

“That’s right. We’ll compete in things like speed and jump distance. We’ll finish with a mock battle.”

“Sounds interesting. Was this Abel’s idea?”

“Yes, it was. It’s called the ‘Olympic.'”

“Ah, I see. The Olympics, huh. Does that mean there are records from the past as well?”

“How did you know just from hearing the name!? That’s right.”

“As I thought. The Olympics was the most famous competition in the world I came from, held every four years, where representatives from all countries would gather. There were many different events, and all the world records were carefully recorded.”

“I even remember losing sleep because of the time difference.” 

Isamu added nostalgically.

And so, a small Olympics using Magic Giant Golems was about to be held.

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