paranoianovel Chapter 57 "Surfing"
Chapter 57 "Surfing"
Creditor: Fafner Beckett
Debtor: Martha
Claim details: Visionary (Church of the God of Death) (Temporary Guiding Framework)
Debt term: 30 days
Interest: Vision progress +1/debtor/month
Although constructing the guiding framework for clairvoyance consumes a significant amount of spiritual energy—much more than previous basic meditation methods—
But for Fafnir, it was just a one-night recovery, nothing serious.
He didn't care about the interest; his spiritual vision was already maxed out anyway.
However, Fafnir knew that the "ledger" would convert these excess interest into a slight increase in the duration of clairvoyance, or a slight decrease in the spiritual energy required to cast clairvoyance.
Of course, Fafner had no idea what the specific principle was.
He also fantasized that if he were to build a temporary guiding framework for these basic spells for many people, would it be possible to transform interest rates from a quantitative to a qualitative change?
For example, by "teaching" more people how to perform magic without harm through the borrowing and lending functions of the "ledger,"
A spell that is almost damage-free, has no wind-up animation, and can be cast for a long time?
Furthermore, under certain conditions, such as borrowing money through a "ledger" to teach others "The True Story of Spiritual Training," could one also increase their total spiritual potential...?
If that were really possible, wouldn't we be invincible?
Hmm... I don't think so either. To him, the ledger was just an empty framework.
Moreover, he certainly wouldn't lend money to just anyone. Fafner immediately dismissed some of the ideas in his mind; he didn't want his "ledger" function to be discovered at all.
What if an anomaly is discovered when you help someone build a temporary bootstrapping framework?
Even with the slightest possibility, Fafnir was unwilling. He knew that, in principle, only messengers—and only messengers proficient in spirit magic—could construct guiding spells for others, and the recipients of these spells must also meet certain innate requirements.
If he were to use the "ledger" on a large scale for others, this illogical behavior would inevitably be discovered sooner or later as a result.
Therefore, Fafnir had no intention of taking the risk for a gain that might not even be realized.
Of course, Martha and Allen are people you can trust.
……
At three o'clock on Saturday afternoon, Fafnir, Martha, and Alan saw all the children off from school and then rode together in a carriage to Lorraine Manor.
Fafner thought he could go home on Sunday and get a good half-day rest.
Having only one day off a week is fine, but it would be exhausting to practice magic on weekends without rest.
The carriage had no side carriages; the flatbed cart was loaded with goods, and Fafnir and his two companions squeezed together.
The familiar scenery around me kept changing, and the autumn and winter wind was a bit cold.
"Hey Fafnir, what are you planning to do this weekend?" Martha asked, starting a conversation as she felt a little bored.
Allen, who was standing to the side, was so bored that he was about to fall asleep.
"Hmm... let me think," Fafnir pondered for a moment, "I'll go back and have a nice dinner with my parents today, and then tomorrow, I'll rest for half a day in the morning and go back to school with you in the afternoon."
"That's good. I'll go help my mom with some laundry work. Ellen and I don't have any formal jobs at the manor anymore."
"By the way, Martha, you also bought your lunch at the cafeteria the night before, right?"
I've noticed you guys haven't been eating meat in your lunches lately. That's not a good idea.
"Alan no longer works in the kitchen; he's lost his kitchen perks."
"Don't your employees use their free allowance?"
Martha shook her head: "I can't bear to part with them. Free points are only for us."
We can sell the points to others for a slightly lower price; they'll be worth several copper coins.
Fafnir fell silent for a moment.
"Recently, the mine where my dad works has been doing very poorly, and his wages have dropped a lot," Martha said, lowering her head.
"But with the subsidies that Allen and I receive at school, we can barely make ends meet. I'm thirteen years old now, not a child anymore, and I need to think about my family. If I eat one less piece of meat that costs four points, I can exchange it for at least two copper coins."
"I can lend you some money, please don't be shy. I currently receive a stipend of twelve silver shields every five months."
"No...no, thank you, thank you, Fafnir."
Hmm... that's a lot, six times what I get every month. I currently get a subsidy of eighty copper coins a month.
I think even if I weren't a volunteer, even if I were a maid with skilled sewing techniques, I probably wouldn't be paid this much.
I also wish I had a job like that, earning over a gold pound a year—how wonderful that would be! But I probably won't achieve that in my lifetime.
Fafnir, you're amazing! I really admire you.
Martha's mood somber:
"What will the future hold? I'm no longer a child like you and Allen, but..."
"Keep it up, Martha. I can teach you bookkeeping. I mentioned it to you about a year ago."
If you can master bookkeeping now, things will definitely get better in the future, and so will Alan's."
"But that would be very troublesome for you, Fafnir. We didn't take bookkeeping in grammar school back then."
"You've helped Allen and me a lot. We were really worried that we might bother you and disrupt your progress with your magic..."
"Haha, what's the trouble?" Fafnir chuckled. "So, how about starting next week?"
……
On Sunday morning, Fafnir wanted to sleep in, but his prayer clock and long-standing biological clock woke him up at exactly six o'clock.
Alyssa and Clinton made some stew together for breakfast.
Fafnir was very satisfied with the meal, enjoying a bowl of hot, salty, thick soup made from tubers and peas on a cold morning.
After breakfast,
Clinton and Alyssa sat in the living room, reading a storybook that resembled a magazine and whispering to each other.
Fafner stayed in the living room for a while, then returned to his room and sat at his desk.
He's starting to feel bored with having nothing to do.
Should I lie down and take a nap?
No, I'm not sleepy.
Practice spells?
Haha, isn't the point of going home to rest?
Fafner thought for a moment, then took out the birthday present that Mr. Victor had given him from the bag.
—That silver badge,
Fafnir examined the silver badge from all angles several times.
The badge was a size larger than his thumbnail, with raven feather patterns engraved on the front and a string of tiny numbers on the back. He tried to infuse it with spirituality—
The badge lit up.
It wasn't radiance, it was more like... something flashed in his mind, something spiritual.
Fafnir increased his spiritual output, and the badge began to heat up. Suddenly, a line of text appeared before his eyes.
It wasn't the kind of word like "ledger" that floated in his mind; it was something that truly appeared before his eyes, suspended in mid-air in a real world constructed of spiritual threads, silvery-white and faintly glowing.
Of course, it requires clairvoyance to see.
Welcome to the Spiritual Remote Information Processing System of the Church of the God of Death.
Please enter your church rank sequence number.
Fafnir paused for a moment, then flipped the badge over to the back, found the number, and tried to "read" it aloud with his mind.
The words in front of me have changed.
Fafner Beckett, First-Class Assistant Priest
The words disappeared, replaced by a list, also floating in front of you, with silvery-white words shimmering slightly in the air.
"Open Remote Information Processing System"
Church Directory
Spiritual Materials Trading Market
Church News Announcement
Academic Discussion Forum
Entertainment area
Fafnir stared at the "entertainment area" for two seconds, then tapped it with his mind.
Page redirection.
Entertainment Area
board games
Card games
Text interaction
Video footage
Video footage?
Fafnir clicked on it, the list expanded, and there were only a few items.
"A Record of the Construction of the Holy City Cathedral of the Church of the God of Death" (841 AD)
Image Record of the Sacred Tree's Feather Shedding Period (835 AD)
The True Story of the Spirit Messenger's Flight (839 AD)
Fafnir clicked on the first one, and a picture appeared before his eyes.
This is a cathedral under construction; the gray-white stone walls are mostly completed, and scaffolding is densely erected on the exterior.
Workers walked back and forth on it, some carrying stones, others carving something.
However, the affected image is black and white and is somewhat unstable, flickering occasionally, but it is still visible.
Fafnir was captivated by the sight; the image lasted for about five minutes before finally settling on a panoramic view of the cathedral after its completion.
The image disappeared, and the words in front of me reappeared.
Fafner leaned back in his chair and stared at the ceiling for a few seconds. This thing was much more powerful than he had imagined—it wasn't just a communicator, but more like some kind of... network terminal.
Fafnir was speechless... all he could say was, "That's amazing."
He returned to the "Entertainment Section" and clicked on the second item.
"A Visual Record of the Sacred Tree's Feather Shedding Period"
The camera is shooting from a great distance; a giant tree with an extremely thick trunk fills the entire frame, its canopy blocking out the sun, and golden leaves are falling.
It was falling in large flakes, like snow.
The leaf floated into the air, then suddenly stopped, hovered for a moment, and then turned into golden specks of light and disappeared.
The scene lasted for about two minutes, and the camera slowly zoomed in, making it possible to see what patterns were carved on the tree trunk, but the image was too blurry for Fafnir to see clearly.
He wanted to click on the third one, but then he heard Elisa's voice from the doorway: "Little Fafnir, it's time for lunch."
Fafnir responded and put the badge into his pocket.
Several dishes were laid out on the table: stewed beans, fried eggs, a plate of smoked meat, and a basket of mixed wheat bread.
Clint had already sat down and was soaking bread in a bowl.
"Good afternoon, Dad." Fafnir sat down and picked up a piece of bread.
"Good afternoon, my little Fafnir," Clint mumbled through his noodles. "What were you doing in your room this morning? You didn't make a sound."
"I'm thinking about what Mr. Victor gave me."
"Oh, did you thank Mr. Victor? Mr. Victor is such a kind man..."
"What is this?" Elisa came out carrying a bowl of soup and sat down opposite him.
Fafnir thought for a moment, then took the badge out of his pocket and placed it on the table:
"This is the communicator of the Church of the God of Death, but it seems to be used for more than just communication; it can also display other things."
Clint put down his bread and leaned closer to examine the badge: "This tiny thing can communicate? What else can it read?"
"Images, well... how should I put it, are like someone drawing in front of you, and the drawing moves."
Clint and Elisa exchanged a glance.
"How do you see it, my little Fafnir? I don't understand at all. Can you show us?" Elisa's voice was full of curiosity.
Fafnir nodded, infusing his spirituality into the badge, and the words appeared before him, but he realized that his parents couldn't see them—those words required clairvoyance to be seen.
"Please wait a moment." Fafnir thought for a moment and tried to expand his spirituality outward.
What he wanted to build was very simple—to use spirituality to reveal what he saw through his vision.
This is a little trick he read about in the appendix of "Introduction to Spirituality," called "Spiritual Projection," which is a less common type of first-order magic.
Fafnir entered a meditative state, and spiritual threads appeared in his mind.
He had never constructed this technique, but the principle was not difficult—to project what one sees through spiritual vision into the material world through spirituality, forming a temporary image in the air.
On the first try, nothing happened.
The second time, he guided the spiritual threads to expand outwards, but they disintegrated immediately.
the third time,
Fafnir slowed his pace, expanding outward little by little. Spiritual threads spread from his body, weaving a thin curtain of light in the air.
The light screen flickered, displaying a blurry image, but it quickly disappeared, startling Clint and Elisa who were standing nearby.
"One more time." Fafnir took a deep breath and began to rebuild.
This time, he slowed down the speed of his spiritual projection, first stabilizing the light screen before projecting the image onto it.
The light screen lit up.
A black-and-white image appeared above the dining table, unstable and flickering from time to time, but it was roughly visible—a cathedral under construction, with dense scaffolding and workers carrying stones back and forth.
Clint dropped the bread he was holding onto the table.
Elisa's mouth was agape and her eyes were wide open.
"This...this is..." Clint's voice was filled with disbelief.
“This is what I just saw,” Fafnir said. “The badge Mr. Victor gave me can see these things.”
The image lasted for more than ten seconds. Fafnir felt his temples begin to throb, and his spiritual energy was being depleted very quickly. He withdrew his spiritual energy, and the light screen dissipated.
"What happened?" Clint leaned forward, his eyes showing a hint of lingering satisfaction.
"Sigh, this is too draining on my spiritual energy," Fafnir rubbed his temples. "I can't hold on much longer."
"That cathedral was truly enormous," Clint said, leaning back in his chair, his eyes still fixed on the spot where the light screen had disappeared. "I've never seen anything like this... this kind of moving painting before."
"This is called video footage," Fafner said.
"Video footage," Clint repeated, as if savoring the word, "If this stuff became widespread, who would still read books?"
“That’s different,” Elisa replied, picking up the bread that had fallen on the table. “Books have their advantages. These kinds of videos are fine for watching and having fun, but if you really want to learn something, you still have to read books.”
"I didn't say I wouldn't read," Clint muttered, then turned to Fafnir: "Little Fafnir, was that cathedral we just saw really that big, or was it just a drawing?"
“It should be true,” Fafnir said. “The Holy City Cathedral of the Church of the God of Death is one of the largest churches in the eastern part of the Holy Kingdom.”