"Apart from being the Holy Daughter candidate for the Holy Court, I am also a first-year student at the Divine Magic Academy."
Hilia didn't stay long at the Holy Court and, after freeloading a dinner there, returned to her residence - the single dormitory at the Divine Magic Academy, led by Alina.
"Because I'm a candidate for the Holy Daughter, I have a single dormitory, living alone."
After explaining this to Rose in her mind, Hilia sat down at the desk and picked up a Mage Handbook to read.
She read with great concentration, so Rose didn't disturb her and instead observed the environment of this dormitory.
This room is about 20 square meters, with a kitchen and a bathroom. There's also a balcony, but the kitchen isn't filled with vegetables and utensils. Instead, it's stocked with all sorts of materials.
The memory of these materials was awakened in his mind, and he immediately recalled that these are the primary magic materials for creating basic magic puppets.
"Fortunately, although I've leaped a thousand years into the future, these things haven't changed."
The easiest items to remember in a game are those from the early and late stages—early stage items are memorable due to multiple playthroughs or new characters, and they're simply unforgettable when you first play. Late stage items are often interacted with frequently. The mid-game transitional items, however, are tough to recall, so Rose still remembers quite a bit.
It might also be that after traveling through, the game's encyclopedia was directly implanted into his mind, allowing him to recognize things at a glance.
"Why is there so much emphasis on magic puppets?" Rose was somewhat puzzled.
Even if magic puppets in the early stages could greatly enhance combat power, it shouldn't be to the extent that the room is filled with materials for making magic puppets, neglecting the enhancement of other forms of power, right?
Rose redirected his focus back to Hilia and suddenly noticed that the book titled 'Mage Handbook' wasn't about studying spells. Instead, it resembled... a history book?
It discussed the origins, heritage, and principles of mages and magic power.
"Are you trying to find some clues about me in this book?"
Rose interrupted Hilia's reading.
Hilia looked up, and the projection of Rose in her mind seemed to appear in the air before her. "I, I'm just casually looking."
"Don't bother. I have nothing to do with the birth of magic. One thing is correct about the history of the Holy Court – I was only active over a thousand years ago; before that, I didn't exist."
"Oh..." Hilia obediently put the Mage Handbook away and replaced it with 'Holy Word,' picking up a pen beside her.
"Tell me, why do you place such importance on making magic puppets?"
Hilia was taken aback, showing a look of confusion. "To a mage, magic puppets are very important battle companions and tools, Mr. Rose... don't you know, sir?"
"Important?" Rose pondered. Perhaps things were different a thousand years ago compared to now. "At least in my time, they weren't important, not even as important as magical pets."
"Magical pets?" Hilia tapped her delicate chin with the pen cap. "I haven't heard that term much. I only heard about it in the New History of the Mage class. The teacher said that magical pets had been replaced by magic puppets."
"What? Magic puppets replaced magical pets?"
Rose was somewhat surprised.
It's like a robotic cat replacing a biological cat.
In theory, it's possible, but to what extent must the robotic cat develop?
Hilia seemed to have finally found something that Rose didn't know, and her lips couldn't help but curl into an arc. "Yes, anything a magical pet can do, a magic puppet can do. Things a magical pet can't do, a magic puppet can also do!"
She moved the white bracelet on her wrist. A magical light screen floated before her, displaying rows of text explaining the causes and effects of magic puppets replacing magical pets.
"All the causes and effects of the replacement are here. I don't know if Mr. Rose can access my Magic Ring's information... The Magic Ring is short for the Magic Ring of Resounding, this bracelet I'm wearing. It can connect to the Star Spirit Network and display the information within it."
"I can see it, and I know about the Magic Ring... because I named it too."
"Huh? You named this as well?" Hilia was shocked.
"Yes, I even defined bracelets as communication tools."
Who could have guessed that this game's freedom was so high? As long as you desire, everything could be customized.
Rose didn't have the mindset to define everything. He only defined things he found fun, like communication tools. The default shape was crystal balls or phones, but he directly customized it to be a bracelet shape, named it the Magic Ring of Resounding, and abbreviated it as the Magic Ring, or Bracelet.
Luckily, back then, although he was playing around, he tried to stay within the context, not giving it a silly name like Donut or something strange.
"Is this also a power from outside the world?" Hilia touched the bracelet.
"No, that's a power within the world."
While answering Hilia's question, Rose was also reading the content on the magic light screen.
It said that magic puppets replaced magical pets as the mage's companions, indeed, because magic puppets fully replaced all the functions of magical pets, whether it was being cute or battling.
During the Era of Calamity 500 years ago, knowledge related to magical pets was unfortunately lost. Coupled with the emergence of magic puppets, the cost of magic puppets became lower than that of current magical pets, gradually replacing the status of magical pets. The original magical pets have become akin to ordinary pets like cats and dogs or... luxury items, no longer suitable for combat.
"I see. It seems the development of magic puppet technology is impressive now. They can even replace magical pets."
Finally seeing a technological advancement, Rose would have suspected that after the gods sealed him away, they reverted the entire world to the era before players descended, had he not seen any progress.
"Therefore, I must create my magic puppet!"
"Isn't creating a magic puppet easy? What difficulties have you encountered, just ask me directly."
"If it's just a basic magic puppet... it's not hard to make. The difficult part is..." The girl's delicate cheeks flushed with a tinge of red, "I don't have the money to buy materials."
Rose: "..."
So it's a lack of money.
Rose was startled: "You're the Holy Daughter; doesn't the school support you financially?"
"They do. The school also provides some basic materials, but these materials can only be used to make the basic style of magic puppets. Without the Heart of the Magic Puppet to drive them, they can only do simple actions and can't fight."
"The Heart of the Magic Puppet?" Rose heard this term for the first time. "Arcane Furnace?"
"Not the Arcane Furnace, it's the core of the magic puppet." Hilia immediately had the bracelet provide information on the Heart of the Magic Puppet.
Rose examined it closely and discovered that the Heart of the Magic Puppet is akin to a CPU. It's the core of the entire magic puppet, whereas the Arcane Furnace is the power source.
Upon reading about materials for magic puppets in his mind, he hadn't encountered something like the Heart of the Magic Puppet. Previously, the magic puppet's 'CPU' was either manually controlled by the mage with divided attention, or by inserting a creature's soul. The twisted forms would seize a human soul and implant it into the magic puppet.
Today's Heart of the Magic Puppet, however, is a highly specialized material mounted on the magic puppet, granting it intelligence akin to AI. It can swiftly respond to the owner's commands, engage flexibly in combat, without needing divided attention or the risk of backstabbing by inserting a stranger's soul.
This really piqued Rose's curiosity.
In his previous life, when he traversed through time, civilian robotics had rapidly advanced, even capable of doing backflips, but this world seemingly developed even more swiftly, becoming the core method of mage combat.
However, thinking about how after being sealed for a thousand years, the entire world only reached the point of developing intelligent robots, perhaps... it was extraordinarily slow.
The gods really are gravely sinful!