Chapter 333: A Hall of Knowledge?

With a casual clench of his fist, Wang Yu summoned the force of the Chariot. Mechanical tendrils of power surged forth, effortlessly crushing the alchemical construct embedded in the ceiling. Astartes had warned him that he wasn't the only one who could use these constructs to observe Skyborne City, and Wang Yu had no intention of being watched while reading this book.

Bit by bit, the words he had transcribed onto the Endless Pages flowed into his mind. The text consisted mostly of strange tales and curious events—but every one of them centered on names carved deep into history. The accounts revealed how these legendary figures made decisions, what they did, and what they said during pivotal moments.

"A person's brilliance is not eternal. Even a sage does not remain a sage forever..."

He murmured Merlin's words aloud, lost in thought.

Wang Yu wasn't just reading aimlessly. Astartes had clearly intended to pass on something crucial, something related to Skyborne City, to Wang Yu. He focused only on those entries connected to it.

Among all the figures recorded in this tome, none were more entwined with the Skyborne City than Astartes and its original creator, Merlin himself. Wang Yu plunged deep into the sections chronicling Merlin's life.

During his first read, he had noticed how disproportionately large a role Merlin played in these stories. Almost every tale cast him in a positive light, while other historical figures were often shown with flaws and blemishes.

At the time, Wang Yu had chalked this up to Astartes' bias. After all, Astartes was one of Merlin's own creations. But now, he wasn't so sure it was mere affection.

As he sifted through the tales, a pattern began to emerge. A message.

Merlin, it seemed, was a man who placed immense value on competence and very little on power for power's sake. The rules he left behind were all designed to accelerate the growth of knowledge and technology atop Skyborne City.

To him, the title of "sage" wasn't a permanent distinction. Talent could fade. Conversely, someone not recognized as a sage could, with time and effort, grow into one worthy of the title.

These sages were the very ones entrusted to guide Skyborne City's progress. Merlin's view was clear: beyond a basic moral threshold, capability alone was the true metric for authority.

It was during Merlin's era that the current system of ranks had been established. Researchers who could present work deemed worthy by the Central Assembly would rise in status, granting them more privileges.

Indeed, Skyborne City had developed into a true hall of knowledge under this system.

With the promise of recognition, talent flowed into research. Innovation fed more innovation. It was a self-sustaining cycle of progress.

But something didn't quite add up. Given what Astartes had written, it was clear that the root of the current problem lay with the Central Assembly, the true "rulers" of Skyborne City.

Yet from everything Wang Yu had seen during his stay, the city functioned remarkably well. Technological advancements were being made day after day, and the city was stable by and large. Where was the rot?

"Merlin's greatest fear," Wang Yu summarized, "was that Skyborne City would rot in stagnation. That the flames of innovation would be snuffed out. Skyborne City was meant to be not just a hall of knowledge, but also a cradle for new ideas and uncharted paths. And yet..."

He remembered a hefty book of records he had found in the library—a registry of all research projects submitted to the Central Assembly in recent years. Each year, after a brief protection period governed by a system similar to Earth's patents, the findings would be made publicly available.

According to that book of records, the number of new discoveries and research projects remained consistently high and even rose from time to time. There was no sign of stagnation at all.

So where was the problem? Wang Yu frowned, lost in thought.

"Wang Yu, how's the alchemical power core coming along? Want me to take a look?"

Avia's voice and the creak of a door pulled him back. As she stepped into the room, he made the decision to share his doubts with her.

"Avia, something just happened. Let me tell you about it. I need your help to think through it."

He recounted everything: what had occurred, what he'd discovered, and the central question gnawing at him—where, exactly, had things gone wrong?

Avia's expression turned serious as soon as he began. As he spoke, a look of contemplation gradually deepened across her face.

When he finally finished and voiced his confusion, she stood silent for a moment. Then, her eyes lit up with realization.

"Your thinking isn't wrong, Wang Yu," she said softly. "But you should approach the question from a different angle—one connected to us."

Wang Yu blinked, then quickly followed her line of thought.

Something tied to them... Astartes' original warning had been to avoid revealing their research on hypermagic to the Central Assembly.

That had to be it. Why had so many new studies been accepted over the years, but never anything on hypermagic? And why had the Seekers' Guild abruptly terminated its own promising research on hypermagic?

"What is it about hypermagic that sets it apart?"

Thanks to Avia's insight, he had found the crux of the issue. The Council's obstruction targeted hypermagic specifically. But why? Hypermagic was a particularly promising field of research.

Avia gave him a wry smile. "It's not surprising you wouldn't realize. If the Professor were here, though, he'd likely have caught it too."

Wang Yu had always approached new domains of knowledge seriously, but he wasn't a true scholar at heart. To him, hypermagic seemed to be just another field of research.

But Avia herself was both a scholar and involved in hypermagic research. The difference between hypermagic and the commonplace studies produced by Skyborne City was so large as to be unimaginable.

"If I had to explain it in Earth terms," she said, "hypermagic is to traditional research what electricity is to steam power, or Einstein's relativity to Newtonian mechanics."

Wang Yu nodded slowly. He was starting to understand.

"So... hypermagic is a paradigm shift. Those "new discoveries" mentioned in the registry just improve on what's already there. They're more like renovations rather than new roads entirely?"

"Correct."

Avia continued with an example. Traditional spell models were based on magical circuits. Advancements in spell design by and large involved optimizing these circuits to make them stronger and more efficient. But hypermagic, on the other hand, could even dispense with physical circuits entirely.

"So that's what Merlin meant by ‘new,'" Wang Yu muttered. "Damn... if that's true, then the city has been stagnant for a long time. All these shiny new findings are just the same old machinery with new coats of paint."

He rubbed his temples and cursed under his breath. The pieces were falling into place.

"They were desperate for something new..."

He recalled Astartes' words during the incident with the abyssal magician—that the Central Assembly had grown reckless in its hunger for novelty. The Abyss, which was largely unknown, had thus become a promising line of research.

The Central Assembly was attempting to come up with something novel while suppressing hypermagic.

"Looks like we were wrong about this place," Wang Yu said bitterly. "It's not a hall of scholars—it's their tomb."

He bore no ill will toward the researchers of Skyborne City. He had seen their passion and their pursuit of knowledge. But the Central Assembly had remained in place for too long. They had decayed.

Not that it surprised him. Where people gathered, politics emerged. And just like in Aleisterre, those at the top would always cling to power.

True idealists were rare. The elves and the Winged handled succession well. The humans, dwarves, and beastkin... not so much.

Wang Yu and Avia now suspected that Merlin had indeed left behind a mechanism to periodically replace members of the Central Assembly.

It was likely a mechanism based on the production of truly original research. But the current Assembly had learned how to game the system. If they couldn't create something new, and couldn't stop the system from recognizing it—then they'd stop others from creating it or stop it from being submitted at all.

And it had worked. Avia combed through her memory of recent major breakthroughs. To her shock, it had been over a century since anything had appeared that could compare to hypermagic.

Combining that with how abruptly the Seekers' research on hypermagic had halted... How many other innovations had died on the vine, smothered before they could bloom? This supposed hall of knowledge was turning into a graveyard of potential.

"That makes Astartes' role rather special," Wang Yu said. "It must be Merlin's final failsafe. When the system fails, Astartes—the mind of Skyborne City, with access to some of the city's integral permissions—must be equipped to step in to correct the course."

"But even that function seems compromised," he added. "It couldn't even speak to a living mind... not until it met me, and found a loophole."

Astartes had tried to do its part—but only by chance had it found a vessel through which to deliver its warnings in Wang Yu. Given the circumstances, it clearly seemed opposed to the Central Assembly.

"You know," Avia said with a teasing smile, "Wang Yu, you're just like those movie characters who attract chaos wherever they go."

Who else could have set all this in motion? Who else would have picked up Astartes' ridiculous treatise on legends?

"It's not my fault," Wang Yu replied with a shrug. "The problems were always there. I just happened to see them—or maybe my weirdness draws them out. Either way, it's part of the deal."

"A deal worth having," she agreed.

He turned serious again. "So... do you really believe hypermagic will help us? I remember you told me that it's a path of infinite potential. For the Professor, it might represent a brand-new, powerful method to repair his damaged mana circuits."

Avia nodded without hesitation. "It absolutely will. Not only can it transform our magical devices, it might finally let us finish the Spellweaver's Tome—and not just as an upgraded version. It'd be rebuilt entirely on brand-new principles."

Wang Yu grinned. "Then there's nothing more to discuss. We keep going. As for the Central Assembly..."

They shared a knowing smile, bumping fists in silent unity. No matter what obstacles lay in their way, they wouldn't stop now. They'd faced worse.

"This isn't Aleisterre," Wang Yu said quietly. "I chose Skyborne City for a reason."