05-02-2017, 02:00 PM
Dane knew that look. The alien's dead eyes were focused, yet his gaze calculating. It was strange that such an unknown creature was capable of displaying the complex, yet slightly recognisable, expression of someone who just got dealt the perfect poker hand. Of course, some people in that hypothetical situation would outright grin, or try to maintain a blank and neutral expression. However, the one Dane knew, and used, was different. It could easily be confused with the more focused or even grim expression of someone trying to win - yet it meant something else. It was not the face of someone trying to gain a victory, it was the face of someone trying to use one. And in this case, Dane assumed the victory was him. Being used meant he was useful, and he saw that more as a compliment than a bad thing.
Putting those thoughts on hold, he listened to same fake feminine voice from before - still fighting for control against the clicks and gurgles.
Axe-ee-mare-axe. It was strange, but not laughable. Primus, Dane had heard before. He remembered it being used for one of his homeland's Bishops - but was unsure of the significance. Alignment, Dane also understood. He knew the word, but Axemerax said it like an organisation. Without more information, it sounded like a religious title.
The introduction would have sounded more fearful if not for the translator. It would have almost been laughable had many lives not died to make the statement true. His darker side still found it amusing, causing Dane to tighten the grip on his swords to restore his focus. And then blink as Axemerax seemed to shudder, before relaxing. His body then eased back into his intimidating posture.
Did he just have some sort of episode?
He does strike me as eccentric.
Maybe his hormone levels are erratic and more easily influenced by thoughts. That could have been drugs trying to counter that.
That's reasonable.
That's... actually brilliant.
Dane knew about as much as he really could about his world. But with limited supplies and magic, he could only do so much the stars. He'd tracked the movement of other planets, and managed to bounce an artificial, yet concentrated, magic pulse off the sun to measure its distance. At the peak of his discoveries, before he was forced to keep moving, he measured the angle of a few of the brighter stars. The end result was showing that they moved. Later, he'd backtracked. While the data was relatively imprecise, he'd come to the conclusion that (assuming the other stars were massively more distant) they were at least ten to the power of sixteen metres away. A monumental distance to him. And that was only the nearest ones.
He'd dismissed the possibility of one day travelling that far, or even sending anything that distance. Even a focused message, one only varying by a mere thousandth of a degree from the intended path. Even that would be indistinguishable from the background arcane waves at such a distance. Still, his dismissal was reasonable. It took mankind centuries to even learn to control their magic in the most basic fashion. And millennia to form and teach the non-innate processes known as spells. Certainly, the large technological achievement mentioned by Axemerax would not occur in Dane's lifetime, so it might as well have not been possible.
The translator did have some tones at its disposal. Recognition and respect were used for the word "scientist".
Aww, please. You flatter me. I'm gonna blush.
We should be more interested in what he wants.
Dane had already considered this somewhat. Matter was basically energy. Magic was basically energy. And energy was, of course, energy. Converting magic to energy and vice versa was a common practice. It was partly why mages would tire after battle, despite standing mostly in one place the whole time. Matter could theoretically be converted as well. But the energy required to replicate the conditions needed to do so was much larger than the energy that could be accessed. The inefficiencies were too large, and the process had only been truly attempted twice in Dane's known history. Both times with a large formation of skilled and powerful magic users, with the attempt to convert the mass and the energy released into usable magic.
Converting to matter, from energy or magic, would require a lot. About ten to the power of seventeen joules or a thirty-ninth order magical singularity would be needed to create just one gram of the stuff. There was a financial scandal about a decade back when someone claimed to have created gold. The claims were false, but they managed to get some money out of it from some greedy dukes before going into hiding. It was, still, technically possible.
"Omni summoned us here. So even if we do not have magic or energy at our disposal to, say, point, click, and magic something into existence, we might be able to tap into his power. Should it be available to us, we could bring something here like he did to us."
Come on baby, Daddy wants a cool hat. Even if it might be stolen.
Dane shuffled back, turned slightly to the right, and snapped both his fingers at the ground to make his point. As expected, nothing happened. He'd briefly, and naturally unsuccessfully, tried to will his limited magic into the formation of a straw, cowboy style, hat. But Dane really wanted the hat. Not really the hat itself, but a confirmation of Omni's claims. He could see the weaved straw in his mind.
Nothing happened initially, and Axemerax didn't interrupt. But after a short focus a sphere, about the size of Dane's palm, appeared in his hand. It was heavier than one might expect, yet easy enough for Dane to lift without strain. At a glance, it looked like a cloudy milk coloured ball, but when examined further other colours were precipitated inside. Small specs made a rainbow, growing, shrinking, shifting, and dancing together. There were no instructions, but Dane knew what to do.
He gritted his teeth in concentration. "This might take a while, but I can definitely make something with this." He didn't sit down, close his eyes, or do anything special. Dane simply turned back to face Axemerax square on, and began to picture his new hat. Strands flew from Omnilium, stitching together and slowly but surely forming the rounded shape of a hat between his palms. A distorted image of his imagined outcome appeared in the orb - like a confirmation of his choice. Something like this was undoubtedly complex.
If it was magic, he would have felt it. But, even if it was, he would have been very impressed at its designer. Not only did it require minimal skill to actually use, it had some innate consciousness, or at least programming, of its own. It didn't just have an algorithm for hats, it had algorithms for limitless creations. The ability to read a subjective and incomplete input, turn it into a usable description, and then create it. No user would sit there for hours trying to visualise the microscopic structure of a creation. Not that they could. They wouldn't be able to remember half of it. Picturing chessboards was one thing, but the positions of all the tiny strands and how they weaved in and out amongst each other was something else.
Although, it could read Dane's mind. That was a worry. He hadn't pushed and physical signal to the Omnilium, it just took his thoughts and will and went with it. He didn't think it would create something without his blessing, but should it read more than needed to fulfil its order - that would be a problem. But, even if Omni was using it to read everyone's thoughts, he doubted Omni had the time, or even attention span, to keep track of everything. So, rather than suppress any brain processes, Dane decided to keep them on overdrive. The more he thought, the lower the chance of anything important getting noticed - whatever Omni classified as important.
Hey! Omni! Your mother was a hamster and your father smelt of elderberries.
Putting those thoughts on hold, he listened to same fake feminine voice from before - still fighting for control against the clicks and gurgles.
Quote:“I am Axemerax, Primus of the Alignment,"
Axe-ee-mare-axe. It was strange, but not laughable. Primus, Dane had heard before. He remembered it being used for one of his homeland's Bishops - but was unsure of the significance. Alignment, Dane also understood. He knew the word, but Axemerax said it like an organisation. Without more information, it sounded like a religious title.
Quote:“Yes. I am Star-Slaver, World-razer, Reality-render, and undisputed master of a hundred worlds.”
The introduction would have sounded more fearful if not for the translator. It would have almost been laughable had many lives not died to make the statement true. His darker side still found it amusing, causing Dane to tighten the grip on his swords to restore his focus. And then blink as Axemerax seemed to shudder, before relaxing. His body then eased back into his intimidating posture.
Did he just have some sort of episode?
He does strike me as eccentric.
Maybe his hormone levels are erratic and more easily influenced by thoughts. That could have been drugs trying to counter that.
That's reasonable.
Quote:“Your… ignorance is forgivable."Why thank you. That's very kind Mr. Alien.
Quote:"I’m sure whatever backwater world birthed you still struggles with the idea of a heliocentric solar system,"Tell me about it. You can try to publish as many astronomy papers as you want, but the church always moves against them. Still, it helped with my publicity I guess.
Quote:"...let alone interstellar communications.”Like between stars?
That's... actually brilliant.
Dane knew about as much as he really could about his world. But with limited supplies and magic, he could only do so much the stars. He'd tracked the movement of other planets, and managed to bounce an artificial, yet concentrated, magic pulse off the sun to measure its distance. At the peak of his discoveries, before he was forced to keep moving, he measured the angle of a few of the brighter stars. The end result was showing that they moved. Later, he'd backtracked. While the data was relatively imprecise, he'd come to the conclusion that (assuming the other stars were massively more distant) they were at least ten to the power of sixteen metres away. A monumental distance to him. And that was only the nearest ones.
He'd dismissed the possibility of one day travelling that far, or even sending anything that distance. Even a focused message, one only varying by a mere thousandth of a degree from the intended path. Even that would be indistinguishable from the background arcane waves at such a distance. Still, his dismissal was reasonable. It took mankind centuries to even learn to control their magic in the most basic fashion. And millennia to form and teach the non-innate processes known as spells. Certainly, the large technological achievement mentioned by Axemerax would not occur in Dane's lifetime, so it might as well have not been possible.
Quote:“Now, Dane.”The translator pronounced it correctly, even if Axemerax did not.
Quote:“You said you were a scientist,”
The translator did have some tones at its disposal. Recognition and respect were used for the word "scientist".
Aww, please. You flatter me. I'm gonna blush.
We should be more interested in what he wants.
Quote:“Tell me, what is your opinion, as both a magician and a man of reason, of our… host’s claims? The ability to bend reality to our whims?”
Dane had already considered this somewhat. Matter was basically energy. Magic was basically energy. And energy was, of course, energy. Converting magic to energy and vice versa was a common practice. It was partly why mages would tire after battle, despite standing mostly in one place the whole time. Matter could theoretically be converted as well. But the energy required to replicate the conditions needed to do so was much larger than the energy that could be accessed. The inefficiencies were too large, and the process had only been truly attempted twice in Dane's known history. Both times with a large formation of skilled and powerful magic users, with the attempt to convert the mass and the energy released into usable magic.
Converting to matter, from energy or magic, would require a lot. About ten to the power of seventeen joules or a thirty-ninth order magical singularity would be needed to create just one gram of the stuff. There was a financial scandal about a decade back when someone claimed to have created gold. The claims were false, but they managed to get some money out of it from some greedy dukes before going into hiding. It was, still, technically possible.
"Omni summoned us here. So even if we do not have magic or energy at our disposal to, say, point, click, and magic something into existence, we might be able to tap into his power. Should it be available to us, we could bring something here like he did to us."
Come on baby, Daddy wants a cool hat. Even if it might be stolen.
Dane shuffled back, turned slightly to the right, and snapped both his fingers at the ground to make his point. As expected, nothing happened. He'd briefly, and naturally unsuccessfully, tried to will his limited magic into the formation of a straw, cowboy style, hat. But Dane really wanted the hat. Not really the hat itself, but a confirmation of Omni's claims. He could see the weaved straw in his mind.
Nothing happened initially, and Axemerax didn't interrupt. But after a short focus a sphere, about the size of Dane's palm, appeared in his hand. It was heavier than one might expect, yet easy enough for Dane to lift without strain. At a glance, it looked like a cloudy milk coloured ball, but when examined further other colours were precipitated inside. Small specs made a rainbow, growing, shrinking, shifting, and dancing together. There were no instructions, but Dane knew what to do.
He gritted his teeth in concentration. "This might take a while, but I can definitely make something with this." He didn't sit down, close his eyes, or do anything special. Dane simply turned back to face Axemerax square on, and began to picture his new hat. Strands flew from Omnilium, stitching together and slowly but surely forming the rounded shape of a hat between his palms. A distorted image of his imagined outcome appeared in the orb - like a confirmation of his choice. Something like this was undoubtedly complex.
If it was magic, he would have felt it. But, even if it was, he would have been very impressed at its designer. Not only did it require minimal skill to actually use, it had some innate consciousness, or at least programming, of its own. It didn't just have an algorithm for hats, it had algorithms for limitless creations. The ability to read a subjective and incomplete input, turn it into a usable description, and then create it. No user would sit there for hours trying to visualise the microscopic structure of a creation. Not that they could. They wouldn't be able to remember half of it. Picturing chessboards was one thing, but the positions of all the tiny strands and how they weaved in and out amongst each other was something else.
Although, it could read Dane's mind. That was a worry. He hadn't pushed and physical signal to the Omnilium, it just took his thoughts and will and went with it. He didn't think it would create something without his blessing, but should it read more than needed to fulfil its order - that would be a problem. But, even if Omni was using it to read everyone's thoughts, he doubted Omni had the time, or even attention span, to keep track of everything. So, rather than suppress any brain processes, Dane decided to keep them on overdrive. The more he thought, the lower the chance of anything important getting noticed - whatever Omni classified as important.
Hey! Omni! Your mother was a hamster and your father smelt of elderberries.