Bloody Mary and the Magical Revolution

Magical Repository Prototype (Mind 4)

The following half an hour passes quickly for the newborn princess; after a minimal degree of time and effort, Mary finds herself lying on her bed, gazing at the two new information-focused runes that she had set out to bring into the world.

‘I wouldn’t have expected this result.’

Mary comments to her second mind.

{Which part?}

The second mind answers sardonically, {The fact that the library rune ended up being a respectable fourth-level rune, or that the database rune, which, by the way, it turns out that runes based wholly on Earth knowledge can exist, is an outstanding seventh-level rune?}

Her second mind was right, Mary reflects, and perhaps this was further proof that she had been subtly holding herself back by showing restraint.

{To a degree, you have. Take that original fire rune for instance; that rune being a higher level wouldn’t have hurt us at all, but if we had created something of a higher level, then Sylvia would have been able to tell us that Alexander’s knowledge would be helpful a little bit sooner. But with that said, being careful with magic isn’t wrong either.}

Mary nods thoughtfully; it was true that she didn’t know, and still doesn’t know, how dangerous magic can be, especially when things go wrong.

‘And it’s only been a week, anyway. At least we’re not figuring this out years from now.’

The second mind scoffs derisively at the notion, continuing mockingly.

{Yes, at least there’s that. How lazy would you need to be to not notice something as important as knowledge mattering for rune creation for over a year, let alone several of them?}

Mary lets out an amused huff, having felt the emphasis that the second mind had used.

‘So, what do we think of these runes then? Other than the fact that they are much higher level than we would have expected.’

Her second mind hums in appreciation at the question before promptly dismissing Mary’s dismissal of a level discussion.

{Well, the first point is, as usual, the level. Perhaps the level of the database rune is so high because it’s a novel rune that nobody else has ever created? Did the world arbitrarily give it a level of seven? How is this even decided?}

Mary gives out a weary sigh and commits to the increasingly stale discussion.

‘I guess it’s not impossible that nobody from Earth has ever created a database rune; standard education only started to include comprehensive education on database management and programming relatively recently.’

‘Butwe shouldn’t discount that the world could be somehow reading our minds to determine the level of the runes that we create.’

Distantly, Mary feels a surprised blink from her second mind, which apparently has not considered the possibility.

{That is an interesting point. Unless our intent while creating runes somehow carries the sum of all our knowledge regarding the rune we are attempting to create, then logically our mind is somehow being read to achieve the appropriate rune levels.}

‘Except on those occasions where we try to create runes that are of a lower level than we can create.’

Mary interjects, once again musing about her original fire rune.

{Right. It does raise the question of how we should increase the level of these runes even further. I would have said that our knowledge of databases and, to a lesser extent, libraries was respectably comprehensive. Let’s ignore for a moment the matter of libraries, after all Alexander only ever visited virtual ones, but what database theory have we not inherited knowledge of?}

‘In life, Alexander did use databases extensively.’

Mary noted in agreement.

{Sure, he wasn’t a specialist. But he could have got any job related to database usage that he wanted.}

‘A matter of experience then? Sure, Alexander used databases extensively, but he only delved into some of their features; there are all sorts of aspects that he only had theoretical knowledge of. And there are legacy features to be considered as well.’

{You’re suggesting that the level of our runes will grow along with our knowledge and experience of their usage. Especially if we use them in unique or innovative ways, so in reality, a level is not merely evidence of knowledge gained through traditional book learning but of practical, in-the-field experience.}

Mary nods in agreement and feels her second mind echoing her nod.

{It checks out with what Alexander would have thought about a magical world, at least. Unfortunately, Sylvia won’t be able to confirm such a theory.}

The second mind continues, her tone turning slightly bitter.

‘Sylvia might not, but we still have the introductory books to read. One of them is even about rune theory.’

Mary musingly reminds her second mind.

{I remember.}

The second mind assures Mary.

‘Let’s move on from the levels. What else can we learn about the nature of our new runes?’

The second mind hums in agreement and complies.

{The library rune feels more organised than I would have expected; we went into this thinking that it would feel more chaotic. But let’s admit it, we had the image of a typical fantasy library, with books scattered haphazardly on the shelves and book towers clogging up the floor. Instead, it feels more like a modern Earth library, an institution that is well organised and maintained.}

Mary nods, somewhat shamefaced at her erroneous assumption. Clearly, they were both wrong to assume that this world exactly matches the magical fantasies that Alexander once enjoyed. In those works of fiction, mages are shown as being heavily dependent on books and knowledge, but they are also depicted as typically disorganised.

‘Let’s move on to the database rune… It felt connected. Like it wants to be an intermediary between things.’

{Right. I think we could have guessed that if we had thought about it. To describe it properly, I would say that the database rune feels like the idea of a database, which is hardly surprising; runes are simply the idea of things. In that case, a database is a central repository of often fragmented, lacking in context, or even contradictory information that modern Earth has taken to calling 'data', and that data exists to be used, potentially piecemeal.}

‘And a library, on the other hand, is a central repository of knowledge that exists in contextualised collections called books. But whereas a database is built to be exploited, a library can be built simply to exist without being used: a permanent, often unchanging repository. Those are the big differences. Do you agree?’

Mary senses her second mind nodding in agreement.

{Context and permanence, yes, that seems about right. How many libraries throw away any books? It’s something that librarians famously hate to do. Databases are made to be altered or even deleted. In a lot of ways, they are much more temporary arrangements.}

{In that case, as we had suspected, we should first use a library rune. Everything we’re currently striving for has context, specifically the context of magical knowledge, and in many ways, we want permanence of knowledge here. Even if we do intend to update and append as we learn more.}

Although, Mary reflects, this was still going to be the first version of something she intended to develop over the years. Before she starts to truly use such a spell, she would have to confirm that knowledge could be transferred from one iteration of the magic to another.

{Absolutely, we can’t be careless here. Imagine if we lost years’ worth of work because we didn’t prepare for a data migration in advance?}

Mary smirks as some of Alexander’s memories come to the forefront of her mind again.

‘Yes, that would be tragic, wouldn’t it?’

Her second mind chuckles as she too sees the memory.

{Right, like that.}

‘So, we’re using the library rune; that is certain. It’s a bit of a shame that its level is so much lower than the database rune, but we should be perfectly capable of running it as passive magic.’

Mary feels another nod of agreement from her second mind.

{Unlike the second mind spell that you are running, I’ll be the one maintaining this one. But are you certain you’ll be able to keep your spell running even while you sleep? If the spell keeping me active were to disappear, then we would get a cascade and lose everything.}

Mary frowns at the question because it raises a terrifying point. If her second mind were dispelled, then everything that relied upon it would be lost, something that would become ever more tragic as they accumulated knowledge.

‘Maybe? I don’t need to think about the second mind spell; it’s more like a constant presence at the back of my mind. But I do know that it won’t deactivate unless I tell it to, so we should be fine.’

Still, we will need to consider how to mitigate our losses if a system failure occurs. If a system down can exist on Earth, then it can certainly happen to our prototype magic systems as well.}

Mary nods; they would need to create a physical backup of some kind eventually, but…

‘There’s no point in worrying about that right now. It might be a priority after a few years; I’ll grant you that. But right now, we have greater concerns than a future cascade failure that might not happen at all.’

Mary feels her second mind shake its head in clear disagreement.

{I think that we should bake such a feature in right at the beginning, but I can tell you’re not going to budge on this.}

‘I won’t.’ Mary answers, agreeing, ‘How long will it take to figure out a proper backup system? We are early enough that a loss would be less severe, more of an annoying inconvenience than a tragedy.’

Mary pauses, her mind flashing to the memory of her dead-eyed mother, to what had been said by the adults in that room during the aftermath of her birth.

‘We need immediate progress to avoid that fate.’

The second mind sighs and reluctantly concedes.

{Alright then… I suppose you’re not completely wrong. Some risks are going to be mandatory if we are to avoid that fate.}

Mary smiles sardonically.

‘We’re both right, and you know it. If we had the time or the knowledge on how to create such a backup quickly, then we would.’

The second mind huffs in amusement.

{Yes. We’re both right, that’s the truth of it.}

With that affirmation out of the way, both of Mary’s minds turn towards the creation of her latest and arguably most important magic.

‘So, it’s obvious, right? This is very much a build the tool to build the tool situation.’

Mary feels another nod of agreement from her second mind.

{Absolutely. We create a basic magic library, a prototype if you will, and then use that to develop a proper, more effective version.}

With both minds in agreement, they set about constructing their first magical repository prototype.

Mary grasps her mana and forms an internal magic circle, with the runes of ‘Library’ and ‘Ambient Mana’ prominently in the centre.

Although it has only been a few weeks since Mary first used magic, she has become skilled at adding her ambient mana runes to spells to enhance their self-sufficiency, and she immediately applies the logic she has used in her other magic to her newest and arguably most important spell.

{Just use symbology; a building and a book should do for now. Ideally, both of us will be able to access the library, so I’ll immediately start on our basic spell framework.}

Mary nods in acceptance and immediately moves to follow the suggestion. She adds the symbol of a building, specifically what Mary thought of as a library and the image of a book on a shelf.

Instantly, the spell begins.

In the space at the back of Mary's mind, she starts to feel an elusive building, one that she is already subconsciously associating with a collection of books.

‘Did it work?’

Mary asks her second mind redundantly.

{Let’s test it.}

Her second mind responds with a suggestion.