In the VIP room of the ship, Maximus found himself contemplating the choice between being an Alchemist or a Mechanic after reading about their basic introductions.
But why bother studying one of these professions when he can simply buy them in the system mall? Isn’t it just a waste of time?
Studying one of these professions isn’t just about the potential wealth and resources.
After all with his system mall, he can just resell rare items or products if he needed money.
The saying knowledge is wealth in his previous world isn’t just a saying here but a fact.
In fact, without knowledge, your wealth isn’t truly yours as it can be snatched by someone stronger than you.
Knowledge is the path of strength, the foundation of magic.
This is also the reason for various academies specialize in different fields of magic rather than just studying magic to attack or destroy.
In the early stages of magic, from tier 1 to 3, one simply needed to introduce mana into their soul, much like knights introduced mana into their bodies.
However, in the middle and late stages of magic, the quality of the soul mattered just as much as the quantity. And knowledge is the key to improve soul quality.
Mages who study in battle academy however didn’t require additional miscellaneous knowledge because they trained in both magic and knight paths.
The advancement of mage without the required soul quality cause the lack of control towards mana.
Battle mage compensate this by training their body to turn this lack of control towards explosiveness. And thier knightly body serve as a cushion towards this violent mana to prevent them from being affected.
Just imagine a battle mage waving an uncontrollable fireball the size of a nuclear explosion.
While it would obliterate the enemy, it would also cause damage to thier body due to lack of control.
This is where Battle mages got the tittle war machines.They were harvester of lives in large-scale battles and wars, where their uncontrollable power could be use wantonly.
Maximus didn’t like the notion of a mage being a barbaric war machine that can’t even control his power.
For him mage should be noble and elegant even if they’re harvesting lives like the god of death.
Even if he trains in both magic and knight he still liked to be in control of his power.
To do that he needed vast amount of knowledge to improve the quality of his soul.
Since there are academies why not join them, given it’s convenience and benefits?
…
Returning to the topic of choosing a profession, Maximus first considered being an alchemist.
It seemed like the most convenient path for him, especially since he had already gained some recognition as an alchemist when he sold 10,000 high-quality potions—a rarity even among low-tier potions.
What intrigued him the most about alchemy was its potential at its peak.
After alchemy reaches a certain tier and has enough energy, such as mana, alchemists could create or transform any matter.
The idea of turning stone into gold, for instance, fascinated Maximus, as it implied the possibility of unlimited wealth.
However, after years of researching the mechanisms of his system mall’s gold point machanism, Maximus discovered that not just any gold or material could be converted into gold points.
He tested this by attempting to convert a raw gold block into gold points, but to no avail.
Through trial and error, he reached a conclusion: gold itself held no monetary value; it was only valuable because people believed it to be so.
Maximus referred to this belief as sentiment, and the system absorbed sentiment to generate gold points.
In other words, money or gold coins needed to circulate in order to create the sentiment required for the generation of gold points within the system.
Maximus further tested his theory by mining magic crystals.
To his surprise, the magic crystals successfully converted into 1000 gold points, indicating that they possessed a fixed value and did not require sentiments needed to generate gold points.
This discovery fueled Maximus’s grand plan to revolutionize the currency system by introducing worthless paper or even digital currency.
After all despite the seemingly infinite resources like gold minerals and magic crystals in this world, they would eventually be depleted.
He plan to first test this in the Sunburnt Plateau, were 150 million people would use his created paper or digital currency.
By cultivating the people’s sentiment and belief in the value of money, he could harvest this worthless currency through various means and change them to newly printed, sentimentless money without the people even knowing.
He would be like a pseudo-god, harvesting sentiment instead of faith, as long as people believed and used his worthless currency.
Doing so would reverse the role of the script. Instead of his system harvesting the world, Maximus will use this world to harvest the system.
Turning his attention to the Mechanic profession, Maximus felt a deep sense of interest due to his previous life where technology was convenient.
Although he vaguely guessed that the technological advancements in this world surpassed his previous life, he still wanted to explore it.
Furthermore, due to his pursuit of conquering the world, he found that alchemical items were too limiting for ordinary people, as only those with mana could utilize them.
Mechanic items, on the other hand, could be accessible to the masses.
This would undoubtedly accelerate the exhaustion of world resources since mechanic items heavily relied on materials rather than mana.
However, Maximus saw a symbiotic potential in combining his plan to use worthless currency to harvest system resources and propel mechanical advancement in this world
Additionally, he found mechanics to be an easier field to start and advance in compared to alchemy.
While mechanics studied and obeyed rules, alchemists focused on studying and bending laws and rules. 𝓞𝑣𝐞xt.𝗰𝑶𝑚
This makes the mechanics advance leaps and bounds compared to alchemists as they go by the laws and rules of the world
After carefully considering the differences between the two paths, Maximus ultimately decided to pursue mechanics.
However, he didn’t entirely abandon alchemy, as he recognized its usefulness.
Nonetheless, his primary focus would now be on mechanics. With this decision made, he purchased a massive number of basic mechanics books from the system mall.
[The books he acquired included:
Basics of MechanicsComposition of Different Materials
Reactions of Matter to Each Other
Basic Mechanical Blueprints
Using Spiritual Power to Combine Materials
Combination of Runes
…]
Having bought a substantial number of books, Maximus began reading.
Thanks to his nascent mage strength, he possessed an unforgettable memory and could read at a faster pace using his spiritual consciousness.
However, as he looked at the mountain of books in his storage ring, he couldn’t help but let out a sigh.
It would take years just to finish reading them all, not to mention the additional time required for training what he learned.
And these were just the basics of tier 1-3 mechanics, which he could grasp for now.
…
Sixteen days later…
During the half-month period of study, Maximus barely scratched the surface of tier 1 mechanics, which left him somewhat disheartened.
Nevertheless, he pondered the lifespan of a mage, even at the nascent level could reach a thousand years, what’s more in the higher tier.
Considering this, it was understandable that higher-difficulty professions like alchemy or mechanics required a substantial investment of time and effort.
He was already lucky and had it easy to have a complete inheritance that he could just buy from the system mall.
Although there were academies that offered their inheritance and knowledge, He was certain that it wasn’t freely given.
But even then he couldn’t help but sigh, this mountain of books where just the surface level of the profession.
From higher tiers like tier 4 mechanics, the knowledge required started to delve further into the intricate fabric of atoms and laws that is in the object
Just thinking about it made his head swell.
Maximus stop for a moment and glanced at the notice tab of the ship token.
[Estimated time: 1 day before landing in Lothmire City of Arcane Continent]
Counting the time of the ship journey, he realized that it took at least half a month to travel from Elnor Island of the Curse Continent to the Central Continent.
The speed of the ship amazed him, considering the vastness of the endless sea.
The ‘endless’ in the endless sea, is not just a decoration but a literal truth.
Even tier 9 primordial mage or tier 9 cosmic knight didn’t even fully explore the endless sea given the chaotic wind that isolate the four continents.
Even the gods don’t know what is on the other side of the chaotic wind.
Whether they were initiate gods or inherited the godhood they all come from the same place not knowing what was on the other side.
Many believe that passing the endless sea lead to another world or some believe that it was a mere void separating them.
But even then the explored endless sea is like a void of space seemingly infinite and thus given the title endless sea.