Chapter 2565: Ascending/Descending Ring Calculator

Soon, Xia Duo's consciousness returned to the Arctic once again, and he took the freshly completed Element Scanning Magic Artifact from his consciousness-based Personal Space.

However, this time he did not cast his full attention toward the Arctic; instead, he only provided the minimum baseline required for spellcasting, while the rest remained with his main body, equivalent to multitasking.

The main reason was that with the auxiliary tool this time, the Arctic side did not require much attention, and the attention he freed up allowed him to do other things, such as—

A Magic Computer.

Currently, Xia Duo had already produced some physical Basic Calculation Units, but there was a huge problem placed before him, which was—how to prevent the Magic Effects generated during the Magic Computer's operation from interfering with the computer itself!

If it were just a Basic Calculation Unit, there would be no need to worry about this; after all, it was only a "basic" calculation unit, and the Magic Effects it could produce were very limited. Even if he completely ignored it, it would not have any obvious impact on the current experiment.

But this problem would have to be solved sooner or later, and it would become increasingly severe as the structural scale of the Magic Computer grew. Therefore, Xia Duo preferred to plan for a solution from the very beginning.

So, he was now preparing to start research in this area with a small project, which would also accumulate experience for the development of more complex computers in the future.

What he chose was—the 【Ascending/Descending Ring Calculator】.

The current potential applications included Apprentice exams and Ascending/Descending Ring calculations for Independent Research Labs. Additionally, it could be used to improve the Tower of Time's promotion and demotion system. In short, even from a short-term perspective, there was huge room for application.

Therefore, Xia Shao would only call the thing he was making now a "Calculator," not a "Computer."

After all, a Magic Computer, once manufactured, was to a large extent meant for Spellcasters to use, and representing it with Magic Net Strings was already intuitive enough.

Of course, once this computer was researched, it certainly couldn't be used for Apprentice exams. This was just like how calculators were not allowed in middle school exams when Xia Shao was in school, but it was fine once he reached university.

To a certain extent, this could also be considered a manifestation of the completeness of the Magic Calculator in the field of Ascending/Descending Ring calculations.

Subsequently, he connected this structure to the Magic Net, but only after the first link was made, over half of the entire structure was instantly assimilated by the Magic Net.

Among this, what Xia Shao had mostly solved was the calculation module. As for the remaining input and output, if one didn't mind, one could even forgo any extra interaction methods and use a direct operation method for the calculation module, similar to using an abacus.

Of course, in order to know the calculation results more intuitively, Xia Shao decided to link some closed Magic Net Strings for demonstration. This output method was closer to reading binary results from computers on Earth.

It should be noted that a true Magic Computer needed to be complete in all calculable problems, not just in the field of Ascending Ring calculations.

Rather, there was another reason for representing it with Spell effects, and that was the key to whether the Magic Computer, or rather this calculator, could operate stably for a long time—

Converting all Magic Effects triggered by calculations into more standard and easier-to-control Element Release effects.

Currently, it was the experimental stage, so there was indeed no need to be too particular. Xia Shao only prepared to use the Magic Net to create a few open interfaces, which were open-ended Magic Net Strings.

If he had chosen a large-scale calculator for the first time, worked hard for half a day to finish most of the structure, only to have it mostly assimilated the moment it was connected to the Magic Net, how frustrating that would be!

In fact, those Arcane Strings in the calculator's calculation components were essentially still just materials and had not yet transformed into definitive energy-conducting components capable of reacting to the Magic Net's energy operation rules.

A complete Ascending/Descending Ring Calculator could perform at most a String 11-Ring calculation, which was a complete Ascending/Descending Ring calculation for more than eighteen elements.

Regarding the 【Ascending/Descending Ring Calculator】, Xia Shao had already had ideas and even designs for it long ago. Considering it purely from the perspective of Principles, this was not a complex problem; one could even say it was very simple.

……

The difficulty lay in how to implement it and how to turn it into a finalized calculator. This belonged to an engineering problem. If it were any other Netherese Mage, they might find it very difficult to think of a solution.

A Dual-String 5-Ring level calculator could be considered a castrated version of a castrated version, but it was still fine for calculating some complex problems. As for this experiment, starting to discover problems from this level of calculator was a good choice.

This level (18-11) of calculator was of course insufficient to complete the Ascending/Descending Ring calculations for all Spells, but through decomposition calculations, the vast majority could be applied.

And Arcane Strings were essentially very close to Magic Net Strings; if not preserved properly, they would easily be assimilated by the Magic Net, let alone actively connecting them to the Magic Net.

Before long, within the Levitation Field in the center of the Laboratory—usually used for crafting Mythallar—a double-layered mesh structure the size of a book, composed of dozens of faint blue silk threads, appeared before Xia Shao.

The simplest approach: to realize a calculator, one needed to at least solve the input and output problems, as well as the core calculation module.

"Luckily, I chose a small-scale calculator for the first time!"

As for output, since any change in elements could be viewed as a Spell effect, this was actually an alternative display.

Xia Shao pondered for a moment and revealed an expression of sudden realization. It turned out he had always been making the Magic Computer as a Magic Item; in fact, this thing was not a Magic Item in the traditional sense.

Or rather, it was not one of the existing types of Magic Items from the past, but a brand-new existence—a special device that utilized the essence of Magic Net energy operation to achieve a certain specific purpose.

To make it intuitive enough for ordinary people to see with the naked eye, it would require adding an extra Projection display function. Xia Shao was not considering this for the current experiment, and he might not consider it much in the future either.

Xia Shao continuously extracted Arcane Strings, weaving the core calculation components of the Ascending/Descending Ring Calculator.

Inside the Laboratory.

As for the core calculation module, Xia Shao had previously completed over half of the design. For this first experiment, he only needed to extract the Dual-String 5-Ring Calculation Unit from it.

Because it was generally believed that university students already possessed basic calculation abilities, using a calculator could save time. Middle school did not allow them because middle school was a stage for laying foundations, and this foundation naturally included basic calculation abilities.

"Why would it be like this?"

On one hand, it was indeed already a qualified calculator; on the other hand, it had a small scale and low cost, making it very convenient to use for experiments.

Of course, wanting to solve this problem was actually very simple; just change the material. But Xia Shao had studied computer principles; although he couldn't copy them directly, the ideas could still be applied here.

After all, the Academy had been promoting the 【Ascension Trial】 for several years now, so even Apprentices who had just entered the second grade would not be too unfamiliar with the principles in this area.

Seeing this scene, Xia Shao couldn't help but be a bit dumbfounded. He froze for a moment and then felt a bit fortunate:

……