Chapter 208 Jobs System
The world united under a single nation, and a new network system was established.
However, the impact of the World War was still significant.
The planet's environment had been thoroughly polluted, and human habitation was limited to a few arcologies.
Around this time, the construction of the [God Realm] and the sharing of its vast magical energy led to the development and practical application of environment-altering magic machines.
They were named the "Terraformer" series, and thirteen of them were manufactured. The "Terraformer" series was installed in various locations around the world, and they swiftly restored the polluted and devastated planetary environment.
The time it took to restore the environment was less than a decade.
It was an incredible efficiency far beyond any terraforming technology proposed during the Space Exploration era.
And that wasn't all.
The "Terraformer" series had nearly limitless functions, including the ability to alter the environment using magic, space expansion, resource production through atomic and molecular conversion, and the generation of "antimatter" using magical energy, to name a few.
If this era were to be called the Magitech Science Civilization, it could be said that humanity already possessed the technology to easily enable space exploration.
However, humanity did not choose to embark on space exploration again.
It wasn't because of the trauma of the World War――it was simply because, at this point, space exploration had lost its meaning.
The space expansion technology and resource production technology using magic had rendered the costly endeavor of exploring other planets and extracting resources obsolete. There was no longer any need to do so when they could easily increase the habitable areas and produce enough resources and food to support a growing population.
Therefore, space exploration had become nothing more than a romantic notion, a costly endeavor with little practical value.
What people truly needed was not an infinite amount of habitable areas or resources, but the magical energy resources to power the magitech machines that possessed such functions.
Magical energy is an energy that alters phenomena and is generated by the mental activities of highly intelligent life forms.
However, since the number of people is finite, the amount of energy is also limited. And because of this, humanity had only one thought.
――To increase the amount of magical energy.
Research was conducted using the pinnacle of magitech scientific technology to find a way to produce more "phenomenon-alteration energy," or magical energy, which is generated by the metabolic process of human mental activities.
The subject of this research was, of course, humans themselves.
The researchers discovered genetic traits that produced more magical energy, studied them, and further developed them. After several generations, all of humanity could produce more magical energy than ever before.
But the research didn't stop there.
Research on magical energy production using livestock was conducted. Originally, animals without magical energy began to possess it, and breeds that could utilize it were developed.
Furthermore, technologies to extract magical energy from livestock, store it, and apply it to living organisms were developed. This allowed for the efficient production of resources without relying on magical machines that consumed magical energy. Environmental modification organisms were also researched to produce resources efficiently.
Additionally, methods to strengthen magical energy production by absorbing parts of another's "Spirit God's Body" or other living beings were developed, without relying on gene editing technology.
Although this technology was gruesome, as it required the death of others, it was made practical by utilizing the spirits that emerged in "quasi-life" forms recreated using magical energy-based "Antimatter", allowing for efficient growth promotion.
In this era, people didn't need to work; as long as they paid 3-tenths of the magical energy they produced as taxes to the government, they could live freely without any worries. They could use the remaining magical energy as they pleased, or sell it for money.
On the other hand, the collected magical energy was distributed through the [God Realm] and became the energy source for magical machines, mainly the "Terraformer" series, which were used for resource and food production.
In a world where resources and food are abundant, and no one has to worry about starving or dying from illnesses――a utopian world.
However, humanity has never been able to overcome war.
A world where everyone is equal and coexists peacefully is wonderful. But, it's unlikely that anyone would actually want such a world. The desire for recognition, monopolization, domination, discrimination, and persecution――there are countless factors that drive people to fight.
Perhaps, humans are simply built to crave conflict.
In the past, many nations were unified into one, but now, within that single nation, super-national corporations, local governments, religious groups, and ideological organizations――numerous powers have split apart, and humanity has started waging war.
The war is mainly about competing for magical energy resources distributed by the [Gods] from the [God Realm], but it's not just that. Even within the Pangaea government, people fight over rights and interests, and if their ideologies clash, conflict erupts. In short, it's a battle of forced ideologies.
However, humanity didn't learn nothing from past experiences.
Since the last global war, the nature of war has changed into a managed conflict.
Magic weapons are omnipotent and overwhelmingly powerful. Each faction has the power to easily destroy entire planets, so they can't just fight recklessly.
Without strict rules, if they just fight as they please, humanity would surely be destroyed this time.
That's why, in that era, humanity decided to "sportify" war to downscale it.
They made humans fight each other in the form of a "competition" without using firearms, advanced mechanical weapons, or magical weapons. The only weapons allowed were magic that could be activated with individual magical energy, and primitive weapons like swords, spears, and bows.
It was a war where humans fought with their own strength, turned into a sport.
――"Sports War"
On one hand, it became a popular form of entertainment that fascinated the masses, and various factions and organizations poured their efforts into developing the skills of their soldiers to win the war. They focused on creating individual magic skills and modifying soldiers themselves.
As a result, a new function was added to the [God Realm].
A system that packages various technologies and skills, such as physical enhancement using individual magical energy, magic skill specialization, and the ability to convert magical energy into physical energy, was created to be acquired by Individuals.
This complex application was named the "Jobs System".
The Sports War, which had become a form of entertainment, continued to diversify.
Wars fought by soldiers who had acquired "Jobs", battles using the various environments of the sub-Space that was created, and the use of biological creatures that were researched and modified into combat creatures, and even recreated as "pseudo-life forms" using magical machinery.
Moreover, the created "pseudo-life forms" were also used to increase the soldiers' magical energy.
The "Level Up System", an application that absorbs parts of others' God's Body to enhance magical energy generation abilities, was shared with all humanity through the Psycho Network.
This led to the birth of numerous beings that would shape the future.
Magical energy-producing livestock, or "monsters" bred for combat.
In the past, the giants, now extinct due to genetic weaknesses, were created in large numbers for the Sports War.
The "Labyrinth"――an otherworldly space created as a battleground for the Sports War.
The "Labyrinth" was utilized for the "Level Up System", or to produce biological resources by harnessing the metabolic processes of pseudo-life forms――the "Labyrinth monsters".
Though weaker than magic weapons, the battles of superhumans were an unprecedented form of entertainment that captivated people.
* * *
Lucia sipped her juice, let out a deep breath, and looked around the room.
"""......"""
We were all silent, digesting the information and trying to understand it.
The same was true for the 4 families――it was likely that they, too, had never possessed such detailed information about the Age of God.
No wonder we were all shocked. The story Lucia just told was truly earth-shattering.
"...Jobs System, huh. That makes sense..."
"""What!?"""
I muttered with a solemn face. Suddenly, the air seemed to vibrate with tension.
However, ignoring the restless atmosphere surrounding me, I acted as if I didn't want to say anything more, and deliberately closed my eyes――and this time, the flow of the conversation changed.
"Hah," Lucia let out a deep sigh and opened her mouth.
"...Anyway, since there are many people who don't understand, let's summarize the story so far."
Her tone was unlike that of a young girl, with a hint of resignation.
I quietly opened my eyes, nodded, and said "Yeah," while gazing at Glen.
"Yes, there are people who don't understand. Sorry, but please try to simplify it as much as possible."
"No way, wait a minute, Mr. Gale! You can't make others scapegoats! You must not be understanding it yourself, Mr. Gale! You're stupid!!"
What was she saying? Glen raised a baseless protest.
In response, I looked up at her with a proud grin and retorted.
"Don't make light of me. My intelligence quotient (IQ) is 530,000, you know?"
"530,000...?!"
Glen cowered, intimidated.
"You're the first person I've seen who's so confident in their lies...!? You're really something!!"
"Both of you, be quiet. I know neither of you understands."
"Ah, yes..."
I was scolded by the young-looking girl in a serious tone, and I felt a bit crushed. I learned something new...
Glen and I fell silent.
Meanwhile, Lucia began to speak in a calm tone.
"Let me summarize the story so far...
To restore the environment ravaged by war, humanity created a magical machine called the 'Terraformer'."
This was a machine that consumed a tremendous amount of magical energy, making it impossible to operate without the magical energy sharing function of the [God Realm].
But its performance was amazing.
It succeeded in restoring the devastated environment to its original state in no time.
Moreover, it could create food, metals, and various resources. Thanks to this magical machine, humanity was able to live without any worries. However, as magical energy itself became a resource, wars broke out. And then, differences in faith and various conflicting opinions led to more wars.
But when magic weapons were used in wars, humanity faced the real risk of extinction.
So, rules were established to govern warfare.
The use of excessively powerful weapons like firearms and magical weapons was prohibited. Humans were to fight with their own strength, limited to primitive weapons like swords, spears, and bows.
Under these rules, everyone developed technology to gain an advantage, resulting in the creation of systems like the 'Jobs System', which allowed anyone to easily use magic and skills, and the 'Level-Up System', which absorbed parts of monsters, demi-humans, and gods to increase magical energy."
"Hmm..."
I nodded and continued in a thoughtful tone.
"This is a long story... Can you summarize it in 3 lines or so?"
"......"
I was glared at with an intimidating gaze, unexpected from a young girl.
"...We created an amazing magical tool that could do anything.
Wars broke out over the magical energy needed to operate it.
We created the 'Jobs System' for the sake of war."
But in the end, you're going to tie everything together, right?
"I see. I finally understand!"
I nodded firmly, having finally grasped it.
Lucia also nodded in response, and continued.
"I didn't expect you all to understand everything from the start. It's fine if you just get the gist of the conversation."
Hmm... am I being made fun of?
No, that can't be.
"――Lady Lucia."
Io raised one hand, asking Lucia a question.
"May I ask one thing?"
"Yes, Io, you may ask."
Huh? You're allowing Io to ask?
"Thank you. I was wondering about the 'Level Up System'. In the modern era, we thought that when monsters die, we absorb the magical energy released, which increases our maximum magical energy capacity. However, according to your explanation, that's not the case, right?"
"No, that's not correct. If we absorbed magical energy to increase our capacity, then we should recover magical energy when we defeat monsters. But in reality, defeating monsters doesn't recover magical energy, which is evidence of that."
"...I see. That's true. So, what we've been absorbing isn't magical energy, but rather...Spirit God's Body, or something like that."
"That's right. The application that increases magical energy production by absorbing parts of others' Spirit God's Body has been applied to all humans through the Psycho Network."
...Hmm, I get it. Thanks. No more questions.
"Hmm... Then, let's continue the story."
I feel like I'm being left out or something, but that's probably just my imagination.
Bonus Short Story. It's after Chapter 27 => link
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