Monolith World 32

*I have an hour to search for the most optimal things possible... Or, if I'm willing, I can spend... 14 Plate for another hour. Alright. First order of business. How much is Plate worth?*

I had no time to admire this futuristic computer in front of me. I quickly figured out how to access the home screen and found a browser called AmthLess Explorer.

This was a question with a simple solution. Obviously, this was a currency I had never heard of, and in a foreign world, there probably weren't going to be any other currencies I had heard of, either. So, I had to compare this with something I knew the value of.

*And what's the quintessential valuable metal? Gold!*

So, my first search was simple.

"*>value of gold*"

This was the best I could do. I didn't know what gold was called here, nor did I know if gold was the quintessential valuable in this world. However, I had no leads, and I had to start somewhere. The result was lightning-fast.

"*Aurum (Gold) is worth 4.40p per milliauq*"

*Although this is to be expected... I have to deal with more units I've never heard of, which is a pain.*

I was getting nowhere. I didn't know what a 'milliauq' was, so I wasn't any closer to figuring out how much 1 Plate was truly worth. Instead of producing an answer, my question merely birthed more questions. And so, a slew of web searches commenced.

"*>milliauq*"

Fortunately, the most convenient answer was placed directly on the forefront of the screen of the search engine, so I had to waste no time digging through various links.

*What a convenient feature. I'm sure someone could have come up with this within the next few years on Earth.*

"*1/1000th of the standard unit of ma.s.s, auq.*"

"*>auqw*"

"*The standard unit of ma.s.s. Determined by 1 livre of Laut water.*"

"*>Laut water*"

"*100% pure water at 4 degrees RA. Water at its densest form. Uses popularized by physical attribute specialists Uzuki & Alheim Laut in BST 128.*"

"*>degrees RA*"

"*Degrees Relative Absolute. An absolute measurement of the movement of particles to the freezing point of water. Absolute zero, the stillness of all particles, is measured at -273.15A.*"

"*>livre*"

"*The standard unit of volume. The volume of Laut water with a ma.s.s of 1 auq. Equivalent to 1000 cubic centimetron.*"

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*Ah, c.r.a.p.*

What was I doing? I was supposed to be looking up the value of currency, and now I'd gotten carried away. However, I was in a position in which I was wholly ignorant of the workings of this world. How could I resist learning basic information? Regardless of when I learned this, I would have to learn it at some point or another. It was best if it were sooner.

Anyway, here was the basic breakdown of my findings so far:

- Gold is referred to by its Latin counterpart, Aurum, although it still seemed to be referred to as Gold by a minority.

- Auq = Kilogram.

- Relative Absolute and Absolute = Celsius and Kelvin respectively.

- Livre, an ancient French word, = Liter.

- Metron, and ancient Greek word, = Meter.

- Laut water was just distilled water at 4 degrees Celsius.

Due to Laut water's prevalence in units of measurement, it seemed like this scientist gained the privilege of naming something oddly specific after him. As for the history of this scientist and the time period, I wasn't interested at the moment. This wasn't to say I wouldn't look further into it. I was just pressed for time. Four minutes of my free computer usage had pa.s.sed, and I still hadn't learned the value of currency. I had to quickly come up with an answer.

*Let's see...*

*">value of aurum history*"

I was looking for various charts that would match those in my memory. I knew the line graph of the value of gold was over the past hundred years, so all I had to do was see if a similar match occurred anywhere on this timeline. Of course, this was a gamble. There was no telling whether this world's history would allow the gold prices to be identical to that of Earth's, but it was worth a shot. But...

*No matches. Also... Why is it so unstable?*

I wrinkled my brow at the vexing results. One thing was for sure; gold was absolutely NOT the quintessential valuable in this world. At times, its value was sky high. Then, as if it were Icarus, it plummeted towards nothing. This occurred disturbingly frequently.

*I messed up.*

I admitted defeat. Knowing your weaknesses and tendencies as well as recognizing how and why you failed was the ultimate tool in self-improvement.

I could only look at the ground in shame, when I suddenly had an idea. I could search for this myself, but I turned to the AI doll for some a.s.sistance. Such a technology in front of my was truly too mesmerizing. How could I not test it out?

*Judging from the reactions of the one at the front desk, it seems to have capability to browse the Internet. If this one is the same model, it should have the same capabilities.*

"Miss, uh, unit V03. Is the currency on this planet standardized on a certain precious metal?"

At this question, I grew conscious of some of the nearby patrons shooting me quizzical glances.

*Well, it's understandable.*

This wasn't a normal question. I understood that my priorities were vastly different from the majority surrounding me, but it had always been like this. I was used to it.

"Currently, the value of Plate is not bound to any resource. However, for a vast majority of this planet's history, it was on a platinum standard. Once the standard was lifted, the name of the currency was changed to Plate."

"I see..."

*Platinum... Plat... Plate. Quite the naming sense. So that was my error.*

Instead of a gold standard, this planet used a platinum standard. If that was the case, my next search term was evident.

*">value of platinum history"*

This time, I recognized a portion of the graph.

*Bingo.*

Indeed, a portion of this graph was identical to Earth's graph of the value of gold!

*Although... the known portion clearly ends prematurely. So, this world's technology is over a hundred years ahead of ours? Now that's fascinating...*

According to the computer, the current date was 13/13/308 AEST, which stood for Akth Era of s.p.a.ce Travel. So according to the graph, the year would be 2116 on Earth...

*... They invented s.p.a.ce travel in the Earth equivalent of... 1808? Something's not right here.*

This was absurd. On Earth, there wasn't even a man in s.p.a.ce until the year 1961, yet here, s.p.a.ce *travel* was accomplished in 1808?

This could be the result of multiple factors. One of them was obviously the fact that the graph in my head and the current graph I was looking at occurred at different time periods in their respective universes, even if they were identical. Another factor could be that this carbon copy was merely a coincidence.

*Ugh, whatever. At least I know that the value of Plate...*

1 Plate was pretty much equal to 1 US Dollar, which made things simple. Even though I was fluent on the values of many currencies, the US Dollar was still the most familiar to me.

*Now... how do I check my bank account? Moreover, how do I even use this watch?*

So, I had to look up a tutorial on how to operate a smart.w.a.tch.

——

*So it's like that, huh...*

It was innovative beyond my wildest dreams. On a little tiny screen of approximately 4 square centimeters, or centimetron, I should say, was a fully-functioning multi-touch screen. I had never seen anything like it. But little did I know, that was just the tip of the iceberg.

According to the startup screen, the model of my watch was apparently called the Starcel 1 Gold, the most innovative hybrid of a MI band and ECD. Needless to say, its capabilities weren't limited to just a touch screen.

*This is actually f.u.c.king crazy.*

In short, it was something straight out of science fiction. The moment I accessed the interface, a whole new universe opened up in front of me.

Basically, after following some dummy-level tutorials on the AmthLess Vodsite (Video-on-demand website), I managed to open a multi-level holographic user interface. Now, normally, this would be enough to stun anyone from my world. But that wasn't all. Apparently, this type of hologram was known as a "mana interface" (MI for short), which meant it was only visible to the user, as the visuals were only delivered to the host via the mind. This took me a while to wrap my head around. It had the capabilities of a fully-functioning general computer.

This MI band was the hub for all things Internet-related; it was a computer that was fully displayed and operated via the mind. Naturally, checking the balance of my bank account was as simple as installing an application and opening it.

The process it used to verify my ident.i.ty was known as "elemental signature scanning". Since this computer already had access to my mind, all it needed to do was scan my magic element and aura.

*... Apparently, anyway. I still have no idea what any of that means.*

According to a brief search, elemental signature scanning was far more secure than verification via the physical element, such as fingerprints or retinal scans. Verifying the information from multiple sources, I had no choice but to believe this was true.

Checking my account, I had 10,000p to my name.

*Huh. That's quite a bit. I'll have to thank my benefactor if I ever meet him...*

This was the gist of the MI band. Now that I knew how to operate it, I didn't necessarily need to use the computer in front of me anymore, but I wanted to take advantage of the time I had remaining. I didn't know if there were other caveats to using the MI band, so I wanted to stick with what I knew for now.

The other device that came with this Starcel thing was the ECD, or Elemental Computational Device. Upon searching for images of it, I instantly recognized it as the armored sleeves the cheeky group was wearing. I also realized that they were wearing some of the highest-end ECDs available, the Accel Stance 4, which was currently selling for tens of thousands of Plate...

*Are those kids rich, or what? Tens of thousands of dollars for this device, and all of them are handily equipped with one.*

I looked around for information on my Starcel 1, but I couldn't really find any information about it. The extent of my findings were relatively vague.

"*>Starcel 1 Gold*"

"*Are Starr Corp and Accel Industries are collaborating on a secret project that could change household technologies as we know it? Read more here to find out!*"

These were the sorts of tabloid-like results I would pull up. Whatever the case may be, the Starcel 1 wasn't released to the public yet, which made it a mystery as to how my mysterious backer even managed to get his hands on one in the first place.

In short, an ECD was meant for casting spells and viewing personal stats. Remember how I said this was a game-like world? An ECD essentially aided you with the manifestation of game-like mechanics. Spells could be cast at the user's whim, but it was much more complicated to do so without the a.s.sistance of an ECD. For a comparison, it would be like trying to multiply large numbers. This process could be done by a human, but a calculator would be much faster. This was the power of the ECD; a standard spell could be bolstered to unprecedented levels with the aid of this device.

This device brought to my attention my stat points and skills.

——

Of course, I had no idea what my relative stats were to the general population.

Although there are infinitely many numbers, there are finitely many people. If I were to pursue perfection by raising my stats to infinity... well, the outcome would be obvious. I would be nowhere closer to the end during the journey than when I started.

But before I even knew that, I had to understand what these terms even meant.

"*>attributes*"

*Looks like I've been wasting my time on trying to figure out what my money's worth when I don't even understand basic truths of this world…*

"*Attributes (Elements): The fundamental building blocks of the universe. Made of particles, waves, or a combination of both. The five attributes are physical, magical, ethereal, dark, and spiritual.*"

"*>physical attribute*"

"*One of the most studied and well-known attributes. Simple to study due to its high rate of affinity amongst humans. Comprises of 4 ancient sub-elements and 118 modern sub-elements.*"

I clicked on a link to read further.

"*The 4 ancient sub-elements are air, water, fire, and earth. The 118 modern sub-elements are commonly organized on the periodic table of sub-elements. In order of atomic number; Hydrogen, Helium, Lithium…*"

*The 'physical attribute' seems to be the one everyone already knows about, but apparently there's four more... Let's see what they're about.*

"*>magical attribute*"

"*The most uncharted and coveted attribute. The element of the mind. Notoriously difficult to study due to its low rate of affinity amongst humans. No definite sub-elements. A full list of sub-elements highly debated upon by specialists can be found here. Click to read further.*"

*Click.*

"*Joy, despair, anxiety...*"

*What the h.e.l.l. These are just emotions. Looks like I don't understand this for now... Let's keep looking.*

"*>ethereal attribute*"

"*The element of information. The ethereal attribute and ethereal plane are resonant with all the goings-on of the universe. The two sub-elements are transmission and reception.*"

"*>dark attribute*"

"*Identical to the physical attribute. Deals with the creation, control, and usage of dark and antimatter.*"

After reading this, I was stunned yet again.

*Dark and antimatter?*

On Earth, dark matter was just a mathematical theory for the inexplicable expansion of the universe. Yet here, it appeared to be common knowledge... What was even crazier was that humans could create and control dark matter on a whim, which automatically granted absolutely everyone a degree of superhuman ability.

*Well, I don't think I'll be able to make any use of it. All of my stats relating to the dark attribute are 0, anyway.*

"*>spiritual attribute*"

"*A combination of all formless attributes; the auras of physic, magic, dark, and ether. All aura resides in the astral plane.*"

It was truly a lot to take in. Imagining four more 'attributes' just as relevant to the world as what you normally see every day... It was like trying to imagine a new color. It simply wasn't possible without experiencing it firsthand.

After looking up a map of the general area, I navigated the mouse to log off.

*Let's stop here for now.*

I gained all the relevant information I needed for now. I had also learned that I could pretty much surf the net, or Etherless as they call it, from my MI band as long as my ethereal affinity was high enough. The higher my affinity, the more remote locations I could browse from. It was basically like mobile data. It was stated that individuals approaching 100% ethereal affinity could access the Etherless from almost anywhere on the planet, so worrying about having 'no bars' in the wild was needless.

*This was very beneficial. Hopefully I never see this place again.*

I stood up and prepared to leave, but before I walked out the door, I noticed a stack of sticky notes on the reception desk. I suddenly remembered what Yijun said to me. I pondered for a moment before taking a bunch of them and sticking them all over my face. Of course, I received more strange looks from the patrons.

*What are you idiots looking at? This is completely ordinary. If I run into him again, I wonder how he'll react...*

With this amusing thought, I confidently strutted out the door and headed towards the main entrance.