Programming.

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Noticing the looks on their faces, especially Philippa's, who appeared as if she had eaten something unpleasant, Richard sighed and explained, "It seems all of you have forgotten. We are here first and foremost to fix the destruction from the Conjunction of the Spheres, not to create something that will make all of you stronger, more dexterous, and more intelligent."

"What else are you hiding from us? I can easily withdraw my Chaos energy and render this thing useless, you know."

Still a novice and beginner, not yet thinking of another scheming plan to get ahead of others, Richard answered truthfully to Philippa and everyone else, "Nothing else. But, if you want to turn off the Sa'angreal in the Ethereal Realms, it is your own choice."

Her heart was pounding loudly with a craving that almost couldn't be controlled, realizing that it meant the Sa'angreal doesn't need Chaos energy or any other energy from the creators to run indefinitely, even though the perpetual energy is only in the design phase and has not yet been deployed.

Lanfear expressed her opinion, noting the last sentence of Richard where he says it will make all of them stronger, more dexterous, and more intelligent, while trying to stay calm. "S-so," she took a deep breath and continued, "So, this is an aiding tool, huh? A tool to transform our magic system into something better, as Logain said. I didn't know it was already mature enough, even though it hasn't been deployed yet."

Shaking his head and seeing the lust in Lanfear's eyes, Richard said, "No, it is not mature enough. Not yet to the point of creating a new magic system out of nothing, that is. It will be a long time before that. But you can say that it is already ready to assist us in everything we work on."

Even though she was not happy to be used like this, Margarita did not want this act to be taken to heart. As a sorceress, she understood the need to be wary of others' schemes and plans, and to turn those plans to their advantage. Taking a deep breath to dispel the rising anger that should not be directed at her benefactor, she asked, "Then, how can we have this assistant, Richard? Because I and the others only knew that this Sa'angreal can generate wishes on a large scale, not on a personal level."

Turning to Margarita, Richard explained, "By directly using my programming language Aon or modifying it until it becomes something new."

"Are you saying we can't make our own, what you would call it, programming language?"

Looking toward Logain, Richard answered, "You can. But you would need to build the computer Sa'angreal from scratch, nothing adapted from the main server. Not only that, you would need to invent your own assembly language, which I doubt you want to do. By the time you finish, an era will have already passed, and by then, anyone using the main server will already be ahead by two or three generations. Not to mention, creating the assembly language will be too much of a hassle for those of you that don't like it, and its effectiveness depends on how good you are at creating it."

"Hahahahaha, bravo! Bravo! You hid the crucial knowledge! Bloody whoreson!"

Raising his eyebrows at Philippa's raging insult, Richard retorted with one word, "Hypocrites." He didn't want to explain further why he hid the knowledge, as it would be a waste of time. Luckily, someone among the group wanted to know the reason why this seemingly fundamental knowledge that everyone thought so had to be kept hidden.

"Why? Why are you keeping it from us? Why are you hiding this fundamental knowledge? We're all sharing our understanding without holding anything back. Why are you hyp, I mean, why are you the only one going back on your word?"

Looking at Mirrable Ervine, who wanted to call him a hypocrite as well, Richard explained clearly, "Because it is not fundamental. It has already entered the realm of personal arts. Just see the Maths section under Boolean Algebra. Programming language is derived from there. For the one responsible for the logic unit, I think Philippa will understand more about what I am talking about."

Knowing that some of them would not be satisfied and might bear a grudge, which would be very detrimental to moving society into a scholarly era, Richard offered, "Don't worry. I will make the Language Structure of Aon open to all of you. From the documentation on how to write the magical program to the assembler process."

Why? Because the machine code generator, linker, and loader to compile their source code spells are inside Richard every blood and gene. In other words, every research or every sorcery casting that uses this Sa'angreal for calculation aid will be open to him bare. Because of that, he can monitor everyone and choose the topics he likes from the person researching that certain topic to the details of how they made it.

"Thanks, Richard. Now that that's out of the way, let's talk about how we deal with the guests who want to destroy our creation. Any ideas?"

Having finished calming her craving, Lanfear replied to Yennefer's question, "I will be able to hide the boat form in the Cognitive Realms. But the issue is that I am not a sailor. Not to mention, sailing in the twisting clouds of the Cognitive Realms is very different from sailing on the ocean. And that's not counting if we suddenly bump into some powerful being or enter a plane of existence ruled by such a powerful being. It will be a headache just to defend it."

Ciri, bored out of her mind and not understanding anything the group was talking about, suddenly sat up straight. "My new little friend is a sailor! I mean, he is good at navigating in the Cognitive cloudy seas. And he is also a Spren, a being born from that realm. Moreover, I happen to have sensitivity toward elements of space, enabling me to sense that plane of existence ahead of time. So it's a double package of safety."

Looking at the ashen-haired girl, who was able to walk again after her weakness, and noticing the little comet light spinning on top of her head, Lanfear nodded and smiled at Ciri, "Then that's great. I'll be counting on you."

Finishing the firewall program inside his mind, Richard added his part, "For the brain in the Physical Realms, you don't need to worry. Unless they are able to destroy the universe… or maybe the multiverse… the ceiling cap is uncreation… Anyway, what I mean is, the entire Skellige will certainly be calm and peaceful."

Nodding her head, knowing the capabilities of Ciri's Elder Blood and imagining how the perpetual energy of Ciri can be scary, not to mention other energies that everyone discovers have the same standing as the Elder Blood, Margarita decided to place her students in a safe place here, especially knowing that the domain of physics in this area would automatically be fixed.

"So that leaves us with the one in the Ethereal Realms. The realm of gods and demons. Any ideas on how to defend it?"

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