[DCI] Chapter 50 - The Wonders of Modern Technology

Zeke got to figuring out where things were on my PC with my subtle help. He found the necessary apps in no time and launched them all to properly configure each program to match his needs. Fortunately, it looked like I still had the most crucial ones installed and he had to only download a single new thing.

Reminiscing about my time in my previous job amongst all the other IT guys like us, I enjoyed the occasional banter as we pointed a thing or two to each other while Zeke was setting things up. It had been my role to oversee everything so standing next to someone like that and offering feedback or just an occasion to chat was now part of me and I did that out of habit.

But, thanks to that, Zeke clearly had an easier time changing my settings to match his and configuring the additional plugins for the required apps. As he had mentioned, there was no need to set up a fresh compiler as mine still fit the requirements of his little project. Though, I wasn’t sure if I should call it little considering how much code showed on the screen when he finally imported his files.

“Alright. Let’s get this started. I wasn’t able to run the app on the watch for some reason so I used an emulator at home, but it worked more than just wonky due to their unique operating system. If not for the fact that it seems to take the best parts out of all the other systems, I’m not sure if it would have even opened,” Zeke began.

“I knew you would figure something out. What do you have here for me, then?” I smiled, leaning more over his shoulder.

“I’m fairly certain that I wasn’t able to operate it on the watch due to the insane security modules that function even when the entire circuit has no power so I think it might be alright now that you have it back. I have no idea what kind of biometric scanner it has but there’s no way of fooling it. Anyway, the project is installed on the device so just run it up,” he replied.

Well, if I were to guess, I would place my bet on some kind of mana, essence, or life energy sensor. What else could be safer than a magical artifact with such capabilities? If the dwarves living in this realm had been taught what we humans knew about technology, it would be of no surprise that they could forge even microchip-sized boards. Some of them might be the things Zeke hadn’t been able to identify or connect to.

Listening to his suggestion, I switched my amazing smartwatch with Aisha’s and took a peek at the moderate screen. Nothing had really changed besides the additional icon in the application folder.

I chuckled and shook my head. “Did you really have to steal the icon of some weeb gacha game? Was there nothing better than anime chicks?”

“It’s just a prototype. Not like you will share it publicly. I have plenty of those at hand so I just grabbed a random one from my collection.” Zeke shrugged with a playful smirk. “I had no time to reach out to my usual logo dude yet so I’ll get you something nice later. This is the least important part right now. Get to the main point.”

With a quiet sigh, I tapped the cute, colorful icon that depicted the head of a pink-haired anime girl making the victory sign with her fingers. I partially expected to see an equally sweet and similarly-themed interface after everything loaded but a pretty bland, normal-looking set of tiles to choose from greeted me.

Zeke snickered. “Disappointed? Don’t worry, I’ll make it match whenever I get some free time.”

I smacked him on the back of his head again and focused on the available options. The current version of the app supposedly allowed you to open an image from the storage, and that was what unlocked more things to choose from, besides the obvious sections like settings and such.

Tapping the aforementioned function, I was brought to the internal storage and noticed that some kind of a picture had already been preloaded into the device’s memory. Picking it, caused the illusory module of the watch to activate, and I suddenly had a flat blueprint of my apartment floating in front of my face, hanging in the air vertically.

“I knew it had a holographic projector somewhere!” Zeke pumped his fist. “I wasn’t able to access it, though, so I don’t know how much I will be able to work on this function. But, with the viewing mode set to the screen, you will have more control over the map.”

“Even if it’s just displaying the image like this, that’s more than enough for the holo option. It will be easier to check the details on this instead of the small screen,” I commented. “Let’s check the other mode, then.”

With just a tap on the screen, I brought the displayed map down onto the circular face of the watch. The shown coverage was incomparably small but a bunch of additional, tiny icons floated around the edges of the device. I recognized some of them as the common functions available in most GPS and navigation apps, like centering on the user’s location, zooming in and out, placing down a marker, and such. One of them must be a trigger for the illusory projection.

Zeke leaned more over my wrist. “You should be able to drag the image around with touch. Doing so will cause a small green arrow to pop up over it, which will be you. Move the map enough for the arrow to match your location and then you can lock it with this button. From that moment, your movements will be tracked and the display will scroll and rotate the image in line with your actions. I haven’t implemented the options to disable those yet but I plan to.”

“That’s plenty. What happens when I walk past the border of the picture?” I asked.

“The moment you pick an image from the storage, it loads up on a canvas. In the future, I want to add the ability to draw on it and so on, but right now, you can tap this button to enable the path-marking tool. The arrow will then start drawing a green line as you move. When you go past the uploaded picture, it will continue drawing over a black background. Technically you could go infinitely far, but you are limited by your device's available storage space, since obviously, the bigger the canvas, the more it weighs,” he explained.

“Great. This is the feature I needed the most. Looks like you listened to my request. I’m really glad you did.” I chuckled.

“I always follow the client’s wishes.” Zeke grinned at me.

“Yeah, no. You don’t. The only thing you always get in trouble for is going way over what the client wants since you just can’t stop yourself from making things better.” I shook my head and he snickered quietly.

“I might have wanted to add the option to turn on a navigational assistant that would guide you back to the starting point with voice commands and other quality-of-life, helpful support.” He glanced away.

“Because of course, you did.” I rubbed my forehead with a small smile. “Don’t do it, though. You will only waste your time since I’m using my watch on mute almost all the time. The visuals are more than enough.”

“Sure. I have plenty of other ideas to implement.” He winked at me. “Now, make a round around the place to see if the thing cooperates properly with the motion sensors. Since you plan on using your own files as the maps, I figured that those would be better than the GPS module.”

“Perfect.” I nodded and dragged the picture around.

Getting the green arrow to match my position and direction right next to the desk, I took a last look around to make sure that I hadn’t made any mistakes. Coincidentally, that was when Levia left the bathroom after drying her hair with the hair dryer and I watched her parade to the wardrobe in just underwear again, admiring not just her lithe figure and beautiful, blue skin, but also her almost shining white hair. Aisha must have shown her some incredible beauty and health products.

Those girls would be the bane of me…

Dragging my attention away from the enchanting Witch, I started walking around the apartment while observing the screen of the watch. The little arrow moved correspondingly to my steps and I soon arrived at the kitchen complex. The direction it was facing matched mine too so rotations were registered properly. I could even watch the arrow spin around live as I turned around my own axis.

Before returning to Zeke, I tapped the pathing button and moved alongside the walls to cover more distance. After exiting the entrance hallway, I stepped back into the main section and confirmed that the thin line appearing behind the arrow was quite accurate too. Everything seemed to be working fine.

“Done already?” Zeke asked as I stood by his side while he kept tapping the keyboard at a mind-blowing speed, already changing stuff in the app on the spot. “Don’t you want to test the out-of-bounds drawing?”

“Nah. I would have to either invade some neighbor or walk the stairs all the way down to get on the street for it to register some distance,” I replied, finding a pretty logical excuse for not opening the portal to the Dungeon with him in my home.

“I’m moved by how much you trust me.” He faked getting all emotional before returning to coding. “Since I haven’t yet figured out the part that will figure out the scale of your map in regards to your person automatically, you will need to triangulate your position a few times before the arrow will start covering the proper distance. Without that, it will be too fast or too slow. I’m writing the thing that will keep the record of the already covered path and compare the sections together whenever you triangulate your spot. Obviously, that will only work on the image so do this before moving out of bounds.”

“Yeah. That must be tough to get right. Not all the maps will have the same scale for sure.” I scratched my head.

“I’ll do something about it. Now, plug the phone in, and let’s see if it will accept the app too. If yes, then I’ll add the function to sync them together next time. If no, then there’s just no point and you will have to update both manually whenever you move out with just one,” Zeke said.

I did as he requested and watched him transfer the app to the phone’s storage. It installed without an issue and the same anime girl popped up amongst the other icons on the app list. Without delaying things, I booted it up and Zeke clicked his tongue.

While the app loaded properly, the interface was a bit of a mess, which wasn’t that surprising considering the fact that he had worked on this version of the application without the data from my device, using the most common responsive layout. But, we ignored it for now and focused on the important aspects.

The phone had the same options as the watch so I imported the plan of my apartment onto the canvas and tested all the functions. It was a challenge to hit some of the dislocated buttons, with a few of them overlapping, but the core parts worked without a hitch. After he fixed the UI, we would be able to use both the phone and the watches to track our progress, with the phone offering a slightly bigger screen, of course.

“Better than expected,” Zeke commented, stroking his chin. “I say we made good progress. It’s nothing fancy but I found only a bunch of errors and mistakes that need fixing ASAP. It will start looking as it should in no time.”

“There’s no need to push for beauty right now. It’s alright to get done with the more technical aspects. As you said, I won’t be sharing it as it’s only for my personal use. I can work even with template layouts as long as the functions are top-notch,” I replied.

“Nah, man. I can’t do that to you.” He placed his hand on my shoulder. “You are paying like a megacorp and also are one of my best friends so no half-assing things here. It will look the part, I promise. After we deal with the code and modules, as you wish.”

“I’ll be waiting for the final version, then.” I smiled at him. “Will you need my phone to fix the layout and other things?”

Zeke turned back to the monitor. “No need. I managed to get some info about the device when you plugged it into the PC. This should be enough. I might have actually gotten even more data than from the watch when I did it by myself. Care to plug it in too for a moment?”

“Sure. The biometrics might unlock things for the scan.” I shrugged and connected the cable.

He got what he could and we disconnected everything. Saving all the files and settings from today’s short session, Zeke threw them onto his secure pendrive, and tossed it into his pocket. He would never dare to transfer any confidential data online, no matter how well-protected the services were branded. Unless the employer had a say in it, but then it wasn’t his projects and data but the company he worked for.

“Well, then. I don’t see a reason to overstay, lest I get in a trance and start ignoring you while trying to implement all the functions and ideas that keep swirling in my head. I don’t think you need an unresponsive zombie programmer in your apartment for the rest of the day when you have a company like that.” He chuckled, standing up.

“These are the sights I get every day so a change once in a while is more than welcome.” I smirked, extending my hand for a shake.

“Damn. I don’t know if I’m jealous or pitying you. I would never be able to focus on work with those two beauties just existing in the same space as me.” Zeke laughed openly and matched my handshake.

“Yeah. Everything has its good and bad sides. I manage somehow. Who knows for how long, though? Everyone has their limit, right?” I raised a playful brow at him.

“You better watch not to break yours. I don’t want to travel to prison to visit the client.” He slugged me on the shoulder.

I laughed and turned us around. “You don’t need to worry about that. At worst, you would need to travel to the closest ICU as either of them could easily snap me in half whenever needed.”

“Shit. After seeing that ripped girl, I don’t think you are exaggerating.” He winced jokingly.

“The other one is a still water too. Don’t even think about underestimating her.” I flicked him on the head and we walked towards the entrance together.

As we were passing by the kitchen complex, we saw both Aisha and Levia sitting by the table on opposite sides, both dressed casually and decently this time. The former had her usual t-shirt and shorts combo while the latter sat in one of my oversized hoodies and whatever she had under the bottom of it. My drakan mate was resting her chin on her joined palms while watching the silent lunar elf drawing more arcanas with the markers.

Seeing the complex, artistic symbols from afar, Zeke’s neck craned towards them. “Oh, those are nice. Are you making your own card game or something?”

I brought him closer to the table as the two women turned to us. “Something like that, I guess.”

“Neat.” He picked one of the finished arcanas up, examining it from up close. “Personal use? Or are you planning to share it with the world and try to take it by storm?”

“Personal use,” Levia answered with her usual, calm, and soft tone.

“I see. You could try crowdfunding it if you don’t mind. No one can predict if it will fail or blow up out of proportion, and since you are doing it just for yourself, you don’t lose anything in either case,” Zeke suggested. “Though, I would go with something a little bit fancier than just basic plastic. Wood is super popular in board and card games recently. You can make some pretty designs with it. Or you can go all out and use metal, trying to appeal to wealthy nerd collectors. I always loved metal cards. There’s just something to how they feel and look.”

“That’s… not a bad idea.” I nodded to myself. “We’ll think about it. It’s not that easy since I would hate to throw the production on them and we would rather not hire a third-party manufacturer. Thanks anyway.”

“Sure. No problem, pal.” He patted me on the shoulder. “Can I have one? It looks so cool.”

I glanced at Levia with a questioning gaze. She met my eyes for a brief moment, then looked at the card Zeke was holding onto and extended her hand towards us after a few seconds of pondering.

“Could you hand it over to me for a short while?” she asked gently.

He returned the arcana to her and we watched as Levia picked up the marker with a matching color and added a few brushes to the completed circuit. Judging the change satisfactory, she held the card out to Zeke and he took it from her.

“It looks even cooler now. You have such a talent. Damn.” He couldn’t hold back a wide smile from curving his lips. “I’ll see myself out, then. This is an epic gift. Thanks a lot. I wish you success with these if you decide to publish the game.”

I escorted Zeke back to the front door and let him out into the staircase. We exchanged a few more words and he was on his way. Soon, I was back in the kitchen and leaned on the fridge while crossing my arms over my chest.

“Let’s talk about your behavior later. About the cards first.” I squinted at Aisha, who played innocent. “It’s fine giving it to him, right?”

“Yes. I altered the circuit so that it can not be activated anymore. Even if it comes in contact with mana by some lucky accident, it will just absorb and release it without triggering anything else,” Levia replied.

“Thank you.” I nodded at her appreciatively. “Now, as for what he said…”

“You want to sell them on the D-Market.” Aisha grinned at me with amusement. “I knew it wouldn’t take long before you found something once more. I miss our fun with the salted water.”

“Well, maybe. It depends on many factors.” I scrunched my nose. “Is it even worth it? There should be plenty of talismans and other paper slips that function similarly. Can anyone use your arcanas, Levia?”

“I think I can make it so. But, their power will be lower than those that I prepare for myself. And naturally, the amount of mana the user possesses will dictate how strong spells he can use. Spellcasting classes will have it easier while the brawlers might be limited to the lower tier of magic or risk getting spent with just one use,” she explained.

“So, it can work, but might not be the best.” I rubbed my cheeks. “You mentioned that the base material and the ink are what dictate most of the power limit. What if we used metal? There are some super-light alloys in this realm, which can be as thin as paper.”

“The power would rise, yes, but it is extremely difficult to make lasting circuits on those. Upgrading the base material, we should upgrade the ink too, but metal does not absorb substances as well as paper.” Levia held a card and a marker in her hands. “Unless we can create these pens that you bought me while using our own ingredients, it will be too easy to damage the patterns by even just swiping a finger over them. I was surprised to see these permanent markers be so resistant to smudging.”

“Hmmmm… Does the surface of the card need to be flat and intact… or can we perhaps carve out the patterns and fill them with the magical ink?” I asked, still trying to figure things out.

“That can work too, but it is even harder to achieve. The smallest mistake would waste the entire card. And we would need extremely expensive tools that are made with diamonds or other sharp gems to make precise cuts in them. In the end, I do not think it would be worth it.” She shook her head.

“Right. You mentioned that precision is crucial here.” I stepped from one leg to another. “But wait. What if we would be able to assure that the patterns would always end up the way they are supposed to without spending thousands of D-Dollars and are created with barely any input from us? Can you take care of the ink, then?”

“Naturally.” The calm Witch nodded. “But how?”

“Wonders of modern technology.” I grinned at her. “Let’s go shopping. I always wanted my personal laser engraver.”