D.E.M.O.N.S: Getting Summoned Weekly isn't so Bad

--- Kat ---

So the girls were riding North. They'd taken a wide berth so as not to trigger and itchy fingers up on the walls. Hunter had gone over the map a few more times before making the final decision, but once it was clear that Kat and Kamiko had no issues with the lamia taking the lead, Hunter went with her gut and directed the group North.

There wasn't too many interesting things to note on the way. The North gate had its own massive line. There was quite a lot of farms nearby that the group didn't care enough to investigate as they flew by, and the little village they past through was more 'four farmers all built houses near each other' then a proper village. It got Kat wonder if that's how most villages started.

Of course, Lily was quick to dissuade her of that. Some villages did come into being that way, but not most. Usually it was some other factor, such a river, the ocean, or in much older times, salt deposits. Kat was then provided with a lecture on medieval farming methods that were interesting enough. Kat couldn't say she really cared, but it was nice chatting with Lily and it let them pass the time.

Eventually it was time for another break and for everyone who wasn't Kat to have a drink and a bit of food. Hunter just swallowed a small cooked bird, perhaps a quail, or something else of a similar size. Kamiko downed a small cup of jelly… which led Kat to wondering if everyone had 'personalised' snacks.

A quick investigation of her own ring made it a bit hard to tell… but it seemed to have more fish then you'd think if things were trying to be balanced.

*Hmm… I wonder if I have extra fish for you… or if the other two are just going for stuff they like. I've got jelly in here as well. Wait, no hang on. How much fish do you have in YOUR ring Lily?*

[Um… I'd rather not answer.]

*Lily…*

[Fine. Like… half of all the food in here seems to be fish of some kind. Or… maybe not quite half, but definitely half if you include the other seafood in here. I've got jelly and other things as well of course… but yeah it's a LOT of fish.]

*Ok, so these are personalised. I wonder if I have those little birds? I can't seem to 'find' them but that's in part because unless I really know what I'm looking for the ring is pretty vague. Like, if I just think food it's like 'yeah I got food'. Might be worth playing around with at some point.*

[Perhaps… but I want to ask Hunter about tech level!]

*Alright fine…*

"So Hunter… what sort of different technology levels have you seen personally?" asked Lily.

"I cannot say I have experience with all of them, for the technology level of a world is both a crude way of referring to it and drastically different even within a world. The easiest kind to eliminate are the truly primal. These are civilisations that never summon a demon. They are not advanced enough to even try so I wasn't taught the specifics for them.

At the other end, a lot of highly advanced civilisations also lack the ability to summon demons." Hunter explained until Lily jumped in.

"Why is that?" asked Lily.

Stay tuned with m,v le,mpyr

"That requires some explanation. I suppose we do have the time, what with the avoidance of the city line and all. Allow me to explain, a lot of worlds with higher energy tend to be kingdoms or lack sufficient ways to uplift the populace at large. This is because power can be more easily concentrated in individuals instead of institutions even if people in worlds without magic make some good attempts.

"The difference is that assassins are both more and less effective across all types of world. In a high energy world, especially one with high ranks on it, if you can kill the leader the whole kingdom is likely to fall apart even if they have heirs. Conversely, in low energy worlds simply taking out the leader isn't always enough and many countries and organisations can bounce back from it.

"Of course, the other end of things is that the assassination part of the assassination plans are much harder to accomplish. When your king is the strongest individual in the kingdom simply doing away with them is a much more challenging prospect. Alas, I am allowing myself to drift from the main point. I hope this diversion answered your question in a general sense," stated Hunter.

"Um… not really? I was wondering why they can't summon demons and you got a bit distracted with the assassination part…" returned Lily.

"Ah yes. I got lost a bit there. I apologise I am not the best teacher, and in truth even looking back at my words I am unsure where I was going with them. The simple explanation is that for the lowest end civilisations they do not have the resources or knowledge to summon anything and for the most advanced they usually tend to believe they know 'everything' about the world.

"This is compounded by the fact that exploration into other worlds without a very friendly local dimension cluster that is essentially begging for intra-universal travel tends to be next to impossible without magic. The energies that exist in the space between worlds tends to simply annihilate anything that attempts to try.

"What they need to do, is somehow process that energy into something usable for a demon summoning without knowing the slightest thing about magic. They also need to do this far from the high-tech equipment that could potentially interfere with the process.

This is for a few reasons the biggest of which is that if they can harness energy that boarders on true 'higher energy' it can cause issues with the summoning.

"It is also worth noting that runes carved by an individual impart some of their intentions so they can be more forgiving for a summoning. Without a personal touch?

You would need to be unbelievably accurate with your carving machines, have the circle set in a much larger room then you think you need, and yet have it all hooked up to the space between worlds to power it, or have some higher energy in your system that you push into the runes after they've been carved.

"It does happen, but it is simply unlikely. It is… how best to explain? It is… very much in a different 'technology tree'. They would need to try things they have no reason to believe would work, perform the experiments perfectly, get lucky, and all of that might still not be enough.

It is only the size of existence that allows for these miniscule coincidences to line up and summon a demon in a world mostly absent of magic," finished Hunter.

"That's really cool!" said Lily with shining eyes. "Though… you mentioned high tech worlds, and I sort of have a guess. Why is there no like 'magical technology'. You seemed to imply that high energy worlds and the rare world without them are very different,"

Hunter nodded, "Yes they are. I suspect that might be where my mind was going. Attempting to continue my original answer instead of diverting to your second question you interrupted me with. That information is even more relevant now.

"You see, with power concentrated it is hard to uplift the populace. Then, if you do merging magic and 'true technology' which is known as technology developed without magic, is essentially impossible once again. The issue is that things like electricity behave strangely around magic.

"It is further made worse because magic moves and changes in a world. If you develop a precise machine that doesn't have a proper… magical presence to force its effects to remain consistent, the slightest change in the magical makeup of the area risks the destruction of the device.

"This is compounded by the fact that technology seems to merge better at higher levels… but that means you have to either develop to equally important but different 'technology levels' in tandem. One only with magic, and one without, or you routinely try and fail to merge them at lower ones.

"Many ideas can be taken from each of the two branches, so it is not as though they are completely incompatible… but you will find that looking under the surface a lot of devices in higher energy worlds that seem to be 'true technology' are in fact enchanted objects mimicking an effect. They are simply easier to develop.

"Truthfully, this is not my area of expertise. This is simply information I was taught so I do not now how true it is. It is entirely possible this is just what my family has guessed at.

My understanding is that high energy worlds struggle to uplift their population, while worlds without high energy struggle to gain the needed access to higher energy to start delving into it, but that if they did start would likely have their own issues. Issues I sadly no nothing about,"