Apollo sat quietly inside a library, it's been a while since he got some time alone and he felt a bit freeing, like a kid that temporarily escaped from the gaze of his unruly friends.
Oftentimes he is with his classmates serving as a shield from enemies. However, the emperor called them probably because of the incident he caused with one of the monastery's bases. Hopefully, none of them will connect the culprit to him.
From sitting Apollo decided to walk, observing the beauty of the sacred land for a bookworm like him.
The academy library was known to have an abundance of knowledge and now Apollo knows it was real. The towering shelves that seemed to stretch endlessly, were filled with books that varied in size and shape. The light was gentle as if encouraging the readers to read. Then the soft glide of the breeze makes the corners of the library cozy inviting visitors to come to read.
"Many things have already happened after this past month right?"
[Yes, so much that you already forgot about one thing]
"And that is?"
[Me! You still don't know what you made!]
"Didn't I already answer that you are a copy of me...an intelligence crafted from using me as a blueprint"
[I know that I mean my vessel and this whole thing that you made?]
"That is why we are here in the library we might find something here"
[I doubt that you came here because you want to find out the cost between mana stones and crystal mana]
"We can also check yours you know"
Apollo could hear a deep sigh within his consciousness, though he knew it was Jeremiah.
"Let me see their difference then will go to your problem"
[Hpmh!]
The boy couldn't help but shake his head, ever since he upgraded Jeremiah by 3000 stat points he became more human-like.
Speaking of which his last harvest was so good that he might reach emperor rank immediately. However, Apollo didn't want to rush his advancement, since he planned to spend his stat points on upgrading Jeremiah and the skills he might gain in the future.
"Skill upgrades and synthesis are quite expensive after all"
Soon Apollo took some books and stacked them on a vacant table. He comfortably took a seat and began to read.
"Let's see it says mana stones and crystal mana have a..."
[Have a what?]
Apollo didn't say anything and went on to close the book. Then he took a pen and paper from his space ring and began scribbling.
Jeremiah wondered what it was but he couldn't pry on Apollo's thoughts unless he allowed it.
"Oh dear" his creator mumbled making Jeremiah even more curious.
[Can you share it with me?]
"Yes, at first I was just curious about the differences between mana stone and crystals but when I saw their prices it got me wondering..." he stopped a bit as if thinking about his next choice of words.
"I was wondering how much I spent to make you and the vessel you are currently in"
[So what's the total cost?]
Jeremiah could see that his Creator was a bit smug about it.
"Now let's calculate everything.....back then I used high-quality mana stones...*sigh*...it cost 500 imperial dollars but since I used 1000 of them, that will be 500,000 imperial dollars. Then for the crystal mana, it cost 10,000 imperial dollars each but since I used high-quality ones it went up to 1 million each"
[That is expensive!]
"Yes the energy inside was immense that is why it went up that high. A single high-quality crystal mana can power up a city for a year, that is how huge the energy inside a crystal mana is"
[How many did you use?]
"Ten"
In short, Apollo used a crystal that could supply energy to a city for ten years. He suddenly felt like he was spending resources like royalty.
"10,500,000 imperial dollars now, then I should add the high-quality papyrus and two celestial beast cores. A papyrus is made with a special kind of wood, Trese, it's a type of tree that can absorb an abundant amount of mana and thus was a prime material for papyrus. And since growing this tree is difficult the price for a papyrus is no different from crystal mana"
"750,000 each for a small piece of papyrus and I use 500"
[375,000,000 imperial dollars]
"Yes and finally the two beast cores, celestial rank cores are rare and extremely difficult to get...the cause is 500 million each and it still depends on which beast it belongs to. Considering it was from a blue dragon and a dessert Arachne its price should escalate to 1.5 billion imperial dollars"
[...]
"Should I calculate everything?"
[No Creator I am satisfied now]
Apollo was a bit silent, the thing is he thought it wasn't much of a value since the people of the tower would give it to him like candy, so naturally the young him thought it wasn't expensive or important. It was just an ordinary tool in front of his eyes it turns out it wasn't ordinary.
"Now let go and see the final question the two of us need to find out"
[Right finally]
With their previous expensive conversation Apollo and Jeremiah decided to shift their conversation.
With newfound motivation, the boy stood up from his seat and went towards the bookshelves.
"I wonder what book should I go to"
While walking through the big shelves of the library, he found something that might help him.
"Mechanism and theory of modern machinery... I get this one as well"
[Types of barrier defensive mechanism and theory of technology as a new type of magic?]
"Yup and by the way go scan every book and grimoires here I want them in our archive"
[Affirmative ]
Apollo went back to his seat and began reading as he did so time seemed to slow down while he felt the words on every page. Mechanism and theory of modern machinery were a bit familiar to Apollo so he decided to read them first.
"Hmm?"
Later as he read a word caught his attention.
"System?"
Holding a thick book full of machinery blueprints and systematic equations, the young boy was confused all of a sudden.