I woke up later than usual today. It was probably because I stayed up too late last night.
Yawning, I walked into the living room. All four of them were already sitting at the dining table.
"Mr. Karen, it's almost nine."
"Karen, you overslept too?"
"I'm hungry."
"Mr. Karen, did you have a nightmare?"
I felt like only Alice actually cared about why I woke up late. The other three were clearly just urging me to cook.
I responded while walking toward the kitchen.
"No, I just went to bed late last night. I'll make breakfast now. Jacob, take a look at these two papers."
I handed Jacob the instruction sheet for the communication magic core and the phone design diagram so he could understand them first. Jacob wasn't the type to ask too many questions anyway.
Then I started preparing breakfast.
During that time, Jacob frowned slightly as he read through the documents. When he finished, he set the papers down and asked me,
"Is this the communication tool you mentioned yesterday?"
"Yes. This is the prototype. It's called a phone."
I handed the unregistered magic-core phone to Jacob and asked him to become its owner.
"The magic core inside this phone is still an ordinary one. Since the creator automatically becomes the owner, you'll have to create yours yourself. And this is my phone—just inject mana into it. You don't need to say anything in your mind."
I handed my phone to him as well so he could register as a contact. I also reminded the other three to inject mana and register themselves as contacts.
"Okay."
While Jacob was operating the phone, Alice looked at me with sparkling, hopeful eyes and a bright smile.
"Lord Karen, where's mine?"
"I don't know yet if it will work, so I only made two phones for testing."
"Oh..."
The moment she heard there wasn't one for her, the sparkle in Alice's eyes immediately disappeared. She went over to read the instruction sheet with Grace and Ethefelis.
When Jacob finished, he returned my phone. I decided to test it after breakfast.
After I finished eating, instead of cleaning the dishes immediately, I activated the phone.
The screen displayed the five black frames I already knew about. In the first slot, a new line of sky-blue text appeared.
Jacob Zereil.
I was instantly thrilled.
It could really identify each person's identity. Creation Magic was amazing!
But why was there only Jacob's name? Didn't I tell the other three to inject mana too?
"I'm done eating."
Grace had finished her meal, which meant she was free now. I pointed at the phone and asked her,
"Grace, did you inject mana?"
"I did… huh? There's text! It's Mr. Jacob's name! Mr. Jacob, come look!"
When Grace saw the screen, she excitedly called Jacob over. I moved the phone closer so he could see it.
"Amazing!"
"That's incredible."
Alice and Ethefelis also leaned over to look, expressing their admiration.
Jacob, however, showed a puzzled expression.
"But why is there only my name?"
"I'm thinking about the reason."
Even though I was the one who invented the magic-core phone, there were still things I didn't understand.
I thought about the difference between them. Jacob already had a phone, but Grace and the others didn't.
Then a possibility occurred to me, so I called out to Grace, who was about to leave to practice swordsmanship.
"Grace, come here."
"What is it?"
I handed her a pure magic core.
"You read the instructions earlier. You know how to make it, right?"
"I do."
Grace understood my intention and accepted the magic core. Soon, she created her own communication magic core.
I looked back at the phone screen.
Grace's name still hadn't appeared.
I turned the phone off and then back on, wondering if that might refresh it.
But nothing changed.
So I held the phone toward Grace.
"Inject mana again."
After Grace injected mana, I saw from the back of the phone that the second slot now displayed orange text—though it appeared reversed from my angle.
Grace Somart.
"Mr. Karen, my name appeared."
"Karen, do you understand the reason now?"
"Yes."
I nodded.
"First, I'll call this kind of magic core a communication magic core."
I said that so we could clearly distinguish between ordinary magic cores and communication ones.
Then I began explaining.
"There is a communication network among communication magic cores. Every core in the network is connected by invisible lines. Creating your own communication magic core is essentially the same as registering yourself into the network."
You could imagine a single core connected to countless others, and those countless cores connecting with each other, forming a massive network.
"The reason only Jacob's name appeared earlier is because he had already joined the network. Grace, Ethefelis, and Alice hadn't joined yet, so only his name appeared."
It was basically like social media.
If someone hadn't registered an account, you couldn't find them no matter how hard you searched.
"My head hurts..."
"That's so complicated. I only understood that we didn't have names because we hadn't made our own communication magic cores."
Alice, as usual, didn't understand.
Grace grasped the basic idea.
Ethefelis simply continued eating breakfast.
Jacob chewed his food silently. After swallowing, his expression suddenly brightened with realization.
"I see. It's like knowing a merchant exists, but if he hasn't registered as a merchant, you won't find his name in the merchant guild's registry."
"Exactly. That's the idea."
Jacob explained it in a way that made sense to him.
But he was eating too slowly.
I decided to test the system using Grace's communication magic core instead.
After cleaning up the dishes, I sat down on the sofa and placed the blueprint and glass panel on the low table.
"Mr. Karen, why are there missing parts here?"
Grace, who had become interested in the phone instead of practicing swordsmanship, pointed at two phone-shaped holes in the glass panel.
"Because that's how much material was needed to make the phones. Give me your magic core."
One glass panel could produce about twelve phones.
I made Grace's phone and injected mana to register myself as a contact.
I handed the phone to Grace. She eagerly activated it but soon looked confused.
"Huh? Mr. Karen's name is black, and Mr. Jacob's name is sky blue. What does that mean?"
Grace showed me the screen.
I had already seen it from the back of the phone, and I roughly understood the reason.
"It's based on hair color. It's to distinguish people with the same name."
"But Mr. Jacob's name color is too light. It's a little hard to see."
"Looks like we've found a flaw."
So something had slipped through after all.
But changing it would waste the magic cores we already used—and they were hundred-year magic cores.
I couldn't bear to waste them.
"But if you put your hand behind it, it becomes easier to see."
Using your hand as a background behind the phone worked well enough.
Still, it was a bit troublesome. Maybe I should create phone cases later. They could also help people tell their phones apart.
At that moment, the magic core in my phone started flashing white repeatedly.
Thankfully I had designed it to emit only a faint light. Otherwise it would have been blinding.
Grace's name appeared on the screen, along with two buttons: "Accept" and "Reject."
I pressed "Accept."
The flashing stopped. The screen now displayed "In Call," and the buttons changed to "Speaker" and "End."
I looked at Grace, about to ask what she was doing, but she excitedly asked me first.
"It changed! Mr. Karen, what should I do next?!"
The phone case could wait.
Testing came first.
"Put the phone to your ear. I'll test it from my room."
I left the living room and went to my room. After closing the door, I sat on the bed and held the phone to my ear.
"Hello, can you hear me?"
"Ehh?! It made a sound! It's Mr. Karen's voice! Mr. Karen, I can hear you! Can you hear me?!"
Grace's loud, excited voice startled me so much that I instantly pulled the phone away from my ear.
My eardrums nearly burst.
But my voice reached Grace, and her voice reached me.
That meant it worked.
Great!
I placed the phone back to my ear.
"I can hear you. Just don't shout."
Then I heard Grace's voice again—but she wasn't talking to me.
"Ms. Alice, this is my phone! Don't grab it!"
"I want to hear Mr. Karen too!"
I was too lazy to keep holding the phone to my ear, so I pressed "Speaker."
Their arguing voices became louder.
As I listened, I lay down on the bed.
Honestly… this was ridiculous.
I knew the phone was amazing. It allowed people in different places to talk as if they were together.
But couldn't they show a little patience?
They were acting like children.
Suddenly, the sound stopped.
I looked at the screen. It had returned to the contact list.
Did they accidentally press "End" while fighting over the phone?
"Hmm..."
I tapped Jacob's name in the contact list to see what the dialing screen looked like.
The screen instantly changed to "Dialing" with a "Cancel" button.
So far, no flaws.
I put the phone to my ear and waited for Jacob to answer.
But even after a long time, I didn't hear his voice.
Jacob should already know how to use it. Why wasn't he answering?
I lowered the phone and looked at the screen.
It had returned to the contact list.
Ah—thirty seconds had passed, so it automatically rejected the call.
I sighed and headed back to the living room.
When I arrived, Grace and Alice were standing there, both looking away from each other.
Jacob was trying to mediate.
"Alright, don't be angry anymore. I know you're both curious about the phone, but you shouldn't fight because of it. We're companions."
"..."
"..."
Both of them looked like they wanted to say something but stayed silent.
Jacob then grabbed their hands and placed them together.
"Companions shouldn't hold grudges overnight. Come on, make up."
Grace and Alice looked at each other guiltily. After a moment, they finally spoke.
"Ms. Alice, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have been selfish and refused to lend you the phone."
"I'm sorry too, Ms. Grace. I shouldn't have grabbed your phone just because I was curious."
They apologized to each other.
I didn't know exactly what had happened, but one thing was clear.
Jacob was surprisingly good at resolving conflicts.
If it had been me, I probably would have lectured them, which would only make them feel worse.
Thankfully Jacob was here.
From now on, I'd just leave things like this to him.
Then I remembered the question I wanted to ask him.
"Jacob."
"Oh, Karen. You're back."
"I called you earlier. Why didn't you answer?"
"Did you? My phone didn't flash."
Jacob pointed at the dining table where his phone was lying.
But the light should flash for thirty seconds. Anyone would notice that.
Ethefelis had been sitting there too—if she saw it, she definitely would have told him.
"Then I'll try again."
I tapped Jacob's name again. The screen displayed "Dialing."
I looked at Jacob's phone.
It wasn't flashing.
What was going on?
I pressed "Cancel," returned to the contact list, and tapped Grace's name.
Grace's phone flashed immediately.
So Grace's phone worked, but Jacob's didn't.
Was his phone malfunctioning?
Then I asked Jacob to activate his phone.
There were no contacts at all.
I realized the problem—I hadn't registered myself as his contact yet.
After injecting mana to register myself, Jacob tapped my name to call me.
My phone started flashing.
No problem there.
I pressed "Reject."
Then I tapped Jacob's name again.
This time, his phone flashed.
What?
After I registered as his contact, the call worked.
I decided to test it again.
I turned Jacob's phone toward Grace.
"Grace, inject mana."
After Grace registered herself as a contact, I tapped her name to call.
Jacob hadn't injected mana into Grace's phone yet.
Just as I expected, Grace's phone didn't flash.
"I see now."
I finally understood.
"Both phones must have each other's names registered before they can communicate."
Thinking about it, that made sense.
To register a contact, the two people had to meet in person. Since they had already met, it wouldn't make sense for only one side to register the other.
Now I understood something else.
The system automatically blocks unknown calls.
If someone isn't registered, the two communication magic cores aren't connected in the network, so the communication can't be transmitted at all.