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Civilization VI (2016 video game)

Kaniel intently watched the screen. He had no luxury for misses. At first, he had wondered about all kinds of things to search for, from such rudimentary things as tradition and culture to the fundamentals of building a computer to more creative ideas like medicine, governance systems, military strategies, and weapon craft.

Civilization was one of them. He didn’t know on what basis Earth functioned and thus couldn’t exploit the otherworldly knowledge. Yet he was intent on taking a stab at what would yield him the best results.

Emperor Constantine had mentioned that the inheritance ground, Flame Tower, was just like a video game. Perhaps knowing what a video game was was the key. Hence, the words within parenthesis enticed him even more to go along with the choice. He’d learn both about the civilization and have a hint at what video games were. There were many similar choices nearby too.

Civilization (Stratified complex society)

Civilization V (2010 video game)

Civilization IV (2005 video game)

Civilization (1991 video game)

Civilizations in Babylon 5

…

The variety made sense as it seemed impossible to fit all the information regarding civilization into a single article or even a book. Kaniel presumed that the numbers before ‘video game’ signified years, and thus, the one from which he could most likely get the best information would be the 2016 version.

Still, after pondering for a while, Kaniel deleted the letters.

“I got too greedy,” he whispered. “I have no leisure to experiment. There are only two shots I can take.”

Kaniel leaned back in his chair, the exhaustion dragging him down. His hand slid off as it fell to his side. He raked his fingers through his hair, tugging, questioning and doubting.

“The first floor isn’t the problem as I can share ownership of the domain and garner help, but the latter floors are worrisome. If two searches aren’t enough to make an extensive research…” He stretched his leg forward, the other pulling in, foot resting against the chair leg, his gaze lowered on the monitor in front of him, pupils lost in various scenarios. “...then the first things first is ensuring enough points, isn’t it? A hundred grams of gold can be converted into a single point. It’s settled then.”

“I need to strike it rich.” His lips pressed into a thin line.

Narrowing down the range of words he’d search would avoid a shot at the dark. As he had no knowledge of Earth, it’d be great to pick a universal term. After writing random words on the search bar and looking for results, he came to the conclusion, “Either gold or money will do.”

He tilted his head upward, his neck strained enough to let his gaze drift toward the ceiling. “What do you think, Demon Lord?”

“Money or gold? Gold or money?”

With money, he would be able to buy gold. But searching for gold might let him obtain an easy way of attaining gold other than mining and runecraft. Usually, Kaniel would immediately opt for the safer one, which was money. Yet, from the moment he’d been pranked by the ridiculous inheritance, something within him broke.

Gold (chemical element with atomic number 79 (Au))

“Gold it is,” he said, proceeding with a click.

The article ‘Gold’ has been downloaded to your devices.

-5 Points

A gargantuan article popped up on his screen.

Kaniel first read it awhole, aloud. He then blinked emptily, staring at the screen.

“The fuck was that?”

He read it again and felt like his head would explode. Oceans, countries, atoms, isotopes, wars, artifacts, policies… At the third reread, he approached it slowly and tactfully.

Gold is a chemical element; it has symbol Au (from Latin aurum) and atomic number 79. In its pure form, it is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile metal. Chemically, gold is a transition metal, a group 11 element, and one of the noble metals. It is one of the least reactive chemical elements, being the second-lowest in the reactivity series. It is solid under standard conditions.

Despite not understanding half the words, the first thing that got his attention was chemistry. It was, at the same time, overly similar and different from alchemy. As an alchemist himself, he got very curious about the subject. Only if he had enough points to research each word he didn’t understand properly… He felt like a swordsman who stumbled upon the notebook of a senior alchemist.

Most of the words he didn’t understand glowed in blue, yet when Kaniel clicked on them, it demanded five points.

After tying to make something out of the chemistry part and failing miserably at it no matter how many times he reread, Kaniel moved on.

A relatively rare element,[10][11] gold is a precious metal that has been used for coinage, jewelry, and other works of art throughout recorded history. In the past, a gold standard was often implemented as a monetary policy. Gold coins ceased to be minted as a circulating currency in the 1930s, and the world gold standard was abandoned for a fiat currency system after the Nixon shock measures of 1971.

This was no less interesting for Kaniel. Gold as a monetary currency? Ridiculous!

Since the beginning of ages, people used lifestones as money. Lifestones were the common currency in the world. Those stones were the sole rank zero or unranked runes—runes of life. Hence the name, a lifestone. One of the most popular theories was that every other rune in existence was derived from them.

For every different type of rune in nature, there was an estimated number of one hundred lifestones. An average monthly earning in the capital was thirty lifestones per person, equating to a single lifestone per day.

By absorbing those tiny, colorless pebbles, one could get nutrients and a healthy body. But this was the tip of the iceberg. Elementalists cultivated lifestones for a better connection with the spirits and longevity. Mages and warriors used it for prolonged training and study sessions as a basic energy supplement whenever they were too busy to eat. Crafters implemented lifestones in the creation of, well, everything, really.

Kaniel couldn’t imagine that gold possessed the same value. Although preemptively, he had read the article twice and still couldn’t find a reason for it. There was only a single explanation for this phenomenon.

“Perhaps they didn’t have lifestones…” he whispered to himself.

That would mean that Earth would function on completely different laws. He felt as though he was reading a fantasy.

In 2020, the world's largest gold producer was China, followed by Russia and Australia.[12] As of 2020, a total of around 201,296 tonnes of gold exist above ground.[13] This is equal to a cube, with each side measuring roughly 21.7 meters (71 ft). The world's consumption of new gold produced is about 50% in jewelry, 40% in investments, and 10% in industry.[14] Gold's high malleability, ductility, resistance to corrosion and most other chemical reactions, as well as conductivity of electricity, have led to its continued use in corrosion-resistant electrical connectors in all types of computerized devices (its chief industrial use). Gold is also used in infrared shielding, the production of colored glass, gold leafing, and tooth restoration.

“So, gold is used in computer production. It is also as rare there as it is here,” he pondered aloud. Ironically, the computer was among half the words he understood in this section. He’d never felt so stupid in his life. “There are many countries, though. Why would Earth be divided into countries when humans are the only intelligent beings? There are no dwarves, elves, goblins, or even those pesky dragons there, to my knowledge. Well, I bet there’s at least no racial discrimination.”

Below was the section with characteristics. Only one segment extensively caught his attention since he couldn’t understand most other parts.

The possible production of gold from a more common element, such as lead, has long been a subject of human inquiry, and the ancient and medieval discipline of alchemy often focused on it; however, the transmutation of the chemical elements did not become possible until the understanding of nuclear physics in the 20th century.

“There is alchemy on Earth and yet no lifestones? It doesn’t make sense.” Kaniel exhaled in perplexion as he reclined on his chair. Alchemy was driven by life force. So it completely didn’t make sense that there’d be alchemy without lifestones, the primary source of life force.

Also, making gold out of lead? If anything, the earthlings were truly ambitious. Any alchemist would laugh it off. Yet Kaniel was an optimist. Was. He remembered that he’s now a pacifist… “The damned afflictions…”

After the characteristics came the gold’s role in the creation of Earth, a bit about asteroids, and a bit about the universe itself. Though of no help, Kaniel slowly formed an abstract image of Earth in his mind.

Then came the history, origin, religion, and even culture sections. Kaniel was baffled that gold could play such a high role in history and even more astounded at the number of nationalities and religions listed. The history of Earth seemed very rich.

Afterward, after scrutinizing the mining, extraction, refining, recycling, and even pollution sections and finding nothing noteworthy, Kaniel moved on to the crux of the article.

Monetary use

He struck a jackpot. Kaniel could now learn about money without having bought the article. He slumped forward, leaning onto his knees. His hands dangled between his legs, fingertips pressing against each other as if trying to anchor himself. Shoulders drooped, his white shirt crumpling. Shadows drew over his weary, sunken eyes.

Bills (that mature into gold coin) and gold certificates (convertible into gold coin at the issuing bank) added to the circulating stock of gold standard money in most 19th century industrial economies. In preparation for World War I the warring nations moved to fractional gold standards, inflating their currencies to finance the war effort.

The concept of golden coins already seemed stupid. But bills and certificates? Weren’t those just papers? Kaniel couldn’t comprehend it.

Gold standards and the direct convertibility of currencies to gold have been abandoned by world governments, led in 1971 by the United States' refusal to redeem its dollars in gold. Fiat currency now fills most monetary roles. Switzerland was the last country to tie its currency to gold; this was ended by a referendum in 1999.[162]

Things only got weirder. Fiat currency? Kaniel could make out none of it. More sections followed. Yet none could catch Kaniel’s interest as much as the monetary use would. “How can mere metal and paper control a world? Can’t the banks of Earth just make infinite money?”

He felt stupid, as though he was missing something.

In the rest of the article, the only catchy segment was the gold’s use in medicine. If one got ill, they had to go to the priests and pray. Yet on Earth, it seemed, there were other methods to conquer diseases.

Kaniel couldn’t find an easy way to make gold. All in all, his gamble failed miserably. He got tons of useful information, yet none could be of immediate help. Despite being inclined to look up the ‘money’ article, he still reread about gold several times. He now only had a single shot. “Money, fiat currency, bills, certificates, hah… There’s a whole science behind it.”

Something clicked within his mind. He immediately returned to the search bar and typed a specific sequence of letters. A word he had no idea about yet had a hunch for.

Economy (area of the production, distribution and trade, as well as consumption of goods and services)

“This is it!”

The article ‘Economy’ has been downloaded to your devices.

-5 Points