Roland chuckled inwardly at that.
The ancient elves' civilization had been at a tribal level.
Leaving magic aside, how sophisticated could it have been?
Oracle was different.
Leaving magic aside, it had been far more advanced.
Still, such things were difficult to compare, so Roland changed tack. "The manifestation of 'meaning' lies between our minds.
"Mana is inherently a spiritual power. Only by studying and understanding meaning in depth can we bring Oracle magic to its full potential!"
This was, in essence, the magical principle of "Roland reserves the right of final interpretation."
He was extremely sensitive to this point and paid it close attention.
Roland had long since planned the development of the Seris language system: Oracle, Bronze Script, Seal Script, Clerical Script, and Regular Script, following the established path from complexity to simplicity.
Its eventual "deduction" into the simplified Chinese characters used in modern times, with written prose also becoming vernacular Chinese, was entirely foreseeable.
But what would need to be woven into that process, and what form its corresponding magical transformation would take-
Even he had no way of knowing that.
One thing, however, was certain: the richer the soil of history and culture, the firmer the roots, and the more easily it would flourish.
With that in mind, Roland remarked, "So far, my main achievements have been establishing-or transplanting-the system of oracle-bone characters and compiling a dictionary.
"Since our next focus is on constructing oracle inscriptions and record inscriptions, 'deducing' the development of Seris from characters and words into sentences and complete texts, and strengthening its narrative and recordkeeping functions, providing-or transplanting-some new materials will be essential."
"What materials?"
Everyone was rather curious.
This fell within the realm of history and culture.
Roland quietly weighed what he should and should not say.
For example, oracle bone