Chương 65: Bonus Story : The Kingdom's Phone : Part 4 : The Camera

"So, do you think you've discovered everything the camera can do?" Emma asked.

"It allows you to preserve a place, a face, or a moment so that it will never disappear from memory."

"That's true... but it can do even more."

"Even more?" Emma reopened the Camera app and swiped across the screen until she reached another option. This time, a single word appeared at the bottom of the display.

"Video."

"What's the difference?" Emma pointed the phone toward the street. The image on the screen looked exactly like the one they had just used to take photographs. Cars drove by, pedestrians crossed the intersection, and a few birds flew between the buildings.

"I don't notice any difference." She pressed a red button. A small timer immediately appeared in the corner of the screen. Emma filmed the street for several seconds. A car passed in front of them before disappearing around the corner. Two children ran after a ball as they crossed the street. An elderly woman walked her dog while a cyclist weaved between the cars waiting at the traffic light. Above them, several pigeons took flight with a flutter of wings.

After a few moments, Emma pressed the red button again and handed the phone to Aldric.

"Take a look." The knight took the device. At first, he thought he was looking at nothing more than a photograph. Then, without him touching anything, the car began moving again. The children resumed their chase. The pigeons took flight once more. The pedestrians continued walking as though nothing had ever stopped. Voices emerged from the phone. He could hear distant conversations, the sound of engines, footsteps on the sidewalk, and even the wind blowing between the buildings.

When the video reached its end, the image froze. Silence returned. Aldric slowly lifted his eyes toward the real street. The cars were still moving before him. The pedestrians continued on their way. Then he looked back at the phone and replayed the video. The same people repeated exactly the same movements. The same birds took flight at the same moment. The same voices echoed with the same intonation. Nothing had changed.

"They are still alive inside it."

"No. It's only a recording."

"And yet they move. They speak. I can even hear the wind."

"Unlike a photograph, a video records images continuously. It also preserves every sound. When you watch it, the phone reproduces everything that happened while you were filming."

"In my kingdom, chroniclers described battles so that future generations could imagine them. Bards recounted the deeds of heroes, but each one added or forgot certain details. Even those who witnessed an event eventually remembered it differently. Here... no one needs to imagine anymore. They only need to watch." The knight played the video one last time before handing the phone back to Emma.

"A photograph captures a single moment. But this... this is no longer an image. It is a living memory."

"So you think a video simply records what happens?"

"Is that not its purpose?"

"Not entirely." Emma placed two fingers on the screen and spread them apart. The image immediately zoomed in. A car driving in the distance now filled almost the entire display. They could make out the driver, the reflection of the surrounding buildings on the windshield, and even the license plate. Then she pinched the screen, and the street returned to its normal size.

"This feature is called zoom. I already showed it to you with photos."

"It is similar to a spyglass. Except that a spyglass cannot preserve what it sees. This artifact observes, remembers, and reproduces. That is a considerable difference."

"Now, take a look at this one." She asked Aldric to extend one of his arms in front of him, then started recording. After a few seconds, she stopped the video and showed him the result. The movement appeared astonishingly slow. Every joint in his arm became visible. His fingers curled gradually, the muscles of his forearm contracted one after another, and the folds of his sleeve shifted ever so slightly.

"Why did I move so slowly?"

"You didn't slow down. The camera simply recorded far more images than usual, then played them back at a slower speed."

"Extraordinary..." he murmured.

"At normal speed, the human eye is incapable of distinguishing all of this. If two master swordsmen fought a duel and it were recorded in this way, it would become possible to study every attack afterward. Every parry. Every mistake. Every hesitation. We could understand precisely why one guard failed, why a feint succeeded, or why a blade arrived a fraction of a second too late. No instructor in my world has ever possessed such a tool." She swiped to another option.

"And there's the opposite as well." Emma filmed the street for about twenty seconds before playing the video back. This time, the cars seemed to race by at incredible speed. The pedestrians almost appeared to be running, the clouds swept rapidly across the sky, and the shadows slid over the building facades as though several minutes were passing in only a few seconds.

"Time has been accelerated."

"The video is simply being played much faster."

"So you can slow time... or create the illusion that it is passing more quickly. That would make it possible to observe phenomena that normally go unnoticed." Emma then selected another feature before slowly turning in a full circle with the phone held out in front of her. A few moments later, she showed the result to Aldric. The entire square appeared in a single image. The buildings, café terraces, trees, and even the streets behind them formed one continuous landscape.

"This is called a panorama."

"And yet we can see what was behind you. A cartographer would dream of possessing such an artifact. He could reproduce an entire city with a level of accuracy impossible to achieve by hand." Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings. Emma burst out laughing.

"You always find a new purpose for every one of these features." She finished with one final demonstration. As she walked along the sidewalk, she filmed the path ahead of her. Despite every step she took, the video remained perfectly steady.

"And yet you're walking. Why does the image stay so stable?"

"The phone corrects the movement of my hand so the video is smoother to watch." Emma closed the app before looking toward the park stretching out before them. A large lawn occupied its center, bordered by trees and gravel paths. At that hour of the day, several families were still enjoying the sunshine while a few joggers finished their run.

"I'd like to try something. Would you mind demonstrating a few sword techniques?"

"Here?"

"Yes. Just a few movements. I'd like to film you." Aldric looked around. The area was spacious enough that he wouldn't disturb anyone.

"Very well." He unslung his sword from his back. Several pedestrians slowed their pace. Some thought they were about to witness a medieval demonstration, while others had already taken out their phones. Emma, meanwhile, switched to video mode and pointed the camera at Aldric.

"You can begin whenever you're ready." The knight closed his eyes for a brief moment. When he opened them again, he drew his sword. The blade traced a graceful arc before flowing into a series of guards. His feet glided across the grass while the tip of his weapon never stopped controlling an invisible opponent. After about thirty seconds, Aldric brought his sword back in front of him before sheathing it. A few passersby applauded before continuing on their way. Emma stopped the recording.

"That was magnificent."

"Thank you. May I see the result?" Aldric played the video. Throughout the entire recording, he didn't say a single word. He studied every movement. When the video reached its end, he immediately replayed it. Then a third time. Emma noticed that his gaze was no longer following the demonstration as a whole. Instead, it shifted from his footwork to the position of his shoulders, the angle of his blade, and the movement of his free hand.

"I see. My fourth step is too long." He scrubbed through the video until he reached the moment in question.

"Here."

"I don't see anything."

"My front foot advances a few centimeters too far. If my opponent had stepped forward at that exact moment, I would have lost part of my balance." Aldric continued playing the video.

"And here." He paused it once again.

"I lower the tip of my sword before changing guards. The movement is almost imperceptible, but it briefly leaves my upper line exposed."

"I never would have noticed that." Aldric played the video again.

"My left shoulder rises as I execute this turn. I am therefore wasting a small amount of energy. My final step could also be quieter. And finally... my eyes briefly leave my opponent's chest to follow my own blade. That is a bad habit."

"You're much too hard on yourself."

"It is precisely because I can still improve."

"For my entire life, I trained by relying on my own instincts and the observations of my instructors. Even the greatest masters could observe only one angle at a time. They sometimes overlooked certain details. Their memories were never perfect. Today... I can finally watch myself fight." The knight handed the phone back to Emma.

"This artifact is far more valuable than I ever imagined." Emma smiled.

"Because of the video?"

"Many people use it to preserve memories. Others use it for entertainment. But in the hands of a true master... this object would become a teacher of immeasurable value." Emma and Aldric continued their walk before sitting down on a bench beneath the shade of several large trees.

"So far, you've mostly used the features that are already built into your phone. But there's something far greater."

"Greater than the artifact itself?"

"Yes. Much greater." She opened a web browser and pointed to the search bar at the top of the screen.

"Here, you can type in anything you want to search for."

"Search where?"

"Imagine the greatest library you've ever visited."

"The Royal Library of Valoria. It occupied four floors. Hundreds of scribes worked there. Thousands of manuscripts were preserved within its walls. Scholars sometimes crossed several kingdoms just to consult a single volume."

"Now imagine a library infinitely larger. A library containing almost all of the world's knowledge. Books, maps, illustrations, research, photographs, newspapers... and one that continues to grow every single day."

"Such a library would require centuries to build."

"Not here." Emma placed her finger on the keyboard and typed two words: Eiffel Tower Then she launched the search. Dozens of photographs appeared. Articles. Maps. Diagrams. Dates. Videos. Hundreds of titles were already scrolling before their eyes, and they hadn't even reached the middle of the page.

"Look." Aldric scrolled down the page. A photograph of the Eiffel Tower occupied the top of the screen. Beneath it were its height, its date of construction, its exact location, followed by several paragraphs recounting its history. Farther down appeared more photographs taken at night, in the snow, from the sky, and from the summit. Then came detailed diagrams, illustrations, technical explanations, historical anecdotes, and new links that seemed to lead to yet more sources. He kept scrolling.

The page appeared endless.

"So there are this many works devoted to a single building..." Emma pointed to the top of the page, where the number of search results was displayed.

"And that's only a tiny fraction of them."

"It's enormous..." Each new link seemed to lead to another text, and then another. Some described the construction of the tower. Others explained its architecture. Still others provided practical information for visitors.

"Who writes all of these works?" he asked.

"Historians, journalists, engineers, professors, museums, and sometimes even ordinary enthusiasts."

"So all of them can contribute to this library? And their writings become accessible to everyone else."

"Exactly." In his former world, copying a single book could take months. The most valuable works existed in only a handful of copies, and scholars spent much of their lives traveling from one library to another to consult different manuscripts. Here, it took only a few words for thousands of texts to appear.

"Does this library contain only information about famous places?"

"No. The Eiffel Tower was just one example. You can search for anything you want."

"Any subject?"

"Give me one."

"Cooking." Emma typed: How to make a quiche Lorraine. A new page appeared. Several recipes were already displayed, complete with photographs, ingredient lists, and detailed instructions. Some videos even demonstrated each step of the preparation.

"If someone has never cooked before," Emma explained, "they can simply follow the instructions one by one."

"The quantities are specified. The cooking time as well. Even a beginner could succeed."

"That's the idea." Emma cleared the search.

"Your turn."

"History." She typed: French Revolution. Timelines appeared, along with maps, portraits, articles, and historical documents. Some websites even offered interactive timelines that followed the events year by year.

"The events are organized. The causes are explained. The consequences as well."

"Historians do love explaining everything."

"It allows someone to understand a kingdom without ever having lived there." She cleared the search once again.

"Go on." This time, Aldric looked up at the sky before answering.

"The stars." Emma typed: Solar System. Illustrations showed the planets, their sizes, their distances from the Sun, and their orbits. Several animations even demonstrated their rotation.

"So the people of this world know the positions of the heavenly bodies. They know which ones orbit their sun. And they can show this to anyone."

"Even to a child," Emma replied. In his kingdom, only a handful of astronomers devoted their entire lives to studying the sky. Here, a few seconds were enough to access part of their knowledge.

"One last one." « Animals." She typed: Gray wolf. Dozens of photographs filled the screen. Its size, diet, behavior, habitat, and even its tracks were all explained. Several videos showed a pack running through the snow or raising its pups.

"So a man can learn to recognize an animal without ever having encountered one. He can even understand its behavior before setting foot in the forest. In my world, every field of knowledge had its own keeper. Cooks trained their apprentices in castle kitchens. Historians copied their chronicles in libraries. Astronomers studied the sky from the highest towers. Hunters passed down their experience to their children. Each safeguarded their own discipline and taught it only to those who had earned the right."

He lowered his eyes to his phone.

"Here... all of that has been gathered into one place. A young man who wishes to learn how to cook no longer needs to find a master. One who wants to understand history no longer has to travel across several kingdoms in search of a library. Someone interested in the stars can begin learning without ever meeting an astronomer. Even traveling is no longer essential to discovering the world."

"Travel is still irreplaceable," Emma said.

"I do not doubt that. Nothing will ever replace experience. But the one who sets out to travel already possesses the knowledge needed to understand what he discovers." He looked down at his phone once more.

"I understand now why so many people look at their phones every day."