9. Idea Development Tools

"Alright, next up—let's test out the Idea skill," Shiro said, fired up.

He couldn’t hide his excitement. This was the moment to check his main skill.

To every programmer, a development tool is the most essential instrument.

Just like an instrument to a musician, or paint and brush to an artist. That’s the same relationship.

It’s how well you can wield these tools that defines your skill.

Incidentally, “Idea” means IDEAS—Integrated Development Environment for Architect, or in plain terms, a development environment tailored for designers and architects.

"To activate 【Idea】, you need to visualize a room using mana manipulation," Mitoka said.

"Huh. So, imagining the workspace of a VR drawing app, is it?"

Shiro thought that, shaped a four-meter cube of space around himself with mana, and chanted, 【Idea】.

At that instant, the world before his eyes shifted to a faint hue, and every object appeared overlaid with wireframe polygons—like a 3D model in a wireframe view.

"What the hell is this?!" Shiro exclaimed, stunned.

"While 【Idea】 is active, time in the world stops. And you can perceive entity objects directly."

"Like pausing an app. So the whole world’s being treated like a single application?"

"Seems so. It feels strange when you actually see it."

In software development, when you’re building a VR application, the developer exists outside the VR environment. During debugging, the VR world is paused—so this state makes perfect sense.

"Still, from the standpoint of actually being in this world, is something like this even possible?"

Shiro muttered, a slightly uneasy expression on his face.

"But if you attack while in this state, you’re basically unstoppable, right?"

"Shiro, in this state, you can't interfere with the world. Your external capabilities are limited to certain inspection skills."

"Huh. Makes sense. Otherwise, it'd be chaos," Shiro said, nodding in agreement.

"Right now, the commands you can use at your current skill level are: [Inspection], [Trace], [Modeling], [Script Management], and [Library Management]."

Mitoka counted them off on her fingers, listing each command.

"Oh—wait, is this... that thing?" Shiro grinned.

"Yes, exactly that!" Mitoka replied, beaming with delight.

The two of them had somehow slipped into a couple's banter, but these commands were identical to the tools Shiro had been developing himself.

[Inspection] lets you access detailed scene graph data from the visible world. Select a target with your viewpoint or pointer, and you can verify entity information—similar to conventional [Identification] or [Analysis] skills.

[Trace] records the manifestation process of magic or skills (hence "trace"), allowing you to examine their full details.

[Modeling] is the 3D modeling function, akin to computer graphics—create a 3D model of any shape you desire.

[Script Management] works with [Trace] to register and manage magic or skills. In effect, you can create any skill you want.

[Library Management] combines with [Trace] and [Script Management] to handle shared steps and resources in skill creation—equivalent to managing class libraries in software development, or handling icons, images, models, and other assets.

"Shiro, unlike VR implementation on Earth, here in this world, thought and mental imagery are leveraged to their maximum extent. So, most tools can be operated simply by thinking about them," Mitoka explained.

Upon hearing that, Shiro decides to try using 【Inspection】. In his vision, a red laser-pointer-like cursor appears.

"Ooh, viewpoint pointer? Nah, probably not just a target point—more like a combo of gaze and thought?"

Shiro mentally focused on 【Details】 as he moved the pointer and looked down at the ground, whereupon a popup-window-like interface appeared, displaying detailed information.

Name: Summoning Cathedral of the Sacred Domain

Note: A massive stone slab, reinforced by magic.

[Physical][Composition]

"Damn, this is handy. Can't I use this as鉴定 without going through an Idea Skill?"

Yes, it works now. My magic manipulation level’s increased—should be usable. Try it later.

Good job! Shiro said, pleased.

[Physics] reveals the object's size, mass, temperature, coordinates, and other physical measurements. [Composition] details the actual material components of the substance.

Shiro scans the surroundings for anything worth examining. Not that there's much to find up here in this temple, though.

Shiro murmurs, "Trace next," and a glowing wireframe cube, about one meter on each side, appears ahead of him.

By using a magic spell to materialize water within that framework, you can trace the spell’s execution.

When Shiro activated his magic, a block-like structure connected to the left side of the wireframe appeared.

Each block represents a step in magic, showing the processing performed before manifestation.

"Yeah, just as I expected," Shiro said, nodding with satisfaction.

This block—call it a 3D flowchart if you like—could be named, saved, and recalled anytime. Meaning, the sequence of magic could be registered as a new skill.

That management system was called 【Script Management】. And from 【Library Management】, reusable scripts, pre-prepared scripts, and scripts for API access could all be referenced.

"Yeah, there's quite a few registered in the library," Shiro said, glancing over the list with a hint of surprise.

"Lower-tier spirit magic spells are registered," Mitoka said.

Ah, right, Shiro thought. I'll examine this more closely later.

Finally, he thought, it's 【Modeling】. "Modeling," Shiro chanted the command.

Immediately, a grid and coordinate axes appeared before him.

"No tool selection screen? That's odd."

"Shiro, modeling tools require thought-image manipulation as a foundation. Everything is controlled just by thinking."

Shiro, for now, just imagined a shape and began manipulating it—reshaping, scaling, adjusting—until he'd modeled a cup.

"Being able to use thought as an interface is really something," Shiro marveled.

In the VR system he'd designed, basic interaction was assumed to be through touch controllers. More buttons than early VR systems, yes—but still nowhere near matching thought-based control.

Mouse and keyboard? At best, 10-point control. Direct touch? About the same. Touch controllers offered six points plus eight axes—12 points, 16 axes with both hands, maybe a few more if body motion was factored in. But with this modeling tool, thought-image manipulation allowed around 100-point simultaneous control, smooth as silk.

"Shiro, your mind can also function as a UI module. Specifically, your built-in 3D visual display, 2D screen output, and audio. Plus, there's —that's information retrieval, like recalling something—and , which is data output through visualization, like conjuring an image," Mitoka explained in greater detail.

"Can the 3D visual display from the Modeler and the imagined image from thought be converted into each other?"

"Yes, it's possible."

"So that means the theory holds—'imagination' as a mental activity is implemented as a local scene graph," Shiro mused.

"Yes, exactly."

Having now actually used the development tool and felt the architecture, design, and implementation of Filidia's world system becoming real, Shiro began to feel a surge of excitement.

"This is incredible!" he blurted out, throwing up a victory pose.

Finally, after so long, he was seeing his designed world materialize before his eyes, and truly grasping the power of the thought interface—this overwhelming sense of possibility was impossible to hide.

"Shiro, I understand your excitement, but we should probably figure out how to spend the rest of today and tonight, or the night might turn out painfully dull," Mitoka gently cautioned.

"...Yeah, you're right."

Ah, okay, calm down, Shiro thought, taking a deep breath.

"Anyway, let's save the mug model for now," he said, regaining composure and continuing his work with quiet focus.

And then, with the main model—the crafted mug—still active, Shiro executed 【Materialization】. Material: silicon dioxide, solid, surface undergoing glass phase transition. Willpower required: 140—high, but manageable. He chanted the incantation. As the model glowed, a smooth, translucent stone cup formed in midair.

"Whoa, a cup!"

Next, he generated water atop the cup using 【Materialization】 and took a sip.

"Yep, tastes perfectly normal."

Shiro relaxed. At least water wasn't a problem anymore.

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