"Politics?" Patrick seemed puzzled. "I might have thought about it in the past, but now... Standing on the shoulders of the Umbrella Corporation, a bit of power can hardly attract me anymore."
"Or are you planning to kick me out?" Patrick half-joked, half-worried.
"You're thinking too much." Murphy chuckled. "With the current scale of the Umbrella, isn't it easy to find a position for you to retire in?"
"However, Umbrella is now on the right track and doesn't need our constant supervision. I want you to help me with something more important."
Patrick vaguely understood, "Just tell me, what do you want me to do?"
"I want to bring the world into the era of magic technology," Murphy said.
Without his intervention, this period would have been the dawn of the internet, with the world entering the information age over the next thirty-plus years.
But compared to information technology, magic undoubtedly brings a greater leap in productivity.
To pave the way for the fusion of science and magic, he must introduce magic to the Muggle world.
Patrick nodded, "Like in the Magical Research Institute? You want to bring it into the open?"
"Sooner or later, it has to be brought out into the open. Keeping it hidden isn't a solution. The development of magical technology needs the participation of the entire society."
"But you worry the process might get out of control, and you want to oversee it," Patrick understood. "So, you need political power."
It's simple to speak with a smart person. Murphy nodded, "There aren't many people I can fully trust. I want you to help me with this."
Murphy was eager to expedite the fusion of science and magic.
Without considering the consequences, he could simply reveal the existence of magic and wizards. This way, as long as he could withstand the backlash from the wizarding world, Muggle societies worldwide wouldn't miss out on researching magic, and the fusion of science and magic would naturally occur.
But in that scenario, he couldn't control the subsequent developments, losing the initiative. The world would indeed move towards the fusion of science and magic, but he would struggle to reap the benefits.
To steadily harvest the outcomes, he must firmly hold the control of the fusion process in his own hands.
The construction of the national magic laboratory in the Soviet Union also needed to be as secretive as possible, limiting the knowledge to a controlled circle, and he hoped the magical governments of various countries would clean up after him.
Patrick pondered for a while, "You're not planning to have me run for election, are you?"
"Let's try it. It might take a long time," Murphy said. "You're with the Conservative Party, right?"
The general election had concluded in April, with MPs and the Prime Minister's positions already determined. If Patrick were to prepare for the election process now, he would have to wait at least five years for that most important position.
But without going through the election process, controlling the British government would indeed be troublesome.
Due to the differences between the two major parties and the existence of the parliament, the Prime Minister's power in Britain is significantly limited by their own party. Without absolute support within their own party, it's hard to secure the Prime Minister's position.
This means controlling the country would at least require control over the Prime Minister and hundreds of members of the governing party in the House of Commons. Even with magic, accomplishing this during peacetime would take a lot of time and effort.
This is why Murphy preferred to take risks with the Soviet Union.
"This can't be rushed. You might need to spend a year or two to get into the House of Commons, then another year or two to get into the cabinet..."
This speed is under the support of vast amounts of money and magic.
British elections are indirect, making it impossible for a complete outsider to rise to power. Even if Murphy could control the Prime Minister through magic temporarily, it could be quickly undone by a vote of no confidence in the parliament. Attempting dictatorship in Britain is incredibly difficult.
However, the path to the fusion of science and magic isn't a short-term project. Murphy was prepared for a long-term struggle.
Considering Patrick for politics was a precautionary measure, perhaps providing an opportunity later on.
...
In July, Murphy drafted new regulations for the Ministry of Magic, forming employment agreements with a Fidelius Charm embedded, and had all levels of Ministry officials re-sign them.
These agreements' Fidelius Charm included a communication backdoor, allowing Murphy to monitor the individuals' actions if necessary. However, usually, this backdoor remained closed.
Handling too much information would be overwhelming if all these Fidelius Charms were active.
In fact, even excluding the Ministry officials, the number of Fidelius Charms he had issued was already too many.
Firstly, the "Anti-Cancer Virus" training program had nearly two thousand Fidelius Charms with interfaces, optimized for transmitting text information of about a hundred words at a time. Despite the reduced information volume, the sheer number required some of his attention daily.
Secondly, the "Anti-Aging Virus" used to control Soviet officials mostly remained in standby, with Murphy only needing to send a destructive command if any official stepped out of line.
Unfortunately, due to political differences, such measures in the Soviet Union were hard to replicate in Britain, or else Murphy wouldn't need to go through the hassle of getting Patrick into politics.
Once the national magic laboratory project starts, he will need to issue many more Fidelius Charms, and managing this network will become a pressing issue.
The Fidelius Charm network disregards spatial distance, allowing instantaneous communication with any member, filling the gap of the current world's lack of instant communication tools.
Its confidentiality is excellent, making it ideal for intelligence work.
Lastly, it's a secure control method. As long as a Fidelius Charm is planted, he needn't worry about betrayal from his subordinates.
However, expanding the Fidelius Charm network faces two challenges: computational power and bandwidth. To oversee the entire network, Murphy must be at its center, requiring significant computational support.
Now, the Anti-Cancer Virus training task is nearly at his daily processing limit. To scale further, he needs to find ways to increase his computational power.
For bandwidth, while the Fidelius Charm can transmit various types of information, including voice and visual, text remains the least demanding. To monitor other sensory information in real-time via the network requires greater transmission bandwidth.
Nonetheless, Murphy's approach has always been to use what's available while searching for better solutions. These issues need gradual resolution, but that doesn't mean the Fidelius Charm network can't be utilized in the meantime.
By the end of July, several of Murphy's key members, including Patrick, Rasim, Winston, Barty Crouch, Lucius, the Wood siblings, Barty Crouch Jr., Boris, and the werewolf mercenary Radovan, had all signed a special magical agreement to join Murphy's core member network: The Raven Council.
In August, the Soviet national laboratory project officially kicked off.
The Soviet military fully took on the task, beginning the search for leading scientists to oversee the plan.
Simultaneously, to address the need for wizarding personnel for the magical experiments, Murphy sent a letter to the Queen in Arkaim.
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