“What science requires is whether something can be measured, whether it can be reproduced, and whether it can be explained clearly. Only when all of those are present can a theory even begin to be discussed. What must not be misunderstood is that this merely makes discussion possible—it does not mean it has been proven correct. To prove it, every element would have to be fully explained!”
Asahi spoke like that while pacing back and forth across the lectern.
“Well, what I’m trying to say is that this is still only at the hypothesis stage, so please take it with a grain of salt! The reproducibility is fairly high, though, so it does make for useful judgment material.”
“Now then,” Asahi said, clapping her hands lightly.
At the same time, the contents displayed on the projection screen switched.
“The mysterious power used in this world. For now, we call it magic! We possess highly advanced scientific knowledge, and yet it still cannot explain these mysterious phenomena!”
What appeared on the screen was a schematic diagram of some enormous piece of equipment.
“We travel between the stars, terraform planets, devour stars, and even draw energy from the vacuum itself. Our science and technology make all of that possible. Well, we can’t reproduce any of it at all right now because of the resource shortage. But at the very least, we possess the theory. Given enough time, we could probably even manufacture warp gates.”
“But,” Asahi continued,
“unfortunately, even using all that knowledge, we still have not been able to analyze the phenomenon called magic as it is used on this planet. Even so, giving up on understanding it would be unbearable for us, children of science that we are. So Asahi is always thinking!!”
Big Sis listened silently to Asahi’s grand introduction.
She felt like a father watching over his child’s school presentation.
A father. Definitely a father.
“Now then, our research material was limited, but we had plenty of time. So first, we observed the phenomenon called magic by obtaining the cooperation of the soldiers originally stationed in Telek Port City—the ones called magic warriors.”
“Sounds like you were causing them quite a bit of trouble.”
“Big Sis, please don’t tease me! And we paid them properly! That was <Ringo>’s arrangement, by the way!”
Glancing sidelong at <Ringo>, who nodded in confirmation, Eve shrugged.
“We observed the magic they use. Specifically, for about one year. We’re still continuing now, of course, but we’ve gathered a decent amount of information, so I’ll present it all together!”
Asahi switched the display again.
What appeared was likely a report on the magic they had been observing all this time.
“I reported a little of this before, so let’s review!
“First, the magic they use is only one thing, called a fireball. Basically, it’s an attack that launches a mass of flame to inflict heat and an explosion.
“The number of times it can be used ~Nоvеl𝕚ght~ is mostly fixed, though there are individual differences. However, the number of uses recovers over time.
“By continuing to keep records, we found that the number of uses rises and falls under various conditions. For example, if somebody is in poor physical condition, the number goes down. Things like that.”
The magic called fireball used by magic warriors was a highly versatile spell that could basically be used without restriction aside from its usage limit. Its maximum number of uses was fixed, and it did not continue increasing without limit just by waiting long enough.
“In other words, maximum MP is fixed, and the MP consumed by a fireball is also fixed. That’s what it means.”
“You’re stating that pretty decisively.”
“That’s the standard understanding in this world! And the important point is that even with the same fireball, the phenomenon varies slightly from person to person. Like I said before, we’ve learned that the caster’s mental image seems to have a major effect on how magic manifests.”
Asahi had various people watch images and listen to explanations to make multiple casters form the same mental image. As a result, the fireball phenomenon and its power stabilized, and the number of uses also increased.
“In other words, magic is all about image! If you think you can do it, you can, and if you think you can’t, you can’t! And if you believe you can do it, it manifests while ignoring physical phenomena!”
“When you put it that way, it starts sounding so all-powerful it’s kind of terrifying.”
“Ah, don’t worry, Big Sis! There does seem to be an upper limit to what can be done! It also ties into the usage limit for fireballs, but if the phenomenon you’re trying to create is too vague or too outlandish, it apparently won’t even activate in the first place!”
It seemed Asahi had done quite a bit of trial and error—or had others do it—trying to see whether magic other than fireballs could be used. As a result, they had succeeded in producing water and creating gusts of wind.
“For example, we tried seeing whether we could fire water at ultra-high speed and turn it into a water cutter, but maybe the image was bad, because the moment it launched just a little, the caster collapsed on the spot!”
“We did provide care afterward, so please rest assured.”
“It seems like if the image is fuzzy, MP consumption goes up... Oh, is MP okay? That’s what I’ve been calling it because it’s easier to write.”
“Well, sure. It’s easy to understand.”
Whatever was consumed when magic was used, they were calling it MP. Unfortunately, they still could not quantify it, so no concrete numerical values could yet be given.
“If there’s enough MP, it activates, and if there isn’t, it doesn’t. And once we had them understand the theory, the water cutter started activating properly too! Isn’t that interesting?”
Magic was unreasonable, but it seemed that systematizing it made the resulting phenomena more stable.
“Oh, and that man with the Charm Eye from before! We’ve been continuing research on him properly too!”
He was the mysterious operative abducted in the Kingdom of Lepuitari.
At one point he had gotten dragged into a horror-show turn of events, but apparently he was now living in Telek Port City as a cooperating assistant, spending his days helping with magic experiments.
Eve had not been interested, so she had completely forgotten about him.
“In the end, that power is just a simple kind of magic that raises the target’s favorability toward the user, provided the user is consciously targeting that person. The number of activations also recovers over time, and in terms of usability it’s similar to fireball. However, the increased favorability seems to return to normal over time.”
“Huh. So that’s why <Ringo>’s information got rewritten. I don’t really understand this whole favorability increasing thing, but the fact that it can affect AI too is scary...”
“Yes! We tried all kinds of things, and basically the part affected was the Brain Unit! Electronic-circuit memory and magnetic storage devices were not rewritten! But it did react to optical circuits reproducing neural networks, so there’s a high probability it affects synaptic connections!”
It was still unclear how the scope of magic’s effect was being determined—or what was doing the determining in the first place—but it did seem certain that some kind of will was involved.
“In my view, at least for now, the user’s will seems to carry the greatest weight! However, in cases like the Charm Eye that affect the mind, the target’s own will also seems to be involved!”
“Will... that’s vague again. Though, well, I guess that’s exactly why you’re having such a hard time analyzing it...”
“If the target’s will is strong, it seems to consume a corresponding amount of MP too!”
Apparently, if it was activated against someone who clearly hated the user, it could fail—or even increase the target’s disgust. Also, when it had affected <Ringo>, it was assumed the effect had been limited because <Ringo>’s scale of cognition was simply too vast.
“So, from everything up to this point, we’ve learned that using magic apparently requires will. The process by which magic reacts to will and activates is still unknown, but even just learning that there seems to be some degree of lawfulness to it is a valuable result!”
