NOVEL WEB Chapter 4 - The Power of Magitech
Earth. June. 2022. CE.
Even after almost two decades, humanity had barely scratched the surface of what mana and, by extension, magic was capable of. Their slow progress was not entirely their fault, as a certain Eldritch God had done much to both help and hinder humanity's advancement. Even then, Earth had made decent efforts into the world of magic—specifically, magitech, which combined mana, magic, and technology.
Though minute, this progress in magitech was commendable as magitech was an uncommon prospect in the rest of the universe, mainly due to the inhabitants of a planet often discovering mana early on. The discovery of mana would then lead to the discovery of magic, which would be quickly spread across the world. As such, most planets used simple technology and advanced it to incredible extremes by applying mana and magic. Then, the things that couldn’t be done with simple technology were often wholly replaced by other magical means.
So, the decision not to share knowledge was where Earth had taken a different path than the rest of the universe.
Earth and, by extension, humanity's magic users had willingly held back their magical knowledge. As such, Earth had first gone down a much more technological line of evolution. This line was not necessarily bad. In fact, some of the most prosperous planets in the universe that held whole Astral Empires could do so because of magitech.
Due to Earth’s low ambient mana, the usual use of magitech was extended even further as Earth sought to use the mana more efficiently.
These new gadgets were then easily manufactured and spread across the planet, leading to great strides in various fields such as power creation, water treatment, and transportation.
However, out of all the industries, the two largest ones affected by magitech were those dealing with military and household machinery.
The housing industry was affected in a very simple and straightforward manner. All across the globe, housing units gained improved living conditions and reduced prices due to basic needs being met with the very air-filled mana they breathed.
Mana was an excellent replacement for solar, wind, and oil power. Not only was it limitless, but it also posed no threat to the environment.
Now, of course, magitech and some of its flaws eventually came to light. However, these flaws were mainly concerning military offensive measures. Since, as helpful as most magitech gadgets were, they lacked the power to hurt the invading force that were the aberrations.
Humanity had found out in 2012 while still in the early skirmishes against the aliens that none of their bullets had harmed the aberrations to any significant degree. The aberrations had been found dead, sure, but they all had surface wounds from gunfire, and after further investigation, humanity, or at least those in charge, had been able to learn that no vital areas were damaged. It had been as if the creatures were puppets, and their strings had been cut.
Of course, this information never made it to the public due to the Eldritch God's influence and because humanity needed to believe that they could fight back.
It was also around this time that research and development began for genuine magical weapons. So far, humans had been able to infuse their ammunition with mana to some success.
However, thanks to the Eldritch God and old magic users, humanity eventually discovered that not all mana was created equal.
Not only on Earth but also in the rest of the universe, mana could be compressed and refined to higher levels of purity and power. This purity level also played a large part in how mana interacted with reality.
Though other factors could play a part in a magical battle, more often than not, the purity of a creature's mana decided the winner.
So even though humanity's weapons could inflict some damage against magical defenses through sheer raw power, the damage inflicted using these mundane weapons could be made ineffective with enough magical power. As such, new creations were needed.
The best of the new creations was The Shifter Tiger - Four Two Zero.
The new magical firearm would work similarly to how souls functioned. They would pull mana from their surroundings, compress and refine it, and then eject it. Unlike souls, however, the firearms could pull, refine, and release mana without worrying about hurting a creature's body by channeling purer mana than the body could handle.
The Shifter Tiger was an incredibly advanced firearm capable of changing into multiple forms, allowing for ease of use in several combat styles. The firearm consisted of a small dark steel blue cube that could be transformed into four states, with some states having slight variations.
Out of the four states, the Shifter Tiger’s fourth form was also its second strongest and took the shape of a long-barreled sniper rifle. The structure itself did not grant the gun any advantages and was only there to provide a sense of similarity for the wielder.
What made the fourth form so powerful were the runes which came assimilated with it. This form was all about range and piercing power. This fourth form was only seen very late in the war and right before the downfall of the large industrial empire created to fuel humanity's war effort. As such, the sniper rifle form was rare and came with a newly discovered aspect of mana.
Humanity had learned that with specific runes, mana could be given a concept or intent that would massively increase the power of magical effects that were also similar to this concept.
For example, imbuing magical projectiles with the concept of piercing and stability, even to a minuscule degree, could bring a projectile's power to new heights.
The concept of stability granted magical projectiles much more solidity, allowing them to travel greater distances without slowly fading into the ambient mana. Meanwhile, piercing allowed projectiles to penetrate through magical shields more easily and without diluting themselves before striking their intended target.
These small breakthroughs for humanity were only small examples of what mana could accomplish and were only the surface of what the rest of the universe had long gained access to. So, it went without saying that the concepts and intent could have taken humanity's weaponry to untold heights of power.
Sadly, humanity was not in control of its own fate, and the Eldritch God promptly shut down the entire operation. The god did not want humanity to get to a point where they could actually pose a threat.
However, it was already too late; the damage had already been done, and thanks to the god's hubris, the sniper rifle form had been used to eliminate countless aberrations across Earth.
Even now, in the last days of humanity, aberrations, much like the one currently in the crosshairs of Tesilim’s scope, were being eliminated by the Shifter Tiger - Four Two Zero.
After spending the night in the abandoned house, Tesilim had set off into the world. He had spent around two days leisurely enjoying life, hoping the Earth would finally be destroyed.
Unluckily, it wasn’t, and he had once again begun running short on supplies.
Then, after coming across a few empty houses, he got desperate and searched for any physical maps in the last place he looted.
Luckily, the place had once belonged to some older folks who had left behind an Atlas from before the war. Using the Atlas, Tesilim had quickly made his way to a small nearby town in the hopes of resupplying.
However, after making it to the outer edge of the town, Tesilim had heard the low buzz of magical bullets being discharged. He had known it was dangerous to enter the town, but curiosity had gotten the best of him, and if it had been humans under attack, he couldn’t just abandon them. At the very least, Tesilim had decided to scout the area and figure out what was happening.
Fast forward 30 minutes later, and Tesilim found himself on the roof of a two-story building with his Shifter Tiger set to sniper form.
It turned out that humans had been under attack, and a full brawl had broken out at the center of town.
From what Tesilim gathered from his long-range scouting, the humans were a mix of armed civilians and a couple of Warlock soldiers, if their uniform were to be believed. The humans were under attack by what had to be a whole aberration hunting party.
Much like other hunting parties Tesilim had seen, this one was led by a humanoid aberration that was apparently called an Octopien. These aberrations had a head that highly resembled an octopus without eyes and contained tentacles where a human's chin area would be. Their head then connected to a humanoid torso, which led to two arms that, much like their head, contained a multitude of tentacles that replaced their hands. Their legs also split into three larger tentacles where the knees would typically be for humans. The body was also smooth and did not have any of the body parts or features humans had. Tesilim noted that this particular octopien had dark purple and pinkish skin, which was a new color combination as far as the aberrations he had seen went.
Watching the fight, Tesilim could tell the battle was going poorly for the humans as the octopien freely floated above the battlefield, easily giving commands to the rest of the aberrations on the ground. Luckily, the thing was distracted and had yet to detect Tesilim.
The issue, however, was that Tesilim's sniper rifle was not enough to break through the octopien's shield. As such, Tesilim hoped that the warlocks had yet to unleash their full powers, which would undoubtedly cause the octopien some strain and allow Tesilim to take it out of the playing field.
Just as he finished the thought, Tesilim was delighted to be surprised by a pulse of deep crimson energy erupting from the town center.
The crimson pulse was then followed by two other pulses, one light blue and the other bright pink.
Then, as Tesilim watched, a figure with black spectral horns and deep crimson wings shot upwards, slamming into the octopien. The two were then engulfed in crimson energy.
Following the crimson blast, Tesilim’s attention shifted back down towards the town center. There, he could see the remnants of pink and blue energy blasts as they dispersed above the buildings. Then, only a few seconds later, he felt the faint sensations of heat and coldness carried outward in a wave of sparkling dust.