NOVEL WEB Chapter 16: 7. Elf (1)
What is Mana?
Dragons, Beastmen, Humans, Elves, Gnomes, and Dwarves will all give a unified answer.
— The divine grace granted by the Mother Goddess, the omnipotent power that circulates throughout the world.
Descriptions may vary slightly, but the meaning remains the same. The inhabitants of[this world] perceive Mana as naturally and simply as breathing.
Li Lin hails from a different world—Gaia(Earth), a distant land untouched by griffins, dragons, airships, and magical spells. His perception of Mana is far from the simplicity of the natives.
After a month of observation using his homeland's unique civilian magic[science], Li Lin came up with a definition for[Mana], the specialty of the Welt world.
Strange virtual particles (Note 1) — Mana.
From the perspectives of quantum physics or microphysics, the existence of such virtual particles is impossible. However, just as dark matter or gravitons are elusive on Earth, it does not mean these unknown particles do not exist. In this world, [inexplicable miracles] appear before the foreigner as reality.
By integrating the observational data provided by nanomachine feedback, Li Lin summarized the characteristics of Mana and deduced the principles and mechanisms of magic.
One of the characteristics of virtual particles—Mana, is their susceptibility to biological brain waves, specifically the intermediate α-waves, causing a reactive response.
The inhabitants of the Welt world observe this phenomenon as Mana giving shape to the things they see with their eyes, hear with their ears, smell with their noses, sense the heat, detect the electric field or touch with their skin.
As a medium, Mana itself has no attributes like earth, water, wind, or fire, but it can change into any needed attribute under the strong will of a human.
The so-called magic is utilizing this characteristic, activating Mana by injecting the highly concentrated mental willpower of words, also known as[spells]. These code-like constructs generate a specific[circuit], creating phenomena like[Light] and[Fireball]. The role of words is merely a conversion connector for focusing mental willpower—brain waves and Mana are the true driving forces. [Magic circles] construct larger-scale Mana circuits to amplify, block, or focus effects, thereby magnifying the phenomena.
So far, Li Lin has not encountered any human magicians of this world. However, there are Mana-manipulating dragons like Nidhogg nearby. Comparisons with the surrounding humans have proven that the metric for one's Mana-using ability is the intensity of their intermediate α-waves.
With this conclusion, Li Lin began to devise his own way to manipulate Mana.
As a military artificial life form (AL), Li Lin's bioengineered humanoid form possesses an intermediate α-wave frequency much higher than that of ordinary people. During the enhancement phase, his computational thinking was boosted to coordinate with AI, nanomachines, and the Fallback Furnace, further refining his brain wave field's activity. By the time he reached the Welt world in his development process, his ability to manipulate Mana was far beyond any native race's reach.
During the Ratatostk Valley incident, Li Lin used a[Charged Particle Cannon (Note 2)] with a firepower output exceeding its rated capacity, drawing his attention. After rechecking data, he discovered that during the construction of the particle acceleration formula,[some kind of substance] had been activated around the Charged Particle Cannon's firing process. Since then, research on Mana has proceeded, and the first achievement—[Mana Particle Cannon]—has been successfully developed.
To launch the Charged Particle Cannon on Earth, nanomachine bugs are scattered to create an invisible acceleration-focusing particle cluster array, which is then energized by microwaves. The principle of the Mana Particle Cannon is the same, except the energy source and array generation no longer emanate from Li Lin—they are now completed by Mana during the construction and operation of the formula.
The destructive power of the particle beam that evaporated the bandit leader was satisfactory, with energy consumption significantly reduced compared to the past and acceleration-focusing time significantly shortened. Still, there is an issue of output power being excessive, and future parameter adjustments are needed.
Research on another characteristic proceeds slowly. For now, no practical examples can verify Li Lin's hypothesis. However, if it can indeed prove true, the importance of the previous characteristic may be marginal.
It might be necessary to find some experimental subjects somewhere to carry out the validation.
"Sir?"
A face thoroughly defeated by fatigue and nearing collapse peeked out from the carriage. It is a rare sight to see a member of the Dragon Clan, known for their physical prowess, in such a state.
"Really useless, Nidhogg. How about changing your name to[Trash]?"
"I absolutely won't take that kind of weak-sounding name ahhhhhh!"
"[Incompetent]or[elephant-nose beetle]both sound good, and I think they suit you well. Choosing one and giving up the other would be a waste of time, so in my generosity, I'll bestow them both upon you."
"I don't want it! I don't want it! I don't want it!"
The sound of the object rolling on the carriage floor added a bizarre mix of joy and distress to the atmosphere of the journey. The clueless birds in the area frantically took flight amidst the cries of woe.
"Those formulas are too hard to handle! Counting all the stars in the sky is easier than this!"
This comparison is slightly exaggerated, but what's with the coquettish behavior that makes an old man with deviant inclinations blush and palpitate? A proper explanation is needed for this first...
"Quickly gather Mana, simulate the maximum controllable range of wind direction paths, compress and accelerate... My head is really going to burn up!"
"It looks like it's really difficult..."
"Yeah! That's right!"
"Leaving the problem of the woodlouse to someone as unintelligent as yourself, who is even dumber than a single-celled organism, was indeed a mistake."
"No! Why are you comparing me to the intelligence of a single-celled organism? And I'm clearly being tampered with!"
"That thing in your head isn't even organic, it's probably just stuffed full of garbage made of inorganic materials."
"This isn't even a living thing anymore! I don't want it! I don't want it! I don't want it!"
The sunlight shone on the lively and lovely scene inside the carriage, with a ball of light unable to penetrate the gloom huddled in one corner of the carriage. One could vaguely see a short, fat finger drawing circles on the floor.
"It's not a big deal... It's not like no one noticed... Dwarves are often overlooked anyway..."
Alberish's ignored complaints seemed heavy for him, but they seemed to have no effect on this travel team that was full of joy and continued to spread its weirdness every day.
—Until that figure burst out at the edge of the forest.
Two of the three creatures in the carriage had long noticed that[something]was approaching, and the timing of the meeting with the carriage had been calculated, more importantly—the approaching[things]posed no threat to them.
With one hand steering the carriage, the other hand grabbed a loop of rope from the carriage frame and threw it out. After tracing a perfect parabola in the air, the knotted loop of rope caught the unidentified figure who was about to be stepped into the mud by the horse hooves. In the grip of an arm that was not very youthful, it fell into the back of the compartment behind Li Lin and into Nidhogg's outstretched arms.
"Let's give her some emergency treatment first, and we'll talk about the rest later."
The strong smell of blood, rapid breathing, irregular pulse, and suspicious dark stains on the cloak—there was no need for a more detailed examination of the injuries to determine that this was a severely wounded person. If left unattended, she would soon die. However, saving someone who was obviously going to bring trouble was not in Li Lin's style. So, what was he thinking and what did he know?
Despite their doubts, Nidhogg and Alberish quickly fetched the small wooden box containing emergency medical supplies and prepared to carry out the emergency measures Li Lin had taught them before setting out.
The moment the hood of the cloak was lifted, a cry like a wail shook the air in the forest.
"A... a girl! A girl!!!"
The panic wasn't just in the voice, the hand that could crush rocks at any moment was also shaking nonstop.
"Shut up, it's just a small matter. Don't make a fuss."
"But... a girl... her chest..."
Nidhogg's thoughts had already crashed, making it difficult to compose his thoughts into coherent sentences.
"Stop talking and treat her wounds quickly."
Li Lin had no interest in ridiculing Nidhogg's virgin label and had no time or energy to waste on it now.
From the bushes where the unidentified woman had emerged, a large amount of mud, branches, and leaves were sprayed out. Two fast-moving shadows on the ground, accompanied by a foul-smelling wind, tore through the dust and debris and chased directly after the carriage.
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Note 1·Virtual particles: Virtual particles are particles in quantum mechanics that can never be directly detected, but whose existence has measurable effects.
Note 2·Charged particle cannon: The charged particle cannon (Charged Particle Cannon or Charged Particle Weapon) is a weapon that uses an accelerator to launch ionized charged particles to destroy enemy equipment.
Today's technology can already produce destructive high-energy accelerators, but since they are difficult to miniaturize, they still appear only in science fiction works.
The charged particle cannon fires clusters of charged particles that can be either positive or negative charges, depending on the type. High-speed electron beams are generated using linear ferromagnetic field induction accelerators, with an absolute speed of 300,000 kilometers per second.