The sphere hovered silently above his palm, casting enough light to fully illuminate the lab, revealing just how messy he could get when distracted.
Orion muttered something unkind under his breath before dismissing it. This latest variation of the formula appeared to be slightly more efficient, but it was difficult to determine whether that was due to his own skill improving or the Light mana being processed correctly.
“At least it’s progress.”
It was a meager consolation. Despite spending weeks working, he had barely managed to improve from a basic light bulb to a mid-lumen flashlight in terms of intensity.
It was enough to blind someone in a relatively short time, but it still paled in comparison to the Light mana empowered Torchlight he’d cast against the ghoul.
He realized that some of it was due to the fact that such creatures were especially vulnerable to light spells, and even relatively weak ones could cause significant damage.
But that wasn’t all. At that time, Orion had managed to muster more than just the regular version of the spell he was currently casting. It was driving him crazy because the more he worked on it, the more he couldn’t escape the fact that it had been his desperation and determination to protect himself and the kids that had granted it so much power.
“No, that is ridiculous. I have already posited a magical alternative of adrenaline, and even accounting for it, it doesn’t explain everything. There has to be something I’m missing.”
Standing up, he began pacing around the room, reviewing every factor in one last attempt to find a reasonable explanation before he fell deeper into pseudoscience than he already had.
“Light mana has been described as the power of life itself, and as such, it directly contrasts with the power of death that animates the ghouls. Faith appears to have a direct impact on it, even enhancing the amount that can be found in the atmosphere, and it is said to be derived from the Mother goddess, the Moon.”
Orion felt his lips curl in annoyance at having to acknowledge such religious drivel, but he was willing to scrape the bottom of the barrel in search of inspiration.
“All my attempts at defining it as a magical version of the electromagnetic radiation known as light have failed thus far to produce the effects I know to be possible when incorporating Light mana.” Surprisingly, he wasn’t too hung up about that. Failure was common among scientists, and there was something to learn from every one of them.
No, what was driving him insane was that every experiment he attempted to set up to validate one of his theories ended up being inconclusive. The only way he had to know if he was doing something right was to compare the resulting spell to the Type B version of the Torchlight, which incorporated the ambient mana.
And every time, he failed without knowing why.
“Thus, it can be assumed that it is not a lack of detail about the electromagnetic radiation portion of it that is missing. It is the other, life-based power that is not being included in the spell structure.” He continued, before pausing mid-step.
Was it possible? Could it be so simple?
Light mana clearly represented a complex type of energy, quite different from the simplistic explanation offered by Magistra Eire. It had multiple aspects, ways of being expressed, and measurements.
It somewhat reminded Orion of Dark Energy, in a way, but not really.
No, what suddenly occurred to him was something so basic that he almost rejected it outright. What if he simply added the one type of energy that everyone regarded as synonymous with life itself to the equation? Would that be sufficient to describe the amorphous qualities of light mana?
ATP, composed of a sugar, an amine base, and a phosphate group, was the basic molecule needed for life. It was found in nearly all known lifeforms and was crucial for cellular energy transfer throughout the body.
It wasn’t something he had considered until now, as he had focused more on the physics side of things, but ATP was essentially all he had been missing. A purely scientific concept, yet it carried a profound meaning as the basic currency of all cells. It was, in effect, the energy of life.
If there is something that can be called that, it is ATP.
There was only one way to know if it would work. Intuition was good and all, but without proof, it was worth very little.
Walking quickly to the center of the room, far from his precious notes so that he wouldn’t be forced to rewrite them for the fourth time after he accidentally included an unstable variable in his formula, Orion extended his hand with some trepidation.
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He was tempted to adjust the formula to provide a more nuanced understanding of the concepts he was representing, but he refrained. This was just a proof of concept. If it worked, he could then start fiddling with it.
I = (P + ATP)/(4πr2), he thought as hard as he could, focusing on the understanding he had developed over decades of study, hard work, and experimentation.
This was not a shot in the dark; it was well-known data used in a logical theorem.
Light blossomed just above his palm, and the warmth it radiated had nothing to do with heat.
A whoop of joy escaped Orion, and even as the spell destabilized and fell apart, he couldn’t care less.
“YES! I knew it! YES! AHAH!” He cackled, for once giving in to his mad scientist instincts.
For so long, he had labored under the impression that he was missing some vital secret about the light, that his understanding of electromagnetic radiation was faulty. He had even doubted his approach, questioning whether using science to comprehend the absurdity of this new world was truly possible.
All he needed to do was return to the basics. The answer had been there all along.
With a grin that threatened to split his face in two, Orion once again summoned the sphere of light using his new formula.
I = (P + ATP)/(4πr2) worked exactly as intended, describing the components of what was known here as Light mana, but was more familiar to him as a hybrid energy between electromagnetic radiation and ATP.
Oh, Orion didn’t doubt that there was more for him to discover—nuances he couldn’t see now and details he simply didn’t yet understand. It would take him a long time to fully plunder the secrets of this new energy, but the fact remained that he had finally taken the first step on the road to truth.
AHA! See, even the System agrees. And if the omniscient, omnipresent machine thinks I'm right, then I'm damn right!
Fresh off his high from solving the biggest issue he had faced so far, Orion spent some time reviewing each individual spell he had developed to try to achieve a similar breakthrough.
The closest he got to it was the levitation spell. It had seemed the most promising, considering it didn’t require a specific type of mana as taught in the Sanctum. However, beyond increasing the height of the flight he could induce through applied force, he hadn’t achieved the same level of success.
He knew there was something missing. Something he’d kick himself for later, but every attempt to incorporate more complicated concepts like gravitons failed to yield any results. Instead, they produced lesser variations of the spell he already had, so Orion decided to cut his losses and focus on what he knew worked.
His newly developed understanding of Light mana meant that at least one branch of magic was finally open to him.
Torchlight has proven to be very useful, despite being the most basic expression of this energy. The things I could do with the more complex ones…
Just the image of Magistra Eire calmly deflecting the stone knight’s blow would have been enough for him to dedicate himself to developing the Light Shield, but his mind conveniently provided him with several more reasons.
He already knew that he had made enemies in the Sanctum. Not ones that would confront him directly, as the disparity between ranks and the web of favors didn’t permit such a swift resolution, but Orion was not naive.
That old witch, Morliana, would not forget him. Whether that attention manifested as a lurking presence at his back, waiting for him to slip up, or took on more aggressive methods of “handling” his blasphemous ideas, he didn’t know.
It would likely be viewed as a faux pas for her to act directly against me. She’s one of the most powerful figures in the entire coven, the organization that controls the whole province. However, that doesn’t mean I shouldn’t be prepared for when I become fair game once again.
“Now that I have the basic block for Light magic figured out, it shouldn’t take too long to figure out how to cast the higher-tier spells.” Gaining a few methods of protecting himself, whether from more ghouls or other witches, had quickly risen to the top of his priorities.
He had only encountered that categorization sporadically in the texts available to him in the library on the first floor. However, since Eire had mentioned the topic during her demonstration, he tried to research it further.
Apparently, most spells could be easily classified into neat ranks, similar to classes and traits, though in this instance, numbers were used.
Orion didn’t know the reason for the difference, but no one appeared interested in discussing the issue in any of the research he’d conducted.
Still, what he’d found made it clear that the Torchlight spell he had worked so hard to master was considered the easiest of all, a tier zero spell. Practically anyone with a Mana Manipulation trait could cast it, regardless of their specific class.
The book went so far as to say that even classes considered barely magical, such as herbalists and performers, could, with some effort, achieve success with tier zero spells despite lacking a dedicated trait.
Tier one spells, such as the Light Shield, were more complex and required not only a deeper understanding but also higher stats. Attunement, above all, was regarded as a requirement that couldn’t be overlooked.
The Sanctum’s library recorded no casting successes for anyone with a Mana Manipulation trait below E-rank and an Attunement score under forty. It was a hard limit, clearly recognized even by the coven, which indicated to Orion that it likely stemmed from the System.
He was still far from that lofty height, but not as far as some might have thought. He had already demonstrated that with enough Knowledge of the phenomena he wanted to happen, he could surpass most limits that were conventionally accepted.
This will be a valuable exercise to determine whether I can exceed the requirements through research or if my Attunement will help me succeed first.
The surface area of a sphere can easily be calculated using A = 4πr2, which meant Orion only needed to adjust a single variable in his basic Torchlight spell to create a much larger construct.
He was almost tempted to use the formula for volume to achieve full coverage, but that was probably too much for a first attempt. He would be happy if he accomplished a larger Torchlight first; then he could start adding reflective qualities and higher density.
“Now, let’s see…” With a grunt, Orion felt a bit woozy as he applied the adjusted formula. He hadn’t exactly felt energy leave him, but it seemed like he’d run a marathon, especially after all his earlier practice.
It didn’t matter, though, because he could see light coalescing around him. Hovering exactly two feet from his skin, as he had seen done by Magistra Eire, a sphere of pure Light mana took shape.
The only problem was that Orion hadn’t adjusted the energy variables sufficiently to account for the much larger area, resulting in the spell emitting very little light. Essentially, it was just a translucent hologram.
This will take some time.
