“I see…”
Jin nodded.
Although Jin himself had used Magi Crystals as an energy source before, he had never used up their magical power completely.
Using Magi Crystals as an energy source wasn’t something Jin did too often because they were quite expensive, so he didn’t know they did that.
“Normally, you would write a Magi Formula and use it as a Magi Device. If you use it like that, you probably won’t even use 10% of the Magi Crystal’s Mana.”
Stearleana’s guess was the same as Jin.
“That must be it. I was sure that the part of the Magi Crystal that was getting its Mana consumed would only get lighter…”
The actual weight of Mana and Ether were still unknown. Jin only knew that they both weighed very little.
“What we can say with this is that, rather than filling the gaps in the crystal’s structure, it is more likely that Mana will crystallize at the same time to create a Magi Crystal.”
That is to say, they also require the presence of mana to crystallize.
“But we didn’t know what components other than Mana were there, right?”
Elsa sounded vexed.
“Well, I have a guess.”
“Huh?”
“I don’t know of any material or substance that when it loses its Mana, it also loses its crystals. Which means…”
“…That they’re made out of Ether?”
“Yeah. I’m wondering if that’s the case. Let’s call them ‘Magi Atoms’ for now.”
“Magi Atoms…”
Elsa, who knew the basics of science, was able to follow Jin’s theory.
“They would be made of Magi Elementals such as Magitron, Magi Proton, and Magi Electron, and these Magi Elementals would, in turn, be made of Ether.”
“…And then they would be shaped into a Magi Crystal by interacting with Mana?”
“Something along those lines. That would be amazing.”
Elsa’s brain was moving at a high speed.
“Perhaps a poor quality Magi Crystal will leave some residue behind after running out of Mana.”
And they were able to confirm this through an experiment.
Some mineral powder remained after they tried using up all of the Mana out of some low quality Magi Crystals.
Furthermore, it was possible to verify that unlike the ones that originated in Hourai Island, the Magi Crystals that were widely distributed were just stones with no mana, although they look the same as them.
＊ ＊ ＊
As their prospects had become brighter, Jin and the others decided to take a short break.
“Now, we seem to have a hypothesis about the true nature of Magi Crystals.”
“Ah, I know, Jin! If you could use ‘Transinfo’ on me! I want to know more about science!”
“Me too!”
Saki and Stearleana spoke with a loud tone of voice that made it clear that they were both speaking from the bottom of their hearts.
“But… Ah, right. I never checked either of you for compatibility, did I?”
Jin decided to take this opportunity to investigate the compatibility of the two of them with Transinfo.
“Okay, this is the Magi Formula, and this is the keyword.”
He then gave Saki and Stearleana the same explanation he had previously given to Reinhardt and Elsa.
“We don’t have to succeed in our first try. I’m just going to check how compatible you are.”
“Alright. ‘Transinfo’.”
“Same here. “Transinfo”.”
Reiko drove the flow of their magical power.
“…Well?”
“Miss Saki, Miss Stearleana, the two of you should be able to handle up to Level 3.”
Level 3 was the same Elsa could handle back when her compatibility was first checked. Depending on how much one trained after that, that level could be improved by 1 or 2. Reinhardt too was able to handle it up to Level 3. And currently, Elsa can handle it up to Level 5.
“At Level 3, you can receive elementary knowledge.”
“Really? Then please, go ahead, Jin!”
“Yeah, me too, Jin, please!”
It was already past noon, but after succumbing to their enthusiasm, Jin decided he would use Transinfo to share the same level of knowledge he had given to Reinhardt.
He hadn’t erased the Magi Crystal he used with Reinhardt, so it was ready to go.
“Transinfo.”
“Transinfo.”
The first Transinfo was to transfer the knowledge from the original Magi Crystal to another Magi Crystal, and the second one was to transfer that to Saki and Stearleana.
“…”
“…”
The two of them were briefly overwhelmed by the enormous amount of knowledge they had gained. Jin and Elsa decided to leave them alone for a moment, and prepared for lunch.
That being said, they just brought in the food that Peridot had already prepared. And most of the carrying was done by Reiko anyway.
Since Jin, Elsa, and Saki came from Kaina Village, they had had breakfast recently, so lunch was rather modest.
It was a hamburger with steak and vegetables, and the buns were made with yeast.
“This is yummy.”
Stearleana had 3, Jin had 2, and Elsa and Saki had 1 each.
＊ ＊ ＊
“Next, we need to determine how Ether turns into Magi Atoms.”
After lunch, Jin talked about the next topic.
“Do Magi Atoms and Mana combine to make Magi Crystals? …Ah, my father is going to go nuts after he hears about this.”
Saki’s father was the renowned alchemist Toa Eschenbach.
“Speaking of him, where’s your father now, Saki?”
“I heard he came back home for a couple of days while I was staying at my grandfather’s house. Then he left once again to who knows where…”
He was the kind of person who couldn’t just stay at home.
“I-I see…”
After pulling himself together, Jin started over.
“Ok, so, how does Ether turn into Magi Atoms…?”
Now, the four people there had a general idea about atomic structures. Although it was a simplified concept, it was enough for everyone to be able to discuss the current topic.
“To begin with, we don’t even know how the activation magic process works…”
“A mage can take in the Ether in the air by breathing and convert it into Mana in their body. This Mana can be made to take the form of various types of energy, and even be manipulated depending on the will and imagination of the purified person. This is what we have thought to be magic.”
“…Huh?”
“…Is that the knowledge passed on by Adriana Balbora Ceci…?”
Jin nods at the two surprised faces.
“Yeah. Though that may be a little outdated. This knowledge dates from before the Great Magic War…”
“…So, in other words, if force of will can transform Ether into Mana… It should also be able to transform it into Magi Atoms, right?”
“I think so, yeah.”
While replying to Saki’s remarks, Jin thought that a mage might be closer to a person with supernatural powers on Earth. At least he couldn’t see any problems with that comparison.
Both people with supernatural powers and mages had in common the fact that not everyone could replicate their wondrous feats.
“…So, what exactly is a naturally made Magi Atom?”
Jin returned to the main topic.
“I’m really interested in that as well, but let’s return to our goal of making artificial Magi Crystals first.”
“Hmm, that’s right. We’re not going to find an answer to that no matter how much we want to right now.”
“Then, if you know the structure of an atom, perhaps we might be able to make a Magi Atom?”
Stearleana took a stab at the heart of the matter.
“Yeah. Maybe we should start with the atoms of the simplest structure.”
“Hydrogen, right?”
“Right. However, Hydrogen is an invisible gas. It’s going to need some craftiness.”
So, they decided to try the method that is often used in experiments to collect gas, that is, using a pneumatic trough.
Since Ether was also present in water, all that was left was to determine how to convert Ether to hydrogen.
“…”
“…!”
The four of them tried to generate hydrogen in various ways.
The general idea was to imagine the structure of hydrogen and make the Ether in the cup change, but it didn’t go that well.
The first one to succeed was Jin, perhaps due to the difference in power for making mental images.
“Got it!”
“Oh, some gas is being generated. “Analyze” … Hmm, it’s definitely hydrogen. That’s our Jin!”
Saki didn’t know all there was to know about the Analyze spell, but she now knew the existence and structure of hydrogen, so she could analyze it.
After Jin’s success, Elsa, Saki, and Stearleana all succeeded as well. Seeing a precedent seemed to be an effective means to get results.
At any rate, it seemed possible to create atoms from Ether. However…
“…J-Jin, I feel so tired for some reason.”
“…Me too.”
“…Me too, a bit.”
Except for Jin, the other three complained about feeling sluggish.
“They’ve all run out of magic, huh?”
That had been Reiko’s diagnosis. It seemed that “alchemy” wasn’t such a simple thing to do.