Chapter 846: Handover (14)
The researcher declared that if he couldn’t produce the answer he wanted, he would immediately kick him out of the lab.
But Lennok ignored the youth’s harsh words and immediately focused his gaze through the microscope lens he had brought to his eye.
As he applied various stimuli to the mana array visible beyond the lens, the order of the mana particles slowly began to change.
The mana array, undergoing various states and conditions in response to the youth’s stimuli, would eventually return to its original form.
“Well?”
The youth asked just as Lennok pulled his gaze away from the microscope.
Leaning back in his chair, arms crossed, he nodded.
“If you saw anything, explain it. I might even count this as your qualitative evaluation for this quarter.”
…………
“The mana array observed inside the lens. Do you understand what kind of experiment this is, what it aims to research?”
………….
“You don’t know? If you don’t know, just say so.”
When Lennok simply continued to stare at the microscope with a curious expression, offering no answer, the youth’s face twisted in annoyance.
In the tense atmosphere of the laboratory, the youth glanced wordlessly at Lennok, then let out a snicker.
“Right, well, it’s not surprising.”
A sneer mixed with a hint of resignation.
“If you knew this, you wouldn’t be stuck here, unaware of the lab’s schedule. You don’t even seem qualified to learn the theories from the teacher I invited.”
…………
The youth snatched the microscope Lennok had been looking through.
“You can go now. Just lay low somewhere out of sight until next quarter, then leave on your own—”
“Isn’t it excessively fragmented, the way you keep trying to find a pattern?”
“…….What?”
“I understand you’re experimenting with stimuli and reactions, including infrared and radiation, but I wonder if you’re focusing too much on just the Reconstitution Property of the Universal Magic System.”
Lennok casually stroked his chin and stood up, speaking.
“While it’s true that the mana particle array returning to its original state after reacting to a stimulus is the designer’s intention, that’s merely a measure to maintain the versatility of the Universal Magic System. It can’t be called the core, can it?”
“You, you…….”
At Lennok’s nonchalant reply, the youth, who had been listening blankly, his eyes snapped open.
Grabbing Lennok’s shoulders with both hands, the youth spoke with a hint of excitement.
“You, you already know about the Universal Magic System. No, it’s more than that.”
…………
“Have you already researched and drawn conclusions about magic systems on your own? Of course. Otherwise, there’s no way you’d immediately understand what I just showed you!”
What the youth had shown Lennok was the Reconstitution Property itself: how the mana particles of the Universal Magic System react to various stimuli and then return to their original form.
Originally, a magic system was knowledge based on theories that established order and laws impervious to external variables.
However, the Universal Magic System Lennok created responded flexibly and changed with external stimuli, yet ultimately maintained its original form.
It was unexpected that the youth had discovered and was researching this Reconstitution Property, but from Lennok’s perspective, that alone couldn’t be called the core of the magic system.
In fact, strictly speaking, among the various features of the Universal Magic System, it wasn’t even a particularly difficult feature or secret to discover.
That’s why it was simply difficult to understand why the youth was so fixated on that specific Reconstitution Property.
But just by hearing Lennok’s explanation, the youth seemed to instantly grasp that Lennok possessed substantial foundational knowledge of the Universal Magic System.
The expression of annoyance he’d had while looking at Lennok vanished completely, replaced by eyes sparkling with fervent enthusiasm, and he began to tug wildly at Lennok’s lab coat.
“Come on! I’ll show you something more interesting!!”
“Interesting…”
Lennok replied, yet allowed himself to be led by the youth’s hand to a deep, secluded room inside the laboratory.
“Now, look at that.”
A dazzling form of mana glowed within a colossal glass tank.
A swirling particle array, tracing elegant spirals in the air, ceaselessly flickered, illuminating the secluded room.
“The Reconstitution Property itself isn’t what’s special. The important thing is how the Reconstitution Property in the Universal Magic System is established. Look at this.”
Leaving Lennok standing idly, the youth immediately operated a controller attached to the bottom of the tank, rapidly twisting and moving the particle array.
At that moment, a light far stronger than before began to pour down upon the spiraling mana particle array suspended in the air.
CRACK!!
A grating sound, like glass shattering.
It was as if highly compressed mana itself was being poured over the mana array, completely overriding it.
But the youth paid no mind to the violently shaking glass tank and pointed to the screen on the secluded room’s wall.
“We’re compressing naturally occurring innate mana by 144 times and forcibly overwriting it onto the Universal Magic System’s mana array. This allows us to observe the collision process between different mana particles in much greater detail.”
The mana particle array appearing on the screen flickered wildly as it collided with the innate mana the youth had poured in.
“The mana array, altered by the stimulus, isn’t simply returning to its original state on its own.”
The youth spoke, barely containing his excitement.
“At the moment of alteration, it vanishes for an instant, then reconstructs itself in the place where the original particle array should be.”
…………
“Can you truly grasp that a mere magic system can move with such an independent will?”
The youth murmured, gazing blankly at the reconstructing mana array of the Universal Magic System.
“It’s as if… someone is right beside it, constantly monitoring and correcting the magic system’s errors.”
“…Correction,”
“A transcendent will incomprehensible to human perception. Or an incredibly superior and precise algorithm, comparable to such a will, is embedded within this magic system. Either way, it’s truly astonishing.”
Instead of answering, Lennok simply let out a snicker.
Because, ironically, both possibilities the youth had just mentioned were contained within the Universal Magic System.
Lennok’s manipulative ability to control and dominate mana at the particle level, and the algorithm-creation ability of the spirit born from the Cybernetic World.
The design that ‘optimizes’ the magic itself for versatile use, utilizing those two abilities.
In a way, that too is undeniably a fundamental part of the Universal Magic System’s identity.
“What we should be researching isn’t the Universal Magic System that Professor Vylun merely produced as a result, but rather the very will that constitutes this Reconstitution Property itself.”
Turning away as he turned off the glass tank, the youth said.
“If you’ve looked that closely at the Universal Magic System, you must surely know. No, even if you couldn’t prove it theoretically, you must have felt it.”
…………
Just by Lennok showing a slight understanding of what he was trying to do, the youth seemed to hold an excessive amount of goodwill towards him.
“Starting next quarter, I’ll form a new team and focus on analyzing this algorithm I’ve discovered.”
As if completely forgetting his earlier dismissive attitude, the youth, gripping Lennok’s shoulders firmly with both hands, bounced excitedly.
“If we can properly research this, it won’t just stop at clarifying the versatility of the Universal Magic System. The moment we understand the secret of this magic system, we—!!!!”
“You could even create a new Universal Magic System.”
At Lennok’s casually thrown remark, the youth’s words abruptly stopped.
His excited expression froze in place as if turned to ice.
Without even thinking of removing the youth’s hands from his shoulders, Lennok turned his gaze and spoke.
“I understand why you’ve established such a research institute and are focusing on this research. Was it to see if you could expand the Universal Magic System without Evan Vylun’s help?”
“Th-that’s… no, that’s correct, but…”
“Your approach and idea regarding the Reconstitution Property are good, but it’s impossible.”
Lennok smiled, looking down at the speechless youth.
“Because it wasn’t designed to be shown; it’s merely a fragment of inspiration that inevitably imbued it during its creation. Nothing here in this kind of research institute could ever replicate it.”
“……..You.”
“I imagine Evan Vylun would have said something like this.”
His tone and atmosphere were markedly different from before. Just by speaking casually, the surrounding air seemed to grow heavy.
Even a dull-witted researcher would have felt that oppressive weight; the youth, his face pale, released Lennok’s shoulder.
“You, you’re not an employee of this research institute.”
The youth stammered his reply, tripped over a chair, and fell flat on his back.
THUD!!
“Gah! H-how did you get in here?”
“By walking.”
At Lennok’s nonchalant reply, the youth’s expression twisted.
“That’s impossible. The security equipment surrounding this lab is stolen goods supplied to the Defense Force Command! They must have used Charlotte’s skin recognition technology, which is impossible to forge…!!”
“What does that matter?”
Lennok countered.
“What matters is that I’m here, isn’t it?”
………..
“In fact, it might even be a good thing for you. You got an answer about the Reconstitution Property you were so curious about, didn’t you? I even listened to your grievances, so I should probably be thanked instead.”
“G-grievances, you say…?”
“I listened well to your theories on the Universal Magic System. They were more interesting than I expected.”
Lennok smiled, leaving the indignant youth behind.
“However, even if what you said is true, there’s something I don’t understand.”
As the youth slowly retreated, Lennok put his hands in his lab coat pockets and raised his head.
“Your deduction could hold quite significant meaning, so why is it being researched in such an out-of-the-way location, rather than in the central research wing?”
…………
“For a research institute with properly equipped facilities and devices, it doesn’t seem like they’re being used for research at all…”
Lennok’s eyes, fixed on the youth, darkened.
“Could it be that this research institute was established to research something else, not the Universal Magic System?”
“…I-I don’t know why I should answer that.”
The youth, unable to hide his agitation, fumbled with his hands.
Without even looking at the lab desk, the youth frantically rummaged around, grabbing a terminal, and spoke.
CRUNCH!
“Do you even realize how many cameras and systems are monitoring this research wing right now? Your face and your intrusion have already been fully captured and remain as evidence!!”
“And?”
“‘And’?! What’s installed in this lab is Balitz Corp.’s next-generation superhuman surveillance system, currently under development!”
Perhaps dissatisfied with Lennok’s indifferent reply, a vein throbbed in the youth’s forehead.
Gripping the terminal tightly with both hands, the youth frantically operated it, and a transparent screen descended from the lab ceiling, blocking the space between him and Lennok.
Gazing at the screen that began to load instantly, the youth shouted.
“It’s designed to record most existing mana patterns, classify spell activations and their lineages, and has even undergone all necessary legal procedures to be used as evidence!!”
………..
Beyond the screen, CCTV surveillance footage appeared.
Among them was also a feed showing this very lab.
The video displayed Lennok and the youth in a confrontation, from a top-down angle.
“Unless it’s a mad wizard obsessed with concealing their face, like Adamant Thunder, it can dismantle and restore most disguises and noise to reveal what’s underneath…!!”
The youth immediately pulled it, defiantly enlarging it before Lennok, and shouted.
“With this footage, I’ll submit your intrusion as evidence and make you rot in an isolation ward for the rest of your life—!!!”
At that very moment, as the youth’s gaze met the screen, his words abruptly cut off.
His two eyes, furrowed amidst his shaggy white hair, stared blankly at the video playing on the screen, then widened so much they looked like they would tear.
“Ah, Ah… A-A…”
Beyond the CCTV footage showing the lab, Lennok’s face was nowhere to be seen.
A bizarre sight, as if erased and painted over by noise; his form simply wasn’t visible above the neck.
An intense sense of uncanny displacement, where even Balitz Corp.’s superhuman surveillance system couldn’t confirm his face.
Even his attitude, seemingly knowing too much about the Universal Magic System and Evan Vylun.
The moment the youth, realizing who the man standing before him was, that he had just spoken that name himself, stared blankly up at Lennok.
Lennok slowly tilted his head and grinned.
“Caught me?”
“Ad-A…!!!”
“I’ve heard enough about the Universal Magic System, so there’s no need to wait any longer.”
Watching the researcher foam at the mouth, unable to speak properly, Lennok raised his hand.
“Let’s turn things upside down first, shall we?”
WHOOSH!!
The moment Lennok lightly snapped his fingers, the lights illuminating the entire research wing completely extinguished, plunging the surroundings into darkness.