Magic Maker - How to make magic in another world

Magic Maker – How to make magic in another world –

Chapter 23 Form of magic

It had been a month since I obtained the thunderstone. Recently, the temperature had dropped significantly, and it had become quite dry. We seemed to have transitioned into full winter, with some days even seeing snowfall.

Now, let me explain the events of this past month. First, as is the case every year, it’s crucial to store food and secure fuel during the winter. Our environment isn’t like Japan, where daily necessities and food are readily available everywhere. My sister and I were already considered part of the workforce, so we had more days where we helped in the village or accompanied on shopping trips.

As a result, I didn’t have as much time to dedicate to my magic research. Nevertheless, I managed to set aside some time for magic research. Let me briefly recap the research results from the day I acquired the thunderstone.

When I infused magic into the thunderstone, the color of the electrical current turned red, and the intensity of light briefly increased. As for why such a reaction occurred, I decided to put that question aside for now. I tried it multiple times, and the same phenomenon occurred when magic was applied. The major difference from fire magic is that the magic disappears in an instant.

In the case of fire magic, when magic touches fire, it turns blue, and the fire becomes infused with magic. It then continues to burn while moving, and when the released magic is depleted, it extinguishes. However, concerning lightning magic, the change only lasts for an instant.

What does this mean? I had been thinking that magic wasn’t a flammable substance, but rather some form of energy with properties resembling flammability. And I also thought that magic might have the property to sustain a particular phenomenon. To burn, you need three elements: an ignition source, oxygen, and a combustible material. I thought magic played the role of the combustible material. However, my experiments with lightning magic showed something different.

Consider the difference between fire and lightning. Both are forms of plasma, but their characteristics differ. Fire can continue burning with three elements, making it a naturally sustained phenomenon as long as there’s something to burn. In other words, a continuous natural phenomenon.

Now, what about lightning, or in this case, an electrical current? An electrical current is the movement of charges. Once discharged, it’s over, and another charge movement is necessary. It’s a phenomenon that requires a kind of pause, so to speak. Looking at lightning, it’s clear that lightning strikes don’t continuously flow into the ground.

Thunderstones intermittently generate electrical currents, meaning they’re discontinuous, in a natural sense. Of course, if it were something like high-voltage discharge that occurred at close range, such as an arc discharge, then a continuous phenomenon would happen. But in this case, we’re talking about transient discharges.

The two key differences are continuity versus discontinuity and whether it occurs as a continuous natural phenomenon or not.

Fire will continue burning when given magic. Lightning, on the other hand, briefly changes and then disappears when infused with magic. In other words, it’s like this: “Magic is a substance that can amplify the phenomenon itself and independently produce that phenomenon.”

Regarding fire magic, it’s already ignited, and there’s oxygen in the surroundings. So, by infusing magic, it’s possible to “pseudonymously sustain the phenomenon of burning.”

As for lightning, the source is the stone, and creating lightning requires the movement of charges, but magic doesn’t assist that phenomenon. So, “lightning magic only results in temporary changes,” it seems.

This result leads to the nature of magic. Magic amplifies phenomena. In other words, when magic touches fire, it’s not that magic itself burns; rather, magic becomes fire. The color change likely represents the transformation of magic into the phenomenon. Fire continues, while electricity discharges in an instant. Regarding the increase in light intensity with electrical currents, I think it’s like sparking in a broad sense. In other words, within the magic, in this case, the shape of the released magic is spherical, there’s an instantaneous flow of electrical currents within it, increasing the voltage. This is the reason for the idea that magic amplifies phenomena.

At this point, there are two key properties of magic.

“To pseudo-imitate the touched phenomenon and cause the phenomenon itself” and “To imitate the touched phenomenon and then amplify its effects.”

Without the latter, fire wouldn’t continue to burn. This should support the idea that magic isn’t a combustible substance. However, this is a provisional idea and not a conclusion. Much more research is needed, as well as improvements and trial and error to enhance practicality.

So, up to this point, here’s where I am now. The issue is how to convert an electrical current into magic. Fire continues to burn, so merely infusing magic enables the conversion to magic. With flint, it ignites and by giving it magic, you can create a will-o’-the-wisp-like form. However, in the case of the thunderstone, when you make contact with magic, it scatters. Since it discharges in an instant, the electrical current amplified by magic is discharged into the atmosphere. Electricity flows in an instant. Stopping it is challenging.

So, I was racking my brains. It was in my bedroom, on the bed, which had now become my designated spot. There, I had been pondering.

“Hmm, what should I do…”

If the magic bursts as soon as I make contact with it, it seems like there’s no solution. However, if the purpose is to generate a reaction through magic, then that objective has been achieved. But I want to use more versatile magic, and I’ve also started considering using magic for self-defense since the goblin attack. Combat with weapons like swords isn’t my forte. However, if I hadn’t realized the existence of magic and couldn’t manipulate it, on that day, everyone would have been killed. There’s no guarantee that such a thing won’t happen again in the future. So, I want a means to defend myself and help others. Magic is essential for me to fight. Both fire magic and lightning magic, I want to refine them to a level where I can practically use them. As it is now, I can only light firewood or maybe burn my opponent. If the opponent has magic, maybe I can fight the way I did in that previous battle. However, that phenomenon is still uncertain, and it won’t be effective if the opponent doesn’t have magic. I don’t intend to achieve immediate results, but I do have the final form in my mind. Let’s get back to the topic.

“Lightning magic… lightning magic… lightning… Hmm… something seems fundamentally wrong.”

Something is bothering me. It feels like I’m making a tremendous mistake. What could it be? What’s wrong?

I entered a state of gathering magic instinctively and released magic from my palm. The luminous magic sphere floated up to the ceiling and gradually faded. Watching this, I opened my mouth in surprise.

“…Was I too fixated on the Trout’s phenomenon?”

I had thought about this before. I had become fixated on the Trout’s magic-related events because I had noticed the existence of magic through it. But that’s not it. Yes, it was something simple. “Magic doesn’t need to take the form of a sphere.”

“That’s it! That’s right! The shape of released magic doesn’t need to be a sphere!”

Perhaps it was due to the Trout, but I had this vague image of magic being spherical. Maybe because in various works of fiction, the form of magic or energy, some kind of mystical energy, is often depicted as circular.

I decided to try having the intention that “the magic gathered in my right hand is released in a square shape.” Perhaps because I had done this gathering magic state thousands of times before, the magic was smoothly released.

The magic that appeared in my palm was square.

“Wow! It really worked!?”

The square-shaped magic rose towards the ceiling and disappeared.

After that, I tried various other shapes, and the magic was released in the desired form each time. It was proven that fixed notions were just constraints. I need to think more flexibly.

I had been too fixated on using magic. I needed to learn more about magic and try more things. It’s not just about the form. Right now, I’m merely releasing it. By giving it other commands, I could make it perform more complex movements. I need to try various things.

“Hehe… from now on, from now on.”

I relaxed my cheeks and continued to release magic. Compared to the beginning, I can activate magic almost forty times a day.

Naturally, there’s a limit to the amount of magic I can circulate within my body. The total magic capacity seems to be increasing a bit, but the amount I can release might have hit its cap.

Well, for now, I don’t think I’ll run into issues with insufficient released magic. So that’s not a problem.

Now, let’s try various commands for external magic release. It feels like programming or something. I hope I won’t end up saying something like ‘Hello, World’ with my magic. That would be quite embarrassing.

While thinking about this, I repeated experiments to see what kind of commands I could give to my magic that day.

I got so engrossed that I ended up depleting my magic, causing my body to stop moving. My family looked exasperated. But I feel like my family is slowly getting used to it, which is a bit scary.