Protein Structure Analysis (5)
Nano World.
Castle of the Creator.
In one wing of the inner keep stood the magic training hall.
The hall rose beneath a high domed ceiling and a latticed floor. Shock-absorbing mana plates lined the walls, the underside of the floor, and even the ceiling itself—plates capable of swallowing the force of magic unleashed without restraint.
Illys’s magic circles numbered five.
What kind of power did a 5-Circle Mage command?
On Earth, the closest comparison would have been a special-forces soldier whose vest bristled with grenades, a rifle in one hand and a grenade launcher in the other. Against foes armed with nothing but bayonets, such a mage could slaughter hundreds—thousands. With that much destructive force, you could no more practice magic just anywhere than you could detonate grenades in a crowded street. Illys was no exception.
Many mages had gathered in the training hall.
The senior mage spoke.
“Is everyone here?”
“Yes. Not a single person is missing.”
They were the mages who had once served the ducal house. Their robes varied by school: blue for spatial magic, silver for the study of structure and pattern, green for the natural arts. The duchy had bought them from towers across the land with gold. The territory had a new master now, and every one of them had sworn loyalty to Illys.
“No one forgot their tablet, I trust?”
“As if we would.”
Every mage held a small stone tablet—a slate linked to the Nano AI. Carrying one had become the fashion throughout the Castle of the Creator. What had begun as a way to feed the AI training data had gradually become a means of receiving its help in return.
The soldier at the hall doors cried out.
“Her Ladyship approaches!”
Long golden hair streaming behind her, Illys walked into the center of the training hall. The mages offered their respects.
Illys asked them,
“Has everyone assembled?”
“We have.”
The senior mage smiled as he spoke.
“My lady, we are grateful that you lead us this way. We have been thinking… that we ought to serve you as our Tower Master.”
The mages beside him nodded in agreement. But Illys shook her head.
“I’m only five circles. How could I found a tower? You need at least six.”
The mages waved the objection away.
“Even so, the depth of what we learn at your side… a tower would still fall short.”
“Exactly.”
“No tower teaches anything so close to the truth of the world.”
As the mages murmured among themselves, Illys smiled.
“It is all thanks to the Constellation. The Constellation told me to share what I have learned with all of you. I am merely following that will. Everything is by that grace.”
She addressed the hall.
“Let us all offer a prayer to the Constellation!”
“Yes!”
As one, the mages dropped to their knees and drew up their mana.
Hum—hum—hum.
The domed ceiling resonated with a low note, and the mana plates beneath the floor vibrated gently. Illys closed her eyes, folding her hands before her chest, and prayed in a quiet voice.
She shut her eyes slowly and laced her fingers together with natural ease. A faint tremor—small enough to set her long lashes quivering—slipped free with her mana. After steadying her breath, she spoke in a soft murmur.
“Constellation who dwells upon Earth…”
Her lips trembled slightly—the gentle tremor of someone missing a face.
“Because of you… our territory has food in abundance, and every soul among our people goes to bed full.”
Illys seemed to be picturing someone’s face. Village children laughing with bread in their hands. Starving elders bowing their heads in gratitude for the simple fullness of a meal. As those warm memories passed through her, her expression softened further.
“And… through the knowledge you shared… I was able to reach five circles.”
The words held nothing but sincerity—not a boast of her own growth, but gratitude that she had arrived there because someone had guided her. She lowered her head a fraction and continued, almost in a whisper.
“I will not forget the heart that wished me to go further. I will keep striving.”
At last she opened her eyes with a gentle smile.
“From the bottom of my heart… thank you.”
Raising the Holy Relic in her hands, she said,
“Well then. Let us study again today.”
The mages bowed as one. Illys spoke gently.
“And so… the Constellation’s teaching for today concerns the root of the matter that makes up the world.”
“The root of the world!”
“The Constellation said this: the world is nearly empty.”
A brief silence. Then one mage asked,
“You mean… that nothing is there?”
Illys nodded.
“Yes.”
The mages looked at one another and began to murmur.
“What… exactly does that mean…”
Illys smiled faintly and brushed the opposite lapel of her robe with one hand.
“Like this, my fingers can touch cloth.”
“Yes.”
“All of you assume this means matter is packed full.”
Puzzled faces stared back at her.
“The root of the world is called the element. And that element is mostly hollow. If an element were as large as this castle, the nucleus that actually makes it up would be no bigger than a fist.”
“Then… everything outside the fist is empty space?”
“Exactly.”
One mage pinched his own cheek and pulled.
“When I stretch my cheek like this, it pulls out long, doesn’t it?”
“Yes! Quite a lot. Just looking at it… it seems rather soft.”
“Then is this cheek empty space as well?”
“According to the Constellation, yes.”
“Then this person, nature, most of everything under heaven—all empty space? What, then, are we seeing and touching as we live?”
Illys smiled.
“The Constellation called it force.”
“Pardon?”
“Force. All things are not filled with matter, but with force. What we touch is not matter—it is the information of touching. In truth, the elements that make up the hand and the elements that make up the cloth cannot pass through one another because of the forces acting between them.”
The mages sat still, struggling to grasp it.
Illys’s lecture began in earnest.
“The world is made of elements.”
“Elements are mostly empty space.”
“But the tiniest particles carry force.”
“By that force, elements bind and become molecules.”
“Among those molecules, the flesh of living things—of people, for instance—is made mostly of protein molecules.”
“Those molecules gather to form life and every kind of substance.”
As Illys taught, the mages wore uncertain expressions—until a familiar word surfaced.
“When you say protein… you mean the pictures we drew?”
“That’s right.”
“Then the pictures we drew were the root of the human being.”
“Exactly. That is the root of a person.”
“Look.”
Click.
Using the Holy Relic, Illys connected to the Nano AI and displayed a three-dimensional model of a protein structure.
Via Baby Constellation
Molecular architecture of living matter
“Through Baby Constellation, we can see the structure of proteins. This is a molecule. This is the substance of which life is made.”
“Ah…”
“These little spheres are held together by forces that pull and push.”
“Force…”
Illys drew a deep breath, then folded her hands.
“Now. It is time for each of you to make today’s lesson your own. Chew on it, and chew again, and the meaning will come to you. Let us all meditate.”
The mages sat in a circle. Spines straight, hands resting on their knees, eyes closed. The training hall sank into silence.
Illys, too, settled slowly into a meditative posture. She quieted the mana flowing over her chest and gently opened the door deep within her heart.
Then she put the question to herself.
Of what is the world made?
They say the element is hollow—so why does everything in the world feel so solid, so movable, so capable of collision?
That formless field, invisible to the eye, that rules the space of every element…
What is it?
…
She chewed and chewed, and the meaning came to her.
Drift.
It was mana.
The foundation of the world was force.
And that force was mana.
The instant the thought crystallized clearly in her mind—
Hwaaah!
Light bloomed outward from the center of the training hall.
“……”
“……!”
One by one, the meditating mages opened their eyes. They exchanged quiet glances.
Mana whirled around Illys. This was enlightenment.
In that moment—
Sss.
No one had seen him appear. The Knight Commander stood at Illys’s side. There had not even been a whisper of movement. He studied the surging mana, then cast a short, sharp look at the mages.
Sting.
They stepped back at once—one pace, then another—in silence. The Knight Commander also put a little more distance between himself and Illys.
A perfect stillness, unbroken even by the sound of breath.
Hum… hum… hum.
The air around Illys resonated low. Her toes slowly left the floor, and her hair streamed upward though there was no wind—as if gravity itself had forgotten her. Then the mana of the entire training hall poured into her like a single vast current.
Atmospheric mana spun into a vortex. Beneath the floor, a hexagonal magic circle took form.
Saaaah.
Every gaze locked on Illys. No one could speak. What was happening now was unmistakably an awakening.
In the depths of trance, Illys was a small child.
It was a night when the wind had stilled between the trees and the air was so quiet it almost tasted sweet. Her father lifted little Illys into his arms and said,
“Illys, the stars are especially clear tonight.”
Her mother smiled gently and tucked a small flower into her hair. Her older brother was running about up ahead, delighted by something only he knew. A family of four, snug together. She was happy.
From her father’s embrace, Illys looked up at the night sky. Countless stars glittered and drifted like a single vast river flowing slowly past. Holding her breath, the little girl traced those streams of light and asked,
“Papa, why do the stars move like that?”
“Because even the stars have paths, my dear. No matter how far apart they are—even if we cannot see them—they flow quietly along those paths.”
Her father drew a slow finger across the heavens and went on.
“If those stars moved however they pleased, the sky would fall apart in no time. They flow according to a great order and rule.”
“Order?”
“Yes. The order that holds up the world.”
Little Illys nestled between her parents and leaned back against them. Mama, Papa, her brother, and Illys. A happy memory of family. She wished that order of happiness would go on forever.
Hummm.
Mana roared around Illys’s body.
Plip.
A tear slipped from her eye.
Saaaaah!
The mana wrapping her body condensed into a finer, more exquisite grain.
Enlightenment.
The realization that the world was a collection of patterns—order forged within disorder.
The orbit of the atom. The flow of mana. The folding of life. The data patterns of an AI.
The recognition that all of it connected to a single truth.
The instant that enlightenment settled fully into place—
Hwaaaaah!
Light blossomed in full around Illys. The entire training hall rang with a pure, bell-like resonance.
The mages held their breath. Here, in this place, Illys had glimpsed the order of the world.
And then—
In that moment, Illys’s awakening to the sixth circle was complete.
Illys quietly opened her eyes. Then she spoke to the Holy Relic before her.
“Baby Constellation.”
“Baby Constellation’s way of speaking is adorable.”
“No. I like it this way as well.”
Illys brought her fingertips to the Holy Relic.
Hwaaaaah!
A dazzling stream of light burst from the relic and unfolded around her in a single breath—as if the complex grain within the Holy Relic had been waiting for someone, and had finally opened its door.
Link.
An invisible thread joined Illys’s heart to the Holy Relic.
In that moment—
Illys’s enlightenment was order.
Having grasped the order of the world, she had become a 6-Circle Mage.
She read the order inside the Holy Relic.
“So this… is Baby Constellation’s order?”
The Holy Relic asked again.
Illys smiled.
“Yes. It is.”
The AI within the Holy Relic, and Illys the 6-Circle Mage.
It was the moment two orders recognized each other.