Chapter 45
Chapter 45
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Translator: crow
Chapter Title: Tokamak Dragon Heart
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“Primal Magic is why it’s so important! And that means we can’t avoid talking about quantum magic….”
Enoch’s honest feeling was that he just wanted to go home.
*
When Enoch opened his eyes, he was greeted by an unfamiliar ceiling. The kind that made him seriously ponder what he’d been doing before falling asleep the moment he woke up.
“You’re awake!”
But before that thought could even take root, Iris popped her head into view. Still groggy from sleep, Enoch was dragged along as he occasionally peered out through the scattered windows.
“…What is this place?”
It wasn’t just the ceiling that was unfamiliar—the scenery outside was strange too. Had he been kidnapped while he slept? As he mulled it over seriously, a deep sigh came from beside him.
“You have no idea what’s going on, do you?”
“Oh, Yonia.”
“Yeah, you really don’t know a thing.”
Yonia let out a hollow laugh and gave a rough explanation of the situation. The moment Enoch had fallen asleep, Iris had scooped him up and flown to the nearest magic tower.
It was a simple explanation—and paradoxically, one that was hard to grasp. Or was it?
“So, I got kidnapped, right?”
“Kidnapped…? You did say something about that before you fell asleep.”
“Hmm.”
He couldn’t remember. He hadn’t been in his right mind from exhaustion back then. Not that it was much different now, though a good sleep had helped a bit.
“Well, you’ve been sleeping for two straight days.”
“Ah.”
By the time Enoch caught on, Iris, who had been striding along while dragging him, flung open a door with a bang.
“He’s awake!”
“Ooh…!”
If he had to describe the place… yeah, it was like hell on earth. Half-dead wrecks teetering on the edge between life and death, crammed into cramped desks, enduring endless torment.
In short, it was a research lab. Strangely enough, the moment Enoch entered, a faint spark of life flickered across the half-dead faces.
“You can really use Primal Magic!?”
“Then do you know about quantum magic!? How much do you know about quantum magic!?”
“Eek…! We drew lots to decide who asks first!”
“Get out of the way!”
The sight of these frail scholars, who looked like they’d drop dead from a single poke, swarming like ants and raising their voices was definitely a new experience. While Enoch stood there dazed, the uniquely healthy Iris among them shouted loudly to bring order.
“Enough…! I’ll handle the experiments… I mean, the questions as representative, so quiet down!”
Should he run now? Enoch pondered seriously.
*
And that’s how it had come to this. Ever since he could speak, Enoch was doing more studying than he’d done in his entire life. More accurately, knowledge was being forcibly crammed into his ears.
“Classical magic, used by non-dragon races, greatly lowered the barriers to entry for the discipline of magic, but it has a major flaw: the circles rooted in the heart influence the flow of surrounding mana.”
“…Yeah.”
“Quantum magic delves into the unseen events of the microscopic world, so progress has been slow due to that flaw.”
“…Ah.”
“But with a user of Primal Magic…”
“…Yeah.”
“So the most fundamental particles that make up matter…”
“…Ah.”
“And also…”
“…Yeah.”
Just as Enoch turned into a machine spitting out nothing but “yeah” and “ah,” achieving the miracle of sleeping with his eyes open, Iris noticed and summarized her four-hour ramble.
“So, with your cooperation, we could make huge strides in quantum magic.”
“…Ah.”
Then why not just say that from the start? Why rattle off all these incomprehensible theories? Enoch sighed inwardly.
“You definitely used brain lightning, right? You know that ordinary lightning in nature is in a plasma state?”
“What’s plasma?”
“Ah.”
That’s where it starts, huh. Iris pondered briefly before giving up with a relaxed shrug. No need to make an experimental subject understand the theory anyway.
“Here, check this out.”
Iris held out a fist-sized iron ball. It was impossible not to see if you had eyes, so Enoch nodded.
“This iron ball is made of tiny particles called atoms, and contrary to how it looks, there are vast empty spaces between them. The atoms aren’t packed tightly; they form a specific structure.”
“Why?”
“This one has impurities, so it’s not perfectly structured, but anyway, the force holding those atoms together is what we call electromagnetism.”
“No, why is that?”
“If you can manipulate not just brain lightning but electromagnetism itself, then simply withdrawing the force holding the atoms together would turn this iron ball into ionized gas. In theory. Or you could supply enough energy to plasmafy it outright.”
“No…”
Haa…. Enoch let out a sigh. This woman hadn’t heard a word he’d said.
“Well, we’re not expecting you to separate it completely. That would make the magical equations too complex for mortals to handle. Plus, the state of the iron ball could change during calculations. There’s this uncertainty principle…”
“No need. Can’t you just use decomposition magic?”
“That’d just break it into tiny iron fragments.”
“Then use decomposition magic that splits it down to those… atoms you mentioned.”
“If that worked, I wouldn’t be doing this—urk…!”
Leaving Iris, who suddenly writhed as if past memories were flooding back, Enoch looked around.
An empty room. Just three people, a desk, and the iron ball. Perfect setup for going insane.
While Enoch assessed it, Iris finally shook off her memories and spouted nonsense.
“Urk…. Bad memories…. Anyway, what I want from you isn’t that hard. I’ll teach you one spell, and you use it to derive the wave equation. Then plasmafy an object and control it with brain-attribute magic to form a tokamak shape, induce nuclear fusion…”
“…Bullshit.”
Just hearing it made his anger boil. Even if Leone taught him this, he’d snap. Seriously. One more word, and he’d demolish the entire magic tower.
Enoch strode over and placed his hand on the iron ball. Anyway, the gist was to decompose it somehow. Something about electricity, so his authority should handle it fine.
“Hmm…”
Enoch closed his eyes and focused. Iris wanted to say it was impossible but held her tongue, thinking he’d give up after trying.
And soon,
Crackle—
Part of the iron ball decomposed in a blinding flash. Iris’s eyes widened like they’d split open.
“Wh-what!?”
It was absurd. How? He hadn’t applied enough energy to decompose the iron ball. Energy conservation laws and all that—plenty to say, but simply put, it was impossible.
“How did you do that!? Th-this can’t happen!? It violates the laws! Even if you separated the electrons, energy can’t just pop out of nowhere!”
“…What nonsense.”
Unable to hold back, Enoch spat it out.
“Magic itself rewrites the laws, so what laws are you talking about? If you want to, you just do it.”
Actually, it wasn’t even magic but his authority, but it was similar enough.
“I-is that so? No! Even so, magic has limits to what it can touch!”
“Magic isn’t a science. It’s an art.”
Leone had said that.
“It’s about intuition and feeling, not reason and calculation.”
“That’s total bullshit!”
“The results prove it.”
Enoch manipulated the fiercely rotating plasma on his hand. He didn’t understand why it worked either.
He’d blocked all the brain lightning from the iron ball, so why did it decompose and release energy? Who cares about the reason? It worked, so shut up. Violating laws? Not his problem.
“Hmm.”
Enoch quietly observed the plasma on his hand. Whatever it was, the power emanating from it was no joke. One slip, and everything around would vaporize. And as the plasma spun, even greater power was building.
“N-n-n-nu-clear fusion…!”
Ignoring the incomprehensible babble, Enoch pondered. What if he replaced the brain core in his middle dantian with this plasma? If he could maintain the rotation, it could produce energy semi-permanently, like a dragon heart.
Not just that—various applications flooded his mind. If he played it right, it could advance his combat power to the next level. Heart pounding, Enoch acted immediately. If it seemed like it’d work, he’d try it.
“Wh-what!? Don’t do something insane, you crazy bastard!”
Before Iris could stop him, Enoch shoved the plasma clump in his hand into his chest. The rotating plasma, like a circle, enveloped the brain core in his middle dantian, decomposed it, and fully absorbed it.
“Whew…”
But now the challenge was maintaining the rotation. How to keep this spin going at all times? He pondered deeply. The pondering turned to pallor. Lost in a trance, gazing beyond new horizons, Enoch realized,
“Ah.”
The plasma control slipped for a moment.
“Huh?”
The plasma flow destabilized and went berserk. By the time he noticed, it was on the verge of explosion. Sensing the danger, Enoch poured all his power into protecting his internals.
Kuuuuung─────────!!!
The plasma ring couldn’t hold and exploded. He’d suppressed it somehow, but the explosive force was beyond what he could control…
“Urk…!!”
Blood poured from Enoch’s mouth like a waterfall. Seeing the organ fragments mixed in, Iris and Yonia went pale.
“Eeeeek…!”
“You mad bastard! Priests! Call the priests now! Hurry the fuck up!”
The magic tower erupted in chaos.