Chapter 147
Chapter 147
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 147
Chapter Title: A Hypothesis on Dimensional Travel
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“You’ve thought of a topic?”
Anke’s voice cracked slightly at the end.
She still hadn't grasped the situation.
Part of it was because Loan had read the book so quickly.
“Yes. It seems simple, but it's a story that allows for a wide variety of hypotheses. The content is also highly symbolic.”
Unlike Anke, Loan looked rather excited.
Whatever topic he had in mind, he already seemed deeply lost in thought.
He continued speaking.
“I understand why the Reflection of Perception chose this book. Ah, of course, I'm sure you suspected as much from the moment you learned of the book's location, Tower Master.”
Anke was inwardly flustered but didn't let it show.
She cleared her throat with a composed expression.
“Hmm… well, yes. I'm curious to see if you've chosen a topic that properly reflects the guardian's intent. Will you state it?”
“Discuss a method for the Tower of Perception's guardian to travel to the world we live in. That will be my topic.”
“What?”
Just then, the magic tower trembled.
As the mages looked up, surprised by the tower's reaction, Loan tilted his head at Anke's response.
“Uh… is there a problem?”
Sweat trickled down Anke's back.
Not only was the topic itself unexpected, but the tower's reaction was also unforeseen.
It was similar to when they had shared thoughts. A vibration that carried a strange emotion.
*'It seems to like the topic.'*
The reason for its reaction via vibration, and the reason it chose the book, seemed clear.
It had identified with the situation the boy and girl were in.
In other words, it had revealed its desire to escape its own dimension and manifest in another through the book.
Therefore.
“Ah, no. I'm just impressed that you've selected such an appropriate topic. It seems the tower's guardian feels the same way.”
She had no choice but to say that.
“Is that so? That's a relief.”
While the smile on Loan's face deepened slightly, Anke's expression grew darker.
A topic she had never even considered.
She had no idea how her opponent would develop it, nor how she should refute it.
*'What should I do…'*
Suddenly, an anecdote about Loan flashed through her mind.
When Uli, from the Tower of Phenomena, participated in the magic exchange.
The incident where the promising mage had tried to refute a topic presented by Loan and ended up with a nosebleed.
Amidst her ominous thoughts, Anke thought desperately.
Then again, she thought, just because he had chosen the topic well didn't guarantee he could develop it properly.
She couldn't shake the suspicion that his choice of topic had been too hasty.
This was because it was closer to a topic about establishing concepts and theories rather than understanding and analyzing magic.
*'The very definition of a dimension is unclear, yet he's brought up the topic of dimensional travel. It feels like he's getting ahead of himself. He might have dug his own grave by being too conscious of the guardian's intentions.'*
Boys his age often delude themselves into thinking they're special, as if they're the center of the world.
It was a bravado born of arrogance.
Or perhaps his desire for recognition had manifested excessively due to his greed to live up to his reputation.
In such cases, one usually fills the gaps in a flimsy theory with wild fantasies or half-baked conjectures.
If so, there was no need to worry needlessly.
After all, she had memorized every book in this place.
In terms of accumulated knowledge alone, there was no way she would lose to Loan. She needed to find her confidence.
*'No need to panic. No matter what nonsense he spouts, it will be enough to refute him by combining already well-established information.'*
She regained her composed expression.
Now she could speak in a gentle tone.
“Very well. Present your opinion to your heart's content.”
With that, she offered the chalkboard to Loan.
While Loan stood before the chalkboard, levitating a piece of chalk and lost in thought.
Anke quickly organized all the knowledge from the magic tower related to dimensions in her notebook.
She was connected by mana to every book in the Tower of Perception.
Her specialty was finding, extracting, and organizing the necessary information from within and incorporating it into her own theories.
Just by analyzing the situation and current state of knowledge, tiny script filled several pages of her notebook in succession.
It wasn't a meaningless task.
What Loan was attempting would mostly be a hypothesis difficult to prove. The more that was the case, the clearer and more sufficient the data to refute it needed to be.
She was consuming a vast amount of mana to synchronize with the books, but she didn't hesitate.
On the other hand.
Loan, after much deliberation, would write only a few words, then gaze at what he had written and fall back into thought, repeating the process.
His progress was incredibly slow.
“Hmm… he started with such bravado, but it seems it's not going well.”
“It can't be helped. I can't even get a sense of what he's trying to do.”
The onlookers' assessments were all the same.
This time, even Stipe and Joseph couldn't help but lean toward that opinion.
For a long while.
At a moment when everyone's attention was focused on what Loan would show and what evaluation the tower's guardian would give.
Loan retrieved the chalk that had been floating in the air.
No particular time limit had been set, but he didn't seem to intend to spend any more time.
Several lines of a never-before-seen formula, difficult to comprehend, were written on the chalkboard.
Anke asked Loan.
“Are you finished writing?”
“Yes. What happens now?”
“After your presentation, the Guardian of Perception will review the content and give its evaluation directly on the chalkboard. In the meantime, you and I may debate through questions and answers.”
“Alright. Then I'll begin right away.”
Loan walked slowly in front of the chalkboard, looking around at the audience.
His attitude and expression were very relaxed.
This was not the image of a student writing and presenting an exam answer.
He looked as if he were about to deliver a lecture to the dozens of mages watching him, and to the Master of the Tower of Perception.
He said with a smile.
“The 'Reflection of Perception' that guards the Tower of Perception resides within the chalkboard. It seems it was very thirsty for conversation itself. It was overjoyed just from sharing thoughts.”
Just then, a *woooong*—
It wasn't a vibration felt with the body, but a feeling as if the air inside the tower was gently resonating.
The mages, marveling at the tower's reaction, which seemed like an agreement, focused their gazes back on Loan's lips.
“The reason the Reflection of Perception chose this book, and the background for my choice of this topic, are one and the same. A guardian who wishes to travel to another dimension. The core of this topic is to construct a magical theory that makes this possible. It's also quite timely.”
“I'm curious about you calling it 'timely.' What is your reason for thinking so?”
Anke interrupted the flow to ask.
Loan gave a light shrug and continued.
“If we find an answer, there will be much we can learn. Especially regarding the matter with Grave, which the magic towers have been ignoring. The place they call the Demon Realm is, in essence, another dimension.”
“…”
It was a topic that could offer interpretations and responses to the problem of demons crossing over from the Demon Realm, the Gate to the Demon Realm that was said to be in Rhodes, and the space where Aul was said to be wandering after disappearing.
Furthermore, if solving this problem made it possible to travel to other dimensions directly, couldn't they cross over to the Demon Realm and launch a preemptive strike?
A topic that could be the key to many possibilities.
But there was no need to tell that whole story right now.
“I will not define 'other dimension' at this time. For now, I have focused solely on the world where the tower's guardian exists, and I will only try to find a method of travel suitable for that. To aid your understanding, I will use a bit of magic.”
Loan spread his hand and began to form shapes in the air.
Soon, two small clouds were positioned in the air, and within the clouds, models with different densities appeared.
Both were in the shape of a person.
For Loan, who had previously demonstrated magic surpassing the frost cloud in the other tower, creating a small cloud model was nothing.
“What is that?”
“How did he do that?”
It was inevitable that the mages would show great interest in the example created to explain the theory.
Loan paid them no mind and continued his explanation.
One of the human models passed through a cloud and entered the other one. Loan demonstrated this several times.
“The method of pulling a being from another dimension is the commonly known summoning magic.”
“So you intend to move the guardian via summoning as well?”
Anke asked as if she had been waiting for it.
She could argue about the difficulties and problems of summoning magic all night long.
She thought she had done well to prepare in advance.
“No. The reason summoning magic has become obsolete is that its use is extremely difficult and dangerous. In this case, too, there are too many restrictions to use it.”
“Mmm… but aren't the evil factions using it?”
“Yes, but that is less like travel and more like pulling a target over with mana and reconstructing its physical form. It's impossible to prove that its essence would remain the same. Moreover, it's closer to a third party forcibly dragging the target over, so the conditions and circumstances are different from ours.”
Just like that, Loan completely ruled out the possibility of summoning.
It was the moment Anke's pages of prepared material became utterly useless.
Loan continued his explanation using the cloud models.
“What I am trying to reveal now is a method for something with a form to move to another place, another space. There's a reason I'm focusing on the word 'form' here, and that's because we have already succeeded in moving something.”
“…”
He looked, but no one could answer. Loan glanced at Anke, who was averting her gaze, and.
“It is sound.”
He answered his own question and then elaborated.
The fact that he had conversed with the Loan in the mirror at the Tower of Phenomena. The fact that the chalkboard had reacted after hearing the mages' stories.
And even the fact that he had conversed with them through shared thoughts.
Anke tilted her head and asked.
“Sound is movement?”
“That's right. But sound has no physical form. It is a wave transmitted through the vibration of air and mana.”
Loan used the cloud models to show a circular wave spreading out, but this time too, not many understood it at a glance.
“There is one more case of something without a physical form moving. It is mana. That is why the tower's guardian can make the tower vibrate and push books. The same goes for shared thoughts.”
“…I suppose so. It is mana and will in itself.”
“Yes. The reason it can exert physical influence without direct contact. From this, we can conclude that both worlds, despite being different dimensions, possess mana of the same nature.”
Even Anke understood what that meant.
But Loan's following explanation was beyond her common sense.
“…And so, this hypothesis becomes possible. Let's define both mana and sound as force, as energy. If we could convert a physical form into a transmission of force, into vibrations and waves like sound, wouldn't movement be possible? Couldn't we establish the concept of abandoning physical form? Couldn't we be a little more flexible with the standard for what constitutes an origin?”
“…”
“To do that, the first prerequisite is to abandon physicality, materiality. The second is to move in the form of a wave while retaining one's unique memories. And the third is to restore one's essence after moving to the other dimension. You understand up to this point, right?”
While explaining, Loan observed the mages, including Anke, from time to time, but their reaction was consistent from the beginning.
Silence. Continued silence.
Everyone was just staring blankly at the chalkboard.
Loan didn't wait any longer for their reaction.
“Well then, I'll assume you've understood and continue. So, these formulas you see here are the processes for fulfilling those three prerequisites…”
For Loan, it was very familiar.
For the mages, an unfamiliar time was passing by.