A few days had passed since I created the prototype paper. I wondered how things were going. I received a progress report from Laura.
"The matter of hiring for the paper workshop has been settled with everyone's agreement."
"That's a relief."
I was quite worried about what to do if the kids said no, so this is a relief.
Laura continued.
"We are currently running a trial operation in the renovated warehouse next to the Upperhills Workshop, and the basic training required for the work is being handled jointly by the foundation's staff, Tobin, and Mr. Callen."
There was nothing for me to add, so I just nodded. Even after reviewing the detailed report, there were no issues. There would be almost nothing left for me to worry about.
All that was left was to wait.
"You've worked hard, Ms. Laura."
"It was nothing."
Laura replied in a businesslike manner. After finishing her report, Laura hesitated for a moment before speaking.
"By any chance... when do you think the mass-produced Excel will be completed?"
"I'll have it done before the Upperhills paper mill is fully operational."
"Yes. Understood."
Laura bowed her head and withdrew. The production of the mass-produced Excel would still have to wait a little. I planned to make it as a magical device connected to the metal type, but the metal type wasn't finished yet.
For reference, I had left the metal type in Callen's hands. It wouldn't be difficult. In terms of difficulty, the suspension was much harder.
Finally, all tasks other than research were finished. It was now time to start the research I had been putting off. 'It's been a long road...'
Hehehe.
A laugh escaped my lips.
Gravity magic.
Is it really possible? It is possible. That is, if I incorporated the general theory of relativity like I did with the 'Guides of the Lantern' incident.
However, that wasn't a method the people of this world could use. I wanted to try creating gravity magic using only the structure of circle magic, without general relativity. Why do such a thing?
Because it's fun. For proper research, preliminary data investigation must come first. I asked Gwendolyn and Gedrick to search for related papers.
The next day, Gedrick came into the lab and asked.
"So, where should I put this?"
Gedrick was holding a stack of books and documents as tall as himself in his arms.
"All this... did you carry it all by yourself?"
"If I move it with telekinesis, I can't train, can I?"
"Aha..."
I understood, but I couldn't empathize. I pointed to the empty space next to my desk and said.
"Then please put it down over here."
"Got it. Work hard, future school head."
"Yes, sir."
After Gedrick left, Gwendolyn came in. No, to be precise, Gwendolyn entered along with a dozen or so other people.
"Everyone, just move it over here."
"Yes, Senior."
It seemed Gwendolyn didn't carry the materials alone and borrowed the strength of her juniors. ... Why didn't Gwendolyn use telekinesis? She answered my question.
"Actually, the juniors said they wanted to see you, Mr. Upperhills, so I brought them along on purpose."
Oh, my.
I glanced around and could feel the gazes of the graduate students directed at me. 'Looks like it's true.' What kind friends.
To come all this way just to help with my research. I shook hands with each of the graduate students who had moved the things.
"I'm never washing this hand again."
"Even so, you have to wash it before an experiment..."
"Can't I just wear gloves?" ...
Fine.
Do whatever you want. After the graduate students left, Gwendolyn asked me.
"By the way, what are you planning to do with all these spells? Fireball, spears of flame, Wind Press... their structures are all so different, I can't quite grasp it."
Gwendolyn was right. At a glance, it would seem there were no commonalities between the spells. I answered her.
"I'm trying to create a universal gravitation spell."
"Wow, really? Everyone who tried to implement the formulas from Principia into magic failed..."
That was only natural. If even Doloren couldn't do it, there was no way other mages could.
Gwendolyn continued.
"As expected of the original author. I'll be cheering for you."
Just before leaving the lab, Gwendolyn added.
"Oh! And the things I brought, please look at them alone so others don't see."
"Hm? Yes, I understand."
What could it be that she'd say something like that?
Click.
The lab door closed, and now I was the only one left. It wasn't that Doloren and Giuseppe were skipping out. It was just that it was late in the evening.
As expected, research is best done by pulling an all-nighter. Of course, this was limited to research I actually wanted to do. The kind others assigned to me wasn't very fun.
I skimmed through the mountain-like pile of materials. The documents I received generally had one thing in common. They granted virtual mass to things with significantly little or no mass at all.
A prime example was the fireball. 'The darkest place is under the candlestick.' If a fireball was really just a mass of gas, fire mages would have had to train their bodies like wind mages.
The reason fire mages were treated well on the battlefield lay in this 'virtual mass.' The problem was that the people of this world hadn't really made the process of granting mass to a fireball a subject of research. From their perspective, that was just how fireballs worked.
So I had to research it from scratch. It was going to be a hell of a job... To use a restaurant analogy, it was like trying to figure out the ingredients a chef used just by looking at the name 'Today's Special'.
There was only one approach I could take in this situation. Just like when I made the Field Manual, I had to use physics to calculate and reconstruct what results each structure of the magic circle would produce. 'First, let's look at the fireball.'
I examined the standard fireball spell and its various modifications. 'This is really strange...' The mana wavelength created by the incantation, the arrangement of the symbols within the magic circle.
No matter how I looked at it, there didn't seem to be any part that directly generated mass. But the resulting fireball clearly had mass. 'Where on earth is this difference coming from?'
While I was pondering, Gwendolyn's words came to mind. She told me to look at something alone. I reached for the pile of documents Gwendolyn had brought.
[Do Not Remove From The Family] "Hm...?"
Right from the start, a large warning was written on the document. '... Is it okay for me to read this?' Since Gwendolyn brought it herself, it should be fine, right?
Turning the first page, I found someone's handwriting.
[To Mr. Isaac Upperhills, Just as I received great help from your research, I hope that my family's research records may be of help to you. Count Ludwig Everglow] "So Gwendolyn's father gave this to me."
Does that mean...
"Is this... material related to the family's secret spells?"
Rustle, rustle.
I flipped through the document, skimming its contents.
"It's real..."
This document was a retelling by Ludwig of the history of the Everglow family's 'spears of flame' development. Surprisingly, this document also included 'records of failure'. It described in a quantitative manner how the spears of flame failed when the incantation was changed or the magic circle was altered.
Though those quantitative units were annoying ones like feet, ounces, and gallons. Reading those records, I felt a sense of respect as a fellow researcher.
"This is amazing."
Even in papers from Earth, failure cases are often omitted. Because doing so could cast doubt on the paper's own achievements. However, such honest research records are of immense help to subsequent research.
"They really worked hard."
I could feel the effort and dedication of generations of the Everglow family, all for the sake of a single fire spell. Among them were tales of failure where 'the range was reduced' or 'it became more susceptible to the wind.'
"Wait a minute... reduced range, increased air resistance..."
My attention was completely captured by that passage. Could this be it? I examined Ludwig's records more closely.
And I was certain.
"This is it...!"
I found the key to the change in mass. A ray of light shone upon my bleak research path. It's harder to go from 0 to 1 than from 1 to 10. I had received a much greater favor than I expected.
I'll have to thank them properly later. Using the Everglow family's failures as a benchmark, I continued my research on gravity magic. To be honest, I didn't even know how many days had passed since then.
"Junior, you have to eat your meals on time."
Giuseppe made me a sandwich at every mealtime.
Good.
I didn't have the energy to speak, so I responded with a thumbs-up. For several days I clung only to theory, and for several more days I spent time conducting experiments myself in a vacant lot near the Magic Tower's annex. Gradually, a faint clue began to emerge.
It took about two weeks to get to this point. And then, at dawn a few days later. I muttered to myself as I looked at the magic circles filling the blackboard.
"I managed it somehow."
It was still at the hypothesis stage, but I had found the answer I wanted. The mass of a single proton is much greater than the combined rest mass of the three quarks that compose it. It gets more complicated if you go deeper, but for now, let's just think that the strong nuclear force makes it possible.
Magic was the same. During the spell's formation stage, a specific arrangement of mana produced more energy than the total amount of mana originally expected. Of course, it's still unknown whether mana is quantized like other fundamental particles.
But if this hypothesis was correct, I could reach one conclusion. Just as quarks cannot exist alone in reality, it was nearly impossible to create a spell by isolating only the magic pattern that grants virtual mass. However, it was 'nearly' impossible, not completely impossible.
I had devised a spell that created only virtual mass. Required incantation time: about 30 minutes. Magic circle: a system of fifteen 8th-circle spells.
Required mana: 2.8 times Doloren's total mana capacity. This was an experiment that was absolutely impossible to do alone. Therefore, I decided to gather the people who could make it possible.
Of course, I didn't force it right away. I got a few days of good sleep before proceeding. Anna, Giuseppe, and Professor Doloren were gathered in the lab.
Everyone's here.
I stood before them and said.
"From now on, we will create a spell that should not exist."
Explaining the experiment took a full day. And it took another day for Giuseppe to verify the experiment's safety. The next day, Giuseppe said.
"... Formally, there are no problems."
"Then you'll join us?"
"Yes."
And so, we left the lab for the experiment. The place we chose for the experiment was a remote area far from the 'Upperhills Foundation' grounds. Anna asked me.
"You said it was safe, so why are we going to such a secluded place? Don't tell me..."
"It's not like that, little sister."
Doloren answered Anna's question.
"According to Magic Tower regulations, we can't get permission to cast such a grand spell within the capital." ...
I didn't know it was because of such a restriction either. Because Giuseppe was the one who decided when and where to conduct the experiment. And so we arrived at the experiment site.
'It's so desolate.' Immediately after arriving, we drew fifteen 8th-circle magic circles on the empty field. With that, all preparations were complete.
Finally, I explained the experiment plan to everyone.
"From now on, Professor Doloren will personally execute the spell I've designed."
"Okay!"
Doloren exclaimed energetically. She seemed excited. I was a little nervous, but Doloren was the only one who could handle this.
This spell consumed hundreds of times more mana than a typical 8th-circle spell. Thanks to her affinity, Doloren, who had good spell-casting efficiency, had to cast the spell to lower the mana consumption as much as possible. Of course, even then, there wouldn't be enough mana.
I said to Anna.
"And my little sister will supply the insufficient mana."
"I understand."
Anna replied immediately. Seeing her resolute expression, she seemed reliable, unlike someone else. Lastly, I said to Giuseppe.
"Senior, whenever the Professor runs low on mana, you must draw mana from Anna's body and transfer it directly to the Professor. It's the most important role."
"I understand. Leave it to me."
Giuseppe nodded with a firm expression. Finally, I pointed to myself.
"And I will observe the spell's success or failure with a detection spell."
At that moment, Doloren laughed and jeered.
"What, you're taking the easiest job for yourself? Boo."
It seemed like a comment meant to ease Anna's and Giuseppe's tension. Everyone chuckled at what was clearly a joke. Just like everyone else's roles, mine was also indispensable.
Because there was no one in this world who could use a detection spell more precisely than I could.
"Then shall we begin?"
And so, the experiment began. I floated a lead sphere next to the location where the spell would be cast. 'If this moves... the experiment is a success.'
It felt like magically recreating the Cavendish experiment. Beads of sweat formed on Doloren's forehead. She murmured softly.
"Spiral staircase, rhinoceros beetle, ruined city, the moon's pull, heaven, nameless woman, hero's change, rain of blades..."
A list of words that formed no meaning. It felt quite different from a conventional incantation, but that was really the incantation for the gravity spell. Soon after, Giuseppe took Anna's hand and began the mana transfer.
Anna's face grew pale as her mana was drawn away. But Anna steadfastly endured. An outsider would have found it a bizarre sight.
Four mages sweating profusely and concentrating, yet the only thing visible before them was a single lead sphere. 30 minutes later.
"Rhinoceros beetle, singularity, secret emperor."
The time had come. Doloren's incantation was complete. I operated my detection spell to its absolute limit.
I focused so intently that I could no longer feel the sound of the wind or the light of the sun. Doloren's ragged breathing gradually faded away, and within my perception, only the lead sphere and the waves of mana remained. And at that very moment.
I saw it. A minute change in the lead sphere. A minuscule mass, born from empty space, was pulling the lead sphere with an infinitesimally small force.
"It's a success."
At my words, Doloren gasped for breath and asked.
"Really? You're not lying, are you?"
Everyone's gaze was fixed on me. I answered slowly.
"Yes. It's on the nanometer scale, but... the lead sphere moved."
"Wow!"
Anna raised both arms and shouted. She must be tired, but she's still energetic. Giuseppe let out a groan and lay spread-eagled on the ground, while Doloren collapsed to the floor and chuckled foolishly.
Anna asked me.
"So, does this mean we can create other gravity spells based on this now?"
I smiled brightly and said.
"No." "What...?"
"Practical application is impossible. This is a dead end."
Slump.
At my words, Anna lost consciousness. It seemed she had collapsed from exhaustion.
I carried the sleeping Anna on my back up to the lab. I could feel Anna's soft breathing on my back. Fortunately, there were no problems with Anna's health.
I heard this can happen when you use too much mana. Doloren plopped down on the cot in the lab. She stared at the ceiling and muttered dejectedly.
"Damn it... after working so hard... to think it was a failure."
"I told you it was a success."
At my words, Doloren shot upright.
"You said it can't be put to practical use as a spell!"
"Well... that can't be helped."
Through this experiment, I figured out the minimum conditions required to manifest 'virtual mass'. Surprisingly... they were identical to the spell we just used in the experiment. A 30-minute incantation, a system of fifteen 8th-circle spells, and an enormous amount of mana just to move a lead sphere ever so slightly—that was the best we could do.
This was the limit for 'circle magic'. Beyond this point, one would have to directly warp spacetime with general relativity, like I do. I carefully laid the sleeping Anna down on the sofa.
Giuseppe collapsed onto the desk. I said to Doloren.
"Anyway, the experiment was a success. You could at least be a little happy."
"Oh, for crying out loud."
Doloren shouted.
"I mean! It's so simple with a floating stone, so why does it get so complicated when you try to do it with magic!"
Freeze.
My thoughts came to a halt at her words. I slowly turned my head to look at her.
"Just now... what did you say?"
"Huh? I'm talking about the floating stone. That stone can create attractive or repulsive forces just fine. But why..."
A floating stone? Did I hear that correctly? Something like that... exists in this world?
"Come on... you're kidding, right?"
If something like that really existed, you could build a perpetually-sailing flying aircraft carrier. It wouldn't even be difficult. You would just need to adjust the virtual mass a little with the spell we made today.
"It's real."
Doloren's expression was more serious than ever.
"If you don't believe me, should I show you? It should still be stuck to the ceiling of my vault."
Should I try making an airship?