Chapter 428 (1/2)
Chapter 428: An Exploration of Magic Power
Translator: TransN Editor: TransN
“… Grades?” Tilly took the transcript, glanced at it doubtfully, and said, “She did improve a lot.”
“Yes,” Roland nodded. “As a businessman’s daughter in Valencia, Lucia White already had basic writing and arithmetic skills, and she also performed well in the natural theory course. That’s why her grades are so good.”
“I’m not questioning your theory that ‘a better understanding and cognition of the world can help develop abilities,’ ” replied Tilly, twitching her mouth, “but what does it have to do with the bite of magic power?”
“Judging from the evolution of Lily, Leaf, and Mystery Moon, as well as other witches, we can tell that evolution also increases witches’ magic power limits. I think such limits have a lot to do with how well witches perceive the world.” Combining what Agatha referred to as “ancient High Awakening” and the evolution of the town witches’ abilities, Roland explained his theory in details. “They’re essentially the same thing. However, witches who evolved by partial or random enlightenment are far less powerful than those who evolved by a full, comprehensive understanding of the world—Mystery Moon is a typical example. Although she’s a member of the Witch Union, her evolution was achieved through enlightenment, so her magic power isn’t in the same league as Anna’s and Soraya’s.”
Tilly soon learned what Roland meant after a moment of reflection, “You mean the reason Miss Lucia’s magic power was low both on normal days and her Day of Awakening is that her body has adjusted to a certain level of magic power? Yet her ability evolved when she entered adulthood, which resulted in an instant surge in her magic power, and so much power was far more than she could take, right?”
“Pretty much like that, but I prefer to think there are two different types of power increases.” Roland continued, counting on his fingers, “Magic power increases on the Day of Awakening, on the Day of Adulthood, and during evolution. The effects seem the same, but I believe the first two are passive, while the last is voluntary.”
“Why do you think so?”
“Because evolution won’t cause magic power bites,” the prince replied slowly. “If this wasn’t the case, Anna would have been killed by the surge of magic power during her evolution. I assume there’s a magic power redline for witches. Once they go beyond it, they’ll suffer from bites. Daily practice can gradually increase their limits, and that’s also why witches need to empty all their magic power before awakening.”
“Redline? It sounds interesting…” Tilly murmured, sinking into her thoughts. “Do you think the outpouring of magic power that was generated by Miss Lucia’s evolution resulted in insufficient space for magic power on the Day of Awakening, which led her to exceed the power limit and thus caused the accident?”
“Correct. Like Lucia, Anna experienced her first evolution when she reached adulthood, but her magic power capacity was incredible, so she had a much higher limit for bites than ordinary witches.” Roland paused for a moment. “This also explains why Lucia went back to normal after Spear extracted the agitated magic power—that power didn’t belong to her anyway.”
“Your theory… does clarify a lot of problems.” Tilly pushed her hair behind her ear and propped up her chin on her hand, apparently absorbed in thoughts. “Why witches present different forms of magic power despite their power sharing the same origin? Why free magic power can only be seen upon witches’ awakenings? Because witches can’t integrate it unless they accept it.”
Roland said with a smile, “We can view awakening as drawing magic power in, but only a small part of it can be retained. Evolution expands and develops this small part, and the greater cognitive breadth a witch possesses, the better strengthening effects she’ll obtain. It’s also reasonable to assume that there’s no limit on the number of times a witch can evolve, since the exploration of the world is endless.”
“I’m suddenly curious.”
“What?”
“If you were a witch, how extensive would your power be after evolution?” asked Tilly, covering her smile.
Roland nearly choked himself. Although he really wanted to personally experience these extraordinary powers, he would rather turn them down knowing the sacrifices he had to make.
“Can I bring a copy of the textbooks you wrote back to Sleeping Island?” Tilly asked, while raising her eyebrow.
She sounded pretty casual, but Roland noticed her right hand gently grasping her skirt’s hemline.