Chapter 408 - Magiology (1/2)
The ladies' day out ended pretty nicely. Everyone returned home with a lot of gifts. Lizzie bought toys under the pretense it being for learning. Aceline's demeanor got better gradually. As for Staxius; he took the next three days off. No contact with the outside world, nothing, Éclair was ordered to block any communication from those who wished to perturbed the peace. Xula remained by his side as well as young Lizzie; the break was more of a chance to spent time with the family. Eira sadly couldn't make the trip for she headed to Dreqai with Phantom's team of researchers. A talk or debate, on a possible finding inside the field of Magiology. The topic at hand was Mana Emission. Living things emitted mana, that much was known to the researchers as a hypothesis. It was observed but a method in testing was yet to confirm the reality. Adding on that line of thinking, a rather olden scholar proposed the idea of the non-living thing, such as walls, houses, things inheritably not living, to possess traces of mana. The formulation of the idea, as said by the article, was the field of Alchemy – transforming matter into energy to then turn back into matter. For it to be possible, there must have it in the non-living things to make such a process true. Thus, the next idea; which was the main purpose of said talk – Mana and Energy were one of the same. A revolutionary idea, so simple, yet so difficult to swallow. As the founder of Magiology, Staxius was asked to attend the talk, however, he chose to send his daughter as representative.
A good learning experience – her plane arrived on the 24th of March, the talk was set to happen on the 25th – the same day Dei and Sugar were to land in Rotherham. Staxius wasn't as rude as to leave her to go empty-handed. No, on the contrary, he reviewed the papers and gave his thoughts on the matter.
Stood amidst what seemed to be a museum dedicated to magic, Eira found herself surrounded by renowned scholars of various fields. The gathering of influential minds of their century, the people who worked tirelessly to better the lives of the common folks. The researchers from Phantom were led by; Rhee the leader of GateSix, Master alchemist Flein, his granddaughter Clarise, and Eira. Rhee and Flein knew many of the other guests. The warm lighting tried to make the room feel casual, though, the faces showed distrust and unwillingness to show weakness nor reveal secrets. The Cobalt Unit was present in form of a representative; a youngling the same as Eira. She wouldn't have mistaken the representative for another; a face on the verge of breaking into a full rant. Her peculiar way of presenting herself, characteristic matching a single girl; Anastasia Whitstar.
”Don't,” said Rhee with grey-hairs mixed with her natural color, ”-that girl over there is Anastasia Whitstar, a talented foul-mouth young scholar in the field of Alchemist. I heard the Cobalt unit took a liking to her work of which was 'spontaneous human combustion.' She found a way to ignite the magical element of any living being without physically touching the person.”
'Is that what she's been doing?' thought Eira for it hadn't been that long. ”Sure, Ma'am, I'll do so,” the will to greet a friend turned to nothing more than a fleeting glance hoping the girl would match her sight.
”Do you know her?” inquired an observant Clarise.
”We were classmates at the Academy.”
”People change,” smiled the blond prodigy, ”-don't worry about it.” As hard as Clarise tried to hide it, people's gazes would often pierce her back, the filthy unsightly comments on her appearance made her want to puke. She knew better as to heed their short-mindedness. Still, it did affect her heart for one must remember, Clarise was still young, younger than Eira.
”Look at you trying to console me,” smiled Eira, ”-I heard father has been very pleased by your work.”
”You flatter me, highness, the master is calm and composed, he gave us a place to follow the never-ending journey of learning. What about you?” her cat-like stare switched to a file, ”-what's in there?”
”Comments from father,” answered Eira proudly, ”-apparently, the discovery was made by a researcher from the Cobalt Unit. It's the reason I came, to have their pride be destroyed.”
”A-are you serious?” coughed she, ”-Is this not supposed to be a gathering of minds to better our growth as a civilization?”
”Granddaughter,” whispered Flein, ”-thee forget; we're here as part of Phantom. In their eyes, we're those who thrive in war. Look at them, their countries are dependent on us to provide weapons – we hold power unlike any other. It's not a surprise that people know the Hero King of the Argashield Federation owns Phantom, we may say we're neutral – however, similar to the Cobalt Unit, we're affiliated to a kingdom. Secrets of a kingdom are secret to the population – it's war, constant war – not bloodied but intellectual,” the speech slowed for he needed to breathe.
”And intellectual warfare is what we must win today,” interjected Rhee. ”Why do you think all these people came together, it wasn't to discuss some finding but to show the power of the Cobalt Unit. It's a warning, a very shrewd one, but a warning to those not under their thumb, basically, us, and some other factions working towards other goals.”
”I see,” nodded both Clarise and Eira. Soon, a loud man spoke to have their attention. Massive gates to the west opened to reveal a conference room with multiple seats. One by one, it was all filled with people from all over the world. The discussion began immediately.
”Thus, I conclude, mana is energy, and energy is mana,” bowed Tyler Gad, the author of the papers and a prized member of the Cobalt Unit. Applauses rattled the room; an overwhelming amount of people were in agreement with the discovery.
”Settle everyone,” came a lady dressed in grey, ”-as you've heard, the topic of today's discussion has been laid bare. We, from the Cobalt Unit, think that Magiology is a field in which nothing more than nonsensical gibberish is created. We mean it in good spirit, creating a field of study, given, we know it's now implanted in universities; can be scrutinized by the collective mind of the scholars. From what our member said, as I surmised, he refers to mana as being energy; which would completely get rid of the prospect of Magiology as it's based on the study of mana. Instead, it should be the research of Energy, the founding principle governing our world,” smirking, the crowd felt silent, ”-I'd like to have the opportunity for people to come and discuss the topic further.” An open invitation to dismantle their findings, a challenge aimed at Phantom.
”Those snobbish pieces of…” gritted Clarise softly.
”Don't worry,” smiled Eira, ”-what I hold here is a bomb.”