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"What do you think?

" Constantin asked an old friend of his, Qiren.

nShe was in her mid-thirties, around 1.7 meters tall (5'7

"), and kept herself in shape. Her hair was the color of black jade and flowed down to her shoulders, kept long enough to be loosened on special occasions but not too long to get in the way when working.

nShe used to be a game tester same as him, but later she had become obsessed with the math behind spells and how even though the AI had made the world based on the universe's universal basic laws, the math did not make sense.

n

"Do you think he found a correlation between the spells and mathematics?

" Qiren asked, simply astonished by the destruction Eldrian had caused. And that at Tier 4, what he would be able to do when reaching Tier 5, where AOE spells actually came into their own. She could only imagine.

n

"No, no not at all. He just recently found that if he wanted to progress in making his own spells then he will need to figure out the math. We didn't want to tell him that we didn't truly understand it ourselves, so we had him start with the basics for now.

"

n

"That's a good start but you know it isn't the same. And don't say we haven't grasped it, we have. We just haven't figured out how it can be connected to our mathematics. The principles and laws are indeed the same, but we can't figure out why the answers are different.

"

n

"Are you talking about the constants again, just use the ones you have.

"

n

"But we need to derive our own! How is it possible that that is only possible in the simulation? Why, if we take the same experiment does it give us completely different results? Nonsensical ones at that!

"

n

"Because they are based on spells, you can't exactly replicate a spell here can you?

"

n

"But we can replicate the fire, the heat, the elements involved, the intensity. And don't get me started on the ice spells, those results make even less sense.

" Qiren sulked after saying this, as if recalling a nightmare.

n

"But I hear the tests on light were positive.

"

n

"I guess that is something that is at least the same, a photon is still a photon...' Qiren sighed, not sure what to make of the results.

nIf it was indeed the case that light was photons no matter of the simulation or real-world, did that then mean the flames in the simulation were not flames? But how would that even be possible when they were using the exact same elements to create it?

n

"Do you think Eldrian would be able to help you?

" Constantin asked after giving her some time to recover from the topic. Every time it was brought up it would just depress her.

n

"How exactly did he do that?

" Qiren asked, pointing to the screen showcasing Eldrian maintaining the flames through a massive bubble of dark blue water.

n

"Emotions, if you can believe that. He is quite certain that magic is intricately connected to your thoughts and state of mind. Can't really say he is wrong since he continues to make progress as he moved down that path and we are still stuck relying on the system.

"

n

"Then why would he want to learn the math behind magic?

"

n

"As I understand it, this is too extreme. It is like wanting to toast your bread but ending up burning it to ash. He wants to find a toaster that would just burn it.

"

n

"A toaster?

" Qiren asked, ignoring that the toast would still be burnt. She could only focus on one thing at a time.

n

"It's just an example. He was hoping to make spells for certain situations to stopgap while he is attempting to learn true dynamic casting.

"

n

"Isn't that just controlling spells, which he can already do?

" Qiren asked while wondering just what the math would be to do that. Trying to figure it out might be fun, but it certainly wouldn't be ideal to attempt doing so through that method.

nIt would be like trying to figure out how to throw a ball by calculating everything. Sure, it could be done. Maybe not by people, but it could be done. However, there was no need as in certain things people could intuitively know and calculate things roughly.

nAlso, in this case, you would need to throw the ball with your mind. So there was also that roadblock.

n

"No, seems that controlling spells is just the most basic start. True dynamic cast is when you can have a spell, any spell of any kind and any type, form through a simple thought.

"

n

"Is-is that even possible?

"

n

"We know that Mythical creatures can do this, and the beings called legends are also capable of this. Outside of these, we do not know.

"

n

"Do you think he will be able to do that?

"

n

"From what we can gather, he already has.

"

n

"Wha-what!?

"

n

"However, the conditions were not repeatable. He was under high stress as it happened, as we gathered, he isn't sure how it happened.

"

n

"And he hasn't been able to do so since?

"

n

"No, these spells seemed to be his alternative. But as you can see they are far too extreme, right, look at this.

" Constantin handed her his tablet with Eldrian's readings during the last cast.

n

"This-

"

n

"Yup, it puts his body through extreme strain. Luckily, he has been recovering just fine each time. But it is clear that these spells aren't ideal and should only be used in extreme cases.

"

n

"Have you warned him?

"

n

"No, last time, when he first tested out this type of cast it wasn't this bad.

" Constantin replied.

n

"Can I talk with him?

"

n

"When he wakes, the strain caused him to lose consciousness.

"

n...

nEldrian woke after a few hours in a makeshift bed under a canopy of leaves. 'Still in the forest then.' He thought and slowly stood up, his body quite stiff from the exertion.

n

"You're awake!

" Nikki shouted with a smile.

nNodding, Eldrian asked what happened with the quest.

n

"Well, the goblins seem to have retreated deeper into the caves. The Adventurer's Guild's representative says that the network is far too large to explore without an army's worth of men.

"

n

"And?

"

n

"They had decided to alter the quests, ours is considered completed. We are now just trying to close the cave entrance.

"

n

"Would that even help? If they have a shaman who knows some type of earth formation spell, they will be able to make a new entrance.

"

n

"True, but it should make it clear where they are if they do so.

"

n

"Ah, I see. If they do that then they will paint a target on their backs...

" Eldrian smiled, knowing it wouldn't be easy to monitor the forest for new caves, but it wasn't impossible.

n

"What about the folia and goblin king?

"

n

"The king seemed to have escaped, but the folia was left behind. We burnt it.

"

n

"Ah... I see...

" Eldrian sighed, having hoped he might be able to at least use mana sense to get a description of the demonic-looking blob. Maybe even try to figure out how it made goblins.

n'Well, I do have a lot of other things to focus on. So maybe it is good that it is gone. One less thing to try and figure out.'

nAN: Remember to vote to show your support and comment to share your insights!

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