Chapter 247: Hyper Mana Breakthrough (Patreon)

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AN: Got some editing suggestions? Suggest it on the Google Docs here:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/10p2aAtRecBWkRKVd68UWzXd4PJit5ZHgpcxX80k8I2c/edit?usp=sharing

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This storm core has been my biggest challenge yet. Both me and Kayafe have been studying it for the last day and are still no closer to understanding it!

Oathbound Ryan showed up several hours ago, and we lent him our viewing platform, but we are too focused on our own conundrum to interact with him.

I re-examine the entire storm, from its very edge to the core, for the ninth time, hoping to get any insight. It’s said that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing and expecting different results, so I guess this storm conundrum is driving me crazy. Even [Inventive Perfection] isn’t giving me any insights since it only works off what I know.

Mana is pulled into the storm, and when it gets to about two-thirds the distance to the core, the majority of it becomes storm essence. This doesn’t happen to single-essence storms; rather, the mana is converted to that essence or its parent element.

Following mana further, it remains storm essence right up until the accretion disk, but it doesn’t all remain gaseous. At about three-fifths the distance to the core, the MM force becomes so powerful that the mana condenses into solid mana snow. As it gets closer, it begins to compress into liquid mana rain and then finally into super-solid snow at four-fifths. This is caused by masses of mana smashing into each other that very temporarily create the density conditions needed to produce such phenomena.

I feel like there’s more to it, though. The intensity of mana increases as it moves toward the core, but I notice a sharp decrease in intensity after it turns into spell mana and gets cast. Once the spell burns through its intensity, it seems to “flash freeze,” making it very quickly enter denser states. This isn’t surprising, as the greater the intensity of mana, the harder it is to attain denser states, so when that intensity is taken away, the mana is going to become more dense.

In the accretion disk, the intensity of mana rises sharply before turning into this very strange hyper mana. Then, as it enters the storm core, for some inexplicable reason, it suddenly loses all its intensity. This doesn’t make any sense!

This time, I get a slight nagging feeling from [Inventive Perfection]. It seems to have caught onto something, a piece of the puzzle I am overlooking; however, I don’t get a strong reaction. I mentally set the reaction aside and look at the core again, hoping for a stronger response from the Skill to help narrow down what it’s trying to say.

The answer can’t be found in the core, either. It’s almost entirely made of liquid storm essence, except for a pebble-sized super-solid sphere in the very center. Around that is a thin shell of storm sub-essences… wait, there’s something else, too. There is a strange mana I've never seen before, an almost imperceivable shell of yet another new type of mana around the super-solid center. See? I'm not crazy.

In front of me are two rabbits, two new forms of mana, but I can only focus on one, and even then, I may not understand it by the time we have to stop the storm. Of the two, which should I focus on? The answer is simple. If I can successfully contain the core, then the second mana type will still be there, but hyper mana is in the accretion disk, which will not remain in containment.

I look back to the accretion disk and stare at it, pondering on what [Inventive Perfection] is hinting at. I get the feeling that I should pay attention to… something, something related to the change in mana states?

Elements change to essences. Essences can only hold a maximum amount of intensity until they transform into hyper essences. What is my Skill getting at? I don’t understand. It has to be something I know about; otherwise, [Inventive Perfection] wouldn’t react, but I can’t think of anything mana-related that can explain this… unless, could it be… that it’s not about mana?

That gets me a stronger reaction from [Inventive Perfection]. So, it’s not anything I know from this life. In that case, that only leaves knowledge from my past life. Mana changes states. It also has energy and density, just like…

“It’s a phase change!” I blurt out, making Kayafe’s ears twitch in my direction and causing Ryan to look at me.

Matter has a phase change diagram related to heat, which is energy, and pressure. Mana has intensity and density! Practically the same thing!

However, [Inventive Perfection] douses me with cold water. Although it was reacting very strongly, it also informed me that I had yet to find the key.

“What is it? Did you figure something out?” Kayafe asks, but I ignore her.

Intensity and density, but in the accretion disk, there really isn’t any high pressure, just very high intensity.

“Aly!” Kayafe shakes my clone, which is still spacing out.

I am missing something. In intensity, it starts at reserved mana, then normal mana, then spell mana, then hyper mana, but hyper mana is also a form of essence?

Ding! Like getting rammed by an airship at top speed, the realization hits me. All this time, I’ve been thinking of mana from the lens of intensity and density. I had the misconception that essences were different types of mana, but they are another state of mana!

But that means there is something that increases in mana as elements go to essences and from essences to sub-essences.

“A-ly-sa-ra! Don’t leave me out of this!” Kayafe shakes my clone more violently while gritting her teeth.

It seems that mana states differ a lot from states of matter. Matter's state is only affected by temperature and pressure, while in mana, there are three factors at play. Not only density and intensity but also whatever it is that determines essence states. This aspect is low in elements and progressively increases in essences, sub-essences, and Bond mana, reaching its peak in hyper essence.

What this means is that the creation of hyper essence must require very high levels of both intensity and this essence-identity factor. This explains why there is no hyper essence in the core; it is because the identity of the essence outside the core is so much stronger than inside, and once the mana loses that, it can’t remain a hyper essence!

Ting! Sense Magic has met the requirements for a breakthrough and will continue leveling past level 1100!

55th Breakthrough: You have seen hyper mana; this will help you study mana under multiple extreme conditions.

Ting! Sense Magic has obtained levels 987-994!

New color fills my vision where there is hyper essence. Just like when I first saw elemental and essence mana, hyper essence is represented by a new color, but unlike those other times, hyper essence looks different. There is no distinction between essence and intensity; it’s almost like they are the same thing.

“I finally figured it out!” I inform Kayafe, who by now resorted to repeatedly slapping my clone.

She stops but doesn’t lower her hand.

“Are you going to tell me or not?!” Kayafe asks, annoyed.

I smile at Kayafe’s antics and tell her what I just figured out and about the other new type of mana as well.

“I bet anything that new type has something to do with the ‘identity’ of essence. It’s the only thing about mana I haven’t explored very much,” I say, finishing my explanation.

“I don’t see what you mean. Essences are different types of mana; how else would they work?”

“I’ll have to plot it out; then I can show you. It should be easy to understand then. Plus, now that I understand how it’s made, I should be able to make hyper mana with [Manipulate Magic]!” I grin confidently and gather some mana to make a sample.

I increase the intensity of the mana as much as I can, easily reaching the maximum threshold. Next, I push the identity of the mana further and further, turning elements into essences, then to sub-essences, and then to… wait a minute, it’s not working?

My previously confident grin turns to a frown, and my ears droop as I can’t seem to increase the ‘identity’ of the mana any further. There’s still something I don’t understand.

I look back into the core of the storm to study that new mana more, but I get no breakthrough. I am sure it is a state of identity, a form of essence, but it means I still don’t know what it is fundamentally.

At a loss, I let out a long sigh.

“Ok, maybe not, but at least I know how it’s made.”

The secret to actually making hyper mana probably lies in the other mana, meaning our work here is not done. However, we need to start preparing to contain the storm. I made several containment barrels, and that’s so I can test them out on the smaller storm cores captured by the big one.

It might actually be a little dangerous for Kayafe to get close to one since she is technically made of mana, and while my clones are, too, they’re expendable. It should be fine since the storm is close enough for my [Manipulate Magic] to easily pick up the barrel.

I send it flying toward one of the normal storm cores and scoop it out of the air. I watch as the liquid core sloshes around in the barrel, but it seems to be safely contained. However, that is just a normal storm core. The proof of concept works, but will that be enough for the main storm core? There is only one way to find out.

I pick up another barrel and send it hurling toward the main core.

“Bets on if this will work?” I ask Kayafe.

Ryan is silent, but he’s listening intently.

“Hmm, it could go either way…” Kayafe tilts her head in contemplation. “Probably will kind of work, but perhaps not as well as we’d like.”

“It seems we are in agreement.” I shrug.

This attempt didn’t go nearly as smoothly as with normal storm cores. I feel my grip over the large barrel slip a little as the attractive MM force tries to rip it from my control. I try to quickly scoop the core up, but just like trying to force two same polarity magnets together, the barrel tries to spin so the lidded end faces the core. Me trying to hold the barrel so it’s not free-falling toward the core means a greater pull on the end where there is more mana to pull on, just making it all the harder.

I can’t even get the barrel close without it flipping on me. I have to use my full power to keep the barrel steady, and as soon as I get it near the accretion disk, the barrel threatens to erode, and I have to dedicate more power to keeping it together. However, this means the barrel flips in my control again.

“Can you help with this, Kayafe? I need the MM force around the core weakened so it doesn’t tear the barrel apart,” I ask.

“Doesn’t sound like it will work, but I’ll give it a try.”

Together, we barely manage to scoop up the storm core and seal the lid. We wait with bated breath, and for a few seconds, the barrel holds.

“It worked!”

However, my celebration was too early as the moment I say that, the barrel quickly begins to erode.

“Or not…” I droop my ears and tail.

“It eroded the barrel sooner than we thought,” Kayafe comments.

“The magic worked; it did prevent the MM force, but the MM force was so strong it used up all the magic in the barrel,” I explain.

It was to be expected, but that just means I have to get creative. As I planned before, the next thing to try is to make a spatial barrel that is much larger on the inside.

I make a new barrel, inscribe mana gathering inscriptions on it to fuel the enchantments and apply magic to drastically reduce the MM force passing through but allowing just enough to pull in mana to fuel the enchantments. I decorate the barrel with depictions of storms to hide the inscriptions and to serve as a warning, but it’s not like anyone other than Kayafe will be able to open it.

“If this doesn’t work, then we’ll have to use the Mana Arc to eat it.”

That might not be a bad thing. I did something similar with my Kyhosa during the last superstorm, and it got upgraded. Considering that this is something that could be used to make a Mana Arc, it might improve it. However, we’re better off with two powerful items of roughly equal strength rather than one that’s maybe around twenty to thirty percent stronger.

Using the new barrel, I fly it to the heart of the storm, and with Kayafe’s help, we barely manage to shove the storm’s core into it, waiting to see if it pops out like last time. I feel like I’m a monster trainer from a certain popular franchise… except with mana storms.

This time, I wait patiently, closely monitoring the core and barrel. The core sits happily in the barrel, suspended in the middle where it is spatially far enough away that it can’t compromise the containment.

“Seems like this one worked,” Kayafe declares after a few minutes.

The rest of the storm is starting to dissipate; well, some of it is, at least. The other storms that were captured by the main core are feeding upon the mana now that the main core is gone.

“It’s just going to reform another main core, isn’t it?” I say, watching the individual storm cores pull each other closer.

There is a chance it will disperse; I guess it depends on whether the storm cores manage to attract each other before repelling ones tear it apart.

“Maybe. Or maybe it will disperse. Either way, it wouldn’t be a bad thing, right? Two for the price of one?”

I grin. “Yup, and we’ll get a better understanding of how it forms.”

Ryan just looks at each of us, clearly not able to see all of what we can.

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Clone POV:

I finally did it! I figured out the formula for making any shape of origami I want! Now, making compact airships should be commercially viable!

Now the question is, what design should I start with? And how big should I make the compact airships? It’s not like everyone has a garage attached to their houses. Yeah, I solved one issue, but I haven’t actually made compact airships much more convenient.

Then again, why would people need personal vehicles? It’s not like we live in kilometers-wide cities and people aren’t visiting other villages every day. Simple garages for rentable compact airships would be the best way to go about this. I’d have to buy land in each village to build these garages, but they should pay for themselves rather easily. Heck, I won’t even need to pay someone to stand in the garage to accept money if I can figure out a way to have the garage open when someone pays the fee.

But how would I do that? I can probably make simple switches with mana wiring. If I make a vending machine to accept money, the MM force from the mana in Domr pearls could trigger a sensor and open the garage.

Yes, I believe this will work. Now that all those problems are figured out, I think I should have three airship designs. One for two people, a six-seater for a family, and a two-seater with a large trunk for transporting small amounts of goods.

Naturally, I’ll have to go with a classic boat design, considering all the water. The fabric sail will fold out and over the airship, like a hang glider, while the mana collection arrays will stick out to the sides.

Hold on. Most people aren’t pilots… Also, how will I prevent people from stealing the airships and leaving my customers stranded? Well, the latter can be solved with a key, utilizing a similar concept as the vending machine. A small bead of mana can trigger a detector to allow use of the airship. So, how do I solve the pilot issue?

Hmm. This is going to be a lot harder than I initially thought. There can be training and all that, but once the novelty wears off, I doubt most bother to learn. Some will, and a taxi business will probably start. This means professional pilots will want their own airship, and that will require new designs.

Or I can lean all the way into creating logic gates and invent computers. I was never tech-savvy in my previous life, but I should be able to figure out simple computers.

Let's see. In order to have an autopilot computer, it needs to do all the heavy lifting when it comes to keeping the airship stable. It needs to be able to keep the airship stable and handle landing. It should be simple, especially for the two-seater, but weight management can easily throw it off if it’s too dumb. Kids like to crawl around, and everyone won’t have the same cargo weight; those will throw off the weight balance if it’s not set to the right distribution.

I’ll have to invent sensors to detect the weight. Shouldn’t be too hard; make a spring so that more weight will push down a mana bead closer to a mana detector, which can detect the difference in the MM force. The problem lies in needing to turn that detection into a variable signal. I think it can be done; at least I can set up a tiered sensor, if not fully variable.

I solved one problem, but three more popped up in its place… Yeah, I don't think compact ships are ready to hit the market just yet.