Iron Powder and Spellcasters

  Chapter 51 The Nature of Magic

   The next two days were calm.

  To Antonio's great regret is that although he gave "Sofia" many opportunities, the other party not only did not take the opportunity to escape, but calmly accepted the life of being under house arrest in the military camp.

   Mother Teresa of the Convent of St. Jeanne herself sent a small box containing her birth certificate, baptism certificate, and some other Lavoisier family items as Sophia said.

   Sophia herself and the eye color, hair color and birthmark on the birth certificate can be matched. At this point, Antonio has basically believed in Sophia's identity.

   Next, it is necessary to obtain copies of the birth certificate and baptism certificate from the church where Antoine Laurent's daughter was baptized through the channel of the church, and compare the two. If the two sets of documents match, she will be able to prove her identity thoroughly.

  Respected guarantors, birth documents, tokens, this is how this era can prove that "one person" is "one person".

   In other words, no matter who she is, as long as she has a full set of documents and can match the description of the documents, then she is Antoine Laurent's daughter in a legal sense.

  Although there are many loopholes to be exploited, this is already the most rigorous method that people in this era can have.

  Sophia agreed to Antonio's proposal to use the research content in the notes as a reward for the Republic of Veneta to restore Antoine Laurent's reputation. It's the best of both worlds, and Sofia unintentionally protects Antonio and Winters' reputation. Because Antonio has made up his mind to keep the contents of this notebook in Veneta even if he breaks his promise.

   The Military Police Department of the Army Headquarters has also been busy these two days. Lieutenant Colonel Field has carefully confirmed that none of the caster officers in the Veneta Army have been on leave, disappeared or died in recent days.

   At the Second Gendarmerie General Meeting, Winters raised the possibility that the man was indeed the caster, but not from the Veneta Army. The man did not return to Veneta, but went to Veneta, a spellcaster of the Union Province Army.

   But the three people from the Gendarmerie Department have no means to confirm this, and they can only send an official letter to the Union Provincial Army. However, considering the current tense relationship between the two parties, it is estimated that this letter will only sink into the sea.

   However, the salvage operation was a bit of a windfall. Hailan Port is a natural deep-water port. The bottom of the wharf is mainly coral reefs and stones, and the silt layer is not thick. Four well-watered sailors fished out their guns and swords in one day.

   But the problem is that there is no sign or coat of arms to prove the identity of the assassin on either the gun or the sword, so it basically means nothing.

   The biggest gain was actually that several salvage sailors also salvaged Major Moritz's saber by the way. Moritz lost his saber on the day he drowned. Recently, he has been using a simple old sword. It is a pleasant surprise to be able to retrieve the original expensive ornate sword of honor.

   But these days, Winters' mind is not on the assassination case, but on Antoine Laurent's notes.

In the military school, all spellcasters have heard their seniors tell a mysterious story: Antoine Laurent, the father of Alliance spellcasters who was executed more than ten years ago, was in the final stage of his life. The research that subverted the magic system, he touched the essence of magic. After his death, his manuscripts were lost, along with his work.

   No one knows where this story came from, but it is certain that this story is becoming more and more like a myth and legend. Because Winters lived through two iterations of this story in his three years at the Military Academy alone.

The content of Antoine Laurent's research became bigger and bigger and more mysterious. His manuscripts were passed down by word of mouth among spellcasters and became an artifact that could make the spellcaster become the legendary great magician who destroyed the world. .

   As a spellcaster, Winters certainly doesn't believe that anything can elevate a spellcaster's spell abilities out of thin air. As he said to Ike: "Give a child a good sword and he will become a top swordsman?"

   However, being nurtured by this kind of story for many years still gave him a mysterious imagination about Antoine Laurent's research manuscript: although it is not as magical as the story says, it must have recorded very important information.

   But when he actually finished transcribing the notebook, his feelings were very mixed.

   The things recorded in this notebook are very confusing, this one is something between a diary, a collection of inspirations, and a record of experiments.

   A lot of the content seems to be written where and when it comes to mind, some are scattered ideas, and some are the results of experiments. Googling, deleting, deleting, modifying, there are some corners and corners, and there are also some crude sketches, which seem to be drawn casually when the thinking is deadlocked.

   Do Antoine Laurent's notes contain important information?

certainly.

   But for the Republic of Veneta, the most useful thing recorded in this notebook is probably only the sketch of the "Fire-like Spell Potential Test Instrument".

   Although the drawing is very crude, Winters understands what it is. The entire instrument is essentially a delicate balance. Two glass spheres are placed at two ends of the balance respectively, and a glass tube communicates with each other.

  The drawing is very crude, and there seems to be some kind of liquid in the glass ball in the sketch.

   Winters speculated that the two glass spheres and the glass tube connecting the two spheres should be a closed whole, and the liquid in the glass sphere should be some kind of extremely volatile liquid.

   As a spellcaster, Winters quickly figured out how the test instrument worked. Simply put, this test instrument can detect the weakest spell abilities.

  The spell ability of an untrained caster is as weak as a small spark shot by a scythe, and this ingenious instrument can detect the presence of a small spark.

   First, adjust the balance to balance the balance. If the subject has the ability to burn fire, even the weakest ability, as long as the liquid in the glass sphere can be slightly vaporized, the balance of the balance will be destroyed.

   Even Winters couldn’t help but applaud the whimsy of the design. You must know that the most difficult thing is not to train a spellcaster, but the most difficult thing is to find someone with spell talent from the vast crowd.

  Like normal people, the caster also has two eyes and one nose. Before testing, even the caster himself is unaware that he has a talent for spells. Their magical abilities are so low that even if they use magical power unconsciously, the effect is so weak that neither others nor themselves notice it.

  Just like that, those with spell potential were buried in the crowd. A sudden headache in their life, or an unprovoked shiver, is actually a phantom limb pain caused by the unconscious use of magic. But these signs are not even noticed by them and are quickly forgotten.

   And through this test device, even weak spell abilities can be detected.

  The screening of potential magicians has always been a strictly guarded secret of the United Provinces. By exclusively mastering this technology, the casters of the Republics, regardless of gender, are sent to the United Provinces for training.

   Obtaining this blueprint means that the Republic of Veneta can get rid of the Federal Republic and independently screen casters. You can even kick off the United Provinces and train your own spellcasters independently. After all, the content of spellcaster training is not a secret. Veneta has hundreds of spellcaster officers, all of whom have received a complete training course in the military academy.

   As for the rest of this notebook... subverts Winters' understanding of magic.

   But what level was Winters' spell ability before reading, and what level was his spell ability after reading.

   However, the content of it made Winters lose sleep for two consecutive nights.

   In this casual note, Antoine Laurent writes:

"People in ancient times believed that the whole world was composed of four elements: fire, air, earth, and water. People in Celica believed that the world was composed of metals, plants, fire, earth, and water. Animals and inanimate objects. But I don't think they see the world as beautiful, too chaotic, too chaotic. So I went a step further and divided everything that exists in the entire universe into two categories: matter and energy.

  All tangible things are matter, water, gas, stone are matter.

   All intangibles are energy, such as light and heat. "

   On this basis, Antoine Laurent put forward a hypothesis: the conservation of matter.

   That is, magic does not create matter out of thin air, nor does it annihilate matter out of thin air.

   Vaporization does not annihilate water, but turns water into gas.

   "Water Creation" does not create water out of thin air, but condenses the water vapor in the air into a liquid.

  Antoine Laurent records an experiment he devised: in an extremely dry room, the caster can only "create" a few drops of water using the full force of water creation. However, in a humid outdoor environment, the caster can quickly "create" a glass of water by using the water-making spell with all his strength.

In addition, he also conducted another experiment, the metal powder combustion experiment, and finally confirmed that the metal powder became heavier after combustion because the substances in the air entered the metal, heating the metal powder in a closed system, Although the metal powder became heavier, the quality of the entire system did not change.

  Antoine Laurent wrote on the first page of his notebook: "What is magic? Is magic a trick? Conjure an apple? Conjure a rabbit?

  If magic can create matter, won't the magicians all over the world keep creating water to submerge all land in one day?

   Certainly not, the essence of magic should be summed up in a beautiful and poetic sentence: it can and can only change the energy state of matter.

   But I don't have enough evidence to prove it yet. "

   The rest of this notebook is to verify this speculation. Antoine Laurent overthrew the magic system he established and reconstructed the three major spell classifications.

In the part of    "Analysis of the Essence of Sound Magic", Antoine Laurent confirmed that the essence of sound is a vibration. The so-called "sound" is the vibration of the sound source diffused into the surrounding medium.

  The essence of sound magic is the ability to change the vibrational energy of matter. Sound magic, so it was renamed vibration magic by Antoine Laurent. He also proposed a new spell concept "Resonance".

   In thinking about acceleration magic, the father of the Alliance spellcaster thought that acceleration objects were just the appearance of acceleration magic. He believed that the state of motion of matter is also essentially a kind of energy, which he called kinetic energy. Acceleration magic is classified by Antoine Laurent as the ability to change the kinetic energy of an object.

   As for fire spells, there is nothing subversive. However, the father of spellcasters had a new idea. He believed that fire was the release of internal energy stored in matter. Both light and heat are forms of energy release. Fire spells are used to transfer energy instead of fire.

   Afterwards, Antoine Laurent felt that a mathematical system should be established for magic, but the content of the notes stopped abruptly, and it seemed that some unexpected events interrupted his research.

   Winters read and copied the note in confusion.

   The content recorded in this notebook should be accurately classified as magic philosophy and magic principle. Most of the content is Antoine Laurent's conjecture and exploration of the nature of magic.

   Practical content, such as: how to improve the spell caster's spell level, what training method is more effective, and there is no mention of it.

   But perhaps Antoine Laurent can't be blamed either, because the father of the Alliance spellcaster himself is not a spellcaster and has no spell ability. The research directions are all placed on theoretical research, and there is almost no research in the practical direction.

   In the entire notebook, the most practical thing is probably only the sketches of the spell talent testing instruments that Antoine Laurent casually drew.

   "The essence of magic is to change the energy state of an object."

   After reading the entire notebook, Winters remembered this sentence. He doesn't know if this sentence is right or wrong, but even if it is right, his spell level will not improve by leaps and bounds because he knows the "essence" of magic.

Winters burst into tears: "General Antoine Laurent really didn't lie, 'the power of a spellcaster comes from knowledge and practice', there is no shortcut to take, even if you know the essence of magic? Do you honestly practice flying arrows at night?"

   However, Antoine Laurent's analysis of sound spells benefited Winters a lot. Before that, he originally thought that sound spells only affected sound.

  Antoine Laurent named the essence of sound as vibration, and sound magic should be called vibration magic and opened a new door for Winters.

   He also tried to practice the "resonance technique" recorded in his notes several times. Antoine Laurent himself is not a spellcaster, and the "resonance technique" is just a spell idea he recorded, just like the spell of vaporizing blood that Winters imagined, but it has not been actually verified.

   The so-called resonance technique was inspired by Antoine Laurent from an accident in his military career. When marching across a small bridge, the uniform pace of the horses made the whole bridge tremble violently, and finally the bridge collapsed, killing and injuring many people.

  Antoine Laurent came to the conclusion after observation and thinking: the bridge itself was vibrating slowly, and the pace of the warhorse overlapped with the natural vibration period of the bridge, just like holding the bridge on a swing, which eventually caused the bridge to collapse.

   So he made the hypothesis that if the spellcaster's spells were powerful enough to enhance the inherent vibrations of large structures like bridges, they could be destroyed. However, it is unimaginable that magical abilities are required to achieve this effect, so this is just an idea of ​​Antoine Laurent staying on paper.

   Winters certainly didn't have the magical ability to destroy bridge houses, but he used another way to subtly verify the spell's feasibility.

   He bought some thinner glassware for experimentation, and asked Elizabeth to tap the glassware with a spoon, while he tried to use "sound" spells to enhance the sound of the glassware when it was struck.

  After dozens of failed attempts, the glassware was shattered with a crisp sound that was amplified dozens of times by magic. This means that Antoine Laurent's statement is correct, the essence of sound magic is to change the vibration state of an object, and such spells should be renamed vibration spells.

   Thank you book friend Yan Yunsan for your recommendation ticket, thank you book friend 20181013204343295 for your recommendation ticket, and friends who voted for me before, bow. In a way, this is a low-magic world, and magic has strict rules: it can and only change the energy state of objects. But think about it, in a world that follows the rules of physics, humans can change the energy state of objects by their own will, which is actually a kind of high magic. And as long as the principle of "can and only change the state of energy" is followed, magic is omnipotent. As long as this principle is followed, everyone can create their own magic.

   (end of this chapter)