When I fly up to the platform, I find that the crystals are all absorbing mana properly. The purification is also working as intended, the mana in the crystals is flawless. It looks like it will still take at least a week or two for the crystals to fill up.
That is better than I was expecting, it looks like there is more mana available than I thought. It probably has to do with the altitude of the platform, but that is just a guess. I've noticed more mana at higher altitudes, but I never paid much attention to it.
Now, I am getting curious about why that would be the case, it should be the opposite. Mana is generated by life, so there should be more mana where there is more life. That means that the mana should be thickest down at ground level, especially in rich areas.
Does this mean that mana naturally drifts upwards? To be honest, I really don't know much about mana. I know that mana naturally ebbs and flows, the goddesses told me that a long time ago, I think. However, I don't know why that is and I don't know much else about mana.
To satisfy my curiosity, I return to the castle and start observing the mana in my workshop. Unfortunately, while I can sense the mana and even manipulate it, I can't see it. What I need is something like a microscope that can see mana.
While I somewhat understand how microscopes work, I doubt that I can make one. Even if I could, figuring out the lenses would take me quite a bit of time. Instead, I am thinking about coming up with an enchantment that will do the same thing.
Since I understand the concept of magnification, creating an enchantment isn't hard. I already have several glass-like materials, so I choose the one with the best capacity. Unfortunately, the capacity isn't high enough to work with just once lens.
Since I wore glasses in my old life, making glasses is where my mind goes first. Between the two lenses and the frames, it has plenty of capacity for what I want. Making the glasses only takes me a couple of minutes, but the enchantments take longer.
Mainly because I want the magnification to be adjustable instead of being fixed. That way I can adjust it if mana particles turn out to have different sizes. The enchantment actually ends up working exactly how I want it to, I must be getting better at this.
When I put the glasses on, everything in the world changes and it takes me a minute to adjust. Every space in the room is now covered in little glowing particles of differing colors. What immediately catches my attention is that every single particle is moving.
Some are moving slowly, while others move around quickly, but not a single one is stationary. I quickly pick a random particle to focus on and take a closer look at it. The one I picked turns out to be an unaligned mana particle that is contaminated with wind mana.
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When I take a look at others that are nearby I find that a lot of them are similar. Mixed among them I find particles that are pure wind mana and pure air mana. When I look closer to the floor I find particles that are either earth mana or contaminated with earth mana.
The earth mana moves the slowest, that makes sense, but that is all that makes sense. The fact that they never stop moving is completely unexpected, it breaks the rules I know. Moving takes energy, and always moving takes constant energy, but where is the energy coming from?
Mana is made of magical energy, does that mean that the mana is being constantly eroded? Yet as I watch, I don't see any of the particles disappearing or even shrinking. So, if the mana isn't being consumed, where is the energy coming from?
These questions quickly start to drive me nuts since I can't think of any answers. I learn a lot from watching the mana particles, but I don't find any of the answers I want. However, seeing how the different types of mana move does improve my understanding.
The elemental contamination affects how the particles move, based on the element and the level of contamination. Each element makes the particles move differently, at least from the two elements I can see. I'm sure that I will learn more when I find water and fire mana to study.
Thinking of that makes me think of my bath, there should be fire mana there. However, just as I am about to run over Lin walks in to tell me it is time for dinner. When she notices the glasses I am wearing she stops and asks me what they are.
"I made them so that I can see and study mana particles."
Lin says "Really?! Can I try them?"
"Sure."
I hand the glasses to Lin and she immediately tries them out, causing her face to light up. As she is staring around intently, I quickly realize that I am going to need to make another pair. Before she gets too into studying the mana, I remind her that the kids are waiting for us.
She looks disappointed, but she puts the glasses away and leads the way to the main room. We sit down with the kids and start eating dinner while they talk about the shadow plane. As soon as they run out of steam, Lin and I start talking about the properties of mana.
Once the kids are done eating, they run away from our conversation to watch cartoons. When we are done eating, Lin follows me to my workshop and watches me make another pair of glasses. Then she follows me to the bath and we both start studying the fire mana.
The first thing I notice is that the fire mana doesn't move around much. I expected fire mana to be as active as air mana, so this result is surprising. It intrigues me, so I get closer and study the fire mana intently trying to figure it out.
Lin is also studying the mana and we discuss things as we come to understand them. Between us we quickly figure out that the mana is being restrained by my enchantments. Thanks to that, the fire mana isn't acting like natural mana, which makes sense.
If the enchantments weren't constraining the mana, it would be burning everything. On the other hand, the lightning mana is a mix between air and fire. When it is striking the fire component is stronger, but it reverses after the strike.
This allows me to deepen my understanding of lightning which will improve my use of it. In the future, my fire and lightning spells should be stronger because I understand more. This new understanding will also allow me to make my spells more mana efficient.