"Elsie, care to comment?"

"Yes professor." She answered. Not calling him grandpa James, as she often did. "We know that Magic is a form of energy that travels through wavelengths, like you said. But we also know that it is nearly undetectable through ordinary measuring devices. Magic does not show up on the visual spectrum as visible light does. Nor can we hear it. Nor can we measure it with tools like Geiger Counters. To all mundane means, it might as well not exist. Unless of course, you are a living being and the concentration is high enough. Even people without Cores can feel it along their skin and spine if they enter into a Dungeon. With all evidence showing it first feels like a series of violent goosebumps. You could also sense it in lower saturations if you have a Core and know how to manipulate your own Magic to feel it, or you have some other kind of enchanted tool."

James Robertson nodded along. As did most other students.

"And what is the reason we are so hesitant to label it something like Energy-M?"

"Because it violates several scientific principles. Including the law of Conservation of Energy and by extension all three laws of Thermodynamics. The law of Conservation of Energy states that the total amount of energy in an isolated system remains constant, and that energy cannot be created or destroyed. It merely changes form."

She paused for breath.

"This is flagrantly false in the case of Magic. For starters, we have built several perpetual motion machines since the 90s. Meaning we are capable of creating conventional energy through Magic. Not just generating it, as we do for our power plants around the world, but by creating it. As Magic generates more of itself the more there is. Behaving contrary to the conventional logic of other types of energy like electricity, heat or radiation. Magic does not disperse. Or rather, it disperses while still growing in size when it is concentrated at points. Magic radiates wavelengths, but it does so while not having a half-life like some radioactive elements or isotopes. Even extremely toxic substances like Radium eventually lose some of their radiation over hundreds or thousands of years. A source of Magic, like a Core, will only keep gathering more Magic to itself over time as long as it is attached to a living host, or to a sufficiently large source of natural Magic like a Dungeon."

She swallowed a lump in her throat. Took a drink from her bottle and continued.

"Moreover, Magic can be destroyed. Though again, you do need Magic in order to do it and it is far harder than creating it. In fact, Magic making more Magic seems to be its natural state. However, several problems arise when we consider Magic and the history of the earth. Firstly, Magic has never existed until now, as there is no evidence of residual Magic anywhere in the fossil record. This might be an issue of us not having the right tools or the right way to measure these traces, but as things stand, Magic is a brand new addition. Another problem arises when one notice Magic's need for life in general. As Magic cannot be found on the moon nor anywhere else in space. This has led our main researchers to theorize that planets and bodies without life cannot have Magic. As Magic seems intrinsically attracted to Life."

She gave me the briefest of glances.

"In a way, Magic almost behaves like a living thing itself. Like an organism made up of living energy. Only, it doesn't feed on living things as a parasite would. Instead, it seems to act as a booster for whatever living things it comes into contact with."

She paused again.

"So long as they have a Core. Living beings that cannot adapt fast enough experience sudden mutations and tumors. Similar to those caused by radiation poisoning. Though there is no evidence that a larger force of Magic is feeding on these cases as a living being would."

'Well isn't that a terrifying prospect.' I thought to myself. 'The idea of a massive, world-spanning organism that functions based on energy wavelengths seems like something I should have been made aware of earlier. Its enough to give a man nightmares for the rest of his life.'

"Magic can also be used to create new matter from nothing. Where Magic is used up as fuel for the creation process. But one's Core is always generating Magic. So the creation ends up costing nothing. Furthermore, Magic can result in the spontaneous creation of new life in places of high Magic density like Dungeons. Where host creatures simply burst out of the nearby stone and soil fully formed and already possessing some intrinsic awareness of themselves and of Magic in general."

'Huh.' Pool-Cecil whispered. 'Now that she mentions it, it is weird how that happens.'

'You didn't realize it was weird before!?'

'Of course not child. Magic is made of Magic. It doesn't need to be a complicated issue. It is a strength like muscles or brains or bone. Thinking of these nonsensical aspects never helped me advance. Though I do admit I see the interest now.' Pool-Cecil purred.

'I could do much, if I had this research on hand.'

Elsie continued talking. Unaware of who was listening.

"Magic continues to function even when the host itself is starving or dying of thirst of sleep-deprived. These adverse conditions impact the rate at which Magic is generated, but it cannot be said that Magic leeches off materials like digested calories or water in order to sustain itself. Neither does it rely on replenishment from Ambient Magic in the atmosphere or down in Dungeons. A Core will generally continue to emit Magic at varying paces until the host creature dies and then for some time after too. Depending on the level of the host creature, a Core can continue to give off Magic for as long as 19 years. Or maybe longer, with Cores we haven't experimented with."

I nodded at her explanation.

Then I made a mental note to purposely avoid looking more into the deeper science of Magic until I was level 4 or something.

After all, the last thing I or anyone else needed was a Pool-Cecil who was even more competent.

"Excellent summary." James Robertson declared.

"In conclusion, Magic is called Magic because it has rules that fly in the face of everything we know about the universe. In fact, it has rules that fly in the face of everything we know about Magic."

Some people laughed. I wasn't among them.

"Tell me, where does Magic come from?"

A boy I didn't know raised his hand, before being selected and answering.

"The Ambient Magic levels are rising."

"Yes. We know that. But why are they rising? One of the few hard facts we know is that Magic always seeks to spread. To make more of itself through any means necessary. So where are the levels of Ambient Magic coming from?"

He clicked the remote again and brought up three distinct images.

"There are three leading theories at the moment. Number one is the Cycle Theory. This one states that Magic has been on earth before and that some of our own ancestors might once have been Dungeon monsters. It is a way of explaining certain mass extinctions in a different light. This theory gained some traction during my father's original outings, but it has fallen out of favor in this timeline due to our own continuing efforts. As I previously said, there are no traces of Magic on any fossil we have ever dug up or gotten our grubby little hands on. So if there was Magic in previous eras, it was such a small amount that it cannot be traced today. And it certainly wouldn't have been enough to create Dungeons or monsters."

He pointed to the second image.

"The next theory is called the Bomb Theory. This one states that the detonation of the first nuclear weapons created a sort-of feedback loop that made Magic much more prominent as an energy. It has no evidence backing it, save for the fact that Magic first began to appear during the year of 1946. Awfully close to the destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. However, as I said, the only evidence backing up this so-called theory is the timing."

If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

He pointed to the third image.

"This last one is the most widely accepted these days. The Asteroid Theory essentially states that, since Magic at the individual level is always spreading from a source, like a Core, then the same must be true of all other hotspots around the world on a macro-scale. That is, there must be massive, living Cores under the places where Dungeons are being created. And it is from these places that Magic propagates around the world."

He clicked the emote again.

"Some might think that these Dungeon Cores cannot be the source of the Magic and that they are instead a symptom and they might think this because these Cores are buried deep, deep beneath the earth. Far deeper than the most advanced man-made drill has ever gotten. However, something to keep in mind is that these Cores warp the space around them, so that they essentially dig deeper and deeper into the earth, until they start creating entire floors from scratch and thus catapulting themselves ever deeper into the bedrock. Something we were able to witness first-hand with this new Dungeon."

He pointed at me next.

"Also, this new Dungeon has not stopped growing, even after coming under the sway of Mr. Fowler here. It is still nowhere near as deep or deadly as our own Dungeon here in Dunstonberrry, but its getting there awfully quickly. Digging itself deeper and deeper with every breath we take. From this, we can extrapolate that Cores could have dug themselves as deep as they are, even if they originally landed as asteroids back in the day."

He gave us all another warm smile.

"Though granted, this is all just a theory at this point. We are currently experimenting with the Core Cecil dominated and a few others we dug up before they matured in order to find out the truth. Alas, science is a slow and rigorous process that takes many generations to complete. While I may not see these questions answered, I can at least pass along knowledge to my children and grandchildren, in hopes that they might one day know the truth."

He then descended into a bout of silence. Gauging our reactions.

Someone clapped. Then another. Then another.

And soon, the entire room erupted in clapping.

I had to give it to him. He was a good public speaker, if nothing else.

Though I did find it funny that the guy who might as well be immortal was lecturing kids about leaving hopes and dreams for the next generation.

"And with that, we end that particular section and move on from theories to experiments."

He said with an almost childish amount of glee.

"So, how do we do it? How do we go about the process of figuring out which Skill does what and what the limits and potential applications of each Core are?"

He waved to the screen.

"The first and most used method is simply observation, coupled with trial and error. This is how my father did things in the original timeline and how humanity came to gather most of the knowledge he caried over to the past. By this method, you would get a researcher, preferably two or three, and you would have them monitor the effects of a Core's magic on the world around them. Do this enough times and you reach the conclusion that some Cores encompass several other Cores in terms of functionality, whereas some Cores combine different effects into a few, stronger effects. Moreover, these more complex Cores typically have much more of an impact on their bearer's physical abilities than simpler Cores. We figured this out because people with more complex Cores could routinely outperform people with simpler Cores in tests of physical prowess, once all Skills were confirmed to be turned off. That, and people with simpler Cores tended to be bottlenecked at certain levels of power, while those with more complex Cores kept advancing, albeit more slowly the more they improved until they reached a new threshold of explosive growth."

The next slide showed a graph, with a bunch of lines stacked atop each other in the beginning, that quickly separated and increased at different levels later on.

"As you can see, Cores also affect how many stats one can gain per level. Meaning that those with more complex Cores could be seen as carrying an intrinsic physical advantage. However, this advantage becomes less pronounced the more one climbs through the Stages. A 6th Stage Core is not all that different from a 7th Stage Core. Same with a 5th Stage Core and a 6th Stage Core. Only when you start to compare differences of 2 Stages or greater do you see significant deviations."

He clicked the remote and brought up the next slide.

"In contrast, the difference between a basic 1st Stage Core and a 2nd Stage Core is remarkable. The former may be bottlenecked at level 2, if they get to level 2 at all. With level 3 being the highest level ever recorded for a 1st Stage Core. And that was a very talented outlier. Also, that individual isn't alive yet in this timeline, so we can't even confirm the case."

He clicked on the remote once more. Bringing up a slide showing four different blasts of fire.

"As you can clearly see, what might me a gout of flame similar to a welding torch at level 1 could very well turn into a flamethrower at level 2 or to the equivalent of a housefire at level 3. We can apply this pattern of growth to all Cores, regardless of their particular effects, so we can infer that one's total Magical Output increases according to one's training, Core complexity and level."

He paced about. Glancing at the new arrivals from the farm.

"Through observation, we can see what magic does and what kind of magic each Core carries. Thereby naming automated Magical Phenomena as Skills and assigning a rough numerical estimate on each aspect of physical enhancement as Level-Body Statistics. By creating monitoring equipment and attuning them to what we refer to as Standardized Magical Signatures, we can infer how many Level-Body Statistics a person has on each of their parameters. Similarly, by programing these tools with a certain degree of pattern recognition, we can create software and hardware that automatically catalogs Skills as they appear by picking up on the patterns of energy spikes within a person's body. It is a fairly simple, if time consuming process."

He raised a pointed finger.

"But what are we to do when trying to figure out why magic works the way it does? Hmn? How do we go about defining it? Defining its limits? Separating it from natural phenomena we might not understand yet? After all, it is magic. Who's to say there isn't one or more Cores out there that can completely break the rules? Who's to say there isn't some way to circumvent the limits we've observed? How do we figure out what causes magic to surge and what causes it to ebb? How do we go about testing its true limits? Or, how would we go about researching it when observation is not an option, as with Patience's case?"

He waited for a response.

"Cecil. Any ideas?"

'Birth experiments and force them to experience different stimuli while they are weak. Keep the successes, re-absorb the failures and try again.' Evil-Cecil whispered.

Once again proving that he was indeed the literal worst.

'You think that, but I got more results in a few days than these fools did in decades. Something to keep in mind.'

"Well..." Mike started. Blissfully ignorant of what Pool-Cecil was saying. "I guess it depends on how magic reacts. We could try to see how it affects compounds. Like in Chemistry. Maybe magic reacts a certain way with different chemicals or electricity?"

James Robertson turned to him.

"Insightful, but no. Also, I was asking Cecil."

"Yeah. That's why I..."

Mike groaned.

"Look, until recently, I was Cecil okay? It's hard."

The teacher paused, hesitating. Then he nodded.

"Duly noted. My mistake for being insensitive."

He turned to me.

"Original Cecil then."

I tightened the grip on my magic and squeezed out the evil voice. Focusing on the question.

"I guess we could see if magic reacts to anything while it isn't being used? Like, we know it affects plants and crop yields and we know Ambient Magic mutates living beings in general. Maybe Magic attuned to different Cores has faint effects on living beings even when not being used?"

"Good guess. But no. Ambient Magic levels are more akin to background radiation than anything else. Yes, they affect living beings and Dungeon formation and the appearance of mutated and spawned monsters, but Magic that comes from attuned Cores generally can't mutate plants or animals without killing and absorbing each other through levelling. Unless of course, it is used in a Skill or Spell formation that specifically allows for such a thing to happen. Like yours."

He gave me an encouraging smile.

"Try again."

I rubbed my head. Trying to recall coach Russell's lessons. And trying to avoid making eye contact with him while I did so.

"I guess you could measure the effects of enchanted items? There are a few Cores that can make semi-permanent changes on non-living things. That's part of how the Analyzers are made."

"You're on the right track. We can indeed make magical items and then test them against different kinds of cores. But that only works if the items react to the core's unique Magical Signature. Try again."

I frowned. Trying to consider another way.

"I... maybe the person could try different things until... oh! Free-Form magic!" I exclaimed. "They could try Free-From magic to shape their own unique magic into patterns that worked for other people. That way, there's a chance their body might learn to activate it by instinct and form a Skill. Or the new exercise could have a novel effect. If enough people have the same limits, then you've learned something new and if enough people advance in the same way, then you also learn something new."

"Excellent deduction Cecil." The man spoke up.

Now addressing the rest of the room.

"While this may still qualify as a form of observation, we think of Free-Form Magic as something more akin to actively tinkering with this new form of energy. We can infer new things through what we call Free-Form magic. That is, the application of spell formations that worked for one Core now used for all other Cores or the new applications of magic in unintuitive ways to see what works and what doesn't. Most times it doesn't do anything. But sometimes, sometimes, we can learn that certain wavelengths, actions and re-actions are universal across Cores. And that leads us to observe monsters and even Dungeons more closely. Which leads us to forming hypotheses with more and more evidence backing them up. Leading us to learn hard rules about how magic operates."

He turned back to the screen. Clicking the remote again.

"And it is this topic that so interests us today."