Chapter 15: Scanning Magic (Part 1)
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Translator: SFBaka
Seven days have passed since Cleria’s foot got completely restored.
Her arm has also nearly healed up as well, and all that remains to be regenerated are her fingertips. It should be fully restored by tomorrow.
After discussing with her, both of us decided to finally leave this makeshift base tomorrow.
Yep, my language proficiency has improved to the point where I can talk with Cleria normally. There are still some words I’m unfamiliar with, but I have no problems with the vocabulary often used in daily conversations. Cleria even said my pronunciation was impeccable.
I’d like to gather more data by talking to people other than Cleria, but that would have to wait for the time being.
I asked her about the reason why she was being chased the moment I became able to converse normally.
After pausing to think for a bit, Cleria requested that I give her some more time before she tells me the reason and assured me she would divulge it when she’s good and ready.
It seems her circumstances really were complicated. I’ve stayed with Cleria for quite a bit now and I really do think she isn’t someone who would commit wrongdoings. She’s no criminal, that’s for sure. So I don’t really mind if she doesn’t want to talk about her circumstances.
As for the number of her pursuers, she told me they definitely wouldn’t be just a few but their numbers won’t exceed a hundred. But there’s also a chance they won’t be able to catch up.
That’s rather vague. So is it alright to expect their numbers to be about fifty men strong? I think I’d be able to deal with that amount of targets with my rifle somehow, but those kinds of numbers still warrant utmost caution. And I’m still uncertain if it would be fine to shoot first and ask questions later if and when we do manage to encounter them. I’m still considering it as of now.
It’s also been seven days since I began learning magic, but my research hasn’t progressed at all. Well, not exactly. It’s progressing in some areas, but I haven’t really developed any new applications of fire spells and the like. This is because of something I requested Nanom to prioritize developing.
I wanted to produce the so-called multi-sensor – a standard piece of equipment of the Galactic Army Corps. As its name implies, it is able to detect anything within scanning range – terrain, the internal layout of buildings, the presence or absence of living life-forms and the like. Even if you’re not wearing active camouflage, you’d never be taken by surprise if you have a multi-sensor handy.
When I first came to this planet, the thing I wanted first was a multi-sensor.
I was honestly amazed at the wide applications of magic in this planet and asked Nanom if it could develop a magical version of a multi-sensor.
Due to that, there was no point in wasting magicles with aimless magic experiments. However, I was able to learn more about magicles as a result.
Every living creature on this planet is able to contain magicles within their bodies; whether it’s something as large as a Big Boar or as small as a tiny insect. Even plants have magicles inside them. It’s a rather surprising discovery, but the amounts of magicles present in a majority of creatures aren’t enough to construct a simple fireball spell.
Living things attract magicles, and the magicles gradually builds up inside of them. However, the amount of magicles will not continue to increase indefinitely. Once a certain amount gathers inside of a creature’s body, the inflow of magicles comes to a halt and the surplus magicles get expelled back outside. I don’t know the exact cause of this phenomenon.
It seems the amount of magicles an organism is able to contain greatly differs from species to species. In other words, creatures of the same species are able to contain the exact same amount of magicles inside them. As an example, Cleria and I have the same magicle count inside each of us.
The reason for the difference between the numbers of fireballs I and Cleria are able to cast stems from the efficiency of magicle use. According to Cleria, if one is able to improve their rate of magicle consumption, the number of times they can cast spells would increase accordingly. I just rely on Nanom for these sorts of things so it’s possible I won’t be able to improve this aspect anymore.
I and Nanom prioritized collecting this sort of data every day because it would enable us to determine what kinds of life-forms are present in an area from long range by determining the amount of magicles contained within them and creating a corresponding database.
We’ve also discovered that magicles have properties similar to normal particles and energy waves to some extent. They were particle-like, but also had properties like reflection, interference, and diffraction.
Upon discovering this fact, we were able to determine that it was possible to release raw magicles outside of the body instead of spells.
The magicles could be released outside of the body in the form of waves. There’s no noticeable effect if you only release a small concentration of waves out, but if you increase the output, the magicle waves get reflected back whenever they hit another mass concentration of magicles.
Utilizing this characteristic, we were able to develop a radar-like function using magicles. The detection range depends on the intensity of the output of magicles. If a strong wave is released, a wide range of information can be acquired.
Unexpectedly, Cleria was able to notice when I released a magicle pulse as part of my on-going experiments. When Nanom directed me to release a high output wave, she came over and told me she felt I emitted some magic power and asked me what I was up to.
It looks like the people of this planet call the movement of magicles as “magic power”. I was told one would be able to sense the build-up of magic power before a spell gets released, but somehow, I wasn’t able to feel a thing. Would I be able to do so with time?
It seems Cleria was told that her talent for detecting magic power is several times greater than most people, according to an experienced mage she knew.
After knowing this, I immediately enlisted Cleria’s help with my experiments. It seems whenever I use this form of “scanning magic”, there’s a danger of the other party becoming aware of my presence and position. I’d like to be able to obtain information unilaterally if possible.
We later discovered that Cleria’s ability to sense magic power was not only affected by the strength of the waves released but also the total distance from the emission point. I sort of expected this kind of outcome.
If that’s the case, would it be better if I increased the range and intensity of the magicle waves being released gradually instead of emitting something high-output all at once? I managed to arrive at such a conclusion.
For example, I’d first release a magicle pulse weak enough for Cleria not to notice from fifty meters out. If I found nothing worth noting, I’d proceed to widen the range to seventy-five meters, a hundred meters and so on.
Using this method, I’d minimize the risk of being noticed by the other party.
If this method isn’t effective, then I’ll just have to improve it step by step.
The nice thing about this “scanning magic” is that I can leave its activation entirely to Nanom. This is probably because I didn’t need to focus on a concrete sort of image for it.
Once it gets invoked, Nanom would automatically display the search results on a virtual display. It’s roughly the same display method as the multi-sensor, so it’s quite intuitive.
The amount of magicles used up when using scanning magic is about equal to one fireball per one hundred magicle pulses. It’s very cost-effective. It should prove quite useful from now on.
In the end, we weren’t able to quite re-create the functions of a multi-sensor, but the results were plenty satisfying enough.
When I declared the completion of my scanning magic method to Cleria who cooperated in its development, she first responded by staring at me with a wooden stare again. But she eventually snapped out of her stupor and immediately asked me to teach her the method.
But y’see, it’s kinda impossible for others to use this method without the aid of a sensor able to accurately detect magicles and the information processing ability of Nanom. I somehow skirted around the issue by telling Cleria she had to improve her magic control more. And then the conversation somehow moved to her tagging along with me on today’s hunt. I wonder why?
As we’ve used up a lot of time doing magic experiments, it’s already almost noon when we finished up. I decided to go hunting after we’ve had our lunch. Today’s dishes include grilled fish and stir-fried Big Boar meat – a classic but delicious menu selection.
“Guess it’s time for a hunt.”
“Yes! Let’s depart immediately Alan.”
Cleria seems quite eager to go hunting.
At first, Cleria was still somewhat embarrassed whenever she addressed me by name, but she seems to have gradually become accustomed to it. I think she looks to be more relaxed about it compared to before.
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