The scent of decay assaulted him as soon as he entered the old storage warehouse.
Lin En closed the creaking wooden door behind him and, still uneasy, slid the latch firmly into place.
To anyone else, this abandoned warehouse was a place to avoid, but to him, it was the perfect laboratory.
Without hesitation, he began to move.
His goal: analyze the Energy Trajectory and Mental Power Mapping of Morton’s Fireball!
He walked to a relatively empty spot in the center of the warehouse and closed his eyes.
The faint magical affinity of his previous self was now the only sensory probe he could control.
He strained to recall every detail from the lecture hall, when Morton cast the Fireball—the twisting of the air before his palm, the path of energy convergence, the birth of that core point of light, the shape of the fireball’s expansion…
“Spiritual power is the signal source… energy convergence is the output… hand gestures are the geometric framework for spatial coordinate positioning and energy guidance…”
Lin En muttered to himself, the instinct of a physicist for fields and trajectories driving him.
He snapped open his eyes, grabbed a half-used piece of chalk, and began to sketch rapidly on the dusty floor.
He drew Morton’s standing position O, the direction of his outstretched palm X, the starting point of air distortion P1, the birth location of the light point P2, the stable floating point of the fireball P3, and finally, the initial trajectory vector V of the fireball’s flight.
A clear three-dimensional line of energy convergence and release emerged in the dust on the floor!
“Energy doesn’t just appear from nothing! It follows a specific spatial path from the void to reality!”
Lin En’s heart pounded.
“This path… it’s almost identical to the acceleration trajectory of high-energy particles in a magnetic field! Only, instead of an electromagnetic field, it’s… a Mental Power Field!”
He immediately tried to mobilize the faint thread of mental power within himself, imitating Morton’s gesture, and attempted to “guide” it toward the point he had drawn.
***
A barely perceptible ripple of magical energy spread less than an inch from his fingertip!
It vanished instantly, not even disturbing the air, but Lin En sensed it!
The feeling was as subtle as a mosquito landing on his arm—weak, but undeniably real!
“The Mental Power Field exists! It can disturb space, forming a channel for energy convergence!”
The discovery was like a thunderclap!
The foundation of magic was the energy field effect constructed by spiritual power!
The so-called communication with the Elemental Realm likely meant guiding the Mental Power Field to connect with some high-energy fundamental dimension—probably the Elemental Realm Morton had described.
If hand gestures set spatial coordinates, then what role did incantations play?
Lin En recalled the slight movement of Morton’s lips when activating Fireball, the deep, short, and powerful syllables.
He replayed every detail of Morton’s explanation in his mind: the incantation was the key to invoking the true name of a Spirit.
No!
“Not the true name—a sound wave!”
Lin En grasped the core instantly.
“A specific sound frequency and waveform can modulate or resonate with the Mental Power Field! Just as a particular frequency of electromagnetic wave can trigger atomic transitions!”
He began searching through the pile of discarded items.
He didn’t find any precision instruments, but he did discover a thin, flexible, transparent chip—looked like a discarded Alchemical Filter.
He fixed it in a crack in the wall and tried to replicate Morton’s activating syllable, focusing on its physical sound characteristics: low, chest resonance, and a short burst of a specific frequency.
……!
The chip emitted a faint, visible high-frequency vibration!
Lin En’s eyes brightened.
“Sound waves can induce resonance in matter! Then, they must also affect the more subtle Mental Power Fields!”
The essence of an incantation was a resonant drive signal imposed on the Mental Power Field, used to ignite or focus energy!
He immediately altered the sound, attempting a sharp, high-frequency pitch.
The chip’s amplitude and frequency shifted again!
“Different sound wave characteristics correspond to different modulation effects!”
Lin En clenched his fists in excitement.
The core code of magic release was being unraveled by physics, layer by layer!
With the theoretical framework roughly established, Lin En’s heart thundered as if struck by high-voltage current.
The ecstasy of analysis and the hunger for verification threatened to burst from his chest.
He took a deep breath, forcibly suppressing his surging emotions, and focused on the three-dimensional coordinates built in his mind.
He mimicked Morton’s stance, right hand slightly splayed, aiming at point P1.
His mental focus reached unprecedented levels, summoning that faint probe of spiritual power.
This time, his target wasn’t the elusive connection to Elemental Spirits, but the precise location and activation of the invisible Mental Power Field!
With a deep, short, chest-resonant activation syllable, it was no prayer to the elements—but a command!
Buzz—!
In front of his fingertip, the familiar, faint spatial ripple appeared again!
But this time, Lin En sensed it clearly.
The instant the sound wave was emitted, the amplitude of the ripple surged, like waves spreading wider after a stone is thrown into a calm lake!
The Mental Power Field had been successfully modulated!
Then, following Morton’s mental power trajectory when casting Fireball, he guided the faint spiritual power from P1 to P2 to P3!
It was conscious energy flow programming!
A miracle occurred!
At point P2, the position where the energy core was born, a pinprick of crimson light suddenly flared!
Though dim and almost heatless, it truly existed!
The first wisp of energy pried from that high-energy foundational dimension—an energy condensation phenomenon at a specific spatial coordinate!
“I did it!”
Lin En nearly shouted, his eyes ablaze.
This was the triumph of scientific analysis!
It proved that the triune theoretical model of Mental Power Field, sound wave modulation, and spatial coordinate positioning was correct!
After the euphoria came the insatiable curiosity of a scientist.
This feeble spark was just the beginning—Lin En would master it completely!
He began systematic variable testing at once.
Holding his breath, his fingertip hovered in the air.
When he sharply increased the volume of the specific syllable, the crimson dot at P2 suddenly swelled as if doused in oil, expanding from a pinprick to the size of a soybean in a blink, and the air immediately turned hot.
“What about a different pitch?”
With a thought, he twisted the tail of the sound into a sharp note.
The light suddenly flickered wildly, crackling as if it might explode!
He quickly fell silent, cold sweat trickling down his neck.
As expected, specific sound wave frequencies—incantations—served as precise adjustment mechanisms.
A half-beat off and the energy flow destabilized.
He wiped his sweat and stabilized the tone, pouring all his spiritual power into it.
The dot zipped up to the size of a mung bean with a hum, the heat radiating to the point his fingertip burned!
But when he tried to shift the trajectory of the spiritual power slightly, the light wobbled and its edges blurred and faded.
Startled, he tensed his hand.
So these gestures weren’t just for show—they fixed the spatial framework anchoring the energy flow!
After maintaining the tiny spark for three seconds, Lin En gritted his teeth and pushed the energy output further.
The orb hovered at P3, shining steadily, but refused to grow any larger.
“So this is the limit…”
He recalled Morton’s wrist-flick, then steeled himself.
His scant spiritual power surged forth!
The orb exploded into a fireball the size of a fist, gold and red flames raging in the air, turning the warehouse into a furnace.
Heat slammed into his face, his bangs curled and crisped, and sweat evaporated into white mist the moment it surfaced.
The wild energy whirled frantically before P3, rust peeling and cracking off the walls.
“It’s going to blow!”
The thought flashed through his mind.
Lin En swung his arm, and the fireball slammed into a battered metal plate on the wall.
Then he abruptly severed the mental link.
The orb collapsed instantly, bursting into a scalding shockwave.
The metal block glowed red-hot, molten iron dripping to the floor with a sizzling hiss.
Lin En gasped, the strain on his mind immense, a pounding headache building.
Yet his eyes shone brilliantly.
He had done it!
He had released Fireball, gaining a preliminary grasp of the key variables affecting its power, stability, and form:
Sound waves for activation and modulation, Mental Power Field strength for energy output limits, Mental Power guidance accuracy for control, and spatial coordinate positioning for energy convergence points.
He quickly pulled out his crude Notebook, using a charcoal pencil to record experimental data and observations by the light streaming through a broken window.
The scratch of the tip on rough paper echoed, every symbol and line of data a thorough analysis of this world’s magic system.
Lin En was immersed in overwhelming accomplishment and an even deeper thirst for knowledge.
This humble warehouse was now his first fortress in the conquest of magical mysteries!
“Magic… is nothing more than this.”
He murmured, a confident smile—belonging to a top physicist—curling his lips.
The insignificant talent of his previous self now blazed with revolutionary brilliance in his hands.
He began to ponder more complex questions: How to optimize the process?
How to reduce spiritual power consumption?
How to attempt more advanced shaping—like a wall of fire, or a fire dragon?
Or even… could he bypass sound and gestures altogether, using a stronger Mental Power Field or… instruments to activate it directly?
As Lin En’s thoughts once again drifted into contemplation—
“Bang!!!”
A thunderous crash.
The warehouse’s already-unstable wooden door was kicked open from outside with brutal force!
Rotting wood fragments flew as blinding sunlight flooded the darkened warehouse.