John was pulled away from teasing his friend and sought out a quieter section of the library to 'meditate'. "What's up, sis?"
[[Jessica: My research teams had a MAJOR breakthrough on our Magic project!]]
Oh sweet! "So what, I can stop [[Scanning]] stuff here and move on?" Because at this point the sounds of people and things trying to get past Shadowcrest's defenses were scratching at his Mind… It was very disturbing.
[[Jessica: I mean, you could of course… But please give my people a chance to dump some raw recordings of all we can first? That way they can process all those books at some later point and we won't miss anything. Just because we are pretty sure we know what is going on doesn't mean that all these books are suddenly worthless or something.]]
…Hmm. "Going to automate that then, it's growing harder and harder to pretend nothing is out there trying to break in. Sooner we [[Scan]] all this stuff, the better. Now! Tell me more about this Magic breakthrough!"
And his sister did, even as he found more and more unnoticed holes in his own thoughts being filled in by the uncovered trivia.
It basically boiled down to a simple question, one approaching the whole 'What is Magic' issue from a different angle: What ISN'T Magic?
Or in other words, how is a Conceptual Material different from solidified Essence or bestowed Faith or the actions of Magic?
And while still a bit rough around the edges, some general discoveries were now being agreed upon!
First, Conceptual power was a defined effect. Unchanging in ability, the Concept can only exist as long as it acts a specific way or can be ACTED upon a certain way… Period.
The only way to ALTER those things would also change which Concept it represents. A sword that embodies the Concept of 'Cut' couldn't change into one that represented 'Slice', for example… Even if the two Concepts were very similar to each other.
It was an object of permanence, in a way.
Essence Blocks or materials however… They represented raw potential. Possibilities, the multitude of endless outcomes before they became manifest.
…Which explained why Essence Blocks were SO efficient for John's Pocket to use as a storage medium. He was converting junk into raw potential, for later Crafting into actual products. Neat!
Anyway, back on topic… Once Essence was exposed to reality, unless said Realm was VERY odd like Steve's Realm, Essence would be forced to stabilize into SOMETHING. Something with a set of solidified Concepts and energies and all that mess, something static.
But different from all that?
Magic.
Magic was change. Actions. Movement, of many types.
It could pretend to be an object, like a Concept, but those were basically cheating from what the researchers could tell… Those spells were either recursive, self replacing, or highly empowered and slowly decaying at a scale unmeasurable to any locals nearby.
But in action came Magic.
Energies and materials shifting from one to another. Preplanned actions or triggers, eagerly waiting to be activated.
Honestly, some of the oddities that John had already Crafted were already pushing that line towards Magic… His Crafting Chests especially, as it abused several edge cases of Essence stabilization and Conceptual existence and so forth to fake the ability that MAGIC had to interact with others while showing some level of flexibility.
But now that John had examples, actual data to work with… It felt like someone had turned on the light in a dim room.
He couldn't help but grin… "Right, then… It's not a different energy source. None of them are…"
A hand held before his face began to twist energy. A flicker of potential, Essence. The shifting of change, Magic. Endless solidity of permanence, Concepts. Forgotten traces of connection, Faith… Wait, what?
John stared at the new but somehow VERY old energy that sang in his palms. "Hey, sis?"
He could feel her trying to quietly order around her Agents without ignoring him. [[Jessica: Yes, just leave the new results over there, thank you. Sorry, John. What's up?]]
His hand twisted as the sparkles flickered between fingers. "Do we have any records about when I ran into this stuff?"
[[Jessica: …What stuff?]]
John held up the giggling energy. "This."
[[Jessica: …The scanning modules aren't picking up anything, but I've seen too many impossible things to not just take your word by this point. Not to mention the craziness that happened when you were bouncing around following reality's suggestions… Wait, let me see if Grace has gotten back from her nap, she might have an idea or two to try.]]
Sure, why not. "It feels very odd… Like my favorite meal, but from so long ago I can't remember when I last had it…"
…Should he lick it?
Almost INSTANTLY John could feel a future version of himself suggesting to NOT lick the new substance, if for no other reason than to avoid a VERY long lecture from the girls and his sister.
Which was fair.
Hmm. "[[Scan]]... Nope, nothing." Had he lost control of this stuff after converting energy into it?
A slight focus and his hand was full of sand, then the Concept of humor, then eggs… And back into Faith.
So um… It didn't exist according to everything he could detect stuff with, but could still be used as a resource for conversion like all other Craftable materials. Odd.
Still, he could at least play with it!
Let's try smushing Faith with other energies. If nothing else, it SHOULD be very compatible with some Concepts, right? Most religious symbols should blend nicely with Faith, he had no doubt.
His hands glowed a bit as he began fiddling with the energies. Faith and the Concept of Cleanliness? The result looked like blue bubbles… But only to John. Still invisible and undetectable from everything else, apparently.
Faith and Essence Crafted Bread? In his eyes, the stuff glowed a pale white. And the resulting product tasted a bit of song and time… Maybe a hint of sympathy.
John was in the middle of testing random combinations and trying not to blow himself up (Faith plus the Concept of Surprise was a BAD idea, fyi) when he felt the girls connecting.
[[Temptation: Alright, Mistress says that Master has accidentally done something so unbelievable that her logic is breaking down while he started playing with something undetectable by any of our modules… Which sounds like an every day event or so. Now! What am I not seeing right now?]]
[[Grace: Whatever it is CAN be seen in the logs while our Lord converts it from one material to another… Sort of? At least, we can see the prior materials vanishing or the new products suddenly self spawning into existence…]]
John grabbed a ball of belief and began bouncing it. "Pretty sure this is pure Faith. No idea how I recognize it, or how I can convert stuff into it…" Wonder what it tastes like? "Feels a bit like the stuff back in the Muppet Realm, just less… Felty? Felt-like?"
[[Grace: WHAT!?]]
[[Temptation: Crud, is this data acting as a Peter Pan thing? Like, you can only detect this energy if you already BELIEVE you can? As if Imagination is required for proper Pocket module operations?]]
…Actually, that would explain a lot. "Maybe? But I didn't know about it OR believe in it until after I already knew it existed and that I could do so." Um… Wait, that didn't sound right. "I mean, I was trying to list the energies I routinely work with so I could not just begin working with Magic but start streamlining that mess and making it more efficient, right?"
[[Jessica: Like you do, yes.]]
John moved his hand closer to his mouth. Maybe just a tiny nibble? "And somehow Faith was just… Always there. Not sure if it is my faith in myself, others faith in me or… Maybe only in itself? Like, does existing Faith allow Faith to exist?"
[[Temptation: …I dare you to lick it.]]
[[Grace: SISTER!]]
See, she gets it! "I wanted to, you know? But apparently a version of myself that doesn't exist yet told me that I would get a LONG talking to if I did, and those aren't really all that fun to go through…"
[[Jessica: …So what does that mean for the sensing System modules? They need to have opinions now? Won't that cause MORE problems with everything else?]]
…Actually, yeah. "My System works even WITHOUT all the amazing help you and the girls put into getting me better, just far less efficiently. As long as I spend more and more time around this stuff, I should eventually figure out how I can visually see something that NO part of myself can admit to seeing."
Seriously, this was an odd effect. If John closed his eyes, he couldn't even REMEMBER seeing this Faith in his hands… Only when he directly focused would it be visible moment by moment.
It made the scientific method VERY difficult to analyze this whole mess. How do you test something when only a single person can detect any of it? This stuff didn't interact with the world, as far as John could tell.
Hell, Faith barely even interacted with people! He was pretty sure this stuff shouldn't be touchable, much less juggled in his hand like this. Or maybe that was only true with Faith he personally Crafted?
Well, that was an issue for another time. "Let's look into this stuff next Realm, alright? I want to get this library [[Scanned]] and do some Magic testing to validate the theories your Agents came up with, and then move on already. Something about the watchers is starting to make me feel antsy."
…And it started to get much worse after he got curious and Crafted that ball of Faith earlier, now that he thought about it.
Um.
Oops?
Best not mention that if possible.
~~~Pocket System~~~
Sindella waved her husband off. She was still on the phone! "Thank you governor, and I'm sure everything will start settling down in a few days…" Eugh, now he was just repeating himself. Go away, stupid government man! She'd already answered what she could, this was just wasting time!
Her man was still trying to get her attention… Crud, it must be important.
She held the phone against her shoulder. "Did something happen?"
Giovanni gestured. "[[Wohs em eht tsap hcuot fo eht sdog]]... See this?"
He was holding up a model of Shadowcrest, focused on the library. His other hand was gesturing at the pretty sparkles in the library where her little one was recently being teased by their unusual visitor. "That. Right there, the energy sparks that are being detected."
…Maybe her man was a little TOO on edge. "You knew they were going to be researching and performing magic in there. We have a dozen safety charms and spells keeping track in case anything goes wrong."
Though none of them should be colored like those sparks, now that she looked more closely.
The Magician gestured at the nearest one. "Fragments of divinity. Sparks. That BOY who is clearly up to no good seems to be dripping with untouched and unaligned holy power of the most pure nature, the essence of newborn innocence…"
The magical image showed that spark… Instantly shifting into a muffin. "And then he does things like THAT!"
Sindella blinked… "Oh!? How did he…"
Her husband huffed! "I have NO idea, but it is drawing a LOT of attention towards our home!"
She tried to move forward and get a better look, but the phone… "I'm sorry governor, something urgent came up. I'll have to call back at a later time…" "Wait, wait! [[CLICK!]]"
Good, that was a boring conversation anyway. "Did he just convert a spark of newborn untouched innocence into a muffin?"
The man grumbled. "Give it a minute, he's likely to change it back again. Nearly activated ALL our defenses when I thought he was doing some sort of multi stepped ritualistic sacrifice, but instead I stumbled upon this BOY pulling off a brand NEW impossible party trick… Probably another attempt to seduce our innocent little princess!"
She raised an eyebrow. "You think that John Doe is fundamentally achieving impossible actions in an effort to show off in front of a pretty girl?"
Giovanni winced, looking to the side… "In my defense, I did something similar when I was trying to get your attention back in the day."
Aww, so adorable! She patted his face before pulling him in for a kiss… "The fact that you've never realized that I was already claiming you as mine back then is just precious."
He blinked. "Wuh?"
She grinned. "I love you too, sweety."
Daw, look at him blush! Hmm, they did have an hour or two if they 'worked' fast…
Wait, no! Don't get sidetracked, you could jump your man later. "I best just stop by and see what is going on down there…"
Then the DAMNED PHONE started ringing again! "I'm going to kill someone."
Her clawed fingers reaching towards the stupid phone were suddenly clasped by her wonderful man… "I'll handle this for a while. Go make sure everything is alright down there, leave this to me."
…She loved this man. "Thanks, hun."
His smile was brilliant… "And maybe you could nudge that BOY out the door? Just a little bit faster? Or at least get him to stop attracting low level spiritual beings like flies to a zapper?"
Sindella's smirk came back… Best hide it! "I'll see what I can do, love."
Not really though.
Now let's go see her little girl and ask the muscled boy hero ALL the questions about god muffins and impossible energy signals! WOO!
