168: The Foundation of Magic

After completing the material drop-off, the Wanderer's force field generators activated again. Its massive hull gradually became transparent like melting ice and snow, until it completely vanished above the Kalamo Canyon. Sunlight once again shone upon the land that had been shrouded in shadow.

However, for the Red Dragon Klaus Difan, the gloom that enveloped his heart was even heavier and more suffocating than the shadow just moments before.

If being beaten down by the silver-haired runt with two punches had only made him feel an absolute gap in strength and a biological fear of an unknown creature, then the scene just now—that colossal steel warship, so vast it seemed to blot out the sky and encompass the entire world—completely shattered his draconic pride and worldview.

That was absolutely not something a mortal race could create.

Deep within his inherited memories, even the Arcane Emperors of ancient times who built floating cities, or the legendary Titan Giants capable of lifting continents, could not have possessed such a magnificent creation.

It was a miracle.

There was no other explanation.

Klaus Difan curled up in a corner outside the cave, watching the tireless metal puppets (construction robots) move in and out of his lair, transforming his “home” into some kind of temple he couldn't possibly comprehend.

His gaze would occasionally steal a glance at Ilya, who was directing everything, the original fear in his eyes quietly transforming into reverence.

"She must not be an ordinary person... Perhaps she is the incarnation of the Goddess of Steel and Thunder? Or even the goddess herself? Or an ancient god from the Star Realm?"

The Red Dragon's massive head began to wildly fantasize.

In the inherited memories of the dragon race, there were indeed records of unspeakable terrifying existences beyond the Star Realm. The more he thought about it, the more reasonable it seemed, and he even began to feel lingering fear for his previous offense, while also feeling a hint of secret joy about his current “subordinate” status.

Being a doorkeeper for a god was not only not shameful in dragon circles, but speaking of it could even be boasted about for thousands of years! This was called divine favor!

...Meanwhile, Ilya had no time to pay attention to the rich inner drama of this large lizard.

She stood in the center of the newly constructed laboratory, intently staring at the analysis table before her.

The withered wooden staff, which belonged to the Royal Archmage of Rocasia, was suspended within a transparent force field generator. Dozens of invisible detection beams were performing atomic-level tomographic scans on it.

"Interesting... Very interesting indeed."

Ilya's bionic fingers rapidly slid across the holographic interface, lines of data cascading down like a waterfall.

For Ilya, although she had encountered the concept of "psionics" through the Faleim People's database, it was limited to knowing that it was an energy method commonly used by idealistic civilizations. She knew nothing about its specific operating mechanisms, physical models, or conversion formulas.

For Ilya, who had received a rigorous physics education since childhood, this kind of power that could "change reality with a thought" was simply an open defiance of the laws of physics.

But now, the evidence was right before her eyes.

"Material analysis complete," the Navigator's voice echoed in the laboratory. "The main body of this staff is composed of high-density carbon fiber biological tissue, similar to Earth's yew wood, but its cell walls are rich in an unknown metallic element. This element has no corresponding position in the periodic table and is presumed to be an isotope unique to this planet."

"The core is the key," Ilya zoomed in on the image. "Look here."

At the center of the staff, a very thin crystal conduit was embedded.

"The structure of this thing doesn't look naturally formed; it's more like the fossilized nerve fiber of some creature," Ilya analyzed. "Its energy conductivity is astonishingly high, almost twice that of a room-temperature superconductor, and it has an extremely sensitive reaction to specific frequencies of brainwaves, or rather, mental fluctuations."

"This is an amplifier," Ilya concluded. "It's like a large signal amplification antenna. It doesn't generate energy itself; its function is to amplify the user's mental commands and guide the surrounding free energy to arrange and combine."

But this raised a new question: where did the energy come from?

According to the law of conservation of energy, conjuring a large fireball out of thin air requires an enormous amount of energy, but this staff contained no high-energy batteries or reactors.

"Is there an energy field in the surrounding environment that we haven't detected yet? Or..." Ilya pondered, "does the energy come from another dimension?"

She felt as if she had touched the door to a new world, but this door was locked with a key labeled "idealism," and her physics key didn't seem to fit.

"It seems we can't learn much from inanimate objects alone."

Ilya turned, her gaze passing through the laboratory's glass door, locking onto the napping Red Dragon at the entrance.

"Hey! Big lizard! Get in here!"

...Klaus Difan heard the summons, shivered, and immediately scurried in. Because of his immense size, he could only squeeze his head and half his body into the laboratory, leaving his rear and tail outside.

"Goddess, do you have any commands?" Klaus Difan asked obsequiously.

"Goddess?" Ilya was full of questions, not knowing what this stupid dragon was thinking. "Disgusting title. You can call me Doctor or Captain."

"And stop being so obsequious with me," Ilya said, crossing her arms and floating to the level of the Red Dragon's eyes. "I ask you, do you understand magic?"

"Magic?" Klaus Difan was startled, then righteously declared, "My Lady, you've asked the right dragon. Although I haven't reached the age of Ancient Dragons who can summon wind and rain, as a noble dragon, magic is our innate talent!"

"We don't need to laboriously memorize spells, draw magic circles, or pray to gods like those weak, smaller species of casters," the Red Dragon snorted, a spark of fire escaping his nostrils. "Magic flows in our blood, our roar is a spell—this is Dragon Language Magic!"

"Oh? Innate skill?" Ilya's eyes lit up. "So, it's an instinct encoded in your genes?"

"You could say that," Klaus Difan nodded. "In my inherited memories, countless powerful forbidden spells are recorded, such as [Doomsday Judgment], [Meteor Fire Shower], [Spatial Imprisonment]... Of course, those highest-level spells require extremely vast magical power, usually only Ancient Dragons who have lived for tens of thousands of years or legendary Ancient Dragons can cast them."

"As for me now..." He scratched his head a bit sheepishly. "At most, I can cast a few high-level spells."

"That's enough," Ilya snapped her fingers. "I want you to demonstrate it to me now, immediately, right away."

"Here?" Klaus Difan looked around at the delicate and fragile white instruments. "My Lady, isn't this too dangerous? What if your divine artifacts are damaged..."

"You don't have to pay if it breaks. Just do as I say," Ilya flew to the control panel and activated all sensors. "Navigator, full-spectrum monitoring activated. Focus on spatial curvature fluctuations, energy overflow, and this dragon's brainwave changes."

"Yes, Captain."

"Alright, big lizard," Ilya pointed to the isolated open space in the center of the laboratory. "Aim there and cast your most powerful and flashiest magic. Don't worry about the power being too great; my shields are much harder than your scales."

Klaus Difan swallowed. Since the "goddess" had said so, he dared not disobey.

He took a deep breath, his expression becoming serious.

An ancient, desolate, and majestic aura began to gather around him.

"Attention! A sharp increase in bioelectric signals detected within the target creature! Brainwave frequency entering an abnormal band! Unknown energy disturbances appearing in the surrounding space!" The Navigator's broadcast rang out like a machine gun.

Ilya stared intently at the data stream on the screen.

Klaus Difan's massive throat began to vibrate, emitting a string of obscure and difficult-to-understand syllables.

It wasn't an ordinary language; with each syllable uttered, the surrounding air visibly trembled.

"Ash... Nazg... Gimbatul..."

As the last syllable fell, the Red Dragon suddenly opened its huge mouth and spewed a beam of red light towards the open space.

Boom!

Unlike the scorching dragon's breath he had previously spewed, this was a crimson fireball, approximately two meters in diameter.

The fireball, as if conscious, spun at extremely high speed towards the target point the moment it left the dragon's mouth. Upon contact with the ground, it didn't immediately explode but rapidly contracted, and then—

BOOM!!!

A dazzling mushroom cloud of flames soared within the force field shield. The violent shockwave slammed against the transparent shield wall, creating ripples of blue.

The high temperature instantly vaporized the rock samples used for testing, and the entire laboratory vibrated slightly.

"This is [Explosive Fireball]," Klaus Difan said, looking at his masterpiece with a hint of pride. "How about it, My Lady? This is my specialty, much more powerful than ordinary dragon's breath!"

However, Ilya ignored his boasting.

She was currently in a state of extreme shock and exhilaration.

"Replay! Slow-motion replay! Adjust precision to microsecond level!"

On the screen, the process of those few seconds was slowed down thousands of times.

Ilya clearly saw the entire process of the "magic" being generated.

First, a strong, unknown fluctuation erupted in a specific region of the Red Dragon's brain, likely near the pineal gland.

This fluctuation was not blocked by the skull but directly penetrated the matter, spreading into the surrounding space.

Immediately afterward, the unknown microscopic particles in the surrounding space, which were originally inert, began to wildly gather and arrange under the "command" of this fluctuation.

On a macroscopic level, they manifested as a rapid increase in thermal energy.

In magical terms, this was the convergence of fire elements.

And the Dragon Language spell was essentially an acoustic frequency lock; it assisted the brain in adjusting that mental fluctuation to a specific frequency, much like tuning a radio, thereby triggering an energy burst on the physical plane.

"Incredible... Absolutely incredible!"

Ilya's fingers trembled.

"No fuel, no oxidizer, no ignition device."

"Merely by the fluctuation of consciousness, energy was forcibly 'borrowed' from the vacuum and converted into thermal energy to be released."

"Is this what they call magic? Is this psionics?"

She turned to the Navigator: "Has the energy source been traced?"

"Unable to pinpoint, Captain," the Navigator replied. "The energy seems to be leaking from microscopic fissures below the Planck scale, like opening a valve to an energy sea in another dimension."

"Consciousness... is the switch for the valve," Ilya murmured to herself.

She finally understood why the Faleim Civilization's data showed such disdain for idealistic civilizations.

Because this power completely bypassed the causality of physics; it required no industry, no accumulation. As long as your spirit was strong enough, you could directly rewrite reality.

"This is practically cheating!" As a staunch materialistic scientist, Ilya felt a strong sense of discomfort, but it was followed by an even stronger desire for conquest.

"If we can analyze the frequency and encoding method of this fluctuation..."

"If we can create a machine that can simulate these brainwaves..."

"Then can humans also cast magic?"

Her gaze towards Klaus Difan became even more fervent, as if she were looking at a gold mine.

"Well done, big lizard!"

Ilya flew over and patted the Red Dragon's nose.

"I still have a lot of data to collect."

"Next, I want you to demonstrate every spell, every type of magic in your head, to me!"

"I want to record the frequency of every syllable, every fluctuation of brainwaves!"

"I want to deconstruct this so-called magic!"

Klaus Difan looked at Ilya's fanatical eyes and suddenly felt a chill down his spine.

He had a premonition that his good days were probably over.

"Uh... My Lady, if I cast too many, my magic power will be exhausted..."

"We'll talk about that when your magic power is exhausted! Begin!"

In the following days, the deep parts of Kalamo Canyon would daily echo with the shrill roars of the giant dragon and the booming explosions of various spells.

And during this process, a report on "Physical Analysis of the Indigenous Magic System of Planet F-81-03A" was slowly taking shape in Ilya's terminal.