Chapter 51

Chapter 51

Alice watched as mana poured into her body. It was far more than she had ever seen before. It wasn’t just a trickle, or even a stream.

Instead, this time, it was as if a veritable tsunami of mana was surging towards her. System notifications started popping up left and right.

And Alice, filled with curiosity, tried something else. It wasn’t something she had directly prepared to try, and it wasn’t something she had the time to design a sophisticated or precise experiment around. It was merely a growing hunch, an idea that she wanted to inspect. However, if she didn’t act now, it would grow harder and harder to test in the future. She needed to test it now, while she was in the middle of gaining a bunch of levels and skills.

Alice immediately turned around, hopping back into the manaless room. She slammed the door shut, before using her pure mana seed to drive away the remaining wisps of mana from her surroundings. She was acting on a half-baked suspicion. She hadn’t really made a perfect hypothesis for this idea yet. However, she still had a growing suspicion, after what she had seen in the previous experiment.

She had a guess.

That the System did not work without mana.

The moment Alice stepped back into the manaless room, the System notifications stopped.

From gaining levels, Skills, and Attributes every second, suddenly, Alice’s status screen just froze. It was like someone had hit a giant pause button on her Status Screen. All of the numbers, notifications, and levels just stopped changing.

Alice opened the door again, letting mana stream towards her.

For a moment, the mana did absolutely nothing. However, the moment Alice’s skin made contact with a wisp of mana, the surroundings began to change again. Mana began to ripple and surge. Within ten seconds, the veritable tsunami of mana was back.

Meanwhile, Cecilia watched Alice with an increasingly dumbfounded expression.

What the heck is she doing?

Right now, all Cecilia could see was Alice opening and closing the door to the manaless room over and over again. Mana would drift around in weird, unnatural patterns every time. It looked like an incredibly drunk fish – it would start ‘swimming,’ before it flopped around unnaturally and became still. Over and over again.

Alice opened the door. She ran out, stared at thin air for several seconds, and then ran back in. She closed the door, and waited for several seconds.

She repeated this four times.

Finally, Alice opened the door and walked back out of the room. She turned to Cecilia, and started cackling madly. Her face wouldn’t have looked out of place if she was the villain in a play.

Did something go wrong with her head during the experiment? Cecilia couldn’t help but wonder as she stared at her surroundings.

Finally, Alice stopped cackling. She turned to Cecilia with a massive grin on her face, and her expression was filled with expectation.

Cecilia shivered. Her friend’s expression was strange. However, after seeing the mana start and stop moving over and over again, and thinking about the advanced mathematics Skill, Cecilia finally got it.

She realized what Alice had been testing. Cecilia opened her mouth, then closed it. If she distracted Alice right now, both of them might lose information during one of the best periods of time to test Alice’s assumption.

Alice opened her Status Screen.

That was because she had already finished her rough experiment.

If there was no mana in her surroundings, she couldn’t gain levels or Attributes. If she was supposed to gain levels, Attributes, or Skills in a room with no mana, she wouldn’t get a single system notification. Her Status would remain ‘paused.’

In fact, it felt exactly the same way she would do something on Earth. Almost as if the System didn’t exist at all. The only evidence that the System had ever existed in the first place was the fact that, even in a room without mana, Alice could still open her Status Screen. She could also feel her Perks still working, even with no mana in her surroundings. They started to limp along, like a computer without enough RAM, but they still kinda worked.

However, it was an undeniable fact that when there was no mana in one’s surroundings, the System seemed to stop functioning at 100%. Stats, Perks, and the ability to gain levels and Stats all just froze when one no longer had mana in their surroundings.

Even more interesting, if she re-entered a field of dense mana afterwards, all of the System stuff she should have gotten would start ticking up again, as mana was pulled towards her. And if she shut off the flow of mana again after that, she would immediately stop gaining levels, Attributes, etc. It was like a water faucet that could be turned on and off at will.

Author’s note: Status Changes are tracked from chapter 34. I underlined or bolded things when I thought it was appropriate, to make ‘changes’ easier to spot, and I also broke the Skills section into some sub-categories because I was thinking that it was starting to get a bit hard to easily look over.

Name: Alice Verianna

Age: 15 -> 16

Strength: 101 -> 103 (113%)

Perception: 114 -> 119 (146%)

Dexterity: 100 -> 102 (115%)

Intelligence: 158 -> 160 (123%)

Endurance: 105 -> 109 (111%)

Willpower: 133 -> 138 (108%)

Charisma: 125 -> 126 (107%)

Magic: 112 -> 123 (107%)

Primary Classes: 6/6

Survivor: 37 -> 40

Explorer of Magic: 31 -> 41

Scholar: 19 -> 24

Scientist: 14 -> 22

(Student) of Kinetic Magic: 13 -> 19

(Apprentice) Enchanter: 0 -> 9

Secondary Classes: 1

Fisherwoman: 3

Perks:

Foraging (Survivor 5)

Microbe Resistance (Survivor 10)

Extremophile (Survivor 15)

Camouflaged (Survivor 20)

Sixth Sense (Survivor 25)

Enhanced Training (Survivor 30)

Sense Hostility (Survivor 35)

Magic Proficiency (Explorer of Magic 5)

Enhanced Regeneration (Explorer of Magic 10)

Combat Spellcaster (Explorer of Magic 15)

Bookworm (Rarity 3)

The experiment had given her several levels, especially in [Scientist], [Explorer of Magic], and [Scholar]. Each of them had picked up at least one Perk, and Scientist had even gotten past two Perk levels.

She had expected all of those. {Seeker of Truth} had also increased in tier, even though it was still a rarity 8 Achievement. It had been hard for her to figure out how many experiments she would need to boost the Achievement further, and so it was a welcome, if not wholly unexpected, result.

However, why the hell had she gotten a level in [Survivor]? That... didn’t make any sense. She had been looking over her Status Screen for a while, thinking that she might have to give up on her original intention of getting [Survivor] up to level 40 and getting her fast-healing Perk, since it was becoming harder and harder to level the class. However, her [Survivor] class had finally ticked up one more level as a result of this experiment.

And frankly, that was just bizarre. She tried to think more about the subject, but no matter how she turned it over in her thoughts, she couldn’t figure out where the level in [Survivor] had come from.

Was there a greater element of risk in the experiment than Alice had assumed? She had thought it should be relatively safe, and even if it wasn’t, Cecilia was watching over the experiment, and it wouldn’t take more than ten minutes for an [Organic Mage] to get over here and help her if she was in real danger. Therefore, Alice shouldn’t have really been in too much danger at all. As far as she had observed, [Survivor] mostly gained levels when she survived dangerous situations.

On the other hand, this experiment also seemed to show that there were definitely bugs in the System. Ways that it worked, or failed to work, where it obviously should. Thus, the level in Survivor might also be one of those. In fact, it could even be a big hint about where one of the other errors in the System were.

Alice shook her head. For now, at least, she had no ideas. She quickly grabbed a piece of paper and scribbled down the strange occurrence. She would keep it in mind, and think about it later. For now, she had other things to look at.

Seeker of Truth (II) (Rarity: 8)

You have gained a multiple glimpses into the mechanics of the System and at least partially understood it. Your ability to observe mana is no longer subject to interference, and you may now see clearly.

+1 Primary Class Slot(s), +35% -> 50% class experience for all research-related classes, +10% Effect of Intelligence, +15% Effect of Perception. Your ability to see Mana is significantly enhanced. You will no longer experience any interference at all when attempting to observe phenomena involving mana, and will be able to see perfectly clearly.

Interference?

Alice tried to think about what interference could mean.

Truthfully, she had always found it odd.

Why was it that no one had discovered the link between mana and Attributes? It felt like someone should have noticed it by now. Sure, people might have attributed it to some sort of idea like ‘if you exercise, your body will inhale more mana, just like you need to gasp for breath after a hard workout’ or something like that. However, for that kind of idea to exist for thousands of years? In a world where the church was unlikely to actively suppress this kind of research, and centers of academic research were established all across the world?

Alice had wondered what was going on.

Now that she thought about it, She remembered Cecilia saying that it was hard to see what Alice was talking about, when she was trying to explain the link between mana and Attributes. After Cecilia had picked up {On the Shoulders of Giants}, however, Cecilia hadn’t mentioned any sort of similar problem. Illa, too, had mentioned picking up a Perk that allowed some sort of ‘improved sight.’

Was there some sort of actual interference that happened when people tried to look at the relationship between the System and Mana?

If so, how did it work?

And why?

Was it some sort of natural phenomenon? Some sort of ‘natural result’ of the way the System worked? Was it intentionally designed? Alice had no idea at all.

She shook her head. For now, at least, she had no good ideas for investigating the matter. She intended to figure out what ‘normal’ mages saw during her experiments as soon as possible, and she could probably ask Milo to help her out on that front. However, assuming that people without Achievements improving their sigh didn’t see anything in particular when people gained Stats and Levels, it would at least explain why the link between mana and Attributes wasn’t common knowledge. She would ask him to help out whenever he next had free time.

“I was right. The System can’t work without mana!”

Cecilia nodded, still giving Alice a slightly odd expression.

“That’s fine, and it’s actually really interesting. May I ask why you decided to run in and out of the room four times in less than a minute before cackling like a maniac though?”

Alice twitched. “Erm... for the sake of greater scientific experimentation! Look, it did look slightly silly, but it was important, all right?”

“S... sure.”

Cecilia looked away from Alice, as if she couldn’t bear to watch any longer. A moment later, Cecilia looked back at Alice. Her expression quickly warped back into a more focused expression.

“Come to think of it, you said the Skill for {Advanced Mathematics} also didn’t form while you were inside of the room, even when you solved the basic question for starting Trigonometry, right?”

“Yeah. It formed once I left the room, but I didn’t get all the levels in the skill at once. It stopped getting levels whenever I ran back into the room and cut off any contact with mana.”

“Then what happens if you try to grab a Perk while inside of the manaless room?”

“... Huh. That’s a really interesting question.” Before Cecilia could say anything else, Alice ran back inside of the room.

“Nothing. I opened the Perk selection screen, and then ran inside of the room. The moment I stopped touching mana, the entire screen just closed itself. I can’t open it back up, either.” Alice opened the door again.

“I think you have entered that room at least ten times today,” said Cecilia, absently. Then, she tapped her chin, as if she were trying to stroke a beard that wasn’t there. Instead of looking as if she was deep in thought, she started to give off a comedic vibe, but Alice said nothing.

“You know, if the System really doesn’t work without mana, that could also be why people think it’s lethal to not have mana.”

“What do you mean?”

“It’s easier to think of if you’re a native to this world, probably. However, the System is... Everything. It’s almost literally what shapes us, from the moment we unlock our status screen to the moment we die. One of my Perks failing to work properly was a big shock to me, because for most of my life, ‘trust in the System’ was an undisputed fact. It wasn’t even something I would have thought of. It’s like... it’s like thinking about breathing, right? Nobody thinks about breathing in a normal situation, because they don’t have to. Their body just does it. Just like they don’t usually think about air.

“And now, in this experiment, it seems like the System itself doesn’t work without mana. YOU experienced about a 15% reduction in your physical strength while inside of that room, right? But at the same time, you aren’t a good example of the average person in this world. What if the effects are worse on someone who has grown up with the System for a longer period of time? What if the stat loss is greater? Heck, what if losing access to the System is, in and of itself, lethal to people who have been connected to it for a long enough period of time?”

Alice fell silent, thinking over the question.

Was her research impossible? Or was it unethical to keep moving forward?

Alice didn’t want to seriously endanger someone’s life just to prove a hypothesis.

But at the same time, she felt like she was so close. That the answer was there, and if she pushed just a little bit farther, she would be able to know.

Suddenly, she felt like she could understand the Society of Starry Eyes just a little bit better. Why people would want to join such an organization that was willing to place lives in danger, in order to satisfy curiosity.

She didn’t like that feeling.

The room fell into an awkward silence for a few minutes, as Cecilia’s face seemed to switch between worry and curiosity, over and over again. Eventually, Alice broke the silence.

“For now, let’s keep experiments constrained to me, then. We’ve confirmed that this shouldn’t be lethal to me, and I’m not willing to put someone else in danger. Not until we know with a higher level of certainty that this isn’t likely to be a dangerous experiment.”

Cecilia seemed to think about it. Finally, she sighed.

“It will cripple our ability to collect other data. Things like whether there is consistency in how many stats people lose, in whether Perks are universally unpickable in a manaless room, how mana interacts with things while inside of a manaless room after being used by a Mage...”

Alice felt a slight, bitter sting inside of her heart. But she also sighed.

“At least I can test those things. Even if we can’t ethically try this on another person, even after this experiment, we can still test things on me.”

“At least it’s something,” said Cecilia. However, there was something else in her voice. A slight hint of stubbornness. A desire to learn more without giving up. “We can at least learn more. Even if we can’t generalize the experiments yet, we can learn more, and do more experiments. I don’t want to give up. We can start here, and try to learn more. Then, when we’re sure that it’s safe, we can try to get it past an ethics committee. If we succeed, we could try to generalize the experiments.”

Alice nodded. She had hoped that this experiment would let her open up doors to a completely new path.

In a sense, she wasn’t wrong. This experiment seemed to prove that Mana and the System were linked together. Without mana, the System didn’t work. Attributes would degrade. Perks would stop working at full capacity. She had entirely new questions and ideas to test.

But the fact that it would still be hard to use as a ‘real’ experiment, one that could be tested on multiple people, recognized, and published in an academic circle, was hard to swallow.

Still, that was just for now. She could use herself as an experimental subject, and she was fairly sure it was safe. Even if it wasn’t perfect, it would do the job.

For now, at least, she still had plenty of things to explore with Cecilia. She would remain the only test subject, and wouldn’t even be able to see how things looked like if someone like Milo were involved instead. Still, it was something.

Even if it wasn’t perfect, for now it was enough.