Chapter 406: The Limitation of Magic Power
A self-generating system of electricity that required no external energy source.
Grey winter light pressed at the office window, thin and unconvincing. The arc in the copper wire frame glittered against it — brighter for the competition.
Roland thought it through. Mystery Moon’s ability was an attaching type — she didn’t generate a force herself so much as bestow a property upon objects. What she had done was add a new property to the metal frame, one her magic power maintained: a constantly self-varying magnetic field. Changes in magnetic flux that required no mechanical input because the magic itself supplied the variation. Not a perpetual motion machine — that framing belonged to a different world’s physics. Here, a witch’s magic power was neither natural force nor human labor but something anterior to both, something that could not be measured on the same scale.
What he needed to determine was whether the magnetic property she attached to objects could change dynamically after the fact.
“How did you manage it?” he asked aloud.
“When you said electricity and magnetism were indivisible, I thought — if I added a constantly changing magnetic force to the copper wires, the way you said electricity requires changes in magnetic forces, then perhaps the objects would generate lightning themselves.” She watched his face carefully. “So I tried. And it turned out this way.”
“Changes in electric current do produce magnetic fields,” he said slowly. “But magnetic fields only generate electricity under specific conditions — closed circuits and changes in magnetic flux. Both change in area and change in magnetic force require external energy. Mystery Moon’s ability has substituted the self-changing magnetic force for that energy supply.” He paused. “What I’m wondering now is whether the magnetic property you attach to objects can be changed after attachment. Can you alter it once it’s already on the object?”
She thought for a moment, then nodded — then shook her head. “At the Witch Cooperation Association I tried once to reduce the magnetism of objects when they weren’t being used, to keep from causing problems for the others. But it didn’t work. The magnetic force stayed the same no matter what I tried. I thought it was simply impossible, and I gave up.”
“As expected,” Roland said. He glanced toward the corner of the room. “The form of her magic power—”
“They’ve merged.” Nightingale stepped out of the mist, smiling. “The two are one now.”
Mystery Moon’s breath caught. “Did I really—”
“Yes.” Roland nodded. “Your ability has evolved. Only sustained, relentless practice leads to this kind of rapid enlightenment. You’ve done excellent work. From this moment, you’re the sixth evolved witch in the Witch Union.”
“Congratulations,” Nightingale said, and crossed the room to pat Mystery Moon lightly on the head.
“Am I able to do more for you now, Your Highness?” Mystery Moon’s eyes were lit.
“Countless things,” Roland said. “But first — sleep. Your dark circles are the size of your fists. I’ll test your new ability this afternoon.”
“Yes!” She nodded with her whole body and left.
Nightingale shut the door deliberately behind her. She didn’t return to her usual place at Roland’s desk or the French window. Instead she came close — close enough that her hair brushed his cheek when she leaned in, her hands on his shoulders, her eyes at a distance that made his thoughts briefly and entirely malfunction.
“Tell me the method,” she said.
Not what he had expected. Not even close.
“What method?”
“How to evolve without reading Natural Science Theoretical Foundation.” Her voice was eager, not coy. “I could tell from Mystery Moon’s grades that she barely understands the book, and yet you found a way to guide her to a new ability. What would I need to do? Practice with small toys?”
Oh. Roland cleared his throat and collected himself. “I’m afraid your ability won’t evolve through sudden insight.”
Her brightness faltered. “Why not?”
“According to Agatha, only observing natural phenomena connected to your own ability can trigger evolution. Your Mist is something I can’t explain or map in any framework I have access to. I can’t guide you toward what I don’t understand.” He said it as gently as he could. “For you, the only real path may be a deep grounding in natural science, physics — eventually, advanced mathematics.”
Nightingale’s face fell. She walked to the couch and sank into it, and the cushion received her the way a shore receives something thrown back by the sea.
After lunch, Roland spent the full afternoon testing Mystery Moon’s new ability.
He named it Variable Magnetic Force. Like her original magnetizing ability, it could be applied to any object, and it would create a periodic variation based on the magic power she had initially invested. Insulators produced nothing; conductors lit.
By testing against the Magic Stones embedded in the Sigil of God’s Will, Roland determined that Mystery Moon’s base magic power was the weakest among the evolved witches — capable of lighting only two Stones, half a stone below even Maggie. The Stones glowed in sequence, briefly vivid, then dimmed as she reached her ceiling. This was the constraint that shadowed everything else. The attaching-type ability was a demanding one: the greater the magnetic variation and the longer it was maintained, the more magic power it consumed. A series of tests with a converted DC motor — originally built for the electrolysis of water, now reconfigured as an electric motor — yielded the same answer each time: her new ability could sustain the motor for roughly half a day before her reserves ran out. Useful as a battery analog. Insufficient as a power source for anything large.
He didn’t tell her.
There was no cruelty in this decision, only calibration. She had just evolved. The path forward was the same as it had always been: study and practice, the slow accretion of understanding that remade an ability from within. He sent her back to both, with encouragement rather than data.
The limitation, though, stayed with him.
He remembered something Agatha had mentioned in passing — the old method by which the Union’s witches had jointly produced Stones of Light. Cooperative magic production required a specific type: a witch who could control or transfer magic power between practitioners. If such a witch existed, Mystery Moon’s power ceiling became a non-issue. The bottleneck of a single magic reserve would simply disappear.
In the evening, he went to find Tilly.
“A witch with a controlling type of magic?” She considered it. “None of the Sleeping Island witches have that kind of ability.”
Roland sighed. “Then Mystery Moon will have to develop on her own for now.”
“However,” Tilly said, with a quality of precision that suggested she had been waiting for the right moment to deploy this, “I know where you can find the witch you want.”
Chapter 406: The Limitation of Magic Power
Translator: TransN Editor: TransN
“What did I just see? A self-generating system of electricity that doesn’t need an external energy supply!
Mystery Moon’s ability is an attaching type of magic so the answer is the answer is clear. She’s added a brand new property to the metal frame, and” her magic power acts as the energy supply,” Roland mused to himeself.
“How did you manage to do that?” Roland asked aloud.
“When you said that there’s an intertwining relationship between electricity and magnetism, and that they’re indivisible, I wondered if I could make the objects generate lightning by magnetizing them. I tried to add a constantly changing magnetic forces to the copper wires because you’ve said creating electricity requires changes in magnetic forces. Then it turned out this way,” Mystery Moon answered cautiously, her eyes sparkling with expectation.
“That’s why… Changes in electric currents do produce magnetic fields, but magnetic fields only generate electricity under certain circumstances. It requires both closed circuits and changes in magnetic flux; changes in the magnetic area and magnetic forces both need external energy supply.
Mystery Moon’s new ability has replaced an energy supply with the selfchanging magnetic force,” the prince concluded. Roland would have thought it was a perpetual motion machine prototype, if he saw it in modern times. Yet here in this world, he understood that powers of witches could not be judged by common sense of his time. The magnetic property added to the objects might not be produced by magnetic poles, just as the Blackfire was not natural fire.
They were tangible forms of the magic power.
He could only wonder whether Mystery Moon had noticed any magnetic force change in objects to which she attached her magic power.
When Roland asked her about it, she nodded and then shook her head. “When I was in the Witch Cooperation Association, I once wanted to change the magnetism of objects according to my will. To avoid causing my sisters any trouble, I tried to make the objects less magnetic when they were not in use. However, it didn’t work. Their magnetic force remained the same. I thought it was impossible, so I gave up on it,” she said.
“Just as I expected,” Roland thought. He cocked his head towards Nightingale and said, “The form of her magic power… ”
“They have been united.” Nightingale stepped out of her mist and smiled. “The two are now one.”
Mystery Moon gasped, “Did I really… ”
“Yes, you did. Your ability has evolved.” Roland confirmed. “Only a longterm and relentless dedication of practice can lead to enlightenment and evolution that fast. You did a great job. From now on, you’ll be the sixth evolved witch in the Witch Union.”
“Congratulations.” Nightingale went to Mystery Moon and patted her head, smiling.
“Now, am I able to do more for Your Highness?” she asked, her eyes shining with excitement.
“Yes, countless things,” Roland smiled and said. “As I’ve told you before, you’ve got great potential. But first, go rest. You have dark circles as huge as fists around your eyes. I’ll test your ability in the afternoon.”
“Yes!” she nodded vigorously.
After Mystery Moon left the office, Nightingale purposefully shut the door and turned her attention to Roland. Ignoring her regular perche at either Roland’s desk or the French window, she drew close to him. Grasping his
shoulders and leaning in to speak, she stood so close that strands of her fair hair tickled his face. He felt his heart beating violently at the sight of her bright eyes and soft, red lips.
Eh? What’s going on? Is she asking for it in broad daylight?”
“Tell me the method.” These were not the words that the prince had expected to hear from Nightingale, “Wait… what’s this have to do with anything?”
“What method?” he asked.
“The method to evolve without reading Natural Science Theoretical Foundation?” she said excitedly, “I can tell from Mystery Moon’s grades that she doesn’t understand the contents of the book, but you taught her how to evolve and gain a new ability! What should I do? Practice with ‘little toys’ as well?”
“Eh, she is asking for the evolvement method. What a pity… no, a relief.” Roland thought and cleared his throat, putting himself together. “I’m afraid your ability won’t evolve through a sudden flash of enlightenment,” he said.
“Why not?”
“According to Agatha, only observing natural phenomena related to your ability can provoke an evolvement. Your Mist is just too incredible for me to understand, let alone guide you to learn about it.” Roland explained. “Maybe the only method for you to develop your magic power is a sound understanding of natural science, physics and even advanced mathematics.”
Nightingale’s face fell. She feebly walked to the couch and sank back into it, feeling as if her body was hollowed out.
After lunch, Roland spent the whole afternoon conducting a comprehensive test on Mystery Moon’s new ability.
He named it “Variable Magnetic Force.” It could be applied to any object like her magnetizing ability, and it would create periodic variation based on
the magic power she initially conjured. However, as far as insulators, no electricity would be generated.
Roland determined that Mystery Moon’s magic power was the weakest of the the evolved witches. She could only light up two Magic Stones embedded in the Sigil of God’s Will, half a stone less than even Maggie. Unfortunately, the attaching-type magic ability required a vast amount of magic power. The greater and longer variations in magnetic forces, the greater demand for magic power. After a series of tests, Roland found that Mystery Moon’s new ability could serve as a stable battery, but it was far from sufficient to drive a large electric motor or power a steam engine. He tested her ability by transforming an old DC motor, initially used for the electrolysis of water, into an electric motor, and the result was disappointing. The motor, which consumed all of Mystery Moon’s magic power to add a magnetic force, could only work half day. That meant her new abilitycould not practically be used as a source power.
Roland didn’t tell Mystery Moon the bad results. Instead, he encouraged her to keep studying and practicing her new ability, because she was fragile and he feared bad news would be devestating.
Besides, he knew that ability evolvement was not a sudden transformation, but a metamorphosis through learning.
Roland remembered something he had heard from Agatha, the method to jointly produce Stone of Light. He thought,”If there is a witch who can control or transfer magic power, Mystery Moon’s power limitation won’t be a problem anymore.”
In the evening, he went to talk to Tilly Wimbledon.
“An assistant witch with a controlling type of magic?” she said after hearing the prince’s idea. She thought for a while and answered, “No witch of the Sleeping Island has that kind of ability.”
“Really?” he asked, heaving a sigh. “It seems that Mystery Moon has to depend on herself to improve.”
Yet what Tilly said next cheered him. “However, I know where you can find the witch you want.”