"So… you are saying Kaze has the ability to make the Phoenix Orchids reproduce?"
"Yes."
"Reproduce, as in allow it to produce a seed for planting, not duplicating the plant itself?"
"Yes mother."
It had only been 10 minutes since Kaze and Lunaria discovered his ability to make the Phoenix Orchid release its seed. Right now, they were in Lunaria's parents' bedroom, addressing the issue properly to the two rulers. Reginsleif and Laevia were about just ready for sleep but were disturbed by Lunaria's intrusion, only to realize the severity of the situation she had presented with Kaze.
Upon listening to Lunaria, the rulers confronted Kaze in a polite manner, though it was Lunaria doing most of the explaining for him. After all, Kaze had only just realized this fact and wasn't sure what exactly happened.
"Kaze… I think we have to return to the garden so you can show us what you mean," Laevia made a wry smile at him. "Shall we?"
"G-Gladly," Kaze bowed.
Returning to the garden with Reginsleif and Laevia, they Sera and Rena come along too, knowing that they were elves and thus knowledgeable on this fact. The small group of six trudged along the palace grounds into the forest where the Orchids were. Surprisingly, Sera and Rena already knew of the Orchid secret, probably due to their close ties with Lunaria.
Back where the surprise was, Kaze proved that whatever Lunaria said was real by gently patting one of the untouched Phoenix Orchid. Within minutes, the same pulsing could be seen with the plant before a brand-new pellet was expelled from the middle. This caused Sera and Rena to gasp out loud, for they knew what the impact of this would be.
"That's a seed alright," Sera muttered as she inspected the translucent ball. "Even I have never seen an Orchid seed before… so this is what it looks like."
"How did you verify it even though you haven't seen one before?" Laevia asked Sera.
"Oh, you can test it by inputting a bit of mana. Since Phoenix Orchids are reactive to mana, the seed would be hypersensitive and you can feel it reacting when mana is given to it," Sera explained hastily. "B-B-But how does Kaze simply touching it allow it to release its seed…? Does it work on the Orchids which you have touched before?"
"Doesn't seem like it. These two here were touched before we went to Laevia-sama, but now it doesn't work," Kaze shook his head, showing proof by touching the previous two Orchids. "See? They don't glow and pulsate like the one you saw."
"… Could it be due to the fact you conduct magic differently than we do?" Rena guessed, her eyes lighting up. "You know, normal people would internally channel magic while you use pure magic in your sword skills."
"You don't mean to suggest that Kaze, acting as a conductor unintentionally, helped the Orchid to forcibly release a seed?" Sera shuddered at the thought. "How is that even possible? What is the explanation to that theory?"
"Because magic channels throughout us at all times, whether we are actively using it or not. As for Kaze, his body has naturally gotten used to channelling magic externally, meaning instead of a 'processed' version of mana we are used to, he is utilizing the pure mana found in the air and cycling it naturally," Lunaria spoke slowly, carefully forming her words. "When touching the Orchid, maybe the pure mana from the air gets conducted directly to it since the Orchid only takes mana from its roots, so directly applying pure mana to it sort of forces it to release a seed?"
"That's a far-reaching theory, considering that the theory of directly apply pure mana to an Orchid has been tried before," Sera mused. "But the difference could be that the application was done with a staff and the Orchid had been extracted already. Now that we have a user who is able to apply pure mana in a more natural way to an Orchid that is originally in the ground, the result could differ."
"No easy answer, as expected," Laevia sighed. "Kaze, please place the seeds you found back on the ground. It is best to let them grow and develop into proper Orchids. If you truly do possess the ability to make the Orchids seed, then we can always wait without rushing the process. I will have Lunaea and Luniel talk to some of our researchers about this to see if it has any relation to the way you conduct mana. For the time being, I am issuing a strict order to everyone here that none of this gets out, not even to your friends or the other princesses."
"Let's return for now. Lunaria, please bring Kaze to our room first thing in the morning before breakfast," Reginsleif notified his eldest daughter. "Also, bring the twins. We need to settle this as early as possible without any leakage of information."
"Yes father. What do we do now?" Lunaria nodded.
"Return to your rooms. It's better if we start by keeping quiet and limiting the flow of information. That's why I only have the 6 of us come, since any additional person added to the group could cause there to be a higher chance of a leak," Reginsleif stated. "Of course, not that I don't trust anyone else, but it is just a precaution. After all, the location of the Orchids here is a secret, so we could only pick those who already knew beforehand."
At the words of the Emperor, the group returned to the palace and endured the night. When morning arrived, Kaze and Lunaria hastily met with the rulers of Aravel once again. This time, Lunaea and Luniel were dragged along for the purpose of briefing their next move.
It didn't take long for an explanation of what Kaze was capable of to be told to the twins. Lunaea and Luniel both realized the reason for their parents calling for them, namely because they had helped Kaze do an analysis and overall bodycheck. They were hoping for some sort of explanation to be made or a chance for Kaze's anomaly to be inspected, which the rulers could trust their daughters to do the job.
Immediately after breakfast was over, Kaze was back at the twins' private lab with Lunaria. His friends were not given any explanation about what happened the night before, meaning that they were clueless of his whereabouts right now. That didn't really matter because there was a lot to do in Aravel, such that it wasn't a big deal if one of their friends suddenly went missing for a few hours. As long as they weren't doing anything illegal, all would be fine.
"Kaze, before we begin, I need to tell you a few things," Luniel briefed him. "Your results from the other day have been analysed and recorded. Honestly, nothing much out of the ordinary since we didn't conduct any external tests, but that will be what we are doing today. For that reason, we have to shift places to our main lab."
"You have a main lab?" Kaze asked.
"Of course. This here is just a lab for us two. Where most of our research, testing and construction is conducted, we have it elsewhere along with our other colleagues," Lunaea smiled at his astonishment. "How else do you think our research ideas get published and implemented?"
They took whatever needed from their lab and headed out once more. This time, Kaze was led through the streets of Aravel to another official-looking one-storey building not far from where the personal lab was. He had to go through a quick series of security tests before being allowed in, as usual, since it was considered a private and secret facility for the authorised. Kaze had the help of three dragonkin princesses to secure his identity, meaning he got through the entrance without an issue.
Unlike the tiny lab with two rooms Kaze had seen before, the place he was in now was a massive upgrade. It was exactly what he thought a proper lab and research facility would be. While the building looked a little rundown because of the time when it was first constructed, it fulfilled every requirement Kaze could think of that had the properties of a facility.
"Lunaea-sama."
"Luniel-sama."
With the twins taking the lead, every dragonkin researcher that noticed them immediately bowed and greeted the twins. It was clear that in the hierarchy of the research facility, the twins were highly respected and one of the top researchers available. The age group of the facility varied from those slightly older than Lunaria to those beyond Reginsleif's age. It showed that despite being one of the youngest few researchers, Lunaea and Luniel were able to make themselves stand out and lead the research team properly.
"Kaze, take a seat," Luniel gestured to a side of the room when they walked past another door. "We need to gather some materials and equipment before we can proceed."
Sitting next to him, Lunaria accompanied Kaze knowing that he would be confused by the sudden change in surrounding. This was going to be the first time that he was investigated thoroughly by researchers other than the twins. She wasn't going to let Kaze, a stranger in Aravel, feel threatened from being left alone.
Lunaea was seen pressing one of the few buttons from a controller on the wall. Within seconds, a few researchers came streaming into the room from Lunaea's request for help. Kaze was then escorted to the centre of the room, where a few equipment already built into the ground and ceiling were seen. To his surprise, the dragonkins didn't seem surprised to find a human as their target of research for the day. After all, he figured that they would be concerned about the unnotified appearance of a human in their lab.
"Kaze, just keep calm and let them do the work," Lunaea reminded him. "The dragonkin researchers you see are part of a specialized group led by Luniel and I. They are experts of the facility and only receive requests and tasks from us."
"For now, we will be starting by measuring your magic output. Lunaea-sama and Luniel-sama has already told us beforehand about your unique circumstance, so we will proceed with a slightly different method of measuring your magic output compared to the normal person," one of the dragonkins instructed Kaze. "Please place your hands on these panels."
Following the instructions told, Kaze allowed the experts to do their job and simply complied to their words. With Lunaea and Luniel supervising the analysis, everything went smoothly with how the procedure was followed.
"Kaze, please exert some magic into the panels," Luniel told him. "Just like how you would channel your magic outwards."
"Don't worry about exploding the equipment with your pure magic, we have already taken that into account. This machine stores pure magic anyway, so it would be fine," Lunaea reassured him, proving that they had messed with pure magic before.
Sure enough, the moment Kaze channelled his magic energy into the panels, nothing much happened. Two attached glass tubes at the bottom of the panel lit up, a bright white liquid beginning to fill up even though there was nothing dripping from above. It sort of swirled around the tube and slowly got brighter overtime, as if the air itself suddenly had a type of bright fog being conjured on the inside. This was pure magic at its finest since mana was essentially invisible and pure magic is a form of condensed mana.
"Ho…" the researchers all leaked sighs of astonishment and admiration as they watched the vials filling up. "That's pure magic…"
Kaze could only smile wryly at this. He was already aware of the fact that he was abnormal for being able to directly access and use pure magic without suffering any physical or magical repercussions. In fact, he was probably the only one the researchers knew could access pure magic directly, considering their reactions that showed this was the first time they saw a human conjuring pure magic. Not even the dragonkins, one of the most legendary and capable races in the world, was able to produce pure magic with the snap of their fingers.
"Kaze, you must have been trained to use pure magic since you were born," Luniel observed. "Were you taught this way?"
"I don't know. While I don't have any memories of my time as a baby, my adoptive grandfather taught me the basics of using magic when I was still young at the orphanage. Since then, I have always used magic this way," Kaze explained, knowing that Lunaea and Luniel were not aware of his past yet.
"I see. Then it is not a defect of sort, but rather a skill learnt from the time you were born. That makes sense, considering that everyone learns to channel mana internally while you use yours externally," Lunaea gave him a slow nod. "How much do you know about the way you channel magic?"
"I can help with that," Lunaria chimed in. "Basically, we came up with a few points to explain how Kaze uses pure magic and came up with a theory following that:
1. Pure magic can't be gathered due to how unstable it is, meaning that Kaze only gathers pure magic on items like his sword as a medium.
2. Just like how magic can normally be condensed and gathered, pure magic functions the same way
3. Kaze is capable of applying pure magic throughout his body that either acts as a protective covering against magic attacks or aids to increase his body movements.
4. The magic applied on the body has not been channelled internally, instead applied externally by imagining the body as a medium instead.
5. Pure magic can be discharged, whether it is discharged after the influence of other common magic or being discharged by itself, but can't be used to create a byproduct."
The researchers immediately listed down the points given and began working to analyse ways on testing out certain theories and hypotheses that they could come up with. After all, it wasn't everyday that one would get invested in pure magic. In the first place, there was a lack of research in the field of pure magic due to how hard it was to stabilize it long enough to maintain its pure magic form from mana. As such, the risk, cost, and time wasn't worth it.
"Okay, we have managed to come up with three scenarios after making a few guesses," Lunaea informed Kaze after a few minutes. "If we were to start, it would be the interaction between pure magic, common magic and rare magic elements."
"For now, you can step off the platform. The pure magic you have given us is enough to conduct the experiment," Luniel grinned. "Come on to the next room, I will show you how we test the interaction."
Kaze stepped off the platform and followed Luniel. Lunaria, too, walked after them, wanting to see what it was that Luniel was going to show them. They headed into the next room with 2 other researchers, each taking a vial of pure magic collected from the machine whereas the rest of the group stayed behind and immediately began a meeting with Lunaea about whatever they have recorded so far.
The room adjacent to the one they were in was much emptier and spacious with the intention of conducting experiments here. Even the walls were layered with spell circles that helped prevent accidental explosions or fire from spreading throughout the building. This was certainly the right place to test out pure magic, seeing how unstable it was.
From the sealed vials to prevent an outflow of pure magic, Luniel inserted a needle into the sealed area and extracted a bit of pure magic to transfer it onto a steel rod. With the steel rod maintained hanging from the ceiling, the pure magic immediately coated it and made it glow bright white. In response, one of the researchers released fire magic towards it and the rod immediately caught on fire. A few seconds of combustion later, the fire on the rod was extinguished and the process repeated for the rest of the common and rare magic elements.
"So this is how you would test the reactions of elements?" Kaze asked Luniel, who was recording the observation while the 2 researchers did the set up.
"We don't have a very reliable or accurate way of measuring it anyway, so this is the best we came up with," Luniel sighed. "Whether you know it or not, we are super underdeveloped and lack our understanding of pure magic. This is going to help us immensely; YOU are going to help us immensely."
After a few more experiment bouts with different magic, the pure magic they had collected quickly depleted and Kaze was required to make a few more vials. The whole process wasn't as tiring as Kaze thought it to be, since it was interesting to help and participate in an experiment like that. Moreover, the researchers were fired up and that was honestly what motivated Kaze to stay focused alongside Lunaria's company.
"You're wearing them?" Kaze asked Lunaria in the midst of the experiment, referring to the earrings he gifted her on the day they were at the marketplace.
"Yep. I felt like it today," Lunaria smiled at him. "Although it is a bit of a shame I can't wear them to go on a date with you."
"Are you treating this as a date then?"
"Maybe, since we aren't in the palace."
Kaze and Lunaria casually chatted to pass time. The process of waiting for an experiment to end was boring as an outsider. Since they weren't contributing much to the actual results and gathering of data, the two sat aside to not disturb the busy group of working researchers with their voice.
Before they knew it, the results were in.
"We have come up with 3 possible scenarios after exploring the possibilities that pure magic provides," Luniel concluded to Kaze, with Lunaea next to her and the rest of the researchers standing behind her. "First, pure magic dispels any form of common magic elements upon contact. Second, pure magic does not react with both rare magic, dark and light, by simply dispersing. Third, the more pure magic is used, the higher the level of spell it can dispel."
"Wait, there's something wrong with point 1," Kaze stopped Luniel. "Pure magic doesn't simply dispel common magic; I can also make it reactive and turn into the type of common magic used."
"Oh?" Luniel raised an eyebrow at this. "Our experiment proves otherwise. Repeated trials show that the magic simply gets dispelled after a few seconds of interaction."
"I know, I saw how the fire magic reacted with the steel rod," Kaze agreed with her. "However, I think the method of testing you had conducted only limits the usage of pure magic to 'application' instead of 'constantly channelling."
"… You might be right. Shall we have you take the place of the steel rod?" Luniel considered his words and requested so of him. "You should be fine with taking magical attacks."
"Yeah, unless you have a sword or a stick around that I can use," Kaze smiled wryly. "I didn't bring Felta with me."
"Oh, we have just the thing for you," Lunaea immediately stood out and passed him a weird-looking metal sword. "Use this."
"What is this?"
"It's a sword mimic we designed to measure the usage of imbuing magic into a weapon. Since the design is capable of measuring the amount of magic used regardless of the type, it would be perfect for the current situation. Not only can we get an accurate measurement on how much mana you have applied to the sword to defend an attack, but we can also see the effects of a controlled pure magic application."
"Huh, that's some remarkable design for an equipment. I never thought you could measure magic?"
"You can't. Magic is qualifiable and only regarded based on its class. How magic even has class in the first place is based on its potency, difficulty of execution, and the amount of mana required, among other factors. For our case, we measure based on how much mana is used. Of course, we can quantify mana by using a formula invented," Luniel helped with the explanation. "It just so happened that we haven't made this formula public yet in the case of any variables not taken into account yet."
"My god… have you girls not accomplished anything more? Inventing devices, coming up with new formulas…" Kaze sweatdropped. "So what do I have to do?"
Kaze was instructed to stand at the further corner of the room where the rod once was. With Lunaria behind him as a precaution in case he got injured, she could quickly dispel or block any magic with one of her own. On the opposing side was Lunaea as the caster while Luniel and the other researchers got ready to take notes.
"A-Are you ready, Kaze?" Lunaea timidly called out to him.
"Ready," Kaze clutched the stick and assumed a sword stance.
With a nod, Lunaea conjured one of the basic spells, a fireball, and released it in Kaze's direction. Kaze equipped his body with Phantom Rush and sliced through the fireball. The pure magic acted in his favour and engulfed the fireball, consuming its energy and instantly transforming the stick into a flame sword.
"Ohh!!!"
The researchers gasped even louder than before as they obtained a different result compared to what they had seen earlier. Even Lunaea had a rare expression of shock on her face when she saw this for herself.
Unfortunately, the excitement didn't last long as Kaze had to deflect the magic on the stick quickly since pure magic suddenly turning to magic had an immense load on him in order to suddenly get in line with the changed magic element. He launched a slice of fireball magic equivalent to the level that Lunaea had put into her fireball back at her. Lunaea easily stopped it with a barrier magic, extinguishing the returned attack from Kaze.
"You were right; pure magic does have a property of suddenly changing to the magic being targeted," Luniel mumbled, reading from her notes. "Let us continue. Kaze, just keep deflecting the magic attacks."
Eventually, Kaze lasted for an hour or so simply deflecting attacks and taking breaks in between of each attack. While the strongest magic released at him did not go over the board to the point it could cause real damage, he still felt tired accessing magic all the time. Perhaps it was due to his weak magic perception, Kaze was drained of energy after maintaining pure magic on the stick for the hour he deflected the attacks.
"Good work, we shall analyse the results now," Luniel nodded once she had confirmed with her researchers on all variables they needed with repeated tries. "Lunaria-nee, please look after Kaze."
"Should we go for lunch?" Lunaria suggested to Kaze, who sat on the floor to catch his breath. "It is already lunchtime."
"Wh… What about… Lunaea and Luniel?" Kaze asked while panting. "Aren't they going to eat?"
"They probably will, during their research or after," Lunaria shrugged at his question. "It's something you have to get used to. When Lunaea and Luniel get into their research, they forget about eating or sleeping. Not that it's a big concern since this rarely happens, but we still do tell them off from time to time."
"Ahh, they truly are dedicated people if that happens," Kaze smiled upon hearing about Lunaea and Luniel's research life. "It's no wonder they managed to invent so many useful things. You sisters are truly incredible."
"We each have our perks," Lunaria agreed with his opinion. "Now that you have seen each of our lives, the only person you don't know much about it Lucentia, is that right?"
The duo continued their conversation as they headed out of the facility to the streets where they could get some food to eat.
"Nope. Lucentia being a model and an idol is something I never thought would happen," Kaze shook his head with a laugh of disbelief. "I didn't think that Aravel has this sort of culture."
"You would be surprised. While we may not be on par of the human equivalent of worshipping, Aravel does have its fair share of hardcore fans," Lunaria laughed along with Kaze. "I honestly admire Lucentia for being able to put up with the attention."
"What does Lucentia need to do that is part of her job?"
"Why don't you ask her yourself? Now that she is going to be coming for you, you will have your chance to be with her."
"That's true. I feel worried about how you chose the words 'coming for you' instead of 'trying to make me fall for her'. You make it sound like she's coming to kill me."
"Hehe, sorry about my phrasing. Treat it as a compliment; you have 2 dragonkin princesses trying to make you theirs after all."
"Is that really a good thing…?"
Later on, Kaze and Lunaria returned about an hour after they first left. They met up with Lunaea and Luniel once more, hoping for any information about the experiments earlier. However, it turned out that the researchers required more time after being given such a new topic to study, being the usage of pure magic. It was rare they managed to obtain such raw data with so many records in front of them, which explained the excitement within the facility after news of pure magic spread.
"Don't worry, we didn't tell them about the Orchid," Luniel reassured Kaze. "Lunaea and I will work on that ourselves since we want to limit the information about it too. For now, we just explained that you have learnt to cast pure magic from young instead to help quell the excitement."
"That helps a lot," Kaze nodded after listening to the twins. "What about the results?"
"As for that, I don't think we will get it done anytime soon," Lunaea glanced towards the frantic team of researchers, all nose deep in books and notes. "Perhaps it would be better for you to wait here instead of returning to the palace. We still have a few tests requiring your assistance later on, so you might want to bring something here from the palace to keep you occupied. Otherwise, I reckon you would be bored out of your mind."
"We can study," Lunaria suggested. "Kaze, you probably wouldn't like that idea, but I think it is viable that I help you catch up. While classes have been postponed, it would do you good to start whatever that you are supposedly learning first."
"A-Alright," Kaze reluctantly agreed. "We'll study when we can…"
Knowing her lover was someone not too enthusiastic about schoolwork, Lunaria gave him a kiss on the cheek to help console him. They proceeded to spend another few hours till evening before returning to the palace for the rest of the day.