First Light of a New Age

Chapter 171: Upcoming Summit & Goblin Slayers

MORE LORE DUMPING (And I make sure not putting too much spoilers)

The story’s power system follows a strict set of rules and mechanics. Magic is something exclusive to fantasy races, meaning native humans in the New World are born without the ability to wield it naturally. 

Among those who can use it, magic manifests in different forms such as elemental manipulation, physical enhancement, healing, summoning, and even reality-bending techniques at the highest levels. Magical beasts, experienced mages, and powerful Transcendents represent some of the greatest threats in this world, capable of destroying armies or laying waste to cities. 

Despite this, modern technology from the Austronesian Empire, ranging from firearms and tanks to nuclear weapons, can still counter or even defeat such entities under the right conditions. 

What sets the Austronesians apart is their scientific mindset. While they cannot channel mana directly, they quickly discovered that mana behaves like a measurable form of energy, a resource that can be observed, quantified, and manipulated with the right instruments. 

Engineers and scientists developed mana detectors to measure Magical Energy Units (MEU), establishing a standardized scale for threat classification. From there, laboratories studied how mana flows through the body, fuels spells, and interacts with the environment, treating it as both a biological and a physical phenomenon.

This research opened the door to weaponization. Mana can be captured and stored inside specially designed mana batteries and crystal capacitors, which power firearms, vehicles, and even large-scale war machines. Scientists also created mana converters, devices that can translate raw magical energy into electrical output or enhance technological systems beyond their normal capacity. 

For soldiers, exosuits were fitted with mana channels that draw on stored energy to boost strength, speed, or shielding, effectively replicating the physical enhancements of fantasy warriors. 

In more advanced projects, mana is woven directly into ammunition, bullets that pierce magical barriers, grenades that release anti-mana fields, and railguns that fire mana-compressed projectiles capable of shattering even Transcendent defenses.

While Austronesian humans cannot channel mana directly, their ingenuity allows them to adapt it for technological use, developing exosuits, enchanted armor, and specialized weaponry that bridges the gap between science and magic.

In short, while other civilizations treat magic as a mystical art, the Austronesians approach it as a science. Their ability to harness mana without ever being able to cast a spell themselves gives them a unique advantage, creating weapons and technologies that both rival and sometimes surpass the might of sorcery.

However, there is still a very long road before true mastery can be claimed, as the Austronesians are far from reaching the pinnacle of magical understanding. Higher levels of magic exist that can render even their most advanced magi-tech weapons insignificant. 

In this world, there are beings whose power spans from continental-scale devastation to planetary-level annihilation, capable of wiping out nations with a single strike. Many of them can move at hypersonic speeds, while the strongest can travel at relativistic or even faster-than-light velocities, making them nearly impossible to track, let alone contain. Some entities are rumored to casually destroy worlds or bend space itself with a mere thought.

Beyond raw power, the New World also had spiritual entities whose existence defies conventional science. These beings can regenerate endlessly as long as their souls remain intact, forcing enemies to find ways to strike at their very essence rather than their bodies. Others wield powers that transcend physical combat entirely, including the ability to halt the flow of time, rendering armies and weapons useless before them.