Lilia's Tale

Chapter 36: Finality

Wednesday came, a day that would normally be attributed to light magic training. However, since I was now capable of shrinking my wings, we ended up doing something else. Instead, Father had me help out with his writing of the findings I told him the day prior, as well as a separate paper about Permanent Magic.

They were both to be received by the Magic Research Academy, which was what was providing Father with funds to keep living in this isolated area. From what I understood, it was equivalent to the scientific community, being a large community of different magic researchers that would share their findings between one another to improve their understanding of magic, as well as create new spells and applications. Father was apparently the most prominent researcher, as his discoveries nearly always ended up creating new magic or new advancements in the field.

It reminded me of how Kyo told Father that his significant decrease in research had bothered the guards. I felt it odd that they were aware of Father's whereabouts, since that would normally be something that would be talked about within the Magic Research Academy. I figured that they were aware due to his status as the Great Summoner, or that they perhaps had relatives that worked in said academy.

The day was spent talking more in depth about the findings around Permanent Magic, as well as the magicule vision I had. We ended up writing a few snippets of text, although it didn't go very far.

While I was cooking dinner, while Kyo was tending to the garden, Father came to the main room and asked:

"Say Lilia, I noticed that learning that you could see magicules directly made you learn magic a lot faster. Do you think you could explain to me why?"

"Oh, sure. I simply applied the scientific method to magicules, and it went smoothly," I said, assuming he would know what the scientific method is.

"Could you explain to me what that method of yours is?"

I was a bit dumbfounded by his lack of knowledge, asking myself how he came to be the most prominent magic researcher without knowing it. I shook my head and assumed he had a similar method without knowing, prompting me to explain to him the process.

"It's quite simple, really. First you make an observation. Say, you notice that when water boils, the temperature stays constant while it's boiling. Next, you write a theory, which would be that the temperature stays constant while it's boiling. next, you make experiments to verify your hypothesis, you boil water in different conditions, as an example. You refine the theory and redo experiments until your hypothesis perfectly matches reality. That's what I did, although a very bare-bone version of it. When I noticed that it was likely that I could see magicules rather than simply imagining them, I asked the goblin to move in different ways and at different times, and noticed I could see the movement. I did the same with Kyo. That proved to me that I could indeed see magicules. Afterwards, I noticed that there were different colors, so I did a few tests to ascertain whether or not my thought of different magicule types existing was true. It came out true, so I thought my hypothesis was true as well. I would definitely say further testing is required, as well as more direct proof than simply my personal experience, but that's how it worked for me."

I noticed Father was listening very attentively to what I was saying. After I was done explaining, a heavy silence settled as he seemed to think everything through.

"So you make a theory before doing experiments, huh."

"Yeah. What have you been doing until now?" I asked, realizing the question was potentially offensive.

"I've been doing different experiments and trying to find out what could cause it afterwards. It is true that thinking of the theory and testing that theory directly sounds more efficient."