Industrial Revolution of the Mage Lords

Chapter 219 Magic Core and Energy Ranch

"Magic core?" The inner demon held his chin in his hand in an anthropomorphic pose, lost in thought. "So you humans named the source of magic power the core. That's a rather novel concept..."

"So... the ancient wizards' speculations and research into the source of magic aren't actually accurate?" Harvey asked humbly. "Spellcasters can draw magic directly from the Weave. And magic stones are similarly magical minerals formed naturally when the energy of the Weave escapes into the real world. Isn't this common knowledge for thousands of years?"

"So you believe there must be some kind of source core of magic power within the magic web, and that the formation of magic stone veins is similar?" Mr. Heart Demon chuckled, his tone somewhat teasing. "My clan has existed in the magic web for who knows how long, but I've never heard of any rumors of a source core..."

"When we were roaming the magic network space together in the past, I also asked you about it. The energy pipelines densely distributed throughout the magic network are similar to the blood vessels in the body of living things in the real world. So I believe that the source of these energy pipelines must be a tissue or carrier similar to the heart, which continuously provides energy to the entire magic network space..."

The Inner Demon clapped his hands and laughed heartily. "That's a very apt analogy, Mr. Kel'Thuzad. Your thinking and associative abilities are far more avant-garde and bold than most spellcasters I've known."

But after patiently listening to Mr. Inner Demon's detailed narration, Harvey realized that the theoretical knowledge he had learned in the past and the cognition that he was proud of as a time traveler actually had limitations in some aspects.

There is no so-called source of magic power, and the "giant" Magic Network Space, which is filled with magical blood vessels, does not have any core organs like the heart.

The Heart Demon Clan, who have lived in the magic network space for a long time, cannot figure out the source and end of these energy pipelines. They just lie across the magic network and have never changed for millions of years.

"But I've speculated that the demonic spirits living in the energy pipelines might have a strange symbiotic relationship with the magic pipelines. And the magic stone veins you discovered deep underground in the mountain and those strange energy-absorbing beetles might also have the same connection..."

The inner demon murmured thoughtfully, "Anyway, there's no research proving that the magic core can't be a living being, right?"

……

Asdalen placed a sealed can of liquid magic energy in front of Harvey and said cheerfully, "Sir, the facts are just as you expected. After using the improved blood-summoning instrument to convert the beetle ore captured from the underground cave into energy, we indeed obtained a higher concentration of liquid magic energy!"

The energy-absorbing beetle actually produces different concentrations of pure magic energy in its body depending on the quality and purity of the magic stone veins it absorbs. This was also Harvey's guess after being reminded by Mr. Inner Demon, but he didn't expect it to be confirmed so quickly.

"So, although we didn't find the so-called magic core, we unexpectedly obtained a large number of magic stone vein crystal pillars, as well as a huge swarm of insects nearby... The shortage of liquid magic energy can finally be completely alleviated!"

It is very difficult to maintain the power supply of magic gun ammunition and magic vehicle relying solely on the small mineral vein under Harvey Castle and a small group of artificially raised energy-absorbing beetles. Harvey also has to reserve a portion of liquid magic energy production to supply the additional needs of the shield machine operation, which makes it even more stretched.

"Can you estimate how many energy-absorbing beetles live in the underground mineral veins?"

Asdalen shook his head, annoyed, "There are simply too many of them. Every three days, they surge out of the mountain's cracks like a tide, clinging to the magic stone crystal pillars to absorb energy. Some mature bodies, after absorbing enough magic power, immediately enter their reproductive period, laying eggs and then dying... The soldiers from the Engineering Department must be sent down immediately to collect the beetle ores. Otherwise, if more than twelve hours pass, the ores will immediately weather and dissolve, and be absorbed and assimilated by the magic stone crystal pillars again..." As expected, the transformative and fluid nature of the three forms of magic power was clearly revealed...

Beetle ore and ordinary magic stone represent its solid form, the liquid magic energy extracted from magic spirits and molten spirit ore is another form, and the magic energy drawn from the magic network space by the caster through meditation is an illusory form similar to gas.

The states of the three can change at any time and flow with each other. This is the true nature of magic!
Harvey snapped out of his thoughts and said to Asdalun with a smile, "I think this mineral vein we discovered underground may become the most important energy source for the territory in the future. We must quickly understand the activity characteristics of the insect swarm and manage our energy pasture like a shepherd tending cattle and sheep..."

……

After Asdalen left, Harvey returned to his desk and picked up the ancient historical document he had copied from the Magic Network Forum Encyclopedia.

Harvey casually grabbed a piece of white paper and began to hand-draw a simple map of the area. He used a thick horizontal line to represent the Divine Ridge Mountains that stretched across the middle of the continent, a circle to represent the pioneer territory to the north, and a diamond to represent the magic stone veins under the mountains of Jackdaw Territory.

He then followed the horizontal line of the Divine Ridge Mountains to the western end, where he also drew a triangle symbol - that represented the magic stone mining area in the Evil Moon Mountains that had recently been discovered by the Federation and the Wizarding Kingdom.

"Why is it that the Evil Moon Mine has already entered the mining phase, but we've never heard of the existence of energy-absorbing beetles associated with magic stones?"

"Could it be that these beetles can only survive north of the Godspine Mountains? Then what is the reason why they can't reproduce in the south? The wizard kingdom and the Federation in the south also control several large and small magic stone veins, right? The largest mining area is still in the cave dwarf kingdom in the Breath of the Hills, and there are no signs of beetle activity there either..."

The patterns on the stone plate that the engineers copied from the underground ruins have become so blurred and almost impossible to distinguish due to its long history. Even the "living fossil" Asdalen finds it difficult to recognize the true origin of these distorted lines.

But after a careful search of the underground ruins, no other valuable discoveries were found except for clusters of magic stone crystal pillars, weathered and worn stone steps and plates, and broken stone sculptures.

Not to mention ancient murals or fossil remains, even the tools for mining magic stones and carving stones were not left behind, which made Harvey find it unbelievable.

These ancient mysterious people seemed to appear out of thin air in the magic stone mine cave a hundred meters deep underground. No one knew what they were doing in there, and then they disappeared completely as if they had evaporated.

Even if they reached there through some ancient teleportation array, there would at least be traces of the array ritual. Moreover, who was the first to reach there and draw the teleportation array? This has always been an unsolvable paradox and question.

"Could it be that in ancient times there existed some extraordinary beings even more mysterious than wizards, who could use some secret method to directly pass through thick mountains and reach the unknown depths of the earth?"

(End of this chapter)