Ch.5 Magic Encyclopedia I

The Fivefold Path of Nada.

“Before the signs of awareness occurred, before sound defiled silence, magic babbled in the marrow of existence. But awareness, restless and unbound, sought perception, and perception wove illusion. Thus, the Fivefold Path came to be. Neither by will nor by fate but by the oddity of infinite within the finite.”

*** When the world was young, land was formless, sea raged without shores, and fire burned without fuel. The First Nada arose. He reached into the world and called upon its rawest forces: fire, water, wind, and the unmoving earth.

These were the first foundations of magic. He wielded them not as a master but as a servant, for the elements knew no allegiance. They were the restless spirits of the world, free and untamed. Those who sought to harness them gained power, but those who wished to command them fell to ruin. This was the Elemental Awakening, the first eternal truth, the first stage. To rule the world, one must first be ruled by it.

The First Nada disappeared. His disciples remained. From them arose the Second Nada, one who pondered not upon what was, but what was absent. From the brightest flames, he saw darkness cast. From the deepest shadow, he glimpsed light. Light and dark, energy and void. And thus came the second eternal truth, the second stage. To understand good, one must look at bad, to understand light one must first be in dark.

The third Nada was peculiar. He was known by countless names, for he was once a thief. But when he served the second Nada, his fate changed. From the wrath of fire and the solace of water, he birthed healing. From wind’s deception and earth’s constancy, he wove illusions. He saw that all forces could be blended, that no path was isolated. The third stage. The power of the world lay not in its pieces, but in its unity.

Then arose the Fourth Nada, but unlike the others, he was a mere shoemaker. He only knew how to make. He did not command the elements. He simply willed, and the world obeyed. He created huts where there were none. He created elements into existence. From nothing, he called forth something. The fourth stage. Become the source rather than the user.

The tale of the Fifth Nada was never written, for there was no record of his existence. Some say he never came. Others say that he came and left before the world could notice. It was said that he did not follow the laws of the world, he rewrote them. He was the gate through which worlds bled. He was the step that shattered time’s cycle.

But this is no more than legend, for if such a being ever existed, he left no trace.

And so, the Fivefold Path remains incomplete. ***

Ronny flipped a page absentmindedly. He barely even read the text before he scoffed and tossed the book onto the table.

The faint thud echoed.

Golden chandeliers hung from the vaulted ceiling. They illuminated shelves lined with ancient books spoiled over the room. The air reeked of damp and parchment.

Ronny slumped onto a golden stool encrusted with gems, utterly unimpressed. He ran a hand through his hair, as his fingers drummed idly against the leather cover of another book. “Cool fairy tale, love the aesthetic but… yeah my neurons are doing backflips on this one.”

Across the room, Tiya sat with her usual composure. She rested her chin lightly on the back of her hand. “The humans here have constructed a framework for magic. Five stages, elemental, reality, amalgam, creation, and world. Stage one deals with elemental forces like earth, water, wind, fire. Stage two, the so-called ‘reality’ stage, deals with light and dark. The Amalgam magic fuses the previous stages to create new phenomena. Creation magic creates matter, while the final stage, ‘world magic,’ is termed legendary.”

“A functional model,” she admitted, “but flawed. The inconsistency is obvious. They claim Stage One magic is elemental manipulation. Fire, water, and air can be generated, but earth requires Stage Four, Creation Magic. Not just this but there are other inconsistencies as well. What do you think, Ard?”

Ard sat in his high-backed chair. His fingers tapped once against the armrest before he spoke.

“These classifications are crude. A primitive attempt at understanding the world. Just surface-level observations which lack backing of principles.”

Ronny quirked a brow. “So it’s guesswork, but with extra steps?”

Ard allowed himself a small smirk. “A guess refined through trial and error, nothing more. The ancients of my homeland used to believe that the world comprised four classical elements: fire, water, earth, air. They even believed the human stomach contained fire, a rationale for the burning sensation after indulgent meals. But of course, science later exposed that it was just hydrochloric acid at work. What they called fire was simply a biochemical reaction. This so-called magic system is no different, it’s a framework built around visible effects, not actual causes.”

Tiya’s expression remained unreadable. “What is your guess for the underlying principle?”

Ard steepled his fingers. “I have my suspicions.”

Ronny clapped his hands together. “Alright, hit me with it, Sensei.”

Ard, unimpressed, but he indulged the request. “Take Stage One magic. They claim it manipulates elemental forces, fire, water, wind, and earth. But I think that the truth is simpler. It is just thermal and phase manipulation.

“When they ‘create’ water, they are not bringing it from nothing. They are condensing vapor from the air. Wind? A simple application of temperature gradients and pressure differentials. Fire? A matter of accelerating molecular motion until ignition occurs or, at advanced levels, ionizing air into plasma. But earth…” He allowed a pause. “That is different. No manipulation of temperature or pressure can create solid matter from nothing. Thus, Earth creation falls under Stage Four, Creation Magic.”

Tiya absorbed the information with no outward reaction. “Then what of Stage Two, Light and Dark?”

Ard responded without hesitation. “Simple misinterpretation, nothing else. They classify gravity under ‘dark’ magic. A foolish notion. Gravity is not dark. It is a force and a field. Similarly, their ‘lightning magic' is nothing but electromagnetic field manipulation.”

Tiya nodded. “Then Stage Two is manipulating fundamental forces?”

Ard’s smirk returned. “Precisely. Gravitons for gravity, electrons for electricity.”

Ronny leaned back, rubbing his chin. “So what I’m hearing is these cavemen.exe throwing enchanted pebbles at the moon and calling it holy wifi. Got it.”

Ard inclined his head slightly. “A crude but apt analogy.”

Ronny exhaled, a wry grin at his lips. “Wow, that’s depressing. I thought we will get these fairies and sparkle juices but you’re handing me a lab report. ’”

Ard ignored him. “Stage Three, Amalgam Magic. A supposed fusion of the previous two stages. But that’s a fallacy. It does not blend them, it exploits them.”

Tiya raised a brow. “Explain.”

Ard’s fingers drummed against his armrest. “Take Healing. They claim it’s a rare stage three ability, a high-tier fusion of Light, Dark, and Elemental magic.” He shook his head. “Wrong. It’s mostly Creation Magic. Healing on a surface level might involve accelerating the body’s metabolism—a mix of Stages 1 and 2. But deep regeneration? That requires creating new cells, new tissue. And that… that is Stage four.”

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Tiya listened. “So, you’re saying Creation Magic can literally make living beings?”

“Technically, yes,” Ard confirmed. “Creation is about assembling elements, compounds, and biological structures. It follows, then, that at an advanced enough level, one could manufacture life itself.”

Ronny hesitated. “...Alright, what about that invisibility magic which some of those bandits used?”

Ard smirked like he was expecting this question “Invisibility. They claim it’s a rare Stage Three ability, a high-tier fusion of light and dark magic. But when I examined their bodies carefully, I found that they weren’t using magic at all. Few of them were coated in engineered nanoparticles that bent light around them.”

Ronny whistled. “So, the air around them bent, that is why we couldn’t see them?”

Ard inclined his head. “Exactly.”

A silence settled in the room. Tiya analysed his words, processing the implications. Ronny simply ran a hand down his face. “Alright, so what about Stage Five?”

Ard’s gaze sharpened. “If I trust these books with what they say, I think it is Space-Time manipulation.”

Ronny groaned. “Of course it is.”

Ard leaned back, his smirk fading into contemplation. “The universe is neither cool nor uncool. It simply is. Understanding its mechanisms does not diminish its grandeur. It elevates it.”

Tiya looked at Ard and said, “With the face you are making, I guess you already have a theory formulated already.”

Ard smirked, “What do I always say? Tiya, you know me very well.” He then leaned forward slightly. “I’m close to figuring that out," he murmured. “Almost everything in this universe mirrors the principles of our own—same forces, same fields, same fundamental particles. The only outlier here… is magic itself.”

Ronny frowned. “So, what’s the missing piece?”

Ard gestured with his hand. “Take gravity and quantum mechanics. The grand unification of gravity within quantum physics was one of the greatest unsolved problems in our world. But… there was one theory that attempted to fix it. The Brane World Scenario.”

Ronny squinted. “Brane… what?”

“In the Brane World Scenario,” Ard explained, “our universe is just a three-dimensional ‘brane’ embedded within a larger, higher-dimensional ‘bulk’ universe. The reason gravity is weaker than the other fundamental forces is because gravitons, the particles responsible for gravity, leak into the higher dimensions. Whereas the other forces, like electromagnetism and the strong nuclear force, remain confined to our brane.”

“So... it’s like gravity leaks into other dimensions?” Ronny ventured.

“You can say that.” Ard adjusted his glasses. “Back in our world, it was just a theory, one of many. But here? I see evidence that it might be true. Picture the Cosmic Genesis of this universe as a kind of dimensional rupture. Originally, there was nothing but void—pure emptiness. Then the so-called creators, those so-called gods, initiated a process that injected fundamental particles and their fields into the vacuum. They stabilized everything with gravitons, the scaffolding of reality itself.”

He paused, allowing the weight of his words to sink in. “But here’s the truth. Gravitons appear weak not because they lack strength, but because they bind the entire dimension together. The greater the scope of influence, the more diluted the effect.”

Ronny rubbed his temples. “Alright, fine. But you’re implying this universe runs on an extra set of rules, yeah? What’s the missing link?”

Ard’s expression was unreadable, the glint in his eyes akin to an emperor surveying a chessboard. “Mana.”

Tiya’s eyes narrowed. “Mana?”

“A fundamental particle I came up with that didn’t exist in our universe,” Ard stated. “Like gravitons, it accesses higher dimensions, but unlike gravitons, it interacts with every known force in ways we can barely comprehend. It doesn’t just manipulate fields, it rewrites them. A universal wildcard.”

Ronny let out a low whistle. “Damn. That’s some next-level cheat code material.”

Tiya’s arms crossed. “Oh.”

Ard gave the slightest nod, barely acknowledging their reactions. “Experiments on the bandits we encountered unknowingly confirmed it for me. Mana’s field allows the beings of this world to shape reality, to manipulate fundamental forces. But the real question is, how do biological species harness it?” He exhaled.

“This is where I require your help, Tiya.”

Tiya’s stare was devoid. “You have already figured out so much on your own, Ard. Your theory is structured. No observable contradictions.”

Ronny grinned. “Yeah, Ard, how the hell did you even come up with this? Reverse-engineering the universe's blueprint.”

Ard’s eyes got lost. “It’s just a theory I came up with, nothing special. I live to understand. To deconstruct and reconstruct. This world, these laws, those evil gods have achieved something beyond comprehension. Their craftsmanship is absolute.”

Ronny smirked, tossing a metal fragment in his hand. “We are praising the evil gods now? Should I be sacrificing a goat or just forward them a LinkedIn request?”

A scoff escaped Ard’s lips. “They are detestable. But their work?” His fingers curled slightly. “Genius. Unparalleled. To create a universe, to construct a system of rules as complex as this, wonderful. Lord Croxeus was right. Compared to them, I am nothing.”

Ronny clapped a hand on Ard’s shoulder. “You cracked the blueprint of a whole universe in two days. That’s not intelligence, that’s narrative breaking behaviour. Even Lord Croxeus would be shocked to learn that.”

Ard’s response was immediate. “No, Ronny. You underestimate him.”

“What do you mean?” asked Ronny.

Ard spoke calmly, “do you think a being like Lord Croxeus would be surprised by anything? I would rather say instead of being surprised he knew we would figure this out already. That is the reason why he gave us these scientific equipments.”

Ronny, sitting cross legged on the stool, scoffed. “I mean, yeah? Everyone has limits. Even Gods. If he already knew everything, wouldn’t he be able to know those evil gods’ intentions.”

Tiya, silent until now, said, “He is not omniscient. He even asked for our names when we first met.”

Ronny turned to her, “See? Even Tiya agrees. If he knew everything, nothing would ever take him off guard. But now you mentioned about it he didn’t really ask my or Rex’s name and he addressed us by our names when he handed us the materials.”

Ard’s expression didn’t change. “You are correct, he is not omniscient. True omniscience is an impossible state.” After a pause he said, “But he can certainly read our minds.”

Ronny inhaled sharply. His boots tapped on the graphite floor. “Our minds huh?”

Tiya nodded slightly, “makes sense.”

Ard leaned back. His head rested against the wooden chair. “When he transported us to my house, he told me to visualise my living room. The moment I did, we were instantly there.”

Ronny frowned. “So, all this time… he could tell what was going on in our head.”

Tiya replied, “but how deep does it go? Is he reading everything or just surface thoughts?”

The light from the ceiling danced in Ard’s golden rimmed lenses as he adjusted them. “Control is not omnipotence. After all, … Why did he mention he needed me to think of it?”

Tiya confirmed. “That answers it, at least partially. Though we can’t be certain.”

Ronny crossed his arms. “Maybe because this isn’t his real body that is why his powers are limited.”

Ard adjusted his glasses. “You may be right. But even in his real body, I don’t believe he would be truly omniscient.”

Tiya’s eyes narrowed. “Because if he were, then so would be the other 10 gods. Which they are not. They wanted Lord Croxeus dead, but he still lives, that confirms it.”

Ronny leaned forward. “But that would be based on assumption that all the 11 were on the same level.”

Ard tilted his head slightly. “Yes, there could be differences. Or there might not be.”

Ronny tapped his fingers against the desk. “Either way, don’t you think we should be focusing on learning about those evil gods instead? The astral dimension and their source of power. Wouldn’t that help us more than studying about this world?”

Ard’s reply was quick. “That’s where you’re wrong, Ronny. We have to prove ourselves first. We must conquer this world, overcome its challenges. Only then will we be deemed worthy of understanding everything.”

He got up and looked at both of them before continuing.

“And besides… There must be a reason why Lord Croxeus wants us to do this. I asked him once why did he save our lives. He said there was a reason behind it, one that we would understand soon.”

Tiya replied. “Now you mention it, he did say that. I wonder what he could mean by that. Did he already know—”

Ard cut in smoothly. “I think its enough.” He gestured with his hands. “We are focusing on the wrong things. Our job is to prove ourselves. If we succeed, the truth will eventually reveal itself.”

Ronny leaned back against the desk. “Yeah, you are right. I wonder what Lord Croxeus is doing right now.”

Ard’s voice was firm, resolute. “We mere mortals could never fathom what a being like him is doing. But one thing is certain, it must certainly be of importance.”