Chapter 14: The Echo of Truth

Klein’s hand was warm as it rested on Lia’s head, the afterglow of that power still coursing through her.

“The Treatise on Magic has been published,” Klein said, withdrawing his hand and walking to the window.

“What you just felt was the feedback from the world’s laws, a response to your paper’s publication.”

Lia, still basking in the joy of her newfound strength, was taken aback.

“Feedback?”

“Every correct elucidation of the world’s laws elicits a resonance from the world itself.

This resonance transforms into the purest form of energy and is fed back to the elucidator.”

Klein’s explanation was straightforward, yet it stirred a tempest in Lia’s heart.

“We call it the Echo of Truth.”

So that was it.

It wasn’t some magical infusion of power; it was her own thesis that had stirred the very forces of the world.

Science, in this world, could truly be converted directly into power!

“This is only the beginning,” Klein said, turning back to her.

“The stronger the echo, the more violent the subsequent backlash.

The mental models of the old guard are being challenged, and their fury will soon find an outlet.”

“Therefore, you need power.”

Lia straightened her posture.

She knew that her true magical education was only just beginning.

“The casting of a spell depends on a spell model.

You must perfectly construct this model in your mind with your spiritual energy, then infuse it with mana to activate it.”

Klein extended his right hand, palm up.

A soft light gathered in his palm, and within it, a three-dimensional structure composed of countless points of light and lines slowly materialized.

It resembled a translucent, peculiar claw, with three arched supports holding up a core sphere of light.

The structure wasn’t complex, yet the curve of every line and the position of every point of light pulsed with a precise rhythm.

This was a spell model.

For the first time, Lia was witnessing the blueprint of this world’s power.

“This is the model for ‘Force-Push,’ a fundamental first-circle spell, commonly known as ‘Mage Hand,'” Klein explained.

“Memorize its form, understand its structure.

The three supports are conduits for the force, and the core is the energy nexus.

Your spiritual energy must stabilize all four parts simultaneously.”

Lia watched the floating model with rapt attention, engraving every detail into her mind.

“Try to construct it,” Klein said, retracting the light.

Lia closed her eyes and, on the dark canvas of her spiritual world, began to recreate the structure she had just seen.

She marshaled her spiritual energy, mimicking the shape from memory, and drew out the first curved line.

The moment it formed, the line began to tremble violently before shattering with a soft pop into a shower of light.

Failure.

It was harder than she had imagined.

“Don’t just imitate the shape,” Klein’s voice sounded beside her.

“Feel the path of the energy flowing within it.

Spiritual energy is not a static thing; it must follow a fixed trajectory to maintain the model’s stability.”

‘The path of its flow?’

Lia calmed herself once more.

She recalled the model from before, remembering the almost imperceptible current of energy that seemed to cycle between the core sphere and the three supports.

Of course.

It wasn’t a static frame, but a dynamic, circulatory system.

She tried again.

This time, she didn’t begin with the outer shell.

Instead, she first used her spiritual energy to establish the position of the central nexus.

Then, she divided a small portion of her spiritual energy into three fine threads, simulating the trajectory of the energy flow, and had them orbit the core before extending outward.

As the lines of spiritual energy extended, they naturally formed the three arched supports.

A stable, complete spell model, with its internal energy cycling on its own, quietly took shape in her spiritual world.

Success!

Lia suppressed her excitement and proceeded to the next step.

Infusing the mana.

She carefully drew a delicate thread of mana from the now-stronger stream within her and slowly infused it into the energy nexus of the model in her spiritual world.

Hum.

The model’s core lit up.

The mana began to flow along the three pre-established paths, filling the entire structure.

Lia opened her eyes and held out her small hand.

Before her, a translucent field of pale blue light, about the size of her palm, materialized in midair.

It looked somewhat ethereal, its edges flickering faintly, but it was undeniably real.

This was her very first spell.

“Very good,” Klein commented.

“Faster than I anticipated.”

A little proud, Lia tried to direct her spiritual energy, intending for the ‘Mage Hand’ to pick up a quill from the table.

The force field shot forward abruptly.

With a thud, the quill was sent flying, tumbling through the air several times before clattering to the floor.

The force field itself dissipated into points of light from the violent impact.

Lia’s cheeks flushed with heat.

“The model is a tool; your will is the user,” Klein said, walking to her side.

He picked up the quill from the floor and placed it back on the table.

“Control it, don’t just release it.”

“Again.”

***

For the next few days, Lia completely immersed herself in practicing Mage Hand.

On the first day, she learned how to steadily pick up and put down the quill.

She also mastered casting the spell without needing to manifest the model physically; constructing it in her spiritual world was now sufficient.

By the second day, she could control the Mage Hand to lift a cup of water without spilling a single drop.

On the third day, Adèle watched, dumbfounded, as Lia used the invisible hand of force to precisely thread a silk strand through the eye of a needle.

Such control surpassed that of most official first-circle mages.

Adèle felt her worldview shattering all over again.

‘Just what kind of monster is this junior of mine?’

Lia remained completely oblivious to all this.

She simply found it fascinating.

This sensation of directly influencing the physical world with her spiritual energy was more intuitive and captivating than any experiment she had conducted in her past life.

She could feel her spiritual energy being honed with every precise manipulation.

***

A week later.

Lia was using Mage Hand to retrieve a heavy tome from a high shelf, placing it gently on the table.

The entire process was seamless, as if the hand of force had become a true extension of her own arm.

Klein entered the room.

He walked over to the workbench and took out a pile of brass components of various shapes and sizes from a box.

They appeared to be the internal components of a clock—gears, mainsprings, hands, and bearings—scattered across the table.

“Tutor?”

Klein spread a schematic diagram on the table beside the parts.

“Within two hours.”

“Assemble it.”