Chapter 246
Humans born in Edolas did not possess Magic Power inside their bodies.
Marshall had already looked into this before.
He had once given Mystogan a simple physical examination and confirmed that there truly wasn’t even a trace of internal Magic Power in his body.
More strangely, the magical particles in the surrounding air seemed to completely ignore him rather than naturally entering his body.
It appeared to be something determined from birth.
Marshall hadn’t thought too deeply about it at the time.
Plenty of ordinary people in Earth Land possessed very little Magic Power themselves, so the difference hadn’t seemed particularly remarkable.
But just now, while inscribing a Body-Conditioning magic array onto Older Wendy, Marshall had sensed something unusual.
Magical particles (Ethernano) from the surrounding air were flowing into her body.
The amount was extremely faint, but his senses were sharp enough to notice it.
Marshall’s expression immediately changed.
He had always assumed that the bodies of Edolas humans naturally rejected Magic Power.
Now, however, he began to suspect that assumption had been wrong from the start.
’What exactly did I just do?’
He mentally retraced the experiment.
’I inscribed a Body-Conditioning array onto Wendy, but she doesn’t have any Magic Power of her own to sustain it, so I manually supplied the array with my Magic Power...’
Then realization hit him.
’Magic Power!’
Marshall’s eyes widened.
He had almost forgotten one of the most important characteristics of magical particles.
Magic didn’t naturally flow from areas of high concentration toward areas of low concentration.
It did the opposite.
Magical particles were attracted toward places where Magic Power was already present.
Edolas humans were born with no Magic Power inside their bodies at all, so there was nothing to attract the surrounding magical particles.
Naturally, Magic Power would never enter their bodies on its own.
But Marshall had just manually injected his own Magic Power into Wendy.
And his Magic Power was exceptionally dense and high-quality.
That artificial concentration had attracted the magical particles in the surrounding air into her body.
The people of Edolas had always believed their bodies were fundamentally incapable of storing Magic Power.
What if that belief was simply wrong?
What if their bodies were not actually that different from the humans of Earth Land?
The Exceeds born in Edolas already proved that the world itself did not prevent living creatures from storing Magic Power internally.
Perhaps Edolas humans had simply never had an opportunity to develop the ability.
Their world contained so little ambient Magic Power that nobody had ever managed to trigger the process naturally, so research in that direction had eventually been abandoned.
"Wendy."
Marshall’s eyes sharpened with excitement.
"I need to borrow your body for another experiment. Bear with me for a bit."
"?"
Older Wendy suddenly felt uneasy.
Marshall had another theory.
Perhaps the First Origin, just like the Second Origin, was something that ultimately needed to be opened.
The difference was that humans born in Earth Land naturally developed an active First Origin, while humans born in Edolas had simply never been given the conditions needed to awaken theirs.
Marshall didn’t know how to deliberately open a First Origin.
But he did know how to open a Second Origin.
So what would happen if he used Origin-Opening Magic on Wendy?
Could an Edolas human successfully develop an Origin at all?
Marshall wanted to find out.
He quickly completed the necessary Origin-Opening inscriptions across Wendy’s body, then placed both hands on her shoulders and began steadily channeling concentrated Magic Power into her.
"Ahhhhh—!"
Wendy’s entire body tensed.
"G-GAAAH! No! Stop—!"
Her reaction was far more violent than during the Body-Conditioning experiment.
The pain was immediately visible on her face, forcing Marshall to stop the spell and examine her condition.
"What did that feel like?"
Older Wendy looked genuinely shaken.
"Pain!"
She was breathing hard.
"It hurt like hell! I’ve never felt anything like that before. It was like thousands of tiny needles were stabbing through my body at once."
She stared at him.
"Marshall, what did you just do to me?"
"I think I understand."
Marshall examined the flow of Magic Power inside her.
"Your body has never been conditioned to handle Magic Power. When too much enters at once, the stimulation becomes extremely intense."
The situation reminded him vaguely of old fantasy stories where someone’s internal energy pathways had never been developed.
The comparison was ridiculous enough that Marshall nearly laughed.
People from Edolas were effectively born without any prepared channels for Magic Power, while people from Earth Land naturally developed them from childhood.
Strangely enough, the analogy fit.
"Wendy."
Marshall’s expression became serious.
"I might actually have a way to let your body store Magic Power."
Older Wendy’s eyes widened.
"Really?!"
"Yes."
Marshall nodded.
"I checked your condition just now. Your body hasn’t suffered any serious damage, and the Origin-Opening spell was definitely producing a response."
"If we can successfully develop an Origin inside you, then your body should be able to retain Magic Power permanently."
He paused.
"But the process probably won’t be pleasant."
Marshall looked directly at her.
"Do you still want to continue?"
Wendy’s expression changed repeatedly.
The ability to carry Magic Power inside her own body...
What Mage from Edolas had never dreamed of something like that?
If Marshall truly succeeded, wouldn’t she eventually be able to use Magic as freely as the people of Earth Land?
Her hesitation disappeared.
"I-I can handle it."
She gritted her teeth.
"Keep going!"
"Are you sure?"
Marshall warned her again.
"It’s going to hurt."
"Continue!"
Wendy braced herself.
"I can do it—GAAAAAHHHH!!!"
For the rest of the afternoon, screams echoed periodically from Marshall’s laboratory.
By the time the first round of experimentation finally ended, Wendy’s clothes were completely soaked with sweat.
She looked as though someone had pulled her straight out of a swimming pool, and strange residue had even appeared across parts of her skin as her body reacted to the prolonged magical stimulation.
Marshall stared at it.
It almost looked like one of those exaggerated fantasy stories where a body expelled accumulated impurities after undergoing a complete internal transformation.
He decided not to think too hard about that comparison.
"At this rate, another two sessions should be enough."
Marshall studied the data.
"After that, Magic Power should be able to circulate through your body naturally."
"...Two... more?"
Wendy barely had enough strength left to speak.
Her entire body felt as though it had fallen apart.
She couldn’t even lift herself from the chair!
"There’s no shortcut."
Marshall shook his head.
"Your body is simply too different from someone born in Earth Land."
"Our bodies naturally possess internal channels that allow Magic Power to circulate."
He gestured toward her.
"Yours doesn’t. At least, not yet."
"So the only method I have is to repeatedly guide Magic Power through your body until those pathways become usable."
"Only after Magic Power can circulate freely will we have a real chance of opening an Origin."
Marshall’s expression turned serious again.
"This part is unavoidable."
He gave her one final choice.
"Do you still want to continue?"
Wendy clenched her teeth.
She had already endured one entire session.
Giving up now? Absolutely not!
For Magic Power, she would endure it!
"Continue."
"Now now, tomorrow."
Marshall immediately rejected the idea of another round today.
"Your body can’t handle any more right now."
He raised his voice.
"Virgo~"
Virgo appeared.
"Help Wendy take a bath and get some rest. She’s probably badly dehydrated, so make sure she drinks enough afterward."
"Yes, Little Master."
Marshall watched them leave, his excitement over the experiment only growing.
He was now far more interested in whether Older Wendy could develop an Origin than he was in Dorma Anim.
He decided to hand the black dragon armor research over to one of his Thought Projections and devote his main body entirely to this experiment.
If Marshall could prove that humans from Edolas were also capable of storing Magic Power internally, it would reveal an entirely new layer of the human body that nobody had previously understood.
More importantly, if Wendy successfully opened a Second Origin through this method, Marshall might eventually be able to observe and record the process by which her First Origin developed as well.
He already suspected that the First Origin existed at the point where body and soul intersected.
If he could understand exactly how that connection formed, it might allow him to make a crucial breakthrough in both Life Magic and Soul Magic.
And once all of those pieces finally connected... perhaps Simon could truly be saved.
...
For the next two days, Marshall devoted almost all of his time to conducting Origin-Opening experiments with Older Wendy.
She endured pain and exhaustion unlike anything she had ever experienced before.
But in the end—
Older Wendy successfully opened her Second Origin!