"How about a mechanical core?"
Adam was in a difficult spot and couldn't think of a great solution. His idea was to use the alchemist's method: adding mechanical parts to Sofia's Elemental Body and powering it with a Mechanical Core.
But this idea had problems. For a skilled mage, both Elemental and Mechanical Bodies were powerful, but they were different systems. Combining them in one body wouldn't work perfectly.
Meredith agreed, simply saying, "However..."
Adam got her point. She probably had a solution but wanted more in return. He cleverly asked, "Do you have a better idea?"
Meredith showed him a glowing, beating core from her lab. "This is a Bio-core with a magic conversion system inside. It changes different types of energy into magic at a five-to-one ratio. It works well and doesn't cause damage. But it's expensive, costing ten times more than a standard Mechanical Core."
"I'll buy it."
Though costly, Adam decided it was worth it. The Mechanical Core Sofia used was valued at a thousand ether crystals. Ten times that was a lot, but Adam could afford it after paying for the Stable Space from the Tower.
He was earning a steady income from the battlemages of Cthulhu.
"Need anything else?"
"Sofia's mental growth is slow and she lacks the desire to fight. Can you boost her fighting spirit or add a new personality to her soul?"
Meredith said yes right away. After confirming Adam had no other requests, she named her price. Excluding the Bio-core, the transformation would cost seventeen thousand ether crystals. Adam promptly paid a deposit.
With the deal made, Meredith became very cheerful and her charm grew. She smiled and asked, "Adam, you're an Explorer, aren't you? Are you improving her for summoning on mission planes?"
Adam nodded, "Yes."
"I have something useful. It can stop the plane's energy from rejecting summoned creatures and hide their magic. It's only five hundred ether crystals. Do you want it?"
Adam was taken aback; he hadn't thought about such a method. He then pondered, "Maybe I can also..."
Mage Meredith quickly corrected him, "Not for you. Your soul changed when you went from being an apprentice to a full mage, closely connected to the Mage World's core. It's impossible to hide. Most beings in the planes only go through this change when they reach level five. Even after changing, this little dragon's soul is still basic, so we can hide it."
Adam got it; it all made sense. If mages could use this technology on themselves, exploring would be much safer.
This idea eased Adam's worries about the summoning. Since it was just five hundred units, he didn't wait and even gave Meredith some of the strongest forest elves.
Meredith was happy. These changes were easy for her, especially with a team in her lab. It was a good deal for her.
"Deal. I'll bring you the modified slaves in a month."
After she left, the devil collapsed, not even trying to keep its shape, lying at Adam's feet like a spilled liquid.
Adam asked, "What's wrong with you?"
The 'liquid' trembled, and the devil moaned, "Master, I almost died! How can there be such a scary mage!"
Adam thought a bit and guessed, "You didn't upset her, did you?"
The devil's presence spread out, his voice coming from all over, "Master, who knew a tea-serving maid was really a level-four mage? I mean, why would a mage that powerful be doing that?!"
"And then?"
Adam was amazed by the devil's knack for trouble. He probably would have been gone if not for their contract.
"Then..." The devil paused, clearly shaken, "Master, she's got succubus blood, so charming, I bet she's conquered worlds!"
...
After sorting out the summoning and slave issues, Adam turned to his own studies.
Mages already knew about atoms. Potion makers and alchemists used them in their work, but hadn't looked at smaller particles. Adam thought mages who loved research would want to know what was inside an atom. They might not have found out for two reasons: first, ether might make atoms more stable and harder to split, and second, just knowing about atoms makes potions and alchemy really powerful already.
When Adam first learned about the Elemental Trueself method, he thought it would take a lot of time and resources to prove electrons exist. But the profits from Cthulhu and his avatar's work on electromagnetic waves speed things up a lot.
Adam believed the energy beams from the radiation creatures were made of alpha, beta, and gamma rays. Alpha rays are streams of helium nuclei, gamma rays are electromagnetic waves, and beta rays are beams of electrons, basically groups of electrons sent out together.
Starting from zero to figure out and prove this discovery without any physical examples was very hard. However, if Adam could separate and study the energy attacks of the radiation creatures, especially the beta rays, to find out about electrons, it would be easier.
To do this, he first had to improve the theory of electromagnetic waves, making a more complete electromagnetic spectrum in the ether, and then separate the gamma rays.
The avatar was doing well, having seen how electromagnetic waves move in the ether. Adam's first job was to do a lot of tests to understand these patterns better.
Adam stopped the avatar's current work, called back and destroyed all the units. He then made new ones with his stronger cells from after he reached level two. These new avatars had more computing power and energy, making experiments more efficient.
For the tests, the avatar built an open oscillator. It had a copper ball on one end of two copper rods and a zinc block on the other end. The rods were in a line with a gap between the balls. They were connected to a coil, and when an electric shock was given, if the electrical parts reached a certain level, a spark crossed the gap, making a path between the rods. This acted like an oscillating pair, causing quick, high-frequency movements. But these movements faded fast because of energy loss, so seeing them was mostly by chance.
Adam then made a resonating pair detector with a mithril wire ring and mithril balls that could be moved at the opening. He put this detector next to the oscillator. When the oscillator was powered, if sparks happened at the ends of the detector because of resonance, the changing electromagnetic field from the oscillator would make new fields in the ether, meaning electromagnetic waves.
Adam made hundreds of these setups, with each avatar working and noting down results on their own.
The idea was good, but the experiment was harder than expected. The ether was too stable and slow. Although there were some sparks, there weren't enough to be sure electromagnetic waves really existed.
Adam started by placing each avatar far enough from each other and used magic to create a space without energy between them, making sure they did not affect each other.
The experiment went on tirelessly, but since Adam and everyone in his lab didn't need rest and didn't make mistakes, they made good progress.
After ten days, Adam found a steady frequency. Then, after sending a strong electric current into the machine, he saw a small electric spark in the gap.
Adam quickly told all the avatars about this frequency, and their machines showed the same thing: the spark kept jumping, and a new electromagnetic field formed.
This proved that electromagnetic waves could move through ether space.
New knowledge turned into runes and went into his soul, making it stronger. But this knowledge wasn't useful yet because he didn't know the speed and frequency of the electromagnetic waves.
Adam immediately started the next part of the test without waiting.
He went into a room completely surrounded by ether, with metal plates on the walls to bounce electromagnetic waves back. The waves coming in and the reflected waves made standing waves.
Using his machine, Adam watched these standing waves at different places and distances. Brighter sparks showed where the wave peaks and troughs were, and no sparks meant there were nodes.
After getting some data, Adam used the Tower's teleportation hall to travel to outer space. There, he found that the measurements were almost the same as in the lab.
After a full day of careful calculations, Adam figured out the wavelength of the electromagnetic waves. By multiplying this by the frequency of the sparks, he worked out the speed of the waves. In the ether environment, this speed was the same as in Earth's universe; the speed of electromagnetic waves was the same as the speed of light, which, in the mage world, was also a type of electromagnetic wave.
This meant that wave speed was the product of wavelength and frequency, so frequency was the wave speed divided by the wavelength.
With this discovery, Adam's body and soul changed again. Glowing runes tried to merge with his soul. Some did, making his soul stronger, but others faded away and didn't blend.
The devil, who had become very cautious during the experiment, stayed quietly in the lab, not bothering Adam. He kept talking to himself and, when he saw the knowledge forming and partly failing, he nervously asked, "Master, did the experiment not work?"
Adam shook his head initially, then nodded. The experiment had worked, but the findings were not complete.
"The duality of waves and particles."
The devil, completely baffled, was about to ask more when Adam stopped it, saying, "I can't explain it right now. It's beyond what I can research at the moment."
The devil didn't ask any more questions. Even if Adam had explained, he wouldn't have understood. He had only tried to start a conversation because he was bored.
Adam instructed the avatars to thoroughly sort out all the data from this experiment and to start developing magic and technology based on the findings. The avatars focused on studying radio waves.
Once they fully understood and confirmed this range of frequencies, Adam planned to invent simple communication magic and alchemical devices. For now, this was the best way to use his new knowledge about electromagnetic waves to his advantage.
Adam also thought that this could be quite profitable, maybe as much as the public use of electrical elements.
Using his new knowledge, Adam tried to invent magic that would make observing the wavelengths and frequencies of electromagnetic waves easier.
...
Time passed quickly, and the month Meredith had mentioned was almost over. While Adam was busy with his magical work, Meredith returned to the lab.
The devil immediately hid inside Adam's mind, still too scared to face Meredith.
In the hall, the mage looked at Adam and was impressed, "Just a month, and you've gotten stronger?"
Adam casually replied, "I've made a breakthrough in my research. Have you finished the transformation?"
Meredith gestured to the void, and a portal flashed briefly. Then, opening her hand towards Adam, a tiny dragon, no bigger than her hand, appeared.
"Yes, it's done. The transformation went well. The Bio-core and the Elemental Body are perfectly combined. Now the little one is as strong as a level-three creature and could grow to be a level-four creature."
Adam reached out to take the small dragon, feeling a strong energy from its tiny body. This energy was very manageable, and Adam felt he could easily control it.
He couldn't help but ask, "How did it become so small?"
Mage Meredith explained, "The little one has a lot of potential. After the transformation, its Elemental Body became stable. As you asked, I've made two forms for her."
