"Lewis Griffith was brilliant. A human without Magic would have been considered less than dung in my eyes, but this particular man... had simply been outstanding."
Ana nearly rolled her eyes.
She knew Lewis Griffith was amazing, and she had read enough of his thesis and propounded works to know it would take a great deal of work to surpass him.
However, his achievements weren't absolute!
"I'm breaking into new waters that'll revolutionalize everyone's perception of Magic!"
"Oh? Pray tell."
"I'll tell you after you join me."
The deadlock between the two seemed to be inevitably growing stronger with each passing moment. It seemed neither would budge, at this point.
"I would advise you not to underestimate this girl, Beruel." Kuzon's voice finally broke into the silence as he walked closer to the man as well.
"Hm? Even you too, young Midas?"
"Indeed. She has exceeded my expectations more than once today. She's a genius, an unrivaled one. I doubt Lewis Griffith was able to achieve even remotely close to what she has accomplished when he was her age."
"W-well..." Beruel was at a loss for words.
Was his bias preventing him from seeing the obvious truth in front of him? Was this human girl really that great?
"She was able to sort through your encrypted signal and locate you. She was also able to disconnect you from all your clones. She was able to defeat a Demon Lord far stronger than her. She has created Golems and Automatons that operate independently—acting on pure algorithms, yet they're able to act appropriately in every given situation."
Beruel was shell shocked. He hadn't expected so much from the girl. His widened eyes kept Ana in his focus, and he observed as she excitedly puffed her chest with pride.
"That's not even half as impressive as her current feat. She isn't wrong about revolutionizing Magic. Ana discovered a new source of energy that is different from Mana and Miasma, and she did it purely based on research."
Beruel's eyes were bulging at this point, and it seemed like they would pop out of his baggy sockets.
"Y-you mean—!!!"
"Yes. She discovered Aether."
"B-but that's impossible! Wait, she used the Arcana, didn't she?"
"No. Not at all. Ana has no Arcana at her disposal. She discovered it purely based on research and evidence. Not only that, but she was able to use this Aether as a base for tracking down your location and also interfering with your communication network to—"
"H-hey! Kuzon, don't tell him everything! So the new energy was Aether? Darn it, Kuzon! Why did you have to say it to him? Now I have no leverage!" Ana interrupted Kuzon's explanation with her surprised rants.
"Haha! Well..."
"How do you know so much, though? Don't tell me... it has already been discovered and built upon? Damn..."
Beruel's thoughts were a mess, at this point. He was struggling to comprehend how a mere child like her could have gone so far in the pursuit of Aether.
'I don't even think Jane has achieved this much in that department.'
"Young lady, can I ask you a question? If you give me a satisfactory answer, I'll accept your bargain, no questions asked. I'll also abandon my plans for a conquest."
Beruel's eyes were dead serious at this point. He was still shell shocked, but he had to hear the truth from the horse's mouth.
"How did you discover it? Just... give me a clue, at least." His tone was sullen, and his body trembled in anticipation.
This was obviously a big deal. It was beyond impossible that a little child like her would have achieved so great a height in Magic that she attained Aether.
Plus, Kuzon said she didn't possess an Arcana—which was how Beruel came into contact with it.
So how...?
"It seems like you guys know more about it than me, though. I'm still in the starting phase. What even is Aether?"
Kuzon chuckled a little, instantly attracting a deadly glare from Ana.
Beruel wondered what to say. Even he didn't have a proper definition of the concept. It was beyond him. The little he knew about the power was what had been shown to him.
He knew it exceeded Mana and Miasma. He knew it was absolute. He knew it was the ultimate source of power in the world. However, what exactly could he use to define it?
In the end, Beruel's gaze fell on the young Midas.
"Aether is the source of all life and energy. Some call it the Root. Some call it the Origin. It is the very essence of everything around us. Mana and Miasma are simply offshoots from it."
Beruel's face cracked into a smile once he saw Kuzon solve his dilemma.
'As expected of a Midas.' He thought to himself.
The Midas Race was known to be supreme in Magic. Their deep knowledge and connection to Aether was the most probable reason.
"Aether is the purest kind of power to obtain, making it far more dangerous and useful. It's what allows the Arcanas to control the laws of this world."
Ana's eyes widened as she heard about what she had been studying. It was far bigger than she imagined. However...
"You already know that much, huh? It sucks that I wasn't the first to discover it."
... What was the point of her research when information on the subject matter already existed?
"You'll be surprised by how much we are yet to know about it, Ana." Kuzon smiled.
"Uh?"
"Answer my question, young lady." Beruel added his voice to the mix, now getting impatient since Ana hadn't addressed him yet.
However, with a single glare from the young female, even Beruel found himself shrinking back a little.
At the very least, a bead of sweat fell from his head.
"Well, whatever. It doesn't matter at this point." Ana sighed.
Suspense squirmed in Beruel's heart as he awaited her answer.
"I found it by examining the body part of the Demon Lord I defeated. I was able to extract a sizeable portion from her body before killing her."
It was her first proper chance to study Miasma and how it operated. Who would have thought that it would lead her to yet another source of energy.
—Aether.
