Full Circle (VI)

The origin of the explosion earlier was a sonic boom, one that was large enough to leave a visible ripple in the air, distorting the skyline for a brief moment. Less than three seconds had passed, yet the aircraft was almost completely out of sight, ascending at a frightening speed. Before long, the buildup of speed gave it enough momentum to slice apart the air and tear through the clouds, leaving behind what looked like a contrail.

"The HMS-21 Valkyrie —its a supersonic passenger plane." Cyril explained calmly, taking another sip of his coffee.

"Super...sonic?"

"Mm-hmm, its top speed is supposedly over Mach three. I think it's the first ever passenger vehicle to go more than three times the speed of sound?" he added with a thoughtless tilt of his head, but as soon as he realized that Angelica was still clearly confused, he continued in spite of himself.

"Heh, are you interested? If you don't mind me going off on all this boring stuff, I'd be happy to fill you in on whatever you're interested in— Sirius MK I, the Macewalkers, or anything else really."

"I don't think its boring at all." Angelica slowly shook her head, half of what he'd just said didn't make any sense to her, but still she pressed on, determined to deepen her understanding of the topic as a whole. "Technology like that is fairly uncommon outside these walls, but I've always found it fascinating. Some of the more technical aspects might elude me but...please, if you would Cyril."

He was pleasantly surprised to hear that from his companion, to the point where it almost made him freeze up a bit. "Alright then...where should we start?" After mulling over the question for a while, his face lit up as soon as his mind drafted the perfect frame to funnel their discussion.

"This city is a hub for guilds as a whole, but there are other countries around the world that also need protection because they don't have a competent deviant fighting force. The guilds here take advantage of that and use this city as their base of operations to benefit from the advanced technology. With a supersonic jet, they could send their guild members all around the world to clear dungeons in record time and claim the absurd amounts of money foreign governments are willing to pay them for their services."

"Oh, I see. That does make a lot of sense." Angelica initially agreed, but alas, her brief moment of comprehension was short-lived. "Wait, supersonic...this is the only place I've heard of ever having something like that. Does that mean those jets are created using Magical Integration?"

"Correct."

"That topic's been all the rage on the net for quite some time now—almost as much as the dungeons. But no one's cracked it like the researchers here. Anything electrical just dies in high-mana zones, especially inside dungeons, I hear it makes mixing magic with technology a nightmare."

Perked by her curiosity, Cyril straightened and leaned forward in his chair. "That's where the ODIN system comes in," he said, raising the aluminum can in his hand.

"ODIN system?"

"That's right—the Ocular Domain Interface Network. It's Babylon's own programming language, built to bridge magic and technology. So far, it's one of the few systems that's actually made integration possible. At its core, it relies on runes—an alphabet of forty symbols crafted by magicians and enchanters. They're kind of like mnemonics, a way to guide the subconscious when shaping mana."

"Yes, I understood the last part," Angelica said with a polite nod. "But the matter of programming is still rather unfamiliar to me. Magic education is somewhat limited outside the city—since aptitude is required, and gates rarely appear beyond Babylon, most see little reason to prioritize it. Schools do cover the fundamentals, of course, but only in broad strokes. Enough to recognize the deviant classes and such, but not necessarily to understand them."

"Oh, well if that's the case then I'll expound a bit to make this a little easier to understand. Now, about the dungeons…" He leaned forward slightly. "Manites are extradimensional—they exist in multiple states at once, and in high concentrations, they interfere with electrical conductivity. That's why modern devices don't work inside dungeons." He paused, fixing the girl with a pointed look.

"...but there's an upside: all area-type dungeons have a mechanism for regulating mana concentration—the dungeon core. Through research, they discovered that the core does this by emitting discrete frequencies."

"The core being the control center for area-type dungeons? Yes, I've heard a little about that in the past."

"Then let's cover the last thing—the behavior of dungeon cores outside of the gates. Once they're extracted, the dungeon cores gradually expel the mana they've stored until it's depleted—much like how pulse crystals emit radiation that can be harnessed for electricity. Essentially, the ODIN system uses digitalized runes and artificial intelligence to replicate frequencies that program the dungeon core to manipulate the mana stored inside it, and by extension, the mana around any integrated machine to create a variety of effects. The program basically teaches machines how to use mana like a deviant."

"Oh, so in a sense, the core basically gets reduced to a battery then...a magical one that is."

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"Mhm." Cyril nodded, his expression a little more pleased. Perhaps he was glad to finally explain the concept he'd spent so much time studying for no particular reason.

"In the case of the Valkyries, the AI identifies the right frequencies to enable precise manipulation of gravity— 'gravitic propulsion' is what they call it. When applied to the aircraft, it creates a 'gravity bubble' that propels it at supersonic speeds."

"That's incredible." Angelica said, her eyes widening with genuine awe. "Couldn't they arm more machines and send them into the dungeons with that ODIN system thing?"

"No, unfortunately not. Machines can only perform basic magic because they lack an Index to subconsciously shape mana. Instead, they rely on calculations and parallel processing, which are inefficient because manites exist in multiple states at once. The more mana involved, the less effective the ODIN system becomes. It can only regulate pre-stored mana within a core—and the greater the quantity, the harder it is to control. That's why magical integration in machines hasn't been able to exceed 30% efficiency: it has to rely entirely on husk dungeon cores."

Although his tone carried a rather upbeat intonation, the subtle hints of an acquiesced resignation were evident. Truly, the idea was the epitome of the term 'wasted potential.'

"In other words, magical integration is most effective with husk dungeon cores. Combine that with how difficult dungeon cores are to acquire, and... well, you get the picture."

When framed like that, the plan suddenly didn't seem all that feasible. Deviants were considered to be a much better prospect as opposed to machines when it came to the act of dungeon diving. The status quo was unlikely to change in the near future, if at all given the nature of mana as a natural construct. In light of that, most of the machinery created through magical advancements were more geared towards real world applications as opposed to dungeon endeavors.

If the potent mana concentrations inside dungeons really did place such an irrefutable cap on the efficiency of mechanical systems, whether they be magical or not, it was far more logical to focus the efforts of magical engineering outside the scope of such environments.

"Well, even if they don't work too well inside dungeons, I'd say it's still amazing how they managed to come up with something so ingenious. This city truly is something else. I always thought it was a shame that magic isn't really explored outside, but I'm glad I came here again—I never imagined it would be filled with so many wonders."

Cyril thought her expression was unusual. Not because he couldn't discern where it was coming from, but rather, it was the genuine sense of intrigue in her eyes that made him think that.

"That's strange. I'm not too familiar with the world outside of Babylon, but I didn't think the rest of London, or the country as a whole held this place in such high regard. Frankly speaking, I thought they were terrified of this place—the mysterious city keeping monsters and superhumans behind its walls."

Angelica notched her brows and openly stared at him, her face—which almost seemed like it was about to go pale, betrayed nothing but shock and confusion.

"You've got it all wrong Cyril!" Leaning forward with her exclamation, the girls glare sharpened as she stared him down. Not quite knowing how to react, Cyril flinched and unconsciously leaned his body back, an ultimately futile attempt to dissuade Angelica's fervent passion.

"A-Angelica...what's gotten into you?" Clearly, her vigor had caught him completely off guard. He was so stunned that his newly acquired violet irises, which usually gleamed with an otherworldly allure, had shrunk to the size of pinpricks.

"I've gotten a bit fired up I suppose. You know, for someone so knowledgeable about all this high-tech stuff, you really could use some perspective on how the world actually works, it feels like you're suffering from an astonishing lack of general knowledge." Angelica remarked as she leaned back with a bold smirk.

"Then why don't you enlighten me?" he retorted whimsically, his gaze fixed on the young Regis with an almost uncanny intrigue. "Truthfully, I've never actually been outside of Babylon. My earliest memories started here, so aside from what's on the net and some general school courses, much of what happens outside of this place really is over my head."

There was a strict stipulation in place regulating the deviant population across the United Kingdom. Unless a deviant's CAI was particularly low, they were required to either enroll in Babylon's educational facilities or reside in the city for set periods, depending on their age, to ensure the proper development and control over their abilities.

The only exceptions to these laws were individuals with backgrounds that granted them exemption, such as those belonging to origin clans—families with an established history of deviant training methods capable of instructing their younger members at home. For everyone else, compliance was usually unavoidable.

"Then I'll do just that." Angelica beamed delightfully and released the half-eaten hamburger from her awkward grip. "For starters, most people across the country either want to come here, or they want to send their children here. This place always has viral clips on the internet of hunters fighting monsters, which is a huge part of its appeal. I know the top hunters are already famous here, but outside of Babylon, they're practically full-blown celebrities."

Cyril found her edification amusing for some reason. A multitude of speculations ran through his mind, but he ultimately decided it was the sheer passion with which she spoke that captivated him.

Intrigued and mildly entertained, he found himself tuning into her rundown almost subconsciously.

"...And then, aside from deviants as a whole being so rare, there's no actual tuition because of the dungeon economy here. Besides the internet, the only time regular people get to enter Babylon freely is either on a holiday, or when it holds one of those competitions that pit schools or guilds against each other." she said, finishing her long lecture with a sharp breath.

By the time she'd reached halfway into that thick splurge of information he already understood the bulk of what she was trying to convey, but for the sake of courtesy—and his own personal amusement — he feigned obliviousness and let her continue,

"I can see why some people woul—"

"Therefore Cyril!" Angelica's sharp declaration cut him off.

"...People outside of Babylon are a lot more fascinated with this place than you might think— and that goes for some foreign countries too, mostly because of the technology here but still...."

"Oh, then what about you, Angelica? Your family is an origin clan, isn't it? That means you didn't need to come here, but you still chose to. Why is that?"

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