"Well, that is one for China," Karl said as he turned off the television after the news report about China's newly published breathing method. He had found the announcement interesting enough to study the translated version almost immediately. After comparing it with the breathing method his own family had submitted to the System, he had reached a rather simple conclusion. Objectively speaking, China's technique was weaker.
"That is not particularly surprising," Karl continued. China had openly admitted during its press briefing that the technique had been designed to work with the mana naturally present in the air. That requirement made sense because the method needed to be usable by practically the entire population. However, designing a technique around ordinary mana also meant that the cultivator was giving up several potential advantages.
The most obvious advantage they were sacrificing was the ability to filter mana toward a specific attribute. The Sonnenberg method was designed around Nature Mana, which offered several benefits that ordinary mana did not provide. Nature Mana flowed through their bodies more naturally, as it was the attribute they were most sensitive to. This made their skills more efficient and reduced the amount of mana required to activate them.
The Sonnenbergs had noticed the difference ever since they began absorbing mana from the surrounding environment. Because most of the mana they cultivated was aligned with Nature, and as their bodies were more familiar with that particular attribute. Their skills had consequently become more powerful while requiring less mana to use. They also understood the attribute itself better, allowing them to manipulate it with greater precision.
"Still, I don't think the breathing method was the real purpose of the announcement," Karl said. He leaned back and considered China's decision from a political perspective rather than a cultivation one. "They are putting pressure on the rest of the world, but primarily on the United States." He sounded almost amused by the realization.
"They are, right?" Lilly asked after taking some time to digest the report. She had initially focused on the cultivation method itself, but the more she considered the timing, the more obvious the political implications became. "There has to be another reason for them to publish it now." She looked toward Karl, waiting for his explanation.
"Yes, I believe that is exactly what they are doing," Karl replied. "The United States was the last of the five great powers to discover its own mana stone vein." He paused before continuing. "Even worse for them, three other countries discovered similar veins within their borders before the Americans managed to find one."
"That cannot be good for the American leadership," Karl said. "Their citizens are already unhappy with the government over how poorly they believe it has handled the new era." He shook his head slightly. "If China manages to embarrass them again, the political consequences could become severe."
Lilly frowned as she considered the implications.
"China does not even need this technique right now," Karl explained. "They admitted themselves that nobody below Mortal can currently use it." He tapped the table with one finger. "They also made it clear that they are not immediately giving the technique to everyone who reaches Mortal."
"So there is no practical reason for them to publish it this early," Lilly said.
"Exactly," Karl replied. "That makes the announcement a provocation." He smiled slightly as he understood what China was trying to accomplish. "They want to see how the other major powers respond and, more importantly, what they reveal when they do."
"They can use the reactions to study the different approaches each country has taken," Karl continued. "If the United States suddenly announces its own breathing method, China learns something." He leaned back in his chair. "If another country reveals information about its breathing method, China learns something else. Either way, Beijing gets information simply by forcing everyone else to react."
"You are right," Lilly said.
"And what timing they chose," Karl added.
He almost laughed at the coincidence.
"The recent declaration that an American private equity firm has been designated as a terrorist organization has already created enormous anger toward the American elite," Karl explained. "People are looking for someone to blame, and the government is going to need a distraction." His expression became increasingly amused. "If China provokes them at exactly the right moment, the White House might reveal far more information than it normally would simply to change the subject."
"They could end up showing their hand because they need to distract the public," Lilly said.
"Precisely," Karl replied.
He stood from the table and gave the family an unpleasantly satisfied smile. "I have someone I need to call." With that, he excused himself and walked away. The expression on his face made it obvious that whatever conversation he intended to have was unlikely to be good news for someone.
"Well, that is not ominous at all," Arin muttered.
He remained at the dinner table long enough to finish dessert before finally standing up. The family had already finished watching the news, and everyone was now discussing what China's announcement might mean for the international situation. Arin, however, had learned that whenever Karl walked away with that particular expression, it was usually better not to ask questions. Whatever happened next would probably become someone else's problem.
Meanwhile, far away from the dinner table, a completely different project was taking place.
Deep inside a secret government laboratory located in the middle of nowhere, researchers were working around the clock. The facility had been constructed around the sixty-first mana vein discovered in Europe, but unlike most of the other known veins, this one had never been reported publicly. It had been discovered by an internal branch of the European intelligence agency, which had immediately classified the location.
The intelligence agency had then cooperated with the Minister of Technology. Together, they selected several of Europe's most capable scientists and transferred them to the secured facility. During the Guardian Trial, international cooperation had been necessary because humanity had been facing an existential threat. Now that the immediate crisis had passed, however, every major state had begun thinking about its own interests.
Europe therefore wanted to keep its experiments private.
And there was hardly a better location for secrecy than a place nobody knew existed.
The laboratory had no public address, no ordinary supply routes, and no reason for anyone outside the highest levels of government to suspect its existence. Even the surrounding region had been deliberately chosen to discourage accidental visitors. The scientists working there were effectively living inside a classified research project.
Among them was Laelia Sevso.
Laelia had rapidly gained recognition as one of the leading scientists studying mana. Before the arrival of the System, she had never been considered a leader in any particular scientific field. She had not specialized deeply enough in one discipline to compete with the world's foremost experts, nor had she ever sought a position of authority.
She had instead been an unusual kind of researcher.
Laelia wanted to learn everything.
She possessed a broad knowledge base covering numerous scientific disciplines, which was exceptionally rare in an age when specialization had become necessary for meaningful progress. Most researchers knew an enormous amount about one narrow subject but very little about anything outside it. Laelia was different because she knew enough about many different fields to understand how they could interact.
That made her extremely valuable after mana appeared.
Whenever researchers encountered a new problem, Laelia could approach it from several different perspectives. She could understand what a physicist was discussing, follow the reasoning of a biologist, and then consider the problem from the perspective of someone studying energy or material science. She did not necessarily know more than the specialists in their individual fields, but she could connect their knowledge in ways they sometimes could not.
That ability allowed her to propose numerous theories during humanity's earliest attempts to understand mana.
Several of those theories had eventually contributed to major breakthroughs.
As a result, the European leadership had begun valuing Laelia far more highly than they had ever expected. Her importance had reached the point where a team of one hundred special forces soldiers was permanently assigned to protect her. She was also effectively forbidden from leaving Europe.
If Laelia ever had to travel outside European territory, she would do so under the protection of an entire standing legion.
The restrictions were severe, but Laelia had accepted them.
In exchange, the government provided her with an enormous research budget and access to the latest developments available within Europe. She could request equipment, personnel, and research materials that most scientists could only dream about. The arrangement had transformed her into one of the most protected researchers on the continent.
It was also the reason she was currently sitting alone in a laboratory, completely absorbed in a massive tome.
Laelia had requested that the government establish a special faction dedicated to scientific research. Rather than creating another traditional organization with layers of bureaucratic management, the government had allowed her to build the faction around what she actually needed.
A laboratory.
Her faction had existed for two years already.
During that time, it had slowly accumulated researchers, equipment, knowledge, and resources. However, something changed the previous day. One of Laelia's bodyguards had finally advanced to Stage One.
That advancement had consequences.
When the bodyguard joined the laboratory as a member of Laelia's faction, the System recognized the change in the faction's overall strength. As a result, the organization gained access to additional tomes that had previously been beyond its reach.
Laelia had spent most of the previous day examining them.
One of them had immediately captured her attention.
It was a tome concerning runes.
For Laelia, the appearance of the book was almost impossible to resist. Runes represented an entirely new field of knowledge, combining the strange properties of mana with written symbols and structured effects. She had already spent hours reading it, but instead of becoming tired, she only became more fascinated.
There were too many questions.
And for the first time in several months, Laelia felt that she had discovered something that could potentially change the direction of her entire research program.
She turned another page.
Her eyes widened slightly.
"Interesting," Laelia whispered.
The secret laboratory continued working around her, completely unaware that one of its most important researchers had just found something that might become the foundation for an entirely new branch of European science.