Experiments on the Application of Mental Power

The Mordo Academy was unexpectedly fast. Converted into Earth units, it had accelerated to one hundred knots in barely five minutes, and was still speeding up, only stabilizing at two hundred and thirty knots.

The ship would have to sail at roughly 430 kilometers per hour for nearly a hundred days to reach the Mage Continent. The size of this world...

Adam dearly wanted to visit the engine room and see what powered a ship built with magitek, but a place like that probably would not allow an irrelevant outsider inside.

There were many rooms aboard the ship. With fewer than forty apprentices, there would still be vacant rooms even if everyone occupied two each, so there was no fighting over them. Having arrived in an unfamiliar environment and begun their journey toward a broader world, most of them had abandoned the territorial disputes of a "tiny island," instinctively developing a sense of closeness instead.

The six from the Northland chose six adjacent rooms on the third deck. That was when everyone discovered that Ophelia was in terrible condition.

Her face was deathly pale, cold sweat constantly beaded on her forehead, and the fluctuations of blood qi around her flickered in and out, wildly unstable. She swayed as she walked across the relatively steady ship. A Great Knight who could move freely even while living day and night atop a jolting horse could barely walk here.

"Miss Ophelia, what's wrong?" Krystal hurried over to support her and asked worriedly.

Having grown up in the Northland, they clearly did not know that there was an illness in this world called motion sickness—and that it had nothing to do with strength.

The sailor leading them split his mouth in a broad grin, apparently finding it amusing that these mage apprentices who would soon stand high above others could get seasick. "Ha ha, if you can't hold it in, then throw up. Once you throw up a few times, you'll get used to it." With that, he turned and walked away.

Krystal supported Ophelia, at a complete loss. She could not understand why she herself was fine while Ophelia, a Great Knight, had become like this.

"This is called seasickness," Adam said from in front of his door.

"What is seasickness?" Krystal still did not understand.

"It's complicated to explain. That sailor was right—throwing up a few times will get you used to it."

Ophelia weakly leaned against Krystal, unlocked her door, and went inside. "Don't worry. I think I'll be better after a while."

Krystal wanted to follow her in, but the door shut her out. Feeling somewhat lost, she looked around before settling her gaze on Adam. As a commoner herself, she naturally felt the most affection for Adam, who was also a commoner, even though she knew Adam was not the same as her.

The longer Adam lived this new life, the more perfectly he integrated with each emotional module. By now, he still did not like talking, but it was not because he lacked emotions. It was simply the nature of his personality as an intelligent life-form.

Faced with Krystal's questioning gaze, he said, "There are methods that may ease it a little, but they won't be very effective. Besides, I don't think she needs help."

After speaking, Adam entered his room. The room was quite good—clean and tidy, with a private bath and toilet. He could see the scenery outside through the porthole on one side, and the soundproofing was excellent. The roar of wind and waves was not too piercing. Spending three months here would not bore Adam, especially if he had some knowledge about mages to read.

But that was clearly impossible. Although mages styled themselves as seekers of knowledge, Adam had discovered over the past few days that this world's research environment was far from open-minded. Mages did not quite cherish their knowledge like a broom they refused to part with, but unless someone had sufficient value, they would never disclose their knowledge so easily.

Could this count as an extremely strong awareness of copyright? Adam's thoughts wandered.

Ever since he had gained the chance to set foot on the right path, Adam's entire soul had relaxed considerably. As a former artificial intelligence, he did not fear death. He only feared that his hard-won intelligence would be wasted for nothing.

Adam remained in his room all day, working on optimizing runes without coming out. There were two meals a day aboard the ship. Food would not be delivered to the rooms; everyone had to eat together in the dining hall, and the quantity was limited—latecomers got nothing.

Adam stepped out of his room precisely on time. At the same moment, Ophelia's door across from his opened as well, and the Great Knight, looking even worse than she had that morning, staggered out.

Their eyes met. Ophelia said hoarsely, "As a gentleman, shouldn't you at least give me a hand?"

Unconcerned, Adam walked over, supported her, and headed to the dining hall with her. Along the way, Ophelia kept suppressing dry heaves. The Great Knight's formidable Physical Fitness was nowhere to be seen; she was now worse off than an Ordinary Person.

"Motion sickness occurs because the vestibular organs of the inner ear perceive stimulation beyond what the body can tolerate. This stimulation deforms the hair cells in the maculae of the utricle and saccule, transmitting it to the Central Hub for perception. When the body cannot adapt to this abnormal information, it rejects it. That is why you are seasick," Adam explained as they walked.

"I don't understand what you're saying, but if you're trying to mock me..."

"I wouldn't do something so boring. I merely mean that I might have a way to solve your problem."

Ophelia's body stiffened. Somewhat exasperated, she said, "If you had a way, why didn't you tell me earlier? Did you want to see me make a fool of myself?"

Adam gave her a strange look, unable to understand where that logic came from. If he had a way, he had to tell her? Why? If there had not been a reason, Adam would not have cared how miserable she was. The only reason he had spoken was because he wanted to conduct an experiment—after Mental Power was solidified, could it act upon the body after all?

As the solidified Mental Power runes accumulated, Mental Power gradually ceased to resemble what it had been at first. It gained "strength," a strength similar to telekinesis that could move objects of relatively low mass. Adam was not satisfied with that. He had tried attaching Mental Power to bodily organs to see whether it could enhance their functions, but there had been no effect. Data collected from a single individual was too one-sided, so he wanted to experiment on Ophelia.

"If you have already begun to materialize your Mental Power, you can attach it inside your ears. Try strengthening your vestibular organs and increasing their stimulation threshold," Adam told her his method.

Ophelia felt far too awful and impatiently began trying it, but her Mental Power was not as strong as Adam's. Coupled with the intense physical reaction that kept preventing her from concentrating, she could not succeed.

Faced with an experimental subject, Adam had excellent patience. Meticulously supporting her all the way to the dining hall, he sat down with her beneath everyone's somewhat strange gazes.

Krystal's eyes lit up. "Miss Ophelia, Adam, you're here! I thought you wouldn't come to eat, and I was about to bring the food to your rooms." As she spoke, she rose from her seat to go over to them, but the Several People beside her pulled her back. She asked in confusion, "What's wrong? Miss Ophelia, she..."

Henry Hugh said to her in an old-fashioned, worldly tone, "You're still young. You don't understand. At a time like this, they cannot be disturbed by anyone."

Mike Gaster chimed in sourly, "Yeah, yeah. If you disturb them now, you'll be killed." He felt that he now understood why Adam had been able to stay at the Earl's residence, and he was terribly jealous.

Krystal tilted her head. Then her face suddenly turned bright red. She hurried back to her seat and began stuffing herself with food to hide her embarrassment, while inwardly crying out, Oh my god, they're so bold!

The two People Involved did not notice in the slightest that everyone had gotten the wrong idea. Seeing that Ophelia could not get the hang of it, Adam had no choice but to guide her personally.

"Mental Power that has not been solidified can be considered formless and intangible. It has no power to affect reality. Use the portion that has already been solidified. Break down several runes and guide them into your ears."

Fortunately, Ophelia was not too stupid. A few minutes later, she finally succeeded in directing her Mental Power into her ears. Adam sat beside her and extended his own Mental Power to observe the reaction. He discovered that after the Mental Power entered her ears, it successfully attached itself, but did not produce any strengthening effect. Instead, it created an isolating effect.

Her Mental Power formed a protective layer that effectively blocked the stimulating information produced by the Outside World. With no information entering, the hair cells in the maculae of the vestibular utricle and saccule no longer deformed and transmitted stimulating signals to the Central Hub. Her body naturally relaxed.

Ophelia stopped dry heaving. Color began returning to her pale face, the fluctuations of her blood qi steadied, and she recovered at an astonishing speed.

But to everyone else, it looked as though Adam had whispered something into Ophelia's ear, making her blush.

Krystal propped her chin in both hands, her eyes sparkling as she stared their way. Wow, that's amazing. I'm a little envious.

After recording the information, Adam stopped paying attention to her and rose to leave. Ophelia's favorable impression of him had greatly increased because of this. Thinking Adam was going to fetch food for her, she closed her eyes and used the Breathing Technique to regulate her body. Yet after waiting a long time without seeing Adam return, she opened her eyes and discovered that he had already seated himself elsewhere and was eating by himself.

The favorable impression she had just formed shattered instantly. Ophelia only felt a nameless flame burning in her heart, but she could not criticize him for anything. She could only slink off to get food, then sit beside Krystal.

The young girl asked cautiously, "Why didn't Adam come over? Did you two have a fight?"

Ophelia remained silent, sullen and gloomy.

Adam became warmhearted. There were quite a few people in the dining hall suffering from seasickness, with several lying there weakly and limp. He went to each of them in turn, explained the principles, told them the method, and patiently waited until they had mastered it and improved before leaving. He did not care in the least about the awkwardness the others felt.

Only after every seasick apprentice had recovered did Adam finally, regretfully reach a conclusion: at least at the Current Stage, Mental Power had no effect of strengthening the body.

Watching Adam's departing back, everyone silently praised him in their hearts. What a good person he was.