Toon ultimately became the owner of New World, even though his "company" was not yet profitable.
Over the next few days, Mirai ran into the mining area early every morning and did not return until dark.
In fact, Mirai had already fulfilled his wish of becoming a mine owner. He kept going to the mining area because there was something there that made him extremely curious about this world—the power-driven machinery that used soul crystals as energy cores.
In Toon's original world, nuclear energy and solar energy had been the main sources of power. In New World, however, most energy still relied on burning coal for heat. Even steam engines, which Toon had only seen in textbooks, were high-tech products in this world.
Yet the most mysterious and scientific thing of all was the soul crystal.
Mirai still clearly remembered what the books in the room had recorded: soul crystals were an extremely unique kind of ore in this world. Like other minerals, raw soul crystal deposits were hidden in mountains or underground. By this world's standards, soul crystal ore was nearly as valuable as gold ore, and its value was even trending upward.
A hundred years ago, a scholar named Marfa appeared. He successfully refined the scientific study of soul crystals, including their special processing, and in doing so discovered a special energy contained within certain human bodies.
The university student Marfa named this special energy soul power, meaning the energy contained within the soul—soul power for short.
Over the following years, more and more people with soul power were discovered. By adjusting the structure of soul crystals, two forms of soul power within the human body were accurately identified: physical power and spiritual power.
According to Mahathir's theory at the time, physical power was merely the ultimate potential