Lord: Starting with Summoning the Regular Army of Earth

Chapter 129 The Real Mana

After arriving in Ironrock, Matthew stored the goods he had brought in at the "Soap Processing Point" in the city, and then had someone send some soap and scented soap to the Black Bear Merchant Guild.

Groom Winton recently left Ironrock City, reportedly heading to the Royal City, intending to use soap and soap to help the Black Bear Merchant Guild open up the Royal City's market and gain a foothold there.

So Groom should be quite busy lately.

Conrad had separated from the caravan before entering the city. After entering the city, he went to the Goldfinch Merchant Guild with gold coins and a purchase list, and also told her about the victory at Wind-Eroded Heights.

Although Eleanor had long anticipated the success of the alliance between Emberstone Ridge and White River Valley, she was still unable to calm down when she learned the exact news.

She never expected the victory to come so quickly. After all, she knew very well that the Giant God Tribe was incredibly powerful. Even if Iron Rock City sent troops and did everything in its power to help White River Valley, it would probably take several months to completely defeat the Giant God Tribe.

It seems that the mysterious weapons of Emberstone Ridge are indeed extraordinary, which makes her even more certain that Matthew's footsteps will definitely not stop at Emberstone Ridge.

With storms brewing and chaos looming, it's hard to say who will become the ruler of the kingdom in the future.

If he really bets right, Matthew will rise to prominence in this chaotic world. Even if he doesn't become a king, or even just a regional lord, his status in the organization will soar, making those old guys look at him with new respect.

When Matthew returned from Ironrock, he bought a considerable amount of food and seeds.

The territory is now populated and the demand for food is increasing.

However, with the phased victory in flood control, Jinshiling will soon gain a large area of ​​high-quality arable land.

Agriculture is reclaiming riverbank land to prepare for planting crops such as buckwheat, beans, and cabbage, which are short-term crops that will be fully mature before winter.

As evening fell, Matthew began summoning the members of the magic team as agreed. Since there were both men and women involved, and it was the first time they were being summoned, Matthew completed the task in two separate sessions.

The first to be summoned were the male personnel.

When Lin Xiaoyang regained sensation in his body, he suddenly opened his eyes, and everything before him had indeed changed.

It was no longer the huge connecting room filled with various machines and monitoring beds, but a "simple" study with slightly dim lighting.

The handsome man standing in front of them must be the legendary Commander Matthew.

"I've really arrived in another world!" Lin Xiaoyang was excited. He could clearly sense this brand new body and the unfamiliar world. It was not a simulation, nor was it an imagination.

All their senses were so real, so clear; they had truly arrived in the world of magic.

"Welcome to Emberstone Ridge!" Matthew said with a smile, then handed each person a set of clothes.

Lin Xiaoyang and the other three men then realized that they had come into this world like babies.

However, being adults, they didn't feel too embarrassed. They quickly dressed and began to observe and experience the world in their own way.

Matthew called Will over from outside and asked him to take the four people to the magic team's office.

That was a room specially prepared for them by Matthew, right next to the council chamber. It was a room that served as both an office and a rest area, and it had bunk beds specially made for them.

The room next door is for women, and they will share it with the women in the chemical engineering group.

After Matthew summoned Chen Yu, he took Chen Yu to the magic team's office.

At this moment, Lin Xiaoyang, Liu Jun, Wang Hao, and others were excitedly exchanging information with each other, and were even communicating with Will in Common Tongue. It seemed that they were very well prepared.

Of course, Matthew also knew that their purpose in learning Common was to better understand the magical knowledge of this world.

"Fellow researchers, welcome again to Emberstone Ridge. I am Matthew. Now, please introduce yourselves."

"Commander, I am Lin Xiaoyang, a former researcher at the Institute of Theoretical Physics, specializing in high-dimensional spacetime topology and quantum gravity —" Lin Xiaoyang spoke first, introducing himself.

Then the others introduced themselves one after another.

"Okay, I'll remember you. I'm glad you could come—I know you have a lot of questions, but please be patient."

"Will—" Matthew turned to Will beside him, "This is our Grand Scholar of Emberstone Ridge. He is well-versed in magical theory and will assist you in familiarizing yourselves with the environment and knowledge system here."

Will gave the five people a graceful bow and said in fluent Mandarin, "Welcome, everyone. I have learned some of your language, so I believe there won't be any major communication barriers. You can come to me with any questions you may have, whether they are related to magic or everyday life."

"Wow, your Chinese is really good!" Wang Hao exclaimed.

Will smiled modestly: "There's still a lot to learn."

"Commander!" Lin Xiaoyang suddenly raised his hand and spoke up, "Can we see magic with our own eyes? We've learned a lot of theory and derived countless models, but real magic—"

"Yes, yes! A model is a model, and reality is reality. We need to establish a benchmark for sensory perception!" Wang Hao eagerly chimed in.

Matthew nodded, pleased to see everyone's enthusiasm for magic; it seemed the national selection was indeed excellent: "Of course."

Upon hearing this, the group's faces immediately lit up with anticipation, as if they were about to witness the truth with their own eyes.

Matthew's expression turned serious. He held his breath, extended his right hand, and with a slight thought, the spell model of the Mage's Hand was instantly constructed in his mind.

An invisible hand patted each person on the shoulder, then picked up the heavy book on the table, a magic book translated by the language group.

The thick book seemed to fly up automatically, hovering about half a meter above the table, and then began to slowly rotate.

The book pages turned automatically without any wind, flipping one by one, and finally closed, gently falling back onto the table in the exact same spot.

Throughout the entire process, Lin Xiaoyang, Chen Yu, and the others held their breath and stared intently, their eyes filled with astonishment.

Although they had a thorough understanding of the Mage's Hand from theories and simulations on Earth, seeing and experiencing this mysterious magic firsthand still filled them with excitement and exhilaration.

They also tried to sense the magical fluctuations Matthew made when he used the Mage's Hand, wanting to feel the true mana.

Unfortunately, this was not a simulation, and their new bodies had not undergone true meditation or spiritual practice, so they were unable to perceive mana at all.

However, when the mage patted his shoulder, Lin Xiaoyang seemed to vaguely sense some kind of peculiar energy fluctuation, but the feeling was not very clear and was fleeting.

"This is amazing! This is the Mage's Hand!" Wang Hao exclaimed with delight.

Matthew withdrew his mage hand, and a soft white halo immediately appeared at his fingertips.

"The Glimmer spell, the simplest light-based spell," Matthew said. "It gathers and stabilizes the light element mana."

This time, Lin Xiaoyang moved even closer, almost pressing his face against Matthew's fingertips.

He carefully observed the ball of light, trying to discern something, or perhaps to sense something.

After the demonstration, Matthew withdrew his magic, and the room returned to its original dim candlelight.

But the light shining in the eyes of the five was brighter than any spell.

"Alright, now you can start trying to sense mana on your own, but don't rush it. This world is real, and magic is real, but learning it takes time and patience."

After finishing his sentence, Matthew spoke a few more words to Will and then left the room.

He still had territory matters to attend to, and tonight he planned to continue researching the concept of the "magic generator."

After Matthew left, the room fell into a brief silence, which was then broken by Lin Xiaoyang's voice: "Scholar Will, may we begin to try to sense mana now? I can't wait. We've all learned the theory, but we may still need to explore the actual methods—"

Will nodded: "Of course, but I must remind you that perceiving mana is the first and greatest hurdle to becoming a spellcaster. Most people never manage to cross it in their entire lives. Please lower your expectations; it requires talent, patience, and—some luck."

"We understand." Lin Xiaoyang nodded solemnly, his eyes filled with barely suppressed eagerness.

"First, please sit cross-legged and relax your body as much as possible, but keep your spine straight. Close your eyes and focus your attention on your breathing —" Will began to guide the five people through the most basic meditation exercises.

Lin Xiaoyang sat down as Will had instructed and closed his eyes.

But unlike others, he didn't simply "empty his mind," but instead began to consciously draw upon all the theoretical knowledge he had learned.

"Mana, the energy particles that permeate the world, is the foundation of magical phenomena—according to Chapter 3 of 'An Introduction to the Foundations of Magic,' the essence of meditative perception is to resonate with the fundamental frequency of mana in the environment—"

"But what is the fundamental frequency of mana? The book's description is vague—perhaps it can be compared to ground-state fluctuations in quantum field theory? No, it should be more active—"

Lin Xiaoyang's brain was working at lightning speed as he tried to "translate" the magical theories of this world using his own understanding of the concepts.

This is not about blindly believing, but about establishing an actionable and verifiable cognitive framework.

"Relax — Focus — But don't be passive. I need to actively adjust my state of mind —"

He thought of the feeling when Matthew displayed the Mage's Hand. Perhaps the distribution of mana itself was not uniform, but had some kind of structure.

Lin Xiaoyang adjusted his breathing to calm his mind, but not completely empty it; instead, he entered a state of "active reception."

He imagined his consciousness as a highly sensitive radio telescope, slowly scanning the surrounding space, searching for any "abnormal" signals.

One minute, two minutes, five minutes —

Only steady breathing could be heard in the room.

Will left the room temporarily so as not to disturb the five people.

After an unknown amount of time, Lin Xiaoyang frowned. In his "consciousness vision," which had been a chaotic darkness, something suddenly appeared.

The feeling was exactly the same as described in the book, but those "things" were not still, but were drifting around in an irregular, Brownian motion-like manner.

However, it seems to be affected by some extremely slight flow direction overall.

Is this mana?

Lin Xiaoyang's heart suddenly raced, but he forced himself to remain calm, daring not to have any major emotional fluctuations, for fear of disturbing this hard-won "perception".

He carefully used his consciousness, or rather his mental power, to approach some of the nearest points of light.

There was no tactile sensation, but when he focused his attention on it, the point of light seemed to "brighten" slightly, and its trajectory changed subtly, as if responding to his "gaze".

It worked! I sensed it!

Lin Xiaoyang was overjoyed. It was a joy even stronger than publishing a paper in a top journal or achieving a major experimental breakthrough. It was the touch of the essence of another world and the first glimpse of a completely new law.