‘What is he up to?’
Oliver thought as under his watchful gaze, Val sat down on the floor of the house with his legs crossed and closed his eyes.
He seemed to have entered a state of extreme concentration as a thoughtful look quickly overtook his stoic expression.
Oliver decided not to disturb him, while Val thought that he can use modern knowledge to master the anti-gravity technique in a matter of minutes.
‘To counteract gravity, a certain amount of force is needed.’
‘As I have just been told by Oliver, Soul Power can be used as a substitute for this Force.’
‘To simplify it further, I only need to calculate the exact amount of soul power needed to counterbalance the force of gravity acting on my body to execute the anti-gravity technique.’
With that, he came up with an equation on the spot.
It was, F_gravity = F_soul, where F_gravity was the total amount of force of gravity acting on a person due to the result of their mass and the “g-force” (acceleration due to gravity) acting together, and F_soul represented the amount of soul power needed to generate a physical force equivalent to counteracting gravity for his specific body mass.
‘I already know what F_gravity is. Eldrich’s gravity is similar to Earth’s. It’s tried and tested. I only need to find F_soul. The answer, however, isn’t going to be handed over to me. I need to conduct experiments to find it. As for the test subject, it can only be me.’
Concentrating, Val imagined channeling his soul power throughout his body with a mind clear of distracting thoughts.
Consequently, his soul power surged out of his arcane heart and spread throughout his body.
At first, he tried levitating with small amounts of Soul Power, but his body didn’t budge and he didn’t notice any change either.
However, as he increased the soul power output, he noticed a sudden lightness in his body.
As he continued increasing the output, the feeling got stronger and stronger until he felt that with just a little increase in the output of soul power, he would start levitating.
‘Let’s confirm it.’ 𝗈𝚟𝓵ℯxt.𝕔𝑂𝔪
Val thought as he increased his soul power output slightly, and voila!
He broke free from the confines of gravity, his body gently lifting off the floor.
Val opened his eyes and found himself floating in the air!
His eyes widened in surprise and delight.
“It worked!” he exclaimed.
Val couldn’t help but feel a sense of accomplishment. Science and magic, it seemed, were not mutually exclusive.
Upon witnessing Val’s successful execution of the Anti-gravity technique, Oliver was stunned beyond words.
‘Impossible was made possible just beyond my very eyes.’
Oliver’s eyes bulged, his jaw fell open in sheer disbelief, and a ripple of shock fluttered across his features.
He found it very difficult to believe what he had just witnessed.
He had seen many surprising things during his time as a wizard, but this was something else entirely.
This was the first time in his life he had seen someone master a wizard technique so quickly.
‘I witnessed yet another miracle and it was performed by the very same man.”
He gawked at Val.
“So how did I do? Have I passed the test?” Val asked, snapping Oliver out of his disbelief.
“You’re passed it with flying marks, Val,” Oliver said, “Learning the anti-gravity skill is a feat that usually takes wizards weeks if not months to accomplish, but you’ve done it in a matter of minutes. You’ve set a new record and to think you were clueless about it just a week ago. You’re a genius when it comes to wizardry, Val, a genius!”
Val smiled at Oliver’s spirited praise before saying, “You praise me too much. I just happened to have discovered the G force of Eldrich a few years back and the anti-gravity technique happened to be somewhat centered around it. So it was simple for me to master it. I guess I just got lucky that my knowledge was applicable in this situation.”
Despite Val’s attempt to undermine his achievement to avoid unwanted attention, Oliver still looked amazed.
“So you really know the G force of our world. No wonder it was so easy for you to master it. Even a tidbit of knowledge like this can be extremely beneficial in furthering my mastery of the technique, so I will really appreciate it if you share it with me. I know I am asking for a lot. If you like, I can pay you in exchange,” Oliver begged Val while resembling a pitiful dog.
Val laughed lightly at Oliver’s eagerness.
“There’s no need for payment. You see, I don’t mind sharing it with you free of cost. You’ve been a great help to me so far, even introducing me to the Destiny Walker Family. This is the least I could do. The G force of Eldrich is 9.8 m/s^2. I also came up with the equation F_gravity = F_soul to calculate the exact amount of soul power needed to counterbalance the force of gravity acting on one’s body.”
Val further explained the equation to Oliver.
After hearing Val’s explanation, Oliver’s eyes widened in amazement.
His mind was buzzing with this newfound knowledge.
Actually, despite having already learned the technique, he never understood the fundamental principles behind it this deeply.
After all, there was a difference between memorizing something and understanding it. Oliver had mastered the anti-gravity technique by following the traditional steps taught by his predecessors. He didn’t comprehend it. As a result, he could hover no more than 2.5 meters above the ground, and that too only for a short period.
After he gained a better understanding of it thanks to Val, new possibilities opened up for him, effectively turning the anti-gravity technique into a potential method of flight. Thus, this was indeed an enlightening moment for him.
“With this, any wizard can learn the anti-gravity technique with a little bit of effort,” Oliver muttered in awe. “Thank you, Val. You helped me improve once again.”
With a smile, Val said to Oliver, “Just do me one little favor in return, Oliver. The next time you meet the head of the Destiny Walker family, put in a good word for me, will you?”
This was precisely why Val was being so generous to him.
“I will,” Oliver said with a nod.
He grinned as he slowly started to float upwards, controlling his altitude by minutely adjusting his output of soul power as the F_gravity acting on him increased the further up he went.
Just like that, he floated up to the roof of his house, far crossing the 2.5-meter mark.
Meanwhile, after a few more experiments, Val confidently floated around the house like a ghost, showcasing he had already mastered the anti-gravity technique. However, it utilized a lot of soul power. He couldn’t fly for very long or he will be exhausted from his soul power in no time.
As they were floating around the house, they bumped into each other, lost control, and fell to the ground.
“Well, that was quite embarrassing,” Val said.
After the incident, they decided to stop playing like little children.
“Yeah, it was. Anyway, welcome to the family,” Oliver added as he passed a token to Val.
“What is this?” Val asked.
“Just put your soul power into it, and you’ll know,” Oliver replied.