Is Will Energy?

Dale Enberton.

He was considered more of an eyesore than anything else to the students in the advanced class.

He was of commoner origin, and commoners were perceived as inferior regardless of the country.

Given such prejudice, the students couldn’t understand the current situation.

“Entropy is leftover scraps…”

To this lowly person who didn’t fit in this place at all.

“Why did you express it that way?”

That this pedantic and arrogant professor would give him chances over and over again.

“Uh, well. So… First of all, thermal energy moves very irregularly unlike objects with fixed mass, right?”

But what needed attention now was not the gazes around him, but the professor himself.

As Dale cautiously asked back, Chronos also nodded in response, regardless of the atmosphere.

“Yes, to use an analogy, it’s like rubber balls bouncing randomly in a room.”

“The fact that something too small for our eyes to see moves irregularly means that it’s impossible to intentionally control it. This means that in the process of ‘transforming’ to utilize energy, energy will inevitably be wasted in other directions.”

“Energy is wasted… For example?”

“To use an analogy… Um. Yes. It’s like throwing an entire box of rubber balls into a room to try to get them into a passage, as you mentioned, Professor.”

Instead of throwing them one by one, it’s hoping that balls will enter the passage by throwing many at once.

Naturally, the balls won’t bounce in the desired direction, and they’ll move chaotically, colliding with each other or bouncing in unwanted directions.

As a result, only a tiny fraction of the total balls will end up in the passage.

“Here, if the rubber balls entering the passage are the energy we want to use, the rubber balls that don’t enter the passage and fall remain in that state unless collected again… They can be considered ‘leftover energy’ in effect.”

“Yes. As in that analogy, energy is very irregular and disorderly, making it difficult to control, and the word entropy was created to explain the rate of energy loss that occurs because of this. Is that why you likened entropy to ‘leftover scraps’?”

“Yes, that’s right. It’s energy, but… it’s ‘energy in a state that’s difficult to recycle’ because it has already consumed everything that could be used. Just like how it’s difficult to pick up the balls one by one and put them back in the box for another attempt.”

Literally, the garbage of heat.

There could be no more fitting analogy when summarizing the Second Law of Thermodynamics.

In fact, the surrounding students were also showing signs of gradually understanding as they compared it with the content in the textbook.

“Then here’s a question.”

Professor Chronos soon asked in that atmosphere.

To drive home the point of this Q&A.

“What is the Second Law of Thermodynamics, which deals with this concept, trying to explain?”

“As we utilize energy, the amount of useful energy we can use decreases by that much, so in an isolated system… that is, the entropy in a certain space always increases.”

“Then what is the total amount of energy existing in a space where entropy has increased?”

“It would be the same as before. Mass and energy are only transformed according to certain conditions, and they don’t disappear in a limited space.”

“…Correct answer.”

The professor, who smiled slightly, turned his back to the blackboard again.

“Yes, as the top student explained, entropy itself is a word to explain the remaining byproducts of the energy we have utilized. Energy used leaves byproducts… That concept alone is something we can easily encounter in everyday life.”

Wood burned by fire becomes ash, and that ash cannot be burned again.

The substances separated from the ash are combusted into the air, so the total amount of substance remains the same, but it takes that much strength and investment to gather those substances again and make them into another substance.

And collecting and reusing already consumed substances is much more inefficient than transforming something that already exists.

Unless there’s a specific intention, looking at just the loss rate would result in tremendous inefficiency.

“The reason this concept is important in magic is that it also applies to mana led by will. After all, mana converted into physical force is also something that can be called energy. Rather, because it can only be grasped by sensation and not seen with the eyes, an unimaginable amount of energy is bound to be lost.”

-Woong.

Once again, a ring of physical force is generated in Professor Chronos’s hand.

The flow of that force was very stable, unlike what ordinary magicians generate.

Not shaking, but smooth. It looks like a glass craft, but as if to prove that it’s not in a solid state, there are waves on the surface along with a faint vibration.

“That’s why when using high-level magic, one inevitably has to rely on circles. ‘Rotational motion’ that constantly circulates in one place in a certain direction is the optimal means to reduce entropy.”

Just by seeing that, they realized.

That circles are a technique focused not only on gathering mana but also on stabilizing its flow, and mastering it is not about gathering more mana but about reducing energy loss by that much.

“Well, do you start to get a sense of why I’ve only emphasized the basics for the past month?”

The students who were partly amazed while looking at that circle.

Their wide-eyed and open-mouthed expressions showed that they were gradually becoming immersed in this class.

Yes, interest tends to become the driving force of learning.

“Now then, let’s continue with the class. The advanced course of thermodynamics that we’ll be learning from today is…”

“Teacher.”

Just as he was about to proceed with the class after setting the mood.

In the process, a student raised their hand and stopped Professor Chronos.

It was Dale, the current year’s top student who had sat down after the Q&A with him.

“…It’s not teacher, but professor. Dale Enberton.”

“Oh, yes. I’m sorry. But, there’s something I’m curious about, may I ask a question?”

A cautious inquiry.

The students’ gazes turned fierce as if annoyed by it, but Professor Chronos merely pushed up his glasses.

“If it’s a useless question, I won’t answer and will continue with the class. Keep that in mind.”

“Ah, yes. Then…”

Before Dale asked his question.

He quietly took a breath as if to calm his nerves.

That too looked annoying to the surrounding students.

“Will…”

But when they heard the question that followed.

“Can a person’s will, which draws physical force from mana, be defined as energy?”

No one in this place dismissed the question just asked as ‘stupid’.

Although it’s a valid question, it was a topic that no one had thought of until these words were uttered.

“…Oh ho.”

And the same went for Chronos.

No, beyond just finding it unexpected, he found the naive boy’s question before him interesting.

“Yes, will is energy… It’s a story one might wonder about once when studying mana.”

Isn’t it strange?

Why can mana respond to human will and transform into physical force?

According to the law of conservation of momentum, an object without external pressure remains stationary if it was stationary, and moving if it was moving, maintaining that force.

In other words, transformation, and all phenomena called flow, require energy.

If mana, which has the property of simply residing in all things unless will is injected, is to be converted into physical force, the argument naturally follows that the will emitted by humans must be energy.

“But before answering that, let me ask you, who raised this question, one thing in return.”

“Ah, yes, please go ahead.”

“If will is energy…”

Soon Professor Chronos asked Dale.

“Do you think that alone can prove the existence of the soul?”

“…Soul?”

“Yes, soul.”

Soul.

It’s a concept that especially those who believe in religion have affirmed its existence, and in the case of scholars, they’ve only considered ‘such a thing exists’ without delving deeper.

After all, what they pursue is the truth of the world, not the humans navigating that world.

Nevertheless, the reason for deeply contemplating its existence recently is that medicine, a newly spotlighted discipline, first raised the opinion denying the existence of the soul.

‘They denied the existence of the soul through medicine. Then how do we define the force that converts mana into physical force, this thing called will?’

Is it because the concept of soul exists as we originally knew?

Or is it simply naturally attracted like magnetism if it’s a living being?

“Isn’t the soul originally there?”

But such contemplation has not yet been introduced to academia and is only occasionally discussed among some scholars.

“Everyone says so. That the reason the heart beats is because the soul exists.”

“…That’s right. Everyone knows it that way.”

Ironically, people in this world still didn’t properly know about the human body.

Wasn’t it the late period of the war when medicine first showed its presence in academia?

“I hope you’ll forget about the question I just asked. This is just in the realm of hypothesis, not something to actually discuss.”

Moreover, he was someone who preferred exchanging information with others rather than solitary imagination, and believed in the answers derived from that.

He had no intention of mentioning fantasies not yet accepted by the times in a lecture that expounds guaranteed knowledge.

“Then let’s return to the question. Is will truly defined as energy? What I can say about this is that ‘I don’t know’.”

“…Even you don’t know, Professor?”

“Yes, because will is ultimately just an ‘abstract concept’ at the current stage. I’d say that at least until I retire from academia, its existence won’t be clearly revealed.”

So let’s keep this pleasure to ourselves for now.

The question that even leading scholars driving the current era have just thought of.

The fact that a boy not yet familiar with the concept of medicine thought of it.

“But that’s why people like me put effort into educating people like you.”

Furthermore, taking this moment to acknowledge his own powerlessness.

While expressing the will to transfer that possibility not to the present but to the future.

“Even now, things that remained unknown in the past are frequently being revealed in academia. So even questions that haven’t been answered now might be revealed by your hands. Even if you don’t reveal them, they might be revealed later.”

Knowledge is inherited, and the ideology and passion contained in it are also passed on to the future.

The culture and civilization of humanity have grown that way, and that’s why Professor Chronos hoped that the students before him would become even more outstanding beings.

These are children selected and selected again from among all the children of the continent.

They will soon become ‘leaders’ who will lead the future of this continent.

“So even if you can’t find the answer to this question right away, never forget it. You never know when the opportunity to find that answer will come.”

Of course, conveying that ideology is just in terms of atmosphere.

What’s important right now is the class, so if there’s nothing more to say, the class should proceed.

As he continued with the rest of the class, Dale quietly looked down at his hand while watching him tap the blackboard.

‘Unknown…’

An unknown realm.

A field that can only end in hypothesis and fantasy because it’s not yet revealed in the present.

‘Dale, the power you have seems to have properties similar to mana.’

Dale had to take those words to heart more than anyone else.

---

“Then let’s end the morning classes here. Practical classes are scheduled for the afternoon, so replenish your energy through meals and rest until then.”

After the bell signaling the end of class rang, Professor Chronos, as always, organized his attendance book and textbook before leaving the classroom.

Unless something special happens, they’ll meet again in the afternoon practical class.

As the students were preparing for lunch time in their own ways, one student began to approach Dale, who was organizing his desk.

A girl with long red twin-tails.

“Dale Enberton, I have something to say to you…”

“Sorry! There’s something I want to look up!”

Even though the girl spoke to him first for the first time, Dale rushed out of the classroom as soon as he finished packing his things.

Because he couldn’t bear the growing questions after this class.

“Book, book, book, book, book, book!!!”

“Be quiet!”

“Eek! I’m sorry!”

Dale, who was warned by the librarian for shouting while running around.

Afterwards, Dale, who roamed the library with a modest attitude, picked out the books he needed one by one and found a seat.

“…Found it.”

And what he found at the end was a book dealing with content similar to what he had read in the junkyard long ago.

[The Three Demons of Science History.]

Demon.

That concept is closer to religion than science, but what’s dealt with in the book he’s reading now is the ‘thought experiment’ derived from the hypothesis-building stage, made concrete.

It deals with how existing physical laws would be distorted if such beings, which don’t exist in reality, were to exist.

At that time, he didn’t have the knowledge to understand it, but now Dale had reinforced the knowledge he had acquired through self-study while coming to the academy.

‘Found it.’

After flipping through the contents, Dale focused his attention on one being.

Laplace, who is said to perceive all causality in the universe and even foresee the future.

Descartes, who controls human senses to change the world that person perceives.

“And Maxwell, the demon who paradoxically states the law of entropy.”

Dale thought while looking at the words written on that page.

Perhaps he.

The fact that he might have the power to ignore the law of entropy, like this Maxwell’s demon.