I've Got A Mana Processor In A Magic World-Chapter 91: Zephyr’s Pathway Name?

"Jon?" Zephyr’s voice brought him out of his thoughts. "You seem to be—"

"What word did you comprehend?" Jon asked Zephyr abruptly. Cutting off what the boy was about saying.

"..." Zephyr quickly delved into his mind. ’Aegis, what’s the Transistor called here?!’ he urged Aegis, who rapidly sorted through compartmentalized information for the images of the pages of ’The Path of The Optimized’ inheritance Zephyr had slowly scanned through in the Grand Library.

Flux Switch. Aegis responded within milliseconds.

Zephyr immediately put on a very confused act, tilting his head slowly like he was trying to remember an exact title."Uhh... if I were to put it into words... Flux Switch?" He said. "Yeah, I think that was what I saw in the library too..." he trailed off as if deep in thought. "I visualized it like a very, very tiny switch," Zephyr began, choosing his words carefully, trying to be as vague as he could so as not to draw any attention to the fact that his comprehension was near-perfect as could be. "After comprehending the quanta, I felt dissatisfied with what I could feel mana as, and what my mana node could do with this mana. It felt very limiting... like I wasn’t even utilizing my comprehension of the quanta. So when I briefly glanced across a section of the Cromwell Inheritance that talked about these little things that could help me in controlling mana the way I want. That could make me utilize my comprehension of the quanta to the fullest... I had an epiphany." Zephyr sold his made-up story like a pro.

"For the whole next day after I returned from the Grand Library, as I rested, I pondered on what the Flux switch was. Why could these little switches control mana so precisely? Allowing one to create complex magic spells..."

"And what was the conclusion you came to?" Jon asked, staring with a burning gaze that spooked Zephyr a bit. The man was suddenly too eager. Almost like he wanted to ascertain an idea already in his mind.

Zephyr hoped to all the gods that the idea favored him. Right now, he had chosen to portray himself as some sort of never seen before genius. A prodigy. An enigma that could comprehend words just by getting an idea of them.

Whatever theories others then came up with to further explain why he was able to do what he did was all on them and none of his business.

So he hoped whatever Jon was cooking up in his mind aligned with what he was portraying himself as.

"I came to the conclusion that when you try to cast a spell, these switches get activated, and they basically turn the mana in its most basic form—quanta, on or off, or sometimes direct it down one path instead of another. It’s hard to really explain it in words, I simply just... understand that’s how it works... it just ’makes sense’ to me that way." He ended with a vague hand gesture to emphasize the difficulty of explaining the inherent magical concept.

The key to selling oneself as a genius was being vague. The more he tried to explain, the more chances he gave for Jon to pick out at something. Geniuses were not to be understood! That was why they were geniuses!

His act was further sold by the solemn and distant look in his eyes after he finished his explanation.

Jon clenched his teeth repeatedly, trying to contain his building excitement. "Zephyr, do you know what people who do what you just did so simply are called...?" he said as Zephyr slowly glanced at him with an unfocused gaze.

"Pathfinders." Jon said. "People who have such a great access to origin that comprehension of words comes so naturally to them, it makes everyone else look like they’re groping around blindly in the dark."

"These are pioneers. The kind of people who forged the various pathways we all parade as Inheritances today." Jon said with a serious voice, trying to convey the weight of what he was implying to Zephyr.

"Do you get me, Zephyr?" He asked. "I think you might be a Pathfinder!"

"Pathfinder...?" Zephyr whispered. That was new. He had been going for genius, but hey, this worked even better.

"Are they that rare...?" Zephyr asked, actually confused. "By that logic, Pascal should also be a Pathfinder, no? He forged a path to Tier 4 by himself... And what about those who also stumble on words themselves, out of the blue, without any prior knowledge whatsoever?" Zephyr pointed out.

"Are you compari—" Jon balked at Zephyr’s deduction. "Okay look, for Pascal, we can actually call him a pathfinder... but that’s because the word has lost its meaning in this age. Anyone who can create another step in an existing pathway already calls themself a pathfinder—They are still geniuses for doing this because it’s still very hard though. So if we’re using that standard, yes, Pascal is indeed a pathfinder. But he’s not a True Pathfinder." Jon explained. "As for the others you talked about, they’re not even worth mentioning. We’re talking about conscious, deliberately structured comprehension here, not some half-baked, useless, stumbling-about kind of comprehension." Jon said dismissively. "Their mana nodes are so inefficient and poorly designed th— Forget it." he waved a hand in the air, getting back to the subject matter at hand.

"I don’t feel like a pathfinder though," Zephyr said. "And how can you know for sure anyway? This is only my second comprehension," he shrugged.

"Aside from your obvious feat, I’m also certain because I can feel it in my gut." Jon said with a clear gaze. "And I always trust my gut."

"The past three days I spent keeping watch as you comprehended the word made me realize you’re not normal in the first place." He stated with a hand raised just as Zephyr was about to interrupt him with an attempt to deny his assumptions. "I don’t care for what your origins are or why you’re the way you are. What I’m concerned with is that you’re here with us, and we’re in a partnership relationship. Your help in forging a new pathway would prove invaluable for other Half-Exalted of Freehold in our fight against the Exalted."

"...that’s if I’m really a Pathfinder." Zephyr reminded Jon.

"You are." Jon said with surety, standing up. "I need to make a report. Be prepared to meet with the Overseer within the next few days." He said, before quickly rushing out of the room, leaving Zephyr to his own devices.

"Pathfinder..." Zephyr whispered. He guessed he could qualify as one by their definition. He was sure he could pull out at least ten different mana core designs with Aegis’ help. Mana core designs that mimicked processors with various specific strengths and weaknesses.

Zephyr thought about his next step to take, and concluded he’d go through with it. This Pathfinder thing. He would—for the right price— create inferior pathways with Aegis’ help, for the uses of Half-Exalted here in Freehold.

But his own design. His own pathway. Would always remain his and his alone.

As he thought about it, he realized he hadn’t given his pathway a name yet. Aegis had once suggested he named it "The Path of the Threadripper" or "The Xeon pathway." Aegis had seemed overly enthusiastic, even bringing up a weird one, "The Snapdragon’s Path."

What the hell were all these funky names?