WorldCrafter - Building My Underground Kingdom-Chapter 81: Tapping Into Memories

Ben rubbed his chin, his mind working through the problem. "So… your spell worked before, but now it's scrambled. Can you adjust it to search for specific memories?"

Elvira nodded slowly. "I can refine it to look for certain keywords, if that's what you mean. But considering the current results, I doubt it will help."

"What about targeting a specific time frame? Like, say… my last day on Earth?"

Elvira tilted her head, considering it. "I can do that. You think narrowing it down will change the outcome?"

Ben shrugged. "Only one way to find out. If it's only pulling from a set period, it should be faster and might avoid whatever's messing with the whole thing."

Elvira exhaled, then dispelled the magic entirely before weaving a new spell. Her fingers moved in precise motions, tracing shimmering runes in the air before she pressed her palm to Ben's forehead again. A moment passed. Then—nothing.

Elvira's lips pressed into a thin line. "This time, it didn't work at all, my beloved. I don't think you're just resistant… it's like you're outright immune."

Ben frowned. "I doubt that. By the way, you mentioned experimenting on a Traveler's artifact for your regression… did you ever try extracting their memories too?"

Elvira scoffed. "I wish. I only managed to get my hands on the artifact. The Traveler himself was imprisoned by my clan's leader. I was never allowed near him."

Ben's gaze flickered with intrigue. "So you must've held a pretty high position in your clan, then?" Not just anyone will get access to a traveler artifact.

Elvira's expression darkened as old memories surfaced. "At the time, I was a fool. I did everything for my clan. And in the end? They stabbed me in the back."

"You mentioned that before." Ben leaned against the carriage wall, arms crossed. "How exactly did it go down?"

Elvira hesitated, then sighed. "That's a long story. I'll tell you when we reach that layer. For now, why you ask that?"

Ben exhaled. "Right, got sidetracked. I just wanted to know if this memory problem is specific to me or if it's something bigger. Let's try again—but this time, scan for something simpler. Pick a time from when I was still in school."

Elvira's eyes narrowed slightly, but she didn't argue. She wove the spell once more, pressing her palm to his forehead. A heartbeat passed. Then—her golden eyes lit up in recognition.

"This works," she murmured, eyes gleaming as the spell took hold. "I can see your memories."

Without hesitation, she delved in. The scent of old textbooks and cheap floor polish filled the air. Sunlight filtered through the windows, casting golden rays over rows of wooden desks. The scratching of pens on paper mixed with the distant hum of an overhead fan.

Ben was slumped over his desk, arms crossed, head resting on them. He wasn't asleep, not completely—just existing in that perfect in-between state where the world faded into background noise.

At the front of the room, a balding professor was busy scribbling equations on the board with a piece of white chalk. "Now, let's discuss the conservation of energy," the professor said, underlining a formula. "Energy cannot be created or destroyed—only transferred from one form to another. A simple example would be a pendulum. As it swings, kinetic energy turns into potential energy and back again. In an ideal environment—meaning no air resistance or friction—it would swing forever."

Elvira, observing through Ben's memory, narrowed her eyes. 'Only transferred?' That idea was absurd in her world. Magic was created from the will of the caster, mana drawn from thin air. But here, they were saying energy could never be created, only moved?

The professor continued, oblivious to her growing interest. "But the real world isn't ideal. Air resistance slowly drains kinetic energy, converting it into heat. That's why a pendulum eventually stops."

Elvira's thoughts raced. That meant—if there were no air, no friction—energy could cycle indefinitely? Was this why enchanted objects slowly lost their charge in her world? They weren't losing magic—they were leaking energy into their environment, dissipating like heat?

Her excitement grew as the professor moved to another concept. "Now, let's apply this to thermodynamics. When energy is used, some of it is always lost as heat. This is why perpetual motion machines are impossible."

Elvira's lips parted slightly. Perpetual motion… impossible? But in her world, there were artifacts that supposedly ran forever. Was it because they weren't creating energy but drawing it trough mana from some unseen source? Could magic itself be following these laws, just on a system she had never understood?

Elvira's mind raced. 'This explains so much…' The slow decay of enchantments, the exhaustion of mana reserves—magic wasn't breaking down, it was bleeding out into the environment like wasted heat. If she could find a way to trap it, redirect it, she could—

THWACK!

A crumpled ball of paper smacked against Ben's head, bouncing off and landing on his desk. Elvira's thoughts screeched to a halt.

Ben groggily lifted his head, blinking in slow confusion before lazily unfolding the note. 'Yo, dumbass. Wake up before old man Carter calls on you again.'

Elvira nearly snorted. Across the aisle, a classmate—a lanky guy with a smirk—gave Ben a lazy salute before turning back to his notebook, doodling something that definitely wasn't physics equations.

Ben sighed, rubbing his temple, but before he could even process the message— "Mr. Vlontera, would you mind explaining why it's impossible again?"

Ben's whole body stiffened. Slowly, he lifted his gaze. Professor Carter stood at the front, arms crossed, brow raised, clearly waiting for an answer to whatever the hell he had just asked.

Elvira watched, delighted, as panic flickered through Ben's half-awake brain. He had two options. One—admit he had no idea what was going on and get verbally executed. Two—bullshit his way through it and pray to whatever god existed in this world that it worked.

Ben chose option two. He sat up straighter, cleared his throat, and with all the confidence of a man who had absolutely no idea what he was talking about, said: "Because, sir… freedom."

Silence.

The professor stared at him. The entire class stared at him. Somewhere in the back, someone choked on their drink.

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Carter let out a long, exhausted sigh, rubbing his forehead. "Mr. Vlontera, what does freedom have to do with the laws of thermodynamics?"

Ben shrugged, leaning back as if he had already won. "Isn't that what this county is all about, sir? Freedom? Democracy!?"

The class lost it. Laughter rippled through the room in waves. Someone actually clapped.

Professor Carter closed his eyes like a man reconsidering all his life choices. "Mr. Vlontera, get out."

Ben blinked. "Wait, what?"

"Out. If you're going to make that argument, then go be free from my classroom."