Chapter 62: The Return of the Archmage (Part 2)

Meanwhile, Shirone and his friends had spent the past two days holed up in the Noble Library, poring over every piece of material they could find.

After intense discussion, they finally pieced together the underlying principles behind the photon cannon.

“What exactly is mass?” Shirone asked, deep in thought.

“If there were no mass, there would be no events. That might sound like a peaceful world—but also a strange one. There’s no real reason why our world must have mass.”

Iruki responded, “But mass existed from the beginning.”

As if the world was always meant to be full of activity.

“Seeing mass as weight is a human concept,” Shirone continued. “In reality, weight is just the force caused by gravity. But in the universe, there’s no ’up’ or ’down.’ So what does mass mean to the universe—not to us?”

Neid offered a thought. “Hmm. Cohesion? Maybe mass depends on how densely molecules are packed together.”

“That’s reasonable,” Shirone said, “but it still feels like a surface-level explanation. It defines mass from an all-knowing standpoint, but not an all-powerful one.”

“Then what is the mass you’re talking about?” Siana asked.

Shirone answered carefully. “Existence.”