That afternoon, in the City of Chaos, inside the private experimental zone—
After successively receiving more than a dozen mages from Chaos City Magic Academy and Royal Capital Magic Academy, the once-quiet research area had finally become lively.
At the entrance, Edith stepped down from a carriage and entered the lab, pulling out a stack of documents from her storage space.
"This is the latest batch of research results released by the magic community."
Hearing her voice, Illya looked up from the data she was studying.
"Anything worth paying attention to?"
"There are a few things you should take a look at," Edith said while flipping through the documents. "I heard some of this from friends back at the academy."
"The dwarves race has developed several new magic patterns—you'll probably be interested."
"There's also progress on improved earth-element magic arrays from the academy. You've been focusing on that lately, right?"
"And besides that—"
Edith placed a document in front of Illya, her expression turning serious.
"This paper from the Royal Capital Magic Academy… you should read it first."
Sensing something unusual, Illya picked it up and checked the author:
Professor Simmons
Legendary-tier lightning mage
But it was the title that truly seized her attention:
"On the Possibility of the Existence of 'Lightning Element' in Special Environments"
Lightning element!?
In the magic world, the six recognized elements were:
Light (foundation of white magic)
Darkness (origin of black magic)
The four primary elements form the vast system of elemental magic.
As for lightning magic—
It had always been considered a composite branch, formed from water and fire elements.
Historically, some had proposed the existence of a "lightning element."
But after long-term validation, the magic community had concluded:
Only six elements exist. Nothing beyond them.
Yet—
Since arriving at the private experimental zone, many of Illya's long-held beliefs had already been overturned.
Elemental transformation
Mana reverting into elements.
These phenomena had once been deemed impossible.
So when she saw this title—
She didn't reject it.
She felt… anticipation.
She began reading:
"The experimental data in this paper are derived from thunderstorm phenomena observed annually over the past thirty years."
"I have entered thunderclouds 132 times to collect data…"
"Through analyzing the distribution of water and fire elements within storm clouds…"
"I attempted to construct a device capable of capturing the possible existence of 'lightning element.'"
"On April 7th this year, during a storm in the Royal Capital, I brought the thirteenth-generation capture device into the clouds…"
"And successfully obtained a suspected lightning-element form."
"Below are the experimental procedures and data…"
Illya held her breath and continued reading.
Halfway through—
She suddenly looked up.
"Go call Harper and Ron André."
Then she lowered her head and continued reading intently.
Soon, Harper and a puppet version of Ron arrived.
After finishing the paper, Illya handed it to Harper.
"This could help our research."
Harper saw the title—
And immediately became absorbed.
Ron glanced at it.
He understood the introduction…
But the data section?
Completely incomprehensible.
Still, he grasped the general idea.
"Lightning element?" Ron muttered. "So there could be other types of elements too?"
His thoughts quickly expanded:
"If lightning exists, then what about the wood element? Ice element?"
"Those still need verification," Illya shook her head.
"According to Professor Simmons, composite elements can only exist under very specific conditions."
"Once removed from that environment, they disappear instantly."
"So to verify them, we either:"
Find such environments
Or create them artificially.
"The first is rare—otherwise someone would've discovered it long ago."
"The second… we don't even know what conditions are required. It could be a complete waste of resources."
At this point, Harper, who had skimmed the paper, looked up.
"There is a way."
He turned to Ron.
"The professor made a final hypothesis."
"If an environment contains only two elements—"
"And their concentration and ratio reach a certain threshold—"
"It may form the conditions necessary for composite elements."
Harper's eyes lit up.
"If Your Highness can provide enough Element Potatoes…"
"We might be the ones most capable of achieving this."
"Element stones are consumables. Even with money, it's hard to sustain such conditions."
"But your Element Potatoes—"
"They might make it possible."
"I think it's worth trying."
The more Harper spoke, the more excited he became, pacing back and forth.
"This could explain elemental transformation!"
"During composite magic casting—"
"A micro-environment may form, turning two elements into a composite one."
"When the magic ends, the environment collapses—"
"And the composite element reverts."
"If we can understand what happens during casting—"
"We might not only discover composite elements…"
"But also uncover the relationship between mana and elements."
"Previously, we thought mana caused transformation—"
"But now, composite elements might also be involved!"
"There's so much to study!"
Illya's eyes grew brighter.
She turned to Ron—
Full of expectation.
Ron, still processing everything, finally reacted:
"So… you just need Element Potatoes, right?"
"If it's for experiments—"
"Supply is unlimited."
In this regard—
Ron had absolute confidence.
With his cultivation space, he had already stockpiled massive quantities.
Since they weren't being sold—
They were all in his possession.
If needed—
He could provide as many as required.