Just like when a person sleeps, the time between sleeping and waking up feels like a mere instant. In a literal sense, time in the throne room was non-linear. That could only be the possible explanation!
Nuriel had a quick thought. 'When I received another saint fragment, it did say I could have limited interface with the scepter system when I'm awake.'
If time worked differently in the throne room, he could simply wish to visit the room and come back without time ever passing in the real world anytime he wants.
The orb shook in silence. "It's not possible at the moment. You can only ask questions and receive answers. Maybe something like the red clouds I gave you to see where the essence disruptions were would be possible... But I can't guarantee it would even work with only four scepter fragments."
Nuriel froze for a second. He still wasn't used to someone replying to his inner monologue. But he continued with another question.
"These scepters... How do they actually work?" he asked in a polite tone.
The orb floated still and shook. "I... can't give you an answer. It's like breathing, y'know? I can't put them into words," it weakly twirled around.
Nuriel was shocked by the answer, so he raised another question."The descriptions on these scepters? Didn't you make them?"
It hummed a tune as if it was trying to come up with an answer to an impossible question, before circling around.
"Not in the way you'd think... It's like um~"
His face twitched, preparing himself to see the orb search through those symbolic file cabinets all over again. But to his surprise, the orb managed to speak.
"Right! It's like a... Oh, what was it again?" The orb circled around Nuriel's head as if it was a planet.
. . .
Regardless of his expectations—if it was a straightforward answer or a groundbreaking answer—he cheered for his... offspring.
"A black box! That's the word!"
It happily danced, hopping around his throne. To his armrest, his shoulders, to his lap, on top of the backrest, then to his head.
Nuriel then softly snatched the orb and brought it near his face. "Why a black box?"
The orb quivered. "Imagine you're blending a fruit. You place some ingredients in the blender, then after you see them get blended, something else comes out based on the ingredients!"
Nuriel raised one of his eyebrows, prompting the orb to think even harder in his clutch.
"Mmm, now imagine that the glass part of the blender is opaque. You place the ingredients, you skip the blending process, and go directly to the result." The orb finished.
Black box, a system where you understand what it produces and does, but not the process behind it.
Thinking quietly, Nuriel processed what the orb said before sighing.
The orb shook at his sigh but was pleasantly surprised when Nuriel gave an affirmative nod.
"That's a good analogy," he praised. 'So in other words, the orb is the operator placing information into the scepter as the black box, then results come out... That doesn't tell me anything useful!'
"Hic! I'm sorry!" the orb blurted out as it escaped from his palms.
"Ah. It's fine. I guess that would mean both of us have no idea what's going on," Nuriel reassured before leaning back on his throne to close his eyes. After a moment of silence, he continued.
"Now, about the magic—" he expected the orb to continue his sentence but was met with only awkward silence as the orb floated completely still.
"...I think... I just forgot what I read."
Before he could speak, the orb zipped away once again to the reemerging cabinets, prompting Nuriel to hug his face in his palm, speechless.
After the tsunami of fog engulfed Nuriel, the orb returned with bated breath as it quivered."It took much longer than I expected. I spent a few years trying to trace back where I left off... but I got distracted, which added another year before I remembered what I was there for. It took me—
"Wait, hold on..." Nuriel pressed his palm on the orb to prevent it from speaking. "Don't you get bored?"
He pressed his hand for a few more seconds before releasing it.
"Not really, it doesn't feel like much time has passed," the orb answered.
'Perhaps a different sense of time? Maybe a long-lived species... Wait, I'm also getting distracted!' Nuriel paused again for a couple of seconds before refocusing his mind. "You don't have to take that long. I just need a summary. I really don't care about the tiny details."
The orb twirled before backing up a few paces. It then projected a bluish fog around Nuriel.
"It's largely the same logic you're familiar with. The energy used to project or cast magic is called essence."
A part of the bluish fog around Nuriel condensed to form a fireball, which was launched toward his direction.
The ball of flame exploded upon impact, but it did not hurt him. As his vision cleared, he saw a gaping space without the bluish fog, which then slowly collapsed on all sides, making the fog uniform again.
Despite the surprise, Nuriel was rather pleased with the presentation.
"Some people can use it and others can't, but unlike your old world... there's a much higher ratio between essence-compatible people and non-essence-compatible people. As you said, it might be due to the evolution of the human race, but out of all the data I can access at the moment... there's no information about that."
"As for the actual process of projecting them..."
The orb paused as if it got stuck on its own words. After reverberating harshly, it sighed in disappointment. "I don't really understand the technical text I read, I'm sorry... If you come across any more books or objects related to magic, send them here so I can study it."
"...That's fine." Nuriel bit his tongue. Now it really felt like he was a mother caring for his child.
But then again, mere words won't suffice when it comes to teaching practical magic. If possible, it would be great if he could teach himself magic. But there was something he had to confirm first.
"Am I compatible to use essence?"
The orb spun around, thinking. "...Go to your... doctor?" it muttered.
. . .
Nuriel quietly lampooned, only to find that it would be redirected back to himself. Perhaps this is what they call parental responsibility.
"by the way, why didn't you appear like this first time?" Nuriel asked
The orb reverberated calmly, "I was... afraid, if I chose the wrong person, it felt like... I would—
Noticing the sudden change in tone, he spoke mid way through its sentence "Let's continue another time..." Nuriel looked at the orb. "The strings?"
The orb lit up. "Right! I'll need to interface with the untainted scepter though, but before I leave—"
It drew closer to his face, not leaving an inch of personal space for Nuriel.
"I can't be with you in the minds of other people. Last time, I almost cried when you lost connection! And also, once you return to the real world, you can talk to me, but it'll be limited compared to the conversation we're having now," the orb advised with a clear tone, intended for Nuriel to completely digest.
The orb bounced before spiraling into a long strip of light that headed towards the untainted scepter in Nuriel's hand. The scepter was engulfed in a soft and thick light before disappearing inside.
It was as if the throne room suddenly got quiet, as if the room was quieter than usual. 'Am I that lonely back then?' Nuriel shook his worries off before looking at the metallic scepter in his hands.
It was the same as before. After inspecting it for a few seconds, he released it to the air to float steadily among the other scepters.
Clink.
With a flick of his finger, the untainted scepter spun in the air.
Dozens of white strings emerged from across the space beyond, forming a web-like structure.
A bright silver string streaked right in front of Nuriel.