102. The Mechanics of the World

After a while, once everyone had finished their training, they decided to have dinner together.

Of course, the academy had a cafeteria. Standard cafeteria-style, like those found in Japanese universities.

Shiro and the others bought some food at the cafeteria and chose to eat in a private room. This room wasn't open to regular students. For Shiro and his group, dining in a space shared with ordinary students felt a little awkward—especially since they were the only ones present.

After dinner, Masaki spoke up.

"Senior Shiro, just what exactly is magic in this world? It's all stuff science on Earth can't explain, isn't it? But it's real, right?" Masaki asked, looking at Shiro.

Everyone nodded in agreement, glancing at Shiro.

Masaki didn’t know—couldn’t know—that this world was built just like the system Shiro had designed. He was just genuinely curious.

"Haha. Kinda deep question, huh... Well, yeah... So, tell me, Masaki—what do you think this scenery you're seeing right now, these physical phenomena—what are they, really?"

"...Hmm. Well, I guess, from Earth’s physics perspective, they're particles and atoms moving through three dimensions—no, wait, four-dimensional space—following physical laws," Masaki replied.

"Ooh, impressive. Better than I expected. So, what about living things?" Shiro smiled.

"...They’re made of matter, right? Biological life is organic matter based on DNA," Masaki said.

"And the mind?" Shiro asked.

"...Brain activity?" Masaki guessed.

"Then what if I told you all of it—this entire world—is just an illusion?" Shiro smirked.

"An illusion? So, none of it is actually physical?" Masaki asked.

"Exactly," Shiro said.

"This universe, see, isn't actually built 'physically,' if you know what I mean. Information comes first," Shiro began, speaking.

The beginning of this world wasn’t a big bang—it was the emergence of boundaries. A boundary means there’s an inside and an outside. That can be perceived as information. Boundaries kept multiplying. That’s what time is. State transfers began between boundaries. That’s change.

Eventually, consciousness emerged from a vast shift in information. That was the first god.

God desired conversation. The birth of a soul.

God desired form. The birth of the world. As a built-in specification of that world, mathematics, quantum mechanics, and physical calculations exist.

And the soul—well, that’s the mind’s activity, right? It’s calculated as data within that world, and the state where the soul perceives that data is what this world actually is.

And Shiro explained.

"So, basically, the mind is somewhere else, and this world is just an illusion, like a game world," Masaki said.

Well, yeah. Calling it a "phantom" is misleading. It's reality—nothing changed. Better to say it's just one data representation among many.

"Data representation?"

"Yeah. Data representation. In game terms, the engine drives the world, what we see is the physics calculation computed on the fly, and then the rendering result generated every time it finishes."

And, Shiro. And then, continue.

"And on Earth, it’s purely physical calculations driving everything. But in this Filidia world, magic systems are layered into the physics calculations. Of course, magic has its own unified framework, just like physics—but Filidia is a world where all of it is integrated and implemented," Shiro said.

Then, he continued.

"Anyway, the most important thing to remember is this: the mind—no, perhaps self is a better term—it resides in something called the soul, and it exists independently of the world," Shiro said.

Everyone present tried to grasp what Shiro was saying, but it was too abstract. No one could make sense of it. Only Masaki muttered under his breath, clearly trying to piece something together.

"Sorry, Shiro-nii, I can’t even tell what you’re talking about!" Makoto interrupted, standing up and declaring.

"…You dense idiot," Masaki glared at Makoto.

"Fair enough. You’ve probably heard of simulation worlds before, right? It’s kind of like that. The details differ—how the outside of the simulation works, or the relationship between the soul and the entities within the world—but when it comes to using magic, you can think of it like that. You know, that famous movie? The one with the bullet-dodging scene? Or the one with the thirteenth floor?" Shiro explained. Though he muttered under his breath, "The way the mind works is completely different."

"Ah, I see. So, if that were real, and magic was implemented in that world… this would be it," Masaki said, nodding slightly in understanding.

"Totally! I love that movie too!" Makoto said.

Everyone listening just blinked, then said, “……um, I have no idea at all,” to Kotone and Mizuki.

The Filidia World group wore their confusion plainly on their faces, clearly lost—what are they even talking about?

“Movie?” Shestia murmured, brow furrowed.

“…Well, the gist is, question your assumptions. What you see now isn’t everything. You can’t even be sure it’s real. Understand that, and then, even so, try to discern the true nature of things by combining your own thoughts with what you’ve observed.”

He paused, then added,

“Especially you high schoolers—Earth’s heroes—you might still think what you’ve learned in school is all there is. But the world is still full of things we haven’t discovered, things we can’t explain. What you’ve studied so far is just the tip of the iceberg. The truth is still buried in darkness—something you have to find for yourself.”

Shiro smiled faintly, wrapping it up with a firm finality.

Later, Masaki kept pressing Shiro with questions, so Shiro, in turn, brought up theories few had heard of—non-Euclidean geometry, Wolfram’s NKS—the new kind of science, ancient but vital, Spencer-Brown’s LOF—the laws of form, and self-organizing systems, among others—deepening the discussion further.

Masaki was struck dumb. He’d never heard of these theories, nor of how much of the world’s truth remained unexplained. He could only stare, awed and amazed.

That moment would later become the beginning of Masaki becoming Shiro’s disciple—but that’s another story entirely.

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