"Ah… I knew you'd bring it up eventually."
"Sorry, I'm just too curious about you."
She blushes and looks away. Gotcha.
"Well if you really want to know. The reason is because of the catechol-O-methyltransferase and brain-derived neurotrophic factor genes, COMT and BDNF for short."
"Outside of Wǔlín. Most do not possess the sufficient biological traits to literally think like we do. Your brains are more suited for the observation effect calculations of M⁰-bosons."
OHHH SO THERE'S STEREOTYPES IN THIS WORLD TOO? HOW HILARIOUS THE CHINESE ARE SMARTER!
"I see, then you must possess both the Tau-9 receptors for magic and the COMT and BDNF gene for Qi. Am I right?"
"Yes. You're right."
"But at the same time, I can tell that balancing Magic and Cultivation is an improbable and near impossible feat. It's as if… your brain's electrical activity is segmented at different frequencies within different brain regions or networks, each with the equivalent efficiency of a single full brain. You can perform dual-state neural oscillation, therefore sustaining both M⁰-boson Observation and Q⁰-fermion Coherence. You naturally balance both states without self-destructing."
"Yin and Yang," I finished my narration of thoughts.
Releasing my temples, I look up to Xue'er across the table. Her face is shocked.
I dissected her perfectly.
"I-Isaac… Are you a humble noble perchance?"
"Huh? Uhm… I'm a commoner."
"So how did you get access to this information? Nevermind being 1 year younger than me and 111 subjective years younger. No commoner library should hold the amount of scientific knowledge that you possess."
Miscalculation there Xue Xilian. Im mentally 91 years younger than you if I factor in my previous life.
…
Okay no take this seriously Isaac.
"I came across some discarded tomes alongside the road where I lived. I picked them up and read them like my bed time stories."
"Then you must have had insomnia to read those to sleep," She giggles. A soft, royal laugh.
"Haha, Thank you. I'll take it as a compliment."
She settles down.
"Yes, you're right again. Studies on my body conducted by my father show the aforementioned true. You are right on the dot again. The difference between a mage and a cultivator is 4 factors."
"One, M⁰-boson and Q⁰-fermions are fundamentally incompatible. Think of M⁰-boson as photons that form BEC in suitable environments. However, Q⁰-fermions are like electrons—they obeys the Pauli Exclusion Principle and cannot form a therefore cannot form a BEC"
"The math and science checks out. Second reason?"
"Two, there is an observation effect conflict. Mana requires conscious observation to stabilize BECs whereas Cultivators suppress observation effects by decoherence shielding to prevent their own Q⁰-fermions from destabilizing. Mana coherence inherently disrupts the cultivation process."
Again, the theory and math is correct.
"Third, the energy density mismatch, BEC-states are a low-energy, high-control system while our quantum-entangled bioenergy is a high-energy, low-control system."
"And lastly?"
"Take a guess, it's the most obvious so you can catch it."
Hmm. Other than the logic of both physics and math. Then the logic of biology would apply into this situation seeing as there is already a biological difference. Therefore…
"A biological difference between the Mages quantum core and the Cultivator's meridians?"
"As expected of the common genius,"
When the fuck did she give me that name?
"Yes, a cultivator's meridians are superconducting quantum circuits, tuned to their own bioenergy. Attempting to force mana into their system would cause quantum interference, leading to the mana BEC collapsing violently and neurological damage."
"And yet… You're the sole exception.."
"Y-yes."
"Hmm… But how though? Logically you should be succumbing to the most excruciating pain right now?"
"Fair. But as you pointed out. Conventional cultivators possess biological systems that enforce quantum decoherence upon foreign energy incursions—analogous to an immune response collapsing invasive waveforms. My physiology, however, exhibits what we term quantum immunological privilege."
"Quantum immunological privilege?"
"Yes. QIP for short, Rather than inducing wave function collapse, my cells establish controlled entanglement with exogenous energy signatures. This is enabled by three factors that I've discovered."
"1. Mitochondria maintaining macroscopic coherence via electron tunneling networks. 2. Tau-9 Microtubule-based quantum processing that preserves superposition states. And, 3. Non-demolition measurement protocols in cellular receptors."
"So in practical terms… Your body negotiates with foreign energy instead of rejecting it. But… The trade-off…"
Her expression burrows. A sigh releases before she continues.
"Yes, the trade off… My system requires 82x normal ATP production plus Casimir-effect supplementation. My cells maintain quantum coherence through three mechanisms: error-corrected microtubule qubits, anyon-stabilized mitochondrial networks, and electromagnetic shielding via lipid raft tunneling. This allowed non-destructive entanglement with M⁰-boson via weak-measurement receptors and biophoton-mediated cavity QED."
"By any chance… Did something happen prenatally and postnatally to you?"
A further burrowing of expression.
"You're on the dot again. Yes, logically for this entanglement to happen I experience prenatal EM exposure and postnatal meditation conditioning. I am not a natural state, but a forced quantum metastability with inherent fragility."
"And therefore, you can use both Mana and Qi. At the cost of lower efficiency due to 99.9% of the mana you absorb decaying into Hawking radiation due to imperfect conversion. PLUS the fact that you will experience microseizures from maintaining both systems. Which would slow down your cultivation."
"Yes. But you're missing one important detail, Isaac."
"And that is?"
"The fact that a superpositioned Dantian cannot undergo pure fermionic collapse—and thus cannot initiate singularity formation—"
Realization hits like an isekai's truck
"Which means you will never achieve the Golden Core stage. without fermionic decoherence, you cannot compress Q⁰-fermions into a stable strange matter state. And by your culture… Fundamentally barred from true ascension."
A single tear drops from her eye.
"S-shì de (Y-yes)."
I understand it now.
The quiet hesitation in her voice, the way her eyes dropped whenever the subject arose, the melancholy that shadowed her features at the mention of cultivation一these weren't signs of discomfort with her condition.
She had made peace with her dual nature long ago.
The true pain came from what it meant in the eyes of her people. By the ancient standards of Wǔlín, where a cultivator's worth was measured in tangible breakthroughs and celestial tribulations overcome, her superpositioned existence represented something far worse than mere abnormality.
It was the ultimate shame: a cultivator who could never form a Golden Core, forever trapped in the Foundation Building stage, neither fully ascended nor properly human. To those orthodox masters and sect elders, she wasn't just different - she was living proof that some paths lead only to failure.
These whispers most likely followed her everywhere:
"The girl who cannot collapse her wavefunction."
"The one the heavens refused to test."
"A lukewarm cultivator- how pitiful."
Her brilliance meant nothing. Her unique gifts meant nothing. In their eyes, she would always be the cultivator whose Dao led nowhere.
She. Was a failure.