There's those three students who asked to follow the alien to the Imperial Palace; any of those will be able to keep Detect Magic running for purposes of telling whether Merrin is making an progress on hanging a spell.  Any senior Security wizard in the palace can also step in for purposes of throwing on an illusion-overlay, one nearly simultaneous with what's actually happening, when Merrin thinks she wants another look at one of the three students hanging their own cantrips.

As Manohar speaks, he's showing Merrin a picture of what would be happening magically, if Manohar were currently hanging a Detect Magic spell, by first building a scaffold above an illusory spellbook page.  There's literally dozens of interactions going on here, maybe a quarter of those visible, and probably at least some that modern wizardry just hasn't figured out except as a randomness-source.  But, if you can see how this strand here (arrows appear) is ending up around this distance away from this strand here (arrows) that's because this interaction pulls with the inverse square of distance, this one pulls with the inverse cube, so if you can get those two interactions in the right ratio of strengths the balancing point will be right here, which is where it needs to be in order for this blob to oscillate at the right frequency that's needed to cancel out the net oscillation produced by the cycling of these two apparently stationary forces, and keep that blob stable so you can lay this other strand on top of it!

There's those three students who asked to follow the alien to the Imperial Palace; any of those will be able to keep Detect Magic running for purposes of telling whether Merrin is making an progress on hanging a spell.  Any senior Security wizard in the palace can also step in for purposes of throwing on an illusion-overlay, one nearly simultaneous with what's actually happening, when Merrin thinks she wants another look at one of the three students hanging their own cantrips.

As Manohar speaks, he's showing Merrin a picture of what would be happening magically, if Manohar were currently hanging a Detect Magic spell, by first building a scaffold above an illusory spellbook page.  There's literally dozens of interactions going on here, maybe a quarter of those visible, and probably at least some that modern wizardry just hasn't figured out except as a randomness-source.  But, if you can see how this strand here (arrows appear) is ending up around this distance away from this strand here (arrows) that's because this interaction pulls with the inverse square of distance, this one pulls with the inverse cube, so if you can get those two interactions in the right ratio of strengths the balancing point will be right here, which is where it needs to be in order for this blob to oscillate at the right frequency that's needed to cancel out the net oscillation produced by the cycling of these two apparently stationary forces, and keep that blob stable so you can lay this other strand on top of it!

(Difficulty level:  Looks like a medium-low-complicated video game, except for the part where the rules are still in the process of being explained.)

There's those three students who asked to follow the alien to the Imperial Palace; any of those will be able to keep Detect Magic running for purposes of telling whether Merrin is making an progress on hanging a spell.  Any senior Security wizard in the palace can also step in for purposes of throwing on an illusion-overlay, one nearly simultaneous with what's actually happening, when Merrin thinks she wants another look at one of the three students hanging their own cantrips.

As Manohar speaks, he's showing Merrin a picture of what would be happening magically, if Manohar were currently hanging a Detect Magic spell, by first building a scaffold above an illusory spellbook page.  There's literally dozens of interactions going on here, maybe a quarter of those visible, and probably at least some that modern wizardry just hasn't figured out except as a randomness-source.  But, if you can see how this strand here (arrows appear) is ending up around this distance away from this strand here (arrows) that's because this interaction pulls with the inverse square of distance, this one repels with the inverse cube, so if you can get those two interactions in the right ratio of strengths the balancing point will be right here, which is where it needs to be in order for this blob to oscillate at the right frequency that's needed to cancel out the net oscillation produced by the cycling of these two apparently stationary forces, and keep that blob stable so you can lay this other strand on top of it!

(Difficulty level:  Looks like a medium-low-complicated video game, except for the part where the rules are still in the process of being explained.)

There's those three students who asked to follow the alien to the Imperial Palace; any of those will be able to keep Detect Magic running for purposes of telling whether Merrin is making an progress on hanging a spell.  Any senior Security wizard in the palace can also step in for purposes of throwing on an illusion-overlay, one nearly simultaneous with what's actually happening, when Merrin thinks she wants another look at one of the three students hanging their own cantrips.

As Manohar speaks, he's showing Merrin a picture of what would be happening magically, if Manohar were currently hanging a Detect Magic spell, by first building a scaffold above an illusory spellbook page.  There's literally dozens of interactions going on here, maybe a quarter of those visible, and probably at least some that modern wizardry just hasn't figured out except as a randomness-source.  But, if you can see how this strand here (arrows appear) is ending up around this distance away from this strand here (arrows) that's because this interaction pulls with the inverse square of distance, this one repels with the inverse cube, so if you can get those two interactions in the right ratio of strengths the balancing point will be right here, which is where it needs to be in order for this blob to oscillate at the right frequency that's needed to cancel out the net oscillation produced by the cycling of these two apparently stationary forces on this other blob, and keep that blob stable so you can lay this other strand on top of it!

(Difficulty level:  Looks like a medium-low-complicated video game, except for the part where the rules are still in the process of being explained.)

There's those three students who asked to follow the alien to the Imperial Palace; any of those will be able to keep Detect Magic running for purposes of telling whether Merrin is making an progress on hanging a spell.  Any senior Security wizard in the palace can also step in for purposes of throwing on an illusion-overlay, one nearly simultaneous with what's actually happening, when Merrin thinks she wants another look at one of the three students hanging their own cantrips.

As Manohar speaks, he's showing Merrin a picture of what would be happening magically, if Manohar were currently hanging a Detect Magic spell, by first building a scaffold above an illusory spellbook page.  There's literally dozens of interactions going on here, maybe a quarter of those visible, and probably at least some that modern wizardry just hasn't figured out except as a randomness-source.  But, if you can see how this strand here (arrows appear) is ending up around this distance away from this strand here (arrows) that's because this interaction pulls with the inverse square of distance, this one repels with the inverse cube, so if you can get those two interactions in the right ratio of strengths the balancing point will be right here, which is where it needs to be in order for this blob to oscillate at the right frequency that's needed to cancel out the net oscillating force on this other blob produced by the cycling of force around this apparently stationary strand here, and keep that other blob stable so you can lay this other strand on top of it!

(Difficulty level:  Looks like a medium-low-complicated video game, except for the part where the rules are still in the process of being explained.)

There's those three students who asked to follow the alien to the Imperial Palace; any of those will be able to keep Detect Magic running for purposes of telling whether Merrin is making an progress on hanging a spell.  Any senior Security wizard in the palace can also step in for purposes of throwing on an illusion-overlay, one nearly simultaneous with what's actually happening, when Merrin thinks she wants another look at one of the three students hanging their own cantrips.

As Manohar speaks, he's showing Merrin a picture of what would be happening magically, if Manohar were currently hanging a Detect Magic spell, by first building a scaffold above an illusory spellbook page.  There's literally dozens of interactions going on here, maybe a quarter of those visible, and probably at least some that modern wizardry just hasn't figured out except as a randomness-source.  But, if you can see how this strand here (arrows appear) is ending up around this distance away from this strand here (arrows) that's because this interaction pulls with the inverse square of distance, this one repels with the inverse cube, so if you can get those two interactions in the right ratio of strengths the balancing point will be right here, which is where it needs to be in order for this blob to oscillate around it at the right frequency that's needed to cancel out the net oscillating force on this other blob produced by the cycling of force around this apparently stationary strand here, and keep that other blob stable so you can lay this other strand on top of it!

(Difficulty level:  Looks like a medium-low-complicated video game, except for the part where the rules are still in the process of being explained.)

There's those three students who asked to follow the alien to the Imperial Palace; any of those will be able to keep Detect Magic running for purposes of telling whether Merrin is making progress on hanging a spell.  Any senior Security wizard in the palace can also step in for purposes of throwing on an illusion-overlay, one nearly simultaneous with what's actually happening, when Merrin thinks she wants another look at one of the three students hanging their own cantrips.

As Manohar speaks, he's showing Merrin a picture of what would be happening magically, if Manohar were currently hanging a Detect Magic spell, by first building a scaffold above an illusory spellbook page.  There's literally dozens of interactions going on here, maybe a quarter of those visible, and probably at least some that modern wizardry just hasn't figured out except as a randomness-source.  But, if you can see how this strand here (arrows appear) is ending up around this distance away from this strand here (arrows) that's because this interaction pulls with the inverse square of distance, this one repels with the inverse cube, so if you can get those two interactions in the right ratio of strengths the balancing point will be right here, which is where it needs to be in order for this blob to oscillate around it at the right frequency that's needed to cancel out the net oscillating force on this other blob produced by the cycling of force around this apparently stationary strand here, and keep that other blob stable so you can lay this other strand on top of it!

(Difficulty level:  Looks like a medium-low-complicated video game, except for the part where the rules are still in the process of being explained.)