The energy clog and Moperville high ambient magic area are two ways how to look at same event. We first find out about it from Interdimensional Whale[1], much later got considerably more details about how it looks from other side from Andrea[2] and soon after we got confirmed that it was caused by Pandora Raven[3] and that it's the main issue causing the rising risk of magic reset.[4]
Moperville high ambient magic area
As explained by the whale[1] during There be Whales Here there is much more ambient magic in Moperville that's normal. Whale didn't have any idea why, but it mentioned that it makes magic buildup harder to deal with and that outside this field Tedd's Magic Watch wouldn't work because they are spell catalysts without any energy storage.
It also mentioned that the amount of magic was higher for most of Tedd's life, which suggest there may be connection with the time Pandora last talked with her son 14 years ago.[5]
And it was mentioned that the area where ambient magic peaks is few square miles big, suggesting that it doesn't even cover whole Moperville and not only was Ellen outside when couple miles out town investigating the case of were-goat[6], it is also possible that when Rhoda in Moperville Forest Preserve[7] grown the boar,[8] she was outside the area or at least outside the peak. It's not certain, however.
Edward Verres mentioned that it is easier to use magic in some key places on the planet, but nothing nearly this widespread:[9] that seem to suggest natural high-magic places (perhaps the places where magic returns to our world?) are smaller than the Moperville area.
The clog
In So A Date in the Mall, Andrea explained more about what happened:[2] her side of universe shares magic with the side we see as main EGS universe and in Moperville is one of the spots where magic flows from our side to hers. Or at least should flow. For long time, the flow was slowed and now it ceased completely. It's not global problem, with other flows presumably working normally, but it does causing some local issues.
Caused by Pandora
For long time, we only had the general lack of other candidates suggesting Pandora has anything to do with that. When she was talking with the so-called Emisary of magic in the Will of Magic story line, she admitted it was her, personally, and that she could done it because it was empowering of Moperville.[3]
How to solve
Pandora can't unclog it directly herself. She, however, have relatively simple plan how to make it:[10] one part is that Sarah will cast her spell a lot, making big chomps in ambient magic with her S-rank spell[11], second involves some wizard removing the clog when the level of energy get low enough to do it safely.
The other power hungry spell
Note that while not said directly in comics, Dan's commentary explains that Guardian forms wouldn't work.[10] Sure, they successfully removed all ambient magic around one apartment,[12] but they are hard to activate and would mean Nanase and possibly Ellen actually spending lot of time flying (might also be suspicious) and ending burned out. Sarah casting her spell several times per hour for whole week might or might not be faster, but is certainly safer.
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 EGS Main Story Comic for 2013-01-24
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 EGS Main Story Comic for 2016-03-18
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 EGS Main Story Comic for 2016-08-10
- ↑ EGS Main Story Comic for 2014-03-21
- ↑ EGS Main Story Comic for 2009-12-18
- ↑ EGS Main Story Comic for 2013-03-04
- ↑ EGS Main Story Comic for 2011-11-11
- ↑ EGS Main Story Comic for 2012-02-10
- ↑ EGS Main Story Comic for 2013-02-11
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 EGS Main Story Comic for 2016-10-16 Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; name "2016-10-16" defined multiple times with different content - ↑ EGS Main Story Comic for 2016-05-17 ("Question Mark 07")
- ↑ EGS Main Story Comic for 2013-08-12