Chapter 856
Chapter 856
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Translator: Ebonarch
Chapter: 856
Chapter Title: The Thesis Audit (4)
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1.
What is magic?
If an ordinary human ignorant of magic witnessed someone casting a spell, they would think of it literally as "magic."
Something vague, wondrous, inexplicable, and unprovable—a supernatural force.
Yet the true essence of magic has always been singular.
It is a highly advanced discipline and technique that draws phenomena from mana.
Like any scholarly field, magic advances through countless debates and arguments, accumulating knowledge.
Scholars reject established theories, create new ones, and offer multiple interpretations of a single idea.
These clashes often grow fiercely contentious whenever an opportunity arises.
Even without extreme cases like this audit for academic fraud, any witch immersed in the field is constantly publishing papers and engaging in fierce, warlike rebuttals through peer reviews, comments, and critiques.
That's just daily life.
Thus, the questionnaire Risenn held wasn't some simple document.
It had been crafted by Baron Dremer and her close aides pooling their heads together.
It pointed out logical flaws, lured responses into sophistry, and coaxed deeper answers.
A secret weapon designed to ruthlessly expose any half-baked understanding.
A poisoned dagger wrapped in malicious rhetoric.
Even Risenn, who had felt shrunken in every way, regained her confidence just flipping to the first page.
But...
"......"
Half of her confident questions were effortlessly dismantled.
The sharply flung daggers couldn't even scratch his ironclad logic.
She could almost see an illusion of countless knives scattered at the feet of the man clad head to toe in black armor.
"Accuser, proceed with your questions."
Risenn ground her molars discreetly and eyed her next dagger.
This one wasn't merely to test comprehension.
It was a trap slyly condemning experimental ethics while raising another suspicion.
A rudely indirect question that would turn any heated retort into a losing move.
Shin Siu had consistently voiced his displeasure at the plagiarism accusations.
A tabloid-style mind game might just get under his skin.
"The author's paper implies the clinical utility of Gnosis Eggs. However, the data on clinical trials is sorely lacking. Could you disclose any real cases here and now?"
"My modest thesis contains not a single word on clinical utility. It solely discusses the fusion of disparate autonomous magics."
"Yet fusing disparate autonomous magics typically pertains to research on Gnosis Eggs. If not... perhaps it's based on public case studies?"
"That's straying from the thesis topic. I request moderation."
But Siu snorted dismissively and slipped out of the noose with ease.
"Request granted. Accuser, refrain from questions irrelevant to the audit's purpose."
Risenn bit her lip once and hurled her next dagger.
"I demand further explanation on the 'symbol control' presented as Type C in the Reaction Control Model."
It was one of the sections that had drawn as much attention as his omitted proof.
A part glossed over due to its vagueness, leaving everyone half-understanding at best.
Siu picked up the chalk and stood before the blank blackboard again.
"Many autonomous magics employ 'symbols' in their casting. By leveraging pre-established symbolic systems before influencing the world, they enhance the intrinsic nature and efficiency of autonomous magic."
He drew two circles on the blackboard.
Labeled one A and the other B, then added a concentric ring around each.
"Let's say the small inner circles represent autonomous magics, and the larger outer ones are the symbols used to construct them. As you can see, these symbols cause conflicts when fusing disparate autonomous magics."
The concentric rings overlapped like a Venn diagram, and Siu shaded the intersection white with the side of the chalk.
"The greater the overlap, the more severe the symbolic clash, leading to massive conversion overload. Mana is wasted controlling this overload, optimization falters, and forcibly correcting it inevitably weakens one of the two symbols significantly."
He rapidly scribbled equations below.
"Juxtaposing real-world symbols on a single phase is an outdated format. Type C Symbol Control in the Reaction Control Model resolves this by separating 'phases'."
The question had been quite sharp.
It pinpointed a key element he hadn't bothered to include.
But to Siu, even that was merely 1.5-generation tech—a path he'd trodden long ago.
And a new definition, unmentioned in the paper, now crossed the blackboard.
"The symbols witches borrow are ultimately like 'sheet music' or 'numbers'. Abstract concepts arbitrarily created to depict natural elements. If that's hard to grasp, think of imaginary numbers."
Risenn didn't understand what he meant.
It wasn't in her prepared materials, and even discussions with Baron Dremer had glossed over it vaguely.
She hadn't imagined he'd delve this deep.
"Not following?"
Risenn wasn't the only one furrowing her brow.
The randomly selected audience witches, along with those from the Truth and Names Academic Society and the Emerald Tablet, all stared at Siu with "What the hell?" expressions.
"No need to think of symbols as 'planes'. Nor that they must lie on a single phase. As I said earlier, that's preconception."
He snapped his fingers, invoking telekinesis.
The white chalk dust on the blackboard lifted into the air, retaining its shapes.
"How about that?"
From the audience seats, the floating A and B circles clearly appeared to overlap.
But in reality, separated front to back, they weren't physically touching.
Simply pulling them from a plane into a higher dimension had eliminated actual contact.
Sensing danger, Risenn shot to her feet and countered.
"It can't be that simple! Can autonomous magics even fuse if they don't exist on the same phase to begin with?"
"They can. For example, symbols of fire: ruby, bonfire, ash, volcano, red.
Symbols of life: flower, heart, breath, blood... See? Plenty. Symbolic systems are loose. Flexible. As long as they 'overlap' from above, the actual phase separation isn't critical.
Of course, if too far apart, one influence diminishes greatly.
The relation is as follows."
His explanation filled the board without pause.
Listening to the chalk clack like galloping hooves, Risenn realized.
Not just Risenn—everyone gathered there realized.
That the remaining questions in her hand, meant to allege plagiarism, were now no better than scrap paper.
Siu unraveled his knowledge with effortless poise and skill.
He even aided understanding with apt metaphors and simple explanations.
Not content with perfectly answering the paper's questions, he expounded flawlessly on expanded knowledge.
His performance in deep argumentation wasn't something one could fake from being told.
It required knowledge and skill built entirely by one's own power.
"That concludes my answers to the questions."
Siu declared, swapping the worn stub of chalk for a fresh one.
Silence blanketed the hall.
The Gremony Chief Librarian spoke.
"Accuser, any more questions?"
The bundle of papers slipped powerlessly from Risenn's grasp.
Baron Dremer was wrong.
Even flinging daggers forged on the premise of plagiarism would only amount to the desperate flailing of a defeated foe.
"...No."
The aftermath would fall to Baron Dremer, but Risenn's reputation was inevitably tarnished.
Until she toughened into a brazen hide, even a stroll would be impossible.
Her only hope was that audience questions might prove sharper than hers, tripping Siu up—but Risenn wasn't that naive or worldly.
Failure was failure.
"May the author's side proceed? We can take a 30-minute recess if desired."
"I'm fine."
"Then we'll take questions from the audience."
No sooner had the Gremony Chief Librarian spoken than dozens of witches raised their hands in unison.
The rustle of robes was as grand as flags whipping in the wind.
Even those who hadn't raised hands clutched paper and pen, absorbed in fresh thoughts.
The designated witch rose, bowed to Siu, and showed respect.
"I am Tarba Hecate, the Witch of Eternal Vigil. I have a follow-up on the phase alignment proof. If the author's defined phase resembles the magic implementation level..."
"That's straightforward."
Siu pondered her explanation briefly, then delivered another seamless response with the blackboard.
"Next question."
Arms shot up like seagulls begging for shrimp snacks.
"I am the Witch of Truth. I was greatly impressed by the author's paper. Furthermore..."
With a large audience and time constraints requiring brevity, most witches sat satisfied, convinced.
This was no longer an audit to expose plagiarism.
It was an fervent lecture hall where even prideful witches waved hands like eager children for more insight.
"Due to time, we'll end the audience Q&A for deep argumentation. Author Shin Siu, return to your seat."
Proof came starkly as Siu answered the 30th question and stepped down.
-Clap clap
The auditorium fell quiet after Q&A.
A lone applause echoed amid the lingering embers of scholarly fervor.
From the audience seats.
-Clap clap clap clap clap
What began with one spread like wildfire across dry plains, like a downpour.
————!!
The stinging torrent of applause meant one thing.
The audience here weren't jurors.
They held no right to judge the audit; deciding plagiarism fell solely to the audit committee.
But on matters of magic, witches were prouder and more stubborn than anyone.
Arrogant, inept at subtlety, antiquated, inflexible—lifelong scholars who wouldn't spare their lives for magic.
Such women silently conveyed their view of this audit with resounding, cheerless applause.
Shin Siu was no young witch blinded by vanity.
He was a supernova newly blazing in the witch academia.