Let's Strengthen the Spirit
The students' eyes filled with fear once more as they watched Rian return to his seat.
'He exploded the summoning circle...'
'What the hell was that monster trying to summon?'
But there was one person utterly devoid of fear.
"Wow! Rian, as expected, your spirit must be special! I was really startled—I thought it was an earthquake."
Rian replied to Vesperia's praise with half-lidded eyes.
"Probably 'cause it's so big."
"Hehe~ I'm curious just how big it is. And look at this. Isn't our Kkaman the cutest?"
Vesperia lifted up the black cat-shaped spirit perched on her lap and thrust it right in front of Rian's face.
"Hm."
Rian reached out and stroked Kkaman's head. Surprisingly, he didn't dislike cats or dogs.
Wooong—
A faint ripple of mana emanated from Rian's fingertips. He was scanning the unknown lifeform known as a spirit, analyzing its structure.
...Huh?
Rian's brown eyes widened ever so slightly. The true nature of the spirit now visible to him was no mere cute fashion accessory pet.
'A pure lifeform made of mana. In other words, a living mana battery that can absorb and store external mana without limit, plus an autonomous computing device?'
The reason most mages treated spirits as mere aides or decorations? They didn't know how to make them grow.
Mages simply doled out bits of their own mana to barely maintain the spirit's form. It was mere maintenance, nothing more.
'The shape doesn't matter much.'
A spirit's form was influenced by the caster's strong mental image. Whether it was their favorite animal or one they hated, it manifested the image they envisioned most vividly when summoning.
The real key wasn't this exterior. It was the mana density and structure contained within.
'If I just widen the core's vessel to match the spirit's mana wavelength, this thing could become ridiculously useful.'
Theoretically, it seemed feasible to create something for this exact purpose: fashion an energy source specialized for a particular attribute's spirit into a stone form for it to absorb.
'Call it a spirit stone or attribute stone or whatever. I could even strengthen the spirit itself through this.'
But for now, Rian could only conceptualize spirit stones in theory. He had zero foundational knowledge in alchemy or artifact crafting.
'Gotta hit the library later and scour every book on alchemy and artifacts. Upgrading it to an efficient external battery could even boost the owner's output as auxiliary support.'
That said, the lack of a spirit stone right now didn't mean strengthening the spirit was impossible.
A method impossible for anyone else here. But for Rian, there was a surefire way.
Sometimes, simple was more efficient than complex.
'Just slam my mana into it and forcibly expand the vessel.'
The fourth-dimensional tesseract structure of the circle nestled near Rian's heart. An so-called infinity mana circle that devoured ambient mana from the air to instantly refill whatever it expended.
If a mage failed at something, the first thing to suspect was insufficient mana reserves.
'It's possible to upgrade this guy's core and strengthen it, but pure efficiency-wise, it's suboptimal. Without a spirit stone, directly infusing it my way would require... double my total mana output to bump a 1-Circle level to 4-Circle under current theory.'
Rian's total mana was comparable to an 8-Circle archmage.
In other words, upgrading a 1-Circle-level spirit to 4-Circle would demand twice the mana reserves of an 8-Circle archmage.
And it couldn't even be done in installments. Fail to finish within five minutes, and it collapsed.
But the important part? It was possible.
'Damn it.'
While Rian analyzed the spirit, Asrion glared daggers at him.
But no one paid Asrion any mind. Not even the majestic flaming hawk perched proudly on his forearm.
The awe directed at him—the one who'd summoned such a special spirit—had vanished in an instant.
'These idiots can't even recognize true genius!'
Asrion ground his teeth in humiliation. His gray eyes flashed murderously toward Rian.
'That fraud! He must've pulled some trick to blow up the summoning circle earlier!'
In Asrion's mind, a perfect rationalization had already taken shape.
That commoner had zero talent for summoning magic. Terrified of being exposed in front of everyone, he'd deliberately destroyed the circle with some hidden explosive artifact.
'What a bunch of fools. As if a loser like that could summon something that insane. That earthquake earlier? Side effect of whatever evil artifact he used!'
But all he could do was gnaw his lip and glare at Rian to vent his rage. He prayed his grandfather would hurry from the Mage Tower.
Rian, utterly oblivious to the mosquito—no, Asrion's gaze, asked Vesperia in a drowsy voice.
"Vesperia. You want Kkaman a bit stronger?"
"Huh? Make Kkaman stronger?"
Vesperia's eyes went wide as saucers. Ardelia, listening from the side, widened her eyes in shock too.
As princess Ardelia de Solarrium and lady Vesperia von Edelgart, both raised with basic magical education, they knew the common knowledge.
Once summoned and fixed in form, postnatally strengthening a spirit was damn near impossible.
"I heard it takes two archmages of 8-Circle or higher to link mana and pour everything they have to barely make it happen. That's why everyone just summons a stronger one fresh."
"Yes, that's what I know too."
Apparently, the method Rian had thought up wasn't entirely novel.
'Figures. Smart heads have mulled over stuff like this.'
Mages across generations had researched endlessly, passing knowledge down. For them to have missed even this level of theory would've been the real oddity.
But executing it? Entirely different story.
Having two 8-Circle archmages link mana, squeeze themselves dry, and dump it all into a lowly lesser spirit? Unthinkable.
No two such powerhouses would bother. Hence, summoning a higher spirit anew.
'The point is, it's doable.'
Rian blinked to chase away the sleep, then spoke.
"I can do it. Success rate's 100% by my calculations."
The only issue? The relentless fatigue crashing over him. Rian was genuinely grateful it was the first day—no afternoon classes.
'Gotta shake off this drowsiness first. Pour mana like this and I might pass out.'
Luckily, first day meant no afternoon classes.
'Eat lunch, then sleep till dinner.'
Rian fought his heavy eyelids. To banish the sleep, he cast a spell.
'Awaken.'
A simple 2-Circle physical aid spell, Awaken. It forcibly boosted blood flow to the brain, stimulating the nervous system to block sleepiness.
Of course, suppressing fatigue artificially meant a bigger crash later. But it cleared the immediate drowsiness.
He felt the sleep around his eyes lift somewhat.
Rian turned his gaze to Professor Emilia Rockhart standing at the podium.
"Professor."
"Y-yes? Student Rian?"
Professor Emilia, who'd been tensely watching Rian after the near-summoning circle disaster, startled and replied.
Rian asked in a now-clearer voice.
"Not sure if it's okay to ask during class, but... could I strengthen that just-summoned spirit a bit, right here?"
"...Pardon? The spirit? Right here, now?"
Professor Emilia's mystical pink eyes wavered in bewilderment. She too was an exceptional mage who'd reached archmage rank.
In her common sense, postnatally strengthening a spirit was practically impossible.
'Expanding a spirit's core requires two 8-Circle+ archmages to link mana and pour till they're empty...!'
And this mad 13-year-old boy was declaring he'd do it solo. In the middle of class, no less, asking permission.
Logically, scoff and deny. But she recalled how he'd nearly summoned something that shattered the circle's durability limits.
'Maybe this monster of a boy can. Iril sunbae called him a disaster... He might really pull it off. What'll he show us?'
Deep within Professor Emilia, who'd spent ages at the academy witnessing countless geniuses, something stirred.
A mage-scholar's fierce intellectual curiosity and anticipation overpowered her fear and bloomed.
She nodded.
"...Alright. On the condition no dangerous situations arise, I permit it. Let's see what you've got."
"Thank you."