Spell Workshop (1)
Spell Workshop (1)
An awkward tension settled over the lounge.
'Take what off?'
My eyes rolled reflexively. The words that had reached my ears sounded strangely suggestive.
Now that I thought about it... the mood felt a little off.
The door had locked when we came in, she'd taken off her own light outerwear, and then Baek A-rin had told me to take my clothes off...
'No, that can't be it.'
The situation had given me some weird ideas, but I quickly corrected myself.
If this were someone else I didn't know, maybe, but Baek A-rin wasn't the type to say something like that out of nowhere...
'Or is she?'
I tilted my head.
Baek A-rin had her mysterious sides. On the surface, she was always bright and sociable, but hadn't she also shown an icy coldness beneath?
People aren't flatly one-dimensional, but Baek A-rin was the type with stark contrasts.
She'd been so genuinely kind to me lately that I'd forgotten, but in the original work, she even had a track record of stabbing the player in the back.
When my thoughts reached that point, I involuntarily took a slight step back.
"Ha-yul? Come here. We don't have much time before class starts."
Baek A-rin, having just removed her outerwear, tilted her head and beckoned to me. The pronounced curve of her chest, which had been somewhat hidden under the coat, was now clearly visible.
She sat down in the middle of the long sofa, rested her outerwear on one side, and patted the spot next to her, urging me over.
[Um... why do I suddenly need to take my clothes off...?]
"Hmm? Ah~ was that a weird way to phrase it?"
[Yes.]
When I hesitantly asked, Baek A-rin let out a note of realization. Then she showed a strangely mischievous smile.
"Don't worry, it's nothing shady. The thing is, I can sense the Azure Sea's energy coming from you."
[Azure Sea?]
"Yes, did you use the Azure Sea before you got here?"
I had used it. Before coming here, I'd used Azure Sea to soothe the Calamity Flame boiling within me.
[How did you know?]
What surprised me was something else.
It wasn't like last time when she directly witnessed the manifestation. She'd noticed the lingering traces left after it was activated. And I, with my Mana Affinity, had already erased those traces. Not even a detection-type ability user should have been able to notice.
[Do you have a detection ability too, Baek A-rin?]
"No? I just felt it through mana detection."
[How could you sense that with ordinary mana detection...]
"I'm not entirely sure about that myself... Oh, right."
Just as I was feeling puzzled, Baek A-rin, who had also been tilting her head, clapped her hands.
"It hasn't happened with other people, but for some reason, I could feel your Azure Sea particularly well, Ha-yul."
[My Azure Sea?]
"Yes, yes. Maybe because it feels kind of familiar? When I look closely, I can sense it distinctly."
'Familiarity... Homogenization?'
I controlled my expression, which was about to shift without me realizing it. It was just a guess, but I could deduce the reason.
The Azure Sea I used was an imitation made through Homogenization. Calamity Flame had taken root inside me and become my own Innate Talent, but Azure Sea was strictly a temporary imitation.
Imitation meant copying something else.
The Azure Sea I manifested was based on Baek A-rin's Azure Sea.
'So the original can sense the imitation better...'
It was an unforeseen problem. It was only a guess, but it seemed right. After all, a copy derived from the original would share glaring similarities to the original's eye.
"I'll tidy it up for you. It's only a faint trace, hard even for me to detect, but if someone else picks up on it outside, all sorts of trouble could start."
[I can tidy it up myself.]
"Is that why you've been letting it leak all over the place? Come here, quickly. Class is starting soon, so I'll get it done fast."
[But still...]
"Uh-uh-uh... Is 'Baek Ha-yul' going to keep throwing a tantrum? Be good, okay?"
[I'm not a Baek...]
We went back and forth for a while.
Ultimately, citing that class was about to start and under the mild threat of her calling me 'Baek Ha-yul,' I reluctantly shuffled over to Baek A-rin's side.
Once I sat down next to her, Baek A-rin smiled brightly, grabbed the hem of my shirt, and pulled it right up.
Then she placed her palm on my stomach. A cool, soft palm covered my navel and pressed and rubbed firmly.
- Nnh...
My body flinched. Baek A-rin's mana, entering through my stomach, began tapping at the Azure Sea's energy and calmly organizing it.
[Do you really have to put your hand on my stomach like this to do it?]
"The chest and stomach are the most efficient. It's also easier for injecting and manipulating mana. Didn't Yeon-hwa explain it to you?"
[She did, but it tickles...]
"It'll be over soon, so hang in a little longer, Baek Ha-yul?"
[I'm not a Baek...]
[Hek.]
[D-don't press that hard...]
"Oh? Did that hurt? Hmm... want me to give you something to hold for a second?"
[Hck!]
[Don't you dare take that out!]
.
.
.
- Viiing.
The moment I entered the lecture hall with Baek A-rin, sidelong glances came pouring in from all around.
The stares felt a little different from before.
When I had entered earlier, the looks had mostly been about awkwardness, but now the gazes alternating between me and Baek A-rin were clearly filled with curiosity.
- What do you think those two were just doing?
- Dunno, when Diria passed by earlier, she said she saw them going into a lounge. Said they even locked the door...
- Gasp.
The conversations around us continued quietly after I sat down.
They were hushed voices that perfectly conjured the onomatopoeia for whispering. A level that shouldn't be audible to even most superhumans unless you put your ear right next to their mouth.
But I could hear them clearly. And even if I couldn't, I could read them through lip-reading using Observation.
'So this is how rumors...'
My expression soured involuntarily. That must be how rumors spread, one by one.
Of course, since one of the people involved in the rumors was someone of Baek A-rin's—and Hong Yeon-hwa's—status, no one was running their mouth recklessly.
They probably wouldn't want to find a letter in their home mailbox saying, 'We are the so-and-so family; if you don't want to end up dead, come find us immediately.'
But still, having the scene of the rumor unfold right next to me naturally made me feel weird.
That said, I couldn't exactly stride over and tell them to shut up.
I smoothed my expression and quietly downloaded the lecture materials.
.
.
.
"This is the first session of 《Practical Workshop Construction》 for this semester. Due to a combination of circumstances, it's starting a little later than other lectures, but don't worry. I'll proceed with the course to ensure there are no setbacks in the curriculum."
The 《Practical Workshop Construction》 lecture.
As you could tell from the name, it was a lecture themed around a mage's Spell Workshop.
"You've likely already read the overview, but to re-introduce myself: my name is Friedrich Hermann. Before retiring, I served as an Upper-grade Hero on the African Demon Realm Frontline. Though I'm retired now, I've taken to this podium to teach the knowledge and experience I accumulated back then."
The professor standing at the podium was a man with a rough, intimidating impression.
A stiff expression and speech like a soldier's, and a thick, muscular body that even his robe couldn't hide.
Though he kept it somewhat contained, the aura I could observe made it clear his history of frontline service was no lie.
"This subject will be largely practice-based. The evaluation will follow suit. Since there are many other excellent lectures covering theory, I intend to teach workshop construction and tactics applicable to actual combat."
We'd also learned about the Spell Workshop in the first semester's 《Basic Magic Theory (I)》, but that was heavily weighted toward theory. It was a basic theory course that lightly skimmed the concepts, so the proportion of practice was very low.
This lecture was the opposite, centered on practice rather than theory. Hence why an ex-hero who'd toiled in real combat had been assigned to teach it, instead of a theory-oriented professor like before.
'The Tower of Knowledge probably has plenty of workshop knowledge too, but... it's still better to go over the fundamentals here.'
For any mage, a Spell Workshop is an indispensable technique in some form or another. Yet despite that, I had never actually built a large-scale workshop.
Early in the first semester, I didn't even have the basic skills to construct one.
And later, when my skills were actually good enough to try building a workshop... the circumstances never allowed it, for various reasons.
If I was going to spend time and effort building a shoddy workshop, it was more effective to simply use the Authority of Space to gain a similar effect.
Even if I did build one, the firepower would be weaker than just slamming Calamity Flame or White Night into something. The speed and fuel efficiency were inferior to Spirit Arts...
Most of all, there had never been a situation where I could use one.
There was never a scenario where I needed to build a workshop and defend it.
But that didn't mean there would never be one in the future. If I was going to go through the trouble of learning magic, not learning how to construct a workshop would be foolish.
"Then let us begin the lecture."
The professor said this while looking at each cadet in the lecture hall.
He flinched slightly when his gaze passed over my closed eyes, but perhaps because the rumor that I could perceive everything above, below, left, right, and straight ahead just fine had already spread, he didn't make a point of it.
At the start of the semester, so many professors had called me aside about that, asking if I was okay... but I didn't hear such things anymore. I was genuinely moved.
- Whirrr...
The desks sitting in front of the cadets began to operate.
Mana flowed through the desks. The engraved spell formulas activated. Soon, a hologram rose up above each desk.
It wasn't like a blackboard displaying text. It was a semi-transparent, square hologram.
"This session will cover a basic method for drafting a workshop foundation. This hologram is an auxiliary device to aid in workshop construction. Please note, it's a feature used only in the early stages when you aren't yet accustomed to building workshops."
And so, the lecture began.
True to the pre-announced 'practical' nature, we started constructing workshops alongside the theory.
As I discreetly scanned the room, I could make out everyone waving their hands inside the holograms.
Mana was concentrated at their fingertips. Their hands moved back and forth, filling in various spell formulas.
'Hmm...'
Magic is activated by pouring mana into a formula. Different formulas produce different spells, and the higher the level of magic, the more bizarrely complex the formulas become.
A Spell Workshop is a technique that requires assembling those various formulas like a puzzle. And supposedly, you can't just slot in one or two; you have to easily fit in at least several hundred.
Nor can you just cram them in anywhere. Those hundreds of formulas all need to fit together perfectly.
Otherwise...
- Cr-creak.
"Ugh..."
It collapses with a thud like that.
One cadet's hologram turned red. Then, with a cr-crunching mechanical noise, part of the spell structure they had painstakingly assembled crumbled away. The cadet's face screwed up. It was a first-year who had already collapsed their workshop several times.
In fact, most of the first-year cadets were similar. Over half of them, unable to get a grip starting from the foundation, had clouded expressions.
In contrast, the second-years and above were designing their workshops with a relatively practiced air.
"You've set the foundation's axis incorrectly. Placing it there will cause it to conflict with the protective formulas, creating a risk that the entire workshop will collapse in an emergency."
"Yes, thank you."
"The axis's position depends on the area of the workshop you intend to..."
The professor pointed out the cadet's problem and the solution.
After teaching the cadets who couldn't get a grip, the professor's next target was me.
"Hmm..."
Thud, thud— The professor, approaching my side, scrutinized my hologram with a cautious expression. His eyes, which looked like they had been in deep concentration, gleamed with wonder.
"The axis and outer framework, the Harmonization and protective formulas — all are functioning perfectly, and the counterattack settings are well-placed. Excellent."
[Thank you.]
I nodded calmly at the professor's praise.
I might not look it, but I was a Mana Affinity possessor. This much was to be expected. Though, admittedly, with my current magic, I wouldn't be able to deal meaningful damage to a Twin-headed Poison Dragon or the 2nd Iteration...
A short while later, all the cadets had managed to construct simple workshops.
There were somewhat crooked and shoddy parts in many of them, but at least a small workshop was now established.
"Then we will proceed with a performance test of the workshops. Please pair up; one will take the role of defense, the other offense."
At the professor's words, the cadets looked around for partners. A fair number of gazes flew my way—those were the ones who wanted to get friendly for networking purposes.
Most people paired up with those they already had a rapport with.
I also noticed some rolling their eyes around, scanning the situation. The type who apparently hadn't really made any acquaintances among the cadets taking this lecture.
"Tch..."
The person next to me was like that too. He couldn't seem to find a partner at all.
Hair swept back neatly. A male cadet with a rigid face, stiff like a sculpture.
I discreetly observed his nametag.
His year was the same green as mine: first-year.
'Baize Dietrich.'
I knew the name. Not because I'd just observed it now, but because I knew the figure from the original work.
After all, he was a main-role character. Not on the same level as Hong Yeon-hwa or Baek A-rin, but a cadet with the potential to achieve great things later on.
The 5th Iteration. A figure deeply entangled with the 'Foolish Reverse Magic Path.'
The very 'Wise Mage' who would later become a Magic Council-accredited mage.
Rattle— I pushed my chair back and stood. I walked up to him and tapped his shoulder.
[Hey, would you like to pair up with me?]
"...Huh? W-with me?"
Baize asked back with a dumbfounded look.
- Drop.
The instant that voice rang out, the surroundings went quiet.
Wondering what was up, I checked the surroundings. Everyone who had been pretending to ignore while stealing glances was now staring straight at me.
"Hah."
A strange sound came out. Baek A-rin, who had been smoothly sidling toward me, went wide-eyed and covered her mouth with both hands.
"Wow, are you already tired of me and ditching me?"
[Gyaaaaah!]
"Ow, ow~ don't hit me~ this is domestic violence, you know~."
I chased off Baek A-rin as she giggled impishly, brandishing the cane I'd pulled out of Subspace.
* * *
[Unique Ability ｢Mana Affinity｣ grows.]
...
[Player Correction System: Affection]
Lee Ha-yul → Baek A-rin
●●●●●●●○○○(74▷75/100)
｢Cold Energy｣ ｢Coolness｣ ｢Fondness｣ ｢Doubt｣ ｢Confusion｣ ｢Dairy Cow?｣ ｢Playfulness｣