Chapter 48
Chapter 48
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 48
Chapter Title: Volume 10 - Graveda Academy (2)
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◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ "Oh, it's so pretty."
I'd felt it the first time I used mana too, but seeing the mana light sparkle like this was breathtakingly beautiful, to the point where it stirred something deep inside me.
It was like stars being embroidered across the night sky, or something like that?
Even more fascinating, mine and Rozaria's lights had subtly different colors, which made their vibes feel distinct too.
"Wait, huh?"
"What's up?"
As the circle completed, the magic circle softly filled its interior with light, emitting a faint glow.
This part was pretty transparent—hard to notice unless you looked closely.
It'd be nicer if it were a bit more visible.
"Whoa, the transparency is insane... This is your first try at a magic circle, Kali? I can really just relax now, can't I?"
"What?"
"No, seriously, this blows past the passing mark by a mile. I couldn't even draw a circle this good on my first go... Is Kali actually a magic genius or something?"
No matter how much the mana messed with my hand movements, why was she so shocked over just drawing a single circle?
Rozaria herself had called this basic stuff just a bit ago...
Ah, maybe from the perspective of a total beginner pulling this off?
Yeah, even for someone like me who'd drawn pictures before, nailing something this pretty on the first try with distractions was pretty impressive.
And while I thought of myself as an artist, to Rozaria, that was still just a newbie skill I'd picked up this year, right?
I could see why she'd be thrown off.
"The light inside the magic circle is super faint, right? The fainter it is, the purer the mana gets transmitted to the magic characters, boosting efficiency big time. If it's barely visible like this, it means you drew the circle perfectly."
"Oh, so they judge the circle's quality by its transparency, not just the shape?"
"Yep."
"That's wild."
Next, Rozaria drew a shape in the air and told me to replicate it exactly on top of the magic circle.
It must've been one of the magic characters, and drawing it on the circle would trigger the spell.
Hmm, something like this, roughly...
"Huh?"
"Now just bring your hand anywhere over the magic circle and pour in your mana—it should activate."
But the magic character I'd just drawn seemed subtly different in color from when I drew the circle.
Eh, probably just normal variation.
I decided to ask Rozaria about it later and focused on injecting mana into the circle first.
"Ugh!?"
The instant I did, an enormous burst of light erupted from the magic circle, forcing me to squeeze my eyes shut on instinct.
Damn, this eye-searing flash is no joke.
In my mind, it felt like one of those classic fantasy 'Light' spells.
Basic or not, you should've warned me about this...
"Ow, my eyes hurt..."
"What? Why didn't you dodge if you knew it'd happen? Isn't this the standard eye-flash spell?"
"Yeah, but I had no idea it'd be this intense. Isn't this about on your level now?"
Come to think of it, she'd mentioned that spell power varies by skill level.
But I'm a total beginner, and my output's already matching Rozaria's?
Was I actually talented in magic, not swordsmanship?
"Anyway, that's the basics of low-tier magic. You draw the magic circle, then add the magic character matched to your desired power inside it."
"Did it get that bright because I drew it too big?"
"Nah, the size felt normal to me. Maybe you're just talented, Kali?"
Apparently, everyone's spell power differs when activated, so you have to fine-tune the character's size for each person.
And since power can grow or decline over time, you need to adjust sizes as your specs change to hit your target output—gotta watch that.
So that's basic low-tier magic, huh...
"Feels kinda easy? Is that all?"
"All that's left is memorizing all the magic characters. Of course, at Graveda Academy, knowing some advanced stuff helps too."
"Low-tier magic has advanced courses?"
"It's just drawing multiple magic characters in one circle."
Without barriers from specific characters, spells basically blend and activate together.
In other words, you can mix and match characters into combos.
"Of course, going even deeper, you add drawings unrelated to magic characters. Nail those, and low-tier magic can rival high-tier performance. That's what real mages research."
"How different are high-tier spells from low-tier?"
"Same characters, but totally different system. We still haven't figured out development methods—everything's just ancient hand-me-downs."
Technically should be called ancient magic, but the term stuck from back when low-tier couldn't produce high performance.
If you don't need high-tier, you layer lines with low-tier to induce the effect you want.
That leads to super complex drawings, like illustrations.
"Fascinating."
"Anyway, they mainly test low-tier basics—like combining a few characters at most."
"Nothing else required?"
"At your level? Nah, pointless."
She meant the exam focuses on three things: drawing the circle, implementing the requested spell, and checking its power.
With solid circle-drawing and power like mine, just recognizing the spell to draw gets you a pass.
After always thinking swordsmanship was impossible, hearing this felt weirdly good.
"Oh, and there are about 13 tricky ones to draw. They never test those."
"Saying they skip 13 makes it sound like there are way more than expected."
"Total of 33. They only test 20."
Yeah, that's a decent number.
Not just rote-memorizing 20, but common combos too.
Plenty to study.
"It's all just memorization, so not that hard. I figured you'd struggle with the circle..."
Power's more talent-based at first and fluctuates, so lower weight.
Circle-drawing takes both practice and talent, so higher score.
But since I nailed it from the start, no worries.
"Hehe, so next year, we'll attend the academy together, Kali?"
"If I think that on day one and get burned, not my fault?"
"Psh, no need to worry that much. Do great, and you could top the class?"
That actually sounds kinda bad.
I didn't want to stand out that much entering.
Just wanted to learn magic slowly at first.
"Kinda disappointing, though. I wanna learn recording magic. Do they teach it at the academy?"
"Starts second semester, basic literacy level."
From second year, you pick electives, so you dive deeper into interests then.
Real university system.
Makes sense for adults entering.
"Oh, so each magic character holds one spell?"
"Kinda, but some don't activate solo—like size ones. Those pair with others to maintain power while scaling size."
For example, the one from before means 'day' or 'light,' but it was too bright.
Shrink it to dial down power.
But then it won't light big areas?
"Exactly."
"So adding a 'large' character with it..."
A soft glow scattered around, far gentler than regular lamps.
This world's lights were mostly like this—easier on the eyes than Earth's.
Staring at ceilings never stung.
"Learning magic makes stuff click."
Things far from scientific norms happen effortlessly.
Makes magic computers seem feasible...
Worst case, scale up size and sell via fancy machines.
"Draw the fire character tiny, and the 'large' one huge..."
"Ooh, it's warm."
"Cool, right? Combos matter, but size ratios expand uses hugely."
Reverse with 'small' for hyper-compressed effects.
Of course, untested stuff's unknown, so study verified combos.
Like fire + water = steam burns—don't test randomly.
"Now, let's try two spells in one circle."
She inserted a character between two, then drew lines splitting the circle from it.
The lights illuminating each character differed now?
Looked like they activated together with matching colors.
"That character's 'divide'?"
"Theories say meaningless character, blank space... Anyway, it isolates sections."
Sure enough, two spells fired separately. I nodded.
This is kinda fun?
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