Chapter 247
Chapter 247
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 247
Chapter Title: What It Means to Handle Stars (2)
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Infusing mana into a single stroke of a circuit.
The first step a mage must take to be called a true mage, not just a scholar of magic theory. It's the process of proving not only excellence in theory but also the power to bring that theory into reality.
Talented children learn how to channel mana into circuits before they even turn ten. They master controlling their own mana and casting spells.
The basics.
Truly the fundamentals—the very first step on the path of magic.
Some children take that step lightly and stride forward effortlessly.
"Nngh...!"
Others struggle to even take a single step.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ Crackle!
The circuit, unable to withstand the starlight mana, twisted wildly in all directions. It bent and warped until—snap—it finally broke in half, sparks flying from the fracture.
'Another failure.'
Chloe bit her lip hard.
Even filling a single stroke with mana wasn't easy. Her mana was like a wild, rampaging river—refusing to stay put, leaking out no matter how she tried to dam it.
A single stroke etched in the air.
A channel where the river should flow and pool.
She needed to contain the water there, but she just couldn't get the hang of it. When she managed to hold it, it leaked; when she forced it back, the channel shattered.
"Again."
She'd already broken over a dozen circuits.
Lania silently waved her hand in the air, drawing a new one. Chloe glanced sideways at the figure beside her.
Rustle.
There sat the Fourth Princess, Aila.
She wordlessly swung her conductor's baton, capturing Chloe's mana before it could scatter everywhere. Thanks to that, Chloe could challenge it again and again without waste.
Twirl.
Aila lightly traced a circle with her baton.
Mana rippled freely along its tip. She seemed to have a good grasp on it already—unlike Chloe, who still didn't understand a thing.
Chloe bowed her head slightly.
'...Her Highness is helping me.'
Making the mana easier to handle.
Minimizing control over its wild flow. That's what Aila was doing.
It definitely helped—a lot.
The mana flowed more smoothly than usual.
It didn't scatter easily and even followed her touch to some degree.
'But.'
In the end, that was as far as it went.
'The decisive part has to come from me.'
Infusing mana into the circuit. Forming spells with mana. That was something only Chloe herself could do.
"Summon."
No, that wasn't right.
She already knew someone who had done it.
Chloe recalled Resti handling her starlight in the darkness. Even with Aila's help, Resti had pulled it off.
The starlight dwelling in her summoned familiars.
It was closer to simple enchantment than a full spell, but the sight of those starlight-clad familiars advancing was still burned deep into Chloe's memory.
Could I do it?
Even a prodigy called the Next Ashen Mage Tower Lord struggled with it... Could she? She had no confidence.
"...Nngh."
Crack—another line split.
She still couldn't get a feel for it.
Chloe's head dipped lower.
That was the moment.
"Chloe."
Lania spoke up.
The woman who had been silent until now called her name. Chloe slowly raised her head to meet Lania's gaze.
"It's normal for it not to come easily. You've been studying magic for less than a year—it's supposed to be hard. So, shoulders back, chin up..."
A gentle voice.
"Let's do it together."
But as if refusing to let go... Lania tapped Chloe's forehead.
"From the beginning again."
2.
The Ashen Mage, Raniel van Trias.
A mage who had reached enlightenment.
Mages build a tower within themselves, each unique. Raniel was no different. She visualized the tower she had constructed in her mind.
She used everything at her disposal.
When stuck, she sought other paths.
Built on that conviction, her tower wasn't neat. Bricks jutted out haphazardly, piles of stones jammed between them.
In her own words, it was fundamentally messy—enough to give you indigestion.
Elemental spells, spell engraving, strike spells, binding spells, mana ignition, mana combustion, body reinforcement...
A mishmash of countless systems. Paradoxically, that made her tower sturdy.
Reinforced by patching and adding.
Rebuilt time and again.
Stacked from layers of experience.
From its center, Raniel pulled out a core brick. It was the heart of her tower, the culmination of all her magical scholarship in one piece.
Using everything she could.
Weaving all she had built into a single circuit.
'A circuit to control shadows.'
A circuit to handle stars.
Etched from countless battlefields. Recalling the experience inscribed upon it, Raniel opened her eyes.
"Don't just think of it as 'containing' it."
She said.
"People say mana is like water, circuits like vessels or channels for it to flow. That's not wrong, but forget those metaphors for now."
Forget them all.
"They're just someone else's words in the end. You have your own way, and no one else can make it for you. You have to find it yourself."
Forget everything.
"From the start. Using only what you've realized, only what you understand... Let's try again."
From the beginning.
"How do you understand your mana?"
"Like starlight. An uncontrolled river that just flows on its own..."
"Yes, it takes the form of a flowing river."
Raniel nodded.
"Anything else?"
"It doesn't want to stay in one place. It always wants to keep flowing."
"Uncontrolled, always wanting to flow. Good."
She drew a single line in the air again.
"Try it."
Chloe filled the circuit the same way as before, pouring mana in like other mages would.
Crack.
As expected, it shattered.
Raniel redrew the circuit.
"Forget it, again. Don't mimic other mages. Think with your own head, in your own way."
"...My way?"
"Because you're not like anyone else."
She said.
"You're unique, with something no one else has. So why force yourself to fit someone else's method?"
Raniel shared her own experience.
"That's just reference. It can't be the answer. Your way is something else."
Raniel had been the same.
Not bound by others' towers, doubting everything easily, she built her own.
"Recall your mana's traits."
What only she had.
"Your strengths, what you're good at."
What only she could do.
Things Raniel had pondered endlessly while building her tower. In other words, everything she was saying now came from her experience.
The best teaching is experience.
Insights born from it.
Things learned through trial and error—unlike brief words or lines of text, they don't fade easily.
So, being a teacher means...
"Teaching isn't much, Raniel."
Teaching someone means...
"I'm just sharing my path. How you walked yours, how I walked mine. That's all."
Sharing your experience.
"From that, you'll gain your own insights your way. Forge your own path. So follow your thoughts. I'll just assist from the side."
Recalling her master's words, Raniel began to speak. Of the things she'd been through, the lessons from countless battlefields.
"I'll show you."
And experience doesn't have to be just words.
Mages draw circuits.
Their habits embed in those lines, and scholars in ivory towers claim they can read a mage's life from them alone.
Rustle.
The air was her canvas, her scattered mana the paint. She displayed her path of magic before the young mage.
"Ah..."
Chloe watched, forgetting to breathe, as Raniel's mana traced its path. It was one mage's journey.
Blue mana surged.
The surging mana tick, tick sparked outward.
'...Ashen?'
The mana transformed.
Blue turned to gray ash.
The altered mana had entirely new properties.
Different from normal mana, different from Chloe's starlight. Like flying embers, it seemed impossible to contain in any circuit.
Uncontrollable.
In that, it shared something with Chloe's mana.
And Raniel succeeded in forcing the leaping gray mana into the circuit. Chloe watched wide-eyed.
Tick, tick!
The mana-filled circuit thrummed.
Seemingly ready to snap any second.
But then, the circuit began to change.
Whoosh.
Flames erupted. The circuit took on the shape of fire—defying the notion that circuits should be static and stable.
'But...'
Flame-shaped or not, the circuit was complete.
Mana flowed, the spell manifested.
The process was flawlessly smooth.
"...How?"
"I told you. Don't be bound by it."
Raniel waved her hand.
She coughed dryly and leaned on the table.
"If mana is stable, just contain it. But if it's unstable and won't fit..."
She smiled.
"Why not adapt somewhere else?"
"......"
Chloe fell silent.
She stared at the straight line hovering before her. Then raised her finger.
'Differently.'
Discard everything she knew.
'My way, what I can do.'
Recalling her mana's nature, Chloe lightly flicked her finger. The raging stream followed, tracing a single line.
Platinum stream.
With its flowing trait, it wouldn't stay contained. So Chloe changed her approach. She didn't trap the mana in the circuit.
She pierced it through.
Let it keep flowing.
From the circuit's start to its end point, mana passed through. In that state, Chloe clenched her fist.
It took several times more mana.
It wasn't stable.
But the basic spell, Ignite.
For a fleeting instant, the inscribed spell activated. A flash of flame flickered like lightning.
"Yes."
Raniel smiled.
"That's how you do it."
Chloe had glimpsed possibility, if only for a moment.
All that remained was grasping that slender thread.
"You've understood your mana's nature—good. But this way, it's all waste. Hard to use in non-linear circuits... So what do you do?"
"...What did you do, Professor?"
"I told you. I deformed the circuit."
They exchanged words.
"It leaps like embers. Keeps surging. To contain it, I thought—make the circuit move too. That's how I etched it even into my heart."
The circuit kept moving.
Surging, twisting, yet circulating.
"That's how I made it. Later I mastered control... but you'll need to complete that circuit on the board first, right?"
"...Yes."
"So first, adapt the circuit like that and get there. The goal's clear, direction understood—worth a shot, no?"
Sharing experience, hearing experience.
For a while, they talked, and Chloe kept trying new ways.
Failures.
Failures piled up.
The experienced mage advised, the young one adapted it to her own. Immature, but she began taking her first steps.
Possibility shone through the failures.
In Raniel's eyes, in Aila's assisting gaze, in Chloe's eyes—possibility was visible.
"Just a bit more."
Chloe's green eyes sparkled.
Watching platinum star clusters form and scatter in them... Raniel smiled faintly.
"I had a feeling."
She murmured.
"This one's a monster too."
Though she didn't seem to think so herself.
To Raniel, Chloe was plenty monstrous.
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