Chapter 103
Chapter 103
Chapter 103
EP24 - Professors of Illusion Magic (3)
One step. One step.
As Professor Dante Hiacapo approached, the professors felt their hearts pound for no reason.
At the same time, the feeling was strange. To think that at this age, having become a professor, this day would come.
Dante scrutinized the professors' [Fundamental Particles] before moving on to the next professor. Those few seconds felt incredibly long.
‘Why are you lingering around here? You’re making me nervous….’
The professor whose spot Dante was particularly lingering at grumbled inwardly.
< Remaining Time : 20 minutes 58 seconds >
However, after wandering around like that for a long time.
At one point, Professor Dante stopped.
In front of a senior professor.
Senior Professor Heidin.
He was the senior professor with the longest tenure among all the professors gathered here, at 115 years old. At that age, even a highly skilled martial artist would appear elderly.
Dante spoke to him.
“You are creating a cat.”
“Yes? Ah, that’s right. It’s the one I keep at home. Its name is Hiaka.”
“Hiaka.”
Dante carefully reached out a hand.
Just then, as the old man flicked his hand, the cat raised its front paw.
Meow!
The cat waved its paws happily.
“Oh.”
“Ho ho. When I go home, that’s how the little one greets me.”
“And the fur is warm, strand by strand.”
“Ah, I used the formula [scratch] in reverse.”
“[Scratch], in reverse?”
“Yes, yes. Originally, that formula scrapes particles like sandpaper to create texture, but in the past, it was also used in reverse, scraping space to expand particles to create fur texture. …It’s a rather old formula, isn’t it?”
As he spoke, recalling that the formula had been used as long as 80 years ago, Senior Professor Heidin felt a slight tension.
Wasn’t the man before him a young professor?
It was a bitter truth for all elders that the young often viewed old ways as unfashionable and unnecessary. They themselves were beings of the old ways.
“……It’s magnificent. Truly astonishing.”
Yet, unexpected praise came forth.
“Ah, really?”
“Yes. It’s admirable. The formula [scratch] is a very active formula, so it would take a lot of time to reverse it.”
“…….”
A strange light flickered in Senior Professor Heidin’s eyes.
It was incredibly surprising. Did he know that? A formula like [scratch] was used half a century before this man was even born?
“Professor, you managed to reverse it and implement the fur in just 10 minutes, and even implemented movement. It seems you haven’t stopped training.”
“…Ah, yes. That’s right. [Illusion Magic] is my life.”
“Personally, I believe even forgotten formulas have their value. Frankly, with formulas like [enumeration] or [extension] used recently, you can’t achieve such natural fur.”
“Ah, yes. That’s true. Thank you…. Ho ho ho….”
Dante turned his steps.
At this moment, Senior Professor Heidin let out a sigh of relief inwardly, finding Dante’s praise quite pleasant.
It was the best compliment he had heard recently.
‘Hmm. This is nice.’
The feeling was slightly strange.
The praise was, to a peculiar degree, pleasant to hear.
‘What is it? I hear praise often, even normally……. Why is that?’
Why did the praise from this young professor feel so good?
He pondered it deeply.
It was because, even though Dante was a young professor, the aura he exuded was not young at all.
Instead, he had an adult-like presence.
‘Ah. I understand.’
As he thought that, he realized.
It was because it had been a long time.
‘The feeling of being a student before a professor…….’
His thoughts sank into the distant past.
It was about 90 years ago. When he was truly young and handsome. He had come up to the capital with tears in his eyes, with the full support of his family (by selling cows)…….
At that time, the field of [implementation illusion magic] had not yet taken root in Hiaka, and the professors who learned and taught it were extremely few. He was fortunate enough to receive guidance from a professor he greatly admired.
However, a professor being great and a student growing were separate matters.
He had tried his best to create something, but his professor had severely scolded him for the poor results. He cried alone behind the academy’s stable building.
Crying like that, he regained his resolve and continued his research. And finally, after days and nights of sleepless effort, he created an illusion magic.
……That was the first praise he received from his professor.
‘That’s right. Ah, those were good times.’
He hadn’t expected to feel the emotions of that time. The elderly professor smiled inwardly with pleasure and watched Dante’s back.
Could such a young person make him feel that way?
‘This young professor is no ordinary person destined for greatness…….’
Instead, he was the only one among those gathered who had no lingering attachment to the chief professor’s lecture itself; he simply enjoyed the test itself.
< Remaining Time : 19 minutes 36 seconds >
Perhaps it was because their first interaction was so favorable. The professors could breathe a sigh of relief.
No matter how much of a genius’s disciple they were, wouldn’t a mage feel displeased if they were lectured by someone younger? Still, Dante seemed like a professor who knew respect.
……That expectation, however, was shattered in the next conversation with a professor.
“What is this?”
The subject was Professor Ulberg, a 40-year-old.
“Yes?”
“What is this?”
Ulberg was creating a ‘3x3 cube’. A puzzle that involves rotating and assembling a cube three-dimensionally.
“Ah, it’s a cube. A cube. Don’t you know it?”
“Why are you creating a cube?”
“Ah, this isn’t just a simple cube, it’s a cube with several added mechanisms. Um, because what I’m most confident in is this kind of structural illusion magic.”
“Can the cube with added mechanisms rotate?”
“Ah, yes. Of course, because it’s a cube….”
“Then, aren’t the edge and corner pieces detached from the axis?”
“Uh. Aren’t they? Because for it to rotate, the parts must be detached.”
Why are there no creatures with wheels in nature?
Of course, the lack of roads is a factor, but.
For wheels to exist, the axis and the wheel must rotate separately while withstanding friction, and this is impossible for material metabolism to occur.
“Is that one [Fundamental Particle]?”
“…….”
At this moment, Ulberg’s lips were sealed shut.
This illusion magic had a [Fundamental Particle] with the formula [division] applied to it.
Because, excluding the axis, there must be 26 additional blocks to be a ‘cube’.
Then Ulberg began to get confused.
Is a [Fundamental Particle] with the [division] formula applied to it, one? Or not?
This was a matter of ‘definition’.
‘Oh no….’
‘That friend made a mistake….’
The professors of ‘Theoretical Illusion Magic’, who knew the answer, sighed inwardly.
According to the Illusion Magic textbook, it is written that ‘upon division, the fundamental particle is defined as not one’.
In other words.
The moment Ulberg mentioned ‘cube’, he had made a mistake.
If it doesn’t rotate, it’s not a cube.
The moment it rotates, it’s not a single part.
“…I think it’s one.”
He insisted, for now.
“Is that so?”
Professor Dante turned away after saying that, and a look of distress crossed Ulberg’s face. He felt a sense of being detached.
And at this moment, everyone’s perception shifted slightly.
Usually, when one imagines ‘Assassination Illusion Magic’, it is thought to be focused solely on practical application, lacking theory. Hence, it even has a derogatory nickname, ‘commoner’s illusion magic’.
However, Professor Dante was different.
For example, most professors here didn’t know the old formula [scratch], and conversely, the definition of illusion magic had been updated by the empire at the beginning of the year. Dante knew both perfectly.
< Remaining Time : 15 minutes 17 seconds >
From around this time, Professor Dante’s evaluations began to sharpen like wings.
“It’s magnificent how you’ve highly expanded [Expansion] to make it look like [space]. However, I am curious as to why you made it look like ‘space shaping’ when the test content is ‘form shaping’. Why did you make that choice, Professor?”
“You’ve contained the entire scripture on this one page. Ah, not the scripture, but the ‘confession’ part. Uh… It’s truly delicate and wonderful, but in my judgment, there are a few broken letters. About 100 places. Can you correct them?”
“The peacock is truly beautiful, but as you know, Professor, if the thickness of the remiges (wing feathers) becomes thinner than 0.022mm, there isn’t enough force to generate lift, making it a peacock that cannot fly. If a peacock, which is a flying bird, cannot fly, it’s difficult to give it a good score.”
The professors felt as if their breath was caught in their throats.
Professor Dante’s evaluations were more meticulous than they had imagined.
This wasn’t just a matter of ‘seeing properly’.
In crude terms, he was evaluating like a madman.
Telling them to match the feather thickness to 0.022mm?
Did he find broken characters that were thinner than 1/50th of a human hair?
Is this professor naturally claiming that it can be done with mana?
‘……Is the level of [Grandmaster] this high?’
They were confused, as the only [Grandmaster] level in Hiaka Academy’s Illusion Magic was ‘Chief Professor Gloomy’.
‘Unbelievable.’
However, for some proud professors, this situation was unpleasant.
‘This is ridiculous, this young brat.’
No matter how he thought about it, it seemed like Dante was speaking arbitrarily. If not, no matter how much of a genius, it didn’t make sense for him, at just thirty years old, to evaluate the illusion magic of professors in various fields.
A scholar who studies the wings of bees…
Does not know much about the wings of birds.
This is how highly developed modern illusion magic works.
Yet, Dante was now acting as if he knew about bees, birds, dragons, airships, and even satellites.
“Are you sure about what you’re saying?”
A professor who could no longer stand it opened his mouth.
Professor Dante turned to him.
“What is your question?”
“I don’t mean to doubt you, but I wonder if you’re just throwing words around. If it’s alright, would you give feedback on the ‘model garden’ I created?”
“I have nothing to say about that model garden.”
“What?”
“It is perfect.”
“…….”
Blushing…….
Then, the middle-aged senior professor involuntarily blushed.
‘…….’
Perfect…?
Hmm….
Well, that’s natural….
He was a man who had spent over 30 years creating only ‘models’ among sculptural illusion magic….
Inner, mutually pushing index fingers… ☞☜
‘…I was mistaken, he was a professor who could see properly…’
It was then.
“What are you doing now?”
Dante’s voice suddenly turned aggressive.
To a female professor wearing a hood.
“…Yes?”
“What are you doing? Here.”
“…Why are you asking?”
Just now, he had been friendly. When he suddenly changed, the professors tensed and watched her warily.
“You seem to find this amusing.”
“…What do I?”
“Stop it. You’re someone who knows what kind of place this is, so I don’t understand why you’re doing this.”
“…….”
The professors shifted their gaze to her creation.
What she had made was just an ordinary yet beautiful stone statue. But why?
It was then that the female professor laughed.
And then she said.
“…That’s why I dislike quick-witted brats.”
—In a man’s voice.
‘What the!?’
‘Huh? What is it?!’
Then her face began to distort and change.
From the face of the young female professor wearing a hood.
To the face of a mischievous old man.
‘Whoa, whoa! Ch-Chief Galua?!’
‘No, since when were you there…?’
Professors who came to take the test wouldn’t use magic like [search]. And you can’t know without checking. That old man had been hiding among them.
Chief Professor Galua laughed heartily.
“You have good eyes, you brat!”
“Leave, Chief. This test is a strictly controlled event. Unauthorized individuals should not be here.”
“Alright, alright. You’re so mean. I’ve written 12 papers on [Illusion Magic], is it right for you to treat me so harshly?”
“Did you write them yourself?”
“What, you brat…?!”
At this point, even the professors who had been looking at Dante with displeasure until the end were taken aback, as they knew Chief Professor Galua maintained a considerable distance from most professors.
Chief Professor Galua, who was usually extremely formal, was now treating him as comfortably as if he had met a close friend.
Dante seemed to be a bigger shot than expected…….
“I’m going, I’m going! You stingy fellow.”
“Close the door and leave.”
“Agh!!”
After chasing away Chief Galua like that.
< Remaining Time : 10 minutes 25 seconds >
< Remaining Time : 5 minutes 45 seconds >
< Remaining Time : 3 minutes 25 seconds >
Time flowed amidst such processes. Completed works began to emerge one by one.
The tension remained, but the atmosphere was not bad. Perhaps because some had expected Professor Dante to be quite critical when it was called an ‘evaluation test’.
Some professors had even prepared to fight if that were the case. But Dante showed respect, and there was not a single flaw in his evaluations.
Dante simply listed facts; he made no judgments. It wasn’t that his pride wasn’t hurt.
But what could they refute?
He was only stating facts.
< Remaining Time : 0 minutes 00 seconds >
Finally, all the sand had fallen.
⋮
“You’ve all worked hard. I will announce the results.”
Professor Dante said calmly.
“Everyone has failed.”
EP24
Professors of Illusion Magic
END