Chapter 22
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 22
Chapter Title: The Researching Mage (1)
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Monday and Tuesday—skipping classes for two straight days and crashing hard had been fantastic.
The report was basically all written by Vice-President Sylvia anyway, so I'd properly savored my vacation.
Close my eyes, open them... and time had vanished in a blink.
When I snapped out of it, it was already Wednesday morning.
...Hey, where'd my time go? Give it back.
Of course, I'd tried to hole up in bed this morning too, clinging to the bitter end.
But as if they'd been waiting for my legal truancy period to expire, the maids burst into my room at the crack of dawn.
Not just knocking—they blew the whole door off its hinges and charged in fully geared up like they were heading into war.
Magic armor the kind Imperial Guards might wear, gauntlets etched with magic circles...
Outnumbered, out-equipped, and hitting me at my weakest hour—early morning—I didn't even get a chance to resist before they dragged me out.
Where the hell did they even get gear like that?
Did they get backup from somewhere? Or did they blow their entire salaries just to nab me?
Anyway, sitting in the lecture hall first thing in the morning put me in a rotten mood.
My motivation wasn't just scraping bottom—it was digging a hole. I slumped face-down on the desk, melting into a puddle.
"Ahaha! What gives, Luna? You're here super early? Aren't you being a little too diligent?"
Senior Estelle teased me mercilessly from the seat next to mine.
"I heard some explosion from the dorms early this morning~ Did the maids finally give you the boot today?"
"Don't tease... Yawwwn..."
Even my voice was drowned in drowsiness, all mellow and heavy.
Senior Estelle giggled and reached over to gently stroke my hair.
"You look like a sleepy puppy. So cute~"
"...Want me to bite you like one?"
"Huh? That might actually be a reward."
"You're killing me..."
I mumbled weakly as the lecture hall door swung open and the professor walked in.
Her face always looked tired, but today it was especially rough.
If I had to compare, she was like 0.8 Lunaris.
The professor climbed the podium with unfocused eyes, dumped a stack of documents haphazardly on the empty desk with a thud, and let out a deep sigh.
"Let's see... Lunaris Evermoon, present. Guess that means everyone's here."
A ripple of laughter spread through the lecture hall. Even I had to admit it was an efficient roll call.
"Theory in magitech, ha! Can't think of two words that clash harder."
The professor swept her weary gaze over us, crossed her arms, and spoke half-heartedly.
"Honestly, there's not much worth calling 'theory.' Too many variables—no real right answers."
She grumbled that holding theory classes all year made no sense anyway, and she'd just cancel on off days. Whistles erupted from all over.
"Point is, magitech is a field you learn by smashing experiments yourself. Treat theory as reference material. Got questions? Don't bug me—ask the second-years next to you."
"What if the second-years don't know?"
"If second-years still don't know theory, their talent's beyond hopeless. Tell 'em to drop out and find another line of work."
Laughter mixed with murmurs rippled out at the professor's brutally honest roast.
"Oh, and this is still class—don't get too rowdy. Anyone louder than me? I'll make you give the lecture instead."
"Ahahaha!!"
"Doesn't sound like a joke, does it?"
"..."
"Just try me. I'm dead serious."
The lecture hall fell pin-drop silent in an instant. The professor picked up chalk and started sketching mana circuit diagrams on the blackboard, diving into the real lecture.
"Magitech is the discipline that lets even mana-less folks wield magic."
The core of magitech boiled down to two things.
Where to store mana in the magitech device.
And how to make that mana flow.
I propped my chin on my hand, blinking slowly as I half-listened.
But as it went on, the concepts felt weirdly familiar.
Storing mana and channeling it out? That's straight-up like running electricity from a battery.
Once my brain clocked it as stuff I already knew, it immediately went on strike.
Reason: boredom and tedium.
So I dozed off openly.
One cheek cradled in my palm, my head nodding in little bobs.
Yawwwn—I stretched out a massive yawn, staring blankly at the blackboard.
As sleep crept in, a snippet of the professor's circuit diagram caught my eye in the corner of my vision.
Hmm... something off about that.
The drawing's ugly. No soul.
...My instincts were screaming it.
"That... connected like that, the electricity—no, mana—won't flow right..."
The words slipped out absentmindedly.
The lecture hall went dead quiet in a flash.
"Hm? Which part's the issue?"
"There, second line from the right, 5 o'clock position where the four lines mesh..."
The professor halted her chalk mid-sweep and peered intently at the spot I pointed out.
Then she dropped the chalk to the floor and nodded slowly.
"...You're right."
Low gasps of surprise broke out here and there.
Murmurs spread like wildfire.
"Eyes going bad on me—must've wired it wrong. Looks like today's coffee needs a double shot."
The professor sighed wearily and grabbed fresh chalk to revise the circuit.
"Sharp eyes. Estelle, you poke her or something?"
"Nope? I was too busy watching Luna doze to even glance at the board."
The professor let out a dry chuckle at Senior Estelle's bold admission of slacking.
"Perfect. One top student openly napping in class, the other just staring instead of waking her."
This is what passes for top students.
Magitech Department vibes—truly legendary.
Afternoon brought the lab session right away.
"I'll catch a quick nap. Second-years, keep the first-year apprentices from causing havoc."
The professor reclined her chair and started snoring—zZZZ—in under a minute.
Self-directed learning, kids raising themselves—that's the Magitech Department's signature style.
I could've bolted from the lecture hall right then and no one would've cared, but not today.
This was my chance to craft a magitech device with my own hands.
An essential for my comfy, lazy dorm life—the birth of modern civilization's miracle demanded my presence.
I was a little excited, too.
First magitech practical, after all.
First times always get the heart racing, right?
Even I, who finds everything dull, was buzzing a bit—so the other students? Forget about it.
The lecture hall buzzed with energy.
First-years sparkled with curiosity, poking at the array of materials on the lab benches. Second-years already had notebooks out, sketching ideas.
The tension levels were night and day.
For carefree first-years chasing pleasure, it was playtime getting cozy with magitech materials.
For second-years burdened with responsibility sans joy, it was the agony of designs that could make or break their semester grades.
"Hmm~ What should we whip up this semester~?"
Senior Estelle, of course, didn't look stressed in the slightest.
"Luna, got anything you wanna make? Something that's bugged you lately, or 'this would be handy' vibes...?"
"Portable communicator."
I answered without missing a beat.
"No compromises—we have to make a portable communicator."
Portable communicator.
In other words: a cell phone.
I'd love to jump straight to smartphone, but with current magitech—limited to mage-only walkie-talkies—that's a pipe dream.
Basics first. Step by step.
"Portable communicator? You mean... like a comm crystal orb?"
Senior Estelle looked a tad thrown.
"Setting aside how tough it is, those already exist. Zero novelty."
"The current comm crystal orbs barely qualify as magitech."
She blinked at my blunt "not real magitech" claim.
"To use a comm crystal orb properly, someone's gotta keep pumping mana into it. I want one regular folks can use too."
I sketched a blocky rectangle on my paper as I explained.
My arms were weak, so it came out crooked, but it kinda nailed the golden ratio anyway.
"Voice-only transmission sucks too, but worst of all? The design."
"Design...?"
Not some proverb about pretty food tasting better.
This was about portability and user experience.
My old-life boss popped into my head—young, so he'd have "style," right? Shoved design work on me during downtime... Ugh, just thinking about it makes my head throb.
"The round ball shape's the biggest sin. Awkward to set down, rolls into oblivion if dropped. And tacky as hell."
No more, no less—just Apple-phone sized.
No half-baked personal twists. Recreate it exactly from memory—that's the goal.
Senior Estelle stared at me for a moment, then burst out laughing.
"Pfft! First time seeing you this fired up with ideas, Luna."
I shrugged lightly.
"This'll revolutionize my bed life."
"Uh, y-yeah?"
Maybe my whole lazy existence led to this moment.
Lying in bed, just tapping away? I need it.
Smartphone...
Absolute smartphone!!
"Anyway, fix the issues I mentioned, and it's basically a brand-new magitech device."
Usable by mana-less civilians.
Voice and video transmission.
Super portable.
Revolution's closer than you think.
Senior Estelle pondered for a long beat, then grinned.
"Sounds fun. Alright, let's do it!"