Chapter 1
Chapter 1
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 1
Chapter Title: Magic Tower Genius Hides Physics
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Even in a fantasy world, it seems you get dragged off to the army if you don't go to grad school.
I picked up the envelope stamped with the imperial eagle seal, my hands trembling.
"Fuck."
A curse slipped out before I knew it.
'Isaac Uphills'...
My name was written there in neat print on the draft notice.
As you can see, my name is Isaac Uphills. I look like your average imperial citizen, but there are two peculiarities.
One is that this body is a mage, and...
...it's only been a year since I became its owner.
Prior to that, I was a physics grad student in South Korea.
My last memory before possession was reading some crackpot paper called "The Magical Interpretation of Unified Field Theory."
I passed out dead tired from that... and woke up as an otherworld mage.
I was bewildered at first, but I adapted well enough.
Leveraging my mage background, I'd settled in a rural backwater, scamming the villagers to get by.
Not that I was running actual cons.
I just tweaked the structures of windmills or blast furnaces a bit in exchange for food and shelter.
But even this brief respite was over.
"Damn it."
Staring at the draft notice in my hand, I started resenting the body's original owner.
This body's previous inhabitant, Isaac, was a "rested youth" fresh out of Magic University, pondering his next move.
And in this world, the law shoves unemployed mages straight onto the northern monster frontlines.
If you don't want to enlist, you volunteer as a slave... no, a grad student.
I didn't want that.
"Drafted now...? A mage, and still drafted!"
Come to think of it, back before possession, I'd chosen grad school because of the army too.
I liked physics, hated the military. Simple choice.
But now?
"Should I just go full Field Mage?"
Rotting as a grad student was enough for one lifetime.
Getting stuck in the army sucked, but as a Field Mage, maybe I could live cushy like a military doctor from my past life?
I ran the idea by Hans, the ex-mercenary.
Gulp gulp.
Hans, whom I ran into at the tavern, listened silently and downed his beer.
Gulp gulp.
Thud!
Finally emptying his mug, Hans spoke.
"Absolutely not."
"...Why?"
"The northern front ain't kid stuff."
"Wouldn't it be different as a Field Mage?"
"Maybe..."
"Then enlistment it is...!"
"But you'll be staring at hundreds of corpses till discharge."
"..."
Canceled.
Enlistment was off.
Hearing my decision, Hans grinned.
"Smart choice, Mage."
"Damn... grad school."
"Eh... it'll be rough mentally, but endure that and you'll be a great mage, right?"
Hans chuckled and ordered another beer.
Great mage my ass.
I'd seen plenty of big shots die researching superconductors or fluid dynamics chasing greatness.
My goal: live plainly, do what I want moderately, stay healthy, and last long.
"So I'm going to the most remote grad school spot."
"And in ten years, wherever you go will be the world's top school."
"...Why do you keep saying troublesome things?"
"Mage, remember that big earthquake in the village?"
"Yeah."
About a month after possession?
The forge collapsed in the quake, so I'd gone to help.
Hans stared me down and said,
"I've seen more magic than I can count as a merc, but I've never seen anyone cast like you."
"...I just fixed the building with telekinesis."
"First time I ever saw 'molten metal' instead of a 'metal lump' pouring from that forge."
"Well, I improved the thermal efficiency."
"That's what's amazing—treating it like it's normal."
"..."
Couldn't get through to Hans.
...Still, grad school beat the army. Agreed on that.
A few days later, I parked the wagon in the village square and gathered everyone.
From the village chief to the blacksmith and tavern owner—all the faces I'd indebted myself to showed up.
I declared before them.
"I'm off to grad school!"
I bellowed at the top of my lungs.
Now for the tearful, touching farewells. They'd miss the only mage in this backwater.
Maybe even beg me to stay.
"Finally!"
"The mage is off to make his fortune!"
"Uphills! Uphills!"
Eh?
"Sir! Make sure you succeed in the capital!"
"Grab yourself a noble lady while you're there!"
What the hell.
I barely calmed the villagers and asked,
"Come on, I worked hard here. Can't you at least shed a tear on my way out?"
"Hmm..."
The chief continued slowly.
"This little village has no more problems for you to solve, Mage."
As if on cue, kid Joshy piped up.
"We can read official notices now!"
...Of course.
I'd taught the villagers letters and basic math.
Then hunter Yohan said,
"No more worries about pelts either."
...Obviously.
His shoulder injury stopped him from drawing a bow, so I made him a crossbow myself.
Blacksmith Sander spoke up.
"Forge is fine too."
...Naturally.
Thanks to my windmill upgrade, Sander didn't need to pump the bellows anymore.
The chief smirked at me.
"See?"
"..."
"No issues left in this dump. Go worry-free, sir."
Sigh.
I let out a breath.
I'd learned how stubborn the chief was over the past year, body and soul.
I'd begged him to drop the formal speech since I hated elders honoring me, but he never did.
Something about imperial custom...
Who could change a guy like that?
And so my send-off to the capital ended.
Three days into the wagon ride to the capital.
Rattle rattle. The luggage in back shook.
No major issues on the trip.
Weather clear. Horizon visible from the wagon window.
...Actually, there was one tiny problem.
This world's unpaved roads were brutally rough on a physicist's delicate stomach.
So...
"Urk!"
Bleeeech.
I puked out the wagon window.
Pat pat.
Ex-merc Hans patted my back.
I barely stopped vomiting and gulped the water he handed me.
Gulp gulp.
"...You're surprisingly high-maintenance, sir."
"Yeah, Hans. Best decision not rejecting you coming along."
"Can't fix motion sickness with magic?"
"Telekinesis on the vestibular organ might work if tuned right... but failing means instant disability. Scary."
"Vestibular organ...?"
Hans tilted his head.
Explain or not?
No, where to even start?
Lymph fluid and otoliths in the inner ear detect tilt?
Then he'd ask what lymph fluid is, how ear stones sense tilt...
'I barely know past that...'
Particle physics major, not medicine.
I'd dismissed non-physics science as "stamp collecting," per the adage.
Ironic Rutherford got the Chemistry Nobel, not Physics.
Guy loved stamp collecting.
Wish I'd picked it up...
Regrets.
"Damn, why'd I major in useless physics..."
As I stewed, the wagon jerked to a halt.
"What's up?"
Hans asked the driver.
"Uh... there's... something on the road ahead... You need to see it yourself, Mage sir."
"Pardon?"
I peered ahead at the driver's words.
My stomach churned—not from motion sickness.
There in the road's middle stood a nauseating green-skinned monster.
An orc.
The man-eating subrace I'd only read about in books since arriving.
It rummaged through corpses in a wrecked caravan.
...Those corpses had families and friends once.
My head cooled instantly.
The driver asked,
"Turn back before it spots us?"
"No."
Past life or this one, I had no talent for "saving" people. Medicine wasn't my field.
But "killing"? Different story.
Brain surgery needs precision; smashing skulls doesn't.
I pulled steel marbles from my pocket.
Hans glanced sideways.
"Handling it yourself?"
"Yes."
I placed a marble on my palm and closed my eyes.
The world's colors and sounds faded; my nerve endings linked to the mana field filling it.
Like dipping toes in a still lake, surrounding mana flows registered as faint ripples.
My mind surged through the mana field.
Like sonar, it hit the orc's body, bounced back, revealing "bone density, muscle tension, skull's weakest curve."
Prep done.
I gathered mana, wrapping the marble thin as a membrane.
Imbue the spell.
First:
p = m * v
Momentum. Mana gripped the marble's mass, readying velocity.
Second:
R = (v₀² * sin(2θ))/g
Parabolic trajectory. Mana field vibrated faintly, locking optimal angle with velocity.
Third. Crucial:
L = Iω
Angular momentum conservation. I spun the mana sheath.
Like a bullet rifling down a barrel for stability.
Mana swirled helically, controlling moment of inertia.
Calculations complete.
Marble on my palm: primed shell.
Mana drained from my body into the field for the construct.
Spell complete.
Fire.
Shiiiiiik!
No big noise.
The marble slid silently along pre-built mana "rails."
About a second later.
Krunch! KABOOM!
Eyes still shut, I asked Hans,
"Done?"
"...Yeah. Orc's head's gone without a trace."
"Then that's─"
─Ruuuuumble!
"Wh-what was that?"
"Don't freak. Just the headless orc body falling."
I cracked an eye.
"..."
"..."
The driver gaped at me in horror and awe.
"What? Spit it out."
"...Nothing."
Hans clapped the driver's shoulder.
"Mage's magic is a bit unique, eh?"
"Y-yes... never seen anything like it."
"His stuff ain't like normal magic. No warning, just sudden 'boom.'"
Hans turned to me.
"Maybe the army suits you better after all?"
"Huh? Out of nowhere?"
"Look at that orc."
My gaze followed to the corpse.
Gurgle gurgle.
Headless body sprayed a fountain of blood upward.
"Frontlines would love a mage like you."
"Urp...!"
"...Now what?"
Bleeeech.
I hurled uncontrollably.
"...Cancel army viable."
Bleeeech.
"Grad student suits you."