Chapter 45
Chapter 45
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 45
Chapter Title: The Wind Magic Breakthrough
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Magic is the discipline of prediction.
The more accurate the prediction, the exponentially less mana it consumes and the milder the rebound becomes.
Because of this, there's one "something" that has become the sworn enemy of all mages.
Wind. Air.
The most capricious of the six elements.
For field mages, whose primary tactic is long-range firepower projection, no element was as loathsome as wind.
This sentiment is shared universally among the Magic Tower's researchers.
This is how the introduction to every wind element magic textbook begins.
As a result, wind mages had no choice but to train their bodies rigorously. When a rebound hit hard enough to deplete their mana, they had to endure it physically.
Gedrick, the senior professor of wind element magic at the Eastern Magic Tower branch, was one such mage.
One day, a junior researcher, thoroughly drunk, burst into Gedrick's office and asked,
"Professor... don't you have any regrets?"
Gedrick spat out bluntly,
"None."
"Then why research this godforsaken magic?"
"My elemental affinity test showed the highest score for wind."
"That's it?"
"Yeah."
Just for that.
His life got royally screwed.
That junior who visited Gedrick that day ended up paralyzed from the waist down from rebound a year later.
Despite the sacrifices of countless mages, wind magic made no progress.
Their winds merely piled up in layers, unable to flow.
In the end, they couldn't create even a single advanced application problem this year either. Despite it being merely undergraduate level.
"Got it. Tell them we can't do it."
Gedrick's steps, as the one bearing the burden, were heavy.
"But didn't we try our best anyway?"
He asked his fellow colleagues.
"We really can't? Really?"
"..."
"..."
That was when it happened.
Isaac Uphills, disciple of Dolloren and Valerius, stood up alone.
He declared,
"I can make an advanced problem."
"What...?"
Ignoring the protests of the other professors, Isaac stepped up to the blackboard.
"For a gas at constant temperature and fixed quantity, its volume is inversely proportional to pressure."
He continued,
"Using this rule, we can create 'variation' problems that go beyond mere magic circle fill-in-the-blanks."
Isaac began writing the problem on the blackboard.
The conference room erupted at the problem.
"Sealed? No wind there—how is that wind magic?"
"Uphills! We know your talent well, but this kind of deception...!"
Some professors vehemently objected, questioning how it could be wind magic.
But it didn't look that way to Gedrick. He said,
"Sound rides on wind, so does that make it wind element magic?"
"..."
"Sealed or not, let's hear him out first."
At Gedrick's words, the professors who had been criticizing Isaac fell silent. They all knew elemental classifications were arbitrary anyway.
In that moment, Gedrick felt a strange certainty.
Attempts to grasp the essence of "living, moving wind" had all failed.
Thus, Gedrick and some provincial researchers had shifted their approach. They decided to study "stationary hypothetical gases."
Just like Isaac was doing now.
Gedrick looked Isaac straight in the eye and said,
"Do you really know? The answer that eliminates rebound?"
"Yes."
Isaac walked to the blackboard and drew a single control rune in the magic circle's blank.
Then he added beside it,
"The answer is, 'When pressure doubles, volume halves.'"
"How can you assert that so confidently?"
Isaac replied,
"I'll prove it now."
Moments later, glass cups gathered at Isaac's gesture. He then heated them to form a long J-shaped glass tube.
"Impressive... telekinesis and heating simultaneously."
"...Such proficiency. Did that kid have field mage experience?"
"No."
"Then how...?"
"..."
No one understood how it was possible.
But Isaac didn't stop.
He poured mercury over the completed glass tube, filling both sides of the J to equal heights.
He said,
"You remember Gedrick's paper from five years ago, 'Wind Weight by Altitude'? According to it, the air on both sides of this J-tube right now..."
"Has equal pressure. The mercury levels are the same."
"Exactly."
He continued,
"All I need to do is take one more step from there."
Isaac's telekinesis pressed down on the mercury surface.
"Now, I'll double the force the surrounding air exerts on this mercury."
Isaac visualized the magic circle for all to see.
Two circles in total.
2nd circle magic, "Atmospheric Force."
Isaac modified the magic circle to double its output.
Gedrick warned,
"...Be careful. Modifying standard magic means failed prediction brings rebound."
"I know."
"..."
The moment the pressure doubled...
The volume of air at the blocked end of the J-tube shrank precisely in half.
"..."
"..."
The professors fell silent at the sight.
Isaac, who had cast the spell, showed no sign of rebound.
Gedrick stared blankly at the experiment's result.
"Inversely proportional...? And so perfectly?"
Chills ran up his arm.
Wind magic had awakened from its blindness in that instant.
This was their first cornerstone.
"My thinking was right after all."
Gedrick's suspicion turned to conviction.
Nothing could be solved with fluid gases.
For now, they needed to tackle problems with "ideal gases" at rest.
Just like Isaac.
Gedrick wasn't the only one to reach this conclusion.
One professor shot to his feet and shouted,
"This is fucking insane!"
The professor's profanity ignited the room into chaos.
"Am I seeing this right?"
"We got it...? Not the capital Magic Tower?"
"Hey! Replicate it quick!"
Forgetting the danger of rebound, the professors rushed to reproduce Isaac's experiment.
"It actually works?!"
"No rebound! Not just less—it's completely gone, damn it!"
No rebound visited any of them.
Parchment flew through the air amid cheers.
Gedrick nearly got swept up in the frenzy. His eyes reddened.
Gedrick and Isaac's gazes met.
"..."
"..."
"How does a kid that young...?"
Have given meaning to the stagnant winds piled in layers?
He couldn't cry in front of such a young junior.
Gedrick quietly left the room.
"What the hell is this?"
The professors' reactions were anything but ordinary.
Boyle's law was a rule they would have uncovered themselves anyway.
They already knew pressure varied with altitude and had successfully quantified it arithmetically using mercury.
All I'd done was use those to derive Boyle's law.
So I figured it'd end with a polite thank-you...
"It actually works?!"
"No rebound... Not just less. It's completely gone, damn it!"
This wasn't some NASA control center.
Everyone's reactions were over the top.
In the midst of the madhouse, my eyes met Gedrick's—the only one still composed.
Gedrick said nothing and quietly exited.
I followed after him.
I said to his back,
"So, for the advanced problem, we can just use what I showed and call it...?"
"..."
"..."
Now didn't seem the time for that.
Tears stained Gedrick's monocle.
He leaned against the corridor window, dazedly wiping them away.
Gedrick said,
"What are you staring at? Go back in and enjoy. You're the star."
"..."
As Gedrick said, the exam room was in full festival mode.
Woooaaah—!
We did it—!
Cheers leaked through the door, echoing down the hall.
Gedrick said,
"It's not weird. I'm just happy."
Gedrick pulled a small glass cup from his pocket and slowly replicated my experiment from moments ago.
Sniff.
Sniffling midway, he said,
"It really works. Unreal."
"..."
"This magic holds 'at constant temperature,' right?"
"Yes."
"From experience, heating gas makes it more volatile. More unpredictable. Damn. Fainting that many times just to grasp this one thing..."
Sniff.
He wiped his nose and stood.
His tears had already dried.
"I've got new research I want to pursue."
I could guess what.
Having grasped volume-pressure relation, next he'd clarify temperature's role.
That process would define "absolute temperature."
"These world's mages aren't idiots after all..."
The existence of mystical, convenient magic had merely hindered progress.
Gedrick turned back toward the exam room.
"Uphills. Thanks for the inspiration..."
Then he stopped abruptly.
"...You already know it all, don't you?"
"Pardon?"
Gedrick's gaze turned to me, filled with certainty.
"The relation between gas volume and temperature. No way you don't. You must have looked into it."
His intuition was razor-sharp.
"Be honest. You know, right?"
"...Yes."
"As expected. Then I'll drop my research."
"Pardon? Why?"
Gedrick smiled.
"Steal a fresh young scholar's discovery?"
"..."
"Publish it formally. I'll—we—will back you."
However, Boyle's law wasn't posed exactly as is.
Beilsem, having poured everything into his duel with the Mountain King...
No, that's not it.
Professors couldn't ask examinees about realizations they'd just had themselves.
Still, the exam room's mood was brighter than ever.
I sat at a distance, watching the professors chatter among themselves.
"If direct pressure-volume is too much, we tweak it simpler?"
"Found it. Existing circle magics with exactly double pressure difference."
"Does it lead from one to the other?"
"...Over 30 variation steps, but it works."
"Then that's it."
I could see exactly what problem they'd make.
They'd solve it easily with some "theorem," forcing students into convoluted orthodox methods...
A tale as old as time.
"Classic college entrance exam style."
Thus, the day came to finalize all problems and part ways.
Even after days cooped up like sardines, the professors kept grinning.
Just before parting, I shared a brief hug with Gedrick.
"Uh... don't squeeze too hard..."
"Whoops!"
Crack.
"Gah!"
My joints screamed.
I clutched my waist and crumpled.
"Should've said so sooner. Didn't know you were such a weakling."
"Guess hugs are off the table now."
As I clutched my waist, the professors offered parting words.
"Uphills, a strong body houses a strong spirit. Don't neglect training!"
Dyke Juquir, senior professor of the Western Magic Tower.
"Contact us when the paper's out. Our branch will pick up follow-up research right away!"
Professor Grangel of the Eastern Magic Tower.
"No more telling my students to tough it out physically. Truly grateful."
Professor Marshall of the Eastern Magic Tower.
I'd never received such a reception even at academic conferences in my past life.
My ears burned with emotion.
As everyone left, Gedrick, the last remaining, placed a hand on my shoulder.
"Honored to meet you. Next time, hope you're at least a master's holder."
Pfft.
I chuckled.
"Same here."
Gedrick asked,
"The paper's worth looking forward to, right?"
"Yes. I'll whip up something fun."
"Good. Thanks."
Pat pat.
He clapped my shoulder and boarded his carriage.
Watching it fade into the distance, I thought,
Seems it's time to kick off the science-magic revolution.