Midterm Exams (3)

I decided to focus on the midterms for now.

I had asked Mother about Father, but all I got was the same story I had already heard a thousand times.

Father? He was a magnificent man with the same black hair and red eyes as you, Frey. I first met him at a doll shop in the capital…

That was the whole of it. Father never used magic. He had been nothing more than an ordinary commoner.

Which meant someone had approached me before I turned six, sealed my memories, and poured a royal privilege into me.

This life of mine is about to get exhausting. How irritating.

So I would concentrate on the midterms. Getting an answer out of Airen was more important right now.

"So right here, you do this!"

"Young Master Laupen, that ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠isn't correct. It should go like this for a smoother result."

"But the computational function tanks!"

"Are you saying our Aaron is wrong?"

"Hmph."

Which was why I was currently doing this. What was I doing, exactly?

I was helping Aaron, Elena, and Karl prepare for the midterms. Watching other people study sometimes sparked ideas of my own.

The three of them, however, were bickering at a level perfectly suited to their own abilities.

"All three of you."

"What do you think, Young Master Katram?!"

"Aaron is right, isn't he?"

"What about my opinion, Young Master Katram?!"

"You're all a complete mess, so shut up and listen."

"……"

The three of them fell silent as if they had swallowed honey. Haa. What am I supposed to do with these underachievers?

"Karl first."

"Y-Yes, sir!"

"The idea of boosting magical attack power by incorporating your specialty—computational circuits—is excellent in itself."

"I knew it! Haha!"

"I'm not finished. The more complex a computational circuit becomes, the more fragile its durability. The stronger the magic, the sturdier the circuit needs to be. How do you plan to reinforce that?"

"Ugh."

"It's extremely difficult. Either figure out a reinforcement method or give up. Aaron and Elena."

"Yes."

"Which part of our idea was a complete mess?"

I drew a quiet breath.

"You two don't understand even 0.0001 percent of multi-layered magic circles."

"What?!"

"Th-That much?"

"Yes. You seem to have been trying to exploit the greatest features of multi-layered circles—compatibility and amplification—but if I had to sum up what you're actually doing in a single demonstration…"

I raised water magic in one hand and flame magic in the other. Aaron muttered under his breath, face gone rigid.

"Unvoiced dual casting?"

"It's no different from just smashing the two together."

I clapped my hands. The colliding magics annihilated each other. Elena wilted on the spot.

"We were trying to generate repulsive force from opposing elements…"

"There's repulsive force and then there's repulsive force. At your level, it's just mutual destruction. Instead of relying on cheap tricks, you'd be better off using the proper method. Like that."

I pointed to a corner of the classroom. Airen was cheerfully pouring mana into a magic circle.

The circle she was using consisted of three layers in total. The moment mana entered the first, shards of ice burst forth. When those shards entered the second, they shattered into fine particles. When the particles entered the third—

Fweeeing!

—they shot forward with a piercing whistle.

The steel wall that had been the target toppled over, riddled with finger-sized holes.

"Multi-layered magic circles are often used for amplification like that. Experts can fuse several spells at once by running them simultaneously, but that requires at least third-year level skill."

At my words, Aaron's and Elena's shoulders sagged. Don't look so disappointed.

"Still, all three of you had good ideas."

"Really?"

"Yes. The other students have done nothing but copy Airen. Magic has to be inventive. What's the fundamental principle of magic?"

"A conversation with the world."

"Exactly. Which means, put another way, that if you make the world more interesting, you can cast magic at a higher level. Hearing something new is more engaging than hearing the same thing every day, isn't it?"

"I've never heard that theory before."

Elena blinked.

"Where did you learn something like that?"

"Self-study?"

"So there aren't even any related papers? That sounds suspicious."

"I can't exactly argue with that. But."

I laid a hand on Alketo's multi-layered magic circle.

I released mana as ordinarily as possible, careful not to let my attribute mana show.

Being of royal blood didn't mean I possessed only attribute mana. The essence of all mana was colorless. That was why a single person could wield opposing attributes like fire and ice.

If royals could only use attribute mana, Airen shouldn't have been able to cast fire magic at all. Yet during practicals she had been flinging flames around without a care.

Attribute mana wasn't mana that inherently carried an element—it was closer to the user's temperament seeping into the mana itself. You could tell from the way attribute mana leaked out whenever emotions ran high.

So even I, who possessed attribute mana, could release ordinary mana. In fact, I had deliberately gone around using colorless mana because I disliked my innate attribute. Looking back, that had been an excellent choice.

Anyway.

"I reached this level by using magic that way."

Wheeeeeeeeng!

The magic circle that had looked purely black began to glow. The watching students' eyes nearly popped from their sockets.

"He activated all of Professor Alketo's multi-layered circles!"

"Of all people, Young Master Katram?!"

"What's going to happen?"

Everyone was stunned, but the light in their ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠eyes held no fear—only a hunger for knowledge. Good. Watch carefully. Just seeing this will help you understand multi-layered magic circles.

Fwaaaaaaang!

Someone slammed the lecture hall door open. It was Professor Violet. The moment she saw my hand on the magic circle, she screamed.

"A-Aaaah! F-Frey! Stop!"

Unfortunately.

The magic had already activated.

First of all—

the magic class had been kneaded into dough.

I was floating. Floating? Why?

Ah. I was flour. I was supposed to mix with egg and milk and become a cake.

"Kyaaa, we're mixing!"

"What do you think we'll become if the two of us mix?"

Over there, the egg and milk were flirting with each other. Hey, I'm mixing in too.

We mixed and mixed until we gradually lost our sense of self. What was going to happen to me like this?

Poof!

I closed my eyes and opened them again to find myself with an enormous body—not only large, but three-dimensional and soft and fluffy.

"Wooow. I became a cake."

"I'm a hotcake!"

"I turned into a scone!"

"Looks like I became black tea."

"You were sugar—why are you black tea?"

"Someone must like putting sugar in their tea."

"I became a cookie! Where's the milk?"

"All the milk went into making the cake!"

We snacks laughed uproariously. Look over there. "I" was reaching out a hand to eat me.

Karl Laupen speared cake-Karl Laupen with a fork, brought it to his mouth, and ate. A hilarious situation in which Karl was eating Karl.

Crunch, crunch. Chew, chew. Karl was consumed by Karl, his body crumbling apart. Right. I was being eaten by myself… I was eating myself…?

……Huh?

"WAAAAAAAH!!!"

I wasn't the only one. The entire magic class screamed and shot up from their seats, frantically patting their own mouths and hands.

I—I had clearly been eaten by myself, chewed up with a crunch. Wait? Is it even possible for me to chew myself? Was that just now a dream? If it was a dream, how am I awake?

Don't tell me.

No, that was impossible. What I had just experienced was a simple delusion. But just in case.

I rubbed my arm with the edge of my hand.

A cross-section of cake appeared.

"WAAAAAAAH!!!"

"Let's not repeat that."

Bonk! Someone lightly rapped me on the head. The jolt seemed to snap my mind back into place.

"The magic's been dispelled. You with us?"

It was Young Master Katram. I stared up at him with my mouth hanging open.

"This is reality. Reality. More precisely, I restored the broken reality. So no more cutting up your own body, all right?"

"Y-Young Master Katram?"

"Strange. The magic should have been completely lifted. Why can't you pull yourself together?"

"No…"

It made no sense.

This was on a completely different level from any half-baked illusion magic. Even though the caster himself was telling me the spell had been released, I still couldn't tell whether I was cake-Karl or human-Karl.

It felt exactly as if reality itself—perception itself—were collapsing. As if I had been thrown into a world governed by entirely different laws.

Had this person ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠activated magic like that with just a few lines of incantation? Even with Department Head Alketo's multi-layered magic circles as a medium, was something like that possible for a human being?

Was I only feeling this way because my own level was so low?

"I was sure I was a delicious grape…"

Judging by Professor Violet carefully examining her own fingers, that didn't seem to be the case.

Tap-tap-tap. Light footsteps approached. The Third Princess drew up beside Young Master Katram.

"Frey, that prank went way too far!"

"You didn't even get caught in it, Airen."

"That's because I protected myself with my own mana. Honestly, when did you even practice a spell like that?"

"A person must never grow lazy in their studies. Well, Airen? Looks like I'm going to win our bet this time, doesn't it?"

"Hmph! I'll prepare something even more ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠impressive. Just you wait."

"I'll be looking forward to it. Though I'll still win."

"I'm the one who's going to win."

Two geniuses bickering back and forth. Watching them, I looked down at my hand, which still carried the lingering sensation of cake.

Inventive. If I truly became inventive enough…

Could I become like those two?