Research Life of a New Professor at Magic University

TN: I will try another formatting style; more about it in the corner.

After finishing her break, Arien entered the “Advanced Spellcraft” classroom without even having lunch.

Professor Caulry was already in the classroom, as usual.
It was unusual for professors to be as punctual as Atwell.

Enthusiastic professors like Caulry often arrived early and waited in the classroom, while tenured professors entered on their own time, free from worries.

Today’s lecture topic was elemental magic.
Professor Caulry began the lecture in his gentle voice.

“Starting today, we’ll be dissecting the spell formulas of individual spells one by one.
Let’s start with the most basic: Elemental magic.”

“Elemental magic, the simplest yet most powerful form of magic, serves as the bedrock of our magical world. It is the foundation upon which all other forms of magic are built.”
The spell formulas are also relatively straightforward, so whether it’s in the study of spellcraft, mana manipulation, or magical combinations, the starting point is always elemental magic.

“It should be very familiar as it’s the first thing you learn when studying magic.
Of course, there might be exceptions. However, even those who haven’t learned elemental magic early on might have encountered it.”

Professor Caulry corrected himself, mindful of Arien. As an elf, Arien would likely have awakened to nature or spirit magic before elemental magic.

“You don’t need to understand the spell formulas to simply use basic elemental magic like ‘Ignition’ or ‘Water Creation.’”

Professor Caulry illustrated the spell formulas for basic elemental magic, such as ‘Ignition,’ ‘Water Creation,’ and ‘Air Manipulation.’
They consisted of a single circle representing each element and a few auxiliary strokes drawn with thick lines, forming simple magic circles.

In such basic spells, the size of the magic circle and the mana level of the spellcaster are more important than understanding the spell formulas.
Even the methods of mana manipulation are too simple to make a significant difference.

“However, once you move beyond the basic level, you can’t ignore spell formulas.
You’re taking this course to use magic spells that require a higher level than undergraduates, right?”

Arien felt a little embarrassed at this point.

“Then, it’s time to not just memorize the spell formulas but to understand them.
Each stroke, shape, rune, and line in the spell formula has its meaning.
Let me give you an example of a spell you’re all familiar with.”

Professor Caulry began drawing another magic circle in the air.
As the overall shape of the spell formula took form and reached its completion, even Arien, who wasn’t familiar with spell formulas, could recognize what kind of magic spell it was.

That’s how famous, familiar, and frequently used this magic spell was.

“’Fireball.’”

Among offensive fire-based magic spells, it’s the most commonly used spell.
Larger-scale fire spells are usually reserved for large-scale battles.
However, lower-level fire elemental magic spells still serve their purpose in outside combat.

“Most of you are familiar with the magic formula of ‘Fireball.’ You’ve probably even cast it before.
However, it’s rare for someone to understand the meaning of all the lines in the formula, even for such a well-known spell.”

‘Fireball’ isn’t a magic spell that just anyone can use.
However, this is a magic school, and the students are wizards who have reached a certain level.
Whether it’s the Department of Spellcraft or the entire Magic University, it’s rare to find someone who hasn’t tried using ‘Fireball.’

Arien was one of those rare exceptions. Of course, it’s not because she couldn’t use it.
It’s just that summoning spirits was much easier and more powerful, so she didn’t bother using elemental magic.

“Fire elemental magic has many applications. It’s widely used for industrial and research purposes. Of course, combat is also included.”

‘Fire” is the most straightforward and easily understandable element for destruction.
It’s even more powerful than elements like ‘water,’ ‘earth,’ ‘wind,’ ‘ice,’ ‘light,’ and even ‘lightning.’
Among the elements, “fire” is the most specialized for destruction, which is why it’s heavily used in combat.

However, ‘Fireball’ is the most difficult spell to learn among basic elemental attack magic spells.
Many wizards can use attack magic spells of other elements but struggle with “Fireball.”

Whether a wizard can use ‘Fireball’ significantly affects their remuneration in adventurer guilds or armies.
It’s a very efficient magic spell, and there is no other universal attack magic spell besides ‘Fireball’ in the fire element.
If a wizard can’t use “Fireball,” it’s almost as if they’re handicapped in combat.

“But why is this magic so difficult? Other elements don’t have beginner attack magic spells that are this hard.”

Next to the spell formula for “Fireball,” four additional magic circles were added.
They were the spell formulas for “Lightning Bolt,” “Ice Spear,” “Torrent,” and “Wind Blade.” Each represented basic attack magic spells associated with lightning, ice, water, and wind elements, respectively. Since earth and light were not commonly used for offensive purposes, these were the main elemental attack magic spells used.

“Those who can use ‘Fireball’ can easily handle all four of these spells. However, the opposite isn’t true. Many people can proficiently use all four spells but struggle with ‘Fireball.'”

Unless someone focused intensely on fire element training or had a unique constitution, ‘Fireball’ was typically the last of these five spells to be learned. As one student answered,

“It’s because it’s more powerful.”

“Indeed, ‘Fireball’ is the most powerful. But why isn’t there an easier-to-learn magic spell in the fire element, even if it’s less powerful?”

When the students couldn’t answer, Professor Caulry continued,

“It’s said that fire element is specialized for combat, but why is that so?”

To this, a student replied to Professor Caulry’s question,

“The stroke count of the spell circle is different.”

And indeed, it was so. While the four additional magic circles Professor Caulry drew had different shapes, their stroke counts were similar.
Each consisted of two circles, several shapes, and 4 to 8 runes with a similar number of auxiliary strokes.

However, ‘Fireball’ had three circles from the start.
Each circle had an inscribed equilateral triangle, and a hexagon was even drawn within the largest circle.
The two smaller circles also had additional shapes inscribed, forming a shape resembling an equilateral triangle that was circumscribed by each.

Just this made it six shapes, and additional auxiliary shapes and strokes were drawn within the largest circle.
There were also 12 runes.

“Yes, that’s correct. But the intention behind my question is more fundamental.
In other words, ‘Why does Fireball require so many strokes?’
Why can’t we construct the spell formula for an attack magic spell with fewer strokes in the fire element?”

Professor Caulry began removing some parts from the spell formula for “Fireball.” With one circle, one large hexagon, two small triangles, and six runes removed, the simplified spell formula for Fireball began to resemble those of other elemental attack magic spells.

“Here, these strokes don’t affect the manifestation of ‘Fireball’ itself.”

“Wouldn’t ‘Fireball’ still be cast without those strokes?”

“Yes, it would be much simpler and more efficient.”

The students waited for the professor’s explanation to continue.
If those strokes were truly meaningless, there would be no reason to use the current spell formula for ‘Fireball.’

Professor Caulry then explained the significance of the removed strokes.

“It’s simple: safety. With this simplified spell formula, the one suffering the most damage wouldn’t be the target hit by the fire, but the spellcaster’s hand.”

Some students expressed surprise.

“The parts I removed earlier are all auxiliary strokes designed to protect the caster.
With ‘Lightning Bolt,’ the caster won’t be electrocuted as long as the electrodes are well placed. ‘
‘Torrent’ and ‘Wind Blade’ have inherent directional properties in their spell formulae, preventing them from reversing. Cold damage is less severe than fire damage, making it easier to prevent harm.
Professor Caulry pointed to one small triangle and two auxiliary strokes from “Ice Spear.” According to him, it was sufficient.

“However, when using the most destructive and aggressive ‘Fireball,’ we need many auxiliary strokes to protect the spellcaster. This is also why terrorists use fire-based magic. By discarding auxiliary strokes and focusing solely on firepower, nothing is more potent than this.”

Without considering self-protection and exerting every means to unleash maximum output, Fire-based spells can exhibit several times the power of the caster’s original abilities.
Of course, this method completely disregards the caster’s safety.

“Then what if we adjust the starting point?”

Arien raised her hand and asked.

“Wouldn’t auxiliary strokes be unnecessary if ‘Fireball’ were cast from a different point than the caster’s hand? “

Although unfamiliar with elemental magic, she had seen such examples recently.

“Changing the starting point would make it much more difficult.
Elemental magic is fundamentally targetless, so the starting point must be firm, which is why it’s centered around the caster.”

Professor Caulry kindly explained despite the question being quite basic.

“That’s much more challenging than protecting the hand with auxiliary strokes.
Unless you’re an expert in elemental magic, even with full concentration, you’d barely manage to move it a few meters away.
Minor magic is easier to draw protective strokes for, and for large-scale magic, it doesn’t make much difference how far away you are.”

Arien recalled Professor Atwell’s first class.
At that time, Atwell cast four light spells from a distance of at least 10 meters.
It was an impressive feat, adjusting each spell separately.

‘Was it really such a high-level spell?’

Arien wondered whether she should admire Atwell’s ability or sigh at its use for taunting students.

“Although it’s somewhat off-topic from today’s lesson, I feel I should mention this.
Remember that every spell affects the caster. Not just the spell’s aftermath, but the casting itself affects the caster.”

Many wizards who delve deeply into a single spell type often experience some sort of distortion.
Physical injuries or impairments are mild compared to the numerous cases of mental instability and uncontrollable mana surges.

After listening to this explanation, Arien had a question.
However, it was the kind she couldn’t ask Professor Caulry.

What influence does Atwell have in three-dimensional spellcasting?

***

As I gave a few examples while explaining, the class time was already over. The students’ attitudes were unusually delinquent today.
I wondered why they couldn’t concentrate; it was frustrating.

For some reason, even Stella Lacton didn’t seem very responsive during this class.
Even as we left after the class, Stella didn’t say a word.

Is my task over now? It didn’t seem like anything was wrong.
Thinking nothing unusual had happened, I headed from the classroom to my research lab.
Well, I was about to. Even before leaving the classroom, I heard someone calling my name.

“Professor Atwell.”

The person calling me was the Dean of the Department of Magic.
Was he waiting for the class to end?

“Can we talk for a moment?”

Glancing inside the classroom momentarily, I saw Stella smiling at me.

“What’s the matter?”

“It’s about the research you submitted; it’s been approved. The research fund will be arriving soon.”

The Dean said so and added casually as he passed by.
My intuition was telling me that this was the main point.

“Oh, and there’s someone who wants to meet you.”

Translator’s Corner

Normally, I’d put a single block of text for the long dialogue, but I always default to splitting it on the incredibly long ones. It’s the author’s original format, so there’s that. Tell me which you prefer to see.

-Ruminas