Research Life of a New Professor at Magic University

Professor Caulry continued the class without realizing the despair he inflicted on his elven student.
Elves’ minimal emotional fluctuations and scarce facial expressions made it difficult for humans to perceive their emotional changes.
It was quite challenging for humans to witness elves genuinely laughing, crying, or getting angry, even after spending considerable time together.

“Then we have fire magic. There’s a reason why I saved it for last again. It’s the most difficult. It will be hard to understand without grasping the previous contents first.”

Without delay, Professor Caulry swiftly drew three magic circles: ‘Ignition,’ ‘Flame Arrow,’ and ‘Fireball.’

The Fireball boasted the most complex spell structure among all the magic Professor Caulry demonstrated today.
And the ‘Flame Arrow’ followed closely.

However, it had a slightly smaller fire elemental basic circuit, a more concise spell structure for caster protection, and a form focused more on speed than stability in the projection spell.

“The projectile type of fire magic usually consists of these two, right? You can see why Flame Arrow isn’t used at a glance.”

Up to this point, Arien could understand.

“It’s too complicated, weaker than ‘Fireball,’ and is the most inefficient of the offensive magics shown today.”

It has weaker firepower and an unstable trajectory, making aiming difficult and consuming a lot of mana.
The difference in difficulty between Fireball and Flame Arrow isn’t significant.

Ultimately, very few only know ‘Flame Arrow’ and not ‘Fireball.’
Instead of asking a wizard to do such things, archers are instructed to shoot fire arrows using ‘Ignition.”

“But using ‘Flame Barrier’ or ‘Combustion’ poses many problems as well. To use ‘Combustion,’ you have to be in close proximity. It can’t be an alternative to ‘Projectile-type Elemental Attack Magic.’ The reason it’s used for daily life or industrial purposes and not combat.”

Arien was starting to feel increasingly anxious now.
If Professor Caulry dismantles those spell structures, she feels like a flood of unknown jargon will pour out.

“Flame Barrier is usually used for defense or trapping, making it difficult to use solely for offense. The range is just too wide. If you examine the circuit of this spell structure, you’ll understand the reason behind it…”

And this was the limit of what Arien could understand.

Professor Caulry concluded the class with a more detailed explanation.
After it ended, it wasn’t just Arien who sighed in relief.
Even students majoring in spellcraft found the class difficult to grasp at the undergraduate level.

The lack of consistency between elements was the main reason for this difficulty.
Even with similar strokes, their meanings could differ, or the same meaning could have different effects with different elements.

‘What should I do?’

In the end, Arien only managed to learn about ice and fire elements.
Well, practically speaking, she only truly understood ice.

As Professor Caulry had said, learning fire magic without understanding the previous contents was challenging.
Moreover, the professor frequently used phrases like ‘like I mentioned earlier with lightning magic.’

Her intuition told her something: reviewing as usual wouldn’t help her understand.
And if she didn’t understand this class, the rest of the semester would likely follow suit.

‘Who should I ask?’

The first person who came to mind was Professor Atwell.
But could she, a graduate student, ask her assigned professor about her studies unrelated to their research?
After all, Atwell had advised her to study this subject.

She had drifted off during class, and it felt awkward to ask the professor teaching the class.
Arien shook her head inwardly.

‘That would be too shameless.’

Moreover, she feared Atwell’s reaction if she did ask.
Whether he would look at her pitifully, made fun of her, or brushed it off casually, she didn’t think she’d feel at ease.

Yet, there weren’t any other suitable candidates.
Despite attending four years of undergraduate studies, she hadn’t built proper camaraderie with any of her batchmates.
That was partly her fault. Everyone found it difficult to talk with Arien, so the outcome was obvious.
And since relationships couldn’t be one-sided, Arien also found it challenging to deal with others.

“Hey, senior!”

Lost in thought as she walked toward the research lab, Arien’s steps were halted by a lively, bouncy voice.

“Senior, senior! Over here!”

Arien turned to see the familiar face of a blonde-haired woman with untied hair.
Beside her was another woman who resembled her, but their attire was completely different.

“Senior Arien!”

Arien approached the two women, not so much because she was glad to see Stella as to stop her from loudly calling her name.

Stella looked puzzled when she saw Arien.

“Huh? Why the expression?”

“Um… Hello… Nice to meet you.”

Seeing Claire reluctantly greet her with an embarrassed expression, Arien felt like she wanted to wrap her head.

*

It was already dark outside.
I hadn’t realized how time had flown while she was engrossed in her research.
I examined several types of handle materials, handle shapes, blade shapes, and even magical spell configurations.

“A 50 gold coin sword…”

No matter how I thought about it, I couldn’t fathom if it could ever exist.
Normally, when research hits a wall like this, it’s best to set it aside and focus on something else.
After all, it was assumed that the contract would be solved over a few months.

But redirecting my focus was proving to be too difficult.
Even though it wasn’t a task with a set deadline, I couldn’t help but be preoccupied from the moment I received it, making it impossible to engage in other research.
Once I get fixated on something like this, it could drag on for months if I don’t tackle it head-on and solve it immediately.

‘Sorting out the relationship with the nobles as soon as possible would be personally and professionally beneficial.’

In the end, I hadn’t made any progress by evening.
Even as the setting sun had changed the office landscape, I didn’t realize it had become evening.

And then I recalled why I hadn’t noticed the passage of time until this late hour.
Arien hadn’t come.

I used Arien’s arrival in the research lab after finishing her classes as a reference point.
Usually, it’s Arien who informs me of the evening time.
She has even complained about the elf having to remind a human of the passing of time.

‘What could have happened?’

I felt a bit annoyed. If she suddenly had something to attend to and would be late, she should at least let the waiting party know, right?
Moreover, Arien is a graduate student, and I am her assigned professor.
I’ll need a clear explanation for putting aside several hours of research.

‘Should I go look for her…’

I hesitated but decided to continue with my research while waiting.
Arien had made some effort, so I should have some results to save face.
The methods I had been using weren’t working until now, so it wouldn’t hurt to try thinking about it differently.

‘What did Arien say?’

She suggested three things: applying three-dimensional spell configurations, folding it along the plane, and transforming the shape of the sword.

The first two were difficult to apply due to the sword’s nature.
The last one was very helpful but ultimately brought the research back to square one.

‘What sword did Arien use?’

She had previously mentioned learning to wield a sword, and I suddenly became curious about what kind she used.
Being an elf, it was probably a cross-guard sword, right?
If she could use a cross-shaped magic circle, there might be a decent combination candidate.

‘Wait.’

At that moment, something brushed past my mind.

‘What was it?’

(TN: Honestly, this next part is a pain to imagine. The author also thought so and made a nice diagram to explain it. It will be at the bottom, so reference that for the next part.)

If I can disregard the sword’s shape to some extent, I don’t even need to draw the magic circle directly on it. The important thing is the magic circle, not the sword’s body.

First, I’ll create the magic circle and fold it, pressing it flat enough to resemble a sword.
After forging the steel in the shape of the magic circle, I’ll make sure the blade is positioned so the swordsman can wield it.

I recalled what came to mind earlier.
I double-checked it out of curiosity, but it wasn’t a mistake.

A cross-shaped magic circle,
Three-dimensional structure,
Foldable to cover multiple surfaces…

“Folding a cross into a three-dimensional structure?”

I needed to draw the magic circle that came to mind to confirm quickly.
I reached for a pen to sketch it on paper but immediately stopped.
Drawing it on a flat surface might be confusing.

I drew a large cross-shaped magic circle in the air.
It was a very large magic circle, with each ray nearly a meter long.
However, the rays were very narrow. It was like…

‘Like a blade.’

More precisely, it is about half the width of a typical blade.

Then, I folded each ray 90 degrees from the center towards the plane direction until their edges touched, forming a long rectangular prism shape.

‘If I press this flat…’

Next, I pressed the two opposite rays of the prism. The rectangular prism turned into a pointed diamond-shaped one. I continued pushing until it became almost flat.

‘I need to fix the magic circle a bit…’

As I folded it, the part that was originally the center of the magic circle got a little wrinkled.
I just need to remake the center of the magic circle, right?
It seems difficult, but my intuition says it’s not impossible.

‘Because the tip of the blade will become the center.’

The magic circle unfolded around the sword’s tip, with the cross’s rays spread out on the plane.
Two rays met at a shallow angle, forming one side of the blade.

‘The shape of the blade might look a bit funny…’

But since the magic is so powerful, it’s usable as long as you can wield it.
The radius of the magic circle is the same as the length of the blade.

The output is determined not by the circumference but by the diameter.
Even if I make it elliptical and flatten the circumference, the diameter remains unchanged.
It just looks like a small magic circle stretched out in an unaesthetic manner.

This magic circle may have a short circumference but a long diameter.

‘Oh, then…’

As my thoughts reached that point, I remembered another thing.

Why is it difficult to circulate a radial magic circle?
That’s because the wings are separated from each other.
What determines the output of this is…

‘The diameter!’

I observed the magic circle I had created.
It was a radial magic circle, yet the rays touched each other.
In this form, the circulation of magic power wouldn’t be obstructed.

A radial magic circle.
It has a diameter twice the length of the blade, and all the rays are connected.

I was sure of it.

It would produce the highest output of the ‘Sharpening’ spells engraved for personal armament.

And there was something as important as the power of the spell itself.

What did it take to realize this magic circle?

Knowledge of spellcraft to draw and activate the cross-shaped magic circle of the ‘Sharpening’ spell.
Experience with three-dimensional structural incantations for drawing distorted magic circles to fold them.
The ability to design incantations to accommodate the changed form.
And the assistant who pointed out and reminded me of all these things.

Is there anyone else besides me who possesses all of these?

After jotting down all the results, I could satisfactorily conclude a week of sleepless nights. That means I accomplished what I set out to do.

Translator’s Corner

Here’s a rough translation of each thing. The ‘>’ represents the Arrows

Professor Atwell’s sword research.

Top Left: Cross spell circle> Top Right: Press > Bottom Left(Top: Plane, Left & Right: Blade, Bottom: Cross-Section)

If someone knows Korean, correct me if I’m wrong cause all I have is google and my head.

-Ruminas