The Magic Academy's Physicist

Chapter 51: Your Paper’s Kind Of Awesome (10)

Chapter 51: Your Paper’s Kind Of Awesome (10)

“Of course.”

Klais’ complexion brightened at once. She whispered to Meriga in a triumphant tone.

“Mine is far more lightweight than that.”

Meriga’s face became dumbfounded at Klais’ sudden change in attitude.

“How would they bring such a large weapon to the front? Don’t you think so? No? Meri?”

Did she suddenly become bipolar? There was enough of a disconnect between what Klais was saying now and earlier that this thought crossed Meriga’s mind for a moment.

“.......”

She decided to keep an eye on her for now.

Most people here for the presentation had eyes that sparkled red. This was a given considering that Flare was a part of Fire Magic.

That didn’t mean that there weren’t any other types of mages. Amongst them, those with black irises had the second highest number of attendees after red.

Eyes represented by black or deep gray meant one who received the blessings of the Earth Elemental. Hence, mages with black eyes were ones who knew how to control the Earth Realm.

And it wasn’t strange to see these Earth Mages attending the demonstration of Flare rather than another conference.

[The Research of Flare’s Scroll Construction and Discharge Method Using Earth Magic Equipment]Indeed, since Earth Mages had made the key equipment that allowed Flare to be discharged.

It was the collaboration between Fire Magic and Earth Magic. This was the field of ‘Hybrid Magic’ in technical terms.

Hybrid Magic had only seriously been in academic discussions for twenty years. But back then, it had mostly consisted of basic theoretical research and wasn’t considered important enough to receive proper external support. Because of such minimal funding, research results had also been mediocre. So Hybrid Magic was a field being researched by only a few mages at Tilette Academy as a secondary thing.

But even amidst this poor environment, something miraculous had unexpectedly occurred. Both Fire and Earth Magic were used in the development of Flare and this was good news not only for the Hasfeldt family who had initially conducted this research but also for the specialists researching crystal formations and change.

“Is everyone here?”

The Golden-Eyed girl stepped onto the podium and brushed the chalkboard with the eraser in her hand. There wasn’t anything written on it. It seemed to be a kind of habitual behavior done out of boredom.

It was a laughable sight for Klais. A mere freshman imitating a professor, this kind of behavior actually put her at ease.

“Of course... She’s only an undergrad. How well could she have made it?”

The other two students stood stiffly near the Golden-Eyed girl with their hands folded in front of them. One of them was wearing a large hat so her face couldn’t be seen very well.

With the exception of Aether, this sort of gathering seemed to be a first for the two girls seeing how stiff their shoulders were. Anyone with good sight would notice that they were trying to relax their breathing.

On the other hand, Aether was going through presentation notes without much change in her expression. Her face was oozing calm, an attitude as if she’d already experienced something like this a few times.

“It seems that we have everyone. Then....”

Aether, who had been strolling back and forth across the podium in 2/4 time, spoke with a slow smile.

“Let us begin now.”

**

The girl cleared her throat and established the flow of conversation in a mere three seconds.

“I’m sure that all the Fire Mages here know what Flare is. To give a simple introduction, Flare is categorized as an Ultimate Fire Magic. But at the same time, it’s recognized as being on another level compared to the other ones and is currently considered the only method of destroying Cataclysms.”

All of that didn’t matter.

To Klais, having been born as the successor of the Duke family who had invented and developed Flare, Aether’s words were beneath the fairy tales she heard from her father as a child.

It was more important how powerful Aether had created Flare rather than this kind of trifling introduction.

She hoped that this invention would be all show and no substance. If not, her paper would end up being nothing more than a piece of waste.

Although she knew it was unbecoming of her, Klais still prayed.

That was why Klais was attending this presentation. If she could point out a big flaw, then it’d be her victory. She needed to stop Aether here no matter what.

“...... What.”

As if her thoughts had been heard, Aether sent a sharp glare her way.

“There’s a reason why they say that it’s better to see something once rather than hear about it a hundred times. I will now show the results of the test.”

When Aether clapped her hands, Lotte and Freyr rushed forward. Freyr who had been strugged pulling the cart placed a hand on the silica and transferred it. The materials flew through the air and stuck to the beast armor like rice dough.

“... This is, transmutation?”

“She transformed a crystal this size without even a transmutation circle?”

Freyr gathered all the other ingredients together and applied each one onto the armor and compressed them. The already sturdy-looking armor became even harder.

“That metal currently being set up will be Flare’s target. The base material is the whole armor of the beast Gargantua.”

“Gargantua? Do you mean the Calamity-level Gargantua?”

“Yes, Gargantua is recorded as the toughest beast destroyed by humanity. After reinforcing it, it’s going to be blasted all at once.”

Klais snorted.

Destroy it all at once? That was nonsense. Even for Flare, it’d need at least two or three consecutive shots.

“It’ll take some time to get ready since we were just told about this today so I ask for your understanding. In the meantime, I’d like to explain the theory... Did you know that it’s possible for magic elements and energy to be exchanged with one another?”

The people generally responded to the question in one of two ways, either by nodding or shaking their heads.

Only Klais’ shoulders flinched.

Magic Element-Energy Convertibility Theorem.

If Klais recalled correctly, that theorem was the paper she had reviewed and approved some time ago.

Klais couldn’t have completed Flare if it weren’t for that, so she thought that if she ever learned who wrote the paper, she’d meet them and treat them to tea....

“Until now, many knew about Flare only as a magic with a powerful output. No one could explain why that was.”

Wait. Hold on.

Klais felt a chill run down her spine, sensing something off. Her whole body filled with unease.

“There is only one core idea behind Flare’s theory. When the element goes through a series of processes and interacts with the elements of Earth Magic, the repulsion converts a certain amount of elements into energy.... And in that process, a wave with frequency unfathomable to humans occurs.......”

It couldn’t be.

Right? It just couldn’t.

“When those mana waves synchronize, Flare is formed. This series of processes has been defined as magic element loss.”

“... Do you currently have the paper on this theorem?”

“Yes, I’ve printed out a few copies.”

Several members of the audience raised their hands. Aether came onto the platform and handed out a copy to each of them. It was hard to believe such thorough preparation was coming from a first-year undergraduate.

Neither Klais nor Meriga had raised their hands, but Aether still came to the both of them and handed out a copy.

“It seems like we’re ready for the demonstration.”

Aether took out a large scroll with a magic circle drawn in linear form.

Seeing it, Klais couldn’t help her shock.

“You must be joking, a linear circle?”

All magic circles were circular by default. It was the fundamental of Introduction to Scrolls. To ignore that was completely unheard of.

“Do you think that makes sense, Meri...?”

“Mm, not sure.”

“That won’t work.”

Aether acted like she didn’t hear Klais’ small objection. No, she couldn’t hear because she was focused on the demonstration.

“Flare is usually a magic that requires much mana but after some revisions, it can now be fired with an amount worth a single stick of mana grass.”

This, too, was hard to accept. Klais who had extensive mana had used ten or so just for one shot. But firing using only one?

It was definitely an error. She wasn’t going to get proper output.

Thinking that she found a weakness, Klais started to smile. Now she only needed to wait for Q&A. If the test failed, even better.

“Of course, Flare isn’t very efficient. It’ll need to go through the following two-step process for it to have a decent output. It’s a complicated explanation and will make for a boring presentation, so let’s skip the details and.......”

Click.

The scroll was placed on one end of the 1.5 meter-long steel rail and mana was poured into it.

“It takes about thirty seconds until discharge. Please cover your ears and wait as it’ll be quite loud.”

Silence traveled together with time. Everyone in the room was trying to get a good look at Flare when it triggered.

Someone prepared to be awed. Another was jotting down points on what they found lacking or questions to ask on a notepad.

Meriga belonged to neither group. She flipped through the paper Aether had given one page at a time and let out an unspoken exclamation.

“Wow, this is something.”

“...... Give it here.”

Curious, Klais snatched the paper. A subtle tremble passed through the pages as she held it between her hands.

[Title : Are Magic Elements and Magical Energy Interchangeable?]She was certain. This was the paper that Klais had reviewed and stamped ‘No Problem’.

This couldn’t be.

Her heart started racing. She tried taking deep breaths to calm the burning feeling within her but it was no use. The rest of her surroundings blurred, only leaving the paper.

On the first page, there was a small print about the size of 7 pt font. It was the space with the author’s name written in it. The space that had been empty for anonymity purposes when Klais was had reviewed.

Now to see who she should thank....

[The First Author : Aether]

[No co-authorship.]

Blaaaam?!!!

Flare exploded.

A single beam of light split the Gargantua army in half. It happened in an instant.

A high-pitched Beeeeeep? went off in her ear. The roaring sound bounced off the walls and went on for some time.

As the roaring continued, someone could be heard slamming down on the desk.

Since it was quiet compared to the noise caused by Flare, the only one who noticed was Professor Meriga Heerlein.