I lost my lunch break because of the Student Council but it was fine. There was still ti.
I went back to the square right after classes finished, this ti accompanied by Verl and Iluka as well. My attempt to join a club sohow resulted in forming a five-mber party.
“... Thanks for last ti.”
Iluka bowed ninety-degrees towards every ti we t. It was in gratitude for beating up the Prince.
Every ti she did that, I’d get tired from waving in refusal. I didn’t want this kind of superior-subordinate dynamic between friends since I was wishing for a business relationship.
Wasn’t it nice when people helped each other out when they needed it? Anyway, I wasn’t soone who was going to stay here. Since I’d be leaving later down the road, it was only manners to cause as little trouble for others as possible.
Co to think of it, wouldn’t I be able to quickly fill up the index with these mbers...?
Lotte was Fire Magic, and Freyr Earth Magic. Iluka and Verl were Water and Air Magic respectively. And they weren’t awkward at it either but were key figures who were considered to be talented even within the gifted class.
I got really lucky.
Firstly, Fire Magic. It was safe to say that Fire Magic would be completed once Flare was developed. Then after the most difficult one was finished, the rest beca relatively easy. There had been so challenges at the beginning of developnt but after Lotte and I put our heads together, it was advancing at a faster rate.
Next was Earth Magic. I was currently interning under Miss Heerlein and if I combined that with Freyr’s transmutation expertise, it would be a piece of cake in preparing the testing equipnt for nuclear developnt.
I didn’t know as much about Water or Air Magic but I was sure that I’d get it eventually. It should get done soon enough if Iluka and Verl helped later.
I wasn’t too sure about Verl but Iluka was favorable towards , at least. I’d chased the Prince off twice so she might help out if I asked her about Water Magic.
Mmm, shouldn’t be counting my eggs already. I could ask her after I finished Fire Magic first.
Many testing equipnt were needed in order to complete Flare. It’d be difficult to rent such expensive equipnt as a first-year so I decided to join an academic club.
There were a variety of them. One for training Elent Magic, one for learning scroll fabrication, etc.
And the one I had my eyes on specifically was the Transmutation Club which received a lot of funding.
“If it’s the Transmutation Club, I heard that soone I know beca the captain of the club this year. Do you want to check it out?”
“Sure.”
Soone Lotte knew? Did she have a sibling who had enrolled first?
At Lotte’s suggestion, our group walked uphill next to the fountain. Unexpectedly, there were a lot of the academic clubs gathered over here. This slope would be an agonizing section for freshn who liked to play.
There was one particular place that stood out. It was a booth with a large set-up and several compound mana stones that I’d never seen before. A red-haired male student was at the center introducing items that were made with alchemy to the juniors.
The student was soone I was familiar with.
‘Lorewell’, a student one year my senior who I’d happened to et in the back mountain because of an Iron Drake and would occasionally see once in a while. This must be who Lotte had been talking about.
“Lorewell!”
Lotte’s face lit up as she ran over.
“Hello sis, what are you doing here?”
“I’m here to join your club. I’ve brought my friends as well.”
I thought they looked similar. Uncrossing my arms, I quietly bowed to Lotte’s brother. Lorewell’s eyes widened and his mouth dropped open when he discovered .
“Senior?”
He probably said it unconsciously. Lorewell would make mistakes like this whenever we t. It was because he was used to talking to formally from back when I had helped him out a few tis during those days as Professor Hasfeldt’s slave.
Calling a junior who had just been admitted ‘senior’ was enough to make everyone tilt their heads in confusion.
“Se... nior?”
“Ah, I must have mistaken her for soone else for a mont...! Right, let’s see.... Are you interested in our club?”
“I am, can we sign up right away?”
The club that Lorewell was promoting was one with a long history within Tilette.
From what I learned, it had one of the best financial support and one could freely access the school labs or museums as a club mber with the Academy’s permission.
It was important to know especially if the items in the museum could be used. The museum would store up beast corpses and make profit off of occasionally selling them to research labs. In order to test Flare’s strength, we needed to borrow Calamity-level armor from there.
We swiftly joined the club run by Senior Lorewell. Lotte and I signed up first, then Freyr, who seed to have a strong interest in transmutation, picked up the pen and jotted her na down. Her writing was pretty crappy.
“What about you two in the back?”
The choice was given to Iluka and Verl, too. Iluka hesitated a bit.
“I also planned to join elsewhere....”
“You don’t have to attend everyday so there’s no need to feel pressured. You can sign up and just co by and participate whenever there’s sothing you want.”
“Ah.”
Nodding after listening to him, Iluka also filled out the sign-up form.
“What about the elf student?”
“Then I’ll join as well.”
As if pleased by gaining five mbers at once, Lorewell sent us off with a bright expression.
The next day, I took Lotte and Freyr with to the clubroom.
It was a large space, yet was empty from the lack of people. It might have been because we were early, but there were no signs of the other mbers.
The supply room was fully stocked with ingredients for experinting including mana stones and magic papers. I was quite pleased by the sign [Please use freely] that was in the corner.
“There must be a reason that you brought us on the first day. So what are you going to show us?”
“Let ask you sothing first, Freyr. You can make any device instantly as long as you have the blueprint and ingredients, right?”
“Che, who do you think I am? I can transmute artillery or an aircraft if you wanted! I grew up with those things! So what are you going to show? Hurry up and tell us!”
Freyr waved her arms energetically with sparkling eyes.
“Alright, alright.”
I pulled out a large sheet from the bag I had brought, a colored paper that was A3 in size. When the rolled-up paper was spread out, it revealed an elaborate drawing and formula. It was a blueprint that I had been working on since a few days ago whenever I got the chance.
“Wow, what is this? It looks like a donut!”
“It’s not a donut.”
“What is it, then?”
It wasn’t hard to satisfy their curiosity. I opened my mouth and said one thing first.
“A tokamak.”
**
Klais was alone in the lab.
She was making a scroll, using an etching pen to write on the paper.
A little more, I should only need a little more.
[Magic Elent-Energy Convertibility Theorem.]
Klais’ research took a 180-degree turn after inspiration from a theory by an unnad author.
Flare will soon be completed.
The mathematical theory that magic elents and energy could be exchanged was simple yet powerful enough to rapidly advance the developnt of Flare. It felt like the blockage of many years had been removed all at once.
Her wrist moved even faster. She then put down the etching pen and picked up the quill to continue her calculations.
If elent and energy can be exchanged, then it should be possible to revert compressed mana back into elent as well. If that can be used properly, Flare could be fired without overloading the scroll.
Right now, even thinking about this was enjoyable for Klais. The anticipation that her earnest prayer of many years was close to being fulfilled had her mind in a state of great optimism.
I don’t know who proved that magic elents can be exchanged with energy but I’m grateful.
Aether wouldn’t be working on Flare since she turned her back on Klais, probably not even looking at it. If anything, she’d likely be focused on enjoying her life at the Academy along with her classmates.
At first, Klais was going to coax Aether back into developing Flare. She’d even had the audacity of asking her to be a TA for Basics of Fire Magic. Although that had failed due to the Second Prince’s ddling and Aether’s refusal.
She hadn’t had a choice. There had been no progress in the research no matter what she tried and Klais had been highly desperate. It was known in all of Ahrens that the Golden-Eyed possessed brilliant minds. And so she had believed that Flare couldn’t be developed without Aether’s help.
That’s no longer the case now.
The ‘Magic Elent-Energy Convertibility Theorem’ was also economical, serving as a cost reduction for the design process. This was the very reason why Klais was able to continue her research using minimal magic paper and formulas without funding from the country.
If a scroll was created based on this theorem, it seed like it’d be possible to develop the magic with minimal damage to the output component. She hadn’t been able to sleep the past few days because of this idea.
The hour was already past midnight as she imrsed herself in research.
Co to think of it, I haven’t properly engaged in outside activities today.
She had only done the morning eting and taught a two-hour class on Fire Magic. The rest of the ti had been poured into researching Flare.
Even with make-up, she was only putting on the bare minimum. She could count on one hand the number of tis she had washed her face. And with the amount of coffee that she’d been drinking, her heart kept pounding despite taking deep breaths.
To calm her circulatory system, she took a cigarette. She relaxed as the hazy smog hung over the lab.
Mana grass provided the finest pleasure when smoked in a good mood. Grinning, she made a chain out of the smoke.
She could do it. She had to.
Everyone else had given up. Everyone else said that Fire Magic couldn’t be used against Cataclysms.
Not anymore.
The ti was coming when she’d no longer be scorned and persecuted.
Flare had to be published as her own exclusive research no matter what. She had absolutely no intention of letting another take the credit.
That way, she was going to be recognized amongst the academia and prove to those cowards who had escaped to other fields that she hadn’t been wrong.
For such a ti, she had no problem persevering through this current suffering.
Huuu, Klais blew out more thick smoke. Her eyes had bags and her skin was dry, but it didn’t matter.
Flare was everything to Klais.
She wasn’t going to let anyone else take the credit.
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