[SIDE: Crown]
A senior instructor from Fidic Academy. She was quite young, with an appearance that didn’t look like an instructor at all.
Many magicians have a strange sense of rivalry with Fidic Academy to begin with. The world’s top magic academy – many seem to simply believe the title and reputation at face value.
However, as is likely the case in any country, most of the top magicians become court magicians. Whether it’s because they have family and can’t leave the country, or they simply seek status, fame, and money, becoming a court magician is generally the goal for most.
Among these, occasionally there are eccentrics, those interested in foreign magic, or those who couldn’t become court magicians, who go to other countries or Fidic Academy… That’s the common sense among magicians.
That’s precisely why each country believes that for the magic they specialize in, their court magicians are undoubtedly superior to any others.
For the Holy Empire of Maple Leaf, it would be healing magic. And they likely believe that the water magic researched in this lab is no less advanced than that of other countries, and that they wouldn’t lose to Aoi either.
Indeed, as a court magician and researcher myself, though our numbers are few and we lack opportunities for practical application, I believe we’ve conducted dense, high-quality research.
I thought we wouldn’t lose even to Fidic Academy, which bears the name of world’s finest.
But such feelings were shattered after meeting Aoi. Most likely, the researchers here will experience the same.
“Let’s begin by dispelling some misconceptions about the possibilities of magic,” Aoi said as her opening statement.
Without uttering an incantation, Aoi performed water magic. I thought she had released something like white strings from both hands towards the ceiling. No, that was all I could perceive.
Immediately after, the ceiling above Aoi’s head was torn apart. Sunlight streamed into the laboratory that was supposed to be tightly sealed.
Finely crushed debris rained down from the ceiling, accompanied by a thunderous noise and a cloud of dust.
A pillar of light fell into the dimly lit laboratory, and Aoi, standing at its center, spread her arms and looked in our direction.
“Fire, wind, earth… and water magic. With any of these, it’s easy to destroy a laboratory of this level. If you rely too much on the facilities, you might get unexpected injuries. Please be careful.”
In the light, Aoi said this as if she was worried about us.
I couldn’t help but applaud and smile at Aoi, who had demonstrated such extraordinary water magic.
! Image
“Wonderful! As expected of Lady Aoi! No, Sensei Aoi! To think that so much can be done with water magic! Here, we also research ice magic, which is derived from water. I’d love to see some ice magic as well!”
I applauded enthusiastically, still excited like a child.
To this, Aoi raised one hand to stop me.
“…I apologize, but allow me to make one correction.”
“Hm? Did I say something wrong?”
I tilted my head at those words. Aoi nodded in response and began preparing for magic.
“When you generate water and change its properties to ice, it can be considered a derivative of water magic. However, like this…”
As she spoke, Aoi sprinkled water in the air with one hand. Then, she activated some kind of magic.
The countless water droplets scattered in the air were enveloped by something like a white mist and flew towards the hole in the ceiling. They flew even faster than if shot by an arrow. All I could see was the moment they spread radially in the air, and before I knew it, numerous small holes had opened in the ceiling with sharp sounds. The ceiling was now in such a terrible state that it could collapse at any moment.
While everyone was frozen, looking up at the perforated ceiling, Aoi pointed at it and began to speak.
“Like this, even without changing the properties of water, if you stop the movement of small things like molecules and atoms that make up the substance, almost everything will freeze. The temperature reaches as low as minus 273 degrees…”
Aoi was murmuring incomprehensible words as if lecturing, but they didn’t register in my mind.
No, probably even if I listened properly, I wouldn’t understand. There was only one thing I could grasp: how wonderful magic is when pushed to its limits, even just in terms of knowledge.
“…The abyss of magic,” one of the researchers uttered.
It felt as if they had voiced the very words in my head.
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The image of the magician I had been pursuing… Such words floated in my mind. At first, I was merely surprised by their ability to perform advanced magic faster than me, but as days passed, that impression transformed into something else.
First was the incantationless magic they had just demonstrated. When I first saw it, I was greatly shocked.
In my understanding, magic is similar to complex craftsmanship. Those who don’t know can’t understand how it’s made. Therefore, one must first understand the magic, then perform the incantation, which is the process of creation, before it can finally take form.
A skilled craftsman accustomed to making artifacts can reduce the incantation and create faster than others.
However, no matter how skilled one is, without the process of creation, no item can be made.
Yet, Aoi abandoned this entirely. They activated magic completely ignoring the incantation.
Seeing her create an iceberg without incantation, the sense of rivalry I had held somewhere in my heart shattered into pieces. Not only was I defeated in terms of scale and speed of magic, but the very concept of magic was fundamentally different. Probably, she must be constructing magic from a completely different perspective than what I understand.
It’s exciting.
I think so honestly.
Whenever I hit a wall in my research, I would always recall the memory of when I first learned magic. Looking back now, it was clumsy magic. A spell to light a small fire at the tip of a wooden stick.
But for the child I was then, it became the brightest beacon.
What could be done with magic? What other magic could I learn? It was a moment when the world infinitely expanded. I still vividly remember the excitement of that time.
That’s why I want to see and know new magic.
For someone like me, Aoi’s magic is truly revolutionary. It outright denies the current concept of magic that has been pursued in one direction for hundreds of years, pointing to a completely new path.
How was that magic conceived and built? How do they manifest magic without blueprints or processes? My curiosity bounced greatly, as if I had returned to childhood.
I wished I could attend Aoi’s lecture, but the flow of conversation led us back to Maple Leaf.
Honestly, returning to Maple Leaf with its strong closed culture isn’t interesting. They’re so fixated on healing magic that they don’t even look at other attributes, let alone magic from other countries.
However, I’m curious to see how Aoi views Maple Leaf’s healing magic.
She will surely give opinions from a completely different perspective than ours. Thinking about it, this could be a good opportunity to shatter Maple Leaf’s healing magic supremacism.
Having decided this, I should quickly switch gears and keep my eyes peeled for any chance to see Aoi’s magic.
After all, Aoi demonstrated flight magic on the day of departure, something that countries had failed to achieve despite years of research.
“H-How…?”
When I muttered in astonishment at that time, Aoi casually taught me about the magic. I couldn’t understand it in one go, but I think it was something I could do if I grasped the logic properly before researching.
And as I was excited about experiencing flight magic firsthand, we suddenly arrived at the Holy City.
I must urgently take Aoi to the research lab. If Aoi looks at the magic we’re researching, we might get some hints. No, more than that, I want to show Aoi’s magic to those narrow-minded researchers. That’s what I thought instantly.
The magic users who dislike progress immediately say it’s impossible when I talk about new magic. However, if they see Aoi’s magic and their common sense crumbles, they won’t say it’s impossible anymore. Because there exists a magician named Aoi who can perform magic considered impossible.
“…This is getting interesting.”
Without realizing it, I had a smile on my face.
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