Book 13 Chapter 38
Episode 21
Young Man's Success, Appearance in the Magic World (7)
“From now on, the main judging for the [4-star selection] will begin.”
The selection of Glados (4-star) ranked mages was also the biggest festival in the magic world. The tenth 4-star mage position had already been vacant for 11 years. This was because if the incumbent 4-star mages presiding over the examination deemed there were no suitable candidates, no one would pass the ranking test.
“Wow, this is crazy! Yes, this is what magic should be like!”
However, this test was different. Everyone was anticipating that, no matter who among the five it was, the tenth Glados-ranked mage would certainly emerge. Among those five, the one standing out was Sieta Warden of the Warden Margrave family, a powerful magic household.
“Sieta Warden, a talented individual who became the head of the special operations department at such a young age.”
The Warden family was traditionally specialists in Earth-attribute summoning magic, and Sieta amazed everyone by devising a spell that instantly created a large quantity of bricks to lay an impromptu paved road.
“As expected, Sieta has the highest chance of achieving Glados rank this time.”
Listening to his Glados (4-star) colleagues, Professor Kern Ulf turned his gaze to the young mage Lin, who was waiting for his turn to be judged.
‘It’s natural for a mage to have a specialty. And Sieta receiving such a problem in the finals is luck. But luck is also a skill.’
Aren’t you curious about a wider world than where you are now, Lin?
You were born to fly.
You must get out of that narrow well as soon as possible.
“What, why are they talking as if the judging is already over?”
Gisela grumbled discontentedly at the clamor around them. Senior disciple Pomas gave a wry smile.
“Most of them are associates of the Warden family. If they cheer so well from the stands, it makes the magic seem even more impressive, you know.”
“Then we can’t lose either! Lin, fighting! We’re cheering for you!”
“Brother Lin, do your best!”
Lin, who had been waiting for his turn at the edge of the stage, finally spread his answer sheet on the judges’ table.
“Hmm…”
“This is…”
The three examiners each let out a faint gasp. Disappointment due to unfulfilled expectations was evident rather than admiration.
Two Earth-attribute magic circles.
One Water-attribute magic circle, one Fire-attribute magic circle. The carved runes were respectively Jeon (展; to spread), Jin (進; to advance), Chim (浸; to permeate), Jo (燥; to dry).
‘…It looks too plain on the surface?’
‘…The talent that turned the entire North upside down, I expected some innovative magic.’
‘…No, it’s too early to jump to conclusions. First, we need to see what he had in mind with the relationship between the runes and the mathematical formulas.’
However, Ulan Page and Silviet Keppel, who were well-acquainted with the Osarius school and also knew Atlante, felt their lips tremble with excitement.
‘Do you know, Lin? This magic is what your master, Atlante, brought when she acquired the Atlas (3-star) rank.’
Of course, Atlante’s was a 3-star spell, but this is a 4-star… no, wait a minute. Ulan’s mouth instantly fell shut.
“A 5-star spell?”
Very subtly, so tiny that it would be unnoticeable unless meticulously examined, a prime circle was embedded in one corner of the magic circle. The rune carved there was Gae (漑; to irrigate).
‘A 5-star spell?’
At Ulan’s dumbfounded murmur, the competitors doubted their ears.
‘Impossible. There’s no way he could have calculated that in such a short time.’
‘It’s not that we couldn’t use 5-star magic, but that we didn’t.’
‘Because accurate formula calculations are impossible within this short timeframe.’
The appearance of a 5-star spell in the Glados (4-star) examination was unprecedented for hundreds of years. The examiners swallowed dryly.
“This is going to be interesting, isn’t it?”
“Let’s check it out quickly.”
Amidst the light of the magic circles, the light of providence alteration once again brilliantly descended upon this land.
The road that rose from one end of the examination hall to the other was, as per the examiners’ first impression, utterly plain. The roads laid by the four competitors had an artistic quality reflecting their unique characteristics, but this road was ordinary and simple.
‘Two of the 5-star magic circles are Earth magic… one is soil and one has the properties of rock.’
‘Indeed, with rocks embedded here and there, it would be better than an unpaved road, but…’
Just then, Ulan, who was overseeing the casting of the spell, took his hand off the magic circle. And then, he created some kind of obstacle in the center of the examination hall using his own magic?
“Commander, what just…?”
And when he placed his hand back, the road, which had been expanding forward, subtly curved to skillfully bypass the obstacle.
“…?!”
“…?!”
“…?!”
Ulan even went up onto the examination stage himself to inspect the condition of the road.
“My dear friends, look at the mathematical formulas that make up the Earth-attribute magic circles. They are not geometric equations. He solved them using functional analysis (函數解釋學).”
The examiners, who had been staring blankly at Ulan Page, immediately felt a shiver run down their spines as soon as they re-examined the answer sheet.
“Analysis…?”
“In Earth-attribute magic…?”
Analysis (解析學).
Analysis is a branch of mathematics that attempts to represent movement. It primarily uses coordinate systems and calculus, and is the foundation of Wind-attribute magic. It is often used in other attributes when employing dynamic runes.
“In other words, while this might have looked like an ordinary, plain road, it’s not at all. It’s a road that is installed in the most optimized way depending on the surrounding environment!”
“!!!”
“It had to be plain because it involved the delicate work of laying a road based on analysis. After all, a paved road with interlocking bricks isn’t suitable for forming such curves.”
Silviet Keppel also stepped onto the road. He pulled up his flamboyant robe, knelt on the ground, and even picked up a paving stone with both hands.
“Indeed, so this is how the fifth magic circle works.”
Then, the ground around the paving stone became damp with water, and the thin paving stone was very easily pulled out. The reverse was also true. The spot where a paving stone was to be laid was softened appropriately by water. When a paving stone was placed, the water quickly drained away, firmly securing the paving stone.
“These are the effects of ‘Chim’ (沈; to permeate) and ‘Jo’ (燥; to dry) from the third and fourth magic circles, respectively.”
Ah, each spell is in astonishingly perfect harmony. Truly incredible.
“There’s a problem that government offices in many cities have struggled with since ancient times. It’s the issue of repairing and renovating roads created by mages. It’s good to show off individuality, but maintaining those elaborate roads is impossible with ordinary labor. That’s why there are regions that don’t ask mages to install roads.”
“…!”
“But what about this road? Even a child can easily and conveniently repair and renovate it. And there’s no worry about the road flooding. The fifth magic circle, Water-attribute magic, perfectly manages the road.”
It wasn’t made plain due to a lack of skill.
It was made plain because it *had* to be, so that everyone could use it!
The cheers from the audience, especially from those unfamiliar with magic, were truly immense.
“…A road that automatically installs and manages itself in the most optimized way for the environment?”
“…Innovation, it’s innovation!”
“…Those arrogant dwarves might even come to us to learn this technology!”
Ulan Page, who was inspecting the condition of the road, suddenly found himself transported back to the time he presided over the ranking test of the genius young mage Atlante.
“Road magic usually focuses on elaborate methods, but the Dean said we shouldn’t do that.”
At that time, Atlante was in her twenties. She was a maiden whose youthful vigor wasn’t boisterous, but shone with a pure and gentle light.
“What’s important for roads is ease of repair and renovation, she said. Especially in remote villages furthest from the benefits of civilization, if residents can’t fix road problems themselves, it’s useless.”
Then, Atlante expressed her master’s teachings through magic and smiled brightly. That clear smile felt like the future of magic itself.
‘Yes. This is the complete form of that mind Atlante showed back then, immature yet pure and beautiful because of its immaturity…’
This magic is a grand culmination.
The spirit that began with Osarius and passed down through his disciples has finally reached its essence. The disciple whom Atlante had nurtured most dearly in the world had, at this moment, completed that spirit into a magic that thrilled everyone.
‘Atlante, are you watching? Can you see it too? The spirit contained within this magic.’
She was watching. It was visible. Dean Atlante clasped her moist eyes with both hands and prayed. There was a common saying that mages were the creatures furthest from prayer, but Atlante did not agree with it. Mages were precisely the beings closest to prayer. From the first dean to the master, the Osarius school had taught its disciples thus.
“Wait, what’s this?”
Thorinas, one of the examiners remaining on the stage and scrutinizing the answer sheet with wonder, suddenly raised an eyebrow.
ab×cd
b×d=A.
a×c=B.
(a+b)×(c+d)=C.
C-B-A=D.
ab×cd=B×100+D×10+A.
Lin, as if embarrassed, answered while subtly averting Thorinas’s gaze.
“A way to easily multiply large numbers. Using this makes this magic easier too.”
“So why is this here?”
“…The Dean told me to indicate such things so that anyone could use any magic.”
Thorinas let out a hollow laugh. This looks simple, but it’s a very impressive formula. He elevated multiplication to the realm of polynomials. If this were used for the seemingly inscrutable coordinate calculations of this magic, it would be possible to condense them severalfold.
“What an audacious little fellow! Are you saying you’ll make this magic public instead of monopolizing it? You could be sitting on a pile of money.”
At Bulken’s hearty laugh, Lin tilted his head.
“Why should magic be monopolized?”
He too had received it without cost.
By then, a clear smile was evident on the lips of all five examiners. In contrast, the hall was now enveloped in a silence more intense than any clamor.
“I will now announce the results of the examination. All five participants demonstrated magic that highlighted their individual characteristics with outstanding mathematical understanding.”
“…!”
“Those who honed many blades, and those who focused on honing only one blade, it’s fair to say there’s no superiority or inferiority in the skill of the four.”
At the words, “the four,” silence once again swept through the audience like a wave. Already, the domain was different. The young mage who was not among those four was not in a position to be evaluated alongside them.
“But what decisively determined the outcome was the spirit contained within the magic.”
“…Spirit?”
“…What kind of spirit do mages have?”
“At the beginning of harmony, when the Black Sun Kalenden imparted magic to Emitsa Page, there was Kalenden’s wish for it to be a source of blessing, bringing peace to everyone amidst all future calamities.”
One of the seven <Ones Who Came>, who tore open the Abyss and illuminated the dawn of the world in the Age of Origin.
The Black Sun Kalenden.
Creator of magic, Master of magic.
“We mages are precisely those who convey that spirit. We are beings who widely disseminate to the world the spirit that has been passed down since the beginning of magic, the spirit of praying for someone’s peace.”
“…!”
“And today, in this very magic, I saw the beginning, past, present, and future of magic.”
Ulan Page held up the answer sheet high.
It was an answer sheet containing the desire that he himself would not be revealed at all in this magic, but only the greatness of the one who taught him magic. Among the five answer sheets, it was the only one that aimed for the realm of 5-stars.
“Furthermore, he who goes beyond being a leader of the magic world to reach its pinnacle must be one who pursues that ‘spirit of origin,’ that is, the Truth (眞理)!”
The Vice Commander of the Magic Alliance, standing beside Ulan Page, opened a wooden box. The object nobly nestled on blue silk was a platinum insignia. The material for the Bandoran (1-star) insignia is brass, for Limites (2-star) it is silver, and for Atlas (3-star) it is gold. And platinum is the insignia of the magic world’s leaders, symbolizing Glados (4-star).
“Therefore, the result of this ranking examination has been decided by the unanimous agreement of the five examiners.”
Ulan Page, Commander of the Magic Alliance, walked past the four mages standing in a row on the stage and stopped in front of the boy standing at the very end.
“Lin of the Osarius school.”
Ulan pinned the insignia to the chest of Lin’s hanbok (cold-weather attire). All mages’ insignias were magical tools. The insignia, resonating with Ulan Page’s magic, began to glow, and the embedded magic engraved the new owner’s name and origin onto the insignia’s border.
“With immense joy and anticipation, I welcome you as the tenth Glados (4-star) ranked mage.”
The boy didn’t quite know how to feel or express the joy of that moment, the momentary joy that felt like his chest would burst. He simply clumsily raised his right fist above his head.
“…Wow, this is insane!”
“…It’s the appearance of the youngest Glados-ranked mage in history! He’s shattered all the records of previous arch-mages!”
“…If he’s a Glados at thirteen, can’t he seriously aim for the Aquizard (5-star), Arch-mage position too?”
He didn’t hear such commotion. He didn’t feel the gazes of many people. For the boy, only one person mattered.
Would she be happy?
Would she be happy for him?
Had she watched him until the very end?
Where his quiet yet urgent gaze was directed, his schoolmates were embracing each other in joy… and *she* was applauding with a tearful smile.
‘Ah, she smiled.’
The boy, who met that smile directly, grinned broadly, as if relieved, and therefore happy. That smile at that moment, it strikingly resembled his master’s.