“Wow… I can still vividly feel the scene we saw earlier.”
“Yeah, right? It didn’t even have that much depth, but somehow it felt like I was really there.”
“Professor Felix was this amazing? Then why has he never shown this side before?”
After Felix’s curriculum ended, the students, still dazed, left the lecture hall, murmuring about the moments they had just experienced.
Felix’s magic lacked tangibility compared to illusion magic.
Unlike illusion magic, which could stimulate multiple senses, Felix’s demonstration provided only visual information.
A closer inspection of their senses would have revealed that their physical position in the lecture hall had not changed at all. Â
Yet, the students accepted what they saw as “real.”
Felix’s skill in manipulating magic left a deep impression on them, causing them to reevaluate his abilities.
The breathtaking display of a completely different type of magic from Felix sparked excitement in the students, who eagerly wondered what kind of lectures awaited them in his advanced courses. Â
However…
“Oh? You’re still here?”
While packing up to leave the lecture hall, Felix noticed Lumillion standing at the back, still in a daze, unlike the other students.
“So, how did you find my curriculum? I hope it left a strong impression on you, Professor Lumillion. Or not?”
‘I can’t let this go. After what he said yesterday, I stayed up all night preparing this spell!’
In truth, Felix had taken Lumillion’s criticism to heart. Fueled by determination to prove him wrong, Felix had poured all his energy into crafting this spell.
“…Impossible.”
“Sorry? What was that?”
“I can’t accept it! This makes no sense! How on earth is something like this even possible?”
At Felix’s smug attitude, Lumillion, who had been staring at the ground, suddenly raised her head and stormed toward Felix with a scowl.
“The magic you demonstrated wasn’t illusion magic at all—it was a spell that used mana to reconstruct a scene, giving it an illusion-like appearance but with tangible substance!”
“And for such a large-scale manipulation, the magic circle you used doesn’t add up! To execute magic of this scale, you’d need an amount of mana and computation far beyond what could fit in a single circle that size!”
‘It must be a trick. Otherwise, it’s impossible!’
While the brilliance of Felix’s magic was undeniable, Lumillion couldn’t comprehend the spell’s execution requirements.
To her, it defied all the magical principles she had studied and devoted his life to, and it felt as though the foundation of her understanding was crumbling beneath him. Â
“I can explain that.”
Felix, unbothered by the barrage of questions, calmly pulled a notebook from his coat and opened it. Taking out a fountain pen, he began to sketch.
“The core of this spell’s magic circle was solving the problem of how to naturally express a constructed scene through mana. I approached it like this.”
“First, I used illusion magic to create a mental image in my mind, then designed a simulation code to record the scene I envisioned.”
“In essence, I analyzed and digitized the illusion I perceived, then copied the process directly. This meant I didn’t have to manually craft details like blades of grass swaying in the wind, significantly reducing the mana consumption.”
“Simula… what now?”
As Felix gestured with his pen to explain the principles behind the magic circle sketched in his notebook, Lumillion froze, unfamiliar with the technical jargon.
“Think about it. For example, when casting Fireball, you need to calculate coordinates, distances, and trajectory before you even launch the spell, right?”
“That’s correct.”
“Then why do we need to calculate everything one by one?”
“Well… if we don’t calculate, the spell won’t hit the target, will it?”
“But what if the magic circle itself could calculate the distance to the target and adjust the required magic power just by looking at it?”
“…What?”
“I’ve been conducting research to realize that hypothesis.”
Scribble-scribble—
Felix began drawing a circle on a blank page of his notebook to prove his hypothesis. He quickly sketched an incomplete magic circle for a fireball spell.
The circle was practically empty except for the central line that converted magic power into a burning mass. I
f cast in this state, it would only create a flame ball that hovers momentarily in the air before disappearing. Â
“In this empty space, first, I add a formula that synchronizes the caster’s line of sight with the magic circle. I borrowed this from the structure of the farsight magic circle.”
“Since it’s just the part that enhances vision, extracting only this basic element is sufficient.”
“Next, I add a line that marks specific targets clearly. This also comes from a similar type of tracking magic in the farsight category.”
“With this, a basic fireball magic circle wouldn’t be able to handle the magic power, so I draw a larger inner circle. There’s still space left, right? Now, I add a line here to calculate the distance to the target. I borrowed this from mapping magic in the tracking magic family.”
“With that done, we’re ready. The last step is to embed a formula for magic power computation that calculates the necessary magic power using the three additional lines. By integrating these formulas to derive the result…”
When Felix’s hand stopped, the completed magic circle appeared in Lumillion’s view.
“Sure, the strokes are more complex than a regular fireball magic circle, but since there’s no need to calculate manually, the casting speed is significantly faster.”
The previously simple and elementary fire element attack magic of the fireball had transformed into an incredibly sophisticated and intricate magic circle.
“Incredible…”
Lumillion, who had been observing the process closely, was left speechless, his mouth agape.
In spellcasting, the most time-consuming part was calculating factors like the distance to the target, power, and speed.
But with Felix’s theory, there was no need for such calculations. The distance would be adjusted automatically, and the power and speed could be fine-tuned by infusing more magic power.
For mages, whose greatest talent often lay in their ability to quickly perform these calculations, this discovery was groundbreaking enough to upend the entire field of magic.
“How is it? Simple, right?”
“Sim… Simple? This?”
What was even more astonishing was that Felix explained this groundbreaking and monumental achievement as though it were just a casual solution to help a classmate with their homework.
“Do you even realize how monumental this discovery is?! Wait, how did you even come up with this idea?”
“Um, excuse me?”
“Don’t give me that blank look! No, it’s not even like the magic itself is extraordinary! Each component is just a basic spell taken from standard magic! But… why didn’t anyone think of combining them like this?”
Lumillion muttered in disbelief, flipping through Felix’s notebook once more, her rabbit ears twitching constantly in astonishment. Felix’s theory was something that even Lumillion could implement right away.
“This… This is it!”
However, Lumillion finally discovered the key clue as to why this magic circle was impossible for anyone, including herself and the Mage Tower, but could only be created by Felix.
“This magical computation… what exactly is this?”
The clue lay in the magical computational formula, which derived the answer by synthesizing these three magic spells.
“This is… it’s like embedding an abacus directly into the magic circle itself! You don’t even need to calculate anything in your head—just input the problem, and it solves it for you. How in the world did you create this magical computation function?!”
To Lumillion, this computational formula was the alpha and omega of this magic circle.
It was incredible, even grotesque in a way, as if the magic circle had been equipped with a high-performance brain that could do all the calculations for you.
“Well… because it’s much more convenient that way?”
But Felix couldn’t give an answer that matched Lumillion’s intense curiosity.
To Felix, magic was no different from a programming language.
The world was the computer, and magic was the process of coding that world.
For instance, if you posed the challenge, “Create a fireball,” it would literally mean converting magical energy into the elemental essence of fire, bundling it to a certain size, and calculating the appropriate angle, distance, force, and speed before throwing it = Fireball.
Once Felix understood this theory, it naturally became his area of expertise. Â
That’s why, when Felix first started learning magic seriously, there were many things he couldn’t quite grasp.
Instead of calculating every little thing manually, why not create a program that solves the problem when given the right input? T
his thought occurred to him, and with (somewhat one-sided) help from Tene, he successfully formulated it perfectly. Â
“Haha…”
Hearing Felix’s awkward response, Lumillion could only let out a dry laugh, unable to react any other way.
Felix was a genius when it came to magic.
Not just any genius, but one capable of overturning the very rules of this world.
And Lumillion hated admitting that.
She had suffered and worked herself to the bone to barely earn her current position.
Yet Felix, benefiting from her family’s prestige, flattery, and bribes, had not only snatched that position with ease but had once been an ignorant and arrogant noble who didn’t even know the “M” in magic. Â
Lumillion, who had always looked down on such nobles with scorn and disgust, suddenly felt the ground crumble beneath her. Imagining how Felix must have perceived her smug demeanor in the research lab yesterday made Lumillion want to crawl into a hole and disappear.
That noble, who turned out to be a tremendous genius, had reduced Lumillion’s capabilities to the equivalent of a child solving basic arithmetic, all while silently mocking her.
To make matters worse, Felix had laid the groundwork for Lumillion to humiliate herself further, like dancing a tap dance on the stage Felix had set.
Humiliated and horrified, Lumillion’s bunny ears stiffened entirely, their tips twitching spasmodically. Her face flushed bright red with shame.
She didn’t want to admit it.
The fact that Felix, who had everything and flaunted it recklessly, turned out to be a genius so far beyond her that it was as if the entire universe were playing a cruel joke on her.
Right now, Lumillion desperately wanted to escape, lock herself in her lab, and cry for days on end.
But she couldn’t do that.
“N-nevertheless! Even if we accept that this magical computation works, how did you create that vast backdrop?!”
No, she refused to let herself crumble.
Instead of stepping back and running away, Lumillion chose to step forward confidently and continue asking Felix.
What if it’s shameful? What if it’s embarrassing?
Right now, she was the first to confirm the knowledge that could bring about an enormous change in the magic world, a knowledge that no one else had discovered yet.
Knowing that, the spirit of the mage inside Lumillion’s chest was burning as fiercely as the fire attribute magic she often wielded.
She wanted to know just a little more, even more.
She wanted to step beyond her own ignorance and get closer to the truth of magic.
This was the path of magic that had guided and served as her milestone all this time.
“…About that part,”
Felix, noticing the burning desire for knowledge in Lumillion’s eyes, smiled with amusement and began explaining further.
Soon, the arrogant eldest son of the Count and the cute rabbit beastkin were no longer present in this place.
Only scholars, driven by the thirst for knowledge, remained, continuing their passionate debate.