“Is this really trustworthy information?”
“I’m telling you, it is! You should’ve seen it!”
“But no matter how I think about it, it’s hard to believe…”
‘Looks like everyone’s a bit skeptical.’
Rachel murmured to herself while overhearing the conversation between the two students sitting directly in front of her.
Introduction to Magic Foundations
A general education class.
At first glance, it seemed like just another elective course you could take to scrape up some easy credits.
While mandatory, it wasn’t the kind of class you’d take seriously unless you were aiming for the top of your year.
It was one of those courses where skipping a few lectures wouldn’t hurt too much, though showing up enough to secure a passing grade was advisable.
But once you learned that the professor for the course was none other than Felix Evergarden, students’ attitudes usually changed—dramatically.
The infamy of Professor Felix, a retired honorary professor, was still deeply ingrained in the Academy’s Department of Magic.
His reputation had even spread to other departments, earning him a level of notoriety few could match.
His apathetic teaching style—tossing a textbook at students and telling them to self-study—had horrified countless upperclassmen.
Those same students would later warn their juniors to approach his class with caution, leading to chronically low attendance rates during the first semester.
Therefore, the lecture hall for his class this semester was expected to be as empty as ever.
Yet, in front of Rachel’s eyes, there wasn’t a single empty seat. Students had packed the room to the brim, with some standing at the back just to attend the lecture.
The reason? Rumors of Felix’s astounding in-class performances had spread like wildfire.
_”In an instant, the scenery changed.”_
_”We went from a field to the peak of a volcano.”_
_”And it wasn’t illusion magic.”_
Students who had taken the course before were passionately sharing their jaw-dropping experiences, claiming this semester would be different.
Others, intrigued but skeptical, decided to attend just to see what the fuss was about.
“This is going to be an easy win for me,” someone said, hinting at bets being placed on whether the rumors were true. Felix had become a hot topic in the Department of Magic, to the point of inspiring wagers.
‘Well, I’m here out of curiosity too,’ Rachel admitted silently. She had come because of the swirling rumors, observing the bustling lecture hall while listening to snippets of conversation.
Then—
“Hey… wait! Isn’t that Professor Lumillion over there?”
“No way, what’s Professor Lumillion doing here?”
“Could the rumors really be true?”
“…Not just Professor Lumillion! That’s Professor Alleon over there too!”
“The one who teaches Magic Circle Theory?”
“Now that you mention it, other professors are gathering at the back of the room!”
“…Does this mean the rumors are real?”
“…Or are they just here to mock him if it’s all a sham?”
As murmurs grew louder, students noticed not just their peers but also professors from other departments standing at the back of the lecture hall, waiting for Felix’s lecture to begin.
Then—
“Wow, quite the crowd today.”
“He’s here.”
“It’s Professor Felix!”
Felix Evergarden stepped into the lecture hall, smiling as he took in the packed room. He walked confidently to the podium, his presence commanding the attention of everyone present.
“Hello, nice to meet you. Some of you may already know me, but I’ll take a moment to introduce myself again and explain what I’ll be teaching this semester.”
“My name is Felix, Felix Evergarden. As you may know, I specialize in the basic understanding of magic and will be leading this section.”
Click-clack-click—
Despite the gazes of both anticipation and doubt directed at him, Felix continued speaking smoothly while starting to write on the blackboard with chalk.
“Magic. What is magic? I dare say we’ve come to this academy to seek an answer to that question.”
“Even I have yet to fully master the concept of magic. Compared to the predecessors who have far surpassed me and established their own magical doctrines, I am still lacking. However, my hope is that this class will help you take even a small step toward organizing your own magical principles.”
“So, what exactly will I teach you?”
Click—clack, click-clack—
“This.”
With those words, Felix, whose hands were now covered in chalk dust, put down the nearly worn-down chalk and turned toward the students.
“What… is that?”
“A magic circle…? But I’ve never seen a structure like that before…?”
“What kind of…?”
As soon as Felix finished speaking, the students stared at the content on the blackboard, puzzled. They tilted their heads and exchanged confused glances, unable to grasp what Felix had drawn.
At first glance, it resembled a magic circle, but the structures filling the circle appeared completely unfamiliar to them.
Step—
“Ah, yes… um…”
“I’m Aleon, the professor in charge of magic circle theory.”
“Oh~ Professor Aleon. Yes, of course…”
“May I ask a question?”
While the students failed to comprehend Felix’s intentions, one of the professors, who had been quietly observing the blackboard with arms folded, raised a hand and politely asked for permission to speak.
“What’s your question?”
“Ahem. First of all, I, too, have spent years pursuing magic. I’ve accumulated knowledge and, though humble, have dedicated myself to teaching young minds like yours here at the academy for over ten years.”
“Not to mention, I’ve been delving into the field of magic for nearly thirty years now.”
“Yet in all my life, I’ve never seen a magic circle like this.”
“To the average magician, the structure you’ve drawn would look like nothing more than the scribbles of a child.”
“Except for the magic power lines that transmit energy at the center, which are the basics of any magic circle, the rest of the design is utterly bizarre.
At a glance, it seems to resemble a circle for casting a basic elemental spell, like a fireball, but the computational circuits that should form the basis of the spell are absent, replaced by what appear to be nonsensical formulas.”
“In other words, it’s pure gibberish.”
Professor Aleon’s words, intended as a question, quickly turned into sharp criticism directed at Felix.
“Well, he’s not wrong. That structure makes no logical sense.”
“I only came out of curiosity, wondering what kind of chaos that reckless Professor Felix had caused this time… and as expected.”
“Seems like those rumors about him only succeeding by sheer luck with enchanted artifacts were spot on.”
“Ah, what a waste of time coming all the way here.”
Aleon had been teaching courses on magic circles at the academy for over ten years.
In the realm of magic, the magic circle was the most crucial component—no spell could be cast unless its corresponding magic circle was precisely constructed.
If aspects like control over magical energy, its quantity, innate talent, and imagination represented fields akin to modern chemistry, science, or physics, then the magic circle was akin to mathematics, a subject that formalized and structured all those elements into coherent formulas.
As a professor tasked with teaching such a pivotal subject, Aleon’s critique of Felix’s magic circle quickly influenced the other professors, who began nodding in agreement and joining the chorus of criticism.
The room was soon filled with disapproving voices directed at Felix.
Yet, amidst the rising clamor, only two people remained silent. One was Aleon, who had just delivered his harsh critique, and the other was Lumillion.
“Fools. How could they look at this and dismiss it as mere scribbles?”
Lumillion, who was already aware of Felix’s abilities, shook his head in disdain at the other professors, who failed to recognize the revolutionary nature of the magic circle before them.
“…Well, to be fair, even I couldn’t understand it at first.”
As the criticisms grew more intense, Lumillion began considering stepping in to defend Felix and explain just how extraordinary the magic circle truly was. He recalled his own initial confusion when first encountering Felix’s work. Just as he was about to speak up, however—
“But I understand.”
Aleon, who had thus far remained silent after his initial remarks, suddenly spoke again.
“That central magic circle… It’s a layered composition of multiple spells, isn’t it?”
“…Impressive. You noticed right away.”
At Aleon’s unexpected declaration, Felix—who had been calmly observing—smiled and nodded in affirmation.
“Layered? Professor Aleon, what do you mean by that?”
“Layering multiple spells? How is that even possible?”
The professors, bewildered by the sudden shift in tone, now turned to Aleon for an explanation.
“It’s quite simple. This fireball magic circle incorporates multiple distinct spells layered together.”
Taking over the explanation, Felix picked up a piece of chalk and began writing on the remaining space on the blackboard.
“First, on the outer edge of the circle, there’s an inscription for the Clairvoyance spell to enhance vision.
Then, within that ring, there’s a secondary inscription shaped like a hollow donut—or perhaps a ring is a better analogy. This inscription synchronizes the caster’s vision with the target, leaving a hollow central space.”
“Finally, in that remaining central space, we add a spell to calculate the distance to the target. This creates a magic circle for a fireball spell enhanced by three additional capabilities.”
Click-clack.
“…Huh.”
“How… is that…”
As Felix continued his explanation, the professors’ expressions shifted—from doubt to awe, and from awe to outright astonishment.
“What I want to ask is precisely that,” Aleon said, his tone calm but laced with intrigue. “The spells you’ve incorporated into this magic circle are, as you say, taken from distinct sources.
Yet, despite these components being essentially patched together, the circle functions without issue. That is what baffles me.”
“And that,” he added with a slight smirk, “is the real problem. Your magic circle is like a rickety bridge made by tying wooden sticks together in a haphazard manner.
By all logic, it should collapse under its own weight. And yet, it stands firm and functions flawlessly.”
“It’s crude, bizarre, and utterly nonsensical…..yet it works. Watching this is like seeing a fragile-looking bridge somehow holding firm despite every expectation to the contrary.”
Aleon was somehow managing to feign composure as he spoke, but the more he talked, the more his mind was completely turning upside down.
In theory, his words were simple enough.
However, it was like saying, “I made bread using flour and water,” without any details.
How much flour goes into the dough to make bread? How much water? How long should it ferment? At what temperature, and for how long, should the bread bake? And what kind of structure should the oven have?
Without providing any explanation for such questions, it was no different from simply walking in with some flour and water and suddenly producing bread.
“If it weren’t me, even this much understanding would’ve been impossible. Other students or professors can’t even begin to grasp it!”
Only Aleon, who possessed unrivaled knowledge about magic circles within the academy, could raise such questions.
To everyone else, it was like asking, “What’s dough? What’s fermentation? How do you use an oven?” As such, Felix’s magic circle was regarded as a mere joke.
“A wooden stick… Yes, exactly. You understood my intent perfectly.”
“A wooden stick is the key to this magic?”
“Ah… that’s not quite it.”
“Quiet! The professor is explaining!”
At that moment, Felix, inspired by Aleon’s metaphor about building a bridge with a wooden stick, continued his explanation with enthusiasm.
“I think of this magic power as a sort of wooden stick.”
“Magic power is a wooden stick?!”
“Hey, shut up for a bit!”
“Yeah, be quiet already!”
“…Ahem! Earlier, Professor Aleon mentioned building a bridge with a wooden stick. To put it differently, it doesn’t have to be a bridge.”
Ignoring the student’s constant fixation on the wooden stick, Felix went on.
“Not just bridges, but buildings, walls, cannons, even the earth or mountains.”
“What you can create with this magic power is truly limitless.”
“There’s just one thing I want to teach you in this class.”
“Magic power is, quite literally, a carving knife that can shape the world, a wooden stick with which you can make anything, and the key to that is you.”
“My goal for this class is to help you understand what magic power is and what you can achieve with it.”
“If you follow along with this course, I can guarantee that you, too, will be able to draw such magic circles.”
With that, Felix bowed deeply, finishing his flawless explanation and addressing both the students and his fellow professors.
The lecture hall fell silent, so quiet that not even the sound of someone swallowing could be heard.
Then—
“Excuse me, about this class. I personally have the desire to take it as well… If it’s not too much to ask, would it be possible to attend privately?”
“Professor Aleon?!”
“Did you hear that?! Professor Aleon wants to learn this!”
The lecture hall, which had been silent moments ago, erupted into noise.
Professors were colleagues and, in some sense, competitors. Though they walked different paths, they were all scholars of magic who had carved their own way.
For someone like that to bow their head and openly request to be taught by another professor—particularly Felix, who until recently was considered an idler—was a shocking declaration.
And this, on the very first lecture of the semester.
Rumors spread that Aleon, who was known for his strong pride and unwavering philosophy, had taken the initiative to seek guidance.
However, when a truly groundbreaking event occurred in this lecture hall, it was enough to turn the academy on its head. Both fellow professors and students were left utterly shocked.
“Of course, if those who walk the same magical path can help one another, I would be glad to contribute. I will offer my humble assistance.”
“There’s no need for humility. With that single magic circle, you’ve already proven yourself.”
Despite Aleon bowing his head to him, Felix showed no signs of embarrassment or surprise. Instead, he accepted it as if it were entirely natural, which was equally astonishing.
Thus, the two siblings made an extraordinary and spectacular debut in their first class at the academy.
The brother demonstrated exceptional knowledge, while the sister showcased unparalleled physical prowess.
(Below is a simplified example illustrating the concept of magic circles in this world’s setting.)
