The next day.
I gathered people at Gracie's lab.
First, Yuni, responsible for the mana stone.
Then, Ena, who was responsible for creating the staff's shaft.
And Professor Robert, who would merge the mana stone with the staff.
Lastly...
"Hehe..."
"Luna, I'm counting on you."
"No, no! I should be the one saying that!"
It was Luna who would supervise the entire process.
There were several reasons why Luna, not Professor Robert, was overseeing the process.
Firstly, Professor Robert was the only one who could merge the mana stone and the staff.
Secondly, aside from Professor Robert, Luna was the only one around me who had knowledge in this area.
I had considered overseeing it myself, given how busy Luna seemed lately, but Ena mentioned Luna was free, so I asked her for help.
Thankfully, Luna readily agreed.
There was a problem with me taking on the role of the supervisor.
The supervisor was responsible for checking the magic circle's overall design.
If I, the one who designed the circle, supervised, it would lack objectivity.
Knowing Luna would handle this put me at ease.
"Shall we begin then?"
Professor Robert suggested.
Everyone nodded, their gazes fixated on him.
We had gathered today so that as Professor Robert merged the staff and the mana stone, he could receive immediate feedback.
The balance between the mana stone and the staff was critical.
We needed to observe how Robert would blend the two, to determine the staff's balance and effects.
We couldn’t afford multiple trials given our limited resources and time.
It was important to identify and address any issues in this session.
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "64ce79d606107d003c23ea27", id: "pf-5140-1"})"Let's get started,"
Robert announced.
"Yes,"
Yuni and Ena responded.
Luna, standing beside me, asked,
"What magic circle did you engrave on the mana stone?"
"Oh, I added a circle to increase mana efficiency and effect amplification."
The reason why a staff's effect changed depending on its user was because of the unique magic circles engraved on each staff.
Unlike standard magic circles that had a central main magic symbol, these had a hollow center surrounded by mana circuits.
Once the staff was crafted with this circle, the central area would repeatedly get inscribed and erased.
In essence, any magic that passed through the staff would go through this circle.
A staff acted as a conduit between the mana stone and the wizard using it.
Mana traveled through this conduit, reaching the mana stone, passing through its magic circle, and then being released.
This process could either amplify the magic, hasten its casting, increase its speed, or add various other effects.
"You used a rather ordinary magic circle, didn't you?"
"Yes... It's common, but in a way, it's an uncommon magic circle..."
I responded with a slightly awkward smile to Luna.
The magic circle I engraved, as I had explained to Luna, was designed to enhance the efficiency and effect of magic.
Certainly, there were effects attached even to a common staff.
The issue was the magic I used.
My primary magic was dark magic.
However, dark magic requires precise mana control.
But improving mana efficiency or amplifying its effects, in a way, interfered with the amount of mana needed.
When inscribing dark magic into a magic circle, one would typically select one particular spell.
Thus, you could manipulate it to accept only the exact amount of mana needed.
But a staff wasn't like that.
You would continuously use different spells and input varying amounts of mana.
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "64cc9e79c7059f003e4ad4b0", id: "pf-5109-1"})Hence, many who used dark magic either had staffs with additional effects or simply didn't use staffs at all.
Even without a staff, the effects of dark magic were definite. If one offered a sacrifice to cast the magic, they could achieve similar effects even without a staff.
Nevertheless, my intention to use a staff was to become as strong as possible.
Soon, I would have to face opponents several times stronger than me.
Those who have lived years longer than me, who have studied magic for a much more extended period.
To defeat such individuals, I needed to be prepared in advance.
Being well-informed about them, devising counter-strategies, and amplifying my magic strength through a staff or sacrificial magic were all essential.
Only then could I hope to overcome them.
Lately, I had been feeling the limits of my efforts.
The difference between talent and hard work.
Some say hard work can never surpass talent.
If someone with talent also works hard, wouldn't they always win?
I agreed with this to some extent, but I didn't think it applied to every battle.
Whether in fights or exams, it all boils down to a single confrontation.
Someone loses, someone wins.
In such confrontations, I believed several factors came into play.
Luck might play a part, as could extensive preparation or possessing more information than others.
Even if someone had superior magical talent, I still stood a chance in a battle.
Seeing my awkward smile, Luna nodded in understanding.
She must have felt it odd for someone using dark magic like me to choose such a staff.
"Let's take a closer look for now."
I decided to observe the situation closer.
Robert inserted a mana stone into the rod that Ena had created.
As he did so, light began to emanate from the mana stone.
It reacted with the mana circuit within the rod.
"Now then,"
Robert nonchalantly began pouring mana into the rod.
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "663633fa8ebf7442f0652b33", id: "pf-8817-1"})Ena and Yuni swallowed nervously.
Even so, it felt odd seeing Yuni so tense, considering she had worked diligently on that mana stone.
But I was the most anxious.
After all, I had designed the magic circle engraved in that mana stone, and I had set up the mana circuit in the staff.
Luna was watching both the mana circuit and the magic circle.
At that moment, Professor Robert spoke to Luna.
"The mana circuit in the staff is blocked. It's not an issue with the intricate parts, look at the main circuit."
"Yes, the mana seems to be cut off at the 3rd circuit,"
Luna quickly checked the staff and informed him.
"The response from the mana stone side is also delayed."
"I've noted that."
"The amount of mana touching the mana stone isn’t consistent."
"Yes..."
...
When the trial run ended, Professor Robert, his face creased in annoyance, turned to me,
"What kind of magic circle design is this?"
Luna jumped in to defend me,
"I mean, the attempt seems innovative, and it does seem to function to some extent…"
"And what good is that? You intend to use this in actual situations?"
Professor Robert held up the damaged mana stone.
"You can't do it this way. The staff is more problematic than the mana stone. The magic circle might be usable in some way, but these staffs? Never."
Professor Robert seemed irritated, but he did mention specific issues.
"How can a staff with such a mana circuit withstand a magic circle where mana flows back and forth? It absolutely can't. If used multiple times, even the mana stone wouldn't hold up."
The method I used to improve the efficiency of dark magic was somewhat like a calculator.
When using dark magic, if its efficiency increases, the amount of mana to be channeled changes.
Hence, I had to be aware of the fluctuating mana quantity.
Once I used the staff extensively, I’d get a feel for it, but there was an immediate issue.
The method I adopted involved feeding the dark magic into the magic circle of the staff and calculating the necessary amount of mana.
After that, I would properly use the magic.
However, the problem with this method was the reflux of mana.
Typically, the mana circuit in a staff flows in one direction: from the user to the mana stone.
But in this setup, the mana had to flow back to me once.
Of course, I could create a separate return circuit, but designing the circuit in such a way would make the staff too heavy and large to handle, not to mention the cost implications.
That's why I had to rely on a bidirectional circuit.
It wasn’t my first time using such a circuit, but configuring it wasn’t easy since it’s not a commonly used one.
I asked Professor Robert,
"Then how should it be done?"
"How should it be done, indeed,"
Professor Robert mused, looking at me.
“The mana flow through the bidirectional circuit leads to some mana leakage, and the circuit itself is experiencing wear and tear. What should we do about this?”
I was at a loss for words.
“Additionally, the magic circle embedded in the mana stone requires too much calculation. While the idea of calculating the amount of dark magic mana and sending it to you is admirable, the mana stone can’t sustain it.”
Luna suddenly raised her hand.
“Oh, I’ve made a rough note on that part!”
“A note?”
Luna handed a paper filled with extensive notes to Robert.
Though he only glanced at it momentarily, the paper was densely filled with her notes.
Robert looked at Luna with a puzzled expression.
“By making these changes, we might reduce the overload on the mana stone. Of course, we'd still need to use a superior mana stone, but...”
“This will work,”
Robert interjected.
Luna’s eyes widened in surprise.
“Professor Mcguire would certainly be impressed. To think she's my disciple..."
Robert trailed off midway.
I couldn’t believe my ears.
“Disciple? Did you just call her your disciple?”
“No.”
“You did say it.”
“I did not.”
With that, Robert threw a broken staff in my direction.
“Focus on this instead of dwelling on inconsequential things.”
"I've been managing quite well."
I responded.
With a sigh, Robert said,
“Then pay attention to what's happening around you.”
“Around me?”
I looked at Robert, puzzled.
Robert briefly glanced at Luna beside me and then turned away.
I recalled hearing similar advice back in the North.
Astina too had told me to be more aware of my surroundings.
Hearing the same piece of advice from different people made me even more curious.
What did they mean by that?
“Regardless, reflect on your overconfidence in thinking that a single practice session would be enough.”
“Yes, understood…”
I had many questions, but I decided to focus on the task at hand.
I didn’t know when the Rebel Leader would make a move, but time was of the essence.
“Luna, shall we head out…”
As I turned to Luna, I noticed her face was flushed, her eyes fixed on Robert in surprise.
“Luna?”
“Uh, uh, yes??”
She exclaimed, startled by my voice.
“What's wrong?”
“N-nothing! Well, shall we go over what happened?”
I nodded in agreement, following Luna's lead.
---Toggle New Ads
I'll be honest, I think I got it down, but it's a lot of mumbo jumbo
