LGHTNOVELBOOK Chapter 28
Chapter 28
Natilda Scape.
The hometown of Cain and Arina, located in the northwest of the Elemental Kingdom, part of the Emulin County, a feudal family of the Viscount Scape lineage.
Although a noble, it was just an average family not well-known in the capital by name alone.
The reason Natilda Scape gained fame was not because of her family, but due to her outstanding skills.
The security force of the Magic Tower, which oversees all magical engineering in the Elemental Kingdom.
She served as the team leader of the 3rd team there at the young age of her early 30s, and was invited as a professor at Benedict Academy after receiving a scouting offer from the chairman, the Demon Lord.
Currently a 6th Class Magician at the age of 38.
It was her, Natilda Scape, who was evaluated as someone who might reach the realm of an 8th Class Transcendent in the future.
"First, let's briefly review what we covered last time..."
Professor Natilda turned to the children as she tossed the attendance book onto the folding chair beside her, raising her arm.
A clump of magic power, visible to the children's eyes and materializing like mist in her hand along with a gentle breeze.
A faint shimmer spread around the compressed magic power above her palm, like flames emitting smoke.
"When a magician handles magic power in this way, there's inevitably some magic power that disperses around."
This applies not only to magicians but also to those studying other disciplines.
This is a problem that arises because humans cannot fully control the magic power of nature.
"The process of handling magic power is generally called 'Mana Manipulation,' or 'Mana Control,' and the magic power that disperses around is referred to as 'Wasted Mana.'"
The condition that is unanimously considered a sign of talent among those who pursue all forms of scholarship, including magic, is undoubtedly 'Magic Affinity.'
Unlike other abilities, this is an innate talent that cannot be overcome by effort.
How familiar one is with magic power, how much one can draw it into oneself.
For them, who need to create stars within their bodies, affinity is an indicator of how quickly they can form those stars.
Arina Grant rose to the top of the current first-year class because of her exceptional Magic Affinity, which allowed her to accumulate 2nd Class magic power without much study.
Of course, from the 3rd Class onward, it's the realm of experts, so without studying rituals like she did before attending the academy, she wouldn't have reached the 3rd Class regardless of her talent.
"Just like other ability users, magicians consider Magic Affinity the foremost talent, but having good affinity alone does not necessarily make one an outstanding magician."
Of course, a high Magic Affinity allows a magician to have an advantage.
It enables faster growth, quicker recovery when magic power is depleted, and above all, it makes it easier to draw out greater power from the same ritual magic.
However, a magician is not a Supernatural Power User.
A Supernatural Power User, whose limits are set from the moment they awaken, uses all their magic power externally without forming stars within their bodies.
Therefore, unlike them, whose innate Magic Affinity is both their limit and constraint, magicians and other scholars can aim for higher realms through consistent effort.
"Mana Manipulation is one of these branches. In fact, those born with high Magic Affinity are at a disadvantage in this aspect."
Being able to draw a large amount of magic power at once means, conversely, that it's harder to handle such a large quantity.
The reason Supernatural Power Users go out of control when they first awaken their abilities is due to a lack of manipulation ability to control their affinity.
Gradually reducing the power of the abilities they first unleashed and controlling them can be considered a form of Mana Manipulation training.
"One of the most important virtues for a magician is self-control. Everything one does should be under one's own awareness."
For instance, if you create a flame with magic, you should know 'how you created this flame.'
If you freeze water, you should understand 'by what principle this water froze.'
Only when you can control not just the outcome but the entire process can you be considered a true magician.
"In this sense, the ability to extract all magic power with minimal Wasted Mana through Mana Manipulation is a criterion for distinguishing an excellent magician."
Conversely, for a Black Mage, the focus is more on how well they can waste magic power rather than Mana Manipulation.
A prime example is the 'Reverse World,' a technique that uses this uncontrolled waste of magic power to contaminate the world with one's own laws.
"Especially, Mana Manipulation is crucial for magicians during combat."
As she spoke, Professor Natilda released the sphere of compressed magic power from her hand.
Then, this time, she thinly coated her skin with magic power as if applying it like a balm.
"For example, like this."
By nature, magicians, who draw magic power into their bodies to gain transcendental senses, are more vulnerable to surprise attacks than martial artists with superhuman senses or summoners who delegate all their tasks to numerous auxiliary AIs.
To compensate for this, Enhancement Magic was developed.
Although the total amount of enhancement is less compared to martial artists, it's sufficient to respond to surprise attacks.
Since it's part of the same magic branch, it's more accessible than studying martial arts separately.
"Enhancement Magic is an essential magic for magicians focused on combat. However, using a lot of magic power on it is honestly wasteful."
If that's the case, it would be much more efficient to study martial arts concurrently, even if it's harder and slower to progress.
The reason to learn Body Enhancement Magic is only one.
It's for the magician to take minimal precautions.
"That's why Mana Manipulation is necessary. To use just enough magic to protect oneself and invest the rest in other magic."
Wasted Mana must be minimized.
Otherwise, one would become a half-baked magician who can only focus on short-term battles and not think about long-term engagements.
"That was the content from last time, and this time, we'll briefly do some practice."
It won't be part of the evaluation.
It's the first class, and most of them haven't even reached the 1st Class yet, or have just barely reached it, so we can't expect much.
Of course, if they remain at this level until later, it would be problematic.
"Each of you, come forward one by one."
After withdrawing her magic power, Professor Natilda opened the box she had brought before the class started and distributed its contents to the children.
They were small balls slightly larger than an adult man's palm.
With pentagonal and hexagonal shapes drawn on their surface, they looked like miniature soccer balls.
"These are training magic tools developed by the Magic Tower."
Magic Affinity, whose total amount is determined only by innate talent and cannot be increased by effort after birth.
However, magicians have been researching ways to break this common sense since ancient times, and this research continues to the present day.
Magic Crystals, which are formed only after being exposed to the magic power of the earth's core under high temperature and pressure for a long time.
During the process of researching whether it's possible to artificially recharge them by gathering the scattered magic power in the atmosphere.
And this is the result of the efforts made by those magicians.
Although it can only gather a very small amount, not enough for practical use, and even that disperses back into the atmosphere due to its nature.
Moreover, it's less efficient than wired charging, to the point where it might be more useful to summon an expert magician to compress magic power under high temperature and pressure to create artificial Magic Crystals.
However, at least it achieved the small accomplishment of being usable for the children's training.
"By using this, even those without stars in their bodies can move the magic power in the atmosphere."
Though it's only enough to barely stir a gentle breeze, less effective than fanning oneself.
But it's sufficient for teaching children who are just beginning to learn how to manipulate magic power.
"And like this."
As if to demonstrate, Professor Natilda activated the magic tool.
Then, wind began to gather over the ball-shaped magic tool.
Soon, the number 10.0 appeared in front of the magic tool, which absorbed the wind like a sponge.
"This is a method that displays the amount of magic power absorbed by the magic tool as a number."
While the children focused on her words, Professor Natilda showed a playful smile for the first time during the class.
"By the way, I plan to assign this as homework. It would be good to practice what you'll learn starting today every day."
Benedict Academy does not have separate exams or anything like that.
Instead, each professor assigns different subjects and thoughts as homework, and evaluates students based on the results.
The children's eyes wavered, seemingly taken aback by Professor Natilda's words.
But soon, everyone's gaze turned more serious.
"These magic tools will be yours for the entire semester. Return them without breaking them. I'll announce the evaluation later, after reviewing the progress of the entire grade."
"..."
"The evaluation criteria are broadly divided into three: 'Accuracy' in producing the number 10, 'Speed' in how quickly you can produce that number, and 'Durability' in how long you can maintain that number."
Students' levels will be comprehensively evaluated through these three criteria.
In a way, it's a very fair assignment for everyone.
Whether you're at the 0th Class, 1st Class, or 2nd Class.
It's an assignment where anyone can achieve a high score with effort, regardless of their rank.
"In today's class, I'll explain how to use it to each of you and check for any mistakes. Since it's the first class, focus on feeling what the magic power in the atmosphere is like."
As she explained how to use the magic tool and carefully observed each child using it in turn, Professor Natilda spoke.
However, most of the children couldn't even properly summon the gentle breeze Professor Natilda had demonstrated.
The average number displayed on their magic tools was mostly between 1 and 2.
Well, it was to be expected.
Most of them were at the 0th Class or 1st Class.
Children who had just started handling magic power, how often would they have had the chance to manipulate it professionally?
"Hmm, it's difficult, isn't it?"
Maril, who was a genius at tasks requiring mental acuity but hopeless at physical tasks, was no exception.
No, her performance was even more dismal than the other children.
The number displayed on her magic tool was 0.23.
Compared to the other children next to her, it was the smallest number by far.
"This is why I didn't want to take this class."
Seeming dissatisfied with the fact, she pouted her lips and turned her head slightly towards Arina, wondering how she was doing.
"Wow."
And she couldn't help but be amazed.
The number displayed on Arina's magic tool was 126.4.
Magic Affinity was an indicator of how familiar a user was with magic power.
And Arina was currently the person with the highest Magic Affinity among all the first-year students.
Moreover, she had never studied magic separately before entering the Academy, so there was no way she had experience in meticulously controlling magic power.
Despite trying to pull as little magic power from the atmosphere as possible, a number over 100 appeared.
"Hmm. You're even worse off than me."
Raising the number from 0 to 10 and lowering it from 126 to 10.
Just calculating the difference using simple addition and subtraction made it clear which was more difficult.
'Come to think of it, didn't Professor Natilda say something like that?'
That those born with a high Magic Affinity might find it more difficult to manipulate magic power.
The current situation with Arina perfectly illustrated that statement.
"What, what should we do?"
It seemed Arina also sensed the situation, as she turned to Maril with a face on the verge of tears.
Truly an unexpected challenge.
Arina Grant, the top student of the incoming class.
At that moment, the great crisis of failing the 'Enhancement Magic Introduction' class loomed over her.