Chapter 98

Even after the new year, I continued to attend Professor Laspede's lectures every other day and went to the forest on the other days.

I repeated this routine.

Regarding Professor Laspede's lectures, in the past, the topic was decided by the professor's questions, but recently, it often starts with my questions.

For example, when the topic was composite magic, it went something like this.

"Previously, I read in a book that composite magic doesn't exist. Is that true?"

When I asked this, the professor, as usual, asked for my thoughts before answering. I explained my hypothesis.

"In conclusion, I think it already exists. Isn't the magic circle the most typical example?"

The professor replied, "Not necessarily. First, could you explain your definition of composite magic?"

"My idea of composite magic is the simultaneous and interactive use of multiple elemental magics to achieve something that a single element cannot do."

"Simultaneous and interactive... Hmm, that's a sufficient definition. However, magic circles don't fit your definition of composite magic."

When I asked, "What do you mean by that?" the professor took out a book and began to explain.

"Look at this magic circle. It was found in a trap in a certain ruin. When someone passes by, it determines whether they have an authentication magic tool. If they do, it opens the door; if not, it shoots a dart. First, look here. It uses light element magic to detect the presence of the magic tool..."

The professor started explaining the magic circle found in a trap in an ancient ruin. It detected the presence of a magic tool using light element magic, and if it was present, it unlocked the door using metal element magic. If not, it sent air through wind element magic to shoot a dart. I thought it was an automatic control device made with sensors and simple logic circuits, but indeed, from the magic circle's perspective, the effects were not activated in parallel but in series.

"...The order of the spirits' power required by the magic circle is predetermined. Therefore, the effects are not activated simultaneously in a magic circle."

"Then, does that mean, as written in the book, that composite magic doesn't exist?"

The professor replied with a smile, "Composite magic as you define it has not been discovered."

"Does that mean there are other forms of composite magic? From your explanation, it seems the 'simultaneous' part is the issue, but the 'interactive' part is not a problem."

When I asked this, the professor laughed and said, "You've used it yourself."

When I tilted my head in confusion,

"Didn't you use the Great Storm spell during the practical exam? Your Tempest was precisely a composite magic."

I didn't understand what he meant and asked for an explanation.

"I can't demonstrate it because I'm not a wind element user, but a Great Storm is essentially a larger-scale version of a blade tornado. The blades in your spell were not made of vacuum but of ice, weren't they?"

I still didn't understand what the professor meant. I had always thought of Tempest as a spell that creates fine ice particles to slash, imagining a winter storm. When I told him this,

"That's closer to a snowstorm, which is a water element spell. A blizzard is more about blowing ice with wind to slash, similar to your Tempest. However, a blizzard focuses more on attacking with cold temperatures."

Then, the professor began explaining composite magic.

"Your Tempest is a composite magic of water and wind elements. I imagine you first created a tornado with wind element magic and then produced ice blades. That's how it appeared to me."

Indeed, I had cast the spell with that image in mind, but I hadn't consciously thought of it as composite. I hadn't given it much thought because it matched the image Lidi had taught me.

"Then, how about the snowstorm and firestorm? They seem like composite magic as well."

"They might be considered composite magic. However, both are natural phenomena. Your Tempest is different. I think it's a spell that requires two elements to create... According to the professor, a blizzard and a firestorm are spells that can be cast with a single element, mimicking natural phenomena or actual events. Since they are actual phenomena, they are easier for spirits to understand, and the spirits of the main element might assist. On the other hand, your Tempest is different because it intentionally creates ice blades and adds them to the tornado, which is not a typical spell."

"In other words, a spell that intentionally combines two phenomena is composite magic, right?"

The professor replied, "It might be, but it might not be," with a meaningful tone.

"Regarding this, there is no clear definition. It's impossible to determine whether something undefined theoretically exists."

There is a spell called Ice Lance, which creates an ice spear and throws it with magic, but it doesn't create wind to fly. The definition changes depending on how much of the phenomenon is reproduced with magic. The professor was saying that the definition is ambiguous.

The time spent in lectures with the professor passed like this.

On the practical side, I often assisted with the professor's research.

Among the tasks given to me, the most valuable was identifying metals. I investigated what the metal was and, in the case of alloys, the ratio of each metal. The objects of investigation were excavated artifacts obtained by the professor, mostly from thousands of years ago.

The reason I was valuable is that many elements in this world don't have names, and the professor couldn't identify them, but I could.

Gold, silver, copper, iron, lead, and about a dozen other metals have names, but elements like nickel and aluminum, which haven't been discovered or extracted, don't have names. These are treated as impurities, making identification difficult.

Specifically, it's an analysis spell using metal element magic to determine the ratio of metals, but if the caster doesn't know the element, it's labeled as "unknown." In my case, I can identify even unusual elements because of my special skill "Reference" and my knowledge of the periodic table from my world. I assign appropriate names to elements that don't have names in this world, which helps with the work. However, to avoid arousing suspicion, I limit my identifications to relatively common elements like chromium and nickel.

There's a reason why chromium and nickel were mentioned. Stainless steel was found in ancient ruins. According to the professor, it's from over 3,500 years ago, and it's often found as containers. There are also inscriptions on stainless steel plates that can't be identified, and the professor is researching whether they are magic tools.

There are also aluminum alloys, magnesium alloys, and titanium alloys, indicating that the lost civilization had advanced metallurgical technology. The inscriptions I saw were pictographic, and I had never seen anything like them.

When I helped with this research, I had a question and asked the professor. Despite the presence of long-lived elves and dragon people who are said to be immortal, why isn't the memory of 3,500 years ago passed down?

The professor replied, "If nothing had happened, you would be right," and then shared a little-known fact.

"The Tria calendar started 3,012 years ago. Do you know what calendar was used before that and why it was changed?"

"The reason for changing the calendar could be a change in government or a major natural disaster, right?"

The professor nodded, "That's correct."

"A great calamity occurred about 3,500 years ago. There are no detailed records. More accurately, there are no records that we can identify. Around that time, almost all races, including humans, elves, and dwarves, disappeared."

"What do you mean?"

"Old elven villages have traditions from about 3,500 years ago, but only from the beginning of their history... There are no traditions from before that. It's as if our ancestors suddenly appeared, and no one lived there before..."

I listened intently.

"I haven't researched this, but many magic tools and magic circles date back to before recorded history. This is one of them."

He pointed to an aluminum alloy case.

"Interestingly, even if the same magic tool has the same magic circle, the writing can be completely different. It's as if it was intentionally rewritten. That's why no one can decipher it. However, the magic circles are different. The arrangement and shape are not much different from ours, even if the writing is different."

I muttered, "The writing was intentionally rewritten? By who..."

"The answer is still unknown. Nearly 3,000 years of research have been done, but it's only a hypothesis, not proven."

"What hypothesis? What kind of hypothesis?"

"It's not a secret, but it's better not to talk about it outside. If you still want to hear it..."

Curiosity got the better of me, and I nodded.

"The hypothesis is that the gods changed 3,500 years ago. The change in gods altered the world's principles, and the writing from before was rewritten. More accurately, the world itself was rewritten."

"When I heard the professor's hypothesis, I thought of the relationship between an operating system or application and data. For example, if you replace a word processor with a completely different one, the data from the old application becomes unusable unless it's compatible. If you change the operating system, the data from before becomes unusable or changes completely. That's how I understood it."

The professor was surprised by my comment.

"You understand this story!"

I thought, "Oops," and desperately tried to come up with an excuse.

"No, I just thought that if the gods changed, they might remake the world. In mythology, gods create mountains, skies, people, and animals, so it's not strange if what the previous gods created changed."

The professor nodded, "The group that proposed the current hypothesis thinks the same."

I didn't want to be questioned further, so I changed the topic.

"However, I don't think this is a strange idea. Why shouldn't it be talked about outside?"

The professor, unusually, showed a look of disdain.

"There is a religion called the Light God Religion in the country of Lux. They believe that the light god, Lucidus, is the absolute god and created the world. Therefore, the idea that another god created the world before the current gods is heretical to them. I think they are the ones who are truly heretical for not accepting other ideas."

"I agree. I doubt that the Light God Religion truly speaks for the gods. The gods want to preserve this beautiful world as it is. A teaching that distorts it cannot be the words of the gods."

The professor laughed, "You speak as if you've met the gods."

I thought, "Oops," but kept a calm face.

"Yes, if you interpret the gods as the power of spirits, I always meet the gods. The power of spirits, including the spirit of darkness, is strong and beautiful. Light is not special."

"You can say that because you have all elements. Yes, I understand."

At that moment, I had a thought. The gods might have been in crisis 3,500 years ago, and a similar crisis might be approaching again.

I began to want to investigate the ruins. If my hypothesis is correct, I might understand what the gods fear by looking at the ruins.

The topic has strayed, but metal element magic has an extraction spell in addition to analysis. It can extract metal from ores like iron ore, but it's difficult to extract large amounts, so it's used to remove impurities from refined materials.

When I was extracting samples of nickel, chromium, aluminum, and a few other metals at the professor's request, I made an interesting discovery.

There were trace amounts of mithril and other magic metals in the alloys. At first, I thought they were impurities, but upon analysis, they were present in a consistent ratio.

When I told the professor, he became very excited and started taking notes without looking around. Later, I learned that while current technology doesn't use magic metals in magic tools, the professor believed that using them effectively could improve efficiency.

I didn't understand why he was so excited. Magic tools in novels often use metals like mithril.

When I asked,

"Magic tools are composed of magic crystals and magic circles. We know that special metals like mithril can efficiently transmit the power of spirits. So, using them as a base seems to improve efficiency, but in practice, the difference is not significant."

"Why is that?"

"The reason is simple. Mithril is very conductive to magic. When the power of spirits is gathered through mithril, it is released through mithril, not into the magic crystal. It circulates between the inside and outside of the mithril, so the efficiency doesn't improve."

"Then, what did we learn?"

"The magic tools in the ruins used trace amounts of mithril. This means there is a way to use mithril effectively. I had a revelation when I heard your story. The magic circles might be written with mithril."

The professor's hypothesis was that using mithril like ink to draw magic circles could more efficiently gather the power of spirits. The reason this hypothesis hadn't been reached before was that there were too many unidentified substances in the alloys, making it difficult to notice the trace amounts of mithril.

I could identify mithril, so I didn't understand why it wasn't noticed. The professor explained that it's like trying to catch a fish in a large pond. It's easier to catch the fish if you use a small container. I didn't understand because I could identify specific substances even when many elements were mixed.

When the magic circle part was analyzed separately, it had a higher ratio of mithril. However, it's currently impossible to draw magic circles with mithril. The professor added this to his research topics.

Speaking of mithril, I didn't know what it was. Specifically, I didn't know which period and group in the periodic table it belonged to. When I analyzed it, I could roughly determine its position, but I couldn't with mithril.

From the analysis, titanium was the closest, but it was slightly different. Another famous magic metal, adamantite, was also unknown, but it felt closer to the chromium group—molybdenum and tungsten. I couldn't identify it precisely because it didn't exist in my original world.

Regarding magic metals, when used in magic tools, specifically weapons like swords, they can create magic swords. By embedding a magic circle and magic crystal in the hilt and channeling magic power, you can make the mithril part emit flames or cold.

I was excited to hear this. I thought I might get a magic sword.

However, according to the professor, magic swords are extremely rare, and it's almost impossible to see one. Mithril itself is rare and expensive, but a mithril longsword costs around 10,000 C (several million yen). Magic swords are rare because there are few skilled blacksmiths who can incorporate magic circles. Magic metals like mithril and adamantite are difficult to handle, and only top blacksmiths can work with them. Incorporating magic circles and crystals is also challenging, and the sword won't function properly if not done during forging. In other words, only top blacksmiths with extensive magical knowledge can create magic swords.

Therefore, even if a magic sword is for sale, it's extremely expensive, with the cheapest costing around 1,000,000 C (100 million yen).