Chapter 256 Studying Magic Circles
After lunch, there was a class by Alicia about using magic circles to activate magic. However, Adam was not participating because he had a different curriculum with Cordelia, the female educator.
"Before we start this class, I need to mention something important. Magic circles are treated as 'fragments of lost technology' not only in our academy but also in official papers from academic institutions in various countries."
Sara, who had already talked with Alicia many times, knew this information. The knowledge of magic circles, which were commonly used in a long-lost civilization, had mostly turned to dust, with only a few documents remaining.
"When a person activates magic, they imagine what kind of event they want to create. The phenomenon that is brought to life by that image using magical power is what we call magic. The basic principle is the same for chanting magic, but by chanting, a person can stabilize their image better, making it easier to activate than non-chanting magic that relies only on the image."
'Hmm. I feel like chanting fixes the image, which also limits the scale of the magic being activated.'
Sara remembered the time she had discussed chanting magic with Thomas.
"And about magic circles, they are thought to have the same basic principle as activating magic through chanting. This means that the image you want to bring to life as magic is described within the magic circle."
"Miss Alicia, may I ask a question?"
Christopher raised his hand.
"Please, Sir Christopher."
"So, the magic circle is a description of 'someone's image' in 'some kind of language,' and when you channel magic power into that magic circle, the image becomes real and turns into magic, right?"
"Yes. That's correct."
"Then, what is the language described in the magic circle? And why does it activate as magic when it's written in that language?"
"Sir Christopher, you are very clever. That question connects to what we talked about at the beginning of this class. We only know that this language was used in ancient civilizations, and we only have fragments of its words and grammar. What we can do now is combine the known words and make something that looks right. The name of this language varies by country, but researchers in Avalon simply call it 'magic language.' In other countries, it is sometimes grandly referred to as 'creation language'."
With a smile, Alicia drew a large, mysterious symbol on the blackboard.
"This is a word written in the magic language called 'Trigger.' We don't know why writing it in the magic language allows magic to activate. However, it has been found that if you write this Trigger in the magic circle, when you channel magic power, the Trigger receives the magic power and activates the magic circle, executing what is written. An alchemist studying ancient ruins from hundreds of years ago deciphered the Trigger words, which led to the creation of various magical tools. By the way, the first magical tool created was something that lit up using fire magic."
Alicia drew a picture of a rod on the blackboard.
"This is the magical tool created at that time. It's a substitute for a torch, but if you don't keep flowing fire attribute magic, the light goes out, so it was quite inconvenient. It seems that if you use other attribute magic or if you flow too much fire attribute magic, it breaks easily, so it didn't become very popular."
Hearing this explanation, Chloe reacted.
"Miss Alicia, does that mean we can activate magic from a magic circle without a magic stone?"
"Yes, that's correct. In the early days, magical tools didn't use magic stones. However, since you have to keep flowing magic power during the activation and it's difficult for people to maintain a specific amount of a certain attribute's magic power, they decided to use magic stones as a substitute. With the invention of this technology, magical tools evolved rapidly. At the same time, research on magic language and magic stones became active in various countries."
"If that's the case, for magical tools like golems or music boxes that need to be constantly moving, I think magic stones are definitely necessary. But for things like healing magic or fire attribute attack magic that activate instantly, wouldn't it be fine without magic stones?"
Alicia smiled with great satisfaction at her very talented student.
"The Grandchester family is full of exceptional people. Of course, Lady Sara, but Lady Chloe and Sir Christopher are not to be outdone either."
"That's too much praise. No one can beat Sara."
"How about that? In terms of knowledge and application, Lady Sara is outstanding, but knowledge can be covered through studying, and I think Lady Chloe has cultural knowledge that Lady Sara doesn't have, especially in social situations. Isn't it a bit strange to compare them?"
"Is that so?"
"Yes. Everyone has their own areas of expertise. I'm an alchemist, so I'm good at alchemy and magic studies, but I'm not good at literary subjects."
Then Amelia, who had been watching nearby, followed up with Alicia.
"Hehe. Actually, I'm also not good at literature, especially poetry. When it comes to advanced math, I can't handle it either. I've only learned as much as I need for being a pharmacist."
"I see, my younger brother looks smart but is terrible at geography."
"Chloe, could you not reveal my weaknesses like that?"
"By the way, Sara is really bad at drawing, right?"
Chloe giggled, playfully poking at Sara's weakness.
"If you keep saying that, I might draw a portrait of you! It would look like a cursed painting."
"I really don't want that."
Everyone burst into laughter at that moment.
As the wave of laughter subsided, Alicia answered Chloe's earlier question.
"Now, back to the previous topic. It's true that for healing magic or attack magic, it's possible to activate them without a magic stone. However, with the 'previous magic circles,' it was necessary to flow magical power of the appropriate attribute for the magic being activated. So for healing magic, you needed to flow light attribute magical power."
At that moment, the attentive Christopher chimed in.
"Now, you mentioned the magic circle before, right, Miss Alicia?"
"Yes, I did."
"Is it different now?"
"It's a technique that only the Sophia Merchant Guild has, but now you can activate magic from the magic circle using any type of magical power. Of course, it's still kept secret."
"If that gets out..."
"The professors from the Academy might come again."
Chloe and Christopher both held their heads in frustration.
"And also, the magic circle has a lifespan."
"Lifespan?"
"Yes. Every time you activate magic, it puts a little strain on the magic circle, so eventually, it will break. However, magic circles engraved on relatively sturdy materials like magic stones, stones, or wooden boards are less likely to break. If you use a magic stone to flow a certain amount of a specific type of magical power, the strain can be quite low. The Spieluhr uses a wooden box, and it should keep playing music for about 100 years without breaking, even if it plays continuously. But before that, the magic stone will run out of power."
"So, what do you draw the magic circle on that makes it break?"
Chloe tilted her head.
"You can draw the magic circle directly on the ground using a stick or something. If you kick it, it will break in no time, and you can't carry it around, but until it breaks, you can use it as many times as you want. And what's common is a magic circle drawn on paper like this."
Alicia opened a box that was on the table and took out a piece of paper with a magic circle drawn on it.
"This magic circle has various types of magic drawn on it. There are fire attack magic, wind attack magic, and earth defense magic, among others. The power has been intentionally reduced. Hey everyone, don't you want to go outside and try it a bit?"
"""I want to!"""
All 4 of them, except for Sara, responded very positively.
'Even though Scott and Blaze can use magic, they want to use the magic circle, huh?'
* * *
When they stepped out into the tower's garden, the golems were on alert around them. Sara called out to the first golem.
"Hey, are there any suspicious people nearby?"
"There's one person about 20 meters (�65.6 feet) away in a tree. Also, a man pretending to be a servant is approaching, but he is not a servant of the Grandchester family. He seems to be from some noble family, but there's no record of him in the Magi data. He hasn't been caught before either. He's still about 50 meters (�164 feet) away."
Sara used wind magic to scout in the direction the golem indicated.
'Ah, that one.'
"Alicia, do you have a magic circle for binding magic with wood attributes?"
"Yes, I do."
"Then, please give it to Chris."
Christopher received the paper with the magic circle drawn on it from Alicia.
"First golem, can you stand between Chris and the thief in the tree? Yes, right there is good. Now, Chris, can you activate the magic from the magic circle towards the big tree that's in line with the first golem's left shoulder? That magic circle is for binding magic, so if the magic hits the tree, it will bind the thief hiding in it."
"Got it!"
Christopher held a magic circle in his left hand and directed his right finger at the target tree. Then, he heard a distant "Whoa!" But just that once, the paper with the magic circle crumbled to pieces.
"Oh no, the magic circle!"
"That's because the magic power Chris released was too strong for the magic circle to handle. If you had controlled it better, you might have been able to use it 2 or 3 more times, but it's probably best to think of it as a one-time use."
"I see."
"But it seems the binding worked. Well, let's check that later and move on to the next thing."
Sara then called Chloe and took out a water attribute attack magic from the magic circle that Alicia had.
"Chloe, this is a pretty weak magic, like dumping a bucket of water, but can you use it on that approaching servant?"
"Uh, is it okay to play a prank like that?"
"Originally, the Maiden's Tower is off-limits to boys. The Grandchester family servants should know that, right? Since I didn't give permission, that guy is suspicious. So go ahead and do it without holding back."
"But is it really okay to just prank a suspicious person?"
"With all these golems around, you don't need to worry."
"Got it. I'll give it a try."
Like Christopher earlier, Chloe held the magic circle in her left hand and pointed her right hand to activate the water attribute magic.
Then, the man pretending to be a servant ended up getting drenched with a huge amount of water, more like a large barrel than a bucket, and fell backward.
Alicia, who already understood the situation, handed Scott the earth attribute binding magic and Blaze the wind attribute defense magic. The two activated their magic almost at the same time.
It seemed that the man pretending to be a servant could use magic, and he tried to launch a counterattack. However, since the wind attribute defense magic that Blaze activated covered the area like a dome, the weak fire attribute magic bounced back and seemed to burn him.
"Alicia, did you know that guy was a magician?"
"No, I didn't know. I just handed them over because there were 2 cards in a row."
"That's an amazing coincidence."
Now, the magic circles of the 3 who activated their magic were still intact. It seemed they adjusted the amount of magic power based on Christopher's condition.
"So, how does it feel to activate magic?"
"It's super fun!!"
Chloe replied with a big smile, and the other 3 nodded in agreement.
"Hey, Scott and Blaze, you both activated magic, right?"
"No, I've never activated earth attribute magic before."
"I've never used wind attribute magic either!"
'They're so excited. Well, when it comes to fun activities, that's true.'
"You want to learn the magic language, right?"
"""Yeah!"""
'Hehe. But learning that language is not easy at all. Once you master it, you could not only enter the academy but also become a researcher in the magic or alchemist departments.'
Of course, Sara has only learned a little. And the leading expert in magic circles is Paracelsus, who still hasn't been matched by anyone else. When you think about it, Alicia is truly a special person. Moreover, the only one who really understands the unique technique to activate magic regardless of magical attributes is Alicia, at this stage. Well, to be precise, Magi also understands it, but since they are not human, they are excluded.
'I see, Mr. Theofrastos must have been bragging when we first met.'
Sara reminisced deeply.
However, realizing Alicia's uniqueness only made her desire to meet her ancestor, Paracelsus, even stronger.
'Well then, shall I have the golems check on Paracelsus's whereabouts?'
Meanwhile, the thieves captured by the children of Grandchester were collected by the golems and escorted to the knight's headquarters.
Please bookmark this series and rate ☆☆☆☆☆ on here!
Donate me
Support Me with USDC
(ERC20)
Support Me with XLM
(Stellar Lumens)