Cæ departed from the Principal's Office with a thoughtful expression.
Much had happened in the short conversation that he had with the Headmistress. He certainly hadn't expected that she would request him to not only become an exceptional student but also a leader among his fellow students.
She wanted to become such a high-profile student that she could point at him as a powerful reason to extend talent acquisition not just to the Elendir Institute of Magic but also to the Ministry of Education as well as the Ministry of Magical Affairs, which were stakeholders in the Elendir Institute of Magic.
The brighter he shined, the stronger the political capital he could lend to her cause.
He wasn't pleased to be used as political ammunition, but at least he was getting paid juicily, not to mention that building leadership experience would help in his ultimate ambition.
And yet, that wasn't what consumed his mind the most.
He thought about Lilia.
She had been part of the Equitist Movement as an activist who fought for the poor and the disenfranchised. She dreamed of a better world and hoped that the world would eventually become one without inequality and injustice.
Cæ thought her dreams were naive.
And yet, upon her death, upon his desire to get justice for her death, he had ended up adopting her dream as his actual ambition that he had decided to dedicate everything to achieving.
"That must be why…" A faint murmur escaped him.
That must have been why he resolved to build a better world after destroying the existing world order.
It was an uncharacteristic decision on his part.
To try and build a better world.
It was not the kind of ambition he would develop of his own inclination. Without Lilia's influence on him with her naive but warm dream, he would probably settled for destroying the world and nothing more.
The realization illuminated to what extent she had had an impact on him as a person.
It left him in a deep, introspective mood.
But alas, he didn't have the time to sit around mulling in a reverie of self-realization.
STEP
He arrived at the entrance to a semicircular lecture hall hosting the first lecture in a course he was mandated to take. Long, curved benches revolved around the podium and whiteboard at the very center of the lecture hall.
He swept his gaze across the gathered freshmen students who had settled down in seats, facing the professor and his assistants who took their place at the side of the podium.
The elderly professor smiled at Cæ, stroking his white beard. "Well, if it isn't Mr. Cæ. You have come just in time. Please have a seat."
All the students immediately turned around and stared at him with heavy gazes like a flock of owls. Their eyes were brimming with curiosity as to whether he was praised or scolded by Headmistress Lenolia. He simply sighed and took a seat next to the only three people he had any relationship with.
"Did you get scolded?" Natana whispered nervously as she shifted to make space for him.
"No," he calmly replied, pulling a textbook out of his bag.
"Then—"
"Alright, that's enough talking. Class will start now, so let's begin," the old man whipped a wand out from his belt, pointing it at a marker on his table.
The students watched with enthusiastic eyes as a glowing two-dimensional magic circle emerged right in front of him the marker immediately floated in the air before flying to the board and swiftly writing out a message on the board.
[Introduction to Magic]
He waved his wand as the marker returned to the table.
"Good Morning, my students," he began with a jolly tone and a simple smile. "I am Professor Marolen Mirrel, and I will be teaching the most fundamental important course in your journey in the mastery of magic. The fundamentals of magic that will become the foundation of everything else you learn about this field from this point forth."
Many of the students grew engrossed in what he had to tell them.
Most of them had no idea what magic was. There were a handful of wealthy students who had gained some tutoring and even training in magic prior to attending the magicademy.
"However, before we can understand what magic is as a phenomenon…" he began with an excited tone, "we need to understand what reality is. You see, all that is causally real, that is, all that adheres to the law of causality, is defined by two fundamental aspects that are paramount to their existence."
He waved his wand around as another two-dimensional glowing magical circle of runes appeared before him, causing the Marker to scribble a special symbol.
A yin-yang symbol.
With one half labeled as form and the other as physicality.
The diagram as a whole was labeled as reality.
Cæ raised an eyebrow at the symbol.
It was one he hadn't seen in the Foundations of Magic book that Mr. Selvig had given him. However, that book was quite old, so perhaps the portrayal was rather new.
"Form and physicality." He smiled eagerly as he directed a sweeping gaze. "Form is the information defining the nature of said reality. How it exists in the world, how its mass and energy are distributed, and how it interacts with the world around it. All this information is contained in the dataset that we call Form. And physicality…"
He shook his balled fists in an elucidating manner, "is the existential substance that fills that form and adheres to the information that describes reality. And so, that begs the question…"
His tone grew more excited. "What if we could create form and imbue it with physicality?"
A wave of shock washed over the students as their eyes widened with realization as to where this was going.
Cæ and some other students simply listened with an impassive gaze as the professor spent more than half an hour going into detail about what form and physicality were. Of course, this was the most basic and essential knowledge of magic.
"…This is incredible!"
"…So this was the secret of magic!"
"How profoundly mystical!"
Cæ watched the students gushing with astonishment and excitement over the truth of magic in unison. It was genuine ecstatic enthusiasm that they all shared for this magical revelation regardless of their class.
They were enamored and immersed in the secrets of magic while Cæ zoned out.
At least, until the conversation peeked his interest once more as the professor took the lesson in a direction that was relevant to him.
"Now, is it possible to create form, an eidos, from imagination alone?" the professor asked with a passionate expression, clearly infected by the student's enthusiasm. "Go on, try it! Let's see what the answer is! Science is about inquiry into reality through experimentation, after all!"
Cæ feigned curiosity as he closed his eyes and pretended to exert himself with a strained expression. "Hnggg…!"
Many other students tried the same, pushing themselves to the limit to create an eidos from imagination alone.
Naturally, not one of them succeeded.
"Hahaha!" the professor laughed good-spiritedly at their attempts. "And, what is your conclusion?"
"It's impossible!" one boy complained. "I can't visualize a three-dimensional object in its entirety with absolute clarity and consistency!"
"I have an image in mind, but it feels hazy…" a girl murmured with a disappointed tone.
"Darn it, I just can't get it to stay the same without changing a little each second!" Kelton gritted his teeth a few seats away from Cæ.
"Indeed," the professor nodded with an amused smile. "What you have attempted to do is the divine power of true magic. An extraordinary ability that no more than a single chosen one out of all human beings is blessed with every few decades. They are known as pure mages and can wield magic with thought and imagination alone."
"Pure mages…?" a stunned whisper escaped the students.
"Indeed," the Professor smiled. "They are able to master any and all magic at an extraordinary pace because they don't need to go through the astronomically difficult task of creating magic with something as painstakingly tedious as memory like the rest of us commoners do. Hohoho."
"P-Professor, are there any pure mages in the modern era?" Sorenon asked with a curious expression.
"Of course," the Professor smiled. "Out of the nearly hundred billion people out there who are alive, there are only three known pure mages."
Cæ's interest deepened right along with his classmates this time.
"The first, of course, is the Wandering Witch," the Professor continued with an informative tone. "The Wandering Witch, Magus Dalia Vironel, is known to be one of the most powerful mages in the modern era at the age of eighty, who travels the world amongst us. Her pure magic allowed her to not only reach the highest rank among mages but also distinguish herself even among her extraordinary peers!"
A wave of murmurs swept across the students as not a single person had failed to recognize the name.
Not even Cæ.
The Wandering Witch.
She got her name for spending her life traveling the world, collecting magic, and spreading prosperity wherever she traveled. She was regarded as a good omen because of how much happiness she brought to people.
"Another one is the Sovereign of Heaven, Archmage Veltoran of the Garanghar Magicracy," the Professor continued. "This man holds the record for the youngest Archmage in history and is a magus candidate. And the final one is the Silent Seer, Master Melolen Denver. An extremely young and promising diviner of the Cormanden Kingdom."
"Is there anybody else, professor?"
"Hoho, none that have been discovered yet."
"What if there was someone that hasn't been discovered yet?" Natana fell into thought. "For example, what if someone was hiding their pure magic?"
Cæ had to exert himself to keep his eyebrows from twitching.
"Hm, there would be no reason to hide one's pure magic unless there is an elaborate reason they want to keep their power hidden," the professor mused. "Or does not want to be molded into a weapon of the state, which I suppose is possible."
Both of those were the case for Cæ.
"Now then, back to the lesson," the professor moved on. "Now, based on the explanation for magic, you might be tempted to think that magic is omnipotent. An all-powerful divine power that can make all your dreams come true. But unfortunately…"
He waved his wand at the marker as a magic circle appeared before it, causing the marker to rise once more and begin writing on the wall at a super speed, "…magic is not omnipotent or all-powerful and is, in fact, subject to its own rules and regulations that limit it."
[The Fundamental Laws of Magic.]
The students leaned forward with curious expressions.
"Among the many things that the Magi of the past have imparted to human civilization were some of the most fundamental laws governing the phenomenon of magic," Professor Marolen's gaze swept across the students as the marker continued writing more. "We will begin with the first one by none other than the most famous Magus in all of human history, Magus Merlin himself, which is…"
[Law of Conservation of Value]
"Value…?" Cæ raised an eyebrow.
"Indeed value!" the Professor continued with a passionate tone. "Merlin's Law of the Conservation of Value tells us that the value of the outcome produced by magic cannot exceed the value of the caster."
Many students frowned with confused expressions.
"For example," the professor continued. "Let's say the financial net worth of an individual is worth one million leenars. And let us say he wants to use creation magic, a rather advanced form of magic, mind you, to create an object that is worth more than one million years. Then he won't be able to do it. That is what Merlin's Law of Conservation of Value tells us. It doesn't matter what the size, shape, or mass of an object is, the mage is only constrained by its value relative to it!"