C116
The first half of the magic school is over.
Although there were many talks and issues, the atmosphere was heartwarming at the end of the semester.
The teachers were also joking around with their students, waiting for the time to go home.
In a Swordsmanhsip Academy that mainly focuses on physical training, rest is taught to be as important as practice. However, this was not overlooked even at a magic school focused on cultivating the mind.
The mind was a function firmly attached to humans, even though it could not be seen. Even the most persistent students needed a break to cool their overheated brains.
However, since they should not let go of the tension, Alpheas Magic School requires students who have not held a presentation to write a thesis on a free topic.
Of course, this didn't apply to Shirone. Having received the highest score at the 'Invisible Things' presentation held at the Supernatural Psychic Science Reserach Group, he was able to enjoy his vacation in peace.
On the day of the holiday when the students were leaving one by one, Shirone found the completely empty Third Training Ground.
This place, which was noisy every day with the sound of cheers and the explosion of magic, was now filled with a quiet silence.
The 3rd Training Center was one of the largest among the training centers. A 1,600-meter track ran around the perimeter, and in an area divided into eight equal parts, there were devices for testing various magical effects.
Shirone entered the Mobility Magic training area. There are countless teleportation magics that a magician can use, such as Teleportation, Flight, Dark Port, and Air Walk. The best environment to practice all these magics was a desolate vacant lot.
Shirone looked back at her half-year achievements there.
'First of all, Mobility Magic.'
Shirone's main Mobility Magic was teleportation. From there, he has developed further, acquiring Rainbow Drop that allows curved movement, and Patrol that allows fast lateral movement.
Among the achievements, Photon Output was also indispensable.
At first, it was just magic to convey information, but after realizing the particles of God, it transformed into a powerful offensive magic called Photon Cannon.
Thanks to this, he was able to easily learn the Flash magic that maintain light for a long time.
Shirone was not satisfied there and continued to evolve. He developed a laser by mathematically reversing the photon cannon.
Although the single impact of the Photon Cannon would be high, the cumulative damage of the laser was close to infinite. It was a terrifying magic that could destroy any solid object, unless it was a material unaffected by the wave of the laser.
'Come to think of it, I must have worked pretty hard too.'
Shirone smiled happily. Above all, what he felt good about was the fact that his major in magic had jumped to the next level.
Shirone's current photonization theory had risen beyond the quasi-light speed to the area of sub-light speed. The reason Shirone visited the training ground was also to try casting Spatial Shift, which was said to be impossible unless he was a magician of sub-light speed. (현재 시로네의 광자화 이론은 준아광속을 넘어 아광속의 영역에 올라있었다.)
"I wonder what it feels like?"
It was a different dimension from teleportation. He had heard that he could clearly experience the uniqueness of light folding space-time from Spatial Shift.
When he expanded the spirit zone, he felt the surrounding scenery clearly through Synesthesia. Concentrating his consciousness on a single point, Shirone performed Photon Magic at sub-light speed.
The moment he combined omniscience and omnipotence and tilted his center, his body evaporated into light. A flash soared high into the sky, and then crashed to the ground in an instant.
Shirone, who arrived at the destination, exhaled with a pale face.
“Huuft! It- It’s working!”
His heart was beating fast at the sensation he was experiencing for the first time in his life. The landscape entering his eyes itself was different from Teleportation.
When casting Teleportation, he gets a feeling that the world is being crumpled and pushed in. But Spatial Shift felt like the world was folding and the sky and the earth were rotating.
'This is Spatial Shift. I'm out of my mind. I can't use it in battle like this.'
He heard that even Ethella, a certified 6th-rank wizard, used teleportation as her main weapon in her confrontation with Arcane. In the end, it was proof that Spatial Shift was not effective during combat.
The point where Spatial Shift really shines is not in battle but in moving situations.
If you're moving long distances, you run the risk of crashing into obstacle if you cast Teleportation. Therefore, no matter how wide the Spirit Zone is, most of them use an interval of within 10 meters as a standard.
But Spatial Shift can literally jump over space regardless of obstacle.
Of course, in order to have a visible effect, the radius of the Spirit Zone had to be incomparably wider than it is now.
The diameter of Shirone's current spirit zone is about 50 meters. It was a top-notch size among students, but it felt a little lacking to handle advanced magic such as Spatial Shift.
In the end, the magic level was too high compared to his Spirit Zone. Normally, magic follows the level of one’s Spirit Zone, but Shirone, an Unlocker, has overcome the theoretical barriers with his outstanding insight.
'The balance has become asymmetrical. Am I supposed to be happy at this?'
Of course, the growth of his Spirit Zone was not small either. The size may be similar to that of the beginning of admission, but the durability itself is different.
If asked to expand the zone to the level of six months ago, a diameter of 100 meters would not be a problem.
However, if he were to cast high-level magic in that state, the zone would break. Therefore, it was reasonable to still consider the radius of the zone to be 50 meters.
'Haha, people will laugh at me if I said I use Spatial Shift with a zone of this size..'
According to a rough calculation, the zone had to be at least 200 meters in diameter for Spatial Shift to be effective in practice.
Suppose a mage receives an urgent task and needs to move 10 kilometers. To reach that distance with Teleportation, you would have to cast it a whopping 1,000 times. However, a mage with a zone diameter of 200 meters can cover the distance with only 50 instances of Spatial Shift.
Being able to reduce 950 casting times in a real combat scenario, where every split second counts, is a tremendous efficiency.
"It's not all about learning powerful magic. Without the support of the Spirit Zone, you can't become an excellent mage."
Moreover, training the Spirit Zone doesn't just mean increasing its radius.
The size must be increased while maintaining enough durability for the major magic to function. Moreover, to increase the accuracy of magic, you have to care about the density as well.
"Oh my goodness......"
Shirone was flabbergasted. He felt as if the road he was going to walk stretched out all the way to the horizon.
The radius and durability of the zone, omniscience and omnipotence, adaptability and proficiency, practical experience and judgment, etc. The knowledge that a mage had to learn was endless.
Above all, what thrilled Shirone was the fact that all of these qualities have to be raised simultaneously while achieving a balance.
Upon realizing that fact, he began to see vaguely the form of what kind of path he was pursuing and what magic was.
Shirone felt thrilled.
It was because it was proof of growth that he could vaguely feel the reality in the near-infinite magic world.
The same goes for Sienna, Ethella, and Arcane. They all reached their positions through tremendous practice. Of course, the path will be tough, but he didn't think it was a broken bridge.
'I can do it. I can rise higher.'
Having succeeded in advancing to Class 4, he can apply for the graduation class at any time from next semester. And when he finally graduates, he becomes the magician he dreamed of.
"I'm going to be a mage......"
Just imagining it made Shirone's heart flutter. There was a time when he thought he would have to live in the mountains all his life. But now it's different. His longed-for dream was becoming a reality.
"Come to think of it, a lot has happened."
When he first entered school, he couldn't even handle one magic and was scolded by his peers. As a counter to that, didn't he even take an exceptional Teleportation Test?
"Haha! Thinking about it now, I was really pathetic."
Shirone left the Mobility Magic training ground and entered the cutting magic training ground in Sector 4.
As a place to test magical cutting power, a highly viscous cylindrical target was floating on top of the magic circle.
Shirone walked up to the target and reached out.
“Wind Cutter.”
At the same time as the chanting, a strong wind blew up. The sharp wind scratched the target and the cylinder was cut in half with a clang.
Students specializing in Air Magic train by setting the astrological properties to the maximum, but Shirone was satisfied with the fact that the magic was successful on his first try.
"Hehe, this is simple."
Currently, Shirone's Omnipotence is incomparably stronger than it was at the beginning of his enrollment.
Since he passed all subjects with a score of 80 or higher, the basic magic, Wind Cutter, was not a problem at all.
Of course, not everyone could achieve Omnipotence just because they knew the Omniscience part. The reason he could instantly manifest the first attempted magic was because Shirone's tendencies were closer to insight than analysis.
Mage could be largely divided into theoretical and sensory. Each had its own strengths and weaknesses, but when trying something new, sensory learning was invariably faster than theoretical.
Especially, Shirone belonged to the group with very distinct tendencies. The reason Arcane once said that Shirone learns from real-life experiences stemmed from here.
Shirone, who had reviewed the results of the past six months, wore a satisfied smile. Even in his own opinion, he now felt quite like a mage.
“Hey, Shirone!”
"Yes?"
When he looked back at the track, Nade and Iruki were waving at him.
Shirone, who was about to run at them, suddenly came up with an interesting idea and stopped walking.
He then converted his Spirit Zone into a target type, calculated the distance with his friends, and cast Spatial Shift.
With a grinding sound as if metal was being scratched, Shirone's body dropped in front of the two in an instant.
"You surprised me! Wha- What did you just do?”
Nade backed away in surprise. Iruki also opened his eyes wide as if he hadn't expected it.
“Could it be Spatial Shift? Were you practicing until the end of the semester?"
Shirone answered with an awkward smile.
"No. I won't be able to practice at the training ground for the time being, so I stopped by to review what I’ve learned for one last time.”
"But Spatial Shift is something you succeeded at for the first time today, right? It's quite amazing. Try it again once."
As Naid made a fuss, Iruki clicked his tongue.
"What's so amazing? It's not like we haven't seen it before."
"No, I think it's the first time we've seen someone our age cast it? When the teachers did it, we thought it was just normal, but it feels different when Shirone does it."
"Well, Spatial Shift is a difficult spell even for the graduating seniors."
It wasn't called a specialty for nothing. Teleportation was a fundamental magic for mage, but Spatial Shift was more akin to a specialty.
Of course, like Teleportation, Spatial Shift is also classified as Over Power, so it was essential for those who achieved a 6th-rank level to learn it.
However, using sub-light magic at the student level was much more difficult than expected, even for specialists.
"But there's no particular use for it yet. The moving distance is too short."
"Why is there no use? You at least surprised Nade.”
"What? When was I surprised? I can do Plasma too. Want me to show you here?"
Nade flared up, but it was already too late. Iruki, looking annoyed, waved his hand and spoke to Shirone.
"Alright. Anyway, to sum it up, this is it. You were indulging in narcissism while casting great magic in an empty place, right?”
Shirone's face turned red. Although he was just reviewing the achievements of the past six months, in a way, Iruki's words were not wrong.
"No, that's not what I was..."
"Well, you can afford to do so. You're the one who showed the most growth this semester. Anyway, let's go say our farewells now if you're satisfied."
"Oh, right. It's already this late."
Although most students had gone home, a few students like Shirone's group stayed behind at school to thank the teachers for their hard work during the semester.
The trio left the training ground and searched for the building where the teachers stayed. All the doors of the dormitories were open and cleaners were cleaning each room.
Shirone found the conference hall. As expected, numerous teachers were chatting while sipping tea, just before leaving for their hometowns.
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Tags:
Infinite Mage (Novel)
