Chapter 15: Chapter 15. Elemental Magic (2)

Horizon first had the other students step back.

Despite saying it didn’t matter if my spell ran out of control, the professor apparently still needed to take a few basic precautions.

Well, the professor told me to do it. What choice do I have?

I concentrated and blinked once.

The perfectly ordinary scenery around me changed.

Countless polyhedra came into view, just as they had last night.

At first, I was worried I’d have to see these for the rest of my life, but now I can switch between the two views at will.

It seemed I could turn this sense on and off whenever I wanted.

I could keep it shut off normally and activate it only when I needed to perceive the elements around me.

I don’t know why I’ve gained this ability, though…

It was strange to acquire a power like this just from reading an introductory elemental studies textbook once.

Even the Elemental Department professors probably couldn’t sense elements in such fine detail.

If I use elemental magic in this state, I’ll draw on far too much elemental power.

It depended on the formula, but the more precisely a mage perceived the surrounding elements, the more power they could draw from them.

The formula we had learned in yesterday’s class, however, assumed that a beginner would be drawing on only a small amount of power.

If I used it as it was, I thought the spell would run out of control.

A runaway spell is dangerous.

The most common result was an explosion.

The elemental power reacted chaotically and exploded.

All sorts of other things could happen as well, which was why you weren’t supposed to attempt magic beyond your ability to control.

With my current skills, it would be easy for me to lose control of a spell.

Everything in the introductory elemental studies textbook I had read last night was in my head.

But putting that knowledge to use and actually casting magic was another matter.

It ran out of control last night, too…

I had casually tried drawing on elemental power, only for a whirlwind to engulf the entire room.

By the time I came to my senses, the bookshelf had toppled over and the bed’s legs were broken.

Even though it was the middle of the night, Kane had heard the noise from downstairs and come running up.

I was lucky to survive then. There’s no guarantee I’ll be that lucky again.

Still, Professor Horizon, head of the Elemental Department, was here now.

Since the professor had told me to use my magic freely, all I could do was trust that assurance and try.

“Then I’ll give it a try.”

“Go ahead.”

Horizon nodded.

The other students had stopped practicing to watch me as well.

“…”

Taking a deep breath, I focused on the elements around me.

I had already determined that, among the various polyhedra, the regular tetrahedra were fire elements.

I need to draw on the power of those tetrahedra.

Being fire elements didn’t mean they were actual flames floating in the air.

To create a sphere of flame with their help, I had to draw out the power within them.

Construct the formula.

I built the spell formula in my mind.

I incorporated not only what we had learned in class, but also what I had learned on my own from the textbook.

Countless strings of formula language rose in my mind as the formula took shape.

And then…

Project… the formula.

The moment I extended the formula that had existed only in my mind into the world outside…

The regular tetrahedra all around me began to vibrate faintly.

I could sense them releasing energy as hot as a blazing fire.

Yet the temperature around me didn’t rise.

All that energy was gathering in my hand.

So this is… elemental magic.

The power to draw strength from the elements that made up the world.

A great magical art, the most orthodox and the most fundamental.

Elemental magic was unfolding before me.

“…!”

Boom!

Flames surged up with a tremendous roar.

Horizon had told us to make a flame the size of a fist, but what burst from my palm was nothing of the sort.

It was an enormous sphere of flame, large enough to engulf one person—no, two or three.

Feeling its tremendous heat, I turned urgently toward Horizon.

Hurry…!

I wanted the professor to bring the runaway spell under control at once.

But Horizon simply watched me, still smiling.

“Well done, Eriol.”

“…?”

“You’ve kept it under control without letting it run wild.”

At those words…

I examined the sphere of flame again.

The enormous fire was simply blazing away, maintaining its spherical shape.

It wasn’t flying off anywhere or exploding. Its form was stable.

“Everyone, take a good look!”

Horizon turned to the other students and called out more loudly.

“Even with the basic formula you’ve learned, you can make a sphere of flame this large if you draw on as much elemental power as possible! This is the power of elemental magic!”

“Oh…!”

“Be as keenly aware of the elements around you as you can! You’re the top class. I’m certain you can produce a sizable flame! Understood?”

“Yes, Professor!”

After hearing their reply, Horizon lightly raised a hand.

An instant later, the enormous, blazing sphere of flame vanished without a trace.

“Wow…!”

Cries of wonder rose around me.

I was quite astonished myself.

I have no idea how that was done.

That alone told me Horizon had reached a level of magic far beyond my own.

“Everyone, resume practicing.”

“Yes…!”

The students concentrated and returned to their practice.

Among them, I spotted Kane looking at me and giving me a thumbs-up.

“Eriol Valencia.”

Horizon approached me and spoke in a low voice.

“Let me tell you something. Don’t let making this go to your head.”

“I understand, Professor.”

“Do you?”

“Yes. Something like this is useless in actual combat.”

All I had done was create a large sphere of flame.

That alone didn’t mean I had cast the offensive spell Fireball.

“To use it in combat, I’d have to launch the sphere of flame at a suitable speed and hit my target.”

“You understand well.”

Horizon looked pleased.

“To hit an enemy with a sphere of flame this size, the formulas you learn in Fundamentals of Elemental Studies won’t even come close to being enough.”

The textbook I had read yesterday hadn’t explained how to control a spell containing this much energy.

I would need to construct a more advanced formula, which was beyond my current abilities.

“For now, you should practice making and controlling small spheres of flame. You can work with larger ones once you’ve learned more magic.”

“But Professor, making a small sphere of flame is actually harder for me.”

“Hmm. I imagine it would be.”

After a moment’s thought, Horizon raised a finger into the air.

“A formula like this should suit you as you are now.”

Horizon traced glowing letters in the air.

It was a formula perfectly suited to my current situation.

“That would… make it easy to adjust how much power I draw from the elements.”

“You understood it at a glance.”

Horizon looked pleased again.

“Just what I’d expect from someone whose spiritual origin is reading comprehension. The reason you find it so easy to draw on elemental power is probably that you can ‘read’ the arrangement of the elements to some extent.”

“…”

At those words, I fell silent for a moment.

I had to revisit the question I had been wrestling with since last night.

Should I explain… that I can now perceive the elements perfectly as regular polyhedra?

But I immediately dismissed the thought.

I had already reached my conclusion last night.

For now, I need to keep it hidden.

The reason I had decided that was the writing on the walls of Room 801.

The student who had disappeared had left a message: “I’ve discovered how to reach the source of magic. But if they find out, they won’t leave me alone.”

I didn’t know what method that student had discovered, but it seemed there were things at this academy that you weren’t supposed to know.

If word gets out that I have this ability, there’s no telling how the academy will react.

Until I had more information, it would be better to keep it to myself.

I had no intention of telling Uncle Kaisel, either.

“Professor, what exactly is the reading comprehension aptitude?”

Instead, I asked a different question.

“I asked you this before, but is it more than an aptitude that helps with things like deciphering grimoires?”

“As I told you before, it is for reading all things.”

Horizon smiled.

“That is all I can tell you for now.”

“…”

“If you wish to learn more…”

Horizon reached out and patted my shoulder.

“Join the Elemental Department after your first year.”

---

“Professor Horizon personally told Eriol to join the Elemental Department?”

“Yes. I heard it myself. I was right there.”

Klein, the professor in charge of the first-year top class, could hardly believe his ears.

But the younger acquaintance from his hometown who had brought him the news was a teaching assistant working under Horizon in the Elemental Department.

If the assistant had heard it firsthand, there could be no mistake.

“Professor Horizon is already making recruitment offers… I didn’t expect that.”

“Neither did I. The professor has always been so cautious.”

Every year, the departments fought over promising new students.

But a professor couldn’t go begging a new student, “Please, join our department!”

Once they had recruited the student, they needed to train them to suit their own purposes as much as possible. It would be a problem if the hierarchy were reversed from the outset.

Besides, professors from other departments might mock them: “Does that professor have no pride?” So even when they wanted to recruit a new student, they generally proceeded with the utmost caution.

Making a direct offer less than a week after enrollment, as Horizon had done, was highly unusual.

“The professor did say it only to Eriol, so the other students couldn’t hear.”

“But you heard it. And now it’s reached me.”

Klein bit his lip.

He had recognized Eriol’s talent on the very first day and vowed to bring him into the Lore Department. But if Horizon, the head of the Elemental Department, was already making a move like this, he would have to change his strategy.

“This won’t do.”

“What are you going to do?”

“Show him the appeal of the Lore Department.”

As its name suggested, the Lore Department sought to inherit and carry on the knowledge of the past.

As the department’s youngest professor, Klein dreamed of using the credit for recruiting Eriol to one day become its youngest-ever head.

“Tell me, when do you think new students find the Lore Department appealing?”

“Well, probably not when they’re leafing through old grimoires… Oh.”

“Exactly.”

Klein smiled and spread his arms.

“With the authority of the Lore Department, I’ll invite Eriol into a world that will set his heart racing.”