Ch.24Magic Presentation (3)

# Ruide Christopher’s Magic Presentation

Some people had been looking forward to Ruide Christopher’s magic presentation, but most reactions were like this:

“He’s just overwhelming everyone with his innate mana capacity, isn’t he?”

Of course, breaking the Colosseum wall was impressive.

No one had ever accomplished that before.

But the purpose of a “presentation” is to share information. It’s meant to be an opportunity for a great magician to present new ideas and contribute to the field of magic.

A truly honorable and glorious occasion.

Many were displeased that such an event was being hosted by a mere 12-year-old boy, genius or not.

If he had made some new discovery, they could accept it, but Ruide had merely used powerful magic through his innate mana capacity.

Even if they learned how he cast his magic, it didn’t seem like it would benefit the magical academic community.

Thus, Ruide’s magic presentation began under skeptical gazes from the very start.

“From this point forward, sharing any content from my lecture is prohibited. This applies to everyone except those present here and those who have purchased the five crystal orbs.”

For reference—this was Clifford’s scheme.

He had coached Ruide to say this to sell the crystal orbs at the highest possible price.

After giving this brief warning, Ruide raised his staff. Using mana, he drew a line on a board that glowed blue.

‘That’s interesting. Like a chalkboard.’

When he cut off the mana supply to certain areas, those parts were cleanly erased. Despite being in the medieval era, this aspect was better than modern technology.

Ruide wrote the number ‘5’ on the board.

“First of all, the magic I used is approximately 5th tier level.”

As soon as Ruide finished speaking, people began murmuring. Someone raised their hand.

“Yes. Go ahead.”

“Greetings. I am Allen, first son of the Lexton family, second-year magic department…”

Ruide cut him off when he realized the introduction would be lengthy.

“Please omit your status when asking questions from now on.”

“Yes. Then I’ll ask my question directly. I understand that the magic you used was ‘Elemental Explosion,’ which is approximately 4th tier magic. Why did you say it’s 5th tier?”

Elemental Explosion was an existing magic that caused elements to collide and explode.

‘I didn’t know it already existed.’

He had simply named it that because it sounded cool.

Not only did it already exist, but the activation method was similar too.

Ruide answered without hesitation.

“Because it’s different from the existing magic.”

“…Different?”

“To be precise, it’s a much more evolved form than the existing one. I’ll repeat: the Elemental Explosion I used is not 4th tier, but 5th tier.”

‘Actually, it’s better that it’s an existing tiered magic. Makes it easier to explain.’

The current magical academia had abolished the old “tier system” due to various issues.

However, tiers were still used as a reference when describing magic.

Even though it was a relic of the past, the “difficulty” criterion for dividing tiers was extremely accurate.

For example, take the 2nd tier magic “Fireball.”

While its power might vary depending on the caster’s mana capacity and optimization method, the difficulty level of casting “Fireball” remained the same.

No matter how powerfully one used Fireball, it was still 2nd tier difficulty.

This concept was absolute.

Since the supreme magician Dellin, who established most magical concepts to this day, defined tiered magic, there had never been a shift between tiers.

New magic might be discovered, but existing magic had never changed. That’s how it had always been and how it would continue to be.

“…Are you claiming that you’ve evolved the 4th tier magic Elemental Explosion into a 5th tier magical formula?”

That’s impossible.

Everyone listening to the student’s question thought so.

But Ruide nodded without hesitation.

“Yes. With only 4th tier magical ability, you can’t even attempt a proper Elemental Explosion.”

“That’s absurd.”

“Changing the tiers?”

“This is… a Dellin-level offense.”

The magic presentation, which was expected to simply explain how much mana was used or how much optimization was done—

Had suddenly transformed into a forum presenting new magic.

The expressions of the magic society members sitting in the front rows immediately changed.

“T-that’s impossible. Perhaps you’ve mistaken your Elemental Explosion for 5th tier because it became powerful due to your innate mana capacity?”

Ruide chuckled.

“Of course not. I’m about to explain why.”

The student who asked the question sat down with trembling pupils. Ruide drew a magic circle on the board.

“This is the magic circle I used.”

Four intricate magic circles appeared on the board.

They were the basic magic circles for each elemental magic, fundamental patterns that any magician should know how to draw.

But those magic circles were not for Elemental Explosion.

At that moment, about ten people raised their hands simultaneously, including the chancellor.

Their expressions showed they were desperate to object.

They probably wanted to say, “How is this the magic circle for Elemental Explosion, you fool!”

Ruide laughed inwardly. He could have answered their questions but chose not to.

Instead, he looked at his reliable ally, Hersy.

“Hersy.”

“Yes!”

Hersy stood up with a bright expression.

“Would you like to demonstrate?”

He pointed at the board.

Hersy nodded eagerly and waved her staff.

Lights began to appear one by one in the empty space.

They were the elements of fire, water, wind, and earth.

“Now I’ll demonstrate.”

Whoosh—

The four elements manifested simultaneously.

“Wow…”

“How is that possible?”

Soft exclamations of admiration flowed through the audience.

Several more people raised their hands.

“Question, question!”

The impatient Clifford shouted with a grim expression.

His face clearly demanded an immediate explanation of how four spells could be cast simultaneously.

Ruide raised his index finger to his lips.

“Please be quiet, Chancellor.”

“Y-you…!”

Clifford’s expression crumpled. But since he couldn’t interrupt Ruide, the presenter, he had no choice but to swallow his anger.

“Instead of focusing on the simultaneous manifestation, please focus on the difference between my elements and Hersy’s.”

Ruide’s elements were much smaller compared to Hersy’s.

“Hersy, can you tell what’s different?”

Hersy focused on Ruide’s elemental clusters.

Elements that haven’t been manipulated yet are just clusters of light.

“Ah.”

Hersy soon realized what was different.

“Mass. The mass is different. Yours is smaller, but it contains more condensed energy than mine.”

Ruide nodded.

It seemed his special lecture yesterday had been quite effective.

“Correct. My elements have much more mass. And the power of Elemental Explosion varies depending on how much you can compress it.”

Ruide waved his staff.

“W-what?”

“It disappeared…?”

“No, it didn’t disappear. Look carefully.”

It hadn’t disappeared; it had been condensed.

The elements, which were originally about two finger joints in size, had shrunk to the size of a dot.

This time, about 30 people raised their hands.

Unlike the simultaneous casting of four spells that seemed impossible to attempt, this kind of compression seemed achievable if one knew the method.

Ruide couldn’t ignore them this time and pointed at someone randomly.

“Go ahead.”

“H-how did you do that? The magic circle looks the same.”

“Ah, that…”

Gulp—the sound of people swallowing was clearly audible.

“It’s a secret.”

“?”

“Well, today’s presentation is about ‘Elemental Explosion,’ not about simultaneous casting or compression magic.”

“Hmph, tsk tsk. What a petty fellow. He could just say he used telekinesis to press it down.”

‘…My trade secret.’

He wanted to hide the fact that he simply used telekinesis because it didn’t sound impressive enough.

Ruide looked at Clifford with half-closed eyes.

“Please be quiet.”

Clifford clicked his tongue and nodded slightly. It meant “stop talking nonsense and continue quickly.”

Above his wrinkled eyes was childlike curiosity.

“The method doesn’t matter. But remember that the purer the element, the more explosive power the magic has. Now, I’ll separate the ‘core’ of these high-purity elements and overlap them.”

Ruide waved his staff.

The summoned elements instantly merged into one.

The students flinched and stepped back. Among them, Clifford even cast a barrier to protect all the students momentarily.

But no explosion occurred.

“This is why this magic is 5th tier. You need to set the magic coordinate system. Precisely at the same point.”

The magic coordinate system refers to setting the point where magic appears.

Ordinary magic appears based on the caster’s position.

However, if you can adjust the magic coordinate system, you can make magic appear exactly where you want it. That’s precisely 5th tier level.

“This is the core of this magic.”

Ruide surrounded the elements with a translucent barrier. He slightly released the force that was strongly holding them together.

Pssst, tssk—

Like nuclear fission, the elements merged and caused chemical reactions.

“The key is to maintain it without letting it explode. It’s advantageous to hold it as long as possible. And when you release the force in this state—”

BOOM!

The ground shook as the elements exploded. Even though it was contained within the barrier, its tremendous power was evident.

“That’s what happens. I use telekinesis, but you can utilize your individual characteristics effectively.”

Each magician had different specialties.

Especially for noble families who learned magic from grimoires passed down through generations, there were many methods more effective than telekinesis.

For example, Hersy could compress elements using the power of wind.

“I’ll now take questions.”

At that, Clifford, who was sitting in front, raised his hand high.

Ruide said with a dull expression:

“I’ll only take questions from students.”

“What! You brat! Where is there such a rule?”

Clifford exploded with anger. The tower master beside him stroked his lush beard and said with frustration:

“Ho ho ho… I have a basketful of questions.”

“This is a new academy rule. Ruide Christopher, who is hosting the magic presentation, must answer the chancellor’s questions!”

Ruide scratched his head. This was troublesome. Clifford was a former archmage. An archmage’s questions would be on an entirely different level.

‘I shouldn’t reveal too much information.’

Ruide was reluctant to let the world diverge too much from the original story.

The concept he had just explained wasn’t particularly difficult.

For anyone living in the modern era, it’s common knowledge what happens when a large mass of energy is compressed.

Yet, this was their reaction.

Currently, Ruide combined the thinking ability of the original “lazy Ruide” with the “21st-century knowledge” from his past life.

The latter was merely superficial knowledge, but the former was incredibly powerful.

Ruide had the cognitive ability to concretize even that shallow knowledge using magic.

The problem was that he couldn’t predict how his answers to someone’s questions would be utilized and what results they might produce.

It would be troublesome if he presented a concept that could truly change the century.

Progress would be made, and the story would change.

The advantage of his knowledge would disappear.

In the worst case, wars could break out due to excessively developed magic.

After all, periods of technological transition are always accompanied by wars.

So Ruide had no choice but to coldly reject.

“No. I will only take questions from students.”

“You little brat…! Where is there such discrimination!”

Clifford’s face turned red as he fumed.

Though age had slowed his computational speed compared to his active years, his passion for magic was no less than that of an academy student.