Chapter 71 : Field Trip
Chapter 71. Field Trip
A professor who looked young opened his mouth.
“From now on, the term magic user can no longer be used. Instead, you will be classified as unlicensed mages. If you pass the National Mage Qualification Exam, you start at certified rank 9, and certified rank 1 is the highest.”
Yul was sitting behind Lucian, leaning back in his chair with his arms loosely crossed, listening to the lecture at ease.
Originally, Yul wasn’t supposed to be able to attend classes. Somehow, things had turned out oddly.
“Starting this year, with our relocation to a maritime academy, the regulations have changed to allow Seaborn into lecture halls. Of course, only those that meet the small-size criteria. Medium and large types are prohibited.”
“Small-size” generally referred to Common and Rare rank creatures.
Sure enough, looking to the side, there was a blue-furred Carbuncle with a ruby embedded in its forehead sitting inside the lecture hall.
The Carbuncle’s owner was wearing a flamboyantly colored dress you’d usually only see at parties, hugging the Carbuncle and stroking it.
“What’s with that woman?”
“Casual wear is allowed, sure, but that dress is really something.”
“A Carbuncle? That’s a Common rank Seaborn, right? It’s cute.”
Some people whispered, but it was entertaining.
Anyway, that was why Yul was also able to sit in the lecture hall and attend class.
The class itself was interesting. This was a magic academy to begin with, so only mages could enroll.
“You will each be aiming for different departments. However, as Wigma Academy transitioned into a maritime academy, its name has changed to Weimar Wigma. As a result, many departments were merged or reorganized, and some have been consolidated into faculties.”
Many departments were merged, and some were even removed entirely, but the Department of Magic Engineering was an exception.
The entrance ceremony had been yesterday, and now they had gathered the students for orientation.
“Do we really need to attend this?”
“Do you know how much the tuition is? I’m attending everything—orientation, general education, and a double major. And my goal is to develop a patented invention during my academy years. Or start my own company. Well, since I already have things I need to do, that part might be difficult.”
“Ugh.”
Lucian’s eyes looked like they were on fire. Aren’t these the kinds of crazies you sometimes see at universities?
The Beltaine Family reportedly earns a lot, but also spends a lot, so they’re always tightening their belts.
They minimize luxuries and even consider tuition money precious.
“So how much is it per year?”
“Two hundred and fifty ducats……. A double major costs an additional twenty-five ducats.”
“That’s insane. That’s just tuition, right?”
“Yes. With a double major, the expenses go up a bit more.”
That meant roughly 1,100 ducats just in tuition until graduation, and when you added in all the miscellaneous expenses, two to three thousand ducats was the baseline.
‘Just how much money is this academy raking in?’
It was the only maritime magic academy in the Beltaine domain, and large enough that it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say the entire nation’s capabilities were concentrated here.
Meanwhile, the professor at the front continued speaking.
“Now, I’ll show you the reorganized structure.”
First, the Department of Magic. As an academy that prides itself on being a magic academy, this could be considered the very identity of Weimar Wigma.
Many students learned common magic as well as various major and unique magics (the Great Balance school was included here).
Next was the Department of Communion. This was a newly established department, and it was said to have tremendous backing.
It was created at the request of the gentry, a newly rising wealthy class, who provided funding for the establishment of Weimar Wigma Academy.
This department was for Seaborn. It managed everything related to Seaborn: methods of Communion with Seaborn, Seaborn treatment, Seaborn breeding, Seaborn encyclopedias, types of Polymorph Skill Fruits, and more.
It was smaller than the Department of Magic, but still large enough to be impossible to ignore.
Next came the Department of Navigation.
In this world, only mages could become captains. Without the ability to use magic to create fresh water, one could not be a captain.
Unlike the others, this department had some rather unusual aspects, such as actually constructing ships or boarding and sailing them.
Navigation was a national policy project, so it received substantial state support. Since many captains died during voyages, graduates reportedly had an employment rate close to 100%.
Then there was the Department of Magic Engineering. Though currently small in scale, it was developing at an incredible speed thanks to the support of countless sponsors. The dreams of those who could not use magic were its driving force.
There were also departments like law, political science, literature, and so on…….
“What year are you in?”
“Second year.”
Lucian was a second-year student at Weimar Wigma, belonging to the Department of Magic Engineering.
After the orientation ended, Lucian headed toward the spire where his department was located.
Each department was assigned its own spire. The interior was enormous, containing lecture halls, auditoriums, laboratories, storage rooms, and all sorts of other areas.
“You climb this every time?”
“There’s often talk about installing an elevator instead of stairs.”
Still, it was incredibly tall. When they reached the top of the spire, several people were already there.
And the first thing they saw was a trio who had dyed their originally black hair blond. With their vicious-looking expressions, they resembled some street thugs.
The three men had surrounded a single girl.
“How old are you?”
“You’re a commoner, right? Why are you here?”
“Are you a freshman in the Magic Engineering department?”
The squirrel-faced girl with honey-blond hair had a tearful expression.
“Um, uh, well……”
“Duncan brothers, that’s enough.”
Lucian stepped in and stopped them directly.
“What, it’s Lucian.”
“We’re not bad people!”
“We just wanted to explain things kindly.”
What is this? A set menu of answers, all three responding together.
“Look at your faces. No one’s going to think you’re kind. Stop bothering the freshman and get going.”
“Tch. Acting cool all by yourself.”
“As if you’re any different, you forever-alone virgin!”
“Trying to look nice in front of a girl!”
“Ahem. Ahem.”
Despite their extremely insulting(?) remarks, Lucian merely cleared his throat once or twice and spoke kindly to the girl.
“Are you a freshman?”
The squirrel-faced girl glanced at the vicious-looking Duncan brothers, then seemed a little relieved when she looked at Lucian and nodded.
Then she gave Yul a quick glance, and her eyes widened.
‘Ah, is this my popularity again?’
Yul arrogantly swept his hair back and looked at Lucian. Lucian’s face seemed to be turning slightly red and blue.
“Uh, you’re that Seaborn who was active a few days ago, right?”
Apparently not what Yul had thought.
“……That’s right.”
“Wow! How can a Seaborn become human? And by the way, that battle back then was so amazing.”
There was interest there, sure, but it felt like interest directed toward a Seaborn.
Yul shrugged his shoulders while looking at Lucian, as if telling him to handle it himself.
“……If you’re a first-year, it’s the floor below.”
“Ah, thank you, senior.”
After the girl nodded and left, Yul looked at Lucian and smiled slyly.
“So what did those three monkeys just say? Forever-alone…… what?”
“Well, I grew up on an island, no, um, I’ve been busy.”
“Hehehe. What about that girl just now? By my human standards, she was cute.”
“I’m busy with my work too, so I don’t have time for romance. Let’s get to the lecture hall quickly. We’ll be late.”
When they arrived at the lecture hall, several students were already seated.
Inside the large lecture hall stood a bizarre spherical device, and the strange sphere was connected to numerous cables.
‘What is that, a lottery machine?’
Aside from the lack of balls inside, Yul thought it looked quite similar to a lottery machine.
“……!”
“Fortin, do you know what that is?”
The blue-haired student glanced at Lucian once, then shook his head.
“We’re seeing it for the first time, too.”
The other students seemed to be the same. Soon, Professor Quentin Blackmoore walked in.
Unlike the neat suit he had worn last night, today he was dressed in the professor’s robes of the Department of Magic Engineering, reminiscent of priestly vestments.
“Have you all been well?”
“Yes, Professor.”
“Excellent.”
Professor Quentin Blackmoore swept his gaze across the students in the lecture hall, then looked at Lucian—and at Yul beside him.
Was it just Yul’s imagination, or did his eyes seem to flash?
“Hahaha. I’m glad to see you’re all doing well. As for me, I haven’t been able to sleep at all these past few days. Someone threw an interesting topic my way, you see.”
As he spoke, he kept looking at Yul. Lucian tilted his head slightly and whispered to him.
“Have you ever met the professor before? I don’t think he was looking at me.”
“Me?”
If Professor Quentin had said that, then that object was probably related to Yul.
‘Did he reach some kind of conclusion in the meantime?’
Professor Quentin pointed at the device in the center.
“It was originally meant to be made of misralite, but I designed it with glass so that the internal structure would be clearly visible. Can anyone guess what this device is?”
No one responded.
“Whoever gets the correct answer will receive a ‘+’ added to the back end of this semester’s grade.”
“Is it a seawater processing device?”
“Incorrect. No matter how much I love seawater, I wouldn’t make something this size.”
“Judging by the number of magic stones arranged inside the structure, is it some kind of concentrator?”
“A classifier!”
“A distiller!”
Enticed by grades, students raised their hands and answered, but none were correct.
At this point, the previously confident Professor Quentin was starting to look around almost pleadingly, trying to find someone who could give the right answer.
And he was staring intently at Yul.
‘I’m not a student.’
Yul was about to give Lucian a quiet hint, just loud enough for him to hear.
But Lucian didn’t listen to the hint at all and raised his hand instead.
“It looks like a rune input–output device.”
That was rather impressive. Was he judging its function just by looking at it?
“What? An input device?”
“But rune characters have to be engraved directly.”
Professor Quentin addressed the murmuring students.
“To be precise, it’s a magic device that uses the common magic [Fire], its fourth formula, [Ray]. First, it uses the [Ray] embedded in the magic stones in reverse to recognize pimlin paper. Second, it sublimates the stored information and inputs it into the magic stone placed at the center.”
As soon as he understood the principle, Yul nodded.
‘With that, there’s no need to worry about information leaking outside.’
There would be no need to outsource the engraving of magic stones, so magic engineers would end up using this.
‘It’s an early-stage device capable only of input and output. With this technology, engraving via rays means you won’t ruin the code by carving too deeply or too shallowly. But there’s a problem.’
Lucian raised his hand again.
“Professor, how much does that machine cost?”
“Good question. The price of this rune input–output device is the issue. It consists of three large magic stones, sixteen medium magic stones, and twenty-two small magic stones. Excluding labor costs, just the raw materials alone…… at least five thousand ducats.”
“Huh.”
“That’s way too expensive.”
Yul clicked his tongue. Five thousand ducats for a simple input–output device. It was less than what Yul had earned back when he first traded Krelsite, but it was still an astronomical sum.
“Anyway, if anyone can improve this device and bring the price down, I’ll transfer the copyright of this device to them. And until then, this device will remain in the lecture hall at all times.”
Everyone’s eyes sparkled. Yul muttered,
“Is it really okay to just give that away?”
“Professor Quentin is extremely busy, so that’s probably why. His main research is extracting magic stones from seawater.”
“Sounds interesting.”
Yul decided that he would take a look inside that device later.