It had been almost a couple of weeks since Yuriko signed on as a guest professor at Niria Academy. In the end, she turned down the label of tenured professor, saying that the title was too much for someone who didn’t even know of the academy a Season ago. So a guest professor she was. The pay was practically the same and she was more than willing to teach a few advanced combat classes during her stay. As for Radiant Infusion, she was hesitant simply because she had not tried to condense Radiant energy outside of her control. She’d tried immediately after the meeting as soon as she had some privacy but the resultant mess barely kept its shape before violently imploding. Afterwards, the explosion would have been big enough to level the room she’d stayed in.

Still, for the privilege of having a Radiant Magus in their roster, Yuriko was paid well and her group received a measure of stability in their lives. Constantly travelling and being on the alert was not really conducive to enjoying life, and after the battle of Rumiga, Yuriko had still not recovered from the ordeal. Coupled with the loss of her brother…

No, she took the mission to head to Bella because it was expected of her and it was key to receiving the stipend from the Empire. She…er, wasn’t really all that good when it came to managing her finances. She spent what she received and saved what was left, but almost as soon as her stipend increased, so did her spending. Oh, it was mostly innocuous things. Sweets. The remaining supply of chocolate that had apparently been sourced from the Federation. That one had cost most of her savings. Ehehe. And all for a few weeks of indulgence. Hah.

And since the academy had chocolate…well, that certainly weighed in on her decision to stay awhile. An IJin of chocolate cost nearly a gold coin, though that was the high-quality stuff. The cheaper and coarser variants didn’t give her the same pleasure but were priced closer to three or so silvers. Well within her spending budget, but was the cheaper pleasure worth it, in the end? She didn’t know, and it wasn’t as if she could eat chocolates all day. Still, more coins equals more chocolate, so she was fine working for that, ehehe.

She spent a few hours every day in the library, reading spellcraft theory and perusing basic spellbooks. One particular thing that captured her interest was the subject of Grimoires. At a glance, they seemed to simply be personal spellbooks, but according to what she read, a Grimoire connected to one’s Anima and made it easier to remember and cast spells encoded within. The process of creating and binding one was varied, and apparently, a necessary tool to keep her identity as a Magus professor.

She noticed that every student and every staff member had a Grimoire, though they were never prominently displayed. Only a few of them were the size of a regular book, with most of the students’ Grimoires half the normal size. Olivia and Blanca’s Grimoires were a bit larger than a regular book—about ten to twenty percent bigger. Those were kept within their enchanted robes.

Yuriko met Blanca at least once a day, as a matter of habit now. The afternoon of the meeting, Yuriko and her team moved into a residence on the fifth layer, a detached three-storey house on the west-facing shelf. The place had enough room for each of them, though Gwendith moved into Yuriko’s bedroom and used the spares for storage. Not that the others stayed there much over the last couple of weeks.

Anywho, Blanca showed up that afternoon carrying a basket filled with pastries, a bottle of sweet wine, and a couple of glasses. A Niria Academy welcome, she said. The two of them sat on the veranda and chatted. Yuriko was sure the rabbitkin’s questions probed her for knowledge though she wasn’t sure what the other really wanted.

Still, Blanca’s anecdotes about campus life and the shenanigans a bunch of teenagers often got to were rather humorous. Not that Yuriko was one to talk as she was still a teenager and the shenanigans she got up to usually left plenty of bodies, slain or otherwise.

Ah, that was probably it.

But then, Yuriko had not allowed her Mien to shift from Tranquility so how could Blanca be affected by Charm? She couldn’t see any of it reflected behind the woman’s eyes, but…

Well, come what may. Blanca certainly provided entertaining conversation.

Not that Yuriko spent most of her time in idleness. She trained, always. It was just that it wasn’t her body being trained now. Her Anima, her Intent, and her Will.

As for research, Yuriko’s time in the library was augmented by the fact that she could actually read more than one book at a time. Her time limit was ten minutes, and that didn’t change if she read one or two books at a time. So she often had one spellbook or theory book in one hand, a translation dictionary, from the local Bresian to the more broadly used Arcadian, and finally, the true trade tongue, Wojan. Other strands of consciousness read through some history books, some treatises, and finally, children’s stories and fiction. There were no children’s books in the library, of course, but there were a lot in the city.

Books that weren’t spellbooks were unexpectedly cheap, running from a silver coin to ten depending on thickness. The words inside weren’t the running script that scribes used, but blocky print letters that children often used to learn how to write. Apparently, a device had been invented, a printing press, that allowed for easy duplication of books, and the amazing thing, according to Modern History, was that the device, the machine, did not require runescript or Elemental energy to run. It would help but was not required. Simple transmission of mechanical energy, according to the book. Huh.

The day after that, Laura Mondero visited in an attempt to evolve her Elemental Light Affinity to Radiant. She had not asked Laura what she wanted in exchange, but she had an idea half an hour into their session.

That consisted mostly of Yuriko spreading her Anima around them and thickening the Radiant energy. She didn’t know what Laura got out of it, but her expression was completely blissful.

“Do you have a listing of all the Chaos Founts in the country and what their quirks are?” Yuriko asked.

“Well, the guild does have an almanac,” Laura said. “I can deliver a copy to you in a few days.”

“What details are included?”

“Location, denizens, and possible treasure.” Laura paused for a short moment then continued, “Any that can produce Life Essence with any kind of regularity are monitored and monopolised by the Republic government. If you want to give it a try, there’s a hefty fee and a waitlist. But there’s no guarantee that a particular Fount would produce it, anyway”

“I see.” Yuriko hummed. But it would still be useful to gather Ambrosia again. She didn’t enhance her Will and Intent with it during her training, perhaps she should do it now. But that might take a while, considering Gwendith said that only a couple or so droplets had been produced. “That’s fine.”

“I’ll bring it along,” Laura said. “Uhm, if you wish, I can set up a tour of such Founts. I don’t know why you need Life Elixirs considering you already look so young…”

“I’d appreciate it.” Yuriko laughed.

Laura did return with the almanac after a couple of days. Her visits were every Fireday, which was the fourth day of the week. Bresia named the days differently, but she supposed it was better than calling it Fourthday as it was in the Empire. Light, Water, Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, and Dark, were the labels. Lightday was normally a rest day, while Darkday was apparently the day to worship. Bresian religion involved worshipping gods and goddesses, who were essentially the personification of the Elements. Savages. What about their Ancestors, huh?

She and Gwendith poured over the almanac and her lover said, “Seems like a good idea to go delving.”

“By yourself?” Yuriko asked, more than worried.

“No, of course not. I’ll take Saki and Heron with me.” Gwendith gave her a side-eye. “Unless you want Heron to stay with you?” There was a teasing light behind Gwendith’s eyes, but Yuriko thought it a bit fragile.

“No, well, I don’t mind being left here.” Yuriko pouted. “But you’ll have to ask Heron and Saki if they want to go on an adventure.”

“I will.” Gwendith smiled and hugged Yuriko. Later that night, Gwendith said that both agreed with her. Ambrosia was a precious resource to fuel their growth, and since there was a source of it here, then it only made sense to harvest it.

“Here.” Yuriko gave Gwendith three vials that she prepared. Ambrosia was frighteningly volatile, but why was it that her stash survived several years in her hip satchel in nothing more than a condenser canteen? Radiant energy and a proper runescript formation froze the Ambrosia in its current state rather than react to everything around it. The knowledge came from Damien’s memories, and apparently, it had been he who modified the canteen while Yuriko had been asleep.

“Take care, you three,” Yuriko said.

Saki bowed, Gwendith hugged her tight, then nudged Heron.

He scratched the back of his head, while Yuriko waited expectantly, with a small, nonchalant grin on her face. He leaned over, and murmured, “May I?” and when she nodded, he pressed his lips against hers. A chaste kiss, really, but she restrained herself. She had enjoyed the kiss they shared back in Karcellia.

He was blushing by the time they left, and Gwendith winked goodbye, too.

The rest of the week passed by in a blur while she read, practised, and adapted to the Arcana Weaving of the locals. That girl she met in the library that day, Sofia Garcia, had given her an interesting idea. No, it wasn’t about making spell activation tools, but rather, about converting the spells’ components.

The strange thing about Arcana Weaving, Yuriko decided, was that it was so…measured. She learned a dozen different spells in the past week alone, and a few of them were simply more complex versions of the same base. The Bolt spell was upgraded to a specific Element rather than whatever the caster’s strongest Affinity was. A Shield spell as an upgrade to the Ward spell.

For the former, the components included the Elemental identifier, while for the latter, the additional nodes included increased duration runescript patterns. For the bolt spell, the normal range was ten paces, and Yuriko quickly found the range identifier. Adding another such identifier increased the distance the projectile travelled by another ten paces.

Arcana Weaving did not have room for the caster’s imagination and Intent. All it needed was the proper visualisation of how the spell forms and denoting some specifics like direction, start point, and trigger. Nothing else. She couldn’t even add more power, or more Elemental energy without the corresponding spell component.

But in exchange for that, the spell always worked as recorded. It worked the same for everyone too, and the only difference she could tell was casting speed and stamina, which depended on each Magi’s Affinities and training.

And sometimes she wondered what was stopping everyone from being a Magus? She’d yet to find out the reason. It wasn’t the Elemental core that each of them had, since Yuriko could make use of the same spells.

But…did the spells work outside of this place? Would it work in the Chaos Sea? That was something she needed to test, and the sooner the better.

Still, the process of learning and casting spells was amusing, and the fact they only had to devote a single strand of consciousness to it was nice. The rest of her mind could do other things.

She had the training field to herself, and she’d converted all of Bolt’s spell components into runescript patterns. Her Anima formed the runescript patterns into a circle and connected them with a solidified line of Radiant energy. Then she willed it to start.

Bolt after Bolt made of Radiant energy blasted from the runescript circle and demolished the target dummy in a matter of seconds.

Yuriko nodded in satisfaction. Her Animus was not drained, and neither was her Intent. And…

She formed the circle at the limits of her Anima reach, a hundred and sixty paces away, and touched it off. It started a barrage of Bolts that struck the ground.

Quite useful indeed.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep