Academy’s Undercover Professor-Novel - Chapter 129

ACADEMY’S UNDERCOVER PROFESSOR

[Translator – Alice]

[Proofreader – ilafy]

 

Chapter 129 – Magic Circle Class (1)

 

As they saw a square shape drawn on the magic board, the students’ reactions were exactly divided in half.

—One side showed anticipation about what kind of mysterious magic Professor Ludger would show again.

—The other side was mistrustful, as they thought that it was too much and that they could never understand it.

Even though Ludger had shown them all sorts of new teachings until then, a tetragon magic circle was something out of common sense.

There was a symbolism that magic circles were always drawn with a circle, but most of all, circles were the most perfect shape for magical power to flow within.

—Whether it was a power flowing from the inside to the outside or vice versa.

The 「Curve」 that the circle possessed softly distributed the strength and helped the magic circle to circulate.

However, the shape in which 「Angles」 existed was different.

The mana flowing in the magic circle possessed some kind of inertia where it constantly flowed in one direction.

Obviously, a mana flowing through a straight line couldn’t be curved gently around a sharp corner and would instead crash into such a turn and flow out.

The leaking mana would lose its way and scatter here and there before colliding, and it would disappear without being able to display any kind of effect.

No. It was better for the mana to disappear. In the worst cases, it could even explode.

Thus, the 「Circle」 drawn as the basis for a magic circle was the minimum standard to maintain a stable flow of mana.

However, the square shape that Ludger drew had four angles.

—It meant that there were four corners for mana to escape from.

What if he drew new lines there to stop the mana from escaping through the corners?

It would also be the same.

In the end, there needed to be an end to the straight lines drawn in magic circles. It was not a magic circle if it had no end.

If he was going to draw endless straight lines to reduce mana loss, not even a piece of paper the size of the entire continent would be enough.

However, the length of a single side of the magic circle that Ludger drew was only 70 to 80 cm.

There was no way he could create a way for mana to operate effectively inside it.

“You all look doubtful.”

Ludger was already familiar with their suspicion-filled gazes.

He had guessed at first that such a reaction would come up the moment he drew that on the magic board.

“…”

“…”

The students shut their mouths tightly, but they couldn’t deny it.

—Because they also had fundamental knowledge and pride as wizards.

Some of the students were certain that Ludger was wrong that time.

‘What kind of secret intention does Professor Ludger have?’

Flora Lumos scrunched her fine forehead while trying to figure out Ludger’s mind.

Usually, she would raise her hand right away before anyone could prevent her and ask a sharp question.

However, Flora Lumos had a bitter experience of getting berated hard by him after she had done it once.

Afterward, she’d aimed for a chance a couple times, but Ludger hadn’t permitted any of it.

Even though she was smart, other people were also bound to realize by then….

—The fact that Ludger Chelysie was someone who would never say something carelessly.

Because Flora had also figured that out, she stayed still with a glum face.

She glared at the students who sent her some kind of anticipating gazes instead.

‘They’re looking at me like I’m some kind of action-taker?’

It wasn’t like she didn’t understand that they expected her to stand up, but Flora became annoyed.

When she showed her bad temper, the students who met eyes with her hurriedly avoided her gaze.

After she finished oppressing them, Flora folded her arm and stared at Ludger.

‘Hmph. There’s no way that professor would lie like this.’

Ludger didn’t say something for no reason. Flora had concluded that there was obviously a reason for that.

‘If not, I would have long been disappointed.’

That was why she was inwardly begging Ludger to show something surprising and knock down the haughtiness of those students who didn’t believe in him.

Flora Lumos inwardly held some kind of anticipation even though she pretended not to.

“Because some of you are clearly suspicious, I will show it to you directly.”

Ludger showed the students a paper of the class material that he’d brought.

“As you know already, what’s drawn here is a magic circle. It’s similar to what I drew on the magic board.”

There was only a normal square on the magic board, but what Ludger showed on the paper were a couple more magic circles with the tetragon as the basis.

However, the students felt uneasy even after he added something to it.

Because the shape of the square, which length and width were divided into five sections each and was made up of a total of 25 spaces, looked more similar to a chess board rather than a magic circle.

There were some letters carved in it, but they couldn’t see any special magic processing apart from those.

“I will now instill mana into this magic circle. I will start with a simple elemental manifestation.”

The students showed an apathetic reaction to Ludger’s remark.

The moment mana was instilled into the tetragonal magic circle, the magic circle wouldn’t be able to perform its role.

Everyone imagined the same future within their head.

However, after Ludger flowed his mana into the magic circle and a bit of time passed, the students’ eyes widened.

Ziiiiiiing.

When the lights started to flow out of the magic circle, a small flare soon bloomed in the center of the magic circle.

“I-it’s activated? That magic circle?”

“What? What on earth happened?”

It was unbelievable.

How could proper magic be manifested in an angular-shaped magic circle through which mana couldn’t circulate?

While most of the students showed a blank, dreamy reaction, some other students, including Flora Lumos, stared at Ludger’s magic circle with cool gazes.

“As you can see, a square-shaped magic circle can work properly as well. What do you think the reason for that is?”

As soon as Ludger asked the question, Flora Lumos raised her hand.

However, it wasn’t only her who raised her hand.

—Lynne also raised her hand. Flora naturally stared toward Lynne.

‘That kid…’

She had been slowly catching up to Flora, and recently, Lynne had caught her eyes.

She’d also followed Professor Ludger to his professor’s office separately back then…

Flora Lumos’s thoughts disappeared the moment Ludger opened his mouth.

“Flora Lumos, you raised your hand faster, so you should answer. Why do you think this magic circle operates properly?”

“It’s the letters.”

“Letters, huh. Can you explain it in a bit more detail?”

“The letters carved into the squares that are divided into 5 spaces with a total of 25 sections… They helped the mana circulate.”

Even after Flora’s comment, most of the students’ reactions were still confused.

“Putting letters inside the magic circle?”

“Is that possible?”

If it was possible with only letters, he should’ve used the ancient language that had long since disappeared.

Even though it was Flora Lumos, it was an excessive interpretation.

As the students thought so, their eyes widened again at Ludger’s next words.

“You saw it well.”

It was real?

The students’ stares headed to the letters carved on the magic circle.

They weren’t even words, just letters..

And each letter was in a space, they didn’t think that it would contain any magical meaning.

The students looked back at Ludger.

‘This professor…’

He had once again shown them a new type of magic.

* * *

‘Their eyes changed.’

I was already used to the students’ reaction as well by then.

They’d also shown a similar reaction when I showed them Source Code back then.

Even though they didn’t believe it at first, after they accepted that it was a fact, the Sören students changed into starving ghosts who craved for knowledge.

Such parts of them made me think that it was because they were Sören students.

‘It’s obvious since it’s a uniquely shaped magic circle that hasn’t been seen in this world.’

What I showed to the students wasn’t a magic circle of this world, but something I’d brought from the earth.

To be exact, it wasn’t a magic circle, but a magic square.

The origin of magic square was from around 4,000 years ago, the Xia Dynasty of China.

At that time, the King of the Xia Dynasty, King Wu, had accidentally discovered a turtle shell when he’d done water conservation work on the overflowing Yellow River, and when he saw the pattern carved on it, what he’d thought of right away was the magic square.

Afterward, the magic square was introduced beyond India to Persia, then to West Asia, Southern Asia, and Europe through Arab merchants and was developed to various shapes.

The one I drew contained a mathematical meaning, and if you added numbers in any direction, the same numbers would come out, but its origin was closely related to occult.

‘I came to know this thanks to my mother, who was a shaman.’

Back then, I hadn’t believed in the occult or anything supernatural, but still, my mom had ordered me to study and had forcefully put that knowledge into my head.

I’d studied very crazily.

I didn’t like to study, but it was because my rebellious mind toward my mother who told me to become a shaman was bigger.

I’d wanted to show her.

She’d said that, no matter how I perfectly memorized things and studied hard, in the end, it was of no use.

She’d said that my best attempt to study had no meaning at all.

She’d said that she would make her child’s time and effort a waste.

So I’d wanted to show my mother that she was wrong.

It was childish behavior.

I knew that I obviously had no choice but to behave like that back then. I also thought that it was obvious for me to behave like that.

However, right then…

No…

Not only then but every moment after I was born into this world and lived my life.

Her teachings from back then didn’t go to waste.

My mom hadn’t been wrong.

“…”

I felt lonely for some reason and decided to focus on the magic circle.

‘The magic circle I’m using is not the magic circle based on numerology, but the 「Sator Magic Square」.’

Sator…

Arepo…

Tenet…

Opera…

Rotas…

Those five terms made of ancient latin language created the same effect even when they were read after getting rotated or turned upside down according to the standard.

It was called a palindrome.

Those letters simply didn’t stop the harmony of their meaning no matter how they were read.

Because, even if they were read from the opposite or through another direction, those terms that possessed the same meaning were the perfection of circulation itself.

Thus, even though the magic circle wasn’t drawn as a circle, the mana circulation was completed by borrowing the strength of the letters inside it.

“Even though it’s a square-shaped magic circle, if you utilize the language in it well, you can use it like an ordinary magic circle.”

“Professor. I have a question.”

As someone raised his hand to ask, Ludger nodded his head and gave him permission.

“What is it?”

“Obviously, drawing a square-shaped magic circle is surprising, But is there any advantage to drawing a magic circle like this compared to a circular magic circle?”

“Yes.”

“What is that?”

“It’s comfortable to draw.”

“…”

The student was at a loss of words at his excessively clear answer.

Comfortable to draw? Was he being serious?

“…”

However, he couldn’t recall anything to refute that answer.

Because Ludger was right.

Ludger directly explained it to the students who hadn’t grasped everything.

“As all of you already know, in order to draw the circle in magic circle, it requires a lot of effort and practice. The circle is a complete shape. Thus, if things are even slightly awry… it will lose its strength.”

The reason why magic circles were still a highlight in the artifact business was because there was no one who could draw magic circles well.

Anyone could draw a flat circle on a clean drawing paper.

However, not anyone could carve a neat circle on an item, moreover on an item with a hard and curved surface.

If the ratio wasn’t right for even a bit or the shape went awry, there would be no effect.

Therefore, the country granted a Meister certificate only to the wizards who could carve those magic circles professionally.

“However, the tetragon is different. You can draw a tetragon easily anywhere as long as you draw four dots at the same distance and join them with straight lines.”

The merit of magic square was there.

It was more comfortable to draw than a circle that could be barely drawn after having to focus on it all the time.

—Because people could tell whether the shape was right or wrong just by a light eye measurement.

And it didn’t have to be a Meister, but students would be able to do it too.

“Its advantage is that it can be drawn faster and more concisely than a standard magic circle. Is that enough of an answer?”

“…Yes. It is.”

“Then look at the material that I shared with you.”

As I gestured with my chin, Sedina diligently moved and shared the class material to the students.

“The square-shaped magic circle comes with a simple example, but it has a lot more varieties in real life.”

All of the students were focused on the material.

The various shapes carved in the papers and not only letters but also numbers that filled in the blanks.

“This magic square is not only able to be expressed by letters but also by numbers. Of course, the effect will be very insignificant compared to the standard magic circle, but it’s more effective than standard magic circles on detailed parts.”

Numbers stared at the world through rationality, but there was definitely mystery in it as well.

Egypt’s numerology…

Israel’s gematria…

To ancient Greece’s pythagoras…

Giving meaning to the numbers would trigger the mysterious strength through the list of numbers.

It was something that I could teach because of the earthly knowledge that I possessed, something that could never be experienced in this world.

That was the lesson that I taught the students that day.