CH 247

Chapter 247 – Ifrita-sensei’s Magic Course

Magic. I think it is the most important element that makes a fantasy world a fantasy world. Well, even if there is no magic, if there are monsters walking around and people are fighting with swords and bows, it seems to be like that.

I don’t understand the principle of this magic at all. I can’t feel it, but it seems that the main source of energy is magic power. It is said to be an energy that resides not only in the air but in all things, and it is basically divided into three main types: the magic in the body, the magic that exists in nature, and the magic that resides in matter.

“I see. I don’t understand.”

“I can’t explain it any more simply than that.”

Ifrita, who had been drawing a diagram on the ground with a twig she had picked up around there and explaining it to me, gave me a stern look.

“No, I understood the explanation itself. But how to extract energy from it and convert it into physical phenomena? What happens to the magic power after the physical phenomena, and what is magic power in the first place? I feel like I’m going to go crazy and die if I start thinking about it.”

“I can’t answer all your questions at once… First of all, it is said that in order to release magic power as magic, it is necessary to use an art formula.”

“Art formula.”

“Yes, an art formula. To put it simply, it is a way to give color and meaning to magic power, which is a power without color. For example, in the case of simple fireball magic, there are three instructions in each formula: be fire, be a ball, and send it flying to the indicated place.

Ifrita then drew some kind of pattern on the ground with her twig. This was something similar to the letters or patterns engraved on the golem core of the golem communicator.

“However, this simple fireball magic doesn’t have much killing power. It depends on the amount of magic power you put into it, but with the minimum amount of magic power, you will only get a small burn when it hits you.”

A fireball the size of a golf ball appeared at Ifrita’s fingertips and flew toward the sky. The fireball flew at a moderate speed but soon disappeared.

“If you want to increase the power, that is, the ability to kill, you have to modify these three simple formulas or add more formulas to them. For example, the “Be Fire” formula could be changed to “Be Flame,” or the “Be a ball” formula could be changed to “Be a spear.” Other modification formulas such as “speed” between “Be a ball” and “Fly to the indicated place” could also be added.

“Modification formula.”

“Yes. For example, if you put the modification “speed,” it would look like this.”

As before, a fireball the size of a golf ball appeared at Ifrita’s fingertips and flew into the sky at a speed unmatched by the previous one. The faster the speed, the longer the range of the fireball appears to be.

“This modification formula is a major one used in most of the projectile-type attack magic. If the speed of the projectile magic is increased, it will be harder to avoid and will also extend the range.”

“I see…”

Modification formula… modification formula, isn’t it? Hmmmmmm… As expected, it’s like a kind of programming language, huh? I don’t know much about programming at all. It’s impossible for me to play an active role in the direction of developing techniques or something like that. Yeah.

“You say “I see,” but do you really understand it?”

“Was it clear to you that I don’t really understand?”

“Yes, you don’t.”

“Yes, I don’t. I’m sorry.”

I bowed my head honestly. After all, it’s better to leave such difficult things to the experts, yes.

“But I wonder how complicated a single fireball can be… and what kind of lightning magic Isla used before.”

“I’ve learned a little bit about it before, but it was a combination of close to a hundred different formulas, both large and small.”

“That’s incredible… but you need a formula to use magic, right?”

“Yes.”

I just told you that, didn’t I? Ifrita nodded with an expression that said that.

“When a mage actually shoots magic, where is the formula deployed? If it’s a magic tool, it’s engraved on metal or something, but from what I’ve just seen, it doesn’t look like this formula is projected in the air or anything.”

I pointed to the formula scrawled on the ground with a twig.

“In your head.”

“In the head?”

“Right.”

“Um… what does it look like? Do you picture the pattern of this formula in your mind?”

“Well… is that what it looks like?”

“Why are you being so vague in your reply…?”

It doesn’t seem like it will take overnight to figure out the operating principle of magic… I’ve only asked Ifrita about this, but I can’t help but feel that these images in the head are also different for each individual person.

“Well, okay. One more question: What Sylphy and the elves of the Black Forest use is called spirit magic, right?”

“Right. Though, you don’t have to be an elf of the Black Forest to use spirit magic.”

“I see. Do they have any such formula as well?”

“No, there is not. Ordinary magic and spirit magic are different in principle. Ordinary magic uses a formula to convert magic power into various events, but spirit magic uses magic power to speak to spirits and have the spirits cause various phenomena.”

“…I see?”

“Instead of having to create your own formula, you need to use multiple spirits at the same time to cause a large-scale phenomenon, which can be very difficult to control. Also, it is good if there is a spirit conveniently available for the purpose, but if not, it cannot be used, which is a drawback.”

“That makes ordinary magic sound more convenient.”

“Not really. Since a spirit can reproduce the image of the magician, the degree of freedom of magic is much greater with spirit magic. However, it requires more imaginative power, and it is difficult to cause phenomena that are contrary to the laws of nature.”

“H-heh…”

If you force yourself to think in that direction, like a program, a spirit would be an application that specializes in handling wind for wind and fire for fire. When using large-scale magic, multiple applications must be launched simultaneously, which places a heavy burden on the magician, who is responsible for memory and CPU. Also, if there is no spirit on the spot = the application does not exist, and the desired phenomenon cannot occur.

In contrast, with magic, the magician programs and performs the application on the spot, so the desired phenomenon can be triggered whenever they want, regardless of the presence or absence of the spirit. However, the difficulty level increases when using magic to cause large-scale or complex phenomena because it is necessary to create a formula to match the magic.

“So there are pros and cons.”

“That’s what I mean. So, what’s the point of asking this? You can’t use magic, can you?”

“It is true that I can’t use magic, but magic is the most familiar technique in this world to handle the huge energy source called magic power, isn’t it? If you want to make efficient tools in this world, you must at least have some knowledge of magic.”

I think it is possible to develop a machine civilization in this world, but since the civilization that handles magic has developed to a certain extent, it should be easier to integrate the best parts of the machine civilization into the existing magic civilization rather than develop a machine civilization from scratch.

“Hmm… so that’s how you think.”

“That’s what I think. In fact, air boards and golem communicators were created by merging technology from my world with technology from this world.”

“Hmm…”

Ifrita gave me a stare. What’s with that skeptical look?

“What is it?”

“No… it’s nothing. Is that all you want to ask me?”

“No, there’s something else…”

“Okay, ask me anything you want. I’ll tell you what I know.”

“Thank you. Then tell me about the magic power consumption when you use magic…”

After this, I continued to talk to Ifrita in detail about magic and magic power.

But.

“…..”

“I’m sorry.”

“…..”

“I’m sorry… but I’ll ask Isla this time.”

Later, when Isla found out about it, she was extremely sulky about it. I asked Ifrita because I thought it would not be a good idea for me to ask such a rudimentary question to Isla, who is very busy, but Isla seemed to want me to ask her about magic. It took a lot of effort to put her in a good mood.

“If you want to know about miracles, we are the best people to ask.”

“Yes, we can answer anything.”

“I’m not as good at it as the two of them, but…”

I don’t know where they heard it from, but when Ellen and the others returned from their business trip to pacify the area, they told me about the miracles. They taught me about it, but…

“God answers sincere prayers.”

“Be at peace and feel God’s presence.”

“Don’t vent outwardly, but put your energy inwardly.”

“Try to be more theoretical. It’s almost the same as saying, ‘whoosh and bang!’ Isn’t it? [T/n: Like someone explaining something with onomatopoeia.]

Their explanation was of no use to me, but I felt that Ellen’s miracle and spirit magic were close to subspecies of the same family of magic. Both seem to be the same in the sense that they interfere with invisible gods and spirits by means of images rather than by means of formulas to cause some kind of event.

In fact, I could hardly tell the difference between recovery magic that works with light spirits and miracle recovery magic. The difference might be that a ball of light that looks like a spirit floats around after using spirit magic.

Anyway, that’s how I gradually accumulated knowledge about magic.