WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Coughing Baby

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◈ Surviving in the Magic Academy

Chapter 124

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The workshop was filled with magical power flowing from the tower, and it was quickly gathering toward the center where I stood. I slowly moved as I checked that flow.

Clear circuits filled the area, writhing as they brushed past me. They devoured the magical power rushing in from all around, moving like living things.

I carefully avoided them and began examining the circuits. Even amid that violent flow of magical power, they were working normally. I nodded. Then it was time to begin the ritual.

I moved toward the center of the circuits. That place was also the core of the magic circle. The moment I stepped into the center, I felt the violent flow of magical power settle.

The flow there was completely still. It was utterly different from the circuits writhing just one step behind me. That circuit held that quiet flow of magical power as well, lying still as if asleep.

Of course, that was only how it looked on the surface. The magical power flowing through that circuit was being adjusted with extreme precision. I quietly moved my arm. Threads of magical power began dripping from my fingertips like droplets.

The threads slowly moved, stretching toward the nearby circuits. Once they reached the circuits, they gradually dug into them.

The magical power flowing through the circuits met my own and slowly began to move. Then the entire circuit started writhing. The circuit flowed naturally along the threads and approached me. Then it wrapped around my body.

The circuit slowly seeped into me. At the same time, I clearly felt the connection from it. The passage had been established stably. I pushed even more magical power through it.

Then the magic circle took in my magical power and scattered it toward the other circuits. The circuits that had been wavering without purpose began slowly crawling up toward my body.

Those circuits took in the light of my magical power and shone brightly. The ritual was beginning. Standing at the center of the magic circle, I quietly accepted the circuits into my body. They passed through my body and connected all the way to the tree inside me.

The circuits embedded in the tree began sucking out what was contained inside it. I knew exactly what it was. Strength drained from my body, and I staggered slightly. I firmly steadied myself again.

What left the tree was magical power that came from treasures, part of my domain, and traces of my soul. Those things gathered into one mass and headed straight toward the magic circle.

That strange mass gave off an unknown, hazy light. It flowed through the circuits and began devouring the magical power that made them up. The magical power mixed into it and began giving off the same light.

The preparations were complete. I carefully took a small puppet from inside my clothes. It was about the size of my upper body. The puppet looked very much like Professor. I lightly tapped its head, sending my magical power into it.

The puppet received my magical power and began breathing. Its mana heart was waking up. It raised itself, but its eyes remained tightly closed.

In that state, it slowly steadied its breathing. Dark magical power poured from its mouth. That had not come from me. It came from the Lantern Core contained inside its heart.

With that, it should be able to endure the burden of this ritual. It was something I had received from Mauro before. After obtaining it, I had gathered a great deal of information about it. Before handling a material, I needed to understand its source.

Thanks to that, I had also learned a lot about the Lantern Serpent. It was a unique magical beast inside the university, one that did not exist outside. It was a giant aquatic magical beast that lived in the university’s sea.

It was also something I had seen before. It was the enormous serpent I had seen on my way to the president. And that was the best material I could obtain for this ritual.

I carefully observed the magical power flowing from the puppet. This was nothing more than a puppet without a soul. Its magical power was so rough that I could not breathe a soul into it. That was why I had to guide its flow entirely by myself.

But perhaps this kind of pure puppet was better suited to the ritual I wanted to perform. It meant there were no impurities inside it. The Lantern Core inside it would be the core of this ritual.

The bizarre magical power coming from the puppet gradually began stretching toward the magic circle. It slowly explored the circuits, then lightly shook them. Then it expanded and swallowed the flow I had created.

The circuits of the magic circle had begun to bind themselves to that magical power. It slowly encroached on them. During that process, the magic circle gradually began giving off a murky black light.

As soon as I noticed that change, I quickly severed the connection to the circuits embedded in my body. The circuits pulled free from the tree and began swaying in midair. They swam through the air for a while, then soon chose a new target.

They aimed at the puppet connected to the magic circle in my place. The circuits stabbed into the puppet. At the same time, the things contained within the circuits gathered into it.

They drew a strange circle as they flowed down over the puppet’s surface. As if receiving some kind of baptism, the puppet slowly began being consumed by those unknown things. And within them, the puppet began to open its eyes.

My eyes lit up as I watched. Was it a success? Then I immediately realized my mistake. Every time I thought that, it failed. I had a feeling this time would be the same.

And my feeling was not wrong. The moment the puppet opened its eyes and raised its body, cracks gradually began forming across it.

The cracks widened every time the puppet breathed. Then, the moment it lost that breath, they swallowed the puppet’s body whole. As its body became unstable, the things contained inside it also began expanding.

Watching that, I clicked my tongue bitterly. I had hoped it might work, but of course it didn’t. This attempt had failed too. I quickly sent a signal to No. 0. Waiting outside the magic circle, it activated the spells it had prepared.

Barriers of magical power began stacking up in layers. They were protective spells I had inscribed in advance for situations like this. Leaving the puppet that had already begun collapsing behind, I quickly moved away as well.

The moment I left the magic circle and crossed the barriers, the puppet failed to withstand that magical power and burst completely. It happened in an instant, without a sound. The magic circle wavered unstably.

That was because I, the puppet, and the things that formed the center had all vanished. The magical power slowly grew unstable. Cracks began forming in the circuits as well. Those cracks gradually grew wider, then shattered all at once.

With that came an explosion of pure magical power. The magical power barriers tried to block it, but the force was beyond what I had expected.

The explosion instantly tore those barriers apart. The thick barriers collapsed before it like sheets of paper. Of course, they received No. 0’s magical power and quickly restored themselves, but they could not fully withstand the force of the explosion.

The protective barrier burst apart in an instant. Then the explosion swept through the workshop.

My body was thrown back by the shockwave. The explosion swallowed about half the workshop. I quickly layered magical power around my body to protect myself from the impact that followed.

After bouncing across the floor, I barely managed to stop. I coughed lightly and circulated magical power through my aching body. Still, perhaps because No. 0’s protective barrier had blocked much of the explosion’s force, the impact was not that severe.

Lying on the floor, I looked at the place where the magic circle had been. In the spot where all sorts of spells had shattered, an intense magical power trace remained. Black smoke was blooming there like a cloud.

No. 0, who had rolled across the floor just like me, raised its body and used the workshop’s magic again. Environment Optimization Magic. Riding the flow it created, the murky air slowly began to settle.

Soon, the magical power trace gradually faded. Then the thing inside was fully revealed. At the center of the completely shattered magic circle was what had once been a puppet.

No, the puppet was nowhere to be seen. Only a strange stone sat at the center. The Lantern Core. It looked fairly intact even after the shock of the explosion. Of course, its magical power seemed weaker than before.

That sturdiness was exactly why I had thought this ritual could succeed. It was tough enough to endure the magical power making up this magic circle.

But in the end, I had failed again today. This was already the tenth failure. I let out a small sigh. I had hoped this one might succeed. Apparently, this alone was not enough.

Feeling a little disappointed, I let my body go limp. Someone brushed past me. A faint rose scent touched the tip of my nose. Only Mira carried that scent.

When I glanced over, it was just as I expected. Mira was examining the magic circle that had burst apart. It seemed she had come to look at the traces of the explosion. She headed straight to the center.

Then she picked up the Lantern Core that had been embedded in the puppet’s mana heart. After examining it from several angles, she glanced at me and pouted. I could feel her dissatisfaction behind that slightly sulky face.

She came to my side. Then she quietly folded her legs and sat beside me. Leaning slightly against me, she tapped my chest. The Lantern Core was in her hand.

She examined it for a moment, then clicked her tongue softly. Then she tucked it straight into her clothes.

“It was something I liked, but I did not know you would handle it this roughly. From now on, I really will not hand anything over unless I am certain. So please be careful.”

She turned her head aside and puffed out her cheeks slightly. At her words, I scratched my chin and smiled bitterly. I really had thought it would succeed this time.

I clicked my tongue as I looked at the shattered magic circle, no, what had once been a magic circle. That was a magic circle similar to the one I had used before, when I turned turtle into the Moon.

Through it, I had wanted to create an object that held the possibility of becoming a treasure. Like turtle had, and like Hari had. Of course, I had failed again.

I quietly closed my eyes and checked my condition. The tree beyond my chest weakly shook its branches. Perhaps because of the ten failures so far, it was extremely withered. It had been suffering a lot lately too.

Of course, it was not at the level of melting everything down like when I created turtle before, so a little rest would be enough. If I performed another ritual on that scale, my realm would definitely collapse.

This was only a simplified magic circle made by modifying turtle’s magic circle. Of course, no matter how simplified it was, it still burdened my tree just like now. It would probably take a few more days to fill that empty tree again.

Why had this failure happened? There had been nothing wrong with the magic circle. The magical power flowing through it had been sufficient. The Lantern Core had also shouldered most of the burden that came to me.

In terms of simply carrying out the ritual, it could be called perfect. Then only one thing was lacking. The problem lay with the materials that formed the ritual. I had not been certain at first, but this failure made it clear.

Desire was lacking. The desire needed to gather all that abundant magical power into one.

I could see No. 0 slowly cleaning up the shattered magic circle. It erased the circuits that had only left traces behind, and the puppet following it began recording the entire process of this experiment on the scroll it held.

It was a stepping stone for the next experiment. Based on that, I would be able to create a more complete structure next time. But this time, I also felt a little stuck. Desire. I had never imagined that would be what was lacking.

Through the process of making Hari and turtle into a kind of ‘god,’ I had gained a deeper understanding of treasures than before. That was also why I could build a simplified magic circle like this. My sense for treasures had become clearer.

Treasures were crystals of desire and magical power. Well, I had already realized that before. I had seen so many treasures, after all.

Then which of the two was more important? I could say with certainty that it was desire.

Making an object that contained power using only magical power was very simple. But that could not be called a treasure. It was nothing more than a magic tool anyone could mass-produce. That was why it was not special.

The things called treasures contained a special quality inside them, unlike those lumps of magical power.

As Professor had said, turtle and Hari contained the possibility of becoming treasures. Their power was extremely lacking compared to existing treasures. Even so, Professor liked them because the source of their desire was clear.

For turtle, there was the endless love of the puppets. For Hari, there was the endless faith directed toward the Ring of the Sky. Like that, to be called a treasure, something needed desire intense enough to form its ego.

There was also another being beside me that proved it. I glanced at Mira. She met my gaze and smiled lightly. Then she leaned slightly against me, released mist, and began helping me up.

A slight ripple appeared around Mira’s eyes. She lightly clicked her tongue. After briefly looking my body up and down, she slowly covered her mouth. Beyond it, I could see a line of drool running down.

“Perhaps because you put a little of your soul into this magic, you smell wonderful. Please be careful. If you tempt me like this, it will be hard to hold back.”

As she said that, I could clearly see gluttony in her eyes. I gave a small dry cough and adjusted my magical power to wrap around my body. It was to hide the wound on my soul, if only a little.

Perhaps that worked, because she smiled softly and leaned against me. At the same time, I felt the faint connection flowing in from her. Beyond it, a hazy desire was still wavering.

She was not trying to hide her desire. Thinking about it, Mira could also be called an artificially created treasure. As she had explained, Professor had compressed her into the form of the Fog Heart.

Perhaps because of that, she had also come to possess an intense desire to eat Professor. Looking at her now, it seemed I was also in a little danger. Seeing her smack her lips again, I subtly took a step away from her.

Mira looked at me and laughed softly, as if amused. I scratched my head slightly and looked at No. 0. The mess from just a moment ago had already been neatly cleaned up by its hands.

It approached me and held out the scroll. I accepted it and sighed deeply. I had thought this would be enough. I placed a hand on my chest.

Beyond it, I felt that strange loyalty toward Professor, no, obsession, endlessly rising. I had thought this would be enough to form the center. That was why I had carried out this experiment.

But in the end, it failed. It was probably because this was not my complete desire. In the end, it was not enough to make a gift for Professor.

Once I thought of Professor, my chest began churning again. My hands trembled with it. The chance to ask her forgiveness had slipped farther away once more.

The pain of failure, and even Professor’s puppet broken apart. As I looked at those things, sadness washed over me like a wave. I smiled bitterly at that intense sensation.

I needed to escape this sadness. So I slowly raised myself. Then I naturally headed toward one side of the workshop. It was the place where I usually made puppets. A workbench sat there.

In front of it, I slowly began trimming a block of wood. The rough texture of the wood touched my fingertips. With that, I felt my mind settle a little.

I closed my eyes and felt the flow of the block of wood. I also felt the grain it created. Calmly feeling those things with my fingertips, I took out a knife. Then I pushed the knife into the grain.

Magical power flowed in along the tip of the knife. When I moved the knife smoothly, the wood split like water. Like that, I slowly began drawing out the form contained inside it.

Even with my eyes closed and my vision dark, I could clearly feel what shape it would take. As I carved the wood, the emotions rising inside my heart naturally began settling into it as well.

I poured my obsession toward Professor, and my sadness too, into the block of wood. After pouring them out handful by handful, my mind became a little clearer.

I opened my eyes. The obsession and sadness had vanished before I knew it. Instead of remaining inside me, they had all flowed out into the block of wood before me. And through that process, the block of wood had become a puppet.

I carefully lifted it. Then I headed toward the small room located right behind the workbench. Concealment and sealing magic were layered over that room. I glanced around the workshop, then undid the seal. The door began to open slightly.

When I passed through the door and went inside, the magic decorating the room poured out a clear light. It slowly lit the room. I looked around. Golden waves caught the light and revealed a brilliant color.

I quietly placed the puppet among that gold. Then I nodded. This one looked exactly the same as the others too. It looked like Professor.

The room was filled with puppets that resembled Professor. Those soulless puppets simply leaned against the walls in silence. The puppet I had just used in the ritual had also been taken from here.

Strange magical power wavered from the puppets. Mira, who had followed me into the room, looked at them and gave a slightly awkward smile. She examined the surroundings, then shook her head.

“I never get used to this place, no matter how many times I see it. They really are like Irian. I can even feel some of her scent. I did not know you could make puppets this interesting.”

“If I do not do this, I do not know when I might cause trouble again.”

Saying that, I smiled bitterly. Even after Professor shut herself in her room, she sometimes swept through the tower. My workshop was no exception. If she saw this, she would definitely be horrified. That was why I had made a separate room like this, to avoid being caught.

There had been no choice but to pile up puppets like this. I placed my hand on my chest. Beyond it, things had calmed down enough. I had to empty out this obsession like this. Otherwise, I was sure I would be consumed by desire again, just like before.

I had started making these puppets by instinct. When I was wondering how to resolve this strange obsession wavering inside me, my hands had naturally moved toward a block of wood.

Like that, I began making puppets one by one. Whenever a puppet was completed, my heart calmed down as well. Before I knew it, they had piled up this much.

Of course, the limit was clear. It had already been close to a month since my soul adapted to my body again. I could feel that obsession binding my soul once more.

So I needed to properly analyze the cause. What, other than the magical power of treasures, was making me like this? And while making puppets like this, I felt as if I might somehow understand the reason.

I quietly tapped my head. That magical power stirred slightly and wrapped around the inside of my head. After confirming that golden magical power had spread like a net and settled there, I nodded.

Perhaps because of the ritual just now, I could not feel the treasure’s magical power wavering beyond it at all. This was an opportunity.

“Let us leave this place for now.”

I said that while quietly holding out a hand to Mira. Then I left the room with her. Afterward, I thoroughly rebuilt the seals.

This was a place Professor could not find out about. Its security had to be airtight. After finishing everything, I met Mira’s eyes. I smiled gently at her and spoke.

“Would you like to leave the tower with me for a while?”

At my words, Mira tilted her head. She leaned slightly against me, her eyes sparkling.

“Where are you thinking of going?”

“I plan to go to the city. I think I need to meet other puppeteers. And as I promised before, I said I would take Mira to a place called Dream Theater.”

I had no choice but to take a short break from making a treasure to give Professor. My tree was not in good condition. So I needed to use this chance to properly explore the source of this strange obsession.

In that sense, now, when all the treasure’s magical power had drained away, was actually the best time. It would take a few days for the tree to replenish all that magical power.

“Dream Theater, you say. Hu hu, I thought you had forgotten about that because you were so distracted by Professor.”

At those words, I felt a slight pang in my chest. She was right. If I had not thought about going to see the puppeteers, I might have forgotten entirely. I lightly cleared my throat and waved my hand.

“Surely I would not do that.”

Mira looked at me with narrowed eyes. Soon, she smiled brightly and clapped her hands.

“Well, I do not mind. Then when are you thinking of leaving?”

“I will move right away whenever you wish.”

“Then how about we leave immediately? I think wandering outside will be more enjoyable than being stuck in the tower like this.”

At her words, I nodded. Mira laughed, sounding pleased. Then mist slowly began flowing from her body.

The mist wrapped around her body. Within it, she turned and slowly began changing clothes. It did not take long for her to prepare herself and set out.

I left a brief greeting on the message board and left the tower. Professor might see the message board, after all. After we stepped outside, I placed turtle on the ground. It let out a meh and quickly swelled in size.

I quickly climbed onto its back. It let out a happy cry and slowly began walking. Our destination was Canyon City. I had to meet the puppeteers there.

They might be able to properly diagnose my condition. I remembered the sight from the gathering. The way they had clung to their own puppets. Somehow, that seemed to resemble my past self too.

At the end of that journey, we reached Dream Theater. And now, we were facing its owner, Koite. He leaned halfway back in his chair and stared at us.

I roughly organized my situation and told him. After listening to everything, he gently stroked the fat under his chin. Then he lightly tapped his bulging belly and spoke.

“Mm, isn’t that pretty normal?”

Koite tilted his head as he said that. I had no choice but to sigh. As expected, I knew he would say this. The answers from the puppeteers I had asked so far had all been more or less the same. Mira watched me and smiled as if amused.

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