Chapter 32 Study of Magic Circles

I quickly ate the lunch that Astra had made, and went back into my room. My plan now is to study magic circles, and fully understand them. I'll work on my mana control at night, just like I have already decided. I have already exercised in the morning, and completed my new spells. The only things left for me to work on, are chantless casting, and magic circles. I don't want to intrude on them anymore, so I'll work on magic circles. After the competition is over, then will I ask about chantless spells.

Now, the most important thing about magic circles, is the design of them. Every part of the design needs to be perfect. If one part is even slightly off, it will mess up the whole mana flow through the magic circle. This can, at best, cause the spell to fail, and at worst, cause the mana to overload and detonate. I can create magic circles perfectly if given enough time. However, if I wish to use them in battle, then I need to be faster. As such, the first part of my training, is to continuously create the basic shapes of a magic circle.

In a magic circle, the most important part is obviously the circle. Within that circle, there will be various perfect shapes that go all the way up to an octagon. There might be some magic circles that use other shapes, but from the magic circles I've seen, octogans are largest shapes. If I learned how to draw all of them fast, then I would be prepared for most situations. Finally, there are jagged, curved, and straight lines going throughout the circle, connecting different shapes.

However, for now I will focus on the shapes. With that decided, I got some large leaves, a pile of ashes, and a stick. With these, I would practice drawing different shapes. After I had finished with this, I would then try carving the shapes. After all, a magic circle can be directly carved into an object, or just drawn upon one. I don't know how fast I could carve, and will probably only use that as regular training instead of speed training.

With that decided, I began to continuously draw the shapes. Using my multitasking skill, I would simultaneously time myself. Once I had finished one shape, I would continue onto the next shape. This proccess continued, until I was able to draw most of the shapes in 5 minutes or less. The circle and octagon being the only ones that took longer than 5 minutes. I would have continued to practice, if Astra didn't come down, and tell me to get dinner.

Following her, I went into the dining room to eat dinner with all of them. Before eating, I had to wipe myself down, as in my haste, some of the ashes fell on me. After roughly wiping myself down, I then ate with them. They waited for me to be done, and we all ate at the same time. The food was sumptuous, but it couldn't compare to what Ana could make. After eating dinner, I headed back to my room to try using one element through our mana links. To do this, I first had to empty out all of my mana.

"O spell of wind, form from my hands a mighty blade that follows my movements to destroy my enemies. O spell of wind flow through my body to reinforce myself. O spell of wind flow around my body to hide myself."

I figured that the fastest method to drain my mana, would be to use three spells that continuously used mana to function. This method worked, and my mana was being drained from my body, faster than it could replenish. Once my body ran out of mana, all of my spells were automatically canceled.

"O spell of wind, form from my hands a mighty blade that follows my movements to destroy my enemies."

I rechanted my spell sword, as a way to continuously use up my mana. This way, my natural mana regeneration was canceled out, allowing me to truly have no mana. I then chanted my newly created single element fire spell.

"O spell of fire come forth as an arrow to pierce my opponent."

The spell worked, and there was no observable secondary effect. This meant that I had truly used only one element in this spell. However, I didn't get this feeling that Ana was telling me about. It would actually be more surprising to feel it on the first try, but what I had to do was clear. I need to continuously use this spell until I get that feeling.

"O spell of fire come forth as an arrow to pierce my opponent. O spell of fire come forth as an arrow to pierce my opponent. O spell of fire come forth as an arrow to pierce my opponent. O spell of fire come forth as an arrow to pierce my opponent. O spell of fire come forth as an arrow to pierce my opponent. O spell of fire come forth as an arrow to pierce my opponent. O spell of fire come forth as an arrow to pierce my opponent. O spell of fire come forth as an arrow to pierce my opponent. .... O spell of fire come forth as an arrow to pierce my opponent."

I continuously used the spell. I don't know how much time has passed, nor how many times I've chanted the spell. I just decided to call it, and go to bed, even though I didn't get the feeling. I shouldn't be expecting results on the first day, and also shouldn't jeopardize my sleep for this. Especially if I'm going to continue drawing magic circles tomorrow. With my mind thinking of sleep, I inadvertently yawned, and then went to bed.

The next day came. Even though I was tired, I woke up at the same time as yesterday. I don't know how I know it was the same time as yesterday. My body just knows it was. Well, either way, after waking up, I began my excersising routine. I did the same amount as yesterday. However, even though I do the same amount, today's exercise was just harder. It was probably because I am tired, but I'm not entirely sure. Either way, I finished the exercise, but because it was harder, I took more time.

I expected that breakfast would be ready for me. However, when I get to the kitchen, Ana and Astra are nowhere in sight, and there's no food. It was then when I realized that today was my day to make food. Usually after Astra, Ana makes food. However because Ana filled in for me when I slept in late, we switched, and now, I'm after Astra. I quickly headed to the storage room, and grabbed all the ingredients I needed. I'm planning on making a meat bun. By the way, a meat bun is what Ana called my creation of adding meat to dough. She even improved on it, making it more visually appealing, and tasty.

Well, it was quick, and easy to make, so I would make it. I set the grains to be crushed, while I hurriedly began to prepare the meat. I seasoned the meat with salt, and cooked it over the fire. Even though it wasn't as good as marinating, I spread lemon juice over the meat while it was cooking. Soon the meat was done, and I moved it to the cutting board. I grabbed the crushed grains, and moved them to the cutting board with the meat. I put the leftover meat juices into the dough, and added water, before kneading the dough. After I had finished kneading the dough, I began to chop up the meat as thinly and finely as I could. Then I mixed the meat and dough, and kneaded all of it. Finally, I cooked the bread after separating sections of the dough.

It took a little bit of time, but soon the bread was cooked. I took the bread out, and placed it on different plates. As if timed, Astra and Ana came in at the exact moment I finished putting the meat buns on plates.

"Breakfast is ready," I say to the both of them, after being momentarily shocked.

The two of them don't say anything, and immediately went to the table, before eating the meat buns on their plates. They don't say anything, but their expressions are enough to tell me they are enjoying it. I also eat my own meat buns, and while they are tasty, Ana could make them way better.

After they are done eating, I ask, "what are your plans for today?"

"We have enough food to last us the rest of the month," Astra says, "so I'll just be focusing on creating my spells for the competition."

"Yeah, I'll also be working on my spells," Ana also says cheerfully.

"Okay then. I'll probably just work on understanding magic circles better." I say, then add after thinking for a second. "Can one of you come into my room and remind me to make lunch? I will probably be too focused on my work to remember myself."

"Don't worry, I'll come in, and make sure to remind you," Ana says with a slight smile on her lips.

"Thanks, I guess we'll all meet during lunch. I wish you the best luck on your spell creation." I say to them, genuinely, as I begin to walk to my room.

"I don't know about Astra, but I won't need luck. I'll definitely get first place. Just watch me, sylvi."

"Remember those words when you are stuck, and come to me for help. I won't be helping you at that time dear sister." Astra says in response.

I am sure that they both took more jabs at each other, but I left before I could hear more of their conversation. I went into my room, and began to work on magic circles once again. Yesterday, I was able to create the basic shapes, in practically 5 minutes or less. Although, this isn't enough to be used in combat, I should move on. After all, it does get boring doing the same task over and over again. This time, I want to research the magic circles themselves. I want to figure out why they work, and fully understand them.

I already have an idea on where to start. I'll be working off the assumption that magic circles replace spell chants. This is a good assumption to make since both of them need mana to be channeled through them to work. However, the spells need a specific element while the magic circles don't. As such, magic circles should have something similar to a spell chant in their design. I know that this assumption doesn't hold up in reality, due to chantless spells, but it is a good thing to work off in the beginning. I'll be basically trying to translate a spell circle into a spell chant, and then work from there.

If that is my goal, then I'll need to find a magic circle that has a similar effect to a spell chant, or find a spell chant that has a similar effect to a magic circle. Actually I already have a good option to work off of. I have my mana drain spell, and my magic circle that drains mana. They have similar enough effects, that I feel like this will be a good place to start.

To do this, I'll need to go get those magic circles from Ana or Astra. They still have then know even though they have already learned how to control their mana. I guess they are saving them as a memento, or for the off chance that they lose control, and I am not there to help them. Either way, I head into Astra's room first. I don't just barge in there, and instead, knock on the door to announce my presence. After all, I don't know what she is doing there, and it would be horrible if I accidentally learned of her spell.

"Oh is that you Ana," she says contemptuously. "I already told you I wouldn't help you with your spell creation."

I felt like she would have continued talking, so I quickly interrupted her saying, "sorry Astra, it's not Ana, but me Sylvain. I wanted to see the mana drain magic circle."

"Oh Sylvain," Astra says seemingly surprised. "Give me a second. I'll let you in soon."

"Okay then. I'll just wait out here."

It didn't take long before Astra came to the door, and opened it. She is in her human form, which is rare.

"You're in your human form," I voice out my surprise.

"Yeah, my room was really messy, and it was easier to clean it in my human form," Astra says embarrassingly, with a little blush on her face. "I can change back if you don't like it."

"It's fine," I say. This is one of the rare moments where I can see her in her human form, outside of cooking. As I have said before, their human forms are very beautiful.

"You wanted something?" Astra asks, immediately snapping me out of my daze.

"Yeah sorry, your human form is just very beautiful," I instinctively replied, before realizing how bad that sounded. I coughed a little to ease the tension unnecessarily created, before retelling my reason for coming here. "I just wanted to see the mana drain magic circle. Is that okay with you?"

It took a little while for her to answer my question. I guess she was just stunned by my earlier comment. Finally she stammered out an answer. "Uhm. Y yeah that's fine."

"Okay, so can I have it?" I ask, after waiting for her to give the magic circle to me.

"Huh, oh yeah," Astra replies, obviously still in a daze. However, she moves towards her bed after my prompting. She then reaches under her pillow, and grabs the magic circle. I'm guessing she keeps it under there in case she loses control of her mana while she is sleeping.

"Here you go," she says once she gives it to me. "Can you give it back to me once you are done with it?"

"Don't worry," I reply. "I'll definitely give it back to you once I am done with it. I'm only going to be looking at it to try to understand more about magic circles."

"Why didn't you just recreate this magic circle then?" Astra asks. "Wouldn't that get you the same result?"

"It's just been such a long time, that I forgot how I made these things," I reply. "I may not be able to make them again now. It can also be used to show my improvements. You know, see how well I am compared to before."

"Okay, if that is what you want," Astra says."I'll be continuing my work on making spells for the competition."

That then ended our conversation. I first tested the magic circle to see if it still worked properly. Once I had made sure that is still worked, and had a similar effect to my mana drain spell, I immediately headed back to my room to begin my testing.

The first thing I did was copy the magic circle. However, I made it of different parts, that if stacked on top of one another, would form the original magic circle. After I had finished creating that, I stacked all of them, and then activated the magic circle. This way, I could see if the magic circle I had created worked, and it did.

Once I had confirmed it worked, I unstacked the magic circle, giving me the basics components that made up the magic circle. The components consisted of a circle, triangles, jagged lines, squares, hexagons, and octagons. The circle was the only thing that appeared only once, while the rest appeared in varying frequencies. Even though I created this magic circle, I don't know why I used these shapes, or why the magic circle works the way it does. It kind of just popped into my head, which is also the reason I can't recreate it.

Well, I tried to activate the individual shapes to see if they would do anything. My hope was to observe what they did, and then figure out why they were used. However, it wasn't that easy, as there was no reaction. Well, there was a reaction when I put in an absurd amount of mana. However, that reaction was a mana explosion, and other than that, there was nothing. I had tried it for every single component, but there was no change in the outcome. I even created the different shapes, but the same thing would occur.

I wasn't discouraged though, as I was able to learn a little from this. The first, was that mana was running through the magic circle, even if there was no indication. After all, mana is needed to run through it in order for it to overload and cause a mana explosion. The second, was that this confirmed my assumption that magic circles took over spell chants. To be more accurate, the design of the magic circle took over the spell chant. The shapes of the magic circle can be likened to the words of a spell chant. On their own, they do nothing, but when ordered in a specific way, using mana as a catalyst, they can create various spells.

Now all I needed to do is figure out the "language" of the shapes. Once that is done, I'll be able to freely create my own magic circles, and not just wait for them to pop into my head. However, I still have a long way to go to complete this, and it will take countless trials along with countless errors to figure it out.

"Sylvi, it's lunch time." While I'm in the middle of thinking, I am interrupted by Ana . I was wondering why she was telling me it was lunch, before realizing that I was supposed to make food.

"Oh okay. Thanks for reminding me. I'll be right out and make our lunch."

I say to her as she leaves my room. I follow her out of the room before splitting off in the kitchen, me heading to the storage area, while she heads to the dining room table. Once I am in the storage area, I get out some meat and vegetables. I also get out some salt, and other seasonings. I bring this all to the kitchen, before I just start grilling it over the stovetop. I did this because it was a fast way to cook, while still being delicious. It was soon done, and I split it all up into equal portions. The food was then wolfed down in silence.

Once we had finished eating I asked, "how is the spell creation?"

I was genuinely curious about their progress. However, due to the slight twitch of their bodies when I asked the question, I assumed that they were doing bad, or were having trouble.

However, it seemed like they were putting up a facade as Astra said, "I'm doing well. I feel I'm close to making a practical spell."

Soon after she was followed by Ana saying, "I also feel like I'm doing well. I have almost finished my combat spell."

Deciding to tease them a little I asked, "if the both of you are almost done, why don't we end the competition early."

"No," the both of them blurt out at the exact same time.

I stare at them with an inquisitive gaze, trying my best to conceal my laughter.

Without prompting, Astra explains, "even though I am almost done, I still need more time to test it out."

Ana continues after Astra saying, "I feel like I can make the combat spell better. I want to win this thing completely."

"Okay, we'll keep it at the same date," I reply, thinking I've teased them enough."If that is the case, I'll continue working on understanding of magic circles."

"And I'll continue working on my spell," the both of them say in unison.

They begin to leave, but I once again ask them to come and remind me to make dinner. One of them nods their head as they leave, signifying they'll do it, before leaving my sight. The rest of the day passed in a blur to me. I remember continuing my work on magic circles, only for it to produce no results. I also remember Astra coming into my room to remind me to create dinner.

I called it quits with that, and went to make dinner. There wasn't much talking during dinner, and I just went back to my room. Once in my room, I worked on using only one element through my links. I did this until I felt like an hour had passed by, before going to bed. I know I said that I wouldn't ask them about chantless spells. However, I feel like continuing studying magic circles won't yield me results. As such, tomorrow, I'll try to learn how to cast spells without chants. Maybe, this will help me with my magic circles studies.