VOL 2 Chapter 18: Academic papers.

In the middle of the conference room, which was possibly the most important in the entire Arcane Order, sat the director in the main chair. The director examined a set of documents on the table with an unusual interest for someone who had seen and lived through as much as he had.

"So that's what he wanted to do with the oil..." With a pleasant smile on his face, the director commented softly, to which Adrian, who was sitting in the chair to his right, added in a serious tone that couldn't hide his surprise.

"It was truly a surprise when these arrived at my office: 16 academic papers, plus I've already checked, and the boy has submitted 22 different patent applications. All of them are incredibly creative and many revolutionary, especially that magical plastic, or Manalite as he likes to call it in the documents. That single invention is absolutely insane. Sigrún really hit the jackpot with her disciple; geniuses truly recognize each other."

"Hehehe, well, actually there should have been 23 or maybe a few more. None of these documents mention the mana condenser we talked about last time." the director commented with a mischievous smile on his face as he spread the documents across the table, greatly confusing Adrian, who couldn't help but ask while staring at the faction leader.

"Mana condenser?"

"Yes, the first time I went to see him to discuss compensation, the boy showed me a mana condenser he had created. It was fully functional, and despite a few design flaws, they were minor compared to the huge benefit it represents, being at least 50% cheaper than those currently on the market." The director explained in a more serious tone as he looked at Adrian, who couldn't help but exclaim in surprise, knowing the director was serious.

"At least 50% cheaper?!!!"

"Yes, that's more or less how I felt when I saw it. I really wonder how that boy's mind works to achieve something like that in just a few years..." The director commented after nodding in understanding, which led Adrian to ask, struggling not only to believe what he was hearing but also to question life itself.

"Then why didn't he include something so revolutionary in his documents?"

"Most likely because I offered to hire him to develop it, so I suppose he thought it best not to mention it for now. Maybe he plans to accept my offer or has other plans in mind. In any case, this is an excellent gesture of goodwill from him." The director responded with a somewhat amused smile.

"That boy is a monster. Not only is he advancing like a rocket in his levels as a mana user, but he also managed to make such a groundbreaking innovation. How does he have time for everything? Does he have more hours in a day or something?" Adrian commented, visibly shaken, which made the director laugh heartily.

"Hahahaha, he is indeed a talented boy. But what's really most impressive is that magical plastic of his. Not only did he develop something never seen before, but he also presented several variants for different applications and even dedicated a patent and a full academic paper to the recovery, reuse, and utilization of waste. This will undoubtedly turn the galaxy upside down for a while."

"Yes... The craziest part is that it's really not especially advanced knowledge. Aside from the mana crystallization he must have learned from Sigrún, the rest are just super creative applications of relatively common knowledge, especially those production methods he wants to patent. They're truly revolutionary. How has no one thought of breaking complex creation down into simpler, easily controllable steps to improve quality and lower the entry level, making scalability easier?" While reading through Erik's academic papers, Adrian commented in a somewhat conflicted tone, causing the director to chuckle, slightly amused.

"Hahaha, yes, even I hadn't thought of something like that. The force of habit is more terrifying than I thought."

"Yes... it's truly terrifying..."

Adrian nodded in understanding, then commented in a low voice. But his expression quickly changed to a more professional one as he spoke in a serious tone, befitting the right hand of the great Arcane Order leader.

"But what do you think we should do with the patents and documents, director? While it's a good thing that he's shown such a grand gesture of goodwill by refraining from publishing such an important advancement as the mana condenser you mentioned, the specific handling of this must be well-planned, or it could lead to dissatisfaction."

"We don't need to do anything special about it. Just let the patents follow the normal process and send the academic papers for peer review. This work is good enough that we don't have to intervene. Also, prepare a solid editorial for the university journal and ready extra printers because we're going to be printing like crazy, hahahahaha!" The director responded with a jovial smile, ending in an energetic laugh, to which Adrian nodded seriously.

"Understood, director, I'll make the preparations."

After responding, Adrian left the meeting room, leaving the director alone, who stared into space for a long time as if reflecting on something. But shortly after, a smile appeared on his face as he stood from his seat, walked to one of the windows, and disappeared in the blink of an eye as if he were a ghost. Without the slightest change in his surroundings.

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In the middle of a study filled with all kinds of books, scrolls, and holograms loaded with information, Erik sat behind a beautiful black desk, writing equations and drawing runes and magical circles of all kinds with a focused expression on his face. Two beautiful wolf pups rested peacefully beneath the desk, near his legs.

After a while, Erik stopped writing in his journal, then began tapping the desk lightly with the tip of his pen while holding his forehead with his other hand, reviewing the calculations he had written. This ended with a disappointed sigh, at which point he muttered softly to himself.

"It's really useless, everything leads to a dead end..."

One of Erik's greatest concerns at the moment was his inability to develop a solid theory to support his runic circles. Although they worked, and he could develop them without much trouble, things weren't as easy for others, even though they could use them with enough practice.

The main problem anyone faced when trying to develop a runic circle was that each one was unique. For the runes and geometric figures to combine and form a stable and efficient whole, many changes had to be made to both the runes and the geometric figures. Moreover, the way they interconnected also varied greatly from one runic circle to another.

All these changes were things Erik could accomplish without much trouble thanks to his good intuition. But it seemed like an impossible task for others, to the point where the two youngest and most talented Master-level individuals in human history were completely helpless before the challenge. This despite having the examples Erik had already developed and being able to cast them without much difficulty.

For this reason, Eleonora and Sigrún declared the runic circles as unviable for battle, as a spell had to adapt depending on the situation in a fight to get the most out of it. This required a deep understanding of its inner workings—in other words, a solid and concise theory behind it.

What really worried Erik about his masters' declaration was that if he couldn't find a way to support his runic circles with a solid theory, only a few people would be interested in studying them seriously. Even though they were superior in many ways to other systems. This would greatly restrict their development, as there was only so much one person could do, no matter how good they were.

As an engineer in his past life, Erik was fully aware of the infinite benefits of involving the community in developing a system. Since a magical system was literally a matter of life and death, it was, at the very least, absolute madness to use his runic circles in a real fight like the duel he had recently. With him being the only developer. After all, bugs tend to appear where you least expect them.

The problem was that his runic circles were something he had specifically developed to overcome his major disadvantage of not possessing elemental affinities, as their structure aligned very well with Myst, allowing him to use it integrally in the spell. Unlike other systems, which used it as an external enhancement, this gave him, whose greatest strength was his connection with Myst, a clear advantage that could potentially erase his disadvantage.

After a final tired sigh, Erik stored all his writing materials in his storage ring, deactivated the holograms, and began organizing the books and scrolls on the shelves around the study with the help of his phantom hands.

Though it seemed silly to use books and scrolls when holograms were so useful, the reality was that books and scrolls had an overwhelming advantage over holograms or similar devices. On paper, simplified versions of spells and similar things were generally created to allow for easy testing, along with other conveniences.

A similar concept applied to bookshelves compared to storage rings, which were spatial artifacts capable of holding incredible amounts of books. Additionally, they had specialized functions for organizing books, preserving them, and protecting them from any damage. And being larger, they were much cheaper and easier to make, as they used less expensive materials and required less skill, making them common across the galaxy.

With everything neatly arranged, Erik left his study, a bit disappointed, and walked to the main hall, where he found his masters sitting on the sofas, reading while sipping tea. They exuded an aura of unparalleled wisdom and elegance, making the room seem like the mythical representation of mystical beauty at that moment.

Erik quickly approached Sigrún, who was sitting on one of the large sofas, and without a word, he lay down on it, resting his head on his master's lap. This caused Sigrún to lift her gaze from her book, then look at her beloved disciple with a beautiful smile on her face, as she began softly stroking his starry hair.

"And how did my great researcher do today?" Sigrún asked in a warm and loving tone as she stored her book in her storage ring.

"..."

For his part, Erik refrained from saying anything. Instead, he simply turned over and buried his face in his master's flat abdomen, filling his nose with a rich, soft floral scent that relaxed his senses and calmed his mind.

"Hehe, looks like not so well." Sigrún commented with a smile full of love, though slightly amused at the same time. She then began massaging her beloved disciple's head to help him relax.

Meanwhile, Eleonora, who was sitting on one of the individual sofas across from Sigrún, smiled slightly as she rose from her seat. She then approached her beloved disciple and her sworn sister, where she removed Erik's shoes and sat on the sofa, placing the young man's starry-haired feet on her lap.

"Don't be like that, Erik. Not making progress in your research is very normal, and it's probably the thing you'll face the most in your life. The fact that you're only experiencing it now is what's rare." Eleonora commented affectionately as she massaged Erik's feet with dedication and a smile on her face.