An Author's Special Privilege

I was an avid web novel reader. Cultivation novels, transmigration novels, isekai, reincarnation… you name the trope, I'd read it. 

The first ever novel I wrote was even a weird mishmash that tried to include all those genres inside of it. 

But I learned my lesson.

Less was more. As an author, you were tasked with building a whole iceberg in creating a story. But to the reader, only the tip of that iceberg would ever be shown.

Entire backstories, childhood friends of the main cast that never showed up in the story, creation myths, underpinnings of the power systems… all of that wouldn't be known to the reader.

That was why in stories where readers were transmigrated as extras, they usually couldn't bootstrap themselves up without taking from the MC. 

However, to the author, there were many, many ways to accomplish their goals.

At least, if you were as meticulous an author as I had been.

I heard there were some authors who just wrote on the seats of their pants, winging the story with a half-assed plot, characters, and a healthy dose of prayers.

Someone like that being shoved into their own story would no doubt be in for a hell of a time.

Of course, that wasn't me.

Sure, there were some bits that I had forgotten after writing the story for three years, but I had taken very detailed notes and elaborated on pretty much every aspect of 3D-ED.

And those detailed notes and elaborations were what I would be leveraging now going forward.

The northwest quadrant of Starlight Academy had various magical facilities that students could reserve for research and experimentation. However, not many students took advantage of them in the first year due to the heavy focus on the mandatory subjects. It was mostly from the second year onwards where students would begin spending time in the magical facilities to practice basic crafting, enchantments, and the like to supplement their abilities in exploring gates.

Of course, even if there were students who would use it, nobody would be around to use it on a rest day like this where the curfew was removed. 

And since it was getting close to 10 PM, most of my peers were either already off campus or asleep.

Which meant it was the perfect time for me to be working on my hidden projects.

Most of Starlight Academy was automated due to the complex magical system Sophia created to run everything. At least, that was the reason for it in the setting. In reality, it was because I didn't want to keep adding random minor characters when there were already enough students to deal with in the first arc, let alone future characters popping up after the academy.

But regardless of the reason, I was thankful of that. Although I'd probably get bothered by Sophia again when she saw what I was doing, I wouldn't have to be haggling with staff or explaining things to people.

Swiping my academy phone at the entrance to the magical workshops to unlock the main building, I walked inside.

A nearby display showed the reserved rooms. And as expected, there was no one in the building except for me. 

I reserved a room in the lowest floor with my phone and then made my way towards it. 

Due to the danger of the potential experiments taking place, and also due to privacy concerns, each magical workshop was designed like a bunker without a single glass window. The only people who could enter and exit were the student who reserved the room, and Sophia, the person who designed the room.

But although it was designed like a bunker, the room was anything but.

A small bedroom to sleep in, a bathroom with a shower…

Ventilated fume hoods with basic chemicals and reagents, along with an engraving station, and a miniature forge.

It was the perfect place for an avid researcher to lose track of time in their mad pursuit of knowledge.

…Which was supposed to happen at some point to a certain character that showed up in second year. But we'd see if that still happened considering all the ripples I seemed to be causing.

Aaand there goes the good mood. Hah.

I ran my hand through my hair and then walked over to the engraving station before dropping down a subspace bag I'd picked up to hold my purchases. After that, I unsealed it and started unloading the materials I bought.

Copper, gold, diamonds, rubies, mana crystals, monster cores, cursed artifacts…

A table's worth of miscellaneous materials spread out from the bag. After they were laid out, I moved the subspace bag to the side and then got to work.

In Starlight, students could only use magical artifacts, tools, and enchantments that they created for themselves for exams. 

This meant that if you were a master artisan who could make overpowered boosting gear or enchantments, you'd be at an insane advantage compared to other students during the practicals.

However, there was nobody who was like that in my story. And there was a simple reason why.

Starlight Academy was a gathering place of future 'Heroes.' Individuals with the natural talent and power to become a force of nature on their own. This place was a training ground to hone one's skills. Although there were enough resources to learn the basics, this place heavily leaned towards combat instead of crafting.

That was evident by how the class would be cut down each year, with Second Year having 250 students, Third Year having 125, and then Fourth Year with an elite group of 50.

If there happened to be someone with the capability to be a master craftsman or some other utility Talent, they'd likely apply to join one of the many production guilds in the Empire instead, like Flamelian, Merlinus, etc.

Even then, the common sense of this world was that people with those sorts of abilities would still lose against properly trained Heroes.

After all, even if you managed to create a miraculous artifact that multiplied your strength a hundredfold, if you had a base of 1, it'd just be a 100. Meanwhile, the average Starlight Alumni would be hitting at least 1000 by the time they headed off into the real world.

All of that to say, it was seen as a waste of time when you could be honing your mana, body, and skills.

Even so…

How could you waste time when you know the optimal paths?

I grabbed a handful of copper scraps and chucked them into a crucible to melt them down. While that was happening, I grabbed a few of the cursed artifacts and chucked it into the dismantler attached to the engraving station. After that, I started sorting through the gemstones I picked up to find a decent sized one.

The goal was simple: create a personal attack drone.

Ideally, I'd make a whole automaton, but that would definitely draw too much attention at this point and time.

My current limitation was my lack of mana circles and physique to keep up with my peers. It was essentially the plight of all humans that found themselves facing superior opponents. 

And my solution was the same as the one humans had used since the dawn of time in facing superior opponents: analyze their strengths and steal it for my own by replicating it with a tool.

There was no rule that mana circles couldn't be artificially created in a tool. Neither was there one that said mana stars had to be in flesh. 

Of course, there was caveat to that.

Like how most people would blow out their hearts before creating a link to mana stars, 99.99999% of people wouldn't be able to harmonize artificial mana circles or create artificial mana stars due to lacking an understanding of their fundamental nature.

Only the transcendent rank 10 mages or warriors would know the truth. But those guys had long departed this world to try their luck exploring the universe.

Anyway, off to work.

I grabbed a pea-sized uncut diamond and then opened up the upgrade menu.

===

> Current SP: 2060.

> Target selected: uncut diamond (flawless).

> Would you like to spend SP to upgrade the target?

===

A mana star was a vessel that could contain and radiate mana. 

Thus, to create an artificial one, you needed a crystal of some sort that could pass mana through it as well as trap it inside.

For that, a flawless diamond was a must.

Quartz and silica would be acceptable substitutes, but they'd crack and fracture under pressure. 

Anyway, this particular diamond cost me about 3000 credits after quite a bit of haggling. Still, it was worth it for ensuring it was flawless. And now, if upgrading worked like how I thought it did…

===

> 10 SP has been spent to upgrade "uncut diamond (flawless)."

> Current SP: 2050.

> Uncut diamond (flawless) has been refined by 1%. All of its attributes have increased by 10%.

> SYSTEM: Note that upgrading is best performed on raw materials or on individual components. Attempting to upgrade the concept of an object as a whole will cost significantly more SP for the equivalent performance.

===

 …Perfect.

===

In the Mage Tower overlooking the campus of Starlight Academy, Sophia walked into her bedroom and flopped on her bed.

Because Professor Bottler had up and disappeared under suspicious circumstances, she had to sit and explain the situation to the Emperor who had already been pissed off at having to deal with the Eastern Kingdom ambassadors.

Not only that, but Sophia also had to find a replacement who could teach Gate Exploration. And she had to personally vet them to make sure a repeat of Professor Bottler didn't happen again.

Thankfully, after asking around and warping across the Empire all day, she managed to find someone.

An old friend who she managed to catch before he headed off on an expedition into the northern wilderness to scout out unexplored gates. After wheedling him for a while, he promised he'd show up on Sunday evening to prep for classes and take over after that.

So that was settled. But there were still plenty of other things that Sophia had to deal with as well.

Rolling over on her bed, Sophia stared at the ceiling and muttered, "Even rank 9 mages who crossed the boundary are human in the end. Right, Master?"

It was a grim reminder.

Despite her power, magic, status, and accomplishments… at the end of the day, Sophia wasn't one of those crazy bastards who focused on training her body. 

She still felt fatigue, emotions, and made mistakes.

"Hah… Why can't another rank 9 mage pop up already?"

If someone like that showed up, she could rest assured about this mysterious shadow that was obscuring her Foresight. 

But the closest to it was the Royal Archmage, and he had just reached rank 8.

There were quite a few promising alumni as well, but it would still be a decade or so before she could call them her peers.

"Where are the heaven-sent talents they talk about in fairytales?"

Sophia grumbled as she stared at the ceiling to complain.

But then she remembered something. Or rather someone.

A crazy bastard who didn't care about his life at all, shattered his mana circles to cast a rank 6 spell, and then somehow managed to recover enough to walk out of the infirmary in a couple hours and even rebuild his mana circle by the end of the day.

Alexander Smith.

The moment Sophia thought about him, she suddenly got a sense of foreboding.

Not danger or anything like that. But more like the sensation that she was about to find herself in a complicated mess of affairs that would lead to her having nonstop headaches for a while.

Just like the time she went against her instincts and accepted that damned Emperor's offer to build a school to hone her talents.

Bastard.

But…

"Is that kid doing something ridiculous again?"

Sophia glanced at the clock.

It was 2 AM. Saturday.

…Even if he was crazy, he wouldn't be doing something right now, would he?

Still, she couldn't help but shake that something was wrong. 

Because of that, she dragged herself out of her bed and then went to go take a look at the system records.

And in an instant, she found out that he had reserved one of the magical workshops in the magic facilities sector.

The sense of foreboding suddenly grew stronger.

Sophia hesitated.

…She didn't have to know. It was late, and even if she knew, it would only be a hassle dealing with that crazy guy.

But on the other hand, the last time she ignored her instincts, she was roped into being this academy's headmistress.

Which she enjoyed, but the constant headaches and dealing with bureaucracy she could live without. Not to mention suddenly being the implicit leader of all Heroes worldwide due to all the alumni from her academy. And then there was dealing with the bad eggs who became Villains as well…

A hassle. Nothing but a hassle.

…Wait.

Sophia paused to think about it.

She was feeling that it'd be a hassle to ignore the guy. That if she left him to his own devices, she'd regret it completely.

Not because he'd drop dead or something. Heavens no. Stupid kids deserved stupid rewards.

But instead, she felt like she'd be ignoring a bomb that would blow up in her face when she least expected it.

"...Let's just take a look." Taking a deep breath to brace herself, Sophia turned on the surveillance footage to see what that crazy bastard was up to. And then…

"what."

She blinked, rubbed her eyes, and then stared at the image again. 

It was impossible. But her very being was telling her that it was indeed possible and floating right around that crazy bastard's head. Not only that, but she was instinctively understanding the principles behind it.

Not completely, which was a first. But enough that she understood why it would be a mess later on.

Alexander Smith had created artificial mana circles and linked them to an array of artificial mana stars within a metallic familiar's body. Not only that, he had interfaced the familiar with his own mana, allowing him to access power far beyond his rank.

And as to what rank…

"...Is this kid a reincarnated archmagus or something? Or did he find an inheritance from an otherworldly mage in one of the gates?"

There were six mana circles, intricately woven around a mana star. And within those six mana circles, six more mana stars rested, orbiting around the first mana star as if it was a sun.

On a glance, it looked like he could freely tap into the power of a rank 6 Magidom and a rank 7 Grand Master. 

…No. It would be a one-time use.

Accessing that power would instantly shatter the artifact.

But even then…

"...What is going on this year in my academy?"

First a professor goes missing. Next, the simulator turns into an artificial gate. Then there's this crazy bastard who apparently understands the nature of mana circles and mana stars enough to not only shatter his to use the power of someone that would have trained half their life to accomplish, but also to survive and recover within hours. And NOW it seems that he realized the flaw in his tactic of shattering his mana circles and decided to create an artificial disposable set of them instead…

Sophia let out a deep groan and then flopped back on her bed.

"...I'll deal with it tomorrow morning."

Forget eternal youth and hundreds of years to pursue the depths of magic. If Sophia knew that her life would be this hectic, she would have just listened to her father and married into nobility. It would have been boring, but boring suddenly seemed a lot more appealing after this revelation…