Meditation Method

"Wesley, I'm warning you—stop pestering Lucia."

"Pestering her? Which law of the Empire says I can't openly pursue an unmarried lady?"

"That's just sophistry!"

"Is Lucia your girlfriend or fiancée? No, that can't be right. Carl, didn't I hear that you're a failed suitor too?"

"We're different. I've been in love with Lucia for a year. Everyone knows how much I admire her. You're just a promiscuous playboy!"

Donald looked at the handsome Golden Hair man and thought that any girl with even remotely normal taste would have nothing to deliberate over between the lazy Wesley and him. But Wesley himself clearly did not see it that way.

"So that means you're the one who's been pestering Lucia all along? Haha, I think you're the one who needs a warning."

"Wesley, you despicable little—"

"Enough, Carl. This is the Library. If you're not here to read, please leave!" Lucia had ignored them all along, only speaking up now.

"But Lucia, he's pestering you like this—"

"I don't like him, but I dislike what you're doing right now even more. And my affairs are none of your business."

Carl glared furiously at Wesley, his mouth opening and closing several times before he finally said nothing more. Then he noticed Donald beside Wesley and turned to call out to the librarian, Virgil. "Why is this pauper allowed to read here freely?"

Virgil merely glanced at Carl without saying a word, leaving the latter no choice but to storm out angrily.

"Well, I got you dragged into this." Wesley pulled a mournful face at Donald.

"With a friend like you, it was only a matter of time before I got dragged into trouble. I was mentally prepared." As Donald spoke, he sorted the books before him and returned them to the shelves.

"You didn't have to do that. I know you don't want to cause trouble for Mr. Victor, but Mr. Victor isn't afraid of this kind of trouble."

"Whether he fears trouble is his business. Avoiding trouble is mine. Besides, I was only browsing. Magic is far too distant from paupers." Donald mocked himself, though he did not necessarily think so deep down.

"Why can't paupers learn magic? Why does the Magic Academy only admit noble students? That's blatant discrimination!" Wesley was even more indignant than Donald.

"Magic is simply too expensive. It has nothing to do with the Magic Academy." Donald found the angry Wesley rather adorable, though his words made little sense.

"Magic is too expensive..." Donald's words extinguished Wesley's rare burst of passion, and he repeated them quietly.

In a corner neither Donald nor Wesley noticed, Lucia's gaze flicked in their direction for once.

Naturally, Donald would not give up on learning magic just because he feared trouble. That evening, after helping Victor finish the abstract for his paper, he asked Victor his first question about magic.

"Does drawing Magic Glyphs have to be done under a teacher's supervision?"

Victor froze for a moment. He might not have expected the other man to ask a question related to magic. But he immediately realized that Donald learning magic was only natural. Given his genius-level talent in natural history, magic might not be so difficult for him either.

"Yes, someone must supervise you."

"But Magic Glyphs look very simple. Even without guidance, it shouldn't be that easy to draw them wrong, should it?"

"You've got it backward. A teacher's role isn't to make sure students draw them correctly, but to control how much they practice. Without anyone controlling them, the Magic Academy could produce thousands of madmen every year."

"Wouldn't it work to set a limit and control yourself?"

"If a naked beauty were standing beside your bed, could you control yourself?"

"I'd very much like the chance to try. But I don't think Runes are that tempting."

"That's because you haven't started drawing them yet. Right now, you're like a baby. Of course you don't find beautiful women tempting."

"Do these Runes have to be drawn exactly the same?"

"There are no two exactly identical Runes in the world."

"I don't think we're discussing philosophy." Donald rolled his eyes at him.

"All right. There's a saying passed down from the Great Magicians of the south: the overall picture matters more than the details. It's generally believed to refer to the big-picture perspective needed when designing Magic Arrays, but some say it may refer to Magic Glyphs instead. In truth, I have seen Glyphs drawn quite casually that still worked. But such variations are difficult to grasp. Sometimes a large difference is fine, while other times even the slightest deviation won't work. In short, students are still advised to make them as similar as possible."

"Then when drawing a Magic Array, if an invalid Rune gets mixed in, how can you tell?"

"Every Rune you draw produces a faint magical fluctuation. If you don't feel it, then you know you drew it wrong... Hey, listen, don't go trying this on your own. If you really want to learn, someone has to keep watching you. I don't want to take out a mute and bring back a madman. Your father would smash me to bits with his hammer."

"I can't get my hands on Magic Metal anyway, so I couldn't try even if I wanted to." Besides, you're a powerful Mage. How could my father possibly hit you? Donald grumbled inwardly.

"Anyway, don't do anything reckless. If you really want to learn, we'll talk next summer when I have time to keep an eye on you."

"We'll see. So what about meditation?"

"That comes after you advance to Magic Apprentice. There are all kinds of Meditation Methods, but in principle, they all involve controlling the arrangement of Divine Elements."

"Meditation Methods have higher and lower grades too, right? Are advanced Meditation Methods especially powerful? Does the Academy have any?"

"I really don't know where you heard all this nonsensical nonsense. Different Meditation Methods simply have different characteristics; there's no distinction between high and low grades. Some focus on rapidly increasing Spiritual Power, while others help restore the activity of Divine Elements quickly after casting magic—that is, restoring magical power. A Meditation Method that increases Spiritual Power quickly is bound to restore magical power slowly. You can't have both. But in practice, the more important factor when choosing a Meditation Method is how entertaining it is."

"Entertainment?" Donald studied Victor carefully and confirmed that his eyes were clear. He probably was not talking nonsense.

"Yes, entertainment. Some Meditation Methods arrange Spiritual Power in highly entertaining ways, while others are unbearably dull. No matter how patient a Mage is, they can't stand that kind of boredom."

Donald was momentarily baffled. Were you telling me that meditation was basically playing Tetris and Puzzle Bobble in your head?

"There's one Meditation Method that makes people sleepy. Everyone uses it as a sleep aid now. Half an hour before bed, and you'll sleep soundly all night. It really works."

"Do you count Spiritual Elements? Like this: one Divine Element, two Divine Elements, three Divine Elements?"

"How did you know?"

Donald felt that if this conversation continued, he would go mad without even drawing a Rune. So he quickly finished his Calming Tea and went downstairs to sleep.

Lying in bed, Donald kept thinking about the phrase, the overall picture matters more than the details. It seemed somewhat connected to the strange sensation he had felt when looking at Magic Glyphs. But after pondering it endlessly without understanding, he could only drift off into a daze.

In his dream, he saw five Magic Glyphs twisting strangely until they finally became the same shape.