Supermagic Script!

"How could this happen?"

Grand Mage Watson muttered to himself in disbelief.

At first, he had thought the obstacle before him was paper-thin, something he could poke straight through. He had never imagined it would be an impregnable wall!

But if Grand Mage Watson gave up that easily, he would not have been Grand Mage Watson.

He tossed aside his magnifying glass and brought over a Magic Element (magic power) microscope. After a few quick adjustments, he began his analysis.

He was desperate to know whether Magic Elements (magic power) accumulated within the dictionary Roland had compiled, and if so, what their magical resonance rate (affinity) was.

Magicalization in linguistics was essentially a special resonance phenomenon. Just as objects possessed fixed frequencies, magical scripts often possessed a certain resonance rate.

Its origins were closely tied to the "signifier" and "signified" of language and writing. The interaction between the two produced "meaning."

The Arcana community held that incantations used in spellcasting were usually a special linguistic structure. Reciting or writing particular words and phrases would produce tremendous power, and those "particular words and phrases" were also a form of "meaning."

The "meaning" generated by these vessels of spirit and thought interacted with an omnipresent substance called "mana," and Magic Elements (magic power) came into being.

These Magic Elements (magic power) would recombine under the guidance of the caster's mental power, transforming into spell effects in specific ways.

Even when merely spoken or written in an ordinary manner, magical languages and scripts possessed a certain amount of magic power.

Conversely, any language or script capable of doing this could be considered to have the potential for magicalization.

Such painstaking observation cost money, of course. Once the instrument was switched on, gold coins were consumed at the terrifying rate of thousands upon thousands.

Microsecond sampling, high-frequency analysis, automated calculation...

In the Arcana Era, Atrelin's magical technology was already quite advanced, but collecting certain data still required considerable time and effort.

Grand Mage Watson did not delegate the work. He completed the process himself.

Yet when he saw the instrument's final reading, he almost thought he had made a mistake.

"Impossible! A resonance rate of 98.52%! That's higher than Dragon Script and Elvish Script!"

There were many magical languages and scripts, but few achieved a resonance rate above 95%. This meant that, in practical applications, their energy losses were far lower than those of other languages and scripts.

Generally speaking, this already met the Ultra-Magic standard, qualifying a language for mainstream use in an advanced magical civilization.

Grand Mage Watson's eyes went wide, and once again, his puffing breath sent his graying beard bristling.

"I don't believe it! There must be a mistake. Tower Spirit, retrieve the data for me. I'll check the calculations myself!"

Naturally, the results were correct.

On the verge of losing his mind, Grand Mage Watson rushed over to the nearby safe and dug out a heap of dazzling, precious materials.

Among them were mana stones countless wizards dreamed of obtaining, premium crystal cores produced inside Higher Tier magical beasts, and all manner of elemental crystals...

As these precious materials were fed into the sacrificial Magic Array, an invisible power surged and began circulating under the array's guidance.

"Magic network casting: ninth-level spell, Wish!"

His eyes bloodshot, Grand Mage Watson roared, "I want to know what this script really is!"

Mana resonated throughout heaven and earth. Vast magic power flowed with it, turning into a mysterious disembodied voice: "This is an entirely new script independently created by Roland, an apprentice wizard of the Orvisto Wizard Tower. It was submitted to Arcana on August 25, 10023, and passed its second review on August 30. Grand Mage Watson personally verified its calculations, confirming an exceptionally high magical resonance efficiency exceeding that of draconic and elven scripts. It can essentially be classified as a supermagic script..."

Grand Mage Watson felt as though he had been struck by lightning.

Only then did he abruptly realize that he had focused so much attention on the paper that he had forgotten to investigate the author's background.

"An Ultra-Magic script cobbled together by an Apprentice Mage!"

The immense shock struck him down like a thunderbolt. Grand Mage Watson slowly slumped to the floor, his entire body seeming to collapse into a boneless heap.

On September 10, the final-review hearing began as scheduled at the Arcane Committee's headquarters.

Sunlight streamed through the tall windows into the spacious, brightly lit meeting hall. The intricate Magic Runes on the walls and the exquisite magical chandeliers overhead seemed bathed in a golden splendor.

Rows of sound-amplifying runes and flowing fluctuations of message spells were already in place.

Amid the solemn atmosphere, the attending high-tier wizards sat in orderly rows, occasionally leafing through documents, discussing matters in small groups, or writing alone with their heads bowed in thought.

Numerous enchanted quills floated before their respective projection screens, bustling about like tiny living sprites.

This time, the meeting was chaired by His Excellency Antonia, a grand arcanist and Legendary Mage.

"I have reviewed the points currently in dispute. The second-review vote was two to one.

Grand Mage Watson, would you like to state your objections?"

Everyone turned to Grand Mage Watson and could not help staring in astonishment.

The hot-tempered little old man, who was usually so wildly keyed up, had lost every trace of his former vigor.

He sat with his head hanging like a defeated rooster, despondency radiating from his entire body.

Even when His Excellency Antonia, the grand arcanist and Legendary Mage, asked for his opinion, he only replied listlessly, "I have no objections whatsoever..."

Ovesto and Lunifis were equally bewildered by the sight.

Besides his temper, this little old man was famous for his stubbornness.

Why had he suddenly changed his ways?

"In that case, let us begin the vote."

Antonia could not help raising an eyebrow either, but he made the announcement solemnly nonetheless.

The rustle of turning pages sounded in succession. Then the tribunal, consisting of the high-tier wizards, the Arcane Commissioners (Grand Mages), and the three Grand Mages on rotating duty, began to vote. Countless Arcane Marks rose like brilliant stars into the night sky, drifting slowly toward the hall's vaulted ceiling before finally coalescing into a special seal belonging to the journal Arcana.

It signified approval.

"This tribunal hereby grants permission to publish!"

Antonia struck his gavel, then personally removed the seal from the original Paper.

The Tower Spirit publicly displayed the Paper's author, institution, and other information through Projection.

"Apprentice Mage... Roland?"

The room erupted.

Inside the Mage Tower, the communication Magic Array shone brilliantly. Rays of magical light activated by information formed all manner of peculiar runes, flickering and darting incessantly in a dazzling display like a cloud of electrons.

Under the Tower Spirit's control, one stream of information entered Froya's room.

"Lady Froya, there is an update from the Arcana Communications Journal you subscribe to..."

Froya, the little-girl-looking auntie with twin ponytails, rubbed her eyes, set down her book, and connected to the Tower Spirit to cast Projection.

A moment later, all her drowsiness vanished.

"What?! Publication in October?"

Note: mana is where the term MP comes from.

The Magic Power system in this book uses a mana–Magic Element framework that better fits webnovel conventions. This is the familiar system featuring water, fire, wind, lightning, ice, earth, light, darkness, space, time, and so on.

However, I have also made some fantastical modifications while accommodating the various major schools of magic, witchcraft, alchemy, magitech, and so forth, explaining them as remnants of historical development.

In other words, the world in this book has passed through multiple eras of magical civilization. Each era had a mainstream form of power with a different focus, effectively encompassing the power systems of several books. By the modern age, Arcana had unified them all, gradually discarding the dross and preserving the essence.

That is the explanation from a historical perspective.

As for their geographical distribution, the setting encompasses different planes and many worlds, so it is perfectly reasonable for each to have its own distinctive features.

In the writing, I will try to balance straightforward satisfaction with intricate, thought-provoking complexity, presenting only the tip of the iceberg to keep things simple without sacrificing depth.