"Yvonne, what's the deal with that expert title of yours? You even get a special stipend!"
"It... it was the academy that nominated me."
"That's just ridiculous. Even high-level mages have a hard time getting something like that."
Froya held a hand to her forehead, looking as though she could hardly accept it.
What kind of monsters were these freshmen?
"All my classmates are geniuses."
Roland sighed.
It wasn't just Yvonne with her special stipend. Even Skord, whose funding allocation seemed modest, couldn't be underestimated.
After all, funding allocations were only one point of reference. They still had a long road ahead.
Once they applied for funding, their project proposal was all settled.
Since the special funding was approved so quickly, they simply drew up a list of the supplies they needed on the spot.
These included a dozen or so spell scrolls, some special paper needed to make spell scrolls, mana-infused ink, and other items, all of which were available within the Mage Tower.
"This sure is convenient. If we were in the Dark Dynasty, where wizards ruled, we might have to go out on missions and spend ten days or half a month before we could even start experimenting."
Skord couldn't help marveling.
"Then we'd not only have other towers fighting us for resources, but the senior students in our own tower would be scheming against one another and killing each other too."
"I'd hang back and protect you." Roland grinned sidelong at him.
"Oh, please. You'd be the most dangerous one of the lot!" Froya retorted.
Magic experiments cost money, and the expenses were far from small.
The Low-Level Spell Scrolls they had requisitioned, for instance, ranged in value from 10 to 150 gold coins. Experiments might involve altering some of their elements, and once used, the scrolls were worthless.
Various disposable quills imbued with the "Copying Spell" cost one silver coin for three (valued at 3.5 copper coins/35 copper yuan) and could only operate for 10 to 15 minutes.
Special ink and paper ranged from one to ten gold coins and were purchased according to their actual needs.
With essential consumables like these, spending several dozen gold coins in a day was perfectly normal. That was enough to cover a low-level adventurer's monthly expenses, including supplies, equipment maintenance, meat and alcohol, entertainment, and so on.
No wonder people said being a mage was expensive.
A short while later, the three said goodbye to Froya and headed elsewhere, to the laboratory they had applied for.
With their application approved, the Small Magic Laboratory at 8008 was now temporarily theirs to use.
It covered roughly 100 square meters, with an antique-style interior in pale wood-grain tones. A refreshing fragrance, like a blend of lavender and mint, filled the room and soothed the mind.
At the center of the laboratory stood a huge stone table, with a row of tables and chairs on either side and piles of materials and tools.
Most of these were intended for scribing scrolls or inscribing magic runes. Along the far wall opposite the entrance stood rows of large bookcases containing reference books in related fields, including quick-reference guides to various magic runes, character dictionaries, and word dictionaries.
The three placed their requisitioned supplies on the large central table, pulled over a few chairs, and began a brief meeting.
"You both know why we're conducting this group experiment, but let me go over it again here to organize our thoughts."
To make it easier to review later, Skord specifically cast a Copying Spell to record what Roland said.
"As everyone knows, language and writing are closely connected to magic. Certain special characters possess magical power when written on paper. In the field of Arcana research, this is called magical resonance.
If we can harness this resonance through special materials and specific writing methods, we can use it to store magical power and cast spells from scrolls.
Conversely, we can consider any language and writing system capable of this to have the potential for magical use, allowing it to gradually gain acceptance within magical civilization.
We have an unknown road ahead of us. Of course, we can't explore it all at once, but according to basic linguistic principles, linguistic signs are arbitrary. The magic runes written on spell scrolls should therefore be replaceable.
What we need to do is identify the runes that can be replaced and try using Oracle wherever possible.
This is how we'll explore the magical 'meaning' it points to."
"So how exactly should we proceed? As we discussed before, do we start with specific rune units such as numerals and nouns?"
"Exactly. Take the level-zero spell Light, for example. Both its incantation and its runes contain terms such as 'light.' By comparing how different runes function, we can roughly deduce the resonance rate of the corresponding Oracle characters and words.
Unlike high-level mages, we don't have expensive instruments or secret arts to assist our research. Even our funding is limited, so we can only define a narrow scope like this for our study.
As for the division of labor, I'll personally select suitable characters and words and convert them into runes. Yvonne can try helping me translate the magical writing on various scrolls, as well as handle post-casting tests and statistics. Skord, you'll be responsible for scribing the scrolls and conducting the casting experiments.
Any problems with that?"
"No problems."
"Good. I hereby declare the research into the magical application of Oracle and the improvement of Scribe Scroll officially underway!"
At that moment, Roland remembered the wand Archmage Ovesto had given him, worth at least 1,000 gold coins, and took it from the pouch at his waist.
In Atrelin's culture, staffs and wands were actually two different things, with different types and grades. For convenience, however, the Arcana community simply lumped them together.
Linguistically, this sort of conflation was similar to that between language, writing, the Chinese language, Chinese characters, written Chinese, and so on. The public had little patience for understanding their distinctions, and their meanings were tangled enough that they gradually became interchangeable, were distorted, or came to be treated as equivalent by convention in certain contexts.
As Roland understood it, this thing was probably something like a gun or cannon, with mana serving as ammunition.
"Hey, Roland, that's a nice wand!" Skord knew quality when he saw it and couldn't help admiring it.
"Heh heh." Roland said nothing more and simply waved it around.
Here in Atrelin, we're brimming with magical virtue. Happiness every day.
Scholar's Zeal Wand...
*No, Scholar's Happy Stick. **Bonk!***
Instantly, a wondrous sensation swept through his whole body.
Roland felt a faint aura envelop him, and an almost euphoric, ravenous enthusiasm welled up within him.
It was a little like the immersive state known as "flow." Not only did his motivation to learn and his concentration increase dramatically, but his memory and comprehension improved as well...
"I love learning! I love research!"
"No one can stop me from pursuing the true essence of Arcana!"
Before you continue