Over the following days, Roland and the others divided up the work and kept busy, finally reaching the practical stage of rune conversion before the end of September.
They were about to transcribe their first genuine Spell Scroll containing Oracle.
Roland naturally took charge of the transcription himself. After all, he currently had the deepest understanding of Oracle's "meaning," making it easier for his mental power to resonate with it.
He snapped his fingers, and the magical Quill floated into the air. A string of magic runes in Elvish Script, interspersed with Oracle, appeared on the Special Paper beneath its tip.
After a little while, the work was done.
"Quick, use it. Let's test it."
Skord had long since run out of patience and eagerly urged him on.
Without another word, Roland immediately activated the scroll.
Item casting: Light.
A fist-sized orb appeared, radiating a bright, pure white glow.
"The experiment went smoothly. It looks like Oracle really is suitable for use as a magical script." Roland felt genuinely gratified at the sight.
"It's all thanks to your brilliant idea, Roland," Skord said excitedly.
"Hahaha, not at all. You're giving me far too much credit."
"N-next, shouldn't we finish the paper?" Yvonne timidly reminded them.
"Indeed. It's time to organize the material we've collected into a paper. With these results, writing a short paper shouldn't be difficult." The excitement had yet to fade from Skord's chubby face.
"One? We ought to get at least three or five out of this!" Roland said with a laugh.
"Can we really do that? This isn't some large-scale experiment. Salami slicing wouldn't be a good idea, would it? I know you're kindly trying to give us a share of the results, but don't go so far that the papers get rejected."
Salami slicing was a gray area in academic writing: dividing a single study into multiple papers.
It wasted reviewers' time and energy and crowded out potential opportunities for others.
At the milder end, it was padding out publications; at the more serious end, it was academic misconduct.
"Don't worry. Improving the Light Spell Scroll alone is enough to support a paper.
We also developed the character set needed to transcribe it, along with new standards for comprehensively evaluating Oracle's magical efficacy.
We're using a new script and opening up a new field, after all. Sometimes the results really are just lying everywhere, waiting to be picked up."
"True. The arcane research community is pragmatic. Major results don't count as padding."
A thoughtful look crossed Skord's chubby face, and he immediately seized on the key point.
"Still, there's no need to submit to Arcana this time. Let's submit to Runes instead.
After all, this is only a continuation of your previous work, and our experiments haven't yet delved deeply into the nature of magic."
"That makes sense. Runes it is." Roland readily accepted the suggestion.
Yvonne then used the data they had previously collected to conduct a comprehensive assessment of the improvements.
Atrelin did not separate the humanities from the sciences, since arcane research often drew on multiple disciplines. Mathematical tools, at the very least, were indispensable.
Yvonne had unquestionably been a top student during her academy days, and she soon calculated the results.
Current efficacy: lumens (unit of luminous flux) +1.07%, transcription time -1.75%, material consumption -3.43%... Theoretical efficacy (complete conversion to Oracle): lumens (unit of luminous flux) +23.41%, transcription time -35.35%, material consumption -67.91%...
She looked up in astonishment, exchanging bewildered looks with the equally stunned men.
The results were not bad. They were too good.
So good that they were utterly absurd!
They had gone beyond absurd and come out the other side!
"C-could I have calculated it wrong?"
A faint sheen of sweat appeared on Yvonne's forehead, and her already frequently flushed cheeks suddenly turned as red as ripe apples.
"I'll calculate it again."
Roland and Skord said nothing, letting her redo the calculations.
But the results remained the same.
"Changing just these few characters increased the brightness by around one percent, and the transcription time and material consumption actually decreased instead of increasing?"
"Projecting from these figures, a complete conversion to Oracle would bring even greater improvements! The material consumption in particular is simply unbelievable!"
"Let's calm down first. The Light spell hasn't faded yet. Let's check its duration. What if it doesn't last as long?"
"True. That would make sense in terms of the conservation of magical power."
The three waited patiently until the orb gradually dimmed, then dissolved into specks of starlight.
Skord looked at the Magic Timer they had prepared beforehand.
"Fifteen minutes and seven seconds, 0.77% longer than the standard duration! Using the same projection method, after a complete conversion to Oracle, this scroll should last eighteen minutes and twenty-eight seconds-an increase of 23.11%..."
"Doesn't that mean it's a form of supermagic script superior to Elvish Script in every respect?" Yvonne asked incredulously.
"Although we don't have instruments precise enough to prove that, judging by the results we've seen so far, that does seem to be the case." Roland could hardly hide his own shock. "At the very least, every character used in this scroll can be optimized."
"This is simply unbelievable!" Skord pressed a hand to his forehead.
Their experiment had produced a magical phenomenon that was difficult to explain.
Fortunately, they had never intended to finish their paper after a single trial, even if it was only a short one.
Over the next few days, they took turns transcribing no fewer than twenty Spell Scrolls and used up several commercially available products that met the required standards as controls. Gold flowed like water, nearly exhausting their special funding.
More and more evidence showed that their earlier calculations had been entirely correct. This truly was a magical script with enormous potential.
The discovery shook all three of them so deeply that even writing the papers made them nervous, as though they were treading on thin ice.
At the same time, however, an excitement akin to making history spread through their hearts.
They all understood that this was unquestionably a momentous, era-defining discovery!
"Whether or not the projected figures are wrong, at least the improvements we've already achieved really do extend across the board!
This one-to-two-percent improvement alone is enough to revolutionize Light Spell Scrolls!"
"Unfortunately, we aren't yet capable of replacing the entire text. We'll have to transcribe a scroll entirely in Oracle before we can draw a complete conclusion."
"Right. What if 'light' happens to be the only character better than its Elvish Script counterpart, and all the others are worse? That isn't very likely, but the possibility isn't negligible either..."
"If only we had enough funding and capability to keep exploring. I really want to turn those projections into measured results and fully develop this script for magical use!"
Funding and capability?
The speaker had meant nothing particular by it, but Roland took it to heart. He calmed down and began weighing his options.
Even if he did not possess them himself, he could draw on someone else's resources.
The key was deciding what to keep and what to give up.
Before you continue