The essence of thaumaturgy

Deer College · Anderson Dormitory

[6:30]

[Sir, Deer College has delivered college robes in your size to your room's door. There are three sets in total, each equipped with a small dust-repelling magic circle.

According to clause 5 of article 34 of the Deer College Student Handbook, students must wear magic robes to class.]

[You have not eaten yet. Jarvis offers you two options.]

[①: Spend a general equivalent to purchase delivery service. The cafeteria will dispatch a familiar to deliver your food. (Your current region is Fog City. The equivalent is set to [Youyang Currency]. Estimated cost: 3 Youyang Currency.)]

[②: Go directly to the cafeteria.]

While washing up in the bathroom, Xia Xiu casually took out ten hundred-denomination notes of Youyang Currency.

"Have the cafeteria deliver breakfast. Deposit the rest into my personal account with the Deer College think tank."

I have money, so I'll spend it however I like!

[Of course, sir.]

The Red Book, fitted with an external device, appeared automatically and rapidly flipped through its pages. A [Public Reverse Summoning] magic circle appeared and swallowed the money, after which the Red Book automatically displayed a pop-up.

[Cafeteria: Dispatched. Estimated arrival in three minutes.]

After washing up, Xia Xiu brought in the magic robes left outside his door and put one on.

Hmm, a perfect fit.

The delivery familiar arrived with breakfast, too.

It was an old friend, no less.

Xia Xiu accepted the basket the owl held out in its beak. Under a gaze that seemed to say, You look like a smart fellow, he took a sandwich from the basket and offered it to the owl.

I knew I had you pegged right.

The owl happily flew off with the food in its beak, while Xia Xiu shook his head with a smile.

I'll summon a familiar of my own when I have time.

Xia Xiu quickly finished breakfast, then asked Jarvis:

"Jarvis, show me the layout of Deer College's teaching areas."

[Of course.]

[Deer College teaching offices and wings:

Main building: Aboveground structure (cathedral)

Main office area (basement level 1): Administrative offices, special quarters

Wing A (basement level 1): Staff dormitories, medical center, assembly hall

Wing B (basement level 1): Research area, low-risk artifact storage

Wing C (basement level 2): Mundane Studies Group classrooms

Wing D (basement level 2): Esoteric Studies Group classrooms

Wing E (basement level 2): Medium-security controlled area

Wing F (basement level 3): Fully equipped concealed bunker facilities, secure living area

Wing G (basement level 3): Sustainable agriculture center

Wing H (basement level 3): High-value area

Wing I (basement level 4): Classified area]

[Sir, you will need to go to the Esoteric Studies Group classrooms in Wing D shortly. You will receive a week of introductory occult studies and basic thaumaturgy instruction.]

[Location: Classroom 22]

[Class time: 7:50]

[Lecturer: Albert Lauengen]

"Mm."

Deer College teaching area

Wing D (basement level 2), Esoteric Studies Group classrooms-Classroom 22.

[7:45]

When Xia Xiu entered lecture hall 22, the front rows were already full. The students seated there had rather dark circles under their eyes and thin threads of blood in their eyes, but their expressions were excited.

It was their first encounter with the supernatural world, so they were a little too excited.

Xia Xiu quietly headed toward the back. Though he was a new student, he already had the air of a seasoned old hand, arriving just before class began.

As Xia Xiu took his seat, he spotted Camille greeting him from the front rows. Surprisingly, she looked very well, and he had just seen her chatting happily with the Three-Eyed Girl beside her.

She's adapting quickly.

[7:50]

Dong, dong, dong-

Three peculiar chimes rang out, signaling the start of class.

The students stared eagerly at the doorway, waiting for the professor to appear. He did not disappoint them and soon arrived.

Only Laugen did not walk through the door. He teleported in through a magic circle. The familiar hexagram formed from multiple triangles appeared on the lecture platform, and Professor Laugen appeared along with it.

Whoa-

Laugen's entrance perfectly fulfilled the Muggles' fantasies of the supernatural. Quite a few students had stars in their eyes.

Coach, I want to learn that.

Xia Xiu watched with his chin propped on his hand. He sensed a kindred spirit in this man-the unmistakable air of a slacker.

[Ether Traversal], or spatial traversal, was a category of spatial thaumaturgy that involved [Etherizing] oneself, then teleporting through the omnipresent [Ether Sea].

Its common forms included travel through magic circles, spatial gates, and rifts.

The thaumaturgy Xia Xiu had used most often in his previous life was the Heaven Lineage's exclusive Ether Traversal technique, [Divine Movement Step]. [Divine Movement Step] also belonged to the Magic Circle traversal category.

After learning [Divine Movement Step] in his previous life, Xia Xiu had immediately poured considerable time and effort into [Entry Conversion] for the technique, fixing it within his own Lineage Book.

With that technique, Xia Xiu had never bothered walking properly again.

"Good morning, everyone," Laugen said, smiling gently at the students.

"Although you should already know my name from your AI sprites, I should still introduce myself. My name is Albert Lauengen, and I am the head of the Unnatural Sciences Group."

"I will be teaching your classes for the coming week."

"I'll give you a brief introduction to the history of thaumaturgy development on Terra, and I'll also explain thaumaturgists."

"Now, please summon your AI sprites and have them open Deer College First-Year Textbook, Edition 268."

Xia Xiu casually waved a hand through the empty air before him. A blue virtual screen appeared in his field of vision, and he instructed Jarvis to open the textbook Laugen had mentioned.

The illustrated textbook immediately appeared on the blue screen.

"Pages five and six provide an overview of the history of thaumaturgy's development on Terra. Give them a quick read first."

The students quickly skimmed the pages. Once Laugen confirmed they had finished, he snapped his fingers. A large blue screen visible to everyone immediately appeared behind him, and text began appearing on it automatically.

[The essence of thaumaturgy]

"Students, in the years ahead, you will encounter this statement countless times: the essence of thaumaturgy is-the alteration of concepts."

"We use the lineages at our disposal to analyze ether, and thereby distort reality."

Laugen adjusted his glasses and addressed the students solemnly:

"Through the [Ether Sea], the structure of the world becomes as fragile and malleable in a thaumaturgist's hands as modeling clay in a child's."

"But the [Ether Sea] is by no means a merciful place. Excessive use of thaumaturgy can distort you, leading to malignant mutations or turning you into an Out-of-Control."

"The Out-of-Control include thaumaturgists heavily contaminated by the [Ether Sea], those who have made contracts with demons, ambitious individuals who have traded their souls for knowledge and power, and so on.

"Whenever thaumaturgists use thaumaturgy, the projections of their souls appear to beings in the immaterial realm-well, mostly demons or evil gods-like blazing flames.

"They flock to those flames like moths.

"The difference is that a moth flying into a flame meets its own death, whereas demons flocking to a soul spell death for the thaumaturgist. More terrifying still, their bodies become vessels for the demons."