16 Bane of Students: Maths

Guy felt that he had come too far to give up now. The amount of progress he made in one hour blew the last three weeks out of the water.

As a logical thinker, Guy decided to use deductive reasoning to figure out a possible solution.

In some spell books, there were crude circles where the author tried using Common Tongue. While the spells worked, the mana expenditure was massive. With this, Guy developed a train of thought.

'Ancient Tongue is used because it is precise. The more precise the magic is, the less mana it uses. So if I use precise language, it should work, right?'

Although Guy knew Common Tongue thanks to this body's memories. He still felt that the language, like all others, was inherently ambiguous. In fact, there weren't many words to describe some things such as Oxygen, or even Molecules, that were present in his old world.

He contemplated using English or one of the many languages he was fluent in from his original world. As a world traveller, Guy was fluent in quite a handful of languages. That was the only way he could develop a personal connection with his students since one couldn't expect those from impoverished nations to learn fluent English. They had their own problems; it would be selfish of him to expect them to speak in unadulterated English.

This avenue was also a dead-end. While the words he wanted were present in those languages, he felt that there was still some ambiguity. So Guy shifted his direction slightly. He concluded that 'for it to be precise, when a person simply sees or hears the word the corresponding object must be immediately brought to the forefront of their mind.'

That narrowed down his search considerably. What was the only language that transcended all cultural barriers back in his world?

Maths!

Guy laughed maniacally as he remembered all the groaning faces from when he taught maths to his students.

'You can run as far as you can, even transcend worlds, but Maths will always find you. One way or another. That tenacious bastard!' Guy cheered.

Guy realised that using mathematical and scientific notation would alleviate his precision problems. If he followed the standards used by experts in the field when they submitted articles or proceedings to globally published journals, he could get as close to precision as humanly possible.

With that problem out of the way, Guy started to formulate the spell chain.

He had to concentrate the oxygen in the atmosphere into one place and pressurise it. He then needed to concentrate compounds with flammable properties. Since he wasn't sure if there was sufficient methane in the air, he decided to use solid hydrocarbons such as coals. He then needed to bring them together and energise them. To ignite the mixture, he needed to provide sufficient activation energy. Seeing as how combustion was self-sustaining, initiating a single reaction would be sufficient.

As he observed this chain superficially, Guy felt that it would work.

Guy immediately put together the spell and printed it out from the computer in the RoK.

Magically, the paper materialised in front of him in reality. Guy grasped the paper and rushed towards the librarian's desk.

"Mr. Jeeves! By chance, do you have any coal?" Guy asked excitedly.

Al mimicked cleaning his ear to make sure that he heard correctly, "Coal? What do you want coal for?"

Guy calmed himself. This was a massive breakthrough, he couldn't fumble his words. "I think I did it! I found a spell that might work. But I need some coal."

Al became serious, "You found a spell? I've read all the books here. I don't think there's a spell that fits your needs," he asked sceptically.

Guy tried to brush off the inquiry and spoke hurriedly, "This one isn't from here. I… remembered this one from way back. I don't want to get into it right now, I need to see if it works."

With an apprehensive gaze, Al went towards the heating furnace at the back of the library and fetched a palm-sized piece of charcoal. Although it was possible to set up a heating formation and maintain a steady temperature in the library, ritual formations used mana crystals or expensive catalysts. Alternatively, furnaces used coal or charcoal. By virtue of economic frugality, using a furnace was optimal.

With the charcoal in one hand, Guy started to measure his breath. This was a momentous occasion, and he could not afford to make any mistakes.

Guy carefully placed the paper with the new magic circle in front of him and inspected it. He had already cast a few spells after transmigrating into this world. His old body's memories and experience played a key role in his adapting. And so he was confident that he could cast the spell. Whether it worked or not, that was a completely different matter altogether.

Carefully, Guy began to construct the magic circle with his will. To cast any spell, the will of the caster played a key role in materialising the spell's framework. Without a proper framework, the spell couldn't be activated by channelling mana from the caster.

Al stared at the weird-looking magic circle in front of him. In all his years, he had never seen anything like it before. Although he could see some familiar shapes in the spell, the construction was a little different. Usually, magic circles had a sprawling form, but this one was more separated and modular.

Al shifted his attention to Guy, and saw that he had completed constructing the circle. That meant that the spell would work. If the caster couldn't build the framework of the spell, either through chanting, rituals or circle constructs, that meant that the spell was a dud. Al was pleasantly surprised at the outcome. Now all that was left was to see if it provided the desired outcome.

Guy channelled his mana into the construct that was levitating on his free hand. As the mana escaped from his fingertips and powered the construct, it started to light up. On the other hand with the charcoal, a smaller circle formed and started to rotate.

Simultaneously, an orange ball of fire lit up on his free hand.

Both Guy and Al stared at the fireball.

Before Al could say anything, Guy quickly extinguished the fire and bolted out of the door with the charcoal in one hand and the paper with the spell on the other, leaving Al with his mouth agape like a fish.

Guy sprinted in wild abandon, shedding all pretence of his stature as a teacher, towards the public practising ground. He knew that Markus usually stayed there till sunset, and he didn't want to miss him.

When Guy cast the spell back in the library, he could feel the difference in the mana expenditure. It was significantly lower. His mind started to formulate some theories, but his emotions got the best of him. He really wanted to show it to Markus. Guy was confident that this was it!

Everyone in the hallways and grounds saw a blurred figure run past them. For those in the Foundation Establishment realm and above, they were able to determine who it was with their advanced senses. But since no one had an opinion on Guy, they simply brushed it off flashing a disdainful gaze at his poor behaviour.

By the time Guy reached the practising grounds, he saw that there was only one sorry looking figure standing there. Even from this distance, Guy could recognise Markus.

Guy felt a little ashamed. He was supposed to be a teacher. A person that students depended on. But the past three weeks weren't exemplary. With his unfocused floundering, he was sure that Markus was disappointed in him.

But Guy quickly shook his head. Although it was late, he was successful. He was proud of himself. He managed to keep his promise, in this foreign world, by relying only on himself and his capabilities. Sure he had Mast's help in providing the computer and the RoK. But everything from researching, experimenting, and creating the spell was done by him alone. He was sure that even if Mast wasn't there with the assist, Guy would have still accomplished the task, albeit he would take much longer.

In the middle of the run, Guy went through a multitude of emotions before settling down and centring himself.

As he approached Markus, Guy screamed, "Markus! I did it!"

Markus turned towards the source of the voice in confusion. What he saw was his revered teacher, running towards him with a piece of paper in one hand and a block of charcoal in the other. Not something Markus could have ever imagined in his lifetime.

But after hearing his teacher's exclamation, he was shuddering in anticipation.

'Teacher found a solution?' he repeated in his mind. With each repetition, his heart pumped harder.

Guy stopped next to Markus and wheezed as he caught his breath. He had sprinted without pause from the library to the grounds, which was evidently much farther than this body could handle. Guy silently told Mast to remind him to work out afterwards. This just wouldn't do. He had to uphold a certain image in front of his students. Guy conveniently erased the whole spectacle of him running like a maniac from his mental history.

Guy handed Markus the piece of paper with the spell and the charcoal.

"Try it! Make sure you keep the charcoal in your mana domain when you activate the spell though," He instructed.

The mana domain was a region of mana around the mage that was under the mage's control. Although the mana in this region was not mouldable by the mage unlike the mana inside them, it was under their influence and could be controlled.

The mana domain expanded as the mage advanced in their cultivation. For an Early stage Mana Condensation realm mage practitioner, the domain formed a sphere of a radius ranging between 2 to 3 metres from their core.

Markus calmed himself and focused his mana on the charcoal. Once he was sure that it was stable, he started to go through the magic circle on the sheet.

The construct looked novel to him. He had never seen anything like it in the library. But there was no room for doubt. His teacher handed it to him confidently, which meant this was legitimate.

Markus carefully formed the construct using his will, and it materialised on his free hand.

Markus exhaled and started to channel mana into the construct.

With every passing second, the tension inside him grew.

'Would this fail?' he asked himself. 'Please work!' he pleaded. 'COME ON!' he screamed.

Lo and behold. A ball of fire materialised on his free hand.

"YES!" Guy screamed. "We did it!" Guy said looking at Markus, who was blankly staring at the fireball in his hand.

"Markus?" Guy nudged him.

____

Al was following Guy at a brisk pace. He was also a little excited. That magic circle was completely new, and Al was thirsting for some of that juicy new knowledge.

By the time Al reached the practising field, he was shocked by the sight.

Right at the end of the field, Markus was on his knees and bawling. The raw emotions emanating from the wailing boy moved Al's heart.

There was unbridled sadness, anger, relief, and even gratitude. Al knew right then and there that Guy had succeeded.