saiki

49.1

Ch. 49.1 - Academic Conference (1)
Unlike the Combat Magic Academic Conference, the Alchemy and Magic Engineering Conference was slightly smaller in scale.

It was quite ironic to think that most of the scientific technologies that have advanced this world were alchemy and magic engineering, yet the conference on combat magic received the most attention.

But, considering that this world had always been in confrontation with the forces of evil, known as the Dark Mages, it was inevitable.

Furthermore, combat magic was much more difficult and challenging compared to alchemy or magic engineering.

To simplify the complexity of magic, it could be compared to a combination of Chinese characters and mathematics. Adding mathematics to already complex Chinese characters was a horrific task beyond imagination.

For example, there was a magic spell that required interpreting and drawing the formula (4+5×7). The mage must inscribe the magical word (四加五倍七) onto the array of mana, then integrate and connect it with mana lines by inscribing attributes in the correct order of interpretation equations. This completed a kind of equation.

Moreover, that was not all.

Depending on the amount of mana injected, the power had to be adjusted and calculations of trajectory, coordinates, range, and so on had to be made on the spot in order to manifest it.

What are you talking about?

To put it simply and quickly, magic sucked.

It was really fucked up.

It was not easy to just do that, let alone doing it in the midst of a battle.

Not just anyone could be a mage. Anyway, for these reasons, the academic conference on magic combat was highly popular among students, while alchemy or magic engineering had a significantly lower participation rate among students.

Baek Yu-Seol, too, didn’t really want to go to academic conferences and such, but he was attending that time.

He had been diligently looking after Alterisha until now, so wouldn't it be necessary to see the results with his own eyes?

"We're almost there."

"Yeah, that's right. Phew, I'm nervous."

The venue for the academic conference changed every year.

Last year, it was held at the newly established alchemy lab in the Alchemy City, and the year before that, it took place at the Dwarf's Mithril Research Institute.

This year, it was being held at the prestigious alchemy academy, "Golden Light Academy," located in the Dwarf Kingdom.

As the originators of metal magic were the dwarves, it was expected that this year's conference would be different from usual, so he understood why Alterisha was so nervous.

"This station is the entrance to Golden Light Academy, Golden Light Academy Entrance Station. The doors will open on the right side."

As the train entered through the center of a towering volcano, a massive cave-like space appeared.

It was the capital of the Dwarf Kingdom, the "Black Iron City," known for its abundant gold mines.

It was vast, high, and desolate.

The towering ceiling was so high that it didn't seem like a cave, and one couldn’t see the end of it. Only faint, twinkling lights like starlight pierced through the dim mist.

The buildings reached high into the sky, appearing reminiscent of a cyberpunk cityscape.

Despite the dark and oppressive atmosphere, the dwarves living there seemed lively and energetic.