“Sorry to keep you waiting,” Hera said once she was ready to go.

Hera was wearing her large pointed hat today as well. He had wondered if the style from three hundred years ago was back in fashion, but it had turned out that Hera’s tastes were just a bit unusual. Hera was the only one in the tower who insisted on wearing such stereotypical wizard’s clothing.

“It looks like my brother hasn’t shown up today either,” Eugene noted.

“Well… that’s just how it is sometimes,” Hera said with a bitter smile as she put on her large wizard’s hat.

For the first week following Eugene’s arrival at the tower, Eward had also visited the library, but only for that first week. After that, Eugene rarely saw Eward in the library, and it was even rarer to see him in the hallways.

He had heard that Eward had been like this for the past few years.

No matter how friendly Lovellian was with Gilead, Eward’s skill fell far too short of the standard for Lovellian to take him as his disciple. It was, of course, for the sake of fairness, but Lovellian also could not risk tarnishing his reputation as the Tower Master.

As such, Lovellian had arranged for an idle high-ranking wizard who belonged to the tower to become Eward’s teacher. Not only had he allowed Eward to enter the tower, but Lovellian had also managed to secure him a skilled teacher, so Lovellian had gone above and beyond what his friendship with Gilead accounted for.

But Eward remained a problem. After coming to the Red Tower of Magic, Eward had worked hard for about half a year, but after a certain point, he had stopped frequenting the library or the laboratories and instead loitered in his room or outside the tower.

‘Pathetic bastard.’

Eugene knew the reason for this. Three years ago, Eward had taken the recruitment test for the Towers of Magic at Lovellian’s suggestion.

The results hadn’t been great. Although he got a pretty decent grade for his theoretical, Eward’s results in the practicals were so terrible that they couldn’t be excused. Due to this, the situation had become awkward and embarrassing, not just for Lovellian but also for all the other wizards who had taught Eward.

‘If he’s not good enough, he should work even harder. How long does he plan on playing around while living off his family’s money? On top of that, he’s even become a succubus’s lifeforce[1] meal ticket.’

If he had personally witnessed the scene of Eward being fed on by a succubus, Eugene would have beaten up Eward without any care for the fact that Eward was his older brother or that he was an heir of the Lionheart clan. 

Eward might be feeling cautious because of Eugene, as he had stayed quietly locked up in the tower on the previous night of the full moon. However, he wouldn't be able to keep this up for long. 

A few days ago, Eugene had run into Eward in one of the tower’s many corridors. Although his pale skin and dry hair had appeared to be rejuvenated, he was constantly biting his fingernails, and his eyes were clouded. These were signs of withdrawal. It was apparent that Eward would probably go looking for his succubus on the next full moon.

As they were heading down to the basement in the elevator, having offered to supply enough of the mana needed to move the elevator for the both of them, Hera spoke up, “I expect that you’re going to be attempting to use the Circles magic formula, correct?”

“Yep,” Eugene confirmed.

One of the reasons why the Wise Sienna was so revered in Aroth was because she had systematically established a ranking for the different levels of magical aptitude.

Three hundred years ago, the line that separated a good wizard from a great one was still very vague.

Powerful and astonishing spells obviously required a lot of mana, so a good wizard must be one who knew how to freely handle enormous amounts of mana. But the way in which they cast their spells also needed to be appropriately difficult and complex.

In other words, a good wizard must be someone who was able to control a lot of mana and cast many different spells. This wasn’t incorrect. But if you wanted to be called an Archwizard, it was obvious that not only did you need to know how to cast many different types of magic, but you also needed to be proficient in casting spells so complex that no other wizard would be able to copy you.

Three hundred years ago, Sienna created clear divisions between the different stages of magical aptitude. Strictly speaking, Sienna had only devised this system for her own use, but after she became the Green Tower Master, Aroth’s numerous wizards began adopting her system of magic.

Sienna’s system was based on the Circles system of magic.

This system involved guiding the mana inside the body into a circular flow and then allowing this flow to draw out the mana from within the body when a spell was cast. As the amount of mana that a wizard could control increased, their Circle of mana became thicker and stronger. 

When the amount of mana controlled exceeded what a single Circle could handle, the number of circles increased, and these Circles were able to overlap with each other. Furthermore, each time the number of Circles increased, the amount of mana that could be incorporated into a spell multiplied exponentially, so even a simple spell could have different power levels depending on the number of Circles used to cast it.

Three hundred years had passed since then, and now most wizards were first introduced to magic through the Circles magic formula. The only ones who weren’t started on Circles were those who specialized in spirit magic and black magic, as these two forms of magic made use of different magical systems.

“Well, it’s not like there’s any other choice. Although there are other magic formulas besides the Circles magic formula, over these past three hundred years, the Circles have proven to be the most effective and logical system of magic,” Hera said with a prideful expression on her face.

Lovellian wasn’t the only one who claimed to be a follower of Sienna. All wizards who used the Circles as their foundational magic formula claimed Sienna as their master.

The Red Tower of Magic and the Green Tower of Magic were particularly proud of this heritage.

“...I’m considering trying to change things up a bit.” As the elevator arrived at the basement laboratory, Eugene was the first to step off as he admitted these words. “Although I’m unsure yet if it will work.”

“You’re going to make some changes? That’s not really…. It doesn’t seem like a good idea,” Hera commented with a worried expression as she followed Eugene out. “Circle adaptation is a research topic that all wizards have tried to investigate at least once. However, Sir Eugene, you haven’t even taken your first steps into magic yet…. Wouldn’t it be better to start with the orthodox method first and then study how to adapt the Circles after you’ve reached a certain level?”

Despite all these objections, it wasn’t because she thought he was a pretentious child. Hera was genuinely concerned for Eugene. Magic formulas were just as difficult to adapt as they were to create. If he ran out of mana during the attempt, then the magic formula could collapse within him.

This could result in him being unable to use mana for the rest of his life or even death. Even if the consequences weren’t that dire, he would still be bedridden for several days.

Eugene attempted to reassure Hera, “Well, it’s not like I’m going to tear it apart and redo it from the very start. I promise that it won’t be that dangerous.”

“If it’s okay with you, may I please hear what you’re planning to do?” Hera insisted.

“I’m planning on combining the Circles with the Lionheart’s mana formula,” Eugene replied without any obfuscation. 

At these words, Hera was left blinking in shock for a few moments.

‘...Could there be something off with his real age?’ Hera couldn’t help but give this thought some consideration.

She was well aware that Eugene was so precocious that it was hard to believe he was only seventeen. However, after hearing what was just said, Hera felt a sense of incongruity when she thought about his age.

“...Sir Eugene. The mana system used for martial arts and the mana system used for magic are two different paths. Although I don’t know much about the Lionheart clan’s mana formula, does it at least incorporate any concepts related to magical operations or incantations?” Hera questioned patiently.

“No, it doesn’t,” Eugene admitted.

Hera started to lecture him, “If that’s the case, it should be impossible to use the Lionheart Clan’s mana system to cast magic. Although you’ll be able to draw out the mana for the spell, unless you shape it according to the principles of magic and trigger it with an incantation, you won’t be able to produce any magical phenomena.”

“That’s why I’d like to test combining the two systems,” Eugene insisted despite obediently listening to Hera’s advice.

Eugene wasn’t sure that it would definitely work as planned. He had actually asked himself several times, could this really work? But something was telling him that it was possible. To verify this hunch, he had first read all the introductory texts on magic that were stored in the library.

“It won’t be all that dangerous,” Eugene repeated.

Hera finally conceded, “...Hah… for now, why don’t you give it a shot. However, if the mana flow seems dangerous, I will be ready to intervene immediately. If you get injured, Sir Eugene, it won’t just be me who gets in trouble; the Tower Master will also find himself in a precarious position.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

Eugene nodded and came to a halt in front of a door. There were actually a lot of laboratories down here in the deep basement of the tower. Having picked the same laboratory that he’d been using over the past month, Eugene opened the door.

The inside of the laboratory was extremely spacious. Thanks to advanced space-distortion magic, this basement could contain dozens of laboratories of this size. Although he had felt quite surprised on his first day here, Eugene was now able to calmly stand in the center of the laboratory.

1. His vitality is the energy that the succubus feeds on for nourishment. ☜