Stellar Echo: Heart of the Myst

"Fufu, so you've already made your first friend," Eleonora commented with a smile on her face, but Erik shook his head and replied in a casual tone.

"I wouldn't say we're really friends—more like acquaintances."

"You should bring him home one day; I'd like to meet him and chat a bit with him, hehe," Sigrún said playfully, then softly laughed at Erik's attitude.

"Maybe someday I'll do that..."

Looking away, Erik responded with no intention whatsoever of inviting Chen, something that Sigrún and Eleonora quickly noticed. They exchanged mischievous smiles that they couldn't help but form on their faces, but swiftly returned to normal as if nothing had happened and turned back to their beloved disciple.

"You could invite him over next week; what do you think, Erik?" Sigrún asked with an innocent smile, looking at him with hopeful eyes.

"…"

Erik remained silent while observing the 'wicked' expressions of his masters. After a small sigh, he continued speaking, trying to change the subject.

"Yes, maybe I'll do that, but let's get back to the rune circle."

A playful smile appeared on the faces of Sigrún and Eleonora upon hearing Erik attempt to shift the topic. However, genuinely interested in the subject, they let him have his way and instead focused their attention on their beloved disciple's explanation of the historical milestone he had created on his own.

"Well, the idea to create it came when I studied the matrix arrangement on a scroll. I couldn't help but notice that they were practically runes, just of a different style, organized in a rhomboidal scheme. According to the scroll, this specific structure allowed for what they called the 'effect multiplier,' which, in practical terms, was a way to improve efficiency."

"I started from the same idea myself, but it was a dead end. The matrix arrangements of the Zazen discipline, although they might seem similar to a set of runes, are entirely different and repel each other. Moreover, matrix arrangements are highly dependent on the materials in which these 'runes' are inscribed and don't function using mana formation."

Eleonora shared her experience, somewhat pleased that Erik had begun from the same point as she did, yet intrigued by how he achieved in a couple of years what she couldn't in an entire millennium. The star-haired young man responded with a slight smile.

"Hehe, yes, I encountered the same problem. But that's when I came across your paper on runic-geometric refinement, which can be considered the foundation of rune circles."

A bit surprised by Erik's words, Eleonora and Sigrún looked at him wide-eyed. After all, they knew the content of that paper perfectly and couldn't understand what he was referring to. That paper only explained how, with the help of certain runes combined externally with specific magic circles, one could improve efficiency and reduce mana consumption and material loss in refinement—using runes as a controller to regulate and micromanage the functioning of the magic circle, as well as recycle a portion of the mana.

But that was all, and Sigrún and Eleonora were entirely sure there wasn't the slightest hint in that paper to achieve what Erik had done. Noticing the surprise and confusion on his masters' beautiful faces, Erik continued explaining with a smile.

"Although the runic-geometric refinement method is relatively complex and its potential application in other areas is still being studied, it demonstrates that runes can influence a magic circle. If you think about it, it's somewhat similar to what matrix arrangements do. So, starting from there, I decided to focus solely on the effect multiplication aspect.

"Therefore, I concentrated on designing a magic circle that used runes not externally but as a fundamental part of its structure, and that collectively achieved the effect multiplication—almost as if it were a single complex rune. After all, if you think about it, magic circles are, in a way, a type of rune.

"But while creating the rune circle, I noticed something curious: the normal runes of the Aegis system are incompatible with the structured arrangement of the geometric circles and tend to repel each other. So after trying different possibilities, I came up with this..."

Extending his hand, Erik formed the rune circle again, only now a bit larger. He then pointed to a small rune surrounded by a circle, which connected it with the rest of the arrangement, catching his masters' attention, and continued.

"Making slight modifications to the runes so they wouldn't repel each other was quite complicated, but after many tests, I realized the necessary changes were quite small—so if you don't look closely, you wouldn't notice."

Eleonora and Sigrún looked at the smiling Erik with undisguised surprise, then examined the rune he was pointing at. To their disbelief, they noticed slight differences compared to the original rune, causing them to alternate their gazes between the monstrous star-haired boy and the result of his research, which should have been impossible for him to achieve.

Unlike the magic circles of sacred geometry, which depend on mathematical calculations allowing them to be altered based on circumstances, the individual runes of the Aegis system were fixed and “immutable”—something many of humanity's great sages had perfected over millions of years to bring them as close to perfection as possible.

Altering even a single rune slightly was a monumental task and not something just anyone could do; therefore, it wasn't an idea that would easily occur to someone. After all, the most common occurrence when starting on the path of the Aegis system was that spells would not work correctly or would go out of control. Leading to unexpected results due to slight changes in the runes that caused instability.

But after thinking about it, Eleonora and Sigrún could understand why Erik was capable of such an idea. From the beginning, mastering the runes had been incredibly easy for him—to the point that they couldn't recall a single time he had issues with unstable runes. Coupled with his absurd intuition in everything related to mana, whether runes or magic circles, he had an unparalleled advantage and perspective to accomplish something like this.

Erik's intuition was truly terrifying, even for Masters like them. Their disciple somehow always seemed to know the best way to simplify a set of runes or the optimal geometric scheme for a magic circle in a specific situation, and his margin of error was generally very small.

His ability was so exaggerated that it seemed more like a sixth sense than anything else—even to the point where he himself struggled to explain why he reached certain conclusions. On more than a few occasions, these conclusions even contradicted his own calculations and knowledge about what he was doing, and often, he didn't even realize it.

These situations, where Erik searched everywhere for the reason behind his success despite everything he knew telling him he was wrong, were quite common. To the point that much of the latest classes taught by Sigrún and Eleonora focused on advanced theories and knowledge that explained the logic behind his achievements.

The problem now was that Erik was venturing into unknown territory, leaving them completely baffled. In all the knowledge they possessed, nothing came close to explaining the logic behind the functioning of his rune circles, or even why those slight changes in the runes—which in any other context would make them unstable and useless—were the key necessary for their operation.

The first to return to reality was Eleonora, who looked intently into her beloved disciple's green eyes before asking in a serious tone, though she sincerely already knew the answer and was only asking to dismiss that slight hope.

"Have you worked on the theory behind how your rune circles function?"

"Honestly, no. I have some formulas that more or less work with what I've already created, but for some reason, they fail spectacularly when I make a different one, hehe," Erik replied, a bit embarrassed after making the rune circle floating in the air disappear. Sigrún added somewhat amused.

"Hehe, it seems you have a lot of work ahead."

"Yes, quite a bit..." Erik nodded with a small sigh. After all, creating the rune circle had been the easy part for him; now came the hard part of explaining why it worked.

After that, Erik took out the notebook where he had recorded all the details of his research over the past few years and began explaining them to his masters. But despite his detailed explanation of each step he took to reach the "rune circle," they couldn't understand how it worked. The “rune circle” defied or directly contradicted everything they knew about magic, leading Erik to categorize it as a long-term effort in which his masters agreed to assist him.

After setting the topic aside, Erik moved on to his notes about the healing pills, an area where his masters could help. They happily provided comments and ideas to improve the magical artifacts he developed for producing the healing pills, ways to enhance the quality of the concentrated potion, and several ideas to increase the efficiency of his new alchemy method.

"This new alchemy method you've developed is quite interesting. You should write a comprehensive academic paper on it and publish it—you'll turn the entire world of Alchemy upside down, hehe," Sigrún commented proudly and playfully as she examined the test tubes and other gadgets Erik had created to produce the healing pills.

"Yes, you should also write a couple of academic papers and register patents on several of these artifacts. They will be highly coveted by many industries and will give you a great reputation in the world of artificing." Eleonora added, equally happy about her disciple's achievements, while carefully examining the different artifacts Erik had created.

"Alright, I'll get to it," Erik replied with a smile, making room in his schedule to write them.

...

Some time later, Erik left his laboratory accompanied by his wolves, Eleonora, and Sigrún. They all walked together toward the main hall, where they found Seraphina, who was bowing respectfully, dressed in her beautiful Victorian maid outfit, and then spoke with her natural elegance.

"Welcome back, young miss, Master Silverwood."

"A pleasure to see you again, Seraphina," Eleonora greeted her with an elegant smile.

"Hello, Sera, how has everything been?" Sigrún greeted Seraphina casually as she sat at the main table, followed by Erik and Eleonora.

"Everything has been perfect, young miss. Additionally, the promised compensation has been delivered by the faction and is perfectly organized in the treasury."