"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to pry into your past."
Wayland realized too late that mentioning Britain had likely triggered a painful association for Gray. After all, the very mention of the name almost inevitably led back to the King of Knights.
"It's... it's alright."
Silence fell between them once more.
Fortunately, it didn't last long. The door opened and Waver walked in, pulling off his leather boots.
"Thank you," Waver said as Gray stepped forward to take the boots from him.
"Professor." Wayland stood up.
Waver offered a curt nod, a stack of documents clutched in his hand. "Follow me into the study."
As soon as they were seated, Waver got straight to the point. "I've heard you've joined the Department of Policies?"
"I have."
"Hishiri Adashino is not a woman to be underestimated. Be careful."
Waver didn't offer any criticism or attempt to dissuade him; instead, he simply offered advice. "You're working directly under her, so pay attention. Now that you've chosen this path, you'll need to be extremely cautious if you want to survive it."
"Oh, no... Professor, I think there's been a misunderstanding. I'm not actually trying to become a student of Policies. It was purely... a lack of funds." Wayland laughed awkwardly as he reached the end of his explanation.
Perhaps because the mention of money struck a chord, Waver rubbed his temples. "Under normal circumstances, a student of Modern Magecraft can apply to their lecturer for a research topic and the necessary funding, but you isn't at a level where you can reasonably handle a topic of your own yet. Joining Policies was a desperate move, but perhaps a necessary one. Fortunately, you're only an auxiliary member; you'll likely spend most of your time on errand runs, and the truly dangerous tasks won't reach you."
"I understand."
Wayland didn't mention that Adashino's attitude toward him seemed surprisingly hospitable; after all, it was a baseless feeling he couldn't quite prove yet.
"The reason I called you here today was to conduct a review of your magecraft."
Waver picked up the documents and scanned them. "I've gathered reports from the various lecturers on your performance. You've been attentive in class and been working hard in your spare time. I see you're currently focusing on basic magecraft?"
"Yes. Since basic spells are relatively simple and practical, I thought it would be best to master as many as I could for my own protection."
"Your reasoning is flawed."
Waver's tone became stern, as if he were delivering a lecture in a classroom, his focus unwavering.
"While learning basic spells is a good starting point, the specific ones you've chosen are far too chaotic. Your library records show that you've touched upon almost every department. You're spread far too thin; a normal human doesn't have the mental energy to learn so many different systems at once. Your approach is starting to resemble Chaos Magecraft, but that is a system I would strongly advise against mastering."
"Actually... I've already mastered all of them."
"What did you say?" Waver looked at him as if he'd misheard. "You've only been at the Clock Tower for half a month. Under normal circumstances, mastering four or five spells is considered an achievement. How could you possibly have mastered all of them?"
"Does it usually take that long?" Wayland blinked. "I didn't think it was that difficult. Don't you just need to practice a Level 1 spell twenty or thirty times to get the hang of it?"
"..."
Waver stared at Wayland for a long moment before speaking slowly. "While the theory is sound--Level 1 spells have fewer incantation syllables and are easy to memorize--using them is another matter entirely. It's like studying for a driver's license; you might have the theory down perfectly, but actually operating the vehicle is a chaotic mess until you've practiced long enough to develop muscle memory. Performing magecraft requires an intense level of concentration. How could anyone master a spell after only twenty or thirty repetitions?"
Wayland fell silent. He understood Waver's point, but he had Irigal. The system displayed his progress as a numerical value, and once it reached one hundred percent, he was considered to have mastered the spell, effectively skipping the long period of practice required by a normal magus.
A faint ripple of prana filled the room.
Wayland activated his Magic Circuits and began to demonstrate the spells to Waver.
Exactly thirty different spells.
Waver held his breath, his expression shifting into one of subtle, suppressed pain.
'Another genius?'
'What a brilliant, blinding light...'
Though he had long since come to terms with his own mediocrity, he still yearned to be a first-rate magus. Seeing such effortless talent in his students always filled him with a complex mix of joy and envy.
"Your attribute is Earth?" he asked, his voice low.
"Yes, Professor."
'As expected of Lord El-Melloi II, to see through my attribute at a single glance.'
Waver's status as a Lord might have been due to Reines, but the fact that he'd held the position for a decade was testament to his own ability. He was a "Magecraft Breaker" who could see through the very essence of mystery without relying on magic himself. He'd seen through the jewel magecraft of the Luvia family at a glance, and even the works of a Crown-rank like Touko Aozaki were no exception.
"Your trait is Transition. It's an attribute well-suited for the jewel magecraft of the Mineralogy Department, allowing you to store your own prana within gemstones with zero loss. If you wish, I can help you apply for an interdisciplinary study; the Clock Tower allows exceptional students to study across multiple departments."
Transition. If his memory served him correctly, Rin Tohsaka and Luvia both shared the Transition trait, specializing in jewel magecraft. But... that path was essentially a one-way trip to bankruptcy!
Traits were properties attached to the four fundamental elements that expanded their scope of application. A magus could possess multiple traits, though most lineages focused on the ones they were best suited for.
Simply put, a magus with the Transition trait could perform jewel magecraft faster and with more power than a normal magus.
But there was another type of magecraft perfectly suited for the Transition trait.
Age of Gods Runic Magecraft.
"I'd like to focus on Runic Magecraft as my primary system."
"Runes?"
Waver drummed his fingers against the desk, seemingly caught off guard. "What made you choose Runes?"
"I've read about them and they piqued my interest. Runes can be cast directly or anchored into an object to act as a catalyst for greater power. In that sense, they're very similar to jewel magecraft. I assume my Transition trait would be just as effective with them."
Waver nodded; he was never one to discourage a student's interests.
After all, the "Two Pillars" of the El-Melloi classroom were both eccentric individuals.
Flat Escardos lacked the typical mindset of a magus, prone to erratic behavior and a complete disregard for magical foundations. He was brilliant at analyzing and reconstructing magecraft, but his reckless tendency to act without a foundation meant he could rarely perform the same spell twice--a fatal weakness.
Svin Glascheit, on the other hand, appeared to be a calm and composed youth, but he was a magus prone to sudden, bizarrely animalistic behavior. He used Beast Magecraft, which in a sense meant he was constantly resetting his own humanity as he moved closer to becoming a wild animal.
Compared to those two, choosing Runic Magecraft was perfectly normal.
If someone seemed strange, all you had to do was find someone even stranger, and the first person suddenly seemed perfectly ordinary.
"Touko Aozaki reconstructed the Runic system and sold the complete theory to the Clock Tower. Aside from a few specific spells, most are available for study. Since you've chosen your path, dedicate yourself to it. But remember, for now you're still only a Frame. Even if you have a talent for mastering spells quickly, in the end, prana is what dictates everything."
[Translated and Rewritten by Shika_Kagura]