[44] Limitless (3)
The students' faces went blank with bewilderment. From just the demonstration they'd seen, the power of utterance magic was already obvious. And she was only getting started?
Samuel recited the same poem again. As his words quickened, the students' interest sharpened.
"O land of fervor, lend me your strength and touch my hand. The heavens look down and the history of all ages is held in a single breath."
But that was only the beginning.
The movement of his lips left afterimages, and syllables followed so fast that it became impossible to make out what he was saying.
(The sanctuary of the sky exists within the mind, and the will of the mage is contained in the world. I shall sing songs of praise and adoration. Only a pale flash can burn, and a hot wind summons a typhoon.)
Samuel clutched at his chest and grimaced. The calm, poetic young man was gone; only a combative utterance mage remained.
The speed of the utterance shot to its extreme.
(Oh soul that dwells within the spirit, call our name. The mage does not fear the might of the lion. Like a sea that holds the sun, like land that holds the sea, like wind that holds the land, an aeon wind lies in the palm and brings forth infinite intellect.)
As all the sounds pushed forward, tones shattered and a high-frequency shriek burst out. The students covered their ears in unison. It sounded like dozens of dolphins crying out at once.
The utterance had transcended language and become a wave of sound. Samuel's lips stayed parted without moving; only his tongue vibrated at tremendous speed.
Shirone was aghast. It was over twenty times normal speech speed. Having finished a chant that first took more than two minutes in only six seconds, Samuel unleashed a tornado again. With a loud pop, a whirlwind clad in dust shot up.
When the dust settled, Samuel was smiling serenely. The metallic-cracking noise was gone, but a ringing still buzzed in the students' ears.
"This is the ultrasonic technique, the foundation of utterance mages. It's an indispensable skill in battle. Of course, it's not simply a matter of speaking faster. You may have heard it as unbearable noise, but I carefully reflected on the meaning of each line. I trust the tornado's power is proof enough."
The students were stunned into silence. Nobody had expected the utterance's force to be so great. The final tornado in particular amplified power to nearly ten times that of the initial spell.
'Is this a senior-year level?'
Shirone broke out in a cold sweat. Given that Etella had called Samuel over as an assistant, he'd expect him to be among the top of the graduating class.
But he was still a student. And the thought that Amy was competing in the rankings with people like that only strengthened his desire to make the graduating class.
The other students were visibly fired up too; their faces flushed. That was why Etella had gone out of her way to summon a senior for the demonstration.
"Thank you for your help, Samuel. Thanks to you, the students saw and felt a lot. I'm grateful you took such a difficult request."
Samuel bowed with an earnestness utterly devoid of any flirtation.
"Not at all. Call on me whenever you wish."
Shirone suddenly realized anew whom he was studying under. Even Samuel, after graduation, would be an uncertified Level 10 mage. The woman teaching them, however, was a state-certified Level 6 mage.
'How strong, exactly, is our teacher?'
Others seemed to realize the same; even after Samuel left, they kept their posture reverent and composed.
"All right, everyone. Did you see the demonstration of utterance magic?"
"Yes!"
Their reply rang louder than usual, and Etella nodded in satisfaction.
"The reason I showed utterance magic first is that it ties directly to today's lesson: strengthening the Spirit Zone. Now you should be able to answer this: what's the best way to strengthen thought?"
The students answered in unison.
"Words!"
"Exactly. Words. Thought is made of language. Who here can express that thought in another form?"
Students who had been studying with Etella for a long time—Class Four—answered.
"It means you can see the thought."
"Right. Everyone, try to call to mind any thought. You'll probably be able to see it with your mind's eye."
Those who tried nodded as if they understood the feeling.
"Why is seeing thought important? Because it makes reexamination possible. In other words, an utterance mage reabsorbs the language they've spoken to strengthen the underlying thought."
Etella raised a finger and continued.
"The basic system of utterance is simple. Speak, then reabsorb. Speak, then reabsorb. By continuously amplifying the meaning like this, you strengthen your magical power."
"Teacher, will we learn utterance then?"
When a voice from Class Seven asked, Etella smiled.
"You want to learn utterance magic?"
"Yes. That guy earlier was incredibly cool."
"Good. Finding a discipline that suits you is important. Unfortunately, utterance magic is a major subject, so we won't cover it in Advanced Class."
"But then how do we strengthen the Spirit Zone? Isn't that done with utterance?"
"Good question. What I'm about to tell you is exactly that. Utterance is used to increase the power of a specific spell. There are countless magics in the world, and each has its own language for expression. But the Spirit Zone is a pure mental act, so you don't need to learn utterance or the ultrasonic technique. Then how do we strengthen the Spirit Zone?"
Etella stopped explaining and rose into the Image Zone.
"By a unique focusing method called the number-sequence technique. Raise your hand if you've ever counted from one to a hundred, either in thought or aloud."
More than half the class raised their hands.
"All right. Now who has counted from one to a thousand?"
The students craned their necks and looked around. The whole of Class Four had their hands up, but among the lower classes very few did.
"The number-sequence technique literally involves listing numbers. Unlike words, numbers are symbols with immutable properties. That's why they pair well with the Spirit Zone."
"So counting numbers raises concentration?"
"Precisely. But you can't just count. At its core it's identical to utterance—speak, then reabsorb. For the number-sequence technique it's think, then reabsorb. If you don't focus on each number, the method will fail."
That was why Etella had introduced utterance magic first. Although the advanced methods differed greatly, the basic concept of strengthening was almost identical between the number-sequence method and utterance.
"The faster you expand the count, the more the Zone strengthens. Performing the number-sequence technique raises activation chance, power, precision—all aspects improve. But remember, the number-sequence method isn't omnipotent. The Spirit Zone can only be elevated through austere mental cultivation. Don't rely purely on technical boosts. Now I'll demonstrate the number-sequence technique."
Finishing her explanation, Etella unfolded a Spirit Zone about ten meters in diameter for teaching.
"I will now perform the number-sequence technique. I'll strengthen this visible Spirit Zone using only the number-sequence method. Since this isn't utterance, I'll call out only powers of ten to account for syllabic length. Begin. One."
The moment Etella spoke the opening "one," the Spirit Zone swelled as if air were being pumped into it.
"One hundred."
"One hundred? Did you just say one hundred?"
To properly perform the number-sequence technique you must savor each number, but she had hit a hundred in two seconds—an astonishing speed.
"Four hundred."
The students' eyes widened. Acceleration kicked in; the zero-to-hundred time for certain intervals became astonishingly short.
"One thousand one hundred. One thousand seven hundred. Two thousand four hundred."
Shirone's jaw dropped. Could a human count that fast? In less than twenty seconds she'd added up to two thousand four hundred.
The Spirit Zone expanded into a sphere forty meters in diameter, produced solely by the number-sequence technique.
When the count reached ten thousand, Etella stopped. The Spirit Zone quickly shrank back to its original size.
Her ability to count ten thousand at once proved why she was the youngest bishop of the Karsis Monastery.
'She's incredible. How much mental training does it take to reach that level?'
The students witnessing Etella's demonstration for the first time were shocked. Her beauty seemed to dim beside her talent.
"Did you see that? The faster you perform the number-sequence, the greater the strengthening. It's still only a technique, so if your Spirit Zone practice is lacking you won't get much benefit, but I believe you can use it effectively."
Shirone cheered inwardly at her words. By using the number-sequence method, he could, through concentrated mental force beyond the Zone's base endurance, execute active magic.
"The number-sequence technique is based on one to a hundred. The speed to reach that is called the zero-to-hundred time. Until you're accustomed, don't drag the numbers out—focus on shortening your zero-to-hundred time."
When the lesson ended, Shirone took a seat apart from the others. Trying the number-sequence himself was simple in concept but difficult in practice.
He timed himself counting from one to a hundred: seven seconds. Not bad for a first attempt.
Most satisfying of all was that he hadn't broken his focus even while calculating at such speed.
Class Five's standard was fairly high, but so far Shirone's mental endurance still stood out.
In reality, most students trying the number-sequence would lose concentration as acceleration increased.
'Counting itself isn't the problem. Then should I increase the numbers? No—Etella told us to shorten the zero-to-hundred first.'
Judging by Etella's temperament, she had tailored the number-sequence level exactly to the students' standard.
'So there must be far higher levels. What could they be? There has to be a special method.'
Lost in thought, Shirone snapped his fingers.
'No need to calculate each one. Instead, savor whole chunks and process them at once.'
Unbeknownst to Shirone, this was the basic concept of modularization in information magic: grouping individual numbers into units and processing them as one.
He immediately began experimenting. To integrate numbers required insight rather than calculation. As the number of units he processed in the same time increased, he could distinctly feel the Spirit Zone's performance rising.
Breaking through the zero-to-hundred at tremendous speed, Shirone switched his four-pattern to an offensive mode. The moment his number-sequence reached a thousand, he performed a Magical Action and cast a spell.
There was a flash, and the students turned toward Shirone. A mass of photons burst from his palm.
Strictly speaking it was a sphere of light, but because it traveled at near-light speed, it appeared to everyone like a streak of lightning racing across the room.
"Whoa! What's that?"
"It's a photon projection. Guess he's doing a targeting test."
"But why learn that? Photon projections aren't useful in battle, are they?"
"Doesn't matter. Image Zone targets trigger any magic. Even if you cast a healing spell, the target counts as hit. For a test, that could be advantageous. And honestly, that thing is crazy fast."
Even without physical force, no active magic is faster than a photon projection, so it was ideal for hitting fly-like, fast-moving targets.