Circe's gaze fixed on the holographic panel as she asked, “I'm surprised. Did you play chess a lot before we came here?” Her voice held a tinge of intrigue, eyes briefly shot up to study Zeke's expression. Once again, he held his usual stoic face.
“1,600 Elo,” The simple reply earned him a sharp whistle from Circe, genuine surprise plastered across her features. Glancing at her from the minimap, he started with a shrug. “I haven't played in a bit though, so I made a lot of mistakes in that game…Solren might be around CM level.”
Circe gave him a blank stare. “CM? Centimeter?”
“N-No,” an amused chuckle broke the ice on his face, “It means ‘Candidate Master’, which I believe requires around 2,200 Elo to get.”
“Ohh,” Circe started laughing too. It lasted briefly, and she spoke again while brushing a stray tear from her eye. “I get it. But didn't you have
Zeke hummed, responding after a moment of thought. “I don't know what the side effects might be...I want to experiment more with it first before I start using it out in the open.”
“Ah, makes sense.” Circe nodded along. By then, they'd made the final turn around a corner, their destination now just a few more steps ahead of them.
Compared to the bustling hallways, the library was a haven of quiet. Soft footsteps brushed against the polished wood, barely disturbing the air thick with the scent of parchment and ink. The muted rustle of turning pages and the occasional scratch of a pen against paper were the only sounds that filled the space.
Just as Zeke dismissed the holographic minimap, Johan Lox walked over to them, his demeanor much more relaxed unlike when they first met. “Hi, glad you both made it,” he greeted with a small—albeit awkward smile, gesturing behind him as he took a step back, “Me and Irelia already found some books we could use as reference. If you guys have any ideas to pitch in then please do so.”
“Well,” Circe took a glance at Zeke, stepping behind Johan while he led the way. He did not look back and kept following the ginger. “Not really, we were kind of waiting to talk about it with you guys. Do you have any ideas?”
“Oh, we don't either,” Johan let out a dry laugh. They couldn't see his expression, but the embarrassment rang clear in his voice. “We thought that, since Lo—Silas is the better mage out of the group, we should let the theme fit his affinity.”
Circe hummed, nodding in agreement, “Yeah, sounds good to me.”
Deep within the labyrinth of tall, lacquered shelves, the atmosphere grew quieter. While soft chatter and the gentle swish of flipped pages still lingered near the entrance, this area was silent—leaving only the muted sound of their footsteps bouncing off the walls of books.
Soon, they emerged from the otherside, greeted by tall, arching windows overlooking the campus below. Their scarlet rooftops shimmered under the sun's evening lights. Seated by a long table, Irelia Clover faced the windows, her chin resting on her opened palm, one leg crossed over the other. She leaned forward slightly, exuding an air of nonchalance.
When she heard their steps, Irelia turned towards them, instantly breaking into a smile. “Oh, you guys are here!” Her voice rang loud enough to echo through the air. Fortunately, the noise wouldn't disturb anyone in such a barren area.
“I don't want to hold you here for long,” Irelia chimed as the three of them took their seats; Johan sat next to Irelia, while Zeke and Circe took the opposite side. “So let's just start by coming up with some general ideas for us to work with.”
“I'm a dual elementalist,” Zeke began, his casual tone made their two group mates’ bewildered expressions look exaggerated. “Lightning and Star, I already came up with something that might work.”
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Irelia bit her lips, “I did say that I didn't want to waste any time but…this is going faster than I thought it would,” she let out a nervous chuckle, lips curled into a small smile. “Now I feel even worse…I hope there's something we could help you with.”
“Oh, of course,” Zeke nodded, his attention briefly landing on the few books laid out before them. Nothing there could top the information that the Witch's Codex could give him anyway. “You see, I don't cast through incantations, so you all will have to come up with those for me.”
Their expressions contorted from awe to a mixture of disbelief and horror. “You…cast chantless?” Johan's whispers sounded like he couldn't trust his own ears.
Zeke had gotten used to these reactions by now. Shrugging, he responded unconcerned. “If you react to everything I do, then it will get old real quick,” it wasn't his intention to sound so arrogant, yet he didn't correct his tone. “Just keep in mind that anything I do from now on can and will be ridiculous.”
Irelia nodded eagerly, “Okay.” Perhaps to avoid future blood pressure problems, she chose to accept things quickly. “Well, Mr. Genius, could you tell us what you have in mind?”
Zeke couldn't judge from her tone whether she was being sarcastic, but Circe still found it funny. While she stifled a giggle into the back of her palm, he replied. “The theme I'd like to choose for the Lightning Element is ‘Precision’.”
“Precision?” Irelia repeated, raising an eyebrow in curiosity. “Could you elaborate?”
“World imagery can shape a spell's manifestation,” Zeke started, “That's what Professor Amelia wrote at the beginning of the assignment sheet.”
As everyone around the table eyed him with interest, he continued, “Now, answer me. What did you think of when you first heard ‘Lightning' and ‘Precision’?”
For a moment, silence enveloped the air between them. The gears in their heads seemed to turn through the quietude. “Um, a lightning bolt?” Irelia became the first to respond.
“The spell: ‘Spark Arrow'...?” Johan's answer came in an uncertain tone.
“A bolt that can weave around obstacles!” Circe replied with a big beaming smile plastered across her lips.
“See?” Zeke pointed out, “You all have different pictures in mind. I'm trying to create a lightning spell that has a varying precision based on the different incantations.”
“Oh, that's interesting,” Irelia nodded along, fingers tracing her chin as she spoke, “Since most spells’ strength depends on the length of the incantation…this could net us some creativity points.”
“Then, what about your star element?” Circe inquired, resting her cheek on a loose fist.
Zeke chuckled, making Circe’s expression drop. She didn't expect him to laugh. “Oh, right…about that,” his next words made everyone's eyes go wide in shock. “I'm creating a black hole.”
“Um…” Johan and Irelia glanced at each other, an uncertain look flashed across their faces. “We kind of got surprised because Ruelle looked so taken aback—but what's a black hole?”
“It's…a celestial object that can grow itself by consuming matter,” Zeke started as he averted his gaze upwards, thinking of a way to word his explanation. “It has a gravitational force so powerful that not even light can escape it.”
“Gravitational force…?” Irelia blinked, her face blank from the confusion. “Such a thing exists that can create gravity that strong? I thought only this world possessed gravity.”
Zeke took a moment to respond, unsure how far he could spoil the advancement of physics and astronomy in a medieval fantasy world. “...I actually made all that up, but imagine if we succeed in creating it,” he decided to divert their attention elsewhere, “A gravity spell that could be used as a powerful attack magic.”
Johan pursed his lips, a look of concern crossed his expression. “...If what you say is true, and if he could even create such a thing, wouldn't this black hole swallow the entire world?”
Zeke stared at the ginger with a stoic face. “What do you mean? Of course not. It's a temporary spell, so if we just disable it then the black hole will disappear.”
“Are you stupid? Or are you actually stupid?” Circe finally spoke up after all her silence. The frustration in her glare took Zeke by surprise. “Why is it that every time I'm doing magic with you there is always a dangerous catch? First, it was explosions, now it's the risk of the planet disappearing into the void!?”
“Hey, there's always a catch,” Zeke put up his hands in defense. He looked like a salesman trying to convince an unamused customer to buy his products; to which he remains unsuccessful. “But none of those what-ifs actually happened, you know?”
“I'm against it,” Circe shook her head slowly, and the rest of the group began nodding along furiously. “We are not making a planet-destroying spell for a group project.”
Zeke frowned, disappointment laced his voice. “If I ask Solren and he agrees to supervise us, would you let me make the black hole spell?”
Circe narrowed her eyes with her arms crossed. “Only if Solren agrees.”
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.
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“I DO NOT AGREE TO THAT!” Solren frantically shook his head, sheer horror prominent in his shaking voice.
They'd just come back to the Grand Mage's penthouse, and the owner had been waiting to greet them right by the warp circle's location.
He certainly didn't expect to get bombed by such an absurd question. “Silas Salvador, as your teacher and the Grand Magician of the Magic Tower, I hereby prohibit you from creating any spell beyond the intermediate level.”
“...What?” Zeke stared at Solren in disbelief. “You could've just said no, why did you have to put a ban on me?”
Solren looked him in the eyes with a stern expression. Ice rang clear in his voice, a reminder that he took the situation seriously. “You proposed something so outrageous, and so terrifyingly possible that if I don't do this now…you might actually destroy the world.”
Zeke's lips parted to argue, but he'd been so stupefied by the Grand Mage's reaction that he couldn’t say a word in return. “If even someone like Solren is that stern about it…then maybe it might be for the best to listen to him.” He thought, albeit with a bitter aftertaste in his mouth.
Solren took in a deep breath and sighed. Massaging the back of his neck, he spoke once more, this time in a slightly calmer tone than before. “...Go eat your dinner, the chefs already prepared the food for you guys.”
His lips broke into a smile, though still laced with rigor. “Don't worry about me, I'll come back later tonight…I have some business to attend to.”
With that final message, Solren disappeared, leaving behind only the dying embers of magical lights. Circe placed a comforting hand on Zeke's shoulder; she too looked just as surprised by the Grand Mage's inordinate reaction.