Chapter 191.2: Research Exchange (Part 2)

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The papers described various studies, experimental results, and conclusions. It was a conglomerate of Soul Howl's achievements across many years.

「Hey, that's not fair, Elder. If you're going to look then let me see yours too.」

Soul Howl seemed miffed with how avidly Mira's eyes scoured his papers, so he struck his right hand out in demand.

「Hngh... I guess I have to.」

She could not bear having him poke at her cheek to get her attention, so she took out her own bundle of notes. Those were her own research notes, which she wrote down whenever she had free time with nothing else to do. They were roughly as numerous as Soul Howl's, including all her thoughts and spells.

「Ohh, you've come into contact with a lot of spirits. And some really exotic ones too. I guess that makes sense considering you already possess the Spirit King's Divine Protection.」

Soul Howl muttered that as he read through Mira's notes with much attention.

「I know, I know.」

Mira smiled proudly as she continued reading Soul Howl's research notes.

Way back when they were still in the Silver Linked Towers, though Mira was known as Danbulf then, the two had a rivalry where they always tried to become the leading spellcaster of the country. At the same time they were very close friends though, so they would always share their knowledge, so letting the other see their notes was something common for them.

Everyone had something to work on, so they all fell silent. Soon after all that could be heard was the rustling of pages as Mira and Soul Howl leafed through the notes.

(Ohhh, This is incredible. I was wondering about this for a while, but I see, it all makes sense now. So that's the theory behind Compound Skills.)

Compound Skills, as the name suggested, were brand new spells produced by mixing various others. They were also being researched in Arkite's academy, so Creos had told Mira about them a bit. But it all still felt somewhat vague to her, and was a topic that still felt foreign to her.

But now her understanding of it was progressing greatly. Soul Howl's research had gotten far ahead of anything being done at the academy.

Out of all Nine Wisemen, Soul Howl was a contender for the most dedicated to researching skills. The only other contender was the Wiseman of Concept Magic, Frone.

The notes described multiple skills ready to use, which made Mira's eyes twinkle as she read through. Most of them would require plenty of practice though, so they were not something she could learn in a single day.

(Hmm, I'll have to copy at least some of this.)

Thinking that, Mira opened her Item Box to take out a notepad and writing implements. But then she found one of the many items she bought from the Dinowal Store.

(Oh, I think this paper is supposed to help with transcribing written text!)

It was a large sheet of synthetic paper. That paper had been made to aid when copying magic circles, as they could get very intricate.

Some spells had very particular magic circles too, which could take some time to properly set up, but could also have incredible power.

In the past, spellcasters would often draw their circles on multiple pieces of paper ahead of time and have them ready whenever they were needed, but copying pages and pages of magic circles took time. Which led to some resorting to using stamps of magic circles instead, letting them easily stamp one whenever they needed.

But that synthetic paper, commonly sold as Transcript Paper, greatly changed how that was done. It was inexpensive and made the process of copying much simpler, so one only had to draw a magic circle once, and the paper would make a copy on-demand, getting rid of the need to carry a heavy stamp around.

Transcript Paper was indispensable for any spellcaster that required magic circles.

「Ohh, this is useful.」

But Mira was using that beloved tool of spellcasters as mere copying paper. The sheets were quite large, so she could fit multiple pages of Soul Howl's notes on them, copying them for future use.

Once one side was covered in notes, she simply turned it around and started covering the other side as well.

That was different from its intended purpose of replicating magic circles, but Mira still looked proud of having found that use for it, as it saved her time from having to copy the notes by hand.

While that was happening, Soul Howl continued reading through Mira's notes, but then had to look away from them.

「Arghhh, I can't memorize all of this dammit!」

Soul Howl also found Mira's research notes to be an invaluable source of information. He tried to memorize everything he deemed important, but there was so much he was struggling to keep it all in his mind. So he soon took out a notepad and a pen, just like Mira intended at first.

「Say, Elder. Could I borrow your notes for a while? I'll give them back... someday.」

Before he put any serious work into it, he asked, harboring a very small hope.

「Of course not.」

「Yeah, I guessed as much.」

Mira's refusal was obvious, she still had a lot more she wanted to write down there. She had no issue showing the notes to Soul Howl, but lending them was a different story. So he gave up and resigned himself to writing everything down by hand, but then he noticed what she was doing.

「Elder... is that Transcript Paper?!」

Mira was still focused on copying the notes, but then noticed Soul Howl suddenly getting closer and acting shocked, which told her everything she needed to know.

「Yes, it's a Transcript Paper. It's really useful, you know? It works for anything and not just magic circles!」

Mira had just finished copying the last page, so she held the sheet of Transcript Paper up. It had all of Soul Howl's notes copied identically, every single letter legible. All done in a short time and for a low cost.

「Elder, could you give me some too? I don't mind if it's just the little blank space left in that sheet.」

Because of its use with magic circles, Transcript Paper was manufactured in square sheets that measured two meters in both axes. Soul Howl's notes were so numerous that she filled multiple sheets, but in the end the last sheet was only filled halfway through one side, leaving one side and a half blank. Soul Howl desperately took hold of that blank space as he pleaded to Mira.

「Well, I guess I can do that. Though cutting it sounds like too much effort, so I'll just give you a new sheet.」

Mira quickly granted him his wish, already understanding why he wanted it so badly.

Many different types of spells required magic circles, which was what gave Transcript Paper a reason to exist in the start, but in Mira's eyes it had gained a different and unusual use.

Summoners had the unique ability of drawing magic circles with mana, so she did not have as much need for Transcript Paper as other classes. But for others it was an indispensable part of their lifestyle.

Necromancers also used plenty of drawn magic circles, so Soul Howl was aware of Transcript Paper's existence, but he did not carry any even though they were a useful tool.

The reason for that was simple. All the Necromancy spells that required magic circles were all high level spells, so after Soul Howl froze the woman in time, he no longer saw a need to carry Transcript Paper with him.

Mira was aware of that much, so she said 「I'm sure you'll be needing more of it soon,」 and gave him a whole bundle of Transcript Paper. After he was done copying Mira's notes, and if the Spirit King's idea was successful, he would need it again as his high level spells would be unsealed. And considering their imminent fight with Machina Guardian, they could come in handy sooner rather than later.

「You're right, I'll have to prepare for that. Thank you, Elder.」

Soul Howl understood why Mira was giving him so many sheets, so he thanked her and quickly began to work on copying her notes.

As for the reason why Mira was carrying so many sheets even though she was a summoner, it was simply because they could be used for a specific form of Refining. She felt like they could be useful someday when she needed to get stronger.