"Kantoa?"

I muttered out an unfamiliar name, frowning as I failed to remember anything even by vocalizing the word. It kept coming up in the section of Mela's notes that I was trying to decipher, that listed the locations of known old paths or newly emerging anomalies, but the associated descriptions simply didn't match any place that I knew of. The most that I could figure out was that it seemed to refer to a large coastal region, but none of the descriptions, or the other names coming up in association with it, were familiar in the least.

"Do you want me to show you to the section on the eastern continents?"

I glanced up at Rohn, who was sat on the opposite side of the table. It took me a good few seconds to figure out what he meant. In the first place, I didn't know what the eastern continents were. But slowly it dawned on me that he had to be referring to new landmasses that had been discovered in the past few centuries, one of which presumably held the location I was after. Once I understood what he meant, it all started to make sense. According to the calculations that I'd seen, the vast ocean to the east could easily have held multiple landmasses large enough to be called continents.

I sat up, and nodded vigorously, immediately getting excited at the unexpected revelation. Altrel academy was near the eastern coastline, and I had known of no sea route leading to any significant landmass further east of the continent on which I had spent all of my life – or both of my lives, short as the second one yet was. Or rather, I hadn't known of any continent that could be have been reached first by traveling to the east, rather than by heading to the west.

It seemed odd that I hadn't realized before that something as major as the discovery of multiple new continents had occurred, but maybe it was the fact that I was already struggling to keep up with just the changes in the academy. It seemed like a small oversight for Mela's notes to make no mention of the fact that at least some of the anomalies, that the Tannels had been observing, weren't even on continents that I had previously known of, but those notes were already horribly dense with information. Presumably she chose to leave me to discover any knowledge, that wasn't the solely held by her family, from other sources.

I was perhaps a little disappointed to see that the section that Rohn brought me to consisted of only a few shelves, but it was still more than enough for me to spend my entire free day on, and I already had a hunch that that was exactly what I would do. It seemed like basic knowledge that I should be aware of, and that could be crucial to understanding the notes left behind by Mela, but honestly the main reason was simply my curiosity.

One of my first discoveries was a collection of maps in which the shorelines of at least two continents, and of numerous islands, from whose number a couple could perhaps even have been counted with the former group, were detailed. There was a great deal of variance in the quality and details of these maps, and there appeared to be several points of direct contradiction between them. The only ones that appeared to show the entire region of the eastern continents seemed to be mostly based on estimations based on the more localized maps.

But whilst I couldn't be certain about the exact sizes of these landmasses, it was still a fascinating thought that the shorelines of the entire world had more or less been mapped, and the land area known to us perhaps as much as doubled, since my death. The inner parts of most of these continents and islands were even less mapped, outright blank spaces left in many locations, and as I continued to delve into the books I discovered that establishing colonies in these distant places was in itself a great task. But as little as was yet known about these lands, I could tell that I had returned in interesting times, and every unusual discovery that I read about sent my imagination running wild.

"Since we've got a small class this time, we'll start with a practical demonstration. I want each of you to use the machines and mechanisms laid out here in turn, to craft a different spell array. Let's see if we can bring forth a bit of the characteristics versatility of machinery as a component of magic!"

Our instructor on the magic of machinery seemed to have far more focus on the practical than most of my instructor until that point, though she did notably ask only for a spell array, not a spell performed to completion, and thus wasn't necessarily any less careful than the standard of the academy. Most of the class proceeded through the task with limited enthusiasm, focused mainly on satisfying the scrutiny of the instructor, who was clearly using it as a chance to evaluate the talent of her new students.

I was also eager to see what advances the field of magic that I was specialized in had seen, but it was somewhat unnerving to notice that I wasn't the one most excited about it in the class. It was hard to try to ignore Sahra Loen's intense stare continued to be directed at me throughout it all, and I had to give a small sigh of relief when she finally relented, as it was finally her turn. I could tell that she was pumped up because she thought that she'd already got her first chance to compete with me, though I still couldn't quite figure out why it was so important to her.

I had to acknowledge that the array she proceeded to design was by far the most interesting one that I'd seen during the class. Compared to the rather basic and stable designs of the rest of the class, Sahra's creation seemed quite creative. Perhaps the most interesting idea was that the spell would directionally enhance vibrations in the air, which I also then learned to apparently be the actual nature of sound, and how it would have a variety of practical uses with just minor adjustments in the application of mana.

The actual magical structure was clever as well, so the instructor didn't mind that her explanation took three times as long as those of the other students. Though to me it wasn't really the most impressive part, as it was all based on theory that I was familiar with, and instead I could appreciate her pragmatic approach to utilizing the magic more, since that was actually the harder part, when one was given room to improvise with materials that they hadn't chosen personally. The number of spells that one could come up with, if they didn't need to aim for practical use, was after all pretty much limitless.

As for the confident grin she directed my way immediately after finishing, it made me slightly reconsider my attitude toward the challenge she'd presented. In respect for what she'd shown me, I decided that I might as well approach the demonstration seriously. Maybe I was just a little competitive as well. Once it was my turn, I took my time to examine the materials at hand seriously, including asking for permission to cast simple spells to operate each of the mechanisms. I had to take more care than the others had simply due to my lack of familiarity with the modern principles of design that these pieces had been crafted with.

They were all rather simple, as far as spell array materials went. Our instructor had probably picked them to bring to the class because they were small enough to carry around, and size was a common limiting factor in complexity of design as well. I particularly liked the pair of clocks among them because, even though their design was more detailed and smaller than the rest. They didn't need to be separately set into motion by spell or other means, unlike the rest of the things on offer. But since I needed to do something impressive, I ended up making use of everything on offer, except for a couple of pieces that seemed to have minor malfunctions in their mechanisms.

Next I had to arrange them. With limited option, I left a few of the items on the desk on which our instructor had arrayed them, whilst positioning most on the floor around me. With more basic spells such arrangements were less important, because you could make up the details through your control over mana, but with complex spells such details of design became crucial. The physical placement of components wasn't really meaningful in itself, but it was necessary to have some space to work with, in order for one to be able to direct a flow of mana across a spell array in the correct structure.

Such considerations were most important when one was trying to fit the array within a limited physical space, like with the devices that were used for communication between the academy and the city of Horthel. Those had been incredibly precise work in exactly this regard, fitting all the components of multiple arrays, some of them quite complex, within relatively limited space. For my part, I had more leeway than other mages, because I could direct mana with more precision due to my stronger sense for it, but it was easier to just make thorough preparations instead of relying solely on that.

"I'd quite like to observe this one in action."

Ah. There turned out to be a small issue, once I finished my work and presented it. The instructor's tone seemed perplexed, and genuinely curious, rather than doubting, when she examined what I'd prepared. But it was clear that she didn't really understand all of it, when she muttered out loud those words. I had been quite satisfied with myself, as I had created an array that had a structure several steps more complex than Sahra's. That might have been partly about showing off, but I thought the barrier spell that I'd designed with only such a haphazard selection of materials at hand was really quite ingenious and could certainly have some real application.

But my demonstration was somewhat wasted if no one actually understood it. I wasn't being arrogant either. It wasn't that it was beyond their ability to understand, but rather that what I'd prepared went far past the scope of what was supposed to be a quick demonstration to start off the class. It was really hard to put all of it into words in a condensed yet detailed enough manner on the spot. If I could have just written a paper on it, and had them read it later, that would have been fine.

But since no one else in the room had the intuitive sense for mana that I did, I couldn't really directly sufficiently my work on the spot, without actually activating the spell. Luckily, that was what the instructor had asked for, whether she really meant it that way or not, so there wasn't actually any issue with doing exactly that.

"Well then, please everyone step back a little."

I'd chosen the spell with the situation in mind, so I didn't think there was any actual issue with safety, but keeping the mana flows of the several other humans in the room at further distance made it easier for me to operate the spell through my sense for mana. I allowed my mana to flow forth into multiple directions at once, gradually spreading it across the whole array in strictly timed steps, first activating the machines around me. As I heard the sounds that confirmed the mechanisms had come to life, I proceeded to create further connections that begun to wave the mana into the shape of a dome, using the locations of the items arrayed around me as anchor points.

The mana bouncing between the different components of the array slowly begun to take a physical form. As the barrier took shape it was largely transparent, not obstructing vision, but certainly solid. I was rather satisfied with myself, as the spell had taken less than a minute to cast to completion. Even if the preparations had taken a lot more time, I just had to come up with a more standardized template to replicate the effect with other materials, and I thought that what I'd created could easily find practical use.

"How did you do that? What did you use to power the machines alongside the spell? Did you do it by a parallel structure, or did you use the same flow of mana to do both?"

It was only after I deactivated the spell – which, it appeared, had interfered with sound as well, providing perhaps another interesting function – that I was forced to actually pay attention to the people surrounding me. It was the instructor herself that launched into a barrage of inquiries the instant that she could get my attention, but I could see my fellow students staring at me with baffled and confused looks as well. Sahra, satisfyingly enough, was looking at my array with her mouth hanging slightly open.

Unfortunately, as much as I'd fully intended to impress them, I wasn't quite certain what I had done to so shock my audience. Or rather, I understood what impressed them, by the instructor's questions, but I was quite confused by why they found it surprising. It started to dawn on me that what I'd earlier dismissed as just a design decision, made because the spells were not meant to be actually cast, may have been because a bigger limitation in the other students, or rather the whole way they'd learned to operate the magic of machinery.

"It was more of a parallel structure. You could do it by a separate spell as well, if that's easier, but the key point is to operate the two mana flows through different parts of the machines. You may have to sacrifice some components provided by the machine, not using them for the main spell if they would result from the parts required to operate the mechanism through magic."

I started to explain as best as I could, even as I furiously parsed the whole problem in my own mind. I had assumed that the reason for why none of the others had included a way to operate the machines directly in their spells had been because they just hadn't intended to activate the spell. It was generally preferable to use the intended mundane means to operate them anyway, because doing it through magic added a lot of complexity, and another limiting factor on what components the rest of the spell array could utilize.

But what I hadn't imagined was that they actually couldn't do the operations in parallel, of putting the machines into motion by spell, and then using the components resulting from the motions of the machines to add to a separate structure of the spell array. I'd done it simply because I preferred to be thorough, as I hadn't expected to cast the spell either, whilst it certainly made my design more complex. I'd still operated on the assumption that what they had done was simply common practice, and that students of this advanced level could still have done what I had if necessary.

I definitely hadn't expected that I would spend the rest of the lecture being interrogated by the instructor. Or how I'd have to explain away what I'd considered to be a fairly standard skill as some lost art retained by the Tannel family. But I certainly hoped that at least they had retained it, even if that meant that they'd also deliberately chosen to hide it, because I hadn't expected that, instead of advances in the field, I would discover that a core practice in the magic of machinery had been forgotten.

I tried to avoid implying that this technique had been my own discovery, because that wasn't strictly speaking true, even if I'd developed the skill further, but that seemed to be how they took it. It was a complex skill indeed, especially for those without my mana sensing capabilities, but it having been lost didn't seem to bode well for my field of study. As flattering as the admiration expressed towards Tannel as a pioneer of the magic of machinery was, it also made me wonder if there really hadn't been anyone else they could look for guidance to in the three centuries that had passed since.

"Hey Phila, do you know any good places where I could stock up on materials?"

Beyond the other incidents during the earlier lecture on the magic of machinery, I'd come to realize that I actually didn't have many things at hand that I could use for my preferred form of magic. It seemed like another small oversight by Mela, that I had no idea where she had kept such materials, aside the items that she had kept in her room for mundane purposes, and what remained from the array that she'd used to transfer my soul into her body.

"Sure! There's a lot of interesting shops in Horthel. I could show you around some time?"

I was about to say that I'd just wanted to know if she could give me directions, but it occurred to me that I'd probably struggle to find my way around an unfamiliar city even with those. Celine intended to show me around eventually, but I doubted that she knew the same shops as Phila. And besides, it wasn't like I was opposed to the idea of being shown around by her.

"Okay, if you have the time."

I didn't want to impose on her, but from her expression I judged that she'd be more troubled if I refused. Somehow this was how things always worked with her. I'd already become resigned eating lunch with her and her friends, after they'd already ambushed me at the same time every day after we met. Or rather, it seemed like they, even including Kellen, already considered me part of their group, even though I had no idea why they had insisted on getting close to me in the first place.

"It's impressive how you are already taking advanced courses though, right? Doesn't it take some sort of a genius, with complex magic like that?"

Mateo always seemed to get easily impressed about magic, possibly because Alla and Kellen preferred to keep him that way, instead of trying to explain things to him. Not that he was necessarily wrong in his estimation, but of course I wasn't the first year student that he took me for.

"That's– No, it's just my specialty, so I'm able to keep up more easily."

"I should say that you don't need to be so modest, but it's adorable, so that's fine!"

As I awkwardly tried to brush off the praise that I felt I didn't quite deserve, I just ended up giving Alla another chance at her favorite new pastime, teasing me. I wondered how I'd even ended up talking about the course to them, when I had already decided to keep details about myself to a minimum, but I only ended up having to try to hide my smile, when I thought about how they made me feel so relaxed.

SootShade

I'm not sure if I should have forced myself to write this up when so tired. The magic class part especially might not have ended up entirely coherent. I spent most of the day in a stupor, and I couldn't even figure out why I wasn't able to write anything until I heard the thunder. By the time the storm cleared up, and my headache eased, I was realistically already way too tired to start writing. But hey, at least I'm still somehow managing to stick to my schedule.

I really should try to build up a buffer of chapters for these situations. I'm thinking of taking a couple of weeks break from releases, once I finish this first arc, to do the rewrite that I've been talking about, and to plan the next arc, so maybe I also could prepare a few chapters then.