---Sylvia's pov---
"Now are there any questions before I continue?"
I have a bunch, but I feel that I should not steal the chance from everyone else. On the other hand, Windfrey seems to not have the same qualms as me.
"Do you have any accomplishments in the field?"
What the? He is now questioning his qualifications? But now that he mentions it, does Deverick have any? He couldn't have that much time to play around with things with all his other strengths right?
"*sigh* Why is it that the first thing people ask about is my eligibility? Is my age that offputting?"
I can tell he is getting tired of this. Doing it once is fine, but if he has to explain himself every time, it could get annoying. But you can't blame Windfrey either. Despite Deverck's clear speech, no one actually knows how good he is.
"You know the Nemesis trials?"
People nodded.
"I designed the framework for them."
Holy! That's not what I expected as a qualification.
"But how is that related to encryption?" Windfrey was adamant.
"I guess to any mediocre mages, that would be the case." I noticed Windfrey's eyes twitching again. I am starting to wonder if his eyes constantly twitching is a medical condition. You might want to get that checked out. I know healing magic can deal with a lot of problems, but that should be no reason to neglect your health. Especially when you are getting big on the years. You have to properly take care of your health. Otherwise, we would have fewer seniors around to consult.
Windfrey turned his head slightly to look at his two companions. They shook their heads at him. I wonder what that was all about.
"But the idea behind the system is to use rune interactions to and a series of complicated chainings to create a web of results." Deverick continued.
"That makes sense," the other man whispered.
No that does not make sense. Can someone please explain what I am missing out on? Aren't I supposed to be one of Deverick's most brilliant students? Then why do I have no idea what they are talking about?
"Then can you explain in more detail?" He asked.
Deverick looked around the class. He must have decided to suspend this topic because everyone was giving him blank looks.
"How about we continue this after class? If I spent too long explaining this, I am afraid some students will drop this class on the first day."
The man nodded.
Since when were you someone to care about how many people stayed? How come I didn't see any of that last year? *gasp* No, could it be? But there is no other expl-
"No, I'm not an imposter," he said in a voice only the front row could hear.
The other people were scratching their heads at this comment that came out of nowhere, but I knew that was meant for me. I wonder how he was able to tell what I was thinking. Was it pure guesswork and he doesn't care if he sounds like a weirdo or something else? Well knowing him, it might be both.
Deverick then clapped his hands to make everyone focus again.
"Moving on, any other questions?"
"What if we don't make a good system?" a classmate from last year asked.
"If you're worried about failing this class, then I wouldn't stress. This class will be more casual than the other ones. The idea is that you get some experience on this topic. But I will say that what you put in is what you will get out of it. And I will go into high-depth on the topic. Other than that, there is no final exam or project. Just go ham on building your system.
That being said, if you are considering taking this for an easy class and don't want to put any effort into it, then I would advise against that. It would be a big waste of a class slot and you will fall behind a lot compared to your peers. I will also isolate you from the rest of the class when we do group work. This class is supposed to be fun, not for slacking. I would also like you to keep in mind that you could actually use this stuff later on in life."
For the remainder of the class, Deverick answered some more questions and talked about how the class will work before dismissing the class. After a few minutes, the only people remaining are the trio, Deverick, Mary, and me.
"So what exactly did you mean by rune webs?"
I'm also curious. That's why I stuck around to see what he has to say about the question
"It's a very complicated topic with many variations, but the idea is that by following the interactions of one set of runes, a mapping of relations is formed on another small set. Then by pairing the two intersections, a third picture is formed. This would continue until only a single point of similarity remains. Then by storing the series of mappings that happened, we have a complex encryption that is near impossible to figure out unless you remember everything that happened. We could then associate this chaining with the piece of information that we paired with the starting rune to get a storing and retrieval system. And for every variation, that exists, we would store a different piece of information."
I still don't understand a single thing he just said. All of that blew over my head. And I could imagine that Mary's eyes were spinning in a spiral pattern and smoke coming out of her head.
"I think I understand," Windfrey said, "but how exactly did you determine which runes form which interactions?"
"It took a while, but once you understand the crux of the matter, everything became easy."
And how long is "a while?" For god's sake, you are 19! Where do you get the time to research all of this? Even if you gave me twice as much time, I can't imagine myself coming up with this stuff. Yeah, I can't stay in this conversation any longer.
"Hey, Deverick. I'm going to head to the lab. Can I take Mary with me?"
He turned to look at me and Mary spacing out.
"I guess you can. There's no point in staying if you can't understand what we are talking about."
After getting his approval, I waved my hand a Mary. It doesn't seem to catch her attention. I guess she is really spaced out. I went behind her and start pushing her towards the door. A few minutes after we left, Mary came back to focus again.
"Where am I?" she asked with confusion
"Away from the classroom."
"Oh. Ok?"
"So do you have any plans for the remainder of the day?"
"No, why?"
"I noticed that you don't have that many clothes. So let's go shopping."
"No, you don't have to. I'm fine with what I have."
"But, I'm not."
"No, I'm really fine."
"Mary."
"Yes?"
"Why are you so reluctant?"
"..."
"Could it be that you don't have that much to spend?"
Mary sighed at my question.
"I didn't want to tell you about this, but I came from a commoner family. My family is well off, but I don't think it's worth it for me to spend so much on clothes. Not at the price of a capital city. Plus I don't have that much saved up."
I stared at her, but she avoided my eyes.
"Oh, that's an easy fix," I said in a cheerful tone.
She looked back at me with a surprised look. I guess she was not expecting that. I wonder if she had some misdealings with nobles.
"I have plenty to spare. Come. Join me."
"But-"
"If you're really that reluctant to spend my money, I don't see any other way unless Deverick is willing to pay for it."
"No! How could I?"
Now that's a response I wasn't expecting. I had said the second part as a joke, but I didn't think she would have such a strong reaction. There is definitely something between the two of them.
"Come on, I'm sure he won't mind."
"But..."
Yeah, they certainly don't have a normal professor-assistant relationship.
"Look, I just texted him."
I showed her the projection of my kata.
"I'm going shopping with Mary."
A few seconds later, he responded with, "Have fun" and a transfer of 500,000 demas.
Man, he understood exactly what was the problem. With this, Mary now has no reason to reject me.
"See? We didn't even have to ask. He sent the money. Now let's go!"
I grabbed her wrist and started dragging her towards the shops.
After we finished our girls' time, I sent Mary back to her home with a new wardrobe worth of items.
"You can leave everything on the couch," she told me, "I can handle the rest."
I obliged since I realized she wants to be alone right now. Now what do I do? It's getting kind of late for any more socializing, but nowhere near my bedtime. I guess I could go to the lab to think about some topics for tomorrow.
I walked over to the lab and swiped my card. I looked around to see an empty lobby. I guess Susie has gone home. I walked to the room behind the counter and searched the fridge for something to eat. I don't know how, but this fridge was always stocked with something decent for a meal. Just one of the perks when I got permanent access.
I warmed up my food and brought it with me to the secret lab. It's a lot easier than one would expect because the lab was actually on the first floor, behind a door that requires a keycard. A lot more convenient than using the secret entrance Deverick showed a week ago. I guess that entrance was really just for show. But I can't deny that display left an impression. I wonder how long Deverick had that mechanism, just waiting for the right moment to show it off.
When I walked into the experimentation room, I saw Deverick fiddling with a machine that was generating lighting. I don't know what the specific machine is used for, but if it's in his private lab, I would imagine it is used for something. I walked behind him to watch the display as I ate my dinner.
After a few minutes, the lighting stopped forming and Deverick looked up at me.
"Back from the trip?"
"Yeah. It was fun."
"I'm glad you enjoyed it."
"It's hard not to when you are paying for everything."
He fell silent for a few moments. Did I say something wrong?
"Thank you for taking care of Mary."
I was taken aback. It's not often that he speaks with this somber tone.
"That came out of nowhere."
"I guess, but I do have to give my thanks. Mary has been through some hard times recently. As much as she acts cheerful, I know she is still on that. Not everyone is as easy to motivate as you."
I decided not to ask about her past. Mary can tell me if she feels like telling me. If not, I am not really interested in prying into her sadness.
"So what are you working on?"
He smiled. "How about I show you?"
He snapped his fingers and a block of abyssal obsidian floated over to his hand.
"I really can't get used to the array assistant."
"It's very convenient when you need to get multiple things mid-experiment. Cleanup is also simple."
"Realy made it easy to focus on experimentation and results."
"I had to save time somehow."
He took the obsidian and turned on the machine. He put it in the middle of the flat surface and pushed down on a pedal with his right leg. A blade made out of lightning came down and hit the material. A small chunk came off. He turned the piece and repeated the process. For the next few minutes, I watched the machine form a light show. Quite mesmerizing if one isn't bothered by flashing lights. By the end of this process, Deverick was holding a small piece that is transparent and lighter in color.
Did the machine perform some kind of transmutation on the material? He took the piece of black glass and walked over to another machine. He unscrewed the lens on it and slotted the new product into place. Then he activated the machine and a projection with a dark covering appeared on the wall.
"What's this?"
"A little side project of mine. Its purpose is to scan, record, and predict the elements in the area. By changing the lens, I can determine what elements are filtered out. In this case, darkness is ignored. All the blank spots are where there is a higher concentration of dark elements. If you're interested, I could show you around and we can make something tomorrow."
"That sounds great."
"Then I will clean up and leave you to your doings. Just don't stay too late."
"I'll try."
