"... What?"
So people were taken aback.
Baek Yu-Seol, who usually showed fondness towards Eisel, seed to be attacking her.
The sa went for Edna and Hong Bi-Yeon.
'Why on earth?'
Baek Yu-Seol, who always treated Eisel with care, now not only refrained from helping but chose to criticize her.
'... Or is this the only way to help?'
Edna knew the 'original novel.' There, Eisel presented an unfinished thesis which received criticism, feedback, and opposition from everyone.
And... she got saved by Haewonryang.
It was also the ti when Haewonryang started forming a significant fanbase from the original work.
However, before Haewonryang revealed his true charm and confidence, Eisel suffered so much criticism that she broke down.
Their criticism was not just about her magic but it even questioned her existence, and clearly crossed the line.
Of course, the story had considerably diverged now. Unlike the original plot, Eisel stood with a complet thesis.
So, Edna felt a sense of relief, thinking it might take a different path from the original.
However, it wasn't about the thesis.
Just... the setting itself was the problem.
Everyone despised and criticized Eisel. They harassed her with baseless jeers and mockery, forming their own image by showing their ridicule to her face.
They were truly vile and disgusting people.
Was it even okay to call them mages?
"A flaw... You say...?"
When Baek Yu-Seol seized the opportunity to point it out, Eisel looked at him blankly and asked back.
"Yes, a flaw. There isn't a single mana circuit connecting the runes in your magic array. It's more of a pattern, so it's rather hard to see it as a magic circle. How exactly do you plan to activate magic with this?"
There were murmurs of agreent here and there.
Baek Yu-Seol's argunt was quite convincing... no, it was a piercing factual attack.
"Your magic circle lacks even the basic elents of a magic circle."
Baek Yu-Seol's critique was valid and seed impossible to refute by any ans.
However...
That was rely how it appeared to others.
He had completed the final part of this thesis with Eisel, knowing where she had deeply contemplated.
——
"I want to create a completely different magic circle, different from the conventional form."
"If that's what you want, then go for it."
"I'm serious! That's why I'm contemplating. How to actually implent this..."
"I don't know."
"I didn't ask for your ideas."
"Figure it out yourself."
——-
Regarding that aspect, Baek Yu-Seol didn't even offer a single bit of help. He knew that eventually, Eisel would be able to solve it on her own.
And indeed, Eisel perfectly managed it.
Baek Yu-Seol still rembered her proudly boasting about resolving the problem she had been struggling with for just a few days.
So, this was why he made such a critique.
'You know how to do that.'
To others, it seed like a factual attack targeting a flaw.
However, for Eisel, it was the first-ever support which made her speak up.
"... I'll show you myself."
As Eisel raised her staff, the audience focused on her hands.
Instead of a regular circular magic circle, a hexagonal snowflake patterned magic circle spread on the ground, and snowflakes began swirling all around.
"Wow...?"
"What's that? How does that work?"
"What's going on? I didn't get it."
It was just a simple spell summoning an ice pillar.
Anyone could do that much.
However, those who had a deep understanding of ice magic shower a different reaction than ordinary mages.
"Well, there's no freezing point, no runes connecting the mana circuit, how did the pillar rise up?"
"Huh? Now that you ntion it..."
Yes.
A magic circle was ford by creating a large 'circle,' connecting points specifying attributes, and shaping them through 'runes' that circulate mana.
However, in Eisel's magic, there were no circles or points.
Even looked at the circle, and found that interpreting it as 'Ice Pillar Summoning Magic' was impossible.
Did the magic actually activate?
"... The hexagonal shape of the ice crystal is because the component is water. The structure of mana molecules composing water is ford by two hydrogen atoms bonded together, and when these mana molecules arrange in a hexagonal shape, it becos the most perfect form."
The most perfect form of ice, a hexagon.
"I don't need circuits connecting mana. I rely tailored the most perfect form for ice, and they turned into ice according to my will."
Until now, Humans had always forcibly shaped the elents of nature into their own desired forms. For that purpose, magic circles were created.
But Eisel stepped away from the frawork created by humans and aligned herself with nature itself.
As a result...
Splash!
From the tip of her staff, a translucent crystalline flower blood.
'Crystal Flower'
Once, a Class 4 magic which required total concentration.
But now, she could just... activate whenever she desired it.
"Wow..."
"That's magic...?"
Eisel's magic soared up to the ceiling. It was more akin to art then a fatal attack, leaving people in awe as they gazed upon it.
To showcase the magic more vividly to everyone, she stepped back and looked towards Cellyn.
"Earlier, you pointed out the inefficiency of the hexagonal magic array. Is this answer enough?"
Must magic circles always be circular?
Eisel didn't bother countering that.
Just presenting a perfect magic that no great ice mage could demonstrate was a sufficient response.
Logic? Theory?
Mages communicate through magic.
Eisel looked at Keka Dromian, who had pointed out her flaws for the second ti.
"To put eighteen freezing points into a magic circle... Dromian Family is truly impressive."
While saying so, she pointed at the beautifully designed hexagonal magic circle which resembled a snowflake crystal beneath her feet.
"Freezing points burns a lot of mana, so having none is more efficient."
"That's...!"
Keika gritted his teeth and desperately tried to co up with a rebuttal.
"It would not be easy to correct the orbit with a hexagonal magic circle. How do you plan to alter the 'lines of trajectory' individually?"
Eisel remained silent and answered by transforming the magic circle herself.
"Wow...!"
"That's... peculiar..."
The hexagonal magic circle which resembled a snowflake crystal seed alive, as the patterns inside changed according to Eisel's will. It was sothing a typical circular magic circle couldn't achieve.
The conventional magic circles could maintain the drawn lines' shapes and rely shift positions, but the hexagonal magic circle could freely alter the orbit's size and width.
'This can't be possible...!'
No, this couldn't be accepted.
Keika Dromian shouted again.
"But freezing would take an excessively long ti!"
"Is it possible to specify a target and freeze it? Without freezing points, it won't discriminate between friends and foes and might freeze both!"
"The hexagon's mana circulation rate would be lower than that of a circular magic circle!"
Keika made nurous critiques, which sounded valid and piercing to anyone who listened.
Or at least, that was how it seed.
"Is that so? Then shall we compare your proud magic with... efficiency?"
However, Eisel proved all of that efficiency wrong.
Not a single flaw remained.
Even without comparing it to Dromian's magic.
"Ugh..."
"Would you like to co and prove it yourself? A mage who uses the chance to question can even demonstrate magic himself."
Eisel spoke directly to Keika.
If you're dissatisfied, go ahead and compare Morph and Dromian's magic.
That was the ssage beneath her words.
However, that was utterly impossible.
He didn't have the confidence to showcase magic beyond that.
'Th-This isn't right...!'
Comparing Dromian's magic circle and Eisel's was a mistake from the start.
If Keika had just stayed still, the eighteen freezing points could have remained a remarkable achievent, but now, due to the comparison of their performances... it beca known to everyone that Dromian's magic fell behind Morph's magic circle.
And it was all because of him.
"Th-That magic circle is...!"
Keika attempted to say sothing but couldn't bring the words out.
Eisel stared directly at the dog without turning her head. She had an expression that said, 'Say sothing more if you have anything,' but after hesitating for a while, Keika finally bowed deeply, and Eisel delivered the final blow.
"Seems like there's nothing more for you to say."
That was the end of it.
Dromian magic?
As of today, it would leave a lasting mark in history.
The highest number of freezing points, 18.
It was ant to be the greatest ice magic, yet ultimately served the purpose of proving that Eisel Morph's newly defined unique magic circle was greater.
Keika Dromian sat back with a dismayed expression, and as he retired, Eisel turned her head with an indifferent expression, and made eye contact with each mage who had criticized her.
Most of them avoided eye contact, and the smugly asked questions couldn't restrain Eisel's words anymore.
Why was she suddenly able to answer what she couldn't before?
Had Eisel Morph beco smarter in that brief mont?
No, it wasn't that.
She simply realized sothing.
'... Not everyone hates .'
It was truly peculiar.
Eisel thought she was accustod to being shunned in such situations. But sohow, since she had read the 'Star Archive,' a strange lonely feeling had spread within her chest.
It was a side effect.
The circumstances she faced then.
Witnessing Baek Yu-Seol facing the Black Dragon alone...
As a prize for witnessing that sight, Eisel had absorbed so of the emotions Baek Yu-Seol might have felt.
Perhaps what he felt at that ti was loneliness.
Just having a bit of loneliness wouldn't be so overwhelming.
But this emotion overlapped with the nurous criticisms, hatred, and ostracism Eisel had experienced, creating a tidal wave of trauma.
Now it was okay.
Even in this lonely place full of people who despised and hated her, there was soone on her side.
"Does anyone have more questions?"
Eisel calmly countered the criticisms of the mages.
By this point, both the young mages attending the Aslan Seminar and the audience had co to realize: 'All the ice magic that existed until now will be completely revolutionized.'
'Not just the ice magic, but the definition of magic circles will change.'
From now on, Eisel's magic would redefine the ice magic of this world.
Moreover, with Eisel's introduction of the 'non-circular magic circle,' all elental magic in the world would evolve into various forms.
Today, at that mont, Eisel had initiated a revolution in the history of magic.
"This is unbelievable. There must be sothing wrong."
Everyone felt this truth deeply, yet the mages couldn't bring themselves to admit it.
Many prestigious families specializing in ice magic were present. They were unwilling to accept that their magic was inferior to the re extinct Morph Family's magic.
'This is not right. Magic circles must be circular.'
They struggled to find any flaws in Eisel's magic, but her logic only beca more elegant with each attack.
Participants tried harder and harder to suppress her... but pushing too hard beca laughable.
Beep! Beep!
Five minutes after the previous question, buttons signaling a 'chance to counter' lit up all over the place.
However, the host looked at soone in the crowd.
Princess Hong Bi-Yeon of Adolveit.
She, too, seized the opportunity to counter.
With her silver hair neatly arranged, Princess Hong Bi-Yeon slightly lifted her chin, wearing an arrogant expression.
It seed to say, 'You think you'll counter? Give it a try if you dare,' causing the mages to quietly withdraw their chance to counter.
'These useless fools.'
Hong Bi-Yeon felt oddly uncomfortable. She had long realized that Baek Yu-Seol was creating this situation and atmosphere.
Once again today, Baek Yu-Seol had gone out of his way to help Eisel in an astonishing way.
During the presentation, when no third party could intervene, one had to solve everything on their own.
But how could anyone predict that he'd turn Eisel's montum around by using 'counter questions' like this?
She had the habit of carefully observing and deeply contemplating Baek Yu-Seol's actions, allowing her to understand his moves faster and more accurately than anyone else.
"... Please speak."
When the opportunity to counter was given to Hong Bi-Yeon, Eisel calmly t her gaze.
Eisel, who coolly trampled on all the mages counter argunts and responded refreshingly, seed entirely different from the Eisel who couldn't say a word earlier.
Perhaps... even if the mages criticized her further, it would only make Eisel shine even more.
She didn't want Eisel to completely twist this situation and devour the Aslan Seminar.
She had also prepared herself simply for this seminar.
So, she casually threw out a question to wrap up Eisel's thesis presentation.
"That's enough, now tell us the na of that magic."
The presentation of magic concluded by revealing the na of the new magic at the very end.
In essence, Hong Bi-Yeon signaled the end of this tedious debate.
Eisel sensed that the end was near, and briskly responded to Hong Bi-Yeon's question.
"It's Morph Crystal."
"Hmm!"
"Ahem..."
Upon hearing the na of the magic, so people coughed uncomfortably.
Eisel chose not to include her na but used the family na.
It didn't an Eisel Morph intended to start anew as an individual nad Eisel but rather that she would rise again as the daughter of the Morph Family.
However, her thirst for knowledge and curiosity as a mage didn't allow her to give up that magic.
Perhaps many mages would desire the magic containing the Morph na, and gradually, it might spread throughout society as Eisel desired.
It was an unprecedented event—there had never been one like it before, and there might never be another.
In the magical society, betrayal was considered the worst cri, and they were often buried in history.
Who would have thought that a 'traitorous family' could once again breathe life into the community?
It was a concept diatrically opposed to the definition of magic, turning the impossible into possible.
"... Interesting."
While everyone remained speechless, chairman Jiaryumon gazed at Eisel with shining eyes.
"I admire those who race toward the impossible. I hope you'll stay strong, Eisel Morph."
Bang! Bang!
As if implying that no vote was necessary, the Chairman Jiaryumon even tapped the 'Gavel of Pronouncent' himself.
With that, the declaration was made.
Eisel's new magic had been approved.
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