After returning to the academy for a few weeks, Michael and the others soon got back into a routine. With classes every single day besides Sunday, there time was essentially all taken up—leaving little room for anything else but study and research.
Rudy had it worse since he was forced to take supplementary classes for inscriptions in addition to his other obligations. The guy would often arrive late in the great hall, not speaking a word until he had finished stuffing his face with food.
Unfortunately, their packed schedule left little room for extracurricular study—namely the healing spell they were developing. Since Michael intended on using the spell as a contribution to the kingdom in exchange for establishing a noble house, he could not ask anyone else directly for help. Follow current ɴᴏᴠᴇʟs on novel⁂fire.net
There was also the fact that Professor Murphy their spellcrafting teacher was currently away, leaving the insufferably boring Gabe in his place. Not only was the guy long-winded, his teaching style was far less effective and engaging than his predecessor.
Therefore, even if he thought the old guy could assist him, Michael would not dare to approach the man. He already had it tough since he now had two classes with the old codger, there was no way he’d purposefully seek the man out for additional assistance.
However, this meant that progress on the project stalled significantly.
While he had the correct runes for the light element, Michael had no idea how to arrange them, let alone what the instructional runes should be in the inner layer of the magic circle.
This problem was not something that could be solved with anything but trial and error—and a lot of time. Of course it would be different if he could control his unique soul trait and revisit the scene he had dreamed about back then.
Unfortunately, Michael had a sinking suspicion that the spell Tywin had cast was likely to be tier three at the very least, possibly even tier four or five judging by the healing power.
Therefore, it was almost impossible to recreate the spell he’d seen in his vision—even if he had an eidetic memory.
Perhaps the only positive in his struggles was that their current focus in spellcrafting theory was the structure of magic circles, namely the inner circle. So while Professor Gabe was almost useless for additional help, Michael was able to kill two birds with one stone.
Or so to say, he and Melody were able to.
Michael massaged his eyes slowly, trying to ease his burgeoning headache. The girl beside him didn’t seem to be in much better shape than him, now leaning back in her chair with a look of exhaustion on her features.
"I feel like we’re going in circles..." She muttered, sounding defeated.
"Hah... Good one." Michael replied with little enthusiasm.
"Because we’re studying magic circles..." He said, only to shake his head in the next moment. "Nevermind."
The girl just stared at him blankly for a while before letting out a sigh, "I thought creating a spell from scratch would be difficult, but I never thought it would be this far out of reach."
"We can’t even use other spells as a blueprint, since it’s a completely different element. Even if we understood every single rune in existence, it would still take years of trial and error before we’re able to construct anything."
Michael blinked a few times in response. She wasn’t wrong, but it certainly wasn’t helpful in their current circumstances.
"Is there no way we can get help from a professor?" she asked.
Instinctively, Michael shook his head. Healing magic was a lost art, something that could change the framework of society. Most of the professors were part of a noble house, or large organization that would literally kill for such knowledge.
He had no doubt that some might even use shady means to steal the runes and claim the contribution for themselves. Then his plans of using this to establish his own house would be up in smoke.
The two were silent for a while, the mood rather glum. The feat of recreating healing magic wasn’t impossible, particularly since the light elemental runes were the biggest part of the equation—it would just take time, lots of it.
Unless they had a breakthrough, the prospect of finishing his research before he graduated from the academy seemed almost impossible.
Should I tell the headmaster? Michael thought, his heart filled with reluctance.
The guy was probably the only person he trusted not to leak the information. Adding the fact that he had also helped Michael out greatly when he had been on the verge of death just a few months ago, he was more inclined to come clean.
"Ah..." He exclaimed, stiffening slightly.
You idiot... he cursed inwardly.
Michael had been so caught up in the discovery of the healing magic that he had completely skipped over the fact that he now knew about his unique soul trait. Back then, the headmaster was interested in his unique soul, essentially saying he would support him upon its awakening.
Instead of responding to Melody, Michael shot up in his chair, his eyes moving to the clock upon the wall.
"It’s only half past seven, he should still be awake right?" he muttered, turning on his heel and swiftly making his way to the door.
"Oi! Where are you going?"
Michael paused, feeling the cold anger emanating from the table behind him. He decided to turn and address the woman, not wanting to deal with her ire because of his haste.
"I’m going to request a meeting with the headmaster, he’s been interested in my unique soul for a while now. If I reveal it to him, he might be able to assist us with some additional resources—or maybe even help directly with the healing magic..." he explained, sounding a little hopeful.
Instead of rejecting his idea, Melody’s expression actually brightened. "That could actually work... The Arcadius family are known to be impartial and only chase knowledge—not fame."
Michael smiled, revealing his white teeth, "Then wait for the good news."