C199: The one who doesn't dream (2)
Beasts and small creatures also have desires and hopes.
Dreams are the essence of life. Therefore, all human beings, who can be called desire itself, dream.
There is only a difference between clear and cloudy, light and heavy in the shape of the dream.
'Having no dream' is not allowed according to the laws of the world but sometimes there are those who deviate from the laws of the world.
They have been called 'the ones who don't dream.'
Although he was her senior, he was almost twice as old as Julia and he was close to an uncle in his 30s.
– What is it all of a sudden, old man?
– I told you to call me your senior!
Considering that most of the wizards belonging to the Dream School were over 50s, the mid-30s were very young but for Julia, even that was just an old man because she was a genius who entered the dream school in her early teens.
– All right. Anyway, would you mind not talking to me?
-You should get rid of the habit of judging people at will.
-But your dream is not cool.
– You're so mean!
Her unsuspecting senior coughed while shouting.
– Julia, keep this in mind, you can't judge people by their dreams forever.
– Why? Dreams are the essence of a person.
– Because there are people who don't have dreams.
Julia laughed at his words then.
-You're joking. Who in the world is like that?
– There are. Surprisingly, I've seen one in person once.
– Who?
– It's a secret. Anyway, there are people like that.
-If you say so, at least it's not a lie.
– What did you think of me?
– Mmm. Unreliable uncle?
-……Have I done anything wrong to you?
The senior who drooped his shoulders, immediately recovered. He had a great mentality and quickly recovered from any vicious remarks.
Maybe it was because he had to survive in the Dream School, which was full of geeks.
-Anyway, if you stay in our Dream School, you will meet a unique person someday. For example, the dreamless one I talked about earlier.
-What is the one who doesn't dream? Can a person not have a dream?
– It's called that because it exists. I don't know why. However, there are several hypotheses.
The word hypotheses intrigued Julia.
Questions in their field always made wizards feel hungry.
-What are those hypotheses?
-Not sleeping or being blocked by something else. There are many hypotheses, but most of them are nonsense. However, the most likely theory is that.
-What?
– Self-confidence.
-Does self-confidence refer to an upright belief in oneself?
– Yes, those who don't dream have confidence. The certainty that they can achieve dreams that other people just wish for.
People dream to chase their ideals that are impossible to achieve in reality.
-They don't have desires of others but a firm belief they can achieve it.
An ideal that can be achieved can no longer be a dream because it's an extension of reality.
– Yeah. I mean, he's the ultimate superhuman who can achieve his ideals.
Julia returned from her past recollections and stared at Rudger.
'Is he the ultimate superhuman? What an interesting expression.'
She even thought that what her senior said was not just nonsense.
'It was fascinating since I saw you at the beginning of the semester.'
In the past, her senior earnestly asked her to let him know if she ever met someone like that but Julia didn't want to. For now, she wanted to watch.
'The one who doesn't dream changed Sedina's dream. And in a very positive way too.'
The only thing that can affect a dream is a stronger dream, staining good dreams with evil or dyeing bad dreams with good. But the one who doesn't dream changed Sedina's dream.
This was a great discovery and change in the dream magic academia.
'Should I ask how on earth that happened?'
But she didn't think Mr. Rudger would say it easily because of his personality and she had limited methods to find out by herself.
In the end Julia had no choice but to reach out to other possibilities.
'The wizards of the Dream School. They have strange personalities, but their skills are real, and they thirst for mysterious things more than anyone else.'
Maybe if she asked them indirectly they might give her an answer.
'Still, it hurts my pride a little to ask for help from them.'
But it was related to Sedina, who was her childhood friend so a little bit of damage won't matter.
* * *
The class started.
"The amount of magic that each wizard releases varies widely. This is because the innate elements of the body play a big role."
The students concentrated on writing and moved their pens quickly.
"Some papers argue that healthy and disciplined bodies can release more magic, but the effect has been found to be insignificant. It means that even if you make your body strong as a wizard, the efficiency you can see is less than that."
How to increase the amount of mana emission is a challenge for all wizards. So far, many wizards have been preoccupied with finding a better way, but they don't have any significant results.
Some said that by increasing the total mana in one's body the amount of mana emitted will increase proportionally to that but increasing the total amount of mana is very difficult.
"The most effective method currently known is to master the process of depleting your mana and restoring it quickly."
It was a slang term among wizards called 'mana muscle'. Of course, it was not a real muscle but more of a roundabout expression.
In order for muscles to grow they have to be worked to the limit, then torn and regenerated and it was the same with the 'mana muscle'.
"However, this method also has limitations and some people reach out to the forbidden paths to seek a better way."
"The Black Wizards?"
"Yes, they touched the taboos and experimented on humans."
The black wizards were crazy and used people as test subjects. In the end they even experimented on themselves.
In fact, one of the bug brothers whom Rudger fought against previously combined his body with a bug.
"There are research materials of some black magicians obtained through the Empire's large-scale subjugation. The Tower revealed only a part of it in the past, but if you look at the outline that was revealed, the black magicians tried to make a 'circuit' in the human body."
"What 'circuit'?"
"A mana circuit."
A part of it was similar to magic engineering which has recently emerged and the most common example was the golem.
In the past, golems were made of soil and stone but now that science has developed the bodies of the golems are made from steel and brass and their components contain high-compression steam and mechanical springs.
Although the mana stone drives the golem not everything works because of the mana stone. Sophisticated mechanical parts must be engaged, while pipes and cylinders must be moved.
The 'circuit' which moves the mana stone energy into the golem's parts plays the most important role. It was also the 'circuit' that black wizards were interested in.
"They forcefully engraved the circuits that exist only in machines in human bodies."
The students made a fuss.
The human body is made up of skin and has a fixed form from birth. No one knew how dangerous it was to add a new 'circuit' that was not originally present in such a body.
The body might reject the 'circuit' and even in the best case there was a high possibility that it couldn't adapt to it.
The probability of success is extremely low, and even if it is successful, enormous pain will appear whenever mana is used but black wizards did such a thing without hesitation.
"Of course, that is strictly prohibited under national law. What the black wizards are trying to do is forcefully undermine reason and harmony. That kind of development is not worth it."
"Is there any way to increase mana emission other than endless training?"
"Right now there isn't."
The students seemed to be disappointed by his words because they thought Rudger might know a way.
Rudger smiled inwardly at the obvious students.
Increasing mana emission will be the discovery of the century. Something like the Source code was incomparable to it.
"It's not that there's no way."
Rudger decided to give them some advice.
"You don't have to feel sad. Maybe one day there will be a better way."
"Do you really think there will be a better way?"
"Yes."
Rudger replied without a shadow of doubt.
"You may not know, but in the past magic was less sophisticated than it is now but the wizards of that time were more powerful."
They could drop lightning from the sky, cause snowstorms and shake the ground.
Although such great magic is treated like a legend, wizards of the past could use it.
"Isn't that just an exaggeration?"
Someone asked.
In fact, most students thought so.
Magic has evolved over time and it never occurred to them that the magic of the present era would be weaker than the magic of the past.
"Maybe it is. Perhaps, even if such a thing was actually possible, it could have been caused by an out-of-standard being with an amount of magical power equivalent to that of an archmage."
"What?"
If a being had an enormous amount of mana, then even when they released a little they could create a gigantic phenomenon.
"But there is definitely something to learn from the magic of the past."
In fact, the research direction of the method of increasing mana emission in the Tower has recently been changed. They now tried to get clues from the ancestors and Rudger knew that was the correct answer.
"Sometimes, rather than the possibility of the future, looking at the past calmly and paying attention to the wisdom of ancestors can also help development."
Of course, students won't understand even if he says this but it didn't matter, there were definitely a few people who took it seriously.
Soon the bell that ended the class rang out.
"That's all for today's class, your task is to review today's content. Summarize and submit your review and exploration of the old literature related to mana emission in a report. The time limit is next week. That's it."
"Thank you for your hard work!"
The class was over and Rudger organized his files.
At that time, some students showed signs of hesitation and were wondering whether to approach Rudger or not.
"Tell me if you have something to say. Don't stand there."
When permission was granted, the students approached.
He was wondering what it was, but they asked about the contents of the class.
'Recently, students seem to be asking a lot of questions.'
Before, they were overwhelmed by Rudger's atmosphere and no one wanted to approach him after class but the starting point of change was after Theon {Magic Festival}.
The fact that Rudger ran into the fire to save Selina, spread among the students.
After that the students thought of him like a teacher who's usually cold and aloof, but does the right thing when it's important. His appearance was also handsome, so at that moment his good points that were not normally seen were suddenly highlighted.
Rudger, who didn't know that, was not able to easily adapt to the attitude of the students who have changed recently.
"Teacher, do you have a girlfriend or someone you like?"
"If it's not a question about school, refrain from it."
When he answered in that way the girls laughed.
He hoped that the students would approach him, but he felt that the distance suddenly decreased.
"Sir, I have a question."
"Rene?"
"I don't understand this part of the formula, can you explain it to me again?"
Questions like this were always welcome, so Rudger glanced over the notes Rene had brought.
"The skeletal lines are tangled with each other. On the surface, it may not seem like much, but this will inevitably reduce the flow of mana."
"I see."
"You can find out more about this by reading [Introduction to the Structure of Spells III]. It's an old book, but it's probably what you need the most right now."
He pointed out what was wrong and even recommended books necessary to supplement her knowledge. Unlike his blunt tone, his explanation was very helpful.
Rene peeped at Rudger's figure. His face was calm as he looked at her notes.
He was cold and rational, but she felt something familiar when she saw Rudger, like she often met him somewhere.
It was something she forgot, something very distant and nostalgic.
She didn't know why, but Rene unknowingly said a name.
"Heathcliff?"
She was surprised that she said it and Rene opened her eyes wide as if she didn't understand her behavior but what surprised her even more was Rudger's reaction.
"……What did you just say?"
Because Rudger was staring at her with a stiff face.