Chapter 874: Rewriting The Fundamentals Of Magic

Whoosh!

Sisi’s tiny body began to glow with soft green light.

Magical circles materialized around her, rotating slowly at first, then faster. Sigils and runes flickered into existence, crisscrossing through the air in increasingly complex patterns.

The magical formulas floated around her like fireflies, each one representing a different aspect of the enchantment she was about to perform.

"What’s she doing?" Brenda whispered.

"She’s preparing a Phantasimal Inscription." One of the fairies explained, her voice hushed with awe. "It’s an Archaic technique used for complex enchantments."

"You see, simple equipment can be engraved with basic runes, but intricate work requires this—directly manifesting the enchantment through pure magical will."

She glanced at Cassius, her expression full of respect and confusion.

"The fact that Sir Cassius’s instructions require this technique proves that whatever he’s written, regardless of whether we understand it, is genuine runic magic of the highest order."

All the fairies were transfixed, pressing against the observation barrier despite Sisi’s warnings. They wanted to see every detail of the process.

The light grew brighter. The runes grew more intricate. The air itself seemed to vibrate with potential energy.

Ragnora positioned herself near the exit, ready to save everyone at the first sign of danger.

Then Sisi’s voice cut through the tension: "Brace yourselves! I’m engraving now!"

The ball of runic language compressed, smaller and smaller, until it was barely a speck of light.

Then it expanded outward, forming a single sigil—not complex at all, surprisingly simple. Just a curvy line with three dots arranged around it.

"The Ternary Harmonic Override!" One of the fairies breathed. "I’ve read about this! It’s a legendary technique that compresses an entire enchantment sequence into a single unified sigil! I thought it was just a myth!"

"The entire process, embedded into one symbol." Another whispered. "Incredible..."

Sisi guided the sigil down toward the gauntlet, her focus absolute. This was the moment of truth.

If Cassius’s instructions were correct, the gauntlet would accept the enchantment. If not...

The sigil touched the gauntlet’s palm and embedded itself with a flash of light, engraving itself directly onto the metal beside the crystal core.

For a single, breathless second, nothing happened.

Then the gauntlet began to glow.

Rainbow-colored energy erupted from the crystal in its palm, swirling and dancing like captured lightning.

Sisi stared at it, transfixed.

One of the fairies opened her mouth to speak—

BOOM!

A blinding burst of light enveloped the entire laboratory.

"What’s happening?!"

"I can’t see!"

"Did it go wrong?!"

"Commander, what’s going on?!"

The soldiers shouted in panic, drawing their weapons while trying to shield their eyes.

Ragnora stood at the front, her body tensed to jump in and protect everyone.

Slowly...the blinding light faded away.

The room cleared. There was no smoke. No fire. No destruction. No injuries.

Sisi was still hovering right above the workbench, her back turned to the crowd, staring silently down at the gauntlet resting on the table.

The fairies rushed forward in a panic.

"Sisi! Are you okay?!"

"Did you take any mana feedback?!"

"Your wings look dim! Can you hear us?!"

Sisi didn’t respond. She remained completely motionless, staring at the gauntlet.

"Sisi?" Brenda called out worriedly. "Are you alright?"

Ragnora spoke too, her voice carrying authority:

"Sisi, do you need medical assistance? Should I summon the healing staff?"

She had seen this before on the battlefield—soldiers so overwhelmed by what they’d witnessed that they couldn’t speak.

But Sisi was a seasoned enchantment specialist. What could possibly have shocked her into silence?

Finally, slowly, Sisi turned around.

And everyone froze.

The fairy’s face was a portrait of genuine, unadulterated shock. Her eyes were dull and trembling, her tiny mouth hanging open.

She looked like a scholar who had just seen every law of magic she believed in turned upside down.

"Sisi?" Ragnora prompted gently. "What is it? What happened?"

Sisi’s voice came out as barely a whisper.

"It...It works."

The room went silent.

"It works." She repeated, her voice growing stronger. "The gauntlet is...it’s perfect."

"The mana core is active. The rune channels are aligned. The resonance crystal is stable. The frequencies are perfectly synchronized. The dynamic alignment sequence is functioning exactly as specified. The..."

She trailed off, shaking her head in disbelief.

"It’s more efficient than any enchantment I’ve ever created. The maximum theoretical output has been exceeded by twelve percent. Twelve percent!"

She looked at Cassius with an expression that bordered on religious awe.

"Just...what are you!?"

Before Cassius could even reply, one of the fairies surged toward the gauntlet, her wings shedding nervous sparks.

"Impossible!" She breathed, running a diagnostic sigil over the crystal. "What you’re saying is impossible. You must have read it wrong!"

Another fairy joined her.

"An output coefficient of twenty-four-point-seven with an efficiency increase of twelve percent? Are you joking?"

Her voice cracked with something between laughter and hysteria.

"If those numbers are real, it would revolutionize the entire mana industry overnight!"

"I’ve never heard of such a thing. Not in theory. Not in practice. Not in legend."

A third fairy shook her head firmly. "You must be mistaken. You have to be."

But the moment she conducted her own analysis, she froze mid-wingbeat.

So did the others.

One by one, their expressions shifted from disbelief to something far more profound.

"No." One whispered. "It can’t be."

"But how...?"

"Look at the rune circuit. Look at what’s happening inside the stabilization lattice. This shouldn’t..."

"The feedback loop is gone. Completely eliminated. Without reducing output. Without external dampening. The entire architecture has been—"

"—rewritten. From the foundation up."

Their voices dropped so low that even the soldiers straining to listen could barely catch fragments.

Then, slowly, every fairy turned to face Cassius.

"Seriously." One finally managed. "Just...what are you?"

Another drifted closer, her gaze searching his face as though she might find answers written there.

"You can’t simply be a mana researcher. I would have—we all would have—heard your name before. A mind like yours doesn’t remain anonymous."

"How did you do this? What sort of intellect do you possess to conceive of something so fundamentally..." She trailed off, lacking the word.

"...impossible." Sisi finished quietly. "He did the impossible."

They stared at Cassius like he was a prophet descended from the heavens.

Brenda, utterly lost, scratched the back of her neck.

"Hey, Sisi? I already figured Sir Cassius was impressive—Captain Julie’s letter made that clear enough. But aren’t you reacting a little...extremely?"

"You’re treating him like he completely rewrote the rules of magic itself!"

Sisi whirled on her with such intensity that Brenda actually took a step back.

"That’s exactly what he did, Brenda!" Her voice cracked with emotion. "That’s exactly what this man accomplished! He didn’t just complete the test—he rewrote the fundamental principles of enchantment magic itself!"

The other fairies immediately surrounded Brenda, their tiny forms buzzing with agitated energy.

"If you read the theoretical texts every day like we do, you’d understand that what he just did shouldn’t be possible!"

"It contradicts everything we’ve learned! Everything that’s been taught for centuries!"

"He didn’t just solve the gauntlet! He produced a solution that rewrites the history books and replaces everything we knew with something entirely new! Something we have never seen before! Something that shouldn’t exist!"

Brenda still looked confused. Sisi grabbed her ear and pulled her close.

"Think of it in your terms." The fairy hissed. "Imagine a baby—fresh from the womb, still wet, can’t even hold its own head up—picking up a massive broadsword and slaying a dragon."

"What the hell are you saying, Sisi?!" Brenda recoiled. "That’s impossible! A baby slaying a dragon? Even the greatest heroes of the distant past couldn’t do such a thing!"

The other soldiers laughed nervously.

"A baby fighting a dragon? What kind of joke is this?"

"Even Commander Ragnora couldn’t do that as an infant!"

"Sisi, you’re joking, right? You have to be joking!"

But Sisi just shook her head slowly, her expression deadly serious

"That’s exactly what I’m feeling right now. That’s what Sir Cassius just did. Something that should have been absolutely impossible."

Silence fell over the soldiers. They turned toward Cassius with new eyed that no longer saw a friendly, slightly eccentric companion.

Instead something far greater and far more incomprehensible.

Cassius, naturally, did not miss this golden opportunity for a single second.

He puffed out his chest, clasped his hands dramatically behind his back, and let out a long, theatrically heavy sigh.

"Ah...this is exactly why I really dislike showing off my true abilities."

He lamented, shaking his head with a look of profound sorrow.

"Every time I do, all the mages nearby go absolutely insane. In fact, several scholars in the past completely abandoned the path of magic altogether after witnessing my work."

He shook his head again, mournfully gazing off into the distance.

"It is truly a pity that this world simply cannot handle the sheer magnitude of the knowledge I possess. Instead, my genius only drives everyone mad..."

His boasting was utterly shameless—so outrageous that it should have been laughable.

But none of the fairies found it funny.

They genuinely felt as if their minds were on the verge of shattering.

Some of them were even pinching themselves, hoping to wake from what must surely be a dream.

Ragnora watched all of this with a peculiar expression on her face.

A thousand thoughts raced through her mind—questions, suspicions, calculations.

But before anything else, she stepped forward and offered Cassius a formal bow.

"I owe you an apology." She said, her voice carrying genuine remorse. "Not only did you complete the test, but judging from Sisi’s reaction and the reactions of her department, you exceeded every possible expectation. You went beyond what is known."

Her golden eyes held his. "I apologize for putting you through such an exercise. In your eyes, it must have been...disgraceful. To challenge someone of your caliber so presumptuously."

The fairies also looked utterly mortified. What they had done, was equivalent to giving a simple arithmetic problem to a grand master of mathematics. It was almost insulting.

Sisi bowed her head as well, her earlier pride completely gone.

"I apologize from the bottom of my heart, Sir Cassius!" She choked out, clenching her tiny fists tight. "I was foolish, arrogant, and blind! I should never have doubted you or judged you based on your casual word!"

She looked up at him, her eyes practically pleading as she said,

"Honestly...you can say whatever you want about our establishment now. Even if you call this great tower of ours a complete tower of fallacy, none of the mages in the realm would dare feel offended if they knew what you accomplished today!"

Ragnora raised an eyebrow. "Sisi, isn’t that a little—"

"It’s appropriate, Commander." Sisi’s voice was reverent. "The mind Sir Cassius possesses, the knowledge he contains...he exists at a level where he could reshape any magical institution in the world simply by willing it."

"What right do we have to take offense?"

Hearing this, the soldiers, who had been watching the exchange with growing awe, took an unconscious step backward.

Not because Cassius frightened them.

But because they had just realized that the same man who had made crude comments about the tower was someone even greater than Lady Isabelle herself.

Greater, perhaps, than anyone they had ever met.

Gone were the casual elbow jabs and the easy laughter.

They looked at Cassius now the way acolytes might look at a living saint—timid, worshipful, and slightly terrified.

He wasn’t just a guest anymore.

He was something closer to a legend walking among them.