Chapter 274: Lirien’s Law of Elemental Studies

Now that the trio sat together once again, with a temporary truce between the Pyro Mage and the lady knight, they finally turned their attention to the reason they were paying one credit per hour to rent this study room.

To tutor Vlad.

The first exam was Elemental Studies.

Since the exams were to start the day after tomorrow and it was already afternoon, studying every topic in the syllabus was naturally not possible.

Seraphina took out her question papers first.

"Look, this question has appeared in six of the last ten exams," Seraphina said, her finger with the polished red nail pointing at the third question of last year’s paper. "Only the numerical values change. The basic concept is the same in all of them. If you can solve this, you’ve basically covered one-third of your second unit of Elemental Studies."

’I’m already aware of the basic theory of Elemental Studies, thanks to the books I read in the library,’ Vlad bragged to himself, his eyes shifting to the question Seraphina was pointing at. ’Now, let’s defeat this second unit...’

His words died in his throat, his eyes slowly widening, his lips parting as if his soul were leaving through his mouth.

Anyone in his place would have reacted the same way, or even worse, upon reading the question.

Question 3. A Pyro mage casts a Three Ring flame lance with a Base Power of 240 on an enemy.

Given:

Mage’s talent: A

Mage’s Stage: Three Ring

Elemental Mastery: Mortal

Considering one hundred percent mastery of the spell, calculate:

(a) The mana consumption.

(b) The mage widens the lance’s radius from 3 m to 6 m. By what factor does the mana cost increase?

Vlad rubbed his eyes. "Sera," he said, looking at her with an unreadable expression. "Why is there maths in my elements?"

Seraphina blinked. "You mean you haven’t even read the arithmetic applications of the elements?" she asked, visibly concerned.

Vlad had just one response to her question. "Why?"

Why the hell would he need to calculate this? What was the practical application of such complicated maths?

While Vlad was wondering all this, a notebook was placed before him.

"Look here, I will teach you," Chloe’s voice reached his ears as she pointed at the complicated formulas written in her notebook.

As if she had known Vlad would have such questions, she had already written down the real-life applications of the arithmetic calculations of Elemental Studies.

It was written so neatly that, as Vlad began reading, he learned many new concepts. These notes had been prepared especially for him.

An Awakener’s mana capacity depended on two parameters: their stage and their talent.

Stage defined their current power level: the number of Rings a mage had formed or the number of stars a Knight had achieved.

Each stage expanded the core exponentially, increasing the mana capacity several times over the previous stage.

Talent was fixed from birth, ranging from E to S, with a rare few Awakeners possessing S+ talent.

After years of research and experiments, the Arcane Academy had found a way to turn this concept into numbers.

Or more accurately, Lirien Argent Sigvorn, the Principal of the Academy, had formulated Lirien’s Law five hundred years ago.

According to Lirien’s Law,

M = St³

M = Mana capacity,

S = Stage constant,

t = Talent coefficient.

This law also determined the approximate amount of mana provided by a particular talent and current stage of an Awakener.

For a One Ring Mage or Squire Knight, Stage Constant (S) = 16.

For a Two Ring Mage or One Star Knight, S = 506.

These numbers went up to the millions as one approached the higher stages.

Lirien had formulated similar numerical values for talent as well.

For E rank, Talent coefficient (t) = 5,

For D rank, t = 9,

For C rank, t = 19,

While for S rank, the talent coefficient was approximately 670.

Vlad’s eyes widened. Since mana capacity increased with the cube of the talent coefficient, Vlad realised how vast the gap was between Awakeners of the same stage, simply because one possessed higher talent than the other.

Over the years, the professors of the Arcane Academy had derived several branch formulas from Lirien’s equation. These formulas allowed one to predict how much mana an Awakener might have remaining, based on the level of the spells they used, their stage, their talent and their elemental affinity.

Naturally, these formulas were useless against an opponent about whom nothing was known, but if one was facing a well-known opponent, these very formulas could help one control the entire battlefield.

As Chloe explained these theories and equations to Vlad in her usual stoic tone, her fingers tracing the lines in the notebook, his mind was already racing through multiple scenarios in which he could apply them on the battlefield.

It took him only five hours to finish Unit II of Elemental Studies, the one considered a nightmare by the academy’s students. Students would study these concepts for several weeks and still be unable to solve a single problem.

Even Chloe, as bright a student as she was, had taken a whole day to understand all the concepts in this unit.

"The answer is option C!" Vlad declared as he lifted his pen from the notebook, having solved the problem in half a page when it should have taken at least two or three.

Both Chloe and Seraphina blinked. "C-correct..." Seraphina murmured.

Vlad raised both hands high in the air. "Finally! Done with all the numerical questions of the past ten years!" he declared, a wide, victorious smile on his face.

Seraphina leaned forward on the table, looking at Vlad with a gaze full of pride. "My boyfriend is a genius," she stated, clearly impressed.

"Well done," Chloe added from the other side, patting his head. "Let’s eat before continuing to the next unit."

Vlad couldn’t help noticing that his girlfriends were looking at him with newfound respect. The mind-grinding days he had spent learning the Dragon Tongue, which had greatly enhanced his comprehension, now felt all the more worthwhile.

"Sure," he nodded, lowering his arms. The Midterms didn’t seem so scary anymore.

He shook his head. He shouldn’t jinx it. If only he knew that he already had.