With a single word from Professor Martelgia, the group practicum began.The lab was quickly filled with the murmuring of students.Our team also exchanged opinions to carry out the task."First, let’s take out all the gems each of us has.""U-Okay."The four of us took the gems and various auxiliary tools from our drawers and set them on the table.The various gems Wayne had explained earlier shimmered brilliantly atop the tabletop.[Enhance] [Increase] [Ascend][Harmony] [Imbue] [Amplify][Chaos] [Descend] [Reduce][Remove]Gems symbolizing the total of ten concepts needed for crystal-sphere processing.Of course, they weren’t real gems.They were closer to glass crafts magically processed for the practicum.Both the concepts they symbolized and their colors were separate from the phenomena of the real world—nothing more than tools prepared for the exercise.Even so, their forms were as beautiful as real jewels."Wow."In fact, Bell’s eyes sparkled as she looked at the glittering gems on the table.Probably because she’d never seen anything that looked so expensive in her life.In contrast, Beatrice and Yulina narrowed their eyes and calmly studied the gems."How unexpected. I didn’t think there’d be a practicum like this.""This is my first time seeing it as well, Your Highness. It seems to be a practicum added this semester."A new kind of practicum that even Beatrice and Yulina, well-versed in magical theory, didn’t know.The two of them began carefully examining the gems and auxiliary tools, analyzing the contents of the exercise."Yes—an exercise where we combine ten concepts to obtain the best result. The number of cases is quite large, even assuming [Remove] simply erases the previous concepts.""And it appears we’re expected to use these auxiliary tools as well, so the difficulty seems rather high."Yulina lightly touched the various auxiliary tools beside the gems.A wide black disc, a mana tweezers and dropper, a strangely shaped mana pen, and bottles of various reagents.Their appearance differed from the magical tools commonly used in workshops.Bell, who had been quietly looking over the items on the table, turned her head and asked me,"Loen, do you know anything?""Hm."At Bell’s question, I looked at the gems and auxiliary tools before me and slowly opened my mouth."I roughly get the feel of it."No—truth is, I knew it very well.This practicum had a structure very similar to one of the mini-games in the Mirellin Saga, [Artifact Gacha].[Artifact Gacha] was a mini-game you could play at the arcade near the Alchemist’s Magic Tower, Deialon—an arcade simulation implemented with hologram magical devices.'…Lore-wise, it was a simplified version of the real artifact-making process at the Magic Tower, turned into a pastime for the general public.'This mini-game, which combined various combinatory elements with a gacha system, was canonically a hit—drawing countless tourists and gamblers to the arcade each year.And since new combinations and ingenious ideas would be attempted emergently through its various play processes, I’d also heard the Magic Tower used combination data extracted from the game.At any rate, this advanced cultural product seemed to have made its way to the Union and was being used in lectures.When I spoke as if I knew about this practicum, Yulina looked at me with doubtful eyes."You know something that even I and Her Highness don’t?"Her attitude was dripping with condescension.Seemed like payback for earlier."If you ★ 𝐍𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 ★ don’t want to hear it, forget it. Do it yourselves."When I crossed my arms and leaned back in my chair as if I couldn’t be bothered, Yulina hurriedly spoke up."Hey, we’re on the same team. If you know something, tell us.""…"Beatrice, too, looked like she was waiting for my explanation.No matter how brilliant her mind and how thoroughly she’d mastered magical theory, it always takes time to understand new technology you’ve never encountered.Also, listening to someone experienced rather than charging in blindly is part of wisdom, so her attitude was appropriate."…"After organizing my thoughts for a moment, I spoke."There’s nothing particularly special. First, this black disc."Thunk-Saying that, I touched the tray-sized disc with my fingertip.And then—Vmm—The shape of my fingertip on the disc spread like a shadow onto the crystal sphere placed at the center of the table.Watching this, I explained,"This black disc is linked with the crystal sphere. In other words, instead of using the gems directly on the sphere, you can place them on this disc to check the effect and performance.""I see—this black disc is akin to a circuit board connected to the sphere.""Right."Beatrice looked over the tools beside Yulina and continued."Then these auxiliary tools must be used to place the concept-bearing gems onto the black disc and connect them with mana to combine them. It seems more precision is required than I expected.""Correct. Quick on the uptake."I gave a slight nod.It’s nice not to waste breath when one explanation lets them infer the rest."Excellent. Thanks to this, we can proceed right away without trial and error."Beatrice said that and glanced toward another group that was in disarray."Whoa!""The gem melted!""Wait, wait—don’t put it in yet.""They said the contamination is high. I guess you’re not supposed to drop it in with bare hands.""What’s this mana pen for?""Should we just put all the gems on the disc first so we don’t lose any?"Snap-"Professor, the disc is broken.""The gem melted—can we get more?""…"Pure chaos waiting to happen.The information I’d given in a few words, they were learning piece by piece by experimenting themselves."If you need them, we’ll replace the materials and tools as much as necessary. Please let me know."At TA Wayne’s words, the students from other groups rushed over to get fresh gems and tools.After watching the farce in the other groups for a bit, I turned my gaze away.Yulina, who had also been watching the others’ antics, asked me,"But shouldn’t the professor have explained all this in advance? This is too inefficient.""That trial-and-error process must be a grading element as well. It wouldn’t be fun if they told us everything from the start.""Fun, he says…"Yulina shrugged and began the actual combination work, checking each gem one by one."Do you also know how to combine the gems? And how to place them on the disc?""The basic principle is to set a gem on the disc and draw lines with the mana pen to connect gems."Clatter-Using the tweezers, I placed the red gem symbolizing the concept of [Enhance] onto the disc.Next, I set the teal gem symbolizing [Amplify] beside it, and drew a straight line with the mana pen to connect the two.Sizzle-With a wisp of smoke, the two gems were linked.Once connected by a line of mana, the gems began to emit a lustrous glow in their respective colors.At the same time, the crystal sphere synchronized with the disc also changed.Vmmm—The sphere flashed a warning red.Committing that change to memory, I continued my explanation."By placing and connecting two gems, I’ve amplified the concept of [Enhance]. But we haven’t yet decided what to enhance and amplify—whether it’s the sphere’s spell storage capacity, the preservation period of spells, or the grade of spells to be memorized. This red light is a warning about that.""Then how do we set it?""You draw the corresponding formula for the target gem you want. It’s not difficult.""Aha.""For reference, the shape, thickness, and number of lines connecting the gems also slightly alter each concept’s effect. And using reagents, you can also change the properties of the lines you draw with the mana pen. Try combining these well."With that, I wrapped up my explanation. Having said this much, I’d said everything.Yulina pressed her temples with her fingers as if she had a headache."This is pretty hard. The cases are practically infinite—I don’t think it’s something you can solve within an hour.""Don’t overthink it. Professor Martelgia probably isn’t expecting something monumental from us—just make it decent. Watch what the other groups are doing."Yulina glanced at the other groups for a moment and nodded."Fair… we’ll place first no matter what we do."The other students didn’t even know how to place the gems, let alone use the tools—just fumbling around.No great need to worry."Still, will you help with the actual combining? You seem to know this better than I thought."At her asking me to help with the combinations too, I furrowed my brows."You want me to spoon-feed you as well? I’ve told you enough—figure out the rest yourselves."Ours was a group with the quiz’s 1st, 5th, and 6th places.Even in actual rankings, this was a top-tier group that wouldn’t change much.Even without me, the right thing was for them to work their brains and solve it on their own.Moreover, I’d given them plenty of hints—they should handle it themselves.'And honestly… I’m not confident I’ll do better than these three.'I looked over my teammates and shrugged.Beatrice, Yulina, Bell.Lore-wise, these three had the highest Intelligence stats in the story.Even if I had some experience, under equal conditions I couldn’t beat them. Leaving it to them would produce better results.Right then, Beatrice spoke."Yulina, Loen is right. With this many hints, we should handle it ourselves."Beatrice faced the work with eyes ablaze."Let’s… create the best result together."***One hour after the practicum began.I clicked my tongue as I looked at the crystal sphere emanating intense mana.'To think they achieved this in just an hour. As expected… geniuses are geniuses.'After listening to my explanation earlier, Beatrice—assisted by the other two—had steadily connected the gems with mana lines, beginning to enhance the crystal sphere.Centered on Beatrice’s ideas, Yulina filled in the gaps here and there, and Bell suggested unusual methods the other two hadn’t considered—a harmonious structure that complemented each other’s weaknesses.At first they made a mistake or two and used the [Remove] gem to reset the disc, but once they got the hang of it, they proceeded briskly, finding optimal combinations without hesitation.And now.This was the result of Beatrice—who would one day grow into an archmage—her assistant Yulina, and Bell—who would become the master of the Magic Tower—putting their heads together in deep deliberation."It’s complete… isn’t it."Beatrice wiped the sweat running down her forehead and smiled in satisfaction.Gems of many colors, strewn across the black disc like stars in a night sky, and the geometric lines and formulas connecting them.The crystal sphere bound to that disc shone brightly.This sphere, gleaming with an iridescent light, looked for all the world like a single work of art.And while we were admiring this beautiful result—Riiing—The bell rang, signaling the end of practicum time.A moment later, Professor Martelgia, who had stepped outside, came back into the lab with a smile."Now then, shall we take a look at your works together~?"

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