Kays Translations

Chapter 21: Magic Algorithm Research Institute

As Isamu placed the circuit board, Eto, who had been frozen in place, slowly turned his face toward the board with a creaking sound. When he saw the activation circle, his face rapidly approached it with astonishing speed. He stared at it without moving for a moment. After about a minute, he finally seemed to calm down, rubbing his eyes, and then slumped deeply onto the couch.

"Phew... It's certainly not like any activation circle I've seen before. Are you the one who made this, Isamu?"

As Eto flicked the switch on and off for the non-attribute magic stone, he asked Isamu.

"Yes. The activation circle for the magic lantern I received yesterday had a lot of unnecessary elements, so I removed them."

"Unnecessary elements?"

"Yes, it contained a lot of things that had no relation to the actual function. Perhaps it was for decorative purposes or to enhance the appearance of the magic circle itself."

"The appearance of the magic circle, huh...? Wait a minute. How did you know those were unrelated to the function? Don't tell me...!?"

Eto, who had been casually listening to Isamu explanation, finally noticed something strange. "I made it," "It contained unrelated elements," "I removed the unnecessary parts," with these words, it almost seemed as if...

"I can't believe it, but do you understand the meaning of the activation circle?"

In astonishment at the facts he had uncovered, Eto asked.

Isamu cast a glance at Anne-Marie, and after she gave a slight nod, he answered.

"Yes, I can read it, and I understand its meaning. However, when it comes to the functional circle, I can't seem to read it for some reason..."

Eto, upon hearing Isamu’s answer, buried his head in his hands and once again fell into a motionless state. But soon, his shoulders began to shake.

"Ku, kuku, kuku, kuku..."

"Ku?"

"Ku, kuku, kuku... Hahaha! I see! You understand the meaning of the magic circle!! That's amazing! With this, the possibility of creating a new magic device with my own hands is finally within reach! Ha ha ha! How wonderful! Isamu, no, Isamu-sama. You're a god to me from today onwards!!"

Eto stood up and enthusiastically patted Isamu on the back while laughing heartily.

"Ouch, that hurts, Eto-san!"

"Hahaha, my apologies, my apologies!"

Eto kept apologizing while continuing to pat Isamu back. In the end, it took about five minutes for Eto to calm down.

"Phew, I've finally settled down. So, what do you mean by removing the unnecessary parts?"

"As I mentioned earlier, the original function of that activation circle is quite simple. However, it was filled with things that had no relevance to that function, like decorations, which is why I removed all the unnecessary parts."

Saying this, Isamu showed a small activation circle instead of the completed circuit board.

"Wait a second, you made more activation circles besides the one you just showed?"

But it's really simple. Wouldn't it be less than 1/10? 

“Yes, I think it’s at that level. So, the other activation circles that Annemarie showed me had some functions that the magic lantern activation circle didn't have. The first activation circle I showed you is the application of this to the activation circle for a magic lantern. There are two main purposes. The first is to make it smaller and lighter. This is an attempt to see if it is possible to reduce the size of the final magic tool by simply making the activation circle smaller. It won't work unless you rebuild the casing itself, so it might take a while..."

After listening to Isamu's explanation, Eto looks at the new activation circle again.

The activation circle, originally about 20 centimeters on each side, had been reduced to 5 centimeters on each side.

Certainly, with this size, it should be relatively easy to downsize the casing. After all, the surface area has been reduced to 1/16 of its original size.

"The second purpose is to extend the operating time. When drawing magic power from the magic stone, you can typically specify how much magic power to draw. However, for some reason, the activation circle of the magic lantern doesn't have this specification. So, I made several patterns of it with the minimum required magic power for activation and, for comparison purposes, some with more magic power. Since the one with the minimum magic power has been completed, it will operate for the same duration as the initial one at worst. The reason I brought several magic lanterns with me was to conduct experiments on their operating times."

"Hey! Wait a second, you're making multiple activation circles... If you can indeed adjust the amount of magic power, it's an incredible story. Hehe, I finally understand the meaning of what the young lady said about making sure it's not overheard."

"Yes. I believe that if this information were to leak, it would cause a significant problem..."

"Yeah, I have no doubt about that. But can you really keep this a secret? What are you planning to do?"

"I have a few ideas... For the time being, we'll focus on creating as many new magic devices as we can in this workshop alone. Once we've accumulated a certain number of them, we'll strategize further. However, we won't mass-produce them or introduce them to the world."

"Oh? And why's that?"

"…?"

"I don't know what new things will come out... I'm thinking of releasing it to the world only after the strategy is decided."

"That's right. I guess that's safe."

"Isamu-sama, I'm sorry for having to keep your incredible achievements hidden."

"No, please don't worry about it. Even someone like me, who is unfamiliar with this world, understands the seriousness of releasing this information carelessly. Besides..."

Isamu paused for a moment and looked at Anne-Marie with a serious expression before continuing.

"If all goes well, this could become a trump card to enrich the Klaufeldt domain... So I can't afford to fail. Don't you think?"

Isamu smirked.

"Ha!! ...Haha, you saw right through me, didn't you? Yes, that's right. I want to clear the name of ‘Trash Magic Stone Makers’ and make our domain prosperous. For the sake of the people who have supported us all this time... Isamu-sama, will you lend us your assistance?"

"Of course. I was already planning to do everything in my power to give back from the beginning."

"Right now, I'm excited because I finally understand how I can be of help."

"Isamu-sama..."

"That's the way it is, Eto-san. Let's take the first step. I'd like your cooperation with the experiment to extend the runtime of the magic lantern."

With another grin, Isamu extended his right hand to Eto.

"Heh, heh, heh, I see. Leave it to me. I've been excited for years because my dream is finally coming true. I'll help you as much as you want."

Eto also smiled and shook Isamu’s hand.

"All right. Now that we've decided on this, let's get started. First, let's conduct the runtime experiment. You can use this lantern as you like. I'll go find magic stones of the same size."

"Understood. I'll disassemble the lantern and replace the activation circle. Oh, Anne-Marie, could you write down the numbers on a piece of paper or something to show the absorption amount of magic power for each lantern?"

"Yes, Isamu-sama."

And so, the first experiment at the Magic Algorithm Research Institute began.

Five days later, the first phase of the magic lantern runtime extension experiment concluded with excellent results. First, the lantern made with a minimal magic power level (B in hexadecimal) had run for nearly five full days. The experiment had taken five days to reach its end in the first place.

As for the other lanterns prepared, those made with magic absorption levels of 20, 30, 50, and 100 (all in hexadecimal) ran for approximately 40 hours, 26 hours, 16 hours, and 5 hours, respectively. Considering that the currently used magic lantern ran for 16 hours, it was estimated that the default value with no specified level was 50.

"Ku, kuku, Isamu, that's quite an impressive result from the start, isn't it? More than five times the runtime!"

"Indeed, Eto-san. It's simply reducing magic stone consumption to one-fifth. Well, if we were to publicize it, there would be a dilemma because non-attribute magic stones might stop selling..."

"Ku, kuku, ku. But even if we switch just our domain's lanterns to this, the cost savings and, more importantly, the time saved will be significant. We used to worry about when the light would go out starting on the second day, and each time, it was a hassle for the magic device artisan."

Eto was delighted, and Isamu, who also seemed pleased, albeit slightly bittersweet, responded.

Anne-Marie, who had been observing their exchange, also appeared happy.

The results were promptly reported to the lord and lady, and work on modifying the night watch magic lantern began immediately. In order to conceal the truth about Isamu’s skill, the replacement of the lanterns with the new models was carried out under the pretext of an exchange.

Simultaneously, the decryption of the other activation circles continued. Together with the one Eto had brought, six activation circles had been analyzed.

From the activation circle provided by Anne-Marie, they discovered not only the specification of magic power flow for energy efficiency but also a magic attribute identification and branching command used in it. Another significant discovery was the existence of variables and comparison operators in the form of inequality equations.

The use of variables meant that numbers could be counted as counters or some text could be saved. They also found a magic variable, similar to a capacitor, that could temporarily store magic power. By combining these variables with equality and inequality equations, they could achieve various conditional branch controls.

And on the seventh day, the analysis of the eighth and final activation array in the city led to a long-awaited discovery – a GOTO statement.

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