My research subject is; Mana runes and Mana circles. Mana circles are made out of household magic and they hold mana runes. The number of mana runes in a magic circle is limitless. A specific order and grouping is extremely important.

Just like words aren’t just a string of random letters, so is the order of these important. Just as a sentence isn’t a grouping of random words, so is a certain order important. Some sentences allow for words to be moved around without affecting the message the sentence tries to convey. This is the same for magic runes.

It took me 2 years to find out the similarities between mana runes in a magic circle and languages. I have picked up 3 languages to make sure I understand roughly how languages learn. It wasn’t easy.

How mana runes relate to each other in a magic circle was the first step that I took. Just as words in a sentence have different weights in importance so do mana runes. Some languages have redundant words or even redundant letters. Without these, a sentence could still be mostly understood.

This is another similarity mana runes share. The similarities became so apparent that I started to wonder if mana runes and creating magic circles is actually a language and not a convenient system, we use to cast mana. I decided to not delve into finding out who is responsible for this system because that is not my research.

Various options open up once the realization is made that using magic is similar to using a different language. I have found that magic can have ‘Dialects’ or differences that are too small to be called dialects. I had investigated 117 Misha families. Every member of these families could use [Fireball]. [Fireball] is one of the most commonly known magic skills under any species so this is a good case study. While all of these members could use [Fireballs] and had similar effects, the magic circles told me something different.

Members within the same family shared the same magic circle for [Fireball] but when comparisons were made between different families, it became apparent that, while they used the same skill, their magic circles were slightly different. Most of the magic circle was identical but there were some parts that varied slightly or even greatly.

Brief encounters with other races had certain areas in their magic circle, that I had considered constant, vary from what I had observed in the Misha. But it was still a [Fireball] with negligible differences.

This had confused me greatly. Nothing in Witchaven could help me figure this out so I had to travel a lot to find out what other races might have as an answer for this phenomenon. Most Misha don’t set a step outside Witchaven for their research so I assume this is where the rumors are coming from. Baseless rumors about stepping out to enjoy carnal desires.

I found a very interesting concept from a human scientist. This human was studying genetic makeup and introduced me to how DNA can help you determine your ancestry. I was very curious about who my father might be but he only had data on humans, so it came out with nothing. This scientist had the same problem as I have now. His problem was worse though. Anything science-related is seen as redundant under humans because magic is superior.

Back to the concept the scientist had introduced to me. It’s about how DNA has parts that code for your traits and properties but also how there is a large section that appears to not code for anything. However, he did find patterns in this section that could help identify individuals because these seem to differ per person and share similarities between close family members.

Now why is this important? The moment I learned about this I realized that magic circles are the same. A magic circle can show you to whom you are related because it will share similarities. These similarities are in the string of ‘redundant’ mana runes. How redundant they really are is unclear. The magic circle will fall apart without them so they are a necessity. It had brought me to a different point. Just like how DNA is unique per person, a magic circle should also be specific to an individual. This didn’t seem to be the case.

Almost halfway into my research, I had found out that everyone is using safe and unspecific magic runes. I like shopping so I will compare these now to shoes! Magic circles are so complex that just one comparison won’t work on them, unfortunately. A magic circle is like a shoe! That’s right! I said it first! You can know your shoe size and buy any shoe of your size. The question is now, will it fit you perfectly? Most will fit well enough, but some won't fit at all despite being your size. What would fit perfectly is a shoe tailored for your foot! I had ordered some tailor-made shoes from the Jarn Kingdom. They can do anything if it has to do with clothes and fashion!

My research had concluded that most if not all magic has magic circles that fit everyone. Now this means that while everyone can use [Fireball] in my example, nobody is using the magic circle that makes them use the best [Fireball] they can muster. The ramifications of this discovery are that nobody on this continent, or even planet, is using magic to its full potential, not even us Misha. We just have more mana to brute force through this handicap.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

The council didn’t like these findings. I might not have articulated my points properly but it seemed more that they got upset the moment I specified that not even the Misha are exempt from this problem. Not only the council but also other Misha didn’t like this message. All I did was report my findings. The first step I took after this was to convert all the magic, I knew into a version that was more suited for me as an individual. I had to distill mana runes from magic circles and found out that they can be created quite easily, even from thin air. It is just arcane magic with a property assigned. Anyone who can use magic can do this easily, the knowledge is a requirement though. If this knowledge is known then even kids can piece together magic runes.

The creation of magic circles is more complex, however, and we as Misha could lead in this because we have the academic capabilities and background to achieve this as a race. I don’t have a specific fondness for other races, besides those belonging to the Calamity Trio. But I think it’s important that other races also become more aware. Caution is mandatory for the humans though; they have a track record of persecuting and enslaving species they don’t agree with appearance-wise or morals-wise.

So, I had spent several years changing all my magic skills. My knowledge of magic circles also grew and I could drastically decrease my casting time, which made my magic circles flash by, not giving anyone the chance to find out what I had cast. I could also interrupt and disrupt most magic circles before they had finished. Most magic circles seem quite simple after my research. This unintentionally made me way stronger than most of the other Misha. I had been called a prodigy in the early years of my research because of this but I am not a prodigy. I had just worked hard and done extensive research.

Giving it a term that insinuated that I was born with this power was quite insulting to me. I had written many books to leave my information behind for anyone who wants to form a research partner with me or continue my research. Research partners are a big deal for us. It is a type of friendship that generally goes beyond being friends. Knowing everything about the other’s research and having someone else know everything about your research is one of the biggest honor a Misha can receive. Having Misha or a woman as a research partner will generally end up with the two willing to die for each other. It greatly reminds me of the relationship the Calamity Trio have with each other. Each of them is willing to die for the other. That is why they are popular under the Misha. When a research partner is formed with a man it often ends up in what the humans call as ‘Marriage’ or ‘Bonding’ as other races name it.

Misha are a strictly female race so we rely on other races to reproduce. Strangely this hardly produces any hybrids. It might be related to that DNA thing that human researcher told me about. I have yet to find a research partner but that can wait for now. After improving all of my magic skills, I started creating completely new skills or changing up already existing skills.

I had made a demonstration of the result of this 5 months ago and it had earned me the title Azure Mist. Named after my custom skill which punishes the use of mana. It also punishes divine energy. It was just a choice I made as a fan. If I ever managed to fulfill my dream and team up with the Calamity Trio, I would have to be able to pull my weight against the gods. I might have wasted a year studying up on gods due to this. I had never expected for my research to bring me to this point. It had improved me in every aspect magically but it had destroyed me socially. But this research is like my baby, I am not going to abandon it. If the council doesn’t like this, I will bring it to a race that does.

Misha generally have 3 races they prefer to have research partners with. These would also be the races I would most likely bring my research to. These would be the nine-tailed spirit foxes, Hjuvan Library Owls, or the Soiphin. This humanoid race has a photogenic memory and are highly intelligent. 2 of these races are difficult to find though, so Hjuvan Library Owls are the most common.

I spent the rest of the day checking all the details of the paper I have written. I am concerned about one thing. Most of my references were from the books I have written. Only 2 books had something I could reference to. It certainly is going to look strange referring to mainly my own work. There is nothing I can do about this though. I went over the assortment of mana runes that I had identified. I had even discovered 26 new ones. They don’t get used in conventional magic circles. They are quite exotic. I am sure that there are more but I have yet to find them. The current number is more than enough to end my research paper on. They had been categorized according to what function they normally have.

Some runes are only found in fire magic circles and others in wind magic and so forth. Certain mana runes only appear in the sequences that determine output, mana cost, casting time, and so forth. I had catalogued them and categorized them. There was a lot of overlap under these mana runes but there were rarely dominant outliers.I then looked over to the contraption I had made to make magic circle synthesis more efficient. It had been built in 2 years. It was a difficult project because nobody could build what I needed, so I had to monitor its construction and make sure everything was perfect. I have the blueprints for it but I will keep that a secret. It’s not easy to make and I would like a monopoly on this if my research catches on. I corrected some mistakes and looked at my life's work summarized on 34 pages. I embedded my mana signature into the research paper and cast several types of protection magic on it.

I leaned back in my chair. Is this enough? Am I really done? It feels so anticlimactic. Is this how it’s supposed to be? I looked at the identical copy I had made of my research. Remi had advised me to create a copy and hand it over to her. Remi is also a part of the council. One of the few younger Misha in the council. She had told me concerning news about how the council has a habit of changing details they find inconvenient. For that reason, Remi will read the real research paper and then find out what the council has decided to change. This is completely unfair and I don’t know how many Misha know about this but there is nothing I can do about it. I decided to bring the research paper to the council at a later time.