The scratches of his pen gliding on the journal and the nervous taps of Evan's feet mixed into each other, giving the library's second floor a livelier atmosphere than how it really was. This was probably Alec's fourth visit and Evan's third visit. Still, with how many things were written to have been deleted or twisted from their minds in the journal, Alec was doubting that too.

While Alec kept a journal of his own, he had taught Evan the memetic first circle magic too. This way, he would be capable of arranging his own journal in case he needed to keep some things from Alec. Although this was somewhat inevitable considering his situation; mind, memetic, and anti-memetic magic had become the branches that Alec was most accomplished in. Constantly thinking about them and researching their nature had furthered his understanding to a level that a normal student shouldn’t have had.

"So, how exactly does the spell look in the system interface?" Alec asked. This was one of the things that he wondered. As he himself couldn't utilize the system's skill page, he had no choice but to ask Evan about it.

"It's called 'Unnamed first circle memetic magic'," Evan answered with a frown. His fingers tapped and dragged the system panel. Alec himself didn't have much to navigate in his own system but as far as he understood, he could've used his mind to navigate it. As to why Evan was using his hand to do it, it was a mystery.

"That's weird. What if I name it?" Alec asked. Seeing Evan keep his silence, Alec took out a dagger from his backpack and started playing with it. This was a habit from his previous life. Whenever he felt stressed out – or bored, really – he would find some fidget toy to play with.

After thinking for a moment, Alec pushed the dagger in his hand up into the air. A little bit of mana was inserted and a purplish magic circle engraved into its hilt glowed into existence. The dagger seemingly came to life, jumping in excitement and circling Alec like a little puppy.

"I'll call it..." Alec muttered, his eyes seemingly lost in the far distance. "Memetic Ping."

As soon as Alec said the name, Evan jumped in place, seemingly startled by something invisible.

"It changed," he said while seemingly looking at another invisible panel.

"Interesting. It did? So it updates in real time. That's neat," Alec commented. He didn't know what to feel about having his very own spell in the system so soon. He also wondered if there was a reward for doing so. Even if there were, he wouldn't be aware. He was a "cripple" after all.

"Neat and weird," Evan added, his hand caressing his chin. "Maybe even the little differences in the magic circle cause it to change names. After all, didn't you scrap this magic from inside the mana brain? There's no way you are the first one to discover it."

"Yeah, now that you mention it..." Alec muttered to himself. What he had done wasn't anything particularly exemplary. Any somewhat well-accomplished student could have done the same provided they were freed from the effects of the anti-meme. "Maybe it is fundamentally different from the previous version of the spell. Think about it, most modern magic is scrapped from ancient times. This would be similar in nature, I guess."

"Yeah..." Evan answered. However, his attention had already shifted toward the dagger playfully flying around Alec. "That is very cool. Gravity magic, right?"

"Yup," Alec answered. He turned toward the object with a smile. "I have just rediscovered gravity magic for the... I don't know, tenth time? I keep forgetting what I have researched and figuring out the same thing..."

"How are you planning on dealing with that?" Evan asked with his arms crossed. The dagger circling Alec briefly departed his orbit and greeted him before coming back.

"Once you decide it is complete, you can sort of memetically tag memories themselves. It’s a hassle, so I wanted to wait till I researched up to the point I wanted," Alec explained, recalling the dagger. "What I was waiting to finish was this," he said while showcasing the magic circle engraved onto the thing.

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"I call it a gravity proxy," he went on. With a flick of his hand, the magic circle expanded visually and showcased its inner workings. "I mixed gravity magic with memetic components I took from the mana brain. It's a bit crude but does the job."

"Does it work completely independently?" Evan asked while walking closer to inspect the magic circle.

"Not yet. I have been working on that too, but for now, the circles are connected to the mana brain for coordination," Alec further explained. "That way, they can make meaningful coordinated attacks."

"How many can the mana brain control at the moment?" Evan asked. As an answer, Alec pointed his finger upward. Suddenly, seemingly out of nowhere, seven daggers appeared and flew up.

"Fortunately, these things spend much less mana than you would think. Well, at least they spend very little unless I'm in attack mode," Alec explained. An awkward expression settled onto Evan's face for a short few seconds, probably contemplating what 'attack mode' meant. However, he quickly went back to normal.

“Why would the memory of gravity magic get deleted, though? How is it related to the anti-meme itself?” Evan asked. Alec sighed deeply before answering.

“I have been thinking about that a lot too. However, lately, this thing seems to be deleting unrelated stuff too,” he said. A frown appeared on Evan’s face. Flipping Alec’s journal, he scoured a certain part of the entries.

“As if this anti-memetic thing has started breaking down again?” he asked.

“Yes. Seems like the end of this cycle will come earlier. The previous one lasted, what… about 4 months?”

“Yeah, the entries indicate that.”

“The end of this cycle might come much earlier… Around the end of the final exams, I guess,” Alec made an educated guess. Unfortunately, they had too little information at hand to really calculate anything.

"So, how is the potion business getting along?" Alec decided to change the topic. With his question, Evan put his hand into his bag and took out his student card.

"Here," he said while walking up. Without saying much, Alec took out his own card and held it out. When their student cards made contact, an infinitesimal amount of mana transferred from one to another.

Seeing this, Alec checked the amount of Credits he had curiously.

"What the..." He mumbled incoherently at the amount. He first looked at his card for a few seconds, then looked up at Evan the next. His gaze switched between the two repeatedly, and he tried making sense of the amount.

"A- A hundred thousand!?" Alec said, almost shouting. Evan chuckled at Alec's bafflement.

"Nothing to be surprised of. We might be selling them illegally, but they are still much more effective than the traditional ones. People are willing to pay a lot. Fifty percent to me, fifty percent to you. Two hundred thousand in total. I don't know how much money you have to spend for the creation, but this should cover the costs very well."

Hearing the fifty-fifty split rate, Alec wanted to refute and try making his cut higher. However, he knew that he wasn't the one who risked himself in this deal. If Evan were to be caught selling, he would be the sole responsible for the whole ordeal. Even if he tried blaming Alec, – Alec highly doubted he would do that – Alec could simply shrug him off. There would be a lot of headaches for sure, but Evan would be dealing with much worse than him.

"This is... This is incredible Evan. We are rich!" he said in excitement. To which Evan smugly nodded. A short celebration later, Alec calmed himself down and decided to do something he had been holding back for some time.

"Evan, come here. I have something to give you," he said. Raising his brow, Evan circled the table and stood beside Alec, who was currently looking through his bag. Shortly after, Alec found a vial filled with a red-purplish potion. Bringing it out, he handed it to Evan.

"Don't ask anything. Don't talk about its effects. Don't, comment," Alec said right before Evan could take it.

"Uh..." Evan was about to respond. However, seeing the serious expression on Alec's face, he decided that the best course of action was just to drink the damn thing.

The potion sliding down his throat, Evan gave the vial back to Alec and started waiting. At first, it seemed like there was nothing going on with him. However, the next, he fell down to his knees in pain. He stood there for approximately ten seconds before finally relaxing.

"What-" he was about to ask before his brows rose in confusion. His gaze shifted up and focused on seemingly thin air. His mouth opened and closed, probably trying to formulate a sentence.

Then, with a horrified but grateful expression, he turned toward Alec and inspected his face.

"Who actually are you, Alec? How can you possess something like this?" he couldn't help but ask. Alec raised his index finger and placed it on his own lips, making a shushing gesture.

With a loud gulp, Evan swallowed all his questions. In the end, he was the one benefitting from the strength upgrade potion. And he sure as hell wasn't going to bite the hand that fed him.

"Let's continue," Alec said. He turned back toward his journal and went back to writing. Evan, on the other hand, dumbfoundedly sat on the ground for a minute, staring at what Alec presumed to be his stat screen. Then, he got up too and joined Alec in their arduous path.