Mia's successful ability to form a magic cyclone meant that she had truly entered the ranks of Magic Masters.

This made Karien quite happy. Even though he couldn't become a Magic Master himself, it was still a great source of joy for him if his student succeeded.

"It's getting late. Let's wrap up today's special training here. Tomorrow we'll continue with the magic circle exercises."

"Okay! Thank you, teacher!" Mia nodded enthusiastically, her golden ponytail swaying behind her.

...

After the special training session with Mia, Karien returned to his room. As soon as he closed the door, he rushed to his desk, grabbed some paper and a pen, and quickly jotted down the ideas about magical devices that had just appeared in his mind.

If he could really create a magical device that ordinary people could use, he might be able to make it in the next three months. This way, even students at Red Leaf Academy with mediocre talent could use these devices to participate in the assessments.

After all, Mia was the only talented student at Red Leaf Academy. Even if she performed exceptionally well in the assessments, the academy would still be at the bottom.

So, it was crucial to help more students achieve success in the assessments if they wanted to improve the overall ranking of Red Leaf Academy.

If they stuck to traditional methods, it would be nearly impossible for the other students to pass the assessment. Their potential was limited, and even if Karien invested more resources, the results would only be marginal.

Normally, a magic academy wouldn’t enroll students with low talent. However, the headmaster of Red Leaf Academy, Fienes, didn’t run the academy as a traditional magic school but more as a shelter for orphans abandoned due to war.

Karien himself was an orphan taken in by Red Leaf Academy.

Thus, the academy operated more like an orphanage. Before its establishment, Red Leaf Academy was originally the estate of Headmaster Fienes. The higher-ups at Palos Magic School never interfered with Fienes' operations, as long as he ensured the academy's proper functioning and produced a few talented individuals each year.

In the past, there were always a few students with potential among the many. But in recent years, talented students had become increasingly rare. This year, Mia was the only one with notable potential.

Three months ago, Headmaster Fienes had gone missing while carrying out a dangerous mission, and the higher-ups at the school had officially declared him dead. As a result, Red Leaf Academy had become more difficult to manage.

However, Karien absolutely refused to let the school’s higher-ups take Red Leaf Academy away so easily, so he had to ensure that all students performed well in the upcoming graduation assessments.

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Even the less talented students had to be helped to grow as much as possible.

Luckily, Palos Magic School's graduation assessments allowed the use of magical tools, which provided Karien with an opportunity for a breakthrough.

He absolutely had to develop a new type of magical device!

With this in mind, Karien quickly sketched some of his ideas in a notebook and began brainstorming from both magical and scientific perspectives.

Magic circles had patterns, just as scientific devices had circuits. Both followed objective rules. The difference was that this world had magic elements, a substance that didn’t exist on Earth.

But that didn’t mean that the scientific phenomena on Earth didn’t exist here. Water still boiled and turned to steam, water froze in cold temperatures, and lighter-than-air objects still rose.

While Karien couldn’t make steam engines, refrigerators, or airships, he understood the scientific principles behind these phenomena and thought applying them to magical tools was highly feasible.

Of course, this wouldn’t be something that could be accomplished overnight. It would require a lot of resources and effort.

But he could start with something simple and involve Red Leaf Academy’s students in the research process.

Although most of the students at Red Leaf Academy weren’t very talented, under Karien’s guidance, their magical theory knowledge was solid.

Moreover, with his teleportation gem, he could travel back and forth between the Misty Forest and the capital, selling... uh, no, selling medicinal herbs to obtain funding.

"Perhaps I should open a smelting factory near the capital," Karien mused, rubbing his chin as he stared at the notes on his desk.

"Normal magical tools are made from special materials, or else they can’t bear the weight of the magic circle. For example, Elemental Coins are made from Primeval Stones and can carry at most a second-level magic circle. The Qinglan Sword uses Storm Iron and can also bear a second-level magic circle. These two materials are relatively common."

As he mumbled to himself, Karien took out the enchanted recording scroll Horus had given him and continued:

"Materials that can carry a fifth-level magic circle are rare. I’ve heard they come from hunting special magical beasts. But for me, high-level materials are too expensive and hard to mass-produce."

"So, I should focus on Primeval Stones and Storm Iron, combining them mechanically to make these low-level materials function in the desired way."

After some thought, Karien decided to begin with a few experiments. The main campus of Palos Magic School had a good stock of Primeval Stones and Storm Iron, so he could request some to carry out the tests.

Karien was no stranger to magical engraving. When he had been an assistant at the Gallon Research Institute in the capital, he had also learned magical engraving. However, since he wasn’t a Magic Master, he needed tools to assist him, and could only engrave first-level magic circles at most.

If Karien could successfully engrave on ordinary materials, he could try to combine multiple first-level spells on a single item. For instance, he could combine Wind and Fire spells to create a firearm.

The combination of Fire and Wind magic would produce an explosive force similar to that of gunpowder when it burns, propelling a bullet. Of course, the challenge here would be ensuring the magic circle remains stable during use.

...

Once Karien entered research mode, he lost all track of time, completely absorbed in his work.

When he finally stretched and looked up, he realized that morning had arrived.

"Damn, where did the time go?" Karien thought, realizing he had spent the entire night working through a single issue.

Chuckling to himself, he realized there was no time left to sleep. He got up, went to the washroom, and washed his face.

After a quick splash of water, Karien didn’t even feel particularly tired.

"Young and full of energy!" he thought. "I’m a night creature!"

"Though… why does it feel like I forgot something?"

He rubbed his chin, thinking for a while, but couldn’t remember what he had forgotten.

"Forget it. I’ll figure it out later."

After getting dressed, Karien prepared to gather all the students for training.