Stop Writing! [Magical Academy Litrpg]

The ticking of the clock synced with Alec’s heartbeat. Letting out a deep breath, he picked up the notebook and caressed its gray cover. He opened it back up again from the start, and read through it once again with fervor.

‘These are my memories. Not someone else’s. They are a testament to how far I have come,’ he thought to himself. A gentle smile blossomed on his face. He closed his eyes and rested them for a while before opening them back up again. Now, however, they weren’t filled with frail loneliness, but a blazing determination. ‘This time, I have almost every tool I need at my disposal.’

Turning his senses inward, Alec confirmed that the average mental cleansing potion was still going strong. He had at least two hours remaining, which was more than enough for him to formulate a plan.

Opening the last written page of the notebook, Alec took out The Author’s Pen and started writing down his thoughts.

[First of all, I have to resolve the issue with my previous self’s loss of memory,] He wrote. He tapped the pen on the notebook’s page a few times before continuing. [From what I have managed to piece together, this anti-memetic entity seems to have a sort of cyclical nature to its actions. That’s the only way to explain how a much weaker version of myself could have gained awareness, even if to a limited degree.]

[Occasionally, the entity loses its energy and cracks start appearing in the shroud,] Alec wrote. Then, however, his hand stopped. Scratching his head with the pen, he leaned against the backrest of the chair.

Sighing, he sat up straight and started writing again.

[I have been thinking about this for a long time, but have only become somewhat sure after reading from my past self. This entity… Whatever it is, it doesn’t seem like it’s fully sentient. It is either not very smart or maybe not intelligent at all. I feel like it is acting on a set of rules.]

Turning a page, Alec cast a first circle spell called illuminate. The red lights were making it really hard to read and write. Fortunately, the small point of yellow light was strong enough to overpower it, albeit in a small circle. The gentle light source settled on one of the table’s corners before Alec went back to writing.

[What made me realize this was simple. I have had several clues pointing out that this entity is spending more energy on the professors. That makes sense, as it couldn’t influence them spending the same amount of effort it does on the students.]

[So, why didn’t it take more drastic measures to deal with me?] He wrote. After thinking for a few short moments, he kept going. [If it could influence the library enough to make any writings about the outside world disappear, it should have noticed this notebook. It should have deduced that I was a danger to its schemes, and it did. It did delete my memory twice after all. However, it didn’t keep pursuing me, as if it was incapable of learning and changing its behavior. At worst, it could have regarded me as a threat and categorized me similarly to a professor. If it spent that amount of energy on me, I would be as aware of the situation as a balloon.]

[Then, the question is, what is this thing?]

After writing the last sentence, Alec underlined it and started swiveling The Author’s Pen rapidly between his fingers, juggling it around. Watching the hypnotic motion intently, Alec thought of all the possibilities one by one. However, from all the options he dismissed, he was left with only three.

[I have three theories regarding that. Note that because of my lack of understanding about this world, my speculations might be off. If by the time you are reading this, you somehow have more information than me, please consider and reconsider these options.]

[Theory 1:

This might be a scheme done by a group of demonic entities. Although I have barely any knowledge of demons, it seemed like each of them had a variety of different abilities. The librarian, the flesh wall, and most importantly, Professor Isabel. They all had widely varying abilities. Maybe there is a group of anti-memetic mages who got demonized, and they are manipulating this school in a certain way… That also perfectly serves their intention, as this conspiracy seems to be capable of making people into demons. These demons might not be entirely sentient.]

[Theory 2:

The second theory is one that I find slightly improbable. I feel like there could be some sort of ancient artifact that could be causing this. I thought about this being a very elaborate spell, but that seems unlikely. The main reason is the fact that this thing uses anti-memetic and memory manipulation magic in tandem. From what I can deduce with the knowledge I have about those magic branches, at least 10 legendary mages would have to come together to achieve such a feat. And even still, the student’s and the professor’s resistance against the memory magic would destroy the spell’s mana supply. However, a misused, out-of-control, or decaying ancient artifact could cause such a phenomenon. Maybe the artifact is fluctuating in stability? This would also explain why there is a cyclical nature to its actions.]

[Theory 3:

The third theory is more of a guess than anything. I have no idea what is currently going on outside the academy, and seemingly have no way of knowing. So, there’s a good possibility that a force is affecting the academy from the outside. It might have something to do with the hole in the sky. Which I will talk about further on this page.]

Dropping the pen on the table, Alec’s face crumpled up into a frown.

‘Will this even work?’ he couldn’t help but question. He felt like each word he wrote was going to go unread. He worried that even with his plan, he would lose his memories and be devoured once again.

Squeezing his glabella, a bitter chuckle escaped Alec’s mouth.

‘Heh… It has been a long time since I worried about whether or not my writings are read. When was it? Back when I first started writing? I tried writing something unique at the start but…’ he thought to himself. Now, all of those memories were nothing more than a distant echo. ‘I quickly switched to writing cookie-cutter power fantasies. They were almost… Magical. My reader count shot up. It was as if someone had put an opposite version of anti-memetic magic on it. One refuses to be perceived while the other refuses to go unnoticed…’

However, Alec’s eyes shot open in awe at his thought process.

“Fuck me…” He muttered to himself. He sat up straight and looked around, seemingly searching for something. Then, his gaze shifted down to his own body. After taking off his shirt, he had forgotten to put it back on. And there, on his chest, slowly rotating was the mana brain. However, something seemed different about it. As if certain parts of the magic were easier to understand now.

“Ha… Ha…” Alec laughed dryly. He rubbed his finger on the mana brain.

“You fucking bastards…” He muttered to no one in particular. “Why the fuck would there be a derivative such as anti-memetic magic, if there wasn’t a magic branch called memetic magic?”

Then, a devious smile appeared on Alec’s face. After this long cat-and-mouse chase, he had finally gotten his hands on his enemy’s kryptonite.

“If anti-memetic magic alters information to make it imperceivable, memetic magic can alter it to make it unforgettable.”

When Alec shifted his attention back to the mana brain, he managed to figure it out.

‘This mana brain… It is the only piece of memetic magic that it didn’t manage to erase. After all, every professor in this school has several of them. It would take an unimaginable amount of effort to make them all forget the fact. So instead, it made the waters murky by distorting how they are perceived. It made the professors overlook the memetic parts of the circle and only focus on the parts related to the memory magic.’

When Alec looked closer, even amongst the mess of a magic circle, he managed to grasp the clues to the memetic magic.

‘I might be able to piece together a low-level magic by extracting parts from it and getting help from The Author’s Pen,’ he thought. He had about one and a half hours left for the mental cleansing potion.

Putting on the shirt and the jacket hung on the backrest of the chair in a hurry, Alec noted all the necessary information his future self might require.

The rest of his time in the library would be spent researching memetic magic, and preparing himself before the potion ran out.

Amidst the blue sparks around his head, indicating the bitter fight of the potion against the memory alteration, Alec got up to pick up another book. However, he stopped and looked down at the gray cover of the notebook again. With a smug smile, he opened the notebook once more and wrote in cursive.

[…And remember. No matter what happens… Don’t stop writing!]