The Supreme Hero’s Younger Brother

In the end, Rye decided to explain everything through paper to not create more confusion. He felt like the more he used his magic the deeper he was digging his grave. He didn't know exactly which parts of the method he learned was considered abnormal by the others.

They first compared the icicle spell he used with the one Rosetta, and everyone, used.

Rye studied them both and marked some parts of Rosetta's complex circle, "These parts are the essential parts of your spell. I also have them in mine. The water component, the formulae to freeze them, and the command to attack."

He marked other parts, "This here…this is the specific shape you made it to be which is a cone. I do not have this in mine," he carefully scanned the rest with his finger until his eyes slightly squinted, "The rest are calculated numbers for solidity, speed, size, and the number of icicles."

He muttered in wonder, "Whoever created this spell must be a mathematical genius with an obsession for precision. Even without dummy runes, nobody would be able to read all these and finished calculating them before the spell activated."

"You can read all that?" Desmund was skeptical.

"If you could not read magic circles, how could you learn one?" Rye looked at Desmund strangely.

All of them looked at Rye with weirder eyes.

"Wait, no, please do not say anything," Rye stopped Aerindel, "I'm scared more parts of my mind will collapse.  I am also having a hard time processing this, alright?"

He shifted the attention to his own magic circle, "As I said, mine does not have all those specifications. Aside from water, I added wind to amplify its speed and commanded it to follow the icicles' trajectory. As for the icicles themselves, I added a formula to crystalize them so they would not easily break. Aside from its command to attack, I also added a command for it to spin clockwise. The rest are just dummy runes."

"If I nullify all its commands and cast it…" Rye cast the spell and a single icicle appeared just like the previous spell, "The icicle will not attack."

The icicle hovered above the table. Rye created a new one with different mana output and several more icicles appeared. Next, a batch of smaller and bigger icicles was formed. Afterward, he created more with different shapes. The last batch was clearer than the previous ones, almost like a glass.

"I personally do not like putting too many calculations into my spells since I will have to alter them with another calculation and create a different magic circle for each one. Like this, I can just use this one spell and manipulate it accordingly."

He waved his hand and all the icicles turned to mists.

"How did you do that?" Rosetta asked.

"Do what?"

"Turning the icicles into mists."

"I just ordered them normally. Like how you dispel your barriers after you finish."

"You can do that to spell residues?"

"They are both spells…Why not?"

"Wait, correct me if I'm wrong," Aerindel chimed in, "Do you…create your own magic circles?"

"Everybody creates their own spells at one point in time. If everybody used the same spells, nobody would be more powerful than the others," Rye stated in a matter-of-fact tone. He turned to Rosetta, "Ms. Rosetta has certainly created some original spells, no?"

"No, not spells. Magic circles." Aerindel corrected.

"Is there any difference? We create spells from magic circles." Rye was confused.

The room fell silent.

Rye's eyes widened in shock, "You…create spells without magic circles?" He rested his head on his hand, "Impossible. There is another method for creating spells?"

"Rather than we create spells from magic circles, we create magic circles from spells." Rosetta explained.

"That makes lesser sense," Rye couldn't wrap his head around the information, "Are you saying magic circles will appear by themselves just by thinking about some random spells? Who creates them? Fairies? Angels? Solistus himself?"

"Then, let me ask you. What do you do when you cast a spell? You chant them, right?"

"Chant…? Chant what? The runes?"

"The name of your spells!" Lilith frustratingly yelled.

"You named all your spells?" Rye was even more dumbfounded, "Like how we name children or pets?"

"Are you dumb? Of course not!" Desmund rebuked, "How do you cast your spell?"

"Of course by picturing the magic circle."

"Every single time?" Lilith grabbed Rye's paper and waved it, "You picture this thing in your mind every single time? You remember how all your magic circles looked like?"

"Even if I forgot how it looks, I still remember its principle. As long as I know how it works, I can create or recreate it."

"Hoo," Desmund was ticked by Rye's statement, "Why don't you show us? Create a new spell here."

"Like what?"

"You think of one."

Rye leaned back on the couch and frowned in thought with his eyes closed. A harmless spell that he could demonstrate indoors without breaking anything.

A few minutes later, he opened his eyes and raised his palm. He cast the spell on himself and his figure disappeared from the couch. A few seconds later, he reappeared.

"Invisibility." He cast the spell on Aerindel. He disappeared for a few seconds before turning visible again.

He tried casting it to the table. The papers above it looked as if they were hovering midair.

"But not intangible. I cannot make something disappear without breaking them apart."

Desmund was out of words. He didn't know if spells for invisibility has existed yet. Only those with invisibility heritage could make things or themselves disappear depending on their heritage.

Did Rye really just create that spell in that short span of minutes?

Rye stood up tiredly, "Sorry, I need time to process all this. I am at my limit," he walked to the door, "I am going out to take a breather."

He left the room and walked down to the entrance. Seeing the clerk at the counter, he asked where the chapel was.

Stepping into the chapel, Solistus's statue was still as eye-catching as ever. Rye sat down in the middle seat.

"Haa…" He tiredly sighed.

He didn't expect that the magic that he has learned throughout his life was wrong. Well, it worked, so it couldn't be classified as wrong.

Creating magic circles from spells?

Naming spells?

It still didn't answer who created the magic circle for the spells.

"…" Rye raised his hand, "Rain."

Nothing happens.

As expected, without writing down the concept and formula into a magic circle and visualizing it, it wouldn't–

Zraaa.

Rye stiffened and looked out the window. Heavy rain was downpouring outside the chapel even though the night was perfectly clear earlier.

He walked to the door and opened it. It really was raining. The water was real.

This was…just a coincidence, right?

"…Stop." Rye hesitantly chanted.

Much to his shock, the rain droplets halted midair. Not only the rain around the chapel, the rain covering the whole city stopped.

"Disperse…"

The rain dispersed into mists and the grey clouds vanished.

This means…after he understood the concept, he could make a spell just by naming it?

Magic is that convenient all this time??

He closed the door and raised both of his hands. A ball of water came out from his right hand followed by a fire on his left a few seconds later.

Because he needed to chant it while visualizing its concept without the written formula, he couldn't cast multiple spells simultaneously. With his method, he could visualize multiple magic circles at the same time. Moreover, the magic circles that appeared on his hands just now were unfamiliar to him. Just like Rosetta's there were specific calculations inside it that he was sure he didn't think of in his head.

Does mana have its own thoughts? Was it the thing that automatically engineered the magic circles for the spells he wanted to use?

He dispelled the water and fire on his hands. As expected, he couldn't change his method after this long. Although his method required more time to create, it was more convenient to use. He also couldn't rest assured to cast a spell he didn't know what the magic circle would look like.

He would need to tell Godford about this in his next letter. Most likely, the books they read in the old city library was from an earlier age than the one commonly used. The library itself was pretty run down, so they should've suspected that.

Rye flinched in surprise when the chapel door suddenly banged open. Turning around, his worst fear had come.

"Ludric…" Rye instinctively took a step back, "Is there somethi–"

Ludric swiftly walked towards him. Rye flashed from where he was standing to the altar and cast five thick layers of barriers.

His eyes shook when Ludric unsheathed his sword and effortlessly shattered the first layer.