The Magic Academy's Physicist-Chapter 117: Dungeon Exploration (1)

Chapter 117: Dungeon Exploration (1)

Miss Heerlein said out of the blue.

“Okay, everyone, I’m thinking we should do a dungeon exploration today. What do you think?”

“Dungeon exploration?

Did I hear that right?

Miss Heerlein was teaching a course this semester as well. It was called ‘Basics of Combat Magic and Dungeon Practice’, a subject that was rather fantasy-like yet exuded a romantic air.

I could somewhat understand the idea of dungeon exploration given the subject.

But if there was one problem....

“From the first class?”

It’d be that it was very different from the curriculum I originally knew.

“Don’t you normally do simulation training for the first few weeks?”

“Yes, that’s true, but.... There happens to be a good opportunity.”

“Good opportunity?”

“Yup. Good opportunity! A dungeon appeared in the back mountain a few days ago.”

“... Wait. You’re saying a dungeon showed up right behind the Academy?”

The kids’ were looking puzzled. Rosemary was the only one sitting with a calm face. When I turned around and looked at her on a hunch, she stuck out her lips.

“What is it. Is there something on my face?”

You little shit, so it was you.

Her attitude of pretending to know it all while playing innocent was killing me. But seeing how the corners of her lips were twitching upward, it seemed that she secretly wanted me to realize that it was her.

“You don’t have to worry, guys. The cave has already been investigated to see whether it’s a mimic or not. So how about it? As long as you’re alright with it, I wanted to start from the first class. Of course, I’ll be coming along as a guardian so even if something happens, there’s nothing to worry about!”

Geez. A low-level dungeon made by Cataclysm.

It wasn’t just weird, it was hella weird. Was it really okay to go in?

As I was thinking that, Rosemary, who’d been sitting modestly at her desk scribbling, stood up and spoke.

“May I come along, too?”

“... Of course. If our lady is fine with it, I believe it’ll be a great lesson.

Hah. So you’re going to move yourself?

“Everyone here is a student of Tilette Academy’s gifted class, no? They all performed well in Combat Magic during the entrance exams so I think it’ll be very helpful for me as well to watch you practice at a low-level dungeon.”

Rosemary justified her participation in a gentle tone. Her ability to make up an excuse to stick with me was remarkable.

Apart from the speaker, there was nothing wrong with Rosemary’s words themselves. Like Lotte, Vermel, and Freyr, the ones who’d entered with high marks were also skilled at dealing with Beasts. If you pointed out which freshman had played a role during the Drake commotion at the entrance ceremony, you had your answer.

And Rosemary was going in herself. Even if she set a trap, she wouldn’t activate it. And if she did, well.... She’d be the one accused of being a Beast.

[Why does it work like that?]

No, think about it. The low-level dungeon was actually a mimic so most of the students who were at the practical fell into the trap and died while she alone comes back alive and well?

Rosemary would have factored that into her calculations as well. Then she probably had another purpose in accompanying us.

For example, me, or me, or me.

[Hoo, you have a point.]

Anyway, it was going to be tiring.

“Let’s go then, to the dungeon.”

Starting with someone’s agreement, we all grabbed our staff and got up one by one.

The first outdoor class of the second semester had begun.

**The dungeon was situated at the foot of the northern mountain of the Academy.

The entrance looked like a horizontal cave. It had a circular opening, and it was dark enough that you could hardly see inside. A murky energy spilled out from within.

“I’ll tell you now that dungeons like these aren’t visible even if you light up the inside, so there’s less oxygen and elements compared to other places.”

There was a shortage of elements. Hence, there was a high chance that it was inhabited by Beasts.

Unlike their name ‘Magic’ Beast, they preferred areas with a lower concentration of mana. Conversely, if there was a higher concentration, then Elementals would be around. Of course, it was only something found in theoretical books so it might not be accurate.

“Now let’s make groups of five!”

The criteria for the groups was up to Miss Heerlein.

But once the groups were formed, I realized that she’d divided us according to a certain criteria.

“Aether, Lotte, Freyr, and Illuka will be the group leaders. I’ll lead the groups with fewer people from the back!”

I see. I understood how she picked the leaders.

The students who had dealt fluidly with the Drake commotion were the ones put in charge.

It was truly a smart, efficient formation, because forming them like this lowered the chances of the entire body falling into panic since the students who had experience dealing with low-level Beasts would lead the ones who didn’t.

At the same time, the tutors and tutees were split, providing the opportunity for students to teach and learn from each other naturally which made it a great teaching method.

“So which team would like to go first?”

“We’ll start.”

I raised my hand.

Because if this was a dungeon made by a Cataclysm, I thought it’d be safer for everyone if I was in the lead.

And above all, Rosemary was in my team. There was also Mayreel the class pres and two other boys who were normal students in the group.

“Euaaahh...! It’s dark! So fucking scary!!”

“I’mgoingcrazy! I’mgoingcrazy! I’mgoingcrazyyyyy!”

Come to think of it, the two boys here weren’t normal students. They were the culprits who’d make a ruckus in the class every recess towards the end of first semester.

“Guys, be quiet!”

“Euaaaagh!!”

The pres stepped forward and scolded them but it wasn’t easy.

“Leave them be; they’re scared.”

“Still....”

I raised the lantern and waved my hand. The lantern’s light barely allowed me to see the pres’ face right in front. That was how much the light couldn’t spread inside the dungeon, strangely.

If this hadn’t been a ‘low-level dungeon’ and a practical ‘lesson’ under the teacher’s guidance but a high-level dungeon with no guardian, those screams would’ve been the last of them.

Chuk, chuk, chuuuk.

“... What was that just now?”

There was also the occasional sound of something dragging across the cave’s floor, and each time, the pres and the two guys raised their staff and went into an interceptive posture.

The only ones who didn’t go into an offensive stance despite having heard Beast footsteps were me and Rosemary. In fact, Rosemary even covered her mouth and yawned.

“Hey, team ahead of us! Can you see anything?”

I could hear Lotte behind us, and Mayreel replied ‘no’. At the suggestion of the two guys trembling at the back, we had no choice but to join Lotte’s group.

“Even when I cast fire, we can only see a meter ahead.”

The fire created by Lotte was the brightest and fiercest not just out of the freshman but all of Tilette’s students. She was of the prestigious family of Fire Magic succeeding the Hasfeldt family, after all.

If we couldn’t see even a meter with that flame, then there was a problem with our surroundings.

Lotte suddenly asked a question.

“The teachers said they finished investigation this place. How did they do it?”

Saying that they finished investigating was the same thing as having mapped the whole topography of the dungeon.

“That’s true. How did they search it?”

“There has to be a way.”

There was a clear reason why Miss Heerlein hadn’t told us how to search.

It was obvious that this was a part of the teaching. She probably wanted us to realize how to tackle the dungeon on our own when we came across one like this.

It was while our classmates including Mayreel and Lotte were strategizing together that I decided to say what I’d been thinking.

“So, you remember how there was a useful Innate Magic from what we learned last class?”

“The tracking kind.... Is that what you mean?”

“Yeah.”

Mayreel tilted her head and asked another question.

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“But that’ll only give a general idea of where the enemy is. We can’t know its exact geographical location....”

“Hm, what if we do this.”

Raising my staff, I took a bit of mana from the hardcover and casted a spell.

Eightfold Way Third Form ─ Tesla

Tesla–one of the eight branches of the Ultimate Innate Magic ‘Element Operation’.

Tesla was a technique that let you produce electromagnetic waves of a specific frequency. According to the conservation law, it consumed mana waves in return.

“What are you going to do?”

“Just watch.”

I then cast another spell.

[Beginner Innate Magic ─ Auto Mapping]

A magic that allowed the caster to depict the shape of an area they’d seen. To put it simply, it was a magic that ‘mapped’ the location of a specific target using magic elements.

Of course, I’d never been here before since this dungeon showed up only a few days ago. As such, the mapping that was hanging in the air had no information whatsoever.

But ‘observation’ wasn’t just limited to what could be seen with the naked eye.

“How about this, then.”

I utilized ‘Tesla’ to create electromagnetic waves in the x-ray band, then fired it in all directions.

Now watching the many different waves being transmitted, scattered, etc. after hitting the walls, I weaved them into the ‘Map’.

I drew the map of the cave like I was weaving string with a loom. After about a minute of exploring the area in this way, I obtained information about the approximate structure of the cave within a radius of tens of meters.

“Oooh! You could do this?”

“I didn’t know you could use this like that!”

As my classmates were amazed by the unconventional usage of tracking magic–

[... Are you stupid, Master?]

There was one guy who was grumping by itself.

It was the hardcover that was irate due to me not having taken it out of the desk in a while, grumbling like I was unreliable.

[You could’ve just emitted a visible light to illuminate the area from the beginning. Why did you go through the hassle of mapping using high-energy and also dangerous x-rays? You’re basically wasting mana like this! It’s inefficient!]

It seemed to be quite upset because I hadn’t been carrying it lately. No, this guy was already like this but got worse around summer break.

With a snort, I pointed behind me.

“Can’t you tell from that?”

[What. What can’t I tell....]

The hardcover couldn’t finish the sentence.

“If we move along the wall like this with the light on, we can map this part for sure.”

“Since we’re Water Mages, let’s try spilling some fluid. We should be able to draw the position of the z-axis according to the potential of the water flow.“

“Wow, it works when I shoot sound waves instead of mana waves, too! That’s cool!”

The students were discovering the answer in their own way by combining the Beginner Innate Magic that we learned with their respective familiar Element Magic.

“If I emitted a visible like from the beginning like you said, then I’d be the only one who’s commended. These guys wouldn’t have gained anything that way.”

Learning was all about application. If you only looked for easy solutions, you would get stuck on those and narrow your perspective.

Science... as well as magic, were disciplines that could only be understood after breaking free from those narrow perspectives.

“And even if I had shot a visible light, we wouldn’t have seen very far.”

[...... Why?]

“Because we couldn’t see it even with Lotte’s light or the lantern.”

[Ah.......]

The hardcover couldn’t say anything.