Chapter 13

There was definitely a time when I liked games.

It was the only way to communicate with the outside world, constrained as I was within a limited physical radius.

A fair world. Even though there were plenty of insults flying around, most of them weren’t directed at me.

All the swear words were absorbed by my character, so I liked games without reservation.

At that time, I absolutely hated studying. It’s funny, really.

I barely got to play any games; study had been my entire life in my first life.

But what about now?

Now, faced with a situation where I must play games to avoid death, just seeing avatars made my teeth grind.

I actually found studying to be somewhat enjoyable.

I have no choice but to conclude that I, as a person, am fickle.

Memories of the past are romanticized, and time heals pain.

But at least for now, my scars haven’t healed enough to turn gaming into my profession, so I had no plans to play games on air.

“How did you get in here?”

“I just came in to take a look. Is it okay for me to be here?”

“Ah… well… sure.”

But I really have no idea what people in this world enjoy aside from gaming in virtual reality.

They wouldn’t just gather and chat idly, right? So I decided to enter any channel for a reconnaissance mission and see for myself.

A space reminiscent of a university lecture hall.

The person suspected to be the host of the broadcast appeared to be a professor in his late fifties.

“Ah, professor, I’m sorry! I forgot to put up a password. What should we do about that person?”

“Well, since they’re likely an audit student who came to observe, it’d be a bit rude to kick them out, right? They’ll leave when the time comes. It’s probably not going to be an interesting time, anyway.”

While I settled into my spot, he wrote the same content as the title on the blackboard.

[Micro-Nano Transmutation Circle Hermeneutics Make-up Class #2]

These days, is personal broadcasting influencing private education to this extent?

Or it might be the other way around.

While the old professor cleared his throat, the teaching assistant diligently printed out PPT materials and distributed them at each seat.

And after fiddling around with the settings window a few times, multiple avatars poofed into existence in the air.

There were no uniquely distinct avatars from the game; they all appeared to be plain young men in their twenties.

My avatar, which resembled me exactly, only added to the awkwardness in the room.

The viewers seemed to have already formed friendships, whispering about me as they glanced in my direction.

Be that as it may, the teaching assistant kindly distributed prints even to my seat.

Since I was short, I decided to sit in the front.

Accompanying the old professor’s attendance call as background noise, I shuffled through the printout and read it over carefully.

It was about the soft-matter interpretation of micro- and nanostructures.

Today’s class topic was about introducing the advantages of applying lithography processes used in the semiconductor field to micro- and nanostructures.

Though I encountered the term “lithography” for the first time today, the potential to drastically improve the persistent resolution issues of micro- and nanostructures caught my interest.

Is it really necessary to present content of this caliber to make money?

The society remains harsh.

Moreover, this room had clearly been decorated with care; it bore the aura of a professional broadcaster.

But how exactly do they make money? I still had no way of knowing the revenue model of this room. Sponsorships are blocked…

The old professor commenced the lecture.

His habitual throat clearing was somewhat irritating, even in virtual reality, occurring intermittently during his speech.

However, the content was far more substantial than I had anticipated.

In fact, it was a blemish that the printout couldn’t convey the information fully.

Most viewers had their heads bowed down to the floor, but since this was a makeup class, perhaps they all knew the material.

Everything was new to me, so I even drew soft-matter structures in the air with my finger while looking up unfamiliar words using the internet.

To think this talent is wasting away in internet broadcasting; if I’d been born in my previous life, I surely would have been a candidate for a magic tower.

“In the end, we scientists and engineers are always challenging the limits of materials.

When the tunneling effect exceeds a certain probability, it significantly impacts the operation itself, as well as the efficiency of the micro- and nanostructures, so we can’t ignore it. By the way, what’s your name, friend?”

“Me?”

“Yes, the student with the cute little girl avatar.”

The professor pointed at me without any prior warning.

“I’m Name.”

“Namhee? That’s a nice name. I asked since I saw you attentively listening to the lecture.

So, Namhee, which material do you think provides the highest resolution in the micro- and nanostructures introduced today?”

The sudden question drew the attention of even those who had been dozing off.

I’m not used to such pressure.

I recalled what the professor had said.

Was there even such content in my previous world? There had certainly been efforts to improve resolution.

The lithography process was quite unique in that regard.

“I think it doesn’t necessarily have to be constrained by materials.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“If the objective is simply to increase resolution while completely disregarding efficiency, then using the interference waves you explained, professor, would probably be the smartest option at present.”

“Would you like to come up and explain that?”

Chalk was handed to me. It was amazing how the chalk’s texture was accurately recreated.

I sketched a dual soft-matter structure that generates simple incident and reflected waves, altering a few formulas at each vertex.

“By parallel linking a dual soft-matter structure that generates interference waves to the lithographic soft-matter structure in this way, it maintains a phase-equivalent state, thereby continuing to stay stable.

So rather than searching for materials in the real world, wouldn’t it be faster to find the constant values related to the soft-matter structures that fit into this blank area through trial and error?”

It was easy.

While the time taken might be similar, the effort involved in each attempt differed.

The former involves sorting through every substance on Earth and even considering compounds, but the latter only requires running calculations via a computer until the values eventually emerge.

Video games have a similar aspect.

Rather than finding a champion that suits me among hundreds, it’s far better to focus on one champion and practice hundreds of times.

I have wandered my thoughts into gaming again. I returned the chalk to the professor and prepared to leave the room.

The gaming café time was now displaying a message indicating five minutes until it closed.

“I have to go now. I’m sorry I didn’t get to contribute any money for a great lecture.”

“Money…? Are you perhaps not a student from this school?”

* * *

“The password is SatireV321. We hold lectures at this time every week, so I hope to see you around often.”

The source of the discomfort I felt during the lecture suddenly deflated.

I couldn’t believe it, but it was genuinely a university lecture.

I couldn’t fathom why such a lecture would take place on the Twish platform.

Is it because Twish and V-Tube monopolize the virtual reality platforms?

The inadequate infrastructure of national schools is quite regrettable.

It seems I slipped in during the teaching assistant’s setup of the room.

The professor hoped to see me next Wednesday, but I decided to think about it gradually.

If there were money involved, it might have been different. In the end, the reconnaissance mission I had aimed for had completely failed.

Perhaps because it was summer, the sun showed no signs of setting even as evening approached.

I slowly made my way back to the orphanage, where Arin would likely be waiting eagerly.

“Why did you come back now…?”

“Baek Arin?”

My already tired body was suddenly knocked over by Arin again.

Generally, I would have thought to soothe her and push her away, but her voice was full of sobs this time.

“I don’t want to part from Name.”

“What happened?”

I quickly wiped her tear-filled eyes.

“I’m going to get adopted starting tomorrow… by that person who took Min Woo oppa last time.”

“Isn’t that a good thing?”

“I won’t have Name! I wanted to go with Name! But… but the man said that two people… two people can’t be taken… Waaaaah… I don’t want to go. I’ll stay here forever.”

“Don’t be stubborn.”

“Why do you say that…”

“This could be your last chance to leave Merlin Orphanage. Parting from me will only be for a little while, right?”

The truth is, Arin is alone at both school and the orphanage.

It’s too sad that such a pretty, kind, and diligent child is rotting away in this place.

A swan can’t be recognized for its worth while among ducks.

“You said the man is rich… but why does he want to take me instead of Name, who is prettier and smarter?”

“Do you know where you’re going?”

Nod, nod.

“Listen well, Arin. I wasn’t planning on staying in the orphanage anyway. I won’t be attending school either.”

“Eh…? Why not?”

“My body is weak, and the doctor said I should rest at home for a long time.”

“So you really were sick a lot?”

“I want Arin to have good meals and do well in school. When I return to school later, can you help me to adapt to it this time? Just like how I did for you.”

“…”

“Don’t worry too much about me. I have somewhere to go.”

“But… how will we stay in touch…?”

“You said the man is rich, right? He must have a special capsule just for you at home. Let’s meet there when we both have time later.”

“You promise?”

“Yeah.”

“If you break your promise, you’ll get struck by lightning a thousand times.”

“Of course.”

Though I’ve actually experienced being struck by lightning a thousand times before, it was not a pleasant experience, so I will keep my promise as best as I can.

As evening arrived, our chatter finally paused.

Arin, perhaps feeling conflicted, barely touched her food.

Seeing her like that, I forced a banana into her hand.

Fortunately, when I offered it to her, she accepted it acting all cute, like a little puppy.

As luck would have it, today became my last tutoring session with Arin.

I had my own sense of enjoyment in teaching her, and it’d be a lie to say that I felt no regret at all.

“I learned something fun on Twish today.”

“What? You went to a PC café and came back late?!”

After a moment of commotion, I managed to calm her down and pulled out a slate I had secretly taken from the career-experience fair.

Since this would be the last lecture I would teach her, I had to go all out after a long time.

“Have you ever seen mana?”

“Mana? Sometimes at school when the principal casts magic, I’ve seen blue air.”

“I’m not talking about the magic. I’m talking specifically about mana particles. Today, I’m going to show you mana.”

Starting by drawing a large circle on the slate.

This was not about drawing a soft-matter structure but rather a magic circle, so I had to be extra careful.

Even I occasionally make calculation mistakes.

“Mana is something that cannot be seen with the eyes. It’s not just because it’s small. Mana itself is not a particle. Nor is it in wave form.”

Clearly, at her age, she wouldn’t grasp the difference between particles and waves easily; still, I continued to explain.

I never forgot to fill the slate with runes.

“Mana is, well, a possibility. It’s also called probability. For example, how can the feeling of Arin liking me be expressed?”

“Mmm… as much as the sky, as much as the earth, as much as the universe?”

“Exactly, in the end, you can only explain it by substituting similar concepts. Time, space, and attributes, etc… You assigned the ‘size’ property to your feelings and brought forth the ‘concept’ that matches that property.”

“I don’t quite understand.”

“To show that feeling, Arin holds my hand and hugs me sometimes, right?

Mana works the same way. If you want to see mana, it first has to be definitely present there.

And then you hold the mana’s hand in this way.”

Adding a dimension to the slate.

Through this exploration, I realized I could discern fascinating properties and had functionality built in to deploy a three-dimensional magic circle if necessary.

Currently, the limit of the multiple magic circles I could deploy simultaneously with my mana supply was four, and that happened to be exactly how many I needed.

“This shape is called a tetrahedron. It’s a solid formed by combining four equilateral triangles. The bottom part is a lithographic soft-matter structure created to observe mana, and these three side surfaces correspond to the magic circles.”

From this point on, I would be dealing with magic I knew, so I quickly began to jot down the formulas.

“The first magic circle refines the mana. To collect mana, its properties must be similar, to begin with.”

“The second focuses the mana. When mana exceeds the critical threshold of necessity, the probability approaches 1 and has the property of turning into particles.”

“The last one is a secret. It wouldn’t be fun if I revealed everything, right?”

From the vertex of the tetrahedron, the mana I released began to gather in the center. As it transformed into red, yellow, and finally white, small yet powerful light-emitting particles were born.

I added a variable to control the brightness in the lithographic soft-matter structure to block some of the light.

It resembled hail in some ways—blue dodecahedron particles floated in the air.

Arin opened her eyes wide and stared at the mana particles.

“This particle is smaller than the thickness of our hair by ten thousand times. Isn’t it fascinating?”

“Yeah… it’s like snowflakes that fall in winter.”

“The shape varies according to the caster’s emotions. In cases where there are many faces like this… yes, that’s right, I must feel that much regret in parting from Arin.”

“Is that so?”

“Yeah, it’s just like that.”