Magic Circle
Izack Newtown's office was on the Alexandrium Library's second floor, where high-level official staff lives. From the cafeteria area, they need to pass through a large hall decorated with golden floral carving.
Along the way, Jack finds a shop that sells various kinds of potions and medicines. Some of them even labeled experimental drugs, which is quite scary. Especially because the shop is under the supervision of the Adventurer's Guild's Drug Development Division. This kind of boldness horrified Jack a little.
'The research division in this world was so terrifying. They even use their customer as a guinea pig? Sigh… How desperate they are.' Jack silently commented.
Their newest product is called Overpower Potion. A potion that will increase physical strength by 20% for fifteen minutes.
Like any other potion, the effect is not immediate because it needs to pass through the digestive system first.
For the first five minutes, the buff will gradually increase until it reaches maximum effectiveness. And during the last five minutes, the effect will slowly decline. So the actual duration is just about five minutes.
Unfortunately, the side effect is quite severe. The one who drinks it will be paralyzed for five minutes after the duration of the buff because this potion puts quite a burden on their muscles.
Ten minutes later, they finally arrive at a luxurious white door with golden fluted carving. At the middle of the door was a dark gold lettering that read Adventurer's Guild Chief Professor.
Behind the door is a room with lavish decoration. Jack's new apartment was like a slum compared to this one.
As he entered, Jack saw a large wooden table with Izack Newtown's name on it. The table was filled with stacks of paper nearly as tall as him, which shows how busy the old man really is.
There is a small library with about three hundred books beside it. Most of them were written by old man Izack when the rest are ancient books that are either rare or hard to find.
All of them are the proud collection of the Chief Professor of Adventurer's Guild.
After locking the door, Izack Newtown leads Jack into a secret room through a hidden door beside the library.
Inside it, Jack finds a set of transparent equipment that he usually sees in a laboratory. Its shape and complexity made Jack wonder how advanced the level of research equipment in this world was.
'This…' Suddenly, Jack's face turned pale after seeing a small bed with numerous leather belts attached to the side. The bed reminded him of an operating table used by mad scientists to experiment on his living human specimen.
Seeing Jack's reaction, Izack laughed before calmly explaining, "Don't worry. To imprint a magic circle into someone, their body needs to be perfectly still. That's what the fixator is used for.
"You already read my book and successfully awakened, so telling you the basics will be boring. Showing how it feels to cast a spell is more interesting. Besides, I wanted to know how talented you are in mystical arts. Hahaha…
"Lie down on the table, please..."
Jack feels hesitant as numerous horrifying scenarios from a horror movie flashed in his mind. He just stared blankly at the table while gulping a mouthful of saliva.
Old man Izack sneered as he teased him. "Where is the courage from before, young man? Are you the type of man that only bark and no bites?
"A real man has the courage to step on the unknown with a smile on his face."
"W- Who said I was scared? I was just wondering about what perverted hobby you have after seeing all those leather belts." Jack panicked a little, but he didn't miss the chance to return the sarcasm.
"Hahaha… That's the spirit!"
After watching Jack nervously climb the table and put his back on its surface, Izack pulled out a brownish-white paper from a book before showing it to the young adventurer.
"This is a single target spell commonly used by adventurers called Fireball. A simple but effective attack method, perfect for your first experience.
"What?! You are so shocked with just this?!
"I know it is an expensive gift. The magic circle itself is worth one gold coin, and imprinting it into your body needs ten times the price. But you must get used to this kind of stuff if you want to become my disciple."
Jack's mouth was about to hit the floor when his eyes almost popped out from its socket when seeing the magic circle. However, it's not because of the value of the magic circle. But the symbol that is used in it.
'It can't be! Is there another Transmigrator before me?"
He simply could not believe his eyes. The symbols used in the magic circle were no longer alien to him anymore since he had studied them from elementary to high school.
'This is definitely Javanese alphabet.'
The Javanese alphabet originated from the 4th Century AD, a derivative of the Pallava alphabet used in South and Southeast Asia.
The Javanese alphabet consists of letters called Akṣara, Saṇḍangan or diacritics, wilangan as numerals, and punctuation named Pada. Mainly used in Indonesia and still exists in the 20th Century in the form of Ancient Inscriptions.
'I still remember how to read them except the Pada part. But… is it really possible for this alphabet to exist in this world without intervention from Earthling?
'I need to find more information.'
"Hey, old man. Do you know who created this magic circle?" Jack asked curiously.
"Heh. Who do you think I am? Apart from the elves, I am the one who understands magic circles the most. The magic circle is created by the ancestor of the Elf race. Father of the mystical arts, Sindar Taurendil." Said Izack proudly while puffing his chest.
Jack looked even more confused when he heard the answer. If the Javanese alphabet was created by the Elf race ancestor, the probability of the alphabet originating from Earth is almost zero.
If you see it this way, the Javanese alphabet was more likely to be born in this world. Either way, it is good news to him.
The fact that magic circle is using a Javanese alphabet is an advantage for Jack. With the knowledge that he possesses, creating an original magic circle is feasible. In other words, he could invent magic that was unique to him and become the strongest wizard in Terrenia.
After giving it some thought, Jack asked a follow-up question, half teasing, half-serious. "So. Can you read the symbols inside it?"
The old man snorted, "Huh. Even the elf couldn't do it. How do you think others could?
"But for a professor of mystical arts like me who studied magicology for a hundred years, arranging some of them to create a unique magic is possible."
'Jackpot!'
The corner of Jack's lips suddenly raised.