The Strongest Farmer in Another World ~I'm a "Farmer", Not a Demon King! ~ - Chapter 122

The Strongest Farmer in Another World ~I’m a “Farmer”, Not a Demon King! ~

Chapter 122   How to use magic

It’s not like I care that this person can’t use magic, but I’m just curious why. To put it simply, it’s just curiosity.

“Can’t use magic? But you’re a magician, right?”

“Yes. Even though my parents had high expectations because I’m a magician… I can’t use magic properly.”

However, amidst my curiosity, there’s a practical aspect to consider. She mentioned she can’t use magic, but is it that she can’t use ‘magic’ or that she can’t activate the ‘skills’ required for magic? Which one could it be?

If it’s about not being able to use the skills, there’s a possibility that someday my skill might render me unable to use skills. Considering that, I thought it was important to ask about it now, while I still had the chance.

“Do you understand why you can’t use it?”

“Yes. To use magic, you first need to reach a certain level of proficiency. Next, you draw a magic circle, and then you either chant afterwards or simultaneously. That’s how the magic is activated. But…”

At this point, the girl paused, emitting a particularly heavy atmosphere as she continued speaking.

“I’m slow to understand… and as I draw the magic circle, it collapses.”

“It collapses?”

I don’t know much about magic because I don’t use it myself, but I’ve only heard about the basics. I’ve heard about things like misfires or it not activating… but I haven’t delved into the specifics of why it doesn’t activate. After all, I can’t use magic myself.

However, there are multiple reasons why magic might not activate, and collapsing is probably one of them—a contributing factor to why magic may not activate.

“Yes. I can’t fully control the magic power released to draw the magic circle… After finishing the last letter and looking back at the earlier ones, the characters blur or distort to the point where I can’t read them, making them useless.”

“Ah… sort of like forgetting what you were told at the beginning while listening to a long story?”

“Close. Magic won’t activate unless the magic circle is drawn from start to finish, so if the characters at the beginning collapse, it’s just a waste of magic power.”

I see. You need to learn the skill of magic and prepare both the magic circle and incantation within a certain time frame to activate the magic. So, this person is so clumsy that they can’t prepare a magic circle, thus they can’t use magic. That’s how it is.

It’s not like she can’t use skills at all, but rather her proficiency in magic is insufficient… hmm.

“How about not drawing the magic circle? I know someone who used magic without using a magic circle or incantations.”

“T-that’s only a few people! I can’t use it properly like them…”

In my family, there were a few individuals with mage-related professions, and Eddie was one of them. He used magic without a magic circle or incantations, and Eddie was truly amazing.

Come to think of it, in my family, I don’t remember seeing anyone using magic circles or incantations except during major injury treatments.

They must have practiced to eliminate obvious vulnerabilities caused by incantations and magic circles… They were all amazing.

Well, putting that aside. She can’t even train in the first place, so I need to think of another method.

Honestly, I don’t need to think about this for her, but somehow, I felt like solving this quiz or puzzle-like situation and coming up with an answer.

“So, how about using magical tools? Listening to your story, if you can prepare the magic circle in advance, you might be able to skip ‘drawing the magic circle’ step just by chanting.”

My family had them too—magical tools were quite common. Well, they are a bit expensive, but not to the point of being unaffordable. If you can get a plate with a pre-drawn magic circle, all you have to do is chant the incantation, and you can use magic. At least, that’s what I think.

“Indeed, that’s correct. If you prepare the magic circle in advance and flow magic power into it, you can activate it with just the incantation. However, magical tools require special processing to withstand the flowing magic power, so they’re incredibly expensive. I can’t afford it, especially since my family is poor…”

Money, huh… Money is something I can’t easily handle. Well, I could pay for it, but I don’t feel the need to go that far, nor do I intend to.

But…

“Special processing, huh… So, just writing it on paper won’t activate it?”

I don’t know what exactly this ‘processing’ involves, but if that’s the key, couldn’t she make it herself? Magic circles drawn with only magic power disappear quickly and can’t be used, but if she remembers the magic circle itself, she can draw it herself on paper. She could even make the paper herself for free.

“It’s not impossible. In fact, scrolls that allow magic usage with just a chant are made that way, inexpensive. However, they’re for one-time use only. Magic circles can be created by magicians drawing the appropriate magic circle for their rank of magic. Even a slight mistake will prevent activation. You need to draw the magic circle carefully, not making any mistakes for a long time. However, if you draw it on simple paper, it can’t endure the magic’s activation, tearing the paper and making it a one-time use.”

“So, even if you draw it on paper, you need to process it to make it usable multiple times, right?”

If you have to draw it so precisely to the point of not allowing any mistakes, it’s natural that it would take time, and it’s also natural that it would be expensive.

If something like that is for one-time use, nobody would buy it. Well, maybe not ‘nobody,’ but still, even if it’s a bit more expensive, something that can be used multiple times would sell better. If it’s ten times the price but can be used a hundred times, it’s more cost-effective.

But, can you even draw it on paper?

“Yes. That’s a grimoire. It contains the magic a person can use, allowing them to use magic quickly by recording and storing it.”

I see. So, it’s like a collection of scrolls that aren’t one-time use? I remember the magic books I saw a while back were quite thick. Are they bundled with backups too?

Well, in terms of activation speed, it must be quite effective. I don’t know if there are adjustments for power like in wands or precise control, though.

“By the way, how long does it usually take to draw one magic circle?”

“For a first-tier magic… about thirty minutes, I suppose?”

“Quite long. But you wouldn’t take that long to use magic, right? What’s the difference there?”

If using a first-tier skill takes around thirty minutes to draw in a combat scenario, that’s just not practical. You’d get killed before that. So, taking thirty minutes is out of the question.

Also, I’ve been hit by magic from some noble girl before, and at that time, she finished drawing the magic circle in just a few seconds.

“Magic circles are drawn in the air using one’s own mana, and with practice, you can start drawing from multiple locations simultaneously.”

“When you say multiple locations, is it like writing characters with both hands?”

“It’s a bit simpler than that, but similar. It’s compared to writing the numbers on a clock one by one versus writing multiple at the same time. Instead of writing from the twelve at the top to one, two, three, it’s faster to say twelve and six, one and seven, two and eight… Advanced users can draw all twelve characters simultaneously, allowing them to use magic in an instant. However, it’s more like drawing a picture than writing characters… ugh, you really have to try using it to understand the sensation.”

Such an answer came in response to Sofia’s question, and I somehow have an idea now. It’s like using ink that has no physical form and can be moved as you wish.

Certainly, if you can draw in multiple places simultaneously, you should be able to shorten the time it would originally take.

And that sensation of drawing in multiple places… you really can’t understand it without actually trying. Humans only have two hands, so there’s no way to understand the sensation of doing that many things simultaneously.

“In addition, when drawing a magic circle with your own hands, you have to imbue the pen with mana. Without mana, the magic circle is just a doodle. Passing mana through something other than your body is difficult. It requires a lot of focus. If you have to imbue mana while carefully inscribing to avoid mistakes, it naturally takes time.”

So, it’s difficult because you have to handle two challenging tasks at the same time. Like playing the guitar with your hands while drumming with your feet? Probably something like that.

But then, it’s understandable if it takes time. I don’t know the sensation of using mana, but I can grasp that it’s difficult. Maybe with practice, you can do it smoothly, but for an amateur, it’s bound to take time.

“By the way, how long would it take for a tenth-tier magic?”

“If it takes around thirty minutes to draw a first-tier magic circle… hmm. About a day for a tenth-tier, maybe?”

“I-I haven’t seen it myself, and I don’t know the scale, so I can’t say for sure. But I once toured a facility that was built for activating tenth-tier magic. During the tour, I saw characters densely written from the floor to the ceiling of a room. That seemed to be just a part of it, so considering that, I don’t think it would finish in just one or two days.”

“Densely written in a room… that can’t fit on a single piece of paper, right? … Ah, that’s why it’s so thick.”

I’ve seen magic books for sale, and they felt unusually thick for just being bundles of scrolls. Even if it’s about usable magic, even if both the main job and the sub-job are magician types, it would only amount to about twenty. In other words, it should fit in twenty pages. Yet, the magic books I’ve seen had bundles of more than twenty pages.

Thinking about it, powerful magic and large-scale magic circles probably span across multiple pages.

If that’s the case, the thickness makes sense.

But, well. Does it end in about thirty minutes for the first tier? In other words, magic of the first tier is of that size and complexity, just that.

So, if you think about it, if the first tier only takes about thirty minutes, it means the magic of the first tier only requires a magic circle of that size and complexity.

In that case, if all you need is paper, it might not be that difficult, but she’s a ‘librarian.’

“If drawing on paper works, why not draw it yourself?”