Over the past few days, my living cycle had been established into a fixed loop: basic physical training in the morning, researching and experimenting with magic until late afternoon, then taking on the duty of tutoring Lady Aiselin until late at night.
Kanade's presence in the living space did not cause any inconvenience whatsoever. On the contrary, with her enthusiastic support, the process of collecting and analyzing data regarding one-star magic became significantly more optimal. The foundational knowledge and how mages typically operated elements were explained very meticulously by Kanade, saving me a considerable amount of time fumbling in the dark.
However, actual progress was hitting a severe bottleneck. Today was already Saturday. With less than 24 hours left until the practical training session with Lady Aiselin, I still couldn't determine my primary element. More worryingly, the method to expand the capacity of my mana core—the core power source to maintain the algorithms—remained an equation with no solution.
I snapped out of my train of thought as the morning sun shone through the window frame. Saturday morning began with the usual physical exercise routine to maintain my physical condition. After personal hygiene, Kanade and I shared a simple breakfast. Her mental state seemed to have stabilized and become much more relaxed.
"Let's go."
I spoke up after we had both finished preparing. Leaving the room, we strode along the corridor, heading straight for Lady Aiselin's private training room area. The countdown timer didn't have much left; if current theories didn't yield results, I would be forced to seek a new variable in practice.
On the long corridor leading to the training room, my mind was still rewinding the data collected from yesterday afternoon. To utilize the travel time, I spoke up to ask the person walking beside me.
"Lady Kanade, yesterday afternoon you mentioned that light magic is often applied in teleportation, correct?"
"Yes," Kanade nodded, the feline ears on top of her head twitching slightly. "Mages use it to instantaneously move to a location within their line of sight. However, it is not a common spell because it is extremely difficult to control."
"Does that difficulty lie in the trajectory calculation stage?" I asked again.
"That is correct, sir. Even though mages continuously research it, according to what I was taught, only a few people truly master it, and they can only teleport in a straight line within a short range."
I pondered for a beat, self-systematizing the variables in my head.
"Perhaps the core cause lies in the information processing volume," I analyzed. "Inherently, light travels extremely fast; in a vacuum environment, its speed is approximately $3 \times 10^8$ m/s, so to the naked eye, it looks completely like instantaneous teleportation. But to do that, they must calculate with absolute precision. A straight line inherently has a simple equation, but to ensure safety, the starting and ending points must be reduced to a line segment equation with the variable $t$ strictly limited from $0$ to $1$. Furthermore, the human body has a very large physical mass and volume; it cannot be simplified into a 'point mass' in the equation. Even the smallest margin of error at that speed would tear the body apart."
Hearing my chain of reasoning, Kanade did not look bewildered at all. She looked at me with a thoughtful expression, then smiled brightly, her eyes shining with trust.
"With your sharp thinking, you might actually be able to do it, Sir Zero."
"You evaluate me a bit too highly," I shook my head slightly, replying in the most objective tone possible. "Currently, I am certain I do not have the capability to touch that technique. Teleportation is not an algorithm belonging to the one-star magic group. Moving at that acceleration not only consumes a massive amount of energy but also strictly requires the parallel deployment of magic to protect the body's structural integrity. With the limited capacity of my current mana core, executing it is impossible for me."
My pace suddenly slowed. A flash of logic had just sparked through the chaotic streams of thought regarding finding a primary element.
"Lady Kanade," I stopped completely, turning to look at her. "If light exists, then darkness must surely exist. But over the past few days, when I researched in the library and asked the librarian, there was absolutely no one-star magic document mentioning this attribute. Does dark magic... truly exist in this world?"
Kanade tilted her head slightly, the feline ears on her head drooping a bit as she rummaged through her foundational knowledge.
"It does exist, sir. But you need to clearly distinguish it from non-elemental magic."
"Non-elemental?" I asked again.
"Yes. Non-elemental magic is a branch that has been very thoroughly researched by preceding scholars and mages. They are simply types of magic that do not belong to any specific elemental array, such as physical enhancement magic or computation boosting. As for dark magic..." Kanade hesitated slightly, her voice carrying an invisible trace of apprehension. "It is actually an incredibly vast array, comprising countless fragmented magics whose primary element cannot yet be determined. However, the reason it does not appear in basic documents stems from a psychological barrier."
I frowned. "A psychological barrier of the scholars?"
"That is correct, sir. Since ancient times, the masses have always defaulted to associating darkness with evil, cruelty, or bad omens. Even though dark magic itself is completely unrelated to forbidden arts or cults, it is precisely that societal prejudice that has caused everyone to shun it. Very few people want, or dare, to spend their whole lives researching something deemed unlucky. The lack of inheritance and systematic analysis over many generations has caused dark magic to be pushed out of the standard educational system."
Hearing Kanade's explanation, I immediately understood the problem. A natural phenomenon rejected simply because of the unfounded emotions of humans. From the perspective of an engineering worker, a waveband or an energy current does not inherently carry the nature of good or evil. The lack of documentation wasn't because dark magic didn't follow rules, but because the research system of this world had actively ignored it. If the other elements were standardized frequency bands, then darkness was a vast, unexploited signal spectrum full of potential.
"I understand. Thank you, Lady Kanade. This information is truly valuable," I smiled, the feeling of deadlock over the past few days suddenly vanishing.
If no one researched it, I would set up the equations myself from the starting line.
We ended the conversation right as we arrived in front of the training room door.
This morning's training session brought results exceeding expectations. First, I successfully guided Kanade in establishing and using the coordinate assignment magic technique. Unlike Lady Aiselin—someone with academic aptitude and keen abstract thinking—Kanade's starting point leant more toward intuition and practical perception than academic theory. Noticing her confusion during the sparring session when I explained the Oxyz axes and spatial theorems, I immediately readjusted my pedagogical method.
Instead of lecturing dry theory, I used visual physical objects in reality as examples. To help her visualize three-dimensional space, I completely discarded the dry concept of the Oxyz coordinate axis system. Instead, I guided her to determine an object's position based on the three most basic and familiar parameters: the length, width, and height of the object. This change in approach yielded clear effectiveness. Although the progress was a bit slow, Kanade finally succeeded in sensing and establishing the invisible anchor points.
However, the true focus of the training session lay in my next experiment: Teleportation magic.
Based on the hypothesis just discussed in the corridor, instead of using the light element, I decided to intervene in the dark energy zone. By applying the principle of signal amplification to the mana flow, I directed the energy to form a thick, black screen completely enveloping my body. This shell acted as a barrier, isolating my physical mass, forcing the surrounding spatial system to treat this entire sphere of darkness as a single "point mass."
As soon as the equation array was complete, I activated the algorithm.
The space before my eyes twisted slightly. A feeling of dropping flashed by. And then, my perspective changed.
I had successfully teleported.
It was just that... the measured distance was probably barely half a meter.
Before I could record any further parameters, my mana core instantly hit rock bottom. The feeling of sudden energy depletion drained all the strength from my muscular system, causing me to lose balance and collapse onto the dirt floor.
"Sir Zero!"
Kanade's panicked voice rang out. Hurried footsteps approached, and immediately after, I felt a stream of cool liquid, carrying the characteristic bitter taste of a mana recovery potion, being carefully pressed to my lips by her.
"Are you alright? Please do not push yourself too hard..." Her voice was laced with extreme anxiety, the feline ears on top of her head drooping entirely.
When the artificial mana flow began to permeate and restore my physical condition, I forced myself to sit up, lightly massaging my temples. From the perspective of someone who always pursues perfection in calculations, running out of energy and collapsing after just one short teleportation step like this was truly... a bit embarrassing.
"I am fine, thank you, Lady Kanade," I replied, trying to maintain my usual tranquil demeanor to hide my awkwardness. "Although the depletion rate exceeded expectations, the obtained result is a very valuable signal. At the very least, we have proven that dark magic can be applied in practice."
After my physical condition recovered thanks to Kanade's potion, we continued deploying a few other hypotheses regarding the restructuring of the mana flow. However, the collected results were just a string of total failures. The equations didn't match, the energy flow was nullified right at the initialization stage, or it lost control before taking shape. Even so, from the perspective of a researcher, proving a hypothesis wrong yields data as valuable as proving it right. Through the method of elimination, this morning's training session actually far exceeded the progress target I had set.
As evening fell, my schedule returned to its normal orbit.
Inside the quiet study, the mana stone light cast soft rays onto the open document pages. Today, Lady Aiselin's learning progress went incredibly smoothly. Since we only focused on systematizing the knowledge learned during the week, coupled with her innate sharp thinking, we concluded the lecture quite a bit earlier than expected.
"It seems your lecture today has concluded, Zero," Lady Aiselin gently closed her notebook, the soft sound breaking the silence.
I stood up, neatly arranging the documents on the desk, then bowed slightly.
"Yes. You did very well today. If there are no further matters to discuss, I request permission to take my leave so you may have space to rest."
Aiselin looked up at me. Her sapphire blue eyes seemed even deeper under the light, carrying their usual sharpness but mixed with a hint of contemplation.
"Do not forget tomorrow's schedule," she spoke up to remind me, her demeanor still deeply carrying the haughtiness and standard of an eldest lady.
"Yes, My Lady," I replied in a calm voice, maintaining humility and moderation. "I wish My Lady a satisfying evening of rest."
I was just about to turn and walk away when Aiselin's voice rang out again. This time, the intonation was direct and clear, completely breaking the communication mold of the previous days. If every other day the conversation ended in silence or a polite parting reply after I had turned my back, today, she looked straight into my eyes.
"Rest well, Zero."
My movement halted slightly. That was a direct instruction, unlike the previous nights. The corners of my lips involuntarily loosened into a faint smile. I looked back at her, bowing my head slightly one more time to maintain full respect.
"Thank you, My Lady. I hope you also have a complete night of rest."
After the return greeting, I finally turned, pushed the door open, and stepped out into the corridor.
End of Chapter 19.