Aoko and Sellen spent an entire day just to separate Lusat's body from the massive glintstone crystal cluster. Even in the cold depths of the mining cave, they worked up a sweat. Aoko took out a large amount of drinks and used Cold Touch to turn them into chilled beverages. Sitting on the ground together, they gulped down a big glass each before finally catching their breath.
Sellen's body was designed according to human standards. Although she had many extraordinary abilities, working continuously for over twenty hours still made her feel exhausted. She could only compensate for her physical fatigue by consuming her magical energy.
As for Aoko, sweating was entirely due to the mimicry function she had set for herself. Otherwise, she would stand out too much in university classes—imagine being the only one unaffected in the sweltering summer heat of over thirty degrees Celsius. That would be impolite.
However, her sweat was different from that of ordinary humans. Adjusted through her internal magical circuits, Aoko's simulated sweat evaporated extremely quickly, had no unpleasant odor, and even functioned to cleanse her body.
Once the separation was complete, Aoko found a relatively flat area and drew a teleportation magic circle on the ground. She then placed Lusat's body at the center of the circle. Finally, she and Sellen stepped inside the formation. As the magic circle activated, their figures vanished from the depths of Sellia's cave.
On the other side of the teleportation, their destination was the research lab assigned to Aoko and Touko at the Royal Academy of Raya Lucaria. Their bedrooms were also located here, just next door to the massive research chamber.
Having successfully transported Lusat's body back to the lab, Aoko let out a sigh of relief. She sat down in a nearby chair, picked up a blank scroll and a quill pen, and began writing. She intended to preserve the Meteor of Destruction spell in scroll form. The scrolls produced at the Academy of Raya Lucaria were of exceptionally high quality—far superior to the handmade ones she had crafted back on Earth. This was due to the difference in the overall energy levels of the two worlds, which affected material quality.
Speaking of planets, Aoko wasn't entirely sure whether the Lands Between could even be considered a planet. She could observe the curvature of the ground, but she found that the curvature didn't match the gravitational acceleration of the Lands Between. That meant one of two possibilities: either this planet was hollow, or it had an unusually low material density. However, neither hypothesis seemed entirely correct.
Considering that Starscourge Radahn, a mere demigod, could use gravity magic to lock down the entire night sky, Aoko suspected that the fundamental laws of the Lands Between were vastly different from those of Earth.
First of all, Radahn couldn't possibly have sealed the entire universe with gravity magic, so his spell likely only affected the sky of the Lands Between. The most reasonable assumption was that he had created a gravity net in the sky using magic, preventing foreign meteors from landing and freezing the starlight in place at the moment his magic was cast, leaving it unchanged ever since.
Radahn's actions could certainly be considered a form of protection, meant to defend against external threats. However, this also hindered the development of the local magical arts, as the primary school of magic in the Lands Between—Glintstone Sorcery and its derivatives—was entirely reliant on stargazing for insight and progress. With the stars now frozen, their magical research had been effectively stunted. It was a double-edged sword.
As Aoko continued writing, she recorded her understanding and insights regarding the Meteor of Destruction spell in the scroll, hoping that future generations who came across it could learn from her knowledge. This was what she considered the essence of knowledge inheritance.
She was particularly fond of this spell because Aozaki Aoko was practically the poster girl for projectile-based magic in the TYPE-MOON universe. The Meteor of Destruction spell had striking similarities to her Magic Bullet Sorcery on multiple levels. Thus, after her modifications, the spell now had faster projectile speed, a greater number of projectiles, and enhanced destructive power. Of course, since Aoko never had to worry about running out of magical energy, her modified version of the Glintstone Sorcery also consumed significantly more energy than the original.
After stretching lazily and finishing her writing, Aoko noticed that Lusat's body had already been moved. Earlier, Sellen had called in some of the academy's lower-ranking sorcerers to carry Lusat back to his original research lab. That lab had a spacious balcony and precision stargazing instruments (by the standards of the Lands Between, at least).
Aoko wasn't sure if Lusat would ever regain the ability to move freely again, but she felt that returning him to his original research lab was far better than tossing him into some random storage room.
With Lusat's situation settled, Aoko decided to remain at the academy for a while. She had little interest in risking her life against Starscourge Radahn.
She wasn't sure whether her Redshift could counter Radahn's gravity magic. Gravity and space-time were deeply intertwined, and she might end up falling into an unexpected trap.
Besides, Aoko was very confident that the Tarnished would defeat Radahn. After all, according to the original story, that was exactly what happened. Ranni's chosen Tarnished was the fated immortal, and if they couldn't even defeat Radahn, it would be downright laughable.
As Aoko pondered ways to modify Glintstone Sorceries, Master Thops came rushing in, excitedly announcing some good news—his original spell, Thops' Force Field, had been successfully developed!
Aoko immediately dropped what she was doing and called Sellen over to test Thops' magic. The testing method was simple: she and Sellen would cast various Glintstone Sorceries, and Thops would attempt to redirect their trajectories using his force field, all while ensuring his safety.
The test results were astonishing—Thops' Force Field could deflect every Glintstone Sorcery, even the Finger Glintstone Sorcery that Aoko had learned from Ymir. Even area-of-effect sorceries like Night Comet were redirected.
Compared to Aoko, who was an outsider, Sellen was far more shocked by Thops' academic breakthrough. She gripped Topes tightly and bombarded him with questions for hours, dissecting everything from his development process to the underlying principles. Finally, she slumped into a chair, holding her head in deep thought.
Aoko could understand Sellen's reaction—within Sellen's existing knowledge framework, Thops' Force Field was both "illogical" and "revolutionary". Yet, Thops had proven its validity with real results, shaking the foundations of Sellen's understanding.
However, Aoko was relieved to see that instead of clinging to her old human-to-ball Origin magic approach, Sellen immediately embraced this new theory, adjusted her research framework, and wholeheartedly dived into a new phase of study—one so intense that she barely ate or slept.
With Thops' permission, Aoko reported his academic breakthrough to Queen Rennala, who was busy raising her children. Even the Queen of the Full Moon was astounded by the achievements of this previously obscure bald-headed sorcerer. In response, she generously established a new classroom for Thops, appointed him as the head of its school, and even ordered the academy's craftsmen to create a brand-new Thops Glintstone Crown.
Amusingly, the Thps Glintstone Crown was modeled after Thops' bald head, with a large green glintstone crystal embedded at the top. Aoko took one for herself as a souvenir—she knew that when she returned to Earth, some of her friends would burst into laughter at the sight of this ridiculous bald-headed hat.