Never Die Villain

The six of them had moved to the library once classes ended, occupying one of the larger tables with several books and old research compilations already spread across it.

Solveig had taken charge, pulling out a record of previous Spell Construction projects before anyone could start throwing out ideas.

"Firstly, let’s look at the records."

Solveig flipped through several pages until she reached the section she wanted.

"There should be a general range of topics students tend to focus on every year, and if we figure out which areas have already been researched to death, we can avoid wasting our time on something that’s already been done a hundred times."

"That eliminates Fireball," Garen said.

"That eliminates half of fire magic."

Maëlle leaned over to look at the records. "Barrier spells, too. Look at this. There are twenty-three projects on barriers from the last three years alone."

"Exactly." Solveig tapped the page. "We shouldn’t immediately decide what spell we want to make. First, we narrow down which fields still have room for something new, then look through the existing research in those areas and figure out what previous groups failed to solve."

Ilya rested his cheek against his hand as he listened.

"So instead of starting with a spell, we start with a problem."

Solveig looked at him. "Pretty much. If we find a problem nobody has properly solved yet, then we already have a reason for our spell to exist."

"That makes sense."

Lisbet pulled another volume toward herself and began scanning the index.

"Then we should probably avoid anything too broad. Offensive magic alone could take us weeks just to review."

"And we only have one semester," Wolfram added. "Whatever we choose also has to be realistic for six students to actually construct."

"What about this one?" Ilya asked.

He turned the book around and pushed it toward the middle of the table.

Solveig leaned closer, followed by the others, and found Ilya pointing at a section containing several previous studies on spell persistence.

"Residual casting?" Solveig read aloud. "Maintaining a spell after the caster stops supplying mana?"

"Yeah." Ilya tapped the page. "Apparently, spells that remain active without continuous mana input are nothing new, but most of the reliable methods use prepared formations, enchanted objects, or magic circles placed beforehand."

Solveig immediately understood where he was going.

"So you want the spell itself to remain?"

"Something like that." Ilya pulled another book closer and flipped back several pages. "Look here. One group tried making a floating light that remained after the caster left, but they needed a physical mana crystal to sustain it. Another managed it without one, but their spell only lasted eleven seconds before dissipating."

Solveig quickly reached for the book.

"Eleven seconds? That’s it?"

"For that particular method," Wolfram said, leaning over her shoulder. "There are better examples here, but most of them were performed by high-ranking wizards. Third Circle, Fourth Circle... there’s even a Sixth Circle experiment that lasted almost three hours."

"So it’s already possible," Maëlle said.

"Of course it is." Ilya turned another page. "The problem isn’t whether a spell can sustain itself. The problem is doing it efficiently enough that someone at the lower Circles can actually use it."

That caught everyone’s attention.

The higher a wizard climbed through the Circles, the easier it became to brute-force certain problems through sheer mana capacity and control.

There were Archmages capable of maintaining spells long after casting them without relying on any external catalyst at all, but whatever methods they used were hardly practical for the average wizard.

Garen scratched his chin.

"So basically, we’re trying to do cheaply what an Archmage can already do by throwing an absurd amount of mana at the problem."

"That’s one way of putting it."

"I like it."

"Of course you do."

Solveig had already begun flipping through the references listed at the bottom of the page.

"No, wait. This could actually work for us. There’s already plenty of research, so we wouldn’t be starting from nothing, but there’s still a clear problem we could focus on."

Maëlle pulled one of the books toward herself. "Reducing the mana requirement?"

"Not just that." Solveig grabbed her pen. "Making it reproducible at the First or Second Circle. A spell that remains stable after being severed from its caster without needing a prepared formation or physical catalyst."

"And if we manage that, the principle could be used for more than whatever spell we create."

"Lights, barriers, detection spells..."

"Traps."

"Explosions," Garen said.

Everyone looked at him.

"What?"

"Why are you so interested in blowing things up?"

Solveig ignored them and started writing in her notebook.

"Then we have a direction. Low-Circle Unanchored Spell Persistence. We research methods for allowing a spell to continue functioning after its connection to the caster is severed, specifically without relying on the mana reserves and control available to higher-Circle wizards."

She finished writing before looking at Ilya.

"Good job. You found that surprisingly fast."

"Yes."

The more they discussed it, the better the topic seemed.

After all, the assignment was to construct an original spell, and focusing on a problem that existing spells still struggled with gave them plenty of room to create one.

Spell persistence itself was nothing new. Wizards had studied it for centuries, and sufficiently powerful wizards had already proven that a spell could continue functioning independently of its caster.

What their group wanted to do differently was make that possible at the lower Circles without relying on an external catalyst or prepared formation.

If they could solve that problem, then whatever spell they eventually constructed around that solution would have a much better chance of being genuinely original.

There was already plenty of research for them to work with. They just needed to find their own answer.

After settling on the topic, the group spent another hour going through the material they had gathered, dividing the previous studies among themselves and taking note of the approaches that had already been attempted.

Eventually, however, they decided to call it there for the day, especially since several of them still had classes afterward.

One by one, the others packed their things and left.

Ilya didn’t have another class, so he remained behind, figuring he might as well continue reading while he was already here.

By the time he looked up from his book, the table that had been crowded only a few minutes ago had become quiet.

Only Lisbet remained.

"...."

Ilya glanced at her from across the table.

Of everyone in the group, Lisbet was probably the quietest. She hadn’t spoken much unless there was something relevant to add to the discussion, and even when the others joked around, she mostly kept to herself, giving Ilya the impression that she was somewhat aloof.

Apparently noticing his stare, Lisbet raised her eyes from her book.

"Do you need something?"

"Ah, no." Ilya shook his head. "I was just wondering if we have a similar schedule."

"The others have Mana Ecology at three-thirty." Lisbet glanced toward the clock, which was already past three. "Mine starts at five-thirty. What about you?"

"Oh, me too."

Lisbet hesitated. "Then I suppose we do."

"Looks like it."

"...."

"...."

Neither of them said anything after that.

Ilya glanced back down at his book, finally understanding why Lisbet hadn’t left with the others. They still had almost two hours before their next class, and apparently, the two quietest people in the group had somehow ended up sharing the same schedule.

"Well," Ilya muttered, turning another page. "Guess I’ll be seeing you again later."

"We’re in the same group."

"Right."

"You were going to see me again anyway."

"...Also right."

Lisbet returned to her book. Ilya scratched his cheek. She really wasn’t easy to talk to, but since Ilya had already decided to get to know more people in the Magic Department, he tried starting another conversation anyway.

"By the way, I heard the silver mines near Grünwald are doing pretty well." Ilya rested an arm against the table. "Your family has owned them for generations, right? That must bring in quite a lot."

Lisbet looked up from her book.

"No. They’re doing terribly."

"...."

"Production has been declining for years, several of the deeper shafts cost more to maintain than the silver they produce is worth, and the cost of extracting what little remains keeps increasing."

Lisbet spoke with the same indifferent expression as before.

"My family is in a financial bind because of it. My father has been considering whether we should sell the mines before they become an even larger burden."

"Ah..."

That wasn’t quite the response Ilya had expected.

"I thought Grünwald silver was supposed to be valuable."

"It is."

"Then..."

"There isn’t enough of it."

"Right."

Lisbet returned her attention to her book as though she hadn’t just casually revealed her family’s financial troubles to someone she had met earlier that day.

The conversation died there, and for a while, the only sounds between them were turning pages and the occasional footsteps of students passing through the library.

Eventually, Lisbet spoke.

"It must have been quite a shock for your family when you decided to study magic."

Ilya’s eyes stopped moving across the page.

"I’ve heard plenty about the Belozersky Grand Duchy," Lisbet continued, still looking at her book. "Of all the old Houses in the Empire, yours is probably the one that dislikes magic the most. For them to let you leave the Knight Department and study magic openly despite that..."

She finally looked at him.

"Your family must love you quite a lot."

"...."

Ilya said nothing.

For a moment, the image of the Northern Palace came to mind, along with all the faces that had spent years looking at him as though his very existence was an embarrassment.

Lisbet waited for an answer.

Ilya lowered his eyes back to his book.

"...Yeah."

Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!