The Entrance to Magic

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For now, I'll tell her that Riza comes first. There's no other option. She looks completely unconvinced. (Hmph, this is crazy. Something like this wouldn't happen in Japan.)

"Aha, Riza was saying that a beer belly is a sign of wealth, and on top of that, you can take down a 6th-grade monster. What kind of mindset is that? Are you just doing this for the money?"

Well, life in this world is tough, so I guess I can understand where she's coming from. Still, having her target me like this is a problem. I'm all about Riza.

I should invite a guy into the party soon. We'll need a decoy.

"Hey, what are we doing today? I don't have any plans." Fia asks.

"I was thinking of registering Riza as an adventurer and helping her choose a weapon."

"Eh?! Riza is becoming an adventurer too? What about hunting?"

Fia exclaims in surprise.

"There's my older brother to take care of things at home. Plus, she's going to get married eventually. She can't keep being a hunter forever."

Personally, I'd prefer her to stay at home, but Riza is stubborn.

"So, are we forming a party together?"

"Yes, that's the plan."

"A party with Riza? Alright then, nice, I'll join too Riza."

They both seem happy as they hug each other. There's no point in arguing, so I'll just follow them to the registration office and let the usual clerk handle the explanations and paperwork.

But this world never rests. The only days off are during the New Year holidays. They say the gods copied the stars, but the calendar and time here are almost identical to Earth's. There was a discrepancy in dates and seasons when I arrived compared to now, probably due to some mishap when moving the terminal. The date was manually adjusted, and the time was set arbitrarily.

As for clocks, it seems the gods distributed a few among the nations, and each lord uses devices like water clocks to correct any discrepancies. When we arrive, they'll adjust our clocks accordingly. People here seem to have a general sense of what time it is, but since none of us have ever lived without clocks, how they manage that remains a mystery.

By the way, the gods' items are called artifacts and are strictly separated from magical tools. It's definitely an approximation. I think mine was some kind of colorless thing. They do have glass and lenses here, and I've heard about telescopes. Whether celestial observation is possible is still unclear. Also, it's common knowledge that stars are spherical. I guess that's just how they are, so I'll go with that for now.

"Sorry to keep you waiting, Hiro."

Riza comes back after some talking. The registration went smoothly, and she shows off her card proudly. She looks cute.

"Shall we go look at weapons then?"

"Oh, but first—Akihiro-san? I want to see your magic."

Fia says with a sly grin.

"We want to see how you defeated a 6th-grade monster with your magic."

"If you're hesitant, since we'll be in the same party, maybe Akihiro is fine…"

"Hiro?"

"Akihiro-san is fine. Well, I don't mind showing it, but where should we do it?"

The usual place is a bit far.

"The outskirts of the village is fine. They practice there without getting scolded."

Alright, let's give it a try. The three of us head to the training area on the outskirts of the village. There's an open space among the trees that have grown since they stopped clearing the area. Looking at the ground, it seems well-trodden with no grass growing.

"That's where I usually practice."

Well, maybe there are targets here. Upon asking, I find out they use wooden swords for practice, and there are signs of damaged wood scattered around. Just testing, so this should be fine.

I recall the formation I used to defeat the diawolf.

Aiming at the center of a suitable tree.

Imagining a spherical mass of wind with a diameter of 10 cm compressed into about 5 mm.

"Attribute: Wind. Pressure definition. Shape is a cone with a radius of 5 mm and height of 1 cm. Fixed at 10 cm in front of the index finger of the right hand. Rotate the cone as it moves forward, speed set to 150 km/h. Execute."

A "bazzt" sound rings out, and the center of the tree is gouged into an uneven cone shape. Not bad.

Turning to Fia, she looks puzzled.

"Akihiro-san, are you a newbie?"

I am a newbie, but what does that mean?

"Yes, I'm new. Why do you ask?"

"Because using such an indirect spell formula is something they teach in the early stages of school."

Apparently, school takes six years and is divided into elementary, middle, and high classes. Skipping grades is possible, but most progress every two years. Of course, many people end up repeating grades.

And this incantation? It seems it's used by elementary classes to confirm sensory feedback, spell structure, and power at the beginning of their training. From middle school onwards, things change.

"They said that in your head, you build an emulator environment, simulate it on a simulator, and if there are no issues, execute it," Fia explains.

The intense feeling of approximation makes me feel dizzy, but I get the gist.
[TN: remember this is all being translated to him in his knowledge... so likely has nothing to do with emulators and simulators; making it seems astutely out of place... ]

"Someone told me to strongly imagine the outcome in your mind."

Trying this, I vividly picture the result of the spell from earlier along with its syntax. Suddenly, I feel a sensation similar to when I met Shell-e and Alecto, as if something is being projected into my head against my will. This feeling is unsettling; it's like someone else is controlling my thoughts.

A screen appears in my mind, showing me from a diagonal rear view. When I imagine moving the camera, it moves accordingly. To some extent, depth perception works too. My on-screen self follows my movements. This is bad; I'm getting dizzy, almost like severe motion sickness.

Pointing at another tree with my finger, I add an image of myself casting the same spell as before. The screen shows me firing the spell and piercing the tree. A blue "OK" and a black "Enter" appear at the edge of the screen.

Attempting to recreate this, I prepare.

"Execute."

A "bazzt" sound rings out, and the center of the tree is gouged into an uneven cone shape as before. It matches the simulation.

When I imagine it against slime, the tree is shown being pierced, but a yellow "Warning" appears on the edge. When I target the entire area with the same spell used on the diawolf, the screen turns blue and shows a red "Error."

This is too much; I'm about to throw up from the unfamiliar sensation. Stopping the imagery, my nausea subsides.

This is something I've never encountered before, causing confusion in my thoughts.

But I understand now. This isn't programming as I thought. It's more like an application. The spells I used earlier were probably CLI (command-line interpreter) commands with individual attributes and conditions. Executing them required inputting the command along with imagery as part of the syntax. It was a one-way transmission to the server.

This is different. It feels like connecting to a 3D game running on a server. You can freely move your character, cast spells, and simulate results. It's like playing an online game on a gaming console or PC.

We, as terminals, don't have enough processing power for a GUI (graphical user interface). So the server handles the processing, and we only receive the rendered images. When she mentioned an emulator environment earlier, it was probably borrowing server-side processing to build a game OS (operating system) environment. We're remotely connecting to this emulator.

That's why I felt the presence of the gods; it's due to communication with the server. It makes sense that future predictions are possible since the server can reference all properties.

I get it now.

When we dealt with the slime and had an overflow, Wadis was so eager to help. When we fought the diawolf, Wadis gave up immediately. Deed and the others felt such gratitude after the diawolf incident because Wadis explained everything afterward.

Simulating results means you can predict outcomes. Essentially, overflows happen when someone is either stupid, careless, or reckless.

I'm embarrassed. Why did this happen?

Thinking about it, I slump to the ground, resting my hands and knees on the earth.

He dropped out. Of course he did. If he had repeated grades, he'd still be in elementary school. It's natural that he only understands CLI concepts.

They learn about overflows through personal experience? It must be a basic lesson to understand the dangers of overflows from the start.

I get it now. I was fundamentally wrong.

Magic users in this world have their cause and effect reversed.

You know the result, so you create the cause.

The absurdity of understanding this and the overwhelming tasks ahead make me feel like giving up.