Scouting Bolide

The next day, Roko spent most of his class time using Scan on as many people as he could. Completely ignoring his etiquette and embroidery classes, he focused on gathering data and writing them down in his notebook. Before long, his notebook began to run out of room, though he still did not feel as if he had enough data. So he continued using Scan and writing down the results. He dared not stop, even during magic class. Though it was there where he caught Edea's attention and he was called to stay back after class.

"I see you've started taking your note taking seriously." Edea said, "Though I don't think you've been taking notes about my class."

Roko didn't answer, choosing to silently stand there without looking her in the eyes.

"Relax, I'm not here to condemn you or anything." Edea shrugged, "I just want to make sure everything's okay."

"What do you mean?" Roko asked, confused.

"Spells cost mana." Edea explained, "I just wanted to make sure you're feeling alright."

Roko's hand gripped his chest as he tried to steady his mind, "I'm not feeling any abnormal fatigue. Though the amount of data I've been gathering is starting to build up in my head."

"You see?" Edea scoffed, "You should take a break. I'm not going to ask why you've suddenly decided to use your Scan wildly all of a sudden but if you don't pace yourself, you'll collapse by the end of the day."

"...I need more data. I'm getting tired of not knowing what to do." Roko muttered.

"...Alright." Edea sighed, "I got it. Then at least let me help."

"Help?"

"You're messing with spells aren't you?" Edea said, "I have a long history with the inner machinations of magic. I think I'm qualified to offer a little help."

"...How can I cast one spell on more targets?"

Edea sighed again, "I knew that's be your question. ...Well, it's not impossible to cast spells on multiple targets. Spells are usually single target because we're using our own limited reservoirs of mana. If you want to cast a multi-targeting spell or a spell over an area, you're going to need to use mana from outside to supplement it."

"Outside?"

"Mana runs all throughout our world." Edea explained, "Taking mana from nature to power up spells is an intermediate level technique. About 11 of my students have managed to master it."

"How do I absorb outside mana?" Roko asked.

"That usually involves long meditations or hard labor out in the nature to get attuned to the natural mana."

Roko bit his lip. He wasn't really pressed for time but long meditations and hard labor were not things he was accustomed to, given his previous lifestyle.

"In any case, I don't think being stuck to single casting your spell is the problem here." Edea said, "The problem is not running out of mana either, it's that you're forcing too much information into your head in a short period of time."

"Is there a solution to that?"

"Scan has never existed until you came along. Therefore your problem is quite unique. The only real solution I can give you is to take a break."

"It's not that I don't want to take a break but..."

"What's your next class?" Edea asked.

"Cosmetics."

"Yeah no, screw that." Edea scoffed as she grabbed a piece of paper and started writing, "Take a break."

"I already took my lunch break."

"And what did you do during your lunch break?"

"...Search and record."

"Then you didn't really take a break then did you?" Edea smirked, "Go get something sweet to eat from the cafeteria. That should help."

"Can you do this?"

"What are they going to do about it? Go on. Git."

Roko took a few steps away before he stopped and turned back around.

"What is it now?" Edea asked.

"How do I learn intentional casting?"

A small, genuine smile darted across Edea's lip before she responded, "Close you eyes."

"Okay..."

"Now cast your spell. In your head."

Roko chanted Scan a few times in his head.

"Nothing's happening."

"Give it a few more tries."

Roko kept his eyes closed and continued to silently cast Scan. After a couple of attempts, the outline of a large green circle slowly appeared in his head. He opened his eyes.

"What did you see?" Edea asked.

"Some kind of circle?"

"That's a magic circle." Edea explained, "The more you focus on your spell the more detailed the circle will appear. Once you've fully memorized it, this acts as a seal for your spell. Afterward, you will have to call upon this seal in your head in order to cast your spell. This way, you can better control when you want to cast your spell."

"When will I know this seal is complete?"

"When it works." Edea shrugged, "There's no real way to measure your progress so you'll just have to practice until it works."

"I see. Then..." Roko paused, "What's it like to learn Silent Casting?"

Edea sighed and reached into her drawer, "Do you know what constellations are?"

"Yeah."

"Intentional Casting is a 2D seal. Silent Casting, therefore, is a 3D seal." Edea pulled out a starchart and laid it upon her desk, "Look at this."

Edea pointed at a constellation that looked like a beetle.

"You see how this constellation forms a shape between the stars? In reality, the stars are lightyears away from each other. Taking this 2D design and looking at it in a 3D space, connecting each sequential point using their actual spatial position, that is what you have to do with your spell's circle. That 3D shape is the seal that you have to keep in mind in order to Silent Cast."

"That's a lot of work for something so simple." Roko said,

"More often than not, it's not worth it." Edea nodded, "Not even the world's most powerful mages have delved much into Silent Casting."

"Well, now that I know how Intentional Casting works, I'll make sure to practice." Roko said as he turned to leave.

"Don't forget that you're supposed to be on break." Edea called as she rolled up her starchart.

Roko sat down in the cafeteria with a second, larger notebook, a large sheet of paper, a mug of hot chocolate and a cup of tiramisu. Hot chocolate was one of few drinks he could make that wasn't coffee or tea when he was back home. It may not be that impressive but Roko thought he had a good enough recipe after a few dozen tries though he tried to save it for occasions. The convenience store he always went to had cups of store brand tiramisus that he tried to not make a habit of buying too often. Needless to say, whenever there was something to celebrate or if he needed some kind of pick me up, hot chocolate and tiramisu was what he always went to. Though this time, the hot chocolate wasn't his recipe and the tiramisu looked much more delectable, being from a private school and all. Lastly, Roko wasn't looking to celebrate or cheer up. He just needed to focus intently for a long time and this familiar combination of sweets was going to help him do exactly that.

Roko rarely ever stopped working with data. There was always some sort of data sorting and analysis job somewhere and he had grown very accustomed to large sets of unsorted data. It wasn't distressing enough to be called work nor did he really enjoy it enough to call it a hobby. Roko knew he was supposed to be relaxing but at this moment, in this unfamiliar world, data sorting was the most comforting thing he could do. So he opened up both notebooks and started flipping through his notes, sorting and resorting the data again and again. If he was home, much of this would have been automated by functions on his computer but with no such technology at his disposal, he had to write it all out by hand. Finding the mean, median and mode of for each stat. And once he got those sorted out, he went to the large sheet of paper and began graphing the data into standard distributions to better visualize everything. His work would take him hours, though he would hardly notice, even as he took small breaks to rest his hand and take a few sips of his now cold hot chocolate. He never stopped thinking about data, even taking the time to Scan more people passing through the cafeteria and adding their data to the set. Nobody ever seemed to bother him though he caught a few of them staring and whispering among themselves about him. That wasn't anything new though so he just kept working without break or stop. If anybody had called out to him, he wouldn't have heard them. At least until one particular, familiar voice arrived.

"Wow. Um...You got the time to talk for a bit?" Helena asked as she stared at all the data he had laid out.

"What is it?" Roko asked, not looking up from his notebook.

"Well uh...first I got you this." Helena placed another pouch of cookies on the table, "They're not dark chocolate this time so they should be fine. Unless you don't like white chocolate."

"I'll have them later." Roko replied as he continued to write.

"Well that's good and all, you look like you could use the sugar but..." Helena gulped, "We actually came here to apologize to you?"

Roko looked up to find another girl standing besides Helena. She was looking at his work, trying to figure out what it meant when she noticed Roko staring at her and jolted, retreating behind Helena.

"So yeah." Helena chuckled, "I heard about what happened with Roland and don't worry, I've punished him accordingly. Just came to apologize properly for all the trouble he gave you."

"That's in the past now." Roko shrugged.

"Great. Now as for this girl..."

Helena's friend jumped as she pushed her forward, "Go on."

"H-Hello." The girl said nervously, "I'm Princess Corissa of the Physia Kingdom. Umm...I'm the princess- er...that is to say...Varis is my knight."

"..."

"You know? ...The black knight?"

"I know." Roko replied, "I sca- investigated him."

"I-I'm sorry for attacking you all of a sudden!" Corissa bowed deeply, "We were in the middle of a hunting exercise and I lost track of him and Varis thought you were some sort of illusory creature or maybe a demon? I know that doesn't excuse anything, but I just want to apologize for him!"

"It's fine." Roko said as he returned to his work, "That was a long time ago now."

"That was less than a week ago." Helena smirked, "Well so long as you're okay with it. Anyway, what're ya doing?"

"Sorting data."

"Is this what you see when you use Scan?" Helena said as she picked up one of the notebooks, "That's a lot of people you've recorded. Are you sure this is legal? Doesn't this violate some people's privacy?"

"The only private thing I'm trespassing on is their name and maybe their spells." Roko explained, "But that information can be easily found by other, more normal means. The stats and weakness may be information they don't have access to but they're also not necessarily owned by them. The legitimacy or accuracy of their interpretation can't really be tested as it stands and as such can be better constituted as an opinion which defies privacy laws."

"Is that right?" Helena said, not particularly listening, "Well, I suppose if anybody eventually got the ability to use Scan, this kind of information would become public. Kinda defeats the purpose of the spell otherwise."

Helena put down the book and looked around the table, "Oh hey, is this hot chocolate?"

"Yeah."

"Man, I haven't had one of these since I was a child! Can I take a sip?"

"Go ahead."

Helena put the cup to her lips and took a large gulp of the chocolate drink.

"Ahh, that's better than I remembered. Though it's not really hot anymore. Hey, you want a refill of this?"

"Sure."

"Okay! Be right back!"

Helena took the cup of hot chocolate and headed off to the kitchen, leaving Corissa and Roko alone. Corissa looked around nervously but Roko just kept working on his project, too engrossed to acknowledge his guest. Corissa just silently sat there fidgeting until Roko looked up from his work and finally noticed her again.

"I-I'm sorry!" She yelped as she bowed again.

"What for?"

"F-For Varis."

Roko sighed, "Look, you didn't do anything to me so there's nothing for you to apologize to me for. If anything, it should be Varis that should be here apologizing."

"Varis can't exactly talk so-"

"He can't talk?" Roko frowned.

"Y-Yes?" Corissa said, surprised by how surprised Roko seemed to be, "He hasn't said a word to anybody ever since he became my knight."

Roko put down his pen, this new information sending him deep in thought.

"Is...is something wrong?" Corissa asked.

"Do you know about Varis'...condition?"

"Condition?" Corissa said, confused, "What do you mean?"

"...No, I don't think...if he's not going to tell you, I don't think it's my place to tell you."

"P-Please do!" Corissa cried as she stood up dramatically, "I...I need to know!"

"Why?"

Corissa stopped and looked down. She sat back down and took deep breath, "Varis and I...were childhood friends. Our village was wiped out years ago by monsters. A few people managed to escape but Varis disappeared. I was lucky to get adopted into the Novalia royal family. But Varis...I never saw him again. Until one day, he reappeared in our city as an adventurer. He looked exactly as he does now. Clad in that ominous black armor. He may wear a helmet now but I could still recognize him. I begged my father to allow me to make him my knight and he did, after beating some of my father's most esteemed knights without even drawing his sword. I don't understand anything. So much has changed about him. He had no combat abilities back when I knew him. He could talk back then but now I haven't heard a word from him. I haven't ever seen him without that armor. I haven't even seen his face. I want to know. I want to know what happened to him." Corissa looked up to Roko, "That's why, if you know anything, I want to know as well. I can't leave him alone."

…

Roko sighed as he opened up Helena's pouch of cookies and started eating one, "Alright. There's two things that I have to say about him."

Corissa leaned in, listening intently and anxiously.

"First is that he can talk. I've heard him speak."

"He can speak?!" Corissa cried, "But he's never spoken a word to me. What did he say?"

"'How did you know?'"

"Know? Know what?"

"That brings me to my second point." Roko explained, "There's one thing about my Sca- investigate spell that I don't usually mention. When I use it, my target is outlined in my vision. This ignores any obstructions, including clothing. There isn't any details, just an outline so I'm not seeing your body through your clothes. It's usually not worth mentioning. But that's how I noticed one thing about Varis. He's lost his left arm and right leg."

Corissa gasped, covering her mouth with her hands, "But...wait, I've seen him use both his arms and legs."

"I know he can but that's just his armor." Roko frowned, "I don't understand it myself but his armor is...alive or something, allowing him to use their arm and leg as if they were his own. I know this because when I fought him, I pulled out his lower leg."

"Oh Varis..." Corissa's eyes were on the verge of tears, "What happened to you?"

"Hey guys I'm back!" Helena announced as she slammed a full mug of hot chocolate on the table, "I might have sneaked a cupful of hot chocolate for myself before I came back but you guys have no proof of that."

Helena looked look at tearing up Corissa and the nonchalant Roko, "What? What did I miss?"

"Nothing." Roko sighed as he dusted the cookie crumbs off his hand, "Anyway, I think I've done enough work for now. I should probably get back to class."

"Dude, classes are over for today."