LCD The Book Eating Magician

You should probably re-read the early chapters. It was very clear on the fact that even if he had the necessary magical power, without the sensitivity to go with it, he'd never be able to become an official mage. As I recall, he wouldn't even be able to form the next circle.

As for magic scholars, unless I'm misremembering the conversation, they were basically all people who didn't have the necessary talent to become mages, but had fantastic comprehension towards magic theory. Since magic power can be bought, I can only assume that this means that they all lack sensitivity.

Also, my argument was for a massive increase in both quantity and quality. Sure, quantity would get more of an increase, but that doesn't mean quality wouldn't also increase. That's why I brought up the magic scholars. If its just about comprehension, most of them are probably capable of becoming at least fifth circle. The most talented ones shouldn't be any worse than Theo. Also, as I said, this increase wouldn't just be for this generation either. it would carry over into all future generations as well. And if you have to fight on multiple fronts (which is very normal), then it doesn't matter how strong your strongest mage is. They can't be everywhere.

High level magicians require sensitivity as much as comprehension. Not only does sensitivity aid comprehension, its an absolute requirement to even form the higher level spells. Its basically the difference between trying to weave a blanket with steel cable or silk threads. Its obvious which one is fast and efficient enough to actually be practical. If you'll recall, Theo, even with his extraordinary comprehension, couldn't form most spells due to his lack of sensitivity.

Its a risk to be sure, but the potential gain is far too high for absolutely everyone to completely ignore it. We're talking about a secret that could potentially increase the lifespan, power and prestige of anyone who got a hold of it, and of anyone that person cared about or was otherwise willing to share the secret with. Even more so since everyone is aware that they aren't the only ones that know. So not acquiring the secret means that an enemy might, which could, and likely would, result in the destruction of everything you hold dear and the deaths of your entire family. At least, for the more powerful clans and nations anyway.

Most men his age have trouble dealing with women, and nations or powerful families will have women specifically trained to get next to men and seduce them. Its simply too effective and too easy of a tactic for them not to pursue it.

Also, for poison, it doesn't have to go in the food. Darts, arrows, gas clouds, or less conspicuous things like water balloons (yes, I know they probably don't have water balloons) would seem to have a chance of working if you didn't know about his super senses. Or heck, you could just hire a swordsman like that merc captain and he could use something like chloroform, or some magical item that blocked a mages magic power and then just kidnapped him normally. Honestly, they don't lack for options if they decide to try to get the secret from him, which is why it makes absolutely no sense that no one is trying to do so.

 

You've perfected the dao of seeing mountains as mountains again.

 

Ah, I see Theo had two problems. The magic power and the ability to form the magic. Increasing his magic power with reagents might be possible but if he can't form the spells it's pointless. I'll concede on the sensitivity argument but I don't know how much was actually known about Theo's exact situation by anyone other than Vince.

It said that they studied magic with pen and paper and that magical power and high sensitivity weren't as important. It didn't say that most of them weren't actual mages. That Vince is a mage suggest that there's probably quite a few of them that are mages. Even then it's not like being a magic scholar means that you have potential to reach 8th circle. The grimore picked Theo for a reason after all.

The general quality would increase but not by enough to make it worth throwing away a seemingly certain 8th circle mage. In addition to having high potential Theo is also a combat genius. Not every mage with comprehension will be a battle mage or have the same extremely high talent as Theo in it. Theo also has a high class elemental. It absolutely matters how powerful your strongest mage is. They act as a deterrent. If you can't deal with their strongest mage and your battle strategy is to not run into them in 90% of situations it's better to just not attack. You can't occupy any land because once he arrives he'll destroy the army. Basically it's only helpful in quick raids for a specific purpose. That's ignoring teleportation magic and flight magic.They can show up, destroy an army with a few spells, teleport to the other battle front, and do it again.

The problem is that if they get caught kidnapping Theo they'll probably be destroyed even if they get whatever secret out of him. He's on good terms with the red tower master and has connections to the blue tower master.

The problem here is that Theo isn't an easily accessible person to start with. If their trained women are turned away at the door of the tower then there's nothing to do. Not just anyone can walk up and talk to Theo. There's also that Theo and Vince are not stupid. Vince has probably been dealing with such tactics for years. Kidnapping him in the tower is a joke. Most of the times he's left the tower has been with the red tower master. To even get such a plan off the ground you need access to Theo which, so far, is only possible when he's on missions. Missions that are secret.

 

Judging by the way that that one teacher tried to embarrass him, I think it was well known that he lacked sensitivity. And given the school's attitude towards him, I very much doubt that it was only the teachers that knew.

As I said, I'm making a lot of assumptions with the magic scholars based on a relatively brief description. Though, as I understood it, it was an occupation strictly for non-official mages, and Vince isn't technically one of them. A magic scholar isn't a person who studies magic, its a person who can't perform magic to an appreciable degree, but studies it anyway. Though again, I may have misunderstood. Also, even if they could only reach the 5th circle on average, they would still be worth more than a single 8th circle, and I still believe that several of them would go beyond that.

Why are you assuming that they'd need to throw Theo away? The seduction plan wouldn't only not throw him away, it would secure him for the foreseeable future. Also, they could always use another, non-violent approach like using his sense of patriotism or his feelings of empathy for others with low sensitivity to simply ask him. There's literally no risk involved in that approach and yet the only one that's pursued it is Vince, who immediately thew away the greater good in pursuit of personal gains, though he probably wasn't honest enough with himself to see it that way at the time.

That's only true if king allows her to destroy them. Quite a few families can get away with much greater crimes without significant repercussions, and even if a few of them had to die to get the secret, it would still be a worthwhile trade-off.

Your assuming that the women seducing him wouldn't be mages or in the employ of the mage towers. That's a fairly bad assumption. Also, even if his missions are secret, he's not going to teleport to every single one of them. As long as he takes the long road even once, they can simply follow him and take advantage. Or they can arrange a meeting with him outside of town on some pretext and set up an ambush. Theo is not as well protected as you seem to think, at least, not from the perspective of anyone that doesn't know about Gluttony.

 

Well, of course they knew he couldn't progress but did they know why? I'm basing their lack of knowledge about Theo's situation on what Theo was thinking before Vince asked about it. It was said that nobody knew about Theo's talent but Vince. It also said the other teachers didn't pay too much attention to him. Theo specifically told Vince all about his personal situation in the past. That's how Vince knew about his poor sensitivity and poor financial situation. That's why he was especially worried about Vince questioning him because he couldn't lie. There were people wondering if he failed on purpose or if he was a late bloomer. It might not even be common knowledge that Theo is at the 5th circle right now.

I assume if they ask Theo he'll be like "there's no such thing" and then they'll have to resort to other less friendly methods because they think he's lying. I'm not sure how Vince is ignoring the greater good. He knows that the increased sensitivity is from him feeding books to Gluttony and so is something only Theo can do. I suppose. I suppose Theo could also ask Gluttony about some method to get them to leave him alone.

With the way the country is set up I doubt she'd need to ask permission. She has quite a lot of authority and she's the type to attack first and report later.

Even if they are mages I still don't think they have the qualifications to visit him as they wish. Otherwise wouldn't there be a bunch of low grade mages trying to butter up to him and Sylvia? It seems like those two are specifically being kept out of the spotlight. Arranging a metting outside of town seems suspicious from a random person. He probably wouldn't go and would bring back up if he did. I'm not sure it's that easy to follow him even if he's not hiding his face. I doubt people would even be able to stake out the mage tower that long without being caught and questioned. Following his magical flying carriage across the city and then following him out of the city without being caught seem even harder.

 

Yeah her eyes are great right?

 

The specific method the teacher chose targeted his lack of sensitivity, and as I recall, the other students recognized the reasoning behind the attack. Though I may be mistaken about that second part.

As for the talent that no one knew about, that was referring to his high comprehension. The other teachers just saw his crap sensitivity and his lack of magic power and didn't bother to care about his high comprehension.

I'm not so sure that Theo would say no, but even if he would, that would have nothing to do with the fact that they've never tried to ask him. And yes, what I meant about Vince ignoring the greater good was that he never bothered to ask Gluttony about ways to improve sensitivity, or anything else that wouldn't benefit him first and anyone else as a mere byproduct. Considering how many questions he should have been able to ask by now, I can't really see it as anything other than selfishness.

For something like a clan annihilation, she's not stupid enough to think there wouldn't be any repercussions and she's not strong enough to guarantee a win against the blue tower's master. She isn't the queen, and doing something like that is a direct challenge to his authority and to his relationship with the nobility. She would have to be punished if he didn't want a civil war on his hands.

You're making a lot of assumptions about how hard it would be for people to talk to him. I honestly don't see a basis for it. The only reason he hasn't met anyone else is because the author hasn't bothered to let him. Simply bumping into him in the halls on his way to or from a sparring match with the tower master would be simplicity itself for any half-way competent operative. As for meetings outside of town, how shady it would appear would depend on the competence of the people doing the arranging. And I don't understand why you think he would use the flying carriage. Its stupidly expensive, he has a poor man's mindset, and the city isn't nearly as crowded as it was during the competition.

 

I think it was a test that only a magician could do. Basically someone at the 3rd circle.

Well I was pointing out that their lack of knowledge of his talent shows that they never paid much attention to him at all. They probably just saw that he was failing and wrote him off as not having any talent in learning magic.

On the other hand perhaps Theo already asked such a question off screen and was told there was no such method beyond eating books. Theo's sensitivity was still considered below average after hitting the 3rd circle and not every book raises it so it's in his benefit to ask.

If that family is 'attacking the red tower's mages' then they're rebels/criminals who need to be put down anyway. It's not like she's destroying them for no reason so it's not like it would cause a civil war. An 8th circle mage is worth more than a noble family in the first place so the king would be more inclined to side with her. Even more because the Mages are propping up the royal family in the first place.

I think he left the red tower with her in the first place rather than just meeting her there. Perhaps I'm assuming but we know that a lot of people were interested in him and the Blue Tower Master specifically blocked them. Theo was also instructed to ignore people who try to cling to him. It seems inherently shady because why does he need to meet outside the city specifically? I don't think the carriage is as expensive as during the competition either.

 

If you'll recall, the specific point of difficulty for it wasn't that it was third circle (though it may have been), but that it was fiendishly hard for anyone without high sensitivity.

Yes, but they'd have to be much stupider than they are to not realize the reason why he was failing. If his magic sensitivity wasn't abysmal, there's really no reason for him to not have graduated after so long. Even poverty wouldn't have been enough to stop him from getting to the third circle with that much time, and his first two years showed that there was nothing wrong with his comprehension.

If he had asked, I think the author would have shown it. Its more likely that he simply hasn't bothered because the author has never really thought about it.

You're assuming that they'd fight her instead of asserting their authority as nobles and claiming that they were doing it for the good of the country. She may not agree with such arguments, but so long as they aren't putting up a fight, she has an obligation to arrest them and let the king sort it out. Also, there's a major difference between killing the people directly responsible and wiping them and their entire families off the face of the planet. There's no way that can be justified without a royal edict.

Again, it has to do with competence, and the people that were seeking information were doing it in the laziest ways possible because they were only mildly curious about him after he won the competition. These people are not the ones I'm talking about. The ones I'm talking about are the ones that already know who he is and what he's accomplished and why it shouldn't be possible for him to do so. The academy he attended wasn't some backwater institution. A lot of high ranking nobles sent their kids there. The ones the blue tower master stopped were simply those without kids, or those who hadn't made the necessary connections yet. There would be others who wouldn't need to act so openly. Well, assuming the author allowed such people to exist, which he hasn't, which is why I say that Theo's plot armor is ridiculously thick.

Also, even if the price of the flying carriage went down, it would never be cheaper than a ground based carriage or Theo's two feet. I'd sooner believe that he rode an earth golem out of town than that he wasted money on a flying carriage when he so desperately needs it if he wants to keep buying expensive books and enchanted goods without constantly draining Vince's retirement and research funds.

 

I think it mentioned that control of magic gets better as the circle increases. 3rd grade control is what I think the problem was.

I'm thinking that they wrote him off as only being book smart but having no talent in actually controlling magic. Maybe memorizing books and then repeating them back without actually understanding the content.

Maybe but has the author even mentioned Vince getting to ask a second question?

Does she have such an obligation? It seems like she has the authority to pass down death sentences and sort things out herself. 8th circle tower masters have authority only behind the king. This could entirely be in her authority to handle. Besides she might not talk to them in the first place. She might just start by launching high grade magic at their house.

 

Honestly, I'd have to re-read the chapter to get any more specific about it. From what I remember he was targeting Theo's lack of sensitivity directly though.

Sensitivity is what you use to control magic though. Basically there's three parts to being a mage: comprehension (which he showed he had in spades), magic power (which time and/or money will provide) and sensitivity (which you're born with and can't improve in any way). Unless they're colossal idiots with no right to teach anyone anything about magic, then they would know what his problem was. Unless your saying that all those classes he took, all that homework he did and all those tests he aced were all based on pure memorization, even the questions that were so hard that no one was supposed to be able to answer them? If so, you should probably re-read chapter one.

No, but he also hasn't really mentioned Theo asking questions. So I suppose that either Theo is an honorless, ungrateful b****d, that doesn't have any interest in the greater mysteries of magic, or the author is simply forgetful.

Yes, yes she does. There's a massive difference between wiping out bandits or foreign slavers or necromancers and annihilating a Duke and his entire clan, and unless she's a moron who's unfit for her position, she knows that. Also, attacking first without a royal edict and without even trying to talk is overstepping her authority to an even greater extent.

 

Yeah, on the flipside, anyone else thinks she looks similar to Kashima from Kancolle?

 

I think there's more elements to magical control unless you're saying that sensitivity naturally increases with the circle(which might be true). There would have to be a reason why higher level mages stop needing chants to cast magic. For example we've seen that there are affinities to specific elements or perhaps specific types of magic. Anyway if it's the case that sensitivity with magic increases with circles then Theo luckily being able to form his 3rd circle would explain how he got his feet off the ground. On another note revisiting the magical reagent idea, looking at how Theo formed his 5th circle I wonder if it actually is possible to force through a creation of a 3rd circle without the required sensitivity if you eat something good enough.

Or Vince is saving his questions until he can think of something to ask.

We don't have a firm grasp on her authority to say that she's overstepping it. The senior magicians are the true power in the country rather than the nobles. The royal family rules because of the backing of the magic towers. She's one of the most senior mages there is. That's not even to mention that even in a normal kingdom a barony attacking a member of a duke's house and the Duke wiping them out probably wouldn't be considered overstepping their authority.

 

KEK curse went byeee

 

For some reason Gluttony seems cute here

 

I would assume that sensitivity does increase with circle, but not in a linear fashion and that its positive contribution decreases with each new circle. If that wasn't the case, then Theo wouldn't have gotten stuck at the second circle, he wouldn't have even been able to form his first. That being the case, even if by some miracle he had made it to the third circle, he should have been stuck there for the rest of his life.

Also, even if you're right, and sensitivity doesn't really matter (which you're not, and it does), there's still the fact that he's found a way to easily multicast spells and improved Battle Song in such a way that a fifth circle mage can still use at least third circle spells while using it. Either one of these techniques would dramatically increase the power and survivability of the highest circle mages that you say are so much more important than a single fifth circle mage. Especially since the red tower master is practically guaranteed to hit the ninth circle eventually.

I find that very unlikely that he wouldn't have any questions. Yeah, he needs to pick questions from what is likely a very long list, but its not like he only has one or two opportunities to ask.

It depends on the country, but in general, wiping out the Barony without at least the tacit approval of the ruler would be seen as a major overstep of authority and some sort of reprisal would be expected. Most likely in the form of a public admonishment and higher taxes I would think.

As for the red tower master overstepping her authority, no matter how important she is to the kingdom, if she can't be controlled or trusted to make good decisions, then she not only doesn't have any value, but is actually a danger to the country and must be treated as such.

 

I wonder what he'll get if he feeds Gluttony a person. Since it was threatening to eat him then it should be possible.

I'd actually consider the opposite more likely in that each new circle would give more sensitivity than the last. Theo's sensitivity was just short of what was needed after adding the first two circles. It makes more sense than 8th level mages just being born with the sensitivity of an 8th level mage. Even by your system Theo's magic sensitivity was just short of what a mage needed. If it increased just a bit from forming a third circle then that could have been enough sensitivity for several circles.

Those facts wouldn't be attributed to the same thing. They'd be hand waved as Theo being a genius at comprehending magic. A reason to stay on his good side and not try to force his hand. Not only a potential 8th circle mage but one who is known to improve and create magic spells? At any rate it's already been mentioned that it's Theo's obligation to pass Battle Song on to the next generation after he got the book. No reason to jump on him now. At any rate 8th circle mages can already cast 4th circle spells while using Battle Song.

That could be exactly why he hasn't gotten around to it. He can ask at any time so there's no need to rush.

I don't think that's true in general at all. It should depend on how centralized the power in the kingdom is. If you're talking about a feudal system like Game of Thrones they absolutely wouldn't ask for permission before counterattacking someone who attacked them. Tywin Lannister wiped out two Houses not only without asking permission from the king but without asking permission from his father.

This is assuming she's overstepping her authority in the first place. It's not necessarily a bad decision either. It's making an example of people who attacked one of the most promising talents in the country. Such a thing is a good precedent to have. It'll stop the nobles from acting like families in a xianxia story whenever a talented person pops up.

 

I think you misunderstood what I was saying. It might be better to think of it as base_sensitivity_gain_per_circle * natural_sensitivity_modifier where natural_sensitivity_modifier is a decreasing function of the current circle and the mage's natural talent. So, if a mage had 80% of the sensitivity necessary for the third circle after reaching the second (and honestly, Theo had far less than that), then they might only have 50% of the sensitivity necessary for the fourth circle after reaching the third. By this logic, without a method to artificially increase natural_sensitivity_modifier, there would be a hard cap on how high any mage could climb.

1) If they decided to attribute it to his genius, then it would still mean that he developed revolutionary methods that could dramatically improve the effectiveness and survivability of any mage capable of learning his technique. Therefore, it would be a technique that would very much be worth acquiring. Not even trying is criminally stupid.

2) Theo is only obligated to return the book, not amend it.

3) There's a massive massive difference between being able to use 4th circle spells while using Battle Song and being able to use 6th circle spells. Its basically the difference between being able to level a house and being able to level a city. There's no point in even comparing them.

No, he can only ask when Theo's around and Gluttony is hungry. That's hardly anytime he wants.

Yes, and we all saw how that went. If there's anything left of Westeros by the end of that series it'll be because the author died and his ghost writer completely ignored causality to forcibly salvage civilization from the wreckage that those idiot nobles left behind after they completely annihilated each other. If you're actually saying that you think that that is a sustainable governmental model, then you obviously haven't been watching or reading the series.

There's a major difference between her making an example of someone and the king making an example of them. And if she doesn't even bother to ask him for his opinion, then she is in no way better than the people she's making an example of, unless he's already given her permission to kill any nobles she deems fit, but there's been no mention of her having such a sweeping mandate.

 

So... think this will become a harem?