If I'm being honest, I could do all this by myself and just turn it in for the both of us. I already found three issues that easily need fixing.
The first problem was obvious. The ritual assumed a static environment. Yetzirah's emotional currents don't stay still; they shift constantly. The rune treated Geburah like a stable tap, but if the ambient spiritual conditions in London differed from wherever this formula originated, the flow would fluctuate. Too much Geburah and the flame would flare out of control. Too little and nothing would happen at all.
The second weakness was in the containment structure. The seals around the edge were meant to keep the energy focused, but they were too rigid. Most fire magecraft inherently expands. The formula didn't account for that and if the flame burned longer than intended, the heat would build up inside the seals and crack the framework from within.
The third was the Hebrew letter Shin. It was carved into the activation trigger, but the angle was slightly wrong. In Kabbalistic magecraft, letters matter. Shin represents fire, but also divine presence. Tilt it too far and you'd ruin the whole spell. To be a magus is to walk with death and Kabbalah proves just that.
But I feel sorry for Kadoc, in all honesty. His shyness is something I'd like to squash now and not later in the future.
I slid the paper toward him.
"Your turn. Find something wrong with it."
He stared at the diagram like it might bite him. His eyes moved across the rune slowly, tracing each line. A full minute passed. Then another.
"The... the Hebrew letter," he finally said, voice barely above a whisper. "Shin. It's positioned wrong."
I raised an eyebrow. "Go on."
"If it's tilted like that..." He hesitated, then pointed at the angle. "It might ruin the spell and make it something else entirely." He started rambling after that. "Judgment, maybe. Or divine presence." He clamped a hand over his mouth and looked at me nervously. "The spell would still activate, but the result wouldn't be what they wanted."
I nodded slowly before responding.
"Ok. My turn. I'll find the second one."
I pointed at the flow structure. "This part assumes the spiritual environment is stable. But it's not, London's nothing like wherever this formula came from. The energy coming through Geburah would fluctuate."
Kadoc stared at the diagram, then back at me. "So... the flame would flare up or die out randomly?"
"Exactly."
He looked at the paper again, then at me. A small crease formed between his brows. Before nodding in understanding.
Kadoc then proceeded to give me a third reason.
"The seals around the edge," he said quietly, pointing at the containment structure. "They're too rigid. Fire magecraft expands naturally, but this formula doesn't account for that. If the flame burns too long, the heat would build up inside and crack the framework from within."
He glanced at me nervously. "Is that... is that right?"
"Yeah. That's three."
With that Kadoc brought out his notebook and flipped to a random page. He glanced at me, then at the paper, then back at me.
"Um," he said quietly. "Can I... can I write the paper?"
I looked up from my phone
"You want to write it?"
He nodded quickly, then seemed to realize how eager that looked and tried to play it off. "I mean, you already found most of the problems. It's only fair if I do the writing part."
I only did 1 part of the whole thing, I then shrugged and replied. "Fine by me."
He blinked, like he'd expected me to say no. Then he pulled the paper closer and started writing, his shoulders relaxing slightly.
I just went on my phone and scrolled through different kinds of social media. But in my head I was thinking about Kadoc. I know people like him and I know exactly what he's doing.
"Hey Kadoc, I have a question."
Kadoc looked up, waiting for my question.
"Why do you feel the need to prove yourself?" I asked without any fanfare.
Kadoc looked like he short-circuited for a second before regaining his bearings.
"I... what?"
"You heard me."
He stared at me, mouth opening and closing like he was trying to find his words. His had pen stopped moving entirely.
"I don't..." He swallowed. "I don't know what you mean."
I set my phone down.
"You offered to write the paper, you're worried about getting every detail right and you're trying really hard to be useful. I'm just curious why."
He looked away. His shoulders tensed up again. He kept his eyes on the desk before speaking again. "My family doesn't have centuries of mystery behind them. No grand lineage and my family's magecraft is outdated in this era." His voice stayed quiet, but there was something underneath it. Not quite anger, something sharper. "Two hundred years," he continued. "That's all my family has. Compared to everyone else here, that's nothing. They act like I don't belong. Like I'm just taking up space."
I raised an eyebrow. Two hundred years was still two centuries of accumulated research. That wasn't nothing. But in the Clock Tower, surrounded by families with five, six, seven hundred years of history? I could see why he felt the way he did.
"So you want to prove them wrong."
He finally looked up. "I want to prove that hard work means something. That I can bridge the gap even without generations of research behind me." He gripped the pen tighter. "I want to show them that lineage isn't everything."
I considered that for a moment. Magecraft is fundamentally powered through lineage. That's just a fact. The older the family, the deeper the mystery, the stronger the magecraft. Two hundred years isn't nothing, but compared to the monsters walking these halls? It might as well be yesterday.
But he's still here. Still trying. Still writing papers and analyzing runes with me. And I can only respect him because of that.
I watched him from the corner of my eye. He was focused now, shoulders less tense than before. Like saying it out loud had taken some of the weight off.
If I'm being honest, the Root is probably closed off entirely. After the Fifth Magician appeared, that was probably the last chance any magus would have to even glimpse it. Yet the fuckers here will pursue it like their lives depend on it, instead of looking to the future.
I scrolled through my phone, half-watching Kadoc write.
It was kind of pathetic, really. All these ancient families pouring centuries into the same goal, generation after generation, and for what? A door that's probably sealed forever. They'd rather chase an impossible dream than admit the age of true magic is over. They should be looking to the future and going beyond the planet.
At least Kadoc seemed focused on something real. Proving himself. Actually learning.
That was more than most of them could say.
"You need help with that conclusion?" I asked.
He glanced up, surprised. "I... no, I've got it."
I just nodded my head before going back to my phone.
Honestly we finished the assignment pretty quickly, Kadoc wrote fast when he wasn't second-guessing himself.
He set the pen down and slid the completed paper toward me. "Do you want to read it over before we turn it in?"
I glanced at it for a few seconds, making sure they weren't any foolish mistakes. I used the dark matter cells in my brain, speeding up my natural thinking process.
After about 7 seconds I gave it back to him. "It's fine."
He blinked. "You're not going to check it?"
"I already read it."
He looked like he wanted to argue, then thought better of it. He gathered the paper and stood up. "I'll go turn it in."
I stood up too. "I'll come with you."
We walked to the front of the room. Lord El-Melloi was at his desk, already reviewing a stack of assignments. Kadoc placed our paper on the pile, gave a small bow, and turned to leave.
We stepped out into the hallway. The morning crowd had thinned out. Most students were either in their next classes or scattered across the campus.
I stretched my arms. "I'm gonna grab lunch. You want to come?"
Kadoc stopped walking. He looked at me like I'd just asked him something incomprehensible.
"You... want me to come with you?"
"That's what I said."
He shifted on his feet. "I don't... I mean, you don't have to—"
"I know I don't have to." I started walking. "You coming or not?"
He stood there for a second, then hurried to catch up. "There's a cafe near the west courtyard," he said quietly. "It's not crowded this time of day."
"Sounds good. Lead the way."
He blinked again, then nodded slowly. A small, uncertain smile tugged at the corner of his mouth as he started walking ahead.
I followed, pulling out my phone.
We arrived at a small cafe tucked away near the west courtyard. The place was quiet, just a few students scattered at tables, nursing coffee or flipping through notebooks. It was the kind of spot that stayed under the radar.
It wasn't magi exclusive though. The Clock Tower hides in plain sight near a university, so there were other students here studying normal stuff. Regular students with regular courses living regular lives. They sat in the same chairs, drank the same coffee, but read from textbooks that didn't contain a single page on thaumaturgical theory.
We found a seat near the window and grabbed the menus. It contained bagels, donuts, muffins and sandwiches. They also had sugary drinks like ice coffee and such. It didn't take too long for a waiter to come and attend to us.
"I'll take the chicken sandwich and an iced coffee," I said.
Kadoc glanced at the menu, then back at me. "I'll have the same."
The waitress nodded and walked off.
When the food came, I took a bite of my sandwich. It was decent I guess, but nothing special really.
"So what do you plan to study after General Fundamentals?"
Kadoc hesitated for a moment, like he was weighing whether the answer was worth saying out loud.
"...Astromancy," he said quietly.
I raised an eyebrow. "Stars?"
"It's more than that," he replied, a bit quicker this time. "It's about observing the flow of the world. Celestial bodies, ley lines, probability… it all overlaps." He paused, then added, "It's not… a combat-oriented field."
I nodded.
"If I'm being honest," I continued, taking another bite of my sandwich, "I'd probably study that too, along with modern magecraft."
Kadoc stared at me for a second. "Really?"
"Yeah." I shrugged. "Most magi here are obsessed with the past. Bloodlines, old rituals and reaching the Root."
I took time to stop and swallow my food.
"But that path's basically dead."
"The Fifth Magic was the last real breakthrough," I said plainly. "After that? I doubt the root is accessible, just people chasing something that's probably out of reach."
"I'd rather look forward," I continued. "Figure out what's next instead of digging through what's already been done."
I glanced out the window, watching people pass by. This world really was behind when I thought about it.
Back in Academy City, they had already started reaching beyond the planet. They were making actual progress as well.
A space elevator connecting the ground to orbit. Artificial satellites constantly feeding data back to the city. Systems like Tree Diagram calculating variables on a scale most magi here couldn't even comprehend.
They didn't stick to the past like magi did, but looked towards the future. Even other planets weren't off the table. They were already looking outward, trying to establish life on mars.
But here, they were still digging through centuries old books and chasing a door they knew wasn't open anymore. For all Academy Cities darkness and shitty researchers. They brought results, whether they be good or bad.
If more magi trusted technology, they might've made way more progress. But these fossils cling onto dead mysteries like a lifeline.
Honestly, I think my ideologies align more with Atlas Academy. The Atlas Academy has poor relations with the headquarters of the Magic Association, the Clock Tower, but it does supply human resources (alchemists, of course) upon request. It also shares a similar relationship with the Holy Church.
The Atlas alchemists are, frankly put, engineers and weapons manufacturers. The organization has been producing weapons to defeat "the end yet to come" predicted in the calculations of the institute's first headmaster, and has continued this practice to the present day.
They are less traditionalist and more based on the modern day. I might head over there to see if there's anything worthwhile that could help improve my dark matter.