The ripples spread a short distance.
Just like throwing a pebble into a river, ripples would bounce back after encountering an object. This was also the principle of Radar systems.
The same thing occurred in the magic circuit. Something was reflecting the ripples. It was located inside this part of the magic circuit.
Since he had already confirmed it, Henry drew a bit on the magic circuit. This modification only slightly affected it.
It was temporary. It allowed him to reveal a tiny corner of the object embedded in the magic circuit— the corner of a white paper.
(A page! I knew it!)
Henry was excited. His guess was correct. This was the 55th page!
This page was about how to cancel out a spell using mana. It was a high-level technique that worked best against those who chanted their spells.
In other words, this was the center of this magic circuit! It allowed it to cancel out incoming spells and defend the academy.
No wonder Henry noticed it was unusually connected on this part. The page was already a part of the circuit.
The academy right now might not even be aware of its existence. It was hidden well. These students would never have found it.
Frankly, it was evident the magus teachers like Trago and Prospect were not aware. Or maybe they did. Henry did not know. He could only guess.
Knowing that he was correct, Henry desired to take it more.
He placed his palm on the magic circuit and channeled his mana in. He sensed the object more clearly.
The whole image of the paper formed in his mind. It was intact, and he wrapped his mana into it and attempted to pull.
(It's not budging...)
Henry halted. He was already a Low-class magus, but it was still hard.
He resumed, exerted more mana, and pulled harder.
The page shook a little, and he immediately stopped. It was not the right time to take it yet.
Evidently, it was possible to remove it, but it would cause a commotion. He needed to find or create an opportunity where no one was there.
Henry stood up and repeated what he had just done on a few parts of the magic circuit. He pretended he was testing the magic circuit. The students were unaware that he was plotting to steal from the academy.
Well, stealing was not the correct term. The page was Henry's item. He made it and owned it. He was merely taking it back.
Although, Henry also planned to keep the magic circuit's features as it was. It would be his thank you for their safekeeping.
He spent a few hours and stood up.
"The magic circuit has no problems!" Henry shouted with a smile.
He made sure all the students heard him. His acting fooled them as the students smiled instead of feeling doubt.
He returned to his apartment.
Felicia was sitting on the bed. She held the white staff with both hands and held it up above her head.
"What are you doing?"
"Master…"
Felicia opened her eyes. She was a little confused and slowly regained clarity.
"What were you doing?" Henry repeated.
"Oh… I was channeling my mana and… sensed something I couldn't figure out."
Felicia revealed everything to him.
Earlier, she practiced channeling mana into the white staff in order to familiarize herself with it better. It had a lot of potential she still needed to uncover.
As she tried, she noticed it tug on her soul.
She repeated the process a couple of times. Before Henry arrived, the feeling became intense, and she entered into a trance as a direct result.
By the end of her story, Henry's face became solemn.
"Did you see something?"
"No? Was I supposed to?"
Felicia tilted her head in confusion. She recalled her memories earlier and couldn't remember anything.
"Let me use it."
Henry took the white staff from her hand and channeled his mana in.
The mana flooded the material and was amplified as he created a simple flash of light. It was as he expected, and he didn't sense the tug she talked about.
"Hmm…"
Henry was suspicious.
The soul of a person is special. It could only be touched or interacted with at a high level. This average-looking staff failed to fit that criteria.
Since it did, then it was odd, very odd. This needed to be investigated.
"Let's visit the shop again!"
Henry didn't care if there was any ambusher out there. This mystery took priority.
The duo left together and arrived at the academy's gates.
"Henry, stop!"
A student there stopped him. Henry didn't know him.
"Why?"
"You're not allowed to leave the academy's premises without a magus teacher with you."
"When did that happen?" Henry was shocked.
No one told him that the past week.
"This morning. I don't know the specifics, but there are rumors that the Center Empire had long ago established a foothold in Virtue City."
"That's a problem…"
Henry was faced with even greater difficulty now. It would be harder for him to escape after stealing the object.
He was confident in his abilities, but he didn't know if they would find it out someday in the future. He didn't want to stay in the academy while on his toes.
Felicia was more worried than Henry. She knew their plan and felt that this might be related. Though, it was just her guess.
Since they couldn't leave, they turned around and headed to the Faculty building of the magus teachers. They would try to get a magus teacher to accompany them.
There were a lot of magus teachers in the academy. They taught different magics and allowed students to hop from one class to the other.
Judy's class was the most basic one. Her students could choose to move to a different one, but she was a good teacher so few did.
As they got close, they saw a magus teacher walking out of the building.
It was someone he was familiar with.
"…"
The person in question stopped as soon as he saw the duo.
"Mr. Coc— I mean, Conrad!"