"G-garbage?"
Henry's harsh words startled Felicia. She looked at her magic circuit again and simulated it in her mind.
And after a while, she stared at him with confusion. She just checked, and she was confident it wasn't garbage. It would work as she intended!
"You're not good enough to make your own magic circuit yet. You mastered a bit of that magic circuit, but you hadn't understood magic circuits. In truth, you only learned how to unravel them."
Henry shook his head at her. It was a reminder that she still needed to learn more.
It was also his way of calming her down.
"What did I do wrong?" Felicia asked, feeling sad.
She was unsure where she went wrong. She trusted Henry's words, but she worked so hard creating that magic circuit! She was unwilling to let it go without knowing why.
"You lack a mana source and several other important elements. You only have the trigger and explosion parts. They're not even efficient."
Henry didn't spare anything and criticized her without sugarcoating his words.
He needed to calm down her excitement. It would be catastrophic if she tried one of her magic circuits in the future and it went wrong.
"Oh…"
Felicia looked at the magic circuit again and understood what Henry was trying to say. Indeed, she only had those two features in the magic circuit she cooked up.
"You need to calm down and take it slow. The magic system wasn't built in a day."
Henry nodded at her.
He was happy with her progress, but it was too much in a short amount of time. She also needed to digest what she learned.
Felicia took several deep breaths and calmed down. She sat down on the bed and looked at what she had made.
After a while, she sighed. It was a waste of time.
"Thanks, Master."
Felicia was grateful. At least she was able to see things more clearly now.
A few seconds earlier, she believed magic circuits were so easy. Her blind confidence almost led her to make fatal mistakes.
"It's normal. You're talented in this field. But you need to remember that magic circuits are more complex."
"Yes, Master."
Felicia nodded as she felt embarrassed.
"At the highest level, a magic circuit can control the world. Instead of focusing on something as easy as a trap, you should strive for that."
Henry smiled. His memory about it was faint, but he knew that the mana pathways of the world were magic circuits. They were everywhere, and the crossings became mana crystal mines.
Felicia's eyes lit up, hearing him reveal that to her. That revelation was like a bomb that shook her understanding of magic circuits.
"This has a lot of tiny magic circuits."
Henry took out the 31st page of his magic tome and gave it to her.
Felicia held it in her hand and moved it close to her eyes. She blinked with uncertainty. She couldn't see the magic circuits he was talking about.
"You're too weak to see them. One day, I will let you study them." Henry smiled widely.
He was very proud of his creation. It was something he worked tirelessly on.
Felicia was amazed while holding the page. She rubbed her fingers on its surface and felt its roughness.
Now that Henry mentioned it. There was something on the surface that she could feel. It was similar to the paper's natural roughness, but it was a tiny bit more defined.
If someone didn't know, they would never suspect such a thing. Only someone of a higher class could see the hidden tiny magic circuits.
"When they're all complete, you will see my best work regarding magic circuits."
Felicia's heart thumped with excitement. She very much wanted to see that one day. It was something she fiercely wanted to study.
She recalled the illusion Henry showed her of him using his magic tome. It released astonishing power that shook her soul.
It was only passively releasing its energy at that time, but what if it actively attacked? She struggled to imagine the destruction it would cause.
"I can't wait for that day to come, Master."
Felicia fully calmed down now. She was eager to learn more and took Henry's advice to heart.
"Clean that up. You need to take advantage of this opportunity. We might leave a month from now."
"Why?"
Felicia was startled. She thought they would be studying in this academy for a few years. She hadn't expected their stay to be short.
If she added all the time, they would only be here for a month and a half. That was too brief.
"I need to do something big before things get complicated," Henry answered.
He omitted the details from her. He was already planning a big heist.
She didn't need to know yet.
"Give me a clue, Master."
Felicia was super curious. This reminded her of when they sneakily stole the mana nectar under the noses of the others. It was an amazing feeling back then.
"It's about what you were studying." Henry smiled enigmatically.
"OHH!"
Felicia knew what he was talking about immediately. It was the anomaly she noticed while studying the blueprint.
That magic circuit part hid something below the surface. It was an object, and the magic circuit depended on it to a certain extent.
Knowing Henry and his subtleties, she was certain it was related to that.
"Now that you know, study hard. Time is not on our side."
Henry patted her shoulder and stood up to take a shower.
…
The next day came.
Henry sat at the podium with Felicia beside him.
Judy arrived a moment later and started her lessons again. This time, she avoided eye contact with Henry and acted like she didn't know him.
A long while later, the sun neared setting, and the lesson finished.
Henry walked out of the podium. And immediately, a group of students stopped him.
"Henry!"
It was Correal. His group was behind him, and they were all glaring in unison.
"What is it this time?"
Henry had enough of this clown group. They were like a mosquito. If he didn't kill them, they would return to suck his blood no matter how much he swatted his hand.