As I said before, I headed straight to Jane’s workshop right after class ended.
If it were up to me, I’d want to bring Grace along, but she left first, saying she wasn’t interested.
Instead, an unexpected visitor showed up. Godin was included, but he was not the only surprise.
“Ah! Sivar, hey!”
“Eli?”
It was Eli. When I arrived at the workshop, she and Jane had already gotten there first.
I guess they came right after class because they were dressed in casual clothes. The problem was, they looked like they were about to burst out of them.
It seemed like a bit of pressure would send those buttons flying! It’s amazing she could hold it together like that.
For a moment, I felt a strange sensation about Eli’s body, no matter what she was wearing. I quickly turned my head to look for Jane.
Jane wasn’t making anything; she was checking the finished products. She looked so focused that she didn’t even notice I had arrived.
“Jane.”
“Huh? Oh, you’ve come!”
The moment I called her, Jane lit up with excitement, running over.
Then she grabbed my hand and excitedly exclaimed like she had found a savior.
“Great to see you! Shall we get started right away?”
“No. Godin hasn’t arrived yet.”
“Oh, right. Then let’s do something else!”
Jane’s reaction was way more enthusiastic than usual. She normally wouldn’t welcome me this much.
As I tilted my head, trying to figure out why, it didn’t take long to find out.
“What’s this about, sis? We agreed to have lunch together.”
“Ugh······”
“We haven’t all arrived yet, so let’s eat together.”
It was all because of the extrovert in the group. While Eli was all smiles, Jane looked a bit awkward.
You could really see the difference between an introvert and an extrovert. The vibe was already leaking out.
I’m the quiet type who listens to Jane, while Eli just blurts out whatever she wants to say.
Godin was closer to debating with people, so ordinary conversation wouldn’t be easy.
“I’m, um, going to eat later. There’s something more important than lunch right now.”
“Really? Then what about you, Sivar?”
“I’ll eat later, too. It’s too early.”
Since I arrived right after class, it wasn’t dinner time yet. If I ate too early, I’d be hungry at night.
Eli seemed to think that made sense and didn’t argue further.
“Got it. By the way, Professor Godin? Is he coming here?”
“Yeah.”
“Hmm······ I have no idea what he wants, but can I watch?”
I didn’t mind, but I wondered about Jane’s feelings. As I thought about it, I glanced at her.
“··· ···”
“··· ···”
“Why are you staring at me like that?”
“Are you okay, Jane?”
This is the workshop you use. What if the owner doesn’t say anything?
As I asked with that implied meaning, Jane blinked at me. Then she replied as if she didn’t get it.
“But you’re the one who invested, right? I have no authority.”
“··· ···”
“I thought things like this are decided by the investors.”
Is that so? I’m clueless since I’ve never invested in anything.
Still, since Jane said so, I let it go and allowed Eli to watch.
Next, I figured out what they had made before Godin arrived. Last time, I heard they finished the leg parts.
“Wow. What’s this? It looks like gloves for knights.”
“It’s similar, but it will make flying a whole lot easier.”
“Flying? Can I fly with this?”
“You use it together with the boots.”
Recently, they had even completed the gloves. Plus, they apparently tried them out already.
As expected, they consumed a lot of magic power, which was a drawback, but they could deliver quite the force.
“So, if I use this, I can fly freely? What a remarkable invention!”
“Remarkable? If it had any usefulness, I would have invented it long ago. I just made it because I wanted to.”
Jane, who was genuinely flattered by Eli’s praise, turned bashful. The way she scratched her head and smiled was just adorable.
As Jane said, they were things she should have invented ages ago. The problem is, no one but Jane could even attempt them.
After all, it’s over-technology by modern standards. While the presence of magic makes it possible, Jane’s talent is just unfair.
‘If Godin adds his own magic, then······’
Ta-da! Here’s something that even 21st-century Earth couldn’t make.
It’s a combination of talent and an environment that supports it. Of course, Godin and Jane are geniuses.
If they had been born on Earth, they would have easily won Nobel Prizes. Jane would have gotten hers during grad school.
‘Or, she could just have ended up getting exploited and having her papers stolen······?’
Knowing Jane, that could very well be. She had gone through similar things in the Soul World, so it ain’t far-fetched.
While I was lost in these useless thoughts, looking over the boots and gloves, not long after, Godin arrived at the workshop, and he couldn’t help but marvel.
“Wow. This is amazing! A workshop like this is supposed to be incredibly expensive.”
“Thanks to Mr. Sivar’s investment.”
“Mr. Sivar?”
Godin looked at me with a puzzled expression. Come to think of it, all I did was introduce Jane.
But it seemed Godin wasn’t particularly concerned and brushed it off. He was more focused on the inventions than personal matters.
He then examined the theories more than the items Jane made. Calculating everything with mathematics is the first step of design.
“Hmm······ doesn’t seem to be any problems, but the output is so powerful that it could also work as a weapon.”
“Yeah. I worried about that, so I made it a simple energy release to avoid explosions.”
“Energy release, huh? Did you consider the backlash from that?”
“Of course. If you look here······”
And there it was—the kind of conversation only geniuses can share.
As soon as the two began chatting, I became a spectator, gazing absentmindedly.
Eli was doing the same next to me, subtly crossing her arms.
Feeling the warmth of her arms, I felt at ease. We quietly leaned our heads together.
“I can’t understand a single word they’re saying, right?”
“Yep.”
“But it’s kinda fun.”
“True.”
It felt like watching a movie. A perfect flick for killing time.
Fortunately, their chat didn’t last long. They needed to figure out what was wrong through practice rather than theory.
And of course, the one who would be embarking on this practice was me. If they’d experimented last time, it was my turn now.
“Are the boot and glove sizes just right?”
“Yep. But they’re sweaty.”
“Ah. Now that I think about it, I didn’t make any ventilation holes. I need to make a note of that.”
Jane wrote it down on the board. The fact that she doesn’t overlook such meticulous details shows she’s a born scientist.
After putting on both the boots and gloves, I was briefed. The boots were the same, but the gloves were different.
“The energy fired from the center of the gloves won’t explode, but there’s a strong recoil. So be careful.”
“Got it.”
“Okay then, let’s get started.”
“Do we go outside?”
“No.”
Then where are we testing it? When I wondered about that, Jane suddenly moved somewhere, pulling a lever. I hadn’t seen that before.
Vwoom-
As she pulled the lever down, a noise came from above. The rest of us, including me, looked up at the ceiling.
To our surprise, the ceiling started opening up. Again, let me clarify: this ceiling opens up like a dome.
Isn’t that the part I broke last time? Jane immediately explained.
“I figured the repair costs would be high, so I just made it myself. I didn’t want to be kicked out for no reason.”
“Were you not caught?”
“No.”
“··· ···”
It’s ridiculous, but I guess she really is a genius. I barely held back a laugh.
With everything ready, I stood under the open ceiling and activated my magic power.
“Jane, does it start as soon as I activate my magic?”
“Yes.”
“Hmm. Later, we’ll need to think about reaction magic, too. Since I’ll need it to activate whenever I want.”
“That’s a good idea. I’ve had some trouble with that.”
Let them chatter on. I’m about to fly.
Not wanting another accidental burst like last time, I decided to use only a small amount of magic power.
Soon, the magic flowed into the boots on my feet, and I began to hear a rough sound from beneath.
Vwoom-
With the loud noises emanating from below, my body gradually began to rise.
Next to me, Eli was going “Oh! Oh!” sounding impressed non-stop.
If I just increased the output a bit more······
BOOM!!
I would soar up towards the wide-open ceiling. Thanks to my previous experiment, it was easy to maintain my balance.
Besides, just like in the movies, I had to keep my feet together. If my legs spread even a little, things would get messy.
‘Wow······’
Last time, everything happened too suddenly, so I didn’t have time to take it all in. But this time was different.
As I successfully took off, I could see the scenery all around. A miracle achieved through science, not magic.
I could see the monument in the distance, along with the Academy’s main hall and the dormitory building. Even the dueling arena was in view.
But it wasn’t enough. What I envisioned wasn’t just vertical flight; I wanted to fly freely.
I bent slightly and extended my hands back, palms facing backwards.
BOOM!
“Whoa!”
I nearly lost my balance. As Jane warned, the output was stronger than expected.
But while I slanted just slightly off balance, I wasn’t about to crash down.
‘Looks like I can’t fly fast yet.’
I was still inexperienced at flying, which meant I could only move slowly. I wasn’t about to shoot up into the sky recklessly, either.
I wasn’t worried about freezing as in the movies; I was worried they might cast an anti-air magic in the Academy.
This world has flying monsters, hence the need for anti-air magic. If I got hit, I was sure to plummet.
This was only a test. I intended to circle around the sky and then head back.
Fizz!
“Huh?”
But what was that unsettling sound? I furrowed my brow at the noise coming from my hands.
Even while keeping the output low, if this noise came? Something must be wrong. Something really unsettling.
While briefly trying a vertical flight, I looked at my hands. Then I couldn’t help but blink.
Fzzzt!
“······What’s this?”
Smoke was coming out! As if it couldn’t handle the heat!
Not only that, I wondered if the boots were still fine after seeing the gloves.
Crackle! Crackle!
As expected, strange phenomena were occurring in the boots as well. It was an overheating issue brought on by the red magic.
I hadn’t considered overheating. Such a thing didn’t happen even in the Soul World.
‘No. There was one instance.’
Sometimes, it would stop moving after a pattern. Could that have been overheating?
I had quite a train of thought, but the breakdown of the boots and gloves happened at lightning speed. Before I knew it, both the boots and gloves stopped operating.
And what happened next? What happened, you ask?
Whoosh-
I plummeted straight down. While I managed to maintain my balance, that’s when the real problem began.
If I kept falling like this, I’d end up headed straight for the dormitory. The whole dorm building would be a wreck, and I wouldn’t have any excuses for getting expelled.
Even if there was no damage to human life, at the bare minimum, I’d surely face some disciplinary action. I wracked my brain for a plan.
‘What to do? How can I······!’
While plunging downward, I still had some time to think before hitting the ground.
As I looked down, one of the buildings caught my eye.
It was none other than Rod’s Residence. More precisely, the vacant lot in the backyard.
That place wouldn’t have any people, right? So it should be fine. I quickly made up my mind.
‘Better to get hit with a ton of insults than cause damage.’
Immediately, I rotated my body halfway. Once I aligned my direction, I concentrated my magic into my palm.
Just to be safe, I aimed a bit upward instead of straight down. Then I fired the concentrated magic.
WHOOM!
It wasn’t from the damaged gloves but rather red magic power from my palm.
Similar to a death beam but different. If a death beam is a kind of laser, mine was closer to a cannon.
Thanks to the recoil, my position shifted slightly. I didn’t stop there and fired again in succession.
BOOM! WHOOM!
Red magic blasts shot out one after the other from my palms. Before long, I was above Rod’s Residence.
The issue was that wasn’t the end of my problems. I wanted to land in the vacant lot, but time was running short.
WHAM! BOOM! CRACK!
In the end, I crashed into the ceiling. I should be praying Rod wasn’t around.
But perhaps due to quitting time, I found myself standing up groggily after the fall.
I think I felt a few bones break, but I could recover quickly with regeneration. Pain is something I can endure.
“Ouch, ouch······”
As I groaned and tried to stand up, I felt a peculiar gaze directed at me.
The moment I sensed that gaze, I cautiously turned my head, and lo and behold.
“··· ···”
Rod stood there, head covered in dust, a teacup in hand.
His expression was as kindly as a grandfather’s, but behind him lurked the figure of some demonic spirit with many arms.
It wasn’t just a hallucination. There were definitely multiple arms of a demon staring daggers at me.
My wilderness instinct screamed. No, before my wilderness instinct could scream, that thought crossed my mind.
“······Hello?”
I’m done for.
[Faith has risen!]