The man who introduced himself had slightly curly black hair and wore an open white blazer that revealed a green t-shirt. His relatively handsome face looked out toward all the students in the Hall.
It wasn't his appearance that caught my eye, but the weapon he carried. I was also confused, why did he bring this demonstration weapon? Was that even allowed?
It seemed I wasn't the only one; almost all the students in the hall were bewildered. They muttered to their friends about his messy appearance and the weapon he held.
"Ahh... you must be wondering what kind of device I've brought, right?" The man named Rival Ostern lifted the large weapon to his chest with effort. In the center of the weapon, a pointed crystal floated and spun with electricity crackling around it. He continued:
"Yes, this is a weapon. I call it the Mana Buster," he stated firmly. "The reason I brought this is to share my innovation with all of you first, before I develop something even larger." His voice sounded so convincing that it piqued my curiosity.
"First of all, I will explain why I created this weapon... Ahem, well, you already know that humanity currently struggles to reclaim the outside world because of the First Generation Monsters and atmospheric pressure that could make your lungs explode. Even S-Rank Hunters can't do much...
"That is because they are all still using the old ways—fighting with their own natural strength, which is fundamentally limited by the human physique.
"But now, with this innovation of mine, the chance of reclaiming the outside world will be much greater." He paced back and forth.
The students' murmurs grew louder, and the professors looked as though they wanted to pull Rival off the stage, but curiosity held them back.
"Alright, just so you know, I will directly demonstrate the destructive power of this weapon on that iron block." Rival raised his weapon and pulled the trigger. At that moment, the crystal in the center of the weapon began to spin rapidly, creating a lightning tornado.
—Boom!
The iron block exploded, and what remained melted into ash. I now realized just how destructive that weapon was.
"See?" Rival smirked as he saw the students' shocked faces. "Well, the reason why this is so destructive is that this device works by absorbing Atmospheric Mana using this crystal as bait. Then, the absorbed mana is converted into tiny particles, nearly as small as atoms, due to the rotation of the mana crystal. This eventually creates space for more Mana to enter, making this void incredibly dense with Mana particles.
"And those Mana particles will collide with each other to create extraordinary power, which is then channeled into the barrel."
'Huh? How could he create something like that? I, who designed the Atmospheric Mana system, didn't even think of this...' Come to think of it, the way the device worked was almost like a nuclear reaction.
"Imagine, a weapon this small, made with a minimal production budget, already has destructive power like this." Rival shrugged. "What if this were seriously mass-produced? Humanity would surely reclaim the outside world."
Rival shook his head with a wry smile. "But it seems they, the Hunter Guilds and their Hunters, won't agree to this. How could they? If this is developed, we won't need them anymore. Where would they get their money? Haha, they don't actually want to save humanity; all they want is money." At this point, Rival's voice trembled as if he were holding back anger.
I agreed with the statement that the Hunter Guilds only wanted money; sometimes they were even happy when a major disaster occurred. This was a common conflict in my novel... So it wasn't just in the Main Story that such Guilds existed; perhaps all Safe Zones faced this kind of conflict?
"Alright, I'll set this to full power to destroy that larger iron block." Rival aimed his weapon at a bigger iron block.
He pulled the trigger, and the Mana Crystal in the center of the weapon spun faster than before, producing even more electrical energy. Initially, the weapon seemed to vibrate normally, but the vibration grew more violent over time. Rival seemed to realize something was wrong as his face turned to panic.
'Wait, can't he control his weapon?' I took a step back, bit by bit, feeling a bad premonition.
—Boom!
Suddenly, a laser shot from the weapon, far stronger than before. It pierced the iron block and nearly hit a professor standing far behind it. Rival, realizing he couldn't control the weapon, began lifting it toward the sky to avoid casualties, but the beam erased every wall and roof it touched.
Fire began to blaze along the path of the laser.
In an instant, the atmosphere turned chaotic. Students ran aimlessly as the Hall began to burn. The weapon finally stopped firing, but the fire left on the walls and roof did not die down.
"Get out immediately!"
"Watch out, don't go that way!"
"Move! Move!"
"This way—this way!"
I turned around, intending to leave, but stopped when I saw a section of the roof about to fall toward a group of students who were coughing and searching for an exit.
The roof finally gave way!
Reflexively, I raised my hand toward the roof and gathered wind magic as strongly as I could.
—Swoosh!
My body was thrown back by the recoil, though not as violently as it had been at the Academy.
—Crash!
The roof was hit by my wind blast and scattered into small, harmless pieces.
'Fuhh, thank goodness they're safe.' I breathed a sigh of relief.
Then some students rushed past me, and one accidentally bumped into me. They turned out to be Water specialist Mages who were trying to put out the fire.
"Cough! Cough!" The smoke grew thicker as the fire was being extinguished. Finally, I retreated slowly to exit the Hall.
Through the thick smoke, my eyes caught Rival Ostern being led away by two security guards, his eyes wide in disbelief at what he had done.
"Cough! Cough!" I finally exited the Hall after passing through the crowds.
'Sial, my lungs really feel like they're burning. This must be because of Adrian's very sensitive sense of smell.' I walked away toward my office in another building.
During that walk, my thoughts were still anchored on Rival Ostern.
'What is this? Why can characters in the novel create innovations that exploit the System I made?' I really didn't expect something like this to happen. Rival Ostern truly surpasses my imagination.
I'm starting to suspect that he might be one of the potential threats that will destroy this Safe Zone. Especially that weapon. It's like a nuke with almost unlimited energy. If something that small can cause this much damage, what if it were seriously developed?
It would have continental-scale destructive power. No, it could reach a planetary scale at full potential! My hair stood on end just imagining it. 'Damn, I created an Atmospheric Mana system so fragile that it can be exploited by the humans in this novel world. I really never thought about this before.'
Now, possibilities began to arise in my mind. 'With that weapon, humans wouldn't just reclaim the world outside the walls. They could also dominate powerful entities like Angels, Demons, and other superior races. So perhaps, an entity felt threatened by that weapon and destroyed this Safe Zone until it was leveled, leaving no life behind...'
'Rival Ostern... who is he?' I ground my teeth as I climbed the stairs to my office. 'I will find out who he is...'
I finally arrived in front of my office, straightened my clothes, and looked in the mirror, forcing a smile to hide my tense expression.
I pushed the door and entered. "I'm in."
In this neat, white-painted room, there were two people. The first was a 30-year-old man with blonde hair combed back somewhat messily, wearing a white shirt and reading what looked like a novel. He was my supervisor, Professor Nolan.
In the corner of the room was a man around my age with reddish-black hair. His name was Alex, and he was busy with his work.
Prof. Nolan looked at me as I approached. "I heard some commotion; what happened outside?"
"Oh, that... there was a freshman demonstrating a weapon in the Hall. Then the weapon went out of control and, well, it was chaos..." I said as I pulled up a chair to sit in front of him.
Then I took the thesis papers belonging to the freshmen that I had to check and correct. Adrian was a high-achieving student at this University, so Professor Nolan allowed him to grade theses.
Adrian was also Prof. Nolan's assistant. The reason he was recruited, of course, was that the University lacked lecturers, most people preferred to enter the Magic Academy to become Hunters rather than stay in the University as vulnerable civilians. While it was possible to enroll in both, it required a significant amount of money.
"A weapon... are you serious?" Prof. Nolan said, confused.
"What, a student brought a weapon?" Suddenly Alex slid his chair toward me.
I nodded. "Yes, a weapon. Its name is the Mana Buster..." I explained everything to them—the mechanism and the resulting chaos.
After finishing the explanation, I asked, "To be honest, it's an extraordinary innovation, isn't it? But it's very dangerous and high-risk... What do you think, Professor?"
Prof. Nolan touched his chin with a smile, then chuckled as if finding something funny. "Well, it is indeed very dangerous, but if it can be controlled, it will be a major discovery that could change history."
"Ahh, yes... you're right. I just hope it's used for good," I answered, nodding awkwardly.
Hours passed, and my lecture session finally ended at 1:30 PM. Before going home, I stopped by my office to pick up a document containing the new students' data.
Once I found what I wanted—Rival Ostern's data—I made a copy and put it in my bag. 'So it turns out he's from Defier City, which isn't far from here.'
I'll keep his data just in case he acts recklessly with his device. It's dangerous to just let him go, but right now I have no power to do anything. Most likely, he will flee after today's events.
I left the room and locked the door.
For now, I will focus on my goal: the Black Market I've been planning for all night.
I need to go there to buy magic equipment and attribute Runes, especially the Shadow Rune. While Hunter Guilds sell such equipment, it's far too expensive and requires tedious procedures that would waste my time. My mind is made up.
'I'm going to the Black Market.'