The basement of the Old Library was silent, save for the faint sizzling of the H_2SO_4 neutralizing the last of the pathogen's biological core. Elara stood frozen, her amethyst eyes darting between the pile of grey ash and the small, clinical glass vials in my hands.
"You're not going to kill me, are you?" she asked, her voice surprisingly steady for someone who had just watched a ten-year-old dismantle a cosmic horror.
"My mother told me to ensure there are no witnesses," I said, wiping a smudge of black slime off my sleeve. "But my father told me that killing royalty is a 'logistical nightmare' that leads to too much paperwork. I'm currently weighing the two options."
I pulled up my dashboard to check the local stability.
[ANALYTICAL DASHBOARD: POST-INCIDENT]
Current Status: Adrenaline Spike (Normalizing)
Location: Sector 0-G (Basement)
Attribute Value Change
Level 15 +1 (Milestone: First Containment)
Intelligence 56 +2 (New Data: Pathogen DNA structure)
Mana (MP) 885/950 +30 (Capacity increase from Level Up)
System Sync 12.4% Alert: Analyzing 'Pathogen Probe' origin...
New Passive Acquired:
[Variable Management]: You can now track the 'Trust Levels' of key individuals in real-time.
Target: Elara von Heist (Trust: 14% - Extremely Suspicious)
"Look," I said, turning to her. "That thing wasn't a random monster. It was a Mana-Phage. It's designed to hunt for high-density energy sources. If I hadn't used chemistry—non-magical chemistry—it would have consumed your mana, then the Professor's, and then it would have signaled the 'Main Body' that the Academy is a buffet."
"The 'Main Body'?" Elara stepped forward, her fear being overtaken by the characteristic curiosity of her bloodline. "You mean the threat the Veridians are guarding? My father's advisors say the Veridians are just... quiet nobles."
"We are the 'Grounding Wire' of this continent, Elara," I explained, leaning against a cold stone pillar. "Think of the world's mana like an electrical grid. If the voltage gets too high, the system blows. My family lives on the biggest 'leak' in the world. We don't just 'guard' the seal; we absorb the excess pressure so people like you can cast fireballs without the atmosphere spontaneously combusting."
I reached into my bag and pulled out a small, lead-lined parchment. It was a Veridian Silence Bond, a specialized chemical contract my father had tucked into my kit for "social emergencies."
"If you want to leave this basement with your memories and your title intact, I need you to sign this. It's a non-disclosure agreement, enforced at the molecular level. If you speak about my family's secrets or my 'vials' to anyone—including your father—the ink in your bloodstream will trigger a localized paralytic."
Elara stared at the parchment. "You're asking a Princess of the Realm to sign a contract with a ten-year-old?"
"I'm asking a survivor to cooperate with her savior," I corrected. "Besides, the system is already changing. Look at the wall."
I pointed to where the slime had been. The stone wasn't just clean; it was translucent. The pathogen had eaten away the magical reinforcement of the Academy, revealing the "Lower Code" of the world—a shimmering lattice of raw Aether.
[NOTIFICATION]
Hidden Discovery: The World Lattice.
Observation: The Academy is built on a "Dead Node."
Insight: The path to ******** requires you to "Re-wire" the node using Python-based Logic gates via the System interface.
"The world is breaking, Elara," I said, my voice softening. "Magic is a band-aid on a gaping wound. Chemistry and Data—the things I do—are the only ways to actually stitch it shut. I can't do that if I'm being dissected in a Royal Lab."
Elara looked at the translucent wall, then at me. She took the quill from my hand. "You're a monster, Cyrus Veridian. But the elders say the world was built by monsters."
She signed the parchment.
[TRUST UPDATED]
Elara von Heist: 45% (Wary Ally)
Bonus: +500 EXP for "Political Neutralization."
"Good," I said, the parchment dissolving into a puff of blue smoke. "Now, help me carry the guard upstairs. We'll tell them he tripped over a mop and hit his head on a 'containment-grade' cleaning solution."
As we hauled the unconscious man toward the stairs, the System chimed one last time.
[MAIN QUEST UPDATE]
Objective: Secure a "Laboratory Space" within the Academy.
Requirement: Attain the title of [Head of Alchemy Club].
Warning: A rival "Reincarnator" has been detected in the Knight's Academy.
I nearly dropped the guard's legs. A rival? I thought I was the only one with the "Molecular" advantage.
"Is something wrong?" Elara asked, noticing my sudden pallor.
"Nothing," I lied, though my mind was already running a comparative analysis. "I just realized I'm going to need a lot more Sulfuric Acid."