Grit… Illyna’s expression turned menacing. Without being able to hide her frustration, her eyes were red like she was going to cry at any minute.
“The verdict…”
“Wait! He is definitely an alchem…!” Illyna shouted.
“Wait.”
The woman was about to give the verdict when Davey slowly raised his hand and stepped up to interfere. A dramatic skit was bound to become boring if it continued for a long time. He said, “First, let’s set the premise.”
“Be careful of your words, outsider!” Sio shouted. The young man was more hot-tempered than he looked.
“Stop! Alright, outsider. I’ll allow you to speak.” Of course, one of the Teachers interrupted Sio.
“I don’t know the situation here, nor do I really understand that sense of mission that you guys talk about.”
Everyone started buzzing as Davey spoke.
“Then…”
“But isn’t it inevitable?”
Everyone went silent.
“You hid yourselves in the basement and your activities are all done in secret; it’s wrong to expect someone new to know about the sense of mission of such an organization in the first place. Or…”
Illyna sighed. It was like she was thinking, ‘There he goes again.’
“Did you secretly wish for people to know about your sacrifice?”
“You dare insult the knight order?!”
“Sio Howl! Watch your words!”
Davey knew this was not at all how Illyna had intended for the situation to go, but it looked like they were going to discuss armchair theories all day long if he left the situation alone. He pointed out, “Then, what you should be doing is finding seedlings that have potential, not ones that have already been refined. Am I wrong?”
“So, are you saying that you are a seedling that has the potential to succeed?”
“The Alpha Reinforcements’s sense of mission will naturally be absorbed if the knight order truly maintains their noble will.”
“Hahahahahaha!!”
Perhaps Davey’s words had triggered the large man, who was keeping his silence. The man began laughing loudly, and he drew everyone’s attention. “That’s right. Right. You are right!”
“Teacher Boris!!”
“Sio, stop!! Did you not hear my warning?”
“T… That is…”
“Alright. What is your name?” Boris asked.
“Davey. Davey O’Rowane…”
“Do you think you have the talent to become part of the secret knight order of Alpha Reinforcements?”
Davey chuckled at his question as soon as he heard it.
“What use would it be to repeat it a hundred times over? However, I would like to believe that Alpha Reinforcements isn’t a narrow-minded organization that comforts themselves based on the amount of mana.”
“…”
“I sort of had a fantasy about this place; it would be a little disappointing if it were to be false.”
It was true that Davey had quite a good impression about this secret knight order thanks to the stories he had heard about the Last Wisp from Bow Lord Apollo.
“…I concede. However, can you show us that talent right now?” Boris asked.
“If you’re talking about talent like that mage who completely lacks any EQ…”
“You…” The expression of Sio Howl, the blue-haired boy, grew extremely cold.
“Wouldn’t you know if you compared us side by side?”
Davey didn’t care about causality or the relationship between people of this organization; he was only interested in helping Illyna take the test and gathering data at the secret knight order. That was enough for him.
The three Teachers exchanged glances like they understood what Davey had meant, and they decided to grant Illyna’s request. The questioning was over.
* * *
What was the standard for judging talent? This wasn’t a place where there were only sword-wielding knights or mages; as it was a place for similarly aged children who all had unique talents to gather, the standard for judging talent wasn’t that great.
“The Teachers told me to go easy on you, but expect no mercy from me, outsider,” Sio spoke coldly while raising his staff.
Davey did not reply. He recalled that Sio dared to attack Megatron as well as released his killing aura. Killing aura was part of the energy of emotion that came out when one desired to kill someone. He thought that he needed to let Sio know that he should also expect to die if he desired to kill someone as well. Of course, Davey had to control his level of power since his plan would go to waste if he killed Sio.
“Illyna! That person's mana is weak like an ordinary person.”
“Yeah. Even if he has a plan…”
“It’s okay, Shayir, Fendyr. Thank you for your concern, but…” With a sigh, Illyna mumbled to herself so quietly that no one else could hear her. She watched the enormous empty lot in front of her. “I’m actually scared about how that lunatic will crush Sio.”
Holding a cube that contained a compressed version of Megatron in one hand, and a normal wooden sword in the other, Davey stared at the blue-haired Sio calmly.
Sio was a so-called genius who had unique abilities that were rare for a mage who had received the blessing of mana. He was extremely hostile to Davey like his pride had been hurt. Then, he smiled coldly as Davey lightly tossed the cube in his hand as a crowd of people watched. “I’ll let you have the first move. I don’t know what kind of trick you are going to play when you barely have any mana but try your best.”
Davey threw the cube into the air without hesitation and uttered a simple order. “Megatron, an order.”
[Command accepted. Waiting.]
“Pull out electric chainsaw.”
[Command confirmed. Activating.]
Clang!! Clunk! Vroom!! Whirr!! The atmosphere froze when the Megatron turned into a giant warrior and pulled out an enormous electric chainsaw.
“Let’s calm down a bit and have a talk.”
‘With the amazing method of communication in the Megatron’s hand.’
42. You Are in the Palm of My Hand
The golem’s metal parts began twisting and turning once again. It soon transformed into a form of a giant warrior. Whir!! Whirrr!! Then, the electric sword, which had an amazing appearance and sound, overwhelmed everyone with its great roar.
“Davey! Don’t kill him no matter how angry you are!” Illyna shouted in horror. She knew about the abnormal destructive power the Megatron’s electric chainsaw possessed, but Davey ignored her and just stared at Sio Howl, the boy in front of him.
“A go…lem? You… You were a golem controller?” Sio asked.
A cold, terrifying aura surrounded the space as the gigantic Megatron roared loudly, boasting its greatness. Mana began flowing into its body.
“No wonder I could only feel a weak mana from you. You’re trying to play a worthless trick and only rely on that lump of metal…” Sio began releasing his mana at once. He quietly expressed his anger toward Megatron as if he had some weird sense of pride.
Crack!!
[Release]
At the same time, several sharp ice crystals appeared in the air and flew toward Davey and Megatron without mercy. It was a rapid attack that normal people wouldn’t have been able to react to as each crystal was like an arrow from a bow gun.
The merit of the ones who had received the blessing of mana was quite significant; ordinary people had to recite quite a long spell in order to cast magic unless they were as gifted as Yulis. However, those with the blessing of mana were able to overrule that notion; it meant that they could minimize the reciting without even trying. Not only that, but their bodies also absorbed a certain amount of mana, and the same amount of mana showed an unbelievable level of efficiency if used by them. It was a little similar to the level of Absorption where one was able to feel the will of their mana and resonate with it in that sense.
Clang clang clang clang!! Clang!! Maybe it was because the shards were coming at not only Megatron but at Davey as well that the golem, which was showing its great presence with its enormous size, stepped in front of Davey and prevented the attacks from reaching him. It seemed he didn’t have to worry about killing Sio since he had lowered its output of power to the minimum.
‘He is going to bleed a little though.’
“Hm, the reaction speed of the automatic protection system has become a little slower due to the low temperature.” Davey noted.
Clang!! Clang! Sio was attacking with the intent to seriously injure Davey, but the latter was more interested in testing the power of Megatron or data collection.
Relaxed, Davey pulled out a small chart and began checking things off as he watched the Megatron deflect all of Sio’s attacks.
“I think there’s a need to reinforce the chest armor. The reaction speed is going to get slower if I don’t minimize the plates on the shoulders.”
-You’re going to have to look at the efficiency as well. It has such great output, but the division of power is all off.
Like Davey, Perserque was also just analyzing the output of Megatron with no regard for the fact that he was being attacked.
“Ughh!!” Perhaps Sio couldn’t hold in his anger; his eyes glistened eerily when he created a big, long spear of glass while continuing to fly ice shards toward them.
[Freeze]
Megatron, which was boasting its great presence with its enormous size, stepped in front of Davey and prevented the attacks from reaching him. Crack!! At the same time, the Megatron began freezing as its feet started becoming frosty.
[Ice Spear, Smash]
Sio’s large ice spear flew toward the Megatron as it began freezing up.
“Alright, we’ve done enough to experiment with the defense. Do it up to here and start attacking back moderately.”
[Command accepted.]
As if it had just stood around and watched until now, Megatron shook off the ice by releasing a blue-colored mana from his entire body. He grabbed the ice spear with his free hand and threw it far away.
“What?!” The crowd exclaimed in shock, but Davey didn’t take his eyes off Megatron.
Boom!! Boom!! With a speed unfitting for its gigantic size, Megatron rapidly charged toward Sio with his electric chainsaw like it was going to cut him into pieces. Sio created a wall of ice by quickly uttering a spell and flew back.
Whirrr!! Cruck!!
“Huh?! Th… This crazy golem!! Are you trying to kill someone?” Sio shouted.
“Are you going to fight against an enemy like that? With your life on the line?”
“Damn you!” Even though he was cursing, Sio looked extremely pale because the psychopath Megatron had charged at him like it was going to shred him up while ignoring his attacks. A giant metal golem attacking with unbelievable movements was an attack that Sio had never imagined.
Boom!! Boom!!
“Shriek! W… What is that terrifying weapon?!” Some of the people who were watching the battle from afar screamed with pale faces while shaking Illyna’s arm. The chainsaw definitely had power, but it had a way of inciting fear instinctively.
However, it seemed like Sio had some talent contrasting to his personality. Even while desperately jumping all over the place and dodging attacks, he didn’t stop striking back at the Megatron and attacking Davey. Megatron had to stop momentarily and step in front of Davey to protect him because of that, but this was all part of his experiment: the reflex test. Sio created an opportunity to escape by attacking Davey if he was in danger, and he struck back after figuring out the delay time that occurred between its large movements. It couldn’t be said that Sio was exceptional, but his battle experience was definitely more advanced than the mages of wizard towers who stayed in their towers all day.
-Still, he is lacking compared to that kid, Yulis.
‘Wouldn’t it also be a problem if he was better than Yulis?’
Yulis was still one of the greatest genius mages of this continent, and it was just that his capabilities had just been undervalued a little; there was no way someone as gifted as he would be common, even if the kids here were all talented.
“Ahh!!” Sio’s blood ran cold as his one mistake almost cost him an arm. He could probably recover from it, but he didn’t want to experience getting his arm chopped off by that strange and terrifying weapon.
Even while Sio was running all over the place and dodging attacks, he still showed hostility toward Davey; he was quite an unwavering person.
Davey wondered if his method of communication was too rough.
‘Frost?’
Davey chuckled as he felt something unexpected in the air. He organized his data while observing Sio and Megatron.
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