Chapter 624 - Will you kill her for me?

Early in the morning, I enter Craft Zone, and passing between all this machinery, forges, people, and students, I reach the hall that leads to a single door at the end. This hall has a ceiling full of hundreds of lamps, each of them very different. Some are smaller than my fist, others are bigger than me. None of them are the same, and there are just so many shapes. Circular, square, a halo, some looking like a crunched-up blanket.

Each of them also has a different type of light. Some are colorful, while others vary in shades of white or blue, ranging from pale to dark.

On the sides of this hallway, armors are there as well. There are those made of metal, others from wood, glass, stone, and various materials. A few are even made of mana, maintained by tubes that connect to them and supply them with mana.

Two of the armors are as huge as multi-story buildings, reminiscent of Exoria from the 6th floor. These ones look the most ancient, but just like the other things, they seem to be well cared for.

I know I'm being watched. I sense someone observing me from behind that door, but I am still unable to resist and slowly head there, though I'm expected and waited for. I move from armor to armor, giving each a bit of time to admire or examine.

Some are straight-up trash tier, others are incredible works, but all of them show the effort the creator put in, even the worst ones. I also have a suspicion that the creator of some of the worst ones made some of the best ones. That way, the pieces show their progression.

After knocking on the door made of an alloy of a dozen or so metals, I wait while observing the pattern. The different colored metals are all smelted together in a way that they create whirlpool-like patterns. A spiral starting in the middle and unwinding to the edges.

As far as I can sense, it doesn't seem to have any purpose other than design, or maybe some structural effect.

Since I'm expected, the door opens fairly soon, and I enter inside, where I find the Head Crafter of the Academy.

His office isn't that big, and the reason is very simple. Most of it is taken by the forge that probably shouldn't be here, behind which the man works, wearing pants only, his muscular upper body sweating as he hammers some piece of metal.

The man's arm is likely as thick as my waist, and he has a mid-length bushy beard that sometimes catches fire, to which he mostly pays no attention, or just taps on it to make the flame die out.

It is really hot in there, and it is to the point where the walls show it. Some of them are twisted, as if they melted and then cooled off. The floor is full of droplets of metal that cooled there and stayed, making the originally dark gray stone floor shine like the night sky full of stars as the light reflects off these droplets.

I don't want to interrupt him during his work, even though he opened the door, meaning he is open to talk. Instead, I pretend to be polite and wait, using the opportunity to observe his work.

Just a few seconds after entering, I also have to use my skills to deal with the heat that reaches me. It really is hot enough to cook me alive.

Five hours pass like that.

Only later does he stop moving, and while showing no signs of being tired, he grabs the piece shaped like a helmet with tongs and throws it into a barrel full of some weird orange liquid.

Surprisingly, the liquid doesn't sizzle as it touches the red-hot helmet, and instead, the helmet sinks to the bottom with the liquid showing no reaction.

Could I steal a bit of that liquid before I leave? The room is small, so maybe I could pretend to be passing by and...

"What do you want?" the man turns to me and asks directly.

Instead of answering right away, I step closer toward the only table nearby that is full of half-finished, smaller items. I drop a bag on it, which I then open and dump everything on the table. All of it is ingots of metals, I have found out from the Head Accountant, are rare here, and that the Head Crafter often complains about it, asking the Academy to finally find some.

Just to buy this pile, I have spent two hundred thousand shards, and there aren't even that many of them.

And the Head Crafter asks again, but this time with a different tone, "What do you want?"

"It's simple," I step toward him and open the palm of my hand where a mana stone rests, offering it to him, "I want you to help me finish the design."

Before taking it, he looks at me and does a few quick safety checks, only after which he takes it into his big hand. In it, that stone looks very small.

For the next minute, he is quiet as he observes the design I etched inside the mana stone.

"What a monstrosity of an item," he breathes out, "I can see where the designer went with it, but the core it requires shouldn't even possibly exist, not even mentioning how difficult it would be to connect it all. And even then, in the best case, it would be a weapon as dangerous to its wielder as to the people against it."

He observes it again, "Forget that. That thing would be more dangerous to the wielder than to the people against it."

"There is no need to worry about that. All of that is sorted out. I just need you to follow the instructions left there and finish up the design of the main inscription framework."

"Finish up, he says. Hah. You brought me a pile of bones and asked for a living beast."

He grabs a piece of chalk and starts scribbling quick, rough lines onto the stone wall, lines similar to the one inscribed in the mana stone. He looks at them for a moment, thinking, then he turns away from them.

"First issue: the projected metal composition is fundamentally flawed. Once the real flow starts, the structure will fracture under stress. For this application, you’ll need a purpose-built alloy, possibly several, each designed to handle specific load and fatigue conditions."

He moves over to the forge, throws in more weird stones that seem to replace coals, and stokes the fire until it roars.

"Second, while the mana stone you provided is of decent quality, it is unsuitable for blueprint encoding. To store the design with the necessary precision and stability, I will need a specialized-grade stone. I have a few in reserve, and I will have my apprentice handle the transcription."

He picks up one of the half-finished items from the table, tossing it back down with a grunt.

"Third, must the form be a sword?" He gestures toward the mana stone. "The configuration is incompatible and would complicate integration. There are other weapon types that align more effectively with the intended properties, or even pure geometric forms. An orb, a disc. With some adjustments, I could redesign it for a crown, a helmet, or any similar structure."

“If you want to, do it. If you come up with something that might improve the function, I don't mind at all.”

He straightens up, looking me dead in the eye. “For someone bringing me such a design, you’re surprisingly reasonable.”

“Thank you. One question. Can you have it all done in a week?”

“I take it back. You are batshit crazy.”

I open my left hand and drop a small ingot of metal onto the table. Just one.

It is as big as my pinkie and possibly heavier than Isabella. Just this piece cost me almost all the remaining shards. Three hundred thousand of them. It's a metal called Iridite.

As he looks between me and the tiny ingot, I know I have him where I need him. A minute later, I leave with our deal sealed.

Of course, it will be impossible to bring the design he makes back with me after the reset, but I already plan to try remembering it as much as possible. Sophie should help too. Lately, she’s been experimenting with something similar to my mind storage. While I set aside a part of my mind to constantly focus on the information, to keep it fresh in my memory, she works on something she calls a memory pocket.

Together, we should be able to carry it over the loop, inscribe it again, and give it to the Head Crafter for further improvements.

And even though I’m sure it might take years for me to actually make that item, when it’s done, it will be scary. I just hope the name ends up more like Fracture instead of what the twins like to joke about, Fractureer or Throngler.

***

The first lesson with Ari and Kays ends, and as Kays leaves with Melo, I meet Ari in the hallway, same as before.

“Did you try to kill me?” I ask her this time.

“You mean your cooking incident? We already talked about it. I should feel insulted, Assistant Professor Gwyn. If I wanted to kill you, we wouldn't be talking.”

“That’s what an unsuccessful assassin would say.”

“Think what you want, but I’ve told you before. Don’t underestimate the others, whether they’re Candidates or Examiners. They’ve survived this far, so they’re very resourceful.”

“If it isn’t someone at the level of Vice Director, I won’t worry.”

“Yes? And what if it’s Champion Dion who goes after you?”

“There’s no way he’s a Candidate or Examiner.”

“I agree with you. For a few loops, I thought he might be. The Absolute is just that twisted. But after he died for the first time and appeared in the next loop again, it was confirmed he isn’t.”

“Unless he keeps faking his death.”

“So paranoid. I like it! That’s true, but Assistant Professor Gwyn, what if one of the Examiners or Candidates manipulates the Champion into killing you?”

“That would suck.”

“Not for long.”

“True. Is it you killing him?”

“Nope. And I have no idea who could do it or why. Whoever did it must be twisted to the core to pull something like that off.”

I stay quiet.

Ari giggles. “It’s funny, the look you give me. Like you’re thinking, ‘And you aren’t that twisted?’ I can’t say I didn’t think of killing the Champion, even if only to see how many levels I’d gain before the reset. But in the end, I don’t know how, and with that person killing him, it’s too risky to try to get to the Champion now.”

“He starts in the loop or appears here later?”

“Everyone starts in the loop, even if they show up at the Academy later. Champion Dion and his disciple begin in a small village north of the Academy.”

“Disciple?”

She sighs. “Am I not nice? Sharing so much information with you?”

“You do it only so I’ll feel like I owe you and maybe help you later.”

“Is it working?”

“A bit. But to the point.”

She giggles again. “The transfer student. That ten-year-old girl is his disciple. I suspect she might be a Candidate, but I’ve never tried to kill her. I think if I did while the Champion was alive, he’d find and kill me. And every time after the Champion dies, she becomes very, very dangerous. Assistant Professor Gwyn, if that little girl is a Candidate or Examiner, she’s very good at hiding it and likely the strongest one. Isn’t that amusing?”

“Yes, and a bit twisted,” I agree.

“Will you kill her for me? If it’s you, I think you can do it.”

“Nope,” I say.

She doesn’t seem disappointed. In fact, she looks like she expected the answer. “I’ll try asking you again next time.”

“Not going to threaten me into doing it?”

“By threatening people you’re weirdly friendly with?” she asks.

“Something like that.”

"But you’d kill me then, and I don’t want to die." Her six arms sweep outward in a theatrical display, as if mocking the idea. Then, with a slow and almost dismissive motion, she lowers them and leans back against the wall. Her posture is relaxed, but there’s a flicker of fire in her eyes. Playful, defiant, and just a little bit dangerous.

“I see. One more question.”

“So greedy. Please ask,” she gestures.

“What triggers the resets?”

"This is highly valuable information. Just remember, I gave it to you freely. There's a Core linked to this Record, acting as its anchor. It can take any form: an object, a random stone, even a scrap of paper. If the core is destroyed, the loop resets immediately. If not, the reset always occurs on the twentieth day."

“Thanks for telling me.”

“That’s fine. Let me tell you one more thing. After I kill the rest of the Candidates and Examiners and become heir to the Ruler, I’ll find the real you outside this record.”

I stay silent, but she doesn’t continue. So I ask, just as she anticipates it, “And then?”

“That is fully up to you.”

I stay behind as she leaves and think. As much as her last sentence sounds like a veiled threat, it doesn’t have to be meant that way entirely. It feels more like she’s absolutely sure I’ll agree to cooperate with her in the end.

It’s safe to say she’s met others like me, “bugs”, in previous loops and has used them this way. To me, it might feel threatening. But to someone native to this world, someone who grew up in the system, this would probably seem like an incredible opportunity.

As much as there are risks, the idea of pleasing someone close to godhood would be tempting. We haven’t seen much of the Rulers, but it’s already clear how powerful they are and how much someone like that could do for you.

Well, more to think about later. For now, there are two valuable pieces of information. In one of the future loops, I will definitely need to visit a small village north of the Academy.

***

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