episode_0068

“Their response time is fast.” “I know, right?”

Units 57 and 101 observed the situation from a distance, covered by camouflage netting, with a cannon-sized camera and binoculars.

First, we poured oil on the forest behind the school and set it on fire, and immediately the security guards rushed over. These guys seemed to have received professional training; they even brought fire trucks to put out the blaze. Meanwhile, even the magical beasts living in the forest, their bodies aflame, burst out trying to survive, but they were no match for guns and swords.

Still, I thought it would take some time to extinguish the fire since the forest was so vast, but what a surprise. We had momentarily forgotten that this world was a fantasy world.

“Who’s that?”

As we continued watching the fire, an unfamiliar orange-haired woman appeared, bringing with her a dozen or so students. The woman spoke briefly with someone who seemed to be in charge of the security guards, then stepped forward. The students raised their diverse staffs.

“Look at that!” “No! It’s going out!”

Immediately, glowing magic circles appeared, and large and small waves rose in front of the students, surging into the forest. As the waves collided with the heat, steam billowed up, and the fire was extinguished in an instant. The orange-haired female student at the front, apparently not satisfied with that, waved her staff, embedded with wires and a display, a few times. A white tornado of snow shot up and swept through the forest.

Reality had been defeated by fantasy.

“Magic again? And that flaming sword too! It’s too much of a cheat! I hate magic!” “We worked so hard pouring oil everywhere!”

Meanwhile, the fire in the building we had set ablaze was also quickly suppressed. From the windows that had been spewing black smoke just moments ago, steam now billowed. This was because the sprinklers had activated quickly, and measures similar to the magic from earlier had been taken. We continued observing the fire scene.

A familiar man was visible. It was the student council president. He had lined up the students and was speaking to them with a serious expression.

“Prepare the sound amplifier.”

As we listened to the sound coming from the headset, we understood why the student council president was angry.

“-I clearly told you. The price of those facilities is more expensive than your life’s worth. Why did they end up like this? Speak, if you have a mouth.”

“-I apologize. But when we arrived, it was already scorched by the fire…”

“-Slap!”

One of the students making excuses was slapped. Looking nearby, complex-looking machinery was stacked up, half of it burned or scorched.

No wonder. We had set fire to an empty building, yet suddenly people had rushed inside.

“-You know very well what I hate most, don’t you? Don’t make excuses.”

“-…I was wrong. If only I had… Ugh… ngh!”

As the student council president’s cronies fiddled with a handle, one student began to gasp in pain. The student council president was choking him with psychokinesis.

“He looks like a gigolo, but he has such a terrible temper.” “He definitely doesn’t have a girlfriend! Even if he did, they say he’d hit her when bored, I’d bet my chocolate bar on it.”

“-Ugh… please… ngh…”

“-Stop, Kroshel. That’s enough.”

As we continued watching, the orange-haired woman we had seen earlier intervened. Surprisingly, the student council president released his psychokinesis and let the student go.

“-…Lelarchie… no, Vice President. You seem to have been busy.”

“-I apologize for my rudeness just now, President-nim. However, I believe dealing with it emotionally was wrong. Your club members are surely reflecting enough. Everyone, right? Go on now.”

“-Yes! We apologize!”

The students scrambled away. The woman, referred to as the Vice President, and the student council president exchanged a brief conversation and disappeared behind the building.

“-You haven’t contacted me for weeks. What’s the reason?” “-It’s not that I didn’t, it’s that I couldn’t. I was dispatched under the Chairman-nim’s orders…”

Their voices quickly faded.

Regardless, our first test ended disappointingly. The fire was extinguished too quickly.

Although it was just a test poke, to burn down the school, we’ll need to unleash a greater, more simultaneous barrage of firepower than this.

***

The Violets busily tore open boxes and moved the vials and chemicals inside.

The first thing the Violets did after regaining their senses was to raid their assets and secure more bases.

This was because they needed more buildings to use as barracks or workshops, in addition to the existing ones. To faithfully follow the adage of not putting all your eggs in one basket, they sought out and secured the cheapest, oldest buildings possible in a neighborhood far from their original barracks.

Amidst the bustle, Unit 2 began explaining diligently.

“We found that woman from earlier. She is indeed the Vice President.” “Her name?” “Lelarchie Belestan. Same grade as the student council president, specialized in magic.” “I have eyes too! She was holding a staff.”

Staffs in this world have three uses. One is as an antenna to scatter magic more powerfully and over a wider area, the second is as a blunt weapon for self-defense, and the third is for attaching detection equipment or various accessories. They also double as selfie sticks.

Thinking about magic only brought back bad memories.

I recalled being knocked over by wind magic in front of a convenience store, or the experience of our entire squad evaporating from a flame attack in the last duel. For now, the academy does teach magic, but unfortunately, the professor in charge of first-year classes is someone who just rattles off boring theories. There’s almost no practical training.

Magic, huh, I need to learn this too.

For now, we decided to focus on physical training, leveling up, and acquiring weapons.

So, what we secured was this warehouse building. It’s located in such an out-of-the-way area, and it looks like construction was abandoned, with only desolate plains, dirt mounds, and half-dug pits scattered around.

There are no private houses nearby, and the road is far away. It’s perfect for shooting guns and blowing things up.

Not long after the furniture and materials airlifted via inventory and item transfer were fully organized, the Violets began their work.

The goal was to produce explosives and incendiaries. To overcome the fire suppression systems and magic, hotter and more dangerous materials were needed.

First, we tried mixing gasoline with sugar, thinner, and various other ingredients seen online or in books. Then, we put them into bottles and tested the power of each mixture.

With a light pop, the molotov cocktail shattered and smoke billowed up.

“The power is less than I thought.”

In one corner of the workshop, Violets diligently ground potassium nitrate, charcoal, and sulfur in a mortar and pestle. They also tried making something by mixing nitric acid and sulfuric acid, as seen in the materials.

Then, an accident occurred.

“Woah! Look, I’m on fire!” “Water! Get water! Where’s the fire extinguisher!”

While testing the molotov cocktails, one Violet burst into flames. It was an accident caused by the bottle slipping from her hand.

The pain was distributed, so it didn’t hurt much, but the burning smell was awful. Perhaps because of the sugar, the fire clinging to her body felt a bit sticky.

Violet Unit 67, covered in sugared gasoline, became a flaming tanghulu. She lay sprawled on the floor.

Unit 95 restrained the other Violets who were bringing water and a fire extinguisher, then pulled out a crossbow and aimed it at Unit 67’s head. Even if she were saved, it would be third-degree burns, and reverse generation takes time.

Euthanasia was the answer.

-Thwip!

Earth was sprinkled over Unit 67’s body, where a bolt was embedded in her head, extinguishing the fire. The corpse disappeared.

“Everyone, be careful! Someone already died. And look at the workshop. It’s full of flammable materials. There’s a risk everything around here could blow up.” Unit 6 remarked.

“If it’s like this, wouldn’t it be faster to just buy finished products? There’s a black market here. Or another method…”

“For now, other teams are looking into the black market, and we’re also checking through Kalia and the Brotherhood’s routes, but construction explosives are difficult to acquire.”

Specifics will be decided at the Violet meeting in a few days, but we need approximately three types of dangerous goods.

Military-grade bombs, demolition explosives, and incendiaries.

The former will be used for taking out people, the second for blowing up the school. The third is for burning anything down.

What we realized from this test is that simple oil isn’t enough. We need something potent that won’t be extinguished by a bit of water or snow. The best would be alchemical reagents containing Etherium, made using magic, but those are out of the question.

While molotov cocktail production was temporarily halted, we tried throwing the homemade black powder can bombs. A few exploded with a satisfying bang, but others were duds or merely fizzled out quietly.

Today’s work was unsatisfactory. Even with books and materials, the results were lackluster.

It’s tough being a liberal arts major.

***

How long had it been since we closed our eyes and slept? We opened our eyes in a white space. It was the mental world we had fallen into when swept away by the experiment.

As we looked around, a mini Violet came hopping and skipping towards us.

She dashed into Unit 1’s arms.

“Unit 1 Unnie!” “Whoa!”

Unit 1 was startled and fell over.

“You seem busy these days?” “You, you’re the one from last time…”

I remembered. This one, the mini Violet we encountered when trapped in that strange mental world after being caught in the experiment!

Startled, we were about to speak, but she placed her index finger on her lips. Instantly, we couldn’t open our mouths. Our lips wouldn’t part, as if taped shut.

“Honestly, to be surprised by such a cute little sister! Well, you don’t remember me in reality.”

She snapped her fingers. Only then could we speak again.

“What exactly is your identity? Who are you?!” “Is that really so important?”

The mini Violet got up from on top of me, then, with her hands behind her back, she spun around once or twice as if dancing.

“You are Violet, and I am Violet. That much is enough to know. I haven’t fully arrived yet. I am slowly but continuously coming… but ultimately, both you and I are beings called Violet.”

The young girl stopped her innocent fidgeting. She slowly walked towards us. Our bodies were frozen solid, as if turned to stone.

“Shall I help you? Things aren’t going as well as you thought, are they?” “What? What are you talking about?” “Are you asking because you don’t know?”

The mini Violet’s tone shifted from that of a sulky girl to that of an adult woman. She admonished us with vehemence.

“You fools, idiots! Are you some kind of medieval alchemist? Making only black powder and such. Why don’t you use a matchlock gun too? And what’s burning in gasoline, sugar, sugar?! Are you messing around? Are you making candy? Anyone would think you’re a student protest group.”

The girl comically flailed her arms, shouting slogans like, ‘What’s this about a murder school! Valefor explain yourselves! Student council apologize!’ Her teasing made my anger surge.

“Stop it! What am I supposed to do when I don’t know anything?!”

Facing my intense reaction, the mini Violet winked one eye and chuckled, finding something amusing.

“That’s why, exactly why, this cute little sister came to find her Unnie!”

This time, the mini Violet lightly nestled into Unit 45’s arms. Unit 45 tried to pull the girl off, but the girl wouldn’t budge, as if stuck with glue.

“Violet! The beautiful, cute, lovely, pure Unnie from Polaris! If you grow just a little more here, you’ll become the most beautiful woman in the world.”

The mini Violet now hummed a tune, burying her face in Unit 45’s chest and patting it.

“You’ll even become more mature and grown-up than that Saintess… Hmm, it’s been too long, I got a bit excited. My bad! Hehe.”

When the girl lifted her head, her mischievous, blood-red eyes reflected my bewildered expression.

“So, I’ll help you a little.”

“Why, exactly?”

The little girl chuckled lightly with a sniff.

“Because I want to see things blazing with a whoosh! and exploding with a bang! For now, I hope Violet shows me more fun things.”

The mini Violet approached Unit 1. She grabbed my head and pulled it down.

“So, I’ll lightly… transfer some knowledge for sabotage to you. Even if you don’t know magic, you’ll be able to make good use of it.”

The girl lightly kissed my forehead. Something flowed into me.

“Good luck.”

**

After waking up from sleep, my head felt clear. We frantically pulled out books and materials, examining them and starting to work. Ideas sprang up endlessly in our minds.

Unlike the first day, the Violets pulled out something and mixed and combined it diligently, to their own surprise.

“Understanding the materials is easier than yesterday.” “Right, it feels like someone is teaching us directly beside us.”

We naturally created something. Even looking at the same books, our understanding was faster than yesterday. Thanks to that, the workshop ran continuously like a well-oiled engine. We ourselves were surprised by our vibrant activity.

Now, new things, surprising even to ourselves, began to be created.

Unit 65 evenly mixed red iron powder and aluminum powder with magnesium.

“Careful! Careful!”

She carefully placed the reddish-brown powder into a plastic container. It would be troublesome if a static spark occurred.

Nearby, other Violets continued their work. They poured gasoline into plastic drums, then mixed in various chemicals, rubber, styrofoam, and metal powders. Their swirling and mixing movements gave the impression of a witch brewing a potion in a cauldron from a story.

All insufficient materials were newly ordered. Individually, they were ordinary, but combined, they could bring destructive results. But it’s still not enough. We’re still far from being able to utilize the miscellaneous knowledge seen in movies and books before our possession.

“What about the fertilizer? When’s it arriving? We need to expand our facilities too.” “They say it’ll arrive the day after tomorrow. We need more money too!”

Then, we tested our first creation. Using a mannequin as a sample, we lit it, and the dazzlingly blazing flames and flashes told us we had succeeded.

“Hooray!”

This is just the beginning.