One More Time: Rebirth

Chapter 54: Western Kingdom's Engineering

The days in school continued on as normal. After the first mission as black-clads, it doesn't seem like the royal family was keen on giving us another mission. So I continued to do the same everyday things I did, classes, training, and exploring a bit more of the school. One day while I was walking around with the usual group of Tsukiyomi, Setsuna, and even Eva, I heard a weird explosive sound.

It was an unusual sound like a roar of a mighty being, but I could feel no mana being emitted. The others and I started running towards were we heard the sound. When I saw that it came from the engineering department I could already guess what it might've been.

Upon entering the department I saw the smoky remains of a student. I was about to go and help, but then the student suddenly stood up and started shaking his body like a dog. The dust spread around and some of us coughed for a bit.

Once the dust settled I saw a rather muscular man with messy bluish blond hair.

"That was a mistake, I wonder what went wrong this time? Well, either way, I at least could say that this is stronger than a rifle." The man looked at the broken pieces of what looked to be the thing that exploded. I then approached him and tapped his back. The man jumped backward in fright.

"WHOAH! Huh? Who are you guys? Are you here to do some experiments as well? Sorry, I kinda blew up this part, so maybe you can use the one next to it."

"No, we aren't here to do any experiments, we were just interested in what you were trying to create."

The moment the man heard what I said, I saw his eyes sparkle with delight. It was the same excited eyes my alchemy professor whose name I still don't know shows as he explains alchemy.

"Do you know about rifles?" I got a bit confused as to why he suddenly asked a question, but I still answered.

"I do a bit... Isn't that the weapon the Western Kingdom soldiers prefer to use."

"Yes, that's the one. Do you know why they use that instead of the usual melee weapons and spells?"

"Isn't it because it's faster than using spells, and its range makes it a better weapon than most melee weapons. Also, it looks like it takes less time to master this weapon, unlike melee weapons like the sword which takes years upon years to master."

"Correct! Basically it's a more efficient weapon. Unlike magic, anyone can use this weapon with a little bit of training. But though it is efficient it also has a lot of defects. For one thing, it's only as powerful as a low-level fireball spell. Though it does have the advantage of being able to be fired in succession. Still, in a fight against powerful opponents that isn't enough. So I wanted to create an even more powerful weapon. I call it the mana cannon!"

The man then revealed a small scale model of this so called mana cannon. It looked like a rifle with a bigger hole.

"How powerful do you supposed this will be when you finish?" I couldn't help but ask him.

"I'm not sure yet, but in theory, it should be a strong as a high mid-tier spell. It's for those people that have abundant mana but don't know how to use spells. Of course, I'm trying to make a normal version as well, which uses the same material as the rifle. So now you have the choice of either using mana cannon or the cannon."

"Why did you make the mana cannon which needs mana in the first place. I thought you were trying to make a weapon that anyone could use?"

"In the first place, I wasn't planning to make a weapon anyone could use. That's a misunderstanding, I said I wanted to create a weapon more powerful than the rifle. Also, it was just easier to make a mana cannon, so I tried doing that first. Well, though I kinda succeeded it's going to be a long while before it can be used in a real battle. The output the mana cannon can handle is lower than I expected. So I need to find a way to make the parts more durable and able to withstand an intense amount of mana. I was also actually thinking about making mana rifles as well. I started doing-"

The man went on and on about his research that I or anyone else couldn't but in. As the man was getting more excited, is when I saw Rena-sensei running towards us.

"Edge-kun, Tuskiyomi-san! There's an emergency please head towards the Principal's office now!"

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