The Academy’s Weapon Replicator - Chapter 193

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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The Academy’s Weapon Duplicator — Chapter 193
Part 63: Doping
It was only a few minutes ago.
Selena and I had been keeping tabs on that suspicious man for some time now.
“Selena, do you feel it? There’s someone spreading Killing Intent from the right side, behind us as we walk.”
“Yes. He possesses considerable power, yet oddly, he doesn’t seem to control it properly.”
Selena was right.
The man making the back of my head tingle was brimming with such a substantial amount of Aura that he could emit a solid presence, yet he was leaking Killing Intent he hadn’t managed to fully suppress.
At this rate, whatever plan he’d devised would fall apart before he could even execute it.
‘Let’s see, what about Elody…’
Without moving my face or eyes, I checked on Elody. Keeping my gaze forward while directing my focus elsewhere wasn’t easy, but since awakening to this supernatural power, it felt as though a sixth sense had opened up beyond mere sight.
Since it’s cumbersome to keep saying “I sense this supernatural power,” let me just call it my Sixth Sense for convenience.
‘Elody doesn’t seem to have noticed.’
Elody had wrapped herself, Aten, and Saiber in all manner of blocking Magic for concealment.
Hiding oneself from the outside world meant it became harder to sense external interference—and that held especially true for high-performance Magic like Elody’s.
“To catch such Killing Intent… you truly are worthy of the name, Frontdier.”
“Skip the formal praise.”
“…It wasn’t really that sort of thing, though.”
I browsed the department store naturally with Selena while maintaining distance from the man. He didn’t seem particularly focused on us.
After we arrived at the café and were observing him while making casual conversation,
Jacob suddenly stepped forward and began introducing himself.
I turned to Selena.
“Just to check—does Mangot have a rank called ‘Finger’?”
Jacob had just referred to himself as the “Third Finger.” The phrasing sounded plausible enough, but was it actually true?
Selena answered without hesitation.
“No.”
That’s what I thought. I’d never heard of it either.
“So that man is, in the end,”
“A fraud.”
Selena was regarding Jacob with a contemptuous gaze.
“Impersonating Mangot—he’s got some nerve, doesn’t he?”
“Is he just a terrorist? Is it actually terrorism? Could the bomb part be bluffing?”
At my question, Selena’s eyes narrowed. Back when she was in Taeibun, Selena’s senses were sharp enough to detect the Mana of the sacred forest from the Barrier itself.
“…The bomb appears to be real. Though he’s hiding it, he’s gripping a detonation switch in his right hand. His thumb resting on the switch has excessive force applied to it—to prevent accidentally pressing it. The likelihood he’s actually planted a bomb is high.”
“What about his claim that the bomb detonates if he dies?”
“…I can’t say for certain. However, triggering such a mechanism would require using Mana, even in infinitesimal amounts. I don’t sense it, but he could have set up a trigger using even less Mana than I can detect.”
…An extremely small amount of Mana.
To be honest, I didn’t see anything like that on Jacob’s body. If he dies and the bomb detonates, that would mean such a trigger was planted inside his body—yet even my Sixth Sense couldn’t find it.
“What about his claim of having allies?”
“A lie. There’s no sign of such allies nearby, and besides, a simple terrorist without proper training couldn’t execute an operation like that.”
“Why not?”
“Because saying ‘if I’m caught, an ally will help me’ presupposes actually being caught. The problem is: who plays the role of being caught? It’s like putting a bell on the cat. Terrorists, however noble they claim their cause to be, still seek meaning in their own actions. They might choose ‘to die with the bomb,’ but they can never choose ‘to be helpless and caught without doing anything.'”
“…You’re something else, Selena.”
“Skip the formal praise.”
If Selena was right, then Jacob’s only truth was the bomb—everything else was lies.
…Hmm.
“Even if ‘a bomb that detonates when I die’ were true,”
Knocking him unconscious would solve it.
Heukryeon activation
Dispersal
I manipulated Heuknryeon’s Armband and drew out the Heukcheon.
The fine particles of Heukcheon spreading out gradually in minute quantities were invisible to the naked eye of ordinary people.
The Helheim Fragment I’d obtained in the north of Yeranhes—its Mana held several characteristics different from the Mana of this continent.
One of them: it resonates exceptionally well with Heukcheon, as obvious as that sounds. Manipulating Heukcheon is now almost like moving my own limbs.
The Heukcheon, transformed into fine particles spreading outward, slowly gathered behind Jacob’s back.
I’m not particularly imaginative, so there aren’t many methods that come to mind for knocking someone unconscious.
“Hurry up and move! If you don’t want everything searched,”
“Whoa.”
Cutting off his words, in that instant I drew all the surroundings’ focus toward me.
Thud!
I manifested a hammer and brought it down hard against the back of Jacob’s head. As long as he stayed alive, I didn’t much care whether he lost consciousness or ended up crippled.
“A villain’s fallen. Ah well. Divine retribution, clearly. Luck sure is on my side.”
I muttered whatever nonsense came to mind, then retrieved the Heukcheon and the job was done.
A perfect crime scene. Not that it was actually a crime.
‘Being able to manipulate from a distance without Menosorfpo—that’s handy.’
What I’d just done differed little in application and effect from the standard Menosorfpo, but the advantage was that it left no trace. Menosorfpo relies on a Magic Circle, after all—anyone with even a shred of Mana sensitivity would spot it immediately.
“Come on, Selena. Someone else will report this.”
“……Yes.”
Selena seemed startled by Jacob’s sudden collapse, but she quickly grasped the situation and fell into step beside me.
“Pardon my presumption,”
“You’re being too formal, Selena.”
“……I, that terrorist from just now—there’s something about him that troubles me.”
“Right. The Aura, yes?”
Selena nodded at my words.
This Jacob fellow knew how to weave Aura into his speech, and I’d felt a considerable amount of Killing Intent from him to begin with.
Yet when it came down to it, he was all bluster and poor tactics, undone by a single sneak attack from behind.
Most people unlock Aura through blood, sweat, research, and rigorous training, then cultivate it in their own way.
But Jacob was simply not the vessel for such things.
He possessed an Aura he had no skill to wield.
“Still, we should leave this to the police for now. If we step in, we’ll only complicate matters.”
Selena nodded obediently. If this Jacob character’s strange nature wasn’t his alone, word would soon reach Constellation Academy’s ears as well.
Though as we walked, Selena glanced back once at the collapsed Jacob.
“It may not be the precise term,”
She spoke thoughtfully, her gaze lowered.
“But it feels almost like Doping.”

* * *
Aten approached the fallen Jacob and checked his condition using a healer’s methods.
“She certainly didn’t hold back.”
Aten’s diagnosis came quickly: severe trauma to the back of the skull, resulting in a concussion—unconsciousness. He’d live, but the aftereffects would be considerable.
“……Did you see? How she struck him?”
“Just for a moment. Something appeared behind this man.”
It looked like a hammer, roughly. Saiber spoke with uncertainty in her voice. What she’d seen was unmistakably a hammer, but the idea of such a thing manifesting in mid-air felt too strange. She suspected her preconception—that “struck the back of the head and lost consciousness equals hammer”—had conjured the image itself.
“……The Mana flow is irregular.”
While Aten examined his physical state, Elody checked Jacob’s Mana. From the moment his voice had released an Aura, she’d assumed he was a formidable opponent, but the actual inspection left her tilting her head in confusion.
“The Mana currents are colliding with each other. If I had to describe it, the collision itself seems to produce a stronger output of magical power.”
“Colliding……? Can someone’s own Mana clash with itself inside the body?”
Saiber asked. Elody shook her head.
“No. It looks like Mana was forcibly injected from outside. Normally this would lead to rupture or madness—death, really—but somehow he avoided that fate.”
From what Elody could tell, Jacob was in a state of heightened excitement, but his physical condition didn’t appear critical. Whoever had orchestrated this must have been practiced at such manipulation.
“There are signs of bloodshot eyes. Another type of Mana stands out in particular. And there are small puncture marks on his forearms.”
“……Small punctures? You don’t mean……”
A chill ran through Elody as she spoke, and Aten nodded.
“Yes. It resembles a syringe needle.”
“They liquified the Mana and injected it?”
If that were true, this had crossed from magic into the realm of technique and medicine. An inexplicable revulsion rose in both Elody and Aten, darkening their expressions.
“……But think about it.”
Saiber, who’d been listening in silence, spoke.
“This man was carrying Mana that wasn’t his own inside his body, right? That’s how he could release such a powerful Aura.”
“Yes, that’s correct.”
“Then when he shouted earlier—that Aura—wouldn’t it have been involuntary?”
“……Ah!”
Elody gasped at Saiber’s deduction.
That was it. He lacked the vessel to carry an Aura of that magnitude, so the Mana had been injected. Which meant he was likely someone who’d never consciously wielded an Aura before.
So rather than deliberately channeling Aura through his voice, whatever he said, the Aura simply came with it.
“But we didn’t know he had Aura in him until he spoke, right? That’s because he kept his mouth shut until he committed his crime—which means……”
Saiber’s reasoning advanced slowly. Elody and Aten read where it was heading and nodded.
“……He already knew from the start what effect the injected Mana would produce.”
“This wasn’t Jacob’s first time having Mana injected. He was acting of his own volition from the very beginning.”
This wasn’t the work of an individual or a small-scale operation.
Equipment that transforms Mana into liquid form, medical knowledge to inject it into others without side effects, the technology and ability to replicate it.
“That’s enough.”
Elody cut through the ominous train of thought like severing a thread.
“From here on, this isn’t our domain to touch. The police will come, and if it’s serious enough, word will reach Constellation Academy. When that happens, we might have something to do, but not now.”
The two nodded at Elody’s words.
Princess Aten, however, seemed to have something on her mind.
“……I suppose I’m overdue for a chat with Mother.”
It was a matter beyond stopping, so Elody offered a bitter smile.
By now, the fact that Frontdier and Selena were dating had already slipped from their thoughts.

* * *
Several days later, at Constellation Academy.
The first-year students, who had only just begun to adapt to the academy’s atmosphere, received new word.
A test to assess the abilities of the first-year class was to be held.
The test would be conducted by their seniors, the second-year students, and upon hearing this, the new students’ eyes gleamed with excitement. After all, there were quite a few famous people among the academy’s second-year cohort now.
The second-year students chosen to administer the test were carefully selected from each class, though the numbers didn’t match evenly across all classes. Perhaps because of this, many students from Class 1 had been picked, and this news sent the first-years’ anticipation even higher.
‘Aster Evans……! By Aster himself!’
Dier Aiger, this year’s notable freshman, was one of those students caught up in the excitement.
After confirming the announcement of the aptitude test on the academy’s bulletin board, Dier clenched his fist tightly.
He had heard of Aster’s reputation long before enrolling at Constellation Academy, and had pursued him with intense admiration. Following in his footsteps to become a swordsman, he had sought out nearly every account of Aster’s exploits at the academy.
‘……But will I even have the chance to face him?’
Though the aptitude test would be administered to all first-years, the number of second-year examiners was limited.
This meant not every first-year would encounter Aster. If one failed in an earlier round, the test results would come back without ever meeting him—and naturally, those results would not be favorable.
‘Unfair.’
Dier’s gaze shifted to another boy also looking at the bulletin board.
Pielot—this year’s brightest freshman prospect, called a gem of talent rivaling Aster himself.
Dier bit his lip.
‘Chosen talent.’
His greatest challenge was not to surrender in his heart before the battle even began.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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