Chapter 132: A Gun

"Are you here, Avia?" Wendy's loud shout echoed through the corridors of Stevenson Academy of Magic, disrupting the otherwise serene atmosphere. The girl, clad in armor and carrying a greatsword on her back, seemed out of place in the quiet academic environment.

"What's with all the noise?"

"Shh..."

"Keep it down!"

Many doors along the corridor quickly opened to reveal angry faces. Some scolded her directly, while others, recognizing Wendy as the granddaughter of a professor, reluctantly swallowed their complaints and urged her to be quieter.

"Sorry, sorry! I'm looking for someone," Wendy said, sticking out her tongue sheepishly before scurrying down the hallway.

"Strange, where did Avia go? She should be in the experimental workshop around here," Wendy muttered, scratching her head as she walked through the alchemy building. She didn't dare shout anymore,so how was she supposed to find Avia now?

"Wendy? What do you need?" Suddenly, Avia's voice echoed in Wendy's mind, startling her and making her jump.

"Huh? Is that you, Avia?" Wendy asked hesitantly.

"No need to speak out loud. I can hear you. I heard you shouting earlier. Come in quickly, and keep it quiet, okay? Everyone here is conducting experiments, and any disruption could cause problems."

Avia's response once again echoed in Wendy's mind. A door to one of the laboratories along the corridor opened, clearly inviting Wendy inside.

Wendy looked around uneasily. Was Avia watching her from somewhere? Things felt a little strange. Shaking her head, she tiptoed into the open laboratory like a thief.

The door closed behind her. Avia sat on a chair, carefully examining a new magitech device she was adjusting. She looked very serious, and Wendy didn't dare disturb her. For some reason, both Wang Yu and Avia looked particularly intimidating when they were focused.

After using a miniaturized wizard's hand to install the final component onto the long, pipe-like object she was holding, Avia let out a sigh and placed the device on the table. She then turned to Wendy.

"What's the matter, Wendy?"

"Ah, Grandpa wanted me to bring you over. What's this? A rod?" Wendy explained what she was doing, only to be waylaid by her curiosity.

She wasn't entirely sure just how skilled Avia was in alchemy, but she knew that Avia had some serious skills. When the magical circuits on her gravity-enchanted greatsword had broken, it was Avia who had repaired them for her. Just what was this pipe-like magitech device she was working on?

Was it some kind of enchanted staff, a powerful alchemical weapon capable of unleashing explosive or fiery attacks?

The thought made her itch to try it out. Unlike Wang Yu, who seemed to favor his bare hands, Wendy loved all kinds of weapons.

"This?" Avia blinked, picking up the pipe-like object from the table and pointing it at Wendy.

"Yeah, yeah!" Wendy nodded vigorously, her ponytail bouncing with enthusiasm.

"Let me see..." Avia tapped her chin thoughtfully, then nodded. It should be fine. Although the energy core and control systems weren't fully completed, they were functional. She could act as the power source for now.

"Step aside," Avia said, holding up the pipe-like object and gesturing for Wendy to move.

Wendy cocked her head, puzzled, but swiftly complied. Very quickly, she understood why Avia had given her such a command. The student laboratories were equipped for testing new spells and conducting alchemical experiments. Behind Wendy was an armored iron dummy used for testing.

"So it is a weapon. But wouldn't it be more suitable for me? Avia's a magician, after all," Wendy thought to herself, wondering why Avia didn't let her use it instead.

"Bang!" A loud, crisp explosion rang out as a burst of flame erupted from the front of the "pipe" Avia was holding. Wendy felt something whiz past her at incredible speed.

"Huh?" Wendy looked in the direction of the projectile and widened her eyes in shock. A clear hole had been punched through the dummy's iron breastplate. Something had pierced right through that thick armor.

Wendy ran over to the dummy, staring at the hole in the armor. She couldn't make sense of it. What had just happened? What had pierced the dummy's armor?

Peering into the hole, she used a small dagger from her waist to fish out a flattened metal pellet. The pellet had penetrated the dummy's armor and embedded itself in the metal body, which was even more durable than the armor itself.

"Just what is this...?" Wendy asked, holding the still-warm, flattened metal pellet.

"It's a bullet, and what I'm holding is an unfinished 'gun,' I suppose."

Avia inspected the warm barrel in her hand. The gun had been astonishingly effective. By using a simple Conflagration spell to replace the gunpowder Wang Yu had mentioned, she realized that magic had a unique advantage over firearms.

Magic could create explosions and impacts out of thin air, and there were no byproducts after the reaction. There wasn't even a need for reloading—the explosion that propelled the bullet could be created directly inside the barrel.

Using magic to replicate firearms was surprisingly simple. Compared to the numerous failures and experiments that had gone into completing the Spellweaver's Tome, this "gun" prototype had been functional on her very first attempt.

"It boasts rather decent strength, too. Our world has a particularly convenient source of energy in mana, so it's been slow to adopt more efficient means of redirecting and generating force For example, the dwarves' so-called 'magic firearms' essentially use mana to propel enchanted projectiles, which is very inefficient.

"Based on some vague theories Wang Yu provided, completing a fully functional firearm would be quite challenging—but reproducing the fundamental physics with magic isn't too hard. Compressing explosive magic and converting it into the bullet's kinetic energy is startlingly effective.

"A Conflagration spell that would normally only leave scorch marks on iron armor can easily penetrate it when its power is transferred to the bullet's kinetic energy inside the gun's barrel. No matter the world, being able to convert between various modes of energy is undoubtedly a groundbreaking achievement."

Avia was quite satisfied with her newest prototype, a "magical firearm." In reality, she hadn't done much. All she did was create a barrel and use a Conflagration spell to replace gunpowder's explosive force.

That bullet she had just fired would have been enough to harm any enemy below the level of a grand knight—at least one who lacked superior armor.

Wendy gulped. She seemed a bit discomfited by Avia's gentle smile as she held the barrel of the gun. At that moment, Avia seemed just as intimidating as Wang Yu. "But why call it a 'gun,' Avia? What does it mean?"

"It's just a name. No need to worry about it," Avia waved her hand, using the same explanation Wang Yu had given her when she asked why its name sounded so strange.

She carried the gun's barrel with her. For now, her prototype was essentially complete. Later, she would use stronger metals to craft barrels capable of withstanding more powerful explosions and replace the current spherical projectiles with more streamlined bullets.

Additionally, she could experiment with enchanting the bullets—adding effects like stealth, acceleration, explosiveness, or even poison. After all, the metal casing was perfect for etching magical circuits.

"Well, let's go. Didn't Professor Lanchester want to see me?" Avia stood up and opened the laboratory door. She had rented the lab for a while, so no one would disturb her space.

"Oh, right! I'll lead the way. Grandpa wants us to head to a place we haven't been before. I'll have to look at his directions again." Wendy quickly followed Avia out, pulling out a small note with directions from Professor Weber Lanchester.

"Right, Avia, can I try that 'gun' thing later? It looks really cool!" Wendy couldn't quite understand how Avia's gun worked, but its power had definitely caught her interest.

"Sure, once I refine the prototype. You won't be able to use it just yet."

"Awesome! Thanks, Avia!" Wendy exclaimed, unable to contain her excitement. Her loud voice once again drew angry glares from the surrounding laboratories.

"Oops," Wendy muttered, covering her head and scurrying away.

The two walked through the laboratory corridors and arrived at a building connected to the library and archives by a skybridge. This was the academy's repository for private records.

Generally, each professor had their own collection of books and materials. Those they deemed suitable for public access were placed in the shared library, where they remained available for students and other faculty to browse freely.

However, their personal research findings and some important, rare books were kept in their private libraries, accessible only to their students or those they approved. Some professors who were short on funds even chose to charge for access.

Avia had been here many times, as her advisor had granted her access to his private records. Despite her remarkable abilities, however, she hadn't even made it through half the books in the entire room.

Avia glanced around, feeling a bit puzzled. The library was unusually quiet, almost as if there were no one within. Such silence generally meant that there was a major event in the academy that had drawn everyone away. After all, knowledge was a precious treasure pursued by both students and teachers alike.

"Where are all the usual teachers and students?" Wendy scratched her head, equally confused. Her grandfather had asked her and Avia to go to a strange place, but they arrived to find no one there...

"Could it be... a birthday surprise? I don't even know when your birthday is, Avia. Maybe Wang Yu knows. Does Grandpa know too? He's being so nice to you, Avia. Ugh, he's never been this nice to me, his own granddaughter!"

Unlike the carefree Wendy, Avia was much more cautious. Staying alert was something she always insisted on. Whenever something unusual occurred, it was important to pay attention and be careful...

A layer of invisible lenses formed from mana and the void covered Avia's left and right eyes—Mana Lens and Void Eye. Both observation skills activated simultaneously as Avia scanned every corner of the building.

Strange traces? None. Void energy? Absent. Magical circuits and arrays? Only the usual ones for cleaning and preventing theft...

"Seems like there's nothing wrong..." Avia muttered to herself, recalling how Wang Yu had used his so-called ripples to scan her advisor and deem him safe. For now, she set aside the faint unease in her heart.

They went upstairs and arrived at the door of Weber Lanchester's study room. Wendy took out a key, unlocked the door, and walked in.

"Huh? Isn't Grandpa around? There are so many books!"

She looked around but didn't see her grandfather. She had never been to his study in the academy—after all, Weber Lanchester wasn't fond of his clumsy granddaughter touching his precious books.

"Is Professor Lanchester not here?" Avia was very familiar with this place. Her advisor had allowed her to come here and read on her own many times. It wasn't unusual for him to be absent. After all, Avia's careful and reliable nature made her trustworthy.

But it was precisely this familiarity that caused Avia to overlook some extremely subtle details. The magical circuits in the key Wendy had used to access the study was slightly different from the one Weber Lanchester usually gave to Avia.

Upon sensing a forged key, the study, which was covered in numerous arrays and filled with Weber Lanchester's personal touches, wouldn't simply lock its doors. Instead, it would allow the intruder to enter before trapping them inside as it waited for the academy to send someone to apprehend them.

"Eh? What's going on?!" The moment Avia stepped into the room, the arrays in the study activated. Wendy exclaimed in surprise as the key her grandfather had given her shattered and the study doors slammed shut behind Avia. Layers of sealing arrays began to lock the entire room down tightly.

𝒇𝒓𝙚𝒆𝔀𝓮𝓫𝒏𝓸𝙫𝓮𝓵.𝓬𝙤𝙢

Avia whirled around, but it was too late. The arrays had done their job.

"What's going on, Avia? Just what is Grandpa up to?" Wendy murmured. Despite her exclamations, she wasn't in much of a panic. Her grandfather would never harm them.

"I don't know myself..." Avia murmured. She frowned deeply. Why had they suddenly been locked in this room?

"Avia, I'm feeling... rather dizzy..." Wendy suddenly began to slur. She touched her red hair as she staggered, a drowsy look on her face.

"Huh? What's wrong?" Avia looked at Wendy. She didn't feel anything unusual herself—only for a change in her mindscape to cause her eyes to widen in shock.

Outside the massive castle that represented her mental domain, a transparent barrier had now unfolded, enveloping her entire castle in a space that resembled Wang Yu's bedroom.

This outer barrier was blocking some red, fluid-like substance that cascaded down from the starry sky in her mindscape onto the mental shield surrounding Avia's castle before being deflected and scattered.

Wendy's head tilted as she collapsed onto the floor.

"This must be the mental barrier Wang Yu passed me back then..." Avia was extremely tense. She still hadn't figured out what was happening or what her teacher had done.

Sudden red light caught her attention. She turned her gaze toward the study window, which was also sealed with layers of protective spells. Outside the window, a hemispherical crimson barrier was rising from the boundaries of the academy and enveloping it completely.

The entire campus was bathed in an eerie red light.