Overwhelming Firepower

The next day came, and Lucen, alongside Robert, was heading to the Royal Academy. Unlike Lucen, Robert was very unenthusiastic.

They were now wearing the uniform of a Royal Academy instructor. The uniform was dark blue with silver embroidery along the collar and cuffs. It was made to look dignified, practical, and authoritative.

Lucen wore it naturally. With his silver hair, ruby eyes, and calm expression, he looked like someone who had always belonged in such a position.

Robert, on the other hand, looked as if the uniform had personally offended him.

”This is uncomfortable,” Robert muttered as he pulled lightly at his collar.

The two of them walked towards the teacher’s lounge, where they met Principal Aldren on the way. Right now they before the students arrive, the Principal was going to introduce them to the other instructors.

The three arrived at the lounge, and inside were several instructors. They were fourth mantle aura users and four circle mages. There were also a few five-circle mages present.

Several gazes turned toward them. There were gazes filled with curiosity, and there were also those that held gazes of doubt.

That was only natural. Most of the instructors in the Royal Academy were veterans who had survived countless battles or mages who had spent decades studying their craft.

Compared to them, both Lucen and Robert were far too young. They did not doubt the strength of the two, but no matter what kind of genius one was, experience matters when it comes to teaching.

A person could be strong without being able to teach others how to become strong. That was something everyone in the room understood.

Principal Aldren looked around the teacher’s lounge and spoke calmly. ”Everyone, these two will be joining the Royal Academy as special instructors starting this term.”

His gaze first moved toward Lucen.

”Sir Lucen Thornehart will be teaching a special class on the guns he created and a new combat style related to them.”

The other instructors had already expected Lucen to be teaching that. They were quite curious about the guns and how to use them properly.

Despite many of them being able to dodge and deflect the revolver-style guns that were being sold to the public, they knew Lucen had even more powerful guns with that, and they also knew that even with just those revolvers, Lucen was able to fight people of higher rank than him.

Because of that, even those who had doubts did not speak carelessly.

Lucen Thornehart was not merely a young genius. He was a ducal heir, the son of the Iron Duke, and someone personally acknowledged by the King. His achievements had already spread far beyond the north.

To question him openly without first seeing what he could teach would not make them look wise. It would only make them look foolish.

Principal Aldren’s gaze then moved toward Robert.

”As for Robert Duskwell, he will also be joining the Royal Academy as a special instructor. He will be teaching something he calls battle alchemy, a different way for alchemists to fight, not just using potions and spells, but focusing on transmutation and close combat.”

The moment Principal Aldren said those words, the gazes of the mage instructors changed slightly.

Battle Alchemy. This was the first time they had heard such a term. Alchemy was more of creation than battle, and when alchemists fight, they usually fight like any other mages, with the added use of potions.

Since they were not focused on battle, they were quite weaker than most other mages. A good example was if a Third Circle mage from the Yellow Tower fights another mage of the same circle from other towers except for the Grey Tower, which also focuses on production, the Yellow Tower mage would surely lose.

Of course, that did not mean alchemists were useless. No proper mage would ever say such a foolish thing.

Alchemy created medicine, poisons, strengthening potions, explosives, special metals, and countless other things that allowed armies and kingdoms to function.

But as individual combatants, alchemists were usually not placed at the front line. That was why the term Battle Alchemy sounded strange to them.

It was not because they thought it was impossible. It was because no one had seriously tried to make it into a proper combat style before.

The three skills that alchemist have that were specialized to them was Transmutation, an ability to change the structure of an object. They can’t change lead into gold, but they can change the shape of that lead.

As long as they understand the composition of the object to a point, they can rearrange it to whatever they want. This only works on inanimate objects and cannot be used on a living being.

The problem with this skill was that it was hardly used in real battle, because the user must analyze and understand the material before changing it.

If they failed to understand the structure properly, the transmutation would either fail or produce an unstable result.

In a workshop, that was not a problem. But in battle, when everything is happening so fast, it would be hard to concentrate.

Even if you already know the composition of the materials beforehand, it would still be difficult to tranmute them during battle.

You also need to have a clear picture and understanding of how you reshape the object. Not to mention, you need to touch the object you wish to transmute, or create some sort of line towards it.

The next skill is Catalysis, which can forcefully speed up, slow down, or trigger reactions between different substances.

A normal mage would create fire with a spell, but an alchemist could make the oil on the ground ignite faster, cause metal to rust at an unnatural speed, or force an unstable mixture to explode before the enemy could react.

Of course, similar to the Transmutation skill, they needed to understand the composition of the object they’re using the skill on. This is also something that only works on non-living things.

Another similarity with Transmutation is that it is too slow to use in real-time battle, and you also need to touch the said object.

The last skill was Synthesis. If Transmutation changed the shape of a material and Catalysis controlled reactions, then Synthesis combined different materials to create something new.

This was the skill most people thought of when they imagined alchemy. Potions, salves, powders, acids, strengthening mixtures, monster-material compounds, and special coatings were all made through Synthesis.

Of course, it was not as simple as mixing two things together and expecting a miracle. The alchemist needed to know the properties of each material, the correct amount, the order of combination, and what kind of mana flow was needed to keep the result from failing.

All of the alchemist skills required vast knowledge of materials, which is why they could not focus on other things.

This was also why most alchemists were seen as support personnel rather than battlefield combatants.

They were incredibly useful before and after battle, but during battle itself, they were too slow.

Now, hearing the term battle alchemy, they became interested in knowing more. Seeing it was something, Robert Duskwell, the mad alchemist, came up with it should be something special.

After introducing Lucen and Robert, Principal Aldren gave brief introductions to the other instructors present.

Lucen already knew most of them since they were part of the game, but the more important instructors were not present at the moment. Still, he was excited to later meet the instructors who were truly part of the storylines.

Once everyone was introduced, the people started preparing for the student introductions. The reason for the more serious vibe was that, aside from a ducal heir joining this semester, a royal was also entering this semester.

That royal was none other than the third prince Elion Viron Vaelgard. He had a separate entrance examination, but he was also put in the S-class.

Lucen was a little surprised when he learned about that. In almost all the previous routes, Prince Elion was barely good enough to be in B-class.

’Did my meeting with him change him that much?... Well, I guess another reason could be that his older sister Elena is still alive. Either way, this is a good thing for this route, at least Alexander won’t have to deal with too much prejudice.’

As Lucen thought of that, the sound of the academy bell rang through the halls.

The instructors began leaving the lounge one after another, heading toward the hall where the new students would be gathered.

Robert sighed as he followed behind Lucen. ”Can we leave after the introductions?”

”No,” Lucen answered.

”Unfortunate.”

Lucen smiled faintly and looked ahead. Beyond those doors were the main characters of the new route, the students who would one day stand at the center of the coming storm.

The ridiculously long prologue was finally over. Now, the Royal Academy arc had truly begun.