Form Change: Plasma Beam Sword
As I climbed the platform after the instructor called me for the gauntlet form-conversion test, I stayed conscious of the person walking in perfect step beside me. It was my opponent for this second round—the academy’s strongest cadet, the witch Isabella.
There’s no way I can beat her with normal methods.
Isabella. Unfortunately, I had no path to victory against her. Her mental magic possessed such a wide area of effect that it could wipe out multiple monsters at once, while my plasma shots—modeled after the repulsor beam—could only eliminate one target per attack. In terms of attack range, we weren’t even playing the same game.
That doesn’t mean I’ve just been sucking my thumb, though.
I knew my weaknesses perfectly. And I had been pondering ways to overcome them for a long time. So I began research to compensate for that flaw. Rather than simply firing plasma bullets, I studied how to manifest them in the shape of a beam sword to dramatically increase firepower. The result was dramatic: I had completed the research just last night. Using a new formula, I had successfully implemented the plasma beam sword.
With those thoughts about the plasma beam sword still fresh in my mind, I placed my hand on the teleportation magic orb. My body instantly shifted to the testing ground, where the instructor on standby greeted me. I returned the courtesy with a polite reply, but Isabella simply ignored him. The instructor, as if he had expected as much, paid it no mind and proceeded to explain the rules.
“Right, enough preamble. The match begins in three seconds.”
Once the tedious explanation ended, the instructor finally raised his starting pistol. I preheated mana beneath my feet, ready to burst forward at any moment. With a time limit in play, a swift, decisive battle was the only option.
“Match start countdown—three… two… one…”
BANG!
At the gunshot, both my body and Isabella’s surged onto the battlefield. She levitated using the Graham family’s signature flight arts, while I retrieved my gauntlet from inventory. Twenty minutes remained. The countdown to decide victory between me and Isabella had begun.
When hundreds of people gather, noise is inevitable. Especially the cadets who had just finished their own second-round matches—winners and losers alike—the aftertaste of battle still lingered. They could only soothe it by clustering with friends who shared their mood and venting their feelings.
The cadets poured out their stories according to their respective situations, yet the overall flow of conversation followed a similar pattern. Winners slipped in boasts about their own performance while pretending to console the losers, and the defeated offered convenient excuses to soothe the sting of defeat.
“Next match: Edga Fix versus Isabella. Proceed to the platform and place your hands on the teleportation orb.”
But the instant Edga Fix and Isabella’s names were called, silence descended over the grand hall as if by agreement. Just like the moment a movie theater’s advertisements end and the main feature begins, every sound ceased. All eyes turned to the screens, purely to watch the clash between Ed and Isabella.
It was right as Ed and Isabella charged onto the battlefield.
“I-it’s starting!”
On the left side of the split screen, Ed’s feed showed a crack forming in the air as a bracelet materialized. He had taken the gauntlet out of his inventory. The entire audience held their breath, hearts pounding so loudly they could hear them, staring fixedly at Ed’s screen. They wanted to feel that shock again—the moment he equipped the gauntlet.
The process of each alloy piece locking into place to form the gauntlet. No matter how many times they saw it, the scene made their hearts race with inexplicable excitement. These otherworldly cadets who had never encountered mecha technology before couldn’t understand why simply equipping a gauntlet made their pulses thunder.
Then came the familiar sound.
The pleasant high-frequency tone produced when preheating the plasma beam. The circular emitter on the gauntlet’s palm emitted bright light, gradually expanding. Tension in the hall reached its peak, and then a heavy sonic boom reverberated throughout the entire auditorium. A fully preheated plasma shot had been fired in the form of a white flash.
BOOM!
In an instant, the ultra-high-temperature plasma projectile traveling at the speed of sound pierced straight through a monster’s abdomen. The creature’s vital point ruptured, and its massive body collapsed to the ground.
Ed’s gauntlet stirred an insane collector’s urge. Could only something of that caliber earn the princess’s and head professor’s favor? If he kept producing weapons like this, just how much stronger would Ed become? Some cadets shuddered at the thought, while others burned with competitive spirit, eyes gleaming.
“Look! It’s Isabella!”
Not to be outdone, Isabella began moving in earnest. Her figure soared into the air and descended into the heart of a monster-packed zone, unleashing wide-area mental magic.
KUOOOOO—!!!
The monsters began screaming and rampaging. They stabbed, slashed, and bit one another in a chaotic brawl.
Overwhelming. It was nothing short of an overwhelming scene of massacre. Ed’s combat footage gave viewers a thrilling rush, but Isabella’s left them speechless. A creeping sense of inevitable defeat rose in their chests—no matter what tactics were used, victory seemed impossible.
“But what is Sir Fix doing? It doesn’t look like he’s even hunting monsters properly.”
“Yeah? With time running out he should be going crazy, but where is he headed?”
Ed’s movements left everyone puzzled. He wasn’t properly engaging the monsters. He only eliminated those blocking his path. Despite possessing such a powerful gauntlet, he wasn’t fighting in any meaningful way.
The situation was strange. To score high, the standard approach was to lure and hunt monsters in dense packs. That required entering high-density zones and mapping efficient routes. Yet Ed was doing the exact opposite—cutting across empty areas and sprinting somewhere with clear purpose.
“Ah! No way—?”
One cadet who realized Ed’s intention let out a scream-like exclamation. At the same moment, Ed stopped in front of a dark cave that evoked the abyss itself. The instructor, who had been casually munching snacks while observing, jumped up in alarm and shouted.
The instructor’s figure shot toward Ed at blinding speed. But Ed, paying him no mind, aimed the gauntlet into the cave and loaded a plasma shot. Then—
Kiiiing— BOOM!
Without the slightest hesitation, he fired the plasma shot into the cave. A white flash illuminated the interior in real time as it streaked forward.
KUUUUUUNG!
An explosion powerful enough to shake the entire cavern. The instructor watching through the magic orb wore a rotten expression and muttered in a low voice.
“This is insane. I took this job to coast and now look at me.”
KUOOOOOOOOO—!
A thunderous monstrous roar shook the air as if it had been waiting. THUD! THUD! THUD! THUD! Something enormous began emerging, shaking the ground. The cadets in the grand hall slowly opened their mouths, faces blank with disbelief.
The first reason for their shock was the instructor’s warning before the test began: the boss monster inside the cave was so dangerous even he would struggle, so if they didn’t want to volunteer as the first case of a brand-new suicide method, they must never enter.
The second reason was that the instructor had jokingly added that if anyone actually managed to defeat it, he would immediately pass them. No one had dreamed a madman would take that seriously.
But Ed was not crazy. He had judged it worth attempting. With serious eyes fixed on the cave, he loaded the plasma beam to maximum power. The moment the Minotaur King revealed itself—
BOOM!
He fired the plasma beam directly. The white flash struck the creature’s left ankle.
KUOOOOOOO!!!
The damage was negligible—merely enough to make it stagger for a moment. A Minotaur King possessed overwhelmingly more mana receptors than a human; ordinary attacks could not wound it. Instead, it only further provoked its rage.
WHOOOSH!
The counterattack came immediately. Its massive fist hurtled toward Ed, generating tremendous wind pressure.
Hup!
Fortunately, Ed barely dodged by a hair’s breadth. Because his own mana capacity—thanks to the enormous mana stone embedded in his chest—greatly exceeded that of an average cadet, he could move with just enough agility to evade the Minotaur King’s attacks.
Kiiiing—!
Ed began a hit-and-run strategy. He continuously dodged the creature’s attacks while focusing plasma shots exclusively on its left ankle.
But he couldn’t avoid every strike. In trying to focus more on the attack, he was grazed by the tip of its hand.
Urgh…!
Even that slight contact sent his body flying far into the distance. The power gap was simply overwhelming—something a cadet who had only just enrolled could never hope to defeat.
Even so, Ed did not give up. He quickly rose, steadied his breathing, and calmly extended his palm toward the charging Minotaur King.
Kiiiing!
After loading another plasma shot, he fired at its left ankle. KWAAAANG! A white flash exploded against the creature’s ankle. The Minotaur King, which had been charging relentlessly, staggered and collapsed to one knee.
Ed’s lips curved upward as he muttered.
“Stage one complete.”
By persistently targeting a single spot, he had succeeded in restricting its movement. However, that did not make close-range combat any safer. Fighting a Minotaur in melee was simply not an option.
“Then it’s time for stage two.”
Ed chose a surprise attack. He would deliver a one-hit kill from its blind spot.
Crackle!
For that, he needed another item—the prototype propulsion unit that had nearly sent him to the afterlife last night. He took it from inventory and spread his arms wide. Because he had modified it for easy equipping, simply spreading his arms caused the unit to begin attaching itself.
Clack. Clack. Chrrrrk…
Pleasant coupling sounds rang out as a sleek backpack-shaped propulsion unit locked onto Ed’s back.
“Ed! Edga Fix! Stop! Stop right now!”
At that moment, the instructor who had been sprinting toward him finally arrived. Panting heavily, he glanced at the Minotaur King on one knee, then shouted at Ed in an angry voice.
“Hey, cadet Fix. Have you lost your mind? It’s not too late—run away now. The Minotaur King’s regenerative ability is beyond imagination. It may look like that now, but it’ll be chasing you again in less than two minutes.”
As the instructor said, the Minotaur King’s recovery was monstrous. Even after taking more than eight high-temperature plasma shots, it could fully recover in just two minutes. But Ed’s thoughts differed slightly.
“Exactly. Only two minutes left—so I’ll just have to kill it within that time.”
“What—?”
FWOOSH—!!
Before the instructor could finish, flames erupted from the propulsion unit. Ed’s body shot into the air in an instant, reaching three hundred meters altitude.
The image-transmitting magic orb that had been following him struggled for a long time before finally locating him. Once it caught up and positioned itself in the sky above, it captured the scene of Ed’s gauntlet transforming once again.
The cadets gathered in the grand hall witnessed the entire process clearly.
Everyone fell silent. The bright circular light that had shone from the palm migrated to the back of the hand. Titanium alloy disassembled with microscopic precision and reassembled in a new configuration. Once the transformation finished, the gauntlet had become a wrist guard reminiscent of a Protoss Zealot’s forearm protector.
The blue circular magic stone at the center of the guard emitted brilliant light, producing the familiar sound—kiiiing!—as it began preheating. Every time the high-frequency tone intensified, the audience’s tension rose.
CRACKLE—!
Finally, the completed form-changed wrist guard emitted a sharp blue plasma beam sword. Ed, free-falling from the sky, confirmed the fiercely glowing plasma beam sword and began adjusting his position by pulsing the propulsion unit on and off.
About here…
Ed positioned himself directly above the Minotaur King’s head. At twenty meters, he cut the propulsion unit’s engine. As the Minotaur King rose to its feet, Ed’s body began plummeting toward the ground.