The Start of Reinforced Suit Development
The reinforced suit development had officially begun. By now, there was no one left in the academy who didn't know who Ed was.
From the very first day of the entrance ceremony, his speech that stirred the pride of the nobility had captured everyone's hearts. Then, in the first evaluation match, he overturned a hopeless power gap with meticulous strategy and effortlessly crushed Max Sigmund using a weapon no one had ever seen before. And that wasn't all—in the second evaluation match, he fearlessly provoked the Minotaur King, then delivered an insane performance by slicing the beast clean in half from twenty meters in the air, defeating Isabella, who had been hailed as the strongest cadet, and advancing further.
So naturally, everyone's expectations were sky-high. Edga Fix. What kind of fresh madness would this lunatic show them next?
“I forfeit.”
“!?”
But his next move was a forfeit. He claimed his gauntlet was damaged and he couldn't fight, so he gave up the match.
Lucas, who had been paired against him, came looking for Ed with visible disappointment.
“I was looking forward to facing you, but a forfeit? That's a shame. Even without that gauntlet, I'm sure you could have fought me on equal footing or better.”
Lucas Elmar, the sole heir of the Elmar Duchy. He seemed genuinely regretful that he wouldn't get to cross blades with Ed. After Ed's explosive performance in yesterday's second round, his fame had skyrocketed once again. If Lucas could defeat him, it would elevate his own standing while simultaneously taking some of the wind out of Ed's sails.
“Haha, equal footing? You're too kind. Without the gauntlet, I wouldn't even be a match. Honestly, even if I still had it, I don't have the confidence to handle Lord Elmar's techniques right now.”
Ed gave him exactly the kind of answer Lucas wanted to hear. What mattered most to him was his own prestige and reputation. Since Lucas had shown up with his entire entourage, Ed lowered himself while modestly elevating Lucas.
“Besides, I feel like I've been overrated compared to my actual skill. I'm satisfied with where I am.”
And once again, he humbled himself. With the Doom scenario looming in the distant future, this was no time to worry about pride. Moreover, as a commoner, it was only proper to overwhelm others with results while keeping his words modest.
“Ahem. If you put it that way, I suppose there's nothing to be done. Let's look forward to our next encounter, then.”
Having heard everything he wanted to hear, Lucas patted Ed's shoulder twice and walked away.
The moment Lucas disappeared, Ed leaned back in his chair and muttered to himself.
“S-Class is already confirmed anyway. No need to bother fighting.”
The reason Ed had forfeited against Lucas was exactly as he'd said—there was no point in fighting anymore. Having scored massive points in both the first and second rounds, he had already surpassed the threshold for S-Class. The upcoming third and fourth rounds were nothing more than a ranking scramble; they had zero impact on class assignment.
“Isabella will probably take first place again this time.”
Isabella, who had lost to him in the second round. But she had still advanced to the third round. The second round, which had been structured as a tournament, was actually a fake tournament designed to pit similarly skilled cadets against each other to draw out their maximum potential while adding the pressure of elimination. In the end, advancing to the third round depended on the combined score from the first and second rounds.
For that reason, Isabella had safely moved on to the third round, and just as Ed predicted, she would claim first place in this class evaluation. At the moment, no cadet could withstand her mental attacks.
“It's all pointless posturing in the end.”
But such ranking games meant nothing to Ed. What mattered to him wasn't proving his strength—it was surviving the coming catastrophe. Now that he'd grown attached to several key NPCs, including James, he wanted to save them all if possible. After all, wasn't the core gameplay of El Pandor Luntera about awakening as many NPCs as possible to prepare for the disaster?
“I need to get stronger.”
To do that, he had to become far stronger than he was now. The only reason he'd been able to kill the Minotaur King was because he'd perfectly identified its weakness and leveraged his own strengths. In one-on-one human combat, he still had many shortcomings. Especially since S-Class was packed with monsters—including the four ducal heirs—he needed to be able to hold his own if he wanted to build relationships with them.
So what should he do?
“The suit.”
The answer was obvious: the suit. He would cover his entire body in equipment that performed on the level of the Plasma Beam Titanium Alloy Gauntlet.
But there was still a long way to go before reaching that point. He couldn't even properly manufacture the Superconducting Mana Fusion Engine Thruster yet. The thruster he'd used to kill the Minotaur King had been nothing more than a prototype. Because of that, free flight was impossible, and the output wasn't stable. Most critically, he couldn't control speed—the most important factor in flight.
“Hmm… What if I optimize the prototype?”
Ed decided to optimize the existing prototype since he couldn't build something on the level of Iron Man right away. Even if free flight wasn't possible, he could still implement a dash-like function if he used the thruster well. And if he developed fibers with excellent elasticity and adhesion, he could combine them with the thruster to create a three-dimensional maneuvering device. Instead of stupidly dropping from twenty meters up, he would be able to freely target the enemy's blind spots.
Good. First goal: three-dimensional maneuvering device.
Ed set the three-dimensional maneuvering device as his immediate objective to boost his combat power. If he could perfect it, he would be able to hold his own against the monster-filled S-Class cadets.
“Next… the reinforced suit.”
The next thing he considered was the reinforced suit. Simply strapping the thruster to his back wouldn't be enough to fully utilize the three-dimensional maneuvering device. He would need reinforced fiber wires to assist it, and a special device would be required to fire and retrieve those wires efficiently. Since that special device had to stay in constant contact with the body, a specially crafted reinforced suit was absolutely necessary.
Alright. Let's start with this plan.
Having roughly outlined his concept, Ed immediately began drawing up blueprints. He added a wire function to the gauntlet, redesigned the thruster prototype to better suit three-dimensional maneuvering, and added storage functions around the waist, thighs, calves, and wrists to hold various special weapons.
When he finished the rough blueprint, what emerged was a suit that looked like someone had added a strong mechanical flavor to the Batman suit. The design was incredibly appealing.
“Shall we get started, then?”
He had plenty of free time. Ed decided to dive straight into development. The next three days would be spent on the third and fourth rounds as the cadets fought to determine their rankings, so he could do whatever he wanted during that time.
Ed immediately pulled the hammer from his inventory.
Three days later, the results were exactly as everyone had predicted.
Isabella had taken first place without fail. Lucas of the Elmar Ducal House taking second was also within expectations. At this point, almost no one could block his unique elemental techniques. The only one who could even put up a fight was Enya of the Cruel Ducal House.
But Enya had stubbornly insisted on using only Battojutsu and ended up in fifth place. Her Battojutsu was still under heavy development, so it had too many openings and weaknesses that were easily exploited. The fact that she had reached fifth place in actual combat using a sword-drawing technique that only appeared in manga was something only a monster like Enya could accomplish.
Among the four great ducal families, there was one heir ranked ninth.
Claire. She specialized in buff-oriented techniques, so she couldn't display her full power in one-on-one duels. Still, a ninth-place ranking for Claire of the four great ducal houses was by no means shameful. On the contrary, the fact that a support-type mage had fought through so many powerful opponents to reach ninth place was truly praiseworthy. In fact, Claire herself seemed quite satisfied with her ninth-place result.
“My daughter… could have at least taken second…”
However, Illiya, the head of the Cruel family and the Sword Saint, was clearly displeased with the current situation. His daughter was a genius with the sword. If she had used proper killing techniques, she would have easily taken third or fourth. He even believed she could have beaten Lucas.
Some of that was the bias of a doting father, but the general consensus was that Enya at full strength could defeat Lucas. After all, before she became obsessed with Battojutsu, she had beaten Lucas in every friendly spar.
“Haa… My daughter…”
Illiya let out a long sigh and rubbed his forehead. He had wanted to see his daughter standing on the podium with a bright smile, receiving the trophy for first or second place. But that historic moment had vanished like foam. All because of that damn Baldohjae.
“Hmm?”
At that moment, Illiya's eyes narrowed. His daughter, who had been glancing around, spotted some pretty-boy and started following him with quick little steps. And the expression on her face after she called out to him was pure shock.
It was a bright, innocent smile he hadn't seen on her face even once since she was nine years old.
The Sword Saint Illiya narrowed his eyes and stared at Ed.
That bastard… Who the hell is he? His mana flow isn't normal.