An Instructor? Me?
"An instructor? Me?"
Alchemists were weak in combat.
That wasn't merely the players' perception. In the game world I had once enjoyed, it was common knowledge—an accepted truth that had settled into the fabric of the setting itself.
Without a Transmutation Circle, alchemy was impossible. And to use alchemy at all demanded a foundation of exceptional scientific knowledge. On top of that, the Law of Equivalent Exchange had to be obeyed, so compared to magic or spirit arts and the other mysteries, the results were relatively meager. People regarded alchemy as a chicken rib of a discipline: too good to throw away, not good enough to rely on.
It was certainly useful for production work—brewing potions, reshaping objects—or for environmental tasks like recycling waste. But for everything else? Most people would tell you that magic or straight science was the better choice.
But things are different now.
In the game, alchemy had never been allowed to break past the limits of its own setting. Now that the world had become real, though, there were no constraints stitched together out of zeros and ones. That meant I could take the stereotypes people held about alchemists, let them drop their guard, and drive a blade straight into the opening.
Just like I was doing right now, with the three idiots who had staged the raid on Arca's 3rd Research Institute.
"Ghk—?!"
"So you managed to hang on after all."
I clicked my tongue with a faintly regretful look. Jumper, reduced to a wreck, glared up at me with trembling eyes and shouted,
"How—how the hell did you—?!"
"I told you. Alchemy."
Behind him, Trapper and Doctor were already nicely browned and roasted. Not dead, but their entire bodies had been seared so thoroughly they were on the brink of death. It would take them a long time to wake up—and if luck turned against them, they might simply die where they lay. Jumper had only survived in this state because he had instantaneously opened a Warp Gate in front of himself and managed to blunt a fraction of the blast.
"I adjusted the concentration of oxygen and hydrogen in the air, then used the dust floating around us as a fuse. A dust explosion, more or less."
In truth the dust had only been the trigger. The real stars of the show—the ones that delivered proper force—were the flammable gases, hydrogen and oxygen. But Jumper no longer looked in any condition to sit through a chemistry lecture, so I left it at that.
"That's impossible! Alchemy without a Transmutation Circle? No human alive can do something like that!"
"There is one. Right in front of you. I even gave you a live demonstration—want to see it again?"
I crooked a wicked smile and lifted one knee as if I were about to stamp my foot. The shout died in Jumper's throat; his face twisted.
His Gift was a terrible matchup against my alchemy. If he had been the type who could simply designate coordinates and hurl himself through space, it might have been different. Instead he could only open Warp Gates and pass through them. I knew that perfectly well, which was why I had never bothered to dodge.
"…What the hell are you, really?"
"I already told you. An alchemist. I even gave you my identity out of the kindness of my heart. You're the one who refused to believe it."
"Tch—!"
Jumper bit his lip and glared. His eyes flicked past my shoulder for a moment; he had clearly begun to realize he had no chance of winning.
"Why not just come quietly? Arca is fairly humanitarian, all things considered. They're pretty lenient even when it comes to dealing with criminals."
"Ha. If you were in my position, would you just come quietly?"
"Fair point."
I had hoped I might talk him down, but of course Jumper only sneered and opened a Warp Gate. Before I could do a thing he dove through it and vanished.
I had been about to form a stone hand and grab him. Pity.
Well, catching him here would have cost more than it gained, anyway.
Part of the reason I hadn't lunged was simple hesitation. Capturing Jumper now would make the days ahead much easier. The man dragged so many incidents and accidents around with him that locking him down would spare me a lot of headaches. But Jumper was not someone you could think about in simple terms.
He wasn't always a pure benefit to a player, yet every so often he brought home a jackpot. And when that jackpot hit, every problem he had ever caused suddenly looked like nothing more than endearing mischief.
High risk, high return.
As for the "risk"—to me, right now, it was nothing but a minor nuisance I could solve without much trouble. Since I had already let him go, I might as well put up with a little extra inconvenience and aim for the big score.
What a high-maintenance golden goblin.
I scratched the back of my head and looked down at Doctor and Trapper, now reduced to roast meat. Motionless in their ruined state, they looked genuinely dead. Not that it particularly mattered. What mattered to me was securing them; whether they lived or died was secondary.
It might sound cold and cruel, but knowing how many people these two had already killed—and how many more they would kill if left free—made it easy to stay detached. Or maybe traveling through the Destroyed Kingdom with Albedo had simply toughened my stomach. Either way, I even found myself thinking it was a relief I had finished them here.
In the Destroyed Kingdom I saw grotesque scenes all the time…
Monster blood pouring over me, entrails and chunks of flesh sticking to my clothes—those had been ordinary occurrences. Sometimes I had to crawl over the corpses of dead beasts, yellow and green monster grease packing itself under my nails. And that was before counting the half-rotted bodies that still clung, just barely, to a human shape. At first I had retched and suffered nightmares, but human beings are adaptable animals; it had not taken long before I grew used to it.
For criminals this vicious, ending up merely roasted was almost a merciful death. I could think that way now without flinching.
Or does Dual Spiritual Rank treat even fear and trauma as a kind of mental status ailment?
Psychiatry classified trauma as a mental illness and fear as one of its byproducts, so the hypothesis was not unreasonable. The game had possessed a Fear status effect, and mental status ailments were defined as any mental condition that pulled a person out of their normal state. Whether the theory was true or not, either answer was fine by me. If I had simply adapted quickly, or if Dual Spiritual Rank had forged an ironclad mind—the result was the same.
"Ah, you're here?"
Footsteps approached from deeper inside the institute, growing steadily louder. The atmosphere was noisy enough that Sayulcheon had clearly rescued the students and was on her way back. Exactly as I had expected: the explosion had blown out the lights, leaving the corridor dim, and Sayulcheon appeared with roughly twenty students trailing behind her.
"Who's that?"
"A fellow Academy student?"
"His clothes are different. That's not a uniform—it's ordinary civilian clothes."
The Academy students seemed thoroughly curious about my identity. The moment they saw me they began buzzing among themselves, trying to guess who I was. I took a moment to study their faces in return. Some I recognized; others were completely new. A few of the ones who had appeared often in the story felt almost nostalgic, but this was no time to show it. I knew them; they did not yet know me. There would be plenty of opportunity for networking once I was officially enrolled.
"Good. I'm glad you're all safe. That said—who are these two?"
Sayulcheon quieted the chattering students behind her and turned her gaze to Doctor and Trapper lying where I had dropped them. Their suspicious appearance alone was enough for her to guess their nature; what she really wanted to know was their condition. Who were they, and how had they ended up sprawled on the floor like charcoal-grilled meat? That was the question in her eyes.
"They're the main culprits behind the raid on the 3rd Research Institute—the ones who targeted the students of Origin Academy this time."
"…And you captured them?"
"I have a certain knack for personal combat."
I shrugged as if it were nothing. Right now, false modesty would only get in the way; better to display my strength and accomplishments without apology. And it was not entirely a lie. Against monsters on the level of Sayulcheon or Albedo I would not stand a chance, but against anything merely intermediate I could more than hold my own. The students behind her, Sayulcheon herself excluded, I could probably take even in a one-versus-many. A handful of story-important characters might prove trickier, but none of them were without a strategy. As I kept saying: Albedo and Sayulcheon were simply outside the scale. Against people that strong, you did not pick a fight without Ether cultivation methods—or without preparing thoroughly beforehand.
"…The scorch marks everywhere are clearly from fire, yet how did you produce flames in a place like this?"
Sayulcheon still looked full of questions. Perfect. The more curious she was, the better the chance to brand my existence into her mind with a display of what I could do.
"Alchemy. I manipulated the ratio of hydrogen and oxygen in the air, used the floating dust as a fuse, and then—"
I stamped my foot the same way I had earlier. A tiny spark blossomed under my sole, and in the blink of an eye a violent explosion roared a few paces ahead, a wave of searing heat riding the heated wind toward us.
"—you get an explosion with quite respectable force. One of them opened a portal and escaped, though."
"Indeed. The power is undeniable. The one who fled will be tracked separately by the Security Bureau, so you need not worry about the oversight."
Sayulcheon finished with a brief assessment and a word of encouragement. Inside, I smiled and let my gaze drift past her to the students. Unlike Sayulcheon, who had already seen me perform alchemy without a Transmutation Circle when we first entered the institute, the Academy students still had no idea. Exactly as expected, they erupted into astonished clamor.
"Alchemy? Doesn't that need a Transmutation Circle?"
"Can alchemy even produce an attack like that?"
"I don't sense any mana. What the hell is this?"
No one managed a proper answer; questions only bred more questions. The pleasant murmur made the corner of my mouth twitch upward of its own accord.
"I will hear the full particulars later. All of you, fall in and follow this instructor."
Everything after that was handled with impressive speed. The students returned to the dormitory still looking dazed, while the Academy scrambled to clean up the incident and manage the various controversies the raid had stirred up in public. I, for my part, was every bit as busy.
Just as the situation was finally settling, the Principal of Origin Academy suddenly summoned me.
"Mr. Ryu Seojun. Would you by any chance be interested in taking a post as an instructor at our Academy?"
I had gone expecting an enrollment permit. Instead I was offered a teaching position on the spot.
"…Me?"
"Instructor Sayulcheon recommended you most vigorously. She insisted we simply must invite you as the alchemy instructor."
That woman was not usually so aggressive about recommending people. The Principal smiled cheerfully and kept chattering. I returned a stiff little smile and short replies, but his words barely registered.
Did I leave too strong an impression?
Leaving a powerful impression was good. Leaving one this powerful, apparently, was a problem of its own.