"Hmmm...So if I add in this rune to my previous runic circuit, then..."

Cecil was mumbling to himself and not paying any attention to the cla.s.s. The instructor only let out a helpless sigh when he saw him. It wasn't the instructor's fault. Cecil was probably the only one in cla.s.s who had knowledge way above his current grade.

The current cla.s.s was related to runes, a topic that Cecil was very much adept in. He no longer needed to learn about all the low grade and elementary runes that the instructor was currently explaining to the cla.s.s.

He had long since surpa.s.sed that stage. He had even upgraded those degraded elementary runes to a better form.

The current rune being explained was the shock rune. A rune used to create electrical currents. There was a similar looking rune in the ancient library that had the same function, but the shape and form of the ancient rune was much more complex.

The rune being shown by the instructor looked like a cheap knock-off compared to the one Cecil was currently looking at in his book. He's been using this rune so much in his runic circuits that he could probably draw it in his sleep.

Cecil was currently looking at the more advanced version of the shock rune, the electric wave rune. Right now, he was secretly developing a runic circuit that could fire out pulses of electricity and light.

He was secretly trying to upgrade a magi-tech weapon's runic circuit right now. The name of the weapon was the Storm Howler Mk.I. It was in the shape of a large stationary canon. The SH Mk.I was not the final version and it was in the process of being upgraded and perfected.

It was a shame that whoever was trying to further develop the designs of this canon hadn't been able to finish it. Cecil wanted to prepare for when the time came when the Fallen wanted to launch an attack on the world, IF they were real that is.

During his time inside of the World Tree's illusion, Cecil noticed that during the battle most of the magic spells and combat skills that the warriors in the sky were using to combat the Fallen were light, lightning, and fire based.

There were little to no wind, water, or earth elemental magic being used, so Cecil figured that it was most likely one of the Fallen's weak points.

The designs of the canon were already fixed and no longer needed any improving, except that was only on the standards for the ancients. Cecil needed to find time to explore more places to search for and obtain subst.i.tute materials since most of the materials needed to craft the aforementioned canon were no longer present in the current era.

While he had to worry about that for the future, the current problem he was facing was the runic circuit development for the Storm Howler Mk.II, the upgraded version of the Mk.I. He was still looking up and studying more about the ancient runes that were needed to complete the circuit.

He had been learning and experimenting for the past 2 months while at the same time he was developing those modern conveniences from Earth for the Anglaria Kingdom.

The best he could create was a runic circuit that performed 2 times stronger than the previous runic circuit, but the plans for the improved version of Mk.II boasted an upgrade of 7.5 times the strength of the Mk.I.

Cecil couldn't understand how the ancients went about planning for this! The plans only stated that the improved version would have a theoretical boost of 7.5 times, but from the experiments Cecil's been conducting, he could only manage to improve it by 2 times. It was totally far off from the conclusion that the ancients had reached.

He had been stuck on this for over two months, but it might be due to the fact that he still hasn't gone through and learned the entirety of the knowledge he had copied down from the ancient library.

"I should find more time to read those notes...2 times the strength of a quadruple Flash Canon is pretty good already...but 7.5 times would be much better..."

Cecil continued to nonchalantly flip the pages of his tome after dropping those frightening words. Everyone around him was shocked and had immediately snapped their heads to look incredulously at the boy.

Just what kind of technique was the overpowered monster trying to create next?!

Even Lucia who was next to him had her mouth hung open at his words.

"...I should probably experiment later..."

"!"

"!!!"

Another bomb was dropped, everyone in the cla.s.s paled and Lucia couldn't help but yell at him.

"OI! Idiot!!! Are you trying to blow up the school?!"

"Hah?"

Cecil only responded with a bewildered expression.

"What're you talking about? Blow up the school? Why would I blow up the school?"

"Didn't you just say something about a technique that was 7.5 times the strength of a QUADRUPLE Flash Canon?"

"What technique?"

"What?"

"?"

"Keheum, keheum!!"

The instructor at the front was also a little pale. Being a rabbitkin with long ears, he had naturally overheard Cecil's initial mumbling. He was also startled, but continued on with this lesson until the boy dropped his second bomb.

Now that Lucia had finished berating him, the instructor settled the cla.s.s down and told Cecil off about not doing anything too dangerous. Cecil of course was still confused at what he meant. Was he going to do something dangerous?

"Alright, cla.s.s is dismissed. Make sure to remember to turn in your a.s.signment by the end of the week!"

"Yes, sir!"

"And, uhm, Cecil?"

"Huh? Yeah?"

"Don't go blowing anything up okay? Especially not the school," the instructor emphasized once again.

"...Okay?"

The instructor nodded in satisfaction and walked out of the cla.s.s. The Little Kings naturally all gathered together around Cecil once the instructor made his exit.

"Hey, brat! What's this I hear about a quadruple Flash Canon?"

"Yeah! 7.5 times stronger, what're you trying to do this time?"

Ainz and Fina asked in quick succession.

"Woah, wait! What're you guys talking about?"

"Stop playing dumb! We all heard you mumbling earlier!"

"Huh?"

Cecil thought long and hard about what they said and finally a something snapped to place in his brain.

"O~oh, that~! It's not a technique! It's just a runic circuit I'm trying to create!"

"Eh? Runes again! Jeez, will you give it a rest already? You've been going on and on about that for 2 months already!" Ainz quipped.

"Hahaha~"

"But still...to have power 7.5 times that of a quadruple Flash Canon..." Eli said while staring at Cecil in amazement.

"I'm not talking about destructive power, but energy or mana density."

Cecil was lying through his teeth, but his serious expression didn't let anyone pick up on his lie...except for a certain foxkin girl.

She was giving the boy a clear look of disdain, Lucia clearly didn't trust his words. That expression he was making explained it all to her. It was his look when he was spouting bulls.h.i.+t from his mouth and spinning his brain to create even more bulls.h.i.+t.

Cecil began explaining about the runic circuit he was creating and its 'true' purpose. He wanted to create a new type of magi-tech that'll draw in the ambient mana of the world and store it inside the circuit.

It could then be saved up and used for another time. Basically, it was a battery and Cecil wanted to create one that could store up and acc.u.mulate mana 7.5 times that of the mana used in a quadruple Flash Canon.

This part was true. The true purpose of the runic circuit was to act as a battery, except it was a battery for an energy canon.

Of course, if Cecil wanted to, he could create a normal battery using this runic circuit. Except, what would he use it for? The batteries in Alterna were essentially the monster cores and magic cores.

If he created a battery now, it would totally disrupt the economic foundation of the Kingdom, no—the continent.

Eli and Fina were the first to understand this.

"C-Cecil! If you happened to create even this...then wouldn't—"

"Oh, don't worry about it. I plan on sealing this magi-tech since I know the implementations it'll cause if I were to circulate such a thing..."

"Manufactured energy sources...that could recharge itself with time...you'd make all the magic cores useless..."

"Yeah...I would...but if I can find a runic combination that's able to extract the mana inside a magic core and transfer it into the battery runic circuit, then those magic cores will be in more demand than before!"

"Y-yeah! That could work...but—"

"BUT! I haven't been able to make one yet...actually, I'm not sure if I even can! I've been going through all the notes and doc.u.ments I copied from the ancient library, but I can't seem to find a plausible combination for a mana extraction runic circuit...it's so frustrating that I might as well just give up and lock away this battery circuit!"

This time, his words were 100 percent true. "Oh? A problem even you can't solve, Cel?"

"Y-yeah...my brain's hurting just thinking about it, Lulu...I already asked mother, but she's still studying the records and doc.u.ments I gave to her..."

"Well, just shelve it for now. Come back to it later once you've gained the necessary know-how," She replied simply.

"Yeah...so how about we go and grab something to eat...it's already lunch time and we've spent almost half an hour wasting our time here!"

Everyone agreed with Cecil's words. They all prepared to go to the academy's cafeteria, but then a fatty appeared at the cla.s.sroom's door.

"Hey, Velicia, it's your fiancé!" Fina said while pointing at Lucius who was blocking the door with his body.

"Ah! You were about to head out? Good thing I didn't come late then!" Lucius said with a grin.

"Are you coming to eat with us, Lucius?" Velicia asked.

"Sure, why not. But first, Cecil, may I have a word, please?"

"Sure."

"...alone?"

Cecil turned to look at his friends and shrugged, "Sure, why not. Wait a bit, okay guys?"

"Sure, sure, go already, but make it quick brat!"

"Hmhm..."

"..."

The talk seemed to be important, judging by the way Lucius wanted to speak to Cecil alone. They all thought it had something to do with his faction or something.

Cecil and Lucius walked away from the cla.s.sroom towards the small indoor garden just next to the cla.s.s.

"What's up Lucius?"