Chapter 8

Weapon Replicator of the Academy - Chapter 8 (8/606)

Weapon Replicator of the Academy Chapter 8

Chapter 2: The Branch in the Coffin, Misteltain (4)

I played with the dagger a few times. The weight, balance, everything is just like the original weaving.

I would have to test if the sharpness of the blade is exactly the same, but it’s probably very close.

'But it continuously consumes mana.'

Black River is a material that solidifies when force is applied.

To maintain its form, continuous magic power is required.

Frontier’s mana level is at the average person’s level.

By the standards of Constel students, it’s far from enough, but it should be manageable for the duration of a single battle.

The weaving made with Black River completely reverses the pros and cons of regular weaving.

Weapons made by weaving only appear in reality at the moment of contact, so they can’t block an opponent’s attack head-on.

If I did, the opponent’s attack would pierce through the weaving and kill me.

Moreover, if it doesn’t cut through in one go, it disappears, making it difficult to deal proper damage.

On the other hand, Black River is a real weapon, so I can use regular combat techniques.

I can block normally, clash, and even push through if I get stuck for a moment.

However, Black River continuously consumes mana while maintaining the weaving, and since it has a physical form, it’s visible to enemies.

Depending on the situation, I need to switch between regular weaving and Black River.

"…Then."

I swallowed hard with tension. This is where it gets serious.

Right now, in my workshop, there is the famous sword, Gram.

Seeing the real Gram was an unexpected gain.

The moment I saw Ampere’s Gram, I implanted the image into my workshop.

I placed the Black River dagger on the mold and undid the weaving, and it naturally turned back into a liquid and filled the mold. Then I placed my hand on it again.

This time, I’m not replicating a regular dagger, but a hero’s sword.

—If this is possible, it will be a step forward in conquering this world.

Weaving (織造), Black River (黑川)

Rank – Legendary

Gram

Threads of mana extended toward the Black River.

Engraving the image and structure was simple.

•Rank: Legendary

•Description: The famous sword used by Sigurd. The achievements of the hero and the weapon surpass those of several deities.

Ability Details >

– Dragon Slayer: It has drunk the blood of a dragon, greatly enhancing its attack power against dragons and instilling fear in dragons of ‘Unique’ rank or lower.

And it was complete.

This part is purely Frontier’s talent, so there’s no interference.

The problem is,

"…Ugh!"

The moment I held the woven Gram, an overwhelming dizziness and nausea hit me.

Mana depletion. I couldn’t hold the weaving for even 3 seconds.

“Huff, cough! Cough, cough…!”

Dry coughs repeated. It felt like all the moisture in my body was being burned away.

But even in the pain, a glimmer of hope arose.

“Cough, it, cough, it works…! Cough!”

That’s right. The weaving itself was successful. It just requires an absurd amount of mana.

“Phew… I need to think of a way to increase my mana.”

The fastest way is to wear an artifact. However, artifacts that increase mana are excessively expensive.

Even for the Loach family, or rather, especially because of it, they are sensitive to high-priced items.

If I were Azie, such an expense would be allowed, but I’m Frontier, so it’s not possible.

“Then, let’s try the simple and brutal method for now.”

There’s one more way to increase my mana pool. It’s to completely deplete my mana, just like before.

When mana is depleted, the body grows the mana pool to prevent further depletion, much like a muscle.

This method is actually unknown to most characters in Etius.

First, the amount of mana that increases is very minimal compared to items or divine power. Just like how muscle growth isn’t immediately visible with exercise.

And completely depleting mana is a taboo here, as it’s very dangerous to have your life-saving mana completely drained when danger can strike at any time.

But, well.

There’s no reason not to do it if I know it increases mana.

When my mana recovers, I plan to weave Gram a few more times to deplete my mana and increase it.

…However, this method also has its limits.

Ultimately, I’ll need an item.

“…Quinie.”

That’s the conclusion. Trading with Quinie de Vieux.

She’s the only trading route I have.

But since I don’t have money, I need to offer something else.

Of course, building a relationship comes first.

Let’s think about how to persuade her.

“By the way, how do I carry this—”

I stopped mid-sentence. My fingertips trembled.

Curious, I watched as the trembling spread up my arm and over my entire body.

“W-What, ugh!”

It was nothing but fear.

The emotion that suddenly enveloped my body was so unexpected that I didn’t even realize it was fear at first.

There’s nothing around. No medium to trigger fear exists.

‘…No.’

The empty space that was just nothing a moment ago.

As if slowly pulling back a curtain, the middle of the air split open.

Someone slowly squeezed through the gap.

“You, are.”

A small boy with black wings.

Golden eyes turned toward me. The look of contempt and humiliation in his eyes felt like they were digging into my throat.

Fear swelled up.

I quickly scanned the boy’s appearance with the little bit of sanity I had left.

‘Not human. A god. One of the gods that exist in this game, Etius. But who? By appearance, it’s one from Greek or Norse mythology. Remember, golden eyes, black wings, a god in the form of a boy…!’

In the world of Etius, a god’s descent is not an easy task.

It requires considerable preparation from the god’s perspective. Yet, they managed to break through the barriers and appear before me.

‘Could it be because I used Black River to weave?’

If the god set the condition for descent to be the weaving becoming real in advance.

The preparation for the descent must have been ready from the start.

And if that’s true,

This god knew that weaving could affect reality.

I don’t know yet, but to this god, weaving is that dangerous.

The god in the form of a boy moved his lips.

I couldn’t hear it, and even if I did, I wouldn’t understand the language of the gods, but I somehow felt that the god was saying,

That’s what it felt like.

The god snapped his finger. At the same time, my right hand lifted on its own.

Frontier’s Unique Skill

Weaving (織造)

Workshop 1st Creation

Rank – Common

Iron Dagger

My hand performed the weaving on its own.

The tip of the blade was pointed at me.

‘This bastard, trying to kill me…!’

Controlling my body, he’s trying to kill me with my own hands.

A perfect suicide, leaving no evidence.

My right hand trembled and didn’t follow my will at all.

The blade got closer.

I clenched my teeth to gather strength.

…Huh?

I can bite my teeth.

I changed my mind. I can’t resist with force.

I’m just a human, an ordinary person, not even a named character. Resisting a god is futile.

So what I need to do is make him stop his own actions.

While I can still bite my teeth.

While I can still move my mouth.

I met the cold golden eyes staring at me.

Gritting my teeth, I moved my lips.

“—Thanatos.”

My voice was almost inaudible.

But this dog of a god will understand.

A god should be able to do that much.

The golden eyes widened.

At the same time, the boy’s body moved away from me.

The blade approaching me stopped.

“Huff! Huff, huff!!”

I regained control of my body and panted heavily.

I almost died…!

The boy, the god, shouted something at me with a face mixed with confusion and anger.

I can’t understand what he’s saying, you idiot.

Then, as if something came to mind, he wore a thoughtful expression.

Biting his lower lip, he glanced at me and walked back through the gap.

Soon, the gap closed, and my room returned to normal.

“…Gone?”

I slumped, relieved.

Thanatos, the god of death from Greek mythology.

But in Etius, he’s not the ‘embodiment of death’ as described in mythology.

He’s powerful and high-ranking, but his absence doesn’t mean the end of death. He can die, even though he oversees death.

Anyway, it was lucky to guess his identity correctly.

Golden eyes, black wings, and the form of a boy.

There aren’t many gods with all three characteristics, but I had to take a life-or-death guess.

The most important evidence is the method of killing.

If a god controls a human’s body to make them kill themselves, it leaves no trace, a perfect suicide.

Fitting for the god of death, Thanatos.

Very few gods know Thanatos’s face, and those few are higher-ranking gods.

I just guessed, but from Thanatos’s perspective, it would look like I have a close connection with a higher-ranking god.

So, killing me recklessly now is dangerous.

That’s why I said his name, hoping he would think that.

…Still, I can say,

I was really lucky.

“…It feels like an incredible crisis, but also an incredible opportunity.”

It’s definitely because of ‘weaving’ that he tried to kill me.

I don’t know why weaving upset the god, but

Until now, there has never been a case in Etius’s history where a human has influenced a god’s emotions.

“Could it be that Frontier, the reason he has no divine power, is because he’s hated by the gods?”

…Did I go too far?

There are few humans with divine power, and it’s unlikely that Frontier is hated by all the gods.

Anyway, this weaving ability is more dangerous and powerful than I thought.

“Just.”

I glanced at my hands. The trembling wouldn’t stop.

I sighed.

“I need to get used to fear.”

I don’t know how much my bluff will work.

Thanatos can’t just ask other high-ranking gods out of the blue, so I should have some time.

But I need to prepare as much as I can before then.

* * *

‘Frontier.’

Quinie thought about him in the classroom.

Frontier de Loach. The second son of the Loach family.

She thought the only Loach family member she needed to worry about was Azie, now that she was a third-year at Constel.

She only learned Frontier’s name after he enrolled.

She knew Azie had a younger brother but didn’t think he was significant.

She tried to gather information, but there was nothing useful. The only reliable information was that he was very lazy and idle.

“Quinie, what are you thinking about?”

A friend beside her asked.

Quinie glanced at her.

“Anne, what do you think of Frontier?”

“What? Quinie, did you finally feel that fresh, sweet feeling when you saw Frontier’s face? Did you really feel it? That sweet, cozy…!”

“I’m asking for information.”

“Of course?”

Anne chuckled.

“Frontier, well, I don’t know. He sleeps in class, but it seems he doesn’t do that anymore.”

“Not the common knowledge everyone knows.”

“I only know the common knowledge.”

Hmm, that’s true.

Anne wouldn’t know much about Frontier.

Instead, Quinie asked another question.

“Do you know about the recent incident? Where Frontier broke the transparent tube containing Misteltain.”

“Yeah, I know! It was really noisy for a few days.”

“What do you think about it?”

“About his actions?”

“Yeah.”

Anne tilted her head, then broke into a wide smile.

She answered cheerfully.

“It was reckless! Stupid!”

“…Hmm.”

That’s right. This is the public’s evaluation of Frontier during that incident.

Even if it was for his father, if it was really poison?

Who would want to see their son die?

‘But to me, he looked full of confidence.’

He must have been. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have done it so fearlessly.

- I’ve never been afraid of such things.

“Hmph.”

Quinie laughed. It was the first time she heard someone say that.

Especially in a place where people loved by famous gods gathered.

Truly fearless.

“I like it, I’ve decided.”

“What?”

“What I want, I’ll get.”

Crossing her arms, thinking to herself, Quinie said with shining eyes.

Anne, seeing her, thought, ‘Could Quinie really be after Frontier?’