I Became a Genius Mechanic at the Academy

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Chapter

It just won’t leave my head.

It’s the love story of Dagran and Reina.

Why does their tragic love story linger in my mind like this?

They’re merely extras who don’t even appear in the main game.

‘Isabella.’

Perhaps it’s because it makes me think of Isabella.

Every time I took the Isabella route, it stirred the sadness of losing her anew.

Also, Dagran and Reina are quite alike.

Reina, an emotionless emotional cripple, while Isabella lives a life forced to conceal her feelings.

Negativity.

For Isabella to be recognized as the next head, she must accumulate as much negative emotion as possible.

The stronger the negative feelings, the greater the power she can gain.

However, from Dagran and Reina’s story, I gathered a hint.

The obsidian designed solely to absorb ‘feelings of hatred.’

The obsidian was ultimately born from Reina’s powerful spirit.

If that’s the case, isn’t the Graham family’s age-old tradition of accumulating negative emotions related to a certain powerful spirit?

What if their fate, doomed to gather negative emotions, is being manipulated by a powerful spirit?

‘I might save Isabella.’

It means that removing that spirit could lead to freedom.

This time, Isabella’s story, which always ended in tragedy, might unfold differently.

“Of course, it’s not a fundamental solution.”

Merely being freed from that spirit doesn’t mean it’s over.

Fundamentally, the reason the Graham family is entangled with such spirits is due to the oldest great demon of the North.

After all, in the later parts of the game, Isabella constantly muttered, “I must stop that demon,” and she had left all the people she loved to venture into the storm of the North.

“The point is, I can take that bastard down.”

Some dog from the North that always confused Isabella.

If I take down that great demon, everything will be resolved.

Of course, the lesser Ekayan, who turned the dwarf borderlands into a wasteland, is merely ‘lower-tier,’ and the ancient great demon will not be an easy opponent.

“Who cares?”

If that’s the case, I just have to make it easy.

I will harness all my knowledge and experience to forge a powerful weapon to slice him apart.

So what is this powerful weapon, you ask?

The Crucible.

The world’s version of the Crucible.

The hellish sword that ‘that guy’ carries around.

I plan to create that hellish sword.

Thanks to the story of Dagran and Reina providing me with inspiration.

‘I underestimated the power of emotion too much.’

Until now, I hadn’t regarded the power of emotions as important.

I was only thinking about how to crush my enemies using the four forces that operate in physics.

‘This world is this world.’

But this is indeed a different world.

It can’t be overlooked that the power of emotions, combined with Mana, is a significant force.

As proof of that, Reina, who was only at an intermediate level as a Sword Expert, wiped out all the monsters invading the border by herself.

Among them was even the lesser demon, Ekayan.

Considering her level, that’s an extraordinary feat.

Therefore, I intend to use a memory-engraving spell to create an upgraded version of obsidian.

The obsidian that I will name the Crucible.

Yet some might raise a question here.

The obsidian was born from Reina’s powerful spirit, but don’t I lack such a spirit?

A combination of memory and emotion.

They might wonder if my deep-seated resentment is insufficient compared to Reina’s.

“…”

Yeah, perhaps one might think that.

After all, I’ve only experienced this world through the game, and my reality was quite separate from it.

Reina lost her entire life, while I’ve only spent gameplay cycles.

‘But…’

But not anymore.

Since I’ve possessed this game, the memories of the previous cycles have elevated to the level of my past life’s experiences.

Even now, thinking of the tragedies from previous cycles makes my skin crawl, my breath quicken, and the final breaths of those who died in my arms are vivid.

Dozens of despair and tragedies have etched themselves into my bones.

‘Not lacking.’

So it’s possible.

I will gather all the despair and hatred of countless cycles and engrave the powerful spirit of exterminating demons into it.

Then that spirit will only absorb the intense emotions that seek to tear the enemy apart, and that feeling of destruction will become hellish energy itself.

A demon-slaying sword that embraces solely the power of ruin; the world’s version of the Crucible will be completed.

***

Time flew by.

The day to depart for the Dwarf Alliance Kingdom has arrived.

Fortunately, thanks to Elena’s efforts, Kroto, Eguwa, and Argie could join this envoy as well.

When they were gently lifted as heroes from forty years ago, they strutted about as if they had glorified their past and were participating as special guests.

Thus, we went to the ‘exchange center’ and placed our hands on the teleportation magic circle.

Since trade with the dwarves had been cut off, we couldn’t teleport straight to the Dwarf Alliance Kingdom, but we would manage to reach near the borderland.

“We are the envoy from the Empire.”

Upon arriving at the inspection point of the Dwarf Alliance Kingdom, we presented our identification alongside the invitation.

The dwarves’ gazes on us were somewhat cold, but they let us pass without issue.

“Let’s collect the remains first.”

Once inside the dwarf border, we headed straight to retrieve Reina’s body.

Her remains were still abandoned in that place where she died forty years ago.

‘The public sentiment back then was unavoidable.’

Thus, the dwarves didn’t hold a funeral for her.

They misunderstood that she had slaughtered innocent members of her race while seized by madness.

Of course, some dwarves who knew Reina well insisted that she could never do such a thing and strongly argued for her funeral.

However, those dwarves who witnessed Reina’s madness and hatred were certain, and Kroto’s false testimony matched the situation, leading to the prevailing opinion that ‘Reina was overcome by monsters and became mad.’

So for over forty years, Reina remains abandoned in the harsh cold.

“…She looks very lonely.”

Eventually, Elena and I arrived at the place where Reina’s body lay.

We could pinpoint the location thanks to the sealing sphere containing her spirit.

Originally, a spirit, as a cohesive entity of memory and emotion, tends to react strongly to its original owner.

“…Prepare the coffin. I’ll restore her appearance.”

Although she’s in a frozen state, forty years have passed, and the damage is severe.

Fortunately, Elena possessed the ability to materialize her memories in 3D.

Elena began to restore the corpse using that ability, and soon the grotesquely dried body became one that retained its beautiful appearance from life.

“The coffin is ready.”

Meanwhile, I prepared the coffin.

It was a specially made coffin for today.

I placed Reina’s body and her spirit inside it, activating the spell engraved on the outer surface of the coffin.

Then the coffin shone brightly, and some work began inside.

The remaining tasks could be entrusted to Isabella.

***

Upon arriving at the temporary dwelling set up in the borderlands, Kroto and his group were regaling stories of the past with intoxicated faces.

They rambled about how countless monsters had amassed here and that they were the absurd heroes who held them back.

“Wow— you’re amazing! How did you do such a thing!”

However, Enya was joyfully chiming in.

Clarice also reacted with sparkling eyes as if she were seeing heroes to their tales.

It was all to deceive them.

To ensure they could head to the capital of the Dwarf Kingdom without any suspicion, it was necessary to lift their spirits and impair their senses.

“Hey, well-off commoner!”

Just then, one of Kroto’s group spotted me as I walked by.

As I approached him and gave a slight nod, the drunken fellow spoke in a slurred voice.

“What’s that floating object over there? It looks like a coffin, doesn’t it?”

He seemed curious about the coffin that Elena was levitating with telekinesis.

I smiled and replied.

“It’s a gift for the seniors.”

“Aha~? A gift?”

“Yes. There’s an exhibition tomorrow. To honor the one who stood alone against the large-scale monster invasion forty years ago, I’ve prepared equipment inside that coffin. I believe seniors will like it a lot.”

Upon hearing my words, he beamed and burst into a hearty laugh.

He patted me on the shoulder, chuckling.

“That… it’s a lovely-looking thing! You think like a proper man! You know what honor is!”

He was guffawing while drowning in alcohol.

Enya glared at him with cold eyes, muttering curses under her breath.

“…”

In that moment, Enya’s gaze met mine.

With my mouth shape, I whispered ‘You’re doing great. Hang in there,’ to which Enya blushed and nodded slightly.

“Then I’ll head in. I still have some work left to do.”

“Haha! Sure! You’re a big deal, so I shouldn’t interfere! Go on! If you have any spare time, have a drink with me!”

He licked his lips, eyeing me up and down.

He’s either gone senile with age or turned into something worse than he was when he was young.

Just keeping even a second of that disgusting face in my memory unsettled my stomach, so I quickly turned and headed up to the second floor where Isabella was.

“Did you come?”

As I opened Isabella’s door, she welcomed us with a bright smile.

She glanced at the coffin containing the corpse and emitted a black haze all around, lifting the corners of her mouth.

“Wow… this is amazing! It’s been a while since I felt such intense hatred.”

Isabella rose in excitement as if meeting an old friend.

After placing the coffin down and opening it, Isabella stared wide-eyed at Reina’s remains, her face flushed.

“Impressive… such pure hatred…”

As she spoke, Isabella lifted Reina’s spirit.

Then she embraced it and began muttering strange soliloquies.

“Yeah… you had a tough time… uh-huh… I understand your heart… uh-huh…”

“…”

Meanwhile, Elena and I could only stare blankly at the scene.

Handling negative emotions was a unique ability that only the Graham family could achieve, so to Elena and me, that sight appeared bizarre.

“Right… good idea. Let’s scoop out the eyes, destroy that filthy tongue with a quick jab, and carve out the insides… uh-huh…♥ What a splendid idea…♥”

…Isabella kept muttering chilling words.

As if we had made a pact, Elena and I exchanged glances.

We agreed to hurry and leave this place.

“Ahem, um… Isabella, so I hope you have a good conversation… uh, we’ll be back later…”

With that, we whispered faintly enough for Isabella to hear and began to withdraw from her room.

We stealthily backed away, ensuring Isabella wouldn’t sense us.

“…!!!”

But just as we were about to close Isabella’s door.

Suddenly, Reina’s body began to move.

She, who had been limp, sat up and suddenly hugged Isabella.

Then, Isabella’s whispering rapidly picked up speed.

It sounded like a frenzied invocation of a fanatic.

“Yeah. Good. Very good. Let’s make plenty of holes to spew blood fountains, tear each limb apart, and pour something scorching into the mouth. After that, let’s make sure we can see each other’s insides—”

But at that moment.

Isabella’s incantation came to a sudden stop.

Then, the faces of Isabella and Reina, who were facing each other, turned towards us at the same time.

The pupils of both women were entirely black.

“Whoaah!”

“Kyahhh!”

Elena and I slammed the door shut and scrambled away from the scene.

***

The next day, we entered the capital of the Dwarf Alliance Kingdom.

To prepare for the exhibition.

“Ed, should we install the lights here?”

“Yeah. Right there.”

“Should we set the welcoming spell here?”

“Yes, right there is fine.”

Then we began to set up according to our assigned final order.

Since we weren’t just displaying items, there was much to arrange.

However, with seven helpers at my disposal, we managed to set everything up perfectly in time.

“Alright— from now on, we will begin the Ironhammer Exhibition. Participants, please gather behind the stage, and esteemed guests, please take your seats…”

Finally, the exhibition began.

The most prestigious exhibition of blacksmiths, boasting a rich history and tradition, commenced.

However, our turn was the third one.

We were being looked down upon by the dwarves.

Because the most anticipated entries were assigned the later slots.

‘It doesn’t matter. They’ll forget all the things behind us anyway.’

But it doesn’t matter.

Our items will create ripples throughout the entire Dwarf Alliance Kingdom.

Those ripples will strip away the ugly veil painted with lies and restore the glory of the fallen hero.

The falsehoods of the vile will be exposed, and the villain’s long-reserved evils will be finally settled.

All thanks to the returned holy sword, ‘The Guide of Emotions.’