“When the start signal rings, just run however I tell you to,” Dave said to Illyna.

“Just run?”

“Don’t waste your time on people who are going to interfere. Just start running, and focus on widening our territory.”

Of course, Illyna objected to Davey’s opinion. She offered a logical explanation. “Even if I do that, there isn’t much territory I can get on my own. It’s no use if the others start taking our territory once I leave, right? And if I get caught up with something…”

Davey chuckled hollowly. “Are you actually able to sleep when you’re in that situation?”

“What, man?” Illyna frowned quite aggressively.

“I heard on the way here. I’m nothing but an iffy newbie to the people of this place,” Davey explained.

“That’s true. It’s because you used Drunken Sword or Drunk Sword or whatever it’s called.”

“And do you think the Teachers will put me into the real-battle test?”

Illyna widened her eyes. “Then…”

“That’s right; if I don’t make them see that I can—of course—take care of myself and that I possess something extraordinary, you’re just wasting your time and energy.”

“…”

Davey could hear Illyna gritting her teeth. Fortunately, she had a pretty strong determination to reach her goals; even though she was a model student who always worked extremely hard, there was no way she would want to be eliminated without being able to use what she had been studying.

“There should be a way, right? Why don’t you pick up a sword if there’s nothing else?” Illyna asked Davey.

“I came here to collect data, not show off my power. And I forgot to tell you one thing.”

‘The golem is strong enough for this place, and technology is all dependent on how you use it.’

Davey activated Megatron, ignored Illyna’s complaints, and pulled out something from his expansion pouch as he climbed up onto a large rock. He grabbed a few small bags, a pair of binoculars, and a strange-looking mask. He said to Illyna, “I’ll take the binoculars and you take the rest. Make sure to wear the mask right now. Don’t forget that alchemy is an OP-type branch that produces the best possible level of efficiency, especially in this kind of situation.”

-Let the training begin!

At the same time, Boris suddenly announced the signal to start as soon as Davey finished conversing with Illyna. Crash!! Then, explosive sounds were heard from all over the forest, as if everyone had been ready for this very moment.

There were eight teams of two; these teams were going to brawl to widen their territory inside this forest. They would have to think on the spot, consider interference in the form of surprise attacks from behind or direct attacks… It seemed like this training, which was executed while keeping various aspects in mind, was quite effective in enhancing a small number of elites.

“Ah whatever! I can just trust you, right?!”

Whoosh! Then, Illyna bolted off in the direction Davey pointed towards like she couldn’t just watch anymore. Davey couldn’t expect a lot of power from her, since she was prohibited from using Divine Sword Caldeiras, during training. It was true that she was talented, but so were all the other trainees here.

“Can you hear me well?” Davey asked.

[Yeah!]

Illyna’s answer buzzed through Davey’s mind as he transferred his will by activating the mana he had attached on her body in advance. He raised his binoculars as soon as he checked that the magic sensitivity of transferring his will was good. He then said, “There should be marbles inside the red pouch I handed you. Scatter them around a bit.”

[What is this?]

“Eyeballs.”

[Kyak!!]

Davey could hear Illyna’s scream, but he didn’t really care. He had to do this since he couldn’t observe the entire forest with just his binoculars alone.

[You! I’ll get you when I get back.]

Davey, who nodded like he didn’t care upon hearing Illyna’s angry voice, gave Megatron its first order once the forest came into view. “Megatron, long-range projectile mode.”

[Command accepted.]

‘Have you ever heard of such a thing? It’s called ‘siege mode’!’

Clunk!! Clank!! The most important thing in war, the very essence of expanding territory, was firepower. And right now, Davey was thinking of supporting Illyna with Megatron’s firepower. He was determined to show how alchemists, who had been working hard to prepare for battle, fight unlike the usual way where people had to charge recklessly.

Whing!!! The back part of Megatron began transforming as it planted its fists into the ground and positioned itself like a huge turret. However, the magic stones, which were responsible for the output of power, were gathered in one place and positioned like one long cannon. This was unlike the interception mode before.

Clunk! Then, Davey immediately removed the magic stone attached to the opening and put in another one he had prepared in advance. He ordered, “Enter coordinates: 643.312.889. Output level 3.”

[Command accepted.]

[Davey! Don’t forget it’s no killing!]

“Don’t worry; I already changed the bullets. The most it will do is make them foam at the mouth.”

[Ugh… Seriously!]

The golem was too unstable to be called complete since it had yet to be fully adjusted, but Davey had added functions onto it based on his own desires. It might not be useful for those in the Master level, but to little trainee seedlings—no, to these guys who had probably never fought with an alchemist before…

“Level 5 CS Nausea Bullets. Fire all.”

Davey was certain this was going to be catastrophic for them.

The goal was to show the Teachers, who all had their own doubts, Davey’s potential. The power of science wasn’t flashy, but realistic and persistent.

Zzing… Brrrt!!

Davey was going to keep the enemies in check while also creating traps. And Illyna, who had exceptional physical abilities, had the job of widening their territory and setting up the traps he had given her like a dog! She would’ve immediately choked him if she heard, but he did it anyway and she wasn’t around.

Boom!! Pshhh!!! Purple bullets of light filled the sky and began spreading white vapor once they hit the other side of the forest. The gas had elements of tear gas and nausea-inducing components.

“I can see all of you.” Davey couldn’t hold back his giggles as he watched the trainees run away in fear of the sudden bombing.

Illyna and Megatron were pieces in a chess game, but the enemy trainees were also just chess pieces of the opponent. They would be…the rook and the queen if they had to be specific pieces.

Davey was going to ingrain in them that a true battle alchemist watched from afar. ‘Now, let the games begin.’

* * *

“Kyah!! What is this?” A girl screamed and flailed around. She was stuck onto an unknown sticky substance that clung to the ground. “Fendyr!! Damn it, what is this?!”

“L—Lincy, help!”

“Wait! This is too sticky to…!”

Boom!! Pshh!! The girl who was desperately trying to remove the sticky substance tumbled to the ground, since she was being hit by the purple magic bombs falling from the sky.

“L… Lin… Gag… Hurk… Kyahh!! My eyes! My eyesss!!” Fendyr collapsed onto the floor and rolled around. She was exposed to the vapor, which induced massive headaches. She was dripping with tears and snot.

It was a vapor that induced extreme nausea, suffocated them, and made people drip with tears and snot! It felt like senses such as smell, sight, hearing, and direction became all twisted and useless! They would’ve been able to get rid of the sticky substance and escape this nasty vapor if they could have used their mana a little better…

But all they could do was panic, since most of their senses were taken away. Then, they were completely destroyed by Illyna, who was prepared to attack them when they were in a panic. Most of their territory was taken in seconds, and they rolled around on the floor, shedding tears and snot. They had no regard for their ruined feminine appearances.

There was a nasty vapor, strange traps that completely blocked escape routes, and a highly explosive magic bomb would be launched if one used spirits or released their mana to stop the vapor. Fendyr felt like she had become a toy being played in somebody’s game.

“The only person who would do something like this…” As far as Fendyr knew, there was no one among her trainee colleagues that would do something so cheap. It wasn’t exactly cheap, but this overwhelmingly effective and efficient tool was thoroughly defeating them. Reaching this conclusion, Fendyr could only think of one person who could be responsible for this. “Illyna!!!”

It was Illyna de Pallan and the new trainee she brought. Gritting her teeth, Fendyr stood up and frowned terribly when she saw Lincy force herself into the vapor. She grabbed Lincy.

“Cough! Cough! Lincy… Gag… My head hurts like…”

“That magic bomb. It seems like a special type of attac… Kyahh!! It’s coming again!”

Although it seemed like the two had caught on quickly since they were pretty gifted girls, it was quite sad that they remained in the palm of Davey’s hand. Even if they tried, he would just block their escape route and bomb them with another CS Nausea Bullet.

Whoosh whoosh whoosh!!

Completely fed up with it, Lincy collapsed onto her knees and gasped at the purple bombs that were approaching them from the sky with a blank face.

“This…is OP…”

That was truly all she could say.

* * *

[You really have a terrible personality. How could you do something like this to children?]

Illyna spoke without a hint of insincerity.

Davey responded as he usually did. “There is no cheap and dirty in real training. Get stronger if you feel that it’s wrong.”

[Wow~ You are so amazing.]

Illyna spoke like she couldn’t even be bewildered anymore.

[I thought about it, and I decided; I’m going to have to destroy that golem after this training or whatever. It’s a danger that mustn’t see the light of day.]

“Then our contract will be over.” Davey calmly hung up on Illyna. He put on his monocle and began writing on the chart that he pulled out from his chest pocket, checking off boxes and making notes.

All the other teams were running around like their lives were on the line, but they were still trapped in the palm of the Almighty Davey. The children who were desperately running to escape the bullets would be infuriated if they knew that this was all Davey was doing.

-32 bombs missed. 45 bombs landed. It’s quite a slow speed for continuous shooting for a whole fifteen minutes.

“Aside from the speed, the precision is worse than I thought.”

-The consumption of the stored mana becomes too great as the range increases. It was quite ingenious of you to induce a status effect on them since the firepower is too weak to expect a good hit… But you won’t even be able to distinguish between your allies and enemies like this.

“It would be overdoing it, even if a magic stone is a tank full of mana. Maybe I should rip off more of the armor and put less stress on movement… Coordinates 443.382.721; make range of error less than four meters. Launch.”

[Command accepted. Launching.]

Davey had seven extremely rare magic stones; although only three were being used as a battery and one as a mount, it wasn’t like the rest were just idly doing nothing… This was the pinnacle of spending money and using technology like water! The scientific advancement of Davey was the greatest in the world! Although 60% of the foundation wasn’t created by him and was just ancient remnants…

-Magic stones also have a limit, Davey. Maybe you should just charge idle power…

When Perserque offered her ideas while pointing out what he was missing, Davey said, “Let’s think about it. Region 323.142.506; make range of error less than three meters. Two CS Nausea Bullets and one Shock Bullet. Launch.”

[Launching.]

Zzing crash!!

Davey continuously kept the others in check, even while discussing matters with Perserque, through his binoculars and the surveillance equipment Illyna had placed throughout the forest. The territory that he could see already seemed much bigger than everyone else’s. The others were probably tremendously frustrated since he didn’t give them an opportunity to strike back.

“Idiots. Even if it’s a competition, you guys should know how to cooperate and team up with each other if the opponent is too strong. All of them are just so full of pride.” Davey was relaxed as he clicked his tongue while holding his hands behind his back. He remained in such a state until the moment Boris urgently shouted that the training was over.