Weapons of Mass Destruction
Chapter 603: Kays and Ari

“What did you say?” The human boy seethes, coming to a stop and turning back to me.

“Look, I'm not the type to beat around the bush. Apparently, you're a problem student or something. I haven't read that far. I don't know if the professor sent me because he doesn't want to bother with you, or if he's just really busy. I could probably tell him you threatened me or something and left the lesson, and that I, as an assistant professor, didn't have the guts to stop you. So you can just leave if you want. Oh, and this isn't reverse psychology either. You can do whatever you want. Really, the only reason I mentioned the thing about the noble ladies' pets was because it seemed like a good opportunity.”

He takes a few quick steps and opens his mouth, but I speak before he can. “Let me guess. Do you even know who I am? Or who do you think you are? Maybe, do you know who my dad is?!”

Even without saying anything, he closes his mouth and looks at his guard, who patiently waits nearby but does not interfere.

“Kays, just sit back down. I want to see if he is all talk or if he actually has some skill,” the thylarin girl calls out, as she taps the table impatiently with an impish expression on her face.

She’s barely moved since this all started and continues to watch, like a cat watches a mouse move across the room, considering whether to eat it or leave it alone, both options seem equally likely.

“Shut up, Ari. I do what I want,” the boy, apparently called Kays, shouts at her before turning back to me.

As I watch him, I think: Would someone like him survive the Hell difficulty tutorial? I mean, he probably has some talent, but does he have the personality and instincts everyone in Hell seems to have, the ones where you bite, scratch, and grow accustomed to death and blood. I try to estimate his level and search for weak spots as I have gotten used to doing.

Something in my eyes probably disturbs the guard, who steps closer. When I look at him, he continues to stare at me as if prepared to fight.

Unintentionally, I feel the urge to fight him. Just a little bit, to prove to myself that this floor is dangerous as well, and not just some safe-haven school. It makes me nervous and overly paranoid.

Before anything can happen, Kays just moves past me and sits behind the table right in front of me. His guard watches me a bit longer, then slowly moves back to his usual position behind the boy.

“So, what now?” I ask.

“What the hell? Shouldn't you be doing the teaching?” Kays asks in disbelief.

“I’m new.”

“Are you kidding?” he asks.

Somewhere from the back row, Ari laughs briefly before standing up and moving to the table closer to me. “Assistant Professor, today we were supposed to study Interference and Disruption.”

“Oh, I see. So, basics.”

Kays groans again. “What the hell do you mean by 'basics'? It's one of the advanced techniques.”

“Huh? Really?”

Kays groans, something I notice he likes to do, and Ari laughs again. She seems to be having a lot of fun.

“Okay, okay, before we start: Why do some thylarin have six arms but most have four?” I ask her.

She doesn't show any surprise; the same amused smile dances on her face. “It is rumored to be a genetic inheritance from a powerful ancestor.”

Hmm, the same answer I got before. It seems my curiosity won't be sated that easily.

“Well, anyway, just create some mana orbs, and I will show you some disruption. Then you can try to mimic it,” I tell them.

“Mana orbs?” Kays asks.

“Yeah, like this.” A bit of my mana seeps out, and I shape it into a perfect orb. Almost absentmindedly, I create one of my training models, version 3.0, very distantly inspired by Liss’, whose variations once made me pass out every time I looked at it.

Seeing the wide eyes of the two students, I realize my mistake and quickly dissolve the orb into something akin to mana smoke. Then I spin the smoke to create another orb.

“C-crazy,” the boy whispers, and for the first time, even the girl is quiet.

“Look, as I said, I'm new. Ignore the previous orb and try making something like this,” I repeat.

“That's not what I meant…”

“Sure, sure. Orb, now.”

Finally, the two of them each create an orb, similarly sized and pale blue, even though Ari's seems a bit more stable.

Satisfied, I send a disrupting wave at it, and they both disappear, particles and all.

“Good. Now try to defend against my disruptions.”

“We did,” Kays says.

“What?” I ask.

“We’re expected to defend our creations against disruption during this kind of exercise and lesson, so we did try to defend against you.”

I almost say it out loud, but I stop myself at the last second to avoid depressing the poor kids. What I really wanted to say was, Why the hell was it so easy then?

“I see,” I say. “So you were in this class because you were lagging behind the rest of the class and ...”

“No,” Ari interrupts in the same mischievous manner. “Kays and I are both at the top of the class, and according to the other students, we're even rumored to be Champion candidates. The rules of the Academy state that we were to be given separate extra lessons by the professor.”

She is smiling again, her orange eyes shining with amusement, while Kays looks as if he has never seen a dumber person than me.

Once again, I stop myself from saying something rude and think, Dennis, Aaron, Min-Jae, Izzy, and Lily will traumatize the fuck out of the students at this Academy if they’re not careful.

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“Okay, let's try something else. I'll make an orb, and you two will try to disrupt it so I can see what you can do.”

Saying that, I form a single orb and send it a bit closer to them, then wait.

And wait.

And wait.

“You can start,” I remind them.

Once again, Ari laughs, and Kays seems even more annoyed. He speaks again: “Aren't you too dumb to be a professor? Are you one of those meatheads who became a professor only thanks to combat ability, despite lacking the capacity to teach? We've been trying this whole time; your orbs are just difficult to disrupt.”

Hearing that, I examine my orb closely, just in case they're making fun of me. But it’s just as stable as before, and its structure isn't being influenced at all. I actually have to look for it to even notice their efforts to affect the construct. Waves are radiating from them toward my orb. Ari even syncs hers with Kays’s, trying to make them stronger using some kind of fancy cascading technique.

So, is it their lack of skill, or have I just gone so overboard with my anti-disruption measures that they can barely touch it? Is there even such a thing as overkill when it comes to that? Maybe it’s also the difference between kids raised in safety and those of us who’ve had to use everything we could just to survive.

Or maybe they’re just holding back and phoning it in.

Watching them, I lower the integrity of my orb, and when nothing changes, I do it again. Then I do it again. And then once more.

Only then do I notice the edges start to fray and slight disruption at the surface.

At this point, both of them look to be in pain, their foreheads scrunched from all the effort.

“F-finally,” Kays breathes out.

Both of them look at me as if expecting a reaction. Still surprised by my findings, I just mumble absentmindedly, “Good job.”

“So, what level are you, Assistant Professor Gwyn?” Ari asks, leaning back in her chair.

“Isn't that a rude question?” I ask her.

“Some people like to show off, and others will lie about their level.”

I snort. “As if levels were that important. I’m just a bit over 300.”

“That isn't that bad. How old are you, somewhere around fifty?”

“What the hell, you brat? I'm not even 24.”

For the first time, she shows genuine surprise. “Assistant Professor, are you from a powerful family, or something?”

“Do I look like I've got a silver spoon up my ass?”

“So you must have served in the army, or as a mercenary, guard, enforcer, cleaner, or exterminator. Or was it something else?”

“Something like that. Aren't you nosy? And I'm an Assistant Professor, so show some respect.”

Kays, next to her, snorts. “Assistant Professor my ass. I bet I know more about the Academy and how it works than you.”

“Talk shit to me when your attempts at disruption get better than some noble lady’s pet.”

“What does that even mean!? And you're in a prestigious academy. Even if you're new or a fake Assistant, show some dignity!”

“I don't give a fuck.”

“What the hell!”

“If any of you tells on me or I hear rumors, I'll fail you for the grade or something.”

“Melo, do you see this?” he says in desperation, turning to his bodyguard, who remains quiet and bows slightly.

“Assistant Professor Gwyn is being rude, Sir Kays, but you are the one who started it and have been equally rude,” his bodyguard says in a quiet, calm voice.

“At least be on my side for once!”

“I'm on your side, Sir Kays. I would even put my life on the line for you if it came to it, but I don't think lying to you would do you any favors in this situation.”

Ari ignores both of them and asks me, “What is your highest skill level?”

“Not telling.”

“Are you a candidate?”

“Not telling.”

“What traits do you have?”

“Not telling.”

“What was the highest-level monster you fought against?”

“A weakened Champion. I got my ass kicked.” I decide not to mention Lissandra with her powers restricted.

“Bullshit!” Kays calls out before Ari can react.

I ignore such an outburst, “Anyway, I could probably be an ass and give you homework, but I won’t do it. I won’t even report you to Professor Elian.”

I take a step away from the table and reach my hand out toward Kays. “Your hand.”

Something in my tone makes him listen. He reaches out and places his hand in mine.

I don't even use my eyes; my senses are enough as I examine his mana flow and send my mana through his hand. Then I create a short disrupting pulse. He twitches from surprise and almost pulls his hand back, but I hold it. I expand my domain around his hand, rely a bit on the Mana Wavelength Tyrant passive, and use [Eclipse] to resonate with his mana and take control. I repeat the process, sending the same disruptive mana through his hand and, after examining his mana flow again, move his own mana to create a similar wave.

“Good, I got it. Don't use your eyes; use your senses and watch,” I tell him as I create another mana orb, making sure to weaken it.

Then I force his mana to move again, sending a disruptive wave that makes the orb’s surface flicker.

“Did you catch that?” I ask.

With his eyes wide open, he nods very slowly.

“Good. Try it on your own, okay? And continue until I tell you to stop.”

He nods quietly and attempts it, the experience of me moving his mana seeming to make the process easier. It's something I have tried with the twins a few times. It is useful in certain situations despite being completely useless in others.

Kays continues to try to mimic the way I moved his mana, and I examine the parts he gets right and adjust my influence accordingly. When he improves in other areas, I weaken my influence there as well.

[Mana Manipulation - lvl 66 > Mana Manipulation - lvl 67]

[Eclipse - lvl 37 > Eclipse - lvl 38]

It takes around ten minutes, but he succeeds and, under his own power, sends out a disruptive wave that barely makes the orb shake. It's much better than his previous attempts.

“See? It's easy. You just move your mana this way, then that way. No triple loop layered lattice recalibrated buffer delay flow density manipulation bullshit.”

I move to Ari and say, “Hand.”

The thylarin teenager smiles widely and places all six of her hands on mine.

“Damn, you’ve got all those fingers to count with, and you still suck at basic numbers. I said “hand”, singular.”

“I was surprised by your differently colored eyes, Assistant Professor. Is that a trait?”

“Yeah, it allows me to see through people's bullshit.” I shake and pull five of her hands away, then repeat the same process I did with Kays.

In the end, she turns out to be a bit quicker than he is, but I think that's because she got to observe what we did. Both of them seem to have a similar level of talent. Well, at least from what they’ve shown me so far.

Satisfied with the lesson, I stand up. “That should be all. Don't forget to leave a good rating.”

Before I leave, Ari calls through the door, “Assistant Professor Gwyn, you might want to be careful about showing these things to others. What you just demonstrated usually requires [Mana Manipulation] at least around level 60 or higher, and combined with your young age, it could attract a lot of attention. And I mean “A LOT” of attention,” she emphasizes.

One more time, I look at her, and amused flames dance in her orange eyes before I close the door.