"Today's magic class was specifically about how to deal with nightmares. You missed out on so much by skipping! If you knew even just a little magic, you wouldn't have let that nightmare get away yesterday!"
I sighed helplessly and lectured her, "There's something so useful like magic, yet you insist on using your sword. And now you've finally met your match with a physical-immune monster, but you still haven't learned your lesson!"
"Who cares! I just don't like magic. Using a sword is so much cooler! When we run into nightmares in the future, I'll just leave them for you guys to deal with!"
She waved her hand dismissively, still completely stubborn and refusing to take in what I said.
"What if we're not by your side? What will you do if you run into a monster alone?"
I really couldn't understand how she could be so reckless! This wasn't a game - death here was permanent. How could she be so careless with her life?
"Is looking cool more important than your life? Having another way to protect yourself can't be a bad thing! Do you think you're invincible..."
Oh right! It seemed like with Nicola's ability to travel through time to save us, she was invincible for now...
"Alright, even if you can't die, severe injuries would still be very troublesome!"
I had to amend my words. This was so frustrating.
"Just because you think you can't die means you can do whatever you want?"
Hmm, it seemed she really could do whatever she wanted...
I was at a complete loss for words. What kind of freak was she? I suddenly felt that lecturing her was pointless, so I just squatted in the corner and drew circles on the ground.
"What's wrong with you? Why are you suddenly in such a bad mood?" Nicola looked completely confused as she asked.
"Who knows!" I answered grumpily. Since she was stubborn about not learning magic, I could only let her do as she pleased. She'd have to face the painful consequences herself if something happened.
Silence fell between us for a while. Reed continued researching her books while Nicola and I idly flipped through books on the ground. It felt just like our student days back in the library - peaceful and quiet.
After some unknown amount of time passed, Nicola seemed unable to sit still any longer. She put her book down and asked Reed, "There shouldn't be anything else today right? Can I go back early?"
"Mm... OK!" Reed tilted her head and agreed after a brief consideration.
"You also don't need to come the next two days. I'll be researching some magic arrays so I'm postponing the experiment deadline. Don't try to take advantage of that!"
"Sure, don't worry. I'll keep my promise," Nicola replied with a wry smile. She then waved to me saying, "Let's go, time to head back! You wouldn't want to stay in a place like this right?"
"You're being let off so easily today?" I asked in surprise upon hearing their conversation.
"Weren't you guys going to make some kind of special knife yesterday? How come I don't see you working on it? Did you give up?"
"We have to do that! But I don't know if it's because I lack the skill or if it's just completely out of the wind element's capabilities, but controlling things on an atomic level is simply too difficult. So we had to put that plan on hold for now. Reed's decided to go back to the original plan."
Nicola spread her hands helplessly as she explained to me.
"Wait..."
I was confused by what she said. Making a knife would require work at an atomic level? I thought they were trying to make some kind of laser sword!
I had an inkling that this so-called "knife" was somewhat different from what I imagined. Many doubts arose.
"Exactly what kind of knife are you guys talking about?"
"What do you think it is?" Reed glanced over from her book to ask me.
"Of course it's deuterium, a hydrogen isotope."
"Deuterium? Could it be..."
I thought hard for a good while before I realized what she meant by deuterium. I was so shocked I almost jumped up.
"That's a f***ing key ingredient for hydrogen bombs!"
"Are you all crazy? You want to conduct nuclear tests in the magical world?!"
Suddenly it all made sense - the compressed gases they were experimenting with weren't for easy storage at all. That's a prerequisite condition to detonate hydrogen bombs!
The detonation process of hydrogen bombs generally utilizes two hydrogen isotopes, deuterium and tritium. Under conditions of extreme heat and pressure, they undergo nuclear fusion to form helium and release massive amounts of energy and neutrons in the process. As long as you've studied until high school or above, these basics can easily be recited.
"So that's why making deuterium failed! Of course, it wouldn't be that easy. And tritium with its two neutrons would be even more troublesome... There's no way you could succeed."
Seeing my reaction, Nicola immediately raised her hands innocently.
"Hey, don't look at me. This was all Reed's idea, I'm just cooperating with her."
But it was obvious she was still quite interested in the prospect of nuclear experiments in the magical world.
"Neutrons... Your wind elemental powers can already manipulate neutrons? You must be joking..."
I laughed sarcastically, not knowing how else to describe my feelings at the moment.
"Geniuses... you're all geniuses! Daring to think and daring to act!"
How ironic - I had just advised Reed not to bring scientific methods into the magical world. Yet soon after I discover she's secretly conducting nuclear tests here.
Judging by the amount of hydrogen Nicola had collected over the past few days - didn't they know that if anything went wrong, all of Edenmere would be doomed? But then again, whether nuclear theory would even work the same way here was still an unknown.
"Why not consider nuclear fission first? Don't hydrogen bombs usually require an atomic bomb as the trigger?"
After all the trouble gathering deuterium, Nicola couldn't help but suggest this. Clearly, she was still quite keen on nuclear experiments in the magical world. But I knew the answer even without Reed saying it.
I rolled my eyes. "Where are you going to find radioactive elements? Are you sure angels' bodies are immune to radiation?"
"I was just giving a suggestion..."
Nicola shrank back, chastened into silence.
"Since it failed, just stop this business. It is too dangerous!"
After some thought, I tried to persuade them. I had great confidence in Reed's abilities - she surely had more than one route to success in mind if she dared attempt this.
While I wasn't uninterested in such experiments myself, the sheer power was truly horrifying. It's better to be more cautious. If we blew up the entirety of Edenmere, I'm sure none of the surviving angels would let us off easily. By then we'd truly be in deep trouble.
"Mm-hmm..."
Without lifting her head from her book, Reed gave a short sound of acknowledgment before continuing to read.
I opened and closed my mouth, hesitating on whether she had taken my words in. But I was powerless to do anything else about it.
The following days passed uneventfully with our dull student lives continuing. With Elara's order banning sleep still in effect, the days felt dragged out much longer, which at least gave me ample time to practice magic and combat skills.
I ultimately chose the sword like Nicola since I had some familiarity with using it multiple times already. It just felt more intuitive in my hands compared to other weapons.
"You're shameless!"
Standing in Tivi Palace's training grounds, Cyra angrily threw aside her wooden sword. She was extremely displeased with me.
"Ah, my bad!"
I glanced back at my six wings and quickly apologized.
"I accidentally let my wings out again..."
We had agreed beforehand to conceal our wings and not use any magic to have a fair, pure swordsmanship duel. This way, our physical conditions would be roughly equal.
But annoyingly, whenever I felt disadvantaged, I couldn't help unleashing my three pairs of wings. With them, how could she possibly withstand my attacks? In just two to three strikes, she was pinned to the ground.
"As if I'd believe this is already the second time!"
Cyra harrumphed unhappily, refusing to accept my apology.
"I don't wanna play anymore! You sly cheater!"
"It's not about playing or not playing - this is homework assigned specially by the Teacher for us to practice on."
I anxiously stopped her and said, "Teacher Aetina taught us a sword style that's used by angel legions in battles. Nicola gave it the flashy name 'Angel Sword Style'."
But, to me, all the moves just seemed like different ways to target the opponent's weak points, like their head or armpits for stabbing and striking. Of course, the defence also focused heavily on guarding those areas, very practical. Additionally, because angels have wings on their backs, aerial factors were specially considered in the style, like lots of moves incorporated top-down gravity strikes. There was also an emphasis on practicing gestures to protect the wings.
It was a pity that learning swordplay truly seemed to require talent. Even though we learned it together and had similar power and speed, I still couldn't beat Nicola no matter what. She had a gift for martial arts - after just a few days, she could already spar with Aetina. As for me, I could only find someone around my level to practice with...Cyra, who was maybe a little stronger than me.
"Fine...I'll give you one last chance. If you use your wings again, I'll report straight to Teacher Aetina that you cheated and can't fight properly!"
The mention of homework was Cyra's weak point. She had no choice but to give me another chance. After all, this was a collaborative homework assignment. Without my portion to complement hers, her work certainly wouldn't be considered complete.
"Of course, I'll beat you fair and square this time!"
I immediately promised at full volume to hide my wings. To be honest, I wasn't confident at all. Cyra had nearly half a month more sword practice than me. Fighting her would be very tough and I was afraid of revealing an opening by accident.