"Professor, I am done!" Azure shouted.
Mia's gaze wandered toward Azure, and she smiled while approaching. She stopped on the other side of the table, looking at the inscribed sheet of metal.
Not really teacher's level, but. She lifted the sheet in front of her eyes. The lines were clean, and the flow was without a flaw. "Very good, continue with the demonstration."
Azure nodded and placed her fingers on the edge of the runes.
Mana flowed through her and soon overflowed, filling the runic combination with pale blue light.
Then the mana coalesced, escaping the runic constraints and soon forming a brittle stone.
"Earth crystal, I see," Mia said, placing her finger on top of the crystal, making it crumble.
"As you can see, despite creating this out of nothing but mana, the product is not suitable for anything…" A loud noise of wood being splintered and a heavy object collapsing onto the ground interrupted her.
Her eyes were glued to the source of disturbance.
From Sheira's table, a large boulder, the size of the old mythril ore, crushed both the plate and the table.
So that is the monstrous student. She put her hands behind her back and approached Sheira.
The young princess sighed, "I am sorry for the table, Professor. I will pay for it."
I don't care about a damn table. Mia pushed the air out of her nose and laid her hand on the crystal.
This thing! Her eyes widened, and she squeezed.
The crystal stood firm, it was nowhere as brittle as the small chunk that Azure had produced.
This will be very helpful for my invention. She barely suppressed her urge to burst out laughing.
"Do not worry about it, Sheira," Mia said, her gaze washing over the remaining group. I can't stay gawking at this. First things first.
"Good job, Sheira and Azure." She said, making some distance, "How about the others?"
Hikari raised her hand. "I am done, too."
Hikari's crystal was even more fragile than Azure's, yet it was successful, thus she had no complaints.
The priestess was followed by Avaros, who had created a crystal very similar to Azure's, yet more sturdy.
This proves that it's a skill issue if the crystal is too fragile. Yet even it crumbled as the force was applied to it.
The remaining group failed. "I do not expect you to succeed on the first day. This is merely the start of the art of mystic engineering!" She proclaimed, raising her hands toward the sky.
The silence was her only response.
She sighed. "Let us continue, then. Shall we? If you would kindly make groups, I want each of the successful students to pair up with someone who failed. Chop Chop!" She ordered.
***
After the class concluded, Mia quickly disappeared into her laboratory. While teaching students brought her great joy, there was a great invention that, in theory, would allow anyone to defeat an armored soldier.
She opened her teacher's grimoire and quickly moved to the pages containing the secrets of the art of mystic engineering.
Let's see if I am correct.
She cupped her palms, gradually ripping the aether.
Her teeth grit, and mana danced. I need a lot to create manasteel, according to the teacher.
Her eyes wandered to the small chunks of the practice material. A small pile formed on her table.
"I will have enough soon!" She reassured herself, groaning as she pushed more mana between her palms. I should have asked the teacher to leave me some manasteel.
Yet, despite that wish, there was joy in creating something fully by oneself.
A drop of sweat rolled down her forehead, and she focused on the creation.
A small piece formed.
Then her focus broke. She picked up the chunk and placed it onto the pile. "This should be enough."
She quickly put the stash to the side and produced a normal steel sheet.
She quickly dragged her finger over the first sheet, inscribing the runes that would push anything passing by them even faster with the power of wind.
First Air, followed by Air, then Moon, and finally Fire.
After inscribing, she heated the steel.
Turning it orange before using a tool to form a small tube.
The mana quickly cooled it, leaving a solid steel tube. Mia picked it up and looked inside it. "If the teacher's writing is correct, this will work."
A faint glow of aether circles reached her eyes. "Now for the main part."
She put the tube down and arranged the remaining parts together. Each was inscribed with its own combination, which would, in theory, work as a brand-new weapon when combined.
Handle, Hammer, Tube, Container, Exhaust, and Trigger.
The lab was silent, with the exception of Mia's tinkering. After some trial and error, the pieces were combined.
Now to see if it will work! She grinned and picked up the new invention.
She inspected it closely, "Sadly, I can't get the infinite mana combination down."
However, this prototype would only be for her own use. Once she had mastered the mystic engineering, she would improve it even further.
The container was a cylinder with six holes, each inscribed with a combination that would create a small crystal within it.
Behind it was a triggering mechanism that she had devised, which would push the newly created crystal into the barrel, which would then push it with great speed.
To think there would be a use for these fragile elemental crystals.
She grabbed the handle and channeled mana into it. Soon, the empty cylinder clicked, each filled with an earthen crystal. She inspected it, then aimed the invention toward a nearby bottle.
Her eye closed.
Bang. The recoil sent Mia's arms flying back.
The first crystal flew out of the barrel, it was not in one piece. Instead, it shattered into six pieces, each spreading and destroying the bottles, yet leaving the target intact.
Well, it works well enough for a prototype. She gently placed it on the table and smiled. "I need to figure out stronger ammo, automatic reload, and eventually make it out of better material." She said, looking at the pile of manasteel.
As it was now, it was not even as effective as a shoddy-made bow.
The teacher would know what to do.
She bit her lip and grabbed the girmoire. The book was brimming with untapped potential, and all she needed to do was learn the bare minimum to push the elven society toward its grand destiny.
The book closed, and Mia stashed the new invention inside her robes. "I shall call this, High Velocity Self-Reloading Projectile Weapon or HVSRPW!" She stated proudly, before leaving her lab.