I Became a Genius Mechanic at the Academy – Chapter 26

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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Chaos
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As Ed walked onto the platform after being summoned by the instructor, he was keenly aware of the person walking beside him.

It was his opponent for the second round, the academy’s strongest student: the Witch, Isabella.

‘There’s no way I can beat her using conventional methods’

Isabella.

Unfortunately, he had no way to defeat her.

Her wide-ranging mental magic could take out multiple monsters at once, while his Plasma Shot, modeled after the repulsor beam, could only target one enemy at a time.

In short, he couldn’t compete with her in terms of attack range.

‘But I haven’t been twiddling my thumbs’

He was well aware of his weakness. And finding a way to compensate for it had been a long-standing concern.

So, he had embarked on research to address this shortcoming.

He studied ways to increase his firepower, not just by firing Plasma Shots, but by shaping them into a lightsaber.

And miraculously, he had completed his research just last night.

He’d managed to create a Plasma Lightsaber using a new formula.

Thinking about the Plasma Lightsaber, he placed his hand on the teleportation orb.

He was instantly transported to the testing grounds, where the supervising instructor greeted him.

Ed politely returned the instructor’s greeting, but Isabella ignored the instructorcompletely.

The instructor, seemingly anticipating this, didn’t seem bothered and proceeded to explain the precautions.

“Now, without further ado, we’ll begin the match in three seconds.”

The tedious explanation concluded, and the instructor finally raised his gun to fire the starting shot.

Ed channeled mana to his feet, preparing to dash out.

With the time limit, he needed to act quickly.

“Test commencing in three…two…one…”

*Bang!*

With the sound of the gunshot, Ed and Isabella charged onto the battlefield.

Isabella took to the air using the Graham family’s unique flight technique.

Ed pulled his gauntlets from his inventory.

Twenty minutes remained of the countdown which will decide the victor between him and Isabella.

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A crowd of hundreds inevitably generated noise.

Especially after the second round matches, the students, whether victors or losers, were still buzzing with the excitement of the competition.

They gathered with friends, sharing their experiences and reliving the thrill.

“Ugh, I miscalculated the formula. If I’d activated it correctly, I would have won.”

“Tell me about it. I was so nervous I messed up the mana synthesis. Ugh, that was a monumental screw-up.”

“I think I did better than expected, though? I thought I’d lose against the Aisen family.”

“You just got lucky.”

The students shared their diverse stories, their experiences shaped by their individual outcomes.

However, the underlying themes of their conversations were largely the same.

Winners subtly boasted of their achievements while feigning consolation for the losers, while losers offered excuses and sought solace for their defeats.

“The next match is Edgar Fix versus Isabella. Come to the podium and place your hands on the teleportation orbs.”

The moment Ed and Isabella’s names were called, a hush fell over the auditorium.

Just as a movie theater quiets down when the previews end and the feature presentation begins, everyone focused their attention on the screen, eager to witness the clash between Ed and Isabella.

As Ed and Isabella charged onto the battlefield, someone shouted, “It’s starting!”

On the left side of the split screen which showed Ed’s perspective, a ripple appeared, and a bracelet materialized.

Ed had pulled his gauntlets from his inventory.

Everyone held their breath, hearts pounding, as they watched Ed’s screen intently.

They wanted to relive the shock they’d felt when he first equipped the gauntlets.

*Clatter, click, click, click.*

The individual alloys interlocked, forming the gauntlets.

It was a strangely thrilling scene, no matter how many times they saw it.

The students of this world, unfamiliar with mecha, couldn’t understand why the mere act of equipping gauntlets was so captivating.

*Kiiiing!*

Then came the familiar sound—the pleasant high-frequency whine of the plasma beam charging up.

The circular emitter on the palm of the gauntlet glowed brightly, growing in size.

As the tension reached its peak, a heavy whooshing sound resonated throughout the auditorium.

The fully charged Plasma Shot had been fired as a white flash of light.

*Fwoom!*

In an instant, the superheated Plasma Shot, traveling at the speed of sound, pierced through a monster’s abdomen.

The massive body of the monster, its vital point ruptured, collapsed to the ground.

“One shot…?”

“Damn. That’s awesome.”

“I want to try those on just once.”

Ed’s gauntlets stirred an intense desire for possession.

Was this the level of craftsmanship required to earn the favor of the princess and the head professor?

How much stronger would Ed become if he continued to create such weaponry?

At that thought, some students shivered with a sense of unease, while others’ eyes gleamed with competitive fire.

“Look! Isabella!”

Not to be outdone, Isabella began to move.

She ascended into the air, positioning herself above a dense cluster of monsters, and unleashed a wide-area mental attack.

*Kuuuuuooooh!!!*

The monsters shrieked and thrashed, turning on each other in a chaotic melee of stabbing, slashing, and biting.

“He’s no match for Isabella, after all.”

“Even Fix can’t beat the Witch.”

“He can’t win. There’s no way.”

It was an overwhelming massacre.

While Ed’s combat style was thrilling, Isabella’s was simply speechless.

A sense of inevitable defeat permeated the auditorium.

“What’s Fix doing? He’s not even fighting the monsters properly.”

“Yeah, he should be going all out right now. Where’s he going?”

Ed’s movements puzzled everyone.

He wasn’t engaging the monsters directly.

He only eliminated those that blocked his path.

Despite wielding such powerful gauntlets, he wasn’t actively fighting.

“Did he give up?”

“The point difference is already ridiculous.”

“He should have already scouted out the dense areas. Why is he avoiding them?”

It was strange.

Very strange.

To get a high score, the usual strategy was to round up and eliminate large groups of monsters.

That meant going to areas where monsters were densely packed and planning an efficient route.

But Ed was doing the opposite.

He was sprinting across monster-free zones, heading somewhere with determined speed.

“Oh! Don’t tell me… Is he crazy?”

One student gasped, realizing Ed’s intention.

At that moment, Ed stopped in front of a dark cave that resembled an abyss.

The instructor, who had been casually observing Ed and Isabella while snacking, jumped up in alarm.

“[Hey! Don’t tell me! No way! Are you insane?!]”

*Whoosh!*

The instructor dashed towards Ed.

But Ed, unfazed, aimed his gauntlet at the cave and charged a Plasma Shot.

Then—

*Kiiiing! Fwoom!*

Without a moment’s hesitation, he fired the Plasma Shot into the cave.

A white flash illuminated the cave as the shot hurtled inward.

*Kooooom!*

A powerful explosion rocked the entire cave.

Watching through the orb, the instructor grimaced and muttered,

“[Wow… This is crazy. I signed up for this gig thinking it’d be a cakewalk.]”

*Kuuuuooooooooh!*

A monstrous roar echoed from within the cave.

*Thump! Thump! Thump! Thump!*

Something massive began to emerge, shaking the ground.

The students in the auditorium gaped, their faces pale with shock.

“Is he insane…?”

“…Did he not hear the warnings?”

“Is he actually trying to fight *that*?”

The students were horrified for two reasons.

First, the instructor had warned them before the test began.

He’d said that even *he* would struggle against the boss monster inside the cave, and that they should absolutely avoid entering the cave if they didn’t want to become the first volunteer for a novel method of suicide.

“[Ugh…This is insane.]”

Second, the instructor had jokingly promised to pass anyone who managed to defeat the boss monster.

He never dreamed anyone would be crazy enough to actually attempt it.

*Kiiiing!*

But Ed wasn’t crazy.

He simply believed it was worth a try.

With a serious expression, he aimed at the cave and charged his Plasma Beam to maximum power.

As the Minotaur King emerged—

*Fwoom!*

He fired.

The white flash struck the Minotaur King’s left ankle.

*Kuuuuooooh!!!*

The impact was minimal, causing the creature to stumble momentarily.

With its overwhelmingly greater mana receptors compared to a human, the Minotaur King was resistant to most attacks.

Ed had only managed to enrage it.

*Whoosh!*

The Minotaur King retaliated.

Its massive fist slammed towards Ed, generating tremendous wind pressure.

Ed barely dodged the attack.

Thanks to the massive mana stone embedded in his chest, which was just as absurd as the Minotaur King’s mana receptors, Ed possessed far more mana than the average student—more than three times as much.

This allowed him to move with enough agility to just barely evade the Minotaur King’s attacks.

*Kiiiing!*

Ed began to employ hit-and-run tactics.

He dodged the Minotaur King’s attacks while focusing his Plasma Shots on its left ankle.

*Ugh!*

However he couldn’t dodge every attack.

Trying to focus on his offense, he was grazed by the creature’s hand.

Even that slight contact sent him flying.

The difference in power was simply too overwhelming.

A newly admitted student had no chance against such a powerful monster.

Despite this, Ed didn’t give up.

He quickly got back on his feet, took a deep breath, and calmly extended his hand towards the charging Minotaur King.

*Kiiiing!*

He charged a Plasma Shot and fired at the creature’s left ankle.

*Kwaaang!*

A white flash exploded against the Minotaur King’s ankle.

The monster, which had been charging relentlessly, stumbled and fell to its knees.

Ed smirked.

“[Phase one complete.]”

He had successfully restricted the Minotaur King’s movement by persistently targeting a single weak point.

However, that didn’t mean he could approach it easily.

Close-quarters combat against a Minotaur was never a good idea.

“[Now for the next phase.]”

Ed decided to go for a surprise attack, a decisive blow from the creature’s blind spot.

*Crackle!*

He needed another item for this.

The prototype propulsion unit that had nearly killed him last night.

He pulled it from his inventory and spread his arms wide.

He had modified it for easy equipping; simply spreading his arms initiated the automatic attachment process.

*Click, click, clatter…*

The satisfying sounds of connection echoed as the sleek, backpack-shaped propulsion unit secured itself to his back.

“[Ed! Edgar Fix! Stop! Stop right there!]”

The instructor, who had been rushing towards Ed, finally arrived.

Panting, he glanced at the Minotaur King, still kneeling, and addressed Ed angrily.

“[Fix, are you out of your mind? It’s not too late. Run now. The Minotaur King’s regenerative abilities are beyond your comprehension. It might look like this now, but it’ll be back on its feet and chasing you in less than two minutes.]”

He was right.

The Minotaur King’s regenerative abilities were incredible.

It could recover from more than eight superheated Plasma Shots in just two minutes.

But Ed had a different plan.

“[That’s why I have to kill it within those two minutes.]”

“[What—]”

*Fwwoooosh!*

Before the instructor could finish, flames erupted from the propulsion unit.

Ed shot into the air, soaring to a height of 300 meters.

“[…? Woooom!]”

The video transmission orb, struggling to keep up with Ed’s speed, finally locked onto his position.

As the orb reached Ed in the sky, the gauntlets began to transform once again.

The students in the auditorium watched intently.

*Click, click, clatter… Ziiiing… Click.*

Silence fell in the hall.

The bright circular light on the palm of the gauntlet shifted to the back of his hand.

The titanium alloy meticulously disassembled and reassembled itself.

The transformation complete, the gauntlets now resembled the wrist guards of a Protoss Zealot.

The blue circular magic stone in the center of the wrist guard pulsed with brilliant light, emitting the familiar charging sound.

*Kiiiing!*

The intensifying high-frequency sound heightened the tension in the auditorium.

*Crackle!*

Finally, the form-transformed wrist guards emitted a sharp, azure lightsaber.

Ed, freefalling from the sky, checked the gleaming Plasma Lightsaber and then began adjusting his position by activating and deactivating the propulsion unit.

“[…About here.]”

He positioned himself directly above the Minotaur King.

At an altitude of 20 meters, he shut off the propulsion unit’s engine.

As the Minotaur King rose to its feet, Ed began his descent.

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