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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Chaos
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In the lab, I reviewed the expedition roster.

The members were: Elena, James, Charlotte, Enya, Isabella, Claire, and Clarice.

Overall, I was satisfied with the lineup.

Each member had a role to play in this mission.

‘I auditioned almost the entire student body, and the results are predictable.’

Looking at the list, I realized I had chosen mostly main NPCs: Elena, Enya, Isabella, and Claire.

These were the NPCs who had consistently played significant roles throughout my numerous playthroughs.

However, there were two new additions I hadn’t encountered before: Charlotte and Clarice.

They were originally just extras in the game, unknown to me.

I had met Charlotte by chance during the entrance ceremony, but Clarice was a completely new face.

Yet, the shock of meeting her was still vivid.

I couldn’t understand why such a character wasn’t a main NPC.

-Please introduce yourself.

-Clarice Lianther. I’m a half-elf.

She was of human and elven descent.

Her appearance, with her flawless skin and long, wavy blonde hair, was characteristically elven.

-What are your reasons for applying?

-I’m going to visit my uncle.

Her uncle.

The uncle she spoke of was Altairion, the renowned archer of the Eldar Kingdom.

And Altairion was famous for his close friendship with the dwarves.

He was the only elf the stubborn dwarves accepted as a friend.

-Wait… So, Applicant Clarice… you’re of royal elven blood?

Altairion was also the younger brother of Gideon, the King of the Eldar Kingdom.

Since Clarice called him “uncle,” her mother must have been the King’s sister.

Clarice readily admitted it.

-Well, yes. But I’d prefer it if you kept it a secret. It’s a family matter.

She asked us to keep her royal lineage confidential.

She seemed to have some family issues she wanted to keep hidden, so I decided not to pry.

The next question was why she should be chosen.

Clarice replied,

-I can use some spirit magic. And if my uncle is staying in the Dwarven Allied Kingdom, it might make our mission easier. You know, my uncle is best friends with the current Dwarf King.

The current Dwarf King’s best friend was Clarice’s uncle.

It was an offer too tempting to refuse.

We decided to take advantage of this opportunity and accepted Clarice as our final member.

As I added her to the roster, a thought crossed my mind.

‘The reason Clarice is just an extra… might be related to the fall of the Eldar Kingdom.’

The Eldar Kingdom.

This small kingdom, home to about 20,000 elves, would meet its demise in about a year.

An ancient evil, sealed for a thousand years, would awaken and devour their World Tree, the heart of their kingdom.

‘Clarice probably died in that catastrophe.’

My thoughts naturally drifted to Clarice’s death.

Why was she, with her royal bloodline, a mere extra? Perhaps she died before the main events of the game unfolded.

She might have been staying in the Eldar Kingdom for some reason and perished along with it.

Coincidentally, the number of missing or deceased students started to increase around that time.

“One year… That’s not much time.”

The Eldar Kingdom, which had always met its demise in my previous playthroughs.

Could I change its fate within a year?

The ancient evil was a formidable creature, even for Elena.

Furthermore, the second year became a period of turmoil for the Empire, as demonic minions began to appear around that time.

“…I should focus on the task at hand.”

There was no point in worrying. If I diligently tackled the challenges before me, a path would surely reveal itself.

As proof, even with my ‘Engineering Mind’ skill still at level 3, I had successfully implemented the basic structure of a computer.

I had applied the ‘von Neumann architecture,’ proposed by the father of computing, John von Neumann, to create an arithmetic logic unit capable of basic input and output.

Von Neumann Architecture

Von Neumann.

One of the greatest geniuses in human history.

Incredibly, he could perform mental calculations with eight-digit numbers at the age of six or seven and taught number theory to Eugene Wigner, a Nobel laureate in Physics, when he was only eleven.

By twelve, he had surpassed the level of a mathematics major.

This monstrous intellect, fluent in seven languages, mastered a seven-year medical course in two weeks.

He made significant contributions to various fields, including economics, quantum mechanics, functional analysis, set theory, topology, computer science, geometry, numerical analysis, and statistics.

He was a walking computer.

Here’s a shocking anecdote.

During his time at the University of Zurich, one of his professors, the renowned mathematician George Pólya, introduced a difficult theorem.

It was an incredibly challenging problem, unsolved at the time, like the Riemann Hypothesis or the Poincaré Conjecture.

Five minutes later, von Neumann raised his hand and proceeded to write the proof on the board. He had solved an unsolved problem in five minutes.

George Pólya later recalled, “That’s when I started to be afraid of von Neumann.”

“……”

He was an extraordinary individual.

Thanks to his ‘von Neumann architecture,’ modern humanity enjoys the benefits of the information age.

“Wasn’t he possessed by someone from another world?”

His anecdotes were truly mind-boggling.

Perhaps he had a status window, like in a game.

Maybe he could use cheat abilities like ‘Engineering Mind’ by touching a holographic interface.

Those primitive modern humans.

Haha.

…Anyway, I was standing on the shoulders of giants.

Based on the accumulated knowledge of countless scientists, engineers, and mathematicians, I was creating tools to save this world, one by one.

I had become the von Neumann and Willis Carrier of El Pandor Runterra.

What would I become next?

If I spread the concepts of classical mechanics, I would be Isaac Newton.

If I proved that time flows differently depending on space and time, I would be Albert Einstein.

If I proved the Big Bang theory, I could become Stephen Hawking.

But I wasn’t conducting research for academic achievements.

My sole mission and purpose were to save this world, a world I had failed to save in countless playthroughs.

Of course, my underlying motivation was the hope that I might return to Earth if I cleared the game. [T/N: fuck you mc]

I missed the modern conveniences, like ordering chicken delivery with the push of a button.

“Weeooong~?”

Fix approached me, seemingly having made a discovery.

I followed him and checked the data he had found.

It was research on how Black Obsidian absorbed and converted “feelings of hatred” into energy.

“As expected, mana absorbs brainwaves and vaporizes them.”

“Weeooong~!”

I nodded, stroking Fix’s head after reviewing the data.

We had finally uncovered the secret of Black Obsidian.

So, what experiment had led to this breakthrough?

To understand a phenomenon, it was necessary to replicate it.

With Elena’s permission, I acquired a Berserk Potion and administered it to a lab rat.

I wanted to see how Black Obsidian’s core mana stone absorbed “hatred.”

-It’s not working.

The experiment was a failure.

The lab rat scurried around frantically inside the test tube, but nothing happened.

Simply ingesting the Berserk Potion wasn’t enough to trigger Black Obsidian’s mechanism.

-I’m sorry, little guy.

I anesthetized the rat and carefully made a small incision in its head.

I then implanted a tiny fragment of an emerald mana stone into its brain, enabling it to handle mana.

-Squeak!! Sizzle!! Crackle!!

I injected the Berserk Potion again.

The rat went berserk, consumed by rage and hatred.

Then, I used ‘Mana Transfer’…

-Hiss…

A red haze began to emanate from the rat’s body.

Simultaneously, Black Obsidian began to absorb the red haze and generate dark magic power.

By giving the rat mana, I had activated Black Obsidian’s mechanism.

Based on this result, I could confirm my hypothesis:

Now that I had proven my hypothesis, it was time to delve deeper.

I decided to start with the first point: how emotions and mana combined.

I already had an idea.

BCI (Brain-Computer Interface).

I knew how to connect the brain and a computer.

How does one connect the brain and a computer?

Surprisingly, our brain transmits all information through electrical signals.

So, if we convert the computer’s digital signals into electrical signals and transmit them to the brain, we can interpret those signals.

In other words, if a computer transmits an image of “Enya” as electrical signals to my brain, I would perceive Enya even without actually seeing her.

This led to another hypothesis: Does the Berserk Potion possess a property that combines the brainwaves transmitting hatred with mana receptors?

And when the mana combined with hatred circulates throughout the body, does it produce the red haze as a byproduct?

I instructed Fix to investigate this hypothesis.

And just now, he had perfectly proven it and presented the results to me.

He had done such a good job that I wanted to give him a kiss.

“Now… I just need to combine mana with positive emotions.”

Now that I understood the principle, it was time to modify it to combine mana with positive emotions.

The original Black Obsidian, the dwarves’ pride, was a holy sword that absorbed courage and valor to generate powerful holy energy.

“If I can restore Black Obsidian to its former glory and present it at the Ironhammer Exhibition…”

The dwarves’ reaction was predictable.

The Empire and the Dwarven Allied Kingdom would restore their amicable relationship.

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