Chapter 44: Annoying Dorm Officer

"It actually fucking worked!"

Declan shouted in excitement, his joy getting the better of him as he spread his palm wider without even thinking.

The instant he did that...

THROOM!

WHIIIRRR!

Machinery spun to life as energy rapidly accumulated inside the emitter.

"Oh, shit!"

BOOOOOOOM!

A powerful blast erupted from his palm, sending a condensed beam of photons forward with terrifying force.

BAAAANG!

SHATTER!

The glass separating the training room from the bedroom exploded, and the recoil sent Declan flying out of the training room as he hit the ground, rolled several times, then slammed into the wall before finally landing face-first on the floor.

"Tch."

Declan slowly raised his head.

"I released it."

His voice carried a hint of dumbfounded stupidity as he looked toward the training room, and his mouth fell open.

The punching bag had been blown apart into literal ashes, and then,

WHOOSH!

Air rushed into the room through the enormous hole that had been blasted through the wall.

Declan stared blankly as he realized that his entire training room wall had been blown open.

For some reason, he blinked several times before turning his attention back to his right hand.

The Nanogauntlet was still wrapped around it.

"Wait...What the fuck!?"

Before he could inspect it any further...

KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK!

Someone was pounding on his door.

Declan immediately clenched his hand into a fist, and the nanomaterial reacted by rapidly dispersing from his arm, flowing backward and gathering into a single point until, when he opened his palm again, the Nanogauntlet was gone and a simple cube sat in his hand.

KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK!

Declan quickly shoved the cube into his pocket before rushing out of the bedroom, then swiped his card over the scanner and opened the door.

He’d expected a familiar face.

Instead, he found himself staring up at a man whose face was covered in thick, bulging veins.

"Ummm... who are you?"

"You bastard wrecker!"

The man grabbed Declan by his shirt and hurled him aside before storming into the room, charging straight through the bedroom until he suddenly stopped dead.

His jaw practically dropped when he saw the shattered glass and the enormous hole in the wall.

"What the fuck did you do?!"

He screamed in horror before rushing toward the destroyed wall, staring at the damage with an expression that looked dangerously close to tears.

"Hey!"

Declan got back to his feet.

"You’re in my room! Who the fuck are you?!"

The man paused, then pulled out his identification card and tossed it toward Declan.

Declan caught it, and the moment he saw the information on it, his anger faded slightly.

"I am responsible for this entire corridor of buildings," the man explained. "By academy regulations, I have the authority to enter any student’s room, especially when I hear suspicious noises suggesting something has gone wrong."

He pointed toward the destruction.

"And I’d say that fucking explosion you just set off is more than enough proof that something went wrong!"

Declan scratched the back of his head with an awkward grin.

"I... take it back."

The man’s expression twitched.

"You destroyed the room. This is going to cost me twenty points to fix!"

The man’s roar echoed through the room.

Declan finally understood why the man was so furious.

Students weren’t responsible for repairing damage to their dorm rooms.

If someone’s bed broke, the dorm officer fixed it.

If the floor collapsed because of training, the dorm officer handled it.

And now Declan had blasted an enormous hole through an entire wall.

The person responsible for repairing it was this man.

"What were you doing?"

The dorm officer demanded.

"I just lost control of my strength for a while."

The man stared at him.

"Nah."

He pointed at the destroyed training room.

"This ain’t the result of a single punch."

"You blew the fucking training bag to ash and took out the entire wall!"

"Hmph. Hmph."

The man sniffed several times, then his eyes suddenly sharpened.

"Photon?"

He sniffed again.

"Is that photon energy?"

His expression changed.

"Are you dealing with the dark market?!"

"The dark market?"

Declan raised an eyebrow.

"Don’t play dumb with me, kid!"

The man stepped closer.

"Where is it?"

Declan shrugged.

"I don’t have anything on me. I don’t deal with the black market, and I have no idea what you’re talking about."

The dorm officer stopped directly in front of him and stared at Declan suspiciously.

Declan’s expression remained completely unchanged.

Neither of them spoke.

Then...

BEEP!

The sound of Declan’s device suddenly broke the tension.

He looked down.

9:50.

"Class starts in ten minutes."

He slipped the device away.

"Gotta go."

Declan turned and headed toward the door, then glanced back.

"This’ll be fixed before I get back, right?"

A snicker escaped him.

"You..."

The dorm officer’s face twisted with fury.

"You bastard!"

His roar followed Declan out of the room.

Declan walked toward the elevator with a mocking grin.

The dorm officer’s job was to repair student rooms, and sure, Declan had caused considerably more damage than what they were probably expected to deal with, but that didn’t change the fact that fixing the mess was still the man’s responsibility.

Besides, the academy was surely paying him for it.

What part of that was his problem?

Once he entered the elevator, Declan pulled the cube from his pocket and stared at it.

But this...

His expression became serious.

This is insane.

He’d expected the photon blast to be capable of cracking a mini-sized rock at most, especially since he’d powered it using a 5.5 MW battery, which alone was an absurd amount of energy.

But there was something he’d failed to consider.

A normal Nano-Photon Blaster and one created through Mecha Forge were two completely different things.

Mecha Forge wasn’t ordinary technology. It was a magical skill.

And the thing responsible for creating it was the system itself, an advanced existence whose very source Declan couldn’t even begin to comprehend.

Anything created through it would naturally surpass the normal technology of Mordran, not to mention anything he could accomplish with his current gadgetry skills.

But this...This was beyond anything he’d imagined.

He looked down at the cube again, realizing he now possessed a genuinely terrifying attack module.

And more importantly...this was only the beginning.

_______________

The next class was Combat Class, and Declan soon arrived at the designated venue.

A towering skyscraper stood before him, although something immediately caught his attention.

The academy was divided into three main areas.

First year, second year, and third year, and students from both the first and second years were entering and leaving this particular building.

Declan checked the information displayed beside the entrance and was surprised to discover that the Combat Class was one of the subjects shared by first and second-year students.

Just like the cafeteria.

He walked forward and passed through the revolving glass gate, and for a brief moment, it felt as though he’d stepped through a wall of water as the air rippled around him.

Then he emerged on the other side, only to freeze.

Before him stretched a massive glass-like Void world, with dark blue darkness extending endlessly in every direction and countless tiny blue motes floating silently throughout the space.

It was dark, but strangely beautiful.

Declan looked down at his feet, and every step he took caused a circular wave of blue light to spread outward before fading away.

"So much design for a combat class?"

He muttered in disbelief.

When he’d first imagined the Combat Class venue, he’d expected something like a fighting ring, perhaps a massive arena or maybe several training grounds, anything but this.

Students were already scattered throughout the enormous Void, with some seated while others wandered around, and the entire space seemed almost endless.

Then Declan noticed another strange detail.

There was no door behind him.

No entrance or anything similar. ℯℯ𝘭.

Instead, space itself would occasionally ripple before another student suddenly appeared, stepping out of nowhere.

So the revolving glass gate is a teleporter.

That made sense.

It wasn’t really a door at all.

It simply transported students into this strange space.

Declan checked his device.

9:58.

Only two minutes remained before class was scheduled to begin, so he found an empty spot among a random group of students and took his seat.

Still, the class didn’t begin immediately.

Another thirty minutes passed before everyone had finally arrived.

Then someone appeared, not behind them nor from one of the sides, but from directly ahead.

A woman.

And the moment Declan saw her, he understood why the entire hall suddenly went quiet.

She was impossible to miss.

She wore a tight-fitting crimson-red combat suit that emphasized her athletic figure, while long red hair flowed down her shoulders and trailed toward her back.

The noisy murmurs that had filled the Void abruptly died, and one after another, the male students fell silent as all eyes turned toward her.

She was gorgeous, drop-dead gorgeous, and the moment she stepped into view wearing that tight-fitting battle suit, more than a few male students found themselves turning red.

Even Declan had to take a second look.

There was no denying that the woman was beautiful, but what made her even more striking was her height, as she stood at roughly 2.3 meters tall, making her presence bold and impossible to overlook.

Yet despite her appearance, there was no warmth in her expression, as her face remained almost completely detached while her crimson irises rested within narrow, fox-like eyes that gave her a naturally condescending look.

"I am Kydra, your Combat Instructor."