I Became a Genius Mechanic at the Academy

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“Don’t forget. If we lose in the remaining five matches, all the victories we’ve gained so far will mean nothing. We must crush all the talents among the Empire’s top five, so that Clendor can be acknowledged as the best nation in naval warfare!”

On the last day of underwater battles.

Leon Clendor was encouraging his subordinates with a voice full of strength.

No, in fact, it was more like a spell he cast on himself rather than encouragement for his subordinates.

His political fate was riding on the next five matches.

“This match must be a victory!”

Leon Clendor was obsessed with today’s match to the point that his eyes were bloodshot.

The reason he was so fixated on the match was that it was scheduled to be broadcast live.

Currently, the nobles and the public of his homeland had seen most of the footage edited by Leon, and the public sentiment was at an all-time high.

When the Clendor Kingdom, which once submitted tribute to the Empire, displayed footage of crushing the Empire, the national pride surged and the citizens were ecstatic about Leon Clendor.

“Absolutely win!!!”

““Yes!!!”

Thus, today’s match was crucial.

If they won all of the remaining five matches, not only would they gain national support, but it would also score big points in the succession battle for the throne.

He would turn the perception that he was the least capable among his brothers upside down and rise as the crown prince.

“I will be the Emperor of Clendor! The throne is mine!”

With that resolve, Leon steadied his mind, his expression showing clear signs of tension.

At this moment, his fate was at stake.

He needed an overwhelming victory now more than ever.

“Your Highness the Prince, it’s time.”

At that moment, a subordinate approached to notify him that it was time.

Leon called over the warrior he had selected for this match, placing a hand on his shoulder as he spoke.

“I’ve heard you’re the best talent from the Clendor Empire. Can I expect great things?”

“Yes!”

“Then go out there and bring me an overwhelming victory! Depending on how you perform, I will grant fitting rewards!”

“Yes! I will surely win, Your Highness!”

With that, Leon’s first fighter stepped out of the arena.

And the first opponent for that fighter was the Top.5 Clarice Liantare.

Clarice was the granddaughter of the Eldar Kingdom’s king, half-human and half-elf.

She had previously been sent on an envoy mission to the Dwarf Alliance Kingdom with Edgar.

“Hoo…”

However, at that time, she had only ranked towards the upper tier of Class A.

In terms of precise ranking, she was about Top.58.

Yet how did she manage to rank in the Top.5 through the qualifiers?

‘I need to get stronger.’

It was a definitive motivation that urged her to strengthen herself.

A strong urge to see her mother, who had been out of touch for years.

‘I have to go alone. It’s hard to meet my uncle.’

After all, Clarice had no one to rely on.

Originally, she intended to meet her uncle who was said to be in the Dwarf Alliance Kingdom to enter the Elf Kingdom, but by the time she went there with Edgar, her uncle had departed.

Now that her uncle’s whereabouts were unknown, the only way to enter the isolationist Elf Kingdom that traded with no other countries was to grow her own power.

“Both contestants, please proceed to the top.”

As she pondered all this, the host began the proceedings.

Soon, Clarice and Leon’s first elite soldier stood at opposite ends of the pool, and at the signal from the host, they both dove in simultaneously.

-What… What kind of absurd technique is that?

-How can we defeat that?

-Clearly, the naval battle belongs to Clendor…

But the outcome of the duel was a crushing defeat for Clarice.

Though she fought valiantly using her innate underwater breathing techniques and water elementals, she could not defeat Leon’s elite soldier.

In the first place, matching Clarice, who had just enrolled in the Academy, against an eight-year veteran soldier in underwater warfare was nonsensical.

“Well done. All we need to do is win.”

But Leon was not bothered.

Thanks to the paperwork manipulation, the elite soldier he sent out was presented as a two-year veteran.

Moreover, the citizens watching this match live hardly understood the details of underwater warfare.

They would naively cheer if a two-year veteran defeated the Empire Academy’s prime student.

Only experts in underwater warfare understood this was an unfair matchup.

“Let’s keep this going! Just four more to take down!”

Now it was a matter of dropping just four more.

Leon immediately sent out the next contestant.

This next fighter was also one of the top talents with well-managed paperwork.

At just 32 years of age, he was a veteran hunter with a record of hunting high-tier sea monsters.

-Crunch… crunch…

And the contestant he faced was the Top.4 Grown.

Grown was a case of someone who had pushed their way up from S-Class ranked 48 to the Top.4 while discovering their own talents and skills.

However, he too was no match for a specialized hunter who had experience dealing with high-tier sea monsters and ended up defeated without even getting a strike in.

There was no way an amateur like Grown could defeat a fighter sent out with a clear intention to win.

“Good… Now only three left.”

Having defeated up to the Top.4, Leon, with renewed determination, looked at the broadcasting magic stone.

The broadcasting magic stone showed the reactions of Clendor citizens live.

They were all cheering as they watched the elite students of the Empire Academy being defeated.

Everything was going according to plan.

“From here on is critical.”

However, the Academy student entering in the Top.3 was none other than the son of the Grand Duke Elmar.

Lucas Elmar, alongside Isabella Graham and Edgar Fix, was renowned as one of the academy’s top elites.

“Must win!”

“Yes!”

Thus, defeat was not an option.

Leon had to crush someone as formidable as Lucas, one of the top three Academy elites, to deliver a significant shock to the academy students.

Their shocked faces would become an enjoyable spectacle for the citizens of Clendor watching this match live.

The sight of the empire, a superpower, trembling in fear at Clendor’s capabilities would be broadcasted.

What kind of nationalist content could compete with that?

“Dive in!”

As Leon’s imagination ran wild, the host announced the start of the match.

Lucas and the elite soldier dove into the water simultaneously.

“…Damn.”

However, the match wasn’t unfolding as he had expected.

Lucas’s “Spatial Control Technique” somewhat mitigated the constraints of underwater battles.

-Whoosh!

In particular, relocating the surrounding water to create space for breathing was almost absurd.

While Clendor soldiers trained for years to master underwater breathing, the Elmar prince could escape those limits with his innate trait-based magic.

-Whoosh!

Moreover, his movements were free.

He could dodge Edgar’s repulsor beam, making almost any attack ineffective.

A mere one-year student toyed with a veteran soldier with over eleven years of experience.

“…There’s still a chance!”

However, due to water resistance and pressure, Lucas’s advantages were also somewhat neutralized.

He could not deal effective strikes through his unconventional attacks due to the lack of force.

“That’s right! Just drag out the time!”

Thus, Leon’s elite soldier began to stall for time intentionally.

He led Lucas’s attacks to tire him out.

‘…I’m going for one big hit.’

But Lucas was no fool.

Having grasped his weaknesses and the enemy’s intentions, Lucas prepared for a powerful strike.

He combined dozens of daggers into one massive blade.

-Swish!

Then he summoned it behind the enemy and shot it straight at him.

Additionally, he temporarily discarded the water behind his opponent to eliminate pressure and resistance.

The sharp blade struck deep into the enemy’s back, retaining the destructive power of the surface.

“Kuhhh!”

As a result, Lucas’s strike landed effectively.

He pierced through the opponent’s back.

“Haahhh!!!”

But the opponent was a veteran soldier with over eleven years of experience.

He immediately reinforced his back with mana and threw himself into the water.

As buoyancy and water pressure began to strip away Lucas’s dagger’s power, the spinning knife that was drilling into his foe’s back lost its momentum.

“Haahhh!!”

Then, the enemy’s back bulged, scattering the daggers completely.

Leon’s elite soldier was the type that could enhance his physical body or heal himself.

-Slash!

After that, the elite soldier launched an unrelenting assault.

Lucas, desperate to gather underwater mana quickly, attempted mana synthesis but was unfamiliar with how to gather mana underwater.

He had talent, but he lacked experience.

-I can’t bear to watch.

-Lucas…

-Ha… ha… I guess we shouldn’t mess with Clendor in underwater battles. Huh? How could an empire mess with the Clendor Kingdom?

As a result, Lucas was left defenseless.

Leon’s elite soldier taunted Lucas, deliberately avoiding vital points and toying with him cruelly.

This brought some academy students to look at their homeland with self-deprecating humor, even raising Clendor higher.

“Isn’t this dangerous? If we leave it like this, it’ll only spread the sense of defeat among the students.”

Therefore, some faculty members who were watching expressed concern.

They tried to suggest to Elena that they should file an objection or suspend the match.

Elena responded with an expressionless face.

“We cannot do that.”

“…?”

“If we request to suspend the match now, it will be seen as a retreat. Also, if we argue it’s an unfair match, they can find a way to weasel out at any time. After all, Clendor’s prince never claimed to hold a fair match. He simply mentioned wanting to show the terror of the sea.”

“…”

“Even with the standby paperwork, it can easily be dismissed as a harmless lie meant to foster competition among the students. If it is framed as a good deed for growth, that’s all it takes. As long as he asserts his qualifications as a commander, there are unlimited ways to escape.”

The faculty members looked around the arena with complex emotions.

The expressions of the audience were unanimously grim.

Soon after, Elena continued speaking.

“The sense of defeat spreading among the students? That is irrelevant. If any student feels defeated by such a thing and lays down, they are unworthy of training here. Think about it. Who between those struggling to overcome their limits and those indulging in a false victory has greater potential for growth? Ultimately, Leon Clendor is harming his own nation. He is peddling drugs.”

The faculty nodded.

Though they felt fury bubbling within, Leon’s actions were nothing but cowardly drug dealing.

He was instilling illusions in the entire country for his political ambitions.

“But… It can’t be helped that I’m angry…”

Yet they couldn’t suppress their anger.

Elena too was looking at Lucas being dragged out of the water, covered in blood, with a grave face.

Her hands trembled with fury.

“What a pathetic lot.”

Just then, a voice laden with magic resonated throughout the venue.

The voice belonged to none other than Isabella Graham.

She was a sorceress renowned as the strongest student in the Empire alongside Edgar.

Having made her way to the center of the arena, she looked around at the audience and spoke.