Inside the wasteyard, Vaan studied the broken steel sword of half length before resuming his rummage.

"Seems like there isn't a whetstone I can use here. I will have to settle for alternatives," Vaan determined.

Shortly after, his gaze fell on a piece of demon beast leather that was part of a damaged black leather armor.

"Leather made from the tough hides of Dusk Drakes, huh? These are basically sandpaper and might work even better than ordinary whetstones..." Vaan muttered, collecting the piece of Dusk Drake Leather before gazing at the other broken equipment.

"These items were most likely damaged from witches-in-training using their servants for target practice... Sigh, how extravagant."

"A little bit of repairing is all this equipment needed..."

Vaan shook his head with a slight sigh, understanding yet not wanting to understand how the minds of the rich and noble witches worked.

"Witches' image would be affected if their servants wear broken equipment, huh? Just like that, so much good equipment is thrown away every month."

After using the piece of rough hide to sand the broken sword into shape with gleaming sharpness, it looked no different to a regular short sword—but with a slightly longer handle.

Vaan traced his three fingers along the surface of the blade, feeling the smoothness and texture of the short sword before nodding his head.

"With my present strength, a sword of this quality is enough to lop off the head of an unawakened witched—if that is all I am using it for, though."

"Unfortunately, that is not the case. I still need to consider my survival in the wild after making my escape. There should also be waste materials from alchemy and sculpting classes around here…"

"Found it!" Vaan softly exclaimed, shortly after spotting a small pile of tiny rainbow stones.

"Fire Jade fragments? These magic jades contain small traces of mana with fiery attributes in them. The quantity is a bit small, but I don't need to enchant the entire blade."

Vaan sorted out the materials before a general enchantment design was laid out in his mind.

"Mm. The Obsidian Stones will reinforce the sword body's toughness, while Fire Jade will grant fiery attributes to the blade. With a flintstone with me, I can start an easy fire anywhere."

"All that is missing is some Magic-Enchanting Solution, huh?" Vaan mused before contemplating, "Without Magic-Enchanting Solution, I can forget about the whole idea of enchanting anything…"

Magic-Enchanting Solution could liquify nearly anything depending on its quality. It was commonly used for enchantment but could also be used as a weapon.

"Magic-Enchanting Solution isn't something that would be thrown away, no matter how little it is, though…" Vaan pondered with a calm expression.

"I wasn't expecting to find any in the wasteyard anyway. Since there's waste from alchemy classes, I'll be fine as long as I—"

Suddenly, Vaan's eyes lit up.

After spotting a broken flask with blue liquid solution inside, Vaan softly exclaimed, "Found it."

"Neverfrost Draken Blood, when mixed with the right quantity of Sulphuric Ashes, will produce a type of Rank-1 Magic-Enchanting Solution. Too much Sulphuric Ashes and it will become a corrosive solution instead."

"These broken flasks have anti-dissolvent spells cast on them. This will save me the trouble of finding Grade-2 materials to contain the Rank-1 Magic-Enchanting Solution."

After collecting everything, Vaan hid in a pile of trash and muttered, "All that is left is to sand these Fire Jades and Obsidian Stones into powder with the Dusk Leather. This will save some time on the dissolving process."

Sometime later, the sky started darkening from the sunset.

The Fire Jade fragment and Obsidian Stones were sanded into powders, and the Rank-1 Magic-Enchanting Solution was produced, separated into two portions.

Shortly after, the two powders were mixed with the solutions, producing a viscous blood-red solution in one broken flask and a thick black substance in another.

After creating a sword mold on the soil for the short sword, Vaan poured in the black substance, transforming the silver blade into a pitch-black one before leaving it to harden.

Vaan followed the regular steps of an Artificer, sanding down the short sword again before adding the blood-red solution.

The final result was a short black sword with dark-red edges, accompanied by a rough leather scabbard that did not take long for Vaan to make.

He spent the following two hours repairing some additional equipment before changing into a ragged black-hooded witch uniform, cape, and all to blend in the night. It was also altered to suit his taste in clothing as a man.

After checking his versatility and comfort in the new outfit, Vaan muttered, "There's still a few things I should prepare before I am ready..."

...

Outside of Elaine's office, a Senior Witch Gwena knocked on the door before entering with a wooden box in hand.

"Gwena? How is the City Lord's daughter's condition?" Senior Witch Elaine inquired with furrowed brows before glancing at the wooden box, "And what is this?"

"Isabelle's condition has been stabilized," Senior Witch Gwena answered before saying, "But never mind that. Take a look at what we found from the library's ruins."

"This is..."

Elaine glanced at the scattered notes that had been compiled neatly in the box before asking with surprise, "These are Eniwse's study notes? No, I've seen her research papers before. This isn't her handwriting."

"Right."

Senior Witch Gwena nodded before saying, "You'll be in for more surprises if you give the study notes a read, Elaine."

"Will do... Hm? A proposed theory on double awakening? The probability of a realm beyond Transcendent? How bold of the person who wrote this!"

After skimming through several keywords, Elaine immediately burst into mocking laughter, preparing to ridicule the writer—when she suddenly paused with a frown.

"Huh?"

"Limits of The Mana Bullet spell?" Elaine muttered before becoming engrossed in her reading.

Shortly after reading through the in-depth study notes on the Mana Bullet spell, Elaine spoke with surprise, "I was about to ridicule whoever wrote this…"

"But not only is everything written in great detail but it is also backed with great reasons, leaving no room to refute. Some of these theories were even proposed by Eniwse not long ago, earning her the title, Wise Scholar..."

Elaine's eyes widened as she continued to skim through the notes before she suddenly found a strange tool at the bottom of the box.

"And what is this?"

"It seems to be a new type of projectile weapon in the making, but it is still incomplete—lacking a special type of ammunition to use. Only the original maker would understand how powerful the tool is supposed to be."

"Perhaps."

Elaine's eyes glimmered before praising, "Still, whoever wrote all these theories is a great genius, well deserving of merits and widespread fame across the entire witch kingdom!"

After Elaine's praise, Gwena nodded and said, "I have always thought Rank 1 was the limit of the Mana Bullet spell. But after reading the notes, I have changed my mind. Mana Bullet can reach Rank 2."

"No, even Rank 3 might be possible! It has the potential to be a suitable magic spell for even Senior Witches like us to use. Where is this genius? Why has the academy not heard of this person? We can't let a genius like this be buried in—"

Noticing Gwena's expression suddenly turning dull, Elaine paused in realization before the excitement in her eyes similarly lost their glimmer.

"I see... No wonder, Eniwse was enraged to the point of turning... What a terrible day this is," Elaine muttered before sinking back into her seat with a gloomy look, "We lost a Senior Witch and a prodigy in theoretical knowledge on magic in one day…"

"Regardless of whether he was a man or a servant, that person could have been a great magic pioneer for the witches. Even if the City Lord's daughter suddenly died ten times over, it cannot appease the anger and frustration I feel right now."

"I feel the same, but the dead cannot be revived. At the very least, we still have that person's theoretical notes. We can learn many things from these notes. Still, should I send someone to retrieve the person's body and give him a proper burial?" Gwena suggested.

Elaine tapped the desk in contemplation before sighing, "It's dark now. Leave it in the morning. More importantly, have the surrounding towns been notified of the B-rank threat yet?"

"Clarille sent out the letters earlier. Considering the time, the surrounding towns should have received the letters by now."