The New Gate (LN)

The next day .

Hilamee said that she would send someone to pick Shin up in the morning . After preparing the necessary items, he was taking it easy by relaxing while sipping Schnee’s tea in his hotel room .

“Guess they’re here?”

Shin felt the presence of a hotel employee heading towards his room . After a few minutes the clerk knocked and announced that his escort had arrived . He went down with Schnee and found Licia waiting .

“I apologize for making you wait . Our preparations are complete, so we came to accompany you . ”

“I was just relaxing while I waited, so it was nothing . ”

Shin reassured Licia that it was no trouble and boarded the horse carriage . There he learned that both of the institute’s heads of the magic department and technology development department would be present while Shin installed the trap items .

After an uneventful trip, the group reached the institute . Hilamee had already left, so they followed Licia to the training dungeon . Hilamee was waiting with the guards in a security tower: she was accompanied by two male elves, one clad in robes and another in work gear . It was clear from their clothes which department they headed .

“Thank you for coming all the way here . Let me introduce you to Iggris, head of the magic department, and Seeran, head of the technology development department . ”

“I’m Iggris . My pleasure . ”

“I am Seeran . If the headmistress went to the trouble of calling someone from outside, you must be quite the big shot . I’m expecting great things . ”

Iggris greeted Shin flatly, without changing his expression in the slightest . His calm mood reminded Shin of how elves behaved as NPCs .

Seeran, on the other hand, reached for a handshake, clearly very interested in Shin . He looked almost like a kid that had found a new toy .

Both elves had once been adventurers, but, after hearing that Hilamee had started a school, they travelled to Erkunt and offered to help . Leaving their personalities aside, such a lifestyle was quite unusual by elven standards .

Two male elves had answered Hilamee’s call…Shin couldn’t help but think they had ulterior motives, but did not say anything . There could be all sorts of bonds between men and women outside of “that”, and it would be something very disrespectful to imply after all .

“I’ll start installing right away then . ”

Showing the actual items would be faster than explaining: no objections were raised, so the group headed towards the dungeon . Shin stopped in front of the entrance and took the items out of his item box, naturally pretending to do so from a pocket .

“These items are used to ambush monsters . In terms of specs, they can defeat most monsters up to level 500, even monsters only affected by physical or magical attacks . If monsters focused on one of these two items, however, they could break through without being annihilated . ”

There were several kinds of items to ambush monsters: Shin had chosen orthodox types, which released physical and magical damage light bullets when monsters approached .

He had prepared two types, one that shot several bullets and one that shot one powerful bullet . Setting both of them made it possible to defeat small fry with the multiple shot trap and target more powerful units with the other, thus they covered each other’s weaknesses .

Items like these stopped acting if the monsters left a certain radius or perished . The light bullets required stored magical power to be fired, so once it was used up they stopped functioning . The items automatically absorbed surrounding magic power, however, so they rarely needed to be manually charged . This automatic recharge was pretty slow however, so charging them manually was often quicker .

All kinds of trap items’ active time changed with activation frequency, number of monsters, level etc . , so it was important to manage them precisely according to their location . This time, they were expected to activate only in rare situations, so it would be enough to just mark down their location .

“That’s all we need to pay attention to . Considering their continuous attack function, I’ll set them on both sides of the entrance’s ceiling and floor, two of each type on each side . Any questions?”

Iggris raised his hand to Shin’s question .

“How durable are the items themselves? Some monsters can attack from long distance, after all . ”

“The items themselves do not have really high durability . It depends on the type of attack, but a level 300 monster would need 2 or 3 attacks to destroy them . However, they are protected by a barrier, so in actuality they can survive even 10 punches from a level 500 golem . ”

In such a case, they could buy enough time to defeat even a golem like that .

“How much are these really worth in battle? I did my fair share of adventuring, but I can’t even imagine what a level 500 monster looks like . Could you explain in a way we can understand?”

“Let me see, against the monsters that spawn in this dungeon, they can hold for about two hours . ”

Seeran looked deep in thought, and Shin made an example with the training dungeon monsters . They were level 255 at most and unlike a field the dungeon entrance was narrow, so the number of monsters that could pass through at one time was limited .

In this case, even monsters that appeared in large numbers, like the ants that Shin fought, would be stopped by the 16 trap items that Shin was going to install . As long as their magic power charge held, of course .

“That’s rather powerful . It would be troublesome if the government was informed . ”

“Right . If the military department’s ‘nasty glasses’ officer got wind of this, they’d definitely complain and confiscate the items . ”

“Yes…can’t argue with that . ”

Seeran nodded to Iggris’ comment after learning of the items’ power . Hilamee looked sour as well: it would definitely not be wise to let the government know . Judging from their tone, it didn’t look like Iggris and Seeran had any intention to do so either .

“I’ll go ahead and install them, then . ”

The installing process was not complicated: the items could be buried in the ground or the walls, even without needing to dig . After the item was buried, nothing suggested that there was something hidden . The only way to notice was to use trap detection skills or have very sharp instincts .

“And we’re done . I already charged them with magic power, so we can just leave them be . They will give a signal if they activate, so I will let you know if anything happens . ”

“…I want one too . ”

“Indeed . I can’t let this pass without taking one for analysis…”

“Both of you have a lot of other things to do, don’t you? And you always say that there’s not enough manpower!”

“As a technology expert, I cannot overlook this . ”

“If I could understand the structure, I could apply it to other uses as well . ”

Hilamee’s warning barely even reached the two elves’ ears . In a way, that was a natural reaction for researchers . Even so, Shin had no intention of providing them with items .

“Monster ambush items” as a name sounded very appealing, but it was possible to make them target people too . The items used in guild versus guild battles, set to activate when guild houses were attacked, were the same type as the ones that Shin just installed . He couldn’t just hand them out so easily .

Hilamee dragged the two unhappy elves away, saying that their work there was done . Shin and Schnee waved goodbye to her and returned to their lodging .

They wouldn’t train Lecus’ party that day: few days remained until the final training session, but the students said that they would use the time to come up with a way to fight by themselves, so they were probably busy training by themselves now .

Shin was very much looking forward to what they would show on the last day .