The Protagonist Already Knows

Chapter 20: Mechanical Magic

Nodding my head, I answered.

"Naturally, our own blood flowing in our bodies is infused with intent."

We create intent through our brain’s ideas and thoughts, so naturally, blood, which flows through our bodies and sustains our brain by delivering oxygen, must contain at least some sort of attractive force to the intent.

Thus, if one uses blood, one could capture and sustain intent, thereby attracting mana.

As if entranced, Lily immediatly grabbed my mini metal armband and adjusted the wire loop before placing it inside.

Now, when wearing the metal armband, the wire loop would embed itself in your bloodstream, allowing blood to continuously flow through it.

Then, it was as simple as infusing the loop with your intent, and the rapid flow of blood through the loop would maintain your imbued intent, not allowing it to vanish.

Thus, the metal armband could successfully attract mana.

Scratching my head as she attempted to squeeze the mini-metal armband on her wrist, I said.

"The velocity of the blood and amount of blood within the loop have to be just right. Otherwise, the imbued intent will slowly disappear."

Unfortunately, I could not recall the exact ratio of blood and the velocity needed for the invention.

Nodding her head, Lily, wearing an even more delirious smile than when she held the rapier to my neck, answered.

"I’ll figure it out."

...

...

...

*BAM*

As an icicle spear flew out of Lily’s palm, bursting through the air and embedding itself in the laboratory’s walls, I awkwardly glanced around and asked.

"Are...the cleaning staff going to be alright?"

The laboratory now looked as if a battle had occurred within it: countless icicle spears were embedded in the walls, creating massive craters, and blood was all over the floor, in addition to shattered glass.

Desks were knocked over and flipped, and expensive equipment, such as microscopes, was destroyed.

The entire laboratory had become a mess.

Not even giving me a second thought, Lily simply pointed at a nearby beaker and said.

"More blood. Make a bigger loop to contain more."

As Lily took off the real mechanical armband, throwing out the previous wire loop inside it, I rapidly made a bigger one.

Glancing at her ice-blue pupils, which trembled like those of a drug addict wanting the next hit behind her glasses, I coughed.

Was she...really alright?

Compared to the pain she inflicted on me, this was nothing.

She had suffered through countless elemental reactions, testing new wire loops over and over again to find the correct amount of blood needed to create a strong enough intent within the wire loop to attract all mana particles to the top half of her bloodstream.

Every single elemental reaction not only hurt her immediatly but potentially carried the chance of permanently preventing her from using mana particles.

I couldn’t even imagine enduring one elemental reaction, yet she was pushing them aside like they were nothing.

She continued testing, not caring about the immense pain.

All she cared about was successfully completing the invention that had consumed the last two years of her life.

Science truly was her realm.

Pausing, I considered stopping her: if she was physically hurt, the timeline could drastically change, nullifying my future knowledge and potentially causing a whole lot of future problems and tragedies.

But, after a moment, I shrugged my shoulders and looked away.

Even without my presence in this world, she would probably continue do this.

"...no wonder she’s insane..."

Her eyes flicking toward me as she installed the new and bigger wire loop inside the mechanical wristband, she asked.

"Come again?"

Awkwardly coughing, the imprint of her palm on my face still partially visible, I just smiled and nodded my head.

As she stood back up again, ready to cast another spell, I asked cautiously.

"You’re not really going to get me expelled, right?"

Her eyes locked on the wall before her, which was barely even hanging on, and she responded with another question.

"You’re going to drink a potion, right?"

"...really, after everything I d-"

Cutting me off mid-sentence and beginning to absorb mana, Lily said.

"If a serial murderer saves a child, are they forgiven and pardoned? No, they still killed many people."

Enraged, I responded.

"What!? I didn’t even do anything wrong! That’s not even a fair com-"

As she pointed her open palm at me, which was glowing an ice-blue, I just looked back down and prepared the wires and glass for the next "intent loop."

*BANG*

Glancing upward as an ice spear surged through the air and impaled the wall, I rolled my eyes and looked behind me after a moment.

However, what I saw caused me to pause for a moment and rub my eyes to make sure I was awake.

There, on the floor, her snow-white hair sprawled out all across the glass-covered floor, was Lily.

Blood leaked out of her mouth, coloring her pale skin a crimson-red, and her ice-blue eyes were...motionless.

An expression of pure ecstasy was painted on her face, her mouth wide open as she dazedly gazed at the sky.

Jumping off my stool, I approached her still body, sighing upon seeing her still breathing, and asked.

"Did you overdose?"

"..."

She simply shook her head.

A few moments later, she quietly answered, speaking at the speed of a snail.

"I....can’t....m-move....my body."

Clicking my tongue, I sat on a nearby stool and gazed down at her.

"What did you think would happen? Even your body would be destroyed after so many elemental reactions."

"w-water."

Shaking my head, I answered.

"No potion, then."

Her weak voice resounded a moment later.

"S-sure."

Getting up and grabbing a bottle of water from my backpack, I sighed.

"You’re lying."

"g-give....it."

Placing the cold water bottle in her open palm, I stood up, preparing to leave her.

Yet, not even a second later.

"Y-you f-fucking...idiot. A-are...you...mocking me!? Y-you know I c-can’t move m-my body. How...do y-you expect me to drink!?"

"