Before the Challenge

"… Are you sure about this, Gina?"

"I am, my hero. I don't think my vision was mistaken."

Bloed immediately frowned.

"If so. It complicates things a bit."

Eight A-Ranks were already a lot. The only reason Bloed even dared to face them was that he was confident in the Machine Revolutio Tower's defenses.

But if the number of A-Ranks doubled to sixteen, then the story was completely different.

Machine Revolution had only fifteen members in total, and of these, only eleven could participate in the challenge. In other words, just the number of enemy A-Ranks surpassed the number of Machine Revolutio's members.

Moreover, the enemy also had a lot of B-Rank and C-Rank practitioners. The numeric advantage they had was overwhelming!

Even with the defenses of the Machine Revolutio Tower, Bloed found that number of enemies troublesome.

'… Well, it's not as though there is no solution, however, it will make things much harder. Right, I have not asked Eres how strong she is exactly. Perhaps she can take care of two or three A-Ranks by herself.'

Bloed fell deep in thought, trying to find the best way to deal with this situation.

Less than five minutes later, he already had a preliminary plan in his mind.

'It will do.'

"Regina, gather the group. Tell them that there is a change of plans."

"Understood, Master."

"Good. Sara, Gina, thank you for the information."

"It's my duty, my lord."

"You can give me a kiss if you are so grateful."

Bloed smiled wryly at Gina's usual attempt to flirt before heaving a soft sigh.

"Even so, such an increase in members in the club that challenged us ie weird. I think that it's most likely a plot targeting us. I wonder who is behind it."

"Leave it to me, my hero. I will discover who him!"

"Huh?" Bloed was startled.

Seeing that, Gina giggled.

"Hehe, now that I caught a glimpse of them through my vision, I can use it to follow their trail. It will take a bit of time, but I'm confident I can find them."

Bloed was stunned. But soon, he smiled happily blandly and stroke the honey-haired girl's head.

"Thank you, little Gina."

The little girl blushed slightly and looked down in embarrassment.

She was so cute that Bloed was unable to endure the urge to curl his lips up.

Five minutes later, the main club members arrived at Bloed's office, including Liu Ying, Aya, Eres, and Princess Elwha.

When they heard about Gina's vision and the change of plans, the club members were stunned.

Strangely, Eres had a hesitant expression the entire time, as though she was hesitating about something, but in the end, she did not speak up.

Bloed felt a bit strange for that, but when he asked her, his sister just shook her head and said that it was nothing.

Bloed could only nod and continue discussing the rest of the plan with his other club members.

When they finished discussing the details of the plan, it was already almost night.

...

The next day, Headmistress Wave came to the tower early in the morning.

"Is it the 'camera'?" She asked while looking at the small device that Bloed showed to her.

No matter how she looked at it, this small device seemed nothing like the amazing item able to observe and record everything happening in a place that Bloed described.

Smiling wryly, Bloed quickly explained and showed her how it worked.

When the headmistress saw the screen showing the images that the camera caught, her eyes widened slightly.

"I had already heard you speak about this, but seeing it myself is amazing."

"… To be honest, I don't find it too impressive."

Headmistress Wave rolled her eyes and looked at Bloed as though he lacked common sense, making him speechless.

But it was true that he did not find cameras too impressive. After all, the technology used on them was not too advanced.

Of course, Bloed's cameras used the highest technology of the Human Confederation, but even so, it was nothing compared to other pieces of technology, making it not very impressive on Bloed's eyes.

However, it was completely different for the headmistress.

She did not find it amazing the fact that the camera could catch images. After all, you could achieve similar results through magic.

What she found impressive about the cameras was that they could be used even for a person without mana. Anyone could use them.

Moreover, Bloed could mass-produce them, and the price of each one was considerably cheap compared to their magical counterpart.

It was literally revolutionary!

As soon as the headmistress finished checking the functionality of the cameras, she looked at Bloed with a serious gaze.

"Give me a date. If I give you enough resources, how long will you take to create a 'security network', as you call it, through the entire city."

"If you give me enough resources, one month."

"One month?" The headmistress was surprised. "So fast?"

Bloed nodded, but inwardly, he was shaking his head.

How could it be considered fast? In the Human Confederation, the same job could be complete in less than one week if the resources were enough.

Unfortunately, Bloed's tools were limited. Although he was able to mass-produce the cameras, it was not as fast as he would have liked.

Well, it was already impressive considering the technological level of this world.

"One month, huh." Headmistress Wave fell silent before looking at Bloed and nodding. "Very well, I'll give you all the resources you need. I hope you can finish the work as soon as possible."

"Don't worry, I'll do it."

"How reliable of you. Right, tomorrow is your second battle of clubs. Are you ready for it?"

"Of course I am. Don't worry."

"Really? Just a reminder, but I heard that something weird is going on at the club that challenged you. You should be careful."

"Something weird?" Bloed looked at the headmistress in suspicion.

It was obvious that she already knew about what happened with [Call of the Wild], but judging from her amused expression, she was not planning to reveal anything else.

The headmistress chuckled and shrugged playfully.

"Unfortunately, I can't reveal too much or it will be unfair to the other club. However, it doesn't matter, right? I'm sure that my student will not be defeated so easily."

Bloed was speechless. He could not understand where Headmistress Wave's confidence in him came from.

Well, it was not as though he was planning to lose.

'Sixteen A-Ranks, huh… It will be a bit troublesome…'

Even so, Bloed eyes glowed with confidence.