Chapter 50: A New Codebreak (2)

"I swear, the longer you watch that kid, the stranger he gets. First, it's mass spell casting without any incantations—way beyond his level—and now this. If I didn't know he could use enhancement magic, I'd swear he was somehow both a mage and a knight at the same time," Alwen commented. He was one of two guards assigned by the Major General to keep an eye on Magnus.

From their perch on a distant rooftop, he and Kolten had a clear view of the entire fight between Magnus and the goons, who had been attracted by the bounty Zeth had placed on his head.

"He's acting differently this time too... It's not just me, right? It looks like he's waiting for something or someone." Kolten mused, drawing Alwen's attention back to Magnus. Just like Kolten said, Magnus hadn't moved, even after the men surrounding him ran off. He was just standing there, passively scanning his surroundings.

"Hmm, anyone approaching him from the area?" Alwen asked, prompting Kolten to perform a quick sweep of the area before shaking his head.

"No, nothing that I can see." Hearing that, Alwen stroked his chin thoughtfully.

Last time, he looked pretty worried that he might be arrested, but this time he doesn't look worried at all. It's almost like he expects the same thing to-

Cutting off his own thoughts, Alwen suddenly smirked.

"Ah, clever kid. He's figured out we're watching him," he declared, causing Kolten to look at him in surprise.

"What? But how?"

"Hmm, if I had to guess, it was probably the letter the Major General sent to him. I checked its contents before it was sent out, and there were hints in the Major General's words that could've tipped him off if he paid attention." Kolten seemed to have a hard time believing what his partner was saying, but in truth, Alwen's guess was right on the money.

Back on the ground, Magnus continued to wait on the empty street, surrounded by the unconscious bodies of his foes. Moments later, the sound of fluttering cloaks reached his ears. Turning around, he saw two figures suddenly leap down from the rooftops, but he didn't seem surprised in the slightest.

"Oh, so there are two of you keeping tabs on me. I was expecting just one," Magnus noted. At that, Alwen chuckled as they both lowered their hoods to reveal their faces.

"The Major General prioritized you quite a bit, so he assigned two of us to watch you around the clock," Alwen explained. As he did so, Magnus's gaze shifted to Kolten, and almost immediately, he recognized his face.

"Huh? Oh, you're the guard from last time. Now that whole interaction seems a lot less weird," Magnus commented. In response, Kolten replied with a friendly smile.

"Yup, sorry about being so aggressive last time." Alwen took their interaction as an opportunity to formally introduce themselves to Magnus.

"Right, this one's Kolten, and my name is Alwen. We're both knights, in case you couldn't guess from the swords." Magnus nodded. He had noticed their swords, but he couldn't gauge how powerful they were as knights. Judging from the fact they worked directly for the Major General, he could only assume they were at least Adept or Master-level.

"Nice to meet you two. I'm sure you already know my name, so I won't bother introducing myself, and I'll just get to the point. Can you help me with this? I really don't want to try and explain this to the actual city guards this time around," Magnus said, gesturing to the bodies strewn around them.

"Of course, that's actually the main reason we came down here," Kolton replied as he reached into his cloak and pulled out some rope. Seeing that, Magnus frowned for a moment. The amount of rope Kolton pulled from behind his back and the actual space needed for that amount of rope didn't match up at all, but in the end, he just chalked it up to magic shenanigans.

"Technically, the City Guardsmen work for the City Council, not the Major General, but since he's on the council, he's got enough influence to smooth over issues like this. Though while we deal with this, it's probably best if you head back to the academy," Alwen advised as Kolten moved around to tie up the goons sprawled on the ground.

With that settled, Magnus finally allowed himself to relax and responded.

"I'll head back soon, no worries. I actually only came out here because I needed to pick something up; I just didn't expect to end up in a fight. It doesn't help that I did some practice earlier today, so my mana's pretty much drained." Now that he was with his protectors, Magnus decided to slip in a little white lie.

He was a bit mentally tired, true, but he could still operate the Command Console without any problems. In truth, he was just using that as an excuse. After all, once the Debugging Protocol was fully activated, he wouldn't be able to use his abilities for a while, so he needed these two close by to deal with any threats that came his way.

From Alwen's point of view, nothing about Magnus's statement seemed off. The only reason he and his partner had stayed back during the earlier danger was because they believed Magnus could handle himself and didn't want to hinder his growth. But now that Magnus had expressed that he was running low on mana, they would, of course, fulfill their duty and guard him.

Now that that was all cleared up, Magnus shifted his focus back to the brick. Walking over to it, he bent down, and before his fingers could even brush its surface, the Command Console's Debugging Protocol kicked into full gear.

[Command Console]

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↑…

[WARNING]: A glitch has been detected!

Initiating Debugging Protocol…

Debugging Protocol Activated…

[Debugging Protocol]: Initial glitch has been designated as Codebreak-005.

[Debugging Protocol]: Beginning analysis of Codebreak-005…

[Debugging Protocol]: Progress[█--------------------] 1%

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Users:Magnus_Wright:\>

-------------------------------------------------------------/

So this thing really is the glitch. It doesn't feel any different than a normal brick. I wonder... Is it the brick itself that's a glitch, or is it just some part of the brick's script that's abnormal? If it's the former, then why did a glitch appear in the form of a brick in the first place? And if it's the second, then what caused it? Glitches don't just occur without reason.

Turning his head, he looked towards Isen, who was being tied up by Kolton.

Either way, he must have known this brick was special in some way; otherwise, why would he try to hit me with it instead of a normal weapon like his friend and everyone else?

Honestly, Magnus felt it was a shame that Isen and Bif were being taken away; he definitely wanted to ask them what the brick did and where they got it from. After all, this was pretty much the first time he'd ever encountered a glitch that he didn't create himself, excluding the Command Console, of course.

He didn't know what to think of it, but it did confirm one thing: whatever glitch affected him and sent him to this world wasn't an isolated incident.

Well, whatever, I won't figure out anything just standing here. I can look into it more when I get back to the academy.

Stashing the brick in one of his pockets for the moment, Magnus left Alwen and Kolton to finish up and continued on his way to Hisel's place. Compared to facing off against a gang of attackers, the rest of Magnus's journey passed without incident, and he reached his destination in less than an hour.

As he pushed open the door, the familiar chime rang out, revealing the cozy interior of the shop. Unlike his last visit, Hisel wasn't tucked away upstairs; she was right at the counter, absorbed in a piece of fabric.

At the sound of the door, Hisel looked up, expecting a customer. Her face lit up when she saw that it was Magnus.

"Oh, hey there, Magnus. I wasn't expecting ya to swing by today," she greeted, rising from her seat.

"Hey, Hisel. I meant to come by earlier, but got held up," Magnus replied. Hisel waved off his apology with a hearty smile.

"No worries; your timin's just right. I actually finished your first batch of clothes yesterday. I thought it'd take longer, but things picked up once I got into a rhythm." Magnus felt a wave of relief—he was worried he might have been too early.

"Just hang here for a second; I'll go grab 'em," Hisel said before hurrying up the stairs to the second floor. She was back in no time, carrying a basket filled with neatly folded clothes, which she set on the counter.

"Here we are. Put together outfits that mix and match well for this batch; go ahead and take a look," she said, her voice tinged with excitement. Magnus approached the counter and peeked into the basket, picking up a shirt. It felt remarkably like cotton, and when he unfolded it, a smile of satisfaction spread across his face.

It's perfect; just what I hoped for." Seeing his pleased expression, Hisel beamed with pride.

"I gotta admit, workin' with such elastic material was a bit odd at first, but after I made a prototype and tried it on, I had to admit it felt pretty comfortable. Anyway, I should have the next batch ready in a week or so. I'm ahead of schedule, but I've also been saving the trickier designs for later." Magnus placed the shirt back, picked up the entire basket, and nodded. He was okay with waiting if it meant the clothes would be of higher quality.

"Sure, no problem. I'll drop by again in a week or two then." After a few more pleasantries, Magnus turned around to leave, but Hisel suddenly remembered something and called out.

"Oh right, the next time you drop by, there's somethin' I want to ask you." Magnus paused, a bit confused as to why she didn't just ask him right now.

"Uh, sure, no problem." Still, he didn't reject her; he was in a pretty good mood after all. Leaving the store with his basket of clothes in hand, Magnus started to make his way back to the academy.

Wow, I'm still really surprised at how well these turned out. If it weren't for the fact that we have to wear our uniforms on academy grounds, I would have put them on at Hisel's already.

As Magnus strolled back to the academy and headed to the dorms, he didn't pay much attention to the curious glances he received from both regular folks. It wasn't every day you spotted a student at Takerth Academy lugging a basket full of clothes around. Right now, his attention was fixed on the Command Console's progress bar, which was slowly filling up; something was definitely odd.

Once he reached the dorm building and climbed the stairs, he pushed open his door, a slight frown creasing his forehead.

[Command Console]

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↑…

[WARNING]: A glitch has been detected!

Initiating Debugging Protocol…

Debugging Protocol Activated…

[Debugging Protocol]: Initial glitch has been designated as Codebreak-005.

[Debugging Protocol]: Beginning analysis of Codebreak-005…

[Debugging Protocol]: Progress[█--------------------] 2%

-------------------------------------------------------------|

Users:Magnus_Wright:\>

-------------------------------------------------------------/

Even after returning to the academy all the way from Hisel's, the analysis had just barely reached two percent. He was pretty sure it was slower than when the Command Console had analyzed the script that made his mana spheres.

I wonder if it's because it's a bigger glitch in comparison, or maybe size has nothing to do with it at all; maybe it's all about complexity? I mean, there's still a lot about the Command Console that's still a mystery, and me and Basker's source code theory is nowhere near complete, so anything's possible.

As he mulled over his thoughts, he unpacked his new clothes and arranged them in the walk-in closet. It was a pleasant change to see other outfits in there, especially pajamas. And after a day filled with walking and fighting, a bath felt like the perfect excuse Magnus needed to switch into something more comfortable.

With a relaxing evening in mind, Magnus wasted no time.

He took off his uniform and removed the brick from its pocket, placing it on his desk. He wasn't too concerned about leaving it out in the open, even if people from the academy were watching him in secret. From what he could tell, no one could see the Command Console or discern how it edited things. Whether that was because of their own limitations or simply because source code was too fundamental for magic to detect, he wasn't sure, but it would mean that objects like the brick, whose abilities originated from a glitch in the source code, shouldn't show any abnormalities if probed offhandedly.

With his worries set aside, Magnus exhaled a deep sigh as he sank into the steaming bath, the warmth unwinding his tense muscles.

"Ahh… that's nice," he murmured, savoring the moment. Time slipped by unnoticed until he heard his room door open and a familiar voice.

"Magnus, are you here?" It was Celia; she was the only one with access to his room.

"I'm in the bath; I'll be out in a bit," he called back. After finishing his bath, he dried off with a towel and headed to the walk-in closet, picking out a set of pajamas he had designed himself. Compared to the other clothes he had made, which were mostly designed for the outdoors, these were extra padded, making them incredibly soft. He had modeled them over a pair of pajamas he had back on Earth, so immediately he felt a sense of nostalgia as he walked out of the bathroom.

Hearing the bathroom door open, Celia, who was lounging on the couch with a plate of cookies and a cup of tea in front of her, glanced over. She immediately noticed that Magnus was wearing something different from his usual academy uniform.

"Oh wow, I've never seen clothes like that before. Were those why you visited the seamstress?" Celia asked curiously, to which Magnus nodded.

"Yeah, she hasn't finished the entire order, but I picked up the first today. They're inspired by the clothes from my home. They look super comfy, right?" Celia couldn't help but agree—they did look incredibly comfortable, and even though she had her own nightware, they didn't seem anywhere near as snug.

The two of them talked as Magnus walked over, sat down on the couch opposite Celia, and reached for a cookie. The moment Celia saw his hair, she immediately frowned and said something.

"You didn't dry your hair properly." Magnus shrugged nonchalantly as he stuffed the cookie into his mouth.

"It'll air dry." Hearing such a lazy answer, Celia sighed as she sat up and walked into the bathroom. She came back a few seconds later with a towel and walked over behind the couch Magnus was sitting on before starting to dry his hair herself.

"I swear sometimes you act more mature than half the adults I know in my life, and other times you act like a kid half your age." Ignoring what she was doing, Magnus grabbed another cookie and replied without a care.

"It's not a big deal; my hair doesn't change whether I dry it or not; the same goes for my skin. Honestly, I only dry off, so I don't get my clothes wet." Listening to him, Celia shook her head, a mix of disbelief and envy in her eyes.

"You have no idea how lucky you are. There are maids at the manor who would kill for hair as soft and manageable as yours, not to mention your skin. You should take care of it while you can, before you get older."

"Yes, Mom," Magnus replied in a mocking voice, but Celia just continued drying his hair, ignoring his sarcasm. Changing the subject, she pointed to an object on the table.

"Oh, I was meaning to ask, what's with the brick over there on the table?" She asked, her curiosity piqued.

"Oh, that? I found it earlier today. I accidentally used my ability on it, so I brought it back with me. Not sure what it does yet; still figuring that out," Magnus confessed, spinning a tale that technically wasn't a lie and sparked interest in Celia's eyes.

"Anyway, I plan on doing some tests with it in a couple of hours, so we'll see," Magnus added. And that's precisely what they did, passing the time by chatting and enjoying each other's company. Occasionally, Magnus spoke to Basker, while Celia caught up on the books she hadn't read yet and jotted down what she learned in her notebook.

Compared to the Debugging Protocol activated when Magnus created his first mana sphere, which lasted three hours, this one lasted nearly four and a half hours, not including the time he spent outside of the academy. Yet, despite how long it took, the instant the progress bar hit one hundred percent, Magnus's eyes snapped to the Command Console. As he scanned over the report slowly, his eyes slowly went wide, and only two words escaped his lips.

"Holy shit..."