Chapter 2: A Lethal Verification

Fury simmered in Klein’s voice, threatening to erupt at any moment.

Beside him, Adèle’s face was ashen; she had likely never witnessed a new student behave with such audacity.

Though Lia’s heart still hammered in her chest, reason had taken the reins.

Facing Klein’s interrogation, she didn’t shrink back in the slightest, meeting his gaze as she stated her case calmly.

“This experiment produces a toxic gas.”

Her words rang out with crystalline clarity in the room.

“It’s lethal.”

Klein’s brows knitted together.

He scrutinized Lia, as if searching her face for any trace of a lie.

“A toxic gas?” he repeated, his tone steeped in skepticism.

“According to the latest paper in the Journal of Magical Theory, which I subscribe to, this apparatus only produces a gas that makes flames burn more fiercely.

The author is Master Lavoisier of the Storm’s Eye, and his research has never been wrong.”

‘Lavoisier? That name…’ The corner of Lia’s eye began to twitch again.

‘Just what kind of world is this?’

But this was no time for such thoughts.

She had to provide a plausible explanation—one that would conceal the fact that she was a transmigrator.

“I… I read about it in a very old book,” Lia said, lowering her eyes to feign an effort of recollection.

“The book had no name.

It was something I stumbled upon when my family was collecting ancient texts for me, back when I was curious about magic.

The book described a similar device, saying that after passing lightning through it, one of the black rods would produce that flammable gas, but the other would release a yellow-green gas.

It said the gas smelled like… like burning sulfur, but inhaling it would burn the throat and lungs, eventually causing death.”

She deliberately added the specific details of “yellow-green” and “a smell like burning sulfur.”

These were the classic characteristics of chlorine gas; the more details she provided, the more convincing her lie would be.

Klein’s expression remained unchanged.

“An ancient book? Show it to me.”

“It was lost,” Lia replied instantly.

“The pages were very brittle and disintegrated after I’d flipped through them a few times.

I’m just going by memory…”

“In other words, you have no proof,” Klein cut her off.

Just as Lia’s mind raced, trying to figure out how to respond, Klein spoke again.

“However, the truth does not deceive. A simple test will reveal whether you are lying or not.”

His gaze shifted from Lia’s face to the mess on the floor.

He didn’t press the matter of her responsibility any further, simply giving a wave of his hand.

An invisible force lifted the two carbon rods from the floor, stripping the liquid from their surfaces before precisely returning them to their original stands.

The saltwater that had splashed everywhere reconverged, automatically separating from any visible impurities and dust as it flowed back into the U-shaped tube.

The entire process was as fluid as running water, without a single wasted motion.

Klein re-inspected the apparatus, and after confirming everything was in order, he looked at Lia.

“You said there would be a toxic gas.

Very well, let’s verify it.”

As his words fell, the magical elements in the room began to surge violently.

Lia saw a transparent, jelly-like dome materialize from thin air, enclosing the entire experiment table.

The dome was perfectly sealed, without a single visible seam.

‘Is this magic?’ Lia was inwardly stunned.

‘This is far more advanced than any fume hood in the labs of my previous life.’

Then, Klein instructed Adèle, “Go, bring the three white mice from the cage.”

Adèle dared not hesitate.

She immediately turned and ran to a cabinet in the corner, quickly returning with an iron cage containing three small white mice.

The mice scurried about energetically, completely unaware of the fate that awaited them.

With a single gesture from Klein, the cage door swung open on its own.

The three mice, along with the cage, were lifted by a gentle force into the transparent dome and placed next to the U-shaped tube.

Lia clenched her fists, her knuckles white.

Although she was one hundred percent certain that the electrolysis of saturated saltwater produced chlorine, she couldn’t help but feel nervous seeing the scene unfold.

This was a high-stakes gamble for her future.

If she won, she would secure her footing in this bizarre mage’s tower.

If she lost… the consequences were better left unimagined.

Klein paid her no further mind, his attention once again focused on the experiment.

He extended a finger, and a spark of electricity lit up at its tip.

“Zzzzz—”

A condensed bolt of lightning was once again channeled into the peculiar device.

The experiment had restarted.

Inside the transparent dome, fine bubbles began to rise from the saltwater in the U-shaped tube.

The rate at which bubbles formed on the two black carbon rods accelerated.

Everyone’s eyes were fixed on the three innocent white mice.

Time ticked by, second by second.

One minute.

Two minutes.

The mice inside the dome were still scampering about.

One of them was even leisurely licking its paws, as if nothing was amiss.

Adèle’s gaze, which had shifted from initial shock to undisguised contempt and anger, was now fixed on Lia.

“Pretentious fraud,” she mumbled, her voice barely audible.

Cold sweat beaded on Lia’s forehead, her heart pounding like a drum.

‘What’s happening? Could the laws of physics in this world be different from Earth’s? Or is the ‘salt’ he purified not sodium chloride at all?’

‘No, that’s impossible, unless none of us are carbon-based life forms.’

‘The procedure is identical; there’s no reason for the result to be different.’

Just as she was on the verge of panic, nearly doubting her own memory of the chemical formula, the situation inside the dome finally changed.

The mouse closest to the U-shaped tube suddenly stopped licking its paws.

It began to scratch frantically at its nose with its forepaws, letting out shrill, pained squeaks.

Immediately after, the second and third mice exhibited the same symptoms.

They started to cough violently, their bodies convulsing as they scrambled madly around the small cage before collapsing in a heap.

Only their limbs continued to twitch faintly, the movements growing slower and slower.

Outside the dome, the disdain on Adèle’s face froze, instantly replaced by overwhelming terror.

She clapped a hand over her mouth in horror, her eyes wide.

At some point, a faint, barely perceptible yellow-green mist had spread through the air inside the dome.

The composure on Klein’s face had vanished completely.

He stared intently at the scene within the enclosure.

None of this was mentioned in the paper!

Master Lavoisier’s paper only discussed the preparation, collection, and verification of the flammable gas’s properties.

The product at the other electrode was dismissed with a single phrase: “useless byproduct”!

The twitching of the three white mice gradually ceased, and they fell completely still.

From the start of the experiment to the death of the mice, a mere five minutes had passed.

A deathly silence filled the room.

Klein slowly waved his hand, dismissing the transparent magical dome.

A pungent odor instantly filled the air.

Before Lia could even react, a gust of fresh air materialized, instantly purifying the entire room, as if the acrid smell had been nothing more than a hallucination.