Chapter 7: Sodium Fireball and the Exam Gate

These past two days have been killing me with overtime. Important plot will be pushed to tomorrow, or the day after? — I might take a leave tomorrow.

Sodium is a silvery-white, soft, and highly reactive alkali metal. When exposed to air, it rapidly oxidizes, forming a grayish-white oxide layer. If it encounters water or moisture, it violently reacts, releasing hydrogen gas and a large amount of heat, which can lead to hydrogen combustion and explosion.

Conversely, as long as it’s isolated, it’s just a piece of metal.

I can’t create a magic shell strong enough to contain a high-temperature, high-pressure fire bead.

But isolating a soft, low-temperature metal from air is simple — just cover it with oil. Grease is a first-circle spell, very easy.

The finger-sized piece of sodium, wrapped in oil and quietly resting in a glass bottle, was the fruit of Balian and Vapgis’s entire noon’s labor.

Balian personally went to a blacksmith to procure a graphite crucible. He filled it with table salt, heated it over a furnace until the salt melted, then placed it in a ventilated area on the ground.

Vapgis then cast a first-circle spell, Chain Lightning, onto the molten salt in the crucible.

The contact point of the lightning and the grounded, conductive graphite crucible wall formed a cathode and anode pair, electrolyzing the molten salt to produce yellow-green chlorine gas and metallic sodium.

They used Gust of Wind to blow away the toxic chlorine, then Mage Hand to place the cooled solid sodium into the oil-filled glass bottle. The work was done.

Aurora planned to use this little piece to give the medieval yokels a small taste of chemical shock.

Aurora decided to start with Balian and Vapgis, to let them appreciate the greatness of modern technology.

She beckoned her two followers (as she considered them) to clear the casting area, then used Mage Hand to extract a pea-sized piece of sodium from the glass bottle.

Before the sodium could oxidize or even self-ignite, Aurora raised her staff and began casting her modified Fireball.

“Shell construction! Maintain!”

At the verbal command, the magic stored in her consciousness abruptly initiated.

A layer of mana shell, invisible to onlookers, wrapped around the sodium.

Unlike the authentic Fireball’s shell, which had a flexible spherical web structure and complex multi-layered design, the shell Aurora constructed was thicker but simpler, rough, porous, and uneven in shape.

The difference was like glass compared to a handful of river sand held together by water.

Such a shell clearly couldn’t withstand high pressure; it could only absorb some heat, and couldn’t even fully isolate air.

— Reducing a three-dimensional model to two dimensions was a very inefficient method. Without simplification and rough handling, Aurora’s mind simply couldn’t contain it.

Vapgis hid behind a water trough, watching Aurora cast the spell.

She didn’t see the bright orange glow of a fire bead, and for a moment thought the magic had failed. But Aurora’s composed demeanor made her suppress the urge to intervene.

She glanced at Balian, who was hiding nearby…

It seemed he was ready to spring into action and complete a rescue at the first sign of trouble.

Such a reliable paladin.

Ah, young love.

A twinge of bitterness welled in Vapgis’s heart.

Why wasn’t Aurora panicking?

Had she already prepared for battle?

No normal mage would maintain an incomplete spell for so long.

After all, doing so wasted a massive amount of mana just to keep the model stable. It was like pulling the pin on a grenade and then holding it in your hand, putting effort into preventing it from detonating.

But Aurora was different. Thanks to her succubus constitution, she could sustain it much longer.

Part two of Aurora’s Fireball.

“Grease!”

A semi-transparent layer of grease fell from above, covering the constructed mana sphere and sealing the porous shell.

Finally.

“Fireball, activate! Create Water!”

Pure magical energy surged in, instantly heating the sodium nearly to vaporization. In the next moment, the magic model, now swollen to the size of a soybean, shot forward until it struck the water screen Aurora had summoned.

Hot inside, cold outside — the sudden temperature difference shattered the shell. The scorching sodium contacted water.

Hydrogen + oxygen + high heat.

Plus a touch of amplification magic.

“Boom! Rumble!”

What a fireball!!

The magic training ground was located in the backyard stable of Aurora’s home.

Aside from the neighing of horses, it had always been quiet. The servants and attendants of the Olivia family, finished with their chores, sat on the steps as usual, sighing.

“Autumn’s turned cold so fast this year.”

“The streets are so quiet.”

“There’s nothing to…”

“RUMBLE!!!!”

What the hell was that noise?

The entire Olivia household was alarmed.

A chain of fire spread, almost catching even the caster herself.

Even Vapgis, accustomed to magic, was deeply shocked by the power of this single shot.

She jumped out and yelled.

“How is this sodium stuff so good? Give me some too! I’ll blow up the Hermes castle with it!”

Balian was the only one who kept his head.

He couldn’t see any difference between this fireball and any other.

He only knew that the Olivia stable was blown up, and his young lady was in the fire.

He knew that if he let even a single hair of Aurora’s get singed, his career as a guard would be over.

So, with a flash, he rushed forward.

Aurora only felt a gust of wind, then the world spun. When she blinked again, she was being carried horizontally, staring up blankly at Balian’s face.

The next moment, Balian had brought Aurora over ten meters away.

“Young lady, you’re safe!”

He quickly set Aurora down and said.

Vapgis blinked, her mouth forming an ‘O’, looking at the two.

“Ooh~~~~~”

Vapgis’s teasing brought Aurora back to reality.

Her brow furrowed. Her gaze shifted from Vapgis to Balian.

Balian smiled. When he saw Aurora looking at him, he bowed humbly and fawningly.

Aurora’s mind raced.

Before she could realize that Balian had carried her out of the fire to protect her, her body made the decision first.

She raised her staff and swung it in a circle through the air like a beat-stick.

She would fight to protect her chastity!

Not a single step back!

“Fight!”

A decisive close-up.

As for extinguishing the small fire caused by the earlier fireball, that was a matter for Vapgis and the servants who had arrived.

The next day, at the makeup exam venue.

Full of confidence, Aurora was stopped by guards outside the examination hall.

“What do you mean, no items related to the exam allowed inside? I’m related to the exam — am I not allowed in either?”

“You may enter, but you cannot bring anything in. Everything must be provided by the school.”

The fat, shifty-eyed guard lecherously sized up Aurora while holding his halberd and grinning.

“My clothes are also something I bring. Do you want me to change clothes too?”

Aurora raised a hand to cover the cleavage at her chest.

“Of course! If you don’t mind, the clothes you take off will be…”

“Balian!”

Aurora cut off the guard’s fantasy, stepping back and shouting:

“This low-blood guard has no warrior’s honor! He dares to sully a lady’s reputation and disgrace the name of Olivia!”

Aurora’s machine-gun accusations slapped one charge after another onto the fat guard’s face, stunning him.

He blinked, realized something was wrong, quickly stepped back, raised his weapon, and stammered:

“No, no, I never meant that. These are all…”

“You dare to insult the Olivia family!!!”

Balian bellowed, swinging the scabbard like a club, sweeping it against the guard’s leg.

“Hoow! Ow! Ow! Owowow!”

The guard screamed like a stuck pig, toppling sideways, automatically clearing the path for Aurora.

Aurora didn’t even glance at him. She held her head high like a swan, stepping gracefully into the exam hall.

She knew she looked cool.

What she didn’t know was that in Balian’s eyes, she looked cool too.

The promising commoner guard’s heart burned even hotter.

At the thought that he might marry Aurora someday, even the bruise on his butt (earned by Aurora’s stick) no longer hurt.

From a modern ordinary person’s standards, some might call Balian a simp.

But from Balian’s perspective, without Aurora and the Olivia family, his life would have been nothing but blacksmithing.

From becoming a guard to being officially announced as her fiancé by the reincarnation goddess, his story could fill a dozen “Great Gatsby” movies.

On the other hand, having stayed by Aurora’s side for so long, he knew his young lady’s character well.

He still remembered the first time the mistress made Aurora wear stockings. The young lady was extremely unwilling, even threatening to jump off a building.

In the end, she obediently put them on, didn’t she?

And she looked great in them!

Her well-trained legs from exercise couldn’t be compared to the broomsticks of secluded young ladies.

As for marriage, it must be the same.

As long as he could gain her father’s approval, marrying her would be no problem. Then they’d just live a good life and build the family.

A young lady — how could she possibly defy her father?

Balian was lost in his fantasies. He didn’t even watch where he was going and accidentally bumped into Aurora.

“Young lady!”

What grave rudeness! How could a knight disturb a noble lady?

He took half a step back and moved to her side.

“What’s wrong?”

Aurora glared at her guard, then raised her hand to point at the audience.

Among the crowd, the most arrogant old rose was smiling at the two of them.

She was a blue-haired, pointed-eared half-elf.

Queen Margaret de Hermes.

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