Another long stretch of time passed in the blink of an eye. Only when Leo and Alice sat down for a meal together did they realize that nine years of the ten-year tournament had passed, with just one year left before it ended.
That meant Leo and Alice had been hiding in the cave for eight years.
Leo carefully recalled those eight years. They seemed to have passed in a blink, and apart from several thousand additional volumes of experimental notes, nothing else had changed.
As for the tournament, academy badges, and academy rankings, Leo had paid no attention to any of them.
Leo had no idea how many academy badges Alice had. He had 310 himself, all contributed by Adelaide and his companions.
Thank you, Adelaide!
That result definitely would not put him in the top ten of Purple Flame Academy, and probably not even the top twenty, so whatever happened in the end, so be it.
Right now, he only wanted to finish his experiments!
"Powerful aura fluctuations have erupted in several places recently. Major battles have become much more frequent than before. Those apprentices outside have begun their final frenzied slaughter for the last push," Alice said with some concern.
"That has nothing to do with us. The tournament ends in another year. All we need to do is return to the academy safely." Leo's mind was still full of experimental data. He kept simulating experiments in his head, making bold hypotheses and constantly refining his path as a wizard.
"Yes, another year, but we still can't let our guard down. I'll set up some arrays near the cave entrance. If our whereabouts are exposed, we'll at least have time to react," Alice continued.
Leo looked at Alice. She was right. Although this cave halfway up the cliff was extremely well hidden, they still had to guard against the wizards' methods. It would be bad if they were discovered.
After all, the closer they came to the end, the crazier the surviving apprentices became. He already had 310 academy badges on him, and Alice would only have more.
Taking the two of them down would definitely let someone leap up the rankings, and could even affect the top few places.
"Then I'll make some preparations too."
Alice's words reminded Leo that he could not pin all his hopes on the cave.
Back in his laboratory, Leo considered his methods. His strongest was his self-created elemental body refinement witchcraft, Thunder Plow Sweep, but at most, that counted as single-target witchcraft.
It was fine against one Wizard Apprentice, but if hundreds or thousands of apprentices surrounded him, it would be useless. He would not even have a chance to strike.
When he and Alice had encountered two hundred apprentices from Soul Death Knell Academy before, he would have been wiped out in a single wave if Alice had not summoned a fire elemental.
Later, he had even seen two thousand apprentices from Heluoluo Academy flatten a mountain outright, killing a thousand apprentices from Big Ben Academy. Witnessing that battlefield had left him deeply shaken afterward.
"But I don't have any powerful witchcraft that can settle everything in one blow. More than ten Wizard Apprentices would be enough to put me in danger."
Leo thought it over. He had to keep a trump card in reserve, a move that would terrify everyone the moment he used it, one that would ensure no Wizard Apprentice dared provoke him afterward.
Leo paced slowly through the laboratory. When he saw the atomic bomb casing sitting in the corner, his eyes lit up.
Wasn't this devastating weapon the perfect trump card?
Never mind Wizard Apprentices-even a Level One Formal Wizard could not withstand an atomic bomb's explosion!
Leo even suspected that a Level Two Body Refinement Wizard like Gru could not withstand an atomic bomb either!
But less than three seconds into his excitement, Leo's face fell, as though a bucket of cold water had drenched him to the bone.
An atomic bomb was indeed a devastating weapon, but it made no distinction between friend and foe. All living beings were equal before it.
If Leo detonated an atomic bomb when he encountered danger, he would be the first to die.
Taking the enemy down with him was all well and good, but Leo had not lived long enough yet!
"No, there should be a way to avoid that. These Wizard Apprentices don't recognize an atomic bomb yet. They don't know its principles or detonation mechanism. I just need to delay the detonation and escape during that interval."
"But I've already used some of the nuclear material. What remains isn't enough to meet the minimum threshold for detonation."
The principle behind an atomic bomb's explosion was very simple: make a large quantity of uranium-235 enriched to over ninety percent collide at high speed.
That would cause some neutrons to strike atomic nuclei, producing a fission reaction.
Humanity on Earth could not precisely control atomic fission. They relied entirely on brute force working miracles, making large amounts of nuclear material collide. Just a tiny amount of atomic fission was enough.
Little Boy had contained a full sixty kilograms of nuclear material, but only 0.6 grams had participated in the fission reaction. The fission of those 0.6 grams of uranium-235 had leveled a city.
If there was not enough uranium-235 by weight, it could not meet the threshold for a fission reaction at all.
Leo continued thinking.
"The problem now is that there isn't enough nuclear material by weight. If I can change the pressure, speed, and spatial density, I can further compress the nuclear material."
"If I do that, could it meet the minimum detonation threshold?"
Benji could not understand what Leo was saying, but he grasped the general idea. In particular, when Leo began modifying the atomic bomb using the wizard knowledge he had learned, Benji fully understood what Leo intended to do.
"You're insane! If you really detonate that thing during the tournament, I'm certain those academies won't let you get away with it."
Leo had shattered Benji's worldview more than once, but what he intended to do this time drove Benji completely mad.
Based on what he had seen while looking through Leo's memories, if those memories were correct,
the power of an atomic bomb's explosion would kill anyone who came. It went far beyond the rules of a normal competition. An atomic bomb broke the rules of the game. How could the high-ranking wizards of those academies possibly allow something like that to happen?
"Have you thought this through?"
Benji still wanted to persuade Leo. An idea like this required caution.
If he were one of those academies' higher-ups and suddenly heard that all his academy's apprentices had died in the tournament, he would certainly be heartbroken, but he would not pursue the matter too far. After all, those were rules they had made themselves.
But if they learned that their apprentices had all died to an unconventional weapon, they would definitely grind Leo's bones to dust and scatter his ashes.
Those academies wanted to reduce apprentice numbers and concentrate resources, not kill every last apprentice!
"It's fine. I might not even use it. Besides, I'm just tinkering blindly. It might not explode." Leo smiled as he inscribed the third layer of the Gravity Rune Array and placed an energy crystal inside.
An atomic bomb exploded by using high explosives to drive nuclear material into collisions.
Leo thought the high explosives were still too weak, so he replaced them directly with an energy crystal. Its explosion would definitely work better than high explosives.
Looking at the densely packed rune arrays on the atomic bomb's inner casing, Benji once again felt the urge to kill himself.
Following Leo, he would sooner or later die from sheer fright and worry!
Sure enough, all wizards were lunatics, even one like Leo who had taken up the profession halfway through life!
After modifying the atomic bomb, Leo left it alone and plunged back into his experiments.
He had thought the extra preparation was merely a precaution, but when the tournament entered its final half-month countdown, the array Alice had set up at the cave entrance actually sounded an alarm.
"A Wizard Apprentice touched the warning array I set up. I'm not sure whether they discovered our whereabouts, but we have to be careful during this last half-month. Stop your experiments if you can." Alice found Leo and spoke with a grave expression.
The warning array had been triggered and had also detected a Wizard Apprentice's aura, but Alice had not seen the apprentice who touched it. That was what made her expression so grave.
It did not seem like an accidental touch, but rather a deliberate one. Otherwise, they would not have disappeared so quickly.
Leo nodded and quickly returned to the laboratory, putting everything into his Shadow Space. When he saw the modified weapon of mass destruction in the corner...
"I've set up the teleportation array as you asked, but why did you want it behind the mountain? Isn't that a little too close?"
Ever since Alice had voiced her worries a year ago, both of them had made plenty of preparations. Among them, Alice had brought out a single-use Teleportation Witch Array that could transport them five kilometers away.
Alice had originally intended to set it up at the maximum distance, but Leo had stopped her.
After Leo discussed it with her without offering a reason, she had followed his request and set it up at the foot of the mountain on the far side, in a location Leo had personally chosen.
The cave was cleared out, ready for an attack that could come at any moment.
Their worries soon became reality.
In less than two days, large numbers of Wizard Apprentices appeared around the cave.
"Alice of Purple Flame Academy, come on out! Who would've thought the illustrious Ice Woman would hide in a cave during the tournament, and for nine years at that?"
"I wonder how heartbroken your academy's dean would be if they knew how you'd performed!"
"Exactly. We've been fighting and killing each other outside, while she's been hiding here with a man. Anyone who didn't know better would think they were having a baby."
"I wonder how old the child is now?"
Voices mingled outside the cave. Leo sensed at least two thousand Wizard Apprentices out there. At this final stage of the tournament, it was highly abnormal for so many Wizard Apprentices to gather together. They probably were not all from the same academy.
Judging by their words, however, they were clearly trying to provoke Alice.
Leo cautiously stole a glance at Alice's expression beside him. It was a rare sight: even the frostlike Alice could have a face dark with anger.
Alice radiated an icy aura, her magical power surging. Layers of frost beneath her feet gave off terrifying freezing cracks. Her magical power was on the verge of boiling.
"Are you sure that plan you mentioned will work?"
Alice clenched her pearly teeth, the killing intent in her eyes almost shooting out in tangible form.
"No problem."
Leo puffed out his chest. Although it absolutely worked in theory, he had never actually tested it, but he did not dare say it would not work at a time like this.
Leo suspected that if he opened his mouth and said it would not work, he would be the first to die!
"Then let's do it."
Brimming with killing intent, Alice shot toward the cave entrance. Leo paused for a step, then followed her.
They were going to slaughter to their hearts' content!!!