Nasa awoke to the sunlight creeping into his face, the fragrance of flowers intermingling with the fresh air, and the birds singing a beautiful song.
Nasa was calm and composed, but it was short-lived, because an intense pain erupted from his chest.
Last night, he sank into the ice bath, water splintering across the surface. His breath hissed through clenched teeth, each heartbeat pounding against the gash in his chest. He reached for the needle with steady, practiced fingers. The sting of metal piercing skin faded into the biting cold, until pain was nothing more than a distant throb. Crimson threads of blood curled through the water like smoke, darkening with every stitch he drew tight.
He did not flinch. The motions were as natural as breathing, hands performing with the muscle memory of a kid who had done this too many times already.
Having sewn himself up, he climbed out of the icy bath, pulled on some loose-fitting clothes, and collapsed onto his bed, every muscle trembling, utterly exhausted.
"Ow. It doesn't hurt that much, but I don't want to feel heavy pain first thing in the morning," Nasa said, touching his stitched chest.
He shrugged his shoulders. "Whatever, it'll go away for now. I'll wrap new bandages."
He went into the bathroom. The bandages were stiff with blood. He peeled them off slowly and tossed them into the trash. Cold water hit his skin as he sank into the bath, shivering. When he got out, droplets ran down his arms as he pulled on his clothes.
And then went to the library. After picking out a few books, he thought, "Hmm, why don't I sit somewhere different for a change of pace?"
He looked out the window at the garden, where pink flowers surrounded a great tree standing tall in the center beneath the clear sky.
Nasa made up his mind to spend some time in the garden. Beneath the shade of the great tree, book in hand, he whispered, "This feels so relaxing."
But then, hidden in the bushes, he noticed a tiny girl with black hair and striking green eyes.
With a soft smile, Nasa called out, "Hello, Zina."
Zina was his little sister. In the novel, he had always ignored her, blindly chasing after a girl who never loved him back.
The little girl came up to him, stuttering with shyness. "H-hello, big brother," she murmured, looking down.
๐๐ฐ ๐ค๐ถ๐ต๐ฆ, Nasa thought. He cleared the books beside him and patted the spot, gesturing for her to sit.
She quickly sat down beside him. "What are you doing, big brother?" she asked.
"Just reading," Nasa replied. He picked up a book and handed it to her. "Here, read this."
With the biggest smile, she said, "Thank you, big brother."
The two of them sat beneath the tree, sharing a quiet moment as brother and sister.
After some time, Zina stood up and said, "Goodbye, big brother," before running off.
๐๐ฐ ๐ค๐ถ๐ต๐ฆโฆ ๐'๐ท๐ฆ ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ฅ ๐ข ๐ด๐ช๐ฃ๐ญ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ, ๐บ๐ฆ๐ต ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ข๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฏ๐บ๐ธ๐ข๐บ. ๐๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ท๐ฆ๐ญ, ๐๐ข๐ด๐ข ๐ข๐ญ๐ธ๐ข๐บ๐ด ๐ช๐จ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ, ๐บ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ข๐ต ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ, ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ช๐ฏ๐ด๐ถ๐ญ๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ, ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ต ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ต๐ช๐ญ๐ญ ๐ค๐ข๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ต๐ข๐ญ๐ฌ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฎ๐ฆ. ๐ ๐ง๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ญ ๐ด๐ฐ ๐ญ๐ถ๐ค๐ฌ๐บ.
"Now I need something useful for battle." He spat the words out.
He took his book and returned to the library. Carefully, he put the books back where they belonged. Then he picked out some new ones and spread them across the table.
After an hour he decided to make something not of this world: a flashโbang. Unlike a grenade, it wouldn't explode, instead it would unleash a blinding white flash that could render anyone sightless and a thunderous blast that could leave a person deaf.
And it was useful for Nasa, since he could use it to distract, stun, or escape from his enemies.
The only problem was that some of the required parts didn't exist in this world.
However, there were things called mana stones.
Mana stones are crystallized magic, small gems filled with energy. Each carried its own power like. Fire, light, sound, and more, it's used as fuel for spells and tools.
Nasa wondered where he could find mana stones. The answer was simple: they were stored in the Winterheart Estate's storage room.
But he needed to ask permission from his father, the patriarch.
"But there's no way Father would let me into the storage," he muttered.
(.โฆ)
"Yeah, sure, you can go," his father said.
"I'm sorry, whatโฆ I thought you'd refuse," Nasa said.
"Why would I refuse?" his father replied.
"I see," Nasa muttered, walking away.
"Butโฆ" his father went on.
Nasa spun around quickly. Then his father said, "You have to clean the entire storage by yourself. With no help."
"Yeah, sure," Nasa said with a smile. His father looked confused, his son had never cleaned or done anything without the maids before. Why wasn't he throwing a tantrum?
But this was no longer the Nasa he once knew.
Nasa walked out of the patriarch's office and headed toward the storage room. Nasa pushed the storage room door open. Dust motes floated in the sunlight spilling through a grimy window. Crates and boxes lay scattered across the floor, their contents spilling out, frayed ropes, rusted tools, and yellowed papers. Every step stirred a dry cough of dust into the air, and the faint scent of mildew clung to the corners. Shadows pooled in the piles of forgotten things, making the room feel like it hadn't been touched in years.
"Hmmโฆ doesn't look that bad. I can clean it," Nasa spoke, a small smile on his face.
Besides reading and fighting, Nasa enjoyed cleaning, he found that tidying up cleared his mind.
Dust swirled in the air as Nasa dragged a rag across the shelves. Each cough echoed in the cramped room, where old tools and forgotten trinkets lay scattered like the remains of a battlefield. He stacked books with frayed edges into boxes, shoved bent nails and rusted hinges into jars, and swept a mountain of dirt into a growing pile at the door.
By the time an hour had passed, sweat streaked down his forehead, and the storage no longer looked like a ruin but a place reborn, wood gleaming, boxes neatly lined, the floor clear enough to catch the light.
Nasa took the items he needed from a freshly polished shelf, gave the room one last satisfied glance, and stepped out.
He went to the library and laid the parts he'd taken out on the desk. In his head a blueprint was already forming, he could see how it would all fit together.
You see, in for a flash bang to work there should be two main components: a fuse cartridge and a cast steel body. It remains unarmed due to the lever and two safety pins, which prevent the striker from moving.
To arm the flash bang, the lever is held tightly with one hand, and both safety pins are pulled with the other hand.
The flash bang won't go off until the pressure from the lever is removed.
Once thrown the lever falls off, and the spring propels the striker onto the primer.
Sparking the first fire mix, it burns for exactly 1.5 seconds.
Then the detonator ignites the stun charge.
As it burns, hot, expanding gas is produced, which pushs the plastic cap off, emitting a blinding light of 1 million candela, and a loud bang of over 170 dB.
Now Nasa had to build it in a fantasy world powered by mana stones, and to do so, he gathered materials to make it.
Nasa spread the parts across the desk and set to work. He threaded wires, tightened screws, and soldered tiny contacts, pausing only to test a connection or adjust a spring. Hours passed in a blur of careful movements, by the time he wiped the grime from his hands the flashโbang sat finished, its metal casing, catching the monn light.
"Finally, after a whole day of sitting at my desk, it's finished. Once again, I've proved I'm a genius," Nasa said, stretching his arms.
After dinner, Nasa headed to the training ground, the flash bang clutched tightly in his hand.
"Okay, let's see if it worksโฆ even though I know it will," Nasa said with a smirk. He pulled the two safety pins and hurled it.
BLAM!
A blinding white light erupted, swallowing everything in its path, so pure and fierce it felt like stepping into heaven itself.
Then came the deafening bang, a sound so violent it seemed to rip through the air, threatening to shatter eardrums.
"Ahhh! Fuck, fuck, fuck!" Nasa screamed, collapsing to the ground and rubbing his eyes in pain.
The flashbang worked perfectly, the light was blinding, and the sound deafening to anyone nearby. The only reason Nasa collapsed in pain was that he'd forgotten to protect his eyes, otherwise, it was a massive success.