Controlling Destiny - 19 Explosive Investigations

Headmaster Magmus was sitting in the council room preparing for a meeting when an elder walked in.

“Ah, elder Vophiar! You’re early for the meeting!”

Elder Vophiar merely nodded before speaking in a frantic tone.

“Headmaster Magmus, have you heard that one of the dorm buildings has just partially exploded?”

Magmus almost dropped his papers. “Excuse me, did you just say one of the dorm buildings partially exploded?!”

Vophiar nodded grimly. “The dorm guards are currently analyzing what the damage was caused by, but you should know that it was Ultrix’s dorm room in particular.”

Magmus calmed himself down before suddenly realizing something.

“Is the poor lad alright?” He asked anxiously.

“Yes, he seems to have been okay although the medic team has taken him in for check-ups naturally just-in-case anything was wrong.”

Magmus calmed himself down again and smoothed out his robe. “Very well then, we shall wait for the guards to report-”

Before Magmus could finish his sentence another figure ran into the council room.

“Ah, Headmaster Magmus, I’ve finally found you!”

The guard did a small, hasty salute before continuing.

“After our forensic specialists have analyzed the explosion, it has been recognized to have exploded from the cultivation room.”

“Furthermore, the cultivation room door was closed before the bomb exploded.”

“Additionally, it should be known that the bomb was strong enough to somehow have shot the door perfectly through two walls.”

“Current investigations to locate that door are still currently underway, albeit there has been no progress yet.”

Magmus waved his hand slowly as if all this did not matter much before asking:

“That’s not super important, the important question is what kind of bomb was it? And was it an act of attempted murder?”

The guard shook his head quickly. “Since the door was closed before the explosion went off, it’s unlikely that Ultrix had triggered it.”

“If Ultrix had triggered it I doubt he would have still been alive looking at the explosion strength. Additionally, Ultrix was found in his bedroom in a state of shock when the guards ran in.”

Magmus frowned at this. He tried to think who would have been strong enough to craft an explosive artifact so powerful that it could blow a cast iron door through 2 walls.

However, after mentally scratching out all the potential names from his thoughts, he still couldn’t come to a decent conclusion.

“Well,” he said with a sigh. “I suppose we’ll have yet another topic to discuss during today’s meeting.”

Soon, all of the elders started filing into the council hall.

“Hello everyone,” Magmus said as soon as everyone was accounted for.

“As most of you may have guessed, I have called you all here today to discuss our lack of funding for the event yet again.”

“However, as situations have spun out of control like usual, we have a more serious topic to discuss right now.”

“As some of you may have heard, there seems to have been a terrorist attack at one of our dorm buildings today.”

“More significantly, this was at our well-guarded dorm for Academic elites and special guests.”

The elders shifted uncomfortably at this information, and a few let out quiet gasps.

Headmaster Magmus continued, “luckily, it seems that the damage was mostly contained and nobody was seriously injured.”

“However, this act has not only brought into question the safety of our academy but also our ability to protect our students.”

“I am certain that you all understand how serious this situation has become.”

The elders around the room nodded quietly but no one said anything.

“As much as I would like to downplay this incident, there is not much I can do at this point,” Magmus said with a heavy sigh.

“Hopefully we can apprehend the wrong-doer quickly as to lessen the damage to our academy’s reputation.”

“Now, onto the topic that we have at hand.”

The meeting room slowly started to become lively once again as the elders broke into a murmured conversation about the funding issue.

Refreshments were brought out by the maids and soon a somewhat joyous mood returned to the council hall once more.

Elsewhere, the forensics team was still poking around in Ultrix’s dorm building.

“Hey, Reagent,” one of the forensic examiners asked the other, “do you think this was a bomb of some sort?”

Reagent looked up from the blast pattern he was currently examining and slightly shook his head.

Then looking around the room momentarily he said in a hushed voice, “after examining the blast patterns on the walls, I have come to understand that a specific wall was damaged less than the others.”

“Furthermore, there was a plate of cast iron that was lodged into said wall.”

The other forensic examiner stopped what he was doing and looked up at Reagent with a dark expression. “Are you suggesting that the cultivator intentionally tried to get himself killed?”

Reagent quickly shook his head. “Of course not, if he tried to kill himself he would not have run away.”

Suddenly, realization dawned onto Reagent. “Oh, of course!” he cried out loud.

The other examiner jumped slightly at the sudden cry and looked at Reagent with a complicated expression.

“What do you mean, of course?”

Reagent smiled awkwardly. “I’m not sure if I’m supposed to be happy or sad, but it now makes sense that the cultivator was the one who set off the explosion.”

“Afterall, after he realized that the explosion was going to happen, he most likely ran out of the room and shut the door in hopes of containing the blast!”

The other examiner’s eyes lit up as realization dawned on him.

“That also explains why he had the cast iron plate,” he said. “He probably was not expecting such a large explosion at first and simply put the plate in front of him in hopes of shielding himself from the damage!”

Reagent nodded slightly. “That’s a pretty spot-on analysis, Marlowe. I think we’ll make a fine forensics examiner out of you yet.”

Marlowe blushed slightly from this unexpected compliment. However, his expression darkened quickly yet again. “What should we tell everyone else?”

Reagent shrugged at this question.

“It’s not our business trying to hide information from the higher-ups. Our only job is to report back on our findings. Whatever happens to that cultivator is not any of our business.”

Marlowe nodded slightly. However, he still looked kind of sad.

“Don’t worry too much about it,” Reagent said, noticing Marlowe’s sad expression.

“In this kind of business, sometimes we have to sell out some people.”

“Besides, it’s better this way since the reputation of the academy can still be somewhat salvaged.”

“What the higher-ups decided to do with the cultivator and this information, that’s entirely up to them.”

Marlowe nodded gloomily. “I understand,” he said with a bit of a sigh.

Reagent walked up to this colleague and clapped him on the shoulder.

“That’s all for today then, I suppose.”

“Clean up your gear and let’s head out. We’re done here for today. The relief team will be here soon to clean up the mess.”

Letting out a small sigh, Marlowe took his gear and packed up the bags.

As he walked out of the building, he turned around one last time.

[Whichever unfortunate cultivator created this mess, I can only pray for your damned soul,] He thought silently in his head.

Elsewhere in a medical ward, Ultrix sneezed slightly.

[Heck,] he thought to himself, [I sure hope none of these people here have gotten me sick!]