Ethereal Ascendance: A Journey of Transformation(1-3VOL)

Vol 3/Chapter 66: Feasibility of Resisting a Nuclear Bomb with Physical Body

"Sorry, you guys continue your discussion. I don't understand all this stuff about 'hydrogen bombs' and 'fusion' and 'neutrons' - it all sounds so amazing to me. I'll just slip away for now."

Mia turned back and gave me an apologetic smile, then flew straight out of the cave entrance.

"Wasn't she supposed to be here for an exchange? How did she end up becoming an assistant?"

I was completely dumbfounded by this turn of events. The library staff Mona only had four wings, so it made some sense that she would help out with menial tasks. But for an esteemed eight-winged angel to willingly be ordered around was just absurd!

"Well, she does need us, doesn't she? Until my experiment here is complete, she has no choice but to help out first. And we do have a lot of odd jobs that need an extra hand now that we've moved here. Can't expect Nicola to handle it all alone, right?"

Reed emerged from behind a pile of books, casually tossing a gas collection sphere to Cyra.

"Here, this is the thing you were pestering to see!"

"It looks the same though. What's the difference?"

Cyra took it and peered at it for a few moments, immediately crying out in disappointment as it did not match her imagined appearance of a hydrogen bomb.

"What were you expecting?"

Reed didn't even glance her way, asking flatly in response.

"I already explained earlier that the mechanism behind a hydrogen bomb is quite simple. The real difficulty lies in achieving the conditions necessary for detonation. This apparatus is nothing more than a device for increasing pressure."

"What about the remote detonation controls? I don't see those anywhere!"

Cyra refused to give up, pressing on with her questioning.

"Hydrogen bombs need to have some kind of remote triggering device to set them off from a distance, right? How do you plan to handle that function? Don't tell me you're going to try controlling it with your mind or something?"

Though it sounded a bit absurd, such mental remote control did not seem entirely impossible in this world.

"There is no remote control function whatsoever."

But Reed immediately shut down that notion, casually revealing her true intentions.

"My original plan was to detonate it through direct operation at close range."

"Huh? Say what?"

"You can't be serious!"

I and Cyra could hardly believe our ears, shocked that we'd misheard something so outrageous.

"If you detonate it up close like that, wouldn't you be right at the epicentre of the blast?"

Just to be safe, I had to confirm again. If I was guessing correctly, was Reed planning on physically withstanding a nuclear detonation?

"That's exactly what I intend to do!"

But she didn't hesitate for a moment, affirming very definitively.

"Remote methods are possible but overly complicated. Plus many of the necessary materials are hard to obtain here in Edenmere, so direct detonation is the most straightforward way..."

"But that's no different than suicide bombing! Do you have a death wish?"

Cyra interrupted to cut straight to the core issue. At least by our understanding, even as angels now, there was no way we could survive at the center of a nuclear blast.