The four were waiting anxiously in the bathroom. Despite being behind several layers of thick walls, the noise of the chaos outside could still be heard clearly. Screams from the citizens, orders from the military, glass breaking, any sound possible was being made.

The bottles that they used were custom-designed. It looks like an ordinary bottle, even having real water on the top, but underneath it is liquid halothane. When it receives the message, it begins to release it into the air.

Typically, surgeries use 0.5% to 5% concentration, knocking you out in just a few minutes. We’re using around 10% concentration to ensure that no one stays awake.

Not only that but some mana from a bark tree was infused into the formula to increase its potency. How it works is quite frankly a mystery to me, but nothing that some research couldn’t solve! Even more time alone.

Where was I? Oh yeah, halothane.

When it begins releasing, it should take about five minutes for an ample amount of it to be in the air and in their lungs. The longer we waited, the more sure we could be that it would take effect. However, it would also lower the chances of escape.

So we settled for eight minutes. Staring at the watches, they watched as the second hand moved, then the minute.

“Do you think that’ll work?” Andres asked as the time approached.

Everyone looked at each other yet no one spoke. They all had a silent conversation from just their looks.

“We have the details and the practice,” Hanson said. “So all we can do now is hope.”

Andres reluctantly nodded although his fear wasn’t assuaged at all. They all continued staring at the watch. The second hand seemed to move slower before finally reaching its original position at 12.

They looked up to each other and nodded. They knew what came next.

Immediately, they put on the face mask and began to make their way out. At first, they went out slowly to make sure that the gas had taken effect.

One, two, three guards were seen on the floor. They began to walk out with more confidence as they reached the main hall.

“Holy shit,” Andres said. “That bottle really worked!”

The shopkeeper looked with extreme interest. If he could figure out the formulation of it, the price it would fetch would be big!

Although in awe, they knew time was of the essence. They quickly made their way to the glass. Setting down their backpack, they took out two odd materials. Paper and a water bottle.

Quickly, they began to lay the paper on the top of the display case. It wasn’t just one layer, but ten. It was a bit messy, but good enough to get the job done.

Lastly, Andres took out one piece of paper and held it in the air. He carefully brought it to the stack on the top of the display case. He positioned the paper so that the last joint of his pointer finger and thumb were sandwiching the paper. With a quick rub, he dropped it.

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However, the paper was no longer paper.

It was on fire.

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I brought up a small piece of paper in front of everyone’s eyes. Moving it around, everyone could see it was ordinary. However, as my fingers rubbed it together, it began to turn into fire.

“Flashpaper,” I said. “A little friction is enough to ignite it, but more importantly, it doesn’t have any smoke.”

A popular piece of equipment for some magicians. The main property was the ease that it could light and the seemingly impossible task of making fire appear out of nowhere. The lack of smoke made it safe for long-term use.

While the flash paper used in the demonstration was the same as the magicians used, the actual ones needed had to have a higher concentration of the chemical that caused it to ignite. Magicians only need it for a short burst, however, we need a sustained one.

“Now this is important to your job,” I began. “Because you’re going to need to heat the glass up.”

“Heat it?” Andres asked. “How is heating it going to help us break it?”

“Well, that’s where the second part comes in,” I took out the decoy water bottle and opened the hidden compartment. Fumes began to pop out as I carefully tilted it so they could see the content.

“You see when glass is heated and cooled rapidly, it goes through a phenomenon called thermal shock. It causes structural damage and tiny cracks that grow as it cools more and more.”

Liquid nitrogen is the coldest substance known on Earth. I’m sure we’ve all heard of it, so needless to say it’ll get the job done.

I carefully poured the contents out on the table to the right of me. After all, I didn’t want any liquid nitrogen on me. Instantly, as the cold nitrogen met with the warm table, it began to evaporate.

However, the table began to freeze up. A layer of ice formed on the spot where I had poured it.

“Just quickly tap it,” I told them as I approached the spot. A quick tap showed that the temperature change was so great and fast that it felt like ice.

I grinned as I saw something so simple blow their minds. But hey, that’s the thing with growing up in our world now. We don’t really see how marvelous something is.

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As the paper began to fall, it ignited the rest of the flash paper. A blazing inferno was seen in their eyes as they stared at the fire in front of them. No smoke meant no fire alarm, allowing the fire to properly heat the glass.

After twenty seconds, the fire died down. Hanson put his hand close to the glass without actually touching it. He felt the heat radiating up to his hand.

With a grin, he took the water bottle on the floor and began to pour it over the glass display case. Fumes began to propagate from the opening of the bottle and the glass itself.

As more and more of the liquid began to pour out, the glass began to fracture. At first, it was a small crack. But as more and more of it made contact, the crack extended. Not only that, but even more cracks formed.

However, when the bottle emptied, the glass was still not broken. They all looked at each other before trying their last bottle. However, it was to no avail. The temperature change between the first and second bottles wasn’t big enough to cause sufficient stress on the thick glass.

When they saw that it hadn’t worked, Hanson let the bottle drop to the ground. Everyone was staring at the glass as a metallic thud was heard.

“The walkie-talkie, quick!” Hanson ordered.

Andres quickly scrambled to the backpack and pulled it out.

Pressing the button on the side, he began to speak. “Zack, do you copy?”

A long and heavy silence followed as they looked at each other. Had the plan finally failed?

Suddenly, they were drawn to a panting voice. “What’s your situation?”

“The glass didn’t break,” Hanson said from behind.

“What do you mean it didn’t break? Did you do all the steps correctly?” I asked back before suddenly yelling, “Ah shit!”

“What was that?” Leo asked. “Is everything okay with you?”

“Could be better,” I said. “The king’s being evacuated right now.”