I had a dream.

A dream of ripping computers open with my bare hands, Vallachio-style. The bastards had it coming.

The dream setting had me working at my company's server farm. There was a major release in production and all the machines kept breaking and acting up. The phones kept ringing non-stop, the elevator was stuck and the control terminals were glitchy.

Ultimately, I lost my temper and started tearing everything apart. Motherboards, screens, keyboards, telephones... nothing was spared from my fists. When I calmed down, I stood upon the broken pieces of countless hardware. I felt like a god and screamed in victory.

I woke up with a smile painted on my face. Best dream so far. I rolled out of bed.

It was time to get back on track.

I had a quick breakfast with the trio and I went straight to the Academy.

I walked through the big entrance and asked the clerk about resuming my classes.

I was told that my beginner Magical Defense class had been marked as passed, despite me not having taken the test. Apparently, Vallachio made sure the training excursion would count as passing grades. Good, I won't have to deal with the "battle arena".

With that gone, on my list remained Alchemy, Temperature manipulation, and Illusory magic.

That was enough for now. I'll wait until the next term before picking up something new.

I was a little concerned about Illusory magic... my illusions were and still are pretty bad.

Even bad illusions were good in battle but I was pretty sure the teachers wouldn't agree with my point of view.

Alchemy was demanding but it should be easier if I bring along my silver cube.

There's no cheating in magic. I nodded to myself savoring the wisdom of my thoughts.

Magicians are strong because of their tools. Casting two spells at the same time is already a very difficult task, imagine if you had to cast three or more. Some spells become easier once your subconscious gets the hang of it, just like when driving a car. But others require active concentration.

It would be like counting numbers and doing algebra at the same time. I just can't. Let's leave aside that mental calculations were never my forte.

Enchanted tools are the way, you just have to push your mana into them and boom, it's done. Even non-magicians can do it, to some extent.

I noticed that the clerk was waving his hands in front of me, trying to catch my attention.

「Allen: Yes?」

I asked, looking back at him.

「Clerk: Ah... madame Violet told us to put you in contact with a certain Grohm Khalkear. He'll be teaching Advanced Magical Constructs here at the Academy. You may find him on the first floor...」

Right! Violet had told me about him. Share your knowledge, etc.

The clerk gave me detailed directions. I thanked him and decided to pay a visit up front.

After some mishaps due to me being terrible at following directions, I found the right door.

I knocked.

「Come in!」

A deeply accented voice invited me in.

I did so and asked for the seventh time...

「Allen: Greetings! I am Allen Smith, could you be Grohm Khalkear?」

In the room, there was a man in his fifties. He had short peppered black air with a shock of white around his temples, a mustache, and a medium length goatee.

He was in the process of arranging some tools on a sideboard. He put down the stuff he was holding and turned to get a good look of me.

「Grohm: Ahhh, yes! That is me, so you're the student Violet talked me about. Hmmm, I see.」

He appraised me with a calculating look. I gave nothing away with my time-proven corporate almost-smiling face.

「Allen: Pleased to meet you.」

We shook hands.

「Grohm: Hmmm, yes! Would you be so kind as to show me one of your works? My curiosity has been roused by Violet's words.」

He asked, lifting an eyebrow.

I puffed up my chest. If Violet got him in the loop, I guess I can trust him. Or better, I have to.

「Allen: Huh... sure, I've got just the thing.」

I took out and showed him the silver cube, explaining to him how to operate it.

Grohm inspected the enchanted cube, murmuring to himself as he moved it around his hands. I felt a little uneasy having an expert in the field analyzing my self-taught attempts.

「Grohm: I see! Very clever and ingenious idea. Who taught this?」

He asked me with furrowed brows.

「Allen: Back in my homeland we had a discipline called Information Technology we used to make machines... do things. When I learned about magic I realized I could apply the same concepts to it.」

「Grohm: Instructing machines to do things... without magic? How exactly?」

He leaned forward with an inquiring look.

「Allen: Well... those machines ran on... lightning. I don't really know how to explain the specifics of how they were made.」

Oh no, I'm saying too much.

「Grohm: Hmmm, I would be interested to see such devices. Where did you say was your homeland?」

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Damn my loose lips. I began sweating cold. Damn it, I can't lie to him. The risk of being found out by Violet's blasted truth-telling crystal is too big.

「Allen: Well, huh... nowhere I'm afraid. As a matter of fact... I haven't found any trace of it.」

I said hesitantly with a faked depressed scowl.

Better to say true things while remaining vague. I don't want it known I'm from another world. I'm pretty sure these crazy magicians would be all too eager to dissect me for the sake of magic advancement.

Grohm furrowed his brows even harder.

「Grohm: How so? Was your country destroyed? Hmm?」

He asked me with a bit of disbelief.

A way out!

「Allen: Something like that. For all I know, I could be the only living man in this world that has studied these disciplines...」

All true words. I closed my eyes and nodded gravely.

Grohm lowered his gaze and started stroking his goatee.

「Grohm: I see... regrettable. Verily, hmmmmm.」

He believed me?! I dodged a bullet. No one will dissect me, for now. Phew.

Grohm invited me to sit down at the desk and turned his attention back to the silver box in his hands. He started asking me the details of my process.

After a long string of untranslatable terms and botched explanations, he made a recap talking to himself, his gaze distant.

「Grohm: So you created this processor that allows you to give it orders through compiled code, huh... such weird terms. This radar thing seems very practical... a very clever use of hallucination magic.」

He continued.

「Grohm: And this library holding all these notes... incredible. To store such an amount of information in a meager cube of silver. Hmmmm. Yes, your spellwork lacks polishing, but you do have a solid base for building magical constructs.」

The shower of praises made my ego swell and a true smile breach through my poker face.

「Allen: Thanks.」

「Grohm: I see you used Jalkavian's projection method to push the probe trigger spells at a long range. Hmm, surprising you know of it.」

He looked into my eyes in askance.

「Allen: I, huh... read about it in the Academy's library.」

I said scratching my head.

He raised his chin staring at me while continuing to stroke his goatee.

I can see he's of those guys who loves stroking their goatee while deep in thought.

「Grohm: Yes, I'll have you join my classes. They'll begin at the start of the next month, in the meanwhile make sure to stop by. I... yes, I will teach you the techniques necessary to follow the class. Hmmm, I ask from you to explain to me in detail the theory behind this Information Technology discipline, yes?」

Sounds good to me.

「Allen: That's fine by me!」

I nodded.

「Grohm: Very well! But wait, let me show you some of my contraptions...」

He turned around and grabbed some stuff from the sideboard.

This Grohm dude sure knew his shit.

He showed me various prototypes, some kind of little golem that obeyed limited verbal commands, a magical orb that displayed a static illusion and—what caught my attention the most—a ring capable of creating another magical construct.

That made me salivate because so far all the trigger spells I've used in my radar had been painstakingly crafted manually. And I had to enchant a lot of them to make the radar work as it does now.

If it was possible to generate them on demand... that would open up a whole new world of possibilities! I could literally manufacture more and better processors!

Okay, I'm hyped. It looks we're both nerds some way or the other, we're gonna get along just fine.

「Allen: This is all very interesting! I'm eager to follow your lessons, sir.」

I said with a curt bow.

「Grohm: Ah... no need for sirs, just call me Grohm. Yes?」

He said smiling. We stood up and shook our hands again.

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From that day Grohm started coaching me in the secrets of Magic Constructs and I began giving him a few notions about IT. He complained that my explaining skills were poor, but with the fact we're both foreigner and the number of concepts that don't have a match in this world, a little difficulty was to be expected.

I spent most of my evenings receiving his training and sharing my knowledge, in the meanwhile I resumed my previous classes.

Speaking of which, unlike with the basic magic class, the other exam tests can be taken every end of the month but if I fail I'll have to wait another four months before trying again. Given that I can use my silver cube to cheat at theory, the only thing holding me back is practical magic.

I haven't found any way to cheat at that, yet. Although, even if there were a way, what'd happen if it were negated in the worst possible moment?

It's better to practice. Just like with muscles, I can improve my strength with mana but if I'm weak and easily tired, then I'm still gonna get killed like an unarmed peasant.

I couldn't let that happen.