It was a brand new day as Luon happily feasted upon a healthy breakfast before entering the Vortex Container to attend his engineering class.
The class was divided into 2 segments, digital lectures, and real-time practical assembly.
Since time was slower in the Virtual world students could study for a whole day without rest in only 3 hours.
To ensure students have a stable foundation they are then assigned a workshop where they are tasked to produce tools, weapons, and appliances which are to be sold in the school shop. If the students supply their own materials they were allowed to request their individual tasks as long as they provide a blueprint to the acting supervisor, of course, they have the choice whether or not to market it.
Luon logged in to the system and appeared in nicely designed lecture room that could host almost about 2000 students at a time.
Engineering classes were generalized and if one were to have questions, if it weren't too difficult then CITA would more than likely answer it.
More complex answers would be sent to the teacher by the BMPU messaging system and replied to after class. Because of this, some students find themselves asking questions before the lesson ended and dumbly receive the answer later in the class. Not only that but after classes were done the teacher would question them if they were actually paying attention.
Luon positioned himself in the upper back corner of the room and sat beside a random young youth with messy hair and glasses.
Luon lightly introduced himself to his new deskmate, and the fellow classmate introduced himself as Thomas Graves.
After several more, minutes more and more students sat and positioned themselves for the lecture.
Surprisingly Shizuka sat near Luon’s desk. Luon thought she had done so because she at least wanted to be seated near a familiar face.
Gizmo came a few minutes right before the class had started and also seated himself near Luon at the back. His motive, however, was different, he only wanted to snooze off and being near the back allowed him to do so.
The school was filled with experts, it was already difficult to attend to so there were no minor characters, and his new friend was an eccentric engineer.
When they were taking notes from the old professor, he was giggling, snickering, and just plain annoying. The only time Luon was glad he was there was when he was stumped and lost in thoughts.
The old professor was a renowned engineer who had worked at Novera Corporation for several decades before retiring to become a teacher.
The topic was a simple foundation building and review as well as an update for many students, the major topic was the theories behind energy and the usage of tools. Luon himself had looked into this topic with great vigor during his free month before school and during his spare time.
Most scientists despite being researchers proclaim that mana was a gift from the Gods breathing life into beings providing evidence that if one's body was depleted of mana it was akin to death. The class provided many examples of how it was a gift from God, and the lecture grazes over those topics, uninterestingly Luon listened in class while taking notes digitally using a holographic keyboard emitted from his BMPU.
The lecturer seemed like one of those who supported the god theory, but because of the many unexplained myths around the universe, it wasn’t a surprise. The existence of skills proves that genetics and other factors didn’t matter. Luon had heard other scientists say the soul is a factor determining the skills a child had which cause them to do some inhuman experimentation.
The class ended uneventfully. Apparently, the lecturer’s goal was to introduce essential topics for 2-3 months that was mandatory when applying for the Engineer License Lv1 at the Novera Corporation Engineering Association as the test was randomized to cater to the many possible topics.
Although Luon had already gotten his Engineering License Lv1 he looked over the curriculum and found some of the topics might be interesting, it's not like he can neglect the class anyways.
The first portion of classes was over, and Luon exited his Vortex Container to head to the designated workshop area for a lecture on tools, safety concerns and getting some practical experience.
Along the way, Luon met Gizmo who was obviously his dorm mate, Thomas Graves who coincidentally lives on the same floor as them in the dorm, and Shizuka who coincidentally had the same workshop station.
The lecturer taught the students on the simple usage of tools provided that CITA can just as easily guide them as well, it was merely for practicality. He then assigns the students the task of creating an electric generator from the olden days as he began to hand out materials used for it. Fortunately for Luon, the workshop was state of the art workstations with clean facilities, top of the line tools, and any information of development was exclusively available on CITA due to their enrollment to Nexus University.
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These workstations were assigned to the students each year at no given costs for maintenance and can be used at any time. With that in mind instead of doing the basic electric generator, Luon started designing a blueprint for a new sword using the materials he has on hand. With the design, he walked up to the lecturer-cum-supervisor to change his task as it was his right to do so.
“Mr.Fried here’s my design for the customized task I want to do, I have the materials at hand so could you please check it for me,” Luon asked politely.
Mr.Fried who was the supervisor and lecturer for this work area was very busy and quickly gave the document a glance before handing it back.
“Hmph, kids these days just go straight up crafting weapons and armor, nothing truly innovating and practical like floating televised displays, power, and electrical tools, or even designing Vortex Containers. Well, I guess it can’t be helped if your new but try to design something more useful.” Mr. Fried lectures Luon for a moment before going back to assigning tasks once again.
Luon who got the agreement from Mr.Fried went to his assigned workstation, coincidently, Shizuka and Thomas Graves workshops were right next to his.
‘How many coincidences were there in the world?’ Luon thought as stares enviously at the streamline of materials coming and going out of Shizuka’s workshop with Thomas on the side.
According to Thomas who met with Shizuka earlier, she was in the middle of creating an NG-Arms which cost way more than the materials he had at hand.
In the middle of his thoughts, Shizuka came out with the same usual stoic face. Shizuka saw Luon outside of her workshop and suddenly recalled something as she walked over to his position.
“Here, these are the materials I checked for Arisa,” Shizuka said as she quickly handed over the rare complex materials that he had listed.
Afterward, she left without Luon being able to thank her for doing such a thankless task. She could have just sent someone to deliver to him, but she took it upon herself to deliver it.
As Luon pocketed away the materials, Thomas stared enviously at them, and the two of them chatted a little about themselves. Thomas was from a family of 4, and his family couldn’t afford materials for studying engineering so he could only do the assigned task given to him by the proc. What inspired him to do more was the part-time job that he had at a manufacturing plant for customized parts and tools.
Unfortunately, after their talk derailed from their daily lives into a pile of engineering gibberish, CITA reminded them to do their assigned tasks.
Luon entered the workshop to find it similar to those car retailers he walked into during the times of his simulations. A nicely clean wax floor, a clean workshop table, and various tools were hanging on the walls as well as on top of the table. On the side of the table were random default materials the school had given him to start with as if it was charity.
Luon began to lay out his materials out on the table, and then he equipped the safety protection gear as he began to start working.
In the corner of the room was a large furnace used to craft, mend and manipulate metals at various temperatures. It was very high tech, not your usual black, dirty, and dull furnace as it was made with superior metals it gave a deep black glow which wasn’t bright enough to inhibit Luon’s work.
Luon’s goal today was to create a sword with the ability to kill giant monsters. From Luon’s private studies he found something that would help him deal with giant trolls with superior regeneration or mountains giants made with stone.
Any type of black energy was known for denying regeneration, black magic and demonic qi cultivators specialized in the art of denying and manipulating life. On the other hand, this new sword he wanted to create should be sharp enough to slice through any type of materials, the density of the black energy or the sharpness and designs were factors of the sword that should be considered with the sole purpose of slicing.
Luon began to work and after almost a whole day of crafting the sword laid in front of him emitting its deadly presence inside the room. The design was a katana somewhat inspired by his second simulations experiences as Luon lost himself in thought when he forged his feelings into it.
Using his Eye of Insight, he sighed as he glances over the stats, today he indeed accomplished what he wanted.
[Unnamed Black Katana]
[Rank - Unique]
[Attack - 1337]
[Durability - 777/777]
[A Katana forged by an expert craftsman, the usage of the materials was at its peak of standard blacksmithing. This Katana is semi-sentient from the feelings the craftsman had experienced in his lifetime and specialized in killing monsters and giants.]
[Perk 1 - Degeneration]
[Perk 2 - Giant Slaying]
[Perk 3 - Circul...]
Luon took some more time and created a sheath for the sword which he named [Black Slayer]. If Luon had to thank someone for helping him build this sword it would be his parents as the most essential material used was a stone that originated from the Plana solar system, Obsidian.
The obsidian from the Plana solar system contained traces of dark energy. All materials that came from fantasy-based solar systems were filled with more mana than polluted solar systems that lack mana like the Nexus solar system. If Luon were lucky enough, he would have materials from Avalon, but with his expensive and connections, the Plana solar system would be the best thing for his studies.
Luon examined his leftover materials in his intraspatial bag, there was still tons of materials left, and if he needed more, he could just use his student salary. Luon smiled and began to schedule what his next few days are going to be like.
There were 7 days in a week, and the first 3 were school days, the other 4 was for students to individually do what they want whether it's to practice combat, commander training, or engineering. Most students take the opportunity to enjoy themselves by reading or playing games, even sleeping was one of the best forms of pleasure. The school also allowed working although with their basic salary who wanted to work?
Luon, on the other hand, spent his time crafting, he just got a new weapon, so he considered making some lightweight armor, or energy supply system. There were many things he could do as well as read he couldn’t wait.
The lights in his workshop worked itself non-stop.