***
“Alright then, before we end the orientation, there is a dungeon exploration hosted by the House of Cliché scheduled for the weekend, so the class president, please create a list of participating members and bring it to my research lab after school.”
As soon as the orientation time ended, I received my first job as class president.
A dungeon, huh.
First off, I planned to participate. If it was about monsters, there was no reason for me to miss it.
By the way, the House of Cliché.
I turned my gaze toward the black-haired guy who was near me.
The black-haired guy’s complexion didn’t look very good.
‘The House of Count Cliché is that guy’s family, right?’
[His complexion is not good. It seems he is not on good terms with his family.]
I didn’t know the detailed circumstances, but I could roughly guess what kind of hardships he might have faced, given that an ‘engineer’ came from a warrior family.
-Why are we participating in a House of Cliché event?
-I heard there are three people from the House of Cliché in the Warrior department. Isn’t that why?
-But we’re in the Magical Engineering department, aren’t we?
-No, isn’t this a class that all faculties—warrior, magical, and magic—are participating in? They said earlier that there’s no faculty distinction when it comes to dealing with monsters.
Listening to the murmurs around me, I could roughly guess the situation.
At a time when the sense of crisis about monsters was on the rise, a dungeon just so happened to appear somewhere in the Cliché family’s territory.
The Cliché side probably prepared for the students to ‘observe’ as a way to both curry favor with the academy and to show off.
After some miscellaneous talk about the upcoming curriculum, the orientation time ended.
“Then, this concludes the orientation! See you all later!”
The homeroom professor waved her hand as if sending off kindergarteners and left the lecture hall.
Anyway, since the class was over, I needed to draw up the list of participants for the dungeon exploration.
As soon as the break started, the students immediately got up from their seats.
I also got up from my seat right away.
“Attention, for a moment! As the homeroom professor said, those of you who will be observing the dungeon exploration, let me know before the end of the school day.”
For things like this, it was more efficient to have them come to me rather than going around to each of them.
“Class President! I want to participate!”
“State your name and student number.”
“Class President! Can I pet the cat?”
“No.”
As soon as I spoke, the kids from my class swarmed toward me.
Looking at the situation, it seemed that most of the class would be participating.
As expected, to become a proper engineer, it was essential to experience the field, not just study theory at a desk.
A good attitude.
As I was compiling the list of participants for the dungeon exploration, the break time ended.
The first class that finally began was the problematic subject, Mana Tool-ification Theory.
The professor was a typical middle-aged man in his mid-40s with an ordinary appearance.
Honestly, he looked more like a homeroom professor than the one we actually had.
“I am Dayron Criphton, and I will be teaching the Mana Tool-ification Theory class. There is no special orientation; we will begin the class immediately.”
The professor, who announced the start of the class in a stiff tone, glanced at me.
What are you looking at?
Although we only made eye contact for a moment, it didn’t seem like a very favorable gaze.
I was wondering why he was like that, and then I suddenly realized that the name was somehow familiar.
‘Dayron… Criphton? Isn’t this the old man who docked me one point?’
Damn it all.
No wonder the look he gave me was so cold.
“Magical engineering is an indispensable technology that supports the living infrastructure of the modern era.”
While I was inwardly sharpening the blade of revenge, Dayron continued with a general explanation of magical engineering.
It was mostly about how important magical engineering was in the current era and how much influence it had.
“In this class, you will learn the most basic methods of handling mana before learning about such magical engineering.”
It seemed we were getting into the topic of mana tool-ification in earnest.
And at the same time, the professor looked at me again.
It seemed it wasn’t my imagination.
“The basics should never be ignored. Though it seems there is a student here who ignores the basics, trusting only in their own genius.”
He’s talking about me, right?
[There’s a 99% chance he’s targeting you, Master. How arrogant.]
In short, it was a pathetic provocation.
A smirk escaped my lips.
I was already furious because of that damn one-point deduction, and now the culprit himself was provoking me like this.
“I have never seen a proper person among those who neglect the basics.”
The professor continued to pick at me during the lecture.
Once or twice was one thing, but this clearly meant he didn't like me.
[Are you going to keep enduring it?]
‘As if.’
There was no need to fall for such a clumsy provocation.
If we weren’t going to get into a physical fight, then I too had to confront him in a civilized manner.
“Then, we will begin the practical exercise immediately.”
While I was contemplating how to counterattack, the class moved on to a practical exercise.
I’d have to think about it while doing the exercise.
“You will create a circuit using mana on the magic circuit frame that the teaching assistant has distributed.”
The teaching assistant handed out a square box-like circuit practice frame to each student.
“As soon as you are finished with the circuit creation, raise your hand and speak up.”
As soon as the words were out, I immediately started creating the circuit.
I moved the mana, created the circuit on the practice frame, and then immediately raised my hand.
<><><>
Dayron Criphton.
One of the renowned professors of the Imperial Academy, he was a man who valued the basics above all else.
He came to value the basics because he had watched countless so-called geniuses, who had built their foundations poorly, get tripped up and collapse.
And now, in his eyes, was a student who might possess talent on an unprecedented level.
Raniel Leventia.
A genius who might have become a perfect scorer on the notoriously difficult magical engineering written exam, had Dayron himself just compromised.
But Dayron did not compromise.
He boldly marked the answer of the genius who arrogantly ignored the basics and presented his own theory as incorrect.
Of course, he held no grudge against that genius.
It was merely a measure taken in the hope that the genius named Raniel Leventia, who had just transitioned from a boy to a young man, would not collapse like the previous cases.
And now, Dayron was about to impart a lesson to the young genius named Raniel.
Once he learns humility and builds his foundation, he will come to understand my intentions later.
As Dayron was contemplating the future of a brilliant student, he happened to see that very student raising his hand.
Given the time, it was definitely not because he had finished creating the circuit.
“Student Raniel, do you have a question…”
“I’m finished.”
“Pardon?”
Dayron blinked, wondering if he had misheard, and asked again.
Raniel, as if completely unbothered by Dayron’s reaction, was repeatedly undoing and redoing the magic circuit inside the practice frame in front of him as if handling a toy.
‘N-no way!’
Dayron stared at the scene unfolding before him, his mouth hanging open foolishly.
He immediately approached Raniel and checked the magic circuit.
And he could not help but be astonished.
‘Perfect! Not only the precision but also the completeness of the finish is perfect!
But how… how is this possible in such a short time?!’
Dayron, having forgotten to even manage his expression, asked with a bewildered face.
“How on earth did you do it?”
“Because I didn’t use mana tool-ification.”
“What?”
“Because I did not use mana tool-ification, I was able to shorten the time.”
That was the exact opposite of the ‘basics’ Dayron emphasized, the same thing Raniel had written as his answer on the previous exam.
“What on earth does that mean? How can not using tool-ification…”
“Professor, what kind of mana tool would be needed to create this circuit here?”
Raniel pointed to the part of the circuit that required the most detailed and minute processing.
To touch that, the thinnest and most delicately tuned tool would be necessary.
Dayron answered immediately without much thought.
“You would have to use the thinnest tweezer-type tool, of course.”
“But what about doing it like this instead?”
As soon as Raniel’s words ended, an energy close to an opaque silver color flickered from his fingertips.
It was pure mana itself, unprocessed and untransformed into any form.
Mana flickering like a hazy mist in a unit smaller than a particle.
As it soon moved toward the circuit,
Click.
That tiny part of the circuit fit perfectly.
“Being bogged down by the standard of tool-ification is itself a waste of mana and inefficient.
To apply a more complex and standardized tool-ification for the creation of a circuit that requires the most delicate and detailed work?
If one can properly handle ‘mana,’ the smallest and purest form of energy, one can create a circuit much faster and more perfectly than by tool-ifying it.”
And Raniel proved it right before Dayron’s eyes.
“Mana, by itself, is already a complete tool. That is what I believe.”
Raniel Leventia, he had not been ignoring the basics.
He had merely established a new foundation.
And seeing that, Dayron received a great shock.
‘What on earth have I been doing all this time…’
He too had been called a genius since he was young. That was why he had become a professor at the Empire’s best academy at a young age.
But now, he was engulfed in a shock as if everything he had built up until now was shattering to pieces.
‘I am ashamed! To fly higher, I cried out for basics, basics.
But was I myself trapped in a cage, unable to fly…?’
<><><>
“Heheheheheh.”
The professor suddenly started to let out a dry laugh.
What? Did a chronic illness suddenly act up?
“Hahahahahahaha!! Ahahahahahahat!”
The dry laugh turned into a maniacal one.
He tilted his head back, covered his face with his hands, and laughed like a madman.
“I see. This is the flow of the times.”
And then, with a maniacal laugh, he muttered indifferently.
“I was a has-been!!”
Then he spread his arms wide and muttered like a crazy person.
“Professor? Please calm down…”
“For the new era, the old generation must make way!!”
My attempt to say something was completely buried by the professor’s crazed shout.
I was starting to get scared. What the hell is this?
“Farewell! New generation! This relic of the old era will now make his exit!!”
The professor ran straight for the window.
Crash!!
And then, he broke the window and jumped right out.
It happened so quickly that I couldn't react.
I stared blankly at the shattered window, then got up from my seat and cautiously approached the window.
-Aah! Someone fell!
-Don’t make a fuss! I am fine!
Fortunately, he seemed to be okay.
He was twitching after jumping from the fifth floor and crashing to the ground, but his voice was as vigorous as ever.
A moment later, with a commotion from below, the professor was carried away on a stretcher.
It was a relief he didn’t die.
What’s with the professors in this neighborhood?
From the homeroom professor who ran out of the classroom after a cat during orientation to a professor who jumps out of a window during class.
Anyway, none of them are normal.
My trust in the Imperial Academy dropped once again.
For now, since no one died, I turned my gaze from the window with a sense of relief and looked around the lecture hall, which had become silent.
It was quiet.
“So who’s going to teach our class now?”
Breaking the cold silence, a nerdy-looking guy in the seat behind me pushed up his glasses and muttered quietly.
At those words, the eyes of all the kids in the class poured onto me.
What am I supposed to do about this?
“Since the class president defeated the professor, shouldn’t the class president teach the class?”
“You can become a professor if you defeat one?”
“Who cares? He must be better than the professor if he defeated him!”
“So is the class president teaching now?”
As expected of kids who have just become adults.
It seemed they hadn't yet shed the reckless sensibility of their childhood.
I pretended not to hear and headed for my seat.
But suddenly, someone raised their hand and spoke.
“No, but I really don’t think it’s a bad idea for the class president to teach.”
For a moment, the gazes of the surrounding students gathered in one place.
The guy who had raised his hand continued to speak in a rather calm voice, showing no signs of being flustered.
“The technology that made Professor Dayron admire it so much he jumped out of a window! Wouldn’t it be great if he lectured on that?”
“Huh?”
At the guy’s words, the faces of the kids who had been full of mischief just moments ago turned quite serious.
“Right, right! I was curious about that too! What kind of technology was it that made a professor jump out of a window?”
“Maybe it’s something amazing that completely overturns all existing theories?”
How did it turn into this?
As I hesitated for a moment with a bewildered expression, other guys swarmed in and joined.
“Yeah, while we’re at it, tell us about it, huh? We’re classmates in the same department!”
“If the class president tells us, I’ll treat our entire department to chicken!”
“Waaaaah! Class President! Class President! Class President!”
I could glimpse a madness that went beyond a passion for technology.
In the midst of it all, I also heard talk of chicken, the engineer’s final gambit.
They were still students, but I guess they were engineers first.
In the end, I stood on the podium again.
Well, to cultivate my future slaves, I need to ditch mana tool-ification and spread the new path far and wide.
I cleared my throat for a moment, then slowly opened my mouth.
“Ahem. As all of you are brilliant engineers, you probably expect this, but what I did is different from mana tool-ification.
It is much better in efficiency and precision to operate mana without processing it separately.”
[I don’t know how it ended up like this.]
‘I don’t know either, so don’t talk to me. I’m flustered right now.’
“In other words, simply controlling pure mana has much higher autonomy, is more precise, and is faster than performing mana tool-ification.”
At that moment, one of the three sisters who had placed second raised her hand.
“So what’s the name of that technique?”
A name?
I hadn’t really thought about it.
I didn’t want to give it a strange name with questionable naming sense like ‘mana tool-ification,’ but I wasn’t particularly good at naming things either.
[Since it’s about moving mana, how about something simple like Mana Control?]
‘Not bad.’
Since no other alternative came to mind, I decided to accept the AI’s suggestion.
“This is called Mana Control.”
“Oh, ooh…”
“I’ve never heard of it.”
“It must be a new technology that hasn’t been announced yet!”
I hadn’t given it much thought, but now that I said it, it didn’t feel bad.
“Today, I will teach you all the basics of Mana Control.”
Yes.
This was knowledge I would have had to teach my slaves from scratch anyway when I became a professor.
Teaching it to my prospective slaves in advance to help them grow into excellent slaves was one of the virtues of a professor.
“Class is now in session.”
And so, the class, which had been changed from the (former) Mana Tool-ification Theory to Mana Control, began.