Chapter 2
21.15
I was the last student to begin the physical assembly. Following my own modified blueprints, it took me nearly two hours to put the arm together. Just as the proctor was about to collect it, a flash of inspiration struck me.
“Wait!” I stopped him, then immediately started taking it apart again. I had thought of a way to make the hand even more
flexible. I had to try it.
The masters on the platform were surprised to see me disassemble my work. All of them, except for Valerius, leaned forward with interest. The other students who had finished, including Seraphina, also turned their eyes toward me.
I ignored the stares and spent another hour meticulously reassembling the piece.
Cyra couldn’t wait for the proctor. She strode down from the platform herself, her eyes shining. “Quick! Test the data on that one!”
While I had been working, the other students‘ scores had come in. Seraphina was currently in first place with a score of 97.98%. The market record for this arm was 97.25%. She had broken another record. Kira was second with 97.39%, also breaking the record. Two first–year students produci- ng parts of this caliber was already a huge surprise for the masters. Now, all their attention was on me, the reigning number one, to see what I could do.
As my component was placed in the testing machine, the entire hall held its breath.
100
“99.96%! My God, is that data even real?”
The technician closest to the machine gasped, his voice cracking with disbelief.
The examination hall was silent for three seconds, then erupted into a roar of incredulous shouts.
I stood there for a moment, my mind blank, then fought back a wave of overwhelming emotion as I looked toward my parents in the viewing area.
My mother rushed forward and threw her arms around me. “My baby, you’re brilliant!” As the owner of a mech manufacturing corporation, she knew exactly what that number meant.
The masters all rushed down from the platform, eager to see the component for themselves. Valerius, however, remained in his seat. I no longer
cared.
I had defended my first–place title. I had set an unprecedented record. I had become a legend in the school–no, in the entire world of mech artific-
ing.
Of course, so had Seraphina and Kira. All three of us had shattered the old records.
The masters began fighting over apprentices. Valerius, as expected, chose Seraphina. Cyra, to no one’s surprise, chose me. She also made an
offer to Kira, but Kira, after a moment’s hesitation, declined. Cyra was disappointed, but everything was moving in a positive direction.
In a way, I had to thank the feed. It had saved me from becoming a bitter, self–sabotaging tool.
But the timing of its appearance was strange. It only seemed to show up right before a key plot point was about to happen–before I was suppos-
ed to steal something, bully the heroine, or fail an exam. Once the event passed, it vanished. Was it because the events were no longer following
the original script, so the live commentary tied to that script had nothing to comment on?
I wasn’t sure. I would have to wait and see.
