IRM Chapter 86

Chloe had spent a full year and a half at Bard’s wand shop, during which she had seen countless vivid faces and pondered countless personalities—both openly expressed and concealed.

By rights, Chloe should have learned the survival rules of humanity fairly well by now. Yet somehow, she had always retained a special quality belonging to machines, and this was something she couldn’t change. Now, she didn’t want to change it either.

At this moment, Brandon and Linton were still staring at Ji Chi with an indescribable expression of shock. In this era, master-servant relationships were common everywhere, and precisely because of this, the hierarchy within such relationships was divided even more distinctly.

The same thought flashed through both their minds—Ji Chi, you dog of a person!

Ji Chi couldn’t bear their stares any longer and pulled Chloe over to ask in a low voice, “Didn’t I tell you before that I’m not your master? You should call me…”

“Just call you Ji Chi.” Chloe nodded, seriously raising her gaze with traces of contemplation in her eyes. “Actually, I’ve always known that from a human perspective, ‘master’ isn’t really a respectable term. But from the perspective of a machine, a master is the very meaning of their existence. And I can’t deny that I am also a machine, and you can’t change the way another species thinks, can you?”

After hearing her words, Ji Chi froze for a moment, realizing that this little girl had changed a great deal. When she had first emerged from the Weiss Sea, bearing that terribly ugly machine appearance, she had studied and practiced diligently, wanting to become human.

But now, possessing a perfect human exterior, she was gradually reclaiming the machine heart that had nearly been abandoned, as if accepting her truest self.

“However, rest assured, today is a special situation. Chloe will remember to address you by your name.” Noticing the increasingly dejected looks of the two people beside them, Chloe winked at Ji Chi with one eye, appearing just like a real human girl—cunning and spirited.

Ji Chi: “…” I think I have evidence to suspect you’re setting me up.

After hearing Chloe’s words, the young master became even more distraught. He gave Ji Chi a complicated look and stumbled backward several steps. “I-I-I’m going to class first. See you later.”

With that, he dashed off like a puff of smoke, his retreating figure carrying a sense of grief and indignation. Ji Chi had no doubt that once the young master came to his senses, he would be nagged at until the end of time.

Linton was even more miserable. He had known Chloe since the previous academic year and had been persistently pursuing her for a year. Suddenly discovering that she truly “had a master,” his entire being wilted considerably. He didn’t even notice a silver coin that had fallen on the ground ahead and stepped right over it with trembling steps.

Ji Chi helplessly pressed his temple and decided he was too lazy to explain. Given enough time, they would eventually discover something was off.

Two new students had transferred into the third-year Engineer Class S. One was Linton, who possessed excellent talent. Born in the Empire’s poorest region, he had relied on his own abilities to fight his way into the Engineer Academy’s best class. He had even crafted a weapon of [Fine] quality in his first academic year, successfully stepping into the realm of Master Engineer and jumping directly to the third year to continue his studies.

The other transfer student was Chloe, who was also quite a legendary figure. Her equipment crafting methods were vastly different from other engineers.

Other engineers relied on sensing the properties of materials to craft equipment, and they equated the results of this sensing with equipment talent. If one were to categorize engineers according to this method, Chloe would belong to the type of “blockhead with not a shred of talent who should just go home and sleep.”

But Chloe had brought another possibility to all engineers—keen observation and calculation.

She could observe a piece of rock iron ore and determine which production area it came from, what climate, what rock layer depth, then perform detailed calculations based on this information. In the end, her calculated conclusions wouldn’t differ much from what Linton sensed.

But this approach was far too unorthodox. When the professors at the Engineer Academy learned of it, their faces turned green—this was something humans could do?! Never mind instantly determining the properties of materials; just memorizing all those prerequisite conditions about production areas, climates, and depths could exhaust several generations!

However, regardless of how inhuman the process was, an engineer who could produce good equipment was an excellent engineer.

The Engineer Dean, left with no choice, could only approve her grade-skipping application despite his busy schedule.

Thus, the peaceful days of Engineer Academy Class S had thoroughly come to an end.

Being in a class where geniuses gathered, the professor of Engineer Class S was actually quite proud. Teaching geniuses was indeed fulfilling, but the prerequisite was having sufficient ability to make these geniuses heed instruction.

The professor stood on the podium boasting eloquently. “Do you know about the upcoming Engineer Competition! It’s a feast belonging to all engineers across the continent! Masters, geniuses, tools, minerals—the atmosphere of metal and sharp edges flows everywhere! And I—once stood on that spotlight-bathed awards platform, transforming knowledge and dedication into immortal glory!”

The professor’s passionate fervor failed to infect Ji Chi, who covered his face and let out a huge yawn.

He had discovered a pattern: no matter which profession’s professor, they always added a thick filter to themselves and their profession.

At such times, it was very appropriate for a sharp needle to puncture this illusion.

“Professor—” Linton suddenly raised his hand, staring intently at the podium.

The professor tapped the table with his finger and looked at Linton kindly. “Go ahead.”

He had taught too many students. The more experience he accumulated, the more he realized that the constraints brought by status were actually quite minimal. What truly made a person shine depended on their logic in handling affairs—or perhaps their soul. The professor thought highly of students like Linton who dared to endure hardship and strive hard. He thought, Such students must be answered carefully; who knows, I might appear in a generation of engineer’s gratitude handcraft.

Linton was extremely excited. “Did the professor win the Engineer Competition! That’s amazing! Can you show us the equipment you crafted back then?”

The professor’s smile stiffened slightly. He was accustomed to students’ perfunctory praise and rarely encountered those wanting to delve deeper. “Well… I wouldn’t say I won… I ranked somewhere around seventh or eighth, haha.”

Linton was considerably disappointed. “Then you must have led excellent students to participate in the competition, right?”

The professor’s smile stiffened a bit more. “No… I was one of the students…”

Linton was very disappointed. “But placing in the top ten, the prize money shouldn’t be too little, right?”

The professor’s smile completely froze. “…I participated in the first competition, and I paid quite a bit in registration fees.”

Linton was utterly disappointed. “Never mind then, thank you.”

The professor stood there bewildered, doubting life itself. No matter what, this was still a glorious resume—why did he feel ashamed?

Ji Chi looked at the professor sympathetically. He had long seen through this kid’s true purpose. After all that buildup, wasn’t he just eyeing the prize money from winning the competition?

After calming down for a while, the professor stubbornly rallied his spirits. “I just wanted to say, this is an opportunity! Especially now that the Engineer Competition is becoming increasingly grand, every capable student should go experience it. Even if you don’t even get a participation award, you can still see the gap between yourself and those at the peak!”

At this point, the professor also figured out how to mobilize the students’ enthusiasm. “Moreover, the team that wins this competition will receive a mysterious gift!”

Hearing this, Ji Chi’s eyelid twitched heavily. He suddenly raised his head, immediately getting a bad feeling.

Receiving Ji Chi’s attentive gaze, the professor raised his eyebrows high and said seemingly casually, “I heard it’s an item used by the God of Forging. But that doesn’t matter—even if it’s just a gimmick, selling it off could fetch several thousand or even tens of thousands of gold coins, right?”

Linton suddenly straightened up, facing the professor solemnly.

The professor smiled slightly and finally threw out the bait. “It’s rare to see you so interested. Want to give it a try, Ji Chi?”

Chloe shot to her feet, looking at the professor eagerly.

The professor: “…Chloe, don’t get excited yet. Sit down first. Don’t start packing your bags. You haven’t even finished this class yet…”

The professor suddenly began to feel these students were a bit much to handle. Sighing, he continued, “However, this is a very serious competition. This is an opportunity you need to pay attention to. To truly be selected for it, the conditions are also quite strict.”

“First, because high-level equipment needs to be crafted in a short time, this competition is participated in team format. Teams have a maximum of four people, and there must be one engineer as a guarantor.”

Ji Chi silently propped up his head. All right, no need to go into detail. I already know the team configuration…

“Second, the competition gathers the continent’s most outstanding engineers, so there are also restrictions on participants’ abilities. The leading engineer must be at least a Master Engineer, and participants must at least be Intermediate Engineers.”

After class, as Ji Chi walked along the road, the professor’s words still echoed in his head.

“Finally, this competition will be held in Saint Trilley. At that time, the central arena that hasn’t been opened for a long time will welcome the focus of the entire continent!”

Ji Chi let out a soft sigh. The communication magic device on his wrist flickered brightly.

He reached out to activate it and said softly into it, “The last component has appeared, hasn’t it? Mm, don’t worry about personnel. Tomorrow I’ll bring the last person to your wand shop… Don’t worry, as long as you’re willing to give him all the prize money from the reward, he’ll do his utmost to help you win the championship even if it kills him.”