Amidst haphazardly strewn clothes, barbells and blankets, Ronin locked in the 3rd stance. He’d pretty much figured out how often he could do the Kalvrakian embrace by now.

  If he really pushed himself, he could do the stances again every 8 hours or so. It seemed to be the minimum amount of rest he’d need before the volatile energy began causing damage.

  Every time he did the stances though, energy flowed through his body, repeatedly tempering it. He was only becoming stronger and stronger. Even the 100 kilograms heavy barbell felt light now, and he’d probably have to replace it soon.

  Whilst waiting for the factory upgrade, he'd also worked on his mental palace. The internal model of the Goliath Class Mothership "The Worldmaker ED-07" became more stable as he slowly began repairing it. Almost 10% of the damage he sustained when he absorbed the alien artifact was now healed. And to his pleasant surprise, as he healed his mindscape, his memories also became clearer and easier to access.

  As for the rooftop bandits? By now, Ronin had been forced to seek them out in other districts. After his frequent outings, they’d apparently fled district 91. There was not a soul to be seen up there anymore. He’d also tried finding an underground fighting ring, but so far, he hadn’t found one yet. Even after moving districts, the rooftop bandits had begun recognizing him. Each time he encountered a new group now, they ran.

  Regardless, that was a concern for another day. Putting on his academy suit, Ronin headed out to look for a transport ship. An ISFA academy transport ship to be more exact. It was finally time for practicals!

  “...”

  After finding, then entering one of these ships, Ronin quickly reached the academy, opting out of free diving down the window this time.

  He’d gotten fined the first time, but the second? Who knows what the guards might do?

  As the ship landed — like a perfectly normal upstanding citizen — he walked onto the grass filled ground. Passing the green, vibrant trees he breathed in deeply as he headed for the ship hangar. Light sparkled in his eyes as the rare woody smell ran through his body. There was just something about the smell, something primal.

  Entering the hangar, he was greeted by a wide array of ship parts: There were anything from FTL drives, fusion reactors and radiators at one end of the hangar, to computers, cables, cooling pipes and atmospheric generators on the other.

  Lined up in between the juicy tech, stood 49 students and a single teacher. There were new faces amongst them. Had some of the students quit?

  No, Ronin thought. They didn't quit...

  That terrorist attack two weeks ago, had been devastating. There was no way 10 students had just gone up and left like that. Not here.

  They'd been killed.

  The teacher looked over at Ronin.

  “Mr. Maximus…” he said, each syllable slow and deliberate. “I see you’ve finally decided to grace us with your presence.”

  The students began staring. Some chuckled.

  “Is that the guy who's been absent for so long?” One of them commented.

  “Isn’t that the one with the perfect scores? He’s definitely been using a ghostwriter. Only showing up on day one and getting 100% on every single exercise? Hah, what a joke,” a pompous youth scoffed.

  “Wasn’t he supposed to be dead? Cough, I mean retired from the academy like all the others?” A voice hidden in the crowd questioned.

  Ronin also heard several murmurs on the strangeness of his eyes and scars. He ignored the chatter, then lined up with the rest of the students.

  Whilst half the students continued eyeballing Ronin, and not in a good way, the teacher patted his checkered blue and white suit, then cleared his throat:

  “Well, since there is a new student amongst us, I will repeat myself. The focus of this workshop is HSE, that is: Health, Safety and Environment. From factories to ships, awareness of the potential dangers related to equipment is paramount.”

  Noticing some eyerolls from the students, probably for the second time today, the teacher continued:

  “You don’t think this is a serious topic? Well, imagine this… You’re serving on a starship, but something goes wrong… At that time, your actions may literally determine the life and death of every single one of your crew members. And you not only have to find out what is wrong with the ship, no… Every single life on that ship depends on you finding the right materials, printing them out as the correct components, then installing them without error! Further, imagine doing this, possibly, in the middle of combat where every second you delay means one second closer to death! That’s what this day’s about! Space is hostile ladies and gentlemen, and your arrogance here today may make the difference between those of you standing here now, and those of you standing alive in five years.”

  Though the teacher spoke with a monotone voice, he still managed to somehow sound both stern and aspirational at the same time. Furrowing his brows, Ronin considered those last few words… they were true in more ways than one.

  It wasn’t only space that was hostile — This city was as well.

  “Now, if you pull up your academy suit's information sheet,” the teacher went on. “Enter the section for radioactive measurements and you will see the different forms of radiation your suit can detect. Let's start with Eizenshaft radiation…”

  Ronin already knew all of this. He’d made sure to go over each type and how dangerous it was after his first day at the academy. Having seen the results of an entire valley being irradiated, he’d be stupid not to.

  As the teacher talked, Ronin snuck a few glances at his fellow students. They were still peeking at him!

  Sheesh, I can ignore a little staring and gossip, but these guys aren’t letting up at all. Ignoring these students was apparently not going to be as easy as he thought.

  Ugh, whatever. Ronin pulled up a holoscreen, checking out the currently talking teacher.

  [Raverus Ravent, 59 years old, employed from 3381 - 3390 A.I. as maintenance technician for Exor Solutions. 3390 - 3402 A.I. executive manager for Exor Solutions, landbound division. 3402-3421 A.I. head researcher of landbound transport, Ironglades Space-Force Academy.]

  At least I know his name now, imagine calling him Mr. Teacher if he comes over to talk. Hmm, he's specialized in landbound ships I see.

  Landbound ships operated on very different rules compared to ships designed for space. They didn't have to worry about heat dispersion, radiation nor the pressure of vacuum, they also rarely had an FTL drive installed. That meant there was a lot of room for new design solutions impossible for space-bound ships. As a general rule of thumb, ship designers specialized into either landbound or space-bound ships.

  With regards to FTL drives, well, an interstellar jump in a gravity well, could get... complicated. The planetary atmosphere, its electromagnetic field and the gravitational interference made jumps... risky. An FTL quantum jump could fail midway, causing only half of the ship to end up on the other side. Something from a higher dimension might also come along for the ride, heck, sometimes ships just disappeared, never to be seen again.

  “Now! Let's turn to a specific example...Hmm... Let's start with a common reactor. Alright, who can answer what the main safety risks associated with the KGC-Fusion reactor is?” The teacher, or more accurately, the landbound ship researcher Raverus Ravent asked.

  “Neutron particles escaping the reactor!” A bulbous bald youth exclaimed with a markedly pronounced lisp.

  Who is this guy… and why is he bald? Ronin wondered. Could it be that he knows about this because he’s been exposed to this radiation himself?

  Radiation could cause hair loss…

  Looking at the academy suit struggling to contain the short voluminous figure, Ronin noticed a very clear double cheek. It was almost as if the bulging neck was fighting to get out of the suit!

  “Not bad Simons, but not quite right.” Raverus Ravent replied. “Neutron release does cause health risks, but you’d have to be working alongside a fusion reactor for years before the radiation becomes an issue. Anyone else?”

  “Destabilization of the magnetic field can lead to a containment failure!” A prim brown-haired girl pointed out.

  “Yes, good point Anastasia. What contains the fuel within the reactor is the magnetic field. But if this field breaks down, or deviates, it can cause the engine to not only shut down, but potentially even blow up the entire ship. We call this risk factor the "robustness" of the engine. Generally, higher performing engines have a lower robustness factor. This makes it even more important to not make any mistakes when constructing high-performance engines. This also makes it necessary for skilled technicians to be working on those ships at all times to monitor and correct for any anomalies that crop up whilst the engine is running.”

  Raverus Ravent did a movement with his eyes, accessing his implant.

  “Oh,” the girl said. “10 bonus points!”

  “Displays of excellence are generously rewarded in our practical programs. It is for that reason we have added the S grade for practical courses and practical courses alone. Here, your final grades will depend not only on your performance during tests, but your work throughout the course itself.”

  Raverus showed a slight smile.

  “Anyone else?”

  “...”

  Many raised their hands, but in the end, no one was given any more bonus points. The hearts of the students however, had been ignited.

  As the lesson moved on, Raverus pointed to the several assembly machines lined up against the eastern wall.

  “The assignment for today will be to identify the faults in ten different fusion reactors, then repair them. Finally, we will activate these reactors and find out who of you have a future in spaceship design, and who does not. You have 8 hours.”

  Drones began buzzing about, bringing out several damaged reactors before aligning them with their respective assembly machines.

  This was it! This was the sort of stuff Ronin had to master to get off Concordia. He clenched his fists.

  As the teacher began handing out several handheld multiscanners, Ronin’s implant notified him of an incoming message.

  “Almost all engineers work in teams. These will be yours for today,” Raverus said.

  Ronin skimmed through the message: Hang on, isn’t Simons that bald kid? I'm teamed up with HIM?

  This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

  “Not to worry though,” Raverus chuckled, breaking Ronin out of his train of thought. “No designer works blind.”

  He then sent everyone a KGC-fusion reactor blueprint.

  Glancing over it, Ronin saw the blueprint specifying the reactor’s various components, their dimensions, their associated electrical parameters, as well as a dozen other things.

  “Every tool needed for what I expect to be an excellent repair session has been provided. If you find a damaged component, query the drones and they will bring out a spare. Oh, and on that note, in case there's some greenhorns amongst you, I've attached an assembler instruction manual to the message as well.”

  The teams grouped up around their respective fusion reactors, but Ronin sat down, beginning to read the blueprint.

  There's got to be over 800 pages here! How are we supposed to read this, let alone finish the repairs in 8 hours?

  “Leave this to me, my dad knows the curriculum administrator and had me practice on this engine type many many times.” Ronin heard the bald Simons confidently lisp.

  Walking up to the control panel, Simons began operating the assembler. Ronin, on the other hand, didn't move. To repair the engine, he first needed to understand it.

  “Hey, what are you doing? I know Simons said he’d handle it, but you can at least try to be helpful!” One of the new teammates said as she marched up to Ronin.

  “Sorry, I was reading. How can I help?”

  Shaking her head, the student spoke back sardonically: “Start by using that multiscanner, just send the data over to Simons. Or is that too much for you maybe?”

  Not bothering to argue, Ronin got up and walked over to the conveyor belt.

  Seems I’ll be tight on time.

  He now not only had to operate the multiscanner whilst reading the blueprint. He also had to find out what was wrong with the engine with enough time to spare for it to be fixable. All in 8 hours?

  Sheesh, it’ll take a miracle to solve this, he thought.

  But... He’d be damned if he was going to rely on Simons for everything.

  "..."

  Time passed as Ronin did his best to skim through the blueprint. And as the team kept troubleshooting, trying and failing to figure out what was wrong with the engine, the assembler disconnected the reactor piece by piece.

  By the time 2 hours had gone by, 60% of the reactor had been disassembled, and Ronin looked around the hangar. It seemed the other teams were far behind.

  At most they’ve disconnected 25% of their components. At least Simons is fast. He’s got that going for him.

  Surprisingly, the prim girl, Anastasia, had only disassembled 10% of her reactor.

  Shrugging his shoulders, Ronin went back to his reading, and by the 3'rd hour, the reactor was fully disassembled. They were still no closer to finding out what was wrong though. Also, Ronin was only halfway through the text.

  At this speed, even if I do find out what's wrong, there will only be 2 hours left to repair the damn thing by the time I'm done.

  Freed up from using the multiscanner, he sat down again, closing himself off from anything other than the blueprint itself. Page after page scrolled rapidly past his eyes as Ronin's focus grew.

  Faster...Faster! He inwardly chanted.

  Sweat began trickling down from his forehead and he started multitasking, comparing the expected component specifications with the multiscanner data he’d memorized.

  From having 5 hours left to do the repair, the time left trickled down to 4 hours, then 3...

  This is… I know what's wrong! Ronin's face lit up in a big grin as he looked over at his team.

  They were also sweating at this point, but for a different reason. They were no closer to figuring out what was wrong

  “Simons!” He called, and the bulbous boy jumped at the sudden loud noise.

  “Uh, what!?”

  “I know what's wrong with the reactor, is there enough time to put it back together again?”

  As the other team members were about to disparage Ronin, Simons spoke up.

  “With 3 hours left, we will be cutting it close. My personal best is about 2 and a half hours, so we should be able to make it if we start now. But how can you know what's wrong with it? You barely even looked!”

  We’ve got this in the bag then! With a slight smirk, Ronin began his performance:

  “Maybe I didn’t poke around the reactor like you guys, but remember, I analyzed every single component you disconnected from the machine. By comparing them to the blueprint parameters, I found several components with values below the safety limits.”

  “You mean to say that... with a machine containing over 10000 different pieces of complicated tech, you... compared every single piece!? Each part of the reactor has several specific values. From heat capacity to electrical resistivity, there's at least a dozen parameters to account for... and you somehow compared all of them?”

  Tutting at their disbelief, Ronin sent over his findings.

  “As you can see, the values are off on these breeding blankets. The magnets containing the fusion reaction also show signs of damage. My guess is that if you analyze the properties of those magnets, you will find the reason why the fusion reactor is offline.”

  “Playing a prank like this on such an impor… Oh, hang on, I see it now. There is definitely something off here.” A female team member commented.

  “This deviation… It looks like heat damage.” Another added.

  Simons’s eyes lit up and he began to proudly explain, his lisp, still very much evident:

  “My father told me about how these types of reactors often suffer from wear and tear. Also, if you crank up the output too much, it damages the heat buffer. A damaged buffer means a damaged magnet and a damaged magnet means runaway plasma and runaway plasma means—”

  “Yes, yes, we know. The plasma will cause the reactor to explode, and you can say goodbye to whatever spaceship you're in.” Someone from the team finished.

  Ronin wordlessly thanked the man. Simons could be a bit much, it seemed the rest of the team agreed. That being said though, the bald youth knew his stuff. Without him, there’s no way they’d make it.

  They had the drones fetch replacement parts and as time ticked by, 3 hours soon became 1.

  Ronin clenched his fists as Simons worked. Their main obstacle now, was the clock.

  There’s still 10 minutes left! Come on, Simons, come on!

  As the final minute was about to pass, the last component was installed, and the entire team let out a breath in relief. The reactor was back together again.

  “...”

  Straightening his suit, Raverus Ravent electrically brushed his hair to the side, then called out:

  “Time’s up ladies and gentlemen! Now, who's up first?”

  Anastasia and her team quickly raised their hands.

  Why are they volunteering? Ronin wondered. By the time we disassembled 60 % of the engine, they were at 10 % and we barely made it in time!

  As the reactor was transported into a blast chamber, diagnostics were run on it, and with a nod from the teacher, it was booted up.

  VZZZZ!

  It turned on smoothly, humming calmly as its data began displaying. Be it radiation leakage, engine efficiency or magnetic deviation, all values were shown as green.

  “Great job Anastasia,” the professor said. “From now on you five will be called team 1. You were the first to make yourselves known, and you did so excellently. Congratulations!”

  Ronin could see the bright, prideful smiles on Anastasia and her team.

  Just how had they done it?

  “Anyone else!?” Raverus asked.

  Not a single student raised their hands. Apparently, Ronin's team lacked faith in what they’d just done.

  Alright, if no one else is going to do it… Ronin thought, then stuck his hand in the air.

  “Mr. Maximus… I see you want your engine tested? You’re not playing a joke on us, are you?” The teacher chuckled, arching an eyebrow.

  “A joke? We repaired the engine, Mr. Ravent,” replied Ronin.

  “Are you sure about that?” Asked the teacher, amused.

  Simons and his other teammates seemed to be trying to hide behind Ronin’s back. Some covered their faces, others looked down upon the iron floor below.

  “Sure, if the so-called team 1 could do it, why not us?” Ronin clapped back.

  He was used to much higher-pressure situations than this. Some arrogant highfalutin teacher looking down his nose at him? What a joke!

  Raverus shook his head in exasperation. The rest of the class began whispering and pointing. But Ronin was unyielding, and... eventually, the engine was transported over towards the blast chamber for testing.

  As various diagnostic programs began running though, the teacher's eyes widened in shock. The reactor... looked fine?

  Ronin's hands were shaking. This could only mean one thing. The engine was ready for live action testing!

  A digitized female voice began counting down:

  [Engaging reactor in 4, 3, 2, 1.]

  VZZZZ!

  The diagnostics screen began displaying the engine's data...

  “Less than 0.1% overall deviation from the blueprint standard. This reactor is running like it came straight out of the factory!” Raverus exclaimed, his normally monotonous face contorted in shock.

  It worked! I was right all along, Ronin inwardly celebrated.

  Simons’s eyes lit up as he looked at Ronin with fervor.

  “That was incredible. How did you do that?” He asked.

  “I, uh…I already told you, didn't I?”

  Before Ronin had the chance to elaborate further however, Raverus spoke up:

  “You all, except team 1, screwed up. Tell us Anastasia, what did you do before you began to disassemble the engine?”

  “We looked up how to run basic pre-ignition diagnostics on the reactor. Since we could risk an explosion, radiation damage or any other number of issues, we first checked the blueprints.”

  “Exactly, did everyone hear that? Never just start the engine. Also, what you don't do is, just out of nowhere, randomly start disassembling it! The Diagnostics comes first! Always! If this had been an antimatter reactor and you'd just done what Maximus's team did, we’d all be dead by now!”

  Ronin mentally slapped himself. Of course! How had he missed it? It was so obvious.

  “As for Mr. Maximus and his team, I still don't know how you managed to repair it. No engine is supposed to be repaired that way.”

  “I analyzed all the components then compared them to the blueprint values sir,” Ronin said.

  “Impossible!” The teacher snorted. “None of you have the implants for it. If you did, I’d know. But, if you don't want to say, fine. Regardless, I will award you both.”

  Ronin's implant pinged, notifying him he'd received 20 bonus points.

  “...”

  With the exercise over, it was time to do some networking. With his newly acquired factory, Ronin, along with Nagata had made a series of employment contracts for when he’d begin hiring workers for the company.

  On that note, I should give the company a name... Quick fix spaceships? Smooth solution incorporated? No, let's make it simple. Ronin tapped his fingers in the air, filling in the final piece required for the contracts to be valid, the company's name: Maximus Solutions.

  Quickly passing from group to group, he asked if anyone was interested in joining the company. There was not much luck though. With Anastasia, he wouldn't take no for an answer but was eventually flatly denied. She'd gotten visibly annoyed by that point, so he'd stopped — even he wasn't that shameless.

  As Ronin continued down the ladder of competence, getting rejected again and again, it finally struck him. Maybe his previous stunt was, in fact, not enough for the adoration and praise he'd expected. Both him and Maximus Solutions lacked credibility.

  “Huh!?” Over the corner of his shoulder, he noticed Simons.

  Had he been following him this entire time? He noticed the expectant eyes on the bulbous boy.

  It can’t be, can it? Does he want to join the company?

  Simons did know his way around an assembler... and Ronin did need the manpower. When it came to the students who might be competent, Simons should also be near the top of that list. For some reason though, the thought of matching Simons and the idea of "working together" hadn't entered his mind.

  “Ah, Simons, didn’t see you there,” Ronin got out awkwardly.

  “I've been here a long time. You talked about a company?”

  Why do I feel like I'm being pressured?

  “Ah, yeah. It’s a small company seeking new talents for long term loyalty. Are you interested?”

  Simons picked his pockets, extracted an evaporation spray and began spraying his neck, seemingly trying to appear more presentable.

  “I might be very interested. When we were fixing the fusion reactor earlier, did you really memorize the whole blueprint? It’s not a trick, right?”

  “No trick, it’s part of the reason why the company hired me,” Ronin lied.

  He sneakily made some small adjustments to the contract, then handed it over to Simons. The bald student became puzzled as he started reading.

  “The employee is required to possess, or develop a strong ability to communicate? What does that mean?” He asked.

  “Ah that. It's a minor thing.” Ronin replied. “Don't worry about it!”

  "..."

  After assuaging Simons on the strange new clause in the contract, Ronin headed home. He’d aced the practical, acquired a helper and soon the factory was ready. Life was good.

  Arriving before his apartment, he opened the door.

  CLICK

  What was that? He looked down, seeing a loose wire on the ground.

  What the—

  BOOM!

  A bomb went off as an enormous explosion rang across the floor. His academy suit's single-use energy shield protected him from some of the blast, but it was not built for something like this. As all went black and Ronin's consciousness faded, the words of Raverus Ravent flashed past his mind.

  He'd been arrogant. He hadn't thought someone would do something like this. Now he was paying the price.