I Became a Genius Mechanic at the Academy

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Now, there wasn’t a single person in the Academy who didn’t know Ed.

From the entrance ceremony, he captivated everyone’s hearts with a speech that instilled pride in nobility, and during the first assessment battle, he turned the tides with meticulous strategies, easily defeating Max Zigmund with a weapon we had never seen before.

Furthermore, in the second assessment battle, he boldly poked the Minotaur King and showcased a mad performance by splitting it in half from 20 meters above, defeating Isabella, who was considered the strongest cadet.

So, expectations were naturally high.

Edgar Fix.

What fresh surprise would this crazy guy show us next?

“I forfeit.”

“!?”

But his next move was to forfeit.

Claiming that his gauntlet was broken and he couldn’t fight, he gave up the match.

In response, Lucas, who was supposed to face Ed, approached him and expressed his disappointment.

“I had high hopes since you were my opponent, but to forfeit like this is unfortunate. You could easily have fought me on equal footing even without that gauntlet.”

Lucas, the sole heir of the Elmar Grand Duke family, was quite disappointed that he couldn’t face Ed.

With Ed’s recognition skyrocketing once more after the second round, if he had defeated Ed, it would not only elevate his status but also significantly dampen Ed’s momentum.

“Haha. To say we would have fought on even terms is too much praise. Without the gauntlet, I wouldn’t stand a chance at all. To be honest, even with it, I currently have no confidence in facing the Elmar Prince’s spells.”

Thus, Ed provided Lucas with words he would love to hear.

What was important to him was his status and reputation.

Since he brought his crew, he lowered himself while lifting Lucas moderately.

“And, I feel overvalued compared to my skills. I am satisfied at this level.”

Then, he lowered himself once again.

With all the busy work preparing for the scenario of ‘doom’ that would occur in the distant future, there was no time for pride.

Moreover, since he was of commoner status, it was the proper decorum to show overwhelming results through actions while lowering himself in speech.

“Ahem. If you put it that way, there’s no helping it. Let’s look forward to the next time.”

After hearing what he wanted to hear, Lucas patted Ed on the shoulder twice and turned to leave.

As soon as Lucas disappeared, Ed leaned back in his chair and muttered to himself.

“The S-Class is already confirmed anyway, so there’s no need to fight.”

Ed’s reason for forfeiting against Lucas was simple.

As he said, there was no need to fight any further.

He had already scored a lot in the first and second assessment battles, and Ed had already passed the score required for S-Class.

Thus, the upcoming third and fourth assessments were merely for ranking competition and had nothing to do with class assignments.

“Isabella will probably come in first again this time.”

Isabella, who had lost to him in the last second battle.

But Isabella was able to participate in the third round.

Originally, the second round was designed as a ‘fake tournament’ to match cadets of similar skills, bringing out maximum potential while applying the pressure that if they lost, it would be the end.

Ultimately, to advance to the third round, it was important to combine the scores obtained in both the first and second rounds.

For that reason, Isabella safely advanced to the third round, and if Ed’s prediction was correct, she would take first place in this class assessment.

Currently, no cadet could withstand her mental attacks.

“It’s ultimately pointless.”

However, for Ed, such ranking was meaningless.

What mattered more to Ed was surviving from the disasters that would come someday rather than proving his skills.

Moreover, now that he had formed bonds with several important NPCs, including James, he wanted to save all of them if possible.

After all, the play direction of ‘El Pandor Runtera’ was to awaken as many NPCs as possible to prepare for the disaster.

“I need to get stronger.”

To do that, he needed to get stronger than he currently was.

The reason he could kill the Minotaur King was simply that he understood its weaknesses and his strengths well, but he still had many shortcomings in terms of combat against others.

Especially with several monsters, including the four heirs of the Duke’s family in S-Class, it was essential to not fall behind if he wanted to build relationships with them.

So what did he need to do?

“Suit.”

The answer was undoubtedly the suit.

To equip his entire body with gear like the ‘Plasma Beam Titanium Alloy Gauntlet.’

However, there remained a lot of process before reaching that stage.

Currently, he wasn’t even capable of properly making a ‘superconductive mana merge engine thruster.’

The thruster he had used recently to kill the Minotaur King was just a prototype.

Because of this, he couldn’t fly freely, and the output was unstable.

He couldn’t even control speed, which was crucial for flying.

“Hmm… How about optimizing the prototype?”

So Ed thought.

Since he couldn’t make a suit on par with Iron Man right away, let’s optimize the prototype.

Even if he couldn’t fly freely, if he used the thruster well, he could at least implement functions like a ‘dash.’

Furthermore, if he developed fibers that had excellent elasticity and adhesion, he could use them together with the thruster as a ‘three-dimensional maneuvering device.’

Instead of clumsily descending from a height of 20 meters, he could target the enemy’s blind spots freely.

“Alright. The first goal is the three-dimensional maneuvering device.”

Thus, Ed set the goal of developing a three-dimensional maneuvering device for the enhancement of his combat power.

If he perfected this, he might be able to contend against the S-class cadets gathered with monsters.

“Next is… the enhanced suit.”

And the next thing he thought of was the enhanced suit.

To utilize the three-dimensional maneuvering device perfectly, it wasn’t enough to just strap the thruster on his back.

He absolutely needed enhanced fibers that would assist the three-dimensional maneuvering device, and a special device to easily fire and recover it was essential.

Furthermore, since this special device must always be close to the body, a specially crafted enhanced suit was indispensable.

“Okay. Let’s proceed like this for now.”

With a rough plan completed, Ed immediately began to draft the design.

He added wire functionality to the gauntlet, changed the thruster prototype design to suit the three-dimensional maneuvering device, and added storage functionality around his waist, thighs, calves, and wrists for various special weapons.

As a result of sketching a rough design, a suit was drawn that added a mechanical scent to the Batman suit.

The design was quite to his liking.

“Shall I get started right away?”

Just in time, he had some spare time.

Ed decided to dive into development right away.

After all, for about the next three days, he would be engaged in the ranking battles of the cadets through the third and fourth rounds, so he had about three days to do whatever he wanted.

Ed immediately pulled a hammer out of his inventory.

***

Three days later, the result everyone had expected emerged.

Isabella had without fail taken first place.

Moreover, Lucas of the Elmar Duke family had taken second place as expected.

At this point, there were barely any who could block his specialty spells, and the only competitor left to try against him would be Enya from the Cruel Duke family.

However, Enya stubbornly devoted herself to swordsmanship and ended up in fifth place.

Her sword techniques were still in development, leading to numerous gaps and weaknesses, making her susceptible to being targeted.

In any case, it was something only a monster like Enya could achieve to rank fifth relying solely on sword techniques seen only in cartoons.

However, among the distinguished four great duke families, there was a child ranked ninth.

Claire.

Primarily adept at buffing spells, she couldn’t exert much power in one-on-one battles.

Nevertheless, being ranked ninth as a member of the four great duke families was by no means disgraceful.

In fact, for her to have fought through numerous strong opponents to rank ninth as a support-type spellcaster was indeed commendable.

In reality, Claire herself was quite satisfied with her ninth-place finish.

“Our daughter… could at least come in second…”

However, the head of the Cruel family, Swordmaster Irelia, was not pleased with the current situation.

Rightly so, as his daughter was a genius in swordsmanship.

Had she wielded proper killing techniques, she surely would have easily secured third or fourth place.

Moreover, Swordmaster Irelia anticipated that Lucas could also be defeated by her.

That he, a daughter-fool, might be biased toward Enya when thinking such was one thing, but it was widely recognized as a common understanding that when Enya gave her all, she could defeat Lucas.

In fact, before she got lost in sword techniques, she had repeatedly beaten Lucas in friendly duels.

“Sigh… Our daughter…”

Hence, Irelia let out a long sigh and rubbed his temples.

He wanted to see the scene of his daughter, having secured first or second place, receiving the trophy with a bright smile, yet that historic moment had fluttered away like vapor.

All because of those sword techniques of hers.

“Hmm?”

At that moment, Irelia’s eyes narrowed.

His daughter, who had been looking around, suddenly spotted a guy who resembled a concubine and started to follow him.

Moreover, the expression on his daughter’s face after calling out to him was completely shocked.

That bright smile on his daughter’s face was one that he had not seen since she was nine years old.

Swordmaster Irelia narrowed his eyebrows and stared at Ed.

‘That guy… what is he doing? The flow of mana around him isn’t normal…’