I Became a Genius Mechanic at the Academy

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Early evening.

I looked at the ‘Slave Training Institute Founding Application’ in my hand with a satisfied expression.

With this, I had officially documented 17 slaves who would follow my orders.

In other words, I had secured the administrative procedures to make them work for me.

[Club Founding Application]

▶ Club Name: A group of individuals studying new existing orders with a focus on mechanical discoveries from the perspective of vision.

▶ Faculty Advisor: Elena von Eilide Rosario

▶ Subject: Research, Development, Endurance Training, Exploration,

▶ President: David Arsen

▶ Vice President: Edgar Fix

The composition is perfect.

Just in case something happens, I can use my Elena chance, and since David is the president, he can handle all the bothersome tasks.

As the vice president, I can wear the armband and simply command them without taking any responsibility for the club activities.

They’ll definitely suck up to me as much as they’ve insulted and criticized me.

“By the way.”

Honestly, I shouldn’t be idle like this.

At the ‘First Outdoor Class Event’, a demon race made an appearance.

An event that had never happened even once in dozens of retries of this game had occurred.

‘This early…’

It was way too early.

It should have waited until the second semester of the second year at least, but the demon race had already shown up before the first semester of the first year had even ended.

Was my steep growth affecting this world after all?

‘…It must be certain.’

And it probably was.

My relationship with the heroine had also advanced much earlier than usual, and the Dwarf Alliance Kingdom and Empire, which would originally have to be hostile until the day the world was destroyed, had turned into friendly relations.

My actions had accelerated the flow of the world.

‘Perhaps the activities of the Demon Church will speed up too…’

The Demon Church.

They typically appear during the second semester of the second year when demon races manifest, primarily aiming to corrupt heroines.

Because all the heroines in this game possess remarkable talents.

‘I always have to be on guard against the Top 30.’

Consequently, the talented students that the Demon Church might target needed to be observed carefully.

I couldn’t know when and where the Demon Church would approach them and corrupt them into demonic henchmen.

“The workload keeps increasing. I’m going to be busy to death.”

With the event hastened, I became busier.

I had to attend academy classes while also crafting suits and various weapons.

In the meantime, I had to create a computer and monitor the movements of the Demon Church.

‘At least it’s good that one thing has been eliminated.’

Fortunately, one task had been removed from my plate.

The “Equipment Review” held once a month was now abolished.

Having already proven my technical talents and receiving the title of ‘Savior’ from the Dwarf Alliance Kingdom, there was no longer any need to evaluate me.

It was quite comical for nobles of the same rank to review someone who had already received a Count title like me.

‘Well, there’s still one last one to go.’

However, it had been decided to hold one last review.

This was because the dukes who funded the establishment of the academy were being persistent.

They likely wanted to contact me through the venue of the review.

Last time, they only sent their retainers, but this time they seemed intent on coming in person.

‘Well, that’s not necessarily a bad thing.’

It certainly was one last bother, but not entirely bad.

How often do you gather dukes and put on a stage show?

If used well, this opportunity might yield unexpected rewards.

When I was a commoner, I had to host the nobles unilaterally, but now that I had the title of Count, I could reasonably trade from a somewhat equal position.

The kind of big catch that might occur from that trade was something I wouldn’t know until I tried.

“Hmm… what should I make this time?”

However, to catch a big prize, I needed to throw out some bait.

If I didn’t present something impressive like an air conditioner, they wouldn’t bite at my fishing hook.

“…Hmm. I can’t think of any suitable bait.”

But no matter how much I pondered, no inspiration came to me.

Is there anything else that holds power like an air conditioner on a scorching summer day?

So I decided to put off that problem until the inspiration struck.

For now, I had to focus on corrupting the members of the bunch into my slaves.

Currently, I needed slaves who would work at the ‘large research institute’ and ‘factory’ I had in mind until death.

“Fix, is your work going well?”

“Woowoooong~!”

But to truly become my slave, a certain level of qualification was necessary.

They needed to have basic knowledge of physics.

Hence, Fix was currently writing:

“General Physics”, “Modern Physics”, “Classical Mechanics”, “Electromagnetism”, “Thermal and Statistical Physics”, “Quantum Mechanics”, “Mathematical Physics”, “Quantum Field Theory”, “Relativity”, “Astrophysics and Cosmology”, “Particle Physics”, “Solid State Physics”, “Solid State Theory”, “Optics”, “Quantum Information Theory”, “Insulative Strange Matter”.

Because I needed to raise the level of my slaves to execute my orders well.

‘Of course, there will be strong resistance.’

Naturally, if I told them to learn all that, there would be some strong backlash.

They’d surely whine about when they’d have time to learn all this while being busy attending academy classes.

—Kiiing!

But that wasn’t my concern.

At that time, my Repulsor Beam wouldn’t stay still.

People don’t change easily, but isn’t that because they haven’t been hit enough?

‘Of course, I should give them a carrot too.’

However, if it were just punishment, the slaves would inevitably run away.

To make sure they endure my whips, I should dangle at least one reward they would gain from overcoming the pain.

In that case, what kind of reward should I present for them to voluntarily dedicate themselves as slaves?

…Yeah. That’d be good.

That thing that drives men crazy.

***

During the last period on Wednesday, “Stress Coping Methods and Sleep Techniques.”

Inside the classroom, a silent war was happening with Ed at the center.

As a result of randomly rotating group members, Ed and Isabella had become partners yet again.

So Enya was glaring at Ed and Isabella’s spot with an exasperated expression.

How could it be that, of all people, Isabella ended up in Ed’s group for the second time?

“Heheh. It’s amusing. Now she is openly aiming for you, it seems?”

At that moment, Isabella glanced over at Charlotte.

Charlotte was also staring at Ed with a similar expression to Enya’s.

However, her timid nature, which had seated itself like a part of her body, was yet to be fixed; as soon as she felt Isabella’s gaze, she startled and ducked her head.

Isabella suppressed a laugh and turned her attention back to Ed.

“Anyway, thanks for the support again. I actually slept really well last time.”

Isabella had to deliberately control her emotions so they wouldn’t overflow.

Because of this, she had been unable to get a proper amount of sleep.

If she failed to control her emotions unconsciously, she could go berserk.

“Well… it’s my turn to take the lead this time, right?”

“……..”

However, Ed’s reply was unexpected.

“This time it’s my turn to take the lead, you know?”

“Ah.”

Now that I think about it, that had happened.

Isabella had scored 0 points in the last practical evaluation because she fell asleep.

Normally, she would wake up at a reasonable hour and then put Ed, her partner, to sleep, but she had just conked out instead, preventing her from putting him to sleep.

“So let’s switch this time. I’ll fall asleep first and then wake up to put you to sleep, Isabella.”

“….Okay.”

Thus, Isabella nodded obediently.

She couldn’t afford to get another 0 score in the practical evaluation.

So Ed went to lie on the bed first.

However, when he got on the bed but saw Isabella just staring at him without doing anything, he tilted his head and asked.

“Um, aren’t we going to start?”

“……..”

What on earth was she thinking, with her ears turning bright red as she stared at him?

Eventually, she cleared her throat and spoke.

“Uh… could you move over?”

“Uh… what?”

“I want to try your method too. The one you used to put me to sleep last time…”

“……….”

Isabella, who was extremely averse to contact with others.

Here she was, saying she wanted to hug him herself.

The heat rushed to Ed’s face.

“Ah, okay.”

But his body quickly gave way.

Ed turned to his side and waited for Isabella to come up.

The situation was extremely embarrassing, but he would never turn away from her, whom he had loved through many regressions.

‘…Regress? No, it’s a retry.’

Ed corrected his internal monologue.

This isn’t regression but retry.

This world was after all a gaming world, and he was meeting Isabella through the monitor.

-Swoosh.

As Ed switched to different thoughts, he felt a presence behind him.

The sound of the bed sheet brushing against Isabella’s skin.

Just hearing that sound made his heart start pounding.

The thought that Isabella was right behind him and was preparing to hug him made heat surge through his entire body in an instant.

“……..”

However, even though a few seconds had passed, Isabella didn’t move.

The presence behind him remained, yet she was doing nothing after getting on the bed.

‘Is she hesitant?’

In that moment, Ed could deduce one thing.

Isabella was hesitating whether to hug him or not.

He couldn’t help but picture her blushing face as she fumbled.

He wanted to turn around right away to see that cute face.

‘That would be embarrassing, though.’

However, it felt somewhat inappropriate to face each other.

Last time, he was able to do something like that because of the overlap with memories from his previous life, but now, while his mind was clear, he didn’t think he could muster the courage to do that.

“I’ll hug you!”

At that moment, Isabella’s unexpected proclamation came as her hand swooped in.

Her soft, white arm wrapped around his abdomen, and he felt something soft against his back as it spread and bloomed.

With that, a shock ran down his spine, and a tingling sensation spread throughout his body.

In addition, Isabella’s heated breaths occasionally brushed against his nape, and just that was enough to make him feel dizzy.

-Kuuuuuuuk…

However, looking at Isabella’s hand calmed down that tension a bit.

She was so tense that she was squeezing his shirt tightly.

Her hands were dripping with sweat, to the point where they could stain the shirt.

“Then I’m going to start.”

Her tone of voice, in stark contrast, was calm.

She was doing her utmost to keep from showing her nervousness.

In a way, that was very much like Isabella.

She must be an ordinary girl inside, but she had to live the life of a witch.

“The whole world is a snowy country.”

And Isabella followed through with what Ed had done.

The unique image association technique he always used to put Isabella to sleep.

‘…This isn’t bad.’

In fact, it felt pretty nice.

It felt even more familiar due to how used to it he was.

Her body hugging him, the warmth he felt, and her breathing.

All of it was a familiar and nostalgic embrace he’d experienced in his previous life.

“We’re together in the cave.”

Gradually, they entered the cave after breaking through the snowstorm.

Isabella said that they were warming themselves by the campfire there, along with Ed.

-Kuuuk…

She pulled him in tighter.

She too had become engrossed in the associative imagery she was reciting.

-Kuud… Kuud…

However, Ed slowly began to doze off.

Memories from the last loop flooded his mind, blurring the line between reality and the past.

-Whew…

Ed’s consciousness shifted to the past.

In a snow-covered land ravaged by a blizzard.

He was tightly embracing the cold, lifeless body of Isabella.

Demon corpses littered the area, but soon the demons themselves would start to swarm back.

There was no time to mourn her death.

-WAAAAAHHHH!!! HAAAAAHHH!!!

He eventually went into a rage and began swinging his sword.

He doubted if the emotional expressions of a game character were detailed enough to feel this way, but quickly dismissed it as unimportant.

After all, he had possessed a character in a game, so perhaps his memories were adjusting?

-AHHH… AHHHHHH…

And once again, he was screaming in the middle of the pile of demonic corpses.

His arm was punctured, he had a gash in his chest, and his whole body was drenched in demonic blood as he cried out in the direction where Isabella had once been.

-Ding.

At that moment, a bluish hologram appeared in front of his past self.

It was a message window that read [Switching to Admin Mode].

‘What…?’

But the moment he saw that message window, an overwhelming drowsiness washed over him.

The character in the game was freaking out while looking at that message window, shouting some things into the void.

[…!■■■■! My settings…!■■■■…!■■■■■■! ■■ ■■…!]

‘What in the world… is he saying…?’

Amidst the blurring consciousness, he caught snippets of what his past self was shouting.

And then, his body began to be enveloped in light.

Wrapped in light, he emitted odd sounds that were indistinguishable between laughter and crying while trembling.

‘Now… I’m really… falling asleep…’

That scene was the last thing he remembered before his consciousness faded.

-Swirl!

In an instant.

Countless images rushed past, as if hundreds, thousands of pictures were being played at 0.0001 seconds apart.

Among those thousands of images, Ed managed to catch a few specific ones: a future landscape with a sign saying [■■■ Research Institute] and a lab uniform with a name tag that read [Professor Ha Do-yoon].

‘Professor…?’

However, the last image he saw was strange.

Ha Do-yoon was his real name, but why did the title of professor appear next to it?

Wasn’t he a university student on a prestigious martial arts course?

It flew by too quickly, suggesting he must have seen it incorrectly.

‘Yeah… I must have seen it wrong—’

But before he could realize that, Ed’s consciousness boiled over.

As if he’d pressed the power button on his consciousness, it abruptly cut out.

“……?”

When he opened his eyes again, he couldn’t remember anything.

Only Isabella’s slightly annoyed face entered his view.

“……Ha. You really know how to sleep. I was hugging you from behind.”

“Uh… what time is it now?”

“The class is over. I couldn’t wake you since you were sleeping so soundly.”

“Ah.”

“Hehe. Now we’re even. Since you woke up, I’ll take my leave. See you next week.”

Isabella said this and hurriedly stood up, walking out into the hallway.

Once her footsteps faded, Ed let out a large yawn and stretched.

Then he began to reflect on the dream he just had.

“Was that… a strange dream?”

But nothing came to mind.

All he could vaguely recall was his character in the monitor crying out due to Isabella’s death.

Finally, Ed scratched the back of his head and got up from his seat.

Wednesday classes were over, and now it was free time from Wednesday night to Sunday.

It was time to train those pesky little bastards to be my slaves.