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Volume 1 Chapter 10 – Battle Mages from the Country without an Army
“Dammit…… God dammit……” 8 a.m. was the scheduled time, but Ouyang Tao had hurriedly left an hour earlier to go to the administration building. He complained on one side, while walking on the other.
He wasn’t complaining about others, but was actually blaming himself.
As the saying goes, “luck doesn’t come in pairs, and misfortune never comes alone”. It wasn’t until last night, when both seniors Monica and Chen Feng came back to the dormitory, did Ouyang Tao find out that his rash action of leaving the banquet had caused several problems.
He had missed the chance to meet with his guidance teacher, and left his guidance teacher alone in humiliation. It was as if Ouyang Tao was seeking death…… It was too late for Ouyang Tao’s regrets.
Therefore, on the first day of school, Ouyang Tao got up early in order to go to his teacher’s office to apologise.
Arriving at the administration building, he stood in front of Office 702. Ouyang Tao went through his apology once again in his mind before pressing the doorbell.
“Please enter.”
After obtaining permission, Ouyang Tai entered the room, only to see young man in a dark purple cloak arranging the desk filled with documents. This caused him to wonder whether he came too early and was disturbing his teacher’s work.
“Don’t just stand there. Close the door and come in before you speak.”
“Yes.” Ouyang Tao closed the door, walked in front of the desk, and prepared to apologise.
But the professor put down his documents and spoke before Ouyang Tao could: “Are you Ouyang Tao?”
“Yes, I am.”
“Okay, I’m Lu Yun, the guidance teacher that will be in charge of you for the next five years. You can call me Teacher Sir, Professor Lu, or just call me Teacher. I’m fine with all of them.” As he said that, he held out his hand.
“Um…… H-hello Professor Lu. Calling him “Teacher” right away seem too informal and “Teacher Sir” too formal. Not knowing which to decide on, Ouyang Tao just chose the middle one, and shook his hands. He took the opportunity to try and apologise: “Yesterday I……”
“It’s okay, I know what happened yesterday. You don’t have to talk about it anymore. However, I do hope that you would be able to learn some table etiquette within this term to avoid anything similar from happening again.”
“Yes.” Ouyang Tao straightened his back and felt that even though his teacher was generous and straightforward, at the same time he showed his strictness.
“Okay, follow me to the Battle Arena. I will tell you the exact situation on the way.”
Although he didn’t know why he was going to the Arena immediately, Ouyang Tao still followed Lu Yun and left the office.
Even though there was a bus in school, Lu Yun and Ouyang Tao still chose to walk, which was a bit unusual. This allowed them to have more time together.
On the way, the main person who spoke was not Lu Yun, but was actually Ouyang Tao. This was because Lu Yun had to plan the lesson and time table according to the student, and Ouyang Tao used this opportunity to know more about the situation of the academy .
Students from the three special departments all had their own assigned guidance teacher and all lessons and conduct were decided by him. Their daily necessities and food were all free, and there was even a one hundred silver bursary each month —— the money was what Ouyang Tao was most interested in.
But he was even more certain that the money was not for free.
“So this means that everything you know was self-taught?”
“Yes, because I was always interested in that sort of stuff. Furthermore, I didn’t know how to use any other forms of magic. As a result, I single-mindedly concentrated on Mechanics.
From this conversation, Lu Yun could tell that Ouyang Tao was a student with potential and high learning capabilities, but he lacked something important: “I can see your potential, and truthfully, I can’t teach you much about techniques and Mechanical Engineering. You can learn most of it yourself.”
“Ah?” Ouyang Tao was stunned for a while. He came here to learn higher level techniques, but why did this teacher say that there wasn’t much to teach? “Then…… Then Professor Lu, what do you plan…… to teach me?”
“Combat.”
“Combat?!” Although he had predicted it, Ouyang Tao couldn’t help but be shocked after actually hearing it.
“Didn’t the headmaster already say it in his speech yesterday? Augustus Academy is a Battle Academy……” Lu Yun suddenly stopped and turned around, strictly staring at Ouyang Tao and continued: “And a Mechanical Engineering Mage is a Battle Mage.”
“B…… Battle Mage?” Hearing this, Ouyang Tao was even more stunned than before.
“Hmm, from your reaction, it seems like you don’t know anything about this.”
“This…… Yeah…… Professor Lu, could you please tell me more?” Since coming to the academy, Ouyang Tao felt that Augustus Academy was definitely not a normal academy, and the Mechanical Engineering field was not normal. He wanted to know what it was actually like.
“Of course, since you’re a member of the Mechanical Engineering Department, there are things you have the right to know.” Hearing all this, chills ran down Ouyang Tao’s spine. He felt that anything he was going to hear next would definitely not be normal. “Let me summarise, you know the the Principality of Ryan is a model peace country that does not have any armies. We only have a few armed police and a magician squad, correct?”
“Yes.”
“But that’s actually not the whole story. The magician squad is actually our country’s standby army, and in the magician squad, Mechanical Magicians form the core of the attack force.”
“Ah? Why?”
“It’s quite simple actually. Think about it, if you could expand your powers, then after the power up, the things you could do would be unimaginable.” But Ouyang Tao could only shake his head. He couldn’t imagine it. Therefore, Lu Yun continued to explain: “As long as you have enough materials, a skilled Mechanical Engineering Mage could easily construct a squad of a Mechanical troops in short amount of time. Furthermore, he could also collect the scrap materials back to reconstruct another attack force and continue battling. If we battle like this, our country has no need to spend money to supply a regular army. Do you understand if I put it this way?”
Ouyang Tao blinked his eyes in a silly manner. Even though he could understand what his teacher had just said, the contents of the conversation was as difference as the heavens and earth, when compared to what he had originally thought.
I only wanted to quietly find a high income job, earn some money, and enjoy happy days!
“Does that mean I have to join the battlefield next time?”
“Well, that’s for sure. I said all this in hopes that you would understand two things. Firstly, I hope you understand your responsibility and mission.”
“Yes, I understand it now.” Although he understood, Ouyang Tao had already started to regret.
“Secondly, I hope you understand why the Mechanical Engineering department is so strict and cautious about recruiting commoners as students.”
About this, however, Ouyang Tao still did not understand: “Why?”
“Think about it for a while, a Mechanical Magician is equal to an army. If they rebel, it will be an entire army’s worth of a riot. Therefore, something like an army, is naturally…… you understand?”
“I understand.” Ouyang Tao finally understood what his teacher meant. Things like an army naturally should only be controlled by a ruler; in other words, a noble.
“Also, there’s another thing I want you to be clear of. Augustus Academy’s graduation rate is only about sixty percent of its students. Among those who do not graduate, seventy percent of them are due to deaths.”
The longer Ouyang Tao listened, the more scared he became: “Professor Lu, may I ask you a question?”
“Go ahead.”
“Do the other Mechanical Engineering students know about this?”
“Of course. Since young, they received special technical guidance and battle training. Maybe in terms of techniques, you won’t lose to any of them. However, in instinct and battle knowledge, you are far from their level.” Lu Yun paused for awhile before adding: “and that’s exactly what I’m going to teach you.”
Ouyang Tao felt that the circumstances were awfully terrible, and even began harbouring thoughts of quitting in his head: “So it’s like that……”
If it was like this; the strict entry criteria for the special departments, the overly good treatment, and the headmaster’s speech that said “the mission in which normal people cannot perform”, all became clear —— they were not teaching students, but training soldiers!
And now, Lu Yun changed the topic to something he was very interested in: “Now let me ask you a question.”
“Please say.”
“That glove of yours seems very important to you?” Since yesterday, Lu Yun realised that no matter where Ouyang Tao went, he brought a silver colored metal glove with him. From what he remembered, his guidance teacher also had a similar glove. But his was the right side whereas Ouyang Tao’s was the left.
“Not that important.” Ouyang Tao shook his head. “It’s just that I wear it when I work, and it became a habit to bring it everywhere.”
“So it’s like that……”
As they continued talking, the battle arena was in sight. Ouyang Tao had to ask: “Professor Lu, what are we at the arena for?”
“The guidance match. Be prepared for the first match in your life.”
“What the f*ck!?”
Ouyang Tao was immediately, shocked silly.
Dat reaction in the end. lol