novelraw Chapter 62 : Chapter 62
Chapter 62 : Chapter 62
Chapter 62 : Proficiency
Upgrade sat at the very front of the classroom and spun around in her chair.
She had a somewhat resigned expression with her arms crossed.
“You know, lately I feel like I’m getting the short end of the stick! My job is to raise you into the best crafters, not pat you on the back every time you lose energy. Of course, it must have been annoying that the other class threw a party… and hearing the news about the Combat Class evaluation is absolutely terrible. But you have to endure it! Now, raise your hands. Who wants me to throw away the lesson plan I carefully and delicately created… and teach you how to make combat equipment instead?”
Upgrade’s fake complaining soon turned into a playful smile.
When most of the class raised their hands high, she raised both of her hands as well, making a gesture of feigned disbelief.
“I knew that would happen, so I prepared it in advance! Today is a Blueprint class! Blueprints are the foundation of all equipment design, and you need to get into the habit of designing by hand from the start! You see those cylindrical containers against the wall? Pick one up and take it to your respective workbenches. They are all the same, so don’t fight over them.”
Upgrade smiled with satisfaction as she watched relief spread across the students’ faces.
“Don’t open them yet. Wait until everyone has received one. I hate saying the same thing twice, so we’re all going to start at the same time. Today, we’re going to make a new combat suit pattern. It will be quite useful in future battles.”
Upgrade pointed to one side of the classroom.
“I’ve seen some kids ordering custom equipment lately, right? Now, Sal, don’t be shy, spin around and show off your clothes!”
Sal stood awkwardly, and Upgrade pointed at him with an even bigger smile.
All eyes focused on Sal.
He felt as if the entire classroom was spotlighting him specifically.
First Jez had singled him out, and now Upgrade.
“You probably noticed that Sal isn’t wearing the gray uniform anymore. His gear has been massively upgraded in the last few days, and that shirt alone could probably withstand a Prowler or so. Of course… I absolutely do not recommend testing that theory.”
Upgrade hopped off her chair and walked over to Sal’s workbench.
She pointed at his shirt and addressed the entire class.
“Those taking the Administration class can probably guess how Sal was able to afford this. Those who aren’t taking that class will have to ask him personally. I supervised the production of this equipment myself. The blueprint in front of you now is a modified version reverse-engineered from Sal’s new uniform. Of course, it would be difficult for you to handle the materials or production costs that went into that gear, but you can certainly make a lower-grade version.”
Upgrade scanned the classroom and continued.
“By the time today’s class is over, everyone will have at least one Common rank uniform. By the end of the next class, we’ll pull it up to Uncommon rank. Just that alone will put you two ranks above your peers in the next battle. How about it, sounds good?”
“Yes!!”
When the entire classroom answered loud enough to ring through the hall, Upgrade smiled with satisfaction and spoke.
“Then let’s get to work! Sal agreed to use his Appraisal ability to help everyone during this class. Since his gear is already finished. Now, let’s all shout together! ‘Thank you, Sal!’”
Upgrade led the whole class to shout ‘Thank you, Sal!’, and Sal stood there blankly, shooting lasers from his eyes at Upgrade.
She looked like she was dying of amusement.
Upgrade approached Sal’s workbench and whispered instructions for helping into his ear.
“Monitor their blueprints and just stop them if they go in a weird direction. It’s better to offer suggestions than corrections. The goal of this class is to let them learn as much as possible. That’s okay, right?”
She phrased it like a question, but Sal knew well enough that it wasn’t a question.
He smiled, shook his head, and looked around the classroom to see who looked the most confused.
Josh was waving both arms in a corner of the classroom, but Sal pretended not to see him and turned his head the other way.
Then he walked over to where Blanid and Jack were working together.
The two were looking at Sal with an expression that mixed disbelief and respect.
Jack glanced at Upgrade, then whispered to Sal in a low voice.
“Hey, how did you get Professor Upgrade to handle your gear? That’s totally insane!”
He looked at Blanid for agreement, and Blanid nodded with a gentle smile.
There was a bit of tension in her fingertips as she unrolled the blueprint, but she soon gave a short laugh that surprised him.
“Wow, this is really basic.”
Blanid said as she spread out the blueprint.
Jack also unrolled his blueprint but showed a different reaction.
“What do you mean basic? Ah, you mean the Runes?”
Sal looked away as he saw the two pointing at different parts.
Blanid pointed to the pattern on the blueprint.
“Since the gear Sal is wearing is Epic rank, I naturally thought it would be really complex, but at this level, I could tailor it in an hour.”
Sal blinked at her sudden confident words.
Jack frowned while looking at the blueprint he received.
“Can you make mine too? I think I can finish the Rune part quickly.”
Blanid nodded and looked up at Sal.
“We’re good with this much. I don’t think you need to keep watching us.”
Sal burst into laughter because their sudden change in attitude was funny.
Then, instead of moving to the next seat, he went back to his workbench, picked up the blueprint assigned to him, and returned to Jack and Blanid’s table.
He spread the blueprint on one side of Jack’s desk and borrowed a pen.
“Since you say this looks too easy, how about aiming for Uncommon rank from the start? You just need to change here and here like this…. Do you see what I’m doing?”
Sal looked at Blanid to check if she was following.
Surprisingly, Blanid was drawing the exact same correction lines on her blueprint at the exact same moment as him.
Sal was following the guide of his Mythos Crafter ability, but Blanid was drawing it with pure talent.
She instinctively drew the correction lines, then smiled broadly and said.
“Oh, this is fun!”
On the other hand, Jack shook his head and spoke.
“This is like a different language, I don’t understand it. Do you happen to know what an Uncommon Rune looks like?”
Sal finished modifying the blueprint and nodded.
“I do. But the materials and Core are the problem. We’ll need slightly higher-grade materials. It will be hard to make Uncommon rank with the basic materials provided for class, and the fabric will just be cloth.”
He glanced at the locked storage cabinets in the back.
It seemed the materials to be used for the class were in there.
Jack snorted and puffed out his chest.
“You guys definitely haven’t worked with a mage! I can infuse Essence into materials to improve quality. I can make plain cloth like sturdy leather. Using abilities on items that are already crafted like that is really tiring work, but doing it on raw materials is much easier.”
Blanid looked at Jack with sparkling eyes.
“Does it still feel like cloth when touched, though? That’s much more comfortable when sewing!”
Jack pointed at Sal’s shirt and nodded.
“It’s exactly like that shirt. It feels like silk, but it can withstand tremendous damage. Well, that one is Epic rank, so it’s still impossible with my ability, but still.”
Sal finished the Uncommon rank blueprint while chatting with the two.
Just as he was about to go to another table, Blanid stopped him.
“Should I make Anthony’s and Barry’s too?”
It was visible that she was punching numbers into a calculator in her head, weighing the workload.
“Focus on yours for now. Let’s think about that later.”
Jack scanned the classroom over his shoulder and pointed somewhere.
“I thought Anthony was around here somewhere…. Ah, there he is!”
Sal turned his gaze in the direction Jack was pointing.
Anthony was holding the blueprint up to the light, turning it this way and that, trying to understand it.
Sal smiled, wished the two good luck, and went up the stairs toward where Anthony was.
But before he could take a few steps, someone waved their hand and called him.
It was a student Sal was seeing for the first time, and the student bombarded him with questions without even greeting him.
Sal smiled, turned on the backlight of the workbench, and illuminated the blueprint.
“You don’t need to use a pen to correct it. This is already a completed pattern.”
The student nodded, put the pen back, and looked at the blueprint carefully.
Sal pointed to various parts and tried to explain as simply as possible.
“These all look like shapes and numbers, but actually, they are measurements that can be adjusted to fit your body. You just need to match the size using your uniform as a standard. Don’t be too scared. Just think of this like puzzle pieces. You cut the pieces out and assemble them.”
A few students around them also nodded upon hearing Sal’s explanation and compared it with their own blueprints.
“If you use good materials and proper crafting techniques, the rank of the finished equipment goes up too. Right now, it’s just the stage of cutting cloth to make puzzle pieces, so you don’t need to worry about ruining it. The important thing is that when you assemble them later, those pieces just need to fit you well.”
The students around them all let out a sigh of relief at once, but another student among them raised a hand and called Sal.
For the next hour, Sal ran from this workbench to that workbench, answering questions with all his heart.
In fact, he felt like a total fraud himself.
If it weren’t for the Mythos Crafter ability, he wouldn’t have been able to answer anything.
Sal was simply retracing and explaining what his eyes instinctively told him was the correct answer.
Sometimes technical questions came up, and while Sal knew how to produce the result, he couldn’t explain the principles or reasons behind the process.
At such times, he called Upgrade to solve it, and she answered accurately right away.
Sal focused on helping only with the basic parts.
His heart warmed as he saw the students genuinely rejoicing at his help.
He never thought he would like the role of an instructor, but he was surprisingly enjoying it quite a bit.
Upgrade seemed to have seen this as well.
“Sal!”
Upgrade called his name from the front of the classroom.
When she gestured, Sal slowly walked forward.
In a completely different atmosphere from when they started, students at every workbench were talking excitedly with each other and comparing blueprints.
“What should I do now?”
Sal asked as he reached her side.
Upgrade shook her head and said.
“They’ll be busy doing this for a while, so how about you design a combat equipment plan or something during the remaining time? I brought a few blueprints. You should take a look and choose.”
She opened six cylinders and took out the rolled-up blueprints one by one.
“These are all simple enough for you to craft alone. You can practice skills that are essential for your growth as a crafter in the future. There are designs specialized for mobility, attack power, and defense respectively. They’ll give you quite a lot of inspiration for crafting new things, but think of it as practice to focus on the basics before you rush to make a Legend rank item again. Got it?”
Upgrade didn’t hand the blueprints to Sal and raised an eyebrow.
Only when Sal promised to control his pace did she hand them over.
“You can use the workbench at the front of the classroom. But the materials you need aren’t in the cabinets here right now. You’ll have to go back to the Workshop to do the actual crafting. I want to work with you and I’m curious about what you’ll make, but it wouldn’t be fair if the faculty interfered with the Combat Class evaluation. Just for this time, you have to do it on your own. Okay?”
Sal nodded with an expectant face.
He opened the first blueprint and said with shining eyes.
“I’ll almost forget you made me spin around earlier because of this.”