Chapter 16: Chapter 15: Graduation

From the “forcefully elevated product quality” tech system revelation, a few hours had passed and the hangar started to come alive as students started filling in to get free practical experiences that would help them in their relatively imminent exam.

On Aven’s side, he and Harald had gone through most of the basic supply area, only a few more unique supply production lines like the military ration had been ignored.

Other than those exceptions, Aven had gone through the production lines for knives, flashlights, binoculars, tents, sleeping bags, helmets, protection glasses, all types of boots, and all types of uniforms for every environment imaginable.

The hangar had every production line dealing with basic military supplies he could wish for, and he proved each and every time that he was completely able to deal with all those production lines.

With his new enlightenment about a main aspect of being a tech super, he even infused his energy into every production line to get a true feel of what energy was able to do.

‘Energy is able to make a bullet fly faster, make steel more resistant, and create more power from a battery, so why not increase the quality? I should have guessed it, but no, the world wanted me to make a fool of myself. Stupid brain.’

Observing the chemical treatment of the military tent to make it hydrophobic and more resistant to pretty much anything followed by a deodorizing treatment, Aven kept thinking about this violent revelation he had a few hours ago.

Once the tent exited the cleansing bath and was speed-dried, he followed his overseer as he used some instrument measures to calculate how much his energy infusion had increased the quality of this tent.

“4 to 5%, still amazing for someone of your level, I think I’m going to become jealous of your innate ability soon,” Harald grinned, having become much more comfortable with him over the last period of time spent together.

“I’m sure I’ll gather jealousy from people much more dangerous than you in the future, I’m just that excellent, I’m born like that, nothing I can do about it,” adding fuel to the fire, Aven didn’t downplay his spectacular achievement the slightest.

Smiling savagely in answer, his overseer once again let him slide and the two soon headed for another area, which turned out to be the weapon area.

“Well, if you can produce a simple basic SAU handgun by yourself that is even 1% above the norm, I think I’ll pass you directly,” looking interested at which area Aven had led him, Harald openly stated his challenge.

“I still need to at least go to the bulletproof vest and large vehicle production lines after that, but why not? That’s a good challenge,” straightly accepting, he followed the same process and started from the end of the much bigger and longer handgun production line.

As the manufacturing process of a gun was so much more complex than that of a knife, artisanal stations, where some steps must be done by hand, were present at multiple points during the process, greatly increasing the chance of mistakes being made.

But that didn’t scare Aven at all, weapons manufacturing was a point so emphasized at EMATE that he even felt confident in producing a much bigger caliber weapon than a 9mm handgun if given the chance.

Still, that confidence didn’t push him to rush through the checking process, and only half an hour after arriving at the area did he finally start the first steps.

…

“2 to 3%,” getting his noise-canceling headphones off after exiting the shooting range, Harald announced the performance result of the handgun he had just tested, “Now Aven, that performance will certainly make its way to your graduation report, you can be sure of that.”

“Sigh~” The slightly anxious testee sighed in relief after hearing that, releasing what had been weighing him on for the last dozens of minutes, “Even though I knew I didn’t make any major mistakes, I was still worried. There were just so many steps where I made minor defects appear.”

“You’re just unpracticed,” his tester comforted him with his objective observations, “Your innate ability has given you the knowledge and you innately have the calmness, but you’re missing the experience. That’s not something you can rush.”

In response, Aven showed a slightly frail smile. The last few hours had been intense for him, even with his knowledge telling him exactly what he needed to do.

“As I said before, if you made me even a 1% enhanced SAU handgun, I would pass you, and you went above what I asked,” solemnly, Harald put down the gun he had just tested on the side, “So congratulations on your flash graduation in less than half a year. Where do you want to go next?”

Feeling adrenaline coursing through him at this confirmation that he had just graduated, the young tech super felt ready for another turn and looked at the next production line he couldn’t miss, “The bulletproof vest production line!”

…

‘How is the intermediate level of knowledge so high? What would a higher level imply? Is the technological level of Green that low for my innate ability? What does it use to judge?’

Going through the motion of returning to his apartment from the hangar nearly in automatism, Aven started thinking about how he had… Flawlessly went through any production line and production machinery he wanted without difficulty.

Even if he tried to be humble, he couldn't. More than 80% of the knowledge he had gained and integrated hadn’t been needed. Just his industry skills and a bit of knowledge about the engineering field related to the product he was creating were enough to do whatever he wanted.

And what was perplexing in all of this was that all his knowledge pertaining to engineering and production had "only" been at the intermediate level, the second level from the bottom according to his understanding of his faction contribution shop.

So, all things considered, he judged that such a level shouldn't be that high.

‘I guess I’ll see the truth by myself sooner or later. Surely, even with the official engineer authority I’m going to get soon, the military should have the next level of knowledge.’

Forced to stop this line of reasoning due to a gap in information, Aven coincidentally arrived back at the R4 residential building.

‘Maybe that’s my last night here before I’m assigned and transferred somewhere else, so let’s enjoy it.’

Excited at his upcoming graduation and faction transferring, he spent the next couple of hours doing everything as he had done during the last month, but with more attention and enthusiasm.

He even cycled his energy one full time for more than 3 hours, intending on slowly restarting his energy cultivation now that he was sure to have graduated.

…

“Mr. Amias, what an amazing surprise to meet you for the first time under such happy circumstances,” a man that still seemed in his prime but was in fact subtly marked by age greeted Aven as he entered the most decorated office he had seen in a long time.

“I’m honored to meet you, Colonel Bernhart,” saluting in the traditional military way in return, Aven who had been briefed about the man he was about to meet let his ease at social communication shine through.

 

Arney Bernhart

Faction: Nation of Eland Military

 

Though in secret he had confirmed the identity of the man before him through an appraisal.

“Please take a seat,” Colonel Bernhart invited him to sit on the one sit available before his massive desk. “So, you know why you're here today, right? Your graduation in a single month? A monstrous learning potential if I had my say in it, and one that doesn’t want to stick to the production aspect of the tech system too.”

In reply to the obvious praise, Aven didn’t refute any of them and even had the courage to nod without an ounce of humbleness, “Yes, that’s why I’m here for.”

Colonel Bernhart smiled at this display of confidence, “Well, congratulations are in order then. The footage of your display at the hangar have been confirmed to be real and so your graduation has already been confirmed. You don’t need to go through an exam if you’re worried about it.”

“I’m not, but I can’t say I’m not relieved at not having to pass through them,” same as usual, and putting honesty above everything, Aven said what passed through his mind without holding anything back.

“Good for you, because there’s no going back regarding what comes next for you now that you’ve graduated and still want to join the military. That’s the main objective of our meeting today if you hadn’t already guessed,” his tone changed instantly once the introduction phase was done, “So let us start by completely breaking this comfortable mood we created by inviting our dear lie detector super.”

The door opened the next second as if it was staged, and a single woman entered, heading to a desk slightly out of the way where she put down a heavy stack of documents.

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“Now that this is done, let’s start with the most fundamental question,” once the woman was properly installed, the colonel asked his first question, “Do you want to join the military as a mixed production and assault tech super?”

“I do,” in turn, having already gone through this process back when he had signed the most unbinding contract ever with the military, Aven knew to answer concisely and without ambiguities.

“Have your preferences in terms of your preferred working environment changed compared to what you answered a month ago?” Despite trying to hide it for a moment, in the end he didn’t even try to and let through a smile that told everything of how funny he found this question to be.

“If the implied answer is an elitist environment where I can climb the hierarchy as long as I show my capabilities, then my answer after one month remains the same. That’s effectively my preferred working environment,” feeling the need to detail a bit on this one, he added a bit to his answer.

“If you were given full autonomy once you integrated an industrial military center, would you have an idea on how to take advantage of your monstrous learning capability?” Seemingly finished with the general questions, Colonel Bernhart followed with a very thought-provoking query.

Thinking for a moment at all the implications behind something like that, Aven ultimately couldn’t agree, “No.”

“Mind expanding on that?” The colonel looked at him more intensely after his negative answer.

“From what I understand of my own innate ability, the benefits it gives my learning capability depends on a factor I call ‘Perceived Difficulty’. And the most obvious example I can give is that here in EMATE, due to the severe lack of tech supers, any tasks that can only be accomplished by tech supers gave me massive benefits. At least that’s how I understood it,” summarizing as best as he could, Aven hoped he had gotten his point across properly.

“Indeed, your benefits may be high here, but in the military…” Bernhart nodded slowly while keeping a thoughtful expression, “I’ll leave your innate ability optimization up to your future industrial center then. Wherever you are deployed, know that for people like you, there are special measures put in place to make sure your growth is as optimized as possible.”

“Does that include my energy cultivation growth, sir?” Catching up on something he was extremely interested in, he directly tried to gain some info on this aspect of his future super’s life.

“I’m not that familiar with the access to cultivation resources as I still haven’t become a super myself, but be certain that Eland is in full capability of helping you further your energy cultivation if you’re worried about it,” comforting him without expressly explaining, he swiftly passed to the next question.

Overall, no extraordinary questions were asked and 2 hours later, Aven was presented with a renewed contract stating his new career as a junior combat engineer within Eland’s military.

‘Maybe there’s a better option, maybe there’s not, but with the worsening state of the world as a whole, which faction will guarantee me both an optimal combat training, safety, and easy knowledge acquisition?’

Having made his argument long ago, or a month ago to be exact, he didn’t hesitate and picked up his pen to sign this contract.

“Fantastic!” Bernhart stood up from behind his desk as he exclaimed, “Now that all the paperwork is done, let’s discuss for real your next assignment! Follow me.”

As he started heading towards the door with his charge in tow, he sent a glance at the woman charged with detecting lies in passing, and not receiving any worrying signs, he didn’t stop.

Once in the corridor, he confirmed Aven had followed and started explaining very concretely what would soon follow for him, “Your most probable transfer place will be Blackdale Industrial Military Center. With the recent situation, the demand for supers has exploded everywhere and every industrial center wants people like you who can fulfill multiple super roles at the same time.”

Not even looking at him anymore, he continued his explanation as he led the way to a new place in the administrative center of EMATE, “Considering the way your innate ability works though, I don’t doubt that your combat training will be delayed to guarantee your safety and allow you to grow your energy cultivation a bit. All to say, don’t expect to be deployed on a raid anytime soon.”

Eventually arriving at a door leading to what looked like a meeting room surrounded by glass walls with an ongoing meeting inside, Bernhart didn’t hesitate to push open the door and interrupt the meeting with an authoritative voice, “Blackdale representative!”

“Yes, sir!” A super-young-looking woman with long blond hair answered his call by standing up and saluting.

“Aven Amias here has been assigned to your industrial center with everything that such an assignment implies. I want him sent there on a protected convoy by tomorrow,” really showing off his military rank, he ordered her without holding back.

Turning her head to look at him, Aven smiled in response and bowed his head slightly. Quickly enough, however, he observed that following this announcement, the atmosphere inside the meeting room contrasted greatly with the slight smile of relief that appeared on the Blackdale representative's face.

And soon, he understood why.

“And when is one being assigned to our industrial center?!”

“I’ve already been here for 2 months! Why isn’t any graduating tech super given to Rimerest! Even our assault unit is being held back by the absence of proper and reliable super supplies!”

“Only 2 months?! I’ve been here for 4! Colonel Bernhart, can you rethink your assignment please!”

The explosion prompted Aven to reconsider slightly his view on supers being more common inside the military.

“Shut up!” Exploding in turn at the wave of outrage indirectly targeting her, the young-looking woman representing Blackdale turned and showed off her hot temper too, “You think your industrial centers need a mixed production and assault super more than Blackdale?! Have you smoked-”

Tuning out after that, the tirade went on for 30 more seconds of absolute one-sided demolition, followed by the Blackdale representative storming off and taking Aven with her on the way, “Come with me!”

Bernhart, after seeing him being kidnapped, did nothing but look on for a moment before walking away, leaving him to his new fate.

Observing his captor, he didn’t see any insignia telling him she was a military officer, so he made the conclusion that being a representative was just like being a recruiter, just for the military.

Eventually, the young-looking woman brought him to a messy office full of various documents spread about in an organized chaos surely understandable only by the one who created it.

“Don’t mind this mess, I’ve been here for months with no indications ever that I would be able to recruit a super to Blackdale anytime soon, so I purely and simply had not hoped I would get to leave,” as she quickly got to work sweeping her desk by creating more chaos, she seemed a bit on edge.

“Let me help, I’m not one to judge, so feel free to take an hour or two if that’s what you need. Though I have to admit I don’t understand how an office can get this messy,” commenting as he approached a chair buried under papers, Aven got to work uncovering it.

“Oh~ That’s so kind of you, and While you won’t believe me, I’m normally a pretty organized person, it’s just that my superior at Blackdale has kept reminding me that I needed to recruit at least a production super, so the pressure weighed on me,” making small talks at ease, she was then reminded of something important and stopped shortly before continuing, “You can call me Neela by the way.”

“Nice to meet you, Neela, I’m Aven,” going through the right introduction process, the two then sped through the cleaning process, with Aven cleaning every non-important area and then assisting Neela with not just sweeping all the documents aside.

Half an hour later, the entire office looked much more like what you would expect from rule-abiding military personnel.

“Thanks for the help Aven,” sitting after taking a big gulp of water, Neela finally appeared like a charismatic representative here to recruit him as she had a report of him in her hand.

“It was nothing,” similarly taking a seat and drinking some water, Aven was prepared for what came next.

“So, while you didn’t have a choice in deciding your industrial center, let me tell you that they’re pretty much all the same with the only major difference being the senior tech supers, and our Blackdale Industrial Military Center has nothing to envy any other centers as we have 5 grade 3 assuring the production and capable of teaching you!” Starting her job as a representative, Neela started introducing him to where he was being transferred.

And faced with that statistic, Aven had no choice but to be relieved. The presence of 5 grade 3 supers working where he was going meant that the benefits given were enough for them to remain there despite the concurrence.

“We don’t produce aircraft or seacraft, but this is balanced by the fact that Blackdale also serves as an assault and research military center,” keeping her smile all along, she didn’t dwell on the weaker points and quickly went over them.

And that didn’t go unnoticed by Aven, though he decided not to interrupt as it would change nothing.

“And if the report I have in my hand about you is true, then once you complete your combat training, which will, of course, be done by a veteran tech super, then you will join one of the assault super squads headquartered at Blackdale,” she raised her voice slightly when she started reading the report about him more distinctly.

“Of course it’s true,” he countered before adding more detail to what she was probably reading, “It’s just that due to special circumstances, my combat training will probably not happen as it normally should.”

“Hu… Yeah~” Yet, this time, she was clearly only half-listening as she started looking more intently at his report, taking in all the information about him.

And so, not willing to interrupt her, the whole office lapsed into silence as Neela focused on reading his report.

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