“Student Nono’s body has recovered perfectly. It’s almost the same as any other student that had not undergone surgery, his parameters are as normal as can be,” the female school doctor was also surprised.
“The scanning has reached the head. For the body, it has recovered to a certain extent and he should be able to take the test. Luckily it was just in time, or else C5’s class ranking would drop a lot,” Hamm smiled and nodded.
Then, the blue line finished scanning Garen’s head and finally stopped.
The results were automatically printed on a white sheet of paper beside the doctor’s computer.
After the ‘du du’ sounds of printing stopped, the female school doctor picked up the results with a smile and examined it.
“What’s going on?” the smile on her face stiffened.
Seeing the look on the school doctor’s face, both Instructor Hamm and Aier felt that something was wrong.
“What’s the matter? Dr. Lassa,” Instructor Hamm moved closer, hoping to catch a glimpse of the results.
“It’s written here, the Willpower…between Basic Level and Level 1?” the school doctor frowned. “It’s rare to see something like this…”
“Nono’s strength had passed multiple Level 1 assessments. It should be at Level 1. There is no doubt about it,” Aier frowned.
“Maybe it’s due to the fact that he was just discharged and his state is not fully stabilized. It should be normal. Maybe it’ll completely stabilize in a few days,” Instructor Hamm thought for a while and made a suggestion.
“That is quite possible,” the female school doctor nodded. “Then the conclusion is that Student Nono is completely restored,” she showed a smile.
Aier quickly gave Garen, who was still standing on top, an OK gesture.
Garen smiled and stepped down. Suddenly, he frowned and inserted his hand into his pocket. There was a slightly hot thing inside; it was the small Moonfang.
This fang was very important according to Nono’s memories. He had thus brought it here even for his medical check-up. To think that it would give off heat during the check-up…
“That’s it, go back and take a good rest. Tomorrow is the test for the Mech Simulation. Let’s see how much you’ve regressed. Aier is willing to accompany you,” Hamm laughed and patted Garen’s shoulder. “As for me, I won’t be coming, do your best! Don’t disappoint the academy that has helped you so much.” He did not know that the fact that he’d disguised himself as the academy’s fund and paid for Garen’s medical expenses had already been exposed to the students in front of him.
“I know.” Garen nodded.
“Alright, this is it for today. Go back and take a good rest.”
Those were the instructor’s last words.
*******************
Holding on to his medical report, Garen and Aier left the school infirmary and slowly walked along the huge plate-like building in the middle of the Blackboard Academy.
The afternoon weather was a little dim and gloomy as the sun had been blocked by thick clouds. The wind stirred up the dust and leaves on the ground.
Three blue, red and white planets were suspended in the sky, and they occupied a space of more than half of the entire sky. They peeked through the gap between the clouds.
Garen looked up at the three huge planets, especially at the red satellite planet which was as bright as the color of blood. He understood now that he was no longer in the previous world.
The number of people strolling around the academy was not low. Many were wearing communication devices that resembled earphones, either listening to music or playing on their personal computers. There were also those who were chatting, reading books or talking to others through their phones.
The number of students in Blackboard Academy was not low. There were students bustling everywhere, either passing by or stopping.
Garen was observing the environment of the academy while trying to get information about the feeling of Willpower from Aier.
And it was through this way that he found out about a troublesome matter.
“…recently, I’ve felt that the improvement of Willpower has become slower. In the beginning, it was at least the size of a hair but now it’s become a little tiny bit. I’ve been training for at least five hours every single day! It’s been more than a year and I’m still stuck in the Advanced Basic Level. I can’t break through the last level no matter what I do,” Aier grumbled, with his hands tucked behind his head. “Unlike you, a genius who had a Level 1 Willpower upon entering the academy. In such a short time, you’ve already passed so many Level 1 subjects. I wished I have your talent.”
“I don’t feel it anyway,” Garen tried to use vague words to answer.
“What do you mean ‘don’t feel it’, I want to grind my teeth and punch you!” Aier made a vicious expression. “Mediocre students like us don’t even know what to do!”
“Tell me the process and feeling when you train your Willpower, and let me see if I can give you some advice,” Garen smiled and answered.
“Fine, with the help of a Level 1 master here, the hopes of me being promoted rest on your shoulders!” Aier suddenly laughed. He started to explain from the beginning the ways he’d trained his Willpower. Including his selection of textbooks, the way he trained, the difficulties he encountered during the process, the direction of his breakthrough and so on, he explained everything to Garen.
From Aier’s perspective, Nono, who had broken through to Level 1, was an expert that was much stronger than him. In the academy, even Instructor Hamm, who was an expert that had once joined the elite troops, had only a Level 4 Willpower. The top students in the entire academy were only around Level 3. Among the Blackboard Academy’s lower graders, someone who could reach Level 1 Willpower in just a year after entering the academy would be the real cream of the crop. The average students were all struggling in the Basic Level like him. The better ones might be approaching this threshold. Only when their Willpower managed to reach Level 1 could they qualify to pilot Mechs. This was the starting point where the pilot could be ensured as compatible for piloting.
Garen listened carefully to Aier’s story and soon he had grasped the concepts of this Willpower.
The training for Willpower did not have a shortcut. It was something that needed painstaking efforts to accumulate bit by bit.
In the beginning, they had to choose a training method as a starter.
For the general training methods, if several students’ talents were about the same, then their improvement rates would be about the same, except for the effects they would achieve in the end. Those who leaned towards awareness would choose the ranged type of Mech for training, while those with fast reaction speed would choose to upgrade their Mech’s reaction speed, and the defensive type would increase the Willpower field of their armored Mech. This field would become a protective barrier that could protect the Mech when it reached a high enough level.
Those who favored attacks would choose the type of method that would increase their firepower or attack range. All these different training methods had different tendencies which would go in different directions.
Aier had chosen the most popular awareness type, which involved attacking from far away and was also the safest way to battle. He used a common training method on the market called <<Outbreak of Rain>>. When it reached the highest level, it could fire off all the firepower loaded in a short span of time and form a rain-like attack. Of course, that was only when it reached the highest level. Aier’s family had spent all they had to buy this training method, but there were only two levels which meant he could only reach Level 2. Aier planned to earn some money when he reached Level 2, which could be considered elite in the outside world. Trying to earn money then to buy the next level of training methods could be considered quite easy.
This was what most students would do. Aside for those students whose families were rich and powerful and could choose better training methods, eighty percent of Blackboard students could only do things this way.
Including the previous Nonosiva.
And what troubled Garen currently was that his situation was totally different from what Aier had said.
This body Nonosiva did not have any talents previously. He had also chosen the range type training method. According to the intensity level and awareness levels that Aier mentioned, Garen felt that Nono’s level of Willpower was only Middle Basic Level, which could not even be compared to Aier!
The previous Nono had relied on the white Moonfang to stand above the rest. The Moonfang had the functions of disguising the level of Willpower and helping to control the Mech.
Even his chosen training method was worse than Aier’s; it was the free training method that Blackboard Academy gave out: <<Blackboard Control>>. This was the lowest level training method that was given out for free on the market. The ultimate effect was to strengthen the Willpower without any additional effects.
In this one month’s time, Garen had roughly understood the situation revolving this society of Blackboard. A Mech Pilot was equivalent to those who practiced secret techniques in the Secret Technique World. Yet, they did not hide. They were in control of politics and they were the most powerful army. It could be said that the elites who graduated from Blackboard Academy would hold important positions in society for sure.
As compared to other industries, they were the guardians of the region. Under this kind of situation, those who aimed to become Mech Pilots were too numerous. This had led the society to lean towards prioritizing the industry of Mechs.
Once a Blackboard Academy’s student walked out, as long as they had reached the criteria for graduation, at worst they could be patrol officers. This was a standard position which held certain influences. Hence, the threshold for Blackboard Academy was pushed by the masses to become higher and higher.
“What an abnormal society…..” Garen had a mixture of feelings after understanding the situation.
No wonder Nonosiva had tried everything he could to squeeze into the Blackboard Academy and had even resorted to cheating.
He touched the Moonfang in his pocket. According to the things Aier said, he was vaguely aware that although this body had merged a part of his Willpower after recovery, he was still facing the same dilemma as the original Nonosiva; that was the fact that he only had Middle Basic Level Willpower. With this bit of Willpower, never mind controlling the Mech to fight with others, even controlling the Mech to slowly walk would be a huge burden.
As the two chatted, they arrived at the entrance of the student dormitory. The rooms here were designed for a single person and their conditions were very good. Aier patted his shoulders.
“See you tomorrow during the test, I’ll go back and take a rest first.”
“En, go on,” Garen nodded and smiled, watching Aier walking away.
Watching Aier’s figure walk away, he was soon blocked by the students going in and out of the dormitory. Garen began to worry about tomorrow’s test.
“I must try the training method for Willpower soon,” he muttered to himself.