Emmet decided to build a formations locomotive car.

His hoverboard had served him well for the past months. However, the more he used it, the more he felt there was much to be desired. Although he continually upgraded it, increasing its efficiency, capacity, and even adding a level two warding formation onto it, he still found that it was limited, namely due to its size. It was pretty good if it was used to carry just a person and a few additional hand-held items, its advantage being that it allowed a nimbleness not possible with other modes of transportation. However, if one carried around a large load (more than what they could carry on just their back or in their arms), it became impractical, and even dangerous.

Emmet was starting to reach that point. Every day, he would carry upwards of ten thick books he had checked out from the library with him, thoroughly weighing him down and forcing him to juggle them around (even when carrying a few in a big bag on his back). There had been multiple times he had almost veered out of control and crashed into a building, inspiring him to eventually add the current safety warding formations to it. That helped a bit, but in his opinion was still not enough. He often found himself thinking: if only he had a storage trunk to put stuff in, so that it was much easier to carry stuff, it would make his life much easier and safer! Furthermore, it oftentimes got cold or hot on campus, and being in an enclosed temperature controlled car seemed like an attractive option.

Thus, Emmet settled down and spent a week drawing out the blueprint for a new design, and once he was ready, arrived at the same enormous construction center on campus he had previously built his hoverboard. He was now familiar with the process. Although the scale of this new car construction was bigger and many times more complicated, he had advanced a lot from last time. After reading through both Basic Locomotives and Intermediate Locomotives, relating the concepts to different aspects of constructions he had debugged, and thinking about some advanced diagrams within his Gemini’s All-Encompassing Formations Manual, he felt confident that he could do it with ease. After brisky renting a room, he quickly got to work.

This time, from beginning to end, the whole construction costed a whopping total of 17,500 points worth of materials. On top of that, it took nearly five half-days of hard work to complete. By the end, the project wiped out nearly all of Emmet’s wealth. Still, he thought it was worth it.

The end result was a small, cutesy little car that looked a bit dopey, but actually had a surprisingly diverse set of features. Firstly, it was incredibly resource-efficient, expending less than half the rate of mana than most other comparable car of its size on the market. Further, it automatically recharged within minutes, utilizing two medium grade and two low grade mana batteries as well as a surface coated with nearly thirty square feet of solar shingles. This efficiency aspect was Emmet’s primary concern, as he had to be able to drive it using only his pitiful supply of mana to get around campus.

Second, after some testing, it had a pretty high speed and sharp maneuverability compared to other cars he had seen, satisfying Emmet greatly. Thirdly, it had a dense security system with a series of mana locks, designed to open up to only Emmet’s mana signature. Emmet had learned the security techniques from the Fundamentals of Mana Encryption textbook to create the lock, and was pretty satisfied with it. Having a few points left over, but not enough to do anything else substantial. he also added a similar lock system to his hoverboard.

In the end, Emmet would have liked to add a few more additional features onto the car, namely a warding formation and maybe some high-tech acceleration mods, but due to lack of points, was forced to put them on hold. He figured he could always add them on to the car later.

Finally finishing and driving out of the construction center in his new little car, he couldn’t help but smile to himself. He could now officially be considered a true locomotive constructionist!

From that day on, Emmet stopped using his hoverboard, and instead, rode around everywhere in his new car. It was like he had transitioned from a rebellious hoverboard-riding teenager to a professional car-driving white-collar worker. Any time he wanted to go anywhere, he would excitedly hop in and drive to his destination, and when he reached it, would proudly park his little vehicle nearby the building. Since he had now put a mana encryption security formation on it, he wasn’t concerned that anyone could steal it. The more he drove the car, traveling this way and that and not afraid to go far away, the more he found it was enjoyable. Compared to riding on a hoverboard, it felt like he was a VIP. Few students on campus had personal cars, and riding one, people were forced to make way.

As for his hoverboard, with limited remaining use of it, he decided to leave it at the company for any of the new recruits to use. They just needed to speak with him and register their mana signature with his security system, and it was good to go. After finding this out, many of the first years got into a fervor and fought each other over the right to use the hoverboard. Many even attempted to cozy up to Emmet to receive his favor, startling him. What first year wouldn’t like the ability to fly a uniquely modded hoverboard around campus, especially such an amazing one made by their mentor Emmet? Eventually, it was decided that there would be a queue system. Every time, the top person in the queue could borrow it only for one day, and then would have to pass it on to the next person. Then, they could add their name back to the bottom of the queue. Like this, the hoverboard became communal property.

At this point, Emmet was once again a hot topic amongst his coworkers. By now, he was debugging an advanced pile formation in the little pile to the very right once every five days. He went so fast that the pile was even starting to shrink, not even the increasingly high demand able to keep up with his pace. Everyone at the company could only marvel.

However, because Emmet became so busy with these advanced level formations, the piles to the left and middle would start to overflow, becoming a big problem. Oftentimes, when it really became too much, Maisy would have to personally step in to work through debugging the piles. Thus, each time he finished with an advanced formation, Emmet would spend a day or two alternating back to the other two piles, clearing out entire lots within hours. It was frightening. Oftentimes, employees would spot the pile of basic formations stretch to the ceiling when they walked in, yet by night, it would be cut by nearly a third. Because of this, his nickname roared back into popularity - he really was a ‘madman!’ Maisy often pointed him out as a shining model of what a Maisy Supply Depot employee should look like, causing Emmet to become embarrassed. He had never imagined a world where he would become the role model!

--------------

Time flowed like water, and in no time, it was already three months deep into the semester. Finally, springtime came into full swing. All around campus, large amounts of pretty greenery were in full bloom, creating a pretty scene. In this atmosphere, students couldn’t help but become a bit more relaxed. Although studies were hard, at least the weather could give them some comfort.

One particular day, Emmet was passing by a large board on a pillar on the side of the street when something caught his eye. He stopped his car at the side of the read and brought his gaze toward what had caught his attention, a bulletin full of tasks and jobs. He had passed over this very same bulletin multiple times over the past semesters, but this time, something caught his interest.

It was a flyer with a simple task - to build a level one warding formation over a hundred foot wide building nearby within the city. The materials would be provided, and the pay would be three hundred points.

“I can probably do that now…”

Stroking his chin, Emmet couldn’t help but become interested. For the past year, he had mostly not paid attention to the task listings on any of the bulletins, since he had figured that it was all way out of his level. However, at this moment, he suddenly realized that a lot of them weren’t so out of his range anymore.

Further, this kind of thing could be very beneficial for him. Besides the pay, Emmet was interested in gathering experience. He could now be considered proficient in theory, but he still lacked practical experience in actual non-locomotive construction. Although he got a lot of hands-on experience with his debugging job, it was still just fixing others’ formations, and they were usually smaller in scale. Building from ground up some of these larger scale tasks would certainly be a good exercise for him!

Looking at the listing that had caught his attention, he nodded. Just a level one warding formation… although the scale was beyond anything he had done before, overall, it should be pretty simple.

“Let’s contact that person.” Emmet quickly wrote down the contact information on the task listing onto a piece of paper before nodding and driving away.

He had confidence in his skills. The real problem was that he was a squire, and not an officially enrolled student. Because of that, he had no transcript, no resume, and no official credentials to complete such a task. Since that was the case, would the personage who had put out the task consider hiring him?

Pondering it over, his eyes suddenly lit up. He knew a solution.

-----------

In a plain-looking room, two people sat. One was a baby-faced preteen, and the other was a staunch-faced middle aged woman wearing a long fashionable robe. Between them was a wooden table, and they faced each other, the atmosphere formal.

“Hmm… Emmet Laghaz, was it?”

The middle-aged woman glanced up at the young boy sitting across from her. Holding a piece of thin paper in her hand and periodically glancing toward it, she casually examined the boy. “You say that this is your resume, but there’s barely anything here. I did see your locomotive car construction when you came in, and I liked. But this is a large-scale warding formation we’re talking about, so I need a guarantee that you can do it well. I know you’re only a second year, but haven’t you taken any classes? Can I see a transcript?”

“Ah…” Emmet hesitated, gripping his sleeves. Inwardly, he shook his head. A transcript? He had never been graded in any of his classes, so how could he have a transcript? After a moment of thought, he pulled out another piece of paper, this one a written letter with a signature on it. “Unfortunately, I can’t provide a transcript. However, I do have a letter of recommendation…”

“Hm?” The woman received the piece of paper, lowering her gaze and carefully scrutinizing it. “Letter of recommendation? From one of your professors?”

“No...” Emmet shook his head.

“Let’s see…” The woman brisky read down the page, tracing down it with her finger. “I highly recommend Emmet… he is a skilled constructionist and quick learner… extremely talented… high amount of theoretical knowledge...”

Her gaze suddenly stilled. She had reached the end of the letter, where there was a fancily written mana signature inscribed. “Signed… Maisy Harbinger.”

She looked back up at Emmet, her eyes surprised. “Maisy... Is that the Maisy Harbinger…? The one who proposed Harbinger Complexity Class Equivalency?”

“...ah… yeah…” Emmet nodded sheepishly. As expected, Maisy’s reputation had a dramatic effect. “Um, I often work with her at my job.”

“I see… so Maisy is your mentor?” The woman glanced down and inspected the letter’s mana signature a second time, taking a moment to verify its authenticity. A moment later, she dropped the letter, smiled, and extended her hand. “I didn’t know you personally knew such a person! If the Maisy Harbinger guarantees your skill, then I have nothing to worry about! Would you like the job?”

“Yes, thank you so much!” Emmet happily extended his hand out and shook. That was one in the bank!