Luon rushed into the shop at the fastest speed possible and looked at the time on his BMPU, he then said out loud, “Saffeeeee!”

Zekar who was at the desk frowned and said, “No, you’re out. Even though the time shown on the clock says that you’re exactly on time you’re actually late. If you checked the numbers in seconds then the moment you entered the building you were already 10 seconds late.”

Luon gave a dry laughed and apologized for being late, seeing his student's earnest expression he let it slide. Technically this was his first time being late before he was only a few seconds off from the starting time. Zekar thought that this habit of Luon’s was terrible and considered telling his mother on him. Zekar smiled at the thought of Luon being lectured by his mother.

Sometime after Luon had started working at the shop, Zekar met Rina and Kane and when they asked what kind of part-time job Luon had, and trio hit off very well. Zekar was older than Rina and Kane by a decade, so he looked at Rina and Kane as if they were his juniors. Because of this they often chatted about Luon’s progress in regards to combat, engineering, and commanding abilities.

Zekar laughed like crazy when he heard that Luon roleplayed as a female online, on that day he and Kane got incredibly drunk.

Seeing Luon who was ignorant of his thoughts in front of him he smiled and said, “Here’s your commission payment receipt this month, today is the same as usual. If you need help doing something just come to the desk and ask.”

The moment Luon received the document he heard a message on his BMPU indicating that he received Galaxia coins from Zekar.

It was almost a year since Luon had come to the workshop and his wealth had practically never changed since he worked here. It wasn’t that he was underpaid, it was since sometimes he would make a good item and it would sell really well, and then he would create another one and keep it. Because the material costs were much more than the labor and value cost his gains were counterbalanced by the gear and devices he kept for himself. Luon was lucky that his failed creations didn’t put him in the negative.

Luon after confirming the payment thanked Zekar before entering his workshop.

The room had changed numerous times since he first started. Originally the place was near empty, with only a furnace, a table, and several tools hanging on the wall. Now it was completely filled with junk. Chains were hanging off the ceilings and had several devices attached to them. Junk and scrap are all piled up in the corner of the room, and the table was overfilled with blueprints, design documents, and tools.

Luon was used to drawing his ideas on paper, although expensive he managed to get them using Zekar’s connections.

Today Luon was here to clean up, in all honesty, Zekar didn’t care if Luon didn’t make anything today. Luon wasn’t paid hourly, he was only paid by his product sales. So if none of the products were sold, then he wouldn’t be paid that month.

Fortunately, his products were somewhat popular, at first not many people bought it, and very few did so out of interest or to curry favor with Zekar. Later on, the products got better, but only eccentric people bought them as most if weren’t for the fact that the device had some strange features that had uncommon purposes or it was rather dull compared to its peers Luon would have had more sales.

As Luon started to clean up the workshop, he packed a few objects to use for the future virtual battles.

Luon packed away the gear he made for Gizmo, Tyron, and Bendan based on the virtual battles. These were already tested and proven its worth, so Luon knew that they were battle ready.

After stowing away their gear, Luon began to pack away his belongings.

[Farsight Mask]

[Rank - Unique]

[Defense - 300]

[Durability 100/100]

[A device created with excellent craftsmanship engraved a series of magical patterns. This mask shaped device allows the user to see the world beyond.]

[Perk 1 - Spawn Ghastly Vessel]

[Perk 2 - Mana Signal]

[Perk 2 - Possession]

After the examination, Luon changed the design of the device. When Samuel was making goofy faces as he was testing the device, Luon felt that it didn’t look as good as he thought. So instead he made it cover his entire face and was satisfied with his changes.

[Blightsteel Suit of Invisibility]

[Rank - Rare]

[Defense - 2500]

[Durability 800/800]

[A full body suit made in resemblance of a knight or a masked superhero. Made from a mixture of steel and blightstone it became a lightweight masterpiece with a formable defense. With additions of magical engraves as the user to inject mana to become invisible.]

[Perk 1 - Transform]

[Perk 2 - Invisibility]

After the survival camp, his old Blightsteel Suit was demolished, Luon had to build another one from scratch. However, when tried making another one he had a bright idea. Since he was going to reshape the suit anyway, he might as well make some changes to it.

Before Luon had to use his cape to go invisible which caused it to dangle behind him. Now Luon engraved the runes he had for his cloak in the excess space on his suit. Before Luon didn’t have the ability to this, however, during the summer Luon had gotten really good at magical inscriptions, so he managed to compress the spell to make it fit.

Luon smiled at the suit and injected the mana sequence to change it into a belt before equipping it on himself.

The last thing Luon had to pack was his newly reforged sword, Black Slayer, his friend was heavily damaged because of the Clamaris. Luon had thought he had died but managed to save a part of its soul as the majority of its engravings were located in the unharmed handle.

Luon pulled the sword out of a bin of swords and asked, “How are you doing partner?”

‘It would be great if you didn’t dump me in a bin of swords. Although I did say I want to get out I didn’t think you just leave me in a bin of swords,’ replied the sword.

Luon smiled after seeing the sword was doing well. Luon thought it was better for it to be tossed in a bin of swords, after all, humans like humans so swords should like other swords. Luon asked, “Any swords to your like? If you want, I can learn how to use two, and you can be a pair.”

‘You can ask that again after you create another sentient sword as strong as me,’ replied the sword.

Luon laughed dryly as he looked over its status.

[Zerkaiser]

[Rank - Unique]

[Attack - 2645]

[Durability - 1050/1050]

[A Katana reforged by an expert craftsman, the hilt had gone through many experiences, and the blade was reborn anew.]

[Enchant - Sentient]

[Perk 1 - Swiftness Aura]

[Perk 2 - Intimidation]

[Perk 3 - Sword Au...]

The sword was powerful, it wasn’t as good as those legendary heroes of the past, but it didn’t fall too far behind. Luon was still young, and he had tons of time to catch up. The Vortex Container was made him different than those men. He will reach a realm beyond what they can do because unlike them he had more time.

After packing and cleaning the workshop, Luon bid Zekar farewell, just as he was about to step out the door he remembered something. Luon turned to Zekar and said, “A few days ago you said you wanted to know my status right now right?”

Zekar as if he only remembered just now was a little surprised and nodded in response. Luon took a sheet of paper and took a minute to write something down before tossing it like a frisbee at Zekar. The moment it left his hands Luon didn’t look back to see whether or not Zekar caught it, he went immediately.

With his quick reaction speed, Zekar managed to catch it between his fingers and glance upon the sheet. A smile grew on his face as he remembered how strong Luon was when he first started working at his place.

[Luon Fate]

[Race: Half-Human/Half-Elf]

[Federation ID: NEX-6854BP]

[Job: Student]

[Combat Level: 60]

[Racial Skills: Quickness, Night Vision, Mana Affinity]

[Active Skills: Wind Magic Lv4, Reinforcement Magic Lv4, Mana Manipulation Lv4, Manaqi Lv4, Steps of Starlight Lv4, Array Formation Lv3]

[Passive Skills: Swordsmanship Lv4, Parallel Thoughts Lv4, Eye of Insight Lv4, Circuit Establishment Lv4, Mental Resistance Lv3]

[Species Knowledge Evaluation: 687/1000]

[Technical Knowledge Evaluation: 800/1000]

[Monthly Salary Evaluation: 3260 Galaxia Coins]

[Recommended Job Paths: Engineer, Soldier, Commander]

...

After exiting Zekar’s workshop, Luon headed back home to pack the rest of his belongings including the Vortex Container. His parents once again held a pleasant dinner together only this time Luon didn’t stay for the night. He needed to go to the dorm today so he could attend class right away.

After bidding his parents farewell, Luon returned to the school dorms where he met his roommates. It was already night, but these grown men were lounging around the living room.

“Long time no see guys, well in real life that is,” Luon laughed as he began to chat with Gizmo, Tyron, and Bendan.

They chatted a bit about their classes, what they had done other than their daily practice sessions before deciding to go to sleep.

Today was similar to his first time settling in the dorm last year, the only difference was Luon could actually sleep, he didn’t practice in the Vortex Container this night.

The next morning came fast, and the first class that they had was Commander class. Unlike most schools their teachers do not change, only the material taught did. To accommodate over 30,000 students with 3 different school years each teacher was assigned to only 3 classes a week, and there were about 400 different teachers and 3000 different support staff.

The school was huge, so it was almost impossible to remember every single person, it was after all the best school in this solar system.

Luon and the gang entered the Vortex Containers and logged into their classroom, the layout was like an amphitheater with many students encircling the front. Inside everyone was chatting happily. Luon gazed about the room and saw that everyone had already arrived. In the corner of the room, he saw Shizuka, Belle, and Arisa and waved his hand. Keyral who saw him do so tap Arisa’s shoulder and whispered a few words into her ear, she then turned and saw Luon wave at him. She waved back as a courtesy gesture.

At this moment Helen appeared at the teacher’s podium in the room and said as gazed around the room, “Welcome back students. As you may know out of the three years that you will be here for, the second year is the most important. From here on out your classmates are your competitors. Besides your own group everyone else is the enemy, if you managed to represent the Nexus Solar System and win us the tournament, you would be heavily awarded, but regardless you must not shame us!”

Seeing her determined expression the class went silent, Helen then continued, “This class will be the start of the qualifiers, those groups who want to join the competition, please submit your application within the next 10 minutes. All groups who do not submit one will be omitted from the competition and will be acting as spectators from here on out. The class time will be now used to set the qualifiers. This process will take about a half a year to determine who gets to advance. I will say the rules of the competition once you have decided your entry. You may begin.”

At this moment Helen sent an application to every student. The first line of the document asked if the person reading the document was the leader of the group. Luon messaged everyone and confirmed that he will be taking the leading position, so he applied, yes. If someone answered no they would be asked if they plan to partake in the event.

Once Luon confirmed that he was the leader it prompted him to enter his member's names. As Luon wrote the names of his team, he questioned himself, ‘Did Thomas have class at the same time as us?’

He didn’t know whether or not Thomas was able to partake despite not having combat-related classes, but his worries didn’t last that long as the names he wrote down radiated a green hue confirming their participation.

The document then vanished in front of Luon, and after 10 minutes Helen nodded as she said, “Good, it seems all the groups in this class has confirmed their entry. Wise choice.”

“Since you're representing Nexus University now you all have the rights to begin the battle in the qualifiers. Win or lose, you must remember this. You are fighting not for yourself, not for Nexus University, but for the Alliance. The real enemy is the Inzektors, so no hard feelings, alright?” Helen said.

“Remember your pride, your honor, to protect the weak from devastation and to slaughter our foes. There is only one line you need to remember.” Helen solemnly said.

“For a new era!” Helen said as she made a gesture.

The students in her class stood up and followed suit as they said, “For a new era!”

Helen smiled at their response as she smacked the desk with her palm and leaned forward. She then said, “Now. The class is in session.”