After going through all the first-year courses for every faculty, Aven didn’t move on to the next quest but started to search for details about what all those courses were about.

Only once he took a photo of each course’s detailed description for later comparison and optimization, as well as general pictures of all following years’ courses with alien names did he move on to the next easiest quest to complete theoretically.

‘Volunteering… Things like cleaning the hangar maybe? Or assisting in the kitchen?’

Helping people was so general that if attending classes didn’t check the participating quest, it would be his alternative path. However, until his main plan was proven to not work, the volunteering quest would be relegated to the background, simply complementing his main activity.

‘Yeah! I knew it! No way such an academy doesn’t propose secondary jobs for the hard-working students in need of cash!’

Finding exactly what he wanted after a few minutes of search, he found an entire section of the VLE dedicated to simplifying the process of interested students finding ways to make some money.

‘Such high rates, woah~ Is the budget of the academy just that high? Or are they trying to win the loyalty of their future engineers by starting with easy benefits to give?’

For part-time jobs such as cleaning the window of the library, cleaning the messy hangar after a practical lesson, or helping the kitchen staff to be paid as much as a traditional full job out there was exceedingly high.

‘If there’s so much money to be made, and if I combine a few to occupy my endless endurance as a super… Then maybe I can change the volunteering quest with the donating one?’

Fantasizing about a beautiful future where FCP flowed from everywhere at an insane efficiency, Aven ultimately rationalized that the act of volunteering would surely pay more than giving money that originally belonged to the academy anyway, so for now, he kept his mind on doing those jobs but not asking for pay.

‘For this one… Where should I begin? I need to plan my classes first before knowing which time slots I want to fill in.’

Perplexedly looking at the dozens upon dozens of part-time jobs, he eventually found no solution to this predicament and moved to the next quest planning.

‘Securing. This quest needs more research as well as a continuous following of the news to be done efficiently. Meaning I need to find something like a news site because I won’t have time to investigate myself with the previous 2 quests occupying all my time from waking up to going to bed.’

Having more difficulty on this one, Aven spent the next hour trying to find something like a media or an amateur reporting channel, in the end, he even started searching for forums where the students would share rumors.

To his utter disappointment, his securing quest’s optimization plan seemed to be dead in the water as EMATE didn’t have a media outlet fully dedicated to covering inside events.

As for the students, they were too occupied with their own studies to care about occupying their time with useless enterprises such as creating a pseudo-media. They were in an engineering academy, not in a journalism one.

“Sigh… My bad,” sighing in surrender, he dropped his search. Being stubborn about a subject that didn’t even show a single useful or even relevant result after an entire hour was not a good thing to do in his book.

“Let’s get to influencing, educating, and donating then,” muttering to himself in a whisper only he could hear, he started searching again. He didn’t hold any hope for these 3 quests, but just in case, he still had to search for ways through which they could be useful.

‘As a specially admitted student I don’t have any exams to go to, and going to one would only be symbolic… What registers as extraordinary results for a super anyway?’

Still going through the motions, Aven spent the next 2 hours, or until the time for cycling his energy was imminent, finding nothing about how to further any of his plans related to those 3 quests.

Not even sighing as he disconnected from his session and turned off the computer, he focused on the enormous advancements he had made on the most important 2 quests. And those were so positive that they swept away his relative failures on the rest.

Exiting the library after becoming a tourist for 5 minutes and enjoying the design and atmosphere of EMATE’s library, he cut through the air in the direction of his residence and arrived a few minutes later thanks to his bike.

Once he properly parked his miracle transportation method, he returned to his apartment, and the first thing he did was put on, not a documentary, but some music.

With the background noise settled, he turned off his phone’s auto-sleep function and started mechanically copying the content of all the first-year courses he had taken a picture of on his notepad.

Understanding more about those courses as he wrote, he put down on the side a copy of the following years’ courses to compare them and make links.

‘So many types of engineering… Environmental, mechanical, electronic, computer, civil, chemical, aerospace, aeronautical, biomedical, industrial, materials, mining and geological, construction, nuclear, armament, vehicle, repair and maintenance, weapon… I wonder how it will translate in the shop.’

Looking at those fancy courses that appeared in the later years, and comparing them to the very basic mathematics-based and physics-based ones that were omnipresent in the first year of every faculty made him understand that he better had a lot of FCP before graduating from a year.

‘Though in the end, it will not change what I’ll buy first. Why start with something so precise and advanced when I can start with something much more general? And if I’m right about my understanding of how knowledge prices work…’

The way the various knowledge were priced in his faction contribution shop had been the subject he had researched the most. So while he hadn’t confirmed his theories yet, he acted as if what he had deduced was true.

After finishing a rough overview of the first-year courses, Aven started eliminating all the courses that involved practice, lightening the overall visual load and the number of possibilities he could choose at any given time slot.

After that, he opted out of the unique courses made specifically for certain faculties, and he also opted out of all the courses involving small effective.

‘Yeah, that’s much more digestible like that.’

His overview had completely transformed after he removed all the courses for which attendance would result in nothing but a notepad filled with gibberish or more simply an inability to follow what was being asked of him.

Pulling him out of his focus was his phone which started beeping.

“Well, I have until I integrate EMATE properly to prepare, no need to rush for now,” voicing out his leisure mood, he went to lay on the couch and changed the music playing with a documentary he hadn’t finished watching from the night prior.

…

Days passed quickly as Aven prepared himself to the best of his ability for what he knew was imminently coming.

From doing round-trips around the campus, spotting the gathering areas, making an analysis in depth of the different courses and part-time jobs list, or ramping up his mathematical knowledge… He did everything he could realistically do.

And 6 days after settling in at EMATE, when he checked his status after an energy cycling session, the starting line had finally appeared before him.

Aven Amias

Faction: Eland Military Academy of Technology and Engineering

Energy Grade: 1

Energy Cultivation: 17/100

Energy Affinity: Tech

Physical Talents: None

Energy Talents: Basic Tech Energy Affinity, Basic Energy Sense

Spiritual Talents: Inquisitive Spirit

Universal Talents: Unawakened Fairy Ancestry

It had been a few cycles since he reached 17 in his energy cultivation, and where before he had needed 2 days to gain an energy point, he now needed 3, so this part being unchanged didn’t surprise him.

His faction part, however…

Eland Military Academy of Technology and Engineering

Power Index: 1 864

Influence Index: 2 422

Economy Index: 1 952

Technology Index: 2 879

Description: An education-focused faction with an extremely deep foundation and direct support from an entire nation backing it up. This faction achieved its full potential and is top-rated among similar factions with similar goals, steadily birthing military engineers with great accomplishments to their name.

“Oh!” A high-pitched exclamation was followed immediately after by a standing ovation to his innate ability, “That’s a week! An entire freaking week! I was losing hope and thinking the integration period would be a month! Why didn’t you at least display a timer for me to know!”

Not losing any time on useless insults directed at himself, he stopped the documentary and replaced it with music before bringing up his quests.

Faction Contribution Quests: Eland Military Academy of Technology and Engineering

Volunteering: Contribute to the stability of your faction without asking for anything in return. The more time spent and the harder the tasks, the greater the contribution.

Influencing: Get recognition for your faction by showing extraordinary results that can be used for it to grow its influence. The greater the results shown, the greater the contribution.

Donating: Support your faction economically by giving it consequent sums of money. The more money given, the greater the contribution.

Securing: Investigate and resolve problems occurring inside your faction. The more problems resolved and the more difficult their resolutions, the greater the contribution.

Educating: Educate your fellow faction members. The more each fellow faction member learns under your teaching, the greater the contribution.

Participating: Attend your faction’s events to further a good social climate and lead by example. The more harmonious the events end up being, the greater the contribution.

“The same 6?” In a single second, all his prior explosive mood vanished and was replaced by a pondering expression as he looked at the floating screen that was the ultimate key to him becoming a genius with endless potential.

“Are they perhaps locked for now? My innate is only grade 1 after all. Or is it because my faction is an education-focused faction similar to MIC Serenis University?” Finally having the facts under his eyes, and they were irrefutable, he questioned the obvious aloud.

His main plan had been based around the existence of the participating and volunteering quests, and seeing them both again made a shot of adrenaline go through his body. His perfect plan was really happening.

“And now… The most crucial step…” Directing his eyes onto the participating quest, he focused on accepting it.

Faction Contribution Quest: Eland Military Academy of Technology and Engineering

Participating: Attend your faction’s events to further a good social climate and lead by example. The more harmonious the events end up being, the greater the contribution.

Reward: Claim?

He dared to experiment like this because he knew that his innate ability couldn’t harm him. It was a part of him, and he had heard that repeatedly, again and again, over the course of days of continuously watching documentaries about supers.

“Yeah, why not? Claim,” not fearing potential consequences like a delay before being able to pick up the same quest again, he claimed his reward.

Faction Contribution Quest: Eland Military Academy of Technology and Engineering

Participating: Attend your faction’s events to further a good social climate and lead by example. The more harmonious the events end up being, the greater the contribution.

Reward: 0 FCP

“A good beginning, hehehe,” laughing sarcastically at this amazing reward of 0 FCP he had just received, he brought up the quests again.

Faction Contribution Quests: Eland Military Academy of Technology and Engineering

Volunteering: Contribute to the stability of your faction without asking for anything in return. The more time spent and the harder the tasks, the greater the contribution.

Influencing: Get recognition for your faction by showing extraordinary results that can be used for it to grow its influence. The greater the results shown, the greater the contribution.

Donating: Support your faction economically by giving it consequent sums of money. The more money given, the greater the contribution.

Securing: Investigate and resolve problems occurring inside your faction. The more problems resolved and the more difficult their resolutions, the greater the contribution.

Educating: Educate your fellow faction members. The more each fellow faction member learns under your teaching, the greater the contribution.

Participating: Attend your faction’s events to further a good social climate and lead by example. The more harmonious the events end up being, the greater the contribution.

“Let’s move on then,” confirming something he didn’t even fear, he closed the quests window and opened the one he feared the most.

And his fear turned out to not be one bit overestimated.

Faction Contribution Shop: Eland Military Academy of Technology and Engineering

Faction Authority: Student

Faction Contribution Points: 0

Knowledge: Basic Energy Cultivation (2 100 FCP)

Knowledge: Basic Energy Application (2 500 FCP)

Knowledge: Basic Super Biology (2 600 FCP)

Knowledge: Basic Literature (4 200 FCP)

Knowledge: Basic History (4 700 FCP)

Knowledge: Basic Geography (4 800 FCP)

Knowledge: Basic Cooking (4 900 FCP)

Knowledge: Basic FIrearms (5 200 FCP)

…

Knowledge: Intermediate Leadership (35 000 FCP)

Knowledge: Intermediate Engineering Management (41 900 FCP)

Knowledge: Intermediate Mathematics (45 700 FCP)

Knowledge: Intermediate Physics (45 900 FCP)

Knowledge: Intermediate Biology (45 900 FCP)

Knowledge: Intermediate Manufacturing (46 200 FCP)

Knowledge: Intermediate Resources (46 300 FCP)

Knowledge: Intermediate Computer Science (47 100 FCP)

Knowledge: Intermediate Critical Reasoning (48 200 FCP)

Knowledge: Intermediate Pressure Management (48 300 FCP)

Knowledge: Intermediate Structural Analysis (48 500 FCP)

Knowledge: Intermediate Data Modeling (52 000 FCP)

Knowledge: Intermediate Industry Skills (53 700 FCP)

Knowledge: Intermediate Environmental Engineering (69 600 FCP)

Knowledge: Intermediate Agricultural Engineering (69 700 FCP)

Knowledge: Intermediate Mechanical Engineering (69 700 FCP)

Knowledge: Intermediate Electrical Engineering (69 900 FCP)

Knowledge: Intermediate Computer Engineering (70 500 FCP)

Knowledge: Intermediate Civil Engineering (70 600 FCP)

Knowledge: Intermediate Chemical Engineering (71 100 FCP)

Knowledge: Intermediate Aerospace Engineering (71 200 FCP)

Knowledge: Intermediate Aeronautical Engineering (71 200 FCP)

Knowledge: Intermediate Biomedical Engineering (71 400 FCP)

Knowledge: Intermediate Industrial Engineering (71 600 FCP)

Knowledge: Intermediate Armament Engineering (71 700 FCP)

Knowledge: Intermediate Vehicle Engineering (71 900 FCP)

Knowledge: Intermediate Tactics Engineering (72 200 FCP)

Knowledge: Intermediate Repair and Maintenance Engineering (72 400 FCP)

Knowledge: Intermediate Weapon Engineering (72 600 FCP)

Knowledge: Intermediate Materials Engineering (72 600 FCP)

Knowledge: Intermediate Mining and Geological Engineering (72 700 FCP)

Knowledge: Intermediate Construction Engineering (73 000 FCP)

Knowledge: Intermediate Nuclear Engineering (73 500 FCP)

Knowledge: Intermediate Combat Engineering (75 400 FCP)

Knowledge: Intermediate Developmental Engineering (80 200 FCP)

A seemingly endless list of knowledge was displayed before him. Hundreds of basic ones and dozens of intermediate ones made up every knowledge Aven could ever imagine having to learn.

‘And that’s just with student authority… Not even a specially admitted one. And damn! Those prices!’

Following his first shock at the number of knowledge far surpassing the number he had seen at MIC Serenis University, the large panel of high prices was the second observation that impacted him.

The most basic and general knowledge he could think of that he would need, mathematics, was priced at 45 700 FCP.

‘How can it be so high… What levels did the best students of EMATE reach? Shouldn’t they have already graduated at this point?’

This price threw a pretty massive wrench in his plan.

‘Not gonna lie, but it looks like my faction authority being at the student level and limiting my access saved my life.’

Directing his gaze at the upper part of the knowledge available, he easily deduced something he hadn’t been completely sure of until now.

‘Of course there would be other supers sent to learn here. I just haven’t come into contact with them yet.’

Based on his hypothesis that his faction authority limited him to learning the knowledge of only other students, the only way for super-related knowledge worth thousands of FCP to be available was for there to be other more experienced supers already learning at EMATE.

‘Well, I’ll encounter them eventually.’

Passing over the issue, he saw that it was still pretty early into the afternoon so he decided to finish his ultimate FCP farming plan by today and start it in earnest from tomorrow onward.

‘Therefore, let's go to the library to look for unpaid jobs!’

…

‘For the volunteering quest, I need hard tasks, not high-paying ones. Helping the kitchen staff at noon is for sure locked because it’ll optimize my itinerary and meal break, but for the before-class and after-class periods…’

Browsing through the dozens and dozens of part-time jobs available at EMATE, Aven was searching for one to do in the morning and one to do in the late afternoon, but thinking about the “harder is better” property of the volunteering quest made it slightly harder to decide.

‘Is there a threshold for a task to be considered hard? Or does it just want me to end up in difficulty? Maybe a bit of both?’

Trying to think outside the box, he quickly removed the possibility that the difficulty threshold was moving depending on his capabilities.

‘Even if I’m a super and I can easily continuously sprint for a long time, the fact that I’m not out-of-breath at the end doesn’t mean what I did was easy. Same for if I’m an engineer and am asked to design a weapon, yes I can do it, and maybe it’ll be easy, but it’s not “easy”. Let’s go for tasks where I can abuse my strength as a super for now then.’

Seeing jobs that would allow him to get in touch with a true military-level production line made him salivate for when he finally had the level to take them, but for now, he had to settle for relatively less intellectually demanding jobs.

‘Hu…?’

Yet, after he had jotted down more than a few jobs that were suitable for his situation, he found a… Different sort of job, one probably only a few could accept in the entire academy.

‘How did I miss that one?’

Before his eyes was clearly an offer for a tech super to help energy-infuse modeling computers. Opening it to see the details, he saw that the minimum requirement was grade 1 with a tech affinity.

‘Is energy infusion considered hard? Not for a super. But is boosting the hardware limit of a high-performing computer hard? It sure should be.’

Hesitating about taking this job, he ended up deciding that as it was a rare one that certainly hadn’t been there last he checked, he would take it.

‘This way I’ll confirm if using energy infusion brings massive returns. And in parallel, in addition to helping the kitchen… Probably the steel factory maintenance assistant. I didn’t see any other jobs that explicitly stated they were hard like this one, so let’s go with this one.’