I sat at the back of the class in the science course's building, my hands resting on my desk with my chin against my palm. Today was the day the first of our three electives was to be held this week. It was New-age Robotics and Golems first, and Mana-based Engineering with Advanced Magic sticking to the third day.

No one in this classroom tried to talk to me. Since there was no one I had any interaction with other than in the class itself, my reputation was definitely the worst in these two electives.

I waited for the teacher quietly when a familiar face entered my sight.

"'Sup, holmes."

Wearing a black tank top and thick cinder goggles over her light blue hair, the other student with a bad reputation in the electives greeted me. She flung her bag to the ground and plopped down on the chair.

"'Sup, Remy. How are you doing?" I greeted her and turned to face her as she stretched her arms and placed her legs on the desk.

"Pretty fine. So like, your first name's Holmes or your last's Holmes?"

What was that?

{What's a Holmes anyway? Are you like, Ralph Holmes Rubinstein?}

"Fucker. Shut up." I whispered at the system under my breath and waved my hands at Remy. "I'm not Holmes, that's not my name. That was just a joke."

"Joke?" Remy raised her eyebrow. "Where's the punchline?"

No. What? Was she being serious? Both of these guys?

"Never mind," I said, thinking it best to let go of this topic before they hurt my mind anymore. "I'm Ralph. Ralph Rubinstein."

"OH!" Her eyes lit up and she turned to me with a little more enthusiasm. "The one that the dwarf complimented in Mana-Engineering?!"

What the heck! She remembered that but not the fact that I was sitting next to her when that happened?!

"What?" Seemingly noticing the confusion in my eyes, Remy asked.

I smiled and waved my hands again. The eccentricities of a real genius were beyond what I could understand. Not like I wanted to, anyway.

Just a couple of seconds later, the professor for the class entered the room and walked up to the table. All the students sat upright, except Remy, who didn't seem to care.

"Alright class, today's assignment is a little special. Boot up your holo-pens everyone." The professor skipped over the greetings and dived into the class right away. The sounds of the devices attached to our tables flaring up filled the room. Everyone had received a notification from the professor which we are asked to open. I tapped on the notification, and a black screen opened up.

Two more holographic screens appeared on the sides, much smaller than the last one. One had a list of commands and operations with a search option and the other was an empty window that said 'Output' on the top.

"As a major part of mixing together Golems with Robotics remains the programming that we do, you all have to start with writing a simple code for a robot to move in all directions including jumping and crouching, detect and circumvent obstacles in the path –and the most important part. Perform a magic spell."

A robot that can use a magic spell. Most students leaned ahead in the chair at the professor's words. Even Remy seemed to have her interest piqued by the assignment as she lowered her cinder goggles and listened with a curious gaze.

"Now," The professor continued. He pushed the hologram screen on his table ahead as it increased in size for the entire class to see. Multiple rules were written on the screen that the professor started to explain, the first one being the minimum requirements of the robot.

"The magic spell can be anything. A simple [Spark (E-)] or, if you can, a [Teleport (S)]. I don't really care about the type of spell as long as it can work."

Though the professor made a joke like that. If having a robot use a spell was that easy there would have been no need for this class.

"I also don't care how you do it," he said, pointing at the third pointer. "Whether you make the program have a robot use mana channels and incantations, hahaha. Or, if you want, it can also be a skill or a spell stored in a device with mana circuits made over it beforehand. As long there's a spell as an output, I don't care."

This guy was really annoying. I had heard that professor Artie and Don Brocious, the chief examiner of the entrance exams, were rather close, but seeing this behavior drove that thought home.

"The output screen will prepare a simulation and run the code on whatever kind of robot you chose. Humanoid, quadripedal, a cart, anything works. You can use the net, you can talk with your friends. The code doesn't have to be perfect at all, it's a test of your resourcefulness and problem-solving skills. We can work on polishing things after the essentials are clear. All the best. You have till the next class, next week."

With that, professor Artie pulled open his watch and took out a pair of earphones before leaning into his chair and turning away from us.

Clamor spread in the classroom as the students started jotting down their ideas and plans for the project.

Interesting.

While going out with planning everything right in the beginning was useful, since this was a learning experience, I felt like taking on a challenge. I scrolled down the list of options we had with the type of robot and saw a tiny golem at the very bottom.

I selected the option and dived into writing the program. We used a complex type of programming language called Duclair that had low processing times. I started by writing down some movement functions for the different body parts and made my way up from there. I was already engrossed in the programming when I noticed the other students staring at me.

Or rather, in my direction.

It seemed only I and Remy were the ones who had dived straight into it. The other students seemed slightly offended at the thought that the ostracized ones were getting to it the fastest. It was a rather good feeling, so I shot a provocative smirk at them and got back to my assignment.

Unfortunately, due to my engrossment, I realized rather late that since the internet was ours to use, I could integrate an open API in my program and have most of the work done. It wouldn't be too difficult to find one for something like this, considering how big robotics was as an industry and how low the requirements for the class were.

In the end, I continued the class with a relaxed attitude and shifted my focus to the more difficult part of integrating them into the golem and getting it to use a spell. The class ended and the professor and students started to leave, I was still fairly engrossed in the assignment so leaving was not an option yet. Soon enough, only Remy and I were left in the room. Half an hour passed after the end of the class and we both wrapped up our work for the day at around the same time.

"Doing good, Holmes? I mean, Ralph?" Remy asked as she picked up her bag.

"Good enough, Remy. Feel free to call me whatever you like."

"Ok then, give me your number."

Hm?

I closed my holo-pen and turned to look at Remy with a slightly skeptical gaze. She was looking straight into my eyes as she pushed her watch toward me. With a smile, I shrugged and opened the QR-Code on my watch and let her scan it.

"There you go," I said.

"Yeah," she replied, her eyes fixed on the watch. "You're in the awakener course, right?"

"I am."

"Yup, then, I'll see you later."

With that, Remy closed her watch and walked out of the class with the same aloof gaze as before.

"Huh... what was that about?"

{That was a score, host. You just scored.}

Nonsense.

***

Zachary leaned against enormous white walls as he looked around himself. An enormous facility, the kind he had never seen despite being from the esteemed Ainsworth family. It was difficult to believe the extent of Agriche Academy's state-of-the-art facilities, especially when it came to their topmost awakener course.

After being invited by Luke and Leone, he decided to come drop by at the Advanced Development Chamber which was only accessible by the students of the Awakener Course. Dozens of equipment and facilities that were not present in the personal gym in his dorm were spread all over the facility, overwhelming him by their sheer numbers.

"You meant it when you said it's big, huh?" Zachary muttered.

"Right?" Luke answered back. "It's a great place to train at. I am surprised we weren't told about this before. We have to thank you for this one, Leone."

"Don't mention it." Leone Hendrickson shrugged. "It's the seniors who told me. They said the school tells the students about this place in the second half of the first year, but there's no rule saying you can't use it before."

"Right. We should thank the Ice Princess for this then." Luke corrected himself. "By the way, Zachary. You should also call your friend here, I bet he could use it."

Just then, a sweet voice cut the three of them off from behind. "Oh, you guys are here."

Luke, Leone, and Zachary turned around to see the same person they were talking about come up. The Ice Princess of Agriche that had told them about this place, Rin, smiled and waved at them.

"Who are you calling?" she asked.

"Oh, it's just one of our friends." Luke quickly answered her. "He has been struggling with his stats a lot, I am sure he could use this place to develop them."

"Right. I know you told us about this place, but is it fine if I bring one more person?" Zachary asked.

Rin smiled even wider than before and waved her hands from side to side. "As I said, there's no rule stopping you. Feel free to call whomever."

Then, Rin Rubinstein opened her eyes and tilted her head slightly to the side. "It's good to see that you're looking out for your friends. What's his name? This kid?"

"It's Ralph," Zachary said. "Ralph Rubinstein."