The small crowd cheered loudly as they jostled each other for room trying to watch the small fight in front of them. Two miniature Golems, one in red and one in blue were fighting each other in a small arena. One had a sword and shield and the other had something akin to a cannon, firing small balls of mana. There were two operators, one on each side as they controlled their small golems to the best of their abilities.

The red one charged the blue golem, raising its shield as it blocked the mana ball attacks. The blue then seemed to acquire thrusters on its legs and glide backwards, continuing its rate of fire.

In the end, it was a never-ending game of cat and mouse. But eventually, the blue golem lost power from the heavy mana-intensive cannon and the small thrusters on its legs. Allowing the red golem to move in close, though by that point its shield had been destroyed and it had to sacrifice an arm to prevent the rest of it from getting damaged. It had tried its best to dodge, but the blue player was too good of a shot for that.

“Pretty cool right?” Devi asked Van with some pride in her voice. “This is the Gompla battle club. We create miniature golems, creating backstories, unique weapons, and then send them off to battle in miniature arenas. It’s a great way to learn golemancy, runecraft, and some minor artificery!”

Van was actually impressed. It actually did look like fun. It also reminded him of something else from a past life.

“And can anyone join?” He asked.

“Of course! We even have pre-built sets! And a few sets with the pieces already made where you can put it together yourself or even switch and swap pieces around to make your own unique take on a Gompla.”

She then went over to a series of boxes with pictures of miniature golems. “We have the magic knight series, the mobile weapon series and so much more! We also have books on runecrafting, golemancy, and artificery, with suggestions on how to improve your golem any way you want. Are you interested?” Devi asked with a smile.

Van nodded. “Yes, though I do have one question…”

“What's that?”

“Why is it called Gompla?”

Devi shrugged. “No clue.”

Van looked around as Devi happily began to look through all the boxes in front of her. “Why was such a club even created in the first place?”

Devi looked up and gave it some thought. “I’m not entirely sure who first thought about it. But supposedly it was someone who had a huge interest in golems. To the point you could call it an obsession. Long story short, they were able to convince the teachers to allow the creation of the club by saying it would be great research for the creation of larger golems in the future. They weren’t wrong because we usually test out bone walker concepts first here before we try applying them in real life.”

“Huh… That’s pretty interesting.” Van couldn’t help but say. He also noticed that some of the golems were very human-like. “Are these… Just figurines?” He asked, noticing a few very well-defined looking male figures in various states of undress and wielding toy-like weapons.

Devi blushed. “Oh uh… Those are pretty popular with a certain crowd of people… Not me! But uh… Some people…”

“Huh…” Was all Van could say as he carefully put the box he was inspecting back. “Has there been any progress in trying to make golem servants? Like actual thinking golem servants? I would think with this kind of… Stuff…” Referring to the figurines. “That there would be some people who would probably wish to make their own personal butler.”

Devi looked a little uncomfortable. “There are a few… But they're in their own separate club. In my personal opinion, trying to give a form of sentience to your golem, just so it could better serve you or fulfill your fantasies, goes a little too far for me. If you want a better golem servitor, just program it better…”

Van gave a nod, finding himself agreeing to her opinion.

The conversation moved on and Devi was so happy to find that he was interested that she bought the first few boxes herself on his behalf and began to explain how to put it together alongside suggestions on how learning such things could help him become a better rune carver in the future.

“So you're going to want to cut that here, and then put that in there… Yeah, just like that. Good! Now put that there, and apply the molding clay over, after that apply some mana and move it until the seam is gone to give it a nice smooth finish. Really good! You're a natural at this! Once you're done with the rest of it, you can color it anything you want!” Devi’s smile was a bit infectious, she was truly enjoying teaching Van all about her little hobby and the applications of all the fun you could have with it.

“So what do you say?” Want to join the club yet?” She asked smugly as if thinking there was no way for Van not to want to have this kind of fun every day.

A part of Van wanted to say no just to see how she would react, but he held himself back. “Maybe I’ll come by from time to time. I wouldn’t mind learning more from you as well about this Gompla Battle thing you play as well. Hope you don’t mind me taking more of your time in the future.”

Devi’s smile grew, and she happily shook him a little. “Oh, you're going to love it! We're going to have so much fun!”

---

“Alright class, now put your threads in and mix it together with the silk. Yes, just like that.” Miss Tress, the alchemy teacher said as she instructed her class. “Now put in equal amounts of water and fire mana, this will help boil the ingredients together.

Van did so, weaving his mana into the small cauldron in front of him.

They were learning about synthesis, the ability to combine ingredients with other ingredients to create new or better ones. For example, right now they are using regular thread with a small amount of spider silk to create a thread with the properties of spider silk, alongside its toughness and durability. Thereby mass producing better quality thread without having to use the more expensive silk as is.

Alchemy students who took this class could hire themselves out to do this kind of thing for other classes. For example, if someone from a seamstress or tailor class needs this kind of silk, a student can apply to sell it for a set amount of profit through the school. The school will provide the materials and room, and the student will make the silk. The student gets a cut, the school gets a cut, and the seamstress apprentice gets her silk. Everyone wins.

There are also cases when people from the foundry hall need ingots and other rare materials for smithing or carving. The materials for the creation of spell paper are also always in high demand, alongside the ink and pen that goes with it.

There was an entire economy based off students going out into the wild to gather materials for their classes, or using what they hunted to trade for materials. Students trading for things they need with other students, and hiring other students to create certain materials they might be in demand for.

Entire dorms and clans may revolve around providing a certain service or good that was in demand. Meaning the competition for their niches could cause fights, which usually lead to the arena to determine who got the right to sell this or that thing.

Which was the cause of the creation of clans in the first place. Some dorms need other dorms who are better at fighting in order to maintain their monopoly. Because of this, some school clans have been around for centuries.

The school regulates this of course to its own benefit, and the students as well… After all, no one wins if things start to get bloody…

This competition helps incentivize students to do better and adapt. More importantly it helps innovation, as clans and dorms try to do things better and cheaper. This constant infighting has helped produce the bone walker and the B-suits as well.

“Alright, now make sure to properly weave the mana in for the next ten minutes, then stir carefully for five until the liquid turns from a bubbling green to a still azure blue.” Miss Tress continued.

Van did so alongside the whole class. Wondering if he could replicate the bone mold using this method. After fifteen minutes, the teacher told them to scoop the silk out.

The students did so to varying degrees of success. Some threads fell apart, others were the wrong color, and a few were nothing but clumps of fiber.

“Good, good, good, try again, not bad, try again, good…” Miss Tress went down the line of students, nodding and shaking her head as needed. When she came down to him she gave a nod and told him he did a good job.

Once she was done with that she went and addressed her class again. “Alright, class will soon be over. Next lesson when you come back will be about how to break down materials into their base components. Such as a tree into pure wood matter. Sometimes you get some rare materials by doing this. And even the basic wood matter can be used and molded into a variety of things. Doing this could also help you acquire the basic essence of a material. It was how the use of bone mold was created. Using a specific bone, they broke it down to its base essence, and combined it with a special type of mold to create the bone mold we know today. Who knows? Maybe one day one of you will create something entirely unique?”

The bell rang.

“Allright class, dismissed. The materials you need to bring will be on your syllabus. Make sure you're ready.” Miss Tress gathered her own paperwork and prepared to leave. She also had a few places to go to before the next class.

Van had no idea that Miss Tress would drop such a tidbit of information. It also helped get his imaginative juices flowing. If one could create bone mold, what else could someone with the right know-how make?

---

“Very good Van, Cecilia, Javis. This skeleton of yours is looking superb!” Miss V, their necromancer teacher said.

Today's class was about creating unique undeads to use. Van had convinced the other two to create a four-armed skeleton. Which while not very original, was exceptionally done. More importantly, Van made sure that the extra set of arms wouldn’t get in the way of fighting, or for being used in other things.

“I really like how you used the bone mold to create an extra layer of armor over the joints of your skeleton. And the way you configured its back and legs so that it could run on all six of its limbs is inspiring! It also never occurred to me to give it a tail, with a sensory bone added to it!”

“Thanks,” Van said sheepishly. “I thought just adding a tail on its own wouldn’t be enough. Two heads seemed a little silly. But with the way it was designed, I was worried that it may not react fast enough to things from behind. So in order to compensate for that, I created something akin to an eye on its tail that could provide three sixty vision all around itself.”

“This is very genius of you Van.” Miss V said with a smile. “Extra layers to protect its joints. The ability to change its mode of travel depending on the situation or environment. Three sixty vision. And all in a way that still allows it to maintain its flexibility! Very impressive indeed.”

“Thanks, I couldn’t have done it without my friends. They really helped.” Van said, sharing some of the accomplishment with his friends.

“Of course, of course, you all are going to be getting top marks for this lesson. I hope you all are looking forward to it.” Miss V said with a smile.

“Thank you very much.” Van smiled back.

Cecilia and Javis thanked her as well. Their expressions were a bit more complicated, but they were happy about the promise of good grades.

Once Miss V left. Cecilia’s true thoughts were spoken out loud.

“Jeez… She could have done better hiding how much she dots on you…” She muttered.

“She does have a point though… Even without us, Van probably would have finished this on his own, it just would have taken longer.” Javis said.

Cecilia gave a harrumph, but didn’t deny it.

“Sorry guys…” Van apologized.

“Not your fault.” Cecilia said with a sigh. “It just means we have to try harder to prove ourselves.” Fire igniting in her eyes at the challenge.

Javis nodded. Making Van thankful he had such supportive friends.

“Come… I’ll treat you guys to something nice for lunch.” Van suggested.

“Now you're speaking my language!” Cecelia was more than happy to treat herself to some free food.

“Thanks Van.” Javis said happily.

The three left for lunch and enjoyed a nice meal.