Shi Lang came back to the rest of the class and, under everyone’s surprised gazes, he could not help but stagnate. He sighed and said, “We cannot win without scheming.”

The people came to understand at once what his meaning was with just one sentence. Jane did not point it out, but unlike in the past, Shi Lang did not wait to be reeled in by the battle class. He was brown-nosing the face of the battle class and having him think that he was doing everything according to what the other party may want.

The people all sensed that Shi Lang had changed a little. They began to work with the parts by segregating them from the load first.

…

As the technology class worked outside, the battle class was busy practicing with the mech. A guy with grey hair stood with Jenkins and asked, “Why do I think something was fishy with the way the nerd acted just now?”

Jenkins Edwards nodded. He deserved to be the first student of the course. His IQ was not low as he said, “He was brown-nosing me. So that I do not make them leave. These guys only have theoretical exams, and this little project of theirs must be important. I hit that guy yesterday. He must have been in a lot of pain, so he came over asking for permission.

The fishy thing you spotted was his calmness, right?”

The guy nodded, Jenkins Edwards smirked and said, “In the past one month, that guy has suffered humiliation for his mistakes more than a couple of times, so he has become trained. Like a little puppy back at home. You reward it for being good, punish it for being out of discipline. Gradually the puppy becomes calm and well behaved, it will please you, just like that guy outside.”

His arrogance had risen to this level that he thought he was designing against an eons-old monster. If Shi Lang was to know this, he would be happy with this and say, “Whatever rocks your socks.”

…

The sky had slight clouds, giving the people some shade. Shi Lang said, “We should erect a big rain cover at twelve feet. What do you think?”

Tim nodded and said, “You focus on the design, I will handle this with the guys.” He was not good at the delicate stuff, so took over the manual labor tasks.

Lucas was the same as him. Jane stood beside Shi Lang and said, “So what sort of Mech do you have in mind?”

Shi Lang said, “Well, not a conventional one. The design limit is too much. The human body is not the pinnacle of strength, you know.”

Jane nodded and said, “You wish to design something like that dynamic exoskeleton of yours?’

The dynamic exoskeleton was something designed by Shi Lang in a science fair organized by the school, and the design was appreciated by the visitors a lot. Jenkins Edwards classified it as ugly and the project never received any school recommendations. The line of ideas behind that project was to have the elements of nature incorporated with machines.

Shi Lang made a set of exoskeleton legs, based on the fastest two-legged creature in the world, the ostrich. The functionality of the legs was very simple. Converting the weight of the user into kinetic energy. The speed of the user increased exponentially twice.

That model could have made it big, but some people did not like the idea of having an ugly tool to aid their glorious selves. Shi Lang nodded and said, “We can keep the body as light as possible, reverse joint legs, similar to the exoskeleton legs. This will give users better agility in the obstacle race…”

He kept on talking while Jane took down the notes. The parts were all segregated by the rest of the class and the rain covers were also set. When the class regrouped after a couple of hours, they spotted the basic design blueprint in Shi Lang’s hand.

The blueprint was drawn on holographic software on his phone. As the technology team was discussing the ideas and suggesting more ideas to Shi Lang, a deep voice surprised them all, “Good design.”

Shi Lang and the rest looked at the source and found an old man wearing a military uniform gazing at them with a scoring gaze. They all stood up and greeted, “Good morning, instructor Tyson.”

Tyson was a man who had once taught army recruits. He was a mech expert and was also one of the people who pressed the ingenuity of the exoskeleton designed back then. He believed that the task of a machine was to enhance a human’s performance and eliminate the limits. Too bad. Not many people followed this line of thought.

The old man nodded and said, “Keep Going, if you need any tools, you can get them from the Mech Bay. Use my set, I authorize you. I look forward to your Mech.”

His words helped boost the morale of the people a lot and they all bowed to him in gratitude. Shi Lang said, “Let us get started. Um, start with the inner frame first.”

A Mech had three main parts, an inner frame to hold the body together, outer armor, an engine, and the rest accounted for computers and the electronic nervous system. It may seem like a handful of parts, but even the simplest joint needed twelve things connected.

The class divided tasks among themselves, based on their strong suits. Shi Lang was in charge of supervising and aiding the people, as he could not do much heavy lifting, anyway. His chest will take at least three more days. Just in time to test the new Mech they made and refine it.

Every time the class worked, they would stay connected with each other. Shi Lang suddenly stood up and said to Jane, “I will go inside and extract information.”

He intended to have the battle class students teach him the basic stuff. They all were almost full-fledged Mech Pilots, so their experiences will help him a lot in understanding the calibration of the controls. This way his time efficiency in understanding the Mech will lower, improving his performance.

Everything in life came down to fate’s design. Shi Lang was designing, not only the Mech, but also a path from between a garden of thorny bushes. While the Battle Class was thinking that it was their design to train the weaker people into their loyal followers that were coming to bear fruit.

Shi Lang walked inside the mech bay, located Jenkins Edwards, who was coming down from a ladder, seemingly finished his training. He walked over and waited patiently for the latter to look at him. Jenkins asked, “What do you need?”

His words sounded generous, but the irritation in his eyes fed people the bitter reality. He did not like talking to people during his training. He was quite dedicated apart from being a scum. Shi Lang said, “Council head, I needed to collect some input from the maintenance staff. We only have theoretical knowledge and lack experience. So, I came to ask for your permission.”

This was Shi Lang’s hard and soft. Giving Jenkins an idea of being the supreme one. The latter nodded and Shi Lang left after a bow.

The grey-haired boy came down from his mech and asked, “I thought he had become independent in the morning.”

Jenkins scoffed and said, “Treat a dog good and it will ask you for everything, even shit, thinking that it is we are following their wish. Their request was just like that. Let us go, we have other things to do.”

…

How could Shi Lang not know what Jenkins thought of him and his class? He did not bother with it. To him, the battle class was a whetting stone. A stone that he designed against and let it make himself sharper. With a sneer in his heart, Shi Lang talked to the staff members and asked a lot of questions. The staff also liked the technology branch as they were once a part of the same branch, so they answered everything clearly and concisely.