NOVEL WEB Chapter 56 - Start
Well, ideals and reality still have a bit of distance between them.
Jiang Hui stared blankly at the large bag of mixed parts in front of her.
These were the main task for her hands-on experience class. As soon as the teachers finished their lecture, a huge bag of scattered materials was tossed onto the workbench without any instruction manual or anything. It was quite chaotic, making it impossible to distinguish which part was which.
Jiang Hui felt that all the lessons she had just listened to had been in vain.
However, she noticed that others seemed to adapt quite well. They opened the bag, poured everything out in a flurry, and covered the entire workbench with parts.
Looking at this jumble of parts that were all over the place, Jiang Hui felt a headache coming on. She even wondered why she had come all this way to go through this hassle. After all, she was a liberal arts student.
But as the saying goes, one must dare to challenge oneself.
Since she was already here, she couldn’t just come to sightsee and leave.
Time to get to work.
Suppressing all the impossible thoughts and pessimistic assumptions in her mind, she began sorting through the small parts.
Thanks to her childhood craft classes on Blue Star, when she didn’t know where to start, she decided to begin with the simplest task: sorting. Jiang Hui grouped similar parts together based on their shapes and separated those of vastly different sizes to avoid confusion.
Whenever she couldn’t tell some parts apart, she would look up at the disassembly sequence left on the screen by the teacher.
Well, how should I put it? This miniature mech is somewhat reminiscent of the Gundam models she assembled when she was a child. However, it’s much more intricate; the parts fit perfectly into their designated slots, allowing for smooth movement even after the small components are assembled. All the parts and joints have a strong sense of high-tech mechanics, making it easy to imagine how realistic it would look once fully assembled.
Jiang Hui found herself a bit distracted, wondering if this thing was also made according to the miniature mech model that the teacher had previously disassembled. If she could assemble it, could she take it home afterward?
In reality, the actual assembly wasn’t as difficult as Jiang Hui had imagined. She felt that ever since coming to the Star Domain, her eyesight, hand strength, and even mental agility had improved significantly compared to when she was on Blue Star.
Jiang Hui even felt as though her hands had developed a kind of intuition; sometimes, she would complete the entire process of retrieving, sorting, and setting aside parts before her brain even registered what she was doing.
Moreover, her speed was increasing, and she gradually felt immersed in the task.
When the last mixed part was sorted out and placed in its own category, her instinctive urge to continue retrieving parts abruptly halted. Her mind, which had been slightly blank, felt like it had been jolted awake, as if a bubble had burst.
Jiang Hui stared at the neatly categorized parts spread across the entire workbench, momentarily dazed. Did she do this? Was she capable of this? How did she not know she had this ability?
She couldn’t quite grasp the state she had just experienced, as if her soul had taken over. Was this the miraculous effect of mental focus?
Confused, Jiang Hui decided not to dwell on it and moved on to the next step.
This miniature mech was a very typical humanoid design, consisting of a head, limbs, and a torso. The torso was heavier, with larger parts, making it a suitable starting point in terms of structure and framework.
Her hand, which was originally reaching for the limb parts, suddenly pulled back and landed on the largest piece of metallic backbone.
…
“Mr. Carlo, how did you end up here? I thought there had been a mix-up with the guest list or perhaps a case of sharing the same name, but it really is you.” As the children below busily engaged in their tasks, the adults, whose own assignments had momentarily paused, finally had time to chat.
While they had invited prominent figures from various sectors of society to attend, not everyone was there for such simple reasons. Some sought to curry favor with the Dongbo Group, while others were simply looking to network with these social elites. Once they had a moment to spare, they almost treated the venue as a social circle.
Most of them weren’t particularly interested in the extracurricular activities of a group of young children; after all, those with genuine backgrounds and talents wouldn’t need to be assembling mech models here.
Mechs were not toys. In their eyes, ordinary people couldn’t afford such expensive items.
However, there were indeed some who came specifically to promote the event itself.
The three lecturers who had just taught the participants below were gathered together. They had been invited to this event as main speakers for a reason; their expertise was notable enough that the so-called “elites” dared not disturb them as they engaged in their own discussions.
Interestingly, the three of them knew each other. The elder, Mr. Trean, was a renowned mech scholar from Planet 732. In his youth, he was a highly praised intermediate mech engineer but later shifted his focus to the academic study of mech history. This path proved fruitful for him, and today he is not only a well-known scholar on his home planet but also holds considerable renown in the resident star system.
It took considerable effort for the Dongbo Group to invite him for this event.
However, everyone knew that the elder was not particularly skilled in communication. After politely greeting their senior, the two younger scholars dared not disturb him further and instead engaged in a quiet conversation amongst themselves.
Among them, the intermediate mech engineer, Chi Rong, was also acquainted with Mr. Carlo from the Wanhua Intermediate Academy. However, Mr. Carlo was quite a few years older than Chi Rong; he had already been teaching when she first enrolled in school.
Chi Rong may not have seen this teacher for many years, but he had guided her during several professional competitions back in the day, and she had greatly benefited from his mentorship. Therefore, she had never forgotten his kindness and always showed him great respect whenever they met.
However, she found it somewhat puzzling. Mr. Carlo was no ordinary intermediate mech engineer. Although both of them held the title of intermediate mech engineer, Mr. Carlo had once qualified for evaluation as a senior mech engineer. He had always only participated in guiding professional competitions, so why would he attend such a public event that couldn’t even be called a competition?
This was quite strange.
“Why can’t I come? Miss Xiaorong is here, so why can’t I be?” Carlo said with a smile.
“No, no, no, Mr. Carlo, that’s not what I meant! I just think it’s odd that someone as qualified as you would come to such a small occasion,” Chi Rong hurriedly waved her hands. Although she sensed that Mr. Carlo wasn’t angry, she realized her question might have come off as strange and quickly explained.
“Haha, what are you worried about? I’m not that petty. Ah, I’m just not in my prime anymore. If I’ve offended someone, I can only find something to do myself. Teaching the kids isn’t bad. Seeing so many promising talents makes me happy,” the young man remarked with a hint of nostalgia. “By the way, Miss Xiaorong—no, I should call you Ms. Chi now. I’ve heard that you’ve been developing very well these years; I’m quite pleased, as your teacher.”