Free Web NovelChapter 47: Theory Week
Monday morning.
In every country and region on this planet, Mondays will always be the most stressful and least lively days there are.
People feel a sense of apathy that stems from the fact that they spent the entire weekend without working or getting out and about.
It’s like that for everyone.
But especially for students.
They’re young people looking for fun and days full of adventure. Having to go back to class, to a room with four walls, to face a bunch of boring people and a teacher is one of the least fun things there is.
And today was exactly that kind of day. freewebnøvel.coɱ
A Monday morning. The entire academy was deathly silent, with the students half-asleep, staring at each other (or trying not to look at each other at all).
Except for Class F in the Toolmaker Department.
Here, the 13 students and the professor were looking at each other with interest.
Or more precisely, 12 students and a professor were looking with interest at Lucius’s acquisitions.
Many useless tools, some partially destroyed, and others meant for a collection.
Many fossils.
Lots of material for repairing tools.
But, even more importantly: blood.
50 liters of blood from beasts and humans!
"Um... Student Lucius..." said the professor.
"Lucius is fine," replied Lucius before the professor could continue.
"Well, Lucius... Why so many useless things? And more importantly, why blood?"
"It’s simple, Professor. I spent a lot of money on this because it will be the foundation for the group’s improvement starting today."
"The foundation for improvement?" Jake thought about it for a moment. "I understand you’re trying to teach them how to repair tools, but I don’t know if this makes sense. We have plenty of tools for repair right here—why bring more?"
Lucius smiled slightly. He didn’t answer right away, but instead walked over to the table where he had laid everything out and began sorting the tools into groups.
He grouped together those that belonged to the same category or dealt the same type of damage.
In this way, he created more than 10 groups of tools that had cost him half his fortune.
"The academy’s teaching method is simple and effective: Just gather a large group of people, teach them as much theory as possible, and then apply that theory to as many tools as possible, so they can learn the basics of all. They’ll learn the rest on their own or in a specialization program," said Lucius, looking at Professor Jake. "Right?"
Jake nodded. "Indeed."
"That effectiveness is only good for managing the masses. For satisfying the masses. With a small group of people, the best way to teach them will always be to use the learning methods of the Specializations."
"What do you mean?" Jake asked, frowning. free𝑤ebnovel.com
"What I mean is that we’ll split the class into groups and teach them in a specialized way."
"One group will focus on learning how to repair this type of damage or use this type of tool."
"Another will focus on this..."
"And so on. By dividing the instruction, we’ll speed up the process. And I heard that during the Department Tournament, teams work as a single unit with many arms when trying to move up in rank."
"By the end of our training, we won’t have a group of 13 students who know a little about everything; instead, we’ll have a group of 13 students where each one knows everything the others don’t. We’ll be the best weapon this Department can wield."
The professor frowned, quite surprised by the way Lucius wanted to solve that problem.
The idea of exploiting the established rules—which state that the entire classroom is a single unit—to defeat the system that created them seemed like a loophole that could be taken advantage of. However, while someone may have thought of it before, no one has actually done it yet.
Why?
Because they don’t believe they’re capable of doing it. Teaching different tactics to different groups of people doesn’t always go well, even if those tactics are specialized.
Lucius knew this and had a way to solve it without too much trouble.
He looked at the students, one by one.
"There will be four groups of three, but one of those groups will have two permanent members and one—Clara Thorne—as a temporary member. This last group will likely focus heavily on theory, so I hope this first week of theory alone yields good results in the group selection."
"Each of these tools that you think are useless or outdated is actually invaluable to your learning. And that blood over there... too. All the theory regarding it will be taught to you this week, so, in order for you to perform well, I hope you’ll pay close attention," he said, concluding his remarks.
The students looked at one another confused, but nodded. They had nothing to say.
Although the professor wasn’t entirely convinced, he had already lost a bet, so he couldn’t back down. He took a few steps forward when he saw that everyone agreed and began to speak.
"Starting today, because I lost that bet and because of his commitment to improving the class, I have to appoint Lucius Asturias as a teacher in charge before you all. I hope you’ll listen to him when I’m not here. However, please don’t mention this outside of class, because I can’t give him the official position unless he proves he’s worthy of it," said the teacher, then looked at Clara.
"Since she’s Lucius’s assistant and a very talented student, I don’t think any of you would object to my appointing her as class representative, right?"
The students shook their heads and replied, "As you say, professor."
In the end, Clara became the class representative and Lucius a sort of teacher. And from that moment on, the lecture began.
Jake started from the bottom, imparting knowledge... But at some point on the second day, Lucius took control of the situation and began imparting very valuable theoretical knowledge that even left Jake stunned.
Much of that knowledge was new to him.
Toward the end of the week—specifically on Friday afternoon—Lucius and Jake Lakeside were discussing the last part of the theory they’d taught, which had been included on the weekend exam.
"There’s something I don’t understand about your theory," Jake said suddenly, as he was grading one of the exams.
