Chapter 79. Student Life (1/2)
For a few hundred cols, Klaus allowed Ves to ask him questions about his life on Leemar. While Dietrich boarded the ship and stared at the horizon while sipping a beer, Ves found a random piece of scrap and sat down next to the owner of the boat.
”First off, what's up with the boat?”
Klaus shrugged. ”As I said, the students have to build their own accommodation that either floats in the water or flies in the sky. The catch is that we have to salvage or fund the process from our earnings in Leemar. The LIT practically runs on an internal credit system that everyone calls leems. Without leems, I can't purchase components off the internal market or buy access to the scrap yards where I can salvage broken parts.”
It turned out the transaction they just made already got logged by the sophisticated AIs that ran and enforced the internal credit system. The ten thousand cols Klaus received automatically got converted into ten thousand leems under his student account.
”I see.” Ves nodded. ”So the rich guys can't simply buy everything available by using their parents' pocket books?”
”Hah! You wish. Antigrav clothing is an exception. There's exclusive classes and facilities available only to fliers. A walker like me can dream about getting access. Even if I scrape enough leems to buy a suit, I can't afford the fees those places charge anyway. Trust me, the moneybag students have lots of ways of earning easy leems.”
That sounded remarkably ineffective to Ves. Back on Rittersberg, as long as Ves paid his tuition, he had nothing to worry about, so he put his full efforts into his studies.
”I know what you're thinking about. You think I'm so busy crawling on the ground picking up scrabbling for tiny amounts of leems every day, when I could have gotten an easy time back in the Terach Republic.”
”Eh, busted.”
Klaus smirked and gestured to his ramshackle ship. ”I built this boat with my own two hands. While I might be grovelling and scraping for leems, I still have my own pride. Despite the intense competition, I'm still able to stay afloat. Do you know that seventy percent of first year students drop out within the semester? It's a brutal life out here in the archipelago, but those who can tough it out get more than just a diploma.”
As Ves stared at Klaus, he recognized the peculiar fighting spirit in his eyes. The LIT evidently fostered a peculiar mentality. ”I guess the diploma helps open a lot of doors as well. I envy you and your chance to study exotic subjects that I haven't been able to touch back at home.”
”That's right. This is Leemar, one of the centers of mech development in the star sector. You can't find many other places in the local sector that can match the sheer amount of R&D this place pumps out every day.”
Too bad Klaus declined to go into deeper detail on the things he learned. Evidently, the LIT strictly punished any students who blabbed about the things they learned to outsiders.
”So do you have any tips for the open competition tomorrow?”
”Heh, good luck with that.” Klaus smirked. ”You can't imagine how many people are competing. I don't even think the masters are serious in watching out for a promising disciple. How else can you explain that out of fifty thousand hopeful mech designers, the masters only apprentice an average of three or four out of them all?”
”You think they have ulterior motives?”
”Sure I do! I'm guessing that they want to gauge the overall state of young mech designers from the Komodo Star Sector over time. They record everything you do and put it all in a database for further study. I even accessed a part of that database for a research assignment. You can't imagine how much bullshit they put into paper. I bet they even know how many nose hairs you have.”
Both of them shuddered a little. Though it sounded outlandish, they could not rule it out for an initiative that tried to record as much as possible.
”So what can I do to increase my chances to get into one of the five?” Ves asked, not even considering the overwhelming chance of missing out. He was not the Ves of the past who only possessed a few mediocre skills.
”I don't know, really. If you ask me, try to emphasize your design philosophy and catch the eye of a master who matches it. You're going to hear a ton of speeches about design philosophy tomorrow, so I won't be explaining it. Just keep your ears open and work hard.”
”So if you don't have a strong design philosophy, you don't stand a chance?”
”Yup.” Klaus shook his head. ”A lot of students have figured out that the masters only want to adopt a nominal disciple if they pick someone from the crowd. They don't want to go through the effort of holding your hand and shaping your design philosophy when you're already rather old for an apprentice. They'd rather save their energies for their own descendants or promising geniuses at the start of their mech design studies.”
That made sense. A master could shape a young mech design student's mentality in any direction by tailoring his teachings. As for those who already graduated, they were more set in their ways.
”That said, don't underestimate the worth of a nominal disciple. You get access to exclusive books and guidance that you can't get anywhere else. You may not get any personal guidance from the master, but you will at least get access to a small part of their internal knowledge base. That's cutting edge research into subjects that you can only dream about.”
To a normal young mech designer, that may sound like a dream. To Ves, that held little attraction to him. How could the power of the System compare against a single master?
After finishing their discussion on life as a student at the LIT, Ves and Dietrich went to bed. The boat only had a few cramped cabins that looked more like closets than an actual bedroom. After an uncomfortable night of sleep, they freshened up with a cheap sonic shower and got ready to go to the parade grounds where the opening ceremony was held.
”Good luck at the competition, Ves.” Klaus clapped his back as Ves exited the boat. ”It's going to be hell out there, so keep persevering. Without willpower, you won't be able to make it to the finals.”
”What about our skills and knowledge?”
”Quick learners are a dime in a dozen. If the Leemar Institute of Technology only wants to stuff as much learning into our heads as possible, they won't kick out so many students each year. The galaxy is tough, so you have to fight for what you want.”