01.43 - Officer School Prodigies Have It Easy Even in Another World

The following night went as you probably might have guessed.

As for the Aftermath…

“Want another round?” I asked.

“Are you kidding me?” Lucy said. “I am spent. How can you still move after all that?”

“I am just kinda used to that,” I said.

“You weren’t joking about those five girlfriends, after all, were you?” She asked. “Who the hell are they?”

“A gentleman remains silent,” I said.

“Oh come on,” she said. “First you brag and now it’s silence?”

—

Daily life in school was pretty ordinary.

Tia was sometimes present on campus, but didn’t actually participate in the lectures.

The everyday drudgery was interrupted by occasional challengers.

Some wanted my quickly earned title as the school undefeated, a few thought it was the first step to courting Lucy, and others just needed a lesson not to get too full of themselves.

As for the lectures… Theory was sometimes interesting, but more often than not a drag. I did score in the top, but only thanks to diligent studying and the fact that most of my supposed competition were teenagers with more pressing needs on their mind.

Practical exams were a breeze.

Mirroring the guest instructors and learning their Classes and Skills with ‘Know your Enemy’ had become part of the routine.

Psy Blade, Dreadnought, Berserker, Sword Saint, Swashbuckler, Gladiator, Warrior, Paragon, Paladin, Dragoon, and many other Classes were either newly acquired, or had additional Skills unlocked in due time.

And those were only a few.

I was probably too focused on learning and leveling up special Classes like Envoy, and the ones focused on the country life, during the other timeline.

This was a good reminder not to ignore the basics.

As for those impressive Standard Knights I had seen from afar, we were actually supposed to try one in the middle of the year.

The ‘Standard Knights’ were operated by so-called ‘Knight Riders’.

Just another of many Classes, from the Systems point of view.

As for the common man's lore, ‘Knight Riders’, especially the capable ones, held an immense status.

‘Standard Knights’ were essential for space combat, and as such one center piece in every intragalactic war.

I bet there was also some hidden agenda behind the promise by my ‘father’, about a custom Standard Knight of my own.

Not that it mattered much.

That one actually turned out to be a spare Standard Knight from the local garrison.

It had to undergo some additional maintenance and security checks before I could actually use and customize it.

They removed the weaponry and replaced them with safer training parts.

The armor and frame remained mostly unmodified.

Tia and I made sure to visit the ‘Knightsmith’s and ‘Mechanist’s over the span of several days while the modifications were applied.

This, of course, was an excuse to acquire and level up the corresponding Classes.

For myself, and for Tia, using ‘For the Good of The Many’.

The first few sparring matches went pretty smooth, and after a couple of skirmish exercises and written tests, I even got the permission for more fancy custom modification.

“This kinda reminds me of the time back on the farm,” Tia said after our first full day in the Knight workshop.

“Yeah,” I said. “Nice getting some hands-on construction time once in a while.”

“That’s quite the list of overhauls,” Tia added. “I am sure we could add them all, but…”

“...we gotta convince the maintenance crew of their necessity first,” I attempted to finish her sentence.

“...couldn’t you just use Transform and fight as a dragon?” Tia asked.

“That’s emergency fallback plan A,” I said. “Gotta try rising through the ranks and fight the proper way first. And this is kinda fun, don’t you agree?”

—

While I was busy establishing myself in officers' school and the Knight workshops, Kentaro, Reiko and the other girls were busy implementing the planned changes to Lichtheim's underworld.

Alfred and Dawn worked hard on helping Akatsuki with her spell practice, even though they had little left to teach her. It was part of the preparations for both Dawn and Akatsuki entering and rising through the ranks in the magic academy.

Hermes had joined Isabella and Geber in their workshop. He didn’t have much left to learn, or rather, he already surpassed his teachers, but having some nobody with no influence make monumental Alchemical breakthroughs without practice would be too suspicious.

Ryu was busy brawling his way to the top within the adventurers guild.

Nami and Nagi increased their Levels together with our former pets and worked on their acting.

Ariel did the same, but mainly focused on a future career as a singer.

Kei was working on a debut novel.

All four of them prepared to advance into important positions in the arts.

The most trouble was Inari, who, together with Thea, the former unicorn, now inhabiting a human body, prepared a revolution within the church.

Forging a false identity and replacing the daughter of a noble, who had secretly perished, was just the first step in our plan. If only half of it went well, the church might no longer exist in the way it did right now in the decade to come.

Either through reformation, or through schisms and splits.

But that was all still far off.

—

Other things were important right here and now.

A few of the older mechanics reminded me of Geber, Isabella, and the period spent dabbling in alchemy during the old timeline.

Right now, I had to get my newest planned Custom Standard Knight modifications tested and applied to my machine.

Some of them were, and I quote the head Knightsmith: “‘Rather unconventional. Are you really sure about all of this?’”