Aurora Over a Dead World

Chapter 33: More Technical Situation

"...Well, students, I hope that now a few more days have passed, you’ve all made some progress," I say to all of them. It’s been a few days since I took Eirwen out for ’training,’ and after everything that happened, she hasn’t come to class.

I even thought about going to Eirwen’s house, but I decided to let her deal with it on her own. Everything involving her father’s death is something personal she needs to overcome by herself, so I’ll give her time for that, and a few days isn’t enough.

There are over 1000 files and 326 recordings, some from missions and others more ordinary recordings with nothing important. I bet she’s watching all of it, examining every little thing about her father.

"Professor Zenith!! Why hasn’t Eirwen been coming to the academy anymore?" Charlotte asks, curious, maintaining her act in front of everyone.

"..."

"She’s occupied with a personal growth journey. Now let’s get to what matters. Did anyone here manage to learn what I taught? Can anyone here already reduce the damage from an attack they receive?" I ask, and they all confirm it.

’...’ I look at them for a moment, and then my tail slams hard against a desk, sending splinters flying at all of them. They’re all caught off guard, but they manage to defend against almost everything.

’They really did learn... what talent...’ I hate to admit it, but it took me a while to learn this. These five have an absurd talent to have picked it up in just a few days. It’s not perfect, obviously, and it needs refinement, but even so, it’s impressive.

"Your growth is really fast... I have a few more things to teach you before I take you down below."

"Hey!! Is that it?! You’re not going to reward us?!" Tanya stands up from her chair, speaking in a complaining tone.

"Why would I need to reward that? You’ve done nothing beyond the basics. When you do something truly impressive, then I might consider giving a reward."

"..." Tanya glares at me with pure anger. Clearly spoiled rotten if she expected to be rewarded for managing to do this.

"You’ve gotta be shitting us, right? Nobody here’s gonna accept that, right?" She looks around, but none of the other students approve of what she’s saying. She’s left alone with her impulsiveness.

"..." I look at her and then pull a lollipop from my lab coat, tossing it to her. The candy hits her chest and falls onto the table.

"There’s your reward. Fitting, isn’t it? A sweet for a child in an adult’s body."

"..." She turns red with rage and embarrassment, sitting back down in her seat as she completely melts the candy.

"Professor, a few days ago I saw you with Eirwen at night. What were you two doing?" Rouge asks coldly. This makes everyone look at me with more attention, and Charlotte gains a little smirk.

"...Why do you think I was with her? And what does that have to do with you?"

"...You smelled of blood." When Rouge says this, I’m genuinely surprised, because it means she saw when Eirwen and I were returning, and it means I didn’t notice her even while on alert.

’What a skilled predator...’ Rouge really has excellent capabilities related to hunting and concealing herself, especially her sense of smell.

"I was giving Eirwen special training, but don’t worry. Everyone here will have their turn for a private training session with me." These training sessions where only one of them is with me are better for strengthening them and dealing with their individual problems.

’Since Eirwen probably won’t return to the academy for a few more weeks, I need to train another one if she takes too long...’ I haven’t chosen another yet, but I’ll figure that out later.

"So that’s the reason you came back to the academy missing an arm?" Edith asks, curious.

"...Something like that. Now let’s stop getting distracted," I say to them, glancing briefly at my new prosthesis. It was very expensive, and it still feels a bit strange to me. It isn’t calibrated the way the old one was.

"Today I’ll give you a more basic exercise, since some things went off plan and Eirwen isn’t here." Everything I teach is important, so teaching without Eirwen here is bad.

"I want each of you to gather information on monsters and compile a complete dossier. I want at least 10 monsters from each of the lower classes and their habits! As well as at least 1 of the strongest monsters from each class." When I give this very tedious task, some of them mutter complaints.

But Ashlyn seems interested. She has a small smile. I think this entered an area of greater interest for her.

"Hey, hot stuff, this assignment’s kinda boring! Isn’t there something more fun to do? We could have more intuitive and private activities, if you catch my drift," Edith says, smiling at me in a flirtatious tone.

"...Thanks to fellow student Edith’s contribution here, I realized the assignment is indeed very boring. So, to make it more challenging, using the Nexus or any other AI to assist is now forbidden."

"Ahhhh!!" Most of them complain, glaring at Edith, who stares at me with an idiot look as if she doesn’t understand how her flirting just made the assignment worse.

"Professor—" Tanya looks like she’s about to say some crap, but Rouge quickly covers her mouth, realizing I was about to hand out another punishment. This time I would’ve given them a very short time limit.

"No more complaints? Great, then you can get started by heading to the academy library. I’ll stay here in the room."

"Professor, why aren’t you coming with us? Wouldn’t it be better to supervise us?" Charlotte questions with a curious tone.

"What are you, children?... Tanya maybe, but does the rest of you really need someone supervising you? If so, then I honestly wonder how you plan to fight monsters," I say in an extremely sarcastic tone to them.

They stand up, grabbing their materials and leaving the room. I tell them they don’t need to come back here, and that when the time comes, they can go to their dormitories or homes.

"..." As they leave, someone appears at the door. I look and see Delilah, which catches me a little by surprise. These past few days she hasn’t been in the teachers’ lounge. I wonder what she’s been up to.

"Do you need something?" I ask her as she walks in uninvited with a smile.

"Headmaster Astrid sent me to help you with your new prosthesis! I’m very good with technology, and she said your prosthesis broke, so the new one might need adjustments," she says, causing an unpleasant shiver to run through me.

"Sorry, but I don’t want it. I’d rather deal with it myself," I refuse the help, but she approaches in a completely intrusive way, already taking hold of my arm.

"Hmm, it seems like a problem in the sensors and in the tightness of the parts, making the functioning a bit stiff." She gets everything right, making me uncomfortable.

’She’s really good at this... she figured all that out just by looking?’ My prosthesis isn’t extremely easy to notice errors on. Because of the way it connects to my body without using screws or external fittings, you can’t get a good sense of how it functions internally without opening it up.

"You’re very perceptive." I could’ve sworn she was kind of an idiot.

"Thank you! I studied technology a lot. I’ll help you adjust it. A trick to quickly calibrate the sensor is simply to keep squeezing something soft repeatedly. That makes the sensor calculate the force and calibrate itself."

"As for the stiffness, it’s because they’re new parts. They’d get better after light wear and tear, but that would take years of use. A faster way is if you simply leave the arm submerged in 200-degree hot water."

"And why is that?" I ask, curious.

"Well, I did some studies, and very hot water combined with steam can infiltrate inside the prosthesis, although in an amount too small to cause any damage. But if it’s too hot, it doesn’t work, and if it’s not hot enough, it also doesn’t work."

"The correct point is exactly 200 degrees for an hour and a half. That will help the parts inside the prosthesis lose all their factory rigidity." She gives a time that’s too precise for someone who doesn’t know what they’re talking about, showing she really does seem to understand this.

"Do you enjoy experiments?" I ask, curious about her. I don’t like Delilah very much, but the advice she gave seems correct, mainly because my prostheses in the past started out very uncomfortable and improved over time. Probably through usage, they wore down and calibrated automatically.

"Yes, I love tinkering with different technologies, especially old ones! Did you know that the vector prostheses you use were based on the old pulley system? To reduce the need for parts inside the arm, an electromagnetic system was installed that simulates a pulley system that adjusts the force."

"This generates a fine adjustment for every movement of your body, allowing extremely precise control in handling things from fragile to resistant, using the biological electricity generated by the brain itself to give responses to the nervous system as part of the pulley system." She explains something I didn’t know.

’Curious...’ I never really questioned much about the prostheses. I only learned what was necessary to repair them myself.

"Ah, but the spinal column type prostheses you use are different, since your prosthesis is very unique, functioning almost like a complex exoskeleton that gives you capabilities above a normal human regarding physical strength."

"That I already knew." The prostheses didn’t give me super strength. They’re just metallic arms. If something heavy fell on me and I caught it, I’d still be crushed. But because the spine is connected to the tail, arms, and legs, I can manage it since the spine stabilizes everything despite the weight.

"You seem really tired, Zenith. How about getting some sleep?" Delilah says while I let out a sigh. Over the past few days, I haven’t slept at all since I spent all my time adjusting the new prosthesis.

"I think so... Could you lock the door when you leave?" I really do need to sleep. I’m still human, and the prostheses don’t help with a lack of sleep.

"Alright, I’ll give you some space. I hope my advice helps. If you need anything, just come find me and I’ll help more directly." She gives a wave and leaves the room. I hear the electronic beep of the door locking as I look ahead. The empty, silent room is really perfect for sleeping.

’It’s better to take advantage of the time without having to teach...’