Chapter 1113: Chapter 1050: Leonardo and His Researchers (Part 2)
"Kusvania, a girl, is conducting experiments outside in such cold weather.
You, a bunch of grown men, older by a generation than her, are supposed to be stronger than this young girl, but instead, you’re huddled in the conservatory playing cards?"
Six research monks stood in a row in front of Leonardo, all with their heads down, silent.
Unlike River Island Royal University or Falan’s Huaqiu New Bridge University, Holy Machinery Court University is more modernized.
At New Bridge University, artisans start with one mentor handling several students, essentially an artisan-apprenticeship system.
But at Holy Machinery Court University, artisans attend lectures instead of deep research, quickly accumulating knowledge and experience, facilitating their entry into society as cogs in the machine.
Within the School of Engineering, one either joins the holy system or enters the government system.
Especially the Priest-in-Charge’s secret monks, who see engineers as prized recruits, whether in hydraulics, civil works, or mechanics.
Yu Lian the monk is typical of this.
After graduating as an artisan, one can, after passing interviews, enter research institutes or the theology technology monastery.
This is the system overseen by Saintess Hilov, where one becomes a proud research monk.
It’s only at the research monk stage that there is mentorship in conducting research.
Most times, Hilov is quite tolerant, knowing that scientific research can’t be rushed.
However, Leonardo is quite demanding. His nature is somewhat impatient, and seeing the research monks slack off made his veins bulge.
"Mentor Leonardo, Kusvania was also involved!" The caught research monk immediately reported, "She was the one leading us in the games."
"People can play, but did you get your work done?"
"Uh..."
It’s noteworthy that many of these research monks had been with Leonardo back at River Island Royal University.
Back then, they were so obedient, in the dead of winter, researching mechanics in the workshop every day, only remembering to eat when their faces turned green from hunger.
Upon arriving at Holy Machinery Court, they lived in apartments, installed glass, enjoyed warm stoves and ate bread.
Three years later, winter came, and they couldn’t get out of bed; even if they did, they lazed around playing cards.
They were all corrupted by those sports cards!
Leonardo wasn’t against Horn’s "Bread and Circus" project; he just felt it was overdone.
According to Horn, "Bread and Circus" is akin to pacifiers for adults.
The nobles and elders of Ancient Aier used cheap food and entertainment to bribe the lower classes to maintain social stability.
But unlike El Empire’s historical "Bread and Circus," the recent campaign advocated by Holy Machinery Court was old wine in new bottles.
In the Holy Alliance context, bread refers to cuisine, and circus refers to cultural entertainment.
Madlan personally spearheaded the former, specially developing various bread, pastries, snacks... including the recently popular soda and fruit wine.
Culture, spearheaded by Grampwen and Fuchev, claimed to bloom both in literature and sports.
In culture, serialized novels, new dramas, new instruments, and popular music emerged.
Sports are even more diverse, with traditional gladiatorial fights and octagonal cage matches in urban areas, and horse races in rural areas that attract tens of thousands of spectators.
Especially the recently popular soccer matches, held almost weekly in various counties.
The surrounding regions sometimes require a dozen hours of ferry travel to get there, and after watching, people ride the ferry overnight to return.
Even nearby Falan people come to join the excitement.
The research monks are playing sports cards printed by Holy Machinery Court’s business printing house.
Generally, these cards require using a soccer match ticket stub to enter a store raffle, or complimentary cards come with purchasing new Holy Machinery Court products.
Anyway, Leonardo has a seat in the Advisory Council. Should he bring this up at the next meeting?
As Leonardo contemplated, he glanced around and suddenly noticed a problem.
He had eight research monks: one was working on claw design outside, six were playing cards indoors, but where was the other one?
"Go fetch Lotton Wood immediately. It’s almost time for the second paper review, and he’s still being idle!"
Leonardo couldn’t hold back any longer, realizing one of them hadn’t even shown up, nearly forgetting about him.
The six research monks looked at each other, and eventually, the senior brother playing cards spoke up: "Mentor, Lotton was in the office all night and just stepped out."
Hearing this, Leonardo’s expression softened a bit: "Then when he wakes up, have him come find me... wait, he was in the office all night yesterday?"
"Yes."
Leonardo suddenly stood up and strode over to Lotton’s desk.
He knew Lotton’s ability and the difficulty of his paper.
For Lotton, it’s impossible to pull an all-nighter for such a simple paper.
Among the disorderly scrap papers and various books with experimental data on the desk, Leonardo accurately pulled out a few sheets.
Without saying much, he silently read line by line, but the more he read, the darker his expression became.
Even worse than catching a few of them slacking off, he didn’t finish reading the papers before slamming them onto the desk.
His chest heaved intensely; Leonardo remained silent.
Yet the few research monks were silent as a cicada in the cold winter, daring not to breathe.
Seated in Lotton’s chair, Leonardo closed his eyes: "Go wake Lotton up immediately and bring him over."
"Mentor, is there a problem with Lotton’s paper? Progress isn’t going well?" the research monk close to Lotton couldn’t help but ask.
"It’s none of your business. Fetch him now."
"Got it."
Seeing Leonardo was on the verge of an outburst, the senior brother bolted out, but as soon as he opened the door, he bumped into a skinny middle-aged man with round glasses.
"Mentor, I’ve brought Lotton." The senior brother swiftly nudged the older junior brother in front of Leonardo.
"Lotton stay, everyone else out."
Lotton, carrying a satchel, stood in front of Leonardo.
The few research monks exchanged worried glances and eventually filed out. The senior brother even took his sports cards with him.
The office door was not tightly closed when a suppressed angry question leaked out: "Do you understand you’re betting your future on this? If you fail three times, you’ll have to pay the hefty review fee yourself!"
Upon hearing this, even the several research monks standing outside understood.
The senior brother carefully putting away the sports cards froze on the spot: "He hasn’t given up on that absurd theory?"
"Lotton is stubborn; we all know him." Watching the tightly closed door, another research monk whispered, "Hope the mentor can shout him awake."
Lotton Wood, originally a student of Bachelor Kerben, from the core members of the Dragon Language Alchemy Association.
However, frustrated with his alchemy and spell theories resembling Scales Hermitage’s views, he believed both the Mana school and Magic Power school were wrong.
His ultimate argument caused public outrage, leading to his expulsion from the Dragon Language Alchemy Association.
But reminiscing old ties, Kerben eventually sent Lotton to Leonardo as a research monk.
After all, Lotton is a polymath, quite accomplished in mechanics, certainly the best among many research monks.
But he still clings to that theory, especially now when both Horn and Hilov seem to represent the Mana school, he dares to challenge it.
Do you want to prove His Majesty Horn and Saintess Hilov wrong?
"I know." Lotton lifelessly clutched his satchel, "But I’m not wrong unless His Majesty slaps himself in the face; otherwise, I’m right."
