I Became a Genius Mechanic at the Academy – Chapter 12

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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Chaos
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After releasing Blue back into the dragon habitat, Elena returned to her office, lost in thought. She reflected on everything she had witnessed from Ed.

‘A genius who can be swayed in any direction… that’s the right way to see him.’

A genius who could be swayed in any direction.

In other words, depending on how he was guided, he could become a hero who would lead the empire, or the worst villain in history.

He possessed that much talent and potential.

It was clear he would become a figure who would leave his mark on history, one way or another.

‘I… I have to guide him well.’

A sense of mission began to well up within her.

As his teacher, she felt a duty to guide him down the right path, to prevent him from falling into darkness.

His thoughts were dangerous.

He showed a disregard for life, a tendency to disrupt order and discipline, and a high likelihood of conceiving ethically questionable ideas.

While his inquisitive nature might open new paths and expand the realm of knowledge, its misuse could lead to irreversible disaster.

Therefore, he needed a guiding light to ensure he used the power and knowledge he would gain correctly.

‘I, I have to do it!’

And that guiding light could only be her.

She was the only one who wouldn’t exploit his power for personal gain.

Elena slipped the letter requesting Ed’s “special admission” into an envelope.

The envelope bore the imperial seal, painted in gold dust.
And the recipient’s name on the envelope was:

[Sephilia Ulysses Caindell von Orserc]

The name of her beloved disciple, the princess.

Elena ordered her attendant to deliver the letter in secret.

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Now that we have succeeded in understanding the Blue Dragon’s mechanisms, it was time to implement them.

It was time to select the materials, refine them to the appropriate length and weight, design them with an engineering approach, and assemble them.

‘First, the materials are ready.’

He had already secured all the necessary materials.

Thanks to his master’s support, he easily acquired mana stones and various rare minerals.

Thinking back, having Elena as his master was a stroke of genius.

‘The blueprints are perfect. There’s nothing more to touch.’

The blueprints were also perfectly prepared.

He had spent the last three days meticulously crafting them using his “engineering thinking,” leaving no room for even a 0.1cm error.

He was thoroughly prepared.

‘The materials are all processed too.’

The materials had also been processed.

Of course, creating equipment to purify the toxins emitted by mana stones had been quite challenging, but in the end, he managed to create a device that perfectly purified the toxic substances, just like the Blue Dragon’s organ.

Now, all he had to do was implant these devices into his own body.

“Master.”

Having completed all the checks, he went to find Elena.

She seemed to have finished her preparations as well and was waiting for him.

“The preparations are complete. Now we just need to perform the surgery.”

“…Are you sure? It’s not something someone with a weak mind can endure.”

“I’ll be anesthetized anyway.”

“No, it’s not that. You’re cutting into your own body. It’s different from cutting into a dragon’s body.”

Elena looked at him with a worried expression.

She was concerned about the “surgery.”

She found it hard to accept his decision to operate on himself.

“It’s alright. You’ll help me if anything happens. Besides, with your telekinesis assisting me, there’s no chance of error.”

Elena remained silent, with a thoughtful expression on her face.

Perhaps she found the idea of self-surgery too strange.

Still, this was the only way for him to become stronger.

“Ed.”

After a while, Elena, having finished her thoughts, called out to him.

She spoke with a serious look in her eyes.

“Let me ask you one thing. Why are you going to such lengths? Is it simply out of curiosity? Do you just want to confirm whether humans can use mana stones like the Blue Dragon?”

Elena’s voice was heavy.

This wasn’t simply a question to gain information.

It was undoubtedly a test.
Whether she would help him with the surgery depended on his answer.

“I…”

He had to answer carefully.

He had to provide a reason that would satisfy Elena.

A wrong answer would mean the surgery was off the table.

“Actually, I’ve been having a dream for a long time.”

“…A dream?”

Elena’s brow furrowed at the word “dream.” Her expression seemed to say, “What strange thing are you going to say this time?”

He continued, undeterred.

“Yes, a dream. A nightmare, actually. A dream where the empire is destroyed.”

Elena flinched.

She, too, often had dreams of the empire’s destruction, so his answer startled her.

“In that dream… everyone dies. My father, the village chief, the villagers… everyone… everyone dies.”

Elena’s mouth slowly opened. Her shaking eyes stared at him.

“The sky is thick with black smoke. Monsters roam the streets, and human-shaped monsters are tearing people apart and eating them.”

“….”

“I don’t know when it started. But I’ve been having this nightmare every day. The problem is, the dream is so vivid… I keep thinking that it might actually happen someday.”

Elena was completely absorbed in his story.

It was understandable, considering he was describing a dream almost identical to her own.

“That’s why I’ve been doing everything I can. Creating new equipment, gaining knowledge, building strength. If I do one of those three things, I don’t have those dreams as often. It makes me feel at ease.”

Elena nodded.

Anyone else might have dismissed it as a silly dream, but Elena took it seriously.

She sensed the stirrings of disaster in the abyss.

“So you’re… driven by a sense of mission. To protect the empire.”

“Well… it’s not such a grand reason, but I feel like I have to keep doing something. Haha… I don’t even know what I’m saying. I wonder if a mere dream is a valid explanation…”

“No. I think I understand. I understand what you’re saying, one hundred percent.”

Elena smiled as she spoke.

It was a smile filled with a tender emotion, as if she had met a long-lost friend.

Did she feel a sense of camaraderie with him?

Perhaps he had tried too hard to pass her test with a perfect score, and her affection had risen too much.

Surely, ‘Elena’s Courtship’ won’t be activated, right?

“Alright. If it’s such a terrible nightmare, how could you not do everything you can? Will you have the surgery right away?”

“Yes, let’s do it now.”

“Good. Let’s go to my private training room.”

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After arriving at the private training room, they first began inscribing formulas onto the mana stones.

Elena would teach him the formulas, and he would inscribe them onto the stones.

“You really… how do you control such minute details…?”

What he was doing was a highly skilled task that not just anyone could replicate.

Inscribing formulas onto mana stones the size of a human fingernail required immense concentration and precision.

In particular, formulas composed of various geometric lines would fail to activate or significantly decrease in performance if their proportions were even slightly off.

If it weren’t for him, inscribing formulas onto such small mana stones would be unthinkable.

*Paat!*

However, he succeeded in inscribing formulas onto all 37 mana stones. And not just simple formulas, but complex ones that combined multiple formulas.

‘I wouldn’t have even dared to try this without Dexterous Hands.’

The hidden-grade skill, Dexterous Hands.

Along with Engineering Mind, which allowed instant comprehension of all knowledge necessary for engineering, it was one of his cheat skills.

Thanks to this hidden skill, he could process all materials without a single error, even without measuring tools.

“…Amazing. All 37 are working without a problem.”

Elena, who had been checking if the formulas were functioning correctly, looked back at him with an impressed expression.

With this, all preparations were truly complete, and it was time for the surgery.

“Then I’ll begin.”

He took off his shirt and lay down on the prepared operating table.

A mirror was installed above him so he could see his own body while operating.

“Ready? I’ll establish the link.”

“Yes. Please do it now.”

*Link.*

It was Elena’s unique skill, a technique that connected her senses with another person.

She had often used this skill to awaken the senses of the academy students.

Now, she used it to transfer control of her telekinesis to him.

*Paat!*

As soon as Elena established the link, he gained control over her activated telekinesis.

Having practiced together beforehand, using her telekinesis wasn’t difficult.

He immediately tried lifting the scalpel on the operating table.

*Buzz-*

It moved without issue. He swung it back and forth, and it moved perfectly according to his will.

“I’ll start with the anesthetic.”

He lifted the anesthetic syringe with telekinesis and injected it into his outstretched right palm. A throbbing pain spread, but soon the sensation was blocked.

“Huu…”

He took a deep breath.

He picked up the scalpel and poked his palm a few times.

The sensation was completely blocked.

He immediately lifted the scalpel with telekinesis and cut the pre-marked incision area.

*Drip-* Blood flowed, and internal skin tissue and tendons became visible. An ordinary person might panic at the sight of their own insides, but with Engineering Mind activated, he focused solely on implanting the mana stones.

*Splash!*

Blood spurted.

He had nicked an artery.

As blood gushed like a fountain, he calmly said, “Heal.” Elena immediately chanted a spell and restored the area.

“…I’ll continue.”

The surgery was somewhat haphazard.

He would operate, and if things went wrong, he would heal.

If he touched something he shouldn’t have, he would heal and then cut again.

This process was repeated countless times.

Since he wasn’t a professional surgeon, these mistakes were inevitable.

It was only thanks to the cheat code of “magic” that he could proceed with such an eccentric surgery.

“Uh… I can’t feel my hand.”

He had succeeded in implanting the mana stone into his palm, but he couldn’t feel his hand. He seemed to have damaged a tendon.

“I’ll make another incision.”

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In Elena’s eyes, Ed was crazy.

Who in their right mind would cut open their own body and insert mana stones?

Even looking at someone else’s insides was difficult to bear, but Ed’s expression remained unchanged as he gazed upon his own.

‘Superhuman mental strength.’

This gruesome process continued for a staggering 18 hours.

He relentlessly implanted mana stones throughout his body: palms, soles, wrists, elbows, shoulders, chest, abdomen, thighs, calves.

“Heal.”

But Ed never lost his composure.

Even when he accidentally nicked an organ and vomited blood, when his eyes suddenly rolled back and he made strange gurgling sounds, or when he lost sensation after touching a nerve, he continued the surgery without hesitation, trusting in her “Heal.”

Finally, Ed managed to place all the mana stones throughout his body.

And at the center of his chest, the core mana stone, which controlled all the other stones, was exposed.

It was a circular mana stone, emitting a bright light like Iron Man’s arc reactor.

“…He actually did it.”

“It’s thanks to you, Master. I could never have done it without you.”

Ed got off the operating table.

He rotated his shoulders and clenched and unclenched his fists, checking his condition.

There were no problems.

“Then, I’ll try mana refinement.”

*Gulp.*

The long-awaited moment had arrived.

Whether a human could manipulate mana through mana stones like the Blue Dragon, it all depended on this moment.

*Paat!*

Ed began mana refinement.

A blue haze emanated from his entire body.

Elena’s eyes widened, and her mouth slowly opened.

“…Unbelievable.”

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