The Geared Immortal

An Academy Life: 10

/*unedited*/

Though Tong Lei looks like a cute girl, his voice even sounded like that of a girl. As he looks pitifully at Shin Jiao, his eyes begin to tear up.

"Young one, you and I are not familiar with each other; I don't think I am the right guy to help you with your problem." Shin Jiao said as he tried to continue walking.

"No… No… I… I just want you to accompany me to my class. If you leave I would be bullied by those guys again." Tong Lei said while begging.

Shin Jiao knows that what he is saying is true, so he didn't have any choice but to go with the guy. And so he decided to help the young man, though he is feeling a bit reluctant but upon seeing his pitiful face, Shin Jiao can't help himself but be touched.

The two began walking after Tong Lei took some pills to heal himself.

After a while, Shin Jiao can hear the clanking sound of metal hitting against another metal. The sound seems familiar to Shin Jiao and suddenly he realized the place they were walking into.

Before he knew it, in front of him appears a large arc with huge signage, the words are embedded in large letters and its read 'Crafting Palace'.

"This is a crafting department of the artificers in the academy." Shin Jiao thought.

When they neared the man guarding the gate, Tong Lei just waved his jade slab and the man nods his head. Shin Jiao did the same thing and the man let him pass.

"So it's okay for me to enter any departments as long as have the students pass." Shin Jiao thought as he followed behind Tong Lei.

After a while of walking, Shin Jiao and Tong Lei stopped in a place. Shin Jiao saw a large 3 story building with many people coming and going from the wide and tall arcing shaped entrance made of metallic substance.

"Crating workshop… so this is where they train to craft artifacts." Shin Jiao muttered as he observes the place.

"This is it… thank you for your help." Tong Lei said with a grateful smile on his still bruised face.

Though it is already healing slowly, however, the bruises he received are far too many. Suddenly, Tong Lei showed a bright smile.

"Brother Shin, would you like to come inside! I wanted to show you my appreciation." Tong Lei said with a hint of excitement.

Right now, he seems to have an inspiration to make something for Shin Jiao.

Shin Jiao nods his head as he too is confused and wanted to see how far the crafting ability of the academy does from his. He wanted to also see if they have some materials he can use for himself if he decided to craft something.

When they were about to enter the building, Shin Jiao and Tong Lei heard two people discussing something. From their tones, it is clear that the two are annoyed but feeling helpless.

"What should we do now? The price for making an artifact here is too high… We need to do more missions to earn more points."

"I just wanted my sword to be made as soon as possible. A low-grade flying sword is already enough for me. But you're right the amount of points is too high… damn those people."

The two young men said as they dejectedly walk away from the Crafting Workshop.

"Points? What are the points for?" Shin Jiao suddenly asked as he looks at Tong Lei in confusion.

"What! Brother Shin, don't tell me that you didn't know about the point system of the academy." Tong Lei said with a hint of surprise in his eyes.

"When you enter your first department, didn't the guy in the entrance tell you anything?" Tong Lei asked in confusion.

Suddenly Shin Jiao realized that he truly didn't ask or learn anything from the man who was sleeping at that time in the entrance booth.

"No, I didn't know that." Shin Jiao said.

He then looked at Tong Lei with interest as he waited for him to explain about the point system of the academy.

"You see, while in the academy, your jade slip which acts as your identification can store points. Instead of spirit stones, inside the academy, we use a points system. As of now, the conversion rate of points to spirit stones is 1 is to 10. It seems a little bit unfair but this is the way of the academy to prevent people from buying points. But there are still those who like to trade points with spirit stones or any items, like crafted artifacts, elixir, potions, pills, and more." Tong Lei explained.

"So how can I earn more points then?" Shin Jiao asked because he heard from those two people about missions.

"Well, you can take missions from the Academy Mission Center to earn more points through your hard work." Tong Lei replied.

"Hmm… I can check out the Academy Mission Center later." Shin Jiao thought.

"Brother Shin, let's go." Tong Lei said as he led Shin Jiao inside the Crafting Workshop.

The lower floors of the workshop look like a blacksmith place where heat and banging sound of metal being crafted with fire can be heard everywhere. Shin Jiao can also smell the manly smell of the craft smiths who work their ass off to make an artifact.

But Shin Jiao knows that this is the hardest and the most inefficient way to craft an artifact. The success rate of doing such depends on a person's experience and learning ability. But this process would take a long time for a crafter to be an expert.

Luckily for Shin Jiao, he learned from Gubu who has invented and mastered a new way of crafting. And the efficiency of such, though still depends on one's experience but more on knowledge, is almost a hundred percent.

So when he saw the people crafting on the first floor he felt respect for their effort. He also showed awe on those women who sweat while waving a huge hammer using their small thin arms. He knows that they are not using their strength but manipulates their Qi to be able to control the strength of the hammer.

As there are only a few girls in the workshop, they are like flowers surrounded by thorns. But they didn't mind the attention. In this place, women who can craft are well respected.

Tong Lei seems to be popular in the workshop as many would greet him especially some of those girls who busily hammers non-stop.

As the two walks towards the second floor, Shin Jiao saw a wide and spacious area. No banging of heated metal in an anvil can be seen in this place. In this place, there are hundreds of man-sized furnaces lined beside a table of raw materials.

Shin Jiao can see that the people crafting in this place are those with higher cultivation and more experienced crafter. He noticed that they can even produce a spirit level high-grade artifact. Though the person who created such an artifact had a hard time, yet he was able to craft one.

His smug face shows that he is a haughty and prideful person, as he shows off the artifact that he has finally made.

Shin Jiao could not blame the person as it is an honor for an artificer to be able to create a mid-level artifact while still in the core-forming realm.

"You!... Why are you here? You're still coming back in this place after that?" the man suddenly said in a sarcastic tone.

When Shin Jiao heard this he suddenly saw, Tong Lei frowns.

"I'm still a student in this crafting workshop, why would I leave just because you people tell me?" Tong Lei retorted.

"Hahaha… Do you think that just because you've already reached the second floor that you are qualified to be a 2nd tier artificer?... Dream on."

"Yeah, just buzz of already you're just wasting precious materials with your constant failures."

Shouted the other craftsmen with a jeering tone on their voices.

Tong Lei is already enraged but still didn't want any trouble so he just walks towards the corner furnace and sat down. Shin Jiao, on the other hand, just follows him from behind.

The two didn't mind those people mocking Tong Lei. As he is already used to it, Tong Lei just begin choosing some materials on the table and began crafting his gift for Shin Jiao.

As he carefully controls the heat in the furnace, the raw materials he has put inside began to look like jelly and slowly melted. He then waves his hand to take away the impurities of the materials. Now that the pure combination of materials was a success, he began to form an artifact.

As the artifact is slowly forming into something that looks like bracers, Shin Jiao noticed that Tong Lei's hands began to shake.

"It seems that this young man has some trauma when it comes to finishing his crafted item." Shin Jiao thought.

But he continues to observe as the artifact inside the furnace began to slowly turn into bracers.

Shin Jiao can attest that if Tong Lei is successful in forming the artifact then it would be spirit-level bracers. He can tell this due to the amount of natural energy being absorbed into the bracers.

"This guy is like, Ai Ji… he is a very talented artificer." Shin Jiao thought as he began to see the solidification of the bracers inside the furnace.

But suddenly…