As the new day came about with sune rising on the horizon so did a new student who has yet to begin his journey.

  Waking up in his new room felt weird, he was both well rested and really on the edge, the room itself wasn't as big as the one he was used to, but it was for him only.

  A personal room just for him, with a table, bookshelf, closet, lightstands and all sorts of other things like a bathroom with running water and a carpet that protected his feet from splinters and overall gave the room quite some comfort.

  But just because he got his own room in the dorms did not mean he could stay there for free, he had work to do and classes to attend, as such he put on a new uniform given to him by the academy and a bag where a notebook, given to him by his brother, and a graphite pencil, gifted to him by his adoptive father.

  Leaving the dorms was also quite the wake up call, it felt lonely, no longer will his father and brother be by his side.

  He is now alone and with that in mind he opened the doors to the front yard of the academy.

  There he saw all sorts of people, most had the same uniform as him with modifications.

  Some did not wear a coat, others wore more layers or customized their already existing uniforms to better fit the department they were in.

  Those in alchemical department bleached their uniforms and had more pockets for protective gear, not only that they had longer coats protecting their legs.

  Those in the economics department had a uniform that resembled that of some nobles or they did not change it at all.

  And the students that were in magical science class, although only handful had completely altered their outfits, some copied the look that the archmage had, with a long and flowing robes, while others wore, what some would call a more modern style of mages, with jacket and pants that you would see some mercenaries wearing.

  But the one that trully shocking and unique ones were those who leaned all the way to their hats, making them as big as possible for what feels like no reason whatsoever.

  And while all these uniforms were different they all followed sort of the same style, except maybe for the magical science and the fashion classes, they were in a league of their own.

  There were other students that had a different stylistic direction, but they were all identical.

  Those students were part of the military academy.

  All wore the same uniform where the only difference was the rank, everything else was the same.

  From the ways boots were dressed up to how the shirt and coats were put on.

  While it was very drastic, seeing them be the same, it did make sense to those who knew that the military academy was both a different department and a building with the only thing that connected those two was simply the fact that they shared the campus area.

  As such the students and classes of both academies could use the facilties provided by both academies, training and utilizing equipment they usually wouldn't use.

  The exception of course were weapons, which even the officeres were forbidden from using without permission even in training.

  As the new student went to his new workplace, he saw many students from all walks of life resting, learning, tutoring and some even worrying about their future.

  It felt both hopefull and harrowing, since it is extremely difficult to know what to expect when the only thing he had lived through was only some self studying he did in a basement of a small church he used to live in.

  Arriving to the place where he will work and help with research for the duration of his stay in the academy made him feel really weird in his stomach and throat, as if he was about to throw up, yell and scream from pain and the desire to run away never be seen again.

  But he has gone so far, and no door or building no matter it's size will not stop his desire to learn.

  With that in mind he opened the door ready to yell out his name and greet his superiors, yet what he saw was... fascinating.

  A man laid on the floor covered in papers made from the highest quality, the quality that the young boy who just arrived would kill for, and yet he laid there covered in them and a table in the middle of the had a giant machine made from what looked like iron.

  It had gears, tube and what looked like round box.

  The boy realized that the round box allowed the gears to move which in turn allowed the tube to move.

  Overall a simple design yet the man laying looked he was about to give up

  "...um sir? Are you okay" the boy asked while poking the man

  "no... I am not but thanks." the voice of the man was that of defeated child who lost an argument with their parents.

  "I apologize for bothering you sir, but I was told by the archmage to work under you"

  "And I am the First Emperor" The man was confident that he was being pranked

  However "my name is Tesla Vane and I have papers confirming my words"

  The man reached out his hand into the air signaling Tesla to give him the so called papers "gimme gimme" Tesla gave him the papers. "Let me see this" he read it still laying on the floor "Well I will be damned he actually DID send you"

  "Sir may I ask you ti give the papers back"

  "hm" the man looked at Tesla "oh of course, here you go" he stood up, towering over Tesla with his height and his muscles were seen even while covered by a coat and his uniform, his skin was the color of a coal while two tusks were poking out from his bottom jaw.

  "You are a Dark Orc" Tesla commented for himself

  "Hm? ah yes, though you may call me Norien." Norien looked at Tesla "and you young man are a Half-elf aren't you?"

  "Yes, sir." Tesla felt gloomy, he wanted to keep it a secret especially considering that his ears are cut

  "Sir? don't call me that here, here I am Norien and you are?"

  "Tesla... Tesla Vane." still downcast he answered

  Norien noticed how he felt "Listen Tesla, do not feel down. While I may not know your entire story I do know that those ears are what made you be here and what shaped you into the person you are." Norien looked around the lab "Rightttt... I gotta clean up, can you help me out?" and so the first the day turned out to be a cleaning up routine.

  The two of them have turned the lab from a paper covered mess where nothing was organized, into a nice well organized place with everything put into places where it should be.

  "Tesla could you give me the papers that the Archmage gave you" Norien asked

  "o-of course sir"

  Norien sighed, seems like it is gonna take a long time to unteach Tesla from calling him sir "let's see, ah yes your classes will begin in one month and you will be joining the 1st year of the engineering deparment" he corrected his rectangular glasses and looked at Tesla "I will be teaching that department so you won't have to worry about failing" he smacked Tesla's back "oh but you WILL have to choose some other classes as well" He pulled out a paper from one of his drawers "here these are the classes you can choose, my recommendation would be Magical science, Alchemical seminars and Civil studies."

  This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

  Tesla looked at him not knowing what to say "o-okay"

  Norien looked back at him "don't worry all this means is that those are the classes you will be getting tests from, you can still visit other lectures, but do ask the professors if you can, sometimes some of them can be a bit of pain in the ass." he smiled reassuring him and giving him back the papers with the recommended classes circled.

  "Um sir"

  "Norien"

  "right my apologies, Norien may I ask what is that" Tesla pointed at the iron contraption.

  Norien looked at it "It's the project I have been personally spending a lot of time on."

  Tesla wondered "does it use steam to move?"

  "Not exactly." Norien took out a blueprint, from a newly sorted shelf "It uses a small scale explosions that are caused by the cylinders pushing the air and liquid inside of it to an extreme pressure." Norien moved the shaft of the contraption "it then pushes the cylinder back which moves this shaft" he moved it a bit "the shaft then makes allows for the new liquid to go inside which then continues the reaction." Norien looked at Tesla "cool right?"

  Tesla's eyes lit up, it was crude granted but the idea and the potential was right there. "This is beautiful."

  Norien was glad to introduce the young man to his interest "It does have an issue"

  "Which is" Tesla still excited grew curious

  "air, in order to make it more reliable we have to get rid of the air." he looked at Tesla who seemed down "Though it should be easy enough but would require quite the redesign, so for now I only have it as a souvenir."

  Tesla felt the urge to see it work, to see it move but even he knew that it'd be a waste of time. "So what are we supposed to do?"

  "Follow me" Norien guided Tesla to the a different room. "Do me a favor and pul down that lever there." Norien pointed at a metal lever with a wooden handle.

  As Tesla pulled it a room lit up with warm light, it was as if the sun came out in this room where the light from the sun could not shine.

  "Beautiful right?, sadly this is the only place where this can be seen, at least for now." Norien felt proud but it was not the end of the surprises because with a swift movement he got rid of the cloth that was over a contraption that was covered up. "BEHOLD MY NEW STUDENT, A MACHINE CAPABLE OF MOVING BY ITSELF AND CARRYING UP TO 10 TONS OF CARGO" The echo made his already powerful voice even more strong "And with your help we will not only make it more powerful but also reliable." Norien yelled out and he could finally begin a dream of his own.

  There it was, right there standing still, crude yet beautiful.

  Tesla was finally looking at his dream, no it was the first step but it will start it all.

  With this he can connect the world.

  He could already see it, large buildings that would serve as hubs for cargo, moving resources, food, water, mail.

  People would be able to visit places that would take days to visit in manner of hours if not minutes.

  This was it, this machine was the realization of his will, the very definition of art.

  Yet one thing lingered "May I ask you something Norien?"

  "Ask away."

  "Does it... move?"

  Norien laughed "OF COURSE IT DOES!" as quickly he yelled so did he become silent "but it is far from good, in fact I already have a blueprint of a much more powerful machine, still giving this should shut some higher ups."

  "why? are they troubling you?"

  "Yep, just don't tell them but most of them think of this project as a waste of money and resources, with the only exception being those in the military academy who actually see the potential of it." Norien cleaned up a smudge from his glasses "They are the major reason why this place did not close down, plus they don't like that an Orc teaches and researches at their GRAND Academy, but that is something I am used to."

  Tesla worried, it is not unheard of that even here in Cerillia some races look down on one another though those time where it was extreme have long passed, the fear still exists. "is there a chance that after we show them this they will give us more?"

  "yes, they might be a hateful bunch but they still value skill above all else." Norien reassured Tesla, and covered up the machine "right let's start making a new machine, shall we?" a question where no matter the answer Tesla would still be put to work.

  As such both began work, on a new machine that would work in a different manner.

  They increased the boiler size which would allow a more powerful output of strength.

  Then they increased the amount of cylinders, gears, shafts, wheels and before they knew it the night fell.

  While the new machine was only on a blueprint, it was still simple enough to make.

  As such the machine engineering department has started a new project with two scientist at its helm.

  Norien a dark orc engineer and the professor who is the head of the department and a young Half-Elven boy Tesla who is the first student of the department.

  The sun shined on the face of the two tired academics.

  Both fell asleep around the same time, working the entire previous day on a blueprint for a steam powered rail that would be capable of pulling upwards of 10 times the amount of the one in the storage room.

  But that is only in a theory and in a perfect environment and in a perfect condition.

  In reality who knows how powerfull it will actually be.

  "my eyesss hurt..." Tesla said as the sun shined on him.

  "We should not do this again" Norien felt as if his back is gonna fall apart.

  "Sir, do you know what time it is" Tesla asked

  Norien stood up and looked around for the pendulum clock "It's 9:30 in the morning"

  "Why so earlyyy..."

  "Ask the medical faculty, I am sure they will tell you." Norien made jab at them, he stood up and threw Tesla over his shoulder "come on we gotta go eat."

  Norien carried the exhausted Tesla to the cafeteria for both students and professors alike.

  While on his way there many observed the two, because it is not often that one could see this sort of spectacle.

  At one point Tesla finally fully woke up and asked Norien to put him down but he just finished carrying him there saying "It is easier for me to carry you then to wait for you"

  Both sat down and were able to get some food from the buffet plus some tea.

  For Tesla it felt like a different world, never once did he see so many people eating and talking, not to mention the food.

  It felt like he was in a completely different world.

  Just like that a new page in his life was turned, one where his talents would be utilized to their fullest and his desire and love for creating, will finally connect the world.

  Let there finally be hopeAnd let the night be no more.