Dragon Raja: Lu Mingfei Returns from Sekiro

"The happiness that ordinary people have, you should give up and give to the world forever."

What does "happiness" mean in the context of what ordinary people should have?

Sleeping in late? Playing video games?

Does it mean he should stop being lazy like before, and instead dedicate himself to learning and contributing to the world?

Grandpa Yuan Longping invented hybrid rice, ending hunger for people; Newton proposed universal gravitation, propelling the progress of the times.

I see... I see!

"Master! I understand!" Lu Mingfei nodded, his eyes resolute, and immediately turned off the entertainment game.

He turned on his computer, logged into his email, downloaded the materials sent by Professor Mans, and took out paper, pen, and the textbook "Magic Design Mechanics Level 1" to study diligently, immersing himself in the sea of ​​knowledge...

Chapter 113 Revising the Thesis

In the early morning, birds chirped on the branches, and sunlight refracted through the dewdrops into the window, casting a faint golden hue on the room. People came and went at Kassel College, including construction teams and students hurrying to class along the red cobblestone paths.

"Both sides are flush...there should be no line dividing them in the middle..."

"When two surfaces intersect, the projection of their intersection line should be drawn at the point of intersection..."

"When two surfaces are tangent, a line should not be drawn at the point of tangency..."

"The two sides are not flush; there should be a line separating them!!!"

Lu Mingfei shuddered and opened his eyes wide, seeing Fingel's bed.

"Phew, it was just a dream..." He exhaled, scratched his messy hair, and sat up halfway on the bed. His textbook, "Magic Mechanical Design Level 1," was open and placed beside him.

He also realized a truth: when people are pushed to the limit, they will do anything, except mechanical drawing.

The more he studied, the more he realized that human comprehension has its limits.

His foundation was so poor that he had to stop and look up the annotations for several minutes after reading a single sentence, and he even had to look it up on Google while reading, and he still might not be able to understand it.

It's like forcing an elementary school student to do the most challenging problems in university physics with a connected phone and textbook. Let alone solving the problems, just understanding them and figuring out what they mean would take a lot of effort.

As you read, the words and symbols seem to fly out of the book, turning into swirling mosquito coils that circle around your eyes, making an annoying buzzing sound.

Lu Mingfei sighed, put on his dark green school uniform, and took his toothbrush and toothpaste to the bathroom to wash up.

White foam was coming out of his mouth, and blood vessels could be vaguely seen in his eyes, with a faint black ring around his eye sockets.

After washing his hair, he held a silver hairdryer in one hand to dry it, and in the other hand he held an A4 sheet of paper covered with writing, carefully studying it.

[Concepts regarding the use of prosthetics in combat]

This is the title of the paper, which roughly describes, using textbook terminology, the strategies for dealing with different enemies using the various mechanisms on the "Shinobi Prosthetic".

It wasn't really something I expected, because it was all things that Lu Mingfei had personally experienced.

For example, when facing an enemy with a thick shield, you can launch a mechanical axe to split the opponent's shield. When dealing with wild beasts, you can release stored firecrackers to make a loud noise and terrify them.

Most of the writings focus on practical experience, with relatively little theoretical content.

After all, the prosthetic arm isn't really a mechanism; it's more like some kind of strange ninjutsu.

Aside from the grappling hook, everything else requires "paper dolls" as fuel, and the way to obtain "paper dolls" is by killing enemies.

Lu Mingfei believes that the "paper dolls" are the souls of the dead, and the "ninja prosthetic arm" driven by the souls is just like an evil tool of the main villain.

He didn't expect to create the "Ninja Prosthetic" in this world; that was simply unrealistic—it was too fantastical. But the grappling hook should be possible to make. With the grappling hook, he could transform into Spider-Man, instantly increasing his combat and survival abilities by a hundred percent.

"I don't know if it will work, but I'll take it to Professor Mans to take a look." Lu Mingfei unplugged the hair dryer, straightened his collar, and sighed.

Learning makes people happy. Although he didn't go to sleep until 3 a.m., at least he didn't suffer from insomnia or nightmares.

Hmm... dreaming about drawing blueprints shouldn't be considered a nightmare, right...?

In any case, we must thank Master Erii. He once wanted to give up during this process and wait for the professor to guide him step by step the next day, but when he thought of the master's teachings, he gritted his teeth and persevered in reading.

Lu Mingfei patted his face and smiled at himself in the mirror.

"Go for it, Lu Mingfei! You can do it!"

"Taking the first step is half the battle won!"

He took a deep breath, tucked the first draft of his thesis, which he had been working on all night, into his textbook, and strode out of the dormitory.

The school bell rang, and the students hurried into the classroom, while small groups of people strolled leisurely along the road.

Lu Mingfei moved cautiously, close to the wall, inching forward like a spy gathering intelligence.

After a series of close calls, they made their way to Professor Mans's office, where he stood at the door and knocked.

"Come in, the door's unlocked," Professor Mans' voice came from inside.

Lu Mingfei turned the doorknob and went inside.

Professor Mans was eating breakfast: steamed buns and soy milk. He was munching on the buns with his left hand while flipping through documents with his right.

"Professor, I've finished my first draft and outline of the paper. Also... I have a few questions I'd like to ask you." Lu Mingfei timidly handed over his paper.

There were many revision marks on the paper because he copied another paper exactly, and many terms were used incorrectly. He only realized the errors when he checked the book later.

Professor Mans didn't speak. He put down the half-eaten bun, took the paper, and quietly looked down at it.

The room was completely silent. Lu Mingfei unconsciously gripped his textbook. It was a habit of his; whenever he felt uneasy, he would always want to grab something. In the past, he would grab the hilt of the sword Kusaburo, but today he only had this book in his hand.

The pendulum of the wall clock swayed back and forth, ticking away.

Professor Mans looked down for a long time, his brows furrowed, his hand touching his lips, as if deep in thought.

"Let me see your book." He looked up, his face expressionless, revealing nothing.

Lu Mingfei pursed his lips and handed over the textbook. There were some folded pages in the book, and many places were marked.

Perhaps his paper was too rough, which made Professor Mans' eyes a little dizzy.

There was no other way. In order to ensure that his word choice and sentence structure were as standard as possible, he checked and calculated repeatedly, resulting in the paper being covered with black marks and circles and crosses. The paper looked like an essay written by a third-grade elementary school student, or even a poor student's essay.

The Chinese teacher always said that written marks account for half of the total score. If you write well, you will have an advantage over others in the same article. Lu Mingfei's handwriting is not bad. It is not very recognizable, but it is not crooked to one side. It's just that he has too many circles and crosses, which makes his attitude seem unprofessional.

"I should have copied it before doing it," Lu Mingfei said with some regret.

At this moment, Professor Mans put down his textbook, and his brow relaxed.

"Well written, much better than I expected," Professor Mans said casually.

If his former students heard this, their jaws would probably drop to the floor.

When has Man Tieban ever praised a student?

No student has a knowledge base that surpasses Mans'. Even if you write very well and make no mistakes, you can always expand on it, right? You can always find a more concise and insightful way to describe what you originally wanted to express, right?

Professor Mans is very good at finding fault and undermining people's confidence.

It's important to know that students at Kassel College are selected through a process; it's not that you can get in just because you're of mixed race. Although mixed-race individuals make up a small percentage of the population, when they are scattered all over the world, their numbers are definitely overflowing for a college.

Therefore, as long as you are admitted to the school, it proves that you are an elite among mixed-race people and the best prospect of this generation.

If it weren't for Lu Mingfei pulling strings, someone with such terrible academic performance wouldn't have been able to get in at all. His name wouldn't even be on the interview list. Everyone who comes here is good at both academics and sports, and some are even geniuses who have published papers in SCI journals while still in high school.

Mixed-race individuals who have not received a good education and wish to study in Kassel must attend a preparatory course and meet the assessment standards before they can enroll.

Every student at Kassel College was the most outstanding among their peers before they entered, but Mans never praised them.

"A perfect score of 60" is not a metaphor. Most people can only get a passing grade in this course and barely earn enough credits, which gives you an idea of ​​how strict Mans' requirements are.

But today, he actually used the word "not bad" to describe Lu Mingfei's bottom-ranked article, which is quite astonishing.

“I originally wanted to teach you a lesson so you could correct your attitude towards learning, but I didn’t expect you to be so conscious of it.” Mans nodded, beckoning Lu Ming to bring a stool and sit down next to him. “The basic standard for ‘trapezoidal threads’ is TR40 multiplied by 7-7s. Your calculation formula here is very standard, but in the actual process of designing magical mechanics, space must be reserved for engraving alchemical patterns…”

Mans patiently explained things to Lu Mingfei, starting from the basics and gradually going deeper, using papers and textbooks as examples. Lu Mingfei felt enlightened and suddenly understood many of the unclear points.

The two discussed and exchanged ideas, gradually revising the paper and outline. Eventually, Lu Mingfei was able to exchange a few words with Mans. He had personally experienced the battle, so his understanding was definitely deeper than that based on theory.

Lu Mingfei finally understood the joy of learning.

The two of them spent the whole morning like this. Professor Mans didn't even eat his steamed buns, and his soy milk got cold. He was so thirsty from talking that his mouth was dry.

“Just write in this direction. You don’t need to come at noon. Finish the rest first.” Mans finally had time to drink a sip of his cold soy milk. “You are very talented and are progressing very quickly, but don’t be impatient. Take it one step at a time.”

"I'm so sorry to have troubled you so much, Professor." Lu Mingfei bowed slightly. "Then I'll be going now, and I'll come again tomorrow."

“A teacher’s responsibility is to teach. If students know everything, what’s the point of having teachers?” Mans waved his hand. “Go on, I have something to do tomorrow morning and won’t be in the office. Come back at noon.”

“Okay, Professor.” Lu Mingfei nodded and turned to leave.

I took out my phone and glanced at it. It was 11:20. There were still 20 minutes until get out of class ended. There shouldn't be many people outside.

He arrived at 8:10, which means Professor Mans gave him three hours of extra tutoring.

For three whole hours, he remained completely absorbed in his studies, which was truly unbelievable. He was able to roughly understand the symbols that originally looked like gibberish.

Lu Mingfei attributed most of the credit to "Master Erii." If it weren't for the master's enlightenment, he certainly wouldn't have been able to persevere. He would either lie in bed feeling melancholic and sleepless, or play games or watch TV series until his eyelids started to droop.

Learning isn't as difficult as you might imagine; the key is whether you can focus and persevere.

A good teacher is also very important, and there is no doubt that Lu Mingfei enjoys the world's top teaching resources.

He felt that the future was bright, and his empty life seemed to have found direction. If the research on prosthetics could proceed smoothly, it would not only be used for combat, but would also be a great help to many disabled people and those who had to have their limbs amputated due to accidents.

Perhaps this is what the "master Erii" meant when she said: "You should give up the happiness that ordinary people should have and give it to the world forever."

He is happy to share his morning naptime moments of bliss with the world.

"Go for it, Lu Mingfei! Try your best to pass all subjects without using your exemption privileges!" He clenched his right fist, and his figure gradually disappeared into the corridor.

...

The Lionheart headquarters.

Susie had a pink headband in her mouth, and her slender hand reached down from her neck to gather her long black hair into a ponytail. Her left hand held the soft, fine hair in place, while her right hand held the headband and tied her hair into a ponytail.

She put on a white apron and a headband, and with a gleaming kitchen knife in her hand, she cut the long strip of dough into small pieces.

This is the president's office, not the kitchen.

Unfortunately, the Lionheart Society's base doesn't have a kitchen, and the canteen's kitchen is only open during off-peak hours. But now that it's almost lunchtime, all the kitchens are open, so this is the only way to cook.

She could have asked the cafeteria chef to do it, but Susie hadn't considered it. She always prepared the meals herself when she delivered food to Chu Zihang.

She had kneaded the dough beforehand and let it rest for twenty minutes.