Nanomancer Rising: Divine Alchemist Reborn as Academy's Worst Teacher
Chapter 92: What teachers really want to hear

Chapter 92: What teachers really want to hear

’Okay, this won’t get any nicer than that,’ Theo thought to himself with a loud, audible sigh.

Before him lay a fresh piece of parchment with the copy of the formation layout he already painted over a dirty version of.

In a way, using a clear piece of parchment was Theo’s own way of confirming his choice of the one possible formation from a total of four different ones he was satisfied with the calculated performance of.

Yet, even now, there was still one more step left for him to do. The ultimate check and final verification of his idea, the last opportunity he would have to implement any changes to fix the issues he himself didn’t notice or to add small improvements he failed to think of.

The very last step that, due to its importance, invited a considerable load of anxiety.

’Okay, hive, hit me!’

Pushing his doubts aside, Theo gritted his teeth and prepared for the worst.

<Planned Formation Layout Analysis>

<Numerology:

- Effectiveness: 7/10

- Simplicity: 5/10

- Efficiency: 8/10>

<Quirks:

- Needs external mana to operate

- Can absorb mana from the air

- Can absorb mana from the designated fueling spots

- Can hold up to 100x of mana saturation of its surroundings

- Can operate indefinitely for as long as external mana is provided

- Usable only by the wielders of the keystone>

<Flaws:

- Can be disturbed from within

- Once overcharged, requires equal amount of mana to the excessive charge to start working properly again

- Missed potential within simplicity factor (Current: 5, possible: 7)

- Missed potential within efficiency factor (Current: 8, possible: 9)>

Reading through line after line of the hive’s analysis, Theo was tense all over. Once his lecture ended, however, he could finally breathe a sigh of relief.

’All in all, not so bad for this old brain of mine, huh?’

To produce a result so close in terms of results to what the hive could suggest was already one hell of an achievement. The only thing about it... was how there was no other person alive Theo could brag about it to.

Still, bragging rights or not, the end result of nearly an entire day of this kind of creative work was still to Theo’s satisfaction. The only problem that was left about it was how he now had to turn the drawing on the paper into something that existed in reality.

And that, for better or not, was going to be a much harder task than when he set his last formation.

"It’s going to take several days to get it done properly," he muttered to himself only to then lean back on his arms and look up to the bright, blue sky of the late afternoon.

This, however, forced Theo to ask himself another question.

’Is there really any point in setting it all up now?’

With Theo already at the peak of strength he could achieve through the established path of the infinite nanite cultivation, was there really any need for him to work hard to gain a better means of growing stronger? Sure, it was bound to come in handy later, but...

Exactly how much later? And was there even any guarantee Theo would still remain at the academy by the time he would finally find a use for this formation?

’There’s always the option of just leaving the existing formation as it is, and only looking to improve it once I feed enough information to the hive to develop further steps to my cultivation.’

Up until this point, Theo occupied his thoughts with just the task before him, pushing all the questions and doubts for later. Now, though?

Now he had to face the reality.

And that reality called for him to finally stop lazing around and go back from this tranquil place to the busy and noisy center of the area.

Or, to be even more specific—the academy’s main library.

"Do I really have to, though?" Theo asked out loud, dropping his back directly to the ground as he relaxed, sinking in the peaceful atmosphere of the late afternoon.

The day was still bright. The air was at the slightly chilly and thus perfectly comfortable, refreshing temperature. There was hardly any noise reaching as far out as this mansion, and whatever noise the staff made inside the building failed to reach the inner courtyard.

All in all, this was just the perfect place for Theo to relax. And after but a few minutes of doing so, he suddenly found himself standing up and moving towards the mansion, unable to bear something as wasteful as just lying around doing nothing.

’Even if there’s no external reason for me to keep going, I just can’t keep still myself, can I?’

Theo shook his head, baffled by his own state of mind.

But it only lined up with how he was before the entire rebirth thing.

Even back when all his needs were taken care of, when all the troubles were long solved and no issues dared to ever appear in fear of the might of the collaborative hive and endless nanites infused into the atmosphere itself... Even back in that utopia of a post-modern world, Theo just couldn’t stay still, always seeking new ways to entertain himself, to keep himself busy.

Back then, he happily dove into the world of brewing weirder and weirder alcohols from things that were never designed to be an ingredient of a consumable. Now, though, it was cultivation and the life of a teacher that kept calling him to action, poisoning all the joy he could ever get from just lazing around.

Already moving towards the manor, Theo stopped when Celeste and his two disciples suddenly came out of it, their faces lighting up with expectation the moment they saw him.

"Finally done with that thing you were working on?" Celeste asked with a small smirk and with her hands landing down on her hips, as if she was a mother of a recluse trying not to let her emotions overwhelm her at the sight of her child finally leaving their room.

"What are we going to do now, teacher?" Lukas asked, the glint in his eyes revealing his eagerness both to keep following in Theo’s footsteps, still slightly drunk on the feeling of growing stronger.

Out of the three of them, only Tesh managed to hit the nail in terms of what Theo actually wanted to hear, though.

"It’s nice to see you again, master!"