Alto felt like he had just been caught by the rays of a laser rifle, he wondered what she would first say but nothing came to mind. The professor was someone that was unpredictable at best so only bad thoughts came to mind.
His heart started to speed up when the professor rose to her feet and started to walk towards him. He gulped down and held his breath, when she reached him she reached out to his hand where the bubbly black liquid was but instead she pressed her hand on his chest.
"It's funny how your the only one of my disciples who shows fear at everything." She said in a strict voice.
Alto's heart gave out and he started to breath heavily.
The professor held his chin and raised his head to meet hers. "It's been three years measle and you have improved well to some extent but if you can't take your mind you will fail."
She let go of him and walked towards the vending machine to grab a drink. While she worked Alto could see the muscles on her back and waist, he wondered why a mech designer would be so built.
"Measle, we mech designers are artists as well as destroyers. We build beautiful weapons of mass destruction, our art kills thousands and hundreds of thousands, if we can not stomach this fact then we might as well give up on becoming mech designers."
Alto was only half listening to her, the other half of his mind was on the thing on his wrist. He had wondered why the professor did not face him about the black blob but it just so happened that it had somehow morphed into his wrist comm which it had disintegrated earlier. Because of the tight situation he was in he could not check it out and instead focused on the can of coke before his face.
Alto took the drink the professor had handed him and thanked her. She walked past him and went back to her sir, gesturing him to take his seat where he had been solving the test questions earlier.
Alto did so rather sheepishly.
The professor took off her lab coat to reveal a black crop top, and a muscular ab structure. Alto almost coight looking at it.
"Bloody hell, when did she ever get the chance to develop those muscles under all this work?" He kept his thoughts to himself.
The professor took a drink from her can of coke and set it down shortly after, after a while she stood out a pack of cigarette and handed it to him, to which Alto politely declined. Soon after puffs of smoke came from her direction, there was a long silence between them. Alto used this time to finish up in his work with half focus while the other half was willing the strange new watch not to devour his hand.
When he was about finishing the test she spoke finally. "There is this question that every mech designer asks their disciples before actually taking them seriously. I have yet to ask you but why do you want to become a mech designer."
Alto did not respond at first, he knew that she knew the reason he chose to become one was because he had no choice but to take the part but perhaps she intentionally gave him those three years to determine what future he saw in the line of mech designing.
Had he shown great zeal in the line of mech designing? He had to admit it had been a bit fun but all the studying usually put him off. So what was his answer.
Alto could not look at her face as he spoke, "I want..." He paused and said nothing more.
Wait, why did he want to become a mech designer? Why did he choose this path? Or did he choose this path? He did not want to think that the three years of his life had been a waste, this was why he was always afraid. He wanted to stand next to his friend as someone accomplished but did he really enjoy what he did. He had to acknowledge the fact that the past three years had been bothersome in the sense that he had to study lengthy works and theories, but the practical aspect was always fun. Still he had not actually worked on a real mech.
The feeling that he had chosen an impossible task set him off, being a mech designer seemed much harder than being a mech pilot now.
The professor pressed down the butt of the cigarette on table and said. "You don't have to rush it."
Alto spoke shortly after. "I want to help mech pilots keep people safe. If I can't pilot a mech, I might as well build the best mech to be piloted by the best pilots." That was the best answer he could come up with at the moment, he waited to see how she would react to it and it was not what he expected.
She did not laugh at him neither did she see his reason as some grand achievement. Instead she pat him on the shoulder and said, "You passed the test, from tomorrow we'll begin model mech designs. If you can't keep up, I'll let ya go."
Alto was dumbstruck for a few seconds unsure of how to react to her words. She had just said something he had not expected, she would be teaching him personally now. He wondered if any of the other disciples received this privilege. As amazing as it sounded he wondered if he really could keep up with a genius such as herself.
But before he could thank her his hand started to sting like his wrist comm was digging into his skin with a needle. He winced slightly.
The professor rolled her eyes and sighed. "You seem tired, why don't you go back to rest."
Alto managed to take his mind away from his pain and thanked her for the help before letting himself back to his room. On the way he noticed the pain leaving him, on getting to his room he noticed that the wrist comm was stuck to his wrist with no way to get it off. He was trapped with the strange device.