Chapter 4 (Weak?)
Jane and the rest could not believe why Rosa would donate such a big amount. The teacher did not back away and said, "I used to think that the students of this batch had no concept of dignity. You all let the battle class walk all over you a bit too much. Since you had no care for yourself. Why should I care about you?"
Her words made the people fall silent. They did not expect such an explanation. However, upon thinking they found out that it was indeed them who had been living in the shadows of the battle class.
Lucas asked, "Miss, you know that it could all go to vain?"
Rosa nodded and said with a faint smile on her lips, "If you fail, then you will learn what you should not do. If you win, you will learn what you should have done. This is the purpose of schools. Understand?"
Lucas nodded to her. Tim said, "All rise." in a vibrato.
The students stood up and bowed to Rosa Blues. This time the bow was not for the sake of rules and regulations but from the bottom of their hearts.
Rosa transferred the money to Lucas and allowed him and Tim to go and buy the mech they were discussing. She had given them special permission and also helped the class prepare several tactical formations and responses to the situation in the group battle.
The whole technology class was not going to take part in the physical assessment but they pooled all the resources for one team. The physical assessment for them was an optional subject. So it did not matter if they took part in it or not.
Rosa came out as the ace of their class. She displayed her skills to the fullest. The students were surprised to see her enthusiasm. Jane had been watching her silently. The day came to an end when a student, who was supposed to watch over Shi Lang in the infirmary, came over with a frustrated face.
He came over to the class and found everyone packing their bags. He said with an exasperated expression, "Do you people want to go home so early? Lang is still sweating in the mech bay. He ignored everything I said and went to report for the cleaning task."
Rosa was surprised. She asked, ''Does he feel no pain?"
Jane snorted and replied, "Of course, he does. But tomorrow is Wednesday. The day for those battle class pricks will have their regular class in the mech bay. Do you know what will happen if they find the place not clean?
Teacher, with all due respect, what you have done today surprised me. However, the moment you gave Shi Lang that punishment and reported it in the daily logs of the teacher. The system already registered his visit to the mech bay today.
The Battle Class is given special privileges, that is why they can look at who will do what. Your punishment entry disabled the bots responsible for cleaning. It will all fall over his shoulders." she sighed after this and said to the people in the class. The system in her mouth was a computer system that recorded all the major highlights of the day.
A teacher will enter all the major things they did during the day, such as punishing the students, any good talents discovered, test scores, etc. This system will then make adjustments to the rest of the school equipment based on these details. such as switching off the bots responsible for cleaning the Mech Bay in the school.
The motive was to make sure that the students follow the punishments and also keep a track of their growth and such. However, this system also became the bane for those who were not strong enough, when used by those who sought glory in bullying the weak.
"Guys, now that we have already jumped on the train to see things through together, then let us go and help them dimwit clean Mech Bay together?" she implored the people.
Jane was the class beauty and she could have the guys in the class do her bidding like a queen but she was a righteous lady. This made the people follow her even more. Tim was only the class rep because of his strength. The technology branch could be seen as the diamond covered in the dust. The students here had good academic and moral values. The overall unity was good too, the only thing that did not favor them was their strength.
The federation was a place where being weak gave you a few privileges like exemption from war, monthly free ration, free medical treatment, but this all came at the cost of humiliation by those who were strong. Humans acknowledged their weakness, but they did not wish to be looked down upon and be humiliated. They were not made the same, so why could someone else look down upon them?
Not every strong man was as such. Yet good and bad were all sides of the same coin. The strong were the rulers and the weak were the victims. That was the truth of the Terran civilization. Yes, the reason still exists but that is only valid if you have the capital that can make you be heard.
The technology branch students all reached the Mech Bay with Rosa. They found Shi Lang tying up two wash brushes on his feet and skating on the floor to clean it. Jane looked down and found that the floor was all sprinkled with detergent water.
The people all sighed when they saw the boy having fun and walked over to join him. Shi Lang waved and smiled at all of them as he taught them how to use his method. This was the reason he was favored by all. He could make tedious things seem funny. Rosa finally found out why the class was unlike other batches. She might have noticed this earlier but acknowledged it today only.
She found that this weakest link of the chain to be the one holding the chain together. Ever since she had joined the school, she had seen how the class would pull it together in times where others would be panicking. Shi Lang, despite his weak physical strength, was the topper of the class. He did well in sports as well.
Terrans liked their sports without any spices. They had categories divided by star levels. Shi Lang was one star, but he excelled at his level. He would teach all his classmates what he had learned and help them to the best of his capabilities. He would also play peacemaker if any disputes occurred.
The class had always been a team. They were putting an effort into cleaning the mech bay and also facing the battle class with all they had. Rosa was very happy watching their team effort. The weak can become strong.. So strong that they can uproot mountains.