---Perrerian, College of Magic---
A world of swords and magic, Joannia had been looking forward to it. Although she was a woman of science, even in the age of the system, there was a certain romance to a world that could have jumped out of a Fantasy novel.
Their first day had already been one of fascination when she had the chance to witness the mechs this world called titans. Huge mobile suits shaped in the appearance of knights and operated by them.
It was not so much their power behind them, but the artistry. Their power was sorely limited by their material science; however, limitations birthed innovation. The principles behind their function were completely foreign to her. At the time, she couldn't see past the surface, but the demonstration showed her that the titans performed far above the specs of their materials.
The second great scene of wonder was when she arrived at the school of magic, not too long ago. She had no care for the lavish palaces and stuff; she had grown up in luxury as the genius hair of a tech conglomerate. Just splurging money on decorations couldn't impress her.
However, the sight of the giant menhir floating above an abyss, with flying ships arriving and leaving in quick rhythm, left a lasting impact. The fascination that had ensnared her ever since joining the first class was their magitech.
After meeting a liaison of the college, she had gotten an introduction to their curriculum and the general makeup of the college. She had joined basic classes and was hooked from the very first "Basic of Magic Circuits".
As part of the delegation from Minas Mar sent here to learn, she was allowed to freely visit most libraries, the workshops, and the classes, and that she did. In the past weeks since she arrived, she had probably spent every waking moment since arriving absorbing knowledge.
When Joannia had just arrived, she could hardly fathom how different magic engineering could be, when one started off with magic, instead of science, which was later introduced to magic. Joannia compared it to their own findings and the knowledge drawn from the system world civilizations. She found it even more advanced and in-depth, exactly because they were limited by materials.
She had absolved college in record time and was a manager in Research and Development in her family's company when the Apocalypse happened. She had thoroughly enjoyed gathering new knowledge. Although the heavy weight and responsibilities that came with the gruesome battle for survival against the demons had dampened the childlike joy, the ember was never extinguished.
It was when Seth allowed her to research the giant robot that this fire was rekindled. Back then, relieved of the burden as the commander of the last fleet of survivors of Epsilon, she was finally able to freely deepen her knowledge and rediscover her fascination for research.
However, that was different from her current situation. Understanding and copying a higher version of your own technology couldn't compare to being able to enjoy a systematic education in a completely new field.
Her understanding was quickly making leaps and bounds as she absorbed the new perspective of this world into her existing knowledge, making associations and connections between subjects that led to new discoveries for herself.
After mere weeks in this place, she was ready to scrap the blueprints for the new power armors she had created based on the knowledge she gained from the giant robot. Although those had promised a 15% performance increase, based on her understanding, she might be able to raise the power of power armors by up to 80% once she completely grasped the titan tech, and based on the materials she could use.
Still, Joannia was sure that she was only scratching the surface. She was currently learning theory and the basics of building Titans, the mobile suits that could give a person who was maybe level 20 the power of a level 50 monster.
The Titans were not even the best version of this tech. Dungeon Busters, which were much closer in size to her power armors, raise the pilot's combat power up to lv.70 or 80. In that, they were actually as good as her first prototypes, despite mostly using uncommon materials and some rare parts at best.
Of course, the rating of materials was not everything, but in general, when looking at specific properties, a rare material specialized in that property would outshine an uncommon material specialized in it. For example, anything
Just using the better alternatives could instantly boost the performance of Titans or Dungeon busters, without any change to the technology behind them. At least based on what she was able to glean so far.
However, the Dungeon buster research was, understandably, one of the things she was not allowed to learn. This technology was top secret within their empire, and only high-ranking mage engineers and magicians were allowed to work on it. The research labs, archives, and lessons on this topic were completely cut off from the rest of the college
Obviously, a foreigner like her would be given access to their secret weapons. The fact that she was allowed to learn the basics of Titans was already a huge thing, judging by the general atmosphere she had experiences int he college so far.
It was a great honor and aspiration for the people of the empire to become engineers and technicians for titans. Being allowed to some when working on Dungeon Busters was technically the peak of decades-long careers.
If Joannia were able to get her hands on the knowledge behind Dungeon busters, maybe she could even build a power armor with double the output of their current models. At that point, it could allow an adventurer around lv.60 to dive into the abyss.
Would that make them even comparable to legendary equipment? But there was another problem with that. Manufacturing. Current power armors mostly rely on engineers and blacksmiths for manufacturing parts and assembly.
The new Power armor would need enchanters knowledgeable of the advances of Perrerian. Or, Joannia had to accomplish the primary goal of her journey here. Finding out how Abras Tumblegate had created crafting stations that allowed even those without talent in magic to enchant parts of equipment and manufacture titans.
Although she was technically allowed to enter workshops, she still had to prove the same qualifications as any other student to be allowed to. Although her prior education allowed her to absorb knowledge more quickly, it still took weeks of learning before she was able to pass all the necessary exams and collect the needed permissions.
Today, it was finally time to put the knowledge she had gathered into action. She was able to join "Basic Titan Engineering" which allowed her to enter workshops for practical lessons. When she entered the classroom, all eyes were on her.
"That's her, right?" "She is kinda cute," someone whispered. "She is way older than you," a girl chided. "I kind of like more experienced ladies," the boy whispered. "Hmmp."
She blushed a little and gave the assembled students an awkward smile as she looked for a place to sit down. There were only 12 other participants, whose ages ranged between 15 and 20. Being 26 herself, she was the oldest in class. It wasn't just her appearance or that she was a foreigner from another world that earned her these looks.
She was the fastest to be allowed to join this class after enrolling. Usually, it took students a couple of semesters to get this far and gain hands-on knowledge and experience with Titans. Her first semester wasn't even half over.
The boy who had commented on her looks waved at her, pointing at the seat beside him, one of the many empty seats in the room. Joannia raised an eyebrow and explicitly didn't sit there, choosing a place two rows behind it.
Not that it stopped the boy. He jumped out of his seat, ignoring the protests of the girl beside him, and walked over to her, sitting on the side in front. Joannia gave him a look with
"Say, I heard you are from a different world. How are your customs about casual hook-up?" he asked her, leaning back in his seat.