Chapter 97: Cramming

Words : 1071 Updated : Sep 12th, 2025

Chapter 97: Cramming When Ollie went over to Luca’s dorm, he wasn’t expecting to be subjected to torture. Not only was he having a problem with his project, but he had also just encountered two people who were being too sticky! He should’ve known better than to enter when two giants left as if fleeing. But Ollie didn’t even get to knock; the door conveniently opened right as Jax and Kyle bolted out. Too late. Luca already saw him, and Ollie already saw what probably caused those two to run out. His good and adorable brother was straddling the big bad wolf as the wolf tried patting ointment on what looked like scratches on Luca’s arms and neck. He was going to react but thankfully saw the expression on Xavier’s face. Who wouldn’t be angry when the chipmunk, who was fine earlier, now looked worse than when he went to face off with the giant spider? How did such a thing happen when he hadn’t been gone too long? Luca didn’t realize that he had gotten a few (a lot) scratches from the body parts the recycler had thrown around. Thankfully, after recovering from the gruesome and unexpected sight, Luca was able to start storing the items before they reached him or the floor. "What got you looking like that?!" Luca had to think of something because he couldn’t exactly talk about the flying appendages. "I accidentally opened a cabinet, and some items fell on me. It’s nothing serious, really!" Luca smiled sheepishly, which angered Xavier even more. "Nothing serious? Are you aware that you’re bleeding around your nape?" Oh! No wonder it felt very itchy. A claw probably hit him earlier! Xavier felt guilty for leaving this guy on his own devices when he attracted bad luck as if he were paying a premium. And now look at him. Luca could actually solve the issue of his injuries right away, but he was embarrassed because Xavier had used that expensive-looking ointment on him! And he didn’t want to be ungrateful by disregarding his help. So he decided that a change of topic was in order! Maybe then he’d forget the scratches! "Ollie, is something wrong?" Luca sensed that Ollie was feeling a bit gloomy. His brother was usually rather sunny, but today, he looked like he had lost a lot of money! How scary! Luca shivered at the thought. Xavier watched as the mop quivered and rolled around their floor carpet. Ollie narrated the tale of his missing project for their Weapons Manufacturing class. Then, he proceeded to explain how he actually lost it. "It exploded with the mine?!" Luca’s eyes widened, and the little animal couldn’t believe that he had also blown up his brother’s project with the military mine! "I’m so sorry! I promise to compensate you!" The poor guy thought about a slew of events, starting from Ollie’s project blowing up, to not having a project to submit, then to getting kicked out of school. In his panic, he then envisioned his best brother getting disowned and eventually begging in the streets for food and a few Star coins. All because Luca blew up his project. But Ollie had to stop Luca’s train of thought. It was rather apparent with how his good brother’s face paled all of a sudden. "It was definitely not your fault! My project was actually a set of cluster bombs." "I planted the bombs around the mine, hoping to attract the attention of the ancient spider! So, it wasn’t because you bombed the mine. Even if you didn’t, my bombs would’ve still gone off!" Ollie explained, trying to diffuse the situation. "And I swear it was a rather mediocre submission! It’s been hard to work on anything creative because we have such a bad shortage of materials." "So, even if I have grand ideas, we can’t really make them! And don’t get me started about money! Even if I throw money at it, the guilds still couldn’t get me the materials!" "And that’s why I’m here! I was gonna ask if you wanted to go down to the marketplace to see if they’ve got anything new. I still have this weekend, so maybe there’s still a possibility of submitting on time!" At first, Xavier thought of stopping them, but Luca looked like he would burst into hiccups if he was barred from going out. "If you’re going out, get him to the hairdresser. He can’t go around hiding with hats." Both Luca and Ollie nearly forgot about Luca’s unevenly chopped hair. And Ollie felt a bit better knowing that Luca was going to be able to do something productive outside instead of just tagging along. But then they didn’t even get to the other stores because not many stores opened that day. Ollie had to go around to ask about the situation and learned that it was because many of the shipments tested positive for contamination before entering Planet Nova and had to be stopped at the port. Clearly, fate wanted Ollie to suffer. How was he this unfortunate in life? All the two could do was visit the hairdressers so as not to completely waste their time outside. But as Luca was getting his hair fixed, he saw Ollie and the materials catalog he was browsing. For some reason, they weren’t the same metals they looked for before. How come these looked a bit off? "D-29, do you have information on the materials used to manufacture mecha?" "I can get the information, Host!" D-29 was glad it could answer this question, especially after convincing (threatening) Sid to hand over helpful data and information! Luca listened to the short lecture about ores, metals, and beast components. After hearing that mechas originally needed beast parts, Luca realized why Ollie’s catalog looked quite off. "D-29, didn’t we just get beast parts from the recycler? Won’t it be possible to use them?" It was a thought that had been bugging him since he saw a giant claw that was similar to what almost fell on his foot. "About that Host, I actually took the liberty to assess the items we got for possible monetary gains." Luca was surprised and wanted to praise D-29 for his wonderful initiative, but he was stopped when D-29 mentioned something odd. "It’s just that none of those materials tested similar to the known beasts of this Galaxy, Host." Ha?!

Chapter 97: Cramming

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