"Oh man... the seniors truly didn’t hold back in spreading the treasures," said a young man with looks anything but ordinary. He had short orange hair styled into a classic quiff. His pale body was clad in a heavy, multi-coloured jacket with numerous pockets. His trousers were the same, with pockets running from the thighs all the way down to the ankles. Even his casual sneakers didn’t look casual at all. They had a glowing, metallic finish on them that seemed to serve more purpose than just fashion.

At his forehead, he wore safety goggles, attached to his head by a band.

"I’m out of breath from all that running," he continued with a heavy gasp.

"Y-you’re saying that... as if you were actually moving your legs," a fresher from the group around him retorted between heavy gasps.

"Exactly! You’re being carried by this strange carriage and still have the audacity to complain about running," another fresher from the group snapped in anger, huffing heavily from the sprint.

"Yeah, have some shame, Max Caldren!"

The others from the group joined in, obviously offended by Max’s remarks. He certainly had no business saying those words, given that he was being carried by a small mechanical cart. It had four spheres attached to its four corners that functioned as its limbs. At the front was a handle that Max held onto with one hand, while at the back corner of the cart was a glowing antenna that received orders from the remote he held in his other hand.

"I’m talking about the mental strain I received from all that running," Max said with a shrug, his face carrying an insufferable smile, so revolting that the other freshers wanted to punch him right away. He was definitely not getting back at them for making fun of him when he first sat on the cart. It was so small that he had to sit on it in a squatting position, with his knees almost touching his face. It was a good thing that there was a seat attached to the cart where he could rest his hips.

Strangely, the cart was maintaining only a bare minimum distance from the other freshers. Whenever they thought they were about to catch up to it, the gap would increase by a metre or two again.

As the group drew closer to their destination, Grimveil Forest, they were already beginning to doubt whether the distance between them and Max was truly unintentional.

’According to the map, Grimveil Forest had the most symbols. If my guess is correct, our books must be hidden here since they are the largest in quantity compared to the other treasures," Max mumbled inwardly. ’I need to find as many books as possible within two hours while the other bots search for my uniform.’

While he was having these thoughts, he moved past the boundary trees of the forest. His cart suddenly skidded to a stop as he instinctively pressed the emergency brake on the remote.

"Hey, don’t stop so suddenly," the fresher behind him shouted, having barely saved himself from crashing into him. "At least apolog—"

The fresher’s words stopped mid-sentence as his eyes fell upon the scenery that had forced Max to freeze.

A massive cylindrical tower of neatly stacked books stood before them. Beside it, leaning against a tree, sat a black-haired young man, his molten crimson eyes fixed on the book in his hand, titled: Fundamentals of Body Refinement.

The other freshers also reached the location and were equally shocked upon seeing the sheer number of books before them, so many that it felt like a library had taken root in the forest.

"O-oh, I never thought the books would be placed so openly here," Max chuckled, moving forward.

"Y-yeah, shouldn’t they be hidden somewhere around the forest?" the fresher behind him added, following along.

Just as they were about to grab the books, Vlad shut his book loudly and announced, "You two certainly aren’t that stupid."

The fresher beside Max stopped, his eyebrows furrowing at Vlad.

"What’s with the sudden rude tone?"

"You can’t expect me to speak respectfully to thieves," Vlad said, rising to his feet.

"Th-thieves?"

"You mean they all belong to you?" Max asked, piecing together the situation.

"Of course, they are all mi—wait, what is that you are sitting on?" Vlad asked, his eyes widening at the cart beneath Max.

’Tch, here comes another annoying kid. Talk any more, and I’m going to steal all these —’

"Whoa, I’ve never seen anything like this!" Vlad gasped, his eyes gleaming with excitement. "It’s a portable carriage, right? How fast can it go? How do you control it? Does it run on a mana stone? I heard they are very expensive. May I get a ride?"

"..."

"Tell me already. May I?" Vlad asked, staring intently at Max.

"Y-you’re not making fun of it, are you?" Max asked, his eyes narrowing in suspicion.

"Huh? Why would I?" Vlad asked, tilting his head in confusion.

Slowly, Max’s lips curled into a wide smile of pride.

"First of all, her name is Mini Cart. She can reach a top speed of 15.3mph. I control her using this remote," Max said, holding up the remote with its numerous buttons and control switches. "There is a Grade 3 low-tier Mana Stone embedded at her core that supplies the energy. All of her parts were designed by me. She even has a safety mechanism in case of an accident. Her parts are made of... yap-yap..." 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝕨𝕖𝗯𝚗𝚘𝕧𝕖𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝕞

Max continued excitedly, explaining every function of the Mini Cart. Most of it flew straight over Vlad’s head, yet he still listened carefully as his instinct to learn about something he had never seen before took over.

"You don’t seem to be a bad person. I’m Max Caldren from the Order of Rings. I want to surpass Master Bram and become the Greatest Mechanical Engineer," Max announced with his head held high.

’Crap! I got ahead of myself again and said it out loud. Sighs... here comes the laughter and insults.’

"Awesome!!" Vlad exclaimed, his lips parted in awe.

After a brief pause to steady himself, he announced, "I’m Vlad Lumberjack from the Order of Blades. I want to become the Legendary Knight!"