Chapter 2: The Academy
The halls of the Academy felt both awe-inspiring and suffocating at the same time.
Steven Liam had never been particularly gifted in the sciences or engineering back on Earth, but here, in the heart of Piltover, he felt the weight of his new reality. The Academy was a marvel of mechanical innovation, with its towering spires and intricate hextech machines, buzzing with life and energy. Everything around him seemed to hum with the promise of discovery yet he felt small and lost within it.
He had no idea what he was doing here, no clear path forward. Every step he took echoed with uncertainty. The hallways were alive with the sounds of students hurriedly scribbling notes, talking shop about the latest advancements in hextech, or discussing engineering breakthroughs in hushed tones. Every conversation seemed like a puzzle he couldn't quite fit into.
"Focus," he muttered to himself as he walked through the crowded corridor. He couldn't afford to keep wallowing in self-doubt. He was here now he had to make it work.
Elsie had already left for class, her reminder of the missed lab ringing in his ears. She had seemed kind, but that didn't change the fact that Steven was in way over his head. He wasn't an inventor. He wasn't even sure how to begin understanding the advanced technology that was the backbone of Piltover's power.
The Academy itself was a testament to human achievement. The walls were lined with schematics for complex machines, gears and cogs spinning in models suspended in the air by the power of hextech. It all felt so... out of reach.
...
...
Steven found his classroom with difficulty, trying to keep his bearings in the labyrinth of halls and chambers. When he finally reached the room, the door was already open, and students filled the space scribbling down notes, muttering about the latest inventions and experiments. He felt like a fish out of water.
The professor, an older man with thick glasses perched on the edge of his nose, looked up briefly and gave a distracted nod as Steven entered.
"Ah, Steven. Glad you could join us," the professor said, though the words felt like a formality. "Today we'll be working on simple hextech power regulation. A crucial element for anyone entering the field of invention. You'll need to catch up, but we're starting slow."
Simple? The last thing Steven felt was simplicity.
As the class progressed, Steven struggled to follow along. The concepts were abstract, complex, and yet so foundational to this world that he couldn't afford to get lost. He had never had an affinity for anything remotely mechanical or technical, and now he was supposed to understand this, this technology that powered the entire city.
He tried to focus on the diagrams on the board. Hextech was everywhere in Piltover, but it was like learning a foreign language. Every term felt like an alien concept. Energy flow. Stabilization fields. Quantum mesh. His mind raced, grasping at the edges of these words, but they slipped through his fingers.
"Class, let's get our hands dirty, shall we?" the professor announced, snapping Steven out of his spiraling thoughts. "You'll be working in pairs today, assembling basic energy converters. Don't worry, Steven. You're paired with Elsie. I'm sure she'll bring you up to speed."
Steven barely heard the last part. His heart was pounding. Elsie. He had barely spoken to her and now he would be working alongside her. He wasn't sure if that was a blessing or a curse. Would she notice how clueless he was? Would she see right through him? His anxiety was becoming a tangible weight in his chest.
Elsie was already at one of the workstations, her hands deftly assembling a piece of hextech equipment with ease. She looked up when Steven hesitated at the door.
"Come on, you can do this," she said with a smile that didn't quite reach her eyes. "We'll go slow, step by step."
Steven nodded, though his stomach churned. He sat down next to her, trying to keep his hands from trembling as he picked up a tool. His fingers felt clumsy in this new body, as if the motions didn't belong to him.
They spent the next few hours working in silence, aside from Elsie's occasional instructions. Steven followed her guidance as best he could, trying to memorize the steps and pay attention to the details. Despite himself, a small part of him felt drawn to the delicate balance of mechanics how the pieces fit together, how they interacted. He couldn't deny that the intricacy was fascinating. But it also terrified him. He had no idea if he could ever master this world's most important skill.
At the end of class, the professor walked around the room, inspecting each pair's progress. Steven's hands were shaking, and his work felt like it was falling apart. The piece they had assembled was a jumbled mess of wires and gears. But Elsie had managed to connect it just enough for it to power on briefly. It hummed weakly, its core barely pulsing with energy.
"Good work," the professor said, though his eyes lingered on Steven. "You'll need to improve your technique, Steven. But for today, it's a start."
A start.
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...
It was a faint glimmer of hope in the middle of a growing storm of doubt.
As the class ended, Steven slowly packed up his things, his thoughts swirling. Elsie gave him an encouraging look before leaving, but Steven barely noticed. He was too busy trying to wrap his head around the fact that this was his new life now. Every day would be a struggle to keep up, to stay afloat in a world he barely understood.
The halls of the Academy grew quieter as the students filtered out. Steven stood by the window, staring out over the sprawling city. He could hear the hum of hextech machines below, the gears of progress constantly turning.
This was Piltover. This was the world that would shape him.
He couldn't help but wonder was this all he was meant to do? To study hextech and survive? Was that his purpose in this new life, to become just another cog in this enormous, machine-driven city?
If I'm going to make it here, I need to learn everything I can, he thought, clenching his fists. There's no other choice.