The Good Teacher



Shoutout to Bruh_Vista and Harjas_Sidhu for beta-reading and providing extensive feedback for this chapter!

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The interview offered Shuri more insight than she could have imagined. In fact, after understanding and internalising all the information provided by Yohn as well as the secondary research she did on the side, the amount of noise in her perturbed mind reduced significantly. At this point, there were only a few ideas and concepts floating about in there, each just as viable as the other.

The essence of creation lies in fulfilling needs or wants. While there may be instances where individuals create simply for the joy of it, more often than not, the impetus behind creation is self-oriented. However, the journey of a creation borne solely from inspiration and an inner drive faces a great challenge in gaining widespread acceptance within the mass market. While it might resonate with a niche audience, it seldom extends beyond those boundaries.

Certainly, one could employ ingenious marketing strategies to artificially generate demand, but this approach could be deemed as deceitful since the product itself lacks persuasive power. Consequently, the crux of designing a successful product resides in thorough market research and a profound understanding of the target audience whose needs and wants it seeks to fulfil.

Shuri's cultivation was quick to assimilate this insight.

He core proposed that "The purpose of automation is to make life easier for human beings."

Additionally, "The essence of creation lies in fulfilling needs or wants."

Creation. Automation. The unity of those two concepts caused her cultivation to bubble slightly. Riding the high that came with it, Shuri pulled out a stack of parchment and started to draw out the designs that made the most sense to her.

For the first idea, Shuri decided to go with something simple. She drew inspiration from the grimoire that Senior Brother Markus carried around with him. Basically, she envisioned a mana core with all the possible modules programmed into it. Adding new spells to the list would require integrating new commands that would mix and match the modules already etched into it. The mana core would hold all the spells categorised by the primary modules and functions, that the user can navigate through in the form of a menu that is presented in Braille. To cast a spell, they would have to work through the menu or user interface in Braille, to find the spell they wanted. It was a very straightforward solution, but not one that was particularly exciting. Shuri created a simple sketch with a label and quickly moved the parchment aside as she didn't feel motivated to continue working on this one.

The second idea came in the form of a gesture-based wand. Basically, the programmed core would be held in one hand. The user would then move the core in a particular way, which would elicit a haptic response from the core indicating that a specific gesture was initiated. By chaining these different movements, they can create a modular spell. Shuri started creating concept artwork that could represent this new magic wand, filling up the entire A3-sized with drawings and labelling text. Once that was complete, she swiftly moved the parchment away and started to sketch her third idea.

This one was along the same lines as the second, in that it involved gestures and haptic feedback, but she decided to go bigger with this one. Basically, this design would use a core that projects a field immediately in front of a person, essentially encompassing a 50-by-50 square-centimetre area in front of their chest. In this region, the user can flash hand signs, which the programmed core would recognise and respond with haptic feedback indicating that a specific gesture, corresponding to a specific module, was added to a chain. This idea was partly inspired by another piece of literature in the library on sign language for the deaf and dumb.

The fourth idea went in a slightly different direction. While the previous two relied on large movements performed by the user, this one focused more on subtlety. Shuri was inspired by the nigh endless permutations offered by the Rubik's cube and considered a case where the wand and the cube could be integrated. She already knew that training muscle memory was a matter of practice and repetition. What if she could leverage this, with the haptic adaptability of the visually impaired, to create a combination-based wand? Basically, the core would be housed within some sort of combination structure, akin to a Rubik's Cube. The method of casting spells would be to position the cube in specific permutations and orientations. To make it accessible for the blind, Braille would be included in the design in a way that identifying orientations would simply be a matter of rubbing the fingers over the sides (analogous to looking and checking). This was an idea that motivated a lot of sketches, requiring an additional piece of parchment.

As Shuri's inventive mind continued to explore the realm of possibilities, she found herself entwined with a cluster of ideas that bore similarities to those she had already sketched. These lingering concepts, while not straying far from her initial inspirations, carried distinct nuances that warranted further exploration. Recognizing their potential value, she resolved to weave them into her repertoire of designs as appendices or alternate concepts, enriching the array of solutions.

One such idea mirrored the essence of her first concept - the simplicity of an interactive tablet equipped with buttons that emulated the functionality of a grimoire-type solution. In this alternative approach, users could interact with the tablet's touch-sensitive surface, each button representing a specific geometric module within the spell circle. By tapping or pressing these buttons in sequence, the user could build a modular spell with ease. The tablet's user interface, thoughtfully designed in Braille, enabled tactile navigation through the list of available spells.

The entire ideation step stretched until dinner, at which point Shuri decided to stop. First, she felt that this was a good point to end the ideation stage. She didn't think there were any more ideas left for her to explore and evaluate. She felt that she was just digging the same hole over and over again at this point. Secondly, she didn't want to get into trouble with Matron Reva again for missing an important meal. Although she no longer felt the urge to eat like before, sustenance was still a minor requirement. Besides, she no longer had to worry about getting fat or messing up her figure as she could just burn away the excess fat with her improved body control.

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Shuri let the design concepts stew for a few days. She fought the urge to get into the design process as soon as possible and decided to immerse herself in her other responsibilities. The purpose of this detour was to clear her mind and let the agitation settle. Sure, getting the product out as soon as possible would be beneficial for Yohn, and possibly others. However, what was more important was to get out a good product - something that was reliable. And through her experience and knowledge, rushing this process would only work against that goal.

After five, most excruciating, days of waiting, Shuri was finally prepared to return to the design process with full force. The first step, of course, was to sit down and evaluate her design concepts against the design specifications. Although it was a point of guidance when they were conceptualised, there was room for minor deviations that could leak through and had to be nipped in the bud.

For instance, one of the concept additions to the gesture-based solutions involved audio cues for "start" and "finish". Since the specification expressly avoided audio as a mode of guidance, she had to nix that idea.

Little by little, her concept designs started to dwindle until the original four remained. Although she wasn't equally enthusiastic about them all, she felt a sense of pride with all four - she didn't want to choose between them. Then again, she could just create versions of all four.

"But is it worth it?" She asked out loud to herself. This is a common dilemma every designer faces during the process. No one really wants to trash their own ideas, especially if all of them fit the design specifications. Every designer wants to realise their creation. But time and money act as limiting factors that force them into choosing a single path - the best amongst all options. So, to make the selection process friendlier, the designers would then ask their clients or target market to choose.

Shuri could just as easily ask Yohn to select between the four. However, her eyes slid past the four open parchment papers and landed on the Rubik's cube on her table. She recollected the conversation she had with Marie when she received the toy.

"Maybe it will give you some inspiration in whatever you're trying to achieve."

Nowadays, Shuri's interaction with Marie had been sparse and limited in duration. Unlike before, when the girl literally barged into Shuri's life at every turn. While she felt relief, Shuri was surprised to find that she had sort of missed those interactions.

"Am I a masochist who enjoys the torment?" The thought did cross her mind but was quickly shoved aside. She wasn't willing to accept that, even if it was true in some ways.

But nowadays, Marie's inputs regarding the future had more or less ceased. The infrequent nudges or calls for reconsideration were still there, but only after her Master allowed her to do so. The sudden lack though did bring into focus just how reliant everyone had become on the girl's foresight. While everyone grumbled about it being intrusive and antithetical to free will, everyone found solace in the comfort those predictions brought them - people always want to avoid making mistakes if given the option to do so.

"Just as you said, it did!" Shuri then let out a hearty chuckle and said, "I guess I know which design to go with."

If this was what Marie intended with her gift, then maybe it wasn't so bad of an option to go with. It definitely did make Shuri's life easier, as she now didn't have to think twice before folding up all the other designs and archiving them with her research material for this project.

"Now!" Shuri declared while observing the design of the permutative magic wand once again.

"How do I go about making this...?"