Chapter 180: I’ll Be Your Mentor

A few hours later, Sarah called to let me know Mia was fully settled in. I took my car down to the private industrial complex on the edge of the city to see how my hundred-million-dollar investment was shaping up.

Sarah had worked absolute magic. The place was a massive, ultra-modern workshop lined with high-precision CNC machines, microscopic laser welders, and airtight dust-free assembly rooms.

When I walked in, Mia was completely in her element. She had her purple-tinted safety goggles pushed up on her forehead, magnifying loupes over her eyes, and small metal gears spread out across a lit workbench. She didn’t even notice me come in at first, completely hyper-focused as she used tweezers to adjust a tiny tourbillon cage.

"How’s the new lab?" I asked, stepping up to the bench.

Mia jumped slightly, her magnifying loupes dropping over her face before she pushed them up with an energetic grin. "Ethan! Look at this place! Your PA is an actual saint! She got me five-axis milling machines, titanium plates, and flawless synthetic sapphires in under four hours!"

I smiled, glancing down at her blueprints spread across the table.

As I looked at her, my eyes narrowed slightly, and the blue System overlay quietly flickered into view over her head:

[TALENT GROWTH REQUIREMENTS]

Target: Mia

Next Level Trigger: Access to top-grade workshop equipment (Achieved).

Missing Key: Master-level craftsmanship mentorship & high-stress deadline pressure.

Reward: Potential unlock from 1.8 to 6.5.

No complicated junk, just pure blueprint steps. She had the cash and the lab, but to break through to her real potential, she needed the pressure of the Met Gala deadline and someone to push her raw technical limits.

"Looks like you have everything you asked for," I said, leaning against the edge of her heavy metal workbench.

"More than everything," Mia beamed, tapping a clear glass display case holding the rough casing of a futuristic watch. "I’m already working on the base chassis for your piece and Ruby’s. It’s gonna make people’s jaws drop."

"Good," I said, giving her a quiet, expectant look. "Because the clock’s ticking, Mia. I don’t just want a cool watch—I want a legend on my wrist."

"Do you want a mentor?" I asked, leaning back against the edge of the metal workbench. "Someone to push your technical limits and guide you through the process?"

Mia paused, her energetic smile fading into a slight, bitter frown. She looked down at the tiny watch gear held in her tweezers, her shoulders dropping just a fraction.

"Honestly?" she sighed, setting the tool down. "Sterling was my mentor. He was my absolute role model in horology. I looked up to him for years, learned everything I knew from watching him... and then he just threw me out on the street like trash because he couldn’t see my vision. Now... I don’t even know who else could teach me anything."

I looked at her, my expression calm and absolute.

"Then I’ll be your mentor," I said simply.

Mia’s head snapped up, her eyes going wide as she stared at me in total disbelief. "You? Wait—Ethan, no offense, but aren’t you just a insanely rich investor? Do you even know how to assemble a tri-axial tourbillon movement?"

"A real mentor doesn’t just teach you where to put a screw, Mia," I said smoothly, stepping closer and looking down at her blueprint. "A real mentor knows how to unlock your vision, pull out your absolute maximum potential, and force you to build something world-class when everyone else tells you it’s impossible. Sterling gave up on you because he was weak and limited. I won’t be."

Mia stared at me, her chest heaving as my words hit her right in her core. The doubt in her eyes instantly vanished, replaced by an intense, burning spark of respect and fierce determination.

"Fine," Mia breathed, a bold, dangerous smirk breaking out across her face. "Show me what you got then, mentor."

"Actually, it’s the other way around," I chuckled, tapping the wooden edge of her desk. "You’re supposed to show me what you’re working on."

Mia smirked, shook her head, and pulled me over to her main drafting board.

For the next two hours, I didn’t try to play expert or throw around fake knowledge. I just sat there and gave her an open, focused listening ear. Sometimes an elite talent doesn’t need someone to tell them how to do their job; they just need a sounding board to unload all the crazy ideas trapped in their head. She rambled on about gear ratios, internal balance, and spatial layouts, gesturing wildly with her hands while I listened, nodded, and kept her grounded.

Then, as she was sketching out the outer frame for Ruby’s piece, she hit a wall. She kept erasing and redrawing the exact same section, growing visibly frustrated.

"The internal weight displacement is pulling off the balance," she muttered, rubbing her temples. "If I move this frame element two millimeters to the left, it saves the alignment, but it leaves this weird, empty void on the outer casing."

I leaned in, taking a simple look at the drawing purely from an aesthetic standpoint.

"Why don’t you just extend the outer curve over the gap and smooth out the edge?" I suggested, pointing at the blueprint. "It closes the empty space and makes the whole shape look seamless from the outside."

Mia instantly scrunched up her nose, waving her hand dismissively. "No, no, Ethan, you don’t get it. Watchmaking isn’t just about making things look pretty. If I curve that outer shell, the micro-clearance inside changes by a fraction of a millimeter and—"

She stopped talking mid-sentence.

Her eyes locked onto the sketch. She picked up her pencil, quickly traced the curve I had just pointed out, and calculated the internal layout in her head.

Her jaw slowly dropped.

"Wait..." Mia whispered, her eyes going wide as saucer plates. "If I curve the outer shell like that... the balance bridge actually sits better underneath it..."

She looked up at me, her cheeks flushing with a mix of shock and pure realization. She had been so hyper-focused on the internal technical math that she completely forgot to step back and look at the bigger picture.

"It works," she gasped, letting out an amazed, disbelieving laugh. "It actually fixes the balance and makes the piece look ten times sleeker on a wrist! How did you even see that?!"

I gave her a smooth, knowing smile. "That’s why I’m here, Mia. You handle the inner mechanics. I’ll make sure the rest of the world falls in love with what they see."