The class started with a simple hour of meditative mining, following a basic pattern designed to release stress and calm the mind. Students recited a short mantra continuously to focus their minds - "Tarr'got Warr'ep Pros'pekt." The hour passed with surprising speed, and was quite refreshing. (It was also mildly profitable, but Mr. Orse never noted this important aspect.)

In the next portion of the class, we moved to a slightly more dangerous field. Here, we learned the art of stealthy harvesting. The exercise generated a fair bit of moral debate among the Jenquai on the ethics of removing resources from their guardians, which allowed me to take in the biggest haul easily. Morality is all fine and dandy (the PR boost can be significant), but the impact on the harvesting failed DeWinter's standard "Can We Afford to be Nice Today?" test.

The final portion was an exploration into interaction with the general public. This part was considerably less fun. The first field visited was completely devoid of valuable materials. From the markings, it appeared that some enterprising fellow had already removed the valued ores. The class seemed not to mind, but it severely impacted my credit/minute ratio.

In the next field there were more guardian creatures, which the Jenquai carefully mined around - until a group of sentinels arrived. Their tactics resulted in what I suspect was the best credit/minute ratio of all, as they ignored the "higher moral" concerns and simply blasted the guardians into lots of little bits, which they added to their haul. Mr. Orse was saying something about tolerance and understanding the ways of others, but most of it was too quiet to be heard over the Rock Monks' "One Hand Clapping" hit single I had been playing to 'get into' the activity.

At the conclusion of the class, Mr. Orse had all the students tell him of some wisdom they had obtained during the class. Most had some spiritual message or whatnot to convey. When my turn came, I presented a full report on the credit/minute ratios I had recorded. I think the response I got indicated the greatness of my report rather well - he simply stared at me for a moment after reviewing the suggestions to ignore low-valued ores and eliminate all guardian creatures, then a single tear, clearly one of joy at seeing such cost-effective measures, rolled down his cheek.

A most satisfactory conclusion to the day, I'd say.