Chapter 106. Advancement (2/2)
Once he finished his tour, he entered his stateroom. In the privacy of his office, it was time to reactivate the System and retrieve his rewards.
The System inundated him with notifications once he ran the program. Ves quickly glanced through most of them, only bothering to pause at the most important messages.
He held up the mech evaluation report for the Unicorn, his rushed design for the free-for-all.
X-Factor: C+
He indeed broke through, though sadly he couldn't replicate the result. His Sword Dancer and Executioner designs only received a middling score of C- by the stingy System. He wasn't too worried. Once he had a taste of a higher boundary, he could still recall the sensations.
After pushing all of the evaluation reports along with the handful of DP the System rewarded, he finally got to the most important messages.
[Congratulations for upgrading your status to Apprentice Mech Designer. You have taken your first step into the path of a supreme. The Mech Designer System will now initiate an upgrade. Please stand by.]
”What are you doing!?”
His comm unit physically changed shape. The thin armband-shaped device started to melt in front of his eyes. For a moment, Ves panicked at the sight. Would his wrist melt off?
He calmed down a few seconds later once he realized his comm did not melt into a hot piece of metal. Instead, it merely broke down into tiny nanomachines of some sort.
It first spread out an ultrathin layer of metal until it engulfed his entire hand. Ves stood uncomfortably still while the metal constantly poked at his skin. After completing whatever it did, the metal receded into an unobtrusive brace. When Ves poked at it with his fingers, he found the comm to be surprisingly pliable and springy.
”Smart metal?”
Whatever its composition, Ves was sure the System massively upgraded his previously average comm unit. He'd dig through the changes later. First, he had to go over the rest of the upgrades.
[Your access to the Store has been expanded. You are now able to exchange more advanced items with Design Points.]
Considering that even the cheapest junk in the Store cost a fortune, Ves was not that eager to throw more DP in this bottomless pit.
[You are now able to purchase copper lottery tickets at the Lottery at the preferential price of 500 Design Points.]
That might be something interesting. Ves remembered he used up three of them at the start. While they gave him nothing, the lottery might hide something useful. The question was if he wanted to test this assumption by throwing away lots of DP.
[The Designer module has unlocked the Superpublish ability. When completing any designs, you are able to Superpublish them. In exchange for forfeiting all your current and future rewards, the Designer will automatically enhance your design by a factor of ten percent. You are only able to Superpublish a design once every standard year.]
This was a massive reward. Ten percent might not sound like much, but every percent mattered with regard to designs. The only snag was that giving up all of that DP certainly hurt a lot. The System obviously did not encourage him to use this ability often, given that the cooldown lasted an entire year.
”I should keep this trump card in reserve. I can learn a lot by watching how the System surpasses my design.”
The messages ended at that point. It seemed the System did not intend to lavish Ves in riches for his successful promotion. Ves awkwardly scratched his head. He expected more.
”Well, I still have my new master's gifts.”
He received two physical presents from Master Olson. The lab was still busy analyzing the mysterious piece of ore, so Ves turned to the secure suitcase resting on his desk.
As an engineer, he recognized its extraordinary construction. The metal surface had been treated with advanced alloy compression. The material worth of the coffer alone exceeded a million bright credits. To Master Olson, such an amount was chump change.
Unlocking the case took quite a bit of effort. Leemar somehow got a hold of his biometrics, so he had to let the digital lock scan his retina, sample his blood, measure his breath and read a random article aloud.
The lock disengaged after making sure that Ves was not some kind of shape shifting alien. The padded interior only held two distinct items. Ves first picked the item placed on top. He recognized the device as a miniaturized shield generator. A recording of Master Olson's voice popped up from nowhere.
”What you are holding is a life-saving treasure. This shield generator possesses enough power to withstand a single large-caliber railgun projectile. Its development is a closely guarded secret and you should never reveal it to anyone. It possesses its own methods of concealment, but for your own good, you should better keep it out of sight.”
Ves thought such devices were exclusive to the upper crust of first-rate states. Perhaps his cognition of high society needed to be revised. Regardless, such a small and amazing shield must have cost his master a lot. He appreciated her generosity.
When Ves turned to the second object, his eyes turned a little weird. After removing the strange foliage, he held a medical injector. The vial inserted in the injector contained a strange, glowing green liquid. The label on the vial only displayed a single code:
M-21 INITIATING ELIXIR
”What you are holding is an even greater secret than the shield generator. This secret is so well-kept that you should extinguish any thoughts of leaking it to the public.”
Ves already had a good idea what the mysterious vial contained. Holding it meant he had finally stepped into the upper ranks of society.