Chapter 8 - Mecha Arm

Drake knew who the white-haired girl was. She was none other than Hila's younger sister, Aurora. While the sisters both possessed superhuman abilities, their abilities were of two extremes.

Aurora's blood possessed mysterious healing properties that could extend life or even bring back the dead. She had been brainwashed and was now being controlled by the Germinal Organization. Not only were they taking advantage of her powers, but they were also using her as leverage to make Hila do their bidding.

Hila only cared for one person, and that was Aurora. The girl war between the six countries and the Germinal Organization reached a climax after Version 1.0. As a last resort, the Germinal Organization used Aurora's flesh and blood to create an endless supply of miracle drugs that won them the war. Hila, who had been at the front lines at the time, only learnt of what had happened a few months later. Losing her sister tore her apart, and the Germinal Organization took advantage of her moment of weakness to capture and imprison her.

After her escape, she became cold-blooded and ruthless, going so far as to sacrifice countless lives to awaken her latent powers. She turned to the dark side and stopped at nothing to gain power, eventually coming to be known as the 'Goddess of Death' whose very name spread fear throughout the shattered Belt.

Although the present Hila was cold, compared to the future Goddess of Death who wielded the power to wipe out entire civilizations, the current her is a billion times nicer. If he had the chance, Drake would do his best to alter her tragic fate – not out of pity, but to prevent her from destroying the planet that he was now currently inhabiting. This way he could save his life as well. However, he was still far too weak to do anything. Escaping the base was his primary goal.

Drake knew from Hila's routine for the past six months that she would leave the lab in two days.

'That would be the perfect chance'

*

Drake returned to the tuning room and summoned the Alpha Link system. He currently possessed two sub-classes, and one main class: Civilian, Agent, and Mechanic (Novice).

Of the five main classes, Technical Creators were weaker in the early stages of the game. They were also more intended to be a support class early on. In version 3.0, however, they would receive new talents that greatly buffed their combat capabilities to become one of the more popular classes.

Drake contemplated for a moment before dumping all the experience he could into [Mechanic], initializing a levelling frenzy.

«Ding!

The engineer (Novice) has been raised to Level 3

+10 Energy, +1 Intelligence, +1 Endurance

+2 unassigned stat points

+1 talent point

Engineer (Novice) has been raised to Level 10 (Max)

+30 Energy, +1 Intelligence, +1 Endurance

+2 unassigned stat points

+1 talent point»

It took a hundred and thirty thousand experience points to level from Level 2 Technical Creation (Novice) to Level 10. As a result, Drake gained 8 Endurance, 8 Intelligence, 100 Energy, 16 stat points, 8 talent points, and was now at level 12.

It was usually more cost-effective to raise the level of the main class first as it gave more Energy.

As Drake did not meet the requirement for class advancement yet, he could not level [Mechanic] up any further. Most classes have a starting level cap of level 10 that can only be exceeded after performing an advancement.

Drake continued to use eighty thousand experience points to level up [Agent] to level 9. He gained +12 Strength, +9 Dexterity, +3 Charm, 9 talent points, and 9 points of unassigned stats from this, and hit Lv 20.

While a character could have any number of classes, Level 20 was the maximum character level before completing the special advancement mission. In the game, the maximum level was usually raised every major update. In Version 1.0, it was level 60.

Drake discovered an anomaly! His system did not display a maximum level! This could mean that he was allowed to exceed the limits of a regular character!

«Ding!

Level 20 Advancement Mission: Learn an advanced Technical skill.»

As one of the requirements for learning an advanced Technical skill was to gain advanced knowledge, Drake had no way to proceed with the advancement.

He used another one hundred and fifty thousand experience points to raise [Basic Assembly] and [Basic Enhancement] to their level 10 each, thereby gaining two talent points.

He then used ten thousand experience points to raise the level of his [Machinery Affinity (Novice)] to level 3.

After some calculations, Drake proceeded to use sixty thousand experience points to reach level six in both [Basic Combat] and [Basic Shooting], and this unlocked [Grappling] and [Precise Aim].

He intended to use the remaining one hundred and seventy thousand experience points to do some blueprint gambling.

Blueprints were an important feature of the Mechanic class. The first method of obtaining them would be through levelling talents. The second method would be through completing missions – some missions rewarded blueprints. The third way was through performing reverse engineering, done by disassembling machinery. However, only top of certain conditions and requirements, this method expended experience points. The fourth way, and most important one, was through the combining of talents. This method also expended experience points.

Drake proceeded to pick out two books from the shelf before summoning the system.

«Use 1 talent point to unlock the Weaponry branch talent: [Basic Mechanical Engineering]. Y/N

Use 1 talent point to unlock the Weaponry branch talent: [Basic Bio-engineering ]. Y/N»

“Confirm!”

A large amount of information related to these two talents began to be transmitted into Drake's brain, causing him some discomfort. This continued for ten minutes.

«Proceed with talent combination of [Level 2 Basic Mechanical Engineering] and [Level 2 Basic Bio-engineering].

10,000 experience points will be used.»

“Yes!”

Drake's vision whirled momentarily as a new blueprint appeared before him.

«Ding!

Success! Congratulations on discovering [Sky Swallow Glider]»

'Not this one!' Drake clenched his fists

'Continue'

«20,000 experience points will be used.»

“Yes, yes!”

«Ding!

Success! Congratulations on discovering [Bionic Limb]!»

'Damn it! This is the worst one

“Again!” Drake said through clenched teeth.

«40,000 experience points will be used.»

“Do it and don't fuck up this time.”

«Ding!

Success! Congratulations on discovering [Lightweight Mechanical Arm]!»

'Eureka! This is it!' Drake slammed the table excitedly.

'Hahahaha! Lightweight Mechanical Arm.. this is exactly what I was hoping for!'

Half a year of hard work almost went down the drain.

«Ding!

Name: Drake Michaelson

Race: Human/Carbon-based (Yellow)

Model: NPC (Countdown to version 1.0 launch: 182 days 8 hours 23 minutes)

Level: 20 (Can proceed to with advancement)

Main class: Engineer (Novice) – Level 10/10 (Can proceed with advancement)

Sub-classes:

Civilian: level 1

Agent: level 9 (0/25,000)

Strength: 21

Dexterity: 17

Endurance: 22

Intelligence: 15

Mystery: 1

Charm: 5

Luck: 1

Unassigned stats: 27

Energy: 120 [Level 3]

Level 1 (10) – [Strength +1, Dexterity +1, Endurance +1, Max Stamina +20]

Level 2 (50) – [Strength +3, Dexterity +2, Endurance +5, Max Stamina +50]

Level 3 (100) – [Strength +3, Dexterity +3, Endurance +5, Max Stamina +100]

Health point: 320/320

Stamina: 434/434

Energy Rank: 48~55

Grade: F (Mortal)

[System's remark: To the weakest superhuman. you are a slightly huge ant!]

Stamina: 36/36

Abilities: Concentration (+10 to learning and crafting speed), Lesser  Willpower (+3 to focus), Grinder (+100 health)

Skills: Mechanic (Novice)

Novice Mechanical Affinity – level 3

[Basic Maintenance] Level 10 (max)

[Basic Enhancement] Level 10 (max)

Blueprint: Cloud Sparrow Glider: Level 1 (0/5,000)

Blueprint: Bionic Limb: Level 1 (0/2,000)

Blueprint: Lightweight Mechanical Arm: Level 1 (0/10,000)

[Agent]

Basic Combat: Level 6 (0/16,000) +6% damage when unarmed.

Basic Shooting: Level 6 (0/16,000) +6% Accuracy

Grappling: Level 1 (0/3,000) +3% parry, +2% damage when unarmed

Precise Aim: Level 1 (0/3,000) +3% Accuracy, +2% Ranged damage

Class Talents:

Arms Basic Assembly Level 1 (0/1),

Basic Mechanical Engineering Level 2 (0/1)

Basic Bio-engineering Level 2 (0/1)

(17 talents not learnt)

Energy (20 talents not learnt), Control (20 talents not learnt)

Influence: 0

Legend: 0

Equipment: None

[System's conclusive remark: On the right track. I suggest you speed things up, there's not much time!]»

In one shot, Drake was able to reach level 20 and significantly boost his combat ability.

He spent 5 of his 27 unassigned stat points to raise his Intelligence to 20, fulfilling the prerequisite to craft the Lightweight Mechanical Arm.

Now, he had one thing left to do: Suit up!

Drake grinned as he looked at the spare parts scattered all across the floor.

'I will show you the same horror Tony Stark showed the ten rings when he was held against his will and allowed to build a suit of armour!'