The Warrior Mechanic

Within the higher tiers of technology and esteemed militaries, extremely hot blades wasn’t uncommon. However, they were rarely seen in the lower tier creations because they required extremely high amounts of power.

The power would either hail from a heavy, cumbersome power source, or from a person with sufficient mana to power it. Either way, you would require a person with a lot of mana to be strong enough to wield those weapons. Fighters of such quality rarely resorted to inferior technologies in combat.

Additionally, it was just a very expensive technology. It would greatly increase the cost of things like exosuits, further reserving it for the high tier.

As for Cael, though, his system granted him a workaround to abuse so that he could achieve that same power output, without the same cost and quality equipment.

The boy rubbed his hands in anticipation, ready to create this weapon design. Before he could even lift from his bed, though, his system appeared with a unique notification.

It was dark green in colour, and he sat patiently as he awaited the text to appear.

[New Title!]

[Creator I]

[+2 Creativity]

[+1 Intelligence]

[New Quest!]

[Lost Files #1]

[Search the Galaxy to find the documents left behind by the Creator.]

[Punishment: N/A]

[User: Cael Breckenridge]

[Titles: Novice Merchant, Vault Novice]

[Strength: 6]

[Speed: 6]

[Durability: 6]

[Intelligence: 21]

[Dexterity: 6]

[Creativity: 12]

[Focus: 15]

[MP: 10/10]

[Skills]

“I wonder what this quest is about.” Cael wondered, perplexed by its unique nature.

There was no punishment, and the quest description is quite vague so there was literally no way for him to begin completing it. However, this didn't stop a growing spark of curiosity growing inside him.

The lack of specificity in this quest made him eager to find more answers. From constantly working with as much brainpower as possible, he found himself trying to understand things around him more deeply and clearly.

“Who is this creator, system?”

[The Creator is the individual responsible for the creation of the system.]

“Woah!” Cael exclaimed upon hearing this, extending his arms.

This gave him a chance to finally find the complete genius behind this system of his. If he could somehow learn something from them, or just find these lost files that the system was referring to, he felt like he’d unlock a new view of mechanics.

However, the galaxy was an impossibly large search space. What if these lost files were simply floating away in the incomprehensibly vast abyss of space? Then, they’d be unachievable. The fact that there was no punishment made him feel slightly better, but he still strongly desired finding these files.

Maybe, he’d even receive blueprints and other information pertaining to the creation of his system.

Cael was getting side-tracked, since he had originally intended to begin upgrading his skills. Therefore, he left the considerations at that and wanted to pursue that quest in the near future. Most likely, after this combat event with the other members of his family.

With 240 remaining gears, he used them to upgrade his Armour Fitting Proficiency skill from Level 1 to Level 3.

[Skill Upgraded!]

[Lv. 1 Armour Routing Proficiency -> Lv. 2 Armour Routing Proficiency]

[Skill Upgraded!]

[Lv. 2 Armour Routing Proficiency -> Lv. 3 Armour Routing Proficiency]

The plethora of knowledge being inserted into his mind was euphoric yet again, and he felt the designs popping up in his mind were further augmented. Upon thinking about the internals of his designs to try and test the skill’s improvements, he could see the major overlap.

This skill had also managed to improve his internal manipulation abilities.

Taking out a final $20,000, he received another 400 gears that he placed into other skills.

[Skill Upgraded!]

[Lv. 1 Alloy Mastery -> Lv. 2 Alloy Mastery]

[Skill Upgraded!]

[Lv. 2 Microscale Manipulation -> Lv. 3 Microscale Manipulation]

[Skill Upgraded!]

[Lv. 2 Compacting -> Lv. 3 Compacting]

Now, with a sturdy foundation to begin his crafting, Cael felt more than ready. He clenched his fist with determination and resolution as he imagined him leaving his two-faced relatives in disbelief.

After so many years of isolation, they’ll be forced to recognise him. To recognise his true strength and talent.

With his right fist tightened in anticipation of this event, he received a message from one of his contacts through his teleporter.

Enlarging the panel, he was delighted to see that it had actually come from Leon Areno, the goofy mechanic that he’d met in the Fighter-Mechanic event.

The two conversed for a short time after the event had taken place, and Cael could literally hear his classic animated, extroverted demeanour through just the texts alone.

[I actually texted you because I would like to have a favour from you.]

Cael analysed this statement, trying to anticipate what this favour could possibly be. It was just a habit of his to try and break things down logically, when he knew there was no need to do so. Cutting his thoughts short from seeing his ridiculous he was acting, he then asked Leon why he’d given such a request to get a definitive answer.

[What type of favour?]

[Well, I have been running an independent mechanic firm selling virtual exosuits and construction drones but it really hasn’t been kicking off. I don’t really have a lot of money to start off and I’m not getting the best support on my account. I saw that you seem to be quite popular for a person working on your own and I was wondering if we could do some form of association?]

Ah. Out of several scenarios, Cael was not expecting for Leon to ask such a question. From his demeanour, he viewed him as somebody that was quite independent and confident. However, his text was riddled with a tone of disappointment and defeat.

To be honest, Cael saw no need to decline. Of course, this association would have to wait for after his Breckenridge family event. For the next month and a half, he would absolutely have to focus on that with as little distractions as possible.

However, he saw no need to decline that agreement for even after that time. Cael was left in the dark in terms of what type of association he wanted and how successful his merchant account actually is.

He decided to give a brief reply, basically stating that he was busy but was open to an agreement in about 2 months’ time. Leon was evidently desperate and didn’t have many reasons to haggle or decline.

Therefore, Cael moved on to materialising this exosuit design of his, while keeping the thought of this request in the back of his mind for now.

*****

In the late afternoon, at Cael’s school, he was training within the same training hangar as before, where he stood ahead from Miles Larson.

These two fighters had been toe-to-toe in these recent days. From being defeated by Cael in front of all of their classmates, a fire was invigorated inside Miles. This led him to increase the intensity of his training, to try and bridge the ever-growing gap between him and Cael.

Miles stood before him with a sense of conviction, confident that he had gotten strong enough to contend with the Breckenridge.

However, Cael had improved upon his MP and base physical stats. Now, had his musculature improved even more, his physicality had become even more impressive.

The crowd was much more accepting of these two fighters, as their spars became not only more technical, but their bodies were becoming even more improved. This allowed them to throw strikes more precisely, and powerfully.

This time -wearing no exosuits- the two fighters closed in on each other and started to circle around. Miles shot forward, trying to catch Cael off-guard with a jab.

Cael, with his greater MP, could perceive the incoming punch more easily. As it came soaring toward him, he smacked it away using his palm and followed up with a straight punch using the same arm, somehow.

Even with his awkward movement, his much superior speed gave him the opportunity to do this without getting hit himself.

Swiftly stepping beside himself, he incorporated the special Cyberjutsu to remain untouched, before driving his fist then knee into Miles’ gut.

The final strike made Miles grit his teeth, while catching the attention of some of the unenthused spectators. There was an audible pop as this attack hit straight onto his stomach.

He stepped away in a hurried, unordered fashion but Cael gave him the space and time to recuperate. In these spars, Arlo reiterated time and time again that they here to let everybody improve. Nobody would be in it for themselves with their classes and training sessions.

Miles tried to become more aggressive, annoyed that he had been hit so easily. However, Cael was able to utilise cyberjutsu and his greater speed to flow past his attacks swiftly and seamlessly. The only parts of his body he managed to strike were his flowing hair strands.

Upon seeing his chances of succeeding in this spar were quite low, Miles leapt forward and threw down an explosive punch. His extravagant movements made his attack far more predictable, leading Cael to leap to his side.

Doing so in quite the acrobatic manner, he performed a lightning quick backflip, before planting his feet on his landing.

Miles was still landing and returning to his standard guard, so Cael observed this and struck.