Chương 365: Upgrades And A Hint Of Confusion

The upgrade-collecting journey Mari and I were on progressed without a hitch for a little while longer. As expected of my mechanist sweetheart, she had become impressively skilled at this stuff, and it helped that she had prepared a whole bunch of things in advance to hasten the process of attempting to add new upgrades.

Some upgrades proved more resistant to being added than others, requiring Mari to change the way she approached the process due to whatever will was in charge of approving or disapproving new upgrades being quite picky about what constituted a 'correct' manner of modifying my 'Base Form'.

For example, the upgrade 'Serrated Maw' seemed like a very simple one for Mari to add on account that she should only need to add thin and sharp bits of steel to my maw for it to become serrated, but the unknown will seemed to desire something more specific than this.

My assumption about this 'will' was that it was–At least in part–Guided by what went on inside of my own head, and that it might thus want my maw to become serrated in a manner more specific to what I myself thought the upgrade would end up looking like. This wasn't much of an issue for most upgrades since I had largely accepted that upgrades often made little logical sense.

They made themselves look like pure mechanical constructs, and yet, the 'Faraday Box' could just produce its own lightning without any problem, and things like my eyes could function without any energy source. Thus, it was clear that they were only partly mechanical, but that they also had a strong side of sheer supernatural to them, which fit into the sort of creature I was, but as a result, I didn't have any set expectations for most upgrades. I was more so curious what the hell it would end up looking like.

However, I guess I ended up getting some form of expectations when I first saw the name 'Serrated Maw', and the description that it was supposed to allow for my bites to cause bleeding… Which was a rather silly description. My bites are already most effective at making people bleed–I dismember folks, or even rip them in half, after all! I suppose it meant via lacerations, though… Hence, I gave Mari an idea on what to do, and it ended up working like a charm.

Serrated Maw - Your bite becomes especially effective at inflicting bleeding The upgrade appeared amongst my long list of owned upgrades… It was somewhat organised into several groups, but that thing was definitely getting hardly legible with how many lines there were. I honestly rarely had to look at the list anyway. I had an innate sense of what I could do. Nonetheless, I would appreciate it if this damned panel could be more orderly. Unfortunately, Nara could only rearrange things.

She couldn't change the way the letters were written or add more spaces between the lines. If it were me, I would add different colours to the different 'groups' of upgrades. Though I had disagreements on how that was arranged as well. The eye and light stuff were put together, which made sense, but 'Hydraulic Limb', all four of them, were in their own little group. When they could be at home with the limb-changing upgrades, or with the body-modification upgrades.

I suppose the regular system realised that they could technically fit into several categories, but instead of just picking one and sticking to it, it just went and made a new one just for them. … Why does it show all four of the 'Hydraulic Limb' upgrades separately anyway? Just add 'X4' after it and be done with it.

I already know that all four of my limbs have a hydraulic upgrade anyway, and even if someone somehow peered at my system panels, they don't need four different lines to understand that I am strong and dashing. They can get that just by looking at me! Well, leaving aside my issues with how the layout of the system panels is arranged…

The outward appearance of my maw didn't actually change much at a glance, but upon closer inspection, the space in between the beartrap-like teeth was now home to slight, thin protrusions that were nearly impossible to see without knowing that they were there. Upon getting a good look, one would quickly realise that the protrusions were akin to razor blades. Indeed, when I thought of something that could inflict severe bleeding, a razor was actually my first thought.

I had slit some throats with those, and the sheer spray of blood they would cause with just a little effort on my hand was always impressive. While these razor blades weren't quite fragile, they were impressively sharp, so they might actually be able to cut into the skin of someone or something that could withstand the sheer force of my bite. After all, most of its strength was concussive. My regular jaws weren't actually that sharp. It tore through things thanks to the sheer power behind it when they came shut.

Now, if something was able to resist that force and then tried to pull itself out, it would likely cut itself deep in the process. A nice upgrade, even if I doubt someone who can just take a bite of mine would struggle to not just pry it open instead of having to pull themselves out, but who knows. It might be useful nonetheless. If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

The next upgrade on Mari's list ended up being 'Blinding Halo', another upgrade focused on my eyes. In essence, it was very similar to 'Purple Flash', with the difference that instead of a sudden and short flash of brightness, it was a brightness meant to linger on for as long as needed. As I soon found out upon testing it, the glow also behaved in a different manner…

Blinding Halo - Your eyes can maintain a powerful glow that renders your head nearly impossible to see, making it hard for others to look directly at you It wasn't just a bright light that hurt people's eyes. Even when Mari put on her goggles too, she simply couldn't see through the purple halo. It was like a curtain of light, an effect that 'Purple Flash' didn't have.

In any case, while also making it hard for people to look directly at me while active, the real boon for 'Blinding Halo', in my eyes, was that it concealed my head, and thus my maw. This would make it quite difficult for my opponents to know my next move, especially when they couldn't tell the difference between when I was going to attack or not. A very handy upgrade that would most likely just always be active during my future fights.

Funnily enough, the next upgrade on Mari's list turned out to be another light-related upgrade, though it was one that had nothing to do with my eyes this time. Self-Use Limelight - Your body forms small lights that can be turned on at will, allowing you to stand out in the dark This upgrade didn't really have any direct, obvious use as the light it emitted was a rather regular electrical one. It wasn't purple. It was white-yellowish.

It wouldn't hurt anyone's eyes unless they really stared directly at it from up close for a while, and as indicated in its description, its purpose was to let me stand out in the dark, which was an odd concept at a glance. I was supposed to want to stay hidden in the dark, shouldn't I? But since it was an upgrade, it had to have a useful use… Of course, it didn't take me too long to think of something, as I just needed to think about what it was exactly that I would usually do while hiding in the dark.

Typically, I was either lying in ambush or hiding to scare the crap out of some poor folks.

'Self-Use Limelight' was definitely meant for the latter. It was supposed to make me stand out so that I could frighten the daylight out of unsuspecting victims… Funny enough, the limelight actually had a direct synergy with 'Music Box' on account that the limelights could be made to flicker along the rhythms of the music. This synergy was made immediately obvious because acquiring 'Self-Use Limelight' actually gave me that tingling sensation of when I progressed in the unlocking of a new form. Now, that's nice.

In hindsight, such a strange and specific upgrade had to be form-related somehow. Let me check real quick, and…

"D–D–D–Damn it""What happened, Mara?"

"Don't worry about–bout it, Mari. Just form hijinks" I had been hoping to make actual progress toward unlocking something new, but instead… The Robot Of The Opera What… What even kind of form is this supposed to be? I guess something with that name makes sense to be associated with limelight, but… I don't have the faintest clue what the powers of a form called this could be. Something having to do with a musical performance? But this name… It felt oddly deliberate, as if it was meant to evoke something specific.

Any ideas, Nara? I can't say much, but… I didn't see that one coming. Only one word was changed, too! And it isn't like the original name would have been unfitting for you either… I… I don't even know why it would go pull something like this for the name… Mmh… It is a pretty powerful form, though Nara sighed deliberately to really make it clear that she was taken aback. You can't unlock this one any time soon.

I can tell you this without problem: You need to evolve and gain a new innate ability to unlock this form, so there is no point in bothering with it for now I see, I guess it is like the 'Gynoid Form', which needed 'Flowing Metal' to be unlockable.

Exactly, forms that require a specific innate ability should typically be quite powerful, or have a very useful set of abilities Indeed, the 'Gynoid Form' was–In essence–A watered-down version of my base form, but it had disguise capabilities of immense strength, which more than made up for this. I can't even begin to imagine what the gimmick of 'The Robot Of The Opera' might be, but it would certainly be something interesting. …

Hopefully, some of the upgrades I gather with Mari will further my acquisition of forms that have been part of the list for a while, instead of enlarging it. Seriously, I'll end up with so many forms that I'll have to further speed up my thoughts so that I go through the list whenever I have to transform, just to make sure I really picked the best one of the bunch. And that was without taking into account the possible sub-forms like El Gigante-01.

These damned system panels are going to be unreadable eventually–Not that they are particularly legible right now… Maybe I really should pay a visit to those System Fundamentalists. Maybe they know a trick to better modify how that stuff looks. I mean… If they have some of those System Crystals, I wouldn't be opposed to gnawing on them a little bit… I'll make sure to make them cough up as many of them as you want, Nara. Thanks, Big Sis! But we should be nice to them.

With the current mess happening, we shouldn't say no to some meat shields Well spoken.

"Alright, next upgrade: 'Rest Mode'!"

"Are you–you sure about this, Mari? It seems like a particularly com–complicated one""What is a mechanist who avoids challenges? I agree that in your case it will probably be counted as a difficult upgrade to add, but overall, adding a low-power mode to a machine is something I've succeeded in doing a bunch of times so far… I am confident that I can do it for my favourite machine of them all!"

"Oh you…" Whilst we were in the midst of the very first attempt, Leou quietly stepped into the room.

"Mmh… Ergonip told me that he had a message to tell you, Mara, and for some reason, he was clutching some sphere as if it were his baby as he told me this…"