Next, Flora wanted to order a 3D-printer. Of course, she needed an S-rated one!
The best one you could buy was only B-rated and cost 30 installments of 1000 VirDias.
"Do I get it after depositing the first payment, like my new lair, or do I have to wait 30 days?"
"You have to pay fully, Milady. But the Riverstones have a service where you can hire them to pay the installments at once. Although it will cost 1200 VirDos for a 1000 VirDias installment."
"No, I want to pay in VirDias, but it would be funny to have the house full of Riverstones. I keep the option in mind when I miss my son. Actually, I do miss him, but I don't want to get on his nerves with messaging all the time. And we will see each other on the day after tomorrow." Flora paused. "Where were we?"
"You wanted to pay for the printer in VirDias."
"Yes! And I want it now! Or at least as soon as possible."
"Then, leveling the printer up would be the fastest solution."
* D-rated Printer = 1000 VirDias; Upgrade to C: 1000 VirDias; 25 Upgrade-Points.
* C-rated Printer = 10 x VirDias; Upgrade to B: 2 x 1000 VirDias; 25 Upgrade-Points.
* B-rated Printer = 20 x VirDias; Upgrade to A: 3 x 1000 VirDias; 50 Upgrade-Points.
* A-rated Printer = -; Upgrate to S: 5 x 1000 VirDias; 100 Upgrade-Points.
So it was cheaper to level it up, too. Aidan made her a list of the designs she could register with the printer for leveling. A modification only counted if it raised the rating and gave one upgrade-point, a new design three, and an invention five. The points multiplied if she chose products above the needed grade.
He estimated that she could get quickly from C to B, but had too few A-rated blueprints. Of course, she could use S-rated ones to level to A, but that would be a waste.
Change - Rating - Type - Name
* New Design - B - Toaster - Welcome to the Metaworld!'
* Invention - S - Potion Guzzler - Leprechaun Guzzler Hat
* Modification - C - Mech-Suit - Toxic Counterflow-Training
* New Design - S - Interface template - Intensity Meter
* New Design - A - Skin - Rainbow Intensity Meter - Torso
* New Design - A - Skin - Rainbow Intensity Meter – Legs
* New Design - A - Interface template - Advance warning collision handling
* New Design - SSS - Interface template - Simulation PP collision handling
* New Design - B - Jacket - Riverstone Biker-Jacket
* New Design - B - Skin - Burned toast skin
* New Design - B - Skin - Meadow
* New Design - A - Skin - Heinkel Bomber
* Invention - S - Hybrid: Vehicle/Container/Excavator - Hungry Chest
* Modification - S - Mech-suit - Ivy League
* Modification - B - Skin - Houshold-Hacking
* New Design - B - Sword - Plasma-Sword Emerald Hope
* New Design - S - Motor - Servo Scale FFV1
* New Design - S - Motor - Servo Stud FFV1
* New Design - S - Robot - Blade-Roller-Extreme
* New Design - S - Container - Library-Container
* New Design - S - Robot - Octopussy-Helper-Bot
* New Design - B - Game - Stehaufmännchen
* Modification - A - Game - Stehaufmännchen
Flora thought that she could produce A-rated blueprints without breaking into a sweat, so she bought the D-rated printer.
She only had one C rated modification, that raised the upgrade counter to 1/25.
"Who would have thought that the upgrade to C might be the hardest one... Okay, I haven't tried the others yet. But I have an idea! I need to learn to smith for the scenario. I'm sure my smithing-designs won't be that good."
Aidan found a few smithing teachers in the Metaworld, mostly associated with horse breeding farms. Flora decided to hire one from the Garage. She hoped they wouldn't teach her to make horseshoes but machine parts.
"Oh, bother! We already have after 10 p.m.! I don't think I can learn smithing and design a few ... toaster casings? A spiral sword? By midnight! So we lose one more day!"
Suddenly, a website opened on her HUD. It was a page of the Cetviwos-Forums, and the title was "The Millionaire's Exemption".
Flora scanned the text. Users complained that they had to wait 30 days to get a teleportation circle while people with over 1 000 000 VirDias could buy it instantly. They argued that it gave the ultra-rich, especially corporations who could use couriers, an unfair advantage in developing new zones.
Flora checked her balance. Currently, she had a bit under 500k VirDias, a bit over 10k VirDos, and over 5 million in credits.
"Thank you, Aitoshuri, but I'm only a credit millionaire."
The text scrolled down until it reached a highlighted post written by a moderator. The post detailed that you could apply for the millionaire's exemption if you were willing to let CentralTank audit your finances, had acquired them legally, and had assets over 100 000 VirDias.
"Jackpot! Good job, Aitoshuri!"
Flora filed for the exemption, rolled in the snow, and hopped back in the pool.
"Did you make any progress on the Store-Spells, dear?"
Another forum thread appeared on her HUD: "Lavicious at the entrance with columns".
Flora raised her eyebrows but read the article. It made no sense at all. She understood the words, but the sentence didn't make any sense.
"If you want to entrance with columns your lecherous in your past or trump up a Torry with an overflow, we sit Rankaspesh in Paweben."
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"Pardon me?"
She scanned the comments. There were just two of them:
"Dude!" and "I want to take the same drugs as you!"
Aitoshuri changed the language into English.
"If you want to stoa your lewd in your back or invent Torry with a spill, we sit Rankspesh in Paweben."
"It's a bad pun puzzle!" Flora exclaimed. "If you want to store your loot in your bag or inventory with a spell, visit Rankspesh in Paweben. Does Paweben exist, or is it another riddle?"
"It does exist, Milady. It's located on the Cradle." Aidan answered, and Aitoshuri showed a map.
"Lovely, write it on the ToDo-List, Prio B. And bump up building a generator to Prio A. I really don't want to pay the utility bills for this place. I might have gone overboard with its size."
Flora jumped out of the pool and did some Jiu-Jitsu exercises in the snow.
"Aitoshuri, you take over the research of my future class tree. Concentrate on connecting Energymaster with Champion of Evailyn. Signal when you found three possible connections."
The next bulletin board entry blocked Flora's vision.
"Send it to Aidan, dear. Please, present it to me, Aidan. I don't like to read while exercising."
"Energymaster -> Switching Swordmaster with Lightning- or Water- or Storm-Blade -> Switching Lighting- or Water- or Wind-Mage with Weather Witch -> Switching Witch with Wiccan -> Switching Wiccan with Champion of Evailyn."
"What is this switching stuff?"
"You can exchange a precursor of class with a successor. Energymaster and Lightning-Blade are both successors of Swordmaster. If you want both of them as active classes, you can switch out the precursor swordmaster with one of them. Instead of one active tree Swordmaster->Energymaster and one inactive tree Swordmaster->Lightning-Blade, you get Swordmaster->Lightning-Blade->Energymaster."
"Alright, but Witchcraft? I don't know. What are the standard spells of witches?"
* Class: Witch
* Branch: Magic
* Precursor: None
* STA: Curse of Agony: DOT + Reduced Micro-Control
* AOE: Curse of Crows: A flock of crows attack the enemies in a radius.
* DEF: Curse of the stricken Mind: Paralyzes the enemies with his fears, reduces attributes, abilities, and skills.
* MOV: Broom: Fly on a broom
* SIG: Cackle: Debuff enemies, buffs allies
"That sounded better than I expected. I love to cackle. Do you think I could ride on a vacuum cleaner instead of a broom?"
"Yes, Milady."
Flora cackled to prove the point.
"I rate it B. Ha! Take that System! I can rate things as well! Next, dear."
A blue window appeared: "Nice attempt."
Flora wished it away, rolling her eyes. She used up her System request in vain again.
"Energymaster-> Switching Kinetic Mage with Animator -> Switching Animator with Necromancer -> Assigning Necromancer to Champion of Evailyn."
"No! No, Necromancy! Rating E! But tell me about the Animator-Class."
* Class: Animator
* Branch: Magic
* Precursor: Kinetic Mage, all elemental Mages
* STA: Animate Attacker: Animates an object to attack
* AOE: Storm of Debris: Animates all debris to attack.
* DEF: Animate Defender: Animates an object to defend
* MOV: Animate Mount: Animates an object as a ride
* SIG: Animate Companion: Animates an object to serve as a companion. It can be assigned two spells.
"I want it! I need it! Rating A! It sounds ridiculously powerful and great to connect with so many precursors. Is it hard to acquire? Tell me more about it."
"No, Milady, you can learn it at the starter-city of the Cradle.
With every server opening, CentralTank hosts a competition for the creation of a new class. Animator was the winner for Server 3. A Disney-Fan created it for the 110 birthday of the Sorcerer's Apprentice, a cartoon in the movie Fantasia. The class was very popular at the beginning, but its disadvantages showed soon.
You have to carry around objects to animate, and inventory space is limited. With your use of containers, this would be a lesser problem, but remember, you can't access the inventory during a fight."
Flora rolled her eyes. "Yes, I do remember. Now."
"Furthermore, the stats of the companion are related to the stats of the creator. Mages usually don't have high melee stats. Therefore creating a caster is the only viable option. The level of the assigned spells is proportional to your spell level. Thus it only makes sense to give them your strongest skills. But as an elemental mage, you have the spell 'Summon Elemental'. This companion costs the same amount of mana regeneration, has fixed stats for its level, which are usually better than the percentage-based of the animation. Additionally, it has three spells, a single target attack, an AOE, and a random third.
I have to admit that with your stats, you won't have the problem with versatility, at least at the lower levels, and you developed a system to level spells quickly, which negates the two most significant disadvantages."
"I raise the rating to A+, but I'm not willing to animate the dead, so we still need a connection to Champion of Evailyn. Next, dear."
"Energymaster -> Switch Swordmaster with Knight -> Switch Knight with Paladin -> Champion of Evailyn."
"I know the solution! I build a second mech-suit with a self-destruct button. I wear it over my normal suit, and when I press the button, I have enough parts to animate. The breastplate we could use for defensive animation, and maybe I'll add spiky pauldrons for attacking! Write that down! Prio A as soon as I have the class!"
"Yes, Milady. What do you think about the knight connection?"
"Huh? I'm sorry dear, I was preoccupied."
Aidan repeated the links, but Flora was bored by it. "Rating C. Hmm, but it sounds easy. Rating B. Any chance that I can get the required classes in the Metaworld?"
"Very little, Milady. The church of Evailyn has no paladin trainers in the Metaworld. The whole tree is more difficult to acquire than you might think. Knight is a hard class to get. You have to place in the top three of a knights tournament. Only one knight tournament per tier takes place per day. So there are less than 5000 knights in a game with 200 million users."
"Does the tournament contain jousting?"
"Yes, Milady. First, you have to survive against five opponents of your level. Then five rounds of jousting and five rounds of melee fighting."
"Now, I'm more interested in this knight stuff. Remind me to watch a tournament. Or better! Why not watch it now?"
Flora hopped back in the pool and started a video of the knight tournament.
After she finished, she decided to give it a try, just for the fun of it. And maybe rope Eddie in as well. She sent him the video.
"Milady, Aitoshuri sent me more links. I believe she created the connection herself with the goal to only use classes available in the Metaworld. But I don't know if she implemented the concept successfully."
"Great, show it to me."
"Champion of Evailyn -> Priest of Evailyn -> Switch Home Maker with Janitor -> Switch Mechanic with Technician -> Switch Technician with Technomancer -> Switch Technomancer with Lightning Mage -> Switch Lightning Mage with Energymaster."
"Since when does Lightning Mage connect to Energymaster?"
"It doesn't at the moment. Aitoshuri believes that when you level all the Energymaster spells to level 25, it will appear."
Flora shrugged.
"So, from where do I get Priest of Evailyn?"
"I don't understand this part either, Milady. I believe you can develop Lightning Mage by yourself, maybe even Technomancer. But Priest? Usually, a Bishop has to ordain you."
"Aitoshuri, do you believe that maybe Evailyn will help me with it?"
A chime rang through the mountains.
"What was that?"
"The doorbell, Milady."