“Are you sure we got a signal from here?”
A girl looks at her servant with questioning eyes. She ruffles her ponytail and views her smartwatch. A map of this star sector is shown, Her objective is to find the latest technology of omni corp that has been sent here.
The program got extended into this backwater star sector to get a diverse range of people to use the program. Half of the programs that were sent here got hijacked by criminals and went dark. Her job is to relocate one of them that got lost in this star sector.
This also doubles as a test for her, to locate the person without monopolizing the Omni corp resource.
“We have been to many different Planet Lady Shoana, we did a wide range scan but nothing came back. So either it’s hiding well or we have used the wrong method of tracking.”
“Tsk” She grunt, this job is supposed to be easy “What about the people that might have used it?”
“There are two candidates so far, The mech designer that made Double H from the mech boxing event. Ron Jajez came out of nowhere with 4 specializations as an apprentice mech designer. Another one is Halina Cater, a university student that said to be the rising star of this generation. She already got 3 specializations and at a rate which could be the work of a system.”
“Bah, rising star? More like rising crap, What could this backwater star sector produce anyway.” Shoana said disappointed. Her grudge came from both having negative experiences of the place and having to be here for many years to find the system.
“From observation, They could have up to tier 4 specialization and some with a unique property. And even some tier 5”
“Anything other than tier 5 would be a disgrace for having a system.” She fiddles with her smart watch again to gather more information.
“What should we do next, Lady Shoana?”
“Umm..” he slid her smartwatch while thinking A flash of inspiration hit her when he saw the match of Iron Survivor and Heavy hits. “If we can’t track it down maybe we could lure it in. Let's just sponsor a competition. That would make it move.”
“Like the mech boxing one?” The cyborg asks “What would be the prize then?”
“The thing that would surely get the system to act up” Shoana smiled “Knowledge.”
—--
If he has a Gibs for every Private hovercraft that he rides, he would have 2, which is not much but weird that it happened twice. And even weirder that he got to ride in Dosenger, a military-grade hovercraft. And they were flying all over the Junkyard trying to find his conceptual art piece.
The inside of the Dosenger has been redesigned to have red Ravish seats and outfitted with the Furine wine. It also has an automatic bot that can pour the drink for you. Jay would be lying if he said he wasn’t a bit jealous.
“You have quite a record for yourself. Franky gang is not the best of the bunch, Even if your parents pass away you shouldn’t fall to C-class.”
“They’re missing” Jay retorted “And I wasn’t in the best state of mind when they went missing.”
“Sorry, back to the topic, How did you survive out here?” Zaud asks in a curious tone. His eyes darted toward the endless sea of trash that they flew past. His expression is hard to read.
“My heart implant saved me, the debt collector thought they could leave me to die there,” Jay said with a straight tone.
“What did they get from killing you? I still don’t see a point in that. If it were me I would have put you in a mine. You didn’t seem to have anything noteworthy.” Zaud said without any filter and he shouldn’t. An A-class person could afford such luxury.
“I don’t know, I got knocked out before I got to know the reason.” Jay took a swig at the first-class wine Zaud had, The rich guy said he could have as much as he wanted. “And as I said they didn’t expect me to survive either”
“Huh, that seems a little Interesting isn’t it.” Zaud takes another sip from the wine glass. “Maybe I have to visit them. Anyway, are we close yet?”
“We should be…” Jay looked around the area hoping that his creation would still be there and luckily for him, it remained. “There”
Zaud looks at the way Jay points surprised. Sure he expected it to be Garbage but he didn’t know that it could be this bad.
“Holy stars, it does look like a piece of art!” Zaud exclaims in excitement. “How much time did you spend on it?”
“I don’t know, about 7-8 hours?”
“You are a goddamn artist!” Zaud couldn’t stop his excitement “ Josh, we got our target, right there, pick it up in its current condition. Don’t let a spec of dust change it!” The Dosenger flew close by as another hovercraft floated right on top of Jay’s art piece. A square glass descends from the Hovercraft and encases the whole mech. It even sinks into the floor a little. It completely stops for a minute, then it pulls out the whole thing in a perfect condition.
Jay marvels at the technology. That must have cost more than his whole room to preserve his garbage mechs.
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“Um.. it might be late to ask but what would you do with my mech?” Now that Jay successfully sold the thing he could puff his chest and say that it’s a mech.
“First of all, It’s my mech now. And to answer your question.” Zaud taps on his smartwatch and sends information straight to Jay's smartwatch. Jay looked at the message, it was a business card.
Zaud Farland - Farland Musem director.
“You are a Farland museum director!?” Jay didn’t expect to find such a person here. The Farland Museum is well known for its bizarre art pieces and unique art. Jay could see why his mech looked right at home in such a place. Which means…
“That’s right, sorry for the late introduction.”
“Then my mech is going to sell for…”
“Much more than 10K but you already sold it,” Zaud said with a smile “Don’t be sad, on the bright side you still got my contact. If you have any art piece like this, let me know, and I’ll give you a better price next time.”
“Sure…” Still, Jay is not really sad, his main objective is already complete. He got his upgrade token and the mech points. The 10K gibs is a bonus and as long as the loan shark didn’t realize that he’s alive he should be good.
“What are you gonna do next?” Zaud asked.
“I don’t know.” Jay has been following the system along so he still doesn’t have a plan.
“Would you like to work for me?” Zaud asked. “I like how artistic that work of yours is. Maybe you should aim for a bit more of the before space terra look. That would surely be popular..” Zaud seems to ramble on about how to build the next piece of mech. Jay wasn’t that into this kind of thing so he just sat by and listened to Zaud geek out about it. The whole talk goes on for almost the entire duration of the ride.
“By the way, what 's its name?”
“...” Jay shudders, he almost felt ashamed to say its name since he didn’t know he would sell it. “Couch with legs…”
“What?” Zaud couldn’t believe his ears. “Are you serious? hahaHAHA. You’re the most interesting person I’ve found in a while. Have you considered my offer?” The hovercraft is almost at its destination.
“What do I have to do?”
“I’ll give you your station and give you money for your art project and you sell your art to me. Easy as that.” The hovercraft arrived at one of the public ports in District D. The door slides open and Jay steps out. He looked at Zaud and said honestly.
Seem interesting but
“I don’t know if I could make the mech art for you. Couch with legs is just an accident.”
Zaud could barely hold his laughter in. “Ok, let's do it like this. If you have any inspiration tell me and I’ll fund it. How’s that sound? But you have to let me know your next project ok?”
“OK, sounds good.” Jay could accept that he didn’t have the confidence to make an art piece for Zaud on a regular basis. Jay didn’t resonate much with the way Zaud talked but what he could resonate with was some money and he got enough to pay for food. He walks by a vending machine and rewards himself with some Chocolate ORJ bar.
So good
Now that his stomach is full, he moves on to his next venture. The reward he got from completing the quest! Jay has 100 mech points and 1 upgrade token for him to spend however he likes. First Jay opens the shop to see if there’s something new and sure enough one new option is present to him.
[Mech Artist specialization F][120P][24 Brain capacity]
-In the world of mechanized warfare, the Mech Artist transforms the mech into a Masterpiece. This specialization is an ode to creativity, precision engineering, and the ability to turn the battlefield into a masterpiece of destruction. The Mech is not just a war machine; it's a canvas waiting to be painted with ingenuity and flair.
A brand new specialization that he could buy. Jay didn’t know the exact criteria for earning a specialization to buy but one of them is definitely knowledge. Jay didn’t have this specialization when he first created the [Couch with legs] but after talking to Zaud.
As for the option itself, Jay could see potential in it if he wants to work with Zaud in the future. But he is still dead set on getting the [Gambler specialization]. A pass for now.
Onto the upgrade token, another option pops up to fill the [Gacha] space in the shop. It seems like the upgrade shop only has 3 items per category.
[Quick simulation]
* Run a quick simulation for your mech, the accuracy depends on your system rank.
Immediately, Jay could see a use for this kind of feature, if it is what he thinks it is. The system often gives vague explanations about this stuff. The only thing that it seems to know in depth is a specialization.
After reviewing his options, he could only think of one possible good move. But first, he went back to his room, he needed to prepare for the amount of pain he was about to go through and he wouldn’t want to be in public.
Jay opened up the menu and selected his option
[Sell for 1000 mech points]
That’s right, he sold the token for the points. The other upgrade option sounded good but to him, it didn’t sound as good as [Gambler specialization.]. Most gamblers quit before they win so he has to double down on his luck.
After he got the mech points he didn’t hesitate to purchase the [Gambler specialization.] and the system warmed him.
[Warning you could only have one specialization at this stage. Would you like to proceed?]
Yes
[Thank you for your purchase! Please prepare a safe space for information injection.]
[The information will be injected in 3]
[2]
[1]
Jay grits his teeth and waits for the inevitable pain. But what greeted him was something different. It was not an extreme pain that came for him this time. It was a small amount of pain paired with a whole lot of nothingness.
He found himself floating among the stars. He could breathe fine without any protective gear. Jay looked around, wondering what happened to him.
Is this what a real heaven looks like?
Soon his eyes catch a glimpse of something, a planet and above it a number. Jay couldn’t make out what that number is but it keeps expanding, more numbers add on to the already existing one until it engulf the whole planet. Its value kept changing and changing until it came to a stop. Jay then felt a sense of terror in his heart. Like he’d seen something that he wasn’t supposed to, something that would change the whole universe as he knew it. Before he could gaze upon more numbers his mind yanked him back to reality.
What in the flying saucer was that?