~----~

[You have gained +30 Ascended Essence!]

[Ascended Counter: 196/2000]

~----~

'Huh?' Leon was confused. 'But I didn't even fight'.

His brain whirred as he remembered all the previous times that his Ascended Counter increased since he became an E Rank Neo Mechanist.

They were either when he constructed drones or when he engaged in combat, the only other exception was when he completed writing the code for Davis, a feat that exceeded the normal limits of a regular Mechanist.

Then, his Ascended Counter increased by a whopping +100.

Leon's eyes gleamed.

With all the principles of his Class that he'd learned over the past 2 weeks, he was pretty sure that his Ascended Counter increased not because of the A.I itself but because of his ingenuity to go out of his way to spend dozens of hours to code an A.I. Not many Mechanists would think of doing that.

With this train of thought, he quickly noticed a connection. 'How many Mechanists can get a single blueprint then modify it into creating 6 other blueprints?'

'How many Mechanists can even think of that in the first place?'

'It's the ingenuity that increased the counter'. He smiled as he finally cracked the mystery behind his Ascended Counter increasing again, but Leon knew that he could not sustain this.

Afterall, it was not every day that even he got to create new blueprints. Creating blueprints was hard and required a lot of thought and ingenuity.

Leon looked at the table again at his newest constructs.

Just like the smoke grenades, with Miniaturization used during their construction, the 4 fragmentation grenades were tennis ball-sized.

Unlike the gray smoke grenades though, the fragmentation grenades had a rugged brown color.

Leon quickly stuffed them inside his leather backpack, and then he approached the metal crates again, bringing out less sophisticated but thicker materials this time, mostly metal alloys.

He set them and arranged them in his work table, then he cracked his knuckles, going over the blueprint again in his head before starting work.

Construct!

This time, his target was the modified VX-09 Emberfist Gauntlet.

Ever since awakening in this world, a cybernetic weapon that truly resonated with him was Daren's Emberfist Gauntlets.

It was the reason why he went as far as deliberately volunteering to repair the gauntlets just to reverse-engineer the blueprint.

Unlike most of his regular constructs though, the Emberfist Gauntlet was a weapon with a multitude of high technology and materials used in its creation.

Its construction needed not just metals, but sensors, neural drivers, and even an implant that will connect the gauntlets through a neural connection to its user.

The neural connection made it vulnerable to be hacked by a NetRunner, but when not fighting against a NetRunner, the advantages of a neural connection far outweighed the disadvantages.

Leon didn't have all the materials that he needed yet to complete the construct, but he already had enough to create at least a chassis of the gauntlet.

And he was right.

More than 10 minutes later, he finally stopped having exhausted his materials. The System lit up, informing him that he was 67% complete with the construct but Leon knew that the true challenge was the remaining 33%.

The remaining 33% integrated the most sophisticated parts of the gauntlet, and for them, he would need a lot of money or contribution points with the Gene Army just to purchase them.

As for his robot blueprint, not only was the blueprint still incomplete, he was nowhere close to gathering all the materials for the incomplete blueprint.

The robot was a project that still needed a lot of work, and money.

Leon used his right hand to gently rub his forehead with a sigh as he lamented. "When will I finally leave this miserly lifestyle behind?"

He felt like he was always broke no matter how hard he worked.

Talking of broke, Leon finally recalled Picasso Lifestyle and the tournament. Though yesterday he got 170 Neo Credits and he finally became Ranked among the top 10,000 challengers fighting in the preliminaries, he was not satisfied.

On one hand, such earnings was just too small for his ambition.

And on the other hand, the fact that he didn't get to fight against a single Ascended, meaning his Ascended Counter stayed stagnant bothered him.

He frowned. 'I need to find means to fight against Ascended. Do I have to become a terrorist like those religious nuts?'

With such thoughts, he sighed and stood up, slung his backpack on one side before leaving the caravan.

The time was 11:47am and he was yet to eat that morning.

He intended to find a local restaurant to eat and then return to Picasso Lifestyle. Hopefully, he'll face a greater challenge and fight against Ascended this time to increase his Ascended Counter.

As he walked through the street, Leon remembered something then he asked his A.I. "Davis, is there any way for me to easily meet Ascended in this city?"

DING!

"The easiest way to meet an Ascended in Leviathan Quay is in the Army. Outside the army, unaffiliated Ascended never take the initiative to reveal themselves".

"There are a few gatherings of unaffiliated Ascended in the city but they are all extremely secretive".

"The only way to get access to them is to be introduced by a member".

Leon sighed, feeling like his future was bleak.

To complete his C-5 Drones and make them capable of turning invisible, he needed the help of a NetRunner but since arriving in this city, he was yet to meet an Ascended outside the army not to talk of a NetRunner.

'Do I have to ask another favor of the Lieutenant?'

Leon felt like he was taking advantage of the Lieutenant's friendship, but if it could help him meet his goals easily, why not?

'I'll pay him back in the future when he needs my help'. He thought.

When Leon finally located a local restaurant and appeared there, just as he was about to enter through the door, a mature middle-aged female Geneform suddenly blocked his path and flashed an apologetic smile at him.

Leon didn't react because this woman was middle-aged and looked responsible, dressed in full-body clothes and a neat headscarf.

Instead of leaving though, this woman instead picked up a flyer from her purse and showed it to him with a smile.

On the flyer, there was an image of a naked human bathed in holy white light with his hands outstretched at the world around him.

On it was written…

[Reclaimer Church- Saint Serena Cathedral]

["Come and witness the warmth of the divine blueprint."]

"Young man, how are you this morning?" She asked in a characteristic mother's voice.

She didn't wait for him to respond as she continued. "I want to invite you to our Cathedral, come and experience a holy baptism and your life will never remain the same". She said with a smile.

"Our service days are 4 to 5pm every day, and on Sundays 9 to 12am. You can come anytime".

"Come and bring your heart closer to the divine blueprint," her smile widened. "I assure you my child, it will be an encounter that you'll never forget".

Staring at this woman, Leon couldn't bring himself to reject her and so he nodded and took the flyer before entering the restaurant.

"I hope to see you at the cathedral!" The woman's voice faded behind him.

Inside the restaurant, Leon quickly bought a sumptuous meal but he wasn't focused on the meal. As he ate, his brain became distracted as he mapped out how his day would be like.

He thought about potential ways to make more money in the city, he hoped for Lieutenant Johnmark to give him more commissions to gather contribution points, and he also thought about how to quickly increase his Ascended Counter.

Unknown to him, his face already creased into a frown amid his thoughts while he ate.

Then he remembered a certain man. 'What of Mr. Dave?'

As an Engineman, Mr. Dave may not have exactly what Leon was looking for, but Leon had no doubts that due to his decades of work experience, the middle-aged man definitely had connections to construction companies in the city.

Afterall, the train needed to be serviced regularly and repaired when damaged. Construction companies were also in charge of constructing the maglev trains across the city, and also the guideways.

Leon's eyes lit up. 'Just like in the Big Gig Construction Company, if I can get access to a construction company here, I can easily show my worth to them!'

'Once they know my worth, I believe they'll pay well for my services!'

Leon thought of asking Davis now to find any nearby construction company so he could go now but in hindsight, he felt that without recommendation from a reputable person in the city, they would not take him serious enough to hire him and test his abilities.

'Visiting Mr. Dave it is'.

As the thought solidified in his mind and he soon started thinking of when to finally visit Mr. Dave, Leon was distracted as he felt a warm presence suddenly sit down too close to him.

"…!" He was alarmed.

He was the only one previously in this corner of the restaurant!

Taken aback, Leon finally snapped out of his thoughts and looked beside him, his muscles tensed but then he was stunned.

Beside him was a beautiful female Geneform dressed in scanty and revealing clothing, exposing her cleavage and extremely fair skin.

She winked at him in a seductive manner. "Hey handsome".

Leon is a man and as a man, staring into the thickness creating the cleavage and hearing that soft-spoken voice, it was inevitable as he felt a reaction from his lower body.

'A prostitute?' He realized and quickly calmed down as he understood what was happening.

After the experience that he had with Daren back in Community G, he became more open about stuffs like this.

The lady didn't say another word but her actions were clear.

Due to the meal he was eating and the way he carried himself, she picked him out as a potentially rich customer and she came to shoot her shot.

'Madam, what part of me made you think that I'm rich?' Leon didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

In front of this beautiful and sexually attractive Geneform, he felt human again but at the moment, this was not his priority.

Calmly, he looked at her and said. "Not today, maybe another day".

The lady smiled and traced a hand down his chest. "Ok handsome, anytime you want, I'm ready for you".

She winked again and blew a kiss at him before leaving.

Leon felt like the temperature was hot.

'Phew'. He took a deep breath and looked at the slight bulge in his pants in exasperation. 'She's using an aphrodisiac right?'

A few minutes later, he finally finished his meal.

He rested for a few more minutes to relax before looking at the time, noting that it was already past 12 noon, then he stood up with his backpack to leave.

Just as he took a step out of the restaurant, he had a premonition and looked up at the sky.

He saw a public air transport filled with passengers flying through the sky. Opposite the air transport, there was a streak of red also flying through the sky, then…

KABOOM!

The air transport exploded!

'Eh?' Leon was alarmed.

Others didn't see it but he saw the red streak flying through the sky before hitting the air transport before exploding.

'Was that an attack?'

He quickly traced the trajectory in the sky and then he saw another air transport that looked strange. Unlike the brown public air transports in the sky, this one was pitch-black.

His eyes dilated. 'Terrorists?'

There was another streak of red, then…

KABOOM!

Another public air transport exploded!

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