Chapter 57: Chapter 57: Planning for the Future, New Equipment

The bed in the lounge was soft. The fine silk sheets, smelling faintly of perfume, felt smooth against his skin.

Rosalind’s embrace had also been soft, a stark contrast to the cold impression she usually gave.

But this softness wasn’t enough to soften Jon’s resolve.

After releasing all the stress he had accumulated since transmigrating, he felt refreshed and clear-headed.

Especially since the object of that release had been an exquisitely beautiful woman like the Ice Beauty, Rosalind.

The feeling was simply sublime.

However, Jon didn’t let this primal pleasure go to his head.

Although Rosalind had become his follower, he had no intention of destroying her dignity. Instead, he gave her ample freedom within certain limits.

He needed someone who could work for him, not a tool for his own release.

A moment of pleasure was merely an embellishment on life.

So, after their intimate moment, he had Rosalind leave to handle her affairs within the Heta County Noble Union Chamber of Commerce and prepare for his future plans to establish a personal faction.

Yes, after some thought, Jon had decided to build his own faction.

Much of the knowledge he possessed was far too advanced to be shared with any faction, not even the Heta County Noble Union Chamber of Commerce, with which he was already quite familiar.

He planned to organize his own workforce for production and cooperate with the Commerce Association, using their channels to acquire materials and sell finished goods.

This way, although the profits would be slightly lower, he could avoid a lot of unnecessary trouble.

However, this also required him to have an extremely high degree of control over his organization.

Fortunately, he had just acquired a follower with rich experience in organizational management and whose loyalty was fully guaranteed. She would be able to solve many of his problems.

’The Soul Contract... It really is something else.’

Jon lay on the bed, looking at his system panel.

Under the [Social] panel, a new sub-panel had appeared—[Followers].

Naturally, there was only one person listed at present.

—

[Name: Rosalind Neivandt Oswald]

[Contract Type: Soul Contract (Bound by soul, will never betray)]

[Race: Human Race - Havia Northern Species]

[Attributes: Power: 4, Constitution: 6, Agility: 5, Intelligence: 7, Spirit: 7]

[Profession: None]

[Sub-profession: Merchant LV.18]

[Talents: Tenacity (Racial Talent, Constitution growth coefficient +5%), Swift Thinking (Work speed +10%), Bloodline Influence · Ice (Ice Element affinity +5)]

[Skills: Business Activities LV.8, Organization Management LV.8, Cost Estimation LV.7... Click to expand]

[Personal Background: The last member of the Oswald family, supervisor of the Birch Town branch of the Heta County Noble Union Chamber of Commerce, known as the "Ice Beauty."]

—

Aside from the "will never betray" guarantee from the Soul Contract, Rosalind’s personal information was no different from the other followers Jon had seen—simple Attributes and Skills, and a simple background introduction.

But this didn’t mean she was ordinary. On the contrary, her talent was excellent.

For an ordinary person with no profession, she actually had 7 points in both Intelligence and Spirit, a whole tier above the baseline!

After all, before Jon became a Mage Apprentice, his Intelligence and Spirit were only 5 and 6 points, respectively!

Talent isn’t everything, but a higher starting point certainly makes the journey smoother!

Moreover, looking at her Basic Attributes in combination with her talents, the path she should take was quite clear.

Tenacity was self-explanatory; most Havia People raised in the Northern Territory had this racial talent. As for Swift Thinking, it was a fairly classic NPC talent—not particularly good, but not particularly bad either.

But Bloodline Influence · Ice was interesting. +5 Ice Element affinity—that was a quarter of the way to the Advanced Level threshold right there!

’Rosalind mentioned before that she didn’t originally have silver hair and silver eyes. She used to have black hair and blue eyes like me, but she was changed by a ritual ten years ago.’

’An influence that works directly on the bloodline... a bit like the ability of some kind of High-tier Magical Beast.’

Jon recalled the place he used to farm—Rosalind’s hometown, the Frozen Ruins Dungeon. He also remembered what players had discovered about the source of the never-ending storm in the Ice Flower Territory. With that, he almost immediately locked onto a suspect.

’Broken Silver Wings·Eliot, a level 95 Advanced Level Sub-dragon approaching the Ascension Level threshold. It would make sense for it to cause such an effect.’

’In that case, perhaps I can use the system’s training guide to put her on the path of a Bloodline Warlock. Later on, I could even take her to the Black Scale Dynasty and have her try to advance into a Dragon Blood Mage.’

’It’s much better for her to have her own Power than to rely on others for protection... Once she’s finished handling things here, I’ll have her change her profession...’

After making a mental note of this, Jon flipped over, jumped out of bed, and stretched his limbs. He picked up his clothes, got dressed, and walked over to his temporary "workbench."

Those were all plans for the future. For now, he had to focus on the task at hand.

After some more tinkering, Jon used the components he had on hand to complete his first true piece of Engineering equipment.

[Completed crafting an Engineering item. Received 80 general Experience Points.]

[Craftsmanship Skill Level +20]

—

[Booster Armguard (Excellent · Arm Armor)]

[Arm Defense Value: 30]

[Wielding Power: 3-20]

[Crystal Energy Powered: Consumes Crystal Energy during use. The more Crystal Energy consumed, the greater the boost.]

[Durability: 40/40]

"Uppercut! — The valiant warrior who descends from the sky."

—

The overall appearance of the equipment was similar to the iron armguards of a full suit of Plate Armor. It covered the entire forearm and half of the upper arm, excluding the hand. It had flexible mechanical joints at the wrist and elbow, and the slot for the Crystal Energy Core was located on the inner side of the upper arm.

Jon slipped it onto his right arm and adjusted it, nodding in satisfaction.

’Not bad. A bit lighter than I expected.’

That was to be expected.

After all, the Booster Armguard he had made was a design from after the advent of Crystal Energy Technology, which had allowed for the removal of many redundant power systems.

In the current era, when people mentioned "Booster Armguards," they usually pictured crude, clunky, and cumbersome pieces of engineering machinery associated with heavy labor in fields like docks, mines, and construction.

Who would have thought that in the future, it would become a common piece of combat support equipment?

Such were the limitations of the era.

And Jon was, without a doubt, one step ahead.

After installing the Crystal Energy Core and confirming that the energy circuits were functioning normally, he stood up, rotated his arm, and made a few sword-swinging motions in the air.

The cold glint of metal flashed in the dim room, revealing a stark, mechanical beauty. The whirring and clicking of the components as they moved was utterly captivating.

’As expected, the game could never replicate these realistic details...’

Jon clenched his fist, marveling for a moment, then pushed open the door to the lounge.

As was gamer tradition, whenever you got new equipment, you had to hit something to test out its power.

’If I remember correctly, the Golden Maple Leaf Trading House has a training ground, right?’

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.