Chapter 38 : Chapter 38
Chapter 38 : Upgrade
"I'm telling you. Her legs have to be robotic. Otherwise, it's impossible!"
Upgrade said with a groan, massaging her calf.
She and several Crafters were sprawled on the sofas in Room 17.
Initially, Upgrade had dragged Sal around, but soon the initiative had flipped, ending in Sal's victory.
Thanks to that, several Crafters offered to help with the sniper rifle restoration as a reward.
Right now, Martin was teaching Sal how to operate the fabricator.
Sal watched in awe as the firing mechanism was printed before his eyes, and following Martin's instructions, he infused his Essence into the printer line.
Inside the machine, the Essence fused with the material alongside a small laser, transforming it into an Essence-infused component.
The surprising fact here was that Sal's eyes immediately adjusted to the task, showing much more precise figures than the standards Martin had suggested.
"Hey, Sal! Roll up your jeans! Are your legs real?"
Upgrade put down her wine glass and persisted.
Gosha, sitting next to her, snorted with laughter, and Sal struggled to suppress his own.
"They are definitely real legs."
After trying his hand at making a few small parts himself, Sal felt much more comfortable talking with the people here.
He was gradually getting used to operating the fabricator, and his eyes were organizing the complex processes on their own.
The Mythos Crafter ability automatically pointed out problematic areas, and small mistakes were immediately correctable with just raw Essence.
Sal was certain that the part he was crafting right now would be at least High Rare rank without any separate finishing touches or upgrades.
"Next is the lens!"
Martin pointed toward the industrial furnace.
The glass from the disassembled scope was being heated.
Sal nodded and focused on finishing the firing mechanism first.
If he were alone, he would have overthought every single step of this process.
But thanks to Martin's precise hand movements and steady explanations, the work flowed almost instinctively.
"Professor Upgrade, isn't Martin actually an instructor? I'm learning way more from him."
Sal said playfully as he placed the finished firing device on the table.
Upgrade didn't budge from her seat, just narrowing her eyes to glare at Sal.
"You're funny. Just wait until my first day of class. I'll properly wreck you in front of your friends."
Sal shrugged and laughed.
"Before that, you'll need to be able to use your legs again, won't you?"
He retorted with a grin.
Upgrade turned her head to Gosha sitting next to her.
"I'm really going to kill him. Half-robot or not, I don't care. I'm definitely killing him."
Martin laughed and quietly gestured for him to focus again.
"Your eyes might be the most accurate among us, but when this material reaches its peak temperature, you can tell the change by sound too."
Sal couldn't tell any difference, but his eyes clearly saw the liquefied Essence being absorbed inside the lens.
Sal's eyes sensed that the lens, the core of this operation, was already exceeding expectations.
Feeling his heart rate speed up, Sal began engraving the runes Francis had selected onto the lens.
Several Crafters had assured him countless times that it would be engraved transparently, but Sal still didn't understand.
He thought there was no way carving something onto a material like glass wouldn't obstruct vision.
But trusting their advice, he focused his energy on the lens.
By the time all the parts were completed, the lens had slowly cooled, and Sal immediately began assembly.
Upgrade watched Sal's work, frowning several times.
"No...!"
At first, she grumbled about his lack of technique, but eventually, she started pouring out complaints almost like a scolding.
But Sal didn't act defensively or ignore her.
Instead, he tried his best to reflect each of her points and change his working method.
He knew that, like when working on the gauntlet, he could upgrade just by pouring all the materials in as long as he had an Essence core.
With materials of this quality, adding the energy from the core could yield at least an Epic rank.
'But my weakness is technique, not ability.'
Pouring in Essence and materials like that was actually a huge waste.
Doing it the proper way could achieve the same result at a much lower cost.
Sal planned to save some costs by upgrading little by little, starting from small parts.
Sal glanced at the blueprints on the table and pushed one sheet aside.
It seemed Upgrade had left the blueprint of the evolving dagger on the table after showing it to the other Crafters.
The moment that paper slid over another drawing, Sal's hand stopped.
For those few seconds, Sal couldn't hear a sound from anyone in the room.
The only thing entering his vision was the evolution rune overlapping the sniper rifle.
Sal's eyes couldn't distinguish between the two blueprints.
Instead, they began to perceive it not as two different drawings but as a single problem to solve, and the Mythos Crafter ability was finding a solution to that problem.
What he had once thought impossible—a method to create an evolutionary sniper rifle—was unfolding before his eyes.
Without taking his eyes off it, Sal began to draw a newly supplemented design.
Upgrade stood up with a groan.
She was about to nag him but stopped the moment she saw Sal's expression.
Sal's eyes were shining a vivid purple.
Upgrade glanced at Martin.
He just shrugged.
Sal didn't react to any words.
Only his hands danced on the paper, drawing the design.
"Isn't it a bit late to fix things after making all the parts? What did you mess up so bad?"
Upgrade said as she approached the blueprint, then stopped.
Then she slowly shook her head and said to Martin.
"Hey, get over here and look at this right now."
Sal could barely hear what was being said around him.
He scanned the design unfolding before his eyes one by one, repeating inwardly.
'Does this make sense? How?'
It looked like the stupidest idea ever, but his eyes were saying it was possible.
And so far, those eyes had never been wrong.
Thoughts of calmness and following standard procedures disappeared.
This design demanded creativity that far surpassed common sense and overwhelming Essence energy that only his ability could handle.
It was something that would require a team of Master-class Crafters, and the materials he had now were nowhere near enough.
Martin looked at the drawing and glanced at Upgrade.
"Evolutionary rifle? Making bullets guide to the target from that distance? It makes sense for a dagger since it sticks... but this is, what should I say. Like a fishing rod idea."
He laughed as if it were absurd, but Upgrade didn't laugh.
As the drawing became more concrete, her gaze grew increasingly serious.
"Sal, the idea is fresh and good, but this isn't what the client wanted."
Even in the atmosphere filled with excitement, she spoke in an unwavering, calm tone.
"You've already been briefed. You have the parts you brought. Now you just need to assemble it. You know that, right?"
Sal's eyes slowly returned to silver, and he took a step back from the table.
Gosha, Martin, Upgrade.
The three looked at him with concern in their own ways.
Sal knew they cared about him and genuinely wanted to lead him on the right path.
The problem was, they hadn't seen what Sal saw.
They were seeing this design as just a few simple drawings.
Sal frowned.
He could definitely make the Epic sniper rifle the client demanded.
But the evolutionary design that just came to mind was absolutely not at a level that could be pushed through with force.
Material consumption would be beyond imagination, and the core would be literally sucked dry.
Even with all the skills in place, it was clear that making this would take endless time.
'What if I outsource some parts and upgrade them myself at the end?'
Theoretically, it was fine. But the crafting ability of outsourcers was limited to Rare rank.
If there was a team that could work based on Epic rank, it would be perfect...
At that moment, Sal's thoughts reached Divinity.
He had never properly asked her about the changes that occurred after he released her ability.
'If there were side effects, wouldn't she have said so? Then there must be no side effects.'
With nothing left to lose, Sal clasped his hands together and asked cautiously.
"By any chance... if I could enhance your abilities for a certain period, would you be willing to help me craft this design?"
As Sal pointed to the evolutionary rifle blueprint, all three looked at him as if he were crazy.
Just as Upgrade shook her head and was about to go into lecture mode about responsibility and expectations again, Martin cut in first.
"Hypothetically... I'm in."
Upgrade looked at Martin in disbelief, but beside her, Gosha also quietly raised her hand.
"I'll help too."
Upgrade rolled her eyes and pointed her chin at the drawing.
"Fine, if this even makes sense, I'll help too. But it's not as simple as saying it, is it?"
Sal quietly raised his hand to stop her.
Upgrade raised one eyebrow, put her hands on her hips, and gestured for him to continue.
"I have one more question. Would it be okay if I... enhanced your abilities, seniors?"
"Hmm?"
"You don't have to do anything. I won't even touch you. Your abilities probably won't even activate."
Sal finished with a playful smile and twitched his eyebrows at Martin.
Martin grinned and said.
"Try it!"
Upgrade looked at Sal sharply and opened her mouth.
"Even if you have the Skill Master ability, changing someone else's ability is impossible. Thanks for the thought. It's good that you have passion for crafting... but this is just crazy, Sal."
Listening to Upgrade's nagging with a calm smile, Sal untied the knots woven into Martin's ability.
It happened in a truly astonishing instant.
The loosely tangled threads reacted to Sal's fingertips and unraveled within seconds.
Martin's eyes went wide, and he quietly took a step back.
He turned his head to the side as if avoiding eye contact with Sal and wiped his eyes with the back of his hand.
Upgrade walked around the table toward Martin with concern, but a dazzling smile was spreading across Martin's face as he gasped for breath and nodded.
No matter how much he tried to speak, Martin couldn't properly explain what was happening right now.
He just stared at Sal with wide eyes and a face full of shock.
Sal continued to adjust Martin's weave.
Starting with a few loose knots on the outermost layer, they unraveled as if melting away the moment his fingertips touched them.
Honestly speaking, it was quite tiring.
Some knots were so tightly tangled that it seemed it would take ages to undo them.
Sal put those aside for now and only unraveled the relatively easy knots.
After undoing up to the third knot, he withdrew his ability, blinked a few times, and returned to reality.
Martin still had bloodshot eyes and wore an absurdly bright smile.
He exhaled a long breath and laughed.
"Sal, I don't care if this is temporary... This is the best feeling I've ever felt in my life."
Gosha quickly raised her hand.
"Do me next! ...If it's okay with the Professor!"
She glanced at Upgrade once and then looked back at Sal, adding the last part.
Sal nodded, closed his eyes, and repeated the same process.
Gosha's weave didn't have many knots to begin with.
But those few knots were at the center of the weave.
However, Sal didn't give up just because there were no easy knots.
He focused on one tight knot at the very center, and untying it took longer than undoing Martin's three knots.
Sal felt much more fatigue, but he didn't stop until the end.
Even after unraveling, the knot tried to tangle again.
But Sal had no intention of letting the knot he worked so hard to untie get tangled again.
He twisted the weave slightly to make it so it wouldn't knot in that shape ever again.
Just in case of side effects, he also memorized its original form in his mind.
When he opened his eyes, he was worried about how Gosha would react, but her bright smile blew away all of Sal's anxiety.
"Are you two pranking me right now? Seriously?"
Upgrade frowned and looked back and forth between the three.
"You guys planned this while I went to look at the blueprint, right?"
She crossed her arms, narrowed her eyes, and glared.
"Fine, so everyone plotted to prank me. Good. Now, Sal. Let's see you try! I'm looking forward to the climax."
Instead of activating his ability right away, Sal took a small core out of the box.
Just this once, he didn't want to do it with only his own strength.
Because if he had to realize that blueprint with the materials currently available, Upgrade's ability was the most crucial key.
Sal calmed his gaze and looked straight at Upgrade.
"Before we work on the drone... you have to make this for me first. Can you promise me?"
He said with a smile.
Upgrade's expression wavered for a moment.
"You're serious, aren't you."
Upgrade muttered, looking a bit flustered.
Sal gripped the core and activated his ability.
Essence rushed into his body, filling him with energy.
Upgrade's weave was tangled to a degree incomparable to Martin and Gosha's knots before.
Sal couldn't help but be astounded by the fact that she was exerting that level of ability despite it.
About twelve large and small knots.
On top of that, there were a few places where the flow itself kept twisting.
With the added Essence, Sal unraveled them one by one, starting with what was visible before his eyes.
Around the time he untied five, he wondered if it might be too much, but he changed his mind.
'Upgrade's ability needs to exert its power properly for this job.'
The problem was that he could see the weave itself becoming weaker.
Just as he was at a loss about what to do, his skill whispered to him to guide the weave in a different way.
Sal guided the weave following that sensation and soon intuitively knew it was the right direction.
Following the instinctive guidance a few more times, he reinforced the weave.
The weave became thicker, and now the possibility of it twisting or tangling again was much reduced.
Checking his work one last time, Sal opened his eyes with satisfaction.
Then, suddenly, a sensation like being strangled washed over him.
In panic, Sal struggled desperately to escape from whatever was crushing him.
"I think you're strangling the kid right now,"
Martin said cautiously, but Upgrade still held Sal tight.
She clenched her fists, gripping his sweater, and buried her chin in his shoulder.
"Thank you. Thank you. Really, thank you."
When Gosha finally pried Upgrade off Sal, he could barely breathe.
The first thing he saw was the pendant Upgrade always wore around her neck lying on the desk.
She was panting as if possessed by something, smiling broadly.
Sal had seen similar expressions on Martin and Gosha, but Upgrade's change was far more dramatic.
The expression she wore as she looked back at Sal was excitement and anticipation itself.
"I can handle Essence directly!"
Upgrade closed her eyes and transformed her body into armor.
"I don't need a core anymore!"
Sal looked at her in disbelief.
Her armor, which had been Rare rank just moments ago, now looked Legend rank.
Upgrade smiled as she looked at the blueprint on the desk.
"Then, shall we keep our promise first?"
All three gazes turned to Sal, and Upgrade asked on behalf of everyone's thoughts.
"But, how long can we... use this power?"
Sal scratched the back of his head and shrugged.
"Well..."
"Ah, is even 10 minutes too much? I guess, with this level of ability..."
"Martin, what's 10 minutes. Even 5 minutes would be amazing."
"It's okay, Sal. Even for a short time, having this state versus not having it is like heaven and earth."
"Right. Just activating it once at a critical moment in crafting will change the rank."
The three nodded and looked at Sal.
"It might be permanent."