Compton District, inside the private area of a standard gym.

BAM!

A sword drone ruthlessly cut a deep wound on Daren's right calf, steeply reducing his movement speed as he staggered.

He groaned as his purple ADE flared but before he could react, Leon tackled him and slammed him to the ground

Thud!

"F*ck!" He cursed.

For the 17th straight time, Leon defeated Daren in a spar and for the 17th time, his System lit up with a notification.

DING!

~----~

[You have gained +3 Ascended Essence!]

[Ascended Counter: 542/2000]

~----~

Compared to the fights in Grand Prix Arena yesterday where for each bout he gained between +5 to +6 Ascended Essence, this time, Leon gained between just +2 to +3 Ascended Essence for each bout with Daren.

It made sense. Unlike in the octagon cage, they fought with the intention to push each other's limit, not seriously injure each other which made it inevitable that the intensity in the gym was lesser compared to the octagon.

This was why Leon gained less Ascended Essence than in the octagon.

Despite that, he finally gained a reliable way to increase his Ascended Essence and it was reliably fast enough.

Besides, after hours of non-stop sparring with Daren, a bonafide Cyber Gladiator whose superhuman enhancements were entirely focused on combat, Leon noticed chances in his close combat ability compared to before.

Like the masters said in the lucid dream after his first Trial, all they did was lay the foundation, it was up to him to chase mastery.

And now, with these spars, he felt his hand-to-hand combat and grappling skills slowly leaving the foundational stage towards mastery.

By the time they were done sparring, it was already midafternoon.

Leon sent Daren 100 Neo Credits and told him to check out the casino that Davis choose to try his luck out with lottery tickets. Even if Daren didn't win, he needed the empirical data from Daren's draws for his experiments and math.

While Daren went to the casino, Leon returned to the caravan where he worked on his formula to crack the lottery algorithm for over 30 minutes before reverting his attention to his robot blueprint.

He was multi-tasking.

Since he was no longer as broke and since he already had plans in place to get more money, he decided to stop being frugal with the project.

Leon modified the blueprint further that afternoon, adding another compartment to the robot, a compartment to integrate another weapon- a flamethrower.

Leon didn't have a flamethrower blueprint but he reckoned that the Gene Army had one. And with his current relationship with the army through Lieutenant Johnmark, he believed that even if he couldn't get the blueprint, he could buy just 1 flamethrower from them.

He integrated the flamethrower compartment into the chest area of the robot, making it stacked on all sides.

After that, Leon noticed a new problem. 'The front side of the robot is stacked but the back is exposed!'

He overlooked it previously.

The moment he noticed the problem, he began brainstorming then he remembered something. 'Pulse Feedback!'

When he used the Snooping function of the System on Daren's VX-09 Emberfist gauntlets, the weapon was laid bare to him from the material composition of the gauntlets to the manufacturers, the core systems, and even the ADE skills integrated in the weapon.

One of the skills integrated in the gauntlets is 'Pulse Feedback'.

It's a defensive counter skill. When activated, the gauntlet emits a shock pulse when struck by a high-impact attack, causing a 3m AOE knockback effect.

Then, Leon didn't exactly understand the workings behind this effect but now with his current knowledge he knew that this skill was a result of energy shielding technology.

And energy shielding technology is a result of Advanced Energy Science and Projection Technology.

This was one of the reasons why he was yet to complete the construction of his personal VX-09 Emberfist gauntlets.

Leon already had Advanced Energy Science through his System. If he could learn Projection Technology and add it to his repertoire as a Mechanist, he would gain the qualification to begin dealing with energy shielding.

This would qualitatively increase his ability and strength as a Mechanist.

With shielding technology, not only could he construct shield generators for himself, he could also complete the VX-09 Emberfist gauntlets once all the materials that he needed for them were complete, and he could integrate Pulse Feedback to his robot.

Since the robot was not sentient though, it would not be able to activate an ADE skill even if it was integrated into its design but Leon also found a solution for this problem.

'ADE Storage'.

This time, he got inspiration from his Air Gun Rifle.

The QZ-07 Air Gun Rifle has two skills, the first one is Air Projectile while the second skill is ADE Storage which is a passive skill.

With ADE Storage, the Air Gun Rifle has an ADE module that passively absorbs ADE from the atmosphere, storing it for future use though the absorption rate is low.

This module was perfect for Leon's intentions for his robot.

With the ADE module, the robot would gain the ability to utilize ADE which was a game changer that could elevate it to a whole new other level of utility.

Leon integrated the upgrades to the blueprint.

By the time he was done, he stared at the new projected budget of the robot and he winced because the budget just tripled!

'F*ck! Did I overdo it?'

Despite his thoughts, he didn't change the blueprint, he left it that way.

After he was satisfied, he picked up his smartphone and dialed Lieutenant Johnmark's number, asking for a favor.

Since he was already part of the elite squad being prepared for a secret mission against the Extremist Movement and since the Lieutenant already said he could ask for an advance to increase his strength, he didn't stand on ceremony.

Leon first demanded for the Projection Engineering Knowledge scroll again, and this time Lieutenant Johnmark said it was doable.

After that, he demanded for stronger metal alloys to upgrade his sword drones and make them even more durable, sharper, and deadlier.

Finally, he demanded for a military-grade high-spec flamethrower.

Asking for so many things at once as an advance was pushing it but due to their friendship, the Lieutenant brushed it off and agreed.

This once again told Leon how tense and delicate the situation in the city was for the Gene Army to be so accommodating to his requests. Even with the Lieutenant's influence, he expected to meet more huddles.

Shortly after Leon ended the call, Daren finally returned from the casino. Like expected, despite spending 100 Neo Credits, he lost and only got back 30 Neo Credits for his efforts and investment.

Leon was not disappointed though.

With this, he finally had real-time empirical data to work with. He took the data and fed it to his A.I to analyze with his current conjectures and already established mathematical calculations.

While Davis did this, Leon called Mr. Paul Pork, his promoter and revealed his intention to return to Grand Prix Arena and fight today.

It was already past midafternoon but it was not too late to fight.

Mr. Paul Pork readily agreed.

Within a few minutes, the G-Wagon style modified airbus drove by and they left to the arena in the floating district.

Just like Daren speculated, Leon didn't get as many opponents to fight today like yesterday. He only got to fight 13 times but for the 13 fights, he still managed to win 1,573 Neo Credits.

Unlike yesterday, it was not a full arena at Grand Prix but only a quarter of the spectator stands were unoccupied as the infamous Thomas Riley fought.

Leon maintained his winning streak but the hype didn't die because at the end of his run today, a blockbuster fight was announced.

"Ladies and gentlemen, it's official!"

"King Agama, the no. 1 Ranked fighter in Grand Prix Arena has issued an official challenge to the rising King, Ring Man".

"Discussions have been made, a contract has been signed, and a day has been scheduled".

"Tomorrow, 6th July, King Agama shall fight against Ring Man to determine who truly is the King of Grand Prix Arena!"

The psionic network exploded as excited combat sports fans turned the hype for this battle into a flame that never stopped burning.

Apparently, both fighters were set to earn 8,000 Neo Credits each from the fight. For a single fight, that was a ridiculous sum of money.

Despite receiving Daren's warning about the threat of this King Agama, the sight of all that money being thrown at him was all Leon needed to sign the contract. Afterall, just like beggars, broke men are not choosers.

At the end of the day after his 13 fights, his Ascended Counter rose again.

DING!

~----~

[Ascended Counter: 590/2000]

~----~

…

After returning to Compton District, Leon first went to the hotel to take a bath and freshen up then alongside Daren, they finally returned to the train station to retrieve the Karaki CT-3X super bike.

Fortunately, the bike was still intact where he left it.

Leon was prepared to pay more since the bike stayed more than the 1 night that he initially intended but once the train station workers recognized him, they directly waived his payment, instead asking for selfies.

Leon fulfilled their wish and finally, he drove off with Daren to his caravan.

When he arrived, he saw a familiar brown military truck waiting in front of the caravan. Sergeant Tyla was already there with new crates.

By then, it was already late.

Leon had a light conversation with the Sergeant, repeatedly showing his intention to her that he was busy. Sergeant Tyla respected his wishes and left.

After that, he locked himself in the caravan as Daren drove the bike off.

Before he started working, Leon opened all the new crates and among them, he noticed a glowing golden scroll.

DING!

~----~

[Mechanist Knowledge Scroll Detected: Projection Technology]

~----~

Leon immediately smiled.

The moment he grabbed the golden scroll, it disintegrated into wisps of golden energy that were absorbed into his body.

Instantly, new concepts, knowledge, and the application techniques of Projection Technology surfaced in his mind.

He took his time to sort out the new knowledge and settle down, and then he finally started working.

Construct!

He worked late into the night.

…

[11:09pm]

BEEP!

Leon was distracted as he looked at his smartphone.

[NEW! Unread Message from Mr. Dave…]

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