’I really must suck...’
Every other time Grey used this function, it took Prometheus a breath to finish the improvement process. This time, it took almost half an hour.
The gap between the two left his teeth itching. He didn’t have this much time to waste, and he had already burned through three hours just planning all of this out.
The worst part was that he hadn’t even gotten to the Vampire Lord Frame yet. Though his experience with this one might make the other faster, there was no real guarantee of that and he had no way of being sure.
Luckily, it wasn’t a situation where Prometheus would just sputter and never reach the finish line. The blueprint finally did finish up, and Grey’s lip couldn’t help but twitch when he saw the result.
It was almost like nothing at all had changed. He didn’t understand why he had to pay three million energy units for this. Did he not suck as much as he thought he did?
But as he began to look closer...
’I didn’t lay them out like this before, something is different... oh...’
Externally the mech looked the same. The software—or the Loading Phase—was also nearly identical to what he had crafted, just with some slight tweaks here and there. The last stage, the Intent stage, was fully identical. Nothing had changed at all, but he was also the least surprised about that.
Everything here could be said to be reverse engineered. He had started with the Intent first, then worked backward to try and ensure that everything fit.
It was the actual Faces that were entirely different.
It seemed like nothing much had changed, but the way the Faces were layered and shifted around, and the way the various tempered steels he was working with were laid out so that they could work with one another instead of against...
He had originally drawn this blueprint with Geometrical Faces, but Prometheus used a combination of Geometrical and Curved to make things work.
Grey ended up burning through yet another half hour just to make sure he understood everything.
What he was looking for wasn’t just the changes, but an understanding about why those changes were made and how he benefitted from them.
As he did so, his comprehension of the Forming stage increased.
’I should have known... there was no way Geometrical Faces alone would integrate the different tempered steels well enough on their own.’
Geometrical Faces were very two-dimensional, ironically enough, despite technically being 3D. Since Grey was using multiple steel types for the sake of benefiting from their various properties, just stacking them side by side, left to right, wasn’t good enough.
Sometimes a position below needed more support, or a position just above needed more flexibility, or sometimes you needed a combination of both in a generally similar area.
This problem was impossible to fix with strict Geometric Faces.
’Idiot, idiot, idiot.’
Despite his thoughts, Grey was grateful. Figuring out how to mix in Curved Faces like this would have taken him far more than a half hour. It would have taken up all the time he had left in this day and he’d probably be sent back for another loop before he even understood what happened.
’In that case...’
Instead of starting the building process, Grey immediately moved to planning out his fang necklace. This one did, indeed, move a lot quicker because he knew what to expect.
Before, it took him almost two hours to get to the point where he was asking Prometheus for direction. This time, it only took one.
In fact, it was even easier and he was far closer to perfection. This was because he created two gauntlets—or rather, two gauntlet-gloves, mixing together fabric—something he had yet to build a mech out of—and metal.
Prometheus only needed a million Cyber Cores to perfect his blueprint this time. Grey had a feeling that was because he had divided the complex components into two instead of trying to stuff everything into one.
Using his time more efficiently, Grey left Prometheus to its optimizing while he finally got to work on his Steel-Toe Shrouds.
The design was simple to him. He was building out a metallic skeleton for his Shadow Forces. There was a frame that followed the contours of his soles, spikes on the bottom, and a bit of support for his ankles. It would end up being a glossy black, contrasting the matte black of his sneakers.
Otherwise, the design of his Shadow Forces weren’t interrupted at all.
’Gonna be badass.’
Grey grinned.
His Pimp Gloves would definitely complete the look for sure. And yes, that was exactly what he called them.
As though already picturing himself riding that sweet bike he was definitely going to steal from Amunet, he fashioned them mostly after biker gloves with metallic finger protection and claws.
They were gonna be extra badass.
All that was left now was to craft them.
Elowen perked up. She hadn’t tried to rush Grey a single time, and honestly Grey was very grateful for that. He had a feeling that her presence was very important to the fact he hadn’t been bothered since coming here.
Without her as a shield, others would have come knocking a long time ago, and he would have had to show his face a lot more.
Did he trust her? Probably not. He had learned not to give his trust so easily in this world anymore. This wasn’t Earth, he couldn’t just give a person a head nod walking down the street and expect them to be best friends from then on.
However, he refused to let himself become some grumpy curmudgeon either. He wanted his grandfather to see him having fun, only then would the old man be less worried.
So, he didn’t have problems admitting that he was grateful, nor would he hesitate to repay Elowen if an opportunity presented itself.
And he would start that repayment now with a grand show.
"This is going to be quick." Grey said with a grin. "Don’t blink."
His Cyber Mat bloomed into reality and Grey slapped his palms together.
He wasn’t lying at all.
After all that preparation, it took him only 13 minutes to finish his Steel-Toe Shrouds.
And by then, Prometheus had already finished optimizing the Pimp Gloves.
And it took him only 17 minutes to finish both of those.
He pulled on his fang necklace and snapped it off.
’It’s time to see what you are.’