Grey looked at the piles of blueprints for a long while and then he grinned.
’Alright.’
He walked away from the blueprints and toward the piles of materials, pulling out a Cyber Core. He took a deep breath and his Neural Frame shook, pulses of electricity ran between his jaw and palm until a large pool of energy began to come from the Cyber Core.
Grey watched his Energy Reserve out of the corner of his eye and his grin widened as it began to increase, quickly filling back up to 3.7.
That was when he felt a sudden cold chill.
"What are you doing?" Esmeralda whispered from over his shoulder.
Grey felt the tingle run all the way down his spine, but he turned around and looked her in the eye.
"Listen, witch. If you want me to help, I will. But if you’re going to be over my shoulder the entire time, second guessing everything I do, this isn’t going to go well. You’re however powerful you are and I’m just in the Proving Class, plus I’m in your territory right now. Can we not do this song and dance, please?"
Esmeralda’s gaze flickered with hints of cold.
While she had brought out three sets of materials, they were all expensive. It wasn’t as though she had an endless supply.
However, she forced herself to calm. It would take Grey a lot of effort to put a dent in those materials, especially since they were designed for Prosthetic Mechs far more powerful than the one he planned on forging.
After saying this, Grey turned back around. He grabbed a piece of metal out of the pile and his hand nearly crashed down to the table.
’Not this, then.’ He thought a bit awkwardly.
Grey didn’t have enough familiarity with this stuff to recognize things on sight. He had to use the Cyber Mat to understand them and their properties.
He had thought that it was Tempered Steel by sight, but it was far heavier than the Tempered Steel he had experienced before. There were pretty good odds that he wasn’t going to be able to eat this.
Grey began sifting through the pile as though nothing had changed, but from time to time, sparks would fly out from his maw, catching Esmeralda’s attention. She looked at it with wariness, and took a few more steps back from Grey as though she had suddenly become willing to give him more of a chance.
Grey was far too focused to notice these subtleties. He was looking for something specific.
’Finally.’
He pulled something out from the pile and then pushed it onto the Cyber Mat to double check. His eyes glazed over.
—
Object: Tempered Brass Steel
Weight: 0.53kg
Faces: 41
—
Grey took a breath. ’This better work.’
His jaw unhinged and he took a huge bite down.
Sparks flew and an overwhelming feeling of his teeth shattering overcame Grey until it vanished. Flames sparked from his maw and the Tempered Brass Steel was crushed.
Grey swallowed it all and felt a swirl of might entering him.
’Shit, shit, shit.’
Grey reacted quickly, picking up the Cyber Core in time. Only then did he sigh a breath of relief.
Because the arrow he had absorbed before was an Uncommon item and this was just raw material, Grey had assumed it would be easier to consume. Though he didn’t know much about what was going on, he bet that he needed more Energy Reserve to digest higher level items and incorporate them into his mech.
What he hadn’t accounted for was the fact that while that much was true, an arrow was made of less material. And, Tempered Steel was far too dense to use to form an arrow. As such, the arrow was actually made from material that was much lesser.
The only reason it was of Uncommon Rank was because of the craftsmanship and the circuits it was given.
He was actually digesting far more now than he had before, and because of that, his iron jaw needed more energy than it had readily available. If he hadn’t quickly gained more, it would have crumbled.
That said, considering how many materials there were here, he could have certainly made another. But the backlash from a mech running out of energy probably wasn’t small.
He didn’t want to go through that if he didn’t have to. Plus, he needed his focus and mental capacity for what would come next.
—
Lv1 Metal Body > Lv2 Metal Body
—
Lv1 Metal Digestion > Lv2 Metal Digestion
—
Lv1 Metal Fusion > Lv2 Metal Fusion
—
’It’s working.’
However, this wasn’t Grey’s main goal. Growing stronger wasn’t going to help him here, not against this kind of opponent. His main goal was just one thing.
’Not quite.’
After more shifting around, Grey finally managed to find what he was looking for again.
’Yes.’
—
Object: Tempered Brass Steel
Weight: 0.51g
Faces: 40
—
He ate this one as well, holding the Cyber Core tightly in his hand.
’Perfect.’
—
[Name: Grey Temolt]
[Frame: Prometheus]
[Frame: Magnetic Hero (Proving Class)]
[Pending Quests: 2]
-
Stamina: 10/10
-
Sync Rate: 0.01%
Energy Reserve: 10.1/10.1
-
Sync Rate: N/A
Energy Reserve: N/A
-
STR: 33 (+15) SPD: 25
DEX: 27 INT: 11
END: 21 PER: 23
-
Harmonic Stats: N/A
Free Stat Points: 0
-
Abilities:
Body
Resistances: N/A
Combat: N/A
Enhancements: Lv2 Metal Body; Lv2 Metal Digestion; Lv2 Metal Fusion
Mind
Resistances: Lv3 Mental Fortitude
Combat: Lv2 Magnetic Pull; Lv2 Magnetic Push
Enhancements: Lv5 Goblin Warlord Spirit; Lv2 Metal Affinity; Lv2 Magnetic Resonance
—
Grey’s happiness lasted for only a short while before he felt as though his stomach was being pierced through by a million tiny needles at once.
He rushed over to the fireplace, unable to find a better place, and began to heave.
The feeling of vomit ripping a path out of his throat made him feel like he had swallowed a sword.
He belched and projectile vomited out shards of metal into the flames, his vision swimming like he was moments away from passing out.