The next few days, life is peaceful. Xiao maintains a working pattern - to make guns in Chloe's junk station in the morning. He gets paid daily. In addition, he could always find some useful machine parts, which he needed to make Ranger robots. Xiao hides all the completed parts in his room and plans to assemble them when he has all the parts ready. The rest of his time is spent working in the shop. Thirteen hasn't given up. There are different agents coming to the shop every few days. Qian thinks that Xiao brings the luck to the shop and feeds him with great meals every day. Sometimes when Xiao walks by Qian, he hears that Qian is muttering 'expand', 'chain' and other similar words. Xiao is pity on her illusion of this temporary prosperity.
Geezer Lu never gives up on figuring out Xiao's identity. He wants to see his background from how he works. But this is useless as all Xiao's skills are from 'self-learning'. Geezer Gao comes to the shop often to play chess with Lu. He chats with Xiao every time. Xiao is happy to build a good relationship with Gao.
The experience of fabrication is highest in machinists' daily work, followed by modification, fixing, etc. Because there is no chance to access advanced knowledge now, Xiao uses the obtained experience to level up three talents to their max level for more free talent points, |Elementary machine affinity| lv.3; |Basic fighting| lv.8; |Basic shooting| lv.6. Machine affinity is a core talent for machinis,t which is required by many blueprints and talents.
…
Chloe junk station, Xiao is using a lathe and a Bee. The 73 pistol is completed. Civet gives a wad of notes to Xiao. Xiao puts it in the pocket without counting, "That's all for today."
"Thanks to you. I don't need more guns in the near future. But our deal remains solid. You can take machine junk back home." Civet smiles and what he means is to pause the business with Xiao. The number of weapons in his hand is enough. But he doesn't want to kill Xiao. He wants his techniques. Imagine if he has this technics, how rich would he be? Civet is careful. He didn't force Xiao because Xiao's swift hand showed on their first acquaintance and Xiao was able to get rid of stalkers every time. But he is interested in Xiao's appearance under the mask.
"As you wish." Xiao knows there will be an end. Xiao leaves the station and walks around several streets and gets rid of stalkers. He arrives at a big machine market. Most metals and machine parts are sold here. Many students from the mechanical department of Western Capital College are shopping and selling here. Xiao made $70,000 with Civet. He bought the metals for Ranger and light powered arm. There are only pennies left. That's life. Now, with all materials in hand, Xiao plans to complete the Ranger robot.
…
Several days later. Xiao assembles Ranger when all parts are ready. The robot is 5 feet tall with a thin armour to protect the gears, electronics and energy core inside. The upper part is human-like, with a round head that connects to the body without a neck. A pair of eyes is equipped with a camera. The information from the camera would be gathered and calculated in the chips which are bought from the market, a common kind, not fast, not slow. Two mechanical arms hanging besides the robot's body. The fingers are modified to barrels. The arms can twist and spin which covers 170° of the front area. The down part is crawler-like.
The system reminds Xiao to name his product. Xiao names it as "First ed. Ranger", which was from his habit in the game.
[First edition Ranger (crawler)]
[Type: Robot]
[Quality: Grey]
[Basic attributes: Armour 800, defence 18, energy power 58, max speed 23 km/h, stamina 120/120]
[Height: 1.18 m]
[Weight: 143 pounds]
[Control: Monitor, radio]
[Effective control area: 50 m]
[Energy source: Battery sets]
[Core power: 36/80 Ohna]
[Left/Right arm module: Small machine gun, attack 35-40, attack speed 4/s, maximum attack speed 7/s (10 s overlord), Magazine capacity: 90, attack power 40, cost 18]
[Ability: self-destruction— destroy itself and cause 280-430 flame damage in a 30 m area]
[Ability: metal— grant 8% damage reduction to any damage without piece effect]
'Ranger' is a type name. The power, weapon and control systems can be modified by the machinist. Most Jaegers and robots are named this way. The quality of the metals and materials will affect the attributes of the product. First ed. Ranger is mainly made with steel and AS plastics, which are common. If Xiao uses a better alloy, the armour and defence of it would be higher.
The technology included in the machine is related. Different parts may require different technologies. If one machinist can't make some parts, he/she can buy the common parts instead. With the accumulation of knowledge, more freedom would be available for the machinist. Even a screw can be made oneself.
Any robots, vehicles and jaegers have power limitations. More modules mean higher power load, which means the number of modules that can be added depends on the development of energy technology. The first ed. Ranger uses normal battery sets which are a low-efficiency power source. Only after learning the knowledge from the energy branch can Xiao make the energy core himself.
After making the first edition Ranger, Xiao obtains 24k experience. The experience of fabrication is always generous and depends on the production time, the quality of the products and the technologies included. Xiao takes another day to make a light power arm.
[You made light powered arm (left), 2.5k experience obtained]
The materials Xiao used for this powered arm are worse than the one he made in the Sprout base. The quality is worse as a result.
[Light-powered arm (grey)]
[Quality: Grey]
[Attributes: Attack 28-45, defence 8-12, power level 26, durance 205/205]
[Requirement: strength 23]
[Attribute bonus: attack speed -4]
[Length: 0.51 m]
[Weight: 13.5 pounds]
[Extra effect: +6 strength when activated]
His best power at the moment is melee fighting. Light powered arm is the perfect equipment. Machinists who learn martial art is named as mechanical martial art. Xiao doesn't want to keep this style as the advantage of machinists is a range attack. But mechanical martial art has higher fighting power in low class machinist, which can be a good transition.
Xiao hides the powered arm in the room and returns to the basement. There, Qian is talking with a client who glances at Xiao all the time. This is an agent too. These days, those agents who got in touch with Xiao are all back with failure. Thus, they switch their target to Qian and ask Qian about Xiao.
After the client leaves, Qian feels confused, "Why do so many people ask me about you?"
"I am popular."
"All of them are men."
"That's not what I mean…"
"Relax, I support LGBT with my full heart." Qian laughs. Xiao feels it is creepy. That's a misunderstanding!
Suddenly, there is a new notification in the panel.
[You trigger a class E mission, |Hunter|, Accept/Decline]
Xiao is confused. How is this mission triggered?
Accept, of course.
[Background: Some people have an eye on you for the high reward. They are plotting out of your sight. On the other hand, some institute is awaiting your performance. What will you do?]
[Requirement: Survive the hunter]
[Reward: 10k experience]
[Special reward: a talent level-up card (basic)]
Obviously, some people wants his reward. The institute must be 'Thirteen'. Linked both points together, Xiao has a guess that Thirteen leaks his information to a group of 'hunters' to sound out his power. If this is the case, those hunters would not be destructive and would be easy to control. Thirteen would not tolerate a big loss in the western capital.
The reward of the Class E mission is so-so but the special reward is useful for him. Special reward corresponds to the hidden requirement in the mission. Xiao thinks the hidden requirement is to kill all the hunters. "Enemies would come at any time. The shop is not a good place." Xiao thinks. As the hunter is not strong, he doesn't want the help from Lu which would risk his special reward.
There is a spark in Xiao's head. A perfect place to fight - Chloe junk station!