The first option was Skippy, the smart pistol from Cyberpunk 2077.
The second was the Smart Pistol MK6, the Pilot-exclusive emergency sidearm from Titanfall 2.
The biggest highlight of the first one was that it could choose between Stone Cold Killer and Puppy-Loving Pacifist, which basically meant it could either auto-lock on heads or auto-lock on knees.
And based on Killian's initial understanding, those settings could still be adjusted manually.
It would not be like the game version, where it could only kill fifty people before forcibly switching to the knee-targeting mode.
But the biggest drawback of that pistol was obvious.
Because it came from the world of Cyberpunk, and in that world almost everyone used cyberware, Skippy's smart targeting system required a link to smart implants in order to function.
And that meant if Killian wanted to unlock that gun, he would also have to reproduce the full cyberware modification, installation, and manufacturing technology from Cyberpunk.
Killian had taken a rough look at those technologies. To unlock the complete package, he would need at least eighty or ninety thousand reputation points.
And that was not even counting the fact that, while the current world was more open than before, it was still nowhere near a Cyberpunk-style setting where people casually rebuilt and replaced their bodies however they pleased.
Spending eighty or ninety thousand reputation points on something like that was just not worth it.
So Killian shifted his attention to the second choice.
The Lastimosa Armory Smart Pistol MK6.
Magazine capacity: twelve rounds.
Maximum ammo capacity: twenty-four rounds.
The technology inside included a reciprocating charging handle, a frame-integrated ammunition counter, a multifunction laser targeting module, and an improved ergonomic design.
Among Pilot players, the weapon's power had always been regarded as terrifyingly strong.
Rumor had it that each round cost millions of dollars, and that Captain Lastimosa had saved up those bullets over most of his life without daring to waste them, only for Cooper to burn through them all in the end.
Now that Killian had seen the actual technical details, he finally understood where the pistol's true value lay.
Because when firing, it did not just rely on the helmet's own computation to make fine ballistic adjustments. The bullets themselves were specially made.
In other words, every single round contained a microcomputer that adjusted its trajectory.
That ensured smart target tracking and hit probability.
Honestly, when you thought about it, it was not that outrageous.
At worst, it just meant every bullet cost about as much as firing a missile.
And if you looked at it another way, some higher-end missiles cost over a hundred million each anyway.
Compared to that, it did not seem quite so absurd.
After settling the weapon side of things, Killian turned his attention toward armor.
After all, while his subordinates were mostly clone soldiers and bio-weapons who could absorb losses, proper armor was still a major factor in raising combat effectiveness.
And the armor Killian locked onto immediately was the Nanosuit from Crysis.
As for the other options, they were either too poor in terms of cost performance or too large for single-soldier combat.
Actually, the powered armor used by the Marines in StarCraft had also been one of Killian's considerations.
Unfortunately, that armor had been designed for the brutal conditions of outer space and was mainly intended for space combat.
On the ground, it was a little too awkward.
And the Thor armor Killian had hoped to see in the system store was nowhere to be found. Otherwise, he definitely would have unlocked it immediately.
Still, for Killian, the Nanosuit was more than enough.
After all, the Nanosuit from Crysis was practically a perfect fusion of everything required on the battlefield.
It could be said to be the crystallization of nanotechnology, the very peak of the Crysis world's achievements in nanotech and biotechnology.
As a biomechanical combat suit built for war, it had proven itself outstanding in battle after battle, capable of granting the user superhuman combat ability.
You could say that even if an ordinary person put it on, they would immediately become something beyond Captain America.
Its integrated nanocore power system and nanomaterials alone counted as true black technology.
So after finalizing those choices, Killian waved his hand, and all the data began streaming directly into his mind.
More than half an hour later, once Killian had finally recovered, he looked at the mere four-digit number of reputation points he had left and fell silent.
Although unlocking new system tiers gave him more and more technologies to choose from, the current pattern was obvious.
Every time the system unlocked a new level, the reputation cost of the new technologies increased tenfold.
And on top of the main blueprint itself, each one also required the unlocking of several essential supporting designs.
After all, it was impossible to unlock only the Smart Pistol without also unlocking the bullet schematics, and impossible to unlock the bullet schematics without also unlocking the production line designs.
One thing linked to another, and in an instant Killian's savings had been completely drained.
Still, overall, it was worth it.
And what surprised Killian the most was that his brain seemed to be developing further every time the system transmitted data into his mind.
The clearest sign of that was simple.
In the past, if Killian wanted to memorize a book, it would take him at least several days.
Now...
He truly had photographic memory.
Killian even suspected that if this continued all the way until the system reached Level 9, maybe he himself might become a telekinetic too.
Of course, that was only his own guess.
Over the next several days, Killian mainly focused on converting those technologies into electronic blueprints.
Then he distributed them among Dr. Otto and several of his veteran core researchers, assigning each of them to their respective projects.
The one he handed to Dr. Otto was the Nanosuit.
Because the suit required the expansion and integration of all kinds of advanced technologies, Killian knew his older core researchers well enough to judge their limits.
They were fine for medium-sized projects or for following existing plans step by step.
But for a project of this scale, especially one that required independent expansion and research direction, they would come up short.
That was not to say they lacked ability.
It was simply that if the project went to Dr. Otto, it might take only one year.
If it went to the others, it would likely take three to five.
The gap between people really was that large.
And that was exactly why Killian had spared no expense to recruit Dr. Otto in the first place.
And Dr. Otto did not disappoint him.
The moment he received the project, he almost began to see Killian as a living Einstein.
After all, every piece of technology Killian had given him so far had been decades ahead of the current scientific level.
And now there was an advanced nanotech combat suit on top of all that.
For a time, Dr. Otto felt more and more certain that he had chosen the right person to follow.
He immediately took the electronic blueprints and rushed back to his lab in excitement to begin his research.
...
One week later, in the Miami night...
(End of Chapter)
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