Faction Contribution Quest: Nation of Eland Military

Volunteering: Contribute to the stability of your faction without asking for anything in return. The more time spent and the harder the tasks, the greater the contribution.

Reward: 712 950 FCP

“Will it reach advanced? Will it not? What a conundrum~” Feeling tired after continuously regenerating and infusing his energy for 24 hours and an additional quarter, Aven didn’t feel like procrastinating, so he directly opened his shop and claimed his first-ever expert knowledge.

Faction Contribution Shop: Nation of Eland Military

Faction Authority: Six-Star General

Faction Contribution Points: 1 297 650

…

Knowledge: Expert Industrial Engineering (1 185 000 FCP)

Knowledge: Expert Industrial Engineering (Claim?)

“Will you also come, dear nosebleed? I don’t have time to waste, so I sure hope not,” thinking of the regular consequence of buying a knowledge worth a lot more FCP than the last one he had integrated with, his last thoughts before fading into darkness were that hopefully, his nosebleed wasn’t going to be as massive as what a million FCP worth of knowledge hinted at.

…

“That’s a really bad bleeding sir, I think we should call a healer just to be safe,” handing him more tissue to try and contain the waterfall of blood exiting both his eyes and his nose, his silent escort didn’t even wait for him to agree before making a call on his radio.

“Might as well, right?” Coming to terms with his precarious situation, Aven was slumped over the bloodied sink, feeling weak, with a massive headache to make sure he couldn’t really think clearly.

A wave of nausea then assaulted him as his brain and spirit once again assaulted the millions of new neuronal connections that had been established during his 10-hours sleep, making him want to puke air as he hadn’t had the time to eat anything before his escort barged into his room to take him to the bathroom before he was even fully awake.

“Who would have thought it would be this bad?” Lamenting after surviving the wave of nausea, he didn’t even hear his escort replying to him as he suddenly gained clear access to more knowledge and understanding about the massive field that was industrial engineering.

Then it was followed by a more severe bleeding and more nausea.

“Hu… I’m sorry for doubting you, Green’s technological level, I won’t do it again…” Feeling worse than ever, Aven could only feel pain, weakness, and nausea, and he didn’t have a way to fight against that, unlike if an assassin from the Canopy had come.

Then he gained access to more knowledge, ensued by more blood and head pain.

Followed by more knowledge and more blood and more nausea.

And this cycle just kept repeating until medical personnel came to escort him to a room on the other side of the building, where a healer awaited.

As for the rest, it was all a blur in his mind.

…

Waking up in an unfamiliar medical ward, Aven finally felt like he was back in control of his own body, and he immediately put this reasserted control to use as he stood up and declared without any shame, “I’m back! It was horrible! I need to contribute! Oh my god!”

Doing things in order, he first opened his shop and claimed the 3 cultivation resources necessary to make him enter a trinity state.

Holy Vow Grade 2 Energy Cultivation Base Increase Serum (Claim?)

Holy Vow Grade 2 Energy Cultivation Cycle Sustaining Serum (Claim?)

Holy Vow Grade 2 Energy Cultivation Cycle Boosting Serum (Claim?)

Under the eyes of Ron, his escort, who had once again lapsed into total silence, a light and color show began next to a seemingly over-excited young man who didn’t know what to do with his hands for a few minutes.

Once the show ended, the young man drank all 3 flasks in practiced gestures and exited the ward at lightning speed.

When he reached the production hall hosting 28 integrated production lines, he went to a random one, brought up its complex diagram, and began mobilizing his new knowledge.

“Hehehe~” A few minutes after analyzing the complex diagram under his eyes, he started laughing, at first it was a soft and creepy laugh, but it quickly grew to a booming one, “Hahaha! That’s what I thought! Exactly what I thought!”

His level of enthusiasm and happiness passed through an invisible barrier the next instant, prompting him to take random blank papers and a pen to start noting down things.

When more than an hour passed and he hadn’t even gone through a tenth of his insight concerning how to optimize the integrated production line’s diagram under his eyes, he realized that there was a time for everything, “Yeah, why start to remodel now when it’s only my first expert knowledge? That’s stupid.”

Throwing the messy papers he had written over the last hour away, he put his 2 hands on the console and started using all his insights in a different way.

The machine he was infusing didn’t hold any more secrets, he could simply understand everything. More than everything in fact.

From the reasons something was done the way it was, how it echoed with other parts, adapting or imposing something to the rest of the line, how every timing was changed to create a continuous harmony, how it influenced the intensity of heating and cooling…

Moving up from the smallest changes, moving down from the most general design concepts, going through all the specs and understanding what was given in exchange for all the positives and negatives…

“It’s… Wondrous,” letting out a breath, Aven felt how, compared to the last time he had infused this machine, this time it was so different.

He didn’t know what efficiency he had reached with his energy when it was about production, but he certainly wouldn't be surprised if he was told that he had reached the grade 3 production tech super equivalent level on the knowledge application skill.

Instinctually deducing what was one of the main causes apart from his expert-level industrial engineering knowledge responsible for this change, he opened his status.

Aven Amias

Faction: Nation of Eland Military

Energy Grade: 2

Energy Cultivation: 118/1 000

Energy Affinity: Tech

Physical Talents: None

Energy Talents: Basic Tech Energy Affinity, Basic Energy Sense, Basic Natural Energy Growth, Basic Self Revolving Energy

Spiritual Talents: Inquisitive Spirit, Advanced Knowledge Integration, Basic Tireless Spirit

Universal Talents: Unawakened Fairy Ancestry

‘It’s there…’

Focusing on it, he opened one of the definite culprits’ detailed description.

Advanced Knowledge Integration: Following a long, continuous, and intense exposure to biologically-defying amounts of knowledge, your spirit has pushed your brain configuration, storing mechanisms, and interactivity to their biological limits. Moderately increases your knowledge access speed.

“Limits?” Doubting the word he had just read, he read again the whole description, but it didn’t change, “So what will happen after that? Will my brain purely and simply rupture?”

Momentarily worried, he spent a few minutes distracted by the hidden meanings behind the words “biological limits”.

Ultimately, he couldn’t push his reasoning beyond “That’s probably bad news, but I didn’t take expert biology knowledge yet so I’m not sure”, so he returned to infusing the seemingly complex, but in reality simple, integrated production line.

…

Sleep came and went, each cycle gradually being separated by a wider and wider time chasm, one growing at the rhythm of 15 more minutes each day.

FCP similarly came and went, each “day” being rewarded by more and more points symbolizing his quickly growing daily contribution.

His expense, in turn, remained the same, 217 600 FCP each day, or 54 400 every 6 hours.

A strange phenomenon also quickly appeared, only visible to him this time as long as he didn’t go out of his way to show it openly to everyone by testing his cultivation each day.

It turned out that while spending energy could somewhat replace cycling it, spending energy so efficient that it warped the limit of what grade 2 tech energy, even one with an affinity, should be able to do, had unsuspected returns on his cultivation.

From gaining 3 energy cultivation points each day, that number mystically started growing alongside his knowledge application skill, which was itself growing at a rate never before seen.

Each day, the ammunition exiting all the integrated production lines he had infused were enhanced by a factor growing daily by around 4%.

And this daily tech-production enhancement never showed any signs of either increasing or decreasing. Aven could infuse an extreme quantity of knowledge into his energy, but compared to his growing ocean…

It was only a few lakes.

He was still a long way off from becoming capable of infusing all the knowledge relevant to a single integrated machine in a short time. If he was even capable of actively retaining so many different knowledge at the same time.

The human brain was not designed to naturally work with so much knowledge actively on the line. Other tech supers like Commander and Rival had years, decades, some more than a century, to bring their knowledge application skill to the level they needed, Aven only had months.

This fact didn’t stop him though, and on the first day of having integrated with an expert knowledge, after spending 24 and a half hours continuously infusing his energy which translated to tech-produced ammunition that were at the end of the day 116% enhanced, he gained 852 600 FCP.

It meant he was gaining 34 800 FCP per hour.

On the next day, he pushed his tech-production maximum enhancement to 120% after 24 hours and 45 minutes of stubborn volunteering, getting him an additional 891 000 FCP, bringing him to a total of 1 421 050 FCP once all his expenses were deducted.

When he saw this number before going to sleep, Aven had the urge to spend it on knowledge more relevant to his next goal that was already firmly being established in a corner of his mind, but he knew it would be counter-productive to ignore the remaining 4 universal expert knowledge he would need anyway.

So he toiled for another “day”, one that went on for 25 hours straight before he started feeling a bit sluggish and called it a day, reaching a maximum of 124% tech-production enhancement and earning 930 000 FCP once he claimed his reward.

With a stock of 2 133 450 FCP, Aven then had a choice, and he made the most natural and logical one by going for the most expensive.

Faction Contribution Shop: Nation of Eland Military

Faction Authority: Six-Star General

Faction Contribution Points: 2 133 450

…

Knowledge: Expert Developmental Engineering (1 842 000 FCP)

Knowledge: Expert Developmental Engineering (Claim?)

Following 5 hours of peaceful darkness, a pretty mild nosebleed that didn’t include an eyebleed as a bonus, and a 20-minute long headache, Aven pretty much just got back to work without losing much time.

With his new knowledge, his next project was taking a more and more solid and concrete form in his mind, so he started making preparations, like asking for modeling computers to be prepared, or asking for the specs of the machines present in the industrial machinery industry area.

He knew without asking that if he wanted the best large-scale production machines, then he had to seek them in Commander’s and Rival’s area.

On the day he got his new expert knowledge, same as every other time when he had just integrated with lots of new relevant knowledge, he pushed his energy efficiency a step further without his knowledge application skill being all that involved.

At the end, his new maximal tech-production enhancement was 136%, and he broke some sort of barrier by earning a total of 1 030 200 FCP, bringing his total to 1 104 050 FCP. Shy of only 470 000 FCP of what he needed to get his next expert knowledge.

Far from being disheartened by that situation, he happily went to sleep and woke up 5 hours later, fully refreshed and ready for another “day” 15 minutes longer than the previous one.

And thus he ground through 25 hours and a half, earning 1 071 000 FCP, and pushing his knowledge application skill, increasing his energy cultivation by 5 more points.

Faction Contribution Shop: Nation of Eland Military

Faction Authority: Six-Star General

Faction Contribution Points: 1 957 450

…

Knowledge: Expert Physics (1 681 000 FCP)

Knowledge: Expert Physics (Claim?)

2 days later, each respectively earning him 1 112 400 and 1 154 400 FCP, he claimed the second last expert knowledge he wanted to build a solid foundation for his next project.

Faction Contribution Shop: Nation of Eland Military

Faction Authority: Six-Star General

Faction Contribution Points: 2 108 050

…

Knowledge: Expert Mathematics (1 574 000 FCP)

Knowledge: Expert Mathematics (Claim?)

And 2 more days after claiming his second last knowledge target, 10 days after starting in earnest to widen his positive feedback loop, following two 26-hour days earning him respectively 1 197 000 and 1 240 200 FCP…

Faction Contribution Shop: Nation of Eland Military

Faction Authority: Six-Star General

Faction Contribution Points: 2 536 050

…

Knowledge: Expert Programming (1 612 000 FCP)

Knowledge: Expert Programming (Claim?)

“And with that last one, I can finally start my first truly personal project~” Smiling to his ears, Aven didn’t look back at the effort he had done, he only looked forward, to what he had yet to do.

Claiming his last chunk of general foundation, he closed his eyes, excited to wake up and truly start walking on his own unique path.

A path he was the only one able to walk on.

The path of gathering, consolidating, and innovating with knowledge already present but that no one knew could be used.

…

The moment he regained consciousness, Aven jumped out of his bed, “I’m so freaking motivated!”

Abundantly drinking water to quench his parched throat, he rushed out of his room after putting on the same as ever white military uniform, just another copy of the one he wore “yesterday”, heading not towards the production hall but towards a meeting room he had started furnishing a few days ago.

And with the attention he was given by the higher-ups, it didn’t take long for his requests to be fulfilled without any questioning.

Opening the door with a burst of air, he deeply breathed in the air smelling of new products and cleaning products, and his first action was to open the windows to make sure none of it remained by the end of the hour.

His silent escort arrived a few minutes later to check he was okay, then promptly vanished, leaving Aven to his exploration frenzy, trying to appropriate everything that was in this room.

“Music, yes. Music is first, obviously,” stopping for a moment, he found that even this tiny request of his was fulfilled and speakers had been installed on the ceiling of this room. And they didn’t look like average speakers.

Finding the computer wired to them, he turned it on and a few minutes later pop music started playing, giving him even more motivation.

Once the main modeling computer had been booted up, he kept all the others on stand-by mode as the chance he would have a use for them today was abysmal.

“Okay!” Finishing his preliminary exploration of the room and the main modeling computer, finding every software he wanted on it, he changed to another computer, this one he used to browse the massive amount of data he had requested, “Now, I need to actualize my knowledge of the industrial capabilities and capacity of Blackdale.”

Using a flimsy piece of document that was left on the keyboard by whoever had accomplished his request, he found all the names of the data files he would ever want concerning every industry of Blackdale IMC.

“Ho~ They’re not going at it half-hearted, that’s for sure~” Recognizing the full in-depth import-export registry, followed by all the secret sources and transportation methods, Aven could only feel that the path forward wouldn’t be any smoother.

As his project wasn’t concretized yet, he only sent a sweeping glance at all the data before switching to another activity, this one taking place at the center of the room where mountains of blank papers and different pens were waiting for him.

“I only need a few pages, nothing else,” taking what he needed, he combined these few blank pages with the few pages he had already started writing days ago and began a brainstorming session with only himself.

Using his knowledge as the foundation, he concretized the first steps of his project in under 1 hour, ending up with a fantastic list of knowledge to get and a basic framework of integrated production lines and products.

Knowledge: Advanced Materials Engineering (656 000 FCP)

Knowledge: Advanced Industry Skills (661 000 FCP)

Knowledge: Advanced Chemical Engineering (664 000 FCP)

Knowledge: Advanced Ammunition Engineering (670 000 FCP)

Knowledge: Advanced Alloys (631 000 FCP)

Knowledge: Advanced Abomination Biology (724 000 FCP)

Knowledge: Expert Weapon Engineering (1 131 000 FCP)

“5 137 000… Even though I bought so many expert knowledge… That’s 5 days,” he calculated before putting this number into context and tilting his head to the side in suspicion, “The abomination surge will not start soon, right?”

Daring to assume that the abomination surge would not start anytime within this month, Aven concluded his first serious project brainstorming, “Anyway, let’s put that list as my limit. Once I get all these, that will be it! No more knowledge! It’ll be time for innovation!”

Organizing the table, he picked a cardboard folder and filled it with everything he had physically written until now.

On this folder, he then wrote in big bright red letters: “Alternative Innovative Tech Super Restricted Anti-Abomination Stationary Heavy Artillery Sniper”.

And then he proceeded to put the whole room on standby, returning to farm more FCP to fill this very ambitious project of revolutionizing the ultra-high-end military artillery, both its shells and the weapon itself.

Everything was already in his head, he just needed to be sure that he hadn’t missed something before truly starting on this new quest.

…

Driven by his own project idea, over the next 5 days Aven started to prepare for his imminent transition while he was getting at least 1 new knowledge every time he went to sleep.

This transition wasn’t one where he intended to completely stop earning FCP after all, he wanted to adapt his schedule and make it so that “contributing his energy” had a finite time range that would allow him to focus on his project stress-free.

Of course, he did all that preparation because he didn’t know how the innovating quest worked. Once he confirmed that doing nothing but thinking could earn him enough FCP to cover his expenses, he would just stop taking the volunteering quest.

But he seriously doubted it would be that easy.

When eventually the last night arrived, Aven claimed his last all-in volunteering day.

Faction Contribution Quest: Nation of Eland Military

Volunteering: Contribute to the stability of your faction without asking for anything in return. The more time spent and the harder the tasks, the greater the contribution.

Reward: 1 419 000 FCP

“And now I don't have any way of chickening out. I have all the knowledge all the engineers of the entire military have,” gravely rejoicing, he opened his shop next.

Faction Contribution Shop: Nation of Eland Military

Faction Authority: Six-Star General

Faction Contribution Points: 1 622 050

…

Knowledge: Expert Weapon Engineering (1 131 000 FCP)

“No one can help me, no one can criticize me, I’m on my own,” expressing his thoughts on what his situation was, he claimed the last knowledge separating him from becoming a figurative military engineer and innovator god.

Knowledge: Expert Weapon Engineering (Claim?)