Focusing, Aven erased all the expressions on his face and swiftly reached his optimal knowledge mobilization state.

His new grade 3 energy escaping from a metaphorical tech energy core began to seethe at the influx of knowledge giving it more meaning than ever and reflecting its owner’s vast ocean-like knowledge base.

Reaching his knowledge application skill limit, he had no choice but to start letting his energy leave his body.

From the place his hand was in contact with the console, a flow of tech energy poured out, extending its reach and initiating the job it was meant to do.

With the cadence having been found on Aven’s side, his self revolving energy started doing its job cycling, using the trinity effect he was under to regenerate much quicker than it should and making sure he had enough energy to do whatever he wanted.

As more and more energy was infused inside the roughly integrated mechanical monstrosity gathering 28 different production lines, the various sensors disseminated inside them detected the change and increased their production cadence to their normal level.

“Woah… I can sense the consumption…” Feeling for the first time in his short life as a super a clear, gradual consumption of his energy inside a machine he had infused, Aven was amazed by the situation, “So infusing such a behemoth of a machine is really taxing on the energy needed, who would have guessed?”

Maintaining the energy flow and his concentration despite the sarcasm, he felt that slowly but surely, he was filling the huge energy capacity of the 28-lines integrated machine.

And with this confirmation, he saw no other rational and logical following decision but to continue doing what he was doing until he either fully infused the humongous machine or natural exhaustion came to find him.

“Hu~” He suddenly puffed, “So, in less than 1 cycle, I went from grade 2 with no plan other than continue volunteering to grade 3 production tech super getting ready for being deployed against the abomination surge? Aren't you a bit too hasty Aven?”

Looking back at what he had done during this single cycle for what it was, Aven realized that he had already completed the second step of his plan and that the first step was just waiting for him on the military network.

He had been really efficient. And that conclusion put more positivity on his face.

…

“Claim,” at the end of this symbolic cycle that went on for close to 58 hours where Aven went from being a grade 2 super to being a grade 3 one, he accepted for the first time his reward from his upgrade quest innate ability.

Dynamic Faction Contribution Quests: Nation of Eland Military

…

Dynamic Contribution: 10 991 900 FCP

“Is that…” He hesitated for a bit before neutrally asking the air for confirmation, “The reward for both the previous cycle and this cycle that was half-eaten by all my preparations? 11 million?”

Not putting on an act, Aven laid down on his bed and started to think.

“189 million…” A few minutes in, a mind-blowing number escaped his mouth, letting through a glimpse of what was going on inside his head, “It’s not far…”

Eventually, his line of thought ended silently and he used his energy telekinesis to turn off the lights before letting his natural exhaustion take him away.

It turned out, as long as he played his schedule right, he would not really need a psy pulse to sleep.

…

Waking up around 5 hours later, the difference in not being able to use a martial pulse to erase the morning misery didn’t really make itself known as Aven was simply too well in his body to feel anything.

Holy Vow Grade 3 Tech-System Energy Cultivation Base Increase Serum (Claim?)

Holy Vow Grade 3 Tech-System Energy Cultivation Cycle Sustaining Serum (Claim?)

Holy Vow Grade 3 Tech-System Energy Cultivation Cycle Boosting Serum (Claim?)

Actualizing his trinity effect first thing, he remained in his quarters for just 5 minutes before exiting it fully dressed and ready to see what this day was reserving for him.

Arriving at the production hall, he first went to the command console to check if conflicts or errors had taken place while he was asleep.

“Hum… Of course there’s nothing,” asserting the excellence of what he had created, he launched for the second time a diagnostic sequence, trying to unearth hidden problems.

As the diagnostic sequence was running in the background, Aven put one of his hands fully on the cold alloy casing of the command console and began to feel for the energy flowing inside it.

“It’s still here… And not even close to collapsing,” noting that while his energy had diminished, it would still be able to go on for hours if left alone, he didn’t pursue the matter further and claimed his contribution to see something.

Dynamic Faction Contribution Quests: Nation of Eland Military

…

Dynamic Contribution: 1 340 000 FCP

Getting his phone and opening a calculator application, he simply divided what he was seeing by 5.

“268 000 FCP per hour, ho~” Fully appreciating this new hourly FCP yield, Aven felt that he couldn’t have taken a better 1st energy specialization, “Total integration is really the way to go. I only need to infuse my energy and knowledge inside this single humongous machine and that’s it, nothing less, nothing more. I would have done that earlier if I had known!”

Close to exploding with happiness at the contribution environment he had built for himself, he looked at the finished diagnostic sequence and, seeing that there were absolutely no problems anywhere, resumed his energy infusion with renewed vigor

It was after all pretty much confirmed that he would from henceforth have time to visit the design room for more than just reporting ideas he got while contributing in the production hall all day.

…

“So, yeah,” he concluded his 2 hours of dedicated data browsing a bit lost for words, “That’s pretty much just my industrial-scale integration revamping taken to a smaller human-scale version.”

Backtracking a few data files, he reopened the detailed schematics of the “tentacle” components of the integrated combat uniform, clearly the most striking tool addition this type of combat uniform offered.

Corroborating the thoughts he had back when he had read that part, he kept finding easy ways to accomplish what was displayed before his eyes in a better way just from a material perspective, “And it’s not even optimized… She used something expensive, but expensive doesn’t equal better, especially when it comes to fulfilling a specific objective like integrating different things together.”

Finding it weird that something like that ever happened to begin with at such a high level, he did a bit of research on the responsible and learned that, in fact, Milada was pretty much working alone on her project.

Anzu, her closest collaborator, wasn’t completely in on the project, he also had his own partnership with Star Trail to fulfill and advance, and what he was working on was the nanomaterial field, so not that relevant to the integrated combat uniform project all things considered.

“Well, fortunately I found about that ahead of time,” he browsed through more and more data, finding more and more problems he could easily resolve, “If I hadn’t, I would have been locked to enhancing sensor towers or missile batteries once I decided to assist in fighting the surge. Though it’s not like I’ll not do that…”

His imagination going into overdrive, Aven pictured himself in the middle of a nuclear wasteland having no choice but to keep to the backline because he had forgotten to make preparations before arriving.

“Sigh… It would have been so stupid,” refocusing on the present where he could still change things before they arrived, he promised himself to act as the model example of how production tech super should be, always preparing before the events happened.

“As for you,” he looked at the data exposed on his screen, schematics about different electrical circuits and intruding data cables supposedly capable of forcefully unifying different machines into one, “I have a big brother called full body armor for you, I think you’ll get along perfectly.”

On these words, he transferred all the relevant data he had found about the integrated combat uniform project to the main modeling computer and moved to the central table where he began to draw and design a first rough theoretical upgrade on paper.

He just couldn’t stand the idea of going to battle with something so unoptimized and imperfect, above all when he could easily find hundreds of ways to make it… Simply better.

…

2 whole cycles and a half went by as Aven redrew the whole integrated combat uniform design with his knowledge that, he supposed, was much above the one who designed the sub-optimized versions he had seen.

Of course, he didn’t approach this surprise project as a superior being who had to redesign the whole project, he wasn’t yet at such a level of condescension toward fellow researchers who sought to revolutionize the world by bringing ideas to it.

Most of the problems inherent to an integrated combat uniform gear had been solved, and he just had to complete, adjust, or refine all these misused innovations that Milada had applied. She was an innovator, and she had perfectly done her job on that side.

“Sir,” Ron called him respectfully as he opened the door, no matter how much time had passed, he still didn’t see him as a friend, “Ms. Slogance is here.”

As soon as he said that and moved to the side, a woman with short red hair and brown eyes appeared from behind him and entered the design room, prompting Aven to lower the background music’s volume a bit and turn away from his modelization effort to cater to the guest he had personally invited.

“Hello Milada~ We didn’t have the occasion to talk much when I last visited, but this time I’m sure we’ll have a fantastic talk,” getting up, he approached her and extended his hand in an enthusiastic greeting.

“Hello Aven,” keeping to herself mostly, she replied by accepting the handshake as any civilized intelligent being would, “Though I’m not sure why you would invite me over just a few days after your visit.”

“That’s of course because I finished updating your project to be more according to my standards, and I think you would want me to be here, able to answer your questions,” he explained innocently in anticipation, “Now, I hope Star Trail doesn’t use a special modeling software because you’ll have a lot to go through for the next few hours.”

Not letting her wait, he directly moved to a secondary modeling computer and highlighted all the new material sheets, adjusted modeled forms, and optimized part designs, “I think I pretty much kept all the innovations you created, but that’s not for me to decide.”

“Well, you’re certainly boasting a bit too much for my taste,” she said as she started to move towards the chair's chaotic depository, “But with your recent reputation, I can give you a chance.”

“You’ll not be dissapointed~” Finishing highlighting all the files relevant to what he had done for the last 2 cycles and a half, which translated to nearly 5 days, Aven displayed his confidence without being overly arrogant, “If you have any question, I’ll be just there, working on another project. Don’t mind the background music.”

Returning to the main modeling computer, he re-upped the background music’s volume before resuming his modeling of a very messy-looking helmet.

As for Milada, she simply felt like she had stepped into the home of someone she didn’t know and was told to feel comfortable, which was a bit hard to do, but not so much when the owner simply started ignoring her to start typing at a ridiculous speed on his keyboard.

Familiarizing herself with the computer before her, she touched it and noticed that it wasn’t infused, the telltale sign of either a tech super without enough energy to spend or that of a tech super with a specialty restricting him.

The latter made much more sense when the rumors about the young man typing not far from her were that he had nearly infinite energy and peak technological knowledge.

Focusing on the screen before her following a few minutes of acclimatization, her professionalism and decades of work as a cutting-edge researcher in pioneer fields made themselves known quickly as she began organizing the dozens and dozens of highlighted files.

Strangely, the whole atmosphere of the room was so neutral and finely attuned to nothing that she felt as if this was a totally normal workplace, the background music wasn’t aggressive, it was neither hot nor cold, and there was no special smell…

All these details soon vanished from her attention however as she started browsing through all the different files, some complex material science sheets gathering dozens of parameters about a single alloy, some about a comparative before-after of adjusted combat uniform she had designed herself, some others about specific parts like the integration limbs that had their whole makeup and configuration modified…

At some point, she just decided to pick some conveniently placed pieces of blank paper and a few pens to start listing all the changes that hit her as incomprehensible or weird. And there were a lot.

A few hours later, she had finished rummaging through all the files and was ready to ask the dozens of questions she had carefully prepared after reviewing the problematic models, “Aven?”

“Yeah…?” He answered without turning his head.

“Can you explain the reasons behind the changes you made there?” Keeping her true question unasked, she first sought a first layer of explanation that could maybe dispel her problem with what was being suggested in this precise model about the extreme flattening of the internal batteries.

“Yup,” surprisingly not standing up, he just accessed the internal network of this room and took control of her screen.

“Is that the one?” He asked as he rotated the model and opened the specifications he had himself written.

“Yes,” Milada replied shortly.

“This one is a cascading choice I made after remodeling the electrical configuration to make sure even if all the batteries ended up dead or broken it would still be possible to use the uniform as an intermediary. As for why I answered it like that by flattening all the 4 batteries, it both reduces the intensity of the chemical melting after being exposed to the air and can contribute to stopping more force of a projectile or hit that could penetrate until it reached such an inner part of the insurance layer,” saying everything in one breath, Aven had no problem with exposing all the whys and hows.

“Okay,” she blinked a few times as she understood that her question had been answered without needing to be asked, “What about this one?”

Taking control of the cursor, she switched to another file.

“This one…” He took control of the cursor in turn and opened the different specifics and before-after comparisons, “The previous form was just sub-optimal, and I changed the materials to suit more what I would want, meaning more protection for a small loss of connectivity. I kept your node design but changed it just a bit to adapt to the other changes I made in the electrical configuration. It's a really marvelous innovation, by the way, being able to circulate both binary current and alternating current just next to each other like that is amazing.”

“Thank you,” her question was once again answered before she could ask it, so she thanked him for the compliment and moved on to the next file, “What about this one?”

For the next 2 hours, Aven kept explaining all the design choices he had made, going from obvious improvements once explained to extensions from other more obvious choices.

He had not revolutionized the design, he had simply brought it as close as he could to what its perfect version would be according to his knowledge.

And that seemed to have worked.

“Well, I can’t say I’m not impressed,” Milada revealed, “If you weren’t so young and had a few globally recognized achievements under your belt, I’m sure Star Trail would have already sent you an invitation. Your value as an assistant and helper would be above that of lots of older collaborator researchers like myself.”

“Star Trail is definitely on my list, but before reaching that point, I’ll focus on repaying the kindness that Eland gave me. My development isn’t dependent on only myself after all,” keeping his neutrality, Aven continued to type on his keyboard as the very messy-looking helmet had already gone through a few refinements, looking more and more like a true military gear.

“What are you modeling?” As she had nothing else to do now but to leave after having her whole project optimized by a young man decades younger than her, she inquired.

“Something to replace the loss of the amazing psy system’s spirituality tracking,” he offhandedly replied, not scared of exposing his current project.

“Oh, good luck then,” she stood up after saying that, “Did you post everything on the military network? I’d be infinitely thankful if you could do that.”

“I’ll do that in a minute, and it’s your project, not mine. I’ve only helped you correctly apply what you innovated,” showing contradicting humbleness, Aven stopped refining his helmet design to post all the optimized integrated combat uniform models on the network in a few dozen seconds, “There, done.”

“Thank you for your work, I’ll produce a prototype as soon as possible and call you for the test, this way you’ll be able to give your opinion on the final version I’ll produce for you to take for your trip to the Forbidden Continent,” thanking him, she then proceeded to leave, though not without hearing the last piece.

“How kind of you~ I’m always available unless when I sleep, so don’t try to accommodate your schedule for me,” joking about it as if it was not a serious matter at all, Aven heard the sound of the door opening and closing.

Left alone in this design room prepared specially for him back when he was only a newly recruited grade 2, he didn’t even take notice of her departure, or in fact, he hadn’t even cared about her coming.

With or without people, with or without gears, with or without abomination surge, his schedule was as simple as it could be: He was earnestly preparing for becoming an active super.

“It’s just the start,” randomly speaking out of nowhere, he looked at the half-finished all-sensors helmet he was designing, “If the world intends to stop me, then it only has a few more months before it’s too late.”