Melody vonShodenburg

Class: Nanomachine User (Novice)

Abilities

Least Strength 27

Lesser Speed 2

Lesser Dexterity 24

Least Constitution 45

Low Mana Capacity 1

Lesser Cognition 14

Skill

Beginner Tactics 3. Beginner Mathematics 5. Novice Science 2. Neophyte Firearms 1.

Everything was the same as what she had seen before. The only thing that had changed was her new Firearms skill and her Mana Capacity. It used to be in the Least rank, so that was a significant improvement. More than she had expected. It wasn't all that important without any magic to speak of, though. What she was really excited about, and what she had gotten the upgrade for, was her class.

She was still a Nanomachine User, which was encouraging. More than that, she had gone from Neophyte to Novice. Considering that was the exact rank progression for skills, Melody was feeling pretty confident the class change she had accepted was a direct upgrade instead of a complete change, like her going from Machine Soldier to nanomachine User. She clicked on her class, hoping it would give more insight.

Only to let out a frustrated huff. She received a message stating that she could view the details of her class if she bought an upgrade. Once again, Melody began to hunt down what she needed. A minor price of 15,000 experience later. And she was clicking on her class again. What she got was a complete breakdown of her class, exactly what she was hoping for.

NanoMachine User (Novice)

The second rank of Nanomachine User. A common class among more technologically advanced worlds. Grants the class holder the ability to directly control and command a personal Nano-Swarm. This allows the holder access to the basic ability to Assimilate, Absorb, and Construct various objects and materials. These features are managed via an Interface. Secondarily, the holder is also given access to a Shop through which they can purchase schematics for a multitude of items. The limits of what is available in the Shop is limited by the system or entity that had granted the holder their class.

While the little blurb was interesting, most of what it said was things Melody already knew. The truly important information was in the next bit.

Deferred Information:

Class: Machine Soldier

Access to Nano-Swarm

Shop limited to basic equipment

Decreased cost of armaments

Sponsorship of divine entity

Class: Nanomachine User (Neophyte)

Pro:

Access to additional options in the Shop, Interface, and Swarm

Construction speed increased

Absorption speed increased

Assimilation speed increased

Nano-Storage unlocked

Con:

Armaments will no longer be discounted

Protection of patron god removed

Reduced experience from combat

Class: Nanomachine User (Novice)

Pro:

Construction speed increased

Absorption speed increased

Assimilation speed increased

Nano-Storage increased

Con:

Some options for class change may no longer be available

Reading that, Melody was much happier about picking her new class. It appeared she had a straightforward path for advancement, which was what she had been hoping for originally. The idea of constantly having massive shifts in how her class worked just to advance it gave her anxiety. She was perfectly happy with powering up the ranks and spending her time maximizing the output of what she had.

To that end, Melody closed down the Portfolio tab. She wasn't worried about it for now, though she had seen some interesting options appear in the Shop now that she had the Tether. For now, she went to the Construction tab and made a bullet, just like the ones she had made earlier. It formed in a fraction of a second. Then, she used her new Storage. The bullet was gone, even faster than it was constructed.

Melody constructed a hundred bullets. All told, it took less than a second. Melody smiled. If she queued multiple things to be Constructed at the same time, so long as her Swarm was large enough, it would make them all simultaneously. She had wanted to test that earlier, but things kept getting in the way. Melody Stored all the ammunition she had made, confirming that her ability to designate objects for Storage wasn't limited to one at a time.

Feeling clever now and very close to her original plan, Melody thought about one of the bullets returning to her hand, just like how she designated them for Storage. Nothing happened. Frowning, she opened the Interface. A little trial and error later, Melody felt like she had nailed down how the Storage worked. She could designate anything she had Constructed to go into Storage with a thought, much like how she designated things for Absorption or Assimilation.

The inverse was not true. If she wanted something back from Storage, it worked like Construction did. She had to open the Interface and select the item from the Storage tab. Then, the item would appear in front of her, the same as Constructions. She had no real control over where the object appeared, aside from facing a particular direction. Testing with the bullets, she found that whatever she… remade? Un-stored? Either way, the objects came into being less than a foot from her sternum.

This led to another search through the Shop, the Interface tab, and even the Nano-Swarm tab trying to find a solution that suited what she was trying for. Luckily, it seemed that what she wanted was an option baked into the system, as she found a solution quickly. The downside was a high experience cost. Once again, Melody rejoiced at her recent windfall. She had no idea how long it would take her to get this far without the millions she had gotten from Bremain.

Melody was looking at buying more cybernetics. All of them were expensive, at least compared to anything she had been looking at before her windfall, but they varied wildly in price. Not wanting to make a bad purchase on something that would be a part of her body, Melody finally bought an Interface upgrade that added a description to everything in the Shop. It wasn't as comprehensive as the user manual she got after she bought them, but it helped her cull through the slew of options she had.

Ultimately, Melody ended up with items that weren't the most powerful on her list but boasted a solid foundation based around modular upgrades she could add later on. Melody needed two distinct cybernetics, one for her brain and one for her eyes. Or two for her eyes, but she only had to purchase the schematic once, so it didn't count. She ended up with the 'Adaptive Modular Advanced Neural Interface' and the 'Modular Ocular Cybernetic', the more expensive of which was the brain one.

As far as enchantments went, once again, melody chose an increase to one of her primary abilities, Cognition this time, and an increased resilience for her Neural Interface. For the Ocular Cybernetic, she ended up messing around with a lot of options. There were no straightforward options here, so she waffled for a bit, thinking up different uses for different enchantments. Seeing heat signatures was cool, but did it have more value than being able to see soundwaves or even the rather mundane ability to tell the mathematical dimensions of something by looking at it?

She ended up on one that she felt suited her limited combat experience. A rangefinder. With it, Melody would be able to tell the distance between herself and whatever she was looking at, which should make long-range shooting much easier.

With all of it sorted, and another million experience poorer, Melody Constructed both the new cybernetics. There was a tingle in her brain from the Neural Interface, much like earlier with the Tether. The Ocular Cybernetic actually scared her a bit. She went blind for a few seconds. It wasn't long at all, but she was briefly worried something had gone horribly wrong. When the Construction finished, Melody could tell the difference. Her thoughts felt smoother, and her vision was clearer. She wasn't thinking any differently, but she could feel her thoughts moving faster.

The rangefinder enchantment was fascinating, as it seemed to be an intrinsic part of her vision. She just knew how far away something was, down to the centimeter. There was no lag or confusion; it was the same as distinguishing color. That bush was white, and it was 13 feet and 3 inches away. She just knew.

Opening up her Portfolio in the Interface, Melody took a look at what had changed. Her Cognition was now Low 85, making it her highest primary ability by a heavy margin. What she wasn't expecting was the addition of two new Abilities. She now had Lesser Mechanical Mind 5 and Low Mechanically Enhanced Sight 15. Melody wondered why these cybernetics had added abilities to the Portfolio, but the Tether had not.

"Melody, it's time." Her mother's call interrupted her musing.

"Oh, ok!" Melody closed out the Interface. It seemed like that was all the time she had for experimentation right now. She was left with a little over 4 million experience now. Still a lot to work with.

"Are you just going to leave that?" Loghain asked as she walked up to the transport.

"Hmm?" Looking toward him, she saw he was gesturing toward the pod Melody had used to heal her mother. Melody rolled her eyes at her own forgetfulness. That was 8 million experience she almost left in a field in the middle of nowhere. Sending the pod to Storage was funny to watch, considering how fast it happened. It turned grey and evaporated in the same time frame the bullets had. Less than a second, and it was gone.

"I got it. Let's go."

{}

They were barreling along once more, heading toward Arianell's family home. Melody had been there once, when she was a baby, but never since. Not that she was thinking about that right now. No, Melody was back to putting the finishing touches on her original plan for her class. The next step was integrating her Interface into her new Ocular Cybernetic.

This required three separate upgrades. One added the option for a heads-up display, or HUD on her new eyes. That wasn't very expensive. The next was an upgrade that allowed her to link all her cybernetics together into one system instead of having them exist independently. This one cost half a million. Lastly, she upgraded the Interface itself to connect to her Neural Interface. Now, when she thought about her Interface, she could see it, clear as day, in her mind. She could then use the connection she had created between her cybernetics to see her Interface in front of her without having the slate out.

All of that was required to do what she had originally wanted. Two more upgrades through the Interface, one for the Construction tab and one for the Storage tab. Now, just by thinking about it, Melody could navigate her Interface and both Construct items and summon them from Storage wherever she wanted. She just had to be able to see the location, and the object had to physically fit.

Testing it out, Melody managed to summon a bullet from Storage into her open hand instead of having it appear directly in front of her. It wasn't perfect. The whole process was clunky, with her having to go through the steps of opening the Interface in her mind, sending it to her new HUD, opening the appropriate tab, then selecting the object, and then the location. It took several seconds. She also couldn't just leave the HUD open, as it covered her vision. Still, now she didn't have to have the slate out, meaning she could make new things or pull already created items from storage hands-free.

Just as she started hunting for ways to smooth out the kinks in her new system, They started to slow down. It looked like they had arrived. Melody looked to her mother. You wouldn't know she had been an inch from death earlier today. The disturbing part was how Arianell took it in stride like it was just a normal part of life. Melody had been seeing new sides of her quiet, calm mother all throughout this trip. It made her wonder what was waiting for them when she really met the other half of her family for the first time.

Only one way to find out, I guess.