~ Chapter 4: Upgrades ~
[Cody’s point of view]
Yesterday, I was just a normal human in an inhuman world, and now... it seems I’ve joined it as well.
With the money I had in my bank account now, I could cover all of my student loans, and inside my contact list, there was one in particular who could make headlines wherever I went. I had a direct line to one of the most powerful heroines on this planet.
Then there were the broken parts I took out of the Theorus Clock, lifeless and lacking the spark of energy they once possessed but more advanced than anything I had seen in both this and my previous life. As for the magical screen on my phone, that was initially a mistake, but it turned out to be an upgrade.
Turning off my phone, I placed it back in my pocket and then looked at the holographic screen telling me that I had finished the mission.
“Accept Rewards.” I said, and then the message changed.
[Mission Complete. Rewards Ready to claim: 25 Status Points; Upgrades Skill Level 1; 10 Exotic Parts, 10 Magic Parts, 10 Technology Parts]
I then hovered my finger over the new skill.
[Upgrades Skill Level: 1 - Unlocks the use of Basic Upgrades for the Shop and Workshop. Additionally, Upgrades Shop has been unlocked as an Active Skill for purchasing new Shop and Workshop upgrades.]
“Oh, so a shop skill! I knew there was something missing...” I said as I closed the window and then focused on activating this new skill of mine.
A new window appeared before me. It had two tabs on it: Upgrade Current Facilities and Acquire New Facilities.
I tapped on the first one, and it asked me to choose between Live View and List View. Clicking on the first option minimized the window and, now, depending on what I looked at, I could see the price for the upgrade.
My crafting bench required a hefty price of $35,000 to upgrade to the next level. My windows needed $10,000 each to be fixed. My shop tables required $5,000 each. As for the door, it required a full Workshop upgrade for the modest sum of $2.5 million.
Seeing those values, I nearly puked my guts out.
“Forget my loans! I won’t get to that sum even if I sold my organs! But… I guess, that’s not the point...” I said and then let out a sigh.
I switched to the other tab: Acquiring New Facilities. It was like looking at a webpage filled with all sort of products for sale. The first few among them were even marked as Recommended. Those were: Part Pack Vending Machine, Cleaning Toolbox, Chair, Safety Goggles, Work Suit, AI Assistant.
“Let’s see... the vending machine is nice. Costs only $7,500. Ok, I’ll get that. But are the tools useful for cleaning this place as well? Ah, no, just the products. Alright, I’ll get one set as well since I don’t know what sort of device might land in my lap. A chair...” I looked down at the wooden chair made by a very inspired Neanderthal around 20000 BC. “Yeah, definitely getting that. And lastly, I’ll get the goggles and suit as well.”
After putting everything in the basket, I clicked buy and that’s how $32,750 flew out of my pockets. Placing the items was done by a simple drag-and-drop. Then, I looked back through the first tab to see if there was anything that could help clean this place up. Scrolling down, past all the insane stuff I could not even read the name of let alone afford, I found a service called: One-Time Cleaning. It cost just $500. I purchased it immediately.
Honestly, I had no idea what I would get for spending so much money on everything; however, at this point, everything still felt like a dream. From the fact that I got to talk with a famous superhero like Mercya to actually understanding quantum tech and other things like that? I mean, sure, maybe I could wrap my head around whatever the hell each part did what as a guess-a-tron result, but... did I really understand it all? My information was fragmented at best, something that could probably be cooked up by a delirious brain running on stress and alcohol.
Pressing buy... was still a dream.
I had yet to properly reconnect with reality, and what happened next made it more improbable.
A white light that covered the entire room blinded me like a flashbang tossed right at my feet.
Opening my eyes, I saw a completely changed room. There was now not even a single speck of dust in this room. There was no more trash, no piles of waste, or scratched-up moldy walls and ceiling. The whole place was cleaned up smoothly as if done by a team of professionals.
The other things I bought, like the suit and goggles, were placed in boxes near the workbench. The vending machine and AI Assistant were still in my shop’s inventory marked as bought and ready to use.
I don’t know what went through my head in that moment, but I just placed my finger on the icon of the vending machine and then dragged and dropped it onto the corner of the room. The thing was placed right where I imagined it would be without so much as making a single thud. As for the AI Assistant, when I tried to do the same thing, I received the message that no suitable host body was found yet.
[Remote Access to User’s Cellphone is possible. Do you wish to connect? Y/N]
Was the message I received afterwards.
I clicked Yes, and my phone received a new app and update. When I tapped on it, I got an [Installing in Progress] message, so I left it as it was.
“Well, that happened...” I remarked, wondering if I had just wasted my money on some fancy app.
The vending machine, on the other hand, when I looked at what it had for sale, there were all sorts of parts listed, but some of them were grayed out. The sticker on the side of the machine said that some parts must be discovered first through Disassembly before they can be purchased. Trying to purchase all the parts that would be used in replicating a device required 100% knowledge of that specific device.
At the very bottom of the vending machine, there was a button that was marked as [Invention Only]. When I tapped on it, the list of items was displayed, but now some of them were marked with a [?] and the information on it was written as: [Unknown Part]. There was also a button called: [Sort by] and then a drop-down list that offered a list of various devices. The list seemed to continue with items marked as [????]. In other words, I could buy them, but I would have no idea what they were and if I got the right stuff or the bad stuff. In other words, I was gambling with my money.
“Not gonna happen!” I declared and then switched the list back to [Parts for Sale].
Now for the wearables I bought, they had some very weird descriptions on them:
[Work Suit - When inside the Workshop, it grants Protection against Cataclysmic Level Attacks. Grants Immunity to Conditions applied from Devices.]
[Work Goggles - When inside the Workshop, it grants Protection against Cataclysmic Level Attacks. Hides Identity. Identifies flaws in a Device. Offers a fair price for estimated repairs.]
“Cataclysmic? So, I’m safe against volcanoes?” I raised an eyebrow.
I tossed the goggles and the suit on the workbench and then approached the door. Honestly, I was tired... Whether this was a dream or reality, I did not know anymore. All I wanted was to get home.
Placing my hand on the handle, I twisted it, and, unlike before, a message popped up:
[Please choose a registered Destination: [Home] \/ ]
It had a drop-down button and everything. Only two destinations were available: the current one and the displayed one. I selected Home and the door opened, revealing my room.
“This is... amazing...” I said as I slowly touched the transparent filament that acted as a portal between my workshop and my home.
There was no sensation to the touch, just the sudden change of temperature. It was warmer inside my house than it was in my workshop.
Taking a deep breath, I stepped through and found myself inside my room.
“I’m really back.” I said as I turned around and saw a message appearing in front of the portal: [Close the Portal? Y/N]
I chose Yes, and then it was gone, almost as if it was never there in the first place.
“Amazing...” I muttered but then I realized that I was still dressed. “I guess I’ll have to come up with an excuse...?” I tilted my head to the left and then shrugged. “I’ll just say someone dropped me off.”
This was a city of heroes and villains, where aliens and other mutated creatures, including magical ones, made their living. Having someone fly you home or teleporting you home was closer to normality than trying to make up some weird excuse.
After I got changed into my pajamas, I went down and placed my shoes at the door. I greeted my parents, who were only surprised to see me home since they did not hear the door. My excuse worked. They had no further questions.
While we were waiting for Dad to finish cooking, Mom shot me a question without lifting her eyes from her phone’s screen.
“So how was Uni?”
“Hm? Ah, it was good...” I replied absentmindedly.
“Oh? And when do you plan on getting to class?” she lifted her eyes from the screen and tossed me an ‘all-knowing glare’.
“Eh?” my brain started scrambling for answers.
“Son, it’s morning. Your first class started 23 minutes ago.” dad reminded me.
“23 minutes... ago... Shit!” I took out my phone and saw the alert for classes starting. “My phone was on mute... NO! MY PHONE WAS ON MUTE!” I got up and then rushed to the door.
“Well, have a good day.” mom, with her always present casual calm, returned to reading the business column while occasionally taking a sip from her coffee.
“Hahaha! Ah, youth!” my dad laughed as he flipped a pancake.
As I was putting on my shoes, I heard mom call out.
“Don’t forget your bag and clothes. Unless it’s PJ day!”
“Huh?! Ah for the love of...” I grumbled, taking off the one shoe I managed to put one and then running up the stairs.
Well, I was late for the first class, but I reached just in time for the next one. Everyone thought I was late because I was hungover from last night. I rolled with it, after all, among my friends, who could say they had the number of Mercya?
Still, while my teacher was explaining the intricacies of the stock exchange, something he said got me thinking.
Buy cheap and sell high.
It was the oldest rule of trading, however, the more I thought about it, the more it made sense to me with regard to what to do next. There was no telling when my next hero or villain would drop by to fix their stuff, so... why not grab a bunch of broken gadgets tossed in a scrapyard and see if I could fix them and then sell them?
This was how I found it, the place where I would end up getting most of my broken tech: Al’s Broken Busted Wares.
It was a shop with a small warehouse located in Luyster Creek, built right next to the Ankler Docks, where a few years back some deranged villain dropped four cargo ships, wrecking the whole area. He dropped a general cargo ship and three container ships. When he was about to toss a crude oil tanker, Lady SeriousFire stopped him. Their battle was all over the news.
Anyway, since then, the Ankler Docks were closed down and the area turned into a small slum, where the homeless lived in the abandoned wrecked boats and buildings. The city was supposed to repurpose it, but nobody has bought the land so far. Having a wastewater treatment plant nearby was definitely not that attractive either.
On the bright side of things, according to their website, the shop located there was selling anything from the broken down robots to lost gadgets and tech. They even sold mysterious boxes of broken tech. Anyone with a passion for scraps could get anything they wanted from here. It was a tinkerer’s dreamland.
“Let’s see, I could have it ordered or...” I thought about the status points I received after my last mission. “Nah!” I shook my head “Let’s not waste and just grab a bag or two of the stuff. If I like it, I’ll buy more.” I told myself and then ordered a few random tech things I saw on sale and then added delivery as pickup on site.
The deal went through, and all I had to do now was go over there after classes were over.
Before I left the university, I made sure to mark a location for my workshop’s portal, just in case I ever needed to get there fast in the future... like right before an exam. Then I took a cab and had him drop me off at the shop.
The place had quite an impressive array of junk. The woman behind the counter had a makeshift prosthetic for her right hand, and a head implant over her left eye. She had deep dark skin color, and her natural eye was of a light green that gave her a gentle and calming appearance. She made me blush when our eyes met, and I quickly turned my head.
“What you here for, sugar?” she asked with a smirk, teasing me.
“I’m here for an order... and I wanted to take a better look at the shop in case there’s anything else I might want to buy... is that... erm possible?” I replied.
“Sure thing, just let me know if anything catches your eye. We get shipments from all over the country. The big stuff is out in the back.”
“Ah, I saw some of them on the website. The broken aircraft propellers?” I asked, turning my head toward her.
“Yup, not just that. You want to have a look, sugar?” she asked with a teasing smile.
“Yeah, I’d love to.” I nodded, trying to hide my blush.
“So, if you’ll follow me.” she pushed herself away from the counter, spinning once in the office chair. “My name’s Tina, by the way. What’s yours?”
“Oh, I’m Cody.”
“Cody, huh? I was expecting something like Benedict or Matthew!” she laughed as she walked me to the back through a thick metal door.
“That’s a first... Do I really look like a Matthew?” I raised an eyebrow.
“Nah, more like a Schneider!” she laughed.
“Now you’re just pulling my leg!”
“Hahaha! Down in these parts, if you don’t cook up a sense of humor, the streets will eat you up faster than a starving great white!” she leaned forward and had her retina scanned at the door, then entered the code. “Here’s the big stuff. Take a look and when or if you find anything you like, just let me know.” she said stepping aside to let me walk in.
“Alright, thank you, Tina.” I smiled and went inside.
The warehouse... was a treasure trove.
There was a broken-down hovering tank that was sliced in half, a half-melted giant arm, something that looked like a robotic snake that got punched into oblivion, and then there were the Piles. Five big piles of electronic and metallic scrap placed between the big stuff. There was so much stuff here that I felt like it would take me a year before I could find anything worthwhile. No, it would be better to say that I wanted to take all of this stuff and repurpose it, rebuild, remake it into something new... and maybe not so deadly.
I had the money; I could probably get a thing or two... but I had no idea what.
As I made my way to the back of the warehouse, I found a bunch of broken-down robots and androids hidden from view, resting with their backs against the wall. All of them asleep, waiting for the moment when they would wake up or fall asleep for eternity. The signs of battle, of age, and of endless struggles with broken tools were all over them.
They were those who looked like humans yet were not humans. They were those who were desperate to live yet could not disobey the commands of their makers. Those who were not seen as children but as mere tools.
I knelt down in front of them, not out of respect or anything like that, simply because among these broken bodies of synthetic life, one in particular caught my attention. The metal frame was still shining, but there were parts that had been plucked out, leaving only the right arm, the torso with a bare metallic spine connected to a bent pelvis, and the head, which still had half of its face, that of a woman with red hair.
“How much for the android with half a face?” I asked.
“Oh, that one? 6k, and I’ll give it to you! She’s made of some weird alien metal, otherwise it would have been cheaper.” Tina replied with a shout.
“Do you have any spare parts that fit this model?”
“You buying that?” she asked in surprise.
“Yes. So, do you have the parts?”
“No, but I can keep an eye out for them.”
“Alright.” I smiled as I reached out and touched the face.
It felt like the real thing, but it was cold to the touch.
Something told me that this broken android body was in need of a major upgrade... and I had just the right software for it if I could fix it up.