Chapter 97 - Engineering Improvements

<---Chapter 96 - Accelerated Training|Table of Contents|Chapter 98 - Weapon Lessons--->

It's been a few months since the last time he had done any serious crafting - most of the time he had been still carefully studying and learning about arcia and engravings ever since his tests on the various arctech engravings.

And despite Harrison's attacks on the Seven Snakes, Kyle had obtained something far more important - the exosuit arm dropped by Harrison's hitman, an additional piece ontop of the spine that he already possessed. With this, he was now a step closer to completing an exosuit of his own entirely, though he was confident he would not get it right the first time.

The intricacies of a Galactic Era exosuit was far too much for him to recall, him having relegated most of the technical information into a separate cranial implant which naturally did not follow him through his reincarnation.

However, with the addition of this exosuit arm designed utilizing arcia energy, he can now begin to inspect and merge the various separate concepts of arcia engravings into a single overarching theme and model.

Hopefully, this should also improve the tattoo engravings. Kyle still had possession of the engraving knife from Gulak, allowing him to perhaps increase the success rate of tattooing, which was the main reason holding him back from engraving for the vipers. Their skills and motivation were currently too valuable to run the risk of an engraving that only had a 7% survival rate.

Now, in the Oracle's Chambers, he had Harrison's exosuit arm laid out, two bright spotlights shining on it. The arm was well defined, with clear signs of precision machinery that Kyle had yet to see in Raktor itself. This only made him respect Harrison as an enemy even more, knowing that there would be a technological gap to overcome.

Yet such a gap would be nothing in front of Kyle, or so he believed. As he began slowly pry apart the arm piece by piece, the intricatcies of the design was far more than he had expected, presenting a higher level of arcia engineering that he had yet to fully understand himself.

Within the arm was close to five layers of arcia engravings etched onto a slivery flexible membrane, each acting like a continuation of the circuit below. The lines were not exactly dense like the picocircuits of Kyle's former life, but it was still a technological marvel today.

What was especially confounding to Kyle was how the layers were attached. There were multiple throughholes and mounting points between the layers, allowing the 'symbols' of the arcia engraving to be connected with each other in a lengthy sequence that provided it with its active skill.

He carefully deconstructed the membrane, using a tweezer to piece apart the tightly woven layers before separating them out. "Orisa, are you here?"

[Yes, Adminstrator.] The A.I materialized into view, her default human figure saluting at Kyle.

"Scan these layers and digitize them into an electrical schematic."

[Understood.]

A loading drone was repurposed from the seed storage, Orisa using its inbuilt camera to take a medium resolution picture of the layers. [Adminstrator, the pictures do not match any known format of electrical wiring. My functionality is incapable of automatically populating the components as well.]

Kyle had half-forgotten that the A.I was not fully completed, and only had information regarding chemicals and agriculture. "Nevermind, trace all of the lines out and display them on the lab holomonitors. I'll take it from there."

The nondescript etches found in the layers were highlighted in blue, allowing Kyle to manually begin placing the layers ontop of one another in a 3D hologram supported by the lab's surviving functionality.

He walked between the layers, tracing out lines between througholes and mounting points, making sure the layout of the digitized pictures were exactly as it was on the membrane, before finally changing the colors to represent different sequences.

Soon he noticed that while the System Message had told him about a single active skill, it was in fact the combination of multiple engraving sequences to achieve the effect.

He took apart the engravings one by one, isolating their sequences before grabbing a few additional metal plates, quickly using an etcher to do a copy of the isolated engraving.

As expected, the System informed him of the various engravings now carved into the sample plates, a total of five separate sequences that all contributed to the movement of the arm itself.

There's not just a defensive engraving or a resistance engraving, there is also a motion, weight and enhancer engravings... Kyle copied this engravings into memory by continuously etching them repeatedly into other sample metal plates. His proficiency at etching was now higher than ever, allowing him to drill the movements and image into his head.

The biggest learning poiint was the way the engravings were connected.Some were connected in the middle while others were connected at the start or the end. Each symbol in the engraving has multiple 'connection' points, each point having a different meaning like a language in itself.

As far as Kyle could tell, the language was only two-dimensional at best, with the layers acting as a way to compress more into less. Furthermore, the entire combined sequence was repeated over six times along the length of the membrane. Kyle soon quickly realized the benefits of repeating the engravings. If one section of the arm is damaged, the rest of it is still functional.

The membrane of the exosuit arm was not the only thing that was engraved - the rest of the metal arm was also engraved. Kyle soon figured out that the membrane and exosuit arm's engravings were all powered by the hitman's innate arcia energy. While it paled in comparison to Kyle's current arcia capacity, it was still leagues above Damian,Niko and Monica, not to mention the newbie Culo.

Kyle was planning to help them cover that weakness as well, but for now he was focused on seeing if he could replicate the exosuit arm himself.

Over the next five hours, Kyle worked tirelessly without distraction while Orisa watched without a word, her A.I avatar stationary as Kyle learnt, copied and memorized every engraving sequence on the exosuit arm.

Good, I'm finally ready to begin. Kyle drafted up schematics, sending them over to the smaller factory in the Culdao Peaks and having them manufacture the different components of the arm, save for all but the membrane itself, which he was still unsure as to what was its material. "Orisa, analysis the membrane's material."

[Confirmed. Non-degradable superpolymer structure detected - Kusal Corporation Fabric.]

"Never heard of them before."

[I have records of only their name, but not their existence or history. Kusal Corporation Fabric can be used to upgrade modules here.]

"Which modules?" Kyle could only recall the Physical Transfer Module, in which Orisa would be able to take control of a physical humanoid body, a distinct feature of an A-Class A.I

[Digital Compaction Module. The module allows a reduced copy of the A.I to be intergrated in a chip form into other Council-format compliant devices.]

Kyle nodded, knowing that fully developed exosuits required a companion A.I to help the pilot process information in the event there was a sensory overload. Yet he could not cannibalize the membrane right now, as he needed it as a reference before he could produce the exosuit arm. "Can you analysis the structure of the Kusal Corporation Fabric?"

[Affirmative. I will utilize the chemical analysis procedure used for seed and plant identification.]

"Estimated time?"

[Unknown. Complexity does not follow any known natural occuring substance.]

The information given to him by Orisa only made him sigh. What a waste Harrison. You're sitting on a veritable gold mine and wasted it. However he had to admit that the usage of the Kusal Corporation Fabric in places of bulky wires was ingenious. Many lower-tier exosuits, even in the Galactic Era were mostly utilizing flex cables to transfer power from a mounted battery pack. With such a single point of power failure, an exosuit that lack redundant systems could easily be taken out by simply destroying either the power source or the spine which distributes the current.

Instead, this membrane allowed for segregated usage, allowing for limited functionality even when partially damaged due to the spread of the repeated sequences that have contact points with the skin. Of course, there was still a single point of failure: the wearer's internal arcia energy.

Kyle took this information to heart, continuing to practice the engravings as much as possible while waiting for the manufactured parts to come in. It took nearly another eight hours for the parts to finally come in, Kyle arranging them in sequence using a draft assembly procedure.

"Orisa, analyze assembly procedure and create holo-renderings of steps."

3D holograms appeared, crude images to show how each piece fit together. As Kyle held the first bolt in his hand, memories of his childhood training came rushing back. Memories of his forced routine, locked in a room until he could disassemble and reassemble a military exosuit from scratch. Some things never change.

He got to work, inserting latching bolts, washers, springs, and o-rings all custom-made by the factory, assembling them tirelessly through countersunk threaded holes, the exosuit arm slowly coming together.

Within a short fifteen minutes he had the frame of the exosuit arm in place. He placed it on his own arm, trying to wear it before realizing he couldn't even squeeze his hand through the opening at the shoulder like a sleeve.

If I made it wider, it would be too loose. I need a tightening and loosening mechanism. Kyle quickly disassembled the frame again, drawing up a new schematic and then requesting the factory to produce newer parts.

The process repeated like this, Kyle going through multiple tests of dimensional tolerances, stress tests and freedom of movement. This part is continuously jabbing itself into my forearm, its uncomfortable. This frame is too rough, the sanding isn't enough. I can't bend my arm all the way either.

Before Kyle knew it, it was already morning when he finally had a workable frame mounted on his right arm. It was a close to perfect custom fit to his current arm size, with some slight room for further refinement. Now for the engraving plates.

[Adminstrator, you were previously scheduled to instruct Niko individually for weapons training.]

"Right, got it." Kyle kept the frame on, bringing it for the training back at Gulak's den, where Niko was already waiting in a training chamber with an assortment of various weapons arranged neatly on a rack for Niko to select from.

"What the hell is that? You trying to become a factory?" Niko exclaimed, squinting at the weird looking arm frame that was devoid of armour plates.

"Don't worry too much about. Consider it a handicap for me for your sake." Kyle flexed the frame a little, noticing a slight difficulty in moving freely. This should be good to test the current structure's performance in simulated combat.

"Handicap..? So you won't take it off no matter what, right?"

"Yes"

"Perfect... but what are we supposed to do again?" Niko scratched his head in confusion. "How am I supposed to know which weapon fits me?"

"Pick any weapon and try to kill me. You will pass this session if you can land three blows on my chest." Kyle held up his fingers.

Niko grinned, picking up a simple blunt club from the weapons rack, testing its weight on his palms. "And if I don't?"

"Then it will be a good one hour of training. If you survive." Kyle stood in the center of the chamber, facing Niko calmly. "Begin anytime."

"You said it!" Niko yelled with a smile as he flung the club with a jerk, the target being Kyle's chest. Even while the club was in mid-air, Niko was already gripping another weapon in the rack, intending to hurl a throwing javelin. I'll hit him in the position he's about to dodge... LEFT!

The split second choice had the throwing javelin soaring through the air, aimed at a predicted location. Yet instead of dodging, Kyle simply used the prototype structural frame on his arm to smack the club down without moving a single inch, the throwing javelin impacting the ground next to him helplessly.

"Hey, what the hell! Doesn't that count as a blow?"

"I said three blows on my chest."

Niko gritted his teeth, grabbing a short goblin dagger as well as a few other knives on the rack, throwing them haphazardly at Kyle in a bid to hit the chest. Kyle simply yawned while most of the throwing weapons missed him. "If you're going to continue fooling around, I will have no choice but to impress on you the importance of this training. Through force."

"You can't blame me, I'm testing weapons!" Niko was unrepentant, having learnt how to fight through bare hands and grabbing anything that was within range during a pub brawl or an alley fight. He knew how to use a rifle effectively as both a ranged gun and a blunt staff, but he was far from an expert in it. As he reached for yet another throwing weapon on the rack, he heard a loud bang as Kyle lunged towards him in one leap, nearly closing the gap in an instant.

Battle instincts kicked as Niko gripped the nearest weapon in a desperate bid to protect himself, pulling the shaft of the weapon towards his own chest with both hands to intercept Kyle's incoming punch, the pressure feeling like impending death.

The punch slammed the shaft of Niko's weapon head-on, cracking it apart in two while Niko's body was knocked backwards, stumbling and tripping on his own heels as both him and the weapons rack were toppled by the impact. His head knocked hard against the ground, nearly disorientating him but his muscle memory for the multiple Seven Snakes fight kicked in, frantically recovering into a crouching fighting posture.

Another fast kick came in hard from the left, forcing Niko to raise half of his broken weapon, before finally realizing it was a rugged waraxe, or at least that was what it was before the shaft snapped off. Niko hurriedly twisted the stained edge of the waraxe towards Kyle's incoming shin, forcing Kyle to retract the leg and allowing Niko some breathing room to recover into his full standing height.

Without a word, Niko wielded the top half of the waraxe in his left hand along with the remaining half of the shaft in his right hand, swinging downwards at Kyle's chest with the full intent to hurt with a grunt. Kyle swerved to the side, angling his body to dodge the incoming slash with ease, before ducking low to avoid a frontal stab by the cracked shaft in Niko's right.

Kyle observed Niko carefully as he dodged and weaved between Niko's various attempts to hit Kyle even once. It was clear that Niko definitely had the impetus and fighting strength to achieve the skills of a average warrior above the common folk, but without a weapon specialization it was hard to obtain an expert level. This observation created a conundrum for Kyle as well: training Niko in a specific weapon would reduce his apparent versatility between weapons, an critical trait to retain in times of war and battle. Being adaptive on the battlefield is a hard viewpoint to cultivate once Niko were to be a trained expert in any weapon.

Luckily, Kyle had ample experience in being adaptive himself, having been trained for decades in various weapons. He highly doubt he would be able to raise Niko to the same level as him within a month, but as long as he could instill the correct foundation in Niko, there would be room to grow. Kyle suspected that this trait alone would eventually make Niko the strongest and most versatile fighter among his men with the right attitude.

Niko swung feverishly, his face scrounged up in effort and strain as it became apparent that whatever bravado he had at the start of the training was clearly misplaced. He could not even land a single hit on Kyle, Kyle's footwork nearly impeccable. Kyle was continuously putting his body in a position that made it awkward for Niko to attack without repositioning his body and posture, especially if he did not want to be off balance.

Each step and each movement, Kyle would throw a fake punch or a fake kick, exposing the gaps in Niko's motions and balance. Niko took the hint, not requiring any words, his body automatically learning on the spot. As time went on, the openings were gradually reduced, though Niko was clearly starting to get tired with every successive attack, the swings slowing down tremedously as he drew short rapid breaths, his arms beginning to feel like lead.

With his reactions slowed, he could hardly react in time when Kyle charged forward abruptly, expertly throwing Niko on to the ground with a grapple. "Drink up." Kyle tossed a stamina potion over to Niko, Niko chugging its contents greedily as he began to recover his strength.

"Whew... is that the end of the training?"

"Hmm? It's only been fifteen minutes."

"WHAT?!" Niko's jaw dropped, his body having felt like he was fighting non-stop for an hour as he laid on the ground sprawled out.

Kyle tapped his chin as he took stock of the weapons that were now scattered on the ground next to the toppled weapons' rack, thinking of the next steps. Niko's proficiency with the waraxe was amateur at best, showing no real understanding of the weapon itself. Clearly the style of training that Kyle had used himself was not effective enough for Niko to get a good grasp on how to use it.

Instead of wasting the next hour, Kyle decided to switch it up, picking up Niko's broken waraxe and twirling it effortlessly in his hand. "For the next ten minutes, you will dodge the waraxe."

Niko's jaw couldn't drop anymore. "That's even harder! Why the hell are we doing this?"

"You need to understand both defense and attack, different perspectives of the same weapon. By being put in the role of defender, you will come to understand and visualize how an attack would go, and increase your prediction rate as well. Moving forward, we will fight in bouts of ten minutes, with five minutes for rest."

"Sure..." Niko pushed himself off the ground, stretching his limbs once more. "But you won't hit me... right?"

"We have enough health potions if I am... unable to stop in time. Sometimes pain is the best lesson."

Niko frantically shook his head and hands. "Wait wait wait, if we do it like this, I'm going to overdose on the potions!"

Kyle pondered for a moment. "Alright. I will stop just before the edge touches your skin. But for every 'hit', your pay will be docked 100 rakels."

"WHA-" Niko yelled only to have his words caught in his throat, his eyes bulging as he watched the edge of the very same waraxe he used swing towards him with a devastating force, the blade aimed right at his neck. He had no time to react as the edge stopped short of his skin, his pores and hair tensing up while goosebumps and a shocking adrenaline pumped through his veins.

"1." Kyle counted.

Niko didn't bother complaining anymore, immediately nodding and immediately began running away, circling the chamber. "Running away is considered dodging!" He shouted with a grin, slightly confident he would be faster with no weapons compared to Kyle holding the waraxe.

As soon as he cleared a third of the chamber's circumference, he hear loud stomps behind that prompted him to turn his head around, a scream leaving his lips while he watched a frightening Kyle charge straight at him, easily closing the gap with each stride that was twice as fast as his running speed.

Niko dolphin-dived to the ground as the waraxe whizzed past where his head used to be, quickly rolling to the side as soon as he landed, avoiding a powerful downward swing that cracked the chamber's floor. Niko quickly recovered and kept his eyes locked on Kyle, knowing running wouldn't save him in the long run. Unfortunately, staying to dodge also was a disaster Within the ten minutes, Niko found himself laying on the ground once again, panting his lungs out while his lungs heaved.

"You would have been killed 40 times by now." Kyle surmised, passing the waraxe to the sprawled out Niko.

"Only because I don't have a rifle! Whats the use in training all of these melee weapons when we have guns?" Niko lamented. "If anyone charges at me with a spear I could just shoot them!"

"Not in close quarters, not in tight spaces and certainly not in urban skirmishes. Dont forget there's a city-wide restriction on guns. Furthermore, there will be times when a gun is unable to kill an enemy. It is then your expertise with a weapon will come in handy. Arctech weapons can be far more deadly than our rifles in the right situation."

The training session continued, the results being as expected. "Your one hour is up." Kyle concluded. "Tomorrow, you will use a different weapon."

"But I was just starting to get used to a waraxe. Were we not supposed to train a specific weapon?"

"The point behind training different weapons for you is in order to develop an understanding of weapon combat overall. The fundamentals of strikes, slices, jabs and swings can have similarities between different types of weapon, no matter how unique their shapes are. In the first week we will work on that concept, and then we will choose a weapon to start focusing on in the second."

Kyle left Niko to his regular training routine of duels and limit testing against feral humans or other vipers, while he returned to his workshop in the Oracle Chambers. With about five hours to the next weapons training session with Monica and him still waiting for the iteration results from Orisa on the exosuit arm frame, he decided to work on something else, retrieving the tattoo knife and laying it out.

The only two people that had a tattoo engraving were Damian and Sasha. Manpower was scarce in the gang's early days so Kyle did not take unnecessary risks. Now, with his improved capabilities in etching and engraving, he felt that the success rate of the knife should increase tremendously.

Then again, must I use the knife specifically? Kyle wondered what was special about the knife, and whether or not he could recreate it into something that was more stable, easier to use and replicate success.

The ritual knife was engraved with enchantments and clearly not made for goblins alone, with Kyle considering how best to replicate its effects. While he could see the arctech sequences on the surface, it was still unclear whether or not it was layered with other enchantments beneath, something that was impossible to see without a scanner.

A scanner... "Orisa, are you able to scan the knife itself?"

[Negative. I am able to provide a chemical analysis of the item, but not a nanometer-depth breakdown.]

Kyle sighed, thinking of another way to try and improve the knife's engraving success. It would be difficult to crack it apart without irreversibly damaging the rest of the engravings. However, all hope was not lost, for Gulak's Taboo Knife should not be the only one around.

Exiting the chamber, he found King Sahusa in the palace working hard on implementing a bureaucratic system to handle the allocation of new houses and jobs across the kingdom. The goblin kingdom was very much ran as a monarchy, where the King's rule was final. It was with this authority and newfound support from the Seven Snakes that King Sahusa decided to be a benevolent leader and improve the lives of his fellow goblins.

Kyle had no qualms with that - an improvement in infrastructure and amentities across the kingdom would slowly erode the hate and distrust that his human gang members and employees faced regularly overtime. In order to truly exploit a position of power within a society, it is best to have a good public image for longevity to continue utilizing the obedient population at large. If he didn't care about the long-term, Kyle would have had all goblins enter the deepest floors of the new mine and harvest all the Toxic Nodia possible without a single gas mask to reduce cost.

"This knife, we have quite a few of them. In fact, I can introduce to one of my inhouse artisans who still knows how to make them. Perhaps you can get some further insights through them." King Sahusa recommended. "Not many goblins dare to undergo the ritual, many having died through its violent process."

Following the lead, Kyle reached a sizable workshop nested in the very center of the valley, long-standing and enduring, still made out of the old clay and mortar design that rich goblins could afford back before Kyle 'uplifted' them. Regular plumes of black smoke churned out of crudely carved holes up the top of the workshop, the hot fumes drafting upwards while Kyle entered through a rugged wooden fence long decayed, the splinters breaking apart.

Inside was a lone goblin whos white beard betrayed its age, still carefully etching a palace spearhead, seemingly a contract issued by King Sahusa. The working space was slightly grimy and unkept, soot and dust covering every inch of the floor while the ambient crackle of wood breaking apart in the fireplace gave a surprisingly soothing, rustic feel.

"I heard you know how to make this." Kyle began, unveiling the taboo knife while standing next to the old goblin artisan, who still was peering through an old monocle, his hand rocksteady as he carved into the palace spearhead.

<I do. But I don't make them for humans.> The old goblin mumbled.

"Do you know who I am?"

<The real king behind our false puppet. I know you. This is not the first time we have been exploited by humans.>

"And why do you not make them for humans?"

The old goblin finally put down the etcher quietly onto the table, removing the monocle to stare at Kyle intently, scanning his face. <Interesting. I was sure that you would have tried to kill or hurt me by now. You're different.>

Kyle was slightly impressed at the clarity of the old goblin's mind given its apparent age. Despite the old goblin's aggressive stance, he had no intention of harming or hurting him, lest the good image of the Seven Snakes or King Sahusa was ruined, so he bore the disrespect quietly. Kyle spoke in the native goblin language, surprising the old goblin further.

<Strange, strange indeed.> The old goblin pondered for a moment, stroking his white bread. <How do you know to speak our language? As far as I know, you only appeared months ago.>

Kyle shrugged. <You still haven't answered my question.>

The old goblin rummaged about a crate nearby, picking up a flask and pouch in his wrinkled hands. <Humans have a much lower survival rate with the knife than goblins. About close to double. You will need additional help to increase your chances, such as using specific materials like these.> He handed them to Kyle, Kyle instantly recognizing them as Toxic Nodia in its liquid form, along with a pouch of Dzi Flower Sand.

<I was thinking about improving the quality of the knife itself. It would be good if you could share the blueprints if any.>

<The design has hardly changed over the centuries since we first obtained it.> The old goblin sighed. <Every attempt I've made at improving the work handed down my family has only ended in failure.>

<Perhaps I can try. I'm something of an arctech engineer myself.> Kyle offered.

The old goblin hesitated for a moment, weighing the pros and cons before finally accepting. He handed the engravings and etching guides that had been scribbled onto dried animal skin, a family heirloom that has been passed down through the generations. Kyle quickly scanned the engravings required, before proceeding to etch them one by one on a separate piece of metal, memorizing it through practice and adding it to his repertoire over the next four hours.

<You mentioned that specific material could help increase the success rate. How is it used?> Kyle waved the Toxic Nodia flask at the old goblin.

<When cutting the skin, you must sprinkle the Dzi Flower Sand over, which will increase the power of the engraving. The Toxic Nodia will react with the Dzi Flower sand to form smaller particulates that helps the body to better acclimatize to the new engraving before the person loses his mind.> The old goblin explained.

<How much of each do I use?>

<This... I cannot say. Every individual has a different tolerance level for the quantity of each. This can only be learnt through trial and error over a long time. It is suggested to only use it when engraving smaller elements.>

With the newfound information, Kyle left the workshop, returning to the Oracle Chamber. Toxic Nodia was now easily harvestable from the mines, while Dzi Flower Sand could then theoretically be sifted from the sediments of the river flowing down the river, both of which were already being used in the production of addictive mindtwisters.

But with no clear idea on how much to use for each, it was far too dangerous to utilize the brand new procedure on Niko and Monica as vipers. However, Kyle was not bothered at all, knowing exactly how to fix this lack of knowledge. As he travelled back to Gulak's training caves for Monica's allocated session, he rang up the Seven Snakes in Raktor.

"Keith? Send all prisoners who are unfit for further clinical trials to me. I have a new job for them."

<---Chapter 96 - Accelerated Training|Table of Contents|Chapter 98 - Weapon Lessons--->