Since Cynthia was currently just walking to her next destination, a weapon and equipment store, Dags had time to check out the upgrade menu he just unlocked. He was thankful that it unlocked simply by starting the repair process. Hopefully this would allow him to assist Cynthia more and speed up the rate of repair.
Dags rubbed his hands together in anticipation and clicked on the now bright upgrade text in the menu. What appeared before his eyes was a massive web of upgrade paths.
"This… there's so many here! It's a little overwhelming having so many options." His eyes darted all over the screen in front of him. It looked like some branches even connected together in a way that you needed both parts from separate starting areas to continue that way. He looked deep into the upgrade web and found some interesting ones.
"Generate Quest, Create Shell Body, Disable Smart Weapon, Null Magic Forcefield, Spawn Warp Gate…" The list went on with a multitude of crazy upgrades. He forced himself to tear his eyes away from these, or else he'd be stuck looking at all the upgrades he couldn't yet have for hours.
"Let's see, there are 5 starting upgrades I can get." Dags looked at the only lit up icons on the upgrade web, seeing what benefits they gave him.
[Increase Processing Power 0/5]
Increases available Processing Power by 25 each upgrade.
Upgrade Cost: 1 Upgrade Point.
[Increase Energy 0/5]
Increases available Energy by 30 each upgrade.
Upgrade Cost: 1 Upgrade Point.
[Increase Energy Regeneration Rate 0/5]
Increases Energy Regenerate Rate by 0.5 per minute each upgrade.
Upgrade Cost: 1 Upgrade Point.
[Unlock New Process: Increase Stats]
Process [Increase Stats] will be unlocked and added to the list of processes. [Increase Stats] will boost User's stats by 20% while it is active.
PP Required: 10
Energy Cost: 2 per minute.
Cooldown: 4 hours.
Upgrade Cost: 2 Upgrade Points.
[Unlock New Process: Miracle]
Grant User a one time save from death. When User's health would have otherwise dropped to zero, anchors health at 1 point for 5 seconds. After the 5 seconds are up, User can take damage again. Active for 1 in-game day before it wears off.
PP Required: 10
Energy Cost: 50
Active Time: 1 in-game day.
Cooldown: 3 in-game days.
Upgrade Cost: 3 Upgrade Points.
When Dags saw the last one, he knew that he would need to have that as soon as possible. The only problem was that his current stats couldn't fulfill the requirements, so it would be completely useless at the moment. Shaking his head, he mulled over his options with the other 4.
"That [Increase Stats] Process would be nice, but I would only be able to sustain it at most for 5 minutes with my current stats. I think I'll have to strike that off my list this time around. I'm good on Processing Power right now, I think… so that can wait." He immediately crossed those out from his choices. What he needed most right now as Energy and Energy Regeneration.
"It's decided then! I'll get 1 Energy Upgrade and 2 Energy Regeneration upgrades. With that I'll be able to keep [Detect Hostility] active indefinitely since it will put me at +1.2 Energy a minute. [Detect Hostility] uses 1 point of energy every minute, so I still have a 0.2 a minute surplus." He was happy that he finally didn't have to worry so much over his Energy problems.
"That means I also won't have to worry about not have to worry about not having enough energy to use [Refresh] on Cynthia when she needs it." Happy with his choices, he went ahead and assigned his upgrade points.
[3 Upgrade Points spent]
[Current Upgrade Points: 0]
[Energy: 10 -> 40]
[Energy Regen: 0.2 per minute -> 1.2 per minute]
As Dags smiled, he suddenly felt like he was being electrocuted. His being was suddenly filled with power, feeling like he had accidentally touched a live powerline. His transparent blue body shook and collapsed to the dark space's floor, sparks emanating from his body with his eyes glowing brightly. He couldn't speak and couldn't think.
After what seemed like a lifetime, the surge of energy eventually faded. He was conscious the whole time, as he wasn't an actual living being. He could only endure the torturous pain that went to his very core. Dags laid there on the ground for some time, his thoughts empty. Eventually he floated upwards, wiping an imaginary sweat from his forehead.
"I never want to experience that again!" That pain was the worst he had ever experienced. There were no words he had to describe such an ordeal. He stared at the still open upgrade menu for a second, and then sighed. The pain was terrifying, but to get stronger he had to continue upgrading himself and his system. He resigned himself to his fate.
"Does it really need to electrocute me to make me stronger? I hope it doesn't happen every time…" He shivered, imagining the feeling from just before.
"Well, I better let Cynthia know I can help her better now. Probably also that her getting stronger makes me stronger." He nodded, deciding to go with that.
"[I've been upgraded a small amount when you leveled up earlier. It seems that as you make progress, I acquire more means to help you.]" Dags informed Cynthia. After all, he couldn't hide that he was getting stronger since he would be gaining new abilities in the future.
"You can get stronger too Mr. Dags? Is that allowed?" She innocently tilted her head. Dags didn't know how to answer that, so he just ignored that part.
"[Yes I can get stronger along with you. In the future, I'll have a myriad of abilities to assist you. You'll definitely become a top player with my guidance and additional assistance.]" He was confident that Cynthia could reach for the stars if they worked together.
"Amazing! I look forward to your continued support. I want to show my big brothers and father just how much I can do on my own!" Cynthia's eyes gleamed with a bright light. With a smile, she rounded the corner and saw the weapon and equipment store.
"Hm, Krimshaw Gunsmith. This must be it." Cynthia read the sign above the door. She went up to the door, seeing it was still open this late, and walked inside. Looking around, she didn't see anyone behind the counters. This made her raise an eyebrow. Was no one watching the shop? Just as she started walking around, she got a sudden surprise.
"Welcome to Krimshaw's! Ah, sorry for scaring you little lady. You just hadn't entered far enough to trigger the Holo Assistant. I'm Krimshaw, the owner of this place. If you're looking for anything in particular, let me know and I'll help ya find what ya need." A transparent hologram popped up next to Cynthia, scaring the daylights out of her. She held a hand over her heart for a moment before she calmed down.
"Um, yes thank you. I'd like to take a look around first if that's alright." Cynthia said once she calmed down.
"Sure, no problem, little miss. I'm a bit more pricey than the other shops around, but I can assure you it's worth it." The projection of Krimshaw said and gave a thumbs up.
"Um, if you don't mind me asking. Why are you just a hologram? Shouldn't there be someone here to watch the shop?" She asked curiously.
"Haha! There's no need for me to be here in person. This place has plenty of security needed." What that said, Krimshaw snapped his fingers and a gun turret in each corner popped out from the ceiling.
"Ah… Uh, I see. Looks like there's no need to worry." She shrank down a little, afraid the turrets would shoot at her. A moment later Krimshaw snapped again and they disappeared back into the ceiling.
"Sorry, sorry. They only attack if someone's trying to steal, so don't worry." Krimshaw shook his head and gave a shrug.
"Anyway, take a look around and call me if you need anything." Finishing his piece, Krimshaw's hologram dissolved into particles like he was never there, leaving only the light music in the store.
"[Well, he seems like a nice guy. Have a look around for a designated marksman rifle or a precision bolt-action rifle. I'll let you know which one to pick if there's multiple."] Dags messaged Cynthia. She needed a good weapon first of all. Her pistol just wouldn't cut it for her role and style of play.
"Mm. I just want whatever has lots of range. I don't want to fight enemies up close." Said Cynthia as she walked around. Most of the stuff on display were custom pieces meant to showcase the skill of the gunsmith, while the catalog of available weapons were on a large holoscreen to the side.
Dags scrutinized the custom guns around, but they were all far beyond anything Cynthia would be able to equip. Even the one with the lowest requirement on stats and level could only be equipped on Lv. 75 and above.
Since there was nothing out here that Cynthia could use, she just glanced over them and took a look into the catalog on the holoscreen. It listed tens of thousands of weapons ranging from small inexpensive target shooting pistols to the most expensive and destructive railguns and missile launchers. Cynthia Ignored all those though, and just went straight into the ones meant for her class. There, the list shortened greatly down to a few hundred.
"HiMind Accuracy S338… DMR… Scope calculates drop for you… hypersonic ammo… urgh, 1,000,000 credits, no thanks." Cynthia read off some descriptions and prices under her breath. She shook her head, and narrowed her price range down to 20,000. She still needed some extra money for other equipment after all. After filtering to her price range, only 3 choices were left. They looked all a bit antique, but they piqued Dags' interest seeing their names.
[KH 417, 7.62x51mm, mid-range DMR]
[N200, .408 SheyTac, long-range bolt-action sniper rifle]
[SWD, 7.62x54mmR, mid-range DMR]