Despite his earlier decision, Arthur didn’t pull up the upgrade menu right away. First, he wanted to check if there was anything else hidden in the notification still floating in front of him. Was there some kind of separate menu for Feats? Could he see the requirements to unlock more?

  A minute, two, three, maybe even five passed as he poked both the System and the notification. Yet, nothing ever happened. Disappointing, but not unexpected.

  As such, Arthur moved on to something the System couldn’t hide from him. His brand-new skill!

  Gimme.

  [Power Shot (Tier I) - The bread and butter of every Warrior. This basic skill allows you to channel a small charge of Ether to double the power of your next attack. Beware: For now, this ability can only be used with your Primary Weapon.]

  Short and simple, I like it, Arthur thought, dismissing the description. He didn’t even mind its current limitation. After all, why would he ever try to use the skill on his machine gun if he could double the power of an HE shell?

  Oh, it was going to be glorious, he knew that already. Hell, he just barely stopped himself from firing at a random rock to test Power Shot. Wasting ammo and Ether was out of the question. He didn’t have much of the latter anyway, not with repairs constantly draining his reserves.

  Time for the next upgrade then!

  Just like the last time, Arthur didn’t even have to think about his choice. He just opened the upgrade menu and selected the target right away. The usual notification flashed before him.

  Upgrading Generator to Tier II. 10 UP consumed. Stand by…

  Once more, he felt the familiar golden light wash over his vessel before settling somewhere deep within it. The old Petrol Converter was devoured by the System, replaced by something stronger, or so he hoped. The light faded, while the improved connection in his Core settled.

  Upgrade finished successfully. Generator has been returned to Pristine condition.

  Nice, nice. Now show me just how much better it is, Arthur ordered, summoning the new description.

  [Generator (Tier II)]

  Type: Basic Mana Collector

  Energy Output: E-

  Stability: Very Low

  Special Effects: None

  “Old but reliable tech as long as you don’t overclock it. Still wastes a lot of collected resources, but at least it can keep your systems running.”

  Is that what Stability does, then? Arthur wondered, rereading the final line of the description. Because I honestly have no idea what else it could mean.

  Resource waste and overclocking. Stability affecting the latter made perfect sense. The former, not so much. Still, he would go with that for now. Hopefully, the System would explain it in the future. The upgrade from “Negligible” to “Very Low” didn’t sound like much anyway, so no reason to worry yet.

  At least Energy Output jumped a full grade. That has to be good, right?

  Naturally, the System offered no response.

  Arthur didn’t mind. Time would tell. Before the upgrade, a single production cycle had taken roughly three hours. Even cutting twenty minutes off that would be a much-welcome improvement.

  Slow ammo and fuel production had been one of the primary reasons his demon hunts felt so damn inefficient.

  Okay… next on the list. Quick check of resources.

  UP: 2 | Omnimatter(I): 220

  Arthur hummed.

  Eight more Upgrade Points would take a while to gather—unless he unlocked another Feat—but he didn’t really have much of a choice. Even with three parts upgraded, he felt only a bit better about his chances against the army of demons near the demonic tree. He still needed more.

  Then there was the Omnimatter…

  What if I do this?

  He had ignored the research function of his Fabricator until now, but shouldn’t he at least test it? Really, he was kind of disappointed with himself for waiting this long.

  Okay, let’s start with… ten Omnimatter?

  Just like that, a small chunk of the miracle material vanished from his storage. At the same time, something deep within his Core shifted. The Fabricator stirred, reaching out, hungry for more.

  He dropped it ten more Omnimatter, but that still wasn’t enough. The pull only grew stronger.

  Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.

  Fine, fine! Arthur’s spirit shuddered. Have it.

  Right away, the Fabricator devoured five more units of Omnimatter and went silent. For a brief moment, nothing happened. Then, a notification appeared.

  Research successful. Field Grenade (Tier I) unlocked.

  [Field Grenade (Tier I)]

  Type: Offense

  “When your cannon isn’t enough, Field Grenades are here to help! Packed with enough explosives to blow up a wooden shack, they are perfect for dealing with groups of clustered enemies. Just aim and throw! Cooldown: 10 seconds.”

  Huh… So it’s that simple.

  While the Field Grenade didn’t sound all that impressive, Arthur definitely could use more firepower for the incoming battle. Best of all, this little thing required only ten Omnimatter to produce. He ordered one right away.

  10 Omnimatter(I) consumed. Production in progress… Success.

  And there it was, a single Field Grenade, sitting inside his Armory.

  Let’s see…

  Arthur reached for the new item, and instantly his view changed to something similar to when he used Warrior’s Hook. But it wasn’t just the complete 360-degree vision. No, he could also trace the grenade’s path, predicting exactly where it would land.

  Not a bad range… he mused, aiming at a distant crater left behind by his HE shell. He didn’t release the grenade, though. No point wasting resources. With a thought, he canceled the throw and returned to his bodiless spirit form.

  Back to hunti—

  Another System notification cut Arthur off. Before he could even read it, one more manifested just below the first.

  Sensors are now Operational. Full recovery in: 1 day, 4 hours.

  Warrior! With your Sensors online, you may now enable pain simulation for your vessel. Do you wish to proceed? This function can be disabled at any time.

  Arthur’s eyebrows would have jumped if he had any. Pain simulation? That was possible? For a tank? How?

  System bullshitery continues, I guess… But what to do?

  A lot of clueless people would jump at the chance to never feel pain again. And sure, for a time, it might be even nice. Like all things, though, pain also had an important purpose. It was a warning system, one meant to inform living beings of something harmful happening to them, be it inside or outside.

  The question was, did a machine need that?

  Not really, as thanks to the level of control he had over his vessel, he should always know when something broke anyway. But he also wasn’t perfect. He might miss stuff, be it in the heat of battle or through simple negligence.

  Can I maybe adjust this? Arthur wondered.

  To his surprise, he indeed could. Once he allowed the System to proceed, another valve appeared in his mind. For now, it was wide open, representing full pain simulation. Definitely not what he wanted.

  So he pulled it back.

  That should do, he thought, leaving the valve open at around five percent.

  For all he knew, the simulation might be useless at such a low setting, but he could always tweak it later. Or disable it completely if it annoyed him too much. Time would tell.

  Okay… anything else I should know about Sensors?

  He didn’t feel any different with the part online. Which, fair enough, its description only promised a five-meter range, but still. Maybe it only mattered in battle?

  Guess I will see. Come on, Athena. We got more demons to hunt.

  The bird ignored him, her eyes still closed.

  Wonderful…

  Think I can take them out in one hit? Arthur asked, glancing at the bird sitting on top of his turret.

  Athena tilted her head and chirped.

  Yeah, might be tricky at this range, but I gotta practice, right?

  She shrugged.

  Arthur would have rolled his eyes. Helpful as always, I see. Fine. Go back to sleep. I will take care of this.

  Athena happily obeyed. Her eyes closed, and he instantly felt her pull on a bit of his Ether. He could have stopped this, but she had just finished dismantling a demon patrol all by herself. She needed this energy.

  All right, let’s try not to miss…

  He loaded an HE shell into the cannon chamber and activated the scope again. A distant group of monsters appeared in his sight, all of them resting in the middle of an abandoned and ruined village.

  1194 meters, his instincts whispered. A bit beyond his effective range, given the current state of his cannon. He had something to fix that now, though.

  Power Shot.

  A charge of Ether escaped from his Core and dove right into the cannon. The weapon flashed green before a faint glow enveloped it. Arthur adjusted his aim and pulled the trigger.

  The echo of thunder rolled across the wasteland.

  He only caught a glint of a green blur in his scope before a fiery explosion claimed the middle of the ruins. All the demons vanished in smoke and flames.

  Beautiful, Arthur thought, watching the dust settle.

  Only a small crater remained, littered with blood and demon scraps. And sure, the group wasn’t anything special. Just some Fiends and Hounds. But they had been spread out enough that a normal HE round would have never wiped them all. Hell, it would have probably missed some of them at that range.

  With Power Shot, though?

  They didn’t stand a chance.

  Battle won! 1 UP awarded. Your Core has grown stronger and advanced to Tier IV of Inferior rank.

  Over a day had passed since his last upgrade. A day spent on roaming and cutting down the dwindling demon patrols in the area. At this point, the enemy clearly knew something was wrong and simply refused to leave the safety of the demonic tree. Not surprising, it was bound to happen sooner or later.

  Arthur briefly considered pushing farther out in search of new prey, but dismissed the idea.

  One, he didn’t want to risk losing the tree and then waste time to find it again. And two, the more monsters he killed in this area now, the less he might have to face once the big battle began. He wasn’t sure how true that was, but the monsters had to come from somewhere.

  The demonic tree and its Hell Gate seemed like the most obvious source.

  Overall, the last twenty-four hours had been somewhat relaxing. But now, he had exactly what he wanted. Another ten upgrade points. The final piece before he challenged the tree.

  System, upgrade Primary. We strike at dawn.

  Read ahead on Patreon (20 chapters):