Journey Of The Immortal Through The Multiverse

The amount of experience required for fusing higher-leveled talents did not simply increase linearly.

An advanced talent or knowledge costs 50,000 more experience to fuse than a basic one. Moreover, fusing a basic talent with an advanced talent also caused the base cost of the basic talent itself to increase, rising from 5,000 to 10,000. If even higher leveled talents were to be used, the fusion costs would skyrocket further.

"Confirm!"

John Smith stared at the fusion window with bated breath.

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Fusion success!

Congratulations, you have discovered [Magnetism Armor]!

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John Smith jumped up with joy.

This was the blueprint that he had been aiming to get, and it was something that a player at John Smith's current level should not be able to possess. Indeed, it was a high-level piece of armor! This would help to guarantee his safety!

Of the $300,000 that John Smith had spent on upgrade materials, $250,000 alone went into making this armor.

As it was an advanced blueprint, it was much more complex to craft than a basic one, so even John Smith, who possessed the required knowledge to craft it, needed to spend an entire hour just to fully understand the blueprint's contents. After learning it, John Smith lifted his head to reveal a bitter smile; by his estimations, it would take at least three days of non-stop work to craft it.

He quickly got started.

…

Three days later, the doors to John Smith's workroom opened. Out came a tired John Smith with listless eyes and dark bags under his eyes. He looked as though he were in a daze as if he didn't even know who, or even where, he was. Looking at him, one might wonder if he had just woken up from a beating.

John Smith received a call as soon as he turned on his phone. It was Li Ya Lin, and she did not sound pleased at all.

"John Smith, why were you unreachable for the past few days? You have dozens of overdue orders! You'd better not take the cash and run away when I'm putting my reputation on the line for your business! Also, don't forget that you promised to make a set of specially tailored equipment! Oh, right, we've been given a mission! We have to leave for Hesla in ten days. The leader is furious that you didn't show up for the meeting yesterday, so you'd better keep that in mind…"

John Smith could barely open his eyes. Ignoring her as she rambled on, he climbed into his bed and curled up under his blanket to fall asleep instantly.

"Hey, hey, hey— why are you not saying anything? Urgh, don't think I've forgotten how you took advantage of me the other day…"

…

Back in his workroom, John Smith opened up a small box. Inside were the fruits of his labor, what appeared to be numerous thin scales of metal. They looked black, but on closer observation, they were an extremely deep shade of blue. Although they resembled nothing like 'armor', these tiny pieces of metal were, without a doubt, the Magnetic Armor—well, unassembled, and still quite incomplete, to be exact.

John Smith took a deep breath before placing his hand an inch above the case. He then began to summon the energy of magnetism within his body toward his arm.

What happened next was quite a sight to behold.

The metal scales began vibrating in response to John Smith's magnetism, and in the next second, they started flying toward his palm as though they were being s.u.c.k.e.d in! Upon coming into contact with John Smith's skin, they seemed to come alive and began dancing up and around his arm energetically, as though they were live fish.

"Form," commanded John Smith, and the metallic scales instantly spread along his arm to form a thin, scale-patterned sleeve of armor. It was perfectly smooth and uniform.

The armor appeared to be skin-tight, but as it was controlled by magnetism, there was a gap of a few millimeters, allowing its user complete freedom of movement. John Smith drew his Platinum Retractable Knife out and viciously slashed upon the sleeve. It produced a crisp ring, but there were no sparks, and the armor was completely undamaged.

"Good defense!" exclaimed a jubilant John Smith.

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Magnetism Armor (Incomplete)

Type: Armor (Bulletproof)

Grade: Uncommon (Green)

Base Stats:

– Defense: 75

– Durability: 1600/1600

Requirement(s): Magnetism-affinity Energy, Intermediate Machinery Affinity

Ability: Can be controlled by magnetism to move across the user's body and transform into armor. Costs 10 energy/min to maintain shape.

Additional Effect: High Resistance – This armor is capable of withstanding high temperatures and is not easily penetrated or damaged.

Additional Effect: Magnetic Repulsion – Damage inflicted on the user is partially negated (reduces damage by 20-30 points).

Additional Effect: Unique Magnetic Field – When worn, envelopes the user in a magnetic field that attracts electricity.

Tooltip: A friendly reminder – don't use this on a rainy day.

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In Galaxy, equipment that required energy to use was known as Superhuman Equipment.

The material used to make the metallic scales of the Magnetism Armor was an exceedingly rare, naturally-occurring metal. Not even Division 13 possessed much of it in their inventory, and $250,000 was only enough for John Smith to make a partial version that could at best cover his entire back.

Nevertheless, although the theory behind the Magnetic Armor was simple, crafting it was an entirely different matter. Even if John Smith did possess enough resources, he would still not be able to craft the complete version, not with his current level of expertise in both knowledge and skill.

In spite of that, crafting the incomplete version earned John Smith 40,000 experience, even more than when he had crafted Rover 1. John Smith proceeded to test his control over the armor.

While such high-level Superhuman Equipment would usually take a low-level player quite some time to get used to, John Smith, with his years of experience, was able to quickly get the hang of it. With this armor, John Smith now felt much safer than before.

It was both inconspicuous and highly portable, and John Smith thought of it as a trump card. He planned to keep the armor a secret from everyone, including his allies. After all, who could say for sure that today's friend wouldn't become tomorrow's enemy?

Now that he had addressed the issues of mobility, defense, as well as both melee and ranged combat, all that was left for John Smith to do was to prepare some art. As John Smith was already quite satisfied with the bombs provided by Division 13, he only planned to make some simple

modifications, nothing too fancy. Sixty black, glossy, round-shaped objects lay neatly within the two cases before John Smith. These were the 'Highly Explosive Delay-action Shrapnel Bombs', known as time bombs for short, that he had purchased from Division 13, and their unnecessarily long name, if anything, was telling of their destructive capabilities.

"Each bomb costs $800, so sixty of them amount to $48,000. Hmm, yep… this calculation should be right."

Although the bombs were ready-to-use, John Smith decided to perform some modifications to them. With [Basic Mechanical Engineering], he made them flight-capable by installing mini-propellers on them, along with power supplies. This greatly improved their range of attack.

The only downside to this modification was that it made them look… rather comical. They now almost seemed like the kind of gadget that a certain likable, blue, robotic cat (A Doraemon reference) would pull out from his pouch.

With the additions of the enhanced Facial Simulator, Desert Eagle, Lightweight Mechanical Arm, Foldable Machete, Sky Swallow Gliders, Magnetically-controlled Armor, and last but not least, these flight-capable bombs to his arsenal, John Smith had finally finished with all his upgrades. Although Division 13 would still provide them with more equipment, at John Smith's current level, his gear could be said to be semi-godly already. He was currently—without a doubt—the strongest person in his level range.

"This equipment will suffice."

John Smith crossed out 'Personal Upgrades' on his to-do list. The next line read 'Transport Vehicles'.

Creating an entire vehicle from scratch would take too much time, so it was better for John Smith to directly purchase one from Division 13 and then perform modifications on it.

Quality-wise, Division 13 would not disappoint. After spending some time looking at the available options, John Smith decided that a detachable cargo truck would best suit their needs. It would act as a mobile warehouse and a workshop—a logistics vehicle for the team.

John Smith could buy the truck with either money or exchange reputation points for it, which was essentially requesting that Division 13 give him the truck.

Currently, he had a whopping $2.8m to spare. Already, the money-spending ability of the Mechanic class was starting to shine through. Of course, none of this would have been possible without John Smith's prior experience that helped him in acc.u.mulating money.

Without happily spending all their money and getting used to living paycheck to paycheck, one could never become an excellent Mechanic.

Nonetheless, he decided to pay with reputation points; that's what they were meant for, after all. In comparison, paying with money would set him back an unnecessary $800,000. John Smith rang Feng Jun up.

…

"Give me the vehicle. How long will it take for you to deliver it to my place?"

"I will need to pick it up from the military factory. About two hours."

Feng Jun's punctuality was proven time and again; exactly two hours later, Feng Jun arrived at John Smith's doorstep in the very truck.

A problem immediately presented itself: the truck was too big to enter the garage.

John Smith and Feng Jun stared at each other, dumbfounded. They had carefully accounted for every single detail except for this issue.

"What now?"

"How about you guys expand the garage for me?"

"Come on, do you think that the Engineering Department staff have that much free time to spare?"

As John Smith rubbed his chin, his eyes suddenly lit up.

"Didn't you bring in an undercover squad to watch over this district? Where are they now?"

"Be more rational jackass! Don't you think we are grabbing too much attention!"

John Smith looked away from Feng Jun and began to size up the military truck. It was 4 meters tall, 3.5 meters wide, and attached with an 11 meters long container that extended beyond the width of the front of the truck itself.

"What attention-grabbing? I don't think so." John Smith was not at all fl.u.s.tered when bullshitting.

"Only the blind would not see such a huge truck!" Feng Jun spouted saliva all over John Smith's face.

"What is with the saliva-spitting when you speak?" John Smith grabbed Feng Jun's sleeve, wiped his face, and said with a look of disdain, "Not that I am criticizing you, but the volume of saliva that came out of your mouth is huge."

"What a huge truck."Old Man Lu walked out at this moment and exclaimed

"Why don't we just demolish the whole garage?" John Smith's eyes glittered.

"Get lost," Old Man Lu scolded sulkily. He then rubbed the bald area on his head and pondered for a moment before he dug out a key from his pocket and threw it to John Smith.

"I have a garage a few blocks away. I will lend it to you."

"So generous! Old Man Lu, are you on the wrong medicine today?" John Smith was utterly shocked.

"Get lost!" Old Man Lu was swearing again. He then pushed them away as they were blocking his way, and he walked out for a stroll.

…

John Smith drove the truck and arrived at the garage ten minutes later.

"Bleurgh—"

"Hello. Do you have to do that?'

Feng Jun's face was as pale as a sheet as he leaned out the car window. He waved his hands hysterically while he continued vomiting.

John Smith could not understand what Feng Jun was trying to convey. Does he mean that he will not sit in my car every again, or is he saying that I don't have to care how he feels?

John Smith shook his head and threw the unimportant question to the back of his head. After he sent the nauseated Feng Jun away, he began modifying the heavy military truck. He checked every inch of the truck and found no hidden cameras or bugs.

Products made by the military factory were of excellent quality. The truck was equipped with numerous parts, including ten cylinders and turbochargers, which enhanced its horsepower. It could move at a top speed of 135km/hr. The truck had five heavy-duty, slip-free tires on each side. The cargo compartment was large, and it could contain quite a few pieces of equipment. John Smith wanted to modify it into a small workshop, so he needed to move the workshop equipment up.

The base plate of the truck was modified for multi-terrain use, with parts like spring suspension and air damping suspension, which allowed the truck to move smoothly on bad terrain. The truck was also equipped with an anti-sliding gadget, which would prevent small vehicles from sliding under the truck.

The driving cabin was not at all small—it could easily fit six people. It was equipped with a ten-gear gearshift, so there was a suitable gear for any type of movement. John Smith checked the airbags. There were eight of them. As long as the passenger did not fly out of the vehicle upon collision, they would not be injured. Plus, this passenger could enjoy the p.l.e.a.s.u.r.e of being squashed in between a big 'c.h.e.s.t'.

Speaking of car collisions, the front of the truck was not strengthened with a front bumper. John Smith needed to add it himself. He then looked at the truck windows—they were bullet-proof. Division 13 did not cut corners.

Overall, the truck was up to standard; it did not need any major modification. John Smith decided to add a few nitro-boost cylinders to the truck for additional thrust. The thought of having a nitro boost for the truck already excited John Smith greatly. His truck could be the ultimate king of the road. John Smith started modifying the truck.

The inside of the cargo compartment was made into a small-scale workshop. John Smith also strengthened the base plate and the front bumper—the thick and heavy armor looked rather sturdy.

Four nitro-boost cylinders were installed in the truck for additional thrust during crucial moments.

Furthermore, John Smith bought spare tires, and he installed a radar with an antenna for receiving radio signals and sending wi-fi signals.

With these numerous upgrades, John Smith spent more than 10,000 dollars. He could not help but shake his head. Upgrades sure were costly. Gazing upon the black truck before him, he rubbed his chin as the idea of giving it a name suddenly occurred to him. John Smith decided to go with the simplest and most obvious one.

"Black Bull!"

Hmm, not a bad name at all.