DING!

~----~

[Congratulations! You have successfully reverse-engineered an important component of the Bulwark MK.II Titan Frame!]

[You have acquired a new D Rank Blueprint: NS-99 "Blackout" Signal Dampener!]

...

[Total Number of Blueprints: 40]

...

[Congratulations! You have crossed an important milestone as an Ascended of the Mechanist Class!]

[You have showed great ingenuity and ability!]

[You are now an Honorary Blueprint Quadragenarian!]

[You have stepped into a different caliber of your own as a Mechanist and are now the only second Mechanist in history to step into this illustrious tier.]

...

[You have gained +150 Ascended Essence!]

[Ascended Counter: 1280/4000]

~----~

The first thing that Leon did was not to celebrate, instead he focused on the name of the new blueprint that he just acquired.

’NS-99 "Blackout" Signal Dampener...’

His inky black eyes gleamed. ’It actually has a name already’.

The blueprint having a name already meant one thing, it meant that he was not the first person to successfully reverse-engineer this component of the Bulwark MK.II Titan Frame.

Leon thought of the person who might have already reverse-engineered this blueprint before him. Afterall, reverse-engineering the NS-99 was definitely right on top there with some of his greatest undertakings since becoming a Mechanist.

Not just any Mechanist could achieve this feat.

Without the ChronoSystem’s help, he would have taken significantly longer before he would have successfully reverse-engineered the blueprint.

And if he botched the process at any point in time, it would reset, taking the difficulty of successfully reverse-engineering it to a whole different level.

Leon didn’t think that it was another D Rank Mechanist who managed to do this, it was just too difficult and this was not even him being arrogant.

Despite how anomalous he was, it took him so long just to figure it out.

Plus the fact that the ChronoSystem indicated that he was now only the 2nd Mechanist in history to become a Honorary Blueprint Quadragenarian, Leon felt that he knew who this second person was.

’It’s her right?’

Last he remembered, she was not even a Mechanist of the Warmachine Class Specialization but if anyone in the world could do it, then it was her.

Afterall, he was not the only Mechanist in the world who could get Class Exclusive Blueprints from other Class Specializations outside his main.

Leon exhaled and immediately left the workshop, his brain needed a break.

Outside, it was already night in Canyon Hub and a familiar bioluminescent fog engulfed the world. Leon took the opportunity to take a walk and get a breath of fresh air after 10 straight days locked in his basement.

Sheer willpower was the only thing that took him through the past 10 days.

He finally understood what other Mechanists like Kain who didn’t have his innate advantages have to suffer and go through just to get blueprints.

As he walked, Leon exhaled. He felt drained mentally.

In the end, the NS-99 "Blackout" Signal Dampener was not just one component of the Bulwark MK.II Titan Frame like he thought at the beginning.

The final blueprint is a combination of multiple high-grade components of the mech suit, and it is part of the reason why it was so hard to reverse-engineer in the first place.

The Bulwark MK.II Titan Frame is a war machine integrating multiple systems inside one large frame, and one of them is its electronic weapon systems.

The electronic weapon system of the Bulwark MK comprises the Directed EMP Projector, the Electronic Warfare & Signal Disruption Suite, and the Cyber-Intrusion Spike Launcher.

The NS-99 "Blackout" Signal Dampener is a blueprint comprising multiple components of both the Directed EMP Projector and the Electronic Warfare & Signal Disruption Suite, designed and combined in a way to vastly amplify them more than the simple combination of their parts, enough to be able to repel the infiltration of NetRunners.

Before, Leon had the misconception that this was a full proof strategy against NetRunners, but after reverse-engineering it, he understood it better.

The NS-99 "Blackout" Signal Dampener like its name says doesn’t kill the signal of a NetRunner completely, it only dampens it.

Against a D Rank Ascended, the innate energy capacity of the Bulwark MK.II Titan Frame plus the ADE of the D Rank Mechanist piloting it is more than enough to dampen and overpower any opposing single D Rank NetRunner.

But if he was facing multiple D Rank NetRunners in battle, Leon now knew that there was a possibility of his cyber defense being breached.

He also knew now that against a C Rank NetRunner like Sylvari Charr, if he was unfortunate enough to find himself cornered by the General, instead of negating the General’s powers, most of his powers would be negated instead simply because the General was stronger and his ADE was denser.

The General could turn his own machines against him!

Leon’s face was grim. ’Now, I don’t even want to see him at all till I’m C Rank’.

Leon didn’t return to his workshop immediately, instead he went straight to his hotel room where Tyla was surprised to see him but welcomed him enthusiastically.

Leon had his first long rest in 10 days.

...

The next day.

16th September, Year 714 A.G.

Very early in the morning, Leon got set and went straight back to his underground workshop, this time with a truck carrying multiple miniaturized metallic crates alongside him.

Miniaturized and inside the crates were all the Doom Rover v0.2s that he currently had in his possession, including the Sentry-IV Autocannon Drone. Even the Zerphyr-7 Stealth Reconnaissance UAV descended and entered the underground workshop through a special entrance.

Shortly after Leon entered the workshop, multiple trucks carrying crates that were filled with expensive electronic materials that he ordered yesterday night before sleeping rolled into the workshop.

Leon spent millions on getting so many high-grade electronic components and materials, but with the money currently lying about in his bank account, he didn’t blink an eye.

He locked himself in and went straight to work again.

...

2 days later, the ChronoSystem lit up with a thread of new system notifications.

DING!