The final opponent for Yanyu Pavilion—the champions of the first mid-season tournant—was the Evil Geniuses team from the United States. Previously, Evil Geniuses had discovered an ancient-tier weapon while exploring a singularity, but they had yet to equip it. Given the current player attribute limits, it was naturally unusable for now.
Evil Geniuses were known for their prowess in team battles. Their tactics were swift and precise, almost like an elegant, high-speed dance. They had eliminated both the Tianyi Team and the Tiger Team—two squads originally intending to play it safe and steady—and earned their place in the finals.
Yanyu Pavilion didn't hold any major advantage over them. Both teams had similar professional compositions, leaving little to rely on besides luck during the venue selection… In the end, the match took place in a hilly terrain, leading to a fierce twenty-minute clash. Evil Geniuses displayed remarkable tenacity and nearly held out until the very end, but Yanyu Pavilion's superior equipnt ultimately tipped the scale. In a razor-thin victory, Yanyu Pavilion clinched the mid-season championship—and with it, hundreds of thousands of dollars in prize money. It was as if golden rain had fallen.
ACL's victory in the Mid-Season Championship lit a spark in the eyes of every player. It was a mont of true pride. After all, Ark was a global ga, and with the World Championship just around the corner, a team had taken ho a prize of 500,000 yuan—an honor that gave ACL a shining mont on the international stage.
Of course, there were critics. So believed that Yanyu Pavilion's victory ca down to luck. They argued that if the team hadn't been equipped with Pioneer-grade gear, they would have lost the match. Though both teams had shown evenly matched skills and strategy during the battle, it was the slight edge in equipnt that allowed Yanyu Pavilion to pull through.
Even Yan Fei, captain of Yanyu Pavilion, admitted in a post-match interview that the win didn't bring them complete satisfaction. The team still needed to focus on reviewing the match and improving their physical condition. Her humble attitude resonated with the public and players alike. This was the spirit of a professional team—never arrogant in victory, never discouraged in defeat.
As the mid-season tournant concluded, the eliminated teams began to return ho. So clubs began the hunt for new coaches, others laid out customized plans for the rest of their professional players, while so reached out to retired veterans to bring them back to the field. anwhile, clubs across nearly every country urged their pro players to strengthen relationships with high-level NPC pioneers in order to acquire better equipnt.
The tournant had run from October to November. In Felix's own academic schedule, December had just arrived. He was already midway through his studies, and most of his "doctoral-level" secondary careers had progressed past the 80% mark. This rapid progress was due in part to the expertise of his professors—but also, undeniably, to the fact that Felix himself was a problem-solving monster.
Among all his academic pursuits, he had already earned a doctoral degree in one subject.
He had unlocked the chanical Engineer, a rare secondary profession with a maximum level of five. Upgrading it required a staggering 300,000 experience points per level… And that was just one. He still had secondary professions such as High Energy Physicist, chanical Dynamicist, Ecologist, and Originium Scientist waiting to be unlocked.
Suddenly, Felix felt a wave of despair about his future. Just leveling the chanical Engineer class from level one to two required 300,000 experience points. Upgrading from level four to five might take nearly ten million. Oh god—that was insane. How could ordinary players ever hope to gather so much experience, even if they had the brainpower to learn it all?
Unlocking the chanical Engineer class granted him 10 Dexterity, 10 Intelligence, 10 Charm, and even 1 free attribute point.
…Charm?
Why did Charm increase? Was this what people ant when they said, "The more educated you are, the more attractive you beco"?
What surprised him even more was that after becoming a chanical engineer, his existing Engineer secondary occupation could be directly upgraded to level three, allowing him to begin the promotion quest. Most of the knowledge overlapped, and in addition to that, he unlocked a real technology tree.
It wasn't just a skill-based tree—this was a real technology tree that required an investnt of LMDs and experience points to unlock.
From basic chips that allowed robots to move, to the programs and circuits enabling chanical vehicles to simulate "life," and ultimately, the blueprint for the core of a mobile city.
Yes—the core of a mobile city.
Felix couldn't hide his excitent. In his previous life, many players had dreamt of building their own mobile cities. But what was the most expensive component? It wasn't the city walls or the outer structure—it was the core. Just one core could cost tens of millions, sotis even hundreds of millions. Compared to that, the materials used for construction were basically pocket change.
As long as he continued gaining experience as a chanical Engineer and reached level four, he would be able to research and unlock the blueprints for the mobile city core.
This marked the beginning of an entirely new technological pathway.
He was already looking forward to discovering what kinds of technology trees the other PhD professions would unlock for him.
Motivated by this, he started allocating experience into his secondary occupations.
The Technician was promoted to Agent Lv10, granting him 5 Strength, 2 Agility, 1 Spirit, 1 Charm, and 10 free attribute points.
The Craftsman class advanced directly to Apprentice Engineer Lv15, bringing in 10 Agility, 8 Intelligence, and 3 Spirit. Including the level gained in between, this netted him a total of 25 free attribute points.
He also upgraded his Primary Industrial Manufacturing and Understanding skills to Preliminary Primary Industrial Manufacturing and Understanding.
On top of that, he acquired the exclusive trait of chanical Engineers:
[chanical Energy Control] – This allowed him to manufacture highly sophisticated machinery and engineering equipnt, greatly increasing the hit rate and damage output of completed items.
However, upgrading this skill to the next level required 200,000 experience points, and the maximum level was five. The star mark beside it seed to represent the rarity of the sub-profession or the trait itself. For now, Felix simply couldn't afford to upgrade it.
anwhile, the Agent secondary profession had unlocked five new skills and traits:
Sniper Crossbow Mastery, Sniper Rifle Mastery, Close Combat, Rapid Counterattack, and Stealth.
Felix maxed them all, pushing each one to level 10.
Then, he glanced over his current attribute sheet.
---
[Na:Felix Shawn Lanshem]
Title: Pioneer (59%)
HP: 8120 / 8120
MP: 2560 / 2560
Race: Sankta
Template: NPC
Level: 87
Experience: 368,240
Main Occupation: Assistant Beginner Lv1 (1/200)
Secondary Occupations:
Apprentice Gunsmith Lv15
Agent Lv10
Apprentice chanic Lv15
Blacksmith Apprentice Lv15
ssenger Lv1 (1/50)
Craftsman Apprentice Lv15
Apprentice Engineer Lv15
chanical Engineer Lv1 (0/300,000)
Skills:
Preliminary Gun Manufacturing Lv10
Basic Shooting Lv10
Maintenance and Repair Lv10
Custom Modification Lv10
Preliminary chanical Manufacturing Lv10
Preliminary Iron Manufacturing Lv10
chanical Strength Lv10
Preliminary Craftsman Forging Lv10
Electronic Machinery Application Lv10
Primary Material Forging Lv10
Preliminary Industrial Manufacturing Lv10
Close Combat Lv10
Rapid Counterattack Lv10
Stealth Lv10
Skill Points: None
Attributes:
Strength: 38
Agility: 61
Endurance: 34
Intelligence: 59
Spirit: 57
Charm: 20
Luck: 1
Unallocated Attribute Points: 46
Features:
Beginner Assistance Lv1
Squad Assistance Lv1
Team Assistance Lv10
Basic Understanding of Gunnery Lv10
Gunfighting Lv10
Hand Gun Manufacturing Understanding Lv10
Basic Understanding of Machinery Lv10
Basic Understanding of Ironware Lv10
Basic Understanding of Craftsn Lv10
Basic Understanding of Industry Lv10
Sniper Crossbow Mastery Lv10
Sniper Rifle Mastery Lv10
chanical Energy Control Lv1 (1/200,000)
Talents:
Genius
Gunsmith's Hand
Super chanical Mastery
Rank: 2.01 stars
Evaluation:
You're still just a slightly stronger little fish after becoming a 2-star operator. So, how do you feel now? Huh? How do you feel!??
---
"You little demon system... Just you wait!"
Felix clenched his fists—his knuckles cracking under the pressure. His fists were getting hard.
As for why the ssenger's level was still at 1, with absolutely no improvent in proficiency… it was simply because, after all these years walking in this land, he had never actually done a ssenger's job even once.
Felix felt no sha—on the contrary, he was rather proud of it. He figured he'd eventually delete the ssenger class altogether. It was a complete eyesore, especially since he had no intention of ever leveling it up.
---
Snowflakes began to fall gently outside the window. Felix exhaled into his palms for warmth, closed the book in his hands, returned it to the bookshelf, tightened his coat, and stepped out of the library.
At this ti of year, Mandragora and Susie probably wouldn't still be working… but Felix didn't quite know what to say about those two. Slowly, he had co to understand their purpose: they were trying to cultivate independence and self-awareness. In this land, encountering him had been their stroke of luck—or rather, compared to their peers, they were undoubtedly the lucky ones.
Though not born with silver spoons in their mouths, Felix had practically stuffed one into their hands, granting them a peaceful life.
There seed to be a Christmas tradition here in Columbia. On his way back, Felix noticed that the shopping street had already been decked out in festive lights and colors. Pine and fir trees brought back from the wild by pioneers had been planted on either side of the road. Ornants and clothing in the shop windows were all in red and green.
However, there was no actual holiday on Christmas Day—only Christmas Eve was considered a day off. Felix exhaled another breath of warm air and walked into a barber shop.
"Welco~ What kind of style are you thinking of today?"
Mr. Tony, busy inside the shop, raised his eyebrows at him. Felix's hair had grown a bit long, and he'd never been particular about his hairstyle anyway, so he just wanted to trim it short.
"I want her to do it."
Felix nodded toward Susie, who looked a little flustered the mont he stepped inside. Seeing this, Mr. Tony chuckled and said, "Oh? So you've taken a liking to little Susie, huh? Susie, let's show him what you've got!"
"Uh… o-okay!"
Susie stepped forward. Though her head was lowered, her pale golden eyes peeked up at Felix with a mixture of nervousness and determination. "Um… Brother, let take you to wash your hair first."
"Alright."
Felix allowed Susie to guide him to the recliner. As he leaned back into the chair under her direction, he could see how serious her little face looked. Her delicate hand slowly reached out to touch his light gray hair. It felt… nice. Soft. Comforting. There was a strange sense of security in it. Honestly, it wouldn't be so bad if she just kept doing this forever.
While tending to his hair, Susie also noticed sothing else: the textured, double-layered halo above Felix's head. It turned out to be penetrable. Her fingers passed right through the warm golden light—the sa light that had once brought her hope and salvation.
Susie turned on the warm water and began washing his hair with utmost care. Her movents were gentle and deliberate, afraid she might accidentally hurt him.
"How's life treating you as a worker?"
Felix closed his eyes and asked with a faint smile.
Each evening at dinner, they would talk about how school was going. Felix didn't concern himself too much with their choice of part-ti jobs—it was, after all, their first step toward independence.
"Hehe, Mr. Manager has been teaching a lot," Susie said with a small smile. "But I still have a long way to go as a barber apprentice. I'm still a little clumsy with the scissors."
"It felt really good when you washed my hair. Thank you, Susie."
"Oh... thank you, brother." Susie gently massaged Felix's light gray hair and scalp, a faint smile playing on her lips. "I received a letter from my mother."
"How are your mother, and your brothers and sisters?"
"Mm… Mom's worried about how I'm doing here in Trimount—whether life is hard. She found a new job at a factory. It's kind of boring, but at least it's assembly line work, so she can sit down while working instead of standing all day." Susie's voice softened. "My second brother wants to work hard in the central city of Victoria, and she's worried about him too."
"I see."
Susie gently wiped the water droplets from Felix's hair and led him to the barber chair. She stood behind him, her gaze falling softly on the faint golden halo above his head. The light wasn't glaring—on the contrary, it was gentle, warm. It was the sa shade as her irises. The sa as his eyes.
Whenever Susie looked at that golden glow, she felt nothing but warmth and peace.
"Brother, what kind of hairstyle would you like?"
Just as Snowsant lit up when talking about engineering, Susie now looked full of confidence as she prepared to cut hair. She genuinely seed to enjoy it.
Seeing the joy on her face, Felix curved his lips into a light smile. "Let's cut it short—just a simple trim, and tidy up the bangs a bit... After this, let's go pick up Mandragora and head ho for dinner together."
"Okay!"
There was a gentle glow in Susie's pale golden eyes. Her slender fingers gripped the scissors and comb. As though afraid of hurting even a single strand of his hair, she moved quickly and deftly, trimming with delicate care.
At that mont, Felix felt a sudden realization—Susie had grown up. Perhaps this was the feeling one got when watching a younger sister step out of school and begin engaging with the world. It was a quiet, swelling pride.
In this life, Susie would no longer be soone who evoked pity or sorrow as she had in the previous one... She deserved happiness. She should have a warm, bright, and beautiful smile.
On this land, there were still many things that felt unjust to Felix—many people who still deserved salvation. Susie was not the end.
'Susie, you've grown up.'
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