After Klaus Park moved back into his and his family's old house, he beca more organized about the activities he had to do during the day.
Since he was a teenager he had been practicing calisthenics to strengthen his muscles so that he would not have so many problems with muscle pain after heavy work and also to be more efficient, but after he moved into the apartnt to live with Jayaa and Emma, he neglected this. Since his room in the apartnt had a small space in which only his bed and the desk for his computer could fit, there was no room for him to do calisthenics and he didn't want to do it in the middle of the room, so he stopped doing it.
In fact, during that ti in the apartnt, Klaus neglected his entire health. He cut out essential als, such as afternoon coffee, lunch, and his own diet, not to ntion spending entire days in deep imrsion.
Now that he had returned ho and was no longer in as much of a hurry to get money as before, he thought the ti was right to return to his normal habits.
So every day he started to wake up early to do his calisthenics session. Then he would take a shower and go down to the second floor to have coffee with his family. Then he would go back to his room and put the NeuroGear on his head to start his work.
His NeuroGear appeared to be getting more and more damaged and old, yet Klaus didn't even consider buying another one because he had already spent too much money in the last few days. In his mind, if the cheapest model of the NeuroGear, the first version released, cost one hundred dollars, the most up-to-date one was probably costing ten tis that, so he preferred to wait until the equipnt got a little older.
Even after making so much money, Klaus didn't feel that he was rich, and he was right, he wasn't, although he still had a few tens of thousands of dollars in his bank account.
For the next three days in Rise Online after the night in the manor, Kaizen did many things, but the first of them was to visit the dwarf Zahir. He told him the good news, that he had finally stopped being an Apprentice Blacksmith and that he had set up his own equipnt and forge store. On top of all this, Zahir couldn't believe it when Psyker told him that he had landed a contract with King Spelloyal.
Obviously, the grumpy dwarf did not treat him more kindly just because Kaizen now had important contacts. Still, he seed happy about Kaizen's achievents.
Kaizen decided to ask about the beautiful sword that Zahir had in his store, which he had been wondering about since he made his first Epic item.
[Item: Hudyr's Sword (Attack Weapon).
The Sword of Hudyr is the masterpiece of the dwarven blacksmith Zahir, and has been in his family's generation for many generations.
Class: Epic.
Item Level: 1 of 5
Attack: 25 ( 1)
Defense: 5
Fitness Level needed: 10]
The sword was certainly beautiful with a slightly curved blade and golden ornants. However, its stats were ridiculous compared to other Epic weapons.
Then Zahir explained that this was not a sword like the others because, according to him, with each level that the sword evolved, its power would double. In other words, when this sword went from level 1 to 2, it would have 50 Attack and 10 Defense. From level 2 to 3, one more the numbers would be doubled, so it would have 100 Attack and 20 Defense. In turn, from level 3 to 4; 200 Attack and 40 Defense. At the maximum level, the sword would have 400 Attack and 80 Defense. It was a deadly and fast sword.
For comparison, Kaizen's most attackable sword, the Snowy Limbo, had 200 base Attack with 70 of the Enhancent Stones. And he knew that when his weapons went up in level, they would increase by a maximum of 30 on each attribute.
That being the case, Kaizen asked how Zahir managed to make the Sword of Hudyr have this unusual evolution effect, to say the least, but the dwarf said he didn't know, because it wasn't he who made the sword, but his great-great grandfather who was also called Zahir.
This revelation made Kaizen realize that this sword was not the masterpiece of the dwarf Zahir he knew, but of another.
A little disappointed, Kaizen returned to the capital after his visit to Zahir and began to do his utmost to restore the entire stock of the Raven's Leg Shop. This advanced him another level and greatly improved his Strength attribute, specifically.
Yes, forging wasn't as statistically rewarding as exploring dangerous areas, visiting farming areas or facing bosses, but Kaizen enjoyed doing it and didn't want to get involved with anything too big for the ti being.
In this way, ti passed quickly for him, and the big day of the test to which he had been invited finally arrived.
As soon as he went downstairs to have breakfast with his family, he saw that his parents were watching sothing together on television.
To his surprise, a press conference with the director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology, Stephanie J. West, was beginning.
Stephanie was a middle-aged woman with gray hair and a friendly smile. Next to her was Philip D. Pate, the newly appointed Manager of the Coalitions Departnt at Hónghé Holdings.
Unlike Stephanie, Philip had a more serious countenance. Sothing about him between the ssy black hair, the unshaven and the bored look made the people around him feel a little nervous.
These two totally different figures were together in front of the cara for one reason only: to announce to the whole notion, and also to the world, that several selection processes would take place that very day all over the United States of Arica to select people for their new partnership program.
This surprised many and others not so much. So rumors about this had already been circulating since a picture of an invitation leaked on the webnet, but many skeptics thought it unlikely that anything of the sort would happen.
The general press went wild with the confirmation of this selection process, and in less than ten minutes it was already splashed across every TV and cell phone in the country. People started to debate on the webnet about the subject and it soon beca the top of the most talked about subjects.
At the press conference, after Stephanie explained the basics of how the accommodations and Hónghé Holdings' partnership with the governnt would work, Stephanie opened up to the reporters' question session and a flurry of questions ca in the very first second.
"What is the real purpose of this program?"
"Mr. Philip D. Pate, what is the reason Hónghé Holdings chose arica to enter into such a large partnership?"
"Who will bear the costs of the program? The taxes we pay or Hónghé Holdings?
"What are the minimum requirents to participate in this selection process? I have heard that so have received letters from NIST at ho and others have received the invitations from ntors or teachers from their schools, recomnding them."
"What will be evaluated to decide whether or not a person is worthy of joining the program?"
"Is this related to Rise Online and Hónghé Holdings' virtual reality technology? Is the governnt thinking about training military personnel with that kind of technology?"
As always, the reporters were very smart and thought quickly of direct questions to the critical point of the matter. Their instincts allowed them to work that way. These were not tricky questions, but questions about things that the public probably wanted to know and that also generate clicks and engagent on the webnet.
Stephanie was experienced, so she took a deep breath, kept her cool, and answered:
"The cruel reality, gentlen, is that we live in a current era where the great geniuses are on the wane. What was the last great genius of humanity that everyone rembers? Um. Nikolas Tesla? He died last century. We live today a huge shortage of geniuses. You know, I an people who shock the world with their revolutionary discoveries and change the course of mankind forever?
She looked the reporters in the eye and finally looked at the cara in front of her.
"However, I still believe that geniuses exist and are out there. Nowadays, we have technology, social networks, and this demands an enormous amount of ti from all of us, every single day. And what does it take for a genius to flourish, evolve and have ideas? Ti. In other words, the geniuses we need are out there today in this modern world. This program, this partnership between the United States Governnt and Hónghé Holdings, will actively try to find people with great potential and try to turn them into the geniuses we need to create a prosperous future for humanity. That is what this program is designed to do. To discover, empower and transform the world."
Her response shocked all the dia that was covering the press conference, as well as people watching at ho.
The NIST director managed to answer virtually all the major questions with subtlety, intelligence, and serenity as few could.
At ho, Kaizen just listened to her answer as he grabbed so coffee from the kitchen, then he smiled to himself and whispered to himself:
"Looks like things will be even more fun than I imagined."
...
Edited by: DrHitsuji
If you want to see original illustrations of Rise Online characters, consider helping on pa treon: Pa /NandoFalske
More character images in:
sdiscord.gg/bpqq9u4gS8
Like it? Add to library!
Don't forget to vote with Powerstone to support the book if you like it...
Reviews
All reviews (0)