Volume 3, Chapter 48 – You’re Already a Glorious Lady Programmer, Now Get to Work!

Anran made quite a few mechanical switchblades.

Thanks to her aggressive sales pitch, she had a feeling that once people realized how good the mechanical switchblades were, a wave of orders would follow.

Good products never worry about lacking a market. For people who move through the shadows, her mechanical switchblades were clearly more suitable.

They were discreet, and their offensive power was not lacking in the slightest.

Still, the Research Center had obtained the blueprints too, so even if she cut her prices, she would not be able to keep selling them for long.

The low costs achieved through large-scale industrial production were far beyond what her little workshop could match.

By the time her EXP had climbed to fifteen thousand, it was already getting late. Although she had left Aila plenty to eat, Anran was still a little worried, so after shutting down the equipment, she walked out of the workshop.

But she had not gone very far before she noticed Morton watching her again.

There was surprise in his gaze, but also puzzlement.

Anran had no idea what to make of it.

This guy can’t have some improper designs on me, can he?

Anran quickened her pace, intending to leave, but Morton walked over and called out to her anyway. “Hello, I’m Morton from the New Weapons Research Division of the Research Center!”

“Hello.” He was polite, so Anran was polite too.

But she said nothing more, quietly waiting for him to continue.

“I heard from Director Gray that the blueprint for the mechanical switchblade is yours?” Morton asked.

Was that what this was about?

“Yeah. Do you have any questions?”

Morton looked Anran over carefully. Since she often appeared in the underground workshop, this girl must have some real ability.

But had this compact yet intricately structured weapon, the mechanical switchblade, really been something she had tinkered into existence herself?

“I saw that blueprint. It really is an ingenious design. During testing, even the force generated the moment the blade snaps out exceeded our expectations by a wide margin.” Morton looked every bit like a man immersed in research. “By the way, are you close with Director Gray? I heard he even gave you his badge.”

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“We get along all right, I guess,” Anran said.

Morton nodded. “I know a little about weapon development myself. If we get the chance, we can have a more in-depth exchange.”

“…”

But I do not want any in-depth exchange with you.

“This is a little gadget I’ve been working on recently. You can give it a try. It’s the improved X9 Tactical Goggles.”

Morton suddenly handed over a pair of glasses with pale blue lenses.

Anran took them instinctively.

“They protect against wind and shield the eyes, and they also let the wearer see distant targets more clearly,” Morton explained.

“See more clearly?” Anran put them on.

Her field of vision took on a faint blue tint, but just as Morton had said, distant objects really did become much clearer.

As expected of game-world black tech.

Basic Analysis in progress.

Progress: 3%.

Progress: 11%.

Progress: 24%.

Anran took the goggles off, looked them over, and before Morton could react, suddenly pulled the frame apart.

“You…”

Progress: 46%.

Progress: 76%.

Click click click—

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Both of Anran’s hands moved in a blur. In no time at all, she had disassembled the X9 Tactical Goggles into parts, then reassembled them.

There were no screws, which saved her quite a bit of effort.

Progress: 100%.

“What are you doing?” Morton’s expression changed.

“They really are amazing!”

With a face full of admiration, Anran handed the tactical goggles back to Morton.

But now they’re already mine.

Blueprint GET.

Plus 600 EXP from disassembly and assembly, GET.

“As expected of an expert!” Anran continued buttering him up.

Morton took his item back with a suspicious look on his face.

What was this girl doing?

Still, judging by how skillfully she had disassembled and reassembled it, she really was no simple person. That mechanical switchblade really might have been something she had designed.

“Seriously, thank you so much. This has really broadened my horizons!”

Anran spoke with heartfelt emotion.

“It’s no big deal. I hope we can interact more in the future,” Morton said.

Anran did not reject him outright. He was polite enough, but she found Morton a little odd.

Still, that was just how dealing with strangers went.

As long as she stayed cautious enough, she might even be able to wring more benefits out of it instead.

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After saying goodbye, Anran went home.

She felt that the rhythm of her life was getting faster and faster. It was like she had originally been a pitiful broke nobody who could only walk, but had suddenly upgraded to a child’s bicycle. Even if riding it felt awkward, at least she was finally moving faster.

Still, it was one person setting off and one person riding.

When would she get herself a tandem bicycle instead and let Aila hop on too?

At the very least, not before she had enough ability to protect herself.

Anran pushed open the door.

Then Aila’s actions startled her.

Several metal blocks were laid out on the tea table.

And Aila had her back to Anran, drilling into the metal with a bit.

The buzzing sound went on without end.

Fortunately, not many people lived nearby. Otherwise, Anran suspected their front door would already have been pounded to pieces by furious neighbors.

Aila was kneeling on a blanket with both knees, her little butt sticking up, carving the metal blocks with intense concentration like an artist.

“Aila, what are you doing?” Anran asked in confusion.

Aila turned off the drill, turned around, and answered very seriously, “I was too bored, so I wanted to see whether I could help Anran.”

“This…”

Anran rubbed her nose. To be honest, she felt a little touched.

But how exactly was she supposed to make Aila become a Mechanic and help make things for her?

Anran began seriously thinking about that question.

She had absolutely no awareness whatsoever that she should not be employing child labor.

Could robot matters really be called child labor?

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…

After resting for a night, Anran went to report to the base early the next morning.

But she was really just showing her face.

Nine Songs was not quite like a regular military organization. It did not force its members to take part in training. Instead, it used assigned missions and monthly rankings to motivate each squad to regulate itself internally.

Rankings were closely tied to benefits, so for the sake of climbing higher, each squad would also find ways to strengthen itself and ensure missions were completed smoothly.

As for why it had been set up this way, Anran felt that besides the ideas of Nine Songs’ founder, there was also the influence of the “Great Will of the Universe” (the devs).

After all, when players joined a faction, they could not possibly spend all their time on training. They were special beings, different from everyone else.

There were repeatable training missions in the base, and they gave a decent amount of EXP on completion, but compared to making mechanical equipment, they were still much worse.

Anran had originally wanted to explain things a bit, but when she saw all her teammates very reliably slacking off, she quietly slipped away instead.

These people were beyond saving. If she let herself degenerate a little too, that could only be called going with the flow.

Then Anran buried herself in the workshop and began two full days of machine-tinkering life.

Free EXP +4500.

Free EXP +6300.

Free EXP +5100.

By the morning of the second day, Anran suddenly realized that the total EXP she had saved up had already reached 31,300.

Free EXP -30,000.

Apprentice Mechanic successfully leveled up to Lv10.

At the same time, Anran pulled out the little treasured booklet she had been keeping for ages, Mechanical Notes: Colin.

She began to read…