Chapter 36: Maybe We Can Pull Off Something Big.
"Wow~~ Amazing... I can't believe it could be done like this."
Under the bright lights of the room, the left mantis blade had already been dismantled into parts and laid out on the table by Mantou.
Though he couldn't borrow the workbench while players were working, having a dorm room meant Lin Miao could swipe Mitch's toolbox when leaving Adcardo.
Fortunately, Mantou did work during the day, and with 80 Euros in hand, she could afford the rent and the 20 Euro equipment rental fee.
"What do you think?"
Natural Curl was too unmotivated to work, just lying on the bed watching Mantou fiddle with the knife he had bought for thousands of Euros.
"This thing is driven by a motor, but I couldn't figure out where the electricity comes from. Maybe it converts biological energy as per game settings. The material of the motor and the engineering plastic used as the secondary frame are quite impressive, boasting a strength of up to 4KN of output force."
Natural Curl, not understanding much of this, asked idly, "So, what do you want to make with it?"
"If the materials are right, perhaps I could design a simple exoskeleton. But the specific output, load, and sustainability depend on the game's battery and material settings."
"Like the robot you made for the university competition that didn't even pass the preliminary round? I remember you cried for two days when you came back."
"You just love rubbing it in, don't you? About control methods... I don't understand how the game's neural connection works. I need a skilled programmer's help or to design a separate driver, but I can't do that."
Cutting-edge physics goes further than most people imagine, with material science being the biggest hurdle limiting human progress. But since it's a game, it might just be a matter of a few strings of code, and maybe I can test the game's physics engine limits.
"Pandora?"
"Her... not really capable."
Pandora obviously hasn't figured out the programming method in the game yet and would need a long period of study. Mantou doesn't believe she could handle it, though... perhaps it's not impossible. Can real program codes run in the game?
Mantou suddenly thought of something, and her eyes lit up.
"If my design can impress the BOSS, maybe he could ask that female hacker who fought with him yesterday to design the program. What would the mysterious reward be? Just thinking about it excites me."
"You haven't even begun! Hurry and get to work! Was my 1900 so easy to borrow?" Natural Curl rolled his eyes at Mantou who was lost in her fantasies. He truly hadn't expected this woman to snag a spot from over nine thousand reservations, unsure if it was pure luck or stepping on dog poop.
Moreover, he finally realized that the players who got in were all exceptionally skilled, with many eyeing the main quest.
Surely it would be a fierce competitive battle.
.....
The sky darkened.
New players, having grinded all day, logged off reluctantly, each mulling over their own plans to find something 'killer' to see if they could meet the requirements of the main quest.
Meanwhile, the nightlife of veteran players was just starting.
Though nighttime prevented them from picking up daily material-gathering tasks, now was a great time for spending. Having just completed auction settlements, they each held nearly a thousand Euros!
And Lin Miao was enthusiastically launching a new round of spending activities for them.
Food and drinks went online, costing money to buy, mostly Night City's synthetic fast food, priced a bit higher than Night City's sale rates, with some limited cans also launched, priced starting at 100 Euros.
Players scoffed at this, thinking they didn't come to the game to eat cans they wouldn't bother with in daily life?
They're here for the synthetic fast food!
If it's not synthetic, they won't eat it!
Seven resurrected veteran players sat in the office hall, with snacks and drinks piled on the table, but their attention was on the new Ultra Dream experience.
The office players have their own system LAN, spending some Euro money on 'their account' to connect headgear and enter the limited-time Ultra Dream experience.
Training could be solo, while actual combat could involve multiple players, with the maximum dungeon number decided by Lin Miao. Before the game's end, they could reset it infinitely, and even when time runs out, they are not immediately forced out, receiving a fifteen-minute countdown, and upon successfully completing the dungeon, they can decide whether to upload the video to the official website for display.
However, currently, there's only one "Phoenix Club" dungeon in the Ultra Dream combat section, capped at four players. Lin Miao also held several data chips from the operation yesterday, although those chips were inserted into players' neck slots. Waiting for Lucy to find time to edit...
"This Ultra Dream headgear is impressive, truly worthy of the 2000 Euros high-grade stuff..."
After attaching the headgear to his neck and downloading the installation package, the bigwig fiddled with the photonic lens in front of him. "And then? How do I use it?"
After speaking, some data columns appeared in his cyber-eye view.
["Phoenix Club" combat room established (1/4)]
[Invite players]
[Activate Ultra Dream experience (Yes/No)]
"No trouble... Alright, I got it."
After a series of operations, the bigwig pulled in Potatoes and the other three to start dungeon pioneering, while Brother Dao and the other three did their separate Ultra Dream training, knowing sharpening a knife wasn't delay chopping wood, pioneering is the most laborious.
"The team is ready, activate the dungeon. Let me see what this club is all about."