Chapter 14  : Nano Tech

[Nano Growth Infuser Prototype Mk 1 – LVL 20 (Blue+)]

Apply to a weapon at or below LVL 20. Adds the passive skill [Nano Growth] at the expense of consuming some of the weapon attributes.

Nano Growth – Consumes the weapon’s attributes and allow it to evolve. The weapon will lose 5 levels but when evolved to the max level of the Infuser (LVL 20), its final attributes are much higher than the base value.

As this is the prototype, the weapon will only experience a slight increase in attribute growth when it reaches level 20.

The orb in Shiro’s hands is one of the most beneficial items she could create with her Nanomancer class. It took the growth like properties of her Nanobots and it would infuse it to a weapon.

As for the reason it would evolve the weapon, it was due to the unique reaction the Nanobots had to mana.

When a person’s level grew, the mana would also grow along with them.

The Nanobots recognised this growth and it would increase the levels of the items the host could make. However, the level will never exceed what the host’s level was.

The [Nano Growth Infuser] was something Shiro had designed in her past life. At the max capacity she had managed to reach, it increased a weapons attribute by more than 80%. However, she wasn’t able to see if it could go any further due to her death.

Her initial goal was to make a level 30 version of the Infuser. However, it seems like she’ll be using it on the E ranked [Dual Ended Poison Blade] instead.

[Skill Activated: Nano Tech Engineering Tier 1]

Although it says the skill was activated, Shiro could barely make use of it with her minuscule amount of MP.

Nano Tech Engineering, in its essence, was the Nanomancer’s core skill. It was the skill she would use if she wanted to create anything on the run.

Examples being armour, vehicles and even bunkers. The largest creation she had ever made in her lifetime was the flying fortress – Seraphim.

The flying fortress was one of the key factors in ending a battle that had raged across the continent.

Spanning over several tens of miles in diameter, she had an army help her make use of all the functions Seraphim came with.

Cannons, Rail Guns, Drones, Acceleration, Barriers etc.

Raining destruction onto the land below, her flying fortress turned the tides of war into a one sided slaughter.

Musing at the memory, Shiro shook her head as she stored the D rank weapon away.

She then focused her gaze on the E ranked [Dual Ended Poison Blade].

Her hands hovered over the handle as she dropped the Infuser.

Before the Infuser touched the handle, it started to shift as compartments opened up and latched itself onto the handle.

Shiro could see metal tendrils slowly eat away at the materials as it spread outwards onto the blade.

From the centre of the Infuser, a fan could be heard spinning as Shiro recognised the sound to be the Infuser mixing its mana with the weapon.

A neon blue like pulse travelled along the tendrils as it slowly covered the entire weapon.

It took a while to complete the fusion, but the Infuser had succeeded in converting the weapon into a growth type weapon.

The organic handle was now decorated with mechanical detail lined with neon blue. Both blades also underwent this change as there was a constant neon blue pulse that travelled from the handle to the edge of the blade.

[Nano Tech Infused Dual Poison Blades (Blue+) LVL 10/20]

Creator: Helion

Upgrader: Shiro

+10/30 Sharpness

+10/25 AGI

+10/20 DEX

+10/20 Poison

+10/30 Durability

+10/25 STR

Passive Skill: Nano Growth

Requirements to Evolve into LVL 15:

x E rank Mana Stone

x LVL 15 Sword type weapons

Seeing the upgrade, Shiro smiled in satisfaction. However, there was just a slight problem with this.

It exposes the fact that she is a Nanomancer.

’Now time to see if this works.’ Shiro thought as she attempted to use disguise on the weapon.

[Skill failed]

Shiro sighed seeing this.

’No wait... Actually, this might work...’ Shiro thought as she waited for her MP to regen.

When she recycles her equipment using the Nanomancer class, she’s able to reprint the skills that came with the equipment to a new one at a later date. Naturally, she would keep the original skill stored in her data bank.

Same goes for her inherit skills.

When her MP regenerated to full, Shiro closed her eyes as she envisioned the skill compartments. It was more like an addon than anything.

Printing the skill [Disguise] onto a small nano chip, Shiro inserted it into the Infuser.

She smiled seeing the Infuser take the skill without any backlash.

Inserting mana into the weapon, she tried to use [Disguise] once more.

Her smile widened as she saw it succeed.

This was because the Disguise skill only disguised the information of the possessor of this skill. So her theory was if she imprinted the skill onto the weapon, it would be able to disguise itself as the weapon now became the possessor of the skill.

Editing the information a little, she was left with this.

[Dual Ended Poison Blades (Blue) LVL 10/20]

Creator: Helion

+10/30 Sharpness

+10/25 AGI

+10/20 DEX

+10/20 Poison

+10/30 Durability

+10/25 STR

Requirements to Evolve into LVL 15:

x E rank Mana Stone

x LVL 15 Sword type weapons

The Disguise skill will be active continuously until the weapon ran out of durability.

With this, she’s managed to hide any signs of her involvement along with the fact that it was Nano tech. Of course, she couldn’t go without a failsafe.

Gathering mana, Shiro created a mana recogniser addon as she placed it into the Infuser.

The Mana Recogniser addon was a simple device that acted like a lock. Should someone with a foreign mana try to access the Nano bot infused weapons, the Nano bots would undergo a self-destruct phase that wipes out all traces.

She decided to save the D ranked equipment for now since Lyrica was still far from level 30.

Checking the time, Shiro saw that it was 10:48pm.

Storing the Poison Blades, Shiro walked over to Lyrica’s room and knocked on the door.

"Ah Shiro! You’re back, come in." Lyrica said as she gestured for Shiro to enter her room.

Shiro nodded as she took out her notepad.

[I’ve got your weapon ready.] Shiro smiled.

"That fast?!"

[Yeah. This guy called Helion made it on the spot.]

Taking out the sword, Shiro watched with a smile as she waited for Lyrica’s expression.

"..." Her jaw was open as she looked back and forth from the weapon and back at Shiro.

*Pa!

She gave herself a slap to make sure she wasn’t dreaming.

"Shiro! This is a growth type weapon! How did he even make it?!" Lyrica shouted in surprise.

[I don’t know. But this weapon is yours now.] Shiro smiled.

"EH?! How much do I owe you?" Lyrica asked.

[Nothing. Think of it like this. If you use this weapon to rack up your contributions in the Dungeon, I won’t have to restrain myself as much.] Shiro wrote down.

[I also found out that there is a faction recruitment in a month’s time. It would prove helpful if you train yourself up for that event.]

"Now that you mention it, you’re right." Lyrica paused. The faction recruitment was just around the corner. If she could get her level up as quickly as possible, she’ll be able to join one.

"What about you then? Except for that hammer, I don’t see you use any other weapons." Lyrica asked.

[I’m an Ice mage. My magic is my weapon.] Shiro wrote down with a roll of her eyes.

[And also, did you forget the fact that I can make weapons with my Ice?]

"..." Lyrica avoided eye contact as she just realised how stupid of a question she had just asked.

"So which faction are you hoping to join?" Lyrica asked changing the topic.

[I don’t plan on joining any faction.] Shiro shook her head.

"Why? Doesn’t factions bring you much more benefits?" Lyrica asked as she was confused about Shiro’s decision.

[I don’t like being tied down to a faction. Any benefit they can provide, I can get with a bit of hard work. It’s not like they force you to be in a faction to begin with.] Shiro shrugged.

The benefits a faction provided included equipment, access to higher level Dungeons and access to a raiding party.

The main benefit would be the raiding party. The reason as to why it was called a raiding party was due to the fact that the members involved would be more than 50.

This party of 50 adventurers would challenge the large scale Dungeons with huge bosses that can’t be taken down by an average party of 5 to 10.

In each of the floors of these large scale Dungeons, they would have a floor guardian rather than an obelisk guardian. The floor guardians were much more powerful than obelisk guardians as they were guaranteed to have a [General Class] title or higher.

There were also raiding parties in the adventurer’s guild, but the mortality rate was much larger as most of them would be strangers to each other and not coordinate well.

These large scale Dungeons were dangerous but the rewards were just as enticing. For normal Dungeons, the party leader would be the one to collect and distribute the equipment.

But for the large scale Dungeons, the rewards are distributed in terms of contribution. Everyone is guaranteed a drop as the party leader has no control over this. The system calculates and distributes.

"Since Shiro’s not joining a Faction I won’t either." Lyrica said.

[Don’t be stupid. I chose not to because I am confident that I can join a public raid and not die.] Shiro wrote down.

"But-"

Lyrica was about to reply but stopped seeing Shiro’s glare.

[Unless I see you clear a level 20 Dungeon by yourself, I won’t let you be so reckless.] Shiro wrote down as Lyrica nodded slowly.

[With a faction raid, there will be plenty of healers to help you. With public ones, healers aren’t a guarantee. And even if they are, they may focus on healing one person instead.]

Lyrica nodded at the harsh truth.

[Chin up though, we’ll be challenging a Dungeon tomorrow.] Shiro gave Lyrica’s shoulder a pat before walking out of the room.

Lyrica sat in the same spot as she clenched her fists. She was frustrated that she couldn’t prove Shiro wrong either.

’I need to prove that I can solo a Dungeon even without her help!’ Lyrica thought feeling spurred on to prove Shiro that she has the potential to survive an E ranked raid if they did go to one.

Shiro, who was observing her through the crack of the door, smiled seeing her plan work. It was a make it or break it situation that would be extremely helpful for Lyrica’s mentality.

If she rises to the challenge, then that means her low self esteem is almost fixed. When it does, what remains will be a reliable teammate.

As they say, a foolish teammate is worse than a strong enemy.

’Now I just need to make sure I cultivate her confidence but not turn it into arrogance. I also need her to have a sense of situational awareness. Charging into a fight with an opponent much stronger than you is idiotic. And trying to rely on some miracle to happen and save you is ridiculous.’ Shiro thought as she smiled and walked away.

Returning to her room, Shiro changed out of her school uniform and into the dress she first woke up in. She didn’t know what the dress was made from but she did know that it was indestructible. It didn’t provide any benefits though.

She left the school grounds as she opened her tablet to search for the lowest D ranked Dungeon. She wanted to have some time to level up by herself.

[Frag Ant’s Burrow LVL 21 – Floors: 3]

Boss Level: LVL 25

The location was just on the outskirts of the city as it would take roughly 30mins even with her AGI.

Shiro didn’t mind though as she dashed towards the location. She froze the ground under her feet as she started to skate towards the location at a much faster pace.

Taking routes through the alleyways and rooftops, Shiro avoided most pedestrian’s attention.

She didn’t leave any traces of Ice behind her either as that would be troublesome if incidents happened because of this.

In just 20 minutes, Shiro arrived at the Dungeon location.

Hardly anyone was here as Shiro entered the Dungeon before they realised she entered alone.

The Dungeon was similar to the Serpent’s Dungeon. It was housed in an underground area with barely any lighting.

Giving her body a stretch, Shiro created a dagger as she could already see a few Frag Ant’s climbing out of their burrows.

After reaching LVL 21, her daggers took a 1500MP to make a level 21 version. But the benefits it came with were well worth it.

[Nano Crafted Ice Dagger LVL 21 (Blue)]

+20 Piercing

+25 Sharpness

+25 Ice Element

+15 Critical Rate

+15 Critical Damage

Durability – Until stored MP runs out

MP – 1500/1500]

Shiro grinned as snow started to fall. The ground proceeded to freeze from beneath her feet as she dashed the moment the Frag Ant’s head popped out of the ground.

With a single efficient cut, the Ant’s head was sent flying through the air.

Shiro’s grin widened seeing more Frag Ants appear.

"This missy needs to level up quickly. Won’t you be a dear and help out?"