Chapter 21 – Prototype

By the time Sal had finished his coffee, he had told Chatfield all about his projects. The gun and the tracker seemed to catch his interest the most, and the fledgling idea for a coffee machine managed to get a laugh from him. Sal even went so far as to talk about the drone he wanted to make with Upgrade.

Chatfield listened intently, nodding and making a few comments as Sal explained everything. When Sal mentioned the evolutionary trait, Chatfield interrupted him with a surprised expression.

“Wait, you’re able to construct equipment and weapons with an evolutionary capability?”

Something about how he said it made Sal pause. He thought it had been obvious when he explained how each of the concepts would grow over time.

Sal nodded as he turned in his chair to bring up the schematic for the Legendary sniper rifle.

“Yes, one of the Reavers had a knife with the trait, and I was able to use the same rune on this design. The sniper rifle was Rare grade with a few Epic components, and we managed to get it up to Legendary with the trait. It’ll be the first known crafted weapon to reach the Mythic grade, apparently.”

Sal didn’t want to sound like he was bragging, but he couldn’t erase the pride out of his voice. Just to ensure that he wasn’t getting ahead of himself, he added the caveat, “I wouldn’t have been able to complete it without the help of the Crafters in the workshop. Upgrade, Martin, and Gosia were instrumental in getting it over the line.”

Chatfield was off his chair immediately and circled the bench to get a better look at the blueprint. He glanced at Sal with a quick smile before tracing his hand over the details on the screen.

“This is an absolute game changer. You could create sets of armor with evolutionary traits! Does the evolution have a definite path, or could it be tied to the development of the user?”

Chatfield’s question struck a chord in Sal. He had only looked at reverse engineering the evolutionary trait from a high grade down to a low grade, which ensured a set path of evolution for the item. If he just created a Common-grade piece of equipment with an evolutionary trait, would he be able to attune it to the person’s essence?

Sal had more questions than answers. “I’ve only ever created the evolutionary trait on the sniper rifle. I haven’t attempted it on anything else yet, except for the concepts in my head. With the tracker, I’ve been putting all the ideal abilities into the ultimate version of it, and then reverse engineering it to a lower grade that I can make comfortably with my current skills. I hadn’t really thought about making a low-grade item with the trait, and just leaving the evolution to chance. Feels a little reckless, don’t you think?”

Chatfield laughed as he shook his head. “No, it’s exciting! There’s the potential for equipping students with a single set of armor that could see them through their entire professional career! Think of how cost-effective that would be! How would these items accumulate essence? The only ones I’ve seen so far have been mostly unusable because they siphon off unreasonable amounts of essence from the user. How did you get around that?”

Sal couldn’t help but share in Chatfield’s sudden excitement. He was like a completely different person, and Sal was very much a new fan.

“I can’t really talk like an expert with this as I’ve only done it once, and the Mythcrafter ability did all the heavy lifting when it came to figuring out the details. With the sniper rifle, it gathered essence through kills. Tethering was the ability it used, which is like Siphon, as far as I can tell. The tracker, on the other hand, will probably use essence signatures. Interpreting information is apparently a form of essence storage…according to Quest, at least. I don’t know what it would look like for pieces of armor, though. I’d have to experiment with a few designs to see what the Mythcrafter ability comes up with.”

Chatfield nodded as he glanced back down at the blueprint. “So, when you said that the gun concept would develop over time, you weren’t talking about transition schematics? You were going to create a Tether ability like the sniper rifle, and give it an evolutionary trait?”

He placed both hands on the bench and leaned forward, shaking his head slightly with a wry smile on his face. “This is beyond my expectations. I came in here this morning expecting some grand conspiracy from Quest, hoping that I’d be deterred from making changes to how the academy operates…but this? To find out that you’re potentially capable of outfitting the entire student body with evolutionary equipment? That warrants a completely new report for the Hunter Bureau and the United Guilds Association.”

When Chatfield glanced up, he had a thoughtful expression. “What resources do you need to get prototypes ready?”

Sal was caught off guard and wasn’t exactly sure how to respond. Actually, he wasn’t really sure what question he was being asked.

“Sorry, prototypes? Do you mean the gun and the tracker, or are you talking about the schematics I drew up for the different sets?”

It was only a matter of time before he was bombarded with commission requests from the faculty who knew his identity, and Sal wasn’t even sure how to navigate pricing his services. Chatfield seemed excited by his capabilities, and although it was flattering, Sal wasn’t going to be operating like a charity. No matter what Chatfield said, Sal would be taking his time to consider his options.

Chatfield shook his head as he pushed himself away from the table and stretched his back with a relieved sigh. “A Common or Uncommon-grade armor set, with evolutionary traits. That’s the prototype I’m looking for. A blueprint as detailed as those other ones would be perfect. If the prototype works, then I’ll get it signed off from the association and we’ll ramp up production to get everyone equipped with them. Ideally, we’d be looking for the most common materials possible to ensure mass production, but I’m not sure if your ability has any control over that. Does it?”

A gnawing sensation clawed in the pit of his stomach. Quest had indicated that Chatfield wanted to create a production line in the academy and limit the Crafters to making military-grade equipment. If he created a blueprint for them to work on, would he end up removing his own autonomy in the long run? Maybe it was because of the friendly atmosphere and Chatfield’s good mood, but Sal felt comfortable enough to voice his concerns aloud.

“I had heard that you wanted the Crafters to stop working on personal projects, and to focus on making standardized equipment. If I make this prototype and it works, would that change how Crafting works here at the academy? I don’t want to end up turning the place into a factory, if that makes sense?”

Chatfield sighed as he leaned his back against the wall. “To speak very bluntly, yes. It would change things at the academy. Those with capabilities like you would be free to work independently, but for the lower skilled crafters chasing a magnum opus…this change would provide a more structured and streamlined method for their success. Supports have the hardest time at the academy, with many attempting to get ahead in the Crafting, Analysis, and Administration classes. Not many of them are confident in their own capabilities, so they avoid classes like Survival, Field, and Combat.

“With how Crafting is taught, those students are facing an uphill battle. This isn’t the best environment to learn through trial and error, as we assess students based on their results rather than their attempts. If we implement a standardized blueprint and taught Crafters from day one how to produce it, they would have increased value to the academy as they improved their skills.”

Chatfield smiled as he gestured at the door of the blueprint room. “Everyone out there right now is scrambling to get ahead, putting themselves under serious pressure to deliver something that will keep them in the academy. Having a structured product list of what we need manufactured would remove those doubts and provide a streamlined progression path for them.”

Sal’s reservations about the plan dissipated. It made sense to provide structure for the students who were struggling, and it sounded like it wouldn’t impact his ability to craft what he wanted. There was a lot to think about, but Sal wasn’t against the idea as much as he thought he would be.

The idea of students like Joshua Mitchell and Anthony, who didn’t have that much capability, being given a clear progression path in the class…Sal found himself agreeing with Chatfield. It seemed like a smart course of action.

Chatfield clicked his fingers, drawing Sal’s attention back to him.

“That’s only one side of the coin. Let’s say that we can make this happen and the prototypes work as planned? We’d be able to equip all our students with adaptive sets of armor that will see them through to the end of their studies. We could make it more affordable to them by renting out the armor, and offering them a buy-out option at graduation. That would allow us to stockpile more sets, pay our Crafters, and essentially improve performance of all our field-based students. It could significantly reduce casualties out in the field and give us a stronger foundation as we pass the torch to the next generation fighting in the demon war. I probably sound like an idealist when I say this, but your designs could end up having a dramatic effect on the course of history, Mr. Argento. So, I’ll ask again, what resources do you need from me to get this project off the ground?”

Sal laughed at the prospect of changing history with a single set of armor prototypes. It sounded fantastical, no matter what way he looked at it, but Chatfield’s conviction was infectious. Rather than poke holes in his logic, Sal thought about what he might need, but there was too much speculation without having tried to come up with the designs. It was getting close to the point where he’d need to make his way to Skill class.

“I’ve got class coming up, so I’ll need to come back to this later. I’ve got no idea what materials I’ll need for the prototypes until I start using the Mythcrafter ability—”

Sal suddenly realized there was an opportunity for him to kill two birds with one stone. He figured there was no harm in asking, especially with how invested Chatfield was in this new project.

“I have been having some trouble sourcing a material called lord crystal. It’s for the screen of the Analysis tracker, and I don’t know that I’ll be able to determine the best materials without it. I was barely able to use Quest’s tracker with the Analysis ability, but it was enough to let me see the breakdown of materials and what abilities would manifest from using them. I could try to map out the prototype without the tracker, but I’ve got a feeling we’d have the best result if I had it.”

As Sal finished, he looked at Chatfield to gauge his reaction, but he couldn’t read any emotions from the lecturer’s face.

After a few moments of thought, Chatfield nodded with a smile. “Okay. Send me over the list of materials you need for your tracker, and I’ll get them sorted. Lord crystal shouldn’t be an issue, but if there are more premium materials that could make it better, let me know. If you need to take time off classes to get it done, I can arrange that too. This project is something we should absolutely see through, and I’m excited to work with you on it.” With that, Chatfield extended his hand.

Sal grasped it and barely found the words to thank him. He was able to get a material even better than lord crystal if he needed it? That alone was enough for him to grin like an idiot.