During the comm-pad call, the two men decided to meet. Mark used the hover bike to go to his grandfather's apartment back in Miller Hills. At the moment, the two men were sitting at the table. His grandfather was sipping tea while listening to Mark's recount of the events.
"Wow, you are now a gang boss. What would your mother think?" Bart looked at his grandson with a teasing gesture. He chuckles at the young man after taking a sip of his cup.
A reluctant sigh escaped through Mark's mouth. "Grandpa, can you take this seriously? Besides, I have not said yes, I'm still not the boss." The young man admitted to himself that Bart's antics lighten his mood a bit.
Bart displayed a serious look this time. "Look, Mark, these are the consequences of your actions. Part of being a grown-up is accepting and dealing with these consequences. You helped the gang survive, and while that was not your intent, it still happened."
The young man recalls the events of the past few days once again in his mind. "I have to admit that things got out of hand. I never expected the guns in the workshop to belong to anybody. And I also never expected to land in the middle of a gang war."
Mark's grandfather takes a sip of his tea. "We never planned for things like these. But the moment we destroyed the illegal weapons, we made enemies of the people who own them." He takes another sip of his tea. "What's done is done; we can only hope to find a way to get out of this in a single piece. To that end, I think it is best to use the resources at hand."
Mark fell into thought for a moment. "So you think I should say yes and use the gang to fight my battles?"
Bart patiently gazes at his grandson's face. He reassured the young man after sipping on his tea again. "Mark, they will also use you to survive. That is how the world works. You use them, and they use you. Its a form of ...symbiosis. Besides, The Blazing Hand is after their territory. With or without you, they were always on a path to conflict."
Mark decided to ask for his grandfather's help. "If I'm going to do this, I will need help. I have never dealt with this sort of thing, not even in my old life. I haven't got the slightest idea of how to proceed."
Bart puts the cup on the table without taking another sip. He glares at Mark with an intense expression. The gesture interrupted Mark's words. He knew what his grandson was about to ask. "Before you say anything else, tell me why you're so interested in this. Why can you not simply leave it all behind? Take your mother and Melly and leave the Rappal System to go somewhere safer."
The young man reflected for a moment. He searched for the answers in his mind. Mark realized that he was actually trying to find a way to preserve his city. Or at least the image of the city that he grew up with. Accepting this, the answer became clear, and his mind was made up. "Because there are other things I wish to protect besides my family." At the moment the words left his mout Mark felt the weight of his choices. This was reflected in his expression.
Bart looks at Mark with pride in his eyes. "That is a good answer. I will help you any way I can, but we will need others to help; the two of us cannot do this by ourselves. I will talk to Jack about it. However, I will also have to tell him about the guns we destroyed." Bart pauses for a moment and ponders. "We might even have to tell him about your alien relic. I know it's best to keep this a secret. But since the gang war can put his life in danger Its fair for him to know."
A pensive expression shows on Mark's face. Thinking about all the times Jack has helped him, his hesitation vanished. "I think that is Ok Grandpa, I trust Jack. He has been a great help ever since I met with him. I owe him a lot."
Bart takes the teacup again. "Tell me, little Mark, what exactly is it that you want with this gang? While I understand the issue with the Blazing Hand, I feel that you are leaving something out."
Mark relates his findings after the last system request, his idea to turn the abandoned military base into a mech factory, and a possible shelter against planetary bombardment.
With this, he was starting preparations to alter the future of the entire Berant City. Since the gang had been raiding the junkyard for years, they were the best choice to help him in this endeavour.
Bart contemplates Mark's words. His Teacup was already empty. "It is a good Idea. Besides, turning that junkyard into a productive resource will be a good thing." Looking at his empty cup, Bart decides to leave the rest of the conversation for another day. "We'd better continue this talk tomorrow, Its getting late."
Bart stands up to lead Mark to the door. "I will talk to Jack, and we will meet tomorrow. For now, go back home before your mother notices that you are gone."
Mark leaves his grandfather's apartment without any incident, and he reaches the house at Riggan's Point. The young man double-checks the map function this time, making sure that no one is in his room. For the moment, there was no need to share his secrets with more people than necessary.
After a warm bath, the young man lies in his bed. His mind reflects on the events that have occurred since his last regression. While it felt like a long time, only twelve days had passed. In two more days, classes at the institute will begin again. Mark ponders how he will cope with being back in that environment. Amidst expectation and possible scenarios, he drifted into sleep.
The alarm on his comm-pad woke him up. Mark frowns; he does not remember setting up his alarm. Looking at his comm pad, he sees that it's 6:30 a.m. The alarm name reads, 'Wake up, Big Brother.'
"That little rascal." With a smile, the words escape his mouth.
A message from the system displayed the daily TP bonus. "Bonus awarded for today: 4,724,512 TP awarded. Your new balance is 4,871,955 TP. Your bank balance is 0 tp."
Looking at his TP gave him a jolt of energy. With an expression of surprise, he stood up from the bed in amazement. "That is a lot of TP. Where does that windfall come from?"
Mark decided to open the home page of the system. But the page was still glitching; he could not see the summary of his daily bonuses. Instead, he made some quick calculations.
His own factory, without the production contracts, produced 33,600 machines each day. He then multiplied that by the amount of TP given by each machine wich was 100. The TP produced by his factory was 3,360,000 TP on sales of the McCain Reaper alone, without taking the other product sales into account. The difference that remained was due to the sale of parts, weapons, and the production contracts he held.
This was not going to be permanent. Once the rush of his product runs its course, it will decrease abruptly. He needed to quicken his pace with the gunslinger. For the moment, Mark decided to go for a small shopping spree to celebrate his earnings.
The first thing that came to mind was the Advanced Design Space. Purchasing skills, however, had to be done gradually. Getting too many skills at the same time will force him to sleep for the entire day. With all the things in his schedule, that was the last thing he needed. Feats and system abilities, however, posed no issue.
He started browsing his system abilities tab. Besides the Advanced Design Space that had a cost of 80,000 TP. He decided to buy the Wealth Management system ability for 20,000 TP. This way, the system will also help him to gain real-world money. Mark had not been taking care of this aspect of his life. While it had been only a few days since he won the lottery, he needed more funds for his plans. Using the system to make his money work for him was a good idea.
Mark uses the menu provided by the system's ability and assigns 5 billion L-credits to create an investment portfolio. The young man had no Idea how this works. However, he deduced that the system will select the best investment and generate revenue in the form of dividends paid every month. In total, the young man will receive an amount of 8% of his investment every month. This amount could decrease or increase depending on the whims of the market.
With enthusiasm, Mark went back to the list. He browses back and forth for a littlewhile. Some of the grayed-out system abilities had become active with the last repairs. Mark quickly took notice of one, Light Scale Fabrication. This system's ability allowed it to fabricate objects up to 1016.05 kg. Each fabrication required the necessary materials plus a TP cost for fabrication. The system's ability had a value of 200,000 TP. This ability would be a lifesaver in the future.
After that, Mark decided to purchase the system Repair ability. This Ability would repair the equipment and vehicles made or sold by the system. Like the Design Space, it came with different levels. The young man bought the Basic Repair Ability for 100,000 TP. To repair his equipment, he needed to provide raw materials and TP.
Mark draws a reluctant sigh. "If only it could also repair the system, but apparently, you can't always get what you want."
Melly's voice sounded in his mind. Since she had not done this in a while, Mark was caught off guard. "Big Brother, Breakfast is ready. Rachel Marcus and I are waiting for you."
Mark decided to postpone his shopping spree for the moment and eat breakfast with his family. While he walked to the table, the system prompted the changes to his TP balance. This time, however, Mark did not pay attention and just kept walking.
Arriving at the table, he sat down beside Melly. Good Morning Mom, Dad. Good morning, Melly." Mark greeted everyone while gently tapping Melly on the head. "Thank you for that unexpected alarm, Melly."
The girl giggles. "I did not feel like going all the way to your room. This house is much too big."
Rachel clears her throat. "I have decided to agree to your proposal, Mark. I will take over the droid boutique. Also, I have chosen to resume my studies."
Mark smiles at his mother. Her decision made him happy. "Its about time. They should be installing the new equipment today and taking the old one out. Are you going to bring your friends?"
Rachel smiles at her son. "I will call them and see if they want to work for me."
Marcus finds an opportunity to ask a question. "Hey Mark, what are you going to do today? My friend Rowan has been asking to meet you."
Mark thought about the things he had to do for the day. "I can't today, I am a bit busy, but we can get together for lunch tomorrow."
Marcus liked the Idea. "That sounds good. I will set it up."
The family then enjoyed their breakfast. Soon after, they all resumed their daily plans. Marcus left for work, Melly went to her room to play in A.M.S., Rachel used her comm-pad to call her friends, and Mark decided to return to his room.
While the young man enters the room, his comm-pad rings with a call. The caller Id shows the call is from Bart. Without delay, he answers. "Hello Mark, how are you doing today?"
Mark returns his greeting. "I'm fine, Grandpa, and you?"
Bart's voice came through the comm-pad. "I'm doing fine. Listen, I'm about to meet with Jack. I'll talk to you later, just in case he needs a demonstration. We will meet in Jack's shop.
Mark related his plans. "No problem, I'll be working on my new mech design in A.M.S., let me know if you need me."
After their call, Mark grabs his VR headset and logs into A.M.S. The hangar was in its usual State. Mark went to the Repairs Control room, but found it was empty. He then proceeded to the Design Lab; from there, he moved his consciousness inside the new Advanced Design Space.
As he entered the Design Space, he noticed a lot of differences from the intermediate one. First, it was bigger, almost twice as big. The terminals and consoles looked more advanced, and the ambience felt more soothing. It was then that he remembered, he had not checked the upgrade description.
Without delay, he opened the system. Looking through the list of abilities he had purchased, Mark tapped on the Design Space. As he read the description, he noted that the fatigue mitigation effect had risen from 25% to 50%. Furthermore, the computational power had increased tenfold.
Mark was elated; with these, it would be so much easier to design things. Suddenly, He hears a voice from behind. "Hello Friend, please don't be alarmed."