Chapter 425: Plans [3]
Operation Killing Joe may seem to have ended in complete disaster, but in reality that was not the case.
Leon had to pay a price that he would have otherwise wanted to avoid in being in a coma for 4 months, but despite that, the rewards that he got from the operation were just as lucrative.
Apart from the important combat experience of battling a Fluxmancer and living to tell the story, he also survived a battle against a C Rank Ascended. Few D Rank Ascended can boast of either of those achievements.
And more importantly he also succeeded in assassinating Earl Joe which resulted in a whole slave-trading empire being neutralized.
Even while he was in a coma, with direct assistance from Ren Nora, Lt. Colonel Umar Farouq and Talia were able to continue the mission on his behalf.
In the past 4 months, they’ve methodically dismantled more than 90% of Earl Joe’s trafficking empire.
After the events that happened 4 months ago, the Freegrid Collective expanded, taking the Lt. Colonel’s Town and all neighboring Towns under their protection.
And with that, whether he liked it or not, Lt. Colonel Umar Farouq officially became affiliated with the Freegrid Collective.
With that backing, the Lt. Colonel no longer held back as he went all out with the information that they hacked from Earl Joe’s enterprise.
He was the spearhead in the fight against slave trade for 4 months.
All this Leon achieved before he went into a coma.
To any other D Rank Ascended in Neo-Tokara, if they were given the offer to sacrifice 4 months of their lives for such a legendary achievement, they would take it without a moment of hesitation.
Every single one of those achievements 4 months ago was legendary in its own right, but that was not all.
Leon got revenge for Rex, finally settling the debt of blood that he owed Joe. And in the process, he also completed his main goal of increasing his Ascended Counter, even more than he expected.
That was already 5 birds killed with a single stone called Operation Killing Joe, and still, that was not all.
Leon also got a few unexpected boons, the Blueprints.
["Cannon Master Class Exclusive Blueprint- X-99 "Solaris" Photonic Disintegrator."]
["Cannon Master Class Exclusive Blueprint: Titan-Class 001 Siege Core."]
["Incomplete B Rank Blueprint: Psionic Bomb."]
In the Ascended Class system of Neo-Tokara, every Class had Class Specializations for a reason.
Class Specializations were broad and developed, and each Ascended were supposed to stay within the boundaries of their specialty, even for Mechanists, but 4 months ago, after thinking feverishly for months on how to achieve it, Leon finally broke the system.
He acquired 2 additional Mechanist Class Exclusive Blueprints that were of a Class Specialization different from his own specialty through the ChronoSystem.
And that was not all, he also succeeded in envisioning and creating an incomplete blueprint of a Psionic Bomb, a B Rank Blueprint!
In all of Neo-Tokara, Leon doubted if there was any Mechanist who had a B Rank Blueprint, not even Ms. Shiu Pi of the Synth Order.
The female General of the Synth Order was the strongest Mechanist in the world, but Leon doubted that even she had a B Rank Blueprint.
This was how much he overachieved 4 months ago.
Adding the X-99 "Solaris" Photonic Disintegrator and the Titan-Class 001 Siege Core to his repertoire of blueprints increased his overall power, especially his offensive power exponentially when he constructed them.
Offensively, with just these 2 blueprints, Leon felt that he was now at least 2 times or even 3 times stronger than he was 4 months ago.
If he had those 2 blueprints already constructed 4 months ago when he fought against Dhruv Laden, he would have killed the terrorist Commander even more convincingly, and the terrorist may have never had the opportunity to call for a nuclear bomb.
To any other D Rank Mechanist, all these rewards were more than enough already, but Leon is a greedy man.
At least when it came to power, he was greedy.
At first, he intended to go North, past the Abyssal Scar to the territory of the Synth Order through the Endless Ocean where he planned to meet other D Rank Mechanists to increase his chances of getting their Class Exclusive Blueprints.
But after what happened 4 months ago, the plan changed.
With how fast Epsilon was pushing the PR propaganda machine for war, Leon knew that he didn’t have the luxury of time to visit the Synth Order anymore.
The war would erupt in a few months at most, maybe even a few weeks!
Besides, going to the North to meet other D Rank Mechanists was never guaranteed to get him what he wanted.
For the past few hours since waking up from his coma, after spending enough time with Tyla to relax, recover and think about his future plans, Leon concluded that he was not ready for the civil war yet.
He was already an anomalous Mechanist, but even that was not enough when his enemy were the literal rulers of the world.
Not even with Ren Nora on his side.
Like the General already said before, it’s been centuries since anyone saw Epsilon fight. No one knew his secrets, not even Ren Nora. No one knew how truly strong he was now, and that alone was an element of dread for Leon.
Challenging Epsilon and the rule of the Omnicore Federation as a C Rank Ascended is already a risky endeavor for anyone.
Doing so as a mere D Rank Ascended was suicide, but Leon had no choice.
Not like it was any different. Afterall, all his life since waking up in this world, he’d been challenging impossible odds and somehow surviving.
But even with this track record, Leon knew that challenging Epsilon head-on was going to be the most difficult endeavor that he had ever taken on.
The only way to increase his chances and make him confident was the ChronoSystem and if he succeeded in gathering all the Class Exclusive Blueprints of the Mechanist Class.
The ChronoSystem was the main reason why he wanted to go to the Abyssal Scar to try his luck there. As for the Class Exclusive Blueprints, actually, there was a surer way of getting all of it.
Leon refused to use it previously because he was confident that he could do it himself with his own ability.
But after losing 4 months so unceremoniously, there was no more time.
This is why Leon looked Ren Nora in the eye and said. "You said we’re friends, right?" He smiled. "Then help me".
His eyes gleamed. "Help me hack into the past, invade General Shiu Pi’s privacy and give me all the Class Exclusive Blueprints of the Mechanist Class".
Ren Nora blinked. "Huh?"
He looked at Leon for a long time incredulously. "You’ve really gone crazy huh? I thought you were the one who complained about my ability previously, now you want me to literally rob the strongest Mechanist in the world?"
Leon grinned. "Yes. It’s not like we’re thieves, there’s a difference between robbing for robbing’s sake and robbing for the greater good".
"We’re robbing for the greater good".
He chuckled. "By the way, sorry for when I accused your ability. Primordial Hacker is the best ability in the world!"
"So, what do you say? Will you help me?"
Ren Nora scowled and glared at Leon in a reproachful manner, making his heart skip a bit for a moment, but the General chuckled.
"Relax. What are friends for?"
...
Mere minutes later, Leon left Ren Nora’s mansion with a USB drive.
