After Klaus Park moved back into his and his family's old house, he became more organized about the activities he had to do during the day.
Since he was a teenager he had been practicing calisthenics to strengthen his muscles so that he would not have so many problems with muscle pain after heavy work and also to be more efficient, but after he moved into the apartment to live with Jayaa and Emma, he neglected this. Since his room in the apartment had a small space in which only his bed and the desk for his computer could fit, there was no room for him to do calisthenics and he didn't want to do it in the middle of the room, so he stopped doing it.
In fact, during that time in the apartment, Klaus neglected his entire health. He cut out essential meals, such as afternoon coffee, lunch, and his own diet, not to mention spending entire days in deep immersion.
Now that he had returned home and was no longer in as much of a hurry to get money as before, he thought the time was right to return to his normal habits.
So every day he started to wake up early to do his calisthenics session. Then he would take a shower and go down to the second floor to have coffee with his family. Then he would go back to his room and put the NeuroGear on his head to start his work.
His NeuroGear appeared to be getting more and more damaged and old, yet Klaus didn't even consider buying another one because he had already spent too much money in the last few days. In his mind, if the cheapest model of the NeuroGear, the first version released, cost one hundred dollars, the most up-to-date one was probably costing ten times that, so he preferred to wait until the equipment got a little older.
Even after making so much money, Klaus didn't feel that he was rich, and he was right, he wasn't, although he still had a few tens of thousands of dollars in his bank account.
For the next three days in Rise Online after the night in the manor, Kaizen did many things, but the first of them was to visit the dwarf Zahir. He told him the good news, that he had finally stopped being an Apprentice Blacksmith and that he had set up his own equipment and forge store. On top of all this, Zahir couldn't believe it when Psyker told him that he had landed a contract with King Spelloyal.
Obviously, the grumpy dwarf did not treat him more kindly just because Kaizen now had important contacts. Still, he seemed happy about Kaizen's achievements.
Kaizen decided to ask about the beautiful sword that Zahir had in his store, which he had been wondering about since he made his first Epic item.
[Item: Hudyr's Sword (Attack Weapon).
The Sword of Hudyr is the masterpiece of the dwarven blacksmith Zahir, and has been in his family's generation for many generations.
Class: Epic.
Item Level: 1 of 5
Attack: 25 (+1)
Defense: 5
Fitness Level needed: 10]
The sword was certainly beautiful with a slightly curved blade and golden ornaments. However, its stats were ridiculous compared to other Epic weapons.
Then Zahir explained that this was not a sword like the others because, according to him, with each level that the sword evolved, its power would double. In other words, when this sword went from level 1 to 2, it would have 50 Attack and 10 Defense. From level 2 to 3, one more the numbers would be doubled, so it would have 100 Attack and 20 Defense. In turn, from level 3 to 4; 200 Attack and 40 Defense. At the maximum level, the sword would have 400 Attack and 80 Defense. It was a deadly and fast sword.
For comparison, Kaizen's most attackable sword, the Snowy Limbo, had 200 base Attack with +70 of the Enhancement Stones. And he knew that when his weapons went up in level, they would increase by a maximum of 30 on each attribute.
That being the case, Kaizen asked how Zahir managed to make the Sword of Hudyr have this unusual evolution effect, to say the least, but the dwarf said he didn't know, because it wasn't he who made the sword, but his great-great grandfather who was also called Zahir.
This revelation made Kaizen realize that this sword was not the masterpiece of the dwarf Zahir he knew, but of another.
A little disappointed, Kaizen returned to the capital after his visit to Zahir and began to do his utmost to restore the entire stock of the Raven's Leg Shop. This advanced him another level and greatly improved his Strength attribute, specifically.
Yes, forging wasn't as statistically rewarding as exploring dangerous areas, visiting farming areas or facing bosses, but Kaizen enjoyed doing it and didn't want to get involved with anything too big for the time being.
In this way, time passed quickly for him, and the big day of the test to which he had been invited finally arrived.
As soon as he went downstairs to have breakfast with his family, he saw that his parents were watching something together on television.
To his surprise, a press conference with the director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology, Stephanie J. West, was beginning.
Stephanie was a middle-aged woman with gray hair and a friendly smile. Next to her was Philip D. Pate, the newly appointed Manager of the Coalitions Department at Hónghé Holdings.
Unlike Stephanie, Philip had a more serious countenance. Something about him between the messy black hair, the unshaven and the bored look made the people around him feel a little nervous.
These two totally different figures were together in front of the camera for one reason only: to announce to the whole notion, and also to the world, that several selection processes would take place that very day all over the United States of America to select people for their new partnership program.
This surprised many and others not so much. Some rumors about this had already been circulating since a picture of an invitation leaked on the webnet, but many skeptics thought it unlikely that anything of the sort would happen.
The general press went wild with the confirmation of this selection process, and in less than ten minutes it was already splashed across every TV and cell phone in the country. People started to debate on the webnet about the subject and it soon became the top of the most talked about subjects.
At the press conference, after Stephanie explained the basics of how the accommodations and Hónghé Holdings' partnership with the government would work, Stephanie opened up to the reporters' question session and a flurry of questions came in the very first second.
"What is the real purpose of this program?"
"Mr. Philip D. Pate, what is the reason Hónghé Holdings chose america to enter into such a large partnership?"
"Who will bear the costs of the program? The taxes we pay or Hónghé Holdings?
"What are the minimum requirements to participate in this selection process? I have heard that some have received letters from NIST at home and others have received the invitations from mentors or teachers from their schools, recommending them."
"What will be evaluated to decide whether or not a person is worthy of joining the program?"
"Is this related to Rise Online and Hónghé Holdings' virtual reality technology? Is the government thinking about training military personnel with that kind of technology?"
As always, the reporters were very smart and thought quickly of direct questions to the critical point of the matter. Their instincts allowed them to work that way. These were not tricky questions, but questions about things that the public probably wanted to know and that also generate clicks and engagement on the webnet.
Stephanie was experienced, so she took a deep breath, kept her cool, and answered:
"The cruel reality, gentlemen, is that we live in a current era where the great geniuses are on the wane. What was the last great genius of humanity that everyone remembers? Um. Nikolas Tesla? He died last century. We live today a huge shortage of geniuses. You know, I mean people who shock the world with their revolutionary discoveries and change the course of mankind forever?
She looked the reporters in the eye and finally looked at the camera in front of her.
"However, I still believe that geniuses exist and are out there. Nowadays, we have technology, social networks, and this demands an enormous amount of time from all of us, every single day. And what does it take for a genius to flourish, evolve and have ideas? Time. In other words, the geniuses we need are out there today in this modern world. This program, this partnership between the United States Government and Hónghé Holdings, will actively try to find people with great potential and try to turn them into the geniuses we need to create a prosperous future for humanity. That is what this program is designed to do. To discover, empower and transform the world."
Her response shocked all the media that was covering the press conference, as well as people watching at home.
The NIST director managed to answer virtually all the major questions with subtlety, intelligence, and serenity as few could.
At home, Kaizen just listened to her answer as he grabbed some coffee from the kitchen, then he smiled to himself and whispered to himself:
"Looks like things will be even more fun than I imagined."
...
Edited by: DrHitsuji
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