Turns out I massively underestimated how marketable my power is, the amount of tinkers willing to pay to reduce the need for upkeep is astounding. I've been told how useful my power is quite a few times throughout the day. I honestly should've realized sooner, time spent repairing equipment is time not spent advancing forward. If every tinker on earth had no need for upkeep, tinkers would've probably ended up at the top of the parahuman food chain years ago.
I've also underestimated how frustrated most tinkers are. Most of them spend months figuring out the intricacies of their specializations and pretty much all of them have to do it alone with only their point of view and experiences directing their tinkering. For them, having a second opinion from someone that understands their specialization just a well as they do is invaluable. It shows them the paths not taken, the opportunities missed and new ways their limits can be pushed.
A tinker like Brockton Bay's new Ward would've most likely spent most of his career creating substandard equipment and barely making any improvements only to end up dead months or years down the line, their efforts wasted and forgotten. Those that don't suffer from problems like that still don't achieve their full potential and only the lucky few who have support reach the top.
Hero is one example, despite how much the community respects him, none of us can deny his status as the most privileged tinker the world has ever seen. From day one, he was supported by the largest parahuman organisation in the world. He had unlimited support and resources from day one and as a result, he reached the top. Despite this, the community still respects him not only for his position as the first to be called the greatest but also for what he represents, someone who has achieved the pinnacle of his craft. Something all of us wish to achieve, to see the end of the road and being able to proudly say, I did it.
What I've been told throughout the day is that my willingness to share resources, my capacity to help any tinker and my ability to erase upkeep makes me the greatest opportunity for most tinkers to reach for the top. I can give them resources, support and a new perspective. If Hero is the pinnacle, then to the forty tinkers I helped today, I am the path leading to the summit.
Despite the shock that comes with the realization, I can't help but ask myself if I'll be able to match up to their expectations. This revelation wasn't something I was ready for, my day began rather normally. I went to my stall after sleeping at home for the night and I got my second curious client at around nine a.m. A young girl accompanied by her two masked but evidently civilian parents, she wanted to get some materials and the cape I bought the hologram projector from directed her my way.
I decided to be charitable and give her some resources for free but the conversation turned towards tinkering after a few minutes. The girl had figured out her specialization to be force fields a while ago but she wanted to focus more on offence while her parents wanted her to focus on defence.
I didn't even want to speak about tinkertech with the girl but she started an argument with her parents in front of my stall so I had to cut in. I convinced her she could compromise between the two by having electrified force fields around her body for protection and to take down villains. Her parents were thankful for my help and the small family went on it's way shortly after.
What really kicked up the ant's hill was my second client of the day. The guy had overheard my conversation with the girl and was wondering if I could help him with his own problem. The guys main weapon was a laser sword and he was having trouble making it non-lethal. The problem was quickly solved when I mentioned some types of lasers having the ability to conduct electricity while being harmless to humans. The precise moment which changed the course of my day was when his laser sword broke down just as he was leaving.
Being the gentleman that I am, I instantly repaired his sword and he promptly freaked out. A short explanation later and the guy was happily leaving with my business card. He must've spread the information around because the number of people coming to see me started steadily rising from that point on. Now it's four p.m and I talked with over forty tinkers in the last few hours.
I've received all kinds of offers and I made deals for things I never would have tried to sell before. Five tinkers were willing to join my tinkers association as long as they got unlimited access to everything I have to offer ranging from repairs and resources to advice and access to my 3D printers. Ten other tinkers left with my business card and are supposed to call me back to buy 3D printers from me. The rest of them left with my cards and quick promises to call me soon. Almost all of them asked for repairs on their most commonly used piece of equipment.
Even more surprising to me, ten of them inquired about getting their own personalized virtual rooms with the hardware needed to run them. Turns out even the low level VR I'm using is considered a cut above the rest. My current hardware consists of a small thumb-sized chip capable of adjusting it settings to imitate your senses perfectly in only thirty seconds, you just need to place it in your helmet or mask and you instantly have a few more hours everyday to improve yourself. The modelling programs only make it more desirable.
I'll probably have to run a few more tests and include a few more features before I even think about letting anyone buy it. No way am I selling an unfinished or substandard product. Like my specialty, everything I sell is custom made. Every single one of my creations to date has been completely unique in design, each one made to answer a specific need in a very specific way and I'm not about to lower my standards just because I'm making something for somebody else. I won't accept giving anything but my best.
The various discussions I've had today haven't only been worthwhile for others, I've also benefited massively from them. Already, five people want to join my tinkers association and I've gotten a better idea of what tinkers want to buy. I also got to more closely observe tinkertech from forty different tinkers, thirty five of them had potential for tinkertech better than mine. By observing them, my own potential in their specialization has risen.
The first girl I interacted with today had extremely efficient force field designs. From inspecting her equipment, I've already found ways to make all my field emitters thirty percent more efficient without even needing a better printer. The guy with the laser sword gave me an idea for a better version of something I plan to use against Leviathan.
Each tinker I spoke to gave me a little something in a way, some more useful than others admittedly but everything is appreciated. The most important one came from a simplified technology tinker. I don't know how but seeing a part of his armor gave my power a flash of insight and it supplied me with a way to make a 3D printer two orders of magnitude better than my current one that only requires me to make a few modifications to my latest printer.
Because of that, my timetable for making the Endbringer fight armor has been shortened by two whole months. I might even be able to make a low level portal blade in time for Behemoth.
The upgrade this brings me cannot be understated. The next 3D printer I make will render all my current equipment outdated. The lungbuster armor? That thing is shit compared to what I'll be able to make with the new printer. The handheld transmutation device? Dogshit compared to the most basic transmutation device the new printer can make. This revelation is the only thing keeping my mind off of my new status as the tinker community's messiah.
Despite how happy I am, I'm also dreading the tinkering session I'll need to improve my equipment. I'll probably have to slowly build up resistance to higher time dilation virtual rooms. That or I'll have to make a few genetic modifications to allow my brain to endure high amounts of electricity, that way I won't have to risk having an aneurysm. Either way, twenty to one is the maximum amount of data my brain can process if I don't make some gene modifications.
There's also something else I have to plan for that I'll need to do after the Behemoth fight but that can wait a few months. I'm the only one dumb enough to search for what I'm looking for anyway.
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Just as I'm about to head home for the night, I'm interrupted by the sound of chatter coming my way.
My annoyance at being kept from my bed is quickly squashed when I realize it's Hero and a group of PRT tinkers heading towards my stall. I don't have much time to compose myself before the small group reaches my desk.
"Sorry for coming so late, I've been held up in meetings all day long and I've only managed to free a half hour now." I'm surprised enough that I can't think of something to say before Hero resumes speaking. "of course, I heard you're pretty good at giving tinkering advice so I had to see you at some point, my goal here is to catch up after all"
My mind finally decides to work and I respond quickly. "since you only have thirty minutes, would you mind joining me in a virtual room. I can adjust the time ratio there and thirty minutes can be made into two hours easily. Of course, I understand if you don't trust me enough to do so." By the end of my sentence, I'm holding a few VR connection devices to the group and surprisingly, Hero picks one up without hesitation and attaches it to his iconic visor. To make sure not to cause a misunderstanding, I quickly explain the chips fonction.
"you might feel weird for the next few seconds. You'll probably suffer from visual and auditory hallucinations and there's a high chance of synesthesia occurring between all major senses, I recommend sitting down." All the other tinkers are giving me angered looks so I quickly add "the process is necessary for the device to adjust to your senses. You see, everyone has a slightly different perception of reality and I imagine experiencing virtual reality through someone else's senses can be quite disorienting."
Seeing as everyone is accepting of my explanation, I put on my own chip and sit down. "I'll have to be inside the virtual room first in order to give you access so I hope you don't mind if I sit down. I'll be waiting for you inside." I tap the side of my chip at my last words. The transition is as nauseating as ever but I've been getting better at enduring it.
My control display receives some entry permissions after the expected thirty seconds and I quickly press accept all'. The second I do so, the group of serious looking tinkers appears behind different desks and instantly start making groaning noises. "the nausea shouldn't last more than a minute but you can take your time, we have all the time in the world right now.
Hero is the first one to recover, the rest only take a few more seconds once they realize Hero has overcome the nausea. The PRT's top tinker is quick to speak. "impressive, I can confidently say I've never experienced something like this in my time. This room feels as real as the physical world." He takes a short pause to look around before resuming.
"I can think of a few friends who would be quite interested in acquiring such tinkertech. Now, onto the reason I came to see you. My freeze ray had reached a bit of a bottleneck before my untimely break, watching some of the footage of your fight with Lung leads me to believe you might be able to help me in some way. One of my freeze ray's biggest weaknesses is it's inability to work at high temperatures. Your fight with Lung clearly demonstrates you don't have such a problem." He's looking at me with an expectant expression but instead of explaining, I open up my blueprint library on a display and select my latest HAF generator design before sending the display towards Hero's desk.
The action seems to surprise him slightly but he's quick to recover and his attention is focused solely on my blueprint within seconds. The next few virtual minutes are filled with silence, the group of tinkers are exploring their own displays and Hero is analyzing my blueprint. After ten minutes observing the 3 dimensional blueprint, Hero looks up and speaks.
"while the mechanism behind your HAF generator is quite different from the one operating my freeze ray, I can still see how integrating bits of your design could completely erase my heat problem. You've answered all my questions for the day but I'll probably see you again when I have the time. I'm interested in acquiring my own virtual room, the time dilation is just too much of an advantage to miss."
"well, if you don't have anything else to ask me today, I'd like to go to bed so I'll just disconnect everyone and be on my way"
"oh, of course. I'm thankful for your help." the exit is just as nauseating as the entrance but I'm used to it by now so I simply make my way through the portal and close it behind me.
Today's been a long day and processing what just happened is a task I'll leave to tomorrow's me. The embrace of sleep comes quick.
A.N: this chapter turned out better than the last one in my opinion, the flow was better and I was writing something I have experience writing. It still isn't as good as I would've wanted it to be. I'm a big fan of having every detail in a story be significant in some way, either as an explanation for something else or as a result of a past action. To me, every detail in a story must have a viable explanation in the story's setting. Since I'm a beginner at storytelling, I might not be the best at using details but I'd like to think I'm not the worst and that I'm improving. My muse was good so I wrote this chapter a day early to compensate for posting the last one a day late. Hope you enjoyed, till next time.