The Industrialist

Science Aspirants Registration Service [SARS], Inland Sector

***

A condescending stare streak towards the aspirant from Assessor Mari. "You’re back again, huh!"

Lance thought about smashing the stone tag on the table that said Junior Assessor, SARS, towards her head.

"You know these days, Scientists are easily bored," Lance teased.

"Well, I am not sitting on this desk to chit-chat your problems!" Mari hissed.

"I am not here to chit chat, Miss Mari," Lance responded but held his teasing stare unto the annoyed Desker.

"Your generation nowadays. Always think that you are invincible because you have these inventions and you think that it made a difference? You thought wrong, kid. The world is still dark and monsters are outside the fence."

"Hey, bad mood aren’t we?" Lance just smiled, disregarding the utter annoyance of a busy Desker.

"Kid, if you just came here to check on my mood, be gone outta my sight! I have been processing aspirants all day, twenty! And it’s still noon! The pay is not enough to accommodate you little heads!"

"C’mon, miss Mari. I know you can process another one. I am not gonna wait for you to have lunch and process me after thirteen hundred," Lance appealed.

"I just processed you the other week. Are you here for complaints? We have Information Desks that you can ask for those kinda things!"

"Nope. I am not here to file a complaint. I am here for this," Lance placed the CloudArchive tab on her desk.

She took it and found a recommendation letter from Doctor Zee, head of SAC.

Her face turned to inexplicable angles. She did not know what to feel. She read them for so long, word for word, and back again until the content sank in her.

"You are just a Scrapper 2! How come you managed to become a Mech Tier 1?"

"I don’t know about the Generation nowadays, Miss Mari. I guess I am just bored and invented something that contributes actual change to this world."

She held that annoyed stare, her eyes rolled and back to the CloudArchive.

Still skeptical, Mari scanned through the CloudArchive again and again. "What kind of invention?" She read the contents. It took her minutes to check the signatories from SAC members and the contents of RoFlo project.

"What so special about this?"

"Nothin’ special really. Hey, one more thing. I will also process for a co-TOR registration."

"What! Wait a minute. You are not qualified to become a TOR. Without a degree, you can’t even step foot in any Factory doors."

"Please check again, Miss Mari. I believe I included also a letter of recommendation from the SAC head that I will be working under Doctor Zee in this endeavor."

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"How could it be? Other Aspirants paid tuition to take up Factory Science or Lean Manufacturing Management courses, or even pre-Master’s degree just to qualify! You just took up the three free introductory courses, Mr. Berkley. There’s gotta be a mistake."

"You can call Doctor Zee if you like. I mean, the CloudArchive will not store fake documents, is it not?"

Mari sighed and cursed inwardly. She tapped her fingers on her tabletop glass where her holographic construct appeared. Lance could hear the sound of her fingers tapping against the glass annoyingly.

"According to the Corporation Ordinance no. 174 D, such rank offerings more than one level high, will not follow the established price bracketing. So it means that the SAC has dictated its price. Now, it says here 5000 units to achieve a Mech Tier 1. Can you even afford it?"

5000 units could buy two years’ worth of groceries for every individual. Such an amount also was way over the Mid-classer’s average asset value, which was around 3000 units.

Lance replied only with a smile, his hand curtly placed in both sides, transcending with utter respect to the Desker.

"Now, sorry about that kid, but we have to face reality. No commoner can do that in an instant. From Scrapper 2 to Mech Tier 1, c’mon! Only a select few can do just like that, Mr. Berkley. One of which recently was Jaqi.

A promising scientist who came from influential family of Scientists. She paid tens of thousands of units just to achieve from Scrapper 1 to Mech Tier 3, avoiding the dust and dirt of scrapping. Rich kids!"

’Even mid-classers despised the high echelons?’ Lance deduced.

Without any response from the Aspirant, he took out fifty currency cards from his knapsack, each storing one hundred units each, which gave the whole stack equivalent of 5000 units.

He placed them on Mari’s table, several light metal cards clanking against the glass.

Watching the stacks scattered on her glass table, Mari’s eyes bulged in surprise. For her, it seemed a pot of gold had landed on her desk, ready for the taking.

"You better scan them all, maybe there are empty currency cards there," Lance said while he arranged them by tens."

"For Science’s sake! Who are you, kid?" Mari said as she started to scan the currency cards one by one.

"I think we are going to be best friends, assessor Mari!"

"I doubt that," her mood seemed to brighten. "I am going to continue with your registration given that all of your requirements are complete. Although CloudArchives store legit docs, but they will still undergo further verification through the Central Office. Mech Tiers have different processing than Scrappers. Processing is longer than Scrapper registrations. More hands will sign and review."

Lance finished the registration and Mari shared the perks of being a Mechanical Tier ranking Scientist.

He scanned on his CloudArchive Tab and reviewed the perks:

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[1] Responsibility Access (For registration Labor Force Commissions):

Scrapper Yard Tier 3 (30% increase commission in scrap trading based on Scrapper 2 bracket)

Address: Steelpoint Upper Zones and Western Crystalum Sector

Yard Composition:

Common – 30%

Uncommon – 60%

Rare – 9%

Masterworks – 1% or less

Factory vacancies

Desker Jobs

Production Analyst level (Kranian Enterprises) - 500 units per month – Establish monitoring of production lines with corresponding analysis and potential problem identification and solution.

Materials Acquisition Planning Analyst (Cultz Industries) – 500 units per month – Identify material demands and requisition planning. Cost reduction of procured materials by alternative components.

Material Inspector and inventory Analyst (UniCorp) – 400 units per month – warehousing operations and storing efficiency. Accuracy of specifications declared in acquired components.

...see more.

[2] Accommodation: 2-bedroom Condo, 2 Bathrooms, 70 sqm floor area, 3rd-floor CastleRise, HyperVista Sector.

Rent – 50 units per month (maintenance fees, miscellaneous costs)

Note: Mechanical Tiers can always access the scrap yards if one wants to trade scrap components. Respective trade prices still apply based on the Corporation Ordinance no. 6969 amendment.

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Looking at the tab, Lance was exhilarated with the perks. He had now become a mid-classer and his accommodation would be inland, HyperVista Sector.

He thought of his Aiveez Nursery in his apartment and he should make arrangements to transfer operations to the Rebel camps underground.

But before anything else, his mind now shifted to the mystery woman who helped them in Asphodel boundary.

The identity of the woman came second, his priority was to research about the weapon she used. An exponential enhancement of plant growth by the use of electrical triggers. The theory was familiar, as if it was the same as his father’s Project Nightfall objective.

Growth enhancement of organic material by compatible use of electric source. He heard rumors that Scientists had allocated significant budget just to fuel the research. He heard it from one of his clients, inland - complaining about budget restrictions caused by this new project pursuit.

And Abominant blood used as fuel? That’s one theory he wanted to experiment. There maybe a link between the Scientists buying Zelkians in the black market for their experiments. Maybe they found that the contaminated blood of Abominants had sufficient radiological levels that could be utilized as fuels.

His new mission now unfolded.

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