The workshop

What just happened confused Mark, as he didn’t think it would actually work.

Not much time passed after the panel that let him know that his TELEPATHY leveled up, and two more appeared.

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CHALLENGE COMPLETED

Challenge EVOLUTION MASTER completed

Description: Cause an upgrade to evolve through your used

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DRIVER UPGRADE EVOLVED (TELEPATHY LVL2)

Old Details: You can send one sentence up to 20 words to a visible creature within 2.5* meter(s) from you.

New Details: You can send one sentence up to 20 words to a visible creature within 5* meter(s) from you. You can also issue a viable command to a machine within range or send it as a message. Machines with AI have a chance to not follow your command.

Uses: 2/hour

*range can increase by leveling the upgrade

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Mark didn’t think that something so simple could cause such a sudden change. The range was double what it was before, and the times he could use it increased from twice per day to 48 times per day in theory.

The new ability to issue commands on machines sounded exciting and could be helpful in the future.

“Mr. Mark. Master would like to see you in workshop #1, “A-42 said out of nowhere.

Mark was curious about the reason he wanted him, but just sitting there imagining wouldn’t help.

As he got outside, one of the robot butlers headed his way and then turned in the same direction Maria had gone before with the other guide of hers. Mark followed it, and after a few minutes, reached a heavy metallic door.

It was a sliding door that actually had the door part slide into the wall, which it automatically did when Mark got there.

As the door opened, Mark saw Maria on a desk typing code in it, while Joe was over her shoulder watching what she did. When Joe heard the door opening, he turned, and when he saw Mark, he then pointed at a chair across from them.

Mark went to sit there, and Joe soon joined him, who took another chair to take a seat next to him.

“So what is it that you ne….“

“How long do you have that power? “Joe interrupted him.

Mark froze as he didn’t expect to hear that. Did he find out about his System?

Mark tried to think what he could say and looked towards Maria, who thankfully was still focused on her task.

“A-42 told me about your last message and the method you used. Although I want to make sure that this is valid. So can you try it on me?“

So A-42 reported his use of TELEPATHY on her. That made sense, as even if Mark didn’t know how it worked on her, he knew that if someone could detect more about it, it would be her. He cursed himself a bit for doing something so foolish, but he could undo what had already happened.

“I can’t use it yet. There are some limits on how often I can use it.“

Of course, he didn’t plan to tell him everything since he didn’t know how things worked, but maybe he could learn more with Joe’s help.

“Hm…. then how often can you use it. And how long are you able to do something like that? I have heard of people with these kinds of abilities, but most seemed to be frauds,“ Joe exclaimed.

Mark also have heard of people claiming to have psychic powers and could read the mind of others or send messages to them, but as Joe said, they were mind tricks.

“Not for long, and I am still getting used to it. But from what I know… “

Mark then gave a brief explanation of what he knew about his TELEPATHY and his ability to change his mental voice. Finally, he mentioned the communication with machines since he already did so with A-42, but left out the part about commanding them.

He didn’t mention Truck-kun, or the System, as he didn’t know how much he could trust him yet.

“I see. Then stay until you can reuse it, I guess. I am interested in seeing how it works. Let me know when you feel ready. “Joe said to the old man.

“What about Maria? I don’t want her to know that something has changed on me like that. “Mark exclaimed his concern.

“True. Few people should know about it. Then go back to your room and tell A-42 when you feel ready. “Joe responded.

Mark nodded and stood up to make his way back.

“Oh, Gramps? Why are you here? “Maria said, as she had just noticed Mark.

“Just came to check up on you, but since you seemed busy, I didn’t want to disrupt you. “Mark responded.

“I see…. Mr. Joe, I think I might have found something useful.“

Hearing that, Joe made his way to her in a hurry. He then starred at the screen, reading what was on it.

“This… how can it be? Are you certain that this number is correct? “Joe asked as he pointed at the screen.

“Yes, I triple-checked it. I am uncertain why, but there was a sudden drop to their ‘defenses. ‘But it doesn’t last for long as it keeps going back to normal and drops again after a few seconds. I can’t tell how long it can last, but we should use it for our benefit. “

Joe was in deep thought for a second, but soon he started typing on the laptop’s keyboard.

“It is still unfinished, but if we have noticed, then it is possible others have. So we have to seize the opportunity. “

Mark was uncertain what they talked about, and he just waited to see what would happen next.

Both of them focused on the laptop’s screen and another monitor connected to it, which showed different graphs that Mark was uncertain what they were for.

Marias was doing most of the typing, Mark noticed, but when Joe typed something, he did in what seemed to be inhuman speed.

Finally, Maria pressed the submit button, as they had finished adjusting their program, and it was time to get it executed.

Their attention moved to the monitor with the different graphs, specifically to one bar, that Mark could tell that it was how many TruckCoins got mines. There was a label over it that explained it to be the case; otherwise, he would never guess it by himself.

It was currently at 0.00%, but after a few seconds, it changed to 0.01%.

When it did so, excitement appeared in the eyes of Maria and Joe, but they kept looking at the screen and left the celebrations for later.

And so they waited and waited, but the bar didn’t move. Finally, close to five minutes passed, and then only the bar changed to 0.011%.

Seeing the slight change compared to the first one, Maria started checking on the primary monitor of the laptop something else.

“It… it is back to normal and doesn’t seem to drop its defenses anymore,“ Maria exclaimed.

“I see… well, still we had some progress and tested the program in action. Even if our earnings weren’t much, it should change soon. Let’s let it run for the rest of the day to check its stability.“

Mark coughed a bit loudly to draw their attention, as they both seemed to have forgotten that he was in the room.

“Oh, you still here? I thought you went to rest.“Joe said to Mark.

“I was curious about what was happening. Do you mind telling me what are those defenses or whatever just happened?“

He knew it had something to do with earning TruckCoins, so he wanted to learn as much as possible. Even if he most likely wouldn’t fully understand everything, he still wanted to know.

“Well, I will try to explain it simply, I guess. We just went to war to get the treasure.“