6

Entering my apartment, I took a nice lukewarm shower and changed into more comfortable clothes. Sitting down, I placed my mental breakdown out of my mind. The Celestial Forge… wasn't sentient. And therefore couldn't purposefully pick powers to fuck with me. I took a deep breath before turning my attention back to Cult of the Gun.

Picking up a pen, I 'felt around' in my mental space for the so-called gun magic that my perk provided. It took a while… but I found it. It was a weird feeling, a mass of energy that wanted to convert anything it touched into a gun. It was a dull gunmetal grey fog that felt… semi-sapient? It had some form of intent at the very least and was only begrudgingly obeying my orders.

It would be extremely concerning if it was actually sentient though. At the very least, it shouldn't do anything outside of my commands. Letting a little magic leak out, it coalesced in my hands like a metal haze. Picking up a pen with my other hand, I stuck it inside and felt the magic try to convert it into a gun.

The clip of the pen pulled up to be perpendicular to the body before turning into a hook that wrapped around my index finger. The clicky bit remained in place, but its shape shifted slightly to let my thumb press down on it to click the pen. And finally the main body of the pen thickened and turned a little more blocky.

While it was all happening, I had Loremaster working to view how this magic was enchanting the pen. Which didn't tell me much else other than the magic was reshaping the pen. Sighing, I shrugged my shoulders. I guess it was too much to ask how the enchantment was working with literally the weakest version of Loremaster right now. It could see the pathways the magic was drawing throughout the pen though, so I guess that was nice.

The gun magic, or I guess the gun mana, receded and returned into my body. It's job was done so there was no need to have it outside anymore. Spinning my new pen gun in my hands, I pointed it at the wall before grimacing. No. Don't shoot unknown weapons in my home.

".... I need a training ground." I sighed. The Boat Graveyard?

But I just showered…

I mean… it's just a pen though. I stared at the pen gun in my hand. Let's think about it.

I set it down on the table and stared at it. This would also be good Loremaster training. Peering at it, I let Loremaster help with peeling back the curtain on the object. The enchantment was being animated by my gun magic, cycling through and around the pen like a slight aura. If I wanted to, I could draw that bit of magic back into my body, reverting the transformation.

However, I wanted to peer a little deeper on how exactly the magic worked. Massaging my temple, I let out a soft sigh. Peeling back each layer wasn't easy. The best way I could explain it was like reading a paragraph of text. Then trying to figure out the subtext and the meaning behind the words. Then trying to figure out the subtext and the meaning behind that one. So on and so forth.

No wonder Loremasters were taught by fucking arguing with each other. It would definitely help with this shit.

The second layer was immediately a step up compared to the relatively easy first layer. The method to how my gun magic was enchanting the pen was a lot more complex than I had first expected. Not that I particularly expected it to be anything less. The capability to turn anything into a gun wouldn't be exactly easy to figure out.

Picking apart the enchantment, I tested several hypotheses while I tested the limits of my gun magic. Pulling it away, dragging out the transformation over the course of several minutes, dragging out the disenchantment over the course of several minutes… I even tested on some other objects I had lying around in my room. A belt, socks, an old box…

Savant's Understanding was also incredibly useful as always, every observation and scrap of information was automatically filed away and integrated into my understanding of gun magic. Something that I never realized was how useful Savant was for information-based perks like Loremaster. Things that benefited from understanding directly benefited from Savant's extremely well. Grabbing my new fan gun, I pulled the magic away and gazed at how it unraveled before my very eyes.

Gun magic altered things on the conceptual level. When I enchanted my pen, it didn't stop being a 'pen' and became a 'gun'. It became a 'pen gun'. The same with my socks. They didn't suddenly stop being socks when I infused gun magic into it. So instead of altering the physical shape or something similar, gun magic affected things on the fundamental level of existence and in doing so, altered its physical shape to become more of a 'gun'.

Which was an absolutely terrifying ability. Like imagine being capable of overriding the conceptual existence of objects, and only using it to make things into 'guns'? It reminded me of that one panel of the Dinodude being able to alter genes and using it to turn people into dinosaurs.

An… awfully apt comparison now that I think about it.

Well… Since this was the Celestial Forge backing this power, I doubt this magic would suddenly rampage and turn everything into a 'gun', until it subsumed the world itself and turned Earth into a 'gun'.

Nah… That could never happen.

Anyway, it also didn't simply slap a 'gun' into an object's conceptual existence and leave it at that. It also used itself to mix both concepts together into a tight bond. Think… like a covalent bond between two atoms. It was still two different things and can still be separated, but for now, while gun magic was still affecting it, they were 'one' thing.

When the magic was taken away, it was like the covalent bond being broken. Once broken, the two 'atoms' or concepts split apart without any damage. So no matter how many times I enchanted an object with gun magic, the physical structure never deformed or broke under the stress. It was simply the conceptual existence snapping back and the physical form changing to reflect that.

Creating my pen gun again, I tried working on the third layer of the enchantment. And shook my head as I slammed my head into a metaphysical wall. The third layer was a lot more obtuse compared to the second, dealing with the nature of how the enchantment was structured within the object in question.

Not exactly an easy layer to crack. I could spend the next hour or so using Savant and Loremaster in tandem… Nah. There were better ways to use my time for now than bashing at a brick wall. Removing the magic from the pen, I sat down and focused on the rest of my newly acquired powers.

The main perk I was interested in was Machine Madness. Any sort of supernatural phenomenon could be observed, understood, and replicated with technology. This was what I was going to focus Erstein on. Forget about Hammer Jammer, or Cult of the Gun, this shit was precisely what I wanted. And it even meshed with the whole 'mad scientist' schtick I was aiming for.

I wondered for a moment if I could implement Cult of the Gun's conceptual rewriting with Machine Madness. And it spat back a design so out of my reach, that there was no way I was producing anything like that. Like the complexity and materials needed for a simple device put most items based on Stilling to shame.

Putting that out of my mind, I had entertained a few ideas yesterday but now, with a fresh mind, there were a few powers that definitely caught my attention. Mainly Glory Girl's barrier and Shielder's… shield. A one-time barrier that could tank anything but required a recharge after every hit, and a blue shield that could withstand even Leviathan's waves.

It might sound redundant but it very much wasn't. Shielder's power would be my main defense. I could already imagine it, a set of projection drones creating an array of shields around me, protecting against things like bullets and heavy hits. While Glory Girl's barrier would protect me against sudden and out-of-the-blue attacks from blindspots.

I didn't even need to limit myself to one. I could have three or four or even five of these barriers on me. When one came down, another could be thrown up while the other recharged. Given a short enough recharge cycle, and a large enough number of such generators, I could pretty much have an impenetrable force field around me!

I doubt it though. Machine Madness helpfully provided that, no matter what, there would be a small delay as the first barrier went down and the second barrier came up. Given an accurate shot or simply a hail of bullets, it could slip between the gap between the two barriers and kill me. But the idea was sound enough, having multiple barriers so that I could minimize the time when I was vulnerable.

As for offensive options… Miss Militia was definitely up there. A mass of energy that could take the shape of any handheld weapon. I wondered for a moment how that would interact with Cult of the Gun before putting that thought out of my head. And Laserdream's energy blast. Crystal's blast could stagger Leviathan which was a testament to its pure power.

Those four options would be my focus. At least for now. There were a lot of interesting abilities like Grue's smoke, Regent's nerve puppetry, and of course Vista's spatial warping. However, in terms of defense and offense, those four looked the best. And would also definitely cement me as some sort of power replication tinker.

Now that I have it, do I even need a grappling hook now? Originally I wanted it since I only had Hammer Jammer… But now it would be better and frankly a lot easier to replicate New Wave's flight power.

Okay, the plan was simple. Glory Girl's barrier, New Wave's flight, and Laserdream's laser blasts. I pressed my lips together. I swear I didn't mean to only pick exclusively from the New Wave…

But let's be real. Their powers were definitely less complex than the other powers in the Bay. Like I doubt I was going to have the ability to replicate Assault or Battery's power. Or Hookwolf's transformation. Or Oni Lee's literal destruction and reassembly version of a 'teleportation' power.

Much… much less complex.

Glory Girl formed an invisible barrier around her that would take any attack once before 'breaking'. No force was transferred from the barrier to her and the attack would be stopped. Of course there should be lower limits as to what counted as an 'attack'. I don't need mere wind to shatter my barrier.

Which was the main problem with this piece of equipment. Forming the barrier and having it recharge after impacts was easy enough. I could probably throw something together with capacitors and some time creating the barrier generator component. However, limiting what does and doesn't trigger the shield was another thing entirely.

The Celestial Forge spun up, the tendril snaking out to one of the 19 Constellations again. This time it reached and latched onto one of the five stars of the Aides Constellation. This time it grabbed a perk called 'Lab Partner'? As well as a Mote–

A soft knock came from my door. My heart leapt to my chest before a woman's voice came from it. "Hello? You shouldn't keep a woman waiting y'know?" Swallowing, I stood up and walked over and grabbed the handle. Peering through the peephole, I was surprised at the woman at my door. Lime green hair, standing at around half a head shorter than me, with a pair of rectangular glasses and a lab coat, along with a low cut shirt showing off her cleavage and a tight office lady skirt with translucent stockings. Her appearance rivaled mine, and I had a perk that made me beautiful in the first place. Her body practically radiated sex appeal as well, her breasts being large and an hourglass body accentuated by her clothes.

Spoiler: Appearance

Swallowing, I unlocked the door and swung it wide open. My 'Lab Partner' flashed a smile as she basically strode into the room. Despite being slightly shorter, she practically commanded the space, as if she owned it.

"My name is Mebisu Amaya. Nice to meet you, Master." She extended a hand out. Glancing at it, I shook it rather hesitantly.

'Lab Partner' gave me… well her. A spitting image of a grown-up version of a certain Flamechaser, as well as a similar name. But outside of her looks, her personality couldn't be more different. She also had some perks as well to bolster her effectiveness. 'A Stroke of Genius' that placed her at the top of the world in terms of intelligence and knowledge, though she was also ludicrously horny. 'Ward's Maxim' so anything she made couldn't kill her. As well as two additional items, 'Authoritative Lab Coat' to make others believe that she was a scientist and 'Ritual Checklist' which checked if she had everything she needed for any ritual.

"Nice to meet you too." I took a deep breath. "I'm guessing even if I tell you my name, you're not going to call me anything else other than 'Master'?"

"Nope, " She flashed a smile at me. "Master~" Collapsing onto the chair, she crossed her legs, though I wasn't too sure if she purposefully or accidentally flashed me. However, judging by the description of 'A Stroke of Genius'... I was putting my money on the former. Taking a deep breath, I pinched the bridge of my nose.

Yup. This was… Hm.

"Okay… give me a moment." I turned around and looked at my Mote. And it confirmed my suspicion on the 19 Constellations. They were smutty, lewd Constellations.

'Carnal Artist' just made me an expert sex machine. Literally that's all it did. Anything to do with the act of fucking? You're now an expert at it, which also included foreplay and flirting. Which… Loremaster of all things worked well with. Finding out their emotions and reasons using Loremaster and then leveraging that with Carnal Artist to get them riled up.

…I mean. Sure. Fuck it. Why not?

Turning my attention back to Not-Mobius, she was busy looking over my notes and blueprints before gazing back up at me. "Are you finished looking at your new perks?" Seeing that I was still silent, she smiled and rested her head on her hand as she stared up at me. "What do you need me to do?"

"What… can you do?" I replied carefully as I sat on the foot of my bed. Although this was a Forge perk and her loyalty was very much ensured, it only meant the woman in front of me wouldn't sell me out or betray me in any capacity. It didn't mean that she wouldn't 'accidentally' bend my orders to kidnap a bunch of women for her orgasm machines or something.

Humming, Amaya tilted her head back. "Well, you should know my perks and equipment right?" She shot a glance at me. "So it's not a matter of what I can do. But what you want me to do. You already have a working relationship with Toybox… so I doubt you need me to help you find and develop a lab for you…" Her fingers idly played with a lock of hair trailing down the side of her face. I swear she was purposefully trying to get me aroused with her movements.

"Infiltration? I doubt anyone would turn away a genius like me." She flicked her lock over her shoulder. "Maybe not the gangs… walking into a viper's pit without preparation is bound to end poorly. But perhaps the schools? Brockton Bay University? Arcadia? Winslow? I could get closer to some of your targets and perhaps… worm my way in?" I didn't particularly like the way she called them 'targets'.

Seeing my face, she quickly picked up on it. Frowning, she continued. "Maybe not then. Or rather you want me for research and development? I am a genius after all." She breathed out a long sigh. "Your taser and goggles." She pointed to my bag "And your blueprints." Her finger moved to my head. "I can help with refining their designs. And removing the crude touches that Hammer Jammer placed on it."

I closed my eyes. "For now…" I spoke up after repeating some Solar chants to calm myself down. "Lay low. You don't have an identity just yet and I doubt you're on the census right now. Plus it's hard to explain away that green hair of yours." I picked up my phone. "I'll try to get you a room for you to stay in–"

"No." Was her immediate reply.

I had to double-take. "The fuck–? No??" I frowned and narrowed my eyes at her in sheer disbelief.

Leaning back in the chair and spinning side to side slightly, she locked eyes with me. "No." She repeated. "I'll be staying with you for the foreseeable future."

Pinching the bridge of my nose, I took a deep breath and let out a long sigh. "You do know how much of a terrible idea that is right?" I stared at her, unimpressed. "How are you going to explain to my neighbours that a green-haired scientist is walking in and out of my room day-in, day-out?"

"That it's your fetish." Amaya replied with a smile. Loremaster helpfully provided me that she was indeed joking. Not that it was a particularly funny joke. Biting my lip, I had to walk into the corner of the room and exhale my frustration, lest my neighbours do hear me. Taking several deep breaths, I turned back to look at Amaya who raised her arms in surrender.

"Alright, alright." She stood up and dusted herself off. "I'll introduce myself as your aunt, coming over to take care of you after your unfortunate drop-out from school." A pained smile appeared on my face. Laughing, she shook her head. "I'm joking of course. I'll handle my identity."

Taking a deep breath, I massaged my temples. "Do you even know how to set up your own identity?" I asked in confusion.

Amaya hummed and leaned back in my chair. "No. But it can't be that hard. After all, I am a genius." Loremaster did tell me that she was fucking with me. Somehow. I wasn't sure how but she was.

Narrowing my eyes at her, I frowned for a moment as I tried to figure out what it was. Only to breath a long sigh as nothing really came to mind. "Fine. Do as you wish."

A wide smile broke out on her face. "Great! I won't let you down, Mas~ ter~" In a single step, she closed the distance and pressed her body against mine. Pulling back, I was acutely aware of how soft her breasts were while they were pressing against my body. And Savant's perfect recall basically kept them at the forefront of my mind. "Oh, and is there anything you need me to do in the meantime?"

I bit my lip. This woman had the 'Evil Genius' origin and was also fiercely loyal to me. And if there was one thing I knew about these types of women from doujins, they had no line that they would cross for their 'masters'. Though… because she had no real qualms about things like morals or ethics, she would also be incredibly useful.

"Could you handle the projects I have?" I asked her. "Maybe the Shield Array?"

Amaya cocked her head as she closed her eyes and considered it. "It would take longer than if you did it since I don't have Machine Madness or some sort of similar perk to help handle all the design work. Plus the projector technology and the interface that would allow you to control several drones at the same time… I would need a proper workshop to fabricate such a thing."

I cocked my head. "Then which research project do you want to work on?" I frowned slightly.

Amaya hummed as she thought about it for a moment. "Regent's nervejacking."

"Denied." I shook my head.

"That's a lie and we both know it." She crossed her arms, pushing up her breasts and showing off her cleavage even more prominently. "We know well enough how his power works and it would be incredibly useful for infiltration and intel gathering. You already have a method to induce electrical charges from a distance, this would be a simple step-up from that."

Loremaster was working well in picking apart her argument. "Just because it's a 'simple step-up' doesn't mean it's necessary right now. We don't need a Master rating slapped onto our backs before we even have a chance to build a decent foundation. And it's a support tool. It behooves us to develop a form of defense and attack first before working on such projects." I shot back. "And you just want to use nervejacking to kidnap some gangsters for your 'personal projects', right?"

Amaya blushed slightly as she turned away. "Ehehe…" She laughed nervously.

Biting my lip, I let out a sigh. I should nip this in the bud. "If you wish… I will allow you to… work on your own projects during your spare time. Hell, I'll even close an eye if you keep any prisoners for testing. However." I raised a finger to cut her off before she could even speak. "You can only kidnap known felons, you cannot kidnap anyone that would bring the wrath of either the PRT or the gangs on us, and you will be mostly responsible for their own imprisonment and well-being. If you need my help, I'll hear it out first before giving my permission."

Her eyes lit up as if she was a kid in a candy store. "Really?" I nodded begrudgingly. "You won't regret it, Master!" I felt like I would regret it later. But Amaya was an Evil Genius through and through. It would be easier, and better for me if she did her evil deeds under my supervision rather than sneaking around my back.

"Anyway, you'll be working on Laserdream's gauntlets. You should know the general details of it?" Amaya nodded rapidly. "Great. That will be your main project for now. In your free time, you can do as you wish, so long as you don't bring down the PRT or any of the gangs on our heads."

Spinning to face the table, Amaya grabbed a pen and paper before opening my laptop and unlocking it with ease. Mildly concerning but I put it out of my mind. Heading to PHO, she started going through a bunch of Laserdream threads and picking out videos recorded by bystanders. The pen started jotting down all sorts of notes, the time taken for her to charge up a blast, the speed of travel, all from simply watching the video without any calculator.

I have a monster in my room right now. I curled my lip slightly. Horrifying.

Back to Glory Girl's One-Time Barrier, I didn't know enough about how it worked. Just the effects of the power itself. How did the Shard determine what was and wasn't dangerous? How did it nullify the energy of any attack? The answer was Shard Bullshit™ but that wasn't enough for Machine Madness. It wanted a decent explanation of how it worked rather than simply seeing the effect of a power and replicating that instead.

Ironically, that meant the easiest power for me to actually replicate was Stilling. Literally. I knew that it worked by negating the wavelengths of the energy or matter he wanted. And Machine Madness apparently was satisfied with that since it was more than happy to work on guns and fucking lightsabers based on that power.

While I was wrapping my head around that, the Celestial Forge spun up. Again. Already? However, the short length of energy easily failed at trying to grasp at a Star on the Efficiency Quality Constellation. Unfortunate but I was rapidly losing faith in getting a lot of the cheaper perks early. I shot a glance at Amaya who was working on the design of the gloves.

Well, I guess the higher Stars had good payoffs.

Letting out a breath, I put it out of my head. Stilling could be replicated but it wasn't by any means 'easy'. Just the components needed to generate it would require some seriously heavy-duty stuff. Things that would require most tinkers decades to make in the first place. Not to mention the tech to actually channel such destructive energy.

It was like designing a vial to store a solvent that could dissolve anything. Not exactly an easy task.

Anyway, the knowledge of 'effects' of powers don't work. So I would have to design a sensor suite to read and understand parahuman powers first before I could even start. Unfortunate… but not entirely out of my wheelhouse. Hammer Jammer could work on that easily enough since it should fall under its umbrella.

It should be a passive scanner. Something that reads the effect parahumans have on the world around them. Definitely not an AIM field, since I doubted the Shards would affect the universe passively. My personal theory was that all physical effects were dealt directly to the object or area itself, while all mental effects were dealt directly to the brain. So things like Amy's biokinesis was literally the Shard reshaping biomatter according to Amy's will, while Gallant's emotion beams didn't really fire beams of emotions. The Shard produced a beam of light and force and physically induced emotions in the target hit.

I was half-expecting Machine Madness to take that explanation but it didn't. I still needed proper data before it was satisfied.

A passive scanner… Something that could detect parahuman powers… I grimaced slightly. This was skirting the Unwritten Rules. But fuck it, I already knew most of their identities anyway. What were a few more?

Firstly, it had to fit in a small volume, something that could be reasonably worn everywhere without people raising any eyebrows. My first thought was glasses. Easy enough to wear, carry and conceal. However, cramming what would be a sensor for energy, spatial fluctuations and whatever else to detect Shard influence inside was… Armsmaster's specialty and not mine.

A watch? Phone? Tablet? I cocked my head. The more space, the better but again nothing too big either since I would have to carry it around. A phone made the most sense and, with Toybox passing me a phone, I could cannibalize my old one for it. I took a deep breath. Yea, let's do that.

I quickly pulled out my Toybox phone and waved it over my old phone. Barely a second later, all the data was ripped from my old phone and stored on the new one. Transferring the sim card as well, I put it away before measuring the space I was working with. Not a lot, but much better than glasses.

It would be a bit cramped… Most of the internal hardware, like the CPU, RAM, and motherboard could stay and be repurposed for the sensor suite. However, I would have to reprogram it to handle the output data. Afterwards, I could alter a Linux kernel to override the normal OS to get rid of any companies figuring out that I was using their stuff to detect parahumans. That seemed like a good concern to have.

And finally we could have that specially designed to handle a program that would turn all that sensor data into a glorious infographic.

Yea… Phone it was.

Amaya leaned back in her chair. Reaching over the headrest, she held a sheaf of paper between her fingers. "I'm done, Master~" She said with a smirk. Blinking, I glanced as I grabbed it. On it were her thoughts on how Crystal's power could be replicated. The first page was dedicated to explain why they weren't lasers and more of solid hard-light blasts. Then the next few pages talked about the displayed effects of her powers, with several handwritten links and timestamps. And finally the last few pages were her thoughts on how she could design something that could replicate such effects.

A lot of it went over my head. It was very much written for someone of equal standing to her to understand and not… me, who was coasting along using my perks. Taking a deep breath, I read and reread the papers multiple times, using my phone to figure out whatever jargon she was throwing at me. Savant was again pulling its weight as it helped me filed away and comprehend her words at a much faster pace.

Pulling the papers back, I pinched the bridge of my nose. It… would work. According to her notes and my knowledge provided by both Hammer Jammer and Machine Madness, there was no reason it wouldn't. Then again, this was a person on the forefront of science. I doubted anyone barring Thinkers and Tinkers could rival her.

Which raised an interesting point. If she could replicate Laserdream's lasers, or concussive blasts, what was stopping her from replicating any other power? Bringing it up to Amaya, she poked her head up from another set of notes she was working on.

"Master…" She shot a slight smile at me. "I don't have Machine Madness, which means both of us take very different routes to the same destination. I'm sure you can figure it out." She reached a finger out before poking me in the forehead. Returning to her notes, I frowned as I pondered her words.

And facepalmed after giving it a moment's thought. Of course, she had A Stroke of Genius, which handled all the scientific knowledge for her. There wasn't any need to read or understand how a power worked because she could leverage that knowledge to simply recreate it using her knowledge on scientific principles. However, she didn't have Machine Madness that could turn all that scientific knowledge into working machinery and components.

On the other hand, I was the exact opposite. I didn't have scientific knowledge rivaling the world's scientific community so I had to scan and figure out how these powers worked on my own. However, once I did, I could use Machine Madness to design the blueprints for me.

But… then what was stopping us from simply working together?

The answer was right in front of me. Although Amaya could easily produce all the principles she needed to explain how a power could work, Machine Madness wanted how the power does work. Which meant either meta-knowledge or by observing and understanding the power firsthand. That's why I could replicate Stilling since that was explicitly how it was explained in the story.

I let out a soft sigh. No shortcut for me, I'm afraid.

"Well I think it's fine…" I replied as I passed the papers back. Catching a glance of her other set of papers, I caught a rather accurate depiction of the human nervous system. Briefly sending a prayer to the poor unfortunate gang members, I continued. "But since you don't have Machine Madness, you'll have to conduct all the engineering yourself, is that fine?"

"Master." She turned her head and stared at me with a slight sultry smile on her face. "Who do you think you're asking?" A weird smile formed on my face. Nodding, I decided that it was probably better to not know for now.

Turning my attention back to the scanner, it shouldn't be too hard to create. Contacting Toybox to get the materials was definitely possible. However, I would need a version that could be sold in the first place. The way it worked was that any material for personal projects came out of my own pocket while Toybox products would be considered a business expense and covered by them.

I tapped my fingers on the table. There was always running the risk of the Boat Graveyard… or simply waiting until I had the funds to buy the components I needed. Letting out a breath, my thoughts pinged around in my head until my Toybox phone vibrated. Pulling it up, a notification came from Claire.

A client request was sent in. Apparently quite a number of them were sent to their 'fake' email, and an algorithm helped filter out the chaff. Most of them were rejected due to a simple lack of ability or specificity. And their usual requests came from special and specific lines to Toybox and only asked for a single member's talents. However, occasionally a request would be sent in that may work and was reasonably priced. This was one of them.

This specific client was asking for a long-range signal disruptor, basically killing any and all forms of communication in an area. And was willing to pay a good price for it. $50,000 up front, with another $75,000 once it was delivered. Although Toybox doesn't usually take such requests since none of them had the specialty to do such a thing, they were willing to toss it to me to see if I could.

And I could definitely do it. It would definitely fall under a 'contraption' with Hammer Jammer. But with Toybox's funding… yea, it could work. Shooting back a reply, Claire was a little skeptical. Once I took the contract, it wasn't like I could back out of it. Not without paying a substantial penalty fee.

After confirming that yes I wanted to do it. Claire sent a thumbs-up. Toybox would handle all of the nitty-gritty contract work for me, with an AI (Not Dragon-level) courtesy of Cranial and several prior tinkers, who didn't want to handle the legalese themselves, to handle the legalese , so I didn't have to spend three hours of my life on fine detailing. And finally, they would allow me to borrow one of their workshops for the time being. Cranial's one since hers was the only one that didn't have a risk of accidentally blowing up if I touched the wrong button.

Leaning back, I couldn't help but smile slightly. Just as I was thinking about how to earn some cash, I had a massive windfall. Of course I needed to actually make it but it shouldn't be that hard. Right?

A/N: First Aide/Assistant! Why is she a Mobius-expy? Because it's my Lab Partner and I get to choose the hot scientist, obviously. She's also not precisely Mobius if it wasn't apparent. It's more of a new person that just so happens to look exactly like Mobius, and with that a new personality that flickers between genius scientist and horny tease.

I'll try to balance her appearance with the canon characters. But since she's a 400 Point perk, she's going to really really useful and also living with the MC so... expect her to be showing up consistently from now on.

As for Machine Madness, I hope I expanded and explained enough of it as well as keeping it semi-consistent. And I don't know if any power in Worm was precisely explained like Stilling was, especially since Fandom is light on the details. So if I screw up Machine Madness applications or if a power was indeed explained and I missed it, please let me know.

New Perks:

-Lab Partner (World of Tentacles) (400 CP)

They're not quite as brilliant as you are but that doesn't make this bombshell of a mage or scientist any less exciting to work with. The Lab Partner is your most loyal and useful assistant, and has the Evil Genius origin along with 600 CP to spend on perks and items from that origin. Any perks from the Evil Genius tree that you share with them gain a substantial boost in effectiveness whenever you both use them simultaneously; experiments proceed more smoothly, collaborative inventions take much less time to perfect, and so on.

-A Stroke of Genius (200CP)​No matter where he goes or what he's doing, an Evil Genius is almost always the smartest person in the room, and probably the most perverted too. Your intelligence and creativity stand at the peak of ordinary human capacity and your knowledge of the sciences is equally vast, covering many different disciplines from robotics to programming to chemistry. Even magic is well within your grasp in any world where such power can be learned. But when your genius is fueled by depraved inspiration you can push these fields into the realm of comic book super-science. You might design machines that use orgasms to brainwash their wearers or discover a new kind of energy produced by sexual desire. The laws of science may seem hard and inflexible to others but in your hands they bend and flex like a stripper on a pole.

-Ward's Maxim (200CP)​Does nobody besides you read Lovecraft before they start dabbling with eldritch forces anymore?! You've learned to never call up anything that you can't put down and you put that lesson into play by ensuring you'll never lose control of your creations. Any creatures summoned or created by you as well as any devices you build have a built-in kill switch which you can use to restrain, kill, power off, or otherwise neutralize them at will. The nature of this trigger is up to you as long as the effects are the same, but it can only be exploited by you or those instructed in its use by you. You are also automatically inoculated against any chemical or biological agents you may create.

-Authoritative Lab Coat (100CP)​This white lab coat is somehow viewed as appropriate garb for a scientist, researcher, or doctor regardless of what else you are (or aren't) wearing or the situation. In addition, the more you know about medical, technical, or scientific matters compared to someone else, the more easily they will believe you when you cloak your arguments in such 'facts'.

-Ritual Checklist (100CP)​If you write the requirements for a ritual or magical procedure in this blank book then an unseen hand will annotate the list to indicate which have been met. The book updates as though you were continually checking the status of that requirement, giving you notice if that 'virgin sacrifice' manages to disqualify herself, but is unable to discern information that you either could not yourself find out or would be oblivious to. You will be provided with a replacement notebook whenever the current one is full or has been destroyed.

-Carnal Artist (World of Tentacles) (FREE)**

Sex is a lot less fun when you don't know what you're doing, and that's just as true for tentacle monsters as for anyone else. This perk gives you a built-in instinct for sex and eroticism and a mastery of related bedroom skills. Even if you were a blushing virgin before this jump, having this perk will give you an instinct and talent for pleasing your partners; whether you're trying to bring a girl off by milking her tits or leave her hanging on the edge of orgasm for hours on end, you'll be able to pull it off.