"What's this?" I asked curiously as I took the device and delved my mind into it.

"It's my-" The Ancestor started to reply. But I didn't let him finish.

"HOLY SMOKES!! ARE THESE ALL GOLD GRADE DESIGNS???" I shouted loudly as I beheld the huge number of Gold Grade Blueprints within that device.

The Ancestor merely sighed and kept quiet.

He was probably thinking "Why the bleeding f*ck are you asking the questions you are about to get the answers for? And why the bleeding f*ck am I bothering to answer him?"

But as before, I couldn't be bothered about him.

My mind was already lost in the wonder of absorbing all of the wonderful Gold Grade Blueprints!

Rifles. Sniper Rifles. Machine Guns. Swords. Hammers. Shields. Flight Systems.

It was like the weapons and movement system repository of a mega rich and mega spoiled white mecha pilot!

Everything a White Mecha could ever want or need could be found within that device.

Bear in mind that those were all WORKING blueprints, ones that could be made at a moment's notice should the skills and materials required to make them were available.

And in absorbing so many working blueprints, I could sense a strange thing happening to my brain.

It seemed to be extracting all of the principles and philosophies found within all the designs and.. absorbing them as well?

At first, I beheld the designs with the awesome wonder of an end user, thinking of ways on how to use them in combat.

However, after absorbing my tenth design, I started to view the blueprints with a slightly more critical eye of a novice designer.

I was able to appreciate the complexity that went behind its design and the ingenuity that was the underlying driver in the merging of so many different physical principles and design theories!

And after the hundredth design made its way into my mind, I finally noticed the first flaws. I had approached the mindset of a Beginner Weapon Desginer!

I blinked slowly as I pondered upon a particular weakness I found in a design of a Sniper Rifle.

A slow rate of fire due to its highly advanced application of soundless and sightless technology. It was a stupidly powerful rifle that would produce no sound and create no visual footprint as it fired its projectile!

In most circles, a Sniper Rifle having a slow rate of fire was extremely normal. It was expected, in fact.

However, there was a blueprint which I had absorbed earlier which implemented a two-hundred-forty-round-per-minute firing system on a Sniper Rifle. With no recoil.

And because of that particular breakthrough, the sixty-round-per-minute rate of fire on the soundless and sightless Sniper Rifle became a weakness in my eyes.

"Why not combine both rifles into one?" I thought aloud.

At that, the Ancestor's eyes shot wide open and his mouth opened slightly in anticipation and excitement.historical

Of course he knew what I was talking about.

As a Weapons Designer, it was probably something he couldn't stop thinking about!

But after playing with some ideas for a quick minute without any results, I finally put them aside and proceeded to continue to absorb the blueprints first.

Who knows if my brain will continue to evolve as I absorbed the other blueprints?

Two hundred.

Three hundred.

I could feel my brain continue its slow evolution.

By the four hundredth and final design, I finally experienced a mild breakthrough.

I had drawn level with the Ancestor and finally achieved the mindset of an Intermediate Designer.

I could easily see the weaknesses and flaws of each and every blueprint, and how they were all severely limited by the type and quality of materials that the Chinese Federation had.

I could see exactly where the compromises were made due to a lack of materials, where the sacrifices were made due to a lack of manufacturing skill, and where the obvious weaknesses were accepted due to a lack of technological breakthroughs in real life.

Machines were required to build the machines that could eventually build the components which the Ancestor needed. And for such tech-heavy work, the Chinese Federation was sorely undermanned.

But I had no such constraints.

I did not need skilled blacksmiths and artificers to physically bring my blueprints to life.

I did not need a huge amount of materials since I could reuse the ones I had to create every type of weapon I wanted.

All the Ancestor wanted to do but couldn't due to a lack of all of the above, I could.

The only question was.. Should I let him know?

I came to the answer very quickly.

Of course not.

The Ancestor might be kind enough to give me all these blueprints, but at the end of the day, he did it because he had something to gain from it.

There were no eternal allies, no eternal enemies, only interests matter. The Ancestor treated me well because it was in his best interests to have me cooperate with him.

But what would happen to me if treating me well is no longer in his best interest?

As one of the leaders of an entire Federation of billions, he would not hesitate to throw me aside.

I could understand why he would do it of course. What is the value of a single boy, no matter how brilliant and how lovable, compared to the whole country? Cold and heartless as it may seem, leaders of countries have to put the lives of many ahead of the life of a little boy like me.

But being able to understand something does not make me a willing participant.

No, I will hide my full abilities.

I still need trump cards, just in case!

"That's it? Only four hundred designs? Do you have more?" I asked him hopefully and very irritatingly.

Four hundred Gold Grade Blueprints probably took him his entire life to make and collect. But I had to try my luck. Maybe he had a Platinum design hidden somewhere.

No. Not maybe.

"He DEFINITELY has a Platinum design hidden somewhere." I thought to myself.