Heaven's Greatest Professor

"I can't say for sure," Miss Arden answered, after thinking for a moment. "For some rankers, they can spend a better part of their lives with the same equipment, while for others, they need to change their gear every few months. It all depends on the quality and compatibility of the equipment.

"The first group are those who hit the jackpot in getting something of high quality and compatible with them... but that's pretty hard to get, considering the unique needs of a ranker. In most cases, it is either a problem with quality or compatibility. If either of them is mismatched, they're likely going to change their gear the moment they have enough gems in their hand."

"I see," Gale nodded. "Let's say six is the average number of gears a high ranker changes throughout his active years of working."

"If you're considering Gold rankers and their long lifespan, six is a little too low," Dimitri added with a laugh.

"How about eight then?"

"Eight is still low-balling..."

Arden raised her palm to stop the elder. "In most cases, Gold rankers tend to secure high-quality gear that they are compatible with," she said. "What are you getting at anyway?"

"I have worked in the military fixing gear for a few months," Gale began. "So far I have noticed how painstakingly poor their gear was. Even some captains only have something of intermediate quality." He brought out a few stacks of blueprints and laid them on the table. "They can use weapons of greater quality and compatibility... So I came up with these..."

Miss Arden and Dimitri picked up a couple of designs and peered into them. A frown crept up on their brows, noticing how different the designs were compared to any normal weapon.

"They are not the same design, are they?" Dimitri asked as he pulled in the rest of the designs to feast his eyes on them. "They all look similar but grow higher in capacity..."

"What are you talking about?" Miss Arden turned to the designs in Dimitri's hands.

"There are likely three unique full-gear designs here," Dimitri commented, laying the papers on the table. "Each one is compatible with different types of rankers. But more importantly—"

"All the components of the gear are upgradable?" Miss Arden's eyes flashed.

"I didn't know why nobody has thought of this idea," Gale said finally, a smile tugging on his lips. "I thought deeply on the problem... and noticed why others haven't tried this yet..."

"We have tried this formula before," Miss Arden said. "I commend your thinking, Master Warden, but it wasn't only you who saw the gap in these types of products."

"You have tried?" Gale raised an eyebrow. "Then why haven't I seen any upgradable gear in the market?"

"That's because..." Arden became a little flustered at the questions. "It's impossible to create upgradable gear which will sell in the market. So far in most of our endeavours, we found it very hard to provide value in each upgrade which warranted the sum."

"In most cases, new armour or weapons are a better upgrade than upgradable gear," Dimitri added, nodding, even though his eyes were on the designs.

Gale frowned. "I don't see how it is a problem."

"If you have forged the products, you would have seen all the trouble it takes to make sure the product will provide enough assets to the ranker in each upgrade."

"I have them forged and tested," Gale said. "Well, most of them."

"You have?" Miss Arden stared at him. "And you still think this is a viable option?"

"Hey, Jace," Gale turned to Jason. "Show them your gear, all the upgradable options and how much of an upgrade they provide."

"This is Mach III, though," Jason said.

"Well, show them from Mach I," Gale said as he sat down on a chair.

Jenni took his place in helping Jason upgrade and downgrade each of his components of the gear.

"Mach I is for copper rankers," Jenni explained. "It uses mostly common materials in the gear... Though Master Warden was talking about giving the buyer a chance to choose the materials he would like to have."

"Giving the buyer a chance at the creation always spoils the product," Dimitri added. "Most of them have no clue what is good and what is bad."

"I agree," Gale said from his seat. "That's why I plan on leaving other options for them to choose, instead of giving them free access to what they like."

"I see," Miss Arden muttered, turning to him. She had left most of the testing to Dimitri as the old man observed each of the new additions to the gear.

"Mach II is mostly for Iron rankers," Jenni continued on, raising the quality of Jason's gear. "It presents a lot more options than Mach I, as it is where rankers tend to find their uniqueness. In its eventuality of all the gear working, a ranker will have the option to choose from all seven types of gear and its various variations."

"Seven types?" Miss Arden asked. "I thought you showed designs for only three?"

"Three is the only complete one I have," Gale explained. "But three is too low to be compatible with all types of rankers."

"Seven will be enough?"

"Seven is enough for 90% of the rankers," Gale said strongly. "Perhaps even more, but there will always be some unique, brilliant people who either won't be compatible with any of the seven designs, or the gear just wouldn't be enough for them. I'll ignore them for now until I have all the seven designs figured out."

"These boots help you in flight," Dimitri asked, peering deeply into them. "I cannot recognise how they work, at all."

"I don't either," Jason laughed.

Dimitri turned to Gale, but he was fine with keeping the mystery. Finally, the elder turned to Jenni, who worked, humming in one mind.

"They work on manipulating gravity and weight," she said nonchalantly, not even giving the elder master runesmith a gaze. "Master Warden calls them Gravboots."

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