An inadvertent smile showed up on Haruto's face that he struggled to hide even using Occlumency. However, Haruto did manage to hide it in the end before he spoke to another Template Character currently inside the Inventory Space.
'So… Megamind… is the mission complete?'
'Mission accomplished successfully, I shall issue your earned reward now.'
Haruto held onto his head, hiding it under the cover of his arms while resting on the desk for a second as memories of Megamind's reward poured into his mind.
New memories flooded his head like a sudden tsunami as he realised that absorbing these memories so directly and not delaying it like he'd done with Unohana's memories was a mistake since there was information about too many disciplines forced into his head at once!
Haruto learnt about everything from semiconductor physics, crystal lattice structures to photolithography, doping processes, and etching. He learnt every part of what it took to turn ordinary sand into perfect crystal silica ingots which would then be turned into lean mean thinking machines one wafer and molecule at a time.
And at the same time, along with the terrible headache that followed having all this information thrust into his mind forcibly, Haruto also realised just how difficult it was going to be for him to make something like a decent computer chip in this Naruto world.
Half the machines and the processes required just for purifying the sand into ninety nine point nine nine nine percent pure silica did not currently exist in this world. As such even though Haruto had the knowledge to make these chips, he couldn't even take the first step in its direction.
'My hands are tied in this world…' Haruto confessed to the characters in the template inventory space. 'I don't think I can make chips with the tools I have… and if I do want to make them myself it'll take me nearly a decade or so of continuous effort to refine the processes and methods in this world to be able to reach anywhere near the level of technology from my previous world.'
Hearing this Edward frowned inside the template inventory space and asked Haruto a simple question, 'What currently is blocking your way Haruto?'
'The first step of converting sand into ridiculously pure silica crystals is hard in and of itself, since having the knowledge and converting it into actual technology will require a lot of trial and error. But there are several more steps like it that require my constant effort and attention.'
But Edward's sudden and piercing reply left Haruto at a loss for words for a second since he proposed a rather quick and easy solution to the problem, 'Can you invent a jutsu that helps you in creating pure silica crystals? For example you could use my transmutation alchemy knowledge to extract and transmute silica crystals from sand directly!'
Haruto frowned in thought, 'That depends on how well the transmutation knowledge from your alchemy based world translates to this world doesn't it?'
'What's the harm in trying it out?' Edward enthusiastically encouraged.
'Alright… I'll try my best… can you give me your alchemical knowledge then?'
'Yeah, I'll assign it to a mission for you…. And done. I assigned you a new mission.'
Haruto opened up the missions panel in his mindscape and found a surprising new mission.
Mission Aim : Combine chakra with technology to create something new.
Mission Assigned By : Edward Elric
Mission Reward : Knowledge of Transmutation Circles from alchemy.
'Combine chakra with technology?'
'How would I do that? Isn't this a little too difficult for a beginner like me?'
'These are the principles of equivalent exchange… for the knowledge I'm giving you, the price seems only fair.'
Haruto frowned slightly but didn't say anything else and simply let out a sigh and nodded, 'Fine… I'll try to do something about all this.'
At the same time Haruto looked at his app drawer inside his mindscape and found a notification on the Roulette Deck icon.
'Huh? When did that start giving me notifications?'
'Did I do a pull I don't remember or something? Or is it asking me to make a draw because I haven't pulled for a while…?'
Haruto quickly checked his mission and found that he still had four unclaimed mission card pulls including the most recent Megamind's mission complete. He'd left them alone since he was saving the pulls for a time when he was less swamped with work from the already existing characters and Danzo.
'So it's not to do with mission card pulls… what is it?'
Haruto opened the roulette app and found the same table with the cards waiting for him there. On the table however was an envelope.
Haruto used a mental command to open the envelope and found a short letter inside.
'Dear Customer,
We've noticed that you've been saving up your card draws for the future. As such we've decided to reward your patience with a gift of our own.
Moving further, any card draws made in multiples of fives will eat up all your card draws and give you a guaranteed Gold or above character card in return.
If you don't wish to draw a gold or above card for whatever reason, you may simply draw cards one by one as you normally do.
Thanking you,
Grievance Addressal Template System.'
Haruto's first reaction wasn't surprise or happiness or joy or even shock, it was annoyance.
'So the card drawing animation where they had me think stop while shuffling the deck in front of me was all a sham after all…'
'The cards I would draw were predetermined after all…'
'So what's to stop them from now selling me copper rated characters as gold characters and tell me some wise ahh words like 'No character is a bad character, it only depends on how you use them.''
Haruto suddenly imagined the logistics of the situation for a second, 'They have to get characters to agree to their ridiculous demands to become my character templates probably… since all the characters have reported on receiving benefits. Which means they probably don't have a lot of characters that do agree to their ridiculous demands… so I'm probably saving them some trouble by not drawing roulette cards but they're still penalising me by reducing the cards I can draw by five each time…'
'Am I right or am I right?'
Finally Haruto simply sighed and nodded, giving into his fate of being stuck with a gacha system, 'So if I save up one more pull and draw the cards at once I'll get a gold character.'
'Yaayyyy…' Haruto cheered with fake enthusiasm.
Haruto then looked at the missions he still had and frowned, 'The one I'm most likely to finish next will be Unohana's inventing a new offence or defence jutsu given my chakra control reward from Grindelwald.'
'But I can't show the jutsu outside just yet… I'll invent it in my bathroom first I guess before practicing it outside for a few days along with some advanced chakra control exercises and then reveal it to the world…'
With all that said and done, Haruto got up from his desk in the Research and Development Department and was about to leave when the spectacled man showed up at his desk once again.
He extended his hand and spoke calmly, "I believe we haven't introduced ourselves before, Arakawa Shindaichi. I specialise in earth release and researching new materials for shinobi weapons."
Haruto looked at the man's hands for a few seconds before nodding and accepting it.
"Haruto Hayashi. I specialize in computer software research currently but I'm looking into combining chakra with machines and also computer hardware production."
They shook their hands with a firm gaze locked between them before Arakawa left Haruto's hand and spoke solemnly, "Now that we are friends… can you return that ten thousand ryo to me…"
Haruto controlled his laughter with terrible effort as he looked at Arakawa's pitiful face.
"No."
***
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