Formula 1: The GOAT-Chapter 183: Upgrade Decisions

Chapter 183: Upgrade Decisions
(making up for yesterdays Chapter and made it super long)
The basic SP he earned through just the points he received for winning races and other miscellaneous things during the racing weekend ended up totaling 12,756 SP.
But the system didn’t stop there, as it continued updating as new lines appeared one after another.
[Hidden achievements.]
Total titles won: 23.
Reward per title: KF Junior - 50SP * 14 titles, KF Senior - 100SP * 4 titles, KZ2 - 200SP * 3 titles
Total reward: 1700SP
Fastest Lap Streak: 93 * 5 SP
Total reward: 465SP.
Grand Slam Weekends Streak: 52 * 10
Total rewards: 520
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[Hidden achievements total: 4305SP]
When he saw the total SP he earned just through the various hidden achievements, he would be lying to say he was not surprised, as the amount was quite large for those achievements alone. But the list continued, as the next line caused his heart to tremble with excitement at what it entailed.
Experience Challenge #001
rewards:
2x
multiplier for the record-setting karting career.
(12756SP + 4305 SP) * 2 = 34,122 SP
Ability upgrade for the excellent use of it during the season.
Setup Mastery (Good → Excellent)
20%
price discount on all system abilities for a year.
When the system finally stopped, he couldn’t say he wasn’t excited. Seeing everything he had worked for finally in front of him, ready and waiting for his decision to push his abilities to the next level, he almost felt impatient. But before he could do anything, another prompt appeared in front of him, causing his heart to flutter as he read what was on it.
[It has been detected that a few abilities are on the verge of final solidification. Would you like to spend 5000SP to solidify and have them formed into abilities?]
[YES] [NO]
Without thinking for too long, he pressed [YES], and instantly, five thousand of his newly earned SP vanished from his account as a new screen appeared in front of him, showing the results of his expenditure.
[Hypervigilance]
has been solidified.
[Hypervigilance]
Level:
Good
Description:
When in active mode, it raises your vigilance to the maximum, as everything in front of you is logged, filtered, and categorized based on situational importance. The racing mind and body remain on edge, primed to react to the earliest changes to the normal situation, allowing for reactions within the window before disasters or problems become unavoidable.
Effects:
Unmatched early detection and avoidance of on-track incidents, tire failure.
Synergy:
It synergizes well with Invictus as it relies on the user’s data-gathering sensors, which will be pushed to their maximum through Invictus.
Activation:
It is passive under racing conditions, but can be activated outside of racing conditions by spending SP at 5 SP per minute.
[Mirror]
has been solidifed
[Mirror]
Level:
Good
Description: The ultimate adaptability in combat. While wheel-to-wheel, it allows for instant reading, copying, and refining of the driving style of your opponent, allowing you to mimic his driving style, be it clean, defensive, hyper-aggressive, or more. You are the abyss that stares back at those who stare into it.
Effects:
Opponents can be matched in race craft and beaten at their own game, making you the worst individual to fight on the track.
Activation:
Passive under racing conditions.
Although five thousand SP was spent in gaining only two abilities, he didn’t feel even a semblance of being dissatisfied, as he finally got the two abilities that Apollo had been gunning for him to have. Now, by spending 5000 SP, he had finally finished the remaining parts that, just based on the amount of SP he spent to complete, would have taken him another four years, if not more, to finish and earn the abilities through his own actions.
With 5000 of the 34,122 SP spent, only 29,122 SP remained, which was way more than the number he had in mind, so he immediately went to look at an ability that he had wanted to upgrade as soon as possible, one that he had to sacrifice at the start of his new life in order to have enough SP to buy the other important abilities that had paid their dividends multiple times over the amount that was spent to purchase them at the start.
"Is the system messing with me?" Fatih ended up asking when he saw the upgrade price that he needed to fork over in order to upgrade Invictus back to Limit Break, where it had been when he was given the ability before he downgraded it.
"What is the problem?" Apollo asked, not seeing any problem with what he was seeing.
"I remember it vividly that I received 10,000 SP in return for downgrading it, so wouldn’t it make sense for it to cost that much to upgrade it back to the same level? Then what is this price?" Fatih explained himself as he pointed at the new price, which was 15,000 SP, and that was after the twenty percent discount was applied.
"Why should it be priced that way? You were the one who was desperate for SP, and you took the system’s price, so why would the system give you SP equal to the upgrade value and gain nothing out of it?"
"What?"
"For someone who had a business, you really look clueless in these matters."
When Fatih heard Apollo’s argument, he couldn’t really say anything against it, as it made sense. He was the one who needed SP then and was ready to do anything to get it, so the system did exactly that: provided him with an opportunity, one that came with a price that he finally had to pay, which was spending five thousand more SP than the amount he received at the cost of downgrading his Invictus ability.
"Well, beggars can’t be choosers," Fatih said as he bit down and proceeded to upgrade, but instead of everything going as usual, a new system prompt appeared.
[Your body and mind aren’t at the level to fully use Invictus at the Ultimate level. Please upgrade them before going ahead with the upgrade of Invictus.]
"But wouldn’t I have been able to handle it if I hadn’t downgraded it before birth?"
"That is because your body didn’t need to accommodate it at birth since you downgraded it, so the system took those enhancements as a price too," Apollo answered, as if the system were answering through him.
"If I set aside that 15k SP for the upgrade, that leaves behind 14,122 SP, and if the body and mind need to meet certain conditions, then we should prioritize them. That brings upgrading my Sponge Body and Sponge Brain at least to Ultimate. Since the sponge brain is already at genius level only one upgrade is needed until Ultimate. In contrast, sponge body will need two upgrades, so it is going to cost 4160 following a twenty percent discount. At the same time, it will cost 2080 SP for sponge body too move to genious and another 4160 to bring it ultimate leaving 3722SP remaining. If I upgrade Catlext to genius to allow for reaction to atlaest be able to react to the new upgraded abilities it will cost 2080 leaving me with only 1642 SP, so it is something I can afford with the rest being upgraded along the season," Fatih brainstormed with himself before turning to Apollo to see if he had a better idea, to which he just nodded, agreeing that this was the best possible upgrade routine if he was really intent on pushing his Invictus to the maximum limit-break level at the moment.
"Why do you want to upgrade Invictus now?" Apollo asked. Although he agreed that it was the best route, it was only if he was intent on having Invictus at the maximum level.
"I sacrificed it at the start to have a better foundation, but now, having it at the maximum level as early as possible is the best foundation for the current me, since there will be no breaks or repeating of seasons like in karting. This means that if I want to have the capability of fully exploiting it to the maximum by the time I reach Formula 1, I should start doing so now. Plus, it would allow me to push all of my other abilities to their maximum possible limit, since they will be receiving the best input from my entire body to work with," Fatih gave his reasoning.
"But you are going to be in quite a slump for a while if you go through with the update now, and it would take a while to get used to it."
"How come?"
"Because it is like increasing the sensitivity of a mouse ten times from the level you are used to. The same way for your body and mind, which will also be undergoing leaps of improvements. Do you expect to just plug it in and behave as if there is no difference?" Apollo asked rhetorically.
"If so, then this is the best time to do it rather than later. After all, I’m going to be operating an entirely new machine, so being clumsy at the start is a given," Fatih said, chuckling as he imagined the reaction of those who will be training him when they see him having difficulty adjusting to the more complex car. He even imagined Helmut’s reaction or possible early disappointment.
But that chuckle only lasted for a moment, as he knew that he only reacted this way because he was aware of all the circumstances, but those teaching him would not be. Depending on how things go, it might make things worse. So he asked, "How long until I’m back to at least my current level?" knowing that reaching the maximum exploitation of the ability early would not be easy at all.
"Depending on how your body assimilates the abilities, it would take at a minimum five months before you are at your current level, and up to a year, if not longer, until you are able to fully utilize it to the maximum limit-break level," answered Apollo.
"That long?" Fatih asked in surprise at the long time frame.
"It took your body a few years after you were born to just get used to the ultimate level, and you think a year or two is not fast enough? The time frame would have been longer if not for the simulation, allowing us to use extreme training as a means to shorten the time frame, since we can always push more than we did the previous day. But in the real world, you will most likely be limited to the maximum sensitivity we pushed on the last simulation, and if you push more, you might find yourself crashing," Apollo said. Although it might sound like something bad for Fatih to be in, to Apollo, it was the best possible environment to place Fatih in, as the more pressure he feels, the faster he can be tempered. Since in the real world, Helmut was already preparing his own pressure chamber, this was getting better and better for his student, though Fatih did not see it that way at all.
"Haaaah," Fatih sighed for a moment before he said, "We will deal with it when the time comes, but first, let’s get everything ready," before he went through with the purchases of everything other than Invictus, which he would need to wait until all of the other abilities were fully upgraded. Since he was still in his sleep, the upgrades were completed after not too long. Once again, he tried to upgrade his Invictus back to Limit Break, and thankfully, this time it accepted the purchase, swallowing fifteen thousand SP in an instant before a massive timer appeared in front of him without starting the countdown, as it needed his approval.
[The upgrade will take ten hours to fully integrate into your body. Would you like to go through with it?]
[YES] [NO]
"Well, I went to bed early today, so I have time," Fatih said, not too surprised at all as he clicked yes. The instant he did that, he immediately lost consciousness and was sent out of VR into a deep sleep by the system, as unimaginable changes started taking place all over his body.