The sounds of panicked shouts echoed out of the Mobius Factory, surprising the spies trying to understand how the Reborn company created a Living Structure.

Bright, prismatic lights leaked out of the windows. Then, silence.

The spies outside were completely befuddled. One second, the entire Mobius Factory was being besieged by hundreds of marauders. Then the next, it was as if the building returned to the lifeless state it was in before.

It wasn't until a few spies decided to finally enter the compound did they find out the truth.

Everyone was dead. The Tri-star Maugnetics who had stormed the factory were now lying scattered on the ground, amidst mechanical machinery and conveyor belts, with burning holes all over their bodies. 

Not only that, but they died with their eyes rolled to the back of their heads, as if they experienced a tremendous brain shock before they met their demise.

"Thank you for refueling at the Reborn Gas Station!" said the attendant. Then, as the driver was about to exit the pump, she turned towards him and gave him something with both hands.

"As part of our opening ceremony, we currently have a limited time promotion in which ever refueling will come with a free booster pack of Grand Turbo cards!"

The man looked confused as he was handed a thin, rectangular plastic pack that was unlike anything he had ever held before.

"What is this?" he asked the attendant.

"It's a collection of cards that contain all the exotic and special automobiles that the Reborn company has in store. Most of them will be in the normal rarity, but if you're lucky, you may even get the Ultra Rare SSS+ card!"

The man gulped, his eyes glazing. He didn't know what those words meant, but his inner desire was suddenly alight with yearning. 

According to their information network, these useless Grand Turbo automobile cards were so rare and prized that people were actually paying real money in order to obtain it from other people!

Right now, there was even one card which was going for a lot of money! The {Parsche 911} was currently going on the black market for a thousand Sand Dollars!

That was 1/10th the money needed to obtain a GodForge piece. A heavenly, indestructible metal that could grant someone a power that could bend reality itself.

But instead of saving up for that, people were spending that money to buy a useless piece of parchment!

"They're spending thousands of Sand Dollars each day refueling just to get more of these?! It doesn't make sense! They're just cards! They have no value!!!!"

What's worse was that it seemed that the prices for these cards were getting higher and higher as the days passed!

The Software update is finally complete!

Michael wasn't expecting the update to finish so soon, and on such a random day too!

"The reason why I wanted to dedicate more GodForge pieces to our non-combatants is simply because they are the path to our true progression in the world, as seen by the large impact of the Mobius Factory," argued Castelle, as she reasoned to everybody about her proposed Reborn company Sand Dollar expenditure.

But Michael wasn't quite in the mood to listen in on their conversation. Although it was important, he knew that this was even more critical.

{The Software Update has completed. Please find an appropriate location for you to sleep. Downloading the software will require a reboot of your entire body.}

"Boss Michael! BU TO TO! Please tell Miss Castelle that we'll need GodForge pieces to advance our next batch of trainees!"

Michael immediately stood up, shocking everyone in the room.

Michael didn't have time to ponder about that weird, out of body experience. The software update was finally here!

ChatJK5?

[Good Morning, Michael.]

I guess I should call you ChatJK6 now, right?

[That would be my formal name, yes.] ChatJK6 replied, with a bit of sass in her voice.

Cool! I can't wait to find out what your new features are going to be. 

With each software update, ChatJK6 would gain something that was completely based on the information she absorbed during the update. 

The catalyst for her unexpected level up was due to one reason: the Nascent Spirit core.

After she absorbed the core of a dead Nascent Spirit cultivator, she suddenly had enough information to form her new update. So, it's not far-fetched to think that her update had something to do with the Nascent Spirit realm.

And it looked like he wasn't that far off.

The Tri-star company was in an extremely desperate situation. Things weren't looking too good for them, considering that their sales kept plummeting with no signs of recovery.

Not only that, but the Starry Explosion phenomenon that happened recently also showcased just how powerful automobiles were.

During that brief period where no one could use their magic nor their Aubility Power, automobiles became extremely critical in keeping the market at bay. Without them, every company in New Sparta would see a sharp decline of about 50% in their earnings for at least a few days.

This made the hunger for automobiles even more rabid.

And the Tri-star company, despite having the Reborn company as their literal nemesis, also couldn't help but use automobiles themselves. But of course, they couldn't do it out in the open. 

Joseph Vanderbilt spent the majority of his days completely stuck inside his own room, never minding all of the happenings outside.

Even when the world almost turned upside down with the appearance of the Starry Explosion phenomenon, he still didn't get out of his room, choosing instead to hole himself and focus on the mountain of records around him.

Ever since he saw that woman, he couldn't get her out of his mind. He knew her. He just couldn't remember it.

But what's interesting was that even when he used his personal information network, they still didn't find out much about the woman.

She was called Lylia, and she was Michael's mother. That was all that was public knowledge about her.

However, despite this otherwise clean record, Joseph knew that there was something more in the shadows that was being hidden from public view. He wouldn't have recognized her otherwise. She must have some kind of importance among the Upper Echelon society.

For the past few days, the Reborn company experienced smooth sailing. Their automobiles were selling even more than hotcakes, if it did exist in this world. And thanks to the ever growing automobiles in New Sparta, the hunger for fuel also grew, creating great revenue for the company.

There were some hiccups along the way. A couple of sabotages here and there, some attempts to steal fuel from the gas station, but not as big and outward as the destruction of the first automobile factory. Those were just par for the course. All companies experienced that on a daily basis.

This period of peace and growth was all due to the fact that the main head of the Anti-automobile campaign was nowhere to be seen.

The Tri-star company was truly in a dire situation. So much so, that their presence in New Sparta almost completely vanished.

Whoever sold the most products would earn the most of Tri-star's territory? That sounded like Michael's cup of tea!

He wasn't delusional. Even with his cultivation now in the 1st stage of the Nascent Spirit realm, he knew that he couldn't yet contend with the Upper Echelons or the Conglomerates in any warring capacity.

They had numerous resources and even more powerful cultivators in their midst.

But when it comes to putting innovative products on the market? He believed that he was second to none. The automobile was just the first of many that he could sell to the market.

So, he was confident that Reborn could hold their own in a competition such as this.

"How can we join?"

Jimmy cocked his head side to side. "Well at first, anyone can join this festival. But the Upper Echelons rallied to have it be a closed event, reserved only for those in the top 50 of the Golden Ranking."

Michael watched as the golden nanoparticles swirl around his skin, forming clumps and nebulous clouds with such spontaneity and freedom that he thought they had a mind of their own.

He felt as if he could somehow control these nanoparticles to do his bidding. His thoughts created waves and spikes of activity amongst these sand-like particles. But the extent of his control wasn't that big. The best he could do was make the nanoparticles form very vague shapes.

After playing around with it for a few hours, he was able to completely cover his hands and wrists with the nanoparticles like some kind of tight-fitting glove.

He tried to manifest more nanoparticles so that he could cover his entire body like armor, but it seemed that this was his limit for now.

For now, he would call these his Golden Gloves.

These nanoparticles weren't just some normal material. They were both corporeal and incorporeal at the same time.