“Exactly. It’s a crude scenario, but the logic extends beyond combat. In addition, don’t forget that attributes hold additional benefits. Higher Intelligence will make a person smarter and more resourceful, regardless of his Path. In addition, there are implants and body augmentations that require a certain attribute threshold to be used. So having a Path with a wide range of attributes means you can more freely assign those points and reap multiple benefits.”

“I’m starting to feel uncomfortable here,” Bulco said. “I put most of my points into Strength, but that’s only a secondary attribute for an Engineer. Probably would have been smarter to invest more in Intelligence.”

Lana snickered. “Talk about the chicken and the egg.”

Alzigo nodded. “You are correct. Engineers benefit more from Control or Intelligence than they do from Strength and Awareness, however, that does not mean you have made a grave error. You're merely two points away from a strength of ten. When you reach it, you’ll be able to equip a wide range of personal augmentations that can prove useful in your chosen Path.”

“Oh? Like what?”

“Integrated armor plating, like the one I’m wearing. It offers substantial physical protection. Useful when working on unstable machines. Or a multipurpose augmentation tool that fuses with your skeleton and offers a wide range of Engineering tools.”

“That one sounds interesting. What tools are we talking about?”

“It can grow robotic arms to assist you with delicate operations. The arms come equipped with plasma cutters, measurement equipment, and can generally act as a rudimentary workbench.”

“I like the sound of that,” Bulco said with a glint in his eye. “How much?”

“The basic model costs seven and a half thousand piTec.”

“Holy shit!”

“Make it a solid seven and we have a deal,” Nori said.

“Agreed.”

Bulco turned to her in amazement. “I appreciate the gesture, it sounds great and all, but you heard the man, I can’t use it until I hit the next level and increase my Strength and I need six more Tec before that’ll happen.”

“You can use my exoskeleton,” she said, tugging it away. The slender straps that hugged her body started to come undone on their own, folding in on themselves until they looked like a mass of dangling metal pipes. Nori held up the bundle and looked at Alzigo. “That should work, right?”

He nodded. “These devices bind with the wearer and increase his Strength on an internal level as well. Wearing this, your friend would be able to equip the multipurpose support augmentation.”

“Good, then it’s settled. Add the cost to our debt.” Nori handed the bundle to Bulco who stood staring at her.

“I appreciate the gesture, kid, but that’s yours. I’d feel bad getting stronger at your expense when I’m already stronger than you are wearing it.”