Ch.4: Adaptation Complete
"Heuuu……."
Calix awakens with a flash.
The first thing that ca to mind as soon as he regained consciousness was last night's painful surgical process. Although the anesthetic reduced the pain, it couldn't eliminate it completely, so the agony of skin being peeled off and bones being scraped away was entirely his to bear.
Indeed, he was currently feeling a burning sensation as if on fire from his neck down to his lower back.
He raised his upper body and instinctively brought his hand to the back of his neck, where he felt the texture of tal along with dried blood clots sticking to his palm.
The horrific experience was only briefly recalled before the surrounding scenery caught his attention.
Deureureu-k, deolkeong, deolkeong.
The sll of grass, the sound of wheels spinning uselessly against stones, the faint sll of blood, and people's voices.
"Hmm? Are you awake?"
When he suddenly looked around the wagon, a man who had been sitting next to the coachman naturally got up and crossed over to the cargo area to look down at Calix.
"Get down and walk."
"……Yes."
He obediently followed the instructions instead of asking questions.
He could confirm what he was curious about by seeing it with his own eyes.
What was important was that he had regained freedom of his body and finally got to have a neural accelerator.
"……You're quite perceptive, aren't you? I was about to kick you if you tried to ask any half-baked questions."
"Don't kick with your foot. There shouldn't be any flaws until we arrive."
"I know, I know. But there's a knack to this, too, you know?"
"Hardly."
Kung, cheolpeodeok!
Kkilkkilkkilkkil.
Although his legs gave out during the process of getting down and he fell over, and the soldiers walking alongside the cargo wagon burst into mockery, Calix focused only on his task.
Just then, mysterious text filled his vision.
[Balder Valefor, user consciousness recovery qualification regeneration procedure……]
[Niboria Empire royal permit number --(damaged)]
[Error, critical damage detected……]
[Additional qualification code verification procedure activated]
……
……
……
[Temporary qualification granted]
[Owner qualification verification in progress]
[Biotric indicators regenerating]
Although he had clearly seen it with his own eyes, where had the na Raimund gone?
Hwiiwi.
When he waved his hand in the air, looking for the disappeared na, only the mockery of the surrounding soldiers grew louder.
"Perceptive, my ass. Fosha, that bastard just got down but isn't walking!"
"Hahaha, he got properly ignored."
"It's entertaining every ti I see it. I won the bet."
"……Damn, he looked so refined I thought he was a volunteer."
"Can't you tell just by looking? Obviously he was probably a male prostitute slave. You need to develop better judgnt. I keep telling you this."
Since he lacked information, he decided to start by walking as instructed.
Just as he was about to raise his upper body to find his center of balance and put strength into his lower body, Calix finally noticed that his calves were trembling.
Ping-
However, a bigger problem than that was dizziness.
As he struggled against the montary sensation of the world spinning around, the neural accelerator intervened just in ti.
[Connecting to neural network]
[Please be careful of sensory confusion]
[Muscle spasms and seizures may accompany]
Then at so mont.
Jjaaaa-k!
Suddenly, a sensation that only Calix could feel ca over him.
Like the sound of a whip, a personal noise due to neural function abnormalities. At the sa ti, his left arm stiffened for an instant and felt like a log.
Had it been completely cut off by an invisible knife?
From his fingers to his forearm, the sensation of one area seed to no longer exist. As if warm water had been poured along his blood vessels, the sensation that had montarily disappeared slowly returned from his forearm to the tips.
"Haaa, haaa, heuuu……."
The relief was as great as the montary fear had been.
At the sa ti, as great as the relief was-
Jjareureureu!
The bewildernt from the subsequent sensory loss also grew even greater.
Cheolpeok!
"It's started."
"That guy dances pretty well."
Pain coming up from the spine was rather better.
Because his right leg had turned into a wooden block, he lost his center of balance and buried his face in the dirt ground, and his right arm that he forcibly pulled to support himself on the ground was trembling deoldeoldeeol-……. The feeling of losing control of his body overwheld Calix.
[Neural network connection complete]
[Conducting test operation]
[Reality acceleration, 1.3x]
Hwaaa-k-
Then suddenly, along with text that appeared before his eyes, the world changed.
The wheels of the cargo wagon moving ahead noticeably slowed down, the soldiers' laughter beca flatly compressed, and his entire body suffered from much stronger pressure than usual, as if being crushed by sothing.
And that was……A truly familiar sensation for Calix.
'It's similar to diving in the pit.'
Instead of mud, air, no.
The increased neural transmission speed and the accelerated flow of ti pressed down on his body, but Calix didn't resist that force and first corrected his center of balance.
'Don't rush. I need to relax first.'
Kkuuu-k.
He pressed his forehead against the dirt ground instead of his right hand, which hadn't yet regained sensation, to raise his upper body, and at the sa ti fixed his right knee to serve as a support.
'Good. Standing up first.'
Kkwaaa-a-ak.
He then gradually put strength into his left foot to confirm the appropriate level, and using only his left foot……. Stood up.
'I did it. I did it!'
One step at a ti, slowly.
Like diving into the mine pit, the neural accelerator wasn't much different from that.
Seueu-eu-uk.
"……Look at that guy? He's already standing up?"
The veteran soldier with dark skin looked at Calix's appearance and let out a quiet exclamation.
"Right. Did that bastard take so dicine or sothing? I've been a soldier for 15 years, and this is the first ti I've seen soone like that."
"Enough. He's just a conscript anyway. He's going to die anyway."
"Tsk, boring. Habab, you take responsibility for the rear."
"Yes."
Just as the laughter naturally subsided.
Euhahahaha-
Another conscript ca to his senses, and the soldiers' attention shifted, and by then Calix's neural accelerator was emitting signals of physical recovery.
[Balder Valefor, user consciousness recovery qualification regeneration procedure in progress]
[Ergency operation due to neural network changes]
……
……
[Bloodline factor verification complete]
[Owner qualification adjustnt: Official user]
……
……
……
[Please enter the new user's na]
The only problem was that Calix couldn't properly understand the neural accelerator's request.
Fortunately, the part he didn't know was filled in by Habab, a royal dispatch soldier.
"Do you know how to use the neural accelerator?"
"I don't know."
"Na. Focus and say your na. As if you're talking to a person."
"……Calix."
Then imdiately, the secret collection of the magical engineer Nilo revealed its identity.
[User na input complete]
……
Na: Calix
Age: 19 [Physical developnt level estimate, correctable]
Biotric Indicators
Strength: 2/10 [Recovering]
Agility: 3/10 [Recovering]
Endurance: 3/10 [Recovering]
Reality Acceleration: 1.5x [Limited output]
Maximum Oxygen Uptake (VO2 max): 8/10
Vision: 4/20 [Partially damaged, recovering]
Physical Recovery: 1/10 [Recovering]
[ntal State]
ntal Contamination: 82% [Care needed]
Neural Network State: 99%
[Physical Developnt]
Muscle Developnt: 41%
Bone Density: 72% [Enhancent agent fusion in progress]
[Bloodline Abilities]
Lanita's Heart/Source of Mana [22%]
Ashapel's Instinct/Avatar of the Battlefield [9%]
After user registration was completed, the neural accelerator rapidly normalized his body.
The sensation in both arms that had been temporarily paralyzed returned perfectly, strength fully entered both legs, and his waist straightened.
Then, after taking a few steps following the soldier's command, the joy of finally achieving what he wanted ca rushing in belatedly.
Once he got a grip on his senses, his body's movents were surprisingly light.
However, soldier Habab, who couldn't know such feelings, pointed his finger at the group that had gotten farther away.
"Explanation later. Follow the wagon at a quick pace."
"Yes."
Only then did Calix properly examine the situation he was in.
Twenty cargo wagons.
In the cargo areas, people like him were stacked unconsciously, and about twenty heavily ard soldiers were walking around the wagons.
"Listen while walking. Most are conscripts like you. So are volunteers, too. I don't know how you ended up here, but the destination is set."
"……."
"It's a battlefield. You're being called out for the disputes of high-ranking people. Well, it's not sothing to despair about. It's not like the northern empire is invading; it's just a territorial war. Do you understand what that ans?"
"Yes."
"If you survive, you can advance in life. Even if you were dragged here by force, opportunities are fair. You might be able to escape slavery and start a family."
Soldier Habab subtly ntioned freeman status to provide motivation, but the reward of freeman status didn't give Calix much excitent.
His primary goal was to survive as a conscript, and his secondary purpose was to get opportunities to beco stronger.
If he could beco a knight, if through that he could see his mother again……. He wouldn't mind being a soldier for a while, or even a rcenary.
Therefore, while outwardly nodding his head, pretending to be naive, he didn't neglect gathering information. His gaze reaching the flag planted on the wagon was part of that.
In the center was a shining star, on both sides were two silver lions, and the surroundings were decorated in gold and deep blue.
"Hmm? First ti seeing the royal flag? It's the symbol of the Astria royal family."
"……."
"You can ask if you have any questions."
"Then am I becoming a royal soldier?"
"You dream big."
The answer was short, but the mocking tone was clear.
From this, Calix deduced several facts from one exchange.
'I'm not fighting as royal property. Seeing that there's no sign of tension at all……. It doesn't seem like royal soldiers fight together with conscripts either. In that case…….'
As the survival probability decreased, he would need to devise his own thods.
Kung!
"The other guys are starting to wake up, too. Stick to the rear of the wagon, but when the number of conscious ones increases, walk in formation. You can do that much, right?"
"Yes. Earlier……. I'm sorry if that was a rude question."
However, when he offered a ceremonial apology fitting the appearance of a conscript, the man raised one corner of his mouth and casually replied.
"Enough. If you prove your usefulness, who knows? You'll receive basic training when we rest. Don't do anything else and focus on listening."
"Yes."
And for the next two hours or so, the group of conscripts stopped in an open field with a clear view.
The cargo wagons were arranged in a circle as a temporary defensive wall in preparation for attacks, and in the center, they prepared to light a campfire for als.
Extrely salty preserved at, cheese, and raisins were for the soldiers, while travel rye bread made as hard as possible and sacks containing dried beans were for the hundred or so conscripts.
However, before that, soone who jumped onto the wagon drew everyone's attention.
On his left shoulder was a badge indicating a decurion, showing that he was different from regular soldiers.
"Welco, maggots! Abandoned ones, sold ones, dragged ones, and even those who ca volunteering, thinking they chose this themselves!"
"……"
"If you want to run away now, I won't stop that either! Bandits, thieves, money-crazed slash-and-burn farrs - if you can avoid them, you can do whatever you want! But you know that nine out of ten will die like dogs. On the other hand, the survival rate in territorial wars is much higher! So whether you like it or not, there's no choice."
It was a rough welco.
The conscripts had diverse conditions ranging from race, physical conditions, age, and even so different genders, but they all stared intently at the royal soldier.
"That's what our kingdom's territorial wars are really like. They say it's disputes of high-ranking people, but broadly speaking, it's also a kind of training process for raising troops. The ultimate purpose is to prepare for invasions from the north and east. Then what should we do?"
"……We must survive!"
The answer to the question ca half a beat late from soone who had volunteered from a village. The decurion nodded at this.
"Correct. Victory would be best, but if you maintain your life even in defeat, you'll be given a second chance. Therefore, until we reach our destination, it's training, training, and more training. I don't expect anything great. Although each of your neural accelerator models may be different, the test output is commonly only '1.1'. The goal is to raise this to the rated output of '1.3'. Any questions, bastards?"
"……."
"No one?"
That's when Calix detected sothing strange.
'I was '1.3' from the beginning?'
His personal doubt didn't disappear even with the front-row conscript's question.
"Is it possible to raise the neural accelerator output above '1.3'?"
"Don't even utter such stupid words. Unless you borrow the power of enhancent agents, if you raise the standard output by even '0.1', your muscles and joints will burst. Why do you think we use the term rated output? I don't even expect all of you to achieve '1.3'!"
And what followed after that was only training, training, training. It didn't take very long to actually feel the substantial difference.
Hwiik-teok!
"Aeueueu-it!"
"……."
Everyone was slow, too slow.
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