Chapter 226
Miyu said we should begin the surgery imdiately, but no matter how much of a genius she was, she couldn’t prepare everything alone. We needed the cooperation of the Dwarves, the owners of this land, to procure various equipnt and materials.
Fortunately, since the civil engineering work had been successfully completed, the Dwarves were very cooperative with us. However, as the power of ‘The River’ returned, they too had a mountain of urgent issues to deal with.
In other words, if we wanted the villagers’ cooperation, we had to extend our hand first once again.
If this were a ga…… it was like a quest had popped up: ‘Help the villagers and earn their trust.’
I wondered if we were going to get delayed again, but contrary to my worries, most of the Dwarves’ requests weren’t particularly difficult, so we resolved them with relative ease.
“My hamr broke. I need a new one.”
“Our baby refuses to drink beer, and it’s a disaster. We need new yeast to brew a different kind. Could you lend a hand?”
That was the general idea.
In the past, so of these issues would have taken quite a bit of ti, but now that Miyu’s understanding of ‘The River of Source Power’ had deepened, we were able to solve them easily. Of course, there was one request that proved rather difficult…….
“This damned car refuses to fly! It won’t listen to us n at all! Says it’s not feeling motivated!”
“You showed us the blueprints for the aerial vehicle less than a week ago—how many did you even build……?”
“About seven!”
The Dwarf puffed out his chest proudly.
Miyu’s face twisted, and suppressing her anger, she asked,
“Hoo… so how exactly are we supposed to help?”
“You’ll dance for it.”
“…What?”
The Dwarf pointed at Iri and Miyu. Confusion spread across both their faces.
“D-Dance?”
“Yeah. Ah, you and the kid over there are fine. The car says it’s not interested in n or children.”
“What kind of nonsense is that!?”
“We’ve never even danced before…… you’re not making fun of us, are you?”
“Hah. Have you been fooled your whole life? If you don’t believe , take a look.”
The Dwarves gathered around one of the intact cars and began circling it, chanting. “Cheer up! Cheer up!” They even pumped their fists as they encouraged it.
Then the perfectly functional(?) cars suddenly roared to life and lifted into the sky with a buzz.
Even as I explained it, I had no idea what was going on.
They cheered at the Dwarven cars, and all but one revved their engines and shot into the air, as if the encouragent had truly given them motivation.
“See? The others are full of passion, so they perform when it’s ti. But this one keeps slacking off while everyone else works hard. Must be going through adolescence.”
“A car…… adolescence…….”
Iri looked utterly dumbfounded. But regardless of her reaction, the Dwarf continued his explanation.
“So it refuses to listen to us old n no matter what. That’s why you need to dance and boost this slacker’s motivation. Think of it as a morale-boosting performance.”
“I told you, we’ve never danced before!?”
Iri snapped, her face turning bright red. At the sa ti, she kept shooting glances, silently asking for help.
Just as I was about to step in—
“Don’t worry. We’ll teach you the traditional dance passed down through generations of our Dwarf tribe…… the ‘Zero Two.’”
“…….”
……Authorrrr!! Hurrayyy!!
I shouted in triumph inwardly, then lowered my head and sat back down to hide my expression.
Thus, we completed all the requests from the Dwarf Village.
We did manage to secure the Dwarves’ cooperation, but honestly, the greatest achievent was being able to store the video of Iri and Miyu dancing Zero Two in my internal mory.
I could die without regrets now……!
For the record, the troubleso car started showing motivation the mont it saw the two of them dance. The problem was that it got too motivated, exceeded its design specs, and its engine blew out. So you were a man too, huh.
anwhile, Iri and Miyu were so overwheld with embarrassnt that their faces stayed as red as tomatoes for roughly two hours, unable to say a word.
I wondered if they might overheat and collapse at this rate, but fortunately, that didn’t happen.
In any case, I obtained a treasure-worthy video to pass down through generations, and the Dwarves solved their problem. A win-win.
Only after tidying up all those trivial issues were we finally able to begin the surgery.
With the Dwarves’ cooperation, Miyu prepared the necessary surgical equipnt, and Evangeline assisted her by setting up a barrier and taking magical asures so that ‘The River’ could flow smoothly.
Iri volunteered to stand guard in case any suspicious figures tried to interfere during the operation.
“Everything’s ready.”
At Miyu’s report, I took off my upper garnts and lay down on the operating table.
Several chanical arms hung from the ceiling of the operating room to assist with the surgery, and Miyu herself wore a green surgical gown like a doctor’s. On the tray beside her, a piece of ‘Oga’ flesh writhed faintly.
The fact that the Dwarves had constructed a modern dical facility like this in barely an hour was proof of what an astonishing race they were.
“…Aaron. You removed all your modules, right?”
“Yeah. I’m ready. Begin.”
How long had it been since I lay on an operating table like this?
Miyu nodded, and behind her back, tentacle-like appendages tipped with sharp needles rose into the air all at once.
“I’ll administer anesthesia. It’ll sting.”
Thud!
I felt sothing pierce my entire body simultaneously, and imdiately after, I lost consciousness.
When I opened my eyes again, the world was bathed in radiant light. It wasn’t that sothing was wrong with my optic nerves—rather, I had begun seeing sothing that wasn’t visible before.
‘This is……!’
The River of Source Power.
What I could only see through Evangeline’s magic before was now visible with my naked eyes. But unlike a few days ago, I no longer sensed the presence of the ‘Author.’
“Y-You’re awake, Aaron.”
“…Miyu.”
“The surgery was successful. Oga’s somatic cells have safely taken root in your body. How do you feel?”
“Hmm…….”
It felt strange.
There was no better way to describe it.
For so reason, the sky felt closer, as if I could reach out and grasp it whenever I wished.
It also felt like I had just opened eyes that had been closed until now. My body felt unbelievably light, as though everything that had bound until this mont had vanished.
As if invisible eyelids had finally lifted.
When I conveyed those honest feelings to Miyu, she nodded with interest.
“As I expected, stabilizing Oga’s somatic cells required Source Power. Oga was an evolutionary recreation of the most ‘perfect human’ created by a multidinsional ‘god.’ So to apply that to an ordinary human body, we quite literally needed the ‘power of a god.’”
“Complicated.”
“Your body is now, like Oga’s, stepping into a higher-dinsional universe. To put it more simply…….”
A monitor descended in front of as I lay on the surgical bed. A diagram appeared on it.
There were two circles labeled A and B. B enveloped A. Countless humans were drawn inside A, and tentacled monsters inside B.
In the overlapping section of A and B, a single human figure was drawn. It sowhat resembled my face.
“A is the universe we live in, and B is the original…… outer universe where the other [Mystics] resided. The catastrophe 200 years ago occurred when beings from the outer universe began crossing into our inner universe for so reason. And…….”
The humans inside A were painted over in blue and erased.
“Mana is a substance that exists in Universe B. It follows B’s laws. So when it cos into contact with Universe A, human bodies—designed for A—collapse. Or if they adapt, they beco ‘monsters.’ Humans have been removing it using the power of Nanomachines and fighting monsters from Universe B ever since.”
“Mm.”
I already knew this much.
What mattered ca next.
“Oga was born in Universe A, but possessed properties closer to Universe B. More precisely, it had the power to adapt to either universe. And now that we’ve implanted that into your body, Aaron…….”
“I’m no longer affected by Otherworld Transformation?”
“Yes, exactly!”
Miyu nodded vigorously.
“Arcane Modules were originally created by applying the power of Universe B to Universe A in a limited way. As they reached Lv.6, they grew stronger but also took on properties closer to Universe B.”
“That’s why I couldn’t use them.”
“Yes. But now there’s no problem.”
“Try sitting up.”
Miyu helped up and carefully reinserted the Combat Modules she had removed into the socket at the back of my neck.
“You’ll now be able to handle Ga Changer-class modules far more easily. As [Corpse Eater] upgraded, compatibility with all other module types improved as well. Additionally, your Pure Spec is estimated to have increased by at least 60%.”
“Hard to grasp in numbers.”
“Before, if you swung the [Techblade] a few tis, your overload rate would spike and trigger the cooling system, right? Now you can swing it at least a dozen more tis without issue.”
That was good news.
But where there was good news, there was also bad.
“However, your internal energy levels may now exceed legal limits. As you know, there was recently renewed debate in the module industry regarding the ‘Special Law for Adaptees’…….”
I had already been a walking nuclear bomb. If people learned I had beco even stronger, it could spark political trouble.
The fact that Miyu—who had no interest in politics—was bringing this up showed just how massive the repercussions of the Special Law for Adaptees had been.
Of course, I personally didn’t care much.
“It’s fine. We’ll handle it sohow.”
“I-I suppose so. If you say so, Aaron…….”
Even if soone picked a fight over it, I didn’t mind. I had allies on both sides of the aisle. It was manageable.
“Anything else I should watch out for?”
“Since your Pure Spec increased so rapidly, you might have trouble controlling your strength at first. And until Oga’s somatic cells fully stabilize, you should avoid Anti-rain as much as possible…….”
Her explanation went on for quite a while, but the gist was basically, ‘The surgery just ended, so no drinking and avoid strenuous exercise.’
I listened calmly and then accepted the clothes she handed . My suit felt tighter than usual—probably because my muscle mass had increased.
I should get new ones tailored when we return.
With that thought, I led Miyu out of the room. We stopped by Hans’s house and I said to Iri and Evangeline,
“It’s done. Let’s head back.”
The Academy’s opening day was just around the corner.
It was ti to prepare for the next episode.
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