Ability Forge Unlocked

Quantum Imaging Scanner: original resolution was 2.7 nanometers—after modification, it had improved to 1.6 nanometers.

The method was to recalibrate the phase-difference compensation algorithm in the detector array and replace one capacitor in the signal amplifier.

The original capacitor's capacitance was 0.3 percent too high, causing high-frequency signal attenuation.

Surgical Assist Robotic Arm: original response delay was twelve milliseconds—after modification, it had been reduced to four milliseconds.

The method was to overclock the control chip's clock frequency from one hundred megahertz to two hundred eighty megahertz, while rewriting the servo motor's PID control parameters.

Biochemical Lab Bench: Lynn had added a custom drug synthesis module—a 3D-printed microfluidic chip paired with a synthesis-pathway algorithm he had written himself.

If Tony saw that a community college dropout had modified his equipment, worth more than ten million dollars, to perform like this, he'd probably rampage around the lab three times.

Three days later.

The clinic's hardware upgrades were complete.

The first floor was the regular reception area, just like before.

But the VIP Operating Room in the back had been completely transformed—electromagnetic shielding, soundproofing, reinforced walls, and a full set of Stark Medical Equipment.

This room, less than fifteen square meters, could now rival the world's top ten private medical laboratories in terms of medical capabilities.

The basement had also been remodeled—some of the bulletproof materials Frank had left behind, along with reinforced steel plates Lynn had bought himself, had turned it into a makeshift "Safe House."

In an emergency, someone could hide inside for at least forty-eight hours.

Equipment was in place.

The hardware was ready.

Lynn sat behind the front desk.

He opened the System Panel.

Current Reputation Points: 580.

Ability Forge unlock threshold: 500.

He had eighty points to spare.

He stared at the words "Ability Forge" for three seconds.

[Ability Forge unlocked.]

[Function description: deeply fuse two or more copied abilities to create a new composite ability. The quality and effects of the fused ability far surpass those of simply combining individual abilities.]

[Cost: 100 Reputation Points per fusion.]

[Risk: the fusion process involves intense physical pain (a bodily reaction to the abilities being restructured). A failed fusion may lower the quality of the abilities involved or even cause them to disappear. The more abilities fused, and the more complex they are, the greater the risk.]

[Limitations: a maximum of three abilities can be fused at a time. Fused abilities cannot be separated afterward.]

Lynn read each rule twice.

The risk was considerable.

A failed fusion could cost him his abilities.

The more abilities involved, and the more complex they were, the greater the risk.

Three at most each time. Irreversible afterward.

He opened his current ability list—

Super Intelligence (incomplete version · 70%), source: Batman, S+ rank.

Super Genius: Engineering and Invention (incomplete version · 65%), source: Iron Man, S rank.

Super Senses (incomplete version · 75%), source: Daredevil, A+ rank.

Super Agent Skills: Combat and Infiltration (incomplete version · 70%), source: Black Widow, A- rank.

Indestructible (incomplete version · 65%), source: Luke Cage, A rank.

Superhuman Strength (weakened version · 55%), source: Jessica Jones, A- rank.

Healing Factor (weakened version · 60%), source: Punisher, B+ rank.

Seven abilities.

The two Super Intelligence processes in his mind ran simultaneously, exhaustively analyzing all possible combinations and evaluating their benefits and risks.

First priority: Super Intelligence plus Super Genius: Engineering and Invention.

Reason—the two abilities were both "cognitive" talents, and their underlying operations relied on the same neural system (the thought-processing regions of the cerebral cortex).

Abilities of the same type had the highest compatibility and the lowest chance of failure.

Expected result—a composite cognitive ability of a higher dimension.

Instead of two parallel channels of thought, "analysis" and "creation," he'd have a single channel integrating both.

Second priority: Super Senses plus Combat and Infiltration.

Reason—one was perceptual, the other combat-oriented.

The senses provided real-time information about the battlefield, while combat instincts enabled rapid responses.

The expected result of fusing them was a "battlefield precognition" ability—his intuitive predictive ability in combat would improve dramatically.

Other combinations carried greater risks and offered uncertain benefits.

He'd start with the first one.

Lynn locked the clinic's front door and hung up a sign that read "Closed for the Day."

He went down to the basement.

He shut the door and sat on the floor mat.

He took a deep breath.

"Begin fusion."

The system confirmed—

[100 Reputation Points consumed. Current Reputation Points: 580 → 480.]

[Fusion beginning: Super Intelligence (S+ · 70%) + Super Genius: Engineering and Invention (S · 65%).]

[Estimated duration: 6 hours.]

[Warning: the process will involve severe head pain. The host is advised to remain still.]

[Fusion started.]

The pain came three seconds later.

It wasn't something that could be described as a "headache."

It was a searing sensation erupting from deep within his cerebral cortex, as if a thousand volts of electricity were coursing through his nerve fibers all at once.

Lynn's body instinctively doubled over. He braced both hands against the floor, his fingers gouging five grooves into the mat.

He clenched his teeth.

Six hours.

This was only the beginning.

The basement lights were off.

In the darkness, Lynn endured the first wave of the assault.

The word "headache" couldn't begin to describe it—two complete systems of thought were colliding inside his brain.

Batman's way of thinking was a web, moving from the known to the unknown in layer after layer, with every node connected by a chain of logic.

Tony's was a factory: the moment he saw a target, he built it in his mind, working out the three-dimensional structure, material selection, and manufacturing process all at once.

When the two systems operated simultaneously in his cerebral cortex, it was like two computers with different operating systems being forcibly connected to the same motherboard.

Conflict.

Uncontrollable conflict.

Lynn's nose started bleeding in the seventeenth minute.

It wasn't a slight seep; a thin stream ran from his right nostril and dripped onto the collar of his lab coat.

He didn't wipe it away. He didn't have the strength to lift his hand.

He had bitten down on a rubber bite block beforehand—the kind used in operating rooms to keep epileptic patients from biting their tongues.

Now his teeth were sunk deep into its surface.

His Healing Factor was working.

He could feel its faint restorative energy trying to suppress the inflammation in his brain.

But the impact of the fusion far exceeded what a B+ rank Healing Factor could handle.

An hour passed.

Lynn leaned against the basement wall, curled into a ball.

Sweat had soaked through the back of his lab coat.

His fingers repeatedly clutched at the floor mat, leaving one mark after another.