Mechanical Prosthetic

"Lawen, congratulations on successfully advancing. There's a wide range of main materials suitable for a Windwalker Alchemical Implant. Our main targets this time are Lightning Lizards or Cave Horned Hounds. Both types of Demonic Beast are plentiful in the upper levels of the Underground Chamber. As long as our luck isn't too bad, there's a good chance we'll get Cursed Materials."

"Yeah. If we happen to run into an Anomaly-grade Mutated Monster, we might even be lucky enough to extract Silver Quality Cursed Material. Then we can get the gang's mechanic to refine it for us. Deputy Captain Lawen, you'll become a proper professional then."

"Boss, brothers, don't tease me. Buying the Job Advancement Materials and that implant blueprint has nearly drained all my savings. If we come back empty-handed this time, I'll really be broke."

"Haha, don't worry, Deputy Captain Lawen. Once you become a professional, your combat power will soar. The early investment will pay off soon enough. When that happens, we'll be counting on you to look after us."

"..."

This was a fully armed Wilderness Hunting Team of eight people.

They had set up camp amid the ruins of a building with a dilapidated watchtower. This campsite also happened to lie directly along the route marked on Suren's map.

As they chatted, the team member on watch suddenly noticed unusual movement deep in the cave and called out softly, "Careful, everyone. Someone's coming from over there!"

Travel through the dim Underground Chamber was slow. By Suren's estimate, it would still take another four or five days to reach the "city" the original owner had come from.

But Suren's situation wasn't looking good.

His food was nearly exhausted. If he didn't find supplies soon, he would probably have to try hunting cave monsters for food.

But drinking water was an even bigger problem.

Suren had originally assumed that since there was an ecosystem underground, water sources shouldn't be scarce.

After walking through the Underground Chamber for days, he had found several pools and water seeping through cracks in the rocks. But the All-Seeing Eye's appraisal showed that they were all "polluted water sources" to varying degrees. Drinking them would cause mutation.

Suren vaguely understood why the water in Baldhead's Storage Ring had been so murky, yet was still considered drinking water.

Compared to mutation, murky water was acceptable.

Suren had hoped to run into some people so he could buy drinking water and ask about the situation. But clearly, meeting anyone in such a desolate Underground Chamber was never a good opportunity to ask directions or buy water.

Yet now, he had encountered just such a Wilderness Hunting Team.

Having witnessed the ruthlessness of Baldhead and his group, Suren didn't assume the people of this world were particularly kind.

Still, he had no choice but to take the risk of making contact with this team.

Because they had already spotted him too.

Clearly, the other side had someone with a special ability suited for long-range detection. They had aimed their guns at him even before Suren had seen them.

Suren's eyesight was astonishing. When he saw that the sniper atop the watchtower had already set up his rifle and aimed it at him, he showed no intention of resisting at all. He raised both hands, signaling that he had no intention of drawing a weapon.

At his waist hung a wooden box. With the slightest touch, the puppet inside could drop out.

Eight people. Two snipers, and six more in the camp.

Suren observed them and roughly assessed the situation.

The Rune Anomaly Puppet's effective range was only ten meters. Crossing those several hundred meters left him on edge.

But if he chose to run, the sniper opposite him would probably shoot him as casually as playing whack-a-mole.

As he walked, he shouted, "I mean no harm. I only want to trade for some food and water."

"Boss, it's a human, not an anomaly."

"Mm, looks like a lone unlucky bastard."

"Huh, that red pistol at that kid's waist... could it be the Three-Headed Ghost, one of the famous guns? Isn't that Crow Gang Iron Head Ivan's sidearm?"

"Yeah, I saw it too. Iron Head Ivan isn't someone to mess with."

"..."

The team camped within the ruined watchtower was clearly curious about encountering a lone human here.

Once they saw that the "baldhead" they were watching made no dangerous moves, they allowed him to approach.

Yes, that "baldhead" was Suren.

Without undergoing cosmetic surgery, how could one quickly alter their facial features?

Suren's devastatingly handsome face was far too recognizable. He worried that trouble from the previous owner of his body would catch up to him.

There was no way he could return to the city looking like this.

Something like carving up his face would be too deliberate and would only draw more attention.

So, he decisively used the Physical Disguise Technique—shaving off his eyebrows.

Anyone who had tried it would know that if you wanted a face to suddenly become unfamiliar, the most direct method was shaving off all the eyebrows. It was absolutely a disfigurement-level disguise technique, and it worked incredibly fast.

Besides, Suren had no concern for his image. To be safe, he had even shaved off all his hair along with them.

Then he used greasepaint to apply eyeshadow and gave himself smoky eye makeup.

He had gone directly from a refined, handsome young man to a punkish-looking street thug.

Judging from the clothes Baldhead and the others had worn earlier, this dark punk style wasn't unusual in this world. It was even a mainstream fashion.

Just like several people in the Wilderness Hunting Team before Suren were dressed that way.

Suren walked beneath the broken earthen wall, where at least ten guns were already aimed at his head.

Perhaps his understanding of steam machinery was insufficient, but he felt that although the equipment these people wore was less refined than Baldhead's group's, it was far more complicated and had a stronger technological feel.

They were equipped with all kinds of long guns and sidearms, strangely shaped mechanical war blades, mechanical shields, full-body External Skeletons for carrying loads, backpack-sized Steam Power Boilers—

Even more astonishingly, the man who looked like the "captain" had two exquisitely crafted Steam Powered Mechanical Arms!

They weren't the External Skeleton-style Mechanical Arms Baldhead had used before, but "Mechanical Prosthetics" that completely replaced flesh-and-blood arms.

"Did I guess wrong? Is this not a fantasy world, but a cyberpunk world?"

Seeing this, Suren began to doubt his earlier assumptions.

Perhaps this world's technology tree had developed in a strange direction. Had it advanced far enough to develop a field as technically demanding as "prosthetic modification"?

His limited Mechanical Knowledge left him utterly confused.

This world clearly looked like a blend of steam technology and fantasy, so how could it be connected to high-tech prosthetics operated by neural signals?

The technological clash was incredibly jarring, like people from the steam age developing lightsaber technology from Star Wars. Theoretically, those were technologies separated by several eras.

However, the doubt passed in an instant.

Suren didn't reveal much surprise on his face.

Just then, the people atop the wall seemed equally cautious and shouted, "Stop!"

Suren cooperatively stopped where he was.

The captain with the Mechanical Arms asked, "Who are you?"