Chapter 005: The First Creation
Logan's hand was touching 'Spark's' shattered spinal junction. Simultaneous with his final declaration, "Begin," a cold system message filled his vision.
[Beginning Reverse-Engineering.]
[Target: 'Scrapyard' Combat Cybernetics (Cervical 3rd Vertebra Junction Damaged)]
[Analysis Complete: Combination of Old-World Technology (77%) and Monster Biomatter (23%).]
[Blueprint Acquired: 'Micro Power Core (C-Grade)']
[Blueprint Acquired: 'Prosthetic Joint Drivetrain (D+ Grade)']
[Blueprint Acquired: 'Lightweight Reinforced Armor Plate (D-Grade)']
[Blueprint Acquired: 'Plasma Cannon (B-Grade)' - (40% of main components damaged, repair required)]
Without a 0.1-second hesitation, Logan lifted his hand, slick with blood and oil, and moved to the next 'resource.'
He crouched over the corpse of 'Jogg,' who had died with his joint bent in the wrong direction. His hand touched the shattered knee-joint prosthesis.
[Beginning Reverse-Engineering.]
[Target: 'Scrapyard' Mobility Cybernetics (Knee Joint Damaged)]
[Analysis Complete: 98% match with 'Prosthetic Joint Drivetrain (D+ Grade)' blueprint. Parts are compatible.]
[New Blueprint Acquired: 'High-Output Servo Motor (C- Grade)']
[New Blueprint Acquired: 'Plasma Cannon (B-Grade)' - (Good condition, power source disconnected)]
Dozens of complex blueprints poured into his mind. The [Master Blueprint] skill immediately categorized this new information, combined it with his existing knowledge database, and began simulating millions of possibilities.
His gaze turned to the corners of the machine room.
First, Havek 'Iron Eye,' groaning beneath the pile of chains. A living, A-Grade intelligence asset. Second, Eva 'The Silver Flash,' leaning against the wall, breathing shallowly in pain and confusion.
Logan's eyes fixed on Eva. Her status window floated up in his vision, glowing blue.
[Target: Eva Rostova]
[Class: Blade Dancer (S)]
[Status: Mana Exhaustion (Critical), Hemorrhage (Severe), Early Signs of Shock.]
[Diagnosis: Immediate blood transfusion and high-grade recovery potion required. In current state, absolutely incapable of movement within 2 hours.]
An immediate calculation completed in Logan's mind.
'Resource Analysis: 1 S-Grade Combatant. Status: Inoperable. Efficiency: Rock bottom.'
He reached an immediate conclusion. Havek's interrogation could wait. That information wasn't going anywhere. But the 'inoperable' status of an S-Grade combatant was a critical blow to the dam's overall survival rating.
Top Priority: Restore operational status of S-Grade resource.
Logan stood and walked over to Eva. With the blood-soaked hammer resting on his shoulder, he looked down at her impassively.
"It's a problem if the Guardian just lies around."
Eva flinched at his voice, but Logan had already looked away. He returned to the two corpses.
Without hesitation, he jammed the claw end of his hammer into the seam of 'Spark's' chest plate.
SKREEECH-!
The steel plate tore open, revealing the 'Micro Power Core' inside. Logan took out a portable cutter and roughly severed the connecting cables. Blood and coolant splattered, but he didn't even blink.
Next was 'Jogg's' leg. He targeted the intact left leg, not the shattered right one. Skin and muscle were just inconvenient packaging. He burned away the flesh with the cutter and smashed the bone with his hammer to 'extract' the C-Grade servo motor and prosthetic joint embedded within.
He even walked over to Havek, who was watching this whole scene in horror while tied up, and inspected the intact plasma cannon on his right arm.
"You… you, what are you doing…!"
Logan ignored Havek's scream, visually confirming the specs on the cannon's power coupling and targeting sensor. Then he returned to the corpses and finished ripping out the necessary parts.
'Materials acquired. 1 Micro Power Core, 2 Servo Motors, 1 set of Prosthetic Joint Drivetrain, 4 Lightweight Armor Plates, multiple spare parts.'
Inside his head, [Master Blueprint] activated like lightning.
[Objective: Secure temporary mobility for 'Eva Rostova.']
[Combining available resources and reverse-engineered blueprints. Beginning design of 'D-Grade Mobility Assist Rig.']
Logan carried the acquired parts to a set of old machine tools on one side of the room. He opened the emergency power panel and hot-wired several cables to the welder and the hydraulic press.
FZZT-! K-THUNK!
The machines, supplied with power for the first time in decades, awoke with a faint hum.
"You lunatic! That's Scrapyard property! It's not something a rat like you can just mess with!"
Havek, still bound, shrieked as if he were coughing up blood.
VREEEEE-!
Logan drowned out Havek's screams with the roar of the arc welder.
In his vision, there was only the blue 3D schematic. Everything else in his world vanished. Eva's groans, Havek's curses, the smell of blood. Only the act of creation existed.
He cut and shaped 'Jogg's' thigh plate with the cutter, and hammered 'Spark's' spinal joint into a new support brace.
KA-LANG! K-THUNK! K-THUNK!
With one hammer strike, the metal bent exactly 30 degrees. With one pass of the welder, the circuit connected flawlessly.
He was now sculpting life from the wreckage of death.
***
Eva watched the scene, utterly stupefied.
'That man… is insane.'
Every Awakened she knew, whether S-Grade or F-Grade, caught their breath after a fight. They collected loot, treated their wounds, and rested to prepare for the next battle.
But Logan, far from resting, was ripping apart the corpses of the enemies he had just killed.
She looked at the A-Grade cyborg, Havek, tied up and shaking in terror. Then she looked at the 'parts' that had been disassembled from Havek's subordinates.
In that man's eyes, both herself, an S-Grade, and Havek, an A-Grade, were just 'materials.'
Eva understood her situation with chilling clarity. An S-Grade Blade Dancer in Mana Exhaustion. She was nothing more than a 'broken weapon.'
She trembled in fear. Was he going to 'repair' her? Or, judging her to be useless, would he 'scrap' her like Havek's men?
She stared at the bloody hammer in Logan's hand. At any moment, that hammer could be swinging toward her own head.
Her sense of time vanished. She didn't know if hours had passed, or maybe even a day. Just as her consciousness was fading from pain and dehydration, the hellish sounds of hammering and welding stopped.
Eva lifted her hazy eyes toward the silence.
Logan was walking out of the smoke and soot. In his hands, he held a pair of crude, yet strangely balanced, 'mechanical legs.'
He dropped them on the floor in front of her with a thud.
"Get up."
Logan's voice was a command. Eva stared at him in disbelief.
"I… I can't move. My mana…"
"Don't need it."
Logan cut her off, his rough hands pulling her into a sitting position. He placed the newly-finished, still-warm mechanical legs over her own, fastening them tightly at the thigh and calf with leather straps.
Then, he connected the Micro Power Core he'd torn from Spark's body to her waist.
"Activate it." "How…?"
"Just think about walking. It'll do the rest."
Half-believing, Eva focused her will on her legs. Stand.
Vweee...
A low servo-motor hummed in her ears. The mechanical legs, responding to her will, began to take the strain in place of her paralyzed muscles.
Her body… rose. Her lower body, which had felt like lead, was forcibly supported by the power of the machine.
Clack.
She… was standing. Not with the power of mana. Not with the blessing of [Flow State]. But with the pure power of steel, oil, and electricity.
'I'm… standing again.'
She cautiously took a step. The sound of a crude metal foot hitting the concrete floor echoed. She was overwhelmed by the fact that, for the first time in 20 years, she was standing not by a System skill, but with someone else's help.
She looked at Logan, wanting to understand his face, his intentions. He was just nodding with a satisfied expression, like a carpenter checking if a chair he'd just assembled was level.
***
A satisfactory system message appeared in Logan's vision.
[D-Grade Mobility Assist Rig 'Type-01']
[Status: Functioning.]
[Synchronization: 78%]
[Diagnosis: S-Grade resource efficiency restored to 35%.]
He had no interest in Eva's trembling eyes or her emotional expression. The only thing that mattered was that his 'resource' had regained its minimal value.
He nodded at his creation.
"Good. Now you'll be worth your keep."
Priority 1 was now resolved. He moved to the next step. He finally approached Havek, who had watched the entire process in bound terror.
Logan picked up another 'creation' from the workbench. He had modified the B-Grade Plasma Cannon taken from 'Jogg's' corpse. He cut down the barrel and reinforced the energy convergence device, turning it into a 'Portable Plasma Cutter' that focused high heat on a single point, like a welder.
Fshooo...
When Logan powered it on, a 10-centimeter-long blue flame erupted fiercely from the tip.
He thrust that blue flame right in front of Havek's 'Iron Eye.'
"Made it from your subordinate's arm."
"Hk...!"
"Now. Tell me about the 'Red Cradle.'"
Logan's voice was colder than the blue flame.
"Unless you want to be the first test subject for my new toy."