'Interesting.'
[Hidden Mission Completed.]
[Complex Learning.]
[Point Chest obtained.]
[3 Point Cards obtained.]
[42 Points obtained.]
Vio was so focused that he didn't even notice the notifications appearing before him. He rested his chin on his palm, and as if his entire body froze, he remained completely still—immersed in the thoughts and concepts he suddenly understood so clearly.
Unaware that he stayed like that for about an hour.
Then, finally, a shift appeared in his expression.
'As excited as I am, I'm going to need a lot of resources and time. In any case...'
He checked the Store, specifically the Science section. Browsing through it, he discovered that the system only sold individual sciences. More complex and combined fields, like robotics engineering, were nowhere to be found. That made him realize just how rare what he had obtained truly was.
With the knowledge he had now, he better understood the value of the Eye he would receive from the Main Mission. Without it, he wouldn't be able to build anything.
'Show me what I got from leveling up twice.'
During the fight with the bear, he gained two levels.
[Inventory Movement feature unlocked.]
'Inventory Movement? What are you talking about?'
The Inventory Screen appeared before him, as if the system was urging him to try it.
Vio used to deal with illogical mechanics simply by thinking. This time was no different. The Inventory Screen began shifting according to his thoughts—right, left, up, down. It even spun and twisted however he wanted. But that still didn't explain its usefulness.
Then, an idea struck him. Pulled a dagger from the Inventory and placed it on the ground. Then, using his thoughts, commanded the Inventory Screen to consume it.
It worked.
'Oh... does this mean I can now store objects without physically holding them?'
[Correct.]
'What are the limits exactly?'
[Range.]
The screen moved to its farthest possible reach—barely making it to the walls of the tent, which wasn't that big to begin with.
[Item Targeting.]
This required Vio to look at the item.
[Item Autonomy.]
Undefined.
This last one was vague. No matter how much Vio questioned the system, it refused to explain further.
'Fine, onto the next thing.'
[Instant Summon Unlocked.]
'From Inventory?'
[Correct.]
He thought, and the dagger appeared in the hand he wanted it in.
He thought again, and the dagger returned to the Inventory.
The same applied to the gauntlets.
'Oh, this is useful.'
His eyes caught sight of the damage to the Gauntlets of Fury. That's why he tried to avoid direct clashes with the bear's claws. Its attacks were stronger than his, and every impact had caused his HP to drop.
Gauntlets of Fury x2
+20 Damage
Durability: 132
They were on the verge of breaking. He could repair or even upgrade them by spending resources, but he decided against it. There wasn't much to spare, and the gauntlets could still hold up for now.
Vio pushed himself up, feeling his mental state finally stabilize. With steady steps, he left the tent. Of course, wary of the Furious Night that had yet to end, cautiously pulled the tent flap aside. Before fully stepping out, he scanned the area.
A barrier surrounded the tent. Beyond it, a thick fog loomed—the same sight he had seen back in the village.
Moving carefully, he stepped outside.
A large glowing stone sat atop the tent, radiating a faint light. It seemed to be the source of the barrier.
Vio narrowed his eyes, summoning one of the glowing stones he had taken from the Demon's Hideout.
'Identical. So this is how the tent is protecting them.'
After looting the soldiers' tents and teleporting to the village, he had tried to use them—but they refused to function. Earlier, he'd tossed one beyond the village's protective barrier, only to watch it crystallize into ice within seconds. That was the moment he knew: there had to be an activation method, a secret he hadn't yet uncovered.
There was nothing else to do. He returned to the tent.
While waiting for the night to end, he checked some system messages that had been pushed aside earlier due to their low priority.
[Foreign Substance Detected.]
When the bear had bitten his arm, cyborg blood, of course, spilled.
But the breath from the bear's mouth contained a substance—traces of which remained in the bloodstream.
[Does the hero want to analyze it? Yes/No.]
[Estimated Time: 12 hours.]
'Too long. Can you preserve the substance without it dissipating in the cyborg's blood?'
[Possible, but this depends on the properties of the substance itself.]
[To know for sure, the system needs to understand its characteristics.]
'And to know that, you need to analyze it first.'
[Correct.]
Vio fell asleep immediately after the furious night began. He slept for about an hour and spent another hour analyzing his current situation, leaving about 10 hours until the night ended. Was the analysis important? Not really.
'If it's going to disappear, then let it.'
With that, he pulled out all the tents in his possession and converted them into coins. There was no other use for them.
Vio owned 14 tents.
[140,000,000 Obtained.]
Froze in shock. He couldn't believe it.
'Why the hell is it worth this much?'
This thought quickly faded for an obvious reason—you're dead without a tent on the mountain.
From poor to rich, only to be struck by the disease of the wealthy—confusion.
What should he buy now?
Well, not Vio.
['Pure Energy CyborgHeart' Blueprint Purchased.]
Built it immediately, and soon a sphere rested in his palm.
It looked just like the one in his chest—only it wasn't glowing.
[Hidden Mission Completed.]
[Buying a New Heart.]
[1,000,000 XP Obtained.]
'Well, I'm not turning down gifts.'
[Warning: The heart is empty. Do not use it until charged.]
'Now we start with the things that are annoying.'
Vio held the heart in his hands and examined it. In the research paper, there was a concept about how batteries powered robots. Of course, Vio wasn't a robot, but there wasn't much of a difference.
His eyes scanned the Store.
['Pure Energy Knowledge' Purchased.]
Just days ago, he had complained about its outrageous price. Now, he didn't even glance at the cost before buying it—one of the many symptoms of sudden wealth.
He read the research paper but couldn't comprehend it. He bit his lip and allocated all his points to intelligence.
Intelligence: 98
(Available points to distribute: 0)
Even though the previous fight had made it clear he was still weak by this world's standards—so he planned to increase his strength—he realized that knowledge was far more valuable.
As if he had been stupid and suddenly become intelligent, all the words now made sense to him. The paper glowed and disappeared as soon as he understood everything.
With a wide smile, he bought all the energy sciences available in the store.
[Hidden Mission Completed.]
[Knowledge is Power.]
'Knew it.'
From his past experiences, already guessed that there was a mission for every unique achievement. While he hadn't done this for the reward, getting extra benefits was never a bad thing.
[Experience Points Chest Obtained.]
[Cards: '100,000 XP', '600,000 XP'.]
Vio stepped out of the tent again and stood before the barrier. He held the CyborgHeart in his hand, pushed it past the barrier.
Instantly, a storm of notifications appeared.
[Temperature Drop Detected.]
A maddening pain spread from his arm to the rest of his body, but he didn't care.
[HP Decreased: 2,421/8,000.]
He had to hurry. Closing his eyes, opened the ports on his fingertips, letting them connect to the heart. Using what he learned, began his work.
The cold seeped into his hand, and from there, started converting it into pure energy—using cyborg blood molecules as nothing more than carriers.
It wasn't an easy process at all and required time.
XP began to rise from the 'Mountain Conqueror' mission, but that wouldn't save him. So, changed his approach so that as soon as he successfully converted the cold into a pure energy circuit, he pushed it into the heart.
[Charging...]
The first thing that came to Vio's mind when he read the mission 'The Hero Must Survive':
2 XP for every 1% of battery recharged.
It didn't specify exactly what type of battery or which one in particular.
As the system had said, it converted any type of energy into pure, energy—abundant.
XP rose, and HP dropped, but what drove Vio to this madness was how close he was to leveling up. And that's exactly what happened.
[Level Up.]
Level: 10 | XP: [258/6,400,000]
Vio pulled his hand back, annoyed. Not from the pain—but from the missed opportunity. HP hadn't dropped low enough to trigger the 'Conquer Death' mission.
'Wasted chance, man.'
While he was busy mourning what was lost, he failed to notice what had arrived.
[Rank Up.]
[The hero can now install a second heart.]
[The hero can now modify his external structure.]
[The hero can now install external devices.]
[The hero has now become EvolveX-Cyborg.]
***
Thank you for reading the latest chapter!
I'd like to take a moment to speak to everyone who's still with me on this journey.
First of all—thank you. Your continued presence means a lot more to me than you might think.
Now, I'd love to hear your thoughts:
What are you expecting from the story moving forward?
And looking back at the early chapters—did they feel too slow or boring at any point?
Did you feel like the story wasn't for you at first, but kept going anyway?
Did it take a while before you really got into it, or did it hook you early on?
How do you feel about the pacing overall—too fast, too slow, or just right?
I'm always aiming to improve, so any advice or honest feedback would really help me grow.
Thanks again for being here. Let's keep building this world together!