"I guess it also has to do with the environment you're usually in... Night City, you know, the air is full of stench, who knows what's mixed in there."
Victor commented sharply, "When Arasaka designed this set of prosthetics, they probably aimed for full mechanization, not considering the impact of this thing on human health... don't you feel it usually?"
"The pumping sensation of the heart, the burning sensation in the lungs... I've gotten used to it. Once the heat dissipation kicks in, I feel like my chest is a ventilation unit."
Mercer said nonchalantly, "Then let's change it all, add a purification component to the blood circulation... how about we try some two-heart-three-lung modification plan?"
"Ha, why don't you ask Arasaka what it would take to become Adam's Hammer?" Victor casually chatted with him, but soon had his entire back opened up.
Mercer lay sideways on the operating chair, his prosthetic eye connected to the camera on the tablet, observing the condition of his back.
What could be seen at that moment was a bit of exposed flesh and tissue in the air, pulsating and flickering with a dim glow of black mechanical structures. He watched his visceral state with interest, saying:
"You know, this thing is pretty durable. Being hammered by V every day, and the internal structure still looks like new."
"Hmm... I'll give your pipes a cleaning later, check the condition of the heat dissipation lines." Victor, however, was focused, carefully adjusting the position of the neural circuits.
Mercer just lay there and said, "No need, that takes too long. I'm planning to research hacker prosthetics and equipment once the octopus arm testing is successful..."
He fantasized, "By then, I'll install a Sianwistan, mastering both hacking and combat skills, both hard as nails!"
Victor didn't even bother to respond—do whatever you want, he couldn't handle this kid.
"But before that, I need to study Sianwistan and the Frenzy System, figure out a way to develop our own Neural Acceleration System.
The Frenzy Operating System is somewhat inferior to Sianwistan, Rebecca Jack's body potential is actually enough, I just worry about their mental issues, so I don't dare to put Sianwistan on them.
Once I figure it out, develop a neural acceleration operating system somewhere in between the two..."
"Stop, stop, stop, don't talk, it's affecting my slot opening..." Victor said helplessly, "I'm just a prosthetic doctor, you don't expect me to give you any good advice, do you?"
"Old Wei, don't be so modest, in other fields it's hard to say, but in the neural and prosthetic fields, you're an expert..."
Mercer said, then lowered his breathing frequency while speaking to stop talking altogether. Victor skillfully began the actual incision, disconnecting, splicing, and combining the neural circuits, removing the heat dissipation prosthetics, and filling them with synthetic tissue.
Even Victor had to concentrate for this delicate nano-level surgery because even a body's slight tremor with breathing can affect surgery on human nerves.
It took Victor an hour to finally separate the heat dissipation prosthetic from Mercer's left shoulder.
He only took a breath, then continued to fill Mercer with synthetic tissues while connecting artificial nerves to the neural slot he had crafted.
Once the black slot was installed, Victor brought the Octopus Arm—the installation this time was much simpler, just align it with the interface, plug it in, and confirm the connection of the neural circuits to be successful.
"Phew..." Victor exhaled deeply, wiped the sweat, and sat in the chair, stretching his shoulders and neck, "Alright, you want to do it yourself or should I?"
"Open the neural connection for me, I'll do the check myself."
Mercer said, and Victor nodded, operated the tablet a few times, and opened his neural connection.
The first was the pain—Mercer grinned and bore it for a while before carefully moving his right hand to take the tablet.
"How about I give you a painkiller first?" Victor proposed.
"No need, it affects my nerve perception and judgment." Mercer said, launching the self-check system from the control program on the tablet, checking the data of the mechanical arm.
Victor's craftsmanship has no complaints, and his technique is excellent. After confirming the data was all normal, Mercer directly opened the neural connection.
[Octopus Arm (V0.2) connected.]
The prosthetic eye flashed a successful connection prompt, followed by a stream of data across Mercer's prosthetic eye view. As the octopus arm formally activated, the built-in AI program was also awakened, starting up the program.
Victor sat in the chair, moved back about a meter, and folded his arms, his eyes filled with expectation and a bit of complex concern.
Yet Mercer, just ten seconds later, cautiously began moving his Octopus Arm.
Just like controlling his own arm—raising the hand, lowering the hand, opening the hand, grasping...
Thus, under the watchful eyes of the two, a metallic octopus arm shimmering with silver metallic luster, began to dexterously 'flex its claws' behind Mercer.
Initially, Mercer was somewhat unaccustomed, but soon, he could control this third arm extending from behind his shoulder with flexibility, making precise swings, stopping, and exerting force.
The Octopus Arm has a certain telescopic ability, the actual length can be adjusted within the range of 1.6M-2.3M.
And so, Mercer controlled it to extend and retract with great enjoyment, after a while, simply used it to support himself on the ground.