Silas installed the first Nano Circuit Board into a Sentinel’s chest cavity. The board clicked into place, and soon, its faint glow started spreading across the machine’s frame.

"Board installed," Silas reported. "Ready for activation."

Kai and Mei exchanged a glance. Kai pressed a key, sending the new program into the Sentinel’s core. The machine’s optics blinked, then glowed a steady blue.

[ Sentinel Unit Reprogrammed ]

[ Status: Independent Control Established ]

"Let’s call it Sentinel... Codename: X-01." Kai muttered as he programmed its new codename.

[ Designation: Sentinel X‑01 ]

Soon, Silas gasped... "It worked...!"

After all, whenever he activated a Sentinel before, they would immediately try to kill him. This time, however, it didn’t attack!

"Stand up..." Kai muttered.

The Sentinel heard the instruction and straightened itself as its gears started smoothly.

It didn’t move aggressively and listened to instructions really well... Then, it stood silently awaiting orders...

Kai smiled faintly. "X‑01. Our first success."

Mei leaned on her chair as she felt suddenly exhausted. She was proud of her work but she had no time to enjoy it yet.

"We’ll need to test its behavior in the field. But for now, it’s stable. We should rest for a bit..."

Silas’s hands trembled as he touched the machine’s armored plating. "I’ve dreamed of this for months... and now it’s real."

Kai placed a hand on his shoulder. "This is just the beginning. With your mechanical skills and our programming, we can reprogram entire batches. Imagine dozens of Sentinels guarding the Shelter, patrolling the perimeter, fighting alongside us..."

Silas nodded vigorously. "I’ll prepare the rest. Ten units tonight, more tomorrow."

He actually had it rough... After all, he had to assemble these Sentinels.

Apparently, the Sentinels in the warehouse were all defeated by Angelo and his team... while some of them were just looted from the junkyard.

It means they all had damaged parts because of the battle they had gone through.

It was unlike the New Haven-45 with so many of these Sentinels that had zero damage. They just needed some battery charge or replacements.

"Don’t worry, Silas... In a few days, we will have intact Sentinels. You won’t have to assemble them."

For now, however, they moved quickly as they planned to make as many X versions of Sentinels as they could.

Silas installed boards, Kai encrypted pathways, Mei rewrote routines. One by one, the Sentinels came online...

[ Sentinel Unit Reprogrammed ]

[ Status: Independent Control Established ]

[ Designation: Sentinel X‑02 ]

[ Sentinel Unit Reprogrammed ]

[ Status: Independent Control Established ]

[ Designation: Sentinel X‑03 ]

By dawn, six units stood silently in the workshop, awaiting orders.

The three of them stood together, staring at the reprogrammed Sentinels. They still couldn’t believe it... they had done something so incredible.

***

Over the next few days, the workshop never truly fell silent.

The clatter of tools, the hum of laptops, and Silas’s hands working on damaged frames became a routine within Haven-28

By the end of the fifth day, they had reprogrammed a total of thirty Sentinels. Each one was stripped, rebuilt, and given a new Nano Circuit Board, then loaded with Kai and Mei’s custom firmware.

Distribution was carefully planned. Nine units were stationed at Haven‑28, nine at New Haven‑45, and nine at Freedom Shelter. The remaining three were assigned to guard the cave entrance where the Gene Trader resided.

They had sent the X-01 in that place first and had X-10 and X-11 follow.

Kai insisted on that last placement. "The Trader is too valuable. If locals stumble in and trigger its disappearance, we lose everything. These three will ensure no one interferes."

Indeed, the locals could trigger the mutant traps after all. If enough traps were triggered, the Gene Trader would disappear and no one would be able to stop it.

Because of that, it was better to prevent that from happening.

Soon, Silas looked at the rows of machines with pride.

"This is the last batch... I never thought we’d get this far."

Kai nodded, though his mind was already on the next step.

"This is only the beginning. Once we secure more intact Sentinels, we’ll scale even faster. It means that we have to move the workshop to New Haven-45..."

Of course, the only reason that they weren’t able to continue was due to the lack of Energy Cores.

Well, the Barrier Generator ate up a total of 50 C-Grade and 5 B-Grade Cores after all.

Nonetheless, with the Sentinels deployed, they finally had a moment to breathe.

But for Kai, he was always busy...

Apparently, he needed to visit the Gene Trader’s cave, as he heard the news about the Gene Weapon...

Soon, the store window appeared before him, listing its wares.

His eyes locked on one entry...

[ Gene Weapon (Mid‑Grade) ]

[ Description: A weapon forged with genetic resonance. It greatly synchronizes with the wielder’s Talent, amplifying combat efficiency.

Cost: 30 Survivor Medals ]

Kai exhaled. He only had 34 of them... However, he didn’t have to think too much.

"Thirty medals..." he muttered. "Take it..."

Just like that, he confirmed the purchase. The medals vanished from his inventory, leaving him with only four remaining.

Poverty struck him again, but he didn’t care.

In his hands, a cube materialized... It was smooth, metallic, and seemed to be an ordinary cube...

[ You have obtained a Dormant Gene Weapon. ]

The system prompt followed immediately:

[ Do you wish to awaken it and become its owner? ]

Kai’s grip tightened. There was only one answer.

"Yes," he said firmly.

The cube vibrated, and it started reshaping.

Slowly, it unfolded, reshaping itself into an item...

[ Activating Gene Weapon. ]

[ Connection in progress. ]

[ Synchronizing Spirit Resonance. ]

[ Awakening Sequence Initiated. ]

Just like that, the cube compressed, locking into place around Kai’s forearm. The panels folded neatly, forming a slim gauntlet of dark alloy. It looked plain and functional, built for combat rather than decoration.

[ Gene Weapon Awakened: Strength Gauntlet ]

Kai flexed his fingers, feeling the gauntlet respond instantly. It wasn’t heavy... Instead, it seemed to balance perfectly with his movements, amplifying his strength without resistance.

"I’m pretty close..." Kai muttered.

Finally, he just needed 1 more Gene Weapon to break through his current Level Cap!