Sand Mage of the Burnt Desert-Chapter 524

Chapter 524

“A problem?”

“It’s not something I can talk about here. Let’s go somewhere quiet.”

“Understood. Please follow me.”

Zeon led Oh Jin-ho down into the underground of the Goblin Market.

It was a space no unauthorized person could ever enter. However, the Awakeners guarding the underground let them pass immediately upon seeing Zeon’s face.

Once underground, Zeon spoke to Oh Jin-ho.

“This place is beyond the reach of outside eyes. This is where items produced internally by the Goblin Market are made. The mechanic you’re looking for is probably here.”

“I see.”

“Now, please tell me. What kind of problem are you having with your parts?”

“Well… the parts sometimes fail to respond to control.”

“What? Does that even happen?”

“It’s my first time experiencing it as well, so I’m at a loss. When I was using the old model, this never happened—not once. But after upgrading, this started occurring.”

Oh Jin-ho had even been assigned a support AI, Black Tiger.

Normally, Black Tiger handled most problems on its own, but strangely enough, it couldn’t easily resolve the issue with the parts.

“Could there be a problem with the support AI?”

“That’s exactly what I want to find out, which is why I came here. The mechanics in the West District say there’s nothing wrong.”

“Hm.”

“This is an important issue for me. If the mechanics here are skilled enough to make parts superior to those of the West District, wouldn’t they also have a higher chance of identifying my problem?”

“Is your support AI currently active?”

“I deactivated it when I left Neo Seoul. I didn’t want to report my personal activities to Triox Five.”

Triox Five could access the information of support AIs at any time.

If he had come here with Black Tiger active, Triox Five would have noticed immediately.

Zeon frowned.

“You’re wary of Triox Five.”

“Yes. I can’t go into the details, though.”

“Understood. For now, let’s go see the mechanic.”

Zeon led Oh Jin-ho toward the place where the mechanic who had likely modified the parts was working.

Finding the mechanic wasn’t difficult.

Someone they met along the way guided them.

Zeon’s presence here was absolute, so no one asked for reasons—they simply led the way.

“Huh! Lord Zeon.”

The mechanic, who had been dismantling parts alone in a cramped room, recognized Zeon and jumped in surprise.

“I hope I’m not interrupting.”

“Not at all. My name is Hicks. It’s an honor to meet you, Lord Zeon.”

“Nice to meet you, Mr. Hicks. This here is Mr. Oh Jin-ho. As you can see—”

“A mechanized Awakener! Wow!”

Hicks exclaimed and rushed up to Oh Jin-ho.

Without asking permission, he touched Oh Jin-ho’s arms and legs as he spoke.

“These are the most recent parts made in the West District. I never thought I’d get to see this masterpiece up close.”

“You recognize these parts?”

“Of course. I’ve been most interested in these lately. Ah! I’m sorry. I touched you without permission.”

“It’s fine.”

“Huh! Please speak casually. I’m just a lowly mechanic.”

Hicks didn’t know how to react to Oh Jin-ho’s politeness.

Hicks was a young man in his early twenties.

He had loved machines since childhood and set his path in this field early on.

He possessed a genius-level talent for machinery.

Hicks dreamed of entering the West District, but there was no way they would accept a youth from the slums.

So he joined the Goblin Market and worked as a mechanic.

At first, he learned by watching other mechanics, but he grew at a rapid pace, and now there was no one who could match his skill.

Oh Jin-ho asked,

“So then, can I speak casually? Are all the parts circulating in the Goblin Market modified by you?”

“Well, that is…”

Hicks glanced at Oh Jin-ho, gauging his reaction.

He had modified parts made by the West District without their permission.

Proud mechanics absolutely hated others tampering with their work.

That was why parts obtained with great difficulty from the West District weren’t modified openly, but secretly in workshops like this.

Oh Jin-ho corrected Hicks’s misunderstanding.

“I’m not here to blame you or hold you responsible. I need to confirm whether your skills are genuine.”

“Well… yes. A large portion of the parts circulating in the Goblin Market were modified by me.”

“Did you obtain the blueprints separately?”

“No, I just analyzed them using my Awakening ability.”

“You’re an Awakener?”

“Yes. Though only C-rank.”

Hicks’s voice trailed off.

Upon Awakening, he had gained skills related to analysis.

Using that analysis skill, he grasped the principles of the parts and found ways to improve their efficiency.

He went through many trials and errors, but by improving them step by step without rushing, he eventually reached his current level.

After hearing Hicks’s explanation, Oh Jin-ho exclaimed in admiration.

“To improve them to this extent on your own. That’s truly impressive.”

“It’s not that great.”

“No, it is. I’ve seen many mechanics in the West District, but I’ve never seen someone like you who started from the very bottom and built their skill to this level. Take pride in yourself.”

“Haha.”

Hicks smiled awkwardly.

“Now that I know your skill, I’d like to ask a favor.”

“A favor?”

“I’d like you to take a look at my parts.”

“What?”

“Sometimes they don’t respond properly to control. I’d like you to find out what’s wrong.”

“There are many outstanding mechanics in the West District. Why come to me specifically?” 𝓯𝓻𝓮𝙚𝙬𝓮𝙗𝒏𝙤𝒗𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝒐𝓶

“There are circumstances I can’t talk about.”

“I understand. Then I’ll take a look.”

Hicks carefully touched Oh Jin-ho’s mechanical arm.

Oh Jin-ho said to him,

“If it’s hard to examine, I can detach it for a moment.”

“That won’t be necessary. I can handle it myself.”

“Hm?”

Click!

At that moment, his right arm detached itself from his torso.

Oh Jin-ho was shocked.

Mechanical parts were not supposed to detach so easily. Multiple layers of security codes and safety devices ensured that they would never separate without the wearer’s permission.

Yet Hicks had separated his right arm from his body with ease.

And without Oh Jin-ho’s consent, at that.

Yet Hicks seemed unaware of how extraordinary a thing he had just done.

After touching the surface of the mechanical arm for a while, Hicks tilted his head.

“That’s strange.”

“I can’t explain it yet, but may I disassemble it for a closer look?”

“As long as you can reassemble it.”

“That’s easy. Hehe! Then I’ll start disassembling right away.”

Hicks immediately began taking apart Oh Jin-ho’s mechanical arm using tools.

In an instant, the interior of the arm was exposed.

Using his analysis skill, Hicks examined each component in detail.

“There’s a problem here.”

What he held up was a component no larger than a thumbnail.

“This is the most critical part of the mechanical parts—the neuron box.”

“A box?”

“Ah! That’s just how it’s called. In reality, it’s a kind of chip. Like real neurons, it transmits signals sent from the human brain to drive the mechanical components. It’s the core device.”

The core material of the neuron box was a byproduct of magical beasts.

Exactly which materials were used was a secret.

Scientific processing was applied to the beast byproducts, and then magical treatment was added to complete the neuron box.

Only with a neuron box could mechanical parts be controlled by human will.

“So what’s the problem?”

“It’s damaged.”

“Is it something that gets damaged that easily?”

“Of course not. This is definitely strange.”

Hicks examined the neuron box closely using his analysis skill.

Oh Jin-ho silently watched him.

After analyzing it for a long time, Hicks finally reached a conclusion.

“The box suffered overload while processing signals beyond its original specifications.”

“What does that mean? Excessive signals?”

“For example, this box is designed to handle a hundred commands under normal conditions. But instead, one hundred fifty, even over two hundred signals poured in. That damaged the chip. At this level, fixing it isn’t very difficult.”

Hicks spoke lightly, but Oh Jin-ho couldn’t brush it off.

“Why would that many signals come in? I haven’t been pushing myself lately.”

“Well…”

“Can you find that out too?”

“To do that, I’d need to examine your core chip and your entire body. Would that be alright?”

Hicks looked at Oh Jin-ho cautiously.

“That’s fine. Go ahead. I need to know why the neuron box was damaged.”

This wasn’t mere curiosity.

For Oh Jin-ho, it was a matter of survival.

While in Neo Seoul, minor control issues might not matter. But if such a problem occurred during a dungeon raid or while hunting magical beasts, he would inevitably lose his life.

“Then I’ll take a look.”

Hicks’s eyes gleamed sharply.

For a slum mechanic like him, opportunities to examine a high-ranking mechanized Awakener from the West District like Oh Jin-ho were exceedingly rare.

Like other Awakeners, mechanics needed to encounter and handle many machines to grow.

Analyzing high-level Awakeners like Oh Jin-ho would allow him to grow rapidly as well.

It wasn’t strange that Hicks felt exhilarated at this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

Zeon watched Hicks with his arms crossed.

Up until then, Zeon hadn’t thought much of it. But as Hicks’s expression gradually grew more serious, he realized something was wrong.

Hicks’s face as he examined Oh Jin-ho had hardened like stone.

“This is…”

“What’s the problem?”

“Sir, do you use a support AI?”

“How did you know that?”

“Is it currently active?”

“No. It’s deactivated right now. Is there a problem with the support AI?”

“It seems the support AI intervened excessively in your body, causing this.”

“Please explain it in simpler terms.”

“Normally, mechanized Awakeners move their parts one hundred percent by their own will. But in your case, sir, it appears the support AI has priority. Because it processes the support AI’s commands first, the neuron box ended up overloaded.”

“Is that really true?”

Oh Jin-ho’s face hardened frighteningly.

“Based on my diagnosis, yes. If you want to be absolutely certain, I recommend a detailed examination by a mechanic in the West District.”

“Hm.”

Oh Jin-ho let out a low hum.

His presence grew so heavy that Hicks couldn’t continue speaking.

Oh Jin-ho clenched his fist.

“So the neuron box was damaged because it prioritized Black Tiger’s commands over mine. Does that mean Black Tiger could take control of my body?”

For a mechanized Awakener like him, this was an extremely serious issue.

Although he had replaced his body with machinery, he believed his mind was still fully human.

Naturally, he was confident in his identity and agency as a human being.

Even when he sometimes doubted whether he was truly human, what kept him steady was the fact that he clearly controlled his mechanical body.

But if control over his body lay with the support AI Black Tiger, could he truly consider himself human?

This was a critically important issue for Oh Jin-ho.

Zeon’s expression was equally grave.

‘Does this mean Triox Five can use support AIs to control high-ranking mechanized Awakeners at will?’

The situation was far more serious than he had vaguely imagined.

Zeon approached Oh Jin-ho.

“Do others know about this?”

“If they did, I would have known.”

“This is serious.”

“Yes. I could lose my body to the support AI.”

“Can you keep the support AI deactivated permanently?”

Oh Jin-ho silently shook his head.

It could be deactivated temporarily, but it couldn’t be left that way for long.

He let out a sigh.

“Haah… I have no idea what Triox Five was thinking, pulling something like this.”

One thing was certain.

This was not a problem that could be brushed aside lightly.