Sand Mage of the Burnt Desert-Chapter 531

Chapter 531

“Hoo!”

Hicks let out a sigh and stretched.

A look of fatigue was evident on his face. Still, a smile lingered at the corners of his mouth.

That was because the results of the research that had plagued him for the past few days had finally come out.

It was the blue glass tube resting on the workbench.

The glass tube, as thick as an adult’s forearm, was filled with blue liquid.

“To think I could make something like this with my own skills. My talent is truly frightening.”

“What’s so frightening about it?”

At that moment, someone’s voice came from behind him.

Hicks turned around in surprise and saw Zeon standing there.

“Oh! When did you get here?”

“I’d been knocking on the door for a while, but there was no answer, so I just came in.”

“I see. Sorry about that. When I get absorbed, I wouldn’t even notice if lightning struck right next to me.”

“I’m more sorry for coming in without permission. But is that what you created with that frightening talent?”

Zeon’s gaze turned to the blue glass tube in front of Hicks.

“That’s right! But it ended up being a bit of a strange item….”

“What do you mean?”

“Didn’t you tell me to find a way to prevent the auxiliary AI from taking over the body of mechanized Awakeners?”

“I did.”

“But no matter how much I researched, I couldn’t come up with a proper method. So I changed my way of thinking.”

“How?”

“If we can’t prevent them from being taken over by the auxiliary AI, then we disable it entirely.”

“That’s interesting.”

“Right? It was really interesting. As I mentioned before, the main material of the neuron box is the wings of the goblin moth. And this goblin moth has a natural enemy.”

Hicks explained excitedly.

According to him, the goblin moth had a natural enemy called the Giant Vampire Bat.

The nocturnal Giant Vampire Bat would silently sink its fangs into the body of a goblin moth and inject venom.

Once this venom was injected, the goblin moth’s body would immediately stiffen.

Because the venom paralyzed the entire body.

“This characteristic applies to the goblin moth’s wings as well. So I tried processing the venom of this Giant Vampire Bat.”

“So this is the result.”

Zeon peered closely into the blue glass tube.

Something like fine particles were floating mixed in with the blue liquid.

“Yes! I processed the Giant Vampire Bat’s venom by mixing in byproducts of other magical beasts with similar properties.” 𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆𝙬𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝒎

“And the effect?”

“Try it yourself.”

Hicks extended his mechanical arm.

It was a part of a mechanized Awakener that he had personally modified.

When power was supplied, the mechanical arm moved like a real human arm.

“Inject the liquid inside the glass tube into where the neuron box is.”

“Alright.”

Zeon inserted the injection port of the glass tube into the area where the neuron box was located.

The moment the blue liquid was injected, the movement of the mechanical arm stopped.

“Oh!”

“See? The neuron box becomes instantly paralyzed. Naturally, commands can’t be transmitted, so the mechanical arm can no longer move.”

“That’s amazing.”

Zeon exclaimed in sincere admiration.

While it might not completely prevent mechanized Awakeners from being taken over by auxiliary AIs, if it had this level of effect, they could be easily subdued early on with little effort.

“In theory, it can paralyze all neuron boxes made from goblin moth wings.”

“You said most neuron boxes in recently made parts are processed from goblin moth wings, right?”

“As expected, you remember.”

“How many more of these can you make?”

“For now, that’s all there is.”

“What?”

At the unexpected answer, Zeon blinked.

Hicks made an awkward expression as he explained.

“That’s because I can’t obtain any more of the Giant Vampire Bat venom that serves as the material….”

“So you’ve completely run out of materials?”

“Yes! The Giant Vampire Bat isn’t a magical beast that’s easy to hunt….”

The Giant Vampire Bat was nocturnal and spent the daytime hidden in secret caves, so most Awakeners could go their entire lives without seeing even one.

Because of that, they were only caught occasionally, and cases of hunting them in large quantities were rare.

Naturally, even in the goblin market, only one would circulate from time to time.

Even that had been barely obtained with Yoo Sehee’s help.

“Still, even this one should be enough to easily subdue about a hundred mechanized Awakeners. Of course, that’s when it’s injected into the central neuron box of a mechanized Awakener.”

Every part of a mechanized Awakener was equipped with a neuron box. Among them, the most important was the central neuron box that controlled all the others.

“Usually, you can think of the central neuron box as being installed in the neck area. If you inject Destroyer into the neuron box in the central nervous system… Ah! That’s the name I gave it. Anyway, once you inject Destroyer, it’s game over.”

“Destroyer? Nice. I’ll take this.”

“Of course you should. It was made for you, Mr Zeon.”

Hicks replied with a relieved expression.

Zeon sincerely admired Hicks’s ability.

Hicks possessed talent that surpassed his rank.

Accordingly, the Destroyer he had created was excellent.

It was skill worthy of an A-rank mechanic, not a C-rank one.

Zeon thought that if Hicks received steady support, he could one day become an A-rank Awakener.

Hicks clasped his hands behind his head and muttered,

“Whew! Now that my work is done, I can finally rest. I’ll sleep to my heart’s content for about three days.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Yes?”

At Zeon’s sudden apology, Hicks made a puzzled expression.

To Hicks like that, Zeon handed over the glass bottle he had brought from the underground city.

“What is this?”

“Contaminated water. I’d like you to analyze this.”

“Where did you bring this from this time?”

“The source is a secret.”

“Alright. Then I’ll analyze it.”

Without asking further about the source, Hicks immediately used his analysis skill.

This was one of the advantages of Awakeners.

When you used a skill, you could get the desired result without complicated processes.

A short while later, the results came out.

“This is interesting.”

“What’s interesting about it?”

“The water contains oil mainly used by mechanized Awakeners.”

“What?”

“It’s been heavily diluted with water, but it’s certain. This is oil made in the western district.”

“Are you sure?”

“If nothing else, I’m an expert when it comes to mechanized Awakeners. One hundred percent. But this is a bit special.”

“What’s so special about it?”

“The oil blend is different from before.”

Hicks’s eyes gleamed.

There was even a hint of madness on his face.

That was how special the oil components contained in the water Zeon had handed over were.

“Mechanized Awakeners vary the oil blend in proportion to the size and power of their parts. The most important among them is the essence extracted from sand worm skin. The larger the part, the more sand worm essence is used. This is the first time I’ve seen oil with this much sand worm essence mixed in.”

“Then there’s a high probability that the part using this oil is that large.”

“That’s right.”

“Can you tell how large?”

“If we had the undiluted solution, maybe. But with only oil diluted in water, I can’t tell that precisely. However, it’s certain that it’s larger than any part that’s come out of the western district.”

“Hmm!”

When Zeon let out a low hum, Hicks added,

“This kind of oil isn’t easy to make. You need to conduct an enormous number of experiments for it to show the desired performance. It seems it leaked during the process of discarding failed oil.”

“Since it’s oil used for mechanized Awakeners’ parts, it would be fatal to humans, right?”

“Of course. If it had been the undiluted solution, even inhaling a little would have resulted in instant death. That’s all I’ve found out. Do you have any more questions?”

“No. I’ve learned everything I wanted to know. Thank you, Hicks-sir!”

“You’re too kind. I’m the one who gained a valuable experience.”

“If I have something else to ask, I’ll come by again.”

“Mr Zeon’s visits are always welcome.”

“Thank you. I’ll see you again.”

Zeon said his goodbyes to Hicks and went outside.

After leaving the goblin market, he looked toward the western side of Neo Seoul.

“So in the end, the western district was the problem.”

＊＊＊

A man was lying on a large metal bed.

The man lying there as if dead, without a trace of color in his face, was Kim Hyunsu, the ruler of the western district.

Kim Hyunsu’s condition was miserable.

His right chest, arm, and leg were all destroyed, exposing metal framework, drive units, and wiring.

At that moment, six mechanical arms descended from the ceiling.

Whirr!

The mechanical arms began dismantling Kim Hyunsu’s destroyed parts.

The shattered right arm was removed first, followed by the right leg.

After removing the damaged parts like that, the mechanical arms then began repairing Kim Hyunsu’s chest area.

Cutting away the damaged areas and repairing them looked like performing delicate surgery.

Completely damaged areas were cut away and replaced with new components, while areas that could be salvaged even a little were preserved, repeating the process.

Kim Hyunsu had suffered quite severe injuries from Oh Jinho’s self-destruction.

Even though he had deployed a barrier at the critical moment to protect his entire body, he had still taken heavy damage.

Damage to parts was nothing special.

They could simply be replaced or repaired. But the head, which couldn’t be replaced with machines, was different.

Kim Hyunsu had taken a severe blow to the brain and had fallen into a coma.

Because of that, he had stayed in this intensive care room for the past few days, waiting to recover.

Fortunately, as befitting an S-rank Awakener, Kim Hyunsu possessed extremely strong self-recovery ability.

Without any need for treatment, he healed his damaged brain on his own.

Stable brainwaves were proof of that.

As soon as Kim Hyunsu stabilized, Samjoko began the work of repairing his broken parts.

In an instant, Kim Hyunsu’s chest area was perfectly repaired.

Around then, Kim Hyunsu regained consciousness.

Opening his eyes, Kim Hyunsu looked at the mechanical arms moving busily.

When his eyes came back into focus, Kim Hyunsu opened his mouth.

“How long was I unconscious?”

—Three days, Master!

“So I took that heavy of a blow?”

—The damaged parts weren’t a major problem, but the damage your brain took was severe. So we waited until it naturally recovered.

“Is that so?”

Kim Hyunsu bit his lip tightly.

The emotion that appeared on his face was shame.

For the past several decades, he had never felt any threat.

The western district had been under his rule, and no one had dared challenge his stronghold.

The only ones who could even be considered a threat to him were Jin Geumho and the rulers of the other districts.

Knowing that war would result in mutual destruction, he had never directly clashed with the rulers of other districts.

The undisputed ruler of the western district, with no one daring to challenge him.

That was why he had let his guard down.

He had never even imagined that someone like Oh Jinho could do anything to him.

The price of letting his guard down was very high.

The fact that he had been in a coma for three whole days dealt a heavy blow to his pride.

Broken parts could be replaced or repaired. But there was no way to recover wounded pride.

‘To think I was done in by someone like Oh Jinho….’

Kim Hyunsu resolved to take this incident as a lesson.

Meanwhile, new parts were attached to Kim Hyunsu’s arms and legs.

They were exclusive parts developed solely for Kim Hyunsu.

As Kim Hyunsu raised his body, he said to Samjoko,

“While I was unconscious, was there anything unusual?”

—There wasn’t.

“Are you sure?”

—Yes! I controlled the entire western district on your behalf. I can assure you that no problems occurred. Because I am ‘perfect.’

“Perfect?”

Samjoko’s final choice of words left an oddly unpleasant feeling.

As if he were chewing on sand.