Rewards obtained:

  -2 UP

  -Repair Kit (Small)

  -Access to the Vessel Upgrade menu

  -New Parts: Armory, Fabricator

  Warning! New parts detected. Installation in progress. Please, stand by…

  Huh… was Arthur’s intelligent response to all that.

  The first two rewards? He knew they were coming, no surprises there. The third one? It was something he had hoped would happen. Upgrades were only supposed to be temporarily locked, after all.

  Now the fourth reward? The two new parts?

  Definitely not what he had expected. Much less considering that he already had seven other parts to manage.

  Make that nine now! Arthur chuckled, only to wince internally as something within his mind twisted. The triggers already available to him moved, making way for more. At the same time, it felt like his nonexistent insides were being rearranged, like someone was jamming wires into his… body? No. Core. That was the word.

  Not trying to be gentle, eh, System?

  Thankfully, after another minute or two, the process stopped. A few new notifications appeared in his mind’s eye.

  Installation successful.

  Armory: Online

  Fabricator: Recalibrating (Time left: 24 hours)

  Your Armory has detected defeated enemies nearby. Do you wish to process them into usable materials?

  What? Arthur blinked—mentally—and his attention flicked to the Fiend corpses visible through his machine gun’s ‘eye.’ You want to turn those into… crafting materials? How does that even work?

  The ever-merciful System decided to answer him. By showing him another description, no less.

  [Armory - The Warrior’s personal storage space, as well as a waste recycler. Due to its location, its size and processing power are dependent on your Core’s strength. Don’t let anything go to waste thanks to this powerful part.]

  Waste…

  That was certainly one way to call his massacred enemies. Arthur wisely decided to ignore that little tidbit and focus on something else. Like the fact that he now had inventory! Or at least the System’s version of one. Pretty nice, and it also explained the role of one of the new triggers inside his head.

  He reached for it, and just like that, his mind expanded, a brief flood of data assaulting him. It told him exactly what was stored in the Armory. Which wasn’t much, honestly, and amounted to a single Repair Kit he could use at any moment.

  Soon, Arthur decided, returning his attention to the notification from earlier. Fine, do it. Gotta see what it does exactly.

  Acknowledged. Recycling in progress…

  Right away, Arthur reactivated Silent Observer. His perception expanded, just in time to witness the nearest Fiend dissolve, bit by bit, into smoke. Once it vanished completely, the process began anew on a different corpse. Within a minute, all signs of the battle were gone.

  Recycling successful. 15 units of Inferior Omnimatter obtained.

  Just like that, the Armory filled up a bit. Arthur tried to poke this… Omnimatter with his mental fingers, but the feedback he received was less than pleasant. It felt like touching some sticky, disgusting goo.

  Hell to the nope, he thought, retreating from his storage. But not before asking the System for more details.

  [Inferior Omnimatter]

  Type: Material

  “The lowest grade of Vanguard’s miracle material. Used to craft all kinds of low-tier items. You probably shouldn’t eat it, though. There are better ways to die.”

  Very funny, Arthur grumbled. Couldn’t eat it even if I wanted to. No mouth, remember?

  With a thought, he dismissed the description. The mention of Vanguard made him pause, but he refused to dwell on it. At this point, he was almost certain it was the name of the organization behind his rebirth. He would most likely learn more when the time was right.

  Okay, so that’s the Armory and its strange ability to process matter. What about the Fabricator?

  This time, however, the System remained silent. Pulling on the other fresh triggers inside his mind also gave him nothing. That could only mean one thing.

  He had to wait for the recalibration to finish first.

  Arthur gave a mental shrug. Maybe it was for the best. He had other, more important stuff to take care of anyway. He canceled Silent Observer again and called out.

  Upgrades!

  However, before the new menu could appear, something else took its place.

  Battle won! 2 UP awarded. Your Core grows stronger.

  Oh, right… Killing enemies alone is supposed to help me. Nice, I guess. But now gimme upgrades!

  This time, the System listened. A list, longer than any other materialized in his mind. The sheer amount of information made him freeze for a second, leaving him staring blankly at it.

  Then, he picked something at random.

  [Engine (Tier I)]

  Type: Rusty V12 Diesel

  Power: F

  Special Effects: None

  “A barely functional relic of the past. Prone to overheating and dying at the worst of times.”

  This part can be upgraded into [Mana-enhanced Diesel (Tier II)] for 5 UP.

  Current UP: 4

  You do not meet the requirements. Please come back later.

  Of course it’s five when I have four, Arthur grumbled. Can I maybe get a discount? No? …Okay. I tried.

  At the very least, he now knew a bit more about his engine. Not that learning about its many faults filled him with joy, but still. Also, if a V12 Diesel had an F power rank, he was scared to imagine what counted as B, or even C.

  Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.

  One day, Arthur thought, returning to the long list of his parts. One thing he quickly noticed was that the Armory wasn’t there. On the other hand, Fabricator was grayed out and had no details below it, unlike every other part.

  Not that it really mattered to him. He had plenty of information to dig through as it was.

  And so he did, checking every system, one after the other.

  For the most part, everything here seemed easy to understand. Every part had a type, possible combat effectiveness, or power ranking, as well as some other details, like ‘Special Effects.’ To no surprise, the last one was always empty.

  Overall, out of the seven systems he had access to, only one of them confused him a bit.

  [Mobility (Tier I)]

  Type: Old Tracks

  Maneuverability: Poor

  Special Effects: None

  Combat Rating: F-

  “Worn-out treads that barely maintain traction. Sticking to well-worn paths might be your only viable option.”

  Mobility was supposed to be about more than just how his vessel moved. Yet, ‘Old Tracks’ couldn’t really mean anything else. Was he missing something, or had the System lied to him?

  Gonna have to wait for the upgrade to find out.

  Sure, ‘Reinforced Tracks’ didn’t scream improved rotation speed of his turret, but maybe it didn’t have to. Maybe the subsystems were upgraded in the background, while the big visible part of Mobility took the center stage. It sounded like the most reasonable conclusion if the System was telling the truth.

  Whatever. Not like I can upgrade anything. Need that one more point.

  Which brought him back to the present, to the fact that he was still grounded for the foreseeable future. Though now, he had a little something that just might speed things up a little bit.

  [Small Repair Kit (Tier I)]

  Type: Utility

  “Sometimes passive repair just ain’t it. Well, here’s the solution to all your problems! This little kit will return any chosen part of your vessel to Operational condition. Cooldown: 24 hours.”

  This miracle item left him with a decision. What should he repair?

  Arthur really wanted to use it on Mobility and then fix his Engine with Ether so he could get out of here. There was just one big issue with this plan. Unlike Generator, both Engine and Mobility were at Criticality Damaged status. And what did that mean?

  Well…

  Engine will become Operational in: 27 hours. Engine’s full recovery in: 4 days, 3 hours.

  That was with all Ether directed on the part. Mobility showed similar timers.

  And sure, Arthur could wait. What else was he gonna do? However, a lot could happen in twenty-seven hours. Like, for example, the still-active Hell Gate spitting out more monsters. Monsters that could be stronger than the Fiends.

  So it came as no surprise when he selected a much different Criticality Damaged part to repair.

  Primary selected. [85mm Cannon (Tier I)] has been returned to Operational condition.

  Instantly, one of the dead, cold triggers in his mind reactivated. Arthur pulled on it, and another of his ‘eyes’ snapped open. Just like the machine gun, it showed him the wasteland, only here the view was a bit wider and more detailed.

  There was also another notification.

  Cannon ammunition production online. 2 units of AP and HE shells produced. Load?

  He didn’t hesitate.

  Yes.

  The grinding of steel on steel filled his mind, followed by a dull thunk as he felt the AP—armor piercing—round slide home. A few more mechanical clunks followed, and some seconds later, the cannon was ready to fire.

  Arthur ignored the voice telling him to pull the trigger at the Hell Gate.

  Later, okay?

  The System disagreed.

  Mission Issued!

  Hell Gates aren’t immortal. Find a way to destroy it. Your life just might depend on it. No pressure.

  Reward: 2 UP, Repair Kit (Small), Warrior’s Hook

  Arthur let out a bark of laughter. If the System decided to give him that kind of mission, then he had made the right call to repair his cannon. Still, he had a very bad feeling about this.

  You live only once… or well, twice, I guess.

  He pulled on another trigger, the scraping of steel echoing in his mind again. The AP shell slowly slid out of the chamber, and another one entered instead.

  HE. High explosive. It should have much higher chances of destroying a magic construct than just a large block of steel.

  And fire!

  With a deafening crack, the HE shell shot out of the cannon, its target clear. Arthur reactivated Silent Observer and watched the projectile enter the Hell Gate.

  There was no explosion. No light show. For a brief moment, it even looked like the Hell Gate had just consumed the shell, and that was it. But then, it shuddered and shrank just a tiny bit.

  Oh, so it’s that simp—

  A demonic roar, one coming straight from the gate, cut Arthur off. He cursed and quickly forced his cannon to load an AP shell. The machine gun’s eye also came alive, its crosshairs on the pulsing rift.

  Round two, then? Fine by me.

  Just as the shell finished loading and another roar filled the area, something stepped out of the Hell Gate.

  It began with a gray leg, large and thick enough to crush a Fiend. A long arm followed, tipped with three grubby fingers. Then a chunk of the creature’s fat torso slipped out, along with a bald, deformed head.

  Arthur didn’t need to see more. He aimed a bit higher and pulled the cannon’s trigger.

  With a crack of thunder, the shell shot forward and slammed into the massive creature’s shoulder. The impact drove it back, half of its body again disappearing into the Hell Gate. A pained roar also left its throat as dark blood burst from the fresh hole in its flesh.

  Another!

  While his background systems reloaded the cannon, Arthur switched focus to his machine gun. Its accuracy might not be the best, but given that the troll-like creature was large enough to tower over an elephant, hitting it shouldn’t be an issue.

  His crosshairs moved up, locking onto the beast’s one-eyed face that just appeared in the gate again. The AP hadn’t stopped it for long, though its right arm now hung useless at its side. Not that it really mattered.

  Why?

  Because the monster’s other arm was more than fine. And it was holding a weapon, a big one at that.

  A sword, or rather a part of one.

  The blade was shattered, but the remaining length should still be more than enough to cleave through Arthur’s hull in a single swing. Not that he wanted to test that theory, not with the dark flames covering the weapon and his Armor in damaged condition.

  Die! he yelled, the rattle of his machine gun joining the constant patter of the ever-present rain.

  The beast flinched, whining as the hail of bullets peppered its face. None got its eye, though, and before Arthur could correct his aim, it raised its sword-wielding arm to shield itself.

  It worked, but that didn’t stop his machine gun from drilling tiny bleeding holes all over its body. Unfortunately, that was also far from enough to prevent it from stomping toward his vessel.

  No, you don’t.

  The thunderous boom of his cannon cut through the storm. Another AP shell tore into the beast’s upper chest. Not quite the neck he was aiming for, but it still made the monster stagger, still made it hurt.

  It also forced its arm down, letting Arthur shoot a couple of bullets at its exposed face. One even struck its eye, earning a roar louder than any other. Yet somehow, it could still see.

  The bleeding yellow eye fixed on him. Burning. Furious.

  And then the cyclops began moving again.

  Slower. Limping now.

  Arthur loaded his final HE shell.

  A second later, his machine gun clicked.

  Empty.

  Yet, Arthur didn’t feel even a bit of fear. He just aimed his cannon as high as it could go and waited for the reload to finish.

  When the cyclops was only a couple of feet away from him, ready to swing its burning sword, he fired.

  At that range, missing was impossible.

  The shell tore into the creature’s mouth and exploded. The head popped like a melon. The demon fell.

  Right onto Arthur’s hull.

  Steel groaned. Something deep inside him cracked, but that was thankfully the end. Only the patter of rain and thunder above filled the silence.

  Arthur laughed.

  That was close… and stupid. Should have waited for more ammo.

  A lesson for the future. Right now, he had spoils of war to collect.

  Do your job, Armory.