Chapter 290 - New Arm, New Knowledge (3)

Inside the void workshop... 

There were four people in the room, Arnold, Talos, Alice and... Devon. Devon and Talos had just finished working on Arnold's prosthetic arm now and were waiting for his approval. 

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• [Arm of living death]: A prosthetic arm made up from the remains of Grock, the king of the swamps and an alloy made from the strongest metals found in the mortal world. The arm is the personification of the words, 'loathe' and 'hatred' as the creature who serves as the core material still hates the one who killed him, even in death. Also, one of its creators harbours incredible hatred as he was subjected to endless horrors until he agreed to do as his captor pleased.

Grade: SS

Defense (DEF) : +20 (physical)

Strength (STR): Dependent on user's existing STR

Type: Weaponised Arm

Weight : 21 kg

Power source: Twin Star shard

Additional effect : [Iron Fist] - Upon the user's will, the arm goes into overdrive, increasing the power output by 50% and raising the user's strength (up to 100 STR) for 3 seconds. 

Additional effect : [Swift] - The weight of the arm reduces hence significantly increasing the attack speed of the user. 

Additional effect : [Swamp king's mandate] - When fighting against reptilian creatures, STR increases by 5%

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"I'm surprised you managed to pull it off, Talos." Arnold commended the automaton on making his first-ever SS ranked gear. 

"I could not have done it on my own. The prisoner's help was vital to creating this black marvel." Talos replied while presenting the arm to his master. 

Arnold silently nodded but ignored Devon otherwise. In the end, Arnold forced Devon to tirelessly work on the arm for over a week. Unlike Talos, he was a human and needed regular breaks to be at his best. But just having proper rest wasn't enough. Devon had to be motivated. And this motivation came in the form of Gary, his son. For each day worth of work Devon completed, he got to spend an hour with his son. As if it wasn't enough to motivate him, Arnold also promised to help improve Gary's condition if Devon did a praiseworthy job. With these carrots hanging in front of him, even the captive worked day in and day out to deliver the best gear he ever made. And the results of his struggles and pain soon manifested themselves in form of the prosthetic arm. 

Arnold was quite pleased with what the system showed him. He then went ahead to get a feel of the arm. The semi-metallic arm, was the darkest shade of black Arnold had ever seen with silvery wires running all over the arm. As per his instructions, various slots were also carved into the arm itself. The blood runes Arnold would create in future will be going into these slots.

Arnold wasn't able to use the blood runes for himself, but since the arm essentially wasn't a part of his body, he should be able to use blood runes without any problems now. 

And lastly, the arm looked... BADA.S.S! The arm further complemented his all-black look. Although losing an arm wasn't a pleasant moment for him, he still loved the way his prosthetic arm looked now. 

"Okay then, let's just get this attached to my shoulder and test if there are any anomalies." Arnold took his shirt off and sat on the chair next to him.

Talos, Devon and Alice immediately went to work. Talos began drilling multiple holes in Arnold's left shoulder blade and collar bone along with a few in his muscle fibres to strengthen the bond between the prosthetic and the rest of the body. Alice was busy helping Talos so that he doesn't cause any unnecessary damage to Arnold's body. While all of this was happening, Devon was giving the arm some final touches, like increasing its power output etc. 

The thin silvery wires from before were connected to the nerve cells so that Arnold could easily command the arm and control its movement without any effort from him. Arnold dissolved the mana shield he had around him, to let them freely operate on him. 

Thankfully, there were no complications and the entire procedure only took about two hours to be completed. Once everything was set and done, Arnold's interface immediately lit up with multiple notifications, mostly informing him that the body had accepted the arm and that the augmentation was successful. As soon as those messages appeared on his interface, Arnold decided to test the arm out.

At first, it was quite difficult. His movements were rigid but after some practice, he finally got a hang of it and soon the prosthetic became as good as his lost natural hand. But it wasn't all... 

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You've achieved a new title! 

Name: [Cybernetic being]

Effect:

• Your understanding of machinery and its creation has been greatly increased. You now have a 10% chance of upgrading the rarity of your creations while performing enhancement on them. 

• You are now more proficient in using weapons build by you. All weapon-related skills have been levelled up by 1 level(s). 

The lesser gods are now more interested in your upcoming battles. 

The higher gods are amused with your journey. 

BEWARE! 2 out of 8 remaining demigods have made you their target.

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'What the hell... System sama, these things never happened before. So why now? Why is it that the gods are now interested in me?'

<The first round of trials have been completed. This world has found its first 5 vassals now. The rest of the paladins cannot ascend anymore. The only way for them to do so is by killing the existing Vassals. But for every paladin or vassal that dies now, two more shall rise. The true game of gods starts now. You'll receive your next set of instructions soon.>