Rewards obtained:

  -2 UP

  -Repair Kit (Small)

  -New Part: Warrior’s Hook

  Warning! New special part detected. Installation in progress. Please stand by…

  Arthur would have frowned if he could. He was fairly certain that the last time this happened, there was no mention of ‘special’ in the notification. Just what made this Warrior’s Hook so different?

  A beat passed. Then another. Nothing.

  Huh. Thought that would work for sure. Guess I gotta wait for the installation to finish to get a description. Whatever.

  And so, with the new part unavailable for now, Arthur turned his focus to the other stuff he had to deal with. He definitely couldn’t do much with the two upgrade points yet—not with the price change—but the repair kit? Well, he for sure had a plan for it.

  System, repair the Armor.

  Again, he waited a second, then another, expecting the familiar golden light to fix the damage to most of his vessel. Yet, none of that happened. All he received was a very short notification.

  Repair Kit is still on cooldown.

  Right… Forgot about that, Arthur grumbled. So I gotta wait a few more hours. Shouldn’t be that bad… I hope.

  Even though he was a bit annoyed at being denied once more, he didn’t let this sour his good mood. The Hell Gate was gone, the rain had finally stopped, and he still had more to do before boredom set in.

  Corpses first.

  Acknowledged. Recycling in progress…

  Just like that, smoke rolled across the battlefield as the System processed every demon that had fallen here today. Arthur had no idea just how many he had killed, but the recycling definitely took longer than the last two times. The results confirmed it had been his biggest battle yet.

  Recycling successful. 25 units of Inferior Omnimatter obtained.

  And that was pretty much it for the aftermath. Sure, there was also the usual notification awarding him another single UP for the battle won, but aside from that, he was done. Now, he just had to wait for the new part to be installed.

  Thankfully, the System decided to be merciful and work fast.

  Installation successful.

  Warrior’s Hook: Online

  Without hesitation, Arthur pulled up every little bit of information he could on this new part. For now, he also ignored the brand-new trigger manifesting in his mind. It could wait a minute or two.

  [Warrior’s Hook - The Warrior’s unique weapon and tool, sometimes simply called “The Harpoon”. Unlike most other parts, it’s fueled and manifested just by the Core. It can be upgraded to unlock more of its hidden potential.]

  Right after that, one more description appeared. This one taken straight from the upgrade menu.

  [Warrior’s Hook (Tier I)]

  Range: Very Low

  Abilities: Pull, Grab

  “It’s not much yet, but it’s probably the most reliable tool in your arsenal at this moment. Use it well.”

  All that didn’t tell Arthur much. A new weapon? Great. Could be upgraded? Even better. But how did it really work? Or why did he even need it? This, the System refused to reveal, or just didn’t see the point in telling him. He could learn all that on his own after all.

  To work then! He grinned inwardly, happy to have something new to play with. All right, activate!

  For the third time today, nothing happened after his command. The trigger responsible for the new part just sat there, dead. Arthur huffed. At this point, either the System was screwing with him… or he was missing something obvious.

  But what? he mused, glancing at the description again. A moment later, it hit him. Oh… I am an idiot.

  The very first notification outright stated that the Hook was fueled by the Core. And what did his Core produce? Ether. Which he currently had none of, thanks to the ongoing repairs. There was a reason why one line in his Command Center always displayed the same thing.

  Core’s Ether: 0%

  This left Arthur with only one option.

  He had to limit the flow of Ether to repairs for a few minutes. Then, once he tested the hook, he could swap the settings back. No problem at all.

  Just gotta pull this and… this, he muttered to himself as he turned the valves responsible for directing Ether to his systems. That should do it… hopefully.

  A minute later, he was proven right.

  Core’s Ether: 1%

  Success! He beamed. Now gimme the Hook.

  This time, when Arthur tugged on the new trigger, it responded, if very slowly. His vision shifted, no longer bound to the cannon’s sights. Instead, he saw everything. Well, maybe not everything, but a full 360-degree view from the top of his turret came pretty damn close in his opinion.

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

  And then there was the hook itself.

  Now the System’s words made sense. The weapon wasn’t physical at all. It manifested as a black spectral harpoon with a chain attached to its end. He could also feel its maximum available range, and while it wasn’t too impressive, the hook’s flexibility made up for that.

  Really, he could aim it at whatever he wanted in his sight in a matter of milliseconds.

  He resisted the urge to fire. Something in the back of his mind told him that even though he had managed to activate it, using it required much more Ether than he had available now.

  Eh, whatever. At least I know how it works now… well, mostly anyway.

  There were still the “pull” and “grab” functions to figure out, but that could wait. For now, he redirected Ether back into repairs and resigned himself to waiting a few more hours.

  But honestly?

  For the first time in almost a day, Arthur didn’t mind not having anything to do. Bored he might be, but without the rain here to constantly annoy him, he could at least clear his head and maybe even relax a bit.

  He snorted.

  Yeah, like that’s gonna happen…

  Fabricator: Online

  Tier I recipes unlocked.

  There it is, Arthur thought with relief.

  No rain and no Hell Gate next to him meant that his mind could settle, but it didn’t change the fact that he was an impatient person. Which, honestly, was strange. He could swear that in his previous life, he had been the exact opposite. The stay in the void must have really messed him up. That or his memory was failing him again.

  It is what it is, he sang in his head. This little phrase felt like his motto at this point. It fit, though. Let’s see.

  [Fabricator - A crucial part created for all members of the Vanguard by the First Smith. It allows you to craft various tools that will make your journey somewhat easier. It can also be used to enrich certain materials. Upgrading it requires sacrificing spoils of war to fuel research.]

  The Smith… Vanguard… Arthur hummed. I was right. Definitely an organization. But what do you do? Why reincarnate some random guy from Earth into a tank?

  More and more questions without answers. Still, he was at least piecing together small details. Other than that, he just had to stick to his previous decision and wait for more information to reveal itself.

  Back to the Fabricator, then.

  He skipped over the research part. From what he saw in the upgrade menu, he could now simply sacrifice his Omnimatter and hope for the best. There was no counter for how many materials it needed or what the chances of upgrading were. Strange, but not worth stressing over.

  Show me what I can craft.

  At once, a short list of three items, along with their description, appeared before him. One of those he knew well already—Small Repair Kit. The other two, however, were brand-new.

  [Electric Charge (Tier I)]

  Type: Countermeasures

  “This handy item will release a discharge of electricity in a small radius around the Warrior’s vessel. With some luck, it just might fry those pests that slip past your guard. Cooldown: 5 minutes.”

  [Emergency Power Cell (Tier I)]

  Type: Utility

  “Generator not keeping up? Say no more! Emergency Power Cell is here to help! It ain’t much, but it’s honest work. Double the efficiency of your Generator with this tiny thing. It might work for an hour or ten minutes, who knows! Cooldown: 12 Hours.”

  Neither of these were ground-breaking, but if used correctly, they just might turn the tide of a battle in his favor. The only thing that kind of disappointed Arthur was the small number of items he could produce. Well that, and the material requirements.

  Even the simple Electric Charge required fifty Omnimatter to craft. The other two? Two hundred for the Power Cell and twice as much for the Repair Kit. At the very least, this made him even more grateful that the System already gave him two of the latter.

  And speaking of… I should be able to do this now.

  Armor selected. [Rusty Steel (Tier I)] has been returned to Operational condition.

  Similar to when he had upgraded his Mobility, golden light washed over his entire vessel. It was weaker, dimmer than what he had seen before, but he could still feel it repairing him, twisting bits and pieces of metal here and there. In a matter of seconds, the process was done.

  Arthur activated Silent Observer.

  Hmm… Not bad.

  While the repair was by no means perfect, it sealed most holes and straightened the worst bends on his hull. Some rust, deep scratches, and minor cracks remained among the old, dark green paint, but it was still a massive improvement. He no longer felt naked.

  Weird as hell, Arthur mused, canceling his skill.

  This left him with only two more hours until his Engine would finally let him move. He could wait that long. He could definitely wait that long without going insane.

  Oh, who am I kidding…

  Three…

  Two…

  One…

  And… Done!

  Engine is now Operational. Full recovery in: 2 days, 21 hours.

  Yeah, don’t care about that at all! Arthur laughed. I can finally leave this place. Freedom, I am coming!

  Without hesitation, he pulled the trigger to fire up his engine.

  Nothing happened.

  He tried again.

  Still nothing.

  Arthur paused, and instead of running into a wall for the third time, he decided to do the smart thing and check all the subsystems inside his engine. Now that it was Operational, he could do that.

  Oh… there is no fuel. Now that’s awkward…

  With how slow his Generator worked, Arthur didn’t have much of a choice but to wait for fuel to be produced. That said, he still redirected all power to the task. He didn’t need more ammo right now.

  An hour later, the process was finished. The notification came and went. The Engine had fuel. Not much, but enough to at least experiment a bit. He could worry about stockpiling later.

  Let’s do this. Start!

  With this command, his Engine roared to life, its ragged rattle filling his mind. The deep, muffled, and hollow clatter of gears and pistons followed, as did the black smoke that erupted from his exhaust.

  That one looked straight up toxic.

  Yet, Arthur didn’t care about that. Didn’t care about his Engine sounding like an old, barely functioning tractor. Instead, his focus was purely on everything he could feel now.

  He remembered driving cars in his previous life. Using the wheel, pedals, and the transmission. This? This was nothing like that.

  Once the engine turned on, everything fell into Arthur’s control. Every little gear, every little wheel. Nothing was out of his reach. A mere thought was enough for his new body to answer. Sure, some parts didn’t respond instantly due to the lingering damage and rust, but compared to just being the driver, it was night and day.

  This was his new body. His vessel to control.

  And call him mad, but he loved it. Metal or flesh, it didn’t matter. Not anymore.

  Onward!