Chapter 319 - Voiding the Warranty

Chapter 319

Voiding the Warranty

Alexander tossed the orb into the air, then caught it again.

He had complete access to the orb itself, and he knew what it did, even if he had no idea how. There were pathways that vanished into nothingness, that he intuitively understood were connected to the other hardware he’d taken from Santiago.

Including the Skipper.

But he couldn’t bridge the gap no matter how hard he tried. Any attempt to probe the connections, regardless of power, returned no information and triggered no response.

Superpowers sat within the soul. That was something he’d only truly understood after he killed Flashpoint, when the System, in all its bipolar wisdom, had somehow forced the fragmented remnants of his Earth 1 counterpart’s soul to merge properly with his.

He shuddered. Even just the memory of the pain was unpleasant.

The problem was whether it was even a good choice. He was ninety-nine-point-nine-nine percent certain that the orb would let him properly control the tech ripped from Santiago’s corpse, though the only device he really cared about was the Skipper. Perhaps the man’s leftover Will was the real reason the Skipper had placed him in direct harm, instead of the System.

If that were true, and he took ownership of the control orb, then there was no reason for the Skipper to disobey his intentions again. What’s more, it might not require as much energy to activate once a piece of his soul was dedicated to powering it.

Droney beeped. Curious.

“I don’t know, buddy. But I’m reconsidering doing something very stupid.”

Droney beeped again.

He shrugged. “I know there’s only one slot left, but I’ll get more once I hit Tier 3. And just think how amazing it would be if I could teleport whenever I wanted.”

A sense of worry washed over the bond, but Droney didn’t belabor the point. It understood that the choice was his.

Now he just needed to decide.

“Fuck it. Caution and I have never been friends anyway.”

Alexander gripped the orb in his hand and focused the entirety of his Domain and Will into it, envisioning what he wanted. Ownership. Control. But not sentience. Not sapience.

Not this time.

All he wanted from the orb was obedience.

He hesitated for a moment, feeling like it was a wasted opportunity, then pushed it aside. The orb would need to be kept close, and having a machine like Droney enslaved to a single purpose didn’t sit right with him.

“Ensoulment.”

A loud crack echoed through the room, then stretched sideways across reality. Some final vestige of the System’s control, deep within the orb, snapped, then faded away.

The System Interface appeared in his vision unbidden, showing the usual set of tabs and information. Status, Guild, Contacts, Quests, and so on. He’d always found it a bit strange, as though someone had designed it with all these big plans in mind, yet was still busy designing the features to back it up.

The interface flickered, like an old television screen, and a new tab labeled ‘Forged’ appeared.

Before he could do anything, a notification window popped up, text already scrolling.

—

[ FORGED POWER SUBSYSTEM — SOUL INTEGRATION PROTOCOL ]

| Implant: Veritus Praxis Neuroadaptive Noetic Implant: Series F - Earth 1 Beta Test Unit

| Assignee: Gabriel Santiago (Origin 1, Designation: *Deceased)

| Host Soul: Alexander Rooke (Origin 0, Designation: Machine God, Supervillain)

Evaluating Soul Compatibility…

| Resonance: Perfect

| Rejection Probability: 0.0000%

| Soul Alignment: ██████████ 100%

Accepted.

Installing Forged Packages…

| Core Interface… co̸̧̊m̶̱̈́p̸̪̾l̶̰̇e̵͇̅te

| Skill Tree… ę̸̛r̵̨̈́r̸̺̾or:̶̣̈ ̶̬̅n̸̰̏o̶̦̔ ̵̲̇vali̸̲̐d̸̻̈ ̵̲͝p̴̣̈́ack̸̲̍a̶̬̾g̵̱͊e̸̠̿

| Tactical Overlay… ĉ̷̢o̸̧̊mp̸̪̾lete

| ██████████████… ę̸̛r̵̨̈́r̸̺̾ö̵̜́r̸̙̋

| ██████████████… Ę̸̛r̵̨̈́r̸̺̾ö̵̜́r̸̙̋

Scanning for existing hardware…

Interfacing…

| Nanotech-integrated cybernetic arm (Askalarian/Human)... ̵̲͝p̴̣̈́e̸̠̿rmis̵̤s̵̤ion̵̺s r̵̨̈́e̸̠̿quired̸̻̈???

| Localized spatial-warping module (Askalarian/Vel’thanari)... co̸̧̊mpl̶̰̇e̵͇̅te

Complete.

Congratulations, Al̷̰e̸̥x̶̣ander R̸̙o̶̦o̶̦ke. Fọ̶r̵̨g̷̱e̶̟d Po̷̧w̷̭er Sy̸̱s̵̤t̸͙em has been ̶̬ș̶u̸̗cessf̵̣u̸̗l̶̰l̶̰y̸̱ ̴̙ị̶n̵̺s̵̤talled̶̖ị̶e̶̟d̶̖ị̶e̶̟d̶̖ị̶e̶̟d̶̖ị̶e̶̟d̶̖ị̶e̶̟d̶̖ị̶e̶̟ ̶̬̅yọ̶u̸̗r̵̨ ̶̬r̵̨e̶̟m̴̗a̶̻i̸̳n̵̺s̵̤ ̶̬w̷̭i̸̳l̶̰l̶̰ ̶̬b̸̰e̶̟ ̶̬r̵̨ȩ̸̛c̶̳y̸̱c̶̳l̶̰e̶̟d̶̖.̶̣ ̶̬Than̵̺k̸̲ ̶̬y̸̱ou̸̗ ̶̬f̵̣o̶̦r̵̨ ̶̬t̸͙es̵̤tin̵̺g Ve̶̟ritu̸̗s Pra̶̻x̶̣ị̶ssssa̶̻ve̶̟u̸̗s̵̤&^Q!@(*@!$#—

Continue your Dream.

—

Alexander tapped a finger to his lips while he read the notification. Perfect compatibility between his soul and a machine was no surprise to him, and Ensoulment appeared to have worked exactly how he wanted, but he was worried about the corrupted text and the packages that had failed to install. There were no indicators as to why it had happened, though jailbreaking the hardware with a fragment of his own soul was an easy and immediate answer. It could also be because he wasn’t the orb’s designee, but there was nothing he could do about either possibility.

For a reliable source, visit the author's official page; this chapter was copied here without the author's approval.

Regardless, it was comforting that the process hadn’t been able to forcibly integrate his cybernetic arm. Either his Will or the nanotech, perhaps both combined, could resist being hijacked by even the System itself.

“Askalarian…” he murmured. “That must be the race that created the nanites. And they’re connected to the phase-shift device, along with these Vel’thanari. That’s interesting, but it makes one wonder how and why aliens are involved on Earth.”

Droney beeped.

Alexander nodded. “Send the information to Talia. She’ll know what to look up.”

He read through the scrambled message next, ignoring the threats of death. There was nothing new there. Everyone knew the System had a mental problem. Had done since it first introduced itself after trying to kill a bunch of people with dimensional gateways.

Then he paused, frowning, and read the message again before returning to check the beginning of the notification to confirm it.

“Well, well, well. I don’t know about you, Droney, but I do not believe in blatantly obvious coincidences.”

Droney rotated sideways in the air slightly, mimicking a person cocking their head in confusion.

“The first implants for superhumans to track their growth came from Veritus Praxis,” he said. “AEGIS, the Space Force, and even the mega-corps adapted their core tech to create their own versions, and now their name is showing up connected to the Forged?” Alexander shook his head. “They’re meant to be this little designer boutique, but they sure seem to have their fingers in a lot of System-related pies.”

Droney beeped.

“I’m the pie?” Alexander laughed. “That’s a good one. I agree. I am the pie.” He glanced at the drone. “Just do me a favor and don’t tell Annie, because she’ll never stop with the fingering jokes.”

Droney pulsed with amusement, but made no promises.

He grinned, then tossed the orb into the air and caught it again. “Let’s see what this bad boy can do.”

Metallokinesis released the Skipper, and he snatched it out of the air before it could fall. Focusing his powers through the orb, he reached for the other device, and almost lost his focus when the connection between the two snapped into place.

The strange, empty void between them was gone.

Alexander pushed through the lingering hesitation and sent the command, fixing his attention on the opposite side of the room. Reality flashed before his eyes, and suddenly he was seeing the sealed testing room from the other end of it.

Droney spun toward him and beeped.

The tiny HUD in the upper right corner of his vision, which had remained unchanged since the day the System appeared and was usually reserved for warning about waiting notifications or incoming calls, had been updated.

A small timer appeared, counting down from twenty-seven seconds.

The last two times he’d used the Skipper, he’d activated it by flooding the device with powers, and the energy cost had been steep. This time, he’d barely felt it, and instead there was a cooldown.

That aligned with what he’d learned about the Forged and the classes and their skill trees that the nomadic wizards had discovered. The similarities had to mean something, but he didn’t know what. And he didn’t have the time or the means to investigate it, anyway. Maybe it was another thing for Talia to look into.

When the countdown hit zero, he triggered the Skipper a second time. Again, reality flashed so fast that only his superhuman senses were able to pick up on the distortion, and he appeared at the other end of the room.

Notably, without getting stuck in a solid wall, and with all body parts still attached.

With a thought, he reopened the System Interface and pulled up the new Forged screen. The first thing that appeared was an identical copy of his Status, word for word and attribute for attribute, right up until he reached the section that should have listed his superpowers, techniques, and skills.

That was replaced by a complex tree of presumably selectable choices. Except in his case, nearly every single box was erratically flashing in and out of existence, with gibberish words repeatedly flickering with ‘-error-’ beneath them.

One skill box, five rows down, was stable. Blink. With a mental nudge, he selected it.

—

Blink (Purchased)

Purchase Requirement: 1 (One) suitable technological device, magical artifact, or innate ability. Object or ability will be consumed upon purchase, soul-forged, then grafted into your body.

Description: Instantly teleports you and up to 2 other people maintaining physical contact to a location of your choosing within a range of 22.2 meters. Alternatively, teleport yourself to a location within 222 meters to an inaccuracy of 22.2 meters.

Cooldown: 27 seconds.

Warning: Teleporting into solid matter may result in death.

Warning: Blink’s soul-forged module has been disconnected from the host’s body. Please reconnect the module to reduce cooldown by 9 seconds.

Warning: -errö̵̜́r̸̙̋- Soul Engine has been disconnected from the host’s body -errö̵̜́r̸̙̋- Disconnecting the Soul Engine results in death -error- Please reconnect the Soul Engine to -errö̵̜́r̸̙̋- not -errö̵̜́r̸̙̋- results in death -errö̵̜́r̸̙̋- and reduce cooldown by 9 seconds.

—

Alexander blinked. Slowly, and with his eyes. There was something very wrong with the orb, which was apparently called a Soul Engine. Or perhaps what was wrong was that he wasn’t using the device as specified in its warranty. After all, he’d sawed it out of Santiago’s head, crushed the remnants of the man’s soul, and then stuck a piece of his own in there.

That removing the Soul Engine caused death, for normal Forged, made a lot of sense, even if the thing wasn’t typically safely tucked inside a person’s skull. It would be like tearing a hole in one’s soul, and letting everything inside flow out.

Even after successfully claiming the Soul Engine, it still recognized the difference between a fragment of soul embedded in it and being properly attached to the rest of his soul.

Alexander dismissed the Interface and looked down at both objects. He really didn’t want to stick anything inside him, especially not something that had already been lodged in someone else’s brain.

It didn’t matter that he’d sanitized everything twice after extraction, the idea was still gross.

Almost against his will, his gaze fell upon his cybernetic arm. The thought came unbidden, but undeniable.

Technically, it would count. The arm was just as much a part of him now as the fleshy bits. His powers had seen to that. It would also be… less gross. About the same as holding it, which wasn’t really gross at all now that he thought about it.

It was almost convincing.

He looked up at Droney. “What do you think, buddy? Would it be poor form to stick Santiago’s old brain orb in my arm along with the Skipper?”

Droney beeped. Excited.

Alexander stared at Droney for a moment. The little guy just didn’t understand that some things were socially inappropriate.

But it had a point.

He tossed the Soul Engine and the Skipper into the air, seizing them with Metallokinesis, then rotated his arm slowly. The idea was plausible. Neither device required connectors or special housing. They just needed to be in contact with his soul and protected from damage, though he was certain they were extremely resistant to harm.

“Alright. It’s a stupid idea, but let’s make it two for two.”

Droney beeped.

“Exactly. Two stupids definitely make a smart.”

All four of his powers activated, sinking deep into the arm. His second mental thread began the process of parting the nanite-infused metal, molecule by molecule, forming a seam beginning at the inner elbow and running two inches down the inside of his forearm.

Alexander repeated the process, over and over again, spreading the metal out slowly on either side while deepening the incision one layer at a time.

Ten minutes later, he had carved out a roughly golfball-sized cavity within the arm and carefully realigned the mechanical tendons. Still, there would be a small but visible lump on the inner forearm.

He shrugged. Metallokinesis pulsed, and the Soul Engine floated down into the slot. Then the excavated metal flowed into the gaps and layered itself over the top of the Soul Engine, bonding it to the arm.

Alexander repeated the process, this time at the shoulder, roughly where the deltoid muscle would be if the arm were flesh and blood. Installing the Skipper was far easier, because though it looked larger, the device was flat and took up less space.

Once done, he patted the shoulder and swung his arm around a few times to make sure everything felt right. Then he pulled up the Interface again. As expected, the cooldown had been reduced to nine seconds, and the only warning remaining was the one about teleporting into walls.

Alexander grinned. He reached out and planted a hand on top of Droney, who beeped in alarm, and they vanished from the room with a thought.