The dog-headed Kobolds were short and fast, so despite their fierceness, they were pretty fragile. When Chris's bat came down, the head of one caved in like a frail egg against a rock. The other Kobold couldn't react before a nail pierced its temple from the side.
**{Kobold Minion (Tier 1)}**
The group stayed silent for a while, only relaxing when no other monsters appeared, though they kept their guard up. "Luice, let's go," Don indicated.
"Hold up." Arthur stopped them. He took out a sharp scalpel and cut open the Kobold's chest with his prosthetic arm.
"What the hell are you doing?!" Chris whisper-shouted while Brea paled. Arthur didn't reply. He immersed his hand into the moist, still-warm corpse of the Kobold and dug around as if searching for something. The group grimaced while Brea looked away.
"Got it," Arthur softly exclaimed. He pulled his bloody hand out, and between his fingers was a red, rocky orb with a slight glow. This garnered everyone's attention.
"What's that?" Luice asked.
"Don't know, but I figure it's the main source of the monsters' powers," Arthur replied. He went to collect the others—there weren't many—and took the last one. "From what I can tell, it holds a high amount of concentrated energy."
"How could you tell that?" Brea asked.
"Well, other than the obvious glow, it's also due to my ability. You can tell too, right Fatty?"
Luice, who stared at the orb intently, nodded slowly.
"Let's not waste time and keep going. We'll gather all the resources and Monster Cores along the way," Arthur said, and they continued.
> **{Monster Core (Tier One): Crystallized mana providing energy to all monster capabilities. Upon consumption by an Awakened, it may strengthen abilities; consumption by an un-awakened may increase physical capabilities and, with enough energy, induce awakening based on the nature of the core used.}**
>
**{New Data Detected! Scanning… Scan Complete. System Update in progress.}**
**{System Update Complete! New Upgrades and Modifications are now available.}**
Arthur kept his face neutral despite his excitement and continued with the group. They killed squads of Kobolds wherever they met them and took the Monster Cores. They moved from lab to lab, taking all the equipment and resources in storage, moving from department to department. They met many other people along the way, but due to the chaos, everyone kept to their respective groups and went their own way.
Finally, near late afternoon, they arrived in Block B: the building belonging to the Engineering departments (civil, automotive, electronics, etc.). The equipment and resources here were much more heavy-duty than in other departments, so it took them much longer. They only reached the last room by nighttime, which just so happened to be the electronics department.
The room was a bloody mess. It seemed monsters managed to get in and leave a massacre behind, but left after killing everyone within. They had grown somewhat used to the score of mangled corpses, so they pushed the remains to the back of the room and focused on gathering the stuff.
"Seriously, how much can that pocket space of yours hold?" Brea mumbled.
"Inventory, actually. And honestly, I don't know," Arthur shrugged his left shoulder.
"Really, this isn't some RPG," Brea grumbled.
"Tell that to the goblins Chris just mowed down," Luice cut in.
"Ah!!" At that moment, they were cut off by a scream of pain resounding through the room.
"Don!" Everyone panicked and rushed to the location of the scream, only to find Don on his ass with a bleeding leg and an unidentified woman holding a nail gun.
"I-I'm sorry! I thought you were one of those monsters!" the woman panicked and put down the nail gun.
"Do I look like a Kobold to you?!" Don roared with a sort of energy he'd never displayed before.
"Well, you kind of do hold some resemblance," Chris rubbed her chin thoughtfully, and the rest of the group nodded as well.
"Shut up!" Don roared. "Brea, please patch the idiot up," Chris asked.
"Sure." Brea nodded and got a medical kit from Arthur. The shot nail had only grazed Don's leg, leaving a flesh wound. Actually, Don was anything but ugly; he was tall and lanky, and his handsomeness was only lost to Arthur because of the permanent eyebags he had due to his innate lethargic behavior.
"I'm really, really sorry. He opened the door so abruptly without warning, so I panicked," the lab-coat lady spoke frantically.
"Its alright, besides, he's okay. Just a big crybaby," Brea assured.
"Let's get this done so we can move to a safer location," Arthur said. They immediately went about clearing the large storage room, stripping it bare of even the racks and shelves, leaving the lab lady stunned at how everything just disappeared into thin air.
"Can... can I come with you guys?" she asked uncertainly. The group raised a brow; they'd met many groups along the way, but none made such a request. Then again, it made sense since she was alone.
"I-I promise I won't be a burden and won't get in the way!" she exclaimed. After a brief discussion and Brea's persuasion, they let her join. Luice took up the nail gun as the faster an object moves, the easier it was for him to control, and the nail gun could shoot far faster than he could throw.
With that, they moved to the upper floors near the roof and settled in a relatively clean room, securing the door and windows.
"We'll bunk down here for the night. It should also give us a good vantage to see what's going on outside," Arthur said, and the group agreed.
"So, are you gonna show us how exactly you were gonna make us stronger?" Chris asked.
"Yeah, sure." Arthur nodded. He went to a table and took out an array of materials from his Inventory and laid them out. Then, he took off his shirt, revealing a scar-riddled body that made Brea and the professor—who they found out was named Riva—look away.
Arthur loosened the clips and detached the clunky prosthetic from his shoulder, placing it on the table. Then, he commanded internally: *Upgrade.* Selecting the **Strong Arm** upgrade on the system.
**{Upgrade in progress: 30... 20... 10...}**
Under their shocked eyes, the prosthetic arm heated up slightly. Along with the materials surrounding it, it began taking itself apart as if by invisible hands. The materials, new and old, were reshaped and combined, creating new parts and composite materials making up hundreds of individual pieces that came together, interconnecting to form a whole. As it came together, it reattached to Arthur's shoulder. He wasn't even able to scream before he was knocked out by a wave of pain as the new mechanical limb surgically fused itself to his shoulder.
However, before he blacked out, he managed to see its new description:
> **{Mechanical Strong Arm (Right Arm Module)}**
> * **Rating:** E / **Tier:** One
> * **Description:** An advanced mechanical limb suited for everyday activity as well as combat.
> * **Upgrades Available:** None before mods completion.
> * **Mods Available:** > * Shock Absorption: (Hydroshock Fluid, Carbon Fiber)
> * Mana Furnace: (Infused Steel, x5 First Tier Monster Cores)
>
*Internally, he thought: If the arm hurt this bad, how about the eye?* Then, he went dark.