Name: Mechanical Arm · Tomboy
Position: Right Hand
Rank: Four-Star
Traits:
[Grapple/Leap]: Launch the arm at a target within a 1–20 meter range and perform a Strength check. Success: Pull the enemy in front of you. Failure: Pull yourself in front of the target.
Skills:
[Weapon Enhancement]: Consume a small amount of durability to comprehensively boost weapon performance.
[EX Enhancement]: Enter an overclocked state through brief charging to enhance the next attack. Gain different amplifications depending on attack type. Durability drops to zero after the attack ends.
Appraisal: An enhancement-type prosthetic with very obvious strengths and weaknesses. Its excessive pursuit of performance makes it difficult to control. Additionally, its durability is lacking—every use brings it one step closer to destruction.
…
"So it was this thing?" Feng Xue's expression improved considerably when he saw the prosthetic's description. As a veteran action game player, he instantly recognized where it came from.
Say its official name and few would recall it, but mention the "Enhancement Hand" or "Red Sword Hand," and no one would be a stranger to it.
"But now that I think about it… if Tomboy is this thing, then…"
Only now did Feng Xue belatedly recall what followed the earlier mutation—"Devil Breaker Series Blueprints Unlocked!"
"Holy shit!"
Feng Xue immediately opened the blueprint page, and his entire being was instantly enveloped in a sense of bliss.
This mutation hadn't just produced a useful Four-Star prosthetic for him; it had also unlocked an entire tech tree!
A full set of blueprints containing three Three-Star prosthetics, six Four-Star prosthetics, three Five-Star prosthetics, and one Six-Star prosthetic!
However…
If there was a downside, it wasn't nonexistent—after all, all thirteen of these prosthetics were right arms.
But that didn't matter!
After all, the true value of these blueprints didn't lie in the finished products, but in the technology contained within each arm. You have to understand, many functions of the Devil Breaker series didn't necessarily have to be installed on an arm. For example, the Five-Star "Super Impact," also known as that Rockman hand—rather than a hand, making it into a cannon was the proper way to go!
"Hmm? Wait! Why does this still need to be unlocked?"
Feng Xue had been happily calling up the Six-Star Demon Summoner's (Nero's original demon hand) design, thinking that he was now a big shot capable of mass-producing Six-Star prosthetics, when he suddenly realized that this thing's blueprint wasn't like the exhaustively detailed diagrams he'd seen at the factory before. Instead, it was like equipment in Monster Hunter—you needed to obtain the main materials before the tech tree could be unlocked.
And the unlock material hinted at for this Six-Star prosthetic was a limb from a Demon King-class demon.
But the problem was, even the system shop didn't sell this stuff!
However, in the blueprint remarks, Feng Xue also saw a description stating that other materials meeting the requirements could be substituted, but it didn't specify exactly what materials were needed.
Feng Xue gritted his teeth and spent over a hundred thousand to buy a small piece of D32 Steel from the system shop. The Demon Summoner's design remained unmoved. Instead, it was the Five-Star [Blast Arm] blueprint that got unlocked.
"Damn!"
Feng Xue glanced at this Five-Star blueprint and felt his eyes swim. If he followed the materials listed, even using cheap substitutes, this thing would still cost over five million.
However, relatively speaking, this thing's power was worthy of its price. According to the description, the [Blast Arm] could even uproot the Oriental Pearl Tower and hurl it away. Based on this alone, even without any other functions, even if it self-destructed after one use, it would absolutely be one of the most dominant Five-Star prosthetics.
"But my entire net worth is only three million!"
Feng Xue shook his head and had no choice but to look at the lower-ranked ones. Fortunately, the three Three-Star prosthetics were directly unlocked, and their technology was pretty good too.
The skeletal design of this prosthetic set was actually quite similar; the core was the grapple function, while attached accessories provided the various distinctions. For example, the Three-Star Massaging Hand (Kyrie's Happy Hand) could treat physical injuries. Feng Xue felt that the fork's high-frequency oscillation function was instead more suitable for making a cannon device. As for the banana, it was just a weakened version of a drill.
Unlocking the six Four-Star prosthetics wasn't hard either. Feng Xue rummaged through the junk pile and bought a few materials from the system according to their functions, and that was that.
In reality, half of these Four-Star prosthetics were unqualified cyberpsychosis triggers according to Old Jiang's theories, but that didn't stop him from extracting their technology.
…
Having roughly sorted out the Devil Breaker technology, Feng Xue had no intention of stopping. Instead, he began conducting new prosthetic research, planning to see if he could mutate a few more prosthetics out.
However, since he didn't have any other technology on hand, this time he simply didn't choose a blueprint. Instead, he planned to use that never-before-used prosthetic-gambling method.
That is, he would only insert tags and materials, then randomize the combination.
Although doing this would most likely produce trash, and even if a prosthetic came out, it would basically be a cyberpsychosis inducer.
However, this Devil Breaker had reminded him that even if a prosthetic itself was mediocre or even trash, the technology inside it might not be useless!
"Come, come, let me see what materials I can throw in…"
Feng Xue controlled his [Avatar] to the front of the prosthetic clinic's junk pile and opened his cheat's material column. Without a blueprint, the material selection was suddenly unrestricted. But the real issue that made Feng Xue freeze was—
Among the materials, he saw the Tomboy he had just crafted!
No, not just Tomboy—even the Iron Dummy, Portable Operating Table, and Mechanical Sentinel were selectable!
"Holy shit, so after they're made, they can still be reprocessed?"
It had to be said, this was truly a blind spot. Precisely because he had accepted Old Jiang's prosthetic design philosophy from the very start, Feng Xue had subconsciously chosen blueprints first every time he crafted prosthetics. So much so that only today did he notice this function!
Without dwelling on his belated discovery, Feng Xue immediately crafted a [Golden Cicada Shell Sword-Type Stabilizer], then selected [Mechanical Arm · Tomboy], assigning [Dark Sword], [Stealth-Breaking Strike], [Mighty], and [Charged Strike] to it. Looking at the mechanical arm whose exterior showed no change but had gained several extra attributes, Feng Xue went wild with joy!
This wasn't because he could enchant finished prosthetics—because even if he couldn't, he could disassemble the prosthetic and reassemble it with his cheat. The true value of this experiment was that his cheat, whether it was manufacturing, traits, or skills, could all be applied to finished products!
"No, it still isn't certain! Try again! Try again!"
Feng Xue took a deep breath to calm his excitement, then selected the Mechanical Sentinel he hadn't examined since obtaining it.
After some thought, he pulled his consciousness back to his main body, then reopened the crafting station and selected a long-dusty tag—
"Perfect Companion, let me see your limits!"
This night, Feng Xue came to realize that tags… had no limits…
As for why the cheat shop doesn't have certain items, it's quite simple—there's simply no trade for them.
Although Miuke Crystals are controlled goods, they can be mass-produced, so they have a price.
But some materials that can't be mass-produced and have no transaction records won't be catalogued by the cheat either. Take the demon arm, for example. Leaving aside whether this world has demons like in Devil May Cry, even if it did, subjugating them would require top-tier combat strength. And this level of strength is usually the hidden trump card of major factions. When they eliminate such targets, the materials are only circulated internally; they would never enter the market. So the cheat can't provide these kinds of top-tier materials either. This is the significance of the [Outer Territories] map.
Every map in this book has meaning. The junkyard is the newbie zone, the boxing matches are the EXP dungeon, the Outer Territories are the material dungeon, and the factory produces low-tier blueprints.
As for the weird insect, that's just the protagonist being unlucky, encountering the map boss right at the start. But at least he didn't run into a forbidden monster, right (laughs)?
PS: Based on feedback from the previous chapter, when encountering large numbers of tags in the future, I will take the "overcome it with more updates" route.