Cyberpunk: Ultimate Cyborg System -
Chapter 183: Design Flaws.
Chapter 183: Design Flaws.
There was no escaping the discomfort that follows a surgery, so even after the anesthesia faded away and he was able to move again, Dante still struggled with the sluggishness of his body.
The good news is that he was fully healed. The Nanomeds worked their wonders not only on the incisions from the surgery, but they also repaired the damage he received from his suicide attempt during the city hall protests, as well as the burns caused by the upgrade.
"Hm..."
After two days of rest, Dante finally got the green light to leave his bed. The first thing he did was take a nice, long shower, and once done, he stood in front of a full-body mirror and finally got a good look at himself.
The fact that he had a few new scars didn’t amuse him in the slightest, and to make it worse, upgrading his new implant had left him with an odd scale-like pattern covering his entire torso.
[The human body never ceases to confuse me.] Volcan said.
’Really?’
[Yes. I am amazed by its complexity and the intricacy of its design, but all of that is immediately contrasted by how frail it is. I would understand if it were made for the standards of your low-gravity environments, but even that does not seem to be the case. According to my observations, it seems that even things that are not supposed to be harmful are capable of threatening your life.]
’Oh... I guess you have a point...’
The idea of the human body being littered with design flaws was neither new nor radical. From its fragility to its inefficient way of obtaining energy, there are countless examples of how it falls short of the requirements for survival. The very fact that humans have to spend a big part of their day sleeping shows how unreliable their bodies can be.
Humans were far from being complete, which is why there has always been a push toward the creation of tools and methods that could help humans reach the next threshold of their evolution. That is where the various Enhancement routes originate from.
’There is a reason we use Basic when referring to a 100% human.’
Basic as in sufficient, but far from optimal.
Unlike Iron Fist, upgrading the KAPSU-L15 required a mix of several elements, including Titanium, Tungsten, Vanadium, and, of course some carbon. Gathering all of them required quite a bit of searching, and some of them came from disintegrating some of the machines in Dante’s possession.
Despite that, the subdermal still only rose by one grade and was now a C grade implant with the name Kinetic Absorption Protective Sub-Layer Generation 16, even though the real 16th generation KAPSU-L has already been released by its original company and was likely still a grade below the Volcan upgraded version.
Having an entire layer of foreign solid objects under his skin was far from comfortable, not to mention the weakened senses around the new implant. The smart neural mesh applied under the subdermal armor ensured that Dante didn’t lose all sensation in the area, but there was no avoiding it being dampened, considering the barrier that stands between his skin and the nerve endings.
’I guess... it’ll take some time getting used to...’
Done staring at himself, Dante put on some clothes and left the bathroom. Larry was waiting for him beside the now-empty hospital bed, white smoke rising from the cigarette between his fingers.
"Done already?" He asked, sarcasm clear in his voice. "Take your time. We got all day long."
"Hey, I want to get out of here as much as you do." Dante shrugged. "You think I want to be stuck here all day for multiple days in a row?"
"Doesn’t matter. You still have to stay still for a couple more days." As he said that, Larry grabbed something from the nearby stand and tossed it. "One in the morning and one at night for the next seven days."
Dante looked at the item and realized it was a pill bottle, likely antibiotics. It had a logo depicting a crow holding a test tube in its beak.
’Lev’s product, huh?’
"You can be on your way now." Said Larry before returning his focus to his cigarette.
"A bit cold, aren’t we?" Dante said. "Are you gonna tell me to not ask for your services again next?"
Not responding for a while, Larry then let out a long sigh and shook his head.
"Listen, kid, I have tried to not think too much about it, but it’s starting to get out of hand." Taking a puff, he let out a long stream of white smoke and watched it dissipate. He then turned to look at him, eyes narrowed and focused. "I watched you burn from the inside, but you want me to just go on without an explanation? What in the world happened to you back there?"
’... Volcan...’
[There is no active recording equipment in the room.] The AI replied. [His NIM and OAM have no active apps, either.]
Since he made the choice of entrusting something as critical as a bionic implant surgery to him, one would think that Dante perceived the underground doctor as someone he could trust. Things weren’t that simple, however, and secrets weren’t something to be revealed to someone just because you trust them.
Revealing the truth, or even some of it, might turn out to be quite beneficial to him, but Dante didn’t think this was the right time. He was far too vulnerable to be revealing things that might put him in harm’s way. Not to mention, there were things people are better off not knowing.
After a long, tense silence, Dante let out a sigh and shook his head.
"Larry, I told you there are questions one shouldn’t ask." Pressing his lips into a thin line, he thought for a moment, then raised the pill bottle in his hand. Green lines began to spread through it, and in just three seconds, they formed a simple net on its surface.
[
Would you like to store this item?
>YES NO
]
Dante selected YES and the bottle instantly disappeared from his hand. He then watched as the expression on the underground doctor began to change, his eyes widening little by little.
"I’m sure you will find the answer you’re looking for the next time you cut me open." Turning around, Dante took a step toward the door. "Until then, I will trust that you will tell absolutely no one about what happened here."
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