Meanwhile….. .. .. .. .. .. ..
While Micheal was unleas.h.i.+ng a storm of music on the roof of an unsuspecting skysc.r.a.per, s.h.i.+n Hopefell was sitting in his room and examining his new left arm.
The surgery to attach the arm had gone well. However, due to the latent damage left by Number 6"s strike, the operating doctor had been forced to remove most of the stub that had been leftover. Apparently, the nerves of his arm had been injured, but only up to his shoulder. By removing most of the dead nerves, they were able to fix the issue.
That was s.h.i.+n"s understanding of it, anyway. A lot of what the doctor said had flown over his head, but this was the rough idea behind their actions.
If he had just left his arm as it was and attached the Melding Plate Arm Artifact to the remaining stub, his arm would constantly misfire. Even moving it in a straight line would be a pain due to the interference and difficulty the dead nerves presented.
Number 6"s attack, according to Micheal, had possessed a similar kind of energy as Micheal"s attacks. This energy was extremely virulent and destructive and was not something he could ignore.
"Hmm…" s.h.i.+n studied his new arm intently.
It was colored a deep black and looked very similar to a real human arm. In fact, it looked almost identical to his vision of his old arm. This Artifact changed shape based on his thoughts, within a few reasonable bounds.
He raised the arm and flexed it, flicking out each finger individually and then pulling them back.
"Huh." s.h.i.+n could feel the air brus.h.i.+ng against his fingers. While it wasn"t nearly as sensitive as his real arm, he could still feel along this arm, as if it was part of his body.
"Freaky." He would never get used to all this weird magic stuff.
"Still, it"s good having you back, left arm." s.h.i.+n raised his right arm and then patted his left one comfortingly, as if it was a long lost pet.
His decidedly not animate left arm did not reply.
After moving it around and testing it, s.h.i.+n determined a few things.
The arm functioned just like his real arm. He could move it just as quickly, it could sense changes in temperature, pressure, albeit at a lower level, and could make small, adept movements.
He also found that when he ran his Ki energy through the arm, the arm grew a lot tougher than it did in its normal state. If he fully focused on it, the metallic tool grew enhanced to several times its normal durability and strength.
And that normal durability was nothing to scoff at. According to the G.o.dfather Armory Courier that had delivered the arm, this Artifact had been fed a very large amount of Lonsdaleite, a special type of diamond that was structurally more than 50% tougher. This was a type of crystal that could be found and created back on Earth, one that was absurdly tough in its perfect state.
The Artifact took on all the properties of Lonsdaleite while maintaining its metallic l.u.s.ter. However, with a simple thought, s.h.i.+n could remove that l.u.s.ter and reveal its true, diamond-like state of matter.
After messing around with his arm for a bit, s.h.i.+n got out of bed carefully.
His recovery from the surgery had been rather extreme, largely due to how the Artifact functioned as well as the magical healing prowess of the doctors, and the tools they used, here in the G.o.dfather Organization. He had been under when they did everything, but his body still bounced back from the major surgery like it was nothing.
He could feel a little bit of tenderness in his shoulder, but nothing else untoward or that would throw him off balance.
He was still within one of the hospital rooms, yet to be discharged. s.h.i.+n quickly located his Spatial Ring, which had been placed on a dresser near him, and put it on. He changed out of the patient"s scrubs he was in and into a set of black jeans, a long-sleeved white s.h.i.+rt, and a black vest coat.
He checked himself out in the mirror, nodding approvingly.
He then went over all his gear, making sure he had his trusty Soul Pistol and the sniper rifle, who"s name he had forgotten, given to him by Micheal. He also found the new Long-Distance Alert Insignia given to him by Head Cameron.
"Alright." He smiled. Everything was where it was supposed to be.
He was supposed to remain within his room resting all day. There were even guards stationed at the stairway that had stern orders to not let him leave, per what the doctor had told him after his operation.
Still…
s.h.i.+n shrugged.
Find authorized novels in Webnovel，faster updates, better experience，Please click for visiting.
They couldn"t really stop him.
s.h.i.+n"s eyes glazed over slightly as the world before him transformed into a world full of thousands of different glowing lines. He smiled as he felt this strange vision sweep over him, entering into the special state his Warping Phaser Type Ability allowed him to control.
He stretched his hand out as he caressed one line in particular.
This translucent line of energy connected from his left shoulder to the metallic arm that now existed in place of his real arm.
s.h.i.+n had many guesses as to what exactly these lines were and did. From the knowledge his Ability granted him, he knew the line was an intangible creation that helped hold s.p.a.ce, reality itself, together.
But that didn"t explain why this particular line had appeared. There were many lines of energy he could see within his own body, several hundred at least. But for some reason, there was only a single line, and an unusually thick one at that, when it came to this Artifact attached to his arm.
His right arm had several dozen different lines of energy in it. His left arm now only had a single, extrlarge one.
"Hmm. I should pay more attention to these lines and see if anyone else has any unique ones." He found it pretty hard to see these lines when they were on a living being. He could only truly see them when he was up close next to someone. However, whenever he was that close to an enemy, he was typically trying to retreat, not staring intently at their body.
s.h.i.+n shrugged the thoughts away for now. He wasn"t about to let something like that bother him. He would tell Micheal about it and let him worry about what they meant, Micheal could probably figure it out.
Instead, s.h.i.+n looked up and to the right, a smile forming on his face.
A moment later, his figure blurred and vanished as he teleported away.
Right after he vanished, he reappeared in Sophia"s room.
He quickly scanned the pink-tinged room, frowning slightly. Sophia was nowhere in sight.
Instead, he found a short, coral-colored dress laid out on her bed, next to a white sports bra and a lacey yellow thong.
He tapped on his Spatial Ring and brought out Micheal"s sniper rifle. He then gingerly thrust it forward, poking Sophia"s thong.
"Hmm…" He picked it up with the tip of his rifle and examined it with a seasoned scholar"s eye.
"I never took her for the type to wear thongs." He felt mildly bad for judging her. She always acted so stiff, it was hard to get a good gauge on her personality.
Now that he knew her a little better, he was aware of her history, how she was on a mission to find her little sister and let nothing get in the way of that goal. Her obsessive personality made a bit more sense in that context.
Abruptly, he spun to his left as he heard a door opening.
"Heyo, Sofanado!" He smiled cheerfully in greeting before he froze, his eyes widening.
Sophia had just emerged from the bathroom, wearing nothing but a damp white towel. Her hair was damp and tied up on her head in a large ponytail and she had on a pair of white shower sandals.
When Sophia saw s.h.i.+n standing there casually, his rifle tip holding her panties, her jaw dropped.
"s.h.i.+N?!" An outraged, feminine voice echoed out from her voice as she glared at him in disbelief. She almost immediately dived backwards into the bathroom, slamming the door shut behind her.
s.h.i.+n watched all of this in bemus.e.m.e.nt. He hadn"t heard any water running, so she must"ve just gotten out of the shower before s.h.i.+n arrived.
"Heyo, sleeping beauty! Glad to see that you"re-" Before he could finish speaking, a second outraged yell cut him off,
"I am NAKED in the SHOWER you MORON! Get outside!" Sophia"s voice sounded like she was ready to tear him into pieces with abandon.
"Yeah, er, my bad, Sofaphina, I didn"t know that you-" s.h.i.+n began apologizing as he prepared to leave. He genuinely hadn"t known she was showering.
"OUT. SIDE. NOW!" Sophia"s voice brooked no argument.
s.h.i.+n didn"t hesitate any further as he teleported away once more.
A few quiet moments pa.s.sed.
After that, the door to Sophia"s bathroom slowly crept open as she emerged from it. Sophia"s eyes darted to the left and right suspiciously before she was relaxed, certain that s.h.i.+n was gone.
She sighed and let her towel slip off as she stalked over to the bed. She quickly snagged her sports bra and put it on, pulling it tightly into place.
She had never been as annoyed at the large size of her b.r.e.a.s.t.s as she was down here on the First Layer. They were unwieldy in combat, caused her back to constantly be sore, hurt when she ran too quickly, and in general felt like they were often in the way, even when she wore a sports bra. Her pet.i.te frame made it all the more annoying.
The boosts she gained from her Ki Cultivation Ability helped to some degree, but the pain was still there. When she moved her body with superhuman power, she stressed her body to an abnormal degree.
She had even looked into some type of size reduction magic, to see if anything convenient like that existed. To her surprise, she"d found a few posts about the topic on the online forums she"d accessed. Unfortunately, there seemed to be a font of side effects and it was a large waste of Points. Still, she might consider it in the future.
The fantasy novels she"d read back on Earth never mentioned this aspect of going on an adventure. They were all about magical combat, heroic journeys, and amazing experiences. None of them talked about her, and surely other girl"s, unreasonable back pain.
Maybe when her Ki Cultivation increased enough it would go away. She could also ask Micheal if he had a solution but, well... she would cross that bridge when she got to it.
After she finished putting the bra on, she frowned as she looked over her bed. She had set aside a cute looking thong she"d purchased from the Shop just for today. Even if she had no plans on looking for a partner, and had no real desire for one as of right now, there was no reason she couldn"t dress cute for herself.
"Where did I put it?" She picked up her dress and looked under it, finding nothing. She pulled the bed cover off and then looked on the sides of the bed and under it, her frown deepening.
Abruptly, as she stood back up from the floor, a rather recent memory flashed into her head.
s.h.i.+n"s smiling figure holding a long sniper rifle, of all things. On the end of that sniper rifle, she remembered spotting a flash of lacey yellow cloth…
"s.h.i.+NNN!"
Meanwhile, on the rooftop of the Medical Bay skysc.r.a.per…
"Oh, c.r.a.p." s.h.i.+n gazed at the end of his sniper rifle, his eyes widening as he realized he had forgotten to return Sophia"s thong back to the bed. A cold drop of sweat slid his forehead as he gulped, glancing downward fearfully.
After a moment, he shrugged and wiped the sweat away. She probably wouldn"t be too mad, right? After all, it was just an accident. In fact, he"d go return it right now!
Several minutes later…
"I need another day at most and then I"ll be well enough to leave." Sophia"s face had only a hint of a flush to it as she spoke, cracking her knuckles as she glared over at s.h.i.+n.
"Oh, that"s good to hear! I"ve heard that injuries to the Soul can be pretty serious!" s.h.i.+n replied as he nursed a large, red slap mark on his face. He began to whistle nonchalantly to himself when he saw Sophia"s glare.
Sophia rolled her eyes.
"Micheal"s off doing that mysterious mission for Head Cameron. In the meantime, we should try to gather as much useful intelligence as possible on the people that attacked us." Sophia went on, explaining her goals.
If they used s.h.i.+n"s status to access information, they should be able to gather a great deal of in-depth knowledge, just like they had with finding General Pedro.
As she thought about that, she frowned.
"Have you heard anything about General Pedro?" Micheal hadn"t commented on what they should do about him before he left. However, the importance he had placed on the man had never been forgotten by Sophia.
"The last I checked, he"s still being treated by his Alliance"s medical teams." The Old Army Airwing Alliance was entirely self-sufficient and didn"t need help from the G.o.dfather Organization to operate.
"He did send a message to us." s.h.i.+n nodded as he began to dictate a rough summary of said message,
"He said his injuries aren"t that serious despite how they looked and he"s recovering well. He apologized for allowing such a shameful attack to take place while we were in his territory."
Sophia"s opinion of the General jumped up when she heard that, touched. Despite the fact that it was clear Sophia had been the target, and that she had indirectly caused Pedro"s injury, the man was apologizing to her. He was practically a saint.
"Do you have a way to send a message back?" Sophia replied.
s.h.i.+n nodded.
"Let him know I"m sorry we brought such an incident to his doorstep and that I"m super glad to hear of his recovery." She bit her lip for a moment as she was about to continue, her thoughts suddenly hitting a snag.
She wanted to say that she didn"t need any favor anymore, not after all the trouble she brought him. But Micheal had specifically told her how important he was. A string of guilt wormed its way into her heart as she was left without any good response to her own thoughts.
s.h.i.+n, somehow, seemed to pick up on this as he waved at her, jarring her out of her considerations.
"Ah, he also said the favor he owes us is still valid, the attack notwithstanding, and that he insists on helping us out. Apparently what we did really meant a lot to him. He"s a pretty cool guy." s.h.i.+n"s opinion of the man was equally as high as Sophia"s.
When Sophia heard that, the guilt in her heart lessened a little bit, but didn"t vanish entirely.
She was just about to continue dictating when a loud knocking at her door caused both s.h.i.+n and Sophia to freeze.
"Err, I"ll get it." s.h.i.+n darted over to the doorway, apparently willing to do anything to escape from Sophia"s still burning anger.
He pulled the door open in a flash, the warm smile he"d put on his face freezing as he looked at who was on the other side.
On the other side of the door were two men.
Both were familiar figures to s.h.i.+n. One was a tan, Asian man wearing a set of white pants, a plain white t-s.h.i.+rt, and a white top hat. The man"s hair was, unsurprisingly, white, and he even wore a pair of white-toned contacts. He was really committed to his weird shtick, something that s.h.i.+n absolutely judged him for.
The other man was Caucasian and dressed in a pair of jeans, cowboy boots, and a plaid b.u.t.ton-down s.h.i.+rt with a large cowboy hat. He wore a large belt with a metal buckle that read "Texas Born" emblazoned proudly. He had short brown hair and cool blue eyes that held a twinkle in them.
The duo were none other than two of the elite, Supreme Ranked Executives of the G.o.dfather Organization.
Executive Montecarlo, the White Wizard, ranked 11th on the Main Cl.u.s.ter Ranking List, and Executive Andrew, the Crazed Cowboy, ranked 17th on the Main Cl.u.s.ter Ranking List.
"Ah, see, I told you we"d find him here, Monty." Executive Andrew"s voice was warm as he poked the man dressed in all white in the shoulder.
Executive Montecarlo merely sniffed, not replying. Instead, his gaze bored into s.h.i.+n as he studied the teleporter, his eyes cool.
"Howdy, s.h.i.+n! Good to see you again, kid!" Andrew turned his focus back to s.h.i.+n.
"Executive!" s.h.i.+n saluted, raising his right arm up in a kind of half-hearted attempt at a salute. Executive Andrew was one of the few Executives that had come to meet him after Admiral Cardell brought him in. s.h.i.+n"s unique fighting style had greatly interested Andrew.
Andrew had been a bit of a gun fanatic before the Apocalypse struck and had helped s.h.i.+n quite a bit when it came to getting better at shooting.
"Pack up, kid. You"re gonna have to leave the girl for a bit." Andrew motioned at Sophia while also giving her a friendly wave. Sophia waved back, but slowly, at a bit of a loss. Andrew went on,
"You"re posting up on duty with us for the next couple of days. We"ll be showing you a bit of the ropes as our newest Sub-Executive, and a future Executive in training!"
"Wait, posting up doing what?" s.h.i.+n replied slowly, blinking in confusion.
"On guard duty. An important figure is coming to visit and we can"t afford to let any accidents happen, especially nowadays where things are so chaotic. And no, before you ask," Executive Andrew held up a hand,
"I have no idea why she is visiting us so abruptly."
"Waaait." s.h.i.+n glared at Andrew. It almost felt like the man was purposefully answering his questions in as cryptic a manner as possible.
"Who is visiting us?"
"Ah right. It"s the woman I told you about before, the one that led the Admiral to you." Andrew shrugged,
"The Seer is coming to visit."
.