The ground trembled beneath James's feet as he turned away from the fractured dungeon core. Cracks spidered through the chamber walls, pulsing with a sickly red light. Whatever he'd done by breaking the crystal had triggered something deep—something ancient. The dungeon wasn't just collapsing.
It was reacting.
Warning sirens blared from old speakers. Air vents began to belch smoke. Temperature readings on James's interface spiked.
DUNGEON CORE: CRITICAL AUTO-PURGE PROTOCOL ENGAGED TIME TO DETONATION: 02:59
"Shit."
He sprinted back the way he came, hammer-form still active. The hallways warped under the collapsing structure, ceilings falling like guillotine blades. He dodged a falling support beam and turned sharply into the server corridor.
Behind him, a pulse wave cracked the floor. Dust rained from above.
WARNING: SEISMIC INSTABILITY RISING
James's HUD flickered.
Then came the pain.
It started in his chest—sharp, burning, like his ribs were being rewired. He stumbled, clutching the spot just under his collarbone.
His armor plates cracked and shifted.
A new interface overlay appeared.
CORE MODULE UNLOCKED: Chest Unit (Laser Array) INTEGRATION: 42%... 68%... 93%... COMPLETE STAGE 2 CYBORG SYNTHESIS ACHIEVED
Metal surged across his torso like living mercury, grafting to flesh and bone. His skin burned, fused, strengthened. And at the center of his chest, a faint glow lit the shadows—a small crystalline lens embedded beneath reinforced armor.
He barely had time to think.
Another tremor split the floor. He leapt, rolled, and crashed through a wall—into a maintenance tunnel. Air hissed. Steam poured. The exit was near.
TIME TO DETONATION: 00:48
"Move."
James shot down the tunnel, metal boots clanging. Just as he reached a set of blast doors, they locked shut in front of him. No time to hack.
His new chest core whirred.
Instinct took over.
He stepped back, braced himself—and the lens on his chest flared with red-hot energy.
SKILL ACTIVATED: Core Laser Beam (Cooldown: 10 minutes)
A column of pure energy exploded from his chest, cutting through the doors in a single devastating burst.
He burst through as the heat faded.
The ground buckled. The entire dungeon groaned in its death throes.
James ran.
A final jump, a crumbling stairwell—he burst into sunlight just as the facility behind him collapsed in a thunderous roar. Dust swallowed the sky. Debris flew for blocks.
Then silence.
James stood, panting, hands on knees.
His torso gleamed in places now. The metal across his body had expanded—shoulders, chest, and ribs all reinforced. He felt heavier. Denser. Stronger.
STATUS UPDATED LEVEL: 8 STAGE 2 CYBORG: ACTIVE NEW SKILL: Core Laser Beam PASSIVE: Adaptive Plating (Upper Torso)
He let out a breath.
That had been close.
Too close.
But he'd gained more than XP this time. He'd awakened something. The core hadn't just upgraded him—it had integrated with him. He was no longer a man with metal parts. The metal was part of him now.
And it was still growing.
Night fell over New Chicago. James made his way toward an old train depot he'd scouted days earlier—abandoned, reinforced, and easily defensible.
Along the way, he tested his chest core once more, aiming at a rusted vehicle shell. The beam ripped through it effortlessly.
Not a weapon to use lightly.
Not without control.
Inside the depot, James finally rested. He sat on a broken bench, examining his reflection in a shard of glass.
His eyes hadn't changed—still gray, sharp, calculating.
But his chest glowed faintly, pulsing with energy. Plates along his ribs moved with his breath.
He wasn't human anymore. Not completely.
He leaned back and opened his interface.
EVOLUTION TREE – STAGE 2 BRANCHES: [Titan Fusion] – Unlocked [Core Overload] – Locked [EMP Field] – Locked [Autonomous Unit Deployment] – Locked
James stared.
So this was the next stage. More than power. A path.
He'd have to choose again. Eventually.
But for now, he slept. Lightly. One eye half-open.
Tomorrow, the world would be hunting again.
And he'd be ready.