Cyberpunk Martial Hero Chronicles

Ash’s body was getting closer and closer to completion.

First had come the old torso and the left leg.

Then, the right arm.

And a few days ago, even his right leg had been installed.

Now, only his left arm was missing.

However, that did not mean he could move around freely.

He had numerous cables connected to different parts of his body to supply him with energy and perform system checks. According to Akina, he was currently in the middle of an ‘optimization configuration’ process.

For that reason, he still could not leave his support, but there was undoubtedly a considerable difference compared to his previous situation.

After all, he now had something he could consider a ‘body’.

In that world where absolutely everything was bewildering to him, he had finally obtained a body he could call ‘myself’.

Precisely because of that, Ash had been pondering a question for some time.

‘Could this mechanical body also be capable of harboring internal energy?’

Although his steel body was constructed from old components assembled together, his mind was still that of a martial artist.

In a certain sense, yearning for that powerful internal energy was practically an instinct.

There was no one who could answer his question.

Then, all he could do was find out for himself.

He drew upon all the memories of his previous life and the data he had acquired in the Underworld in an attempt to find a solution.

However, none of it proved particularly useful.

His body moved as though it were his own, but, in essence, it was still nothing more than a machine.

A simple collection of metallic components that could be replaced at any time.

It was impossible for such a machine to harbor internal energy so profound and mysterious.

A conclusion as obvious as it was bitter.

However, Ash refused to give up.

After all, when he had sworn to exterminate the Demon Cult, hadn’t that undertaking seemed equally impossible?

He recalled the formulas of every internal cultivation technique and divine art he knew and attempted to condense energy.

Three Powers Heart Technique.

Lesser Pure Divine Art.

Jade Purity Tempering Art.

Great Purity Divine Art.

And finally, he even resorted to the most extraordinary secret techniques of the Kunlun Sect.

Dragon Slaying Divine Art and Supreme Purity Divine Art.

However, none produced the slightest result.

No.

To be more precise, he could not even put them into practice.

The reason was so simple that it was absurd.

To begin with, he lacked respiratory organs.

All the internal cultivation techniques and divine arts he knew were based on breathing, through which pure energy was absorbed and impure energy expelled.

However, his current mechanical body did not even need to breathe.

Consequently, not only was he incapable of executing the formulas of those techniques, but he could not even perform the most elementary exercises of energy circulation through breathing.

Everything was completely useless.

This caused Ash a profound sense of loss.

It was as though the very foundations of martial arts, which had constituted his entire existence, were being denied.

However, he did not fall into despair.

He had discovered something new.

A few days earlier, Ash had held a brief conversation with Akina while she was installing his right leg.

“Miss Akina. May I ask you a question?”

“What’s gotten into you today? You’ve never asked me any questions before. What do you want to know?”

“How do I move?”

“What kind of question is that?”

“I mean, what is the source of energy that allows this body to move?”

Akina answered as though it were completely obvious.

“Why, electricity, naturally!”

“Electricity? What is electricity?”

“Uh…… You don’t know what electricity is?”

“I am ashamed to admit how limited my education is.”

“No, that’s not what I meant! Damn it. How do I explain this? Let’s see…… Ah! You know the lightning that falls from the sky? Well, you can imagine that same energy circulating inside your body.”

“Oh! You mean you use heavenly lightning? And such power circulates through my body? The Underworld is truly extraordinary!”

From that moment onward, Ash’s mind focused exclusively on a single question.

‘How could I use electricity in the same way as internal energy?’

If he could not accumulate internal energy, he would simply have to replace it with something else.

That was the conclusion Ash reached.

However, there was a problem.

Internal energy and electricity possessed completely different properties.

Internal energy was like flowing water.

It could circulate smoothly according to the practitioner’s will, be refined, and finally be concentrated in a single place to be used at will.

However, electricity was different.

It spread and dispersed unpredictably. One instant it seemed to be present, and the next, it disappeared completely.

Its behavior was reminiscent of mist.

It was extremely subtle, incomparably fast, and impossible to predict.

Two forms of energy with radically different properties.

Despite that, Ash had attempted to forcibly condense the electricity on one occasion.

Specifically, he had tried to concentrate it in the battery pack installed in his torso.

He had done so by imagining that component as his dantian.

The result was disastrous.

Numerous warning messages appeared as the temperature increased at an alarming rate.

The electricity he had forcibly gathered began to fluctuate unstably until it dispersed completely, beyond his control.

Meanwhile, his artificial neural network emitted constant alarm signals.

The battery pack could not become a dantian.

It was nothing more than a vessel designed to store electricity.

Electricity was not an energy that could be refined, condensed, and accumulated in the same manner as internal energy.

It had been an absolute failure.

‘However, I also accomplished something.’

Although he had failed in his attempt to accumulate energy, he had managed to control it.

The electricity had clearly obeyed his will and moved toward the battery pack.

He had managed to establish the direction he desired and make the electricity move according to his instructions.

And thus, he arrived at the present moment.

Ash prepared to conduct a new experiment.

First, he sat down.

Although he still could not leave his support, he was at least capable of doing something that simple.

Then, he assumed the lotus position.

Crossing two mechanical legs of different models was rather uncomfortable, but he managed to settle himself reasonably well.

He had failed at both conventional energy circulation and accumulation.

Then, what would happen if he attempted to perform a celestial circuit?

He had already discovered how to control electricity.

Furthermore, he possessed an artificial neural matrix, known as the Neuro Matrix, whose structure reminded him of the eight extraordinary meridians.

In theory, it seemed perfectly possible.

In theory, at least.

Ash calmed his mind and deactivated his optical sensors. Then, he sank into deep meditation.

This time, he did not attempt to concentrate the electricity in any specific part of his body.

Instead, he began directing the electrical flow through the main pathway of his Neuro Matrix, the thickest and most important of all the artificial neural networks running throughout his body, as though he were practicing the Small Celestial Circulation.

As expected, it was not easy at first.

The completely uncontrolled electricity seemed to mock his will. It strayed into the wrong circuits or caused small electrical discharges.

Whenever that happened, the orange lights illuminating the workshop flickered.

At times, dangerous situations even occurred.

The electrical flow would suddenly accelerate and violently shake his entire neural network.

Unconsciously, Ash began reciting a Taoist chant.

“If man can always maintain purity and serenity, heaven and earth shall return to him……”

If a person was capable of permanently preserving clarity and tranquility, all things beneath heaven and upon the earth would return to him.

However, it seemed that the electricity did not appreciate that recitation.

The electrical energy suddenly increased in voltage and struck Ash’s main core directly.

His body trembled violently, but he refused to stop.

“Great Celestial Venerable of Thunder, who answers from the Nine Heavens and transforms all things……”

The humanoid, seated in the lotus position with numerous cables connected all over his body, continued reciting Taoist chants in his electronic voice, riddled with interference.

How much time had passed?

After a prolonged struggle in which both forces seemed to be pulling on opposite ends of a rope, the first signs of change finally began to appear.

The electrical energy circulating through his Neuro Matrix gradually began to establish a stable flow.

Like a wild horse that had finally found a racetrack, it began accelerating violently along the path Ash had established.

However, the longer he maintained that circulation, the stranger the phenomenon became.

He had the sensation that the very nature of the electrical energy circulating through his body was undergoing a subtle transformation.

At first, he thought it was simply his imagination.

However, as he repeated the circulation, that sensation eventually became a certainty.

It was hot.

And extraordinarily intense.

The data tablets scattered around Ash began issuing notifications one after another.

[SYSTEM STABILITY: NOMINAL]

[ENERGY FLOW: HARMONIZED]

[CYBERWARE SYNC: 100%]

[. . .]

[SYSTEM INTEGRATION: ABSOLUTE]

[EFFICIENCY: MAX+]

After a few moments, the numerous monitors surrounding Ash lit up green, announcing that the optimization process had concluded.

Those pieces of scrap, manufactured in different generations and even by different companies, had ultimately integrated into a single unit under Ash’s will.

He experienced a sensation of perfect unity, incomparably superior to anything he had felt until then.

It was almost as though he had recovered his original body.

The joints that had previously creaked now moved so smoothly that it was impossible to perceive even the slightest defect.

Even the slight delay he experienced due to weak signals had completely disappeared.

Ash, who until then had remained immersed in deep meditation, returned to reality.

He reactivated his optical sensors, raised one hand, and extended all five fingers.

Crackle!

A blue electrical glow, resembling an electrical arc discharge, suddenly appeared over the palm of his steel hand.

It flashed like lightning before disappearing in an instant.

That unknown force, similar to electricity, had transformed into something different under Ash’s will.

“……A new path has opened.”

And thus was born Ash’s exclusive internal cultivation technique, the one that had made such a transformation possible.

The Neuro Heart Technique.

It was still an incipient technique.

However, at the same time, it represented the possibility of developing an entirely new path within the martial arts.

Ash unfolded his legs from the lotus position and stood up.

To make sure he would not forget the revelation he had just experienced, he began mentally reviewing everything that had happened.

Stable energy circulation.

Perfect bodily synchronization.

The blue electrical glow he had managed to manifest through his will.

Just as he was attempting to understand the principles of that new force and find a way to continue refining it.

Bang!

A gunshot suddenly rang out.

It had sounded very close.

***

It was the middle of the night.

“Ugh……!”

Akina tumbled into a dark and damp corner between enormous piles of waste.

When she threw herself to the ground to dodge a bullet, she had not had time to check where she was going to land.

“Hey! Over here! She’s here!”

A shadow fell over her.

It was the men who had been chasing her as though they were cornering a rabbit.

They were all wearing crude-looking leather jackets.

Although their clothing was equally miserable and unkempt, they shared one particular characteristic.

A yellow insignia tied near the shoulder.

It was an emblem consisting of three interlocking gears, beneath which was an inscription.

[R.E.S.T.]

They were the hyenas of the city, individuals who used their official resource-recovery licenses, issued by the Sanctum Administration, as a shield to commit all manner of looting and murder without the slightest scruple.

“Woo-hoo!”

The man who appeared to be their leader ran down the mountain of waste and delivered a brutal kick to Akina.

“Ugh!”

The girl collapsed without even managing to let out a proper scream.

Apparently, that pleased the man, who broke into a grin.

His teeth, so yellowed that some had even turned black, were fully exposed.

“Hello, miss. What’s a young girl like you doing in our territory at this hour of the night?”

Akina, breathing heavily, managed to answer with difficulty.

“N-nothing…… I just wanted to collect some scrap…… Ugh!”

However, her opponent had no intention whatsoever of listening to her.

Before she could finish speaking, he kicked her in the side again.

“Hahaha! Hey, do you really think I’m asking because I don’t know? You’re that damn rat, aren’t you? Huh? I’ve seen the back of your damn head at least twice already!”

“I-it wasn’t me……”

“What do you mean it wasn’t you!”

The man abruptly extended one of his enormous hands, grabbed Akina by the collar of her clothes, and lifted her off the ground.

At the same time, the package the girl had been clutching against her chest fell to the ground.

It was a mechanical arm.

Although it looked quite old, it was still in reasonably good condition.

“What the hell is this?”

The man carelessly tossed Akina aside.

Then he picked up the Cyberware that had fallen to the ground.

“No! That’s Mr. Ash’s!”

The girl, who until then had remained cowering in fear, immediately lunged at him.

However, she received another kick and ended up rolling across the ground once again.

“Like hell it is!”

The man examined the Cyberware and let out an admiring whistle.

“So you came here to collect scrap, yet it turns out you’re carrying something much more valuable? Where did you get this? Huh? Well, whatever. It’s mine now.”

The REST-MAN who had gathered around began murmuring among themselves.

“Isn’t that an Apex Arms?”

“I think so. Where did she get something like that?”

“Damn. How much do you think it’s worth?”

“Shut your mouths! It’s mine!”

The yellow-toothed man looked back at Akina with a sinister smile and roughly grabbed her by the chin.

“And naturally, this bitch is mine too.”

Greed, lust, and an unmistakable thirst for violence mingled in his gleaming eyes.

Akina glared at him, her eyes filled with tears.

Then she spat directly in his face.

“You fucking bitch……!”

The REST-MAN raised a hand.

Akina squeezed her eyes shut, terrified.

However, the pain she expected never came.

When she slightly opened her eyes, she discovered that the man holding her by the hair was staring somewhere as though he had been hypnotized.

And he was not the only one.

All the REST-MAN who had been threatening her until then were in exactly the same state.

Following the direction of their gazes, Akina turned her head as well.

Atop a mountain of waste shrouded in deep and sinister darkness.

There was something there.

A humanlike figure stood completely motionless, like a ghost wandering through the darkness of the night.

That figure was watching them.

Its eyes emitted an intense turquoise glow.

“What the hell is that……?”

“Uh…… Looks like a humanoid.”

The REST-MAN began murmuring, bewildered by the sudden appearance.

In reality, there was no reason to react that way to the mere appearance of a humanoid.

However, there was something strange about the figure before them.

Something sinister and deeply unpleasant.

Yes.

It was exactly the same sensation they would experience if they were standing before a monster.

Then, the humanoid spoke.

“Miss Akina. Since you were taking too long, I came to look for you.”

It was an electronic voice filled with interference, but, in stark contrast, it used an oddly old-fashioned and refined manner of speech.