On my legs were boots like reverse-jointed thrusters resembling Felix’s hind limbs.
From the boots emerged long plasma digitigrade claws that clung to the soil like a predator.
Faint sparks of electricity gathered, forming a crackling storm.
Sleek reinforced metallic plating with blue lines running along its surfaces like vines. Deep within the armour was a bluish core emitting fierce electric currents that pulsed like a heart.
I raised my hands, and five glowing retractable plasma talons emerged from the tips of my fingers.
A segmented cybernetic tail extended from my back.
It was similar to Felix’s tails but way longer, and at the tip was a more prominent plasma charge blade with faint electricity crackling around it.
A thin wisps of smoke hissed out from around my head as the panther-shaped helmet slid into place, with a visor mirroring Felix’s own.
A surge of power flowed from the Cybernetic Swift Horned Panther Armour into me.
The armour felt as though it were an extension of my body.
I touched the drill-shaped metallic horn protruding from my forehead. The condensed electrical energy around it dimmed, posing no harm to me.
The visor brightened up.
An HUD screen appeared before my eyes.
[ Combat Module: Full Body Armour Activated. ]
[ Cybernetic Swift Horned Panther armour integrity: 100% ]
[ All Combat Modules are active. ]
[ Optical Targeting System -
Threat level: None. ]
A revolving miniature 3d version of my Cybernetic Swift Horned Panther Armour appeared at the other side of the screen.
The alerts were clear yet transparent enough not to block my surroundings.
I controlled the HUD screen with my mind.
[ Armour integrity -
This indicates the Cybernetic Swift Horned Panther Armour’s Overall durability. As it sustains damage, the durability value will steadily decrease. ]
The active combat modules were self-explanatory.
The Cybernetic-Enhanced Sabre-Tooth Rabbits were stationed nearby, but they weren’t picked up as enemies on the Optical Targeting System because they were a part of my force.
My feet glided against the grass.
I felt much lighter and faster than I had in my own body.
I looked like a knight in shining armour. If there were a damsel, I would charge a monthly in-distress saving fee, so I could come up with the funds to hasten Felix’s strength boost and future upgrades.
But in this world, even a damsel could turn her distress campaign into an all-girls night out. Which meant I would have to figure things out myself.
I heard the low hum of the engine as I moved.
’Could it be a little quieter?’
I could sneak up on someone without alerting them to my presence.
"Felix, are you there?"
"I’m here, master," Felix responded. "All systems are fully operational. You can explore them as you desire."
"Activate mecha shift form."
I just felt like saying it.
It’s been ages since I had such fun.
From my spine, four hover-winged blades identical to Felix’s Cybernetic wings emerged in a sweeping arc.
Each blade was sharp and glowed with a black metallic sheen, as though capable of cutting through flesh, and a blue hue emerged from its thrusters.
The hum of the four hover wings’ blades, engine thrusters roared with intensity as I slowly rose into the sky.
The wind picked up. The grasses blew to the sides.
Soon, I reached the tree’s tallest branch.
This was a mecha suit!
Would the size of the armour increase if I contracted another Magical Beast and transformed them into a Cybernetic Beast?
I couldn’t help but ponder if their abilities would merge into something new.
A beastmaster can only contract three magical beasts at Rank One. At Rank Two, it doubled. Clans with unique inheritance talent could expand the size of an awakener’s beastspace, thereby increasing the number of magical beasts they could contract.
The Zahara Clan possessed an even more exceptional talent, where gaining an additional magical beast was just a perk.
Since I didn’t awaken the talent, I didn’t acquire it.
But thanks to my Cybernetic Evolution Talent, I awakened a never-before-seen or heard Beastspace.
So I was deliberate about the magical beasts I wanted to contract.
Nonetheless, if I come across a magical beast that doesn’t meet my required pass mark, I could still transform it into a Cybernetic Beast and store it in my storage bag.
Although I would be sacrificing a bit of their abilities for cybernetic enhancements, they would still become members of my growing force. It was a win-win.
I opened Felix’s status sheet.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
→Cybernetic Swift Horned Panther Armour
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
◆ Rank: Lesser Beast - Second Rank (0%)
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
◆ Attributes: Wind (High), Lightning (Middle) Metal (Supreme)
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
◆ [ Fusion Compatibility: 100% ]
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
┗ Nano-Blade Claws (Perfection)
┗ Plasma Horn Charge (Perfection)
┗ Hyper Acceleration (Perfection)
┗ Wind Veil - Passive
┗ Predator’s Instinct - Passive
┗ Thunder Dash - Active
┗ Auto-Repair- Passive
┗ Data Link Sync - Passive
┗ Optical Targeting System - Passive
┗ Cybernetic Integration - Active
┗ Overclock Mode - Active
┗ Mecha Shift Mode: Swift Horned Panther Jet - Active
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
The Nano-Blade Claws, which were previously greyed out while Felix was in Cybernetic Swift Horned Panther Jet mode, were now available.
Apart from that, everything was the same.
I closed the status sheet.
Many students entered the dungeon to train and complete tasks on the weekends and rested on Monday, before we resumed classes on Tuesday, so I would risk exposing myself if I soared out in the open.
I descended back to the ground.
The Cybernetic-Enhanced Sabre-Tooth Rabbits emerged from the bushes, staring at me curiously from a safe distance.
"It’s me, you guys, you don’t need to be so frightened."
I waved my hands at them.
"Master, it’s you!" CR1 exclaimed.
He leapt forward, instantly arriving before me.
"WOOW! Is that Commander Felix?" He asked.
What did Felix teach them this time while I was training?
The others gathered around, scrutinising me from top to sides.
"Yes. Felix and I have combined to become stronger than we were."
I felt I could amplify Felix’s abilities with my mana.
However, with my current strength, I was the one benefiting from Felix.
"Can we see?" CR1 asked.
The other CR’s vigorously nodded their small cybernetic heads.
I stretched out my hand.
A basic spell that generates a simple fireball with a fireform-like form, which amplifies its power upon contact.
In my hands, with the aid of my high-tier attribute, the flame could ignite with an even greater power upon contact.
The intensity of the explosion was proportional to the amount of mana I poured into it.
But as a basic spell, it still couldn’t exceed a specific limit.
However, at this moment, without even exhausting a bit of my mana reserves, the crackling, flaming firework shot into the sky and exploded.
CR1 and the others stared at the sky in surprise and shock.
They might have a higher and more sophisticated intellect than their previous selves. However, at their core, they were still sabre-tooth rabbits at the bottom of the food chain before being transformed into Cybernetic Beasts a few days ago.
"Can we also integrate with you like Felix?" CR7 asked.
"Yes, you can. But since none of you are my tamed beast, you can’t automatically integrate with me like Felix. It can only be while Felix and I are integrated."
CR1’s head dropped low.
The others also lowered their heads.
"...But in the future, I might be able to integrate with you guys seamlessly and automatically with Felix’s help."
"You just have to wait until I grow stronger enough to do so."
I didn’t know whether I could awaken a Cybernetic Integration skill that allowed me to merge seamlessly with my Cybernetic enhanced beasts.
However, since some of the system’s functions and my talent were sealed, I chose to have some faith.
I didn’t want to see them sad.
A happy team was a well-oiled force.
Sure enough, they became excited after hearing my words.
[ Fusion Compatibility: +10% ]
[ Fusion Compatibility: +10% ]
[ Fusion Compatibility: +10% ]
[ Fusion Compatibility: +10% ]
While CR1’s one fusion compatibility had reached 90%, the rest hovered around 60% to 70%.
By the end of the day, CR1s would hit 100%, and the rest would reach full compatibility by tomorrow.
I resisted the urge to integrate with them and discover what kind of extraordinary transformations they would bring to my Cybernetic Swift Horned Panther armour.
I still wanted to train.
I deactivated the Cybernetic Integration.
[ Please select a Trigger Word.
Note: Pick any word or sentence of your choice to deactivate complete Cybernetic Integration between you and your Cybernetic Beasts. You may set one unique trigger per Cybernetic Beast or a universal trigger for all. ]
I didn’t need to think twice about a disactivation trigger.
With the trigger words, I could summon and unsommon Felix, activate and deactivate our Cybernetic Integration automatically, without needing to think about activating the skill or combat module.
[Trigger Word Confirmed [ Suit Off. ]
Linked Cybernetic Beast: Cybernetic Swift-Horned Panther (Felix). ]
The suit liquidified like molten mercury before surging outwards and reforming into Felix as he landed in front of me.
"I’m going to train for some more. You guys should continue to keep watch."
I felt more invigorated than ever to continue my training.
With Felix and the Cybernetic-Enhanced Sabre-Tooth Rabbits, ensuring my safety, I summoned Spiral Fang and went back to training.