Chapter 236: The Return of the Arm
"This is all very cool, of course," Elyria hovered hesitantly in the air right next to Iron's shoulder, shifting her gaze from the wooden capsule to his right arm. "But... how are you going to remove the prosthetic? It's already become a part of you."
"Easily," Iron cut her off shortly. In that same instant, the temperature in the air around his arm plummeted. Iron instantly cooled the structure to extreme sub-zero temperatures. Right before their eyes, the metal, crystals, and polymers of the prosthetic frosted over, lost their elasticity, and became as brittle as the thinnest overheated glass.
At the same time, Iron isolated the living flesh, sensitive nerve endings, and skin with a magical heat retention barrier.
Letting out a short breath, Iron sharply struck the base of the frozen prosthetic with his left hand.
Crack!
The clump of brittle metal shattered with a loud snap, crumbling into dust and tiny sparkling shards.
Iron brushed the icy crumbs off his shoulder and looked at Elyria and Noah:
"That's it. And now, let's get to the restoration."
"Damn..." Elyria snorted. "Without that hunk of metal, you're not Iron."
The engineer turned around and began climbing over the high rim of the Bio-Matrix, submerging his lower body and right side into the prepared biological broth.
But the moment Iron got into position, a phantom reaction suddenly flared up in his missing arm. Iron clearly felt his hand begin to sting, his skin burning as if engulfed in fire, while his non-existent phalanges clenched into a fist with all their might.
Ignoring the mounting phantom hallucinations, he pressed his left hand against the receiver crystal and barked a command:
"Come on! Let's start!"
Elyria squeezed her eyes shut, and her fingers gripped the receiver crystal. In that very instant, the capsule's left circuit flared with a rich emerald light. Threads of mana burst from the spirit, gently wrapping around Noah and drawing the mana out of him.
The two types of energy surged through the veins and straight into the Bio-Matrix. The nutrient-rich slime filling the tub churned frantically, boiling and tightening.
Focusing his mana, Iron intercepted the rushing flow. At the atomic level, Iron began manipulating intermolecular cohesion, building a perfect human arm out of the dissolved mineral powder based on the mirrored DNA blueprint of his left arm.
And with every new micron of growing flesh, the process passed through three stages:
First came the neuralgic shock. Splicing the stump's exposed nerve endings with millions of rapidly forming new nerve fibers felt as if his shoulder were simultaneously being branded with red-hot iron and pierced by high-voltage electric shocks.
Next came the heat. The incredibly rapid cell division released a colossal amount of energy. The slime around his shoulder hissed and boiled, and Iron's own body temperature spiked to a critical 42°C. His insides burned, the arteries in his temples pounded as if ready to burst, and a bloody mist swam before his eyes.
The finale was rounded off by convulsions. Noah's extracted power sharply spiked, driving up the blood pressure in the newly formed vessels. The entire right half of Iron's body arched backwards from massive, muscle-twisting spasms.
"Aaaaargh!" unable to hold it in, Iron roared at the top of his lungs, his voice echoing throughout the entire camp.
Elyria screamed in horror, her hands trembling on the crystal:
"Iron! Are you okay?!"
"Don't stop!" Iron cut her off, straining his voice. Tears dripped from his eyes from the sheer exertion. "Keep going!"
Elyria flinched at his scream, gulped, but gritted her teeth and held the flow with all her might.
Meanwhile, Eliza, Clerk, Lera, Helda, along with the guys, were chopping down another massive tree. The sound of axes and the crash of falling branches echoed in the air.
Suddenly, a horrifying, ragged scream tore through the forest.
Work stopped instantly. Chills ran down the guys' spines, and Clerk dropped his axe into the grass in surprise, taking a step back. Everyone froze, exchanging frightened glances.
Eliza was the first to drop her bundle of branches. Eliza spun sharply toward the source of the sound and took off running toward the central plaza.
"U-um, Lady Eliza, maybe you shouldn't?!" a terrified Clerk yelled after her, hurrying over and trying to grab her sleeve. "There are clearly dangerous monsters over there!"
"It's highly unlikely those are monsters!" Eliza snapped back.
With a sharp motion, she knocked Clerk's hand away and, without breaking stride, dashed through the bushes toward the camp.
Half a minute later, she burst into the central plaza. Right in front of her, Iron lay in the capsule, his face wildly contorted, screaming at the top of his lungs. Elyria circled around him with her eyes squeezed shut, and Noah stood nearby.
With a shout, Eliza lunged straight for Elyria, intending to shove the spirit away from the capsule:
"What on earth are you doing here?! Why are you torturing Iron like this?!"
"Don't interfere!" Iron himself barked across the camp, his lips bloodied from biting down on them.
The shout was so forceful that Eliza literally braked mid-stride, tripping over her own feet.
A couple of seconds later, Clerk sprinted into the plaza, panting, followed by Lera, Helda, and the rest. A few were still gripping their axes. Seeing Iron thrashing in the wooden capsule, the people froze in terror.
"What... What is this, Iron?!" Clerk yelled, rushing toward the tub in a panic. "Are you alright?! What's happening?!"
Eliza stretched out her arm and blocked his path, stopping Clerk and the rest of the approaching guys.
"Just watch," Eliza said quietly but firmly, gesturing for the crowd to settle down. "Quiet down, please... Iron is trying to get his arm back."
The flare-up of questions and loud murmurs instantly died down.
Clinging to the edge of consciousness, Iron applied the final biophysical touches. Focusing the last remnants of his magic, he completely linked the capillary network to the arteries, laid down the final layers of the epidermis, and formed neat nail plates on his fingertips, perfectly mirroring the DNA blueprint of his left hand.
Suddenly, the frantic humming ceased. The streams of mana completely ran dry. Elyria exhaled heavily and lowered her hands, while Noah relaxed his stiff shoulders.
The biological solution quickly drained away. From the receding mass emerged a fully formed, perfect human right arm.
Iron abruptly released his physical control. Exhausted, he slumped back against the high wooden rim of the capsule, tilted his head back, and breathed in heavy, ragged gasps.
"Iron!" Elyria instantly bolted from her spot and rushed over to him. "How are you?! Is everything okay?!"
However, Eliza carefully held out her palm right in front of the spirit's nose, gently blocking her path. Elyria stopped mid-air and fell silent in surprise, realizing that Iron just needed a few seconds right now to simply recover his senses.
For a minute, complete silence reigned in the plaza, broken only by Iron's dry, deep breathing. He lay motionless on the edge of the wooden Bio-Matrix, gathering his scattered thoughts and regaining control over his overloaded body.
Finally, having caught his breath, Iron slowly stood up. Swaying slightly, he climbed out of the capsule and got to his feet. Taking a deep breath, he let it out in a heavy sigh and raised his right hand before his eyes.
In place of the "Centurion" was a living human arm. The skin was smooth, the fingers obeyed his thoughts freely, and real blood pulsed in its veins.
Iron clenched his hand into a fist, unclenched it, examined it from all angles—and a smile appeared on his face.
Noticing this smile, the people in the plaza gasped in relief and began to smile too. Eliza lowered her hand, and Elyria, no longer held back by anything, instantly flew right into Iron, hugging his neck tightly and pressing herself against his cheek:
"Never in my life have I seen you scream that loudly!" the spirit said with a tremor in her voice.
"Sorry," Iron smirked, gently patting her on the back with his new right hand. "I didn't want to tell you guys beforehand..."
Suddenly, an intense cold swept over the fingers of his new hand. Right before everyone's eyes, the human skin suddenly paled, then turned green a second later.
Elyria recoiled, staring at his hand in horror, and blurted out:
"What on earth is that?! Why is it green?! What is this?!"
"Well... mixing your mana and Noah's causes a side effect," Iron shrugged calmly. "Also..."
He paused for a moment, looked around, and turned to the spirit:
"Elyria, could you quickly make a small tree right here?"
"Huh? What for?" she asked in surprise, but didn't argue.
A green spark flew from her fingers, and a small but sturdy birch tree sprouted straight from the ground in seconds.
Iron swung and punched right through the tree trunk with his right hand. The trunk shattered with a loud crack, and the top half toppled into the grass.
"Also, I gained your strength," Iron concluded, brushing off the splinters.
"Wow, super cool!" Elyria exclaimed enthusiastically.
"Wow..." Eliza exhaled, standing nearby.
Noah, who had been watching from the sidelines, just grumbled:
"But that still doesn't mean you'll be stronger than me."
"At least you're right about something," Iron replied. "Besides, this effect will wear off in about a week."
A brief silence fell over the plaza. Everyone continued to stare at Iron and his new arm. Noticing this, Iron clapped his hands, breaking the silence:
"Alright, why is everyone just standing there?! Back to work!"
Clerk was the first to snap out of it, waving his hands at the guys:
"Yeah, yeah, yeah, guys, let's get to work! No time to slack off, let's go!"
The crowd began to disperse, laughing and returning to work with renewed energy. Noah silently turned around and headed toward the forest—most likely to train. Iron himself headed toward the Main Building to get started on the interior finishing work and decorating.