Arthur wasn't sure how long he was out, but the first thing he noticed was a feeling—a distinct sensation that had been missing for a long while. In response, he raised his mechanical right arm. The cybernetic limb was high-spec, looking like technology that didn't belong to this era; think Johnny Silverhand mixed with the Winter Soldier.
The movements and motions were fluid and flexible, very human-like, and in many aspects, even better than his original arm. He was half-tempted to chop off his other arm just to replace it with a cybernetic one, though he quickly shook off the thought. The term "Strong Arm" in its name wasn't for show, either. From the data he received, its punch force and grip strength stood at **1,102,449 units** and **900 kg**, which broke their previous record holders by nine and six times respectively.
"Damn, Davy, thought you died for a moment there," Chris spoke out.
"How long was I out?" Arthur asked.
"Barely over an hour. So, is *this* your ability? I thought it was Inventory," Luice asked.
"Inventory is only part of my ability. I'm able to upgrade all sorts of technology and items as long as resources are available," Arthur explained. It was easier to play it off as an awakened ability rather than a "cheat" system.
"Thank God. That means I won't have to chop off my arm!" Brea exclaimed in relief.
"Well, the offer is on the table. I tell you this: this arm holds force equivalent to 255 horsepower." Arthur smirked. Everyone hissed, and it wasn't only Chris, but the others who found themselves suddenly tempted as well.
Arthur burst out laughing, only to almost get kicked. "Alright, alright, chill out. We gotta make some real useable weapons now."
Arthur got serious and took out a variety of items, including bone cutters, axes, saws, pump-guns, nail guns, drills, scalpels, and even a chainsaw. "So, what do you guys think?"
"You're crazy," they all replied, to which he laughed.
"No point in being sane in a crazy world now, is there?" he asked.
### Modifications and Evolutions
While they were making their choices and discussing, Arthur took out more materials and Monster Cores to install two modifications. This time, the process was white-hot without causing him any discomfort.
* **Shock Absorption** was self-explanatory.
* **Mana Furnace** powered the arm through Monster Cores as a fuel source. This allowed him to produce devastating force at the cost of the mana stored.
With those two added, new upgrades were now available: **{Strong Arm II}** and **{Beast Claws}**.
From the description, *Strong Arm II* was an enhanced version of the current model, while *Beast Claws* gave the arm beast-like claws. However, despite the damage they dealt, Arthur felt they weren't suitable for him, so he chose the former.
**{Upgrade in progress: 45 sec...}**
"You're not done?!" Chris exclaimed.
"I can upgrade infinitely with sufficient resources, and right now we're stacked so, least worry," Arthur shrugged.
The upgrade only tingled slightly, as it was already a part of him. The process finished fairly quickly, and the **Mechanical Strong Arm II** got a rating of **D (equivalent to Tier 3)** and two more modifications: **{Kinetic Burst}** and **{Quick Reflex}**.
* **Kinetic Burst** allowed him to release kinetic energy stored from *Shock Absorption* and release it in a single concentrated burst.
* **Quick Reflex** was even more outrageous, as it would allow him quicker reaction time and movement speed. If he had a gun, he could perform a quick draw in all of 0.3 seconds.
While he could install *Kinetic Burst*, unfortunately, he wasn't able to install *Quick Reflex* due to two factors: first, he was short of a somewhat hard-to-produce material, and secondly, physical limits. He wasn't strong enough to bear the load *Quick Reflex* would put on his brain and neural pathways.
### Arming the Outcasts
By now, the group had organized the materials and items for the upgrades. Arthur went about upgrading the makeshift weapons, including the fire axe, chainsaw, and a couple of nail guns, as well as several scalpels and even the nails for ammunition. The axe remained as needed but received resonance penetration and anti-armor properties. The nail guns, at their second upgrade, got **{Aim Assist}**, **{Extended Clip}**, and **{Rapid Fire}**, along with an increased caliber and power equivalent to a small-caliber firearm.
The fire axe's second upgrade similarly had three mods: **Weight Reduction, Sharpened Edge, and Anti-recoil**. The results were beyond any material Arthur thought existed prior to the Apocalypse. The chainsaw was a surprise, to say the least, with its three mods being: **Thermal Edge, Sword-like Edge, and Mana Furnace**, with a final mod being **Saw Whip**. It was obvious who took ownership of *that* nightmare of a weapon.
Arthur didn't stop there. He went on to upgrade their clothes. It was a technical university, so they had a lot of materials used in the making of space suits and heavy protective gear, especially a certain "genius plastic" that becomes stronger the more force is applied (D3O-like). The look and design of the clothes hadn't changed, but internally, if they were hit by a car at moderate speed, they wouldn't take much damage other than some bruises.
The system was absurd, but it didn't stop there. The suits included: **Anti-Piercing, Shock Distribution, and Thermal Control**. The last was **Mana Resistance**, which wasn't able to be upgraded as of yet.
Lastly, Arthur gathered the electronics: mainly phones, earphones, and watches. He had taken the effort to take undamaged phones and smartwatches from corpses or those left discarded. The group was originally confused but helped out anyway, and now they understood his reasoning. Since the dungeons appeared, communications had become very difficult; even short-wave radios were affected by some interference—Mana.
Once he saw the mods on the phones and watches, he was sure: **{Mana-wave Transmission}, {Magical Detector}, {Techno-Telepathy}, and {Magical Processor}**.
As usual, only the first three were available:
* **Mana-wave Transmission** allowed transmission of data via mana particles in the atmosphere the same way as radio waves.
* **Magical Detector** gave a bar indicator on the amount of mana concentrated within a specified region or target.
* **Techno-Telepathy** shocked him the most. A mod that only appears on wireless earphones or headsets, it works with mana converting intentional surface thoughts into mana-waves that could be transmitted to others wearing a connected pair. In simpler terms: **Artificial Telepathy.** The uses of these were limitless. Currently, *Telepathy* can only be used at short range with a max of 150 meters. As for the *Magical Processor*, it was said to be a mod that allows them to scan dungeons and give in-depth data on their properties and levels. Unfortunately, the materials for this mod could only be found in the dungeons themselves.
"Before we leave, we'll definitely raid the on-campus dungeons," Arthur thought.
The night passed, yet humanity was recovering surprisingly fast from the global disaster. It was almost as if it was expected in advance, as the response was fairly quick and groups of "supers" appeared organized, retaking the cities in military fashion. Some slow, some fast, but they weren't the only ones rising quickly as the Apocalypse brought with it the winds of change.