While Chen Xi pretended to inspect the broken drone in the corner, waiting for the footsteps outside his workshop to pass, Sylphe’s voice echoed in his mind, tinged with a mixture of academic horror and sheer offended pride.
"Chen Xi. We need to have a serious discussion about what you are doing with your lungs," she declared, floating directly into his line of sight and crossing her arms. "I just ran a full diagnostic on your bio-etheric pathways. That 'Basic Star-Gathering Breathing Technique' you’ve been using? It is absolute garbage. It’s the equivalent of trying to power a dreadnought with a leaking AAA battery."
Chen Xi didn't look up, expertly unscrewing a servo-motor. “It kept me alive for three years, Sylphe. It was all I could scavenge.”
"Yes, and it also caused micro-tears in your vascular system because it forces raw, unrefined cosmic radiation through channels meant for oxygen," she retorted, sounding genuinely annoyed that he had ever subjected himself to something so inferior. "As your Origin AI—and your partner—I absolutely refuse to let you circulate energy like a common street thug. I am deleting it from your muscle memory."
“Wait, you can just—”
Before he could finish the thought, a sharp, icy sensation pierced the base of his skull. The golden UI flared to life, obscuring the physical world for a split second.
[Notice: 'Basic Star-Gathering Breathing Technique' detected.]
[Quality: Trash. Efficiency: 12%.]
[Action: Origin-Alpha is aggressively deconstructing the technique.]
[Calculating physiological limits... Cross-referencing with primordial Martial Law databases... Optimization complete.]
"I had to map every single nerve ending and muscle fiber in your body to calibrate this," Sylphe said, her holographic cheeks dusting with a faint pink. "Purely clinical, obviously. But I’ve tailored it perfectly to your Dual-Class nature. Try breathing now. Deeply."
Chen Xi closed his eyes and inhaled.
Instead of the usual harsh, burning sensation in his chest, the air felt thick, heavy, and magnetic. He didn't just pull air into his lungs; he felt every cell in his body vibrate at a specific, microscopic frequency. Ambient cosmic energy in the workshop rushed into him, drawn by a sudden, gravitational pull.
[Skill Evolved: Stellar Furnace Art (Ignition Phase)]
[Grade: Origin-Tier (Growth)]
[Description:] A technique designed to turn the human body into a biological reactor, bridging the gap between flesh and machinery.
* Effect 1 (Kinetic Compression): Cosmic energy is no longer stored as a gas, but compressed into liquid 'Kinetic Qi'. This multiplies physical explosive power by 300%.
* Effect 2 (Alloy-Weave Refinement): Passively uses absorbed energy to temper bones and muscle fibers, slowly matching the density and durability of the metals the host works with. (Current tier: High-Carbon Steel).
* Effect 3 (Machine Empathy): The host's Kinetic Qi operates on a frequency that can directly power, override, or interface with mechanical constructs.
Chen Xi exhaled. The breath shot out like a jet of steam, superheated and heavy. He clenched his fist. The raw, terrifying power surging through his forearms made the Viper-Mantis bracers feel like they were merely an extension of his own bones.
He could punch a hole through a brick wall without breaking a knuckle. Better yet, he could channel this dense 'Kinetic Qi' directly into his mechanical creations to overcharge them.
“Sylphe,” Chen Xi whispered, genuinely awed by the sheer leap in power. “This is incredible.”
The tiny hologram puffed out her chest, looking immensely smug. "Of course it is. You belong to me now, Chen Xi. I won't have you using anything less than the absolute best. Just remember who fixed you when you start showing off to the other academy students."
“I’m not planning on showing off,” Chen Xi replied, a dangerous, calculating light in his eyes. “I’m planning on surviving. And now, I have the teeth for it.”
The heavy footsteps in the hallway outside abruptly stopped right in front of Workshop Unit 73. Someone banged on the blast door—three sharp, authoritative strikes.
"Speak of the devil," Sylphe muttered, vanishing from the physical world and retreating into his mind. "Remember our deal. Eyes on the machinery, darling. Let's see who's knocking."
Chen Xi grabbed a greasy rag, wiped his hands to look exactly like the low-tier mechanic the Academy thought he was, and hit the door release.
The heavy blast doors hissed open.
Standing in the corridor was a girl who looked like she belonged on a recruitment poster for the Inner Academy. She was tall, with sharp, striking features and raven-black hair tied in a tight, high ponytail. She wore the pristine white and silver uniform of the Elite Combat Division, but it was currently singed at the edges.
The most intimidating thing about her wasn't the fierce, impatient glare in her deep crimson eyes, but the massive, cracked pair of Level-3 Kinetic Gauntlets she carried under one arm.
"Oh, please," Sylphe’s voice immediately echoed in Chen Xi’s mind, dripping with absolute disdain. "White and silver? How cliché. And she’s intentionally unbuttoned the top collar to show off her collarbones. Have some class. Chen Xi, I am tracking your pupil dilation. Keep your eyes on her forehead."
Chen Xi kept his expression carefully neutral, though he had to suppress a smirk at Sylphe’s instant territorial hostility.
"You're the rat the Ironfangs were laughing at in the plaza," the girl said. Her voice was crisp and authoritative. "Rank-C Mechanic. Chen Xi, right?"
"That's me," Chen Xi said smoothly, leaning against the doorframe, projecting an aura of harmless mediocrity. "If you're looking for someone to fetch coffee, the cafeteria is down the hall. If you're looking for a mechanic, the Elite workshops are on the upper levels. I only work with scrap."
"The Elite workshops are full of corporate snobs who take three days to run a diagnostic, and I have a qualifying match in two hours," she snapped, shoving past him into his workshop and dropping the heavy gauntlets onto his workbench. "I am Lin Yuxuan. Rank-A Fighter. I overloaded my gauntlets during a spar. The dampeners are shot. Fix them."
She crossed her arms, her posture demanding absolute compliance.
"Rank-A Fighter? I could crush her with a 12% output of your new kinetic Qi," Sylphe scoffed. "Kick her out. Tell her she smells like burnt ozone and cheap perfume."
Play nice, Sylphe, Chen Xi thought back. An Elite student is a walking bank account. We need funds.
Chen Xi walked over to the workbench and picked up one of the gauntlets. He didn't need to plug it into a diagnostic terminal. Thanks to his [Machine Empathy] from the Stellar Furnace Art, the moment his fingers brushed the alloy, he felt the discordant hum of broken micro-fractures and fried circuits.
He also felt something else. The residual energy left inside the gauntlets.
"You didn't overload these in a spar," Chen Xi said quietly, turning the gauntlet over in his hands. "The scorch marks on the intake valves are inverted. You tried to channel a fire-attribute Qi technique through a kinetic-focused weapon. You're lucky you didn't blow your hands off, Lin Yuxuan."
Lin Yuxuan froze, her arrogant facade cracking for a split second. Her crimson eyes narrowed dangerously. "How do you know that? A Rank-C Mechanic shouldn't be able to read energy signatures."
"Tell her it's because you have a flawlessly engineered super-AI girlfriend who knows everything," Sylphe chimed in, sounding smug. "And tell her to back up. She is violating my personal space."
"I don't need to read energy to recognize basic thermodynamics," Chen Xi lied smoothly, tapping a scorched vent with his wrench. "Heat goes up, kinetic force pushes out. You crossed the streams. The structural integrity is compromised."
"Can you fix it or not?" Yuxuan demanded, stepping closer, her tone defensive but laced with underlying desperation. "If I forfeit the match today, the Lin family will cut my resource stipend."
Chen Xi looked at her, his mind calculating. She was arrogant, yes, but also desperate. That made her useful.
"I can bypass the burnt dampeners and manually reroute the kinetic coils using copper wiring. It won't be pretty, but it will hold for your match," Chen Xi said, dropping the gauntlet back onto the table. "But I don't work for free, and my rates for Elites just went up. Five hundred credits. Upfront."
"Five hundred?" Yuxuan bristled. "That's extortion for a patch job!"
"Charge her a thousand!" Sylphe yelled in his head. "If she argues, I am extending that hidden blade into her knee."
"Take it to the upper levels then," Chen Xi shrugged, turning his back on her and picking up a piece of scrap iron. "I'm sure they can expedite a repair in... maybe forty-eight hours."
Yuxuan gritted her teeth. She stared at Chen Xi's back, assessing him. He was a slum kid, but he wasn't cowering, and his eyes were disturbingly calm. Finally, she slapped a sleek silver cred-stick onto the workbench.
"Fix it," she ordered. "If they break during my match, I'll come back and break both your arms."
"Deal," Chen Xi said.
He didn't grab his welding torch. He placed both hands over the gauntlets. He carefully pushed a tiny, controlled pulse of his dense Kinetic Qi into the metal, merging it with Sylphe’s Origin Forge. He hid the golden glow beneath his palms. The burnt wiring inside the gauntlets snapped, reformed, and locked into a hyper-efficient configuration far superior to the original corporate design.
He finished in less than sixty seconds. He wiped his hands on a rag and tossed the heavy gauntlets back to her.
"Done. Try not to use fire Qi until you buy a proper elemental weapon," he said dismissively, turning back to his scrap bin.
Yuxuan caught them, slipping them on. Her eyes widened. The gauntlets didn't just feel repaired; the energy flow was impossibly smooth, completely lacking the usual sluggish resistance of mass-produced gear. She looked from her fists to the scrawny mechanic in the grey uniform.
"Who taught you to modify coils like that?" she asked, the demanding edge in her voice replaced by genuine curiosity.
"I read a lot," Chen Xi replied without looking at her. "Good luck in your match, Lin Yuxuan. Don't forget to close the door on your way out."
For a moment, she stood there, wanting to press him further. But the blaring of a distant Academy siren reminded her of the time. "I'll be back," she promised, her tone carrying a mix of warning and intrigue. She spun on her heel and rushed out.
The blast doors sealed shut.
"Hmph. 'I'll be back,'" Sylphe mocked, her tiny avatar popping back onto the workbench, glaring at the door. "If she comes back, I'm charging her for breathing my air. But fine, you performed adequately, Chen Xi. You didn't stare, and you extorted her for her credits. I am pleased."
Chen Xi tossed the cred-stick into the air and caught it, a genuine smile finally touching his lips. With this money, he could buy the rare metals he needed to build his first real combat drone, and he had just planted a hook in one of the Inner Academy's rising stars.
"Come on, Sylphe," Chen Xi said, his eyes gleaming with ambition. "Let's go shopping. We have an army to build."