Became a Mechromancer - Chapter 23

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 23.
Pursuit (3)
I suppressed the chill that had risen on my skin.
And then.
After taking a few more steps, I couldn’t help but marvel.
‘It’s like walking on clouds!’
No, it was even lighter than that.
I bent my waist to test it.
I moved my legs quickly.
Whirrrrr—.
The mana circuit responded smoothly, optimally assisting my movements.
As if lag didn’t exist.
‘…Is this really all?’
I took a breath and suppressed my rising excitement.
Then.
‘How much can I lift?’
A natural curiosity and a necessary test.
Let me start with something light.
I lifted the toolbox sitting on the workbench.
‘It must weigh around 5 kilograms?’
I lifted it with ease, and.
Huh?
“That’s too light?”
My gaze shifted to the heavy metal parts box stacked beside it.
When I grabbed the handle and applied force, it lifted just as effortlessly.
There was no strain on my arms whatsoever.
When I lifted the workbench itself, it came up with ease.
My gaze fixed on Isto.
Well….
Even so, wasn’t Isto overkill?
‘Even though he’s small, he weighs over 90 kilograms.’
With that thought, I grabbed Isto’s waist with both hands.
-Huh? D-Doo-ho?
Whirrrrr!
The mana circuit glowed brightly with a low resonant hum. The auxiliary system engaged under the load and lifted Isto into the air.
“…I can lift him?”
Now I finally felt some resistance.
After setting Isto down, I grinned at Hawkeye.
“Come here for a moment.”
-What?
As Hawkeye approached, I gave the order.
“Isto, pick up Hawkeye.”
-Huh?
-N-no, I refuse! Absolutely not!
A spark of electricity crackled.
The moment I glared at them, both obeyed without hesitation.
-Kyaaah!
Hawkeye, cradled in Isto’s powerful arms in a princess carry, trembled with indignation at the humiliation.
I stepped closer to the two of them.
Taking a deep breath, I grasped Isto’s waist once more as he held Hawkeye.
Hnngh!
The moment my knees bent and straightened, the auxiliary device unleashed explosive force.
Whiiiiiiiing!!
The mana circuit overloaded, generating superhuman strength.
Remarkably, Isto’s feet lifted off the ground as I hoisted him effortlessly into the air.
Nearly 200 kilograms of weight.
Yet I remained perfectly stable, supporting the burden without wavering.
Isto cheered.
Yes! Yes! Yes!
-As expected, you’re the greatest, Doo-ho!
And then.
As I carefully set them down, my jaw dropped.
Wow, this….
“This is completely overpowered, isn’t it?”
The source of this absurd performance was unmistakable.
The ‘Smart Actuator’.
I had designed it by referencing Isto’s joint structure and incorporating my own knowledge….
‘I never expected it to perform this well.’
I fell silent in contemplation.
A structure and technology that doesn’t exist in current human civilization.
If I submitted this as-is and something unfortunate happened, that would be problematic, wouldn’t it?
Hmm….
‘I should file for a patent.’
Hearing my thoughts, Isto quickly spoke up.
-I will review all related documents and prepare every patent we can file.
“Yes, thank you.”
It was right then.

[Quest Achieved!]
◈Mana Circuit Mechanic Creation Complete
Reward: Dimensional Control
Oh! Oh! Ohhhhh!!!
Before Doo-ho could even react, firework effects erupted—pop! pop!—from Isto’s LED eyes.
-Mission complete, sir!
-Congratulations, Mechromancer!
The two creatures circled around Doo-ho, bursting with joy.
“Wait, hold on. Calm down….”
Doo-ho opened the Skill Information window with a bewildered expression, watching as “Dimensional Access” transformed into “Dimensional Control.”

[Dimensional Control]
Cleared floors can be ‘Eliminated’ or ‘Deferred’
※Time extension from floor elimination only applies when the deadline for conquering the lowest floor is 5 months or less.
“…Deferred?”
Doo-ho tilted his head in confusion.
“What kind of reward is this?”
At that moment, Isto gazed at the system window and explained excitedly.
-It’s good, sir. Very good.
“Good how?”
-When you clear a floor, you can use deferment to descend to the next floor, sir!
Ah~
“I can descend to lower floors?”
-That’s right, sir!
“Is there really a need to do that?”
-Huh?!
As Isto’s frame creaked with confusion, Hawkeye interjected.
-Mechromancer. Rather than repeating Floor 1 indefinitely, descending to lower floors would be…
“More efficient in terms of leveling speed and experience points from higher-tier beasts. That’s what you’re trying to say, right?”
Doo-ho responded with a skeptical expression, and Hawkeye was taken aback.
“But it would be more dangerous.”
Doo-ho’s logic was ironclad.
Clearing only Floor 1 was already earning me respectable income and steady level gains.
So then….
“There’s no need to risk my life.”
-No, that’s not it, sir!
“What do you mean ‘not it’?”
-Once you reach E-rank, Floor 1 beasts won’t grant experience points as rapidly as they do now, sir!
As your rank increases, Floor 1 becomes insufficient.
But….
‘For that reason alone, you want to go down?’
When Doo-ho’s expression turned disapproving, Hawkeye’s shoulders sagged.
Isto threw himself into persuasion with desperate fervor.
Items!
-And the mana stones from the upper layers are incomparably superior to those on the first floor! Besides, wouldn’t I, Isto, ever allow Doo-ho to face danger!
Then Hawkeye thrust the scope directly before Doo-ho’s eyes and spoke miserably.
-My name… it can only be changed if you become S-rank, can’t it?
“…I suppose that’s true.”
-You said you’d change it for me?
Finally, Doo-ho scratched his cheek and spoke in a reluctant, creeping voice.
“Ah, fine. Fine, I get it. Let’s just go in this time and see! We’ll decide then. Okay?”
With those words.
Crack!!
Isto and Hawkeye, who had been itching to celebrate, exchanged a vigorous high-five.
Unbelievable….
‘Anyone watching would think we just won the championship.’
Doo-ho looked at the dimensional control window again.
Maintain the layer, explore the upper layers, and annihilate when necessary.
‘…Truly dimensional control.’
Of course, it was a right obtainable only by accepting and clearing Quests, but that wasn’t what mattered now.
Whoosh.
I removed the auxiliary device and placed it on the workbench.
A soft blue mana circuit glowed faintly atop the workbench.
A faint smile spread across Doo-ho’s lips.
‘I need to give this to Father soon.’
On this day, humanity’s first mana circuit-based mechanic prototype was born.
One capable of functioning even in the Abyss Rift and the Abyss….
* * *
Two weeks prior.
A Hotel Suite Room.
Susan lay buried in a plush sofa, scanning documents related to the Abyss’s disappearance through her smart glasses.
‘Two layers vanished, and the difficulty of the remaining layers decreased….’
In many ways.
“I’d like to find the ghost.”
Swish, swish—.
A butter knife spun dazzlingly in her hand like a toy. She had stopped mid-spread on freshly toasted bread and reversed its motion.
Then her smart glasses vibrated.
-Found him.
The moment the call connected, Jacob, his scruffy beard displayed on the hologram, spoke directly to the point.
Susan continued twirling the knife, responding with indifference.
“Why are you so slow? Do you want your neck broken?”
-Ugh~ Do you know how many of my neural processors you’ve destroyed?
“Should I care?”
-Don’t even get me started. You have no idea how obsessed the South Korean government is with hacking defense. They’ve built every conceivable wall imaginable….
A file arrived on her smart glasses.
She set down her knife on the table and opened the file.
『Bundang Expressway Abyss Rift – Day of Incident
Autonomous Taxi Passenger Identity Confirmed
Name: Lim Doo-ho
Age: 26
Occupation: Hunter Management Bureau Machine Upcycling Department
Career: 6-Year Contract Employee』
Susan’s lips curved upward with intrigue.
“Lim Doo-ho….”
-A 26-year-old Awakened would normally draw global attention, yet he’s been kept hidden.
“What’s more interesting is this Machine Upcycling Department.”
-Why? From what I found, it’s just a department handling miscellaneous tasks.
Susan let out a soft laugh.
“Why would a newsworthy 26-year-old Awakened be buried in some department handling menial work?”
“…?”
“It’s practically screaming ‘I have plenty of secrets to hide.'”
Jacob warned in a low voice.
-It’s possible the Hunter Management Bureau fabricated this information as cover. So be careful.
“Worried? Have I just started doing this yesterday?”
After ending the call, Susan paused a video on her smart glasses and zoomed in.
In the CCTV footage Jacob had hacked, Lim Doo-ho was boarding an autonomous taxi.
She paused the footage and enlarged it significantly.
His face was partially visible through the glass window and holographic advertisements.
‘His features are distinct enough. Finding him won’t be difficult.’
This man.
There were far too many suspicious things about him.
So then….
“Is he a ghost, or did I chase down a false lead?”
Susan’s amber eyes narrowed like a predator spotting its prey.
* * *
A cafe window overlooking the Hunter Management Bureau’s main entrance.
Susan ordered an espresso and cake, then put on her smart glasses.
Morning rush hour.
Her eyes swept across the bureau’s entrance as she activated the facial recognition system.
‘Now, let me find Lim Doo-ho.’
But.
On this day, she could not find Lim Doo-ho.
A first-rate assassin must know how to stalk their prey with patience.
Of course, this mission wasn’t an assassination.
Yet she waited for Lim Doo-ho in the same spot the next day, and the day after, and the day after that—like a stone statue waiting for her beloved, except she was actually waiting.
Two weeks passed.
“Shall I get you the usual today?”
“…Yes.”
Susan, now a regular at the cafe, stared at the main entrance with hollow eyes streaked with bloodshot veins.
Morning commute, lunch hour, evening rush.
With the determination not to miss a single ant!
Yet Lim Doo-ho never appeared.
‘…This… this can’t be happening!’
She finally requested Jacob to hack the internal network.
The result?
It was enough to make her grab the back of her neck in frustration.
『Lim Doo-ho / 08:42 Clocked In』
“He’s inside right now?!”
Susan stabbed her fork repeatedly at the hologram of Jacob floating beyond her smart glasses.
“I’ll just cut his neck off for you.”
-Why are you like this? I risked my life hacking for you.
“Does this make any sense?!”
Susan nearly bolted from the cafe and rushed into the Hunter Management Bureau.
Her frustration was that intense!
“I’ve been watching since 6 AM?!”
-Maybe when he went to the bathroom…
“I didn’t go even at the risk of getting cystitis!”
-…Calm down. Machines don’t lie. It clearly shows 8:42 AM.
“So… did he punch through a wall to clock in? Or did he take a drone taxi from the rooftop?!”
She exhaled a long sigh and spoke calmly.
“Fine. Plan B. Give me his home address.”
-That’s…
“What! Again! What now?!”
-That bastard Lim Doo-ho has opted out of personal information disclosure, so I can’t dig up his details.
Argh!!!
“Damn privacy laws! What about his SNS?!”
-The guy’s a natural loner without a single SNS account. This is my first time dealing with such a complete hermit.
Everything about Lim Doo-ho was blocked off.
To make matters worse, Jacob delivered the final blow.
-Susan. I have bad news.
“…Give it a try. Things can’t get any worse anyway.”
-Ever since the day Lim Doo-ho dealt with the Drug Dealer, he hasn’t shown up on any CCTV or payment service records.
“…What do you mean?”
-Lim Doo-ho’s traces of daily life seem to have been erased.
“…!”
The truth was.
The more Lim Doo-ho’s whereabouts remained a mystery, the more convinced Susan became that he was a ‘ghost’.
That’s certainly what she had thought.
“No traces of daily life?”
-I suspect someone may have dealt with Lim Doo-ho and is checking his attendance records.
Jacob’s speculative remark.
Sigh.
How absurd.
‘I came to catch the ghost of the Abyss, only to have been waiting all this time for someone who’s become a real ghost.’
This could potentially be a criminal case.
‘What if I get involved in the case?’
That would be…
“Jacob, I’m withdrawing.”
After Susan quickly left the Cafe.
“A mix coffee will do.”
Ha-ha!
“You worked hard on today’s competition entry too, so let me treat you! Let me buy you one!”
Lim Doo-ho was led into the Cafe by Park Deputy.
Park Deputy, glancing around the interior, soon wore a disappointed expression.
Ugh…
‘That pretty foreign woman isn’t here.’
Having mustered his courage.
“…I was trying to confess.”
I Became a Mechromancer
Author |
Gungang E
Published |
February 25, 2026
Publisher |
Talesyx
Website |
https://talesyx.com
Email |
[email protected]
ⓒ Gungang E, 2026
This publication is protected by copyright law and may not be reproduced or copied without permission.
UCI｜
G720:N+A277-20260210015.0023

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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