Became a Mechromancer - Chapter 71

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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 71.
How Many Layers? (8)
Grrrrr.
A beast’s growl echoes through the deep memory space of the main chip.
The creature standing before Jacob resembled a lizardman from a video game.
It seemed Ghost had planted it to protect his own traces.
Jacob scanned the beast and let out a soft chuckle.
‘I wondered what Ghost would create.’
Yet here was merely this creature.
The presentation was flashy, but the concept was rather juvenile.
-ROOOAAARRR!!!
The beast roared.
A crushing pressure as if electromagnetic force bore down sharply. A tense standoff stretched between Jacob and the creature.
The beast did not rush forward recklessly.
Its slit pupils narrowed further as it prowled, gauging Jacob’s full strength.
‘Not a simple monster, then.’
It seemed capable of autonomous thought.
“I’ll call you Demon.”
Curiosity gleamed in Jacob’s eyes. Perhaps the creature sensed that gaze.
-Kiiiiick… kick, kick!
A chilling mechanical sound emanated from between the Demon’s elongated jaws.
An unpleasant sneer, as if mocking its opponent.
Jacob’s brow twitched.
“What. Did you just mock me?”
And in the next instant.
Screeeech!
The Demon’s long jaw gaped wide.
It lunged ferociously, as if to erase Jacob from the virtual space entirely.
“What the.”
In a flash, savage claws thrust toward Jacob.
Boom!
Jacob flicked his fingers.
The anti-code he had prepared beforehand unfurled like a barrier, deflecting the Demon’s sharp claws. The Demon’s arm crumpled upon striking the shield.
…Weak?
“Whoever created you seems to have prioritized style over substance.”
Before the words even finished.
Shuuuuush.
The Demon absorbed the surrounding data as if to prove him wrong, regenerating its arm.
Jacob’s eyebrows rose slightly.
‘Oh~.’
The demon rushed at me again.
This time, it fluidly shifted direction, probing for my blind spot.
A new attack pattern, conscious of my previous defense.
Well, well. Look at this thing.
“A learning agent?”
My curiosity surged, and the corners of my mouth curled deeply upward.
“You’re built quite nicely for playing with.”
The demon swung its razor-sharp hand once more. This time, I didn’t dodge. I let its attack graze my shoulder.
Ripple….
“Hou~.”
The data on my left shoulder undulated and scattered. Meanwhile, my eyes observed the demon’s surface coding.
At first glance, it was remarkably clean work.
‘…Impressive.’
But then again.
“If I keep playing with you like this, I might lose my head to a fork.”
With those words, a sharp disassembly code unsheathed from my fingertips.
In an instant, I dove into the demon’s embrace.
Screech─!
The disassembly code shattered the defensive system wrapped around the demon’s surface.
Severed internal data poured out like blood.
Beep, beep─.
The demon retreated with warning signals blaring.
I tilted my chin up slightly.
You see.
“In the Abyss, hunters might reign supreme, but here, I’m the strongest.”
I watched the demon shriek as its damage refused to repair.
‘Now I need to make it guide me to its master.’
That was why I’d only inflicted a critical wound.
If I just cracked the channel open here, the demon’s autonomous code would surely attempt to return to its origin.
Based on my experience, roughly 90% of cases followed that pattern.
And the remaining 10%?
‘Those were simply substandard.’
Still, better to be safe.
“…Should I deliver a finishing blow to be sure?”
I bent down and picked up the demon’s severed arm from the floor.
Data fragments unfolded across the hologram.
A beacon transmitting periodic signals.
And self-restoration.
All of it was woven together with remarkable efficiency, yet in a completely unexpected manner.
Pffhahahaha!
“Have you ever seen such an absurd bastard?”
Praise flowed from him once more.
Most importantly, just as he had anticipated, the Return Call Code—that homing instinct—was embedded within it.
Electromagnetic signals crackled and danced around Jacob as he dissected the structure.
Whoever designed this….
‘Does their brain operate on an entirely different level?’
A genius who had created such a beast in virtual space. I wanted to absorb every layer of that coding, down to its very foundation, and make it my own.
It wasn’t that the coding itself was fundamentally different.
‘Why didn’t I think of such a simple method?’
It was carved away with such exquisite precision.
Which made it all the more amusing.
“You hid this level of skill and lived quietly?”
I had thought of you as some nameless eccentric buried in the backwaters,
but now I was growing curious about your face.
Just to meet you.
‘Should I send you to your master now?’
“Hamji, connect the cable!”
Jacob’s cry echoed through the external world’s speakers.
Light began to flicker and shimmer.
His faithful old robot, Hamji, had connected the fiber optic cable.
Click!
Jacob snapped his fingers to open the channel.
“Go. Back to your home.”
The moment the exit opened, the Demon rushed toward the channel without hesitation.
Whoooosh—!
Now the real chase begins.
Jacob tracked the signal he had analyzed and pursued it.
Watching the Demon indiscriminately breach countless security authentications, I clicked my tongue in admiration.
Hot!
‘The more I see, the more I covet it!’
In all my years doing this work, I had never seen anything quite so absurd.
I wanted to stop and examine every detail one by one.
And then.
The target’s location became increasingly pinpointed.
South Korea… Seoul.
Ghost was Korean, after all.
OO District, …Apartment.
“Bingo!”
With the physical location confirmed, there was no need to hesitate any longer.
Faster, faster still!
Accelerating in anticipation of encountering the unknown hacker, I came to a halt upon spotting the Demon standing before the entrance.
I approached cautiously behind the Demon and peered into the entrance.
Holy shit.
“They’ve really made this vicious.”
Brutal coding that would incinerate an intruder’s entire digital consciousness at the slightest deviation.
The Demon turned its head to look at me.
Whoosh.
It slipped through the entrance.
Jacob followed suit and entered.
I parasitically latched onto its signal, passing through a series of additional entrances in rapid succession.
‘It’s guiding me through, not wanting to die by my hand.’
In total, I passed through six entrances.
From Jacob’s lips came:
Insane!
“You madman!”
Exclamations of praise erupted continuously.
And then….
As the Demon and I passed through the final entrance,
Boom—!
All the entrances merged and sealed shut with crushing force. Jacob furrowed his brow and muttered inwardly.
So what.
‘I’ll just force my way through.’
The arrogance that only the world’s greatest could possess.
And the Demon that had guided me out of fear for its life came to an abrupt halt.
Swish.
The Demon’s eyes curved like a crescent moon.
A clear mockery.
Poof!
The Demon vanished without a trace.
…What?
“What is this?”
Jacob’s thoughts came to a standstill.
Realizing the mistake, I drove a crack code into the sealed entrance.
Beep!
I breached the first firewall, but from the second onward, the code proved ineffective.
I unleashed every conceivable code, yet the door consumed them all and only grew more impenetrable.
That wasn’t all.
Krkrkr.
A fragment of the Demon that had vanished moments before merged with my shoulder and laughed.
“What the ×─!”
I hastily unleashed a rebound, hurling the force back to shake them off.
But.
This time, the demon’s code surged forth against my legs, then struck the back of my head again.
The more I struggled, the more my consciousness seemed dragged into the depths of a swamp.
Only then.
Only truly then.
Did the thought flash across my mind—the demon might have been bait to lure me in.
Jacob’s pupils trembled.
Could it be….
That I wasn’t the one tracking.
“But rather fell into the Korean bastard’s trap?!”
It was at that very moment.
Clang, clang.
Irregular bursts of sound echoed from the darkness beyond.
Looking to see what it was.
Countless demons approached, their crimson eyes gleaming wickedly in crescent shapes.
Crunch, crunch.
The grinding sound of saw-like teeth filled the air.
Jacob’s head trembled uncontrollably as he found himself overwhelmed.
‘If my consciousness is consumed by them like this….’
Even now, one of them was crawling across various parts of my body!
“That won’t happen!”
Jacob unleashed a powerful mass deletion code toward them, determined to end this in one strike.
Crackle.
One demon grinned wickedly and leaped high, detonating itself.
Ah, damn it….
Jacob stood dumbfounded.
He had never experienced such an absurd tactic before.

I quickly counted their numbers.
Perhaps they intended to overwhelm Jacob through sheer numerical superiority and drain his resources.
Jacob muttered under his breath.
“D… damn it.”
The surrounding demons converged on him all at once.
Their eyes gleamed as though they’d discovered a new toy.
His lips trembled.
Ha….
“I’d rather have my neck snapped than this.”
Trapped in an isolated server, I might be ravaged eternally, my data torn to shreds.
If this were reality, I would already be weeping, begging for mercy.
‘I’m going to die to these bastards before I even see Ghost.’
Kekeke, kek….
Bitter laughter filled the space.
Jacob bit his lip and shoved his final, ultimate code through the door.
Even if I had to sacrifice all my memories.
Only this!
A trigger to awaken my backup self in reality.
Fortunately, the flexible code fragment slipped through the gap.
Jacob turned to face the beasts descending upon him, drawing forth every scrap of code he possessed, trembling violently.
Damn it, I’m Jacob Silver himself….
Grrr, grrk.
He grimaced at the beasts closing in.
“…Mom.”
* * *
Chiiik─.
Deep within the Safe House. The sealed capsule door slides open.
“Haa….”
Jacob, rising from the backup capsule, tilted his head in confusion.
He stepped out of the capsule and entered the workshop.
“…?”
He stared at what had once been his full-brain body—now rigid as a vegetable, slumped in a chair.
“What the hell was this bastard doing? Got a cable jammed in the back of his skull and died?”
It was self-deprecating humor, but carried genuine weight.
My awakening meant the consciousness that had been active until now had been erased.
By the way.
One rule among full-brain bodies worldwide.
Never live simultaneously as multiple consciousnesses.
Of course, there are those who break the law and commit such violations.
‘But if caught, all instances are deleted.’
In other words, it was an execution unique to Super Intelligence.
He gazed down at Jacob from a few hours prior.
Then he reached out his hand.
‘That ambitious Jacob bastard….’
“Amen.”
Crackle—.
He gripped the thick dive cable firmly and yanked it free.
It was to prevent any possible multiple personalities.
He tossed the thick cable aside and shifted his gaze to the main chip fitted into the mount.
“Did he die from touching this?”
Tsk.
The backup Jacob clicked his tongue.
‘He should have at least sent a hint before dying.’
He sat down and filed a recovery report with the Super Intelligence Company first.
And….
“I’ll need to prepare thoroughly before attempting this.”
The newly awakened Jacob seemed irritable and extremely cautious by nature.
* * *
Doo-ho’s eyes, fixed on the Hidden Quest, were locked onto the reward: ‘Save Point’.
‘The mission is strange, but the reward is tempting.’
He knew the utility of Save Points better than anyone and was using them effectively.
Even on this trip to Kiko Island, he’d find them invaluable.
And….
The Super Intelligences outside the transport ship had a fit the moment they heard the rejection penalty from Doo-ho.
-A-are you insane?! Three entire floors erased!
Hawkeye, desperate to escape being a fool, pleaded urgently with Doo-ho.
-Mechromancer sir, if you just accept, I’ll dedicate myself to getting you that Save Point!
Bom-i beside Doo-ho was different.
Master.
-If the lower floors rise up, wouldn’t that be safe, ribbit?
Uh….
That was a fair point.
‘If the others heard that, I’d be in real trouble.’
Glance.
He looked at the Hidden Quest window again.
‘I’m not a counselor—how am I supposed to appease a god?’
Appease.
Hmm….
‘Hopefully there won’t be any combat.’
Besides, if three entire floors of the Abyss vanished, the losses would far outweigh the gains.
The Changtian Clan’s clearance of the 80th Floor still had nearly a year remaining on its duration.
Even if the current floor disappeared, the duration wouldn’t extend, and Doo-ho’s party would have to reclaim those three precious floors from scratch.
The conclusion was singular.
“I accept.”
It happened immediately after.
Clank! Grrrrr.
The massive stone gate exposed on the floor creaked slightly open.
An incredible suction force erupted from the gap between the doors.
-M-Master! Oooaaa, ribbit ribbit!
The transport vessel, along with Isto and Hawkeye outside, were all sucked in.
Even amid the chaos, Doo-ho couldn’t shake his wandering thoughts.
‘Just how strong is this force to push through such water pressure and open the door?’
And another thought that surfaced.
If they were being pulled in with this much momentum, it meant there was no water inside.
‘So we’re going back underwater again?’
.
.
.
Moments later.
My doubts were resolved.
Crash!
The transport vessel landed on the floor with a harsh metallic screech.
“Ow, ow, ow….”
I rose to my feet with a grimace.
-Where… where did all the water go, ribbit?
Bom-i’s eyes, fixed on the main screen, grew as wide as saucers.
Isto and Hawkeye, stationed outside, were clearly flustered, but had no time for deeper contemplation.
Hawkeye’s voice reached into Doo-ho’s mind.
-Mecromancer. There is air.
It meant we could venture outside safely.
I stepped out of the transport vessel for the first time in a while.
As my gaze shifted, a long corridor came into view.
It was spacious enough that we could travel through it aboard the transport vessel.
Before taking my first step, I stopped and addressed everyone.
“Let’s organize ourselves in the Garage before we proceed.”
A god wouldn’t wait.
Time outside would freeze the moment I entered the Garage.
A truly characteristic shift in perspective from me.
The truth was.
There was something I wanted to confirm.
Legacy of the Forgotten Technician.
“I was curious what was inside.”
Became a Mechromancer
Author |
Keongang E
Publication Date |
February 25, 2026
Publisher |
Talesyx
Website |
https://talesyx.com
Email |
[email protected]
© Keongang E, 2026
This publication is protected by copyright law and may not be reproduced or copied without permission.
UCI |
G720:N+A277-20260210015.0071

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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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