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Chapter 27: Back to the Wild
🕑 Added 2025-06-11 09:23:11 +0000 UTC"Aah!!!" Seraphina's surprised shriek echoed through the clearing.
"Alright, Seraphina, stop shouting," Ethan's synthesized voice as Upgrade emanated from her own armor. "My audio receptors were almost deafened by your scream!"
Seraphina had just been startled by Upgrade rushing over and merging with her. When she came to her senses, she found that she hadn't suffered any harm, and her armor now felt strangely… alive. "Ethan? Where did you go?"
She looked around but found no trace of him. Then, right on her own chest plate, a black-and-green head suddenly popped out from the surface of the armor as if it were made of liquid. The single, round green eye on its face blinked, and at the same time, it made a sound. "Psst, how do you do!"
"Aah!!!"
Folks, who gets it? You're wearing your armor just fine, and a head suddenly pops out of your chest and even says a polite hello to you. How terrifying is that? Seraphina almost collapsed to the ground in fright.
Ethan, as Upgrade, chuckled. "Heh, I said, is it really that bad? I see you're usually so brave, Seraphina."
"How can this be the same?!" she retorted, her heart still pounding. "A weird head suddenly pops out of your own body! Aren't you afraid if it happened to you?!"
"Hehe, just being a little naughty," Upgrade said cheerfully. "Very happy!"
Marcus, who had been watching with wide-eyed astonishment, finally spoke up. "You two, stop fooling around. Ethan, what's the actual use of this new form?"
"Watch me demonstrate for you," Upgrade replied. "Marcus, what kind of weapon do you like?"
Marcus thought for a moment, his mind racing with possibilities. "A super-big greatsword, or maybe some massive power gauntlets. I feel those are more suitable for my fighting style."
"Your wish is my command!" Upgrade declared. Suddenly, the psionic armor on Marcus's body, which Upgrade had now flowed over to and possessed, began to shift and transform. At his hands, two giant, powerful-looking gauntlets grew out, sleek and menacing. Now they realized that the original camouflage pattern on Marcus's armor had morphed, now covered in the black-and-green circuit-like stripes of Upgrade. Marcus joyfully looked at the new weapons on his body and threw a few punches, finding that these psionically-enhanced gauntlets had actually amplified his strength even further.
"This is too cool!" he exclaimed.
"This isn't even all of it," Upgrade said. "Take out that saber from your back." Marcus drew the greatsword he carried. Suddenly, the sword itself began to transform in his grasp. A circular saw-like mechanism grew around the hilt, and with a whir, it began to rotate at high speed. The greatsword had actually turned into a powerful chainsword!
"Whoa, this is so badass!" Looking at the elemental gauntlets and the roaring chainsword on his hands, Marcus was getting more and more fond of his friend’s new ability. Suddenly, just as quickly as they had appeared, the two weapons began to melt, the nanites flowing and retracting, gradually disappearing from his hands. And Ethan, as Upgrade, had also detached from his psionic armor. The armor on Marcus's body also returned to its original, normal appearance.
Ethan de-transformed back to his human form, looking slightly tired. "So, that's the basic ability of Upgrade. It can possess any metal object, any machine, and upgrade it. It's a real shame we don't have a gun now; otherwise, I'd upgrade a portable RPG for you right here on the spot."
Marcus was still in awe. "This ability is absolutely heaven-defying! It's simply a gospel for any metal-type psionicists out there!"
Seraphina nodded in agreement, her mind racing with the tactical possibilities. "That's right. Metal-type psionicists generally manifest their abilities as items, like sabers and swords, or control metallic objects. All of those are things Upgrade can merge with. If they were paired with Upgrade, their combat strength could definitely be boosted by several levels."
Ethan grinned at Seraphina. "So, when the time comes, as long as I possess your equipment, Upgrade's ability will definitely be able to raise your personal combat power by a whole notch." Hearing Ethan's words, Seraphina's eyes lit up, and her mind was already filled with exciting scenes of herself wearing her newly upgraded armor, wielding enhanced weapons, and rampaging through hordes of enemies. But… she then remembered the sensation of him merging with her armor. Although the two of them were very familiar with each other, it was, after all, a form of close physical attachment, which was a bit… well, embarrassing. Ethan could also see Seraphina's sudden embarrassment.
"It's okay if you feel embarrassed about that," he said quickly. "I can just possess your weapons instead. When the time comes, you just need to wield the upgraded weapons and smash things with them."
Seraphina thought for a moment and felt that this plan was very feasible. "Alright," she said, her excitement returning. "Then I'll have to ask you to possess my spear later when we get into a fight."
"No problem!"
The teams that came out to hunt monstrous beasts and search for treasures were not just them; on the contrary, there were many such groups in the wilds. To be on the safe side and find a secluded spot, Ethan transformed into Wildvine and, using this alien hero's special characteristics, tried to communicate with the surrounding plants to scout the area.
Ethan, as Wildvine, closed his eyes and released his consciousness, allowing it to connect to the network of surrounding flowers, trees, and roots. In an instant, a flood of raw, sensory information from these plants rushed into his mind. Ethan himself couldn't understand this information, but the innate instincts of the Wildvine form could generally sense their meaning and then translate it into information that Ethan could comprehend. Although this information couldn't yet form complex language, Ethan could already understand the general meaning, the core feelings, of the plant life around him.
He used this connection, a form of telepathy, to communicate with them. "Hello there." After this simple greeting, he felt the plants send back a vague, curious response. Although this consciousness was still too difficult to understand clearly, it was progress.
Ethan decided to strike while the iron was hot. "Could you please tell me where the fewest people are around here?" At this moment, a tall coconut tree nearby transmitted a faint bit of directional information. Based on the information emanating from that coconut tree, Ethan judged the direction to be to the northeast.
"How many people are in that direction?" This time, Ethan didn't receive any clear information. After all, for these relatively low-intelligence plants, being able to do this much was already a wonderful surprise to Ethan. He couldn't force them to do too much. Being able to get this basic directional information already satisfied Ethan greatly.
"Then do you know where there are any other plants with very strong energy, any treasures, around here?" he asked as a final question. Then, through the collective information transmitted by the plants in a certain direction, Ethan "saw" a large stone in his mind's eye. He could vaguely sense their collective meaning; it seemed there was some kind of treasure located at or under that stone.
Ethan’s eyes snapped open. "!!!" An unexpected find!!!
He immediately disconnected the link with the plants and impatiently transformed into the swift XLR8. "Guys, let's go! I think I found something!" He grabbed the two of them and ran towards the direction of that big tree and the stone the plants had shown him. After running for a short distance, they indeed saw a large, weathered stone. That large stone was, on the surface, very ordinary. The only thing worth mentioning was probably that many people over the years might have sat or lain on it to rest, so its top surface had become very smooth, very suitable for resting on.
Ethan switched to Four Arms. "C'mon, Marcus, let's try and move this thing together!"
Marcus immediately activated his muscle strengthening. The psionic armor on his body also expanded along with his body size. Although it still covered his entire body, the armor plates were visibly thinner and more stretched out by quite a bit. This was a specially designed suit for psionicists like him who rely on their physical bodies to expand and transform.
Ethan, as Four Arms, and Marcus each grabbed a side of the massive stone. "Okay… on three! One, two, three, LIFT!"
The two of them used all their incredible strength, their muscles straining, trying to lift the stone. But this stone was even heavier, far heavier, than they had ever imagined. Marcus's face turned red from the sheer effort.
Ethan, whose face as Four Arms was already red, grunted, "...right, the stone isn't moving an inch! Not even a wobble!" The two of them held on for a little while longer, straining with all their might, then completely ran out of energy, collapsing to the ground, panting.
"No, no way," Ethan gasped. "It's way too heavy. Let me switch to another method." Ethan thought for a moment, cycling through his available alien heroes to see if he had any he could use for this situation, then he suddenly remembered: Wait a minute… can't Wildvine travel underground? He then slapped his own forehead. Duh, how could I have forgotten that!
After that, he transformed into Wildvine and, without hesitation, drilled his entire plant-like body down into the soft earth. When he emerged from the ground a few moments later, on the other side of the stone, from what appeared to be a hidden cave entrance blocked by the rock, he finally understood why they couldn't move that stone at all.
