In the sterile stillness of the lab, the soft rustle of fabric sliding over skin seemed amplified as each garment fell to the floor.
Liliruca's arms tightened around herself, her flushed cheeks mirroring the nervous flick of her eyes towards Luthar and then away. Silence hung heavy between them.
"You're lucky," Luthar finally said, his voice neutral yet edged with a dry humor. "If I were like most tech-priests, you'd already be half-machine. Skin flayed, nerves replaced, beauty discarded for function."
He paused, his gaze lingering for a moment. "But I am not like them. I won't destroy the original beauty."
The servo-skull chirped, an unimpressed sound that might have been a routine diagnostic.
Luthar gestured towards the cleansing unit. "Step in. We need to sterilize before the procedure."
With a hiss, the unit opened, revealing a basin filled with faintly glowing blue-gold liquid. Metallic petals of pipes and emitters arched above.
Hesitantly, Liliruca stepped into the warmth, still trying to cover herself. A sigh escaped her lips as the liquid eased the knot in her shoulders. Steam curled around her as the servos whirred to life, releasing a luminous mist and low-frequency hums that vibrated through her bones.
"You'll feel a tingling," Luthar said from nearby. "Microscopic scrubbers creating clean traces—essential for interface calibration."
She nodded, her arms still wrapped tightly as the luminous mist swirled around her spine and limbs.
"Your body isn't ready for deep augmentations," he continued. "So we start with tracings. Anchors. Neural scaffolds. The external systems will carry the burden."
He tapped a rune, and the basin drained with a soft hiss.
"Out. Lie on the platform."
She obeyed, climbing onto the cool slab. Red etchings pulsed faintly beneath its surface as clamps clicked into place, and golden light flooded the platform.
"Don't move," Luthar warned, his voice losing its earlier lightness. "This part will hurt."
He lifted a vial—glowing ink suspended in biogel—and loaded it into a sleek injector.
"It's your bridge between flesh and machine."
The first needle sank into her skin, a sharp sting.Liliruca clenched her jaw, her fists balling white-knuckled. Burning lines bloomed across her back, shoulders, and spine—sacred circuitry etched in fire. They pulsed faintly beneath her skin, as if alive.
"How far you go depends on your will," Luthar said quietly, his gaze intent.
The servo-skull hovered closer, its optical sensor whirring silently as it recorded.
The ink threaded deeper, linking nerves she hadn't known existed. The platform beneath her pulsed in rhythm with the sigils now glowing on her flesh.
Then came a hiss—soft, almost gentle.
A transparent mask lowered, sealing over her mouth and nose. Cold, scentless vapor began to flow, stealing her breath.
"Sleep," Luthar murmured, his voice a low hum. "You don't need to feel what comes next."
Her breath slowed, her fingers gradually loosening their grip.
Darkness took her.
From the ceiling, a row of surgical servitors descended like metal saints, their halos replaced by gleaming blades and syringes. With ritual precision, their limbs moved, forming a silent ring around the girl on the slab.
Low binary chants buzzed from their vox-emitters—devotional prayers in the cold language of machines.
Needles pierced her neck, spine, and wrists, implanting fine conductive thread—subdermal interfaces to read motion and intent. Another bored into her lower back, anchoring a reinforced port no larger than a pinpoint. Finally, a nano-sized limb slid into her temple, laying the groundwork for future overlays.
Her body twitched, an unconscious response to the intrusions.
Luthar stood just beyond the silent ring of servitors, arms crossed, his masked face unreadable in the dim light.
When their work was complete, the servitors withdrew in silence, ascending as smoothly as they had descended. Bio-sealants closed the incisions, leaving only faint lines. Cooling plates locked beneath her skin. Her body appeared whole, untouched to the naked eye.
Luthar stood over her, the smooth surface of his mask reflecting the amber light.
Subdermal interface: STABLE
Neural pathways: LINKED
Combat reflex relay: 42% efficiency
He studied the golden schematic hovering above her, a fleeting display of complex data, then dismissed it with a wave of his hand.
The lab lights dimmed to a soft amber. A low hum filled the air, signaling the cooling field activating around the slab.
Luthar turned away. The soft echo of his boots was the only sound as he left the chamber.
In the central hall, Luthar sat alone on a cold metal slab, thinking about what type of technology he should get next as he called up the interface of of his system.
[System Points Available: 2,013,420]
He scrolled through the list of available blueprints, eyes narrowed behind the mask. Advanced reactor designs, long-lost constructs, and engines—all locked behind absurd point thresholds.
The best example is the machine he created to escape.
If he had tried to purchase the blueprint for that escape machine, it would've cost him over a billion points.
Luckily, the system had granted it to him for free. If not for that, he would've died long before he could buy it. After all, there were not many ways he could get system points.
His current points were not enough to buy something expensive, so he needed to look for something useful.
Then, something caught his eye.
[Blueprint: Compact Hyperflux Reactor Core (Prototype-Class)]
Cost: 1,800,000 Points
Status: High Output / low Instability
Notes: Derived from lost Mechanicus field arrays. Requires custom forge calibration. Not rated for civilian zones.]
Luthar paused.
''Unstable... but manageable," he muttered, eyes narrowing. "With the right calibrations, I should be able to solve the problem of instability."
A hyperflux core wouldn't just power his lab—it could open the door to heavier fabrication, autonomous constructs, and even be used in Titan, which he didn't have.
He tapped the purchase glyph.
[Blueprint Acquired.]
After he left for the shop, he could just read the blueprint in the shop while selling some weapons.