Chapter 42 The Unexpected Upgrade

Arthur had been here for three days.

During that time, he had remained on the outskirts of the city, constantly watching. This battle had been raging for nearly half a month, so there was no rush to make a move.

The only pressing issue was his food supply, which had run out a day ago.

Finally, Arthur came up with a simple plan: hijack a vehicle and infiltrate the enemy camp.

The plan was simple in theory, but finding an isolated military vehicle proved to be a challenge.

After waiting a full day and night, he finally spotted a lone truck.

Unexpectedly, seven soldiers emerged from it.

Fortunately, Arthur was no stranger to battle. Seven opponents weren't enough to faze him. Of course, had there been seventy, he would have turned tail without a second thought!

With the enemies dispatched, Arthur dried his hair, drove the truck, and munched on a can of beef. The taste was far from gourmet, but after a while it strangely grew on him, giving him a strange sense of satisfaction.

Having meticulously studied the routes over the past few days, Arthur was ready to head straight for the enemy camp when a familiar yet unexpected sound reached his ears.

It was the sound of gears grinding!

"Fuck!"

Arthur's eyes widened in surprise. The Disassembler!

After five months of inactivity, the Disassembler had finally been reactivated!

During its dormancy, Arthur couldn't help but worry that his Disassembler might have been a buggy product, permanently offline under the guise of an upgrade.

But now it had reappeared.

"Disassembler upgrade complete!"

The familiar message reassured Arthur, but another message quickly followed.

"Mana Extractor function unlocked!"

"Hmm… Mana Extractor sounds about right… NOT!"

Arthur was stunned. "Where did this Mana Extractor come from? What the hell is a Mana Extractor? This is the Disassembler, right? Since when does that have anything to do with magic?"

Calling the 'Mana Extractor' brought no response.

Arthur then conjured the Disassembler. It materialized in his mind.

There were changes, but not many.

It still looked battered, as if it could be discarded at any moment.

Two significant changes stood out. First, the name.

Before, it had been called the Newbie Advanced Disassembler.

Now it was the Beginner Level 1 Disassembler.

From the name alone, there seemed to be no real change… so names are just labels, right?

The second change was more noticeable. In the lower left corner of the Disassembler, there was now a glass-like device integrated into the main body.

From its design, Arthur guessed that this 'Mana Extractor' was different from the ones in the games.

The Mana Extractor seemed to be an upgrade function of the Disassembler, rather than a separate entity.

"So… its functions are probably different from those in games, which makes sense. Who ever heard of a disassembler in DNF that could break down skill books?"

Arthur scoffed at the superficial changes. The most important thing was the functionality!

He had to see if the Disassembler would finally deliver some impressive results after its five-month upgrade.

Despite the Disassembler's long silence, Arthur had been anything but idle.

He had amassed a vast arsenal of weapons, all of which were stored in the Disassembler's inventory. Over 300 items, including rifles, sniper rifles, pistols, submachine guns, and even melee weapons.

With such an extensive cache, Arthur felt like a walking arsenal.

If the Disassembler had more room, he could have stored even more!

This arsenal gave Arthur a strange urge to dye his hair yellow, wear a golden Asgardian outfit, and yell "Mongrel" at everyone he encountered.

He knew, however, that this impulse was foolish. Acting on it would probably get him killed.

"Not every blonde is Gilgamesh," He muttered, satisfied that his inner Tsukkomi spirit had been appeased. Just as he was about to dive into his grand disassembly plan, a noise from the back of the truck caught his attention.

Immediately, Arthur became serious.

He listened intently, his Battle Soul-enhanced hearing picking up the faintest sounds amid the roar of the engine and the patter of the rain. He could clearly hear the faint breathing coming from the back of the truck.

"Someone's there!"

Arthur's heart raced. He had checked the bed earlier; it was empty!

They were still some distance from Hydra's military factory. Who could have sneaked into his truck?

Wait a minute… That wasn't his truck!

It was Hydra's truck!

This meant that someone had infiltrated Hydra's vehicle.

Who could it be? And why?

Despite these questions, Arthur quickly calmed down.

Given the circumstances, the intruder was more likely an ally than an enemy.

He decided to remain calm, disassembling the weapons in his inventory while remaining vigilant.

The person in the bed remained still, the only giveaway being his breathing.

Arthur multitasked, driving while listening and examining the upgraded functions of the disassembler.

To his surprise, the upgraded disassembler could now disassemble up to five weapons at once!

He started with five rifles and the results amazed him.

**[Announcement]

**[Equipment disassembly successful!]**.

**Beginner Rifle Shooting Experience * 32]**.

**Beginner Rifle Marksmanship Experience * 28]*

**[Broken Battle Soul * 5]*

*[Dark Crystal Dull Colorless Crystal Shard * 1]**

*Disassembly Experience +5]**.

**Disassembly complete. Do you wish to extract now?

"Colorless?"

Arthur was stunned. How did this appear?

It wasn't surprising in theory, but why now?

He pulled out the pale, colorless crystal shard and held it in his hand, it was a one-centimeter cubic, dull, glowing object with visible energy ripples.

The texture immediately reminded Arthur of fragmented energy residue.

"I see!"

Arthur realized, "When colorless crystal shards break, they become fragmented energy residue! Or maybe the Disassembler's previous abilities couldn't extract enough power to form a colorless crystal shard. But now, the Beginner Level 1 Disassembler equipped with the Mana Extractor can form a colorless crystal shard… even if it's dim."

Arthur marveled at the upgrade, knowing it could change the course of his mission. But he remained focused, aware of the potential ally hiding in the cargo bed.