My Tribrid System: More than a Monster-Chapter 122: Part Machine?

Chapter 120

After the homeroom session concluded, everyone hurried over to their respective specialization classes.

Ray found himself in the expansive combat and weapon mastery hall, where Felix seemed determined not to leave his side for even a single moment.

Throughout the duration of the lesson, Jake demonstrated several new fighting techniques and even began incorporating fluid weapon usage in between strikes.

He promised the students that starting the following week, they would be taught the formal handling of various armaments.

Though the instructor wasn’t an absolute master of every single weapon in existence, he could still provide the essential basic instructions.

Ray, however, didn’t strictly need the introductory course.

With his ’Fifteen percent mastery over all weapons’ perk, he merely had to grip a tool in his hand to understand its fundamental purpose and utility.

After the day he had received that specific gift, he had conducted some research and discovered that the fifteen percent threshold allowed him a baseline competence with any martial instrument.

For instance, if he held a bow and a quiver of arrows, he could nock, aim, and release with relative ease and without any clumsy hitches.

However, more complicated applications—such as intricate footwork while drawing, specialized positioning, and elite-level marksmanship—were entirely left for him to develop through experience.

That inherent intuition was the reason he could instinctively utilize the gauntlets he had been gifted. 𝐟𝚛𝕖𝚎𝕨𝗲𝐛𝚗𝐨𝐯𝐞𝕝.𝐜𝗼𝗺

Since using them was essentially as straightforward as punching and slashing with his reinforced fingers, the learning curve wasn’t particularly steep.

After Jake finished teaching the specific forms, Ray absorbed them like a parched sponge thanks to his ’Perfect and Absolute Muscle Memory.’

Once the demonstration ended, the instructor directed the students to select a partner for a live sparring session.

Before Ray could even scan the room for an opponent, Felix had already dashed toward him, practically forcing him into a duel.

The intense exchange stretched for nearly two and a half hours before the class finally drew to a close.

Just as Ray was preparing to depart, a notification pinged on his wrist-mounted watch.

It was a message from Van, containing a set of coordinates and an urgent request to hurry.

’What could be so pressing that Van had to summon me like this? Wait—is he being targeted by bullies again?’

A surge of panic coursed through him.

Without wasting a second, he hurried out of the training hall, dashing toward the location Van had transmitted.

On his way there, he nearly collided with Kai, who was also moving with a sense of purpose.

"Did he send you an urgent message too?"

Ray nodded grimly.

"What could this be about? Do you think he’s in some kind of trouble?" Kai asked, his expression visibly clouded with concern.

"Well, there’s no use standing around here wondering. Let’s go," Ray urged.

With that, the two boys sprinted toward the specified coordinates.

Within two minutes, they found themselves standing before a heavy door in a strange, isolated building detached from the main campus facilities.

Before entering, Ray quickly tapped his temples twice, and instantly, his vision shifted into a different spectrum.

He peered through the solid door, and his eyes locked onto a familiar aura.

It was definitely Van’s.

"What’s the situation?" Kai asked, turning to stare at Ray, who was now frowning as he studied the doorway.

The Tribrid took a few silent moments to process what he was seeing before finally replying.

"It’s... nothing?"

Kai was now thoroughly perplexed.

"Hm? What do you mean by ’nothing’?"

Ray quickly tapped his temples again, deactivating the sensory skill.

He pushed the door open and walked in with a newfound confidence.

Upon hearing the door creak open, the duo spotted Van sitting in a high-backed chair that looked remarkably like an office seat.

In front of him sat a computer monitor that appeared almost ancient and outdated.

The rest of the space was an absolute labyrinth of equipment and discarded machinery.

In fact, the boys could barely move forward without their feet striking strange, metallic objects or tangles of wire.

It was like stepping into a high-tech scrapyard.

Spinning around in his chair to face the newcomers, Van beamed at them, a small metallic sphere resting in his palm.

"Van, what is the meaning of all this? Why did you call us here so urgently?" Ray asked, his brow raised as he surveyed the room packed with metallic clutter.

Some he could recognize, while others he couldn’t even begin to put a name to.

"What? I just wanted to show you all my own personal workshop. Is that so bad?" Van asked, a wide, proud smile stretching across his face.

Kai raised an eyebrow, scanning the chaotic interior.

"Workshop? Wait, how did you even manage to fill this entire room almost to the brim with machinery?"

Van chuckled, spinning slowly in his chair while absentmindedly playing with the metallic ball in his hand.

"Well, I was actually granted this room as a prize for completing a special assignment from the instructor. The rest, I filled myself. Scraps that were of no use and machinery parts salvaged from various places—I gathered them all and made them functional again."

Ray furrowed his brows in thought.

"When exactly did you receive this prize?"

Van shrugged nonchalantly.

"The very day you got into that fight with Berg. I was actually hurrying here to check the place out when I accidentally bumped into him, right before he gave me that thrashing."

"Oh." The boys nodded in unison, though they still couldn’t take their eyes off the sheer volume of equipment.

One particular object caught Ray’s eye; he bent down and picked it up.

It looked like a simple, shiny coin.

"What’s th—"

"No! Don’t pick it—"

Boom—!

The coin detonated directly in front of Ray’s face, instantly covering his features in a thick layer of black soot.

"... Up." Van finished weakly.

"Hahahaha~!" Kai immediately erupted into laughter, pointing unreservedly at Ray’s charred-looking face.

Ray just stood there, frozen for a few moments and staring blankly into space as the acrid smoke wafted into his sensitive nose.

Inside his mind, Bruce was also howling with laughter.

’Oh my goodness! I wish I could see your face right now. Hahaha~!’

"I’m so sorry!" Van apologized frantically.

He jumped down from his chair and hurried toward Ray to help.

However, his own workshop worked against him.

His foot struck a solid, engine-like part, causing him to lose his footing entirely.

He was currently falling face-forward, directly toward a jagged steel spike protruding from a workbench.

Seeing the danger, Ray’s instincts kicked in.

He darted forward, putting all fifty points of his Agility stat into immediate use.

He appeared in front of Van in the blink of an eye; one hand clamped onto the inventor’s arm while the second caught him by the chest, halting his momentum inches from the spike.

Kai breathed a heavy sigh of relief. "What a close one."

Then, his brows furrowed in suspicion. ’Is it just me, or did he get even faster?’

"Ah... thank you," Van breathed, trying to steady his footing.

He placed his second hand on Ray’s palm to help himself rise fully when,

[DING!]

[ALERT: A request to communicate with the System has been received]

[Request blocked automatically by the System]

Van, on the other hand, was too stunned to move.

His eyes widened to the size of saucers as he stared up at Ray.

His hands began to quiver in his friend’s grip, and he swiftly yanked them away, taking several small, panicked steps backward in shock.

"Ray... Ray, what are you? Yo—You are part machine?!"

The question caught Kai completely off guard, his brows flaring up in confusion.

"Huh?!"