Technological Revolution (2)
“I heard you requested an interview.”
In the director’s office of the Azerion Imperial Hospital.
As the owner of the room opened his mouth with his usual cold expression, Hesperon, seated across from him, nodded solemnly.
“Yes. It’s regarding my artificial eye…”
He spoke while gently caressing the eye patch over his right eye socket missing the eyeball he lost on the day of Riley’s attack.
After losing his eye, an artificial eye had been awkwardly implanted by the hospital in the vacant socket.
It was a measure taken to maintain the balance of his face, but since it was provided by the imperial hospital, it was a high-quality item not easily found.
Crafted with a magical stone, it was considered magical equipment, laden with various beneficial effects related to health—.
“I would like to replace it.”
This statement caused the hospital director to squint slightly at the pearl white orb that Hesperon presented.
A smooth, pearl white sphere the size of a typical adult eyeball.
Even though he was well-informed in various fields, the material was so extraordinary that he couldn’t even guess what it was made of, yet it didn’t seem to have any special power.
“It’s neither engraved with a magic circle nor cursed. It lacks a magical stone inside it.”
To put it plainly, it was merely an ornament and nothing more.
As he quietly regarded it, the director turned his gaze back to the patient.
After all, he had an obligation to do his best as a doctor.
“The cultivation of an artificial eyeball is almost complete. Of course, in your case, it won’t restore your vision, but at the very least, it can make it look exactly the same as before.”
He calmly continued, explaining that movements of the pupil and focus adjustments would no longer require an eye patch.
“While replacing the artificial eye isn’t particularly difficult, considering you’re due for an artificial eye implant soon, is it really necessary at this point?”
Hesperon nodded firmly at that statement.
Unlike before, there was now a reason for this.
“Yes, please.”
“Understood.”
Seeing Hesperon’s determined will, the director no longer pressed for comments.
After all, such minor issues wouldn’t significantly affect the examination results, so he seemed inclined to comply with the patient’s wishes.
‘If he were to refuse the artificial eye implant later, that would elicit a different reaction altogether.’
He felt slightly apologetic for the trouble, but as he said earlier, there was no helping it since it wouldn’t restore his eyesight anyway.
Since it was his eye, shouldn’t he choose the option that would be the most efficient and helpful?
After a simple procedure swapping out the artificial eye.
Casually returning to the private room within the hospital, Hesperon quietly looked into a mirror.
‘…Just as I thought. Even in this state, even a grand wizard wouldn’t recognize it.’
The pearl white orb settled into his right eye socket.
The identity of that object, which even the director failed to discern, was an artificial eye stolen from Yul Ryeong-ja, commonly known as ‘Callicas’s Machina.’
Since all its mysteries and functions ceased when crossing dimensions, to anyone else, it appeared merely as a peculiar orb unless they looked inside.
‘It was unnecessary to go all the way to Earth pretending to keep it secret.’
Ultimately, what mattered more than the procedure itself was how to operate it afterward.
In its current state, it was nothing more than a half-baked tool usable only on Earth.
‘If that’s the case, dismantling it and using it as nourishment for Howard would be better. The best scenario would be showing it in a setup where I could collect real-time data along with regular inspections and analyses.’
And the most suitable target for that was none other than Hesperon himself.
After all, he was in a situation where he was missing an eye···.
“Hoo, then… shall we begin?”
He had a secret that could bypass such dimensional restrictions.
Taking a deep breath, Hesperon closed his eyes and concentrated on the artificial eye.
“······.”
A magical tool in one world cannot be used in another.
This was an absolute law that an individual could not change.
However, wasn’t there another premise in play?
The existence of an Awakened One was an exception even to the laws of such dimensions.
‘If so…’
What if he could bind the magical tool and the Awakened One into one?
If he could recognize the relationship not merely as user and tool, but as an integral part of his body?
‘For others, it would be impossible.’
But he had the ability to make that happen.
Soon, the power of the “Chain of Pact” activated, starting a communion with the deactivated artificial eye.
———!
A sharp pain shot from his eye to his brain.
It felt as if an intense resistance he had never experienced before surged through him.
He had sensed this during the sealing of his right arm, but indeed, as the level of the target increased, so did the difficulty, making the initial stages incredibly tight.
Especially since the artificial eye was in a completely inactive state, communion would naturally be much harder.
‘But… I anticipated this much.’
What was needed here was Howard’s “Technological Revolution.”
The ability to intervene in the composition of items from other dimensions and modify parts of them.
‘If the problem is that the laws of each dimension differ, then I can just manually modify that part to make them compatible!’
By reconfiguring the internal structure, he could enable functionalities that should have been unusable even in part.
Of course, considering he had only recently obtained this ability, complete reactivation was out of the question···.
But he could still breathe a little life into those functions that were entirely silent.
Zing—
As the pre-established conditions were met, he felt a faint vibration near his eye.
A tiny operating sound only he could perceive, transmitted through his skull, with nothing leaking outside.
‘It’s working.’
In that fleeting moment.
The “Chain of Pact,” which swiftly penetrated inside, seized the opportunity.
‘Now, come this way.’
Encounter, negotiation, coordination, compromise, coercion, and control···.
The process of completely dominating the target and binding them together unfolded smoothly.
Once that series of operations concluded, countless green symbols began to emerge in his previously blackened right field of vision, swiftly passing overhead.
And at the center of it all, one phrase appeared.
[System reboot.]
“……Success.”
As Hesperon stared blankly at the phrase, he turned back to the mirror.
The previously smooth pearl-white surface of the artificial eye was gone, now replaced with a mesmerizing eye that had naturally settled at its center.
The blue rim surrounding the iris was filled with glowing geometric patterns.
“……Impressive.”
It was a thoroughly objective observation made without any emotions.
What a magnificent cyborg eye; any man would find it hard to resist that fantasy!
He felt a surge of gratitude toward Yul Ryeong-ja for generously providing him with this.
[An unverified update has been detected.]
[Due to unknown reasons, base performance has drastically improved.]
[Check additional details.]
He soon cast a glance to the right side of his vision where a phrase appeared.
The “Chain of Pact” not only performed synchronization but also included additional effects that enhanced the target.
It seemed to recognize those things as updates.
However, because of that, there was one thing that caused him some concern···.
[Location data check… Failure.]
[Initiating satellite connection… Failure.]
[Communication recovery attempt… Failure.]
‘What a pointless endeavor. Enough of that.’
[Emergency response sequence terminated. Switching to normal mode.]
Originally, the AI performance of the artificial eye’s auxiliary persona, which would have been somewhat passive, had risen as well.
Of course, since it was bound by “Chain of Pact,” it wouldn’t matter much.
‘An AI within my eye accompanying the black dragon in my arm. It feels a bit complicated.’
Still, the AI… bearing a name derived from its originating dimension, ‘Cally,’ would not act independently like the “Right Arm of Desire,” so it wasn’t entirely a negative situation.
“Alright, now I want to test the performance in a practical scenario.”
Having obtained new abilities, it was natural to want to try them out.
Hesperon was about to step out of his private room but paused.
‘Hmm, it’s better to keep this hidden for now. I might attract unnecessary attention.’
After a short deliberation, he placed a black eye patch over his right eye once more.
Though even with that, seeing through the eyelid and patch was easily possible—there was no issue with functionality.
“Alright, let’s go! First, I’ll take a stroll through the park before···”
Thus, the newly evolved Hesperon strode forward with confidence.
*
“Hmm?”
The hospital director, who had just finished paperwork and rounds, abruptly stopped in his tracks.
He had turned his head to the window out of habit, catching sight of a certain figure.
For a moment, his head tilted slightly to the side without him realizing it.
Hesperon, the man specifically requested by Princess Riley, was behaving suspiciously near the walking path.
He seemed dazed, staring into the distance, focusing on the flower bed, but would jump every time he encountered someone, quickly averting his gaze, and frowning at the nearby restroom wall, clearly displeased.
Ultimately, he tightly closed his remaining eye, let out a sigh, and wasted time staring blankly at the sky.
“…..Hmm.”
Indeed, it was a set of unique behaviors never witnessed before.
As the director watched Hesperon seriously, he slowly stroked his chin.
Now that he thought about it, Hesperon had come with some sort of artificial eye wanting to replace the existing one.
Seeing him behave like this right after that raised concerns that perhaps something mentally was off.
‘Well, that’s to be expected. The reason for his hospitalization was due to the perpetrator who caused his past permanent disability. Yet he had shown reasonably good behavior until now, which allowed me to feel somewhat relieved.’
Besides, he was still under the influence of a curse.
In fact, it was strange that he had appeared so normal up until now.
‘I should prepare for a psychological consultation tomorrow. Now that I think about it, he wanted to go outside; I need to figure out a way to compromise… Hm?’
While the hospital director was preoccupied with taking notes on the chart in hand, he caught Hesperon in his periphery again.
More precisely, his eye where the black patch covered.
“…..Strange.”
He couldn’t help but mutter that line.
However, upon looking again, there was nothing particularly unusual to see.
Hence, the peculiarity became all the more pronounced.
‘The flow of magical power is calm…’
His intuition sensed something amiss, yet his rational mind couldn’t pinpoint any oddities.
‘…Is it just my imagination?’
That thought lingered until the peculiar behavior of the individual in question vanished from sight.
With a slight frown, the director let out a short sigh and continued on his way.
He was far too busy to waste time on vague problems.
Meanwhile, Hesperon, the subject of that concern, returned to his private room after a light stroll that also tested the capabilities of the artificial eye.
He promptly issued his first directive to AI Cally.
[Executing commands. Disabling clothing x-ray until a risk factor is detected or further instructions are given. Also, automatically filtering anything dirty on the x-ray path.]
“Hmm.”
No matter what they said, he was still an upright gentleman.
