The Repair That Unlocked a New Skill

The class structure of Gaon Mega City was as clear and harsh as it was.

The ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠absolute rulers of Gaon Mega City, the headquarters and ruling class of the three major megacorps, ruled the topmost artificial paradise, the 1st Special District Over Heaven.

Right below that, the upper layer, the 2nd Special District Sky Nexus, where top-tier companies and high-end research institutes were concentrated, housing the elite of the upper class.

The middle layer, the 3rd Special District Under Sky, where commoners struggled to climb towards the upper class.

And at the very bottom, the lowest tier, Ground Zero, where all the filth and toxic smog of the city settled.

Although the city wasn't actually divided into layers stacked above and below, people in the city called this structure the four-tier system because to truly move to another district required the effort of climbing a mountain.

Among them, Vivian was a commoner from the middle tier, the 3rd Special District Under Sky.

The path for commoners from the 3rd Special District to reach the upper layer Sky Nexus was not many.

Scouted to a talented academy under a major corporation after showing overwhelming talent in a youth aptitude test.

Or developing a technology patent that caught the eye of a megacorp, receiving hundreds of billions in shares and upper-class citizenship in one go.

Or, failing that, the miracle of winning the city lottery operated by the megacorps to give commoners a breath of fresh air.

But Vivian had not been able to achieve any of those.

She was not a genius born with immense talent, nor was she someone with the creativity to create a patent.

There was only one way for Vivian to climb to the upper class.

'I can only climb from the bottom up with my own efforts.'

Fortunately, she wasn't talented enough to be called a genius, but Vivian had talent in magic.

Instead of destructive magic or elemental magic that abounded with century-old geniuses, she delved into the niche market of recovery magic. Fortunately, her choice was correct, and Vivian climbed to the doorstep of the interview ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠at a large hospital in the upper layer at a surprisingly fast pace.

It was right then that she needed a prosthetic arm.

But as a commoner, she had no money like thousands of millions of credits to buy a Synix magic-using prosthetic.

She frantically searched through every store to find the most efficient item within her budget.

“Did you say Vivian? What good luck. I happened to have one left over at the very end.”

It was like fate. The broker she had luckily introduced her to had the item that fit her barely prepared budget.

“It's the real deal from the headquarters, with service included. I'm showing it to you at the cheapest possible price. Don't try to buy it at this price anywhere else.”

Thus, Vivian emptied her entire fortune to obtain Arcana Tech's masterpiece, the Silver Ether Wing Mk-3.

The price of choice was sweet.

“The final successful applicant... is Vivian.”

She had finally achieved the miracle of entering the large hospital in the upper layer, the 2nd Special District Sky Nexus.

But the good times were very short.

At some point, her body began to creak.

When she started using magic for long periods, a stinging pain like needles at the fingertips appeared, and using high-tier magic caused mana to drain instantly.

“Ugh... uuuu ugh...”

Every time this happened, Vivian had to pant while holding back the nausea from mana depletion or dizziness.

Naturally, it was nearly impossible to raise her tier any higher.

And the elite society in the upper layer was not merciful enough to wait for a commoner-born doctor whose growth had stalled.

“You've worked hard so far. With Vivian's level of experience, a hospital down below would welcome you with open arms, so pack your things and leave tomorrow.”

In the end, Vivian, whose growth had stalled, received a termination notice from her job.

'Has my talent ended here? Because of the limit of my bloodline as someone from Under Sky, my growth stopped here?'

She didn't want to end her life as an upper-class person and fall back to the middle layer like this. She struggled to find a way out, and it was Go Jin-tae who extended a helping hand to her at that time.

“You have a poisonous gaze, I must say. I like that.”

Thanks ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠to Go Jin-tae, who noticed her determination by chance and provided massive funding, Vivian was able to open her own private magical clinic in the upper layer and achieve a comeback.

But that was Vivian's limit. Since Vivian's tier didn't rise, she would have to stay there forever. The fear that she might be pulled back down to Under Sky again someday.

The days of secretly chewing painkillers alone at night and shedding tears.

The hellish time of several years.

“Other mages use this model just fine, so I'm sure you were just blaming yourself for being inferior to others. Am I right?”

That one sentence melted the old regret that had been weighing on Vivian's heart in an instant.

“... Really, it's not a problem with my body, but with the prosthetic's defect...?”

What... what?

Vivian, who had been showing her proud upper-class mage appearance just a moment ago, suddenly collapsed like a child with her tongue twisting and tears and snot flowing, all in an instant.

“Hic... really... hic! It's not my talent, it's...?”

“No, why are you crying. It's embarrassing.”

Suddenly, the lofty elite doctor from the upper layer 2nd Special District was gone, and only one mage left, unable to continue speaking due to being overwhelmed with injustice.

“Here, here. Calm down first. Wipe your nose from here.”

“I'm fine. I'll wipe it myself.”

When I handed her the tissue I had bought from the junk shop earlier, Vivian, after glancing at it for a moment, took out her own handkerchief from her pocket and wiped her face.

Hmm... it's too cheap for an upper-class person to use.

I awkwardly folded the tissue and put it back in my pocket.

This was money to me now.

“... If you can find out about this, can you fix it?”

The way of speaking has changed a lot from before. Has your heart opened a bit?

I wanted to bring up the repair cost first, but it was hard to talk about repair costs with a woman sobbing in front of me.

Sigh. No choice.

First, fix it, then subtly bring up the repair cost later.

“It's not a particularly difficult task. Please wait a moment.”

I pulled mana from the external battery in my pocket.

And I inserted the mana core into the inside of the prosthetic.

Fwoosh—

Then, with the Demon Eye of Spell Breaking activated, the internal circuits of the prosthetic arm were transparently unfolded in my mind.

It was an old piece of equipment that I had disassembled and modified dozens of times, so I knew it well without even looking.

The place where mana leakage occurs is the mana insulation joint near the wrist.

Normally, when repairing a mana leak, the easiest way is to use ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the synergy of the mana core and Suture Healing to seal it off, like when repairing before.

But if you repair a place like the wrist area that way, it will cause problems in usability right away.

Even if the mana leak is sealed, you will feel discomfort every time you fold and unfold it.

Probably, during regular check-ups, they would fill mana oil and mana shielding gel in this area to induce lubrication and sealing at the same time, but in the 301 serial batch, the gap in the wrist joint was made slightly wider than the standard.

'If it were a normal product, the oil and gel would be tightly packed in the joint gap to block the mana, but... in the 301 batch, the gap is too wide, so if high-density mana comes in, the insulation gel can't withstand the pressure and bursts out.'

Oil and gel alone cannot achieve complete sealing.

But there was one function that could be used to repair such a sensitive area.

Namely, the Precept MagicProhibition Order (-20 Pt)

Prohibition Order is a 1st-circle basic precept magic that enforces minor rules on the target.

It draws a boundary line with a magic circle on the floor or in the air and restricts the target's actions, like 'Do not cross this line.'

In its original use in games, the classic use of this magic was to imprison completely suppressed prisoners or to briefly tie the feet of enemies with much lower tiers than the user.

But, as a 1st-circle magic, its binding power was extremely weak.

Even if a 3rd-circle used it on a 1st-circle, the seal would break in less than 10 seconds, and the restraining power was so insignificant that in real combat, it was a representative gimmick skill that no one bothered to use.

In a game where points were already tight, no user would buy such trash with disadvantages dangling everywhere.

'But, when repairing machines, there aren't many magic spells that are this efficient.'

Living beings have self-awareness and try to break the precepts forcibly to escape, but there is no will to resist pure energy like electricity or mana.

To mana, which has no will to resist, a crude 1st-circle prohibition order can extract amazing efficiency.

I manipulated the mana thread extending from the prosthetic arm's inside and drew a round circle in the air along the wrist area where the leak was occurring.

And on the trajectory of the mana thread, I inscribed the precept of Prohibition Order.

'I declare. Mana passage is prohibited at the boundary of this gap.'

A faint light began to shimmer inside the prosthetic arm, and the magic circle of Prohibition Order began to rotate and activate.

I took out the tissue I had put in my pocket earlier and wiped the sweat from my forehead.

It was fortunate that the complexity of the leak area was not too high.

At my current level, it would have been quite a struggle to fix a leak of this magnitude.

“Hoo...”

I withdrew the mana thread and pulled my hand away.

“Repair complete. Please rotate your wrist to check for any uncomfortable spots, and try letting some mana flow through it.”