The deep, uncharted wilderness of Planet Vanguard-4 was an untamed hellscape of toxic flora and colossal predators. For a human soldier without a Gold Mech, stepping into these woods was suicide.
For Lucian, it was a buffet.
For three weeks, Lucian completely vanished from the civilized grid. He hunted tirelessly in the dark valleys, testing the absolute limits of his new body. He learned to synchronize his movements perfectly. He would trigger [Shadow Step], materialize directly above a roaming Abyss Stalker, and drive his hands down with a devastating, 20-point Strength strike.
If the creature's armor was too thick, his fingers would erupt in a blinding flash of violet-blue energy. His [Plasma Claw] sliced through alien chitin like a hot wire through butter.
Every kill resulted in a feast of dark mist flowing into his chest via [Assimilation]. He devoured the biological essence of beasts and scavenged the wreckage of fallen Federation drones scattered in the wilds, steadily hardening his pale skin and fueling his system.
But a man couldn't live in the mud forever. To truly grow his power and build an empire, he needed information, resources, and a base of operations. He needed to re-enter human society—but Lucian the zero-resonance conscript had to stay dead.
Using his tattered military cloak to conceal his growing black horns and the glowing violet veins tracing his neck, Lucian walked for days until he reached Sector 9: The Rust District.
The Rust District was a massive, sprawling underground slum located just outside the Federation's high-tech inner city. It was a chaotic hive of black-market merchants, rogue cyber-mechanics, and mercenaries. Here, nobody asked questions, and the Federation's biometric scanners were heavily outdated.
Lucian stepped into a dimly lit, smoky cyber-café tucked away in a dark alley. He sat at a terminal, his finger brushing against the data port as he subtly channeled his mana.
[Skill Activated: Cyber-Hacking.]
[Bypassing Sector 9 Civilian Registry Bureau... Access Granted.]
With his 19 Intelligence, rewriting a low-tier civilian database was child's play. He created a completely new identity from scratch. He erased any traceable biometric data, forged a clean background, and generated a new identification chip.
When the terminal blinked green, his new life officially began.
"Lucian is buried in the mud," he whispered, staring at the glowing screen. "From now on, I am Asher."
Asher walked out into the neon-lit rain of the slums. He was no longer a soldier trapped in a rigid system.