Elenor began to examine the watch carefully. The strap was made entirely of metal, and various runes were engraved along the edges of the casing. When she turned the watch over to inspect the back, her brows knit slightly. Normally, there would be sensors there to measure pulse, blood composition, sleep quality, and similar data—but this watch had no such sensors. Instead, there was something far stranger: a small, sealed hatch of some kind.
She rotated the watch in her hand several times, studying it closely, and a few details caught her attention.
'The materials used to make this watch aren't ordinary Nevarion alloys… she thought. It's definitely constructed from materials retrieved from inside rifts. But to identify exactly what they are, I'd need to run a scan—and unfortunately, the laboratory won't be usable for a while…'
Something else drew her attention, and her brows furrowed again. She leaned closer to the metallic strap. She immediately recognized the level of technological craftsmanship, and several of the runes embedded within it stood out to her.
'Why does this device have miniaturization technology? And not just any kind—this is the most advanced miniaturization tech I've ever seen. What exactly is hidden inside the strap?'
Elenor turned the watch to face the screen and pressed one of the touch-sensitive buttons on the casing. Nothing happened. She tried again, and then a few more times. Realization dawned, and her eyebrows lifted with interest.
'So it won't activate until it detects that it's being worn? Why would that be necessary?'
After thinking for a few seconds, Elenor shrugged it off and opened the magnetic locking mechanism on the strap. She raised her left hand and began positioning the watch onto her left wrist. Her trust in her grandfather was absolute—no matter how excessive his gifts were, he would never harm her.
Yet the moment she slid the watch onto her wrist, she froze as a chill ran through her again.
Her brows drew tightly together. She couldn't understand, instinctively, why she kept shuddering like this. It was the first time she'd experienced such a reaction so repeatedly—and she didn't like it at all. Irritation flared.
That makes four times now! This is really starting to piss me off!
She quickly adjusted the watch into place and snapped the locking mechanism shut. Without realizing it, she had just fastened a device to her wrist that would remain there for the rest of her life. Feeling the weight of the watch, she frowned deeply.
"I didn't notice until I put it on… This smartwatch is much heavier than it should be… almost between one and three kilograms. Is it because of the materials it's made from? Or is there something extremely heavy inside the miniaturization field? Is that what's causing the weight? But miniaturization areas usually include mitigation runes... Didn't my grandfather add them?"
From beneath the strap, red lights appeared at intervals, scanning her wrist through the narrow gap where the watch rested against her skin. Then the screen activated, displaying the Altarez family crest. Several loading bars appeared. Elenor watched intently. After a few seconds, text appeared on the screen.
[Scan complete.]
At that exact moment, Elenor felt a sharp pain in her wrist and reflexively grabbed her left arm with her right hand.
"ACK!"
The sudden pain made her angry. When she saw blood seeping from beneath the metallic strap, she immediately understood what had happened and snapped furiously.
"Blood analysis again!? At least you could've left a note to warn me! You rotten old man!"
A second or two later, something strange occurred to her. Ignoring the pain in her wrist, she frowned thoughtfully.
"Why isn't the injector pulling back out of my wrist?"
A creeping unease settled in. At first, she hadn't noticed because of the pain, but now that she focused on the sensation, something felt wrong.
'Why does this injector feel bigger than normal? Or am I imagining it?'
As these thoughts crossed her mind, a sharp surge of pain struck again. The watch vibrated to deliver a notification, and that vibration—combined with the injector—sent a jolt of agony through her arm. She flinched and focused on the screen, where new messages appeared.
[Blood analysis complete!]
[User confirmed: Elenor Altarez.]
[Initiating integration process…]
The final notification left her stunned. She didn't fully understand what was happening.
"What do you mean by 'integration'?"
Inside the watch, the internal mechanisms began to move in a precise, systematic sequence. Within the miniaturization compartment hidden inside the strap, micro-cables of varying thickness—crafted with flawless precision—began to writhe like living snakes. One by one, the tips of these metallic filaments passed through the injector needle and slid into Elenor's wrist.
Elenor convulsed as she was struck by a level of pain she had never experienced in her life, clutching her wrist tightly. Her eyes squeezed shut from the intensity—but this wasn't a brief sting like a normal injection. The pain continued, intensifying with every second, burning through her veins.
"WHAT IS HAPPENING!?"
She clenched her teeth and forced her eyes open. When she looked at her wrist, her eyes widened in horror. Beneath the skin under the watch, black veins were spreading slowly, swelling and contracting as they moved. These artificial veins slithered like living serpents, rapidly climbing up her arm. After a few seconds of shock, the sensation hit her—like her arm was being hollowed out from the inside, like worms crawling through her flesh—and she screamed louder than she ever had in her life.
"AAAAAA!"
As the pain reached an unbearable level, Elenor clawed at her left wrist and involuntarily doubled over, collapsing from the couch onto the floor. She writhed on the ground, still gripping her wrist tightly. The micro-cables traveling beneath her skin had now completely enveloped her left hand; her fingers spasmed uncontrollably, and she realized she was losing control of her left arm.
Panicking, her right hand flew to the watch's locking mechanism. She tried again and again to unlock it, to rip the watch off her wrist—but the mechanism didn't budge even a millimeter. As the micro-cables continued spreading without pause, the escalating pain shattered Elenor's legendary composure. Her voice broke, filled with desperation and pleading.
"GET OUT! DAMN IT, GET OUT OF ME!"
In panic, she dug her nails into the metal strap and pulled with all her strength, trying to tear it free—but the pain had completely overridden her rational thought. The strap wasn't made of ordinary leather or silicone; it was forged from rigid metallic alloys that were impossible to break.
"IT WON'T OPEN! STOP! PLEASE STOP! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"
Elenor's screams echoed off the walls of the empty laboratory as the micro-cables reached her shoulder. The pain had long since surpassed anything she could endure. She couldn't understand what was happening or why she was being subjected to this torment. Tears streamed uncontrollably from her eyes.
Beneath her skin, the micro-cables advanced from her shoulder toward her chest, branching out. Some traveled downward across her breasts and abdomen, spreading like a spiderweb all the way to her legs. Some crossed over to her right shoulder and extended to the tips of her fingers. Others climbed upward, reaching her throat and crawling toward her face. When the cables reached her neck, Elenor's voice suddenly cut off—her mouth was open in a silent scream, but not a single sound escaped her throat. Drool began to spill from the corner of her mouth as the pain overwhelmed her completely.
Her pajamas were drenched with sweat, clinging to her body, and her eyes had turned bloodshot. Her pupils had rolled upward, leaving almost only the whites visible. When the micro-cables finally reached her head and face, her body completely locked up. Although her mind was still operating at full speed, she had lost all control over her body. She was constantly convulsing and trembling, yet unable to move. Countless questions raced through her mind: Had the device gone out of control? Or was this not her grandfather's device at all? Why was this happening? Though these questions gnawed at her thoughts, the immense pain she felt paralyzed her both physically and mentally.
After a while, the black veins beneath her skin—constantly writhing and twisting—finally came to a halt. Elenor was on the verge of losing consciousness from the pain, but the process was not yet complete. Suddenly, the watch began sending electricity through her entire body, starting at low voltage and gradually increasing to dangerously high levels. Elenor's body convulsed violently, and in the end, unable to endure the unbearable agony any longer, she lost consciousness.
As she lay there unconscious, system messages continued to scroll rapidly across the watch's screen:
[New nervous system being constructed…]
[New vascular system being added…]
[Connecting to bone structure…]
[Establishing connections to organs…]
[Brain connection on standby until Elenor Altarez gives consent…]
[Calculating body structure…]
[Overall process completion status: 45%]
[Estimated completion time: 1 hour 23 minutes 32 seconds]
Within Elenor's unconscious body, the micro-cables beneath her skin continued to move in a systematic pattern, releasing faint electrical currents at every point of contact. The ends of these metallic fibers branched out at specific locations, wrapping around the skeletal system like a web. Their tiny drill-like micro-needles pierced decisively into the bone tissue. Even though Elenor was unconscious, her body trembled and spasmed violently as the procedure penetrated down to her very bones.
Inside her body, the process proceeded with the meticulous precision of a surgical operation. All vital organs began to be enveloped by the cables—the kidneys, lungs, liver, and stomach. Each one was trapped within this biomechanical network. A similar encirclement occurred at critical points within the muscular system.
When it came time to integrate with the heart, the system moved with far greater sensitivity and deliberate care. The heart itself and the three main vessels connected to it were wrapped with millimetric precision, as though handling a sacred relic. Elenor's ovarian region was incorporated into the network with the same careful slowness. Nearly every cell in her body was now surrounded by the watch's micro-cables, yet this transformation was not turning Elenor into a cyborg or a machine. This was not a dehumanizing conversion that erased identity—it was a massive internal reinforcement apparatus, strengthening the human body from within.
The only area this intricate network barely touched was Elenor's brain. With a rogue artificial intelligence active outside, Soren would never allow even the slightest intervention or external control over his granddaughter's mind. The device was semi-biological in nature, but it possessed no consciousness of its own; it was a tool entirely bound to the user's will. Still, what Elenor might become capable of after this fusion remained a profound uncertainty.
Two hours later…
The blue-lit screen of the watch on Elenor's wrist had been pulsing rhythmically for the past two hours, like a slow, steady heartbeat. The swollen black veins beneath her skin were still visible. Then, suddenly, the screen shifted color, turning into a calm, soothing green.
[Integration process complete!]