The Rank 20 Processor didn't just die; it detonated in a spray of pressurized hydraulic fluid and logic-sparks. Kenji stood in the center of the carnage, the Gutter-Rig wheezing as its improvised pistons hissed steam into the freezing air.
[BOSS DEFEATED: UNIT 0-RECLAIMER]
[EXPERIENCE GAINED: 45,000]
[LEVEL UP: 7 -> 12 (ASCENDANT)]
[RIG STATUS: INTEGRITY 64% - OVERHEATING]
"Kenji, we have to move!" Elara shouted, her breath visible in the air. "The Processor sent a distress signal to the Spires. They're going to vent the vats!"
"Venting? What does that mean?" Bjorn asked, wiping green ichor from his axe.
"It means they flush the reclamation pits with liquid nitrogen to 'sanitize' the area," Kenji said, his [System Sight] picking up the rapid temperature drop in the surrounding pipes. "They'd rather lose the materials than let a virus like us escape."
[ENVIRONMENTAL ALERT: FLASH-FREEZE INITIATED]
[TIME TO VENT: 02:00]
Kenji looked at the Gutter-Rig's readout. The suit was powerful, but it was heavy. He couldn't outrun a gas cloud in this gravity while carrying Elara and Bjorn.
"I'm not running," Kenji said, his voice metallic through the rig's internal comms. "Bjorn, grab the Processor's central core! Elara, get on my back. We're taking the 'Service Elevator'."
"There is no elevator here, Kenji!" Elara cried.
"There is if we make one," Kenji replied. He pointed his scrap-encased arm at the massive vertical exhaust shaft that loomed above the pits a chimney designed to pump heat up to the Spires.
Kenji slammed his fists into the ground, triggering [Micro-Forge: Magnetic Tether]. He didn't forge a cable; he polarized the liquid metal of his suit to match the magnetic rail of the chimney's interior.
"Hold on tight!"
He ignited the Processor's core, which Bjorn had just ripped from the carcass. By feeding the raw Void-Ether into the Gutter-Rig's cooling vents, Kenji turned the suit into a makeshift rocket.
[DANGEROUS MANEUVER DETECTED]
[RIG STABILITY: 30%... 20%...]
They shot upward just as a wall of white frost consumed the pits below. The speed was bone-crushing. In the 4x gravity, the G-force felt like a titan was standing on their chests. Elara buried her face in the rig's shoulder plating, while Bjorn let out a manic warrior's laugh that was swallowed by the roar of the engines.
They burst through the top of the exhaust shaft, crashing onto a platform of polished obsidian and gold.
[ZONE: THE INDUSTRIAL SPIRES - SECTOR 4 (THE GOLDEN GEARS)]
[RANK: SSS]
This was the mid-tier of the Outer Forge. It was clean, silent, and terrifyingly efficient. Huge clockwork mechanisms turned in the sky, powering the filtration systems for the "True Architect's" inner sanctum.
"Look," Elara whispered, pointing toward a distant spire encased in a holographic web.
Hovering in a containment field was the Scrap-Venture. It was being dismantled. Dozens of small, spider-like drones were stripping the Recursive Iron from its hull, feeding it into a massive forge.
"They're recycling the ship," Mateo's voice suddenly crackled in Kenji's ear, weak and filled with static. "Kenji... is that you? We're... we're in the holding cells below the forge. They're trying to extract the Stasis Diamond from the hull. If they get it... they'll be able to freeze time across the whole Gutter."
"We're coming, Mateo," Kenji said, his eyes narrowing. He looked at the Gutter-Rig. It was falling apart, the improvised metal glowing red-hot.
He stepped out of the suit, the scrap clattering to the floor. He didn't need the rig for this. He had something better. He had the Processor's Core, and he had the Base-Code of the Spires.
"Bjorn, Elara," Kenji said, his voice cold and focused. "This isn't a rescue anymore. This is an Audit."
"An audit?" Bjorn asked.
"The System thinks it can own our scrap," Kenji said, his hands beginning to glow with a violet-white light that felt different purer than before. "I'm going to show it that a Smith never loses his tools. We're going to take back the ship, and then we're going to turn this spire into a graveyard."
[NEW SUB-QUEST: THE GREAT RECLAMATION]
Objective: Prevent the extraction of the Stasis Diamond.
Current Level: 12
Team Morale: Resolute