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Waves of immense pain shook her body uncontrollably, radiating through her whole body from her left arm. Her eyes rolled back into her head as she cramped, and locked it in what seemed like an epileptic seizure.

For minutes she rolled in the snow before the waves finally started to calm down and her body relaxed in fatigue. These fits of pain came in random intervals, some better some worse. There was no getting used to it, but at least she was prepared now.

The first time she almost cut her tongue off when her jaws got locked and cracked her head open when thrashing around. Now, she could at least prevent that when she felt the signs. Breathing heavily, she crawled back on her knees, her legs too weak to stand up.

Bruised and battered, she crawled forward, until her legs regained their energy. Checking her <Map>, she couldn’t be too far from the next settlement. She had just lost her way in the snowstorm a little.

“You can do it, Meg… This isn’t your first rodeo, it won’t be your last…” she whispered to herself, over and over, gritting her teeth to stand up and keep moving forward. The worst she could do was stagnate in this winter nightmareland.

She had lived on after being captured by bandits; she had worked her way up in a place like Morranto. She overcame the wounds of the hashing bird and survived the torturous experiments in the darkness of the laboratory. She had done things she wasn’t proud of to survive, but it only drove her on. She had done so much, she couldn’t give up now.

She would give in to hunger, or fatigue, these mountains would not break her… She glanced at her left arm. Its metallic sheen greeted her like a reminder. The Damocles sword was hung above her head. For now, it only brought her pain, but would she be able to find a cure?

Her only hope was, that her own infection was tremendously slower than the others she had seen. At the laboratory, it had started with just her hand, but with every fit of pain, the metal would spread. Slowly but surely, she was turning into a machine. Just like the poor bastards from the cells beside her own.

Meg also deluded herself into thinking that her mind was much clearer than that of her fellow prisoners. Maybe because of the speed? It had happened a lot faster for the others. They had spent days in constant pain, as the metal crept up their bodies. Losing their mind and rational thinking in the process was no wonder.

But all of these deliberations were just whispers in the back of her mind. It was an animalistic urge to survive and return to her family that kept moving her feet in the direction of civilization. She never had a husband, no man could keep up with her for long, but there was always her brother and his daughter.

After the world ended and they lost her sister-in-law, they had stayed together all the time, growing closer. Even if she was bound to die, she didn’t want to remain in these cold dirty mountains. She wanted to at least see her cute niece one last time.

And if this was not going to kill her but turn her into these… things in the other cells, then she hoped to find someone, or something, that could end her misery. Wading through the snow, her thoughts focused on the goal, she missed a step on the ravine and lost her footing.

Haplessly tumbling down, she tried to find her footing or something to grasp, when her tumble came to a sudden hold. The techno-organic arm had dug itself into the cliffside, holding her in place with ease. At least there was one advantage to this disaster, as her augmented arm was several times stronger than before.

She could also see in her status window, that there was an unnamed buff, raising all of her stats by 10-25%. Being a lv.73 Warrior, she was not weak to begin with, so it was a massive boost. And it would have been great news if the cost weren’t a sealed fate and fits of terrifying pain every once in a while.

Staying there for a moment, she waited to regain her breath, before she pulled herself up again. She spent days stumbling across the mountains and valley, only sustaining herself on melted snow.

She had no idea how long it had been since she escaped the laboratory during its destruction as the days all became a blur, one long stretch of pain, and cold, and hunger.

As thankful as she was to the lightning bird that had attacked the laboratory and passively aided her in her escape, she wished she had been saved by someone with a better plan. As she climbed over another hill, who knew how much later, she finally saw a smaller settlement she had once visited with their caravan.

However, it was abandoned. Just like the others she came by, the small group of buildings showed some signs of battle, but the interior looked like the residents left hastily. Had the Unclaimed Mountains become devoid of people? She stopped getting her hopes up with the smaller ones and directly aimed for Emerald City.

If there was a place still running in the Unclaimed Mountains, it would be the green city. The direction also promised solace for her growing hunger. The former residents were not nice enough to leave her any food before they vacated their homes…

Warmer temperatures and more lush vegetation awaited her in the direction of Emerald City. And the vegetation brought food.

Stuffing her withered stomach with roots and berries she knew from her previous travels; her travel became slightly more bearable. Even when the occasional seizure had her throw up whatever morsel she managed to find that day.

It had probably been weeks since her escape, but when she made her way through the hesitantly sprouting woods, she finally saw the barrier of Emerald City in the distance. The scene was familiar and not at the same time.

The barrier stood strong, but the land surrounding the city was completely desolate of live. The forest had burned down and there were signs of battle all about. Most prominently were the burned-down remnants of what looked like the campsite of several caravans.

Burned-out cars, wrecked vehicles. Singed and ripped rags of tents...Just what had happened here in the time she was away? Who did this? How was the situation in the city?

Staring at the scene, her mind was paralyzed by the number of feverish questions revolving in her hazy head. The piercing headache that plagued her for the past few days didn\'t help her sort out the mess of thoughts.

A hand suddenly touched her right shoulder. In her frozen stupor, she didn\'t even notice a woman approaching her. Looking at her in shock, she found the person in question was a middle-aged lady, her face showing some wrinkles, but not elderly yet.

What really made her unique were veins of glinting metal, that shot across her whole face. Despite the metallic look, she gave Meg a tiny but kind smile as she put her finger on her lips signaling her to stay silent.

“You can\'t go down there. You will be killed. Emerald City does not welcome new visitors anymore. Especially not those like us,” she whispered to her.

Meg stared at her. Those like us... It was the first time she became conscious of her left arm. Not in the sense of a threat to her life, a source of pain, or a source of strength, but in the context of society.

She looked at her arms, which had become a bio-mechanical mess. Most of it looked like an exposed muscle, except that the muscle seemed like fused together strands of metal wire, mixed with regular flesh and blood. In some places, she still had pieces of her original skin, in others the surface was covered in flexible metal plates.

Her mind had been occupied with survival, escape, and seeking for help, or at least a better place to die. At no point had she pondered what other people would think when seeing her arm.

“Do you mean the destruction down there was..?” she whispered back after a moment but didn\'t dare to fully voice out her thought. The lady nodded.

“It\'s a long story. we have a camp further in the jungle. Come, I will explain everything once put some proper clothes on you and some food in your stomach,” she offered her.

Meg hesitated, looking back down at the scene at the city entrance. She was too tired to really weigh her options. Some proper food and clothing sounded too enticing. With a nod, she followed the lady.