CHAPTER 404: JUNKIE.

"You look like shit, lil’ bro. Did the hoes keep you up too long?"

As his eyes gradually regained focus, Dante found himself face to face with a grinning skeleton. He drew a sigh from the depths of his soul and let it out, hoping it would take the annoying exhaustion and pain away with it. Unfortunately, the results were a little disappointing.

"You could say that."

"Damn." Lev chuckled. "Leave some pussy for the rest of us."

"Yeah, but... You sure that thing still works?" Dante glanced down.

"Of course it does! Even if it doesn’t, I can always make it work!"

As his bony friend laughed it off, Dante forced himself to remember why he decided to visit him in the first place. He didn’t have to try that hard, since it hadn’t been that long since he left Suzuka’s hideout.

The genius Gearhead had guilt-tripped him into extending the time he was giving her, so he ended up wearing 8-3 for almost thirty minutes. Surprisingly, he was fine for the first fifteen.

Turns out he forgot to calculate his new time limit after getting his latest implants. His Durability had increased, even if only a little. That added a few minutes to how long he could use VOLCAN’s armors, but it was still not enough.

He tried to hold on for as long as he could, but by the time he crossed the twenty seven minute mark, the pain grew unbearable, and he forced the genius Gearhead to cut it out.

With the exception of the back of his head, Dante’s entire body was aching. It wasn’t the simple discomfort he always felt after wearing his armors—this was true pain from injuries that littered his entire body. He was sure that, if he took off his clothes right now, he would see countless cuts and bruises, enough to convince anyone who saw him that he had been beaten senseless.

Well, that might be a little exaggeration. He was injured, true, but it wasn’t that bad. He could still walk, and his internal organs were working just fine. It was for that reason that he decided to stop by Lev’s place.

"Say, Lev..." With a thought, he took out a certain item from his Storage. "Can you make me more of these?"

He tossed the small bottle, and the alchemist caught it without much trouble. Examining the label, his grin flipped into a frown.

"REDs?" He gave the bottle a light shake, and his frown deepened. "Don’t tell me you went through the entire bottle?"

"Well..."

The bottle was the same one Larry gave him a while back. He had gone through half of it while recovering from the injuries he received during the heist, and at the time, he didn’t think he would need it for a while.

Lately, he had been relying on the pills to deal with the aftermath of his training sessions in Hollowstreet. Before he realized it, the bottle was almost empty. That’s why he decided to pay his friend a visit.

"I don’t know about this, little bro." Said Lev. "Sounds to me like you need to hold back on these meds."

The bottle had the logo of a black crow holding a test tube in its beak, meaning it was manufactured by the Alchemist himself. Dante thought he would skip any lectures Larry might have for him by going straight to the source, but it turned out there was no avoiding one.

"It’s not like I’m taking them because I like it," Dante said. "It’s just... Time is short, and I can’t really waste it waiting for stuff to heal on its own."

Lev didn’t seem to buy his excuse, going by the way his frown deepened.

"The trick is to make it so you don’t need these, lil’ bro." He said.

"Well, I’m already working on that."

The whole problem would be gone once he goes fully cyborg. With Volcan repairing all of his bionics, he wouldn’t have to worry about healing his injuries anymore.

"I don’t think you get it." Lev shook his head. "You can’t stop being a junky just by swapping your parts. I mean, your brain would still be the same, right?"

"My brain..."

At its mention, Dante’s attention turned to a problem he had tried not to think of ever since he decided to go full cyborg. Nearly every part of the human body had a bionic replacement—All except the brain. That was the main reason why Cyborgs couldn’t become Prime Enhanced Individuals. Their Basic Retention would never reach 0%, since they will always have human brains.

His brain was the only part of his body that would remain once he finished his transformation, and the only part that would still feel VOLCAN’s strain. That meant he would still have a limit on how long he could use the armors, no matter how powerful his body got.

Replacing a body part with bionic implants doesn’t remove the strain placed on it; the non-organic implants simply handle the strain better. Nevertheless, if damaged, bionics can be replaced. The same can’t be said about one’s brain.

’... I’m going to die anyway, huh?’

"...bro... Lil’ bro!"

Seeing the bony fingers being snapped in front of him drew Dante out of his thoughts, and he looked at the Alchemist with a blank expression.

"I just have to get the implants before the addiction kicks in, right?" He asked.

In the end, it didn’t matter. He had a goal, and he was going to do whatever it took to reach it. He never cared what happened to him after that, so he wasn’t about to start caring now.

Lev’s expression darkened.

"You’re just switching one addiction for another." He said. "Stop saying scary shit."

"Like you’re one to talk," Dante replied.

"Hey, at least I have a policy." Grinning once more. "I don’t use any of the stuff I make."

"So you don’t taste test?"

"Nope. I’ve got a guy for that."

"Must be one lucky guy, then." Dante scuffed. "So? You giving me the drugs or what?"

"Look at you, already talking like a junkie." Letting out a chuckle, Lev tossed him the bottle. "I don’t keep a stock, so you gotta look elsewhere. Unless you want to wait while I make some."

"Then what are you wasting my time for?"

Though he pretended to be angry about it, the two of them were soon laughing about it. Sadly, Larry didn’t find the matter that funny, so after an hour-long lecture, he only filled half the bottle and told Dante he wouldn’t be getting any for the next three months.