Inside his room, Arthur spread out all the books he had taken from Lindsay's hidden room onto the table.
He stared at them blankly for a moment, organizing his thoughts and contemplating his next move.
Seeing his own dossier in Lindsay's secret room had been a shock. He had been utterly unprepared for such a revelation, and it was as if it had just slapped him in the face without warning. How had he ended up on Lindsay's radar? Arthur could only marvel at Hydra's far-reaching infiltration.
But now, what mattered was what to do next. If Lindsay had indeed sent his dossier out and Hydra had placed him on their kill list, Arthur would need to change his strategy, or the consequences could be dire. Hitler's troops might not be a significant threat, but Hydra's advanced technology was a different story.
Hydra's leader, Schmidt, had already obtained the Tesseract early in "Captain America," developing weapons far beyond current technology with the help of Dr. Zola. These weapons could cause unimaginable devastation in the world.
"Has Schmidt split from Hitler yet?" Arthur pondered, feeling a sudden impulse to send Hitler a telegram, warning him of Schmidt's betrayal. But that was just a fleeting thought, with no real way to act on it.
"I miss the actual WWII battlefield..." Arthur sighed, stretching and patting his face to refocus. "If hiding isn't an option, I need to figure out a way not to embarrass the transdimensional community! Others face beings like Thanos and the Living Tribunal… and I'm stuck with Hydra. How embarrassing!"
Determined, he started pacing. "First step, I need to continue improve my strength! Power is the foundation of everything. The Disassembler is extremely powerful and needs to be used wisely!"
"Secondly," Arthur's mind was becoming clearer, "I can't hide in the rear anymore. The battlefield may be dangerous, but so is staying back here! Short-term safety doesn't guarantee long-term survival. The battlefield, though risky, is the perfect place to use the Disassembler on countless weapons and equipment to boost my strength. Once I'm powerful enough, defeating Hydra will be a sneeze!"
With renewed resolve, he looked at the books on the table. He regretted not taking more from Lindsay's office. This connected to his third point: upgrading the Disassembler.
"My Disassembler needs to upgrade! It's currently at an intermediate level, far from the advanced stage I need. This is a disadvantage."
Arthur muttered to himself, "Right now, I can only Disassemble books and equipment. Are there other things I can Disassemble?"
Surveying the room, a sudden idea struck him. He grabbed a blanket and summoned the Disassembler.
**[This item cannot be Disassembled, or the Disassembler level is insufficient. Do you want to force Disassemble the item: blanket?]**
Arthur's heart raced. So, it seemed! The Disassembler prompted him when something could be Disassembled, but items not flagged might still be Disassembled, possibly just needing a higher Disassembler level.
Speaking of the Disassembler's level…
That infinite experience bar was a maddening design!
An absurd '∞'! How much experience was needed to level up?
If his life was a story written by some deranged author, Arthur had one question: "What were you thinking?"
Realizing he had been lost in thought, he snapped back to the present. "I need to push forward. I need to find more items to Disassemble and gather as much experience as possible. Only then can I face the threats ahead."
Arthur's eyes fell on the books again. "These are just the beginning. I need to find more sources of experience. The Disassembler's potential is limitless, and I need to tap into it fully."
With a deep breath, Arthur sat down at the table, ready to dive into his next plan. This wasn't just about survival anymore; it was about becoming strong enough to take control of his fate. And with the Disassembler, he had the tool to do just that.
If it weren't for the small 'Exp +1' notification after each Disassembled item, Arthur would have long felt hopeless about upgrading the Disassembler.
But now, regardless of his feelings, he had to continue.
Picking up a book, he chose to Disassemble it.
As he Disassembled, he also pondered his initial plan to change his persona.
Originally, the plan was absolutely feasible. But now, with Lindsay's telegram, it was all for naught.
Being targeted too early, he hadn't had a chance to hide from Hydra's gaze, and now he was completely exposed.
If he had exposed his talent in genetics, Hydra would have another reason to kill him.
A plan that could have saved himself and allowed him to thrive had ultimately turned into a suicide plan...
The ups and downs of life… were truly exhilarating, not. They were horrifying!
With only about twenty books, halfway through Disassembling, Arthur suddenly heard an exciting voice.
**[Announcement!]**
**[Disassembled item successful!]**
**[Biochemistry knowledge *1]**
**[Disassembler experience +1]**
**[Disassembler experience full, now starting upgrade! Disassemble function unavailable during the upgrade! Extraction function can be used normally!]**
**[Disassembler upgrading...]**
**[Disassembled item successful, Would you like to extract at once?]**
In that moment, Arthur did something unexpected. He immediately summoned the Disassembler and focused on its experience bar.
Then he noticed, the experience on the bar was—'∞'!
"Are you kidding me?"
Arthur was dumbfounded. Finally, he sighed deeply. "I get it now. The upgrade for this Disassembler... is completely random, isn't it?"
In his exasperation, he absentmindedly placed all the books on the table into the Disassembler's space. Just as he was about to extract the Biochemistry knowledge, there was a knock on the door.
Arthur instinctively shuddered, fearing it might be Agent Carter again!
Carefully opening the door, he found a drunken middle-aged man standing outside!
"Huh?"
Suddenly, Arthur felt that instead of this drunken middle-aged man at his doorstep, it would have been better if it were Agent Carter. At least she looked good and smelled nice, unlike this... ugly, boozy man.
Opening the door, Dr. Erskine walked in. "You're here?"
Arthur was speechless. Why would you come if I wasn't here?
"Being young is a truly wonderful thing," The doctor exclaimed inexplicably.
....
You can read ahead up to 20 chapters on my patreon and I've also activated (date to date) subscription model on my patreon https://www.patreon.com/GGS6395