[401-600] THE MECH'S TOUCH

Chapter 466: Filkis

What was he relying on?

Only a few seconds passed before Ves smelled something funny in the air. He sniffed and stretched out his tongue, only to taste something that resembled something rotten.

"Poison!"

His body had already started to heat up, a sign that it actively started to resist a poisonous element. Ves hadn't felt this warm since his body first transformed on Groening IV.

Back then, he could easily breathe the toxic air of a completely alien planet. A tiny bit of poison synthesized by an impoverished mech designer posed no threat to his health. His body always heated up according to the severity of the threat, and right now he barely felt warmer than his normal condition.

"Nice try, but poison won't work on me! Now stop your stupid shenanigans or I'll destroy all of your bots! This is my final warning! Surrender now, or I'll wreck all your stuff and try my luck at another workshop!"

A brief pause stretched after he delivered those words, but eventually Ves could hear the bots flying back from where they emerged.

"I give up! Please don't do anything! This workshop isn't mine, I rented it! I'll be in so much trouble if anything gets broken!"

After a short while, Ves reached the end of the structure and climbed some steps until he reached the control room where the mech designer governed the entire workshop. Ves carefully trained his Amastendira at the skinny thirty-something year old man who was undoubtedly the mech designer of this workshop.

"What's your name?"

"Filkis Kwan! Mister.. Can you please not point that gun at me?"

"Only if you prove you're unarmed."

Filkis emptied his pockets and removed his coat, leaving him in an oil-stained shirt and a pair of faded pants. Once Ves inspected the man and insured he didn't hide some holdout weapon in his underwear, Ves lowered the Amastendira, though he hadn't let down his guard yet.

"Well Filkis, if you do as I say, I'll be gone before you know. Disobey me, and I won't hesitate to flash-boil your entire head with my laser pistol. Understand?"

"Yes, yes, yes, I understand!" Filkis nodded so vigorously that it looked as if his head would bob off entirely.

"Turn on the command console and show me a status of this workshop. I want a list of all your assets and whatever stock you have in your inventory."

Filkis stared at Ves as if he was an alien. It took some time, but he finally realized something dreadful about Ves. "Your accent! You're no Dettie. You're a Brighter!"

"I am." Ves admitted without any compunction. The truth would have come out eventually. "Don't forget that I'm the one with the gun here, so you better do as I say."

Filkis nodded again and again before opening up the command console to Ves.

Once Ves browsed the lists, he became a little disappointed. Filkis was truly one of the lowest order of independent mech designers he ever had the pleasure to meet.

The 3D printer was from the earlier days of the last generation, and it had not aged particularly well after changing hands over a dozen times.

The assembly system looked a little better, but Ves had just destroyed all of the heaviest bots that were supposed to perform the most demanding duties.

All in all, the machinery would only be able to fabricate the most inferior bottom-tier mechs, and their quality wouldn't be much better than a wreck scavenged straight from a brutal battlefield.