The Mech Touch

When Ves entered the workshop compartment inside the dwarven frigate, his body suddenly lifted from the deck and launched upwards until he smacked into the ceiling!

If he wasn't wearing his Unending Regalia which automatically cushioned the collision, he would have suffered actual injuries equivalent to falling off an office building!

"Goddamn it! You did that on purpose, didn't you?!" Ves cursed as he lost control over his emotions.

He quickly adjusted the setting of his gravitic backpack and slowly toned down its compensation power.

The force pressing him against the metal ceiling slowly grew lesser and lesser until he slowly gained more weight. His armored form gradually drifted downwards until he softly landed on the deck.

His gravitic backpack, which used to apply a counter-gravity of 3.6 g on him, had completely fallen silent at this time.

Ves didn't need it anymore because the artificial gravity in the workshop was set at 1.0 g.

This not only caused Ves to feel as if he had entered a human ship, it also caused Rion's huge and bulky form to stomp less on the deck than before.

"I KNEW YOU WERE A HUMAN, SO MY TECHNICAL STAFF PREPARED THIS WORKSHOP ACCORDING TO THE FINEST HUMAN STANDARDS THAT WE COULD MEET." Rion said as he ignored his guest's complaint. "THE LAYOUT OF THIS WORKSHOP AND THE HEIGHT OF ALL OF THE INTERFACES ARE SET TO BE AS COMFORTABLE AS POSSIBLE FOR A PERSON OF YOUR STATURE. I HIGHLY SUGGEST YOU REMOVE YOURSELF FROM YOUR ARMOR IN ORDER TO WORK MORE COMFORTABLY. I GIVE YOU MY WORD AS EMPEROR THAT YOU WILL NOT BE IN DANGER."

Under these conditions, it hardly mattered whether Ves wore his Unending Regalia. A personal suit of armor could never protect him against the might of an ace mech. Saint Mayorka could crush him regardless of what he wore around his body!

In fact, Ves felt uncomfortable with her oppressive presence even now. Even if her hostility had faded a bit after he came to an arrangement with her emperor, he could never feel at ease when she constantly kept an eye on him as if she was standing right behind his back!

"Hey, Rion."

"THOSE WHO ARE TRULY AWARE OF MY IDENTITY ADDRESS ME AS 'YOUR MAJESTY'. YOU ARE SPEAKING TO THE EMPEROR WHO WILL TRULY UNITE DWARVENKIND UNDER A SEPARATE BANNER FROM HUMANITY ONE DAY."

"Yeah, and I'm your god, so I don't need to scrape and bow before your feet." Ves petulantly said. He was still pissed at the gravity prank that Rion had just pulled off! "Can you tell Saint Mayorka to remove her domain field from this workshop? I can't concentrate when she is staring at me from every angle, and if I can't concentrate, I will never be able to make a masterwork. Just saying."

Rion did not fear Ves at all at this point, so he transmitted an invisible signal that soon prompted the vigilant ace pilot to withdraw her formidable Saint Kingdom from the workshop.

The departure of the Saint's obvious presence allowed Ves to breathe a lot easier. Though his Unending Regalia had shielded him from some of the pressure, the Olympus Mons was just too powerful to block.

Ves reluctantly withdrew from his combat armor and left it to the side. It didn't matter too much if he attempted to make a casual product, but a masterwork artifact was a completely different matter.

Now that the bulk of his protective suit no longer hindered his movements, he was able to perform much more delicate manual work. The removal of a solid barrier that was laced with B-stone also enabled Ves to expand his spiritual senses and gain a better feel of his work.

He took a good look at the workshop facilities. As soon as he spotted the quality and tech of the various lab and production equipment, he couldn't help but look impressed.

"These.. these are first-class artisanal machines!" Ves gasped!

This wasn't the first time he encountered first-class equipment. He even worked with them when he made a deal with Master Willix many months ago, so he easily recognized what the Iron Emperor had painstakingly prepared for this critical job.

Ves quickly walked over to a couple of machines. The material scanner and the miniaturized 3D printer were not the best in their respective class. The equipment models were already at least twenty years old and at least two-thirds of them appeared to be second-hand.

In a first-rate state, these machines would have impressed no native. They were too basic, small and low-end to perform serious work. An overwhelming number of producers had already transitioned to working with materializers!

Of course, there was still a role for traditional craftsmanship. Mech designers and other creators who wanted to create masterworks could not accomplish this feat with a single press of the buŧŧon. They were highly cognizant that they still had to get their hands dirty if they wished to advance further up the ranks.

As Ves spent a couple of minutes to survey the make and models of all of the first-class machines, he slowly furrowed his brows.

"You exchanged this stuff from the MTA, right?"

"WHY ASK A QUESTION WHEN YOU ALREADY KNOW THE ANSWER?"

"Because you're a bastard, that's why. I'm unfamiliar with all of this gear. I need hours to familiarize myself with their specs and operation. I can't possibly make a masterwork crown when I am not even proficient in handling my tools."

The Iron Emperor only gave him 24 hours to craft a crown, which initially didn't sound so bad to Ves. Now that he knew that he was supposed to work in a high-end workshop, he became a lot less pleased about his time allowance.

Fortunately, the dwarves had gone way overboard when equipping this workshop. He didn't think he would have to work with 80 percent of all of this fancy equipment, so that saved him a lot of time in studying manuals.

Of course, the production equipment was only one factor that affected his output. Ves approached the material storage cabinets. He pressed a buŧŧon that automatically extended a large drawer, revealing large samples of several strange and energetic exotics.

"EFV-343, Extreme Cold Titanium, Histam alloy, Ireon B…"

None of these odd names rang a bell to Ves, but the projected information screens summarized their important properties.

"These are all first-class materials!"

"THE ECONOMIC MIGHT OF A STATE THAT CONTROLS AN ENTIRE STAR SECTOR IS GREATER THAN YOU REALIZE." Rion arrogantly spoke as he stomped over to the cabinets. "IN ADDITION, I HAVE SOLICITED GIFTS AND DONATIONS FROM MANY WEALTHY DWARVEN BENEFACTORS OVER THE YEARS. AT LEAST THIRTY PERCENT OF THESE MATERIALS ARE SPECIALTY PRODUCTS FROM FAR-FLUNG STAR SECTORS. MY FOREIGN BACKERS ARE EAGER TO CONTRIBUTE TO MY GREAT CAUSE."

Ves looked even more troubled, though.

"I'm unaccustomed to working with all of these high-grade exotics. They're all impressive, but a good product isn't merely about slapping the most expensive materials together. I will not only need to spend a lot of time familiarizing myself with all of their nuances, but I also have to integrate them all in a single design in a way that creates synergies instead of conflicting energy reactions."

"MY TECHNICAL STAFF HAS ALREADY THOUGHT ABOUT THAT, VULCAN. THEY HAVE COMPILED A SET OF DOCUMENTS THAT SUCCINCTLY TELLS YOU WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW." Rion spoke.

Ves blinked. "That will be helpful."

Though he silently complained about how many hours he would have to spend to master the bȧrė minimum of what this workshop had to offer, he was actually quite ecstatic at the chance of playing with all of these expensive toys!

Chances like these didn't come very often, and he gained access to a lot more options that were previously out of reach. This was a chance for him to design and create a product that exceeded his usual limitations and provided him with a preview of what he could accomplish in the future!

"I EXPECT YOU TO DELIVER A WORK OF EXCELLENCE WITH THESE MEANS." Rion spoke, breaking him out of his fascination. "THE CROWN YOU MAKE MUST REACH THE STANDARD OF A FIRST-CLASS PRODUCT. ITS DESIGN, FEATURES AND MATERIAL COMPOSITION MUST ALL REACH A STANDARD THAT IS WORTHY TO BE SHOWN IN FIRST-CLASS CIRCLES. NOT A SINGLE ELEMENT OF THE CROWN MUST SUGGEST THAT A SECOND-RATER IS RESPONSIBLE FOR MAKING IT. HAVE I MADE MYSELF CLEAR?"

Ves suddenly felt a lot less confident about this job. The conditions that Rion kept bringing up made his job more and more difficult.

"You're asking a bit too much from me here! Sure, these tools and materials are excellent, but I'm just a second-class mech designer, you know! If you can give me more time, I can whip up a decent design that can satisfy your requirements. Forcing me to complete this job in a single day is too rushed!"

Rion did not accept his excuses. "YOU ARE VULCAN. YOU ARE THE GOD OF CRAFTSMANSHIP. YOU HAVE A DESTINY WITH DWARVES. FAILURE IS NOT AN OPTION AND SUCCESS IS WITHIN REACH. WORK HARD AND WORK FAST. IN THE SET OF DOCUMENTS THAT WE HAVE PREPARED FOR YOU, I HAVE WRITTEN MY COMPLETE LIST OF REQUIREMENTS OF WHAT I EXPECT FROM YOU. MAKE SURE TO MEET ALL OF THEM, BECAUSE IF YOU HAVE MISSED EVEN A SINGLE TARGET, THE CROWN IS TOO FLAWED TO BE USED FOR ITS INTENDED PURPOSE. YOU HAVE ONE DAY."

With those ominous words, Rion stepped back and joined his Praetorian Guard up a raised platform where he enjoyed a good view over the entire workshop.

With how much the Iron Emperor was invested in the crown, there was no way he was going to take a break and let Ves out of his sight. Giving the mech designer his privacy was obviously not an option. It was already a great concession to make Saint Mayorka pull back her oppressive domain field from the workshop!

In fact, ever since the ace pilot withdrew her presence, Ves was able to employ a lot more tricks than before.

He could dispatch Blinky to snoop around the corners of the workshop. He could thoroughly scan Rion's augmented and armored body with his spiritual senses. He could even materialize his Amastendira and fire a maximum-powered laser beam through Rion's head!

Perhaps a crude ballistic pistol wasn't good enough to kill Rion permanently, but a big fat laser beam that was hot enough to burn an entire head would definitely accomplish the job!

However, Ves was not naive to know that Rion was under a lot of protection.

Physically, the ship possessed numerous hidden security features that could instantly respond as soon as Ves made a threatening move.

Rion was bound to wear a shield generator or two and his Praetorian Guard probably possessed other defensive tools as well.

It was even likely that Rion wore some kind of personal teleportation device as well that could instantly remove him from a danger zone, thereby negating the effectiveness of bombs and other weapons that inflicted mass damage!

Ves quietly shook his head. Even if he managed to ȧssassinate the Iron Emperor, so what? Saint Mayorka would go absolutely crazy! There was no way to escape or resist her power at his current stage! Even Vulcan was like a toddler in front of the extraordinarily strong-willed halfgod.

Once he concluded that the chances of pulling off a daring escape attempt was close to 0 percent, he no longer entertained any useless thoughts and directed his attention to his latest commission.

"What kind of crown befits an emperor?"