Special Commission

"Just hear me out for a moment.", Kan'na raised her hands to slow the pace of the conversation.

Quickly gathering her train of thought she began to explain, "During the raid I was fighting the Lich: Orothus. Once I freed the souls under his control it revealed his skeleton covered entirely with runes. Ancient runes at least and written very poorly. This allowed him to entirely reject mana as a whole, and made him immune to spells and I reckon even some Skills."

"You, as a mage, were fighting someone immune to magic?", Torch immediately questioned.

"Ugh don't remind me, it made that fight leagues harder than it needed to be. Let's not get off track. Upon seeing this I was inspired to replicate this. Granted it wouldn't have me reject mana, but rather fully modify my body to efficiently use it."

"This sounds like something you don't need a machine for."

"On the contrary. You see, Orothus had carved those runes himself but screwed up. As I thought about how to avoid that mistake myself I came to the conclusion that it couldn't be me who carved these runes. Excluding simple user error if I were to manipulate any mana it could interfere with my own body during such a delicate process."

Torch found himself gaining a headache despite being made of mechanical parts, "So you decided a precise machine should do this instead."

"This was my first thought yes. Which is why I approached you.", Kan'na smiled sweetly.

Ignoring Kan'na for a moment Torch thought about how he would create such a machine. His resources were plenty enough so that wasn't an issue, the main issue came from the design of it. He couldn't use a typical precision cutter that was used in his assembly lines, or would any of the fabricators work properly. 

Yet the more he thought about it, the less impossible it seemed.

Kan'na did not interrupt Torch's thinking this time. She was very clear on what she needed, but also had very little idea on how to execute it. Despite her being a genius when it came to mana and magic she could not form a machine. If Torch claimed it wasn't possible her next attempt was going to be a series of scrolls and golems.

Placing his palms together Torch pointed forward, "Might be possible. It would still depend on the precision, but I can maybe put together a prototype."

Feeling her heart soar with happiness Kan'na pleasantly replied, "I'm very happy to hear this. Now for me to get started on payment I need to see your various circuits and process regarding mana."

Torch gestured around, "Just pick up something from an assembly line. I need to put something together to get an idea if it'll work."

Shooing Kan'na away Torch gathered a few items from various factories before entering his personal workshop. Snapping he turned on the lights, and in the center an amalgamation of mechanical arms and tools began to move. 

Located on the side wall was two body shaped indents. Torch stepped into one that was empty, and from the other another one of his bodies booted up. Now having swapped bodies he moved towards the amalgamation of mechanical arms.

It was a circular platform, a few steps flipped upwards as Torch approached. As he stood in the center the rest of the machine whirred to life. A table disconnected from the large circular platform and rose upwards to Torch's preferred height. Waving a hand Torch controlled some of the mechanical arms to reach out and pick up the various items he collected. They placed the items onto the table before moving out of sight.

Several precision tools lifted and surrounded the table, ready for use. Additionally underneath the table a box of various additional tools moved into arm's reach. These tools were the bulky and rarely used, but still sometimes held a purpose. Holding an arm out Torch rotated it and the forearm opened. Revolving around his forearm were several tips and bits. Flexing his wrist caused it to revolve rapidly to the selected tool, and it slid to the tip of a finger. 

This was his Master Workshop. A costly blueprint he unlocked shortly after his ascent to Second Stage. Not only providing just about every tool it was capable of holding items in place at normally awkward angles for ease of access, additionally it could provide better insight and advice on Torch's experiments. 

It was here that Torch designed his Second Stage combat bodies. Secluding himself he began to tinker and design, his mind abuzz with ideas.

Meanwhile Kan'na picked up various components that looked to use mana and tossed them in the air behind her. Magic circles formed and caught the components while scanning how they were to work. She didn't plan on asking Torch for the specifics of their usage, when it came to things related to mana she could figure out on her own.

More importantly she needed to gather an idea before having the answer. 

Satisfied with her collection Kan'na walked out of the factory and toured about Torch's base. Kneeling down she found a disassembled construction robot on a metal shelf. Looking to the side she found another walking to its location. Hesitating for just a moment she picked up the working construction robot and tossed it along with the other components. Dusting her palms off she stared at the disassembled one. Thinking for a moment she shrugged and took that one as well.

It was also important to see the components in action!

The construction robot wriggled helplessly in the air before being stuck in a walking loop. Moving through the messy scrap rooms Kan'na occasionally reached out to grab something and tossed it along with the others. An assortment of floating parts followed her and grew more cluttered by the passing moment.

She eventually stumbled upon some freshly formed mechanical soldiers. Kan'na stared at one, her eyes matching the unlit eye sockets of the soldier. Pressing her lips together she grabbed one and tossed it with the other parts. Turning she inspected her collection with a strange satisfaction.

"Now, where does he store the raw materials?", Kan'na asked to herself whilst looking about.

She desired to test how efficiently some materials could conduct mana. She was almost certain there was a warehouse located somewhere, but she couldn't quite place her finger upon it. Until the rattling sound of one of the boxcars caught her attention. Following their paths she found they all returned to the same place. A devious smile spread across her lips, "Bingo."

Teleporting onto one of the moving boxcars she hitched a ride directly to where the materials were located. Passing through a dark tunnel Kan'na was soon greeted by an overly large warehouse. Rows upon rows of shelves were neatly organized as far as the eye can see. Crates of various materials were being moved about by spider-like robots. As a boxcar rattled in they moved the crates onto the boxcar before it continued to its destination.

Disembarking the slowing boxcar Kan'na approached one of the shelves. The wooden crate had a label, imprinted on its side in a mana conductive ink. She formed a magic circle and prodded the ink for a response, and was pleasantly surprised at the result. It was similar to binary code, giving a specific series as an identification number, most likely for inventory.

She spotted one of the spider robots rapidly approaching her. Stepping back she watched as the robot scanned the ink label before smaller mechanical limbs reached out and grabbed the crate. It then scampered off, faint metal clinking against the cold stone floor.

"Oh that's so cool.", Kan'na commented at the sight.

Looking about she lifted one of the crates and opened it inside. Revealing several crystals of various shapes and sizes. Reaching out she picked one up, "This. . . is a mana crystal? They're huge!"

She tossed it about to feel the weight, "Good quality too?"

Kan'na was familiar with mana crystals. She grinded some up to add to the ink she used in the magic scrolls she created. Granted those were common and of lower quality, it was the first time she found one so hefty. Prodding it with a bit of mana she was incredibly surprised at just how much mana it held.

"If he's using these as batteries I'm going to be upset.", Kan'na shook her head and placed the crystal back. 

Sealing the crate and placing it back on the shelf she continued to explore the rows. The amount of crates with the same label was startling. In disbelief she would pull another down and open it, only to see several more large mana crystals.

"He's a tycoon. . .", her voice turned into awe.

Just through a rough estimate there was thousands-no tens of thousands of these just sitting in here! It took her a while before she found a crate with a different label. Pulling one off the shelf she took a breath before cracking it open.

Within it lay several ingots of a metal she couldn't immediately identify. She prodded it with mana and found it to be surprisingly conductive. Closing the crate she placed it back and looked down the aisle of shelves, "This. . . this is ridiculous!"

Her cries echoed across the warehouse, "Who needs this much?!"