Establishing the Relationship

Upon returning to his rented apartment, Tom's first task was not to go to the table but to kneel down on the floor. He dragged all his old coats to the door crack and, with the help of the gecko, sealed the gap to prevent their scent from leaking out and attracting ants.

Only then did he go to the table to look for biscuits.

Previously, Tom had to exert effort to jump from the pillow to the books to climb onto the table. Now, he only needed to firmly grasp the gecko's neck and, with just a few movements, reached behind the notebook where the packet of biscuits was stored.

For a creature of such size, tearing open the packet was not a simple task, so Tom left it to itself and went to the cutting board to find the model he had not finished last night.

It was an SD version of a Freedom Gundam model, a chibi-style model with a large head and a small body. The lightweight plastic parts were very suitable for Tom's current needs.

Having encountered the thrilling ant swarm and formidable soldier ants, Tom realized that having weapons alone was not enough. Without some form of protection, facing giant ants or other creatures like cockroaches would be perilous for his small frame.

So, he decided to use his expertise in model crafting to create a suit of armor for himself.

If one considered coolness, naturally, the HG or MG versions of the models had higher fidelity and looked more impressive. However, those models were typically 15 to 16 centimeters tall and not suitable for Tom's current 7-centimeter stature. The chibi-style models' size was the most appropriate.

Tom most enjoyed focusing on creating things, so model building had become one of his major hobbies. Ouyang Hao also enjoyed it, but he was lazy and disliked getting his hands dirty. Most of the time, Tom ended up building models for him.

Without hesitation, Tom immediately collected all the materials on the table to use these plastic parts to craft himself a set of armor.

The Gundam's arms consisted of two parts that Tom shaped to fit his forearms perfectly, serving as gauntlets.

Parts like the head and feet were modified and then fitted with rubber bands as straps to serve as a helmet and leg guards. Of course, Tom also dug out some down from his pillow and stuffed it into the helmet as padding to prevent it from hurting his head.

Due to the SD model's slim body, it could only be used to make a chest plate. As for the abdomen... to avoid affecting his mobility, he decided not to add armor there.

Throughout the crafting process, the large gecko ate biscuits while blinking its big black eyes, completely oblivious to what Tom was doing.

Only after Tom finished donning the armor did the gecko begin to understand what was happening.

There was a photo frame on the table containing an old picture of Tom with his sister when she was just two years old. After they parted ways, Tom had always kept this photo with him.

Tom checked his reflection in the glass frame, "Hmm, looks about right."

Although it might look a bit odd in appearance, the plastic armor, when facing the giant ant's pincers, provided adequate protection. When it came to fighting ants, having a bit of extra security meant a bit more chance of success.

Tom adjusted the armor slightly, feeling a bit tight, affecting some of his movements. He decided to make further adjustments, but at that moment, the gecko nudged him from behind.

"What? Have you finished eating? Oh, you still have a third left. What's wrong?"

The gecko whimpered and stared at him with its big black eyes.

"You want one of these skins like mine?" Tom was pleased to learn of this desire.

The gecko's body was cold and had a tough skin layer. Sitting on it was quite uncomfortable, especially if he climbed a 90-degree wall. To prevent falling, he had to hold onto its neck tightly.

While making the armor earlier, Tom had thought about modifying this mount. However, convincing this large creature to let him tinker with it was uncertain. Now, it was actively seeking alterations?

Great! Tom smiled satisfactorily; he could continue tinkering.

"You can make it, but don't move around."

The gecko nodded, looking obedient.

Without delay, Tom immediately began planning with the materials at hand.

Although he had used up the parts of the SD Gundam model, there was still a pile of plastic models in the glass cabinet across the room.

Tom had returned many of the models he made to Ouyang Hao, mainly because Ouyang Hao had paid for most of them and then asked Tom to build them. Occasionally, Tom kept some representative and relatively inexpensive models as his crafting fee, but there was no need to hesitate now. The process of making models was the greatest pleasure of this hobby, and once finished, the fun would be greatly diminished. After all, those things were just for display and couldn't be moved.

Directing the gecko to the glass cabinet, Tom planned for a while and then began commanding it to bring back the needed parts to the table. As a result, the cutting board was filled with plastic model parts.

Each model was 15 centimeters tall, about twice Tom's height, so disassembling these items was quite challenging. Fortunately, he had a large assistant. Under his command, the creature enthusiastically disassembled the items, and soon, the floor was covered with parts.

"Why are you so excited?" Tom scolded the gecko, pointing a broken laser gun at it. "I told you this was for use. Now that you've broken it, where am I supposed to find a replacement? Do you have Husky blood in you?"

The gecko, who depended on Tom, crouched down, looking remorseful. It understood that it had done something wrong and dared not make a sound, seemingly afraid that Tom would not give it a beautiful exterior after a fit of anger.

When dealing with pets, it was necessary to have clear rewards and punishments. When they did something wrong, the owner needed to clearly express the signal that "this is not right," which was the experience Tom had gained from working as a pet store clerk for a while.

Seeing that the gecko was behaving itself and not moving around, Tom nodded in satisfaction, continuing to measure its body.

If it were before today, Tom could make something for a creature as large as a crocodile in just an hour, provided all the materials were available. But now, with his reduced size, making something for the large gecko would take at least two hours just to polish the materials into ideal parts.

Without a ruler, he used thread to measure himself, tying knots as marks, feeling like he had returned to the era of human knotting for record-keeping. However, seeing the gecko's eager big eyes and considering its comfort, Tom patiently worked on.

The time on the large cellphone, as big as a bed, went from 13:21 to 17:39, and Tom finally completed all the work.

Since the gecko's skin layer was already tough and resilient, Tom deliberately tested it with a needle; even with force, it couldn't penetrate. Therefore, he only added plastic protective measures to a few vulnerable areas of the gecko's body.

For instance, he protected the head, front neck, lower abdomen, and hindquarters, then made a saddle on

the back using a seat from a tank model. He also sewed some down feathers on the surface to make sitting more comfortable. Additionally, he added a Gundam head-shaped V-shaped antenna on the gecko's neck as a handle for riding. He attached a plastic buckle to the handle, allowing him to insert the emerald into it, enabling communication with the gecko even when not holding the gemstone constantly.

Of course, he also attached rubber bands to the two handles to the gecko's helmet so that if there was no gemstone, he could still give the gecko simple commands through this primitive method of pulling, just like riding a horse.

Seeing that the color of the emerald had dimmed considerably, Tom thought that this thing might be consumed soon, so he had to make some insurance. In addition to the original emerald, he dug out an even larger one from the head of the soldier ant, which should last longer. He believed that as he and the gecko became more familiar with each other, even if there were no emeralds in the future, they could still coordinate tacitly.

Moreover, next time they encountered a large ant, perhaps they could "explode" another emerald.

Since he had made a buckle on the gecko's back for installing gemstones, Tom also made one on his forearm guard, making it convenient to use the gemstones on his hand.

Now that he had a mount, Tom added a detachable extension to his big knife, allowing the two-handed knife to become a Guan Yu's long knife. This way, while riding on the gecko's back, he could further expand his attack range.

Because he used carefully painted and color-matched Gundam models, the overall color scheme was very pleasing, making the whole set of armor look very majestic.

The gecko looked left and right, pleased with Tom's work, and excitedly rushed out, disappearing.

Sitting on the closed laptop, holding the broken biscuits, Tom looked at the gecko, which appeared intermittently, feeling very satisfied.

The models he had worked hard to create had finally come to life at this moment and had a purpose for existence, a sense of achievement that no previous model assembly had ever provided.

Moreover, while measuring the gecko's body, Tom discovered that this large creature was a female. As for how to determine gender, Tom shook his head. Including the gecko's gender and why it could crawl on smooth glass surfaces and other such seemingly useless trivia, he had gathered quite a bit, but now it finally had some utility.

The gecko wandered around enough and ran back, rubbing its head with the Gundam helmet in front of Tom, expressing its gratitude. The companions had experienced hardships together, and now that food was eaten and armor was available, the relationship between the owner... Tom shook his head, he preferred to call it a companion relationship.

"Always calling you gecko is a bit inconvenient. Let me give you a name," Tom said, pressing his hand onto the gecko's body.