Bonding With The Girls

"By the way," Mina carefully lowered the silver haired girl. As soon as Jinae landed on the floor, she escaped the woman's grasp, and quickly went over to the side of the other two girls.

The Fanick watched the obvious action of hostility with a growing smile unaware that the girls were scared of something else. She continued, "the two directors from the GT stationed here are willing to pay 10 billion as a fine for their offense in illicitly obtaining the Straggler's data. They also want to purchase a license for production so long as you show them how to mass produce the mech."

At the mention of money, Sy's eyes sparked in great interest. With that amount, he did not need to sacrifice himself to Genev--

He coughed, scrapping the wild thought.

Sensing that there was something amiss, he asked, "With a foreign guild like the AO guild lurking in the Union.. is the GT safe to be around?"

"Why not just straightforwardly say that you're concern about my safety?" Mina said, flashing him a teasing look. After seeing a slight reaction from the man - a desired one - she started narrating the GT's defeat in other factions, and their Union's branch unable to meet the deadline of producing a 6th gen. All of these resulted with the guild routing from the Union.

While listening, Sy's face grew with concern over the well-being of the two Fanicks. When Mina was done, the information about the disunity between the GTs managed to grab his whole attention. This was something he could exploit.

With their growing disdain for the main branch, what if he roped the two directors into his unofficial guild?

The two directors had the adminstrative and organizational skills to manage a guild, and they would become a valuable asset for him. Who were they? He did not know. It's just a necessity for skilled individuals.

This idea was farfetched at the moment, and he will need some serious leverage to recruit them.

To achieve that goal... Well, this day might very well become one of his busiest schedule. He only hoped that the couple addition to his intelligence would shield him from complete mental exhaustion.

"Actually," Mina waved at the three girls, before returning her attention to the only man in the area. "the two directors are going to have a negotiation with their main branch today. I need to hear it. I'll send a message to your comm once I have an update."

Raising a finger, her face turned serious - a hidden blade behind her glaring eyes. She then added, "Also, I have so many questions why Genevieve is in Logria. And why are you even letting her enter your place?"

Sy felt a chill run down his back. The woman disappeared from his virtual workshop before he could respond. After a moment of careful planning, he finally crafted an explanation when he had another conversation with her. Turning to the girls who were all ears to the brief chat - their otherworldly eyes blinking - he smiled and said, "Now, let's go exploring."

The trio clung to his back as they made their way toward the assembly line. It seemed like the facility was the home of a giant. Everything was huge. Their anxiety only intensified when they neared the assembly arms. In their wild imaginations, the gigantic metallic limbs would suddenly come alive and snatch them away before getting tossed into an ugly mouth full of crooked teeth.

Sy gave them a strange look. The three had clearly heard too many horrifying stories from Flint. They were even giving the two Stragglers behind worried glances. When they stood before the interface, he started explaining the function of the assembly line which slightly eased the tension.

Since that was not enough, he activated the aviator bots through the interface to spark their curiosity.

"Help!"

"Help!"

"You are scum!"

As the dutiful machines started speaking with each other in their mechanical voices, the three finally left the vicinity of Sy's protective zone to take a good look at the talking robots with curious eyes.

With that, the tour went smoothly. The last place where they ended up was the spot where Mina was standing a while ago near the Stragglers. Sy can see the discomfort of the three while close to the mechs.

With a mischievous smile, he casually approached the Stragglers. This caused panic in the heart of the girls. What if the giants woke up and eat Sy?

The man rode a hover platform toward the cockpit of the Straggler on the right, which automatically gaped open like a mouth after detecting his presence.

"Sy!" Nasena was the one who verbally reacted. The next thing she saw was the man voluntarily stepping inside the mouth before it satisfyingly snapped close. Her body became cold, and her heart skipped a beat. The other two flanking her were stiff like a rock, their usual expressionless faces were now replaced with dread.

"What are you on about?" Sy's voice echoed inside the mech, before the cockpit's hatch opened up, revealing him harmlessly standing behind it. "This is a mech. Humans pilot it."

A relief look appeared on the girls' faces. When the cockpit closed again, they waited in anticipation. They had never been outside the apartment building before nor did they have a childhood memory. Each outside moment onward would be a wonder to them.

Sy sat on the cockpit, finding it much more comfortable than the Famling's. The interface was pleasant to look at with more detailed and flashy control panels. This was his design.

There was eagerness in his heart as he activated the Neuro-link.

Boom!

He felt an intangible part of him being pulled in a short moment, before the screen displaying the vision of the mech frantically showed the ceiling of his virtual workshop - the Straggler was stumbling backward unable to keep its balance. After a short struggle, it finally stabilized its footing.

"Whoo! I see why Kerby and Hanz' groups are having difficulties in steering these boyyos. The partial full dive has a kick." Sy was in an exhilarated state. It further upped a notch when he realized that he was receiving some feedbacks from the computer system. Though they were vague, he could still feel the sensories of the Straggler sending him signals; the weight of the mech such as its metallic feet pressing on the floor. Sadly, he could not read the messages in his vision. They were blurred. His neural affinity was too low.

This did not stop him from testing the mech's motor functions. When the hover platform moved away, the mech walked around and did some stretches. After a while, he realized that the Straggler was way more advanced than the Famling. It's movements were not impeded, and could perform more humanly motions.

In the end, he noted that the Straggler's feet were too heavy due to the installed boosters inside them. This might prove to be a challenge for many pilots. Simply raising a foot took some effort. As such, they might stumble after taking a step.

Furthermore, the articulation between the armor and the framework contradicted each other on a few areas - interfering with the motions of the mech. There were subtle groans and movement obstruction from the skeletal's conventional material bonding as well as the armor.

Though the mech's flexibility was in the highest standard for any mech pilot, there was always room for improvement. Sy smiled at this. It was time to eliminate these flaws by using the Gamma Welding while assembling a Straggler.

This variant would be called the Straggler S1-2A. With the Gamma Welding Machine, the mech would become a whole entity, and not divided into parts. It would look like it was born, not made.

The downside, however, was that when a part of the Straggler S1-2A was damaged, it would be most likely irreparable if one was using conventional welding. But if they had the Gamma Welding, they could be easily fixed. So, the problem was the method of material bonding. His virtual workshop was the only place capable of repairing the variant.

The S1-2A would also go in black. Since he would be using this design to mount the flight module and the void cockpit that Mina requested, its structure will be composed of black titanium. This disheartened Sy. He won't be scrapping the cheap Straggler S1 and use its alloy to create a Straggler S1-2. The game developers won't be crying this time.

'Time to get busy!'

He deactivated the partial full dive, feeling his consciousness returning to his actual body. With that, the the control panels disengaged and the cockpit slid open. When he walked out, he saw the three girls watching him with eyes widened. There was a hint of desire that he never saw before. They wanted to pilot the mechs.

A troubled look occured on his face. Upon a careful consideration, he relented and rode a hover platform below. He let them choose who would be the last one to steer a mech since there was only two.

In the end, Nasena was the one left beside him. He wanted to cradle the girl while they watch. Mysteriously, the girls would let other people touch them, like Genevieve and Mina, but they were hostile to him carrying them like a child.

He shouted some instructions as the other two girls entered the cockpits.