The Mech Touch

Task Force Fisherman departed Fort Fishblood with much greater fanfare than before.

After gathering all of the trade goods and adding additional escorts to the supply caravan, the large group of mechs snuck through the Swarm Kingdom's territory once again.

The mechs and shuttles moved a lot more carefully than before. Ves and many others were concerned that their larger and more imposing movement increased the chance of triggering the surrounding Swarmer fish-whales to raid their convoy.

In order to reduce the chances of that happening, the task force split itself in half. Whether this made a difference or not, the Swarmers did not pay any particular care towards the distant mechs this time.

The humans arrived in front of the Evolution Kingdom without incident once again!

Everyone relaxed now that they reached their initial destination. Though the Evolver fish-whales roaming above the surface of the Lab Continent most certainly noticed all of the human mechs and vehicles parked above their territory, they did not show any excessive degree of caution or vigilance this time.

It appeared that the Evolvers still recalled the friendly roughhousing from before. A couple of the bolder alien beasts such as the bladed fish-whales even took the initiative to flip their tails in greeting.

"They look more active than usual. Could it be that they have been preparing to attack the Phase Kingdom as well?"

"Maybe. It must be incredibly frustrating for aggressive fish-whales to stay on the defensive all the time. No one wants to keep repelling attack after attack without any hope of breaking the deadlock."

The fish-whale race was aggressive and combative by nature. This could be seen from the Swarmer fish-whales who exhibited this behavioral pattern the most. As the most primal variant of fish-whales in Purgatory, the Swarmers possessed the least rationality so they acted closest to their instincts.

The Evolvers were much more sophisticated in that regard, but that didn't mean their savage side had disappeared. It was much more likely that they buried all of their desire to attack and plunder because they knew quite well that it would only be self-defeating in the end.

It was only after the arrival of the strange humans with their large metal machines that the game had changed!

For the first time, the Evolution Kingdom could finally emerge from their territory and fight to their heart's content!

When Ves observed the reactions of the Evolver fish-whales, he nodded in satisfaction.

"The Cerebral King is sincere about his desire to cooperate with us. That's good."

Although he was confident that he had managed to sway the Cerebral King to work together with the expeditionary forces by relying on both logic and mutual self-interest, who knew if the big fish was willing to go through with the deal?

As a primitive species that apparently had no experience with trade and alliances, Ves had to be careful that the fish-whales didn't pursue immediate short-term gains over long-term satisfaction.

Fortunately, it appeared that the Cerebral King was still clever enough to know that the Evolution Kingdom had no chance of winning its eons-long contest against the other fish-whale kingdoms if the status quo persisted.

As the shuttles began to land on a relatively flat area next to the cluster of giant lab structures, a group of fish-whales carefully approached and seemed to inquire about the trade goods brought by the humans.

There was no easy way to communicate with the fish-whales, but the mech pilots figured out a few basic ways to convey a few meanings during their previous meeting.

A handful of mechs raised their palms in order to make sure that the fish-whales didn't get too close and scare away the personnel that were about to bring out the promised goods.

It was quite interesting to see the various reactions from the fish-whales as one crate after another emerged out of the cargo hatches.

Of course, not all of the shuttles unloaded their cargo at this time. So far, the fish-whales hadn't brought any of the items that they agreed to exchange with the expeditionary forces. Wouldn't it be stupid to pass on the power reactors and materials only for the fish-whales to stall and pretend they didn't agree to provide anything?

If the Evolver fish-whales really dared to scam the humans, there was no good way to rectify the situation! The Lab Continent was the adversary's home turf and the total combat strength of the nearby fish-whales were considerably stronger than the entire task force!

"Damn, what is taking the fish-whales so long?"

"Are they really planning to screw us over?"

"Shut up and be patient! The fish-whales don't experience time like us. They live a lot longer than us and there is no day-night cycle in this pocket space. Remain on guard but don't do anything. Let us see what happens when their king fish appears."

It did not take too long for the Cerebral King to appear from the entrance of his underground lab compound.

Although it was a bit worrisome to see that the Evolver fish-whales still made no effort to bring over their own trade goods, the Cerebral King did not show any suspicious or dangerous behavior.

The Everchanger flew out of the group of mechs and met the Cerebral King halfway.

"Greetings from humanity." Ves said and mentally conveyed as soon as he felt the powerful mind of the opposite fish make contact with his own. "Did you remember the conversation we had last time? We concluded a trade deal. Now, we want to complete the exchange of goods. We have brought enough power reactors, precious exotics and nutrient packs to satisfy your immediate needs and prepare you for our joint assault on the Phase Kingdom."

SATISFACTION. SHOW METAL ORGANS. MUST INTEGRATE METAL ORGANS IMMEDIATELY.

"Whoa, not so fast! An exchange is never one-sided. Can you bring us the fish-whale bones and organs that you have promised to trade with us? Once you bring them out, we can both conduct an inspection on each other's goods. As long as both of us are happy with what we have brought, we can complete the exchange. Does that sound good?"

…WAIT. WILL BRING OUT. MUST BE CAREFUL. ORGANS WILL NOT LAST LONG.

"Don't worry about that. We have made our own preparations to keep the organs alive."

The Cerebral King used its powerful mind to issue a few orders to its subordinates.

A group of fish-whales split off from the crowd and entered a few of the more intact lab structures.

Soon, they appeared once again while carrying the trade goods that the Evolution Kingdom had prepared.

The fish-whales had no tradition of using crates, so their method of carrying stuff was a lot cruder.

"Are those… giant shopping bags?"

"What are they made of? Wait… aren't those fish-whale hides?"

"Ugh! Disgusting!"

"Hey, it's fine as long as it works."

It took a fair amount of time for the porters to carefully bring out all of the sacks of specialty products. Once they set down all of the giant sacks, both sides began to inspect each other's goods.

Not anyone was qualified to check up on the bones and organs prepared by the fish-whales. A team of exobiologists and other biotech experts led by Dr. Ranya fearlessly emerged from one of the shuttles and flew over to the giant sacks.

They soon whipped out their various scanners and other inspection gear and began to do their jobs.

Meanwhile, a handful of mechs guarded the team. The Dark Zephyr piloted by Venerable Tusa vigilantly observed the nearby fish-whales. If anything went wrong, he would definitely escort his wife back to safety!

As this went on, the Cerebral King along with a couple of other fish-whales slowly approached the human side and directed a curious gaze towards the various crates.

ORGANS?

"No." Ves shook his head. "Organs are inside these metal boxes. We will open them so you can look."

He transmitted a command that prompted one of the nearby cargo handlers to activate a command that automatically opened a crate.

An ordinary second-class mech-grade power reactor came into view.

Though the expeditionary forces did not scrape the bottom of the barrel this time, they did not bring out their premium goods either.

Ves and the others had made a careful choice on which model of power reactors they wanted to trade.

Out of all of the members of the Golden Skull Alliance, they eventually decided to trade away the ones that the Cross Clan had in inventory.

The power reactors that the Larkinson Clan tended to favor for its current models were able to support peak performance but were not particularly long-lasting.

In contrast, the ones used by the Cross Clan were a lot more stable and could endure considerably more abuse without compromising their output.

Now, one of those steady power reactors graced the Cerebral King.

ENERGY… ORGAN…?

"Correct. Let me show you how it works. You need to form a connection with at least two ports. In order to help you make use of it, we have marked the ports with bright and obvious labels."

Ves briefly explained the basics of electrical theory to the king fish. No matter whether the creature already knew all of this or not, it didn't hurt to give the creature a refresher course.

The last thing he wanted to see was the Cerebral King accusing the humans for wanting to backstab the Evolution Kingdom after one of its fish-whales short-circuited itself due to incorrectly integrating a power reactor!

After issuing repeated warnings and remember, he finally let the Cerebral King take a mech-grade power reactor to its underground lab compound.

One of its larger fish-whale subordinates also followed after the king fish. No matter what, the Cerebral King needed to see with its own eyes whether the metal organs that were capable of providing a constant output of energy actually worked!

The wait was shorter than Ves expected. The two fish-whales reappeared only ten minutes later!

The smaller fish-whale still exhibited a cut on the flank of its body that was healing even now. Its large abdomen looked a little more bloated than before, and it was easy to guess the reason for this change!

"Please monitor and scan this fish-whale. Can we detect the power reactor implanted inside its body?"

"We can! The volume of the creature hasn't grown too much but its mass and density are higher. The creature is radiating more heat than normal and we have detected a higher metal content from its body. All of these signs conform to a successful installation of the power reactor."

Ves looked quite impressed. He was afraid the Cerebral King would screw up the implantation process or forget one the many warnings that he had issued.

It turned out that he had underestimated the king fish's intelligence and ingenuity. Even if it was the first time that the Cerebral King worked with a metal component, it was not that complicated to make use of the power reactor.

Of course, the humans deliberately simplified the parts and locked out a lot of settings and features in order to prevent the fish-whales from triggering anything dangerous.

The results appeared to be good so far, but the fish-whale had yet to demonstrate what it could do with the new metal 'organ' inside its body.

DEMONSTRATION.

The strange fish-whale opened its giant maw and shot out a laser beam that was not that different from the ones fired by the fish-whales of the Hot Kingdom!

The damage output of this attack was impressive, but not particularly threatening against powerhouses like the bladed fish-whale and the Cerebral Kingdom.

"This is the laser fish's base attack." Ves figured out as the sensors did not spot any sign that the creature had drawn additional power.

The laser fish paused for a moment before it was finally able to activate one of the buttons that turned the power reactor active.

Soon, the body of the laser fish warmed up further, but the creature did not look too uncomfortable with the change.

It took a few more seconds to charge its next attack. After accumulating enough energy, the laser fish finally unleashed a laser beam that was at least several times thicker and more energetic than before!

The difference was clear to see for everyone!

"Whoa!"

The Cerebral King grew excited at the sight! Even though the power amplification wasn't dramatic, any increase in strength was precious!

SATISFACTION. TRADE THE REST. MUST OBTAIN ENERGY ORGANS. SHOW LARGE ENERGY ORGAN.

"Okay, okay. Don't rush too much. They're all here."