This was an enormous space.
Various mechanical arms kept operating, disassembling and reassembling the parts of the massive black-purple mech in the center.
Amid the noisy mechanical sounds, Asta blinked in confusion:
"Huh? I remember it was already fully assembled before—why is maintenance still going on?"
"Great, so you really were bluffing me after all!"
A certain someone and Peppy each took a step back, warily staring at the two people in front of them.
Arlan: "…"
Asta looked at the mechanical arms moving back and forth ahead, utterly puzzled:
"This shouldn't be right. They should have left after finishing the job—why would they put in extra overtime? I haven't received any new overtime pay requests."
"How much do you guys pay for overtime?"
"Triple on regular days, five times on weekends, ten times on holidays."
"!!!"
"Sigh, even though it's a bit low, they usually still apply for it."
"So what you're saying is it was already finished before, but now they've started maintenance again?"
"Mm. Let's go find the person in charge here first and ask."
Asta led Arlan and the two dogs to the uppermost cabin.
After opening the door, a staff member was leisurely sipping coffee inside.
Seeing Asta enter, he quickly stood up and greeted: "Uh, Station Master! Station Master, why did you come in person?"
Asta nodded and asked:
"Wasn't it said that Heavenly Father's maintenance was already completed earlier? Why hasn't this project ended yet?"
The staff member glanced at Zeig behind Asta and immediately understood what was going on.
Zeig had come to inspect it.
And Station Master Asta had personally brought him.
"Station Master… to be honest, Heavenly Father's project was announced finished a long time ago. Please trust our efficiency."
"Then what is this now…?"
"The situation is like this: Mr. Screwllum heard that Mr. Zeig had a mech he wanted to upgrade, so with Lady Herta's approval, he came directly. He's in the control room right now."
Zeig's eyes instantly lit up.
Not bad—Screwllum personally handling it? This time Heavenly Father was definitely going to reach the heavens!
Wait, the original plan was already to make it reach the heavens.
The staff member added:
"By the way, Miss March 7th is also in the control room right now."
"?" A certain someone's eyes widened:
"Wait, you wouldn't even let me in—how come she gets to go in?"
"Because Mr. Screwllum ran into her on the way. Since Miss March 7th said she had piloted it before, Mr. Screwllum invited her along to listen to her usage feedback."
"Her feedback? Can it even be serious? Hurry—hurry and let me through. Where are they right now?"
Under the staff member's guidance, the two people and two dogs arrived at the inner control room.
At this moment, Screwllum was seated at the operation console, controlling the massive mechanical arms ahead to remove Heavenly Father's parts piece by piece.
March 7th stood behind him, chattering away nonstop:
"Right, can we arrange some better shock absorption? If the mech falls over, it's miserable inside!"
"And and, add some attack methods! It's clearly a mech—can't it have cooler moves?"
"Mobility speed needs a boost too—it's way too slow!"
Screwllum nodded while pondering the upcoming improvement plans.
Hearing the automatic door open behind him, March 7th instinctively turned around.
What came into view was three people and two dogs.
In order: the responsible staff member, Asta, Arlan, Peppy, and Zeig.
"Hey, you guys came too?" March 7th said in pleasant surprise.
"Damn it, you came in and didn't even tell me!"
Zeig hurriedly ran forward and looked at Screwllum's screen:
"This is taking it all apart to start over?"
Seeing that the newcomer was Zeig, Screwllum politely nodded:
"Yes, Mr. Zeig. I will replace it with even more sturdy and suitable materials. Miss March just provided many suggestions earlier, which gave me quite a bit of inspiration."
"What—replacing materials?"
Zeig looked back at Asta in shock:
"Wasn't it already using the best materials?"
Asta was equally confused:
"Yeah, when I procured the parts back then, I bought the absolute best available on the market. Mr. Screwllum, even this isn't good enough?"
Screwllum smiled faintly:
"Everyone has misunderstood. I did not mean that Heavenly Father's materials are not high-end enough."
He explained:
"In fact, these materials are excellent. For example, the synthetic metal on the exterior has very high defensive power, and the linking materials at each joint allow the mech's movements to be smoother. It is already quite perfect."
After hearing Screwllum's explanation, Asta finally breathed a sigh of relief.
She couldn't help asking:
"Since there's no issue with those… Mr. Screwllum, then why replace the materials?"
Seeing everyone's puzzled expressions, Screwllum patiently explained:
"Mr. Zeig and Miss March 7th's needs for Heavenly Father should both be combat-oriented, correct? Since it is for combat, it is not simply a matter of increasing or decreasing stats."
He pointed at Heavenly Father's armor on the screen:
"For instance, the synthetic metal used on the chest—the stronger the defense, the higher the weight, which affects speed and the chaining of attack moves. This should be some kind of fortress-grade external alloy material, right? Indeed, the defensive power is beyond question, but Heavenly Father requires mobility."
"Previously, the thrusters that Mr. Zeig and Miss March 7th commissioned the space station to add were greatly hindered by this weight."
Screwllum smiled and pointed out:
"Therefore, I deduced that it can only perform flat translations up, down, left, and right. When flying upward, there is significant delay—extremely cumbersome. I also noticed many additional thruster models in the hangar, which were likely schemes continuously adapted for Heavenly Father before ultimately being eliminated, correct?"
Although Zeig and March 7th didn't understand these technical details, hearing Screwllum's thorough analysis made them feel his extraordinary level!
"Awesome—!!" A certain someone and March 7th immediately gave him big thumbs up.
But Asta felt a bit awkward.
This was clearly something Zeig had commissioned from the space station, and it had already been promised.
Now Screwllum had volunteered to overhaul Heavenly Father—what were they supposed to do?
Wouldn't that make all their work pointless?
"Um… Mr. Screwllum."
Asta took two steps forward, awkwardly saying:
"You're practically refurbishing Heavenly Father from front to back like this. How about… we just build a brand new one?"
Screwllum thought for a moment and suggested:
"Miss Asta, please don't worry. This is merely out of personal interest. I will handle some key parts myself—the rest, I will leave to the elite staff of the space station."
As he spoke, Screwllum pulled up a set of construction blueprints and a materials list.
"Of course, some of these materials are ones I obtained by chance in the cosmos. Specialized personnel will deliver them to the space station shortly."
"The Herta Space Station is a place where knowledge converges. I very much look forward to the exchanges with all of you elites afterward."
Zeig blinked.
So Screwllum was planning to use Heavenly Father as a medium to conduct an academic exchange with the space station's elites.
It helped Zeig while still giving the previous relevant personnel room to participate.
"March, aren't we making a huge profit here?" Zeig asked.
March 7th was also delighted. She was just about to reply when she thought of something else:
"Wait, Screwllum—this wouldn't happen to be the reward you promised Zeig, would it?"
If it was, and it was being used here, March 7th wasn't sure whether it was a loss or a gain.
After all, Zeig didn't use Heavenly Father very often. If you really pushed him, he'd just charge out of it and solo everything himself.
Besides, this was something the space station was supposed to deliver to him anyway.
Screwllum smiled politely:
"Please rest assured, Miss March. As I said, this is merely out of interest. What I promised Mr. Zeig is still to come."
"Wow, you're way too nice!" March 7th said happily.
This was basically free profit.
She hurriedly looked back— a certain someone was so happy he was practically doing pole dancing!
"…"
…