Niu Lang dropped his towel as he was trying to fix a part of the broken Mechataur. After some time doing his best, he slowly accepted that he was not going to finish reviving him anytime soon. Ever since the battle against the Robotic Spider had taken a toll on Mechataur’s parts, his giant metal friend had remained dormant. Surprisingly before the towel fell to the ground it had been caught.
“Master Jin, how long have you been here? What can I do for you?” Niu Lang closed a panel on Mechataur’s shoulder and came down slowly via a ladder. Jin passed the towel back to the sweaty Niu Lang and gave him a takeaway cup full of the Black Ivory Coffee alongside a stack of brochures.
Jin wished to offer his help by recreating spare parts or even buy parts off the System’s black market as a thank you for Niu Lang’s efforts and their sacrifice in the Dungeon World fighting against the robotic spider and the Titan Knight. He knew that if not for Niu Lang the Cowherd, he would possibly have had a much harder time defeating the Titan Knight.
However, Niu Lang refused Jin’s offer outright. “If I cannot rebuild Mechataur with my own efforts, I have no right to call Mechataur my own mech.” Niu Lang said as he shook his head at Jin.
“But isn’t rebuilding it yourself with the parts I am going to buy for you the exact same thing?” Jin scratched his head as he thought it was obvious enough if Niu Lang wished to rebuild Mechataur as soon as possible.
“I don’t really know how to explain this but buying manufactured parts and inserting it into him feels like I’d kind of betray his soul. It’s like, after you learned my cow had an accident and was no longer able to provide milk, you had decided to give me a few gallons of milk, and perhaps a new calf in the hopes that my cow would recover better with it.” Niu Lang tried to get his point across yet all it did was confuse Jin even more.
“But Mechataur is a robot. He can be replaced with a few new parts. Plus the new parts can even improve his performance. You probably just need to replace parts of the core engine and such.” Jin replied but quickly realised his arguments were not going to assist in the conversation in any way. Hence, Jin decided to twist his words a little in hopes that Niu Lang could accept his generosity.
“Alright. How about this? You just accompany to shop for parts? I will pay. Heck, if you feel guilty about it, you can take a loan from me first.” Jin suggested and Niu Lang hesitated for a while before agreeing.
“But before you bring me to buy the parts, may I request something?” Niu Lang asked and went inside before he showed him a crumpled pamphlet which Zhi Nu found lying with a few magazines left by customers in the shop. Ever since reading that pamphlet, he took great care of it and was kept safe in his tools cabinet. Jin took a look at it and tried his best not laugh out (ultimately he failed). Niu Lang had no idea what Jin was laughing about.
“Is this too difficult a request? I just wished to purchase it to have some ideas how these specific robots were working. To get a better idea how to help Mechataur recover. If it’s not possible maybe we could take a peak at their designs. I assume since they having them on sale we could buy one or more of these robots as a backup. Perhaps we could also dismantle the robot and …use some of the parts for Mechataur too!” Niu Lang shared his ideas with a lot of enthusiasm.
“Did you not say that would be like buying gallons of milk and a new calf for your injured cow?” Jin returned his quote to Niu Lang and this time he got rebutted with an ‘amazing’ reason.
“If Mechataur would be able to possess parts of these almighty robots that I am seeing in this pamphlet, I am certain he would not mind it at all. You did say Mechataur is a robot and his parts do have wear and tear. A living cow does not, they will just die from a severe injury. But that does not mean they do not have the chance to impart their delicious meat and bountiful amounts of milk for us to savour and inspire us to raise a better cow.” Niu Lang remarked.
To this reasoning Jin could only figuratively tip a hat in his favour.
“I concede. Get changed, I will bring you to see those amazing robots.” Jin said and Niu Lang eyes were starry wide. He quickly went to the Armoury Store to change while Jin waited for him at the spacious basement of his house where he kept Mechataur.
“System, is Mechataur hibernating? Dead? Or is he unable to function because of the lack of certain parts?” Jin touched Mechataur’s giant feet and asked the System.
“Is User asking the System a philosophical question or does he wish a report of Mechataur’s status?” The System asked bluntly and Jin sighed before clarifiyng it was the latter.
“Mechataur’s heat sinks are not functioning as per his initial design. His core engine was partially fried but could be still useable with a replacement of certain parts. Cowherd Niu Lang had been diligently trying his best to fix Mechataur ever since the fight till now. As a result, its capability to function had increased roughly 6%. However, without new parts, Mechataur’s operating capability would only reach a cap of 35% in the most optimal circumstances.” System stated and Jin sighed once more.
“Chinese. Please.” Jin asked which the System retorted that it was already replying in Chinese which made Jin feel like knocking his head on Mechataur’s feet. Since when has his System seemingly started to enjoy bickering with him.
“In plain simple layman language. Please.” Jin stated with a dead tone and the System complied.
“It is possible for Mechataur to come online without new parts. In such a case he would be limited to walking and could communicate back to Niu Lang. However it would lack any capabilities of fighting. ” The System analyzed.
At that moment, a portal appeared and Jin banged his head on Mechataur’s feet upon seeing the dress up for Niu Lang. “Master, did I wear something wrong?” Niu Lang wondered as he was in a full black ninja robe with his face wrapped with black cloth too.
“May I ask why you decided to choose this particular outfit?” Jin face’s was attached to Mechataur’s metal feet (thankfully it was thoroughly washed by Niu Lang already) and he slurred his question towards Niu Lang.
“You provided me with the opportunity to see these majestic robots, and I had the feeling we might not buy them. So I figured we might be able to steal one of them away. Mr Kraft advised me that this would be the ideal outfit for that. Is that not correct?” Niu Lang answered innocently. Jin was beginning to get a headache as he summoned Kraft out who appeared sitting on Mechataur’s feet and explained what else had he been teaching Niu Lang behind Jin’s back.
“He’s a pretty quick learner, isn’t he?” Kraft praised Niu Lang and Jin rolled his eyes. With his face still attached to Mechataur’s feet, he demanded Kraft to stop messing around and if he was so bored he should teach other people correctly. Kraft reluctantly nodded his head and brought Niu Lang to the armoury store again.
In no time, Niu Lang came back wearing a full formal suit with a fedora hat and Jin was wondering if Niu Lang was doing all these on purpose or if he was really that naïve. Sometimes he asked himself whether Zhi Nu, the immortal weaver liked him for his child like innocence.
“Kraft asked me to wear this to pretend to be an influential rich man so they would show me those robots whenever I ask them. If it’s not possible with the help of this disguise, we might still be able to steal one right under their noses.” Niu Lang repeated how Kraft ‘corrected’ him and Jin decided to take things in his own hands.
Jin took out Niu Lang’s coat, changed his shoes to something less formal and allowed him to keep his Fedora hat and suit vest on him. Jin did aid Niu Lang to fold his sleeves up and when Zhi Nu was coming down to the basement to see what was the reason for this commotion, she was surprised that Niu Lang could be that suave.
“Dear~! You look like one of those advertisement models in the magazines!” Zhi Nu came over and she inspected him from top to bottom. She seemed very pleased with this change as she never saw this particular side of Niu Lang. Jin informed her that they would be going for some shopping and would be back shortly.
Niu Lang went out with Jin to Tiangong Shopping District and realised…the place to buy the robots was nearer than expected. (Not to mention, a number of girls were eyeing and commenting loudly at that cute stylish guy walking with Jin which started to annoy him a bit too. That was why he chose a shop nearby.)
“Oh my god! That is the Angel Goddam! The one that was advertised on the pamphlet! Why is it so much smaller than I expected? Are they being made by creatures smaller than us?” Niu Lang asked with his own deduction.
“What are you gawking at there for? Come in and have a closer look.” Jin smirked at Niu Lang’s innocence and beckoned him to enter the shop. Niu Lang was instantly being blown away by the hundreds of robot models that were on sale. Multiple boxes stacked from the floor to the ceiling and each of them was waiting to be bought and assembled by an interested customer.
“Oh, Boss Jin? To what do I owe the pleasure?” The owner who was reading a particular mecha comic saw a customer arriving in.
“Hi there, He Rong. I brought a friend here to buy some of your models. Don’t mind me loitering here for some time. I think he is quite the mecha enthusia-” Jin got interrupted by a shout which startled the toy model shop owner, He Rong too.
” I WANT ONE OF EVERYTHING!” Niu Lang exclaimed loudly which spoilt his cool looking image immediately. He Rong’s jaws dropped a bit before he jokingly asked Jin if that was true because that would be doing a great service for him.
“If you really did that, I can give you a 15% discount on the whole bill.” He Rong offered and Jin went forward to him.
“If I really did that, give me 35% discount on the whole bill.” Jin replied with confidence. He was sure that he had the ability to buy one of everything in the shop.
“20% discount.” He Rong shook his index finger and pointed out he was already doing a disservice to his most loyal customers if he gave out a 20% discount to someone who did not share their love for the craft.
“30% discount and I will always come back for newer models.” Jin straighten his back and folded his arms while showing three fingers out.
“25% discount as well as a discount when I patronise your Shop. I’ve heard wonderful things about your Fishing Instance from Lai Fu. That is my final offer for a fellow shop owner. Anything more would be cutting into my base cost, which I cannot do.” He Rong made his ‘ultimatum’ yet Jin was aware the other party was clearly bluffing since some of the models were plainly overpriced.
However Jin’s intention had been to go for the 25% discount all along. He Rong being a business owner himself had already figured out his objective as well. Since both wanted the same he at least tried to gain a bit of a bonus by getting a discount when repaying the favor. The bargaining was more of a formality that needed to be done.
“Mast- erm Jin, you sure I can have one of everything? I don’t wish to trouble you that much…” Niu Lang sounded unsure, but the excitement in his eyes clearly revealed his hope of getting them all. He Rong had hardly seen such enthusiasm in a very long time. Perhaps, his own passion had died down after he had to change his way of thinking ensuring the survival of his shop.
“Yeah, go grab them!” Jin came over to pat his head like a big little child and his shoulders before he sent a close range transmission. “But with certain conditions attached. Learn the parts of these robot models and try to create new designs for me or at least think up suitable parts which could prove useful for in Mechataur.” Niu Lang accepted almost immediately upon hearing the conditions.
“It will be deducted from your pay as you promised.” Jin said out loud and suddenly Niu Lang’s face turned from an elated young boy to a depressed old man. “I am just joking, go get them.” Jin smiled after teasing Niu Lang who had limited to pick up the ones he liked most for now. He Rong was unaware of the relationship between them but enjoyed their interaction. He decided to loan Jin a storage ring large enough to store one of every model available.
“Thank you for your business. Please come again! And your friend is always welcome to take in my shop!”
