Dang dang dang.
"Vincent! Can you stop doing that already?! You've been hitting it at least a hundred times, and it's only morning!"
"Hey! Let me enjoy my moment, Raella! It took an annoyingly long time for me to receive my custom piece. Now that I finally have it, I need to make sure its protection is up to my expectations."
The two young Larkinsons were just finishing their breakfast at the dining table in their stateroom.
Raella had a busy day ahead of her like always. As the director of the Larkinson Mech Games Circuit, her workload had practically doubled after a large number of Lifers and Heavensworders joined the clan.
The latter especially gave her a headache! The former citizens of the Heavensword Association were so accustomed to competitions that they demanded a lot more matches than her department could currently organize!
A lot more swordsmanship and swordsman mech competitions had popped up as of late. Most of the participants consisted of Swordmaidens and Heavensworders, though a number of Larkinsons from the other mech forces took part as well in order to gain more effective practice.
Though Raella was glad that the Larkinson Clan acquired a more competitive spirit, the clan didn't have enough venues to organize all of the matches.
It was rather fortunate that she received permission from General Verle to borrow some free space from the Graveyard and the Dragon's Den as temporary ground-based mech arenas.
While it was rather expensive and troublesome to reinforce the borrowed spaces and set up numerous energy-intensive shield generators, she was glad that she received the support from the higher-ups. Evidently, they agreed with her that all of the restless mech pilots in their ranks needed an outlet to experience more visceral combat and enjoy a form of entertainment that was fully Larkinson.
"Nyeow~"
Minxie had just finished her bowl of cat food and began to brush her white fur against Raella's hands. The woman petted her cat's long, white fur and smiled.
"Have you been up to any trouble lately?"
"Nyeow."
"Don't run around too much. We might stumble in a combat situation and I don't want you to be stuck somewhere dangerous. The forward observation chamber might be nice and open, but it is very vulnerable to attack. If you want to go out, then settle somewhere deeper in the ship, like New Dorum or something, alright?"
"Nyeow!"
As Raella communicated with her elegant cat, her boyfriend stood up from his chair and boldly stretched his legs and began to take long, exaggerated steps.
A gleeful smile appeared on his face as he started making exaggerated kicks in the air. The new baggy uniform pants he started wearing recently helped a lot with allowing him to exercise his recently-grown legs.
"Those Lifer docs sure know what they are doing!" Vincent admired his new limbs. "I can hardly feel the difference from my old pair of legs!"
Even though the operation already happened a month ago, it took quite a lot of time for everything to settle and for him to complete his initial rehabilitation process.
Right now, Vincent was still prohibited from running marathons and so on, but that hardly mattered since he mainly piloted mechs for a living.
In truth, the real reason why he wore a wider and baggier uniform wasn't so that he could kick in the air whenever he felt like it. He also didn't wear it in order to hide the fact that his athletic, toned physique had deteriorated a bit after being unable to exercise as vigorously as before.
No, the real reason he wore his current outfit was because he received too many complaints from others when he wore his normal, slim-fit uniform.
The source of other people's complaints pertained to one crucial addition to his daily wardrobe.
Vincent formed a fist and gently rapped it downwards.
Dang dang dang.
A sturdy metal sound rang from his waist!
The moment he received his new 'protection gear' and wore it underneath his pants, it was as if he finally turned invincible. Though the metal device was a bit bulky and troublesome to operate whenever he needed to go to the bathroom, why should he aim for comfort when protection was all that mattered?
He never wanted to end up in a position where his manhood was at risk ever again! He would rather lose his legs a hundred times than harm his original organ!
Vincent couldn't even imagine how he would end up like if he had to live his life while carrying a cloned 'third leg'. Just the thought of it was a nightmare!
A bot came to clean up the dishes while the pair prepared to go their separate ways. They briefly embraced each other for a kiss before leaving for work.
While Raella strode off to manage her expanded department, Vincent moved down to the hangar bay in order to gather alongside a special group of Larkinson mech pilots.
He approached with a casual stride and waved at his peers. "Hey! What's up, fellas?"
The three gathered expert candidates did not respond well to his casual greeting. Their rigid postures and their serious demeanors made it clear that they took their duties a lot more seriously than Vincent.
They were true professionals!
Not only that, they rarely relaxed these days. Even when they were off-duty, they constantly poured themselves into additional training.
Whether it was taking sword lessons from the Heavensworders or learning some tips on how to bolster their defenses from Venerable Jannzi, the trio standing before him were thinking day and night about how to better their performance.
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