The Mech Lord

Chapter 56 - 55: Returnee

"This really looks real." Leo was speechless for a second, as he touched the thing. He couldn't help, but wonder how it was made to have such a realistic feeling to it.

'Arthur, scan it.' He muttered inwardly.

[Scanning...]

[Showing results..]

[A Programmable Toy Cat with realistic looking features. It's internal frame is made of Titanium, while its outer body is made of plant based fiber which resembles, Ithix. It is used in manufacturing prosthetics.]

'Ithix?' Leo had no idea what it was.

But one thing was for sure, this thing was a treasure.

'This should be really expensive,' Leo's eyes knew how to appraise things. This cat had to be extremely expensive.

Leo looked into the storage capsule in order to find more details about the thing, and as expected. There were two things inside it. One was the manual for how to use it, and the other was some kind of congratulatory card.

[Congratulations!]

[You have won the biggest Legendary Grade Award. The one and only of its kind. This is the famous piece of artwork by Sir Vincent Gregory from Aslan.]

Leo's face twitched when he heard that name. Vincent Gregory was a world renowned craftsman. Unfortunately he passed away 10 years ago.

'You are telling me, this was made by him?' Leo immediately opened up the internet, and searched about it a bit.

And, the thing he found really opened his mouth wide in shock.

This cat was apparently Vincent's last artwork before he died in an accident. It was made for a special event by the company called Liam Corporations. They were from Aslan as well.

This thing at the time of its making apparently cost them 500 million Aslan Dollars which was equivalent to almost a billion in Federation Bills of the Solar System.

And now, the price had really inflated, considering that it had become Vincent's last piece of artwork. What was even more shocking was that it was never released to the public to see, people didn't even know how the thing looked. And, yet there was someone willing to pay so much just because it had Vincent's name attached to it.

'Can I buy myself a workplace, if I sell this?' Leo thought inwardly. This wasn't a bad idea actually. He would have money to carry out his own works in secret without anyone knowing about it. After all, this was just the beginning and he was sure that he would be needing even more funds if he actually wanted to make something.

"Let's see the manual first," He was honestly a bit curious. At this point it shouldn't be a surprise to anyone. He loved such things after all.

"I see.." Leo put the manual down, and looked at the little white kitten with brown patches on the fur.

"It should be around here…." He put his hand under its belly, and after a bit of struggle finally managed to get to the lock.

"Click!"

With a clicking sound, the lower covering to the kitten came off along with its skin and fur revealing the mechanism hidden inside.

The charging socket, along with the programmable chip were all finally laid bare in front of Leo's eyes.

Leo took his time and scanned the entire thing. He was trying to understand it to the best of his capability in hopes of making something like this one day.

As he was about to pop the lower cover back into the kitten, his hands suddenly paused as he remembered something.

"Isn't this Bio-Chip like a programmable card as well?" Leo touched his left earring, and took it off. He had an idea, and was willing to give it a try.

'Will it work Arthur?' He asked inwardly, a little excited about it.

[It will] Arthur seemed pretty confident about it.

Leo took out the readymade chip which according to the manual only had a 'meow' programmed into it. He then inserted the Bio-chip into the kitten, and covered up its lower end again.

"Now how do I switch it on?" Leo muttered. And, as he was about to look for the switch, Arthur's voice rang in his head.

[The Bio-Chip belongs to you, and can be only controlled by you. You just need to command it internally like you do with me. You can assume that both of us were made the same way.]

That indeed came as a surprise to Leo. He had been treating the Bio-chip as a toy all along, who would have thought that it was made using the same process as Arthur. It was definitely a treasure which couldn't be defined into monetary value.

'Well then, switch on, I guess.' Leo just said it in the most random manner.

[Activating Bio-Chip..]

[Detecting the Body...]

[Confirm the name of the Bio-Pet..]

'Umn..' Leo definitely wasn't prepared for that.

"Nyanden.." Even though it was a bit abrupt, Leo felt proud about his naming sense. The 'Nyan' in the name symbolized the cat while the 'den' was used in memory of Aiden.

[Bio-Cat Nyanden registered in the Database...]

The little kitten's body twitched a little, and the next instant Leo could see the signs of breathing through the movement around its chest. It was really another level of craftsmanship to be able to replicate something like that. The detail that Vincent had put in it was really worth the praise.

When the little Kitten's eyes were fully opened, Leo couldn't help but smile. It was extremely adorable. Especially it's big blue eyes.

"Meow!" Leo lifted the little thing up with his hand, and tried to foolishly communicate with it in cat language. After all, this was human nature, we all have done it at some point in our life.

The little kitten stared at Leo, and it's brows seemed to contort for some reason as it finally opened its mouth.

But, a meow didn't follow up as Leo had expected.

"Gross! Nya!" A voice sounded in Leo's ear, shocking the hell out of him. He even dropped the little thing from his hand onto the bed, as he had clearly been taken back by this unexpected situation.

The kitten clearly had a frown on its face as it scanned its surroundings, and then looked at Leo, "What's going on-nya?"

"Why is everything so big? And, who the hell are you-nya?"

"F*ck! Why the hell am I saying nya-nya?!!"

The little thing really started to freak out for some reason, and it got worse very soon.

"And, what happened to my hands-nya?" The Kitten was really shocked when he saw its own hands. It immediately jumped off the bed, and went right towards the mirror.

"N-No..this has to be a joke. This isn't me, right-nya?" The kitten asked, as it turned its head towards Leo with a very human-like expression. At least, it seemed that way to Leo for some reason.

Leo opened his mouth, but really felt speechless at the event. He could accept talking to a cat for the just fun, but literally talking to it was another thing. In the end, he just gave a nod with a forceful smile.

"Goddamnit-nya!!"

"What in hell happened to me!!!! Nya!!!!"

Leo was really speechless seeing the little thing go mad as it tried to grab it's hair. But, unfortunately, it's paws weren't allowing it.

'Does this pet A.I. talk, Arthur?' Leo couldn't help, but ask. He was really a bit creeped out honestly.

[...]

'Why the hell are you not saying anything? Don't tell me you don't have any idea about it?' Leo asked with a frown.

[Well, I don't know what kind of life form was trapped within it. But, it reads as a cat at least...but this is definitely a different kind of cat...]

"Wait!!!!! Nya!!!" The Kitten which seemed to have lost its soul once again sprang up back onto its feet. It's eyes were pasted at Leo for some reason as it closed in on him, and jumped up onto the bed.

'It's not going to bite right…' Leo forced a smile on his face as he looked at the little guy.

"Why the f*ck do you have my body-nya?!!"