Chapter 4: The Genius Mechanic
Tony moved with quiet confidence, reaching out and picking up a slightly damaged mechanical component from the workbench.
Without hesitation, he immediately began disassembling it with his bare hands.
The mechanics nearby were stunned.
"Wait—he's not even scanning it first?" one of them gasped. "What if there's hidden damage inside? If he forces it open, he could cause catastrophic secondary damage!"
Another mechanic shook his head in disbelief. "Look at his grip. His arm strength isn't stabilized by a mechanical exoskeleton. Trying to disassemble delicate components manually like that? He's asking to tear apart the microcircuits inside. The kid doesn't even know the basics! He's just posturing!"
Their skepticism only deepened the scowl on Monte's face.
Monte, the foreman of the mechanical repair bay, narrowed his eyes dangerously.
If this newcomer, Tony, damaged the component, he would make sure Tony understood exactly what it meant to have no cure for regret on Norp Planet.
But just then—
Click!
A soft, crisp sound echoed through the workshop.
Everyone immediately craned their necks to see.
Their eyes widened in disbelief.
Tony had effortlessly separated the mechanical component into two clean, intact parts.
Not a scratch. Not a single hint of secondary damage.
"Impossible!" a mechanic blurted out. "He didn't even scan it?!"
Ignoring the murmurs, Tony simply placed the disassembled parts aside and reached for the next one.
Click.
Again, flawless disassembly.
The crowd began to shift uneasily, their skepticism eroding into stunned silence.
In the world of mecha maintenance, secondary damage was the nightmare of every mechanic.
Components shipped from the front lines often suffered minute, almost invisible damage. If a repairer lacked absolute precision, they could easily worsen the situation, causing tiny fractures, circuit misalignments, or energy conductivity failures.
Even veteran Mechanics considered it a success if they could keep secondary damage below 40%.
Yet Tony's disassembly rate was 0%.
Zero mistakes.
Click.
Click.
Click.
One component after another surrendered under Tony's steady hands.
By the time he finished disassembling the ninth component, the entire workshop had fallen deathly silent.
Gone were the sneers and mocking laughter.
What remained was awe—and a little fear.
"This kid… was he born in a mecha factory?" someone muttered under their breath.
"No," another said hoarsely. "He must have been forged in one. Ten hours a day, every day... from infancy!"
They didn't know how close they were to the truth.
Tony had been disassembling machines since childhood. While others played or studied, he lived and breathed mechanical parts, tearing down and reconstructing millions of components.
It wasn't talent.
It was a relentless obsession.
Click.
The tenth and final mechanical component fell apart neatly under Tony's hands.
On the workbench before him, a collection of individual parts gleamed like a master watchmaker's treasure.
The entire workshop held its breath.
Monte finally opened his mouth to speak—
—but Tony wasn't done.
Without acknowledging anyone, he grabbed a micro-engraving tool, pulled one of the damaged parts toward him, and began etching intricate patterns onto the surface.
"He's… repairing it?" someone gasped.
Repairing required an entirely different skillset—one that even most seasoned Mechanics specialized in only partially.
Disassembly was hard.
Repair was legendary.
Nobody dared to interrupt. They simply stared, transfixed.
"Look at his hands…" one whispered.
"Steady as a gyroscope," another said, his voice filled with awe.
One of the senior engravers leaned over to Monte.
"Monte... what's his brain energy level? With that kind of microcontrol, it must be sky-high!"
Monte pulled out Tony's work permit with trembling fingers and checked.
When he saw the reading, he froze.
"Negative three."
The words barely made it out of his mouth.
"Negative three?!" the engraver exclaimed. "That's— that's impossible!"
Brain Energy Level represented not strength, but control.
Anyone with high micro-manipulation skills normally had high Brain Energy Levels.
Yet Tony's was lower than a baseline human.
And still... his hands moved with inhuman precision.
As everyone watched, the senior engraver suddenly frowned.
"Wait a minute!" he barked, standing up. "The part he's repairing—that's an X3 circuit board from the N-265 plasma rifle. But the circuit layout he's engraving... it's completely different!"
The other Mechanics snapped to attention.
"He's modifying the original design?"
"No... he's optimizing it."
A heavy silence settled over the room.
This wasn't just mechanical repair anymore.
It was mechanical evolution.
And Tony—this quiet, pale boy from nowhere—was about to turn the world of mecha engineering upside down.
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[End of Chapter 4]