The Mech Lord

"I see," The Dean muttered with a frown as Leo told him about everything that had happened. And, he sure didn't seem happy about it.

"Since you are already aware about the identity of Zests. I would like to inform you regarding something very important."

Leo could feel the heaviness in Dean's voice. There was definitely something serious.

"You two came across a One Eyed Zest, right?"

Leo nodded. He remembered that creature had only one eye. There was no way he was going to forget that thing this soon.

"According to the data we have, it was actually two of them in those jars."

Leo's eyes dilated upon hearing those words. If there were two of them then where was the other one? They had only faced one of the two. In that case, the other one…

"..."

The silence was all Leo needed to understand what was going on here. He couldn't help but break in sweat at the mere thought of it.

"I am informing you about this because there is a chance that thing might come after you. After all, you were the one to kill its companion. So, even though we are currently searching for it, I would like it if you stay alerted. There is no harm in that."

Leo gulped as he nodded .

"S-Shouldn't the Academy be shut down, Sir? Isn't it dangerous for students to be around?" Leo asked, looking at him, a bit nervously. There were Amelia and Aaron in the Academy as well. He certainly wouldn't want anything happening to them.

The Dean looked at Leo and then sighed, "You don't need to worry about that. Just do your work. We will make sure nothing goes wrong."

It seemed he himself was reluctant to do this, but he didn't have a choice here.

"You can leave now.." The Dean waved his hand.

As soon as those words were said, Leo didn't dare to stay any longer and just got up to leave.

[This certainly is going to be troublesome-nya.] Aiden's voice rang in Leo's mind.

'Well, we can't do anything about it. I don't even know if it's right to speak about this matter to anyone.' Leo sighed. He felt that he should be warning other people about this, but he was asked not to do so.

[But, someone has already eavesdropped on the conversation-nya.]

At this moment, Leo felt some movement in his pocket, and soon a little head popped out from it.

It was Spike.

Leo looked at the little guy and his face twitched a bit. He had clearly forgotten about him.

"What was that all about?" Spike asked as he looked at Leo with a frown on his face.

"That…" Leo forced a smile on his face. He wasn't supposed to be talking about it.

"I definitely heard something about Extradimensional creature called Zest. I thought they were called Reapers…" He stared at Leo with his tiny little eyes. He was a Beast Spirit and had strong sense. He wasn't making any mistake in hearing and perceiving things. Even though he didn't like to boast, he was actually at the top of his class.

In short, he was smart.

"I shouldn't have heard about it, right?" Spike asked Leo with a smile. He could see that the guy was having a tough time with the topic. Hence, he just decided to avoid it, "Fine, I won't meddle.."

He just waved his hand, signaling that there was no need to go on about it anymore. But, Leo's hesitation only lasted for a few seconds. Since the guy had already heard about it, there was no need to hide it anymore. To be honest, he felt that it was better to warn him about it. After all, he was already half aware about it, and would probably deduce the rest soon.

And, so he told him all about it.

...

"Is a war going to start again?" Spike asked with sparkling eyes.

Leo stared at the little guy. He didn't understand why he was becoming so excited about it.

Was something wrong with his head?

"Damn it! I can't wait for it!" Spike threw a few punches and kicks in excitement, "A battlefield is one of the three things that a Martial Artist needs!"

"Three? What are the other two then?" Leo asked, a bit curious about it.

"A will and Hard Work! Only then can you achieve the Martial Peak!" Spike said with a proud look on his face as his little chest extended a few millimeters in length.

"..."

Leo really was left speechless for a second. He didn't know if this was a coincidence or someone was just messing with him. Why were the people around him all so extreme?

In the end, he could only shake his head as the two returned to the Working room.

….

[You sure you wanna do it-nya?] Aiden asked with a worried tone.

'Yeah, I will do it.'

Leo was willing to take the risk. He was going to open his newly fitted Prosthetic arm. He had to. If not, it would spell trouble during the later years.

The Prosthetic arm for normal people and awakeners who were engaged in combat type jobs were very different as such jobs demanded high strength needs. Hence, this Prosthetic was something which was different from normal ones. It was divided into two ends. The holder was locked onto Leo's shoulder and the other part was the actual arm attached to it.

If Leo got used to this new prosthetic arm, he would have trouble equipping a newer one. After all, Awakened usually enhanced their bodies and grew at a rapid pace. These changes led to part of the prosthetic arm which was attached to the body to almost become a part of the body itself.

This process was called Unification and was popularized during the war when a lot of soldiers had ended up mutilated in battles. This method was then used to create Cyborgs and allowed the soldiers to once again stand up for their nations.

But as mentioned earlier, the only downside of these things was that their capabilities were set at the time of manufacture.

Leo was not willing to limit himself when he had the opportunity to make a Prosthetic arm which this world had never seen.

The only problem standing in his way was the fact that he couldn't used any anesthetic, meaning, it was going to hurt like hell.