The Mech Touch novel Chapter 1397

Since Ves had a deal with Lady Miralix, he decided to leverage her status and ask her for a favor.

As a scion of House Laterna, it only took a few calls for her to grant Ves permission to visit the cooling chamber which stored the frozen remains of the Dragon Cat.

By the time Ves arrived at the Kemila Hunting Hall with Lucky and Nitaa as his company, Benedict Vinzler greeted him yet again.

\"Mr. Larkinson! I did not expect to see you so soon!\"

As soon as the two shook hands, they began to board a waiting aircar. As the vehicle headed to the entrance of the underground holding cell complex, the relations manager began to explain the allowances they made.

\"We first requested the Rocit Butchers for permission to allow a guest to observe the remains.\"

\"Since we’re on our way to the facility, I take it they granted permission?\"

Vinzler smiled. \"Every member of the Butchers, from their commander to their mech technicians, is out partying in the city right now. They’re always incredibly exuberant after every hunt. I believe they are still drinking their faces stupid even now!\"

That made it easy for the hunting hall to request a favor from them. Perhaps to them it wasn’t a big deal that someone wanted to see the results of their hunt up close.

\"In what condition is the carcass?\"

\"It’s partially complete, though it doesn’t look pretty. The Butchers already carved out some portions to cook and consume the meat immediately after they slew the Dragon Cat. They believe the meat tastes the sweetest just after successfully taking down a beast.\"

\"Is the head still present?\" Ves pressed.

This was a very important question to him! The presence of the head and the brains of the Dragon Cat was pivotal!

\"No. The head is the most valuable part to hunters. Even the Butchers value them. They’ve already removed the head and sent it to the taxidermists in order to treat it and turn it into a hunting trophy.\"

What a shame! Ves expected that something like this would happen seeing that hunters placed a huge value on heads.Still, he lamented the loss of opportunity to see the head of a freshly-slain beast in person!

From what Ves observed of the hunting trophies mounted in the Kemila Hunting Hall, preserved heads retained nothing of their original spirituality, if they even had one at all. He guessed that spirituality only lingered for a limited amount of time upon the death of a spiritually potent entity.

\"What is your interest in the Dragon Cat, if I might ask? It is not every day that a visitor demands to see the carcass of a huge cat.\"

\"I’ve made a deal with Lady Miralix to tune up her mechs in preparation for the upcoming hunt.\" Ves replied as he came up with an excuse on the fly. \"I’d like to study the remains of a huge cat up close both to help me optimise the design of her personal mech and to get a better idea what kind of opponent she’s about to face.\"

Vinzler nodded in understanding. \"I see. One point I’d like to note is that the Dragon Cat is an unadulterated product of nature. She’s a pure exobeast, and a very alien one compared to the organic products of House Laterna. Her physiology and body structure is vastly different from that of a genetically-designed Crown Cat such as Zeigra. Aside from that, the Dragon Cat is also smaller and weaker, so do not think that Zeigra is as easy to defeat.\"

\"I’m aware. I’ll be sure to take that into account.\"

\"You’ve already visited these holding cells before, though. Haven’t the captive cats you’ve observed before satisfied you enough?\"

\"Yeah, but that is when they were still alive and too dangerous to let me approach. I’d like to take a really close look, if you know what I mean.\"

The manager shrugged, not quite comprehending what Ves wanted out of this visit.

That was fine. Mech designers tended to be weird, and to reinforce that impression, Ves intentionally wore his cat ear attachments on his head again.

Once the aircar deposited them in the underground holding facility, Vinzler led Ves and his company all the way to the floor which held the cooling chambers.

After a brief inspection, they walked through a small side door placed next to the huge mech-sized vault door.

A chill briefly splashed across their faces, but a background system quickly became active which warded the humans from the cold.

\"Here she is! The Dragon Cat, or at least what the Butchers have left unattended! Impressive, is she not? I can still imagine the majesty this exobeast conveyed when she was at the prime of her life!\"

Ves indeed admired the Dragon Cat by quite a bit. Its lizard-like traits reminded him of the hexapod kings of Groening IV.

Of course, the Dragon Cat still resembled cats in many ways, otherwise she wouldn’t have been brought to Felixia in the first place.

\"It’s a pity though..\" Ves disappointedly said. \"The Butchers have really went to town on the Dragon Cat.\"

The carcass... it looked awful. The footage of the Dragon Cat portrayed her as a majestic giant exobeast. Now... the headless carcass displayed a multitude of ugly cuts and bruises. Many of her scales got lost during the fight or got cut right through by the giant blades and axes wielded by the Butcher mechs.

Huge chunks of flesh had been ripped out of the carcass as well, either due to the brutality of the battle or because the Butchers wanted to organize a huge barbecue.

Whether the Dragon Cat’s flesh was even edible to humans or not, Ves had no idea! Since the members of the Rocit Butchers hadn’t started dropping dead yet, then it was probably okay.

\"Can I have a moment alone?\" Ves asked. \"I’d like to study the carcass in peace. The quiet will allow me to think like a mech designer.\"

\"Certainly, Mr. Larkinson. I do have to warn you that you aren’t allowed to touch the carcass or remove any tissue, fluids, bones or any material. The contents in this vault completely belongs to the Butchers. If you provoke their ire, I don’t think your status as a Journeyman will save you from their butcher blades.\"

Ves smiled. \"I know my limits.\"

As Vinzler left the cooling chamber, Ves turned and picked up Lucky. His dull white bone-metallic shell felt cool to his hands.

\"Are you cold, Lucky?\"

\"Meow.\"

\"Well, I hope you can stay warm, because we’re about to get a very close look at the carcass.\"