Following the end of this brief negotiation, for a period afterward, a unique sight appeared within Astera.
That was that, when constructing some large buildings that required many people, great effort, and the help of relevant machinery to complete, with the help of a certain Ahtal-Ka, the related assembly was completed with great ease.
As for the Ahtal-Ka at the center of it all, it also seemed to be rather enjoying itself.
After all, when piecing together these construction machines, it always gave the Ahtal-Ka a feeling of assembling its walking fortress.
There were even several times when, as the engineers of the Second Fleet were discussing how certain areas should be planned and how to put up some buildings, there was always an Ahtal-Ka nearby with a Grimalkyne, letting out a couple of chirps from time to time and joining the discussion.
The Ahtal-Ka indeed possessed extremely high architectural wisdom; engineering, this thing, could be said to be brought into full play on it.
But the shortcoming was obvious—there was not much creativity.
Thus, the engineers' various wildly imaginative design abilities really showed the Ahtal-Ka a whole new world. If it weren't for being sure these engineers would not listen to it, the Ahtal-Ka would have very much liked to tie these engineers back to the ancient ruins—into its walking fortress that had already been built into a prototype—and have them properly design it for itself.
[Creak, creak!]
"Yes, yes, yes—right here. Slower, slower. Good, stop!!"
Under the command of the Wyverian master builder wearing a safety helmet, the Research Commission dismantled the large waterwheel at the center of the great waterfall—the power source of Astera roughly built during the Second Fleet period.
On the cliff faces on both sides, the long load-bearing pillars used for support were covered in white silk threads.
These load-bearing pillars were at this moment serving as pulleys, and under the Ahtal-Ka's precise control, they slowly lowered the dismantled giant waterwheel to beside a first-floor circulation area.
Amid the splashing water, the old waterwheel finally landed steadily.
The engineers present all let out a breath.
This was a major project. In their original plan, it should have been replaced years later, or even after the arrival of a future Fourth Fleet.
But now, with the Ahtal-Ka's help, it only required setting up a few load-bearing pillars to perfectly dismantle it, and later they could even easily install a new one. This made the engineers look at the Ahtal-Ka with blazing enthusiasm.
What's more, the Ahtal-Ka was not a monster with only brute strength. Its exquisite architectural piecing ability and astonishing calculating ability saved the engineers a lot of effort in project design; thus, many times, when they looked at the Ahtal-Ka, their gaze was not at a monster, but at a master of architectural engineering.
"Chirp, chirp-chirp!"
At this moment, the Ahtal-Ka, now the newly appointed "master of architectural engineering" of Astera, was haggling with the Admiral.
It wanted that old dismantled waterwheel, but the Admiral insisted on keeping the waterwheel's core.
The two were loudly arguing, and the people and cats passing by were already long used to such a scene.
Only Mother Chameleos, who had been crouching in the shadows all this time, still watched the situation with great vigilance, even feeling furious at the Admiral's action of slapping the Ahtal-Ka's lower limbs without hesitation whenever he got excited.
"If you keep doing that and anger this guy, I guarantee I'll be the first to run, gwa!"
Mother Chameleos thought angrily. If it weren't for truly liking Astera, feeling that everyone here was talented and pleasant to talk to, she really wouldn't want to bother with this matter.
Otherwise, with her nature of hating trouble, if she ever had to face the Ahtal-Ka directly, she would definitely run away!!
In the end, the argument between the Ahtal-Ka and the Admiral was brought to an end by the intervention of the engineers.
The Ahtal-Ka gathered its silk threads, pulled the huge old waterwheel onto the shore, its beautiful compound eyes looking proudly at the seemingly frustrated Admiral, then headed toward the temporary residence arranged for it by the Research Commission.
It was obvious that under the engineers' mediation, the Ahtal-Ka had won a complete victory, gaining ownership of the old waterwheel.
"Sigh, Admiral, don't take it the wrong way! There are quite a few people who came with the Third Fleet this time, so we don't need to be as stingy as before. Besides, Lord Ahtal-Ka has helped us a lot these past few days—how could you end up arguing with it over something like this?"
An old Wyverian engineer from the First Fleet jumped up and slapped the Admiral on the knee, speaking with some anger.
The Admiral helplessly shook his head. It wasn't as if he wanted this either!
With no defensive measures at all, not even wearing armor, coming to argue with a monster that even the Chameleos couldn't beat, and even slapping its lower limbs—of course he was nervous, all right!
But there was nothing he could do. There was something called a sense of accomplishment.
For children, it was an incredibly satisfying feeling; otherwise, would he really be unwilling to part with just an old waterwheel?
Just look at how the Ahtal-Ka looked when leaving—this was far better than simply giving it the old waterwheel!!
If possible, the Admiral would not have wanted to treat Ahtal-Ka in this way either. After all, from the way he had come to understand getting along with monsters through his past dealings with the Fire Wyverns, it should be using sincerity to exchange for sincerity—that was the best choice.
But when facing Ahtal-Ka, he truly had no choice but to get along in this manner.
There was no helping it. As a monster, many of Ahtal-Ka's codes of behavior were still driven by instinct.
After reaching a trade agreement with the Admiral, Ahtal-Ka was as if it had flipped some switch. Once the first trade was completed—using silk threads to trade for a large rotary wheel—it no longer concealed its coveting of the various buildings in Astera.
Ahtal-Ka was a monster, without so many twists and turns. Simply put, it was too straightforward.
For the things it set its eyes on, it did not use force to seize them, but instead used the newly learned "rules," racking its brains to try to "trade" with the Research Commission.
It must be known that such trades were definitely impossible for the Research Commission.
Moreover, refusing once or twice was still fine, but Ahtal-Ka's targets were too many, and he had to refuse multiple times every day.
If there were something that could show favorability, then in those few days the Admiral would have seen that Ahtal-Ka's favorability, which had originally been fairly good, was dropping again and again with each refusal.
There was no helping it. In the end, at the Commander's suggestion, the Admiral started to use this method to satisfy Ahtal-Ka's seemingly bottomless desire for all kinds of buildings and constructions.
"Sigh, if only this fellow could be like the Fire Wyvern boss, having a sense of proportion and boundaries—even if the relationship were a bit more distant, it would still be fine."
Watching Ahtal-Ka happily set down the old waterwheel and, in great spirits, take the initiative to cooperate with the engineers to install the new waterwheel, the Admiral sighed and was just about to go help the Commander handle some affairs.
As a result, a deep, robust voice came: "Admiral~ out of ore again.?"
The Second Fleet Master's apprentice watched the Admiral, who ran off quickly without even turning his head, and swallowed the words that had reached his throat back down again.
"Forget it, I'll just go continue registering the related tasks."
He had only managed, with difficulty, to catch the Admiral and planned to have a good gripe, not actually intending to make the Admiral solve it. Who would have thought that the moment the Admiral heard his voice, he would immediately run.
On the other side, the Admiral jumped down from a height and, with lingering fear, looked behind him. After confirming that the people of the Second Fleet had not caught up, he finally let out a breath.
During this period, aside from Ahtal-Ka, what gave him the greatest headache was the members of the Second Fleet—especially the members of the smithy. It must be known that during this time, even when passing by the smithy, the Admiral had to take a detour. From people to cats, everyone in the entire smithy, when they saw the Admiral, had such resentful looks that he wished he could find a hole to hide in.
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