Following the quest guidance, Daigan arrived at Sandrone’s factory after roughly ten minutes.
What met his eyes was a scene of bustling activity.
Various kinds of automata moved back and forth along different processing lanes, handling their respective tasks in an orderly manner.
The clashing sounds of steam and metal formed a unique background hum for this place.
“A humble dwelling shines with virtue…
Does a high-ranking officer in this organization live in a dump like this?
Doesn’t she find the stench annoying?”
Daigan looked at the grease and steam scattered across the ground, waving a hand in disgust.
In his vision, however, all of this looked rather “crudely made.”
A small tiled factory spanning less than a hundred square meters, containing only a few models of different robots using their claws to rub the “air” on the conveyor belt, appearing as if they were very busy.
No flashing quest indicators appeared on them, only cold serial numbers.
Obviously, these were non-interactive entities once again.
Nothing worth seeing.
Without lingering, Daigan walked straight toward the quest location.
[Tea Room — Surveillance Feed]
Sandrone sat elegantly in front of a tea table, swirling a cup of crimson tea in her hand.
Her gaze hadn’t left the familiar figure on the surveillance screen for a single moment.
“As expected, that guy is here again—”
Although she maintained an impatient tone, the corners of her mouth curled up slightly into a barely perceptible curve.
Last time, Daigan’s uninvited “visit” had caught her off guard, almost making her lose face in front of him.
At the same time, however, it had sparked a deep interest in her toward this rare “physical fighter” among the Harbingers.
“Last time, I didn’t expect our famous ‘Mr.
Eccentric’ to honor us with his presence, so I failed to welcome him properly,” Sandrone chuckled lightly, a flash of cunning in her eyes.
“This time, since you’ve delivered yourself to my doorstep just like before, we can’t just welcome you casually.
That would be far too rude.”
She turned her head to look at Pronia beside her.
“Pronia, Pronia—how many ‘gifts’ do you think we should prepare for this uninvited guest?”
Hearing Sandrone’s words, Pronia—who had been annoyed ever since its previous attack was blocked—instantly had its eyes light up like a child receiving a new toy.
“…”
It raised five fingers, its mechanical voice carrying a trace of excitement unintelligible to ordinary people.
“Five gifts?” Sandrone feigned surprise, raising a brow.
Pronia didn’t speak, merely shaking its head slightly as an encrypted message was directly transmitted into Sandrone’s mind:
[No need for further words.
I will handle him personally.]
Sandrone let out a soft laugh, slowly taking a sip of red tea.
“No rush.
It’s a rare opportunity, so let’s collect his combat data first.
This is the most precious ‘gift’ on a snowy night.”
Saying that, her slender finger tapped lightly on the table, lighting up a red warning indicator.
[Factory Hall]
Daigan’s steps suddenly halted.
In his vision, the space ahead seemed to tear open as five towering monsters, clad in heavy shield armor and equipped with tank treads below, appeared out of thin air!
Immediately after, five full health bars appeared above them.
[Level 49: Autonomous Combat Unit]
[Level 50: Autonomous Combat Unit]
[Level 52: Autonomous Combat Unit (Elite)]
[Level 48: Autonomous Combat Unit]
[Level 50: Autonomous Combat Unit]
The five steel monsters, venting steam, stood menacingly before Daigan.
An ordinary person would have been scared senseless just looking at their five-meter-tall frames, but Daigan focused first on the level tags floating above them.
“System, we can farm mobs here too?” He was somewhat surprised, even slightly delighted.
[Perhaps…
a map mechanism was triggered.]
The system’s voice carried a hint of imperceptible embarrassment.
[They won’t be here next time you come.]
*Rumble…*
Seeing the giant robots swing their shields and press down on him, Daigan drew the iron sword at his waist with an expressionless face, holding it across his chest.
[Tea Room — Surveillance Feed]
“Pronia, how long do you think these toys can hold off that weirdo?”
Sandrone watched the scene with great interest, her eyes gleaming with analytical light.
“Five minutes?
Or ten minutes?”
These mechs were specifically designed by her to counter “physical fighters without elemental powers” like Daigan.
They sacrificed flexibility and elemental resistance, pushing body hardness, weight, and the power of cold-weapon artillery to their absolute limits.
Though lumbering, every single strike was powerful enough to crush an adult man into pulp.
How could a mere physical fighter compete against alloy steel forged by technology!
“Ahem, attention Anti-Weirdo Autonomous Units 1…” Sandrone’s cold voice rang out through the command channel.
“Take him down—”
[Factory Hall]
The moment the command was issued, the five tank-like machines started up simultaneously.
Raising their massive shield armor, they crushed down toward Daigan with a howling wind!
When five-meter-tall machine monsters moved their limbs, they blocked out the sky, let alone with five of them present!
Even Childe would have to avoid their sharp edge temporarily.
Yet Daigan neither dodged nor ducked; he simply flipped his wrist.
*Clang—*
A cold flash of blade-light flickered past.
There was no earth-shattering sound of collision—only the sharp *slice* of metal being effortlessly severed.
Under Sandrone’s shocked gaze, the shield armor of the three robots charging at the front, along with their main bodies, were cleanly sliced in two!
Cold silver lines gradually stretched across the shield armor until, with a heavy *thud*, the bisected armor fell to the ground.
Looking closely, the cuts were neat and smooth, as if what had been sliced wasn’t solid steel, but a block of tofu.
*Rumble—*
Meanwhile, the shield armor of the remaining two robots fell outside Daigan’s attack range, slamming firmly onto his body, resulting in only two ripples.
[HP -15]
[HP -16]
Two negligible damage notifications appeared, which Daigan didn’t even bother to glance at.
The absolute suppression of a high-level player over low-level monsters!
*Clang!
Clang!*
In less than a second, Daigan swung his sword once more.
Two silver lights branded themselves onto the machines.
The next second—
The five machines that had been aggressive just a moment ago completely lost their ability to move, shattering into chunks of scrap metal.
Shield armor nearly a meter thick and weighing several tons—their strongest offensive tool—had been effortlessly “disarmed” just like that.
*Pfft—*
Sandrone nearly spat out her red tea.
She stared at the screen in disbelief.
Zoom in, zoom in further!
Analyze the sword in Daigan’s hand!
“How is that possible!
Could that blade be a divine weapon bestowed by Her Majesty the Tsaritsa?!”
Inside Sandrone’s computer, a massive database instantly booted up, performing a spectral analysis on the sword’s material.
“It must be a divine weapon granted by Her Majesty!”
Under Sandrone’s expectant gaze—
The analysis results displayed:
[Plain carbon steel, simply quenched]
“It’s actually…
just a piece of ordinary iron?”
Sandrone was completely bewildered.
Although the robots used ordinary refined dark iron for mass production, how could that half-meter-thick solid steel shield armor be severed like paper by a thin slice of iron?
[Factory Hall]
Looking at the loot on the ground, Daigan shook his head in slight disappointment.
“It’d be nice if these gave more EXP.”
[Meshing Gear × 4]
[Worn Component × 5]
[EXP × 100]
He picked up a gear and asked the system, “What are these used for?
If I get enough, can I craft a small robot?”
[Regrettably, there is currently no pet or mount feature available.]
Hearing this, Daigan glanced at them with a hint of disgust.
However, out of his instinct to “collect new things and toss the old,” he dumped the junk that had almost filled his inventory and casually stuffed these components inside instead.
Having done all this, he patted the dust off his clothes and continued walking toward the quest location, as if he had merely stepped on a few ants just now.
Meanwhile, back in the tea room, Sandrone remained frozen in her shocked posture, unable to return to her senses for a long time.