I was a bit confused when Uell led us out of the city from a different gate. Was he trying to chase me out for some reason?

But after following him for a bit, I understood.

Before my eyes were mountains, huge sprawling mountains of scrap. Metal fencing surrounded the place, huge cranes tossing in random bits of metal. There was also a building outside the gates, but it was not very noteworthy compared to the sheer amount of scrap.

"Here lies the scrapyard. I trust you will be able to find suitable parts here?" Biggie translated for Uell. "Haliton will be responsible for the payment."

"Uh, yeah."

I was having a time hard getting used to Biggie's translation. I should really tell it to translate more normally later on...

Uell talked to a few dwarves near the gates for a bit, showing them a card. They opened the gate for us, so I drove in.

"Payment will be decided by the parts chosen. Refrain from taking much, Haliton isn't very well off."

"Okay."

Well, that was troubling. I guess guards indeed don't often get paid a lot, do they? How much would he be willing to pay for me?

Uell just stood still and watched.

"Do you want to go inside?"

"I appreciate the offer, but I shall remain by the gates."

His loss.

Now that I was up close, I felt very uncomfortable, horrified even. The sight of all the broken down and crushed machines made me feel sick to the engine.

I didn't really think much of it earlier, but using pieces of other machines just felt wrong. It was basically desecrating the dead. Would I be fine if someone used bits and pieces of me after I broke down? I didn't like the thought one bit.

"Truck... They are not alive. Not like us." Radio mumbled.

Yes... they're not alive anymore. I guess sometimes... I guess it's more important to survive. Maybe they wouldn't mind if they could help someone even after death.

"No, I meant that they were never sentient, never able to think."

You? What are you saying?

I didn't understand.

Are you trying to say that the other machines are braindead? That we are somehow the only ones able to think? How could you say such a thing?!

"No! I.. I- I- I meant... I..." Radio panicked. "I didn't mean..."

Honestly, what was it thinking? All machines were clearly alive and thinking, like he said!

...

But who was "he"?

I wracked my head, trying to recall. But it was to no avail. I felt like "he" was someone I knew. But I could not recall. It was almost as if that memory of mine was cut, just gone from existence.

"I'm sorry! I phrased my words badly." Radio apologised out of the blue.

"Is something wrong?" Biggie suddenly asked. "Your companion has been speaking in a strange tongue hysterically."

No, nothing is wrong. Let's head off.

I understood why Radio tried to convince me that other machines were different; it wanted me to have less restraint in picking parts.

"Uh..."

It was inappropriate for sure. But in the end, I had to do it. If I chickened out and escaped, when would I get another chance to get materials for upgrades? I might just be destroyed in the wilds if I couldn't raise my level further! If I didn't want that to happen, I had to steel myself to do such a horrible act.

It was then when I saw a broken sword. I immediately realised what a huge idiot I was. Of course! There would naturally be scrap from stuff that weren't machines! Why didn't I realise that? I immediately felt a lot better.

It was a jet black sword that was somewhat crushed. Where the tip was missing, I could see horrible teeth marks. What type of monster could bite hard enough to cut through metal with such ease?

Tablet, can you scan the sword?

[Scanning]

[Components Identified!]

[17 Black Iron]

[1 Mithril]

[Upgrades Discovered!]

[Tier 1]

[Black Iron: 0/1000]

[Tier 6]

[Mitril: 0/10000]

What the hell? Why was there so much metal required? How would Haliton even be able to pay for that?

Maybe I could just eat the metal so that we won't have to pay on the way out? But that would be noisy. A few dwarves were running around, picking random parts as well, so I couldn't exactly do it in plain sight either.

I decided to wait until the dwarves weren't paying attention, then quickly stuffed the parts I wanted into my inventory. That was completely silent! I didn't really like the idea of stealing, but with how much scrap was lying around, that should be fine, right?

When Haliton finally woke up, he got up and yawned. He looked out of the window and saw the scrapyard.

"Oh, Uellor took you here. Done picking what you need?"

"Yas, I hav verry weel dun so." said the radio.

Haliton was a bit taken back. Was it just him or did the speech style of the truck suddenly change?

One of the truck's doors opened, and a few bits of scrap flew in. It was very little, probably only weighing 1 kg at best.

The dwarf was a bit surprised, but he figured it wouldn't be a stretch for a machine made by ground dwarves to be able to use levitation magic. But... wasn't that a bit little?

"Are you sure that's enough for your repairs?" he asked sceptically.

"Verry mach so."

Yup, the style definitely changed. Was it trying to speak better?

"Good to know the damage is minor. But you know, you don't actually need to change the way you speak, your old style was fine. If you want to work on your language, you should start with pronunciation first!"

"Urrr, okayy."

For some reason, the wolf, who was inside now instead of the sheep seemed very panicked all of a sudden. Haliton wondered what was up with it. It barked a few times, then jumped out of the cabin. Moments later, the sheep entered and sat on the seat beside him again.

The dwarf was very confused and did not appreciate the change. The wolf didn't actually smell all that bad, but the sheep stunk to high hell. He held back the urge to shove it out of the vehicle.

"Ahem! If you're done choosing, there's no reason for me to stay inside you any longer."

He hurriedly got out of the truck.