Chapter 1451
\"I know what you all are thinking!\" Ves addressed the stunned crowd. \"We third-raters will never be able to reach Master. It's pointless to set unattainable goals for ourselves. Fridayman and Hexer mech designers enjoy too much of an advantage on this front. All. Of. This. Is. Correct. Yet even if that is true, so what?!\"
His amplified words echoed across the entire auditorium. Whatever the attending students expected to hear, this was nothing like they had ever heard before! Not a single guest lecturer ever approached their presentation from this direction!
\"Mech designers are capable of achieving the impossible.\" Ves spoke. \"It is the reason for our existence. When have we ever given up and surrendered to the prevailing odds?!\"
A sense of rebellion grew in the hearts of the Rawlings students.
\"Those of you who were brave enough to raise your hands, I salute you! Your courage and conviction is admirable! As for those who didn't raise your hands, do you think my disappointment in you is justified?\"
Although the pressure that Ves emanated made it difficult for the audience to speak out against him, the Seniors among the professors were made of sterner stuff.
One of the older figures stood up, drawing some of the crowd's attention away from Ves.
\"Mr. Larkinson, though we respect your opinion, the mech industry is inherently shaped like a pyramid. For every Master in the star sector, there are countless lesser mech designers who have been left in the dust! It is not responsible for you to paint an overly-rosy picture of how likely our students are able to advance to Master!\"
Ves held back the snarky retort that bubbled within his mind. He was not facing a heckler who wanted to spoil his moment. The professor merely expressed genuine concern that Ves was distorting the perspectives of his students.
It would do no good to convince the Rawlings students that they were all destined to reach Master!
A noticeable pause ensued as Ves formed a more respectful response. This was not the time to wag his inner Devil Tongue!
\"Professor, I understand your sentiment. However, please consider the other side of the coin. Is it really so bad to aim for the top? When you set an impossible goal but fail to meet it, will you truly be considered a failure? You were one of those who didn't raise your hand, right?\"
\"Correct. I know my limitations. At my advanced age, the gap to Master is still too vast. Senior is the extent of what I can achieve in my lifetime.\"
Ves nodded. \"You are old. You don't have much time left to overcome the challenges standing in the way for you to reach the next rank. But what about when you were young? Did you imagine yourself that you'd become a Senior when you just finished your graduation?\"
\"I... back then I was a lot more hopeful.\" The professor admitted. \"I have to admit that I'd probably be among the students who raised their hands if I was a century younger.\"
\"Good! That's good! You had ambition back then! Think about what you thought back then and what you managed to achieve up to today. Are you disappointed at the progress you've made over your career?\"
The professor instantly answered with conviction. \"No. I'm proud of what I've accomplished. I may not have what it takes to become a Master, but I am more than satisfied with reaching the height of Senior. It is more than what many of my former classmates achieved.\"
\"This is my point!\" Ves grinned at the audience. \"Setting an impossibly high goal for yourselves is not always a bad thing, especially for mech designers like us! Normally, people are advised to set achievable goals. That doesn't work for us! We are mech designers! The best of us have never abided by existing limitations! Even if each and everyone of you who raised your hands have been unable to reach your lofty goals like the professor here, is it really so bad if the journey you've gone through has already brought you further than you ever imagined?\"
More and more of the crowd began to become illuminated to the point that Ves tried to make.
\"Ambition! Ambition is the key driver of every profession! It is even more important to mech designers because only driven mech designers are worthy mech designers! The market does not accommodate average mech designers who are too timid to publish a mech that deviates from the existing products in the markets!\"
Though Ves had not cleared the topic of ambition with Professor Nxi for his guest lecture, he really wanted to address it first.
This was because ambition formed the foundation of his principles!
Ves raised his arms and snapped his fingers. The main projection that depicted moody scenes of war instantly shifted to depict inspirational scenes of Masters presenting their greatest works!
Achieving the impossible!
Breaking the rules!
Conjuring miracles!
Masters were some of the most amazing mech designers in the galaxy! Only Star Designers had the right to stand above them, but even Ves did not dare to dangle the dream of reaching the very top of the mech community to the Rawlings students!
Nonetheless, to everyone living in the Komodo Star Sector, to become a Master was to fulfill the ultimate dream that every mech designer harbored in their hearts. Some just entertained it a bit more openly than others.
\"Although it's a cheesy saying, I will say it nonetheless. The journey is more important than the destination. It's fine if a hundred years later your career ends at Senior, Journeyman or even Apprentice! This is because if you have earnestly tried to follow your ambitions, you have squeezed out every bit of potential that is present in your bodies and minds!\"
Ves stoked every student's aspirations with his inspiring words. Though his starting direction confused them a bit, now his words truly made sense!
This was what he believed! As long as mech designers pursued their ambitions, they would be able to reach the utmost of what they were capable of! Perhaps one of two of the students here might be able to break the seemingly-impassable ceiling and become the first mech designer of the Sentinel Kingdom to advance to Master!
Once Ves provided enough time for every student to process the implications of his words, he chopped his arm, causing the main projection behind him to disappear.
\"Ambition is important, but realizing all of your potential is harder than it sounds.\"
The guest lecture took a sober turn now that Ves no longer attempted to steer the moods of his audience with any footage.
It was just him and his words right now.
\"Some of you want to become an independent mech designer. How great is it to set your own agenda, decide the direction of your own design projects and earn most of the proceeds of the sales of your own mechs?\"
Every mech designer aspired to start their own mech companies due to these exact same reasons. It also helped that independent mech designers also enjoyed the most regard in the mech community!
\"It's a big step to take. Despite my earlier words, don't be too reckless and pile yourself up with debt in an attempt to found a successful mech company. There are multiple ways to realize your potential. I've met many mech designers who worked for the military or other organizations who have achieved just as much as those who struck out on their own.\"
If Ves didn't mention these words, Professor Nxi would probably be pissed at him for encouraging a lot of overeager students into starting their own businesses. No matter their ambitions, most simply didn't have the capability to succeed in their ventures!
However, right now, Ves focused on those who both aspired to become an entrepreneur and had the means to go through with their plans.
\"As for those who want to become the founder of a thriving mech company, your path is the hardest but arguably also the most rewarding one to follow. Whether it is the correct decision for you to invest so much time, effort and money into founding a new mech company, that is up to you. I would merely like to elaborate a bit on the many challenges you'll face when you start off on your own.\"
He began to explain the common problems facing every mech designer who wanted to compete in the market.
He explained the difficulty of competing in an oversaturated mech market where the products designed by Journeymen and Seniors outright crushed their pathetic first mech designs in both performance and value.
\"...With so many superior mech models for sale, why do you think you deserve a place in the market? You're in your twenties. Perhaps younger if you're some kind of genius. Even then, no matter how brilliant you are in your studies, what gives you the right to convince some of the buyers in the market to opt for your early, poorly-designed mechs?\"
The question echoed across the entire auditorium.
A professor couldn't take it any longer and stood up. \"Our younger generation of mech designers represents the future of our mech industry. They deserve an opportunity to spread their wings.\"
\"That is a societal benefit, but is it in the interest of the people who make use of mechs to opt for primitive products over more refined and better-designed alternatives?\"
The professor wasn't stupid. He responded with the right answer.
\"If mech designers aren't able to match the quality outputted by the market leaders, then they are still able to find a place in the market by pricing their products lower.\"
\"I agree.\" Ves nodded with a smile. \"This is what I did when I started out as well. Just like any other new entrant in the market, I started off with selling variants of existing mech designs. While the quality of my products is far from impressive, I nonetheless managed to keep my head above the water by pricing them low enough that at least a small portion of customers think they are getting a good deal.\"
The audience did not appear very impressed with such a humble start. Trying to compete by price did not sound as exciting as trying to compete over the features of their mechs!
Ves deliberately lifted his gaze towards the audience and scoffed.
\"Do you think that the independents among you won't start out like this? I'll be honest. The earliest mechs I've sold are ripoffs of dubious value to the mech market. However, I'm not ashamed. This is what I had to do to survive the early days.\"
As he silently tried to gauge the mood of the audience, he still detected too much complacency among the students.
No wonder Professor Nxi mentioned that too many Rawlings graduates failed when they attempted to start their own businesses!
\"I'm sure that some of you think you have your future all lined up for you.\" He spoke. \"How many of you are nobles?\"
A considerable amount of hands rose up. While they only represented a small fraction of the total amount of students attending his guest lecture, they also had the highest proportion of mech designers aspiring to start their own business!
In truth, the mech company they planned to found in the future would be mostly owned by their noble houses instead of themselves. To the established aristocratic order, adding a successful mech company to their portfolio was a great way to expand their earnings, influence and internal production capabilities!
\"I don't have the statistics on hand, but in the Sentinel Kingdom, how many of you noblemen mech designers actually succeed in founding a successful and profitable mech enterprise?\"
The answer was not much. Despite the considerable amount of investment poured into the startups of these noble scions, in the majority of the cases, they still failed!
This was a huge problem that not only plagued the noble students at Rawlings, but all the other mech design universities in the Sentinel Kingdom and in other states!
Just because someone was born with a silver spoon in their mouth, didn't mean they were better than someone who was born with a regular spoon in their mouth!
The more fortunate mech designers just enjoyed more allowances for failure!
Chapter 1452
To be honest, Ves did not possess that much exposure with regards to the running of other mech companies. He only vaguely kept track of the rise and fall of the ventures of other mech designers when he spent some time on an industry news portal.
What he was teaching right now to the Rawlings mech design students ought to be part of the businesses courses in their curriculum.
However, even if they already learned these lessons in class, Ves believed that it might be different when it came from the mouth of someone who recently went through the startup process.
\"Starting a mech company to compete in a market environment that is already flooded with the products you want to introduce is difficult. Immensely difficult.\" Ves smacked his hand against his palm in emphasis. \"The basic question that should be roiling in your heads as you invest a fortune in a mech workshop or a larger production facility is what value you are bringing to the table. What distinguishes your mechs from the mechs designed by people who are older, more skilled, more experienced, more famed and more entrenched in the market?\"
Some of the students began to absorb his words. They were getting absorbed in his train of thought.
However, many others still remained unaffected. The lesson wasn't catching on to them, either because they had no intention of going independent or they possessed too much confidence in their abilities.
Evidently, Ves had to work harder to pop the bubbles surrounding the latter group of students.
\"In the mech market, the bigger fish such as the Journeymen, Seniors and the huge trans-galactic enterprises already capture the bulk of each product segment. The good news is that Novices and Apprentices are still able to earn a decent living between the cracks. The bad news is that the amount of Novices and Apprentices competing over these tiny spaces in the market is enough to form a new black hole! Can you imagine such a sight?!\"
The strange analogy sure caught the attention of a few more students.
\"Maybe I should put it in clearer terms. Imagine a round pie where a dozen Seniors each divide the cake equally between each other. They've cut the cake so well that only crumbs are left behind. Now imagine you, the other students in this hall and multiply that by a thousand fighting over the crumbs that can barely fill your belly, let alone stimulate your taste buds! Does that sound great to you? Does that seem easy to you?\"
The gravity of the dire situation of startups became more evident when put in this way.
Ves smirked. \"Certainly, the crumbs of the pie is actually enough to sustain plenty of mech companies during their startup stages, but there is only so much hunger they can sate. Imagine all of you Rawlings students competing over a single crumb. Who gets to decide which mech designer gets to pop this crumb in their mouth?\"
He pointed at a random mech designer!
\"You?\"
He shifted his finger towards another mech designer?
\"Or you?\"
He let out a laugh.
\"The mech market isn't a lottery. Relying on random chance won't secure a place in the market for you and your business venture. You have to fight for it! Now, some of you may think that you are beyond such concerns because you enjoy advantages that others don't. Perhaps your family or noble house is willing to dump a lot of money on you. Perhaps you have a generous mentor who is willing to prop you up.\"
Quite a number of mech designers nodded as they did indeed enjoy certain advantages.
\"Well, while enjoying solid backing guarantees that you can get a foot in the door, entering the building is another matter! The inside of the building is already bursting with other mech designers, and it is extremely selective of which mech designer is allowed to enter! Backing means nothing if your products and your mech design abilities are merely average!\"
For emphasis, Ves raised his hands. The main projection came to life again. Unlike the vivid footage from before, now the projection depicted several choice statistics in the form of giant graphs and tables.
Every mech designer was versed in statistics. They each took in the statistics and grimaced.
This was because Ves chose to project the figures of the survival rate of mech company startups in the Sentinel Kingdom in the last couple of decades!
Not only that, but he even chose to depict a graph that displayed the success rate of mech companies founded by mech designers of different backgrounds.
All of the figures were abysmally low and all of them reached the single percentages!
The other notable finding of this graph was that the background didn't matter!
Mech designers with an ordinarily middle-class commoner upbringing succeeded just as much as those born with silver spoons in their mouths!
While there were some mild variations in the success rate of each different category of mech designers, the differences weren't statistically significant!
\"I'm not sure whether your teachers have shown you this graph before, but I'm showing you this now because these are the results of your predecessors. Many of them were like you, confident and conceited in the belief that you are special and that you will definitely succeed where others have failed. While confidence is important in pursuing your ambition, never think that successful mech designers are exempt from failure! Which Senior or Master haven't suffered major setbacks in their careers?!\"
He swept his hand specifically towards the professors sitting in the front, causing some of them to color a bit. Nonetheless, those like Professor Nxi who had been through many experiences in their lives took the renewed attention in stride.
This was because Ves was right. Every Senior went through at least one major setback, and often more.
\"This is the nature of our profession and the nature of the business environment we live in! The market for mechs is humongous and enormously lucrative! Yet all of the money circulating in our industry has brought out the highest degree of competitiveness of all of the existing players in the market! New entrants in the market such as you won't fare well if you underestimate the competition and overestimate your own capabilities!\"
One particular student managed to summon up enough resistance to raise his hand!
\"Mr. Larkinson!\" The young man interrupted Ves. \"Why do you keep talking us down?! Do your earlier words about setting impossible goals mean nothing?!\"
Ves applauded at the man. \"Good question! I don't have the habit of contradicting myself! I mean what I say and my earlier lesson to you is still valid! While ambition is important to bring out the best in us, self-assessment is arguably even more important! The former deals with your aspirations of the future while the latter is relevant to what you can do in the present!\"
\"What do you mean, exactly?!\"
\"What a mech designer achieves in the future and what they are able to do in the present differs immensely.\" Ves spoke calmly. \"The challenge to each and every one of you is how well you can bridge this gap. No amount of wishful thinking will allow you to magically overcome the obstacles in the way. It takes an honest assessment of your options and capabilities as well as realistic decision-making to achieve significant progress. This is the quality that most mech designers lack when their startups falter.\"
The student who spoke up had sat down by now. He and everyone else followed his train of thought.
\"As the graphs behind me show, the commoners among you have just as much chance to succeed than the more fortunate sons and daughters among you. In my opinion, this is because of two reasons.\"
He raised one finger.
\"First, the independent mech designers with a common background are only able to attract investment because they set a bold vision and have the competence to back up their ambitions. They also know that they are good enough to compete over the less-fought niches in the market and go through with taking risks in the belief that their mech company can succeed!\"
He raised another finger.
\"Second, the independents among you with access to easy money and powerful backing frankly overestimate the role these advantages grant you! All the money and connections in Sentinel won't help you sell more mechs if you suck! Forget your pride and birthright for a moment and make an honest assessment of yourselves! If you aren't ranking in the top of your classes, what makes you think you will make it past the stupendously high cut-off point of the brutal mech market where you are competing against mech designers who are vastly more competent than your classmates?!\"
The mech market wasn't fair! Huge trans-galactic enterprises headquartered in the galactic center regularly publish stupendously-optimized and nearly flawless mech designs that capture the bulk of the galactic mech market!
The smaller the mech designer, the less chances they had to survive on their own!
\"The true worth of a mech designer is locked within yourselves.\" Ves tapped the side of his head with his finger. \"Your design abilities are the basic foundation that determines your right to capture one of the crumbs of the pie.\"
Ves then swept his hand up in the air!
\"However, this is not enough! It is not enough to be decently good at designing mechs! You also have to present something of value to the mech market! This is where the ambition I spoke about earlier comes in! Maintaining a foothold in the market requires you to prove that your mechs are sufficiently different from the competition! If you fail to differentiate, then what gives you the right to capture the market share claimed by more established rivals? As long as they can do the same as you do but ten times better, there is no reason for your mech companies to exist!\"
Ves gestured towards one of the professors who spoke out earlier during the guest lecture.
\"One of your teachers mentioned that competing by price is a valid way of surviving in the mech market. But that is barely enough for you to maintain a meager and barely profitable existence. I don't think any of you with aspirants to become independent are okay with settling for a marginal existence! To grow your mech company and attract more sales, differentiation is the key. Only by releasing unique products that showcase your distinct specialties will you be able to get past the startup stage and become a major force in the market!\"
His words tied into the subject of ambition that Ves brought up earlier.
\"Boring ideas won't cut it in the mech market. The mech market is already filled with mechs designed in the lines of almost every standard design philosophy out there. This is why it is important to be bold and ambitious in setting your goals! Only by developing a novel, exciting design philosophy will you be able to justify why you deserve a place in the market!\"
Competing over price was a dead end as far as Ves was concerned!
\"Of course, this is easier said than done. Some of you have the capability to do well, but not the ambition to guide your growth. Others have the ambition, but not the capability. If they failed to assess themselves honestly, they will just join one of the many failures projected onto this graph. As for those who possess neither the capability or the ambition, I'm sure they know themselves well enough that they have no place on the market.\"
This was why it was important for the students to reflect on themselves before they embarked on life-changing career decisions.
Ves could tell that his words had truly caught on by now! A lot more mech designers began to fall into thought as his lesson encouraged them to look at themselves.
Not everyone liked what they saw.
Chapter 1453
Ves structured his lecture to achieve several goals. Alongside hitting the points that Professor Nxi wanted him to address, he also snuck in another objective.
Right now, he was slowly building up to that point.
\"The market isn't fair and so isn't life.\" Ves continued his lecture. \"To become an independent is not the best solution for everyone. The risks are too high and so is the price. Becoming a dependent may not be the most prestigious direction you can take in your career, but plenty of Masters have emerged after building up their competences by working for the military or a great mech company.\"
Ves waved his hand, causing the statistics projected above him to disappear.
\"The reason why I hammer the need to assess your strengths and weaknesses is because only by knowing where you stand will you know what you need to stand on your own. If you blindly proceed to start your own business without knowing you are bad at mechanics for example, all of your mechs will be far too shoddily put together to be worth purchasing!\"
He had witnessed far too many marginal mech designers who barely eke out an existence from a single mech workshop. He did not want the students here to enter the market with hopeful ideas, only to end up as a zombie in the brutal mech industry.
\"Cherish your time at Rawlings. You only have a set amount of years to build up your foundation. The competences you acquire during your studies here determine the starting point of your career in the mech industry. Now, those of you who have done well and are capable of doing more won't have anything to worry about. As for those of you with average grades, I'm sorry, but you just won't cut it if you start off on your own. The difference between you and those with better results is that the latter is much more capable of differentiating their products!\"
When Ves tied the academic results of the students to the chances of succeeding in becoming an independent, he brought the lesson much closer to home!
While the academic workload of Rawlings was quite high compared to more standard mech universities, most students were able to keep up due to passing through the strict selection process.
Yet keeping up was not the same as excelling in their studies! Only a portion of them truly took to their courses like fish to water! For everyone else, achieving higher-than-average grades was already a win in their books!
However, in the majority of the cases, the level of determination and learning ability demonstrated by the average students simply didn't cut it! When they finally tried to make something of themselves in the mech market, they would probably wish they exhibited a lot more drive and urgency in making the best of their time at Rawlings!
As Ves kept painting a bleaker picture with his words, he finally offered a form of salvation.
\"This is not the end, though. Far from it. Mech designers are needed everywhere. Rawlings students such as you are unlikely to be demoted to fabricators, repairers or any of the other side professions related to mechs. The government, military and existing mech companies all have a need for diligent mech designers who can dutifully fill up their design teams.\"
Numerous Rawlings students definitely appeared to be considering their plans. Ves had managed to convince at least some of his audience to reconsider their ill-thought plans to start their own mech companies.
He smiled. \"Is becoming an independent the end of a mech designer's career path? Far from it! There is nothing wrong with borrowing the strength of a stronger employer to overcome your shortcomings. The only thing you need to take into account is that you only have so much time to progress and make something of yourself!\"
A mech designer could never have enough time!
\"From what I've found out, the employment prospects of Rawlings graduates is excellent. The reputation of your school is deservingly high and each of you who pass all of your courses are well-prepared to perform all kinds of starter work. As long as your academic record is decent, I'm sure you can choose between plenty of employers, all of which offer different conditions and incentives for you to join.\"
Ves paced around the podium. \"However, the question here is which employer is the best? The military is often seen as the best employer because they provide a lot of support. However, they only employ the best, so it is not that easy to enter their circle. It's easier to join one of the many mech companies looking to bolster their design teams, but this is where you need to set your priorities straight.\"
He stopped pacing and faced the center of the audience in a dramatic turn.
\"Do you cherish and continue to pursue your lofty ambitions, or do you just want a stable, well-paying job?\"
Silence stretched as Ves fell silent for a moment. Who would want to admit they counted among the latter? Many Rawlings students developed considerable egos due to the prestige of their school!
\"From my observation and experiences of other mech companies, they always drive a hard bargain.\" He grinned. \"Let me tell you about one of the unspoken rules of the mech industry. The lead designers, who are mostly the bosses to these companies, don't want their subordinate mech designers to get too uppity.\"
That sounded very odd!
\"In order for a subordinate to become useful, they have to develop a lot of skills and improve their overall design abilities. However, they don't want you to become too good, because you'll eventually quit and take away all of the skills that the mech company has invested in you! Sure, the contracts you sign will most likely compel you to pay your former employers a share of the profits of your new business ventures, but it is still a wasteful event in their eyes!\"
As a business owner, Ves had long grappled about this subject himself. From his standpoint, the most useful design team consisted of subordinates who worked for him long enough to be able to compliment his design style!
Such a good design team did not appear when Ves threw a bunch of random graduates together! It took years of training, guidance and indoctrination in order to mold a design team in his desired shape!
If Ves poured years of effort and investment in molding a subordinate mech designer into his ideal shape, only for the ungrateful fellow to submit his resignation in order to leverage his improved skills into starting his own business, then Ves would have egg on his face!
\"Nonetheless, even if mech designers don't want you to facilitate all of your learning and progression goals, this is incredibly important. Just because you have your school doesn't mean your learning has ended! In fact, it has just begun! The gap between a new entrant in the job market and the top mech designers in the industry is immense, and the most pivotal difference is the humongous gap in skills and knowledge!\"
He thought back on what he experienced when he'd been assigned to serve as a liaison between the Mech Corps and the Kadar-Neyvis Group. Witnessing the circumstances of the low-ranking mech designers that made up their design teams was a real eye-opener to him that continued to guide his own thoughts on the matter.
\"Forget the salary. Forget the vacation days. Forget the working hours. If you want to earn an easy living off the skills and knowledge you've acquired at Rawlings or enjoy a pleasant work-life balance, then go ahead and negotiate on those terms.\"
He chuckled.
\"As for the future mech designers among you who don't want to give up on your ambitions and are willing to work hard enough to realize them, then make sure you negotiate the right employment contract! Rather than maximize your present gains, instead focus your efforts on securing your future!\"
He noted that a lot of students became confused as they failed to follow his train of thought. Evidently, Rawlings hadn't provided them with sufficient career guidance.
Then again, he couldn't blame the school for doing so. Rawlings already had its hands full teaching more essential subjects. Career guidance always played second fiddle to more important priorities.
Both the schools and their students tended to treat career orientation as an afterthought!
\"Each of you possess value, though the exact amount varies according to your results and your competences. Regardless, employers of mech designers like myself are willing to pay you to borrow your abilities. We're even willing to invest in you so that you become more useful to us, and this is the key to reaching your ambitions. Negotiating additional training in the skills you need to become a mech designer to be reckoned with is your number one priority!\"
Every Rawlings student was already set for life when they graduated. But a comfortable life as a professional was not enough to those who possessed greater ambitions!
\"The learning doesn't end when you graduate.\" He repeated. \"Especially not in the cases of science and engineering-based professions such as ours. Not only do you have to keep up with current developments, you also have to go beyond and build up your skills and knowledge base! Only then will you be able to increase your value to the point where your future truly opens up!\"
Ves swept his arm across the entire audience as if he conjured a dream. \"Your future matters. Each of you wants to obtain the opportunity to design your own mechs. Don't deny it. It's what you are all here for. Reality and circumstances may prevent you from realizing this desire, but that does not mean you are forever deprived of the opportunity once you graduate. Keep learning. Keep improving. Keep accumulating experience. If you work hard enough, you will get there.\"
Another pause stretched on as Ves momentarily halted.
Someone eventually raised his hand. \"Which employers are the best?\"
Ah, the question that Ves had been waiting for! \"Great question! It depends on your value and your demands. Some employers are a bit more generous when it comes to training their subordinates than others. The higher your value, better the conditions. If you're not as good, I think you'll have to search harder to get what you need, but I don't think any graduate from Rawlings will encounter much hindrance on this end. This is an advantage you all share!\"
Just like Ansel back at the Bright Republic, the academic standard of Rawlings was a lot more rigorous than usual. Their graduates started off with a better footing than those who emerged from less prestigious institutions.
\"Some mech companies and lead designers are more accommodating than others in enabling you to pursue your ambitions. I've witnessed some scummy circumstances where the members of a design team are deprived of their opportunities to improve the abilities they need to transition to a better career track. Don't work for these employers if you want to reach the top of our profession. During your negotiations, be exacting on the terms related to your training. Be willing to give ground on other terms if necessary.\"
As Ves elaborated on the terms that mech designers ought to value more or less, the overall thread of his lesson became clear.
If mech designers wanted to pursue their ambition, then they had to be willing to sacrifice present gains for future benefits!
Ves did add a caveat to his advice. \"Make no mistake. There is always a price. Nothing comes for free. Relative to industry standards, your pay will suck. Your working hours will be long. Your employer will demand higher quality results from you. You'll have to abide by all kinds of burdensome conditions once you leave your employer. However, as long as these sacrifices bring you closer to fulfilling your ambitions, then it is worth it! Gaining the opportunity to advance to Senior in your lifetime is worth it even if you are contractually obliged to pay ten percent of your profits to your former employers!\"
The choices he put forward caused a lot of students to consider or reconsider their future careers.
Were they following the right trajectory?
No one who harbored ambitions settled for mediocrity. Each of these dreamers were willing to make sacrifices to obtain a chance to achieve greatness!
Ves grinned. He could sense the unwillingness within the troubled expressions of the audience. This was exactly what he wanted to see!
Chapter 1454
Ves always equated teaching to indoctrination.
As long as a teacher commanded attention and maintained the illusion that he knew what he was talking about, he could shovel all kinds of nonsense into the minds of his unwitting pupils!
He had the entire auditorium eating from the palm of his hand. His unwavering confidence, his imposing attire, his impressive record and his deliberative verbal manipulations all caused him to come across an authority figure!
He momentarily indulged in his successful attempt at entrancing the auditorium filled with thousands of enraptured students. He had the feeling he could abuse his power over them to a much greater extent!
Of course, Ves would never pull off something so egregious at a friendly venue. The professors sitting at the front still maintained sufficient awareness. They would never allow him to indoctrinate the Rawlings students with impunity.
The contract he signed with Rawlings already laid out what he was permitted to say or not. He abided by a lot of limitations and surrendered many other rights as well.
Yet the reason he gave so much ground on so many terms for his guest lecture was because he pursued a very specific aim!
He wanted to gain the permission to talk about something very specific! Though Rawlings almost canceled his guest lecture due to this demand, Professor Nxi eventually allowed it as long as Ves did not go overboard!
Seeing that he sufficiently primed his audience, he began to make his appeal.
\"Speaking of employment opportunities, let me tell you what my mech company has to offer.\"
He snapped his fingers, causing the central projection to come alive again. The logo of the LMC hovered majestically over his head. The projection then switched to various depictions of his original mech models.
Though their projection forms failed to convey the full might of their auras, a pale shadow of it still went through. Ves gradually raised the spiritual barrier over his overcoat in order to reduce Zeigra's overpowering aura.
At least a few of the more sensitive people in the crowd sensed a hint of the charm in the mechs projected in the auditorium. Their interest in the LMC visibly increased!
\"The Living Mech Corporation is a young but successful mech company based in the Bright Republic. I founded it in the belief that there is demand for mechs that are more than just commodities. Our motto reflects my design philosophy.\"
The main projection shifted to footage of Jannzi's amazing performance during the product reveal of his Aurora Titan! As her dazzling performance and the Shield of Samar's flickering of forced resonance played out in its full, edited glory, his iconic phrase faded into view.
Living Mechs. Partners for Life.
\"Our mechs are designed to put the needs of the mech pilot central. I believe that the best mechs are those that enable their users to bring out the utmost of their piloting ability in the cockpit!\"
The projection shifted to depicting scenes of archival battle footage. The crowd began to be subjected to snapshots of battles where his Blackbeaks, Crystal Lords and Aurora Titans played the leading role in the engagements.
Each instance, his mechs played a pivotal role in the battles!
Ves smiled. \"If you want to become a part of our team and help us propagate our vision for mechs, then consider applying to the LMC. You'll be working directly under me in a new, exciting environment, away from the boundaries and strictures of the Sentinel Kingdom!\"
He had to be careful not to criticize the Sentinel Kingdom. The Sentinels possess a lot of pride in their state, and for good reason! Sentinel wasn't the strongest third-rate state in the Komodo Star Sector for nothing!
\"What I said earlier applies here as well. As long as you possess some value, I won't be parsimonious with you. Not only will you have the opportunity to benefit from my wisdom and guidance, but you will also have access to our growing internal library of textbooks and other learning resources. I have no use for mech designers who can only count to ten. The greater your abilities, the more rewarding it is for you to work in our design team!\"
A student at the back of the auditorium stood up and raised her hand. \"Mr. Larkinson, what if we decide to part ways?\"
\"You're free to go. It's as simple as that.\" Ves casually waved his hand as if it was no big deal. \"I do have to add that you'll have to abide by the industry-standard conventions regarding trade secrets and sharing a portion of the proceeds of your earnings when you leave my employment.\"
A lot of people frowned when they heard the latter term again. No one wanted to add on an extra tax to their future earnings!
Ves crossed his arms. \"I know that passing on a portion of your earnings to your former employer doesn't sound very pleasant, but all of these terms are negotiable. In truth, I don't want your money. The main reason why this industry standard is in place is because I really don't want you to go. If you are worth it, I will do my best to offer you incentives to stay in my design team.\"
\"What kind of incentives are you talking about?\"
\"It could be anything. If you take my advice seriously and prioritize your progression, then I'm very willing to mentor you! Don't think lightly of this opportunity! I've already mentored a young mech designer before and she has shaped up to become a very talented mech designer with a bright future ahead of her! If you are willing to trust me to guide your development, I promise you that you'll be in the right hands!\"
A lot of students started to rouse from their enthrallment. Almost no one seriously desired to work for Ves. Leaving their friends, families and the Sentinel Kingdom behind to work for a foreigner in a very foreign state did not appeal to most Rawlings students.
In addition, citizens of the Sentinel Kingdom had to pass through a lot of bureaucratic hurdles in order to gain permission to work abroad. Though Ves could smooth over most of the hurdles, there was no way that the Sentinel Kingdom would allow him to poach the most promising new Sentinel mech designers.
Even so, Ves still wanted to cast his hook and see what kind of fish he could manage to reel in. Though most of the students here still required a few years of study to graduate, this was exactly why he wanted to make his offer at this time.
Most students were still available! By the time a class of students graduated, his competitors would have already snapped the talents up! Only middling performers who failed to attract the interests of the recruiters on the campus were still available.
While Ves figured he could surreptitiously augment their performance by sneaking some Attribute Candies in their diet, that was way too dangerous.
If his entire design team suddenly turned to geniuses when they came under his care, then he would doubtlessly attract a lot of unwelcome attention!
In addition, the awry separation of Carlos from the LMC soured Ves to the idea of investing his valuable Attribute Candies to other people under his employ.
While he was willing to hand them out to the people he could depend upon, the circle of people he could trust was depressingly small. Aside from his family and his Kinner bondsmen, there were not a lot of people left who he was willing to empower with this incredibly valuable reward.
Even if the Attribute Candies only cost a few thousand DP each, their actual value in the Komodo Star Sector was priceless!
No. If his subordinates wanted to augment their attributes, then Ves would pay for genetic treatments. Although this method of augmentation always came with personality changes and other unpleasant side effects, it was the prevailing norm within the industry and high society.
An interested student raised her hand.
\"Sir, what are your policies on self-designed mechs? Will you allow us to publish our own designs.\"
\"I have different accommodations for that. Unlike other employers, I won't completely prohibit you from publishing your own mech designs that you have developed in your own time. However, I do have some conditions...\"
He patiently began to answer some of the common questions from the interested students. Though only a tiny fraction of his audience were interested to begin with, this still amounted to dozens of future mech designers!
Ves happily engaged with the audience and tried to present himself and the LMC as an exciting alternative to the existing employment opportunities in the Sentinel Kingdom.
Rawlings graduates never had to struggle too much to obtain respectable employment. However, the accommodations he made were very generous. Only a small number of mech companies could match the rewards he had to offer.
\"With respect, Mr. Larkinson, while all of this sounds great, what do you want in return?\" Someone asked. \"Besides doing our jobs.\"
Ah. Someone finally caught up that Ves wasn't being so generous without cause. The entire reason why he threw in such juicy bait was because he insisted on a very important demand!
\"Nothing comes for free.\" He responded, hammering home the lesson. \"In exchange for all of the generosity that the LMC is willing to provide, you will have to agree to fixed employment terms, for example five or ten years. This isn't that unusual in the mech industry and many MTA-enforced contracts include such clauses. You are still free to quit, but you'll have to pay a heavy penalty if you quit before your term ends. I don't want all of my mech designers to quit abruptly. When you sign up to the LMC, you're in it for at least an entire tour. No less.\"
Though this demand was one of the more stringent ones in a mech designer employment contract, it wasn't a big deal if Ves abided by his promises to assist in the training and development of his subordinates.
\"Is that all, sir?\"
Ves shook his head. \"There is also something else. I'll be splitting up my subordinate mech designers in two distinct groups. One group is subject to less stringent restrictions but also won't receive as much guidance and investment from me. Another group is open to those who are willing to stick with my company and I will receive a lot more benefits! However, the biggest price you'll have to pay is to promise to stick with me regardless where I go! If I relocate to the Hexadric Hegemony for any reason, you'll have to go with me! If I move to an entirely different star sector, you'll be obliged to follow me around!\"
Ves needed to cultivate a team of dedicated mech designers! In preparation for his grand expedition, he wanted to bring at least a basic team of mech designers who he could trust and who were willing to stick with him through thick and thin!
While he could just as easily coordinate his design projects with design teams based at the Mech Nursery, Ves did not wish to perform his most delicate design work via remote.
Though the grand expedition was still around a decade away, Ves had to lay the groundwork right away.
The sooner he formed a dedicated team of mech designers who were willing to uproot their entire families and accompany him on his grand expedition, the more productive the team would be. Trying to set up a team of loyalist mech designers on the go was a lot more troublesome and would inevitably lead to a huge reduction in his productivity at the start of the expedition!
As Ves elaborated on the terms and threw some hints on what he had in store, interest from most of the students plummeted.
Mech designers were inherently resistant to restrictions! If they were willing to abide by a humongous amount of rules and regulations, then they might as well join the military, which was a much better employer compared to Ves!
Only a handful of mech designers still expressed interest in the offer.
To Ves, that was enough!
Chapter 1455
The guest lecture ended on a pleasant note. While Ves hadn't received a standing ovation, he nonetheless earned a lot of appreciation from the students gathered at the auditorium.
Along with describing some of his personal experienced, the topics he addressed all widened people's eyes to the career options that opened up to them when they finally departed from Rawlings with a degree.
With how insulated Cinach VIII tended to be, the Rawlings students lived too much in their own bubble. They had no idea how difficult it was for a mech designer to stand out and excel in the mech industry.
Ves hoped that he managed to influence the future mech designers into taking the future more seriously. With their busy academic course loads, it was easy for them to get lost in the present.
As Ves finally stepped off the podium amidst the enduring applause, he met up with Nitaa. Gavin also returned after arranging some business.
\"I followed your entire guest lecture from the start via a livestream.\" His assistant said as he stared oddly at Ves. \"I have to say... was that really you out there?\"
Ves frowned. \"Yes. What of it, Benny?\"
\"I thought you'd go out on stage with your cat ears on your head and pull off something crazy. Where was your trademark Devil Tongue? I mean, every other time you engaged in public speaking, you always found a way to mesmerize an entire state!\"
\"That was one time! I'm not like that all the time! I have enough self-control to rein in my Devil Tongue!\"
\"Professor Pendleton of the AUMD sure got a taste of that self-control of yours.\"
\"He had it coming! Senior or not, he was heckling my product reveal!\" Ves angrily burst out before he restrained himself. \"No one tried to stir up any trouble for me today. The goal of my guest lecture is to impart knowledge, make myself look good in the footage and attract aspiring mech designers to apply to work at the LMC. I can't very well do that if I scorch the students, can I?\"
Ves considered fellow mech designers to be part of his own kind. As long as they did not oppose him directly, he felt more inclined to conduct a fruitful and substantive discussion with his fellow colleagues.
The dozens or so exchanges he conducted with his peers also helped in refining some of his rough edges. Mech designers each shared the same language, and addressing a class full of mech design students was a genuine pleasure in his eyes.
Ves moved on. \"Let's head to the nearby office and see how many fish I've hooked.\"
For the rest of the afternoon, Ves sat in a borrowed office while he entertained various guests.
Each of them consisted of mech design students who wanted to explore the option of working for the LMC.
\"Mr. Larkinson, it's an honor to meet with you in person!\" An enthused young man gushed. \"I've always felt restless while I studied at Rawlings. It's only after I attended your lecture that I've realized what's been bothering me. The Sentinel Kingdom is too constrained! With noble born mech designers monopolizing all of the best positions, there are too little opportunities for me here. Your offer to work under you is exactly what I'm missing!\"
\"Mmhmm.\" Ves casually nodded while he perused the student's record on the desk terminal. \"Mr. Ferdinand Gerze, right? I can't help but notice that your academic record is.. not very exceptional. Your grades barely make it past the minimum threshold to pass your courses.\"
The importance of knowledge to a mech designer could not be overstated. If mech designers only showed up and put in the bare minimum in their studies at school, then would they be any better when they graduated?
A mech designer never stopped learning. Graduating with a degree in mech design did not mean they were no longer obliged to hit the books!
To his credit, Ferdinand did not look ashamed. Instead, he maintained a positive demeanor, as if his enthusiasm to work for the LMC was enough of a reason to snap him up!
\"I may not rank at the top, but as you have stated during your guest lecture, the academic standards of Rawlings is very high. I believe my competences in the relevant fields is sufficient enough to keep up with your expectations!\"
\"Mhmmm. That's very confident of you.\" Ves nonchalantly petted Lucky, who was lounging on the desk, while he skimmed over the other portions of Ferdinant's record. \"I see you have engaged in a number of extracurricular activities as well.\"
Ferdinand confidently grinned. \"I spent much of my time at Rawlings acting as the treasurer of the Rawlings Polo Club. I also assisted in organizing field trips to several notable mech manufacturing sites. I've acquired vital leadership and financial management experience that prepares me well for any positions that you might wish for me to fulfill!\"
\"Get out.\"
\"Pardon?\"
Ves waved his hand as if to throw Ferdinand's record in the trash. The projection winked out.
\"I've been very clear with my words, Mr. Gerze. I'm sorry to inform you that you don't meet our hiring standards. You may leave now and make way for better qualified students.\"
\"But why!\" Ferdinand stood up and burst out. \"My grades may not be the best, but I'm just as good as any other Rawlings student in completing mech design assignments! Unlike some of the nerds here who lock themselves up in their rooms to cram their heads full of science, I've been spending lots of time outside to lead the Rawlings Polo Club and arrange visitations to many different mech manufacturing facilities! I have skills that other mech designers lack!\"
\"That sounds great.. if I was in the market for a manufacturing complex supervisor or something.\" Ves crossed his arms. \"I think I made it very clear that I'm looking to recruit future mech designers who are good at their main purpose: designing mechs or assisting me in designing mechs. On that front, any struggling mech designer that I can pick up on the streets is better than you! No matter how good with people you are or how much leadership experience you've acquired, if you're not sufficiently motivated to perform the core functions of your profession, then I have no use for you in my design teams!\"
\"Mr. Larkinson! Please give me a chance! I can prove myself! I can resign as treasurer to devote more time to my remaining studies!\"
\"GET. OUT!\" Ves boomed.
He abruptly raised the aura emanating from his Pride of Dusk, putting an immense amount of pressure on Ferdinand's shoulders!
The man fled as if Zeigra was running right behind his heels!
Gavin and Nitaa who had been standing at the side both looked askance at Ves.
\"You were a bit harsh on the kid, boss. He was really eager to work with you. Can't you cut some slack?\"
\"Nope. I don't have a need for leaders or mech designers who are good in anything else. In fact, I don't want to hire any assertive or proactive mech designers if I can help it. What I seek are nerds who love to design mechs and are pretty good at it in order to form a competent but subservient design team!\"
\"Oh.\"
\"I rejected Ferdinand because his grades and extracurricular activities reflect his attitude. It's okay that he participates in the running of a club, but he's been spending so much time there that he's obviously not devoting enough time on his studies. Barely passing his courses means he probably considers studying to be a chore. This is not the kind of mech designer who fits well in the design teams that I envision.\"
A handful of students who knocked on his door possessed similar records. Ves kicked them out of his office without fail. He didn't want his future design teams to get uppity by filling them with mech designers who stood up for themselves.
The types of students who entered his office also came with other motives.
\"My name is Alicia Washer.\" The young woman smiled as she slowly sat down on the empty chair across the desk. Her motions expressly emphasized her tantalizing figure behind her tight-fitting pencil skirt and blouse. \"I admire you, Mr. Larkinson.\"
Ves raised his eyebrow. \"How so?\"
\"You're a credit to the mech industry. Not only have you managed to become a Journeyman at your age, you've also taken part in Lady Miralix's Crown Hunt! Tales of this hunt have already become the stuff of legend! You're so brave, Mr. Larkinson.\"
\"It's nothing.\" Ves casually waved his hand. \"Looks like your grades are pretty decent. It looks like you excel in humanoid artificial musculature systems.\"
\"The humanoid form is a fascinating subject.\" She said with a husky voice. Her finger trailed from her long, thin legs up to her waist before slowly trailing higher. \"I can spend endless hours exploring the landscape of the human body. I can even explore yours, if you wish.\"
\"...\"
Ves turned his eyes from her record and gazed at her with a dour look. \"Get out.\"
\"Uh, what?\"
\"I already have a girlfriend. I don't need a bed warmer. Now lift your sleazy butt off that chair and tumble out of this room!\"
To her credit, she didn't try to linger and plead with him. Recognizing that she had lost this battle, she simply smiled coyly at Ves before slowly and sensually rising to her feet. She turned around and strutted out of the office, giving Ves and everyone else a very good glimpse of her swaying rear.
\"If you.. ever reconsider, please call my comm.\"
Once the door slid shut, Ves rested his elbows on his desk and placed his face against his palms.
\"Urgh. What kind of mech designer is willing to do something like this?\"
\"It makes sense for Miss Washer to pursue you. Capturing your heart is an easy ticket to success.\"
\"I have a girlfriend.\"
\"Mech designers can have mistresses, you know.\"
\"Gloriana would go absolutely bonkers if I entertained that notion! Just drop it, Benny.\"
There was no way that Ves would flirt with any woman so long as he was in a relationship with Gloriana!
Just the thought of what she would do if she caught him with another woman sent shivers through his back!
Fortunately, despite entertaining numerous clowns and unqualified applicants, Ves did manage to come across a number of students who peaked his interest.
\"Mayer Torto.\" Ves began as he swept through the man's record. \"Your grades are the highest I've seen so far. I can imagine that plenty of employers would like to take you under their wings. What brings a good performer like you to this room?\"
\"I'm flattered by your praise.\" Mayer politely replied as he adjusted the clear visor on his head. \"While I have received numerous offers from other mech companies, none of them really spoke to me in the way that you do. Your lecture opened my eyes to the exploitative nature hidden in their contract terms.\"
\"The terms I put forward aren't easy to stomach either.\"
\"I know. The difference is that you are being open about it. You've clearly laid out your expectations. More importantly, you've left a window open for us to bloom and stake out on our own. I appreciate that. My future is important to me and I don't want to close any doors by choosing the wrong employer.\"
Ves smiled at Mayer. This fellow had a sensible head on his shoulders.
\"Sounds like you've taken my lessons to heart. Why are you willing to depart the Sentinel Kingdom and come work for me in a foreign state?\"
\"While I love my state just as much as any other Sentinel, the game is rigged.\" Mayer sighed. \"If you aren't born into a house or plead fealty to them, you'll always be left at the periphery of the Sentinel mech community.\"
From what Ves understood, the noble houses regularly took in retainers and vassals, binding them with permanent contracts to ensure their loyalty!
While professionals such as mech designers generally get a really good deal out of it, some such as Mayer cherished their autonomy.
Chapter 1456
The more Ves spoke to Mayer, the more he gained a favorable impression of the senior student.
Mayer Torto not only performed well in school, but also expressed a lot of passion for mech design. The student did not engage in a lot of extracurricular activities. Aside from going on a couple of field trips and participating in some of the university's festivals as a contestant in design competitions, the young man spent most of his time deepening his understanding for mechs.
From what Ves could tell of Mayer's excellent grades in design-oriented courses, the applicant possessed a considerable affinity for mechs!
Ves possessed a hidden advantage when it came to hiring. Unlike other people, his spiritual senses allowed him to ascertain whether the applicants possessed spiritual potential.
Each mech designer who possessed more than just a negligible amount of spirituality was a potential Journeyman!
While that didn't mean that they were guaranteed to advance, there was no doubt that their potential was higher. As long as they possessed a good work ethic and a passion for mech design, becoming a Journeyman was not ruled out!
However, hiring someone capable of breaking through the extraordinary threshold came with its own downsides.
If any of his subordinates made the lucky breakthrough and turned into a Journeyman, then their continued presence in the LMC came into doubt.
Lots of mech designers would opt to resign from a design team as soon as possible and start up their own company. As esteemed and competent Journeymen, there was virtually no chance for them to fail in finding a footing in the mech market!
Therefore, the decision to hire someone like Mayer Torto was not as simple as it seemed. Ves would have to take into account that some of the members of his design team might go once they gained what they wanted by working at the LMC.
Ves accepted this possibility. Keeping mech designers bound to the LMC was not a good idea. They came into touch with sensitive internal data about ongoing design projects and could easily employ numerous means to sabotage a mech design.
While he intended to do the best he could to indoctrinate his subordinates into remaining loyal to him, he still had to leave a door open in order to come across as a magnanimous employer.
As long as his subordinates wanted to leave, they were allowed to do so as long as they abided by the terms of their contracts.
To Ves, it wasn't such a bad idea to release a subordinate mech designer into the wild every now and then. Since he intended to guide and babysit their progression to an extent, he could be considered their mentors.
The bond between a mentor and a protege always endured. Even as the proteges went on to start their own companies, they always retained ties to their mentor.
This was the beginnings of an extended mech designer network. Ever since he became exposed to how Master Olson developed a considerable network of current and former disciples that extended her reach and performed assignments on her behalf, Ves wanted to imitate her and develop his own circle of mech designers!
Therefore, someone like Mayer Torto brought a lot of value to the table.
In his Novice and Apprentice stages, he could serve as a bright and clever mech designer who could assist Ves in his design projects.
If he ever managed to advance to Journeyman, either with or without assistance from Ves, Mayer would still be an asset to the LMC even if he decided to separate with the company.
The close and friendly ties between their companies benefited both sides! It was in the best interest for Ves and his former subordinates to maintain their existing ties!
For these reasons, Ves adopted a considerably more welcoming attitude to Mayer. Someone who possessed spiritual potential deserved special treatment!
\"You won't regret working for the LMC.\" He smiled in a good-natured manner. \"As long as your performance at my company matches your performance at Rawlings, I'm sure you'll become ready to take on greater responsibilities soon enough. The better you become at your job, the more you will be able to influence our design projects. This will provide you with much more practical experience which can assist you in designing your own mechs.\"
Mayer's interest piqued at that. \"I heard that you'd allow us to publish our own mech designs if we develop some. What accommodations do you offer?\"
\"If your design meets the standards of the LMC, then I'm willing to allow you to publish your mech design under our main brand.\"
\"I take it that it won't be easy to meet those standards.\" Mayer astutely remarked as he spotted the trap in those words!
Ves maintained his smile. \"That is true. The LMC generally distinguishes itself with the quality of its products. If your mech design is too crude to match the expectations of our brand, then you have two options. First, you can allow me to make a pass on your design and address the shortcomings of your work.\"
\"You'll do this for free?\"
\"Not exactly. In keeping with the conventions of our industry, the bulk of the ownership of your design will fall into my hands. You will still earn some credit, but only as a contributing mech designer.\"
This alternative did not sound very appealing to someone like Mayer. This was essentially letting others reap most of the benefits of his hard work!
Ves already experienced the other end of this kind of deal with Professor Ventag. While it didn't sound fair, a low-ranking mech designer did not have a lot of right to speak. This was the best deal they could get under the circumstances!
\"What if I insist on maintaining possession of my mech design?\"
\"Then the LMC will allow you to publish it under an alternative, lower-cost brand. Right now, this brand is still in the works, but we'll roll it out as soon as soon as we produce the first mechs designed by my subordinates. While your mech designs won't be able to piggyback from our main brand, you will still have an opportunity to see your mechs being put to their intended use.\"
As a mech designer himself, Ves knew that the advancement of a mech designer was highly dependent on the influence they exerted through their products. If Mayer was forced to shelve his completed mech designs in a forgotten archive, then he would hardly be able to progress!
Not a lot of employers offered this option to their subordinates in the first place. Ves believed it was not due to a deliberate effort to sabotage the progression of their lackeys, but rather because it was a pain in the butt to divert precious production capacity to the fabrication of unworthy and inferior mechs.
To be honest, Ves held some of the same concerns. However, if it secured him the loyalty and devotion of a talent with a good chance of becoming a Journeyman like Mayer, then Ves did not mind producing the mechs at a net loss!
\"This option sounds fair.\" The Rawlings student nodded in satisfaction. \"I have a few more questions, sir.\"
\"Ask away. I am at your disposal.\"
After entertaining numerous questions and asking some of his own, Ves felt that he had been clicking more and more with Mayer. He was very impressed with what he saw and could easily imagine the Rawlings student as a pivotal part of his design team.
\"It says here that you are trying to develop a specialty towards.. command, communication and control systems, is that correct?\" He asked as he went over the portion of Mayer's record that described his potential design philosophy.
\"That is still correct. I'm not so much interested in the performance of a single mech than seeing how they perform alongside other mechs. Most mech combat that takes place in the galaxy does not consist of duels where one mech fights another mech at a time.\"
Ves was impressed with what he heard. Mayer had a good point!
\"That's true. Outside from mech games and the mech dueling circuits, mechs are always deployed in numbers ranging from twelve-mech squads to ten-thousand-mech divisions at a time.\"
\"This is exactly why I want to develop a specialty related to increasing the coordination between mechs. While I'm not entirely settled on the design philosophy I wish to form, it will definitely fall under the field of communications.\"
\"That's an odd field to specialize in considering your interests. Most communication specialists delve into expanding the capabilities of signals and jamming technology.\"
\"I'm not looking to strengthen the raw parameters of my mechs. Instead, I want to develop their existing utilization to a higher level.\"
The goal that Mayer tried to achieve sounded similar to the approach that Ves adopted for his design philosophy. Both tried to improve mechs by augmenting their utilization rather than raising their performance!
As Ves learned all he wanted out of the interview, he decided to make an offer to Mayer.
\"Are you willing to sign a preliminary employment contract to work for the LMC as a member of one of our design teams?\"
\"I am.\" Mayer responded. His intention hadn't wavered after becoming more familiar with Ves and the LMC! \"I would love to receive the opportunity to work for your company!\"
\"That's great!\" Ves gestured towards Gavin. \"My assistant here is ready to prepare a suitable preliminary employment contract for you. You can hash out the details of your commitment among yourselves.\"
Gavin took Mayer to a spare office to draw up and go over the contract.
Different from a regular employment contract, the preliminary version was merely a written promise to work for a company in the future.
Mech companies and many other businesses employed these kinds of contracts in order to 'reserve' promising candidates while still in school.
As long as someone like Mayer signed this contract, they were essentially taken off the job market. No other company was allowed to hire them except in special cases, such as the military wishing to draft an already-committed mech designer.
However, the chances of that happening was low in the Sentinel Kingdom. As long as a noble house didn't come and throw around their weight, Ves could expect to add Mayer to his company as soon as he graduated from Rawlings and traveled to the Bright Republic.
Of course, if either side wanted to break the contract, then they had to pay the requisite penalties to each other.
If Ves didn't want Mayer to work for the LMC, then he would have to pay a very hefty amount of money to the Sentinel.
If Mayer no longer wished to work for LMC, then the consequences were a bit more complex. Instead of paying a monetary penalty directly, his next employer was obliged to pay the penalty in his stead!
This was because Mayer's alternative choice essentially poached him from the LMC!
Normally, the price of poaching wasn't too serious. The sums ranged from a few hundred-thousand bright credits to hundreds of millions bright credits!
The upper range could reach ridiculous figures if the future employee in question was a prodigy or high performer!
In the case of Mayer who possessed spiritual potential, Ves was very loath to let this promising seed go! He already sent a silent message to Gavin to insert an incredibly high penalty fee in case Mayer changed his mind and wanted to work for someone else.
To Ves, the value of a potential Journeyman subordinate easily surpassed the current net worth of the LMC!
He trusted that Gavin would find some way to add these terms into the preliminary employment contract in exchange for conceding on other points.
\"Okay, next!\"
Ves still had to go through a number of other prospective mech design students before he was finished for the day. Hopefully, he could add some other commitments to the list by the time he was done for the day.
Chapter 1457
At the end of the interview sessions, Ves managed to secure three more commitments.
This did not mean that Ves could expect to expand his design teams with four new mech designers in the coming years as the Rawlings students finished their studies.
As much as Ves saw promise in the students, if they happened to meet an accident, earn considerably lower grades or quit studying mech design altogether, then the preliminary employment contracts became moot.
In addition to these possibilities, Ves also had to take poaching into account. Though it was considerably pricey to do so, occasionally mech companies did succeed in luring mech designers they considered desirable into breaking one contract in order to enter into another contract.
This was mostly the case when a student achieved better grades since the signing of the preliminary employment contract. Mech companies also had reasons to poach a committed mech design student if their developing specialties synergized or complimented the specialties of the lead designers!
\"It would be like Gloriana doing everything she can to buy out the commitment of someone with a specialty like me at a mech university.\"
This didn't happen very often, and none of the mech design students Ves had spoken with merited this kind of attention. Even Mayer Torto didn't attract too much attention so long as no one believed he had a realistic shot at advancing to Journeyman.
He frowned a bit as he considered the other three prospects. None of the students he signed up afterwards possessed any spiritual potential. While there was a minute chance they would develop some over the course of their lives, Ves silently discounted this possibility.
The more painful fact was that Ves interviewed a couple of other students who also possessed spiritual potential.
\"It's a shame they don't meet my standards!\"
Just because a student possessed spiritual potential didn't mean it was a good idea for Ves to take them in! If their work ethic was not up to standard or if their personalities fit poorly with the design teams that he envisioned, then he would only be inviting trouble if he secured their commitments anyway.
The fact of the matter was that there were plenty of people out there with spiritual potential, but never realized them due to their own choices.
In any case, Ves wasn't in a hurry to fill up his design teams with subordinates who each had the opportunity to advance to Journeyman someday.
\"I do have to admit that their caliber is greater than that of ordinary people.\"
Ever since the System confirmed the existence of mech affinity, Ves began to develop an understanding of what it did to mech designers.
When Novices and Apprentices with spiritual potential developed an affinity for mechs, their ability to work with mechs increased. They spent less effort into developing new skills and designing mechs came more naturally to them. It was as if they enjoyed a preview of what it was like to carry a design seed in their minds!
Of course, due to their low spiritual strengths, the boost they received was fairly marginal. Their so-called 'talent' was not as decisive as a good attitude, a diligent work ethic and a genuine passion for mechs!
In truth, mech affinity only really came into force when someone became a high-ranking mech designer! At his strength, a modest increase in mech affinity led to a much more noticeable swing in improvement!
Although Ves had not yet embarked on another project after he completed the Devil Tiger design project, he already felt a bit closer to mechs than before. He suspected that the next time he designed a mech, he would be considerably more productive than before!
In any case, the relative lack of importance of mech affinity for low-ranking mech designers meant that Ves put a lot more weight on the other criteria on his list.
If he wanted to establish a well-run design team, then he had to make sure that he selected the right kind of people!
For now, Ves intended to establish two design teams.
The first design team consisted of loyalists. He intended to staff it with mech designers who didn't mind participating in his upcoming grand expedition.
The second design team was made up of people like Ketis and Carlos before he left. This was where he dumped his less committed mech designers who pursued other objectives or were comfortable with staying in the same place.
\"Maybe I'll start a third or a fourth design team one day.\" He murmured.
He already entertained the idea of setting up a shadow design team that would assist him in his illicit design projects such as the one he recently concluded. However, without an ironclad way of securing the absolute loyalty and discretion of his subordinates, Ves would have to be crazy to involve other mech designers with his illegal dealings!
He shook his head. \"Two teams are enough to start with. I should focus on filling them up before thinking about setting up a third team!\"
There was still a chance he would welcome less than four Rawlings graduates in the coming years. While the future employees normally didn't tear up their preliminary employment contracts very often, this wasn't exactly a normal circumstance.
Working abroad could be very frightening. Even if Ves possessed enough influence to smooth over the bureaucratic obstacles, the Rawlings students had to be comfortable with the idea of working in a completely different state.
To some, the culture shock was too big!
\"The Bright Republic is a very different place from the Sentinel Kingdom.\" He muttered.
The class disparity was a lot less pronounced in his state compared to the Sentinel Kingdom. Nobles enjoyed prerogatives that commoners did not. It was so baked into their culture that the commoners he interacted with didn't express any jealousy or discontent at the favored treatment of their betters!
Nothing exemplified the differences more clearly than the fact that not a single noble born mech designer knocked on his door!
\"Those snobs already have their lives set for them! There is absolutely no reason for them to move away from a state that is expressly set up to benefit their class!\"
Even so, Ves had harbored hope that an exiled noble or an inconvenient spare wanted to shelter under his wing.
Sadly, it was not to be.
\"Perhaps it's for the best.\" He muttered. \"Adding a noble mech designer to my team will probably introduce a lot of friction.\"
Once Ves was done at Rawlings, he met with Professor Nxi one last time and bid farewell. Both sides got what they wanted and parted amicably.
As Ves returned to his hotel suite at Cinach VIII, he took stock with what he gained. He considered his guest lecture to be a success. He could already imagine the boost to his credibility now that he established a tie with the prestigious Rawlings University.
\"I shouldn't overestimate the benefits, though. Giving a single guest lecture isn't enough to swing my reputation around.\"
As the evening rolled in, Ves sought some time for himself. It was time for him to check up on an issue that had long weighed on his mind.
Just like before, he grabbed Lucky and entered the bathroom before locking it. Next, materialized his System comm, activated his Privacy Shield before activating the System itself.
[Mech Designer System Menu]
Status
Designer
Missions
Skill Tree
Shop
Lottery
Inventory
\"Missions.\"
The interface listed out seven pending missions. He ignored the five Supply Missions and directed his attention to his two Upgrade Missions.
[Upgrade Mission - Mechanics]
...
Study the use and application of bestial mechs without aid and design a classical bestial mech that meets the Mech Designer System's standards. Then fabricate it and sell it to a worthy customer.
Reward:
[Mechanics - Senior]
[Upgrade Mission - Mechanics]
...
Study the use and application of bestial mechs without aid and design a classical bestial mech that meets the Mech Designer System's standards. Then fabricate it and sell it to a worthy customer.
Reward:
[Mechanics - Senior]
\"Come on, System!\" He shouted at his System comm. \"I completed my Devil Tiger design, did I not?! I fabricated a copy of the mech, which turned into a masterwork I might add!\"
[...]
\"Don't give the silent treatment to me, you synthetic bastard! Gimme my rewards already!\"
[...]
Ves let out a storm of curses. The nerve of the System!
To be honest, Ves did slip up at the last step of his Upgrade Missions. Now that he lost possession of the Devil Tiger, he couldn't very well 'sell it to a worthy customer'.
His mother unilaterally deprived him of this opportunity!
\"Can't you cut me some slack, System?! Now that my mom took the Devil Tiger, I'm sure it'll land in the hands of a worthy mech pilot!\"
[...]
Ves slipped the System comm from his finger and banged it against the surface of the toilet bowl! For a moment, he thought about flushing it through the toilet! Let's see how much it enjoyed swimming in a pool of refuse!
\"Get your act together! I refuse to let you hold these stupid Upgrade Missions hostage!\"
[...]
\"Look, I 'sold' the Devil Tiger, didn't I? Even though my mother initiated the transaction without my say-so, she paid for it at least! She left me that toy mech figurine behind! That's her payment! That's a sale in my book!\"
[...]
This stupid stubborn System! Ves banged his System comm against the toilet bowl some more, though his actions only damaged the toilet bowl instead of the incredibly resilient and malleable device!
What could he do if the System refused to complete his Upgrade Missions? Would Ves continue to wander around with Journeyman-level Mechanics and Metallurgy Skills?
That would be a disaster of epic proportions! Other than convincing the System to pass the Upgrade Missions somehow, the only other alternative was to raise his proficiency in these two fields the old-fashioned way!
When Ves thought about the sheer amount of knowledge the System stuffed into his mind when he obtained Senior-level Physics, he shivered at the thought of how much time he would waste.
Ves was in a hurry! He couldn't afford to spend years or decades behind a desk just to study the thousands of textbooks and research papers required to raise his understanding of Mechanics and Metallurgy to the level of a Senior!
Time was a valuable resource!
The main reason why Ves still put up with the System despite his increasing misgivings over its origin and its motives was because it offered him the rare opportunity to buy more time!
Exchanging DP for the instant acquisition of Skills and Sub-Skills was the biggest bargain of his life. While his learning speed had improved enormously over the years, he still felt loath to hit the books again in order to study something as broad and all-encompassing as his main Skills.
He palmed his face. \"Of course, another alternative is to design another smart metal mech and bestial mech.\"
That sounded a lot better as he would just waste a lot of months instead of years of his life. It still wasn't very ideal, though. Despite familiarizing himself with smart metal tech and bestial mech forms, he hardly explored the full potential of standard humanoid mechs yet. He felt no appetite to tackle another smart metal mech design or tiger mech design anytime soon!
Ves eyed his System comm with a dour expression.
\"I'll tell mommy if you continue to remain stubborn. What would she do if she found out you deliberately sabotaged my progression.\"
[Congratulations! You have completed Upgrade Mission - Mechanics!]
[Congratulations! You have completed Upgrade Mission - Metallurgy!]
[Please stand by to receive the following reward: Mechanics - Senior.]
[Please stand by to receive the following reward: Metallurgy - Senior.]
The sudden turn of events befuddled Ves. After so much stubbornness from the System, it finally chose to give ground?
\"How come you surrendered so easily?\"
That was when a cargo hauler filled with knowledge abruptly smashed into his mind!
\"AAAAHH! YOU STUPID SYSTEM!\" He screamed, holding his head with his hands as two concurrent streams of knowledge tried to press their way into his brains! \"TOO MUCH! IT'S TOO MUCH! DON'T GIVE ME BOTH OF MY REWARDS AT THE SAME TIME!\"
The System was screwing him! Ves was sure of it! As he collapsed to the floor of the bathroom, Lucky grew alarmed and hovered closer.
\"Meow?!\"
\"UGh! Watch over me, Lucky! AAHH! I have to deal with the bombardment against my mind! Only Nitaa can enter! You got that?!\"
\"Meow!\"
Chapter 1458
Eventually, Nitaa came and lifted his body from the bathroom and placed him on the bed. Though she knew little why he ended up in a debilitated condition, she unwaveringly remained alert and stood guard throughout the entire night.
Ves needed that much time in order to handle the overwhelming flow of knowledge. Though the System did its best to push the immensity of both Senior-level Mechanics and Senior-level Metallurgy into his mind, with effort and patience he managed to push away the integration and slow down the rate of absorption.
At the end of the tenuous night, he managed to construct an arrangement in his mind where a metaphorical dam blocked off most of the flow. Only a small opening in the dam allowed a controlled amount of knowledge to go through.
"Around four weeks until I'm done."
This was the most he could cope with while at the same time diverting a sufficient amount of attention to his daily life. While he wouldn't be able to summon up the focus and energy to design a new mech during this period, he retained enough attention to speak with people or make decisions that didn't require too much thinking.
Ves breathed deeply as he finally pulled his entire focus from the jumble of his mind.
"Are you okay now, sir?" Nitaa asked through her fully-sealed combat armor. She had been fearing the worst. "Were you under attack or something?"
Figuring that she deserved some frankness for all her loyalty she had shown so far, Ves decided to reveal a hint of the truth.
"No. Not exactly. I did it to myself. Let's just say I augmented myself a bit too eagerly there. I'm fine now. After a couple of weeks of recovery, I'll be as good as new. In fact, I'll be even better as I get used to the changes."
"Does that mean you'll be stronger after you recover?"
"Yes."
Ves left his answer at that. Though he trusted Nitaa's loyalty, he always feared what would happen if she realized how happenstance he became a Holy Son. What if she stopped holding him in high regard? How eager would she serve a fake Holy Son who was nowhere close to matching the might and influence of a true Holy Son?
As Nitaa spent more time at his side, Ves wondered what she thought about him. Did she consider him to be a hidden dragon that still needed growing or a paper tiger who was much less impressive than he appeared?
For now, Ves could still depend on Nitaa's mental programming to compel her to obey the will of a Holy Son. He also bought her out in the Kinner tradition, which meant that she had to display near-absolute obedience to him. Both of these compulsions working together gave him enough of a buffer to earn her genuine appreciation and loyalty.
If there was one thing Ves had learned from seeing many fanatical organizations at work, it was that genuine loyalty was a better guarantee than forced obedience!
True believers were some of the most loyal people out there! Though Ves found this means to be a bit distasteful, he couldn't afford to let his misgivings hinder his safety and his ambition.
This was why he began to keep his eye out for loyalists. If he wanted to set off on his grand expedition without disrupting his existing routines, he needed to bring a lot of subordinates to keep things running.
Those who were willing to participate in an expeditionary fleet were always weirdos and deviants.
Hardly anyone wanted to disrupt their normal lives, leave their homes, abandon their friends and families just to go on an exploration tour in an extremely distant environment!
Expeditions that lasted for a couple of years were already bad enough. One that lasted for multiple decades that Ves envisioned meant that those who lived on the starships that made up the expeditionary fleet would effectively spend at least a third of their lives away from familiar soil!
This was too much to ask for most employees!
Since the decision to go on an extremely lengthy and life-changing expedition was so difficult to stomach, Ves needed to recruit a sufficient number of loyalists in advance.
Most of the people he recruited probably wouldn't start out as loyalists. It was up to him and the LMC to indoctrinate them into becoming more pliable to his needs. He had to convince them that jumping on a starship and going on a generational trek to exotic destinations was a great adventure instead of an abrupt way to ruin their steady lives!
Ves also decided he needed to spend more effort convincing more Larkinsons to come along as well. While he didn't trust every Larkinson, at least he could trust them a little bit more than complete strangers.
He planned to seed his grand expedition with a sufficient amount of Larkinsons in various leadership and supervisory positions. Spreading a hundred or so Larkinsons throughout his expeditionary fleet would do wonders to his grip on the men and women he brought along!
As long as the Larkinsons acted as his eyes and ears among the crews, Ves was willing to put up with the downsides of nepotism.
He sighed. "I used to believe that family has no place in my business."
There were definite downsides to involving his family even further. He knew the Larkinsons well enough that the biggest barrier to gaining their loyalty was to find a way to erode their patriotism.
The Larkinsons always served as the protectors of the Bright Republic. It was baked in their family's values and traditions from their birth. Ves too loved his home state, though as his interests began to diverge, he no longer considered it to be the center of his reality.
He knew most Larkinsons probably wouldn't be receptive to his suggestions, but he could probably get a few people over to his side as long as he chipped away at their resolve over the following decade.
"Some Larkinsons are content with their roles as cogs in the Bright Republic's military machine. Other Larkinsons don't want to put up with a steady but unfulfilling life."
The Larkinsons focused most of their efforts on nurturing the potentates among the families. As a norm, Ves knew very well that the family tended to neglect his own kind.
There was a lot of untapped potential there. Ves just needed to reach out and unearth it to gain an army of relatives who all benefited with him at the top.
As for how he planned to secure their loyalty?
"Money always works." He grinned.
No matter how much dividends the Larkinsons earned from owning a part of the LMC, they would never spread the wealth as much as the individual Larkinsons desired. The Larkinson Estate had to ensure the prosperity of the future generation of Larkinsons, so most of the money pouring in went on to fund further investments, particularly in real estate.
The average Larkinson didn't actually receive a bigger stipend from the Larkinson Estate! Only the mech pilots among the family enjoyed greater support!
"I'll have to start making moves on my family as soon as I get home." He muttered.
He added yet another goal to his lengthy list of goals. Though he managed to complete some of his objectives with his recent actions, the list still looked as daunting as ever. He simply had too much to do!
As soon as he completed his morning routine, he turned to Nitaa and Gavin. "Today is the day we enter the site where the Circle of Mota set up their temporary marketplace, right?"
Both of them nodded.
"Do you want me to go along?" Gavin asked.
Ves shook his head. "Not this time. I want you to maintain a visible presence on Cinach VIII to show that we haven't entirely disappeared. Just find some work that you can do on my behalf and pretend that I'm stuck in this hotel suite because I have to perform some urgent design work or something. It's important to set up a credible alibi before I feel confident enough to partake in a highly illicit underground gathering. The Battle Criers have already sent down one of their men to dress up in my Pride of Dusk in order to act as a decoy again."
The Circle of Mota was not a regular underground organization. The temporary marketplace they set up was completely different from the so-called black markets of the Reinald Republic.
Reinald itself pretty much condoned the vast majority of the illegal trade taking place in the Harkensen System!
It was different for the Sentinel Kingdom! They maintained a zero-tolerance policy towards pirates, and an organization like the Circle of Mota which explicitly sought to foster ties between Sentinels and Nyxian pirates was a cancer that had to be exterminated!
Ves risked much to participate in this gathering, but he hoped the potential gains might be worth it. Not only did he wished to look out for P-stones and F-stones, he also wanted to see whether the traders there knew more about geril spice.
Nitaa and Gavin both made ample preparations for the trip. Gavin coordinated with Crindon to procure different outfits that completely hid their bodies and dampened any scanning directed at their bodies.
While they weren't foolproof, any scanning that overcame the barriers would have to be so powerful that Ves could easily sense the attempts.
Gavin opened up a crate containing an outfit for Ves and an outfit for Nitaa.
The base of the outfit for Ves consisted of a specialized dampening hardsuit that resembled a suit of combat armor but without the protection. He also had the option to wear a voluminous, hooded black robe that resembled those worn by the Shadow Couriers. The fabric added even more protection against probing because the fabric incorporated a myriad of sensor-scrambling layers.
"Apparently, there is a thriving market for suits that are solely built to hide the identities of those who wear them." Gavin explained. "The shadow attire I've procured for you isn't cheap, but it's unique. Both the light hardsuit and the robe will do wonders in deflecting scans. Crindon already went over them and made sure they don't carry any bugs or other traps. The hardsuit is devoid of any powered systems to ensure maximum anonymity."
Ves was very satisfied with the so-called shadow attire. As he whipped out his Vulcaneye and attempted to scan them, he noticed that he encountered a high amount of interference that turned the readings fuzzy.
This was a very impressive result considering his Vulcaneye functioned a lot better than ordinary scanners! Inferior machines would probably only return static or junk data!
Nitaa grunted with approval, though she also added a warning. "Shadow attire is supposed to be one-use only. While sensors and scanners can't record who is inside, it can still register their exterior features. If you use the same shadow attire again, then investigators can match your public appearances to the appearance of the individual wearing this distinctive outfit."
"In other words, shadow attire only works well if their users aren't idiots."
The outfit for Nitaa looked completely different. Her towering height made it difficult to obscure her identity!
In order to hide the fact that she was so goddamn tall, Gavin and Crindon worked to procure a suit of heavy combat armor. Its immense bulk and mass already exceeded Nitaa's body proportions.
As long as she suited up, no one would be able to tell if a giant or a dwarf was hiding underneath all of the layers!
"The core portion of Nitaa's shadow attire is so heavy that it has to be powered. However, only the most basic systems are running its servos. Crindon already went over its rudimentary software and found nothing amiss. You're welcome to check the heavy hardsuit for yourself if you want to be sure it's secure."
Ves nursed his head. He still ached a bit from the constant influx of knowledge. "I'll do it. I don't trust the makers of shadow attires to be completely honest. It's better safe than sorry."
Though it took some effort and a few hours of tinkering, Ves completed his inspection of the shadow attires without finding anything amiss. Both outfits worked as advertised.
Along with all of the other preparations they made, Ves felt secure enough to proceed!
Chapter 1459
Ves had the illusion that he became a Shadow Courier once he sneaked out of the hotel with Nitaa and donned his shadow attire. The robe he wore resembled those worn by the messengers of dark economy.
In contrast to his modest bulk, Nitaa resembled a hulking giant. Her powered hardsuit clanked with considerable weight with each step she took. The robes covering up its precise contours hardly succeeded in obscuring its considerable size!
Unlike his own attire, Nitaa's shadow attire offered actual protection against enemy fire. Ves would have felt more nervous about this if he didn't wear his shield generator underneath the layers.
The two sneaked out of the hotel under the cover of his Stealth Augment and boarded a number of anonymous shuttles and shuffled back and forth across the surface of Cinach VIII.
The trips were lengthy and boring, but necessary. They had to wipe away the trail back to the hotel as much as possible.
Ves decided to make use of this time to increase his absorption of Senior-level Mechanics and Metallurgy.
He took in bits and pieces of both Skills at the same time. He found it more interesting if he shifted from topic and topic.
All in all, just like Senior-level Physics, the theories he acquired at breakneck speed tended to be very complicated, very abstract and of limited applicability.
The best way to describe these Main Skills was that they provided an increasingly more formidable foundation in their respective fields.
At the level of a Senior, the knowledge imparted by the System basically gave him an introduction in countless different Sub-Skills. Each different introduction was enough to deepen his understanding and application of the finer points of Mechanics and Metallurgy.
He could already imagine the results once he fully internalized the ocean of knowledge. His pivotal new Senior-level Skills not only boosted his ability to design mechs in a holistic manner, but also opened up an incredible amount of new solutions to various rare problems.
With regards to Mechanics, Ves gained a much finer appreciation of the internal structure of a mech. Regardless of whether he designed a humanoid mech, an aquatic mech or a bestial mech, as long as it moved, Ves had many more ways to minimize the flaws and accentuate the strengths of the mechanical components of his designs.
"If I knew this much back when I was still working on the Devil Tiger project, I would have been able to make it a little bit more fluid." He muttered in his hardsuit.
Despite the gouts of new knowledge pouring into his mind, the difference it made to his mech designs was not that significant.
Novice and Apprentice-level knowledge formed the true foundation of his profession. Mech designers had to learn the most critical and the most fundamental theories upfront. What they learned afterwards were theories that weren't as universal and widely applied.
Therefore, even if Ves learned far more knowledge than he ever held about Mechanics, the true effect on the performance of his mech designs only amounted to an overall gain of five to ten percent.
Due to diminishing returns, it was difficult to squeeze out additional performance from a mech design! The further he progressed, the harder it became to achieve the same degree of improvement!
While Senior-level Mechanics improved his ability to design the interior mechanisms of a mech, the benefit he gained from Senior-level Metallurgy dealt with both the interior and exterior of a machine.
Different alloys possessed different properties. With so many diverse materials in existence, metallurgists and materials scientists invented new formulas and new applications all the time.
What Senior-level Metallurgy Skill granted him was more than instilling him with a list of known formulas and their properties. It granted him with the underlying foundation that allowed him to perform his own research on new metals and metallic exotics, with a focus on developing proprietary formulas useful to mechs!
With the influx of knowledge on Metallurgy, Ves realized that some Seniors felt inclined to shy away from third-party alloy formulas.
Apart from ensuring that their mechs performed at their best when paired with matching alloys, the main reason for doing so was to save on cost.
Certain materials and exotics were more prevalent in some areas than others. Relying on imported exotics to form the key components of a mech did not do its cost efficiency any favors!
Developing the skills to form his own alloy formulas also mattered for reasons other than reducing costs.
At the Senior-level, mech designers started to get really involved with designing mechs for high-ranking mech pilots.
The true power behind these incredibly sophisticated machines lay in their ability to resonate with expert pilots. The strategic inclusion of resonating exotics empowered the mechs with special abilities that warped reality by varying degrees.
Ves received an thorough introduction to resonating exotics during the entire knowledge transfer. An entirely new sphere of mech design opened up to him! He was no longer left in the dark when it came to designing expert mechs!
Not only that, but Ves also gained much when it came to designing standard mechs.
Certain materials resonated by themselves without the presence of a high-ranking pilot. Ves already encountered a number of custom mechs which incorporated a judicious amount of self-resonatic exotics to enable fake resonance.
The only downside to Ves was that resonating exotics and self-resonating exotics tended to be very rare. They were also in high demand as high-ranking mech designers heavily depended upon them to spice up their best mech designs.
The combination of low supply and high demand meant that the price for these materials was extremely inflated!
"This is the main reason why second-class mechs are so expensive!"
One factor that distinguished second-class mechs from third-class mechs was the former's use of self-resonating materials. Though used in only modest amounts due to economic concerns, the subtle boosts they provided distinguished these expensive mech designs even further!
If Ves was a second-class mech designer like Gloriana, then he would have learned some of this knowledge sooner. Not enough to allow him to develop his own formulas, but just enough for him to apply existing formulas in a skilled manner.
Ves shifted from his seat in the shuttle. His unpowered hardsuit did not exactly provide him with a lot of comfort.
"The amount of theories behind resonating exotics is so immense that I doubt Gloriana can match my prowess in this area. I'm probably ahead of her now in terms of pure knowledge!"
That was good news! The greater the disparity, the more assured he became!
He smirked underneath his helmet. If they ever collaborated to design a custom mech, then he would surely be able to surprise her with the added options he brought to the table!
Still, his ability to design a self-resonating custom mech or an expert mech was still limited. The introduction he received was at the level of a juvenile in the mech industry. He needed to supplement his foundation with more specialized Sub-Skills that delved a lot deeper into resonating and self-resonating metallic exotics.
"Outside of custom mechs and expert mechs, I'm not about to put this new knowledge to use anytime soon."
Self-resonating exotics promised to grant some of the prowess of expert mechs to standard mechs, but the prices for them were way too high.
While mech designers might be able to justify using the cheaper and more abundant self-resonating exotics in second-class standard mechs, there was no viable way to incorporate them in third-class standard mechs without incurring huge losses!
"I'll be pricing myself out of the market if I do so!"
For example, if he developed a variant of his successful Aurora Titan design that incorporated some basic self-resonating materials, its price would balloon by five times while only strengthening its performance by a fifth!
No sane third-class mech designer would ever accept such an inefficient tradeoff!
Instead of buying a grossly overpriced mech that only performed modestly better than a regular mech, mech buyers could instead opt to buy five normally-priced mechs with the same amount of money!
"These tradeoffs only make sense in wealthier states with more abundant supply of self-resonating exotics."
Not every second-class mech incorporated self-resonating exotics, but most of the mechs positioned in the upper end of the market tended to include them to varying degrees.
Second-class mechs designed in the Komodo Star Sector tended to be a lot more sparse compared to second-class mech designed closer to the center of the galaxy.
If Ves ever wanted to break into the second-class mech market, then deepening his knowledge on self-resonating exotics was a necessity. Otherwise, he'd be limited to designing the second-class equivalent of budget and bargain bin mechs!
While all of this sounded expensive, when utilized on a greater scale in states that were prosperous enough to afford this level of spending, the differences in might and versatility became evident!
This was why no one in the Komodo Star Sector believed that every third-rate state combined could overwhelm a single second-rate!
The gap in quality was too vast!
He sighed. "Sadly, these options aren't relevant for me right now. I'm still a long distance away from designing a second-class mech, and no expert pilot will entrust the design of a vital expert mech to an inexperienced Journeyman."
Perhaps his only opportunity to design an expert mech in the near future was to upgrade Jannzi's Shield of Samar if she broke through.
Ves believed that it wouldn't be long before she advanced to expert pilot. He knew that the design spirit of her mech already helped her once. Qilanxo's spiritual fragment could easily give Jannzi another push if it thought she needed the help.
He had to be ready to transform the Shield of Samar into an expert mech by the time she became an expert pilot. He already began to form a list of what he needed to learn in order to become more rounded in his ability to design an expert mech. Resonating materials only formed one facet of an expert mech's remarkable makeup.
"Expert mechs form their own separate genre of mechs. They require vastly different approaches to their design."
Now that he took his first step into this field, he became aware of how little he truly knew about expert mechs.
A vast stretch of darkness still limited his options.
If he wanted to shine some light on the landscape, then he needed to become smarter and acquire more knowledge related to this field.
As Ves continued to muse about expert pilots, the anonymous shuttle finally arrived at its destination.
"We've arrived at the rendez-vous point, sir."
"Ah." Ves pulled his attention away from his considerations. "We're about to meet the middleman, right?"
"Correct. Please watch your words and actions when you step out. The less clues you give away, the less likely your identity is exposed. Don't mention any names and try not to mention anything specific to a particular state."
"I understand."
Their voices came out of their helmets with a considerable degree of distortion to further prevent anyone from figuring out their identities via voiceprint.
What Ves lamented the most actually was that he had to leave Lucky behind at the hotel again. The cat was simply way too tied to his identity for him to risk bringing into the Circle of Mota.
As Ves stepped out, he began to employ one of the extra measures he prepared to obscure his identity more thoroughly.
He began to don a prepared spiritual image as his mask. He infused it with a considerable amount of spirituality already, which strengthened his mask considerably.
His entire demeanor changed as soon as he stepped foot in the underground tunnel. Their surroundings were wide enough to run entire transports through the tunnels!
Wearing his shadow attire, Ves moved across the clearing with a measured, almost bot-like march.
His entire body language differed substantially from before. Almost every quirk and tell had disappeared since he donned his new mask!
The sudden change startled even Nitaa. If not for her huge hardsuit, her astonishment would have been obvious.
As it was, she managed to keep up a steady pace alongside Ves. It was as if the two were a pair of equals instead of master and subordinate.
They approached a single man awaiting their arrival at the other end of the tunnel.
Chapter 1460
Unlike Ves and Nitaa, the middleman did not don any disguises. The man's messy brown hair fell from his head like a mop. The stubble on his jaw and neck hadn't been shaved in days.
Ves bet that the man's entire appearance and demeanor had been altered. With a judicious application of surgery and psycho-programming, transforming someone into an entirely different person was not as hard as it sounded!
"Are the two of you my clients for the day?" The man casually asked as he pushed himself off the shuttle he was leaning against.
Ves wordlessly withdrew a data chip from a pocket of his robes and slowly deposited onto the middleman's waiting hand in an unnaturally smooth motion.
The middleman frowned as he inserted the data chip into a slot on his secure comm. "Are you some kind of bot or something?"
"No." Ves answered with a monotone, distorted voice.
Nothing else followed, leading to an awkward silence.
Ves didn't care. The mask he wore dampened all of his outward expressions. He could never be too careful with obscuring his identity in this extremely risky meetup.
"Fine. Have it your way." The middleman shrugged. He encountered stranger people during these jobs. "At least the two of you are better prepared. You can't imagine the amount of idiots I've guided to the Circle who have done a shoddy job at disguising themselves. Nobles especially tend to be bad at it. It must be their huge egos."
"We did not come here to chat." Nitaa stated. "Please verify the contents of the data chip and bring us underway."
"Patience, patience! I can't simply roll up to the entrance of the Circle with the two of you aboard my shuttle! They'll blast us into pieces before we get close!"
Ves and Nitaa waited impatiently as the middleman began to send some codes to different addresses over the galactic net. Then he removed his secure comm, dropped it to the ground and crushed it with his boots.
"Alright, they know we're coming. Take a seat."
The shuttle's interior was extremely basic and barebones. The two sat down and strapped to their uncomfortable seats before the vehicle lifted off under the direct control of the middlemann.
They soon navigated deeper into the seemingly-abandoned tunnel network. Actually, Ves had no idea where they were heading to, because the shuttle did not offer any windows or projections of the outside terrain.
In addition, the inertial dampeners of the shuttle were surprisingly good. Cheaper shuttles tended to make use of shoddily-optimized and incorrectly configured inertial dampeners.
Each time a cheap shuttle accelerated forward, Ves would get pressed into his seat. When the vehicle flew downwards, then Ves experienced the sensation of falling or lifting off from his seat.
That wasn't the case this time. The entire interior of the shuttle was completely geared towards keeping its occupants clueless of their route.
Ves couldn't even talk to the middleman as a solid hatch blocked the way to the cockpit.
The cramped and fully-sealed passenger compartment of the shuttle was no different from an isolation cell.
The only reason why Ves did not panic was because he possessed the means to break out of the shuttle. Along with the weapons that he procured from local sources, he could also rely on the Amastendira to break out of a sticky situation.
Of course, it would be better if he didn't whip out that distinctive and extremely flashy weapon. Ves could practically kiss his anonymity goodbye if he showed off his trump card weapon.
A speaker in the compartment started to transmit the middleman's voice.
[We're approaching the first checkpoint. Don't be alarmed when the exit hatch opens and a pair of inspectors come inside. They'll be probing the shuttle and inspecting your credentials.]
The hatch opened up soon after that. Two figures garbed in striped blue-and-white patterned robes entered the compartment.
Though Ves and Nitaa both tried to remain calm and seated, inwardly they were both on high alert.
The pair of inspectors did not bother with them at first. One of them entered the cockpit to speak with the middleman while the other inspector began to sweep the passenger compartment with a handheld multiscanner.
Even when the inspector pointed the device at the passengers, Ves did not make a move. The multiscanner's model was far too weak to penetrate the layers of protection of his shadow attire.
After the inspector put away his multiscanner and inspected the credentials that Ves handed over, he reunited with his colleague and departed the shuttle without speaking a single word.
Ves believed the shuttle started moving again, but the vehicle's incredibly effective inertial dampeners prevented him from knowing for sure! For all he knew, the shuttle had already entered a starship that was on its way to a completely different star system!
[We'll be doing this routine a couple more times. The Circle wants to be sure that we aren't bringing any trouble at its doorstep.]
The dance repeated several more times. Though the entire ride quickly became tedious and repetitive to him, he bore with it without any complaint.
He diverted all of his attention to absorbing the immense amount of knowledge continuing to integrate with his mind.
After an indeterminate amount of hours, the middleman finally spoke up for the last time.
[We're here. Don't be surprised when you step out and don't gape at the surroundings like a stupid fish. Move to the other end of the path and don't bump into anyone else. If you violate any rules set by the Circle, they'll shoot you before you can say a word.]
As soon as the hatch opened up and the two disguised figures stepped out, Ves understood why the middleman warned them not to gape.
They had emerged in the middle of a parking zone situated in an enormous excavated underground cavern!
Not only that, but rivers of magma flowed along the sides of the platform, following the carved-out paths that threaded through the entire temporary marketplace!
The enormous heat began to heat up their robes. If they didn't want to get cooked, they had to reach the other side of the path as soon as possible!
Ves and Nitaa quickly stepped across the narrow path leading to a massive entrance situated at the end of the cavern. They adopted the same pace as the other robes and disguised figures who were entering or exiting the premises.
No railings or any barriers lined the path. If he wanted to, Ves could easy turn to a passing bystander and shove that fellow a few meters to the side until the unlucky fellow fell into the river of magma!
Of course, the imposing guards would quickly shoot him afterwards, so he didn't entertain the idea any further.
Overall, he found the arrangement of this site to be clever. The natural flow of magma formed a natural and very effective shield against surface scans. Combined with other methods, it should be virtually impossible for the planetary authorities to find this site in a short amount of time!
Once they reached the massive, highly-guarded entrance, they offered their credentials one more time.
Under the watchful eyes of the pair of mechs standing on each side of the entrance, Ves waited patiently as the guards finally approved his entry.
"Please head inside."
As soon as they entered, they escaped the heat. A small underground city built from prefab modules entered his sights. Each structure hosted various shops, workplaces, storage sites and even living spaces to the people visiting or working at this bustling marketplace!
"Welcome to the Circle of Mota." A pretty guide greeted the pair of newcomers. "Do you require some guidance?"
"No." Ves curtly answered and walked away.
The less people who paid attention to him, the better. Even though the marketplace seemed overwhelming, he decided it was better for him to explore the place on his own.
Nitaa followed at his side. Different from his worries, her immense shadow attire did not attract a lot of attention. A fair number of visitors wore similarly imposing disguises.
While Ves immediately encountered a large variety of disguises or the lack thereof, the majority dressed like himself. With so many people wearing the exact same hardsuit and the exact same robes, it became very challenging to keep track of specific individuals without electronic assistance.
Shortly after they headed inside, Nitaa momentarily halted. Through his spiritual senses, he sensed some alarm from his bodyguard before shifting into vigilance.
A solitary robed figure who was walking on the other side of the street halted as well. Both of them turned to each other and peered at each other's disguises.
"What is the matter?" He whispered.
A surprisingly large amount of visitors frequented the underground marketplace. Despite the traffic, not a lot of people spoke to each other or generated a lot of noise.
Nitaa replied with a code that they formulated and memorized beforehand.
"Code 23."
Ves grimaced underneath his helmet. Code 23 was a serious case. Nitaa eventually signalled to him that she detected someone of her own kind!
What was worse, the other person sensed Nitaa as well! Both of them appeared to share the same extraordinary smelling abilities and managed to spot each other!
This meant that the other person was definitely tied to the Five Scrolls Compact!
Of course, since everyone donned disguises, Ves didn't immediately panic. He waited patiently as Nitaa and the other figure exchanged brief hand signals to each other. The exchange only lasted for a few seconds before the other figure and Nitaa moved away.
Ves struggled to keep up. "What was going on?"
"Situation resolved."
"Anything else?"
"We detected each other's presence. The stranger detected you as well, though that is mainly due to your diet."
"Any problems?"
"Don't think so. Our ways are secretive and incomprehensible."
The Five Scrolls Compact and its splinter organizations tended to do a lot of crazy stuff. The researchers among them were also highly possessive about their personal research. Sharing was not in their nature.
"We still have a problem." Ves spoke.
"It depends."
"Inform me if another Code 23 occurs."
In hindsight, it might have been better if he came alone. He may have taken a lot of measures to obscure his identity, but it didn't do anything to block the damned extraordinary sense of smell developed by the Compact!
He became more urgent than ever to find a solution to the distinctive 'smell' he carried as a Holy Son!
One of his hopes for visiting this illicit marketplace was that he wanted to try his luck and see if he could find the source of geril space. He hardly knew anything about it even after adding it to his regular diet for several months.
What kind of plant did it grow from?
Why couldn't it be grown outside of the Nyxian Gap?
What was the reason for its overpowering stench that was effective enough to overwhelm the Compact's extraordinary noses?
Visiting this marketplace was the closest he would get to the Nyxian Gap. After he learned how dangerous it was to enter this perilous territory, he became more determined than ever to find a better solution to his predicament!
If some random Compact associate already smelled him out, then how much worse would it be by the time their bloodhounds deployed en masse?
"Is this a Code 1?"
"Uncertain." She replied. "Not enough information."
Code 1 applied when the Circle of Mota possessed active connections to the Compact. If that was the case, their visit here was like playing with fire!
Since Nitaa was still on the fence, Ves did not divert from his plans.
Both of them headed deeper into the marketplace. After orienting themselves a bit, they headed towards the section where all of the exotics and raw materials were being sold.
Ves immediately came into sight to an immense variety of exotics. Not even the Peacekeepers sold that much at their branch at Cinach XII!
Despite his emotion-dampening mask, a burst of eagerness encompassed his body as he slightly hurried towards the closest shop!
Chapter 1461
The Circle of Mota's temporary marketplace differed remarkably from the other black markets Ves visited.
While a surprisingly large amount of people managed to gain entry here, almost everyone kept to themselves. Even the figures who seemed to be nobles by the way they put on airs underneath their disguises mostly remained discreet.
No one trusted each other. No one wanted to poke into other people's business. Transactions dominated the marketplace as most people just wanted to obtain the goods and services they required before heading out as fast as possible.
One of the threats looming over their heads was the risk of discovery by the authorities. While the Circle of Mota insisted on numerous requirements that made it extremely difficult for the Planetary Guard to track them down, nothing was fool proof.
Raids had happened in the past. Those instances usually spelled disaster to the people visiting the marketplaces because they usually got caught up between opposing mechs!
No matter how august they were underneath their robes, the authorities did not have the time nor the inclination to pay attention to their wellbeing! Every person trading with pirates was scum in their book!
Everyone who took part in the Circle of Mota's trading activities knew the risks. Ves sensed a permanent tenseness in the air as everyone remained on guard. They not only guarded against each other, but also against external threats.
Accompanied by the hulking form of Nitaa, Ves passed through a peculiar quarter in the underground city.
"Starship engineer for sale! 35,000 firthrals! He's young, but he's healthy and vigorous! He'll last a long time under your care! His brains are completely untouched and ready to be brainwashed under your specifications! We offer a fifty percent discount if you make use of our brainwashing services!"
"Are you lonely in your lives? Do you require some company? High-class pleasure madames for sale here! They are completely organic and unsoiled. We promise!"
"No one offers cheaper labor than us! Our clones have been grown to be completely pliable to your commands! Our products are smarter than bots, cheaper to maintain and more amusing to torture! Don't let your bots do the cleaning. Use our clones instead! Buy one, get one free, starting at just 4,999 firthals!"
Ves grimaced underneath his helmet as he saw how prolific the trade of slaves turned out to be. While he always knew that slave trade happened in the murkier corners of the galaxy, to witness human products being hawked around like cabbages left a foul taste in his mouth.
At least the Kinner Tribe managed to dress up their slave trade with a veneer of civility and mutual benefit.
Not so for the slave traders associated with the Circle of Mota. They unabashedly sold humans kidnapped from various places without any reserve.
What Ves found even more disturbing was that they sold a lot of clones as well. Cultivated and grown under abominably inhuman circumstances, their mentalities were completely deficient.
Of course, this also made them ideal for jobs that required dumb labor.
As for why someone preferred to use clones over bots? It was all about reducing maintenance requirements!
Clones were especially useful in the Nyxian Gap because bots required frequent maintenance while their human counterparts would just make do with nutrient packs and water.
Due to the scarcity of technical services in the deprived regions of the Nyxian Gap, clones or brainwashed humans were much easier to deal with for pirates who didn't know the right end of a wrench!
Numerous disguised visitors approached the shops and stalls of the slave traders. Lots of people desired slaves for various purposes, and they weren't very bothered by the implications of exploiting those who had no choice in their lot in life.
Different from the expensive human products sold by the Kinners, the slaves offered under the auspices of the Circle of Mota were cheap. Unimaginably cheap.
The Circle of Mota mainly transacted in firthals, the predominant currency of the Nyxian Gap.
Just like the frontier's K-coins, the firthal was based around firthal ore, one of the most prevalent low-grade exotics from the Nyxian Gap. With varied applications, the demand for firthal was constant and stable, thereby making it suitable to be used as a reliable form of hard currency in the notoriously anarchical and chaotic region.
Right now, 1 firthal was worth 24 bright credits, so even if Ves mentally translated the prices for slaves to his most familiar currency, they still seemed unimaginably cheap!
"What do you think?" Ves asked softly.
"Poor quality. Unreliable. Defective.
"Of course you'd say something like that."
Whereas the Kinner Tribe emphasized quality, the slave traders were not so discerning. Their human products were generally low quality. Those with valuable skills were usually kidnapped and subject to extensive brainwashing.
While the brainwashing ensured their obedience, the rough and pervasive treatment also affected their other competences.
The customers didn't mind. Those that wanted to purchase Kinners mostly consisted of the upper echelons of society. They had the money to afford to buy a number of permanent Kinner bondsmen.
Ves guessed that the people that purchased slaves here mostly consisted of Nyxian pirates or various underground outfits. These types of unsavory organizations always struggled to acquire skilled or highly-educated labor.
"Mech designers for sale! Whether you need them to repair, modify or upgrade your mechs, our mech designers can do it all! Some of our more premier slaves can even design completely new mech designs that are perfectly suited for your outfits! We sell Novices starting at 3 million firthals! Our Apprentices can be yours starting at 8 million firthals! You won't get a better deal than ours!"
His mood dropped considerably as he brushed past the enslaved mech designers. The poor sods who had fallen into the clutches of the slave traders had been subjected to the same brainwashing regimes as most of the other slaves.
The quality of their work left much to be desired, especially since much of their profession relied heavily on creativity and inspiration. Ves did not believe a single brainwashed mech designer would ever be able to match the design prowess of a willing mech designer.
Nonetheless, as Ves observed the types who eyed the mech designers for sale, he figured that most buyers simply wanted to obtain them to service their existing mechs. The clientele mostly appeared to consist of dark mercenaries and hidden forces.
Reflecting their nature, they demanded a certain level of quality without costing them too much. The human products also had to be expendable. The mech designers sold at the Circle of Mota fell exactly within their demands.
Ves shooks his head underneath his helmet as he saw these poor fellows who studied so hard to become a mech designer meet such a poor end.
From listening to the brief exchanges between the buyers and sellers, most of the mech designers who lost their freedom only had themselves to blame.
They borrowed heavily in order to fund their startups. When their businesses failed to take off, they eventually drowned in their debt.
In regular cases, mech designers who failed to start their own businesses simply declared bankruptcy and moved on while leaving the lenders on the hook for the unpaid debt.
To some mech designers, funding was very difficult to come by. They approached gangs and other loan sharks for money, and this was where they fell into trouble.
Mech designers that had to resort to unconventional funding sources weren't very good to begin with! When they eventually failed, the loan sharks immediately seized the assets of the company as well as the mech designer themselves!
Most of the mech designers already went through mental reprogramming, rendering them unattractive to Ves.
Who knew what kind of hidden instructions the brainwashers seared into their minds. Perhaps they had been programmed to transmit information about their buyers to the slave traders.
A number of imprisoned mech designers still looked fresh, though. Unlike their poorer colleagues who had been subjected to crude brainwashing, the untouched mech designers were still mentally sound.
Ves observed a variety of expressions behind the transparent cages that showed their dejected forms. He spotted anger, helplessness, despair, self-recrimination and more from their faces.
Though he sympathised with their fates, he did not feel compelled to help out his fellow kind. Most of them willingly played with fire and got burned. If they accepted that they weren't good enough to attract seed money from legitimate investors, then they shouldn't have insisted on founding their startups.
The mech market was too competitive to tolerate trash!
What really dampened his mood was that some mech designers had fallen in the clutches of the slave traders through no fault of their own!
Perhaps the passenger ship they boarded had been waylaid by pirates.
Perhaps their business rivals engineered an ambush on the streets.
Perhaps their bodyguards betrayed them when they were at their most vulnerable.
Whatever the case, Ves could have easily suffered the fate of these innocent and unwilling mech designers if he wasn't so thorough about his protective detail!
He thanked his paranoia for keeping him on his toes. Coming across so many mech designers who had their futures cut off made him more resolved than ever to invest in his Avatars of Myth.
"You are staring a lot. Are you interested?" Nitaa gruffly asked.
"No."
Though Ves deeply lacked design talent, he knew better than to purchase an enslaved mech designer! Whether brainwashed or not, the mech designers were already tainted the moment they fell into the clutches of the slave traders.
Though it took some effort, Ves strongly believed he could fill up his design teams through legitimate hiring practices. Unlike some of the other organizations that frequented the Circle of Mota, there was no need for him to resort to slaves to address his lack of mech designers.
As Ves and Nitaa both marched through the slave trade quarter, they continued to pass by slave traders hawking their mech designers.
As much as Ves tried to steel his heart against these sights, his mood nonetheless grew worse and worse. As someone who loved to design mechs, he hated the sight of others sharing the same passion succumbing to such awful fates.
Not even his empowered mask was capable of holding back his inner thoughts! As a mech designer, some sights were simply too abominable for him to remain quiet!
"Mech designers deserve better." He muttered, venting his frustration.
"Mech designers are just as vulnerable as other humans." Nitaa calmly replied. She shared none of his feelings concerning mech designers. "The strong prosper and the weak suffer under their yoke. This has always been the nature of the galaxy."
"In the many millennia since our species have risen up, we've advanced our civilization by an incredible degree. Yet sometimes I question how much we've really progressed when we still engage in barbaric practices such as enslaving our own race."
A part of him hoped the MTA would come and smash apart the entire marketplace. The former expectations he held for the Circle of Mota had almost completely evaporated now that he witnessed the depths of their depravity.
To Ves, it was one thing to sell regular people. It was another thing to sell mech designers! The latter firmly crossed his bottom line!
He only relaxed a bit after they finally passed through the slave trade quarter and entered a section devoted to the sale of rare materials.
The sight of samples of exotics on display brought a smile on his face. This was familiar territory for him. The bounty of the Nyxian Gap was fully on display here! Already he spotted plenty of rare and expensive exotics that he hadn't encountered at the Peacekeepers branch on Cinach XII.
Best of all, due to his constantly-improving knowledge on Metallurgy, he understood a lot more about the properties of metallic exotics for sale here. Some of them were really useful for certain applications!
"Let's browse the wares carefully."
Not only was the selection of goods wider here, but their prices were considerably cheaper as well!
Chapter 1462
As much as Ves wanted to snap up numerous samples of medium to high-grade exotics, he restrained himself as much as possible.
He only converted a certain amount of his money into firthals, and intended to reserve most of it for the acquisition of P-stones, F-stones and other spiritually-reactive exotics.
Nonetheless, his resolve wavered numerous times when he carefully brushed his gaze past exotics with useful applications.
Now that he was in the process of assimilating Senior-level Metallurgy, he recognized a wide variety of metallic exotics with known applications. He memorized their most relevant properties and also gained a sense of their prevailing market values.
Prices fluctuated considerably here. Not every exotic was sold at a bargain, and not every bargain offered a lot of savings. Part of the reason for that was the intense bargaining taking place.
Whenever a customer wanted to buy a product, they entered one of the nearby negotiating chambers administered by the Circle of Mota and bargained as if their lives depended on their efforts!
Both the buyers and sellers negotiated aggressively, so much so that a lot of people who finished their transactions stomped out of the negotiating chambers in a fit of fury!
The use of negotiating chambers to conduct transactions in relative privacy benefited both sides when they engaged in expensive transactions.
Their presence made it difficult for Ves to gauge the level of trade that went on. While all sellers drove hard bargains, he was unable to gauge which one was better at ripping off their customers than others.
Meanwhile, the buyers also maintained discretion. None of them looked forward to showing off the amount of firthals they carried to the unscrupulous guests of the Circle of Mota.
After trawling the stalls and shops for half an hour, he abruptly found his first lucky score.
When his spirituality brushed over a black chunk of rock, he immediately encountered the tell-tale reaction of a P-stone!
Ves casually raised his hand with one finger pointing upwards. It was his signal to Nitaa that he encountered a good that he really wanted to obtain!
Considering the extremely sharp bargaining abilities of the sellers, Ves did his best not to show his interest in the exotic.
Just like before, he approached the stall selling the P-stone slowly, expressing interest at other goods before considering the P-stone.
Though the dance stretched on for twenty agonizing minutes, he eventually managed to purchase the P-stone in exchange for the measly price of 7 million firthals!
For an exotic that possessed the rare property of storing his spiritual energy or spiritual entities while protecting them from decay, this was an absolute steal!
Of course, considering the P-stone's lack of properties, the seller didn't find this price to be so low. Unaware of its true applications, the P-stone had been mislabeled as a marginal low-grade exotic with unknown properties!
In a place like Centerpoint where an enormous amount of wealthy mech designers and other people came to shop, the vendors there jacked up the prices of such unknown exotics to a ridiculous degree!
In the Circle of Mota, such practices didn't fly as well here. The clientele was a lot poorer here. The sellers also couldn't afford to wait for years or decades until some random mech designer arrived and snapped up the goods at a ridiculous premium.
Ves was under no illusion that all of the firthals he paid would fall into the hands of pirates and other unsavory organizations.
Each and every guest of the Circle of Mota directly or indirectly facilitated the pirates each time they completed a transaction.
They did this through purchasing their sometimes ill-gotten gains, thereby placing a lot of firthals into their hands.
The visitors also supplied the pirates with valuable goods and services that were very difficult to come by in the Nyxian Gap but were essential to sustain their deplorable activities.
Nonetheless, even though Ves knew he indirectly enabled the pirates when he purchased the P-stone, he didn't care. Spiritually-reactive exotics were simply too valuable for him to let his conscience get in the way of empowering himself!
In fact, he was even willing to give the Five Scrolls Compact a hand if they bribed him with P-stones!
"Who knows if I'm already doing so." He quietly muttered as he received the floating container that held his third P-stone.
Though Nitaa still hadn't ascertained whether the Circle of Mota was tied to the Compact or not, they had only been able to explore a portion of the underground marketplace.
Most notably, the center of the city was closed off to most visitors. Only a small proportion of close associates of the Circle of Mota gained permission to enter. Ves had no clue what happened inside, but he had a feeling that more than just a couple of incidental trades took place in the core region.
If the Compact really had a hand in the Circle of Mota, then gaining entry to the center was the best way to obtain evidence!
It was times like these that he hated his mother's incredibly inconvenient appropriation of his Devil Tiger.
A masterwork mech was incredibly valuable! If Ves arrived at the Circle of Mota with such an incredibly valuable mech on offer, he might have gained enough regard from the organization to enter the inner marketplace. Who knew what he was missing out on now that he lost his only means of leverage.
He consoled himself with the acquisition of his third P-stone. Just like his first two P-stones, its appearance and physical makeup diverged as well. Yet even though it consisted of completely different materials, it possessed the exact same properties as the other two P-stones.
The addition of yet another P-stone in his arsenal was of immense value to him! Not only did he increase his external spiritual energy storage capacity by fifty percent, he also gained an extra container to hold living spiritual entities!
The appearance of a P-stone in the Circle of Mota confirmed his suspicion that the Nyxian Gap likely held more. There might even be a major deposit at one of its asteroids or larger satellites, just waiting to be excavated!
Filled with hope, Ves tried to restrain his urgency as he resumed browsing the shops and stalls. While the somewhat quiet and restrained bazaar failed to match the exuberance of normal bazaars, Ves was having the time of his life!
This was because he encountered three more P-stones!
Three!
Within a matter of hours, he instantly doubled his reserve of P-stones! He had even been forced to procure a floating coffer in order to hold his new acquisitions!
Due to their lack of perceived value, Ves managed to purchase them without significantly denting his budget. He still had plenty of firthals left to spare for other purchases!
"This is remarkable. I never expected to encounter so many useful samples here."
He understood why. All of the P-stones he obtained so far weren't very energetic. The curated marketplaces at Centerpoint and elsewhere preferred to sell something of more obvious value, while the Circle of Mota was much less discerning.
His only regret was that he hadn't encountered any other variety of spiritually-reactive exotics throughout his entire search of the rare materials quarter. He visited each and every shop and swept his spiritual senses over each and every stupid rock.
No luck. Now that Ves got his fill of P-stones, he wanted to supplement his exotics collection with F-stones and materials with different reactions to spirituality.
The F-stone he obtained at the Peacekeeper branch ought to have come from the Nyxian Gap as well. Why hadn't it shown up here? Could it be that certain people discovered their uses and kept them for themselves?
That spelled bad news for Ves, because the likeliest people to hog the F-stones was the cultists of the Five Scrolls Compact!
"Look to your left." Nitaa suddenly said, interrupting his troubled thoughts. "An auction is starting soon inside."
Ves frowned. "Auction halls are where high-value goods are put on offer."
Goods like his Devil Tiger mech.
"Maybe you can find what you are seeking inside."
"That's true, but the auction is too conspicuous. Attracting attention is not our goal."
Even though the auction venue probably did its best to hide the identity of its auction goers, Ves still harbored misgivings over entering it. Right now, he was just one of many anonymous guests of the marketplace.
If he wanted to participate in the auction, he had to demonstrate his ability to spend. From what he saw, the auction only allowed guests with greater access passes or lots of firthals at their disposal.
However, if he skipped the auction, he might miss the opportunity to procure another spiritually-reactive exotic if one went up for auction.
The problem was that the auction hall did not list out the goods it was about to auction. Guests continually approached the auction workers in order to submit their high-value goods.
Just as Ves gave up on the idea of participating in the auction, he halted. After a brief consideration, he decided to take a risk.
He swept his spiritual senses outwards and into the auction hall.
This was a very risky course of action. Before, Ves only limited himself to extending his spiritual senses within arms length or a bit further if he wasn't allowed to get closer to the exotics for sale.
He didn't dare to leverage his Spirituality out of his body too much in case some monitors from the Five Scrolls Compact kept their eye on such phenomena.
Yet the auction hall's potential offerings simply tempted him too much. The goods up for auction should definitely be a cut above the rest!
As his spiritual senses stretched forward, he tried to sweep the interior of the theatre-like auction hall as fast as possible. In order to minimize the risks of discovery, he eschewed precision and depth in favor of speed and reach.
His spiritual senses stretched further than he had ever tried to do before in the material realm. Due to the dispersion of his senses, his sensitivity and discernment ability became worse!
Rather than carefully inspecting the interior of the auction hall, Ves instead swept out his spiritual senses in a rapid pulse that lasted less than a dozen seconds!
Like an active sensor that pulsed out a signal and awaited a return signal, Ves only sought to ascertain if his senses bumped into something unusual.
Surprisingly, his senses encountered two different bumps during the brief period of exploration!
The first instance occurred when his spirituality encountered a wall of some kind that blocked his senses from going any further. It was as if the object possessed the capability of blocking spiritual snooping!
"Useful!"
The second instance his senses encountered something remarkable was when he suddenly brushed against something large. His spiritual senses immediately became stagnant when it encountered the large object. It was as if it had entered into a swamp and got stuck in the morass!
Ves sensed a hint of something else buried deeper in the large object, but his sweep of the auction hall quickly finished.
Considering the continued risk of extending his spiritual senses so far, he reluctantly decided to retract them all. In any case, he got what he wanted out of the attempt.
"Let's enter the auction hall." He abruptly spoke up again.
Nitaa didn't question his U-turn. Both of them calmly stepped in line and awaited their turn. Once they arrived at the front, Ves handed over his data chip which presented proof that he possessed enough firthals to compete in the auctions.
"Pass." The impassive guard said while handing back the data chip. "Behave yourself inside. Don't attack anyone inside and don't bid for something that is beyond your means to pay. We reserve the full right to ascertain whether you are violating our rules and dole out the necessary punishment. Is that clear?"
Though the warning sounded sketchy as hell, he heard the same spiel just before he entered the marketplace.
"We understand."
"Then make way and head inside. You are blocking the way."
Chapter 1463
Inside, the auction hall's dark, drab but roomy interior did not detract from the interest the upcoming auction attracted.
Already, hundreds of wealthy guests awaited entry into the main hall!
Meanwhile, the more privileged auction goers with better access passes headed for the less-congested balconies and private boxes upstairs.
Ves did not wish to bid for goods in the main hall where everyone could see him. He approached one of the workers.
"How much for a private box?"
"100 million firthals."
"Too expensive!"
That sounded like pure extortion! There was no way Ves would pay the equivalent of 2.4 billion bright credits just to secure a private box!
The worker looked at Ves' disguised form with contempt. "Temporary pass holders like you don't merit anything better. To gain the right to enter a private box, you must either upgrade your pass to one of the higher tiers or convince someone with an upgraded pass to invite you inside. The only other alternative is to offer a high-value good for auction that exceeds the value of 100 million firthals."
"Understood.."
Ves stewed in his mind as he turned away as soon as he learned he had no means to obtain a private box.
It would have been a different story if he still possessed his Devil Tiger! Let alone 100 million firthals, the mech was definitely worth more than a billion firthals!
He mentally imagined shooting his mother over and over again with the Amastendira as he and Nitaa stood at the back of the waiting crowd.
He found out that they had come to the auction a little early. The doors to the main hall would only open in an hour, with the auction starting half an hour later.
The Circle of Mota who organized the auction wanted to make sure they attracted as many moneybags as possible.
Strangely enough, the normally quiet and standoff-ish guests began to converse with each other.
Only a certain caliber of guests were allowed to participate in the upcoming auction. They possessed a greater amount of wealth, strength or connections.
Despite knowing nothing at all about each other, the robed and disguised figures carefully approached the people next to them. Ves even witnessed a number of transactions taking place!
Soon enough, a group of recently-arrived guests approached Ves and Nitaa. The group of three immediately gave Ves the impression that the figure wearing identical shadow attire as him was a noble. The two larger figures following deferentially behind the person in the middle hadn't done a good job at hiding their bodyguard tendencies.
A distorted voice sounded out over the low din of conversation.
"The dark sun will collapse."
"Pardon?" Ves couldn't help but respond.
"Nothing. I was merely curious if you are in the know."
"Well, I'm not part of your club."
The unknown figure turned towards Nitaa. "You're a big fellow."
"Yes."
"What do you do for a living?"
"Everything."
"What an eloquent answer." The unknown figure replied dryly. "But interesting nonetheless."
Ves was pretty sure now that he faced a noble. Whether the figure underneath the pitch-black robes and hardsuit was a man or a woman, he couldn't tell.
He did sense he faced someone of the same age or younger as him. He could discern at least this much from the unknown noble's speech and movement patterns, though someone like Calabast could probably figure out more.
"You're kind of stiff." The noble spoke. "You really don't give me much to work with, stranger."
"That's the intention." Ves replied flatly.
"The Circle of Mota can be a dangerous place if you get caught, but we are all on the same boat here. You won't be able to make any deals if you keep up your stiff act."
"That's not a problem."
"This must be your first time here."
"Yes." Ves admitted.
He didn't mind exposing this bit of information, as it was hard to pretend he knew what was going on. He got the sense that plenty of rituals took place in the Circle of Mota.
"What do you do for a living?" The figure asked again, this time to Ves.
"You don't need to know the answer."
"You'd be surprised how much I can be of use if you tell me something about yourself."
"What is in it for you?" Ves probed.
"I'm curious about the two of you. I know more about the Circle of Mota than a first-timer like you. I can introduce you to the auction if you tell me what you are or what you do. Don't be shy."
Though Ves felt tempted to push this annoying fly away, he reconsidered. He needed a source of information, and the fellow who approached him seemed sincere.
In fact, that was pretty much what most people were doing in the waiting hall. They approached random disguised people and carefully probed each other. If they liked what they heard, they befriended each other or engaged in impromptu transactions.
"Alright. I'm a mech designer."
"Oh." The disguised noble did not sound excited. Cinach VIII hosted a lot of mech designers, in part due to the presence of institutions such as Rawlings University. "What rank?"
"Journeyman."
The instant Ves spoke those words, the noble immediately perked up. His body language made it clear that he became a lot more attentive!
"Truly?"
Ves refrained from scoffing. "Truly. Believe what you will."
"I have a better idea. Are you willing to prove your assertion?"
"Depends."
The noble raised his arm and activated his comm. After a bit of manipulation, he presented a very complicated-looking mechanical puzzle.
"I'm told that only Journeyman are able to solve this puzzle."
"No problem."
Ves immediately grasped the essence of the puzzle. In fact, now that his Mechanics Skill was in the process of upgrading to Senior-level, he could easily solve it within a matter of seconds!
Still, in order to avoid standing out, he deliberately took his time and slowed down his responses. His fingers slowly manipulated the puzzle for a couple of minutes before he finally inputted the final solution.
"Astounding! You solved it in three minutes and eighteen seconds! That is definitely within the range of a Journeyman! You're the real deal!"
"I did not lie."
"You'd be surprised at how many Novices and Apprentices I've met who pretended to be bigger than they actually are. High-ranking mech designers are rare in these parts. Most of the time, they dispatch representatives to conduct business on their behalf."
"I see."
That sounded like a clever solution. It added some separation between the high-ranking mech designer and the subordinate visiting the Circle of Mota. A Senior Mech Designer could not afford to get caught associating directly with this notorious organization!
If one of their subordinates got caught, the Senior could easily disavow the unlucky representative and claim that the miscreant acted on their own accord!
Whether the authorities accepted the excuse or not, Ves didn't know. The strategic value of Seniors to a state was very high though, so the Sentinel Kingdom was probably very reluctant to tear down one of their precious assets.
"You must be here on your own accord, right? You don't have to hide it from me. If you were sent by your mentor or boss, you would have gotten a better clue of what is going on. You're very brave."
"Why are you here, then?"
"I'm bored. The Sentinel Kingdom is so boring. Don't you think the Nyxian Gap is a lot more exciting? While I'll never step foot there, I can still take part in the gatherings organized by the Circle."
To be honest, the noble disgusted Ves a bit. The man lived a privileged life, and what did he say? He was bored! Billions of commoners in the Sentinel Kingdom would love to swap lives with a noble!
Fortunately, his muted mask helped a lot in repressing his inner Devil Tongue from lashing out. It wasn't as if he was any better than the noble either. Despite knowing that the Circle of Mota served as an enabler of piracy, Ves still sought them out and partook in several transactions.
""Say, what's your budget, mech designer?"
"That's none of your business."
"Just give me an approximation. Did you bring more than 100 million firthals?"
"Yes."
"But not that much more, right?"
"..Maybe."
"Hah. You don't have to lie. Don't get me wrong. 100 million firthals is enough to bid on a couple of lower-tier goods on auction. Some of the goods are sold in batches, so you don't have to compete against other bidders for a single rare good. It's the auction hall's way of giving paupers an opportunity to come away with the satisfaction of winning at least one winning bid."
"It's not enough, you think?"
"Not if you want to obtain something of significant value. Don't get me wrong. The lower-value goods on auction are already notable enough. It's just.. the real excitement happens afterwards. Some of the choicier goods of the Sentinel Kingdom and the Nyxian Gap will appear on the auction block. These are what makes the auctions organized by the Circle truly worth visiting in person."
Ves thought about his spiritual sweep over the expansive venue. The auction hall stored at least two objects that reacted to spirituality!
One of which was of a much larger size than any spiritually-reactive material he encountered before! In fact, it felt so exceptional to him that he suspected that its value must not be low!
Though he initially thought his budget ought to be sufficient to bid on this mystery object, now he didn't feel so sure. If the anonymous noble didn't lie, then there were doubtlessly a lot of people participating in the auction with a much bigger warchest than he could ever compete against!
As the most powerful third-rate state in the Komodo Star Sector, the Sentinel Kingdom also happened to be a lot wealthier than a regular third-rate state like the Bright Republic. Nobles and other wealthy magnates earned considerably more!
Ves paused a bit. "You did not bring up this topic without cause."
"Correct. Ever since I heard you're a Journeyman, I've been considering a proposal. Do you want to earn some easy money?"
"How much?"
"Up to a billion firthals."
"That's a lot of money."
That was an understatement! 1 billion firthals equated to at least 24 billion bright credits! Though Ves frankly owned a bit more cash than that, he only converted a limited portion of his money into firthals.
He was very loath to drain his bank accounts even more, as it might attract unwelcome attention!
"Are you interested?"
"It depends on what you want. I am unwilling to commit too much time, so if you want me to design a mech for you, you're out of luck."
"Ah, that is not what I am looking for. I want you to upgrade a series of identical mechs with the parts and materials I've supplied. Use your Journeyman prowess to turn my batch of mechs into something truly exceptional."
"Why not approach a Journeyman the regular way?"
"The mechs are rather.. Delicate."
Ves frowned inside his helmet. "Are you supplying the mechs to a Nyxian pirate outfit?"
"Let's leave this question open, shall we? What I seek is someone who can upgrade a batch of mechs without leaking anything. Are you open to this offer?"
"You will have to reveal more about the mechs and what you expect from me. It is hard for me to make a judgement without any relevant information."
"Understandable. Look, why not follow me to my private box and discuss some of the details? You can stay with me when the auction starts. If you encounter something that you can't pay for, why not let me pitch in? If it isn't beyond my means, I can cover the cost. If I win, I can hold the object in my possession and exchange it to you once you finish the job I give you. Doesn't that sound like a good deal?"
This... Ves began to grow suspicious. What kind of upgrade job did this anonymous noble expect from Ves that was worth a billion firthals?
The entire deal sounded shady as hell!
Chapter 1464
Though Ves hesitated for a time, he eventually accepted the unknown noble's offer to walk up to his private box.
Ves, Nitaa, the unknown noble and his two bodyguards all moved up the stairs after a cursory inspection. The auction hall workers immediately let the disguised noble pass after they checked his pass.
Evidently, the fellow that invited Ves upstairs was an honored guest of the Circle of Mota.
Such an eminent person's identity or background must not be weak. What bothered Ves was that such people shouldn't have a lot of difficulty in convincing a Journeyman to complete a design-related job.
Yet instead of approaching more familiar mech designers, the unknown nobleman instead attempted to solicit him for a private commission.
Considering their current venue and the amount of care the nobleman showed in bringing up the topic, the job should have some issues. Serious and illegal issues. Why else would Journeyman refuse to accept a quick commission that earned them the equivalent of 24 billion bright credits?
There had to be a lot of issues concerning this job! Even if the noblemen of the Sentinel Kingdom were very wealthy, no one slung around 24 billion credits like candy!
It sounded far too good to be true!
Perhaps the only reason why Ves continued to entertain the idea was because his intuition did not signal any insincerity in the offer.
That was enough for Ves to stick around. It was unlikely he would receive a similarly-generous offer from someone else anyway. He still hadn't accepted any deals so he had the right to walk away anytime he wished.
As they reached the shielded and quiet box, they sat at the adjustable chairs and began to chat.
"It's tiresome for me to think of you as 'the mech designer'." The nobleman began. "You can call me Finlay. What about you?"
"Call me.. Rho-Sigma." Ves spontaneously blurted out.
He wanted to reveal as little as possible, so stringing along two random letters together sounded as good as anything.
That the letters happened to be 'rho' and 'sigma' was purely a coincidence, of course.
"Typical." Finlay shrugged just enough for his shadow attire to jerk. "You people always invent sciency names for yourselves."
"That's because they are common words in our profession. Every mech designer throughout the galaxy uses them as symbols in their work."
Darkness obscured the main hall beyond the one-way wall. Ves only perceived the outlines of many hundreds of seats stretching out below, with a lot of space in between. Paths led up to an empty auction stage big enough to accommodate several mechs.
With so much space, the auction hall could have hosted tens of thousands of people, though in reality only a few hundred bidders and their entourage would actually enter and take part.
"So where do you come from, 'Rho-Sigma'? While you hide your traits fairly well, it's obvious that you're not a commoner or noble from our state. You would have reacted differently to me if that was the case. Either that, or you're very good at pretending."
"Who knows. Stop fishing for information."
"It was worth a try." Finlay mirthfully said, though the distortion of his helmet did not convey his feelings that well.
Ves did not care too much that 'Finlay' found out that he was a foreigner. He wasn't a spy like Calabast who could seamlessly integrate in a completely foreign culture.
As an educational and research planet, Cinach VIII attracted a lot of mech design students as well as mech designers. A significant proportion of teachers and researchers were foreigners. Nonetheless, the amount of foreign mech designers currently on Cinach VIII who also happened to be Journeyman did not amount to a high number.
This meant that Finlay could narrow down the possible identities of Ves to a single list of names.
Of course, Ves could also be a skilled actor who pretended to be a foreigner. Finlay still had to take that possibility into account.
Nitaa already signalled an obscure hand signal towards Ves. It was another predetermined code that stated that Ves should hold himself back.
She even spoke out. "Tell us of the job you have in mind for Rho-Sigma."
"And who might you be, big guy?"
"Big Guy."
Finlay was momentarily rendered speechless. "What an.. inventive moniker."
"Speak up. You have left us in the dark long enough."
"Oh well." Finlay sighed. "Here goes. The job entails two companies worth of mechs. The mechs are rather unusual and not very common around these parts."
"How many mech models are we talking about? The more models there are, the longer it takes for me to modify their designs."
"You don't have to worry about that. The mechs are all identical. One model."
"Just one?" Ves skeptically asked.
Almost every mech company featured a mixed mech roster. Perhaps some exceptions existed where multiple companies were meant to fight alongside each other. In those cases, using one model for every mech company wasn't as stupid.
Still, for two mech companies to consist of just a single mech model sounded quite far-fetched!
"Tell me about the model."
"They're doom crawlers. They're very expensive, but they're worth it. The mechs pack a very strong punch and they can take a lot of hits. See for yourself."
Finlay projected a doom crawler model from his comm and also listed out its spec sheet.
Apparently, the model was called the Spyre Helix, and its design was an absolute beast!
Doom crawlers were some of the most notorious heavy mech types in existence. The mech model that Ves currently studied did not put its mech type to shame!
The overall shape of the Spyre Helix resembled that of a six-legged tarantula scaled up to the size of an office building. Its legs looked meaty and thick because of all the heavy armor plating they had been clad with. They were incredibly resilient against damage!
The six legs held aloft a large and heavily-armored torso that had been designed to accommodate an entire arsenal's worth of weapon hardpoints.
Four large ballistic cannons provided devastating firepower at medium-to-long ranges.
Eight smaller laser rifle barrels placed throughout the chassis provided all-round protection against closer and swifter threats.
Two missile launchers installed at the top of the mech added a considerable amount of versatility.
The incredible amount of weapons mounted on top of a heavy mech that already bore a significant amount of armor sounded prohibitively expensive!
However, as Ves studied the spec sheet closer, he realized that while the Spyre Helix was a genuine heavy mech, its actual construction was quite economic!
The reason why the doom crawler became so large was because it was made up of relatively cheap materials!
He quickly estimated the price range of the doom crawler.
400-500 million bright credits. That was how much each mech cost. That placed the Spyre Helix on the cheaper end of the doom crawler mech type.
Nonetheless, that did not detract from the Spyre Helix's capacity for destruction. A force of eighty doom crawlers was enough to flatten the landbound defenses of a minor planet! This was some serious firepower!
After studying the Spire Helix's design some more, he noted a few remarkable details that suggested a very disturbing picture.
"The Spyre Helix is an illicit mech design. I highly doubt the MTA ever approved of its design."
"Correct."
Ves recently finished an illicit mech design project himself, so he knew what it was like to design a mech that did not abide by the MTA's strictures.
"The Spyre Helix is a pirate design. It's designed and meant to be used by pirates. Nyxian pirates."
"That is also correct. I'm impressed you realized this so quickly. Perhaps I approached the right mech designer after all."
"These mechs are already very deadly, Finlay. The pirate designer who is responsible for creating the Spyre Helix is very competent."
So far, the design appeared to be the work of a very experienced Journeyman. Not only that, but Ves also guessed that the pirate designer used to work for the military or a company with close ties to the military before he or she went rogue.
Such mech designers ought to be very infamous and very dangerous. Ves began to harbor more doubts.
"These doom crawlers must be very hard to acquire. I don't think there's any manufacturing facility in the Sentinel Kingdom that is daring enough to fabricate these mechs in such quantities."
"You'd be surprised what you can get away with on an uninhabited star system. Besides, we already bought these doom crawlers just a few days ago from the Circle of Mota."
"They are here?!"
"Yes, but stored somewhere safe."
A lot more questions emerged. Why did the Circle of Mota ship so many illicit mechs onto Cinach VIII? What did Finlay intend to do with these incredibly destructive pirate mechs?
However, even if he harbored a lot of questions, Ves knew better than to voice them. Whatever purpose Finlay or his superiors had in store for the doom crawlers, it must be something extremely delicate.
Nonetheless, he still needed at least some answers.
"What do you wish to upgrade?"
"I'd like to upgrade its weapon systems and some other aspects." Finlay answered with a gesture. "Their existing armament is already powerful, but I require more. The doom crawlers need to be capable of unleashing great destruction."
"The current weapon loadout of the Spyre Helix is already optimal. It's enough to fend off a large range of landbound and aerial mechs."
"That's the problem, you see. The doom crawlers are great against mechs, but we are targeting more than mechs."
"What do you need, exactly? Be more specific."
"The doom crawlers have to be capable of wide-area infrastructure destruction. We want you to pull out all of the stops. We've already gathered some materials and some component designs to replace the existing weapon systems of the doom crawlers, but finding a Journeyman who is willing to incorporate them in an upgraded design is surprisingly challenging."
"Show me."
Finlay projected the new weapon systems.
The ballistic cannon mounts that fired conventional shells had to be replaced with a different cannon system that fired a very specialized shell type. One that carried a very destructive nuclear payload!
The laser rifle barrels mounted on the doom crawler had to be replaced with more advanced and more demanding energy weapon systems. While the new weapon system was capable of firing conventional lasers, its alternate firing mode turned it into a gamma laser weapon!
As for the missile launcher system, Ves didn't have to make a lot of changes. He just had to make additional room so that the doom crawler carried additional nuclear missile salvos!
Ves was shocked at the sheer audacity of the proposed modifications! Not even pirates dared to be so unscrupulous as to make use of so many taboo weapons!
He could easily imagine the sheer horror that eighty doom crawlers modified for absolute destruction could unleash! The amount of firepower the doom crawlers would carry was enough to wipe out an entire metropolis in a matter of minutes!
"I can see why no mech designer dared to accept your commission." Ves said very mildly. "The nature of your demands is very problematic."
That was an understatement! If the MTA ever got wind that 'Finlay' attempted to turn a bunch of doom crawlers into apocalyptic engines of destruction, then they would probably send out an entire warfleet after his heels!
"Don't leave yet. It's not what you think!" Finlay raised his hand towards Ves. "We have no intentions to turn the Spyre Helixes against the Sentinel Kingdom! The mechs are all meant to be put to use against a highly entrenched stronghold operated by a pirate alliance in the Nyxian Gap."
"What kind of pirate fortress requires this much firepower?"
"One that is very sturdy and large."
"Regular weapons are already capable of doing the job."
"We know. It's not about destroying a pirate stronghold, Rho-Sigma. It's about sending a message. We want to unleash as much destruction as possible in the most brutally direct fashion as possible!"
Ves widened his eyes behind his helmet. This sounded more than just a calculated attack. Instead, he suspected that Finlay may be driven by a vendetta!
Chapter 1465
"You're right. It's personal." Finlay admitted when Ves probed the disguised nobleman yet again. "It's the only way to teach the Nyxian pirates a lesson. They're so used to brutality that they rarely pay attention to ordinary threats."
"Even so, the modifications you have in mind are very gratuitous. Replacing the regular ballistic cannons with specialized nuclear cannons is more than enough to turn your Spyre Helixes into highly destructive mechs. Adding the gamma lasers and nuclear missiles to your mechs is excessive."
"Nothing is excessive when it comes to the opponent we are targeting." Finlay glowered darkly. "The Spyre Helixes that you are modifying will only be put to use in a single operation. Once they have finished the job, we will immediately dismantle and break them down so that no trace of them are left. They won't ever show up again, Rho-Sigma. I promise that."
Ves pursed his lips behind his helmet. He sat impassively as he tried to judge whether Finlay actually spoke the truth.
His shadow attire made it very difficult for Ves to glean clues out of the nobleman. His spiritual senses caught nothing as Finlay did not possess any spiritual potential that could give away any clues.
All Ves could rely upon was his intuition and his logic.
His intuition didn't sense anything egregious about Finlay, but then again his intuition didn't have much to go upon. Plenty of people had lied to Ves before and got away with it. Spies and nobles adept in social manipulation tended to be highly trained in the art of deception.
Though Ves probably figured that most of what Finlay said must be true, the Sentinel might have taken some liberties with some crucial details!
What if Finlay deployed the doom crawlers against a Peacekeeper base?
What if Ves woke up one morning and read a devastating news report about several cities in the Sentinel Kingdom being laid to waste by a bunch of mystery doom crawlers?
The doom crawlers possessed enough firepower to wipe out billions of humans by launching all of its nuclear weapons in quick succession!
Not a single defensive force would be able to react in time if the doom crawlers were smuggled into place without tripping off any alarms!
A huge shadow loomed over Ves. This job sounded extremely sketchy to him. Even if Finlay truly believed that the doom crawlers he acquired would merely be put to use against a bunch of pirates, he was just an errand boy.
The people who truly possessed the power to decide where to employ the doom crawlers stood above someone like Finlay! Ves doubted that the young nobleman knew every detail about the intended use for the modified doom crawlers.
Who knew if the owners of the Spyre Helixes held different ideas from Finlay?
No matter how much sincerity Finlay tried to convey, Ves couldn't put much stock in the nobleman's words.
The more he thought about it, the more Ves feared that the doom crawlers would be put to use against targets that didn't deserve to die in a sea of nuclear fury!
"You said that you've already approached other Journeymen, right? They made the right decision. The changes that you demand is too abominable to see the light of day."
"I already told you. Their only purpose is to annihilate a heavy-defended pirate fortification! That is all!"
"Not even pirates deserve to die with the cruel and inhuman weapons you wish to mount on your Spyre Helixes."
"Heat is heat! Explosions are explosions! Who cares whether the heat and explosion comes with a dose of radiation? Someone who is directly struck by a laser beam will die regardless whether it's radioactive or not!"
"If there is little difference in lethality, then there is hardly any point in replacing the Spyre Helix's conventional weapon systems."
"As I said, regular weapons aren't enough! We have to send a forceful message!"
Again, Finlay repeated this ostensible goal.
"Is it personal?" Ves boldly asked.
"...Yes." Finlay admitted. "I'll be honest, Rho-Sigma. A few years ago, one of our elite Peacekeeper outfits deployed in the Nyxian Gap fell into an ambush. A lot of mech pilots died, but those who survived ended up in the clutches of the pirate alliance that orchestrated the trap. Those who survived... did not meet good ends."
"I take it there were very important people among those survivors. Those of noble blood."
"..Yes. This is not a secret. If you check the galactic net, you can read the public news articles."
"Let me think for a moment."
The Circle of Mota did not offer a connection to the galactic net, so Ves had no way of confirming the incident.
He didn't think that Finlay was lying, though. Ves could easily confirm the news by asking bystanders about this ambush.
However, even if the ambush actually took place and provoked some nobles into plotting revenge, Ves still maintained some suspicions.
How could a pirate alliance determine the precise route of a premier Peacekeeper outfit and set an ambush that the scouts failed to detect in time?
Ves suspected that the pirates had help. Inside help.
What if the avenging nobles not only acted on the same suspicions, but managed to pinpoint the traitors within the Sentinel Kingdom, who knew if the doom crawlers would be deployed against their strongholds instead?
The pirates may have done the deed, but they may have merely been the knife wielded by the actual masterminds!
If the masterminds happened to be a noble house in control of a planet, then smuggling eighty doom crawlers onto the surface was a good way to tear them down from their lofty height!
Perhaps it was just his paranoia going overboard again, but Ves seriously believed it was plausible that the modified Spyre Helixes would actually be put to use against 'civilized' opponents!
It was one thing to employ taboo weapons against scummy pirates who had forsaken their human rights. It was another thing entirely to employ prohibited weapons of mass destruction on a civilized target like House Laterna or House Gin Tefa!
"I think we are done here." Ves spoke and stood up. "I will not entertain your proposal any further. It is sheer madness."
"Rho-Sigma! Please don't go yet! The auction hasn't even started yet! The Circle of Mota always offers a lot of highly unusual goods in their auctions! If you truly want to obtain something but don't have the firthals to outbid the other bidders, I can still help!"
Ves momentarily halted in his attempt to stand up. Though he found Finlay's proposed commission to be extremely problematic, who knew what he might miss out on if he left the private box.
At best, the objects that attracted his attention might not be as expensive as he feared.
At worst, he could just decide to forgo the spiritually-reactive objects entirely.
With some reluctance, Ves decided to remain after all. Leaving would only deprive him of an opportunity while giving nothing in return except for cleansing his conscience.
The value of the former was much greater than the value of the latter.
If Ves had to put a price on his conscience, then 1 billion firthals sounded kind of cheap. He had the feeling he might be able to milk Finley out of even more money if he stringed the fellow along.
Finding a Journeyman willing to perform the modifications he demanded must be very challenging.
While capable and experienced Apprentices could also do the same job, they required a lot more time to implement all of the modifications. The results wouldn't be as good as Ves could manage, as all of those powerful weapon systems required more space and more power to accommodate their prodigious firepower.
Therefore, Ves was at least assured that Finlay wanted him for his skills and didn't target him for some other reason.
As time passed by, Finlay kept chatting with Ves. Though they didn't talk about anything sensitive, the disguised nobleman put some effort to ingratiate himself.
Ves learned a fair bit of useful information, particularly about the Circle of Mota and the Nyxian pirates. This kind of information was very hard to come by as only nobles were exposed to the bigger picture.
"Do you know why we've never attempted to wipe out the Nyxian pirates despite the cancer they pose in our region?" Finlay asked.
"Too difficult and costly."
"That's true, but the Sentinel Kingdom could have done much more to suppress the pirates. Aside from the Peacekeepers, we can also bring our military and all of the household troops to bear against the Nyxian Gap. Even if we can't root them out entirely, we can bleed them enough so that they won't be able to launch any attacks against us for the next fifty years. To some people, that is still worth it. Yet each time a proposal is put forward, it's always shot down. Don't you find that interesting?"
Ves crossed his arms across his chest. With his understanding on how society was run, he formed a very solid guess.
"The current status quo favors the royals and nobles. The Nyxian pirates exert considerable pressure against the state, but not to the point of threatening its sovereignty."
"Right. The Nyxian pirates can't be wiped out, but also aren't that bad to have as neighbors. We grew strong as a state because of how the Nyxian Gap changes the dynamics in its surroundings. Destructive wars are much less common, though small-scale raids are still rather frequent. The damage is tolerable, though. Instead of damaging the lifeblood of our kingdom, the pirate attacks instead serve to remove the rot from our state."
Perhaps the decadent nobles who did not invest enough in defending their holdings deserved to fall. Ves wasn't so sure if the commoners toiling for their masters and suffering the brunt of the pirate attacks deserved the same.
He should never mistake pirates as benign!
"Is this the prevailing opinion among the nobility?"
"Yes. Our conflict against the Nyxian pirates has raged for centuries that we've settled on a tenuous balance. Our state not only founded the Peacekeepers to organize our resistance towards the pirates, but also modulate our counterattacks to a level that is tolerable to the pirates themselves."
Ves narrowed his eyes in suspicion. "The state is afraid that a greater attack against the pirates will provoke a more destructive response."
"Right."
This put the commission that Finlay offered to him in a whole new light.
"The doom crawlers that you have bought. If they are upgraded according to your demands before being put to use against the pirates, then that will break the balance you are talking about, right?"
"Hehe." Finlay chuckled inside his helmet. The distortion made his laugh sound considerably more ominous! "That's right, Rho-Sigma. Destroying a single pirate fortification in the most barbaric fashion possible is not our end goal. It is a catalyst. The Nyxian pirates have sat on their comfortable thrones for too long. Launching an attack while employing a judicious amount of outrageous weapons is a provocation that no pirate can ignore!"
The implications sounded explosive! What Finlay just said had wider implications towards the entire region!
"I do not understand. The status quo is beneficial towards your class. Why provoke the Nyxian pirates to such an extent?"
"You're partially correct, mech designer. While it's true that the status quo is not that bad for us, both sides involved require some shaking up. The ambush that felled our elite Peacekeeper outfit has gone too far. The pirate alliance responsible for torturing and killing our fellow nobles has grown too comfortable in its seat of power. If we wish to topple them and make room for a new power structure, we have to resort to drastic action."
"It's not just about taking revenge for a single ambush, then."
"Yes. We have accumulated other grievances. While our state is willing to keep the pirates aren't, it doesn't matter which pirates are in charge. Some have outlived their usefulness. We are merely helping them retire."
Chapter 1466
As much as Finlay's explanations made sense, he was only a single, biased source.
Ves would be a fool if he believed everything Finlay said. At the very least, he had to take into account that Finlay distorted or omitted the facts. The Sentinel's one-sided account only shone a single light to the story.
One of the downsides of staying at the private box was that Ves had no one else to ask for a second or third opinion. While the box provided him with some needed privacy, the isolation from the majority of the auction goers also played into Finlay's intentions.
Nonetheless, Ves accepted the circumstances because he believed he gained a rare glimpse into the true thoughts of the ruling class of the Sentinel Kingdom.
Everything he heard so far sounded plausible.
Time continued to pass by as Ves eagerly harvested more information from Finlay.
In the meantime, the doors to the main hall opened up. A crowd of robed, suited and armored figures slowly entered the hall and took their seats. Groups of them shoved their seats together to form an island within the darkness.
So far, the auction hall was still dimmed in darkness. Only the faint ceiling light and the lights shining from the guests themselves prevented them from bumping into obstacles.
Seeing how many wealthy guests attended the auction, Ves began to wonder how much support the Circle of Mota enjoyed.
"How many Sentinel nobles have taken part in the Circle's exchanges?"
"Every noble house."
That was a surprising answer! "Everyone?"
"Perhaps not at the same time. Some houses are much more opposed to pirates than others. However, not every noble in a single house thinks the same way. There are always a couple of black sheep in the family who believe there is little harm in dealing with the Circle. They do not make up for a lot of people, though, so only a third of the noble houses are truly eager to take advantage of the services that the Circle of Mota provides."
The picture that Finlay painted spoke of a closer interdependence between the Sentinel nobles and the Nyxian pirates. While both were ostensibly enemies, they depended on each other as well.
"The trade between certain houses and pirates is very lucrative." Finlay continued as the auction hall continued to fill up. "You can even say that certain nobles and certain pirates have grown very comfortable with each other."
"They became partners." Ves remarked.
"Yes. Certain pirate alliances are secretly backed by certain noble houses and vice versa. Well, backing is not the right word."
"They benefit from having closer ties to each other while still remaining wary of each other."
"Yeah! That's how some of the shadow alliances have formed. For the most part, we accepted that certain parties made friends across the other aisle. In order to facilitate these partnerships and provide a better infrastructure to conduct exchanges, the Circle of Mota emerged to provide a way for both sides to get in touch with each other."
"Who founded the Circle? Who controls the Circle?"
"I don't know. That's not something that is commonly known. It's best if you don't poke around too much."
"I see."
The question who was actually in charge of the Circle of Mota continued to gnaw at Ves. It was one thing if the Circle was led by a hidden consortium of nobles and pirate leaders. He wouldn't even raise his eyebrow if the royal house pulled the strings.
However, if the true masters of the Circle turned out to be the Five Scrolls Compact, then Ves had to be extra careful!
There was a possibility that the Compact or an agent of them kept an eye on the spiritually-reactive goods that were about to come up for auction. If Ves appeared too eager to obtain these two goods, then he might be drawing attention that he really didn't mean to attract!
Ves turned his gaze from the increasingly more occupied main hall to the disguised form of Finlay.
If Finlay bid on the goods that Ves wanted to obtain, then the extra layer of separation served as a form of protection.
It wouldn't be of much use if the Compact controlled the auction hall, but it was better than nothing.
"Why are you so insistent on adding taboo weapons onto your Spyre Helixes?" Ves asked again. "I understand the argument you try to make, but with the amount of money you are willing to spend, you may as well employ five-hundred normal mechs instead."
"It's too risky." Finlay's shadow attire jerked. "We can't let the attack be traced to us. The retribution that we will be subjected to would ruin us all. With regards to covert operations like these, the less people we involve, the less likely it will leak. The operation has to be conducted with as little mech pilots, ship crew and support personnel as possible. One additional person more means bringing on an extra risk factor. It only takes one informer to warn the pirates of an impending attack."
Ah. That explained the rationale for using expensive doom crawlers instead of cheaper mechs. Finlay's superiors wanted to bring a certain amount of destruction towards a target. However, they were unwilling to employ too much manpower for fear of leaks.
Under these conditions, it made more sense to employ a smaller force of high-value mechs than a larger force of weaker mechs.
Yet another question quickly emerged in his mind. "Who will pilot these mechs?"
"We aren't investing our own forces to this endeavor. As I said, we can't let this operation tie back to us. We have to keep the pirates in the dark. We've employed a large and somewhat trustworthy dark mercenary corps for this operation."
"Doom crawlers aren't easy mechs to pilot. Every heavy mech requires special training to pilot proficiently. Most pirates have never come in touch with a doom crawler."
"We have already taken that into account." Finlay replied confidently. "The entire reason why we went out to buy the Spyre Helixes in the first place is because it's a doom crawler design that is native to the Nyxian Gap. I'm told that it's been designed to be easier and simpler to pilot than normal. If we bought doom crawlers designed in civilized space, then they would have been inoperable in the hands of mech pilots who aren't trained in their use."
"There's a good reason why doom crawlers require special training."
"It's unnecessary for the Spyre Helix model of doom crawlers. I'm told that they are highly automated and that even an advanced mech cadet can pilot them. It's not as if doom crawlers require fine control. The dark mercenaries we've retained for this operation have already expressed their confidence that they have enough mech pilots to put the Spyre Helixes to good use."
Ves frowned when he heard that. He always disliked too much automation in mech. While it was important not to overload the mech pilot with too much irrelevant input, the degree of automation in the Spyre Helixes was so extensive that it sounded as if the mech pilots were barely in control over their own machines!
"The automation of the Spyre Helixes are tailored to its conventional weapon systems. If you want me to upgrade their design with different weapon systems, then the programming will have to change as well. That requires a lot of work."
"Is there a problem?"
"Depending on the adaptability of the Spyre Helix's programming, it may take a lot of time to adjust its programming towards the use of nuclear cannons and nuclear missiles. Otherwise, the doom crawler is liable to launch a nuclear missile at a target that is merely fifty meters away, expecting a smaller explosion but getting a much bigger and more destructive one that damaged its own frame!"
"...It's fine if the Spyre Helixes do their jobs. We don't expect more from you. None of our people are piloting the doom crawlers anyway. If a number of them end up firing at themselves, then at most we will have to pay additional compensation fee to the dark mercenaries."
The dark mercenary corps that accepted this ludicrous mission must be truly mad to accept it! Who would ever want to pilot eighty engines of nuclear destruction against one of the local powers of the Nyxian Gap?
Ves felt the urge to cut open the head of the dark mercenary commander and see if the brains had been replaced by candy or something!
"The dark mercenaries must be paid very well."
"Oh yes. We not only offer rich remuneration in the form of valuable hardware and supplies, but we have also entered into an ongoing partnership. Dark mercenaries are not as unreliable as pirates. While the latter are more predominant and hold most of the territory, they make for treacherous business partners. This is a lesson that we have painfully learned."
Ves doubted that dark mercenaries were much better than pirates. They were both dishonorable scum who were willing to do anything to satisfy their greed!
"About the commission that you expect me to perform." He raised. "If you want me to accept, then it will help if you provide some guarantees."
"That's not a problem, Rho-Sigma. We can draw up a contract under the auspices of the Circle of Mota. One of the reasons why we prize the Circle of Mota so highly is that they can be trusted to act as neutral guarantors to any deals we make. They also mediate in any disputes that might arise and issue a fair judgement. Their track record is so good that no one has ever thought to replace the Circle with another organization."
That also made sense. The Circle of Mota would have never existed this long if they lost their credibility as neutral actors. By showing no favoritism towards the Sentinels or the Nyxians, they managed to maintain the support and confidence of both.
"So how will this work?" Ves asked.
"If you accept the commission, you will have access to all of the relevant files in the form of a secure terminal in an enclosed design studio that we have rented from the Circle within this marketplace. In no circumstances are you allowed to copy the data or transfer them elsewhere."
"So I will be doing the work in that very same room?"
"Yes. We'd like you to complete your design work as fast as possible there, preferably before the Circle of Mota packs up and evacuates this site. The marketplace can't stay up forever as the authorities are constantly on the lookout."
"How much time is that?"
"I'm not sure, but it won't take more than two weeks. Is that a problem?"
That was plenty of time for Ves. He estimated that he could do a decent rush job with a matter of days. A week was enough to turn the Spyre Helix into an adequate new weapon platform.
"The time frame is acceptable." Ves replied confidently.
"Good. I've heard that Journeymen are a lot faster in this regard than Apprentices. It will be very inconvenient if your work is interrupted because the Circle of Mota is forced to pack up prematurely. We will compensate you for the work that you have already done if that happens."
"I want everything."
Since the conversation had turned into a negotiation, Ves might as well see if he could get the most out of this deal!
"That is not acceptable." Finlay pushed back. "You will have an incentive to force the Circle of Mota to move early. What if you send your partner to lure the authorities towards this site? No. You will only get paid for the work you have accomplished. The faster you complete the design, the less likely we will issue you your partial reward."
"How will my work be judged?"
"The dark mercenaries sent one of their representatives to this place. Since they'll be the ones who are piloting the upgraded machines, they'll be the ones to judge the adequacy of your modified designs. Only when they are satisfied will you complete the mission. The Circle of Mota which holds your rewards in escrow will pass them on to you. Does that sound agreeable?"
"Hm. Perhaps, but if the dark mercenary representative is too picky, we'll quickly have a problem."
The negotiations continued as the start of the auction approached.
Chapter 1467
The auction finally commenced. The occupants of the private box paused their negotiations, knowing that it would likely be moot as long as Ves did not bid beyond his budget.
As befitting the secretive occasion, the auction began without any fanfare. The lights remained dark and everyone turned off their suit lights. While many sensors would still be able to capture everything regardless of the light level, the shadowy interior helped set the appropriate mood.
This would not be a boisterous auction where personalities dominated the occasion. The Circle of Mota's only concern was to organize an uneventful auction where money, goods and services flowed as smoothly as possible.
An old man in dark robes shuffled onto the large auction stage.
"Welcome, honored guests, to our latest auction. Let me quickly reiterate the rules before we commence. First, to bid on an item, you must input your bid on the device that will appear before you. No other form of bidding, whether verbal, non-verbal or other means will be permitted."
A gap opened up from the ceiling of the private box. Bidding tools hovered down in the hands of every occupant, including Nitaa and the bodyguards.
"Second, secrecy is paramount. Unless both the prior owner and the bidder agree to reveal their identities to each other in a private chamber, no attempts must be made to pry each other's names. Anyone who reveals their identities here for any reasons will immediately be removed from this site. To facilitate everyone's privacy, bidders will be referred to by the numbers corresponding to your bidding tools."
The Circle of Mota sounded quite serious about this, which Ves appreciated. Auctions where lots of firthals and controversial goods shifted back and forth could be quite dangerous if someone's identity got exposed.
"Third, no one will speak unless prompted or allowed to by us. There are no exceptions to this rule. Any disturbance will immediately be dealt with. The auction will only proceed smoothly if order is maintained. This is not your kingdom or fief, so do not cross our boundaries."
The exasperating tone adopted by the old man made Ves suspect that there had been plenty of people who broke this rule in the past. That it needed to be reiterated like this meant that there were probably some very impulsive people among the crowd.
"Fourth, the goods and services that are put on auction have been verified to the best of our abilities. Nonetheless, we do not guarantee their soundness. Caveat emptor applies. The most we can do if the item has been genuinely misrepresented is to take everyone involved into custody and resolve the dispute through arbitration. By taking part in this auction, you implicitly consent to these terms."
Why did this sound like one of those scummy terms of use agreements used by some of the shadier services?
"Fifth, some items put up for auction can only be paid through the exchange of certain goods and services rather than firthals. Any bids we receive will be announced in the open to give other bidders the chance to adjust their own bids. However, the winning bid will solely be decided by the prior owners. We will facilitate the exchange after this auction ends. The other rules apply as well. If you have issued a bid that you cannot fulfill, you will regret it very dearly."
Something like this probably happened a lot as well. How stupid could people be? Plenty, it seemed.
"Now that we have that out of the way, let us begin with the first item."
Ves became curious at what kind of items the Circle put on auction at these kinds of events. They had to be rare and precious to be worth the time for all of the distinguished guests to attend.
The first item hovered to the stage from a floating platform appearing from a gap in the floor. The object was as small as a fingertip, forcing all of the auction goers to study the giant projection that appeared above.
"Our first item is an ultracompact battery." The old man spoke calmly, completely unlike what a regular auctioneer should speak like. "Its standard dimensions are capable of fitting into any standard devices such as shield generators, stealth detectors, jammer busters and other gadgets that require a large amount of power. Its charge, though non-replenishable, is good for resisting the full firepower of a rifleman mech for up to twenty seconds depending on the model of your shield generator."
A lot of people perked up at the offering of an ultracompact battery! A portion of the audience possessed shield generators, but they only lasted for so long until their batteries expended their charges.
Bringing a spare battery along might save them from a sticky situation by giving them double the protection!
Of course, Ves did not feel excited about the ultracompact battery at all, as he had the knowledge and the materials to cobble one up himself. In fact, he already planned to do so on the journey to the Hertog Dominion!
Nonetheless, Ves acted appropriately and straightened his back. He wanted to show Finlay and the Circle of Mota that he was impressed by the appearance of the batteries. It would have been weird if he did not do so considering their utility!
"Do you require an ultracompact battery?" Finlay offered, having bought Ves' act.
"They are useful." Ves carefully replied. "But I did not come here to procure one."
"The auctioneer highlighted some of the ultracompact battery's specifications before announcing the start of the bidding.
"Ten ultracompact batteries are made available here. Let us begin with the first of ten batteries. The starting price is 10 million firthals and the bids must come in increments of at least 1 million firthals."
A light and a small bell sound rang throughout the entire main hall as the first bid immediately arrived.
"10 million firthals." The old auctioneer calmly announced.
"11 million firthals."
"23 million firthals."
"25 million firthals."
"34 million firthals."
The bids frankly arrived faster than the auctioneer could keep up. Despite the initial rush of bids pouring in, the auctioneer did not panic and merely skipped over the intermediate bids to announce the highest one at the time he opened his mouth.
Even Ves inputted a bid worth 37 million firthals in his bidding tool before he left it. Since he could easily make a non-rechargeable ultracompact battery by himself, there was no way he would waste his precious firthals on the batteries on offer.
"138 million firthals by Number 4454. Going once. Going twice. Sold."
The auctioneer brought out a small gavel from his robe and struck the air. Despite not hitting any surfaces, a loud banging sound rang throughout the main hall, signifying the end of the bidding round!
No one knew the identity of Number 4454. Was he a pirate? A Sentinel? Did he sit on the ground floor, or was he sitting on the balcony? No one knew for sure, and that was exactly what the Circle of Mota wanted to see. The more secure people felt in their identities, the more willing they bid on the items.
"Let us begin with the second battery. 25 million firthals. 45 million firthals. 75 million firthals..."
Now that people gained a rough estimate of how much people were willing to bid, the auction of the second battery proceeded rapidly before concluding at a price of 142 million firthals, more than the previous one!
The subsequent batteries flew off the auction block in quick order, with prices ranging from 120 million firthals to 150 million firthals.
To Ves, the winning bids sounded somewhat high in relation to the specifications of the ultracompact batteries. However, the batteries possessed a higher capacity than the cruder ones he was capable of making himself, so the winners did not overpay by too much.
It seemed that the cartel for ultracompact batteries held the market firmly in their grip for them to arouse this level of competitiveness among the bidders. That made him feel better at the fact that he was capable of making them by himself.
The second item of the auction hovered in place of the demonstration battery. This object was much larger.
"The second item on offer today is a monument from the extinct Eonxe race. The Eonxe was a race of sentient aliens that ruled a large amount of territory in the Majestic Teal Star Sector. They are now extinct and no living member of their race has survived."
The monument was a worn-out stone and alloy statue of some kind of upright lizard-like alien race holding aloft a weapon. The craftsmanship of it was fairly exquisite to Ves' artistic senses. The Eonxe had a flair for exaggerated sculpting.
Nonetheless, it was just a statue or monument. It held no practical value and Ves did not even detect an inkling of a spiritual remnant inside the large object.
Nonetheless, its historical value alone interested a lot of bidders, because they immediately began to compete over the item with increasingly ludicrous-sounding sums!
"400,000 firthals. 1.2 million firthals. 4.6 million firthals. 16 million firthals. 16.7 million firthals. 40 million firthals! 40.6 million firthals."
An increasingly small but active amount of bidders offered up enough money to buy and outfit an entire mech company!
To Ves, to throw around this much money for a simple alien ornament sounded crazy!
However, he recognized that the people who competed over the statue desired it due to its rarity. The Eonxe, just like thousands of other sentient alien races in the galaxy, had been wiped out by the relentless expansion of humanity during the Age of Conquest.
Righteousness, peace and respect for sentient life did not apply during those times. Greedy human invasion forces kept encroaching and overpowering every alien civilization in their path.
Their stars became humanity's stars. Their planet's became humanity's planet. The human race demanded everything while the aliens were forced to fight to the death or flee with whatever remains they could carry.
Even then, a lot of human warfleets pursued the refugees and wiped them out in order to save themselves the trouble of a comeback. Sometimes, a handful of aliens got away, but by and large their once-prosperous civilization had come to an end.
In order to make their newly-conquered territories their own and deprive their former owners of any claim of what they once possessed, the human race also erased every trace of alien occupation.
The human conquerors fanatically wiped out all of the buildings, monuments, space stations and even entire planetary ecosystems molded by their previous alien owners.
A monument as beautiful as the one put on auction ought to be very rare. It would be a boon to the collection of distinguished persons. Ves could easily guess that the most enthusiastic bidders consisted almost entirely of nobles.
"76.7 million firthals. Going once. Going twice. Sold!"
Someone paid the equivalent of almost 2 billion bright credits for an alien relic with absolutely no practical use.
Nonetheless, Ves understood the benefit of owning such a rare alien ornament. Just like hunting trophies, these kinds of prizes increased the owner's prestige when used in the right way.
To some members of high society, spending 2 billion bright credits to gain an indeterminate amount of prestige was a worthwhile deal. They had too much of the former and not enough of the latter. Auction goods like the Eonxe monument were particularly good means of turning money into prestige.
The auction continued onwards as other goods started to show up. Items such as medicines, gadgets, weapons and other practical objects showed up consecutively, giving the poorer bidders an opportunity to compete over the cheaper items appearing on the auction block.
The bids rarely surpassed 10 million firthals, reflecting the relatively mundane value of the gear and equipment. While they still had their unique points that distinguished them from regular commodities, they were nothing worth getting excited over.
Once the auctioneer got rid of the garbage, he finally perked up a little as they presented a more remarkable item.
The next item emerged from the floor to reveal a transparent cage that contained a pissed-off human being.
A slave!
Chapter 1468
"Our next item is a notorious human fugitive. Dr. Gregario Manstel is a senior exobiologist with over sixty years of professional experience. When he was forty-three, he ran afoul with the laws of the Sentinel Kingdom when he illegally created an abomination that went out of his control and broke out of the constraints of his lab, killing two fellow senior exobiologists along with numerous junior exobiologists and interns."
The auctioneer calmly described the public history of Dr. Manstel, giving those who weren't familiar yet with the exobiologist a good overview of his worth.
"Dr. Manstel has been drifting in the Nyxian Gap as an independent service provider. To adapt to his new life, he has acquired several new specialties. The most prominent of them is the ability to transplant alien or artificially-cultivated organs into human bodies. Owing to his orthodox education and formidable research gains during his legitimate career, his transplants attempts enjoy a 93 percent success rate, though this is partially due to his refusal to perform high-risk transplantation procedures."
The crowd rippled as they heard this. Ninety-three percent! While there were plenty of biotech scientists who could top this success rate, they were all eminent senior figures who did not make themselves available so easily!
Ves got the sense that it was mostly the gangs, pirates and dark mercenaries among the bidders who eyed the services of this exobiologist.
To most people, the best way to augment your capabilities was to alter their baseline human bodies! The rich and powerful did it all the time, so how could the pirates be left behind?
Of course, getting ahold of a senior exobiologist like Dr. Manstel who was capable of performing transplants safely was very rare in a place like the Nyxian Gap.
Plenty of fugitive biotech scientists who ran afoul with the law fled to lawless space, but most of them consisted of young idiots who screwed up on the job or got caught tampering with their work. Just like the mech design profession, the biotech professions were heavily skewed towards the upper end.
Someone as experienced and authoritative in his field as Dr. Manstel represented a genuine treasure, though getting him under someone's heel was another thing entirely.
"...after botching a transplant operation on the son of a pirate leader, Dr. Manstel has been taken into captivity as punishment. We have inspected him thoroughly and he has not been subject to any abuse, brainwashing or other invasive procedures. With all of the augmentations he has applied to his own body, his natural lifespan is enough for him to last for at least fifty more years, barring any unusual occurrences."
Ves eyed Dr. Manstel speculatively as the auctioneer finally began the bidding round. A flurry of sums immediately emerged.
"5 million firthals. 10 million firthals. 13 million firthals. 13.3 million firthals. 14.6 million firthals. 17 million firthals. 17.5 million firthals..."
Ves decided to join in the fun as well and inputted a sum of 18 million firthals into his bidding tool.
"...18.5 million firthals. 18.6 million firthals..."
Sadly, his bid had already been supplanted by the time the auctioneer called up the next sum.
Finlay, who was sitting next to him, noticed his moves.
"Do you require the services of an exobiologist?"
"Perhaps. It will be a challenge to bring him to heel. Dr. Manstel does not appear very docile."
"There are many solutions to make a stubborn slave honest, from good old-fashioned torture to more sophisticated brainwashing methods. The Circle of Mota offers a variety of brainwashing options to turn a slave into a pliable servant."
"How many slave buyers make use of those services?"
"At least a third of them do so. The methods employed by the Circle are some of the best. However, a fair number of buyers already have their own brainwashing operations or work with trusted people who do the brainwashing on their behalf."
Ves did not possess any means to brainwash any slaves, but Finlay reminded him that he didn't necessarily have to rely on himself. Did he possess any allies, friends or partners who could brainwash a slave in his stead?
One possible candidate emerged. If he could trust anyone to act in his interest and refrain from inserting any hidden traps and backdoors into the neural programming, then approaching Calabast was his best bet.
Even if she hadn't set up a brainwashing operation for the moment, with her resourcefulness she could probably erect one within a year.
Ves inputted another bid into the bidding tool.
"20 million firthals! 20.1 million firthals..."
Damnit. The value of Dr. Manstel turned him into a very desirable good, especially to pirates who didn't have easy access to advanced biomedical and biotech services in civilized space.
The value of Dr. Manstel did not only lay in his high proficiency in transplanting complex organs. He was also very skilled in identifying, caring, and identifying the properties of a variety of exobeasts.
That sounded useful to Ves as he contemplated setting up his own biotech company in order to manage his private exobeast reserve. Someone like Dr. Manstel, if brainwashed and set up with a completely new identity, could serve as an unquestionably loyal director and head researcher for the new company.
Nonetheless, the bids for Dr. Manstel quickly surpassed the ceiling set by Ves.
"30.6 million firthals by Number 324. 31 million firthals by Number 68. 32 million firthals by Number 324!..."
Only two bidders remained who still competed over Dr. Manstel. While the man was unquestionably valuable, many of the guests could easily obtain someone comparable with this much money on the table.
"You've stopped bidding." Finlay commented. "If you really need your own senior exobiologist, I could bid for you if you want."
"No thanks." Ves stoically replied. "I do not wish to owe you this much for a single slave."
Senior exobiologists of Dr. Manstel's caliber were very hard to come by. Most already worked exclusively for other employers.
Even so, Ves preferred to reserve his limited capital for more worthwhile gains. The two spiritually-reactive items hadn't even come up for auction yet. With the average price levels bandied about so far, Ves was afraid he would need every firthal he converted beforehand.
"36.3 firthals. Going once... going twice... sold to Number 324!"
A muted applause arose to congratulate Number 324 for acquiring his new slave. Dr. Manstel, who witnessed himself being sold like a prized exobeast on the auction block, pressed against the transparent barrier and screamed with rage!
Sadly, the cage that enveloped the slave completely blocked off every noise. No one paid attention to the useless flailings of a mere slave.
One cage made way for another. This time, a sophisticated-looking woman in her forties emerged. The woman wore a brilliant gold-white dress which accentuated her bust and contours while hinting at more. Her hair been styled in a majestic golden crown that enhanced her arrogant bearing.
Surprisingly, a noble was being auctioned!
"Lady Maie of House Noz of the Sentinel Kingdom here has made a dire mistake in her life. She fell in love with an agent dispatched by a rival house and subsequently caused untold damage due to the secrets she leaked. Suffice to say, House Noz has put a bounty on her head."
The subsequent details recited by the auctioneer made it clear that Lady Maie had behaved exceptionally poorly. Not only did she leak the secrets of her own House, a subsequent investigation revealed that she had also been embezzling a significant portion of House Noz's income from its business interests.
If that wasn't bad enough, Lady Maie also proved to be a decadent woman! She ordered her men to kidnap any commoner she encountered she found 'delectable'! Though she only targeted commoners, the Sentinel Kingdom never tolerated egregious abuses against its citizens, as such behavior was no different from that of a pirate!
Due to all of these reasons, Lady Maie elicited no sympathy at all from the crowd of nobles.
"A shame." Finlay sighed inside his helmet. "Lady Maie has shamed House Noz as well as the Sentinel Kingdom with her disgraceful behavior."
The bidding for Lady Maie started as soon as the auctioneer finished his tale.
"20 million firthals. 50 million firthals. 100 million firthals! 120 million firthals. 150 million firthals. 200 million firthals! 210 million firthals. 215 million firthals. 240 million firthals. 244 million firthals. 300 million firthals by Number 7023! 320 million firthals..."
The sums being bandied about for this slave far surpassed the previous offerings! Bids offering the equivalent of more than 10 billion bright credits quickly arose, but the bidding round still heated up!
"Is Lady Maie this valuable?" Ves questioned.
Finlay chuckled. "I think you have the wrong idea, Rho-Sigma. Unlike what you might think, only a portion of the bidders consist of depraved pirates who want to turn Lady Maie into their trophy. Most of the bidders actually consist of nobles who desire her secrets or wish to use her as a bargaining chip. You can earn a lot of political capital and other rewards if you hand her over to House Noz."
"A representative of House Noz must undoubtedly be among the bidders." Ves noted.
"Undoubtedly. They don't want Lady Maie to divulge even more secrets. You'd be surprised how much a noble knows. House Noz entrusted Lady Maie to lead some of their critical business ventures, so she can offer every owner a detailed picture of their internal finances."
Such intel was incomparably precious in the right hands. Eventually, after a furious round of bidding, Lady Maie had been sold at the ludicrous price of 1.3 billion firthals!
That was around 31 billion bright credits!
Ves resisted the urge to scratch his head, not that it would be of any use since he wore his thick, enclosed shadow attire.
Was this how much a typical adult noble was worth in the Sentinel Kingdom?
What kind of price would someone like Ves fetch if he appeared on the auction block?
No one would ever be able to assess his true value, but his current accomplishment should merit at least 500 billion bright credits. As a Journeyman with a long life ahead of him, he could easily earn back this immense sum for his masters within a decade!
Ves mentally shook his head. What was he thinking?! Why did he suddenly appraise himself like a slave? He was an honored mech designer!
"Now, for our third slave for the day, we have a special individual..."
More slaves emerged. Ves looked on with fascination as various distinguished and valuable people were being bid upon as if they were not even humans.
The Circle of Mota kept parading experts with valuable skills, exiles from far-flung star sectors and defeated pirate leaders. Each time they put forward a remarkable slave, the bidding war that ensued became intense.
The sight of it disillusioned Ves to the practice of buying and selling slaves.
It was too.. inhuman.
He almost snapped when a Journeyman Mech Designers went up for auction. Just like many of the other cases, the man had screwed up and ran afoul of the MTA. A mech designer like him had no future in civilized space.
Ves did not pay attention to the mech designer. He did not learn the person's name nor did he bid any sum of firthals.
It was one thing to enslave an exobiologist. It was another thing to enslave a mech designer.
Even though Ves could figure out many uses for a competent Journeyman Mech Designer, he refused to taint his hands by purchasing an enslaved mech designer.
Finlay had no such compulsions. He eagerly placed several bids until the sums surpassed 100 billion firthals.
While a Journeyman was a lot more valuable than that, it remained to be seen whether the new owners could actually extract that much value out of their new slave!
For the Circle of Mota to be able to involve so many people in the act of purchasing and selling slaves, their existence exerted a corrupting influence towards the Sentinel Kingdom.
Ves harbored an increasing amount of misgivings towards this mysterious organization. Did their goals solely lay in facilitating trade between the Sentinel Kingdom and the Nyxian Gap?
Chapter 1469
Ves mentally sighed in relief once the auctioneer finally sold all of the slaves. He didn't know if he could take the sight of slaves being treated like cattle any further.
"Too bad." Finlay muttered to his side. "I was hoping to buy the Journeyman Mech Designer so that we can complete the commission ourselves. Sadly, there are a lot of pirate leaders who are even more desperate to retain their own Journeymen. Ah, I mean no offense to you, Rho-Sigma."
"It is fine." Ves nonchalantly waved his hand. "It is a given to pursue other solutions. Free mech designers are reluctant to involve themselves in any design work related to taboo weapons."
"That seems to be the case with most mech designers... except you. I find it very curious that you have decided to stick around. Does that mean you have accepted my commission?"
"Let's not be too hasty. So far, the auction has not impressed me very much."
"Don't be in a hurry to leave. The good stuff is just about to come."
As if to emphasize Finlay's words, the next batch of items that appeared consisted of rare and valuable materials!
"Our first exotic here today is a 24.64 kilogram sample of raw diplo-exonite. Rated as medium grade, raw diplo-exonite is an exotic that has never appeared in this star cluster other than the Nyxian Gap. The only other method of obtaining diplo-exonite is to import its refined version from distant sources!"
The raw diplo-exonite was a non-metallic exotic, so Ves wasn't very familiar with all of its properties.
Nonetheless, its value was undeniable!
"When refined, diplo-exonite becomes an extremely potent substance that is very volatile unless utilized in special manners. Its most notable use is to increase the efficiency of a power reactor. While its current quantity is not enough to make a serious dent on large-scale power reactors providing power to entire cities or city districts, the sample here is very potent when used on power reactors utilized by mechs! The efficiency of a mech power reactor can be raised by as much as twenty percent with the inclusion of diplo-exonite!"
This sounded similar to the Furnace of Regret gem that Lucky produced! Ves wondered if the two shared a connection. What would happen if Ves fed the raw diplo-exonite to Lucky? Would he produce a gem that was even more effective than the Furnace of Regret?
Coming across the sample of raw diplo-exonite in this auction helped put them into perspective for Ves. While the exotic sounded useful, Ves also possessed something with comparable effects.
Of course, both had their uses. Exotics with potent effects were sometimes difficult to work with and took up valuable space and capacity in a mech design. The upside to them was that depending on their supply, they weren't very hard to obtain.
In a way, many mech designers made use of exotics like Ves made use of Lucky's gems. They selectively applied expensive materials with powerful effects to augment the functioning of a particular mech or mech design.
In contrast, Lucky's gems didn't require any accommodation to take effect on a mech. Ves merely had to bury the gem in a random location in the mech for them to empower a mech with an esoteric effect.
Ves had no idea how they worked, but that did not mean he refrained from using them. If Lucky wasn't so inconsistent in the production of gems, he would have made much more extensive use of them! At the very least, every mech of the Avatars of Myth deserved a gem!
As Ves contemplated sneaking laxatives in Lucky's diet, the auctioneer finally began the bidding round!
"10 million firthals. 15 million firthals. 18 million firthals. 23 million firthals..."
Ves only made a few lowball offers before he quickly gave up. Raw diplo-exonite may be rare in the Komodo Star Sector, but Ves could list out several locally-available exotics that exhibited similar effects. The only downside was that they were a bit less potent.
The number of bidders quickly reduced as the prize for the sample leveled off at around 55 million credits. Ves guessed that only mech designers and those from a technical background competed over the raw diplo-exonite.
"Sold for 63 million firthals to Number 10406!"
That sounded like a fair price for the sample. In fact, it was close to the market price for imported diplo-exonite, so the winner of the bid hadn't gained much of an advantage at all.
"Rho-Sigma. As a mech designer, you ought to be very familiar with the exotics that show up, right?"
"Correct."
"Can you advise me if I'm interested in bidding for some of the exotics?"
"I can do that."
"Great!"
As more exotics appeared on stage, Ves did not bid on any of them as he had no pressing need for the benefits they brought.
Finlay was different. Like a kid in a candy store, he pursued several exotics that appeared on the auction stage. Unfortunately, the competition for the exotics, especially those that weren't native to the star sector, was very high.
"120 million firthals!"
Ves placed a hand against Finlay's suited shoulder. "Don't bid any further. You can obtain the same thing by importing it from legitimate channels."
"Ah, thank you. I forgot myself."
Instances like this happened once or twice. The lack of a galactic net connection along with the general ignorance of most of the auction goers meant that a significant amount of people paid a lot more than the exotic was actually worth on the open market!
What a scam!
Well, not exactly. Ves did have to admit that some of the goods were very hard to come by. Even at their current market prices, obtaining some of the rare exotics was easier said than done. It was definitely worthwhile for some to pay extra at this occasion in order to obtain them immediately rather than wait for years for one to be shipped from a distant place.
When the next exotic appeared, Ves had to restrain his excitement.
One of the two objects he had been waiting for had appeared!
A rock the size of a human head appeared on stage. It was rose-gold and resembled a giant fossilized grapefruit.
Though Ves deeply wished to extend his spiritual senses further, he was exceptionally wary about doing so in such a bustling venue. Chances were high that agents or representatives of the Five Scrolls Compact kept an eye on the proceedings!
Ves only performed an extremely small and rapid targeted pulse that confirmed the rose-gold exotic reacted to his Spirituality.
"This unknown exotic is of unknown providence. The unreliable anecdotes gathered by its owner suggests that it has come from the inner regions of the Nyxian Gap. Whether this is true or not, we cannot ascertain the truth."
A spec sheet projected into view, listing out a variety of basic parameters.
"Item #613 exhibits a high density and feels warm to the touch. It possesses decent energy levels, but despite extensive investigations, we have been unable to determine its exact effects."
Overall, the properties listed out by the auctioneer sounded relatively mundane. The main point was that Item #613 exhibited a fair amount of energy activity. This conclusively identified it as an exotic with potentially-significant effects.
However, Ves felt that the crowd didn't exhibit a lot of enthusiasm for it. The nature of unknown exotics was that their effects could be anything, but whether they were useful or not remained to be seen.
Anyone bidding for an unidentified exotic would basically be engaging in a form of gambling. They gambled that the value they could extract out of the exotic exceeded the money they spent.
Once the bidding started, not a lot of people started to bid.
"10 million firthals. 12 million firthals. 16 million firthals. 30 million firthals. 35 million firthals. 36 million firthals. 40 million firthals..."
Ves continued to input numbers into the bidding tool. He outbid the highest number by 1 million firthals.
He had to win this bid!
The enthusiasm shown by Ves immediately attracted Finlay's attention. "Do you want my help? I can obtain it for you immediately if I make a shocking bid."
"No thanks, Finlay. That will probably do more harm than good. Perhaps some of the guests will believe that Item #613 possessed untapped value."
"Does it? You're very eager right now."
"Who knows." Ves replied, unwilling to say more.
He found it regretful that the auction didn't allow anyone to walk up to the stage and inspect the exotic up close. They had to judge the usefulness of the exotics on offer solely by their spec sheets and their magnified projections.
This made every bidder other than Ves reluctant to spend too much money on an unidentified exotic. Since no one apparently recognized it or valued it too much, the bidding round quickly slowed down.
"55.5 million firthals. 56 million firthals. 56.1 million firthals. 56.2 million firthals."
A short silence ensued as no further bids emerged. The only other person participating in the bidding realized that Ves continued to place a counterbid, so quickly gave up any thoughts about obtaining the rose-gold exotic without committing too much money.
56.2 million firthals. Going once. Going twice. Sold to Number 6969!
A small weight lifted off his chest as Ves silently sighed in relief. He obtained a rare, exciting new spiritually reactive exotic! Though Ves hadn't inspected it thoroughly, he already knew that its effects were different from that of P-stones and F-stones!
Perhaps Ves would soon be expanding his exotics catalog with a third lettered stone category!
A short chime sounded out from his bidding tool. Instructions appeared, prompting Ves to put his data chip that contained his firthal account onto a slot on the tool.
Ves instantly lost 56.2 million firthals. That meant he paid the equivalent of 1.348 billion bright credits for a new type of spiritually-reactive exotic.
What a bargain!
Sadly, Ves also expended a significant chunk of his budget. It remained to be seen if he had enough of a warchest to compete over the bidding of the second-spiritually-reactive object.
The latter was fairly large. It ought to be a lot more remarkable than Item #613. Ves feared that its immensity and its other properties might attract a lot of interests from the auction goers.
He subtly eyed Finlay, whose real name and identity still remained obscured. Though Ves had not even come close to figuring out Finlay's new identity, he gained a good impression of the noble.
At the very least, Finlay genuinely required the services of a Journeyman. Though the nature of his commission was extremely problematic, as long as the Circle of Mota acted as guarantors for their deal, Ves objected less and less to the idea of accepting it. Seeing how fair the Circle of Mota operated did wonders in reducing his paranoia of being 'silenced' at the end of his job.
As Ves kept wavering about his decision, the next exotic appeared on the stage.
"Synthra Umbra is a rare, high-grade exotic found in small quantities throughout the Komodo Star Sector. Its special properties are related to interference. When processed into a thin, flexible string, they can be weaved into a cloth or a garment that acts as powerful shielding against external scans and signals."
This instantly caused Ves to take note. While Syntra Umbra did not seem to be spiritually reactive, its sensor-blocking properties sounded extremely interesting!
"Synthra Umbra is perfect for the fashioning of passive sensor-blocking garments. While jammers and other countermeasures against scanning can do the same, they affect a wide area and can interfere in the operation of numerous other devices in the vicinity. An article of clothing weaved with Synthra Umbra is considerably less intrusive and can be worn in nearly any setting without attracting undue attention. Best of all, it is effective even when weaved in a thin cloth!"
Must buy! To someone like Ves, this exotic was a must buy!
Chapter 1470
Ves quickly became enthralled by the possible uses of Synthra Umbra.
This high-grade exotic, when processed and weaved into cloth, could be fashioned into thin and flexible articles of clothing.
Clothes made from Synthra Umbra were light, flexible and most importantly did not emit any disturbances.
In other words, Synthra Umbra cloth possessed an unobtrusive presence, and this was key.
Other materials were capable of dampening and blocking scans and signals. The problem was that most outfits capable of doing so would make someone look like how Ves and Finlay currently.
Not only did they don a solid hardsuit, they also garbed themselves with thick robes in order to add another layer of scanning protection.
Could Ves spend his entire life wearing shadow attire? No! Not only would he encounter numerous social obstacles, he'd also be isolating himself from his closest friends and family.
Humans were social creatures. Despite his paranoia, Ves did not think he was capable of living out the rest of his life wearing fully-enclosed hardsuits and obscuring robes.
Yet the more Ves lived his life wearing regular clothes, the more he felt exposed. Who knew how often people observed him as he lived his daily life. Sensors were everywhere and long-range scanners could pick up a surprising amount of details about his body and his equipment from a lengthy distance.
Ves really hated being stared at. With all of the secrets he hid, he couldn't afford to slip up anything that hinted at something greater.
Of course, Ves also had another reason to covet Synthra Umbra.
He knew that his 'girlfriend' had a very annoying habit of snooping at him through hacked sensors. With her seemingly-omnipotent ability to hack any sensor by exploiting MTA backdoors, his intuition often warned him when he was being actively watched!
Hell, even if Gloriana didn't tune in on a live feed on Ves, she probably recorded all of his daily actions and viewed the highlights later or something!
Knowing that this went on and unable to deter this behavior, his only recourse to prevent Gloriana from watching him was to employ jamming and ECM.
Unfortunately, active countermeasures had the unfortunate effect of disturbing every other device in its area of effect. Not only would it block his comm's connection to the galactic net, but also interfere with the functioning of a ship or space station if he happened to be onboard anything surrounded by technology.
The existence of exotics like Synthra Umbra offered a better solution to protect him from invasive scans.
Though it did not wipe out his presence from sensors, it at least offered very powerful means to block invasive scans.
If Ves made use of Synthra Umbra clothes, he would not only be able to avoid standing out from the crowd, but he could also hide a myriad of gadgets as well as his body conditions from all manner of scanning!
Synthra Umbra was worthy of being called a high-grade exotic. According to the spec sheet projected by the auction hall, just a thin weave was enough to defeat nearly every long-range scanning method that did not surpass a certain power level!
While Synthra Umbra wouldn't be enough to block the MTA's sophisticated scanning methods, there was no problem blocking scans based on tech that was prevalent in third-rate states!
Synthra Umbra was even capable of blocking scans from third-class scanning devices, but only below a certain power level. However, if anyone directed a large, high-powered scanner at him, there was no way that Ves would miss the sensation of being scanned at a ludicrously invasive degree!
It was not knowing when he was being studied that irked him the most. As long as Ves became aware that people attempted to glean private information from him,
The amount of Synthra Umbra brought to auction today consisted of a staggering amount. Ves estimated that the quantity was enough to fashion a cloak that could complement his Pride of Dusk while still leaving enough cloth to tailor a couple of hidden pockets and something even more important.
Underwear!
Though Ves questioned whether it was necessary to make underwear that could block all manner of invasive scanning, it was better to be safe than sorry!
The utility of Synthra Umbra was undeniable. So was its demand.
Though it showed up in various satellites across the Komodo Star Sector and the rest of the galactic rim, the yield only amounted to a few grams to milligrams worth of Synthra Umbra.
That wasn't even enough to weave a glove.
More troubling, as soon as some prospector encountered it, they instantly offered them to one of the many major powers of the Komodo Star Sector. It never showed up in the open market!
In truth, if Ves wanted to obtain thin and unobtrusive clothing that protected his privacy, he had another option available.
He could purchase something from the System Store.
Unfortunately, having studied the offerings from the Store many times, Ves had long given up about buying most of the gadgets and items on offer.
It was too much of a ripoff!
In order to obtain something comparable to Synthra Umbra clothing, he'd have to fork over tens of millions of DP.
DP was too precious to waste on such uses! The primary use of DP to Ves was to upgrade his Skills. The secondary use of DP was to obtain vital tools that enhanced his ability to survive and design better mechs.
While the Store offered a decent but far from complete selection of goods, Ves only considered a small selection of items to be cost-effective in terms of DP spending.
Right now, he already acquired the Vulcaneye, his Privacy Shield, his Stealth Augment and a number of other gadgets from the System. All of them were still in their preliminary forms and still had a long way to go before they reached their potential.
All of that required millions of DP!
With such considerations in mind, rather than spending scarce DP, why not spend his more abundant firthals instead?
Better yet, what if he could get someone else to spend their firthals on his behalf?
All it would take was to accept Finlay's commission.
Once the auctioneer finished hyping up the Synthra Umbra, the bidding commenced.
Ves immediately inputted 50 million firthals into his bidding tool.
"50 million firthals! 70 million firthals. 130 million firthals. 131 million firthals. 135 million firthals. 136 million firthals. 140 million firthals!..."
Unfortunately, other auction goers quickly surpassed his bid! A lot of wealthy guests started to flex their war chests as they kept inputting greater and greater numbers into their bidding tools!
"...212 million firthals. 213 million firthals. 235 million firthals..."
Ves quickly frowned. The sums immediately surpassed his budget, putting the Synthra Umbra immediately out of his reach.
"Finlay." He spoke to the disguised noble. "Synthra Umbra is very useful to me. If you..."
"Say no further." Finlay confidently replied.
"...270 million firthals! 271 million firthals. 272 million firthals..."
The bidding slowed down as the current bids already surpassed the prevailing market price for Synthra Umbra. The only advantage of winning it during the auction was that they could make use of it immediately instead of waiting years to accumulate a usable amount of the substance.
A fair amount of bidders still competed over the Synthra Umbra. In particular, wealthy pirate leaders who prized their privacy just as highly as Ves still competed over the current item on the auction block!
Since pirates lacked the convenient supply channels of well-connected noble houses, this might be one of their only opportunities in years to obtain a generous chunk of Synthra Umbra!
"...320 million firthals. 321 million firthals. 322 million firthals. 325 million firthals..."
Finlay temporary stopped inputting figures into his bidding tool. Instead, he turned his body towards Ves.
"The competition for Synthra Umbra is more intense than I expected. The amount of firthals that I have to invest is considerably significant. While I have a lot of capital on hand, I still have other obligations. Rho-Sigma, if you truly wish to acquire Synthra Umbra, you can wait until my noble house accumulates it slowly, or..."
Ves made a rapid decision in his head.
"Fine. I accept your commision. I am willing to upgrade your Spyre Helixes in exchange for the Synthra Umbra and some other goods that might catch my attention."
"My original offer stands. 1 billion firthals. No more."
Ves didn't know whether that was enough for him to win the bidding for the second spiritually-reactive material. Considering its dimensions and its highly potent properties, he couldn't afford to let it slip from his grasp! Who knew what he would miss out!
"One more item, but no ceiling." Ves pushed. "The service that you demand of me is enough to condemn us all. I don't think you'll be able to find any Journeyman that is willing and capable enough to do what you demand."
"We can still buy an enslaved Journeyman."
"The taboo you want to commit goes against everything mech designers have learned. It will take extremely strong brainwashing to defeat a mech designer's repulsion against turning mechs into prohibited weapon platforms. However, the stronger the brainwashing, the more a mech designer degrades in terms of competence. Mech design is a profession that relies heavily on creativity and imagination."
The less freedom a mech designer enjoyed, the more their creativity and imagination suffered! While they were still able to perform a variety of less design-intensive work such as performing maintenance or repairs, they could forget about designing or modifying mechs in a competent fashion!
Finlay ought to know this as well. The disguised nobleman paused a bit further. All the while, the bidding for Synthra Umbra finally neared its end stages.
"Let us finalize the details after the auction ends." He said, unwilling to commit to an excessive amount of spending without getting a sufficient amount of benefits in return. "If I spend less than 1 billion firthals on your behalf, then I can compensate you with additional rewards to make up the total amount. If I spend more, then I expect additional benefits from you. Is that agreeable?"
Ves silently raised his hand to give a thumbs up.
"Very well." Finlay spoke with satisfaction.
No one knew how much effort he spent on securing the services of a Journeyman for this sensitive task! Finlay would never offer Ves such excessive rewards if he wasn't so urgent!
Nonetheless, even if Ves did not believe he would have to spend a lot of effort to complete the upgrade commission with his current capabilities, that was never the problem.
If Ves really provided Finlay with an upgraded design that enabled him to transform eighty doom crawlers into portable weapons of mass destruction, then he'd be forever tainted by the association!
Ves would have to bear yet another crushing secret in his heart!
Yet... as long as his anonymity was guaranteed, who cared? With his knowledge base and his mech affinity, Ves planned to rush the commission as fast as possible. As long as he completed the job quickly and got away from here as fast as possible, he'd be able to minimize the risk of exposure!
To Ves, the deal was worth it as long as he didn't get caught!
Now that Finlay secured Ves' verbal agreement, he resumed inputting bid after bid.
"...360 million firthals. 361 million firthals. 365 million firthals. Going once. Going twice. Sold to Number 142!"
Finlay won the Synthra Umbra! Shortly afterwards, he transferred the money through the bidding tool, finalizing the transaction!
"I've got it. The Synthra Umbra is mine."
As the auction proceeded with the introduction of another exotic, the air between Ves and Finlay changed. Now that they reached a tentative agreement, they were no longer strangers.
However, they didn't move any closer either. Their disguises and their insistence on keeping their identities a secret forestalled any attempts at befriending each other.
An awkward silence prevailed.
Chapter 1471
More goods appeared at the auction. With hundreds of different high-value items made available, pretty much everyone who attended the auction gained an opportunity to compete.
Many people who brought as much wealth as Ves already spent their money on goods such as exotics, medicines, exobeasts, equipment and other things of value.
In addition, those who lacked enough firthals to win the bids also had another opportunity to gain what they desired.
About one in ten items put up for auction demanded alternate payment.
"...35 kilograms of neixe metal in exchange for the services of a Senior Mech Designer. Please input your strengths and the amount of time and effort you are willing to spend in your bidding tools. The owner of the neixe metal will make a selection based on the attractiveness of your offer..."
"...This ancient alien relic can only be exchanged for other alien relics. Please upload the files of the relics you are willing to exchange to the bidding tool to make your bids..."
"...This unique and powerful spaceborn rifleman mech is a powerful complement to any space-roving outfit.
A lot of good stuff appeared on stage, giving Ves a good impression of the kind of goods and services that appealed to the upper echelons of both the Sentinel Kingdom and the Nyxian Gap.
Trade was thriving between the two diametrically-opposed sides! Even as they fought and competed against each other in the open, in the background the two groups amiably traded and even partnered up with each other!
To describe the hidden relations between the Sentinel nobles and the Nyxian pirate leaders as a conspiracy was a bit too excessive.
However, it was undeniable that both sides secretly supported each other in an intermittent fashion. Not enough to make them allies, but just enough for certain conflicts of interests to arrive.
The deal that Ves tentatively struck with Finlay pertained to just such a hidden relationship. An unnamed pirate alliance screwed over some unnamed noble houses, possibly due to the direction it received from yet another noble house.
All of this sounded very messy to Ves. In fact, if Finlay's superiors really went through with their supposed plan to deploy nuclear doom crawlers onto a heavily-defended pirate fortification, then the region would quickly become even less stable!
The use of so many taboo weapons was such a shocking occurrence that the status quo that both sides had settled upon would never be able to last!
An important consideration that weighed on Ves was how the changes that followed affected his father and his mother.
More chaos could destabilize their gains. The wars and conflicts that would ensue after inciting the Nyxian Gap into a frenzy would definitely make their current positions in the Nyxian Gap less secure.
On the other hand, the onset of chaos also meant that the established pirate alliances and other powers lost stability!
Since his mother hinted that his father and her had managed to get themselves established in the Nyxian Gap, the rising conflicts would instead give them an opportunity to fight for greater power!
Though Ves did not expect too much from his father, his mother was entirely different. With her many abilities, she was capable of giving his father some crucial advantages. With her intangible body and ability to travel anywhere, she was the perfect scout, assassin and saboteur. Ordinary opponents stood no chance against their combined might!
In any case, whatever Finlay and his fellow nobles were up to couldn't be stopped. At most, they would suffer a delay as they continued to seek for a Journeyman who was willing to blacken their hearts and morals to facilitate the emergence of death machines.
Ves smirked underneath his helmet. Ves did not have that much confidence in Finlay's ability to secure the services of a Journeyman Mech Designer willing to cross the lines set by the MTA.
Most orthodox mech designers fully integrated the MTA's values and principles into their core being!
If they believed in them so strongly that their design seeds or design philosophies took them in, then persuading them to break these rules was impossible no matter how much money they received!
It wasn't worth it for a mech designer to break their design philosophies and the crystallization of everything they worked towards for a single commission!
Perhaps the only group of mech designers who might be willing to accept this commission were bonafide pirate designers.
Mech designers who defected from civilized space didn't cut it. The pirate designers had to be born and raised outside of civilized space. However, well-educated professionals were very hard to come by, and those who advanced to Journeyman must be exceedingly rare!
How hard would it be for Finlay to get into contact with native pirate designer like Mayra, who previously mentored Ketis?
Very hard!
As for Ves? While he might have started off as an orthodox mech designer that neatly fit into the mold of the MTA, the System and his many experiences with the Vandals during his formative, Apprentice period already turned him crooked.
Ves remembered that he struggled heavily at the thought of designing and fabricating a single gamma laser rifle.
As for now? It was no big deal to him! In fact, whenever he looked back on that incident, he could only laugh at how pathetic he overreacted to the System's first Upgrade Mission!
To Ves, performing this simple task in exchange of upgrading his Physics Main Skill to Senior-level was a huge bargain!
Ves felt better about himself. His willingness and capability to do something that no other available mech designer would do provided him with a lot of leverage.
In fact, this could be leveraged over and over again! As long as he became better, the value he could provide to clients like Finlay's superiors grew more formidable!
However, any thoughts about initiating further deals and partnerships sent a warning through his head.
A miniature Calabast appeared in his mind and sent him a disapproving look while placing her hands on her hips.
"You stupid kid! Who do you think you are? You're a mech designer! Leave this kind of business to the real professionals!"
Ves shook his head underneath his helmet, quickly shaking off the illusion conjured by his overactive imagination.
Though he felt a bit petulant about being rebuked by his own imagination, the mini-Calabast had a point. Ves really shouldn't be conducting shady deals like this on a regular basis.
Someone like Calabast who was much more adept at interacting with dangerous partners ought to be able to do a lot better!
The separation between Ves and Calabast troubled him more and more. Though the separation helped prevent anyone from figuring out the depth of their partnership, it also hindered him from taking ready advantage of her assistance.
This had to change once he returned home. Ves intended to have a very lengthy talk with Calabast about their future cooperation. His tour already illuminated him how vital it was for him to have a shadow force and a network of agents and informants at his disposal.
The auction already ran for several hours. As Ves carefully studied each item brought to the stage, he also began to anticipate the appearance of the second spiritually-reactive object.
However, other items kept appearing first. Ves began to suspect that his worst fears might be coming true. The object he wanted to acquire must be part of the last batch of goods which the auction hall reserved at the very end of the auction session!
"The finale of our auction is drawing to a close." The old auctioneer stated with a lot more excitement than before! "As always, our last ten items are our most prized by our appraisers! Let us begin with the introduction of Item #1255, which we call the Ancient Sarcophagus!"
Ves felt a strong spiritual disturbance as a large, red object the size of a coffin emerged onto the stage!
Everyone immediately studied the strange object. Consisting of red crystals, the coffin-shaped object appeared both natural and artificial. In addition to that, the crystal was partially transparent, giving observers a vague glimpse of a gray presence underneath!
The wear and tear on the crystal surface gave the Ancient Sarcophagus the impression that it endured over several eons.
Now that the Ancient Sarcophagus was in sight, Ves conclusively confirmed that it was the second spiritually-reactive object he sensed! He didn't even need to activate his spiritual senses to distinguish the strange sensation he came under as he observed the red crystal object!
The auctioneer began to describe the background of Item #1255.
"The Nyxian Gap is a place full of asteroids, but that does not mean that we have never encountered the remnants of intelligent life in this region. Ancient ruins, many of them buried inside sunless moons and planets, occasionally get discovered. This Ancient Sarcophagus is but one of the many prizes retrieved from a newly-unearthed ruin. The treasure hunters sacrificed much to worm their way into the ruins and smuggle out the Ancient Sarcophagus. Now, it is here before you, having incurred only a minimal amount of damage during its retrieval."
Despite the rough and worn appearance of the Ancient Sarcophagus, it still exuded a strong and undeniable alien charm! Even if it did not actively radiate a spiritual aura, the indescribable pressure it emanated nonetheless made the other guests feel different in its presence!
It was much like how the Devil Tiger exuded a subtle but hard-to-ignore presence after Ves obscured its overpowering aura with a spiritual barrier!
A couple of ideas about the Ancient Sarcophagus began to emerge in his mind. What did the solid red crystal coffin contain?
"We have studied this unique relic of alien origin extensively and have confirmed the presence of an alien body locked inside. The body is intact, though we have not been able to glean any further methods due to the red crystal in the way. What we can tell is that the alien inside is a humanoid creature and is likely part of the race that built and occupied the ruins!"
A number of guests lost interest. The Ancient Sarcophagus may look impressive, but it did not appear to be useful in a direct fashion. A powerful mech or a resilient suit of armor would have been a lot more useful in improving someone's battle capabilities.
Its main use seemed to be ornamental, which meant that only the collectors and those who wanted to acquire more prestige remained interested. This was good news to Ves because it cut down the competition drastically.
However, competing against collectors wasn't always a good thing. Ves knew their type well. Some were very fanatic about acquiring unique and interesting pieces to their collections.
They were sometimes willing to spend an insane amount of money to indulge in their obsession!
Ves raised his hand. "I want this."
"You sure?" Finlay couldn't hide the surprise and skepticism in his distorted tone. "I wouldn't think a mech designer like you would be interested. Just look at it! It's an ancient coffin!"
"Regardless, I have made my choice. Please secure the Ancient Sarcophagus. I am willing to begin working on your commission as soon as possible."
This caused Finlay to pause for a time. He was probably considering the difficulty of acquiring the Ancient Sarcophagus. Since it was left as one of the last ten items put up for auction, the amount of firthals required to outbid the other auction goers would definitely be considerable!
Nonetheless, Ves had been right about the amount of leverage he possessed. Despite Finlay's obvious reluctance to compete over the Ancient Sarcophagus, he gave a decisive answer.
"I'll do what you want. I hope you won't renege on your promises."
"I won't. You can trust me. I never break a promise."
In the meantime, the auctioneer finished describing the embellish background of the Ancient Sarcophagus.
As soon as the round of bidding opened up, Finlay immediately inputted an astonishing sum in his bidding tool!
"750 million firthals!"
Chapter 1472
"750 million firthals!" The auctioneer announced the astonishingly high starting bid! "Number 142 has bid 750 million firthals for the Ancient Sarcophagus!"
The huge sum of money instantly caused the audience to fall silent. They expected the round of bidding to rise gradually starting from 10 million firthals. They never imagined a rich tycoon laying down 750 million firthals right from the start!
The shock achieved the intended effect. Finlay's startlingly high opening bid caused everyone who were pumping themselves up to compete over the Ancient Sarcophagus to be pulled out of their competitive moods.
A lot of people started to doubt whether they wanted to compete against someone who started at such a high bid. Number 142 indirectly showed his willingness to go to an extreme extent to win the Ancient Sarcophagus.
Perhaps some people might have the impulse to screw with Number 142 by placing more bids in order to drive up the price, but there was a huge danger there. What if Number 142 was playing his own game and suddenly dropped out of the bidding war?
Spending 750 million firthals to win a mostly-ornamental relic was not worth it to many people! A lot of collectors started having second thoughts as well!
Everything would have been a lot more transparent if they knew who was behind Number 142. Since everything took place anonymously, no one could glean much information from the person behind this code name.
Unfortunately, not everyone was deterred. The auctioneer quickly lit up as he received another bid!
"760 million firthals."
Just a 10 million firthal increase over Finlay's bid did not indicate a lot of decisiveness. Though Finlay must be glowering and gritting his teeth underneath his shadow attire, he did not give up. Not when a major operation was at stake!
"800 million firthals!"
Silence ensued as Finlay's second bid did not elicit a reaction.
What was the worth of the Ancient Sarcophagus? Everyone would probably quote a different figure.
Despite the exceptional origin of Item #1255, to pay more than 800 million firthals for what was essentially a vanity piece sounded crazy!
Most pirates and criminals gave up right away. The amount of money at stake was more than enough to raise six or more fully-equipped mech companies with ships and all!
To pirate leaders and pirate commanders who purely relied on fighting strength to secure their grip on power, it wasn't worth it for them to splurge so much to obtain a fancy relic that only provided indirect benefits.
Frankly, most pirates didn't have much good taste. The effect of showing off the Ancient Sarcophagus to a bunch of boorish, uncultured pirate commanders who were only good at terrorizing people was probably limited.
Therefore, Ves figured that the few active bidders competing over the Ancient Sarcophagus must certainly be nobles. Even then, these privileged snobs had to take several concerns into account.
First, the money they spent might not solely belong to themselves. Perhaps they had the right to draw on some of the accounts of their noble houses, but even then not even the heads of the houses could drain their entire bank accounts for a whimsical purchase!
One of the most important limitations of the auctions organized by the Circle of Mota was that nobody retained an active connection to the galactic net. They couldn't call up the elders of their houses in order to convince the estates from freeing up more money to assist in their bidding.
In addition, the only valid currency in the auction was the firthal. Every guest already converted a fixed amount of money into this native Nyxian denomination beforehand. It was not doable for them to supplement their war chests during the auction. No one was allowed to leave. The most they could do was step out of the auction hall for a bathroom break.
All of these factors complicated the lives of the noble collectors who still desired the Ancient Sarcophagus.
"...832 million firthals. 833 million firthals. 834 million firthals..."
Though the bids kept pouring in, a lot of pauses occurred in between.
Ves kept his eyes laser-focused on the Ancient Sarcophagus. The more he studied it, the more he became convinced he could derive major benefits from it. Unlike the collectors who merely wanted Item #1255 for its collector's value, Ves deeply desired it for the spiritual secrets it contained!
Something powerful dwelled inside the coffin, and Ves wasn't talking about the frozen alien body.
"850 million firthals."
A longer silence ensued as no further bids emerged for a while. The handful of competitors who drove up the prize constantly wavered in their determination.
While there were plenty of bidders in the background who arrived with an abundant amount of firthals, the Ancient Sarcophagus was just the first of the final ten items. Nine more items followed afterwards, each of which might be of even greater value!
In fact, many auctions frequently put the most valuable prize at last! The auctions organized by the Circle of Mota never deviated from this winning formula, so the most affluent guests with the most amount of firthals still held back in order to remain in contention for the later prizes.
"Going once..."
Ves held his breath, and so did Finlay. Neither of them wanted a joker to emerge and spoil this bid. The firthals that Finlay had bid already amounted to around 20 billion bright credits!
"Going twice..."
The tension in the air continued to grow as the end of the bidding round neared.
"Item #1255 is a unique relic from the Nyxian Gap that potentially contains many clues about the early history of this region. Are you willing to let its secrets go? This might be the only chance for you to be the first to decipher the aliens that used to rule this contention region..."
The auctioneer practically taunted the silent crowd to make a bid with the way he stretched out his words. Ves really wanted to beat the old man up for leaving open such a huge window for a new bid!
Still, no new bids arrived. With this much money at stake, even the wealthy Sentinel nobles didn't feel inclined to joke around.
Eventually, the auctioneer realized that his act was only getting more and more embarrassing. He rose the gavel in his hand and struck the air!
"Sold! Number 142 has won Item #1255!"
The Ancient Sarcophagus sunk beneath the podium now that it had found an owner. Ves watched Finlay carefully as the noble reluctantly placed a data chip into his bidding tool and confirmed the transfer of 850 million firthals.
A small chirp sounded as the Circle of Mota successfully transferred the money. The Ancient Sarcophagus fully belonged to Finlay now.
Once he retrieved the data chip and stowed it away, the noble decisively turned to Ves.
"We have spent 365 million firthals on the sample of Synthra Umbra. Together with what we have just paid for the Ancient Sarcophagus, we have committed 1.215 billion firthals to obtain what you want."
Ves silently cursed as he converted the sum in his head. That was around 30 billion bright credits in total! Just two items drove him to desperation!
If Ves was a bit more clear-minded, then he might not have been so willing to spend so much money on two objects that were definitely useful but not essential. Perhaps the atmosphere of the auction hall had got to him somehow!
Fortunately, Ves hadn't actually spent his own money to procure the two pricey items. The most he spent was 56.2 million firthals out of his own pocket to secure Item #613.
On one hand, it felt good to him that he'd been able to get another sucker to spend an extravagant amount of firthals on his behalf!
On the other hand, the debt he owed was very considerable! Not only was Ves on the hook to complete a very problematic commission, he still owed 215 million firthals afterwards!
Ves guessed that Finlay already started to form some suggestions on how he could make up the 215 million firthals.
The problem was that Ves really didn't want to owe any more favors to Finlay. The longer he lingered here, the greater the chance he might potentially be caught up in trouble. The sooner he left, the sooner he ended his exposure to catastrophic risks.
For this reason, Ves spoke up before Finlay could make a suggestion.
"I will make up the 215 million firthal shortfall as fast as possible. I don't have quite enough to transfer the sum immediately, but I'll be able to do so once I visit one of the Circle's exchange offices."
There were ways for Ves to anonymously convert his money to firthals through the use of many intermediaries. That was how he obtained his initial pot of money.
The only troublesome aspect was that he'd have to transfer billions of credits at once. Hiding such a huge transfer was going to be another hassle and would take some time to complete.
"..Acceptable." Finlay eventually said. Perhaps he might have harbored some other ideas, but Ves had already indicated that he wasn't receptive to them. "Since we have come this far, we'll approach the Circle of Mota right away to sign a contract under their auspices. Is that alright?"
"The contract only has force within the Circle of Mota, right?"
"Yes. It will only stay in effect as long as you are still here. Once you finish our commission and leave with your prizes, we can consider our dealings over. That is unless you want to leave the door open for other deals..."
Ves knew what Finlay wanted. Once Ves proved his chops as a competent Journeyman Mech Designer who didn't let his morals get in the way of his interests, his value became evident.
Not many Journeyman were willing to taint themselves! Each of them were already successful mech designers with bright futures ahead of them! As long as they kept their noses clean, they would enjoy stable, prosperous lives, all without risking censure from the MTA!
This was a road that Ves actually considered as well. Yet the recent visit from his mother caused him to waver.
His mother prohibited him from getting involved. His parents did their best to shield him from the threats that hounded them. Since Ves was still too weak to make a difference, they didn't want him to get caught in their storm!
While he understood the concerns of his parents, Ves couldn't handle the thought of leaving his parents out to try while trying his best to live a comfy life. He did not care about many people, but his father definitely occupied the top of his modest list!
As for his mother, Ves hadn't decided whether she belonged on the same list.
Regardless, if Ves wanted to prove his parents wrong and offer some assistance despite his lack of strength, then forging ties with the Nyxian Gap was key.
However, he couldn't do so directly. He was a foreigner with no foundation in the region. Sentinels and Nyxians were both strangers to him. He would also be leaving the region soon and return to the far-away Bright Republic.
Under these circumstances, Ves considered another way of forging ties with the Nyxian Gap.
He brought up his proposal directly to his temporary business partner.
"Finlay... are you open to establishing an ongoing relationship between the two of us?"
"You mean.. a partnership?"
"Yes."
"It is still premature to suggest a longer-term association between us when you have not even proven yourself yet. Being a Journeyman is not enough to earn our confidence."
"If you demand me to reveal my identity to you, then forget about it. I won't accept such terms."
"That will make your proposal more difficult for us to stomach." Finlay jerked his arms. "Let us wait until you have completed the commission. In the meantime, I will bring your proposal to the higher ups and wait for their response. I can't make any promises, however."
"Understandable. It is only a start."
Perhaps Ves was being reckless by attempting to forge new ties without Calabast's involvement, but he figured he should strike while the iron was hot!
Chapter 1473
Ves barely paid attention to the remainder of the auction. He only idly observed the remaining objects that went up for auction, but despite their value, none of them tickled his interest.
He got what he wanted.
His primary objectives, Item #613 and Item #1255, fell under his possession or would soon be after he finished a quick commission.
He also bagged a valuable sample of Synthra Umbra, which he could utilize in many helpful ways.
Visiting the Circle of Mota had been more than worth it. The pathetic Peacekeeper branch on Cinach XII didn't offer nearly as much useful goods to him. Ves never witnessed such a huge disparity between legal and illegal markets.
Certainly, Ves recognized the dangers of associating with the Circle of Mota. Not only did he risk getting caught or worse, he also contributed to the strengthening of pirates.
To that, Ves had only one answer.
He didn't care.
Even if all of the firthals he spent or Finlay spent on his behalf went on to fund the deplorable activities of Nyxian scum, Ves had more important concerns to worry about. In his quest to progress at fast as possible, he placed his own needs first and any other concerns second.
The auction items he obtained as well as the four additional P-stones he obtained at the regular marketplace expanded his options enormously!
What he witnessed today opened his eyes. While the Nyxian Gap was still as dangerous as ever, the minerals and exotics excavated from this strange region of space boggled his mind.
Perhaps the most important observation he made was that the Nyxian Gap appeared to be a definite source of spiritually-reactive materials!
How many P-stones had been circulating in the Circle of Mota's marketplaces all these years? How many of them had gone to waste or pushed in a forgotten corner because no one recognized their true worth?
Just imagining how many P-stones he missed out frustrated him to no end!
Hopefully, Ves could remedy this situation in time, either through his own efforts or with the help of Calabast once he returned home.
For now, he still had a commission to complete. As soon as the auction concluded with a furious bidding round for a vial of life-prolonging serum of all things, an auction hall representative personally visited their private box in order to arrange the handover of the goods they won.
"As usual, we are in the process of shipping your items to your designated warehouse, in accordance with your prior arrangements, Number 142." The representative smiled. "As one of our honored VIPs, we've prioritized your shipment, so the goods will immediately be available to you once you step outside our auction hall."
After a bit of chatting, the auction hall worker turned to Ves.
"As for you, Number 6969, since Item #613 is not that large, we can complete the handover now if you wish."
"Please."
"Very well."
The man gestured with his arm, causing a floating box that hovered behind him to float over to Ves. After he keyed himself into the floating box's systems, he briefly opened it to confirm he bid on the right object.
A rocky, rose-gold, grapefruit-shaped object rested inside. Ves carefully extended his gloved fingers towards the exotic, but refrained from making contact.
The close proximity was enough for him to confirm that he got the genuine article and not some fake that the Circle of Mota secretly swapped out. In fact, now that he got close enough to sense Item #613 more thoroughly, he picked up strange new reactions that deviated from that of P-stones and F-stones.
He discovered a third category of spiritually-reactive exotics!
Excited beyond wild, he nevertheless expressed little of his glee due to his dampened spiritual mask. Hesitant to give away any clues, Ves resisted the urge to study Item #613 further and quickly closed the box.
"I am satisfied."
"Great. Each of you may exit your private box at your leisure. We offer several different exits to our honored guests."
"Let's go." Finlay said and stood up, his two bodyguards stepping forward as well. "There is a Circle office nearby where we can draw up a contract under their auspices."
Ves walked alongside Finlay while Nitaa followed slightly behind. By now, it was clear that she served as his bodyguard, so she did not make any pretenses of being anything more.
Because Finlay enjoyed a VIP identity, the group managed to avoid the dense crowd of auction goers exiting through the main entrance. They stepped outside a side entrance and hovered down to the surface by riding a platform.
After that, the group moved to a large prefab structure frequented by a fair amount of visitors. Since the Circle of Mota brought together people from many different backgrounds, a lot of dealmaking took place.
Since the laws of the Sentinel Kingdom didn't reach the Circle of Mota, the mysterious organization stepped in to fill the void. With their reach, influence and stellar reputation for neutrality, even the most distrustful pirates approved of them. The Circle served as a rare bastion of trust and fairness in the trade between Sentinel citizens and Nyxian pirates.
Of course, Ves still maintained his skepticism. He found it extremely unlikely that the Circle had never bent its rules. Still, the people visiting the contract office didn't appear to harbor any misgivings about making use of the Circle as a third-party witness, mediator and enforcer for their illicit deals.
That was a good sign.
Once Finlay relayed his request, a notary working for the Circle quickly ushered them into his office.
If not for the drab, prefab interior, Ves would have imagined that he was about to sign a legal business contract. Hardly anything about the office screamed the fact that a lot of lurid deals had been signed here!
"I understand." The notary, who wore disturbingly plain business attire, quickly summoned up a projection and quickly loaded in a model contract. "The short-term deal that you've described is very convenient so long as it doesn't extend past the time our marketplace is shuttered. Let us set the terms."
The model contract soon described the terms that Ves and Finlay agreed upon. Though the contract only mentioned them by their pseudonyms, as long as both remained at the marketplace, both of them still had to abide by the terms.
"...in summary, the 'Rho-Sigma' agrees to modify the Spyre Helix design in the possession of 'Finlay' according to the list of requirements he has set. A representative of the 'Night Zephyrs' will come and judge whether the modified design meets their approval. In case of any issues or disagreements, any parties involved can request one of our arbitrators to step in and mediate the dispute. Is that correct?"
Both Ves and Finlay assented to the terms. Neither Ves, Finlay or the representative of the dark mercenaries held an overwhelming amount of sway.
Ves had been careful to insist on the latter. What if the envoy from the Night Zephyrs turned out to be a bastard who expected a Journeyman to upgrade the Spyre Helix design's basic performance parameters by twenty percent or something?
That was way too difficult and took far too much time for him to accomplish! Ves refused to leave himself open to such a sneaky trap.
Instead, Ves and Finlay agreed to a more generous set of requirements. Ves did not have to strictly upgrade the Spyre Helix design.
Sidegrade was the more appropriate word.
As long as Ves managed to develop a variant of the doom crawler that seamlessly incorporated the three taboo weapon systems without any significant performance drops, the dark mercenaries had no choice but to accept!
Of course, Ves was still expected to make some specific improvements and optimizations. While Finlay didn't reveal where his superiors intended to deploy the Spyre Helixes, he did reveal some basic environmental parameters.
"The site of the pirate fortification we intend to attack is placed on a rogue planet in the Nyxian Gap." Finlay carefully spoke as he transferred a series of virtual documents to Ves. "The planet isn't very internally active, so its surface temperature is very cold. There is no atmosphere or any gasses to speak of on the surface, but radiation exposure is a non-issue. I'm told the gravity is 0.53 g, so take that into account as well."
From what Ves gathered, keeping the Spyre Helix protected against the vacuum and resisting the cold that likely approached absolute zero would be his main challenges.
On the other hand, the level of gravity the modified Spyre Helixes would be subjected to was a very welcome point in his favor. Pretty much every mech was designed to operate under standard gravity conditions.
At 0.53 g, the mechs effectively weighed only half as much, which meant that they expended far less energy to move, among other benefits!
Of course, since the Spyre Helix wasn't optimized to operate under such generous gravity conditions, Ves would have to make a lot of tweaks to maximize the gains.
"Do you wish the Spyre Helix design to be optimized to operate at 0.53 g at the expense of its performance in standard gravity?" Ves asked Finlay as they stepped out of the office. "I can make the doom crawlers considerably faster and more agile if they are freed from the constraints of maintaining their performance under different gravity conditions."
"..Please do not degrade the Spyre Helix's performance under standard gravity. Try your best to make the doom crawlers operate well in both environments."
Ves pointedly turned towards Finlay, though the effect was partially lost due to their shadow attire.
"You told me that the Spyre Helixes will be broken down and recycled after they have been deployed for their intended use. I don't need to remind you of the dangers of hanging on to mechs that openly make use of taboo weapon systems."
A tense moment passed between the two before Finlay finally responded.
"I merely conveyed some of my understanding of the situation to you. Whether my superiors have any other intentions, I don't know. Just in case, I want the modified Spyre Helixes to remain adaptable in case our plans have changed."
"That is not a good idea." Ves gravely responded. "So long as you have those mechs laying around, the temptation to use them will always exist."
What if Finlay's faction decided to nuke a site in civilized space one day? What if they decided to rain down nuclear fury on a populated city deep within the Sentinel Kingdom?
Nuking pirates was one thing, but employing weapons of mass destruction against humans in civilized space was another thing! The Big Two would never stay idle if that happened! Enforcing the prohibition against taboo weapons was the one rule that they still enforced to a very active degree!
Once the MTA got involved and managed to capture one of the modified Spyre Helixes, then there was a possibility that they might be able to tie its design back to Ves!
Ves glowered under his helmet. If he wanted to minimize his exposure, then he needed to expend a lot of effort in making sure that his work carried none of his fingerprints.
To Ves, that was hard, but still doable.
He wasn't pleased, though. Finlay engaged in deliberate misdirection by withholding an important requirement until after they signed the contract.
Ves decided not to kick up a fuss. Even though that would be playing along with Finlay's intention, he didn't want to complicate this already problematic business deal any further.
"I need a workshop and physical access to a Spyre Helix, Finlay."
"We have already made the arrangements. While we cannot allow you to access all eighty doom crawlers since they are packed in containers, our men will bring one of them over to the workshop that we have reserved so you can study it under our supervision."
"I work better if I am not disturbed."
"I'm sorry, Rho-Sigma, but we insist."
Great.
Chapter 1474
The workshop erected by the Circle of Mota to accommodate visiting mech designers offered decent facilities. Though all of the machinery and equipment looked fairly old and heavily-used, Ves did not intend to make use of them anyway.
The commission only called for him to design a variant of the Spyre Helix. Though Ves could go the extra mile and apply his modifications to the physical copy of the mech that had been moved to the workshop, he did not stand to gain anything extra.
Frankly, Ves wasn't very eager to turn the Spyre Helix into the deadliest platform for weapons of mass destruction. Though he did not object to the commission to the point of refusing it outright, he clearly lacked passion for the project.
Fortunately, developing a variant was far easier than designing a completely new mech. Since Ves had to work along existing design choices, his work demanded far more out of his technical capabilities than his creative vision.
It was fine for him to treat the commission as a regular job and try to finish it in a decent fashion. It wasn't as if he would ever commercialize his variant and put it on the market.
If that was the case, Ves had to put far more effort into optimizing and strengthening his variant!
Ten minutes after inspecting the workshop, Ves returned to Finlay. "The workshop is in order. I can begin my design work immediately."
"Good." Finlay jerked his robed and suited body. "I'll be taking off, then. A number of our men will remain in place to guard this facility and supervise your work. Please do not leave the workshop before the job is done or if the Circle of Mota instructs you otherwise."
"I know. That's what I've signed up for. You can expect to receive your revised design very soon. Just make sure you have my rewards ready for transfer."
After a brief chat, Finlay finally left with his bodyguards. Ves turned to Nitaa and made a silent gesture.
"I will keep an eye on your watchers." She spoke and remained close but unobtrusive.
Ves had already gotten used to being stared at by Nitaa all the time. At least he was reasonably sure that she was completely on his side.
The same could not be said for the faceless goons garbed in full-body armor. Half-a-dozen of them silently patrolled the interior and exterior of the loaned mech workshop.
It was a given that Ves disliked their presence. He never really enjoyed performing his work with an audience. He only really got into his groove when he was by himself or in the presence of like-minded mech designers such as Ketis.
As for Finlay's guards? Ves regarded each of them with a healthy amount of wariness. Considering the highly controversial nature of his commission, he could never discount the possibility that Finlay would want to silence him afterwards.
Ostensibly, the Circle of Mota ought to prevent such instances, but who knew if they were as impeccably neutral as they claimed? Ves was a complete nobody to the Circle while Finlay happened to be a VIP!
Still, the chance that the Circle of Mota would run afoul of its own rules and traditions was small. It wasn't worth it for them to risk tarnishing their reputation in order to please a single faction.
Ves put his paranoid worries out of his mind and began to focus on the task at hand. Finlay's organization had been very efficient in moving a physical copy of the Spyre Helix into the workshop.
"Before I begin, let me study the mech up close."
Ves approached the impressive doom crawler. Though dormant and locked in place by restraints, the Spyre Helix nonetheless evoked a primordial sense of doom and terror in his heart.
The mech looked formidable.
"What a formidable machine. I can feel the intention of its designer from its very contours."
Sharp. Intimidating. Unstoppable.
Whoever designed the Spyre Helix understood the basic essence of the doom crawler mech type. The design emphasized those characteristics as much as possible without compromising too much in other areas.
Due to his heightened mech affinity, Ves was capable of inferring a lot more clues out of the physical copy than before.
He captured many nuances about the doom crawler, enough to paint a vague picture of the original mech designer's distinctive design style.
The mech designer probably started off as an orthodox Journeyman Mech Designer, but went pirate some time ago. Despite going pirate, the Journeyman did not lose much of the thoroughness and meticulousness demanded of their profession.
In fact, the Journeyman successfully incorporated a lot of fundamental design traits tailored to a different clientele.
As Ves climbed up to the doom crawler and entered the cockpit to boot up its operating system, he discovered the extent the original mech designer had gone to simplify the Spyre Helix's piloting requirements.
The extent of automation employed by the Spyre Helix frankly alarmed Ves! A disturbing amount of control had been taken out of the hands of the mech pilots!
If the AIs of the Spyre Helixes were ever tampered with, then most of its nuclear arsenal could easily be unleashed in the wrong direction!
He sighed. "This isn't my problem."
A lot of things could go wrong by placing so much control over the doom crawler's destructive weapon systems in the hands of exploitable AIs. Yet Ves did not have the leverage to impose any changes in its specifications.
For a moment, Ves considered sneaking some tampered code into the programming of the mechs themselves. However, he reconsidered shortly afterwards.
Any decent Apprentice Mech Designer proficient in mech programming would easily be able to identify any detrimental elements in the updated software packages.
Ves did not wish to risk his own safety or endanger his deal with Finlay over a misguided attempt at appeasing his morality.
As long as the modified Spyre Helixes didn't blow anything up that belonged to him, its owners were free to use them as they wished!
"Alright. I'm done here."
Ves and Nitaa exited the heavy mech's roomy cockpit and approached an open design terminal. There, Ves activated its design suite and loaded in the Spyre Helix design. He also imported the component design files of the nuclear cannons, gamma laser weapon mounts and nuclear-capable missile launchers.
He stared deeply at the different schematics projected side-by-side.
Compared to the Spyre Helix's standard armaments, the replacement weapon systems took up considerably more space.
If the modifications only amounted to swapping out one weapon system with another weapon system with nearly-identical parameters, then Finlay wouldn't have been so desperate to seek out a Journeyman!
"The base model of the Spyre Helix doesn't have the capacity to accommodate all of the replacement weapon systems." He whispered. "Since that is the case, I will have to make some room instead."
He began to work. He first ripped out the old weapon systems, leaving gaping holes in the doom crawler's altered design. Then he tried and failed to fit the new weapon systems in place of the old ones.
Though the attempts failed straight away, the exercise still assisted him in visualizing the amount of room he had to free up from the doom crawler.
"This is going to be a difficult challenge." He muttered.
One of the requirements he had to abide by was that the overall performance of his variant could not be any less than that of the base model.
Certainly, it was fine if the mech design was a little bit less resilient, as long as Ves compensated the deficiency in another way, such as improving its speed.
The key here was that Ves could not allow his variant's performance index to fall!
The mech performance index was a simplified indicator that summed up a mech or mech design's overall performance. The MTA developed a very complex formula that attempted to take every important variable into account and come up with a single index number that signified how 'good' a mech performed.
The mech industry hated performance indexes. To sum up and condense all of the complexities of a mech design into a single number meant that lots of the strengths, nuances and uniqueness of a mech design would be lost!
However, laymen such as Finlay weren't able to determine whether a mech design was good or not by reading out an entire spec sheet. Their inability to interpret all of the technical parameters meant that they either had to listen to the advice of a knowledgeable insider or depend on crutches like performance indexes to evaluate a mech design.
The base of the mech performance index started at 100. The MTA matched this number to the very first standard mech design in existence at the very start of the Age of Mechs.
That was a long time ago!
With over four-hundred years of rapid progress in the field of mech design, most mechs far surpassed the performance of those ancient machines. The performance index of even the cheapest third-class frontline mechs already reached the thousands!
Of course, a doom crawler like the Sypre Helix possessed a performance index that reached high in the tens of thousands.
Ves wasn't allowed to let that index drop by 1 for his variant! Finlay insisted that a Journeyman like him ought to be capable of implementing the changes without degrading the doom crawlers!
"Well, he's right." He muttered. "Apprentices probably won't be able to keep the mech performance index at the same level."
As for Ves? He could already tell it would only pose a moderate challenge to him! The reason why a challenge existed at all was that Ves was forced to discount the vast increase in destructive power to boost his variant's performance index.
It would have been too easy to game the performance index if that was the case. Finlay wasn't that stupid to discount this loophole, unfortunately.
"Well, no matter."
Ves began to work immediately. Since he did not have enough space, he first began to tinker around the weaponless version of the Spyre Helix. He spotted many ways to make more room and to accommodate the increased heat and energy draw of the new weapon components.
"I can't forget to strengthen the radiation shielding as well."
In addition to these basic changes, he also had to optimize the mech's ability to operate on the 0.53 g environment that Finlay had mentioned. To do that, Ves scanned the entire design and marked many areas which he could alter in order to optimize the Spyre Helix to operate on a small and sunless rogue planet.
All in all, by the time Ves finished planning his upcoming work, almost every aspect about the base model needed to be changed.
Most of the changes were fairly subtle. Ves tried to keep the changes as easy as possible to apply to existing mechs because that was part of the commission requirement. He could not go too far in his proposals and force mech technicians to expend a lot of time and effort into enacting all of the modifications.
Even so, Ves couldn't avoid implementing more drastic changes, especially with regards to fitting in the new weapon system.
He tore out a considerable amount of minor subcomponents and structural supports from the base model. In order to keep the performance index from dropping due to his actions, Ves implemented even more changes to the design in order to optimize his variant's performance.
That was the most challenging aspect about this job. Though Ves still rushed the job, he nonetheless spent two entire days to puzzle out effective solutions that addressed all of the thorny problems.
Ves predicted that an ordinary Journeyman that didn't enjoy his advantages would have taken at least a week to accomplish this much more, if not more!
His abnormal attributes, skills and mech affinity all contributed to an exceptionally productive design session!
In particular, the improvements he gained from his continued assimilation of Senior-level Mechanics played a starring role!
Since much of the work involved involved making space, the structure of the Spyre Helix experienced a lot of changes. Trying to make sense of them and seeking out ways to make better use of the limited space was a lot easier to do now that Ves began to apply many new advanced theories!
"The original mech designer owes me a favor when he sees my variant!" He couldn't help but snort. "If he carries some of my changes over to his base model, it will likely perform ten percent better!"
Chapter 1475
Ves only possessed a sparse amount of experience with heavy mechs.
Heavy mechs generally tended to be a mech type that only showed up in military mech regiments. Only military mech designers or those working for a company that serviced the military became exposed to heavy mech designs.
Heavy mechs were big, expensive and put an enormous strain on a mech unit's logistical capacity. They also only truly unearthed their potential in major battles and campaigns.
For these reasons, hardly any private outfit wanted to put up with these costly elephants. It was practically impossible to run a mercenary corps at a profit by fielding heavy mechs!
Not just the end users, but also the mech designers experienced headaches whenever they came in touch with heavy mechs.
It took a lot more effort to design a heavy mech. Their far greater mass and volume limits meant that mech designers had a lot more room to work with. This sounded like a great thing as they could stuff all kinds of goodies into their heavy mech designs, but there was a downside to it as well.
"Anyone can fill up an empty mech design. However, it takes skill to turn the mech design into something effective!"
This wasn't the extent of the problems. Heavy mechs possessed very different performance characteristics from medium mechs.
Due to their very pronounced characteristics, heavy mechs were judged by different standards.
Heavy mech designers adopted distinctly different design paradigms.
This posed some problems to Ves. He wasn't entirely familiar with the divergent design paradigms. What was bad for medium mechs might in fact be good for heavy mechs.
However, even if that was the case, Ves still managed to work on the Spyre Helix as if he was a natural with heavy mechs.
With his current capabilities, he easily understood the various nuances and complexities concerning heavy mechs even if he hadn't read any textbooks dedicated to the topic.
Furthermore, many of the Skills and Sub-Skills he acquired from the System also dedicated some portions to heavy mechs. To say that Ves was a complete newcomer to heavy mechs was not quite true.
In addition, the base model of the Spyre Helix was in itself a great teacher to Ves. In fact, having ready access to the physical copy helped his understanding of doom crawlers enormously.
While Ves hadn't derived enough insights to design his own doom crawler, he was more than capable enough to competently modify an existing design!
Since Ves encountered few serious issues in the process of designing his variant, he began to divert some of his attention to other priorities.
He hadn't forgotten about his priority to minimize his connection to the Spyre Helix Annihilator, which he named his variant as its altered design took shape.
He made a conscious effort to obfuscate his design style in his work on the variant. He purposefully made his design style more bland, as if Ves directly adhered to all of the recommendations of the MTA.
Ves believed he had done a good job in minimizing his fingerprints in his work. In his judgement, any orthodox Journeyman Mech Designer could have performed the modifications!
In fact, Ves went a step ahead and tried to inject deliberately different design traits into the Annihilator design.
He went as far as constructing a spiritual mask of a 'different' mech designer before donning it in order to subconsciously lay a trail of false bread crumbs.
Doing this meant that his falsehoods appeared a lot more authentic than if he deliberately tried to insert some red herrings into the Annihilator design!
"Hehehe."
The important point about the false trails was that they came across as authentic! Even if a Senior encountered the Spyre Helix Annihilator, the older mech designer would probably tie its designer to someone completely different than Ves!
"I'm actually really good at this!"
Ves saw a lot of potential with this application of spiritual masking.
In fact, if he put a lot more effort into constructing a mask, he could even impersonate other mech designers!
Ves wondered how far he could take this technique. Perhaps he might be able to imitate another mech designer's design philosophy by stealing their spiritual fragments before merging them into his mask!
"The possibilities.. are frightening!"
Would he be able to apply this technique in other ways? For example, to emulate a collaborative work?
If his suspicions were true, as long as he refined his spiritual masking technique further, he'd be able to design a mech alone that required others to combine their efforts!
It was the ultimate spiritual technique for loner mech designers!
In other words, it was tailor-made for a paranoid, solitary bastard like Ves!
"Ugh!" Ves shook his head inside his helmet.
He was attempting to move away from that! He put so much effort into socializing with other mech designers and recruiting future mech designers lately in order to find willing collaborators and assistants.
He really missed having someone like Ketis on hand to bounce ideas and to offload work he didn't enjoy.
If he had a dozen more subordinate mech designers at his disposal, his productivity would skyrocket!
Unfortunately, Ves didn't have enough time to explore these possibilities any further right now. He was in a hurry to finish the Annihilator so he only adopted a bland and generic design style for simplicity and expedience.
Though it sounded rather basic, his measures were enough to erase all but the most subtle commonalities to his distinctive design style.
In fact, he spent much of the remainder of his design session on going over his Annihilator design in order to scour away any design elements that might possibly tie back to his work!
"I have to be thorough. I can't let a single mistake pass through."
Ves completed his work over the course of just four days, far faster than a typical Journeyman would take.
This in itself was another form of misdirection on his part.
By completing his design work so fast, he basically gave the impression that he was an older and more experienced Journeyman!
A mech designer who was so productive that he designed the Annihilator design according to Finlay's requirements in just four days had to be an old hand in his profession!
Ves even expressed some of his Senior-level Skills in the Annihilator design to reinforce this impression. It was as if he was an old Journeyman who was already midway towards his preparations to advancing to Senior!
All in all, a mech designer who appraised the Annihilator design and compared it to the base model would never suspect that Ves had anything to do with it because he was too young!
In fact, most people would immediately rule him out because he had only advanced to Journeyman very recently!
There were still some holes in this plan. Once Ves completely assimilated his Senior-level Mechanics and Metallurgy Skills, he did not wish to restrain himself once he designed his next mechs.
If it became known that part of his knowledge base had reached the level of a Senior, then there was a possibility that he could still be connected to his Annihilator design.
Yet that was still unlikely.
Ves would worry a bit if the MTA got their hands on the Annihilator's design schematics, but only for a little bit. As for the mech designers that worked for Finlay's faction? Hah! They couldn't even get a single Journeyman to agree to incorporate taboo weapons in the Spyre Helix design!
Anyone less than a Senior or a perceptive Journeyman shouldn't be able to read his work as well as him. If an Apprentice appraised his design, they'd only pick up some surface aspects that were mired with falsehoods.
Only one thing bothered Ves a lot. As he put the finishing touches on his Annihilator design, he silently lamented his inability to express his distinctive design philosophy.
In some ways, it felt incredibly wrong for him to make no attempts at instilling life into the Spyre Helix Annihilator design.
Pretty much every other mech he designed or worked on benefited from his specialty. It felt extremely unnatural for him to work on a mech while trying his best to keep it as dead as possible.
Instead of concentrating his mind in order to concentrate on a distinct vision for his Annihilator design, he instead relaxed it as much as possible so that his mind was filled with chaos.
Though it impacted his productivity to a certain extent, Ves was far too good of a mech designer to let that hinder him. Even if he only spent a portion of his attention on designing his variant, he still did a good job.
Ves still experienced some discomfort, though. If not for his spiritual mask, his mentality would have rebelled much more!
The only part about him that seriously took issue was his design seed.
It turned out his design seed really didn't like it if he tried to muffle his design philosophy!
During many instances, Ves had the illusion that he was tearing himself in two. He tried so hard to pretend to be a different mech designer than 'Ves Larkinson, specialist in Spiritual Man-Machine Symbiosis' that he suspected that he could do some serious damage if he pushed it any further!
Fortunately, four days was short enough that his design seed only became somewhat disgruntled. While it constantly radiated disapproval, it didn't shift or alter in any significant fashion.
Ves mentally wiped his brow as he observed the state of his design seed. He hadn't really considered the damage he could do to his design seed. It seemed like designing a mech without leaving behind his fingerprints was far harder than he thought!
"What do you think?" Ves asked Nitaa.
His bodyguard had remained by his side all this time. She had been keeping an eye on Finlay's men stationed at the mech workshop.
"I am not a mech designer." She spoke. "All I see is a six-legged machine with lots of armor and weapons. Compared to the original design, this one is bigger on the weapon department and smaller on the armor department."
Ves shrugged. He couldn't expect anything more from a laywoman like Nitaa.
Her description wasn't wrong, though. Doom Crawlers were distinct heavy mechs that relied on heavy armor and heavy ranged firepower to lay waste against any opposition in their way.
Ves made a conscious choice to reduce the armor and increase the mobility of his Spyre Helix Annihilator.
The reduction in mass was a necessity since Ves had to make a lot of room to accommodate the larger and more potent weapon systems.
However, reducing the armor and some other stuff from the base model meant that his variant's mech performance index took a substantial dip.
In order to compensate for the loss in armor, Ves had no choice but to raise the mobility of his mech.
With the help of his deep understanding of mechanics, he managed to make his doom crawler variant a little bit faster than before. While the Spyre Helix Annihilator wasn't about to race across the surface of a planet anytime soon, the increase in mobility was still a welcome addition that brought up its performance index back to normal.
"In fact, the difference is a lot more drastic in low-gravity environments."
At 0.53 g, the Spyre Helix Annihilator weighed almost twice as less. How much nimbler did a heavy mech become when they suddenly fought against much less gravity than before?
Perhaps achieving a thirty percent speed boost was very much possible, even on rough terrain.
While this sounded like a huge increase, Ves did not forget that doom crawlers already moved as slow as a snail. Amplifying the speed of a snail by thirty percent just turned it into a faster snail. It was still nowhere near to matching the sprinting speed of a hare.
In any case, Ves no longer believed he needed to do anything to finish the commission.
"It's done!"
Now, he needed to see if the representative of the dark mercenaries accepted the modifications he made to the Spyre Helix design.
Chapter 1476
Ves did not exhibit any surprise when he found out the dark mercenaries sent a mech designer to evaluate his work.
Of course, the mech designer in the employ of the Night Zephyrs was only an Apprentice Mech Designer, and probably not a good one at that. Most mech designers who worked for shady outfits tended to be the losers of their profession.
The difference in status was so evident that the representative showed a lot of deference to Ves. There was no way the man dared to act presumptuous against a bonafide Journeyman!
Ves smiled under the helmet of his shadow attire. Showing respect for higher-ranking mech designers was one of the many norms that the MTA hammered into their heads. It was so pervasive that even pirate designers respected the same norms without asking any questions!
In order to ensure that there wouldn't be any problems, Ves adopted another form of pressure as well. He switched up his spiritual mask and adopted a more confident and assertive posture than his normal self.
His cues, his aura and his demeanor all made him appear imposing. Despite his shadow attire, his superiority towards an Apprentice could not be denied!
"What do you think of my design, Santo?" He asked as he stood behind the Apprentice.
Santo nervously studied the design schematics projected from the terminal. For some reason, he didn't don any disguises, which made his lack of confidence all the more apparent.
If Santo was the best mech expert in the employ of the Night Zephyrs, then they should have sent a seasoned mech officer along. Ves figured that the dark mercenary corps hadn't fully thought it through how badly the rank disparity among mech designers mattered within their profession!
Even if Journeymen didn't enjoy the same amount of renown as expert pilots, high-ranking mech designers still commanded a lot of respect from the lower ranks!
Still, even if Santo unconsciously deferred to Ves, he still had a job to do. He did not let his admiration and apprehension towards Ves halt his obligation to determine whether the modification plans for the Spyre Helix made the right improvements.
"These changes are ingenious!" Santo said in an astonishing fashion! "There is much to go through! Would you be willing to guide me through the design choices you've made? It would help me evaluate your Spyre Helix Annihilator design faster."
"It would be my pleasure." Ves replied.
Though he kept his words brief and his tone fairly restrained, he walked up to the projection and briefly explained the alterations he made to the design from top to bottom.
Ves adopted a teacher's stance as he pointed out his decisions, highlighting some of his more brilliant innovations without giving too much away. He refrained from explaining his solutions completely, wanting to leave Santo with plenty of mysteries as the Night Zephyr's resident mech designer attempted to puzzle out the Annihilator design with his own comprehension.
Teaching was akin to indoctrination. By letting Ves take the lead in guiding Santo's perspective towards the Annihilator design, he was essentially able to warp the Apprentice Mech Designer's opinion into a more favorable direction!
By overemphasizing the best aspects about his work, Ves managed to distract Santo's attention away from the less attractive portions of his Annihilator design. It was actually a very simple approach, but it worked like a charm due to all of the pressure he exerted!
It seemed as if he couldn't help bring out his Devil Tongue in situations where it offered him an advantage.
Ves even got the sense that he was shifting closer and closer to the likes of Calabast, Leland and other manipulative spies!
He quickly shook his head underneath the helmet and got back to narrating his design choices.
Half an hour was enough to complete his guided tour to Santo. The Apprentice had become further and further enthralled with the Annihilator design.
"Wow." He breathed while he studied the comparisons between the base model and the variant. "While it's a shame that your modified version is somewhat less resilient against damage, the increase in firepower and mobility is substantial. Considering our upcoming deployment, the low-gravity environment will amplify the gains in speed, allowing us to get in and get out as fast as possible!"
This was very relevant for the Night Zephyrs. The use of taboo weapons would doubtlessly attract attention. The longer the Night Zephyrs lingered, the larger the chance that they might get caught!
In order to minimize the risk of unwelcome surprises, the doom crawlers had to land on the planet and sneak up into attack range as fast as possible. Trading away a bit of mass and armor in favor of speeding them up was a welcome adaptation.
Of course, the loss of armor and structural integrity was quite serious. However, Santo paid less mind to it at the moment. Perhaps he might get his wits together later, but as Ves continued to engage the Apprentice in conversation, the man had no opportunity to think for himself!
"Does the Annihilator design meet the needs of the Night Zephyrs?" Ves asked, pressuring Santo to come to a quick conclusion.
"I have a good feeling about it, but..."
"But?" Ves subtly loomed closer to Santo.
"Nothing! Your Annihilator design is a great adaptation! I would have never been able to fit all of those big weapon systems into the doom crawler without incurring severe performance hits!"
What Ves found peculiar about Santo was that while he showed a lot of deference to a high-ranking mech designer, he barely showed any notice towards the taboo weapons on the Annihilator design.
Along with the Apprentice's relative youth, Ves figured that Santo must have originated from the Nyxian Gap but had learned his craft from a respectable, orthodox mech designer.
This gave Ves an idea.
"Say, you are quite talented for your age. Who is your teacher?"
"Ah, I've been mentored by the Light's End! Have you heard of her? She's a renowned Journeyman of the Nyxian Gap!"
"Interesting moniker. What's her specialty?"
"As her name suggests, she's really good with laser weapon systems. Pirates love her work because her laser rifles are reliable, easy to maintain and not that costly to make or buy."
Santo babbled a bit about the Light's End. Though she didn't match the renown of someone like the Skull Architect, she still managed to find her footing in the Nyxian Gap!
A small chime from his comm suddenly interrupted his spiel.
"Ah, my apologies, Rho-Sigma, but I'm on a tight schedule as well. Since your Annihilator design is in order, we can move ahead with taking away the doom crawlers and transform them along the lines of your modification plan."
"Sounds like you are in a big hurry to overhaul the doom crawlers."
"We have a limited window of opportunity to perform our mission. Sneaking eighty active doom crawlers onto a pirate planet is harder than it sounds."
Santo did not say anything further. Obviously, his respect for Ves did not reach the point where he was willing to spill his outfit's core secrets.
That was fine. Ves gained a better glimpse of what Finlay's faction and the Night Zephyrs planned to do with the modified doom crawlers. At the very least, someone other than Finlay corroborated the claim that they intended to employ the weapons of mass destruction against pirates.
At least that seemed to be true.
Due to his tight schedule, Santo left quickly afterwards, but not before loading up all of the relevant design files and modification plans onto a secure data chip.
The commission called for drawing up a modification for existing Spyre Helixes. That meant that Ves didn't just have to design a variant, but also provide a step-by-step instruction manual to change the base model into the updated variant.
Otherwise, Santo or the mech technicians had to puzzle out the steps themselves, which they were liable to screw up!
Finlay and his bodyguards arrived an hour later. It seemed the mysterious young nobleman had been preoccupied with other matters before he was able to visit the rented mech workshop.
"The man sent by the dark mercenaries agreed to my modification plan." Ves stated simply.
He had the sense that Finlay regarded the unknown mech designer he knew as Rho-Sigma in a different light.
"You are surprisingly.. efficient. I thought it would take a week or two weeks for you to come up with a way to integrate the new weapon systems onto the Spyre Helixes."
"A slight effort." Ves replied mildly. "I merely drew up a plan. It is up to your men to do the heavy lifting."
"Dumb labor is one of the most abundant resources in the galaxy. We have more than enough mech technicians to get the job done."
Ves understood Finlay's point. It wasn't hard for an organization with lots of money and influence to hire a bunch of mech technicians willing to do anything for a fat paycheck.
Unlike mech designers, the MTA imposed much less demands on mech technicians to adhere to its values and principles. It didn't matter too much anyway.
"Am I eligible to receive my reward now?" Ves slightly pressed.
Ever since he packed off Santo, he became impatient to receive what Finlay had promised to him. The sample of Synthra Umbra along with Item #1255 plagued his thoughts numerous times throughout the last few days!
"Since you have abided by your end of the agreement, I will naturally release your rewards under your care." Finlay responded with an easy tone. "Let us head to the warehouse right now."
They exited the workshop and moved over to a nearby warehouse. They entered an apportioned lot where two different containers rested on the floor.
"Here they are. You can inspect them if you wish."
"Don't mind if I do."
Ves approached the smaller container and opened it up. He scanned its contents with a spare multiscanner he filched from the workshop and confirmed the sample of Synthra Umbra was authentic.
Not a single milligram of Syntha Umbra was missing!
As for the larger container, Ves only briefly opened its container and subjected its contents to a cursory scan. It wasn't even needed as the indescribable presence along with the active spirituality hidden within already confirmed the huge object's authenticity!
There was no way anyone would be able to fool Ves with an imitation of the Ancient Sarcophagus!
"Both items are sound and match the description set in the contract."
"You can take them away at your leiure. Are we good now?"
"We're good."
That was it. The deal they struck a couple of days ago ended on a quick and sudden note. In exchange for just four days of his time, Ves effortlessly obtained two expensive objects valued at around 30 billion bright credits!
If Ves ignored the disturbing implications of running roughshod over the Big Two's prohibitions against taboo weaponry, then this was one of the most lucrative deals he had ever engaged in! It still surprised him that Finlay would even abide by the terms of such a costly agreement!
"Before you celebrate, don't forget you still owe us 215 millian firthals." Finlay mentioned.
"Ah, I remember. I've already exchanged the necessary currency."
Surprisingly, Finlay waved his hand to Ves. "Forget it. 215 million firthals is chump change for us. I've already brought up your earlier proposal to my superiors. Depending on your performance, I can exercise my discretion, which I have just done. You can keep the remainder of the money you owe us. Consider it a favor."
That was even more welcome news. "Oh. Thank you."
"In exchange, let's keep in touch. I'm sure you're busy with your own business right now. Every Journeyman is busy all the time. However, if you ever require anything from the Sentinel Kingdom or the Nyxian Gap, we'd appreciate it if you approached us first."
Evidently, Finlay rated 'Rho-Sigma' very highly. This was exactly what Ves had aimed for in these last few days!
Chapter 1477
Finlay offered Ves a means to contact him or the faction standing behind him. Of course, he didn't exchange comm addresses or anything else that could be traced back to his real identity.
Instead, Finlay passed a so-called Shadow Address to Ves. This was a unique identifying code that Ves could use to send a message to Finlay via the Shadow Courier network.
People made use of Shadow Addresses in case they didn't want their real identities to be associated with their shady dealings.
For example, if a Sentinel noble requested the shipment of a batch of nuclear missiles, then he wouldn't tell the seller to ship the batch to 'Lady Miralix of House Laterna at Felixia I' or something!
Instead, Lady Miralix would pass on her anonymous Shadow Address, which only signified specific locations of delivery and such. The point of a Shadow Address was to provide a form of identity protection that was so thorough that not even the Shadow Couriers themselves knew the real names of the people hiding behind the addresses!
While Finlay possessed a Shadow Address, Ves did not. His dealings with the Shadow Couriers only dealt with his real identity so far, which was a vulnerability that Ves had to remedy as soon as possible!
"Is there a way to acquire a Shadow Address here?"
"Certainly! The Shadow Couriers operate an entire branch in the marketplace. I can give you directions if you require. Let me accompany you so that I can add your Shadow Address to our list."
They all moved out of the warehouse, but not before Ves arranged his new possessions. He moved his P-stones, the sample of Synthra Umbra, Item #613 and Item #1255 to a different warehouse lot. He'd arrange their shipment out of the marketplace later.
After that, they moved to the Shadow Courier branch where Ves registered a new Shadow Address for his 'Rho-Sigma' persona.
Registering a Shadow Address was a lot more complicated than Ves thought, but for now he only registered virtual means of getting in touch with him. If anyone wanted to ship physical goods to his Shadow Address, then the Shadow Couriers would have to contact him first through virtual means in order to set a specific drop-off location.
Once Finlay registered Rho-Sigma's new Shadow Address, he quickly bid Ves farewell.
"I'd love to stick around, but we are quickly moving into action now that you have delivered the most crucial piece of the puzzle. It's a pleasure working with you. If we ever need comparable services, we know where to go now. Don't hesitate to contact us as well if you require anything comparable to what you've obtained today."
"I will."
Now that they knew how to contact each other, Finlay departed the Shadow Courier branch. Ves watched the disguised noble go, a bit surprised at how well everything went.
He always expected something to go wrong along the way. The deal he concluded with Finlay not only involved an incredible amount of money, but also dealt with something that would surely attract the ire of the MTA if abused!
If Ves was in Finlay's shoes, he would find some way to silence anyone involved if possible.
However, the reality was much different. Finlay and his superiors never attempted to screw Ves over. Perhaps the value of an unscrupulous but competent Journeyman was higher than expected!
Though Ves only came up with his Rho-Sigma identity recently, it held a lot of promise. So long as no one, including the Shadow Couriers, knew the true person behind this cover identity, Ves might be able to profit from it further in the future!
It was a lot more secure and anonymous than his faked Rabant Clearwater identity he crudely forged in the past.
"A Shadow Address is a lot more secure."
He still had to be careful, though. Ves figured it was best to get back to Calabast to flesh out this idea further. If he attempted to go at it alone, he was liable to leak his true identity along the way.
Ves could help but cast some more suspicions towards the Shadow Couriers. Their network encompassed the entire Komodo Star Sector and beyond.
They provided reliable and discreet courier services underneath the noses of the authorities. Ves could hardly fathom how the Shadow Couriers managed to survive without getting uprooted.
Did they manage to bribe an MTA councilor or something? Or did the Big Two have a more direct hand in their running? What if the Five Scrolls Compact were behind the Shadow Couriers?
More unanswered questions plagued his mind. Due to his increasing doubts over the Shadow Couriers, his enthusiasm of working with them deflated a bit. While he acknowledged that he could benefit a lot from making use of them, he should never grow too dependent on their services!
He was sure that Calabast would agree with this sentiment!
"Let's go." He told Nitaa.
Both of them exited the branch soon after and diverted back to the warehouse where they stored their goods.
"We're done here. I got what I came for. Now, we need to leave with our goods."
"That's not as simple as it sounds." Nitaa spoke. "Smuggling these goods out of the marketplace and off-planet will require a lot of effort."
"That's what smugglers are here for, right? We just have to make sure our cargo doesn't get stolen."
Though his mother had already left, Ves still harbored a lot of fears that someone might steal his exceedingly expensive goods from his possession. Perhaps the Circle of Mota might not pull off anything by themselves, but the same wasn't necessarily true for the guests!
People from all walks of life visited the temporary marketplace. Numerous pirate leaders and unscrupulous mercenary leaders frequented the site. Who knew if any of them tried to figure out where the goods auctioned for incredible sums had gone and when they would be shipped to other locations.
Intercepting valuable cargo shipments was one of the most prevalent activities committed by pirates!
Though it mainly happened out in the middle of deep space, Ves could not discount the possibility that a group of pirates might be plotting to trail behind his cargo shipment and attack them along the way in the middle of an isolated tunnel!
"Let's find a secure and reliable way to ship my goods from this site." Ves spoke. "Due to Finlay's favor, I have an excess of firthals. I might as well spend deeply in order to ensure a guaranteed delivery."
Fortunately, Ves wasn't the only person who worried about this problem. The Circle of Mota operated an expansive in-house smuggling operation that offered absolute assurances, for a price.
Ves didn't worry about the price. With so much excess firthals left, Ves paid for one of the more extensive delivery services without any hesitation.
Though he had to cough up more than 50 million firthals just to transport some goods, it was worth it due to the effective insurance he gained! When it came to goods with a total value that exceeded 30 billion bright credits, then paying some 'protection' fees was not a bad idea!
"No pirates will come and hijack my shipment, right?" Ves asked the Circle representative as they signed the shipping contract.
The representative offered a reassuring smile to Ves. "Have no fear, sir. We have never failed to ship any goods out under these terms. Pirates know better than to touch anything that belongs to our Circle. You have made the right decision. If anything happens, we will compensate you for your losses."
"Sounds good."
Ves suspected that the Circle was running a racket in the smuggling business. He wouldn't be surprised to learn that they were in cahoots with the very pirates who intercepted the shipping runs from the marketplace to the surface!
Once he completed the latest arrangements, Ves was finally free.
"I've completed all of the goals I aimed to achieve here except for one. Do you think they sell food here?"
The hulking suit of Nitaa shifted. "They sell everything here. Doubtlessly there must be a venue here where you can
"Even after paying for the expensive shipment, I still have a lot of firthals left. Let's see if I can spend the remainder on something useful."
The two trawler the outer marketplace for interesting goods and other opportunities. Ves focused mainly on finding geril spice and the source behind this unique product.
Unfortunately, Ves found no trace of geril spice in the marketplace. Only a couple of food stalls and restaurants added spicy Nyx dogs to their menus, but only half of them used authentic geril spice!
As for the chefs who followed the authentic recipe for spicy Nyx dogs, they only held a few bags of geril spice at most!
"Where do you get your geril spice?" Ves interrogated one of the street chefs, applying a bit of spiritual pressure along the way.
"M-My boss! I don't own this food stall! I'm just a worker!"
Ves grunted in disgust and left.
"I think you will have better luck if you approach the Circle directly." Nitaa spoke as she matched his pace. "They might even be the main distributors of geril spice in civilized space."
"Forget about it. In any case, I have enough to last me a while, and I can always obtain more through my newly-forged connections with Finlay."
The Nyxian Gap hid countless secrets, and Ves only scratched the surface of its depth. From all of the activity he heard so far, he no longer viewed the Nyxian Gap as a large area of anomalous space.
It was actually akin to an entirely different star sector or star region in itself!
"What do you think about this?" Ves swept the calm but busy streets of the underground marketplace.
"It is thriving."
"Strange, don't you think? The Sentinel Kingdom should have been on top of this site in days. Instead, the Circle of Mota is merrily continuing to bring Sentinels and pirates together."
"The lawful and lawless powers of the galaxy aren't so much different from each other, sir. Light and shadow are interdependent. I would even argue that this is one of the adaptations of our race that has helped us conquer the galaxy. We abide by the rules when they benefit us, but break them when they become a hindrance."
"That's remarkably insightful of you. Did you come up with that on your own?"
"No. My.. former organization taught me that. In order to fulfill our missions, we should be prepared to go through any lengths."
"I see. Do you think the Circle adopts the same values as your former organization?"
"Not quite. They were not as.. mercantile. The Circle is more preoccupied with commerce and trade. I can't ascertain any specific agenda from their activities."
"Just because you can't see anything does not necessarily mean that the Circle is unmoving. Everyone has an agenda. But let's not talk about this anymore. It's not a good idea to cast doubt on the Circle while we're in the middle of one of their protected sites."
Though Ves spent the remainder of his day trying to find out anything about geril spice, he failed abjectedly.
While it was disappointing for him to miss out his last opportunity to dig out more information about this specialty product from the Nyxian Gap, he didn't want to linger around forever.
Ves and Nitaa left the marketplace through the same way they had entered. They boarded a shielded shuttle operated by a middleman that presumably entered a maze of tunnels.
After shuffling through several different shuttles, they finally emerged back onto the surface of Cinach VIII.
Once there, the two snuck their way back to their current hotel and ditched their Shadow Attire along the way.
In order to leave no traces behind, Ves rented a dilapidated workshop from a shady organization and personally destroyed their disguise materials by burning them in the hottest oven on hand.
Only then did he feel safe enough to return to his hotel and depart Cinach VIII afterwards in the proper way!
Chapter 1478
After he returned to the hotel, he lingered at Cinach VIII for a few more days. He occasionally and deliberately showed up in public for various reasons in order to reinforce his alibi.
In particular, he visited the offices or residences of various Journeyman Mech Designers who worked at one of the many universities and research institutions on the planet.
The impromptu exchanges he conducted didn't yield much fruit to Ves. Regardless of his gains or lack thereof, Ves already achieved his goal by acting in a way that did not invite suspicion.
If Ves immediately left Cinach VIII after departing from the Circle of Mota's underground marketplace, then someone might be able to form a connection between Rho-Sigma to Ves Larkinson!
Therefore, even if Ves wanted to leave the planet as soon as possible in order to study his newly-obtained goods, he restrained his urges and acted as if he still had a lot of time on his hands.
Those were some of the slowest days of his life. He exhibited much less enthusiasm for the exchanges he conducted and he often glanced at the clock projected by his comm to see how little time had passed.
Fortunately, now that Ves had returned to the surface, he enjoyed the company of both Lucky and Gavin.
While his cat playfully tugged at his Pride of Dusk while demanding hugs and exotics, Gavin began to distract him by describing their next destination.
"As you know, our next destination is the Hertog Dominion. While it's not as close to the frontier as the Tomaris Federation, the crisis at the border has started to affect it as well."
That caused Ves to pause in eating his lunch sandwich. "Have the sandman raids reached as far as the Hertog Dominion? Already?"
"Only half-a-dozen sandmen fleets have crashed into their border systems so far. While these attacks don't constitute a threat to a proper state, the citizens of the Hertog Dominion are not used to fighting aliens! There is a considerable amount of panic and unrest among its citizens. Everyone is fearing the worst. Markets are destabilized while the rulers are doing their best to mobilize their forces."
Ves could imagine how his original plans for the Hertog Dominion might fall through due to all of the recent changes.
The escalating sandman incursions became an increasingly greater threat to the Komodo Star Sector!
"If it's already that bad in the Hertog Dominion, what about our destination after that? Is the Tomaris Federation still holding together?"
Gavin sighed. "Tomaris has fully mobilized into a war footing. Sandmen fleets are passing through the gaps in the border like maggots trying to burrow into the apple that represents human space. The intensity and frequency of all of the fighting has matched the level of the Bright-Vesia Wars! In fact, many analysts think that the worst is yet to come!"
Ves sat up straighter from his chair when he heard this news. "What?! That's ridiculous! What is the CFA doing?! Are you still taking their time in sending reinforcements?"
"That's the thing. While the CFA has diverted some of their smaller squadrons and flotillas to reinforce the hotspots, the sandmen are assaulting a broad front that spills across the entire length of the border. Their forces are being stretched thin and way too many sandmen fleets are getting through! Mancroft and many of the other states in the vicinity are barely hanging on with the assistance of the CFA."
This sounded incredibly serious! The sandman incursion might even have the potential to threaten the Bright Republic!
"How is home?"
"Fine, thankfully. The sandmen appear to divert most of their fleets in the direction of the Tomaris Federation. That's also while their situation is the most dire. The other states in the vicinity of the border can easily deal with the fleets that have fanned out from the center of their direction."
As Gavin described a few more details about the recent incursions, he also announced a piece of unwelcome news.
"Due to the crisis at Tomaris, all of the appointments you've made there are called off. None of the Journeymen who work there can free themselves up to conduct an exchange with you. Many of them are assisting their military in hidden research bases and the like. Others have packed up their bags and left the state as fast as possible!"
Ves wasn't surprised to hear about the former, but the latter did take him aback. "Mech designers actually fled? What about their duty?"
"They aren't Brighters like you, boss. Those who live closer to the borders of the frontier are a lot more self-serving than you think. I don't blame them. If I was in their shoes, I would try and make off as well, damn whatever assets that's left behind."
The idea disgusted him a bit. It was one thing to depart from a state to seek better opportunities, but to do so while their home was under an existential threat was dishonorable!
Even if Ves slowly cared less and less about the Bright Republic lately, he still felt compelled to defend his home state in its time of need!
This was because he was a Brighter!
"I take it that traveling to the Tomaris Federation at all is a bad idea."
"Yeah. No matter how you put it, spending your vacation in a middle of a sandman-infested war theater is not the wisest choice. I think you should consider scrapping your plans short. We've already started running behind schedule anyway. We've lingered too long in the Sentinel Kingdom."
Ves sighed. He knew what was behind the sandman incursions that was plaguing the Tomaris Federation and the other states at the border. The true mastermind behind this incomprehensible push was not an entity that he wanted to spar with right now.
There was no way a single human like him could ever obtain the upper hand in a direct confrontation against Sigrund!
"Agreed." He spoke. "Please clear my schedule of anything related to the Tomaris Federation. As much as I sympathize with their difficulties, I don't want to be press-ganged into another war."
This was unlikely to occur. Perhaps he might be in trouble if he was just a low-ranking mech designer, but as a Journeyman he enjoyed greater protection.
Still, the point was that a foreign Journeyman like him had no business visiting an active warzone unless he was part of some delegation to assist the state. There were probably rules in place that regulated these kinds of things.
Ves resumed eating and spoke between his bites. "I'm still visiting the Hertog Dominion, though. I don't want to get pulled into any wars, but I want to check their situation to see how they cope with the sandmen. Do you think that is still possible?"
Both Gavin and Nitaa looked at each other.
His bodyguard couldn't remain still anymore. "I highly advise you to cancel your plans for the Hertog Dominion, sir. While the sandmen threat hasn't reached the level where we need to be concerned, the situation might grow worse by the time we have reached the state. In addition, it's not just the sandmen we have to be on guard against. The Dominion itself..."
"The Hertog Dominion is not exactly known for its stability and rule of law." Gavin continued. "It's like a downgraded version of the Sentinel Kingdom. It has a tyrannical government, but without the strength to back up their iron rule. From what I've read, the society there has always been unstable beneath the surface."
"That doesn't concern us, right? As long as we keep our noses out of local politics, we are just guests."
Gavin shook his head. "You're right, but who knows what will happen now that the sandmen are thrown in the mix. What I'm trying to say is that all of the risk factors have grown since you have made the initial decision to travel through the Hertog Dominion. Already, half of the Journeyman you've made an appointment with have rescinded their invitations. Same as the mech designers from Tomaris, they're too busy to bother with you, boss."
Eventually, Ves gave in to the advice of his staff and decided to truncate his visit to the Hertog Dominion. He'd only stay there long enough to make some visits he still thought worthwhile before linking up with Gloriana who awaited his arrival there.
"My meeting with Gloriana is still in place, right?"
"Yes, though she also sent a message to you that it's fine if you want to relocate your meeting to another place."
Ves grimaced. "No thanks. I won't be visiting this part of the star sector anytime soon, so I want to take the opportunity to experience one more culture."
While he did indeed wish to broaden his horizons by experiencing what life was like in the Hertog Dominion, he still harbored another goal.
He wanted to investigate the sandmen invading human space. While Ves was too afraid to confront Sigrund directly, it should still be okay to study the remains of the sentient AI's sacrificial goons.
How did Sigrund manipulate the sandmen into committing a suicidal invasion against humanity? What compelled the sandmen to throw away their lives for a futile opportunity to root themselves in civilized space?
More importantly, Ves began to harbor some more ideas about the sandmen, especially their leader caste. In order to test some of the assumptions he made, he wanted to get in touch with one of the sandman leaders, or their remains if he couldn't get close to a living specimen.
Not even Gavin or Nitaa dissuaded him from this course of action. If he didn't perform an investigation in person, he wouldn't feel relieved about the threat posed by the sandmen.
Perhaps Ves merely wanted to do something to atone for unleashing Sigrund to the galaxy.
"We're almost done here." He spoke. "It's time to return to the fleet and leave the Sentinel Kingdom."
Ves stayed on the planet for one more day before he left. He and his group calmly boarded a transit vehicle from the spaceport and reached a space station. From there, they booked another transit back to the orbit of Cinach XII where they headed towards one of the floating drydocks.
Crindon welcomed Ves at the huge facility.
"Welcome back, sir."
Ves stared up at the Barracuda nestled in between the clamps. Though most of the overhaul took place inside the corvette, her surface had been brushed up as well. Some of the dust and corrosion and damage from micro impacts had been smoothed out. Along with a fresh layer of coating, his ship looked as good as new!
"Did you encounter any major issues during the overhaul?" Ves asked his Kinner bondsman.
"There are always issues." Crindon responded and handed over a data pad to Ves. "You can study which of the changes have gone through and which one we haven't managed to perform due to various reasons."
The Barracuda is a second-class ship. I'd be surprised if you didn't encounter any setbacks."
The security expert began to explain what he accomplished. In short, most of the communication and internal sensor systems were more robust against external intrusions.
In addition, by replacing parts that originated from the Friday Coalition with identical parts from the Hexadric Hegemony, the ship should no longer be easily accessible by any parties from the former state.
"Even Hexers will encounter some difficulty in intruding into your ship's network with the new countermeasures I've implemented." Crindon confidently grinned. "While any hacker can gain access to systems that are connected in a network, there is no way they can ever intrude in a system that is air-gapped. I've replaced many components that used to communicate with each other wirelessly with less sophisticated wired components. I've also introduced many breaks and other barriers in between the wires in order to close off systems that you truly don't want anyone to access. This includes practically every monitoring and communication system in your stateroom!"
"Finally! I can enjoy some true privacy!"
The days of Gloriana or her AIs secretly snooping in on him while he worked or slept were finally over!
Chapter 1479
The Barracuda, overhauled to become more secure than ever, joined up with the Battle Criers before transitioning into FTL.
Their visit to the Sentinel Kingdom came at an end. Departing the Sentinel Kingdom and travelling all the way to the Hertog Dominion took a bit less than two months of travel.
The Barracuda could manage faster, but the slowest ships of the Battle Criers wouldn't be able to catch up in that case.
Ves didn't mind. He obtained an incredible amount of valuable materials, and needed time to study them and process them into useful applications.
First, he obtained four additional P-stones, thereby bringing his total collection to six. With so many P-stones, he could begin to perform comparisons and study what they had in common. If he was lucky, he might gather enough clues to deduce the reason why they gained their spiritual attraction properties!
Second, he obtained a second F-stone. Ves had high hopes for it, because the first F-stone possessed the remarkable property of charging his spirituality with an additional offensive attribute.
Third, he won Item #613 from the Circle of Mota's auction. The rose-gold rock was a completely new type of spiritually-reactive exotic. Ves couldn't wait to figure out its effects!
Fourth, he obtained a sample of unprocessed Synthra Umbra after completing Finlay's commission. Since Ves valued his privacy and secrets very highly, processing this high-grade exotic into a cloth before weaving it in a variety of useful articles of clothing was vitally important!
Fifth, the grandest prize of all was Item #1255, otherwise known as the Ancient Sarcophagus. It's value was undeniable! Finlay coughed out the equivalent of 20 billion bright credits to win this red crystal-like growth that enveloped the body of an unknown humanoid alien from the same auction!
"Too expensive! That's enough to fund the development and fabrication of an expert mech! It's enough to cover the cost of founding a large mercenary corps!"
Ves could have put that sum of money to a lot of good uses. If he truly spent this much money on a single strange object, he would have beat himself up for days!
Fortunately, someone else paid for it all. Finlay and his mysterious noble faction bankrolled the entire sum, thereby saving Ves the trouble.
The only payment he had to make was to form a modification plan that turned regular doom crawlers into engines of mass destruction. Though Ves frequently worried about how his work would be used, he couldn't do anything about it anyway.
"I've already made my decision and done the deed. It's too late to soothe my conscience." He muttered.
Ves decided to keep his eye on the news in the region regardless. He wanted to know if the Spyre Helix Annihilators ever showed up. If Finlay spoke the truth, the Annihilators would only be put to use in the Nyxian Gap, and only once. There should be no reason for them to be put to use in civilized space.
For some reason, Ves was rather skeptical of Finlay's claims. Now that he thought about it, going through so much trouble to upgrade eighty doom crawlers, only to employ them in a single attack did not make sense!
Even if Sentinel nobles were wealthier than usual, Finlay's hesitance in spending so much firthals during the auction showed his hesitation at throwing around these kinds of sums.
A normal person or organization would never invest upwards of 50 or 60 billion bright credits just to form a bunch of single-use weapons!
Ves grimaced even deeper. "It's out of my hands."
One of the realities of being a mech designer was that he had no control over how his customers used or misused his products.
His mechs could be used for noble purposes, such as fighting pirates or guarding vital trade convoys.
They could also be used for abominable ends, such as massacring civilians or engaging in piracy.
Though Ves tried his best to ignore the latter, it still happened from time to time.
"It's not my fault!"
This was the stance he leaned towards! Ves was just a mech designer. Why should he be responsible in the first place? No mech was inherently sinful upon creation! Even a mech armed with nuclear weapons could be put to good use by exterminating pirates and hostile aliens!
Ves took a deep breath and cleared his mind. He refused to let the potential misuses of his Spyre Helix Annihilator design stop him from improving himself. The rewards he earned from his commission was more than enough to shut up his conscience!
Instead of imagining all of the awful ways his doom crawler variant could be put to use, he instead diverted his attention to something more pleasant.
He had a lot of new materials to study and process!
"I can do a lot of work in two months!"
In fact, Ves doubted he'd be able to complete all of the work he could do on his ship by the time the fleet reached the Hertog Dominion. He had to set priorities and tackle the tasks that provided him with immediate boosts.
Anything that required longer-term study or work to draw out their benefits could be left for later.
"I can't forget about fabricating a new ultracompact battery to replenish my second shield generator." He muttered while scratching his chin. "I've already gathered the materials, but I've never set aside enough time."
He couldn't help it. He only had so much time at his disposal. The warnings given by his fellow mech designers came to the fore.
Just because he could do almost anything as a mech designer, didn't mean it was a good idea for him to spread his time so much. He should focus first and foremost on his core profession.
From this perspective, Ves shouldn't necessarily be wasting his time on fabricating personal equipment such as another ultracompact battery. The only reason why he didn't object to doing so in this case was because scaled-up ultracompact batteries also appeared in high-end mechs.
As much as Ves wanted to dive into studying the Ancient Sarcophagus, he believed it wouldn't be so easy to make some gains in this instance.
Though he hadn't been subject to any danger lately, he still prioritized enhancing his own safety whenever it was convenient. He'd already been subject to a few assassinations in his life, and he did not wish to be underprepared when someone else decided to throw a bunch of men to end his life.
"Goddammit, I still haven't gotten to the bottom of that last assassination attempt back in the Chuko Republic." He grumbled.
Though he tasked Gavin to investigate the incident and keep an eye on the Chuko Republic, so far they never found a clue why someone wanted to dispatch some rifleman mechs to shoot down his shuttle.
"Speaking of the Chuko Republic, the state is pretty much done for by now."
Despite the great efforts of its president, the latest news that came out all painted a bleak picture. Its three major provinces had already started to succumb to external pressure. The Redwell Province in particular tried its best to retain its sovereignty, but too many Whitewellers wanted the Hinson Protectorate to annex the province and turn a new leaf.
Of course, none of this mattered to Ves. He had no stake in the ultimate fate of Chuko.
The Komodo Star Sector never sat still. New states frequently emerged while others succumbed to the aggression of their neighbors. No matter where humanity had settled, conflict constantly took place.
"This makes it all the more important for me to empower myself."
Though Ves deeply wanted to start spending his available time by studying Item #613 and Item #1255, he only spent enough time to determine that they weren't leaking energy or decaying in any way. As long as they remained inert, he was in no hurry to study them immediately.
"This is good. I can take care of more immediate business."
Ves started to spend an entire week in the Barracuda's workshop and lab compartment.
He made good use of the high-quality, miniaturized equipment there to process his materials and fabricate the sub-components of his new ultracompact battery.
Since he already did it once, he spent remarkably little time in cobbling up a new battery. He only slightly revised the battery design he dredged up from his memory in order to incorporate several new insights and innovations.
However, the low-quality materials heavily restrained the parameters of his new ultracompact battery. As he finally put the last pieces into place, he studied his new creation carefully.
"It works, but that's it." He sighed. "There's nothing new other than a bit more energy capacity."
One of his regrets was that his new ultracompact battery was non rechargeable. If he wanted to make a rechargeable version, then he needed to get his hands on higher-quality materials.
"Meow."
Lucky, who had been napping comfortably atop a lab machine, suddenly woke up and floated down to the workbench where the new ultracompact battery rested.
The cat curiously pawed the battery before eying it like a potential snack.
Ves quickly swiped the battery. "Don't get any ideas, Lucky!"
"Meow!"
After batting aside his cat's attempt to eat his battery, Ves retrieved his second shield generator from the vault and replaced its spent battery with the one he just fabricated.
"Here! If you want to munch on something, eat this instead!"
Though Lucky did not act particularly enthused when Ves threw the almost-spent battery to him, the cat did not refuse the offering. After licking the surface of the worn battery a few times, the cat meowed contently and began to nibble at his new prize like it was a delicacy.
"Careful! There's still some charge left inside!"
"Meow."
Lucky threw a disdainful look at Ves before resuming his eating. He'd eaten plenty of batteries before! He ate an entire CFA shuttle, which possessed much more powerful batteries!
Though Ves still remained a bit disturbed, he wasn't willing to halt his work. He only badgered Lucky into moving into a shielded chamber in the lab while he ate. If some unfortunate discharge occurred, at least it wouldn't strike his sensitive lab equipment!
Ves briefly tested his second shield generator and ascertained that it had no problems in drawing power from its new battery.
He now possessed two working shield generators! He felt inordinately well-protected as he wore it under his clothes like another belt!
"What do you think, Nitaa?" He asked his silent but trustworthy bodyguard. She had been the only person he allowed inside his workshop while he worked. "Do you think it's a good idea for me to wear two shield generators at once?"
"I don't require one, sir. Your life matters more than mine." She spoke.
"That's.. true."
"They can buy valuable time for you if a mech ever targets you. Carrying two shield generators instead of one effectively doubles your window of protection. Even if you can buy just ten more seconds, that's enough time for you to run for cover and engage your stealth measures."
"That's also true."
He felt better about his selfish decision to wear both shield generators on his body at once. Since his bodyguard approved, he shouldn't feel guilty about depriving Nitaa or Gavin of the protection of his spare shield generator!
"If I get my hands on a third shield generator, I'll assign it to you." He promised. "You've been very helpful for me so far. Keeping you alive directly increases my chances of survival."
Nitaa frowned in disapproval. "Sir, don't spend too much on my account. I'm replaceable. You're not. If I am unable to discharge my duties anymore, you can easily buy a replacement from the Kinner Tribe."
Her words astounded Ves. The Kinners indoctrinated their tribesmen far too well! No matter how much Ves encouraged Nitaa to think of herself as a person, she continually treated herself as a commodity, no different from a slave!
It would take a lot more effort for him to disabuse his bodyguard of the notion that she was a human product.
In truth, a part of Ves actually liked it. No matter how perverse the Kinners raised their own kind, they were undeniably useful!
Chapter 1480
As Ves began to process his sample of Synthra Umbra, it became clear why people regarded it as a high-grade exotic.
Ves couldn't glean anything from scanning the sample of Synthra Umbra! Not even his Vulcaneye multiscanner could ascertain anything from its internal structure! At most, it captured a few unimportant details that his naked eye could already determine by themselves!
"Its effects are passive and constantly active."
Not only that, but the sensor-blocking effect was very strong in its most concentrated form. If Ves built an entire vault made out of Synthra Umbra, then he would have created a panic room that was strong enough to escape the detection from nearly any scanners except those that incorporated first-class technology and materials!
The sample he gained was not enough to create something so luxurious. Fortunately, Synthra Umbra was fairly easy to work with. Drawing on a couple of techniques from his knowledge base, he processed the raw material into malleable and flexible fibers.
While the fibers he made were rather thin and fragile, Ves threaded them together into strings with the help of a machine. Once he finished this step, he weaved the threads into cloth.
Though he screwed up a few times and wasted a portion of the valuable materials, at the end of his labor he produced enough cloth to form various articles of clothing.
"Still, I can't create an entire ensemble of clothing with this much cloth." He muttered as he stared at the natural black cloth that seemed to suck in the light.
After performing some calculations, he eventually came up with a plan to optimize his available Synthra Umbra cloth as much as possible.
"One underlayer vacsuit. One pair of underwear. One form-fitting cover that matches the dimensions of a shield generator."
Ves could only manage to divide his available cloth in making three products. The latter two didn't take up a lot of cloth, but the underlayer vacsuit he wanted to make would use up most of his materials.
In truth, he contemplated fashioning a cloak that would complement his Pride of Dusk outfit. However, after some thought, his overcoat already functioned as a sufficient outer layer. Adding a cloak on top of that would look far too pretentious.
"The main advantage of an underlayer vacsuit is that I can wear it in almost every instance, while a cloak is only really suited when I'm outdoors."
Wearing a billowing and stylish cloak might look cool, but it would get in the way if he ever spent his time in a lab, workshop or manufacturing facility.
Having made his choice, Ves began to fashion the cloth into three new products. While he wasn't a tailor by any means, he took some crash-courses on the subject and let his workshop machines do most of the work on his behalf.
Ves had no pretensions that he could match the craftsmanship of a trained and experienced tailor like the old man who made his Pride of Dusk ensemble.
"Not everything needs to be special." He muttered as he supervised one of the machines that was in the process of sewing together different pieces of cloth. "Sometimes, just obtaining something that does the job is enough."
In any case, he soon completed the products. Both the smaller articles were made of pure Synthra Umbra. As for the larger article, Ves made use of one of his own spare vacsuits and merely added an extra layer on top of it. This allowed him to retain some of its more advanced functions while still benefiting from whole-body sensor shielding.
Once he slipped in his new underwear and vacsuit before donning his regular clothes, he hardly felt its presence. However, when he pointed his Vulcaneye and some of the other scanners in his lab at himself, he collected much less data than before!
At the very least, no one was able to ascertain any details about his internal organs! The only exception was his head and hands when his vacsuit was in its dormant state. Only when he commanded it to unfold and cover up his head and the rest of his body into an airtight seal did he manage to defeat most scanners.
The less sophisticated scanners detected nothing. It was as if he simply wasn't there.
However, the more discerning ones at least identified the presence of a man-shaped anomaly in his place. It couldn't be helped as his very presence displaced the air, blocked radiation and other signals, and exerted weight on the ground.
This meant that the utility of his Synthra Umbra vacsuit couldn't be used as a replacement for a genuine infiltrator suit.
"True stealth systems are always active systems. They perform many tricks to mitigate as many loopholes as possible."
Still, even if his Synthra Umbra vacsuit could only play an assisting role as best if he ever wanted to escape pursuit, they still performed their primary function.
Nothing could look inside his body anymore!
His vacsuit perfectly covered the unusual Jutland organ and the nearly undetectable energy that circulated inside his chest.
It also hid the changes sparked by his gene treatments and Attribute Candy consumption.
In fact, the slight padding of his Synthra Umbra vacsuit also did wonders in hiding his exact body contours. This would help him defeat any means of matching his exact body shape when he didn't want to be tracked while out in public.
"No matter what, wearing this vacsuit is very useful! There's almost no reason for me to leave it in the closet!"
If someone wanted to scan him because he wanted to get past a secure checkpoint or something, he could easily bear with the inconvenience of removing his Synthra Umbra vacsuit.
The point was that others were only allowed to scan him if he allowed them to! Without his consent or knowledge, no one could gain any meaningful data of what was inside his vacsuit.
Ves smirked. "That counts double for Gloriana!"
The reason why he fashioned some of his valuable Synthra Umbra into a pair of underwear was because he wanted some extra insurance!
If Gloriana ever attempted to scan him with a high-powered scanner, then his augmented underwear at least served as an unanticipated surprise!
"Hehehe." He grinned. "This is the first time I truly feel I've regained my privacy now."
To be fair, his stateroom and his lab compartments were already pretty secure. The overhauls planned by Crindon and him prioritized disconnecting as many unnecessary monitoring systems from them as possible.
Along with the implementations of controls that manually disconnected various cables to isolate a compartment completely from the ship, no one should ever be able to hijack a sensor feed in the affected area no matter what kind of backdoors they used!
Unfortunately, the overhaul stopped short from extending this protection to the rest of the ship. The Barracuda was simply too interconnected and automated for that to happen.
This was why Ves had no problem with wearing his Synthra Umbra vacsuit inside his ship. In fact, he should probably get used to wearing it all the time.
"Fortunately, it doesn't take much time or effort to clean. I can just dump it into a washing machine while I shower."
Though Ves spent an inordinate amount of time and effort on something that most people simply didn't bother with, he truly valued this new addition.
Once he became satisfied with his new Synthra Umbra vacsuit and underwear, he turned his attention to the third product he made.
He took the sleeve and carefully wrapped it around his second shield generator. After that, he wore it underneath his clothes.
"By now, it should be public knowledge that I'm always wearing a shield generator. Even if someone attempted to use a powerful scanner to confirm this, there's no way that anyone will be able to detect my second shield generator!"
Ves really liked what he did. Considering his adventurous life so far, people were bound to send hitmen after him. For some reason, people really didn't like him and wanted him dead.
He truly didn't know why.
"I haven't done anything to merit this treatment! I'm just a mech designer!" He lamented.
In any case, after an entire week of crafting, his new gear significantly increased his sense of security. To protect himself, he always emphasized stealth and protection measures.
While he was no slouch in terms of firepower with the Amastendira, he preferred to leave the fighting to his guards and his mech escorts.
Once Ves finished basking in the glow of his new additions, he rubbed his hands and exited to the lab and headed to the vault compartment.
Nitaa and Lucky both followed after him like ceremonial bodyguards.
Once they entered the vault, Ves gazed at the locked containers that held his new prizes.
"Where should I begin?"
Lucky approached one of the lockboxes strewn on a table and sat on it as if it was his throne. His tail swished back and forth in anticipation.
"Meow meow."
"Are you serious? Don't you know how rare and valuable they are? Aren't you happy with your current diet?"
"Meow!"
Ves sighed in defeat. "Yeah, I remember. I did promise to surrender a P-stone to you if I get more samples."
Currently, he possessed six P-stones. Each of them expanded his excess spiritual energy storage capacity, which was very important to sustain his long-term spiritual activities. They also served as adequate containers of spiritual entities, saving him from giving up a portion of his own mind to host a potentially uncooperative guest.
"Goddammit."
He hated the thought of giving up any P-stone. However, when he faced the hopeful expression of his cat, he couldn't muster up an argument to defer his promise.
"Okay! Just pick one!"
"Meow!"
Lucky already inspected each of the six P-stones and made his choice. Surprisingly, Lucky wanted to gobble up the very first P-stone that Ves had obtained.
What made the first P-stone different from the other ones was that Zeigra's surviving spirituality spent some time in it. Was this the reason why Lucky preferred it over the other P-stones?
"Do you want to become a tiger or something?"
"Meow."
"C'mon. Don't pick my first P-stone. Pick one of the newer ones instead!"
His first P-stone was the most memorable one in his collection! Despite its unremarkable appearance, Ves possessed an emotional attachment to it. He really didn't want to lose the first spiritually-reactive exotic he obtained in his life.
After a bit of haranging, Ves managed to get his grumpy cat to settle with his second P-stone. Zeigra's spirituality spent a brief moment of time inside, so there might be some traces left of the Crown Cat's presence.
"Meow!"
"This is the best you're going to get! I'm not changing my mind!"
Though Lucky meowed a few more times, he eventually got over the refusal and began to dive into the lockbox after Ves opened it up. Just like with the spent battery, Lucky slowly nibbled at the bronze-green metallic P-stone like it was a gourmet meal.
"Is it yummy, Lucky?"
"Meow."
"Hopefully, you'll grow stronger, then!"
Though Ves dearly wanted to hoard his P-stones, he didn't object to sharing a sample to Lucky if he got something in return. If Lucky managed to assimilate the properties of the P-stone, then he was willing to reduce his collection.
As Ves observed Lucky getting lost in his own reality, he found it rather fascinating that Lucky, Zeigra and the Devil Tiger all shared something in common.
"All three of you are gluttonous cats!"
As Lucky ignored his words, Ves simply shook his head and turned away.
"You better produce a gem for this! You've been freeloading from me for a long time!"
Though Lucky never explained why he stopped producing gems, Ves already formed his own answer.
Lucky was no longer able to produce low-value gems with minor effects. Eating cheap and low-grade exotics only served to sate his appetite and nothing else.
If Ves wanted to put his gem cat to good use, then he needed to feed his pet a diet of higher-value exotics!
Though the price was high, the rewards were high as well! If Ves could obtain another batch of gems comparable to the likes of the Ardent Wish or the Sin of Altrium, he'd be able to empower his most important custom mechs!
More importantly than that, each use of a high-value gem represented an increased chance of crafting another masterwork mech!
"Masterwork!" He clenched his fist. "Even if I can't take credit for my first attempt, now that I know I'm capable of reaching this height, I can definitely repeat this feat!"
Chapter 1481
Before Ves attended the Circle of Mota's auction, he only discovered two spiritually-reactive exotics.
He dubbed them P-stones and F-stones. He deliberately named them in this boring and undescriptive fashion in order to obscure their true purpose.
Even if a cultist of the Five Scrolls Compact heard mention of a P-stone, the crazy fellow would probably dismiss it as a stupid name for a random exotic.
Naturally, adopting these bland names also made it difficult for Ves to communicate their value and applications to others, but that wasn't a problem to Ves.
So far, only Lucky knew the most outside of Ves himself, but that was slowly changing.
He'd been dipping his toes into expanding his circle of trust by letting Nitaa watch over him as he worked. Even if he didn't speak out and explain about spirituality, she probably picked up some clues about the remarkable nature of the materials he prized so highly.
Now that Ves finished some of his tasks, he eagerly directed his attention to the two unusual items he and Finlay won from the auction.
"I better start with something easy." He muttered as he decided to leave Item #1255 aside for later. "Besides, the equipment I have on hand in this lab is too small to accommodate an object of this size."
The Ancient Sarcophagus was clearly the most powerful and impressive object he obtained from the Cinach System. However, Ves harbored a heavy amount of caution over this seemingly dormant object.
A crystal coffin that imprisoned an unknown humanoid alien being ought to be an artificial product rather than a product of nature!
"Whatever alien produced this crystal growth might have slipped all kinds of traps and safeguards into its structure. I can't treat it carelessly lest I break it or something!"
Another reason why Ves wanted to leave it for later was because of the unsettling amount of spiritual activity he sensed from within.
Could it be the remnant spirituality of the dead alien being?
A cosmic spiritual hitchhiker who randomly latched on to the coffin?
A formless collection of wild spiritual energy that sprouted from the environment where the Ancient Sarcophagus used to rest?
Ves had no clue, and that scared him. Sometimes, he even entertained fears that he might have unwittingly invited a powerful spiritual predator aboard his ship!
Fortunately, nothing unusual had happened while Item #1255 had been brought aboard the Barracuda. None of the crew or his staff acquired a different personality and no one suffered any nightmares.
Ves even occasionally swept his spiritual senses over every individual he came across. He detected no spiritual contamination or anything of that nature.
That still didn't make him feel relieved, though. The more he observed Item #1255, the more he feared its presence.
"This is a good thing." Ves tried to convince himself. "If it isn't so powerful, it's not worth 20 billion bright credits."
Rather than keep reinforcing his fears, Ves decided to ignore the Ancient Sarcophagus entirely in favor of something smaller and more manageable.
Item #613 consisted of an unknown exotic that reacted to his spiritual probes in a different fashion from his existing P-stones and F-stones.
"This means it's likely to be a third type of spiritually-reactive exotics!"
This was good news, if it turned out to be true! Ves eagerly grabbed the container holding Item #613 and practically ran from the vault and returned to his lab.
There, he began to subject the exotic through a whole host of scans and probes.
While his Vulcaneye and his miniaturized lab equipment didn't yield as much data as he wanted, he still managed to record a decent amount of energetic activity that confirmed that it was a powerful exotic.
"Interesting." Ves mulled over the readings he interpreted. "The P-stones I obtained barely contain any activity, though I've never studied them when they are filled with spiritual energy. The F-stone I've acquired is decently energetic to begin with, but it also starts off with a full charge."
In comparison, Item #613 exhibited moderate activity, which suggested that it was a completely new medium-grade exotic.
No wonder the Circle of Nitaa decided to put it up for auction! If not for its completely unknown applications, a lot more wealthy material researchers would have loved to uncover its secrets!
"Well, it's all mine now."
Though Ves subjected Item #613 to various scans, he had merely been studying the strange exotic with technological means.
He withheld employing his spiritual senses until after he covered the basics. If his spiritual probes ever elicited some kind of reaction or transformation, then he wanted to make sure he possessed the original parameters to compare the changes.
"Well, it's finally time." He smiled.
He made sure to take numerous precautions. He placed Item #613 in a protective chamber and made sure to wear protective lab equipment. While he didn't suspect that the rose-gold exotic was some kind of bomb, it was better to be safe than sorry.
Once he finished triple-checking all of the sensors and safeguards, he began to concentrate his mind and rouse his spiritual senses.
He maintained his distance at first. He switched on his spiritual vision and began to observe Item #613 without disturbing it in any fashion.
He spotted no sign that the exotic contained any spiritual energy. It didn't glow in his spiritual vision or throw up any unusual phenomena that signified the presence of a spiritual entity.
That did not mean that he was wrong about Item #613. The P-stones didn't appear unusual either in his spiritual vision because they didn't normally contain anything.
"Looks like I have to take a risk and probe it deeper."
Just looking at it from afar didn't cut it. He needed to touch it and pry it open in order to figure out its spiritually-reactive properties, and from there, its applications.
He extended his spiritual senses, which took on a faint real form due to the infusion of his spiritual energy, and began to extend it towards the exotic.
Enough time had passed since his mother's visit for his spiritual energy reserves to return to its peak. Ves had already begun to siphon bits of his excess spiritual energy into one of his five P-stones.
Ves was curious how much excess spiritual energy a P-stone could store. He wondered whether their capacity differed in relation to their mass, volume, density, material composition or other variables.
This reminded him that he should come up with a measurement for spiritual energy. For now, he already apportioned his spiritual energy by how much he replenished in a standard day.
In any case, he turned his attention back to Item #613. Before, he only briefly brushed his senses towards the object. Now, he was about to perform a deeper examination.
"Here goes!"
He extended a small spiritual probe and attempted to push it through the surface of the rose-gold exotic.
He failed!
"So my initial probe back then was right! Item #613 is capable of acting as a barrier!"
One common attribute about spiritual energy was that it passed through nearly any material as if it didn't exist. It was as if spirituality occupied a different physical phase from every other material object. Just like how many types of signals and other forms of radiation effortlessly passed through solid walls or human bodies, spirituality seemed to be able to go wherever it wanted!
"It can probably sink in the center of a planet if it can last that long!"
Though Ves always observed this kind of behavior, he never assumed it was universally true. Exceptions always existed, but he never imagined encountering one in the flesh today!
His interest towards Item #613 increased as Ves employed more and more of his spirituality against the solid rock. He wanted to see if he could break the barrier and sink his spiritual projections beneath the surface!
He became more and more reckless as he continually empowered his spiritual projections. He pumped them so full of energy that his reserves in his mind started to decrease at an alarming rate!
Even then, he never managed to budge the defenses erected by Item #613!
Though he hadn't conducted a full range of tests yet, he tentatively formulated a couple of preliminary assumptions.
First, he guessed that the entire composition of Item #613 possessed this spiritual blocking effect. If he cut the rock in two, both halves would still exhibit the same behavior, even along the surface of the cut.
Second, the strength of this blocking effect is proportional to the mass or volume of the object. The larger the exotic, the more strength he needed to exert to break through the barrier.
In order to test these assumptions, he needed to get physical, because what he was doing now yielded no new information. Even when he deployed nearly all of his free-floating spiritual energy, he hadn't managed to make a single dent in Item #613's defenses!
"It's strong! At least in this quantity, it's more than enough to block intrusions at my level of strength!"
Ves wondered whether a more powerful entity such as Qilanxo was able to smash it through using sheer brute force.
"I should focus on the tests that I can perform."
He began to activate some lab equipment and attempted to cut a sliver of rock from the surface of Item #613.
While the exotic was exceptionally resilient against spiritual energy, its material resilience was relatively mundane.
"It's toughness is no different from that of an average space rock." Ves mused as he didn't encounter any difficulties in obtaining his slice.
If the exotic was as tough as compressed alloy, then Ves would have a lot more trouble trying to cut a precise piece out of the exotic.
The portion he sliced off resembled a very tiny rectangular tile. One side was uneven as it bore the natural texture of Item #613's exterior. The other side was as smooth and straight as the cutting implement had sheared it off the main body.
"It's exactly ten grams!"
He didn't dare cut off a greater piece for fear of damaging Item #613's integrity. In order to reassure himself, he began to repeat his earlier experiments and attempted to push his spiritual projections through the surface of the exotic, paying special attention to the abnormally smooth surface of the cut.
"It's the same!"
Practically nothing changed! Slicing ten grams off an object that weighed many kilograms did not affect the exotic's ability to block spiritual energy in any significant way!
This increased his interest towards the rectangular sample he cut off. Was it as strong as the main body, or was it as weak as it diminutive size suggested?
"Let's see."
Ves began to probe it carefully with his spiritual energy.
It managed to block his weak attempts at punching through.
"So it still works even when cut out of the main body!"
That was a relief to him. He didn't relish trying to make use of Item #613 in its natural space rock form. In order to make best use of this material, he wanted to process and mold it into a more fitting form.
Emboldened by his initial attempts, Ves employed more and more of his spiritual strength.
However, just as he was about to ramp up, his spirituality finally pushed through the resistance and began to sink into the object!
In fact, after employing a tiny bit more strength, his spirituality began to pass through the rectangular sample with only a minor amount of resistance!
"It's like pushing my finger through a surface of water!"
As long as he employed enough strength, he no longer felt the resistance!
This result disappointed him a bit, though he already expected that something like this would happen. His hopes of creating a micrometer thick wall to form a barrier that blocked any spiritual intrusions were dashed.
"Well, at least this exotic behaves according to logic and common sense."
Ves performed some additional experiments. He cut additional specimens from the surface of Item #613. They differed from the first piece by either volume or mass.
Once he performed a raft of probes on all of the pieces, he confidently concluded that the strength of the spiritual blocking effect was proportional to its mass!
"The heavier, the stronger!"
Ves knew for sure now that he discovered a third type of spiritually-reactive exotics!
"I'm not sure if it's only my energy it's capable of blocking, but for now I've ascertained enough to bestow it a name!"
Seeing that its main effect was to block spiritual energy, he decided to stick to his current naming scheme and dubbed it the B-stone!
"Welcome to my collection, B-stone!"
Chapter 1482
Item #613, which Ves dubbed the B-stone, exhibited simple properties. It blocked spiritual energy. The higher the mass, the more effective the blocking strength.
Ves could easily pierce a sheet of B-stone as thin as a fingernail with a spiritual jab.
However, layering several sheets of B-stone on top of each other increased the blocking strength as if they were a single whole. This made working with B-stones a lot more convenient.
He continually cut more and more rectangular sheets from the B-stone and kept layering them against each other. He kept doing this until his full-strength spiritual probe could no longer pierce through the material.
"It's kind of strange." Ves scratched his chin. "My spiritual energy loses a bit of force and energy if the B-stone isn't thick enough, but it's still able to go through. However, the moment I add in just a single sheet, the B-stone turns into a solid wall. I can't even get past the front door anymore."
Against weak opponents, a decent layer of B-stone offered total protection against spiritual intrusions. Even if Ves faced a powerful entity as strong as Qilanxo, the B-stone still weakened and sapped the strength of any powerful spiritual attacks.
"B-stone is really easy to use!"
Ves liked its straightforwardness. Compared to the abstruse mechanics of P-stones or the unfathomable source of charged energy in F-stones, a B-stone simply functioned as a shielding material against a specific type of energy.
As an engineer, Ves appreciated the simple rules behind the B-stone's spiritual blocking phenomenon. Because of its regular and predictable properties, Ves could make precise calculations on how much B-stone he needed to design and fabricate a particular application.
He began to record the parameters of the B-stone for the rest of the day. He took a specific quantity of spiritual energy and tested how much B-stone was required to block that specific amount.
All of this sounded like boring work, but Ves never lost his interest. The more he became familiar with B-stones, the more he gained a feel of its workings.
At the end of the day, Ves recorded all of the parameters in his personal database.
Of course, Ves did not stupidly describe the spiritual blocking phenomenon in a way that hinted at the existence of either spirituality or psionics. Crindon's frequent warnings always reminded him that no electronic system or database was truly secure.
It was better to start with the assumption that his records would always be accessed by a hacker, infiltrator or spy. For that reason, Ves merely typed up a bunch of gibberish that he had mentally encoded with his own form of encryption. His highly capable mind was easily capable of emulating the functions of a computer to this extent as long as the encryption wasn't too complex.
Of course, even if a genius was still able to decrypt his gibberish records, they would only be able to obtain a bunch of random code words and numbers that meant nothing to the wrong person.
Only a high-ranking mech designer who specialized in the same direction of research as Ves would be able to infer that the data described a material that hindered the passage of spiritual energy!
"I won't say a mech designer like that doesn't exist." He cautioned himself. "Exceptions always exist. The galactic mech community is humongous and incredibly varied."
Even so, the chances of encountering another mech designer who specialized in spirituality was very low! At the very least, Ves believed he wouldn't encounter any of them in this corner of the galaxy!
Now that Ves recorded all of the properties of his B-stone, he stopped his investigations and took back the B-stone from the scanning machines. After continually cutting samples from Item #613, it now featured lots of rectangular cutoffs on its surface. He had practically skinned its surface in order to obtain enough sheets to block his spiritual probes!
What he had accomplished today not only increased his familiarity with a new type of spiritually-reactive material, but also advanced his understanding of the nature of spirituality.
"However, I'm still limited by my own strength." He idly complained.
His Spirituality Attribute had grown since he advanced to Journeyman, but the quantity of free-floating spiritual energy in his mind was still too weak. With his design seed hogging most of his Spirituality, the leftovers only enabled him to exert a small proportion of his strength in areas unrelated to mech design.
This also made it hard for him to imagine whether he even needed the protection afforded by B-stones.
This was a very valid question, as so far Ves had only witnessed spiritual energy being used to empower one's own abilities. In other words, it was like a fuel that enabled a spiritually-strong entity to perform special abilities that bent or broke the rules of reality.
"However, if someone dumps a bucket of fuel over me and ignites it in some way, it can still be deadly!"
Nonetheless, Ves believed it was a bit far-fetched for him to utilize B-stones as protection against direct spiritual attacks. Not even Qilanxo utilized her formidable spirituality in such a fashion!
After a bit of thinking, Ves came up with a number of possible applications.
First, he could utilize B-stones to form a prison for uncooperative spiritual entities.
"The problem here is that P-stones already serve this function."
That did not mean that B-stones became redundant. The suction force exerted by P-stones was not omnipotent.
Unlike B-stones, the effect of P-stones couldn't be strengthened by layering them against each other. Ves had already cut off a tiny slice of P-stone during his previous experimentations in order to test that assumption.
Each P-stone formed a completely new nucleus. They were self-contained entities that didn't combine their forces with other P-stones in the vicinity.
This meant that even if he pressed a hundred identical P-stones together, he'd only form a collection of 100 smaller cells instead of one huge chamber!
In fact, when he attempted to melt the small sample of P-stone he cut off from one of the primary P-stones, it lost its effect!
"P-stones lose their properties when subject to heavy processing!"
All of this probably didn't matter if Ves only used his P-stones as spiritual energy batteries.
However, if Ves captured a very strong spiritual entity one day, his P-stones might not be strong enough to keep something powerful contained in place.
This was where B-stones could come in. Since it was easy to work with and retained its properties no matter how much Ves beat it up, he could easily shape the B-stone into a barrier around an P-stone.
"It's like building prison walls around the main prison building. It's a second line of defense."
As long as Ves possessed a sufficient quantity of B-stones, he could potentially imprison the most powerful spiritual entities in the galaxy! Even ace pilot-like entities like Qilanxo would have no choice but to stay put if Ves built a cell out of B-stones that was many meters thick!
"Perhaps even god pilots or comparable entities can be isolated in this fashion!"
The only downside was that B-stones only blocked Spirituality and did nothing else. P-stones still played a role in imprisoning spiritual entities because they formed an adequate substitute of physical bodies.
Without the sheltering function provided by P-stones, spiritual entities would slowly degrade because they lacked the nurturing of a real home.
The best home was a physical body, but now that Ves thought about it, he never thought about the fact that his designs and mechs also served as adequate homes!
Ves believed this was mostly due to bleeding his Spirituality over his mechs and mech designs. Because he subliminally invested his spiritual energy into his works, they gained the ability to shelter and maybe even nurture any spiritual entities that resided in their spiritual shells!
In fact, Ves even suspected for a very long time that his design spirits benefited more if his mechs grew more popular! The more mech pilots a design spirit connected with, the more symbiotic relationship it formed!
"Each proper relationship is mutually beneficial. Both the mech pilot and the mech derive benefits from their bond." Ves observed.
This was one of the core assumptions of his design philosophy, after all!
If Ves extended this line of reasoning, then forming more relationships meant that a design spirit harvested more benefits!
Of course, Ves assumed that low-ranking mech pilots only provided minimal benefits. A bond with an expert candidate or expert pilot was probably a billion or a trillion times stronger!
Ves grinned. "It's interesting how discovering new materials can elicit so many new insights!"
He observed many different phenomena related to spirituality, but he never paid attention to some of his more peculiar observations. Only when prompted by different stimuli did he begin to look back at his old observations and realize that something exceptional was happening right under his nose!
Each new phenomena he came in touch with expanded his grasp on spirituality. With a greater amount of context, his old observations began to fit into place like pieces in a puzzle.
"If I've already managed to obtain these gains from just three exotics that are relevant to my specialty, then what about six? What about twelve?"
He could scarcely imagine what kind of brain storms would ensue if he came in touch with so many different kinds of spiritually-reactive exotics!
One of the reasons why mech designers spent so much money and effort on certain exotics was to initiate brainstorms that substantially advanced their understanding in their own fields!
He basked in the new insights he just formed, each of which illuminated another facet of spirituality and spiritual engineering.
Once he came off his high, he turned his attention back to the present and stared at the chunk of B-stone.
He wondered whether he should preserve it in its current form or make use of it immediately.
"This is my only sample so far, but unlike P-stones I've already figured out what I needed to learn. There's no use keeping it in storage."
However, Ves couldn't come up with an immediate application.
"What do I need?"
Maybe he should make use of it to form a barrier against hostile spiritual intrusions and invasions. He already attacked or intruded upon several spiritual entities in the imaginary realm. While he always got away with his attempts, he might provoke a powerful existence into chasing him back to his body!
That would be really bad if the entity he provoked was strong!
Ves looked at his B-stone with a dubious expression. It had enough mass to form a thick helmet with plenty of material to spare.
"A helmet won't offer protection in every direction. Even if I make the entire faceplate solid, it will still have a huge hole to accommodate my neck!"
Unfortunately, the amount of B-stone he possessed fell short of forming an entire suit of protective armor. He'd have to spread out his B-stone so much that its layer of protection could easily be pierced by someone of his strength.
Eventually, he decided to make a protective container out of his available B-stone. He processed the raw B-stone through various machines and hand tools and quickly crafted most of its mass into a fairly thick lockbox with a purely mechanical door and locking mechanism.
Ves also drew upon the stores of other strong materials stored on the Barracuda and added some much-needed physical reinforcement to the contraption. While it wouldn't save the lockbox against being flattened by the foot of a mech, it was more than sufficient to survive someone shooting at it with infantry weapons.
The B-stone lockbox looked thicker than other lockboxes. Despite its size and lack of functions, it was the only container in his possession that blocked and isolated spirituality in both directions.
He proceeded to test it by placing one of his P-stones inside. The P-stone contained a decent charge of excess spiritual energy which Ves could easily detect with his spiritual senses."
However, once he closed the lockbox, he no longer felt any trace of the P-stone's spiritual activity!
He attempted to project his Spirituality through the lockbox and sense the P-stone that was stored inside.
He failed!
"It works!"
Not only did he form a container that could potentially assist him in imprisoning powerful spiritual entities, he could also store sensitive materials inside. Anyone who possessed the power to detect spiritually-active materials would not be able to peek what Ves had stored inside!
To be honest, Ves had another reason to make use of his B-stone to craft a lockbox. He wanted to shield his valuable treasures against the only person who stole from him on a regular basis!
His mother!
"Hahahaha!" He laughed as he rubbed his cheek against the surface of his new lockbox. "With you around, my mother won't have any clue!"
Chapter 1483
Investigating and processing his sole B-stone took far less time than he thought. With the fleet still more than a month away from reaching the Hertog Dominion, Ves had a lot of time on his hands.
To be honest, Ves was afraid of tackling the most valuable object he gained from his visit to the Cinach System. The more his thoughts strayed towards the Ancient Sarcophagus, the more he became apprehensive about what he might encounter in his investigations.
The strange, red crystalline coffin loomed heavily in his heart. Strangely enough, his intuition didn't issue anything more than a vague and ambiguous hint, but his instincts and some of his other impulses exhibited an increasing amount of fear!
"What the hell is going on?!" Ves shook his head.
He suddenly realized that his creeping sense of fear towards Item #1255 might not be a natural phenomenon.
Instead, he began to suspect that some kind of external influence artificially increased his apprehension towards the Ancient Sarcophagus!
"Is it indoctrinating me? Is there something.. alive inside?"
Ves occasionally entertained the idea that the alien body that rested inside might not be dead.
Even after eons had passed, the red crystal surrounding the body might have been able to preserve or even nurture the lingering spirituality that remained after the death of the alien individual inside.
"This coffin was found in some kind of temple in an alien ruin." Ves recalled. "Whoever is buried inside must be an esteemed individual in their civilization!"
It was akin to the crystal builder leader corpse he retrieved a long time ago. The most formidable individuals of their races always possessed something special that helped them stay in charge.
What kind of powers did the alien individual locked inside the Ancient Sarcophagus possess? How much of that remained after the alien's death? Had it mutated somehow after the passage of eons of times?
The most frustrating part about this situation was that Ves didn't have any proof to substantiate his guesses! He could work his overactive imagination all he wanted, but all he got in return was pure speculation!
"The only way I can resolve my doubts is to tackle the bull by the horns! I can't delay this investigation any further! Otherwise, I'll grow too afraid to even begin my investigation!"
Despite his urgency, Ves did not immediately pull out the Ancient Sarcophagus from his vault. He wanted to enter into his most optimal state before he started his examination.
He looked at the spiritual lockbox he just fashioned. The P-stone inside only contained a few day's worth of excess spiritual energy.
"That's not enough. I need to build up a larger reserve."
To Ves, spiritual energy was akin to the supplies of a mech regiment. When mechs deployed in battle, they used up a varying amount of fuel, energy and ammunition. They also sustained damage to their structure.
If the mech regiment brought an abundant supply train, then they could easily replenish what the mechs had expended, allowing it to return into battle after a round of servicing.
However, a mech regiment that brought an insufficient quantity of supplies quickly lost battle effectiveness. With continuing attrition, mechs returned from battle with low energy levels, serious battle damage and no ammunition. If these deficiencies couldn't be remedied, then that was the end!
Ves believed that this analogy might be relevant to this situation. If the Ancient Sarcophagus held some kind of hostile spiritual entity, then Ves may be forced into a spiritual battle of some sorts!
His experiences in confrontations against spiritual entities taught him that attrition still applied in this type of conflict. His attempts to disturb Zeigra's presence in the imaginary realm from suppressing Vescas to its breaking point could have gone a lot better if he wasn't so hesitant about expending his scarce spiritual energy!
"It's really hard to fight with limited supplies." He muttered. "I'll stand a better chance if I accumulate a deeper reserve."
He planned to wait a few days to store more excess spiritual energy into his P-stones.
Not too much, though. If he delayed for too long, the fear he held towards the Ancient Sarcophagus would become rooted in his mind.
"I'll see how far I can go before I have to make a move."
Until then, Ves had plenty of tasks to occupy his time with. This seemed like a good time to investigate the supposed gift his parents left behind for his recent birthday.
Ves retrieved a tiny box from the vault and opened it up. A pair of carbon-black rings rested inside. Both of them were small enough to wrap around a finger with plenty of room to spare.
Neither of them fit him in their current state, but that wasn't a big deal. His mother already suggested to him that he should use it as the base of a more sophisticated pair of rings. Wedding rings.
He frowned at the rings. Despite their plain appearance, there must be a reason why his father and mother chose these rings in particular.
"My parents didn't wear any strange rings if I recall."
When Ves inspected the rings with his spiritual senses, he didn't pick up anything peculiar at first.
However, the more he probed it with his Spirituality, the more he started to feel something strange about the rings.
"There's something inside one of the rings."
As Ves probed deeper, he finally discovered that it held a miniscule mote of spiritual energy. As soon as his spiritual projection touched it, a stream of data suddenly occupied his attention!
Seconds later, his attention cleared up. His eyes widened due to what he experienced.
His mother implanted another spiritual message into an object! As soon as his Spirituality came in touch with it, the message transmitted straight to his mind!
"How is she doing this?! More importantly, can I do this as well?"
This was the second time he encountered a spiritual method of communication. This time, he didn't hear his mother's voice. Instead, the information his mother left behind implanted directly into his mind.
In fact, the method shared several similarities with how the System imparted knowledge to him after he exchanged his DP for a Skill!
His impression of his mother as some kind of spiritual sorceress only increased. The more she revealed her abilities, the more Ves felt as if his own progress in this field was trivial in comparison!
"There's no point comparing myself to her." He whispered to himself. "I should focus on my own advancement instead of looking enviously at the accomplishments of others."
Mech designers were already taught to avoid comparing themselves to others. The existence of Seniors, Masters and Star Designers meant there were lots of people who clearly surpassed the vast majority in their profession.
"Besides, I'm still young."
That caused him to wonder about his mother's age. Was her record even accurate? What if her spirit was younger than her body?
The suggestion that his mother might be a centuries-old hag who hopped from body to body as if she donned new clothes sent a chill through his spine. The beginnings of an existential crisis threatened to take over his mind!
"Some secrets are best left in the dark!"
He shoved his mind of all superfluous thoughts and focused his attention back to the plain, black pair of wedding rings.
The message his mother imparted him only revealed a few scarce details.
First, the material used to make the wedding ring was actually a high-grade exotic that his parents came across in the Nyxian Gap. They obtained it at great cost and somehow managed to process the material into a pair of ring bases.
The reason why the ring bases didn't elicit any reactions to his probes at first was because they were somewhat similar to P-stones.
"They aren't special by themselves. They're akin to containers!"
Different from P-stones, they possessed an extra property. One that justified forming them into wedding rings.
Frankly, the implications of the message disturbed Ves a bit. He could choose not to make use of the rings, but that would be discarding a powerful tool.
"There's a lot of potential in their use, but the price I need to pay is not something I can ignore."
Ves was very surprised that his mother unearthed something so powerful. The Nyxian Gap was a treasure trove of spiritually-reactive exotics. Whatever material the wedding rings were made of turned out to be the fourth spiritually-reactive exotic he came across!
It was also the one with the most powerful effects that he discovered up to now!
He closed the box and placed it back in the vault. For now, it was way too early for Ves to commit to their use. Once he followed the instruction of his mother's message, he would pass a point of no return.
"Wearing the rings is literally a life-long commitment. I have to be absolutely sure I chose the right person to spend the rest of my life with. If I screw this up, I'll regret it for the rest of my life!"
Both he and his partner would have to pay a big price to activate the rings.
When Ves thought about proposing to someone like Gloriana, the spike of fear he felt exceeded his apprehension towards the Ancient Sarcophagus!
He could handle the latter, but he wasn't necessarily sure that he could handle his current girlfriend!
"I better keep these rings buried as deeply as possible. I don't want Gloriana to get in touch with them before I am ready to make a choice!"
For now, thoughts of tying the knot with Gloriana was way too premature. Despite her overpowering enthusiasm for him, they barely knew each other. Ves needed much more time to see if he could form a healthy relationship with the Hexer.
"Even if I can't.. I might not have a choice."
Any relationship they might form would be dysfunctional to say the least. Both of them were simply too weird to act normal.
"From this perspective, we fit together pretty well."
The point was that if their relationship turned out to be less than ideal, Ves may still consider tying himself together to Gloriana.
This was because he might decide to take advantage of the practical benefits she brought into the relationship. Her talent as a mech designer and her identity as a scion from a prominent Hexer dynasty extended a lot of protection.
Leeching off his girlfriend's wealth also assisted him in obtaining stuff he couldn't obtain on his own. The pure ASMAS that Gloriana arranged for him without an excessive price was one good example.
"At most, I'll treat her as my sugar mommy."
Ves wasn't satisfied with that, though. Though he loved his work more than anything, he still wanted to share his passion with a like minded partner.
A purely transactional relationship where both mech designers only came together in order to borrow from each other's design philosophies was not unheard of. Yet Ves scrunched his face at the thought of entering into a loveless union.
"I'm still human."
If his relationship with Gloriana turned out to be too dysfunctional or one-sided, then Ves should seek to disentangle himself from her. No matter how obsessed she was with him, he didn't want to waste his chances to experience genuine love!
Of course, rejecting someone like Gloriana was easier said than done. He'd have to make her detest him in order to get rid of her entanglement, but Ves had no idea how he could do that.
With her intelligence and determination, she'd easily see through his attempts to lower her opinion of him. Even if he was the ugliest man in the galaxy, her obsession with him would still be strong because of the potential benefits she stood to gain if they started working together!
For this reason, it would be better if he found some way to make his relationship with Gloriana work.
Chapter 1484
Ves spent a few days catching up to his paperwork. He also diverted some time to talk with Gavin, Nitaa, Crindon, Commander Cinnabar and his subordinates back home.
Nothing unusual happened during the time he conducted his research, so he didn't hear anything new. His subordinates only passed on routine information to him which he quickly shoved to the back of his mind.
Both the LMC and the fleet were stable. Only the environment experienced some shifts. The escalating sandman invasion kept exerting more and more pressure. The border states bore the brunt of the assaults so far, and were so egregious that the CFA finally came into action!
"Good news, boss!" Gavin announced one day. "The CFA finally got their act together and are done with mobilizing a warfleet!"
"Do you know where the warfleet is heading?"
"They're dispatching their warships straight into the deep frontier! They're going to attack and wipe out all of the core settlements of the sandmen! By the time the warfleet is done with razing all of the sandmen settlements, their civilization will be completely wiped out! The CFA has promised to stamp out the sandman emperor and any other high-caste members of their race!"
A CFA warship was very formidable. Multiple modern battleships and numerous other capital ships formed the nucleus of a huge fleet that was capable of wiping out an entire civilization in a matter of months or years! The number of escort ships that accompanied a typical CFA warfleet numbered in the hundreds!
There was no doubt about the CFA's determination to shatter the sandman civilization. They were no longer willing to tolerate the presence of this hostile alien race along the border of human space!
However, details mattered. Something about Gavin's wording didn't sit straight with Ves.
He narrowed his eyes. "Benny, the CFA is only dispatching a single warfleet, right?"
"Right."
"And they're sending it straight into the frontier in order to uproot the foundation of the sandman empire, right?"
"Uh, right."
"What about the scattered sandman fleets that are crashing into the border states like locusts? Has the CFA sent any reinforcements to bolster the defenses of the states in the war theater?"
"Uhhh..."
"I guess that's a no."
Gavin stopped smiling. "According to the news I've gathered, the CFA left the job of defending interior to the MTA. It's a matter of jurisdiction, you see."
The CFA defended humanity beyond its borders while the MTA defended humanity from within. This summed up the essence of their power-sharing deal.
"What does the MTA have to say?"
"Uhh, I don't know."
"Then find out!"
Gavin quickly activated his comm and browsed the galactic net. After a bit of searching, his face started to fall.
"The MTA's Komodo branch just published out a new statement! You won't like it, boss!"
"Just tell me."
"The MTA say that they are 'unable to commit an organized response to the current alien incursion into human space'. The most they can do is to activate some of the garrison forces they've stationed at the star systems under threat to defend the local planets!"
Ves frowned. "Is that all?"
"Yes! The rest of their statement is filled with a lot of bureaucratic language, but they're essentially telling the states that they're already strong enough to resist the sandman threat on their own! It isn't worth the effort for the MTA to mobilize their Compliance Department on a massive scale to wipe out the sandmen fleets that are wreaking havoc in human space!"
The callousness of this message astounded the both of them. While the CFA at least mobilized an entire warfleet, all the MTA was willing to do was to activate the defense forces that were already stationed in the threatened regions!
"What the hell are they thinking?!" Ves burst out. "The Tomaris Federation and the other border states are practically drowning in sandmen!"
"Maybe.. they really don't have the forces at hand to mop up all of the scattered sandmen fleets that have infiltrated human space."
That was a very realistic possibility. Ves already witnessed numerous instances where the CFA failed to discharge their responsibilities. Their absence was keenly felt by many powers of the Komodo Star Sectors.
Regardless of how many people disparanged the MTA for failing to match the CFA's commitment, the Association didn't budge!
Gavin summed up the reality of the situation. "No one can force the MTA to commit more forces to our star sector's defense. Whatever their reasons, we have no choice but to accept their excuses."
"The only saving grace about the MTA's inaction is that they aren't wrong. So far, the sandmen fleets have opted to scatter and raid many different star systems. If they combined their forces into greater numbers, then they could have easily overrun the core systems of the Tomaris Federation by now!"
The invading sandmen exhibited no coherent strategy. Each individual sandman admiral commanded their retainers by themselves.
This had led to the occurence of lots of smaller battles and skirmishes. The only times when a major battle broke out was if multiple sandmen fleets independently invaded the same star system at the same time.
As long as these kinds of coincidences didn't happen too often, the local mech forces were still able to defeat the sandmen fleets on their own strength.
However, the problem here was that there were way too many star systems under attack, and too few forces to defend them all!
Even if the Tomaris Federation and all the other states had conscripted every local mercenary corps and private outfit to help out in the defense, many small and unimportant rural planets were left without any adequate defenses!
The locals who lived there were left to fend for themselves, and the sandmen were never merciful towards human life. Attracted by the power generators and other energy sources of human settlements, the sandmen descended upon them like a tsunami of sand, devouring everything in their way!
Ves and Gavin both browsed the galactic net and read the analyses of the local publications. The Rimward Star Herald immediately published an article that painted a bleak picture for the near future.
"According to the Herald, the situation will grow worse before it gets better." Ves described as his eyes kept skimming over other articles. "The CFA warfleet will scatter some of its forces once they reach the space occupied by the sandman race. They'll quickly wipe out all the sandman settlements and colonies in the deep frontier, thereby cutting off the flow of invaders pouring into human space."
"I see. So we only have to hold out for a couple of years before the sandmen fleets that are already on route exhaust themselves?"
"Yes. Without their empire, the only sandmen that exist are the ones in space who are led by sandman admirals. These admirals aren't very smart or inventive by human standards. They only know how to follow their instructions, even if they don't make any sense due to new developments."
"So basically we need to weather the storm for a couple of years, is that right?"
"Right." Ves started to frown. "However, the problem is that the current intensity of sandman attacks is very high. It's doubtful whether the Tomaris Federation can hold out for more than a year. If the first line of border states fall, the second line of border states will come under threat. When the second line falls, the third line will face the brunt of the attacks."
"That means the Bright Republic will come under threat." Gavin glowered. "Depending on how you look at it, our state is in the third line or fourth line of defense. If the sandmen fleets punch through the Coman Federation, our star systems will come under assault."
Both of them shared grim looks with each other.
This was because they realized very clearly that the Bright Republic was not in a good shape right now! Almost two years had passed since the Bright Republic concluded their latest war against the Vesia Kingdom. The state was still recovering from the aftermath of this intensive conflict!
Ves wondered if Senator Tovar and Prince Colchester received advanced warning of this invasion.
He shook his head. The sandmen were very distant and hadn't made any major movements during the time of the peace treaty signing.
Ves processed the news he read and put what he learned into context. "The war ended early, but that doesn't mean the damage is light. We can still put up a fight if we have to, but I don't think we'll fare any better than the Tomaris Federation if we face the same intensity of sandmen attacks. For now, it doesn't seem as if the main thrust of the sandman invasion is directed at the Bright Republic, but who knows if this will change."
"It depends on how quickly the CFA can smash the sandman empire." Gavin emphasized. "The faster they cut off the flow of invaders, the fewer sandman fleets we have to deal with. It's pretty crazy when you think about how many sandmen are committed to these attacks. They're probably hollowing out their empire at this very moment! By the time the CFA warfleet reaches sandman territory, I bet they'll only be bombarding a bunch of empty nests!"
If the entire sandman civilization truly migrated their entire race into human space, then the CFA's response was pointed in the wrong direction! They should have sent their warfleet to the border states instead!
"Those goddamn territorial elitists!" Ves cursed.
He knew enough about the CFA that they looked down on space peasants and disdained the impoverished star sectors of the galactic rim.
The MTA was supposed to be different and stand up for the common people because they were far more willing to hire locals. Yet the factional strife within their ranks left the supporters of the galactic rim on the backfoot!
In the end, the supposed protectors of humanity were far too lofty to be relied upon by locals. They had greater concerns to deal with, and were barely willing to direct their attention to threats they considered minor.
It was easy to guess why their responses had been so lackadaisical. The Big Two was so mighty that the sandman race represented a nuisance at best.
Ves believed that the MTA and CFA had long been preoccupied with more important matters. Whether that justified their relative inaction remained to be seen.
He turned to Nitaa, who quietly stood guard all this while. "What do you think about the Big Two's actions?"
She shrugged. "I'm not too familiar with them. It sounds like you know more about them than me, sir. I highly suggest you drop your plans to return to the Bright Republic and relocate somewhere deeper into the interior of the star sector. Visiting your girlfriend's home would be ideal."
"No way!"
"We can't!" Gavin echoed his boss. "The Bright Republic is our home! We have a duty to defend our state!"
That caused Ves to send a questioning glance at his assistant. "If I recall, the Mech Corps drafted me to support the war effort. You on the other hand remained at the LMC. If anyone is about to do their duty, it's me, not you. I've got the medals to prove my worth."
"I am still doing my part by assisting you in doing your work. Don't discount my contribution!"
"Yeah, yeah, whatever you say, Benny."
Even if the both of them were committed to assisting the Bright Republic in this sudden conflict, neither of them liked it. The recent war had left a lot of scars behind. Even a civilian like Gavin who escaped the brutality of the fighting had been affected by all of the recent suffering.
"You know. Since we're fighting a common enemy this time, is it possible that we'll fight alongside the Vesians?" Ves mused.
Gavin looked scandalized. "They're our archenemies! There's no way a Brighter mech division and a Vesian mech legion will ever tolerate each other's presence! There's too much bad blood between us to keep ourselves in check!"
"I'm not so sure about that. Old hatreds won't last in the face of a greater threat."
Chapter 1485
Ves already encountered the sandmen in battle during his Vandal days. While he did not rate their intelligence and reasoning abilities very highly, their peculiar racial abilities turned them into very formidable foes.
Fortunately, the sandmen were nowhere close to matching the strength of any of the Seven Apex Races. From a galactic perspective, they were a bunch of space vermin that humanity could squash like a bug any time they wanted.
The only problem here was that the Big Two discounted them so much that they barely lifted their fingers to address this crisis!
While it was true that the sandmen could be defeated by the local mech forces of the Komodo Star Sector, the aliens threatened to overrun a lot of states before they finally ran out of steam!
Practically all of the states in the vicinity of the frontier pleaded for more assistance. Yet the Big Two refused to take further action. In their eyes, the Komodo Star Sector was more than capable enough to fend off the sandmen by themselves!
"That might be true, but only if the entire star sector collectively takes action." Captain Silvestra opined when Ves visited the bridge. "If the Friday Coalition and the Hexadric Hegemony both commit a fourth of their mech militaries to the defense effort, the line will definitely hold."
"They'll never do it. Any reinforcement fleet they send out to the border with the frontier is one less fleet they can rely on to attack or defend their neighboring rival." Ves immediately guessed.
The rivalry between the Friday Coalition and the Hexadric Hegemony was as intense as the hatred between the Bright Republic and the Vesia Kingdom.
The only difference was that the two states hadn't fought a formal war yet since the opening of the Komodo Star Sector. The reason for that was that the firepower at their disposal was so destructive that the fighting would be incredibly ruinous.
Both sides bided their time kept accumulating their strength for the inevitable war that decided the fate of their star sector.
The winner of their titanic clash would gain complete dominance over the Komodo Star Sector as its sole second-rate state.
The loser faced complete dissolution and exile as all of their territories and most of their fixed assets fell in enemy hands.
No one dared to bet which side was destined to win. Both second-rate states hid a lot of cards up their sleeves. The mechs they showcased in public or revealed glimpses of only represented a portion of their might.
Still, even if they only exhibited a portion of their unfathomable depth, even a little bit of assistance could turn the battle at the border states around!
"I've recently came across a rumor about that, sir. According to the gossip that I have heard, the two second-rate states have already reached out to the border states of the first and second lines of defense."
Ves looked skeptical. "Are the Fridaymen and Hexers offering their assistance?"
"They are, but only a limited amount of forces. They have offered to dispatch some of their second-class mercenary corps to assist in the defense effort at their charge."
"That's not enough. They ought to dispatch their military mech regiments to blunt the invasion!"
"I haven't heard any word about that. The second-rate states have kept all of their military forces in place. They're only willing to contract their more dispensable and weaker mercenary corps to the border."
Neither of them understood the relative inaction of the second-rate states. Dispatching the dregs of their mech community against the sandman was hardly the commitment that Ves found acceptable.
The foremost powers of their star sector should have exhibited more leadership during this sudden crisis!
"The second-rate states were never under threat to begin with." Ves rubbed his chin as he formulated some guesses. "If the sandmen race overrun the Bright Republic and all the other states, they'll never be able to breach the defensive lines of the Coalition and the Hegemony!"
For this reason, neither states exhibited a lot of urgency towards this threat. While they could doubtlessly earn a lot of goodwill from the rest of the star sector if they selflessly deployed their premier mech divisions to the border, no amount of goodwill was worth decreasing their defenses against their hated rival!
"Your girlfriend is a dynastic Hexer, right? Maybe you should ask her for the inside story. I'm sure she's willing to explain the situation to you since your home state is in the invasion path of the sandmen."
"I'll try, but I'm doubtful whether she's aware of the inside story. She isn't affiliated with the military as far as I know."
The two chatted some more, but they gained little else. The lack of information hindered their attempts to figure out the bigger picture. All they could agree on was that they couldn't count on the Big Two or the regional second-rate states to bail out the border states.
Aside from some token assistance, the states facing the brunt of the sandman invasion were on their own!
When Ves exited the bridge of the Barracuda and walked back to his stateroom, Nitaa shared her own thoughts on the matter.
"The Big Two are concerned with greater threats. They have never prioritized individual lives. Even if the sandmen ruin half of our star sector, it doesn't affect the total strength of humanity at all. Eventually, the sandmen will exhaust themselves and go extinct. What has been lost can easily be rebuilt in a century."
"I know that." Ves sighed. "They're powerful, but their strength comes at a price. I think one of the reasons why they have reduced their presence in this region lately is because it's not economical for them to intervene."
A first-class mech might be able to defeat hundreds of third-class mechs in battle, but it cost vastly more to make and to deploy them in action!
"As for the second-rate states, you're right that they are guarding against the greater threat, sir. To the Friday Coalition, the Hexadric Hegemony is a far greater danger to them than the entire sandmen empire. They don't gain anything of importance if they commit their military forces to the border states."
"The appreciation of the third-rate states they've assisted is of little consequence in their struggle for dominance against their rival." Ves described the brutal truth. "Even if every third-rate state in the star sector hates their guts, as long as they defeat their archenemy, everyone else has no choice but to fall in line!"
The staring contest between the Hexers and the Fridaymen lasted for centuries. Neither side had made a move. Ves did not expect this pattern to change. Launching an attack against their rival in the middle of a large-scale sandman invasion was extremely unwise!
Yet even if the two second-rate states kept all of their military forces on standby and in peak condition, neither of them were charitable enough to bail the border states out! Not if it affected their readiness against the greater threat!
"Even in the face of a common foe, humanity still can't let go of their grudges against their own kind. Infighting is a poison that has brought our race to the brink of extinguishing ourselves. The Age of Mechs is practically defined by internal struggles!"
That was a remarkably insightful opinion from Nitaa.
"It's true that we have stopped addressing external alien threats." Ves agreed. "That has given races like the sandmen enough breathing room to become serious nuisances."
Since the end of the Age of Conquest, humanity stopped conquering new territory. Aside from sporadic cleanups, their race needed a lot of time to recover from the ravages of the previous age.
The question was whether they spent enough time at peace. Just as humanity rebuilt their forces and repaired their society, so did the defeated aliens who had been displaced from their old territories.
A centuries-long stalemate between the human race and the alien races in the galaxy was never supposed to last forever.
One day, the greatest conflict of the entire galaxy threatened to begin anew, forcing the Big Two to exert all of their strength to fight against the true threats they had been guarding against all this time!
With such humongous concerns weighing on their minds, 'minor incidents' such as the sandman invasion barely merited their attention!
Once he reached his stateroom, Ves sat behind his desk and began to rearrange his thoughts.
The remainder of his truncated tour through the star sector no longer served to expand his horizons. Instead, Ves planned to dedicate the rest of his time away from home towards studying and preparing against the sandman threat.
Since the Hertog Dominion was close enough to the frontier to begin getting targeted by the sandmen, Ves planned to learn as much as possible.
He wanted to study how the sandmen fleets attacked and how the defenders were best able to repel the raids and invasions.
Since this migrationary invasion was so massive that it might take years before the sandmen exhausted their invasion forces, Ves believed he could take advantage of it by designing the right mechs!
"As a mech designer, the best way I can contribute to this conflict is to design mechs that are tailor-made to resist the sandmen!"
From his own experiences with this perplexing race, Ves knew that only a limited set of configurations stood a chance against them in battle.
The most annoying part about fighting this perplexing race was that melee mechs were almost always completely ineffective against them! The sandmen basically fought by animating their own bodies into huge amalgamations of sand-like particles that lacked a solid structure!
They were similar to smart metal and ASMAS in that fashion. However, a number of traits of the sandmen race gave them a distinctive edge. Their ability to absorb energy and engulf entire mechs in sand meant that any melee mech would be committing suicide if they attempted to hit a sandman amalgamation with a sword!
Even if a melee mech managed to land a blow, it hardly mattered as only a negligible proportion of individual sandmen broke!
"Dispatching melee mechs against this formless threat is no different from putting the machines through a massive grinder!" He declared with certainty!
The near-total irrelevance of melee mechs in battles against sandmen practically rendered half of the mech forces of every state helpless!
The most a state could do was to station their useless melee mechs at various strategic facilities and sites to guard against human malcontents.
The best way to resist the sandmen was to deploy ranged mechs in battle. However, the damage type mattered a lot.
Kinetic weapons such as ballistic rifles and ballistic cannons fared the best. Kinetic and explosive weapons generally transferred a lot of energy in a dispersed manner against sandman targets.
Just like smart metal, a collection of sandmen was individually weak. As long as every single animated grain of sand or other substance received at least some damage, ballistic weapons could kill a lot of sandmen with every shot they fired!
The same didn't apply to laser weapons. Though effective against most human threats, the performance of laser weapons had been very lackluster so far.
All of the news reports from the border states described many instances where sandman vessels absorbed hundreds of laser beams and still remained aloft!
In fact, firing laser weapons at the sandmen partially charged their energy reserves! Though the sandmen weren't able to withstand extreme heat, the problem was that laser beams were generally thin and very bad at dispersing their energy!
"It's like poking a lot of hot needles through someone's skin. Though it hurts a lot, the actual damage dealt to the body is hardly impressive!"
Someone who poked their target with a dozen needles inflected less damage than someone who wacked their target with a mallet!
All in all, the mech forces effectively had to set aside yet another portion of their battle strength. While mechs armed with laser weapons still inflicted some damage against sandmen, their influence was so minor that they might as well not be involved!
"No. The starring role will definitely go to the mechs armed with ballistic and kinetic weaponry! Mechs armed with missile weapons will also be vital!"
Chapter 1486
The sandman invasion did not come at a good time. Ves knew that the commencement of the next mech generation could happen at any day now.
He idly stroked Lucky's back as his cat had crawled onto his lap. "I highly doubt the MTA will delay the onset of the next mech generation because of a minor conflict in a single frontier star sector. Don't you think so, buddy?"
"Meow."
"It matters! One of my greatest fears is that I'll spend months designing a ballistic rifleman mech, only for the transition to happen halfway! What am I supposed to do with my project now that its core components are outdated?!"
"Meow meow."
"Replacing lastgen components with currentgen components is not as easy as you make it sound! A lot of changes and updates take place across almost every area related to mechs! While the major increase in the performance of laser weapons is rumored to take the crown, that doesn't mean the other components won't see a lot of smaller revisions!"
Every component, from power reactors, mech engines, cockpits, artificial musculature systems and more would receive some attention. This often came in the form of new standards, updated technologies, the introduction of new materials and so on. The changes were so comprehensive that trying to slot them in the place where their lastgen equivalent used to rest was not a good idea!
In effect, if Ves wanted to update an ongoing design project with newer components, he might as well scrap his entire project and begin from scratch!
If there was one thing Ves hated a lot, it was wasting his time!
"Goddammit! Can't the sandman at least delay their invasion until after the MTA announced the start of the next mech generation? Why can't they give me a break!"
Of course, considering the possible mastermind behind the massive sandman invasion, Ves suspected that it was no coincidence that the aliens inconvenienced him so much.
Ves didn't believe that Sigrund organized a massive invasion just to screw around with him. However, the sentient alien AI probably derived a lot of schadenfreude out of the events he put into motion!
The result of these unfortunate circumstances was that Ves faced a devilish dilemma.
He decided to summon Gavin to his stateroom to discuss his options.
"You called, boss?"
"Yeah. It's about the imminent future."
He briefly described the situation he faced as a mech designer who was about to get swept up in this crisis. Since Gavin knew the score as well as Ves, he quickly started thinking.
"Now that you put it that way, it's not that easy to make a choice." He frowned. "Everyone already knew that the sandman invasion kept growing more severe, but everyone in the way expected the Big Two to neutralize the threat before they inflicted too much damage."
"Well, that prediction sure didn't pan out." Ves responded dryly. "How have the mech markets of the states under threat reacted to these events?"
"Not good. The mech markets of the states that comprise the first four lines of defense are undergoing a massive upheaval. Sales of melee mechs and laser mechs have plummeted! Prices have sunk to rock bottom in order to empty inventories as fast as possible. The demand for mechs armed with ballistic and kinetic weaponry has ballooned to such an extent that customers are even buying up low-quality variants designed by struggling Novices in order to bolster their effective strength as fast as possible!"
Gavin passed on a couple of industry articles to Ves. The situation was worse than he feared. Not only did the demand evaporate for mechs that fared poorly against the sandman threat, a lot of outfits were even trying to sell their existing mechs on the second-hand market!
This massive dumping phenomenon further devalued melee mechs!
"The market for melee mechs is practically dead for the duration of this crisis. As for mechs armed with laser weapons, the sale of new mechs have plummeted, but the existing ones aren't entirely useless. Most outfits have replaced the primary armament of laser rifleman mechs with ballistic weapons. A lot of manufacturing facilities are cranking out spare ballistic and kinetic rifles as fast as possible!"
Ves nodded in understanding. "That's the advantage of humanoid mechs. Since most laser rifleman mechs in the Bright Republic wield rifles, their owners can simply take them away and place ballistic rifles in their place."
It was not quite as simple as it sounded. Due to the strong emphasis on specialization, a laser rifleman mech inevitably performed worse when they wielded a ballistic or kinetic rifle. The added weight, the redundant energy reserves, the recoil, the lack of capacity to carry ammunition, the unoptimized targeting systems and more all posed a negative influence to laser mechs that forcibly made use of ballistic weapons.
Even if their owners invested some money into modifying their old machines to improve their handling of ballistic weapons, this was still a half-baked solution! A mech frame optimized for laser weapons would never be as good in wielding ballistic weaponry as a mech designed to handle them from the start!
"Market demand for ballistic rifleman mechs, kinetic rifleman mechs and various frontline mechs armed with the same weapon types have skyrocketed!" Gavin gushed. "You can't believe how much of a premium they command now. Prices of most mech models have risen by as much as fifty percent! Mech companies who have lost a lot of sales now that most of their mech catalog has become irrelevant are at least able to keep themselves afloat by retooling all of their production lines to produce the mechs that everyone wants! Unfortunately..."
Both of their faces fell.
"The LMC is not included in that group." Ves morosely observed. "Our mech catalog only consists of three mech models. The Blackbeak is a landbound knight mech. The Crystal Lord is a landbound laser rifleman mech. The Aurora Titan is a super-medium space knight."
None of these mech models fared well against the sandmen! It would be practically criminal to deploy Blackbeaks and Aurora Titans against the alien threat.
As for the Crystal Lord, while Ves knew it was possible for them to wield ballistic weapons in a pinch, they were far too costly and performed far too poorly in this case. There was no way the LMC could justify their continued production!
In short, the LMC had fallen into a very severe crisis due to the lack of diversity in their mech catalog! All this time, Ves had refrained from expanding the catalog, figuring that it was a futile effort to do so while the onset of the next mech generation would instantly devalue his outdated work.
Gavin sighed and tried to reassure his boss. "It's not your fault. You made a good decision based on your predictions of the future. No one could have accounted for a black swan event to upend the entire mech market and turn our successful products into liabilities. The LMC is not the only mech company which has been burned by their exposure to the swings in the market."
"I know, Benny, but I should have prepared the LMC better. If I didn't take the time to go on this tour, then I might have designed a mech or two that could have saved my mech company from irrelevance."
Even though he said that, Ves did not regret going on this tour. He had harvested an immense amount of gains, most of which he would have never been able to obtain if he immediately returned home after he finished his pilgrimage to Centerpoint.
Though the LMC had landed in hot water due to the near-complete drop in demand for their products, the news was not all that bad. Gavin had already been in touch with Calsie and the top management of the company.
"The executives you put in charge of the LMC aren't running around like headless chickens. Once they analyzed the changing market trends, they immediately came up with a couple of solutions. The one that Calsie is pursuing right now is to cease production of all of our current mech models. Instead, she's in the process of acquiring a production license of a ballistic rifleman mech design."
The solution surprised Ves a little, though he quickly nodded. "Since the LMC doesn't have any mech that can sell well in our current catalog, the best way to remedy this deficiency is to license another design!"
According to Gavin, Calsie and the relevant staff began to shop around for a ballistic rifleman mech model that made use of materials or components that the LMC was already familiar with. The greater the fit, the easier the Mech Nursery would be able to adjust to the changes and scale up the production of the licensed mechs!
"I want to be involved in the selection of the license." Ves insisted. "Send all the relevant information to my terminal. I'll go over it when I have time."
Once he received the documents, Gavin made another remark.
"Pursuing this solution only serves as a temporary stopgap. It won't be good for the LMC to rely on a borrowed design. We have to do our best to return to producing our own mechs after a few months. The longer we stall, the more our company will lose its hard-earned reputation in the market."
Ves adopted a pensive face. "I know how important it is for us to retain our reputation. But this also where I'm faced with a dilemma."
He had two choices.
His first option was to begin designing a ballistic mech design immediately. Obviously, this risked getting his work getting devalued as soon as the mech community transitioned to the new mech generation.
His second option was to bet that the next mech generation arrived very soon and hold back from designing any mech until that happened. It might take a week, a month, a year or even more!
This was because the MTA constantly tweaked the package of standards, technologies and component licenses that made up the new generation. Until the powerful organization made up its mind, it would hold back from starting the great switch.
Both Ves and Gavin racked their brains for the right solution. Ves restlessly stroked Lucky's back while Gavin paced back and forth across the deck.
Eventually, Gavin halted and turned back to his boss.
"Why do you want to delay? What is the argument that is holding you back from starting your new design project this instant?"
"You know the answer. I don't want to spend my valuable time on designing a mech that will take an immediate hit in profitability during or shortly after the design period."
"Is this the time to chase after profits?"
"What are you getting at, Benny?"
"The Komodo Star Sector is under attack. The Bright Republic is under attack. This isn't the time to be greedy, Ves! There is a time and place to pursue maximum profits but this is war! Not only that, but our enemy isn't the Vesians this time. It's a larger, greater alien threat that has to be fought in a different way from what we are used to! Under such difficult circumstances, who cares whether your mech is lastgen or currentgen!? The LMC's profit margin doesn't matter anymore! As long as we can break even and survive the following years, that's already a win in my book!"
Though Ves had been taken aback by Gavin's strident tone, he soon became swayed. "You're right. I was being too greedy for my own good. Even if I design a mech that will become devalued in a couple of months, it's still worth the effort. As long as I can design something good, the LMC will be able to contribute to the war effort. Not only will we be able to stay relevant, if our new mech model does well in battle, we can continue to grow our reputation."
"Once the crisis is over, we can reap the benefits! If there is one thing you are good at, boss, it's designing mechs that are reliable, stable and incredibly pleasant to pilot! The more mechs we place in the hands of our customers, the more they'll become our lifelong customers!"
The arguments presented by Gavin gave the LMC a way out of the crisis. Rather than attempting to maximize revenue or profits, the company should instead focus on building up its reputation and expanding its market reach!
Ves no longer obsessed over his need to incorporate the latest technologies in his mech designs. He belatedly realized that he had fallen into the trap of tech envy.
As a mech designer, he was very immersed in technology. It was very difficult for him to resist the urge to utilize the latest and most effective solutions.
However, mech buyers didn't necessarily adopt the same perspective.
During these difficult times, they merely wanted something that worked and didn't fall apart after a couple of uses. While they were willing to pay for quality, they were willing to settle for something they could immediately get their hands on that worked!
Chapter 1487
The Living Mech Corporation stood at a precipice. The implications of the sandman invasion transformed the mech markets overnight. States in the vicinity to the border with the frontier no longer wanted any mechs except those that were effective against the sandmen.
While the LMC currently didn't offer any mech that met this requirement, Ves believed he could remedy this problem very soon.
"If I put my full effort into designing a ranged mech that can beat the sandmen black and blue, whip something up in a couple of months." He stated. "It depends on the complexity of the design."
Pacing back and forth, Gavin mulled over the kind of mech that could help the LMC climb out of its hole and set a foundation for future growth.
"I think the first question that needs to be asked is whether you should design a landbound, aerial or spaceborn mech."
"Spaceborn."
"That's fast."
"I've faced the sandmen before. They're manageable to fight against in space, but incredibly difficult to resist on land."
"Why is that?"
"They move too fast on land. While landbound mechs are limited by gravity and terrain constraints, the sandmen don't face as many hindrances because the speed in which they traverse terrain and engulf everything in the way is faster than the sprinting speed of a light mech!"
"So if a sandman fleet lands on the surface, they become a lot more dangerous, is that right?"
"Yeah. It's much preferable to fight the sandmen in space because the immense distances involved means that mechs have more time to whittle them down. While ballistic and kinetic weaponry aren't very accurate at longer ranges in space due to the travel time of their projectiles, it's not as risky. The most a spaceborn mech force has to deal with is to maintain their distance against the sandmen and to withstand the occasional laser beams fired by the sandman vessels."
Though the sandmen were famous for their close-ranged engulfing attacks, they still possessed some teeth at a distance. The powerful lasers they fired from their sandman vessels were very powerful, especially when fired in a salvo!
"Okay. I understand. Spaceborn it is. What price range are we targeting?"
"It can't be as expensive as the Blackbeak or the Crystal Lord." Ves immediately determined. "However, I don't want to design anything that's too cheap. When the next mech generation arrives, I don't want my mech to be devalued to the point where its nonexistent profit margin dips straight into negative territory. This is much more likely to happen with bottom-tier mechs."
Though Gavin understood this argument, he brought up a counterpoint.
"Under these circumstances, a lot of mech pilots who used to pilot melee mechs and such are freed up. Though not all of them are proficient in piloting spaceborn rifleman mechs, I bet they're all taking crash courses right now. Quantity matters more than quality, though the latter won't dry up due to this crisis."
"I see. You're right, Benny. Premium mechs are very expensive. It hurts a lot when one is lost during a battle. They're also more challenging to pilot. To a specialist in ballistic rifleman mechs, that doesn't matter, but to the impending waves of retrained mech pilots, they can't handle too much at once."
The two swapped ideas and eventually narrowed their choice.
"I think it's best to design a budget or an economy mech." Gavin suggested and swayed around his arm in emphasis. "We can sell a lot of copies for a budget mech that retails for about 20 million bright credits in the current generation. We can sell even more if we draw it down a notch to 10 to 15 million credits."
Ves winced at the latter idea. "A mech valued at 10 to 15 million credits won't be very good. Its performance will be very basic, in particular when it comes to armor."
"Then design a frontline mech. In emergencies like these, who cares if a spaceborn mech has legs? Leaving it out of your design will make your mech more cost-effective."
"It will also make my mech more uncomfortable to mech pilots." Ves replied. "Frontline mechs are for mech pilots that are expendable and have little practice or low genetic aptitudes."
"No one really liked piloting frontline mechs. If a mech pilot had a choice, they would always pick a standard mech for the added flexibility, range of motion and other reasons.
Though Gavin presented several arguments in favor of frontline mechs, Ves dismissed them all. He did not wish to design a frontline mech despite its distinct advantages in this situation.
"I get what you're trying to get at, Benny. Frontline mechs are simpler in design, so I don't have to spend a lot of time to design one. They're also easy to fabricate so we can pump out a large number of copies without tackling a steep learning curve. They'll also sell a lot because they're so cheap. But this is not a mech design that will last when the next mech generation begins."
"The competition for spaceborn rifleman mechs at the budget mech price range will be immense, Ves. All the Seniors and Journeymen you are competing against will probably be in a hurry to publish their own designs that can tackle this crisis effectively any time soon."
"That's not a problem. I'm not afraid of the competition." Ves confidently replied. "I've improved a lot over these last few years. Now that I've settled as a Journeyman, I'm able to design a mech that is better while taking much less time! In fact, I intend to design a winning product during our trip home. By the time we've arrived at the Bright Republic, I plan to introduce and begin production of my new spaceborn mech immediately!"
How ambitious! Gavin could scarcely fathom if Ves was capable of backing up his boasts!
It had to be mentioned that it took at least seven months for Ves to design the Aurora Titan! Of course, the mech was a lot more complicated than any other mech that he designed, but even half of that was still an incredibly long timeframe during a fast-moving period.
However, Ves possessed an abundant confidence that he'd be able to design a good budget mech that stood out in the market within two or three months!
Along with the advantages that he enjoyed as a Journeyman, he recently finished digesting Senior-level Mechanics and Metallurgy, bringing his knowledge base to an entirely new level!
On top of that, he also managed to increase his affinity for mechs due to fabricating his first masterwork mech. While the benefits of this change mostly affected his fabrication and assembly abilities, some of it over bled over to his design abilities.
With a greater 'feel' for mechs, he was able to rely more on his intuition and judgement to make the right design choices. He also became more confident in his ability to detect flaws and suboptimal configurations in his mech designs, thereby lessening the demand for testing and optimizing his works.
Of course, some form of testing should still be necessary. Even if other Journeymen were able to design a mech as fast as Ves, they didn't necessarily choose to rush them into the market. A couple of months worth of testing and iterating helped refine a mech design, allowing it to attract a lot more popularity and market demand from customers who appreciated its quality.
Ordinarily, Ves was inclined towards this camp, but now that a crisis swept up the border states, he couldn't afford to dilly-dally around.
"What is impossible for others is not necessarily impossible for me." He spoke with force. "I'm more than capable of tackling this challenge! As long as I can succeed, I won't just be able to keep the LMC afloat. I can cause its star to ascend until it reaches the very skies!"
The sandman invasion and all of the pressure it exerted did not make Ves despair. Instead, the difficulties that plagued him only increased his drive to prove his abilities and design a mech that would become one of the favorites to resist the sandmen!
His increased drive to design a distinctive LMC mech that contributed greatly to the war effort also stoked his passion.
A lot was at stake! Ves couldn't afford to falter in his next design project. If his next mech design turned out to be a dud, then he would have wasted valuable months that he could have spent on bringing the LMC out of its slump and increasing its prominence.
Nonetheless, Ves always enjoyed it when the stakes were high. When his back was to the wall, he found it easier to draw out his full potential.
"Are you sure about this, boss? Once you go down this road, you have to see it through the end."
Ves grinned. "I'm sure of my decision. You can inform Calsie and the others at the LMC so they can make the necessary preparations. I want to obtain market analyses of how the mech market for spaceborn rifleman mechs armed with ballistic or kinetic weapons will shape up in the next few months. Contact Marcella Bollinger for assistance."
"Got it. I'll try and get those reports to your terminal within two or three days."
They discussed some other measures before Gavin left to make the arrangements. As Ves watched his assistant go, he went back to scratching Lucky's cheeks.
"I really appreciate Gavin's input. I think he deserves a promotion or a reward, don't you think?"
"Meow."
"I don't like your suggestion. He doesn't need to know my secrets. It's fine if I boost his paycheck. Perhaps I can change his job description to something more prestigious-sounding than executive assistant."
"Meow meow!"
"I know I'm not treating Gavin right for the loyalty he's shown me, but I'm really scared of making the wrong choice. I only have to slip up once in order to ruin my entire life and career. I think Gloriana deserves to hear the truth about my design philosophy a lot sooner than Gavin."
If it wasn't necessary, Ves preferred to keep his secrets to himself. Gavin already served as a great assistant to him while in the dark about how his mechs actually worked.
There was no reason to remedy a problem that hardly existed when the solution introduced a lot of needless risks.
Ves looked down on Lucky and reached over to scratch his belly. The cat instantly protested the move!
"You finished eating my P-stone, right? When can I expect you to crap out a new gem?"
"Meow. Meow!"
"You better not lie! Do you know how expensive they are and how hard it is to get a hold of them? I only have five P-stones left!"
"Meow!"
Lucky squirmed from his lap and floated above his head and out of reach.
Ves paid no mind to the actions of his pet and stretched his arms. After several years, Ves finally decided to end his hiatus on designing a new commercial mech.
"My next project won't involve a custom mech. Now, I'm back to designing a mech intended for the market."
Even during these difficult times, Ves knew he had to exert himself to the utmost in order to design a successful mass-market mech. It had to offer performance that was at least on par with the competing mech models in the same price range. It also had to offer distinct advantages that gave customers a compelling reason to purchase his product over those designed by his competitors.
"My upcoming mech design will be the first of an entirely new wave of budget mechs! It will be a herald of what is to come!"
One of the reasons why he decided to design a spaceborn rifleman mech in the budget price category was because he always intended to dip into the low-end mech market at some point.
Though the LMC initially rose due to selling some fantastic premium mechs, Ves wanted to reach a wider audience.
With his current level of strength, Ves finally believed he had what it took to compete over a significant amount of market share! He was no longer satisfied with capturing a small and neglected niche.
He wanted to play with the big boys in the mech market!
Chapter 1488
Over the next couple of days, Ves immersed himself in current events. He read all of the news and analysis reports of the sandman invasion. He particularly read through projections and predictions of the future.
Most analysts painted a bleak picture. None expected the states in the first line of defense like the Tomaris Federation to last.
Though defeating an individual sandman fleet did not require too much effort, the frequency of sandman attacks prevented the defending forces from catching a breath.
"It's a constant, ongoing battle of attrition interspersed with brief pauses." One of the experts described on a live news program.
Though the Tomaris Federation could have lasted up to half a year or more if the state got its act together, who wanted to stay aboard a sinking ship?
An increasing number of citizens had already given up and wanted to go! An exodus of refugees had already begun. Anyone with a ship or paid the exorbitant amount of money to gain passage left the endangered border states in droves.
Even though billions of refugees had already left by cramming themselves into cargo haulers hastily upgraded with additional life support systems, an uncountable amount of humans remained stuck on isolated and increasingly abandoned planets!
An enormous tragedy began to unfold as the defending mechs in the besieged star systems either pulled back or stood their ground until they got crushed!
Ves closed his eyes in sadness while cuddling Lucky.
"This is the price for the MTA's inaction and the CFA's refusal to take responsibility." He spoke.
The Big Two enjoyed such a lofty height that they no longer saw the suffering of those at the very bottom.
Perhaps the only good news that came from the border states was that any planet or star system with a significant MTA or CFA presence escaped destruction.
For this reason, a tiny settlement like Mancroft Independent Harbor remained relatively safe due to the CFA fuel refinery operation orbiting one of the local star system's gas giants. Any sandman fleet that attempted to attack the human space stations promptly got blasted by the warships on patrol.
Nonetheless, the MTA and CFA forces mainly turtled up and refused to project their power to neighboring star systems. No matter how many star systems got engulfed by the sandmen, the Big Two insisted that the local forces of the star sector should deal with the problem themselves!
Ves let out a cynical laugh when he read the bland statements of the two humongous organizations. "What the hell are they so worried about that they can't deploy more than a single warfleet?!"
There was no use in speculating over the reasons for their inaction. Many people guessed that the Big Two were preparing for something big, but figured out little else.
In any case, the inaction on the part of the two second-rate states was a lot more understandable. Neither the Friday Coalition nor the Hexadric Hegemony dispatched anything more than scattered mercenary corps to the border states.
While their help was very much appreciated, by the time they reached the frontlines, the first line of defense would have probably fallen already.
"It takes too much time to travel from the center of the star sector to the periphery."
He knew this first-hand. His Barracuda was one of the fastest ship classes of the Friday Coalition, but even she required at least another month to reach the Tomaris Federation at her greatest speed.
In any case, a tsunami of refugees threatened to engulf the states in the second, third and fourth lines of defense. In fact, most ships would have attempted to travel deeper into the interior of the star sector if not for their straining supplies and life support systems!
Even the Bright Republic braced itself to receive a humongous number of refugees. Though the border states they came from weren't very populated, if everyone attempted to leave at the same time, that amounted to a very scary amount of people!
Ves briefly considered whether there would be mech designers among the refugees. Perhaps he could pick up a couple of new subordinate mech designers to fill up his design team.
Fortunately for the refugees, the Bright Republic, Vesia Kingdom and the other states already started to set aside room for them. The governments already began to erect a lot of prefab structures and facilities in low-density planets to provide food and shelter to the people who had lost everything.
Attempting to provide the refugees a way to rebuild their lives could come later. For now, the Bright Republic already started to house the first refugees that had fled first on rural planets with plenty of room to spare.
Coincidentally, this also included Cloudy Curtain. The authorities already formed a plan that called for scaling up its agriculture. Instead of cultivating expensive, slow-growing crops like cloud rice over a few patches of highly fertile soil, the planetary government planned to convert a lot more landmass into farms.
While machines did most of the work, humans were still needed to supervise the farms and handle problems that weren't suited for bots.
"At least the refugees have something to do. I guess we also need the food."
The Bright Republic took the sandman invasion extremely seriously. The extensive movement by the government spoke of a broad and all-encompassing plan to defend its territory against the alien invasion that would arrive at its doorstep in a year or less!
Ves breathed a sigh in relief when he ascertained that the government fully committed to defending the Republic. The same couldn't be said for the states closer to the border. A lot of government officials and even entire mech regiments had gone rogue and abandoned the states they were duty-bound to defend!
"I'm glad I don't have to make this choice." He muttered while idly squeezing Lucky. "Unlike the Tomaris Federation, it looks like the Bright Republic actually stands a chance at withstanding the invasion."
"Meow."
"I'm not going to run and ruin my hard-earned honor and reputation. It's one of my most valuable assets! I'm only going to run if others start running in droves! At least I'll be able to hide my shame in the crowd!"
Reputation was a double-edged sword. While Ves benefited substantially from the fame it provided, it also held him up to a pedestal where he was expected to conform to a specific image.
As soon as he broke the bubble, his reputation would come crashing down!
For this reason and more, Ves reluctantly decided to commit to the Bright Republic and do his best to contribute to its defense in his own way.
"Of course, it would be nice if I could burnish my credentials, earn a lot of goodwill and most importantly sell a lot of mechs!"
Currently, the LMC was poorly positioned to take advantage of this crisis. As its lead designer, Ves bore responsibility for this failure, but also bore the responsibility to remedy its inadequacies.
"It all comes down to expanding my company's mech catalog!" Ves told Lucky while patting his cat's head. "I've solved almost all of my problems in my life by designing mechs. This is no different!"
"Meow!"
Lucky threw a dubious glance at Ves.
"I know I can do it! Even if the competition is immense, I'm confident my work will be able to capture some market share!"
This time, he intended to compete in a very competitive and highly-saturated market. Rifleman mechs made up the biggest product category in the Bright Republic and elsewhere. While laser rifleman mechs dominated in space, a fair amount of good ballistic rifleman mech models were already for sale.
Ves exhibited a lot of courage by attempting to intrude in this extremely busy market. The difficulty of publishing a new mech design that stood out from the competition was ten times harder than attempting to establish a footing in more niche product categories such as offensive knight mechs.
"Let's get to work."
He leaned back in his chair and began to formulate a mech concept. Along with catching up on the latest news, he also read plenty of market research reports. He gained a pretty good picture on the kinds of mechs that appealed to the market in the coming months.
Ves started his latest mech design project by preparing logs and formal documentation. Unlike the Devil Tiger project, his latest project was completely legitimate.
In order to satisfy the MTA's demands, he made sure to document his thought processes behind most of his design choices. He only left out information that pertained directly to his trade secrets.
After filling in a number of administrative forms, he began to compose a short list of criteria for his next mech design.
-Cost-effective
-Specialized
-Rugged
-Easy to maintain and repair
-Low armor
-High mobility
-Medium endurance
-Low skill floor
The requirements he set for his next mech design all diverged remarkably from his previous mech designs. This time, the list made it clear that he wasn't designing a premium mech this time!
"In fact, according to the market trends, sales of premium mechs will plummet! Mech owners can't afford to splurge lavishly on luxuries when their very homes and lives are at stake!"
According to the impression that Ves had formed, he saw the need for a mech that resisted the invading sandmen as effectively as possible while still remaining affordable. For his reason, he prioritized cost-efficiency and specialization.
"It's fine if my mech doesn't necessarily perform as well against other human targets." Ves rubbed his chin. "By the time the crisis is over, my mech model will have served its purpose. The LMC can retire it or put it on the backburner to focus on selling other mech models."
One key aspect about the current mech models in the market was that they mostly excelled at fighting other mechs. They weren't necessarily optimized against the means of attack employed by the sandmen, and this was where Ves recognized a temporary hole in the market!
"If I can move quickly and publish a mech design that can do a better job at resisting the sandmen at a cheaper price, I can quickly capture a significant amount of market share!"
The key here was that Ves had to move quickly! The Bright Republic alone possessed more than a thousand native Journeyman Mech Designers and more than a hundred native Senior Mech Designers. At least half of them or more were probably working on their own solutions to the sandmen threat.
"That doesn't even count the low-ranking mech designers or the foreigners competing in the Bright Republic's mech market!"
With everyone racing to publish the first mech designs that adequately addressed the problem, Ves mainly had to rely on speed in order to gain an edge over his competitors!
This was also why Ves emphasized a simple mech design. Not only did he wanted to waste as little time in designing his mech as possible, he also wanted to make it easy to maintain and easy to repair.
"The latter has always been my strong point."
His extensive stint as head designer for the Flagrant Vandals and his recent progress made him very confident that he could design a mech that didn't take a highly-educated mech designer to service.
"With how desperate the coming war will be, standards will slip and a lot of mistakes will happen."
He witnessed varying levels of maintenance standards at various outfits. Ves had to make sure that his next mech model didn't demand too much in terms of tolerances. Even if mech technicians slipped up in repairing damaged components, his mechs should still be able to cope!
His mech had to be made of materials in abundant supply. With the war increasingly encroaching into the Komodo Star Sector, a lot of resource extraction sites at the border states and other states in the vicinity no longer supplied a lot of raw materials that many industries took for granted.
"I have to be careful to make use of materials that won't become scarce once the sandman invasion reaches the doorstep of the Bright Republic."
The advantage of using locally-sourced materials in abundant supply was that Ves could easily drive down the price for his upcoming mech model.
"I have to resist the temptation of adding gimmicks and unnecessary luxuries to my mech design. Anything superfluous will only detract from the cost-effectiveness of my latest product."
Rather than attempting to add more value, this time Ves prioritized reducing costs. It was a completely different approach compared to his approach towards his premium mech designs!
Chapter 1489
In order to maximize the cost-effectiveness of his mechs against the sandman threat, Ves had to make some hard choices.
Concerning the performance of his upcoming spaceborn rifleman mech, he decided to prioritize both offense and mobility over defense.
"In other words, a glass cannon with very powerful wings!"
Defense by far the biggest resource hog of a mech. Ves decisively gave up on expensive and hard-to-work-with compressed armor systems in order to save a lot of costs.
To resist the sandmen, a mech force had to take it out from a distance. By the time they got close enough to engulf a mech, all the armor slowing it down only delayed the inevitable by a few more seconds.
"Instead, it's much better if my mech can accelerate quickly! The faster it moves, the longer it can take potshots at the approaching sandman vessels!"
For mechs, speed was the only form of defense against the sandmen. Though the sandmen also possessed ranged firing options, the lasers the sandmen vessels tended to shoot out were powerful but recycled very slowly.
"More armor won't help in that situation. A mech will instantly get blasted no matter if they're light mechs or heavy mechs."
The sandmen mainly utilized their heavy laser attacks to cripple human starships. As of now, they hadn't adapted their armament to resist swarms of mechs, though this might change in the future.
"Even if that happens, as long as my mechs can maintain its range, the sandmen will have difficulty predicting their targets, though some unlucky mechs will always get shot down no matter what."
This was why many defensive forces closer to the border failed to cope with the frequent sandman raids. Fighting off a single sandman fleet wasn't necessarily difficult, but the powerful lasers the vessels shot out always eliminated a mech with a single shot!
A mech force lost at least several mechs and mech pilots in a single engagement. If a mech force had to fight numerous battles against more and more sandmen fleets, then the constant attrition quickly added up until there were not enough mechs to hinder the relentless sandmen from overwhelming a star system!
Though it pained Ves to fail in coming up with a better solution to this threat, he had no choice but to discount armor almost entirely because he had no good solutions on this front.
Most mechs except heavy knights stood a realistic chance at resisting a full-powered laser strike from a sandman vessel.
"Now that I think about it, My Aurora Titan might be able to withstand a hit as well." He mused.
While its mobility was abysmal, it excelled at defense. Its polarizing module massively strengthened his super-medium space knight's ability to resist energy damage!
"It will be interesting to see if it can actually take a hit!"
While this sounded like a welcome surprise, Ves did not expect that sales for the Aurora Titan would pick up. The mech could only withstand one or two hits at most before exhausting its reserves. For a mech that sold for at least 100 million credits a piece, the price was far too high and completely out of sync with current market circumstances!
In any case, for his affordable rifleman mech, its primary form of self-preservation came in the form of better-than-average mobility.
For a spaceborn mech, this meant investing heavily in the flight system of his mech. He had to pair up his mech with a powerful means to accelerate and outrun the hungry sandman vessels.
"My mech doesn't have to be nimble or agile. It just has to have the raw power to accelerate quickly. My mech also has to possess enough endurance to keep this up for at least an hour!"
A decent level of endurance was vital. Though mechs that ran out of power could always return to their carriers to replenish their energy cells and ammunition stores, this cycle took way too much time, especially during an ongoing battle.
"The greater the hassle, the less applicable my rifleman mech becomes." Ves judged. "No one wants to go through a half-dozen cycles just to defeat a single sandman fleet."
Sandmen vessels were ordinarily quite massive, and it took a lot of damage to wear them down. This wasn't a problem for military mech units as they often fielded hundreds of mechs at a time.
However, many outfits only fielded a single mech company or less. Even if they pooled their forces together, they might not have the firepower to eliminate an encroaching sandman fleet quickly.
In such cases, Ves wanted to offer a mech design that was still able to cope under those circumstances.
"If I want my mech to have a respectable amount of endurance and uptime, I'll have to make sure my mech has enough energy and ammunition to last in the field."
This essentially meant that his rifleman mech couldn't be a light mech. Ves had to add so much capacity to his mech that trying to keep his mech light was an exercise in futility.
Ves therefore defaulted to the standard of a medium mech. It offered an appropriate balance between capacity and mobility.
"Since I'm not spending a majority of the available capacity on armor, I can stuff my mech with a lot of energy cells and magazines."
With regards to firepower, Ves wanted to go for something cheap but effective against the sandman race. A simple ballistic rifle firing cheap projectiles could do a better job than an entire squad of laser rifleman mechs against this specific threat.
"I don't necessarily need to pair my mech with an extravagant weapon."
More powerful ballistic rifles and their oversized ammunition took up vastly more space. Lighter weapons performed adequately against the sandman since their defenses weren't based around solid armor.
A fast-firing ballistic rifle therefore inflicted a respectable amount of damage to the sandmen. Even if their caliber was lighter than usual, it made no difference against this specific foe.
"More importantly, it's also cheaper!"
By dedicating much of the capacity of his mech to storing ammunition, his rifleman mech would be able to fire at it without worrying about running out of shells in the first ten minutes.
This paired well with the final criteria on his list, which was that his new mech had to come with a low skill floor.
"Aside from affordability, a low skill floor is the most important selling point of my new mech!"
According to the news and all of the market research he studied, the military and a lot of outfits were frantically trying to retrain their mech pilots.
Since deploying melee mechs against the sandman was an absolute waste, a lot of melee mech pilots were made redundant in this crisis!
Though they didn't like it, mech pilots who specialized in melee mechs had no choice but to undergo hastily-organized crash courses in how to pilot ballistic rifleman mechs.
It took years for mech pilots to gain an adequate amount of proficiency in a new mech archetype. A couple of months of intensive training was not enough to turn a random melee mech pilot into an expert marksman.
"This is especially the case with melee specialists who aren't good at marksmanship!"
A lot of mech pilots specialized in one or the other. Rarely did they attempt to pursue both. Those that did were often elites among mech pilots.
If it was so easy to become good at both, then hero mechs would have been regarded as a legitimate mech type instead of a joke!
As a Larkinson who spent a lot of time alongside Larkinson mech pilots, Ves knew very well why mech pilots specialized early in their academy days. It took this much in order to become good enough to be trusted to pilot a war machine that cost at least several million credits.
Any mech pilot who committed much less training in a chosen piloting field was likely to form a liability in the battlefield. In most cases, a melee specialist forced to pilot a ballistic rifleman mech could still contribute to a battle if it left most of the aiming to the automated targeting system.
"This is actually not that big of a downside."
Against mechs piloted by competent human opponents, a melee specialist would fare extremely poorly if forced to pilot ranged mechs.
Against the typical sandman threats, the prevailing rules no longer applied. The sandman admirals who led most of their fleets were very unimaginative and inflexible.
The extent of their tactics mostly amounted to dispatching their sandman brethren at their enemies in the form of large amalgamations in a straight line!
Due to their overall mass and size, sandman vessels were as large as regular starships and were very poor at dodging enemy fire. This meant that most automated targeting systems were accurate enough to deliver good results against typical sandman vessels.
Of course, this was not a good solution against all sandman threats. Most sandman admirals attacking human space appeared to be newborn and operated according to a standard manual.
However, as long as they grew older or accumulated more experience, they began to vary the deployment of their sandman. They might adopt different configurations such as splitting up their large and vulnerable sandman vessels into other forms that fared better against mechs!
In fact, a small number of sandman admirals in the border states had already adapted to the prevailing opposition. They began to deploy thousands of smaller sandman drones that were as agile as human-built mechs!
Ves shrugged. "I can't handle everything. It's enough if my rifleman mech fares well against standard sandman vessels. As for anything else, the Mech Corps will probably deal with the more troublesome sandman fleets themselves."
What the market demanded was a mech that did not impose too much of a burden to off-role mech pilots.
"I only have to make sure that the weapon system is easy to work with. As long as my mech is simple, I don't have to dumb down anything else. The operation of the limbs and the flight system of the mech can stay on the same level, as most of the users of my new mech will easily be able to carry over their skills from piloting melee mechs."
Ves had no illusion that the mechs he designed would be used as cannon fodder. Their affordability and ease of use came at the cost of skill expression. There weren't many ways for skilled mech pilots to make a cheap mech to outperform its expected parameters.
"Not that a lot of skilled ranged specialists will pilot my mech in the first place. There are better alternatives available that do a much better job at drawing out their potential."
This was something very opposite to his first three commercial mech models. The Blackbeak, Crystal Lord and Aurora Titan models only performed properly in the hands of advanced mech pilots.
Ves suddenly realized that his product strategy was very suited in times of stability and abundance. However, during a crisis period, many customers had to tighten their belts and try to do more with less.
"There is no place for luxury during an existential crisis!"
Due to the abnormal circumstances of the current market environment, a lot of unskilled mech pilots desperately required simple ranged mechs. Only a small number of mech models in the markets met their needs, but even then these machines excelled mainly against nimbler human mech forces rather than sluggish but overpowering sandman fleets.
"There is a hole in the market, but this window of opportunity will only last for a brief amount of time before my competitors publish their new designs!"
Though Ves wasn't used to targeting the lower end of the mech market, he believed he was still up to the challenge.
"However, if I can come up with this list of criteria, every other clever mech designer can do so as well!"
He discounted the competition from low-ranking mech designers and solely regarded Journeymen and Seniors as his main rivals. The latter were especially formidable due to their abundant experience, extensive knowledge base and highly-developed specialties.
"If I want my product to stand out from the crowd, then I need more than a basic mech concept. I have to tie all of the requirements together into an attractive and compelling vision!"
Chapter 1490
"All of this looks great, but I feel like you are missing something." Gavin commented after Ves explained his mech concept. "Compared to your previous mechs, the budget mech you want to design sounds.. generic. It lacks the distinctive flair that your products are known for. I know it's hard to make your mech stand out in the budget mech category, but you should really find a way to make your product stand out from the crowd."
Ves rested his chin against his fist while he thought. "I know, Benny. I am aiming to design an affordable and simple mech. That doesn't give me a lot of room for maneuver. I've been spending days on trying to figure out a way to make my rifleman mech unique in one of the most saturated product categories in the mech market. All I can count on for now is my specialty."
"About that.. do you remember the problem the LMC faces back home?"
"My mechs aren't brainwashing my customers! They just like my mechs! That's not a crime!"
"You sound just like the chief culprit of the Farund Affair. You're repeating the exact same excuse!"
"That's different! The Farund Affair literally involved rewiring the brains of mech pilots. My mechs do no such thing! The MTA can attest that the neural interfaces of my mechs are completely standard and unmodified!"
"That's what the company has been telling the public over and over again, but you know how people are. Rumors and conspiracy theories have more sway than facts and expert opinion."
Both of them looked cross at this. No matter how they disliked this tendency, this was the nature of human behavior.
Companies exploited the emotions and biases of their customers all the time in order to milk as much money from them as possible.
The LMC could hardly complain when they were on the receiving end of irrational human behavior!
"I think the proof is in the pudding." Ves eventually spoke. "As long as my mechs continue to perform well in battle, I think much of the market will eventually lose their apprehension towards my products. A portion of the market will always be opposed to the LMC. That's fine. As long as there are enough customers left who are receptive to our brand, we'll sell plenty of more mechs."
"You have to make sure your mech finds a receptive audience in other markets as well."
Ves smirked. "I think we can at least count on the Ylvaine Protectorate to buy my new mech in droves."
Though he hadn't engaged with the religious state since the three leading dynasties kicked him out, that didn't mean his influence had subsided. The reforms he instigated were still going strong. No one forgot about the Bright Martyr, especially when the six Transcendent Messengers resonated so effectively with their faith.
"Bright Martyr or not, the Ylvaine Protectorate will only really adopt your mech if you adapt it to their tastes."
"Don't worry. After I complete the base model, it won't take much effort for me to develop a variant that we can exclusively market towards the Ylvainans."
Ves preferred to outsource this chore to others, but he didn't have any subordinates he could trust to do a good job. His previous plan to recruit a local Ylvainan mech designer to develop variants of his base model had stalled.
Hiring skilled, competent and obedient mech designers was a lot harder than it sounded!
"If you adhere to your current design style, then I think your work will do just as well as your previous mech designs in most foreign markets." Gavin predicted. "We don't have a major presence there anyway, so it doesn't take much effort to surpass our current sales figures."
"Selling my new mechs in foreign markets is nice, but I won't shed any tears if that isn't possible. My biggest priority is servicing the Bright Republic's mech market. Every other market comes second."
Ves knew that most of his mech designs possessed wide appeal. It was a trait he had been developing from the start.
Even so, he did not wish to stray from Brighter design principles in a misguided attempt to make his rifleman mech more universal.
After an extensive discussion, Ves collected a lot of feedback as well as a few tips and suggestions. Talking with Gavin always helped him gain a better perspective on how his mechs might fare on the market.
However, his assistant couldn't help with every problem. Ves had to handle some of them on his own or with his fellow mech designers.
The initial criticism that Gavin brought up continued to linger after the assistant left the stateroom. Ves leaned back on his chair and tried to figure out how he could turn a generic mech concept into a compelling vision.
"Each of my mech designs is driven by a theme that gives them a unique personality."
The Blackbeak personified aggression and rebirth. The Crystal Lord yearned for power and dominance. The Aurora Titan exemplified defense and protection.
Even without the X-Factor, the overall design aspects of his prior works already reflected their strengths.
"The heart of a mech conforms to the strengths of a mech."
Since Ves hadn't figured out the heart of his upcoming mech design, he should first look at its strengths to figure out his premise.
So what were the strengths of his upcoming mech?
"Cheap. Easy to pilot. Easy to produce. Easy to maintain. Specialized against fighting sandmen. And uhhh... what else?"
That didn't really sound like much, but Ves had worked with worse. The Enduring Protector came to mind.
The issue that Ves had with this list of traits was that it all sounded rather weak. It was very difficult to boast about designing a cheap and easy mech that offered an attractive price-to-performance ratio against sandman fleets!
"At least with the Blackbeak I can point out how suited it is for long engagements." He muttered. "As for my upcoming rifleman mech, what am I supposed to say? My mech is the best cannon fodder in the market? That won't go over well."
Ves had to paint his new mech design in a good light without detracting from its basic qualities. The strengths he listed out were always going to be the fundamental selling points of his upcoming product.
Despite leaning on his overactive imagination, he failed to come up with a compelling idea. Ves figured he had spent enough time on his project and needed a break in order to gain inspiration.
He frowned and rubbed his forehead. "Although I have to design my rifleman mech as fast as possible, I can't rush the creative process. I have to set a solid vision before I proceed with the next steps. If my starting point is flawed, the rest of my work will go astray. I can't let that happen!"
Since he temporarily halted his work on his project, Ves looked for other ways to keep himself busy. His thoughts quickly wandered to a latent danger that he'd been neglecting for a couple of days.
"I still haven't done anything about the Ancient Sarcophagus." He frowned.
It cost the equivalent of 20 billion credits for Finlay to obtain Item #1255 on his behalf. Stalling his investigation of the red crystalline coffin for so long was starting to get ridiculous!
"I can't outrun my fears forever!"
The apprehension he felt towards the Ancient Sarcophagus continued to build up during the time he spent on his latest design project. Just as he predicted, it became harder and harder for him to think about trying to investigate the weird alien artifact.
"I'm running out of time. If I continue to stall, I'll reach a point where I'm unable to bring myself to approach this coffin!"
Something weird was taking place! Ves didn't believe his psychological fear emerged organically. He heavily suspected that the Ancient Sarcophagus deliberately influenced his mentality!
"Is this the reason why its previous owners put it up for auction?" He mused. "Hardly any treasure hunters are willing to let go of such a fantastic find under ordinary circumstances."
Though Ves held fears like any humans, he also valued his courage. Since when did he let an unknown risk hold him back from pursuing greater benefits? His current attitude towards the Ancient Sarcophagus did not match his ordinary mindset!
Ves slammed his desk with his fist. "It's decided! I'll start my investigation today! No more stalling!"
He rose from his desk, picked up Lucky and immediately left his stateroom with Nitaa quietly on his heels. He hastily marched towards the vault of the Barracuda and entered it after passing all of the security measures.
Once inside, he turned towards Nitaa. "What I'm about to do might be dangerous. Try to refrain from intervening unless I call for help or if I look really bad, is that clear?"
His bodyguard didn't look pleased. "If you're about to investigate the Ancient Sarcophagus, I highly suggest you wait. There is hardly any crew on hand on the Barracuda who can help you if anything goes wrong. We don't have a doctor, which is what I consider the minimum of what is necessary to guard against accidents."
"I can't wait that long." Ves dismissively waved his hand and turned away. "Besides, if I ever sustain an injury during this investigation, a doctor won't be able to treat my wounds."
Ves strongly believed that his investigation amounted to a contest of spirit.
Since that was the case, he needed to rely on spiritual means in order to succeed. Before he drew out the Ancient Sarcophagus, he first drew out his spiritual lockbox.
Contained within sat a P-stone which he recently started dumping his excess spiritual energy every day. After several days of accumulation, it held a decent reserve of backup energy which Ves could draw upon in case he fell up short.
Alongside the P-stone, he also drew out his sole F-stone from his vault. He had been refraining from doing anything to the F-stone because he only possessed a single sample of this spiritually-reactive exotic.
Its ability to augment his spiritual energy with a charge and an extra offensive attribute might come in handy if things went awry.
Lastly, he drew out the Ancient Sarcophagus, though currently it rested inside a container. Ves moved all of the objects he drew out from the vault and brought them to the Barracuda's lab compartment.
Once there, Ves drew out the Ancient Sarcophagus from its container and placed it in a shielded chamber.
With his P-Stone, B-Stone and F-Stone within reach, Ves believed he prepared enough tools for his upcoming operation.
After exchanging one long look with Nitaa, Ves settled down on his chair with Lucky hovering nearby and began to concentrate his mind.
As soon as he settled in the right mode, he began to observe the Ancient Sarcophagus with his spiritual vision.
It looked as bright, warm and active as ever. While Ves did not perceive any increased activity since last time, his inexplicable fear towards the strange object had abruptly grown more pronounced.
The more he looked at the coffin, the more his intuition starting blaring alarms.
Something incredibly dangerous rested inside the coffin! Ves might regret it if he tried to peek inside!
"Ah, whatever! I'm a Larkinson! I've never been afraid to take a little risk! Let's go!"
Instead of letting his fears and doubts wear down his determination to investigate the Ancient Sarcophagus, he decisively pulled the trigger and sent extended a powerful spiritual projection towards the alien object.
The only way to defeat the fear of the unknown was to shed its veil of secrecy and cast a light on the truth!
As soon as his spiritual projection encountered the red crystal, Ves immediately felt the familiar sensation of becoming mired in a swamp. The exterior material of the crystal coffin reminded him of the murky sensation of trying to pass his spiritual projection through a thin layer of B-stone.
Nonetheless, unlike a genuine B-stone, the red crystal did not block spiritual energy as effectively.
His spiritual projection continued to sink through the red crystal material. The further it reached, the more he began to sense an uncomfortable spiritual sensation.
Though the crystal material substantially dampened his spiritual senses, he nonetheless detected that something deep inside was beginning to stir...
Chapter 1491
A masked man stepped inside an isolated mech bay aboard a ship. He walked forward, his boots echoing against the scuffed deck, until he reached the mech that had recently been unpacked.
"When I heard our son prepared a gift, I did not expect to receive a tiger mech." The masked figure remarked as he studied the Devil Tiger with a critical eye. "Why do I have the feeling that this gift is not entirely planned?"
A small figure appeared alongside him. The crystalline woman wearing an elegant gown smiled up at the ferocious-looking tiger mech.
"This mech is a labor of love. From son to father, from mech designer to mech pilot, Ves hasn't forgotten about you. Though I don't pretend to understand much about mechs, I can immediately tell that this Devil Tiger will be the key to our ascension."
Though the formless mask hid Ryncol's expression, his body language clearly conveyed his skepticism.
There was nothing wrong with the Devil Tiger. From his own knowledge of mechs, he immediately recognized that the mech in front of him was very powerful and expensive.
In addition, he vaguely sensed something formidable about the mech. He couldn't quite describe what he was feeling, but as someone who piloted mechs for a living, the Devil Tiger was definitely a machine that demanded attention!
However, no matter how impressive the mech appeared, there was one huge problem.
"I don't pilot bestial mechs, honey. While this tiger mech is very impressive, I only pilot humanoid mechs."
Cynthia Larkinson grinned. "Haven't you been learning how to pilot other mechs? With the help I've provided to you, you've been improving at a rapid pace."
"That's because I've spent more than six years trying to become accustomed to piloting spaceborn mechs!" The Dark Cleaver let out an exasperated breath. "Most battles in the Nyxian Gap take place in space. If I didn't work so hard in becoming more proficient in piloting spaceborn mechs, I would have never been able to earn the respect of my men and take over the Oblivion Hand."
As a Larkinson, he possessed a much greater foundation than regular mech pilots, let alone the badly-trained pirates of the Nyxian Gap. He already possessed a basic level of proficiency in piloting spaceborn mechs, but it took several years of intensive piloting and training sessions for him to reach the level of proficiency reached by Larkinsons who specialized in piloting spaceborn mechs.
To be honest, Ryncol still wasn't comfortable with piloting a mech in space. The lack of solid ground underneath the feet of his mech often made him feel lost and adrift.
He missed fighting on stable ground. Distances were smaller, giving melee mech pilots such as him a lot more opportunity to close in to the enemy.
Though he still led the Oblivion Hand in battle after he became its commander, his mech mostly floated in the rear while the ranged mechs under his command pelted their opponents to death.
Ever since the Dark Cleaver took command of the Oblivion Hand, they never lost a battle. With someone as mysterious as his wife scouting their enemies and sabotaging them prior to battle, the Oblivion Hand always held the upper hand.
The continuous string of victories had propelled the Oblivion Hand into prominence in the Nyxian Gap. More and more pirates and other scum gave way when the Oblivion Hand passed through their space. In addition, the spoils they gained from their victories attracted an enormous amount of recruits.
Though a lot of spies and malcontents attempted to slip into their ranks, Cynthia always managed to sort them out before they did any damage.
Ryncol would have never made it this far without his wife's assistance. However, that did not mean he always went along with her plans!
"You know we can't afford to stay in a single area." He crossed his arms. "With hunters continually following our trails, we always need to stay a step ahead. We can't afford to linger too long on the surface of a planet."
"I know that." The miniscule woman spoke. "But there's more to this mech than you realize. It's worth it for you to pilot this great machine. Do you know why? Because our son has imparted something special to this mech. Why don't you step inside the cockpit first? I'll show you why the Devil Tiger will be the key to gaining an edge against our pursuers. You might even become strong enough to defeat them in battle!"
The man sent a dubious glance at his partner. "The last time you showed me something instead of telling me something, you stuffed a bunch of pills down my throat. I was indisposed for days while my body and mind were tearing themselves apart!"
"Didn't you get better in the end? I was just doing what was best for you, honey!"
Though Ryncol was very hesitant about following his wife's instructions, eventually she managed to badger him into stepping inside the cockpit.
Once he climbed into the cockpit and sat on his chair, he quickly moaned in comfort.
"This is the most comfortably piloting chair I've ever sat upon! As expected from my son! He knows exactly how to pamper mech pilots!"
The floating crystalline form of a woman hovered happily above his head.
"The comfy chair is just the start. There's something else about this mech that will help you become stronger. Why don't you activate and interface with the Devil Tiger. There's a surprise waiting for you once you connect with your mech."
Though Ryncol only grew more and more apprehensive about following her suggestions, he couldn't muster up much resistance against his own wife.
She had never been wrong, after all.
He booted up his mech and tentatively lowered the piloting helmet onto his head. The Devil Tiger came to life. The aura hidden behind the spiritual barrier that Ves had left behind became more pronounced. A hint of it leaked past the blockage, giving the mech pilot a preview of why the Devil Tiger acquired its name.
Soon enough, the man-machine connection started to engage. Just as Ryncol started communicating with the wakening tiger mech, the diminutive crystal woman started to make her move.
She stretched her tiny arm outwards and gripped her hand into a fist. Then, she pulled something out, causing the design spirit of the Devil Tiger to scream in agony and pain!
Her hand gripped something invisible to the naked eye. Only Cynthia could see what she held. She studied what she had taken with a satisfied grin before shoving it through the helmeted head of her husband!
"AAAAAAH! WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?"
This time, it was the mech pilot's turn to scream! Despite flailing around on his piloting seat, the tiny woman remained unconcerned as he concentrated on manipulating the intangible object she shoved in the mind of the man she loved.
Several agonizing minutes passed by as Cynthia performed a series of intricate spiritual surgery. The complexity of her manipulations vastly exceeded anything that Ves could do on his own!
In fact, if Ves could see her now, he would have been astounded to see what was happening! The design spirits of his mechs were never supposed to be abused in this fashion!
Ryncol kept feeling as if his mind was being dipped into a sun as he bore through the pain that affected his deepest being! He felt as if his fundamental sense of self was being altered on the spot!
Eventually, Cynthia ended her operation. She looked a lot more exhausted than before as she expended a lot of energy and effort to accomplish her objective.
Her husband slowly recovered from the changes that took place in his mind. He immediately shut down the mech as the man-machine connection compounded his headache!
"What.. what did you do?!"
"Nothing much. I just gave you the essential ingredient that will allow you to become an expert pilot. In fact, your new state resembles that of an expert candidate! Aren't you happy, honey?"
"Happy? Do you realize how much pain I am in?! I don't feel anything like an expert candidate, and as a Larkinson I should know!"
Cynthia's tiny form floated closer and gently caressed her husband's head while she studied her handiwork. Her expression revealed no hint of an apology.
"Just bear with it. I had to be a lot more forceful than I initially thought. It's inevitable for you to suffer some side effects. The pain will fade, but the discomfort will remain."
"How am I supposed to lead the Oblivion Hand when I'm no longer comfortable in my own skin?! Fix this, please!"
"I'm sorry, honey, but you have to do the rest yourself. The side effects of my operation can only be mitigated if you integrate the changes I've made."
"How am I supposed to do that?!"
Cynthia waved her tiny hand across the cockpit. "By piloting this mech. It's connected to you, now. It hides a wellspring of strength. I've borrowed a small portion of it to empower you, but to make it your own, you need to master your new strength in order to remain in control. Piloting the Devil Tiger in battle will help you familiarize with your changes and stave off any adverse consequences."
Ryncol Larkinson was never destined to become an expert pilot. For Cynthia to give her husband the strength he needed to resist their enemies, she had to resort to desperate means in order to change his fate.
It was worth it, though. Despite the sloppiness of her operation and the many side effects that arose, she was confident her husband would be able to overcome this challenge!
What she didn't mention to her husband that she was actually gambling with his life. If he failed to master his new strength and advance to expert pilot in a couple of years, the foreign energy inserted in his mind would eventually rebel and take over his body!
This wasn't something she could meddle with any longer. With how intertwined she attached the new energy to his mind, damaging one would also damage the other. This was why she heavily emphasized to her husband to control the new addition to his mind before it gained the upper hand!
Once Ryncol's headache began to subside a bit, he turned towards his wife and glowered at her. "I hate you, you know that? You're not the woman I rescued and fell in love with back then. You did a good job in deceiving me with your innocent act and your duplicitous smiles. When I finally found out the truth, I realized that I married a lie. By then, it was too late for me to request a refund."
Though her husband was badmouthing her, Cynthia took no offense. "The love we share is real, and the son we raised is the proof of that. I'm sorry for hoodwinking you back then, but I was in desperate straits back then. It's all water under the bridge, right? Despite all the trouble we're in right now, I still love you as much as I did when you rescued me like a knight in shining armor."
Her husband sighed. "And I love you too."
Love was very mysterious. Despite the problems associated with her complicated past, the time after her early death was one of the bleakest periods in his life. When she finally returned to him in her strange form a few years ago, it was as if he rediscovered the joys of his life.
Cynthia turned grim as she cast her thoughts to the future. Aside from the incessant pursuit following after their heels, she also worried about a greater threat.
"Please bear with the changes and do your best to grow stronger quickly. You'll need that strength for what is to come."
"What are you worried about, Cynthia?"
"A powerful foe." She replied with a grim expression. "One that is great enough to force our son to run from the star sector in the future."
The Ruined Temple was not a foe to be taken lightly!
Chapter 1492
Back aboard the Barracuda, Ves was exploring something new as well. After several days of ignoring its presence, he finally decided to tackle the Ancient Sarcophagus.
After passing his Spirituality through the odd hindrance of the red crystal substance, he began to approach an unknown entity held within.
The closer his spiritual presence neared the unknown entity, the greater the pressure he felt. Ves got the impression that the entity resting in the center of the coffin was not entirely awake.
"It's.. different from a living entity."
Compared to the liveliness and vividness of Zeigra's spirituality, the strange and partially-obscured presence locked within the Ancient Sarcophagus was like a sleeping giant that only revealed a hint of its shadow.
Ves began to consider whether it was a good idea to probe deeper. The strength he sensed up ahead only revealed a hint of its prowess, but already his intuition was ringing tons of alarms.
The problem he faced was whether he could trust his intuition. Ordinarily, he always trusted in his intuition.
However, he didn't dare to do so this time. Ever since he suspected that an outside influence was affecting his emotions, who knew whether his intuition could still be relied upon.
"I have to move forward." He whispered to himself.
The only way to defeat the unknown was to lift the veil that obscured the truth!
His sluggish spiritual projection continued to worm its way deeper into the Ancient Sarcophagus. As soon as it reached the area which held the frozen alien body, it finally came in touch with the dormant spiritual presence locked within.
Ves sensed a formless presence.
A presence that slept.
Sleeping for eons.
Until it perceived a disturbance.
Its rest was disturbed.
The presence slowly perceived an intrusion.
An unwelcome entity had disturbed its rest.
The presence began to waken some more.
The strength it exuded rose rapidly.
Ves widened his eyes.
Lucky meowed in alarm and activated his energy claws.
A sleeping spiritual giant awoke, and became incredibly angry!
"Uh... perhaps I acted too hastily."
As soon as he decided to pull his spiritual projection back, the entity residing within the Ancient Sarcophagus released an alien transmission that could only be heard through spiritual means!
Ves perceived a jumble of alien words and concepts! Though he failed to understand the meaning behind the transmission, he still managed to perceive the underlying emotions attached to the message.
The entity resting within the Ancient Sarcophagus was angry! Angry at being disturbed! Angry that its recovery had been interrupted! Angry that some puny lifeform had the temerity to claim its resting place!
The punishment for disturbing its rest was death!
"Ah!" Ves cried and pressed his hand against his head!
The massive spiritual entity hiding inside the Ancient Sarcophagus began to savage his spiritual projection!
"No!"
Once it realized that the intruder was only an extension of someone else's spirituality, the alien presence began to capture it and hijack its connection to the source!
Ves instantly balked in horror as he felt his spiritual projection was being coopted! The connection between his mind and his projection became a guide for the alien spiritual entity!
Soon enough, a spiritual sledgehammer hit his mind! Ves screamed as he felt as if something had cracked!
The strength of the impact finally allowed him to gauge the previously dormant entity's strength. Though the alien spiritual entity hadn't fully roused itself from its slumber, the force of its spiritual attack already exceeded the strength level of an expert pilot!
In fact, the power he sensed was comparable to that of Qilanxo!
"I've disturbed an entity that's as strong as an ace pilot!"
The only reason why his mind hadn't crumbled entirely was because the alien entity was still in the process of waking up. More and more of its strength came alive as the entity reared back for a second attack!
At that instance, Ves quickly diverted some of his concentration to his surroundings. He quickly located the lockbox made of B-stone and hastily picked it up. He oriented its opening and slipped the lockbox over his head like a makeshift helmet!
The second strike threatened to crack the defenses of his mind. Yet before it hit, the attack first hit the side of his B-stone lockbox!
Though Ves looked absolutely ridiculous right now with a square, black 'helmet' over his head, his quick thinking saved him from an attack that potentially shattered the defenses of his mind!
The second strike encountered so much hindrance in trying to pass through the layers of B-stone that it lost a lot of strength and momentum by the time it managed to pass through the dampening material.
The force that finally struck his mind only whacked him with a moderate instead of an overwhelming amount of force!
"Ng!"
It still hurt, though! The exterior of his mind already suffered some cracks due to the initial attack. Every subsequent bump threatened to compound the damage.
Despite the protection provided by his B-stone helmet, the rain of attacks that followed afterwards continued to degrade his defenses!
Soon, it would crack or shatter, which would lead to unpredictable results!
Though Ves tried his best to retreat, he found out that he was stuck! The hostile alien presence hijacked the spiritual projection he inserted into the Ancient Sarcophagus and kept hold of it in order to keep him in place!
Since Ves couldn't retrieve his spiritual projection, he tried to cut it off. However, he failed as the alien entity reinforced the connection!
"It isn't working!"
In order to buy more time, he frantically diverted his spiritual energy into the defenses of his mind. While he managed to heal some of the cracks, the attacks that continued to rail against his mind continued to inflict more damage.
"Damnit! I can't run and defending will only delay the inevitable!"
He had to change his tack! Though his opponent was extremely formidable if he tried to resist it by himself, he hadn't forgotten about his preparations!
Though the B-stone lockbox placed on his head was blocking his sight, he nonetheless managed to blindly grasp at two exotics he prepared beforehand!
He placed one hand on his partially-charged P-stone and another hand on his only F-stone!
The P-stone possessed a few days worth of excess spiritual energy. Ves desperately tapped the energy locked within to stem his rapid depletion. With an extra source of spiritual energy, he managed to buy some valuable time for himself!
As for the F-stone, Ves briefly hesitated in using it. Though Ves did not believe its properties were dangerous to him, he never fully tested out its abilities.
This was because the F-stone only contained a finite amount of charged energy! Once he used that up, he had no way of recharging it! He already tried to insert his spiritual energy in the F-stone to see whether it replenished its energy, but nothing happened!
"This isn't time to be stingy!" He admonished himself. "Who cares about a unique F-stone when my very mind is at stake!"
He no longer hesitated and drew deeply on his F-stone. A strong charge entered his body and mind before fusing with his loose spiritual energy. The external charge imparted his spiritual energy with a strong offensive attribute that became more and more pronounced as Ves drew out more of the F-stone reserves!
It pained Ves enormously to use up so much of his F-stone's charge. He estimated that he drew around fifteen percent of its total charge by the time his spiritual energy became saturated. He was unable to draw out anything more from his F-stone as his spiritual energy simply couldn't accommodate anything more!
"This is the time to strike!"
Though his spiritual energy was depleting at a worrying rate, he decisively formed another spiritual projection in the shape of a sharp and deathly knife. Due to the charge it acquired, its 'sharpness' and other offensive qualities had become a lot greater than Ves could ever manage to impart by himself!
Unlike the alien spiritual entity which mindlessly continued to press its attack through the dampening material of his B-stone lockbox, Ves directed his spiritual knife downwards from his head through his neck. Only until his spiritual knife extended from the interior of his lockbox did he reorient his knife towards the Ancient Sarcophagus.
"Attack!"
With as much force as he could muster, he propelled his spiritual knife forward! As soon as it reached the red crystal exterior, it began to encounter some hindrance.
However, the knife was not deterred! Its strong offensive quality allowed it to cut through the spiritual morass without bleeding too much energy!
Like a hot knife through butter, Ves pressed the sharp spiritual projection through the red crystal substance. Within seconds, it arrived at the site where the alien entity captured his first spiritual projection!
"CUT!"
Ves wielded his spiritual knife with haste and desperation. As soon as his attack encountered the wakening spiritual presence, the spiritual blade managed to make a cut with some difficulty!
"AAH!"
The injured spiritual entity roared with pain! It transmitted a barrage of spiritual messages, though Ves completely failed to understand their meaning!
"Shut up, you stupid relic of the past!"
Seeing that his first attack had managed to damage the spiritual entity, he continued to make additional cuts. Though the wounds were fairly shallow in comparison to the formidable spiritual entity's size, Ves was not attacking it at random!
Instead, he cut the portion of the alien entity that grabbed hold of his hijacked spiritual projection.
Cut followed after cut as Ves continued to damage the area of the spiritual entity which had captured a piece of himself!
The offensive attribute imparted to his spiritual knife grew weaker after every attack. Each cut that followed after the last one began to inflict less and less damage.
However, Ves didn't worry about his weakening attacks because Ves managed to cut loose an entire portion of the alien spiritual entity!
WWOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!
A formless scream without any obvious meaning emanated from the Ancient Sarcophagus! This time, its outburst was so powerful that even Nitaa managed to perceive the cry!
The attacks raining down on Ves had paused as the alien spiritual entity convulsed in agony as it abruptly lost a fundamental piece of itself!
Ves took advantage of the reprieve by retrieving both his initial spiritual projection and his second spiritual projection in the form of a knife! Not only did he retrieve his spiritual projections, he also dragged his spoils from the wounded alien entity!
Before he returned his spiritual projections to his mind, he hastily processed the wiggling and resisting spiritual fragment he cut loose.
"There's no way I'm going to host it in my own mind!"
He pressed the fragment into his P-stone. Ves had already drained it of all of the excess spiritual energy he previously stored inside. Now that his spiritual piggy bank was empty of anything of value, he did not hesitate in forcing the violently-wiggling spiritual fragment inside!
Unfortunately, the spiritual fragment continued to resist its capture! Not only did it strain against his attempts to keep it in place, it also summoned up enough strength to overcome the suction force of the P-stone that attempted to keep the fragment in its embrace!
"I have no choice, then!"
Ves quickly removed the B-stone lockbox from his head and quickly dumped his occupied P-stone inside. Once he closed it up, he carefully studied the lockbox for a few seconds but sensed nothing leaking out.
Combining the strengths of his P-stone and B-stone was enough to keep this rebellious alien spiritual fragment in place!
Ves knew that spiritual fragments cut off from a greater whole still shared a connection between them. The strength of this connection varied, but stronger entities generally maintained a stronger grip on their spiritual fragments.
However, the B-stone lockbox interfered with this connection! Though it hadn't disappeared entirely, the alien entity was unable to divert additional strength to its spiritual fragment!
As soon as Ves completed this maneuver, he took the lockbox and F-stone and rapidly escaped the lab.
"Nitaa! Let's go! It's too dangerous here right now!"
Though she was confused at what was happening, she didn't object to the command.
As soon as they ran halfway across the interior of the Barracuda, Ves, finally slowed down.
"This should be far enough." He judged. "We're out of the danger zone, I think."
Though the entity residing inside the Ancient Sarcophagus was incredibly formidable, Ves managed to discover something important while he cut loose a spiritual fragment.
For some reason, the alien spiritual entity was anchored to the center of the crystal coffin! It was unable to exert the majority of its spiritual strength!
Ves bet that the entity trapped within the coffin could only lash out in the immediate vicinity. The further the entity exerted its strength, the more the Ancient Sarcophagus weakened its attempts!
"It's not a sarcophagus!" He abruptly realized as he straightened his thoughts. "It's a prison!"
Chapter 1493
Before Ves took a long rest, he made sure to move the Ancient Sarcophagus back to the vault.
He didn't dare to let any person approach the dangerous object. While Ves wasn't sure whether it could affect or threaten anyone else, Ves did not take any chances.
He approached a nearby terminal and began to take control of a number of lifter bots.
Fortunately, the alien spiritual entity residing inside Item #1255 hadn't messed with the bots. Instead of moving it back to the vault, he instead placed it near the aft of the Barracuda.
The vault was situated in the center of the corvette, allowing it to exert its influence to cover the bulk of the interior of the vessel. By placing it at the very edge of the cargo bay, right against the cargo bay hatch, the Ancient Sarcophagus would have to overcome a lot more distance in order to affect the rest of the ship.
Once he finished moving the red coffin, Ves paused for a few minutes and extended his damaged spiritual senses outward.
He sensed nothing unusual. In fact, he began to breathe a little easier now that the dread weighing on his heart had disappeared. The subtle influence that messed with his judgement and intuition had disappeared!
Ves guessed that the trapped spiritual entity was still roiling in pain. Ves had violently cut out a spiritual fragment from its whole. Unlike the last time where Qilanxo voluntarily donated a spiritual fragment to Ves, this time he took it by force!
"There is an important difference between these two instances!"
Though Ves had the sense that the trapped alien entity was stronger than Qilanxo, the two differed substantially in many ways. Aside from being powerful, they shared nothing in common.
"I have no idea what I've tangled with, but I'm pretty sure it's trapped in place."
As more and more time passed by without anything unusual taking place, Ves began to let down his guard.
Evidently, the wounded alien entity was unable or unwilling to retaliate. Even if it did launch some kind of surprise attack somehow, Ves had already prepared a precaution. He programmed an emergency command on his comm. As long as he pressed the button, the Barracuda's cargo hatch would instantly open and dump the Ancient Sarcophagus into space!
Of course, Ves really didn't want to resort to this option. Despite the threat hidden within, the Ancient Sarcophagus was worth around 20 billion bright credits! He hated the thought of throwing away all that money!
"It's one thing to throw the red coffin away while the ship is in a star system. It's another thing to throw it out of the cargo bay while we're in the middle of FTL travel!"
It was still possible to dump something out of the ship while traveling faster than light, but nobody knew whether this posed some risks to the ship.
In any case, once the Barracuda released the Ancient Sarcophagus in higher-dimensional space, it was virtually impossible to get it back! Who knew where it would drift off or whether it would even remain intact!
He was relieved that the Ancient Sarcophagus did not do anything that forced his hand.
As he commanded Nitaa to keep an eye on the object, he wearily dragged his body to his stateroom and fell onto his bed.
"Meow."
Lucky floated above Ves with concern.
"I'm fine. I just need to rest and recover. My mind took an awful beating and I expended a lot of energy trying to defend myself."
The excitement had finished, allowing Ves to take stock of what happened and what he gained from his latest dangerous experience.
First, he managed to understand the nature of the Ancient Sarcophagus. Ves wasn't even sure if it still deserved to be called as such, though it obviously preserved a seemingly dead alien body.
The formidable spiritual entity trapped within had rested inside for who knew how long. Ves wasn't sure if it was a spiritual continuation of the alien body trapped within the crystal or if it emerged long after the original body had been entombed.
"Whatever the case, it's strong and very much alive!"
It also happened to be fairly uncommunicative and extremely violent. Though Ves understood most entities, he failed to interpret the incomprehensible spiritual transmissions of the alien spiritual entity. There was a fundamental mismatch between them that didn't exist when Ves communicated with other entities!
Just like Zeigra's spirituality, the alien spiritual entity possessed an irreconcilable hatred towards Ves. Though he didn't mean to carve out a spiritual fragment, it was too late to make amends now that he did so in an extremely violent fashion.
The overall impression he got from the alien spiritual entity was one that conveyed an immense amount of power and hostility. It was as if Ves was just a mouse before a cat!
Nonetheless, the difference between their situations was that the cat was shackled to the Ancient Sarcophagus while the mouse enjoyed total freedom! This was one of the reasons why Ves shouldn't have much to fear from the alien spiritual entity he offended!
Unfortunately, their brief moment of contact and conflict didn't reveal anything more about the entity trapped within.
He did manage to extricate himself from the fight with a spiritual fragment. The P-stone locked inside his B-stone lockbox now held a very violent and uncooperative spiritual fragment.
Ves decided to keep the lockbox close and monitor it for a few days. While there was a risk in keeping it within his reach, he wanted to know immediately if the spiritual fragment managed to muster enough strength to break out of its cage.
"I don't have a lot of alternatives if my current containment measures aren't enough."
One of the issues that plagued him right now was the damage inflicted to his mind. The violent attacks against the defenses of his mind had riddled it with cracks and other imperfections. Though his mind was already in the process of healing it, Ves estimated that it would take a fair amount of time for him to recover all of the damage.
In addition, Ves also expended a decent amount of spiritual energy. Though his Grand Dynamo was intact and constantly churned out an incredible amount of spiritual energy, it still took some time for his reserves to get back up to full.
"This is going to eat up valuable time! Time which I could have used to work on my latest design project!"
Still, this wasn't his first time his mind was working at a suboptimal level. Ves believed he still had what it took to work on a new mech design. He just wouldn't be feeling very comfortable and energetic in the following week.
In his current damaged condition, it would be hard for him to become inspired or perform his work at full efficiency.
To be honest, he was quite pissed at how much damage he suffered and how it could have been worse. If not for his quick thinking, he might not even be himself anymore!
As he analyzed his attempts to probe the Ancient Sarcophagus, he realized that making direct contact with the alien spiritual entity was his biggest mistake. His curiosity towards the seemingly-slumbering entity had almost proved his undoing!
"Even if it woke up, it couldn't have done anything to me." He concluded. "It's trapped in place and can hardly exert its strength outside of the red coffin."
The main reason the alien spiritual entity managed to circumvent the restrictions of its prison was because it hijacked his spiritual projection!
The channel that formed between the two opened up a backdoor for the alien spiritual entity to exert its strength outside the coffin.
"Well, lesson learned, I guess." He sighed while continuing to lie face down on his bed. "I'll have to develop a more sophisticated probing method next time. I shouldn't expose myself in such a reckless manner against a completely unknown entity."
The alien spiritual entity's dormancy had thrown him off. Only after it started rousing from its slumber did Ves realized how badly he was outmatched.
Though Ves had never come in touch with an ace pilot in his life, he had a strong feeling that Qilanxo and the trapped alien entity both belonged to that tier. The amount of strength they possessed clearly exceeded the bounds of expert pilots, but wasn't quite as impressive as the stories he heard about god pilots.
"Well, there is a huge amount of variance in strength between ace pilots."
This was because ace pilots were split into junior ace pilots and senior ace pilots for some reason. Despite this distinction, there weren't any other differences between the two. As long as a junior ace pilot kept improving, they wouldn't encounter any major bottlenecks that hindered their growth to senior ace pilot.
If Ves attempted to gauge their strengths, then he tentatively judged that Qilanxo was comparable to a junior ace while the trapped alien entity was comparable to a senior ace.
Its partial awakening along with the Ancient Sarcophagus shackling the bulk of its strength prevented the trapped alien entity from using its superiority to its fullest.
However, even a portion of its strength was enough to threaten Ves! He needed to be really careful about his interactions with the Ancient Sarcophagus from now on as he couldn't afford a repeat of the previous incident!
Ves winced when he thought about the F-stone. He used up 15 percent of its charge to empower his ability to damage the trapped alien entity. While he didn't regret his decision, he was afraid that he didn't have any way to make up for his loss in this area.
"From what I've seen in Cinach, F-stones are probably a lot rarer than P-stones!"
He managed to collect six P-stones but only one F-stone and B-stone so far. The latter two materials had proven vital in helping him solve his latest crisis. As long as he accumulated more of both, he enjoyed a lot more confidence in handling dangerous spiritual threats!
"However.. if I don't manage to get more F-stones and B-stones, then my options will continue to dwindle over time."
His B-stone had proven to be very useful as a makeshift helmet to protect his mind. The trapped alien entity hadn't been smart or coherent enough to attack his mind from below.
However, would the next time be the same? If the alien entity smartened up, then Ves needed a lot more B-stones to form an armored suit that protected his entire body!
As for the F-stones, his need for them became more acute. Unlike his B-stone lockbox which he could reuse as many times as he wanted, his F-stones depleted more and more of its charge each time Ves drew upon its strength.
"If I continue to draw 15 percent of its charge with every use, then my F-stone will run out of charge after six more uses!"
This was very important to Ves, because he believed he needed its strength to continue to take advantage of the Ancient Sarcophagus.
Ever since he started his new design project, Ves had been worried whether he could successfully design a brand new spaceborn rifleman mech in two or three months.
One of the biggest bottlenecks he faced was that he lacked a convenient supply of spiritual entities!
Part of the reasons why his Aurora Titan, Transcendent Messenger and Devil Tiger designs exhibited a powerful X-Factor was because of their exceptional design spirits.
Ves wanted to impart the same level of strength to his rifleman mech design, but finding a suitable spiritual entity that could serve as its design spirit was immensely troublesome!
"However, it's different now." He grinned. "With my accidental spoils, I've saved myself the trouble of starting an exhaustive search!"
The only troublesome aspect about the spiritual fragment he captured was incredibly hostile. The alien spiritual entity hated his guts and would never cooperate with his attempts to turn its spiritual fragment into a design spirit for his upcoming mech design!
"That's okay, though! I can just use the same solution I used last time!"
Ves planned to avoid the unpleasantries related to using a hostile spiritual fragment by breaking it apart!
As long as he cut off the fragment's connection to the source and broke it up to the point where its autonomous consciousness died, then he could repurpose the pieces into a new spiritual product!
Chapter 1494
In the following days, Ves put down most of his work and mainly relaxed as he tried to recover from his ordeal.
Though he didn't have any hobbies or leisure activities to amuse himself, he enjoyed reading industry publications and keeping up with the latest developments in the local mech community.
To Ves, working with mechs was his idea of having fun. As long as he didn't divert his thoughts to any strenuous design work, his stress levels remained low.
The passage of time allowed his mind to heal the damage that Ves incurred by clashing against the alien spiritual entity locked in the Ancient Sarcophagus.
While the damage looked ugly, this wasn't the first time Ves had gone into a scrape. His mind had gained enough resilience to know what it was doing when it was attempting to repair the damage.
What helped his recovery enormously was when Ves directed some of the abundant spiritual energy produced by the Grand Dynamo to boost the recovery effort.
Since the defenses of his mind represented an aspect of his Spirituality, then supplementing it with his own spiritual energy was like adding fuel to the fire.
His mind and spirit had grown stronger. As Ves eagerly studied the rate of repair, he estimated he wouldn't be bothered by the damage anymore after a couple more days of rest.
As Ves saw his own mind recover quickly by supplementing it with spiritual energy, he cast his thoughts back to the strange alien spiritual entity.
His brief moment of contact revealed very little about the entity. The only thing Ves really learned was that its strength exceeded his own by a huge margin but that it was also trapped inside its coffin.
Ves tried to recall the impression he got from the entity. He found its emotions and spiritual attributes to be rather opaque. A lot was lost in translation because of the sheer alienness of what he experienced.
"Is this what it's like to come into contact with a true alien?"
A lot of the spiritual entities he encountered so far consisted of humans or genetically-modified organic products developed by humans. These inextricable human links meant that Ves shared a common spiritual language with different creatures related to the human race.
Ves was not blind to his ability to communicate with cats and other creatures. In fact, it had grown stronger and more capable as he progressed his career.
He smirked. "Ketis is right. I do have a superpower. It's just that it's not as impressive as she thinks."
He developed a theory that his design philosophy not only strengthened his ability to work with mechs, but also produced various side effects related to its mechanisms.
His design philosophy mostly focused on facilitating the cooperation between humans and mechs. Trying to communicate with animals and alien creatures was either an artifact related to his design philosophy, or something that was common with powerful spiritual entities that shared a particular inclination.
"It could be both in my case." He mused. "They're probably overlapping with each other if that's the case."
He'd have to come in touch with more aliens and other spiritual entities in order to be sure. Unfortunately, the only two within reach both hated his guts.
When Ves inspected Zeigra's spiritual fragment locked inside his outfit, it mindlessly lashed out at him with an even greater fury than before!
"What have I done to you?! Isn't it time for you to let bygones be bygones?!"
The sheer fury emanating from the spiritual fragment made it impossible for Ves to have a straight conversation with the former Crown Cat.
As for the other entity, Ves was not very eager to make contact with the alien spiritual entity.
"It deserves a name. It's tiresome to call it that everytime I think about it." He rubbed his chin. "How about Nyxie?"
That settled it! If the alien spiritual entity locked within the Ancient Sarcophagus disliked its new name, then it could always lodge a complaint if it wished!
Though Nyxie was incredibly hostile and almost succeeded in shattering his mind, Ves did not resent it. In fact, Ves regarded the spiritual entity with fondness!
As Ves carefully approached the cargo bay and studied the Ancient Sarcophagus from a distance with his spiritual vision, he tentatively confirmed that Nyxie was firmly trapped inside its cage.
Once Ves gained more confidence that Nyxie wouldn't be a threat to him, he stepped closer and began to examine the spiritual entity as best he could with his passive senses.
Though he wasn't able to read much, he did manage to make some very critical observations.
First, Ves confirmed his earlier conclusions.
Nyxie was incredibly powerful. So powerful in fact that Ves didn't feel confident he could match its strength within a hundred years! Unless he advanced to Master Mech Designer or something, Nyxie would always be able to crush him on a spiritual level if it managed to shake off its shackles!
Second, Ves still hadn't been able to make sense of Nyxie's spiritual attributes, but its personality and emotions were very clear.
He gained the impression of a very distinguished alien individual who ruled over its people like a despot. Nyxie believed that it possessed a natural right to rule. Tyranny, superiority and hostility suffused the spiritual entity, making it extraordinarily difficult for Ves to find anything friendly.
"Your personality really sucks." He stated to the coffin. Nyxie probably didn't register his words. "You'd be a lot more useful to me if you aren't such a hostile bastard. I'm not your enemy!"
Unfortunately, no matter how many overtures he made, Nyxie remained as hostile as ever. The only thing that changed was that it increasingly became more dormant.
The ugly wound he carved out of Nyxie did not represent a major loss to an entity of its size and strength, but it was very unpleasant nonetheless.
What Ves found curious about Nyxie's return to slumber was that its wound started regenerating. The edges of the cavity formed by carving out a fragment became active. Bit by bit, new spiritual energy arrived from within the entity to regain what had been lost.
Ves widened his eyes as he realized the implications of this development.
"If Nyxie gets back to normal everytime I carve out a fragment, doesn't this mean that I can do this forever?"
This essentially meant that Ves had gained a renewable source of spiritual fragments! As long as he made sure that gave Nyxie enough time to recover from the damage, Ves could potentially harvest the same kind of spiritual fragments in perpetuity!
"This is a ridiculous notion!" Ves vigorously shook his head before he let his delusions get the better of him. "Nothing is for free! There has to be limits somehow."
Ves observed Nyxie's spiritual activities over several days and keenly studied its changes.
He found out that even as its wound started to close, its overall spiritual strength started to subside a bit.
The difference was extremely miniscule, and it took a lot of focused effort on his part to register the changes in the first place.
If not for his hunch that something like this might happen, he wouldn't have realized that Nyxie was becoming weaker even as it healed its wound!
It made a lot of sense to Ves. Where did it get its spiritual energy from? Ves observed the crystal coffin as best he could. Even if he didn't understand what it did besides trapping Nyxie, he was pretty sure it did not generate any spiritual energy.
"Why would a coffin or a prison have that function in the first place?"
Ves made a tentative conclusion that Nyxie was cannibalizing its own spiritual energy to heal its wound. This meant that this renewable source of spiritual fragments would not last forever and eventually exhaust itself.
He still grinned, though. "Even if my new renewable source is not as exhaustive as I thought, there is plenty to go around!"
Nyxie's sheer strength and quantity of spiritual energy was unlike anything that Ves had seen before!
Not even Qilanxo, a Sacred God who lived for hundreds of years and whose very genes had been manipulated to excel in spirituality and spiritual manipulation, could match the strength of this incredibly ancient and forgotten relic from the past!
Though Ves did not have much information to go on, he estimated that he would definitely be able to harvest fifty to a hundred spiritual fragments before Ves exhausted Nyxie as a source!
A hundred fragments!
That essentially translated to a hundred spiritually-empowered mech designs!
Though Ves could draw upon other sources, he had to go through a lot of effort to obtain them! While he already formed plans to make it easier for him to harvest spiritual fragments or complete spiritual entities, it would take a lot of time for them to come into fruition.
Now that he had Nyxie, he obtained a very valuable stopgap solution. He only had to walk as far as to where he stored the Ancient Sarcophagus in order to harvest another spiritual fragment!
"This is worth far more than 20 billion bright credits!"
Obtaining the Ancient Sarcophagus was one of the biggest profits of his year-long tour. Obtaining a huge reservoir of spiritual fragments in a convenient package was already worth this entire excursion!
"I can add another successful gain to my list!"
His deal with Finlay back at the Circle of Mota had paid off in spades! Even if Finlay's faction misused his work and laid waste to a populated planet in the Sentinel Kingdom, Ves would still not regret what he'd done!
In his eyes, helping to develop mechs that went on to nuke an entire planet to oblivion was worth the gains he made!
This was because the Ancient Sarcophagus allowed him to design a lot of mechs in rapid tempo without getting bottlenecked by his difficulties in tracking down suitable design spirits to pair with his designs!
"It's not a perfect solution, however." He sighed as he recognized a number of huge issues.
Nyxie was uncooperative. Not only that, but Nyxie's spiritual attributes were very tyrannical and alien. Ves didn't have a good grasp of them, and not every mech design was suitable to adopt these specific attributes.
"It might be able to work with an offense-oriented mech like the Blackbeak, but I doubt Nyxie is a good fit for a defense-oriented mech like the Aurora Titan."
Nothing good would come out from a mismatch between the vision of a mech and its design spirit. His mech pilots would probably suffer from mental disorders if Ves tried to pull something like that off!
He didn't worry too much about this problem, though. This was because he already decided that if he ever made use of Nyxie's spiritual fragments, he would use them as the main raw material for his spiritual products.
"It's better to break them up rather than use them directly."
Aside from trying to remove Nyxie's hostile consciousness towards him from the fragments, Ves mainly wanted to see if he could steer its spiritual attributes in a different direction.
"Instead of accepting what I've initially obtained, I want to develop something that conforms to my intentions!"
In the context of his design philosophy, his attempts to develop an artificial spiritual product and gain greater control over its nature represented a shift towards the path of determinism.
Though it still involved the path of life, the more he intervened in the configuration of his spiritual product, the more its existence reflected his will.
"It's like programming a bot, but not quite."
He had no idea what he was doing during his first attempt at creating a spiritual product. Ves realized that he had to develop the theories on how to shape a spiritual product in a focused and deliberate manner from scratch.
However, the potential of becoming proficient in this ability was great!
Ves increasingly felt that his latest developments were threatening to spin out of his control. Reorienting himself more towards the path of determinism was a good way to ensure that he retained at least a modest grip on some of his future design spirits!
Chapter 1495
Despite his many hopes for using artificial spiritual products as design spirits for his mechs, he did not consider them to be the ultimate solution to every problem.
His previous mech designs which utilized natural spiritual fragments or entities were very powerful. As long as their inclinations matched their mech designs, then the resulting combination was very powerful.
"The main advantage to resorting to products of nature is that they are already mature!"
A Sacred God like Qilanxo who grew up on Aeon Corona VII and went through countless experiences was not something an artificial spiritual product could match.
The difference between the former and the latter was that a spiritual product was completely newborn at the moment of creation. In fact, as a purely spiritual lifeform, it never enjoyed an opportunity to live a long and impactful physical existence.
This decreased their overall value compared to natural products. Having studied Vescas multiple times, Ves concluded that it was rather dimwitted and impressionable at first, so much so that he believed that it was better suited to be utilized in custom mechs rather than commercial mechs.
While he still believed that this was the case, Ves believed this problem wasn't insurmountable.
"It's still better to obtain a natural product that matches the vision of my mech design. There will always be problems if I attempt to twist something incompatible into something that barely matches my intention."
The main advantage of resorting to spiritual products rather than existing spiritual entities was that he could wipe the slate clean. Even if the spiritual entity hated his guts, as long as Ves broke it apart and reconstructed it in something new, the resulting newborn was ripe for indoctrination.
"This is the key."
Rather than immediately insert a new spiritual product into a mech design, he needed to raise and educate it beforehand. The longer he shaped its personality and inclinations, the less susceptible it would be once it took on its role and became exposed to the chaotic thoughts of thousands of mech pilots!
What this basically meant was that Ves had to create a spiritual product in the early phases of a mech design project and needed to divert a lot of effort into educating it. Even then, it would still be rather impressionable because it simply lacked too much life experience to know what was right or wrong.
In essence, that meant that his spiritual products would still be subject to change depending on the feedback it received from the earliest customers of his new mech model.
Ves predicted that only the earliest customers mattered, because exposure to more mech pilots would rapidly mature the design spirit over time.
This gave Ves a measure of control over the evolution of his spiritual products. He just had to selectively release the first copies of his new mech models to exemplary customers.
"The first mech pilots who interface with my new mechs will essentially act as teachers and role models!"
In this way, Ves believed he could successfully address one of the most troubling aspects in his attempts to utilize spiritual products in mass-market mechs.
He left out another method of influencing his spiritual products. The problem was that it was a bit more controversial.
"If my current raw ingredients aren't sufficient, then I can always blend in an additional ingredient that contains the properties I want!"
Ves believed that he could improve the compatibility of his spiritual products if he stole a spiritual fragment from a matching expert pilot!
As long as the expert pilot specialized in the same mech type as his design project, Ves would be able to better match the spiritual attributes of the spiritual product to a particular mech design.
In fact, Ves already blended in his own spiritual energy into his spiritual products to make them more compatible to mechs. The problem though was that his spiritual attributes addressed mechs as a whole rather than specific mech archetypes.
He needed a more targeted way to influence the initial state of his spiritual products!
Ves remembered that he matched his first spiritual product, Vescas, with the Kinslayer.
Vescas happened to be formed as a result of combining the spiritual remnants of a huge cat and a tiny portion of his own spiritual energy.
The result was a spiritual product which already started off with a high degree of fit towards a tiger mech!
"This won't be the case next time!"
If the initial mix of raw ingredients wasn't enough, then Ves had to throw in something extra in order to make up for the lack of fit.
One solution he came up with was to revive his plans to borrow the strength of expert pilots!
Ves knew that stealing a spiritual fragment from an expert pilot was risky and not entirely opportune. To ensure the best result, he needed to be in fairly close proximity to the expert pilot in question or find some way to track down their spiritual presence in the imaginary realm.
However, these challenges weren't insurmountable or even very troubling. It was easy enough for Ves to divert to the known locations of expert pilots in order to accomplish his heists.
"The bigger question is whether it's even a good idea for me to resort to this solution."
Ves knew that carving out a piece of spirituality from another person could be a damaging or traumatic experience. He wasn't really sure of the consequences of his actions, but at the very least he had set back their growth and progression for some time as their damaged spiritualities needed a lot of time to heal from their wounds.
Since expert pilots were weaker than ace pilot-like entities like Qilanxo and Nyxie, it would take a lot more time for them to recover from their losses.
"However, it doesn't have to be a lot. Just a tiny fragment is sufficient."
The spiritual fragments he obtained from Nyxie would serve as the base of his spiritual products. Their level of strength was already sufficient to form a strong design spirit, so Ves did not have to rely on other sources to bolster this aspect.
Adding in spiritual energy taken from other sources merely served to add more complexity and targeted focus to his spiritual products.
"It's much like designing a mech." He chuckled. "The different materials that make up its composition are good in different aspects. A mech made of a single material won't perform as well as a mech made of multiple materials."
Equating the development of spiritual products to mech design represented an advancement in spiritual engineering. While Ves was still far away from creating something as fantastic as the Grand Dynamo, he believed his latest methods brought him closer to reaching that height.
"Of course, for now I'm mostly relying on guesswork and unproven assumptions. If I want to prove my new methods, then I'll have to put them to the test!"
His next design project seemed as good as any to conduct this test.
"It's not like I have the time to hunt down a natural product under the circumstances. I have to work with what I have on hand."
Ves was under a lot of time pressure to design his upcoming spaceborn ballistic rifleman mech. The market conditions for this type of mech was very favorable right now, but the longer he took to complete his design, the more his competitors met the market demand.
If it took six months or more for him to complete his design, then at that time his competitors would have already captured most of the market! Trying to rob the turf claimed by others was a lot harder than taking over unclaimed territory!
He estimated that he had less than two months left if he wanted to stay ahead of the curve! Three months was his limit! If he took longer than this, then he'd be too late to attract attention away from existing mech models!
"Unless something literally falls on my lap, there's no way I can divert enough time to hunt down a strong natural fragment."
The only issue that really concerned Ves was that he needed to spend some time to locate and approach a suitable expert pilot.
He shrugged. "There's probably at least someone in the states along the way who matches my requirements."
In fact, he remembered that he stole a spiritual fragment from an expert pilot once before. Back when he designed the Aurora Titan, he still adopted the framework of the Triple Division technique.
These days, Ves considered the Triple Division technique to be overly rigid and outdated. At his current proficiency in spiritual engineering, he no longer needed to adopt its framework in a formulaic fashion.
Nonetheless, he still attempted to follow the formula when he designed the Aurora Titan. While Qilanxo's spiritual fragment played the starring role as the totem animal of his super-medium space knight, Ves relied on blending a spiritual fragment taken from a chivalrous expert pilot in the Mech Corps.
"If I recall, the expert pilot I've targeted is Venerable Rota Fontain of the 8th Spiral Shockers of the New Foundation Mech Army!"
Ves spent some time alongside the elite Spiral Shockers during the time he joined Senator Tovar's peace delegation. His close proximity to the Spiral Shockers allowed him to locate Venerable Fontain's spiritual presence easily and steal his spiritual fragment without much issue.
"I wonder what happened to him afterwards?"
His curiosity prompted him to head to the galactic net and try to search what had happened to Venerable Fontain over the years since he designed the Aurora Titan. Had the expert pilot regressed? Was he still the same? Or did he improve in some way?
"I've been avoiding this topic." He belatedly realized.
He had done his best to suppress the guilt he felt over stealing a portion of Venerable Fontain's strength.
With a heavy heart, he began to browse the articles related to Venerable Fontain and the Spiral Shockers.
"Hmm, there is not a lot of news."
Due to their status as an elite mech regiment, the Spiral Shockers guarded their information tightly. The Mech Corps largely kept their missions, their mech roster and other details under wraps.
If Ves wanted to gain access to classified information, then he needed to approach the Mech Corps. However, even if he was a Journeyman, he had no business in inquiring about the current state of one of their expert pilots!
"I think I have a solution for that, though." Ves smiled.
He activated his comm and browsed his list of contacts. Though he didn't really relish making contact with the person he had on his mind, his curiosity would continue to gnaw at his mind if he ignored the matter.
"Goddammit. What am I hesitating for? I'm making a big deal out of nothing! My relationship with them is different now that I've advanced to Journeyman!"
He decisively pressed the button to call his chosen contact.
A few seconds passed before the call went through. A projection of a very familiar face appeared in front of Ves.
"Mr. Larkinson. What an unexpected surprise!"
"Leland. Cut the crap. I need a favor."
The spy currently working at the headquarters of the LMC raised his eyebrow.
"What kind of favor?"
"I'm performing some research related to.. updating my Aurora Titan design. In order to help me understand space knights, I'd like to study from examples. I don't know if you know this, but Professor Ventag once did a similar favor to me by giving me access to a redacted record of one of the expert pilots serving in the Mech Corps. I... I'd like to obtain those records again."
Leland immediately frowned. "Your request is very brave. It's also inappropriate considering you've contacted me directly on an unsecure channel."
"Oh, I'm sure you've already made some precautions." Ves idly waved his hand, not very concerned about what he said. "Look. I really need you to fulfill my request. C'mon. Aren't we buddies? I don't see any harm in allowing me to get a glimpse!"
Chapter 1496
If Ves was still an insignificant Apprentice, Leland would have hung up immediately.
It was different now. Not only did he become a Journeyman, but he also gained a lot of prominence recently! His recent achievements and mech designs proved that he had a lot of promise.
If Ves understood anything about Flashlight, it was that it was willing to break any rule in order to advance its interests!
He currently shared a complicated relationship with the military intelligence agency of the Bright Republic. He already performed some missions for Flashlight, and even became one of their external associates.
On top of that, Flashlight also became the third-largest shareholder of the Living Mech Corporation. One of their shell companies took over the shares from a shell company answering to the Ministry of Economic Development.
Overall, Ves was pleased with this change. As a shareholder, Flashlight never imposed any imperious demands on the running of the LMC.
Even when the company fell into a crisis due to the change in market circumstances due to the sandman invasion, they hadn't disagreed with the measures that Ves suggested to temporarily prop up the company's earnings.
Since Ves had interacted with them long enough to study their mindset, he knew how much they valued him. As a Journeyman with good growth prospects and decent ties to their organization, Flashlight probably considered him to be an important investment!
For this reason, Ves believed he could take some liberties and throw around his weight a little. In any case, the favor he requested might be problematic for some people, but not to him.
The only issue was the transmission method. Flashlight abhorred sending information over through the galactic net.
"While we are willing to extend this favor to you, you'll have to return to the Bright Republic if you want access to the information." Leland calmly replied after he considered the request. "It's not that we're refusing you, but the galactic net is simply too insecure to transmit information of this nature."
"Don't you have encryption or something that can mitigate this problem?"
"We do. However, they're only used to transmit the most essential intel because they'll be cracked soon enough."
Ves palmed his face. This took way too long!
"Forget about it then. Can you at least tell me how Venerable Fontain is doing? Has he changed since the end of the war?"
"Every expert pilot changes. Especially after a significant event such as a war. I can't tell you more than that, Ves."
"Has he grown stronger, at least?"
Leland frowned deeper. "Why are you asking this? What use does this information have for you? While mech designers sometimes inquire after expert pilots, it's mostly because they are tasked with designing or maintaining their expert mechs."
"I'm thinking about getting into the expert mech business myself." Ves spontaneously came up with an excuse. "You know that my cousin Jannzi is an expert candidate who currently pilots one of my Aurora Titans. I want to prepare for the time when I'm commissioned to design her expert mech once she becomes a full-fledged expert pilot. Studying the circumstances of comparable expert pilots helps a lot."
Leland remained suspicious of Ves. The timing of this request was very strange, but then again a lot of mech designers were weird. Ves had already shown that he was not exactly the most rational mech designer in the Bright Republic.
"Let's discuss this matter further once you return to the Bright Republic. For now, all you need to know is that Venerable Fontain has entered a slump for some time, but is doing well these days."
"How well, exactly?"
"Well, it's no secret in the Mech Corps that he has requested a new expert mech. While expert pilots periodically request new expert mechs, the Mech Corps mostly prefer to keep their existing ones because developing one from scratch is incredibly expensive."
Leland didn't need to tell Ves anything more. After Ves said goodbye to the intelligence operative and ended the call, he parsed the information that Leland revealed.
Expert mechs were vital to expert pilots. The machines had to be precisely tailored to their expert pilots in order to bring out the most of their combination.
However, Leland was correct that expert pilots often changed over the course of their careers. Most of the time, this wasn't a big deal as the design teams in charge of developing the expert mech would often implement tweaks to accommodate the changes.
"The only reason for an expert pilot to request a new mech is if their expert mech has become too outdated or no longer matches their capabilities."
Ves didn't believe the former was the case. The Mech Corps or the Senior Designers in charge of the expert mech would make this determination themselves.
If Ves assumed the latter was the case, then Venerable Fontain had either grown stronger or weaker.
Leland's description about this was rather vague. The spy only briefly mentioned that Venerable Fontain had entered a slump. This meant that the expert pilot definitely suffered from a moment of weakness for a time!
Ves bet that he had been directly responsible for this turn of events. He was relieved to hear that Venerable Fontain was doing well again.
From the context of the conversation, Ves believed that Leland meant that Venerable Fontain had not only recovered, but grown stronger.
"Strong enough to think that minor upgrades won't be able to accommodate his current capabilities anymore!"
Ves therefore concluded that despite being robbed of a spiritual fragment, Venerable Fontain was doing better than ever!
He did not have to worry about ruining an expert pilot's career if he happened to borrow a spiritual fragment from them. Just like Nyxie, they healed the damage and probably became whole again, though they had probably been set back for some time.
"It's only been two years since I've published the Aurora Titan. It's been even longer since I first started to work on its design." Ves furrowed his brows. "This is a very short time for an expert pilot to improve all of a sudden."
If Venerable Fontain incurred serious damage and required many months or years to recover, then he would probably be content with his current expert mech.
Even if he grew weaker for a time, that was not necessarily a reason to request a new mech. After all, if Venerable Fontain recovered again, then his personal expert mech would fit him like a glove again.
No. The only reason for Venerable Fontain to request a new expert mech was because he had rapidly outgrown his current one in these last few years!
A very bold assumption came to his mind. It was so bold in fact that Ves did not dare to take it for granted yet. Despite how well it explained Venerable Fontain's circumstances, the implications were incredibly significant!
This was because he believed that Venerable Fontain, and by extension any spiritual entity related to his design spirits, grew stronger through the use of his mechs!
While this wasn't the first time Ves entertained this idea, he never obtained proof. Not enough time had passed for him to determine whether his design spirits definitely benefited and grew stronger due to establishing connections to numerous mech pilots!
"In theory, it makes sense, though!"
Ves always believed the man-machine connection benefited both the mech and mech pilot. In most cases, the mech pilot probably didn't strengthen much over time due to their singular connection to their mechs.
On the other hand, his design spirits watched a lot of mechs! While they probably didn't derive a lot of benefits from just one connection, what if they maintained a hundred connections? A thousand connections?
Maybe he should check in on the status of his current design spirits.
"Extraordinary claims require extraordinary proof." He uttered.
Ves dredged up the details of his old mech designs from his mind and tried his best to establish a connection to the design spirits that currently resided in his mech designs.
He first checked the Blackbeak.
As one of his earliest original works, the Blackbeak did not possess a strong X-Factor by his standards. Its design spirit, the Black Phoenix, was purely based on the images he constructed out of his imagination.
Once Ves gained a tentative connection to the Black Phoenix, he tried to gauge its spiritual strength level.
"It's actually different from what I've imagined!"
The System graded the Blackbeak's X-Factor as C++. This was very weak compared to his more recent mech designs. Yet now that he came in touch with the Black Phoenix, he sensed that it had definitely changed from before!
"It's much more mature!"
Not only that, it had also grown more solid and real! Ves loosely estimated that the X-Factor of his Blackbeak model had broken into the B-range!
Ves discarded his Blackbeak design from the forefront of his mind and tried to call up his Crystal Lord design. Its design spirit, the crystal builder's leader, had grown stronger as well!
"It's a little less drastic, though!"
He recalled that its X-Factor was originally graded as B-. Ves judged that the Crystal Leader's X-Factor hadn't broken into the A-grades, but it had definitely grown stronger than the Black Phoenix.
"B+, maybe."
The jump in strength was a bit less dramatic than that of the Black Phoenix. Both mechs sold roughly equally, so numbers didn't explain the disparity.
"It's probably because the Blackbeak started off on a weaker foot. It's much easier to strengthen its weaker foundation than to improve the sturdier foundation of the Crystal Lord."
Ves drew his attention towards the Aurora Titan next. As soon as he recalled its design in all of its glory, he inevitably made contact with Qilanxo's spiritual fragment.
He gained a huge shock as soon as he came into contact.
"Powerful!"
The aura and presence exuded by the Aurora Titan's design spirit vastly exceeded his previous interactions with it. It had grown so humongously powerful that Ves suspected that it could even serve as a worthy opponent to Nyxie!
Ves immediately grew pensive as he sensed the huge leap in strength. This isn't the kind of strength a mere fragment should possess!
His actions had not gone unnoticed. As soon as Ves observed Qilanxo's spiritual fragment, the fragment observed Ves as well.
A formless greeting emanated from the fragment. It was a friendly and familiar greeting.
"I missed you too. Have you been doing well?"
The fragment radiated pleasure.
"How are you faring in your current role? Have you grown stronger?"
The fragment sent out an affirmative pulse, giving Ves the impression that it was very pleased with its current circumstances.
As Ves continued to ask a couple more questions, he began to get the feeling that he was communicating with an entirely different entity from what he imagined.
This level of strength.. was no longer in the bounds of a mere spiritual fragment!
He finally decided to cut to the chase.
"Who am I talking to? Are you just a fragment, or are you Qilanxo herself?"
A silence ensued before the powerful entity replied with an affirmative.
The connection quickly ended as his conversation partner ended the connection.
"Qilanxo.. has taken over the role of its fragment?"
The proof was undeniable. The 'fragment' he expected to meet was so strong that it practically matched his memories of Qilanxo's spiritual strength level back on Aeon Corona VII! The two were so similar that Ves had no choice but to conclude that Qilanxo's primary spirituality had taken up the role of serving as the Aurora Titan's design spirit!
"What the hell?! When did she conduct this switcheroo?!"
What did it mean for Qilanxo's physical body now that her main spiritual consciousness no longer resided in her massive body?
Was she still even alive?!
Though the implications of these revelations were immense, Ves did not forget about the answers she provided.
The benefit of communicating with a friendly and powerful spiritual entity was that they were articulate and smart enough to answer his inquiries.
If Ves interpreted Qilanxo's answers correctly, then she confirmed his guess that design spirits derived benefits from the usage of the mechs she oversaw!
This was one of the results of a symbiotic relationship between a mech and a mech pilot! His design philosophy facilitated this outcome!
"I knew this would happen at some level, but it's more powerful than I've imagined!"
Chapter 1497
The implications of what he learned about his prior works astonished him. He always entertained the theory, but he never really put much stock into it because of how ludicrous it sounded.
How could his design spirits grow and become stronger by serving as the guardian spirits of his mechs? Was the symbiotic relationship between a mech model and all of the mech pilots using its copies that powerful?
"There has to be a limit, right? Right?"
What if there wasn't a limit? What if continued usage of his mechs kept feeding the design spirits of his mechs?
They grew stronger. And stronger. And stronger. Until they reached a point where their strength had reached an unimaginable height!
Ves scarcely dared to imagine the endpoint of this hypothetical evolution! It sounded blasphemous to consider the possibility that design spirits like Qilanxo would evolve to become an entity equivalent to a god pilot some day!
"God pilots are the pinnacle of the mech piloting profession!"
He never believed that gaining power was easy. Was it easy to reach this point? No! The fact that out of a veritable ocean of mech pilots, only a hundred known god pilots emerged throughout the entire galaxy proved that reaching their height was not as simple as accumulating power!
"Even so, accumulating power is definitely one of the prerequisites of reaching their height!"
Ves suspected that this might be one of the reasons why the crystal builder leader inhabiting his Crystal Lord design had stalled in the upper ranges of B-grade X-Factor. Aside from requiring a higher accumulation of power to break past its threshold, it also needed to undergo a qualitative improvement of its very essence.
Another factor in his current theoretical framework was the foundation or 'talent' of the design spirit.
"Entities which used to be intelligent, sophisticated and alive are better off in this regard."
Ves did not have high hopes for the Black Phoenix. The design spirit for his Blackbeak mechs consisted entirely of an amalgamation of his own imagination. Its spiritual attributes mostly conformed to his own for that reason.
"Does this mean its existence is also an extension of my own?"
He didn't think so. When he observed the Black Phoenix, he had the feeling that it had already taken a life of its own. It was more apt to describe it as a proto-spiritual product!
Nonetheless, despite the gains it made, Ves never got the impression that it had grown more sophisticated. Its growth would definitely stagnate if Ves did not intervene.
"That's something for later." He decided. "Now is not the time to update the Blackbeak design."
As opposed to pale creations like the Black Phoenix, spiritual fragments and entities started off on a better foot. A complex and sophisticated spiritual entity like Qilanxo who already lived a real life possessed the highest chance of reaching the mythical height of god pilots!
Even so, Ves imagined the amount of power accumulation required to become eligible to evolve to this point was immense.
How long would it take for Qilanxo to gather all of this power?
"Most mech pilots are really weak!"
Their spiritual strength was so faint that Ves had difficulty detecting them in the first place! The amount of strength they could contribute to a design spirit while piloting their mechs was so miniscule that it could be discounted entirely!
No, the only sources that mattered were mech pilots with spiritual potential or spiritually-strong mech pilots!
A million or even a billion regular mech pilots did not match the contribution of a single expert candidate! The disparity was simply too wide!
"Quantity matters to a certain extent, but quality matters more!"
Ves believed that expert pilots and higher might be able to grant unimaginable benefits to design spirits!
He couldn't help but think back on the grand design of Aeon Corona VII. The Sacred Gods accepted the worship of the Blessed People, but the huge and massive exobeasts only really cared about their Chosen, which played a role equivalent to mech pilots!
"It's a symbiotic relationship!" He recognized.
When one grew stronger, the other also grew stronger!
This was something that Sacred Gods like Qilanxo had been born to forment.
Qilanxo was ahead of the curve compared to his other design spirit. She actively spent some of her power in order to elevate Jannzi into an expert candidate. Once she advanced to expert pilot and higher, the dividends that Qilanxo earned from her connection with his cousin would pay off her initial investment in spades!
"This is genius!"
Certain researchers of the Five Scrolls Compact were way ahead in this field to be able to produce a fantastic genetic product like the Sacred Gods! Even if it requires exceedingly strange circumstances to produce them, the existence of all of the life on Aeon Corona VII proved that the Compact may have achieved a lot of progress in their attempts to create their own gods!
"What would they do if they saw me now? What if they find out the truth behind my design philosophy?"
Ves imagined that they would give him a thumbs up before cutting off his head in order to squeeze out all of the secrets locked within.
This was because he had inadvertently followed in the footsteps of some of the crazed researchers of the Compact! If not for his contentious relationship with this galaxy-spanning cult, he could have become one of its greatest researchers!
He vigorously shook his head! Even if he matched some of their inclinations, there was no way he would ever consider himself alike from those crazies!
"I'm a mech designer! Not a mad scientist!"
His profession anchored his identity. As a mech designer, everything he did related to mechs. If he started diverging from his desire to design better mechs, then that was a definite sign that he was going astray!
Thinking about mechs enabled him to pull himself back from the unrealistic delusions of grandeur sparked by his latest realizations.
Even if Qilanxo harbored ambitions to evolve to a higher state, the amount of power accumulation required would be immense!
Weaker design spirits grew faster than stronger design spirits due to the exponentially greater power accumulation required to reach the next threshold.
Qilanxo would have to partner up with trillions of regular mech pilots in order to experience measured growth at her level of strength!
That essentially meant that Ves had to sell trillions of Aurora Titans! At his level of fame, reputation and reach, that was simply impossible at this time!
"It's easier if my Aurora Titans are piloted by expert pilots or higher, though."
Quality mattered more than quantity. This was what Ves believed. If Qilanxo wanted to achieve measured improvements, then associating herself with expert pilots was the very minimum required for her to accumulate greater power.
Yet if she truly wanted to achieve significant improvement at her level of strength, then cultivating a strong mutually-beneficial relationship with an ace pilot was a must!
"This is the true power of symbiosis!"
Both sides of the symbiotic relationship grew stronger from each other! When one grew stronger, the other quickly caught up!
This interaction potentially led to a virtuous cycle where the improvements of a mech pilot spurred the improvements of a design spirit, which subsequently fed back to the mech pilot, and so on!
Of course, Ves did not expect a design spirit to extend its generosity in equal measure to all of the mech pilots it maintained a relationship with. For example, Qilanxo clearly favored Jannzi Larkinson over the thousands of other mech pilots of the Aurora Titan.
This was enough to transform the lives of some of his customers. In fact, if Ves gained the ability to influence his design spirits to select specific mech pilots as their 'Chosen', then he may be able to dictate who would become an expert candidate!
"This is an accidental side effect of my specialty!"
The power to point at someone and turn them into an expert candidate was an incredibly frightening ability! The MTA would go crazy if they ever got wind that Ves could unlock the potential to undergo apotheosis to any mech pilot!
Certainly, his 'superpower' to communicate spiritually with non-human lifeforms paled in comparison to giving mech pilots the opportunity to break the extraordinary threshold!
The notion of it was so monumental that Ves did not dare to breathe a word of it to anyone! Not even Nitaa should hold the knowledge that Ves could transform or revolutionize the entire mech community with his ability to provide ascension on demand!
"Of course, I haven't actually obtained proof that I can do this. I have to test all of my assumptions!"
His current design project was a good opportunity as ever. "I'm already testing a bunch of stuff. I might as well add a couple of more tests in the process."
With how urgently he wanted to progress, he couldn't afford to test all of his hypotheses one at a time. The sandman invasion especially placed a great amount of pressure on his shoulders.
For better or worse, his upcoming spaceborn rifleman mech design would make or break the LMC!
"As my final mech design of this mech generation, I want my upcoming mech design to be a harbinger of what is to come!"
Ves wanted to start off with a strong footing at the commencement of the next mech generation. He wanted to achieve a measurable jump in quality and value from his older designs such as the Blackbeak and the Crystal Lord.
Through his next generation of mech designs, he wanted to announce that he had become strong enough to compete against the main players of the mech market!
At the very least, hardly any mech designer could match the unique benefits that only he could provide to his customers!
"Differentiation is key!" He emphasized. "Other mechs might hold the edge in firepower or mobility, but only my products are able to bring out the most in mech pilots!"
He finally returned to reality after he got caught up in a successive string of relationships. His mind state had improved substantially and he felt more stoked than ever to design his new mech!
He had been waiting to enter an inspired state! Now that he formed a bunch of new theories, he eagerly wished to test them all out!
"It's time to set a vision for my new mech design." He announced.
Lucky, who had been lounging on the desk while Ves got lost in his own thoughts, idly yawned and padded over to his lap.
"Meow."
Ves frowned. "Is it feeding time yet?"
"Meow meow."
"Nice try, buddy, but according to the clock your dinnertime is still at least two hours away!"
"Meow!"
As Ves playfully toyed with Lucky, someone suddenly requested entry into his stateroom. When the hatch slid open, Crindon entered with a concerned expression.
"We have a problem, sir."
"What is it?" Ves immediately turned serious.
If his security expert felt obligated to report to him in person, then this problem had to be incredibly serious!
"Let's lockdown this compartment first. The information I'm about to bring to you is very sensitive."
Ves activated the command that physically disconnected and isolated his stateroom from the rest of the ship. On top of these precautions, Crindon also activated a jammer.
Only then did they feel secure enough to talk freely with each other. Aside from Nitaa and Lucky, no one else would be listening in on their conversation!
"We have an informer aboard our ship."
"Who?"
"Gavin Neumann. Your executive assistant."
Ves briefly paused. His heart turned cold when he heard this name.
"Who is he reporting to?"
"Flashlight."
That was not as bad as he feared. His heart thawed a little when Crindon mentioned the intelligence agency.
At the very least, Gavin wasn't passing on information to his actual enemies, such as the Compact!
"How sure are you of this assertion?" Ves pressed his Kinner bondsman.
"I am ninety-five percent certain that Mr. Neumann is secretly transmitting information. I am eighty percent certain that the recipient of his transmissions is Flashlight."
Those percentages were high enough for Ves to accept Crindon's conclusion. He didn't find it hard to believe that his trusted assistant served two masters! Especially if the other master turned out to be a branch of the government!
Yet even if that made the truth more palatable, Ves still felt betrayed! It was as if a dagger had struck his heart!
Chapter 1498
Michael Crindon explained how he came to the conclusion that Gavin secretly passed on information to Flashlight.
"Your principal assistant is constantly in contact with many different people." He began. "The responsibilities you've entrusted to him necessitates frequent contact with the management and stakeholders of your mech company."
"Benny acts as my gatekeeper and bridge to the LMC." Ves nodded. "If I spend my time on talking to Calsie and the other executives of the company, I'd be at it for several hours. As a mech designer, my time is too valuable to waste on routine meetings and reports. Letting my assistant attend all of the meetings and provide a summary of the most important developments to me in our daily briefings is a much more convenient arrangement."
Of course, it was only better if Ves delegated this responsibility to a trustworthy person!
Ves always knew that Gavin held an immense amount of power in his organizational structure. His extensive reach and his role as a gatekeeper placed him very close to the center of the web of the LMC's power structure!
Subsequently, this meant that Gavin not only had had access to a mountain of information, he frequently communicated with dozens of people a day! All of those transmissions and communication sessions made it easy to pass along clandestine messages to secret recipients!
"Ever since I became a part of your staff, Mr. Neumann hasn't shown any suspicious activity." Crindon calmly continued. "I've monitored his active communications in secret and I've never noticed anything that stands out. He has behaved impeccably proper and has never shown any sloppiness towards his handling of sensitive data."
"Then.. what is the problem?"
"Though Gavin has behaved completely honestly since my addition to your ranks, that is not necessarily the case in the past. During the Barracuda's overhaul, I've replaced her old databanks with different and hopefully more secure ones. I haven't thrown out the old databanks, though. Instead, I've been diverting most of my time combing over all of the logs."
Ves looked impressed at Crindon. "That sounds incredibly tedious. How can you even cope with such mind-numbing work?"
"Oh, I haven't read through all of the logs in person. I just input them into my security software, which subsequently marks out all of the suspicious and questionable activity it has detected. That still leaves me with a lot of logs that contain false positives. I've spent weeks going over thousands of logs, but my hard work hasn't been in vain. I've detected some suspicious data packages embedded inside routine transmissions that are heavily encrypted."
"How strong is this encryption?"
"Incredibly strong. It's beyond my means to break."
That caught his attention. "So it's not a mass-market encryption method, is that what you're trying to say?"
Crindon nodded. "Only government entities or extremely well-funded organizations use these kinds of encryption. It's very costly to encrypt a message and even costlier to decrypt them. This is because they are very hard to detect. The data packages are most often embedded in real-time projection calls. Imagine if a certain coordinate fluctuates slightly in color or brightness. This is in itself a very covert means of transmitting information. If I didn't watch out for these kinds of patterns, I would have never been able to ascertain that Gavin is transmitting covert information in this fashion!"
Ves possessed enough of a foundation in software engineering to know that there were countless ways to pass on secret messages through innocent transmissions. Comm calls exchanged an incredible amount of visual and auditory data between two parties. Any data points could easily be hijacked into a hidden vessel that surreptitiously transmitted messages to someone who tapped into the feeds.
There was no question that Flashlight had the capability to monitor all of the transmissions between the LMC and the Barracuda. In any case, all of the routine business meetings conducted over the galactic net were hardly important enough to sink the LMC if the details fell into the wrong hands.
What Ves found more egregious was the possibility that Gavin transmitted more sensitive information to Flashlight!
In the following minutes, Crindon elaborated on why he believed that Gavin was sending secret messages to an unknown recipient.
Some of the more technical details related to cryptography escaped Ves, but he understood enough that Crindon's evidence painted a solid picture.
There was a huge issue with Gavin's past communication sessions! That they ended as soon as Ves bought out Crindon and added him to the staff made it clear that the secret transmissions were deliberate and not something accidental!
"Benny might not necessarily be responsible." Ves suggested.
"I'm very certain he is responsible. He has shown suspicious activities."
Crindon projected some archival footage which looked as if Gavin was finicking with something in his pocket while he sat on the toilet. It only lasted for a few seconds before Gavin was about to use the toilet normally.
Ves immediately adopted a strange expression. It turned out that he wasn't the only one up to something suspicious while sitting on the toilet!
"Okay, you've convinced me." He quickly waved his hand. "You don't need to show me anymore footage of this nature!"
Crindon turned off the projection. "At first, your assistant acted very clumsily. That clip I've just showed you happened at the start of your ship's departure to Centerpoint. I believe that Flashlight only recently managed to turn Gavin over to their side. Having studied the subsequent footage, he has refined his methods over time. It's almost impossible to detect that he is acting suspiciously by the time your ship has reached the Kinner Tribe."
"How have you determined that Benny is reporting to Flashlight as opposed to another organization?"
"Through logical deduction and through recent proof. You recently called one of Flashlight intelligence operatives, correct?"
"Yes."
Ves had already briefed Nitaa and Crindon on some of his relations back home. It wouldn't do for them to be oblivious to Leland's true nature once they returned to the Bright Republic!
"Well, shortly after you completed the call, one of Gavin's ongoing transmissions suddenly tripped the alarms I have set in the Barracuda's communication systems. Given the timing of this incident, I believe that Flashlight has requested information from your assistant."
Ves bought the story. The request he posed to Leland a couple of hours ago must have confused the Flashlight agent to no end. Since Leland himself couldn't really figure out why Ves was interested in Venerable Fontain, then asking Gavin for clarification made a lot of sense!
There was still something questionable about the timing. "Benny stopped transmitting information since you joined my staff, right? Why did Flashlight act so carelessly in using the same suspicious transmission method?"
The security expert pursed his lips. "I reckon that they don't know or think the chances of getting caught is too low. If I did not comb through all of the past records, I would have never set the alarms that were on the lookout for suspicious patterns in Gavin's communication sessions. In addition, Gavin may be aware of what presence signifies, but Flashlight may not have been brought up to speed yet. Your assistant did halt in transmitting any covert messages immediately after I came aboard."
In other words, due to the information asymmetry between the informer and the recipient organization, the latter hadn't been on guard!
"Do you have any idea at all what intel Benny passed on to Flashlight?"
"That would require me to crack the code. I'll be honest with you. Even if I have access to all of the processors and advanced computing equipment of Rawlings University, it will still take me a decade to decipher the secret messages!"
Government-funded intelligence agencies did not make use of simple commercial encryption methods. What they valued the most was making it as difficult as possible to crack their encryption through brute-force methods!
"Okay, I guess deciphering the messages isn't possible."
"The most expedient way to find out the truth is to confront and interrogate the subject in question."
Ves looked calmly at Crindon. "We are not going to do that to Benny. What he has done isn't necessarily illegal in the eyes of the Bright Republic. At the very least, I find it hard to imagine that he can say no to Flashlight if they secretly approached him and requested him to act as their informer in my staff."
Though Gavin's behavior still constituted a betrayal in his eyes, Ves really didn't blame him for doing so. Ves learned first-hand that Flashlight was incredibly ruthless. They were also effective in what they did. A normal Brighter like Gavin stood no chance against the most cunning spies of the Bright Republic!
Considering Flashlight's objectives and areas of interest, there was no doubt that they wanted to keep a closer eye on Ves. Sending Leland to the LMC was one means to keep tabs on their erstwhile external partner.
Ves had constantly put up his guard against Leland since the latter joined his staff as Flashlight's liaison.
Now, he realized that Leland essentially acted as a decoy! Ves could stare at Leland all he wanted, but the true informer in his inner circle turned out to come from an entirely different direction!
He smacked his palm against his face. "Goddammit! I underestimated Flashlight! Just because they have remained low-key lately doesn't mean they've gone on a holiday. They're still up to no good!"
"Mr. Larkinson, any state is wary of their prominent citizens. A Journeyman such as you who is on the rise merits careful watching. If not Gavin, then someone else. In fact, it's very much possible that Flashlight has converted several members of your staff into informers. I will have to devote a lot of time to monitoring their activities in order to identify them. Even if you remove them from your company, there will always be someone else who has agreed to spy on you on behalf of your state."
In other words, this was an inescapable reality. The Bright Republic possessed too much interest in its prominent citizens to let them go about their lives without keeping an eye on them. Who knew if they would abuse their power over society one day?
Even if Ves forged a friendship with Flashlight, that didn't mean the latter would let down their guard towards him! In fact, it was a given that they would keep an even closer eye to their external partner!
That was just how spies operated!
"If Benny is tasked with passing on information to Flashlight, then the transmissions probably concern my personal life." Ves guessed.
He took a page from Crindon and resorted to logical deduction to determine the nature of the clandestine messages.
"That is what I think as well. If Flashlight wants to gather intelligence on the state of the LMC, then they can simply hack its databases or convert one of the managers or executives of your company."
Ves ruefully chuckled and began to stroke Lucky's back. "I don't care if they have access to the entire database of the LMC. My company is merely a vehicle to earn money and spread my works to the galaxy. The true value of a mech company resides in the heads of their lead designers!"
Flashlight knew this as well. This was why they approached and turned his assistant into an informer in the first place.
Gavin's close and frequent proximity to Ves meant that hardly anyone else knew more about the boss of the LMC!
Throughout this meeting, Crindon had remained remarkably calm. Unlike Ves, he didn't share any close friendship with Gavin.
"What do you wish to do now that I've informed you of your assistant's second loyalties?"
"Nothing."
"Nothing?"
"Nothing." Ves repeated and let out a heavy sigh. "While I'm not pleased that Benny is serving two masters, it's not entirely wrong. I do value his input and my friendship with him. I don't want to spoil the chemistry we have just because he feels obligated to serve the Bright Republic in this capacity."
This solution did not entirely sit well with Crindon. "Sir, I highly suggest you reconsider. If you don't want to confront Mr. Neumann, then you can resort to more discrete methods of phasing him out of your life. You won't have to spoil anyone's feelings or clue Flashlight in that you are on to their actions. For example, you can promote him to a seemingly-important management function within your company."
Though this suggestion sounded viable, Ves really didn't feel like getting rid of Gavin at this time.
"I'll think about it." Ves said non committedly. "For now, let's act like we don't know that Benny is in touch with Flashlight. I don't think anything he's doing right now poses an acute threat to my interests."
"If that is what you wish. I will make sure to observe him closely. Without cluing him in, of course."
"Of course."
Chapter 1499
Ves lost the good mood he gained after making several important realizations related to his design philosophy. Just as he was getting pumped up on working on his design project, Crindon came and revealed his bombshell.
After Ves dismissed his security expert from his stateroom, he fell into a moment of silence. Aside from stroking Lucky's back, he hardly did anything else.
Nitaa, who had been standing guard all this time, witnessed the entire meeting. She was no longer able to hold herself back.
"Sir.. from what it sounds like, you are in a difficult position with regards to the man you trust to manage your affairs. While I'm not entirely familiar with the organization known as Flashlight, you consider them to be a legitimate arm of the government, correct?"
"They're bastards, not to the detriment of our state. I've never gotten the idea that they have forgotten their original purpose and gone rogue. They are the hidden guardians of the Bright Republic."
"By extension, Gavin is also contributing to the state, correct?"
Ves shrugged. "Perhaps. If Crindon is correct in his allegations, then I agree that Gavin isn't doing anything wrong in the eyes of the Bright Republic."
"Then the problem is not as severe as it initially sounds. While it is true that it is problematic that a trusted person on your staff is holding double loyalties, his second loyalty is at least to an entity which isn't diametrically opposed to you. Is the Bright Republic corrupt?"
He had to think for a moment to formulate his answer. "It's not perfect. There are factions in play that are occasionally fishing for advantages, but compared to some of the states I've visited, it's pretty orderly. If the Bright Republic was corrupt, then it would have never lasted against the Vesia Kingdom. Spy agencies like Flashlight exist to root out officials who are willing to sell out their home state to the Vesians."
One of the reasons why the Bright Republic remained on par against the slightly larger and more powerful Vesians was due to the disparity in intelligence and covert operations.
Due to the fractured nature of the Kingdom, the Vesians never unified their intelligence operations across their entire state. This constantly put them on the backfoot against the Brighter intelligence agencies.
Seeing how effective agencies such as Searchlight and Flashlight fared against the Vesians, the government granted them more autonomy and power. They were elevated into one of the most vital pillars of the state in the event of an inevitable outbreak of war.
Though Ves discovered that the intelligence agencies weren't entirely devoid of bias, he did not consider them corrupt.
"Then what Gavin is doing is acceptable." Nitaa concluded. "It's not easy to stomach, but it is not something that you can prevent. Not with your current standing in society. If..."
Ves immediately waved his hand. "You know my stance on the matter. I'm not about to throw my weight around as a Holy Son. My situation is too precarious for me to expose this secret to a greater number of people."
"You're not going to tell your girlfriend, sir?"
"HELL NO!"
Nitaa blinked. "Okay, sir."
"Ahem. I apologize for raising my tone." Ves rubbed his eyes.
His emotions fluctuated a lot today. He hadn't even processed Gavin's double loyalties yet! How could he possibly think with a straight mind right now?
"I think the decision that you're currently inclined to take is the best." Nitaa continued. "A competent intelligence agency will just attempt to co opt Gavin's replacement if you decide to sideline him. If they are aware that you are suspicious towards your assistant, then they will simply turn someone else on your staff into their informer. The only way you can ensure absolute loyalty from your staff is if you replace them with Kinners."
Ves let out a deep sigh. "That's not really realistic. Replacing my entire staff with Kinners is not only expensive, but also a very clear sign that I am paranoid and have something to hide. Knowing Flashlight, those sneaky bastards will just take that as a challenge to spy on me harder."
Neither of them believed that they could ever get rid of this problem without overhauling the entire organizational structure of the LMC.
That was a bad idea for many reasons. As much as Ves considered the LMC to be 'his' company, he only owned 49 percent of its shares. Flashlight effectively controlled 21 percent of the company's shares through a holding company called Sibilant Asset Management.
In fact, if the agency wanted to, they could have simply decided to insert more of their people in the company openly. That was what they had already done with Leland, after all.
What rankled Ves the most about this awful situation was the duplicity and lack of trust. Ves had slowly started to warm up to Gavin.
Though he still withheld his most sensitive secrets from his assistant, he already started toying with the idea of bringing Gavin into his true inner circle.
Now, Ves was forced to discard this plan. Knowing that Gavin answered to someone else besides him meant that Ves could never reveal any of his sensitive secrets to him. Just the possibility that some of it might be passed on to Flashlight was too great!
"I can't take the risk!"
At this moment, Ves felt more alone than ever. One of the closest people he got along with turned out to be an informant who could never be fully trusted to carry his secrets.
Ordinary mech designers didn't have to worry too much about this problem. Their most valuable secrets mostly consisted of complex, abstruse theories and techniques related to their design philosophies.
Without adopting the same mindset as the mech designer in question, their trade secrets weren't very valuable in other people's hands.
Only the MTA could really make use of the information, but even then they much preferred to exchange the secrets for merits in an open and aboveboard fashion. With their wealth, power and influence, they had no need to resort to force or trickery to get what they wanted.
Ves did not have this luxury. His secrets were immensely greater than that of anyone else. While they granted him immense advantages in his career, they also weighed him down.
He needed to be a lot more careful about who he trusted from now on. At the very least, Ves became more determined than ever to diversify the LMC. Since most of its employees consisted of Brighters, organizations like Flashlight were spoiled for choice on who they wanted to turn into their informers!
He felt as if he lost a part of his innocence today. His distrust towards his own company and his own workers had increased.
Even if the ones responsible turned out to be a government-sanctioned intelligence agency, what if he wasn't so fortunate next time?
What if the Vesians managed to infiltrate his ranks?
What if the Five Scrolls Compact managed to turn his trusted men?
"Knowing is better than not knowing." Ves whispered to himself.
"Have you decided how to go forward, sir?"
Ves closed his eyes. "Yes. I'll stick to my earlier decision and act like there is nothing wrong. There's no benefit in kicking up a fuss. If I was in his place, I wouldn't have refused the request either. Gavin isn't the culprit here. The real problem is Flashlight."
Frankly, Ves didn't know how he should handle Flashlight. Despite earning their trust, they remained very suspicious about anyone due to their very nature.
He knew that they must have heard about his sudden decision to go on a grand expedition. Even if Gavin didn't pass on a message, Calsie or any of the other executives at the headquarters of the LMC would have been able to leak the details to the spooks.
Perhaps Flashlight even learned of it as soon as Ves mentioned it over a comm call.
What Ves needed to do was sound out Flashlight's thoughts on his grand expedition. After all, for one of the Bright Republic's promising mech designers to go on a random, multi decade tour to an entirely different star cluster was very concerning!
Who knew if Ves remained committed to his home state?
What would happen if he decided to neglect the LMC in favor of another mech company?
Would Ves even want to return to the Bright Republic after he ended his grand expedition?
While Ves was technically free to do what he wanted as long as he didn't violate the Bright Republic's laws, Flashlight never really paid attention to the rules in the first place.
No, if Ves wanted to avoid any problems on their end, he needed to resolve the gulf between them in a different way.
He discussed his thoughts with Nitaa, who suggested a logical-sounding suggestion.
"You need to hitch them onto your wagon, sir. So far, this grand expedition is mostly centered around your interests. I can understand why Flashlight feels left out. What if you remedy this situation by obtaining their buy-in?"
"How would I be able to do that?"
"Ownership of an expeditionary fleet can be divided in shares." Nitaa said. "Rather than owning shares in the expeditionary fleet in your personal capacity, instead you should put it in the name of the LMC. Since Flashlight is a major shareholder of the LMC, that will in effect give them a small but substantial stake in the success of your grand expedition."
Ves grimaced upon hearing this suggestion. He originally planned to keep the LMC out of it and purely contribute to the expeditionary fleet with his own fortune. Involving the LMC meant that he would give a greater voice of how the expeditionary fleet was run to the other shareholders of the company.
That included not only Flashlight, but also the Larkinson Estate!
However, what mollified Ves a bit was that Flashlight and the Larkinson Estate would never be able to overrule Ves no matter what kind of votes they made.
This was because the LMC would never be able to become the majority shareholder of the upcoming expeditionary fleet.
"Gloriana will call the shots of the expeditionary fleet!" Ves revealed. "Ownership of an expeditionary fleet is decided by how much money and assets people commit to the expedition. No matter how much ships, wealth and other assets I can contribute, I can never match Gloriana's financial might! Just the factory ship she promised is enough to buy out the LMC at least a hundred times!"
Of course, Ves hadn't actually fixed the ownership structure of the expeditionary fleet with Gloriana as of yet.
As long as it wasn't set in stone, he could always use his Devil Tongue to good use in order to convince Gloriana to adopt a fifty-fifty ownership structure between the both of them. That meant that Ves owned half of the expeditionary fleet despite not contributing as much to its formation!
Of course, even if Gloriana was gullible enough to fall for his manipulation, the Wodin Dynasty and the people backing her probably wouldn't agree. A factory ship built according to the standards of the Hexadric Hegemony was immensely expensive. So much so that Gloriana already told him that it was impossible for her to finance the procurement of such a mighty vessel out of her own pocket!
This essentially meant that neither Ves nor Gloriana would be the ultimate owners of their expeditionary fleet. Instead, that honor was reserved to the investors that Gloriana managed to beg for money.
While this sounded as if Ves and Gloriana would both be at the mercy of the whims to faceless bankers, in truth it probably wouldn't come to that. If Gloriana managed to convince her Wodin Dynasty to invest in the expeditionary fleet, then she wouldn't have to answer to a stranger.
It all depended on how well Gloriana sucked up to the moneybags in their state. Ves was about to meet her in a month, so he would find out soon how much progress she made.
Chapter 1500
After he processed the unpleasantness surrounding his Gavin, Ves did his best to move on from what he learned.
His daily interactions with Gavin hadn't changed at all. While he guarded his words a little more carefully around him, he still leaned heavily on his gatekeeper's advice and suggestions.
The reason why Ves trusted Gavin to do his job faithfully was because Crindon constantly kept an eye on communications. If Gavin ever twisted his orders, acted on his own accord or performed anything detrimental, Ves would know.
As for trying to screw around with Flashlight, Ves instantly threw away this childish notion.
Just because they riddled the LMC with spies and informers didn't mean that they held any hostile intentions towards him. For now, the intelligence agency probably just wanted to keep an eye on his activities.
Ves smirked. "Let them look. Everything I really care about is beyond their reach."
With Nitaa and Crindon by his side, Ves could rely on at least two absolutely loyal pillars. Even so, he knew better than to rely on Kinners for everything.
Everytime he felt tempted to return to the Kinner Tribe to buy out hundreds of absolutely loyal staffers, he thought back on the other leaders he encountered over the course of his career.
People such as Senator Tovar, Major Verle and Commander Lydia all exuded authority in such a fashion that their subordinates unquestionably obeyed their commands. Ves looked upon them as role models as their force of leadership constantly inspired loyalty and obedience.
"What they each have in common is their emphasis on shared values and common identity."
He envied their leadership style and had tried to model himself after them, though he didn't have many opportunities to exercise his authority these days. Ves heavily preferred to delegate his non-mech design responsibilities to others, so he rarely issued orders directly to the thousands of people on the LMC's payroll.
"It doesn't matter though. The true secret behind authority is that it works best if people don't question it. They just need to be conditioned to obey."
This was the most important lesson he drew from observing the Flagrant Vandals and Lydia's Swordmaidens over a lengthy period of time. While they were probably not the best role models around, Ves truly admired how strongly they aligned with each other.
He tried to instill the same kind of camaraderie and brotherhood within the LMC and the Avatars of Myth as best as possible. Ever since he instituted reforms within the LMC to build up a strong corporate culture, he believed he could indoctrinate his employees into becoming unflinchingly loyal to him and his company.
Of course, building up a common identity could not be done in a single day. Ves looked forward to returning to the Bright Republic in order to see how the LMC had progressed on this end. Enough time had passed for his initial efforts to sink into the mentalities of every worker of the LMC.
This was why Ves didn't care too much about spies and troublemakers within his company. Not only were they unable to do any serious damage to his core interests, but there were enough people around who would guard against any mischief.
He wanted to make sure that the LMC did not make the same mistakes as the former Kadar-Neyvis Group. Due to the actions of a couple of saboteurs aligned with the Bentheim Liberation Movement within that company, the hard work of two successful Journeymen had gone up in smoke!
"Shenanigans like that won't fly in my company!"
This was why Ves also prioritized rigorous control, though he didn't go overboard on this end. He knew very well that every monitoring and security system was fallible and could be circumvented in many different ways.
To Ves, the best security system was to insure that there were plenty of loyal people in place. As long as they identified themselves with the LMC, they wouldn't allow anything bad to happen to the company!
"It's like a tribe!"
That was the best way for him to describe his aspiration. He wanted his workers to be so loyal to his company that they valued it more than the Bright Republic.
Perhaps secretly within his heart, Ves hoped that he could make Gavin care more about him than his other master. While Flashlight still needed to be appeased, Gavin could still choose to withhold more damaging information.
In any case, life went on and Gavin kept in touch with the company.
"The LMC has already licensed a ballistic rifleman mech design and started fabricating it en masse." He reported. "The quality of our copies is higher than most of the competition, so we aren't having trouble in selling them. It's just..."
"Our margins are low." Ves guessed.
"Right. The mech design we've licensed is a budget mech, so the money we can make is already limited. Add the licensing fees on top of all of our expenses, the profit we make is not as impressive as before."
"We're still above water, right?"
"Yes, but that's not necessarily good news. While we're earning just enough money to pay the bills, we don't have much left over to spend on upgrades, expansions and other activities that foster growth. We've had to stall a lot of plans, including the construction of a second manufacturing complex in the outskirts of Haston on Bentheim."
Ves paid a lot of attention to the latter.
Despite his reluctance towards expanding the LMC's footprint, they couldn't avoid the biggest nexus of mech production in the local area, especially if they wanted to start producing cheaper mechs. It simply made too much sense from a logistical and distribution standpoint.
"How much money does the LMC need to finish the manufacturing complex, Benny?"
"Even if we cut back on the planned production lines of the second complex, we still need at least twelve billion bright credits to cover the basics."
Ves winced. Though he could still cover this amount with his personal fortune, he wasn't stupid enough to reinvest his own money back into the company.
"For now, let's pause the construction." He ordered. "Since our sales of the Blackbeak, Crystal Lord and Aurora Titan models have cratered, we aren't short of production lines. Adding a dozen more production lines on top of what we have at the Mech Nursery is too excessive at the moment."
Gavin mentioned a recent development. "About that, the LMC recently received some orders from the government. We're about to utilize some of our available production lines on military commissions."
That was new. "What do they want?"
"The LMC and a lot of other mech companies with underutilized production capacity are being tasked with producing military hardware. I've already got in touch with a couple of other mech companies and they've all been ordered to produce the same kinds of war materiel. Specifically, we are being forced to produce lots of parts for turrets, tanks, aircraft and spacecraft!"
Ves widened his eyes. "That means the Bright Republic is planning to mobilize civilians! All of those turrets and vehicles aren't related to mechs, so the military won't be restricted in how many people they can hire!"
One of the biggest bottlenecks to expanding a mech military was that they could only field as many mechs as they had mech pilots. That wasn't the case with auxiliary regiments.
From the hardware that Gavin listed out, Ves immediately understood the government's intention. The Bright Republic wasn't intending to stake its existence on the Mech Corps alone. They wanted to bring as much firepower they could bear in the span of a couple of months!
While the newly-raised auxiliary regiments would probably be badly trained and completely inadequate when deployed against mechs, these detriments didn't apply to the sandmen.
Most sandmen fleets merely charged at their targets in a straight line without resorting to any clever maneuvering or stratagems. They mainly relied on brute force and overwhelming numbers to overrun a state!
The most convenient answer against such a strong but stupid threat was to put more bodies in the frontlines! It didn't have to be mechs, as most of the advantages they brought to the table were not very relevant against an opponent like the sandmen!
The main reason why auxiliary regiments fell out of favor in much of human space was that they weren't very effective against mechs. Static defenses would simply get bombarded from a distance while other vehicles crewed by norms couldn't match the responsiveness and flexibility of mechs.
In most cases, money spent on raising auxiliary regiments was better spent on raising mech regiments.
The circumstances were different now. The former turned out to be effective against their current alien threat while the previous war already exhausted the Mech Corps!
The new generation of mech pilots still needed to grow for the Mech Corps to expand their ranks.
Ves suddenly realized something important. If the Bright Republic wanted to mobilize its civilian population, then a draft was inevitable!
"Has the drafting already begun?"
Gavin nodded. "A lot of notices have been sent. Not a lot of Brighters are pleased, but most of them will grudgingly report to the nearest military base. Hardly anyone wants to run."
"Because we're Brighters."
"Because we're Brighters." Gavin echoed with determination. "We don't buckle from a threat. We endure. We defend. Standing up for the Bright Republic is baked into our blood. The Vesians haven't broken us, and we won't let a bunch of sand-like aliens break us like they did to the border states."
Both of them never thought about running. No one grew up in the Bright Republic wanting to abandon it when times got rough.
Doubtlessly, a small number of Brighters would probably pack their bags and flee to the inner regions of the Komodo Star Sector.
However, they would likely have to leave a good amount of their assets behind or sell them at a heavy discount. They might not be able to rebuild their lives in a foreign state, especially considering that they would be no different from the flood of refugees who mindlessly fled as far as their ships could reach!
"I heard that the Bright Republic is also settling a lot of refugees on Cloudy Curtain." Ves raised.
"Yeah." Gavin nodded. "A lot of refugee ships end up in port systems like the Bentheim System before breaking down or running out of energy. The government can't afford to relocate the refugees too far away or help send them on their way, because that would take too much valuable transportation capacity."
"So the bureaucrats just dump them at the nearest available mudballs, is that right?"
"Hey. If there is one thing Cloudy Curtain doesn't lack, it's space!" Gavin sarcastically responded. "Seriously though, the government wants to settle the refugees with as little hassle as possible. Rather than stuff them onto the overcrowded surface of Bentheim, a rural planet like Cloudy Curtain is perfect! There's lots of empty space for prefab settlements and the demand for agriculture has ballooned. All of those farms need workers, and it doesn't matter if they don't have any skills. Millions of refugees are pouring into Cloudy Curtain as we speak!"
Cloudy Curtain only boasted around 15 million inhabitants to begin with! When Gavin mentioned the amount of refugees that the government planned to settle on their home planet, Ves practically jumped out of his seat.
"Is the government crazy?! The foreigners will outnumber the locals! Dumping so many desperate people onto our quiet little planet will lead to chaos!"
Gavin shrugged. "Tell that to the bureaucrats, boss. All they see is a planet that is cheap to settle and with enough fertile land to feed countless people. As for the unrest that might ensue, they're already on top of it. Most of the refugees are going to be housed in isolated settlements erected overnight in very distant areas. Entry and exit to these settlements will be restricted by the fact that most vehicle traffic will be restricted to essential supply runs. If the refugees want to reach a city like Freslin, they'd have to walk hundreds or thousands of kilometers on land!"
"Sounds like a prison. A cheap prison." Ves curled his lips in distance.
"That's essentially the case. The Bright Republic can't afford to spare the manpower and resources to process the refugees properly. They just plan to set them aside in newly-founded farming settlements and deal with the imminent crisis first. After all, everything they do might be moot if they haven't sufficiently prepared against the sandman threat."
All in all, the star sector-wide threat had forced not only the Bright Republic, but every other state in the firing line to adapt!
Ves knew that if the Bright Republic ever survived the coming chaos, then Cloudy Curtain would never be the same!
"A lot of those refugees probably lost everything." He whispered. "They don't have any homes to go back to. Cloudy Curtain will become their new home."
