The Mech Touch

While Ves wanted to celebrate his new gains even further, he had better things to do with his time.

\"I have to keep moving forward.\" Ves patted his cheeks as if to arouse himself from his excessive gloating. \"Indulging in celebration before the race is over is a cardinal sin!\"

Recognizing his small successes raised his morale and strengthened his motivation. Yet they seemed trivial compared to the daunting challenges he faced in the future.

He was nowhere close to fulfilling any of his major goals!

Once he fully reined in his excitement and sobered himself up, he began to take stock of his current agenda.

Soon, he and his followers would depart to Cinach XIII, where he planned to enter a hidden marketplace set up by the mysterious Circle of Mota.

There, Ves hoped to find a customer for his Devil Tiger. As a masterwork mech, there was no way for his tiger mech to remain obscure!

\"If their mech appraisers have any sense, they'll treat my mech with utmost importance!\"

He knew that if he arrived at the Circle with a genuine masterwork mech on offer, he would doubtlessly receive generous treatment! Perhaps the Circle would even be willing to change his temporary access pass into a permanent access pass!

\"I might even be able to sell the Devil Tiger at a profit!\"

The allure of masterwork mechs were simply that immense! Many Seniors were only capable of fabricating five masterwork mechs at most over the course of their centuries-long life. This fully emphasized the rarity of such masterpieces!

In addition, the selling price of a masterwork mech shot up drastically according to the strength of its performance.

After all, if some fabricator somehow managed to turn a cheap frontline mech into a masterwork copy, then its value still did not impress. At most, it might be sold for ten times its original cost, which would still make it cheaper than a typical Blackbeak!

It was a completely different story when it came to premium mechs or custom mechs.

The performance of the Devil Tiger may not have caught up with its prohibitive cost, but it still stood far above the level of most third-class mechs!

Now that it became a masterwork mech, its actual value may have even exceeded the price of a typical second-class mech!

Ves saw hope in recouping a substantial portion of the monetary investment he put into realizing the mech. He always felt uncomfortable about the fact that he had to beg an expensive favor from his girlfriend.

While Gloriana did not make a big deal about the pure ASMAS she gifted to him, Ves knew that she must have made a substantial sacrifice to get her hands on something that expensive.

There was no way that Gloriana had reached the point where she could easily afford to purchase a batch of pure ASMAS out of her own pocket!

Even if Ves was unable to earn back the total worth of the pure ASMAS from selling the Devil Tiger, he could at least ease his guilt by paying back what he could to Gloriana after he completed the transaction.

\"As for the rest… I can slowly whittle that sum down in the future.\"

He knew that Gloriana did not necessarily expect him to repay her. Yet Ves still insisted on doing so. He suspected that the main reason why Gloriana was so generous was due to her Hexer upbringing.

To her, men needed to be coddled! Men couldn't take care of themselves! Men were supposed to be dependent on women!

Ves hated being treated like a manchild!

He furiously held up Lucky in front of his face. \"I can take care of myself, right!?\"

\"Meow.\"

\"What do you mean? That's not true! I can be independent! I can stand up for myself just fine! Just you wait, Lucky! Next time I meet Gloriana, I'll show her what a true man looks like!\"

\"Meow!\"

Though his cat expressed some doubts, Ves paid no mind to them. Now that he augmented his spiritual engineering capabilities with the Grand Dynamo, he felt much more confident that he could surpass Gloriana and advance to Senior faster!

\"She better watch out because I'm not going to slow down!\"

His progression depended on the availability of at least five scarce resources.

Time.

Money.

Materials.

Tech.

Spiritual energy.

Every mech designer depended on each of these five resources, though they probably called the last one psionic energy or something.

The point was that mech designers had two ways of increasing their productivity. They could make more efficient use of the resources they already had access to, or expand their supply of resources!

Why did mech designers work so hard to earn the merits to redeem expensive life-prolonging treatments from the MTA? It was all about expanding the amount of time they had at their disposal!

The more years they lived, the more mechs they designed and the more research they conducted!

Ves stood out from other mech designers in that he made much more vigorous use of his spirituality.

So far, he suspected that most mech designers weren't able to observe or manipulate their psionic power as extensively as him. As a result, they never utilized their psionic energy as extensively either!

Only Ves was capable of spending his spiritual energy in such a profligate manner!

Unfortunately, the biggest downside to this was that Ves suffered a problem that most mech designers didn't have to deal with, which was that he was spending his spiritual energy way too quickly!

He already suffered the drawbacks from a dearth of spiritual energy in his mind, and he did not wish to repeat this deprivation.

This was why he valued the Grand Dynamo so much. Its prodigious production rate, seemingly without any cost to his own physical or mental health, conveniently solved his greatest bottleneck that prevented him from designing more fantastic mechs!

In fact, Ves lamented the Grand Dynamo's incredible output because he didn't have enough P-stones to store all of the excess spiritual energy!

It was as if he was celebrating the arrival of a torrent of rain, but only possessed two buckets to store the water for later!

If he wanted to make efficient use of his Grand Dynamo, then he needed to find some sort of spiritual energy sink in which he could convert unneeded spiritual energy into something useful.

\"I have plenty of time to figure something out.\" He muttered. \"I've experienced enough excitement for one day.\"

He decided to call it a day and sleep over it. He always regained a clearer mind after he enjoyed a good rest.

After checking in with Nitaa to reassure her that he hadn't gone mad or anything with his abnormal behavior, he changed to his pajamas and settled comfortably in his bed.

He hugged Lucky against his chest and quickly dozed off despite the rush of activity taking place in his mind.

Whether he was awake or asleep, the Grand Dynamo kept churning out more spiritual energy, all of which fully bore his imprint as well as his unique mixture of spiritual attributes!

As Ves woke up, he realized that the morning hadn't dawned as of yet on Cinach XII.

The bedroom was still as dark as ever, with just a sliver of night from the city glowing from the windows that had taken on an opaque tint.

Lucky wasn't anywhere near his body either. He knew his cat liked to wake in the middle of the night and rummage around, but he would never be too far away.

\"Lucky?\"

A faint pressure started pressing onto his mind and Spirituality. The sensation faintly reminded him of something. As Ves swiveled his head toward the direction of the pressure, it quickly grew stronger.

\"Lucky! What are you doing!?\"

Ves could faintly make out his pet being petted by a translucent figure! The intruder, for the person was far too short to be Nitaa, affectionately scratched Lucky's cheeks.

There were several women he could think of who treated Lucky in this fashion.

He doubted that Ketis left the Bright Republic and traveled all the way to the Sentinel Kingdom in order to pamper Lucky.

The only other alternative was…

\"Mother!\" He hissed in alarm! \"What are you doing here?!\"

The ghostly form that bore a very familiar face directed a motherly smile at him. The spirituality that Ves sensed from the incorporeal intruder flared with happiness as well!

\"Ves.\" She spoke, her voice so achingly familiar to his childhood memories. \"I missed you, you know. Your father misses you as well. When I found out that you were passing through the Sentinel Kingdom, I couldn't resist sneaking in to pay you a visit! I deeply regret missing your birthday, so I'm making it up to you today!\"

Ves pressed his lips and shuffled back on his bed as his mother gazed at him with an unnerving stare.

\"You didn't have to. I'm grown-up now. I have my own life. I think you're better off staying wherever you disappeared to. Wait a minute.. what are you doing? Stay back! Don't come closer!\"

His mother stopped petting Lucky and began to drift closer to Ves. The pressure exerting upon Ves grew greater as she did so, so much so that Ves now widened his eyes in alarm at the realization why it felt so familiar!

His mother was draining him again! He could feel a trickle of his spiritual energy already bleeding out of his mind and entering his mother's ghostly form!

Worse yet, as the distance grew smaller, the drain on his spiritual energy increased!

\"What are you doing! What kind of mother sucks his own son's energy?!\"

His mother responded with an intrigued smile. \"Mommy needs a little pick-me-up. Now that you're a grown-up, you wouldn't be so petty as to deprive the person who raised you some assistance, would you?\"

\"That wasn't what I meant! Stop stealing my spiritual energy!\"

She ignored his complaints. \"You've grown, Ves. It was just a short time ago when you were just in your infancy. Now, not only did you turn into a handsome Journeyman Mech Designer, but you've also managed to earn the appreciation of your father's gift. I can sense a powerful source inside your mind. Be a good dear and share some of your bounty!\"

His mother's face turned rapturous as she unilaterally yanked half of his current spiritual energy in her ghostly body! It visibly grew stronger and more defined!

As for Ves, the drain was so sudden and abrupt that Ves suffered a disconcerting loss of strength! His body almost flopped down onto his bed as he struggled to adjust to the changes!

\"Give it back, mother!\" He squeezed out through his gritted teeth. \"It's mine! You have no right to take my energy!\"

As his mother came off her vampiric high, she smiled contently at Ves. \"Don't be selfish, boy. Do you think I borrowed your strength because I am greedy for power? No! All this time, I've stayed at the side of your father in the Nyxian Gap, helping him navigate the murky, pirate-infested environment! It's difficult, you know. If not for my help, I doubt your father would have been able to thrive so much!\"

The mention of his father startled Ves. \"Dad is still alive and okay?\"

\"Yes. He misses you so much, you know. While your father is capable enough to stay a step ahead from his pursuers in the Nyxian Gap, with my help he was able to grasp some power and secure more solid footing for himself! The reason why I've been able to do so is because of your help. Each time you strengthen me, you are helping out your father even further! Do you feel so upset about my actions now?\"

Though Ves still felt cross, he also believed her words.

\"You could have explained all of that before you started taking my spiritual energy, you know.\" He grumpily responded.

His mother was insufferable!