The Mech Touch

5807 Big Money

Jovy was right.

Ves still thought like a second-rater for the most part.

He was born as a third-rater, but spent a decade or so adjusting to the reality of second-class society.

Even then, he still retained a fair number of sensibilities as a third-rater. He abhorred waste and usually tried to avoid it. While it became increasingly harder for him to maintain tight control over his spending, he liked to think he was doing better than others.

His wife made for a nice contrast of how much worse he could become if he did not exert enough discipline in his spending strategy.

First-raters and especially powerful first-raters weren't nearly as frugal. Ves already had a glimpse of how these wealthy bastards showed so little regard for life-changing sums of wealth when he occupied the mind of a much younger Axelar Streon a long time ago, yet he still grew dizzy as he witnessed this happening on a much wider scale!

It was not as if these first-raters were bad with money. They did not climb their way to the top of high society by being incompetent.

They possessed a fantastic understanding of their financial strength. They knew how much money they could afford to spend without too many adverse consequences, and they also knew how much more money they could pull that came with greater costs.

Each wealthy bidder committed increasingly astronomical sums of money because they truly had so much money to spare!

Perhaps this was why Ves felt ambivalent about this entire show. He had spent much of his years looking up at these high-and-mighty first-raters that he never really considered the possibility that he could become like them, especially in a short timeframe.

In other words, his mentality had not caught up with his current reality as of yet. His reluctance to adapt to his latest circumstances was holding him back.

It did not help that Ves had no idea whether it was a good decision to fork over wealth that was equivalent to over 2000 kilograms of phasewater on a single mech weapon.

"2500 kilograms of phasewater!"

"2600 kilograms of phasewater."

"3000 kilograms of phasewater!" An important military official of a first-rate state voiced. "This Destroyer spear shall be ours."

"3100 kilograms. The spear's ownership is still in contention. Nobody here is afraid of your state."

"3150 kilograms of phasewater."

Ves grew dizzy as he imagined how much wealth this represented.

In terms of money, he was pretty sure he could buy a basic fleet carrier at vastly inflated prices.

In terms of phasewater, this amount was enough to raise an entire first-class mech regiment or second-class mech division!

"Ugh…" Ves let out a frustrated grunt as he still failed to make up his mind. "What do you guys think?"

"You can afford it." Jovy said. "As much as the Red Association does not like the Terrans for keeping their Destroyer technology for themselves, we are not afraid to admit that it is superior in terms of destructiveness. You cannot go wrong with bestowing your clan with this powerful spear. You can hand it over to the first Larkinson ace pilot that breaks through."

Kelsey Ampatoch shook his head. "I can think of more than a dozen alternatives that do not cost nearly as much. The Rubarthan mech community has always been jealous towards Terran Destroyer technology and tried to develop alternatives for a long time. While we have failed to produce an equal or superior weapon, we did not come away empty-handed. There are other options, each of which come with their own pros and cons. The fact that Destroyer weapons are not the most efficient solution to employ against transphasic energy shields is important to keep in mind."

He was right, but that did not turn Destroyer weapons useless against alien warships. Mechs just needed to watch the energy defenses of alien vessels a few more times in order to move forward.

"Destroyer weapons are domineering pieces of mech equipment according to our studies." Vector Loban said. "What I mean by that is that they are so powerful that they threaten to overpower every other aspect of a mech. The Destroyer particles of a higher tier Destroyer weapon require a lot of active management in order to keep in line. Any mech pilot that eventually gets to wield a weapon as strong as the one put on auction will acquire more violent and combative tendencies. Even strong-willed pilots are not immune to this effect. They become more effective killing machines at the cost of downplaying any other strengths they possess."

That was what Ves really needed to hear. Ves could easily imagine why Destroyer weapons had a corrupting effect. It all came down to their Destroyer particles. It was as if they were living forces that only sought to destroy as much as possible.

Was this downside enough for Ves to give up on this Destroyer spear? Not quite.

It did help to put the Destroyer spear into perspective. Ves mentally set a limit and decided to just stop bidding if the price rose above it. Having an all-powerful weapon in his possession was nice, but it would not be the end of the Red Ocean if he let it slip from his grasp.

At least he hoped that was the case.

Ves briefly paid attention to the ongoing exchange of bids before he finally pressed a button and opened his mouth.

"3500 kilograms of phasewater."

The entire upper hall froze yet again. The momentum of all of the prior bidders had been sapped as soon as Ves made it clear that he was not willing to sit by this time.

Unfortunately, the silence did not last for long.

"3600 kilograms of phasewater."

"3650 kilograms of phasewater."

"3700 kilograms of phasewater!"

Three different voices spoke up in quick succession. None of these individuals demonstrated any visible sign that they were deterred by the participation of the Devil Tongue.

They certainly feared what he could do to them, but they did not believe Ves would resort to dishonorable behavior just to deter his competitors in a grand auction.

Besides, they all belonged to major forces that possessed strong foundations in human society. They were more than capable of standing their ground.

"3800 kilograms of phasewater." Ves spoke again.

Though the sum far exceeded what any average first-rater would ever be able to earn in a single life, this did not apply to upper society!

"3900 kilograms of phasewater."

"4000 kilograms of phasewater." Ves shot back.

The bidding war continued. Several figures that previously showed their determination to flaunt their wealth had gradually fallen silent as they were unwilling to spend past this point.

However, there were still a dozen or so major players who did not show any signs of stopping soon.

Occasionally, other voices joined the party as well, but it was questionable whether they were willing to hang around for long.

"4800 kilograms of phasewater."

"4810 kilograms."

"4850 kilograms."

"4900 kilograms."

"5000 kilograms of phasewater." Ves straightforwardly spoke.

The upper hall fell silent for another moment as the price for the Destroyer spear had reached an insane height.

A wealthy woman spoke up again while directing a challenging stare towards Ves' private box. "5050 kilograms of phasewater."

"5100 kilograms of phasewater." Ves shot back.

Many more people began to doubt whether they should proceed. It became clear that they had reached their respective bottom lines and dared to go no further.

"5150 kilograms of phasewater." A different leader spoke.

"5200 kilograms of phasewater." Ves said right away.

He really hoped that the bidders did not try to surpass 5500 kilograms of phasewater.

He originally wanted to set the limit at 5000 kilograms, but he felt that would have made him way too predictable. He had raised the limit to 5501 kilograms of phasewater for that reason.

If the bids exceeded this amount, Ves was ready to pull out regardless of whether he could afford to do so due to various factors.

"5300 kilograms."

"5400 kilograms of phasewater." Ves replied.

He hoped that a more decisive approach might deter the remaining handful of holdouts.

"5450 kilograms of phasewater."

"5500 kilograms of phasewater." Ves said without giving out any further hints.

Privately, he hoped that the remaining bidders would give up at this point. Trying to obtain a Destroyer spear for 6000 kilograms of phasewater or whatever was so exaggerated that Ves would rather work with Ketis to develop a first-class mech spear from scratch!

Nobody spoke.

Despite the extreme desirability of a tier 3 Destroyer spear, the weapon frankly did not merit that much attention at this point.

It was unreasonable to hand a powerful mech weapon to a junior ace mech that did not cost nearly as much.

Of course, senior ace mechs were entirely different beasts. They were more designed and built to serve as potential candidates to transform into god mechs, so pairing them up with Destroyer weapons was not necessarily a waste of money!

Ves felt tense as he waited for any person to place a slightly higher bid.

"Meow…"

Even Lucky felt the tension in the air.

It soon became clear that all of these people did not fall silent for no good reason. Ves suspected that they were all contacting each other or their superiors for further instructions.

While the continued silence made the grand auction more compelling, Orion Leeds still needed to do his duty.

"The tier 3 Destroyer weapon can still be yours if you place a higher bid. Let me remind you of one of our relevant services. You can promise to exchange any fixed assets to us for MTA credits or CFA credits. If you fail to place a winning bid, you have the right to cancel the planned transaction at the cost of paying a modest and reasonable penalty fee."

This was a clever solution that hit multiple birds with a single stone.

Estaban Leeds could massively improve its real estate portfolio by taking the houses, factories and other structures across the upper zones.

It also increased the liquidity of individual participants, enabling them to spend sums that were far in excess to their prior cash reserves.

"However, was it really worth it to give up prime real estate just to get a single Destroyer spear? It did not even come with a powerful machine that could make effective use of this weapon!

"Going once…"

Ves stared carefully at the members of the crowd, but he was unable to glean anything more complex than a few vague sensations.

"Going twice…"

"5600 kilograms of phasewater." A female general spoke as she politely turned towards the private box. "My apologies, Professor Larkinson, but one of our newest guardians of our state needs this boost in firepower."

That caused Ves to look dismayed. He could still spend more, but… that would cause him to break the rule he set for himself. He could not give in to irrational behavior.

"If you really want the spear, go take it." Jovy encouraged Ves. "Do not worry too much about how you will raise the necessary funds. At worst, you temporarily go into debt and earn back the money later once you have achieved greater business success."

Though Ves heard this once before, saying it again during this sensitive moment caused Ves' limit to snap.

"Fine. I will stop thinking about limits entirely. I hope I don't regret it." He grumbled under his bet. "5700 kilograms of phasewater."

His confident declaration increased his momentum and made it a lot more difficult for anyone to exceed his bid.

"5750 kilograms."

"5800 kilograms." Ves said.

At this point, the female general and the other remaining holdouts kept themselves mum.

"Going once…"

Again, people looked around to see whether anyone had the courage to commit a greater sum.

"Goince twice…"

Ves almost prayed that no one would spoil his party and force him to spend more money that he was pretty sure he did not possess at this moment.

"SOLD for 5800 kilograms of phasewater!" Orion Leeds decisively declared! "Congratulations, Professor Larkinson! You are the latest owner of one of the most powerful mech weapons in the Red Ocean. This tier 3 Destroyer spear is yours to do as you see fit!"

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