The Mech Touch

5844 Belated Discovery

If Ves had a choice, he would have preferred to reduce his dependence on the System.

He had done a pretty good job so far. He had managed to complete several successful mech designs and overcome numerous major issues without needing to enter the System space.

This not only proved that he was not only doing a good job at developing his own capabilities, but also ensured that he did not increase his enormous debt of karma towards the heavenly authority of the Milky Way Galaxy too quickly.

Alas, Ves felt that the current situation had become too dire for him to persist in his abstinence.

The rewards for success were too great and the price of failure was too painful for him to ignore the help that the Mech Designer System could provide.

Once he entered the System space, he steeled himself before ascending the stairs to the top of the mountain.

He did not take any detours to visit the Tree of Possibilities or the Divine Bazaar. He had spent a lot of Ascension Points in the past and hadn't worked hard enough to stockpile them again.

Aside from completing mech designs and fulfilling a handful of easy System Missions, Ves had not done anything else to build up his reserve of AP.

A part of him regretted that he had not prioritized the acquisition of Ascension Points as of late, but he had been far 10:11

too busy as of late.

As he reached the plateau at the summit of the mountain, he stepped inside the Sacred Temple and took note of the silence and tranquility around him. The place was empty as always.

Once he was done with looking around, he proceeded into the courtyard until he reached the Pantheon.

The statues of himself and his incarnations beckoned to him. It had been a while since he last took a proper look at his Status.

"Let's see how much progress I have made."

[Status]

Name: Ves Larkinson

Profession: Senior Mech Designer

Specializations: Mutual Growth

Ascension Points: 212 AP

Attributes

Strength: 23.1

Dexterity: 4.3

Endurance: 31.3

Intelligence: 8.2

Creativity: 9.0

Concentration: 17.9

Spirituality: 33.8

Genetic Aptitude: G

Skills

[Assembly]: Senior - …

[Battle Mechatronics]: Journeyman - …

[Biotechnology]: Apprentice - …

[Computer Science]: Journeyman - …

[Cultivation Science]: Journeyman - …

[Electrical Engineering]: Senior - …

[Hyper Technology]: Senior - …

[Materials Science]: Senior - …

[Mathematics]: Senior - …

[Mechanics]: Senior - …

[Metallurgy]: Senior - …

[Metaphysics]: Senior - …

[Interfacing]: Novice - …

[Phasewater Technology]: Journeyman - …

[Physics]: Senior - …

[Salvaging]: Apprentice - …

[Signals and Communications]: Journeyman - …

[Stealth and Cloaking]: Senior

[Traditional Blacksmithing]: Apprentice - …

Abilities

...

Evaluation: A renowned Senior Mech Designer who has begun to master the mysteries of life, mechs, synergy and the occult.

His progress had been astronomical in the past few years. Ves had managed to deepen his foundation in the sciences and master a lot of high technologies. He had acquired so many new Sub-Skills that it was not worth his time to study each and every new entry.

He made all of these gains through honest study rather than swallowing Enlightenment Fruits.

While the System did not think that Ves had managed to elevate any of his major Skills to the level of a Master Mech Designer, he felt that he was making good progress in Assembly, Mechanics and Physics.

A few more years of focused study would not be enough to reach the standard of a genuine first-class Master Mech Designer, but he should be able to master enough of the fundamentals to design most general first-class mechs without any significant problems.

Ves actually did benefit that much from studying the changes to his Status.

Sure, he gained and improved manay Skills and Sub-Skills, but he did not need a report card from the Mech Designer System in order to know what he was capable of. He was already able to evaluate his mech design capabilities quite well by himself.

The numbers associated with his Attributes had all increased dramatically in a relatively short span of time. Ves the Journeyman Mech Designer used to be a lot weaker than Ves the Senior Mech Designer and lesser phase lord!

The rather dramatic increase in his Spirituality Attribute was fully expected given how much Blinky's powerful new cultivation technique had dramatically strengthened his foundation.

The explosive increase in his physical Attributes was also not a surprise. A phase lord was astronomically stronger than any human!

The numbers clearly did not scale in a linear fashion, so none of it soared into the hundreds of the thousands.

Ves frankly did not understand where these numbers came from and how they were calculated. He had no clue what kind of measuring scale the Mech Designer System used to rate his raw capabilities.

It wasn't really important. The numbers only truly became useful if he had other people to compare against. Even then, Ves could rely on his appraisals to come up with good enough estimates. There was no need for a System to spit out a series of arcane numbers.

There was only a single entry that Ves truly needed to know.

"212 Ascension Points, huh? That's not much."

It could buy him a lot of time to extend his stay in the System space. It could also allow him to buy a few cheaper Enlightenment Fruits to expand his knowledge base.

Unless the knowledge contained within those fruits were directly relevant to his current preoccupation, it was not worth stuffing his brain with a huge injection of theory.

"Maybe I can buy a useful tool or material in the Divine Bazaar."

This was actually a much more viable choice this time. The selection of goods were always random, but if it happened to present a relevant good that could increase his success rate in any way, then it was definitely worth the price.

Ves did not descend from the summit of the mountain right away. He took the time to explore the other sections of the Sacred Temple in order to check up on a few matters.

One of his more important priorities was to verify that the dangerous Iron Resonant Crucifix Crown remained 'safely' attached to Vulcan's Divine Core.

Fortunately, nothing changed in this regard. His external incarnation still practiced the same cultivation method that attracted the symbol of authority like a moth to flame.

Unless the Iron Resonant Crucifix Crown somehow grew bored with Vulcan, it should continue to maintain a symbiotic relationship with the design spirit.

Seeing that nothing was amiss, Ves turned around and descended from the steps.

He visited the Mission Hall and the Tree of Possibilities more out of due diligence than genuine interest in making use of their offerings.

His luck was not good this time as neither of them offered any tantalizing Missions or Enlightenment Fruits.

There was no easy way for him to earn more Ascension Points and the Tree of Possibilities mostly featured repeat offerings.

It would have been nice if the Tree of Possibilities granted him knowledge on human starship design, neural interface technology or brains.

While Ves did manage to identify a few Enlightenment Fruits that might be able to help him out in a more indirect fashion, the cost-price benefit was not high enough for him to squander his Ascension Points.

He only had 212 of them. He needed to translate that into more powerful gains.

This was why he visited the Divine Bazaar with a strong purpose. Even though it only put hundreds of random items up for sale every now and then, Ves could think up multiple ways on how he could use a key material to strengthen the transformation process.

It did not take long before he came across a material that seemed particularly compelling.

[Organic Rejuvenator Serum]

Price: 100 Ascension Points

This vial contains a serum that is able to induce a mild to moderate rejuvenation effect when injected in the bloodstream of a human or compatible organism. It is mainly effective on weaker physiques and produces a greater effect on smaller and less dense body masses.

Although the description of this item was frustratingly vague, Ves immediately guessed that the Organic Rejuvenator Serum shared a lot in common with the more famous life-prolonging treatment serum!

He wondered what would happen if he injected the contents of this vial in one of the older and more powerful organic AI cores that made up the Brain Trust.

If he did so at the right time, he could not only restore any potential damage done to it, but also make it stronger to the point where it might become the leading brain unit!

Ves shook his head. "There are too many uncertainties. The chances of messing up the equilibrium and the coordination of the Brain Trust is too great."

He reluctantly turned away from the Organic Rejuvenator Serum and continued to explore the Bazaar.

Fortunately, he came across a much more compelling item after a few minutes.

[Qi Restoration Potion]

Price: 80 Ascension Points

Ingesting this potion will quickly restore the qi energy state of a cultivator while also generating a temporary state of heightened focus. When the active effects have passed, weaker cultivators will crash and remain exhausted for several days.

While the System refused to give him any detailed numbers or how effective it was for him, Ves strongly believed that it was useful to his current self.

The potion did a fantastic job at containing the energies locked inside the glowing liquid, but Ves could still rely on his intuition to vaguely determine that it would pepper him up by a noticeable degree.

It made sense since he was still stuck in the First Major Cultivation Rank.

"Buy."

He did not hesitate too long before he chose to spend 80 Ascension Points. Even if it was not useful in the upcoming ritual, he would definitely have a use for it at a later date.

"Huh?"

Surprisingly enough, the Qi Restoration Potion did not disappear from the shelves of the Divine Bazaar.

"There are more potions available for purchase?"

This was a new discovery!

Ves had never bought a consumable like this in the past, so he had never discovered this particular rule!

A part of him felt rather stupid that he had neglected the Divine Bazaar too much. It would have been useful to know that he could buy multiple identical potions at the same time.

He felt tempted to buy another potion right away, but decided to preserve his remaining AP.

He suspected that he could only handle one of these potions at the same time. Trying to ingest two of them in quick succession would probably put him into a coma!

"I need to conduct an experiment in the future. Better yet, I need to find someone who can brew these potions."

Once the Red Collective was up and running, Ves believed that he could eventually get in touch with people who just happened to possess the right heritage.

Until then, he would keep a closer eye on these products and see whether it was worthwhile to stockpile a few of them when he managed to earn more AP.

He soon completed his tour of the Divine Bazaar without anything else catching his eye.

"That is to be expected."

The sheer randomness of its selection made it frustratingly difficult to gain access to the right items at the right time.

"Oh well."

Ves turned away and left the Divine Bazaar.

He found himself at the Wishing Fountain a moment later.

"I've been waiting for this for a long time." He grinned as he held a lottery ticket in his hand.

He had done his best to save up his latest radiant lottery ticket until he truly needed it. He managed to earn it a few months ago when he upgraded Taon Melin's Zeal to a unique variation of the Transcendent Punisher Mark III design.

It was a pity that the mechers forced him to erase the controversial prophetic vision that he and Ylvaine had painted on the masterwork mech's surface.

The radiant lottery ticket was an excellent consolation prize. Right now, he knew exactly what sort of prize he wanted to obtain this time.

"Wishing Fountain, please use my ticket to give me access to a way to resist tribulation lightning!"

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