The Mech Touch

5915 New Elemental Advantages

When Ves learned that the second major cultivation rank was mainly about cultivating one's domain, he knew that it would play a large role in his future progression.

It was not difficult to assume that the main reason why many Master Mech Designers failed to advance to the rank of Star Designer was because their domains did not meet the exceedingly high standards!

A more complicated domain granted Ves more options, but also weakened his focus. The choice to go for this reward was a double-edged sword for that reason.

Ves still felt tempted. It was a great opportunity to increase the versatility of his works and make them more fault tolerant.

That was not to say it was impossible for him to design mechs without resorting to this option. He was doing pretty fine so far. He just wanted to do better. Taking risks and enduring greater hardships in the hopes of obtaining a greater payoff.

The more Ves thought about it, the more he became convinced that this was the way for him to break the game.

He came closer to defining a specific vision that he wished to realize.

He imagined himself as a mech designer who not only designed living mechs, but ones that tapped into at least one other major E energy attribute. Whether Ves settled for the fire element or a more exotic choice, he was absolutely convinced that integrating the power of heaven more extensively in all of his products would lead to a universal boost improvement in performance!

Ves could still opt for other rewards that could amplify his design capabilities. Upgrading the cranial implant that had pretty much fused with his brain on a permanent basis was the most attractive alternative in his mind.

Ever since he experienced so many lightning baptisms, his Archimedes Rubal bioimplant had mutated beyond recognition. It was no longer a product of science, but instead turned into an indecipherable wonder that merged so well with his brain that it remained fully functional even as his true body continued to expand in size.

Unfortunately for Ves, the Archimedes Rubal had always focused on offering as much data storage capacity as possible. It did not contain any of the nifty functions contained in proper mech designer implants. The lightning baptisms only strengthened the implant's existing features, but declined to any new functionality.

This situation was an opportunity to correct this shortcoming and demand a proper expansion of his cranial implant.

While it would certainly facilitate his design capabilities in the short term, Ves was not as confident that it would retain the same degree of significance in the long term.

The closer Ves got to becoming a Star Designer, the more he transitioned into an energy based life form.

Once he managed to reach the third major cultivation rank, organic implants could no longer significantly boost his cognitive capabilities.

From that perspective, it was a waste to ask for an upgrade to his cranial implant. It was not as if he developed a huge dependency on it in the first place.

The partial digitization of his mind made it a lot more convenient for him to access databases and so on, but he never developed a liking for the data and calculation-heavy design approach of many first-class mech designers.

Excessively obsessing over calculations and trying to achieve the most mathematically optimal results may fit well with Gloriana's design style, but Ves always preferred a more intuitive approach.

Cranial implants were not important enough to justify an upgrade. Ves wanted to obtain a more qualitative addition to his design abilities.

This quickly led him back to expanding his nascent domain.

He could more easily envision and agree with a future where he became an elemental maestro.

There were many different ways to leverage a greater specialization in the fire or water element.

Perhaps he could even master both of them at the same time!

"Wait a minute."

Ves suddenly came up with an extremely ambitious and subversive notion that took this idea a step further.

It sounded so crazy to him that he almost discarded the idea as soon as it came up. The potential rewards were massive, but the requirements were equally as difficult to meet.

If he ever wanted to realize this insane plan, he would have to trigger at least 3 more lightning tribulations of at least equal magnitude as the one that befell the Dominion of Man!

Not only that, but he would have to play such a significant role in the creation of products that could almost rival that of a grand work that the heavens saw fit to pull him into this space again!

The likelihood of success was too low. Even if he was able to make it work, it would likely take decades if not centuries of dedication in order to complete his grand plan.

Still… if he ever wanted to embark on this incredibly ambitious path, now was the time to determine whether he should take the first step.

"I have a question." He said as he turned to the tall but disturbingly unmoving shadow of the Subjugation King. "Do the cultivators of your galaxy have any special powers related to combining what my people call the 5 classical elements? I am referring to the elements if fire, water, wood, earth and metal."

The Subjugation King remained silent for a dozen or so seconds before he finally deigned to respond.

"#$%&$@#$#."

"YOU SHOULD NOT BE EXPLORING THIS AT YOUR STAGE. YOU ARE TOO WEAK. THERE ARE TOO MANY MAD BEINGS IN MY SEA OF STARS WHO OBSESS OVER THE ELEMENTALS THAT THEY CLAIM WILL UNLOCK THE POWER TO RESHAPE THIS ENTIRE UNIVERSE. THEY ARE DELUDED GODS WHO DO NOT RESPECT THE GREAT LIGHTHOUSE AND WISH TO USURP IT. I ADVISE YOU TO END THIS INQUIRY."

"That's not good enough for me." Ves frowned as he tried his best to push back against the stupid alien tyrant. "Explain to me why it is such a bad idea to pursue mastery over the 5 elements."

"@#$&$&@$@$."

"YOU ARE NOT THE FIRST FOOL THAT THINKS TO MASTER THE 5 ELEMENTS. IT IS IMPOSSIBLE FOR THE HEAVENS TO ASSIST YOU IN THIS FOOL'S JOURNEY. THE MORE ELEMENTS THAT BECOME CENTRAL TO YOUR DOMAIN, THE GREATER THE COST OF SUBSEQUENT BOONS. TRUE MASTERY CAN NEVER BE GRANTED BY OTHERS. YOU MUST RELY ON YOURSELF TO COMPREHEND THE MEANING OF EVERY ELEMENT AND THEIR RELATION TO OTHER ELEMENTS. IT TAKES THE TIME FOR HUNDREDS OF GENERATIONS OF THE DESCENDANTS OF MY SLAVES TO LIVE AND DIE BEFORE YOU CAN OBTAIN SUFFICIENT MASTERY."

Though Ves did not know how many years that was, he got the message alright. If the Subjugation King was not lying, then he would have to embark on an incredibly long and exhausting journey in order to fully master the 5 elements!

Ves could easily imagine becoming far more powerful than practically any other mech designer or qi cultivator for that matter, but… did this align with his goal?

Not necessarily. The long term payoff was astronomically high, but it was set so far in the future that he would not be able to realize his most powerful state for centuries if not millenia!

That was way too long for his liking. He needed to be strong enough to make a decisive contribution in the inevitable war between the Red Ocean and the invaders from Messier 87.

Ves followed the Subjugation King's suggestion and discarded any ideas about mastering the 5 elements.

That said, specializing in one additional classical element shouldn't do too much harm.

The difficulty in mastering 2 classical elements and figuring out synergies between them was not too high. It only really started to get complicated if he wanted to combine 3 or more classical elements.

Though Ves would inevitably make it more difficult to deepen his comprehension of life and metal, he was surprisingly fine with this tradeoff.

He had never been a mech designer who liked to narrow his scope and focus on his specialization to the exclusion of alternatives.

He respected the approach of Ketis, but that did not mean he was willing to adopt a similar approach!

Given his preference for variety and his propensity towards distraction, he would not have to change his behavior all that much in order to accommodate this new change.

He just wished that he had spent more time on exploring the other classical elements.

Ves currently possessed enough insights in the metal, water and fire elements to know how they might synergize with his existing works.

He could not do so for the wood and earth elements.

Sure, he read a lot of theories and could engage in plenty of speculation, but that was not enough to form a proper judgment.

Wait.

Ves glanced towards the other presence in this space.

Perhaps this big guy might be able to provide additional insights.

Seeing that it would be better if the Subjugation King understood the greater context, Ves quickly explained his interest in mastering another element.

Of course, Ves made sure to leave out any word about mechs.

"#$#&$@&$@."

"I APPROVE OF YOUR THINKING. IT IS NOT GOOD FOR YOUR CULTIVATION TO CHASE AFTER AN IMPOSSIBLE GOAL, BUT IT IS ALSO DETRIMENTAL IF YOU LACK THE WILLINGNESS TO EXPAND YOUR PERSPECTIVE. CRAFTSMEN SUCH AS YOURSELF ARE MORE EASILY ABLE TO EXPLORE DIFFERENT ELEMENTS."

"Since you understand my purpose, what can you tell me about expanding my domain with the wood or earth element?"

"$&#$&#$@."

"EARTH BEARS METAL. ONE FEEDS INTO THE OTHER. YOU CAN RELY ON EARTH TO MAKE YOUR ARTIFACTS STRONGER AND MORE RESISTANT TOWARDS DAMAGE. THAT IS NOT THE TRUE POTENTIAL OF MASTERING THIS ELEMENT. IT WILL ALLOW YOU TO TAP INTO GEOMANTIC POWER. IF YOU DEVELOP THE CORRECT THEORY AND METHODS, YOUR WORKS WILL BECOME SOLID AND INVIOLABLE WHEN PLACED ON PLANETS. YOU WILL BE ABLE TO STRENGTHEN YOUR PLANETS AND TRANSFORM THEM INTO LARGE-SCALE FORTRESSES."

That sounded quite attractive to Ves. Making his mechs tougher directly increased the survival rate of his products. That would end up saving lots of lives and help reduce the attrition rate of human forces.

However, Ves did not form a strong desire for this option. He did not specialize in defense and did not feel the need to start with doing so today.

He also did not like the fact that the only way to fully draw out the potential of the earth element was to work with planets. Any earth-aspected mech would therefore miss out on a lot of boosts if they were forced to fight in space!

While Ves was sure that the Earth element could offer far more benefits than this, he had already gone over the easiest and most obvious applications.

"What about the wood element?"

"#$&#$@$@."

"WOOD CHOPS WOOD. COMBINING WOOD WITH METAL WILL BE CHALLENGING, BUT ALSO REWARDING. WOOD GRANTS FLEXIBILITY THAT METAL LACKS. WOOD ALSO POSSESSES REGENERATING PROPERTIES THAT CAN MAKE YOUR WORKS RESTORE THEMSELVES MORE EASILY AS LONG AS THEY RECEIVE ABUNDANT ENERGY. THERE IS ALSO AN ALTERNATIVE APPROACH YOU CAN TAKE IF YOU CHOOSE TO MASTER THE WOOD ELEMENT."

"Elaborate, please."

"WOOD IS HIGHLY RELATED TOWARDS LIFE. INSTEAD OF ALTERING YOUR DOMAIN TO ADD A THIRD SPECIALIZATION, YOU CAN CHOOSE TO LET THE FORMER SUBSUME THE LATTER. YOU WILL RETAIN ALL OF THE INSIGHTS AND ABILITIES YOU POSSESS AT THIS TIME, BUT YOU WILL MORE EASILY BE ABLE TO MASTER THE OTHER ASPECTS OF THE VERSATILE WOOD ELEMENT. DOING SO WILL CAUSE YOU TO FORSAKE SEVERAL OPPORTUNITIES TO MASTER THE TRUE MEANING OF LIFE."

Ves initially became attracted by this idea, but that last part caused his enthusiasm to drop.

He had a feeling that switching his life domain to a wood domain would open a lot of new doors, but also close the ones he might have reason to care about a lot. These future possibilities may be incredibly relevant to his greatest and most difficult ambitions.

If that was the case, then he absolutely could not afford to diminish his life domain!

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