The Mech Touch

5945 A Growing Incentive to Share

Ves suddenly realized that many of the upgrade tracks promised a lot of powerful features, but only after investing a lot of Ascension Points.

Wouldn't he be able to upgrade these powerful System features if he started to empower trustworthy mech designers such as Gloriana and Alexa?

His eyes lit up! This idea had a lot of merit!

"It is becoming increasingly harder for me to shoulder this burden alone. I can do a lot more with additional help."

However, Ves quickly recalled the reason why he never went through with inviting another mech designer to become a user of the Mech Designer System.

Others might end up hijacking the System from him one day!

Though Ves did not value the System as much as everyone else, he could not deny that he possessed enough selfishness to keep it for himself.

He did not trust anyone else with its power. If they ended up similar to the Polymath and forgot the most basic principle of the mech designer profession, then the new users of the System posed an enormous threat to modern human civilization!

Yet… the allure of increasing AP generation had become a lot stronger now. The upgrade to the Mech Designer System this time was clearly based around collective benefits this time.

The four upgrade tracks provided so far increased the need for more AP. If the Missions offered by the System did not present more lucrative forms of income, then the only way to further strengthen the new additions was to invite more mech designers!

Ves grew unsettled.

When Ves decided to take a step back and examine the implications of the upgrade tracks that the Mech Designer System presented so far, he eventually managed to identify a concerning pattern.

"Each of these upgrade tracks require astronomical amounts of AP to unlock their full potential!"

The immediate implication of the existence of these AP sinks was that Ves could no longer rely on himself to feed this bottomless pit.

He would subsequently become incentivized to invite others to partake in the System. As long as they became users, they possessed the capacity to earn Ascension Points.

The greater the group of users, the greater the rate of AP income!

Ves might not even have to design mechs in person anymore. He could just sit back, relax and spend AP on increasingly costly upgrades!

No matter whether he opted for Phasewater Generation or Portal Exploration, as long as he brought in enough people, he would become assured that he would soon gain more power than ever before.

Ves had been looking for ways to accelerate his growth and gain enough hard power to resist his enemies.

The latest upgrade seemed tailored to solve his greatest concern!

Ves felt reassured that the System exhibited signs that it was aware of his growing predicament. It showed a willingness to lend a hand by tailoring its upgrade tracks that could solve his problems.

However… Ves found it difficult to put his complete trust in the System.

"What is your angle?"

From the moment he looked at this situation from a more critical angle, he suddenly made an important realization!

This scenario started to look awfully familiar!

The Five Scrolls Compact used to operate on a similar business model!

The members of this infamous cult toiled on the behalf of one of the Sacred Scrolls, and got rewarded for their efforts.

The Compact at its height had become extremely powerful. A huge amount of cultivators had fallen under the sway of the benefits provided by the Sacred Scroll. The Holy Sons and Daughters received the greatest favor of them all, and organized the remaining cultists to ensure they utilized their power and resources effectively to channel a large amount of contributions to the Sacred Scroll.

The business model adopted by the Five Scrolls Compact was not necessarily evil or nefarious.

The reason why it ended up so badly was because the Sacred Scrolls had been made with impure motives in mind!

The point of this elaborate scheme was to channel the greatest benefits to the Metal Scroll and so on. They needed to absorb a huge amount of resources in order to fuel the revival and return of their mysterious creators.

It was a huge conspiracy from beginning to end. The 'users' of the Sacred Scrolls had all been turned into glorified slaves. Neither the Scrolls nor their creators had any reason to care for the wellbeing of their exploited minions!

Ves felt a lot more ambivalent towards the upgrade tracks presented by the System this time. If his suspicion was right, the following options were not going to be any cheaper.

They were practically set up in a way that incentivized a large increase in the user base of the System!

Ves wondered how long he would be able to resist the urge to invite others to make use of the System.

He had a strong hunch that the time where he was the only user of the Mech Designer System was gradually coming to an end.

His needs grew bigger with each passing year. His responsibilities had skyrocketed as well due his rapid rise in human society. Ves urgently needed to speed up red humanity's growth as well as boost his personal power.

He could not do so by relying on his own efforts!

Though he was far from ready to invite other people to partake in the System, he was already beginning to think about possible candidates.

Only three names came to mind.

"There's my wife."

Though he frequently clashed with her on many matters, they also worked together extremely well. Ves had never doubted her competence and integrity as a mech designer. Ves expected her to do well once she gained access to all of the features of the Mech Designer System.

That meant that she could start earning lots of AP very soon!

On top of that, Gloriana also invested a lot of attention into her craftsmanship. Though she was not as good as him at the moment, she had learned a lot and was constantly making progress. She would have made a lot more strides in this area if she hadn't become sidetracked by archetech during the past few months.

Once she managed to elevate her craftsmanship to the next level, she would probably be able to earn radiant lottery tickets at a steady rate!

More radiant lottery tickets translated into more powerful goodies. Even if they weren't particularly useful to the Larkinsons, they could always sell them to others in exchange for other valuable concessions.

"Alexa Streon is my direct disciple. She has proven her trustworthiness already, and she is truly dedicated to the craft."

The young Journeyman was not only an extremely well-

educated Terran mech designer, but she also agreed with Ves on many matters. Her design philosophy was derived from his own, and her passion for living mechs was genuine.

She never gave him a reason to doubt her loyalty or motivation. That did not mean that their relationship might grow more competitive and adversarial in the future, but for now she was firmly in his camp.

As an upstanding member of the Larkinson Clan, Ves trusted her to put the interests of the clan above the interests of other human powers. It did not seem reckless for him to induct her into the System one day.

"The third candidate is Marvaine."

He was far too young to work as a mech designer, let alone make use of the System.

It was not even certain whether Marvaine was willing to continue his studies. If he decided to commit to this profession and graduate from a mech design university, Ves was willing to induct him into the System.

Ves had started to make use of the System shortly after he graduated from the Rittersberg University of Technology. It would be a nice family tradition if his son followed his footsteps.

He feared that Marvaine might develop a dependence on the powerful functions of the System right away, but its incentive structure was still reliant on designing mechs.

Since Ves was able to escape this potential trap without receiving any special guidance, his son should be able to fend for himself.

He was already smart in his own right. He also had his father watching over him at all times!

The more he thought about it, the more he believed that this was the right course to go forward. He could no longer shoulder every burden by himself. It would be great if the people by his side improved faster once they gained access to the functions of the System.

Ves mentally shrugged and decided to check out the remaining options.

"Let's continue. Show me the next upgrade track, please."

The Time and Space Gate changed yet again. This time, it became a little smaller, but the entire clearing had also changed.

Tall black pillars had sprung up. Cages and holding facilities had appeared. Their presence all cast a more ominous light on the altered environment.

The gate went active. As an active portal formed at an unknown location, a random alien being suddenly appeared!

The alien did not look like any species that Ves was familiar with. The newcomer was equipped with transphasic technology, so it was obvious that he had been plucked from another location in the Red Ocean.

While the alien still looked confused at how he ended up in this completely new mountain environment, the black pillars instantly went active.

The alien screamed and dropped onto the ground!

At the same time, a cage dropped on top of him and deprived it of its freedom!

Once the alien lost the ability to resist, the cage floated up the ground and started to transport the new captive to the nearby holding facility.

The gate activated yet again. This time, it spat out an alien Ves never expected to see on this side of the cosmos again.

"Is that… an Ocicyth?!"

The large Ocicyth was an insectile alien that possessed a large body that was covered by a sharp, purple exoskeleton. The alien's formidable stature and thick natural armor made it clear that it was part of a soldier subspecies!

The reason why Ves managed to recognize the Ocicyth right away was because this was an infamously powerful race in the Milky Way.

The Ocicyth ranked fifth among the Seven Apex Races!

The insectile race had once ruled a large portion of the Milky Way!

Despite the formidable combat prowess of this soldier subspecies, the black pillars instantly sapped it of much of its strength.

Another cage formed around its large body and brought him to the holding family.

The pattern repeated several more times. Each time the gate activated, a different alien being appeared, likely without permission, hence the need to restrain the new arrivals!

At one time, the area around the gate expanded even further. After that, the gate spat out a phase whale!

The old and powerful alien immediately grew angry! It put up so much resistance that it almost broke the cage!

[Upgrade Track #5: Random Being Acquisition. The Time Gate can be upgraded into a Time and Space Gate. By spending a certain amount of Ascension Points, the gate can be used to acquire different living organisms up to a certain strength level within a large stellar range. The acquisition process is based on principles that rules out precise targeting. This process can be improved by spending Ascension Points on upgrading the maximum range, narrowing the acquisition zone to a more defined region, increasing the upper strength limit and adding options for more precise targeting of beings that possess specific traits. At its height, Random Being Acquisition allows the user to obtain living beings across the entire universe.]

"Damn!"

This was a powerful option! Ves could derive so many benefits if he was able to use Random Being Acquisition to come into contact and capture all manner of powerful alien beings!

Whether he wanted to steal their unique knowledge or harvest them for ingredients, there was huge potential in this option.

This was especially the case if he upgraded it to the point where it could capture alien beings native to Messier 87!

He could learn so much if he managed to get his hands on an alien engineer.

However, the randomness of the acquisition process reminded him of capricious lottery draws.

He was not entirely comfortable with the idea of turning the gate into another version of the Wishing Fountain!

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