The Mech Touch

5950 Swayed By Emotions

After an indeterminate time, Ves believed he spent enough time on analyzing his available options.

He had studied their pros and cons and had a good idea of how they would affect his life in the coming years.

He roughly estimated how much they could benefit him on a personal basis and how much they could contribute to the advancement of human society as a whole.

Ves also figured out how much AP he needed to invest in order to harvest modest gains, and how much more he needed to spend in order to get to the really good stuff.

Ves even kept his mother's advice in mind and carefully studied how extensively certain decisions promoted the interests of the Mech Designer System.

It was difficult to make any definite judgments due to lack of information. If the goal was to revive the mysterious creator of the Mech Designer System, then he believed that it urgently needed a greater supply of high-level energy as well as super-class materials.

Energy was the basis of all power. Ves never really noticed it, but the System had to be running on an absolutely monstrous power source.

However, he doubted that this was enough for it to fulfill its greater purpose.

Being able to open a permanent dimensional tear to a hidden dimension filled with extremely powerful energies would definitely help the System solve its energy deficit!

"There are also materials to consider."

The System had demonstrated many times that it was capable of converting energy to matter.

Yet not all objects and materials were as easy to materialize. Super-class materials existed in a league of their own. They were miracles in material form that were not only exceedingly rare, but also much more powerful than every other exotic or hyper!

Ves guessed that there were certain upgrade tracks that were much more effective at solving this shortcoming than others.

Dimension Breach Creation, Random Being Acquisition and Portal Exploration all seemed like choices that benefited the System the most.

Of course, that did not stop Ves from profiting as well. The important part was whether he got ripped off in the process.

"The amount of AP the System charges for its services will determine how much I am being taken advantage of." He surmised.

The problem was that without picking an upgrade track, there was no way for him to evaluate these costs in advance.

Ves mentally shook his head.

Since that was the case, he should pay more attention to other criteria.

All 7 choices scored differently in the aforementioned aspects. There was no obviously superior upgrade track that Ves could choose without feeling like he suffered a loss.

However, there were a few choices that Ves ruled out right away.

The Violet Refuge was too passive for Ves. Even if he gained the ability to create remote portals that could allow people inside to exit in another star system, he was not willing to bet whether this special space could keep a powerful God King at bay.

Phasewater Generation was too simple. It did not introduce any truly new variables that could lead to game-changing innovations. Ves already had access to other sources of phasewater. Even if the quantity was not as good, there was no need to be greedy.

Universal Gate Network promised to reconnect the two branches of humanity, but it would take a lot of AP and cooperation from multiple parties to make this happen. Outside of that, building ordinary gates was largely dispensable.

Fractalization was too weird and mostly redundant during the early stages. While it promised to give Ves the power to replicate the advantages of all of the other upgrade tracks, it would probably take thousands if not millions of years of cultivation to reach such an impossible height.

This left him with 3 remaining options.

"Portal Exploration. Random Being Acquisition. Dimension Breach Creation. It has to be one of these choices."

Each of them had their strong points, and they all scored at least decently well in most criteria.

Since Ves was not able to make up his mind by using his existing list of criteria, he needed to include additional considerations to make a fitting choice.

"Let's think about relevance. Which of these upgrade tracks complements my mech design activities the most?"

His ability to design and build fantastic mechs depended on many factors. Availability of special and unique resources was one of them. If Ves wanted to design powerful mechs that possessed advantages that could not be matched by other works, then he needed to accrue a large amount of special materials.

All three upgrade tracks in consideration could do this, but Random Being Acquisition scored the worst in this aspect.

It was inconsistent due to its random nature. This meant that there was no way to mass produce a mech that relied on a unique resource such as Worclaw Crystals.

It was also limited to beings that were available within a certain range from his location. That meant that Ves would only be able to kidnap aliens who resided in the Red Ocean for the time being. This was not unique as he could easily commission the expeditionary fleet or a more powerful force to kidnap specific alien species on his behalf.

"The biggest upside to this is that it is a lot faster, more direct and more convenient."

Portal Exploration demanded a lot more manual effort compared to Random Being Acquisition, but it was also a lot more consistent.

Since it did not include the word 'random', Ves assumed that it was possible to repeatedly form portals to a single remote location.

This meant that it became possible for him or his organization to consistently mine the unique resources of a resource-rich planet.

Of course, he first needed to become aware of such a valuable site, and that was not always possible.

It also shared the same disadvantage of Random Being Acquisition that it only gave Ves a chance to extract resources from relatively common sources in the universe.

Portal Exploration only really came into power if Ves was able to upgrade it to the point where he was able to open two-way portals across intergalactic distances.

That was when Ves could harvest the specialty resources of other galaxies!

"Why bother to wait that long and spend a huge amount of AP on upgrades when I can start with mining specialty resources right away with Dimension Breach Creation?"

The prospect of starting with harvesting completely foreign energy and matter exerted a strong attraction to a mech designer like Ves!

However, he quickly calmed himself down when he reminded himself that just because he gained access to a lot of weird new stuff, it didn't necessarily mean he could make good use of it all right away!

He needed to conduct a lot of research in order to figure out the properties of strange materials.

He also had to put a lot of thought on how to convert the resources into powerful new design applications.

That took way too much work! Ves did not have the time to waste on figuring out the properties of so many oddities.

"I don't have to do all of this work alone, though."

This was where the advantage of organization became prominent. He not only had access to a clan that could easily set up a bunch of new research institutions, but he also forged very close relations with the four major powers of red humanity.

The mechers, fleeters, Terrans and Rubarthans had so many scientists and engineers at their disposal that they could easily bear this burden!

They might even pay him for the privilege of gaining access to the strange but potentially powerful energy and matter of other dimensions!

The Larkinsons could not digest the benefits of dimensional tears alone. Ves needed to persuade all of the other human powers to cooperate with him to ensure that they did not waste this powerful opportunity.

"All of this sounds nice, but how easy is it to open up a tear to an energy-rich or resource-rich dimension?"

Ves did not study dimensional theory deeply, but most dimensions were completely empty and devoid of value.

This was one of the reasons why starships that engaged in FTL travel did not crash into other-dimensional space rocks while they traversed the higher dimensions.

Finding a valuable dimension was a challenge in itself. Ves believed that he needed to pay a considerable price to discover a profitable dimension!

"This is a serious complication."

It meant that Ves would not be able to make substantial gains in the short term. If the process worked as he anticipated, then he would have to breach random dimensions many times in a row before he finally hit the jackpot.

How much time would this take? How much AP did he have to spend until he found the right dimension?

All of this was obscured behind a fog of uncertainty.

"System, can you tell me whether Dimension Breach Creation will help me find dimensions that are filled with desirable energy and resources?"

[...]

Ves mentally grimaced. Of course the System wouldn't make it easy for him. Its refusal to provide additional context was practically criminal!

He needed to work with what he got. Ves at least had enough confidence in the System to assume that Dimension Breach Creation would not leave him with duds all of the time.

Perhaps it would offer him a service to find a suitable dimension to breach.

In summary, Dimension Breach Creation took more time to prove its value than the other options.

Whether it was finding a profitable dimension to breach or waiting for researchers to figure out useful applications, it may take multiple years to earn a serious return on investment.

However, the profit potential of this option had a very high ceiling!

This was especially the case if he was able to open a permanent tear to an energy rich dimension!

The example of Aeon Corona VII continually captured his imagination. It was impossible for Ves to disassociate the sights he had seen on that abnormal planet with this upgrade track.

This alone made Dimension Breach Creation more attractive than the other options. He had witnessed the benefits in the past. A part of him yearned to recreate the splendor of that unforgettable planet.

"This is not good! I am letting my emotions sway my decisions. I can't make such a crucial decision by listening to my biases!"

Unfortunately, Ves was not a completely rational being. He was a mech designer who often surrendered control to his overflowing passion.

Ves definitely felt a greater attraction towards Dimension Breach Creation. It was a more extreme form of gambling than Random Being Acquisition. This was because it took a lot of time and effort to find a dimension of actual value!

When Ves compared Dimension Breach Creation from the other two options in consideration, he tried to determine whether there was any compelling reason to favor the latter.

"Portal Exploration and Random Being Acquisition are much easier to work with, but the potential profits are not as good. It is much more difficult to obtain unique resources that can provide completely different advantages than normal."

Ultimately, his choice came down to whether he valued the unique resources originating from strange dimensions over more familiar benefits that could already be found in the material realm.

If he favored the former, then he would have to settle for a future where his best works became increasingly weirder and more bizarre.

If he favored the latter, then he needed to apply even more criteria to decide whether to go for Portal Exploration or Random Being Acquisition.

This was a difficult junction to be at. Ves was afraid of making the wrong choice. The lack of clarification meant that he had to make a crucial decision based on a lot of missing information.

"What should I choose?"

Each upgrade track had its own charm. It was truly too difficult for Ves to make up his mind!

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