The Mech Touch

After a bit more ambiguous chatting, Ves and Jovy quickly moved on to a much more. pleasant topic of discussion.

Loot distribution.

Due to safety reasons, the Tarrasque along with a few core warships and carriers of the Bluejay Fleet had transitioned into FTL travel in advance.

The native aliens had yet to prove their ability to intercept starships traveling through the higher dimensions, so this would place Ves out of their reach and deny the surviving greater phase lords an easy opportunity to take away his life.

The mechs and ships that remained in the Mazepan System policed the battlefield and secured the debris fields that were constantly drifting apart from each other.

Harvesting and salvaging work had already begun. Although few people in the forces that remained possessed expertise in the harvesting of phasewater organs, they were able to call upon remote assistance from preeminent biotech researchers specialized in the study of phase leaders.

Work proceeded at a brisk pace. The harvesting teams may be making slow progress in separating the gigantic phasewater organs and placing them into hastily produced preservation tanks, but the biotech scientists among them had already done a good job of identifying their properties.

Jovy soon presented Ves with a list of phasewater organs.

"As stated before, the contributions of you and Saint Tusa-Billingsley-Larkinson entitles you to receive a quarter archeshell, an intact PPS, 2 greater phasewater organs originating from the Arena Lord of Ya'gwasa and 3 lesser phasewater organs originating from the 3 dead arche lesser phase lords. You have the right of first selection, so we have collected as much information about the organs for your perusal."

Ves frowned. "You guys sound like you are in a hurry. Do I have to pick now, or can I wait until the biotech researchers have learned more about the properties of the phasewater organs that aren't included in your databases?"

"Perhaps you may be patient enough to wait, but the other parties are less able to hold themselves back. It is not every day that they can take possession of the phasewater organs of a greater phase lord as well as the very rare lesser phase lord of the arche race. There are many biotech institutions that are exerting political and monetary pressure onto us to 'reserve' certain phasewater organs for themselves. We have decided it is best to get this over with before the demands and enticements become too outrageous."

Pleasing one party meant disappointing half a dozen other parties. The greater the stakes, the greater the latter took it personally. This was why the mechers wanted to get rid of this burden as soon as possible.

Since Ves had first pick, he was essentially the person responsible for holding up the allocation process. Jovy eagerly wanted him to hurry up and complete his selection. Ves took a good look at the projected list. He raised his finger and tapped on one of the entries. This opened up another projected screen that detailed all of the data and information that the mechers managed to gather.

If Ves wanted to make an optimal selection, then he first had to formulate a development strategy for his body cultivation. He then needed to take stock of what he already had in his possession and what he still needed to obtain. That should help him guide his selection process.

He already decided a long time ago that he would not put much time and effort into his development as a phase lord.

Other humans and aliens may be willing to sacrifice everything just to get a chance to break their mortal shackles, transform into a monster that could fight against mechs with their true bodies and extend their lifespans by centuries if not millenia, but Ves never fully appreciated what he got for free.

Ves still felt a bit peeved that the heavenly authority of the Red Ocean sought to put him in debt by shoving all of this phase lord stuff onto his physique.

Still, now that he had it, Ves could not allow himself to waste this boon. The Red Ocean had already become an unfriendly place for human civilization. Every human was scrambling to obtain more resources so that they could put up a better fight against the native aliens.

It would be an insult to his fellow humans if he wasted his own cultivation. He could potentially do a lot of good with his strength as a phase lord, even if it amounted to providing research data and reducing the burden of protecting him from his growing list of enemies.

This consideration helped him decide his overall direction of phase lord cultivation.

Pursuing maximum combat effectiveness was off the table. He did not intend to participate in frequent combat, and if his enemies forced him into a battle, then winning was not as important as survival.

He should therefore prioritize stability, defense and escape over other criteria.

Ves recalled that his clan already secured two lesser phasewater organs during the Battle of Torment. They originated from the Eminence of Torment, an orven lesser phase lord that fought a lot harder than expected.

The lesser Dofner organ essentially functioned as an organic warp drive. The lesser Pelmir organ worked as a fairly basic but reliable reactionless drive.

While neither organs were particularly strong or special, they satisfied the demand for

An effective means of intrasystem and interstellar travel.

To put it simply, Ves no longer had to rely on starships to ferry him around in space

Once he integrated these organs.

Of course, he would never do that during ordinary times. It was much faster and easier

To travel around on starships, especially ones equipped with superdrives.

As far as he knew, the native aliens had yet to develop a phasewater organ that combined the functions of a warp drive and an FTL drive.

The use of a Dofner organ and Pelmir organ should therefore solely be reserved for emergencies.

In any case, since Ves already had access to basic mobility options, his choices today should either be focused on expanding his defensive options or augmenting his escape

Options.

He took a look at the phasewater organs found inside the enormous carcass of the Arena Lord of Ya'gwasa.

Although the Dark Zephyr had inflicted catastropic damage inside, his tier 3 Destroyer spear was only able to completely wreck a limited number of organs.

Others sustained severe damage, but possessed enough intact bits left that they could still be salvaged after receiving emergency treatment. Then there were the organs that the Dark Zephyr had not been able to reach at all. These ones were in pristine state and held the greatest amount of value!

One of them immediately caught his attention.

"This Norigo organ actually possesses an amazing capability." Ves noted. "Matter ingestion is a rather brief description, but its implications are enormous." "Our biotech researchers speculate that the Norigo organ is designed to facilitate rapid physical recovery" Jovy spoke, sparing information that had not yet been verified. "Seeing how old and well-developed it is compared to the other greater phasewater organs, the Arena Lord clearly prioritized its acquisition as early as possible. We suspect. he worked hard to obtain it because it can allow him to ingest large amounts of nutrients to rapidly speed up his healing process. TAs an alien gladiator, he is expected to fight on a regular basis against other formidable opponents. He cannot afford to spend years on recovering his massive injuries. That would create openings for other challengers to take advantage of his vulnerability and pick up a bargain."

That made a lot of sense. As Ves studied the scans of the Norigo organ, he understood none of the alien biological structures, but found that it looked incredibly complex and multifaceted. This was a sign that it was highly developed and very difficult to attain through normal channels.

"So what sort of stuff does the Arena Lord have to eat in order to enable his Norigo organ to speed up his recovery process?" Ves asked.

"Almost anything." Jovy answered. "The Norigo organ somehow enhances the digestion system of the phase lord to allow him to safely ingest any material that does not immediately inflict severe damage to his physique. You will not be able to swallow anything lethal to you such as antimatter or superhot plasma, but as long as you can hold it in your hands, you can devour it. The Norigo organ and your augmented digestion system will take care of the rest. If you can make use of the nutrients in any way, your true body will automatically absorb them and put them in the right places. If your body cannot figure out how to make use of weird or dangerous materials, then it will expel them so that they no longer pose any risks and take up valuable space."

For whatever reason, Ves immediately became reminded of a certain gem cat and his infrequent need to use the kitty litter box.

"Wait minute, when you refer to expelling waste materials, are you implying that..."

The RA Senior Mech Designer couldn't help but smirk at this point. "It is exactly what you think. Suffice to say, a normal toilet cannot possibly hold the massive volume of waste products that you will inevitably produce after you have devoured a meal worthy

Of a phase lord."

Ves could already imagine such an accident. If he somehow forgot that he was a phase lord as tall as three mechs stacked on top of each other, he may accidentally sit down on his toilet bowl, only to destroy the entire bathroom and all of the surrounding rooms or compartments! It would be an embarassement that people would never forget! Despite this... disadvantage, it could not cover up the allure of the Norigo organ. The self-recovery ability was not fast enough to regenerate wounds in the middle of the battlefield, but it would ensure he would be able to survive and return to his peak condition a lot faster after the fighting had ceased.

"The biotechs also speculate that the Norigo organ is useful for speeding up the development of a phase lord." Jovy commented. "As long as your phasewater concentration can be raised, you can quickly increase the mass and volume of your true body to their raised limits by ingesting large amounts of nutrients. The Norigo organ allows for the consumption of raw ores and unprocessed phasewater, but it is best if you eat organic tissue that is infused with phasewater. That includes exobeasts that have evolved on planets rich with phasewater as well as... other phase lords." That caused Ves to raise his eyebrow. "Cannibalism?"

"The phase whales have a strong taboo on cannibalism, but the same does not

Necessarily apply to the other major alien races. Besides, it is not necessarily unacceptable for a phase lord to devour the flesh of phase lords of different species, even if the latter are sentient and intelligent beings. The norms and values of these alien civilizations are different from our own. We cannot assume that they will abide to the

Same bottom lines as humans. One of the suspected purposes of the Norigo organ is to allow the winner of a confrontation between phase lords to quickly and more effectively absorb the strength of the loser. It is probably one of the less savoury means to advance

Your phase lord cultivation."

"I see."

That was very important. Ves had no doubt that a lot of different parties wanted to get a

Hold of the Norigo organ for that last reason alone!

The question was whether Ves needed such an organ.

After a bit of thought, he concluded that it was not strictly essential, but it would be

Really nice if he gained access to all of its speculated benefits.

Just the ability to quickly recover from a near-death state to a healthy condition may be

Enough to save his life in the future.

"I'll take it." Ves said before he could change his mind. "Take good care of this Norigo

Organ. I will figure out how to implant it in my body after my current ordeal has passed. It is probably bound to be a complicated affair."

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