The Mech Touch

　　"She's exaggerating." Ketis said. "Plenty of those alloys are useful in making stronger armor plating or mech weapons. We just have to gather the right amounts."

　　Gloriana did not look happy. "That's the problem here. This giant beast just eats everything it fancies without any specific priority on materials. As long as it is not toxic or a regular space rock, the Titania eats whatever is in front of it with no further thought. Whatever passes for its digestion system may filter out the deadweight, but it is not that discerning. This is why it has grown to such an immense size. It can't maintain a proper diet."

　　Ves threw a skeptical look at his wife. "You're ascribing human sensibilities to an alien creature. Perhaps overeating and growing fat might be bad for humans, but it could be completely normal to a beast like the Titania. Considering that it lived all the way up to an estimated 6344 years, I'd say that this beast's habit of excessive consumption is probably the key reason why it has managed to win the game of life for so long!"

　　Of course, no one was lucky for so long. Once the Titania got into a confrontation against a phase whale, it had utterly lost.

　　This not only showed that even the most successful entities could run out of luck, but also showcased how formidable the phase whale species could be in the Red Ocean!

　　According to the inferences made by the Lifer exobiologist, just a single phase whale had attacked the Titania!

　　Power wasn't necessarily scary. It was only when it was directed at someone that it became a true threat!

　　Although no one had found any signs of phase whales lurking around in this star system so far, Ves felt very uncomfortable about staying in this place. He wanted to resume his expedition into the depths of the Red Ocean as soon as possible.

　　While Ves became distracted by his concerns, the mech designers continued to discuss the bounty that they had gained from the alien beast carcass.

　　"We've gathered varying quantities of thousands of different exotics, but none of them come in quantities great enough to build entire mechs with. There's too little of everything! Some promising exotics come in such tiny quantities that we can only make personal equipment out of them. We can forget about applying them to any mechs!"

　　When Ves and the other Journeymen of the Larkinson Clan examined the list of gathered materials, they saw that it was essentially like a periodic table.

　　There were several dozen exotics that were present in enough quantities to be useful in mechs such as the Minerva Project. In fact, Gloriana was already thinking of ways to revise its current design configuration so that it could incorporate these valuable materials.

　　Yet that left a large pile of other materials that came in quantities ranging from a shuttle's worth to just a couple of grams!

　　Although Ves felt that it was a pity that the clan truly couldn't obtain more of these materials, he did not feel too distressed about this issue.

　　"We can fix this when we reach another trading system. We can sell the materials we are unlikely to use and use the proceeds to gather more materials that we do wish to use but don't have enough of it. Alternatively, we can just sell our entire spoils from the Titania and use the extra money to acquire other goodies or to reduce our debt burden."

　　"That's a waste and you know it, Ves. If we sell these materials in any marketplace, we'll probably have to undercut the price to a point that is well below their true value. I would rather keep these miscellaneous exotics if that's the case!"

　　"And do what with them?! Do you want to build a decorative statue of Alexandria with them or something?!"

　　"DON'T YOU USE THAT TONE ON ME, VES!"

　　As Ves and Gloriana entered into another argument, the remaining Journeymen in the meeting room all turned into bystanders.

　　"Does this happen often?" Sara Voiken quietly asked Ketis.

　　"Not as much as you think. The two will calm down soon. They never feel upset for too long."

　　Eventually, the married couple set aside their silly argument and went back to the question on what to do with the salvaged materials.

　　"For now, our capacity to store high-value goods is still plentiful." Ves said. "We can put the miscellaneous exotics in our strategic material reserve and either wait until we find a good use for them or just make them available to other clansmen for a fee. Perhaps they can come up with an interesting piece of tech if our assistant mech designers and other technically-inclined personnel play around with the new possibilities."

　　"Alright. Let's do that then." Gloriana sighed. "We gained a lot more out of the Titania than high-value exotics, right?"

　　"Correct. We have gathered a lot of gray biomass that we have stored in the Dragon's Den and the cargo holds of other ships. We've even employed the Small Oven of the Diligent Ovenbird as a temporary holding space for excess biomass. They take up a lot of space but are generally not worth much. I suppose we can sell them for anyone interested in acquiring a piece of an ancient astral beast once we reach a trading system."

　　"And when will that be? Are we heading back to civilization soon or will you insist on pushing deeper into wilder territory?"

　　"Originally, I planned to do the latter, but now that our cargo holds are filled with frozen alien flesh, we better find a place to sell it all. There's way too many low-value materials that are taking up valuable space. What if we find another treasure? I don't want to be forced in a position where we have to dump one set of valuables to take on another set of goods."

　　"Where are we heading then, Ves?"

　　He opened up a projection that presented a regional star map. Ves pointed at one that was close enough along the current route. "Here. The Pellysa System has already emerged as one of the biggest trading nodes of the Magair Middle Zone. We'll find the most buyers for our products while at the same time have a wider selection of goods available for us to buy."

　　While there were other port systems and trading systems that offered access to special goods and services, they simply couldn't compete against the Pellysa System in terms of scale.

　　Sure, it was probably the most expensive star system to conduct business with different trading partners, but Ves couldn't be bothered to bring his fleet directly to the source of certain specialty products.

　　Dulo Voiken asked an important question. "Sir, is there anything special about Pellysa that is relevant to our work?"

　　"Hmm, there is a tournament scene over there as well, but it is not as big and extensive as the one back in Vulit." Ves replied. "What is more important is that it is also used as a local dumping ground for pioneers that have gathered valuable commodities in the new frontier but have to find a place to sell it all off. While it's unlikely we'll find anything truly valuable in these exchanges, we might pick up a few useful curiosities when we go shopping."

　　"That sounds good."

　　After making everything clear to the mech designers, the meeting ended and life went on for the Larkinsons.

　　The expeditionary fleet safely departed from the star system where it had left behind a substantial amount of biomass that was not worthwhile enough to bring along.

　　The Golden Skull Alliance never encountered the phase whale that had presumably attacked the Titania. Whether the frighteningly powerful sentient alien individual was not fast enough or did not bother to chase after its prey, no one knew. They just felt grateful that they did not have to fight another battle against an extremely powerful biocreature.

　　As routine settled in again, the mech designers all resumed their work on the mech designs.

　　Ves went back to work as well and mainly assisted Gloriana with revising the Minerva Project so that the upcoming expert mech for Commander Casella gained additional strength.

　　It was an interesting exercise for them to try and puzzle the new materials into an existing project. They had to start over in a few aspects because they completely changed a design element, but it was all worth it in the end.

　　"This will become a true Red Ocean design." Ves proudly said. "Our previous expert mechs are all strong in their own way, but they are mainly based on old materials and tech. This is the first expert mech design that will truly reflect the value of our work in our new environment."

　　Gloriana nodded in agreement. "This is the design that will prove that we can successfully adapt to a higher level of mech design."

　　The Minerva Project along with every other mech in development at this moment conformed to the standards of the galactic heartland of the old galaxy. It was not an easy transition for them as mechs of this caliber imposed greater demands in many areas.

　　Still, Ves and his wife weren't stumped by this challenge. They revelled in it even. Just the thought of designing a mech that would ultimately be more powerful than the ones they developed before continually drove them forward.

　　During these design sessions, Ves occupied himself with other matters. He and the Larkinsons had managed to harvest a lot of plunder from the Titania. The biotech researchers of the Dragon's Den had practically halted all of their usual duties so that they could spend as much of their time as possible on examining and experimenting with the collected alien biomass!

　　Ves talked with Director Ranya Wodin on a regular basis in order to keep him apprised on what all of the scientists were doing. He was more than aware that the excellent researchers who originally came from the Life Research Association tended to go overboard if they were left to their own devices. Regular supervision was essential to keeping them in line!

　　"So what new discoveries has your institute made so far, Ranya?"

　　"Do you recall the flesh torpedoes that we have successfully managed to subdue and capture?"

　　"I do. Are they still alive?" Ves curiously asked.

　　"That's the thing. The infant astral beasts all died out. We have tried our best to keep our specimens alive, to no avail. No matter if we feed them different materials including the tissue of their progenitors, the flesh torpedoes refuse to eat what we give them. Though we speculate that we may achieve more success if we let them loose on a ship, we cannot afford to squander such an important asset just to get a reaction out of a captured beast."

　　"That's correct. No ship is worth a casual experiment. So all of the flesh torpedoes have died?"

　　Director Ranya nodded. "Not only that, they are decomposing at a rapid rate, so we won't be able to find anything useful by studying their remains."

　　"Oh well. Do you have any positive news, then? There has to be more uses for all of the mountains of astral beast flesh we've gathered."

　　"It is too soon to report any useful findings, sir. Our research teams are just beginning to come to grips with all of the data they have gathered. What I can tell you is that once we have completed a few studies, we should be able to provide our mech units with more useful pointers on how to defeat similar astral beasts in the future. They won't be as helpless as before once we understand how they work. We can even develop special weapons that are especially effective against large organic opponents."

　　"Now that sounds better. Eventually, I plan to design a mech that is better equipped to fell supermassive threats, but for now it's a good idea to prepare target-specific solutions."