The Mech Touch

　　Sure, the Barach artisans probably would have been able to do a much better job, but Ves was no slouch in his ability to shape metal!

　　The quality and design of the totem wasn't that important anyway. The true value of this work was its connection to Vulcan. Since it was explicitly made to be a totem for his incarnation, the statue conveyed its glow pretty well!

　　In fact, Ves had to tone it down to just 10 percent of its original strength in order to make it more exclusive. He did not wish to turn Vulcan's glow into a cheap commodity. It had to be elevated in a scarce and precious luxury good in order to make the most out of this monopoly!

　　"Do you feel its glow, Mr. Denner?"

　　The older man frowned as he tried to make sense of the totem. "I can feel something, yes, but I am not certain what it does. How can you guarantee that it is safe?"

　　"Its glow is the same as that of all of my living mechs, which have been in operation for numerous years. Not once has the MTA banned any of my products. The most it did was to impose restrictions on a couple of models. Out of all of the glows I've integrated in my products, this one is probably one of the safest and most benign. It will only help you and your workers work better once they accept its influence."

　　"Even so, your gift is still not easy to accept. Here at Zachren Bilitsa, we have already developed our own set of methods and customs. I cannot make an exception to them just so I can bring in this odd statue."

　　"You haven't seen what it can truly do as of yet." Ves maintained his confident demeanor. "I think a demonstration is in order. Will you allow us to bring it to a private workshop or something? In order to best display its use, we need to put it close to a production site."

　　Though Denner looked like he would rather go back to his job, he did not refuse out of hand. Ves was one of the local branch's business partners now. Allowances should be made in order to keep him happy and prevent his actions from adversely affecting the business relationship between the two sides.

　　"We do have a workshop available that is ordinarily reserved for high-end production and servicing. I will lead you to the facility. Please follow."

　　The group along with the bots carrying the heavy statue moved to a side entrance that led into a workshop. The facility was placed further apart from the main production halls in order to prevent the machines inside from getting affected by the vibrations, heat emissions and other interference generated by all of the production lines.

　　Though the production machines in this workshop were clearly better than anything else in the manufacturing complex, they were also fairly old and worn.

　　Still, it wasn't necessary to have the latest and greatest for a simple demonstration.

　　"Do you still operate any production equipment in person these days, Denner?"

　　The chief fabricator almost looked affronted. "Although I spend more time on planning and supervision, I do keep my fabrication skills up to date. If I cannot do the job myself, I would not be qualified to hold my current position. My men can always rely on me to instruct them how to conduct a specific technical operation."

　　Ves smiled. "That is good. You see, the medium totem that I have brought comes with two different modes. Normally, its mode is set to passive. That means that aside from looking pretty, it only exudes a relatively faint glow at a fairly limited range, perhaps enough to encompass a couple of production lines depending on its placement. At this level, the glow is in a power-saving state that can easily be maintained without draining any important resources. The downside is that the glow is quite weak and does not provide any drastic or easily noticeable improvements."

　　Much of this was pure nonsense, of course. Ves had artificially limited the capabilities of his totems because why not? Anything that had value could be sold for money. There was no reason to let his totem exude Vulcan's glow on full blast and miss out on a potential opportunity to milk its exclusivity!

　　"If the effect of this totem is so subtle, how can you prove it works as you described, patriarch?"

　　"I was getting to that, Denner." Ves smiled and slapped the surface of his metal statue with his palm. "What I haven't explained yet is that this totem also comes with an active mode. When it is operating at full power, its glow not only becomes 10 times stronger and far-reaching, but it will also bestow a creative boon to a single person. This is why I asked you to bring us to a workshop. Telling you about it is not as good as letting you experience it in person."

　　Though Ves had declined to give Master Sivare Barach a taste of what Vulcan had to offer, this was a different situation.

　　The local branch of Zachren Bilitsa had already become his business partner. As long as the contract was in effect, they were on the same side. Anything that would help Zachren would feed back into the Larkinson Clan in some way or another.

　　This was especially the case when the local plant already started production of living mechs. Ves harbored persistent concerns about the quality of the Enlightened Warriors and Ferocious Piranhas produced from this manufacturing complex.

　　Though he instructed his negotiators to push for a level of control or supervision on the plant's operations, Zachren Bilitsa never gave ground on this front. This meant that Ves and his mech company couldn't do much if their business partner decided to cut costs and cheapen the production process.

　　In order to provide him with extra assurances that the local plant would keep up quality, Ves was willing to gift the workers one of his first totems designed for commercial usage.

　　"So how does it work?" Denner asked.

　　Ves coughed. "Let me tell you first that you must always pay a price in order to put a totem like this in an active state. Do you see the bank account number that I have engraved on the front?"

　　"I was wondering about that. Are you suggesting that I should deposit a fee to this account in order to 'activate' this statue?"

　　"That's exactly what I was about to say." Ves grinned. "Right now, the totem might not look that impressive to you, but I can guarantee you that you will change your mind once you experience its full power in person. If you are willing to cooperate with me and try it out, please think of a personal challenge or project that you always wanted to work upon."

　　The chief fabricator still looked skeptical, but he dug out a few ideas from his mind. "Okay. I have a few projects in mind. What should I do next?"

　　"Next, you should activate your comm and donate a sum of money to the bank account engraved on the totem. It is just an ordinary merchant account at the Yem-Tar Trade and Commerce Bank."

　　Yem-Tar was one of the biggest banking institutions in human space. It was founded by a group of emechers and became one of the major banks of mech designers as well as many different commercial and industrial companies.

　　The Larkinsons recently reformed its financial arrangements and turned to Yem-Tar as their preferred bank. It had many favorable policies towards mech designers and mech companies and also built up a reputation for customer service.

　　The main reason why so many businessmen chose Yem-Tar as their bank despite the high fees was because it processed transactions faster and without any fuss.

　　No matter if a bank account owner conducted business with Terrans, Rubarthans or some obscure cult, Yem-Tar complied with every local law and regulation in order to ensure that money traveled from one place to another with the least amount of complications.

　　Though there were other major banking institutions that could provide a similar level of service, none of them were prestigious as Yem-Tar!

　　Of course, not every space peasant could open a Yem-Tar bank account. The bank maintained a fairly high-end clientele in order to maintain its pompous reputation.

　　At a minimum, an individual or a company associated with the individual had to be wealthy, a galactic citizen and possess a clean record.

　　Since Ves easily passed all of these requirements without any worry of tripping over any of them, he and his clan easily opened a number of new accounts with the prestigious trans-galactic banking institution.

　　When Chief Fabricator Denner activated his comm and called up the money transfer interface, he quickly scanned the bank account number.

　　"This panel states that the bank account is owned by the 'Creation Association'."

　　"That's ours." Ves quickly replied. "The Creation Association is a newly-founded organization that is dedicated to the spread and management of totems of Vulcan. While it is still in an early stage, over time we intend to flesh it out into a greater support network."

　　"How much money should I deposit?"

　　Ves smiled. "You are free to donate any sum you want, but if you want to put this totem in an active state, then you must make sure to deposit at least 1 MTA credit. If you donate more, the totem will reward you with a stronger effect."

　　"WHAT?!" Denner spluttered. "My annual salary only amounts to 150 millicredits. I would have to save up seven times that amount to be able to deposit that much money!"

　　While Ves could easily spend a couple of MTA credits without feeling any pain, the same could not be said for other people.

　　A chief fabricator was equivalent to that of a head engineer. While Denner was highly skilled, highly knowledgeable and highly experienced, he was not indispensable.

　　"I have already taken that into account." Ves said. "If you want to activate this totem again, you should apply to Zachren to release the necessary funds. I can tell you that it is absolutely worth it to spend an MTA credit for a life-changing experience. For now, let me do the honors."

　　Ves did not make this situation more awkward for the chief fabricator and quickly used his own comm to deposit a single MTA credit to the Creation Association's merchant account.

　　Even though it was the equivalent of using his left hand to transfer money to his right hand, the action triggered a set of instructions that Ves had programmed in the totem's spiritual design.

　　The entire object began to emit a soft bronze light that fascinated Chief Fabricator Denner.

　　The glow of the statue of Vulcan slowly ramped up until it had reached its full strength!

　　Yet that was not the full effect. The statue's presence grew stronger as it was about to perform its main function!

　　"What is happening?"

　　"Be prepared."

　　An near-invisible bronze beam suddenly struck Denner, causing him to freeze as his mind went into overdrive.

　　What happened took quite a bit of effort for Ves to implement. He effectively translated a reduced version of the Hammer of Brilliance's main effect to totems that he could mass produce!

　　Even though the effect was not as good as getting whacked by his hammer, the totem nonetheless opened up Denner's mind for the first time in his life.

　　The false inspired state that he had entered already started to connect his loose ideas. Many problems no longer troubled him any longer as he suddenly discovered that he could finally come up with workable solutions!

　　"This.. this is amazing! I need to apply these ideas straight away!"

　　Ves grinned as Denner's inner mech designer finally came to the surface again. The chief fabricator had become completely enthralled by the totem's active effect!