The Mech Touch

The giant phase whale skeleton was a tantalizing but confounding find.

On one hand, its exceptional hardness and origin meant that it could probably be used to build exceptionally tough and strong assets.

On the other hand, the skeleton was mysteriously suspended in the middle of the giant cavern while remaining absolutely unassailable.

If the giant phase whale or whoever set up this tomb arranged all of these additional protections, then profiting from this find might be harder than everyone thought.

This was why Ves and many others were hesitating whether they should expend a lot of valuable resonating exotics just to open a giant portal.

Assuming that it was not possible to break apart the giant whale bones into more manageable pieces, the portal needed to be substantially larger than a mech. This required the usage of a much greater quantity of resonating exotics!

In an instance where they might not necessarily be able to retrieve any valuable plunder from the Royal Tomb, Ves had to make a difficult gamble and hope that he had made the right decision.

As Ves continued to mull over what he needed to do, another scientist offered another option.

"We may not need to make use of so many resonating exotics to open a large portal, sir." She said. "We hypothesize that the use of phasewater can amplify the space portal and make it both larger and stable."

"What?!"

Ves grew skeptical. "Are you sure about that? All of the phasewater our clan has gained is locked in our vault. How can you know that this is possible when you haven't performed any experiments with this substance?"

The scientist projected a bunch of diagrams. "We have examined the initial space portal carefully and noticed many signs that match the known applications of phasewater. Due to this, we have formed a hypothesis that states that putting the resonating exotics together actually imitates the act of using phasewater to open a portal."

"This… actually sounds plausible."

This possibility brought up a lot of questions. Why would the phase whale responsible for setting up the tomb create such a strange way of marking and opening the space pocket?

Shouldn't the phase whales inherently possess the possibility of going in and out without relying on all of those strange materials?

Ves, Calabast and many other Larkinsons could already smell that there was something fishy about this entire situation. The entire circumstance was set up in a way that opened up a chance that a group of non-phase whales might stumble upon the resonating exotics cluster and subsequently think about putting them together to open up this hidden pocket space!

Then there was the inability to reach the front half of the giant phase whale skeleton. None of their previous methods succeeded in giving them a solid glimpse of the giant creature's skull.

This was an important matter because the head of the phase whale was by far the most important part of the intelligent creature!

Not knowing what was going on over there represented a massive risk! Who knew if anything dangerous might emerge from that area if they began to disturb the skeleton.

All of these unknown dangers and challenges presented the Larkinsons and their allies with many difficult choices.

Ves was reluctant to use up a large amount of resonating exotics or any quantity of phasewater without a strong guarantee that the venture would pay off for his clan.

What if the second opening of the space portal yielded just as little results as the first time?

What if all of their attempts to cut apart and take away a few bones ended up in abject failure?

What if their activities in the Royal Tomb inadvertently triggered a prohibition that caused the space portal to collapse, thereby trapping every mech and mech pilot inside for eons?

All of these questions and more plagued Ves and the other decision makers to the point of paralysis. None of them wanted to make a decision that could end up wasting a lot of valuable resources or killing a lot of good men for no good reason.

Doing nothing or leaving was the safest choice. They might miss out on obtaining huge benefits, but they did not have to risk any lives and valuable resources if they did not mess around any further.

"Let's adjourn this meeting and continue to analyze the data." Ves eventually suggested. "The main reason why we cannot move with confidence is because we don't have enough clues to know how to meet our goals. We need more time to gather more insights and achieve a breakthrough in our understanding of the Royal Tomb and its giant resident."

The meeting eventually ended. Those who were physically present left the compartment while those attending through virtual means disappeared even faster as their physical projections switched offline.

Only Patriarch Reginald lingered for a moment.

"Professor Benedict has told me that the phase whale bones can be used as a replacement for many of the armor and structural components of our upcoming Mars Project. They are superior in almost every way." The powerful expert pilot told Ves. "As I have stated earlier, I cannot accept the decision to turn away from this opportunity to harvest the best materials for my next expert mech."

Ves grimaced. "It is not that simple, Reginald. There are treasures that we can only look at but not touch. I'm afraid that this skeleton might be the latter. From what I've learned about the phase whales, they are incredibly powerful and advanced and have been so for many eons. The skeleton we have found is protected by means beyond our comprehension. I am afraid that only first-raters have the means to profit from this find."

"We will not give up this easily, Ves. When I look at the footage of this once-mighty phase whale, I feel the power and dominance of a peerless fighter and destroyer. There is nothing greater to me than using its very bones as the carrier of my own will and strength!"

The sheer desire and obsession radiating from Patriarch Reginald told Ves that the man would not take no for an answer!

This was annoying because Ves came under even greater pressure to move forward.

Although he liked to take a gamble every now and then, this entire situation stank. The phase whales or whoever was responsible for creating the Royal Tomb made numerous deliberate arrangements for specific reasons.

Ves had been fooled multiple times throughout his life. Each time, he stepped forward in haste without bothering to scout the situation properly.

He may have made a lot of mistakes back then, but he learned his lessons and understood the value of information.

This was why he did not want to move forward until they actually figured out what kind of arrangements the phase whales had made with regards to the space pocket.

"We will keep you informed as soon as we have formulated a solid plan to enter the Royal Tomb once again." He said.

"Do not take too long."

Once Patriarch Reginald disappeared, only Lucky and a few guards were left.

The cat showed no interest in the previous discussions. He instead spent most of his time chewing on the minerals he received.

Of course, Ves did not hand over any further resonating exotics to his cat. Lucky had to make do with pieces of ore mined from the other parts of the Violet Ridge Mountain Range.

"Meow."

"Stop complaining. The more resonating exotics you eat, the less materials we have left to open another space portal!"

Ves thought about all of the problems he heard and what he could do to solve them. There were too many challenges and many of them were way beyond his capacity to solve.

It couldn't be helped. He was a mech designer, not a scientist who excelled in exploring the traces of advanced alien races.

His comm suddenly chimed.

"Huh?"

When Ves noticed who was calling him, he did not hesitate to accept the call.

The projected form of a familiar friend came into view.

"Jovy! I haven't heard from you in a while!"

"I have been busy these past few months." Jovy replied with a mild smile. "Our previous agreement has set off a lot of waves. I also had to undergo a lot of preparation before my superiors deem me ready to take you up on your offer. The good news is that our wait should soon come to an end. We are currently waiting for another ship to arrive. Numerous important people are on their way to witness the procedure that you have planned and take care of other matters."

The MTA Journeyman was being deliberately vague. Whoever the MTA was sending to the expeditionary fleet must be important or possess special identities.

Ves knew there was little point in asking for more details. He would find out soon enough anyway.

"I see. That is good news, Jovy. I already finished my 'design' of your companion spirit a while ago. I have a feeling that this isn't the reason why you are calling me today, though."

Jovy's expression turned serious. "That's correct. As you can imagine, we have been monitoring your clan's actions all of this time. Your remarkable discovery has not gone unnoticed to us. We have even slipped through our own investigation probes through that temporary space portal. The phase whale enclave you have stumbled upon is of great interest to a couple of departments within our Association. There are calls within our halls that we should claim the entire gigantic skeleton right away."

"What?! This is our find! If you mechers want this skeleton, you should have sent your own ships to this star system. Since you didn't, we have the right to claim our own discoveries!"

"That is not entirely true, my friend. Some discoveries are too great or dangerous to be left at the hands of more ordinary people."

Although Ves was reluctant to move forward with trying to retrieve the phase whale skeleton, he did not want the MTA to swoop in and steal his rightful treasure!

There was much about the phase whale skeleton that fascinated him! The mech designer in him was already drooling about making use of the remains to create fantastic works.

Just like Patriarch Reginald, he was eager to take advantage of the bones to develop superior mechs.

He also had a powerful feeling that these bones might possess additional qualities that were highly relevant towards his design philosophy.

If the bones still had traces of life, he might be able to extract the most powerful spiritual ingredients that he had ever encountered up until this point!

Although size was not necessarily an indicator for power and sophistication, a phase whale that had grown all the way to the size of a modern CFA battleship must have far surpassed the Titania in strength and intelligence!

How could Ves possibly roll over and let others harvest the fruit of his own efforts? It wasn't fair!

"I understand how you feel, Ves. Not everyone within our Association has disregarded your interests. My fellow Survivalists and I have pushed back on the decision to take this discovery out of your hands. Along with the support of a few other supportive factions, we have succeeded in preserving your opportunity. You still have the right to continue your explorations and attempt to extract the bones from the phase whale enclave."

This… was good news!

It sounded like becoming an associate of the Survivalist Faction was not an empty gesture. Becoming a part of this club provided him with actual support from within the Mech Trade Association!

"Then… the phase whale skeleton is still mine?" Ves cautiously questioned.

Jovy responded with a rueful smile. "Yes… but not without conditions. You have two weeks to learn and retrieve everything you can from the phase whale enclave that you have discovered. After that, regardless of any success or failure, the site and everything inside it will be ours."

"Two weeks? That's too short! Can't you give us additional time?"

"I'm sorry, Ves, but that is the most that we can do. You don't understand the meaning of obtaining the skeleton of such an immense phase whale skeleton. In fact, even if you manage to pull it out entirely, we still have to insist that you surrender the majority of it to us. It has immense research value to our Association."

"That…"

Ves became speechless. This was brazen theft. Although he understood that the MTA could do whatever it wanted, he did not feel good about this intervention!

Thankfully, Jovy softened the blow with his next words.

"We will not ignore your contributions, Ves. We will award you with 15,000,000 MTA merits for making this discovery and allowing us to take possession of most of the giant skeleton. We will allow you to keep 10 percent of all of the bones that you have managed to obtain. If you make any additional findings, we will grant you additional rewards."

"10 percent…"

This was a pitiful proportion, but Ves understood that it was already a huge concession on the part of the MTA.

If the mechers wanted, they could just take over the phase whale enclave by force without paying any attention to his needs!

A sense of helplessness filled his body.