The Mech Touch

Ves sensed that a lot of funny business was going on at the top. He vaguely suspected that the Five Scrolls Compact may have been responsible for this mischief.

The Compact still bore a huge grudge towards the society that had rejected it. Though the Crown Uprising that initially took humanity by storm was already beginning to fizzle out, it still showcased the enormous power and influence this secretive organization still possessed!

Even the loss of countless sleeper agents did not seem to faze this shadowy cult in the slightest!

The Gate Consortium may have performed extremely strict checks in order to ensure that no terrorists passed through the beyonder gates, but Ves had no confidence that these security measures could actually stop the third-most powerful human organization in existence.

Colluding with aliens sounded exactly like what the Compact cultists would do! They were crazy enough to cross any bottom line and violate any taboo as long as it advanced their interests!

In fact, some of the worshippers of the Holy Scrolls were so irrational that they didn't even need a reason to betray humanity. They were the true madmen that people ought to fear!

Though Ves was curious to learn more about what was going on at the front, Jovy did not share any further information about the ongoing invasion.

"Our unseen enemies may be trying to fool around, but that doesn't mean that our Association is doing nothing. We have many ways to respond to these major developments." Jovy confidently stated.

"Well, good luck with that. I hope that all of these messes will get cleared up soon."

They soon moved on to discussing a more vital topic.

First, Jovy activated his comm and initiated a transfer.

Ves looked at his own comm as it sounded a beep. When he activated it to see what had changed, his eyes almost popped out of their sockets!

The amount of MTA merits in his name had changed!

According to the log, he only retained 1,025,342 MTA merits just a while ago. He used to possess a bit more but spent tens of thousands of MTA merits on various high-tech gadgets and minor services in the past few months.

Now, he gained 216,140,000 MTA merits on top of that, which was an astronomical sum even for a Master Mech Designer!

"I have a total of 217,185,342 MTA merits!"

His mouth went dry as he carefully verified the numbers. He performed the math in his head and with the help of his cranial implant in order to make sure that he was not a single MTA merit short!

Although the sums were correct, Ves noticed a discrepancy in the amount of MTA merits he received.

While he would never say no to free MTA merits, he distinctly remembered that he should have received less. Had the mechers changed the exchange rate?

"Why did I receive 5 million MTA merits more than what I am supposed to receive according to the contract that I have signed with Master Dervidian?" Ves suspiciously asked.

"Do you remember the other MTA mission that you accepted a while ago? You promised to help a number of our mech pilots break through to expert pilot."

Ves stood up straighter. "Ah, that's correct! Isn't it too soon, though? There are still a couple of years left for me to complete this mission. After several years, only 5 of the 20 MTA mech pilots have achieved their breakthroughs, and they only managed to advance to the rank of expert candidate. A few of them have even died in the last battle!"

"All of that is true, but what you have done is already enough to satisfy our expectations." Jovy smiled. "Isn't this great? You don't have to toil and trouble to make the rest of our mech pilots break through. We have lifted a weight off your shoulders. Not only that, but we have increased the reward despite the limited progress that you have achieved up until this point."

All of this sounded too strange to Ves. The MTA never made it easy for others to take advantage of it. How come it suddenly took the initiative to conclude this mission early and award him a bonus?

Seeing that Ves still couldn't accept this answer, Jovy provided a more comprehensive answer.

"Now that the Transhumanists are able to experiment with your so-called transcendence glow by themselves, they want to conduct much more thorough studies on its effects. In order to gather more data and make better comparisons, it is important that we gather back the mech pilots that have been exposed to the methods of your Larkinson Clan for a while. Does that clarify the situation?"

Ah. That made a lot more sense. If Ves was in their place, he probably would have made the same decision.

Jessica Quentin and the rest of her band had spent so much time with the Larkinson Clan that their chances of breaking through may be greater than other mechers.

In order to verify whether this hypothesis was true, the Transhumanists needed to make comparison studies.

"That explains you have brought back your mech pilots, but why the extra MTA merits?"

"Oh, that's simple. It is both a reward for exceeding our expectations and also as a form of compensation."

"Compensation? For what?"

"We have taken the initiative of teleporting the Enlightened Warrior mechs away from the hangar bays of your ships. We need them as well, you see."

"...Feel free to take more."

"We already have enough."

Normally, Ves would feel pissed if he heard that the MTA 'borrowed' his possessions for an indefinite period of time yet again, but this time was different.

The mechers generously awarded him with a bonus of millions of MTA merits!

In other words, Ves effectively sold a batch of average second-class living mechs at a price of several hundred-thousand MTA merits each!

The only way for him to obtain more MTA merits by surrendering a mech was if he submitted a masterwork mech to the Association!

It was no wonder that Ves felt pleased with this situation!

The only regret was that Ves lost possession of five of the damaged Enlightened Warriors that had experienced the breakthroughs of their pilots. This made them a lot more valuable than normal as they had come much closer to the threshold of a third order living mech than before!

As long as these precious mechs grew a bit more, they would gain a lot of self-awareness and become existences that were similar to the Quint.

Ves already intended to utilize them as training mechs for the Larkinson Clan. Now, the MTA's robbery forced him to shelve this ambitious plan.

His expression soured a bit. Now that he thought about it, the MTA might have gotten a greater bargain out of this transaction than himself!

"Ahem, on second thought, forget what I just said. I don't intend to produce any further copies of the Enlightened Warrior. Don't get me wrong. It is still a good mech. I just think I can do much better. I already plan to design a training mech that excels at teaching mech cadets."

"I look forward to seeing whether your work is transformative enough to make a difference, Ves. However, do keep in mind that you still need to maintain a lower profile. It is one thing to help mech cadets acquire the skills they need to win their future battles. It is another thing to design a mech that can significantly lower the threshold of breaking through. The former is a helpful addition to the mech market while the latter is a game breaking innovation."

"Don't worry. I understand how far I can go. I am still committed to maintaining a lower profile, though within reason. I am well aware that I am not strong and established enough to challenge the powerful interest groups that have a vested interest in maintaining the status quo."

"It is good that you are aware of the risks and dangers of your actions. Your tier 6 galactic citizenship will help you cope with them, but ultimately you need to rely on yourself to stand up on your own. You need to grow up faster, Ves. An entire new world will open up for your design career once you have successfully realized your design philosophy."

"I know, I know. Advancing to Master is not as easy as you say, especially with a design philosophy as new and unexplored as mine. I'm not a freak like the Polymath."

The Polymath had set an impossible record that no one ever thought they could surpass. A legendary figure like her only came once every millennium, if not longer. More normal people could only despair and set their targets lower.

Now that Ves confirmed that the MTA hadn't made an inexplicable transfer error, he fully accepted the huge windfall of MTA merits that had fallen onto his lap.

Even though he already received a promise from the MTA that he would get over 200 million MTA merits in the near future, his worries had fully disappeared now that the transfer had actually taken place!

No third parties or rival factions had shown up in order to spoil the transaction. This caused Ves to sigh in relief.

After calmly accepting the MTA merits, the conversation finally moved on to the most important item on the agenda.

"It's almost time for you to complete one of your commitments." Jovy said as he grew more excited. "I've already received permission from the higher ups to obtain a companion spirit. In fact, you should have operated on me aboard the Paracelsus Optimus where the facilities are great. Too much has happened for us to proceed, though. The new plan is to wait until your fleet has returned to the Davute System before you perform the operation. We need you to do it in a well-equipped operating room in order to make sure we gather as much data as possible."

What Jovy didn't say was that the high-quality lab and medical equipment could also assist with saving his life if Ves somehow botched the operation!

"That is understandable. Would you like to explore the possibilities that you can choose for your companion spirit? Ves asked. "I spent months thinking about the options that I can present to you. I can make many different companion spirits, you see. Each of them can excel in different areas depending on how I configure them. It's kind of like designing mechs but much more abstract and dependent on the 'raw materials' that I have access to. I don't have a large variety of the latter, so your choices are not unlimited."

"From what I have been able to understand, many of these 'companion spirits' have relations to your 'design spirits', correct?"

"That is right. You should already be familiar with the different design spirits that I have used to empower my mech designs. Do any of them stand out to you in particular? Do you fancy their glow effects or agree with their principles?"

The pale-haired MTA Journeyman fell in thought.

"It's difficult to say. I think it is easier for me to tell you which ones do not fit my needs or style. Obviously, I do not wish to have any relations with the Superior Mother despite the apparent strength she has shown. I do not think it is wise for me to have any relations with any overt alien existences for obvious reasons."

"That… substantially limits the options that I have prepared for you. A few of them can be quite powerful or useful. For example, I am sure I can bring a companion spirit to life that can assist you with multitasking if I use an ingredient derived from the large astral beast we encountered in the past."

"While I admit that sounds useful, maybe you can offer me a better option. Please proceed with presenting the choices that I can make. I have waited long enough for this day!"