The Mech Touch

Normally, Ves would think about whether he was in the right state or whether his luck was sufficiently good on the day he used his lottery tickets.

He couldn't care less about that at this time. All of the lottery tickets he had earned up to this point had remained accessible for several agonizing years as the System took its sweet time to complete its upgrade.

Though Ves increasingly had the suspicion that the renewed System was more than worth the wait, that did not stop him from feeling frustrated at his inability to use up the lottery tickets that he had earned through completing a Mission and creating several masterwork mechs.

"You're not going to deny me any longer!"

Ves reached out and grabbed the stack of lottery tickets as if he was afraid the System could go offline at any moment.

"How do I use up a lottery ticket, System?!"

[Merely throw the ticket into the Wishing Fountain.]

Though Ves was tempted to toss a ticket into the water right away, he forcibly reined in his impatience and started to think about how to best make use of this opportunity.

"What's the deal with the Wishing Fountain? Can I influence the prizes that I can win in any way?"

[The Wishing Fountain is sensitive to your needs and desires. You may partially affect the prize pool that it can draw from by concentrating on a wish you would like to fulfill.]

Ves' eyes gleamed when he heard that. He was already familiar with this mechanism in past cases, but this time he could apply it to every lottery ticket.

This wishing mechanism was extremely helpful in controlling the rewards he could obtain. Before, the System could always draw all kinds of random and useful prizes that weren't particularly interesting to him. He had no need for component licenses, for example.

As Ves held a golden lottery ticket, he tried to 'wish' for a specific reward.

After fumbling around for a minute, he vaguely sensed different responses from the Wishing Fountain. It radiated faint approval when Ves held a valid thought and conveyed clear rejection when he thought about something unacceptable.

It was through cycling different thoughts that Ves developed a vague idea on what was acceptable.

Ves sensed that he could restrict the prize pool for a golden lottery ticket to different categories.

The prize categories included technological objects, spiritually reactive materials, spiritual plants, design skills and more.

He was not surprised with some of the categories, but there were plenty of other ones that sounded as if they were only recent additions to the Mech Designer System.

"Is this because of the Spiritual Ascension upgrade track?"

This was a good change in his opinion. The System was able to offer a lot more relevant rewards and benefits to Ves now that it had oriented itself towards spiritual engineering. The possibilities opened up by the Wishing Fountain was just one of many adjustments.

As Ves looked at his stash of lottery tickets once more, he felt incredibly tempted to toss them all into the pool of water all at once!

However, after learning that he could influence the prize draw by making specific wishes, his common sense took over again.

"I shouldn't recklessly use up all of my lottery tickets without knowing what I can or cannot obtain with the newly-updated System!"

What if he spent all of his golden lottery tickets on acquiring rare and valuable spiritually-reactive materials, only to learn that the revised version of the System's Shop readily sold P-stones and Unending alloy for Ascension Points?

The true value of the new Wishing Fountain was that it granted Ves a chance of obtaining objects that he could not obtain through other channels!

The Grand Dynamo was a good example of that. Ves did not forget that he had managed to draw it after he used up his first radiant lottery ticket.

Now he had four of these colorful tickets in his grasp, he did not want to squander them by trying to fish for prizes that he could easily obtain by designing a lot of mechs!

The most prudent course of action that he could take would be to leave the tickets behind and explore the new System Space in its entirety before going back.

He planned to do just that, but he still couldn't get rid of his desire to see the Wishing Fountain at work.

"I have thirteen tickets in total. What's the harm in using up one of them for a start?"

Ves put back all of the lottery tickets aside from a single golden one. He wanted to test the wishing mechanism by concentrating on a single valid category of prizes.

"What I need the most are spiritually-reactive materials. I don't care what I can get. I'll be happy if I can get a chunk of P-stone, B-stone, F-stone, Unending alloy or even an exobeast bone that can be charged with spiritual energy!"

Once he set his mind on his wish, he tossed the golden lottery ticket into the fountain and waited for his prize.

As soon as the ticket touched the water, it melted into the liquid, causing it to become golden and glittering with power!

The golden fountain water began to swirl in the fountain pool. Several seconds passed by as a hidden selection mechanism finally settled on a prize.

The fountain suddenly spouted a jet of water from its pool! The prize that Ves had won floated right above this liquid jet!

[Congratulations! You have won 2.5 kilograms of pure Black Demon Steel!]

The Wishing Fountain had produced a single bar of dark and gloomy looking metal. As Ves examined it with his eyes and his spiritual senses, he noticed that it was anything but normal.

"This… reminds me of Helena or Nyxie…"

He didn't know who had originally named this material, but he found that it was aptly named.

The Black Demon Steel exuded a sense of danger and gloominess that was quite strange since it was just a hunk of metal.

It did not contain any energy as far as Ves could tell, but it was probably able to absorb certain forms of spiritual energy, specifically those that were aligned with darkness.

Ves' eyes already lit up. Though he had yet to decipher its full properties and uses, he already came up with a couple of ideas on how to make good use of this precious spiritually-reactive material!

"It's a shame I haven't received more of it! 2.5 kilograms of Black Demon Steel isn't enough to augment a mech!"

Whether it was worth the use of a golden lottery ticket remained to be seen. This was not the time for him to study and tinker with the brand-new material that he had never encountered before.

Ves eventually left the Wishing Fountain with a smile. It might just be luck, but the prize that he had obtained after using up a single golden lottery ticket had raised his expectations of what he could obtain in the future.

"I'll definitely come back and use up my radiant lottery tickets after I have fully figured out all of the changes to the System!"

The next stop looked like an ancient marketplace. Different stalls and shops were set up in what looked like a small mountain village.

When Ves entered the new area, the System briefly explained this new area.

[The Divine Bazaar provides a rotating selection of goods that you can purchase by exchanging Ascension Points. The goods available for sale change periodically over time.]

Ves soon frowned as he explored the so-called Divine Bazaar. The changes were drastic compared to the old version of the Shop!

Previously, the System presented an enormous selection of high-quality goods. Most of them were far too expensive for him to exchange with the Design Points that he earned, but it was always nice to have the option to buy an emergency medicine or gadget that could help him survive a sticky situation.

All of that is gone now with the Divine Bazaar. Though there were plenty of shops and stalls, most of them were empty and devoid of any items.

The few that did only offered a handful of precious items each. The selection of goods was pretty random. This meant that if Ves wanted to buy a specific object such as a P-stone, he would have to pray for luck that the next rotation of goods included it in one of the shops!

Perhaps the only consolation to Ves was that many of the products on sale were both useful and relatively affordable.

What was also interesting was that over half of them were directly related to spirituality and spiritual engineering!

[Universal Star Manual - Volume I]

Price: 3 Ascension Points

An introduction on how to study the patterns and movements of any star in the current universe. Although this manual contains few practical techniques, the theory contained within its pages will allow its students to master more advanced theories and techniques related to predicting future trends.

[Circlet of Clarity]

Price: 19 Ascension Points

An automatically adjustable circlet that can provide formidable protection to the mind of its bearer. The Circlet of Clarity can also endow its bearer with vastly greater concentration and calm, allowing for clear thinking under great pressure or difficulties.

[Mystery Wood]

Price: 66 Ascension Points

This piece of purple wood is taken from an unknown exoplant. It is a rare organic material and can be utilized for many specific purposes as long as it is processed and handled in a specific manner. The exact properties of this wood is highly dependent on how it is processed.

[A bottle of Strength Candies]

Price: 1 Ascension Point

This bottle holds 20 Improved Strength Candies. Each Improved Strength Candy can upgrade an individual's Strength attribute by 0.2 to a maximum of 2.0 at any point.

The range of purchasable goods was similar to the categories of items that Ves could obtain from the Wishing Fountain.

Much of the items were directly related to the new Spiritual Ascension upgrade track that Ves had chosen.

"If I opted for Technological Supremacy, then I probably would have probably been presented with a lot of high-tech products and manuals." He guessed.

After touring the entire Divine Bazaar thrice, Ves gained a good idea of what he could obtain from this useful place.

Although he didn't like the fact that the System heavily limited the amount of products that it put up for sale, Ves still valued the Divine Bazaar because it allowed him to purchase all kinds of useful products related to spiritual engineering!

"This is the real use of the Divine Bazaar!" Ves grinned.

Ves did not really miss the opportunity to buy advanced technological objects. While it was nice to be able to buy the Vulcaneye and Odineye, these days he could easily invest a lot of MTA credits, MTA merits or phasewater in order to purchase high-tech goods.

Yet no matter how many kilograms of phasewater he dangled in front of everyone's faces, he seriously doubted that he could purchase anything related to spirituality or spiritual engineering!

"The Five Scrolls Compact will never sell its own specialty goods to a mech designer!"

This was where the Divine Bazaar came in. Just as its name suggested, it offered Ves a direct way to purchase goods that were most likely related to the Five Scrolls Compact in one way or another.

As Ves was ready to move on to the next area of the System Space, he briefly lingered in front of a stall that put up various books for sale.

There were no people manning any of the stalls and shops, which made the entire bazaar feel rather empty and lifeless.

However, Ves knew that as soon as he picked up any of the books, the System would automatically deduct the price from his account.

He felt quite curious about the first volume of the so-called Universal Star Manual. He faintly guessed that studying it might allow him to understand Ylvaine's nature and allow him to make better use of the humanoid design spirit's predictive capabilities.

In fact, Ves could even pass the contents of this book to Ylvaine directly, allowing the Great Prophet to improve his abilities by himself!

"Hm, I don't need to hurry with making this purchase. I should wait until I see what else I can spend my Ascension Points on. I haven't encountered the latest version of the Skill Tree up to this point."