The Mech Touch

Just as Ves imagined himself building up an entire collective of spiritual incarnations that were aligned to every major spiritual attribute in existence, he quickly reassured his common sense.

"It costs way too much Ascension Points to feed them all with enlightenment fruits and develop them all! More incarnations is not always better!"

There was always a price, and incarnations required a lot of support in order to further their development.

In his case, Blinky was alright since the cat was a companion spirit that grew at the same pace as Ves himself.

Vulcan on the other hand was more detached and needed the support of the entire Creation Association to develop itself up to its present state!

If Ves created a dozen more incarnations of himself, did he truly have to create a dozen different 'associations' in order to supply them with the sustenance they needed in order to grow?

"That's way too exaggerated!"

Ves was quite familiar with the problem of trying to spread himself too much. He had to budget his time carefully when he engaged in mech design. He wanted to be good at everything, but the reality was that he could not do so unless he was willing to become mediocre in all fields.

That was why he had chosen to major in spiritual engineering and minor in luminar crystal technology.

Though he always had the option to add another specialty to his repertoire, he simply did not have the time and energy to do so. He already struggled to make time in order to learn a few basic principles about phasewater technology.

Given all of these constraints, it sounded extremely unwise for him to overreach in terms of mastering every single major spiritual domain.

If it was difficult for Ves to earn more Ascension Points, then he shouldn't be too eager to supply too many enlightenment fruits to other people or entities.

While there were plenty of design spirits that could make good use of the knowledge imparted by these precious fruits, Ves would have to work himself to death to maximize their development!

"This isn't necessary." Ves shook his head.

Every design spirit was doing fine in their own way. Some might not be growing as fast as others, but each of them naturally grew more capable over time.

Their main use to Ves was to provide additional support to his mech designs. Design spirits such as the Solemn Guardian and Bravo didn't need to be too competent in order for them to do their jobs. Lending their domains was already enough to make them useful!

If Ves wanted to accelerate the development of his design spirits, then he needed to be more purposeful and selective about his moves.

"I need to formulate a specific strategy that will help me obtain the maximum possible results while spending as little as possible."

Certain design spirits were more important than others. The Golden Cat was a good example. She served as the spiritual heart of the Larkinson Clan. Making her stronger was equivalent to making every Larkinson stronger!

"What about Helena?"

Helena was his sister and also deserved attention. However, Ves distinctly remembered her mentioning that she was taking lessons from their mother.

Each time she showed up in his presence, she appeared stronger and more in control of her abilities than before. She hardly needed any further help, especially considering that he had already gifted her with the Death Lotus!

"Lufa is a more interesting candidate."

The Angel of Tranquility was a strategically important design spirit for multiple reasons. Not only was Ves able to leverage his domain to facilitate breakthroughs, the design spirit also provided powerful protection against all kinds of scary spiritual threats!

Seeing how many different cults existed throughout human civilization and how many whacky powers they developed over the years, it became a lot more important to develop a specific counter to all of them. Lufa's glow perfectly neutralized most of these weird effects!

"Aside from that, the Illustrious One is also a good candidate."

The Illustrious One played a vital role in helping Ves harness luminar crystal technology to a greater degree. There were a lot of secrets and untapped potential in this tech, but his progress in deciphering it had been slow despite the fact that he had access to the MTA's complete research related to this subject.

The Illustrious One was fairly powerful as a design spirit but his inherited knowledge and his abilities weren't particularly sophisticated.

Ves could remedy much of this by supplying the alien spiritual entity with enlightenment fruits that provided valuable comprehension on concepts such as light and energy.

Doing all of this would help Ves develop better and stronger luminar crystal weapons. This would not only help his troops fight against ordinary opponents, but also give them an edge against spiritual threats!

As Ves continued to go over his other design spirits, he concluded that helping them was not an urgent matter.

It was still a good idea to reward loyal and helpful design spirits with an enlightenment fruit every now and then. Entities such as Qilanxo had always been good to him, so it was only natural to reciprocate their dedication with gifts.

"I can't be too extravagant, though. I need to budget my spending carefully."

The tentative new development strategy he came up with sounded like a good idea. By focusing his limited resources on cultivating Goldie, Lufa and the Illustrious One, he could quickly strengthen his forces and become more secure in his own position.

Ves already eyed a couple of enlightenment fruits that fit this strategy.

"I only have 34 Ascension Points, though…" He winced.

It would take a long time to supply each of those design spirits with enough enlightenment fruits to supercharge their development.

What was even more troublesome was that Ves also had to take care of his own needs. It was impossible for him to give up on investing in himself because he wanted to strengthen his design spirits.

He still understood that he needed to be strong first before he could take care of others!

"Oh, I also can't forget about my kids as well!"

Marvaine was still an innocent little kid, but Ves hoped that his oldest son would take up the family tradition and become a mech designer.

His other children were also spiritually potent. Each of them possessed the potential to practice any of the special methods provided that they met the requirements.

Ves grew more and more burdened at the thought of how many people he needed to support in the coming decades.

"Ugh. Maybe the Tree of Possibilities is not such a great thing at all. At least it was a lot harder for me to share the benefits of the Systems with the old version of the Skill Tree."

He suddenly felt it was pointless to think further about all of the ways he could make good use of the enlightenment fruits. With only 34 Ascension Points in his possession, he could only afford a couple of basic fruits!

"The prices are too high!"

When he resumed his journey, he climbed up until he reached a different area that was dominated by a stone hall.

When Ves passed through the main gate, the System provided an explanation as usual.

[The Mission Hall is the central location where you can accept new Missions or review current Missions. You can earn Ascension Points and other rewards depending on their nature. You can accept as many Missions as you wish, but make certain that you can complete them within their time limits. The available Missions refresh periodically if they remain untouched for an extended period of time.]

"I see."

Ves approached a large old-fashioned notice board. Only a dozen different pieces of paper had been pinned on the surface. He surmised that each of them conveyed a different mission.

"Let's see what this is all about."

[Design Duel Champion]

Mission: Design Duel Champion

Difficulty: A-Rank

Prerequisites: Journeyman Mech Designer

Description

A formidable and resilient mech designer must prove his ability to work under pressure and overcome the competition.

Defeat 5 different unfamiliar but competent Journeyman Mech Designers in fair and equal mech duels. Each competing Journeyman must be older than you and be able to design the same class of mechs.

The stronger the opposing Journeymen, the greater your evaluation. You will fail this Mission if you lose a single design duel.

Reward: 30 Ascension Points.

Time limit: 1 standard year.

Penalty for failure: Remove a random Sub-Skill.

[Blood Baptism]

Mission: Blood Baptism

Difficulty: B-Rank

Prerequisites: Spirituality must be 2.1 or higher.

Description

Struggle is inevitable in your journey to ascend to godhood. If you wish to become a war god, then shedding blood must become second nature.

Seek out and slaughter 100 sentient alien beings of different species with your own power. Shed their blood and bathe in it to baptize yourself with the life essence of the defeated.

The stronger the aliens and the more they are able to fight back when you duel against them, the greater your evaluation.

Reward: 50 Ascension Points.

Time limit: 2 standard years.

Penalty for failure: Lower your Spirituality by 5.

"What the hell?"

A few of the missions looked normal enough. Ves was pretty certain that he could manage to engage in a design duel against 5 Journeyman Mech Designers within a year.

It was a shame that the time to commence the Trailblazer Expedition had drawn close. Ves would have to move extremely quickly if he wanted to complete this Design Duel Champion Mission!

Ves was tempted to accept it right regardless of his lack of time. It was easy enough to find five random suckers in the mech industry and duel against them in return for remuneration.

However, random duels against mediocre Journeymen might not satisfy the System. It would go against the spirit of the Mission if he dueled against the weakest and most boring Journeymen!

"I'll think about this later."

Compared to this design-related mission, the ones that were clearly related to his chosen upgrade track were much weirder!

This Blood Baptism Mission was a typical example of that! Ves could not imagine why he would ever want to hunt down a hundred different sentient aliens in order to bathe in their blood!

The System was crazy for encouraging him to engage in barbarism!

That said, the Mission Board also offered other ways to earn Ascension Points.

[Patience is a Virtue]

Mission: Patience is a Virtue

Difficulty: D-Rank

Prerequisites: Spirituality must be 1 or higher.

Description

Spiritual ascension can be attained through many means.

Meditate for 4 standard hours every day. You will fail this Mission if you do not satisfy this requirement even once.

Reward: 10,000 Ascension Points.

Time limit: 50 standard years.

Penalty for failure: None.

"What kind of ridiculous Mission is this?! Throw away four precious hours every day for 50 years straight? I would rather butcher a hundred different aliens and drench myself in their blood! At least I'll be able to complete that Mission in a reasonable timeframe!"

While the Mission Board was fairly praiseworthy for providing Ves with different means to earn Ascension Points, not every Mission was viable or practical in his eyes!

It was impossible for Ves to accept this latest Mission even though the risks were virtually zero. Not only did he have the patience to wait half a century to receive his reward, the price of losing four hours which he could have spent on productive activity was too great!

Ves could easily devote four hours of every day into designing mechs, allowing him to complete his design projects faster and thereby earn more Ascension Points as a result!

While earning a single Ascension Point at a time was not as satisfying as earning 10,000 Ascension Points at a time, he at least did not need to wait until his kids had reached middle age in order to spend his rewards!

"This Mission Hall is too demanding!"