The Mech Touch

[Urvenk Obelisk]

Rank: Radiant

This stone obelisk is a central component of an ancient ritual chamber that has been used for great workings in the past. A powerful human astrologist called Urvenk has taken advantage of the materials and the formations of the ritual chamber to seed planets with life, alter the trajectory of moons and hasten the demise of stars.

The Urvenk Obelisk only comprises a part of the working mechanisms of the ritual chamber.

The System's description of his prize was short and left out a lot of information that Ves really wanted to know.

However, from what Ves could interpret from the description as well as his preliminary examinations of the obelisk, his lottery prize fully met his essential requirements!

Even if this ancient obelisk was not a prize that was at the same level of the Grand Dynamo Elixir, it complemented the Imaginary Universe Method extremely well!

It could improve upon the internal rules and laws of the internal space by ensuring that spiritual energy could replicate the properties of matter.

The Urvenk Obelisk may even be able to increase the efficiency of the energy-to-matter conversion process!

Of course, Ves needed to be able to harness the potential of this object, and he wasn't sure whether he could do so with his homebrew cultivation method.

He spent a few more hours examining the obelisk. He tried to touch and manipulate in several ways.

The obelisk channeled enormous amounts of energies once upon a time, and Ves could vaguely infer what happened by studying the traces and examining the transformed matter.

Too much time had apparently passed for any imprint of this mysterious 'Urvenk' to pass the test of time. Ves could only get a vague impression of this so-called astrologer from the techniques he employed and the characteristics of the remnant energies.

Ves became convinced that Urvenk used to be a True God. This explained why one of his tools transformed so much and became so charged with power.

Age may have caused it to erode and weaken to an extent, but the passing of time also caused its essential properties to become more settled and defined.

Ves could do much with such an ancient relic. He almost found it wasteful to use it up just to activate Blinky's powerful new cultivation method.

He did not change his plans, though.

Perhaps he may be able to get a lot of use out of the Urvenk Obelisk in the short term, but Blinky would be able to provide much greater benefits in the long term!

The sooner Blinky got started in the Imaginary Universe Method, the less Ves had to wait to start earning profits from his companion spirit!

"Let's get this done as soon as possible."

Ves used the information he gained from his examinations to modify and expand his self-created cultivation method. He wanted to ensure that the properties of the Urvenk Obelisk would somehow be able to permeate the entire imaginary universe, thereby making it much easier to form more complex stellar objects and phenomena.

"Energy is everything in this universe." He grinned as he adjusted the parameters of his cultivation method according to his shallow understanding of cultivation and a lot of guesswork. "The absence of matter should not be a reason to deny the formation of stars, planets and even life that completely consists of different forms of spiritual energy."

The line between energy and matter was a little blurred when it came to their spiritual variety. It was actually a lot easier for them to acquire opposing properties.

This offered a lot of convenience to Ves as it became a lot easier to realize his ambitious vision.

Once he completed his adjustments, he went over the entire cultivation method and concluded that he had done the best he could on his own. Ves did not have the experience or theoretical understanding to produce anything better at this time.

"Is this my limit, though?"

Ves recalled that he could obtain a lot of knowledge by ingesting the right enlightenment fruits.

He became a lot more willing to spend big on fruits compared to the past. Not only was he and his clan in considerably greater peril than in the past, but he could also get a lot more use out of different cultivation methods.

What he needed was more templates and components. The examples his mother gave him were not enough. He drooled at the thought of obtaining more sophisticated and multi-layered cultivation methods that contained plenty of inventive processes and techniques!

Ves could deconstruct each of them and selectively make use of useful bits and pieces to construct all kinds of useful cultivation methods for his dependents!

He already had a general idea on what he needed to learn.

"I should grab at least one qi cultivation method, one deity cultivation method and one artifact cultivation method." He resolved. "It would be helpful to pick up stuff related to contract cultivation and body cultivation as well, but it is not completely essential. Each of these methods should be as versatile and general as possible. They should not be too simple, but I don't want them to get muddled up with too much mystical nonsense."

These were harsh demands. Ves did not expect to be able to obtain an ideal set of fruits.

As Ves reached the Tree of Possibilities, he patiently examined all of the fruits that dangled from its branches.

He spotted a few familiar ones that he saw in a different light given all of the changes that took place in his life.

[Puelmer Mid-Level Transphasic Weapon Principles]

Price: 850 Ascension Points

Imparts a comprehensive set of essential theories and design principles related to the most widespread transphasic weapon types mastered by a mid-level weapons engineer of the puelmer race. The knowledge applies to weapons at every scale, from small arms to battleship armaments.

"I want this real bad."

The high price of this enlightenment fruit reflected its value!

Even if exotic radiation would cause a lot of contemporary puelmer technology to become outdated in the medium to long term, the fundamental theories and design principles would still remain highly relevant in a lot of different projects!

Ves did not have to go through the trouble of finding another mech designer who specialized in ranged weapons to develop the Larkinson Clan's next rifleman mech.

He could take care of all of the work himself with the help of this powerful fruit!

However, Ves eventually turned away from this option. Mastering pure technologies was still important in his work as a mech designer, but he could learn all of this the old-fashioned way.

Cultivation methods were much harder to come by, especially the more powerful ones which were evidently a lot more tightly protected against theft.

Ves' eyes immediately lit up as he spotted an incredibly relevant cultivation method!

[Eternal Love Bloodline Dual Cultivation Manual]

Price: 105 Ascension Points

This cultivation manual describes a controversial method to enable two similar cultivators to actively strengthen each other. The closer their bloodlines resemble each other, the faster and more effective the results. When practiced to a higher stage, the cultivators can combine their power much more readily.

Eternal Love Bloodline Dual Cultivation cannot be practiced alone. It must be cultivated by a pair of individuals who share at least a partial bloodline relationship with each other. Those who have started to practice it will form a permanent bond of blood that will lead to severe consequences if forcefully broken.

Requirements:...

"This... this is the perfect complement to my Carmine System!"

It also sounded as if the knowledge contained in this enlightenment fruit would drive the Gemini Family to madness, but that was not important to Ves at the moment!

Right now, the mutual strengthening effects of his Carmine System were a mystery. Neither the mech nor the mech pilot employed any conscious techniques to enhance the benefits of their Blood Pact.

They just passed on each other's strengths through osmosis, which worked fine, but did not do much to tap the greater potential of his key invention!

With the knowledge that he possessed today, Ves interpreted the Blood Pact as a passive form of contract cultivation.

It did not do anything too exciting and probably took way too much time in order to produce powerful results.

This was not enough for Ves. He wanted to turn his Carmine System into a highly beneficial and extremely desirable component.

In an age where red humanity was destined to come under assault against an overwhelming amount of hostile aliens, Ves predicted that it would become more important than ever to mobilize a wider pool of available fighters and quickly make them as combat effective as possible!

If an upgraded version of the Blood Pact could allow ordinary people to become a lot stronger in a matter of months or years, then that would fully provide red humanity with a powerful way to slow down alien offenses!

"I have to get this fruit!"

Even though it was not part of his original plan, Ves bought it anyway.

"It's only 105 Ascension Points. I still have a lot more in reserve."

He instantly ingested the enlightenment fruit and closed his eyes as his formidable mind rapidly absorbed and internalized the extensive and elaborate cultivation processes.

His first impression was that it was worth the 105 Ascension Points he paid for this taboo knowledge.

Although a lot of the descriptions reminded him of the unorthodox practices of the Gemini Family, Ves eagerly delved into all of the secrets of combining blood and spirit in order to form a greater and much more powerful whole!

He quickly confirmed his initial idea that he could use this forbidden contract cultivation method as the basis of a more structural and deliberate version of his Blood Pact!

The Blood Pact Version 2.0 was bound to become at least three times more effective!

Venerable Jannzi Larkinson and Venerable Benjamin Larkinson would be able to get a lot more out of their living mechs once he updated their machines with his new adaptations!

He would get one step closer to increasing the value of his Carmine System!

"And that means I will get one step closer to realizing my design philosophy." He grinned.

A lot of technical hurdles remained before he could advance to Master Mech Designer. He had to refine its biological makeup, test it out on a lot of different mech designs and meticulously track the growth of every mech pilot who had bonded with a Carmine mech.

However, Ves at least possessed enough confidence that he would be able to amplify and optimize the Blood Pact component of his invention. This had always been the most mysterious and indecipherable part about the Carmine System, but with the help of this latest enlightenment fruit, he no longer felt there was as much mystery to it as before!

The biggest challenge was to combine the principles of the Eternal Love Method with elements of artifact cultivation.

"After all, one partner is a human while the other partner is a mech. The latter needs a way to derive a lot of growth from the Blood Pact."

He already had a possible choice on how to make that happen.

He directed his gaze towards another old enlightenment fruit that had showed up once again.

[Atmer Guardian Mantra]

Price: 299 Ascension Points

Imparts the complete mantra that enables talented individuals to cultivate their physical, mental and spiritual attributes. The mantra mainly centers around increasing the defenses of its practitioner, allowing them to withstand many attacks the more they practice its contents. Those who practice this mantra to the fullest will turn into gods that cannot be moved and are nearly impossible to break. The Atmer Guardian Mantra can only be fully practiced by humans that possess specific genes as well as biological modifications and have not practiced any other cultivation techniques. This enlightenment fruit allows an individual to ignore these conditions.

Requirements: Spirituality must be 0.4 or higher. Strength must be 1.4 or higher. Endurance must be 1.4 or higher. Must have affinity for earth, defense or mass.

Ves previously considered this enlightenment fruit to be a potential complement for a defensive mech pilot such as Venerable Jannzi, but now he looked at it a lot differently!

"This Atmar Guardian Mantra can serve as the basic template for a cultivation method for living mechs!"

Although this particular cultivation method lacked any explicit elemental or elemental traits, it was a comprehensive hybrid between qi cultivation and body cultivation with a strong focus towards defense!

"A mech never has enough defenses! If they become harder and harder to break as their cultivation progresses, they will be able to accompany their mech pilots a lot longer!"

5067 Smithing Records