The Mech Touch

The departure of the Larkinson Family made the Cinach System a lot less lively. A lot of trueblood clansmen already started to miss the presence of the relatives who left.

Still, as much as they missed the company of the people they grew up with, they had a new family now. The Larkinson Clan brought warmth and life from both old and new faces.

Though the integration of the adopted Larkinsons did not go perfectly, it was remarkable that people from every background managed to mesh together.

Brighters, Ylvainans, Reinaldans, Sentinels and more all interacted with each other on a daily basis without raising any tempers.

This was already an incredible achievement, especially considering that some people like the Ylvainans possessed very strange customs!

Certainly, the different groups were still far from integrating into a single, cohesive whole, but the current state was already optimistic considering the clan was less than a year old.

As Ves looked out the window of his office, he studied the bustling activity inside the rented base.

Mechs and people moved in every direction. Their glows blended with each other, impacting the people around them with varying moods.

Different uniforms in different colors mingled with each other. No matter if they were ordinary clansmen or elite Avatars, every Larkinson treated each other with a measure of trust.

The sight filled him with pride.

"Meow."

"Oh? You finally produced another gem for me. It's about time!"

"Meow!"

Lucky flicked a purple gem at Ves with his paws before phasing through his desk and scurrying away!

"I hope it's not a Hexer-themed gem again. Three is already too much!"

Ves picked up the new gem and studied its details.

[Minor Chaos Remnant]

An infinitesimally small remnant of chaos is captured within this gem. Increases the penetration of any sharp melee weapon wielded by a mech by 40 percent.

"Well, this is different."

This time, the description didn't reference any forgotten gods, ancient warriors or figures that sounded as if they emerged straight out of a fantasy drama.

In fact, the description sounded outright boring in relation to its strong effect!

"Forty percent!"

Sure, the Mother's Love gem offered a whopping 100 percent boost, but the variable it affected was a hundred times more useless!

Compared to such a useless gem that Lucky probably derived from getting pampered by Gloriana all the time, Ves vastly preferred anything that directly affected a mech's combat parameters!

As a keen mech designer, Ves understood the horror of this gem. Its boost remained potent even when Ves paired it with a mech wielding a weapon that was already sharp and powerful!

If paired with one of the melee configurations of the Quint, it would have given the masterwork Bright Warrior the power to harm any standard second-class mech!

If Ves happened to embed this gem in a melee-oriented second-class expert mech, then that machine would turn into a butcher of other second-class expert mechs!

"It's too wasteful to put this gem in any ordinary mech! I should reserve it for an expert mech!"

Expert mechs all featured some of the best armor of their class. Almost no expense was spared in their design and construction. Therefore, a lot of combat between expert mechs devolved into a race of which machine could breach the armor of the other machine first!

"This gem is worth the wait!" Ves gleefully grinned as he lovingly put the gem in his Synthra Umbra pouch.

Though Lucky's rate of gem production had slowed down considerably, none of their effects were weak!

Ves only felt exasperated by the fact that their effects varied considerably. There was no telling whether he would get something useful like the Minor Chaos Fragment or obtain something completely frivolous like the Whipping Boy!

[Whipping Boy]

The fear of a boy towards women is encapsulated within this cursed gem. Increases the dread of a mech by 50 percent to males.

Thinking about this abominable gem instantly soured his mood. How in the hell could Lucky's digestion system possibly produce such a frivolous boost?

"If I put it on a Doom Guard, not a single man will want to get near it! It will have to be handled exclusively by women!"

If Ves had the option of turning his first copy of the Doom Guard into a Masterwork, he would have used this sadistic gem right then and there. It didn't matter if it was wasteful to embed his gem onto a relatively ordinary third-class mech. He just couldn't stand the thought of carrying this gem any further than necessary!

"I should design more dread-oriented mechs." He muttered darkly. "I'll continue designing them until I finally get within reach of creating another masterwork. I'll definitely be able to get rid of this insulting gem!"

The Minor Chaos Fragment was not the only goodie he received. After a long time, Calabast finally deigned to visit him. She appeared in his office by going through the front door this time.

Wearing her black-and-grey Black Cat uniform, she stood out immensely from the rest of the Larkinsons. Her womanly figure along with her seductive charm caused a lot of people to turn their heads!

When Ves looked at her, he didn't put much stock with what his eyes conveyed. He knew that a trained spy like her always presented a fake facade.

He instead studied her with his spiritual senses.

It was a pity that Calabast still revealed almost nothing. She was one of the many people who possessed no spiritual potential. That meant that Ves couldn't read her spiritual attributes nor derive anything solid from her mind.

Perhaps the only useful observation he could make with his spiritual system was the strength of her bond with the Golden Cat.

Surprisingly, it looked healthy. This meant that the Golden Cat fully approved of Calabast and found no signs of concern!

Ves began to wonder if the ancestral spirit developed a warped sense of judgement. He didn't forget that she readily accepted Vincent Ricklin into the clan!

"Good news, Ves." Calabast greeted as she sauntered over to his desk. "My agents have been scouring many of the regional black markets in the Cinach System and beyond. We have found numerous samples of the exotics you've demanded."

Instead of sitting down at the chair like a normal person, Calabast instead leaned her butt against the edge of the desk.

Ves didn't pay attention to her posture. Instead, he instantly honed in on her statement!

"What did you obtain?! Did you find any F-stones of B-stones?!"

She crossed her arms and looked sideways at Ves. "Sorry to disappoint you. That's the bad news. My field agents tried my best to seek out these rarer exotics, but they haven't found any traces of them in the areas they could access. It's possible that they are present in more exclusive circles, but we don't have access to them. You'll have to make do with the P-stones we've gathered."

"How much? And what's their size?"

"Strangely enough, their sizes are all roughly similar to what you have specified. They're around the shape of a human head, but their density, material composition and visual appearances vary considerably. We've secured thirty-five rocks that match the properties you've given."

"Thirty-five!"

That was double the amount of P-stones in his possession! Once he added the new P-stones to his vault, he would have 52 P-stones in total!

"This is indeed great news!" Ves joyously crowed. "These exotics are extremely vital to the development and application of my specialty. Don't stop looking for them. The more, the better!"

Calabast sighed and shook her head. "It will be difficult to secure more of them in a short time. Many of these so-called 'P-stones' have accumulated over many years as no one figured out anything special about them. Now that we have snatched them all up, it will take a long time before they are back in stock. As far as I'm aware of, the most if not all of the P-stones originated from the Nyxian Gap."

"I see."

Ves already knew the P-stones were relatively scarce. Calabast essentially told him that he shouldn't expect another windfall.

What truly disappointed him was the failure to obtain new B-stones and F-stones. The defensive and offensive spiritually-reactive exotics were very powerful in their own way. Both of them were necessary to deal with powerful spiritual entities such as Nyxie or Cassandra Breyer!

"If you want, I can instruct my agents to focus more on securing those other two exotics. It might be possible to obtain them if I help agents obtain greater access to the black markets we've visited."

"What will it cost?" Ves asked.

"Access costs money. We will have to bribe a lot of people. 1 billion hex credits."

He winced at that price. While Ves and the Larkinson Clan weren't short on money these days, a billion hex credits was already a fortune in the Hegemony!

"Our clan already provides the Black Cats with a generous budget! I don't believe you need to spend this much money to do what you say. The Sentinel Kingdom is just a third-rate state. It's impossible for the price of access to be this much!"

"We've been expanding rapidly just like the other organizations under the clan's umbrella." Calabast tapped her nail against the surface of the desk. "The budget specified for the Black Cats was based around the assumption that the LMC continued to stagnate. That doesn't apply anymore. Since your Doom Guard and some of your other mech models are selling well these days, why not share some of your newfound wealth? After all, you wouldn't neglect your strategic partner, wouldn't you?"

She spoke those final words in a teasing manner.

Ves did not look amused.

"Fine. You will get your money by the end of the day. Just don't waste it all. I expect to obtain at least one sample of each exotic!"

"I can't promise you anything, but we will do our best." She promised.

They soon moved on to another discussion.

"Are there any threats on the horizon?" Ves asked.

"Not particularly." She answered. "Every faction in the Sentinel Kingdom knows better than to mess with you. There is no escape from death if any of them harm the interests of the Hegemony. They all know that, so they won't do anything stupid to you. There is hardly benefit of doing so anyway. This state is too far away from the Friday Coalition to curry favor with them. It doesn't make any sense."

Though people frequently behaved illogically, Ves didn't think that any of the local factions that could threaten him would commit suicide in this fashion.

"What if we split up the fleet? I'm sure you know of my intentions of venturing into the Nyxian Gap."

"It'll be okay. If you are that worried about it, I can bolster my own arrangements." Her face turned grave. "However, I'm very concerned about your plan to venture into the Gap. I don't have to tell you how risky that can be. Even the MTA has lost ships and mechs inside this region!"

Ves waved away her concerns. "That has only happened in the central regions. As long as we don't travel too deep, we can manage the risks. Did you collect enough intelligence on the Gap?"

She nodded. "I'll transmit all of the information we've obtained that we managed to verify. We have managed to piece together a rather comprehensive map that defines most of the anomalous hotspots and navigational hazards in the periphery. We also managed to form a map of the fixed locations of the more pirate organizations, though don't assume they are 100 percent accurate. Pirates tend to move around a lot and bases get razed every day due to all of the fighting that takes place."

"I understand. This is already incredibly helpful."

One of the reasons why he lingered so long in Cinach was because he wanted to take the time to gather intelligence!

Heading into the Nyxian Gap blind was not only stupid, but also unnecessary!

Ves couldn't help but recall the time when the Flagrant Swordmaiden fleet crossed over into frontier space. Major Verle and the rest of the Vandals wouldn't have known what to do if not for the alliance they struck with Lydia's Swordmaidens!

"Oh. That reminds me of your other request." Calabast smiled. "The men I've assigned to investigate the Nyxian Gap have also been looking out for the tiger mech you mentioned."

Ves immediately sat straight! "Did you find the Devil Tiger?!"

This was his first masterwork mech! It was also the mech his ghostly mother stole from him! Ves worried constantly about the risks involved in piloting this mech.

He explicitly designed it for pirates, so he weakened a lot of safety precautions that were meant to protect the mech pilot.

The thought of his own father piloting one of his twisted experiments made him sick!