The Mech Touch novel Chapter 1069

[Status]

Name: Ves Larkinson

Profession: Apprentice Mech Designer

Specializations: None

Design Points: 421,612

Attributes

Strength: 1.4

Dexterity: 1.0

Endurance: 2.0

Intelligence: 2.2

Creativity: 2.1

Concentration: 2.1

Spirituality: 0.8

Neural Aptitude: F

Skills

[Assembly]: Journeyman - [3D Printer Proficiency IV] [Assembler Proficiency IV]

[Battle Mechatronics]: Apprentice - [Knight Mech Mastery I] - [Rifleman Mech Mastery I]

[Business]: Apprentice

[Computer Science]: Apprentice - [Mech Hacking II]

[Electrical Engineering]: Journeyman - [Structural Pathway Configuration IV] - [Energy Storage IV] - [Conductors III] - [Ultracompact Energy Storage I]

[Materials Science]: Journeyman - [Crystallography II] [Crystal Laser Propagation II]

[Mathematics]: Journeyman

[Mechanics]: Journeyman - [Jury Rigging IV] [Speed Tuning IV]

[Metallurgy]: Journeyman - [Alloy Compression III]

[Metaphysics]: Apprentice - [X-Factor IV] - [Spiritual Vision II] - [Spiritual Exploration I]

[Interfacing]: Novice

[Physics]: Senior - [Directed Energy Weapon Optimization III] [Gamma Laser Weapons I] [Lightweight Armor Optimization II] [Mediumweight Armor Optimization IV] [Melee Weapon Optimization IV] [Rapid-Fire Laser Weapon Operation II] [Optics III]

[Propulsion]: Incompetent - [Flight Systems I]

[Salvaging]: Apprentice - [Field Repairs III]

[Signals and Communications]: Journeyman - [Anti-Stealth Detection II]

[Stealth and Cloaking]: Novice

Abilities

[Superpublish]: Available. Can be activated once a year.

Evaluation: A post-human mech designer who has almost advanced to Journeyman.

"Over four-hundred thousand Design Points!" Ves uttered.

Was that a lot? Sure! Could he have done better? Certainly!

Ves could have earned a lot more DP if he continued to lead the company and expand its mech catalog.

By far the greatest source of DP over the past three years had been the steady sales of his Blackbeak models. The silver label edition proved to be a resilient seller and though the bronze label edition weren’t being produced very much anymore, they still made a hefty contribution to his DP earnings.

"It’s too bad my Crystal Lord isn’t able to earn me any DP. I could have easily doubled my stash of DP if I hadn’t Superpublished that design."

Even though he had already made peace with this tradeoff, he couldn’t help but wince at the thought of how much DP slipped through his fingers.

Aside from his physical mech sales, his virtual mechs also sold a lot over the years. The only downside was that his most popular virtual training mechs such as the Old Soul and the Young Blood already reached the System’s stingy DP earning limits. Ves could have easily earned twice or even thrice as much DP if not for those caps.

"Well, I’m long past the days where I need to depend on virtual mechs for practice." Ves muttered.

While it would only take him a couple of weeks to design a proper virtual mech, to Journeymen and upwards, it was generally considered to be a waste of time. They only had a finite amount of lifespan to spend on advancing to the rank of Senior, and no Journeyman ever got there by designing virtual mechs all the time.

However, even though designing virtual mechs wouldn’t help him advance to Senior, it still served as a useful testing ground for some experimental concepts.

Ves could do a lot with four-hundred thousand DP. Perhaps the most extreme way to spend them all was if he dumped it all on bronze or silver lottery tickets.

"I’d be stupid if I waste all that money on your rip-off of a lottery draw." Ves muttered resentfully at the System.

It would be a different story if Ves had the option of purchasing golden lottery tickets and higher. Even though the chance of winning a prize with a golden lottery ticket was fairly low, he once scored a huge win when he obtained a copy of the Amastendira. This single prize alone had been worth all of the dangers he went through when he participated in the Glowing Planet campaign!

The best investment of his DP remained spending them on Skills and Sub-Skills. He sorely felt he needed to shore up his knowledge base now that he embarked on a complicated joint design project in collaboration with a Senior.

[...]

"Really. I don’t know why you keep up that dumb AI act, but it’s not fooling me anymore. I’ve encountered a lot of AIs over the years, and you are definitely more sophisticated than you appear. All this time, I’ve been using you as a vending machine, never fully comprehending that you must have your own agenda as well. Now that I know the truth about your origins, isn’t it time for you to come clean with me?"

[...]

Evidently, the System adamantly maintained its silence to the pressing queries. Perhaps it thought that Ves was too weak. Perhaps it had been programmed to keep shut on this topic.

Since Ves possessed no leverage on the System, he couldn’t force it to talk. What could he do? Discard it into a black hole? It would probably teleport away and abandon Ves to find a new and more pliable user or something.

After a bit more fruitless questioning, Ves gave up. "Fine. Have it your way. I’ll just continue to play along and design more mechs if that’s what you want." _{freewebnøvel.coɱ}

[A mech designer must never cease to design mechs.]

"Pff! Now you open up your mouth!"

After Ves set aside his questions concerning the System, he returned to the question of where he should spend his DP on. Those four-hundred thousand points didn’t do anything to him as long as they remained unspent.

"First, I should set aside 100,000 DP again." He decided.

If he ever fell into trouble, which would certainly happen sooner or later considering his track record, he could draw upon this amount to redeem a powerful one-time tool or augment to help him survive.

That left a bit over 300,000 DP for him to spend wherever he wished. When Ves idly browsed the Skill Tree, he became astounded once again at the sheer variety of Skills and Sub-Skills the System offered.

However, not all of them were valued equally. Ves distinctly noticed that Sub-Skills related to high technology came with inflated DP costs along with hefty prerequisites!

For example, if Ves wanted to acquire Ultracompact Energy Storage II, he needed to fork over 2,000,000 DP to the System!

"What the hell?! How can you be so greedy, System!"

Just as it seemed that Ves was about to accelerate his DP earnings, the reality was that the truly valuable Sub-Skills still required a hefty amount of investment!

That 300,000 DP didn’t seem to extravagant anymore. Ves felt like he was back in the days where he thought that earning a couple of thousand DP already made him wealthy.

"I’ll just have to put my available points to the best possible use."

Right now, Ves already felt he lacked some essential Sub-Skills when it came to designing his upcoming super-medium space knight. His unfamiliarity with its weight class, flight system, polarizing module and more would definitely hamper him once he moved on to the next design phase.

"If I want to do my fatty mech design justice, I will need to shore up on my lack of design experience with spaceborn mechs."

Like many mech designers, Ves started his career with designing landbound mechs. While that was all well and good, he didn’t feel confident in being able to incorporate a flight system effectively and efficiently in his upcoming design. He simply lacked too much experience in this area.

"I can take the time to study it myself, but it’s much faster and more convenient if I upgrade my understanding of flight systems."

Aside from shoring up this essential point, Ves also couldn’t forget about another option. He began to consider whether it would be worth it for him to invest a substantial amount of DP into acquiring Space Knight Mastery I.