The Mech Touch novel Chapter 1199

Ves felt a lot of heartache when he sent Lucky off to perform the heist.

Spending 1 billion credits to motivate Lucky into breaking into the grand cathedral didn’t concern Ves very much. WIth how much profit the LMC was making these days, he could afford to spend that much money like water.

The same didn’t apply to Design Points. Accumulating 400,000 DP took a lot of effort. Ves practically spent all the DP he earned from his Aurora Titan design.

"It took seven months of earnest effort for me to design the Aurora Titan." He muttered.

Even if the Miniaturized Stealth Generator opened up a lot of new possibilities for Ves and Lucky, Ves constantly wondered if he could have spent his DP on something better.

The amount of DP he spent in an instant was too abrupt for Ves to feel at ease!

In fact, he wanted to be close to the grand cathedral as well in case Lucky hit a snag.

He couldn’t. Not only did the Curins restrict his movements, it was an enormously bad idea for him to be in the vicinity of the Grand Cathedral of Ylvaine’s Mercy during the heist.

He was already present at the Grand Church of the Grey Martyr during the terrorist attack. He would definitely attract High Inquisitor Poxco’s suspicion if he strayed near the grand cathedral during an attempt to steal its most valuable relic!

The Ylvainan Inquisition only needed a reasonable amount of suspicion to take him into custody. Who knew what they would do to him once he ended up in their dungeon!

Ves just had to put his faith in Lucky’s abilities. His naughty pet had a lot of practice stealing valuable minerals, so Lucky should know what he was doing.

The Miniature Stealth Generator he received was like adding wings to the tiger! There was hardly anything that could stop Lucky from stealing something now that he gained the ability to hide himself from every form of observation!

Even if it only lasted five minutes, if paired with his ability to turn intangible, that was all the time that Lucky needed to infiltrate most strongholds!

Now that Ves thought about it, Lucky could easily use his new ability against him! Nothing would be able to stop Lucky from stealing and eating his own stuff!

"Did I create a monster?"

Ves trusted Lucky more than his friends and family. As far as he was concerned, his cat was his closest companion.

Lucky was the only entity who knew all of his secrets!

Even though humans didn’t put a lot of trust in AIs and mechanical pets, Ves knew there was something very special about Lucky. Despite his artificial form, Lucky differed from every other pet due to possessing his own spirituality!

He often puzzled why Lucky possessed this strength, especially in the early days of his career.

As Ves developed a greater understanding of spirituality, he no longer found it incomprehensible.

"Life isn’t bound by an organic form. It can emerge from any shape as long as the conditions are right."

As Ves waited for Lucky to return, he decided to turn his attention back to his mech design work. It would be best if he acted normally during this time in order to allay any possible suspicion that he was involved with the upcoming theft.

He called Ketis over.

"What’s the matter, Ves?"

"For our upcoming design project, I’m willing to let you be involved." He said once they sat down. "It’s no secret to you that I’m working on a hero mech design. Considering your specialty and your familiarity with swordsmanship, I think your input is very helpful to our current design project."

"You’re willing to let me have a say in the design?"

"Yes." Ves nodded. "As long as your suggestions and corrections are sound, I don’t mind crediting you as a contributing mech designer to this project. It will do you a lot of good if you are able to meet that threshold!"

There was a substantial difference between a contributing mech designer and an assisting mech designer!

Assisting mech designers were basically coolies and number crunchers. The leading mech designer would never allow them to make any important decisions.

In contrast, a contributing mech designer earned the right to make some meaningful design choices. As long as the leading mech designer approved of their decisions, their judgement affected the overall direction of the design project!

This was a great honor to a Novice like Ketis. So much so that even she didn’t believe that a control freak like Ves actually meant what he said.

"You wouldn’t be pulling my leg this time, will you?" Ketis asked with eyes narrowed in suspicion.

"I’m not attempting to coddle you or anything." Ves reassured her. "While you’re still a Novice, that’s only because you haven’t completed any significant mech designs yet. Your knowledge base has improved a lot and you’ve spent a lot of time on diving deeper into subjects related to your design philosophy. Combined with your extensive exposure to the Swordmaidens and your personal swordsmanship skills, you’ve got a lot more practical experience than me when it comes to this area."

While Ves possessed an extensive amount of theoretical knowledge on melee mech combat, it was better for him if he had a specialist in this field by his side.

Once Ketis began to accept that Ves wasn’t joking, she immediately grew enthusiastic. "I’ll help!"

"Good. Please take a look at my loose draft and see if there is anything that stands out. I haven’t decided what type of sword fits best for my hero mech."

"I won’t disappoint you, Ves!"

He transferred some of his design files to Ketis and packed her off after giving her some instructions.

This would be the first time he made use of a subordinate mech designer in this fashion. Ves felt as if a weight lifted off his shoulders. By passing on some responsibilities to another mech designer, he no longer depended exclusively on his own judgement.

"I should flesh out my design team with other specialists."

He thought about Carlos for a moment. Hopefully, his old friend would be able to get over his jealousy.

While Carlos didn’t sound as if he locked in his design philosophy, a mech designer who specialized in heavy guns was very useful to Ves when he wanted to design a ranged mech.

"Both Ketis and Carlos can help me design the offensive aspects of my mech."

If Ves wanted to round out his design team, then he should add mech designers who specialized in defense and mobility. As long as he completed his collection, he’d be able to adopt a different style of mech design where he could entrust his subordinates to perform the bulk of the actual design work.

Even if he lessened his involvement, with his growing Spirituality, Ves was sure he’d be able to maintain the strength of the X-Factor of his designs.

His current decision to give Ketis an opportunity to contribute to his mech design was both an experiment and a time-saving decision. As long as Ketis made some successful contributions, Ves knew that he could proceed with involving other mech designers in his design projects.

At this time, a loud alarm sounded outside. Every Ylvainan outside thought that something disastrous would take place and quickly ran for shelter.

At the same time, the Protectors of the Faith who guarded the guest compound began to enter a state of higher alertness. Every Kronon mech pilot who was off-duty all donned their piloting suits and boarded their dormant mechs!

"What’s going on?!"

Gavin quickly arrived at his room.

"Ves! It’s a disaster!"

"Do you know what happened?"

"I just managed to read the news before the Ylvainans locked down the galactic net. Apparently, the True Believers broke into the grand cathedral and stole their holy relic!"

Ves widened his eyes. That must have been Lucky! But why did the Ylvainans suspect the True Believers were behind the theft?