The Mech Touch

In one moment, he was sitting inside the bridge of his flagship where all of the operators became increasingly more afraid of what was about to come.

Panic, helplessness and resignation had spread among the surrounding clansmen as they saw that their vaunted ace mechs had become as useless as a budget mech in the face of an overwhelming enemy.

The phase whales were often regarded as the singular most powerful race of the Red Ocean.

Fortunately, the giant aquatic beasts had their flaws. Their modest ambitions and their low reproduction rate held them back.

This gave a chance for the other indigenous alien races to rise up and carve their own place in the dwarf galaxy.

The fact that the phase whales hadn't been able to dominate the Red Ocean didn't mean they were weak, though!

It was undeniable that every single adult phase whale posed a terrible danger to humanity.

Every pioneer, adventurer and colonist in the Red Ocean slowly became familiar with an increasingly more common rule.

The rule stated that people should treat every phase whale as an existence on the same level as a medium-sized CFA battleship or an MTA ace mech!

Sure, the weakest among the phase whales were considerably easier to deal with, but they tended to lay low for a long time until they upgraded themselves to a level where they could confidently roam through space.

Most of the phase whales that pioneers encountered in the wild were already at least hundreds of years old, which was plenty of time for them to augment their bodies to a level where they could eat expert mechs for breakfast!

Although Ves did not have a good idea of the strength of the unclean whale that had just broken free, the cannibalistic creature was doubtlessly on the upper end of his kind!

"An unclean whale is a proven killer of other phase whales. Not only that, but a cannibal whale mainly targets victims that have developed powerful bioaugments for themselves. None of these phase whales should be weak, so a competent unclean whale must possess considerable power to sustain this lifestyle."

Though the unclean whale eventually suffered a defeat that eventually led to the creature's imprisonment, that did not mean the threat had diminished.

A phase whale of any kind was still too strong of an opponent for most humans!

Not even a coalition of six different pioneering groups had been able to shake the massive creature's spatial barrier!

"My overarching priority is to find a means to stop the unclean whale." Ves reminded himself.

Although the transition from reality to the System Space had been abrupt, the calm and peaceful environment granted him a much-needed break.

Now that his mind wasn't running so hot anymore, he was able to think about the situation without the weight of an imminent deadline looming behind his back.

The freedom to contemplate his situation at his own pace was exactly what he needed to regain his calm.

The peaceful mountaintop environment of the System Space also helped a lot in making him feel removed from the immediate crisis.

It was tempting for him to forget about all of the problems that awaited him back in the Boryan Belt.

However, the Mech Designer System wouldn't allow him to escape reality that easily!

Ves had conducted an experiment in the past that tested the limits of how long he was able to remain inside the System Space.

After all, since the System claimed that time spent inside its new illusionary space would not affect the time spent in reality, Ves thought he could effectively obtain more time for himself!

There were many possible ways he could make use of all of the extra time in the System Space.

He could progress his design projects, either with the help of the Workshop of Creation or just by doing all of the work in his mind.

He could review all of the knowledge that he had learned in the past and deepen his understanding of existing theories.

He could spend the time on brainstorming lots of new and innovative ideas, some of which might lead to the invention of a fantastic new application that could shift the course of the mech industry!

In short, there were so many ways a mech designer like Ves could make use of so much free time that he could accelerate his career progression by several times!

Ves even suspected that this may have been one of the tricks that the Polymath had employed to rush through the ranks as if she had boarded a rocket!

Sadly, none of this was possible for him. He found that if he did not spend his Ascension Points, he would progressively experience greater and greater rejection from the System Space.

In his last attempt to force himself to stay, he managed to hold out for approximately 15 hours before the System booted him out of the illusionary mountaintop!

Ves speculated that the System Space had to consume a lot of energy or other resources to host his consciousness.

Everything had a price. It would have been too unreasonable for the System to be able to keep this up forever!

"Oh well."

All of this meant that Ves only had a limited amount of time before he had to return to the imminent disaster that was about to befall the entire coalition!

After that, the System forcibly kept him out and prevented him from entering its Space until more than a week had passed in reality.

This pretty much ended his devious plan to effectively increase his productivity and get a lot more work done than normal!

Fortunately, Ves wasn't limited to staying 15 hours at a time.

During his experiments, he found out that he could lengthen his stay by spending his Ascension Points at the Workshop of Creation.

It cost 1 AP for him to rent the Workshop of Creation for a period of 24 hours.

Given that this was the case, it made no sense that the System would boot him out before he was able to use up his entire quota.

The System would be engaging in fraudulent business practices if that was the case!

While Ves accused it of many things, the System was remarkably fair and honest in its own inhuman way. It never sold a product or service that did not match the description.

This meant that Ves could effectively buy more time in the System Space as long as he paid the daily 'rent' of 1 Ascension Point a day.

Ves found that he didn't actually have to spend time in the Workshop of Creation to extend his stay by 24 hours. He could move up and down the mountain and freely stay at any of the other sites if he wished.

Right now, Ves wasn't in a hurry to start figuring out a way to resolve his latest difficulty. He was too mentally unbalanced and sorely wanted to take a lengthy break in order to completely reset his mind. Only then would he be able to enter the right state of mind to tackle his problems with a rational and sober mindset.

He did not immediately race towards the Workshop of Creation and spent 1 Ascension Point to obtain the right to make use of its facilities for 24 hours.

He would be wasting the 15 hours that he could already get for 'free'!

Ves deliberately emptied his mind of any thoughts related to the dangerous situation around the Palace of Shame and began to stroll without any particular destination in mind.

He became oblivious to the passage of time as he kept climbing up and down the mountain path.

Sometimes, he took the paths that led him to the sites where he could exchange his AP for all kinds of useful goodies.

He did not visit these places because he wanted to see whether he could use his AP to acquire what he needed to cobble up a solution.

It was too early for that.

Right now, he just wanted to cleanse his mind and bask in his isolation.

Ves hardly noticed that his life had changed so much in the past years that he didn't enjoy any moments alone anymore.

Every day, he woke up surrounded by his wife, his children and his bodyguards.

Even if he decided to take a day off and laze around in his grand stateroom, he could not escape the social interactions that had become a fixture in his life.

Whenever he performed his normal duties, he met and interacted with all kinds of people.

From his personal assistant who appraised him of the developments of his clan to his fellow Journeyman Mech Designers who he collaborated with, he worked with a lot of people in order to keep the Larkinson Clan afloat.

Ves never really thought about it over the years, but now that he finally took a moment to step away from the moment, he recognized how deeply he depended on his subordinates.

People such as General Verle, Minister Shederin Purnesse, Director Ranya Wodin, Director Calabast and many more played an indispensable role in managing the various branches of his increasingly more powerful clan.

At the same time, all of those Larkinsons also depended on their patriarch to lead the clan to a greater height. Ves did not think he was being narcissistic when he thought that he was the only person in the clan that could truly propel his entire clan to the top of human society!

As Ves continued to reflect on everything he had accomplished in the past few years, he felt increasingly more ambivalent about his role and what he had been doing as of late.

A part of him wanted to concentrate entirely on designing mechs and progressing his design philosophy.

He was a mech designer, so why should he waste so much time on other matters when they didn't bring him any closer to beating Gloriana to the rank of Senior?

Another part of him recognized the necessity of wielding power. If Ves didn't make the right decisions, then others would definitely make them in his stead.

It would be fine if his deputies adopted the same ideas as him, but this was rarely the case.

Who knew what people such as Chief Minister Novilon Purnesse would do to his clan if he was able to make decisions with much less oversight than before!

For better or worse, Ves could not leave the job of leading his clan to others. Their interests didn't align with his own, so why should he give them the keys to his personal kingdom?

"This can't go on forever." Ves sighed and shook his head as he sat on a bench that provided him with a fantastic view of the Tree of Possibilities. "Sooner or later, I need to dedicate myself to my work and shed all of the elements that are dragging me down."

When Ves read the biographies of all of the Star Designers, he had noticed that few of them engaged in politicking or other distractions.

They were truly passionate and married to their career, so much so that they had cast aside incredibly lucrative opportunities just so they could spend more hours in their design labs!

Ves felt that he had been spending less and less time in his own design lab as of late.

This was by necessity because his clan would most certainly go astray if he wasn't at the helm, but he could not let this situation go on forever.

"I need a successor who I can trust to take charge of my clan."

Ves thought about Aurelia who was literally born for this job. Gloriana certainly liked to think this was the case, but who said that their first born daughter was only suitable to lead the Larkinson Clan?

He wouldn't mind it if his ambitious daughter decided to take charge of another large and promising organization.

Any of his children were also eligible in their own way.

If Andraste became a mech pilot, then she might be able to lead the clan in the same style as Patriarch Reginald Cross.

If Marvaine became a mech designer in the same mold as his father, then he would be able to lead the Larkinson Clan in the exact same way, thereby providing the greatest possible continuity!

These weren't the only possible candidates that he could choose from. Though he and his wife had agreed to take a little break, Gloriana had never stopped reminding him that she eventually wanted to bear three more children in order to complete her 'collection'!