The Mech Touch

Chapter 6014 A Quick Trip

It was no longer as limited as before. Years of continued investment had allowed it to grow in size and scope.

With the establishment of the Premier Branch, the Larkinson Clan had already begun to hire first-class biotech researchers on a limited scale.

The new hires may not be the best in the first-class biotech industry, but they crushed all of their second-class counterparts when it came to intelligence, knowledge accumulation and scientific rigor!

Even if they did not possess any existing expertise in phase lord physiques and phasewater organs, they could still build it up by conducting a lot of examinations on Ves!

Of course, if Ves wanted the Larkinson Biotech Institute to raise an entirely new department specialized in phase lord biology, then he needed to subject his true body to regular examinations!

After all, there was no way the biotech researchers could obtain sufficient understanding of phase lords and phasewater organs if they did not have access to enough research material.

"This shouldn't be a major inconvenience." Ves determined. "I just have to let the researchers poke around my body once in a while. The more they understand how my body works, the greater their ability to successfully upgrade my Locos organ."

Upgrading his Locos organ was a serious matter to Ves. It was not like upgrading a mech where a botched attempt could easily be corrected due to the mechanical nature of the subject.

The Locos organ was one of the three most fundamental and important biological components of a phase lord.

One of the challenges that many phase leaders faced was that messing around with their own phasewater organs always came with an element of risk.

There were too many potential pitfalls. The phase lord trusted the wrong people. The phase lord attempted to integrate a phasewater organ that was too powerful for him to control. The phasewater organ accidentally mutated beyond recognition due to inadequate research and processing.

Ves only possessed a single Locos organ. It also happened to fit him perfectly as the heavenly authority of the Red Ocean had gifted his initial set of phasewater organs to him for free.

It would be a massive shame if the researchers of the LBI mishandled his Locos organ and either destroyed it or caused it to deteriorate.

The Transhumanists were better at biotech research in almost every way. They already possessed an enormous head-

start and could easily develop better and more optimal versions of his Locos organ.

His expression turned grave. "If I give them the responsibility of upgrading my Locos organ, then I will likely remain stuck with them going forward."

This sounded like a potential trap!

It was the same story as companies that depended on proprietary software or a powerful brand of production equipment from a large enterprise.

Once a smaller player got locked into the products of the large enterprise, the latter could easily abuse its control over its dependency relationships with the former to extort more fees or worse!

While Ves maintained a good relationship with the Transhumanist Faction for the time being, what if that changed in the future?

What if the Evolution Witch turned from an ally into an enemy?

What if he completely ruined his relationship with the Red Association?

If anything like that took place, then Ves would definitely lose access to the expertise he relied upon to upgrade his complicated phasewater organs!

Even if Ves turned to the LBI, the biotech researchers of the Larkinson Clan would probably struggle to decipher the advanced and obtuse bioprogramming and organic design of the Transhumanist Faction's proprietary biotechnologies.

Ves felt as if he had been on the verge of making a huge mistake that he would regret for the rest of his life.

"It is no wonder that the phase whales all prefer to spend hundreds of years researching their own improvements for their phasewater organs. It is simply too dangerous to entrust such a critical responsibility to others."

The unfortunate part about his own situation was that Ves could not upgrade his Locos organ by himself.

Intellectually, he was confident that he could study enough biotechnology and perform enough examinations on his true body to develop a few basic improvements.

However, he could meet the requirements of the Mission within just 3 years! He was not good enough of a biotech scientist to achieve such a result in such a short span of time!

Sure, he may have learned enough biotechnology in order to design a basic biomech or cyborg mech, but his understanding of this field was too shallow to conduct high-end research into phasewater organs!

"I don't necessarily have to complete this Mission by upgrading my existing Locos organ, though." Ves speculated. "I can also get away with replacing it with a more developed Locos organ taken from the corpse of another phase whale or phase lord."

Ves immediately became repulsed by this idea!

There was no way he wanted to stuff weird and foreign organs inside his body! The incompatibility problems alone would probably torment him for a long time!

"I am not going to imitate the methods of an unclean whale!"

Now that he became a phase lord himself, he understood much more why the general alien community treated the phenomenon of unclean whales as an enormous taboo.

None of the descendants of the Elder Gods and their imitators wanted to be hunted down, lose the phasewater organs that they had painstakingly developed over many decades and allow their murderers to enjoy the fruits of their labor!

Conducting honest research on developing new phasewater organs and upgrading existing ones was the proper way for phase leaders to advance their phase lord cultivation.

It might be slow, costly and troublesome, but it was the safest and most stable method of improving their extraordinary capabilities.

Ves chose to accept the Mission with the intent of giving the Larkinson Biotech Institute a chance to upgrade his Locos organ on his behalf.

He would give them 2 years to produce an adequate result. If the biotech researchers working for the Larkinson Clan failed to meet his requirements, he could always turn to the Transhumanist Faction as a backup option.

It shouldn't take more than a couple of months for the Transhumanists to upgrade his Locos organ, especially if it was based on an existing template.

"This is the advantage of a big organization."

That reminded him of the Red Collective. Its mandate meant that it would likely take over wholesale research and supervision of human phase lords. Perhaps he might have to knock on the doors of the Collective as opposed to the Transhumanists in a couple of years.

Ves did not get too hung up over this issue and went back to picking up other Missions that he could feasibly complete in the next few months and years.

[Design a high-acceleration light mech]

[Alien Heartcrusher]

[Spreading Faith]

[Consume 100 Mutated Beasts]

[Shadow Summoning Ritual]

"This should be doable." He affirmed after he accepted five more Missions.

Ves would have never accepted most of these Missions in the past. There were ones that weirded him out and ones that violated his personal principles.

Yet in the face of necessity, Ves found that he had suddenly become a lot more tolerant and flexible than before.

"AP is AP. Who cares how I earn them? Nobody has to know the extent of all of my actions. I don't need to explain myself anyway."

He should be able to earn hundreds more AP if he fulfilled all of the requirements.

Now that Ves accepted the additional Missions, it was already too late for him to reconsider. The penalties for failing the Missions was not unbearable, but he would definitely feel bad if he lost a bunch of Attributes all of a sudden!

Now that he was done with picking up his Mission, he made one more important stop before he departed from the System space.

He moved over to the Time Gate and observed it with mixed emotions.

"I can't let this facility go to waste either."

He already had a goal in mind for the Time Gate. He wanted to go on another Mastery experience by inhabiting the mind of a first-class mech pilot.

Ves had already spent a lot of time on studying first-class mech design, but that only increased his understanding of first-class multipurpose mechs from the perspective of a service provider.

He did not possess an in-depth understanding of what it was like to actually use a first-class multipurpose mech. He could massively boost his comprehension and become much more aware of what his future customers sought in a first-class mech if he spent a bit of time inside the mind of an active first-class mech pilot.

"I don't need to do anything else."

Ves was very wary towards the System. It had put him into several difficult situations during prior Mastery experiences that ultimately caused history to take different turns.

Although the changes were ultimately for the better for the most part, Ves did not want to work so hard and intervene so actively everytime he passed through the Time Gate!

This was why he made the effort to place his palms together and make an earnest plea.

"System, whatever you do, just put me in the mind of a completely average first-class mech pilot that is engaged in completely normal battles. Just let me be a passive and silent observer for once!"

Whether his plea made a difference or not, at least he made his intentions clear.

After making a few more prayers in his mind, Ves resolutely activated the Time Gate and passed through the active portal.

An instant later, Ves emerged right out the portal with both a relieved and satisfied expression.

"Finally, a normal Mastery experience!"

The trip did not last very long. The System had just dumped him in the mind of a mech pilot serving in the armed forces of one of the many first-rate states of the Milky Way a few hundred years ago.

First-class multipurpose mechs had already established themselves at that time. While the prevailing high technologies were much less advanced than today, Ves still gained a lot of understanding of the plight of the people responsible for piloting these multifaceted machines.

The pilot in question only lasted for three days before he ended up dying in a battle that was a part of a shadow war against a neighboring first-rate state. The man had participated in four skirmishes and one big battle that finally became his graveyard.

As Ves and Blinky discretely lurked inside the first-class pilot's mind, they both tried to record and memorize as much of their observations as possible.

The final decisive battle that determined the outcome of the shadow war had been the most hectic engagement. Both sides fielded thousands of expensive first-class multipurpose mechs onto the battlefield.

The large amount of features and weapon modules of every mech caused the battle lines to become very fluid and chaotic. There was no way to maintain any formations as what worked in one minute became a huge liability in the next minute!

There were several moments where Ves felt he could intervene and take measures to either save his host's life or give him a better chance of coming back intact. He could have changed the future even more by giving the pilot a companion spirit or sharing information about the future.

He ultimately did not do so, not just because he wanted to avoid unintended consequences, but also because he suspected that he would pay a much greater price for messing with time. That was how it always unfolded in all of the action dramas.

"If it is so easy to travel back into the past and change the future, then the Five Scrolls Compact would have become all-

powerful by now! Only those who have developed an actual time domain should be able to know what they are doing."

Developing a time domain was out of the question for Ves. He already had three different E energy attributes on his plate.

Perhaps others could delve into the mysteries of time one day.