The Mech Touch

After Lieutenant Ferct finished her introduction of the services available to associates, she soon bid him goodbye.

"Let me reiterate. It is a great privilege to become our associate. Some of the best and brightest people of the galactic rim are connected to us. In addition, there are many associates who have proven themselves to be exceptional enough to meet our high standards. We never waste our time with useless bums who are only able to get far by spending. You are in good company, Ves. Remember, MTA merits are everything to us. Be sure to work hard and make the most out of your remaining youth!"

With that, her projection disappeared in a blink, leaving Ves alone with Lucky and the Larkinson Mandate.

He turned to his cat. "What do you think. Was she sincere?"

"Meow."

"I agree." He turned to the Larkinson Mandate. "What about you? What is your judgement?"

The Golden Cat tilted her head, making her big eyes look even more adorable!

Nyaaaaaa.

"You have a point. Lieutenant Ferct doesn't care about me. To the Rim Guardians, associates like me are just a bunch cheap labor. As long as they throw enough MTA merits at us, we won't hesitate to bark on command!"

On the surface, the relation between the Rim Guardians and its associates was one of equal exchange. The Rim Guardians did not force the associates to do anything. As long as Ves remained useful and did not act directly against their interests, they wouldn't revoke his associate status!

Just like Leemar's Clifford Society, the Rim Exchange ostensibly served as an elaborate portal where associates could gain a lot of benefits in exchange for trading something valuable such as a rare good or their valuable expertise. Each transaction was completely voluntary, allowing the associates to pick and choose the deals at their leisure.

However, underneath the surface, the game was rigged from the start.

Throughout her introduction, Lieutenant Ferct emphasized the value and importance of MTA merits multiple times. She plainly said that he wouldn't be able to do anything without any merits under his belt!

Furthermore, she also dismissed the utility of transferable currencies such as mech credits, hex credits or coalition credits.

Money was still valuable. That was no doubt. It was just that many of the most valued goods and services provided by the Rim Exchange and the MTA were priced in merits!

The crucial difference between mech credits and MTA merits was that the latter couldn't be transferred, inherited, exchanged or obtained in any way or than to earn them directly from the MTA!

As the sole provider of MTA merits, the MTA and its underlying organizations held a stranglehold on both sides of a transaction!

For Ves to buy something from the Rim Exchange, he needed merits.

How could he obtain merits? By completing missions issued by the Rim Exchange!

"It's like a circle!" He uttered. "All of the merits issued by the Rim Guardians eventually end up back in their hands!"

Of course, Ves got something in return, but he had no doubt the Rim Exchange charged huge premiums for their goods and services! There was no reason for them to be generous and lower their prices out of the good of their hearts. Ves bet that the Rim Guardians earned a profit every step of the way!

"It's too bad that I have no choice but to play along." He sighed.

Just because the Rim Guardians wanted to exploit him didn't mean he should turn away. The MTA's monopoly on MTA merits meant that Ves couldn't go anywhere else!

Well, if Ves was really desperate, he could approach the CFA instead and try to earn CFA merits, but that was a complete non-starter.

There was no way the CFA would treat mech designers like Ves well! He might as well commit suicide right away if he wanted to get screwed even harder!

In short, Ves should never hold the illusion that the Rim Guardians were looking out for their associates. Their own interests always came first!

That said, it wasn't all that bad to build up a relationship with the Rim Guardians. Exploitative they might be, they were light on commitments. They did not demand his allegiance like states and neither did they impose any further obligations.

This sounded great to someone who pursued independence such as him. Since he sought to turn the Larkinson Clan into a sovereign entity, he could dearly use the services and backing that a powerful organization like the Rim Guardians could provide!

He just had to pay the right price.

"In terms of value, I can provide a lot of unique services!" He realized.

He could design mechs that possessed glows. As far as he knew, not a single mech designer in human space could do the same!

He could turn ordinary mech pilots into expert candidates. This was just a wanted transition that the 'market price' for this service was priceless!

"It's too bad I can't do it again."

It would be too suspicious if Ves kept accepting missions that required him to turn average mech pilots into expert candidates. Even a six-year old kid could tell that he mastered some kind of hidden method to promote mech pilots!

Ves felt a bit constrained by his situation. Using his specialty and his spiritual expertise, he could perform all kinds of feats considered impossible. Yet if he used too much, then he would inevitably get exposed, thereby drawing the interests of the MTA and other immensely powerful entities!

Once he landed in their crosshairs, he could kiss his ambitions and freedom goodbye!

Therefore, he needed to hold something back. The risk was that if he constrained himself too much, he probably wouldn't be able to earn 100 million MTA merits in time for the planned launch of his grand expedition!

"Damnit! This is an impossible dilemma!"

He would have to visit the Rim Exchange and browse the missions at the merit hall to be sure, but he already suspected that none of them were easy.

The Rim Guardians only recruited a select amount of excellent people from the galactic rim. None of them were incapable or incompetent! The missions issued to them should definitely give them all a challenge, as MTA merits should never be obtained with ease!

Though Ves was tempted to input the address of the Rim Exchange into his comm in order to visit the virtual portal, he held himself back.

Right now, he had enough on his plate as it is. His most important priority right now was to design his upcoming Larkinson mech.

Since he intended to treat it was a passion project, he had to ignore as many distractions as possible. Anything that pulled him away from his design project would inevitably affect the quality of the end product!

Since the Larkinson mech was of supreme importance to the clan and his ambitions, this would have huge implications for his future!

When Ves returned to the main lab, Gloriana immediately moved to his side.

"How is it? Did you get in? Are they satisfied?"

"It went fine." He smiled. "The Rim Guardians accepted me in the ranks of their associates. I can now enter something called the Rim Exchange."

"I see. You're very fortunate you managed to get in. In the years I've spent at Centerpoint, I only encountered a few mech designers who managed to do the same. Most mech designers who linger at Centerpoint can only dream of becoming an associate like you! I'm so proud of you, Ves!"

She leaned close and pecked him on the cheek with a giggle.

Though Ves enjoyed her affection, he found her reaction to be a little off. "What about you, Gloriana. Are you envious?"

She lightly shook her head. "Hexers don't have a habit of interacting with the MTA anymore than is necessary. It's fine if the Rim Guardians passed me over. They don't really like Hexers in general."

"Oh."

"In addition, I don't necessarily need their support. From what a professor once told me, the Rim Guardians mostly target talented individuals with weak or moderate backing. They want to build up relationships with those who are most prone to work hard to achieve something by themselves."

In other words, the Rim Guardians vastly preferred patsies like Ves as opposed to someone spoiled like Gloriana!

"How do you Hexer manage to earn MTA merits then?"

"Oh, we don't need to befriend the Rim Guardians to earn merits." She answered with a smile. "The main MTA organization also provides missions. Working with the MTA is something every Hexer mech designer has to learn."

"And they're not repelled by you people's… Hexer-ness?"

She giggled. "It's not as difficult as you think. We just have to stick to written communication as much as possible. That way, we can control what we say. In any case, the MTA is supposed to be neutral. The moment they pick and choose which states can enjoy their service, they'll definitely make everyone else suspicious that they're aiming to lead human civilization directly! That will spark countless rebellions!"

Though she was right to an extent, it did not preclude subtler actions.

"Well, I'm glad you're fine with my entry into the Rim Guardians. I think I can truly begin to earn a lot of merits soon. The Larkinson mech comes first, though."

She nodded in agreement. "Our project comes first, yes. By the way, have you thought of a more suitable name for your mech design? Calling it the Larkinson mech isn't good enough."

"I'm still mulling over it. To be honest, I don't have any good ideas now, but that's not a big deal. I have plenty of time to think while I'm fleshing the design."

They looked over the central projection which displayed the current state of the design.

Around a third of the base platform and the four configurations had already been defined. This provided the mech designers with a good impression of how the final versions would look like. This was because Ves and Gloriana tackled the biggest issues first and worked their way down to the smallest of details.

So far, Ves was pretty pleased with how the design was turning out. Though they had to overcome countless technical challenges, the estimated performance of his incomplete mech was already dazzling for a third-class mech!

At the very least, in terms of defense, his Larkinson mech all surpassed anything that was common to mass-produced third-class mechs!

Providing such luxurious protection to his mech pilots ensured that they wouldn't die so easily! Even if an enemy managed to pierce through the Larkinson mech's prodigious armor, the cockpit itself was a veritable bunker!

"There's one thing that's bothering me more and more, though." She told him. "The defensive power of the configurations of the modular mech platform is amazing, but their offensive parameters are rather weak."

"It's not all that bad. At the very least, we can employ a variation of the standard Breyer alloy to form extremely powerful swords and spears. We can also use it to clad the exterior of the laser or ballistic rifle, thereby making them less prone to break when hit by enemy fire."

"You know those are only marginal benefits. The mechs simply lack punch."

Ves shrugged. "We can't have everything. It's too expensive to upgrade the weapon systems, musculature systems and other aspects needed to strengthen the offensive power of our design. Our mech pilots won't be able to keep up, thereby wasting much of its potential."

Both of them were aware of this argument. Ves was able to accept it without a fuss, but Gloriana still took issue with the lack of effort in improving the Larkinson mech's offensive performance.

Unlike Ves who regarded their current project as an improved third-class mech design, Gloriana viewed it as a crippled second-class mech design!

Still, she didn't let her annoyance get in the way of doing her best. She was always as invested in this project as Ves!