The Mech Touch

The awakening of the Superior Mother spelled both good and bad news to Ves.

The good news was that her glow had become substantially more powerful. The difference between a dormant entity and an active entity was considerable!

Aside from being able to channel more power, the Superior Mother was also able to exert more control over her influence!

This meant that just like Qilanxo, the Superior Mother could play favorites!

Anyone who earned a favor might receive a helping hand. Ves already anticipated that the mech pilots of his Hexer products would start to receive several boons!

Of course, the more immediate consequence of the Superior Mother waking up was that she was capable of interacting with him! The few invisible pushes he received were signs of his new mother's care and affection.

Even though the Superior Mother possessed an independent personality, for some reason or another she considered him to be her son!

This was ridiculous! He created her! He breathed life into her! If anything, he should be her father, just like he was a father to all of his other spiritual products!

Ves grabbed the Larkinson Mandate from Nitaa and directed his attention to Goldie.

"I'm your daddy, right?"

Nyaaaaa!

"Good girl."

The Golden Cat may be tied to him through the Larkinson Network, but she was sensible enough to recognize his primacy.

Unfortunately, Ves sensed the opposite vibe in the Superior Mother! He was pretty certain that she considered herself above her progenitor!

After all, what mother would take her son seriously? If Ves was being extra naughty, she might even spank him or something!

"Ugh. I'm already an adult!" He groaned and palmed his face.

If there was one consolation, it seemed that she wasn't paying close attention to him all the time. After she finished abusing his body by patting him with her invisible fingers, she retracted her presence.

As Ves cautiously peeked at the Superior Mother from afar, he sensed an abundance of activity.

The spiritual network that centered around her existence became a lot more vigorous. Ves could sense that she was already regulating the network by withdrawing power from some sources, reducing her output to some destinations while showering specific individuals with her favor.

She was being a lot more proactive about this than his other design spirits. The Solemn Guardian and so on did not possess an enhanced connection to people through spiritual networks. This largely prevented them from exerting fine control over the users of the mechs they watched over.

After all, they were connected to mechs, not people.

Ves immediately realized that the Golden Cat, the Superior Mother and Lufa were distinctly better than his other design spirits. Not even the newly-evolved Illustrious One possessed a spiritual or battle network!

Maybe he should add networks to his other spirits. Allowing them to establish direct connections to mech pilots could potentially make his mechs much more valuable.

Of course, this was only the case if the mech pilots gained the design spirit's favor. If the opposite was the case, then it would become a bit harder to sell his mechs to a broader audience!

Not everyone respected living mechs. Mech pilots were very diverse, and each of them learned from teachers who possessed different views on mechs.

Some treated mechs as disposable goods. Others treated mechs as treasures. This was just one of the many differences that could affect a design spirit's attitude towards mech pilots.

Perhaps it might be best if Ves held off on adding more spiritual networks to his design spirits.

Right now, the Superior Mother was the first entity who utilized her ties to countless Hexers on a wider scale. Ves was not surprised that she was too distracted to pay too much attention to him. As far as she was concerned, every Hexer was her child!

"I'm her favorite, though."

At least he had that. Ves carefully withdrew his perception in order to avoid drawing the Superior Mother's attention again. If she was paying active attention to him all the time, how could he perform his shameful acts in peace?

Ves deliberately halted himself from speculating any further about what the Superior Mother had exactly observed last night.

He quickly finished his breakfast and departed the Stellar Chaser with Lucky and Gavin.

His shuttle crossed over through the void of space. Ves idly activated his comm and called up a projection of the local star system.

A lot of ships had departed the star system. Many guests had already left. What Ves found noteworthy was that the captured pirate warships were nowhere to be seen.

As soon as the Larkinson Clan no longer needed to parade around the Gravada Knarlax, the MTA immediately dragged her and her escorts back to Centerpoint.

"A shame."

Fortunately, his clan already plundered plenty of valuables from the former Allidus Alliance ships. The Unending alloy, the strategic materials stored in the vaults and the stockpiles of other valuable exotics all fell into his hands.

The MTA didn't seem to care about these loose materials. The mechers only restricted the Larkinsons from ripping out the fixed components from the ships. They needed the ships to be as functionally intact as possible in order to ascertain the state of Nyxian pirate shipbuilding development.

"Speaking about ships, we'll be getting a bunch of them as well."

The Larkinsons already ordered a lot of second-hand combat carriers from the Hegemony. Their factory ship was also scheduled to be delivered on schedule.

Though Ves was thinking about acquiring additional capital ships, he wasn't sure if his clan had enough money to place a new order. The five upcoming expert mech projects would definitely eat a lot of money if he wanted to aim for the highest possible quality within his reach.

There was no way that Ves was going to settle for average expert mechs for his demigods! He highly valued their long-term potential, but in order to realize that, he needed to invest considerably in the short-term.

"How much disposable money do we have, Benny? How many hex credits can we spend without putting our clan or our mech company at risk?"

"It's complicated." Gavin replied. "There are many factors that are complicating our calculations. The LMC's monthly sales has spiked, but we aren't sure how long it will last. The profit we earn from selling a Doom Guard in the Komodo Star Sector is higher than the profit from selling the same mech in a distant star sector. In addition to all of this, our expansion in manpower and assets has caused our expenses to skyrocket. Also, don't forget about your promise of providing a basic set of second-class augmentations to all of the survivors of the Nyxian Gap Campaign."

As Gavin continued to ramble about the many factors that affected their available cash reserves, Ves grew impatient.

"Just give me an estimate!"

"Uhmm, leaving out the money that we have already reserved for future investments, you can probably spend up to 1 trillion hex credits without too many repercussions."

"That's enough to order another capital ship."

Gavin cautiously nodded. "Correct."

"Then let's prepare to order some in the future. I'm thinking about acquiring several capital ships while we're at it. With the financial strength of our clan, I'm sure we can borrow a few trillion hex credits."

"While you're right, there are very few lenders who are willing to hand over that much money at once. We'll need to develop a good relationship with one before we can apply for such a giant loan."

"Then start laying the groundwork. The sooner we round out our expeditionary fleet, the sooner we can leave the Milky Way. While I don't mind spending a few more years in our home galaxy, I don't want to obtain our new capital ships right before we pass through the beyonder gate. We need to break in our new vessels and become accustomed to them before we are ready to begin our true adventure."

Ships that big were rather temperamental and difficult to control. The sheer amount of parts and components practically guaranteed that some of them produced flaws. A critical error might disable an FTL drive in mid-transition. This would cause the ship to drop out of FTL travel at best or cause the entire vessel to disappear from the known universe if her luck was worse!

"Schedule a meeting with the Tsais. I need to secure the services of a good shipwright as soon as possible."

"Yes, boss."

"Also, prepare a detailed update on the current progress of our factory ship. If we can add some convenient upgrades, I'd like to do that now when the ship is still under construction. Just like mechs, it's a lot harder to improve a completed vessel."

Even though Ves intended to spend a lot of money in the coming months, he believed he was capable of bearing the burden. The LMC already had a couple of excellent commercial designs in reserve. The Crystal Lord Mark II and the Ferocious Piranha possessed a lot of sales potential. Once the LMC rolled them out, he'll probably be raking in a lot more money!

Before Ves could talk to Gavin any further, his shuttle finally arrived at the Ubiquitous Force.

Some time later, Ves met with Master Willix. They met in a highly-advanced mech workshop this time.

"Mr. Larkinson. You've arrived. Come over here." She called as she stood in front of a high-tech obelisk-like structure.

He approached until he stood next to her and stared at her gift to him. Master Willix already introduced it to him yesterday evening. However, hearing about it was very different from seeing it in the flesh!

The exterior of the obelisk consisted of advanced metallic alloys that Ves didn't recognize. Several electronic components were embedded throughout its structure. He didn't know what role they played.

The obelisk was as tall as a light mech but considerably skinnier. If Ves ignored all of its remarkable properties, it pretty much resembled a giant, primitive antenna!

It didn't take much effort for Ves to realize he was looking at a product of high technology.

However, its actual function was a lot more remarkable than the tech that made it work.

Different from every other tech in the hands of the MTA, the obelisk was actively radiating spiritual energy!

The existence of this device confirmed his suspicion that the MTA succeeded in applying spirituality in some of its tech!

"Our profession is remarkable and unique in our society." The older woman began. "From the moment we advance to the rank of Journeyman, we develop psionic power. This remarkable power system has several reality-defying effects, the most important of which is to bestow our mechs and mech designs with special, reality-bending qualities."

Ves nodded. "I'm aware of that, ma'am."

"Have you ever wondered why this effect is confined in a certain range? Journeymen can only psionically affect a range corresponding to a star sector at the start. As they develop their psionic power further, their range expands. Seniors are even more exaggerated in how many light-years their reach extends, while Masters such as myself can affect the entire galaxy and beyond."

"I hope to reach this level as well one day." Ves modestly said.

Willix smiled. "That will take a lot of time, and that assumes you won't fall along the way. In any case, until then, your range only stretches over a couple of star sectors for now. This is very problematic for your mech company once you begin your travels. If you head to the Red Ocean, how will your mechs still retain their strength in your home star sector? I believe you have already witnessed the consequences of disappointing your customers."

If Ves hadn't moved quickly and turned the situation around by introducing the Living Star Club, the LMC's reputation would have sunk into the ocean!

However, Master Willix might not be entirely correct in this case. Ves had theorized a long time ago that the range she was talking about might not be affected by his design seed.

This was because there were stronger spiritual entities with greater ranges connected to his mech designs! His collection of design spirits were more than capable of taking over his burden in his absence!

However, this was a secret that he wasn't eager to expose. If there was a technological alternative to the range problem of a mech designer, then that would be much more convenient!

The Master Mech Designer gestured towards the obelisk. "Your new P.P. will solve your lack of reach."

"P.P.?"

"It is short for psionic pylon." She explained. "For obvious reasons, you are not allowed to refer it by its actual name to others. P.P.'s are very sensitive and you should not reveal them to anyone unless we grant you permission. In most cases, mentors and Masters provide them to Journeymen who are travelling and need the capabilities of these devices the most. Otherwise, Journeymen such as Mr. Armalon would be much more reluctant to go on tour. Carmin Olson would have provided you with one if you were still her apprentice."

"I see."

"This pylon is worth 1 million MTA merits if you attempt to obtain one yourself."

That much?!