The Mech Touch

Though he did not give her comprehensive information on everything he knew or guessed about the System, what little he revealed in the twenty minutes after entering the System Space was already enough to keep her off balance.

Only her strength and conviction as a swordmaster allowed her to digest the massive revelations and maintain most of her composure.

She continued to look around and paid special attention to all of the little clearings further above that hosted the special 'facilities' Ves had mentioned.

After her former mentor completed his story about how he managed to upgrade the fragment of the Metal Scroll several times in recent years, he ended his lecture with a single message.

"The Mech Designer System is not a static existence. It is continually growing. It is becoming stronger and more versatile over time. Whether this is due to the assistance that I have provided to it or something else, the System is evolving into a higher form.

I do not know what it will end up as, and I do not know whether we will suffer any consequences for making it happen, but now that you are a user, you have become involved as well.

If my worst fears are true then we may end up facilitating the resurrection of the powerful ancient cultivator who once created one of the five Sacred Scrolls."

Ketis grew grave when she heard that. It was not reasonable for a relic as amazing as the Mech Designer System to be so generous and offer people like Ves the opportunity to acquire all sorts of magical items and skills at a very low cost.

It made more sense to her that the creator of this System had a much more selfish and nefarious goal in mind.

Did that made her afraid of the System and its associations with the scary cultivators of ancient times?

Yes.

Did it deter her from seeking to take advantage of its many useful features, ones that had helped to turn Ves from an average third-class mech designer into the most powerful and successful Senior Mech Designer of the Red Ocean?

Hell no!

As a swordmaster and an ambitious Journeyman Mech Designer, Ketis was not afraid of trouble!

Just like most Larkinsons, she was more than willing to take certain risks in order to obtain a huge payoff.

She did not begrudge Ves from forcing her into a mystical contract with the powerful Mech Designer System. He considered her to be a true friend, and would never go out of his way to deliberately harm her interests.

Ketis fully understood why he was being so incredibly cautious about the Mech Designer System. It was not just his inherent paranoia that prompted him from taking action. The System was way too magical and desirable to expose any mention of it in realspace!

She could not imagine how wild and crazy the mechers would become if they caught wind of the System.

Friends and allies such as Professor Jovy Armalon or even the awe-inspiring Evolution Witch may not be able to resist the temptation and turn against Ves for the purpose of plundering the System from his possession!

In fact, such thoughts briefly crossed her mind as well, but she quickly squashed them because the mere notion of it already desecrated her honor.

As a swordmaster, she could never allow herself to act despicably against her family and her friends.

She held her Bloodsinger and tried her best to center herself. At this time, the last thing she wanted to do was to get overtaken by her roiling emotions. She needed to maintain her rationality and take all of these changes with as much calm and control as possible.

"Show me." She requested. "Show me what this so-called System Space has to offer to me. I need more than verbal descriptions. I need to see for myself."

Ves studied the swordmaster carefully before nodding. "You are taking this quite well."

"Well, it is not as if I have always assumed you managed to go from being a small figure in the Bright Republic to a tier 3 galactic citizen in the span of two decades without receiving help from somewhere. I just assumed that your mother helped you in other ways.

I never expected her to gift you such a powerful inheritance which she has supposedly stolen from her old cult organization."

"My entire life has changed because of this System." He said. "I have little doubt that if I did not obtain it at the start of my career, I would have trudged along without accomplishing anything worthwhile.

Perhaps I possess a bit of talent, but without enough resources and opportunities, it is too difficult for a mech designer to climb his way up from mediocrity."

"Do you feel ashamed for relying so much on this System to reach the heights that you have reached today?"

"No." Ves shook his head. "Life is not fair. Everyone has a different starting point. People like Alexa Streon and Jovy Armalon are set up for success at the highest level before they are even born.

People who are born in a third-rate state like myself can never catch up to those kinds of privileged people unless we resort to uncommon means ourselves.

The System has indeed allowed me to overcome a lot of difficulties without as much effort, but after a few years of taking advantage of all of its services, I sobered up and consciously tried to reduce my reliance on all of its conveniences."

"Because you do not want to be reduced to a slave to this machine."

Ves nodded. "Mech designers can only progress as long as they approach their work earnestly.

It is okay for us to take shortcuts every now and then, but to do it so much to the point where we no longer bother to put in the hard work to study or design anything that exceeds our limits will mean that we have ceased to grow through an organic development process.

Just like how mech pilots must never rely too much on automation to fight their battles, we must also be vigilant to never rely on the functions of the System alone to produce all of our progress."

Ketis nodded in agreement. She knew that Ves was cautioning her out of a concern that she would grow mad with the power provided by the System.

It would be a shame for her to ruin her long-term prospects by getting spoiled by all of the amazing benefits that she gained when she became a user of this incredibly powerful relic.

While she continually tried to tell herself not to get too excited about what Ves had introduced to her, she could not hold in all of her curiosity.

It was impossible for her to deny the System entirely. She had hit several walls in her work as of late. Ves and many others were making rapid progress.

Though Ketis was rather special in that she was a mech designer as well as a swordmaster, none of these professions provided her with any way to accelerate her progress.

Even if her future potential was amazing due to being able to develop in two completely different ways at the same time, it didn't matter if she had to wait for several centuries before she had a chance to become a Star Designer and a sword god.

Ketis was tired of constantly being treated as a 'junior' who had yet to develop her potential to a sufficient degree.

She wanted to design mechs that could have an immediate and significant impact on human society.

This meant that she needed to progress faster. She wanted so badly to catch up and keep up with the likes of Ves. Only then would she be able to become powerful enough to enact meaningful change to human society.

"I know how to control myself." Ketis said as she made an effort to demonstrate her composure. "Besides, doesn't the System come with limitations that prevent its users from becoming omnipotent without putting in any effort?"

"It does. Let me explain it to you along the way. Let's visit the first facility."

The pair of mech designers finally began to move up the mountain. They took the first possible turn and stood before the Vault of Eternity.

"This is a big storage space." Ves said. "It can hold a lot of stuff. Originally, it was supposed to store items that are native to the System, but lately you can also rent a cubic meter of storage space by paying 10 Ascension Points a year."

"Ascension Points? Is that the currency the System uses to set the prices on its goods and services?"

"Yes. It originally used Design Points, but the System back then was a lot cruder and more limited at the time. Do not look down on a sum of 10 AP. It is normally very difficult to earn.

You can earn 1 AP by completing one mech design where you have led the design process. You can also earn a lot more AP through other means, but the System won't make it easy for you. I will explain it to you later.

For now, you should know that you can stuff pretty much anything except living organisms into the Vault of Eternity and retrieve it at any time."

"Even when I am separated from you by several light-years?"

"I haven't verified it yet, but it will most likely work." Ves replied with a touch of uncertainty in his tone. "I believe that the System is currently anchored to me, but that you will still be able to access its many useful services as long as you reside in the same galaxy.

Perhaps future upgrades may make it powerful enough that you can still access it if one of us has traveled to Messier 87. If you have the AP to spare in the future, I highly suggest that you rent a bit of space and stuff your combat armor and other survival gear into it.

You never know when you might need emergency gear one day."

Ketis definitely understood the value of being able to carry around weapons and armor in places where it was not possible for her to sneak in such dangerous equipment.

"I will definitely follow your advice."

The pair left the Vault of Eternity and reached the Wishing Fountain next.

Ves maintained a complicated expression as he gazed at the fountain.

"This is the Wishing Fountain. It is a giant lottery more or less. You can spend AP to buy a few low-tier lottery tickets, but in my personal experience, you can hardly get anything good.

It is better to find a way to earn more valuable lottery tickets before coming here to make use of an opportunity to draw a valuable prize."

"Is this where you get your strangely powerful gadgets such as that odd flute of yours?"

"You guessed right."

That caused Ketis to grow a lot more interested in the Wishing Fountain.

"Is it possible for this fountain to award me with a powerful sword?"

Ves chuckled and pulled a radiant lottery ticket from his pocket that he had previously retrieved from the Vault of Eternity.

"Most definitely, but it is not so easy to get a lottery ticket that can bestow you with such a prize. Take a look at this radiant lottery ticket of mine. Do you know what I had to do in order to earn this valuable reward?"

"No."

"The Mech Designer System awards me with a radiant lottery ticket for each masterwork mech designer that I have created with my own hands. It has to be because of the thought, passion and workmanship that I have put into my work that a mech is able to reach masterwork quality.

Machines that gradually evolve into masterworks by relying on Gloriana's god body method doesn't count. Do you understand the value of this ticket, Ketis?"

"I do"

After hearing that she needed to create a masterwork mech, her enthusiasm deflated.

Compared to Ves who was seemingly able to fabricate a masterwork mech every year, Ketis' craftsmanship was nowhere near as good!