The Mech Touch

Chapter 7078: Ves the Naughty Boy

Over the ensuing week, Ves met with more trade brokers and the sellers they found for him. He attended a lot of meetings and discussed business with plenty of people.

Ves felt as if he was rapidly integrating into the bustling business scene of Yernstall IV. He quickly became a known figure among this community.

The Larkinson Clan made a lot of small to mid-sized concessions during this busy week.

With the Saint Commander’s approval, Ves traded away bits and pieces of mid-grade and high-grade superdimensional matter, depleting the strategic reserves of the Larkinson Clan by a worrisome degree.

The only reasons why Ves and Casella did not feel more concern about giving away all of this superdimensional matter was because Ketis was close to opening up another dimension breach.

With the handful of upgrades to the Dimension Observatory, the next mining run should definitely deliver a greater yield than in the past two mining runs!

Of course, not everything deserved to be paid with this precious resource.

The Larkinson Clan freely exchanged strategic goods that it had plundered from the battlefield such as phasewater, salvaged high-grade exotics, mutated beasts, high-ranking alien prisoners and even phasewater organs.

Ves did not agree with exchanging that last part, but this was one issue where the Saint Commander insisted on standing her ground.

“We cannot keep piling up these gigantic phasewater organs inside enormous vaults that all require tight security in order to deter thieves from robbing them.” Her physical projection calmly explained to Ves. “It would be one thing if our researchers are actually capable and numerous enough to derive useful studies from them, but that is not the case. Despite your focused investments in the Larkinson Biotech Institute, it simply cannot scale up as fast as necessary to study and make good use of all of those phasewater organs. The fact of the matter is that we can get much more out of them if we sell them straight away rather than hoard them for no good reason.”

“But…”

“I am aware of your interest in them, but there are limits to what our biotech researchers can do.” Casella said. “The only way to quickly improve our ability to research the phasewater organs is to take over an R&D institution that has already developed the right expertise for it. That is impossible as the Red Association and the Red Collective control virtually all of them. They will never let them go even if we offer high-grade superdimensional matter in return. Given that our clan only has one human phase lord and a compromised one at that, I cannot think of any justification to maintain our heavy investment in the research of phase lord organs.”

“…”

The Saint Commander understood why this policy decision would make the former patriarch upset, but she had to take her duties as the new leader of the Larkinson Clan seriously.

This was not a problem where she could fudge the truth and get away with prioritizing private interests over public interests.

The pros and cons of each decision were too far apart from each other.

The clan could save a lot of expenses and allocate its research capacity a lot more effectively.

Since Casella was being so serious about this, Ves had little choice but to concede this argument.

He knew she was making the right decision for him as well. There were other organizations that could make much better use of the phasewater organs harvested from the greater phase lords felled by the Larkinsons.

This was a better benefit for red humanity as a whole as it needed to convert as much of its plunder into its armed forces as possible.

“Fine. I am not opposed to selling most of the phasewater organs, but I would still like for us to retain the rarest and most relevant organs for me. Even if my phase lord cultivation is more of a detriment than an asset to the clan these days, who knows whether that will change in the future.”

“Which organs do you want us to hold on then, Ves? Let me tell you that I will agree to retain 6 phasewater organs. That will give you enough of a selection and will keep all of our in-house specialists on phasewater organs busy for a long time.”

What a small quota. A total of just 6 phasewater organs was too restrictive for his tastes.

“Can I get a few more? There are a lot of attractive organs that have great implications for me if I am successfully able to implant a version of them into my true body.”

“No.” The matriarch flatly said, making it clear that she did not intend to quibble over this issue.

Ves sighed. “Fine. Let me think about it for a moment. I need to go over the list of old and new phasewater organs that are currently in our possession.”

He quickly pulled up the list of organs, including the most recent ones harvested from the carcass of the Fifth Lord of Bis’qet.

[2x Phasewater Production System – produces phasewater

1x greater Norigo organ – accelerated healing through rapid digestion

2x greater Marigal organ – increase density and durability of flesh

1x lesser Sympatico organ – remotely interface with archetech products

1x lesser Collie organ – split mass to form a miniature clone

1x greater Vaushkin organ – instantly propels a phase lord forward

1x greater Tarsei organ – anchors a phase lord in space and calms nearby space

1x greater Fareid organ – massively extends detection range of warp bubbles

1x greater Lodid organ – significantly increases warp factor of warp travel

1x greater Aenid organ – moderately increases reaction speed and strengthens reflexes

1x greater Zwein organ – generates organic beacon that transmit superdimensional signals]

Ves did not have a clear impression of it, but now that he glanced at the list, he had to admit that the Saint Commander was right to worry about all of the massive organs piling up in the LBI’s biostorage facilities.

When he went over the organs harvested from the Fifth Lord of Bis’qet, he was able to recognize a definite pattern.

“The Fifth Lord of Bis’qet was probably a naughty boy.” He said with an amused voice. “From what I can tell about his selection of greater phasewater organs, much of them are geared towards tracking and intercepting starships or maybe even other phase lords that are engaged in warp travel. The greater Fareid organ can serve a defensive or offensive purpose, but when you combine it with the greater Lodid organ, the combination lends itself too well towards commerce raiding… or piracy.”

There was no way the Fifth Lord of Bis’qet had noble intentions when he integrated this set of greater phasewater organs!

This stood in stark contrast to the much more honorable and upstanding Arena Lord of Ya’gwasa, whose phasewater organs were largely geared towards strengthening his direct combat capabilities.

Both of them were nunser greater phase lords, yet their inclinations differed enormously. This reminded Ves that the nunsers were anything but uniform. They encompassed vastly different individuals just like humans.

Casella was not interested in the Fifth Lord’s dirty laundry. From the moment Saint Dise ended his life, he ceased to be a point of concern.

This was in contrast to the Protector of Karnak, who successfully fought against a full superdimensional ace mech and lived to tell the tale. He would definitely convey a lot of critical intelligence back to his phase whale masters!

“Make your choice, Ves. The sooner you decide, the sooner we can clear our inventory.”

“Fine, fine. Let me think about what I want.”

Ves recognized that he needed to specialize just as the nunser greater phase lords had done. It was not feasible to integrate many different phasewater organs with many different functions.

Just like how most mech pilots specialized in specific mech archetypes, Ves felt it was prudent to stick to one mode.

So what did he want to become? A pure warrior?

No. Ves was not a fighter, and his alter ego Sev never enjoyed formal combat training. It was too much to ask for either of them to duel and brawl against actual warriors.

Ves believed he needed to synergize his own phase lord capabilities with the features of his upcoming Polymetal mech.

Now that he had made a lot of strides in setting up the design project, he had a better idea of what he would end up with. The Polymetal mech possessed both productive and destructive capabilities. This meant that it was at least partially supportive in function.

That suited Ves a lot better than punching phase lords in the face like a simple brute.

He decided to commit to a support role, even if he needed to force Sev to concede control over his true body in order to make effective use of his upcoming Polymetal mech.

In order to make his selection easier, he crossed out the options that he did not need as much as the others.

No phasewater organ was useless, but some were less relevant to him than others.

He decided to get rid of the greater Marigal organs and the greater Norigo organ because he shouldn’t be brawling so heavily that he needed to increase his durability and self-recovery capabilities.

He chose to remove the lesser Sympatico organ because interfacing with archetech was more relevant to Gloriana than himself.

He removed the greater Vaushkin organ because charging forward sounded like the most dispensable ability.

He crossed out the greater Aenid organ because it was most relevant to brawlers and weapon masters.

This left him with a reduced selection of phasewater organs that definitely slanted heavily towards the Fifth Lord of Bis’qet.

In other words, Ves would rather become a naughty boy than an honorable warrior!

He could see many potential uses for the ability to detect distant entities traveling in warp and trying to overtake them before yanking them back into realspace!

Only by plundering more aliens would Ves and the Larkinson Clan be able to continue to enrich themselves!

“I have made my selection.” He announced. “I would like you to preserve a single Phasewater Production System, a lesser Collie organ, a greater Tarsei organ, a greater Fareid organ, a greater Lodid organ and a greater Zwein organ.”

Casella Ingvar instantly understood what Ves was going for. “Are you sure about your choices? You are sacrificing self-defense for utility. With the bounty on your head, you need all of the protection that you can get. Most of your dreams will end once you are killed.”

“I am sure.” Ves said with a determined voice. “If I want to strengthen my defenses, I will rely on my upcoming Polymetal mech to do that. What I need are capabilities that are difficult to replicate with technology.”

Since he sounded so certain, the matriarch did not attempt to persuade Ves any further. He was old and wise enough to make his own decisions.

“Very well, then. I will inform the LBI to package the unwanted phasewater organs and prepare them for shipping. I will permit you to seek out trades where you can exchange them for necessary goods and services. I highly advise you to exchange at least one of them for external R&D support in the study of our remaining phasewater organs. The sooner we use them up, the better.”

“I was just about to make that request. It is good to hear that we are of the same mind on this issue. I am sure the Transhumanist Faction of the RA or the Phase Lord Department of the RC would be happy to lend us their expertise after we reveal what we are willing to offer.”

Despite all of the concerns about Sev, having a stronger and more capable phase lord on hand might save their hides one day.

Now that he had made his selection, he no longer felt bad about clearing out the less relevant phasewater organs.

He felt liberated as he had chosen a focused and more concrete development trajectory for his phase lord cultivation.

Although Ves still had a few concerns about strengthening his alter ego, enough time had passed since the initial emergence of Sev to conclude that the latter could not arbitrarily take control.

So long as Ves restrained himself from unfolding his true body, he was sure he could keep his more savage and inhuman personality in check.

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