The Mech Touch

"I shouldn't rush this decision."

The apparent evolution and specialization of the Mech Designer System was a life changing event to Ves. Whether he liked it or not, he could not deny that this mysterious existence massively boosted his chances of becoming a Star Designer one day.

Given how so many other mech designers who leveraged different advantages but ultimately failed to overcome the final obstacle, Ves did not dare to distance himself too much from the  System.

No matter the negative repercussions of making too much use of the System, it was better to become a Star Designer like the Polymath than a hopeless Senior or Master like many other professionals in the industry!

After making this determination, Ves began to think about the role the System should play in his life.

Should he mainly utilize its functions to boost his already considerable strengths and allow him to excel even more in his chosen roles?

Or should he leverage the System to plug his weaknesses and turn him into a more rounded person?

Ves agonized over this basic choice. He could come up with arguments that supported one or the other.

As a mech designer, he strongly favored specialization. Trying to get better at what he was already good at was the most conventional and established way for people in modern society to get ahead.

A doctor was valued for his ability to save and treat people.

He would become a lot more useful and valued if his ability to successfully pull off surgeries had received a massive boost!

However, if the doctor spent much time on taking self-defense classes and practicing his marksmanship, it was unlikely that he would do any better in his actual job.

"The real difference is when the doctor gets in trouble."

That was when all of the effort he put into increasing his self-defense capabilities came in handy. He would be able to beat off muggers and prevent himself from getting killed in situations where he could not rely on the authorities to protect his life!

Therefore, his paranoid self that had stumbled into way more sticky situations than almost every other mech designer felt more attracted to the alternative option.

There was real value in strengthening his defenses, which was a traditional weakness of a non-combatant like himself.

"I can't forget that safety is an illusion in this galaxy and cosmos."

Struggle was everywhere. There was an endless list of alien races from the Red Ocean and the Milky Way that wanted nothing more than to crush the humans that had pressed them out of their territories.

Within human space itself, infighting between different groups of humans were rife as states and organizations all competed over the same basket of limited resources.

Laws were merely words on an electronic document. They could not restrain the beasts among human and alien groups from taking what they wanted by force.

Only force was able to defend against force.

One of the fundamental lessons that he had learned throughout all of his adventures and expeditions was that entrusting his safety and wellbeing to ephemeral concepts such as laws, customs, and friendly relations was a big mistake!

Rather than relying on other people's goodwill, Ves would rather build up his own power, which was exactly what he had been doing all this time.

The Larkinson Clan in its current state made him feel much more safe than he had ever been in the past!

The question now was whether he should leverage the System to strengthen his ability to deal with even greater threats!

Right now, Ves did not feel completely safe against every conceivable threat. There were massive alien fleets as well as powerful organizations like the Big Two, the first-rate superstates and the Five Scrolls Compact that could easily crush the Golden Skull Alliance at any point if they wanted!

The chances of this happening was unlikely, but Ves would rather not rely too much on rosy assumptions. What if the Terrans suddenly thought he was a nuisance that had to be wiped off the face of the map? There was little he could do to resist such a whimsical and unjust decision in his current state!

"If I want to boost my ability to defend against threats, which of the upgrade tracks would suit me best?"

Ves did not feel conflicted at all about this particular decision. If he had to choose between Mech Pilot Cultivation, Unparalleled Combat and Personal Piloting Cultivation, then only one of them was a suitable choice for a mech designer!

Mech Pilot Cultivation would not only allow him to resolve his concerns regarding Andraste's genetic aptitude, but he would also be able to facilitate the growth of his other mech pilots.

He had high hopes for people such as Venerable Joshua, but that did not mean he was guaranteed to become a god pilot one day!

If Ves was able to improve the conditions of Joshua and many other loyal and trustworthy mech pilots, then he could surround himself with an army of all-powerful soldiers who could take on any human or alien army!

Although relying on mech pilots to protect him did not sound as self-sufficient as turning himself into the ultimate commando or mech pilot, there was only so much he could do by relying on his own personal power.

"The Five Scrolls Compact is the embodiment of the failure of this approach."

What Ves admired about the Compact was that its spiritual sorcerers or whatever they were called over there were immensely strong in a personal capacity.

However, plenty of powerful figures from this dreaded cult had met their downfall due to putting too much stock in their personal strength!

Ves would prefer to keep doing what he had already been doing, which was building a large and formidable mech army that could take on increasingly stronger threats.

This was why he was seriously eying Mech Pilot Cultivation. Other than Divine Hussain Albedo, he had never heard of anyone else that could replicate the functions of this upgrade track!

As much as he felt tempted to make this choice right away, he did not rush to do so. He still had to see whether the alternatives were any better.

He briefly considered the other four upgrade tracks.

Mental Projection, Spiritual Ascension, Technological Supremacy and Ultimate Craftsmanship were all capable of increasing his self-defense capabilities to an extent as well.

Though none of them were as ridiculous as directly empowering mech pilots, the difference was that excelling in spiritual engineering or technology would allow him to build the tools that could subsequently strengthen his mech pilots in a different manner!

"There is a fundamental difference between Mech Pilot Cultivation and these choices. The former is a black box that will make me completely dependent on the System while the latter will allow me to build up my own theories and applications."

There was no doubt that relying on developing his own tech was much slower and more difficult than relying on the instant convenience provided by the System.

Yet in a circumstance where he was not overly pressed for time, Ves could afford to take the slower route. It was not as if a powerful alien threat was looming right above his head at the moment!

As a creator, mech designer and innovator, Ves felt much greater affinity for the upgrade tracks that facilitated his strengths.

This was how he used the System before and with great results, so why should he turn away from this success formula?

Each of the four creative options appealed to him in different ways.

Mental Projection was the most unreasonable upgrade track of all. Even though it did not sound as if he could directly increase his skills or abilities, just the fact that he was able to snoop into the minds of people in both the past and present time was a reality-defying power!

Depending on who he inhabited and when the visit took place, he could make or unmake entire states and change the course of human history in his favor!

Ves only needed to remind himself of the Vulcan Empire and General Axelar Streon to know how much he could manipulate the society he lived in. If he made more focused changes, he could stack the deck in his favor to the point where he could become the protector and ruler of human civilization in the dark!

"Still… should I truly be spending my efforts on messing about with time and manipulating the lives of random people?"

All of this sounded like a distraction from his true work and calling. It was also a lot more difficult to secure direct gains for himself.

The other three options were much more direct and personal to him. Though each of them came with their fair share of issues, Ves had no doubt he would be able to accelerate his progress as a mech designer and advance much faster up the ranks than normal with the help of the benefits brought by any of these upgrade tracks!

"Between Technological Supremacy, Spiritual Ascension and Ultimate Craftsmanship, the first and the latter aren't that attractive to me. I'll get in trouble with the Polymath if I excel too much in harnessing technology and Vulcan is already on his way to excel in craftsmanship."

The only area where the System could truly help a lot was enhancing his spiritual engineering capabilities.

Ves had long been in his home with regards to furthering his spiritual development. Though he had slowly surrounded himself with design spirits as well as other spiritual adepts such as the Aduc Family, he still struggled to make progress because of lacking access to the rich infrastructure and accumulation of more established organizations such as the Five Scrolls Compact.

If he selected Spiritual Ascension as his choice of upgrade track, he could make so much progress on this front that he might be able to match and exceed this infamous cult in the future!

"The Five Scrolls Compact originally derived their knowledge and abilities from the Sacred Scrolls." Ves surmised. "If the cultists can do it, then so can I! As long as I work hard enough, I'll be able to beat them at their own game!"

He still felt mixed about this choice, though. He wanted to become a better mech designer, and focusing too much of his energy on spiritual engineering sounded like a distortion of his original purpose.

He was already happy with his current course. It was not necessary for him to be all-knowing and all-powerful in the field of spiritual engineering. He just needed to develop enough useful applications to impart new synergies in his mech designs.

As Ves weighed this option along with the other ones, he could not come to a definite choice. Each of them came with their own pros and cons.

He needed help!

"Hey System, can you pull me out of this weird extradimensional space and let me discuss my decisions and future strategy with my friends and family?"

At a junction like this, Ves found that it was always better to obtain input from other sources. Many different people such as Calabast and Shederin possessed a wealth of wisdom and could always point out useful factors from new and unfamiliar angles.

This was especially important for a major decision like this. 

[...]

"It would really help, you know!"

[...]

"C'mon! I won't make a choice unless you bring me back to the present so that I can actually talk and gather more advice! You can't expect me to decide your future upgrade path without fully thinking this through!"

It appeared that his persuasion worked, because Ves suddenly found that his consciousness had left the strange ethereal space and returned to his body!

"Meow?"

Lucky, who hadn't seemed to notice that Ves had temporarily moved to another space, curiously flew closer and poked his face with an extended pauw.

"I was just distracted for a moment, Lucky. Let's take a walk, shall we? I need to gain more perspective in my life."

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