The Mech Touch

5638 Your Shipment Has Arrived

Ves spent the week after his return to New Constantinople on resuming his regular duties.

From managing his growing clan's affairs to resuming his lectures at the Eden Institute of Business & Technology, there was always a priority that needed to be addressed.

Multiple major developments took place at the same time. The Larkinson Clan and the Devos Ancient Clan had already explored each other's demands and came close to forming multiple lucrative agreements.

The Eternal Vulcan Empire had already dispatched a batch of 10 talented Novice Mech Designers, but they would still take a bit of time to arrive due to long traversal distance.

However, the primary reason why Ves did not engage in any intensive or important work was because he wanted to save up his energy.

Each day, he waited for a progress report that conveyed the status of a number of important shipments.

Ves had no way of speeding up the travel time of the vessels that carried his important cargo, but he could still track the passages and make sure he reached the peak of his condition by the time he finally received his first shipment.

"Papa! Papa! Can I borrow your flute again?" Aurelia asked shortly after she returned from another day at the Joan Devos Elementary School.

"Sure. Remember to treat it with care and respect."

"I know, papa. The flute is just as alive as Lucky."

"Meow?"

The recovering gem cat raised his head for a moment before he went back to nuzzling his head onto Marvaine, causing the little boy to giggle.

Despite his busy schedule, Ves always made sure to spend at least a few hours every day with his family. His recent absence from his children along with everything he had experienced during his trip to Bortele made him value his time with his family even more.

His kids were so innocent and energetic that Ves wanted to enjoy these moments forever. Yet it was exactly because they would grow up sooner or later that he cherished this pleasure while it lasted.

Sooner or later, Aurelia, Andraste and Marvaine would all grow up and start their own families.

Ves looked forward to those days as well, but he would definitely miss the times where he could play with his children without too many concerns on his mind.

As the kids continued to play and run around in a private forest that fell within the expansive territory around Diandi Base, Ves began to think about how he should utilize the resources that he had recently accumulated.

He had built up a small stockpile of Lucky's gems, the harvested spiritualities of different powerful entities, all manner of strange and useful hyper materials and more.

In addition to that, the expeditionary fleet also accrued way more alien plunder than the Golden Skull Alliance knew what to do with it all. If nobody was able to make good use of all of the salvage, then the only way to profit from these goods was to sell them in a place like Bortele.

He sighed. "There is too little time."

The current state of calm was illusionary. The Red War continued to intensify and the transformation of the greater beyonder gate remained on track.

Further away from the Red Ocean, an unknowable extra-galactic threat steadily moved closer at an astounding pace.

How could Ves possibly relax under the circumstances?

If he wanted to protect the lives of his children and everyone he cared about in the Red Ocean, he needed to step up and speed up his progress!

At the very least, he needed to make use of much of the resources that were currently sitting around and doing nothing. Their potential remained untapped so long as they continued to languish inside his vault and other facilities.

For example, he saved up a lot of gems produced by Lucky. A few of them were years old. Ves had almost completely forgotten about them as there never appeared to be a good opportunity for them to play a useful role.

Ves originally intended to save them in case he needed their power in a critical moment, but now that he had separated himself from the expeditionary fleet, he no longer valued this contingency option as much as before.

He may as well let go of his restraint and make more proactive use of them. The pilots of mechs that he had blessed would definitely appreciate the additional boosts. His resource utilization might even save a lot of lives down the line!

As the days went by, the first major shipment finally arrived!

One of the Red Association's courier vessels had devoted much of her cargo space to carrying a large container.

When the mechers finally teleported the large and heavy container in one of the mech hangars of Diandi Base, Ves went down as soon as possible.

His wife curiously followed suit.

"You have been waiting all week for this shipment." Gloriana said as she wore yet another expensive first-class outfit that complemented her appearance nicely. "Will you start right away?"

Ves nodded as he eagerly approached and transmitted the codes that would unlock the container.

"I will. I especially rearranged my teaching schedule and worked with Gavin to address or postpone every other obligation in the next few days."

After the locked container verified and accepted the codes, it soon began to unfold and completely flatten itself onto the floor.

A large mech came into view.

Both Ves and Gloriana took in the living mech that had traveled a long way from the deep frontier.

"This is…"

"He is called the Zeal." Ves said with a touch of appreciation in his tone. "He is one of the original Transcendent Punishers and has partnered up with Commander Taon Melin for a long time. He has already lived so long that he has already evolved into a third order living mech. He should have gained the qualifications to develop Ascension Runes by that time, but his current version model doesn't contain this innovation. Upgrading him to Mark III should address this shortcoming as well as many others."

Gloriana looked impressed. "So this is why you insisted on delaying the completion of the Transcendent Punisher Mark III Project. Rather than fabricate a fresh new copy of your updated work, you wanted to upgrade an existing old stalwart instead."

"That's right. I already had the intention of giving Taon's mech my personal attention. The information that I have recently obtained from numerous sources has only strengthened my intentions of doing the legion commander a favor."

"Commander Melin is one of the expert candidates who has remained stalled for many years, is that correct?"

"Yes, but unlike with the case of Lanie Larkinson who wants to strengthen her foundation and wants to attain a more powerful ability, Taon Melin has remained muddle-headed for far too long to make any progress. There are indications that he may have matured enough to find his way and take a step forward, but I want to give him an extra boost by transforming his machine into a powerful masterwork mech just to be sure."

Gloriana understood her husband's plan.

"I see. You want to force his breakthrough by equipping him with a masterwork mech that is more easily able to drag him upwards. Is it not more convenient to subject him to your transcendence glow?"

"That is true. I haven't forgotten about it. I already asked Venerable Joshua to give Taon Melin a powerful dash of the transcendence glow in the next major engagement of the expeditionary fleet. Now that we have entered a relatively stable development period, we have time to design multiple new expert mechs, especially now that our productivity has skyrocketed."

His wife frowned. "Do not be too liberal with the transcendent glow. I am not too certain whether we can handle the increased workload. Do not forget that we have to keep up with our studies as well. It is better to become a first-class mech designer sooner rather than later."

"Don't worry about that. Even if I am not actively studying, then my cyborg leg is making sure to engage in continuous self-study."

In fact, Ves had access to more incarnations that could help him study a lot of stuff. Vulcan actually mastered a lot of advanced and diverse knowledge, but the problem with his method of learning was that it was not directly transferable.

He was still able to consult with his external incarnation and master the principles of high technologies a lot faster. It was like having a private tutor that understood him the best.

The two soon turned their attention back to the Zeal. The mech looked as if it was completely dormant, but Ves was not fooled. Every third order living mech was able to maintain a considerable degree of awareness even when all of their systems were shutdown.

"Zeal! Are you ready to receive your long-awaited upgrade?"

The heavy and imposing six-legged mech began to exhibit a bit of activity. Its large three eyes flashed in pure white.

[THE GREAT PROPHET HAS FORESEEN THE RESULT. I SHALL BE REBORN AS A MASTERWORK MECH UNDER THE HANDS OF THE PROGENITOR. ONCE I RETURN TO THE FLEET AND REUNITE WITH MY BATTLE PARTNER, THE PERSISTENCE OF HIS FAITH SHALL BAPTIZE HIM IN THE FLAMES OF WAR.]

"...Okay. I guess that means you're eager and happy."

[YES.]

Gloriana stared at the Zeal for a few seconds before she suddenly frowned.

"Wait. Ylvaine has already foreseen that you have turned it into a masterwork mech?"

Ves nodded with a smile. "Don't you know what my level of craftsmanship has reached these days? As long as the fabrication run is important enough, I am very confident that I can reach the second rung of Senfovon's Ladder of Craftsmanship. One of the other reasons why I have waited for so long is because I care a lot about Commander Melin. The stakes of his upcoming run are rather high, so I have enough pressure to push me to this result. It is better than fabricating a brand-new copy of the Transcendent Punisher Mark III that will eventually be handed over to a faceless clansman."

"I see!That is rather thoughtful of you, Ves. I will help you in order to make sure that you will not disappoint the legion commander. You only have one real chance of succeeding in this attempt."

"Good. Your help will certainly help me finish this fabrication run faster. Upgrade attempts are quite troublesome and a heavy mech always imposes a greater workload. Just remember that I am in charge this time. The Transcendent Punisher line has always been one of my babies. I adapted many of the design solutions of the Supremo Project to the Transcendent Punisher Mark III. No one else understands this iteration better than myself."

Though his wife did not entirely like it, she could not argue against her husband's logic.

"Very well. I shall follow your lead, but do not expect me to remain silent the moment you start to lose control and give in to your worst urges. I do not want you to ruin this potentially great mech just because your 'inspiration' compelled you to go crazy in improvising this mech."

Ves raised his palms in innocence. "Hey, I am not that stupid! As I have said before, I have already learned my lesson. I have actually spent the last few days on developing a custom variant of the Transcendent Punisher Mark III. I need to make sure that the mechers won't get their greedy hands on the machine as soon as I have completed it. I also want it to cooperate with Taon Melin even better."

"What? You customized a mech by yourself?! Are you stupid? I am a specialist in this field! I am much more proficient in this task than an amateur such as yourself!"

"There is no need to go all out for a glorified standard mech!" Ves retorted. "It is better to wait until Taon Melin finally breaks through. Once he becomes an expert pilot, that is when you can design a proper expert mech for him. Until then, it is best to retain the original character of the Zeal as much as possible."

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