The Mech Touch (Web Novel)

5913 Precious Boons

Ves tried his best to interpret the Subjugation King's alien speech.

Though Ves still harbored a lot of misgivings towards the God King, he at least became convinced that the powerful entity was both harmless and friendly for the time being.

That did not mean that Ves was willing to believe in the credibility of the Subjugation King. It would be the height of foolishness to let the krelion powerhouse dictate all of his choices.

The alien clearly had his own agenda, and it did not always align with that of Ves.

However, it was still undeniable that a God King knew his business around lightning tribulations and the possible rewards a lot better than nearly anyone else!

This was enough of a reason for Ves to tolerate the shadow of the Subjugation King and consider all of his words.

"$#&@#&@&$."

"I AM NOT FAMILIAR WITH THE QUANT CRAFTSMANSHIP OF YOUR RACE, BUT I HAVE IDENTIFIED NUMEROUS UNIVERSAL BOONS THAT EVERY ARTISAN YEARNS TO OBTAIN. YOU ARE IN AN EXCELLENT POSITION TO RAISE YOUR QUALIFICATIONS WHEN YOU ARE STILL IN AN EARLY STAGE OF YOUR DEVELOPMENT."

Even the Subjugation King regarded Senior Mech Designers as a weak and underdeveloped cultivator.

Ves still had a lot to go before he could treat Star Designers and God Kings on an equal basis.

"@#$&@&#@."

"SINCE YOU HAVE YET TO DEVELOP A PROPER DOMAIN, YOU HAVE THE RARE ABILITY TO SHAPE IT AND ALTER ITS CHARACTER IN ADVANCE. YOUR BLOOD CARRIES A STRONG CONNECTION TO THE POWER OF SPACE, YET IT IS NOT DEEPLY INTEGRATED INTO YOUR SOUL. YOU MAY ASK THE HEAVENS TO REMEDY THIS SHORTCOMING IF YOU RECOGNIZE IT AS SUCH. THIS SHOULD ALLOW YOU TO MORE EASILY CREATE ARTIFACTS THAT ARE MUCH MORE CAPABLE OF MANIPULATING SPACE."

That was a much more attractive suggestion! Ves could recognize the merits of this change, even if he was a little wary about messing with stuff that he did not fully understand.

Ves did not forget that he was a mech designer first. He never fully appreciated his identity as a phase lord, and he was not so certain whether it was a good idea to change his stance on the matter.

He feared that tying his status as a phase lord more deeply into his future domain would cause unpredictable mutations to his progression as a mech designer.

Right now, his design philosophy should be a perfect match to his nascent domain. If the two ever diverged significantly from each other, Ves was not certain whether it would be possible to progress his design philosophy any further!

The only way such a change could make sense to Ves was if he incorporated a spatial aspect into his design philosophy. That would cause everything to fall into alignment again and stave off a conflict that could stall his cultivation forever.

Ves furrowed his brows in thought.

Despite the potential pitfall, Ves felt a strong attraction to this proposal. As long as he was able to incorporate a spatial element to his design philosophy, he could design stronger and more exceptional mechs right away!

Ves could think of a lot of ways it would be useful for him to leverage such an advantage.

He could design living mechs that started off with their own small imaginary universes.

Just like the Blinkyverse, the living mechs needed to cultivate their own personal pocket spaces for a long time before it became strong enough to serve a useful purpose in battle.

Once the living mechs had grown powerful enough, they could leverage their own universes to accumulate E energy and expend it to power up their own hyper technology.

Perhaps the more powerful living mechs might be able to convert their imaginary universes into real pocket spaces.

This would not only allow his mechs to store a lot of supplies, but might also make them a lot more portable!

The first-raters already possessed the tech to store their cumbersome mechs into convenient pocket spaces, but the cost was far too prohibitive for most people.

If Ves was able to gain such a mastery over the space attribute that he could impart every living mech with the ability to develop their own pocket spaces, then that would make his products a lot more practical!

The advantages were too great. Even if many of these features were only limited to transphasic mechs, it was still a much more economical solution to grant pocket spaces to a large number of machines!

"I will consider this suggestion of yours." Ves told the shadow of the Subjugation King. "It intrigues me, but I need to explore my possibilities further before I am ready to make a definitive choice."

"#$&&@#@%$."

"A NATURAL TALENT IN SPACE IS RARE, EVEN IN MY A SEA OF STARS AS LARGE AS MY OWN. YOUR COLLECTION OF STARS MAY BE PITIFUL, BUT IT IS GREATLY INTERESTING TO LEARN THAT IT IS FLOODED WITH THE POWER OF SPACE. YOU WILL NEVER MAKE A MISTAKE IF YOU EMBRACE THIS CHANGE."

"I will think about it. What are your other suggestions? They must be pretty good if they can compete against this idea."

The shadow of the Subjugation King seemed to grow more comfortable now that it became clear that Ves was willing to listen to the powerful alien's suggestions.

"#$&$#$#."

"CRAFTING ARTIFACTS IS HEAVILY DEPENDENT ON THOUGHT AND CALCULATION. AS WITH MANY MORTAL SPECIES, YOUR BRAIN HEAVILY CONSTRAINS YOUR LEARNING AND WORKING SPEED. IF YOU WISH TO IMPROVE FASTER, THEN YOU CAN ASK FOR A BOON THAT ALLOWS YOU TO TRANSFORM YOUR BRAIN. YOU CAN ALSO MAKE IT STRONGER AND LESS VULNERABLE TO DAMAGE."

This was a less attractive suggestion to Ves. He understood its value and definitely believed it would help him in many ways, but it did not introduce anything truly new.

"I appreciate your suggestion, but my productivity is already fairly high. I think that there are other options that can make a more meaningful difference.

"#$&#&@@&#@#."

"YOU CAN ASK TO STRENGTHEN YOUR AFFINITY WITH THE ELEMENTS. YOUR COMPREHENSION OF LIFE AND METAL IS ALREADY HIGH. I CAN ASSURE YOU THAT YOU WILL BE ABLE TO CRAFT MORE POWERFUL ARTIFACTS IF YOUR UNDERSTANDING OF YOUR CORE ELEMENTS HAS IMPROVED."

"Those are not my only choices, correct?"

"ALMOST ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE." The Subjugation King affirmed. "YOU HAVE ALREADY DEVELOPED A SHALLOW UNDERSTANDING OF THE WATER ELEMENT AND RECENTLY LEARNED MUCH ABOUT THE FIRE ELEMENT. YOU CAN CONVERT THEM INTO A CORE SPECIALIZATION THAT CAN ALLOW YOU TO PRODUCE ARTIFACTS WITH STRONG ADVANTAGES. ASIDE FROM ITS TRADITIONAL ADVANTAGES, THE WATER ELEMENT ALSO POSSESSES A STRONG RELATION TO SPACE ELEMENT IN YOUR NATIVE SEA OF STARS. THE FIRE ELEMENT CAN MORE EASILY ENABLE YOU TO REPRODUCE SHIPS AS POWERFUL AS THE ONE THAT HAS ENDURED THE STORM WITHOUT RELYING ON THE POWER OF A FIRE GOD."

Ves was not too interested in developing a stronger specialization in the water element, but it was different for the fire element.

Fire was energy. Energy translated to power. Power was everything.

There were good reasons why the Big Two prioritized the acquisition of the Fire Scroll over all of the other Sacred Scrolls during their rebellion.

The Fire Scroll must have played a pivotal role in upgrading the overall power of their mechs and warships in the years after the Age of Conquest.

If the mechers and the fleeters recognized the importance of mastering the power of fire in the modern age, then Ves was no different!

The Dominion of Man's heavy reliance on the Spark Reactor and the Fire Elemental within was a strong example why everything ultimately came down to energy.

If Ves was able to gain a stronger affinity towards fire, it would not be impossible for him to grant all of his living mechs access to greater energy.

He would no longer have to rely so much on Master Benedict Cortez to supply his living mechs with an E energy reactor like his signature Endex System.

Ves would be able to install his own E energy reactors to his works!

His luminar crystal weapons also possessed a strong synergy with the fire element. It would be easy for him to enhance the firepower of many energy beams by infusing them with a greater concentration of fire energy.

Aside from all of these possible benefits, Ves would find it a lot easier to design Carmine mechs that could establish Bloodfire Pacts with their bonded mech pilots.

"I have the same concerns about improving my affinity towards fire as I do with space, but… it is a tempting idea." Ves responded. "I just need to figure out how to fully incorporate this additional factor into my work approach."

The shadow of the Subjugation King did not take any action to sway Ves to this choice.

"@#$&Y&^#@#@."

"YOUR DOMAIN IS OF GREAT IMPORTANCE. IT MUST BE SHAPED INTO A FORM THAT FULLY CONFORMS TO YOUR CULTIVATION AND YOUR GOALS. THIS IS NOT A LIGHT DECISION FOR YOU TO MAKE. IF YOU ARE AFRAID OF IMPAIRING YOUR DOMAIN DUE TO MAKING THE WRONG DECISIONS, THEN IT IS BETTER FOR YOU TO LET IT FORM IN ACCORDANCE WITH YOUR ORIGINAL CULTIVATION. LIFE AND METAL ARE ALREADY POWERFUL AND USEFUL COMBINATIONS."

The risks were certainly considerable. Ves had to be absolutely sure whether he wanted to change his design philosophy before he was ready to go down this route.

"What about safer options? There has to be a boon that can improve my work without adding so many complications."

"#&@&#@&#."

"YOU CAN ALLOW YOUR PARTIALLY SPLIT SOUL TO BEAR THE RISKS INSTEAD. THIS PURPLE PARASITE IS AN ODDITY THAT IS INTERESTING TO SEE IN A CULTIVATOR AS WEAK AS YOU. AS IMPRESSIVE AS IT IS TO SEE THAT YOU HAVE MANAGED TO SPLIT YOUR SOUL WITHOUT DRIVING YOURSELF TO MADNESS, THE RESULTS ARE NOT TOO IMPRESSIVE. YOU ARE NOT FULLY UTILIZING THE ADVANTAGES OF YOUR CONDITION."

Though Ves wanted to dispute that, the powerful God King probably knew a lot better about these kinds of matters.

"What do you suggest, then? Blinky has been useful in my work. He is also helpful in combat, as you yourself have witnessed through your clone."

"#@$&#&@#&@."

"IT IS BECAUSE A TRIVIAL SHARD OF MYSELF HAS FOUGHT AGAINST YOU THAT I AM CONVINCED THAT YOU ARE NOT MAKING PROPER USE OF YOUR 'BLINKY'. IT IS IMPRESSIVE FOR A SOUL OF THIS NATURE TO DEVELOP ITS OWN ITS INTERNAL UNIVERSE. YET IT IS NOT A TRUE UNIVERSE FOR IT IS ABSENT OF ANY ACTUAL MATTER. THE HEAVENS CAN CHANGE THIS. THE BOON YOU HAVE EARNED MAY NOT BE ENOUGH TO CONVERT YOUR ENTIRE UNIVERSE INTO A MATERIAL SPACE, BUT IT SHOULD AT LEAST BE ENOUGH TO OPEN UP A SPACE THAT IS LARGE ENOUGH TO HOST A SHIP, IF NOT AN ENTIRE PLANET."

Ves lit up when he heard this suggestion!

This was an incredibly attractive choice! He had always been wondering how the hell he was supposed to transform the Blinkyverse from a purely imaginary space into a material space.

He truly had no idea how he could make this conversion through ordinary means. Not even his mother was able to come up with a viable solution, and she was the one that expanded and optimized the Imaginary Universe Method in the first place!

It made far too much sense for him to ask the heavens to transform his Blinkyverse, because Ves seriously doubted whether anyone in the Red Ocean could produce a similar result.

There was a possibility that future advancements in the fields of phasewater technology, hyper technology and E-

technology may change that, but it would probably take decades before Ves gained the chance to engineer this transformation.

Ves also recognized that the larger his Blinkyverse became, the more costly it would be to convert it into a material universe.

If he chose to transform Blinky's internal universe at an early stage, then there was a large possibility that the material space would continue to expand further without requiring any exceptional measures.

Ves could save a huge amount of effort and resources in converting the entirety of his Blinkyverse into a material space in advance!