The Mech Touch novel Chapter 1242

Ves had the impression that the Caskar Pike design was a wolf in sheep’s clothing. It adopted a simple mech concept, but it probably hid a lot more nuances under its hood.

For this reason, Ves spent an entire hour studying the design schematics in greater detail.

In the past, whenever Ves attempted to study the work of a high-ranking mech designer, he faced a significant amount of danger. When he was an Apprentice, his design philosophy was still in a nascent state, which meant it was highly malleable.

While this malleability allowed Ves to constantly adjust and improve his design philosophy, it also made it vulnerable to outside influence!

Before, the Skull Architect deliberately tortured Ves by exposing him to designs and information that threatened his design philosophy.

If Ves did not possess a stronger-than-average Spirituality, then he might have succumbed to outside influence.

"Fortunately, that didn’t happen."

He knew his limits and properly paced his information intake.

Now that Ves once again came in touch with the Skull Architect’s work, he found that he didn’t have to bother with those precautions anymore.

His design seed solidified his design philosophy, making it much more resistant against outside influence. While that didn’t guarantee that Ves was immune to very strong attacks against his design philosophy, at the very least he could face the work of a Senior without fearing contamination.

"No wonder the Skull Architect placed higher expectations on me. He knows exactly how much better my design abilities have become now that I’m a Journeyman."

Even though he was no longer an Apprentice, Ves still failed to figure out the secret behind the Caskar Pike. He spent a lot of time in trying to study the abstruse portions of the spaceborn missileer’s design, but other than enduring a moderate amount of strain, he did not notice anything problematic.

Ves set aside the design. "I have plenty of time to tackle this problem. Right now, I’ve just returned. I’m in no mood to work on a mech design right now."

He stowed away the data chip into his toolbelt before returning his System comm back into his Inventory.

"What a convenient function." He sighed in admiration. "It should have come with this ability from the start."

Once he returned everything to normal and tidied up his desk, Ves nursed his head for a moment.

"Ugh. I’m still suffering from my earlier loss."

The main reason why he wasn’t in a mood to work on a mech design was because of his depleted spiritual energy. He expended way too much of his reserves when he attempted to fuse his mind with Ylvaine’s spiritual fragment and supercharged its aura.

Although his mind would eventually replenish what he lost, Ves expected that it would take months for his spiritual energy levels to return to its former glory.

Now, Ves constantly suffered from the illusion that his mind was empty. Although he could still work on a mech design, he couldn’t summon any of his usual passion and vigor towards his craft.

"It’s like I’m suffering from the mech designer’s equivalent of a writer’s block!"

Although Ves did not have any ongoing design projects on his plate right now, he did not wish to remain in this listless state while he tackled the Skull Architect’s designs.

"I need to recharge my tank somehow. There should be a way to accelerate my recovery."

Ves folded his fingers into each other as he considered how he could accomplish something unheard of like this. He knew that spiritual energy was quite valuable and hard to come by.

His excursions into the imaginary realm and his exposure to the holy relics of the Ylvaine Protectorate provided him with two possible avenues to plunder spiritual energy.

"Yet it’s never simple as that."

Spiritual energy came in many different attributes. Ves didn’t know what his own attribute was, but it was probably related to mechs.

Ves had no way of knowing if his spiritual energy encompassed mechs in their entirety or a specific type of mechs. Perhaps his spiritual energy attribute was wholly unique to his mind and his design philosophy.

If this was the case, then it was impossible for Ves to replenish his spiritual energy from other sources without converting their attributes.

Not even Qilanxo’s spiritual fragment attempted this conversion process! This showcased how difficult it was to accomplish such a thing!

In any case, Ves did not even know if it was safe or wise to resort to external sources in the fist place. While he witnessed the likes of Eloise Pelican and Jannzi Larkinson breaking past their limits with the help of an external boost, the side effects were quite severe!

At least in the case of Jannzi, her mindscape had been forcefully expanded to the point where some holes opened up that caused her to leak out her force of will!

Right now, Ves didn’t know how much she recovered during the months she advanced to expert candidate. Because of her enlistment into the Apocalypse Heralds, Ves couldn’t call her up or request her current status.

"Well, I haven’t received any alarming notifications so her recovery is probably going smoothly."

Considering that Jannzi was likely okay, Ves figured that it was an acceptable risk for him to supplement his spiritual energy with an external source

The question was where he should get it. The most straightforward source would be to plunder the mind of another mech designer, but Ves had attempted it before. What if his target found out? What if he encountered fierce defenses?

"I shouldn’t underestimate mech designers. They’re equivalent to expert pilots."

While they were completely different in many ways, on a spiritual level they possessed an equivalent amount of strength. It was just that their professions caused them to diverge in their application of spirituality.

On a basic level, a Journeyman like Ves possessed a very solid and concentrated design seed which was very difficult to crack. Surrounding that was a thin cloud of loose spiritual energy.

Ves was very short of the latter right now. Although it didn’t appear to be as important as the design seed, their absence really hampered his enthusiasm to design a mech!