The Mech Touch novel Chapter 1253

Even though it was extremely expensive to live in the Centerpoint System, plenty of people managed to eke out a living anyway.

Some of the people who lived in the star system were either internal members of the MTA or family members of one. In fact, just like the Common Fleet Alliance, entire families or dynasties emerged who continually brought up descendents to work for the Mech Trade Association.

These were the most privileged residents of the star system. The money they earned from their service to the MTA came in the form of MTA credits.

Often called mech credits, they were almost identical to the CFA’s fleet credits. It was as if the two organizations copied each other’s homework.

A mech credit possessed an extremely high purchasing power even in the shops of the MTA. According to the current exchange rate, a single mech credit was worth around 3.6 billion bright credits!

"Damn! So high!" Ves cursed when he looked up the figures.

It was a humbling moment for Ves when he realized that his entire net worth only amounted to a handful of mech credits!

A typical internal MTA mech technician earned around 10 mech credits per month! That was a lot more than what most hard-working mech designers earned in their lifetimes!

The difference between the earning power of a citizen from the galactic rim and an internal member of the MTA was simply too vast!

Still, at least the MTA wasn’t as insular as the CFA. People like Charlotte received an opportunity to prove themselves in order to enter their ranks. Once she passed her probationary period, she could expect to draw a salary of around 20 mech credits a month.

This was an insane amount of money, enough to make a lot of waves in the Bright Republic!

Naturally, because of their extremely high value, the MTA and CFA regulated their currencies quite strictly. It was a virtual currency that existed only in their central database, which meant that they tracked every transaction.

Overall, they did a pretty good job in preventing the wealthy citizens of the Centerpoint System from throwing the rest of the star sector in chaos.

"It’s not completely foolproof, though."

There were means to convert fleet credits and mech credits into other currencies or valuable trade goods. However, doing this introduced a lot of other problems. Pirates loved to hijack shipments of trade goods worth billions of bright credits.

"It isn’t worthwhile for them to meddle in the star sector anyway."

While it sounded as if every internal member of the MTA possessed an unimaginable amount of wealth, they could only earn this much because they were a lot more productive and capable than baseline humans.

From genetic optimization treatments to implants and augments, these people had to save thousands of mech credits to afford another upgrade. Accumulating upgrades was one of the prerequisites to earning a promotion that allowed MTA personnel to climb higher in the ranks!

Better upgrades cost vastly more mech credits than ordinary ones, which meant that their upper classes had a much easier time remaining at the top than their rank and file.

In this way, the MTA managed to maintain social stability among their own members. Everyone who entered their ranks had a clear if difficult path to promotion. The rank and file was happy with any opportunity for upward mobility, while the upper ranks were content as well as they could use their abundant wealth to give their descendents a considerable head start.

"Naturally, there are always some who can’t keep up and wash out."

The MTA paid a lot to its internal members, but demanded a lot in return as well. They didn’t hesitate to kick out members who were slacking off or failed to meet the high standards of the Association.

From what Ves read on the galactic net, most of the internal members that the MTA fired usually left the Centerpoint System. Most migrated to the galactic heartland or other, more prosperous star sectors, while the least capable could only go as far as the Friday Coalition or the Hexadric Hegemony.

"In general, the MTA is pretty fair in this regard." Ves thoughtfully concluded.

The MTA constantly took in lucky new recruits from impoverished regions while kicking out the bums and incompetents from their ranks. This continuous movement of people kept the organization dynamic and more in touch with the people they protected.

This contrasted sharply with what he knew of the CFA. They were a lot more rigid and hierarchical. It was a lot more difficult for someone to obtain a higher class no matter how hard they worked. Space peasants could forget about entering their ranks!

While the CFA didn’t exhibit much diversity as a result, they possessed a much stronger common identity. Everyone possessed the same background. They could all count on each other to think and perform in the same way.

Ves found it fascinating how the CFA and the MTA diverged in their thinking of this matter. From a broader perspective, their divergent human resource policies betrayed their stance towards the people they protected.

"While they are both smug and elitist, the CFA is a lot more contemptuous of space peasants than the MTA. At least the latter still consider themselves to be a part of humanity rather than standing above them. Sometimes, I wonder why they still bother to guard over human space."

He never looked that much into how the MTA was run. As part of the Big Two, the Association was unimaginably big and powerful. Ves never thought he could ever enter their vortex.

"It’s different now."

The MTA cared a lot about mechs. As long as a mech pilot or mech designer excelled in mechs in any way, they became worthy of consideration.

In practice, that meant that every expert pilot and Journeyman Mech Designer could expect to obtain some benefits from them. Even if they weren’t able to become internal members and earn a salary in mech credits, they could still enjoy some services as external members.

It was kind of like his current relationship with the Flashlight, now that Ves thought about it. Remaining in the periphery meant that while Ves wouldn’t be able to enjoy a lot of benefits, he wouldn’t be forced to follow the whims of these organizations either.

Considering his current situation, Ves preferred to keep a healthy distance from the MTA. While earning mech credits sounded really attractive, he valued his life and his freedom even more!

He also read up on how they regarded design philosophies. While the galactic net didn’t offer that much information, he did find out a handy list of all the different classifications they came up with after several hundred years of refinement.

Class I: Whole performance, holistic, encompasses entire mechs. _{ƒгeewebnovёl.com}

Class II: Offense-oriented.

Class III: Defense-oriented.

Class IV: Mobility-oriented.