The Mech Touch novel Chapter 1296

After listing out and contemplating all of his options, Ves came up with a short-term list of objectives.

"The more objectives I complete, the closer I get towards overtaking Gloriana!"

For the duration of his tour through the Komodo Star Sector, he wanted to fulfill both Upgrade Missions from the System. The sooner he upgraded his main Skills, the sooner he could apply his gains in his subsequent mech designs, thereby achieving a significant jump in performance!

"Increasing the overall performance of my designs will also help me progress in other ways. Better mechs will enable me to earn more money, which I can spend on acquiring more exotics."

Everything was interconnected to a degree.

Improving his design abilities improved his ability to earn money.

Improving his earnings increased his access to beneficial goods and services, which subsequently improved his ability to design mechs.

Aside from upgrading his Mechanics and Metallurgy Skills to Senior-level, Ves also wanted to pursue two other objectives.

"First, I want to befriend other Journeymen with interesting design philosophies. I might not be able to collaborate with them now, but who knows if an opportunity presents itself in the future."

Traveling to parts of the Komodo Star Sector that was out of the way allowed him to get in touch with foreign mech designers who he might never come across.

Spending time in Centerpoint allowed him to do the same, but Ves was very leery about returning to the MTA-controlled system.

"Gloriana might still be there!"

Traveling through the hinterlands of the Komodo Star Sector was a much safer prospect in his eyes.

Naturally, he also wouldn’t forget about coming into touch with the local variations of bestial mechs and smart metal mechs along the way.

Aside from those goals, Ves also wanted to browse the local exotic marketplaces. Plenty of discoveries made it to Centerpoint, but not all. Some materials which did not seem promising were mostly sold in the state they were discovered. The prices for them were much lower as well as the vendors didn’t have the leverage to rip off their customers too much.

"Centerpoint is a very expensive place to do business, but in turn it attracts a lot of wealthy buyers. The same can’t be said for poorer places."

As the Barracuda transitioned into FTL, thereby leaving the Leemar System, Ves began to spend his days on researching his potential destinations.

There were dozens of states in the Komodo Star Sector. Each of them offered something remarkable to Ves, but he could not afford to spend too much time away from the LMC. He only planned to properly visit a handful of them by following a looping route around the Hegemony side of the star sector.

In every standard two-dimensional map of the Komodo Star Sector, the frontier was pointed upwards. In the middle of the star sector, the Friday Coalition occupied the left side while the Hexadric Hegemony occupied the right side.

Considering his deteriorating relationship with the Coalition, Ves chose against passing through the states on the left side of the map.

While he did not feel comfortable at the thought of entering Hegemony space directly, it would be fine for him to pass through states that maintained friendly relations with the Hexers.

Based on the various criteria that Ves had set, he chose out six interesting destinations. Visiting each of them might yield some important gains for him that would help him stay ahead of Gloriana’s growth.

"After departing from the Kamon Republic, I’ll pay a visit to the Kinner Tribe, the Chuko Republic, the Sentinel Kingdom, the Hertog Dominion and the Tomaris Federation. By then, it’s just a short trip back to the Bright Republic."

He still needed to work out his itinerary and determine what he would do in each specific state, but overall he was very satisfied with the diversity of his selection.

"Entering Kinner Tribe space will be very interesting." He grinned.

It was a relatively small state even compared to other third-rate states. It possessed a strong and distinctive culture and had gained a lot of fame for its distinctive mercenary corps.

"Kinner mercenary corps are different from other outfits."

The Kinner Tribe was a poor state and did not offer as many specialties compared to its neighboring states.

What it did have was a very strong martial culture and a very vigorous population. Many mercenary corps consisted of entire families or a very cohesive group of companions.

Every Kinner mech pilot could be relied upon to fulfill their contracts even beyond reasonable circumstances. Although the employer would have to pay a hefty sum to cover the damages on top of higher-than-average fees, a Kinner mercenary corps could be counted upon to fight to the death to fulfill their mission!

This made them very attractive to people who were willing to pay extra to ensure near-complete loyalty and dedication from their hired help.

Naturally, the missions the Kinners tended to perform occasionally demanded high sacrifices, which eventually resulted in the deaths of many Kinner mercenaries.

"It’s basically trading blood for money." Ves commented.