The Mech Touch novel Chapter 1382

The Asco Continent. As Felixia’s huge game preserve, Asco encompassed the largest landmass on the planet.

House Laterna needed all of that room in order to provide spacious habitats to as many huge cats as possible!

When cats grew to the size of mechs, their demand for space increased by quite a bit. The quantity of prey they demanded grew as well, and all of these giant creatures required more and more space to sustain their lives.

Asco offered this and more. Hundreds of hunting zones spread across the continent offered a very precise variety of prey and predators. By combining influencing technology with genetic programming, all of the beasts on Asco remained stuck within their designated hunting zones.

This gave every hunting team a very good idea of what they would face when they entered a particular hunting zone.

House Laterna deliberately arranged the hunting zone in this fashion to provide predictable challenges to hunting teams of every skill and experience level.

The rookie hunting teams could cut their teeth with the somewhat mundane huge cats, while the premier hunting teams went into the very depths of the continent to tackle the Crown Cats without facing any other interference!

Several cities dedicated to servicing the hunting outfits were spread across the Asco Continent. Ves decided to bring his group to the city of Kemila, which was situated in the tropical zone of the planet.

Hot and humid air greeted their faces as they emerged from their long-distance transit aircar. Ves breathed in the air and smelled the familiar air of metal and grease associated with mechs in use.

As far as cities went, Kemila wasn’t as big as the cities on the Eron Continent. While the kid-friendly side of Felixia drew in billions of tourists, much less traffic diverted to Asco.

The hunting community did not like to be bothered by their fans. House Laterna knew that and imposed moderate entry requirements to anyone wishing to travel to one of the cities in Asco. Only those who held permanent residency on Asco or held jobs related to the mech or hunting service industries on Asco could travel to the lightly-populated continent.

Ves, by dint of his Journeyman status alone, easily secured passage to Asco. Hunting outfits of all stripes respected mech designers quite a bit, and for good reason as their lives literally depended on good design work in some cases!

Higher-ranking mech designers were particularly respected. People like Ves were very capable of designing or modifying mechs to suit the specific hunting circumstances of a hunting zone.

This was critical when a hunting team attempted to track down a Crown Cat. The challenge of hunting these apex predators on Felixia was so considerate that every preparation mattered. Optimizing a mech to withstand razor-sharp claws or improve their targeting systems to account for illusionary abilities could mean the difference between death or escape!

Indeed, as soon as Ves emerged onto the dirt-laden streets of Kemila, a lot of bystanders noted his arrival and distinctive appearance.

His luxurious semi-formal clothing along with his entourage marked him out as a wealthy person.

His young age and the presence of the Ingvars who still possessed the demeanor of nobles yet acted subservient in his presence marked him out as special.

\"We’re being stared at by lots of people, and not all of them look friendly.\" Nitaa warned in a low voice as she gripped her holstered pistol.

\"It’s fine.\" Ves waved aside her concern. \"No one is going to cause trouble to a mech designer here. Our profession is too respected among the local hunters.\"

Different from Eron, Asco was a dangerous continent. Aside from the threat posed by the huge cats, the rowdier hunters also got into fights with each other from time to time.

House Laterna maintained a much looser security regime on Asco for reasons that Ves could only guess at for the time being.

Perhaps they wanted to give the residents of Felixia an outlet for their frustrations. As long as the troublemakers diverted to the Ozzo and Asco Continents, all the violence they unleashed would only affect those used to danger!

In this way, the Eron Continent and its immense amounts of tourists wouldn’t be bothered by violent incidents on the streets.

Whatever the case, the reality on Asco meant that anyone treading foot onto this continent should better come with protection!

Nitaa wore her full suit of combat armor. Crindon, Imon and Casella all wore standard suits of combat armor as well, though Ves did not expect a lot from them if a battle happened to break out. Infantry combat was not exactly their forte.

Ves reached out his hand towards his head where Lucky still clung for some reason! His hand patted both Lucky and the cat ear attachments that Ves hadn’t removed as of yet. He had grown quite attached to the new cat ears!

Even now, he was able to eavesdrop on conversations that he ordinarily shouldn’t be able to hear!

\"Hey, look at those fresh new arrivals! Look at that wealthy-looking fellow with the cat ears! Hee looks like he came straight from Eron!\"

A snort. \"Don’t think about approaching them. That bodyguard of theirs is alert. They don’t look like easy marks.\"

\"Shame. Our gang is getting rather short on spending money.\"

\"You dimwits! Why are the two of you talking so close to the new arrivals?! Don’t you know what those cat ear attachments can do?!\"