The Mech Touch novel Chapter 1469

Ves mentally sighed in relief once the auctioneer finally sold all of the slaves. He didn’t know if he could take the sight of slaves being treated like cattle any further.

"Too bad." Finlay muttered to his side. "I was hoping to buy the Journeyman Mech Designer so that we can complete the commission ourselves. Sadly, there are a lot of pirate leaders who are even more desperate to retain their own Journeymen. Ah, I mean no offense to you, Rho-Sigma."

"It is fine." Ves nonchalantly waved his hand. "It is a given to pursue other solutions. Free mech designers are reluctant to involve themselves in any design work related to taboo weapons."

"That seems to be the case with most mech designers... except you. I find it very curious that you have decided to stick around. Does that mean you have accepted my commission?"

"Let’s not be too hasty. So far, the auction has not impressed me very much."

"Don’t be in a hurry to leave. The good stuff is just about to come."

As if to emphasize Finlay’s words, the next batch of items that appeared consisted of rare and valuable materials!

"Our first exotic here today is a 24.64 kilogram sample of raw diplo-exonite. Rated as medium grade, raw diplo-exonite is an exotic that has never appeared in this star cluster other than the Nyxian Gap. The only other method of obtaining diplo-exonite is to import its refined version from distant sources!"

The raw diplo-exonite was a non-metallic exotic, so Ves wasn’t very familiar with all of its properties.

Nonetheless, its value was undeniable!

"When refined, diplo-exonite becomes an extremely potent substance that is very volatile unless utilized in special manners. Its most notable use is to increase the efficiency of a power reactor. While its current quantity is not enough to make a serious dent on large-scale power reactors providing power to entire cities or city districts, the sample here is very potent when used on power reactors utilized by mechs! The efficiency of a mech power reactor can be raised by as much as twenty percent with the inclusion of diplo-exonite!"

This sounded similar to the Furnace of Regret gem that Lucky produced! Ves wondered if the two shared a connection. What would happen if Ves fed the raw diplo-exonite to Lucky? Would he produce a gem that was even more effective than the Furnace of Regret?

Coming across the sample of raw diplo-exonite in this auction helped put them into perspective for Ves. While the exotic sounded useful, Ves also possessed something with comparable effects.

Of course, both had their uses. Exotics with potent effects were sometimes difficult to work with and took up valuable space and capacity in a mech design. The upside to them was that depending on their supply, they weren’t very hard to obtain.

In a way, many mech designers made use of exotics like Ves made use of Lucky’s gems. They selectively applied expensive materials with powerful effects to augment the functioning of a particular mech or mech design.

In contrast, Lucky’s gems didn’t require any accommodation to take effect on a mech. Ves merely had to bury the gem in a random location in the mech for them to empower a mech with an esoteric effect.

Ves had no idea how they worked, but that did not mean he refrained from using them. If Lucky wasn’t so inconsistent in the production of gems, he would have made much more extensive use of them! At the very least, every mech of the Avatars of Myth deserved a gem! _{freeωebnovēl.c૦m}

As Ves contemplated sneaking laxatives in Lucky’s diet, the auctioneer finally began the bidding round!

"10 million firthals. 15 million firthals. 18 million firthals. 23 million firthals..."

Ves only made a few lowball offers before he quickly gave up. Raw diplo-exonite may be rare in the Komodo Star Sector, but Ves could list out several locally-available exotics that exhibited similar effects. The only downside was that they were a bit less potent.

The number of bidders quickly reduced as the prize for the sample leveled off at around 55 million credits. Ves guessed that only mech designers and those from a technical background competed over the raw diplo-exonite.

"Sold for 63 million firthals to Number 10406!"

That sounded like a fair price for the sample. In fact, it was close to the market price for imported diplo-exonite, so the winner of the bid hadn’t gained much of an advantage at all.

"Rho-Sigma. As a mech designer, you ought to be very familiar with the exotics that show up, right?"

"Correct."

"Can you advise me if I’m interested in bidding for some of the exotics?"

"I can do that."

"Great!"

As more exotics appeared on stage, Ves did not bid on any of them as he had no pressing need for the benefits they brought.

Finlay was different. Like a kid in a candy store, he pursued several exotics that appeared on the auction stage. Unfortunately, the competition for the exotics, especially those that weren’t native to the star sector, was very high.

"120 million firthals!"

Ves placed a hand against Finlay’s suited shoulder. "Don’t bid any further. You can obtain the same thing by importing it from legitimate channels."

"Ah, thank you. I forgot myself."

Instances like this happened once or twice. The lack of a galactic net connection along with the general ignorance of most of the auction goers meant that a significant amount of people paid a lot more than the exotic was actually worth on the open market!

What a scam!

Well, not exactly. Ves did have to admit that some of the goods were very hard to come by. Even at their current market prices, obtaining some of the rare exotics was easier said than done. It was definitely worthwhile for some to pay extra at this occasion in order to obtain them immediately rather than wait for years for one to be shipped from a distant place.

When the next exotic appeared, Ves had to restrain his excitement.