The Mech Touch novel Chapter 1471

More goods appeared at the auction. With hundreds of different high-value items made available, pretty much everyone who attended the auction gained an opportunity to compete.

Many people who brought as much wealth as Ves already spent their money on goods such as exotics, medicines, exobeasts, equipment and other things of value.

In addition, those who lacked enough firthals to win the bids also had another opportunity to gain what they desired.

About one in ten items put up for auction demanded alternate payment.

"...35 kilograms of neixe metal in exchange for the services of a Senior Mech Designer. Please input your strengths and the amount of time and effort you are willing to spend in your bidding tools. The owner of the neixe metal will make a selection based on the attractiveness of your offer..."

"...This ancient alien relic can only be exchanged for other alien relics. Please upload the files of the relics you are willing to exchange to the bidding tool to make your bids..."

"...This unique and powerful spaceborn rifleman mech is a powerful complement to any space-roving outfit.

A lot of good stuff appeared on stage, giving Ves a good impression of the kind of goods and services that appealed to the upper echelons of both the Sentinel Kingdom and the Nyxian Gap.

Trade was thriving between the two diametrically-opposed sides! Even as they fought and competed against each other in the open, in the background the two groups amiably traded and even partnered up with each other!

To describe the hidden relations between the Sentinel nobles and the Nyxian pirate leaders as a conspiracy was a bit too excessive.

However, it was undeniable that both sides secretly supported each other in an intermittent fashion. Not enough to make them allies, but just enough for certain conflicts of interests to arrive.

The deal that Ves tentatively struck with Finlay pertained to just such a hidden relationship. An unnamed pirate alliance screwed over some unnamed noble houses, possibly due to the direction it received from yet another noble house.

All of this sounded very messy to Ves. In fact, if Finlay’s superiors really went through with their supposed plan to deploy nuclear doom crawlers onto a heavily-defended pirate fortification, then the region would quickly become even less stable!

The use of so many taboo weapons was such a shocking occurrence that the status quo that both sides had settled upon would never be able to last!

An important consideration that weighed on Ves was how the changes that followed affected his father and his mother.

More chaos could destabilize their gains. The wars and conflicts that would ensue after inciting the Nyxian Gap into a frenzy would definitely make their current positions in the Nyxian Gap less secure.

On the other hand, the onset of chaos also meant that the established pirate alliances and other powers lost stability!

Since his mother hinted that his father and her had managed to get themselves established in the Nyxian Gap, the rising conflicts would instead give them an opportunity to fight for greater power!

Though Ves did not expect too much from his father, his mother was entirely different. With her many abilities, she was capable of giving his father some crucial advantages. With her intangible body and ability to travel anywhere, she was the perfect scout, assassin and saboteur. Ordinary opponents stood no chance against their combined might!

In any case, whatever Finlay and his fellow nobles were up to couldn’t be stopped. At most, they would suffer a delay as they continued to seek for a Journeyman who was willing to blacken their hearts and morals to facilitate the emergence of death machines.

Ves smirked underneath his helmet. Ves did not have that much confidence in Finlay’s ability to secure the services of a Journeyman Mech Designer willing to cross the lines set by the MTA.

Most orthodox mech designers fully integrated the MTA’s values and principles into their core being!

If they believed in them so strongly that their design seeds or design philosophies took them in, then persuading them to break these rules was impossible no matter how much money they received!

It wasn’t worth it for a mech designer to break their design philosophies and the crystallization of everything they worked towards for a single commission!

Perhaps the only group of mech designers who might be willing to accept this commission were bonafide pirate designers.

Mech designers who defected from civilized space didn’t cut it. The pirate designers had to be born and raised outside of civilized space. However, well-educated professionals were very hard to come by, and those who advanced to Journeyman must be exceedingly rare!

How hard would it be for Finlay to get into contact with native pirate designer like Mayra, who previously mentored Ketis?

Very hard!

As for Ves? While he might have started off as an orthodox mech designer that neatly fit into the mold of the MTA, the System and his many experiences with the Vandals during his formative, Apprentice period already turned him crooked.

Ves remembered that he struggled heavily at the thought of designing and fabricating a single gamma laser rifle.

As for now? It was no big deal to him! In fact, whenever he looked back on that incident, he could only laugh at how pathetic he overreacted to the System’s first Upgrade Mission!

To Ves, performing this simple task in exchange of upgrading his Physics Main Skill to Senior-level was a huge bargain!

Ves felt better about himself. His willingness and capability to do something that no other available mech designer would do provided him with a lot of leverage.

In fact, this could be leveraged over and over again! As long as he became better, the value he could provide to clients like Finlay’s superiors grew more formidable!