The Mech Touch novel Chapter 1554

Chapter 1554 Old Guard

Freslin changed a lot since he last visited. The second-largest city on Cloudy Curtain featured a lot of new construction. The sudden relocation of billions of refugees required an enormous amount of services to accommodate their integration into Brighter society.

Hospitals, planning offices, distribution warehouses, high-rise business centers and more dotted the outskirts of Freslin.

When Ves saw the enormous sprawl of construction, he guessed that Freslin might double in size within a year!

As much as Ves was amazed by the scale of construction, he knew that this was only a taste of what was to come.

Only the more daring, risk-taking entrepreneurs invested early in Cloudy Curtain. They saw the ballooning population of Cloudy Curtain and noted that the planet would soon be grossly short on various essential services.

The lack of existing institutions presented savvy investors with an enormous gap in the market!

"Still, aren't they a bit too daring?" Ves frowned as he looked down on the expanding city from the window of his shuttle. "If the Bright Republic fails to repel the sandmen, then all of the money sunk into construction will wash away in a tide of sand."

Certainly, many investors liquidated their assets and pulled as much money out of the system as possible. It was the most prudent course of action to do. What was the worth of prime real estate when it would soon be crushed by the relentless sandmen?

However, those who believed the Bright Republic had what it took to defend its space took the biggest gambles in their lifetimes. They snapped up all of the liquidated assets at fire-sale prices and constructed new institutions on planets designated as dumping grounds for refugees without any hesitation!

The risks may be large, but the rewards were absolutely astronomical!

Even Ves, who liked to gamble every now and then, balked at the thought of going all-in on this daring bet!

From what he read in the news, the government did everything possible to facilitate this risk-taking behavior. Anyone who decided to commit to the Bright Republic and take over the assets sold by cowardly, risk-averse investors received numerous perks and tax breaks.

One of the lessons the Republic learned from the border states was that society could quickly break down if everyone tried to liquidate their assets!

Even though many large investors acquired a bad reputation as leeches and corporate raiders, if they all decided to pull out of the economy, the state would quickly be thrown into chaos!

"Well, I don't have to play this game." Ves shook his head.

His primary concern was to improve his skills and grow his mech company. The money he earned from licensing his latest mech designs already surpassed 200 billion bright credits!

Of course, most of the companies and mech designers who licensed his mech designs probably suffered from buyer's remorse right now. Any variants they designed inevitably featured drastically weaker X-Factors.

Once it became known that it was far more problematic to design variants of his mechs than anticipated, Ves predicted that he wouldn't be able to exploit the mech industry's ignorance again!

"Still, 200 billion credits is a huge windfall for the LMC!" He grinned.

The recent board meetings all concerned how to spend all of this money. Ves had pushed for investing much of the money into expanding the Mech Nursery and building more manufacturing complexes.

The LMC's existing production capacity no longer matched its success level. Ves detested depending on third-party manufacturers to make up for the company's severe shortfall in production.

Naturally, Ves did not bet completely on this plan. If the sandmen defeated the Mech Corps, then all was moot.

"Once the Bright Republic falls, the bright credit is worth nothing!"

Due to all of the economic activity and the government's profligate spending spree, inflation already started to rouse. Even though the LMC was earning more bright credits than ever before, the rising inflation continually tempered their real earnings.

Perhaps there might come a day where a nutrient pack sold for 1 million bright credits!

Ves shook his head at the ridiculous notion. "That will only happen if the Bright Republic loses Bentheim and half of its territory or something."

In any case, Ves and the LMC needed to make the most use out of their windfall by converting bright credits to tangible assets as fast as possible.

"It still feels good to be rich, though." He smiled.

While the money he earned was nowhere close to funding his expeditionary fleet, it represented a good start.

As Ves mused about his expanding fortunes, his shuttle finally arrived at his first stop.

Surrounded by Nitaa and his bodyguards, he exited the shuttle and stepped onto a familiar street.

The low, intimidating aura of his Pride of Dusk immediately affected the nearby locals.

"Look! It's Ves Larkinson! He's back!"

"Wow! He looks more handsome than ever! No wonder he managed to seduce a Hexer!"

Most citizens of Freslin regarded Ves and the LMC very highly.

Ves idly waved at the gawkers before entering a rundown bar.

Unlike last time, not a single patron was present. Even if Ves decided to visit in the morning, he knew the Whalers didn't care for these matters.

Ves immediately spotted the person he sought sitting bored and morose behind the bar. He stepped forward and calmly sat on the barstool right in front of the barkeeper.

"Hey Dietrich."

"Hey."