The Mech Touch novel Chapter 177

The night before planetfall, Ves and Melkor gathered together in their bunk. Ensign D’Amato also turned in for the night, so they didn’t have to worry about any nearby physical presences. Ves turned on his trusty Privacy Shield which doubtlessly blocked all forms of hidden monitoring.

"It’s safe to talk now." He said.

Melkor immediately brought up his suspicions. "Have you noticed how this expedition is vastly over-prepared for a mere hunting expedition on an untamed planet?"

"Huh, I never thought about it that way. You’re right in that House Kaine has brought way too many mechs, but aren’t they making sure they’ll be harvesting as much monoexurite as possible?"

"Even with all the losses, they are bringing in so many mechs that the local ecosystem will definitely notice. The scale of this expedition is vastly larger than the previous one."

The surveyors who stumbled upon the Groening System came as explorers and mappers. They only possessed a handful of smaller ships and only several dozens of mechs at most. The expedition organized by House Kaine was at least a magnitude larger.

When Ves thought about scale of the entire venture, he started to suspect the motives of House Kaine. "You’re right. A hunting trip doesn’t require a capital ship like the Ark Horizon. Half of the fleet is geared to fight the sandmen, which is strange since no one has explicitly mentioned any plans to raid sandmen space."

What did that mean? Either Lord Kaine intended to attack the sandmen, or he had good reason to believe the sandmen might take the initiative.

Unfortunately, neither of the Larkinsons could figure out the real aim of the expedition. They lacked a lot of information and had no way of gathering more. Ensign D’Amato made sure that Ves didn’t wander around or ask too many uncomfortable questions, not that anyone in the lower decks knew anything important.

The only person who might know the full picture was Captain Felicity Kaine. As an up-and-coming scion of the House, she had to be informed of the real score.

Ves found some reassurance to the fact that she and her entire hunting platoon would also be deployed to the underground world. The need to provide safe haven to the hunting platoon meant that the base camp should be safe as well, up to an extent.

In order to increase his chances of survival, Ves decided to spend a large portion of his DP. He accumulated a few thousand more Design Points in the last month. Besides the ongoing sales of his virtual mechs, he also earned a little extra through the sale of his physical mechs.

"I think it’s time to boost some of my physical attributes."

Groening IV posed a lot of challenges to those deployed on the ground. Not only did everyone had to contend with 1.4 times the gravity of Ancient Earth, it also featured a dense atmosphere filled with toxic, heavy gasses. Everyone had to wear customized hazard suits in order to function normally.

Those with feeble constitutions like Ves might not even last an entire month in those conditions. Even if the base camp offered pressured accommodations where workers can get rid of their bulky suits, the brutal work schedule ensured that no one had enough time to laze about.

The metal storm that raged about the surface only slumbered for a limited amount of time. Everyone had to work overtime in order to make sure that the ground team harvested as much monoexurite as possible within their forty-day window. He’d be physically exhausted a long time before the end of the window if he kept his attributes at their shabby level.

[Endurance Attribute Candy]: 800 Design Points

[Endurance Attribute Candy]: 900 Design Points

[Endurance Attribute Candy]: 1,000 Design Points

[Strength Attribute Candy]: 800 Design Points

[Strength Attribute Candy]: 900 Design Points

[Strength Attribute Candy]: 1,000 Design Points

Ves quickly ingested all of the candies in succession. He groaned a bit but kept his pain to himself. While the candies came with a much milder effect, it still took a lot of effort to rein in his agony. The increase in strength and endurance to a level just above an average human should come very handy without attracting an excessive amount of attention.

Minutes later, he finished his transformation. A thin layer of sweat suffused his body as he beheld his firmed up muscles. He hadn’t bulked up a lot, but he definitely gained a bit of mass. As long as he wore a bulky hazard suit, no one would find out his body gained a sudden upgrade.

After that, he considered a way to improve his chances of making it out safety in the event of an unforeseen crisis. The truth was that he couldn’t do much if the hexapods decided to storm the base camp. Ves pretty much had to put his faith in others.

"Will a stealth augment even be of any use?"

He’d be able to hide from hexapods and people with ill intentions with a permanent augment. He could also wrap his comm around Lucky and let him sneak into restricted places. The utility of complete stealth at his fingertips should serve him well throughout his career.

[Comm Upgrade - Privacy Shield - Level 0 - Augment - Full Stealth]

Price: 30.000 DP

Duration: 5 Minutes

Upgrades a level 1 Privacy Shield to emit an overpowering field that disrupts any means of observation. It is capable of obfuscating every possible means of observation that is known to the Mech Designer System.

Even with his minor fortune, Ves couldn’t afford the level 1 version of the stealth augment. He had to take a step back and buy the gimped version. This energy-inefficient augment gobbled up so much power that it only lasted five minutes in total.

"It’s better than nothing. Five minutes should be more than enough to save my life."

Normally, a comm possessed enough power to last for months. Hardly anyone bothered to recharge their wrist devices every night, something which Ves planned to do now that he had a stealth augment in his hands.

"This should be the last time I open up the Mech Designer System. It’s too dangerous to fiddle around with it once I’m on the ground."

Ves already browsed some of the plans of the base camp. It featured extensive monitoring and shielding of every kind. In such a sensitive location, Ves didn’t dare call up the System. Using the Privacy Shield without Full Stealth also risked attracting a lot of attention.

"Status."

[Status]

Name: Ves Larkinson

Profession: Apprentice Mech Designer

Specializations: None

Design Points: 1,648

Attributes _{freewebnøvel.coɱ}

Strength: 1.1