The Mech Touch novel Chapter 351

It was only a matter of time before he made these discoveries, but it certainly helped to grasp this concept early. Most importantly, Ves had gathered more clues to break through his perennial bottleneck in achieving a B-graded X-Factor.

"Spirituality is a lot more intertwined in our society than I thought." Ves concluded.

Humans ruled over half of the galaxy with the might of its warships, but they competed against each other with the use of mechs. Every state made it a priority to cultivate talented mech pilots into experts and aces.

That they managed to convert a fraction of mech pilots into the realm of the elites could be attributed to their occasional successes amid countless failures. In the early days of the Age of Mechs, a lot of horror stories emerged that revealed the extent that people went through to enhance their military force.

"I can consider these matters at a later time." Ves shook his head. He still had an alien ruin to excavate.

With the help of his spirituality, Lucky had managed to pry apart the roof of the tiny hexagonal palace. His cat resembled a bear trying to break open a honeycomb in order to steal some honey.

Bits and pieces of tiny crystal furniture dotted the rooms inside. Neither Ves nor Lucky paid any interest in them after figuring out they served as tables and chairs.

Lucky continued to dig through the upper floors, but encountered a lot of resistance from the blue crystals.

At least they weren’t indestructible like the transparent crystals. Their slightly lower grade gave them hope that they could uncover something valuable.

"This must be a lesser side influence in the alien society."

The longer he interacted with the alien ruins, the more he understood their society. Ves guessed that the crystal city acted as a capital or a final refuge of some sorts. It would explain the existence of the rune monuments and the effort the aliens had made in creating a portal system.

Ves found it regretful that they hadn’t left anything behind in the crystal city. At some point, they evacuated it, taking away anything that hadn’t been affixed to the city.

"The aliens sure built them to be tough. They couldn’t even dismantle them in their haste to evacuate the city."

He was certain the crystals possessed extremely remarkable properties. Ves had succeeded in deriving their composition and structure with his Vulcaneye. As long as he figured out a way to reproduce it, he’d be able to create an extremely powerful substance that could act as both an armor system and laser propagator.

Even if he lacked the capabilities to reproduce the exact formula, he could still attempt to derive a lesser version if he substituted the rarer exotics with less valuable ones. Such experiments happened all the time.

"I recall that Master Katzenberg from Leemar is a specialist in this area."

Perhaps if he submitted his readings to Katzenberg, she’d be able to come up with a host of different substitutions. However, Ves did not possess a direct channel to the prestigious Master Mech Designer.

"I can always attempt to fumble around on my own. If I haven’t achieved any results, I can always pass on the data to someone else."

Data that he couldn’t use held no value to him. He might as well sell it or exchange it for something useful, although he would only receive a fraction of its true value.

"Lucky! Go dig the left compartment! I think there’s a storeroom there!"

The palace appeared to house an affluent household. It contained a lot of rooms, but contained very little furniture in each. Lucky loomed over the tiny palace like a giant tiger about to engulf the inhabitants. Ves found the dichotomy in scale amusing.

It took Lucky a lot of effort to get past the subsequent layers. Ves even had to call back Lucky before the portal closed before he opened it again. Although he faintly guessed that there should have been a way to sustain the portal, Ves didn’t wish to waste any time to figure out the exact mechanics.

Lucky finally broke in what looked like a vault after a few more minutes of anxious digging. The vault room contained a lot of miniscule hexagonal blocks that formed the alien race’s version of a resource bar. They were so small in fact that Ves had to employ the magnification function of his hazard suit in order to observe them with his eyes.

"That’s it! They should be treasures! Bring it back!"

Before Lucky could do anything, a number of crystals floated from their perches at the sides of the vault. So the palace still retained some defenses after all!

They angrily blinked and hovered around Lucky before unleashing thin beams of light at what they perceived to be an intruder.

Naturally, the noodle-thin light beams passed straight through Lucky’s semi-corporeal body and blinked away into space.

Lucky stared at the defense drones with a playful gaze. His tail swished back and forth as he took little notice of the light beams passing through his body.

"Stop wasting time! Take care of them quickly before bringing back those treasures!"

The drones might have been able to threaten a tiny alien, but even Lucky would scoff at them. The substantial difference in size had turned everything made by the aliens into a joke.

Lucky took care of the drones by swatting them from the air. The drones bounced against the walls and floor of the crystal palace before regaining their balance. They continued to fire at Lucky despite their bumps.

This time, Lucky employed a different method. He opened his maw and ate all the drones. The gem cat didn’t even chew before swallowing the helpless drones into his matter-coverting stomach.

Ves looked at Lucky with a crooked gaze. "Are you alright in your head?"

Lucky ate minerals and excreted gems. If Lucky happened to eat a crystal, would that be considering eating his own...

Thankfully, his cat showed no signs of being aware of what his owner thought. Lucky opened his maw again and gulped the stacks of materials.

"Uhh, Lucky. What are you doing?"

His cat disregarded his transmissions and continued to eat the vault room bare. With a satisfied squint in his eyes, Lucky flew up from the crystal palace and passed through the portal before flying back to Ves. His cat hacked and coughed a little and dropped only a couple hexagonal blocks.

The pinprick-sized materials fell onto his palm. They seemed so tiny that Ves would easily loose track of them if he dropped them onto the ground.

Ves stared at Lucky with a scornful gaze. "You could have left a bit more for me."