The Mech Touch novel Chapter 664

Ves exited the comm center with Ketis and his four hulking security escort in a contemplative mood. The others waited far longer for Ves to hold his call than anticipated. Nolsen and the other security officers didn’t blink an eye at this delay. Their entire job consisted of standing guard for hours on end when absolutely nothing happened.

"You dolt! If I knew you were taking your sweet time talking with Mayra’s mentor, I could have spent my time in the arenas!" Ketis growled as she kicked aside another faulty cleaning bot brushing against her armored feet.

The cleaning bots somehow became drawn to her feet. Ves himself only needed to kick aside a single bot so far. Were they being directed?

"So what did you talk about with the Skull Architect that left you stuck there for two hours?" She asked.

"Lots of important matters, none of it your business." Ves replied absently. "Let’s drop by the bank. I need some K-coins myself to do some shopping."

Right now, Ves needed to purchase the exotics and other materials required to tinker together an ultracompact battery or three.

While he didn’t possess any device right now that could read out his secure data chip, he had already skimmed the shopping list of which exotics and rare materials he definitely needed.

To be honest, Ves didn’t even recognize half of the names on the list. They were so rare and short in supply that Ves never had the opportunity of obtaining them. These must be strategic materials that were either under the strict control of the states or only found in the most inhospitable parts of the Faris Star Region.

No matter what, he at least gained a starting point.

"So what’s it like to talk with the Skull Architect?" She pestered him from the side grabbing his arm as if she didn’t care for her appearance. Were it not for their intimidating suits of armor, they might have resembled a quarrelsome pair of brothers and sisters. "I heard he’s really moody sometimes. Did he blow up on you? Did he threaten to sicc his goons on you and bring your body back to his lab so he could slice it up and use your bones as parts for his next mech?"

"How did you know?"

"Hah! Mayra introduced me to her once and I didn’t meet his approval." She sighed at that. "The Skull Architect never really did explain to me why, though Mayra made some good guesses. I still fall short compared to my older sister."

Ves put his gauntlet against her armored back, trying his best to avoid her scabbard. "There’s no point in comparing yourself to Mayra. The two of you are completely different mech designers. Agonizing over who is better will only make you stuck in the past. It’s better if you focus your attention to the future. That’s the only way to close to gap."

A mech designer always had to accept the fact that better mech designers existed over their heads. Even Masters faced the same prospect when they thought about Star Designers.

As for that last, exclusive group of mech designers, Ves had no clue whether even the Star Designers needed to bow down in the presence of an even greater mech designer.

The two navigated through the busier sections of the space station. The open streets inside a vast cavernous artificial hollow gave out the flavor of a compact city center. The tallest structures started from the deck and extended all the way to the ceiling, giving the interior of Mancroft the strange illusion that they were underground.

The solidity this illusion imparted upon the visitors and residents of Mancroft caused many of them to feel grounded. This was an extremely valuable effect because it distracted everyone from the fact that they were spinning around in space. They were only one or two hull breaches away from explosive decompression.

Most humans couldn’t handle long-term living in space. Even Ves yearned to walk on solid ground. Stepping aboard this space station somehow suppressed this hidden fear inside him. For that alone, this visit already paid off.

The space station was a melting pot of pirates, suspected pirates, treasure hunters, those looking to get a job with them, errant traders looking for a bargain and more. An abundance of people frequented the busy stalls and shops, showing that business was booming right now. The unexpected increase of visitors since last time Ves arrived in Mancroft must have added to the station’s current prosperity.

"There are a lot more visitors on this space station than normal." He said as they waited for a small crowd to disperse after noticing Ves, Ketis and their escort. Their combined image intimidated many bystanders into backing off. "Did someone come across a treasure mine in the frontier or something?"

"As far as I know, some pirate group inadvertently leaked the coordinates of a newly discovered star system." Ketis explained, though her tone revealed she wasn’t too sure about these rumors either. "Supposedly, the coordinates leads to a desolate star system with its planets baked in extreme heat due to their proximity to the sun. That has given off an intense reaction on the exotics exposed to the surface, baking them in the heat of the full sun for many millennia. Now, they’re some of the most heat-resistant exotics available in the Faris Star Region."

Heat-resistant exotics sat high on his shopping list. If he could get his hands on whatever made these treasure hunters mad with greed, then Ves could design a much better ultracompact battery.

"Have the pirates or treasure hunters already returned with a haul?"

"Not here, apparently. The ones who made it back with a haul dropped it off at the nearest pirate stations before going back for another try. The fighting there is becoming increasingly chaotic."

It sounded like the Glowing Planet Campaign all over again, but this time no state-backed military force came in to claim the best ore deposits.

The immediate repercussions of the boom meant that the outfits chasings after the Starlight Megalodon wouldn’t face as much harassment from errant pirates. With everyone distracted by the shiny heat-resistant exotic bounty, who wanted to go back to their old life of terrorizing the shipping lines or raiding a hollowed-out settlement?