The Mech Touch novel Chapter 919

Miss Calabast took in his new CFA-issued gear with a contemptuous glance. "I see where you have been spending your time lately. Are you treating the Starlight Megalodon as your personal toy box?"

"Hey, I got most of this for free!" Ves argued back. "I’m just redeeming the stuff that’s owed to me anyway. Don’t tell me you’re not attracted by the goodies this ship has in store."

Compared to the last time he saw her, Calabast obviously upgraded some of her gear as well. Most notably, she wore an impressive-looking CFA comm that encompassed her entire forearm.

"That’s not the point of our mission. How close are you to your next promotion? Last I heard, you were very close."

"About that, hehe..." Ves smiled awkwardly. While he did earn a lot of merits lately, he spent significant chunks of it on his gear and his body upgrades. "I ah.. took a few steps back.. but I can still make it up again."

The woman narrowed her eyes. She stepped closer with irritation and rage sparking in her eyes. Ves meekly stepped back despite wearing superior combat armor.

"Don’t let the wealth and power of the CFA dazzle you. We are not on a vacation here." She emphasized while pushing her finger against his Squalon’s chest plate. "You have no idea what kind of bomb we are sitting on! While you are running around trying to fish for more advantages from the Starlight Megalodon, I’ve been working hard to take over the Intelligence Department to pave the way for your ascension in the Research Department! This is not the time to dicker around! Don’t you want to save your comrades stranded outside the ship?"

Her rebuke struck him hard. Ves indeed let his personal interests take precedence over his haste to secure the lives of Ketis, Captain Orfan and the other remnants of the Flagrant Swordmaidens.

Still, Ves looked unrepentant. He recognized a unique opportunity in the Starlight Megalodon that would have been at least a hundred years beyond his reach! Who wouldn’t take advantage of the battleship’s generous offerings of high technology?

Just the problem of his body that confounded many doctors from the Bright Republic and even from a modern CFA science vessel!

Yet a couple of virtual doctors with access to some of the best medical equipment in the galaxy easily managed to solve a problem that wracked his mind for several years. Through a simple operation, they removed nearly every hidden danger locked within his body, allowing him to breathe a little easier.

While Ves did manage to obtain an invitation card to the exclusive Angel’s Wing Foundation which traded in all kinds of advanced biotech goods and services, he’d be a fool to surrender his body in their care. The Five Scrolls Compact almost certainly propped up the Angel’s Wing Foundation from behind.

He would rather put his faith in the CFA’s virtual doctors than those bunch of crazy cultists!

"Look, ’Commander Summer’, I’m already earning merits by the bucketload. I can make up for the shortfall in a couple of days. Now that I’ve underwent two rounds of genetic optimization treatment, my body and mind runs much smoother now!"

While Ves didn’t have the System at hand to track how much each of his Attributes improved, he was certain that all of them received a small bump. The most valuable aspect about the CFA’s renowned gene optimization treatments was how comprehensively they improved everything human.

Every inefficiency and evolutionary remnant of his human DNA no longer shackled him. He digested food much more efficiently, he required much less sleep than he already did and he aged and lived longer than any baseline human.

That wasn’t all. These advantages continued to pile up with each round of gene optimization treatment! It could be said that if Ves promoted to lieutenant commander and received his third round of treatment, his natural lifespan would probably extend to two-hundred years old!

This was the equivalent of undergoing a single round of life-prolonging treatment, something which scores of powerful politicians, businessmen and power brokers in the Komodo Star Sector worked their entire lives to obtain!

Ves wanted to shake his head at the inadvertent boons that had fallen on his lap. While this mission on Aeon Corona VII was exceedingly dangerous, it already yielded him rich rewards! No wonder treasure hunters constantly mounted expeditions beyond the borders of human space.

The frontier truly lived up to the adage that high rewards came to those that dared to brave its many dangers!

Miss Calabast shook her head in helplessness at his inability to let go of the Starlight Megalodon’s many bounties. "You managed to both exceed and fall short of my expectations. The more I pay attention to you, the more I learn something new. Tell me, what took place when you visited the office of the Artificial Intelligence Corps? Practically every virtual individual on the Starlight Megalodon knows that he managed to circumvent the emergency protocol and forcefully end his existence shortly afterwards."

He’d be a fool to tell her the truth. There was no way that Ves wanted to let a snake like Miss Calabast grasp his complicated relationship with the Five Scrolls Compact!

"He wanted to meet the smartest guy on the ship before he offed himself." Ves shrugged nonchalantly. "He gave me some merits and some advice. Nothing else went on, really. Admiral Ordoth was just a passenger aboard the Starlight Megalodon and held no actual authority. It’s a really sad existence for him to be relegated as a bystander for a couple of thousand years, so I didn’t get as much benefits as I had hoped."

What?! Ves almost gaped open his mouth. "How could the Vesians do something as reckless as that?! The Belisarius is a mind-bogglingly expensive mech! The Hafner Duchy invested so much Rorach’s Bone in her material composition that they’ll be the laughing stock of the Kingdom once everyone knows they lost their boondoggle of a mech!" _{freeweɓnovel.cøm}