The Mech Touch

Lucky's gems always tempted Ves. They strengthened mechs through inexplicable and seemingly magical means.

The System's vague descriptions and names for them only furthered their sense of mystique. Ves could hardly fathom the principles behind these tiny but incredibly influential objects. He couldn't even begin to figure out how a gem cat, a sentient mechanical creation, could possibly convert a lot of minerals into these extraordinary objects.

Ves was determined to crack their secrets some day. He knew that now was not the time, though. He already tried to utilize many different scanners on them, but none of them had ever produced any useful clues. The 'tech' behind these gems was too advanced. A simple Journeyman like him wouldn't even be able to get his foot in the door.

"I'll probably have to wait until I reach Master before I can begin my studies." He muttered.

Even then, it was doubtful if he could make any significant progress at that level of strength. His specialty did not lie in gems. While he felt that they might be related to spirituality in some way, the gems worked too well in isolating that aspect from his perception.

Before Ves pulled out his gems from his pocket, he suddenly paused and turned to Lucky.

The black-clad gem cat idly floated inside the cockpit. Lucky sniffed the controls and curiously eyed the alloyed surfaces.

"Lucky."

The cat turned around his head. "Meow?"

"We're in a difficult situation right now. Don't you think it's time you contributed to our defense?"

"Meow?"

"Don't act stupid! You know what I'm talking about!"

"Meow meow meow!"

No matter how much Ves cajoled or threatened Lucky, the darned gem cat simply wouldn't spit out a gem. What was taking him so long?!

"If you're suffering from constipation or something, then Dr. Ves here has a solution for you…"

As soon as Ves brought out a spare chunk of B-stone from another hidden pocket, Lucky's black-plated tail went ramrod straight!

"MEOW!"

Unfortunately, the bluff didn't work. Even the threat of suffering an awful belly ache did not prompt Lucky to go to the bathroom. Ves disappointingly put his B-stone chunk that he had prepared for this occasion away.

While he felt tempted to ram a piece of B-stone down Lucky's throat, that would only render his powerful commando cat useless in the coming battle. The timing wasn't good.

He had no choice but to turn his attention to his existing collection of gems. He grimaced as he thought of the options available to him. None of the gems he retained were as good as the ones he used before.

[Maiden's Affection]

The desire of an ancient maiden is locked within this gem. Increases the attraction of a mech by 40 percent to females.

[Bastet's Whisper]

The echoing whisper of a feline patron can be found within this gem. Enhances the acceleration of a tiger mech by 30 percent.

[Whipping Boy]

The fear of a boy towards women is encapsulated within this cursed gem. Increases the dread of a mech by 50 percent to males.

These three gems were supposed to be Lucky's ordinary products. Aside from the Bastet's Whisper which he couldn't utilize right now, the other two gems brought abnormal benefits.

For a long time, he considered them to be trash. They did not increase a mech's technical performance but instead changed the way that people regarded them.

Ves merely relegated them to masterwork mech tokens in his mind because of his low opinion of them. They held no other value pushing a high-quality mech over the threshold of masterwork mech.

This time was different. The current crisis forced Ves to reevaluate all of his assets. He realized what a fool he had been to look down on the Maiden's Affection and the Whipping Boy.

After designing the Doom Guard, the Valkyrie Redeemer and Ferocious Piranha, he discovered how effective suppressive glows could impact the battlefield. As long as the enemy mech pilots were susceptible to the negative influence of a glow, then it was truly worth it to invest in a mech that specialized in this aspect!

The existence of the three aforementioned mechs caused Ves to view gems that influenced human emotions in a different light.

An important question came to mind. "Do the effects of the gems overlap with the glows of my mechs?"

He wasn't too sure about that, but the implications were huge. If the Valkyrie Prime, which also possessed the iconic Marked For Death ability, frightened an enemy mech pilot to an extent, amplifying this effect by 50 percent could very well render the target completely frozen in fear!

If the gem and glow did not directly interact with each other, then it was still fine. The double effects would still produce a better result than normal due to their complementary effects.

Whatever the case, the Whipping Boy had suddenly turned into a hot commodity in his eyes. He actually resented Lucky for not producing more useful gems like these!

"I only have one to go around." He muttered. "Should I really use it up on the Valkyrie Prime?"

As much as Ves relished the sight of the Valkyrie Prime taking out the enemy champions one-by-one by reducing their mental balance, there was another prime mech that also possessed a suppressive effect.

If the Piranha Prime assigned to Venerable Tusa possessed the original glow of the Doom Guard, then he would have installed the Whipping Boy into its frame within a heartbeat.

However, ever since Nyxie died, the Doom Guard and Ferocious Piranha designs lost their primordial fear effect they were originally centered around. Now, the mechs produced an alternating disorientating glow that was based on different principles.

"What a shame." He shook his head. "If the Piranha Prime still possessed its old glow, the Whipping Boy would have turned it into a terror that could disrupt the enemy battle formation."

As a result, the Whipping Boy gem appeared to be the most suitable for the Valkyrie Prime. Ves briefly thought what Venerable Joshua would think about piloting a mech that was blessed by a gem with such a denigrating name.

"It doesn't matter! I'm not going to tell him anything!"

Just as he unfolded the small tools embedded into his Unending Regalia in order to install the Whipping Boy, he briefly paused. His pouch held much more than three gems. It was just that their origins and descriptions were too vague.

[Minor Chaos Remnant]

An infinitesimally small remnant of chaos is captured within this gem. Increases the penetration of any sharp melee weapon wielded by a mech by 40 percent.

[Unstable Chaos Essence]

A terrible essence of chaos is locked within this gem. The essence is stolen from a great and ancient horror that would dearly wish to regain it. Carry this gem at your own risk.

[Antithesis Essence]

???

The Minor Chaos Remnant at least sounded useful, but the other two gems left Ves completely speechless!

He could only guess at their effects, but the good news was that he wasn't completely left in the dark. He once utilized a pair of Unstable Chaos Essence gems in his wedding rings. He also transformed a bunch of Highly Unstable Chaos Essence gems into spiritual bombs which produced potent blasts during the Battle against the Abyss.

These so-called chaos gems were filled with volatile but powerful energy. Ves believed they could be harnessed, but so far he lacked the courage to embed them in any of his mechs.

"They should be safe enough." He guessed. "Every gem that Lucky produced so far is geared towards empowering mechs. These chaos gems should not be any different. It's just that I can't predict what effects they will bring. What if they bring harm to the mech pilot as well as the opponent? What if they have a corrupting effect?"

Lucky produced a substantial amount of chaos gems while travelling through the Nyxian Gap. The dark and twisted environment somehow affected the gem cat's output, which meant that the gems definitely contained a lot of ominous energy!

Together with other clues, this interaction also proved that Lucky's products were heavily influenced by the environment he was in, but Ves wasn't paying attention to that at the moment.

"I don't have enough gems to go around." He muttered. "I have 6 prime mechs and only 3 usable gems with defined effects. While I'm afraid how the chaos gems will affect the mentality of my expert pilots, I shouldn't underestimate their mental fortitude."

Expert pilots were famed for their abnormally strong wills. Ves was actually quite hopeful that the corrupting influence of the chaos gems might bring about a stimulating effect instead. It was similar to how inducing prime resonance and true resonance allowed expert pilots to exercise their resonance strength.

Of course, that was just wishful thinking.

Ves made the decision to utilize the chaos gems despite the risks. Whatever happened to his expert pilots in the future, right now he needed to add an immediate boost of power to as many mechs as possible!

"Let's get this over with first."

He installed the Whipping Boy gem into the Valkyrie Prime. The mech did not appear to be much different aside from gaining a small but invisible boost in quality.

As Ves eventually emerged from the cockpit, he turned around to take another look at the mech.

The machine did not look more intimidating to him. Joshua needed to activate its Marked For Death ability in order for the Whipping Boy to exert its true value.

Ves looked forward to witnessing that moment.

He proceeded to install the other gems.

The choice of gem for the Bright Sword Prime was very obvious. The Minor Chaos Remnant possessed an incredibly valuable effect of increasing penetration.

While Ves briefly contemplated using it on the Bright Spear Prime instead, he eventually opted to augment Venerable Dise's mech.

The Swordmaiden fighting style depended heavily on cutting through mechs. Ketis also specialized in sharpness and tried to turn that into a key advantage when she assisted him in developing the Bright Sword Prime.

With Venerable Dise's indomitable battle performance and aggressive fighting style, she could easily bring distress to her opponents!

Of course, defense wasn't her strong suit. If the enemy prepared to meet her attacks and employed containment tactics, then the Bright Sword Prime could easily become entangled before being attacked on all sides. It was up to Major Verle and the other commanders to prevent that from happening.

"Well, even if she gets surrounded, with an indestructible Unending alloy greatsword that is 40 percent sharper than before, she can probably cut her way out of an encirclement!"

After augmenting Venerable Dise's prime mech, Ves contemplated whether he should use up the Maiden's Affection. Compared to the Whipping Boy, the Maiden's Affection appeared to be mostly useful in boosting the morale of friendly Hexers.

"The Valkyrie Prime and the Bright Sword Prime were already the best opportunities to utilize this gem."

In his opinion, the third-best mech to use this gem upon was the Shield of Samar, but it already possessed a gem long before he turned it into a prime mech.

The other three prime mechs did not look like a good fit for the Maiden's Affection.

"Hmmm, maybe I should save it up for the Glory Seekers."

He decided to put away the Maiden's Affection and begin using his other chaos gems instead.

He entered the cockpit of the Piranha Prime and decided to embed it with one of his Unstable Chaos Essence gems.

"Since this mech possesses a suppressive glow, then adding a bit of chaos to the mix will definitely produce a surprising result!"

He could hardly imagine changes to the Piranha Prime's glow. If it worked out the way he hoped, Venerable Tusa would probably gain an even greater advantage at close-ranged combat!

The mere thought of this happening delighted Ves!

"Hahahaha! More chaos! More death! More destruction! Don't let any of those blasted Fridaymen get away with their sanity intact!"