The Mech Touch

Too many months had passed since Lucky produced a gem. His last one was an odd one called Supreme Comprehension. Suffice to say, his cat had definitely become affected by the environment when his bowels disgorged this troublesome gem.

Ves even questioned whether it had been wise for him to perform an experiment by making it alive. If his cat ended up producing a standard gem, he might have gained one more gem that could empower an expert mech or other precious machine.

"C'mon. Don't produce anything too vague and weird this time."

"Meeeowww… Meeeoowww… MEEEOOOWW!"

Lucky was rolling on the bathroom floor as if his body was infected by an alien parasite or something. It was quite odd for him to exhibit such a strong reaction to a process that he was designed to perform.

All of this indicated that Lucky was about to unleash a major haul. Considering that the cat had taken his sweet time to digest all of the exotics he had eaten, the gems he was about to 'produce' should not be weak!

Ves was all smiles as he squatted next to the mechanical cat. His anticipation grew the more Lucky was in pain.

"Meeeoow!.. Meeeeeeeooow!.... Meeeeeeooooowwww!...."

"Hehe, serves you right for withholding your production for so long. Exercise your digestive system more next time. "

This ordeal went on for seven minutes until Ves finally spotted some activity on Lucky's backside.

Ping! Ping! Ping!

In just a handful of seconds, three powerful gems shot out and collided against the bathroom wall!

"Three gems! Yes!"

Ves became incredibly happy when his cat gave him a triple surprise instead of a single delight.

While he did not necessarily object to receiving a single, extremely powerful gem, his collection of gems had dwindled quite a lot. His pouch currently held just four of Lucky's products, two of which consisted of dark gems that had been affected by the abnormal environment of the Nyxian Gap.

[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.

The effects of the two remaining so-called Unstable Chaos Essence Gems did not instill him with a lot of confidence. He had already confirmed that they were able to release a lot of explosive energy if they sustained enough damage. There was no way that Ves wanted to integrate them with any of his important mechs for that reason.

This meant that Ves actually possessed just two 'normal' gems, and both of them came with their own quirks or restrictions that reduced their value to a low point in his eyes.

Gems directly translated to potential masterwork mech opportunities as far as he was concerned. Each one he could use to bump the quality of a freshly fabricated mech into a machine that conceptually transcended the original scope of the design was a strategic asset!

Though Ves was still afraid that Lucky had ended up producing weird gems again, the colorful appearances of the gems suggested that they likely belonged to the normal variety that straightforwardly upgraded a specific attribute of a mech.

To Ves, that sounded as if he was about to receive his early birthday presents!

"Meooow… meeoooowwww…."

Ves completely ignored his exhausted and suffering gem cat and moved over to the side of the bathroom to pick up the three gems.

Despite the place where they originated from, the gems were clean and dry, so Ves did not show any disgust when he touched them and held them in order to confirm that they were all real.

"Three gems." He softly repeated.

Though Lucky was able to produce more gems at a time, Ves did not feel any regret that he only obtained three this time. He was just happy that he gained more flexibility and options now that he supplemented his depleted collection of gems.

He no longer waited and employed his System vision in order to learn about their effects.

[Bastet's Favor]

The blessing of a feline patron is stored in this gem. Enhances the cutting power of a mech by 20 percent.

[Bastet's Regard]

The blessing of a feline patron is stored in this gem. Improves the agility of a mech by 20 percent.

[Bastet's Affection]

The blessing of a feline patron is stored in this gem. Increases the firepower of a ranged mech by 20 percent.

His smile abruptly froze as he read through the descriptions.

"What the? Who the hell is Bastet?"

Ves retrieved his pouch of gems from his uniform pocket and pulled out one of his older gems. He quickly inspected its description.

[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.

"...There is no way that this is a coincidence."

He briefly turned to Lucky, but saw nothing wrong. His cat was currently rubbing his backside while yowling with lingering pain.

"Meeeooww… meeoooww.. Meeeeooowwww…"

Seeing that neither the gems nor his gem cat could provide him with any clues, he no longer bothered with this mystery. No matter how the gems were named, the fact of the matter was that he gained three more ways to augment his mechs!

"I have a bit more confidence in making a masterwork mech now that I have these goodies." He grinned.

Bastet's Regard was particularly relevant to him as it sounded like the perfect gem for the Disruptor Project. While the chance of getting any of his mechs within throwing distance of this coveted quality standard was low, he felt a bit more reassured that he had a viable option at hand.

The only uncertainty was that his last-second attempt at making Lucky's gems alive failed to yield the expected results. None of the new 'Bastet' gems exhibited any significant signs of life.

"Maybe the last time was just a fluke?"

He needed to conduct more tests in order to figure out the rules behind this phenomenon.

The delivery of a fresh batch of gems ultimately put him in an even better mood than before. He had become even more eager to start fabricating the expert mech for real.

Lucky's agony slowly subsided after a few hours and a much-needed nap. Ves also enjoyed a good night of rest, especially after he 'synergized' with Gloriana after an impromptu 'design session'.

The Miracle Couple woke up and prepared for the day at optimal conditions. Neither of the two felt troubled at this time. They could hardly be in a better state to fabricate a mech.

When they went down to Gloriana's personal workshop, they met up with both Ketis and Juliet. The two women had also made sufficient preparations for the intensive slog ahead of them. None of the Journeymen showed any intention of backing out at this point.

Gloriana began with reminding them of her overall plan.

"My husband and I are able to fabricate our best mechs by completing them in a single run, so that is what we will do. While it takes around two to three days for us to fabricate a typical mech, the Disruptor Project is an entirely different beast. I estimate it will take at least five whole days of uninterrupted work to complete it, so that is what I have based my plan around."

"Five days is a little much…" Juliet softly complained.

"It's doable as long as we make use of stimulants. We'll probably collapse at the end, but the results will be worth it." Gloriana stated. "What matters is that we devote ourselves entirely to making the Disruptor Project our best mech yet. It is the first expert mech that we have all designed. It carries each of our essence and its performance and potential is unmatched to any mech that we have worked on before. I don't want any of us to ruin such a great work because we are too reluctant to work overtime."

She did not intend to be soft this time. This time, she wasn't dealing with a bunch of weak and barely competent assistants. The other Journeymen had already formed their design philosophies and possessed superhuman minds and physiques. They were more than capable of working continuously across several days.

"I have one question." Juliet briefly raised her hand. "Since Master Willix played a key role in making this expert mech possible, will she take part in this fabrication run?"

Gloriana shook her head. "No. She has already made it clear that we're on our own. Don't worry. She already told me how to process the resonating materials that we are about to apply to our upcoming creation. While it would be helpful if she was helping us in person, the Disruptor Project is ultimately our work. I don't believe that we need to borrow her strength in order to achieve a better result!"

Her confidence was inspiring, though Ves wasn't sure it was merited. There was no way that fabricating an expert mech was that simple.

After clarifying a few more matters and answering a couple more questions, Gloriana impatiently waved her hand.

"You all know what to do already. There is no point in rehashing the same points. Let's proceed with our final preparations. I will give you half an hour to center yourself. After that, we will proceed with creating our first expert mech!"

Gloriana and Juliet both approached the statue of the Superior Mother that had been moved to the workshop.

Both Hegemony-born women fell to their knees and earnestly prayed to the lightning-struck statues.

Ves did not join them, of course. While he was fine with allowing them to do anything that made them feel better, there was no way he was going to worship his own mother! She was not god!

"Ugh." Ves shook his head and turned to Ketis. "What will you be doing?"

"What else?" His first student smiled at him. Her sharp will condensed as she unsheathed Bloodsinger from its scabbard. "I'll be cutting some alloy plates."

As Ketis proceeded to do just that, Ves felt as if he was surrounded by crazies. He scratched his head and decided to pass the time by spending time with the cats.

"Meoooww… meoooowww…"

"Miaow. Miaow."

Mrow. Mrow.

Once the half hour had passed, the Journeymen gathered yet again. Now that the moment had finally come, each of them had become a lot more driven and eager than before.

Seeing that everyone was in their best state, Gloriana did not delay any further.

"Let's begin. All of you know what to do. We have five days to complete our first expert mech. Good luck and get to work!"

The Journeymen of the Larkinson Clan all split up and proceeded to work on their respective tasks.

The ELKINE 3D printer quickly warmed up and began to buzz as Gloriana fabricated the first parts. Her work became a lot more complicated because the difficulty of processing and integrating resonating materials with other materials was a lot higher than usual. For this reason, she took it upon herself to personally fabricate the most complex components.

Of course, it was impossible for her to maintain her peak concentration for more than several hours at a time. She had already set up a rotation where she would allow one of the other Journeymen to take her place and fabricate different parts.

In the meantime, Ves and the others made use of the other production machines to produce specialized components such as processors, knife blades, armor plating and more.

No one was allowed to stay idle. Even though light mechs were considerably faster to make, it was a different story for an expert mech. The design of the expert light skirmisher they were working on crammed so many powerful parts in a tiny frame that a single critical fabrication fault could have profound consequences to the total performance of the end result!

Though it was always possible to fix such errors after they completed the fabrication run, this was obviously not the ideal outcome that Gloriana and the others had in mind.

As the initial hours began to pass, Ves suddenly came up with a bright idea.

Since his companion spirit was able to assist with designing the Disruptor Project, could the cat also help with fabricating the mech?

It was worth exploring this new option!

"Blinky!"

Mrow?

"Stop freeloading in my mind and help us out! Let's see if your design network can increase our performance!"