The Mech Touch

"Why am I even thinking about this? This Titania Coin is too risky!"

There was no logical reason to turn a totem dedicated to a former alien astral beast into a coin!

Ves could not fully fathom how such a coin would influence its holders. Whatever the case, he did not think it would lead to anything good.

He resolutely scrapped this design without any further entanglement. As long as he identified a severe risk factor, there was no need to consider the coin any further. Ves had plenty of alternatives and had the luxury of choice.

The next coin in his consideration was a totem based on one of his earliest but also his most dependable design spirit.

As far as intelligence and sophistication went, the Solemn Guardian probably ranked at the bottom.

"That's not necessarily bad, though."

The Solemn Guardian only really had one job and that was to inspire loyalty and duty in other people.

It had done so brilliantly ever since Ves published the original Desolate Soldier design. It was such a useful design spirit that he had even turned to it again to serve as the design spirit of the recently-completed Rigid Spine model.

"Besides, it is not as simple as before."

There were perks to being his oldest design spirit. It had experienced more years of growth and influence from its mech pilots than any other entity.

With tens of millions of Desolate Soldiers in circulation back in the Yeina Star Cluster, Ves could not imagine how much spiritual feedback the Solemn Guardian received!

Now that Ves checked up on the Solemn Guardian, he became a bit intrigued at the fact that the Solemn Guardian had refined its form.

"The Solemn Guardian is a man now. He also looks more humanoid."

This must be the consequence of connecting with millions of mech pilots, many of which were human males.

As for why the Solemn Guardian chose to be a man rather than a woman, Ves was not interested in finding out the answer. He was already happy to see that one of his spirits and a living product no less had gained a life of his own. It would be too boring if the Solemn Guardian remained static and unchanging over time.

"This is a useful coin to have." Ves surmised. "It can be used as an extra badge for different organizations and it can reinforce the motivation and steadfastness of soldiers in battle."

The many use cases of the Desolate Soldier exemplified the utility of the Solemn Guardian.

However, there was one big issue about the Solemn Guardian Coin. It bumped into the same cannibalization problem as the Lufa Coin.

The problem was less severe in this case. The Desolate Soldier was an extremely cheap third-class mech that was a proven bestseller.

Once he got around to updating it as well as designing a second-class variant, Ves had little doubt that his new Desolate Soldier models could achieve high sales volumes in the Red Ocean.

"A Solemn Guardian Coin is useful to carry around but its effect is not that strong. Bringing Desolate Soldiers into the field is the best and most effective way to reinforce people's sense of duty!"

Although the Solemn Guardian Coin was one of the mildest and least exotic coins he designed, he felt it was good enough to use its concept as the basis of the 1 lark coin.

"A single lark is represented by duty. Simple. Clear. Valuable, but not excessively so. It is just right to price it at 1 lark."

He made a notation to turn the Solemn Guardian Coin into the third-most valuable coin denomination.

"I need to select at least two more coin concepts."

He immediately paused after he swiped to the next coin design.

It was the only one in the collection that wasn't shaped like a circle. Instead, Ves had designed it so that its sides were shaped like a hexagon.

Anyone in the expeditionary fleet would immediately be able to tell what this coin was all about by its contours alone!

Of all of the coins he designed, the Superior Mother Coin stood out because of multiple reasons.

First, the Superior Mother was one of his smartest, most powerful and most versatile design spirits. Since she was directly derived from Cynthia, she possessed more capabilities than most which meant that Ves could easily draw out different aspects depending on his needs.

For example, he could create a variation of the coin that was based on the woman phase of hexism. This turned the Superior Mother Coin into a hyperfeminine totem that would probably attract a lot of fans from Hexers!

He could also appeal to the Superior Mother's death phase to come up with a coin that would probably become a popular prop to use in burials.

"It can also be used as a token of bad luck."

The real question here was not whether it was possible to make these weird coins, but whether it was useful to make them in the first place.

Ves did not want to help the Hexers spread their odious culture. The fall of the Hexadric Hegemony might be a tragedy to its citizens, but it was a net positive outcome to the rest of human civilization!

He suddenly frowned. "On the other hand, I can't allow the Superior Mother to starve."

The design entity needed plenty of spiritual feedback to stay alive and healthy, and this was particularly the case when she expended her energy more often.

All of those battle formations the Penitent Sisters and the Glory Seekers pulled off did not come without a price.

The Superior Mother actually paid most of the bill!

This was because the battle formation only provided the Superior Mother with a channel to affect the material realm from the imaginary realm.

In other words, a battle formation was nothing more than a temporary pipe.

It was up to the Superior Mother to expend a huge amount of her energy and flood it into the material realm in the form of a massive, battle-changing attack!

Although the mech units employed this battle formation numerous times, Ves was quite aware that the Superior Mother was only able to sustain so many interventions by using a huge amount of Hexers as her unwitting donors.

What if the Hexadric Hegemony finally fell?

"There's still the Hexer diaspora."

A lot of Hexers had already fled the Komodo Star Sector in order to escape the reach of the Friday Coalition. They scattered into different fleets that traveled in many different directions.

The wealthiest and most powerful of them were already converging on the Hexer colonies founded in the Red Ocean.

Ves did not have much hope that the random Hexer refugees would be able to maintain their numbers and their culture in the long term. Without a state to support their biases and prejudices, it was extremely hard for them to remain obstinate in a foreign state!

For example, Gloriana would get smacked in the face if she voiced her more controversial notions!

She was quite lucky that the Larkinson Clan was tolerant and inclusive.

"Anyway, there is an argument to be made about this coin."

Turning totems of the Superior Mother into coins was a great way to introduce the design spirit to new sources of spiritual feedback!

Ves reached out his hand and tweaked the design a bit. He decided to modify the spiritual design of the six-sided coin so that it was slanted towards the phase of life.

This was not only the most 'boy-friendly' phase of hexism, it also held great value that made it valuable enough to be used as the denomination of his kilolark coin.

"This coin should be worth 1 MTA credit according to the pegged exchange rate proposed by Raymond."

The life phase was special for one major reason. Both Ves and Cynthia's domains were primarily based on life. The Superior Mother inherited both of their strengths and was able to exude a vibrant aura that could make anyone feel pleasant.

Ves closed his eyes as he tried to imagine this glow.

To him, this was a glow that he associated with motherhood and the birth and raising of children. The life phase represented a beginning and a start of an endeavor.

He could think of a lot of potential uses for this coin.

"It can be used to promote childbirth. Superstitious mothers can even use it to ask for the Superior Mother's blessing. Women who carry it will probably find it easier to build up relationships with their children."

It was a glow that reminded Ves of family. The Golden Cat was able to evoke the sense of family a lot better, but only Larkinsons benefited from this effect.

"Anyway, I'll add this one to the list as well."

There were plenty of reasons to put the Superior Mother Coin into circulation. Just the possibility that it would help his mother was enough to commit him to this choice despite all of the complications.

"Still, not everyone will appreciate this coin. What about men who don't want attention from their mothers?"

There was no way that they would be willing to exchange a Superior Mother Coin for a single MTA credit!

"What if… I introduce another kilolark coin?"

Ves swiped the projected interface a few times before he came across one that presented the boldest impression to him. The side of the coin depicted a muscular human physique that could inspire a lot of masculinity in men!

"Is the Bravo Coin a mistake or a useful product?"

Bravo was actually a more complicated design spirit. He just didn't want to acknowledge it most of the time.

Still, if Ves saw the masculine design spirit in a better light, then Bravo could play a useful role in stimulating competitiveness and encouraging both men and women to overcome difficult challenges.

"It's like a gym coach in the form of a design spirit."

Was it worth 1 kilolark? Ves wasn't sure about that. What he did know was that the Bravo Coin could serve as a counterbalance to the Superior Mother Coin.

"If I value them both at 1 kilolark and circulate them at the same time, then I won't offend any men or women. It's up to other people to choose which one they prefer more. In fact, they might even choose to carry both if they can afford the cost."

He frowned. He didn't know what would happen if anyone brought the two coins together. He didn't know how any combination of living coins would react for that matter.

"I should definitely investigate this further once I am ready to make a batch of coins."

For now, Ves needed to finish this selection process by determining the final choice for the megalark coin.

A coin that was worth 1,000,000 larks had to provide a huge amount of value!

This made it a lot more difficult for Ves to think how this could be accomplished.

"If I chose the Vulcan Coin or the Lufa Coin, I might be able to justify this valuation."

He had already scrapped them, though. He had a much harder time finding a good match with both of the obvious choices out of the way.

As Ves switched from coins based on different design spirits, he eventually halted on a single sketch.

"Qilanxo."

The coin based on the former sacred god exuded a sense of protection and safety.

All of this sounded good, but it didn't do anything else.

"Must that always be the case, though?"

What if he made it a little more special? What if he invested more in its design and creation and turned it into a totem that could provide actual protection, if only to a minor extent?

He frowned yet again. "This is too difficult! I can hardly do anything with a totem that is this small!"

It was a great idea to use the Qilanxo Coin as the basis of his megalark coin, but if Ves wasn't able to make anything happen, then it wasn't the right choice.

He didn't have many alternatives left, though. He only possessed so many design spirits and couldn't bring out more at the moment.

As Ves continued to think about his limited choices, he abruptly came up with another strange idea.

"What if… I base a coin out of other subjects? What if… I use one of our masterwork mechs as a totem?"