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Chapter 57: Ominous Warnings
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The Mech Chapter 58: Profligate
Lucky finally woke up the day after Ves visited the MTA. The cat appeared to slink in a satisfying manner, as if he ate the biggest fish in the universe. Ves gave his pet the stink eye."So… you got anything to say?"The cat acted cute and brushed its smooth body against his legs. Ves let go of his irritation and just picked up the cat and hugged him in his arms. It was easy to forgive the loss as he never really owned the strange material in the box to start with. He suspected the advanced alloy may have been meant for Lucky in the first place."Do you feel the need to go to the litter box?"Strangely enough, even after a couple of hours the cat never visited the toilet or his backyard. Ves picked up his cat again and inspected his body closely. Lucky still looked and weighed the same. He started to doubt whether anything really changed. Did the cat just ate a bunch of priceless alloys because it tasted good?He fed Lucky his usual meal of minerals and let it go out and play. Ves sti
The Mech Chapter 59: Package
As Ves debarked from his shuttle with a curious Lucky in tow, his heart weighed down his mood. The articles he read about Vincent Ricklin all painted an ugly image of an irresponsible wastrel.As a serious mech designer, Ves preferred his mechs be used in the purpose they had been built. He was okay with them collecting dust in a warehouse or put on display in some kind of private garage, but to play around with them and take them too lightly was pushing it. No mech designer liked to earn a reputation for making flashy mechs that lacked substance."Though it's not as if I have a choice."That someone like Vincent considered buying a mech from a newbie was miraculous. Ves should thank the heavens for giving him another opportunity to fabricate and sell his variant.Ves took a smaller shuttle to Marcella's brokerage. She owned a nice office in downtown Dorum amid many other offices of major mech manufacturers and salesmen.The giant name plastered on the small five-story office made it
The Mech Chapter 60: Capricious
Vincent Ricklin unbelievably went on for about ten minutes on the importance of manhood in mechs. He really believed almost all mechs were gender neutral. As a bona fide man, Vincent hated the thought of mentally castrating himself whenever he piloted a mech.Naturally, someone immersed in mechs such as Ves had no problem with the lack of gender indications. Mechs were only designed to emulate the human form in order to perform better as a war machine. Adding unnecessary extensions such as hair, skin or gender expressions did not add anything to a mech's battle performance.Frankly, only an extremely vain pilot who cared more for his looks than his battle record could demand something like this. Ves had the misfortune of making a mech for this kind of person."This is an extremely complicated addition. Let me think about it for a day or two. It's not easy to add mass in the front part of the waist."Actually, Ves wanted to ditch Vincent and go back to Marcella and demand they drop him
The Mech Chapter 61: Design Studio
Ves was not immersed in the whole shuttle racing scene. As someone focused on mechs his entire life, the sleek personal transport shuttles that were capable of both atmospheric and space flight held little appeal to him. That did not mean others found them unworthy of their time.In fact, lots of norms worshipped shuttles. They paid fanatical attention to each newly released shuttles and liked to customize and tinker their own vehicles in their free time. Adding some decorative lighting was just one of the ways a fanatic distinguished himself among his peers.He looked over some footage on the galactic net and found it to be a basic concept. It could be as simple as adding a few colored stripes to adding in an elaborate artistic pattern. It impressed Ves that these hobbyists cobbled up evocative looks for their shuttles."I won't be able to get Vincent's approval if I half-ass this job."The best-looking vehicles didn't necessarily have the most lights. Instead, the artists who custom
The Mech Chapter 62: Leviticus
"So anyway, I didn't only invite you here to talk about old times. To be honest, I wanted to ask you something.""Oh?" Ves raised his eyebrow. "What's that?"Carlos stopped paying attention to the match entirely and turned to face Ves with the most serious face he had ever seen on his friend."You know what kind of job I have now. Even if you say I'm likely to move out of my current position, it will take many years, perhaps even decades before I go anywhere near the development process of a new design And that's only if I resign and switch companies, as the current one I work for is just a wholesaler which buys completed mechs from other manufacturers.""You can't rush a career, Carlos. I've seen you studying for nights on end back in college. You've got a good head on your shoulder. Any employer will be bound to appreciate your talents.""But I can't wait that long." Carlos shook his head. "A successful mech designer always starts his career when he's young, we both know that. So wh
The Mech Chapter 63: Nether Regions
"My man Ves, I received your files. I can't say I'm entirely satisfied with your work. The cape doesn't have any frills and the surface lighting schemes don't seem impressive at all. The only thing I found cool is the red lights installed underneath the armor."Ves was afraid of that. Not satisfying his client meant his rewards for the mission could be reduced. "I have made my design choices with resilience in mind. Excessive frills will be the first thing that gets lost when your mech receives damage. It's better to keep a clean appearance that looks great both when it's pristine and when it has survived a battle."The excuse was enough to cause Vincent to pause in his tirade. He frowned and thought over his words. "Alright, but I'm consulting a pro shuttle customizer artist for the lighting scheme. I still feel your designs are too basic. Heh, why didn't I do that in the first place. Your not an artist.""If you are unsatisfied with my designs, feel free to turn to someone else." Th
The Mech Chapter 64: Second Mech
By the time Ves exited the transit shuttle, he breathed in the fresh and moist air of his home planet. Bentheim might have been a melting pot of trade and business, but it did not fare well hosting so many people in such a small planet. He led Lucky and his floating luggage carrier onto a nearby aircar and headed back to his home.His workshop already received its first deliveries of materials by the time he returned. The rest of the raw materials he needed to build a modified Marc Antony trickled in throughout the day. The new security system installed by SASS did their work and performed thorough scans of the arriving delivery shuttles and the containers they carried.Ves already summoned up the design in his System's Designer program and optimized his first commercial design. He had advanced his skills a little bit since he first completed this design, so Ves took advantage of it to marginally increase his mech's speed and armor specifications."It's only been a few weeks but I've
The Mech Chapter 65: Vincent
How integral were chips in the daily life of a modern day human? Even as they slept, these silent workers played their role. They observed the time, measured the surrounding temperature and were on the lookout for any toxicants in the air.When a person woke up, he interacted with dozens of different processors in a short succession. His power shower automatically cleaned him with the most optimal settings before drying him off without any excess heat and air.If he was fairly well off, then his household bot would have already prepared a sumptuous breakfast for him. Though the act of automated cooking was long perfected, bots still needed a tiny bit of processing power to adapt to different ingredients.When it was time for him to go to work, he entered his aircar if he owned one or hailed one from the streets. These basic vehicles were packed with processors of different kinds. The most high-end one was in charge of the main functions, but plenty of auxiliary modules required less c
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