The Mech Touch novel Chapter 1244

Ves didn’t forget about the gold label Aurora Titans he promised to fabricate. As soon as he caught up on his paperwork, he rushed their fabrication.

While he wasn’t in his best state, it hardly affected the fabrication of mechs. Just thinking about how each gold label Aurora Titan sold for 150 million credits a piece was enough to motivate him into working faster.

Even if the quality of his work slipped a bit, the difference was within his tolerance. Ves really wanted to finish this commitment as fast as possible so he delayed his journey to Centerpoint System until he emptied out his backlog.

The only minor complication was that Ves needed to spend some time to design a customized look for each of the fifteen gold label Aurora Titans. With his current design ability, this wasn’t a challenge, but he had to admit that he wasn’t in the most inspired mood right now.

Working while he was in a spiritually-depleted state annoyed Ves a bit. He realized that he had become quite dependent on his Spirituality in order to perform at his best.

"It’s not wrong to depend on inspiration, but I should really learn how to manage without it. A mech designer shouldn’t be rendered helpless just because they’re in a bad mood."

Ves treated Spirituality as a stimulant. He was addicted to it like Axelar used to be addicted to his formulas.

Just like the privileged Terran, Ves didn’t want to stop his addiction.

"The difference between me and a junkie is that my addiction is productive."

He began to see the silver lining behind his suboptimal condition. As long as he could train himself to bear with this handicap, then his consistency would grow. No matter if he was in a good mood or a bad mood, he’d be able to put out consistently good work.

Just waiting for the times he was inspired or fired up was a rather unreliable way to approach his profession. While Ves was quite proficient in getting into the right mood, who knew if he failed one day?

Time began to pass as Ves seriously started to explore how he could cope with his work during his low periods.

While it wasn’t easy, Ves persisted in it, knowing that he was dealing with his condition a bit better every day.

One area in which he didn’t make any progress was his relationship with Lucky. The cat only allowed himself to be pampered by Ketis lately!

"Come on, Lucky. Who’s your owner, me or Ketis?"

"Meow!" Lucky turned his head and flipped his tail.

"Don’t you think you’re being too excessive here? When will you finally forgive me for feeding you that nutrient pack wrapper?"

"MEOW!"

Lucky jumped from his perch and phased through the wall, leaving Ves behind.

"Damn." He muttered. "I better order a more expensive batch of exotics. He can’t stay pissed at me forever."

During his off time, Melkor visited him to inform him of a major development.

"Do you remember when I told you that the Larkinsons plan to set up shop on Cloudy Curtain? Well, they’ve just started constructing a new compound in Freslin."

"I’m aware." Ves sighed. "I don’t think it’s necessary for them to build a second retreat here. I don’t want to involve the family in the running of my business too much."

"Your importance and the importance of the LMC to the Larkinson Estate is way too significant for the rest of us to ignore. Even if you haven’t attended any of the steering committee gatherings lately, your shadow still looms over them. More and more Larkinsons believe that devoting the family solely to the Mech Corps is not enough anymore."

Ves knew he couldn’t do anything to change this trend. The Larkinsons used to be satisfied with their lot because they didn’t possess any exceptional entrepreneurs in the family. Now that a cash cow like him came along, the ambitions of the family finally found fertile ground to grow.

Expert pilots may be powerful, but their service to the Mech Corps meant that they didn’t actually earn any money! It already cost the military billions of credits to develop and maintain an expert mech for each of them. The privilege of piloting an expensive mech that was tailored to their needs was pretty much the extent of their remuneration!

Mech designers faced different circumstances. Although they didn’t enjoy as much privileges and protection, they could make all of that up on their own due to their ability to generate lots of revenue.

When Ves was still an Apprentice, the Larkinsons still held out their judgement on whether he’d be able to survive in the long-term. Now that he advanced to Journeyman Mech Designer, most of that uncertainty had been cleared away.

Not only would Ves be able to earn vastly more money, but he would definitely get to live long enough to provide steady shelter to the Larkinson Family for the next two centuries!

"There’s more to this decision than providing a common home for all of the Larkinsons joining the LMC or the Avatars." Melkor continued. "Right now, the family is completely dependent on you to prop up the LMC. What happens if something happens to you? While the elders want you to find a girlfriend, they want backups in place in case something happens to you and your offspring."

It was never a good idea to put all of your eggs in one basket. Ves understood this point, so he could pretty much predict what Melkor tried to say.

"The family wants me to help raise more mech designers, right?"