The Mech Touch novel Chapter 1626

Chapter 1626 Freeloader

Much of human space became enraptured by the opportunities opened by the invasion of the Red Ocean.

Some dreamt of starting a new empire away from all of the established powers of the Milky Way.

With the presence of the old and entrenched first-rate states constrained in the new galaxy, this was a golden opportunity for any galactic pioneer to found a state that could one day match their might!

Others became obsessed with the limitless potential of phasewater. The myriad of applications it enabled sent many scientists, engineers, shipwrights and mech designers into a rapture!

Using phasewater to build minidrives and beyonder gates only scratched the surface of this high-grade exotic. Many ambitious researchers already plotted taking advantage of phasewater's dimensional properties to invent even more fantastic devices...

Most people weren't as ambitious, though. The advent of FTL-capable mechs and beyonder gates signified that the demand of phasewater would always be high!

To profiteers, high demand always correlated to high prices!

Though phasewater was purportedly more abundant in the Red Ocean, this was only relative to its scarcity in the Milky Way. It was still absolutely rare in the new galaxy.

As long as a pioneer found a deposit of phasewater, they could potentially become richer than first-rate business magnates!

The insane wealth that seemed to be ripe for the picking attracted many ambitious people throughout the galaxy!

Unfortunately, the requirements to obtain a beyonder ticket and become a galactic pioneer was simply too harsh.

Even if up to ten people could pool their merits together to redeem a fleet beyonder ticket, it was hardly possible for anyone to earn more than a million merits in their lifetime, let alone a hundred!

The prohibitive amount of contributions required to earn merits crushed the dreams of many hopeful people.

Those who already enjoyed a comfortable amount of success in the old order saw little appeal in sacrificing so much wealth and resources to embark on a risky venture.

In the end, only a small number of people who already possessed the capital to explore and colonize the Red Ocean redeemed beyonder tickets.

Many of their compatriots refrained from making any moves.

In the Komodo Star Sector, the invasion of the Red Ocean Dwarf Galaxy hardly affected the existing trends.

The sandmen cared nothing about humanity's movements. States such as the Ylvaine Protectorate, Bright Republic and Vesia Kingdom were far too hard-pressed to care about developments that were far beyond their reach!

In the center of the star sector, the Fridaymen and Hexers still fought as vigorously against each other as ever. Just as Gloriana predicted, the two sides became more determined than ever to overrun the other side!

For these reasons, the hype surrounding phasewater and the Red Ocean quickly faded among the people of the Komodo Star Sector.

They had to deal with the existing problems first before looking ahead to the future!

Ves and Gloriana both knew that trying to accumulate 100 million merits within a decade was not very realistic. They did not give up, though, and became determined to earn as many merits as possible.

As Ves woke up the next day, he petted Lucky who was resting on his chest.

"What am I, your personal throne or something?"

"Meow."

"Why are you here, anyway?"

Lucky pushed out a lustrous pink heart-shaped gem with his paw. Ves curiously picked it up and studied it with his System vision.

[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.

"What the hell?!"

Ves wanted to puke out blood when he read its description. What a useless attribute! Even if the Maiden's Affection boosted an aspect by a whopping 40 percent, why did it increase something as useless as attraction to females?!

"You damn cat!" He angrily grabbed Lucky's body and lifted him in front of his face! "What has Gloriana been feeding you these days?! Can't you exert more control over your own crap?!"

"Meow!"

Lucky instantly turned intangible and drilled through the bed and floor!

Though Ves could have stopped his cat, he didn't bother. He only wanted to show his displeasure so that Lucky would work harder in forming useful gems.

As for the Maiden's Affection, he eyed it for a moment before shrugging. "Any gem is useful."

Ever since Gloriana came to live with him, she frequently spoiled his cat.

However, Lucky's improved diet did not seem to increase Lucky's gem production very much! Ves had no idea where all of the exotics went, but his cat only seemed to produce a gem whenever he liked.

"Greedy bastard." Ves grumbled.

He had no choice but to cherish the few gems he received. Ever since he successfully upgraded the only copy of the Devil Tiger into a masterwork mech, Ves regarded them as strategic resources.

Each potent gem represented an opportunity to cheat his way into building another masterwork mech!

"Sadly, it's not that easy to build another masterwork mech." He sighed.

Though he hadn't fabricated a lot of mechs lately, he intuitively felt that fabricating regular mechs didn't cut it. A masterwork not only demanded flawless construction, but also deep meaning.