[1-200] THE MECH TOUCH

Chapter 46: New Perspective

Ves personally watched on as the shipping company Marcella contracted brought the Phoenix Cry away. The loaders and bots carefully loaded the dark and red coated mech into a sealed and padded mech container. They carried it back to the spaceport and loaded it onto the next transport out to Bentheim.

With that out of the way, Ves returned to his workshop with Lucky. The cat enjoyed the time out, but now appeared to laze away for the rest of the day.

"You're such a lazy bones."

The cat drowsily meowed at him, not really paying attention to his words. Ves scratched the gem cat's chin before sinking down into his couch.

Before Ves got back to work, he wanted to rest a bit and recover from his high-intensity fabrication spree. He found it exhausting to constantly pay attention to his emotional mood when he shaped the Phoenix Cry. While he thought his mech successfully radiated the kind of aura similar to the best mechs he saw in Bentheim, it still remained to be seen if it generated more sales. The X-Factor couldn't be measured after all, so on paper his mech appeared worse than it actually performed.

"I can still do it once in a while, but not if I'm fabricating mechs each and every day." Even with the System, Ves remained a mortal. Unless he spent a shipload of DP on his concentration and endurance attributes, he doubted the exhaustion would go away.

"It's more important to shore up my skills instead of spending them on my attributes."

While Ves recognized that both options had their merits, the skills provided immediate tangible benefits. In this early stage where he was still on the brink of bankruptcy after one bad spell, he needed

"Oh well, I'll think about it tomorrow."

He took the rest of the day off. He avoided all activities pertaining mechs. Considering that he spent most of his life with mechs one way or another, he found it difficult to find something else to do. He ended up watching broadcasts until he slept through the night.

In the meantime, at a mech yard in the outskirts of Dorum, Marcella stood by with another person as they watched a drone drop off a mech container. Both of them looked proper and energetic. While Marcella wore her customary green formal clothes, the man besides her dressed a bit more flamboyantly.

"There it is, Captain Caruthers. Your new mech. The Phoenix Cry, the very first model of its kind in production."

The man grunted with anticipation. "When you told me you were prepared to sell me a mech with my criteria, I couldn't believe it. There's not a lot of advanced mechs available in the local market that's viable at range and up close, especially within my price range."

"The wholesale armor replacement my boy has done to your mech is the reason why it's so affordable. Don't get carried away thinking you're piloting a real Caesar Augustus."

"I'm confident in my skills. I've taken the model out for a spin plenty of times in the simulations. I know how far I can push this mech. As long as I don't hunt after the most notorious pirates, I'll be fine."

"The alternative armor is also cheaper to replace. You won't be breaking the bank with this mech as long as you don't let its core be damaged."

Some of Marcella's drones flew up to unseal the container and check if its contents matched the manifest. When everything checked out, the container opened to reveal a formidable-looking mech. The drones started removing the seals that kept the mech inert and its weapons cold.

"Wow. Playing around with virtual toys is one thing, seeing the real deal is another."

Even Marcella looked impressed. Both of them spent hours pouring over the spec sheet and the simulations of the Marc Antony. While recognizing the model's inherent flaws, they both admired its decent build quality and plethora of options. Marcella saw the potential in Ves with this polished design, so she made sure to get her hooks in early before some other competitor got their claws on him. Despite her good impressions of Ves' first work, she only regarded it as a transient design, something to get the mech designer's business running.