[1-200] THE MECH TOUCH

Chapter 125: Massive Spending

Emstar's higher than average performance when piloting his gold label mech propelled his sales past the ten thousand mark. Ves owed a lot of DP to her free advertising. Her influence in the Republic's gaming circles might not be the best, but her endorsement was worth a lot more than a hundred ineffectual commercials to an ad-weary society.

Ves even sent her a thank you note, though he doubted she could dig it out from her fanmail.

During the first week of the Young Blood's release, Ves made the rounds in the Clifford Society. He talked with a few of the knights who hung around the Moon Library. He found out that the Society was split up into numerous factions led by different Masters.

As an apprentice aligned to the Vermeer Group, Ves respectfully declined when he received invitations to attend their meetings. The factions open to cooperation with outsiders persisted with their attempts to draw Ves in but he kept his mouth shut.

Instead, he found some kinship with some of the neutral Knights who admittedly had little prospects of advancing. One older gentleman called Lavrey gave him some perspective.

"Master Olson walks with a particular crowd of people called Unionists. She represents a set of interests that seeks to integrate the Friday Coalition into a single, cohesive state. As you can imagine, not everyone seeks to have their culture and way of life subsumed in a tide of conformity."

"For all the effort I spent on staying out of politics, it turns out I've inadvertently joined one of their camps." Ves lamented. He didn't regret the apprenticeship even if he hadn't benefited from his master's personal guidance yet. "So are you suggesting that I should be more proactive?"

"No. You're still too young. Nobody is interested in an Apprentice Mech Designer. You still have a long way before you turn into a Journeyman Mech Designer. That's when the industry considers you mature enough to exert some influence."

None of this was his business anyway. He instead asked him how he could earn a lot of merits.

"Besides the Mission Hall? There's no other source than trading something valuable with your fellow Society members. You can also donate knowledge and research that our library lacks, though don't get your hopes up on that."

Ves already lost faith in getting an easy mission from the Mission Hall. Emergency missions were too scarce to come by, and it seemed that the most prominent Knights received a warning beforehand should any such mission crop up soon.

"So, there's no other way than to trade something valuable."

"Why do you think there's so many stores down in the city? Those Knights who opened storefronts have all found a way to earn what they need through leveraging their own assets."

He already had a backup plan. If he still couldn't find a mission, he'd open a store and try to peddle some of the exclusive items from the System's Store or Lottery.

The DP the System charged for most of its goodies was high, but anything became less of a problem when you had enough wealth. Ever since his Young Blood became a regional hit, Ves held on to his DP and started scouring the Store for anything rare and unique he could trade for lots of merits.

He could even buy entire machines like an alloy compressor or a CTM, though he had to pay millions of DP to afford the cheapest systems. The System was a downright snob and refused to sell any products that fell short to its expectations.

Even if he bought something precious, Ves had no doubt people would start asking questions if he tried to exchange them for cash or merits. Something as unique as Lucky's gems could spark a galaxy-wide manhunt for him due to their impossible effects.