[401-600] THE MECH'S TOUCH

Chapter 406: Primacy

Ves had to arrange a lot of stuff before his impending departure. Over the next week, he accomplished a lot of things.

He held a board meeting where he introduced Calsie and rammed through a couple of changes in the corporate chapter.

He kept himself up to date with the Marketing Department's plan to roll out of the Crystal Lord models.

On some moments, Ves squeezed out the time to visit Lucky. His gem cat meowed weakly at him whenever he visited. It seemed that Lucky still needed a couple of months to get back into shape.

"I'll be going away soon. According to the regulations of the Mech Corps, I can't bring any possession along with me. You'll have to stay behind."

"Meow…"

"Just keep an eye on the Mech Nursery, alright? Hang around Calsie and Melkor if you can, and scare away anyone who issues threats to them. They're my two most influential agents and I can't have them succumb to any outside coercion while I'm away."

"Meow."

"I'll be sure to arrange for a steady supply of choice minerals and exotics. You'll never starve as long as the LMC exists."

"Meow..."

He hugged and played with Lucky for a couple of times, but he regretfully kept these tender moments brief.

"There's one more thing I need you to take care of." Ves said and slowly detached his trusty comm from his wrist. He subsequently bound it to Lucky's neck. The comm's advanced construction quickly shifted into a locked configuration. "Keep my comm on you at all times, and never let it anyone grab a hold of it. Got it?"

"Meow?"

"Yes, it contains the System."

"Meow!"

"I know, but I don't have any other choice! The Mech Corps take security very seriously. I heard that any incoming mech designer will be stripped of his possessions and be issued new ones instead. I can't have this comm falling out of my sight and into someone else's hands."

This not only applied to his comm, but also his shield generator and all of his anti-grav clothes, which he planned to stash in the vault.

Spending a long time without the System daunted him a little. Ves admitted to himself that he became dependent on having the possibility to spend DP at any time to get out of a fix. Being forced to forgo his safety rope unsettled him more than he thought.

"I couldn't have made it this far without the System."

On the flipside, this would be a rare moment in time where he could prove that he could make do without the System's many conveniences. True mech designers built up their careers by themselves. Though many of the successful ones benefited from a lot of outside help, Ves figured that no one enjoyed a leg-up as much as him over the same period of time.

From a talentless hack to a rising young star, Ves owed the System more than he could ever repay. The thought constantly lingered in the back of his mind. One day, a reckoning might come where he may have to pay an awful price.

For now, it was not as if Ves lost a lot of capabilities. It would be impossible for him to earn a lot of DP while he worked for the Mech Corps.

"Added to that, the Crystal Lord is a Superpublished design. In exchange for elevating its quality, I lost the opportunity to earn any DP from its sales."

That would affect him a lot, he knew. The handsome trickle of DP he earned from the Blackbeak alone was very substantial. Once the LMC allocated some of its production capacity to the Crystal Lord, his DP income would be cut in half at the very least.