The Mech Touch

Chapter 7071: Ottaviani & Partners

Isobel could not make up her mind whether she wanted to embrace the compact cockpit concept proposed by Ves.

She could rationally understand the benefits of piloting her machine with a much smaller cockpit than normal, but the thought of getting rid of the limbs that made her more human-like sounded terrifying to her. She would be rendered helpless without any means of moving aside from relying on a relatively weak reactionless drive.

That said, she did not dismiss this option outright. She recognized the potential gains of piloting a mech with a reduced cockpit. Its diminished size would free up room for additional energy cells or other benefits.

“Give me time to think about it.” She ultimately told him. “It would be nice if you can send me a draft image or blueprint so that I can visualize the experience of piloting my mech inside a shrunken cockpit.”

Ves nodded. “Got it. I will contact Lady Romanda Devos of the Devos Ancient Clan and request her cooperation for this task. She normally specializes in designing mechs with ultra-large cockpits, but her expertise should still be relevant when designing cockpits that follow the opposite direction of her design philosophy.”

“I will cooperate as best as possible.”

It was a bit weird for a mech designer to develop such a weird design philosophy, but Ves was grateful that Lady Romanda existed. It was much better to leave cockpit design and modification to a mech designer who specialized in this subject.

“Don’t forget about the theory and techniques that I have passed on to you.” He reminded the mostly-recovered ace pilot. “The higher you can raise your tolerance of fire energy, the more powerful your Bloodfire mech will become. This is brand-new technology that has very high potential. It is one of the key systems that has transformed the Dominion of Man from a regular dreadnought into a godship.”

Saint Isobel looked hopeful. “How powerful can it make my Promethea Mark II?”

“That depends on many factors.” Ves responded. “The biggest variable that will determine how powerful your ace mech can become is the source of fire-attributed E energy. I suppose you can rely on absorbing large amounts of E energy radiation to meet your consumption, but there is only so much you can take from a medium-energy environment. It will also leave your ace mech vulnerable to regions of anomalous space where the flow of fire energy is diminished or extinguished entirely. It is best to integrate a self-contained source of fire energy into your machine.”

“Does something like that even exist?” Isobel skeptically asked.

Ves confidently smiled. “Yes. I can think of at least two ways to solve this problem. The first is to secure the cooperation of Master Benedict Cortez of the Cross Clan. His Endex System Version 3.0 is not able to output enough E energy to make a difference, but his remarkable Alien Variant Original Energy Bridge System is capable of outputting formidable amounts of electrical energy as well E energy of the attributes derived from the source, which mostly comes in the form of heads or skulls taken from powerful mutated beasts or alien beings.”

In fact, the non-Alien Variant of this tech was based on taking advantage of the heads of high-ranking mech pilots, but that was so outrageous that Ves did not dare to mention any word about it, especially here on Yernstall IV which was known as a stronghold of the Red Association.

“I heard that our relations with the Cross Clan has become more tense than before.”

“That is somewhat true. We are still allies, but Master Benedict Cortez is not in a mood to collaborate with us at the moment. He may mellow out in a few years, and we can always bribe him with enough superdimensional matter, but I would rather look for alternatives.”

“What else do you have in mind?”

“Nothing for now.” Ves honestly admitted. “I am looking to acquire a relic or a powerful fire-aspected reagent harvested from a calamity beast or other wonder of the universe. I am not too picky. So long as it generates a large amount of fire energy, I am confident that I can tame it and reshape it into a stable source of fire energy. I don’t need to seek the cooperation of Master Benedict if the item already pumps out plenty of fire energy by itself. Well, it doesn’t have to be a dead object. It can also be a living being as long as it is small enough to put inside a mech.”

Saint Isobel grew horrified at the thought of stuffing a living fire entity into the heart of her mech.

Would its hostile energies course through her artificial veins? The pressure would definitely be great! It was no wonder that Ves ordered her to practice techniques aimed at raising her fire energy resistance.

It became much more vital for her to make sure that she would not get burned by the fire she hoped to wield as her weapon!

“Will you be able to find this source of fire energy here in Yernstall?”

“That is the plan, Isobel. I will be meeting with a handful of trade brokers later today. We have assigned them to search for rare and high-end goods that match the descriptions on my wish list. I have made sure to add a source of fire energy to that. Yernstall’s trade brokerage firms are well-connected and can find sellers that are well outside of the public eye. I am mildly optimistic that they can deliver what I have asked for. The only uncertainty is how much we need to pay to secure our prize.”

People all knew that the Larkinson Clan had grown wealthy through a combination of mech sales, various business deals, battlefield plunder and most crucially controlling the only known means of entering the Blue Dimension.

That meant that there were a lot of shrewd businessmen out there that viewed the Larkinson Clan as a fattened pig that was ripe for slaughter.

The companies and traders found by the brokers would definitely ask high prices for their goods.

The rarer and more difficult it was to acquire a specific item, the more outrageous the asking price would become!

That would leave Ves and the Larkinson Clan in an uncomfortable position. They could still say no, but that may result in losing the only opportunity to obtain highly desirable goods.

The only other way Ves could obtain the rare goods he desired was to enter the System Space and check the randomized selection of goods for sale in the Divine Bazaar.

He saw a number of potentially useful items. There were always goods for sale that had a strong connection to the five classical elements.

However, their potency was doubtful and the price in precious Ascension Points was great.

Ves would rather try and seek his luck in Yernstall where he could acquire a source of fire energy by trading more expendable resources.

A day passed by as Ves and his wife settled down and took care of a few matters.

Neither of them had time to accompany their children all of the time, but that was what nannies were for.

Shannon Maris and her colleagues took the children out to play. There were plenty of fun and interesting places to visit on a planet as well-developed as Yernstall IV. From historical museums to water parks, the kids would never run out of venues to visit.

Gloriana sunk her teeth into completing the Riot Mark III Project with the help of the initial solutions provided by the Resonance Smith.

While the superdimensional alloy formulas were relatively basic, they did the job and allowed for the creation of archemechs that remained dimensionally stable. There was no risk of a superdimensional archemech tearing itself apart one day.

Despite the simplicity of the initial solution, Gloriana still had to commit a lot of time to her design work because she essentially had to apply the new alloys on every section and make individual adjustments due to changes in mass, density, heat capacity and many other variables.

The overall mech design remained the same, but the underlying details changed.

In order to speed up her design work, she even applied to the Mech Supremacist Faction to borrow a portion of the vast amount of processing power in the Yernstall System.

Being able to perform a large amount of brute force calculations helped to speed up all of the simulation work, enabling Gloriana to gain greater confidence in the soundness of her altered design.

While Gloriana did her best to finish the Riot Mark III Project as soon as possible, Ves busied himself with various different design projects.

He coordinated with the Terrans to advance the Arboreal Project.

He helped out his wife by completing the easier but still time-consuming design work related to the Riot Mark III Project.

He also began to conduct a number of small experiments in order to develop a high-end Bloodfire System for the Promethea Mark II Project.

Ves would have preferred to move around the Yernstall Central Star Node and take advantage of different opportunities, but moving in the open risked his safety.

To that end, he tried to meet people at his temporary accommodations as best as possible while keeping his journeys to other destinations at a minimum.

Ves met his first trade broker inside the large and white-marbeled office space located at the top of an estate.

Gavin guided a distinguished middle-aged looking gentleman into the office.

The trade broker certainly carried himself as if he possessed a lot of connections. His tasteful green suit with a checkered gray tie stood out just enough to stand out from other businessmen, but looked just classic enough to convey professionalism.

“Sir, this is Raul Ottaviani, the founder and head of Ottaviani & Partners.”

The trade broker made a shallow but respectful bow.

“It is an honor to meet you and be of service to you, Professor Larkinson. We may not be able to offer everything that you have wished for, but we have moved with great haste to identify promising opportunities that are available at this time.”

Ves appreciated that. From what he heard, the other trade brokerage firms needed a week or so to gather enough comprehensive offers. Ottaviani & Partners evidently worked on a completely different timetable compared to its peers.

“I should be thanking you for conducting a thorough search and tapping your contacts for the goods I need. Tell me more about the trading partners that you have managed to tap.”

“I am a citizen of a first-rate state from the old galaxy that you probably do not recognize.” Raul Ottaviani began to explain. “It is to my regret that the pioneers of my old state has been too late in founding colonies in the new frontier. The Great Severing took place before more of my compatriots entered the Red Ocean, and that has caused us to suffer. None of our colonies managed to take off as they are located inside the border regions that have since been overrun by the native aliens.”

“My condolences.”

The other man grimly smiled. “You do not need to do that, professor. It is because of our weak foundation in this dwarf galaxy that I have spent much of my energies into building up Ottaviani & Partners. Without a state or colonial state of our own to support us, my firm invested a great deal of time into forging friendships with many smaller trading partners from many different first-rate states of the Red Ocean Union. Since they lack the prestige and connections of the Terrans and the Rubarthans, these trading partners have a greater demand on our services. Over time, our business transactions have increased and our friendships have grown stronger.”

He made it sound so simple, but Ves knew it was anything but easy for him to successfully establish a brokerage firm in one of the most expensive star systems in human space.

The fact that he succeeded as a self-made man meant that he truly possessed the business acumen to thrive in the Sapphire of the Red Ocean.

Such a man should be able to deliver much of what Ves needed… for a price that would definitely strain his tolerance.

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