The Mech Touch

Chapter 6568 Powerful Upgrade Track

The general System upgrades this time delighted Ves.

None of the upgrades sounded overwhelmingly powerful, but they all brought useful and practical enhancements to existing functions.

From tripling the amount of Missions available for acceptable to enabling users to convert the mostly intact bodies of power opponents into golden enlightenment fruits, the Mech Designer System had just become a lot more useful!

The previous upgrade did not bring so many different changes to the facilities in the System Space. Version 3.0 merely introduced a Dimension Observatory, which opened up a lot of new options, but demanded way more AP to operate than the current users could afford.

Ves actually had a strong suspicion that the System expended more effort than useful to strengthen its existing functions this time.

It must have heard his complaints and may have grown concerned that he wasn't using the System as much as he should because of that. He had no doubt that the advantages provided by the System had grown so much that he would not be able to resist the temptation to increase his reliance on its functions.

Normally, Ves would maintain a paranoid attitude towards these suspicious gifts, but given the ongoing crises, he was not sure he could afford to waste the potential of the System.

He already planned to visit the Mission Hall and pick up a few convenient Missions so that he could work on earning a good sum of Ascension Points in his spare time.

His expression briefly worsened. Time was his greatest shortcoming. He had way too much to do and not enough time to handle every issue. It would be great if the Missions corresponded to his existing plans and intentions. If not, he would have to think carefully if he could afford to spend that much time to earn specific sums of AP. "By the way, Ves, I also made another potential discovery about the changes to the System." Ketis spoke. "If the description related to the Dimension Blade is accurate, we can potentially use it to kill or destroy stuff that we never thought about challenging in the past. For example, what if we can use it to kill ancient phase whales?"

"Impossible! That's an absurd thought, Ketis! Ancient phase whales and entities of comparable strength are on a completely different level from mortals like us. As far as I know, the scale of the Dimension Blade is fixed. Even if you can cut through the ancient phase whale's spatial barrier and strike the body directly, do you think a body as big as that of a small moon or a planet will notice the miniscule cut? Unless the Dimension Blade can be scaled up to the point where it can cut through entire planets, I don't see any way it can kill such a massive opponent. Besides, those enormous phase lords and phase whales aren't stupid enough to sit around and let you swing your enormously threatening blade against them. They have many ways to avoid getting hit."

True Gods truly stood above mortals in many different aspects. They possessed several transcendent qualities that completely put them into a whole different class.

"If the Dimension Blade can't be used to kill ancient phase whales, then it should at least be able to break the spacetime bubble that has kept Bridgehead One apart from the rest of the Red Ocean."

Wait.

Was that possible?

Ves recalled the description of the Dimension Blade. Whatever it was, its capabilities shouldn't be weak, especially since it was a product derived from the Mech Designer System!

Yet was it truly as absolute as it suggested? Could the Dimension Blade truly break through more than common physical and energy defenses?

If it could be used to break through a greater spacetime bubble that had inflicted considerable damage to red humanity's socio-economic landscape, then that would not only free up the Polymath and many highly competent first-class scientists and engineers, but also liberate the First Flame and the Dominion of Man!

The latter was especially important as the sole Carmine dreadnought could immediately be sent to the border regions and delay the collapse of the 4th defensive band, thereby buying precious time!

Ves felt incredibly glad that the System had introduced a truly useful capability this time.

The only fly in the ointment was that it came too late to be of use.

"Your idea has a lot of merit, Ketis, but... it is probably not necessary for us to employ this solution anymore." He says. "According to classified information that I am not sure I am supposed to share with you, the greater spacetime bubble surrounding Bridgehead One has exhibited increasing abnormalities. The predominant theory is that the Polymath and the other humans trapped inside managed to find a way to multiply its energy consumption, thereby causing it to get deflated at a rapid speed. There is no point in spending dozens or hundreds of AP to pop the bubble when it is already being solved by a Star Designer."

He knew that the Polymath wouldn't let herself get trapped like this for long. It only took a few days inside the time distorted bubble for her to cobble up a solution!

Ketis simply nodded at this answer. "That saves us a large amount of Ascension Points. It is better not to project the Dimension Blade into reality if we can help it as it will delay our other System purchases."

The two users could keep on talking about the implications of the improvements noted in the changelog for hours, but Ves was not interested in going into too much detail at the moment.

He had been putting off the next matter long enough. His patience had grown thin, so he finally allowed himself to study the next notification.

Ever since he submitted a small sample of Yondu Milk to the Mech Designer System, he already had an inkling that the bulk of the upgrades would be oriented towards life.

The System did not disappoint his expectations.

[The provision of Yondu Milk has restored multiple capabilities of the Mech Designer System and is capable of enabling further improvements. The choices made by the user in the past limits the amount and variety of available upgrade tracks. The user can select. one of the following three upgrade tracks to further develop and specialize the role and features of the Mech Designer System.]

Ves wondered whether it was possible to undo the existing upgrade tracks in order to open up new possibilities.

This was not something he could do with the meager amount of power in his grasp. He was still at the mercy of the System, and that unsettled him. He needed to grow up as quickly as possible and gain enough power to gain at least a small degree of leverage over the System, just like his mother.

He quickly moved on to studying the first upgrade track.

[Upgrade Track #1: Five Element Mastery. This upgrade track will upgrade the Tree of Possibilities to provide expanded access to elemental enlightenment fruits. These fruits grant Skills and additional boons that can increase the user's affinity and mastery of one of the five elements of fire, water, wood, metal and earth. Elemental enlightenment fruits can be ingested by any sentient life form, and can impart specific talent and affinities to individuals that lack them, though the final results may vary depending on many factors. After absorbing an ample quantity of elemental enlightenment fruits, the acquisition of multiple strong affinities and gaining deep masteries over several elements can allow you to safely and effectively fuse multiple elements together to produce drastically stronger results.]

Damn, the list of choosable upgrades started off strong by presenting an option that immediately mesmerized Ves!

Of all of the facilities that Ves cared about, the Tree of Possibilities definitely ranked at

the top, even surpassing the importance of the Sacred Temple!

It couldn't be helped. As a mech designer obsessed with incremental growth and accumulation over time, the Tree of Possibilities perfectly matched his inclinations andNôv(el)B\\jnn

design philosophy!

"The first upgrade track is definitely useful." Ves said. "I feel tempted to choose it right away. The five classical elements pretty much comprise the basic building blocks of cultivation, systematic or otherwise. Pretty much anything related to hyper technology, E-technology and cultivation science can be improved by knowing how to work with one of the five elements to a finer degree."

Ketis assumed a more skeptical posture.

"I question whether it is necessary to pick this upgrade track in order to enjoy the benefits can bring. The Tree of Possibilities already offers enlightenment fruits that can grant Skills and affinities related to the five elements and many other E-energy attributes for that matter. Sure, we need to enter the System Space at regular intervals in order to wait for a fruit that possesses the right stuff, but it is not that difficult for me to acquire a fruit related to the metal element as long as I save up enough AP. Perhaps the elemental enlightenment fruits can give us twice as many benefits as a normal one, but I think that we can ultimately reach the same destination as long as we work harder, study more and earn more AP"

Ves frowned. Her arguments successfully sobered him up. "You are right, I think. The benefits of this upgrade track doesn't appear to be entirely exclusive or unique. Perhaps the elemental enlightenment fruits makes it easier for us to fuse multiple elements together, which is definitely a massive advantage, but ancient cultivators probably figured out how to do this on their own. The biggest reason to select this upgrade track is to reduce the time and resources it takes for us to deepen our mastery in one or multiple elements. We can easily make years, decades or even centuries worth of progress with this choice."

"That does sound attractive, but... it sounds too much like cheating to me." Ketis reluctantly said. "I have a feeling that the proper way to deepen our understanding of the elements is to experiment with them in our works and try to figure out useful design applications on our own, Gaining so much affinity and knowledge on how to manipulate the elements by paying Ascension Points gives us the reward without completing the journey that resulted in it. The latter may be just as important as the former. It will be harder for us to build on top of what we have acquired from the System with much greater ease."

"Hmm... I do not think you are entirely wrong, but that is why it is important to use this new function in moderation. We probably don't have the ability to earn enough AP to make this a big problem. The biggest benefit to this upgrade track is that we can leap our progress forward and save a lot of time on self-study and experimentation. As long as you don't base your entire design philosophy and design applications on knowledge that you have not earned yourself, then you should be okay."

Ves had another reason to pick this upgrade track over whatever other possibilities the System dangled in front of his nose.

He believed it would be a lot easier for him to design better and more powerful elemental Carmine mechs with the help of these nifty elemental enlightenment fruits!

This would allow him to realize his design philosophy and advance to the rank of Master Mech Designers multiple years earlier than expected!

Not only that, but as long as he kept on absorbing more enlightenment fruits, his comprehension of the five elements would grow so profound that would become drastically easier for him to recreate the Elemental Lord that could successfully fuse all

5 elements and wield the power of a god!

That meant that Ves would not only be guaranteed to become a Star Designer, but also attain this rank much faster than before!

The biggest concern he had was whether the elemental enlightenment fruits brought

other changes that Ves did not desire.

However, this was not a serious problem for him. He could always allow Blinky to ingest

them instead!