[1-200] THE MECH TOUCH

Chapter 13: First Build

The Skill Tree featured a virtually endless amount of skills. With enough Design Points, Ves could become the ultimate mech designer, capable of drafting a complete design in minutes with his left hand while pointing out the faults of someone's else work with his right hand. Naturally, Ves lived in a world where time and resources were finite, so he didn't delude himself into thinking he'd ever reach that point in his lifetime.

For all its merits, the Mech Designer System represented an incomprehensible piece of technology. Sometimes Ves felt as if reality itself bent to its whims. He didn't know how sapient the program was or how it determined its own limits. If one day the System's sophisticated AI turned crazy, entire star systems might get embroiled into war.

The System in fact always addressed him as a user, not an owner. It acted as if Ves was just one client who conveniently picked it on the ground. If Ves' father hadn't given him the data chip, the System might have found a way to get its chip transported to some other person with the traits it preferred. This insecurity made Ves question if the System was using him rather than the other way around.

Certainly the System didn't work for free. Some powerful entity had gone through the trouble of designing a reality-bending software working on principles at least a thousand years beyond humanity's grasp, and somehow it ended up in an average person's hands. And it was a question whether the System will stay in that person's grasp for long.

For all Ves knew, the System only treated him as a train. Once it reached its destination, it would leave without a word.

So Ves felt the need to milk the System while he still could. So despite all his doubts and questions, he still skimmed over the Skill Tree and made a shopping list of skills he needed to tackle the redesign of the Caesar Augustus.

——

[Assembly - Upgrade to Apprentice]: 1000 DP

[Assembler Proficiency I]: 200 DP

[Assembler Proficiency II]: 400 DP

[3D Printer Proficiency II]: 400 DP

[Jury Rigging II]: 300 DP

[Electrical Engineering - Incompetent]: 200 DP

[Electrical Engineering - Novice]: 500 DP

[Electrical Engineering - Apprentice]: 1000 DP

[Mediumweight Armor Optimization I]: 300 DP

——

These were the absolute minimum required to produce or to redesign a Caesar Augustus. Ves needed to become much more familiar with the tools in his workshop in order to fabricate the CA-1's notoriously delicate components and put them together. And if he wanted to redesign the mech to make it easier to produce, then he needed to become proficient in electrical engineering pretty fast.

Since Ves was attempting to fabricate a stock CA-1 in Iron Spirit, he felt he should make a start on a purchase. He picked the cheapest option in the list and bought it immediately.

[You have spent 200 DP to acquire Assembler Proficiency I. Please view your Status in order to confirm your skills.]

—Status—

Name: Ves Larkinson

Profession: Novice Mech Designer

Specializations: None

Design Points: 98

—Attributes—

Strength: 0.7