Just as expected, Gloriana was none too pleased with the deal.
That did not change anything, though. Ves was the one who made the decision, and he did not intend to get back on his word.
Superdimensional matter was extremely precious for now, but that was mainly because so little of it had fallen into human hands.
Once Ketis used the Dimension Blade a few more times, the shortage of dimensional matter would no longer be as acute as before.
Demand for this stuff was not going to drop anytime soon, but the Star Designers and other major powers should at least be able to obtain enough superdimensional matter to conduct research and develop a superdimensional mech.
The Larkinson Clan had 2 years to supply the requested quantities of high-grade superdimensional matter.
If the clan failed to make enough progress during most of this period, then Ves and Ketis could always start another mission marathon and scrounge up enough Ascension Points to open a lot of dimension breaches.
This was not a cost effective way to spend his AP, though.
[Semi-permanent Breach - Level 1 (5,000 Ascension Points): Can generate a semi-permanent self-sustaining dimension breach that is able to persist without any further input. Can still be destroyed through external means.]
This particular System upgrade regularly tempted me. Unlocking it would completely change the game for red humanity. It would allow for the creation of dimension breaches that simply did not dissipate by itself. Ves knew that it would permanently give humans access to what may very well be one of the most powerful resources in this universe.
Yet in order to unlock it, Ves or Ketis had to accumulate 5000 Ascension points. This was a herculean task, and one that neither of them were capable of fulfilling in the short term.
Even with the latest upgrade, the Mission Hall only released a limited amount of Missions at a time. Ves would have to wait weeks before the Mission Board refreshed its offerings.
He did not look forward to monotonously waiting for the next batch of Missions to appear before trying to complete the ones within his power.
How many times did he have to repeat this cycle?
Five times?
Ten times?
Ves would go crazy if he tried to complete the System's arbitrary and wacky demands! Although he recognized that the Missions mostly acted as diversions that allowed Ves to come into contact with new and unexplored aspects of mech designs and systematic cultivation, he could only tolerate so much novelty within a specific period. He was still human.
Ketis might be able to persist longer on account of being a swordmaster, but she would also be at risk of breaking if she pushed herself too hard.
Ves wished that the System offered a way to sell stuff in exchange for AP. He had access to lots of phasewater, high-grade exotics, high-grade hypers and now superdimensional matter.
He was sure that the System could put all of this stuff to good use, but it had never once made any attempts to claim these powerful materials.
This meant that Ves and Ketis could only earn AP the honest way, just as intended. Only hard work and personal ingenuity could allow a mech designer to earn greater amounts of Ascension Points.
The worst part about trying to unlock this extravagantly expensive Dimension Observatory upgrade was that Ves and Ketis could not split the bill!
They could only spend their own stash of AP on a single upgrade choice. The overly rigid Mech Designer System did not offer a way for users to transfer AP to each other or split the bill on an expensive item.
This meant that either Ves or Ketis had to earn a whopping 5000 AP!
No discounts!
The astronomical amount of work required to earn so much AP was enough to put Ves in despair!
He really did not see any way for him to earn such a massive amount of AP without feeling tempted to spend his earnings midway on a useful enlightenment fruit or other goodies.
It was pure torture for the System to list out this attractive possibility before locking it behind an excessively high price tag.
Ves shook his head. He refused to think about it any further.
After concluding yet another contentious discussion with Ketis, Ves went off in order to fulfill one of his contract obligations.
He gathered, organized and amended all of his articles, textbooks, design schematics and other documentation related to the finer points of living mech design. Ves was lucky that he had already prepared a similar information package for Alexa
Streon.
He merely had to call it up again and update it. He expanded the amount of knowledge and was not afraid of adding more complicated stuff to the package.
The Terrans should have plenty of clever Master Mech Designers among them. They should be able to understand the gist of his more elaborate theoretical framework,
That was not enough for them to design a living mech, though.
A Class IX design philosophy was not that easy to replicate, especially without support from the Red Kingdom.
The Terran mech designers all had to undergo the same struggles of Ketis and Alexa Streon.
In order to design a real living mech, these mech designers had to be able to shift their mentality and genuinely regard mechs as living entities that were just as smart and powerful as humans.
They also had to accept the principle that mechs deserved nearly the same respect, consideration and treatment as humans.
This was a bridge too far for many mech designers. The older ones who were more set in their ways should especially find it difficult to adopt such a subversive cognition when they clung to their own views on mechs for so many years.
"I am obligated to teach these Terran mech designers my craft, but it won't be my fault.
if they understand my theories but cannot accept my perspective and cognition on
living mechs."
Very few Terrans should be able to succeed. Ves personally believed that only younger and more open-minded mech designers should be able to attain a higher success rate.
He at least recognized that there were enough highly educated scions like Alexa in the Terran Alliance that might be able to do more than pay lip service to the idea that mechs deserved to be treated as equal partners.
The Vulcanite mech designers that were interning at the Design Department had been doing fairly well in understanding the essence of living mech design.
Ves had been a lot more earnest and attentive in teaching Trent Aaden and the other 9
Novices.
It helped a lot that they were young, impressionable and incredibly smart and studious. The Eternal Vulcan Empire had definitely sent their best candidates. Ves actually found it a pleasure to teach so many enthusiastic students. Even if his time was limited, he still tried to be earnest about helping the dwarven mech designers find their groove.
He did not want to give the Iron Emperor an excuse to suspend the deal and miss out.