He had already surpassed the human limit with regards to Intelligence, Creativity and Concentration, so swallowing any further Attribute Candies served no purpose other than to waste his DP.
Yet that didn't mean he ran out of options to upgrade his mental attributes further. Gloriana already resorted to a lot of genetic modification to improve her learning ability.
Even Ves himself already benefited from various genetic treatments, which proved that he could still resort to solutions outside the ones offered by the System.
He still remembered he possessed an invitation card to the powerful Angel's Wing Foundation. He should really get around to using the card in order to access its rumored marketplace and auctions for biological goods and services.
"I always get caught up in other activities that it's always fallen off my mind."
Perhaps it would be a good opportunity to finally make use of the invitation card this time.
Still, since his three most important mental attributes were already past the human limit, it would be a hundred if not a thousand times harder to upgrade them. Ves needed to do a lot of research and find a trustworthy geneticist or organization to perform the desired treatments.
"I suppose approaching the Rim Guardians is the best option."
However, to do so, he first needed to prove his worth by transforming that Garlener William Urbesh into an expert candidate. If he failed to do so, he would probably be able to earn the MTA fraternity's favor in another way, but that would take way too much time!
"With Gloriana breathing down my neck, I can't afford to wait for another assignment." He muttered. "I have to kick William Urbesh into shape!"
Though he previously wanted to drag his feet in this assignment in order to avoid unwelcome attention, he changed his mind. Surpassing Gloriana was more important!
The second method he thought of to accelerate his advancement was to collaborate with other mech designers.
"It can't be any random collaboration, though. I need to find mech designers whose design philosophies synergize with my own."
If he combined his design philosophy with an unrelated one from another mech designer, then the resulting mech would merely incorporate both without any interaction. While they wouldn't conflict, neither would they reinforce each other either.
Only when his design philosophy reacted favorably in response to a different variable would Ves be able to study and decipher the interaction.
The most obvious candidate to help him accomplish this was Gloriana, but this would not help him get ahead of her at all. He needed to find other mech designers!
"There are many mech designers. I just have to find them and approach them to suggest mutually-beneficial collaborations."
For now, Ves had only recently advanced to Journeyman. He still lacked the reputation and prestige to get others to take him seriously. He would have to return to this option a few years later when he had a couple of more published designs under his belt.
The third option available for him would be to find exotic materials or other phenomena that might be related to his specialty.
"It is by far the most expensive option."
Wealthier mech designers possessed a greater advantage in this area than others. Even if a mech designer wasn't particularly talented, if his powerful family or connections could help him obtain related exotics, they would inevitably progress faster due to all of the research they performed on interesting materials!
"This is one of the biggest reasons why the second-rate states and the MTA have a lot more Seniors and Masters." He grumbled. "They can partially spend their way up with relative ease."
Ves did not have access to that much capital.
Yet Gloriana's situation was better. Not only was she a Hexer, but she was also a member of the Wodin Dynasty, which ought to be a very wealthy side power in the Hegemony.
"Damn, she possesses a huge advantage over me in this area!"
He needed to narrow the disparity as much as possible!
"There are two options available to me. Either I can expand the LMC in order to boost my capital, or I can take matters in my own hands and search for those exotics myself."
He decided to pursue both at the same time. The LMC would definitely grow as it sold more mechs based on his designs, but this growth had limits. The amount of money he would earn would always fall short compared to how much he wanted to spend on valuable exotics.
"It doesn't help that the vendors always seek to rip off mech designers whenever possible." He muttered.
Rather than pay a hundred or a thousand times the actual worth of an exotic, why not seek them out himself? Prospectors and treasure hunters trawled the entire galaxy for interesting exotics to sell. If Ves could cut out the middlemen and do business with them directly, he could obtain a lot more samples without spending more money!
In fact, Ves had already laid the groundwork of this option by forging ties with the Swordmaidens in the frontier. Further ahead, he also intended to raise another force that could search for valuable materials directly on his behalf.
It was easier to do so in the frontier. In civilized space, most planets and star systems already fell under the control of a state. Many valuables had already been discovered, but even if something new popped up, they were bound to fall in the hands of a powerful influence.
Ves sighed. "All in all, there are a lot of options, but none of them are easy."
Perhaps taking advantage of the System might help him out in some areas, but he still needed to do the rest on his own!