The Mech Touch

The first upgrade track did not disappoint. It granted Ves and other people a much easier pathway to mastering the five elements.

Ves had a considerable need for help in this area. His mother likely possessed a lot of expertise in the five elements, but she had consistently refused to teach him her secrets, using a variety of excuses to keep him in the dark.

The Red Collective and the T Institute both mastered a lot of knowledge in ancient and modern cultivation science, but the problem was that their libraries were not complete and systematic enough.

Their understanding of the basics was relatively whole, but that was because they were derived from the most widespread and least valuable pieces of knowledge.

The cultivation research institutions were lacking in advanced and high-end cultivation theories.

This was why vital legacies that used to play a big role in ancient times still hadn't been recovered.

Vulcan's life would have been much easier if red humanity had access to a complete traditional blacksmithing legacy.

Even the Five Scrolls Compact, which supposedly possessed the largest archives of cultivation scriptures, only inherited a scattering of ancient cultivation knowledge. This was why the researchers of the Compact gained so much notoriety. In their obsession to fill up the missing gaps in the theories that they recovered, they recklessly experimented on people in order to reconstruct the wonders of the past!

That was actually rather strange, because from what Ves had observed of the Mech Designer System, it likely had access to all of those complete legacies!

Perhaps what limited their availability within the Five Scrolls Compact was not that they were absent, but it was because other people heavily restricted access to this powerful knowledge.

Ves learned that this was one of the bad habits of selfish cultivators. They tended to hoard high-end knowledge far too much, even going as far as to allow their powerful legacies to become extinct just because they had been too stingy about sharing their own advancements!

The mech industry at least relied on a central authority like the Red Association and the Red Kingdom to force mech designers to share their advancements with each other, thereby leading to a prosperous scene and a high pace of technological progression.

In any case, Ves believed that instead of relying on conducting time-consuming experiments or waiting for the cultivation research institutions to figure out more advanced applications of the five elements, he may as well rely on Five Element Mastery to enter the fast track!

The time savings he could expect from embracing this upgrade track was considerable, but only if he actually intended to make use of the five elements to advance his works.

This was not an absolute certainty. Ves could still change his mind and develop his design philosophy in a different direction. Who said that elemental Carmine mechs was the only way for him to realize his design philosophy?

However, Ves had already set his mind on designing them long before the System offered to ease his progress with this upgrade track. Having an upgraded Tree of Possibilities only reinforced his existing plans, which might not be a good idea.

What if he wanted to change his mind later on? What if he came up with a more promising direction in his research that did not have any relations with any of the five elements?

If he had already committed to Five Element Mastery at that point, then Ves would find it much costlier to abandon his current line of research!

His wariness towards putting himself in a sunk cost fallacy made him reluctant to embrace the first upgrade track.

However, Ves wasn't the only user of the Mech Designer System. He felt that Ketis deserved to have her say as well.

"What do you think about Five Element Mastery, Ketis? Do you think it will be useful in your own research?"

The swordmaster nodded. "I can definitely see the uses. Traditional swordsmanship needs to evolve. The Heavensword has demonstrated numerous examples of ancient sword cultivators commanding the power of heaven and earth through their favored elements. I can use the elemental enlightenment fruits to rapidly improve my ability to design hyper swordsman mechs that can bestow ordinary mech pilots the ability to reproduce these feats without requiring any existing talent and affinities in the respective elements. I can also strengthen the swordsman mechs piloted by those who already possess a mastery in them such as Dise."

That meant that Ketis would definitely not waste the possibilities granted by the first upgrade track. This was a strong argument in favor of choosing this option.

Ves decided to move on and study the next upgrade track before he felt tempted to make an premature verdict.

"Let's see what else is available…"

[Upgrade Track #2: Demoncasting. Expands the Workshop of Creation with facilities to learn and conduct the forbidden craft of demoncasting. This lost art is the ability to seamlessly cast demonic entities into physical objects, thereby augmenting and transforming their appearances and capabilities. Demoncasting is a difficult and dangerous art that can more easily produce powerful end products that largely derive their potency from their demons rather than their material qualities. Individuals can make use of demoncasted objects with moderate risk of danger. Cultivators can bind themselves to demoncasted objects through special techniques that allow them to stimulate their growth or increase the output of their possessions at greater risk. To perform demoncasting, demonic entities must be sourced. They can be summoned to a dedicated ritual circle at the Workshop of Creation by spending Ascension Points, or they can be summoned through other channels. This upgrade track will also give you the option to learn how to create demons yourself by fusing the souls of many resentful beings under special circumstances.]

This was another big upgrade track, one centered around a facility that Ves previously used the least!

Compared to the first upgrade track, the second one was bound to attract a lot of controversy if it ever became known to the public.

From the start, Ves immediately understood that this form of crafting objects was likely not an upright method!

There had to be good reasons for it to be considered a lost and forbidden art. The potential harm it could do to human society was considerable, especially if a 'demoncaster' got the bright idea by sacrificing entire cities worth of people to forge a powerful demonic entity!

Choosing this upgrade track would mean that Ves would constantly have to resist temptation.

There had to be a good reason for the System to present this upgrade track. It had to be at least comparable in power to Five Element Mastery. The question was whether it was more suitable to his circumstances.

When Ves thought about it, he actually recognized that it could be useful for him in different ways.

Demoncasted objects was probably an easy way to power up objects that were otherwise mediocre in strength.

For objects that were already powerful on their own merits, Ves could probably make them even stronger by casting a demon inside their physical shells!

In fact, Ves was not entirely unfamiliar with this phenomenon. He thought back on what happened during previous cases where severe corruption caused mechs such as the infamous Yuri Machine, Lanie Larkinson's Elegant Rage and Taon Melin's Zeal to mutate in very strange ways!

Their appearances after they transformed under extreme and abnormal circumstances already suggested that they had 'demonized' to an extent!

Even though these mechs obviously degraded in many ways after they got demonized, they also grew stronger and more formidable, making them a lot harder to deal with than before!

If demoncasting granted Ves a safe, consistent and reliable means to craft mechs and other objects that possessed these strengths, then this was a great way to strengthen his personal gear as well as the most important mechs at his disposal!

It was definitely an approach that excited the darkness streak inside of him. He even felt tempted to find a way to harvest lots of souls from the mass casualties of the Red War and better yet the upcoming years of upheaval in the old galaxy to forge lots of demons!

Since so many humans and aliens in both galaxies were about to die anyway, Ves might as well make sure that the deaths would not be in vain, and collected the souls of all of those dead individuals so he could extract their remaining value.

This was an excellent way to prevent resources that had suddenly become a lot more useful to him from getting wasted!

However, Ves grew wary about the safety of handling these demoncasted objects.

It should be safe enough for willpower cultivators to wield them without much issue. They were highly resistant towards corruption and would never easily give in to the corrosive influence of demons!

It was others that Ves was worried about. Even qi cultivators may be susceptible due to their more extreme desires and emotions.

However, the risks of using these dangerous objects was worthwhile as long as the user was firm enough!

Ves wondered whether it was possible to mass produce demoncasted objects. Even if it was not possible, he could think about a hundred different ways he could boost the power of his personal Polymetal mech and other personal combat equipment!

The much greater utilization of resources should give him and his retinue of high-ranking mech pilots an undeniable edge against enemy phase lords and other formidable enemies!

When Ves compared the second upgrade track to the first upgrade track, he found it difficult to evaluate which one was actually better.

Five Element Mastery directly complimented the current development direction of his design philosophy. It held great promise in the future, but Ves would have to invest a lot of time and Ascension Points to make good use of its possibilities. This meant that it was only marginally useful in the short term, but incredibly valuable and powerful in the long term!

Demoncasting sounded as if it was not as expensive or difficult to get started with. Since it was tied to the Workshop of Creation rather than the Tree of Possibilities, it was likely set up to become useful right away. Ves would probably have to invest a bit more time, AP and effort to learn how to cast demons more effectively into objects, and to obtain them in the first place.

Even so, Ves saw great promise in relying on demoncasting to create unprecedented artifacts that exceeded the power of Blessed Weapons.

Ves turned to Ketis again. "Demoncasting sounds like it can be incredibly useful for us in the short term, but still retain its value over the long term. What do you think, Ketis?"

She frowned. "I do not think it is wise to play with forces that we cannot fully understand or control. I am all for exploring new and forgotten technologies to make our mechs and other weapons stronger, but this demon business sounds dangerous to me. If we don't end up getting corrupted ourselves, we may end up corrupting our clients. I do not want to bring disaster to them. I think the Heavensword will not like me if I try to conduct demoncasting myself. Heaven has always been mortal enemies towards anything related to demons."

The sword rattled in its scabbard. Stay updated via M-V-L

It clearly agreed with Ketis' statement!

Ves frowned at this response. "You are letting the Heavensword influence your thoughts. Just because you don't like something is not a reason for you to share the same opinion. You need to guard your mind and make sure your opinions are your own. I think it would be a good idea to counterbalance the Heavensword's nefarious indoctrination if you counterbalance it with a demoncasted object. Why not convert your Bloodsinger into one? Its name and appearance already leans in this direction, and this will be an excellent way for you to hinder its subtle brainwashing attempts."

Ketis actually looked thoughtful after hearing this suggestion.

The Heavensword did not like it, though! It rattled louder and more violently in its scabbard, but the swordmaster quickly responded to its unwelcome behavior!

"Quiet. Down." Ketis hissed as she reached out behind her back and forcibly thrust the restless blade back into the scabbard! "Let me think for myself."