The System offered many Skills related to mech design, but probably not everything. Even if it did allow him to learn some highly-exclusive knowledge, it was often locked behind insane price tags or onerous mission requirements.

Take for example the foundational Skill that was simply called Expert Mechs. Ves needed to obtain this Skill first before he could access the huge variety of Sub-Skills that were each tailored to enhance specific aspects of these powerful machines.

Most of them related to manipulating resonating materials and getting them to cooperate with the resonance abilities of specific expert pilots. From what little Ves could see when he activated the System and browsed the Skill Tree, these Sub-Skills formed the actual specialization of mech designers who engaged in designing expert mechs.

"This is probably why multiple Seniors or Masters usually collaborate on expert mech designs." Ves muttered.

Certainly, a mech designer specialized in defense was probably the most suitable person to design an expert mech for Venerable Jannzi, but other specialists were needed to round the mech out and ensure they weren't too one-dimensional.

It took far too much time and effort for any single mech designer to learn all of the branches in his lifetime. Doing so would only cause them to gain a basic proficiency in each area. This was much less efficient than just specializing in one branch and going as deep as possible. If they ever needed to add something else to an expert mech, they could just reach out to a colleague for a collaboration.

Expert mechs were very impressive. Their performance was high and their budgets were even higher. This meant that many mech designers who were constrained by the limited budgets of commercial mech designs could finally let themselves go and implement the solutions they had always dreamed about!

With budgets ranging from 100 to 10,000 times more than a typical design, a lot of mech designers could employ extravagant solutions in an expert mech design. Not only would they gain a lot of experience and insight from implementing their high-powered solutions, they were also able to gain a lot of data from seeing them at work.

It was not unusual for mech designers to try out cutting edge innovation in expert mechs first. With all of the data they gain from the implementation, they were sometimes able to derive a lesser but much more economic version of their inventions.

"And this is just one of the reasons why mech designers are so eager to participate in an expert mech design project!"

Few opportunities existed for mech designers to take part in an extremely high-spec design project. It was unrealistic to go through all of that effort for a mech design targeted to mundane mech pilots. Only high-ranking mech pilots were worthy of this level of pampering! Only in their hands would the most powerful mechs be able to justify their existence!

This was why Senior and even Masters who possessed the qualifications to design expert mechs were very eager to take part in such projects. As long as Ves or Gloriana were willing to bankroll the enormous expenditure of developing an expert mech, they could easily attract the interest of many Seniors and higher.

Of course, that was just one of the aspects he needed to take into account. Up until now, Gloriana still hadn't been able to accomplish a deal that satisfied everyone's demands.

"It's better if we can just design an expert mech ourselves."

This was not possible for Journeymen. The mech community generally presumed that only Seniors were capable of designing them. Ves wasn't sure why, but when he read up on the topic, he learned a very telling piece of news.

Any mech designer who advanced to Senior had to visit one of the MTA's sector headquarters and stay there for a time as a guest. They not only had to register and prove their qualifications as a Senior, but also gained numerous other benefits during their stay, including the ability to design expert mechs!

Even if a mech designer couldn't care less about the Big Two, this last reason alone was enough for them to bow their heads to the MTA!

Ves was a bit suspicious of what these newly-advanced Seniors experienced when they went on another pilgrimage to the MTA. Different from Journeymen, Seniors always enjoyed positions of considerable power and authority. They also become professors at educational institutions without exception.

It was as if the MTA put a gun to their heads and threatened to pull the trigger unless the new Seniors immediately promised to teach a class of mech design students!

"Well, I'll probably have to go through the same ordeal in the future." He grimaced.

That would take a couple of decades at the very least. While Ves had made some progress in advancing his design philosophy, he had barely stepped away from the starting line. He still had much to go before his tree grew wide and bushy enough to advance to Senior.

Most mech designers who couldn't wait to design an expert mech therefore did their best to advance to Senior as quickly as possible!

Ves thought he would have to follow this trajectory as well, but the System actually offered him an alternative.

[Expert Mechs - Senior] - 1,000,000 DP

Prerequisites: Senior Mech Designer OR fulfill 1 S-Rank Mission

The Skill started at Senior rank straight away, which made sense since Journeymen and lower were only able to participate in expert mech design projects as assistants.

Just the amount of DP he had to pay was extremely high. While he was sure that the price tag was somewhat justified by how much complete and extensive knowledge the Skill imparted to him, it was still a huge burden to fork over so many Design Points!

Aside from that, he also had to meet one of the two requirements imposed by the System.

Advancing to Senior Mech Designer was the default requirement, but also made the offer redundant. Once he advanced, would he fork over 1,000,000 valuable points to the greedy System, or would he visit the nearest MTA sector headquarters and obtain the knowledge for free?

"Only fools will pass over something given for free!"

Of course, the MTA didn't actually pass on this exclusive knowledge without a price. Nonetheless, Ves hadn't heard anything bad about these pilgrimages.

"Still, I can't wait that long. Our clan already has an expert pilot, and we'll probably gain more if we manage to survive the upcoming battle."

With so many expert pilots in the clan, Ves did not want to rely too much on external mech designers to solve the need for expert mechs.

This was why he was a bit grateful that the System offered him another way to gain the necessary Skill.

Ves was only happy for a small moment. In order for him to skip the need to become a Senior, he just had to complete a S-Rank Mission. Simple, right?

"You damn scammer!"

He resisted the urge to whack his System comm against his desk. This requirement infuriated him! Were S-Rank Missions easy to complete? Heck no! Ves had five outstanding S-Rank Missions, but had made little to no progress in fulfilling any of them. The Supply Missions asked too much!

Perhaps the only mission that Ves could complete in the near future was the one that demanded an extraordinarily valuable exotic known as Timpala Steel, but that entails years of travel.

"You stupid System! Can't you offer me a way to design expert mechs that won't take years or decades to complete? How can you be so obstinate?"

Of course, the System did not deign to reply to him. Ves hoped that it would be generous for once and offer him some alternative missions such as 'Destroy the Gravada Knarlax' or 'Escape the Nyxian Gap Alive', but it wasn't that generous.

"Come on, help a poor fellow out, will you? My fleet is surrounded by pirates. Won't you lose your investment in me if I die?"

[The Mech Designer System becomes unbound when its current user is no longer able to design mechs. Other mech designers will then be able to gain user rights to the Mech Designer System.]

WHACK! WHACK! WHACK!

"You goddamn piece of crap!"

His attempts to cajole the System into helping him failed. Even if his mother possessed some sort of influence over it, the System largely followed its own rules.

From a transactional perspective, the System demanded a lot of energy and resources. Ves provided what it needed by designing mechs and obtaining special, high-value exotics.

Nothing about this transaction implied that only Ves could fulfill the System's needs. Others such as Gloriana and one of the countless other mech designers in the galaxy could satisfy its needs as well!

It was pointless for Ves to get angry over this fact. The System possessed unknown motives and wasn't necessarily dependent on him. It could afford to sit back and relax while Ves went through all kinds of crises.

If he died, the System would simply hop over to another mech designer, simple as that.

Ves sullenly smirked. At least he made sure not to become dependent on the System either. Certainly, he was still willing to take advantage of its services, but he was still capable of getting what he wanted the old-fashioned way.

He shook his head. There was no point lusting after the Expert Mechs Skill when he only had a little over 100,000 DP in his System account. Even if he met one of the prerequisites, Ves still had to complete a lot of mech designs to pay for the price of redeeming this potent Skill.

"Let's get back to business."

Ves transferred the encrypted data transmitted through the Xona Crystals to his System comm.

The little device beeped upon receipt of the data. Ves waited for something to happen.

"Uhm… are you doing anything with the data?"

The System remained silent for a time until the System menu suddenly made way for an entirely new projection.

Ves immediately took in the large projection. It turned out to be a schematic! A design schematic!

While Ves was happy his hunch turned out to be true, Ves quickly frowned as he studied the design in greater detail.

"This… is not a mech design. Nor a design of some other device."

If he interpreted the complicated schematic correctly, the design actually represented a spiritual construct!

"What?! Mom! Do you think I can put something as complicated as this together?!"

The design almost blinded him by how dizzyingly complicated it appeared. While it wasn't as ridiculously advanced as the Grand Dynamo, its complexity far exceeded that of his simple spiritual constructs!

Ves had to be a much better spiritual engineer in order to put something as multifaceted and multilayered as this together. There was a reason why it took four separate communication attempts to transfer over the complete design!

What was worse about the design file was that it came with very little explanation and context. Ves didn't even know what it was supposed to accomplish if he put this elaborate spiritual construct together!

The final difficult aspect about this outrageous design was that Ves had to use up a lot of spiritual energy, far more than he possessed himself!

As his shock began to fade, Ves tried to figure out what the spiritual product was supposed to do. He didn't recognize anything, but his intuition gave him some hints.

"If I'm interpreting this correctly, it's.. messing with something in the Nyxian Gap. Is it.. a beacon? Maybe a portal?"

If this elaborate spiritual construct allowed his parents and the rest of the Oblivion Hand to arrive in an instant, then it was still worth the effort to create it no matter how many hurdles were in the way!

There was no way his mother would leave him out to dry. If this was the solution they prepared for him, then it was definitely worthwhile to try it out. After all, his mother loved him, right?