The Mech Touch (Web Novel)-Chapter 6981: Ferrum

The Larkinson Clan designated medium-grade and high-grade superdimensional matter as strategic resources.

This meant that they had to be placed in secure vaults whenever possible. Not just anyone could take the materials out and use them however they wanted.

They needed to submit an application and wait for approval before withdrawing the permitted amounts of strategic resources.

That was not the end of the story. They had to make use of the materials in a timely manner and submit their logs and reports to prove they made meaningful use of what they had obtained.

If they did not do this, then they would get into serious trouble.

Just because the Larkinson Clan had grown wealthy and flush with phasewater and other resources did not mean that it tolerated waste!

If mech designers or other professionals could not be bothered to provide a proper accounting for their work, then they did not deserve to get close to the clan's strategic reserves.

Ves couldn't be bothered with that hassle.

Back when he was still a proper patriarch of his own clan, he could visit the vaults whenever he liked and take out every material he chose without any concern.

While he still made sure to update the logs and write proper reports on his progress, that was mostly because it was a good habit for serious mech designers to document their work.

He did not submit his reports to anyone because he was his own boss.

This time, Ves had no intention of transmitting his logs and work files to the Saint Commander or any other Larkinson.

The mechanical cat avatar was a creation designed for skulking and sabotage.

Its existence enabled him to become an active participant in a battle by creating mischief behind enemy lines.

In truth, Ves did not expect to be able to accomplish anything massive with this fine piece of craftsmanship.

He just wanted to get involved in this battle and future ones.

The creation of his latest mechanical avatar would fulfill his goal in a safe and relatively low-risk manner.

Of course, losing the cat avatar would definitely represent a considerable loss to Ves and the Larkinson Clan.

Although Ves kept it small to facilitate stealth and reduce its demand on resources, it still did not change the fact that Ves invested small but valuable quantities of superdimensional matter.

The hull-grade stuff was not too precious, but the weapon-grade superdimensional matter was much scarcer and more important!

In order to produce the claws and teeth, Ves did not withdraw the weapon-grade superdimensional matter from one of the vaults.

Instead, he simply repurposed the existing samples that he already brought into his private lab in order to conduct his own observations and experiments on them. Most of them were still running according to the directions he programmed in the lab machines.

It did not take much weapon-grade superdimensional matter to arm his mechanical avatar with one of the sharpest and most deadly set of claws and teeth in existence.

As Ves carefully affixed the sharp implements one by one, the lethality of his creation rose by another measure.

Finally his work became complete.

"Congratulations, sir. You succeeded. You created another masterwork."

Ves smirked in satisfaction. "I expected this outcome, but it is still a relief that it has come true. It is a big challenge to use superdimensional tools to process superdimensional alloy. What you are able to see with your eyes is only part of the story. If I was not a phase lord, this would have been much harder, especially if we don't have access to the advanced superdimensional production machines developed by the major powers."

The Red Three and the first-rate colonial superstates had already made good use of their formidable research and industrial capabilities to develop initial sets of superdimensional production lines.

The Larkinson Clan on the other hand was not as capable. Last he heard, the Larkinson Advanced Research and Development Institute or LARDI had only made 30 percent progress in this effort.

The people over there needed a lot more time before they could produce a set of superdimensional production machines that likely performed only a fraction as well as that of the major powers.

Still, at least it belonged to the Larkinsons. Ves and the others no longer had to knock on the doors of the Red Association if they wanted to borrow their exclusive equipment again.

Unfortunately, the LARDI's slow progress meant that Ves would likely have to make the same decision as Ketis and ask for the Red Association's assistance in upgrading the Riot to his superdimensional Mark III iteration.

Ves may have directed most of his time and enthusiasm towards the Arboreal Project as of late, but that did not mean he neglected his commitment to Venerable Rosa Orfan.

The Riot Mark III Project was still plodding along. In fact, many of the important design choices had already been made. The design was also not particularly complicated outside of the innovative and unconventional Chaos Armor.

Jovy Armalon had taken responsibility for designing this reality-warping armor system, while Gloriana was still busy with trying to figure out how to integrate archetech with superdimensional matter.

Ves and Master Laila Rebecca Devos took over other responsibilities, which were still fairly much but not as time-consuming as the aforementioned work.

At this stage, the latter two were mainly waiting for Jovy but especially Gloriana to complete their difficult but critical research.

Once they both figured out how to integrate superdimensional matter into the Riot Mark III, the project would finally enter the next phase where they would be designing it straight to completion.

Last he heard, Gloriana and her research associates had been making progress. This was good news. So long as they made progress, there was hope that they would deliver a positive result within a reasonable timeframe.

"Shall we proceed to test your creation, sir?" Alexa asked.

"Ah, yes, of course. Let us clean up this workshop and subject my latest work to a thorough examination. I will call over a few people later so they can witness my latest work."

Several hours went by. Ves stood proudly as he stood before a floating platform that supported a lifeless mechanical cat.

Although his latest work did not make use of archetech, the cat still possessed a exotic and almost alien vibe.

The brand-new creation generated a sense of unease among the observers that was difficult to dispel.

Part of it was due to the black Solus armor plating. It dampened almost every signal and emission that tried to pass through it. This made it difficult for others to take the latest creation's measure.

The black cat avatar could be as harmless as a normal house cat or a force of nature that possessed the power to depopulate entire planets!

"Is this the secret weapon that you have been working on, Ves?" Casella asked.

"Yup." Ves proudly replied. "Don't look down on Ferrum. He is extremely deadly. His superdimensional arsenal is strong enough to cut straight through your personal shield generators and swipe your heads off your necks."

That description generated considerable alarm among the small audience. They made sure not to step too close to the dormant machine.

"Why does it, him, resemble a copy of Lucky?" Gloriana asked an obvious question.

"Meow?"

The gem cat accompanied her to this control room.

As soon as Lucky caught sight of the mechanical cat, he grew confused.

Was he looking at himself?

It was only when Lucky repeatedly turned his head around to compare his body to that of the new mechanical cat that he noticed the differences.

Lucky had fully incorporated archetech, though he had not made much progress in manifesting the superdimensional matter that had become a part of his diet.

Ferrum on the other hand was still based on conventional human tech, but it was made out of more superior materials.

There were other notable differences between the two dark cats.

Their exterior plating deviated slightly in tone.

Lucky's armor plating possessed a lot more texture as well due to archetech.

Their body proportions also did not entirely match with each other. Ves had clearly taken inspiration from Lucky's design, but he also referenced the body shapes of other cats, including that of Veronica.

In order to maximize the chances of turning Ferrum into a masterwork, Ves designed his latest creation so that he could gain his own identity. Although his artifact spirit had only just been born and still lacked a well-defined personality, that could develop in time.

"How does it work?" The Saint Commander asked.

"It relies on the same principles as my other mechanical avatars. Do you remember them? I have completed three of them and deposited them in different locations."

"Ah, I recall." Gloriana said. "You haven't made prominent use of them yet as far as I know."

Ves sighed. "That is because I found that people react weirdly when they talk to Aureus, Argent or Aes. They look like dwarves in order to strengthen their connection with Vulcan. This makes it much easier for me to control them by remote for extended periods of time. However, people still have difficulty associating them with me. It is usually better if I just talk to the people over at the Astral Octagon or the expeditionary fleet by calling them over the galactic net."

Red humanity was not ready to accept all of the wonders of the Age of Dawn.

People probably wouldn't raise an eyebrow if Ves created a conventional mechanical avatar that worked on old-fashioned conventional technology.

In contrast, the notion of a remote mechanical avatar controlled by the creator through the spark of himself that he had left behind in his masterwork sounded completely bonkers!

Oh well. Ves believed that red humans would slowly become more acclimatized to the weirdness over time, assuming that they did not lose the Red War.

"Ferrum is my fifth mechanical avatar." Ves explained further. "He is mainly created for infiltration and sabotage. Many of his features are designed to facilitate this purpose. However, he can also put up a mean fight. His hull-grade superdimensional body will enable him to resist most attacks. The miniature transphasic hyper luminar crystal gun integrated in the tip of the tail grants him the ability to assassinate key targets from a distance. The weapon-grade superdimensional claws and teeth enable him to bite or cut through pretty much every obstacle."

Saint Dise grew more and more interested in the small but surprisingly formidable mechanical cat avatar!

"So this is the weapon that you want my First Sword Mark III to transport to the enemy. What do you intend to do with him once he enters an alien stronghold?"

"Steal data." Ves seriously answered. "I am sick and tired of working with incomplete or missing information on phase lords. All of those phase lords are never without company. They are all accompanied by their own minions, retainers, slaves or whatever. Each of them are responsible for serving their native god in many different ways. What I need is to sneak onto their ships or other strongholds and snoop around until I am able to access their data room or archives. Ferrum is equipped with hacking suites and other hardware that is useful for stealing large amounts of data."

"Can your hacking suite interface with alien computer systems?" ƒreewebɳovel.com

"It should." Ves said. "The Terrans freely gave me the hardware designs and related software when I asked. Their work should be pretty good, though Ferrum's processing power is the main limiter. I don't expect to be able to extract every hoard of useful data that I come across, but I still want to try my luck. To be honest, I think that Lucky's hacking capabilities are stronger."

"Is data theft the only mission that you are interested in performing?" Casella asked.

Ves smiled. "Not at all. If the need is great or if the native aliens are aware of Ferrum's infiltration, then he can use his formidable set of tools to sabotage critical systems and assassinate key personnel. While there is only so much a single mechanical cat avatar can do on a large alien starship or base, I intend for Lucky to accompany Ferrum on his mission. Two cats can do far greater damage than one. They can also support each other if one of them gets in trouble."

"Meow?!"