The Mech Touch (Web Novel)
chapter-6383

The Norigo organ did not entirely fit his calculus, but Ves selected it anyway because of its value in other aspects.

It was the most desirable phasewater organ left intact inside the Arena Lord's enormous carcass. Many biotech research institutions wanted to obtain it in order to unlock the alien secrets to fast recovery and promote the cultivation of human phase lords. Ves would be a fool to miss the option of picking it up just because it did not match his original plan.

He felt that the Norigo organ fit especially well in his plan to become a 'lazy' phase lord.

Ves did not have the time or motivation to engage in more time and labor-intensive forms of training.

He learned that alien phase lords tried all sorts of stuff to increase their phasewater concentration, from repetitively casting their spatial abilities to frequently injecting an excess of phasewater into their bodies. Every major race had developed their own particular rituals, customs and techniques to advance their growth, but none of them were suitable to a mech designer like himself.

The Norigo organ offered a much more convenient way to improve his cultivation, though it was not necessarily the most effective one. According to the speculations of the biotech scientists, Ves only had to eat a lot of phasewater-enriched nutrients to gradually raise his upper limits.

The ingredients may be expensive, but that was not that big of a problem for a leading figure whose actual status far exceeded his current galactic citizenship tier.

Ves also valued the Norigo organ for expanding his diet and allowing him to survive when he was cut off from his clan and left alone in a wild and unfamiliar environment. Just as Ves was ready to make his choice, his friend took the initiative to recommend another phasewater organ.

"Since you have chosen to claim the Norigo organ for yourself, I suggest you take the Marigal organ as well. This is the main reason why the flesh of the Arena Lord was able to resist so much warship-grade cannon fire. The Marigal organ helps to fold space inside the body of a phase lord that allows for increasing the mass of the flesh and muscles without expanding the volume to the same proportion. In other words, it will make you stronger and heavier without making you excessively large."

That sounded interesting. Ves actually disliked it that he would grow bigger as his phasewater concentration rose. He needed to use up a lot more expensive materials to construct a new raiment or expand his existing one. Making himself bigger without possessing the strength expected of a phase lord of this size would also end up turning him into a gigantic target.

In fact, not even a powerful martial phase lord such as the Arena Lord of Ya'gwasa was able to escape this weakness despite possessing the Marigal organ.

His body would have become a lot less resilient and vulnerable to the firepower of multiple warships if he lacked the functions of this handy phasewater organ. Even then, the Dark Zephyr was still able to take advantage of the Arena Lord's excessive size and wreck his true body from the inside.

Naturally, Ves did not want to die from similar means, so the Marigal organ should help a lot with that. It was better to pursue quality instead of blindly chasing after quantity like most phase lords.

The Arena Lord apparently learned this lesson as well, though he did not go far enough in this direction.

"I see the value of this Marigal organ, but why does it synergize well with the Norigo organ?" Ves asked.

"That is because the Marigal organ is costly to operate." Jovy replied. "Its effects can make your viscera stronger, thicker and more massive, but the nutrients required to grow all of that additional mass has to come from somewhere. The typical digestion system of a phase lord is already operating far above the parameters of the digestive system of a mortal specimen of the same race, but there are limits to what it can do. The Norigo organ can meet the difficult demands of the Marigal organ much faster and more efficiently. In simple terms, you will not only be able to make your body much stronger while eating less, but also produce gains in a matter of months rather than decades."

Phase lords tended to grow and develop slowly. It was not unusual for them to make incremental gains across decades or even centuries. They were generally long-lived and could afford to take their time, but only if they lived in a fairly stable society.

Red humanity was in a completely different situation. The latest ambush had increased Ves' sense of crisis and taught him that people would continue to screw him around despite his recent rise in status.

From that perspective, the Marigal organ offered huge defensive benefits that were difficult to attain through other means.

Ves briefly skimmed the list of other greater phasewater organs. The Arena Lord's carcass offered a sizable selection of highly developed organic products. As a high-status native god, he had access to a lot of good stuff, a few of which could easily make his blood run faster.

"I accept your suggestion." Ves decided. "You are right. The Marigal organ is powerful enough on its own, but can function much more effectively in combination with the Norigo organ. The Larkinson Biotech Institute will find a way to integrate the benefits of both in my true body."

That locked in his selection of greater phasewater organs. The Arena Lord of Ya'gwasa still had a lot more to offer, but the Red Association and other contributors to the recent victory also needed to be rewarded.

Ves did not feel too much regret at missing out on so many premium phasewater organs. He had already claimed the most valuable phasewater production system, and he guessed that he had also picked up the foundation of the Arena Lord's success as a martial phase lord.

Even if Ves found it distasteful to unfold his true body and proceed to enter into a fistfight against other big threats, it was better than retaining a flimsy physique that could easily be broken like that of the Distance Shaper.

The orven greater phase lord served as a negative example among phase lords as far as Ves was concerned.

In his list of priorities, strengthening his offensive abilities ranked very low. He would never pursue a development strategy that was similar to those high-and-mighty 'space wizards' as they tended to be called.

Jovy modified the listing on the projected screen to remove all of the entries related to the premium phasewater organs available from the corpse of the Arena Lord of Ya'gwasa. The only entries that Ves could choose from came from the 3 arche lesser phase lords. "The condition and availability of phasewater organs from these specimens are much worse." Jovy flatly explained. "Their injuries and manner of death has a lot to do with it. The hyper nanomachine plagues that you have unleashed upon the arche phase lords have engaged in indiscriminate destruction. They especially loved to devour the less dense and tough forms of biomatter. If not for the fact that phasewater organs tend to concentrate much more phasewater than unusual, nothing would be left for us to

salvage."

"I see. What... happened to the hyper nanomachine plagues, by the way?" "They obediently shut down and self-destructed after the captain of the Babylon Excavator activated the killswitch. Many of the mechs and starships that we have left. behind are keeping their eye out on any spec of nanomachines that have refused this command for whatever reason. They have not detected any rogue nanomachine plagues so far, but we are still keeping our guard up. We may even have to quarantine the entire star system for at least a year!"

The Red Two took nanomachine plagues extremely seriously, as they should. Quarantining the Mazepan System was not an excessive demand at all. The modifications made by Ves had increased their risk factor even further.

Ves had no desire to preserve and keep a few of the nanomachine plagues for himself. Their product line had already reached a dead end and was destined to get eliminated

by the times.

It was far better and safer for him to develop his own hyper nanomachines, this time integrated with phasewater technology. This would form the basis of the very first Polymetal mech according to one of his plans.

Ves did not waste any more time and proceeded to scan the list of lesser phasewater

organs.

He did not care too much about how they were smaller and weaker. He also did not pay too much attention to how much damage they incurred. As long as the core organic components remained intact, then it was still possible for the Larkinson Biotech Institute to study and reverse engineer the alien organ specimens.

One organ eventually stood out to Ves.

"This Sympatico organ looks interesting. Its name is a lot more straightforward than the other ones. Who names these phasewater organs, anyway?"

"The names are largely bestowed by the head of our research group on the study of

phase lords." Jovy answered. "We try to avoid translating the names used by the native aliens for various reasons. The labels used to distinguish the phasewater organs are not as important as their properties. The Sympatico organ is believed to be a specialty product of the arche race. According to our researchers, it is a utility organ that can enable arche phase lords to interface with archetech objects through skin contact or maybe even a short distance away if they are further developed."

That caused Ves to look confused. "Isn't the ability to interface with archetech an inherent ability of the arche race? Why do the phase lords need a specialized Sympatico

organ?"

"That is because the arche can only interface with their archetech by slotting in their archeshells into specially designed depressions. That not an issue if the arche has normal proportions, but when he grows to the size of a phase lord..."

"Oh. I see. A Sympatico organ makes sense under those circumstances. Does it merely enable a phase lord to interface with archetech, or does it also come with other enhancements?" Ves asked.

"Our scientists believe that a Sympatico organ may enable a deeper and more extensive connection with archetech, but they are not clear how. Whatever the case, if you want to make better use of archetech, this organ can provide you with indispensable aid." That was a very interesting choice. The Sympatico organ did not fit his criteria, but its utility was interesting for several reasons.

It was perfect for Gloriana. Even if she was not able to become a phase lord, the Larkinson Biotech Institute could still research the Sympatico organ and deduce its working principles. The biotech researchers could then proceed to make use of their newfound knowledge to develop a smaller implant or larger electronic device that would effectively enable Gloriana to interface with archetech much better!

At the very least, this should offer his wife a far more superior solution than relying on the clunky combination of Hekkel and her crude and primitive Archglove!

Ves on the other hand did not anticipate to benefit as much as his wife. Sure, it might be useful for a mech designer to more easily interface with archemechs such as the Dark

Zephyr, but he doubted he would be able to understand all of the input. Aside from that, he had already decided to commit to using smart metal when developing a Polymetal mech for his own use.

Smart metal was incompatible with archetech. The latter relied on the construction and

combination of solid pieces of archemetal. Their special and intricate alien architecture produced a phenomenon called electronic resonance that enabled pieces of archemetal to work together in an elegant fashion.

Other mech designers and developers had already attempted to produce archetech with the use of nanomachines, but none of their attempts succeeded. Archemetal could only ever consist of solid metal.

This meant that if Ves wanted to develop the best possible combat gear for himself, he could either choose from archetech or smart metal, but never both.

Since Ves had already become heavily invested in the concept of Polymetal mechs, he decided to leave everything related to archetech to his wife.

From this context, Ves found difficult to justify the selection of the Sympatico organ. Should he pick it anyway in order to surprise his wife with a wonderful anniversary gift, or should he select another phasewater organ that provided much more straightforward benefits to himself?