The Mech Touch

Ves tried his best to impart as much essential information in his presentation. He felt he did a good job at conveying the essentials so that everyone could make a judgment on how much his companion spirits and the trees that enabled their proliferation could contribute to humanity.

Over the course of his presentation, Ves constantly paid attention to his audience. He gauged their receptiveness towards his proposal and tried to figure out if any of them showed any opposition towards companion spirits.

While Ves saw a handful of concerned individuals who justifiably thought that this invention had not undergone enough rigorous testing to be utilized on actual humans, they were just the minority.

There were still plenty of other people who were so greedy for power that they fell in love with both the short term and long term benefits of obtaining a companion spirit!

No one cared whether Ves was a young second-class associate anymore. Almost everyone recognized and acknowledged the value of his companion spirits. They could easily change red humanity forever as long as the supply of companion spirit fruit trees were abundant enough!

It made sense that the first question related to mass production.

"How easy is it to scale up production and produce millions of fruits a day? Are these fruits only available from these specific trees of yours, or can they also be produced through other means, such as materialization?"

"It is not easy to scale up production." Ves admitted. "These trees are made out of repurposed astral beast flesh. They possess certain properties that cannot be obtained from cloned organic tissue or other easily accessible alternatives. Materialization is not an option because the resulting tree will miss an essential life factor that can only be gained through organic growth. The good news is that there is a good chance that you can probably use any ancient ancient beast flesh as long as it belongs to a centuries if not millennia-old life form. No matter how different the properties may be, the resulting trees will conform to a standard template to prevent any incompatibility with humans."

He had partially incorporated aspects of the Blood Cult Scarlet Oak Tree Growth Manual that he had obtained in the past.

"My research capabilities are limited. I am good in a number of specific fields, but my expertise is nowhere near as comprehensive as that of your Association. I am sure that there are many experts among you who can address many of the problems and limitations of my work."

Ves already encountered enough bona-fide cultivators within the halls of the Khamatar Reign to know that the Survivalist Faction had a good pulse on cultivation!

The Survivalists did not reject this hidden heritage. They chose to embrace it so that they could use the wisdom of the ancients to quickly get up to speed on how to take advantage of exotic radiation.

Since the Red Association was so tolerant, it should have no problem bringing together the right experts to increase the practicality of companion spirit trees.

Perhaps they might even be able to improve the efficacy of its fruits!

Ves essentially handed over the responsibility of mass production to the Association. If the mechers wanted to make companion spirits available to the masses so badly, then they were free to allocate as much manpower and resources into this project as they wished.

One of the Masters sitting in the rear asked another important question.

"How well are your companion spirit fruit trees protected against theft and unauthorized use? If our alien adversaries have managed to obtain samples of your trees and fruits, what is your estimate on whether they can reverse engineer them and develop their own variants that work for their species?"

This was a real risk, but Ves had already thought about this problem in advance.

"I have implemented numerous safeguards to prevent that from happening." Ves responded. "You might not be able to see it, but the most critical factor that allows the fruits to create companion spirits is a rare variation of E energy. It is not present in background radiation and can only be produced through extremely limited means that are under my control."

Ves did not feel comfortable with explaining the real mechanism that ensured that others were unlikely to succeed in their effort to create unsanctioned imitations of his work.

He had made a deal with Gaia to manage and oversee every single companion spirit fruit tree.

Ves was not able to make this happen by himself, but the aloof True God was able to lend a hand to make it happen after implementing a few adaptations.

Just as Ves supported all of his products from afar, Gaia had become akin to a 'tree spirit' to every companion spirit fruit tree.

It was subtle, but Gaia's faint influence played an essential role in creating the right life energy that could make the companion spirit come to life!

If her contribution was absent, then the companion spirits would possess no real life. They would end up as flawed and malformed extensions of an individual's spirituality. Ves could not foresee the consequences of stopping the transformation process before the most critical step occurred, but he did not think it would end up well for the subject in question!

The more senior attendees found the answer to be overly vague, but they understood that it was not quite convenient to ask for further clarification.

Security was a sensitive matter. It was best for Ves to limit any further explanations in front of a more limited panel of mechers.

For now, they just had to take his word that the aliens would not be able to replicate the effect of his companion spirit fruits so easily.

Ves did not believe that his companion spirit fruit trees would remain limited to humans forever.

He already possessed a few ideas on how to circumvent his own security precautions. If he could do it, then there had to be other powerful beings out there that could produce a similar result.

Aside from that, as exotic radiation continued to transform the Red Ocean, more and more humans and aliens would gain spiritual capabilities. Who knew if one of them happened to circumvent the security measures of his trees with ease?

From the moment Ves or the Red Association chose to introduce companion spirit fruits to red humanity, Pandora's box had truly opened. It was no longer possible to contain what was unleashed.

Ves calmly answered a few more tricky questions. While he did not divulge too much information, his words increased people's trust in his companion spirit fruits.

"Professor Larkinson, is it possible for us to acquire and make use of the remaining fruits?"

It did not miss everyone's notice that there were a lot more fruits that were just begging to get eaten.

Ves had thought about multiple ways he could sell these precious goods. He ultimately thought that companion spirit fruits might not be so rare once the Red Association successfully started mass production.

If that happened relatively soon, then anyone who paid a fortune to obtain these relatively weak fruits would probably get pissed because they felt they had been scammed!

It was best for Ves to rein in his greed and offer a more reasonable price for his goods. It was fine to charge a premium based on how the people could gain a head-start, but it was not wise to treat them as fools.

Besides, the real gain was to create more companion spirit holders. They would inevitably show off their new additions and perform a lot better with their help.

Once word of mouth about companion spirits began to spread within the Association, the demand for them would definitely skyrocket!

"I plan to offer two kinds of opportunities for you to obtain a companion spirit." Ves addressed the crowd. "I will sell each fruit for 100,000 MTA credits each. Make sure you read the accompanying instruction manual to avoid wasting them. After that, I will hold an auction for five possible opportunities to receive a customized companion spirit from me that is much more powerful than what you can get from a fruit."

Jovy had actually been the one to suggest an auction. It was an excellent way to maximize his profits out of a limited number of clients.

By preying on their wealth and desperation, Ves would be able to limit the amount of time he wasted on this chore but still make it worthwhile enough!

This immediately made a lot more people excited. A lot of mechers and associates would probably converge towards this hall if not for the fact that this closed session did not permit any further entry.

"I do not intend to buy these fruit for myself, but I wish to reserve them for my disciplines." An older gentleman spoke from the rear. "How long will they remain effective after they are plucked?"

"lam not entirely certain about that." Ves honestly admitted. "I have not tested this. I predict that they will remain active for several months. They are designed to last at least that long. 1 am not sure whether they will deteriorate after that. Their efficacy may gradually weaken over time, which is not good as that increases the chance of complications. It is safest to take them within a week. Don't try to freeze them as that will not really preserve the most important components of these fruits."

He needed to remind himself to task the T Institute with testing the longevity of the companion spirit fruits. The best way to do so was to pluck a lot of fruits, keep them in storage under different conditions and gradually feed them to the alien captives and test subjects imprisoned within the Dragon's Den.

All of those aliens were troublesome to manage and support. It was always better if he and his clan could exploit their value by subjecting them to different experiments.

Ves soon began to sell the fruits. He had brought a total of 15 companion spirit fruit trees to the conference. Each of them possessed an average of 18 fruits, which meant he had 270 fruits in total.

He had already held back 200 companion spirit fruits so that the mechers could subject them to an extensive battery of tests.

This meant that he could readily put up 70 fruits for sale, which should be enough to meet the immediate demand from his audience.

Just as expected, the fruits sold out quickly. 100,000 MTA credits was a significant sum to the average mecher, but it was not that excessive to some of the elites and high-ranked mechers who were qualified to attend this conference.

7 million MTA credits was not a small sum for an average second-class organization.

As it was, the Larkinson Clan would be able to modernize a lot of old and outdated products and systems with this tidy windfall!

Just as Ves expected, a lot of the people who ended up buying the fruits were older researchers and Master Mech Designers. They either wanted to conduct their own research on these unusual products or reserved them for their own descendants and apprentices.

Of course, that still left a lot of people who cherished the fruits in their hands as if it was the greatest treasure in the Red Ocean.

They refrained from ingesting them right away. They intended to wait until the session was over so that they could head over to one of the Khamatar Reign's medical bays so that they could eat the fruits under supervision.

Once the 70 fruits passed on to their new owners, Ves finally commenced his auction.

"Do not miss this opportunity to gain a stronger and more customized companion spirit. By allowing me to impart them in person, I can create strong helpers that are comparable to the likes of Blinky, the Eye of Providence and Kiroshi that can enrich your life or the life of a candidate of your choosing. My capacity is limited, so I will only do this 5 times during this conference. Commence the bidding!"