The Mech Touch novel Chapter 3602

Chapter 3602 Yem-Tar Trade and Commerce Bank

The totem that Ves had trotted out to Chief Fabricator Denner was not a particularly refined piece of craftsmanship.

Ves produced multiple totems in different sizes in the last week of the expeditionary fleet's visit to the Pellysa System. This one was one of his more regular ones, but that did not mean it mean it was bad by any means.

Sure, the Barach artisans probably would have been able to do a much better job, but Ves was no slouch in his ability to shape metal!

The quality and design of the totem wasn't that important anyway. The true value of this work was its connection to Vulcan. Since it was explicitly made to be a totem for his incarnation, the statue conveyed its glow pretty well!

In fact, Ves had to tone it down to just 10 percent of its original strength in order to make it more exclusive. He did not wish to turn Vulcan's glow into a cheap commodity. It had to be elevated in a scarce and precious luxury good in order to make the most out of this monopoly!

"Do you feel its glow, Mr. Denner?"

The older man frowned as he tried to make sense of the totem. "I can feel something, yes, but I am not certain what it does. How can you guarantee that it is safe?"

"Its glow is the same as that of all of my living mechs, which have been in operation for numerous years. Not once has the MTA banned any of my products. The most it did was to impose restrictions on a couple of models. Out of all of the glows I've integrated in my products, this one is probably one of the safest and most benign. It will only help you and your workers work better once they accept its influence."

"Even so, your gift is still not easy to accept. Here at Zachren Bilitsa, we have already developed our own set of methods and customs. I cannot make an exception to them just so I can bring in this odd statue."

"You haven't seen what it can truly do as of yet." Ves maintained his confident demeanor. "I think a demonstration is in order. Will you allow us to bring it to a private workshop or something? In order to best display its use, we need to put it close to a production site."

Though Denner looked like he would rather go back to his job, he did not refuse out of hand. Ves was one of the local branch's business partners now. Allowances should be made in order to keep him happy and prevent his actions from adversely affecting the business relationship between the two sides.

"We do have a workshop available that is ordinarily reserved for high-end production and servicing. I will lead you to the facility. Please follow."

The group along with the bots carrying the heavy statue moved to a side entrance that led into a workshop. The facility was placed further apart from the main production halls in order to prevent the machines inside from getting affected by the vibrations, heat emissions and other interference generated by all of the production lines.

Though the production machines in this workshop were clearly better than anything else in the manufacturing complex, they were also fairly old and worn.

Still, it wasn't necessary to have the latest and greatest for a simple demonstration.

"Do you still operate any production equipment in person these days, Denner?"

The chief fabricator almost looked affronted. "Although I spend more time on planning and supervision, I do keep my fabrication skills up to date. If I cannot do the job myself, I would not be qualified to hold my current position. My men can always rely on me to instruct them how to conduct a specific technical operation."

Ves smiled. "That is good. You see, the medium totem that I have brought comes with two different modes. Normally, its mode is set to passive. That means that aside from looking pretty, it only exudes a relatively faint glow at a fairly limited range, perhaps enough to encompass a couple of production lines depending on its placement. At this level, the glow is in a power-saving state that can easily be maintained without draining any important resources. The downside is that the glow is quite weak and does not provide any drastic or easily noticeable improvements."

Much of this was pure nonsense, of course. Ves had artificially limited the capabilities of his totems because why not? Anything that had value could be sold for money. There was no reason to let his totem exude Vulcan's glow on full blast and miss out on a potential opportunity to milk its exclusivity!

"If the effect of this totem is so subtle, how can you prove it works as you described, patriarch?"

"I was getting to that, Denner." Ves smiled and slapped the surface of his metal statue with his palm. "What I haven't explained yet is that this totem also comes with an active mode. When it is operating at full power, its glow not only becomes 10 times stronger and far-reaching, but it will also bestow a creative boon to a single person. This is why I asked you to bring us to a workshop. Telling you about it is not as good as letting you experience it in person."

Though Ves had declined to give Master Sivare Barach a taste of what Vulcan had to offer, this was a different situation.

The local branch of Zachren Bilitsa had already become his business partner. As long as the contract was in effect, they were on the same side. Anything that would help Zachren would feed back into the Larkinson Clan in some way or another.

This was especially the case when the local plant already started production of living mechs. Ves harbored persistent concerns about the quality of the Enlightened Warriors and Ferocious Piranhas produced from this manufacturing complex.

Though he instructed his negotiators to push for a level of control or supervision on the plant's operations, Zachren Bilitsa never gave ground on this front. This meant that Ves and his mech company couldn't do much if their business partner decided to cut costs and cheapen the production process.

In order to provide him with extra assurances that the local plant would keep up quality, Ves was willing to gift the workers one of his first totems designed for commercial usage.

"So how does it work?" Denner asked.

Ves coughed. "Let me tell you first that you must always pay a price in order to put a totem like this in an active state. Do you see the bank account number that I have engraved on the front?"

"I was wondering about that. Are you suggesting that I should deposit a fee to this account in order to 'activate' this statue?"

"That's exactly what I was about to say." Ves grinned. "Right now, the totem might not look that impressive to you, but I can guarantee you that you will change your mind once you experience its full power in person. If you are willing to cooperate with me and try it out, please think of a personal challenge or project that you always wanted to work upon."

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