The Mech Touch

A cyborg cat checked many of the boxes.

An organic internal architecture allowed the cat to retain most of the advantages of living organisms.

A metallic exterior made it easy for Ves or anyone else to repair, replace or upgrade the feline's outer body parts.

It became increasingly more common for Ves to gain access to high-grade materials, some of which were good enough to be used in first-class products.

The problem was that the quantity was always insufficient. Obtaining ten or so kilograms worth of alloys was often completely inadequate.

Even the lightest mechs weighed at least several metric tons, so it was completely pointless for Ves to design a machine based on a rare material that was only as big as a human head.

However, a few kilograms or rare and precious alloys was more than adequate for a cyborg cat!

"A smaller divine artifact is much less resource intensive." Ves smiled.

It was relatively easy for him to gain access to the materials needed to produce the mechanical half of the cyborg cat.

The Infinite Bazaar offered many different alloys at varying prices. If Ves was willing to take a few risks, he could also try his luck by drawing a couple of golden lottery tickets.

"If that isn't enough, I can always fall back to what I am carrying at the moment."

Ves banged his armored fist against his chest plate.

His personal suit of combat armor was made out of a combination of several precious alloys. The predominant metal was Unending alloy.

If Ves was willing to temporarily sacrifice the integrity of his Unending Regalia, he could disassemble a few exterior parts and reshape them into cat components.

"It would certainly be an excellent way to enhance the connection between myself and my divine artifact."

Every part about the Unending Regalia bore his imprint, and that wouldn't go away if he broke it apart.

"Is this a good idea?"

Ves always intended to upgrade his Unending Regalia sooner or later. Unending alloy was good, but he could gain harder and tougher metals if he really wanted to. The replacement materials might not be spiritually reactive, but who cared when Ves just wanted to obtain protection against lethal blows?

"It's not a good idea to disassemble my armor given the situation that I will be returning to after I am done."

Ves would be returning to the battlefield after exiting the System Space. He needed all of the protection he could get in case he failed to stop the unclean whale from affecting everyone.

Aside from that, he wouldn't be able to explain why his Unending Regalia looked completely whole in one moment, but was missing a couple of chunks the next moment!

"I'll leave this for later."

The material composition of the exterior wasn't important considering that Ves intended to upgrade it on a regular basis.

He felt it was better to buy a batch of materials or even a complete product from the Infinite Bazaar once he had a better idea of what he wanted to make.

"The organic half of the cyborg cat is much more important."

It was much harder to obtain organic materials in the System Space. He did not have access to the treasures of the Larkinson Biotech Institute, so he couldn't whip out a chunk of flesh harvested from a powerful astral beast like Titania or a fish-whale sovereign like the Phase King.

"Still, even if I am able to access those materials, I don't know how to work with them. They're too advanced for my own good."

Ves was most familiar with human biology and flesh, so he was more inclined to use human biomatter as a base material.

The question was where he should obtain the resources to make the organic half of his cyborg cat.

He looked down at his arms.

"The orvens have a habit of chopping up a part of their bodies to make their ritual sacrifice altars."

The aliens had their own reasons for doing so, but that didn't mean that it was a bad idea for Ves to copy this custom.

If Ves chopped off one of his limbs, he would obtain high-quality biomatter that was not only stronger and more sophisticated than baseline human flesh, but was also highly attuned to his own spiritual energy and power!

Ves couldn't think of a better way to reinforce the connection between his divine artifact and himself than integrating the former with biocomponents that were reconstituted from his own body!

"It's a brilliant solution! It makes complete sense for me to sacrifice a part of my own body!"

He was willing to go quite far now that he had become invested in this design project. Perhaps he would have never thought about doing this before, but now that he became enlightened by the Blood Cult, he could no longer ignore the value of his own corporeal shell!

His blood was rich with spiritual power. His flesh had also gained a decent amount of power after his blood had circulated through his body many times. These processes gradually turned his body into an increasingly more valuable resource!

"It would be a waste to rule out this option!"

Using his own biomatter as the principal raw ingredient for his cyborg cat came with multiple advantages. He was not only spared from spending Ascension Points to obtain another source of biomatter, but he also gained the opportunity to work with a familiar material.

He stored a lot of files related to his unique biology. He wasn't able to interpret any of the science in the past, but not that he had become versed in biotechnology, he was sure he could understand most of the reports!

While it would probably take a bit of time for him to get a grip on the more abnormal traits of his flesh, much of it should still be human in essence.

"This is especially the case for my extremities. As long as I leave out the Jutland organ, the rest of my body should still be manageable."

He contemplated which limb he should chop off in order to gain his batch of raw materials. He initially thought about chopping off his hand along with a part of his forearm before he decided against this decision.

"I work with my hands a lot, so they have special meaning to me. However, I still need my hands to complete this project and complete other Missions if I accept any after this. Losing a limb will severely affect my productivity."

While it was possible for him to get by with one arm, the loss of a limb would slow him down and make a lot of manual precision work impractical.

As a mech designer who regularly liked to tinker in his workshop and engage in practical work, trying to perform the same processes with just a single arm sounded like a nightmare!

"I should cut off one of my legs instead!"

That was a much better idea! A mech designer had no use of a functional leg. Ves could still move around for the most part as he had already accounted for this unlikely possibility when he designed his Unending Regalia.

If one of his legs ever broke or went missing, the hollow leg section would simply lock up and make other adjustments so that it could continue to support his weight.

Ves could even make other targeted modifications before he went through with the operation in order to improve this feature further.

This way, Ves could still move around and work on his subsequent designs in the System Space without impacting his productivity to a significant degree!

"I can even chop up my other leg if I need extra biomass for another project!"

Ves had no qualms about cutting off parts of his body because he knew he could grow them back when he returned to reality and dealt with the unclean whale.

The biggest problem was that it would take a bit of time for the biotech experts over at the Larkinson Biotech Institute to regrow a new pair of legs.

It might take weeks or months in order to do the job properly. In the meantime, Ves would have to waste a lot of time on physical therapy and other tedious treatment sessions.

He did not look forward to losing so much time!

"It's a necessary evil." He sighed. "It's better to spend more time at a medical facility than to miss out on the opportunity to build a good divine artifact. Who knows, my new cyborg cat might even be able to play a crucial role in foiling the unclean whale's plot!"

The clues he gathered about divine artifacts painted them as extraordinary objects that were much more powerful than an ordinary totem.

Ves didn't know exactly what made them different, but he had a few ideas.

"Maybe… divine artifacts aren't as foreign to me as I think they are. It… would certainly explain a lot if Lucky is a living divine artifact. The Sacred Scrolls may also turn out to be high-end divine artifacts."

If this was the case, then that would give Ves a lot of food for thought!

The strength of a divine artifact reflected their source or principal. Lucky wasn't all that impressive, but his ability to grow and evolve by assimilating his food was impressive.

Perhaps the developer of Lucky had a similar concept to his cyborg cat in mind!

As for the Sacred Scrolls, whoever made the Metal Scroll must be having an awful time since the beginning of the Age of Mechs.

Several sources stated that damaging a divine artifact would have major consequences to the entity it was tied to, though Ves wasn't clear of the details.

It made sense to assume that the apparent fragmentation of the Metal Scroll affected the strength and condition of its principal.

Ves was also impressed that the Metal Scroll hadn't disintegrated entirely. For its fragments to be able to prevent themselves from crumbling and regaining at least a bit of functionality was a testament to the exceptional qualities of a powerful divine artifact!

"I'm not certain whether Lucky and the Metal Scroll are truly related to divine artifacts, but if this is the case… I want in. There is no way I want to be left out of this party!"

His expectations for his cyborg cat became greater. Let alone sacrificing a leg, he was willing to give up more parts of his body if he could ensure that he could still preserve what was left of himself!

The Spirit Space was not supposed to function as a hospital. While Ves could use the biotech-related lab and workshop equipment to tend to his injuries and even grow a basic cloned limb for himself, they weren't capable of keeping his head alive if he decided to chop it off his neck so that he could use the rest of his physical body as a raw ingredient for his organic design projects!

Ves shook his head. "I shouldn't get too caught up by all of this business. Let's stick to chopping off a leg and go from there. A cat can only contain so much biomatter."

He supposed he could design a chonky fellow if he really wanted to make a bigger cyborg cat, but it wasn't worth it in his eyes.

A fat cat not only attracted a lot more attention, but also lost a lot of mobility.

These consequences were antithetical to his original purpose of designing a living divine artifact that was good at camouflage and escape.

"I'll go for a slender cat then." Ves decided. "I should visit the Infinite Bazaar to see what kind of materials I can use to shape the exterior of my new pet."

He went down to the Infinite Bazaar and browsed the available items. The System offered plenty of excellent materials, though he wasn't familiar with many of them. The prices also tended to vary a lot. He had to give up on many desirable products because they fell outside his budget.

"This is going to take a while." He frowned.