As much as Demoncasting had consud Ves' attention, he still needed to complete his tour of the improved System.
After leaving the Demoncasting Forge, he and Ketis stopped by the Ti Gate for a mont.
The Ti Gate looked more impressive than last ti. The circular tal structure still bore the marks of age, but it had gained a lot more runes. It also glowed in green, making it seem as if it was charged with radioactive energy.
Ves quickly accessed the interface and verified that the new options conford to the description in the changelog.
"So it is true now. We can dive into the minds of other ch designers who worked in the past." He said. "By the way, have you tried out the Ti Gate already?"
"I did." The swordmaster said. "I can only use it once a year, so it is more efficient to use it right away."
"So how did your first Mastery experience unfold?" Ves curiously asked.
"It was... interesting. I did not go on any wild adventures like the ones you went through in the past. I deliberately chose to inhabit a swordsman ch pilot, so the System stuffed inside the mind of a rather peculiar second-class swordsman ch pilot. I only occupied his mind for a few days before my session automatically ca to an end."
"What kind of battles did he fight?"
"He wasn't a soldier. He was a ch athlete who competed over 150 years ago. The swordsman chs back then weren't as developed as the ones in the market today, but the principles are largely the sa. It was interesting to witness the contrast in performance and see how much incrental advancents in technology has caused swordsman chs to perform so much more fluently. In any case, pilot. I inhabited had just entered the playoffs and had to duel against a variety of tricky opponents to make it to the finals."
Ketis smiled as she imagined the hearty duels that she got to witness while riding the mind of the ch pilot.
While there were plenty of boring periods in between where the pilot was resting or studying his next tournant adversary, Ketis used the ti to think about what she witnessed firsthand.
The tournant did not impose harsh restrictions on ch type and so on, so the swordsman ch pilot had to overco a variety of opponents.
From running down a rifleman ch to avoiding the deadly pounces of a tiger ch, the experienced ch athlete used a combination of skill and strategy to win one match after another.
"Did he make it to the finals in the end?"
"Alas, no." Ketis sighed. "He finally t his match in the semifinals. He got matched up against an axeman ch. The enemy ch was slower, but was able to exert great strength with its axe swings. The swordsman ch tried to use his superior mobility to circle around and avoid the crushing chops of the deadly axe, but he largely failed. The axeman ch was specially designed to defend against flanking attacks as it was able to twist its torso from its waist section by 170 degrees in either direction with surprising speed and force. This effectively allows the axeman ch to rapidly attack or counterattack from any angle. The swordsman ch managed to evade the sweeping attacks multiple tis, but it only took one mistake for it to suffer crippling damage."
"That's a sha. Would you have been able to win the match for the swordsman ch pilot if you intervened more directly by taking over control of his body?"
Ketis looked thoughtful. "Maybe. I am not sure how that works and whether I can proficiently operate a ch through the neural interface. I am not trained in ch piloting, after all. If I could control the swordsman ch like it was my own body, I am confident that I can rely on my superior swordsmanship to whittle down the axeman ch while remaining undamaged. I don't have a reason to do so, though. This tournant was a test and challenge for the ch pilot. He must earn his victories through his own rit. While I felt tempted to give him tips on how to quickly polish his overly flamboyant swordsmanship, it would taint the sanctity of the tournant. It would be unfair for my intervention to deprive other finalists from the victories that they have earned over the course of normal history."
"You don't have to be afraid that you will wreck the current tiline if you change a bit of history during a Mastery experience. The current tiline we are living in already reflects the changes that we have made in the past. We just don't know it all as of yet. Perhaps you would have been able to propel the swordsman ch pilot to the finals and witness a ch duel at the highest level."
"I stand by my choice. I believe it is best to remain an observer and to refrain from affecting the tiline. I am already content with the original purpose of these Mastery experiences, which is to give us a first-hand look and feel of what our potential custors are going through when they are interfacing with a ch. This first experience is already enough to make many small improvents to the overall piloting experience."
"Suit yourself, then. By the way, you can also explore the mind of a ch designer now that the Ti Gate has been upgraded. I think I will give it a try when it is available. There has to be a purpose to making this option available to us. Perhaps it will give us better insights on how proper and more orthodox ch designers work.
Neither of us are exactly normal among our kind. We should be able to harvest a lot of gains if we glimpse at the minds of professionals who possess a vastly different perspective and design philosophy."
Ves had already occupied the minds of plenty of ch pilots by this ti. He could use a bit of variation and see what the fuss was all about with this new option.
"Next ti."
After they completed their visit to the Ti Gate, the pair of ch designers moved on to the Dinsion Observatory.
Ketis imdiately beca drawn to the Dinsion Blade. It did not look as if it had changed, but she did note that it now offered the option to take out in reality and use it for a short duration of ti!
She winced when she saw how much AP she needed to spend in order to use the Dinsion Blade for a brief period of ti.
"It costs 100 AP just to project the Dinsion Blade into the main universe for just 5 seconds!" She exclaid!
Ves walked up to her and looked down at the list of options introduced by the latest System Upgrade.
It was possible to rent the Dinsion Blade for a longer period of ti, but Ves and Ketis needed to spend AP to extend the duration.
For example, they could spend 500 AP to extend the duration to 1 minute, and 2000 AP to make the projection last 30 minutes.
There was even a greyed-out option that allowed them to project the Dinsion Blade into the cosmos on a permanent basis!
The interface did not ntion any AP cost so far, but Ves did not have to guess that it
was astronomically high.
"This Dinsion Blade can be a powerful weapon that can save your life in the right situation." Ves said. "However, the AP needed to afford all of the upgrades to make it. practical enough is too much. I think it is best to leave it alone for the ti being. You have the Heavensword anyway, so it is not like you need to borrow this weapon." Ketis responded with a sardonic smile. "Don't worry, I am not greedy for this weapon. I already have enough swords."
"Speaking about the Heavensword and the Dinsion Blade, when you exit the System Space, you should probably prepare to open up a temporary breach and see if you can mine a few resources while it stays open. We can't wait any longer. You need to expose this capacity and gain the cooperation of the Red Three to start mining dinsional resources on an industrial scale"
"I know, Ves. It is not convenient to start opening dinsional breaches in a
contested star system such as the Viola Magnifica System, but I refuse to leave while it still remains in human hands. I am a ch designer, but I am also a swordmaster. I need to keep fighting if I want to beco a sword saint."
"Ah. I hadn't thought about that. This... may beco a problem. Once the Red Three recognizes your value as a source of dinsional resources, they will absolutely disapprove of any further combat deploynts. At worst, they will treat you just like and assign an entire escort fleet to shadow you day and night. They will also compel you to leave the border regions and force you to take up residence in a safe first-class star system that is far enough away from the action."
Ketis scowled. "I won't let the chers, fleeters and the collies bully into becoming a dove. I will just use the Heavensword as an excuse why I can't leave the frontlines so easily. I already prepared a plan for this. I will just claim that the only reason I can open up dinsional breaches is because I have earned the appreciation of the Heavensword. If I act cowardly and retreat from a necessary fight, then I will lose its approval and subsequently lose access to the ability to open up a dinsional breach. It's the perfect explanation. Even the Heavensword agreed to play along with my charade and pretend to be angry at anyone who suggests taking away against my
will."
As if to show that she was not lying, the Heavensword began to rattle in its scabbard and release an intimidating red glow!
Ves directed an odd glance towards the Heavensword. The ancient relic weapon appeared awfully eager to serve Ketis' whim. He had the illusion that the swordmaster had turned the notoriously willful artifact into an obedient puppy.
"That sounds great, but are you okay with deceiving others like this? I thought that
would go against your honor."
"You are normally correct, Ves, but deception is a valid tact to employ against enemies and those who hinder you despite their good intentions. Besides, I am not harming anyone directly by employing this underhanded ans."
"I see. I am glad to hear that you have already made the right preparations, but one threat that you cannot guard against is elevated enemy attention. The cosmopolitans will find out about your strategic value and leak your information to the native aliens. The latter will subsequently put a high bounty on your head, turning you into a highly attractive priority target to both humans and aliens."
The female swordmaster sighed. "I know that this will also happen sooner or later. There is no way for to evade exposure. The most I can do is find a way to disguise
myself and make sure that my enemies will not be able to recognize when I deploy
in the field."
This was easier said than done.
Ves turned his attention to the Dinsion Observatory. Since it arrived with the Version 3.0 upgrade, it had not been put into use.
He and Ketis intended to change that in the short term.
"We need to spend more AP on upgrades. Ves said. "Once we earn heaps of AP in our
upcoming marathon, we need to upgrade the Dinsion Telescope to improve our ability to find resource-rich dinsions. We don't have any hope of earning 5,000 AP that is needed to create a persistent breach, so let us set it aside for the ti being. I
am hoping to invest my AP in other areas first."
"Like Demoncasting?" "You read my mind."
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