Chapter 6608 The Elemental Universe Changing the Stormblade Samurai Mark II design to incorporate the new theories on pilot development would certainly help a lot of mech pilots in the ongoing war. It was not enough to improve the growth conditions of every mech pilot. Ves found it particularly important to promote the short-term development of the entire body of mech pilots in the Red Ocean. It was impossible for him to affect so many mech pilots at once, so he shifted his focus on his current customers. He still had a few ways to directly affect every pilot that currently made use of a living mech. After a bit of thinking, he soon came up with a good idea. "Ketis." "What is it, Ves?" "You have been working on trying to improve the MSTS, correct?" "I am, though it is admittedly not my highest priority. I have been more consumed with reforming our understanding of swordsmanship as of late. I have... neglected my other assignments." "That is okay. I was just thinking that the best way to make people benefit from your new theories is to modify the designs of all of our living mechs so that they focus a lot more on developing the affinities and comprehension of their mech pilots. That is clearly not realistic due to all of the designs we have to go through, so I believe it is better to upgrade an aspect that is common to all living mechs." "The Mental Simulation Training System." Ves grinned. "Exactly. Every living mech has at least limited access to the MSTS depending on their pricing and whether they are training mechs. It has always received good evaluations from our customers, and it has always remained fairly popular. Many companies have begun to implement a lot of improvements to their own simulation programs, but their technological calculations cannot fully imitate the mental influence exerted by different E energy attributes. The MSTS also remains the only simulation program that can fully channel the living personalities of my products. That alone ensures that it will remain the most favored solution for simulation training to our customers." Since the MSTS remained so dominant among mech pilots paired with LMC mechs, then any upgrades to the proprietary simulation program would have the potential to affect hundreds of millions of mech pilots, especially if Carmine mech pilots were included as well! The female swordmaster tried to think how this potential change could impact the mech community. "If the instruction granted by the MSTS is effective enough, then this could be a gamechanger." She said. "Mech pilots may spend less time on polishing their technical piloting skills, but exploring the elements and increasing their affinities to them is a different benefit. It will not help them all that much if they have not yet broken through, but the value in raising their Heaven score lies in improving their breakthrough chances. If you can statistically prove that your customers are able to advance to the rank of expert candidate and expert pilots at least 10 percent more frequently than the rest, then people will flock to living mechs just to benefit from this new function!" Despite the obvious benefits of the MSTS to mech pilots, Ves had long neglected its importance and development due to his shiny toy syndrome. That was partially the reason why he passed on the responsibility of updating it to Ketis. In hindsight, this was not the best decision he made, because Ketis turned out to be just as easily distracted! However, now that they recognized that upgrading the MSTS was the best way to improve the breakthrough conditions of millions upon millions of mech pilots, they would definitely focus on improving it over other projects! Ves already formulated a new plan. "We cannot stop at upgrading the functions of the MSTS." He said. "We need to reset the expectations of our customers and convince them to take our work much more seriously. In order to do so, I want to begin by changing its name. MSTS is a clumsy acronym and doesn't inspire anything good by itself. We can market it much more effectively if we replace it with a more catchy name, one that hopefully encompasses the new features that we plan to implement." "I take it that you have already come up with a proposal." Ketis knowingly said. "I do. I want to call it the Elemental Universe. What do you think?" Renaming the MSTS into the Elemental Universe was a big move! Ketis furrowed her brows as she thought about how mech pilots would react to this change. "Well, you are right that it sounds much more interesting than four seemingly random letters placed next to each other. If you truly intend to rename your old work into the Elemental Universe, then you will most definitely draw people's attention towards the function of increasing their mastery over the E energy attributes of their choice. However, I am afraid that the original functions may get overshadowed." "It will be fine." Ves reassured her. "Existing customers are already familiar with the pilot training features of the Elemental Universe. They won't disappear, and mech pilots will never stop using them because their lives are on the line. What I want is to make a high-profile marketing shift in order to convince them to take the new training features more seriously. I am not certain how effective it is to increase their mastery over a specific attribute within the Elemental Universe as opposed to doing it in reality. Even if the effect is not as strong, I am hoping that the convenience of accessing the Elemental Universe through their LMC mechs offers great convenience to our customers. There were many methods for people to develop a greater grasp over an E energy attribute. Practising basic cultivation methods usually did not require any special conditions and could be done anywhere. However, if practitioners wanted to move beyond the basics, then they had to satisfy more difficult conditions. This could range from ingesting expensive elixirs to meditating in a specially constructed chamber that was filled with hyper materials shaped into totems. It was difficult for most mech pilots to satisfy these expensive or demanding conditions, especially under the current climate. This was why Ves was convinced the Elemental Universe would take off once mech pilots understood the value of raising their Heaven scores. For existing users of LMC mechs, accessing the Elemental Universe should be the easiest way for them to conduct effective training on increasing their mastery over an E energy attribute! As for mech pilots assigned to the products sold by other mech companies, Ves could not take care of them. Others were free to take up the responsibility of providing them with elemental training. Once Ves laid out the blueprint of his new plan, his former student easily agreed to his proposals. "This is a big expansion of the MSTS." She said. "You're not just introducing ways to allow mech pilots to harness the power of E energy. You are also giving them opportunities to fight alongside each other or against each other, just like a virtual reality game." "That is exactly what I had in mind for this major update. The Elemental Universe needs to hold much greater attraction in order to lure mech pilots into using it to its full potential. Perhaps they will initially be lured into using it so that they can enter into realistic multiplayer battles on simulated battlefields with their own living mechs. Afterwards, they may try out the other training features, and gain even more benefits as a consequence." "If the Elemental Universe works as effectively as you think, then you will be putting many competitors out of business." "Maybe. It is their fault if they blindly stick to old methods and solutions. The Age of Dawn has already begun. If other companies think they can get by without innovating their existing products, then they deserve to get driven out of business. We aren't even professionals in this area. It is very much possible for the established simulation companies to develop superior solutions based on more advanced and creative applications of E energy. They just need to expand their E-technology capabilities." That was difficult because there were far too few people who had managed to make attainments in this new but promising field. In any case, Ves quickly began to explain how he intended to organized the Elemental Universe. "Every mech pilot that enters the Elemental Universe will initially emerge in their Personal Habitat. Ves said as he projected a sketch of such a space. "The most basic form is a small apartment that is attached to a small hangar that hosts their living mech. People can invite others connected to the Elemental Universe into their Personal Habitat. They can also spend FC to decorate their personal space and add new rooms." "EC?" "Ah, I forgot to explain that to you. EC stands for Elemental Credits. It will be the new currency that I plan to institute into the Elemental Universe." "What are EC based on, Ves? Do mech pilots have to exchange them for MTA credits?" "No. That doesn't make much sense. Mech pilots can earn EC by providing spiritual feedback through their living mechs. Usually, just piloting their machines in reality is enough for them to earn a trickle of EC over the course of a day or week," "Why go through the trouble of implementing this new currency?" Ves smiled. "Good question. There are good reasons why the Elemental Universe is called this way. I want mech pilots to treat it as an alternate reality where they can live a second life of sorts. Any gains they make in the Elemental Universe will end up profiting them in the real universe. The use of currencies can reinforce this perspective shift. We need to employ a more quantitative and flexible means of controlling the energy balance of the Elemental Universe. By setting different prices on different services, we can ensure that we can maintain a positive energy balance and prevent it from draining Vulcan." The MSTS was currently supported by Vulcan, which was the most suitable design spirit to undertake this demanding task. Even so, Vulcan could not bear the strain of simulating the battles of so many mech pilots at once, so access to the MSTS's realistic simulation battles had to be limited one way or another. Ketis understood these conditions well enough, so she did not object to the introduction of Elemental Credits. She could see numerous advantages to adopting it as the currency of the Elemental Universe. "Since you place so much importance in this virtual currency, you are probably thinking about hoodwinking mech pilots into spending it on less energy intensive options." "Hahaha!" Ves laughed. "That's right! You know me too well. In fact, one of the new facilities that I intend to introduce is the Living City. It's a virtual urban environment that can accommodate many mech pilots at the same time. They can relax, relieve their stress, visit coffee shops and buy fake clothes to dress up their fake avatars. The Living City will have its own economy, one that is dominated by the handicrafts made by Vulcan as he has learned how to create a lot of exquisite stuff over the years." "Even if you designed the Living City to earn easy ECs, I can see how it can benefit a lot of mech pilots. Many soldiers have accumulated a lot of stress after fighting in the frontlines for at least several months. They need access to a sanctuary or a place to decompress, but their options are limited when they are stuck in warzones. Being able to enter the Living City and sit around in a park or a cozy cafe can help them adjust their mentality" "I haven't thought about that." Ves admitted. "You are right. The Living City holds even greater value if it can help mech pilots in this manner. The current iteration of the MSTS does not offer any sort of opportunity for relaxation. This is a grave oversight that we can correct by working on the Elemental Universe." The Living City could represent so much more. The greater it simulated the operation of a real city, the more mech pilots could inhabit it as their second homes!