The Mech Touch

Moira Willix was a rational mech designer.

Moira Willix was a Master Mech Designer.

Moira Willix was a senior figure in the MTA.

Yet amidst all of these extraordinary identities, she was also a woman!

Right now, Master Willix hardly exhibited the reserve and majesty of an individual of her high stature. Instead, as soon as she caught a good glimpse of the Little Angel, she seemingly devolved into a drooling fangirl who just came face to face with her idol!

The other women of the delegation weren't much better off! Since their superior already raced towards the compelling masterwork mech, they also decided to zip forward!

While the men such as Jovy and the rest weren't as affected, a masterwork mech was still a masterwork mech.

Even the mechers rarely encountered them on a frequent basis!

Jovy shook as if he tried to maintain at least some grasp of his decorum. "I thought that the stories regarding your masterwork mechs were overblown, Mr. Larkinson. It seems those stories are mistaken. This mech's astonishing glow is the least remarkable about this mech. What exquisite craftsmanship!"

He finally couldn't take it any longer. He shrugged off Ves and joined his compatriots in studying the mech from all sides.

It was as if a swarm of flies had suddenly appeared around the Little Angel. The sight was absurd to Ves because all of those 'flies' actually represented the current and future elite of the MTA!

None of their identities were average. As part of the core personnel of the MTA, Master Willix, Jovy and the rest were exposed to incredibly potent first-class multipurpose mechs on a daily basis.

Yet right now, a copy of a rather unexceptional second-class mech had attracted their complete attention!

"Hihi, do you see, Ves? Even the MTA adores my baby!"

Though Gloriana was just as obsessed about her masterwork mech as Master Willix if not more, she already had her fill. After a week of studying her best creation from top to bottom, she no longer felt the urge to stay with her mech every second of the day.

The same did not apply to those who encountered the Little Angel for the first time. Mech designers and technical specialists all possessed at least some cognition on the extraordinary nature of masterworks, and no one knew more about them than the MTA!

As Ves observed Master Willix and the others going crazy, he understood that the Little Angel was considerably more impressive to them than the Quint!

He suspected that it wasn't just the fact that the Little Angel was a more powerful mech that intrigued these great figures.

Instead, from a craftsmanship viewpoint, the Little Angel was considerably more refined. Even though it needed a gem to push it over the masterwork threshold, much of its quality had already been elevated by Gloriana when she entered into her inspired state.

This was still the main source of the Little Angel's strength! Even without the Mother's Love gem, the mech would have still been able to impress the likes of Seniors and Masters for their excellent construction and near-perfect implementation.

All of them were essentially attracted by Gloriana's excellent results, and the woman responsible was eating it all up. The grin on her face only exposed a hint of her pride and satisfaction!

"Even the MTA knows how to appreciate my blessed work!" She boasted.

"That they do."

For some time, the MTA dropped every other matter in order to indulge in their need to study every single exceptional quality about the Little Angel.

Though the mech's maternal glow attracted a lot of fascination from those who never came in touch with glows before, Master Willix did not express that much interest in it this time. She hardly ever called up Ves to ask any questions about his specialty.

It would have been pointless anyway. The few times she asked about the Superior Mother, Ves easily spun some nonsense about proto-gods and divinities.

Fortunately, these questions came few and far in between, and the Master Mech Designer eventually waved Ves away entirely.

This time, the Master was much more interested about the many spontaneous solutions that Gloriana came up with when she fabricated the mech.

For her part, Gloriana ecstatically explained her thoughts and described her methods as best as possible. She truly felt honored that a Master was interested in her process. The attention of such a great authority figure validated her self esteem!

Ves restrained his urge to palm his face. She was revealing too much knowledge! Much of the insights she spouted directly related to her trade secrets.

Even though it was difficult for someone with a different mindset to replicate her design philosophy, Master Willix had already shown off the capability to simulate Gloriana's specialty to a frightening degree. There was no reason to make it worse!

However, Ves knew that he had no way of convincing Gloriana to shut up. She chased after excellence, and wanted to be acknowledged for her efforts.

Before, when she lived in the Hegemony, she could show off all of her efforts to her fellow classmates, friends and colleagues. She could invite dozens, if not hundreds of mech designers at her level to exhibit her work.

That wasn't possible anymore!

Ever since she hooked up with Ves, she no longer interacted with any peer in person except for Ves. Sure, she still maintained contact with her old friends on Commbook, but she spent increasingly less time there. The years without personal contact had cooled her relations with her friends and former classmates.

Therefore, she keenly pounced on the opportunity to interact with other equal or superior mech designers. Not everyone enjoyed the privilege to showcase their work to one of the best Masters around!

For her part, Master Willix reciprocated Gloriana's openness by giving out insights in return. At her level, Willix easily pointed out shortcomings and other issues of concern. She even illuminated a path to solving them, thereby saving the younger mech designer considerable effort!

Ves wondered if Master Willix would be able to guide his progression as well if he spilled some of his beans.

He immediately crossed this possibility off his mind. His design philosophy belonged to him and him alone! There was no way he was going to let the MTA get its grubby hands on his core secrets just because he wanted some tutoring from a Master!

His specialization was different from that of Gloriana. Hers was in a much more familiar territory to the MTA. No matter what, the Association accumulated an immense understanding of all of the technical aspects of mechs.

As for their research on spirituality, Ves did not know how much the MTA actually understood about it. Whatever the case, spirituality or 'psionic power' was not common knowledge.

At the very least, Ves had not encountered a mecher who displayed any exceptional prowess in terms of spirituality!

Therefore, he was pretty certain that he held the upper hand in this regard. He would be much less reluctant to hang on to his secrets if the MTA essentially already made a lot of strides in this field.

Several hours passed by. As the Little Angel still worked its magic on Master Willix, Ves eventually left the workshop.

His presence wasn't needed anymore. This suited him fine, as Ves did not wish to interact with the MTA delegation at all to begin with. As far as he was concerned, Gloriana could keep them company for as long as she wanted!

He met up with his assistant Gavin at his office. He sat down behind his desk and pressed his head against his hand.

"The Ubiquitous Force and Master Willix arrived at Cinach once again." He noted. "I'm sure that the entire mech industry is abuzz again. How much do the public know?"

"Remarkably little, boss. The Blessed Squire design is still under wraps and whatever you cooked up in that isolated workshop is still a mystery. It's just…"

"The fact that Master Willix visited me for the third time in just a year is indicative that we have accomplished something remarkable again." Ves ruefully smiled.

The movements of the MTA acted like a giant signal flare over Ves and Gloriana. There was no way to pretend that nothing had happened in the Larkinson Clan!

Gavin attempted to placate him. "It's not that bad, boss. The public is only aware that something is up. The previous two visits related to the emergence of a masterwork and a mech with a very menacing glow. No one knows which of the two has taken place again. Perhaps something else has led to this response."

The worst-case scenario hadn't taken place. The Blessed Squire design still remained confidential, and the MTA at least respected that. This was hardly unusual. I was well-known that even if the MTA wanted to take a peek at classific design projects, none of their personnel leaked out the juicy details.

How could states, companies and mech designers still trust the MTA when it carelessly exposed strategic information that was critical to their power plays?

Several days went by. Though Ves still acted as if he was walking on coals, his worries eventually subsided a bit. Even with the Ubiquitous Force and the MTA delegation in his base, the preparations to depart still proceeded on schedule.

Ves stopped visiting the secure workshop, and Master Willix didn't demand his presence. He thought that the MTA delegation would spend the rest of the week drooling over the Little Angel before departing.

However, two developments took place that forced him to meet with the MTA envoys again.

First was the matter of ownership. It turned out that the MTA, or more precisely, wanted the Little Angel.

When Ves entered the secure workshop, he surprisingly noticed that Calabast had come as well.

"I'm negotiating on behalf of DIVA." His strategic partner explained to him. "Technically, the Little Angel belongs to the agency. However, any deal will still involve you and Gloriana. As the principal creators of the masterwork mech, the MTA still intends to reward the two of you even if you have already passed over the mech."

Ves expected the negotiations to proceed in a contentious fashion. After all, the Little Angel was not only a masterwork mech, but also possessed a powerful glow that had a very strong on Hexers. It was an incredibly powerful influencing tool! DIVA could sway all manner of powerful Hexers by taking advantage of the Little Angel's exceptional properties.

However, the talks weren't as tense as he predicted.

"The MTA wants this mech, and we do not take no for an answer." Master Willix plainly insisted.

Though she didn't raise her voice or revealed any fangs, her words already conveyed the dominance of the MTA.

There was no way that DIVA or the Hexadric Hegemony could refuse her offer!

Yet Calabast maintained her composure in front of the Master. "You desire the Little Angel. DIVA is not unwilling to transfer it to the MTA, but it still has a use for the mech. You do not need the Little Angel urgently, do you? How about you allow the Hegemony to possess the masterwork mech for a year before handing it over to your Association?"

That was a very clever suggestion. Master Willix did not delay in her response. "Acceptable. In one standard year, DIVA or anyone who possesses the Little Angel must surrender the masterwork mech to us or face the consequences."

Both of them shook their hands. Ves widened his eyes throughout the brief exchange. That was fast!

Obviously, Calabast recognized that while Master Willix or the MTA badly wanted the Little Angel for some reason, it didn't matter if they had to wait a bit. As long as DIVA was able to utilize the Little Angel's exceptional allure towards women and Hexers for a year, that was already enough!

Perhaps the most pleasant surprise was that the MTA promised to award Ves and Gloriana with 500,000 MTA merits each!

Since the MTA received the masterwork in the end, Master Willix was not shy about apportioning the original reward for such a submission to the mech designers responsible for creating the Little Angel.

Ves already earned over 1 million MTA merits over the span of a single year! The same applied to Gloriana. Both of them had surpassed countless Journeymen in that regard.

Just as Ves thought that he could go on his way, Jovy Armalon suddenly appeared in front of his face!

"Mr. Larkinson." Jovy smiled as his glowing yellow eyes peered into his own. "I've missed your company for a few days. After studying your handiwork in extensive detail, I have become more and more fascinated by your results."

"Thank you." Ves said.

"I want to compare my design ability against yours. Would you be interested in competing against me in a design duel?"

What? A design duel? Ves looked at Jovy with an odd expression.