The Mech Touch

The Chiron stood out as a proposal which had great potential.

Sadly, not many assistants realized the extent a spiritually-empowered teaching mech could aid in the training of mech cadets. While they had all read up on Ves and studied his best-known works, they still possessed a shallow understanding of his specialty.

That would change in time. Ves knew he did not need to spend too much effort to explain what he could do. Once they took part in a project, they would see for themselves what he was truly capable of and adapt their mindsets accordingly.

Ves announced some preliminary decisions. "The Chiron will largely conform to Miss O'Brian's proposal and shall be designed as an adaptable mech. After some thought, we have decided that a teaching mech with this much potential is too radical and effective to be released to the market. For now, we intend to turn the Chiron into a teaching mech that is exclusive to the Larkinson Clan. It will share some of the same properties as the Bright Warrior model."

Selfishness only played a part of this decision. Ves had thought long and hard on how to facilitate the teaching process through spiritual means. He wanted to go beyond what he did with the Young Blood and Old Soul, where he merely relied on self-created images to serve as imperceptibly spiritual mentors to the mech cadets.

While Ves had thought about creating a spiritual product which excelled at teaching, he eventually came up with a more radical idea.

What if he could take advantage of the Golden Cat instead?

The ancestral spirit was the heart of the Larkinson Network. She possessed a spiritual bond with every living Larkinson.

When Ves initially designed the Bright Warrior, he envisioned the possibility of enabling Goldie to pass on the mech piloting skills of one Larkinson to another Larkinson with the help of the Larkinson Network.

However, so far, this ability hadn't manifested yet. Whether Goldie didn't deem it necessary or whether she wasn't able to do so, Ves couldn't tell.

Normally, he had little confidence he could implement a skill transfer mechanism successfully in a mech design.

Yet now that he managed to achieve a breakthrough in his design philosophy and successfully tested the implementation of targeted abilities, he was certain he could use them to empower the Chiron!

As long as he programmed the right spiritual constructs that facilitated some experimental supernatural training methods, the Chiron might truly become a teaching vessel of his dreams!

If the older generations of Larkinsons could pass on at least a portion of their skills, knacks, experience and knowledge to the younger generation, then the latter would rapidly become very powerful!

The best part about this teaching method was that as long as Goldie kept amassing more piloting knowledge, the teachings she passed on became more and more effective.

Naturally, Ves couldn't guarantee the Chiron would be able to live up to its promise. It could be that his current spiritual methods still weren't enough to establish such a powerful teaching mechanism.

He might as well try, though. If he failed, he still ended up with a mech that did its job better than the Old Blood and Young Blood. He could use the lessons he learned from this minor project to do better next time.

There was also an unknown risk that the implementation might be faulty. This meant there was a substantial possibility that the mech cadets who piloted the Chiron could come to harm.

Ves had already learned that messing with spirituality and people's minds could be very harmful. The spiritual surgery he performed on William Urbesh practically killed the poor fellow original personality!

His fellow clansmen were different from random people who he didn't care about. He didn't want to treat his men and women as test subjects.

The only problem was that if he used the Golden Cat as the Chiron's design spirit, then he couldn't use anyone else but his own Larkinsons to test drive the teaching mech!

He eventually decided to trust in his ability and hope that the Chiron Project worked out. In addition, since Goldie was the spiritual guardian of the Larkinson Clan, she would never allow an innocent clansman to come to harm!

If everything went right, then his worries were moot.

After he finished outlining the Chiron Project to his audience, he moved on to another proposal that caught his attention.

He waved his arm, causing the projection of the Chiron to make way for a depiction of a very different mech.

"The Chiron isn't the only mech concept that we have approved. Felicia Slenn has proposed a very interesting spinoff of the Doom Guard. While her idea isn't entirely original, her Ferocious Piranha is still an outstanding mech concept with great potential. Would you like to present your ideas, Miss Slenn?"

The woman, who looked to be in her late twenties, nodded and stood up. Felicia Slenn happened to be an erudite mech designer, and her quiet and thoughtful demeanor reminded him of rational mech designers.

Was it a coincidence that 2 of the proposals that Ves and Gloriana approved just happened to come from more intellectually-inclined mech designers? They both utilized clever logic to come up with their proposals!

In contrast, he felt let down by the group of brave mech designers seated on his side of the table. While they came up with a lot of enthusiastic proposals, many of them went way too far or sounded wildly impractical. They had gotten so caught up with the possibilities that they forgot that the LMC sold products, not miracles. For all of their courage and daring, they seemed to lack intelligence and restraint!

"As Mr. Larkinson has mentioned, the Ferocious Piranha is a mech design that borrows several elements from the Doom Guard." Felicia Slenn spoke. "The mech is my attempt to address the market demand that has emerged after the release of the Doom Guard."

The simulation of the proposed mech rapidly zipped through space as its small and swift allowed it to cross distances at least several times faster than the sluggish Doom Guard!

"The Doom Guard's main strength is its ability to deter large groups of hostile mechs by complementing its flamethrower output with its fear-based glow. However, the limited range of these exertions combined with the mech's low mobility has forced it into a passive, defensive role. When I researched the market sentiment of the striker mech, I noticed many calls for a lighter and faster version that can fully keep up with any offensive maneuvers."

In fact, Ves encountered the same feedback, but he showed little interest in retreading the Doom Guard. Reading Slenn's proposal caused him to change his mind.

The woman continued her presentation. "My Ferocious Piranha aims to replicate some of the strengths of the Doom Guard, but differs from it in several ways. First, it's a light skirmisher, so it is fully able to keep up with any attack runs. Second, its glow is weaker, but still effective enough to disturb enemies whose minds are not strong or prepared."

"Why make it weaker?" Ketis asked in confusion.

"The reason why it is weaker is because the mech pilot of the Ferocious Piranha should be as minimally affected as possible. Ideally, it would be best if Mr. Larkinson can tone down his glow so that it doesn't harm friendlies. After becoming aware of the glow interaction between the Aurora Titan and the Doom Guard, I speculated whether it is possible to combine their glows in a way that blocks the harmful effects from impacting the mech pilot and any friendlies. I am not sure whether that is possible, though."

She looked expectantly towards Ves, who smiled.

"To be honest, I was astonished at your suggestion." He replied. "I have mixed glows several times before. The Doom Guard is actually an unusual result between the conflict of two competing glows. Adding the glow of the Aurora Titan into the mix is something that I haven't thought of. In my judgement, the outcome that you have theorized is plausible, and might very well succeed if I implement it correctly!"

"Does that mean…"

Ves acknowledged her hopes. "I approve of your proposal! While challenging to implement, it is a very practical and useful product if the mech lives up to its promise. The Doom Guard has already proved there is a huge market demand for a mech that can psychologically deter enemies. I don't need to perform any market research to realize that your Ferocious Piranha has the potential to become an even greater cash cow for the LMC!"

His praise for the Ferocious Piranha made Slenn incredibly pleased! She became very ecstatic at the thought of having one of her ideas come to fruition. Even if Ves earned most of the credit for enabling such a mech to come into existence, her contribution would definitely be remembered!

Before her head inflated any further, Ves raised his palm.

"There are two issues, though. First, calling the mech the Ferocious Piranha is not entirely appropriate. A name like that is more suitable for pirate mechs that love to swarm their targets. For now, we'll use it as a codename. Second, it is not entirely wise to allow a mech like this to become too prevalent in the mech market. We will design it as a premium mech with a fairly high budget in order to ensure it won't be abused too much. We might also decide not to release it to the market and instead add it to the arsenal to our clan in order to keep the benefits to ourselves."

A mech like the Ferocious Piranha truly had the potential to shift the outcome of every battle in the regions where it was sold. Making it more expensive compared to regular light skirmishers was a good way to ensure it wouldn't sell as much as the Desolate Soldier.

Another idea to limit its impact was to deprive it from its self-shielding effect. Ves contemplated whether he should design two versions of the mech, one with Qilanxo and one without her presence.

He could reserve the former to the Larkinson Clan and release the latter to the market without too many concerns.

The problem was that doing so might not be very well received at all by the market.

In the end, he decided to withhold his judgement and revisit this decision in the later stages of the project.

If he was in need of a lot of money or if he desired to bolster his fame for whatever reason, he could release the most potent version of the mech.

If his needs weren't as great or if he needed to keep his head down, then he could publish a more limited version of the mech instead.

Right now, he was inclined towards the latter. He had already attracted plenty of attention from society and did not look forward to painting an even greater target on his back!

That said, he still appreciated the idea. The proposals formed by his assistants had given him a lot of inspiration.

He decided to issue a reward. "Merill O'Brian and Felicia Slenn have succeeded in inspiring me and have contributed significantly with their fantastic proposals. Both of you are awarded with 10 Larkinson merits!"

The announcement put the two assistant mech designers front and center. Their fellow colleagues and rivals all looked impressed as they clapped.

"Thank you, sir!"

Though 10 merits did not sound like much, it still represented a year's worth of work for them if they did not excel in their performance. To obtain these merits right away brought them one step closer to acquiring powerful augmentations.

Ves smiled. "Aside from these two proposals, there is room for two more minor projects. It's unfortunate that none of your suggestions have met our standard, so my partner and I have decided to come up with our own mech concepts in order to fill the remaining slots."