The Mech Touch

As a mech designer, Ketis followed a very unusual development trajectory. Having been raised by a pirate mech designer, the moment Ves came into her life, she gained a tremendous amount of help.

Aside from stuffing her with Attribute Candies, Ves also filled up the gaps in her knowledge due to her lack of structural learning.

What caused him to feel a bit of regret was that no matter how much he instructed her, he could not adequately replace a proper educational institution.

This caused her upbringing as a mech designer to remain crooked. Her determination to concentrate solely on designing sword-wielding mechs was not just a personal choice, but also a necessity.

If she wanted to design something other than a swordsman mech, her shortcomings would soon become obvious.

Yet because she decisively specialized in a narrow field, those issues largely became irrelevant. Her strong dedication and passion towards her design philosophy gave her the potential to design unique swordsman mechs with traits that Ves could never possibly replicate.

The Yandra Blocker piloted by Lieutenant Sendra showcased a glimpse of the future. The large and slightly unwieldy mech performed like a hybrid between a swordsman mech and a knight mech.

When set against some practice targets, the Yandra Blocker's twin swords struck slow but hard. Their considerable mass also enabled the swords to be used as adequate shields, though their coverage was not ideal.

As a number of rifleman mechs carefully fired at the Yandra Blocker, its swords appeared to cope well against laser beams but poorly against kinetic rounds.

"One of the main flaws of this mech is that its main means of blocking damage also happens to be its only weapons." Ves noted as he studied the live footage and telemetry of the mech in action.

"It has a backup blade."

"The powerful arms necessary to wield these heavy swords aren't very fast or agile. Pairing this mech with a short sword or knife leads to a severe mismatch."

"It's better than nothing." Ketis pouted.

That was true. He should not expect too much from a third-class mech. The budget, tech and material constraints forced every mech designer to make some hard choices.

Once the test run came to an end, Lieutenant Sendra piloted the slightly beat-up Yandra Blocker back to the Scarlet Rose and emerged from the cockpit with a satisfied smile.

"Good first attempt!" She gave a thumbs up to Ketis.

"What do you think about my mech? Be honest."

"It could be better. I would say the mech is too rough for my liking. Compared to Mayra's work, your mech has a lot of minor elements that trouble me a bit. I'll tell you about them later. What I do like is that your mech comes closest to complimenting our swordsmanship style. I see the potential in your work. Keep them up, and soon you'll have every sister of ours begging to pilot your mechs!"

Ketis looked both happy and disappointed. Ves gently clapped her back.

"No one gets it completely right the first time. Just be happy that she thinks you're on the right track. That's more important than anything."

"I.. you're right. I should be happy that I've made it this far. If the Swordsmaidens like my work, then I'm definitely getting closer to achieving my goals!"

Overall, this was a happy moment for Ketis. Ves noted with satisfaction that Lieutenant Sendra spoke quite thoughtfully and took care not to damage the younger mech designer's confidence.

Now that Ketis completed her first original mech design without any serious complications, she finally gained the confidence that a mech designer ought to possess. Even if she botched her subsequent mech designs, her belief in her design ability should see her through.

Aside from spending time with Ketis, Ves also made sure to keep in touch with a number of other people.

One of the people he cared about the most was Venerable Joshua. Ves just heard that the young prodigy had just broken up with Venerable Jannzi.

Though Ves predicted that this would happen, the depression rolling off Joshua as he sat in his new cabin aboard another ship was palpable.

That changed as soon as Ves entered the compartment.

"Patriarch!" Joshua shockingly uttered and jumped to his feet. "Why are you here, sir?!"

Ves smiled. "I wanted to see how our expert pilots are doing. You look like you could use some company."

"I… I'm sorry. I'm not very presentable right now."

"That's okay. This is not a formal inspection or anything. Don't force yourself to be someone you're not. Just behave naturally. That's your prerogative as an expert pilot."

"Thank you, sir."

As the two tentatively chatted a little, Ves noticed that Venerable Joshua lacked the distinct sense of arrogance and alienation that he was used to seeing in other expert pilots.

Of the five expert pilots of the Larkinson Clan, Venerable Jannzi exhibited the most drastic shift in personality. Ves wasn't really sure why that was the cause. He remembered what she was like from the start. The current version of Jannzi was practically unrecognizable from the shy and deferential space knight specialist in the past.

In contrast, Venerable Joshua came across as friendly, casual and even intimate. He was an expressive young man, and Ves found it hard to dislike him. If not for his strong and vigorous force of will, the mech pilot would have been no different from a random person on the street.

It was as if Joshua still retained much of his humanity.

Perhaps his domain had something to do with it. Compared to the convictions of other expert pilots, Joshua dedicated himself to a much less common ideal.

He was the first expert pilot who developed a force of will that completely aligned with Ves' design philosophy.

What were the ramifications of this development? What kind of synergy could the two achieve? What miracles could they perform if they joined forces?

All of these questions and more deserved answering.

"Can you do something for me, Joshua? Please stay still while I try something out."

Ves ignored the expert pilot's confusion and concentrated his mind. He first began to 'emulate' an expert pilot's force of will by shaping his free-floating spiritual energy in a peculiar way.

With the new insights he gained from James, Ves observed how his attempt was too frail.

The root of it was because his willpower simply didn't measure up. He was only able to imitate the surface of a force of will because he relied on his abundance of spiritual energy to amplify what little willpower he truly possessed.

True expert pilots required much less leverage to empower their will. When Ves expanded his false force of will, it immediately made contact with the real deal.

"Wha!" Joshua widened his eyes as he felt something very familiar bumping into him. "Is that you, sir? Are you a mech pilot?!"

"No. I just know a few tricks. Now, please stay calm. Let's see what will happen if I do this…"

Ves pushed his false force of will into Joshua's domain. Though he felt a bit of hindrance, it did not take too much force to push through the bubble.

Surprisingly, both of them felt rather comfortable. The two's spiritual attributes and domains were very compatible and almost identical to each other.

They were not the same, though. Ves and Joshua were both different in many different ways, so it was impossible for them to develop the exact same priorities.

What Ves noted from Venerable Joshua was that the expert pilot attempted to mold his conviction as closely to the mechs he piloted as possible.

Due to differences in background, knowledge, mindset and etcetera, Joshua failed to accomplish a perfect match.

Ves did not really mind this outcome. A complete match may bring surprising benefits, but he was already happy with the extraordinarily high compatibility between Johshua and him. Their domains were similar enough that they might as well be life mates.

In fact, according to his own views on synergy, it was best if both sides brought something unique to the table.

If Ves had to describe the difference between their two domains, it was that he possessed a much deeper comprehension in how mechs were put together. His life attributes were geared towards facilitating the design and creation of mechs by infusing them with life.

What Venerable Joshua's willpower centered around was utilizing living mechs to the greatest possible degree. His force of will was especially attuned towards mechs that possessed life.

In fact, not any living mech would do. The expert pilot was so picky that he could only exert his full potential of his force of will when he piloted a mech that conformed to Ves' distinctive design style!

Could he pilot other mechs? Probably. It was just that Joshua would never want to go back to what he considered inferior goods. Only mechs designed by Ves and possibly the inheritors of his design philosophy would satisfy the discerning expert pilot.

This was a very onerous condition. It ensured that Joshua became dependent on the mechs that Ves designed for the rest of his career.

While he did not think it was wise, Ves appreciated Joshua even more because of it. This relationship ensured that Joshua would always remain loyal. The thought of betraying Ves would never come up, as doing so was anathema to his obsession!

This was the only unreasonable part about Joshua. After conducting a number of other spiritual experiments, Ves gained a preliminary understanding of the expert pilot's other possible traits.

Attributes related to cooperation and symbiosis not only enhanced Joshua's ability to meld with living mechs, but also made it remarkably easy for him to get along with other people.

The attributes related to growth meant that Joshua was able to improve any living mech just by piloting them on a regular basis. He was probably the most desirable mech pilot that any living mech could yearn for! Perhaps when he grew stronger, he might even be able to help a mech surpass its limits!

Aside from these amazing advantages, Joshua possessed some other helpful life attributes. For example, during his first breakthrough, Joshua was able to force a mech to repair some of its damage through resonance.

This regeneration attribute was extremely desirable!

There were plenty of exotics such as Rorach's Bone that could add self-repair capabilities to a mech. Venerable Foster's Belisarius came to mind. If Joshua piloted something similar, then the boost he could provide to those self-repair capabilities would ensure that his mech was able to endure a lot more punishment!

This was an essential advantage as far as Ves was concerned. Keeping Joshua alive was much easier if his mech made it through to the end of a battle.

Once he completed his examinations, Ves loosened his mind and withdrew his presence. "Alright, I think I have a good idea of what you are good at as an expert pilot. Let's proceed to the next item on my agenda. Tell me, what kind of expert mech would you like to pilot?"

"Are you about to design my expert mech?!" Joshua immediately became excited.

His force of will pulsed with anticipation!

Ves held up his hand. "Not so fast, Venerable Joshua! It will take a lot of time to design your expert mech from scratch. I'm just here to listen to your initial demands so that I can get a sense of what mech type and traits I should focus on. You possess a broad skillset that makes you suitable for many different mech types. A single expert mech can't possibly encompass everything, so you'll need to make some important choices."

The only exception to the rule was if he had the opportunity to design a first-class multipurpose mech. A qualified mech designer was able to stuff so many modules and functions in them that they could essentially have their cake and eat it too. Many first-class mech designers in fact did attempt to cover all of their bases. This spared them from the hard decisions that lesser mech designers had to make on a daily basis.

Perhaps one day, Ves might reach that level.