The Mech Touch

The Cross Clan gained a new guest designer!

Such a surprising change was quite a coup to the defeated and exiled Garlaners. Ves abruptly had to change his entire approach towards his negotiation with the Crossers due to this development.

A Cross Clan without a high-ranking mech designer was just a homeless and sorry-looking collection of warriors.

A Cross Clan that was presided over by a genuine Senior Mech Designer could easily reverse its declining trajectory!

As long as the Senior began to design some decent commercial mechs, the Crossers would no longer be bleeding money left and right. In a couple of years, the clan might even turn a profit again. Ves would no longer hold much leverage over them when that happened!

However, this was just the case if the Crossers partnered up with a normal Senior.

The problem right now was that the actual identity of the mech designer in question was wanted by the MTA!

The Skull Architect was one of the most notorious mech designers of the Friday Coalition. In a fit of obsession, Professor Jimenez assassinated an expert pilot and attempted to integrate the demigod's bones into one of his mechs in order to achieve a breakthrough in the elusive X-Factor!

Suffice to say, his insane experiment failed to yield the desired result.

Once the authorities traced down the missing expert pilot and uncovered Professor Jimenez's heinous deeds, the so-called Skull Architect had no choice but to flee from civilized space and eke out a new living among the pirates of the frontier.

As a second-class Senior Mech Designer, the Skull Architect's products were in extremely high demand among his new if unsophisticated clientele. The man became even more ruthless and even adopted some pirate traditions such as wearing clothes bearing the trophies of his kills on his person.

When Ves initially met and spoke with the Skull Architect via projection, Professor Jimenez possessed an extremely intimidating demeanor.

The fugitive mech designer was no stranger to violence and death! Even when the Skull Architect lost his entire foundation in the Friday Coalition, he continued his efforts to realize his design philosophy.

Of course, the poor and underdeveloped Faris Star Region was not very conducive towards his progression. The Skull Architect barely made some accomplishments before the sandman race went berserk!

Like unstoppable locusts, the entire sandman race swept towards the Komodo Sector! Any planet, space station or ship in their path soon became drowned in a tsunami of living sand!

The Skull Architect lost everything for the second time. This unlucky Senior had to pack up his bags and flee yet again.

The only consolation was that he was able to sneak back into civilized space by mingling with the trillions of refugees who desperately departed the border states in panic.

Due to the sheer chaos and confusion of this immense exodus, the frontier pirates were easily able to forge new identities for themselves.

Calabast played a pivotal role in crafting a new identity for the Skull Architect. Now he was known as Professor Benedict Cortez, a third-class mech designer from a fallen border state.

That was the extent of what Ves knew. He didn't bother to track the man's exploits. Therefore, it was a complete surprise for him to encounter the Skull Architect once again at this time!

What was worse was that this meeting might not be the last time they met together.

Ves began to sweat a bit. While Ves was not opposed to reuniting with old acquaintances, the Skull Architect was anything but simple.

The fugitive mech designer was incredibly bold to enter the Cinach System where the Ubiquitious Force was still present!

If Master Willix knew that a mech designer who had disgraced their entire profession was within arm's reach, she would definitely act with extreme prejudice!

This was bad, because Ves was not an uninvolved bystander. He secretly exchanged with the Skull Architect. Much of what he knew about stealth technology originally came from the former pirate mech designer's hands!

As long as the MTA captured Jimenez alive and read his memories, Ves might very well get implicated in the process.

All of this meant was that Ves had to ensure that no one ever discovered the older man's actual identity!

"Mr. Larkinson, we have much to catch up to." Professor 'Benedict' amiably smiled and spoke. "Come. Let us sit and discuss our future cooperation."

Though Ves was caught off-guard by the Skull Architect's surprise appearance, he quickly tried to regain his composure.

He couldn't afford to let his shock affect the Larkinson Clan's ongoing negotiations with the Cross Clan.

In the following half hour, Ves held a small back-and-forth with Patriarch Reginald. As the Skull Architect was still a new addition to the Cross Clan, it was not appropriate for him to speak too much.

However, the presence of a Senior evidently emboldened Patriarch Reginald quite a lot. The Cross Patriarch became a lot more firmer in his demands.

"I don't agree with this change." Ves frowned. "You promised thirty percent more strategic materials than before last time."

"We can make much better use of these exotics than you. After all, you are just a Journeyman at most. Our clan has a Senior now!"

"That doesn't necessarily change the equation. With respect, while Professor Cortez is a competent Senior, his foundation lies in third-class mechs."

The Senior in question coughed. "In actuality, I have been studying second-class mech design for some time now. As a Senior, it does not take much effort to master the basic principles of second-class mechs in a short amount of time. At the very least, I can design a better and more optimized second-class mech than you, Mr. Larkinson. In a decade, I will probably be able catch up with the likes of actual second-class mech designers."

Damn. Ves wanted to use the Skull Architect's cover story to diminish the guest designer's status, but the disguised mech designer did not play along.

In truth, both of them knew that the Skull Architect was already very proficient at designing second-class mechs. Just because Jimenez had been slumming it in the frontier for some time did not cause him to lose the ability to design superior mechs.

Now that he had become attached to the Cross Clan, he might soon be able to return to designing the mechs he originally excelled at. Back when Professor Jimenez was still an honest mech designer, he was already a renowned and accomplished Senior.

Ves just hoped that the Skull Architect did not resume his 'other' habit!

After doing his best to preserve the Larkinson Clan's negotiating position, the talks eventually stalled out again.

"I see that you and our new guest designer have a lot to catch up to." Patriarch Reginald noted with a tired expression. Sparring against the man known as the Devil Tongue was quite exhausting! "I will leave you two mech nerds to yourselves. Professor Cortez…"

The Skull Architect tactfully nodded at the Cross Patriarch. "You need not be concerned. My friendship with Patriarch Larkinson will not affect my loyalty. As an honorable mech designer, I take my pledges seriously."

What the hell?! Ves felt like puking blood as the Skull Architect hoodwinked Reginald. The Crossers had no idea who they were dealing with! Jimenez's mild and polite facade was nothing but a facade!

Still, Ves had to admire his old acquaintance's acting skills. As the two older men interacted with each other, the disguised mech designer exposed none of the tendencies associated with the infamous Skull Architect!

Once Patriarch Reginald departed the conference room, the new guest designer immediately pulled out and activated a signal jammer.

"We can talk safely now."

"Uhm... "

The professor smiled. "There is no need to concern yourself about the Ubiquitous Force. Just be careful about what you say. There is no need to refer directly to some of the shameful matters of the past."

This still made Ves uncomfortable.

"You.. why are you here?"

Professor 'Cortez' chuckled. "Because of you, of course! What I said earlier is true. The Sand War destroyed everything that I have built. While I have been doing fairly well for myself in recent times, I am tired in some aspects. If I settle down in another state and rebuild my industry, who is to say it won't get knocked down yet again? I am tired of repeating this futile cycle. For this reason, I've been looking to make a new start. What better way to do so than to start over in the Red Ocean?"

His explanation made complete sense to Ves. If he was in the Skull Architect's shoes, he would make the same choice.

The normal reasons that shackled mech designers to a region hardly applied to the fugitive. The man had no reputation or business to uphold. He didn't really have any family holding him back and his loyalty to the Friday Coalition was pretty much zero.

The only fact that made Ves a bit concerned was why the Skull Architect specifically chose to partner up with the Cross Clan of all choices.

As a very competent Senior, many pioneers in the region would have accepted him in their ranks. The Cross Clan was undoubtedly less desirable to more well-organized expeditions.

"If it wasn't for you, I wouldn't have wasted my time on the Crossers." The Senior sneered for a moment before plastering an eager expression on his face. "While we haven't collaborated on too many mech designs, I have become endlessly fascinated with your work! Together, we can design great mechs! In fact, I envy Miss Wodin. She has managed to gain your permanent allegiance. If I was a woman, I would have moved to secure you right away. Perhaps I should have undergone a gender change procedure years ago…"

As the professor openly rambled about turning himself into a woman for the express purpose of seduction, Ves shuddered.

Despite everything that happened lately, the Skull Architect was still the same!

"Professor…" Ves coughed.

"Call me Benedict. Forget about who I was before." The Skull Architect snapped back to the present. "I have completely left behind my past. There is nothing to go back to. I have made too many mistakes to count."

"With respect, sir, but.. what if you return to your old habits?"

"I keep telling you, Mr. Larkinson. I am a changed man. There is no need for me to play my previous role anymore. I know what you are worried about. Please be reassured that I have substantially shifted my research approach. I was wrong back then. I was dabbling in matters that fell outside of my specialty. In the end, I fell victim to my own greed."

Ves slightly narrowed his eyes in suspicion. "Are you truly different?"

The Senior sighed. "Truly. You can't understand how desperate I was back then. It is the greatest dream of someone of my rank to advance to Master. While I have made a lot of progress, I encountered a bottleneck. I have tried many solutions to break past this point, but none succeeded. Knowing that this is the most important obstacle to realizing my design philosophy, I drew on more and more spurious theories."

A normal mech designer did not just randomly come up with the idea to integrate the skull of an expert pilot into mech!

The professor definitely had problems before he performed this grievous crime!

"I'm sorry, sir, but I cannot bring myself to believe it is safe for me to be around you. I don't want to get implicated should you draw any trouble upon yourself."

"Hahaha!" The Skull Architect laughed. "There is no need for you to fear me! You're my best friend, Mr. Larkinson! It was only when you revised my mech designs that I realized what I had been doing wrong all this time. In order to push my mech designs to the next level, I shouldn't have tried to solve the problems I wasn't good at. Instead, I should have collaborated with the likes of you! I am already certain that working with you is the key to progress my design philosophy past the final hurdles. Joining the Cross Clan is a convenient way to remain in your company!"

His underlying message was clear. The former pirate designer was determined to cling onto Ves. He was no different from Gloriana in this aspect!