The Mech Touch

The completion of the Bright Boy Project formally put an end to the second round of design projects.

Roughly half a year ago, the Design Department formally commenced work on six mech design projects.

Ves briefly thought back on the designs he managed to complete.

The Bright Warrior Mark I Version B was a necessary mech model that served as the new standard mech of the Larkinson Clan. Even though its numbers were still limited, the reaction from his mech pilots was already positive.

The Ferocious Piranha Mark I Version B was a true powerhouse in a deceptively small package. Too powerful to be released to the public, so far only a handful of Larkinson light mech specialists experienced its fantastic battle-changing glow.

The Eternal Redemption, previously codenamed the Giant Killer, not only added a powerful anti-armor unit to the mech roster, but also delighted the Penitent Sisters. The loyalty of these former Hexers was no longer in doubt as far as Ves was concerned.

The three Hexer mech designs that Gloriana poured her heart into were all relatively cheap but useful in their own way.

Ves already had access to preliminary reports that detailed the incredible effectiveness of the Cherub model under a variety of battlefield circumstances!

The ability to communicate securely did wonders in improving the command and control of the Hexer mech division that received the privilege of testing the Cherubs first.

Right now, their numbers were too limited to affect the greater war, but that would undoubtedly change in the future.

As for the Devious design, Ves hadn't heard anything about it once he handed it over to the Hegemony. Part of that was because too little time had passed for the Hexers to do anything with their new stealth mech design, but the Devious mechs weren't supposed to attract attention in the first place.

Even if dozens of them started to get caught by the Fridaymen, Ves doubted that he would hear of these incidents. Perhaps word about the new stealth mech with a highly-unusual triggered ability might spread once the Hexers deployed it in large numbers and allowed it to gain more notoriety.

That only left his sixth and final project, the recently completed Bright Boy design.

Just as its name suggested, the renamed Blinding Mech was a mech that wasn't capable of doing anything except blinding its targets. Its default loadout didn't come with any weapons as the Hexers didn't find it terribly important to arm mechs that were piloted by boys.

What made the Bright Boy stand out from the other five mechs was that it relied entirely on its triggered ability to justify its existence. This was also why it was the only design that incorporated his newly-invented energy converter.

The other five recently-completed mech designs didn't strictly need to be augmented with energy converters. Their dependence on spiritual energy wasn't as great and introducing something extra might adversely affect their performance.

For now, Ves intended to monitor the Bright Boy's performance as the Hexers deployed it into battle over the coming weeks and months.

The energy converter's troublesome pedigree and traces of life meant that Ves did not have total confidence in its reliability and functionality. He wanted to be absolutely sure that the energy converter remained stable and reliable.

If there was any sign that the Unending One found a way to return to life, then Ves would pull the plug on the Bright Boy no matter the cost!

That said, Ves didn't expect this to happen. It was too far-fetched for the energy converter, which had already formed its own distinct identity, to contain living traces of its ingredients.

All of the spiritual products that he had developed before didn't exhibit this issue before, so there was little reason that the energy converter would be any different.

Once he confirmed that his new innovation was safe for use, Ves would contemplate using it on other mech designs.

There were a number of mech designs that could obviously benefit from gaining an additional energy source. The Transcendent Punisher was a good example of one. Ylvaine was currently impoverished so he did not have that much energy to spare to enable the Transcendent Punisher mechs from activating their cheat-like Guided Aim ability.

"Adding an energy converter to the Transcendent Punisher design will probably provide a lot of relief to Ylvaine!"

Aside from that, Ves would probably incorporate energy converters into the spiritual foundation of his upcoming expert mech designs as well. While expert pilots were already capable of supplying a modest amount of energy themselves, infusing their expert mechs with extra energy might give them an edge against hostile expert mechs.

"I doubt this will allow Venerable Joshua and others to exhibit the power of a high-tier expert pilot right away."

Willpower mattered more. Expert pilots only made use of spiritual energy as an amplifier. If an expert pilot's willpower was still underdeveloped, then it wouldn't be able to support so much spiritual energy.

In any case, after the Design Department wrapped up the design work on the last remaining project, Ves felt as if he had passed another checkpoint in his life.

The mechs he designed were all unique and useful in their own way. The Larkinson Clan was about to become a lot stronger now that Ves had supplied it with three clan-exclusive mech designs. The Hex Army should also be happy with mechs that granted their underprivileged male mech pilots an opportunity to make themselves useful.

In fact, Ves could even repurpose the Hexer mechs into forms that were suitable for the Larkinson Clan.

"I'll definitely have to design a Larkinson-friendly variant of the Cherub if I have the time."

He expressed less interest in allowing the clan to adopt variants of his Devious and the Bright Boy designs. The two mechs were typical 'army mechs' that were only practical when utilized by massive military organizations that were capable of fielding millions of mechs at a time.

All three Hexer mechs were explicitly designed with economy and expendability in mind. Unlike the Valkyrie Redeemer that preceded them, the Cherub, Devious and Bright Boy models were all designed to serve the needs of a state under heavy pressure.

"To put it in uglier terms, they are cannon fodder mechs that only exist to make expendable mech pilots useful."

That wasn't his problem, though. He was just a mech designer. Whether the female Hexers were able to convince their male counterparts to pilot these cheap mechs was none of his business.

With the end of every project, one of the most favorite moments in Gloriana's life had come.

"It's time to fabricate the first copies of our new design!" She gleefully exclaimed.

To be honest, Ves did not feel as enthused as his wife. He had way too many things he needed to do that he just couldn't spare as much energy for what was supposed to be a great moment.

He knew that this was unfair to Gloriana. If he let his stress and deflated mood affect the results of their fabrication run, then his beloved would definitely yell in his ears until he turned deaf!

"I need a short break." He announced.

That caused her to freeze. "Uhm, how long?"

"Half a day. Let me clear my mind and put my thoughts together. They are too jumbled for me to concentrate fully on my work."

"Oh, okay. Take your time. I don't want to see the same level of craftsmanship you exhibited when we fabricated the first copy of the Bright Warrior IB. You were awful back then, Ves. I hope you better get your head in order before we begin to fabricate our mechs. We have gone for too long without making a single masterwork mech!"

Ves refrained from telling his wife his true thoughts. Did she really think that masterwork mechs grew on trees or anything? They were quite lucky in their earlier attempts. He considered their current lack of success to be their default condition.

With all of the excitement that was going on right now, Ves placed less importance on being able to make another masterwork mech. He was much more interested in trying to come up with more elaborate spiritual constructs that had become viable after he invented an energy converter.

In fact, one of the ideas he wanted to try out most was implanting one of them right inside his mind!

This was not a simple task at all. Ves would have to perform extra research and conduct numerous other tests before he was confident that it was safe to add a foreign object into his head.

"I'll go ahead and double-check our preparations, then." Gloriana turned around. "I need to make sure we have obtained the best samples of all of the raw materials we require to make our perfect mechs."

Clixie followed after his wife, leaving Lucky with Ves.

The gem cat stared after the Rubarthan Sentinel Cat. It looked like as if Lucky wanted to accompany the other two.

"Oh no you don't." Ves spoke as he grabbed hold of his cat. "You're coming with me. I need company as well, you know."

"Meeeooow!"

"Who are you calling grumpy?! I'm just a bit moody, that's all! I'm just a bit moody at the moment, that's all! Finishing six more design projects is a major accomplishment."

Yet why did he feel dissatisfied, then? Ordinarily, he should have felt happy for completing so many mech designs, but once the joy he gained from succeeding in his innovations wore off, he felt empty and weary.

Ves moved over to the roof of one of the buildings in Gentle Lotus Base in order to enjoy a moment for himself.

The place wasn't actually isolated, though. Thousands of Larkinsons populated the rented base. When Ves looked down from his position, he could see and hear the throngs of clansmen moving about.

Different from the previous time he resided on the ground, there weren't as many mechs moving around.

Due to local restrictions, the Larkinsons weren't allowed to field their own mechs outside certain sanctioned occasions. For example, the authorities permitted the clan to use their mechs in the testing grounds, but outside of that the mechs were subject to a lot of restrictions. They not only had to be disarmed and safed, but were also prohibited from being brought anywhere close to Veoline proper or any other urban areas.

The heavy restrictions on mechs should have made him feel safe, but the lack of protection only made him feel more vulnerable. He would rather place his safety in the hands of his own troops than the supposedly-neutral authorities.

"I hope I can move on from here as soon as possible."

As Ves thought about the implications of his upcoming design duel, Ves received an unexpected call.

"Uhm, sir?" Vivian Tsai asked. "Our department has finished going over the available trade offers for the Auralis. We have compiled a number of dossiers of attractive offers that we think are worthwhile for us to integrate into our fleet. I think you'll be very interested in some of these options. While they are all pre-owned second-hand vessels, they are certified as free of bugs and other hidden malware."

Ves automatically discounted the last part. Every ship was bugged. The only difference was the extent to which they were compromised. A certification at least guaranteed that the hidden dangers weren't too blatant.

Regardless, Ves regained some of his good mood. The prospect of acquiring additional capital ships was always exciting!

"I'll be at your office as soon as possible. I look forward to viewing the dossiers."

The Spirit of Bentheim had already changed the way the expeditionary fleet operated for the better.

With more utility-oriented capital ships, the Larkinson Clan became more self-sufficient and less dependent on services provided by the state.

Of course, Ves didn't forget about acquiring combat-oriented capital ships as well. "We can definitely use a fleet carrier or a vessel that can withstand a lot of attacks."

He had a feeling that he would definitely need the capabilities of such a vessel in the future!