The Mech Touch

Setting up a dedicated Ylvainan mech force was another major initiative. It would definitely shake up the clan and cause the clan officials to become even busier in the next few months.

Yet Ves still felt that this was the right time to start one. It was a lot easier to acquire all of the necessary ships, supplies and personnel when the expeditionary fleet was parked in a port system as opposed to being constantly on the move.

While it was important for the Transcendent Punishers to be present on any starship with bunkers, the Ylvainans definitely needed their own starships to organize themselves and increase their cohesion.

The Penitent Sisters and the Swordmaidens were able to maintain a strong identity and esprit de corps by concentrating themselves on their own ships.

While that also meant that they isolated themselves from the rest of the clan to an extent, Ves believed the benefits outweighed the costs. With the Larkinson Network tying every clansman together, he wasn't concerned with the possibility that any of his disparate groups would drift apart.

After sharing his thoughts with Taon, the expert candidate saluted Ves before racing off to share the news with his fellow Ylvainans.

This initiative would definitely shake up the lives of every believer within the clan!

Taon had already pushed the recruitment problem to the side. The Ylvainans would definitely be able to tackle this problem once they attained the same status as the other specialist mech troops!

Ves received no further interruptions as he walked back to his quarters.

For the remainder of the time, Ves quietly relaxed while letting his mind drift from one issue to another.

His mood calmed and his tangled emotions became clearer. He even took a power nap that energized his body and reset his mentality to an extent.

"Perhaps I need to take more breaks." He considered.

He recognized that he was becoming increasingly more burdened with work. It couldn't be helped as his clan and mech business were slowly expanding in size and scope. While he was already trying to address the problem by recruiting more people and delegating more tasks to others, he felt as if he was constantly falling behind.

"I need to be more aggressive in off-loading my responsibilities." He frowned as he laid on his bed while staring up at the ceiling. "I also have to expand my inner circle."

He had cautiously shared some of his secrets to his closest confidantes over the past few months. His wife, General Verle, Venerable Joshua, Dr. Ranya and so on all received selective information that allowed them to understand some of the truth behind spirituality and living mechs.

This was not a decision he made lightly. As a paranoid person by nature, he feared what would happen if one of his confidantes betrayed his trust one day.

Yet he couldn't keep everything to himself forever. He needed an increasing amount of help in his work because there was no way for him to accomplish everything on his own.

This was why he made a calculated risk and shared a portion of his exclusive knowledge.

So far, his willingness to do so paid off. The people he enlightened all used their greater understanding to their advantage and achieved greater results than before.

Whether it was Gloriana who attuned her work to spiritual character of a mech design or Venerable Joshua who was able to develop a deeper bond with a living mech, they all benefited from gaining greater awareness of what was actually taking place.

Was he being too generous? Perhaps. Yet Ves knew that this was an inevitable development. As Master Willix had reminded him many times, every mech designer had to bare their secrets to the public sooner or later.

"This seems to be an essential step for mech designers to advance beyond Senior and Master." Ves surmised.

It was not realistic for him to keep everything to himself. He had to open himself up to others eventually. Since he was forced onto this path, he might as well do it on his terms instead of someone else's. As long as he was able to control the spread of information and remain in a secure position, then it was fine even if other mech designers became capable of imitating his work.

In fact, Ves no longer feared the rise of competitors who attempted to usurp his design philosophy.

"How can the student ever overtake the master?" He smirked.

Every successful mech designer possessed a boundless amount of confidence in their own design philosophies, and Ves was no different! Everyone else who followed after him might enjoy an easier time at the beginning, but they would definitely progress slower than him when they had to explore their own way forward themselves!

As Ves continued to think about how he should expand his inner circle, Gloriana eventually returned home as well.

"I'm back, Ves."

"Miaow."

"Meow."

Clixie ran up to Lucky and joined him on a comfortable cat bed. The two nuzzled each other and began to doze off together.

Gloriana took off her coat and approached the bed where Ves was laying down. She sat on its edge and stared into his face.

"Our workshop is all set up and ready to go. I have already calibrated and inspected the production machines from one of our ELKINE production lines, so we won't encounter any problems on that end once we start our fabrication run."

"Mhmm."

Ves still wasn't very interested in the outcome of this run. Sure, he would celebrate if they became lucky enough to make another masterwork mech, but he still wanted to move on to more exciting projects.

Gloriana seemed oblivious to his indifference, however. She smiled and babbled on about the extensive preparations she made. She even dragged over the statue of the Superior Mother in order to receive the Supreme's blessing.

"We're going to need as much practice as we can get in order to prepare for the development of our upcoming expert mechs." She told him. "While I ideally want every expert mech to be completely unique, there will be times where we might borrow elements of our previous mech designs. For example, it's already a given that the expert mech version of the Shield of Samar will still retain a similar profile to the current version."

Ves nodded. "That's true, but some of our expert pilots will require more unique solutions. Venerable Orfan needs a dedicated spearman mech for example. All of her previous mechs were former swordsman mechs that were hastily adapted to accommodate her weapon of choice."

"Don't forget about my brother. You agreed to cooperate with developing his expert mech as well. Designing six expert mechs at once is a heavy burden, but I am confident we can complete the projects within a year. We will learn so much during this wonderful period of time! I can't wait, hihi!"

She became so excited that she couldn't help but lean in and peck his cheek!

"You'll help me fulfill my visions, isn't that right?"

Ves nodded. "Of course I will. You can count on me, but don't go too far on this. I can only work with you as long as your ideas make sense. I can't deliver something that I'm incapable of doing."

"You can make new proto-gods, though, right?"

He tentatively nodded. "I can, but you already know it's difficult to make a good one. I need good ingredients to make one, and right now I have a distinct lack of them. I'm currently trying to address the problem by setting up an operation that allows us to cultivate and retain exceptional lifeforms, so hopefully I'll have more options in a few months."

He told her about the progress that Vivian Tsai and the others had made with regards to adding more capital ships to the Larkinson fleet.

"Aren't you concerned we're growing too fast?" She wondered after she became appraised of the situation. "All of those capital ships need skilled crews in order to reach their full potential. Skilled and knowledgeable spacers are currently in short supply in our clan. With the current state of the Komodo War, it's unlikely for the Hegemony to dispatch another batch of trainers."

Ves waved his hand. "It's okay. We're no longer recruiting third-raters now. There are enough starship engineers and naval officers for hire in Prosperous Hill VI to form new cadres for the two capital ships that we'll likely obtain first. If that isn't enough, we can reassign some of the Hexer trainers that are currently helping out aboard the Spirit of Bentheim."

"Those Hexers won't be pleased, Ves. The Spirit of Bentheim is a modern, state-of-the-art Hexer-built factory ship. It's a pleasure for them to serve aboard her. If you told them that they should pack their bags and work on a floating collection of scrap or a weird half-organic bioresearch vessel, how do you think they would feel?"

Ves remained undaunted. "Months have already passed. I don't expect our native Larkinson spacers to have learned everything they need to perform their duties, but they should have at least moved past the total beginner stage."

This was a test of his control over the 'temporary' crew that was currently in control of many of the core systems of his flagship. If they weren't willing to play to his tune, then that did not reflect well on them. He did not wish for the heart of the Larkinson Clan to remain hostage to the Hexers forever!

Of course, Ves refrained from telling all of this to his wife for obvious reasons.

A few hours went by as Ves and Gloriana relaxed in each other's presence. Both of them wanted to conserve their energy and make sure they were able to perform at their peak later, so they didn't engage in any strenuous activities.

Once they had their fill of cuddling with each other and toying with their cats, they freshened each other up and moved to the mech workshop.

After a long delay, Ves and Gloriana were finally ready to get their hands dirty.

Gloriana knelt and prayed before the statue of the Superior Mother. She needed psychological comfort in order to reach her best state.

Ves simply checked the delicate ELKINE 3D printer and familiarized herself with its current settings.

"Are you ready?" Gloriana eventually asked after she had finished her prayers. "Even though some of the designs we've finished are already under production, we can still use this opportunity to warm ourselves up. No matter how many Cherubs or Eternal Redemptions have already been produced, none of them bear our personal touch. The mechs we make by hand must always be better than those that come off an industrial production line. Don't fail my expectations."

"I'll do my best." Ves responded.

They began with a Ferocious Piranha. It was the lightest and smallest mech so it didn't take much time to put it together.

Unfortunately, the end product never came close to a masterwork mech.

The Eternal Redemption that came afterwards fared a little better. While the cannoneer mech they created did not merit its own name, Ves and Gloriana still managed to achieve a better result.

"I hope this trend continues." Gloriana said. "Our momentum is increasing!"

Ves wasn't so sure about that. He felt they were just a bit luckier than earlier. The thing about luck was that it could always swing the other way at any moment.

They began to work on the Hexer mechs after this. In the span of a week, Ves and Gloriana practically toiled day and night to fabricate the Cherub, the Devious and the Bright Boy.

Each time, the results were a bit better. In fact, the Devious and Bright Boy they crafted were quite excellent as far as Ves was concerned.

However, this did not change the fact that they eventually fell short of their ultimate goal!

Not a single mech came close to reaching the masterwork threshold!

Gloriana became upset at the end! "We failed!"