The Mech Touch

The Design Department made quick progress on the Disruptor Project. Though the project presented lots of new issues and challenges to every mech designer, the lead designers were not helpless. They all possessed formidable problem solving capabilities and the knowledge they held was quite expansive.

Ketis was perhaps the weakest Journeyman of the four. She only broke through a short time ago and her knowledge accumulation wasn't extensive enough to assume too many responsibilities.

However, her theoretical and practical mastery of bladed weapons, kinesiology and other fields directly related to her specialty surpassed that of everyone else!

Her hyperspecialization along with her status as a mythical swordmaster caused her to become the undisputed authority of melee weapons and melee mechs.

Gloriana did not trust Ketis to do a decent job in designing the power transmission systems, energy weapon systems and so on. She rarely permitted Ketis to spend her time on tweaking and optimizing the mechanical and mechatronic aspects of the expert mech designs.

Fortunately, Ketis did not lack for assignments. Designing weapons was an art in itself, and integrating them with the mechs that were supposed to wield them was also complicated.

Compared to the Swordmaiden mech designer who possessed an unusual background and approach to mech design, Juliet was a much more orthodox mech designer.

Her classical training along with her solid foundation meant that she was qualified to work on every aspect of a mech.

However, Gloriana mostly entrusted Juliet to configure and fine-tune the mobility systems of the mechs.

This was a major responsibility for Juliet as every expert mech design mainly depended on their flight systems for mobility.

Without the ability to fly, the expert mechs had no way to move around in space and in the air. At most, they would be able to walk and run on the ground, but the Larkinson Clan did not have any desire to design an expert mech that could only fight on solid ground.

For this reason, Juliet assumed heavy responsibility over this field. Her expertise was especially relevant to the Disruptor Project as the expert light skirmisher would instantly lose its value if something happened to its flight system.

Fortunately, Juliet did not disappoint. Gloriana gained a greater appreciation of the Penitent Sister mech designer when the third Journeyman to join the Design Department not only finished her assignments in time, but also delivered better than expected work!

"These solutions are much more refined than I expected!"

"Thank you. I became a bit more inspired today. I did my best to meet all of your expectations. The flight system of the Disruptor Project will become my best and most representative work. I already feel proud of what I have accomplished, but I know that I will gain even more satisfaction once it dominates the battlefield."

To Juliet, the Disruptor Project was more than just an expert mech. It was a platform in which she could fully showcase her skill and talents! So much of her structure was oriented towards maximizing its mobility and minimizing any elements that detracted from this overarching priority that the mech design simply sung to her that she couldn't really describe.

Lately, she began to develop a more emotional connection to the expert mech design. She never really thought she would develop such a reaction to a mech that was obviously designed for a male mech pilot, but her Hexer sensibilities completely left the picture as soon as she threw herself into her design sessions.

Just looking at the projection of the incomplete expert mech design warmed her heart.

It was as if she was looking at her unborn child.

Though it sounded very strange, once she began to treat the Disruptor Project, she felt she understood the light expert mech design to a more intimate degree!

This odd approach did not make her smarter. It did not insert additional knowledge in her mind.

However, she noticed that ever since she altered her approach, she became a lot more sensitive towards which design choices aligned with the design. Her intuition towards certain decisions improved substantially as well.

The only wrinkle was that she wasn't always able to reach this amazing state. She had to become fully invested in her work in order to enter into this heightened state of mind.

"Keep up the good work, Juliet." Gloriana complimented her fellow Hexer. "As long as you can sustain this rate of progress, I can accelerate our work schedule and get more work done in less time."

With Ketis taking care of most of the offensive functions of the expert mech designs and Juliet doing her best to make every expert mech as mobile as possible, the pair of Journeymen lifted a lot of weight on Gloriana's shoulders.

"It's unfortunate that we don't have a defensive specialist in our Design Department." Gloriana complained to Ves. "If we had a Journeyman who excelled in armor systems at our disposal, then we would have a complete trifecta of an essential design team."

Ves nodded as he reviewed his latest work. "We're still ramping up. There will be other opportunities to promote someone to Journeyman from within the ranks or hire an external specialist."

Offense, defense and mobility were the three essential areas that every mech was measured by. Pooling together mech designers that specialized in each of them was considered the most standard and effective team configuration in the mech industry.

Since five mech designers was the most optimal number of contributing designers working on a design project, that left two slots available for other specialties.

Usually, it was considered redundant to add another contributor whose specialty overlapped with the essential ones. This was where more unique mech designers like Ves came in. His area of specialty did not encroach on the territories of the others.

Technically speaking, Ves' design philosophy fell under the category of utility, which was also considered a major area in most circles. The amount of value that he could provide to a mech design made him very valuable in the right circumstances. As long as there weren't too many other utility-oriented mech designers in the mix, he had no trouble justifying his involvement in a mech design project.

This effectively meant that the head and lead designers of the expert mech design projects covered three of the four major areas.

Gloriana had no choice but to invest most of her design time on filling up the remaining design work. Every day, she worked to design the exterior layers of the expert mech designs. Her sensitivity towards flaws and her drive to seek the most perfect solutions served her well. While she did not finish her work assignments quickly, her design results were always usable and rarely needed to be revised.

The faster-than-usual progress along with the optimistic performance of all of the mech designers injected Gloriana with a lot of confidence.

"I was born for this!" She boasted. "I'm a much better leader than Ves!"

"Miaow!" Clixie proudly nodded her head.

She started to gain more momentum when everything started to go right. She worked faster, came up with better solutions and began to receive more and more inspiration during her design sessions.

Her passion flared up like a bonfire. Her growing confidence along with her stellar optimism seemed to infect the other mech designers.

Even if she started to issue greater demands to the other mech designers, no one wanted to be the person who disappointed her expectations.

It felt good to receive her trust! Her standards may be insanely high, but that meant that anyone who satisfied her requirements was worthy of her appreciation!

Gloriana was quite pleasant to be around as long as she was happy. Her depth of knowledge, her passion for mech designs and her constant encouragement seemed to lead to a virtuous cycle where the other mech designers always sought to do better and better.

Even Ves was impressed by this shift. Gloriana hadn't yelled at someone in a week. That was practically a record!

Her good mood not only made her a lot more tolerable during their work shifts, but also caused her to be a lot more generous during her off-time.

"Meow."

"Miaow."

Lucky and Clixie licked each other's sides as they lay on a floating pillow.

Meanwhile, Ves and Gloriana cuddled together as they just finished a long but productive work session.

"The Disruptor Project has reached the halfway mark." Gloriana happily noted as her tired face smiled in contentment. "If we keep up this pace, we'll be able to turn Venerable Tusa's expert mech into something truly special."

Ves embraced her shoulder and squeezed her close. Her body felt exceptionally soft against his side.

"Master Willix also delivered her latest on the design." He said. "It's quite interesting how she integrated Perfidious Steel in the structure of the Disruptor Project."

"Mhmmmm. Once the resonating exotics are completely integrated in the expert mech, its performance will assuredly be strong. Still, aren't you forgetting about something?"

Gloriana gazed at Ves with an expectant eye.

"Uh, what are you talking about?"

"The proto-gods, of course! The Disruptor Project of our dreams won't be complete until it receives the appropriate support from the proto-gods that only you can provide. Have you made any progress in this area?"

"Uhm, I have already fleshed out an idea. I want to try something new for the Disruptor Project."

"Like what?"

"It's difficult to explain."

"Then give me an idea, at least. I can't go on without knowing what you have in store. I need to take all of your contributions into account."

Ves hesitated a bit. "Well, you know about my prime mechs, right?"

She nodded. "I've studied the Piranha Prime plenty of times. It's Venerable Tusa's current mech and I've frequently referenced its design in order to increase the fit of the Disruptor Project."

"Well, my assumption is that the strengths and capabilities of prime mechs can also be transferred to expert mechs. While I am not entirely certain that this is the case, according to my theoretical framework, prime resonance and true resonance should not conflict. They might even interact with each other in uncertain ways."

Gloriana frowned. "You're trying out a new experiment, aren't you? What did I tell you about experiments? We can't afford to engage in excessive risks, not when everything is going so well at the moment!"

"Hear me out, Gloriana! True resonance is mainly a product of the mech and mech pilot. Prime resonance on the other hand is product of the mech, mech pilot and design spirit. That extra factor originally didn't have much relations with expert mechs and true resonance, but through the use of prime resonance, I can make the design spirits play a greater role in combat."

Gloriana began to look intrigued. "Your story sounds logical, but I doubt it's that simple."

"I already have a couple of design spirits in mind, but I have yet to figure out how they will be able to affect the Disruptor Project." Ves spoke. "In a way, I'm glad that we are working on finishing it first. This is a good opportunity for me to explore new ground and try out new solutions. As long as I am able to come up with a successful implementation this time, I can apply the same approach to the other expert mech designs."

All of this sounded rather iffy to Gloriana. However, the continuous string of successes caused her to become more indulgent.

If the project was running behind schedule and if the work completed by others was disappointing, then she wouldn't be so tolerant to her husband.

As it was, Gloriana did not mind too much this time. Ves had been so focused and productively in the last couple of weeks that he deserved a reward once in a while.

She could also sense the potential of his latest idea. If Ves was able to integrate the elements together into a greater whole, then the expert mech they were working on would stand out from other ones!