The Mech Touch

Ves and Gloriana couldn't come to an agreement. They argued for more than half an hour on whether they should leave the Bulwark Project or the Chimera Project at the end of the timetable.

Though the order of when they completed their expert mech design projects wasn't the sole factor that decided their quality, there was a considerable chance that the best would truly be reserved for last.

Ves had an obvious interest in maximizing the quality and potential of the Chimera Project. Venerable Joshua was his strongest supporter among the ranks of expert pilots. The stronger he became, the more support he was able to provide.

If Venerable Jannzi benefited from this gift instead, she would likely become an even more insufferable political opponent. Ves did not want her Shield of Samar to surpass the other expert mechs.

Therefore, Ves did not give up and insisted on reserving the Chimera Project for last.

It was too bad that Gloriana didn't see it that way. Compared to a brand new expert mech that involved many uncertainties, she preferred to bet on a more reliable horse in the form of the Shield of Samar.

She was confident that Master Willix would divert a bit more attention to the Bulwark Project due to its high compatibility with the MTA Master's original design philosophy.

After all, Master Willix was one of the original developers of GT-535. She knew more about this potent gravity-oriented resonating alloy than any of the other resonating materials used in the other expert mech design projects. This practically ensured that the Shield of Samar would incorporate GT-535 in a much more exquisite manner!

This was the primary reason why Gloriana believed that she would have the best chance of completing a masterwork mech if she accumulated experience by completing the other projects first!

"The expert mech version of the Shield of Samar isn't even a completely new work!" Ves yelled at her. "It cannibalizes a significant amount of material from the current revision of the space knight. How can we possibly fabricate a masterwork mech when only a portion of its upcoming form is even new? Can masterwork mechs even be formed by modifying an existing frame?"

"You're just saying that because you don't like Venerable Jannzi as much as Venerable Joshua! Can't you put your stupid bias aside for a second and recognize the superiority of the Bulwark Project?! The Chimera Project is a male expert mech piloted by a male mech pilot. The Shield of Samar might not be the most feminine mech in existence, but after we complete its latest revision, it will become a fully-fledged female expert mech that is piloted by a female expert pilot and is watched over by a female proto-god! This falls completely in line with the six phases of existence. It is entirely appropriate to end our expert mech design cycle with the most female expert mech of the current batch!"

Ves became speechless for a moment. How could she possibly accuse him of bias when her latest argument was drowning in it? There was no way for him to refute her arguments with logic!

In the end, the couple decided to defer this argument for later. In any case, they still had a lot of months to complete the other expert mech design projects, so they didn't have to come to an agreement on this issue too soon.

Besides, Ves did not completely buy into the notion that the last expert mech was guaranteed to be the best. The amount of insights they gained after completing each successive expert mech would quickly drop. In addition, a lot of different variables determined the final outcome of a fabrication run. A good day might boost one fabrication run while a bad day might ruin another one irrespective of the order.

It was just that Ves couldn't take the risk of dismissing the importance of order. He wanted to give Venerable Joshua the best possible opportunities, so he was not about to concede to his wife.

"We're wasting too much time. Let's focus on the Sentry Project first." Gloriana tiredly sighed.

Ves wearily nodded as he stroked Clixie's soft and luxurious fur. "Yes, let's do that. What are your thoughts?"

"The most troublesome factor about this expert mech is that it doesn't incorporate any Unending alloy like the other expert mechs. It's an expert mech that is overwhelmingly slanted towards offense and possesses relatively few defensive capabilities."

"We decided on this knowing full well what we would end up with. According to our intentions for this expert mech, the Sentry Project relies on other defensive assets in order to make up for this shortcoming. Whether it's a starship or the Shield of Samar, it shouldn't be necessary for our expert rifleman mech to take care of its own defenses."

Gloriana pointed her finger at the projection of the rifle of the incomplete design. "I'm not talking about the armor system, but instead on how much of the strength of this mech is actually concentrated on this rifle."

"What's the problem?"

"Neither of us specialize in energy weapon systems, Ves! We both know enough to design a serviceable rifle, but our work pales in comparison to someone who is truly capable of designing a unique rifle that is completely compatible with a unique expert mech. If we want to make sure to maximize the performance of the Sentry Project, we can't settle for mediocrity."

Ves frowned. "We can't involve an outsider to work on something so crucial and delicate. The Sentry Project will become one of our core defensive assets once it is complete, and I would hate for the design of its most essential element to leak out or fall into someone else's hands."

"Then how do you propose to solve this problem, hmm? Unless Master Willix helps us with the design, we won't be able to finish a proper rifle by ourselves."

"Let me take care of this issue. This is what I have been working on from the beginning. Have you already forgotten my successful experiments with luminar crystals? The augmented crystals that I have managed to produce will give our rifle a lot of surprising power and versatility."

"I know that, but this isn't your specialty. Most of the power of the rifle will be derived from the parts you are using as opposed to the combination of them. The heart of a good design is to produce a work that is far more than the sum of its parts. I don't have much confidence in your ability to meet this high standard."

The look she was giving him was as if she was a teacher staring at a lazy student.

"I'm not that bad! Give me a chance. You're being too unfair to me by judging my work before I have even given you a sample. Let me work on this for a few weeks. I have a few interesting ideas on how to increase the integration of the augmented luminar crystals to the energy rifle. I also have a suspicion that Opticonium, the resonating exotic responsible for allowing energy beams to bend, might have a surprising interaction with my luminar crystals."

Both of them worked with light and energy in some fashion. Combining the two together could either produce a fantastic new form of synergy or blow the entire rifle into pieces!

Ves would have to perform a lot of lab tests to be sure.

Though Gloriana still didn't have much faith in his ability to meet her expectations, she reluctantly decided to give him an opportunity to prove his ability to present her with a powerful rifle that was fit for an expert mech like the Sentry Project.

"You better do well. If you fail in this, I will insist on resorting to other measures. There are several reliable Hexer specialists that we can employ as technical consultants for this subproject."

He looked skeptical. Ves wasn't sure whether the words 'reliable' and 'Hexer' belonged in the same sentence.

Still, he was quite confident in his ability to design an excellent rifle. He had a secret weapon that gave him enough confidence to surprise his wife.

They moved on to discussing the other aspects of the Sentry Project. Due to its extreme emphasis on offense, it did not possess much in terms of defense and its mobility was not that impressive.

"Even if this mech is bad in those aspects, I don't want us to neglect them." Gloriana insisted. "In a real battle, even the tiniest difference can determine the life and death of Venerable Stark and many other Larkinsons."

"Do you have anything special in mind?"

"No." She shook her head. "I think we should just aim to design the most solid mech frame possible. This is quite difficult as much of the Sentry Project's internal capacity is devoted to energy cells and auxiliary systems that improve the attack capabilities of the expert mech. Juliet and I will do our best to make the most out of what little available room there is left."

"What about Ketis?"

Gloriana snorted. "She never puts in her best when she works on a ranged mech design. She's not even that useful in an assisting capacity, so I've told her that once she is done with working on the backup weapon, she's free to work on the Decapitator Project instead. Perhaps by the time we complete the Sentry Project, we will already be more than halfway done by the time we tackle Venerable Dise's expert mech."

It was a pity that Ketis couldn't make too many significant contributions to the Sentry Project. That would put the expert rifleman mech at a slight disadvantage in terms of design philosophy support.

Still, it was not as if Ketis' specialty would add anything useful to the Sentry Project anyway. The only marginal case in which her assistance would be appreciated was if Venerable Davia Stark was forced to draw her expert mech's backup weapon.

If a battle had reached that point, then something had gone drastically wrong. The Sentry Project should never be caught alone.

Their progress on the Sentry Project would slow down considerably if Ketis wasn't there to share the burden. It was fortunate that the expert rifleman mech was not that much bigger than the Dark Zephyr. Though the ranged machine still fell under the medium weight class, it leaned on the lighter end of the scale.

As long as everyone worked as productively as possible, they might be able to finish the Sentry Project in just over two months.

A crucial factor that accelerated their progress was because they already knew the solutions to some of the problems that were common to all expert mechs. The Journeyman had spent a lot of effort on solving many of the new problems that they encountered when working on the Disruptor Project. If they could apply those existing solutions to similar problems, then they would save a considerable amount of time!

Overall, Gloriana was quite optimistic that they would be able to finish the Sentry Project relatively quickly.

"The premise is that you deliver an energy rifle that meets my requirements." Gloriana reminded him. "What you are about to make might serve as a model for subsequent ranged mech designs."

Ves understood what she was talking about. Already, both of them gained a lot of inspiration after they completed the Disruptor Project. While the Dark Zephyr was an incredibly expensive expert mech that incorporated materials and components that were too precious to be used in normal mech designs, some of the design principles still carried over.

Even if these Little Zephyrs paled in comparison to their big brother, as long as he was able to field thousands of them, who cared? The light mech enthusiasts of the Larkinson Clan would probably be thrilled with a powerful new alternative to his successful Ferocious Piranha line, one that prioritized evasion instead of suppression!

While people might argue about which one was stronger in battle, a mech that possessed better mobility characteristics were much more suitable to be employed as scouts and flankers.

He almost couldn't wait to complete the current round of mech design projects so that he could go back to designing mass produced mechs!