The Mech Touch

The Shield of Samar was almost being completely renewed from inside out. The mech designers only intended to retain a few inconsequential parts of the current prime mech.

Naturally, they also planned to reshape much of the Unending alloy armor plating. The contours and physical dimensions of the prime mech and expert mech versions of the Shield of Samar differed substantially. New techniques, more refined methods and different physical requirements demanded a complete overhaul of the structure of the entire mech.

This presented Ves and the others with an interesting challenge on how to actually reform the mech.

In order to keep it alive, they had to keep the existing expert mech as intact as possible. On the other hand, if they wanted to upgrade it as comprehensively as possible, they had to swap out as much of its components.

These conflicting goals could only be solved by only partially disassembling the Shield of Samar. Just like the Ship of Theseus, the Journeymen chose a ċumbersome approach where they did not completely disassemble the entire prime mech but kept parts of it whole at all times.

This was a time-consuming and labor-intensive endeavor that imposed higher demands on the mech designers. Yet this was the only way that Ves could think of to retain the original identity of the Shield of Samar while slowly elevating it to the standard of an expert mech.

During the planning stage, Gloriana and the others didn't fully understand why Ves insisted on working in such a roundabout manner.

The most thorough and efficient way to perform a complete upgrade and refit of an existing mech was to disassemble it completely.

It was only when Alexandria's powerful design network allowed Ves to convey a part of his perspective to the others that they understood why he cared so much about keeping the Shield of Samar as whole as possible.

They truly understood now why Ves insisted that his mechs were alive. Though this special quality was a lot more flexible than organic life, they agreed that it was best to treat it as close to a living body as possible.

This resulted in a change in mentality where Gloriana, Juliet and Ketis each approached their work as if they were doctors attending to a heavily-injured patient. The change in mentality and the greater care they showed towards the Shield of Samar was remarkable and something that Ves hadn't expected.

Together with the influence that Gloriana's design philosophy brought to them, all four Journeymen collectively treated the Shield of Samar and the parts they were fabricating with great respect.

Maow.

Alexandria proudly and contently rested on Gloriana's shoulder as she continually maintained her powerful design network. She might not be able to get the better of Blinky or Lucky in a scrap, but of them were capable of boosting the effectiveness of mech designers like her. Any mech designer would be lucky to have her attention!

As her upturned tail continued to swish in contentment, she continued to regulate and filter the transmissions that flowed through her network. It was quite amazing that she was able to maintain the strong spiritual bonds much longer than any of the other spiritual networks that Ves had made.

Part of it was due to the strong mental and spiritual strength of the people participating in the network. Another part was due to the limited number of connections for this session.

However, it was undeniable that Alexandria's own strengths and talents played the biggest role in making it all possible! Gloriana adored her new pet so much that she regularly reached out her hand to ċȧrėss the red cat's back and head.

"You're so cute, Alexandria."

"Such an amazing cat."

"I'm so lucky to have the best cat in the multiverse."

"You could probably win the best awards if you participate in one of those Rubarthan cat shows."

"Are you hungry, Alexandria? What do you eat, anyway?"

"I should get Ves to design a collar for you as well."

Although her constant fawning of her new companion spirit was a bit annoying to the others, everyone who was a part of the network could not deny that Alexandria had boosted the quality of their output by a noticeable degree.

What was even better was that Gloriana's mood continued to rise as she became more entranced with Alexandria's incredible value.

She was definitely right about one thing. Other mech designers deeply wished they had access to Alexandria's greater design network! With this amazing feature at their disposal, they could combine the strengths of different mech designers in a much more integrated fashion. Not even Masters would be able to resist such a killer advantage!

All of this was thanks to Ves processing half of Aisling's design seed into a new spiritual life form. Gloriana grinned as she reminded herself that she gained this capability by stealing the essence of one of her enemies.

She even entertained thoughts of hunting down other mech designers in order to add more useful cats to their collection!

Fortunately, Alexandria did not transmit these irrelevant thoughts throughout the design network, or else Jannzi would have become horrified at Gloriana's immoral attitude!

In any case, Gloriana's growing optimism and contentment not only led to a noticeable improvement to herself, but also to others as the design network was also capable of spreading her positive emotions.

The other three mech designers were able to block this input if they wished, but they chose not to. Everyone was aware that a better mood could substantially improve the outcome of this upgrade session, so they eagerly embraced Gloriana's rising sentiments.

Ves did not think that this and other emotional factors was enough to turn the Shield of Samar into a masterwork, though. None of the four had entered into an inspired state or any other special mood.

In this case, the only chance they could make a masterwork was to rely on other, more controllable factors. Ves drew on his recent insights on craftsmanship and thought about all of the innovations that he and the others integrated into the expert mech design.

This caused him to gain a strong sense of purpose towards the Bulwark Project. With everything that he and the other Larkinsons invested into it, Venerable Jannzi's mech possessed all of the opportunities it needed to reach a greater tier of quality.

They just had to find a way to push through the barrier and realize everyone's dream for this unique mech.

This was why Ves held the Hammer of Brilliance after his wife returned from her rest. He looked conflicted as he tried to decide whether he should actively borrow Vulcan's power or stick to the current status quo.

He looked across Gloriana's workshop.

Stacks of recently completed parts rested on the side. None of them were set aside for too long as bots frequently lifted them up and moved them over to the ȧssembly section where Jannzi's mech was already being changed before everyone's eyes.

The most striking aspect about its current appearance was that her armor system had been stripped off its frame. All of the Unending alloy armor plating needed to be reprocessed and reshaped, and removing them early granted the mech designer easier access to the internals.

Right now, Juliet had flown to the front of the partially-disassembled Shield of Samar so that she could supervise the process of removing outdated parts. She installed temporary support elements in order to avoid excessive strain and prevent the mech frame from collapsing.

"We're already doing quite well for ourselves." Ves judged as he continued to grip his hammer.

Was it necessary for him to draw this card this time?

He was confident in his own abilities, but he couldn't guarantee that the Shield of Samar would turn into a masterwork at the end. After all, he was far from reaching the level where he could completely control the variables that determined whether a product reached the second rung of the craftsmanship ladder.

He became conflicted for a while.

If he actively utilized Vulcan's power, then he would gain a guaranteed improvement for a number of hours.

The problem was that it would taper off over time. Ves had already experimented on it earlier and determined that the false inspired state would only last for around 5 hours.

"Hm, why am I being so conflicted?" He frowned. "A tool is a tool. Using it makes life more convenient to me. As long as I get my rewards, what does it matter if I've taken a shortcut? With another increase in mech affinity, I will be able to build my accumulation further, which will help me stand out further from other Journeymen."

Ves briefly glanced over at Venerable Jannzi who looked entranced as she stared at her partially-disassembled mech.

Though the woman could be rather annoying at times, she was a crucial ȧsset to the Larkinson Clan. Ves never thought about doing less than his best when he worked on this upgrade project.

Perhaps it was politically more advantageous for him to drag his feet this time, but Ves was not a politician. He was a mech designer who did not want to betray his principles so easily. He suspected that he would never become worthy to make another masterwork mech if he held any improper thoughts towards his core work responsibilities.

Besides, everyone else was working so earnestly that he couldn't stand the thought of betraying their expectations.

What ultimately convinced him to make use of his hammer was the need for greater strength.

The Larkinson Clan could not afford to be weak. The previous battles had already revealed several major shortcomings, and the lack of strong and effective expert mechs was one of them. The addition of a decent expert mech was definitely helpful, but if the Larkinsons gained another masterwork mech like the Amaranto, then the benefits would become much greater!

Ves grew more excited as he thought about all of the potential rewards he could earn.

"Unlike the Amaranto, the Bulwark Project isn't a Superpublished design."

"The MTA will also shower us with merits!"

The prospect of earning all of these fantastic rewards increased his enthusiasm for this project to such a degree that his excitement had caught up to that of his wife!

Gloriana even turned to him for a moment. "What's the matter, Ves?"

"Oh, nothing. I think we should just kick into higher gear."

He briefly considered who he should whack with his hammer. He could only empower one person at a time.

"Honey, would you like to obtain a blessing?"

She briefly weighed the choice. "I don't need it. I'm already doing well for myself. You should try it out yourself. You're more familiar with it than myself and you primarily created it to improve your own capabilities."

"You're right."

Ves did not hesitate much longer. He was afraid of losing his momentum if he stalled any further.

He softly tapped the flat end of the hammer against his head. As the strike induced him into a false inspired state, he suddenly gained a bunch of new insights and ideas about the Bulwark Project.

There was a remarkable difference between entering this state while he was sitting behind a terminal and entering this state while he was in the middle of working on an actual mech!

Vulcan's power flowed through his head as Ves began to work with greater certainty and direction!

Not only that, Gloriana, Juliet and Ketis also worked a bit more efficiently than before. It turned out that Alexandria was also capable of spreading a small degree of Vulcan's power through her design network!

"So the Shield of Samar can be built like this!"