The Mech Touch

As Ves and his family ended their vacation on Makairo IV and returned to Davute without incident, both he and his wife came away with a lot of new ideas.

Seeing how different creatures evolve and adapt to environmental pressures generated a lot of philosophical discussions and formed the inspiration of numerous new design concepts.

In addition to the immediate benefits, the entire vacation had also put the two Journeymen into a different mood and state of mind.

By removing themselves from their familiar environment and placing them in a completely different one, they could look back at their work from a distance.

This new and detached perspective allowed them to evaluate their work and judge what they were doing from a different and less involved angle. Both Ves and Gloriana benefited a lot from this as it was akin to developing a second opinion on everything they had done up to this point.

Gloriana obtained a lot of new ideas and insights through all of this introspection. By the time she returned to their Royal Mansion and put her satisfied daughter to bed, she almost couldn't wait to revise and reorient her contributions to her ongoing expert mech design projects!

Though she developed ambitious plans for expert mechs such as the Blade Claser Mark II and the much-anticipated Mars Project, she decided that the C-Man would be the first to bear her radical new design solution!

It was not easy for her to describe her new and potentially revolutionary design solution. The details were still fuzzy to her, but she felt she had found a lighthouse in the dark.

"This is a potential evolution of my design philosophy." Gloriana's eyes lit up with fire! "I have developed so many new design solutions and absorbed so much knowledge that my design capabilities are several times better than when I initially advanced, but I haven't been able to tie it all together. It's different now. The new design doctrine that I just came up with has the potential to evolve my theoretical framework to a new height!"

Her new idea was not so much a specific design solution but rather an improvement of the original premise of her design philosophy.

For years and years, Gloriana invested herself in her work and passion in order to realize her ultimate ambition, which was to be able to design the perfect vessel for any specific mech pilot!

She had always believed that mech pilots were always being hampered in their ability to fight by piloting imperfect mechs that were flawed and limited in too many ways to count.

Previously, she focused on the physical aspects of a mech design. She believed that the perfect vessel solely entailed an optimal and flawless configuration of physical components that perfectly complemented and synergized with each other.

"This is too simple of an approach." Gloriana frowned.

Now that she looked back on her initial ideas, she felt that her old self was too narrow-minded and limited in perspective.

It wasn't until she started to collaborate with Ves that she had expanded her vision of what was possible in mech design!

The biggest reason why mechs stood out compared to other combat platforms such as warships was because the former exceeded the boundaries of conventional science!

When mech pilots broke through to expert pilots, their willpower transformed on a metaphysical level to become a force that could interfere with reality.

However, expert pilots had difficulty achieving this effect without a medium for them to leverage their strength.

Expert mechs were the most appropriate vessels for them to do so, yet to Gloriana, most of these machines were still inadequate for the purpose!

She thought back on the expert mechs she had worked on. Machines such as the Dark Zephyr and the Riot were adequate, but she knew she could have served Venerable Tusa and Venerable Orfan much better if she reached more of her targets.

The masterwork mechs she was proud of such as the Amaranto and the Shield of Samar were much better. Their physical qualities were on another level and they were amazing creations on a conceptual level.

"However, they are still far from reaching the ultimate state that can maximize the performance of a pilot."

Many mech designers thought that being able to fabricate a masterwork mech was the ultimate achievement and validation of their careers.

Yet to someone who already collected a heap of mastework certificates, Gloriana was no longer completely satisfied with producing mechs that met this difficult standard.

Sure, she would be happy if she was able to receive another masterwork certificate, but how could she relax and rest on her laurels when she knew when there were higher rungs of Senfovon's Ladder of Craftsmanship?

Gloriana had not even come close to designing a grand work and whatever came afterwards!

"I have no capital to be arrogant just because I managed to get a step ahead. I am far from reaching the end of the ladder!"

Though she did not know what a grand work was like and how it was stronger than a masterwork, she knew for certain that being able to make one was an essential step to getting closer to realizing her ambition.

There were good reasons for her to focus on improving her work along this aspect.

"A normal mech that is merely designed and produced according to their physical properties will never come close to the perfect vessel that I have envisioned. If I want to do this properly, I need to take their intangible properties into account as well!"

The most valuable and helpful gifts that her husband bestowed on her was the realization that there was another side to mechs that she previously neglected. Becoming exposed to his unique insights on spirituality, obtaining his spiritual fragment and receiving a companion spirit had all opened her vision to the more esoteric properties of mechs and mech designs.

She knew that if she wanted to create a work that was beyond the norm, it was essential for her to master this aspect of mech design as well!

Gloriana had made a bit of progress so far by adapting a few of the techniques that Ves had come up with. By applying her own interpretation of living mechs on her personal projects, she had been able to make custom mechs such as the B-Man and the Blade Chaser into machines that more closely acted as the second skins to their respective pilots.

However, this was a rather half-hearted attempt at developing a new and original design solution. The second skin approach was too closely related to Ves' signature living mechs to stand out as a separate solution.

It was also incomplete in that it did not substantially move a mech closer to becoming the perfect vessel she envisioned.

All of that had changed now that she had returned from Makairo IV.

One of the more important observations she made during the holiday tours was how there were so many different exobeasts who struggled to survive every day.

Each of them had evolved their bodies in ways that were meant to cope with both predation and environmental pressures.

Some were more successful than others, allowing the species to become the dominant organisms in their respective habitats.

Others were not as successful at first glance, but their versatility and adaptability allowed them to cope with ecological shifts much better, thereby causing their species to survive much longer across different eras.

"Yet no matter how much they try to out-evolve each other, they are still mortal creatures who cannot cope with threats that are far beyond their imagination."

For example, the arrival of humanity threatened every exobeast who resided on Makairo IV.

It didn't matter if they grew to immense proportions.

It didn't matter if their claws were sharp enough to cut through rocks.

It didn't matter if they could run faster than other predators.

Against an out-of-context problem like humanity, not a single native creature was able to resist annihilation and extinction!

"To these exobeasts, humans might as well be gods."

This was a gap in power that was hard for any creature to bridge. If any exobeast wanted to move beyond their mortal and physiological weaknesses, then they could improve in at least two different ways.

First, they could try to evolve into an intelligent species and master technologies that were stronger than that of humanity.

Second, they could try to ascend their mortal limitations and become gods whose strength and powers exceeded that of the human race!

Gloriana honed in on this idea. Wasn't it her dream to turn living mechs into gods that were on par with the strongest mech pilots?

This was exactly the approach that she should be exploring in order to get closer to her ultimate goals!

In the past, this could only remain a dream that she could never fulfill because she lacked the knowledge and methods to make mechs that were akin to gods.

However, it was different now. She had become exposed to enough of Ves' work to possess at least some of the tools she needed to design a different kind of mech!

"I call it… the god body!"

To Gloriana, the god body was an interpretation of a perfect vessel that was specific to high-ranking mech pilots.

Just as mech pilots who passed the extraordinary threshold continually transcended their mortal limits and came close to attaining godhood, Gloriana realized that her mission was to enable mechs to achieve a similar sort of ascension process!

Though she recognized that Ves' living mechs were already capable of doing so, Gloriana believed she could do it better and more comprehensively!

"Ves just makes living mechs for the sake of making them alive. I make living mechs for the specific purpose of preparing them to become the perfect god bodies that high-ranking mech pilots need to attain the ultimate form of godhood!"

A god body was the perfect vessel for a mech pilot that aspired to become a god pilot!

Gloriana realized that this might be the direction she was looking for! This was the turning point that could bring her closer to advancing to the rank of Senior Mech Designer!

Her expression turned serious.

"It is all well and good to come up with the idea of a god body, but how can a mech that truly embodies this new paradigm?"

The mechanics of the concept of a god body had to be deep and intricate in order to do it justice.

"How can I design and fabricate a mech that is transcendent and beyond the norm when I am limited in too many aspects?"

Similar to exobeasts, mechs were limited by their materials, components and physical designs.

If Gloriana wanted to strengthen her work beyond what she could accomplish with conventional technology, then she needed to incorporate the mechanics of godhood into her designs!

One of the key lessons she learned after working with many different proto-gods was that each of them were able to grow stronger and become more remarkable by absorbing strength from others.

If she could design the C-Man in a way that facilitated this process for both the mech and its pilot, then she would truly succeed in making a god body that served her client in the best possible fashion!

The question was how she could design such a mech.

She frowned. "I can't figure this out by myself."

Her inability to move further was because her understanding of gods and how they derived power from worship was far too shallow. Not even her companion spirit could help her in this regard.

Fortunately, Gloriana knew that she did not have to figure this out alone. She had access to many possible sources of help.

There was no better way for her to learn what she needed to know than to approach an actual god!

Not even Ves fully understood the nature of them even though he worked with them the most!

Gloriana briefly considered her options.

Though she initially wanted to approach Gaia or the Superior Mother, she settled for a friendlier and more approachable god.

She searched around her room and retrieved a totem of a certain death goddess.

"Helena! Are you there?"

A grey shape emerged from the totem and appeared in front of the mech designer.

"Gloriana! How is my favorite sister-in-law doing? Is Aurelia doing okay right now?"

"We are both fine, Helena. I called you for a different matter. Can you spare me your attention?"

"Why certainly! Oh, I'm sure this will be fun!" The gray lady grinned.