The Mech Touch

Ves settled into a new routine.

With Vulcan's business taken care of, he no longer felt as much urgency as before.

Even if the Iron Resonant Crucifix Crown was up to mischief again, Ves no longer became directly exposed to its nefarious plots.

With that concern out of the way, Ves put his mind on more relevant matters.

From negotiating with various first-class powers to beginning his studies on first-class mech design, Ves began to live a busy life.

His wife also started to settle down in New Constantinople VIII. She had become extra driven to fit in and become a part of the local community, but she knew that her qualifications were wholly inadequate compared to her husband.

This was why she tried to work extra hard!

The process of developing a custom first-class cranial implant could not be rushed, but Gloriana could still invest much of her time on completing her ongoing mech design projects.

The Jupiter Project and the Bloodripper Project continued to progress at an accelerated rate due to her eagerness to clear her old obligations.

Ves possessed the same intention. Both of them made sure to schedule their work sessions at the same time slots so that they could collaborate with each other to the best possible effect.

The design network created by Blinky or Alexandria enabled the pair to maximize their productivity and minimize any friction.

In fact, the pair already cooperated pretty well due to working alongside each other for many years. This would remain a constant regardless if they worked on second-class or first-class mech designs.

Aside from that, Ves and Gloriana still had to handle their own responsibilities.

Ves regularly needed to keep in touch with his clan as well as the various Terran authorities.

Gloriana oversaw most of the issues relating to their household. She spent considerably more time with the children and made sure that their brats did not spend most of their time with their nannies and guards.

One occasion that Ves did not want to miss was the enrollment of his children to their new school.

The Joan Devos Elementary School was located in a central and highly secure district of Sandan.

It was one of the elite schools attended by children up to 10 years of age. In order to maintain its exclusivity and quality standards, Joan Devos only enrolled children that could afford the extravagant tuition fees or possessed a solid connection to a Terran clan.

In short, only the descendents of the upper layer of society could get into this exclusive school!

This meant that this educational institution was an excellent place for the future movers and shakers of Terran society to befriend each other and build networks that would serve them well in the future.

There was nothing childish about this. The bigshots played by different rules. Who knew whether the camaraderie these kids forged today could form the basis of a highly consequential business alliance in a few decades!

Ves and Gloriana actually had different opinions about enrolling their children to Joan Devos.

Gloriana felt it was important for their children to learn how to get along with peers that belonged to the highest layer of society. Since they were all destined to become leaders of their own, it was best if they knew how to blend in with other powerful figures from the beginning.

Ves did not want his children to spend all of their time among rich and entitled snobs. He had seen plenty of people grow up in an insular society to the point where they no longer understood the common folk.

Even Ves was not immune to this effect. His abrupt rise in status and the need to limit his movements for his own protection meant that he could no longer interact too much with ordinary people anymore.

Of course, it was not as if the Terrans were normal from his perspective. They were all prideful and lived fairly well-off lives due to their prosperous society.

The Terran Alliance as a whole may be embroiled in a crisis that would only grow more severe over time, but it was still no problem for most colonies to guarantee the health and wellbeing of its citizens.

The average living standards of ordinary Terrans was above the level of a normal first-rater and far above a typical second-rater!

If not for the fact that the truly meaningful jobs often required insanely high educational qualifications, many of these Terrans would have been able to gain a much higher standing in their society!

After finding this out, Ves no longer insisted that his children should attend a more inclusive school.

"Yay! We can go to an actual school again!" Andraste cheered! "I can play real sports again. I hate the Hyper Chamber. I can never go to my friends or invite them over."

"Meow meow!" Lucky sounded happy for her as he rested on her lap.

The shuttle ride was short since the Joan Devos Elementary School was not located too far away from the main campus of the Eden Institute.

"It is regrettable that we are not allowed to bring our pets." Aurelia sighed in regret as she stroked Clixie's furry back.

"Miaow-"

"You are never too far away from cats." Gloriana spoke as she held Marvaine in her arms. "You always have Mana by your side, and the Golden Cat will always respond if you are in need."

Ves coughed after he heard that. "It is best not to parade our spirits in front of other people. While their existence is not exactly a secret, the supply of companion spirits is restricted due to their vital importance to the Deep Strike Plan. People covet what they cannot possess, and they can easily grow resentful to those that own a treasure that they cannot attain for themselves. While I don't think the pupils of Joan Devos are that stupid, it is best not to give them an opening. Try and keep your companion spirits out of sight, okay?"

He gave a few more tips to his children before their shuttle finally touched down at the landing zone of the elementary school.

As soon as they exited the RA shuttle, the Larkinsons already attracted a lot of attention from other Terrans.

Parents as well as children had all heard about the famous guests. None of them looked down on Ves and his family because of their inferior backgrounds. Accomplishments trumped everything in human society, and the fact that Ves had reached a citizenship tier that they could never reach in their lifetimes was a big deal in Terran space!

The school grounds possessed plenty of greenery, though not as much as the Eden Institute.

Instead of trying to recreate the mythical Garden of Eden, Joan Devos instead tried to provide an active playing ground to its students.

The school had built a lot of fields and facilities dedicated to sports, arts and other activities. No matter what their age may be, there was always something fun and meaningful for them to do once they completed their mandatory classes.

As the children immediately became enamored by all of the playing fields, their parents met with the principal of the school.

"It is a great honor for us to host and educate your children." The elderly Devos clansman spoke with great enthusiasm. "We have already made the necessary adjustments in the lesson plans for each of your offspring. They are remarkably clever and quick to learn, but their lack of augmentations that is considered standard among Terrans will mean that they will likely need additional hours to learn certain subjects."

"We understand." Gloriana spoke. "Please inform us if our children are struggling to keep up in some of their classes."

They talked a bit more about the special arrangements that Joan Devos had made for their newest students.

It was actually really troublesome that Aurelia, Andraste and Marvaine were designer babies from different and unfamiliar strains.

The Terrans had their own approach to augmentation, and that meant that their children became good at some subjects at an early age.

Their schools were all geared towards the common characteristics of Terran designer babies, so it was unavoidable for foreign students to fall slightly out of lockstep with the rest of the crowd.

This was a relatively minor problem, though. Ves possessed enough confidence in his children to believe that they were unlikely to fall behind.

The older they grew, the more their nature as partial primordial humans became evident!

In addition to that, their companion spirits also became a lot more capable of independent action after they started to mature.

Once they dealt with this necessary topic, the conversation finally took a more interesting turn.

The principal beamed as he waved his arm around the campus. Pleasant-looking school buildings were either rooted to the ground or floated above in the air.

A combination of security bots and lightly armed guards patrolled the perimeter without looking too aggressive. Their beige colorations did much to lower their perceived threat level, but their compact loadouts were no joke!

"You should have no concerns about security. Our first-class multipurpose mechs may not be visible from here, but they are on standby right beneath the surface. We have also made arrangements with your RA escort force to accommodate their forces on our grounds whenever any of your children are in attendance."

That provided a lot of relief to Ves.

Though he didn't entirely trust the mechers, he could say the same for the Terrans.

With both groups working to keep his children safe, they could check and balance each other.

"Here in Joan Devos, we pride ourselves for raising well-rounded individuals who have more than textbooks in their mind." The principal continued on after he explained the security arrangements. "We have invested greatly into our extracurricular activities. Your children can not only learn more skills, but also develop deeper relationships with classmates who share the same interests. Have you decided the extracurricular activities for your two daughters already, or do you wish for them to explore their available options and allow them to make their own decisions?"

"We have already made their choices for them." Gloriana immediately said. "Aurelia shall take on dancing and join the debating society. Andraste will participate in zero-g hockey and archery."

"Good choices. Our teachers and instructors are among the best in the Riston Territory. They shall make certain that your children will learn the skills they need to excel in their respective activities."

Joan Devos encouraged its students to engage in at least one extracurricular activity, but also gave them the option to pursue two at the same time.

Marvaine was still too young for this, so there was no need to make any choices for him at this junction.

Gloriana had chosen the activities for Aurelia while Ves had picked the ones for Andraste.

Aurelia had already invested a lot of practice in both dancing and debating, so she should be able to adapt quickly. This was despite the fact that she would be joining other Terran students who already had years of practice under their belt.

Andraste was younger, so she had a chance to learn from scratch.

Ves wanted his rambunctious daughter to hone her control over her body and learn how to navigate a chaotic battlefield. Zero-g hockey was a popular sport, and it was one that served future mech pilots extremely well as it helped to increase their combat literacy in space.

As for archery, this had been a tentative choice on his part. His daughter had already started to learn a lot about marksmanship from Saintess Ulrika Vraken. This was an extremely luxurious treatment that could not be matched by any other school in New Constantinople VIII.

Since that was the case, Ves encouraged his daughter to take on archery instead. This would hopefully add a bit of variety in her life while also growing familiar with ranged combat from another angle.

If archery turned out to be a poor fit for his little girl, she could always switch to another activity.