The Mech Touch

If Ves embarked on this potential new mech design project, he confidently expected to finish it within half a year.

This was important. Time was valuable, and that was especially the case in the early days of the Hyper Generation.

The competition wasn't sitting around doing nothing. Rival mech designers had already begun to introduce new mechs that possessed a lot of new capabilities that did not exist before.

Ves shouldn't be the only mech designer who focused on networks to enhance the combat power of his products.

"I plan to start this project after I have completed the product reveal and return to New Constantinople VIII." He told his assistant. "I think it may be useful for you to contribute to this mech design project as well. You should widen your horizons and see what it is like to work with tech and materials that are much cheaper than you have ever come into contact with before."

Alexa's expression did not convey much enthusiasm for this suggestion. "I am open to new experiences, but my lack of familiarity with third-class mech designs may slow you down."

"That's okay. Just think of it as a learning experience. I don't expect you to master the art of designing third-class mechs, but you should at least obtain enough first-hand experience of working with them to know what you are dealing with if you come across them in the future."

They talked a bit more about the tentative new mech design project, but they did not go into too much detail.

Ves was still exploring his options for the time being. He did not have to go through with this idea.

Right now, his vacation took priority. After several days of rapid travel, the Bluejay Fleet reached the Ocanon System without incident.

Contrary to Ves' expectations, the star system hosted greater traffic than expected.

He already heard that Ocanon VI had stood out as one of the more popular hunting destinations of the Krakatoa Middle Zone, but he expected a lot less people to be interested in this leisure activity after the Great Severing occurred.

Red humanity found itself outnumbered and cut off from any reinforcements. The conquest of the Red Ocean had turned into a war of survival. How could there possibly be a lot of people who discarded the incentives of the New Elites Program and merrily planned to go on a hunting trip on an exotic planet?

The popularity of Ocanon VI showed that the war against the native aliens had not yet produced enough urgency.

Humans were simply not accustomed to total war anymore. Ves predicted that it would take a long time to mobilize all of these people and put red humanity on a proper war footing.

"It's not my problem." He shrugged.

This was a problem for the established powers. Ves was just a mech designer, and right now all he wanted to do was to set aside his worries and enjoy his much-deserved vacation.

As Ves and his children prepared to get teleported to the surface with their luggage, a few people came to see him off.

"Good luck, sir." Alexa said. "By the time you return from your successful hunts, I hope I can present you with the final direction of my design philosophy."

Jovy gave a reassuring nod at Ves. "I will not be accompanying you, but our troops will be close at hand to prevent any undesirable incidents from occurring. Aside from that, we will also be monitoring you on a constant basis up in orbit. Our mechs shall always be ready to teleport to the surface in case of emergencies."

"I shall make sure to handle any contacts that ordinarily demand your attention, boss." Gavin bowed. "Thank you for entrusting me with the power to make small decisions on your behalf. I have worked for you long enough to figure out how you want stuff done."

"Meow meow!"

"Miaow-"

Lucky and Clixie would bore themselves to death if they remained stuck on a heavy cruiser that heavily restricted their movements.

The two cats practically insisted on coming along!

Ves checked whether everything was in order. Once he was satisfied with the arrangements, he conveyed a hand signal to Jovy.

"See you in a week."

The teleportation process happened in an instant.

It only took a short time for Ves, the children and their cats to adapt to an alien ecosystem.

They had entered a closed chamber that was designed for the few occasions when people reached the surface through teleportation as opposed to riding shuttles.

Surrounding him was a squad of heavily armed and armored infantry from the Bluejay Fleet. The few greeting personnel that awaited the arrival of VIPs clearly grew intimidated by their presence, but they possessed enough training to go through all of the routine entry procedures.

Once one of the local officials stamped a virtual document, the man gave a welcoming smile to Ves.

"Welcome to Ocanon VI. We are immensely honored by your arrival. Please forgive us for being unable to accommodate every need. Our colony is not built with comfort in mind. We hope that you will be able to appreciate our distinct cultural customs while you stay in Tixe City. President Oscar Tarich of the local branch of the Hunting Association shall receive you in person. Please check whether your breathing masks are fully operational and properly affixed. We have a stock of spare masks available if your current ones are not working properly."

"Thank you for your officer, but that should not be necessary."

The mechers had issued the breathing masks to the Larkinsons. Though Ves manually checked the status of every breathing mask just to be certain, he did not encounter any problems, just as he expected.

Once everything was in order, Ves led his children to the exit of the arrival chamber.

As soon as the double doors slid open, the children gasped as they came across an impressive and exotic sight.

"Welcome to Ocanon VI." Ves introduced to his children with a smile.

"It's so green..." Marvaine whispered.

"Is that a city? Everything is covered by plants!"

"Have the locals regressed in technology?"

"Tixe City is deliberately built in this fashion." Ves answered as he breathed the air through a transparent breathing mask. "The pioneers who colonized this planet wanted to retain its wild and alien biosphere as much as possible. They only reluctantly built this city to accommodate their operations on the surface, and even then they decided to stick to a low-tech approach in order to preserve the wild atmosphere as much as possible."

Ocanon VI could no longer be regarded as a completely untamed planet, but it still retained a lot of aspects of an alien life-bearing globe.

Due to the fact that Ocanon VI orbited a fairly ordinary yellow star, the flora of this planet all engaged in photosynthesis in the most common manner.

The abundance of green leaves grown from the walls of the fairly low structures of Tixe City made it seem as if they had arrived at an elven city.

Though the architecture was too blocky and inelegant to match the typical elven aesthetic, there was a strong sense of harmony between nature and civilization.

Ves could feel it in the air. His spiritual senses told him that the wood element was particularly abundant in the local environment.

"I thought that alien planets would look a lot more different." Aurelia remarked.

"Me too!" Marvaine spoke before turning to his father. "Why are all of these alien leaves green, papa?"

"That is because green leaves are the most optimal ones to absorb solar energy on a continuous basis." Ves calmly replied. "Plants are green because a lot of light from the local star peaks at the blue and red sides of the spectrum. Absorbing these energies will produce the greatest yield of energy. The leaves refuse to absorb green light because variations in light intensity and motion makes it more difficult to establish a stable rate of energy conversion. Just like machines that run on electricity, plants don't like it when they constantly absorb light at different intensities all of the time. It's a long story, but a lot of leaves on many life-bearing planets have evolved to become green because these plant species have 'learned' that reflecting green light helps with maintaining a stable rate of energy absorption and conversion. Since these are universal concepts, a lot of different alien plants have engaged in convergent evolution and settled on the same solution. That is why their leaves are all green."

Aurelia and Marvaine found it difficult to follow their father's explanation. They had yet to take any biology or exobiology classes.

"Hihihihi! Look, papa! I can jump much higher!"

Meanwhile, Andraste just discovered the effects of the reduced gravity of the planet by jumping up and down while relishing in her improved jumping ability!

"Ocanon VI has a gravity of 0.S3 g." Ves said. "That means that each of you weigh a little less on this planet. The lower gravity has made it easier for the local fauna and flora to grow a bit taller than normal."

Ves continued to explain the basic science of Ocanon VI to his children as they eventually moved down a path.

Ves looked down at his feet. He and his children had changed into sturdy and fashionable outfits that would not look out of place in a hunting magazine.

The mechers had been the ones to provide the smart clothing. They came with many compact hidden features that were particularly useful in survival settings.

Right now, Ves was glad that he and his children were wearing country boots. The road they traversed was surprisingly rudimentary. Pebbles and wet dirt already started to cling to the soles.

It had evidently rained relatively recently.

An older man in a brown coat met the Larkinsons halfway down the path.

"Welcome to Ocanon VI, Professor Larkinson. 1 am Oscar Tarich. I have been appointed as the president of the local branch of the Hunting Association. I shall facilitate your needs in person should you welcome my company."

"I do not mind if you follow me along." Ves replied in a deliberately casual tone in order to put the other man at ease. "I did not expect to be accompanied by a representative of the Hunting Association. Shouldn't it be more appropriate for the owners of this colony to send their own people?"

"There are special reasons for that, professor. Would you like to be addressed as professor or patriarch?"

"Either way is fine. I don't care."

"I shall use the current term if that is the case. To continue, Canon VI is not entirely managed by the pioneering organizations who originally claimed this planet. Our Hunting Association has become thoroughly involved after they have invited us to turn all of the rich biomes into profitable hunting grounds. We have taken charge of all of the areas where hunting activities are permitted to occur."

"What do you do here?" Ves asked even though he roughly knew the answer.

"We control the entry of hunters to prevent overhunting. We monitor and control the exobeasts to prevent their populations from fluctuating too wildly. We verify and record valid hunting kills. We provide training courses to hunters who are interested in expanding their skill sets. In fact, we have recently started a new training course that has proven to be extremely popular as of late. Hundreds of thousands of hunters have already enrolled so far, and that is from our branch alone."

"Hm? What is it that you teach in this training course that has proven so popular?"

President Tarich smiled and projected a virtual book.

"Why, the headquarters of our Hunting Association has most recently published the Hunter's Code. It is not easy to explain what it is, but I can tell you the benefits of studying and practicing its techniques. It teaches you how to absorb E energy to make your body stronger and your senses sharper. It helps you acquire a strong sense of blood. It even contains a ritual that can dramatically improve your ability to absorb nutrients of the flesh of the prey that you have killed in person, thereby transforming you into a superhuman at a vastly accelerated rate."

"What?!"