The Mech Touch

"Your Creation Association has helped many struggling artists and craftsmen." Prince Casevir sincerely praised Ves. "If it was not confined to the middle zones of the Red Ocean Union, I may have already paid a visit to one of its branches. However, I am no longer a student. I am an accomplished artist myself. There is a fine line between learning and imitation. How can I keep my head high if the only reason that I am able to progress my art is because I took lessons from a mech designer who started out as a lowly third-rater and is more than half my age? I would become a laughing stock among my peers!"

Ves furrowed his brows. He was pretty sure that he and Vulcan could provide helpful guidance to the Impresario Prince, but the man was so damn prideful and stubborn that he refused to accept his help!

He would love nothing more than to take out his Hammer of Brilliance and whack the Rubarthan Prince in the head.

Even though they were only communicating by remote, he was pretty sure that Vulcan could channel his power all the way to the other end of the encrypted communication channel and produce at least a partial effect on the subject in question!

The Impresario Prince was over a century old, and he spent much of his life struggling to develop himself into a successful artist. His frequent dabbling in different art fields caused him to accumulate a lot of messy and scattered knowledge.

As a mech designer who dabbled in many different fields himself, Ves understood how challenging it was to tie all of these loose ends together and formulate creative new solutions based on synergies that had never been established before.

It only took a single moment of inspiration to give people the push to unite all of their previous efforts into a breakthrough of their methods.

Ves let out an exasperated sigh. "I may be younger than you, Your Highness, but I am pretty sure that I am your senior in terms of the quality of my work and the contributions that I have made to society. It is not a shame for you to make use of my services. Isn't it your dream to create your first masterwork? I happen to have a decent amount of experience in guiding others into making their own brilliant works. The Creation Association maintains a record of such cases. My direct guidance has also allowed my wife and my former student Ketis to create their own masterwork mechs."

Despite this well-sounding argument, the prince still refused this earnest offer of assistance.

"You do not understand, professor. I am not being willful because I lack the maturity to accept a helping hand. I am a son of the greatest Rubarthan alive. As long as I am a member of the Rubarthan Imperial Household, I am obliged to uphold its honor and reputation at all times. I am not allowed to display any flaws. This is the burden that I must bear for my entire life. My rival siblings will not hold back in exploiting anything that tarnishes my name. If my transgressions are severe enough, then my good brothers and sisters will make certain that I no longer remain a problem in order to preserve the dignity of our imperial father. Not every prince born from his blood has survived to this day."

"That sounds... pretty serious..."

Ves felt that the Impresario Prince was a rather sad figure.

As the 5733rd Prince of the Rubarthan Imperial Household, the man had been born into one of the most privileged positions in human civilization.

The New Rubarth Empire may have been diminished after the tragic end of the Age of Conquest, but it had still retained a strong foundation. There was still a good possibility that it may rise to its former glory in the distant future.

The first hundred-or-so princes born from the bloodline of the Seventh Star Emperor enjoyed a great advantage. They occupied all of the most important institutions and built up incredibly expansive power bases that allowed them to maintain a stranglehold over Rubarthan society to this day.

There was little left for the later princes to occupy, particularly when they had to compete against thousands of brothers and sisters at the same time!

No one knew what the Seven Star Emperor had in mind when he kept producing offspring like there was no tomorrow, but it left his later descendants in a particularly awkward position.

On the one hand, they were genuine members of the Rubarthan Imperial Household, which was by far the strongest and most authoritative institution in their superstate! Their nominal status was exceedingly high and they received the best augmentations and education as they grew up in big and opulent palaces.

On the other hand, they were incredibly pitiful because their eldest siblings possessed such a fantastic head start that the younger princes simply couldn't catch up anymore. Even the figures of high society no longer took the younger royals all that seriously anymore because the older princes made sure to keep them away from actual positions of power and authority!

The younger Rubarthan imperial scions therefore had to find their own way in life.

The Inferno Spear Prince was regarded as one of the most successful to find his own path. He had made good use of his genetic aptitude and managed to excel in the military. After becoming a peak ace pilot, the 2016th Prince managed to build up so much prestige that none but the oldest princes dared to push him around anymore!

The Smokestack Prince was a lot older than most of his siblings, yet the 476th Prince was still born a bit too late to take control over a large mech army group or an important government department. This was why he boldly took a risk and utilized his large disposable wealth and his keen judgment to build an expansive business empire!

Compared to these giants, the Impresario Prince had nothing special that could persuade other players to flock to his side. His chances of winning any throne, whether it was the Coldstone Throne or the new one in the Red Ocean that had yet to be built, were almost zero!

The only realistic way for the Impresario Prince to beat the 150 princes and princesses that had set up shop in the Red Ocean was for the current frontrunners to suffer accidents that forced them to end their participation in the succession battle.

That was not a serious plan at all! There were dozens of princes that were much more powerful than the Impresario Prince. It was impossible for all of them to be stupid and reckless enough to put themselves out of the fight.

What sort of life was left for this prince?

As Ves examined the prince who clearly wanted to excel in art yet found himself a bit lacking in talent and creativity, he wondered what was truly driving Casevir forward.

Attaining greatness sounded like a reasonable goal, but it did not sound comprehensive enough to sustain this kind of personality. There had to be more to him that made up the complete picture.

In order to obtain additional answers, Ves needed to prod the artist further.

He relaxed his posture and looked closer into Prince Casevir's eyes.

The man clearly felt conflicted about a lot of stuff, yet he hardly revealed any of it through his body language and his expression.

However, Ves could clearly sense the inner turmoil from the prince's strengthened but unstable spirituality.

The prince was still a fledgeling cultivator and had yet to develop the mental strength and discipline to control his spiritual fluctuations.

"I don't understand you." Ves plainly admitted. "You work hard in order to attain greatness, but why have you set your sights on this goal? What is your purpose? Are you trying to find meaning in your existence, or do you have ambitions for the throne?"

The mention of the latter elicited a stern reaction from the prince!

"Do not mention that subject even in passing!" The Impresario Prince sharply rebuked Ves! "It is taboo, especially to foreigners such as yourself. I have stated numerous times in the past that I have no interest in making enemies out of all of my fellow princes. I am fully prepared to support any of my siblings who have managed to overcome all opposition and ascend to the new throne. I would happily give up my princely title when the new emperor has taken his rightful place."

The Rubarthan Imperial Household was already too big and immense due to the unceasing efforts of the Seventh Star Emperor.

The situation was hardly better during the reign of past sovereigns as hundreds of princes and princesses all drained a lot of resources in order to satisfy their many needs.

In order to prevent the imperial institution from getting crushed under its own weight, it had taken up a rule that simply deprived every brother or sister of the current Star Emperor of their titles.

Not only that, but they also had to resign from any high positions and give back most of what the Rubarthan Imperial Household originally awarded them.

Though the disruptions were usually great, this was the only way to defang the losing Rubarthan princes and prevent them from challenging the only sibling to succeed.

Compared to the old princes who would undoubtedly crash hard as they lost much of the support and official authority that they enjoyed before, the Impresario Prince was in a much better position.

His status hadn't been all that high to begin with, so he wouldn't lose all that much when he crashed.

He would still be able to retain ownership in all of his entertainment studios and his shares in various companies. He had managed to build them up through spending his own money and putting in his own effort after all. His control over these sectors also wasn't overbearing enough to provoke the intervention of any regulatory institutions.

The story was much different for the Smokestack Prince. His influence and control over the business and industrial sector of the Rubarthan Pact was so expansive that a newly ascended emperor would never be able to tolerate a former competitor retaining so much sway over an entire superstate.

This was why the Smokestack Prince had no choice to compete. He had already disgraced himself once. He stood to lose almost everything that he had built yet again if he faltered yet again!

"Since you have no ambition for the throne, why is it so important for you to attain greatness, Your Highness?" Ves asked. "I can see from your artwork that you are obsessed with this goal. It is actually starting to hollow out your art. Don't think that your new cultivation method will turn you into a better artist. Your latest works may be more sophisticated in a few aspects, but their value may not necessarily be greater. Personally speaking, I enjoy viewing your older works a lot more than your latest ones."

That startled the prince!

"What do you find objectionable about my newest works? Are my techniques too crude? Am I misusing the raw materials?"

"Your technique is fine." Ves reassured the prince. "It is your vision that I have problems with. I do not doubt your passion, but if you continue to proceed down this direction, your future body of art will increasingly center around satisfying your ego as opposed to enriching our society. As an artist, do you not recognize that you are supposed to work at the behest of the public rather than the other way around? You should never force others to appreciate your personal interpretation of art!"

The aggressive and domineering pieces of art in the atelier did not leave much room for different interpretations. They lacked the ambiguity of good works of art and instead tried to ram Prince Casevir's emotions down the throats of their viewers!

This was not art in Ves' opinion. This was abuse!