The Mech Touch

by welldarn

Just posting this here so I can listen to it while I'm at work. I obviously don't own this work. If you are looking for the previous 175 chapters look up the User: Srtyi.

48. Chapters 2551-2600

Chapter 2551: Obligatory Mission

A dwarven star sector. Ves almost couldn't believe it at first. How the hell did these repressed variants of humans succeed in toppling many third and second-class states in the span of just a couple decades?

It was too fast and too unreal!

The story made more sense when Ves thought about who actually benefited from this abnormal development. If Ves ignored the dwarves, then it became clear that the Big Two and more specifically the MTA definitely benefited!

This implied that the Smiling Samuel Star Sector was under greater observation. That was bad news to Ves as he would be stepping into the territory of someone else's experimental grounds.

undefinedScientists hated it when external factors affected their experiments!

Ves should know as he was one of them. Though he wasn't sure how much he could do in Smiling Samuel, he doubted that the MTA or at least someone in the organization would be pleased if he disrupted the normal order of the Vulcan Empire.

This meant that Ves had to maintain a low profile if he wanted to enter this dwarven star sector. Perhaps he might have to leave his entire fleet behind in order to enter Smiling Samuel as a guest.

All of these restrictions made him feel more ambivalent about his goal of taking out the Timpala Steel he buried in the star sector.

Though Ves liked to take a gamble every now and then, he did not relish the prospect of entering a region filled with hostile supremacist dwarves!

"What's even worse is that they're dwarves of my own making!"

Ves never expected Smiling Samuel to spiral out of control to this extent! He fully realized the horror of being able to change the past!

After he finished his discussion with Major Verle, he returned to the Scarlet Rose and began to read up on Smiling Samuel, the Vulcan Empire and the Vulcan Faith.

According to the galactic net, there were no functional differences between the three. The Star Sector was dominated by a single second-rate state. The state was highly intertwined with its main religion.

The Vulcan Faith originated out of the former mining slaves of Desala X. It seemed that after Ves had helped the rebels escape, the MTA took in their complaints and heavily sanctioned House Kantis.

The noble house actually had to hand over its assets to the dwarves!

This gave the freed mining slaves a territory of their own which couldn't be taken back. It was there where the Desala Resistance Movement transformed into the Dwarven Justice Movement, which aimed to liberate dwarves beyond the Desala System.

It was also at this period in history where the original rebels began to propagate their belief in Vulcan!

"These dwarves are too gullible."

Belief in Vulcan spread rapidly. The former mining slaves didn't know anything and easily got hoodwinked into worshipping a non-existent god.

Much of the foundation of the modern Vulcan Empire originated from this period. By attracting a lot of outside help, the freed slaves developed vigorously.

The more Ves read about the Vulcanites, as the dwarven citizens of the Empire called themselves, the more he became abhorred at the monster he created.

Phrases such as 'death to the tall folk' and 'the galaxy belongs to dwarvenkind' were uttered with distressing regularity. Any notion of peaceful coexistence with humans instantly drew widespread condemnation from the dwarven supremacists.

Every dwarf hated normal humans! The only difference was to what extent they wished death and ruin to the tall folk. Some wanted to turn the tables against the humans and enslave them. Others wanted to wipe them out wholesale!

Fortunately, despite their big talk, the dwarves never spread beyond Smiling Samuel. The surrounding states and star sectors were highly on guard against the heavy gravity variant humans. Each of them signed a treaty that called for forming a blockade that kept the dwarves bottled up in their own star sector!

This was the current status quo. The Vulcan Empire had the power of life and death in Smiling Samuel, but the Vulcanites instantly lost all of their deterrence power once they stepped outside.

The lack of mutual respect and understanding between humans and dwarves caused the two groups to intensify their hatreds towards each other.

If Ves rashly entered the Smiling Samuel Star Sector, he would likely attract a lot of dwarven hostility!

"This is impossible!"

Sneaking in was possible, but difficult. The Vulcanites intensely patrolled their own space and ruthlessly rallied as many nearby elements as possible in order to crush any intruders!

Obtaining an exemption was difficult. Even if he had one, there were plenty of radicalists who were willing to disregard the consequences in order to kill a human encroaching on their space.

"There is another alternative…"

The mere thought of transforming his body into that of dwarf repulsed him. He did not want to change his body! It would be one thing if he was born a dwarf, but he was not. He grew up into a human with normal proportions. His current body was a part of his identity, and he was largely happy with it. He would be betraying himself if he changed into a different form!

"That's not all. I haven't even considered Gloriana's reaction yet." He muttered.

There was no way his wife wanted her perfect husband to turn into a dwarf! She would kill him if he walked up to their bed with a shorter and stockier form!

While Ves had heard the body morphing procedure was reversible, it was not a trivial matter. Otherwise, a lot of dwarves would have been able to turn themselves into tall folk.

No matter how Ves looked at it, the difficulty of entering Smiling Samuel, retrieving the hidden batch of Timpala Steel and making it out alive was immense!

The threat posed by the Vulcanites surpassed that of the Nyxian pirates.

While the Allidus Alliance had grown to the point of being able to field warships, its lack of legitimacy, its limited resources and its barren population base meant that its actual strength was quite manageable.

The pirates only managed to fend off the Big Two by taking advantage of the tricky environment and by borrowing the strength of the dark gods.

As for the Vulcanites, they weren't a bunch of scummy pirates. They formed a proper state that ruled over thousands of star systems and trillions of dwarves.

The Vulcan Empire was at least equal to the Friday Coalition and the Hexadric Hegemony, if not greater!

"Well, at least I have time to come up with a plan. I don't have to solve this problem right away."

His fleet first had to leave the Yeina Star Cluster, pass through the Bardo Star Cluster, enter the Fermi Star Cluster before coming within reach of Smiling Samuel.

Depending on how many stops he made, it would probably take around two years to reach the dwarven star sector. He should address more immediate priorities first while calmly plotting how he wanted to retrieve his great prize.

To be honest, if Ves had a choice, he would rather skip this goal. The Vulcan Empire was way too dangerous for him to mess around. Retrieving his precious stash was bound to be tough.

This shouldn't be the only source of Timpala Steel. Perhaps he might be able to stumble upon another sample in the Red Ocean. Even if the dwarf galaxy lacked this ultra-rare exotic, as long as he grew powerful enough, there were other ways of obtaining what he wanted.

Yet.. Ves feared the System might not take kindly to this course of action. He might be patient enough to wait, but the System might not. It was impossible to tell how urgently the System needed the materials stipulated by the Supply Missions, but they had to be at least somewhat vital.

What would the System do if its current user ignored an opportunity to replenish some of its lost strength?

If Ves was in its place, he might decide to change to another user!

He was unsure whether the System was willing to do so. The more Ves learned about the System and the Five Scrolls Compact, the more he understood his own value. Mech designers like him were hard to come by. The System also shared an unknown relationship with his mother.

That said, the uncertainty surrounding the System's motives left Ves in the dark. He did not dare to act too presumptuously. The risk of provoking a backlash from the System loomed over his head like the sword of Damocles.

Though Ves was very proud of himself, he knew he wouldn't have been able to make it this far without its help. The System helped him rise to prominence. It could easily tear him down.

"Ugh. Let's get to Smiling Samuel first. For now, I should get back to designing my mechs."

While the Larkinson Clan became preoccupied with integrating the incoming shipments of mechs and starships, the Design Department finally completed its initial preparations.

Ves, Gloriana and Juliet stood in front of the design lab. The three Journeymen faced the Braves and Erudites.

Due to the bad blood between Gloriana and Juliet, the two women stood far apart from each other. The two didn't even speak together, let alone collaborate at the same time.

Their problematic relationship continued to give Ves a lot of headaches. While it wasn't impossible for the two of them to collaborate on a mech design, they had to work sequentially instead of concurrently. This did not facilitate cooperation and would definitely affect the quality of the end product.

He had no choice. Ves should be happy that the two women were willing to compromise to this extent. It would have been a lot worse if the two refused to work on a mech design that their adversary had touched!

"In the past several weeks, we have fleshed our six projects." Ves addressed the crowd. "With the data gathered by the Design, Marketing and Product Research Departments, we know where we stand on our proposed mech designs. Each of them are viable according to the data, and that is enough to go on. Today, we shall officially commence all six design projects!"

Every mech designer who listened to him immediately became hopeful. While second-class mech designs were far more complicated to design, they also represented the future of the Larkinson Clan. It was essential for every assistant mech designer to become proficient in working with them if they wanted to keep up with the lead designers.

Gloriana took over from Ves. "Different from before, we shall assign two design teams to every design project. Your workload is higher, but the overall impact you can make is smaller. Don't be disappointed by that. The work you will engage in will push you until you become more accustomed to working with second-class mechs. As long as you prove you are able to handle this level of work, you will be entrusted with more important work. Becoming a second-class mech designer on par with us is just around the corner if you reach this point!"

"We have six months of time to complete our projects." Ves crossed his arms. "Regardless of the state of the mech design in question, we will finalize it once the deadline looms closer. Your help is crucial. You will receive additional Larkinson merits if we meet our goal."

Everyone's eyes lit up. The prospect of being able to work on second-class design projects was not as attractive as earning more merits. The Braves had already been bragging about how many merits they received from participating in the Nyxian Gap Campaign.

Ves quickly explained some other matters of importance. Tackling six second-class mech designs was very strenuous for the Design Department, but it was fine as long as everyone did their jobs.

The only problem for Ves was that the Erudites were better equipped for the challenge than the Braves. The former may have missed out on experiencing battles up close in the Nyxian Gap, but they didn't waste their time in Cinach. The Erudites were definitely further ahead when it came to absorbing knowledge!

Chapter 2552: Carnivores of the Battlefield

The ripples from the wedding between Ves and Gloriana faded. As much as this glamorous event captured the imagination of the public, people's memories were short.

To many ordinary citizens, the affairs of the rich and powerful were too far away. Life went on and neither the Miracle Couple nor the LMC exerted any direct influence on their ordinary civilian lives.

That did not apply to everyone. The products of the LMC became increasingly more popular throughout the region.

The Komodo Star Sector was its home market. Yet the availability of LMC mechs was not uniform.

undefinedOne half of the star sector was devoid of these distinct machines. The Friday Coalition completely banned the use of LMC mechs.

This was not an unusual rule in itself. The Coalition already banned the use of mechs designed by Hexers or anyone aligned to them. However, a lot of avid customers were forced to relinquish their precious mechs.

The Desolate Soldier and its variants, which played a major role in the Sand War, no longer showed up in the Bright Republic and the Ylvaine Protectorate. A lot of states that relied heavily on Ves and Gloriana's work became closed to the LMC.

That did not apply to the other half of the star sector. The lesser states that fell within the Hexer sphere of influence did not receive any prohibitions against using LMC mechs. Their local governments were free to decide whether they wished to allow the LMC to expand their business operations in their mech markets.

Most of them did. The LMC may not be a part of their domestic mech industry, but the comprehensive value of its products was undeniable!

At this time, the LMC's product catalog consisted of a handful of third-class mechs.

Despite the lack of choice, a lot of the offerings were very compelling to many customers.

The Desolate Soldier model was the original bestseller of the LMC. It sold over a million copies during the Sand War and continued to sell millions more as the mech company expanded its reach across other star sectors.

From a performance standpoint, the Desolate Soldier and its variants was not that stellar. The lastgen model was dated and did not take advantage of the innovations of the latest generation. Its design was optimized for use against the sandmen and did not fare as well as other competing models when fighting against mechs.

What was even worse for the LMC was that its product margin was abysmally low. The large number of intermediaries involved in the production, distribution and sale of the mech model all took a cut of the earnings.

By the time the remaining profits trickled into the coffers of the LMC, perhaps only 50,000 hex credits remained out of the 600,000 hex credits the customer had paid!

Despite all of these shortcomings, plenty of customers in the surrounding regions continued to purchase the Desolate Soldier in greater numbers. Not only that, but the cheaper and less robust Prideful Soldier sold in great quantities as well!

Their glows were just too good. The duty-based glow of the Desolate Soldier was useful for law enforcement, militaries, mercenary corps, security companies and more customers. Everyone except pirates derived a lot of value from leveraging this morale-sustaining glow!

If not for the low profits per sale, the sales of the Desolate Soldier could have financed all of the Larkinson Clan's capital ship expenditures for the next decade!

The Aurora Titan failed to match the grandeur of the Desolate Soldier. Its extreme specs and its incredibly unwieldy handling turned it into a very niche product.

The rise of Venerable Jannzi Larkinson hardly boosted sales of this defensive space knight. Not even the growing reputation of Ves or the expanding reach of the LMC boosted sales that much.

Many Larkinsons within the LMC considered the Aurora Titan to be a flop. It wasn't even worth it to include the mech model in the company's product catalog anymore.

The Doom Guard was the second bestseller of the LMC. The striker mech possessed almost as many shortcomings as the Aurora Titan, but its glow was much more useful in combat.

It was a pity the Doom Guard underwent some changes. Its glow had changed characteristics, causing it to form a disorienting glow that disabled anyone who entered its range. This was a bit more difficult to take advantage of than scaring enemies away.

Sales of the Doom Guard were trending downwards for this reason. The release of a new mech model accelerated the striker mech's decline.

Compared to the Doom Guard, the Ferocious Piranha presented an all-around improvement. While it was a very different mech type, the Ferocious Piranha nonetheless captured the hearts of many mech buyers!

In the middle of an asteroid belt in Vicious Mountain, a squad of twelve Ferocious Piranha swooped forth!

A mercenary corps called the Thermal Ants accepted a mission to take down a pirate gang that was nestled within an empty star system.

While the pirates had hidden themselves well, somehow they exposed their whereabouts.

"Damnit! Who betrayed us?! Who sold us out?!"

"It's bad, boss! We need to run straight away!"

"There's no running from those light mechs. Our only choice is to fight!"

The pirates deploy a ragged swarm of 37 mechs. This was actually quite a respectable number for a simple pirate gang.

The Ferocious Piranhas clearly captured the emissions from the pirate mechs. Under ordinary circumstances, it was impossible for 12 light mechs to defeat twice their number.

While the quality and condition of the pirate mechs were horrible, their numerical superiority couldn't be overcome so easily!

The ranged pirate mechs began to fire at the light skirmishers. Unfortunately for them, the battlefield was not conducive to ranged combat.

The light skirmishers skillfully weaved through the attacks. They also made sure to take cover behind as many asteroids as possible.

With the abysmal marksmanship of the pirates, there was no hope of landing more than a few coincidental strikes!

The few laser beams that managed to strike the Ferocious Piranhas hardly left more than a shallow scorching scar. The thin but premium armor gave the Piranhas a lot more protection than other light mechs.

"Stop firing!" The pirate commander yelled. "Get back and give us some covering fire. Stay on guard against any other enemies creeping up on us from behind. There was no way the light skirmishers came alone!"

The pirates all thought the light skirmishers merely served as scouts for a greater force of mercenary mechs. They didn't expect an immediate confrontation as the pirates ought to be strong enough to make the mercenary light mechs pay if they approached.

Yet as the Ferocious Piranhas continued to advance, the pirates became confused.

Were these light mechs actually going on the attack?

The pirate commander grew furious! Just because the incoming light mechs looked a bit fancier than usual didn't mean they were qualified to challenge his mechs!

"These mercs consider us trash. Prove them wrong! Attack these idiotic scouts! As long as we crush them all, we can slip away unnoticed!"

That invigorated the other pirates. The pirate melee mechs surged forward.

Surprisingly, the mercenary light mechs did not veer away! Instead, as the range rapidly closed, their mech pilots each turned a mental dial.

Invisible fields formed around the light skirmishers. The mech pilots hardly felt anything different as their mechs wrapped a protective shield around their minds and the minds of their battle comrades.

With this essential protection in place, the light mech pilots continued to urge their mechs to advance.

Eventually, the two sides came within striking distance!

Shortly before the melee mechs were able to exchange blows, an enormous change took place.

The moment the Ferocious Piranhas came near, every single pirate mech froze or jerked out of control!

Some mechs flung their weapons away as their arms and fingers convulsed.

Other mechs locked up as their mech pilots became completely unresponsive.

Only half-a-dozen mechs managed to avoid the affliction that had overcome the other mechs. Yet even though the pirate commander and some of his oldest veterans managed to stay in control, their minds came under incredible strain!

"AAhhh!"

"What is this!?"

"My meds! Where are my meds!"

The pirate commander felt wild and excited at one moment, only to be doused in ice as a wave of calm forced him out of his high. Before he could even begin to get used to his new state, the wave of aggression came back just a second later!

There wasn't enough time for him to adjust!

"Pull.. back. Retreat. Don't let these mercs get close!"

The pirate ranged mechs overloaded their laser rifles in order to scare off the incoming light mechs. Even if most of their shots missed their marks, their increased rate of fire caused at least some beams to strike the Ferocious Piranhas.

Their attacks had no effect!

The light skirmishers rapidly closed in on the vanguard of the out-of-control mechs. The Ferocious Piranhas rapidly stabbed their daggers in the unprotected backs of their vulnerable targets.

Twelve pirate mechs lost functionality!

If two stabs didn't do the job, then four, six, eight or more attacks would do. Since the pirate mech pilots afflicted by the Ferocious Piranhas glow were unable to focus on piloting their mechs, their machines turned into sitting ducks.

What horrified the pirates even more was that the disabled mech pilots weren't even capable of ejecting their cockpits.

"Noo! Retreat! Don't fight these weird mechs!"

It was too late. The moment the light skirmishers entered their midst, the pirates had already lost their chance.

The light skirmishers split into two. Six Ferocious Piranhas rapidly closed in on the ranged mechs that were taking potshots at them. The other six continued to suppress the disabled pirate mechs until they were able to take their helpless targets down.

The pirate commander and his confidantes no longer thought about saving their buddies. They struggled to pilot their mechs away.

The wily pirates wordlessly split in different directions. In situations like this, grouping up only made it easier for their opponents to mop them up! The pirate commander gritted his teeth.

Even though fleeing in different directions was a good tactic to adopt, it wasn't the right response this time.

"You fools! We could have taken one of these light skirmishers down if we joined hands."

It didn't take a lot of time for the Ferocious Piranhas to mop up all of the disabled mechs. Soon enough, the light skirmishers split up in order to pursue the fleeing pirate mechs.

As the pirates largely made use of shabby-looking medium mechs, there was no hope of outrunning their pursuers.

It only took less than a minute for the Ferocious Piranhas to catch up to their prey!

"If you want to take us down, then you'll have to work for it!" The pirate commander roared!

His swordsman mech no longer flew away. Instead, the mech arced around in order to charge straight at one of the two Ferocious Piranhas on its tail!

"Ack!"

Yet as soon as the pirate commander came close, his mind once again came under the effect of the Ferocious Piranha's glow!

While the pirate mech still closed in for the attack, its movements weren't as fluid as before. The pirate commander's battle effectiveness effectively dropped by 30 percent, which was a huge margin in battle.

The targeted light skirmisher easily dodged the pirate mech's sword strike. As soon as the sword swooped past, the swift light mech boosted forward and struck its daggers deep into the weak points of its target.

Just a second later, the second Ferocious Piranha struck the back with a flurry of stabs, causing the flight system and several other vital systems to lose power!

The pirate commander despaired as his cockpit lost most of its functioning. These new light mechs completely crushed his pirate gang without giving his men any opportunity to show their strength.

"What horrible new mech is this?!"

He was just the first of many mech pilots that fell victim to the latest carnivores of the battlefield!

Chapter 2553: Surprising Counter

The performance of the Ferocious Piranha shocked the mech market!

The Valkyrie Redeemer already proved what a perverse glow was capable of. Now, the third-class mech market received their own version of a mobile mech that could make the lives of their enemies miserable!

Though the LMC uncharacteristically declined to announce the release of the Ferocious Piranha, the LMC's most avid customers all tried out this product.

The results completely surprised them! Against weaker opponents, the Ferocious Piranhas had the power to render them defenseless!

undefinedA lot of pirates, gang members and criminals wailed as the first waves of Ferocious Piranhas easily defeated at least twice their number!

The Ferocious Piranhas were especially deadly against melee mechs. Regardless whether the devilish light skirmishers managed to disable their opponents or not, any enemy mech pilot that managed to retain their wits had to fight under constant pressure.

This meant that even well-trained elites and military mech pilots experienced some problems. If even the Fridaymen mech pilots who had to fight against the Valkyrie mechs on a regular basis couldn't maintain their best condition, how could a bunch of third-class mech pilots fare any better against an even scarier glow?

In the first week of the Ferocious Piranha's release, a lot of footage of one-sided victories quickly flooded the galactic net. Every local mech community went abuzz as they tried to verify the authenticity of the dramatic footage.

"This is impossible! A squad of light mechs can't possibly defeat 37 pirate mechs without suffering any losses. This battle record must be fake!"

"The LMC is going too far with this publicity stunt. How can a single light mech possibly win ten duels in a row? It's completely obvious that the entire sequence is staged."

While a lot of people expressed their incredulity at the unreal battle reports, as time went by the proof kept pouring in. The existing customers of the LMC already possessed a lot of trust towards the unique mech company. As long as their mech rosters had room for some light mechs, they eagerly invested in some Ferocious Piranhas.

The only problem interested buyers encountered was when they learned how much they needed to pay for a single copy.

"Who the hell buys a light mech that is at least five times as expensive as a Desolate Soldier? This is a ripoff!"

"The LMC is getting greedier and greedier. It didn't used to be this way. Anyone who spends 3 million hex credits to buy a single light mech is stupid!"

Despite these comments, plenty of believers in the LMC bit the bullet. Their enduring trust in the company and the brand caused them to believe all of the hype and promises surrounding the Ferocious Piranha model.

"It's like the Doom Guard, but better!"

Many fans of the LMC were already familiar with the Doom Guard's glow. They recognized the value of transplanting that glow in a very swift and agile light mech.

Soon enough, squads and even companies of Ferocious Piranhas started to enter the battlefield. While the effect of superimposing their glows didn't lead to a lot of strengthening, the mechs were able to cover a lot more space!

In one battle, twenty-five Ferocious Piranhas enveloped a group of enemy mechs. The light mechs completely cut off any escape routes.

In another battle, a hidden Ferocious Piranha sneaked up to a derelict space station and slowly made its way over to a group of mechs taking cover behind a fixture.

As soon as the unsuspecting mechs detected an incoming signature from behind, the Ferocious Piranha erupted its glow, paralyzing the enemy mech pilots in place!

The glow of the Ferocious Piranha was a lot more effective when it took the enemy by surprise. As the afflicted mech pilots struggled to regain control over their mechs, the solitary light mech had already closed in and meticulously struck the vulnerable targets until they all lost battle effectiveness!

As the public became increasingly more convinced of Ferocious Piranha's amazing prowess, its sales spiked incredibly quickly. The third-party manufacturers the LMC contracted to produce the mechs simply couldn't keep up with the flood of orders.

The demand for the Ferocious Piranha exceeded that of the Doom Guard when Ves initially presented it to the public. The enthusiasm surrounding the new product had reached an even greater scale as the LMC's subsidiaries in Vicious Mountain and Majestic Teal expanded the mech company's reach into more markets than ever.

Though the LMC's Marketing, Sales, Operations, Production and Relations Departments had become unprecedentedly busy, it was all worth it as an even greater flood of money poured into the company's coffers!

Unlike the affordable Desolate Soldier, the Ferocious Piranha was a premium product sold at a very high price tag.

Even with all of the middlemen taking their cuts, the LMC still received much more money per sale. In the initial month, the beancounters estimated that the Ferocious Piranha model might enrich the LMC by as much as 300 billion hex credits.

In the second month, that figure would probably double to around 600 billion hex credits.

In the third month, the mania surrounding the Ferocious Piranha may boost the LMC's fortunes by up to 1 trillion hex credits!

It was difficult to predict what would happen after that. Many optimists predicted that sales would continue to trend upwards as more and more people wanted to take advantage of the Ferocious Piranha's killer glow.

Other analysts were a bit more cautious. They didn't believe the Ferocious Piranha was allowed to reign supreme on the battlefield.

While the mech was incredibly effective up close, it was not unbeatable.

From the Doom Guard, many people already knew that the shared glow of these two mech models could be resisted.

The easiest way to do that was to force mech pilots to experience the suppressive glows many times.

Frequent exposure to this torturous glow allowed mech pilots to get accustomed to the effects. As long as the mech pilots trained their minds during these sessions, they became more and more capable of maintaining their battle effectiveness in the presence of a Doom Guard or a Ferocious Piranha.

While it might take months of intensive training to strengthen a mech pilot to the point where it was able to fight without losing control, even a couple of days of exposure was already enough to make a difference.

They just had to buy at least a single mech that featured this hellish glow!

"Damn this bloodsucking mech company! Why do they charge so much for a Ferocious Piranha?"

No matter whether someone wanted to buy a Doom Guard or a Ferocious Piranha, they had to hand over at least several million hex credits.

This was a rather hefty price level for most third-raters. In general, the bulk of the private sector made use of more affordable mechs that were generally priced below 1 million hex credits.

Yet no matter how much these reluctant customers cursed the LMC's excessive pricing strategy, they went through with placing their orders.

Even if they had no intention of fielding LMC mechs in battle, they at least had to secure a machine in order to toughen up the minds of their mech pilots!

"If I don't do this, who knows whether my outfit will become history after being assailed by a squad of Ferocious Piranhas."

As the Ferocious Piranha model continued to gain momentum, a lot of people began to demand a counter to the mech.

"We can't let this overpriced light mech take over the mech market. We have to find some way to beat this monster!"

"What about using O-K alloy?"

"Too expensive! Leave this toy to the Fridaymen. I need actual solutions."

Unfortunately, no one found a great answer. They only came up with a couple of obvious ideas.

The Ferocious Piranha inherited the same strengths and weaknesses of every light skirmisher.

This meant that while it was incredibly quick and difficult to strike, once it got hit, it should incur significant damage.

To the regret of many critics, this maxim did not apply as well to a premium mech such as the Ferocious Piranha. However, as long as a large group of ranged mechs opened fire on a group of approaching Ferocious Piranhas, it was not impossible to defeat these nefarious mechs before they were able to get into point-blank range!

In practice, it was not that easy to take the Ferocious Piranhas down in this way. As long as the light mechs came under intensive fire, they were always capable of changing direction and seeking ways to avoid or mitigate the incoming attacks.

"Are you idiots? As long as we are the defenders, we can repel this scourge by deploying striker mechs!"

Striker mechs were the natural counters of light skirmishers. Their potent flamethrowers and shotguns posed a significant threat against any mech with weak armor.

However, the results were not as good as expected.

As one group of mercenaries assailed another group of mercenaries, the defending side suddenly trotted out a handful of shotgun-wielding striker mechs!

"Take this!"

The shotguns unleashed blasts of tiny projectiles that sprayed outward. The cones of projectiles easily collided against the light mechs that attempted to evade the attacks.

Unfortunately, the Ferocious Piranha was not as fragile to these attacks as other light mechs. The striker mechs deployed by the defending side were too cheap. Their weapons hardly dented the frames of the approaching threat!

"Aggh!"

The striker mechs abruptly slowed down once the Ferocious Piranhas got close. The shotguns continued to fire another time, but the mech pilots were unable to keep their aim straight.

Even though their shotguns possessed a lot more potency at closer ranges, the Ferocious Piranhas reigned supreme, which defied common sense!

The striker mechs fell as easily as any other mech that got close to the latest product of the LMC.

"Wait a minute. If we have to buy a striker mech, why not try out the Doom Guard?"

This was an interesting option! Though expensive, the mech shared the same glow.

As mech buyers began to experiment with deploying Doom Guards to defend against Ferocious Piranhas, the results were surprisingly good.

Sure, the Doom Guard was slow. Sure, the Doom Guard was expensive. Sure, the Doom Guard required a strong-willed mech pilot. Yet as long as someone overcame these hurdles, the LMC striker mech proved to be remarkably effective against the Ferocious Piranhas!

First, the Doom Guard's identical glow allowed its owners to exercise the mental resilience of all of their mech pilots.

In battle, friendly mech pilots were able to acclimatize themselves to the Doom Guard's glow, thereby preventing any enemy Ferocious Piranhas from taking them by surprise!

Second, the Doom Guard's premium price delivered premium performance. Its 34F Enison Spreader flamethrower might not have a high range, but it fanned out in an impressively wide area in front of the mech.

No matter how swift and agile the Ferocious Piranha tried to avoid the flames, it was futile against such a powerful flamethrower!

Not only that, but the Enison Spreader also happened to be very lethal as long as any mech was being sprayed. Even the tougher-than-normal Ferocious Piranhas couldn't last very long when doused by a Doom Guard!

The third reason why the Doom Guard performed exceptionally well against the new terror was that its glow was actually effective against the mech pilots of the Ferocious Piranha!

"What? Are you kidding me? I thought the mech pilots of the Ferocious Piranhas were immune to the glows of their own mechs!"

"The rules don't work that way. Not just the Doom Guard, but also the Ferocious Piranha can be used to counter these expensive light skirmishers."

This resulted in a number of very odd confrontations.

The Ferocious Piranha's glow may spare its effects against friendlies, but enemies were fair game!

Therefore, there were some battles where the Ferocious Piranhas of both sides became crippled as their glows acted against each other!

The Ferocious Piranhas didn't offer any mental training opportunities. This meant that the mech pilots of the light skirmishers were just as vulnerable to the glow as the rest!

It was different for the Doom Guard. In order to make use of it, the mech pilot already had to be strong enough to withstand its influence.

For this reason, the mech pilot of the Doom Guard exhibited no changes if enemy Ferocious Piranhas came close.

A lot of expensive light mechs soon started to burn into husks at greater frequencies. Their mech pilots got a taste of their own medicine!

Chapter 2554: Ferocious Impact

The release of the Ferocious Piranha redefined space combat.

This was not an exaggeration. Wherever the mech showed up, both friendlies and enemies had to shift their battle tactics.

Many outfits stubbornly resisted the need for change. They were already accustomed to using mechs developed by their favorite mech designers or sold by their favorite mech companies.

In fact, a fair number of established mercenary corps and security companies entered into favorable long-term contracts with specific mech manufacturers. While they usually weren't penalized for buying mechs from other companies, dedicated customers received generous discounts and extended after-sales support if they stuck to a single provider.

undefinedThe Living Star Club set up by the LMC was hardly unique when it came to capturing customers.

Even without these contracts, there were other reasons for outfits to look away from the Ferocious Piranha.

Larger mech companies always organized their mech models in product groups. These groups consisted of products that were designed to work in unison.

Mechs designed and sold by a single mech company were specifically designed to synergize with each other in battle. They easily covered each other's weaknesses so that every mech could fully exert their strength.

Product groups also brought significant benefits out of battle. The mechs usually shared some of the same materials and components. This simplified the logistics of an outfit as they could easily keep a mech company supplied with a lower stock of spare parts.

The introduction of an expensive mech like the Ferocious Piranha introduced a significant burden to its buyers.

First, the outfits had to fork over a lot of money. The Ferocious Piranha sold for 3 million hex credits.

For a light mech, that was an exorbitant price!

Outfits could have bought five budget mechs or two to three mid-range mechs for the same amount of money.

If customers were short on carrier space, then they could have invested the money in a space knight such as the Aurora Titan with a bit of money to spare.

While mech companies sold many different mech types at every conceivable price level, many consumers assumed that the price of a mech should be proportional to the mass and dimensions of the product.

It was normal to pay more money for bigger and fatter mechs. Their increased volume and surface area meant they carried more protective armor. Since the armor system of a mech was often its most expensive portion, the mech market simply became accustomed to paying more for knight mechs and other well-protected mechs.

The opposite was true for light mechs. They weren't as tall as medium mechs. Their limbs and torsos were also slimmer while their armor plating was at least half as thick. With so much armor shaved off their frames, the cost savings were significant.

Light mechs should be cheaper for this reason!

The mech market's tolerance for expensive light mechs was very low. Light skirmishers that sold for more than 1.5 million hex credits were immediately scorned by most consumers. The only outfits who bought premium light mechs were those who wanted to empower their mech champions or mech officers who happened to be specialized in this swift and agile mech type.

Outside of mech militaries and very large organizations, it made no sense for outfits to assign premium light mechs to their rank-and-file!

Light mechs were usually utilized as scouts, troubleshooters, harassers and flanking units. These roles did not necessarily call for expensive mechs. Cheaper ones usually did the job just as well.

It didn't help that outfits tended to assign light mechs to their least-skilled mech pilots. To them, the quality of their assigned machines hardly affected their performance. Due to their low skill and lack of experience, they weren't capable of making the most out of powerful light mechs.

This was the prevailing paradigm of light mechs in the third-class mech market. While the story was different in the second-class mech market, at the lowest tier light mechs simply couldn't accommodate enough features to make them worthy of greater investment.

The Ferocious Piranha broke this pattern.

Certainly, the new light skirmisher model offered decent performance for its very premium price. Its thin but surprisingly resilient armor system surprised both its pilots and enemies alike by how much damage it was able to resist.

"You get what you pay for! Do you think this mech is truly overpriced? Its armor is the real deal."

While the mech was harder to take down than other light mechs, it cost quite a lot to repair any damage it incurred. Its expensive armor system directly gave its buyers a lot of worries. If they wanted to restore a damaged mech to peak condition, they had to buy or make parts made out of expensive materials, thereby worsening their financial situation.

"It's worth it, though! Repairing a damaged mech is better than trying to salvage a destroyed machine."

As more and more outfits began to employ the Ferocious Piranha, they discovered the benefits of fielding expensive light mechs.

Casualty rates among light mechs was often the highest. While it was not that difficult to figure out that fielding more expensive mechs allowed them to survive longer, many times the cost wasn't worth the gain.

It was different for the Ferocious Piranha. Outside of its premium specs, it also came with a feature that was completely independent from the size of its frame.

The number one reason why so many customers bought this expensive product was for its glow. The advantages it brought were very useful. Not a single outfit hated the glow. The ability to discomfort or outright disable enemy mech pilots irrespective of the mechs they piloted opened up a lot of new options.

Just as with the introduction of the Doom Guard, no longer were large mobs of undisciplined ruffians able to bully smaller outfits at will. Any time a Doom Guard or a Ferocious Piranha showed up, pirates and other scum suffered disproportionate losses!

In fact, in the Hexer half of the Komodo Star Sector, the incidences of pirate attacks had dropped by as much as 10 percent ever since the Doom Guard came onto the scene.

This figure would probably double or triple once the Ferocious Piranha became more ubiquitous!

Unlike the Doom Guard which was only confined to a defensive role, the Ferocious Piranha possessed great offensive potential.

It shouldn't be a surprise to the LMC that its most avid buyers turned out to be the Peacekeeper outfits of the Sentinel Kingdom!

During the Larkinson Clan's stay in the Cinach System, the LMC entrenched itself in the powerful third-rate state. The company not only forged ties with many noble houses and local companies, but also built up its brand.

When the Ferocious Piranha entered the market, the LMC already projected that the Peacekeeper outfits would embrace it. A lot of mech factories started to pump out Ferocious Piranhas straight away, thereby allowing most outfits to obtain at least a couple of copies to integrate into their combat system.

Though it took some time for the Peacekeeper outfits to bring their new purchases to Nyxian Gap, once they did, the results were astounding.

"What is this new mech!?"

"Damn, it's the Ferocious Piranha! Run away!"

The pirate gangs that infested the outer perimeter of the Nyxian Gap experienced the terror of the LMC's new light skirmisher. The mech's mobility allowed it to approach and chase after pirates with great ease. Once its glow enveloped the pirate mechs, the Ferocious Piranha almost always faced an easy fight!

Wreckage Paradise suddenly welcomed a lot of new debris. Peacekeeper outfit after Peacekeeper outfit began to experiment and refine their usage of their latest purchases. The pirates who normally terrorized these lanes each turned into their unwilling punching bags!

It didn't used to be this way. The pirate gangs roaming the outer perimeter usually fared a lot better against the outfits who came from civilized space.

Pirate scouts were always on the lookout for strong Peacekeeper elements. As long as they spotted anything amiss, they quickly packed their bags and fled. Due to all of the asteroids floating inside this region of warped space, it was too easily to shake off any pursuit.

The Doom Guard wasn't able to change this pattern. While its introduction offered a lot more security to the Peacekeepers, it did not give them a lot of options against pirate gangs that tried their best to slip away.

If the Peaekeepers dispatched pursuers in the form of light mechs and fast-moving medium mechs, then these fragile elements might easily encounter a ferocious pirate ambush.

It was too difficult to pursue a fleeing band of pirates!

The Ferocious Piranha changed all of this. As long as an outfit dispatched enough of the new mechs, these light skirmishers were very difficult to ambush. Its disorienting glow was able to act upon a lot of mech pilots, so outnumbering the Ferocious Piranha didn't always work.

Only strong-willed pirate mech pilots were able to resist the glow, but how many of them were actually there? Perhaps the more powerful pirate groups situated closer to the center of the Nyxian Gap might have these rare elites, but the bottom-feeder pirate gangs that were based in the periphery of the Nyxian Gap were not so fortunate!

Stories soon began to circulate about small numbers of Ferocious Piranhas wiping out entire pirate outfits by themselves!

"This is unreal! How can this be? Are the pirates this weak?"

"It's all due to the glow. It's too cancerous!"

The light skirmishers didn't even have to wait for reinforcements in order to defeat the pirates. Their good specs, relatively good armor and killer glow gave them all the tools they needed to upend enemy outfits.

"Damnit, these Ferocious Piranhas are so unfair. Any melee mech that gets close turns into a punching bag to these evil machines."

"Forget about fielding melee mechs. I'm going to get my hands on as many rifleman mechs and striker mechs as possible."

"We need to get our hands on as many Doom Guards as possible! In fact, we need to get some Ferocious Piranhas ourselves!"

As more and more Ferocious Piranhas showed up on the battlefield, the demand for the Doom Guard and this new model continued to skyrocket.

Even pirates were trying to obtain these expensive mechs!

While the LMC and its vendors refused to sell their products to pirates and illicit organizations, that did not stop black market organizations from taking advantage of the situation.

They simply used figureheads to buy the mechs before delivering them to specific pirate customers.

Naturally, these smugglers charged a high markup for their services. Pirates from the Nyxian Gap and elsewhere were bleeding money and valuables due to the need to obtain some LMC mechs.

Any pirate gang that didn't possess a Doom Guard or a Ferocious Piranha was considered vulnerable to the changing patterns of the battlefield.

Either they embraced the change, or became swept by it. There was no middle ground!

The Ferocious Piranha introduced so many problems and solutions that the popularity of this mech model continued to spread even further.

Vicious Mountain and Majestic Teal already embraced the mech. What was truly noteworthy was that some of the more distant star sectors began to utilize the mech at a greater scale as well.

Not even the Winged Serenade Star Sector was left out! Even though the LMC only established some small subsidiaries in the middle of the Yeina Star Cluster, the early adopters were already popularizing the new product at a rapid pace.

Success was crucial here. As the most prosperous and influential star sector of the Yeina Star Cluster, any trends that rose up here quickly spread to the surrounding star sectors.

This caused the LMC to receive an increasing amount of orders from customers who were based in areas where the LMC had yet to enter.

Even other star clusters began to show some interest! The impact of the Ferocious Piranha was simply too great to ignore no matter the distance!

Chapter 2555: Predator Beyond Comparison

The Living Mech Company or simply the LMC became a household name to many people.

Not just the mech community, but also normal people who didn't care anything about mechs learned of the company.

Its products were making an increasing impact on society. Industry, trade, security and other spheres experienced significant changes due to the ripple effects generated by each additional LMC mech.

Starting from the Desolate Soldier model, mechs with different glows sparked a lot of chain reactions. Starting from where the mechs were used, the consequences continued to ripple further until even average people were affected by the mechs designed by the Miracle Couple!

undefinedIn fact, the impact generated by the LMC's commercial mechs was significantly greater than the mechs commissioned by the Hexers.

While the Blessed Squire and the Valkyrie product line changed the course of the Komodo War, the consequences were mainly confined to the Komodo Star Sector. At most, the results of the war would only change how organizations in neighboring star sectors treated the eventual winner.

The greatest limitation of the Blessed Squire and Valkyrie Redeemer models was their narrow appeal. The same properties that made them incredibly attractive to the Hexer people also caused them to be repulsive to every other person.

Who wanted to pilot a mech that was designed to advance the interests of female supremacists?

Who wanted to bask in the glow of a mech that made women crazy and men feel inadequate?

No matter how much the second-rate states in the Yeina Star Cluster wanted to make use of the two models, they simply couldn't.

Certainly, people tried. With the Hegemony's mech industry ramping up production of the two LMC mech models, it was relatively easy for foreign intelligence operatives to smuggle a handful of mechs. The Hex Army hardly noticed if half-a-dozen copies went missing for some reason.

Stealing the design schematics was even better. No matter how much the Hex Army tried to keep the schematics hidden, it was impossible to lock them in the toughest safes considering that a lot of mech companies needed them to produce the mechs.

Yet even after the spies succeeded in their mission, the people who received them still couldn't make good use of the stolen schematics.

So what if they could reproduce the Blessed Squire and Valkyrie Redeemer?

If the foreign organizations from Vicious Mountain or Majestic Teal faithfully fabricated a mech according to the schematics, all they ended up with was a Hexer mech that came with a glow that repelled every non-Hexer!

Yet that wasn't the real reason why these foreign powers wanted to steal the design schematics.

Their actual purpose was to modify them in order to develop a variant that could be harnessed by their own mech pilots.

Unfortunately, the mech designers who secretly tried to adapt the Blessed Squire and Valkyrie Redeemer designs encountered some very familiar problems.

A lot of mech designers had already licensed every popular commercial mech design from the LMC. No matter if it was the Desolate Soldier, the Doom Guard or the Ferocious Piranha, any substantial modification practically ruined their glow!

What was even more frustrating was that no mech designer was able to change the properties of the glows. Other than weakening them, there was no other way to transform them into other forms!

This meant every attempt to make the Blessed Squire and Valkyrie Redeemer designs more universal yielded no useful results.

Stripping the designs of their glows was pointless. They merely turned into generic Journeyman-level mech designs. Any Senior or Master could design something comparable in their spare time.

After a lot of fruitless efforts, the mech designers who were tasked with reverse-engineering any LMC mech design gave up their efforts.

"This design philosophy is too opaque. I don't understand any of the principles behind its mechanisms!"

A lot of mech designers had already learned this lesson, but there were plenty more who needed to experience failure in person before they threw in the towel.

Due to the inability to develop third-party variants for any LMC mechs, the increasingly more popular Ferocious Piranha remained an outlier among other bestsellers.

Usually, mechs that sold really well almost always had to compete against variants developed by competing mech designers.

Yet the products of the LMC continued to be an exception to this rule. Even though plenty of mech designers and mech companies recognized the huge profit potential of the Ferocious Piranha, their inability to retain its valuable glow in a different variant ruined their schemes.

"Why hasn't anyone come up with a cheaper variant of the Ferocious Piranha? I can't afford to pay so much for a light mech!"

"These damn profiteers! Is the mech industry colluding against us? This mech costs as much as an old starship."

Complaints about the Ferocious Piranha's excessively high price continued to flood the LMC. The lack of cheaper variants that retained the same functionality as the base model exacerbated the public criticism towards the mech company.

The company's reputation actually incurred significant damage due to this controversy!

Too many outfits were pressured into buying LMC products. They really didn't want to spend so much money on a mech they originally didn't plan to buy, but because they needed an answer against enemy glows, they had no choice but to change their buying patterns.

Even though the mech market began to regard the LMC as a villain for sparking so many undesirable changes, the company continued to sell its mechs without interruption.

This was the true value of holding a monopoly. The mech company would have never been able to get away with charging so much money for its products if there were other competitors.

While there were many different mech models that offered great value to their customers, none of them were able to do what LMC mechs could do. As long as glows remained exclusive to the mech company, mech buyers simply couldn't take their business elsewhere.

As the grumbling surrounding the Ferocious Piranha continued to dog the LMC, the new mech model also sparked some positive outcomes.

Its value and capabilities were already amazing with normal usage. Yet the Ferocious Piranha along with every other LMC mech began to showcase a different benefit.

With hundreds of thousands of Ferocious Piranhas already circulating in the mech market, all kinds of people and personalities piloted them in battle.

Many mech owners already discovered that the personality and inclination of a mech pilot largely determined their compatibility to a specific mech.

Those who were more dutiful and honorable meshed well with a Desolate Soldier.

Those who were strong-minded and steady in mind were considerably more suited to pilot the Doom Guard.

The Ferocious Piranha welcomed a wide variety of mech pilots, but those who were aggressive and foolhardy tended to be especially compatible with them. It took a lot of guts to pilot any light skirmisher, let alone a light mech that was often outnumbered on the battlefield!

In the outskirts of the Vicious Mountain Star Sector, a local mercenary corps called the Quasar Dwellers assigned to guard an asteroid mining operation suddenly came under attack!

A rival of their employer had hired another band of mercenaries to attack the mining operation.

Even though both sides employed upright mercenary corps under the auspices of the Mercenary Association, the combatants did not hold back in their attacks.

These kinds of situations were very common in human space!

In general, mercenaries had to uphold their promises to their employers. This was the criteria they were judged upon. No matter the identities of their opponents, they had to make a sincere effort in fulfilling their mission!

"It's the Shell Bombers! They're too well-prepared!"

The Shell Bomber Mercenary Corps under the lead of Commander Pearson possessed a notorious reputation in the local region.

As their name suggested, the Shell Bombers developed a penchant for deploying lots of destructive ranged mechs. Employers who wanted something wrecked often turned to them as they were some of the best outfits when it came to wrecking industrial operations.

Right now, the Shell Bombers that showed up in the distance did not come closer. Instead, their units maintained positions as their cannoneer mechs unleashed large volleys of explosive shells at the mining vessels and facilities protected by the Quasar Dwellers.

"Close in! Don't let these Shell Bombers attack us with impunity."

Commander Rita Valson had no choice but to send out most of her mechs to attack the Shell Bomber mechs.

Fortunately, the Quasar Dwellers splurged on three very expensive Ferocious Piranhas.

The new light skirmishers grouped up with a number of other light mechs and advanced ahead of the other Quasar Dweller mechs.

Using the asteroids as cover, the light mech squad were able to avoid much of the attacks of the Shell Bombers.

Yet just as they came close enough to charge straight at their enemies, a large number of other mechs flew out. These other mechs had cleverly hidden themselves behind other asteroids!

The new mechs boasted different colors from the Shell Bombers. It became clear that they belonged to a separate outfit.

"It's the J Warriors!"

While their name sounded a bit unusual, the J Warriors were just as notorious as the Shell Bombers. The J Warriors excelled in close to mid range combat and often accepted raiding missions.

Now that they paired up with the Shell Bombers, the Quasar Dwellers realized that they were completely outmatched.

"Retreat!" Commander Rita Valson commanded. "We can't win this fight! Pull back and buy the mining vessels some time to evacuate. If these enemy mercs don't want too much damage, they won't go after the evacuees!"

"We can't!"

Unfortunately, the Quasar Dweller light mechs had gone too deep! The J Warrior mechs surrounded them from three directions and began to pepper them with fire from all sides.

The Ferocious Piranhas attempted to do something about it, but the J Warriors weren't ignorant of their threat. The attackers had adopted a very wide dispersed formation. Even if the Ferocious Piranha was able to catch a couple of enemies with its glow, the majority of other J Warriors remained unaffected!

"They've come prepared." Elmer Conta gritted his teeth as he desperately attempted to turn this situation around with his new mech. "We can't break through!"

His Ferocious Piranha became trapped in a jar. The J Warriors may not have deployed any LMC mechs, but the tactics they adopted were still effective against this latest terror.

If the Quasar Dwellers had deployed more copies of this mech model, then their enemies might not be able to pull off this tactic. Yet because they were only able to afford three Ferocious Piranhas, the J Warriors gained the upper hand.

"Dion!" Elmer shouted.

To his horror, one of the other Ferocious Piranhas succumbed after being focused on by the ranged mechs of both the J Warriors and the Shell Bombers.

No matter how well the Ferocious Piranha was able to dodge attacks, it was impossible to remain untouched after being focused upon by over fifty guns.

As the enemy mechs focused their fire on a second Ferocious Piranha, Elmer began to feel more distressed.

Even though his Ferocious Piranha managed to close in on a couple of J Warrior mechs before taking them out, it wasn't enough.

Defeat loomed closer than ever. As the second Ferocious Piranha broke up under all of the concentrated attacks, something finally snapped within Elmer.

"The Quasar Dwellers shall not fall today!"

The final surviving Ferocious Piranha began to shake and glow all of a sudden! As Elmer Conta's will solidified, his mech shakily began to exhibit a resonance field that happened to resist many of incoming attacks!

"Someone just broke through!"

"What?!"

"It's an expert candidate!"

The Ferocious Piranha immediately gained speed out of nowhere. It advanced onto the J Warrior mechs with much more aggression than before.

With just a couple of stabs, every mech targeted by the Ferocious Piranha fell in battle. With the power of an expert mech, the mech piloted by someone who had just broken through turned into a predator beyond comparison!

Chapter 2556: Josephine Isa

Elmer Conta's breakthrough was but the first of several mech pilots who broke through while piloting the Ferocious Piranha.

In fact, he wasn't the first customer to break through while piloting an LMC mech.

Under desperate circumstances, numerous mech pilots of the Desolate Soldier, Doom Guard, Blessed Squire and Valkyrie Redeemer broke through as well!

Those who tracked these breakthroughs tried to figure out whether the LMC mechs produced more of them than normal. Interest in this study grew a lot greater after the Larkinson Clan welcomed a lot of new expert pilots and expert candidates after its adventure in the Nyxian Gap.

undefinedWere LMC mechs truly capable of producing more expert candidates and expert pilots?

So far, the results were inconclusive. Compared to the mech pilots of other mechs, those who piloted mechs such as the Desolate Soldier and Ferocious Piranha possessed roughly the same chance of breaking through. There was no statistical advantage to advancing in rank when piloting LMC mechs.

This result disappointed a lot of people who were interested in gaining more expert pilots.

No one was more disappointed in these results than the Hexers. With the Friday Coalition gaining more and more momentum with the help of foreign expert pilots, it became more important than ever for the Hexers to obtain more expert pilots.

At this point in the Komodo War, dozens of Valkyrie Redeemer mech pilots managed to advance. This was not a remarkable figure in itself. Expert candidates showed up every once in a while. Since the Hex Army began to field millions of Valkyrie mechs, it was a given that expert candidates would show up shortly after its release.

The true test was whether these expert candidates managed to advance expert pilots.

Until that happened, these expert candidates were only a bit more skilled than their regular counterparts. Outside of their breakthroughs, they were unable to evoke any resonating abilities. There was no point for them to pilot expert mechs.

This meant that many of the expert candidates who broke through while piloting an LMC mech continued to utilize the same machine.

Unknowingly, these expert candidates developed deeper bonds with the mechs that facilitated their breakthroughs. Their mechs had become more alive and they fed back more benefits to their designated pilots.

Many expert candidates progressed faster than usual for this reason.

Even without this hidden interaction, other expert candidates began to pilot LMC mechs as well.

In the Komodo War, the most expensive variant of the Valkyrie Redeemer began to show up in greater numbers.

The incredibly expensive Valkyrie Brunhild soared onto battlefields at the head of a larger formation of Valkyrie mechs!

In space, a Valkyrie Brunhild piloted by a Hexer expert candidate charged forward. Hundreds of Valkyrie Interceptors fired their light pulse carbines at a distant group of Sundered Phalanx mechs.

The mechs of the Gauge Dynasty fired back with a barrage of rifles and cannons. If there was one lesson the Fridaymen had learned, it was that it was best to take out the Valkyrie mechs at a distance!

The ranged capabilities of the LMC Hexer mechs was not as good as its close combat capabilities. The light rifles wielded by the Valkyrie mechs failed to pose a serious threat against the Sunderers.

Josephine Isa, the expert candidate who piloted the Valkyrie Brunhild, knew that harassing the enemy from afar wouldn't do much. The Sunderer mechs were too well-protected!

"Prepare to charge!" The mech commander in charge shouted.

Acting in coordination with other Hexer elements, the Valkyrie mechs began to ready their spears and shields while accelerating forward.

Their targets immediately knew what the Hexers intended. No one participating in the Komodo War was ignorant of how the Valkyrie mechs fought.

If the Sundered Phalanx mechs consisted of lighter and more mobile elements, then they would have withdrawn by now. This was not the case. The assault mechs all boasted enough armor to shrug off the ranged attacks of the Valkyrie mechs, but that also meant they couldn't outrun their opponents.

If the Hexers wanted to force a confrontation, then the Fridaymen had no choice but to accept the challenge!

The Sundered Phalanx mechs began to adopt a different formation. They deepened it so that the charging Valkyrie mechs were only able to attack the front half. Through trial and error, the Fridaymen managed to learn that as long as they kept enough mechs unaffected from the initial charge, they were able to counterattack with greater success.

Even through the Hexer mech pilots witnessed the changes, they did not abort their charge.

"These inferior Fridaymen are too weak. Don't be intimidated, sisters!"

The Fridaymen ranged mechs poured a lot of firepower at the incoming mechs. Ever since the Valkyrie Redeemer and its variants became more ubiquitous, the Fridaymen deployed more ranged mechs in order to whittle them down.

The casualties among the Valkyrie Interceptors quickly shot up! The enemy ranged mechs wielded weapons that were much better equipped to pierce through the armor of the charging machines.

This was one of the shortcomings of Valkyrie mechs! Their armor plating was not as thick as that of other medium mechs. While the materials that made up their armor system were quite valuable, the enemy wasn't weak.

Unlike the situation facing the Ferocious Piranhas, the Valkyrie mechs never fought against inferior opponents!

Whether it was the Fortune Legion, the Oni Guard or the Sundered Phalanx, every Coalition military organization fielded military-grade mechs that were just as powerful as the mechs fielded by the Hex Army.

Due to this relative parity, the armor of the Valkyrie mechs only lasted for a short time against concentrated attacks.

Dozens of Valkyrie mechs fell in rapid succession! More were incurring serious damage.

Even the Valkyrie Brunhild began to attract a lot of fire!

"Haha!" Josephine Isa laughed. "Fire at me all you want. My mech can take much more of a beating than you think!"

The Valkyrie Brunhild's thicker and larger shield silently shook as gauss rounds and laser beams continued to impact on its surface. Yet despite all of this firepower, the shield hardly deformed under all of the impacts!

This was the power of a mech that cost 1.6 billion hex credits to produce. The Valkyrie Brunhild was considerably closer to an expert mech than a standard mech in this regard.

Even with some errant projectiles impacting the unshielded sections of the Valkyrie Brunhild, Josephine hardly took notice of these incidental attacks.

As the Valkyrie Interceptors closed in on the prepared Sundered Phalanx formation, the mechs finally initiated their Mark For Death abilities.

Beams of ominous light shone from the third eyes on their foreheads and struck some of the melee mechs positioned up front.

No matter how much the melee mechs tried to dodge and evade the light beams, they were unable to shake off the locks!

"Ahhh! I will not bend! Your Superior Mother can't put me down!"

While a number of Sundered Phalanx mech pilots became immersed with visions of death, most of them were strong enough to retain their focus.

Weeks after the Valkyrie Redeemer terrorized the Fridaymen, various institutions within the Coalition sought solutions posed by this new Hexer mech model.

While some came in the form of counters, others advocated for other means.

The Gauge Dynasty opted to train the mental strength of its mech pilots through special means. While the Sundered Phalanx mech pilots weren't able to shrug off the glows projected by the Valkyrie Interceptors, they managed to maintain a bit more battle effectiveness than in the past.

Even if they lost control for whatever reason, the AIs embedded in their mechs would automatically take control!

The Hexer mech pilots who drove their Valkyrie mechs forth were already aware of this. However, they still had to fight. The Hex Army had to slow down and stall the Fridaymen as much as possible.

As the leading edge of the Valkyrie Interceptor formation was about to collide with their foes, a single shining mech appeared in the front of the Sundered Phalanx mechs.

Josephine Isa's eyes widened.

The axe-wielding mech that had previously hidden behind a pair of sturdy space knights was surrounded by two different fields.

One of them was an energy shield. Every powerful mech incorporated one. Even the Valkyrie Brunhild possessed a shield generator, though its capacity wasn't as impressive due to its compact size.

The axeman mech did not suffer from this problem. Larger and bulkier than the Valkyrie Brunhild, the remarkable Fridayman mech boasted far more protection.

What was truly remarkable about the enemy mech was that it was surrounded by a resonance shield!

"Damn, it's an expert mech!"

Though more and more Hexer mech pilots recognized the threat, it was too late for them to pull back. Due to all of their forward momentum, it was impossible for the Valkyrie mechs turn away or reverse their course!

"Continue the attack!" The Hexer commander ordered. "Charge forth and punch through the other side. This is the only way for us to survive this battle!"

Seconds later, the two sides collide against each other!

The Valkyrie Interceptors not only widened their glows when they came close, but also released disorienting pulses the moment their spears hit their targets.

Almost a hundred Fridaymen mechs became impaled!

However, hundreds more enemy mechs were spared from the attack. The Sundered Phalanx mechs immediately launched their counterattack.

As the Valkyrie Interceptors fought hard to disentangle themselves from their opponents, the enemy expert mech began to tear into their midst!

Every axe blow downed another Hexer mech. The expert mech exhibited surprising speed despite wielding a hefty weapon. In the span of thirty seconds, the powerful melee mech already demolished twenty Hexer mechs.

What was even more alarming to the Hexers was that the enemy expert mech carved a path straight towards Josephine's mech!

As the Valkyrie Brunhild dispatched a pair of Sunderer offensive mechs in question succession, Josephine tried to suppress her panic as she saw the powerful mech approach.

As more and more Valkyrie mechs were cut in half or swatted away like flies, the Hexer expert candidate strangely came under a fatalistic mood.

Expert candidates stood no chance against expert pilots. This was especially the case when the latter piloted an expert mech.

Though Josephine recognized her impending death, her fury against the Fridaymen intensified.

If the enemy expert mech wasn't here, she and her fellow Hexers might have been able to survive. Yet because of this single variable, most of her battle comrades would likely meet their deaths today!

"NO!" She roared. "Death is not in your control! Only I decide who shall live and die!"

To the surprise of everyone, the Valkyrie Brunhild began to show a large amount of activity!

The mech began to glow and a field began to form around it. This was the tell-tale sign that Josephine Isa successfully advanced to expert pilot!

Unnoticed by anyone, the glow of the mech, which was actually weaker than that of the base model, grew considerably.

Yet for some reason, Josephine felt the changes in her mech. A grand and powerful presence seemed to touch her mind as she underwent apotheosis.

"The Superior Mother." She whispered.

The Supreme seemed to impart a blessing to Josephine. Not only that, but the Superior Mother's glow seemed to harmonize with her newfound strength.

With the strength of her breakthrough, the Valkyrie Brunhild charged forth and slammed against the enemy expert mech!

Shields collided and broke as the Valkyrie Brunhild fought like a woman possessed against the strongest Fridaymen threat. Due to the short-term advantages granted by the breakthrough, Venerable Josephine was able to exert much more strength than the enemy mech!

As her overpowering force of will resonated with her Valkyrie Brunhild, some of her empowered will began to touch the hidden portion of the mech.

The spiritual foundation as well as the design spirit resonated with Venerable Josephine's desire to slay her opponent.

The third eye of her mech, which was already glowing at its brightest, suddenly projected a solid beam of light onto the enemy expert mech!

The axe-wielding machine seemed to pause and slow for a moment as its expert pilot experienced a feeling of doom that was stronger than he had ever felt!

At this rare and exceptional moment, it was if he was being stared at by the Superior Mother up close!

This brief pause did not escape Venerable Josephine's attention. Her Valkyrie Brunhild charged forth and thrust its glowing spear through the lower torso of the Fridayman mech!

The speartip pierced through the armor but failed to inflict too much damage. However, the attack destabilized the axeman mech long enough to generate another opening.

With a rapid maneuver, the Valkyrie Brunhild reached the flank of the axeman mech before launching a powerful blow against the flight system of its target!

Several components shattered! Shards spread out from the back of the expert mech as its mobility became impaired!

Unable to turn around as quickly as before, Venerable Josephine channeled her entire will and conviction in her final blow.

"I SENTENCE YOU TO DEATH!"

For a brief moment, the Valkyrie Brunhild shone brighter than ever! A faint but enormous shadow of a woman seemed to surround the Hexer mech as it thrust its shining spear straight through the back of the expert mech.

Even though the rear armor of Josephine's target was very tough, the Valkyrie Brunhild's spear punched through the expert mech as if the weapon was blessed!

The expert mech was beaten!

As the Valkyrie Brunhild began to lose its resonance field, the mech withdrew its spear.

Every mech surrounding duel had frozen. Both the Fridaymen and Hexers were shocked at what had occurred.

The Valkyrie Brunhild suddenly raised its spear in victory!

"The Superior Mother is with us!"

The surrounding Fridaymen mech pilots despaired.

Chapter 2557: Guiding Principles

With the increasing proliferation of LMC mechs, more and more expert candidates and expert pilots emerged from those who utilized the machines.

Their breakthroughs were different from that of other people.

Elmer Conta, Josephine Isa and many other warriors were shaped by the mechs they piloted.

In the mech community, everyone knew that a lot of factors determined the extraordinary character of a high-ranking mech pilot.

undefinedTheir parents, their upbringing, their education, their work environment, their friends, their colleagues and their individual views all influenced their guiding principles.

While state militaries invested a considerable amount of effort into steering the views of their expert candidates and expert pilots, they were only able to shape them within a broad range of ideologies.

For example, it was easy enough for the Friday Coalition or the Hexadric Hegemony to prevent their future expert pilots from developing any sympathy towards their enemies or turning against their own state.

Yet that still left a lot of options. How these mech pilots eventually developed was largely out of anyone's control. Not even the mech pilots themselves could consciously choose their own convictions.

Mech pilots derived strength from their hearts, not their minds. The former was a lot harder to control than the latter.

Fortunately, their specialization and the mechs they piloted exerted a moderate influence in the formation of their guiding principles.

Knight mech pilots tended to dedicate themselves to protecting others. Light skirmisher pilots leaned towards attaining greater speed. Lancer mechs often strove to exceed their attack power.

Yet even then, there was a lot of variance in how they ended up exactly.

For example, Venerable Tusa Billingsley-Larkinson was a light mech specialist. It would have been normal if his force of will was dedicated towards pursuing greater speeds or assassinating the most powerful mechs.

Instead, his force of will strayed towards an unusual direction. Venerable Tusa longed for freedom, both literal and figurative. While he was fine with staying in the Larkinson Clan, he was not as attached to it as other Larkinsons.

This was why Ves knew he had to offer solid benefits to Tusa in order to keep him in the clan.

Naturally, Ves hated expert pilots like Venerable Tusa. He also hated sanctimonious, self-righteous expert pilots like Venerable Jannzi. Both of them developed force of wills that were oriented around principles that weren't entirely compatible with what Ves had in mind.

It would have been great if Ves was able to shape their progression in a more harmless direction.

This was why Ves took in the news conveyed by Gavin very seriously.

"Are you certain about this news, Benny? I have never heard of mechs that were able to produce expert candidates and expert pilots with such a high degree of uniformity."

His assistant nodded. "While we are still in the process of gathering more data, the details of the known cases are very clear. When mech pilots break through while piloting our products, their guiding principles largely align with their mechs to a much greater degree than usual.

Gavin transmitted a report to Ves. It contained all of the cases that the LMC was aware of and performed some analyses in order to prove or disprove some relationships.

What immediately stood out was that out of the hundreds, many of them embodied their mechs.

"Since the Desolate Soldier is our oldest bestseller, the data on its mech pilots is very rigorous." Gavin explained. "Over the past couple of years, we have surveyed hundreds of mech pilots who have broken through while piloting this machine. Over half of them live and breathe duty. Whenever they pilot a Desolate Soldier, their immersion in their mechs shoot up and they are able to harness the glows of their mechs to a remarkably finer degree than ordinary mech pilots."

Ves let out a rueful smile. "That sounds useful, but only if their mechs can keep up with their strength. A budget rifleman mech model like the Desolate Soldier is only fit for cannon fodder. It is completely inappropriate to assign an expert candidate or expert pilot to such a flimsy machine."

The value of an expert candidate far surpassed that of a single Desolate Soldier!

The value of an expert pilot was even greater!

It made no sense for them to continue to pilot the Desolate Soldier despite their amazing compatibility with this trust old mech model. It was simply too weak to keep up with their newfound strength.

According to the report, every Desolate Soldier pilot who broke through were no longer allowed to pilot their old mechs. Their superiors assigned higher-quality mechs to them so that they could express much more skill.

While all of this made sense, it was a pity to the mech pilots. Without piloting the LMC mechs that shaped their convictions, Ves didn't know how many benefits they were missing.

This was why only regular mech pilots broke through while piloting the Desolate Soldier. No one was willing to allow valuable expert candidates to pilot a fragile mech. It was not that difficult for enemy mechs to breach the cockpit of a Desolate Soldier!

For a long time, the LMC lacked enough data on breakthroughs of expert candidates to expert pilots. Too few employers were willing to let their precious expert candidates pilot a regular commercial mech.

"That has changed as our products became more popular." Gavin noted. "In the last half year, we have begun to output newer mech models. Your Hexer commissions are especially noteworthy. Even though it has only been a short time since the Hex Army embraced the Valkyrie Redeemer and its variants, the early data paints a surprising trend."

Ves continued to read through the report and eventually arrived at the incidents of expert candidates breaking through to expert pilots.

With excellent LMC mechs such as the Valkyrie Avenger and the Valkyrie Brunhild, the Hex Army wasn't shy about letting their precious expert candidates pilot these superior variants.

When some of the first Hexer expert candidates finally broke through while piloting these Valkyrie mechs, the outcome was very shocking.

Almost each and every expert pilot aligned with the Valkyrie mechs!

While the sample size was very small, the fact that every expert pilot dedicated their hearts and souls to the Superior Mother was very extreme.

Not just that, but the new expert pilots also became aligned with the death phase of existence. This caused them to utilize the glows and triggered abilities of their Valkyrie mechs to a much greater degree!

Unfortunately, these new Hexer expert pilots faced a common problem shared by every LMC mech pilot.

They outgrew their mechs.

"The Hex Army is in the process of arranging expert mechs for them. Without a machine that can resonate with them, the new expert pilots don't stand a chance against their Fridayman equivalent."

"What happens to their older machines?"

"Their Valkyrie mechs are reassigned to other Hexer mech pilots."

"Try and keep an eye on what happens to the new recipients of these mechs." Ves commanded.

"That's going to be difficult, boss. The Hexers are only sending us a limited amount of data that they think is necessary to design better Hexer mechs. It's a bit difficult to justify why we need these specific data points."

Ves frowned. "I see. Well, just find a way without giving too much information away. It's quite important for me to see how these specific mechs interact with their new pilots."

According to his theories, every Valkyrie mech that hosted a mech pilot that managed to advance should have received a lot of high-quality spiritual feedback. This meant that their spiritual foundations might have been enhanced to the point of reaching the cap of 25 Ves.

This was a rather low level of saturation, but Ves was still interested in how other Hexer mech pilots fared in these machines.

His thoughts went back to the expert candidates and expert pilots that were shaped by their LMC mechs.

He wasn't the only one who pondered over this issue.

"We might be attracting a lot more attention soon." Gavin warned. "Previously, there wasn't enough data to make any solid guesses, but it's different now. There is enough data to infer some patterns. The Hegemony and an increasing number of customers are inquiring about how LMC mechs are able to shape the orientation of high-ranking mech pilots."

Ves attempted to puzzle out why his mechs produced this pattern.

It didn't take much effort to develop another hypothesis.

Each LMC mech contained two vital spiritual elements that allowed them to stand out from the competition.

The spiritual foundation formed the root of their identity and character. While mechs designed and made by other people were able to gain a spiritual foundation as well, they were usually muddled due to lack of focus.

Due to his design philosophy, Ves consciously cultivated the spiritual foundation of his mechs. Their foundation grew stronger and purer than the products of other mech designers.

This was the most essential quality of his products. Even though a strong spiritual foundation did not necessarily do very much by itself, it breathed a lot of life in his products. It also made for excellent building blocks that Ves could shape into spiritual constructs.

The second spiritual element was the design spirit. Though it was an external property instead of an internal one, the design spirit was responsible for bestowing his products with their most defining property, their glow.

Glows acted on the minds of people in a passive but irresistible way. Unlike other spiritual interactions, glows were a manifestation of auras. As Ves utilized it more in his products, he began to develop some theories why they worked so well on mech pilots when other spiritual attacks had to pass through the man-machine connection.

One of his more radical theories was that mechs were just as susceptible to glows as living entities. Therefore, a glow acting on both the man and machine would not provide much inherent advantages.

Another theory he developed stated that glows were not active phenomena. Instead, the interaction happened in reverse.

In other words, powerful spiritual entities such as the Golden Cat did not actively output energy. What happened instead was that mech pilots and other living entities possessed an intrinsic sense of beings of greater power.

This meant that a glow could not be blocked unless the mech pilot in question developed a method to halt this instinctive spiritual sensing ability!

While Ves favored this theory, he had no proof to back it up. He could only leave it in the growing pile of other unconfirmed ideas.

In any case, understanding the spiritual nature of his products gave Ves a framework that was able to explain the phenomena described by his personal assistant.

Of course, he couldn't expose too many sensitive details. In order to keep his trade secrets secure, Ves spun out a vague story.

"Our living mechs are different." He confidently grinned as he leaned back on his floating office chair. "Every other mech piloted by someone who has broken through is as dead as a piece of rock. From my own understanding of breakthroughs, these remarkable events are very mysterious. Expert candidates and expert pilots are not just shaped by their own beliefs, but also the mechs they are interfacing with. An ordinary mech might not be able to react to their breakthroughs, but that does not necessarily apply to living mechs. I can't say anything further than that as I have not performed any in-depth studies on this topic. Anyway, these are my thoughts. Please convey them to the Hex Army and any other curious customer."

"Will do, boss. I don't think that will stop them from asking other questions."

Ves dismissively waved his hand. "Just tell them that this is a confidential matter. Master Moira Willix of the MTA is already investigating this phenomenon in greater detail."

"Okay. That works I guess."

The best part about this excuse was that it was probably true. Master Willix was so interested in his design philosophy that she never passed up on an opportunity to gather more unusual data related to his products.

As Ves dealt with this issue, he began to think about how he should make use of what he learned. If LMC mechs truly exerted a powerful influence on the progression of mech pilots, what did that mean for the Larkinson Clan?

Chapter 2558: Nurturing Mech Pilots

When Gavin finally finished his daily report, he departed the stateroom, leaving Ves alone with Lucky and his bodyguard.

His cat was currently dozing off on his desk. The mechanical cat had been growing lazy lately.

Ves grew a little irritated. He tapped his cat on his head.

"Meow?"

undefined"Aren't you forgetting something, buddy?"

"Meow meow." Lucky innocently blinked.

"When was the last time you paid your rent?"

"Meow?"

"Don't act stupid in front of me." Ves grumbled at his cat. "Your diet is a lot better than before. Do you know why? It's because of all of the mechs I've designed! Do you think that all of the time and effort I've invested in my work is all for the sake of keeping you fat and happy?"

"Meow meow meow!"

"Don't give me that! It's been many months since you did anything useful. Ever since you passed the so-called Antithesis Essence gems to me, your rear end has gone remarkably silent. That seems rather strange to me since the quality and quantity of your daily meals has tripled. There's a reason for that, you know! I'm not feeding you all of those yummy medium-grade exotics for free. I'm expecting a return on my investment!"

Sadly, his cat remained unsympathetic towards his expectations. Lucky flippantly swished his tail and phased through the desktop.

"Hey, don't get away from me! Explain yourself!"

The gem cat had run away. Ves scowled. The cost of keeping Lucky sated this past month amounted to over a billion hex credits. He paid for the exotics because he expected to obtain some good gems.

He would have been a lot more reluctant to do so while he still remained inside the Nyxian Gap. The strange environment somehow caused Lucky to produce a lot of weird gems such as the Minor Chaos Remnant and the Unstable Chaos Essence gems.

Their exact uses were unclear to Ves. While he had utilized them to create spiritual explosions and to empower his wedding bands, he did not believe that was the extent of their use. What would happen if he embedded them into a mech?

"I'll have to try that out once I get the opportunity." He muttered.

It was too wasteful to employ his gems onto ordinary mechs. Sadly, his recent attempts to make a masterwork mech had all ended in failure. He wasn't developing any expert mechs either so that ruled out another good opportunity to utilize his gems.

Of course, just because he couldn't use up his existing gems didn't mean he was content with what he had. He possessed an excess of weird chaos gems but retained very few gems with normal effects.

He briefly retrieved his pouch and inspected his current stash.

"Only three, huh? That's way too few."

[Maiden's Affection]

The desire of an ancient maiden is locked within this gem. Increases the attraction of a mech by 40 percent to females.

[Bastet's Whisper]

The echoing whisper of a feline patron can be found within this gem. Enhances the acceleration of a tiger mech by 30 percent.

[Whipping Boy]

The fear of a boy towards women is encapsulated within this cursed gem. Increases the dread of a mech by 50 percent to males.

His face distorted when he observed the third gem. The Whipping Boy disgusted him. He wanted nothing more than to throw it away, but that was far too wasteful. He could not bring himself to miss out on a potential payoff.

"Ugh, forget about it. I'll just reserve this gem on a mech I don't care about." He muttered and put back all of his gems.

He returned his attention to the report he received. He reread the document and analyzed the data in greater detail.

"Why does this data differ from what I've observed of my own expert pilots?"

It wasn't hard for him to figure out some answers.

For one, not all of them piloted LMC mechs. Sure, Ves customized a number of Bright Warrior mechs for them. However, the mech model's spiritual character was fairly vague compared to his other mechs. With Goldie as its design spirit, the Bright Warrior's glow was not as focused as the glows of his other mechs.

To be honest, Ves mainly intended Goldie to serve as the guardian spirit of the Larkinson Clan. He did not want her character to be too centered around specific traits such as aggression or protectiveness. Her main role was to foster greater loyalty and affection towards the clan.

While these traits made Goldie compatible with pretty much every clansman, they did not steer anyone towards a specific outlook or fighting style.

It made sense to pair her with a versatile mech like the Bright Warrior. Yet her lack of defining strengths also meant that any expert candidates or expert pilots that emerged while piloting Bright Warriors tended to develop in scattered directions.

Ves examined his expert pilots one by one.

"Venerable Jannzi, Venerable Orfan and Venerable Dise are special cases."

Each of them developed special bonds with Qilanxo, causing them to slant towards protection.

However, the influence of defense-oriented design spirit was not able to override their inclinations.

From what he could tell, Venerable Jannzi best embodied what Qilanxo stood for. A very strong factor in her development was the mech that had accompanied her throughout her rise.

The Shield of Samar started off as the first production copy of the Aurora Titan. However, through constant spiritual and physical upgrades, it grew into something more.

Nonetheless, the Shield of Samar still stayed true to its origin. The Aurora Titan design defined this custom mech and also shaped Jannzi's development as an expert pilot.

A weird expression suddenly appeared on his face.

"Compared to my other products, the Aurora Titan is singularly focused on defense."

He envisioned a space knight focused on extreme defense when he initially designed the Aurora Titan. He did not hesitate to compromise every other trait in order to squeeze more defensive power out of this mech.

This was very rare!

Most mechs had to possess at least some rounded capabilities. Without mobility, how would it be able to move? Without offensive power, how would it be able to threaten opponents?

It was just that Ves paid less attention to this demand when he designed the Aurora Titan. His extreme approach caused the mech to develop an extreme spiritual character.

It didn't help that Ves had designed it shortly after he went through a Mastery experience where he rode along Eloise Pelican's desperate attempt to reunite with her son. Her strong maternal feelings and her amazing feats served as strong sources of inspiration.

In fact, Ves derived the name of his mech design from the energy projection generated by Venerable Pelican's perfect resonance!

As Ves reflected on the history and evolution of the Shield of Samar, he began to comprehend why Venerable Jannzi developed such an extreme character.

"It's my fault."

He overlooked how much of a role her mech had played in her development. From the moment she adopted the Shield of Samar as her lifelong partner, she had already begun to assimilate the properties of her machine.

In fact, it wasn't just Jannzi learning from her mech. The Shield of Samar also grew in alignment with its mech pilot.

The latter wasn't important at this time. What mattered more to Ves was how to shape the development of his expert pilots.

An engineer abhorred uncertainty. If there was a way to specify how mech pilots progressed, then Ves would not let go of this opportunity!

"Venerable Jannzi's development represents one end of the spectrum." He muttered. "Venerable Joshua and Venerable Tusa should be closer to the other end of the spectrum."

Venerable Joshua mainly piloted the Quint. Venerable Tusa piloted other light mechs for a long time.

In both cases, their mechs did not push them into a specific direction. Like any other Bright Warrior, the Quint gave Joshua plenty of room to find his own way.

Ves was pretty thankful for that, because Joshua encountered no hindrances when he chose to go with his heart. Due to all of the LMC mechs he piloted, Joshua eventually developed a force of will based around life.

As for Venerable Tusa, Ves was not as knowledgeable about his development. Nonetheless, the mechs he piloted before did not constrain him very much, causing him to orient his force of will around a principle of his own choosing.

The situation was more complicated for Venerable Orfan and Venerable Dise. As far as Ves was aware of, their force of wills were offensive in nature. This caused them to develop some contradictions towards Qilanxo's influence.

The pair of seasoned leaders eventually managed to reconcile these contradictions while still remaining true to their original mindsets. They both focused on offense, but fought with the explicit intent to protect their own people.

As Ves considered these outcomes, he didn't know what to think.

"It's kind of like being a neglectful parent." He muttered. "I basically let my expert candidates do what they wanted. I didn't exert any control at all on how they progressed. The end result is a bunch of mixed results."

If he did not force the expert pilots to develop along specific paths, then he wouldn't have been able to get a grand prize like Venerable Joshua.

On the other hand, if he had treated them more deliberately, then Venerable Jannzi wouldn't have turned into his political opponent.

It was too late to do anything about it. The transition from expert candidate to expert pilot solidified their convictions. As far as Ves knew, expert pilots were no longer capable of changing their minds on a whim.

"It's too late for my expert pilots, but not my expert candidates!"

Ves suddenly realized that he had been a bit neglectful towards the development of the Larkinson Clan's expert candidates. He spent much more thought on his mature expert pilots.

After all, compared to expert candidates who were barely stronger than before, expert pilots were beyond human. Even without an expert mech to resonate with, their incredible skill and fighting capabilities were not something that anyone could ignore!

While Ves recognized that he should never neglect his expert pilots, he needed to be more hands-on with the development of his expert candidates.

While they had all formed a nascent force of will, it was still malleable. As long as Ves increased his influencing efforts on them, he might be able to determine how they ended up as expert pilots!

"This should be possible!"

Ves wanted to meet with his expert candidates. He needed to know them on an individual basis in order to tailor an individual development plan for each of them. In order to prevent the emergence of another obstinate expert pilot such as Venerable Jannzi, he had to make sure they were not exposed to any detrimental influences!

He composed a quick message to Gavin to invite all of the current expert candidates to the Scarlet Rose.

Once he did that, he leaned back on his chair and thought again.

He had to develop a systematic approach as soon as possible while the expert candidates were still susceptible to outside influence.

There was nothing wrong with allowing his expert candidates to develop their wills organically. Life was unpredictable, so a part of Ves preferred to take a hands-off approach towards this issue.

However, another part of him called for exerting much more control over the evolution of his expert candidates. If he engaged in targeted development, then he might be able to 'design' his future expert pilots!

This was very valuable!

Different force of wills produced different effects. Some of these effects were more useful to Ves than others.

For example, Ves might be able to obtain more expert pilots like Venerable Joshua if he designed a targeted training program!

The only challenge was that it was very difficult to obtain a specific result. Right now, Ves didn't really have a good idea on how to steer any of his expert candidates into embracing life.

Chapter 2559: Expert Candidate Survey

The expert candidates of the Larkinson Clan all answered the summons with no hesitation.

No matter whether they were taking a nap or in the middle of practice, they all put down what they were doing and boarded a shuttle that brought them to the Scarlet Rose.

The mobile supply frigate didn't have enough space to accommodate so many shuttles arriving at once. Ves grimaced as he saw a small queue forming at the aft of his personal ship.

"I need a bigger boat."

undefinedEver since Ves hijacked the Scarlet Rose from the Coalition Reserve Corps, he fell in love with her advanced features and stellar performance. His prior ship was the Barracuda which was really just a toy for rich people.

Yet just a few years after acquiring her, Ves no longer felt impressed with his personal ship. The Larkinson Clan grew bigger and Ves grew busier. The scope of his work grew bigger and his demands on external facilities increased.

Even though mobile supply frigates were designed to address the needs of mech designers, the Scarlet Rose was no longer adequate for his purposes.

He looked forward to obtaining his factory ship. The humongous volume of this 2 kilometer long vessel possessed ample room so satisfy all of his needs in the next couple of decades.

Only a capital ship was able to keep up with his growth. His new factory ship would not only serve as the industrial heart of the Larkinson fleet, but also serve as his personal seat of power for the times to come.

Incidents such as the minor traffic jam forming in front of the cramped hangar bay of the Scarlet Rose would no longer take place.

A short time passed before the first invited expert candidate entered his stateroom.

Lucky, who had showed up again for some reason, raised his head in curiosity.

"Meow."

Commander Casella Ingvar saluted Ves as soon as she stepped inside and approached his desk.

"You've summoned me, sir?"

"I did. Please take a seat."

As Casella sat down, her pet flapped her wings and launched in the air.

"Chirp. Chirp."

The goldfinch-like bird flew above Lucky in a teasing manner.

"Mirrie. Don't tease Lucky like that."

"Chirp chirp!"

"Meow!"

Even though Mirrie was flying high in the air, Lucky used his flight abilities to soar straight upwards before capturing the poor bird!

"Chirp chirp chirp!"

Fortunately, Lucky was merely toying with Mirrie. He let her go as soon as he indulged in his victory. The bird was not resigned to this defeat and began to flap her wings even harder!

Ves and Casella ignored the sideshow.

"So, commander. I've heard you are adjusting well to your new position. How are the Sentinels?"

The Sentinel Commander nodded. "They are getting better, sir. I've implemented some morale-boosting measures to drag them out of their slump. I'd like to thank you for allocating some of the new second-class mechs to us. A lot of Sentinel mech pilots have grown excited about piloting these machines. Our only regret is that we don't have enough of them to satisfy all of my men. For now, I've set up a rotating schedule to give every mech pilot an equal amount of time to practice with the new additions."

"That sounds quite fair, but have you ever thought about setting up a reward scheme? By letting the best-performing Sentinels gain more access to the second-class mechs, you can motivate them into working harder."

Casella faintly shook her head. "Magdalena suggested that as well, but for every winner, there are at least ten losers. We need to foster cooperation, not competition."

Though Ves didn't quite agree with that, he did not bother to argue with her. Perhaps her approach worked out better.

Ves began to ask more questions. Casella freely answered them with clear passion in her voice.

The more they talked, the more Ves recognized that Casella was in her element.

The Living Sentinels loved their new commander. As an expert candidate, Casella gained a lot of admiration from the start. This made everything easier for her. When she began to implement some reforms, hardly any of the Sentinels resisted her ideas.

Ves figured that without her identity as an expert candidate, Casella would have faced a lot more resistance from her own men. The Living Sentinels were in a pretty bad shape once the Nyxian Gap Campaign concluded.

It wasn't fair, but so was life. Casella did not reject the boons granted by her piloting accomplishments but leveraged them instead. Through her proactive leadership, the Sentinels were finally beginning to move forward again.

Through this little discussion, Ves gained a strong impression of Casella as an expert candidate.

It was clear that she wanted to dedicate herself towards leadership and responsibility.

In fact, Ves even saw the shadow of Colonel Ark Larkinson in the Sentinel Commander.

Casella was different from Commander Orfan and Commander Dise who were warriors first and officers second. The latter two were mainly passionate about their martial skills. While they did not reject the need to command their subordinates, they did not obsess over it as much as other people.

From what he could see, Casella was in her element when she was commanding. If Ves took this away from her, hardly anything would be left.

What was strange to Ves was that her active and developing spiritual potential was very unusual in nature.

It was difficult for him to describe her spiritual attributes. As best as he could tell, her attributes were dark, shadowy, silent, thoughtful, patient, calm and cold.

Yet while Casella embodied all of these traits, she did not seem to be too extreme.

Frankly speaking, Ves was confused. Both Casella and her brother possessed peculiar spiritual attributes that were actually opposite in nature. Their complex spiritual attributes originally compelled him to hire them, but now that he had them, he was a bit lost.

He inwardly shrugged. He didn't have to pay too much attention to the interaction of her spiritual attributes. As far as he could tell, Commander Casella was all about leading people, and that was enough.

Now that he had her measure, Ves returned to his original purpose.

"If you happen to advance to expert pilot, what would you like to do?" He asked.

The direct question stumped Casella for a second.

"I'm not sure, sir. According to regulations, I'm supposed to relinquish my position and move over to the Hall of Heroes. It's just…"

Ves offered her a friendly smile. "Are you reluctant to leave your command?"

"I am. I enjoy my current work and I don't see that changing if I ever manage to advance." She admitted.

"You may have a chance of keeping your command once you become and expert pilot."

Her eyes widened. "Isn't that against regulations?"

He chuckled. "Perhaps its best to understand the context behind this rule. The Hall of Heroes serves a special purpose. Its goal is to form a separation between our expert pilots and the rest of our clan. We do this not to marginalize our expert pilots, but to limit their influence so that they don't dominate everyone else. The Larkinson Clan must be governed by every Larkinson, not a select few clansmen."

Casella frowned. "Won't it be dangerous to make an exception for me in that case?"

"The threat is there, but the benefits outweigh the costs. It only makes sense to apply the rules when they yield the most gains. I think in your case that our clan is much better served if we allow you to keep your command."

A lot of happiness flowed from Commander Casella. She felt enormously relieved now that Ves had given her an opening!

"Thank you, patriarch! This is a very welcome piece of news to me. I even thought about suppressing my progress if I couldn't gain an exemption."

If Casella really did that, then the Larkinson Clan would be missing out! Even though the Larkinson Clan had too many expert pilots right now, he would not forgive himself if he allowed an expert candidate to hold herself back due to a single rule!

Though it wasn't entirely proper for Ves to contradict one of his own rules, he didn't care. As the Patriarch of the Larkinson Clan, he could get away with breaking them once in a while.

After he wrapped up his conversation with Casella, she stood up, took her bird and exited the compartment.

Ves made some notes in his implant. In his opinion, he should reinforce Casella's development as an expert pilot by providing her with a custom mech that was oriented towards command, leadership and responsibility.

It didn't hurt to obtain at least one expert pilot that excelled in command. Colonel Ark Larkinson set a stellar example of how such an individual could dramatically affect the performance of thousands of mech pilots.

"Next."

Casella's brother entered next.

Unlike her sister, Imon Ingvar was not as reserved. He marched over to the desk and saluted to Ves before sitting down.

His dog, Dalson, was already butting heads with Lucky.

"Meow!"

"Woof!"

"Well, Imon. I see you're still wearing the uniform of the Avatars. Why didn't you follow your sister?"

"The Sentinels don't suit me." Imon shrugged. "I feel great fighting alongside the Avatars. Each of them are brothers and sisters to me. If I move over to the Sentinels, I'll have to start over again with mech pilots who aren't as good."

"What is your aspiration?"

"I.. I want to become a great mech pilot! I want to surpass my limits. I've only taken the first step so far, but I'm confident I can become an expert pilot like Venerable Joshua. If he can do it, so can I!" Imon confidently answered.

That was a remarkably simple aspiration to Ves. It sounded rather shallow and not that serious, but he sensed Imon's sincerity.

The discussion continued on for another ten minutes. Ves asked a range of other questions about Imon's life in the Larkinson Clan and his time in the Avatars.

"I'm not like my sister. I don't know why others keep comparing me with her, but I'm completely different." He insisted. "I know she is doing great things over in the Living Sentinels, but I don't want to be responsible to so many people."

Ves quickly moved to reassure him. "You don't have to be afraid of that. Many expert candidates and expert pilots aren't suited to command. If you want to focus on developing your piloting skills, then we will provide you with ample opportunities."

Compared to his sister, Imon was a lot more straightforward. He was the kind of mech pilot who did not hesitate to dive head-first into battle. He was also a bit impulsive and did not always think matters through.

What was Ves supposed to do with a mech pilot as bone-headed as Imon?

Should he allow Imon to continue to progress along these lines or should he draw his own lines and force Imon to follow his arrangements instead?

Ves had difficulty deciding. A large part of him wanted to treat Imon as a remarkable control experiment. He wanted to avoid intervening the expert candidate's mental progression and see what happened if Imon ever broke through.

Well, it wasn't as if he was short of expert candidates. He could apply his ideas to his other expert candidates just as well.

Ves asked one more question before he let Imon depart.

"If you ever advance to expert pilot, what would your expert mech look like?"

"Isn't that what you're supposed to decide, sir?"

"As the recipient, your input matters. We cannot ensure a good fit if we don't know what you prefer to see in your expert mech."

"Well… I don't really know what I want in my expert mech." Imon furrowed his brows. "I like piloting swordsman mechs, but I can pilot other melee mechs as well. I suppose I'm good as long as you give me an expert mech with strong attack power. Don't give me one of those Hexer mechs, though! I'd rather die than pilot a female mech!"

"I will take that into account if the need to design your expert mech ever arises."

Chapter 2560: Trueblood Primacy

After interviewing Casella and Imon Ingvar, Ves proceeded to meet with the other expert candidates.

While he had met them before, he never really paid too much attention to them. This was rather negligent on his part because if any of them underwent apotheosis, their prior experiences would probably play a significant role in determining their final convictions.

Though Ves knew it was impossible to exert 100 percent control over how these pilots transformed, he could still manipulate the odds. It was already a win in his book if his attempt to steer their evolution succeeded 50 percent of the time.

He met all kinds of interesting personalities in the next couple of hours. Anyone who managed to make the first jump was already special in some way. Expert candidates possessed remarkably strong wills compared to ordinary people. This meant they were less inclined to conform to normality.

undefinedOf course, compared to expert pilots, these lesser individuals were not demigods yet. Ves was confident he could hold his ground in their presence.

"Mr. Tamarin Larkinson." Ves briefly studied the man's profile. "I'm glad to see a fellow trueblood here. We've gone through a lot of changes since we left the old family."

The forty-ish year old mech pilot offered Ves a weary nod. "That it is. It has only been a couple of years since we've left the Bright Republic, but to many of us, those days feel like ancient history. It's surreal to see so many of our fellow clansmen treating it as a lost era that is only available in the form of archival footage and historical records."

Ves chuckled. He immediately felt more connected to Tamarin. Talking about the 'good old days' even though they weren't very good always seem to bind the truebloods together. There were too few of them in the clan. Their shared origin was one of the few elements left that belonged to them and no one else.

"The reason why we treat the pre-clan days as if we lived during the Age of Conquest is due to how much we have grown. Just like how the Age of Mechs is unrecognizable to the prior age, our clan has climbed incredibly from the modest roots of the family. If you chose to follow my uncle Ark and stuck with the current iteration of the Larkinson Family, you would find that nothing much has changed. As far as I know, the other Larkinsons are still stuck with their shabby third-class mechs and light carriers."

It was impossible for the Larkinson Family to be as prosperous as the Larkinson Clan. Ark may be an excellent expert pilot and an inspirational leader, but he was not an industrialist!

Without Ves, there was no one in the Larkinson Family who was capable of generating a lot of revenue.

"It's not that bad." Tamarin responded. "The Larkinson Family still has those shares in the LMC. The dividends they've received lately is enough for them to start acquiring some second-class assets, though not as much as us. The family has some other plans in mind as well."

As Ves continued to chat with Tamarin, he noticed that the middle-aged mech pilot was very interested in the safety and the development of the Larkinsons.

The Avatar mech pilot took a lot of pride in his trueblood heritage. He paid special attention to the standing of the truebloods in the clan. He also tracked the progress of the Larkinson Family in order to make sure they were doing well for themselves.

If the Larkinson Family ever encountered trouble, then Tamarin would definitely feel distressed.

Ves didn't know what to make of that. Whenever he tried to talk about other topics such as his time with the Avatars of Myth, Tamarin exhibited much less passion.

To him, serving in the Avatars was merely an obligation that he had to meet. He fought in order to prove to everyone that truebloods like him were not freeloaders. His main motivation in growing stronger was to give more weight to the truebloods in the Larkinson Clan.

"The more outsiders we recruit, the less we matter." Tamarin explained. "We can't let the clan slip out of our control. So far, we only have two expert pilots out of five. This is a dangerously low proportion. We need to prove to the adopted clansmen that our superior Larkinson blood and genes makes us better! For this cause, I will do my best to follow the example of Venerable Jannzi and strive to break through as fast as possible."

"I.. see. Take your time, then. There's no hurry."

After Tamarin Larkinson left the stateroom, Ves rubbed his face and updated his notes.

Suffice to say, Ves didn't think Tamarin was engaging in productive behavior. Since the clan opened up its doors to outsiders, the integration of foreigners who initially had no connections to the Larkinson proceeded exceptionally smoothly with the help of the Larkinson Network.

These days, hardly any clansman paid attention whether someone was a trueblood Larkinson or not. Position, friendship, familiarity and other factors mattered more.

So far, most trueblood Larkinsons accepted this new reality because they were strong and capable enough to maintain their high standing within the clan. It would have been a different story if they visibly lost a lot of power and influence, but that was not the case at the moment.

Unfortunately, that did not stop truebloods like Tamarin Larkinson from becoming 'concerned' about their standing in their clan.

Though their intentions were good, Ves would prefer it if they didn't obsess too much over the purity of their bloodline.

Ves had long let go of the old definition of a Larkinson. To the clan, anyone who was a part of it was a Larkinson. That was it. There were no internal divisions and no ranking that stated that one Larkinson was better than the other one. Perhaps that was a very strange custom to other family organizations, but then again they didn't have anything like the Larkinson Network!

To be honest, aside from sentimentality, Ves didn't really care about his trueblood identity anymore. The clan operated by different rules and Ves wanted it to stay that way.

Ves had little patience for truebloods like Tamarin who wanted to turn back the clock!

"I definitely have to intervene in this stupid fellow's development before he turns into an even greater disaster than Venerable Jannzi!"

He thanked himself for investigating expert candidates like Tamarin more thoroughly. He couldn't afford to let this delusional idiot ruin the harmony of the Larkinson Clan.

"So what should I do?"

Well, first off, he had to pull Tamarin off his assigned Bright Warrior mech. The Bright Warrior was the quintessential Larkinson mech. Since the Golden Cat was its design spirit, Ves had a feeling that piloting the mech would only exacerbate Tamarin's biases over time!

"This is one of the blind spots of the network." Ves observed. "It instills greater loyalty in the clan but doesn't dictate in what way our clansmen should strive towards."

While Ves could have designed a stricter network, that would have been too obvious. He knew that the MTA was definitely keeping an eye on how his clan instilled loyalty in its members. For now, the effect was mild enough that it could easily be chalked up by constant exposure to glows, but if people completely changed their personalities, then that would definitely ring a lot more alarm bells!

He quickly wrapped up Tamarin's case by passing on a secret order to Commander Melkor. He wanted his cousin to reassign Tamarin to one of the new commercial second-class mech models.

He took special notice of the fact that Tamarin specialized in piloting knight mechs. That was even more concerning.

"In the future, I have to make sure he stays away from Bright Warriors and Aurora Titans."

Right now, Ves suffered from a lack of mech models that he could use as tools to shape the development of his expert candidates. He could only resort to changing other environmental aspects until he expanded the mech roster of his mech forces.

"Next!"

He met with a couple of other expert candidates next.

Isobel Kotin-Larkinson was another Avatar expert candidate. As an adopted Larkinson, she was very grateful to be a part of an ascending clan. Though she cared about her new identity a lot, she still possessed the humility of someone who used to be an average third-rater.

She turned out to be a marksman mech pilot who was very precise with a laser rifle. She not only excelled in marksmanship when piloting a mech, but also won tournaments when wielding laser weapons in person.

Aside from her calm and analytical mindset, she didn't stand out in any way aside from her age. She wasn't that much older than Venerable Joshua, which meant she possessed a brighter future than Tamarin.

It was too bad that she wasn't an Ylvainan. If she was an adherent of the Ylvainan Faith, then Ves would have arranged her to pilot his new Transcendent Punisher mech model.

"Thank you for answering my questions." Ves nodded towards her. "You may go now. I will discuss your situation with Commander Melkor and see if we can give you some more opportunities to improve your marksmanship."

Ves met with some Living Sentinel expert candidates next.

Percival Larkinson was a stoic and mature trueblood Larkinson who did not show as much respect to the clan patriarch as the ones that came before.

"I see that you've lived through some tough battles during the Nyxian Gap Campaign."

"I survived that hellhole of an abyss, yes. I can't say the same for the four-hundred Sentinel mech pilots who failed to make it out. They were my comrades, sir."

Oh boy. Ves expected to face some pressure when he met with a Living Sentinel, but Percival seemed to have quite a chip on his shoulder.

Predictably, the rest of the meeting did not proceed well. Percival kept his back straight and stared judgmentally at Ves. Obviously, the surviving Sentinel still reserved a lot of blame to Ves for dragging so many clansmen to their deaths.

Ves noted that Percival was a striker mech specialist. Though the skilled Larkinson mech pilot was capable of piloting other mech types, he preferred to pilot striker mechs. In fact, he previously piloted the Doom Guard when he was a part of Task Force Predator.

Due to the Doom Guard's double-edged nature, its mech pilot had to endure a lot of mental pressure. Someone like Percival must have subjected himself to a lot of torture in order to pilot this hellish machine.

Ves briefly grew concerned. What happened when someone with a lot of resentment piloted a torture machine every day?

He didn't think anything good would arise! If Percival Larkinson ever advanced to expert pilot, then it was very likely that he would turn into another political opponent!

"Okay, I've learned enough from you. You can return to your unit now."

Percival rigidly sat up, saluted Ves, and turned around.

As Ves watched the expert candidate go, he added some warning messages to Percival's private record.

To be honest, he didn't want Percival to become an expert pilot at all. However, he couldn't be too blatant in stifling the progress of an expert candidate. The Larkinson Clan was supposed to be an organization that prized fairness and equality. Ves couldn't arbitrarily suppress random Larkinsons just because he didn't agree with their views.

"Fortunately, I can still enact some measures."

As the most important mech designer of the Larkinson Clan, Ves was essentially able to dictate the mechs that his Larkinson mech pilots were supposed to pilot. This was a considerable power and one that he would always strive to keep.

Ves quickly composed another secret order that instructed Commander Casella to address Percival Larkinson's problematic views.

He did not add any additional instructions. Instead, he gave the new Sentinel Commander a lot of leeway in order to see how she addressed this issue.

"Consider this a test."

Ves couldn't babysit all of the expert candidates. It was up to their individual commanders to sort out the problem cases.

"I'm a mech designer, not a pilot designer."

Chapter 2561: Problem Cases

Compared to Percival Larkinson, Lieutenant Hector Larkinson was a lot less severe.

The Living Sentinel officer entered Ves' stateroom with a smile. He even waved at Lucky in a friendly manner.

"Hey, Lucky! What's up? Is there anything interesting up there?"

"Meow." The gem cat replied as he lay upside down with his body pressed against the ceiling.

undefined"Be careful not to fall!"

"Meow!" Lucky arrogantly turned his head.

When the Sentinel Lieutenant sat down, he began to talk amiably with the clan patriarch.

What stood out from Hector was that he had already started a family and cared a lot about his wife and kids.

"For the sake of my family, I can't let myself be haunted by the battles I've been through." Hector spoke to Ves. "Percival can be as grumpy as he likes because he doesn't have to take care of some kids. I'm different. I have to be strong in order to give them an opportunity to grow up happy."

"That is a very admirable sentiment, lieutenant. Not every survivor of the Nyxian Gap Campaign is as ready to move on as you. Are you okay?"

The expert candidate let out a brief sigh. "It was difficult at first, but it's getting better now that we have a new commander. It's hard to move on when everyone around you keeps reliving those disastrous battles. Now that we are finally regaining our pride, I feel we'll soon be back to normal. I can continue to serve when I'm on my shifts and return to my family when I'm off-duty."

As Hector continued to answer a couple more questions, Ves gained a good sense of what he was dealing with at the moment.

What reassured him a lot was that Hector was not a problem case like Tamarin and Percival. If the latter two ever succeeded in advancing to expert pilot in their current forms, they had a very high chance of using their newfound power and influence to pursue unpalatable goals.

Ves did not sense any threat from Hector so far. Of course, there was a chance that the mech lieutenant was misrepresenting himself, but so far he came across as someone who didn't have a lot of ambition.

This was actually Hector's greatest problem.

In order for expert candidates to reach the next step, they had to push themselves. Each and every expert pilot was a driven individual before they transformed into demigods.

Ves was not aware of a case where expert candidates basically slept their way to expert pilot. Such individuals were unworthy to transcend to a higher life phase.

This was why he was concerned about Hector. As a family man, it made sense for Hector to settle for the Living Sentinels even if his piloting skill qualified him for the Avatars of Myth.

The latter may be a lot more prestigious, but demanded a lot more commitment. Avatars had to serve for days, weeks or even months at a time. They enjoyed a lot less off-days than the Sentinels.

This was largely by design. The Avatars of Myth were supposed to put the interests of Ves and the Larkinson Clan above their own interests. If the situation ever called for it, the Avatars were expected to make the ultimate sacrifice.

Was Hector someone who was willing to give up his life for the greater good? Ves seriously doubted it. Loyalty to the clan only extended so far. Even though the Sentinel expert candidate was another trueblood Larkinson, that did not mean he was a diehard idealist.

"Why did you join the Larkinson Clan?" Ves asked. He couldn't hold back his curiosity anymore. "From what it sounds like, you would have been a better fit for the Larkinson Family. Our clan can't completely guarantee the safety of your wife and kids."

Hector shrugged. "I'm aware of that, sir. To be honest, I want my family to live better than they have before. You and your clan may be engaged in various dangers, but I believe there is a purpose behind all of your decisions. No matter how bad some of your actions seem from the outside, it's undeniable that our clan has grown rapidly. Before any notions about breaking off from the Larkinson Family, I never thought that we would turn into second-raters so soon."

"This is just the start. While it sounds like a fantasy, I aim to turn us into first-raters within a century. In fact, it might not even take that long."

While the aspiration excited Hector, it did not have much of an effect.

To many people, becoming first-raters was a pipedream. The gulf between third-raters and second-raters was much easier to overcome than the gulf between second-raters and first-raters.

Many second-raters themselves had attempted to lift themselves up to the standard of the greatest humans, only to fall along the way!

Ordinarily, citizens of second-rate states had to become Master Mech Designers, ace pilots or something equivalent to those exalted ranks to become eligible to join a first-rate state.

Everybody else simply wouldn't belong to this great society within human space. The first-rate states and first-rate superstates were incredibly crowded. While their regions of space were highly-developed, it was already difficult to ensure that every first-rate citizen enjoyed the privileges they were entitled to. There was hardly any support to share the bounty of their states towards outsiders.

Therefore, it shouldn't be a surprise that Hector thought that Ves was merely talking big.

"Okay, I think I know enough. You can go now. Good luck."

"Thank you, sir. Let me just say that you have my support as long as you continue to strive for a better future for our descendants."

Ves smiled. "Understood."

He dropped his smile as soon as Hector left the compartment. He grew thoughtful as he considered how to handle this case.

So far, Lieutenant Hector Larkinson came across as a pleasant person. Though Ves didn't obtain too much information about his piloting inclinations, he knew that the man specialized in piloting space knights and other defensive mechs.

"Percival and Hector Larkinson are very different despite piloting the same kinds of mechs." Ves muttered.

No matter how Hector turned out if he ever underwent apotheosis, Ves did not sense much threat from the Living Sentinel.

The only problem was that Hector did not sound as if he was doing his best to advance to the next rank.

"He's a Sentinel." Ves shrugged. "What can I expect?"

There were at least two categories of mech pilots within the Living Sentinels.

Some possessed great ambitions or wanted to attain a specific goal. Percival Larkinson fell into this category.

The problem with these people was that they didn't measure up in some way. Perhaps they weren't diligent in their practice. Perhaps they had personality problems that made them unsuitable for the elite mech forces. Perhaps they were unwilling to commit enough time to their jobs.

People like these shouldn't be able to advance to expert candidate in the first place.

The extreme pressure of the Battle of Ulimo Citadel and the Battle against the Abyss must have pushed him over the edge. Instead of breaking, his will spontaneously grew stronger.

"What a lucky bastard."

While the most diligent, noble and skilled mech pilots tended to break through at higher rates than other mech pilots, exceptions occasionally popped up. Percival should be one of those cases.

Lieutenant Hector was different. He was not as driven as Percival, but he was a good performer prior through his breakthrough. What was notable about this was that Hector was not as diligent in training as his other colleagues.

Whereas some Sentinels regularly participated in extra practice sessions in order to become eligible to join one of the elite mech forces, other Sentinel mech pilots treated their occupations as day jobs.

Clock in, pilot mechs, clock out.

Of course, they did much more than piloting mechs, but this was how people like Lieutenant Hector approached the job.

It was rather disappointing to Ves. Still, he knew what he would be getting when he initially set up the Living Sentinels.

"The abnormality is that one of these people broke through anyway."

That was a testament of Hector's high talent. Even if he didn't work that much, he was already known as a skilled mech pilot and junior officer.

Ves bet that if Hector did not have a family, he would have become a great Avatar mech pilot!

Yet that wasn't the case, which put Ves in a difficult condition.

If he had his way, he would have wanted to transfer Lieutenant Hector to the Avatars of Myth so that the expert candidate could dig out his true potential.

"I can't do that." Ves shook his head. "To Hector, family is more important than his career."

If Hector remained at the Sentinels, he might never advance to expert pilot.

Sure, Ves could assign a fantastic mech with 100 Ves to Hector, but a machine could not do all of the work by itself.

Expert candidates had to polish their wills and remove all of their doubts and fears to become expert pilots. That took active effort.

"The issue here is that Hector clings too much to his mortality."

Expert pilots were beyond human. This also implied that they were distancing themselves from their humanity.

Every expert pilot that Ves had met had sacrificed something in order to attain more power. Some gave up more than others.

"Wait a minute. There's an exception!"

Venerable Joshua still remained remarkably like his old self. Sure, his confidence grew and he became a bit more assured of his strength. However, he did not come across as aloof and superior as the other expert pilots.

His life domain and his outlook on his piloting career had a lot to do with that. This was important because the Quint should have carried some of that over as well.

"Perhaps something good may arise when Lieutenant Hector is assigned to the Quint."

While this was an interesting idea, Ves wasn't able to implement it straight away. Currently, Venerable Joshua still piloted the masterwork mech. He needed to convince the expert pilot to make do with another mech.

"Maybe I can persuade Joshua to pilot a Transcendent Punisher for a time. The fact that it's an Ylvainan mech design shouldn't matter. In fact, Joshua can probably pilot my Hexer mechs!"

Out of all of his mech pilots, only Joshua exhibited the highest compatibility. To be able to pilot an Ylvainan mech proficiently despite his lack of belief in the Great Prophet was very remarkable.

If Prophet Ylvaine didn't have much of a problem with Joshua, then the Superior Mother shouldn't either.

Ves drafted a set of orders.

He asked Venerable Joshua if he would like to pilot some other LMC mechs for a time.

He told Commander Casella to transfer the Quint to Lieutenant Hector if the mech became available.

He also made a quick call to Calabast. He requested her to keep an eye on the problem cases that he had met. Both Tamarin and Percival Larkinson needed to be monitored, and who better to do that than the Black Cats.

Calabast's projection carefully nodded. "Performing some surveillance on these expert candidates is not an issue. What should we look out for, if I may ask?"

"Just look for any behavior that is detrimental to the Larkinson Clan."

"Do you want us to 'correct' any potentially problematic behavior?"

"Don't do anything unless you check with Major Verle or me." Ves quickly added. "Also, I want to know more about the life of Lieutenant Hector Larkinson of the Living Sentinels. He's not working hard enough and I need to know what we can do to increase his drive."

"We'll get right on it." Calabast simply accepted his orders.

He didn't need to explain anything further to Calabast. He knew that spying and possibly intervening in the lives of his expert candidates might not go over well with everyone, but he still considered this to be a necessary step.

Expert candidates were investments to Ves. He had to nurture them carefully in order to yield his desired expert pilots.

Chapter 2562: The Second Republic

After a brief break, Ves continued to meet with the remaining expert candidates.

Due to his prior interviews, he gained a better sense of what he should ask and what he should be looking out for. The talks took less time as Ves didn't need to bumble around as much to understand the person sitting in front of his desk.

"I prefer to pilot light skirmishers, but I can make do with any other light mech." Trinity Larkinson answered one of his questions. "Still, for a long time, the Sentinels didn't have any good light mech models. We still don't have any for that matter."

"You don't like the commercial light mech models that we've imported?"

undefined"They're fast, but not fast enough. Against other second-class opponents, I doubt I can do much with them. If it's possible, I would like to obtain a better mech."

"It's in the works. In half a year, we'll have a light skirmisher that is fully capable of fighting other second-class mech forces."

"That is music to my ears. I'll be waiting, sir."

Trinity was one of the more normal expert candidates that Ves had met so far. Nothing about her rang any alarm bells. She was just a young Sentinel mech pilot who happened to break through as well.

Yet that did not mean she would remain normal if she ever broke through.

Depending on her mech and her environment, she might go the same way as Venerable Jannzi and warp into something different.

Obviously, this should never happen again.

Therefore, Ves decided that even unassuming expert candidates had to be monitored to an extent. He even thought about starting up a new group within the Military Bureau or the Hall of Heroes that was tasked with guiding the expert candidates of the clan.

"That's a good idea. Right now, it's enough to deal with them on an individual basis, but I might have my hands full in the future."

The fact that no one had developed a systematic approach to this issue so far was a sign that such a group was very needed. Why should Ves take precious time off his schedule in order to deal with the expert candidates in person? The other people in the clan should be more than capable of dealing with this matter!

Once he dismissed Trinity, he quickly composed his thoughts into a document and sent it to Major Verle.

"We'll talk later about this issue."

The last two expert candidates were very different from the ones that came before.

Avi Case-Larkinson was a Flagrant Vandal. Though Ves did not have an impression of her back when he served in the Mech Corps, he still felt some kinship with a former veteran of the final Bright-Vesia War.

"I never expected I would become an expert candidate after turning my back on the Mech Corps and the Bright Republic." Avi ruefully smiled. "At my age, even. I'm old enough to be a mother. Did you know that I thought about transferring to the Living Sentinels in order to settle down and start a family?"

Ves blinked. "Oh. Are you still going through with that plan?"

"I can't, sir. I'm an expert candidate now. The opportunity to become an expert pilot lies before me. How can I turn my back on a chance that many of my fellow mech pilots yearn to grasp? I owe it to everyone to try my best. Besides, I'm the only Flagrant Vandal who broke through in the last battle. I need to do my comrades proud. The Avatars shouldn't be the only ones who are hogging all of the limelight."

The middle-aged woman sounded as if she was thrust on a pedestal when she was more than content with remaining in the background.

"It's not your duty to become an expert pilot. We already have plenty of them. It's already a burden to provide them all with expert mechs."

Avi shook her head. "You don't need to fool me, sir. We all know what we are up against. One more expert pilot is always better. It is my duty to defend our clan. I won't be able to live with myself if I slacked off and a lot of Larkinsons die yet again."

"Are you suffering from survivor's guilt?"

She sighed. "Maybe. You don't have to worry about me. I'm already undergoing therapy. The folks at the Foundation are very understanding."

"That sounds good, but it doesn't seem as if you changed that much."

"That's because I have too many missions to fulfill." Her eyes grew more intense. "We used to be Brighters, you know? Even though we broke off from the Republic, we are still Brighters at heart."

"We are Larkinsons now."

"The Larkinsons always stood for the Bright Republic! As far as I'm concerned, we are a continuation of our state. Just look at our rules, our structure and how we treat each other. Even though we have adopted some other customs, we are still indistinguishable from other Brighters."

"Our leaders are Brighters. I'm a Brighter. It's a given that we take after our mother culture."

"And we can continue to keep the torch lit!" Avi passionately exclaimed! "I'm ashamed of what has become of the Bright Republic. After the government bent its knees to the Friday Coalition and the Sandmen destroyed our greatest economic center, our home state simply isn't the same anymore."

Ves shrugged. He couldn't care less about the state that stabbed him in the back and sold him out to the Fridaymen.

"Life goes on there. While it's regrettable that a lot of Brighters died in the Sand War, our state still stands. Our former people will be able to pick themselves and rebuild. There's even a vast amount of sand-scoured star systems to resettle. That will keep our home state and many other nearby states busy for the next couple of centuries."

Avi sneered. "It's not the same anymore. The Bright Republic has changed once it fell under the yoke of the Friday Coalition. Have you been keeping up with the news over there? Each day, the Ylvaine Protectorate and the Vesia Kingdom keeps hammering more nails in our state! They practically own the government, and the Fridaymen keep letting them get away with their covert attempts to annex our space."

"The Bright Republic needed a lot of aid after the fall of Bentheim."

"I don't think you're wrong, sir, but there's a difference between providing aid and taking over entire planets and institutions!"

Ves really didn't want to argue with the Vandal pilot about irrelevant matters. Ever since he founded the Larkinson Clan, he cut off almost every sentiment he held towards his home state.

Obviously, Avi was very different. The Flagrant Vandals had always been more reluctant about leaving the Bright Republic. They hated the changes that took place there but were still loyal to it. Of course, there were plenty of Vandals who were more than happy to escape their shackles, but there were also people like Avi who used to take their duties seriously.

Avi swept her arm. "I think we have an opportunity to continue the mission of the Bright Republic. The state may have decayed, but its people live on. Once we reach the Red Ocean, we can build a new Bright Republic over there. This time, we'll do it properly. No founding families. No concentrating our industry on a single planet. No betraying our greatest soldiers. I believe that as long as we learn from the lessons of the past, the Second Republic can become the new home to the Brighter people!"

"...Okay." Ves awkwardly replied.

It took some time for him to dismiss Avi. He let out a sigh of relief once she left.

"Of all the clansmen who were lucky enough to become an expert candidate, why her? Why can't I get more people like Trinity?"

"Meow."

Lucky mockingly swished his tail as he observed the proceedings from the ceiling.

Ves raised his fist at his cat. "Hey, this is your problem as well, you know!"

Obviously, it would be another disaster if Avi Case became an expert pilot while she was still delusional about reviving the Bright Republic in the Red Ocean.

Ves had no intentions of founding a state in such an unstable region.

Even if he did, he wouldn't follow the model of the Bright Republic! His Larkinsons deserved better.

He composed some messages and sent them off to Major Verle, Commander Abis Firelight and Calabast. Avi Case had rang a lot of alarm bells in his mind. It was important to monitor her behavior and compose a plan to correct her course as soon as possible!

"Well, one more to go. I hope he's normal."

He called in his final appointment. Zimro Belson-Larkinson was different from the rest.

The Black Cat strode inside the stateroom. His dark uniform fit his slim but athletic form well.

"Patriarch."

"Please have a seat, Mr. Zimro Belson."

The man did so. A few seconds passed as Ves tried to take the man's measure. Zimro was different from every Larkinson he had met today.

The man was not a regular clansman. He was part of the Black Cats which adopted a very different approach to mech piloting from the rest.

What stood out even more was that Zimro was part of the Xona Stalkers. Not too long ago, he served under the Dry Snakes at Ulimo Citadel.

Not only did he used to be a pirate, he also had second-class roots.

"As a former Xona Stalker who fought on the side of the faction that wanted to return to civilized space, you must have ties to the Life Research Association, right?"

Zimro nodded, but his answer wasn't very solid. "I left relatives behind, but they have already moved on. I didn't fight to restore my name in order to meet with them again. In fact, we're better off if we stay out of each other's lives."

"Then.. why did you take the risk of siding with our clan?"

"I'm simply disgusted by what we did." Zimro scowled. "There is no honor in piracy. I embraced your clan because you and your people are honorable. In my years at Ulimo Citadel, I have spilled too much innocent blood, whether directly or indirectly. Each day, I lost more and more hope that I would be able to look into the mirror with my head held high."

"Has that changed since you've become a Larkinson?"

"Not quite." The Black Cat expert candidate shook his head. "I still have much to make up for. I am only just starting to redeem myself."

"You sound like a Penitent Sister."

"We are much alike. I respect them for their integrity." Zimro nodded, plainly accepting the comparison.

"Don't you think it's a contradiction for a Black Cat to redeem himself? After all, you are part of the intelligence branch of our clan. Sometimes, it's necessary to get your hands dirty."

"There is honor in service. Even if we are compelled to do what is necessary, at least I can take comfort in the fact that it is for the greater good. This wasn't the case when I was still a Xona Stalker. No matter what we did, it always ended up enabling more pirates."

Ves grew more and more concerned about Zimro. While he applauded the expert candidate for trying to restore his honor, Black Cats weren't supposed to be the good guys!

"Have you ever thought about transferring to the Avatars, perchance?"

Zimro grimaced. "I did, and I rejected the notion. My presence there would only blacken this honorable branch. I would never leave until I have paid for my sins. Besides, the Black Cats need me. My experiences during my pirate days has taught me that every outfit or group needs a good role model. Without me, I'm not sure if the rest of the Black Cats will be able to remain pure."

"I think Calabast has gotten that covered. You don't need to worry about this problem."

"Respectfully, I'll be the judge of that, sir."

Ves mentally noted Zimro as another problem case.

Chapter 2563: Butting Heads

"Nine different expert candidates. Nine different personalities. Nine different problems."

Ves pressed his fingers against his forehead. Recognizing potential risks in time was always good, but it did not help him maintain his stress levels. Burdens continued to pile up on his shoulders as time went on. It wasn't easily to be the leader of a clan that was numbering past 30,000 members and counting!

For now, the expert candidates didn't possess enough power and influence to pose a threat to him. Yet that didn't reassure him much as the story would be completely different once they broke through to expert pilot.

Once they became demigods, their status changed dramatically. It was impossible to treat them like regular Larkinsons. In the traditions of the Larkinson heritage, extraordinary mech pilots always enjoyed immense respect. Even if Ves tinkered with the rules of the clan in order to curb their power, he couldn't do much to prevent others from idolizing these supreme soldiers.

undefinedWorshipping high-ranking mech pilots was one of humanity's universal traits. In the Age of Mechs, almost every society put expert pilots up a pedestal.

The only difference was how high the states raised them. In Vicious Mountain, extraordinary mech pilots wielded an incredible amount of authority. In the Hexadric Hegemony, expert pilots still had to bend their heads in front of the matriarchs of their society.

What gave Ves another headache was that the Larkinson Clan was a martial organization at heart. Just like the Cross Clan, the Larkinsons adhered to a culture that valued military strength and personal prowess.

If Ves hadn't proven his courage and valor by participating in the Bright-Vesia War and personally leading Task Force Predator into the Nyxian Gap, he would have never been able to command so much respect from his own clansmen.

Yet no matter how many battles Ves participated in, he could never become as popular as an expert pilot.

It sounded silly at first. As a wildly successful mech designer, Ves was single-handedly responsible for enriching the Larkinson Clan. With hundreds of billions of hex credits pouring into the coffers of the LMC every month, Ves could outright buy expert pilots if he wished!

Unfortunately, far more people in the clan admired Venerable Joshua than the clan patriarch who lifted them from their third-class roots.

Mech designers were too distant and aloof to the general public. While the barriers to become a mech designer weren't high, it was extremely difficult to become a Journeyman and achieve true success.

Most mech designers actually didn't earn that much respect. Those that did were so rare that they were seen as unfathomable wizards. The work that mech designers engaged in was so technically sophisticated that no average person was able to appreciate their brilliance.

In short, Ves may be the leader of the Larkinson Clan, but he would never be its foremost star. The Larkinsons were too predisposed to regarding expert pilots as heroes.

"I don't see why you're so upset about that." Calabast idly remarked as she draped her body across his couch. "You're not a vain person as far as I know. No matter how much expert pilots are hogging the limelight, the real power lies with you. The expenditures of the Larkinson Clan are enormous and cannot be separated from your earning power."

"Meow~"

Lucky squinted his eyes as he comfortably rested onto the Black Cat's stomach. Strong fingers rubbed across his tiger-striped form.

Ves pensively paced around his stateroom.

"Popularity is a weapon. Once the expert candidates I've mentioned turn into expert pilots, their obsessions and pet peeves will become amplified. I don't know about you, but I don't want our clan to turn into an advocacy organization that is only preoccupied with fulfilling the personal and political objectives of a bunch of uppity mech pilots."

"I see." Calabast briefly paused, causing Lucky to pat at her uniform in complaint. She resumed pampering the gem cat. "I'm not unsympathetic towards your problem, but it is not that easy to do something about it. From what little I know about expert candidates, they are already a lot more set in their ways than regular mech pilots. People who are able to rise above mediocrity are always.. different."

"I know that, but that doesn't mean I can tolerate every personality. Tamarin Larkinson wants to elevate the status of trueblood Larkinsons to the detriment of others. Percival Larkinson is traumatized Sentinel. Avi Case wants to transform the Larkinson Clan to the second coming of the Bright Republic. Zimro Belson, one of your own men, feels he needs to cleanse himself and the Black Cats! What do you think will happen if any of them gains a massive voice?"

Outside of his expectation, Calabast did not exhibit the paranoia that he expected from a controlling spymaster.

She nonchalantly shrugged. "I'm very much aware of Zimro's inclinations. It is not bad for the Black Cats to have such a person around. A truly competent organization should never be homogeneous. A bit of diversity is essential to keep everyone on their toes, and there is no better way to keep my men in check than to put an adversarial member in their midst."

Ves put his hands on his hips. "How you manage the Black Cats is your business, but once Zimro advances, he becomes an issue to the rest of the clan. Perhaps his inclinations aren't as problematic, but we're all going to get our hands full once someone like Tamarin and Avi gains a greater voice."

"Ves, Ves, Ves. Didn't you listen to what I just said?"

"About how you manage your Black Cats?"

Calabast nodded. "Since you didn't get the hint, let me spell it out for you. Currently, you view those expert candidates as problem cases. While you're not wrong to view them that way, they are only problems if you let them stir up trouble. On the other hand, as long as you find a way to take advantage of their inclinations, they might become assets instead."

"That's playing with fire." Ves frowned. "Expert pilots can't be controlled. They can easily bite the hand that feeds them. Jannzi has already done so. I don't want other dogs chewing on my flesh."

"You're not thinking this through, kid. From what it looks like, expert pilots will keep emerging from the ranks of the clan. Are you determined to transform each and every expert candidate? It won't work as well as you think. Both the Friday Coalition and the Hexadric Hegemony have performed plenty of studies on this topic. Expert candidates are strong because of who they are right now. If you attempt to indoctrinate them into different people, you will be robbing them of the source of their strength. If you don't believe me, you can try. I can guarantee you that you will ruin the potential of most of your expert candidates."

Her words splashed cold water over his plans. Ves froze as he took in her explanation. Her arguments conformed with his own theories on the progression of mech pilots.

Ves thought that it was not that problematic to change the ideology of expert candidates, but if the Coalition and the Hegemony failed to achieve good results, then why should he do any better?

Certainly, he had a secret weapon in the form of spiritually-enhanced mechs, but they merely increased a mech pilot's spiritual accumulation as far as he knew. The intangible willpower that represented the true source of strength of a mech pilot could not be elevated by outside factors.

Otherwise, more advanced states as well as the MTA would have been able to pump out a lot more expert pilots!

His glower deepened. "Are my hands tied, then? Is it futile to proceed with the plan to set up the Mech Pilot Management Bureau?"

"I didn't say that, Ves. I still support your idea. I'm just warning you to tone it down. People aren't machines. You can't just reprogram and expect them to function normally. In my line of work, we often gain better and more consistent results if we merely nudge people into the right direction. We have learned the hard way that if a nudge turns into a shove, the individual in question is liable to push us back. Don't make the same mistakes we did. If there is one notion I agree with you, it's that our expert candidates are all assets."

Ves approached and sat down on another couch. He looked at her with a helpless expression.

"Instruct me, then. How should we manage our expert candidates?"

"It's not too complicated. You can still attempt to influence your expert candidates, but you need to be careful about changing their core values. You can't be too heavy-handed in their treatment. It's a lot better to set up the situation that encourages them to alter their course on their own accord. However, it is crucial that you don't go too far with this. You can moderate an expert candidate's inclinations but you cannot force him to adopt the opposite stance."

She continued to give him some advice on how he should address this issue. Her overall message was that if he objected to any of his expert candidates, he could only lessen the severity of the problem. However, more often than not, he couldn't make it go away.

"There is only one real way to prevent expert candidates with troublesome motives from turning into threats. You can stop them from advancing in the first place." Calabast remarked.

That was indeed a viable, if sub-optimal solution. Ves felt very uncomfortable about crippling the future of any of his expert candidates. It was no different from engaging in political machinations. The Larkinson Clan should never pit Larkinson against Larkinson.

"In the end, I should just accept I will have to deal with troublesome personalities?" He asked.

"Not per se. Look at the current state of our five expert pilots. Venerable Jannzi is quite a handful to you, right?"

"Yeah. I should have paid more attention to her. If I knew she would end up this way, I would have taken the Shield of Samar away."

Calabast frowned. "That's exactly what I'm warning you against. You can't go against your expert candidates like this. If Jannzi was able to advance to expert pilot anyway, then her resentment against you would have settled in too deeply. If your act ruined her progression, then her absence in crucial moments such as the Battle against the Abyss would have led to a lot more losses."

He understood her implicit message. No matter how troublesome it was to deal with an expert pilot with a problematic agenda, they were still assets to the clan. Their strength was undeniable and the Larkinson Clan wouldn't be as strong if Ves ruined their future!

"I brought up Venerable Jannzi for a reason, Ves." She continued. "Even though you consider her a headache, is she really damaging your interests?"

"Uhmm.."

"She isn't." Calabast smirked. "That's because you've employed other ways to neutralize her threat. Putting her in the Hall of Heroes, making her a member of the Larkinson Court and so on are all viable ways to limit how much trouble she can stir up. Yet these measures aren't as good as employing a counterbalance."

"A counterbalance?"

"An opponent. Isn't Venerable Joshua highly opposed to her stance? His existence constrains Venerable Jannzi. So long as he voices his support for you, Venerable Jannzi won't be able to gain enough traction in the clan to curb your authority."

"That works?" Ves dubiously asked.

"Think about all of the expert pilots and expert candidates that you have. Many of them can be nudged into butting heads against each other. This is how large organizations truly manage their expert pilots. They can be quite a handful if they left to their own devices, but once they get into a conflict with others of their kind, they will be so consumed by them that you can just sit back and relax!"

He had to admit that this approach sounded very elegant! Instead of trying his best to suppress the problem cases, why not leave the job to other expert pilots? It was perfect!

Chapter 2564: Compromising Allies

With the help of Calabast's useful insights, Ves formulated a revised plan to manage the expert candidates of the Larkinson Clan.

By no means was he willing to let these potential problem cases develop without supervision. That was a recipe for chaos and disaster.

He still pushed through with his plan to set up the Mech Pilot Management Bureau. He just dialed back its mission and imposed stricter limits on its discretion.

The new bureau needed to employ a soft touch to manage, supervise and guide the future expert pilots of the clan. It was very important to prevent any of the expert candidates from brewing any resentment towards him or the current leadership.

undefinedIf they had any aspirations that were detrimental to his agenda, then the bureau should employ gentle means to dampen their extreme edges. The goal wasn't to remove the problem, but to turn a bigger issue into a smaller one. Anything further than that was too risky.

After doing all of that, if the threat still remained, then the bureau should discreetly find ways to put expert candidates and expert pilots at odds with each other. If these strong personalities directed most of their animosity towards other expert pilots, then Ves and the true leadership of the clan wouldn't have to spend too much energy on countering their narratives.

All in all, this was a much more intensive but considerably more elegant approach than before. His previous plan was too hamfisted to succeed in the long run. Expert candidates and expert pilots simply weren't sheep that were easily controlled. They were like wolves that could never be tamed.

Once Calabast helped him refine their new approach towards expert candidates, Ves commanded her to continue to flesh it out with Major Verle.

Though Ves pulled back the scope of the Mech Pilot Management Bureau, its work could not be done without resorting to multiple prongs. The open and aboveboard institutions had to work together with the hidden and secretive arms of the clan. Employing official means to influence expert candidates was not enough. The role of the Black Cats was indispensable.

As Calabast stood up and turned to leave, Ves brought up another matter.

"By the way, are you up to date with what our good friend 'Professor Benedict Cortez' is doing in the Cross Clan?"

She stopped and turned back to Ves. "Are you concerned?"

"Don't play dumb in front of me. You're the one responsible for giving him his current cover identity."

Calabast crossed her arms. "He would have turned to someone else if I refused his commission. You should be happy that I am the one who fashioned his new identity. Think of what might happen if you partnered up with him without becoming aware of his sordid past."

"I'm not blaming you for giving the Skull Architect a way to return to civilized space. I've even made a verbal agreement with him to partner up. I just want to make sure we have enough safeguards in place in the event he goes crazy or something."

While Ves did not think that the Skull Architect was irrational enough to tear apart a good deal, it was best to be prepared. Ves had managed to live up until now because he always prepared plenty of contingencies.

He couldn't account for every possible outcome, but it was enough to prepare against the most likely and damaging events.

"Who do you think I am, kid?" Calabast sneered. "I have already prepared several countermeasures should the professor ever take aim at us. The greatest form of leverage we have over him is our knowledge of his true identity. Make no mistake. Once we leak it to the MTA, the professor is history."

Ves didn't feel very reassured about that. When he met the Skull Architect, he seemed way too confident and self-assured to be worried about exposure.

"Why do I have the feeling that this isn't as useful as I think?"

"Benedict knows we have leverage over him. Despite the risks to his life and safety, he still chose to join the Cross Clan in order to get close to us. Why would he make such a dangerous choice?"

Ves frowned and thought for a moment. As someone who is used to taking risks, he quickly understood what Calabast was steering him towards.

"Because.. What the professor wants is worth the potential risks. From what I know, all he wants is to advance to master. He's so desperate to realize his design philosophy that he didn't hesitate to murder an expert pilot and eke out a new living in the frontier."

"Exactly." Calabast nodded. "Make no mistake. The Skull Architect did not earn his name by being a fuddy duddy scholar. He is a truly ambitious man who does not let any of the rules get in the way of what he wants. The only reason why he abides by them is because breaking them is not conducive to his goals."

"Are you saying that we can trust Professor Cortez?" Ves frowned.

"Mech designers like him are not that difficult to deal with. As long as you know what he wants, it is easy to manage our relations with him. Isn't he going through all of this trouble because he believes that collaborating with you will help him advance to Master Mech Designer?"

"That's correct…"

"Then he should not be an acute threat to us. In fact, it's the opposite. It's in his best interest to support you and keep you safe. I guess this is the other reason why he joined the Cross Clan instead of becoming a part of the Larkinson Clan. He can turn the Cross Clan into your unwitting guard dogs, thereby increasing your security in the times to come."

The situation sounded a bit surreal to Ves. The Skull Architect was actively trying to become one of his backers? This was absurd! A dignified Senior never compromised so much in order to earn the favor of the Journeyman!

Yet… as powerful as Benedict might be, he did not actually possess that much leverage over Ves. If the Skull Architect wanted to coax Ves into collaborating with him, then the former war criminal had to lower his head and employ gentler means.

Why did that sound familiar?

"Benedict isn't concerned about the possibility that we would rat him out." Calabast explained. "He knows it is not in our best interests to remove him from the picture. Also, he is expressing his sincerity by giving us leverage over him. He is signalling a willingness to cooperate earnestly with us without resorting to any tricks. Someone who wants to betray us at some point wouldn't do that. This is why I'm not very worried about Benedict."

"All of this makes sense, but… the biggest flaw is that this only holds true as long as the professor remains rational. I don't know about you, but in my past interactions with the Skull Architect, he can be pretty irrational sometimes."

Calabast nodded in acknowledgement. "The risk exists, but there is too much at stake for him. I doubt he is irrational enough to engage in self-destructive behavior."

"That doesn't mean he's harmless."

"Of course not. While it's difficult to penetrate the Cross Clan, we still keep an eye on the professor and the rest of the Crossers. If there are any credible signs of danger, I will immediately bring it up to your attention."

That sounded good. Though Calabast had been incredibly helpful in many matters, she was caught off-guard several times in the past. Ves didn't want her to miss another foreseeable disaster.

Ves briefly discussed the upcoming alliance between the two clans. The Larkinson Clan and the Cross Clan had already negotiated most of the terms of their cooperative relationship. They were merely held up due to a number of lingering disagreements about benefits.

"You don't have to be so concerned, Ves. Patriarch Reginald Cross is in the same boat as Professor Cortez. For some reason, he believes that your cooperation is essential to attaining his goals. As long as he needs you, the Cross Clan will remain firm allies."

"What happens when these figures finally realize their ambitions?" Ves asked a very crucial question.

Calabast smiled in an intriguing fashion. "That is when the situation gets interesting. If these two figures don't need us anymore, then there is no compelling reason why they should continue to cooperate with us. I hope you have some kind of plan ready when the time comes."

Great. This was yet any concern that Ves had to worry about. Fortunately, he could delegate this problem to Calabast. She may be a bit unreliable but she was still on his side.

Once she left his stateroom, Ves pushed aside his concerns and tried to shift his focus back on his immediate priorities.

"Designing mechs comes first." He whispered to himself.

After wrapping up some administrative tasks, he moved over to the design lab.

Over fifty mech designers were grouped into a dozen design teams. Each team was already busy at work. Designing six second-class mech designs at once was an enormous burden that would strain everyone's limits over the course of the next half year.

This was just the start.

He moved forward until he reached Gloriana's side.

Lucky, who trailed behind Ves, jumped up to the work table and nuzzled his head in Clixie's stomach.

"Miaow!" She swatted the gem cat away.

"Meow."

"It's about time you showed up." Gloriana turned around her seat, facing away from the schematic she was working on. "You promised not to get distracted by clan matters this time."

Ves innocently raised his arms. "I'm sorry. Something truly important came up. I've taken care of it now. There shouldn't be too many distractions left aside from concluding our negotiations with the Cross Clan and welcoming the arrival of our new factory ship."

"I hope that is true, because I won't be as patient next time. Now sit down and help me expand this draft."

He looked at the projected schematic and saw that she was currently working on their upcoming Hexer communication mech.

"This mech.. I'm not sure we can realize the spiritual aspect of this mech." Ves hesitantly said. "I've never implemented this function before."

Gloriana confidently smiled and leaned against his arm. "I'm sure you can do it, Ves. You have several months to come up with something. For now, let's start with the basics. As you can see, I have opted to design a light auxiliary mech to become the carrier of this function. There is no great need to arm it because it is better if our communication mech is cheap and not as burdensome to make. The Hegemony may have stockpiled a lot of materials but that is no grounds for waste."

Her floral scent was already filling his nose. He relaxed in her presence as he began to get back in his groove.

He seriously studied her work, paying extra attention to her fundamental design choices.

What stood out from her proposed concept was that the communication mech did not possess any weapons!

"I'm not sure about this design choice here. Even if auxiliary mechs aren't designed for direct confrontations, they at least carry a knife or pistol. You never know when a backup weapon comes handy."

"It's pointless." Gloriana shook her head. "This is a male mech design. Arming them with any weapon means we have to devote some capacity to make it viable to fight with this frame. That's too much of a burden. I would rather devote all of its capacity towards increasing its survivability. It has to stay up as long as possible to keep every Hexer on the battlefield in the loop. We should leave its protection to other mechs that are much better geared towards actual combat."

Usually, Ves was in favor of specializing his mechs. However, he didn't feel so great about this auxiliary mech. To leave a male mech on the battlefield without any capacity to defend itself sounded wrong.

At least their Blessed Squire design was still a qualified knight mech, if a rather poor one.

"I think those poor male Hexer mech pilots could use a weapon." He told her. "Otherwise, our communication mech becomes completely dependent on the protection of other Hexer mechs."

"That's the point."

Chapter 2565: Unarmed Mechs

Ves thought that returning to the design lab freed him from suffering from headaches.

It turned out that he was wrong.

He groaned and pressed his fingers against his forehead. Not even Gloriana's perfume and her body warmth alleviated his rising stress.

"Mechs are combat machines. They are big, powerful and deathly. They require a lot of resources to make and they take up valuable transportation space to move them to the battlefield. Under these circumstances, why would you spend all of those resources on a machine that can't even defend itself?!"

undefinedHis wife shook his head at him. "You don't comprehend how the Hex Army is set up. It is not unusual for certain low value mech models to carry no weapons. They don't need any. In fact, it is better this way."

"Why?"

"Because of their mech pilots."

Ves grew angry. "Is this another way to denigrate the brave male Hexer pilots who are risking their lives on the battlefield without earning any appreciation from their female overlords?"

"It's not that!" Gloriana quickly responded. She patted his arm in order to calm him down. "Let me explain. First, think about the pool of mech pilots of a state like the Hegemony. I'm sure you can guess that the best mech pilots that graduate from our mech academies are destined to serve in the Hex Army. That's where all of our frontline combatants in the Komodo War come from. These talented, highly-trained mech pilots are all entrusted with our best and most capable mechs because they have the ability to make the most out of the most advanced machines built by our mech industry."

"I know that. What does that have to do with this weapon-less communication mech concept you came up with? Why can't we design it like the Blessed Squire?"

Though the Blessed Squire was a male Hexer mech, Ves at least succeeded in giving it a bit of dignity. It was a knight mech, which meant that it was capable of resisting an enemy up close.

What Gloriana proposed was something worse than that. The draft design she came up with did not possess any elements that were conducive to dealing damage or resisting damage. If she told him that this was a civilian industrial mech, then Ves would have believed her! How could such a defenseless mech ever belong to the battlefield?

"Their roles are different. The Blessed Squire is a combat support mech. We designed it as an accompaniment to assault squads. Without adding a sufficient amount of armor and offensive capabilities to the Blessed Squire, it would have been too easy for the Fridaymen to take it down."

In fact, the Blessed Squire rarely fought against enemy mechs up close these days. Due to its indispensable glow, the Hexers always deployed it in the center of their mech formations and treated it as a VIP that needed to be protected at all cost.

While Ves didn't exactly have that in mind when he designed the Blessed Squire, it was better than treating it as worthless cannon fodder.

"Doesn't the circumstances apply to our communication mech?"

"No!" Gloriana shook her head. "It's different! For our comm mech to be useful, it doesn't have to accompany the leading elements of a Hexer unit. It's better to deploy it a bit further behind in order to attract less enemy fire and to keep a good overview of the battlefield. Since the comm mech isn't required to clash with any enemy mechs, we can dispense with weapons. Since it's already a light mech, its armor isn't very thick in the first place, but we can make do with more affordable armor systems in order to save on costs."

"While I admit those reasons sound logical, it doesn't cost that much to invest a bit more in the combat capabilities of this mech. Sure, communications lines might get interrupted more often if you foist some combat capabilities on its design, but it at least gives it some teeth in the event it's under attack!"

His wife shook her head yet again. She looked at him as if he was silly.

"You still don't understand. Have you seen how simple and easy it is to pilot this comm mech after I have left out all of the more complicated combat-related elements from its design?"

"I noticed that. It's as if you're designing an industrial mech. Only potentates with incomplete training and mech pilots with the poorest aptitudes pilot these kinds of basic machines."

Modern mechs were very complicated to pilot. The genetic aptitudes of potentates went from E to A, though some rumors on the galactic net suggested that the MTA actually extended this range to S. Whatever the case, the quantity of mech pilots with poorer aptitudes was significantly greater than those with better aptitudes.

This had led to situations where many states didn't even bother to put mech pilots with E-grade genetic aptitudes through the academy. It simply wasn't worthwhile to turn these poorly-talented prospects into qualified mech pilots.

"Our comm mech has to be simplified in order to lower the skill requirements to pilot it. Right now, the Komodo War is going bad for the Hex Army. Too many elite and well-training mech pilots are getting killed. No matter whether the mech pilots are male or female, attrition is high for both of them. Not too long ago, the Hegemony sent me a communiqué that requested us to design some mechs that takes lesser-skilled mech pilots into account."

"The Hegemony is that desperate?"

Gloriana tried to look brave. "The Hex Army still has plenty of manpower! It's just that it needs to look out for the long-term. From what it looks like, this war will probably drag on for at least a couple of years. We need to conserve as much high-quality mech pilots as possible, and that means we need to expand the use of low-quality mech pilots. There are so many of them that preserving their lives is not as important."

Ves frowned deeper at her. "You can put these so-called low-quality mech pilots to much better use by pairing them up with frontline mechs. I know you second-raters don't like to field these kinds of mechs, but they are quite effective in wars between third-rate states."

"We're already doing that." She replied. "The Hex Army is mobilizing as many low-aptitude female mech pilots as possible."

"What about the male mech pilots, then?"

"They'll be paired with mechs like this one. There are plenty of auxiliary mechs for them to pilot. However, it takes too much effort for them to utilize the weapons of their mechs well."

Ves looked at her in disbelief. "The pool of mech pilots with low aptitudes is huge. There ought to be just as many men as women who are part of this pool. The Hex Army can't possibly field enough auxiliary mechs to make full use of all of those men!"

"We're not ignorant of that, but this is the policy that the Matriarchs have set. Low-aptitude female mech pilots are allowed to pilot armed frontline mechs while untalented boys must strictly pilot auxiliary mechs."

"Why did the Matriarchs set such an arbitrary rule? A war is going on! The last thing you want to do is to impose artificial restrictions on your fighting forces that will handicap their combat potential!"

His wife paused for a moment. She seemed hesitant to say her next words.

Ves looked her in the eye. "What is going on?"

"There.. is another reason why the Hegemony is reluctant to arm low-quality auxiliary mechs. It's.. so that the boys who pilot them don't pose an acute threat against our own side."

"The Hexers.. are afraid of their own boys turning their coats?" Ves raised his eyebrows.

"Yes."

"Has it happened already?"

"There are isolated cases. Still, the problem isn't as serious as you think. Most boys are well-trained. Every male Hexer pilot that was part of the armed forces at the start of the Komodo War are very obedient and reliable. They're trained to be that way. It's just that the huge influx of low-aptitude mech pilots are different."

"They're not house-trained, are they?" Ves recognized the main issue.

Gloriana sighed. "Yes. They weren't originally a part of the Hex Army."

"That sounds like a massive oversight. The Hegemony started the Komodo War. Couldn't you Hexers take the effort of preparing your low-aptitude mech pilots sooner?"

"That would have tipped the Fridaymen off. You can't hide such massive movements. Also, this isn't something that normal second-rate states do. The more advanced the state, the more its military is geared towards the development of elites. While our state is wealthy, it can't arm so many weak mech pilots without draining resources elsewhere."

Obviously, the Hegemony couldn't afford to be conservative anymore.

Ves rubbed his smooth-shaven chin. "So what's the danger of pairing these hastily-conscripted boys with armed mechs? From what I have seen of the Hegemony, pretty much every boy is committed to the matriarchy."

"It's not that simple." Gloriana looked pained. "The Hegemony is huge. It's split up into several matriarchal dynasties, which are further split up into smaller dynasties. While the former tries to be as unified as possible, there are still.. differences.. in the way they govern their territories. In some dynasties, boys are treated well as long as they are good. In other places…"

"They're treated like crap, am I right?"

"I guess I can't hide it from you. There are dynasties where boys and in particular male potentates are seen as threats to other Hexers. Sometimes, they only receive the most basic of mech piloting training. In other places, they are treated harshly. None of us ever thought we might actually have to enlist them in battle. We thought we'd be able to win the Komodo War by relying purely on our professional soldiers."

"Hahaha!" Ves couldn't help but laugh! "You women look down on the Friday Coalition too much!"

Obviously, Gloriana didn't look pleased. It became harder and harder for her to maintain the delusion that a Hexer victory was inevitable.

"The point is that it's appropriate to assign armed mechs to untalented and undertrained boys. Even if they pilot a mech with a weapon, there is a good chance that they can't even hurt a fly. They lack the training to actually fight with them. As for the boys that do possess this training, too many Hexers don't trust them. We're all afraid they might succumb to Fridaymen lies and sabotage their own side."

Ves snorted. "I wouldn't blame these poor fellows. I think their lives would actually be better if the Hexer regime is torn down."

"'THAT'S NONSENSE!"

There was no point trying to argue with Gloriana about this. Ves moved away from this contentious topic.

"Let's get back to your comm mech. Now that you explained the reasoning behind your design choices, I understand why your concept doesn't mention any weapons."

"Boys can't be trusted with guns."

"AHEM." Ves coughed. "Just because I accept your design choice doesn't mean I agree with it. You reap what you sow. If you Hexers treated your male potentates better, you wouldn't have ended up in a situation where you have to watch out for betrayal."

Gloriana lowered her eyes. "I realize that, and so do many Hexers. Don't think that I'm part of the groups that mistreated these boys."

"I can believe that, but Hexers like you are not innocent in this matter. You either ignored this deplorable behavior or condoned it in some tacit way. Now that the war has forced you to draw upon the dregs of your society, it's too late to apologize."

The entire concept behind her proposed communication mech was based on some very problematic circumstances. The entire situation disgusted Ves, but he didn't have any choice but to go along with his wife.

Situations like these continually reminded him that he was fighting on the wrong side of the war. Yet no matter how awful the Hexers turned out to be, he never contemplated changing sides.

There were too many reasons why he needed the Hexers to win.

Ves always put his interests before his conscience.

Chapter 2566: Interconnected Mechs

The Hexer communication mech that Gloriana envisioned was one of the most basic, simplest, cheapest and pathetic second-class mechs that Ves had ever seen.

The entire concept of it made it clear to anyone that the auxiliary mech was nothing more than a movable, adaptable communications relay.

"It carries some decent sensors as well." Gloriana defended her vision. "If we want to turn it into an asset on the battlefield, then it has to do more than opening up reliable communication channels. Since we aren't putting any weapon systems and everything related to them in our mech, we've freed up a lot of capacity. It can fulfill the role of a scout as well, though I want to make sure we devote enough space for its ECM systems and short-range communication systems."

The latter caused Ves to raise his eyebrows. "I can understand the need for ECM systems. It's too costly to turn it into a stealth mech, so the next best option is to add modules that can reduce its energy signature to enemy sensors. What I don't understand is why you want to invest so much in additional communication components. The mech doesn't need anything extra in order to perform its main role."

undefinedAfter all, the greatest advantage of spiritual components was that they did not take up any physical space. No matter how little space the mech had left, it took no effort for Ves to squeeze in a couple of spiritual constructs.

Of course, Ves had to pay another price in order to add spiritual capabilities to a product. The spiritual foundation of a mech design essentially represented the spiritual capacity of a mech.

The greater the foundation, the more spiritual load it could bear.

Adding one or two powerful abilities was his current limit. He could add more, but that entailed weakening everything else. That was not a good design approach in his opinion.

For this simple communication mech, Ves did not intend to add any extra features. He intended to devote as much spiritual capacity as possible to instil the strongest possible spiritual communication capabilities into this design.

While Ves didn't exactly know how powerful he could make these features, he was confident he could spark a minor revolution in this field!

However, Gloriana did not stop her thoughts at this point. She pointed her finger at the various communication arrays and other components.

"The long-range communication system that you're responsible for implementing is good for connecting mech units to central commands and so on. However, it's not useful in connecting to mechs that lack this system. Try and imagine a situation where a mech company is fighting under heavy jamming. A lot of signals will become garbled, thereby preventing individual mechs from transmitting lots of crucial data to each other. Our comm mech must be able to pick up and transit high-fidelity communication signals even under heavy jamming."

"You're talking about very expensive equipment."

"That's only for communication systems that are meant to transmit signals across longer distances." Gloriana shook her head. "We already have your divine arrays for that. What we need is to ensure solid connectivity at shorter ranges. On land, we're talking an effective range of 1 kilometer. In space, it needs to be at least at least 10 kilometers, though ideally we should aim for more."

He had to admit her logic was sound. While Ves personally didn't have much experience with the level of jamming that Gloriana talked about, he knew that it could get quite intense in second-class mech combat.

This was a necessary development on land. It was not that difficult for second-class mech designers to develop an artillery mech that could fire at targets over the horizon with pin-point accuracy.

Still, in order to hit anything at such distance, the artillery mech needed accurate targeting data.

If a mech unit was able to observe an enemy formation and transmit precise data to a prepared group of artillery mechs, then a lot of shelling would commence very soon!

Of course, artillery mechs were never able to pound enemy fortifications and units with impunity. They were large, heavy and somewhat immobile. Each time they fired, they emitted a lot of heat, sound, pressure and other emissions, thereby exposing their positions to any watchful scouts. This left them vulnerable to counter-battery fire or lightning raids by enemy aerial mechs.

In short, the side who fired first might not have the last laugh!

A tenuous balance had formed due to all of these developments. An intricate web of threats and countermeasures forced both sides to make careful use of their artillery mechs. These were powerful but very vulnerable and expensive assets that played a crucial role in constraining the actions of the enemy. Ruining an entire artillery mech company not only deprived its owners with a lot of valuable machines, but could also exposed many other other mech companies to lots of shelling!

The insertion of a single communication mech that promised to enable reliable communication transmissions across battlefields could easily upend this balance!

This was what Gloriana was truly aiming for. The communication mech might not be that impressive in itself, but once it slotted into the mech lineup of the Hex Army, it could amplify the performance of many other mechs!

As Ves comprehend Gloriana's goal, he became impressed by her foresight and ambition.

"I see! It's much like the Blessed Squire in that regard. Both function as force multipliers!"

The Blessed Squire boosted the performance of other mechs with the Superior Mother's glow. To perform its function effectively, it had to be in the thick of combat, so it made sense to turn it into a knight mech.

The communication mech envisioned by Gloriana did not need to be in a central position. In fact, it was the opposite. The mech wanted to attract as little attention as possible.

"It doesn't make much sense for this mech to possess a glow." Ves remarked. "We'll have to suppress it for this design."

"Can you do that, Ves?" Gloriana curiously asked.

Ves nodded. He had already done so for the Devil Tiger. Though repressing its glow caused the mech to acquire a strange charm, at the very least it didn't resemble a spiritual torch in the dark!

"No problem. Only the mech pilot will experience its glow."

"Wait. Try to gear our mech towards the dust phase of existence. Maybe it will have a surprising effect." She requested.

Ves considered her proposal. "You might be onto something. I can't promise it will have the effect you desire."

"If it works, we can also implement this effect onto our stealth mech!"

That was a much more complicated project. While Ves was interested in designing a real stealth mech, he did not look forward to solving all of its technical challenges. It took a lot of precision design work in order to contain or dampen as many possible emissions as possible.

Just a single leak or design flaw could easily expose the stealth mech to enemy sensors, thereby dooming it! Without the ability to hide from enemy sensors, stealth mechs were incredibly vulnerable to enemy attacks!

That particular project was not on the agenda today. For now, Ves and Gloriana just wanted to establish a solid plan for their communication mech design project.

Their discussion continued on for a while. They made a number of other notable design choices.

One of them was to split up the mech into two variants.

"You want us to design two versions of this mech?!"

"It's not as bad as it sounds, Ves! Look at our draft design. Does this look like a complicated mech to you? If we leave aside the auxiliary modules, its frame is incredibly simple and free of clutter. Since our communication mech is meant to be paired with low-quality mech pilots, we have to simplify its controls as much as possible."

For low-skilled mech pilots, piloting a regular Hexer military mech was out of the question. Modern mechs were already several times more difficult to pilot than mechs developed in the past, and they would continue to become more complex over time.

In order to simplify the controls of a mech, its design needed to be stripped with many innovations that made modern mechs better.

It was like turning back the clock in a sense.

This meant that while the mech became easier to pilot, its performance and control range decreased as well.

Even if Ves insisted on retaining some combat ability for the mech, it simply wouldn't be able to keep up with the high-intensity battles of the Komodo War!

"Maybe you have a point. Since the mech design is so small and simple, I guess it's possible to design two concurrent versions."

Gloriana wanted to design a version of the communication mech that was optimized for landbound deployment. She also wanted a slightly more complicated version that was optimized for spaceborn combat.

Mounting a flight system onto a light mech was very cumbersome. The design needed to devote a fair amount of capacity in order to accommodate such a module. A lot of other characteristics of the mech would change as well such as the energy consumption and heat management of the mech.

Still, despite these complications, the communication mech was still an easy mech to design to design. Its relatively low budget, simplified internal architecture and basic components meant that designing two versions at once did not match the workload of designing a more advanced second-class mech such as the Valkyrie Redeemer or the Transcendent Punisher.

Ves reluctantly nodded. "We can do this I suppose."

"That's great! The Hex Army will be pleased to receive two separate versions. By the way, this mech design needs a name or at least a temporary codename. I'm thinking of Cherub."

"Cherub?" Ves frowned for a moment.

He quickly accessed the galactic net and became flooded by images of pink-cheeked boys with flying wings. Some of them carried bows and arrows, but more often than not they were depicted as cute or mischievous infantiles!

"So what do you think, Ves?" She asked as her eyes sparkled with delight.

She loved the name she came up for the mech!

"..."

In the end, he didn't bother to argue with Gloriana. She obviously insisted on it and Ves didn't want to ruin their fragile harmony over a trivial naming issue.

Besides, he had to admit that the name fit the vision of the mech. It was a harmless auxiliary mech that was meant to be piloted by the equivalent of baby boys in Hexer society.

Ves wasn't sure what the male Hexer mech pilots would think if the Hex Army compelled them to pilot the Cherub. Would they understand its meaning? He wasn't sure whether its intended mech pilots would interpret the name as an honor or an insult.

With that decision set, he brought up one more issue.

"Since this project entails designing two related mechs, we need to work together with Juliet."

"What? No! There's no need for her involvement. I can take care of everything. This is such a simple mech design that her expertise won't have much room to play."

Ves crossed his arms. "Let Juliet be the judge of that. The spaceborn variant especially needs her input. Don't fight me on this. I've already made my choice. The Cherub has no weapons at all and very little armor. It relies entirely on mobility, cover and ECM in order to stay alive on the battlefield. Since mobility plays such a crucial role in its effective performance, we need to pull in a specialist who can amplify this aspect as much as possible."

Though Gloriana kept shaking her head, Ves held his ground on this issue. He truly believed the Cherub would become a significantly better mech if Juliet worked on its mobility.

As a Journeyman, she should not be weak in this aspect!

Fortunately, Gloriana finally acquiesced. It was difficult for her to deny that her Cherub design would probably be better off if Juliet was able to provide her input.

Chapter 2567: New Naming System

The Cherub Design Project actually called for designing two versions of the same mech, which was something Ves had never done before.

He learned from his project management lessons that this was not an unusual approach in larger design teams or mech companies.

Even if he limited the project to a single version, the Hegemony would definitely knock on his doors and request a variant that was optimized for a different environment.

Instead of going through all of that trouble, the Design Department might as well work on a base model and a variant concurrently so that it could deliver both mech designs to the client at once.

undefined"What budget do you have in mind for the Cherub?" Ves asked.

"Hmm. I'm aiming for a maximum production cost of 50 million hex credits for the landbound version and up to 55 million hex credits for the spaceborn version."

"That's very tight!" Ves exclaimed. "The frame of the Cherub might be simple, but all of those auxiliary modules aren't cheap. We'll have to impose a lot of limits in order to keep the cost of the mech within those ranges."

"I'm confident we can do it. All of those times spent on designing third-class mechs has made me a lot more budget conscious. If you think about it, designing the Cherub is not that different from designing a lesser mech. We just have to curb our desires and plan ahead."

She had a point. Now that she pointed this out, Ves calmed down. The Cherub may still be a second-class mech design by virtue of its tech and its components, but its overall scope and complexity was closer to that of a third-class mech design.

"I think it won't take much time to complete this project either." He muttered.

As Ves constructed a schedule by estimating how much time it took to design each aspect of the Cherub, he found out that it still entailed considerably less effort than usual.

It didn't matter if they had to design two different but related mechs at the same time. From a complexity angle, the Cherub was as easy to design as a mech from two centuries ago. Its design stripped a lot of refined features that were quite challenging to incorporate.

This was good news to Ves and the rest of the Design Department. They could spend additional time on completing other tasks. Unlike the Cherub, the other five design projects were fully modern! Depending on their complexity, Ves and his fellow lead designers might be forced to allocate extra time to the projects.

"Juggling six major projects at the same time isn't easy." He sighed.

After Ves worked with Gloriana to define their vision for the Cherub, they moved on to specifying some of their other mech designs.

Of the six projects they were tackling for this round, two of them happened to be based on existing models.

The Bright Warrior Mark II and the Ferocious Piranha Mark II were largely based on their older equivalents. The major difference was that Ves wanted to translate their mech concepts to a higher class.

The second-class versions of the Bright Warrior and the Ferocious Piranha were meant to become the backbone of the Larkinson Clan. Since they played such an important role in the defense of his fleet, Ves did not dare to neglect them despite their familiar nature.

It didn't take much time to set some solid targets for the two design projects. Ves had already done a lot of preparation work in defining the new place for the Bright Warrior Mark II

"Downgrading the status of the Bright Warrior Mark II is a harsh decision. You're going against the spirit of its original vision." Gloriana carefully pointed out.

Ves ruefully smiled. "We've already discussed this. The Bright Warrior Mark II will become the basic generalist mech platform for our clan. I know the Mark I is a beloved mech among the Avatars of Myth, but I don't want them to pilot the Mark II. Elite mech pilots ought to be paired with elite, high-performing mech models. The Ferocious Piranha Mark II is a good example of that. The Mark I is already raising hell in the third-class mech market. With this uplifted version, our clan can shake the hearts of any second-class opponents!"

He did not believe the Ferocious Piranha's glow was capable of disabling second-class mech pilots. Their training level and mental discipline was a lot higher than third-class riffraff.

That did not detract too much from the Ferocious Piranha Mark II's value. As the Valkyrie mechs had already proved in the Komodo War, any enemy affected by a hostile glow experienced varying degrees of discomfort.

It was very difficult for even the most well-trained mech pilots to shrug off all of the negative effects!

"Hehehe…"

Just thinking about all of the opponents it could sabotage in the future brought Ves a lot of satisfaction!

Gloriana thrust her elbow against his side.

"Hey! What was that all about!?"

"You weren't listening to me, Ves."

"Oh sorry. You were saying?"

"I was just trying to tell you that your naming system sucks."

"What?!"

"Hear me out first." She raised her finger. "The Crystal Lord Mark I is a third-class mech design, correct?"

He nodded. "Correct."

"The Crystal Lord Mark II is also a third-class mech design."

"That's true. We just released it not too long ago. Even though the Crystal Lord Mark II hasn't caught as much attention as the Ferocious Piranha, it's quietly ramping up as well. The Marketing Department intends to hold off on promoting the new Crystal Lord model until the hype surrounding the Ferocious Piranha finally begins to fade."

It was too difficult for the Crystal Lord Mark II to escape the shadow of the much more attention-grabbing light skirmisher. In hindsight, the LMC should have just released the Crystal Lord Mark II first so that it enjoyed plenty of time in the limelight.

Oh well.

"Now think about the Bright Warrior line and the Ferocious Piranha line. The Mark I versions are third-class mechs, but what about the Mark II versions?"

"They're both second-class mech designs."

"Don't you see the inconsistency here? You're breaking the pattern you've established before! A lot of people, from customers to our own clansmen, will quickly become confused whether a mech is supposed to be second-class or third-class!"

"I haven't fully thought about that." Ves admitted.

"Then correct it. You need to develop a more systematic naming scheme in order to keep our product lineup as clear as possible. Otherwise, misunderstandings might result where people expect a third-class mech only to get a second-class one or vice versa. By the way, are you determined to keep our third-class mechs up to date?"

"I do. As products such as the Desolate Soldier, Doom Guard and Ferocious Piranha have already proven, it's very easy to break into a lot of third-class mech markets at once. The profit from selling a single unit is low, but when monthly sales surpass 1 million copies, we are easily able to afford decent capital ships. As long as our current business model remains viable, we can keep treating the Yeina Star Cluster as our perennial cash cow."

There was no way he wanted to abandon all of the market share the LMC had captured in this region. Even if Ves set his sights on the Red Ocean, he knew that he needed to continue upgrading his fleet in order to face dangers that thrived in the new frontier.

Forget about battling against first-class opponents and remnant alien survivors. Just the second-class opponents from the galactic center were far more advanced than the backwater Hexers and Fridaymen!

The Red Ocean was open to all of human space. Those who originated closer to the center of the galaxy were much further ahead when it came to tech, assets and manpower.

If the Larkinson Clan wanted to establish its footing in the Red Ocean, then it had to continue with earning a lot of money. Due to the law of diminishing returns, it cost an astronomical amount of money just to strengthen his fleet by a modest amount.

Ves could not let go of any revenue stream if that was the case!

"Since you are determined to exploit the third-class mech market, then you need to establish a better naming system straight away. Don't let this contradiction unfold and cause mass confusion."

Ves bent his head in thought. "Do you have any ideas?"

"In fact, I do." His wife responded with a smug grin. "In the mech industry, there are various ways to differentiate different products that are related to each other. Right now, make use of Marks to designate generational advancements of the same mech. I don't have a problem with that as long as we apply it consistently. What we need is a second method to distinguish mechs from the same product line that are differentiated by class. I'm thinking about using Version A, Version B and Version C."

Ves frowned. "That sounds rather clunky, Gloriana. What do you call the Bright Warrior Mark I, then?"

"In my proposed naming system, its full name would be the Bright Warrior Mark I Version C, or Bright Warrior IC for short. The second-class version you're working on right now is not a generational advancement, so it is still a Mark I product. However, it's of a higher class, so it is designated as Version B. Its full name is therefore the Bright Warrior Mark I Version B."

"That's a bit of a mouthful. I think everyone will just call it the IB for short."

He had to admit that Gloriana's naming scheme was very handy once he got used to it. The point of it was to distinguish the placement of a particular mech within its product line.

Perhaps it might not be a big deal at the start, but once a few decades went by, a lot of people would depend on the clarity of this naming scheme.

Not every mech company abided by such a transparent and convenient naming system. Sometimes, the mech company didn't want to attract too much attention to the exact version of the mech. This made it easier for them to sell older and outdated mechs.

What also complicated the naming situation was that not every mech company adopted the same model with regards to product development.

What the LMC did was fairly typical. Once it designed a mech like the original Ferocious Piranha, Ves had no intentions of tinkering with its design. He wanted to wait for at least 5 years but ideally an entire generation before he would design an update.

Other mech companies didn't wait that long to come up with a new product. For example, continuous product development schedules called for publishing version 1.0, version 1.01, version 1.02, version 1.03 and so on at month-long intervals or something.

The naming schemes that mech companies adopted to distinguish or obfuscate their placement became quite confusing sometimes.

This was on purpose.

The less average people understood, the more the companies in question looked down on its customers.

Suffice to say, Ves and Gloriana opposed this outlook. They had enough confidence in their products that even their older mechs would still be able to earn some appreciation from the mech market.

After considering Gloriana's proposal a bit further, Ves eventually accepted her system. He was satisfied with the clarity it provided. As long as people learned what versions A, B, and C stood for, they could easily comprehend the LMC's entire mech catalog.

He updated his administration and sent some memos to Raymond and Gavin to inform him of the change. Even though it would take a long time for him to complete the Bright Warrior IB and the Ferocious Piranha IB, it was best to plan ahead."

After handling this issue, the newlyweds proceeded to discuss some other details about the two second-class mech design projects.

Chapter 2568: Docile Woman

While Gloriana wasn't easy to get along, Ves had already established a good working relationship with her. Even if they disagreed with each other, they always hashed out their differences somehow.

Together, they set a comprehensive plan for the Cherub, the Bright Warrior IB and the Ferocious Piranha IB.

Ves decided he spent enough time with Gloriana after handling these projects. He rose up from his seat and began to move to the other side of the design lab.

"Are you visiting Juliet now?"

undefinedHe paused. "I am."

"Don't do anything naughty. I'm keeping my eye on you. You're mine."

"For the millionth time, Gloriana. You don't have to worry about these unrealistic fantasies. If you truly love me, then you should know how much I value loyalty."

She directed a measuring glance at him. It was as if she completely disregarded his words!

Ves did not bother to entangle with his overpossessive wife any further. He leaned in for a quick kiss before heading over to Juliet's corner of the design lab.

"Hello."

"Hello."

The Penitent Sister turned from her work station in order to face him. "I've just received your memo on the new naming system. Let me guess. Did your wife come up with this scheme?"

He nodded. "It makes sense. In the future, we'll be designing a lot more mechs, many of which will be derived from other versions. We need to make sure we don't get lost in the confusion of our own making."

"I think it's a good method of naming our designs."

"Even when it comes from Gloriana?" Ves raised his eyebrow.

She sheepishly shrugged. "I don't hate your wife, sir. I merely dislike her because.. you know. Regardless, a good idea is a good idea. There are many objective and subjective aspects to mech design. While we can disagree about the latter, we should be careful not to distort the truth."

"That is strange to hear from a Penitent Sister."

Juliet straightened her back. "I am a Penitent Sister as well as a mech designer. I see no contradiction here. I pursue the truth in both my identities."

"How does that even work?"

"As a Penitent Sister and devout Hexer, I seek the truth behind our place in life. How superior are women? How inferior are boys? What must we do to catch up to the Superior Mother's glory? Every sister of mine grapples with these profound questions every day. Don't underestimate the difficulty of answering them. Back in the Hegemony, even our most honored matriarchs have failed to settle on a definitive answer. In comparison, designing mechs is a lot easier."

Ves twitched his mouth. Juliet made it sound as if the religious crap she mentioned was serious science.

He strenuously objected to this comparison!

He decided to adopt the same approach he used whenever Gloriana brought up something nonsensical. He ignored everything she said that was related to faith and tried to pivot the conversation back to normal territory.

"We should focus on our work. Gloriana and I have just made some important decisions regarding some of our design projects. Let me fill you in on our design choices…"

As Ves quickly brought Juliet up to speed, she began to provide her own input on matters. She especially had a lot of opinions about the direction that they should take with regards to the Ferocious Piranha IB and the Cherub.

"The Ferocious Piranha and the spaceborn version of the Cherub may both look like light mechs, but their flight and movement characteristics are dramatically different." She explained. "The Ferocious Piranha is a high-budget mech that scores high in terms of energy reserves, peak energy output, heat management and other qualities. The Cherub on the other hand is like a toy. It has too many constraints. Not only are we confined to using cheaper components, but we also have to make do with simplified ones in order to avoid burdening the mech pilots."

"Do you have a problem with that, Juliet?"

"Not per se, sir. It's just annoying that I have to take a different approach for the Cherub. We need to take a rationing approach and strictly limit how much capacity and other resources we expend in order to integrate any part in the design."

Ves just recalled that Juliet probably lacked experience in designing third-class mechs. As a proud graduate of the Artemis Institute, she was almost as elite as Gloriana in the Hegemony's mech industry. There was hardly any reason for someone as good as her to dabble in lesser mechs.

"You need to get used with designing mechs under these limitations." He warned her. "The LMC started off as a third-class mech company. We only started to design second-class mechs not too long ago. While I intend to ramp up our output of second-class mech designs, we won't abandon the third-class mech market."

Juliet looked confused. "Why would you do that? The profitability of second-class mechs is much higher."

"There are multiple reasons. Second-class mech markets are far more complicated. I also don't want to pass over the third-class mech market. Devoting our energies to one market might be profitable enough, but being active in both markets at once is even more profitable."

"It's quite a burden to keep servicing the third-class mech markets."

Ves waved his hand in dismissal. "It's not a big deal. Third-class mech design projects are considered minor projects in our department. We can just leave most of the work to our assistants and just keep an eye on their progress every once in a while. In fact, this is good practice to them. Those who do well under these circumstances can exercise their nascent design philosophies."

There was another important reason why he didn't want to abandon the third-class mech market.

The huge volume of sales provided a lot of spiritual feedback to his design spirits. In fact, for some of them, they received far more spiritual feedback than they could handle.

While that wasn't entirely good, it was much more preferable than the alternative! Poor, stagnant and impoverished design spirits such as Bravo could only dream of earning so many rewards!

Ves did not have to worry about any of his design spirits going hungry as long as millions of mech pilots kept piloting related mechs.

While there were many differences between third-class mech pilots and second-class mech pilots, they were largely the same when it came to the quality and quantity of spiritual feedback they provided!

Even expert candidates and expert pilots were no different. At most, second-class expert pilots were a bit more vigorous and varied due to their superior heritage and training.

While he couldn't tell all of that to Juliet, it was enough to make his stance clear.

"You're in charge, sir." She demurringly said. "If this is your policy, then I will get up to speed on how to design a lesser mech."

"That's exactly what I want to hear."

Ves resisted the urge to pat her head and call her a good girl.

Unlike his stubborn and bossy spouse, Juliet was remarkably well-behaved. He couldn't help but study her appearance a bit deeper.

She was not too tall or too short. She was moderately fit due to the training she underwent as a Penitent Sister. She possessed unremarkable brown hair that she neatly tied in a plain ponytail and she wore no makeup at all.

Perhaps the only real demerit to her appearance was the symbol tattooed on her face. If not for this mark of shame, Ves might have called her homely.

Though Ves did not feel any special attraction to Juliet, he briefly imagined what it would be like to enter into a relationship with the Penitent Sister.

There was no getting around to the fact that Juliet was a Hexer. A devout one at that. Yet she was completely opposite to Gloriana when it came to her demeanor.

Despite her sordid past as cultist and extremist, Juliet had grown a lot less combative and much more moderate over the past month. The Larkinson Network, the Superior Mother, the hardships they went through all played a role in deradicalizing her and her fellow sisters.

In her current state, Juliet would make for a much more lovelier partner than Gloriana.

What Ves especially liked about the Penitent Sister designer so far was her dereference towards him. Even though her attitude towards him was largely based around the mistaken belief that he was the son of the Superior Mother, he quite liked it actually.

Hexers were much more tolerable when they put down their superior attitude towards him and looked up to him instead. That was something Gloriana rarely did, much to his regret.

As Ves kept staring at Juliet, the third lead designer of the Design Department felt as if the mood between the two had grown a little weird.

"MIAOW!"

"Ouch!"

Ves almost jumped from his seat!

He quickly turned around to see an irate Clixie staring up at him. The Rubarthan Sentinel Cat hissed a warning at him. Her bared teeth made it clear just how she had managed to make him feel pain!

"You, what are you doing?!"

"Miaow miaow miaow!"

"Hey, it wasn't like that! You're a cat. What do you know about humans? I was just thinking about mechs!"

"Miaow." Clixie merely hissed again.

Ves sighed in exasperation before turning around to look for Lucky. His own cat turned out to be floating leisurely above his head.

"Aren't you going to defend your master, Lucky?"

"Meow?"

"She just bit me! Don't you see the problem in that?"

"Meow meow."

"What a vigilant cat you are! Should I cut your diet in half or something?"

"Meow."

"I said no stealing!"

He gave up on Lucky. He carefully sat down. Clixie meanwhile hadn't left at all. She jumped up to the workstation and rested her body on it. Her deep blue eyes kept staring closely at Ves.

"Uhm, what was that about?" Juliet hesitantly asked.

"It's nothing. Our cats like to play pranks every now and then."

Though Juliet didn't seem to buy his story, she didn't bother to entangle with it any further. She was much more interested in progressing their design projects.

After he settled down, Ves brought up the mech that he intended to design for the Penitent Sisters.

"So far, I have been thinking about the mech type that we should adopt for this specific mech. Remember, it has a special purpose. It is not only meant to bring out the most of your sisters, but must also be capable of threatening vastly-superior mechs."

His idea was very bold. So bold in fact that Juliet was not fully onboard with his plan!

"Even if this mech draws strength from the Superior Mother as you claimed, we cannot rely on her for everything. We must fight by relying on our own strength. That is what truly keeps us strong. I don't know if any second-class mech we design is capable of challenging the might of a first-class mech."

Ves pressed his lips. "We are mech designers. We make the impossible possible. Even if the idea is ludicrous, just go through with it. Even if we come up short of our goal, we'll still end up with a mech that is still powerful enough to challenge very powerful second-class mechs."

"Isn't our department already working on an anti-expert mech for the Hex Army?"

"You're right, but the Blinding Mech is merely another auxiliary model. Its goal is not to defeat an expert pilot, but to debilitate it. The Hex Army is powerful enough that it can deploy plenty of other mechs to take advantage of the opening created by our Blinding Mech. What I have in mind for the Penitent Sisters is much more ambitious."

He cautiously revealed some of the principles behind his idea of a Penitent Sister mech. Battle formations played a central role to this mech!

Previously, he only tied mech pilots to the battle network. This time, he wanted to integrate both the mech and mech pilot to the same network!

Chapter 2569: Matching Grandeur

The floating hexagonal-shaped platform that orbited Cinach VI hosted another official gathering this day.

Previously used as the venue of one of the most spectacular weddings in the region, the so-called Hex Garden made for an excellent stage for one of the most important agreements the Larkinson Clan had made. Its picturesque garden and resplendent marble-like ornaments impressed both hosts and guests alike as they entered through the huge double doors.

Two different groups of people floated inside the main garden. They relied solely on their antigrav clothes to keep themselves aloft in the air. Each of them maintained a uniform and even altitude.

As some of the entrants passed through the entrance, they tilted their heads upwards. Past the enormous energy shield that kept the atmosphere in the garden in place, a vast expanse of stars stretched over everyone's heads.

undefinedYet as more and more people floated through the entrance, some of those stars began to disappear.

Starships upon starships began to fly over. Two different fleets approached the space above the Hex Garden in parallel.

On one side were the distinctly red-coated combat carriers and other starships of the Larkinson Clan. Their subtle hexagonal sides made it clear where the clan obtained the powerful ships.

A lot of Larkinsons were secretly nervous about their fleet procession. Their crews didn't have enough time to master the newly-refurbished Hexer-built vessels. Fortunately, nothing went wrong. Each and every starship moved forward at an even, ceremonial pace.

On the other side were the pale blue vessels of the Cross Clan. Larger and more robust, these vessels were built for war. Due to the flight from Vicious Mountain, only the toughest ships that could keep up were able to cross over to Komodo.

Different from the Larkinson fleet, the Cross fleet featured two very overpowering elements.

Surrounded by an honor guard of combat carriers, the two capital ships of the Crossers flew over in an imposing manner. If not for the sophisticated lighting system that kept the garden evenly-lit, the huge hulls of the Antonio Cross and the Hemmington Cross would have cast huge shadows over the Hex Garden!

Even now, the posture of the Larkinsons taking part in the ceremony faintly grew weaker. This was the suppression of enormous capital ships.

Hardly any human could keep their composure when two enormous capital ships loomed directly from above!

The Antonio Cross with her fairly slender 1.8 kilometer hull and the Hemmington Cross with her bulky 3 kilometer were like two floating cities. Their dimensions and mass were so incomprehensibly huge that everyone seemed like ants underneath their majesty!

The Crossers who were entering from the other side all looked amused at their Larkinson counterparts. It was not a coincidence that the Antonio Cross and the Hemmington Cross flew so closely over the Hex Garden.

Even though all of the terms of the alliance treaty had been set, the Crossers still had their pride.

If not for the fact that the Cross Patriarch didn't have as much MTA merits as the Larkinson Patriarch, the Crossers wouldn't have been forced to make so many compromises!

As Ves passed through the double doors, he frowned upon the sight. If his clan received his much-anticipated factory ship and the Glory Seekers obtained their formidable Indigo Tremor, then the Crossers wouldn't have been so unbridled.

These little power plays indicated that the relationship between the Larkinson Clan and the Cross Clan was anything but harmonious. The two groups only banded together out of necessity. Each of them needed something from each other. Emotion, sentiment and camaraderie had nothing to do with their decision to band together.

Though this did not sound ideal, Ves knew that his clan would be welcoming several more allies like the Cross Clan in the near future.

After all, if he did not wish to take the risk of performing high-risk missions for the MTA, there was no way for him to earn millions of MTA merits in a short amount of time.

This meant that in order to redeem a fleet beyonder ticket, he had to seek more partners like the Cross Clan to split the cost.

As Ves floated forward, he wore his formal clan patriarch uniform, complete with a billowing cape.

"Meow."

Lucky floated alongside him. He looked quite taken in by the cute little cape that Ves had quickly made and fitted for his cat this morning.

"The Cross Clan won't be arrogant for long." Gloriana huffed as she held her own cat against her chest. "With how much revenue the LMC is bringing in, we'll soon be able to overwhelm their ragtag fleet."

As with other occasions, Gloriana opted to wear a custom dress. She wore a purple ensemble that was bedecked with lustrous blue gems cut in hexagonal shapes.

She was the only member of the Larkinson Clan who eschewed the standard red uniform, thereby making her stand out from the crowd.

"Miaow."

Clixie squirmed out of Gloriana's grip and began to float in the air herself. Even though she lacked Lucky's flight capabilities, her owner fitted her with a small harness that incorporated an antigrav module. The organic cat was not at risk of falling anytime soon!

If not for the public occasion, the Golden Cat would have materialized her spiritual body as well. As it was, Ves could sense that she was paying close attention through the Larkinson Mandate that he carefully grasped.

As more and more people poured in, some more differences became apparent.

Even though the Larkinson clansmen wore identical red dress uniforms, they partitioned themselves in distinct groups.

The Avatars of Myth, Living Sentinels, Flagrant Vandals and so on all kept a small but noticeable distance from each other. The rivalry between the mech forces had not faded after battling alongside each other in the Nyxian Gap.

Instead, it had become more intense!

Ves keenly studied the attitudes his soldiers held towards each other. A bit of rivalry was good in his eyes. Even though the lack of total unity made his clansmen look a bit improper, he didn't mind this little detail.

A bit of friendly competition could do a lot of good in keeping his mech troops on their toes. He didn't want them to grow too complacent and stop working as hard to improve themselves.

Of course, if the competition between the different forces surpassed a certain threshold, it stopped being friendly. Fostering rivalries was a double-edged sword that could easily backfire on him if it went overboard.

As Patriarch Reginald Cross and his closest advisors and subordinates entered the garden, the posture of the Cross Clan had reached its peak!

Aside from their patriarch, the Crossers possessed three additional expert pilots. Their clan actually had more, but several brave expert pilots sacrificed their lives to delay enemy pursuit.

The four expert pilots each possessed strong force of wills. They were unlike the recently-advanced expert pilots who were still exploring their new capabilities.

"Patriarch Ves."

"Patriarch Reginald."

The two leaders greeted each other as they floated above a ceremonial altar. The leader of the Cross Clan smirked as he saw that the Larkinsons were faintly suppressed by the strength his clan put on display.

In addition to parading his pair of capital ships and his veteran expert pilots, the Cross Patriarch also brought another trump card.

Professor Benedict Cortez had become the new star of the Cross Clan!

As members of a martial clan, the Crossers were not ignorant of the value that a Senior Mech Designer brought to the table.

Even though their guest mech designer only partnered up with them a short time ago, the Senior already wowed most of the mech pilots by displaying his formidable design capabilities.

Hardly any Crosser rejected Benedict's entry into their midst!

Since a Senior Mech Designer enjoyed a much greater status than a bunch of Journeymen, the three lead designers of the Larkinson Clan all looked like a bunch of kids in front of the former Skull Architect!

It didn't help that Ves, Gloriana and Juliet were all in their thirties. While it was actually very impressive for them to reach the rank of Journeyman at relatively young ages, in this setting they were still lacking in grandeur.

Ves did not show any concern. Instead, he faced away from Patriarch Reginald and stared in the direction of the entrance.

"The best is about to come."

Every Larkinson suddenly gained a burst of pride as a number of special individuals passed through.

Wearing their customized dress uniforms, the expert pilots and expert candidates of the Larkinson Clan finally appeared into view.

An invisible momentum surrounded the extraordinary mech pilots as they flew forward.

Despite their differences in ideology and will, at this moment, each of them maintained a united front. Their different force of wills calmly existed alongside each other.

With 5 expert pilots and 9 expert candidates, the Larkinson Clan crushed the Cross Clan when it came to numbers!

Perhaps the Cross Clan may have the edge in the strength and development of their individual expert pilots, but they were much worse off in terms of continuity. They didn't have a lot of expert candidates and their established demigods were already middle-aged.

The two clans made for a powerful contrast.

The Larkinson Clan may be weaker, but possessed a much greater future.

The Cross Clan used to wield a lot more might, but had declined heavily in recent times.

The expert pilots of the Larkinson Clan looked especially dashing as they wore their custom capes. Their personal emblems were prominently visible on the backs of the extra garments.

The counterattack of the Larkinson Clan did not end here!

Moments after the expert pilots and expert candidates stood behind the lead designers of the Larkinson Clan, mechs began to arrive overhead.

Beyond the energy screen, many smaller elements flew underneath the massive hulls of the Antonio Cross and Hemmington Cross.

Numerous Desolate Soldiers, Bright Warriors, Doom Guards, Ferocious Piranhas and even a handful of Valkyrie Redeemers from the Glory Seekers flew forth in echelon formations!

Though many of the mechs hardly looked impressive to the Crossers, they were all LMC mechs that possessed their own distinctive glows.

Though the mechs were too distant to project their glows to the Larkinsons and Crossers attending the ceremony, their appearance nonetheless broke the suppression exerted by the Crosser fleet carriers!

The Cross Patriarch saw the situation wasn't as good anymore. He needed to do something in order to regain the upper hand.

"Feh." He rolled his eyes. "These third-class mechs are as weak as chickens. What possessed you to parade these inferior mechs?"

Ves smirked as he turned to his Crosser counterpart. "These mechs may be humble, but they are each in high demand. Our Living Mech Corporation sells millions of copies a month to customers all over the Yeina Star Cluster. Our market reach surpasses that of any average Senior. As long as we gain some time, we can easily grow our strength to the point where our fleet will surpass yours."

Patriarch Reginald did not lose any wind. "We have a Senior. Our commercial strength will soon explode once Professor Cortez builds up his industries."

"Good luck with that." Ves briefly flicked his gaze over to Benedict. "Don't underestimate our Journeyman. With my indispensable design philosophy, the value of my products has exceeded that of the competition. If you don't believe me, you should ask the good professor."

Benedict's eyes twinkled for a second. "Patriarch Ves is correct. He is an outlier in the mech industry. While Seniors such as myself have many different ways to earn lavishly, I dare not claim that my products can be as competitive as the products of the LMC."

The leader of the Cross Clan looked annoyed at his guest designer. The two kept silent but Ves detected that they were likely communication in private through their cranial implants.

"Let us proceed with the treaty signing." Patriarch Reginald turned away from Professor Benedict. "Our two clans must join hands."

Ves schooled his expression and nodded. "I agree. Our alliance will form the basis of our success in the times to come. The Red Ocean may push us, but we will never break as long as we cover each other's backs."

The two clans were ready to form an alliance.

Chapter 2570: Pioneering Alliance

An ornate bot floated down from above. Faint spotlights shone on the bot and two identical scrolls in its grasp.

The lengthy paper documents were exaggeratingly large and encrusted with golden flourishes and other decorative elements.

The scrolls served as the symbolic representation of the treaty that the Larkinsons and Crossers had settled upon. The actual treaty existed in an electronic format, but it was nice to hold a traditional event in order to formalize the historical occasion.

The alliance was of paramount importance to both clans.

undefinedOn the surface, the pioneering alliance was about sharing the responsibilities and benefits of becoming galactic pioneers.

According to the admissions scheme set up by the Big Two, alliances were subject to additional rules. Any individuals or groups that chose to split the cost of a single fleet beyonder ticket needed to pick their allies carefully.

The reasons for this was that a group of pioneers were collectively seen as one cooperative unit. The pioneers not only had to account for themselves, but also each other.

To be more specific, if a pioneer betrayed the human race and colluded with the indigenous alien races of the Red Ocean, every partner who helped the violator pass through the beyonder gate could not escape punishment!

This meant that the Larkinson Clan had to pick its partners very carefully! Ves could not afford to ally with someone who was liable to piss off the Big Two!

Fortunately, the rules weren't overly harsh. Even if the Cross Clan went crazy one day, the Big Two wouldn't annihilate the Larkinson Clan. Ves would merely shoulder a lot of debt and become subject to some troublesome rules.

In any case, neither the Larkinsons nor the Crossers believed their allies pursued a crazy agenda. Both of them simply wanted to grasp some opportunities and grow their respective clans into something greater.

Once the bot floated placed the documents onto the surface of the floating altar, it flew back and entered standby mode.

Both Ves and Reginald approached and inspected the terms of the treaty.

The terms were fairly simple and did not cover a lot of ground. The alliance that the two sides had been keen to forge was not as close as a marriage. It was more about sharing benefits.

Ves looked at the first and most important treaty clauses.

"Together, our two clans shall form a formal pioneering alliance." He announced. Invisible speakers and sound projectors carried his voice to every attending Larkinson and Crosser. "After the signing of this treaty, we shall officially register our pioneering alliance to the Mech Trade Association and the Common Fleet Alliance. The leadership of this cooperative venture alliance shall nominally rest with the Larkinson Clan."

This wasn't as impressive as it sounded. Neither clan wanted to become subordinate to the other. Even if more clans joined, the Larkinsons wouldn't be able to call the shots.

There were some other details in these clauses that might be relevant in certain situations. In certain collective decisions, votes needed to be held. If a partner did not want to abide by the result, they could choose to withdraw from the pioneering alliance but not without a considerable penalty.

These were all terms agreed upon by the negotiators. Ves was not a diplomat so he did not claim to understand the intricacies of these arcane rules.

As someone who was no stranger to breaking rules, he hardly cared about the complicated clauses that were filled with lawyer-like jargon. He knew that when a crisis hit, no possible rule could stop people from looking out for themselves.

Patriarch Reginald announced the second set of clauses in the treaty. "Both of our clans shall form a defensive alliance. We promise to come to each other's aid if either of us are threatened by an unprovoked attack. This defensive pact does not apply if any of us has provoked the enemy or launched hostilities first. If the enemy is overwhelmingly powerful, no partner is obligated to fight as well. In the event that a request for military aid is not honored, the partner in question will immediately cease to be a part of the pioneering alliance, and must pay all of the penalties associated with this breach."

Naturally, the exact rules and mechanics were very thorough and covered nearly every scenario imaginable. The lawyers of both clans spent weeks on hammering out the terms.

The overall point behind these terms was to encourage the allies to stick together against threats that targeted their entire pioneering alliance. They were much less strict towards private grudges and individual rivalries.

"Our alliance stands alone when we arrive in the Red Ocean." Ves spoke up. "With ambitious pioneers gathering from every region of human space, we will be surrounded by strangers. It is more important than ever to turn to friends that are closest to us. As citizens of neighboring star sectors, we share a much closer bond than any of the pioneers in the Red Ocean. Trust is essential to keep our alliance alive, and I sincerely hope we can cover each other's backs."

The next clauses pertained to a different set of agreements.

Patriarch Reginald briefly summed them up. "Our clans may choose to cooperate on commercial or industrial ventures on a case-by-case basis. Since both of us have talented and capable mech designers, it is a given that we shall collaborate frequently on certain mech design projects. Each of these collaborations must set out a specific remuneration structure or profit-sharing arrangement in order to reward every contribution. In addition, we encourage the mech designers of both our clans to combine forces when designing specific, high-end mechs."

This was the most interesting part of the treaty to both sides. Reginald clearly valued that last part the most. If the opportunity to design the mech that would propel him to ace pilot ever came up, Ves had promised to lend his design philosophy to the pivotal project.

Of course, he wouldn't do so for free. The Cross Clan already promised to part with a significant amount of rare exotics and strategic materials.

What Ves especially paid attention to was obtaining a small quantity of monoexurite and a whole Worclaw Crystal. While Ves lacked the knowledge and tools to make use of both high-grade exotics, he could slowly change that as he and his clan accumulated more means.

Aside from that, neither the Larkinson mech designers nor the Crosser mech designers were obliged to lend their services. They had to come to a voluntary agreement before they started any collaboration.

The most important portion of the treaty came up next.

Ves took a deep breath. "Once we establish our pioneering alliance and collectively obtain a fleet beyonder ticket, we have agreed to allocate our quota of ships that we are allowed to bring to the Red Ocean according to a fair and predetermined formula. If our pioneering alliance expands to the point where we have enough merits to redeem a ticket, the Larkinson Clan will be able take up 8 starship slots while the Cross Clan is entitled to 5 starship slots."

The Larkinson Clan almost possessed 40 million MTA merits, but not quite. Yet because the Larkinsons possessed so much leverage, it was easy for them to ask for a little extra.

In contrast, the Cross Clan possessed much more weight. Poor Patriarch Reginald only had about 25 million MTA merits at his disposal, so the Crossers could only make do with a quota of 5 vessels.

It wasn't fair, and the Larkinsons might not be able to justify claiming so many slots once other partners came onboard. Ves knew that if he wanted to keep his current quota, he might have to earn a couple of million more MTA merits in the next couple of years.

The remainder of the treaty was not as interesting or impactful.

For example, one miscellaneous agreement called for putting a portion of their industrial capacity at each other's disposal.

For example, if Professor Benedict designed a new Crosser mech and wanted to borrow the Larkinson Clan's factory ship to produce a lot of copies, then Ves could choose to accept the request. As long as the request wasn't excessive, the Larkinson Clan would produce and supply the mechs to the Cross Clan at a considerable discount.

Of course, the same also applied in reverse. If Ves ever wanted to acquire hundreds of Transcendent Punishers in a short amount of time, he could ask the Cross Clan to help with the production.

After quickly going over these minor points, neither side offered any objections. Though there were many areas in which Ves or Reginald didn't like, this was the nature of compromise. It was impossible for either of them to have their way. They had to move away from their initial demands and come to a middle ground in order to ensure that both sides benefited from the agreement.

If there was any massive discontent from one side or the other, the alliance wouldn't be able to last.

Despite the unpalatable compromises, the patriarchs didn't show their dissatisfaction. The truth was that the negotiations produced an agreement that provided more gains than losses to them. As long as this held true, there weren't any sufficient reasons to reject the alliance.

"Let us sign this treaty."

Both patriarchs floated forward. The bot that hovered on standby gradually lowered itself and extended two ornate pens to the leaders.

They grasped the pens and began to sign their names and signatures with aesthetically-pleasing flourishes.

Of course, neither of them employed their actual handwriting. The autopens merely executed their pre-programmed motions by themselves.

Otherwise, both Ves and Reginald would immediately ruin the solemn treaty signing by displaying crooked and ugly handwriting!

Each autopen signed two times. This way, the two copies of the treaties held the signatures of both leaders.

Ves turned around and raised his fist!

"From this day onwards, the Larkinson Clan and the Cross Clan are united!"

His counterpart, Patriarch Reginald, also raised his fist.

"From this day onwards, the Golden Skull Alliance shall rise to greatness in the Red Ocean!"

The Golden Skull Alliance!

This imposing name was the official designation of their alliance!

Both Larkinsons and Crossers raised their fists in response and cried out the new name in a martial fashion!

"Golden Skull! Golden Skull! Golden Skull!"

No one noticed that Ves' proud smile was shaking a little.

To be honest, Ves vehemently disagreed with the name. If he had a choice, he would have called it something else like the LC Alliance or something neutral.

However, the Crosser negotiators insisted on the name. More specifically, they demanded the inclusion of the word 'skull'!

The Larkinsons eventually agreed to this strange demand because they obtained some very attractive concessions in exchange.

It didn't take much guessing to know that Professor Benedict had a hand in this event.

Was he crazy?! Why would the former Skull Architect reference his hidden past in such an open fashion?

If he hadn't received some reassurances from the man himself, Ves would have rather given up on the concessions his clan had received in exchange.

He briefly turned his head to look at the guest designer of the Cross Clan.

Professor Benedict noticed his gaze and responded with a satisfied smile.

Of course he was happy that the two clans managed to find common ground. The Senior Mech Designer actually paid very little in order to be a part of the new alliance. He was the true winner of this development!

"Clever bastard." Ves whispered.

Though he equated the former Skull Architect as a leech, he was still a useful one. As long as Professor Benedict provided enough benefits, Ves had no reason to mess up this arrangement.

The Golden Skull Alliance shouldn't stir up too much trouble in the Red Ocean.

To some people, a sordid name like that did not bode well for the future. It was too bad that Ves was not prone to superstition.

Chapter 2571: Friendly Advice

Shortly after the treaty signing, the attendees began to exit the Hex Garden.

Some Larkinsons and Crossers lingered for a while in order to chat with each other. Before they formed the Golden Skull Alliance, the two sides only interacted sporadically.

Without the treaty, the two clans didn't have much in common. There was no natural friendship in between them and no reason for them to hang out.

All of that changed today. The pioneering alliance they established today meant that the Larkinsons and Crossers turned into comrades!

undefinedSince there was a significant chance that they might fight alongside each other in the future, the soldiers and mech pilots of both clans thought it was prudent to establish some closer relationships.

Patriarch Reginald Cross spoke with Ves for ten minutes before he moved to leave. His stiff expert pilots departed with their leader as well.

As the Larkinsons began to leave as well, Professor Benedict briefly held Ves back.

"We're in this together now." He spoke in a low tone.

Ves knew he had to be careful of what he said in this venue. "Are you happy now, professor?"

"Very." The former fugitive grinned. "Just call me Professor or Benedict. We are friends now. You don't have to pay too much attention to our differences in rank. As future collaborators, it is vital for us to develop an understanding of each other."

Understanding. How funny. Ves had no interest at all in understanding the man who used to be known as the Skull Architect. Even if Benedict hung up his pirate coat, he was anything but a typical Senior!

Ves awkwardly coughed. "You are of a different generation than mine. I don't think it is easy to become friends. I think it's best to stick to a professional relationship."

"Don't be so stiff, Ves." Benedict moved closer and slapped his palm against the younger mech designer's back. "The best collaborations arise out of mutual understanding. The ongoing collaboration between you and your wife is a great example. If the two of you weren't so close to each other, your results would have probably lacked that special quality that is only present in works designed with love."

"What nonsense are you talking about?" Ves growled.

"Hahaha. It is nice to be young." Benedict smiled in a patronizing manner. "You are lucky, you know that? You are so young for a Journeyman. Do you know why that is so highly prized in the mech industry."

"Our potential is greater. The earlier we exit the Apprentice stage, the more time we have to impact the higher ranks."

"That's not quite it." The Senior shook his head. "While you are correct, it is not the primary reason why the mech industry pays so much attention to mech designers such as you. While there is some disagreement over this, I believe the actual reason why talented fellows such as you are valuable is because of the passion derived from your youth."

Ves grew confused. "What do you mean?"

"You young folk are still young and tender. You haven't been grinded down by reality and the unfairness of the society you live in yet. This especially applies to upstarts like you who have managed to climb up from mediocrity in just a couple of steps. You're a confident mech designer, aren't you?"

"I am." Ves plainly admitted. "If you were in my shoes, you would feel the same way."

"You have ample grounds to be so self-assured, but try and make the most of it while you still can. It is easier for younger mech designers like you to aim high. Don't take your passion and enthusiasm for granted. Once you grow older and encounter more setbacks, it will become more challenging for you to maintain an optimistic mindset. By that time, it becomes ten times harder for you to design boldly and with as much energy as before."

Ves paused and took in the older man's words. He could feel that the advice was sincere. The Skull Architect seemed to portend an inevitable transformation.

To be honest, Ves was quite spooked by the prospect. However, he had met several different older mech designers. The best of them were still as vigorous as younger mech designers. It was hard to imagine that they were plodding old coots whose hearts had already atrophied.

"You don't seem to fall in this category." He remarked in a suspicious tone. "In our previous talks, you have always sounded optimistic about your future prospects."

"As mech designers grow older, they grow more comfortable with their success. Their body grows less active. This change in physiology also affects their thought patterns. It becomes more challenging for them to push themselves and make the difficult decisions that are necessary to progress their design philosophy. For example, if you were two-hundred years older, you would never do something as reckless as entering the Nyxian Gap."

Ves unconsciously nodded. At that age, he would probably want to sit back, especially if he had already attained an extremely high level of success. Why should he risk his life this way when he was already a Master Mech Designer or a Star Designer? There were plenty of other pursuits that were worth his time!

"I know what you're thinking." Benedict said with a knowing expression. "You have to know that attitudes like yours are one of the main reasons that older mech designers slow down. Just think about it. In the first half of their careers, the most successful ones are very hard-working, daring and not afraid to explore the unknown. Now, suppose they grow older and no longer make the same decisions. Do you think they will still be able to progress just as much when they no longer follow their own formula for success?"

Though the professor's logic was hard to argue, Ves instinctively felt there was something wrong.

"I don't think it's that simple. The challenges that Apprentices and Journeymen have to overcome are very different from the difficulties that Seniors and Masters have to resolve. Even I know that as your design philosophy gets further ahead, you need to be a lot more thoughtful and do a lot more work. Diligence and persistence are far more important at those later stages."

Benedict briefly looked impressed. "You aren't wrong. Older mech designers can't afford to relax. The moment you spend less time on designing mechs and more time on enjoying the fruits of your work is the moment you have thrown away your chances of climbing higher. It is just that it's not enough for you to work diligently."

"I get that, but aren't you exaggerating a bit, professor?"

"NO." Benedict leaned forward and uttered in front of Ves! "You are very much mistaken about the barriers you must overcome. Imagine you are facing a completely sheer wall that is as tall as a mech. In order to get ahead, you need to overcome it in some way, and you can't use tools. How can you possibly accomplish this important feat?"

"Uhmm.."

"You can't, at least in a normal fashion!" Benedict shouted! "You need to be creative and make decisions that you wouldn't make at normal times! You need to expand your imagination and grasp solutions that aren't immediately apparent! For example, instead of trying to climb this wall, dig a tunnel even if your nails are bleeding! If the wall doesn't have any handholds, chisel them yourself! If there aren't any steps, just kill a lot of people and pile up their rotting bodies to form your own stairs!"

Ves backed off as Benedict ranted, but the professor persistently matched his pace!

"Uhm, professor, let's not be too morbid, shall we? We are mech designers. We are civilized people."

The Senior snapped back to reality. He blinked and adjusted his coat. "Ah. Ahem. I apologise for that, Ves. I was a bit too invested in the experiences of my own past. You are filled with talent. I hate to see you waste your gift by losing the qualities that have made you great. Inappropriate metaphors aside, remember my lesson. Every single Master and Star Designer has overcome impossible odds in order to achieve their level of success. When you approach my level, you must not flinch from the challenges that bar your way to Master."

With those words, the professor casually patted Ves' shoulder before flying towards the exit.

Ves kept hovering above the central garden for a few minutes. He eventually shrugged.

"Whatever. I'll see what I'm up against when I've reached Senior."

He was not ignorant to the fact that Seniors had to go above and beyond in order to realize their design philosophies. Plenty of mech designers had alluded the difficulty of overcoming this hurdle.

The problem was those same mech designers were too damn vague and indirect about what exactly they had to do in order to succeed! With no one telling Ves what they had to do, how could he ever take their warnings as seriously as they wished?

It was like describing the danger of the Nyxian Gap. While Ves received a flood of intelligence about the many threats lurking in the anomalous region of space, he merrily dove in with his task force and learned the hard way that it was a lot more terrifying than he thought!

"The problem is that there is only so much I can do to prepare for the challenges ahead."

It would have been great if Benedict offered him some concrete advice. Instead, all the Skull Architect told him was to maintain the courage and daring of his youth.

"Maybe he's right. Maybe I truly need to seek challenges in order to continue my progress." He muttered.

With the signing of the treaty, the two clans soon submitted their pioneering alliance application to the MTA.

The efficient organization only took a couple of hours to accept the application and include it in their registry.

The Golden Skull Alliance became an officially-recognized entity. So far, the alliance only consisted of the Larkinson and Cross Clans.

That would definitely change in the future. The Golden Skull Alliance needed at least one more partner in order to gather enough merits to redeem a fleet beyond ticket.

Applications already flooded the Larkinson Clan. There were many organizations interested in joining the alliance that Ves established with the Crossers.

However, none of them were worth his notice. If Gavin hadn't brought up any of them to Ves, then the offers simply didn't satisfy the conditions set by Larkinsons.

"I hope I can find some useful and qualified partners in the next couple of years."

The Larkinsons had plenty of time and opportunity to seek them. The Golden Skull Alliance had to pass through at least three star clusters in order to reach a beyonder gate. There were so many star sectors and states in between that there had to be some suitable groups along the way!

In fact, even Hexer dynasties had tried to worm their way into his alliance!

Their applications never reached his desk. Gavin knew better than that.

As the days went by, the two clans did not immediately turn into bosom buddies. The Larkinsons and Crossers still needed a lot of time in order to develop closer friendships.

This was fine to Ves. As far as he was concerned, this was just an alliance of convenience.

Both clans began to prepare for their upcoming journey. Ves, Gloriana, Juliet and the rest of the Design Department spent most of their time on progressing their design projects. Other Larkinsons were busy trying to gather the supplies and ready their fleet for departure.

With the date of delivery of a pair of very special capital ships coming closer, anticipation continued to build up among the Larkinsons.

After many months of residing in this boring star system, the Larkinsons were eager to leave and explore the wider galaxy!

As the wait grew unbearable, a large fleet finally entered the Cinach System!

Chapter 2572: Grand Entry

Everytime a starship engaging in FTL travel transitioned back to the material dimensions, a considerable amount of fluctuations burst out from the point of emergence.

While these fluctuations are quite random and chaotic, humanity slowly learned how to decipher a number of clues. By interpreting certain patterns, it became possible to predict the size, mass, FTL drive strength, power output and many other parameters.

The CFA unquestionably developed these capabilities the most. Rumors circulated on the galactic net that the CFA was able to peer into the higher dimensions and make detailed observations of any ships travelling through them far in advance!

Ordinary states and organizations didn't have these capabilities. At the most, their best sensor systems were mostly able to give them a brief advance warning as well as providing estimates on the overall mass of the entering ships and possibly how many of them were emerging at the same.

undefinedRight now, a Glory Seeker combat carrier on patrol happened to be close enough to observe the FTL transitions with good clarity.

As Ves entered the bridge of the Scarlet Rose, he sensed a huge amount of anticipation from the Battle Crier crew.

Everyone guessed what the gravitic fluctuations portended!

Numerous states and many more star systems sat between the Sentinel Kingdom and the Hexadric Hegemony.

Unless a starship possessed a very advanced FTL drive, every vessel had to make at least one stop in between in order to cross the vast distance in between.

General traffic flowed along well-established trade routes. These routes criss-crossed each other many times, thereby creating a branching web that consisted of many powerful star systems.

In order to qualify as a node for FTL travel, a star system had to possess a massive star. The greater the mass, the easier it was to dial in an FTL drive towards the right destination. The chances of dangerous misses and going wildly off-course were minimized.

Any fleet that wanted to sneak to a destination unnoticed would avoid these star systems like the plague. They had to hop between much weaker but much more ubiquitous star systems. Hardly anyone cared about star systems centered around red dwarfs and brown dwarfs. They were the equivalent of cramped and dirty alleys in space.

A majestic, Hexer-built fleet of brand-new starships would never crawl through these desolate alleyways!

From the moment the starships turned spaceworthy and assembled into a delivery fleet, their temporary Hexer crews navigated through the safest, fastest and most direct route from the assembly point in the Hegemony to the Cinach System in the Sentinel Kingdom!

Therefore, from the moment a pair of enormous capital ships emerged from the higher dimensions, no one expressed too much surprise. The clan already received ample warning. In fact, its analysts already estimated that the Hexer-led fleet would arrive at the Cinach System within two days!

As soon as the capital ships settled into the material realm, a swarm of smaller vessels emerged as well. Combat carriers, logistical ships, cargo ships and more continued to stabilize themselves before flanking the two capital ships like an honor guard!

"Meow!"

Lucky, who floated alongside Ves, looked stunned at the growing fleet emerging out of FTL.

Aside from one of the two capital ships, every vessel was coated in red!

Each ship that made up the fleet shared the same aesthetic look. Depending on their role and tonnage, they were shaped like fat and stubby rods. Their cross-sections were always shaped like hexagons, though their sides were very tall and their top and bottom 'roofs' were fairly squished in order to increase the effective usage of space.

For now, the ships looked fairly plain in appearance. Aside from their eye-catching red coating, their sides were left bare, though there were already plenty of interesting elements on their exterior. Hatches, sensor arrays, external storage compartments, bunkers, observation windows and so on all broke up the monotony of smooth hull plating.

Of course, that didn't mean the ships lacked armor. It was the opposite in fact! For capital ships, any breaches spelled serious danger to vessels that were worth at least a trillion hex credits!

Meters-thick armor plating protected them from micro-impacts and more devastating attacks alike. A very sophisticated arrangement of spacing, supporting structures, compartmentalization and modular components ensured the capital ships wouldn't succumb from a few incidental attacks.

One of the two ships boasted considerably better armor. The Indigo Tremor, the fleet carrier and capital ship of the Glory Seekers, allocated a much greater proportion of her budget towards the quality and quantity of her hull plating!

"She's a beast." Calabast uttered as she admired the fleet carrier depicted in the projection.

The spymaster slipped onto the bridge a few moments earlier.

Right now, she looked excited at all of the hardware moving to the inner system. The fleet that had just arrived consisted of all of the starships, supplies and other assets the Larkinson Clan had ordered from the Hegemony.

Once the Larkinsons formally accepted this enormous delivery, they obtained all of the elements to form an expeditionary fleet. They only needed to unpack their goods and gain some proficiency in controlling their new assets.

Within a month or two, the Golden Skull Alliance would finally be ready to set off its much-anticipated journey!

Let alone Calabast, even Ves couldn't rein in his enthusiasm!

"What do you think of the Indigo Tremor?" He asked.

"She's a modern Hexer fleet carrier." Calabast answered. "The Hegemony has built many fleet carriers, and the Indigo Tremor is not too inferior to those utilized by the Hex Army. While she is missing some classified tech and components, she is more than capable of serving as the focal point of a space battle."

With good defenses, a nominal capacity of 600 mechs and 78 bunkers, the Indigo Tremor had become the toughest and most reliable vessel in the Larkinson fleet!

Of course, the Tremor wasn't technically part of the Larkinson Clan. Her management fell under the Glory Seekers, who ultimately answered to the Wodin Dynasty.

While Ves still felt a little sour about giving up a precious ship slot to Madame Constance Wodin, at the very least the Wodins hadn't wasted the opportunity.

Perhaps the greatest benefit out of this concession was that the Wodins were also responsible for the upkeep of the Indigo Tremor. Her expensive hull plating might be able to resist a lot of damage, but if they ever broke, it cost a considerable amount of money to restore them. Ves would not feel any pain if the new flagship of the Glory Seekers took a hefty beating.

Fleet carriers that were designed to attract enemy fire had been known to bankrupt their owners!

Ves rubbed his smooth-shaven chin. "Compared to the Antonio Cross and the Hemmington Cross, the Indigo Tremor strikes a good balance between capacity, defense and mobility. The only downside is that she moves like a tub."

He didn't mention the Indigo Tremor's secret colony base function. It was none of his business if the Wodins wanted to plant their flag on a planet in the Red Ocean Dwarf Galaxy.

"The Indigo Tremor isn't the only tub." Calabast smirked and gestured her hand at the adjacent capital ship. "Your new toy is just as sluggish."

"She's my toy, though."

After Ves took in the Indigo Tremor, he finally directed his attention to the ship that had occupied his dreams for years.

The majestic red capital ship possessed a considerably different profile than the Glory Seeker fleet carrier. While she adopted roughly the same shape as the Indigo Tremor, her hull plating was not as thick or resilient.

That didn't mean her defenses were weak. The red capital ship possessed enough defenses to fend off smaller assaults on her own. Her serviceable hull plating, power-hungry shield generators and 80 reinforced bunkers were far from typical of a capital ship devoted to industrial production.

Though her acceleration and mobility characteristics were just as plodding as any capital ships, she was a bit better off than the Indigo Tremor in this regard.

In short, the unnamed capital ship was very well equipped to survive the frontier!

As Ves continually raked his eyes over her formidable shape, intense satisfaction suffused his body.

Power! This was power!

Not even hundreds of combat carriers could compare to the value of his factory ship. It cost 2 trillion hex credits to build the current incarnation of this capital ship.

The formidable active and passive defenses of the factory ship claimed much of her budget. Yet the most important aspect of his future flagship wasn't her combat capabilities, but instead her production capabilities!

Twenty modern high-end Hexer production lines could churn out advanced second-class mechs at a high pace. As long as the Larkinson Clan was able to sustain her voracious production volume, then the industrial vessel essentially functioned as a large and mobile manufacturing complex.

This was the key to maintaining the independence of his expeditionary fleet!

While a normal manufacturing complex built on land was only 5 to 15 percent as expensive as this extravagant capital ship, any fixed facilities weren't able to move with his fleet.

What was the point of investing in a fixed production facility if it only anchored his expeditionary fleet within a certain range?

Ves did not want to be bound by any location!

He wanted to explore new territories without any shackles limiting his travel options!

In order to secure these capabilities, he did not flinch from demanding a factory ship instead of a fleet carrier as the first capital ship of the Larkinson Clan.

As a mech designer, having his own roving production facility was a great luxury!

Certainly, a factory ship was not without its downsides. As mentioned earlier, it was very troublesome to manage the logistics of keeping it supplied.

With 20 production lines, the factory ship ate through a lot of materials at her peak. While the vessel possessed enormous cargo bays, they weren't sufficient in the long run. The Larkinson fleet had to incorporate a lot of cargo ships in order to store the raw materials and finished products. The LMC and the Larkinson Clan also had to establish versatile and redundant supply lines that were capable of delivering an abundant amount of raw materials to a fleet that regularly moved around.

If the expeditionary fleet traveled beyond the range of those supply lines, then it became increasingly harder to keep the production lines running!

This was an incredibly complicated matter. It was already hard enough to keep a moving factory ship supplied while travelling through the Milky Way. At least his fleet would be travelling through established space where an abundant amount of resource suppliers and distribution networks were able to deliver the necessary raw materials to his factory ship.

What about the Red Ocean?

Supplying the factory ship would doubtlessly be a lot more troublesome over there! Too little time had passed for the initial wave of pioneers to set up a comprehensive resource extraction industry, let alone establish large-scale trade networks.

"Well, it doesn't matter." He softly muttered.

Even if he couldn't fully utilize the factory ship all the time, it was fine if she was bleeding money. He valued the factory ship for her mobile mass production capabilities. When it came to earning money, the business empire he erected in the Komodo Star Sector and adjacent star sectors already had that covered!

With the arrival of the final batch of Hexer-built vessels, every Larkinson gained a lot of hope for the future. Even though they were frequently told that the Larkinsons would be getting their own capital ship, it was only now that the truth sank in. With such an impressive factory ship, the Larkinson Clan could finally lift its head high in front of the Cross Clan!

"Get ready, Ves." Calabast softly spoke to her. "It's one thing to receive a capital ship. It's another thing to master her. Your precious factory ship won't be fully in your control unless she is crewed entirely by your own people!"

Chapter 2573: Crewing a Capital Ship

The arriving fleet took its time to reach Cinach VI. The temporary crew of the recently-built factory ship had to perform a lot of inspections in order to check for any problems arising from her maiden voyage.

Properly speaking, every newly-built starship had to go through at least one comprehensive shakedown cruise.

The bigger the vessel, the greater amount of parts. The greater amount of parts, the greater the probability that something might go wrong!

These days, the space trials of sub-capital ships didn't need to be comprehensive. Advanced scanners and technology-assisted inspections already helped with making sure that none of their parts were abnormal.

undefinedCapital ships were different!

Their total volume exceeded that of typical cities. They had so many decks filled with huge, interconnected ship components that no amount of inspection could ensure that they would all run smoothly!

This was why most capital ships required at least half a year of shakedown cruises in order to detect problematic elements and make sure that every system worked as intended.

It wasn't unusual for fires to break out, capacitors to explode, components to overload or the supply of oxygen to be cut off in the middle of the night!

What the Larkinson Clan was actually receiving was not a fully-mature factory ship. Instead, she was the equivalent of a prototype. While most of her systems worked as expected, there may be a handful of unexpected flaws and quirks impacting her performance.

That did not diminish Ves' enthusiasm.

Due to his impatience, he demanded the Hexers to skip the lengthy space trials and just deliver his factory ship to him as soon as possible.

The Hexers may be arrogant and prejudiced against boys, but they were not incompetent. The Hexadric Hegemony was a true second-rate state with tech and production standards that were far beyond what any third-rate state could accomplish.

In the past several months, the Larkinson Clan received regular batches of Hexer-built combat carriers and other vessels. Despite their second-hand nature, Ves hardly found any fault in their design, construction and refurbishment.

The Hexers hardly cut any corners!

Due to their superiority complex, the female supremacists constantly expected the best from themselves. They at least had to be better than the Fridaymen!

As the beneficiary of Hexer excellence, Ves possessed a lot of faith in the quality of his factory ship. At the very least, she hadn't broken down in her maiden voyage. While that didn't rule out the possibility that something might go wrong in the future, the crew of the factory ship would have plenty of time to work out her kinks in the next couple of years.

From the moment the last batch of ordered starships entered the Cinach System, the Larkinsons quickly prepared to receive them. A lot of new Larkinson naval officers and ratings eagerly packed their bags. They also readied all of the mechs, equipment, supplies and other goods they planned to load into their incoming vessels.

Dozens of cargo ships were already waiting to transfer their goods into the factory ship!

Much of their cargo consisted of the expensive raw materials needed to produce a lot of Transcendent Punishers. The LMC already procured them some time ago but lacked the high-end production facilities necessary to produce the Larkinson Clan's exclusive artillery mechs.

Soon, the wait would be over.

Once the factory ship churned out a couple of dozen Transcendent Punishers, the Larkinson fleet would gain a lot more confidence!

At the very least, if a pirate warship like the Gravada Knarlax confronted the new fleet, then the enemy vessel would quickly succumb from the sustained bombardment of a score of Transcendent Punishers!

In short, the factory ship opened a brand-new future for the Larkinson Clan! No longer would Ves have to beg the Hexers or some other second-raters to fabricate advanced mechs and other high-tech goods.

His clan was almost fully capable of meeting its own production needs!

It didn't matter if the efficiency was lower and the cost was higher than relying on fixed production facilities. Even if it cost twice as much money to fabricate a mech in his new factory ship, Ves would still kiss his new flagship silly.

In fact, if he wasn't already married to Gloriana, he would have tried to see if it was viable to marry a capital ship!

Naturally, with such an important asset about to fall into his hands, Ves became incredibly busy. He personally supervised much of the preparation work.

He cracked open the containers in order to see if the goods inside were up to standard.

He met with some of the senior and junior officers who were ready to assume their new positions on the new vessel.

He also inspected the chief technicians who would soon be assuming control over the sophisticated production lines.

When Ves engaged in the latter two activities, he became a bit disappointed in the quality of his personnel. While they were very skilled and knowledgeable in their line of work, they were not yet up to the task of controlling all of the systems of a second-class capital ship.

"We tried our best, sir." Fleet Coordinator Ophelia Kronon looked apologetic as she reported to Ves at this busy period of time. "While we have few issues with hiring some of the most qualified spacers of the Sentinel Kingdom and other third-rate states, it is still too challenging to hire qualified second-class professionals."

"You had months."

Ophelia shook her head. "It's not enough. One of the greatest hindrances to hiring qualified crew is our inconvenient location. Since you prohibited us from hiring Fridaymen and Hexers, there are not many options left in our star sector."

"Tell me how you intend to solve this staffing issue."

"The problem isn't acute. Your factory ship comes with a very capable crew of Hexer trainers. They are enough to keep the essential systems of the vessel running. While our current spacers are learning from the Hegemony-supplied trainers, we can gradually supplement our crew with highly-skilled officers and specialists as we navigate towards one of the regional beyonder gates."

"I see. We don't have much choice but to follow this course of action, I guess." Ves looked resigned. "How much crew does it take to operate the factory ship?"

"That's not a simple question to answer."

"Give me an idea, then."

"Well, according to the ship schematics and other data that I have studied, your factory ship requires at least a minimum of 1000 spacers to perform her most basic functions. This entails engaging her sub-light propulsion systems, providing enough oxygen to keep the air breathable and making short FTL hops. However, don't think that this is viable in the long run. A crew of just 1000 is not enough to keep the factory ship in good condition. Her systems and components will deteriorate at an accelerated pace with a skeleton crew."

"How many trainers are there on the factory ship?"

"The Hegemony has informed us that it has assigned around 500 trainers to your factory ship. Right now, there are at least 1500 more Hexer crew members on the vessel, but they will be departing shortly after our clan takes possession of the factory ship. A crew complement of 2000 is the most basic threshold to ensure her operation over longer periods of time. Mind you, this does not include the production crews that are responsible for manning the production lines."

"How many people does it take to run our factory ship at full capacity?"

Ophelia briefly paused. "5000 is a decent number, sir. In fact, she can accommodate double or triple that amount without overburdening the vessel. You can fit a lot of people in a capital ship. With more crew, it becomes possible to establish rotating shifts of personnel. This ensures that she remains at full capacity at every hour of the day while having an abundant amount of manpower at your disposal during active engagements."

Capital ships were like several cities stacked on top of each other. Let alone 15,000 people, as long as his clan freed up enough space and beefed up her life-support systems, his factory ship could potentially accommodate 150,000 extra passengers!

Naturally, there was no way Ves would do something so pointless. His factory ship was not a luxury liner!

The importance of crewing the ship started right at the top. The captain of the factory ship was the most essential role to fulfill. Since starship crews were organized in rigid hierarchies, the person at the top of the pyramid possessed an unsurpassed amount of power.

Without a huge degree of competence, experience, talent and technical expertise, it was impossible to command a vast capital ship!

"Do we have a captain for our factory ship?" Ves asked.

"Not quite, sir." Ophelia carefully answered. "The amount of naval officers who are qualified to captain capital ships are very scarce. Most of them are brought up within the militaries and institutions of a state. Even in the private sector, large trading and passenger transport companies are accustomed to invest many decades in bringing up their own capital ship crews."

In other words, the Larkinson Clan didn't have a captain ready.

Suffice to say, Ves wasn't happy with that news.

As the arriving fleet finally entered into high orbit over Cinach VI, several hours went by as a lot of transports and vessels began to unload their goods and crews onto the arriving vessels.

Ves and Gloriana both had to take care of the handover procedures and other administrative necessities.

By the time they took their cats and entered a shuttle that would take them to their new flagship, Ves had almost gone crazy due to all of the delays.

"Finally!" He shouted as he settled into his seat.

Gloriana placed her palm onto his hand. "I know you're excited, but our flagship isn't going anywhere. She's ours now, right?"

"Almost." Ves nodded. "Our personnel still needs to inspect the whole interior and exterior of our factory ship in order to make sure the Hexers haven't missed anything. As long as that is in order, we can finalize the handover process."

"Don't worry. Hexers are always thorough. Not a single tool will be missing from our new home."

Home. Gloriana did not use that word casually. Before, she considered the Scimitar System in the Hexadric Hegemony to be her home. The Stellar Chaser that she took up residence in over the last few years was just a temporary hotel in her eyes.

This was different. The brand-new factory ship was not just a workplace. She possessed plenty of living space and other amenities.

Though she was not an ark ship, she still offered enough space for shops, restaurants, parks and even a school!

With room for thousands of crew members, the factory ship was more than capable of simulating city life. Aside from the lack of open space and other constraints, it shouldn't be a major problem for the Miracle Couple and the rest of the expansive crew to distract themselves on the floating city.

After a slow and steady approach, the shuttle slowly entered the primary hangar bay of the factory ship.

There were actually two hangar bays. The primary hangar bay could accommodate 12 mechs and 6 shuttles at a time. This was actually pretty tiny for a capital ship, but Ves had opted to shrink this compartment in order to free up capacity for other functions.

The bulk hangar bay was much larger. It could accommodate several transports at a time and played an essential role in keeping up the flow of goods.

In an emergency, the cargo hangar bay along with the vast and expansive cargo bays could accommodate several mech companies if necessary.

However, it was best not to do so. The primary role of the factory ship was to produce mechs and other products. It was vital to secure enough cargo space.

As the shuttle landed in the middle of the primary hangar bay, the hatch slid open. As the security detail exited first, Ves and Gloriana followed suit a moment later.

The moment his shoe landed on the deck, Ves felt an invisible shock running through his leg.

He had finally stepped foot on his new home!

Chapter 2574: Grand Captain Daria-Maria Vraken

This was a historical moment.

For the very first time, Ves stepped aboard a capital ship that did not belong to other powers.

Humanity classified any star-faring vessel that was over 1 kilometer long with this coveted label.

To be honest, this was an arbitrary designation. The definition of capital ships had changed throughout the course of history.

undefinedIn the Age of Stars, any ship that was longer than 500 meters used to be considered a capital ship.

How times changed.

There were plenty of spacers these days who insisted that the definition for capital ships needed another adjustment. Ship lengths ranging from 2 kilometers to 5 kilometers frequently made the rounds.

The CFA, which was the foremost authority on starships in human civilization, never gave in to these requests.

Ves guessed that the fleeters didn't want to bother with this banal argument.

In truth, whether a ship was 1 kilometer or 5 kilometers long, when the vessel exceeded a certain scale, her mass and movement characteristics fundamentally changed.

Tiny corvettes and frigates resembled sparrows. Swift, agile and small, these vessels were capable of performing acrobatics in space.

Capital ships were akin to whales, though worse. They were huge, lumbering vessels that took a lot of time to get going and a lot of time and effort to perform even the smallest course correction.

When the dimensions of a starship grew, their tonnage grew by a geometric relationship. Of course, the exact growth was highly dependent on the specific ship design and how much 'height' and 'width' the vessel acquired.

The sub-light propulsion systems couldn't keep up with the rapid increase in mass. Unless a capital ship was specifically built for speed, they were always huge, slow and plodding.

This defined a capital ship in a nutshell.

Of course, in exchange for all of those downsides, capital ships offered more space and capacity than any other vessel.

For some people and organizations, this was an enormous waste. Many smaller and weaker groups such as mercenary corps simply couldn't justify the cost of operating such an extravagant vessel. It was much more economical to operate several bite-sized ships.

Ves was different. The Larkinson Clan was different. Even though Ves acknowledged that it was a lot cheaper to acquire a dozen logistical ships that could accommodate a couple of production lines each, they simply did not possess the might, majesty and prestige of a single capital ship. His new acquisition also offered several production advantages over smaller alternatives.

It was worth it to acquire this factory ship.

When Ves planted his other feet onto the deck of the primary hangar bay, he took in a deep breath. He smelled and tasted the filtered air circulated by the expansive life support systems of his new flagship.

Clean. Fresh. Maybe a bit too clinical. That would probably change over time. Every ship developed a unique air formula.

"Meow…"

"Miaow…"

Both Lucky and Clixie looked quite nervous to be on such a big ship. The Stellar Chaser and Scarlet Rose were much smaller frigates. They possessed a limited amount of decks and compartments, which made it manageable for the cats to claim their entire interiors as their territory.

This wasn't possible anymore! No matter how remarkable the two cats were, they would tire themselves out in no time if they attempted to patrol the entire length and breadth of the capital ship!

"Hehehe." Ves bent down to stroke Lucky and Clixie's backs. "Don't be scared. This ship is still ours. You just have to delegate responsibility to others."

"Meow?"

Both cats looked thoughtful at what Ves said.

As Ves consoled the cats, a small delegation of senior command officers approached the shuttle.

Ves looked up to see an authoritative, middle-aged woman saluting to the new owners of the factory ship.

"Mr. Ves Larkinson. Mrs. Gloriana Wodin-Larkinson. It is my proud honor to welcome you aboard the HHX-6963!"

The other Hexer officers saluted as well!

Gloriana assumed her formal persona. She gestured towards the lead Hexer.

"Introduce yourself."

"I am Grand Captain Daria-Maria Vraken, the interim commanding officer of the HHX-6963. The council of matriarchs has personally assigned me to captain this ship until your clan is prepared to nominate a competent successor."

Both Ves and Gloriana did not react well at the introduction.

"What is a Vraken like you doing here?" Gloriana frowned.

Her guarded posture caused Clixie to be on guard as well.

For her part, the so-called grand captain perfectly maintained her professional demeanor.

"I am one of the best capital ship captains in the Hegemony. You can inspect my public record at your leisure. I graduated summa cum laude at the most premier naval institution of our state. I have captained over three different capital ships, including a factory ship, over my half-a-century-long career. If you require more reassurances, I can give you a record of my certifications and accolades."

"Please do." Ves requested.

The grand captain immediately transferred over a document to his comm. When Ves inspected it, he became flooded by certifications, awards and other forms of official recognition.

Ves tried his best not to get lost in the hundreds of individual entries.

The medals and other rewards bestowed by the Hexer government signified that Captain Vraken was a very high performer. She learned more, scored higher and impressed her superiors at a far greater rate than her peers!

When Ves took in her diplomas and huge list of certifications, he discovered that the distinguished Hexer captain was proficient in both command and engineering.

Though she wasn't an engineer, she understood the basic theory and fundamental mechanics behind pretty much every single ship component. Whether it was thrusters, FTL drives, power reactors or shield generators, she possessed a decent grasp on how they worked.

The combination of all of this technical knowledge granted her a very good awareness on how to push a capital ship like the HHX-6963 to her limits!

Combining that with her excellent leadership, management and administration abilities, the grand captain assigned by the Hexers was truly the most impressive naval officer that Ves had seen!

Perhaps the monstrous officers of the CFA could easily crush Captain Vraken in terms of skills and knowledge, but that was an unfair comparison. It wasn't as if Ves could ever get a fleeter to captain any of his vessels.

Though Ves didn't like to put a Hexer in charge of his flagship, he recognized the necessity of keeping someone like Daria-Maria Vraken in such a critical position. It shouldn't be a problem to train or recruit an acceptable replacement before his expeditionary fleet entered the Red Ocean.

Naturally, whoever got to replace the extraordinary Hexer captain would never come close to being as good as the interim captain.

That was fine. The HHX-6963 did not necessarily require an inhuman captain in order to run her basic operations.

Every capital ship was like a very large company. The CEO at the top was merely responsible for issuing broad orders and making other high-level decisions. The middle management and the lower ranks did most of the actual work. Those positions were much more crucial to the Larkinsons.

"Please follow after me." The grand captain bowed and turned around. "While it is impossible to tour HHX-6963 in her entirety in a single day, I have prepared a very condensed tour that will bring you up to speed on the most essential decks and compartments of this fine vessel."

The newly-arrived group followed the commanding officer to the exit. Meanwhile, the other senior officers dispersed and returned to their stations.

When Captain Vraken led the clan patriarch and his wife past the fortress-like checkpoint, she approached a number of floater platforms.

"Please step onto this platform. Your bodyguards can utilize the other platforms."

They all did so. The floater platforms automatically hovered above deck and gradually began to accelerate forward at a brisk pace.

"As you can imagine, navigating through a capital ship can be very time-consuming." The interim captain explained. "Moving from one end of the HHX-6963 to the other end can take hours. Sheer distance as well as all of the hatches, checkpoints and other obstacles in the way can all slow you down. For this reason, these expansive hallways are split up into four lanes. The outer lanes are meant for foot traffic while the center two lanes are devoted to small vehicle traffic. Floater platforms like these as well as cargo bots and other vehicles will frequently travel back and forth."

Ves had already been on a ship with this kind of hallway setup. The Starlight Megalodon featured broader lanes. It was a shame the derelict CFA battleship lost too much functionality back then to make use of all of that space.

This was different. His factory ship became more alive as the newly-arrived Larkinson crew members as well as disciplined Hexer trainers began to populate the hallways. Even the center two lanes saw traffic as a lot of incoming goods needed to be brought to the right compartment.

The interior design of the HHX-6963 was quite basic. The decks were gunmetal grey while the bulkheads and ceilings were coated in a pristine shade of white. A horizontal red stripes ran through every corridor of the factory ship. Frequently, this monotony was broken up by other markings and symbols.

Every so often, the bulkheads showed off the emblem of the Larkinson Clan and the logo of the Living Mech Corporation.

Perhaps the only trace of Hexer construction was the diagonal sides. Ves twitched his mouth as he noted the modest but conspicuously angled bulkheads. The angles weren't too sharp, so there wasn't too much wasted space, but Ves still felt annoyed that the Hexers hadn't been able to change this design choice.

Technical constraints, the Hexer shipwrights claimed. The Estrella Klavier-class factory ship was designed from the ground up with hexagon-sided hallways and hexagon-sided compartments in mind.

"HHX-6963 is this vessel's official designation, right?" Ves asked once he stopped studying the hallways.

"Correct, sir. This vessel does not have an individual ship name. The honor of naming this factory ship is left up to the client. Would you like to name her now? We can complete her registration and modify her exterior to reflect her identity."

Ves briefly turned to Gloriana, who didn't look too sure.

"Not yet. We're still thinking about it. There's no hurry."

"Very well."

The floater platform started to ascend up the decks. They were moving upwards.

The grand captain continued her tour. "The HHX-6963 possesses 66 decks in total. In general, the upper decks are dedicated to command, control, living and other high-level functions. The middle decks are mainly dedicated to engineering, power, life support, production and other heavy-duty functions. The lower decks mostly consist of cargo bays, supply storage, fuel tanks and other less-important compartments."

This was a typical starship arrangement. The higher the deck, the more unlikely it was to find a low-ranking spacer. Much of the sections and compartments that were dedicated to the actual functioning of the ship was concentrated in the middle decks, where they were well-protected against external attacks.

As for the lower decks, there weren't as many people there as most of it was taken up by cargo bays and other storage compartments.

There was a good reason for this arrangement.

"Due to the relatively low-priority compartments situated in the lower decks, it does not hurt us as much if this side of the HHX-6963 comes under enemy fire." Captain Vraken elaborated. "It is for this reason that the keel of this vessel is reinforced with extra plating. Only the bow is better armored."

Ves smirked. "The prow will become even thicker soon."

So far, the front of his factory ship was still a plain red-coated surface. It protruded forward like a short duck beak.

While it didn't look ugly, Ves had something a lot better in mind. In these past few months, Compartment G-13 aboard the Scarlet Rose had not been idle. The Larkinson Clan quietly stockpiled a huge amount of Breyer alloy.

Now that his factory ship was finally in his hands, he could finally make use of that splendid alloy!

Chapter 2575: Insane Security Check

Commanding a starship was difficult. As long as ships grew beyond the size of where a single spacer could perform all of the necessary functions, it became essential to rely on other people.

Back when Ves initially received the Barracuda, he witnessed how the corvette ran smoothly under the control of a small crew of close friends and comrades.

This was different.

The HHX-6963 was a beast with so much space, sections, compartments, components and other intricate systems that a crew of 2000 was only reluctantly able to keep her running!

undefinedDue to automation and the immense size of many ship components, it didn't take as many people as people thought to run a capital ship.

Naturally, relying too much on automation had its own dangers. After his jaunt aboard the Starlight Megalodon, Ves developed a healthy paranoia towards ships that relied too much on automation.

This was why he looked rather mixed as Captain Vraken began her tour at the most sensitive locations of the factory ship.

As one of the most crucial compartments of the vessel, security was paramount. The bulkheads were reinforced with thick, mech-grade armor. A permanent security detachment manned the checkpoint. Their heavy combat armor and their heavy assault rifles exerted a lot of deterrence towards anyone that strayed towards the heavy blast doors up ahead.

Ves and Gloriana showed no concern. Under the Grand Captain's lead, they subjected themselves to an extensive sweep and identity verification check.

The security checks were so thorough that the Miracle Couple even had to solve some randomly-generated design problems! This simple test practically closed the door to any infiltrators like Calabast. After all, how could a random spy ever possibly solve a Journeyman-level design problem within a very strict time limit?

In the absurd chance that someone dispatched a Journeyman Mech Designer who also happened to be trained as an infiltrator, there were other tests to make life difficult!

"As per your instructions, only you have the right to enter this critical compartment." Captain Vraken informed Ves. "No one, not even myself or your spouse has the right to pass through these blast doors. The only way we can enter is if you bring us inside."

Ves nodded in satisfaction as he underwent some other unique tests that he personally had a hand in designing.

After travelling through many places, he had witnessed many feats of exceptional tech. Just the capabilities the MTA and CFA had showed off was enough to make him dazzled!

While he could never guard against the might of the Big Two, he could still do his best to frustrate the attempts of anyone else from drilling inside this crucial compartment.

First, a security guard carefully approached and held up a device. Ves placed his hand on it. A small connection established from his finger to his implant.

"Implant verified."

After that, someone brought a scanning device that thoroughly scanned his chest.

"Organ verified."

Ves smirked. This was the identity verification procedure that Ves had devised with the help of Calabast.

It was almost impossible to replicate his Jutland organ. Sure, the CFA did so without effort, but that was because the fleeters possessed superior cloning tech and had ample access to monoexurite.

Other powers had to go through a lot more trouble. In order to clone or cultivate a Jutland organ from scratch, an exobiologist had to replicate the research performed by Dr. Jutland.

This was as difficult as trying to replicate Ves' design philosophy!

Even if someone accomplished this near-impossible feat, the infiltrator who implanted a perfectly identical Jutland organ also had to carry a highly-modified Archimedes Rubal 1002-Z Cranial Codex Implant!

The original advanced, first-class cranial implant may be a couple of centuries out of date, but it was still a product that was far out of the reach of any second-class power!

Only the Big Two and possibly the first-rate superstates were able to reconstruct the original implant.

Yet that wasn't enough. The implant had undergone extensive modification. Even if someone was able to reconstruct all of the updates and upgrades, they also had to store an immense cryptographic key in its storage space.

Aside from that, the cranial implant itself had bonded to his neurons and brain tissue in a very unique pattern. It was incredibly difficult to replicate the exact layout as each implantation attempt produced different patterns.

If anything went wrong, then the carefully-cloned or modified body that took immense effort to create had to be scrapped!

"What a devious set of hurdles!" Gloriana gasped as she observed the steps.

"Thank you." Ves grinned. "Although I don't expect this method to be infallible, it should stop at least 99 percent of our possible enemies. Besides, there is a final test that should account for the remaining 1 percent."

He approached a statue that depicted the ancestral spirit of the Larkinson Clan. He placed his hand on top of the head of the statue.

The statue was actually a totem that Ves had personally made. It not only served as an identity verification device, but also functioned as an alarm against any spiritual intrusions.

Ves had specifically designed it to guard against Lucky's mischief!

While he didn't possess enough B-stone to stop Lucky from phasing through all of the solid barriers, his cat wasn't capable of escaping the surveillance of the Golden Cat!

"Meow…" Lucky looked glum as he listlessly flipped his tail.

"Stop moping. I don't want you to sabotage what's inside and possibly ruin my brand-new factory ship. Just behave!"

"Meow!"

Ves turned his attention back to the statue. It only took a small amount of effort to excite the life contained within.

A powerful glow that made every Larkinson feel secure emanated from the totem!

If that wasn't enough, the two luminar crystal eyeballs shone in gold!

That was enough to pass the final test. Ves retracted his hand, causing the totem to fall asleep.

There may be infiltrators who were equivalent to Journeyman Mech Designers.

There may be infiltrators who possessed an exact copy of his Jutland organ.

There may be infiltrators who carried an exact replica of his Archimedes Rubal implant.

It may even be possible that someone found some way to fool the spiritual programming of his totem.

Yet Ves dared to bet that there shouldn't be anyone in existence who could pass through all four checks at once!

If some organization was powerful enough to defy his expectations, then what was the point? Anyone powerful enough to go through all of these hurdles might as well blow up his factory ship directly!

The heavily-armored guards deferentially stepped aside. "You are welcome to proceed, sir!"

"Good work, Battle Criers." Ves smiled. "Don't loosen your vigilance. Even if it's me, never skip any of the procedures."

"Understood, sir!"

Ves had entrusted the responsibility of guarding the interior of his factory ships to the Battle Criers. A lot of bonded infantry and security officers took up positions at crucial positions such as the bridge, the engineering bays, the production halls and so on. In short, the Battle Criers guarded over almost every critical section of his flagship!

He could have entrusted this responsibility to his other troops such as the Avatars of Myth or the Penitent Sisters.

However, he preferred to turn to the Battle Criers due to their dual loyalty guarantees. While the Larkinson Network guaranteed at least a basic degree of loyalty from his Larkinsons, it was mainly directed towards the clan as a whole rather than him as a person.

While the Battle Criers were subject to the Golden Cat's influence as well, they maintained a second form of loyalty, and that was their Kinner training.

Although Ves didn't actually know how the Kinners raised such hyper-loyal human products, he was very impressed by what he purchased. In the past couple of months, he purchased a lot of manpower from the Kinner Tribe.

While he hired a bunch of mech pilots and related support personnel, he was more interested in expanding his ground troops.

Of all the possible human products the Kinner Tribe sold, infantry soldiers was one of their most abundant offerings!

Ves had bought an entire elite infantry regiment at once. With over 2000 ready-made and trustworthy infantry soldiers at his command, he assigned them to his factory ship and some other critical vessels.

Of course, he did not put all of his eggs in one basket. He already prepared some contingencies in case the Battle Criers proved more fallible than he thought.

After Ves had passed all of the identity checks, several layers of blast doors finally peeled open.

Captain Vraken, Ves, Gloriana, Lucky and Clixie cautiously entered the highly-guarded vault.

They looked around. A lot of sophisticated databanks and computing equipment quietly hummed inside the metallic space. Specialized cooling solutions kept the temperature under control.

"Welcome to the primary data vault, otherwise known as the brain of the HHX-6963." Daria-Maria Vraken solemnly introduced. "It is here that much of the data of the ship is stored. It is also here that a lot of intensive data processing takes place. While these data banks and other hardware are some of the best the Hegemony has ever produced, the real prize rests in the center."

The group moved forward until they approached a pedestal placed in the middle. Two metal pillars extended from the deck and ceiling. They projected a strong energy field that caused a head-sized metal ball to hover in between.

Captain Vraken couldn't maintain her professional and unreadable expression at this moment. A look of sheer reverence briefly broke her mask!

"This, Mr. and Mrs. Larkinson, is one of the most valuable components on this vessel. This is the ASTERA Artificial Intelligence Core. On its own, this modestly-sized core already surpasses the capabilities of all of the surrounding data banks and processors! With this powerful core, you can perform the most powerful and intensive calculations without having to wait for an eternity to obtain your results. Compared to regular AI cores, this unit is up to 2000 percent more effective!"

This was an incredibly powerful AI core! With a super core like this, the HHX-6963 was able to break through powerful ECM measures, calculate precise long-ranged FTL traversals, perform incredibly detailed mech simulations, among many other benefits!

In truth, the regular data processing machines in the primary data vault were already sufficient to support the daily operations of the flagship. Ves specially allocated a generous proportion of his budget on acquiring the ASTERA when he saw the Hegemony was willing to put it on offer.

Its performance was simply too good to pass up! He knew that ordinary people should never have access to something as powerful as the ASTERA. If Ves and Gloriana hadn't impressed the Hexers with their impactful mech designs, then the shipyard that built the HHX-6963 would have never been allowed to integrate such a precious component.

"Where does the ASTERA come from, exactly?" Gloriana puzzlingly asked.

"The Hegemony redeemed it directly from the Common Fleet Alliance." Captain Vraken answered. "The invasion of the sandmen has led to the culling of many sandman admirals. The CFA has taken in many broken or inert sandman admiral 'bodies' and converted them into standardized starship AI cores."

"How could the CFA let go of something so valuable?!"

The captain smiled and shook her head. "You misunderstand the ASTERA's value. To us, it is immensely powerful. To them, it's a defective product. The CFA only demands the best. The fleeters have only kept the AI cores made out of the largest and most intact sandman admiral cores. As for this unit, it's actually made out of an incomplete fraction, a tiny shard if you will. It is a given that the CFA does not value such a weak AI core."

Ves, who intended to make full use of the ASTERA's amazing processing power, tried his best to suppress his tech envy. The CFA's AI cores were probably at least billions or even trillions times more powerful!

"We are more than happy to pick up their trash."

Chapter 2576: Starship Avatar

Trash or not, Ves doubted that he'd be able to get his hands on a better AI core. That 2000 percent edge in processing power was no joke!

With so much raw calculation power at his disposal, the productivity of his Design Department would certainly skyrocket!

Modelling that took days to complete in the past could now be done in hours. Many smaller simulations and calculations that previously delayed Ves and the other mech designers for several minutes could now be obtained at an instant!

What was even better was that the ASTERA was not just a simple processor, but a comprehensive AI core made by the CFA, the foremost authority on automation in human space!

undefinedThe fleeters were highly-obsessed with developing artificial intelligences to facilitate or even take over the operations of their incredibly advanced warships.

Ves had a very profound impression of the CFA's advances in this area from witnessing the operation of the virtual officer system aboard the Starlight Megalodon.

Of course, that unforgettable CFA battleship also taught him a profound impression on the perils of rogue AIs!

Naturally, the ASTERA was different from that ominous mainframe that Ves had foolishly unlocked.

The sentient AI that called itself Sigrund arose from reckless experimentation from the crazed survivors of the Starlight Megalodon's crash. The CFA researchers aboard that ship were either influenced by or outright belonged to the Five Scrolls Compact!

In contrast, the ASTERA was made in a highly-controlled environment in a proper CFA facility. Its main ingredient was just an incomplete shard of a deceased sandman admiral. This was incomparable to a complete and possibly living sandman admiral body!

These differences were enough for Ves to put down his worries about the ASTERA possibly going rogue. The circumstances that birthed a monster like Sigrund simply weren't present in his factory ship.

That suited him fine. He had no need for anything greater. With the incredibly capable deep learning and adaptive programming of his new data core, the ASTERA was able to become more and more efficient at performing the same kinds of calculations.

This meant that an operation that might take 3 hours to complete may take just 1 hour to finish in the future!

Gloriana recognized the incredible benefits brought by the ASTERA.

"With this AI core, we can complete our design projects at least 20 percent faster! We don't have to worry about any of our current design projects "

"Exactly." Ves nodded in satisfaction. "Our factory ship is worth it for this AI core alone."

It was a huge waste to put something so powerful in a sub-capital ship. Only a proper capital ship like the HHX-6963 was eligible to integrate such a powerful starship core.

As the interim captain explained the AI core's various uses, she brought up an interesting proposal.

"In order to make it easier to operate this core, you can permit it to form a virtual avatar. Many people prefer to personalize their interactions with AI cores."

"Let's do it, Ves!" Gloriana eagerly urged.

"I don't know…"

"Come on. A high-quality AI avatar is one of the essential characteristics of an excellent starship. What would our guests think if our factory ship is missing such a function? If we want to make new friends in the Red Ocean, we need to show off our luxury!"

"If you insist." Ves acquiesced to his wife. "Captain Vraken, can you guide us through the steps?"

"Certainly. The procedure is not complicated. You mainly have to make some personal choices. No matter what kind of avatar you specify, do not forget that you are dealing with a rigidly-programmed AI. It is not alive nor able to exert any independence. It's a machine, just like your cat."

"Meow!"

Lucky objected to that designation! He was not a regular mechanical cat. He was a gem cat, and a living one at that!

"Hehe. Settle down, boy. She means no harm." Ves quickly bent down to calm down his pet.

Though Gloriana and some other people knew better, to everyone else, Lucky was just a very well-designed mechanical toy. The more lifelike the creation, the greater its quality. Yet no matter how good an AI imitated life, it ultimately lacked emotion.

To Ves, Lucky was far from just an AI. Ves could personally perceive the strong spirit and emotions of his supposed artificial pet. That was enough for him to treat his gem cat as a living being. The only downside was that it was not convenient to reveal Lucky's true nature to others.

With Ves' permission, Captain Vraken activated a small interface and began to input some commands.

Soon enough, the interface displayed a lot of avatar templates that Ves could choose from to personalize his AI core.

Ves scrolled through the options. There were many human templates, but that didn't interest him for long. He swiped some menus and came to a page that displayed many different cat-shaped avatars.

"That's better."

Gloriana's eyes lit up. "Look at that Maine Coon! Isn't it fluffy?"

Clixie pointed her paw towards a Rubarthan Sentinel Cat that possessed the same tufted ears as hers. "Miaow miaow!"

"Meow." Lucky floated over and bumped his nose at a mechanical cat with a silvery exterior.

Ves pushed his cat away. "Get lost. I'm settling for this one!"

He selected his finger on an electronic cat form. He wanted an avatar that was different from Lucky, Clixie and Goldie. For this reason, he selected a cat whose body was made out of rolling blue numbers. The electronic cat exuded a very techy vibe.

"It's certainly different." Gloriana admitted.

"Meow."

"Miaow miaow."

Nyaaa?

Even Goldie didn't know what to think about the new cat!

Now that Ves had made his choice, he had the option of specifying its simulated personality. He opted to instill the AI avatar with a calm, obedient, patient, diligent and helpful personality.

In other words, the opposite of Lucky.

When he came to the option of choosing the gender of his electronic cat, he briefly skimmed through the options. The choices ranged from male, female, nonbinary and even weirder ones such as 'black hole' and 'quartenary illuvian gender'.

It only took a few seconds for him to make up his mind.

"Wait!" Gloriana walked up and held his arm. "The avatar has to be female!"

Ves didn't give in to her request this time. He peeled her fingers off his arm and firmly pressed his finger against the physically projected button that denoted the male option.

"Why, Ves?!"

"We already have Clixie and Goldie." He calmly explained. "If we turn our electronic cat into a female as well, Lucky will be all alone as the sole tomcat. Don't you think that is seriously unbalanced?"

"I don't see the problem in that." She responded.

"Well I do, and my opinion matters more. Don't forget who is in charge of this factory ship."

The ownership of the factory ship was rather complicated, but Ves had the greatest say in matters.

Much to Gloriana's dismay, the ASTERA AI core finally formed an elegant, blue electronic cat in midair.

Fortunately for Ves, Gloriana didn't remain upset for long. The cat avatar's proportions were perfect. She had never seen a more aesthetically-pleasing cat in her life!

"What a cute fellow!"

The newly-created avatar settled his glowing purple eyes on Ves and adopted an attentive sitting posture.

Ves smiled and stroked the electronic cat's head. Due to the physical projection technology integrated in the compartment, he felt as if he was touching a real surface.

The new cat began to speak in a young, boyish voice.

[Virtual avatar established. ASTERA-35762 is at your service, Mr. Larkinson. Do you wish to finalize your choice?]

Ves frowned. "I don't want you to sound like a little boy. Please change to an older and more mature voice. Try a formal butler-like voice and accent, just like in all of those historical dramas."

The avatar instantly switched his speech.

[I have executed your instructions.] The electronic cat said with a much more pleasing voice. [Are you satisfied with your choice?]

Ves grinned. "Yes! You don't need to change this anymore. I'd like to add one more instruction. When I give a specific command, I'd like you to change your human speech into cat speech. Your avatar is not complete unless you can cry like a cat."

[Very well, Mr. Larkinson. I have generated a pattern of unique, expressive cat cries.]

"Activate Pet Mode."

[Mew. Mew. Mew.]

Both Lucky and Clixie jumped back at the sudden transformation! The avatar played the role ofa cat too well!

"Meow!"

"Miaow!"

"Okay, that's enough. Switch back to Assistant Mode."

[Exiting Pet Mode. Would you like to make any more changes, sir?]

"Yes. You need a name. From now on, you are called Bygul, understood."

[Name set. I will now respond to the designation 'Bygul'. Do you wish to make further alterations, sir?]

"No. Please finalize your avatar and return to standby. I will specify your programming later."

[Very well, sir. Confirming your choices now. Please note that you are only able to alter the parameters of this avatar and change other important settings by accessing this ASTERA AI data core in person.]

The blue electronic cat disappeared as the physical projectors returned to standby.

"Let us proceed to our next destination." Captain Vraken suggested.

Ves nodded. "Lead the way, captain."

Everyone aside from Ves and the captain looked bewildered at what they witnessed. Even though Gloriana and their cats knew that Bygul was not a real living cat, the CFA's programming was simply too good. The virtual avatar could probably pass a harsh Turing test in a very convincing manner!

Still, the way that Ves judged whether an artificial creation was alive was different from that of other people. To him, spirit was the root of life. No matter how well Bygul pretended to be a sentient cat assistant, he would always be a set of programming code to Ves. This was why he specified the avatar to adopt a body made out of projected numbers.

Captain Vraken didn't move too far from the primary data vault. Even though it was situated a little high, the 6th deck of the factory ship housed a lot of important command and control functions.

The group reached another checkpoint. The security procedures this time weren't as strict, but the blast doors were almost just as thick and resilient.

As soon as they passed through, Ves and Gloriana were momentarily taken aback by the huge and expansive hall stretching out before their eyes.

Captain Vraken proudly swung her arm at the stretch of consoles, work stations, projections and impressive seats. "Welcome to the bridge of the HHX-6963. This is the main command center that can govern the entire factory ship."

"There is also the Combat Information Center in the middle decks, right?" Ves asked.

"Correct, Mr. Larkinson. The CIC is situated in an even better-protected section of the HHX-6963. It can be utilized to command your entire fleet or serve as a backup option if this bridge ever loses function."

To be honest, Ves didn't expect too much use from the CIC. Dedicated fleet carriers were much more suitable ships for Major Verle to command a battle from. However, in the absence of choice, the HHX-6963 could do the job in a pinch. It was just that her sensor systems and communication systems weren't geared for this purpose.

Ves and the others walked around the bridge. There was space for hundreds of bridge officers and specialists, but only 50 or so were present at the moment.

As long as his fleet wasn't in battle, it wasn't necessary to man every bridge station. In fact, if needed, only a couple of people could control the factory ship from the bridge, though the loss in efficiency was horrendous.

Ves approached some fake windows. It depicted a very realistic view of the space in front of the factory ship.

Captain Vraken stepped next to him. "The bridge is situated close to the center of the 6th deck. Any attacks will have to go through a lot of obstacles. Even then, the reinforced bulkheads and other protective layers will do their best to block any threats. In order to ensure the safety of this bridge, it is impossible to place it close to the exterior."

"It's fine. A good view of the action is not worth exposing the bridge. I'm not that stupid."

Chapter 2577: More Superior Than Others

Some ships, particularly civilian ones and leisure-oriented ones, featured bridges set on the exterior of the vessels.

As long as the demand was there, shipwrights were willing to design whatever their customers wanted. Plenty of starships journeyed through the stars while exposing their bridges to external attacks.

Suffice to say, the chances that these idiotically-designed starships got taken out with relatively little effort were very high!

Only the safest star sectors where piracy and instability didn't exist featured these ship designs.

undefinedIn the less secure portions of space, it was best to choose safety over beauty. No amount of aesthetics mattered if the primary command section of a starship could be taken out by a single, powerful long-ranged attack.

The bridge of the HHX-6963 was nestled deep in the center of the 6th deck. However, the CIC was located in an even deeper portion of the factory ship. Any attacker had to go through dozens of decks in order to breach the latter!

Captain Daria-Maria Vraken looked around the bridge and settled her gaze on the throne-like seat reserved for the master of the factory ship.

"You can probably find me here when I am on duty, though I will certainly be visiting many other compartments as well. In battle, I will command the HHX-6963 from this bridge. The executive officer shall be coordinating the defense of this ship from the CIC. For now, this post is open. I recommend you nominate whoever you wish to take over my captaincy."

"That's going to be difficult." Ves responded with a sigh. "Our Larkinson Clan has expert pilots, expert candidates, mech officers and veterans. We are not short of talented and competent mech pilots. However, our shallow foundation as a spaceborn organization has left us short of starship captains such as you. We don't have anyone worth nominating to this position at this moment."

The Grand Captain frowned and turned to Ves. "You should remedy this shortcoming as soon as possible. I am only the interim captain of the HHX-6963. My role is to train a captain so that your factory ship will not crash into an asteroid some day. The Hegemony's starships deserve better."

He chuckled. "Even a dummy isn't stupid enough to crash a capital ship in some random object. There are so many people here that no one can single-handedly ruin this precious vessel."

"You'd be surprised what incompetent people are capable of. In the event this factory ship encounters a space storm or is caught in an unstable anomaly, you need a calm but quick-witted captain to make judgement calls in the span of a few seconds. The captain cannot be too slow, but also cannot afford to make the wrong decisions. The difficulty of fulfilling both standards becomes exponentially more difficult when the ship gets larger."

Ves grew more and more depressed as Captain Vraken outlined the harsh demands. Perhaps she was exaggerating a bit, but she shouldn't have strayed too far from the truth.

"Are you interested in becoming the permanent captain of this factory ship?" He probed.

The woman did not flicker any emotions. "No, sir. I am a Hexer. It is my duty to serve the Hexadric Hegemony. If the council of matriarchs hasn't given me this assignment, I would not have chosen to leave my state at its time of need."

"I take it you're a member of the Vraken Matriarchal Dynasty." Ves changed the topic as he admired the view of the fake windows.

The augmented view depicted the other ships of the Larkinson Clan in vivid detail.

"Correct, sir." The older woman confirmed. "I belong to the most intelligent and far-sighted matriarchal dynasties of my state."

"That's quite a boast."

"Women are superior, but the Vrakens are more superior than others. While we proudly call ourselves Hexers, we do not mindlessly let our biases and emotions lead us by the nose. To defeat the Friday Coalition, we have to outsmart them. It is futile to compete against brutes in head-on battles."

Ves raised his eyebrow. "I don't know about you, but from what I see, the Hex Army is pretty much doing the latter. From the start of the Komodo War, all I hear are stories about Hexer mech divisions throwing machines after machines at the Fridaymen. Your enemy is doing the same thing as well. I haven't seen much finesse and outmaneuvering so far. If you Vrakens are truly 'superior', then you would have been able to convince the other Hexers to adopt a more prudent strategy."

The stiff grand captain did not fluster. "The other matriarchal dynasties are not as enlightened as us. It is clear to see that they have made some grave mistakes. It will only be a matter of time before they understand that our suggestions are better."

"When will that take? I have a feeling that many of your stubborn Hexers won't see the light until the Hegemony is at the brink of losing the Komodo War."

"The war will not reach that point." Captain Vraken confidently stated. "If anything, your work is vital to thwarting the Fridayman offense. As long as I captain this ship, I will endeavor to prevent as many problems as possible. My crew and I will do all we can to provide you with the best environment to design your mechs."

"Uhm, thanks. Don't expect too much from us, though. The Fridaymen have found a very tricky way to gain an edge over the Hex Army. It is difficult to resist a disparity in expert pilots."

This was something that even the supposedly superior Vrakens were unable to solve.

Just before they resumed the tour, Ves asked one more question.

"By the way, do you happen to be a DIVA agent?"

The woman faced Ves with a highly-controlled expression. "Why would you ask that question, Mr. Larkinson?"

"I happen to have a former relative of yours in my staff who used to work for DIVA."

"I am aware of who you are referring to. It is no secret to us that 'Calabast Arnlend' has decided to become a part of your clan."

"You don't sound very happy."

Daria-Maria glowered. "She has enjoyed the highest degree of training that our dynasty can offer to her. It is a shame for her to forget who has made her great and abandon the proud Vraken name. Now of all times is when we need the services of a highly-competent intelligence operative."

"She is helping the Hegemony by helping our clan. That in turn allows me and my fellow mech designers to design the Hexer mechs your state has derived a lot of benefits. I think that is good enough to make up for her early departure."

"I am of a different mind on this topic, but let us end this discussion. Miss Calabast has made her choice, and the Hegemony has accepted that. It is not my place to intervene."

After taking in the expansive and luxurious bridge, the tour continued.

The group headed all the way to the 1st deck or the top deck.

Captain Vraken guided Ves and Gloriana to an enormous garden compartment. It was just as pleasant and infused with nature as the Hex Garden!

"Welcome to the forward observation chamber. As you can see, hear, smell and touch, this immense compartment is an excellent recreational and relaxation destination. There are pools with fish and pools for swimming. There are grassy plains that are suited for sports and other activities. There are benches and tables should you want to dine here or spend some time to relax."

"Meow!"

"Miaow!"

"Hihihi." Gloriana giggled. "Our cats love it here. I think they'll be spending lots of hours in this garden!"

Both Lucky and Clixie ran through the brushes, climbed up the trees, chased after some butterflies and even caught a tiny fish from one of the ponds!

The humans approached the huge forward windows.

This time, the windows were real. The forward observation chamber was situated at the bow of the factory ship. No matter what kind of hard, transparent material the windows were made of, it was easier to breach it than to penetrate through many meters of solid alloy!

The captain gestured back at the garden. "The forward observation chamber is meant to serve as a quiet relaxation and recreational area for the officers and VIPs of the HHX-6963 and their pets. Naturally, you and your mech designers are also on the list. That said, I advise you not to linger here during FTL transitions, crises and times of elevated danger."

The well-designed interior soothed Ves a lot. All of the greenery reminded him of the time when he lived on Cloudy Curtain. The only difference was that the lighting was a lot better in this enormous chamber.

With a great environment like this, Ves probably didn't need an ark ship to stave off his cabin fever.

"There is also a rear observation chamber that is open to the enlisted crew. While you may access it, I do not advise you to do so. The lower-ranked spacers won't truly be able to let down guard if their bosses are close."

"Understood. Don't worry. I'm not that bored."

There was nothing special about the forward observation chamber, so Captain Vraken quickly led them out. She guided the group down a number of decks until they reached the 12th deck.

This was another recreational-oriented area. Ves felt as if he had entered a condensed space station. Streets, shops, restaurants, parks and other leisure venues dominated this deck.

There were even schools to keep the children of the crew member occupied!

"The HHX-6963 is capable of housing tens of thousands of crew." The captain said as they passed by an empty cafe. "When the population of a starship reaches this height, it becomes more and more important to foster a healthy community. This deck will do much to keep our crew sane and in good spirits. Without this artificial city, it is too easy for people to equate this capital ship to a prison. That is not ideal, to say the least."

Right now, the city wasn't under operation. Only a small amount of venues had found new owners. The people who wanted to make the city alive were mostly spouses of professionals or retired veterans with no other obligations.

The city was not that big, but it was more than enough to provide the illusion of normality to the crew.

The group moved on from the 12th deck and descended to the 16th deck.

"The 16th deck is the accommodation or living deck. This is where the staterooms of you and the officers are situated in. There are also other compartments on this deck that are not as important. The enlisted crew reside on another deck."

In other words, only the bigwigs got to reside on this deck.

Captain Vraken led the group to a hallway with some very distinguished-looking set of hatches. Another security checkpoint manned by armed Kinner guards stood on guard.

"The HHX-6963 boasts six grand staterooms. They offer the best possible accommodations aboard this vessel. For now, only two out of six of these compartments are occupied."

The first grand stateroom belonged to Ves and Gloriana.

Ves assigned the second grand stateroom to Juliet.

As for the other four, Ves was not in a hurry to allocate them. He would wait for Ketis and some of his other assistants to advance to Journeyman before giving them the honor of occupying one of these six chambers.

As the pair entered their new living and sleeping quarters, they became impressed by what they saw. Gloriana personally designed the interior, though Ves had intervened as well in order to prevent her from going overboard with Hexer decorations.

The grand stateroom was pretty much a modest-sized mansion condensed into a section of the 16th deck. It was divided into several large rooms such as a foyer, living room, library, private offices, multiple bedrooms and multiple bathrooms.

Gloriana grinned in satisfaction as she inspected the different bedrooms. "Our kids will love it here!"

Chapter 2578: Ship Home

Each grand stateroom offered unmatched luxury. Fine wooden, metal, composite and stone furniture filled up the partitioned rooms. Aside from looking exquisite, they also gave Ves and especially Gloriana a sense of ownership.

From today onwards, this little mansion within a ship would become their permanent home.

While the grand stateroom still lacked a personal touch, there was plenty of time for the married couple to turn it into their sanctuary. They may be living here for decades or even centuries. Ves already planned to craft a custom desk and chair in order to spice up his private office. Gloriana had much bigger plans in store.

"I love it here!" She grinned as she walked up to him and pulled him into an embrace. "One home like this is worthy for us. It's going to be so much better once we get to decorate it even further. I need your help in order to make it perfect!"

undefinedShe enthusiastically babbled some requests. In particular, she wanted to set up the private worship room with a shrine that was 'blessed' by the Superior Mother.

She also wanted him to create a bed that carried the same 'blessing' as well!

Suffice to say, Ves immediately grew alarmed at this request.

"No!"

"Why not?!"

"I don't want my mother snooping in on us when we're in bed! Can't we enjoy a little privacy?"

"I want her to bless our future children."

"The Superior Mother is not some kind of universal medicine, Gloriana! Don't pull her in for every single matter."

The couple argued about this a little before they came to a rather unsatisfying compromise.

They decided to make two beds. One of them would be a carved stone queen-sized bed themed around angels.

Considering that both of them frequently interacted with glows, Ves thought it would be prudent to rest under Lufa's influence. The angel-like spiritual product possessed a calming and tranquil glow that worked well in easing people's stress. With the heavy responsibilities that Ves and his wife assumed, ending the day in a spiritual and physical sanctuary should give them the best rest that they could ever enjoy.

However, in order to satisfy his wife's childbearing demands, Ves agreed to make a second bed out of carved wood. She wanted him to incorporate some Hexer style elements and even carve out a tall headboard that made it seem as if the Superior Mother was looking down on whoever was sleeping in the bed!

Though Ves found her proposed design to be a little disturbing, he consoled himself by her promise that she only insisted on sleeping in it when she was pregnant.

Gloriana grabbed his arms and stared at him with a hungry expression. "We need to provide the most perfect growing environment for our babies. There is no one better than the Superior Mother who can ensure our babies will grow strong and healthy. I will not allow you to squander this opportunity!"

"Okay, okay! I get it. I'll invest plenty of effort in making this bed. Are you happy now?"

"Definitely!"

She was so happy that she instantly glomped him and pulled him into a kiss. After a passionate make-out session, she pulled back and began to explore the bedrooms reserved for their children.

"Women." Ves tiredly sighed as he readjusted his uniform.

"Meow."

"Miaow."

The two cats were both perched onto a large, soft cat bed. The stateroom was not only a paradise for Ves and his family, but also their pets!

Various cat toys, scratching posts, obstacle courses and little cat doors ensured that every feline would be able to keep themselves entertained.

He spent the remaining time allotted to exploring the grand stateroom on inspecting the kitchen, library, living room and other areas. Though the Hexers had already furnished them with excellent furniture, there was abundant room for more.

If he wanted to transform this space into his real home, then he had to surround his living with his own style. Gloriana had the exact same idea. He envisioned a lot of arguments in the future on how to decorate their shared spaces.

"Well, whatever. We'll just split it up if we have to. At worst, I'll just move out to one of the vacant grand staterooms."

When the couple finished touring their new home, Captain Vraken led them out and briefly showed them the other cabins set up for long-term occupancy.

"The HHX-6963 offers plenty of space for living accommodations. Due to her potentially large crew complement, not every crew member can live in compartments as extravagant as yours. Here you can see a greater stateroom. While it is only a fourth the size of a grand stateroom, it still offers plenty of room to house an entire family with comfort."

As Ves quickly explored the greater stateroom, he found it to be more than enough for him to live in. It was akin to a normal house if built on land.

To be honest, the grand stateroom that he and his wife had claimed was too big. Ves didn't exactly need all of that space to live in comfort. Still, his demanding wife would never accept anything smaller so he didn't voice any objections.

"This is a good room to live in for senior officers, chief engineers and other key personnel." Ves remarked.

"Exactly." Captain Vraken nodded. "The HHX-6963 offers 66 greater staterooms in total. Our senior officers, vital personnel and any important guests will be able to live in comfort here. There are also 666 staterooms that are suitable for our junior officers and other mid-level personnel such as chief technicians and the mech pilots of our bunker mechs. By providing them with comfortable living spaces, their productivity will always be high."

Sadly, the rank-and-file crew members didn't enjoy these luxuries. They had to make do with smaller and more compact berthing compartments.

The only consolation was that the individual living quarters were adjustable. If the HHX-6963 had to accommodate more than 100,000 people, then it was best to make the cabins smaller so that more of them were able to fit the 39th and 40th decks.

If for some reason the factory ship had to accommodate even more people, then it was possible to place multiple bunk beds in the individual cabins.

Captain Vraken wasn't in favor of this measure, though. "I don't advise you to do this unless it is necessary. The HHX-6963 doesn't need so many crew. Considering that many crew members will live on this ship for years, we need to give them enough space to raise a family. By controlling the numbers on this ship, we can provide each crew member or family unit with a modest-sized cabin that offers as much space as a decent apartment on land. That should be more than enough to meet their long-term needs."

"I'll take that into account." Ves nodded in understanding. "After all, our clan doesn't have a foundation on land. All of our crew has no choice but to make this ship their home."

He knew that this wouldn't be enough to keep every single crew member happy. The factory ship may provide more amenities than sub-capital ships, but she was no substitute to living on a real planet.

The greatest shortcomings other than the lack of space was the constant confinement and absence of strangers.

Someone who lived on a normal planet could always live in their towns and cities to explore other places. That simply wasn't possible for the crew of his ship. The lack of people who weren't Larkinsons also threatened to make his clansmen more insular.

Ves didn't have any good solutions to this problem. He had to obtain an ark ship in order to mitigate these issues.

After Captain Vraken finished explaining the living conditions of the crew of the HHX-6963, she finally guided the group towards the most essential sections of the capital ship.

"The production halls are the reason for this ship's existence. The compartments housing the valuable production lines stretch all the way from the 18th deck to the 36th deck. Along with some storage compartments, repair facilities and other related functions, the middle decks are equivalent to an entire industrial complex."

When the group entered one of the production halls, they became dazzled by the brand-new high-quality production equipment.

In order to fabricate a wide variety of high-end second-class mechs, the production lines incorporate a lot of specialized machines that were very capable of producing specific components.

There were crystal synthesizers that could produce larger, denser and more flawless luminar gems.

There were forging machines and alloy compressors that could fabricate very hard alloys that were notoriously difficult to shape.

There were heavy-duty assembly systems along with an extensive suite of powerful bots that could lift tons of metal at a time.

The production halls even offered fine, localized control over the artificial gravity in the halls!

This meant that it was possible to selectively eliminate gravity on a machine while it was producing something delicate. It was also possible to lighten a mech frame so that it didn't take as much time and effort to assemble or disassemble a product.

The pair reverently approached the most important production machine. The 3D printer was the all-rounder and most versatile piece of equipment in a production line.

Back when Ves just started out, he relied entirely on 3D printers to fabricate his mechs. It was only later on that he started to make use of other specialized equipment. Stronger and more sophisticated mechs often imposed greater demands that could only be met with dedicated production equipment.

At the present, a single production line consisted of over 12 primary production machines!

Yet no matter how many toys he added to the production lines, the 3D printer still played an essential role. The higher the quality of the 3D printer, the greater the variety of parts it could produce.

More expensive 3D printers were even able to substitute the role of many specialized machines.

As much as Ves wanted to fill up the production halls with every possible primary production machine that he might need, he needed at least double the space. That simply wasn't doable aboard a starship with a finite amount of space.

Therefore, centering a production line around an excellent 3D printer was essential. When the Hegemony expanded the budget for his factory ship, Ves had invested a considerable portion of the extra money towards upgrading the 3D printer model of all 20 production lines.

Captain Vraken looked up at the giant cube that exceeded the size of an entire mech. "This is the GAIA A-35 3D printer. You probably know more than I about its characteristics, so there is no need for me to explain its capabilities."

Both Ves and Gloriana looked dreamily at this excellent 3D printer. It offered excellent precision, speed, flexibility and more importantly automation.

Many of the best manufacturing complexes in the Hegemony utilized the GAIA A-35 or similar models! The production line centered around this lauded 3D printer was capable of fabricating almost any standard military mech model in the Hex Army's lineup!

"With our GAIA production lines, we don't have to limit our mech designs on account of production difficulties." Ves stated.

This was an immensely important benefit! If he didn't have these high-quality machines, then he wouldn't be able to produce strong and sophisticated mechs such as the Transcendent Punisher or the Valkyrie Avenger.

As Ves wanted to supply his elite mech forces with premium second-class mechs, it was essential to invest in high-end production capacity. Now that he satisfied this requirement, he wouldn't have to worry about any design constraints in the development of his standard mechs for a very long time.

Of course, the GAIA production lines were still a bit inadequate when it came to the production of expert mechs and other top-end second-class mechs.

"Please show us our workshops." Ves requested. "Whenever we want to produce something, we won't be making use of these production lines."

The GAIA production lines were all geared towards mass production. While they were good at churning out lots of standard mechs at a high pace and a consistent level of quality, they were not good enough for the likes of the Miracle Couple!

Chapter 2579: GAIA and ELKINE

The GAIA production lines consisted of production equipment that were geared towards mass production.

This meant that they aimed for the highest possible quality within a few important constraints.

First, they had to be fast enough. If it took twice as much time to produce a mech, then the mech company in question was practically losing a lot of money due to having less mechs for sale.

Second, they had to be easy enough for mech technicians to operate them. The production machines had to take the limited capabilities of average factory workers into account.

undefinedOf course, different production machines imposed different minimum skill requirements. The GAIA production line was quite advanced, so the mech technicians had to be a lot more skilled and knowledgeable than normal in order to produce high-quality mechs like the Transcendent Punishers.

Right now, the best mech technicians of the Larkinson Clan were still not up to par. They needed to explore the capabilities of the GAIA production lines and engage in a lot of trial and error in order to become proficient in handling the advanced second-class production machines.

As for mastering the machines, Ves didn't think that any of his chief technicians or mech technicians could accomplish this exceptional feat. He would have to hire experienced second-class mech technicians and fabricators in order to fully utilize his production lines.

That was far too troublesome. He would rather nurture his current production crews and set up an in-house school to raise qualified mech technicians from within.

While this approach won't bear any fruit for at least a decade, the results would be worth it. Only by setting the curriculum for his future production crew would he be able to instill his preferred production approach to them. In order for his factory ship to pump out consistently high-quality mechs, he needed to raise mech technicians that treated the mechs they made as living entities!

Aside from the strict manpower requirements, the GAIA production lines also came with another downside.

Captain Daria-Maria Vraken pointed at a thick power line along the way. "When any of these production lines are working at full capacity, their energy consumption is massive. If all 20 lines are active, then the HHX-6396 barely has enough spare power left to run her other basic functions."

"I'm aware that this factory ship doesn't have enough power to keep both her production lines and shield generators active at the same time." Ves spoke. "She doesn't need to, though. There's no way we'll allow our production crews to calmly fabricate mechs when our ship is fired upon. That's just stupid."

"That is not the issue I am trying to draw attention to. Consider how much energy these hungry shield generators and production machines consume. How much money in reactor fuel do you think the 16 primary power reactors aboard the HHX-6963 will expend in order to supply all of that power?"

Neither Ves nor Gloriana knew the answer.

"32 million hex credits per day." The grand captain answered. "In a year, that amounts to more than 11 billion hex credits."

"What?! So much?!"

Let alone Ves, even Gloriana was shocked at that sum!

"Please take into account that this is only a portion of the upkeep cost. While it is unlikely for all 16 primary power reactors to operate at maximum capacity every hour of the day, there are many other expenses such as payroll, maintenance, sub-light propulsion fuel and other consumables. These are the costs you need to bear for adding a very capable factory ship to your fleet."

Given the expected circumstances, Ves would probably have to reserve at least 10 billion hex credits to cover the annual expenses of his factory ship.

What was worse was that the supply and market price of reactor fuel varied depending on the region!

Captain Vraken issued another warning. "In the Komodo Star Sector, you cannot find that many refineries that are capable of refining the specific type of high-grade, second-class power reactor fuel. Only a few dozen refineries in the Friday Coalition and Hexadric Hegemony were able to meet the factory ship's energy needs. I've already checked the price of power reactor fuel in the Red Ocean. Depending on the specific zone, you might have to pay ten times the prevailing market price in this star sector!"

Ves almost suffered a heart attack at the thought!

Even if he made good use of all 20 production lines to produce a lot of mechs, he might have to sell at least a 1000 premium second-class mechs a year in order to keep the voracious power reactors fed!

While this was not an impossible task, it was a heavy burden to the Larkinson Clan. It became more and more important to ensure that the LMC's business operations in the Yeina Star Cluster remained operational even after his expeditionary fleet departed for the Red Ocean!

"Not every factory ship is as expensive to run." The older woman noted as they passed through hall after hall. Each of the large spaces hosted an identical production line. "If you opted to add less production lines, opt for lower-end production equipment, leave out the shield generators and downgrade the high-quality ship components, you can easily reduce the upkeep to just 2 or 3 billion hex credits."

Gloriana grimaced. "That's not acceptable. We need the best that we can get. Settling for a smaller and cheaper capital ship will only limit our growth in the future. Since we have the opportunity to obtain a higher-end factory ship with excellent production lines from the start, we should embrace what we have and look towards taking advantage of her strengths."

Ves thought for a moment before he nodded in agreement. "You're right. Starting off big isn't necessarily bad. The costs are higher, but I'm confident in our money-making potential. It is a waste to make budget mechs with our GAIA production lines. Their capabilities are so good that they are best used to make premier mechs. As long as we design a good second-class mech that is comparable to the Valkyrie Avenger and Valkyrie Brunhild, we can reach a very high profit margin. This way, we only have to produce a couple of hundred mechs and sell them all in order to cover the annual upkeep of not just our factory ship, but also the rest of our fleet!"

"That's a tall order, sir. You plan to add several more capital ships to your fleet, correct? That will add many more billions of hex credits in expenses. The only consolation that I can give you is that fleet carriers and other ship types are not as energy-intensive as a factor ship. However, if these vessels sustain any damage, the repair costs can easily skyrocket."

The burden on the Larkinson Clan grew heavier and heavier. Although Ves knew it wasn't cheap to run a large fleet centered around several capital ships, now that he heard some solid numbers, he started to entertain some doubts.

It would have been a lot cheaper to settle on a planet and develop a colony! It was no wonder that so many organizations wished to build up a foundation on solid ground. Pursuing life in space was simply too expensive and out of reach to most people!

Not even mech designers thought it was worth it to squander most of their money on a large fleet. That was enough to make Ves realize that he was pursuing a very unorthodox growth path.

If his grand expedition failed, then much of this effort and investment would come to naught!

As he continued to muse about the finances of his expeditionary fleet, they finally reached one of the workshops.

The two mech designers needed no explanation from Captain Vraken. They knew much more about all of the exquisite production machines.

Ves approached the largest device in the workshop and placed his hand on its cold metal exterior. "I could only dream of owning a top Hexer 3D printer in the past. Only the best Hexer mech designers make use of a model of this caliber."

The ELKINE 69 may not be the top 3D printer model developed by the Hexadric Hegemony, but it was not too far away!

With such an excellent 3D printer, Ves probably wouldn't have to upgrade to a better model until at least several mech generations had gone by or if he reached the rank of Master.

"What a great machine. It's nearly perfect." Gloriana sighed as she admired the impressive hardware.

Different from the GAIA A-35, the ELKINE 69 was at least ten times more difficult to operate.

This was mainly because it demanded a lot more manual control over all of its production processes. The GAIA automated a lot of steps to make it easier for a normal production crew to operate it, but that came at the cost of looser tolerances and inconsistent output.

The ELKINE 69 took the opposite approach. Its developer designed it with the assumption that its operator knew exactly what to do at every step of the way. As long as the mech designer or fabricator was skilled enough, the ELKINE 69 could produce masterwork-quality mech components without relying on any extraordinary mental states!

"Hehehe…" Gloriana greedily stroked her palm across the solid metal exterior. "The ELKINE series is renowned as the most precise line of 3D printers in my home state. I can finally begin to fabricate vessels that are much closer to perfection than before!"

The ELKINE 69 was not fast, efficient, cheap or easy to operate. Aside from these downsides, its sensitive sub-components required very frequent maintenance.

In fact, its manual stated that it was best to service and recalibrate much of its internals after just a single fabrication run!

This was an extremely high burden that Ves did not look forward to. Aside from fabricating first production copies, custom mechs and expert mechs, it was hardly worth it to use it for other purposes!

Yet for all of these hefty tradeoffs, the ELKINE 69 offered enough benefits to make Ves and Gloriana happy.

Aside from being able to handle a lot of high-end materials and produce an even greater variety of special components, the couple mainly valued the model's precision and quality control.

The reason why Gloriana was so happy with the ELKINE was because it was easier to make masterwork mechs with it! She was already looking forward to completing the current round of mech design projects so that she could utilize her brand-new 3D printer to make six more attempts!

While the frequent need to service and recalibrate the ELKINE 69 was annoying, the factory ship had two of these precision machines!

In time, the two ELKINE 69's would probably diverge from each other as Ves and Gloriana personalized the machines. While these top-end 3D printers were far too advanced for the pair to make extensive changes, it was only a matter of time before the pair acquired enough knowledge to customize their mechanisms.

The same went for the rest of the artisanal production machines in the workshops. The high-quality equipment would never allow the two mech designers to exert their greatest strength when their settings and configurations didn't align with their personal style.

"It's too bad we only have two of these mech workshops." Ves muttered. "Juliet Stameros and any only future Journeymen will have to make due with the GAIA production lines or other places to fabricate their personal works. We should give them the opportunity to rent our workshops. There's no way we'll be making frequent use of these facilities."

Gloriana snorted and crossed her arms. "Let them pay for their own mech workshops! As far as I'm concerned, we worked for these facilities. If Juliet wants to obtain a comparable mech workshop, then let her save up until she is able to afford her own ship with a mech workshop that is up to standard."

"That's too harsh, honey."

"I'm not being harsh! I'm being fair!"

Chapter 2580: Power and FTL

With the GAIA production lines and the ELKINE-centered mech workshops, the HHX-6963 was arguably the best factory ship in the Komodo Star Sector!

"I hate to burst your bubble, Ves, but the Masters I know of can easily crush the HHX-6963 with their own means." Gloriana said. "Even Master Olson's Titanium Garden is able to output an insane amount of high-quality mechs a day if she so chooses."

Ves briefly slumped. "You're right. Compared to assets of actual Masters, our little factory ship is not that impressive. I'm certain we beat every Journeyman in this regard. I think even Seniors will have difficulty obtaining something just as good."

It was difficult to make direct comparisons because he didn't know that many mech companies or mech designers who operated a fully-fledged factory ship.

undefinedMany high-ranking mech designers were usually based in fixed locations just like Ves had been in the past. Unless a devastating conflict like the Sand War or the Komodo War threatened to sweep over their manufacturing complexes, it wasn't necessary to acquire a mobile production facility.

Most Journeymen and Seniors made do with modestly-sized mobile supply frigates. They just needed to have a single well-equipped mech workshop at their disposal in order to break up the monotony of lengthy space journeys.

At the very least, factory ships weren't needed in most portions of civilized space. Despite that, Ves went ahead with investing in one of them. His choice made a lot more sense if his expeditionary fleet reached the Red Ocean. The HHX-6963 would easily be able to pay for herself once she began to pump out mechs that could be sold for an inflated price!

"Well, let's wrap up this tour." Ves suggested. "The production halls and the mech workshops are the heart of this ship."

They continued to tour some other sections. For example, they paid a brief visit to the design labs. There were multiple of them this time. There was enough room for hundreds of assistant mech designers. In fact, Ves could even choose to modify the interior and cannibalize the surrounding compartments to host up to a thousand mech designers!

Of course, that was far too exaggerated. The factory ship was mainly a vessel oriented towards the production of mechs. It was much more appropriate to acquire a dedicated research vessel and move all design activities there. With exceptional lab equipment, specialized departments dedicated to other research fields, an AI core that was specialized in mech design rather than starship operation and ample prototype testing facilities, the LMC's Design Department should be able to design much higher quality mechs!

However, that was a matter for later. Ves wanted to acquire several other capital ship types first before he was ready to add a dedicated research vessel to his expeditionary fleet. For now, the design labs aboard the HHX-6963 were already good enough.

Captain Vraken continued to lead the group downwards. She briefly showed them around the 37th deck, which she informally called the secondary command deck.

The combat information center was almost just as impressive as the bridge. Aside from offering a commanding officer to direct the entire fleet in battle, it also offered a lot of sensor, targeting and coordination and other forms of support to mech pilots.

The grand captain briefly explained how useful it was to man these stations.

"When battles increase in scope, it becomes harder and harder to coordinate individual units. Even your mech commanders will find it difficult to utilize the mechs at their disposal to the fullest. Command centers like these can offer broad support to every unit or more selective support to a small quantity of mechs. In fact, this CIC is made to offer support to every single artillery mech that is stationed in one of this vessel's bunkers. This way, the mech pilot can focus on aiming and shooting while an operator can handle the bigger picture."

Ves could imagine how this would be useful. He knew mech pilots well enough that they were prone to tunnel vision. When they became overly-focused in battle, their situational awareness dropped.

While mech pilots received plenty of training to remedy this behavior, it was a lot easier if someone was there to take over this burden.

This was not a new idea. Pairing mech pilots with their own assistants frequently led to better results, but the requirements were quite burdensome. The mech needed to establish a direct and reliable communication channel to a command center. The connection also needed to be secure. If an enemy managed to hack the channel, then a lot of crucial data would fall into the wrong hands!

In any case, these problems were not concerning in the case of bunker mechs. Since the artillery mechs assigned to the bunkers were still aboard a ship, it was very easy to establish solid and secure communications lines from the bunkers and the command centers.

It was nearly impossible for external enemies to tap or break these lines!

"This is a useful function, but I think it's not as relevant to our current circumstances." Ves remarked.

"Oh? How so, Mr. Larkinson? Your mech pilots, though good, are still limited by their attention span."

"I'm not arguing that, but I think you'll find that the Transcendent Punisher model is already connected to an operator that is greater than you can imagine. There is hardly any need for a second assistant."

The tour continued onwards. The 38th deck housed a lot of the guts of the factory ship. The group had to board another lifter platform in order to travel all the way to the stern of the vessel.

They had to pass through another guarded checkpoint in order to enter a huge compartment.

"Welcome to the primary engineering bay." Captain Vraken led them to one of the four huge and powerful power reactors in the compartment. "The 38th deck houses 12 capital-grade power reactors in total, of which 4 are situated here. In addition, there are 4 additional secondary reactors located in the secondary engineering bay at the 17th deck. However, the latter are mainly backups and should only be activated when the ship needs to draw more power or if the primary reactors have failed."

While this was a bit convoluted, spreading around the power reactors ensured that no single attack or accident was able to disable the entire factory ship.

Decentralizing power generation also ensured that several different sections of the ship retained access to power even if power couldn't be transferred across the entire hull.

"These are hungry bastards." Ves frowned.

"Capital-grade power reactors generate much more energy than smaller models." Captain Vraken noted. "In fact, this specific model is optimized for maximum output in order to support the needs of a lot of power-hungry ship systems. They are ideal for supporting shield generators. The tradeoff is that this power reactor can only run on very high-quality reactor fuel that is not that easy to obtain."

"What happens if we run out of this specific type of reactor fuel?" Gloriana curiously asked.

"It is unlikely that we will be dead in the water. There are secondary and even tertiary power reactors that are much less picky. While these backup power generators aren't powerful enough to run the HHX-6963 normally, they are enough to keep us alive while tentatively enabling both sub-light travel and FTL travel."

"Basically, if we ever end up with a mostly-empty tank, we can still limp our way to safety." Ves summed up the explanation.

"We can also siphon power from other starships or transplant their power reactors if necessary. In fact, if you have enough resources at hand, you might even be able to make some less demanding power reactors yourself."

There were many possible solutions to solve this problem. They just had to be creative and resourceful enough.

Of course, the best solution of all was to never end up in this situation in the first place.

"How much reactor fuel can we stock up on?" Ves asked.

"A lot." The captain answered. "One of the advantages of the type of reactor fuel that these primary reactors consume is that it is very dense in energy. A standard container filled with this substance is enough to support a capital-grade power reactor for months. I suggest you take the opportunity to stock up on several years worth of reactor fuel along the way to the first beyonder gate."

"Why didn't anyone tell me that? Let's place an order right away then. Our clan has plenty of money now that one of our latest products has gone viral."

Daria-Maria shook her head. "Don't be too hasty. Let us travel past a few more star sectors before we shop for fuel. Right now, the Komodo War has vastly increased the regional consumption of many categories of reactor fuels. Even the prices in Vicious Mountain and Majestic Teal have risen. You can save up to 50 percent of your money if you stock up on reactor fuel in a peaceful star sector."

"Oh. Okay, we'll do that then. I don't want to waste billions of hex credits when I still have a lot of expert mechs and capital ships on my shopping list."

After they inspected some of the power reactors, the captain showed them to the largest FTL drive that Ves had ever seen.

Although Ves was aware that the FTL drive of the Starlight Megalodon was even larger, he never got to see it in person.

This was different. A huge block of metal that was about the size of an office building loomed in front of him. It took an FTL drive of at least this size to enable superluminal travel for a 2 kilometer long capital ship!

Several chief engineers and other engineers were already crawling over it. They even opened some hatches in order to access the vast interior.

"Aside from the AI core, the three FTL drives installed on this vessel are the most technically advanced ship components we currency possess."

"That's a bold claim, captain." Ves looked impressed.

"Look at all of these highly-trained professionals." She waved her arms at the milling teams of engineers. "Even the ones dispatched by our state cannot claim to understand the entire operation of this drive. There are too many principles and applications of high technology that are simply beyond what any Hexer can understand. Not even your impressive ELKINEs are as advanced as a capital-grade FTL drive."

"That's also why they cost so much." Ves sighed.

Many capital ships made do with just a single FTL drive. While they were able to accommodate more, it cost hundreds of billions of hex credits to add an additional one. Aside from offering more speed and more guarantees against failure, the addition didn't actually make the huge vessels more productive.

Some people believed it was better to save up all of that money for a second capital ship instead.

However, as long as finances weren't too tight, it was still better to have at least a second FTL drive on hand. What Ves had done by adding a third one to the factory ship was very unusual!

Still, he believed it was worth it. He had forgone many other possible upgrades to acquire some extra assurance that his factory ship would never falter.

"There is not as much differentiation in FTL drive models. This one along with the other two are merely standard for 2-kilometer long capital ships." The captain highlighted. "While they are highly reliable, they don't excel in terms of range, cycling speed, reliability and longevity. Still, don't look down on them for these reasons. As long as your engineers take excellent care of them, they can easily last a century."

"It's a shame we couldn't add any of the long-range FTL drive models." Ves sighed.

"Our state needs them more than you. Besides, long-ranged variants are at least several times to ten times more expensive than standard models. They are mostly reserved for fleet carriers built for deep strike purposes."

This was another resource that states kept for themselves. They were so difficult and expensive to build that they never ended up in the hands of private clients.

"Well, I can always dream."

Chapter 2581: Rapid Expansion

The delivery of the Larkinson Clan's much-awaited factory ship initiated a very important countdown.

Hardly any excuses remained to remain in the Cinach System. After a year of residing in this boring Sentinel star system, the Larkinsons were more than eager to explore the cosmos!

In order to address the upcoming changes, Ves decided to make a public announcement. This would be the first time he faced all of his clansmen since his wedding over two months ago. During this time, the clan had recruited a lot of young and eager talents in order to alleviate its immense manpower needs.

The new factory ship alone required at least 5,000 crew members in order to function at a basic level, but in truth it was better to get at least double.

undefinedIn addition, the production lines and all of the other production-related tasks also required a lot of personnel in order to run them at peak efficiency.

After studying the manuals and consulting some of the chief technicians in his clan, Ves tried to calculate how much staff he needed to assign to each GAIA production line.

He came to the conclusion that they worked optimally when at least 120 mech technicians and assorted workers such as quality control personnel, software engineers and so on were assigned to every production line.

While a production line could actually make do with 20 people or even less, the drop in efficiency would be horrendous. A lot of the advanced machines such as the enormous GAIA 3D printer required the supervision of multiple workers in order to maintain a consistent level of quality.

In addition, hiring more than 100 people allowed the factory ship's new production department to organize them into three 8-hour shifts.

After all, with so many expensive production lines and a ship that added billions of hex credits in upkeep costs, why should the Larkinson Clan shut down the machines at night?

That was an enormous waste!

Therefore, despite recruiting thousands of personnel that were specifically assigned to the factory ship, the Larkinson Clan wasn't done. Once the Larkinson fleet set off, the clan would have to continually recruit talented and eager workers along its journey.

In fact, even if the Larkinson Clan hired all of the personnel necessary to fully staff the production lines, it wouldn't have mattered.

The GAIA production lines were far too complicated for any of the workers to handle at first. They needed to undergo a lot of guided training in order to handle the production equipment without screwing something up. The learning curve was so steep that it might take years for the production crews to truly master the advanced Hexer machines!

"What are you thinking about?" Gloriana asked.

"I'm trying to figure out if the production capacity of our factory ship will be up to par once we enter the Red Ocean." He answered.

A handful of attendants and bots buzzed around him. They dressed him up, attached his cape to his shoulders, affixed some badges to his chest and styled his hair.

One of the bots even shaved his chin to make sure it was absolutely smooth and spotless even though he already shaved this morning! Ves wanted to present a neat and tidy image. Who would ever take him seriously if he showed up with a messy stubble?

"Meow."

"Miaow miaow."

Even their cats dressed up for the occasion. Gloriana had affixed a bowtie on top of both Lucky and Clixie's head.

While Clixie enjoyed her cute pink head ornament, Lucky did not look as pleased with his green headwear.

"Meow meow!"

The gem cat floated in front of Gloriana and begged her to remove his bowtie!

"Why are you so upset, Lucky?" She playfully patted his head. "It looks great on you! I picked it out myself. Don't you like how it matches your eyes?"

"Meeeoooow!"

As the attendants finished fixing up his appearance, he turned around and grasped his wife's hand.

"It's time. Let's face our clansmen. Are you ready?"

"I already fixed up my appearance an hour ago. You're so slow, Ves."

This time, Gloriana opted to wear a dress that combined professionalism with style. Her blue dress featured a honeycomb pattern and her red suit jacket matched the colors of the Larkinson Clan.

She put up pretty but understated makeup but marked her lips with red. Her hair was styled in a crown braid which she had increasingly taken a liking of in recent times.

As Ves took in a deep breath, he also partook in her latest scent which he hadn't experienced before. His wife put on a fresh perfume that smelled of coconuts and oceans.

"I love the way you smell."

She put her hand in front of her mouth and giggled. "Hihi! I try."

The couple and their cats exited the dressing room and approached a large entrance. A squad of guards briefly inspected them before allowing them to pass.

They entered an immense hall.

Banners displaying the emblem and colors of the Larkinson Clan, LMC, Avatars of Myth and the other mech forces proudly hung from bots that floated from above.

Guards in full armor stood vigilantly at the sides. Even though no outsiders were invited to the factory ship, they still took their duties seriously.

Yet what truly impressed Ves was the large crowd that had assembled into the massive compartment.

Thousands of officers and ratings, each of them wearing their ceremonial red dress uniforms, stood in neat rows.

The huge auditorium they were in right now was an adaptable compartment. In occasions like these, it could be configured in a simple empty space with a stage at the front.

On other occasions, the adjustable interior could switch to a formal dining room setting with resplendent tables and chairs, allowing him to hold a grand banquet to entertain a lot of respected guests.

Right now, aside from the banners and other ornaments that spiced the auditorium up, it looked a little bare.

There weren't even any glows to modulate the emotions of the clansmen that had gathered in the hall.

The space did not feature enough room to add any mechs. While Ves could have employed totems, he decided not to make use of them on this occasion.

Ves already held enough public addresses to gain enough confidence in his oratory skills.

In the past, he might have borrowed the power of his mechs or embodied one of his design spirits, but this was not necessary anymore.

He preferred to make use of these methods when he truly needed to increase his persuasion. If he kept utilizing the same tricks onto his own clansmen, they would eventually lose effect.

Since he was just making some information public this time, there was no need for him to resort to excessive means.

As Ves walked down the center aisle that was marked by a red carpet, he reached an elevated stage. Together with his wife and pets, he ascended up the podium and turned around to meet the gazes of the crew of his flagship.

He could sense pride, expectation and eagerness from his clansmen. The depressing malaise that had struck the clan shortly after the Nyxian Gap Campaign had almost entirely faded away.

Part of it was due to the arrival of the HHX-6963 and a lot of other hardware. The Larkinson Clan had rapidly grown in strength, thereby alleviating the worry of many clansmen about their ability to defend themselves.

Part of it was due to time. The tragedies and deaths that ensued from Task Force Predator's journey through the Nyxian Gap had faded. Even the Living Sentinels had turned around now that Commander Casella Ingvar assumed leadership.

Yet the biggest reason was the influx of a lot of adopted clansmen. The recruiters had expanded their scope and took in tens of thousands of talents. With so many newcomers arriving in the clan who had yet to live through any of its difficult times, the clan had regained a lot of optimism!

Ves decided to address this change first. He held the Larkinson Mandate in his hands as he projected the authority of a clan patriarch that had lived through the same ordeals as the other battle-hardened soldiers in his clan.

The crowd fell absolutely silent. Whether they were old-timers or new recruits, none of them regarded him as a bookish mech designer who would faint at the sight of a drop of blood.

"My fellow Larkinsons." He spoke. "Our clan has grown explosively in the past year. First, let me welcome those who have joined our circle. Since each of you have joined under the auspices of the Golden Cat, do not be afraid that you aren't 'Larkinson' enough or any of that nonsense. Simply treat everyone as your brothers and sisters and you will receive the same treatment in return."

There were so many new faces in the crowd that Ves simply didn't recognize any of them aside from his assistants and some other acquaintances.

Of course, he knew many other Larkinsons, but they were watching this announcement from their own ships or locations.

"In our clan, there are no artificial strata that divides our members into different ranks based on bloodline, seniority or any of that nonsense. We are a meritocracy. Here, we only look at your competences and contributions. Work hard and get rewarded. This applies to all of you! Don't think you are too late to the party. With the establishment of the Larkinson Merit Exchange, each of you can transform your lives as long as you are able to redeem some life-changing augments. This opportunity is open to every clansmen no matter their status!"

Much of the newcomers looked incredibly eager to hear this. In the Larkinson Clan, it was much easier for regular clansmen to accumulate enough merits to pay for a basic second-class implant or gene mod template.

This was unimaginable to the former third-raters who used to live more regular lives!

No matter how hard a commoner from the Sentinel Kingdom worked, they could never afford second-class implants, let alone third-class ones!

Yet it was different now. The Larkinson Clan was flush with money. The main reason why Ves did not make the augments free was that he had too few biotech experts to perform so many augmentation procedures.

"During the founding of a clan, we numbered just a couple of hundred people. Now, our numbers have surpassed 50,000 members! We have not only made up for the losses of our recent battles, but we have also expanded our ranks. What is remarkable about this is that we are not done yet. Right now, we only have enough staff to barely crew our new starships and field a couple of thousands of mechs. In order to bring our strength to a level that is sufficient enough for the Red Ocean, I plan to double or triple our numbers in the next couple of years!"

This was a stunning announcement! It wasn't too long ago that the clan only numbered 20,000 people at most. In the span of a couple of months, the recruiters picked up 30,000 new clansmen, many of which had come after witnessing the splendor of the Larkinson Clan by watching the grand wedding.

To be honest, the Larkinson Clan had grown so much that it had reached its limits. The recruiters had already suspended much of their efforts so that they could work on assimilating all of the new recruits.

Still, once the Larkinson Clan digested the huge batch of clansmen, it was able to recruit a lot more personnel in the next round!

"Do not think that 50,000, 100,000 or even 150,000 personnel is enough." Ves swept his arm across the auditorium. "Our factory ship alone can easily accommodate tens of thousands of personnel. When we acquire additional capital ships, we need even more people to leverage their capabilities. Larkinsons such as you and I are the root of our clan, so expanding our ranks will definitely make us stronger!"

Even if some of the conservative old fogies in his clan grew increasingly more reluctant about the rapid expansions, Ves was determined to grow his ranks!

Chapter 2582: The Planet Is Dead

The Larkinson Clan rapidly grew into a behemoth in a matter of years. The story of its founding and growth was so remarkable that not even the Larkinsons themselves could keep up with the changes!

However, no one doubted who made it all possible. The increasingly more mythical clan patriarch had made a lot of amazing accomplishments over his lifetime. What was even more remarkable was that with his age, he still possessed a lot of untapped potential.

No one believed he would end his career as a Journeyman!

Many of the Larkinson clansmen already expected Ves and his wife to become respected and immensely powerful Master Mech Designers.

undefinedHe could only chuckle when he became aware of these uninformed remarks.

While he possessed a lot of confidence in himself, realizing a mech design was anything but simple. As his clan continued to grow in strength and numbers, he found that his men constantly increased their expectations of him. Ves felt increasingly more burdened at this development.

"Your clansmen believe in you and your vision." Gloriana once said to him. "They have faith in you. As long as you continue to answer their prayers, your status as clan patriarch will become increasingly more unassailable."

He growled back at her. "Don't use those words! I'm not a god and my clansmen are not my worshippers!"

"Hihi! Whatever you say, Ves."

He blinked and returned his mind to the present. As much as he wanted to dismiss her description, when he met the eyes of the new crew members of his factory ship, their fervor reminded him uncomfortably of radical fanatics.

Oh well. This wasn't the time to think about this. He had an announcement to finish.

"In the past few months, we have acquired a lot of powerful assets in order to form our initial expeditionary fleet. Most notably, we have received a large amount of second-class mechs, second-class combat carriers and other second-class vessels. On top of that, we have purchased an abundant amount of spare parts, materials and other supplies to sustain our fleet for many months without interruption."

He waved his hand, causing a large diagram to be projected above his head.

The diagram displayed a simplified schematic of the Larkinson Clan's current starships!

"Upon the delivery of the final batch of starships, we have completed our acquisition of starships. These are more than enough to last us until we reach a beyonder gate. For the foreseeable future, we will only be looking to expand our expeditionary fleet with capital ships. After all, these immense vessels are the only ones worth bringing into the Red Ocean."

He tapped the air, causing the diagram to group up the ships under different categories.

"Let us take stock of our current fleet. The Hall of Heroes has 3 combat carriers and 2 support ships. The Penitent Sisters has 15 combat carriers and 6 support ships. The Avatars of Myth has 20 combat carriers and 10 support ships. The Battle Criers has 10 combat carriers and 3 support ships. The Living Sentinels has 30 combat carriers and 12 support ships. The Flagrant Vandals has 12 combat carriers and 5 support ships. The Swordmaidens has 3 combat carriers and 2 support ships. The Black Cats have 1 combat carrier and 3 other vessels. Combined with 30 more assorted civilian and logistical ships, our fleet possesses a total of 94 combat carriers and 73 non-combat vessels!"

That was 167 starships in total, which was a mind-boggling number to many people! The Larkinsons weren't accustomed yet to owning so many powerful assets.

This figure didn't even include the formidable fleet of the Cross Clan and the smaller but very powerful fleet of the Glory Seekers! At least 400 starships would be setting off under the banner of the Golden Skull Alliance soon!

"We have completely reorganized our fleet and decommissioned all of our older legacy vessels." Ves happily announced. "While it is painful to divest ourselves of the ships that have supported us up until now, they are no longer fit for our needs. Our new combat carriers and support ships are all universally second-class in performance. Most notably, their FTL drives are just not capable of crossing over into other star sectors, but they are also faster, more precise and longer-ranged than the ones we used before. We estimate it will only take 2 to 3 years for us to reach the Tarnished Crown Star Sector, which is home to one of humanity's precious beyonder gates!"

Another projection came to life that depicted the star chart of the surrounding star clusters. While the map was too zoomed out to display much detail, it was enough to show the Larkinsons how much distance the expeditionary fleet had to traverse in order to reach their destination!

The star chart did not depict any lines that signified the planned route of their expeditionary fleet. This was sensitive information. Even if he limited the broadcast to his own clan, it was far too easy for it to leak out to other people.

As long as third parties learned of the expeditionary fleet's route, they could easily set up an ambush ahead of time!

Besides, the tentative route that Ves and his staff had decided upon was not entirely fixed. The fleet could always take a left turn instead of a right turn or take a small detour in order to visit a special destination in the vicinity.

This was why Ves only mentioned a vague estimate of how long it would take to reach Tarnished Crown. The biggest variable was how much time Ves had to spend in Smiling Samuel in order to complete one of the System's long-stalled Supply Missions.

The diagram of the fleet disappeared. In its place came a representation of the new factory ship.

"Let us move on to the moment you have all been waiting for. Our first capital ship is a massive industrial workhorse, one that can accompany us into the Red Ocean. While her code number reads as HHX-6963, this is not a fitting name for a pivotal vessel that will birth the mechs that will defend our fleet and accompany our mech pilots for many years. My staff and I have carefully considered this issue."

He looked up at the projection. The two kilometer long vessel still lacked the giant golden prow he planned to add, but that would change soon enough.

"Names are important, both to people and to ships." He explained as he paced around the podium. His cape swished as he moved around. "Naming our sub-capital ships is a different matter from naming our biggest ships. I can't be like Commander Melkor and call the new flagship of the Avatars something meaningless like the Purplefeather."

A few people among the crowd chuckled. The downside of acquiring so many ships in a short amount of time was that his men didn't try very hard to come up with good names.

This resulted in a very serious lack of consistency.

The Penitent Sisters bestowed their combat carriers with names such as Mother's Wrath and Virginal Silence.

The Living Sentinels utilized plainer but uplifting names such as Courageous Heart or Steadfast Vigil.

Ves and Major Verle generally didn't bother with how the mech commanders chose to name their new starships. They were second-hand sub-capital ships that the Larkinson Clan would get rid of anyway.

The factory ship was different. It was a ship that not only symbolized the clan's industrial might, but also served as a pillar that sustained the morale of the Larkinsons during good times and bad times.

As long as the Larkinson Clan retained the vessel, it would always be able to make its own mechs! Whether the clan chose to keep the mechs for itself or sell them to others, the expeditionary fleet simply wouldn't be as strong without this bulwark!

"Early in our naming session, we have quickly decided to choose a name that honors our past." Ves continued as he gripped the Larkinson Mandate tighter "While I am aware that many of you have no connection to the Bright Republic, it is the state that has long shaped the Larkinson Family, of which we have split off from. In a final homage to our former home state, we have decided to call this vessel the Spirit of Bentheim!"

Though not many Larkinsons were aware of the significance of this name, the old guard all gasped or reacted with astonishment.

The Spirit of Bentheim!

It was a name with multiple layers of meaning. Ves instantly liked it when he first came up with it. Since much of the leadership of the clan consisted of trueblood Larkinsons, they understood some of the meaning as well.

Ves waved his hand, causing the projection of the factory ship to turn into a live view of the starboard side of the hull.

Below the huge, painted code number, a huge portion of the exterior spontaneously morphed into white lettering. The factory ship immediately assumed her new identity!

He waved his hand again, causing a projection of the planet it was named after to appear into view.

The footage depicted the planet at its prime and when it was fortified during the Sand War.

"A few years ago, our star sector came under attack. The sandman race had swept over many border states. The Bright Republic soon became caught up in it as well. In order to support the war effort, the Republic's only port system played a strategic role in keeping everyone supplied with mechs and starships. What you are seeing now is the planet that used to be the heart of my former home state's industry."

The planet in the footage did not last long. As the Sand War progressed to the end, a humongous concentration of sandman vessels funneled into the star system. The defenders quickly became overwhelmed and the overly-complacent MTA defending starships had been taken by surprise!

A lot of veterans and victims of the Sand War became emotional at what was about to come. Some of the trueblood Larkinsons and former citizens of the Bright Republic even broke out in tears!

The sand storm that had swept over the entire planet wiped out centuries worth of industrial development, an enormous amount of unevacuated citizens and a proud heritage that had never succumbed to the Vesians.

The depressing end of this once-great planet affected even Ves.

"Bentheim, the engine of the Bright Republic, is dead." He announced.

The entire crowd fell silent. Even the newcomers who didn't have anything to do with the Sand War became emotional.

Ves looked up at the projection of the sand-scoured globe and pressed his fist against his chest.

"While the planet might be dead, its spirit still lives on!" He claimed with a raised voice. "Many of the people who visited it, lived on it or had relations with it still remember what that prosperous and exciting planet was like! While there is a huge library's worth of historical documents, images and footage of Bentheim in the past, these are lifeless records that do not mean anything without the right context. Our memories on the other hand are different. We remember its spirit of what it once was. It is this sentiment that we wish to keep on so that our subsequent generations will keep the Spirit of Bentheim alive! Honor the past, but work towards the future!"

The crowd all stood up and pressed their fists against their hearts!

"For the future!" They roared!

A huge wave of satisfaction swept over Ves. The projection of the sand-blasted planet disappeared, leaving only the newly-named factory ship over his head.

The planet may be dead, but its spirit lived on. His factory ship inherited the name of the planet that had played a major role in his life and helped him lift off his career as a mech designer.

While Ves did not have much affection for the Bright Republic these days, he felt it was worth it to carry on some of his happier memories in this fashion.

Chapter 2583: Lucky the Sniffer

The naming ceremony of the Larkinson Clan's first capital ship went well.

It signified another turning point in the history of the clan. Once the Larkinsons gained basic control over the Spirit of Bentheim and their other recently-obtained starships, the grand expedition would officially set off for Tarnished Crown.

No one was sure how long the preparations would take. Ves decided to set a tentative deadline of 1 month.

In 1 month, he wanted every ship in the Larkinson fleet to be ready for departure.

undefinedHe knew this was going to be a challenge, but he did not ask for much. The second-hand starships provided by the Hegemony may be old, but they had all been serviced and refurbished. As long as they were reliable at the beginning, their crews didn't need to have much familiarity and expertise.

The main reason why you needed knowledgeable and competent crew members for starships was to respond to any possible emergencies. When fires broke out, power reactors overloaded and FTL drives fell apart, having crew who served on the ships for a very long time could make a huge difference!

For now, the need wasn't too great. As part of his deal with the Hegemony, the Hexers dispatched a small but crucial amount of trainers who also served as very capable stand-ins. While Ves was a bit leery about Captain Daria-Maria Vraken's background, he could not think of anyone else he would entrust the safety of the Spirit of Bentheim more. Her lengthy list of competences and certifications was more than enough to convince him that his factory ship was in good hands!

That said, Ves knew that he shouldn't blindly trust the Hexers on everything. While it was nice to replace his old fleet with a lot of new Hexer-built vessels, the problem was that the Larkinson Clan was unable to confirm whether their builders added in any backdoors to them! If he was in their place, he would have definitely slipped in a lot of listening devices and tampered with some of the core programming of the ship systems.

As worrisome as this sounded, Ves did not panic because of several reasons.

No matter where he bought his ships, he could pretty much assume that the shipbuilders or the states they answered to always tampered with the vessels in question.

Even if he managed to buy a starship from the MTA or the CFA, Ves would merely exchange one set of voyeurs to another set of voyeurs.

"The only way to completely eliminate this problem is to build my own ships and ship components." He muttered.

The latter was possible but the former was way too difficult to realize. Capital ships were especially challenging to build.

Therefore, buying ships that were compromised was not something that his clan could avoid.

Still, if the shipbuilding companies ever went too far with taking advantage of the backdoors they built into their own products, their credibility would definitely be ruined!

Not just the shipyards, but also their owners and the state they belonged to would lose a lot of reputation. This was very fatal to the shipbuilding industry to a state. If wealthy clients no longer turned to a specific state, then it would lose a lot of revenue.

Capital ships weren't cheap! The value of the Spirit of Bentheim exceeded 2 trillion hex credits. Though Ves had not obtained her through ordinary means, in many cases governments stood to earn immense sums of money through levying taxes and other fees.

Shipbuilding was such a major industry that it affected many other industries as well. All of that money spending invigorated the economies through the multiplier effect.

With such a lucrative cycle, the short-term benefits of exploiting the backdoors built in a starship simply wasn't worth it. Yet that did not automatically mean that those backdoors didn't exist!

Ves liked to assume the worst. Until proven otherwise, he considered the Spirit of Bentheim to be stuffed with bugs, listening routines and secret programming.

Naturally, there was no way he tolerated their existence. The longer they existed, the greater the chance that someone, whether it was Hexers or some other people, would find a way to exploit the backdoors.

In order to discuss this very serious security problem, he chose to leave the Spirit of Bentheim and travel back to the surface of Cinach VI. After arriving at the temporary base that was in the process of being abandoned, he entered a small, secure meeting room that had been especially prepared by the Black Cats.

Numerous jammers flooded the bare metal interior with interference.

"Meow."

"I know it feels uncomfortable, but just bear with it. As long as you do your job, you can go play around."

"Meow?"

"I mean it! Now get to work!"

As his cat utilized his excellent sensors, Ves sat next to the bare metal table.

A short time later, two of his most trusted advisors entered the room. Major Verle and Calabast took their seats.

"Before we begin, I'd like to thank you, Ves."

"Oh?"

"The planet is dead, but the spirit still lives on." Verle recited. "You honor us all by calling your factory ship the Spirit of Bentheim."

Ves looked a bit closer at the military officer. The major's increasing workload had caused him to look a bit older than before. No matter what care he received, it was hard to counteract the effects of overworking.

Major Verle used to be a mech pilot and mech commander when he was in his prime. That was a long time ago. It must have been at least a decade since he last entered the cockpit. His thinning form and greying hair signified that he must have lived through several ordeals that took a toll on his health.

"Are you okay, Verle?"

"You don't have to worry about me. It's just that your announcement has caused me to recall my old life. Before all of this, I was just a mech officer of the Flagrant Officer and a Firestarter answering to Flashlight. Life was much simpler back then. Do you agree?"

Ves shook his head. "The past is the past. I was weaker, stupider and more naive back then. The Bright Republic may have shaped me, but it has also stabbed me in the back. I don't like to think back on those days for this reason."

"Hehehe." Calabast chuckled a bit. "You clearly hate the Bright Republic and its hypocritical government. Why would you possibly honor your home state by dredging up the name of Bentheim from the grave?"

"I'm a Brighter as well as a Larkinson. While I value the latter, I can't get rid of the former. It sounds contradictory, but a part of me still loves my home state."

He felt rather helpless about this. No matter how hard he tried to override his old feelings for the Bright Republic, he simply couldn't douse this stubborn flame in his heart.

"I understand how you feel." Major Verle supported him. "Anyway, our feelings and nostalgia are not up for discussion today. Our time is short, so we should address the main reason why we have gathered here."

"Calabast?"

The spymaster brought out a tube and retrieved a set of printed blueprints of all things. She carefully placed the blueprints over the surface of the metal table.

The blueprints all depicted various cross-sections of the factory ship.

A lot of sections and points were marked in red. In fact, there were so many of them that there were hardly any clean white lines or blue spaces in the interior of the Spirit of Bentheim!

"There are two broad categories of security risks that we need to take into account." Calabast began. "The most laborious one by far is the integrity of all of the electronic components and software systems of the ship. As a former DIVA agent, I can state with 100 percent certainty that DIVA along with many other Hexer intelligence agencies have bugged your new capital ship."

While he expected her answer, hearing it still made him upset. "We signed a contract that explicitly stated that the Hexers weren't allowed to compromise her systems."

Both Calabast and Major Verle looked amused.

"Intelligence agencies aren't bound by the usual constraints. You of all people should know that by now. Even if you catch them red-handed, no authority is going to sanction them for their actions. Each intelligence agency is an arm of the state."

"Damn Hexers." Ves cursed and pressed his fingers against his forehead. "Well, it was nice to hope. The more important issue is what we can do to sweep all of the bugs and backdoors."

Calabast pointed to Lucky, who had slacked off on the job and was lazily floating around in the air. "He can help, for a start."

"Meow?!"

"Yes, you. I don't know how, but you have CFA-grade hacking and detection capabilities. Do you know what this means? With your sensors, you can detect any listening device that Hexer intelligence agencies make use of. With your hacking and virtual intrusion capabilities, you can expose every layer of programming of any electronic device. On the Spirit of Bentheim, only her AI core is able to resist your intrusions!"

Ves nodded in agreement. "You're right. We shouldn't squander Lucky's gifts. Calabast, starting from tomorrow, I want you to employ Lucky as your personal sniffer."

"This is a massive effort." She gestured to the blueprints. "Do you see how many compartments and ship components that we have to sweep? No matter how much I expand the Black Cats, I don't have faith in any of our anti-surveillance technology. Only Lucky gets my vote of confidence."

"How long do you think it will take?"

The woman paused for a moment. "Years. The work might not be finished by the time we enter the Red Ocean."

Though Ves was disappointed by that news, he knew that an endeavor as vital as this couldn't be rushed.

"Just do the best you can. I want Lucky to perform his duty at least an entire shift a day. If he ever shirks his job, then let me know."

Lucky's tail straightened behind his back!

"Meow!"

"Don't complain! You're not a kitten. As an adult, you need to earn your keep!"

"Meeoooww…"

Ves ignored the complaints of his cat and turned to the blueprints. "Are there any parts of the Bentheim that aren't as easy to deal with?"

"There are plenty. What is particularly tricky to deal with is to inspect every single line of code of every piece of tech. We can't fully automate the process because it is too easy for hackers to camouflage malicious programming. While Lucky's capabilities help somewhat in this aspect, we still need a large team of programmers to verify the code by hand."

"Ugh. Well, do your best, then. Is there something more specific we should take into account?"

Calabast pulled out a red pen from her pocket and circled the heavily-reinforced compartment that held the ASTERA AI core. "Lucky won't be able to deal with this. This CFA-made AI core is built out of a fragment of a sandman admiral body. I think the three of us know how that might complicate matters."

"The AI core won't suddenly grow sentient, will it?" Major Verle asked with a hint of concern.

"Impossible. The conditions simply aren't there." Ves stated. "If it makes you feel better, I'll frequently check up on the AI core. Even if it is good at hiding whether it has become sentient, don't underestimate my capabilities. I'm very good at discerning whether something is alive."

Calabast nodded. "I trust you, Ves. The issue that I'm trying to address is not about this. Instead, I'm more concerned about the CFA connection. Just like every quantum communication node made by the Comm Consortium, this AI core can probably feed back a lot of data to the CFA."

"Not directly, though." Ves pointed out. "It's not a quantum communication node and every transfer of data takes place through specific channels. As long as we tighten our control over these channels, we can lessen the risk of data leaks."

"That sounds good in theory but is much more complicated in practice. Let me explain all of the steps we need to take to contain an AI core that we cannot alter…"

Chapter 2584: Security Deficit

"Meow~"

As the secret meeting went on, Lucky had descended and allowed Calabast to place him on her lap. As she stroked his patterned metal exterior, he cutely looked up at her with his glowing green eyes and pressed his paws onto her tummy in a rhythmic pattern.

Ves inwardly sneered at his cat's feeble display. If the lazy cat thought that he could escape being used as her personal sniffer, then he was very much mistaken! It was his fault for devouring the salvaged CFA gear that Ves had brought back from the Starlight Megalodon.

He conveniently ignored the fact that the CFA would have confiscated his goods regardless.

undefinedAs Calabast outlined how much manual effort that she and her Black Cats had to expend to sweep the Spirit of Bentheim of any improper elements, no one in the shielded meeting room looked pleased.

"So to sum it up, it will take at least three to four years to sanitize our factory ship." Ves flatly said. "While I can reluctantly accept this requirement, the Bentheim won't be our only capital ship. In the next couple of years, I want to acquire at least six more capital ships before entering the Red Ocean. How long will it take to clear all of those vessels?"

"It depends." She looked thoughtful. "Some of the work can be done in parallel, especially when it comes to inspecting and correcting suspicious programming. However, sweeping all of the hardware on the vessels can only be done with the help of Lucky. How long that will take depends on the size and the interior design of the ships in question. For example, the Spirit of Bentheim is of a small to medium size as far as capital ships are concerned, but she is packed full of production equipment, power management systems, heat management systems and so on. In contrast, a fleet carrier like the Indigo Tremor contains a lot more empty space in order to hold all of those carriers. Combined with her relative lack of advanced components, we can probably sweep her entire hull in 2 years or less."

That was still a lot of time! No matter the size and complexity of the capital ship, Ves did not want to wait 20 years or more in order to remove or contain all of the security risks on his most important vessels!

Major Verle raised a finger. "Don't forget about our sub-capital ships either. While we already plan to sell off most of our fleet when we arrive at Tarnished Crown, we will have to acquire a lot of new combat carriers when we reach the Red Ocean. You can assume that all of the shipbuilding companies will certainly slip some hidden surprises into the vessels we buy. Who knows what the masterminds will do with the information they can secretly collect from us. Maybe we'll stumble upon a rich deposit of phasewater one day and attract lots of vultures the next day."

As long as there wasn't any solid proof connecting these two events, who could ever fault the shipbuilding company? Unlike civilized space where attacks against powerful fleets never happened without a reason, the Red Ocean was filled with greedy opportunists.

Any pioneering organization that managed to enter the Red Ocean was not average! The ridiculously high entry fees ensured that the competition would not be weak!

With so many sharks prowling humanity's latest frontier, it became more important than ever to exercise strict information control. While it was easier to hide the whereabouts of his fleet in the undeveloped star systems of the Red Ocean, as long as its whereabouts were leaked, it was too easy for nefarious actors to ambush the Larkinsons!

What was the chance of this happening? It shouldn't happen too often, but the odds were definitely higher than he could tolerate.

"We need a different solution." Major Verle concluded.

Both Ves and Verle looked at Calabast.

She frowned. "I can think of a way to solve our security issues faster. We can't solve this problem with our own strength, so we need to leverage our contacts and seek help from others. We have at least two choices. The first one entails establishing a deeper relationship with a very competent intelligence agency. That can be DIVA but it can also be spies from another state."

"This is not a good solution." Verle immediately shook his head. "DIVA is our biggest suspect. How can we ask your former employers to remove the bugs they installed on our ships in the first place?"

"Hey, our clan has developed friendly relations with DIVA. As one of its former agents, I know that the agency can be very pragmatic. As long as Ves and the clan exchanges enough benefits, DIVA will be more than happy to act in good faith. I have done so several times when I was in the field. We aren't the baddies."

There was no way the other two took her by her word.

"I don't want to have any further entanglements with the Hegemony." Ves stated. "Unless DIVA can provide solid guarantees, I am not inclined to make any further deals."

Calabast sighed. "I don't blame you. I don't advise you to approach any other intelligence agency then, especially foreign ones. They only look out for themselves and the authorities they answer to. If you haven't developed a prior relationship with them, then they aren't trustworthy."

"You mentioned that we had two options. What is the second one?"

"The MTA. Don't you have a good relationship with Master Willix, Ves? Try asking a favor from her. The MTA is bound to have a way to solve your security issues. If possible, ask for a scanner that can sweep entire starships or large sections of them at a time. We should also ask for a device that can automatically detect and correct malicious programming."

"This…" Ves hesitated. "I will issue a request the next time I see her, but I don't expect a positive response. I've already leeched a lot of freebies from her. I don't want to push my luck too far. She has already signalled to me several times that I shouldn't expect any further favors for the foreseeable time."

She was dissatisfied with her lack of progress in harnessing his design philosophy, the delay of their expert mech design projects and his unwillingness to reveal more of his trade secrets.

However, Calabast pointed out another way for him to pay for what he wanted.

"You have a lot of merits, correct? This is a powerful resource. While the equipment that I'm asking for is not cheap, you can probably obtain what you need by spending a couple of million MTA merits."

That did not sit well with Ves!

"I don't want to spend any of my precious MTA merits. We all earned it through blood, sweat and tears. Within the Golden Skull Alliance, the merits that we've accumulated directly translates to leverage. Any expenditure will directly reduce our weight within our pioneering alliance and will cause us to lose a lot of advantages."

Calabast pursed her lips. "Then find a way to earn more. This security issue is not acute while we are still residing in the galactic rim, but once we enter a new stage, the rivals and competitors we face are of a different caliber. They will exploit every possible vulnerability we have. I can already tell you now that we will likely face twice as much danger in the Red Ocean if we are slow in patching up our virtual security. The battles that take place in this domain can be just as decisive as battles in realspace. Don't make the mistake of investing solely in bigger ships and powerful mechs!"

"She has a point." Verle crossed his arms and nodded in agreement. "The defense of our fleet must be comprehensive. Strong military power is the root of our strength and should never be neglected. However, we need to be strong in other areas as well. Strong information control and virtual security setup will protect us against ambushes and sabotage. Close diplomatic relationships with allies and partners will prevent us from getting schemed against. Good mech designs will provide us with the means to maintain and expand our strength."

The Larkinson Clan needed to cover all of these aspects. The Red Ocean was simply too terrifying. Not even the Nyxian Gap could come close to all of the dangers that the clan might stumble upon in the dwarf galaxy!

The immense burden caused Ves to grimace. "We are too far away from fulfilling all of those requirements. The good news is that we have at least a couple of years to address our shortcomings. The bad news is that I'm not sure we'll get close enough by the time we reach Tarnished Crown."

A coy smile appeared on Calabast's face. "You can start with raising my budget."

"Granted. Discuss it with Major Verle. Do understand that acquiring expert mechs and capital ships come first. Without a strong fist, everything else is superfluous."

The Black Cats hadn't kept pace with the growth of the Larkinson Clan. It was a lot more troublesome to recruit reliable spies because those who worked in this sphere didn't inspire a lot of trust.

The discussion moved on to the second major security vulnerability that Calabast was concerned about. She set aside the blueprints of the Spirit of Bentheim and put some paper documents onto the table.

Ves picked up one of them and observed the familiar-looking profile image of Grand Captain Daria-Maria Vraken!

"Ideally, only vetted Larkinsons should be on our ships." Calabast began. "If we have any desire to take on passengers or host some guests, it is best to entertain them for a few days under heavy supervision."

She tapped the printed profiles of the Hexer trainers assigned to the Spirit of Bentheim and many of the other ships acquired from the Hegemony.

"Our current circumstances are worse. There are thousands of Hexers spread across our ships, with around 500 of them stationed on our capital ship. You can bet that each of them are carefully observing everything we do. Their deep control over our own starships not only allows them to access sensitive data, but also gives them the opportunity to engage in sabotage without alarming any Larkinson. While I don't think the trainers will go this far, their motives might change over the course of our journey."

"We can't kick them out." Major Verle immediately stated. "Our naval experts such as Ophelia Kronon and Commodore Abigail Evern have already stated that the instructors sent by the Hegemony are needed for at least a year, but preferably more. Our inexperienced and underqualified starship crews need a lot of guidance. Right now, they are too dependent on the trainers to man their stations properly."

This was not good news, but Ves had already accepted this tradeoff.

"I'm not too concerned about these people. Once they have passed on much of their knowledge and expertise, we don't need them anymore."

Calabast did not agree. "That may be possible for some of the easier positions, but the more crucial ones are always the most demanding ones. In particular, it is far too difficult to nominate adequate replacements for the chief engineer and the captain of the Spirit of Bentheim. This means we will be depending a lot on Daria-Maria Vraken."

Ves suddenly recalled something. "Calabast, you used to be a Vraken as well, right?"

"I officially severed ties with the Vraken Matriarchal Dynasty a couple of years ago. No Vraken will recognize me as kin. If you think I can befriend the grand captain, then think again."

"I'm curious. What are the relations between the two of you? Back when you were a part of the Vraken Dynasty, did you know each other?"

The woman snorted. "Hah! Far from it! Daria-Maria is a main branch member of my former dynasty. You can think of her as the grown-up version of Gloriana. She received the most resources and the best training. Obviously, she was able to thrive with all of these advantages. As for me, I'm just one of thousands of side branch members. While I won't deny that I have lived a privileged life, I had to meet a lot of expectations without enjoying as much resources. I'm similar to Dr. Ranya in this regard. Does this help you understand our relative positions?"

"I see. So the two of you aren't acquainted or anything?"

"No." Calabast spat. "If we ever meet each other, she'll probably act condescendingly and lecture me how I've abandoned my responsibilities."

Ves was taken aback at her acid tone. She held quite a lot of resentment towards her former dynasty!

Chapter 2585: Vraken Matriarchal Dynasty

Ves grew quite interested in Calabast's background.

Normally, she never spoke about her past life as a member of Vraken Matriarchal Dynasty. Trying to pull out information out of her was as difficult as getting Lucky to vomit out his meals.

This time was different. With the arrival of another Vraken, Calabast probably thought it would be prudent for Ves to know more about one of the six ruling dynasties of the Hegemony.

As one of the foremost powers of a second-rate state, everyone who carried the Vraken name was exceptional! This applied even more to main branch members such as Daria-Maria Vraken.

undefined"The Vraken Matriarchal Dynasty is huge. It has to be in order to control vaste swathes of Hegemony space" She began. "All of its branches added up together amounts to over a million people. Don't think that there are a lot of spoiled brats among this group. Those who fail to meet the high expectations of the dynasty are deprived of their Vraken names and saddled with a lot of debt. This is a very shameful outcome, and it has ruined the lives of millions of former members. Not even their fathers and mothers will recognize them anymore."

"That.. sounds awful." Ves looked shocked.

"It's what I was used to when I grew up. Don't misunderstand. As Vrakens, we enjoyed lots of luxuries and had access to the best augments and resources available in our state. It's just that the Vrakens never forget to remind us that we need to repay the gifts we receive. Back when I didn't go by the name of Calabast, I constantly shouldered the fear of disappointing my superiors. I knew that if I ever slacked off in my studies and failed my assignments, I would be at risk of falling from grace at any time."

She infused genuine emotion in her voice. Calabast had opened herself up to such an extent that Ves was convinced she was being sincere.

"I agree with Ves. The way you grew up is too inhumane." Major Verle commented.

The contrast between the Larkinson Clan and the Vraken Dynastywas too considerable. The former emphasized kinship while the latter treated its descendents as tools.

To Ves, family was about love. To the Vrakens, family was an extension of power.

These diverging principles caused the two to develop some very different approaches.

Calabast studied the faces of the two men and smiled sardonically. "Inhumane, huh? You may have a point, but I don't necessarily see it that way. There are good reasons why the Vrakens demand so much. Without exerting enough pressure, it is too easy for the subsequent generations to become weak and decadent. This is why my former dynasty did not hesitate to exile any descendants who trended in this direction. Keeping them will only spread their bad habits among the other Vrakens."

"Why do the Vrakens try so hard?"

"Competition. Isn't that obvious? Every Matriarchal Dynasty has remained in power by being better than everyone else. If the Vrakens ever grow complacent, then smaller dynasties such as the Wodins might band together and seek to tear them down. The Vrakens must maintain their basis of strength in order to continue to call the shots in the Hegemony. To be fair, their approach is clearly successful. They are always ranked in the top 3 without fail."

Their strategy paid off, but at what cost? If Ves had a say in the matter, then he would have opted to treat the Vraken descendents differently. Everyone deserved to live a decent life.

The Larkinson Family never pushed its descendents to perform better. If someone didn't want to excel at something, then that was their choice. Ves felt this was a much nicer and more pleasant approach.

Sure, the Larkinsons didn't produce as many exceptional offspring as the Vrakens, but at least everyone was happy and enjoyed a rounded life.

"Our clan will never be like this." Ves seriously vowed.

That caused Calabast to smile. "I know. I like the current direction of our clan a lot better. While I have some concerns for the future, I'm sure you can figure out a way to prevent us from stagnating."

Now that Ves gained more context about the Vraken Dynasty, he wanted to know more about how Calabast and Daria-Maria fit into the picture.

"Are there any opportunities for branch members to rise to the top?" He asked.

"Technically yes, but realistically no." She shook her head. "The starting points of side branch members and main branch members are different. Captain Daria-Maria Vraken received at least a hundred times if not a thousand times more investment than someone like me. It's worth it though as she has become one of the best capital ship captains of our state. If I didn't make the right bet and hitch onto a rising star like you, I would never have been able to surpass her in my life."

Ves looked amused. "That must be quite satisfying for you, right? At most, your distant relative will be promoted to a leadership position within her dynasty. You on the other hand occupy one of the most important positions of a rapidly-growing clan that might very well become greater than the Hexadric Hegemony in the future."

"Let's not get ahead of ourselves, Ves. We need to overcome a lot of challenges before we get to that point. Don't assume that you will win all the time. We need to account for failure as well if we want to survive in the long run. Anyway, I'm not trying to compare myself to Daria-Maria. We are two different women living in two different worlds. I just want to warn you that I lived a bit like her once. Her presence in our fleet is quite suspicious. Vrakens don't get sent to places at random. Main branch members are especially valuable. Why did the council of matriarchs appoint her as the captain? The Hegemony is able to dispatch many other alternatives. Why send their best?"

Both Ves and Major Verle looked clueless. They hardly understood Daria-Maria's background. They weren't familiar with the intricacies of Hexer decision-making.

However, they received her message loud and clear.

"You're saying the Hexers are plotting something."

Calabast chuckled. "Hexers are always plotting something. This applies especially to the Vrakens. They are known for intelligence, intrigue and planning. One of their main principles is that it is best to war without resorting to battle. If you don't set up the circumstances in the right way, then you might need to fight an actual battle, which is incredibly messy and filled with uncertainty. It's a lot better if you can accomplish your goals without resorting to desperate measures."

"Sun Tzu. Art of War." Major Verle noted. "He was a man, by the way."

"There are female strategists in more modern eras as well, you know. The 66 stratagems by Admiral Bastia Ludwig is a particularly popular book in the Hegemony. It's a very influential strategy book written in the early days of the Age of Stars. The views she outlined helped humanity navigate the perils of trying to grow when surrounded by dangerous alien empires."

Ves tapped his finger against the desk. "Discussing history is not on the agenda today. All I care about right now is trying to figure out Captain Daria-Maria Vraken's purpose. She is currently in command of the most important ship of our expeditionary fleet. I don't know about you, but that makes me very nervous."

"As you should." Cabalast concurred. "To be honest, her presence mystifies me. While we can definitely assume she has ulterior motives, she isn't necessarily scheming against us. Her goals may lie elsewhere. For example, the council of matriarchs could have entrusted her with a secret mission that requires her to reach the Red Ocean first. Currently, I'm inclined to believe that as there are simply too few reasons for Hexers to act maliciously against us. In fact, it's the opposite. They want us to succeed."

That last part caused Major Verle to look up. "Maybe we're overthinking the problem. I think we are trying to see threats in places where there are none. Perhaps the Hegemony merely decided to assign Daria-Maria Vraken as the interim captain of our factory ship out of goodwill. Is that possible, Calabast?"

"...Perhaps. I'm not an insider anymore, so I cannot understand the motives behind the decision. All I can say is that your words are plausible."

This didn't help their situation much. There was simply too much uncertainty. Unless they managed to gather more information, how could they ever discern the truth?

Calabast looked tired. She kept stroking Lucky while making some internal calculations.

"We have no choice but to keep an eye on Captain Vraken and the other Hexer trainers. Don't focus too much on the former. The grand captain may be nothing more than a decoy that is meant to attract our attention. Every single Hexer aboard our ships can be an informer or a hidden agent. You don't need to concern yourself too much over this problem. It's my job to identify them and guard against their actions. You just focus on your own affairs."

After discussing some other related security matters, the meeting finally broke up. Major Verle exited the room and went back to handle the preparations for the grand expeditions.

As for Ves and Calabast, they remained a while longer.

"Meow."

Lucky grew upset that Calabast no longer pampered him. He crawled up her body and begged for pats, to no avail.

"Don't you think you should be more forthcoming, Calabast?"

"I don't have an obligation to spill my entire life story to you. Much like you, I like to look forward."

"That isn't a reason to forget about the past." Ves frowned as he leaned against the table. "We have been partnering up for years. You occupy a very vital and sensitive position within the clan. I have been patient all this time and allowed you to hitch on my wagon. Yet despite all of this, I barely know anything about you. Even if we include what you have told us today, I hardly know you better than when we initially joined hands aboard the Starlight Megalodon."

"It's about trust, isn't it? You can't trust me without understanding my story."

"That's about right."

"Haven't we talked about this? Trust isn't necessary to establish a good working relationship. As long as we hold mutual interests, we can always rely on each other."

"I know that, but you're a Larkinson now. You are a part of our clan, and you know very well that means more in this context."

"Then I don't understand your problem. Since I am a member in good standing of the Larkinson Clan, I am not a threat to anyone."

Ves chuckled. "I never completely believe in any assumption. Something can always go wrong. Look, is it too much to ask some questions? You probably know a lot about me. My life is largely an open book, and you have observed me up close for several years. In contrast, I don't even know your real name. Don't you think we should address this information disparity?"

She listened to his request and paused for a time. She eventually uttered a single word.

"No."

With that, she turned around and left the meeting room.

Ves looked helplessly at Lucky.

"Meow?"

"Yeah. Women."

Though Calabast hadn't been very forthcoming today, he didn't sense any ill intent from her. Of course, her self-control might be good enough to hide her true emotions from Ves, but he didn't think she was that duplicitous.

Spy or not, she was still a human.

In a way, she was right. As long as she benefited from being around Ves, she shouldn't pose a threat. That was enough for them to continue their current partnership.

"Well, hopefully she'll change. There's no way she'll remain closed forever."

"Meow meow meow." Lucky nodded his head.

Chapter 2586: Modest Ambition

Ves returned to the Spirit of Bentheim in low spirits.

They both had different reasons to be pensive. Ves not only failed to make Calabast open to him, but he also had to deal with an enormous latent problem.

Not a single ship built by others was secure. No matter where he bought his ships, there was simply no way to guarantee they were free from tampering and listening devices.

While it was possible to overhaul smaller vessels such as the Barracuda and the Scarlet Rose, the Larkinson Clan lacked the time and capabilities to do the same to the Spirit of Bentheim.

undefined"We need shipbuilding capabilities of our own." He muttered as he boarded a lifter platform that would bring him to the design labs.

Lucky had scurried off somewhere else. Now that he had been roped into acting as a sniffer device, he was probably trying to enjoy his last day as a freeloading bum or something.

The fact that Calabast had to make use of his cat of all things was absurd in itself. It highlighted the lack of adequate tools and means.

In other words, he really had to get his hands on some good MTA tech. He already received the Darkbreak module. He should be able to obtain something else as long as he paid the corresponding price.

Of course, Master Willix wasn't interested in ordinary goods. The prices she charged would definitely make him bleed!

After a lengthy transit, Ves finally finally reached the entrance next to the production halls.

This was the section of the ship that corresponded to everything related to R&D, including the design labs and the mech workshops.

The design labs of the Spirit of Bentheim were not only larger, but also contained much better lab equipment. Combined with access to the formidable processing capabilities of the ASTERA AI core, the assistants who had just settled in all looked incredibly eager to play around with their new toys!

"Welcome back, sir." Miles Tovar greeted near the entrance to the only occupied lab.

The other two labs remained unused for the moment because the Design Department wasn't big enough to occupy them. Ves needed to hire hundreds more assistants before these extra spaces became useful.

"How are the design teams settling in?" He asked as he looked around.

Every Brave and Erudite looked happy and impressed with all of the advanced equipment they had at their disposal. It was impossible for mech designers to dislike upgrades to their working environment.

"As you can see, we're all ecstatic to move into a real design lab, sir. That is not to say that the labs at the Scarlet Rose and the Stellar Chaser are inadequate. It's just that the upgrades, in particular the vastly-improved simulation and data processing capabilities, massively speed up our workflow."

Speeding up the workflow not only meant that mech designers could complete their assigned task fasters. They could also explore alternative solutions and compare them side by side in order to select the best options.

In short, the new working environment vastly improved the quality and quantity of output from the design teams!

Ves smiled in satisfaction. "Don't gawk at our new stuff for too long. We still have a lot of work to do. The six design projects aren't going to complete by themselves. Now that we are in a better facility, I expect better end results than before."

"Don't worry. With these excellent facilities, we'd be stupid if he aren't able to make good use of them. The only issue is that we aren't accustomed to the new functions. It will take some time before we get accustomed with all of the new options. The more advanced features will still be out of reach for us if we don't receive some tutoring."

"Let's see what happens when you get to that point. Perhaps the lead designers and I will hold some classes in order to get you all up to speed."

He briefly discussed his personal progression as a mech designer. Just like Ketis, he was getting closer and closer to becoming a Journeyman, but this was not a linear process. No one could predict whether he could break through in a month or in a couple of years.

"I feel confident in my chances." Miles spoke with confidence. "Gloriana has given me some crucial guidance in the past several months. I have designed plenty of mechs, so my accumulation is definitely good enough. I just need to achieve a breakthrough in my design philosophy."

Unlike Ketis, Miles had fallen under the Erudites. He was not an exceptionally brave or intelligent mech designer, but his inclinations aligned more with the Erudites rather than the Braves.

Ves found that to be a little disappointing, but that did not hinder him from looking forward to welcoming another Journeyman to the Design Department.

No matter how close he was towards any of his subordinates, as long as they managed to make this pivotal crossing, they deserved to be treated as equals.

"How have you developed your specialty further? You initially specialized in designing aerial mechs, but that is too broad. How have you narrowed it down?"

The former member of the Tovar Family spread his hands as if he was simulating a pair of wings.

"I have taken a lot of inspiration from the Valkyrie Redeemer and the Ferocious Piranha designs. While they aren't exclusively aerial mechs, their flight characteristics are quite interesting. I also consulted a lot with Juliet recently. Her specialty shares a great resemblance to mine."

Class VI design philosophies mainly centered around mobility. The mech designers that adhered to these philosophies always sought to make mechs faster, more agile and so on. For example, Juliet excelled in high-mobility flight systems, but what that actually meant was still unclear.

Regardless, design philosophies couldn't be too broad. Miles needed to focus on a specific goal in order to make measurable progress.

Ves issued a warning. "Be careful about taking too much advice from a mech designer that shares the same interests as you. A good mech designer must develop his own ideas instead of borrowing them from someone else. At some point, sincere advice can turn into mental shackles that restrict your perspective in a specific direction."

"I'm aware of that, sir. I have been thinking very carefully over my options in the past year. I have decided to specialize in low-powered flight solutions."

That caused Ves to be taken aback.

"That sounds.. quite modest. That's not to say that I disapprove, it's just that you could set your sights higher. It's easier to motivate yourself if you grow your ambitions."

"That is what Gloriana has told me as well." Miles replied with a depreciating smile. "It's just that I am nowhere near as good as the two of you. As someone who has been around the block, I know what I am capable of. If I hadn't joined the Larkinson Clan with my other relatives, I wouldn't have been able to make it this far. It is mostly due to receiving a lot of help and resources from you and the rest of the clan that I have been able make such rapid progress."

"That doesn't discount your value, Miles."

"Perhaps, but I am different from Ketis, who is a decade younger than me and is just as far ahead. I'm just a regular mech designer who happened to take advantage of superior circumstances. Even if I break through to Journeyman, I don't have the confidence to reach Master if I adopt an ambition that is as radical or difficult as the rest of you. I just want to set a more achievable goal so that I can do my part for you, the Larkinson Clan and the MTA."

It all came down to confidence. Miles believed he wasn't as talented as Ves and Gloriana. He was so afraid of overestimating his capabilities that he deliberately chose an underwhelming design philosophy.

There was no right or wrong answer to this issue. Ves could not tell him that he should aim higher, but neither could he state that he had made the right choice.

He patted the assistant mech designer's shoulder. "You can only make this choice once in your life. As soon as you determine your exact specialization, you should commit to it with all of your heart and soul. Doubting yourself at this moment of time can be extremely fatal to your progression."

Miles looked anything but conflicted. "If there is one lesson that I have learned from you, it's that I should always do my best to move forward. I am not changing my mind. I am serious about pursuing the limits of flight systems that enable flight with the lowest possible drain to the mech. As long as I flesh out my specialty further, my solutions can provide a lot of help to both our aerial and landbound mech design projects."

"I will look forward to that." Ves chuckled a bit. "For a long time, it was only me and my wife. Now, I might be getting close to obtaining the services of two different mobility-oriented Journeymen. Our future mech designs will doubtlessly score better in terms of mobility than before."

"You also have Ketis. She will give us a sharp edge whenever we design a blade-wielding mech."

This was already a luxurious lineup. Many mech designs that the Design Department developed in the future would no longer score 'average' in many key performance metrics.

With a collection of Journeymen with different specializations at hand, LMC mechs might finally begin to excel in the areas that many customers cared about!

That was not to say that Gloriana's specialty was useless. The problem was that her Class I design philosophy was barely noticeable to those who didn't study LMC mechs in detail. She mostly boosted their quality in a holistic but dispersed fashion, and it was difficult to see the difference sometimes.

Of course, Gloriana hadn't been able to leverage her specialty up to this point. Once they begin to design some expert mechs, she should definitely be able to showcase her full value!

Unfortunately, his good mood didn't last long when Miles asked a very sensitive question.

"By the way, sir, if I ever reach Journeyman, will I be able to receive some shares in LMC?"

Ves almost tripped.

"Uhm, let's not get ahead of ourselves." He coughed. "We can talk about acquiring a stake in the LMC when you actually succeed in breaking through. Don't forget that there are no guarantees. Plenty of Apprentices have remained stuck at the threshold for the rest of their lives."

That situation didn't apply to Miles, though. Ves had already confirmed that the Tovar descendant possessed spiritual potential.

Miles didn't give up on his inquiry.

"It would help if I get to know what benefits I might be able to get. Neither Gloriana or Juliet has been clear about this. They told me I had to go to you for clarification."

Ves felt troubled by this matter. There were special reasons why the other two Journeymen didn't need any ownership in LMC.

This was different. Miles used to be part of one of the founding families of the Bright Republic. He knew the industry standards and he knew his rights.

Even though it was extremely unlikely for Miles to resign from the LMC and go his own way after becoming a Larkinson, he could still build up some resentment if Ves tried to brush off his demands.

"You will get your rightful share, have no fear of that." Ves tentatively said. "However, don't expect too much. Your rewards are commensurate to your contributions. If we compare each other's design philosophies, then it's very clear that my contributions will always be greater than yours. All of our customers are buying our products because they have glows bestowed by me. I doubt that any of them will get excited to buy an LMC mech because it consumes 5 percent less energy during flight."

"I can do much better than that, sir."

"You get my point."

Chapter 2587: Organizational Chart

The remuneration issue kept bothering Ves as he tried to get back to designing mechs.

The inquiry from Miles signalled that Ves couldn't keep avoiding his issue. The more he tried to push it away, the more his integrity as a mech designer rose up and made him feel like a scumbag.

Normally, this shouldn't be a big deal. Ves was used to defying his principles when they became inconvenient. He should have been able to brush aside the stock sharing issue, but to his consternation, it kept nagging him while he worked.

His guilty conscience prevented him from working in peace. It seemed that without clarifying this issue to his mech designers, he wouldn't be able to maintain his best state.

undefinedHe interrupted his work and began to develop a plan. He consulted several people in order to figure out a solution that would placate the demands of his fellow mech designers without giving too much away.

"Ownership in the company is a reward that the founders and leaders of a mech company bestows to mech designers that are useful." Gavin explained his own views. "From what I have studied about the mech industry, it is a custom that has arisen out of a need to retain talent that would have otherwise quit and started their own business instead. When mech designers make the leap from Apprentice to Journeymen, they have gained enough capital to go independent."

Ves nodded as he leaned back on his new floating chair.

Considering the importance of meetings to a leader like him, he took over and furnished a large and spacious office compartment aboard the Spirit of Bentheim.

While he could have held his meetings at his private office at his grand stateroom, he intended to use it as his private sanctuary where not even Gloriana was allowed to barge in at her will.

His new main office not only exuded a lot of luxury, but also offered versatile seating options. He could summon and retract as many chairs and couches as he wanted and alter their configuration in countless different ways.

If he wanted a meeting to go shorter, he could alter a chair so that it became more uncomfortable to sit in over time.

If he wanted his visitors to be more forthcoming, he might increase the comfort level of the chair as well as manipulate the temperature and air composition in order to lower their guard.

He had access to many new features that he never even heard about. After discovering how extensively he could manipulate the environment to his advantage, he felt a lot of admiration for the people who developed these tricks.

When it came to manipulating people, other leaders were much further ahead than him! Compared to their exquisite, subtle techniques, Ves was like a brute. His limited repertoire of bold-faced lying, matching interests and abusing glows introduced way too many loopholes.

"Your situation is different from that of other mech designers." Gavin continued to explain. "You are officially a Journeyman who only advanced a couple of years ago. You haven't designed too many mechs since then. Yet are you really comparable to other young Journeymen such as Gloriana?"

Ves immediately shook his head. "That's absurd. Ordinary Journeymen, whether they are second-class or third-class, can't come close to leading a mech company that is able to pull hundreds of billions of hex credits in profit on a monthly basis! An average Journeyman in the old Bright Republic should be able to earn a few billion pre-inflation bright credits in the same amount of time, which amounts to around a hundred million hex credits. As for second-class Journeymen, their earning potential is higher, but they face much stiffer competition. Perhaps a good one is able to earn a couple of billion hex credits a month."

"There is a lot of fluctuation in the industry, boss. There are many Journeymen who don't excel in anything attractive or flashy. Their earnings may be just a tenth of the figures you've just mentioned. Only a minority of Journeymen earn at or above those sums."

As Ves did some quick research on the galactic net, he found that his assistant was right. "If that's the case, then the Journeymen earn below the mean may be better off working under the umbrella of a stronger mech designer. They're not capable of creating star products, but they are more than sufficient to add some strength to a collaborative mech design project."

"Those Journeymen are still good in their own way, though. If the conditions offered by a mech company aren't attractive enough, then they won't be motivated to stay. In order to retain these valuable talents, a mech company must offer one or several attractive conditions. These can range from guidance by a Senior or Master to access to an expansive distribution network."

"What about giving away shares?"

"It's a custom that is often used when leaders can't offer enough attractive conditions, which is often the case when you aren't a Master. As a Journeyman yourself, you shouldn't be able to retain other Journeymen. You are technically equals on paper. However, we both know that's not the case. The LMC's situation is special. Not only is it an arm of the clan, but every mech designer who works for you are Larkinsons as well. There is much less mobility. Combine that with the fact that the LMC earns at least a hundred times more money than a typical Journeyman-led mech company, the value of a share in your company is completely different."

"You look like you have a plan, Benny."

"I do." Gavin nodded but hesitated a little. "It's a bit risky, though. It entails breaking customs. While I believe you have the capital to do, it will definitely affect your image among your subordinates."

That didn't bother Ves too much. "I'm not looking to win a popularity contest. When it comes down to it, I am the LMC. Even if every other mech designer quits, I can still sustain the same level of success as before. My specialization is the basis of our current level of success. No one can take that away from me. Not even my wife."

He spoke with an abundance of confidence. He wasn't as dependent on help as other mech designers. As long as his bargaining power was high enough, he didn't have to go out of his way to flatter other mech designers!

As Gavin outlined his plan, Ves quickly decided to adopt it. He commanded the LMC's Legal Department, Accounting Department and other related departments to draft a new set of contracts and rules.

It only took a few days to finalize the plan. Once everything was set, Ves entered the main design lab and gathered every mech designer together.

Gloriana, Juliet, Miles, Ketis and every other Brave and Erudite mech designer assembled before him. They all appeared curious at what he had to say. The last announcement happened just a few days ago when Ves revealed the name of the factory ship.

Though a lot of people in the LMC worked on the plan, Ves hadn't informed any of his mech designers yet. Even his wife was left in the dark.

"Fellow mech designers." He began. "The Living Mech Corporation has come a long way since I founded it back on Cloudy Curtain. From selling a bunch of variants from a shabby workshop to expanding our reach across the star cluster, our growth has been phenomenal. I am proud of what I have been able to accomplish as the founder, chairman CEO and lead designer of the LMC. Under my leadership, my mech company will continue to prosper in the future. Do any of you doubt my predictions?"

"No!"

Mech designers weren't stupid. Perhaps some didn't possess much sense for business, but that didn't stop them from observing how the LMC continued to expand at a rapid pace.

Even if there was a limit to this growth, the mech company's current growth trend showed no signs of plateauing anytime soon!

Ves smirked. There was a very good reason to open his announcements with those boasts. He aimed to increase his stature within the LMC as much as possible. This also had the effect of diminishing the standing of the other mech designers, which was very crucial to what he was about to reveal.

He waved his hand. A projection appeared into view. It depicted the basic hierarchy of the Design Department.

"As you can see, our Design Department has grown as well. In the beginning, it was just me. Over the years, my team has slowly expanded up to its current form. As time goes by, this organizational chart will only grow more expansive."

He pointed his finger at the projection, causing two distinct names to glow. They rose up from the level of assistant mech designer and reached the height of lead mech designer.

Ketis and Miles both looked expectantly at this change. Their names had risen!

Ves smiled at the crowd. "It is possible that we might welcome two additional Journeymen in the future. When that happens, this organizational chart becomes a little confusing. Just because my name is on the same level as the other four doesn't mean our importance to the Design Department is the same. I am ultimately in charge here by virtue of my ownership in the company and my contribution to the LMC's success. Back when it was just me and Gloriana, it didn't matter too much if we were on the same level. However, now that we are starting to welcome more Journeymen in the fold, we need to refine the hierarchy at the top. For this reason, I have decided to create a new position in our department."

In the organizational chart, a new band appeared above the height of lead designer. Ves' name automatically rose up to occupy this new band by itself.

"From today onwards, I am the principal mech designer of this department." Ves announced with a steady voice. "This is not a change. This is a recognition of the actual reality within our Design Department. If you disagree, please stand up now and voice your objections."

The authority he exuded along with his existing standing within their circle suppressed every other mech designer. There was no way any assistant mech designer would rise up against his move!

The only possible mech designer who could have stood up to Ves was Gloriana. She had always considered herself to be an equal partner to him even though her design philosophy hadn't contributed too much to the LMC's success as of yet. However, her pride might compel her to object.

Ves stared at his wife. He could sense some of her emotions. She looked intrigued, surprised and even a bit offended.

However, she eventually schooled her face and held herself still. Thankfully, she didn't intend to spoil his power play.

That brought him a lot of relief. His plan wouldn't proceed as smoothly if Gloriana kicked up a fuss.

After sending her a brief smile, he faced the rest of the crowd again.

"Very well. Now that you have unanimously agreed to my ascension to principal mech designer, I intend to make another change. More specifically, as we welcome more Journeymen and lead designers to the fold, we need to expand and formalize our reward structure in order to ensure that every lead designer is adequately compensated for their work."

He waved his arm to the side, summoning a second projection. This time, the projection displayed a document that outlined the rewards the lead designers of the LMC were entitled to. The heading of the document announced the name of this new remuneration scheme.

"Let me introduce you to the Exemplar Plan!" Ves announced with a smile. "This will be our new standard for remuneration going forward. We have customized this plan according to our specific circumstances. Since the conditions of our mech company are very different from the norm, the standard solutions won't work."

Ketis couldn't hold her curiosity any longer. She raised her arm. "What is the Exemplar Plan exactly?"

"Good question! At the heart of it, the Exemplar Plan is a profit-sharing scheme for lead designers. Any mech designer who qualifies won't receive any shares in LMC, but they are entitled to receive cash dividends equivalent to a certain level of ownership in my mech company. In other words, as long as you become a Journeyman, you will immediately begin to earn billions of hex credits!"

His entire audience looked shocked. They never expected Ves to roll out such a scheme!

Chapter 2588: The Exemplar Plan

Ves conceived of the Exemplar Plan as a means to avoid giving away his shares.

Due to his bad experiences with giving away shares in the LMC, it had become taboo in his eyes. He never wanted to reduce his ownership in his mech company or dilute his existing shares ever again!

By drawing such a hard red line, he couldn't reward his lead designers like many other mech companies.

Perhaps regular leaders might not care too much about passing on 2 or 5 percent of outstanding shares to a helpful Journeyman, but Ves was different.

undefinedHe didn't want to give away a single individual share if he could help it! After losing majority control in the LMC for a period of time, he managed to climb back up to possessing a 59 percent stake.

This was his bottom line!

In the future, he would always welcome expanding his stake, but never lowering it. The LMC was a private corporation and he had no intentions at all to make it public anytime soon!

Only by grasping the majority of shares would Ves maintain absolute control over his mech company. The share of dividends he was entitled to wasn't as important to him as he reinvested most of his personal earnings into the clan anyway.

The reason why he didn't compromise and settle for 51 percent or so was because he wanted to maintain a buffer. If a situation ever arose where the MTA or some other entity coerced him into issuing new stock, thereby diluting the value of existing shares, Ves wouldn't instantly lose control.

He had learned his lesson. He could never be too careful about this, especially when he planned to enter the Red Ocean.

Ves didn't intend to explain all of this to his mech designers. He first focused on explaining how he planned to distribute the profits of the LMC.

"Right now, a significant chunk of the LMC's earnings is reinvested right back into its operations." He explained. He even called up a balance sheet that displayed the massive sums involved. "As you can see, our company is constantly setting up regional headquarters, establishing alliances, building our own distribution network and so on. Spending in this aspect will slowly recede once our growth in the Yeina Star Cluster has reached saturation."

He pointed finger at another section of the balance sheet. "Now, if you account for all of the expenses, taxes, investments and so on, we still have hundreds of billions of hex credits left over. The LMC has always paid out all of its earnings in the form of dividends."

A fourth projection came into view. It displayed a simple pie chart that depicted the current ownership of the LMC. Naturally, Ves dominated more than half of this chart, with the Larkinson Clan coming up second with its 24 percent stake.

"As you can see, more than three-quarters of the LMC's earnings flow into the pockets of myself and the clan in proportion to our shares. There is only 1 class of shares at the moment, so the distribution of money is very simple. I own 59 percent of the company, so I get 59 percent of the money."

This was a huge amount of money! Not a single mech designer including Gloriana could remain calm after hearing this explanation.

To Ves, money was a number. Though he was aware that he could constantly expand his personal fortune, there was little point to hoarding money. He cared much more about growing his strength and expanding his power. In order to do that, he needed to convert his money into useful assets and resources.

The main reason why he continued to dominate the clan was because he spent almost all of his dividends into strengthening it. There was no way his clan would be able to acquire 6 more capital ships in the next couple of years if Ves did not open up his bank accounts!

He didn't hesitate to let everyone know this detail.

"As you can see, even though the LMC has paid out a lot of dividends over the years, in practice much of that money ends up improving the Larkinson Clan in some fashion. The second-class mechs and starships we have recently acquired are all funded by the dividends earned by myself and the Larkinson Clan. Even the factory ship we are in right now is obtained through my efforts."

No one denied how much funding and resources he put into the clan. The numbers didn't lie.

"We are all in this together. If I had my way, all of the money earned by the LMC should be spent on growing and strengthening our clan. However, this is not entirely fair to those of who you are able to contribute significantly to our products. I do not wish to treat you all unfairly, but neither can I allow a situation to arise where the clan no longer gets the funding it needs. The Exemplar Plan exists to balance these priorities and ensures that our clan and mech company and everyone else remains content."

All of that was a big fat lie, of course. Ves was not that generous.

He gestured his hand to the document that outlined the Exemplar Plan. Eight different slots stood out from the text.

"Now how does the plan address this issue? It's quite simple, actually. Through a simple financial arrangement, I will voluntarily deposit the cash dividends I've earned from stock corresponding to an 8 percent stake into a separate fund. This fund will subsequently distribute the money it has received to our best mech designers."

He tapped at the projected Exemplar Plan. Some of the eight empty slots began to fill up with names. Juliet Stameros, Ketis Larkinson and Miles Tovar occupied the top three slots.

"Let's say in the near future that Ketis and Miles have successfully advanced to Journeyman. They become eligible to join this profit-sharing scheme by virtue of their design capabilities. Each slot corresponds to the dividends earned from a 1 percent stake in the LMC. This means that each mech designer that is on this list effectively earns 1 percent of the income of the LMC!"

A lot of mech designers looked impressed, but there were several that grew confused at how the plan was structured. The profit-sharing scheme was not as simple as it looked.

For example, Neither Ves nor Gloriana were on the list. This caused the latter to look a little upset.

As far as Ves was concerned, Gloriana had no reason to take part in the plan. As his wife, his possessions were hers and vice versa. Of course, this was just an excuse. Ves had no intentions of actually allowing her to do anything with his ownership stake.

Oscar DiMartin raised his hand. "Sir, the document only holds eight positions. What if the LMC grows to the point when there are more Journeymen?"

The most important question had finally come up. Ves crossed his arms.

"The plan only encompasses the top 8 mech designers of our Design Department. If there are nine, ten or even more Journeymen, then I am sorry to say that the mech designers who haven't reached the top 8 will not receive any cash dividends."

"Isn't that unfair, sir?!"

"I don't think so!" Ves barked back! "In every mech company, it is always the top mech designers who are responsible for most of the success. As more and more mech designers ascend, more and more people will want a slice of the pie. At a certain point, each additional talent that rises up will effectively take away the earnings of other mech designers. In order to prevent future arguments, I have capped the amount of eligible mech designers at eight. This means only those of you who work the hardest and contributes the most are entitled to the richest rewards! These eight individuals should be lauded in our company. This is why they will be regarded as Exemplars!"

Exemplars!

This was a new title that Ves had created in order to celebrate the breadwinners of the LMC.

He could already see the effect of this announcement on his mech designers. They aimed to secure this coveted position for themselves and beat out any rivals that could push them out of the top 8. The competitive spirit of his Braves and Erudites were already firing up as they understood the significance of becoming an Exemplar!

"You haven't exactly explained how this is fair to the rest of those who aren't… Exemplars." Oscar said.

"Non-exemplars will not go destitute, if that is what you're afraid of." Ves quickly answered. "Working for the LMC has never been about money. The Exemplar Plan is just a relatively small reward compared to all of the other benefits you are getting. Think about it. Aside from earning a salary that is already generous by industry standards, you also earn Larkinson merits, which you can exchange for all kinds of exclusive benefits. Since we set up the Larkinson Merit Exchange, I have seen plenty of you exchange your merits for tutoring sessions, the right to access one of our many exclusive textbooks and many other rewards that can facilitate your career. Is this not generous enough?"

The Larkinson Merit Exchange was a completely open, fair and impartial reward mechanism. As long as they worked hard enough to earn enough merits, they could obtain their rewards without any fuss!

Only the better mech companies offered such lavish conditions. If these mech designers worked anywhere else, then they ordinarily wouldn't be able to obtain these benefits so easily unless they were valuable.

"Being a part of the Larkinson Clan is already an excellent reward in itself." Ves confidently stated. "Working for the LMC is a dream for many of you. The generous conditions that we already provide are your actual rewards. The Exemplar Plan is just a bonus that we award to our best lead designers. While it may sound nice to earn a lot of money, think about what you can actually do with it. As long as you are a part of the Larkinson fleet, where will you spend that money on? A personal ship? Implants? Tutoring? Textbooks? Except for the first one, you can already obtain the rest through other means! Money hardly means anything when you are a part of the Larkinson Clan."

He was right. The people who had become a part of the clan all lived and worked in space. They all travelled together in one big fleet that was intended to fly from one destination to another.

One of the rules of the Larkinson Clan was that every member had to stay within the fleet unless ordered otherwise. Not a single clansman was allowed to leave the fleet and do something on their own without permission!

This meant that if the Larkinson Clan never settled down on a planet, the Exemplars who stood to earn a huge amount of money didn't really have a lot of ways to spend it all. Ves predicted that most of them would eventually channel all of that money back into the clan, but with different priorities.

For example, Ketis would probably choose to funnel the money into the Swordmaidens while Juliet would choose to invest in the Penitent Sisters.

This did not bother Ves or the clan too much. They could always adjust their own investment in reaction to these developments.

For example, if Ketis decided to spend 10 billion hex credits on the Swordmaidens, then Ves would just spend 10 billion hex credits somewhere else!

Regardless of the distribution, in the end the new situation hardly differed from the old one!

This was his ultimate scheme!

Instead of Ves or the Larkinson Clan spending the money directly, it first flowed into the hands of the Exemplars, who subsequently spent it in a similar fashion.

In other words, the Exemplar Plan just introduced a detour that allowed the mech designers in question to feel rewarded while not actually changing the ultimate result!

Though Ves could see that Gloriana, Miles, Oscar and a number of other astute mech designers understood some of the depth of his plan, what did it matter?

With his power, authority and prestige within the LMC, who could possibly force him to change his plan?

The reason why he introduced the Exemplar Plan now instead of later was because his bargaining position was still strong at this point!

Once a lot more mech designers advanced to Journeymen, it would be a lot harder for Ves to ram his scheme down their throats!

Chapter 2589: Scamming Mech Designers

No one objected to the Exemplar Plan. No one had the guts to do so. Ves had signalled very clearly that he was passionate about the profit-sharing scheme.

This meant that criticizing the Exemplar Plan implicitly translated to an attack on Ves! As long as the assistants weren't crazy, they wouldn't take the initiative to piss off their boss.

Though Ves felt dirty for resorting to such a coercive psychological trick, he liked the alternative even less.

As long as his mech designers mounted a serious challenge to the Exemplar Plan, then Ves would not be able to hold the high ground anymore. The illusion he weaved in their minds might shatter as long as someone pointed out the flaws.

undefinedThe stories he crafted about benevolently investing in the clan and that earning money wasn't important to them were just excuses designed to stop them from demanding more money or shares!

Everything went according to plan. Gloriana did not challenge his plan while the rest were too weak to rock the boat.

A lot of mech designers began to dream about the honor of becoming an Exemplar. They got so caught up in his story that they didn't even realize that they had fallen into his trap.

All of the ceremonial window-dressing surrounding the Exemplar Plan such as limiting it to the eight best mech designers were just artificial constructs meant to distract everyone.

It was just as worthless as an 'employee of the month' contest!

As long as every ambitious mech designer fought to become an Exemplar, they weren't fighting for what they should truly earn, which was actual shares in the LMC!

He had to admit that Gavin possessed quite a devious mind for coming up with a scheme that exploited the weaknesses of the human psyche. As long as the end result did not cross any of his red lines, anything was acceptable, no matter how unethical they looked!

The most he did after announcing the plan was to answer some questions.

"What happens if an Exemplar retires due to old age or some other reason?" Catherine Evenson asked.

As expected from someone with a noble background. Aristocrats tended to look much further ahead than others. Continuity and inheritance always factored into their decisions.

Ves smiled. "Good question. In principle, the list of Exemplars is not fixed. Those who get on the list can also be removed from it due to various reasons. Retirement is one possible reason. Getting surpassed by a more helpful and hardworking mech designer is another reason. In short, no Exemplar should rest on his or her laurels. The main criteria used in deciding who belongs to the top 8 is largely based on contributions. Those who have played an important part in the success of the LMC are more exemplary than those who have only played a marginal role."

"How do you actually measure contribution, then?"

"We look at whether the work done by a mech designer has resulted in higher performance and more sales. Mind you, the time range that we use to judge everyone's contributions isn't much. At most, it will stretch a few years in the past. To go back to your original question, when a retired Exemplar has no longer made any significant contributions for a couple of years, even if his prior work is still responsible for pulling in millions of sales, it becomes increasingly more untenable for him to hold this position. Exemplars aren't nobles, and legacy must not trump current efforts."

That disappointed a few mech designers in the crowd, but also delighted many others.

If the list of Exemplars was based on current contributions rather than accumulations made in the past, then latecomers had a better chance of catching up. Those who got on the list earlier couldn't relax and had to keep working hard in order to maintain their superior position.

Overall, the Exemplar Plan succeeded in motivating every mech designer. Previously, everyone's goal was to become a lead designer. They wanted to become a Journeyman and receive greater responsibilities so that they could exert actual influence on LMC mech designs.

Yet Ves was afraid that once the new Journeymen reached this goal, they no longer had any way to go higher.

It wasn't as if they could keep climbing up in the LMC. Ves was not willing to hand over too much responsibility to any mech designer. Whether they were Apprentices or Journeymen, he wanted them to obediently remain in the Design Department and keep doing their work they were meant to perform!

Introducing the position of Exemplar was a good way to give the current and future lead designers something to work towards. The brilliant part about this change was that no Exemplar could guarantee they could keep their honored position. They would continually worry about maintaining their existing benefits, thereby giving them less time to think about promoting to an even higher rank!

Of course, he couldn't leave it at that. If Ves didn't introduce enough sweets to make the position desirable enough, his mech designers wouldn't be motivated enough.

"Do Exemplars get anything aside from earning a share of the dividends and outranking everyone else who is below?" Moltar Ringer asked.

Ves nodded. "Exemplars are the top mech designers in the LMC and the Larkinson Clan aside from myself and my wife. Their status in the clan is different. For one, they can have a greater say in how the clan is run. I have already made an agreement with the Larkinson Assembly. They agreed to recognize every active Exemplar as an assembly member!"

This was quite a big gesture! His audience all looked moved!

In the early days of the Larkinson Clan, the Larkinson Assembly didn't seem very important. While it passed a lot of rules and decided on the finer details on how the clan should be organized, most Larkinsons considered the Assembly as a boring club for older clansmen who liked debate all the time.

That impression gradually changed as the Larkinson Clan expanded its ranks. As thousands and tens of thousands of adopted Larkinsons entered the fold, the importance of the legislative body of the clan increased.

Many people started to realize that all of those old fogeys actually wielded a lot of decision-making power!

Even though Ves and the Executive Council wielded a lot of direct power, they couldn't possibly direct their attention to every single matter.

Originally, the Larkinson Assembly consisted of 50 members. The Assembly expanded several times over the course of the last year as the assembly members had to address more and more dossiers.

After factoring in the 8 possible Exemplars, the Larkinson Assembly currently consisted of 333 seats.

Half of the members were chosen by factoring in their seniority, rank and expertise. The other half were chosen through direct elections.

While this wasn't a perfect setup by any means, there shouldn't be any problems in the short and medium term. There was plenty of time to adopt a better solution once the clan ceased its initial growth phase.

Ves inwardly smirked as he saw some of the ambitious Larkinsons fantasizing about becoming a member of the influential Larkinson Assembly.

The power of the Assembly might be substantial, but a single assembly member among hundreds could hardly effect any change!

In other words, allowing Exemplars to join the Larkinson Assembly was another empty reward. With how much time they needed to spend on maintaining their position on the list, how could the Exemplars spend any time on politicking?

The most that they could do was spare some time to vote on bills. It was very improbable that any Exemplar would do something drastic like starting a faction and gathering followers.

Even if they did, the Larkinson Assembly was not as powerful in front of Ves. As clan patriarch, he could override any of their decisions unless the assembly members booted him out of office.

Of course, he didn't reveal any of this to his excited audience. What mattered was giving them the illusion of power without actually granting it. Hardly any mech designers realized that he was scamming them! Only a couple of politically-astute individuals such as Catherine Evenson faintly realized the truth.

After answering a couple more questions, Ves ended the announcement. As everyone went back to their stations in order to resume their work, Gloriana marched over while clutching Clixie against her body.

"Ves. We need to talk. NOW."

"Miaow." Clixie released a warning sound.

"Ehm, can this wait?" Ves raised his hands. "Due to all of the changes that have happened in the past week, we are beginning to fall behind schedule. This announcement has already taken up a lot of time. Let's do our best to catch up today."

"Talk. Now!"

Ves had no choice. He slumped his shoulders a bit as he followed his wife to a private office. As they entered and closed the hatch, Ves didn't even have the benefit of Lucky's company.

His pet was probably being pampered by Calabast as she used him as her personal sniffer.

As Gloriana released Clixie and faced her husband, she crossed her arms and tapped the deck with her shoe.

"So, care to explain?"

"What is there to explain?" Ves innocently shrugged.

"What is up with your so-called Exemplar Plan?!"

"It's exactly what I have just said! It's a means to motivate and reward our best mech designers. It's an alternative to issuing stock that ensures that we will continue to maintain our grip on the LMC!"

"Our grip or your grip?" She suspiciously probed.

"Ours! We're a married couple, honey. We share our possessions!"

"That's not what you have said the last few times. You made it pretty clear that you called the shots in the LMC. Why did you leave my name off of the list of Exemplars? Where are my dividends, Ves?"

"That's not true." Ves lied. "Your input is crucial. You rank higher than any Exemplar as far as I'm concerned. It's just a rat race. As an elegant cat, you wouldn't lower yourself to their level, right?"

"Miaow?" Clixie looked confused.

Gloriana furrowed her brows for a moment before shaking her head. "Don't try to play your stupid word games on me! Either tell me the truth or give me my rightful shares!"

"Come on, honey. Calm down. Don't be angry at me." He spoke as he sidled closer.

Even though she adopted a defensive posture, she allowed him to embrace her body. She relaxed a bit as their bodies pressed against each other.

Ves brought his lips close to the side of head in order to whisper in her ear.

"Ever since we slipped our wedding bands on each other's fingers, we became one. What is yours is mine, and what is mine is yours. On paper, I might own a 59 percent stake in the LMC. That ownership is yours as well. It's a mistake to think you don't own any shares. The truth is that you hold 59 percent ownership in the company as well! Do you get it now? Joining the Exemplar Plan is completely pointless for you because the dividends that I have apportioned come from us in the first place."

"Oh." She uttered. "Well.. if you put it that way, it does look kind of silly. However, if what is yours is truly mine, does that mean that I can exercise more leadership in the LMC?"

"Um, eh, it's complicated. Let's just say that I will listen to your input. As long as I approve, I am more than willing to implement your suggestions."

"If that's the case, then I want to dictate our next design projects!" She exclaimed as she drew back. "You've had your fun for a long time, Ves, but the next round is mine. We have to design a lot of expert mechs and custom mechs in order to reward our expert pilots and other individual mech pilots. Do I need to remind you that you have been neglecting Commander Melkor's request all this time? He's been waiting for a custom rifleman mech for years!"

Chapter 2590: Hexer Despair

The war that decided the future of the Komodo Star Sector had swung rapidly since the Friday Coalition initiated its counterattack!

With the powerful Gauge Dynasty and the disciplined Konsu Clan taking the lead, the Fridaymen mech divisions retook star system after star system.

In many cases, the Hexers didn't even have enough time to pull out all of their assets before the Fridayman offensive liberated the occupied star systems!

Though the great counterattack only began a few months ago, the Fridaymen already took back much of the hinterland of the Carnegie Group and Vermeer Group!

undefinedAs news of the grand offensive penetrated through the occupied planets, the resistance movements that had been biding their time there had all risen up and committed considerable sabotage against the Hexer garrison forces!

The occupiers hit back hard against the exposed partisans, but the damage was already done. Considerable damage had been done to both the infrastructure and industry that the Hexers relied upon to supply the Hex Army.

In some cases, saboteurs even managed to blow up or crash critical space stations!

With the frontlines crumbling and the rear areas aflame, the mech divisions and mech army groups of the Hex Army had to abandon a considerable amount of supplies and fixed assets in order to avoid getting swamped by the aggressive Fridaymen.

After getting beat up by the Hex Army time and time again in the earlier stages of the Komodo War, the vengeful Fridaymen vented all of their resentment towards their retreating foes!

"Slaughter these women!"

"Komodo belongs to the Friday Coalition!"

"The hour of men is at hand!"

So many incidents took place throughout the conquered Fridaymen territories that the Hexadric Hegemony could no longer withdraw at a controlled pace!

The Hex Army drew back its elements with greater urgency. The Hexer generals prioritized evacuating the mech pilots of the Hegemony above all else. While it hurt to abandon a significant amount of mechs, supplies and industrial equipment, they were just machines!

The Hexadric Hegemony still possessed considerable material reserves and a fully-intact industrial sector. The Hexers could easily replenish the goods they lost, especially considering that they had already plundered a lot of materials and supplies from the occupied territories.

What truly mattered was to preserve as many mech pilots as possible. While the Hex Army succeeded in accomplishing this goal, the hasty withdrawals had a devastating effect on morale.

The transition happened too abruptly.

At one moment, the Hexers rampaged through the lightly-defended star systems of the Carnegie Group and the Vermeer Group.

In the next, the Sundered Phalanx and the Oni Guard unleashed their full might all at once, shattering every illusion that the Friday Coalition was just a pushover!

A lot of Hexer mech pilots who continually achieved success after success couldn't adjust to the fact that they were being pressed in the opposite direction.

"I am not a coward! Turn back! I want to impale them with my spear!"

"Women are supposed to be superior! How come those stupid boys keep overwhelming us over and over again?"

"Superior Mother, help us! I beseech you! Bless our mechs and strike down the heretic Fridaymen!"

As long as the counteroffensive continued at its current pace, it would only take a couple of months before the Fridaymen regained all of their original territories!

Once the mech militaries of the Friday Coalition reached the Crestfallen Stars, the Hexers feared what might happen at that point.

"Will the Fridaymen stop at the border and reconsolidate their lines? The Sundered Phalanx and the Konsu Guard can't push forward forever. Once they pass the border, they'll have to fight head-on against our fortified star systems."

"The greedy boys in charge of the Friday Coalition won't settle for regaining their lost territories. They still have ample strength to batter our frontlines! We're going to have a hard fight on our hands."

"We can't allow the Hegemony to be despoiled by these stinky boys!"

"Where are our reserves? We need to deploy more mechs to our defensive lines. If we can't hold back the Fridaymen, it will be our turn to lose a lot of territories!"

The Hexers became increasingly more apprehensive of what might happen. The Fridayman mech militaries showed no sign of stopping. The risk of seeing Hexer star systems burned and Hexer boys being brainwashed into confident brutes who no longer looked up to women frightened the Hegemony.

Even the council of matriarchs started to issue grim messages. As one of the highest decision-making organs of the Hexadric Hegemony, the council reflected the collective will of the six matriarchal dynasties.

Having long been used to throwing their weight around, the highest levels of the Hexer state suddenly lost a lot of confidence. Were they truly losing? Was the Hex Army too weak to resist the filthy Fridaymen? How could they possibly remain in power when all of their planets and fixed assets fell into the hands of their archenemies?

The mere prospect of losing the Komodo War sent the Hexadric Hegemony on a tailspin!

As the Hexers lost confidence on a large scale, a secret element of Fridaymen military assets had gathered together at a quiet star system.

A dim red dwarf star feebly shone its light on the five massive starships gathered at the edge of the outer system.

The gathered group of ships were highly unusual. Their hulls were massive. Each of them stretched for at least two kilometers, signifying that they were capital ships!

What further distinguished these vessels was the activity that took place around them. Large amounts of mechs disgorged from their spacious hangar bays. More than a thousand mechs patrolled the perimeter of the gathered capital ships in a matter of minutes!

The sheer amount of mechs held by the five vessels immediately revealed their true nature.

They were military fleet carriers!

Though their silhouettes and colors differed, they each had at least two elements in common.

First, their hulls bore a green flag with a starry arrow pointing upwards.

Second, their hulls also flaunted an emblem that consisted of a nine-headed hydra.

All five vessels wore the flag and symbol of the Friday Coalition!

However, that was all they had in common. Additional markings made it clear that each and every fleet carrier hailed from different parts of the Coalition.

The Auralis was by far the most eye-catching of the five vessels. Her gleaming golden coating made it seem as if the fleet carrier was afraid that people would neglect her existence!

Built and operated by the Gauge Dynasty, the Auralis reflected the strength of the most powerful partner of the Coalition. She possessed the best capacity out of all of the gathered carries. She was not only able to hold 600 mechs, but also featured resilient armor and a full coverage of capital ship-grade shield generators!

However, her considerable hull plating also increased her mass by a huge degree. Her acceleration and other mobility characteristics were the worst out of all five capital ships.

The Amagi was a fleet carrier built by the Konsu Clan. The martial-looking vessel was an all-rounder among the assembled vessels. She possessed decent capacity at 500 mechs while also being able to boast adequate defenses and decent mobility.

The Forward Momentum belonged to the Vanguard Group, which was a Coalition partner that did not fully engage in the Komodo War up to this point.

As one of the weakest partners in the Coalition, the Vanguard Group's military forces were only a fraction of the size of the Sundered Phalanx or Oni Guard. The fact that the Vanguarders dispatched one of their strategic military assets at all for this operation was a miracle.

The relative lack of strength was reflected in the design of the Forward Momentum. Though she possessed the best mobility out of all of the fleet carriers, her armor was very feeble for a military capital ship. In addition, her total capacity only amounted to 400 mechs.

In fact, the fleet carrier dispatched by the similarly-weak Puffer Clan was even worse. As the smallest capital ship in the star system, the Orca Tyrant only carried 350 mechs at most.

The Puffer Clan's fleet carrier was actually slower than the Forward Momentum, but she boasted significantly better armor and possessed highly-reinforced bunkers.

Compared to the other four fleet carriers, the Orca Tyrant devoted less space to carrying mechs and instead embraced the role of a pseudo-battle cruiser.

All four aforementioned fleet carriers flanked the fifth and most central fleet carrier.

Just like the Amagi, the relatively plain-looking fleet carrier possessed balanced if average properties. With a capacity of 450 mechs, the Eager Condemnation featured decent defenses and was not a slouch in terms of mobility.

Right now, several shuttles departed from the other fleet carriers and calmly flew over to the Eager Condemnation.

The commanding officer of the operation called for a meeting. The highest-ranking officers and the most notable mech pilots attended the gathering.

No one objected to stepping aboard the Eager Condemnation. Unlike the other four fleet carriers, the Condemnation belonged to the Coalition Reserve Corps, which was a Coalition institution that transcended the rivalries of individual partners.

In fact, every Coalition partner collectively ran the CRC, so there was no way it would make any Fridayman uncomfortable.

In a large and tastefully-decorated conference room, hundreds of Fridaymen military officers gathered. They hailed from every Coalition partner.

Officers from the Gauge Dynasty, Konsu Clan, Vanguard Group and Puffer Clan each claimed their own separate corners of the conference room. The soldiers of the former two groups faintly looked down on their counterparts of the latter group.

It couldn't be helped. Even though the CRC demanded a contribution from the Vanguard Group and the Puffer Clan, the fleet carriers dispatched by the weakest Coalition partners were not good enough.

Still, despite their inadequacies, the Forward Momentum and the Orca Tyrant met at least one vital requirement. Otherwise, the two fleet carriers wouldn't have been able to take part in this operation.

A highly-decorated older man stood at the very front of the conference room. Brigadier-General Vander Pierce was one of the most distinguished senior officers of the CRC.

Even though the Friday Coalition as a whole did not think much of this branch, the CRC was a complete military branch that could give any Coalition Partner a run for their money!

None of the other commanders showed any disrespect towards the 182 year old man. Many of the people that had gathered here today had heard that General Pierce had come up with this operation and persistently pushed for it until the higher ups eventually assented to it despite the risks.

Sitting not too far away away from General Pierce, Venerable Ghanso Larkinson and Venerable Relia Foster waited for all of the guests to arrive.

"It's finally happening." Ghanso whispered as he kept his will contained. "I told the Fridaymen that they needed to do something. It seems the men in charge are finally willing to invest in an operation."

Venerable Foster levied her eyes at the new arrivals. "This might very well be a suicide mission. The plan that General Pierce has come up rests on a lot of assumptions. If anything goes wrong, we might miss the mark, or expose our whereabouts. As long as the Hexers know we are close…"

"That won't happen." Ghanso grinned and slapped the surface of the conference room. "The Eager Condemnation and the other four capital ships are different. They're all deep strike fleet carriers! With the immense range of their FTL ranges, we can get in and out without leaving too many traces behind."

Deep strike fleet carriers were much more valuable than their regular counterparts. Due to their high cost, the Friday Coalition didn't have many of them. If anything happened to the five capital ships under General Pierce's command, then the Fridaymen would lose some very versatile war assets!

Both expert pilots looked up at this time. They sensed the approach of their own kind.

In the span of a few minutes, six expert pilots entered the conference room. Together with Venerable Ghanso and Venerable Foster, a total of eight expert pilots took part in the operation!

Chapter 2591: Operation Head Crusher

Both Venerable Ghanso and Venerable Foster carefully studied the expert pilots that had taken their seats around the conference room aboard the Eager Condemnation.

Every foreign expert pilot that had agreed to fight against the Hexers fought under the banner of the Coalition Reserve Corps.

At least, that was supposed to be the rule.

What surprised Ghanso and Relia was that the expert pilots dispatched by the four participating Coalition partners also appeared to be foreigners!

undefinedIt was too easy to recognize the other six expert pilots as third-raters. Their uniforms didn't possess the usual badges and medals that denoted long and storied service.

The foreigners also lacked the arrogant swagger of Fridayman expert pilots. Unlike the foreigners, the demigods from the Coalition all attracted a lot of admiration from their soldiers.

This was not the case right now. While the Sunderers, Oni Guardsmen and so on did not show any disrespect towards their guest expert pilots, neither did they show too much respect.

In the end, the Friday Coalition was just using them. Even notable war heroes such as Venerable Ghanso did not receive the full recognition he deserved for slaying at least 10 Hexer expert pilots!

Venerable Foster was not shy about voicing her discontent.

"We fight, bleed and even die to defend the Friday Coalition. The least these folk can do is recognize our contribution."

"Heh. They'll never do that." Ghanso huffed. "The Komodo War has to be won by the Friday Coalition, not their hired help. Lady Aisling told me that we should be grateful that we are able to prevent the Hexers from taking over our home states."

Pretty much every foreign expert pilot who accepted the offer to fight on behalf of the Friday Coalition did so to do their duty to their respective states. They had little love for the Friday Coalition and its disdain towards the people they regarded as their lessers.

However, compared to the alternative, the Fridaymen were much more acceptable! At the very least, the Friday Coalition was run by a sensible group of people.

Once everyone arrived, the meeting commenced.

"First, let me thank you all for your courage." Brigadier-General Vander Pierce started with a surprisingly powerful voice despite his advanced age. "Due to the considerable risks of this operation, we cannot guarantee that we will ever be able to return to safety. We must go deeper into unfriendly territory than many of us have ever gone before. We will have to travel so far away Coalition space that safe harbor is many light-years away. Even with the long-range FTL drives of our deep strike fleet carriers, it is not that easy to return to safety, especially when the Hexers are aware of our position."

The operation had to take place in as much secrecy as possible. In fact, before the fleet carriers even departed from different parts of the Friday Coalition, they had already disabled all of their quantum entanglement nodes. The communication systems of the capital ships and the mechs were strictly locked down in order to minimize the propagation of any signal that could leak their whereabouts!

The CRC general swept his gaze across every gathered officer. "You must be eager to take part in our counterattack against the Hexers. As we speak, our fellow soldiers are liberating the star systems captured by the enemy at a record pace. Yet even if we are ready to give the Hexers a taste of their own medicine, our invasion into the Hegemony is not a done deal. No matter how much the female supremacists are panicking, their fortified star systems are still intact."

Just as the Hex Army suffered substantial losses in trying to topple the Crestfallen Stars, the Fridaymen might also incur substantial losses if they attempted to overrun the Hexer strongholds!

No one in the conference room knew whether their leaders would choose to sustain their current momentum. Not even the brigadier-general himself knew what his superiors were thinking, though he heard plenty of arguments through his own channels.

"Unlike what some of you may be guessing, our newly-formed task force is not meant to raid the hinterland of Hegemony space. Though our current fleet composition lends itself well to launching raids, the risks are too great. We did not concentrate five of our precious deep strike fleet carriers and filled them up with our elite mech detachments to do something so marginal. Even if we succeed in demolishing the industries of one or two highly-developed star systems, the Hegemony hardly loses any production capacity."

The general smirked. With a single mental command, he activated a large projection over head.

"Instead, Operation Head Crusher is meant to weaken the Hexadric Hegemony by performing a surgical strike on one of their most valuable war assets."

Both Venerable Ghanso and Venerable Foster gripped their fists as they stared at the face of Ves Larkinson, the patriarch of the Larkinson Clan!

The rest of the officers of the CRC did not show much reaction to the revelation. They had already been briefed beforehand.

In contrast, the officers and mech pilots from the four other fleet carriers reacted with considerable surprise.

They didn't expect this secretive operation to be a decapitation strike!

"I am sure I do not need to introduce the infamous mech designer of the Blessed Squire and Valkyrie Redeemer to you." General Pierce drawled.

The man could easily sense their animosity towards the foreigner that had given their forces so much trouble.

"Mr. Larkinson is a Journeyman Mech Designer with a design philosophy that is uncommonly effective in war. The Hex Army performed well above our expectation in the beginning of the Komodo War, leading to a series of devastating miscalculations that caused our defensive lines to crumble ahead of time. If not for the fact that the conceited Hexers recklessly pushed forward and neglected to consolidate their gains, our state might have been even worse off at this time!"

Many of the Fridayman officers and soldiers gathered today had personally fought against the LMC Hexer mechs. Neither the Blessed Squire nor the Valkyrie Redeemer were easy to deal with! Even after the Fridaymen developed several countermeasures, the glows were just too powerful.

"This man cannot be allowed to facilitate the Hexers any further. The ultimate objective of Operation Head Crusher is very simple. We must remove Ves Larkinson from the board by any means necessary. Ideally, we would like to take him into custody. However, if that is not possible, do not hesitate to end his life. As long as he dies, his products will no longer be as terrifying."

A Sunderer commander raised his hand.

"General Pierce, is it wise to target the life of someone who is backed by the MTA? From what we know, Master Moira Willix of the MTA openly supports our target. Will we doom our state if we kill one of her pets?"

General Pierce smirked. "Ves Larkinson is not a part of the Big Two. As long as this remains true, he is fair game. Killing him will not implicate our state, at least on the surface. Never hesitate in pulling the trigger if you have the opportunity to complete our mission."

"Will Master Willix not retaliate regardless of the rules?"

"She is a powerful and well-connected dignitary, but the MTA is so much greater than any individual. Don't worry. Our state is rooted in the Komodo Star Sector for over four centuries. We have developed some very good relationships with the MTA Masters and directors at Centerpoint. Not all of them are friends with Master Willix. From what they tell us, the good Master has acted out of bonds. The rules of neutrality trump any personal agenda. She cannot blame us for attacking a legitimate war participant."

After reassuring the attendees that killing Ves Larkinson would not doom their entire state, the general moved on. He projected some star charts and briefly highlighted their upcoming maneuvers.

"According to our intelligence, the fleet of the Larkinson Clan is set to enter Majestic Teal together with its allies. While we are unable to ascertain the route of this combined fleet, our state has made ample preparations. We have ways to track their huge fleet and position ourselves to intercept them. Do not forget that deep strike fleet carriers excel at this purpose. Even if our predictions are wrong, we can jump ahead of the slower, larger fleet of our enemy and try again. If all goes well, we can intercept them before they venture into Majestic Teal. If we have missed the mark, then we will just follow suit and seek to confront the Larkinson Clan in a different star sector."

This was a very determined pursuit! A lot of Fridaymen officers looked uncertain about this plan.

The grand captain of the Amagi raised his hand. "Sir, to what extent must we pursue the Larkinson Clan? Majestic Teal is not our home ground. The local states will not take kindly to the intrusion of a significant force of foreign military fleet carriers."

"That's not necessarily the case, captain. We have good trading relations with some of the states in Majestic Teal. They may be able to lend a helping hand to us. Regardless, our mission does not have a time or distance limit. Once we set off from this star system, we are committed to Operation Head Crusher. That means that we will not turn back until we have neutralized the leader of the Larkinson Clan! This goal trumps every other consideration, including our survival and the survival of our fleet carriers! Even as we speak, Mr. Larkinson must be designing even more nefarious mechs for the Hexers. Unless we succeed, our state might never be able to win the Komodo War!"

In other words, the higher ups of the Friday Coalition already accounted for the possibility that Task Force Umbra, which they were officially a part of, might never be able to return home.

Venerable Ghanso frowned. While he didn't have a problem with making the ultimate sacrifice as long as he was able to blast Ves into pieces, he did not have much faith in their current strength.

He raised his hand.

"General, are you sure our strength is up to the task?" He questioned. "From what I have gathered, the Larkinson Clan is able to deploy more than 4000 mechs. There is also the Glory Seekers which is able to deploy around 2600 mechs if we include their new fleet carrier. The Cross Clan which the Larkinsons have recently allied with are no pushovers either. Though it's hard to determine how many mechs they are able to field, they should be able to field at least 4000 mechs as well."

The general confidently smirked. "The Cross Clan has sustained considerably more losses than you think. Our intelligence suggests the Vicious Mountainers are only able to field 3200 mechs at most."

"The Cross Clan are the remnants of a former militaristic faction. Despite their losses, their surviving mechs and mech pilots are just as strong as ours. Unless we can count on reinforcements, it is hard to see whether we can defeat their combined fleet."

A lot of other Fridaymen began to harbor some doubts as well. Nonetheless, General Pierce maintained his confident demeanor.

"I have two points." The general raised a finger. "First, you are misinterpreting our objective. We are not supposed to defeat the entire enemy fleet. As long as we assassinate the Larkinson Patriarch, there is no point in fighting the rest. Defeating them will not further tip the Komodo War in our favor. We must concentrate as many assets as possible to accomplish our sole objective, even if we open up our fleet to a fatal counterattack. Sacrificing our deep strike fleet carriers is a small price to pay to neutralize every possible glow in existence."

The general raised a second finger.

"Second, who says that we are alone? Operation Head Crusher consists of multiple elements. There will be other forces sharing the burden. We have already accounted for the strength of the Glory Seekers and the Cross Clan. However, even if our strength falls short for whatever reason, do not forget our overarching purpose. Killing the inventor of the glow is all that matters. Our fellow soldiers will not be able to fight the Hexers with confidence until we have accomplished this crucial feat!"

Chapter 2592: Duty Above All

General Pierce did not reveal too many details during the initial briefing. The main purpose of this meeting was to inform the members of Task Force Umbra of their singular goal. The CRC general also wanted to convey the possibility that this may very well be a one-way journey.

Once the five deep strike fleet carriers set off to intercept the Larkinson fleet, everyone aboard turned into dead men walking.

They were expected to die. The CRC and the four participating Coalition partners had unofficially written them all off. While the Friday Coalition would be delighted if some or all of the expensive fleet carriers limped their way back to friendly territory, none of the higher ups would shed a tear if Task Force Umbra disappeared from the face of the galaxy.

While the brigadier-general did not explicitly state all of this, the mech officers and mech pilots attending the meeting weren't stupid. Each of them were elites of their respective military branches. As the crack mech troops of the Friday Coalition, they possessed a greater awareness of the overall strategic situation. General Pierce had already given his men plenty of hints.

undefinedDespite the possibility that this might turn into a suicide mission, none of the Fridaymen showed any fear.

As some of the most well-trained soldiers of the Coalition, they knew what they were fighting for and were always ready to sacrifice their lives as long as it bettered the lives of their fellow Fridaymen.

Their cause was just. The members of Task Force Umbra could think of no better way to save their home state than to eliminate one of the most powerful sources of strength to the Hex Army.

Kill the mech designer, save the Friday Coalition! It was that simple!

Even if killing Ves Larkinson did not collapse the glows of the Blessed Squire model and the Valkyrie product line, his removal at least ensured the Hex Army did not gain any further dastardly glow mechs.

Almost a third of all Fridaymen military mech pilots were actually shivering in their boots at the prospect of facing other LMC mechs in battle!

It was ridiculous how much the Fridaymen feared the work of a single Journeyman Mech Designer, but the trauma that the Blessed Squire and Valkyrie Redeemer managed to inflict was quite extensive!

As long as the Hex Army began to deploy three or four additional mechs with glows, the Fridaymen might become permanently suppressed on the battlefield.

One policy institute from the Gauge Dynasty predicted that in a year's time, the average morale and effective performance of every Fridayman combat unit was liable to drop by as much as 20 percent due to the devastating effects of glows!

This was a devastating drop that would permanently put the Fridaymen mech militaries at a disadvantage. No matter whether it was the Blue Legion, the Fortune Legion, the Sundered Phalanx or even the Oni Guard, none of them were able to fight comfortably against a Hex Army that made extensive use of LMC mechs!

The variety, versatility and lack of adequate countermeasures against Hexer glows continually hampered the Friday Coalition. While there were plenty of Masters trying to develop the ultimate counter against this hated invention, none have truly succeeded up to this point.

Perhaps distinguished mech designers such as Master Olson and Master Katzenberg might be able to crack the code. However, their research had stalled. A successor to the Glow Crusher and an improved version of their O-K alloy was years away by their own estimates.

This was too long! The Komodo War developed rapidly and could change at any day. Rather than gambling on the faint hope that the befuddled Fridaymen Masters developed an effective counter against LMC mechs, the leaders of the Friday Coalition instead chose to take a more concrete course of action.

"The heads of every Coalition partner are paying attention to Operation Head Crusher." General Pierce generously said. "Our mission is noble beyond comparison. What we are about to embark upon is nothing less than eliminating the greatest enemy of men from this star sector. Do not think that Ves Larkinson is sympathetic towards the plight of his own gender. His wife has him by the balls. Despite his forceful public appearances, he is one of the most pathetic boys in existence. He is a traitor to his own gender and is complicit to all of the oppression the Hexers will unleash if they conquer our state."

No one doubted the necessity of their mission anymore. Each and every elite Fridayman servicemen was prepared to die in order to stop the infamous Devil Tongue!

As for whether they were supposed to capture him or kill him, General Pierce had made it clear that the former was not a priority.

As far as the Fridaymen were concerned, they should play it safe. It was a lot harder to capture someone alive than to kill them outright. Since the future of the Friday Coalition might be at stake, the soldiers simply couldn't afford to make any further gambles.

Everyone, including Venerable Ghanso Larkinson, intended to kill the hated mech designer at the first possible opportunity!

As the meeting dispersed and the personnel from the other fleet carriers left the Eager Condemnation, the fleet soon prepared to depart.

As soon as the FTL drives of the deep strike fleet carriers finished cycling, the capital ships retrieved their mechs and simultaneously transitioned into FTL.

Their destination? The border between Komodo and Majestic Teal. No matter what route the Larkinson Clan took, Task Force Umbra would always be able to overtake their prey!

As Venerable Ghanso and the rest of Unit L moved into their new living quarters aboard the CRC fleet carrier, Lady Aisling Curver paid a visit to the former Brighter expert pilot. She entered his cabin with a hesitant step.

"Hey, Ghanso." She greeted. "So this operation is actually going through?"

The expert pilot sat on his bunk. He looked up at the mech designer who was responsible for servicing the mechs of Unit L.

"Operation Head Crusher has officially started. The brigadier-general is very serious about our purpose. Even if all of us die and all of our fleet carriers fall into the hands of the Larkinsons, we cannot fail our mission. Are you willing to die to save the Friday Coalition?"

"Of course!" She immediately replied. "As a member of the mighty Gauge Dynasty, I have sworn an oath to defend it against any threat. While I regret the fact that Ves has turned against our state, I… cannot let my feelings override my duty."

It took a lot of effort for her to say that. Ghanso softened his expression and patted the side of the bed. "Come sit."

She did so. Her white lab coat contrasted sharply against Ghanso's crisp CRC uniform.

"Ves must die. This is a given. Killing him will not only save the Friday Coalition, but also liberate my trapped and brainwashed relatives. The Larkinson Family will never be able to return to its roots as long as my misguided cousin continued to spread his poisonous lies."

"Ghanso…"

"MY FAMILY IS AT STAKE!" He burst out! He quickly tried to calm himself down. "I thought you got over him already. You had your chance, but he chose differently. He even tied the knot with his Hexer girlfriend. Are you finally willing to accept reality?"

His words only caused Aisling to feel more and more conflicted.

"You don't understand, Ghanso. Have you ever loved someone with all your heart?"

"I love my family. Why do you think I am fighting so hard? Everything I do is to save my fellow Larkinsons from the darkness that has corrupted their purity!"

"At least you are able to get your way. I am not so lucky. Not only do I have to take part in an operation that is expressly designed to kill the object of my affection, but I may not even live long enough to see the outcome of my efforts. I'm not a soldier, Ghanso."

The expert pilot sighed and placed his hand on her hand. "There are better people out there than Ves. He has made his bed. Let him lie in it. As for you, it's okay to feel frightened. Everyone is afraid of death. Just remember what we are fighting for. We cannot allow our selfish desires trump the interests of trillions of innocent Fridaymen and other citizens in our star sector."

The Journeyman Mech Designer closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Her blond hair swayed as she tried to reconcile her conflicting thoughts.

Under the influence of Venerable Ghanso's intense force of will, Aisling managed to find some peace in her roiling emotions.

Her eyes glinted with stoic determination when she opened them again.

"I.. understand. Thank you, Ghanso. I needed that. I know what I must do. I love Ves, but I love my home even more. I cannot allow the Hexers to harm my friends and family. If I have to accompany you all the way to the grave in order to save my state, I will do so as long as the Friday Coalition is saved."

"It sounds like you finally got your priorities straight. Have you truly managed to shed your feelings for Ves?"

She faintly shook her head. "I can't. I will always love Ves and his fantastic design philosophy. That will never change. The only difference is that I am prepared to bury these feelings in order to abide by my oaths. If I manage to survive, when all of this is over, I will dig my affections up again and mourn for a dream that has never come to pass."

Though Ghanso didn't understand why Aisling was being so difficult, at least she was moving in the right direction. He had grown incredibly tired of hearing her lament about her lost opportunity to shack up with Ves. As long as she shut up about that during this operation, he could prepare for the most important battle of his life in peace.

When Aisling finally left his quarters with a renewed sense of purpose, another guest dropped by half an hour later.

"What are you doing here, Baroness Foster?" Ghanso hissed.

The Vesian expert pilot leaned against the side of the hatch while crossing her arms. "I encountered Aisling earlier. She is very different from before. Was that your handiwork?"

He shrugged. "I don't claim any credit. I believe that Operation Head Crusher has finally forced her to confront reality. She's been losing herself in her dreams for more than a straight year. She can't sustain her fantasies forever, you know. Every illusion has an ending, but truth is always eternal."

"That's surprisingly deep, coming from you. You Brighters always try to act smart."

"You Vesians treat everyone but nobles as trash." Ghanso sneered.

She didn't even deign to reply to that. "Anyway, I just want to thank you for pulling that poor woman back to reality. Even though it doesn't look like you completed the job, I think she is doing better than before."

"If General Pierce is right, it's improbable for us to survive this operation. If Aisling suffers the same fate, at least she will be able to meet her end with open eyes."

They both fell silent for a time. As soldiers, they were both aware that they might never be able to return alive from a deployment. This was not the first time they faced very slim odds.

"If we ever managed to reach Ves, who gets to kill him?" Venerable Foster asked.

"I do. As my blood kin, it is up to me to end the threat to my family. Just because we are relatives doesn't mean I intend to be lenient to him. In fact, it's the opposite. Everything he has done to the Larkinsons is a travesty. I need to be the one that pulls the trigger in order to send a clear message to my relatives."

Venerable Foster frowned. "I can't allow you to do that, Ghanso. Ves Larkinson is responsible for the deaths of many comrades as mine. I vowed to avenge their deaths and eliminate any threat to the Hafner Duchy."

The two expert pilots glared at each other. Neither of them were willing to give in on this matter!

Chapter 2593: Training Progress

Over a thousand mechs flew in space. They formed several dispersed formations and maneuvered in close coordination with each other.

Many mechs flew at least fifty meters apart from each other. Every element had to fly close enough to each other in order to make formations effective, but packing them too close left them vulnerable to powerful explosions.

The risk of collision also played a significant factor. If the mech pilots weren't skilled or disciplined enough, then a single mistake might lead to a chain collision that could tear an entire formation apart!

This was one of the reasons why pirates and poorly-trained mech pilots flew around in a chaotic swarm. The mech pilots did not even trust their own comrades to fly responsibly, so they only felt at ease if mechs were at least 100 or 200 meters away from their own machines.

undefinedSuffice to say, these loose groups conveyed no significant advantage other than minimizing collisions and making it harder for them to get taken out by a single powerful explosion.

As the silver-coated mechs of the Living Sentinels maneuvered in space in much tighter formations, the Larkinson Clan took a different route.

Every Larkinson mech force emphasized formations in their training regimes. Many of the mech pilots that the clan managed to recruit in recent months were all elites or highly-qualified rookies.

They possessed the skill, discipline and confidence to pilot their mechs in tight formations. However, due to their diverse backgrounds and origins, they were all used to different configurations.

The Sentinels and the other mech forces wished to integrate the new recruits into their own unique systems, then they needed to conduct a lot of drills.

The newcomers had to get accustomed to the new formations right away. They needed to become so familiar with the set of formations of their mech troop that it became instinct for them to find the right place!

As for the veterans, Commander Casella Ingvar did not keep them idle. She came up with a mentorship scheme whereby two different veterans assumed responsibility for at least 8 new recruits.

With two veterans working together, they could keep each other in check while offering multiple perspectives. The new recruits did not strictly have to obey or adopt the advice of the veterans, but it was generally a good idea to listen to the survivors of the grueling Nyxian Gap Campaign.

The Sentinel Commander oversaw the formation drills in the command center of the new flagship of Living Sentinels. Just like the Avatars' Purplefeather, the Steadfast Vigil was a larger combat carrier that held up to 60 mechs.

The Vigil also served as a command vessel. With her well-equipped command center, enhanced sensor and communication arrays and upgraded data processing capabilities, she was more than capable of commanding a mech regiment.

In fact, it would have been even better if Commander Casella could command her troops in a fleet carrier, but beggars couldn't be choosers. Compared to the flimsy third-class light carrier the Sentinels had before, the Steadfast Vigil was at least twenty times better!

An ample amount of officers and specialists sat behind their work stations. They monitored various readings or communicated with the mech pilots deployed in space. The coordination between the command center and the soldiers in the field was not entirely seamless, but it was already better than what most outfits were able to accomplish.

To Commander Casella, coordination was essential to her mech force. Unlike the Avatars of Myth whose elite mech pilots could fight tacitly and with greater situational awareness, her Sentinels were not as good.

She wasn't disappointed with her mech pilots. The Sentinels adopted minimum recruitment standards as well. Even if their standards weren't as high as the Avatars, the mech pilots they recruited had to be good enough to become eligible to serve in the military.

They also had to be disciplined and obedient enough to follow instructions.

There were very few Larkinson mech pilots who didn't make the cut. The Larkinson Clan did not recruit useless people. If the mech pilots who applied to join the clan could not even satisfy the Living Sentinels, then there was no point to absorbing them into the clan!

Ever since she assumed command of the Sentinels, Commander Casella focused on fulfilling two important goals.

First, she needed to restore the morale of her men.

Second, she needed to integrate every Sentinel mech pilot in a single, cohesive group.

From how crisp the different mechs of the Living Sentinels were fighting against a larger force of projected practice targets, Casella believed she was close to completing those goals.

The main projections vividly depicted entire mech companies of Princess Jeckas moving in unison in aggressive wedge formations. The large groups of swordsman mechs resembled shark teeth as they sank into their practice targets from two different directions.

The new Vima Suns fired their laser rifles in coordinated volleys that limited the evasion opportunities of every target. What was notable about the new spaceborn rifleman mechs was that the Larkinsons had upgraded their weapon loadouts.

Each and every Vima Sun wielded modified laser rifles that each integrated a luminar crystal!

The augmented laser rifles allowed the Vima Suns to output a bit more damage while wasting less energy in the form of waste heat. This was a considerable improvement that allowed the rifleman mechs to punch above their weight!

It was too bad that their defensive capabilities remained just as poor.

In order to make sure that the Vima Suns could do their jobs without huddling behind an asteroid or a combat carrier, the new space knights hovered close to the ranged mechs.

The Tamris Stellar model possessed a lot of defensive power for its cost. As long as its tower shield was intact, the commercial space knight could withstand a decent barrage of attacks against second-class threats. It also possessed just enough mobility to participate in plenty of maneuvers.

While a formation that included the Tamris Stellars wasn't quick or agile, the defensive power it possessed was very considerable!

"What do you think, major?" Commander Casella asked the man standing by her side.

"I've seen better." Major Verle drawled as he keenly observed how well the Sentinel mech pilots fought in unison. "I think we need to add some spice to this drill. Can you disable a number of mechs in each formation? I need to see how they are able to adapt to losing their mech captains and a third of their brother-in-arms."

"Certainly, sir."

The Sentinel Commander issued some orders. A couple of officers immediately inputted some commands.

Within the span of a dozen seconds, at least a dozen mechs of each mech company suddenly lost power and drifted lifelessly away from the battlefield!

The sudden casualties alarmed many surviving Sentinel mech pilots. However, much to Casella's satisfaction, the mech lieutenants and veterans quickly assumed control over the ragged and diminished mech companies.

Every mech unit established a clear chain of command. Even if every officer and veteran disappeared, the rookies all knew precisely who they needed to answer to without needing to think!

The projections showed that it only took a minute for each formation to consolidate their gaps and continue to pressure the simulated enemies.

Soon enough, the last projected enemy mech succumbed as a pair of Princess Jeckas stabbed it from the front and the back.

"The exercise has ended, ma'am."

"Please summarize the results and forward the document to my inbox." Casella said as she turned away from the front. "Oh, and tell the men that they performed well. I am satisfied with how quickly they adjusted to the changing circumstances."

"Will do, ma'am!"

As Casella and Verle stepped out of the command center, they aimlessly walked through the well-lit hallways of the Steadfast Vigil.

"I'm satisfied with the progress you've accomplished." The highest-ranking officer began. "Compared to a couple of months ago, your Sentinels are almost unrecognizable. They have all closed the gap with the Avatars and Vandals. Even I didn't think you'd be able to make so much progress in just two months."

A faint smile appeared on Casella's face. "I had to push them hard and cut their leave in half. However, I don't think I'll be able to close the gap. Let alone catching up to coordination displayed by the Avatars, I don't think my Sentinels will ever come close to the tight-knit cooperation displayed by the Battle Criers, Swordmaidens and Penitent Sisters. Seeing them in action is something else. I feel jealous whenever I witness their ferocious but impeccable maneuvers."

Major Verle shook his head. "You don't have to compare your Sentinels to them. They're different. They eat, sleep and fight together. They don't have much of a life outside of their service. We can't expect every Larkinson mech pilot to commit so much to their profession. In fact, it's better we established a troop like the Sentinels. We must be strong, but we must never lose touch with our humanity. Of all of our mech pilots, only your men retain a bit of normality that prevents them from getting alienated from the rest of the clan."

"Mhmm." Casella hummed. "I'd like my men to be a little better, though. Even though the Avatars, Vandals and other mech forces are piloting the same mech models, they can always exert more strength."

"I won't tell you that your Sentinels are already up to par. They need more time. However, you can't force them too much. Some lessons can only be learned through continuous repetition. Other lessons can only be learned on the battlefield. The rapid improvements you have accomplished so far has exhausted all of the low-hanging fruit. You and your men will need to put in serious effort in order to make further gains."

"Do you have any tips, sir?"

"Why, certainly."

The two leaders continued to discuss various training methods. Major Verle possessed a lot of relevant experience and knowledge.

Once the major finished giving Casella some useful tips, they moved on to a different topic.

"I can't say I am satisfied with the commercial mechs we've been issued with. While the Princess Jeckas, Vima Suns and Tamris Stellars are adequate for their purposes, they are on the weaker end of second-class mechs. With how much the clan is earning these days, can't we obtain some better machines? We don't have any mainstay mechs that can hold the line against tougher enemies."

Major Verle pressed his lips. "You're not the first mech commander to complain about this. My answer hasn't changed. The clan patriarch wants our mech pilots to make use of quality products that are designed in-house. Better mechs are already in development, but it will take months for the Design Department to complete their designs. Don't worry. In about four or so months, we can begin to roll out the second-class version of the Bright Warrior. That will be our baseline unit for the years to come."

Casella frowned. "That's not ideal. Our grand expedition is scheduled to commence in less than a month, right? This means that our main mech lineup will largely consist of budget mechs while travelling through Komodo and Majestic Teal."

"That is only a temporary condition." Major Verle sighed. "To be honest, I share some of your concerns as well, but the clan patriarch is adamant about leaving as soon as possible. He acts like this star sector is haunted and that a great threat might close in if he doesn't depart very soon. While it is difficult to determine whether there is any substance to his fears, there shouldn't be much harm in leaving early. While we can't issue better mechs to the majority of our men, we have already begun to produce Valkyrie Redeemers and Transcendent Punishers."

"Will my Sentinels receive the Punishers?"

"That's still up for debate. The Transcendent Punishers can only be piloted by Ylvainans, so we are still figuring out how to organize them. You'll have an answer within weeks."

Chapter 2594: Controversial View

"Where is Lucky?" Maikel curiously asked.

"He has a day job now. Don't worry about him." Ves dismissively answered. "Anyway, let's talk about your recent progress. I've studied your test results and looked at your practical performance. First, let me say I appreciate your progress. Your coursework is very onerous. Compared to what I had to learn, your workload is at least eight times higher. According to Gloriana, a typical mech design student at Kelma University has to maintain a similar pace as yours."

"Does this mean I'm the best?"

Ves softly knocked his fist against Maikel's head.

undefined"Ouch!"

"Don't be arrogant! Gloriana achieved much better scores and completed many more courses than you did in the same amount of time. There's a reason why she has managed to become a Journeyman so early. If you want to become just as good as her, you need to motivate yourself to work harder. I can't push you along. Do you understand?"

"Uhm, I'm already studying as hard as I can manage. If I increase my workload any further, I think I'll burn out. The other mech designers I've spoken to have told me that it's better for me to maintain my current balance."

Ves looked closely at his student. The adolescent Larkinson did appear a bit more frazzled than before.

He inwardly sighed. He was demanding way too much from his underlings. Ves was so used to working harder that it was hard for him to understand the limitations of those who didn't enjoy his advantages.

Ves remembered that he used to be much worse than Maikel at the same age. Back before he obtained the System, he was nothing more than a baseline human with average intelligence compared to his fellow classmates. He did not even come close to matching Patricia's brilliance.

It was different now. The Attribute Candies obtained from the System along with his Archimedes Rubal implant had completely transformed his learning ability. What took years for other mech designers to absorb only took a couple of weeks for Ves to internalize. This was not rote memorization, but true mastery.

If not for the fact that Ves had his hands full with his design projects, he would have reserved some time to supplement his knowledge base by reading some of Aisling's excellent textbooks.

For a moment, Ves thought about bestowing the same advantages to his students. While he boosted their Intelligence to 1.6 by feeding them some candies, he didn't want to improve their cognitive abilities too much for fear of distorting their personalities.

Already, Ves was able to ascertain that Maikel and his other student Zanthar experienced some personality changes. Their constant exposure to other mech designers along with all of the knowledge they learned had made them more eccentric. Already, they developed obsessions related to their chosen specializations.

That last part gave Ves a bit of a headache. While Zanthar's interest in maximizing firepower was easily satisfied by allowing him to observe a Transcendent Punisher up close, Maikel was not as easy to develop.

The Larkinson Clan possessed plenty of living mechs. Even though the various mech forces had retired all of their third-class mechs, they hadn't gotten rid of them all. There was ample space to store some obsolete mechs as backups or as future museum exhibits.

Ves even allowed Maikel to examine excellent living mechs such as the Quint and the Shield of Samar up close. Both mechs were spiritually enhanced to over 150 Ves, which meant that they possessed more life than any other machine that Ves had seen!

Despite exposing Maikel to mechs that were brimming with life, his student didn't seem to have gained much insight from these sessions.

Apparently, blindly showing Maikel around was not the right approach. If Ves wanted his protege to make some progress in his formative years, then he needed to find a more effective solution.

"Maikel, how much progress have you made on your personal framework?"

"Uhmm…"

Ves looked sharper. "I hope you haven't spent all of this time on your studies and on drooling over my products. No matter how much benefits you derive from the work of others, you are ultimately only copying someone else's work. A true mech designer can never be a true professional as long as he keeps admiring existing work. The whole point about our profession is to generate new work. We are creators, not gawkers."

"I-I-I'm aware of that, teacher, but it's hard to get started on this topic. I know what I want, but I don't have a starting point. I have spent hundreds of hours with your mechs, but I still haven't figured out why they are alive. When I compare any LMC mech to a comparable mech designed by a competitor, I haven't identified any components that instill any special qualities to your products."

"The applications of design philosophies transcend material reality. This is especially the case for a design philosophy as abnormal as mine. You are looking in the wrong places if you think that my mechs are alive because they possess a unique physical component or something."

The young student lowered his head. He looked frustrated. "Then what am I supposed to do? I have tried to study your work from multiple angles. I even borrowed some biology textbooks from Dr. Ranya in order to understand how traditional life is put together. None of it has worked so far. I'm just as clueless as before."

What a thorny issue. Ves had no choice but to take a step back and think about this situation.

Maikel wanted to design the same kind of living mechs as Ves, but that was not practical. Unlike Ves who possessed spiritual perception, Maikel was practically blind to spirituality, which meant he would never be able to manipulate spiritual energy with precision.

The reason why Ves allowed Maikel to grope in the dark was because he wanted his student to find a method that suited him most.

So far, the results were rather lacking.

While a mech design student did not necessarily have to develop a framework or a design philosophy before graduation, Ves expected better from his proteges. The earlier they found their own way, the sooner they could work towards becoming a Journeyman.

He began to think how he could accelerate Maikel's snail-like progress. He did not want the kid to waste years of his time on ineffectual explorations.

It seemed he needed to provide more targeted direction. In hindsight, he may have been asking too much from someone who wasn't even a fully-fledged mech designer.

"What do living mechs mean to you?" Ves asked.

"They're powerful. They have glows. They are responsive to their mech pilots. They are really magical and completely different from any other mech." Maikel instantly answered.

Unlike most mech pilots and mech designers, Maikel's obsession for LMC mechs rivaled that of Joshua's. Both of them were aware of the key traits of every mech designed by Ves!

"That's a good answer, but that's not entirely what I'm asking. You are just describing the properties of my work. What my question is truly about is your personal interpretation of what a living mech should be. Forget about what I think about living mechs. This is about you now. You can't keep referencing my work all the time. You are different from me, so you should hold some diverging opinions. Tell me what a living mech truly needs."

His inquiry caused Maikel to look uncomfortable. Compared to someone who practically invented living mechs, whatever Maikel thought about them was doubtlessly embarrassing!

"Are you ashamed?" Ves probed.

"Maybe…"

"Don't be. You're an aspiring mech designer. Not only that, you're my student. There is nothing shameful about exposing your own work and revealing your own thoughts to me. I can't adequately guide you if I don't know where you stand. As your teacher and mentor, I would never judge you if you say anything wrong."

After a bit more coaxing, Maikel finally voiced one of his views.

"Well, I have looked at a lot of living mechs. They're really good and all, but.. there's one area I don't really agree on. I've been reluctant to mention this to you because it's not an appropriate opinion. I'm afraid that others will think differently of me if I voice this view."

"Go on." Ves smiled as he tried to adopt a gentle persona. "You can trust me with your thoughts, no matter how controversial they might sound. Even if I don't agree with you, I won't interfere with your choices. Mech designers should have the confidence to pursue their own agenda even if everyone tells them they are wrong. It'll be harder to achieve success this way, but once you accomplish something, your impact will be as great as mine."

His encouraging words loosened Maikel's guard. After a bit of internal struggle, the younger Larkinson finally relaxed and spilled his view.

"According to you, a mech is alive when it is able to bond and be more responsible to the mech pilot. While I have heard plenty of stories about this, I think this effect is too subtle. In the symbiosis that you establish, the mech pilot acts as the brain while the machine acts as the brawn. The result is that the mech pilot is always in charge while the mech is mainly relegated to an assisting role."

"That is by design." Ves nodded. He appreciated how Maikel succinctly summarized the relationship between man and machine. "Mechs are products that humans use to fight their enemies and accomplish their goals. The MTA and much of humanity doesn't like it if mechs aren't subordinate anymore. Others don't consider mechs to be alive, so they are very reluctant to hand over any significant decision-making power to them. Just like AIs, mechs can go astray if their programming and design are faulty."

Maikel sat up straighter all of a sudden. "That rule doesn't apply anymore! Ordinary mechs may be as untrustworthy as AIs, but living mechs are different! Have you ever thought about entrusting them with more power? What if they can act on their own? What if they can cover for the areas that their mech pilots are weak at? With two different living minds controlling the mech instead of one, the results should be much better!"

Of all of the views that Ves expected to hear, he never thought that Maikel would dig up the old autonomy debate.

Ves looked a bit more uncertain now. "I can see why you have been reluctant to voice this view. It goes against what is in your textbooks and what I have taught to you. Mechs aren't supposed to be autonomous, Maikel. Mechs aren't human and cannot be trusted to act in our best interests."

"Is that really true?" Maikel asked. Now that he exposed his thoughts, he no longer felt timid. "These rules and paradigms about keeping mechs subordinate to their human masters are outdated. While I admit they are still valid when it comes to other mechs, I don't think we need to be so careful anymore! Living mechs are intrinsically different. Isn't that what you say to me all the time? We can't cling to our old assumptions and blindly follow every rule. We need to rethink everything about living mechs in order to unearth their potential. As far as I'm concerned, not making use of their intelligence is a missed opportunity!"

What a controversial view! If Maikel voiced this exact opinion to Master Willix, she would probably smack his face until he lost all of his teeth!

The MTA never liked to allow mechs to think for themselves! Whether a mech designer aimed to grant partial or complete autonomy to their mech designs, the mech industry always pushed back against these products!

A proper mech must always answer to a mech pilot. That was the rule and custom in the mech industry. Ves really didn't know whether he should approve of Maikel's current train of thought!

Chapter 2595: Sheep to Herder

As a principled mech designer and teacher, Ves held an important responsibility. As an authority figure in the field of mech design, he had to guide his students correctly so that they could contribute to the mech industry once they matured.

A teacher not only had the obligation to transform students into useful and productive mech designers, but also make sure they followed correct paths.

There were many different directions that mech designers could take. Creation was boundless and infinite. As long as people possessed enough imagination, they could produce any product imaginable.

"Yet just because you can, doesn't mean you should."

undefinedRight now, Ves felt conflicted. The conundrum that Maikel presented to him was not that easy to solve.

One one hand, Ves wanted to encourage Maikel to pursue his passions. As long as he developed a strong interest on what a mech should be, it would be great if Maikel committed to it and developed a nascent design philosophy around his initial ideas.

In fact, this was how many mech designers got started. Everyone needed to make a choice. Not specializing in something meant they wouldn't even be able to develop their own style.

Indecisiveness was one of the worst traits a mech designer or any creator could have. Not being able to commit to a choice meant that they would always scatter their focus, thereby failing to develop any pronounced strengths.

What Ves just heard from Maikel was a potential way for his student to make move forward.

As long as his protege got off the starting line, Maikel would be able to achieve rapid progress as long as he worked hard enough.

This was a good opportunity to give him that initial push.

"Yet…"

The topic that Maikel was passionate about did not entirely fell in line with the prevailing sentiment and customs of the mech industry.

While designing and producing completely autonomous mechs or battle bots was not an unknown phenomena, they never caught on. Part of it was due to how easy it was to hack or tamper with their programming.

Since the Hexer intelligence agencies dared to tamper with the Spirit of Bentheim, they could easily tamper with the production of battle bots as well!

One of the more devious policies of the MTA was that they offered comprehensive consumer protection for any transactions involving traditional mechs. The Association actively regulated the mech industry and the mech market in order to ensure that mechs remained the dominant weapon of war throughout human space.

Yet the MTA never extended their care and protection towards autonomous mechs or bots.

What distinguished a mech from a bot?

The MTA never defined an exact dividing line. They applied their rulings according to their own judgement.

In truth, every mech possessed a certain degree of autonomy. Human minds simply couldn't pay attention to the millions if not billions of processes taking place within a tall and enormous war machine. From monitoring the temperature of individual parts to adjusting the power flow throughout the frame, the mech pilot did not need to devote any thought to these trivial actions.

What the Mech Trade Association was actually touchy about was when mechs gained the capability to fight by themselves. When AIs took over and began to make decisions that humans normally made, mech ceased to be tools that were actively harnessed by their human owners.

That was a dangerous development. Many incidents throughout human history highlighted the great peril of entrusting combat power to unthinking and unfeeling machines.

One of the risks of doing so was that these autonomous machines weren't capable of exercising human judgement. If their programming somehow subverted every safeguard and commanded them to attack friendly mechs, an AI would mindlessly execute this command no matter how wrong it sounded to humans!

Of course, human mech pilots were fallible as well. They could betray their oaths, turn their weapons against their comrades and slaughter thousands of innocent civilians in an instant.

Yet with proper training and management, these risks could be controlled to the greatest extent. Even if a deviant appeared, it would always be an isolated case.

It was much easier to subvert billions of identical battle bots than to subvert the same amount of mech pilots!

Ves glanced at Maikel as he continued to consider his response.

Though Maikel should have been aware of the minefield he was stepping into, now that he had opened his heart, he became more determined.

This was more than a passing interest to him. As much as he admired the living mechs designed by Ves, Maikel didn't entirely feel as if they were right!

In his opinion, a true living mech ought to be able to make decisions on its own! Anything less than that was akin to a crippled or incomplete creation.

Naturally, Ves did not agree with this stance. He believed his ideal of living mechs was already complete enough.

Of course, it was not as if Ves had dabbled a bit in this area himself. He had experimented with granting more autonomy to his products by developing the Devil Tiger.

Though Ves felt immensely proud of his first masterwork mech, he did not design it with his usual style in mind. He just wanted to perform some experiments at the time.

As a result, the Devil Tiger possessed several risky characteristics that he never intended to incorporate in his normal mech designs.

The time where he converted the four mechs of the Scarlet Rose into battle bots was also an exception. Back when he hijacked the mobile supply carrier, Ves had no one but Lucky to count on. Without any mech pilots, how was he supposed to make use of the Fridaymen mechs that Lady Curver had left behind?

Ves made an exception and configured the four mechs in a way that allowed them to fight on their own. As soon as he returned to the rest of the Larkinson Clan, he quickly converted the battle bots back into traditional mechs.

This incident showed that making mechs autonomous was not a universally bad outcome. Battle bots had their uses.

Of course, Maikel didn't profess to go that far. He simply thought that mechs should have more say in how it was being piloted. Yet that was already problematic enough.

As Ves struggled whether he should rein Maikel in, he thought about his own progression.

Just like Maikel, Ves went against the prevailing standards. He boldly carved out his own path and succeeded in fostering a productive design philosophy.

There were plenty of instances where he broke the rules and disrespected taboos. Why should Ves hold Maikel to a standard that he never seriously abided by? As his protege, Maikel should be taking after his mentor!

Ves had made his decision.

"Maikel."

"Yes, teacher?"

"If this is what you want to pursue, then you should do so. As long as you are able and willing to commit to this idea, then it can serve as your career direction. However, you must invest your entire heart and soul in this pursuit! You cannot change your mind once you have advanced beyond a certain stage. Every decision has its consequences. At this moment, you are at a crucial junction. The decision you make here will define the rest of your life. Are you prepared?"

Maikel did not quake from his teacher's warning. His passion burned hotter as he thought about what he might accomplish as long as he followed his idea through!

His imagination generated a lot of compelling illusions. He envisioned a powerful first-class multipurpose mech that was packed with weapon systems and modules.

While its mech pilot directed the machine to fight against opponents up close, the ranged weapon modules fired at distant targets on their own! The mech pilot consciously gave up control over these dangerous weapons and entrusted their control to the living mech!

This was what Maikel wanted to achieve! His idea of symbiosis was different from that of Ves! To him, the man-machine connection was not a channel to achieve synergy, but an opportunity to divide responsibilities!

As Ves keenly observed the younger Larkinsons, he began to lose hope.

A part of him still hoped that Maikel would recognize the dangers of pursuing his idea and put it aside in order to adopt a safer alternative.

It seemed that none of his students were destined to be average.

"I have made my choice." Maikel spoke. There was much more steel in his voice than before. "I want to specialize in designing semi-autonomous living mechs. To me, a mech is simply not good enough if it can't assume some of the burdens of its mech pilot. As mechs continually grow more powerful and more complex, it becomes increasingly harder for humans to harness all of their strength. I believe the mechs that I am aiming for will be the future of the mech industry!"

What a bold claim! Ves was very impressed by Maikel's confidence.

Every successful mech designer that Ves had ever met possessed an abundance of confidence in their own ideas.

A good mech designer was always a thought leader rather than a thought follower.

Sheep could only follow their herders, while herders were always capable of forging their own path.

What Ves saw right now in Maikel was the transformation of a follower into a leader. Once a sheep transcended into a herder, their potential was unlocked and their future was unlimited!

Yet Ves did not entirely feel happy about this development. It would have been great if Maikel chose a less controversial pursuit, but this was not the case!

By choosing a path that was crooked from the start, Maikel would have a very hard time with progressing his design philosophy.

While his premise shared a lot of commonalities to his teacher design philosophy, Maikel could only rely on himself when it came to the areas in which he diverged from Ves and everyone else. These differences introduced enough deviances that Maikel might follow an entirely different direction from Ves at some point in the future.

Ves was both excited and afraid at the prospect!

He stretched out his hand and patted Maikel's head.

"Hey! I'm not a kid anymore!"

"Hehe, don't be so serious, Maikel. While I am glad you're more decisive than before, your choice isn't set right now. You're not even a Novice yet. So long as you are still a student, you have plenty of time to explore your options. Right now, you have selected a research direction which you wish to explore, but that does not mean you have formed the beginnings of your design philosophy. This means you can always change your mind and choose a different specialization."

"Oh." Maikel deflated a bit. "I thought.. I thought I would be able to move further."

"This is not a process that you can finish in an instant. It usually takes years for mech designers to flesh out their interests and form a definitive specialization. Since you seek to design semi-autonomous mechs, I suggest you enrich your knowledge on battle bots developed by others. You should also deepen your studies on mech programming and artificial intelligences. Even if you intend to give control of a mech to its living aspect, it is still vital for you to understand how regular artificial intelligences work. They're not truly alive, but they can come very close. Knowing how AIs are able to pilot mechs will definitely help you in developing a method that can make living mechs do the same."

With those instructions, Ves dismissed his excited student. Maikel was so eager to set foot on his chosen path that he raced off to his own terminal in the design lab. He was already calling up an introduction on AIs in mechs from the internal library!

Ves let out a deep sigh while pressing his palm against his face.

He really hoped that Maikel would not go overboard with pursuing his newfound passion. There was only a small difference between a semi-autonomous mech and a fully-autonomous mech!

Chapter 2596: New Sacred Mech

A countdown took place.

After recruiting tens of thousands of adventurous people who yearned to explore the greater cosmos, after acquiring thousands of commercial mechs, after rebuilding an entire fleet, the Larkinson Clan was finally preparing to depart.

This was a massive operation.

A lot of new spacers only had weeks to get accustomed to controlling their powerful new second-class vessels.

undefinedThe LMC had to implement a lot of measures in order to make sure its business operations remained operational with the departure of the core of the mech company.

The newly-adopted Larkinsons only had a short time left in their native star star sector before they left forever.

Not a single part of the clan remained idle. Shuttles flew back and forth while transports loaded an abundant amount of mechs, materials and supplies to the new fleet.

No ship drew more traffic than the Spirit of Bentheim. The brand-new factory ship had become the focal point of the Larkinson Clan.

Even though the ship had only entered operation for less than a week, a prodigious amount of raw and semi-processed materials entered her cargo holds.

Occasionally, mechs came out. The Valkyrie Redeemer which had captured the hearts of many Hexer military mech pilots became more and more common in the Cinach System.

The Penitent Sisters eagerly accepted the Valkyrie Redeemers produced by the Bentheim. Their belief in the Superior Mother caused them to embrace the Hexer mechs at an astoundingly rapid pace!

The Glory Seekers obtained their Valkyrie mechs from another source. Hexer trade ships regularly arrived at Cinach in order to supply the Glory Seekers with everything they needed to survive and thrive in the Red Ocean.

Unlike the Penitent Sisters, the former household troops of the Wodin Dynasty greatly preferred the variants of the Valkyrie Redeemers. Hundreds of Valkyrie Interceptors sortied in space around their powerful fleet and drilled alongside their other Hexer spaceborn mechs.

However, out of the two new second-class LMC mech models, it was not the Valkyrie mechs that drew everyone's attention.

Instead, it was the new artillery mech that became the talk of the town.

The Larkinson Clan did not publicize its exclusive new mech model. That did not stop every clansman from gossiping. Strictly speaking, the existence of the Transcendent Punisher was not a secret. It was impossible to hide such a huge and imposing heavy artillery mech. There simply wasn't any reason to make a big fuss about out of a mech model that would never be sold to the public.

Outside observers tried their best to catch a glimpse of this supposedly impressive mech. Yet despite all of the sensors they pointed at the Spirit of Bentheim, they only observed some vague shifts in the strange-shaped bunkers dotted on her surface.

They found enough clues that there were mechs moving in and out of the bunkers, but none of the fortified structures ever opened their gun ports in order to allow the artillery mechs to poke out their cannons.

Just the Spirit of Bentheim, an eclectic group of Avatar and Sentinel mech pilots emerged from the first batch of Transcendent Punishers produced by the Bentheim. The mech pilots had just moved their heavy mechs from a group of bunkers to the nearby mech stables.

The Kronon mech pilots that had followed the Living Prophet into the Larkinson Clan all lined up and saluted the two figures standing in front. Taon Melin, the Chosen of Zeal, looked particularly intense as two of his faith's most important figures had attended the demonstration!

One of them was the current incarnation of Prophet Ylvaine, the founder of the faith and the prophet that foretold their ascension!

The other was the Bright Martyr, the current object of their worship and the mech designer who illuminated the path to salvation!

Every Ylvainan in the Larkinson Clan considered it a supreme honor to live alongside two of their most holiest figures. Taon felt he was living a dream. For centuries, the Ylvainan Faith had come under the grip of three successor dynasties. With every year that passed, the Ylvainan followers had grown more and more distant from the true faith.

Even now, Taon and his fellow Ylvainans prayed for the souls of the citizens of the Protectorate. While he felt ashamed at the treacherous conduct of the rulers of his former state, he lamented the suffering subjected to the innocent civilians.

The Living Prophet had withdrawn his blessings from the Ylvaine Protectorate. The consequences were massive and life had changed forever over there. Many Ylvainans were living in a damned state while being governed by the very people that had betrayed their faith!

Nothing had changed ever since the True Believers fled the state. The Friday Coalition's brutal repression overcame any attempts to topple the damned regime.

The leaders of the Kronon, Poxco and Curin Dynasties shamelessly rewrote history. The heretical regime slandered the Living Prophet, calling him a defective clone and accusing him of being a puppet of a nefarious organization!

As for the Bright Martyr, the Protectorate's government painted him as a charlatan and a greedy profiteer. According to the government's official stance, Ves Larkinson was nothing more than a faithless mech designer who exploited the gullible Ylvainans for his own ends.

This was absurd!

As Taon and his fellow mech pilots faced the two important figures of his faith, he sensed nothing but sacredness from their bodies.

The Living Prophet was like a beacon of purity. Having just concluded a session with the Transcendent Punisher, Taon was still attuned to the unique signature of Prophet Ylvaine. The man whose current incarnation went by the name of James exuded the exact same presence.

As for the Bright Martyr, the holiness he exuded was not as obvious. In fact, the clan patriarch didn't appear to be Ylvainan at all. It was only in his heart that Taon recognized Ves for who he really was. He could never forget the instance when the Bright Martyr tore down the falsehoods of the three dynasties and attempted to bring the Ylvainans back to the light!

While Taon Melin and his fellow Ylvainans got caught up in their devotion, Ves felt more and more uncomfortable at being in their presence.

He regretted once again that he had taken in the refugees from the Protectorate. At the time, he had little choice but to rely on their help to flee from Fridaymen pursuit.

Nowadays, the huge influx of other foreigners vastly diminished the influence of the Ylvainans within his clan. The True Believers along with other defectors from the Protectorate no longer dominated the internal makeup of the clan as their growth simply couldn't keep pace.

The citizens of the Protectorate were trapped in their own state. The three dynasties had closed the borders yet again. Not a single citizen was able to travel all the way to the Sentinel Kingdom and seek asylum within the Larkinson Clan.

That made Ves happy. The less Ylvainans, the better. It was too bad that James was very skilled at converting other people. A steady amount of clansmen embraced the faith every month.

Ves knew it was only going to get worse now that he had made a powerful Ylvainan mech in the form of the Transcendent Punisher.

Still, considering the benefits he derived from Ylvaine's spirit, he considered the faith to be a necessary evil. As long as they remained useful, Ves was reluctantly willing to tolerate their shenanigans.

"So, what do you think of your new mechs?"

"Amazing! Its blessing is stronger than I have ever felt from your mechs!"

"It's a beacon of faith!"

"This mech has brought me closer to the Prophet. As expected of the Bright Martyr!"

Ves grimaced even more. He just wanted to know what they thought about the Transcendent Punisher's handling, performance characteristics and other mech-related characteristics.

Unfortunately, the only area the mech pilots cared about was the Transcendent Punisher's ostensibly sacred glow!

Compared to the Transcendent Messenger, Holy Soldier and Deliverer models, the fourth Ylvainan mech he designed was even more attuned to its design spirit!

It shouldn't have been a surprise that the Ylvainan mech pilots paid much less attention to the technical performance of the Transcendent Punisher. All they cared about was that they could get closer to the source of their faith!

Ves coughed. "Don't get distracted by your new mechs. I don't want your minds to wander when we are in the middle of battle. I'm relying on you to make good use out of all of the firepower out of your disposal. If you can't repel the enemy with your new Transcendent Punishers, then I might have to replace it with another artillery mech!"

That certainly introduced a lot of distress! Once Ves made his stance clear, the mech pilots began to offer more relevant feedback.

"The Transcendent Punisher is a fine artillery mech." Taon carefully voiced his opinion. "Still, from our simulated practice sessions, it's very hard for us to land a hit on distant opponents. I'm afraid that I and my fellow mech pilots are not yet worthy to pilot our new mechs by ourselves. The heavy gauss cannons excel at medium range, which is fairly short in spaceborn battles. The only way we can achieve consistent hits at distant and agile targets is if we can obtain the Prophet's blessing. So far, we have not yet tried this out as we are prohibited from conducting live sessions."

"Don't worry about it." Ves casually waved his hand. "The Transcendent Punisher is similar to the Deliverer. As long as you get along well with the Deliverer, you shouldn't have any problems with hitting targets with our new artillery mech. As for trying to raise your accuracy against distant targets, try changing your fire settings. Your heavy gauss cannons fire powerful and heavy slugs by default, but you can load Xcordon cannons with lighter rounds as well. If you do the latter, your firing rate is higher, so you have greater opportunities to achieve a hit, if not with as much force."

"Ah, I see!"

They discussed some other parameters. The mech pilots found the positron cannons to be much easier to work with. The beams they unleashed impacted their targets with relativistic speeds, which was basically instant under most battlefield circumstances.

While their accuracy was higher, their power consumption and heat generation was enormous. The latter turned out to be a very considerable problem during longer engagements.

"In the simulations, our Transcendent Punishers continue to build up heat as we fire our positron cannons." Taon explained. "The cannons themselves and some other related components can turn red hot. Unless we stop firing entirely, it's not that easy to cool them down. No matter how much heat my mech is able to transfer to the deck and bracing that holds it in place, there are still limits to how much flows through."

Ves nodded again. "This is a known problem. The heat transfer from your mech to the rest of the ship is not without its limits. The longer a battle goes on, the more difficult it becomes to siphon away excess heat. However, don't worry too much about this problem. In a real battle, I've implemented an additional measure that should mitigate this problem. Is there anything else?"

"The light pulse cannons are fast and efficient, but it's difficult to make effective use of them. At longer ranges, their power diminishes too much to threaten any serious enemies. At shorter ranges, their high-firing rate makes them good for intercepting missiles but they lack too much punch to threaten enemy mechs up close."

If enemy mechs ever got close to the Spirit of Bentheim, the role the Transcendent Punishers could play was very limited!

Their heavier weapons were large and powerful, but that also made them unwieldy at closer ranges. The secondary pulse cannons were their best option to repel enemies less than a kilometer away, but their lackluster firepower meant that they needed to achieve way too many hits to destroy a well-armored target!

"If enemies manage to get this close, we can only rely on our spaceborn mechs to fend them off." Ves stated with a shrug.

In fact, if any enemy managed to survive everything the Transcendent Punishers could throw at them, the Spirit of Bentheim was probably doomed!

2597 Imaginary Weight

After inspecting the first batch of Transcendent Punishers and their overly-fanatical mech pilots, Ves became somewhat reassured of the performance of the new mechs.

Despite the quirks and shortcomings of his first true heavy mech design, the Transcendent Punisher was a killer at range. Ves was especially satisfied with the great potential of its Xcordon cannons.

He could have licensed more accurate heavy gauss cannon models that boasted significantly greater muzzle velocity, but he disliked their lack of punch.

He much preferred to make use of heavier calibers that were capable of firing heavier rounds with an abundant amount of energy. While these rounds traveled at slower speeds as soon as they emerged from the barrel, their impact and armor piercing properties were much greater!

undefinedThis was exactly what Ves needed in order to deal with powerful enemies. He did not fear swarms of weaker mechs as the Transcendent Punisher along with many of his other mechs could easily defeat a disorganized mob.

What Ves truly worried about was fighting against some of the stronger second-class pioneers in the Red Ocean. His fleet needed to project as much deterrence as possible to prevent opportunistic attacks, and the heavy cannons of the Transcendent Punishers should be able to do a good job at scaring away potential attackers!

Besides, the design spirit took care of the inherent accuracy problem at longer ranges. While there was definitely a price to this powerful ability, it could easily change the course of the battle when used correctly.

As Ves finally dismissed the Ylvainan mech pilots, he and James remained behind. They both approached the Prophet's Fist, the first production copy of the Transcendent Punisher. Its excellent quality along with the fact that Ves and his wife had personally put it together caused it to exude a greater presence than the other mechs of its kind.

"I must say you have chosen quite a violent name for this mech." James spoke with his smooth and calming voice. "Prophets generally aren't associated with using their fists to propagate their visions."

"Says the mech pilot who stole the prototype of my Transcendent Messenger and paraded it on Kesseling VIII."

"Mechs are more than weapons of wars. They can also serve as symbols of hope and sources of inspiration. You excel at making them, in fact. Even if war is ever extinguished throughout reality, you can be assured that your creations will still remain relevant."

Ves snorted. "What you speak of is an impossibility. War is eternal. War is an intrinsic part of life. So long as multiple people or aliens exist, there will always be conflict."

"Who knows." The Living Prophet smiled. "In any case, these fine machines should be more than up to the task of keeping our followers invigorated. The power and majesty exuded by these mechs are simply the best symbols of piety."

"They're your followers, not mine."

"That is not what they think."

"Just because they think I'm the Bright Martyr doesn't mean I buy into your crap!" Ves pushed back! "I designed this mech to defend our fleet, not your stupid cult. The Spirit of Bentheim and many of our other starships will soon rely on this mech model to be their point defense. I hope the mech pilots among your followers will pilot my artillery mechs without causing trouble. Can you make sure your men behave?"

"Their obedience is never in question. My followers will always be faithful to you and your commands."

"Whatever. As long as your believers make good use of the Transcendent Punishers, I might design a melee Ylvainan mech in the future."

"You will definitely do so." James confidently stated. "It shall be a work of glory that will revitalize faith and convert new believers!"

Ves glowered at the prophet. "If you keep talking like that, I feel much less inclined to design another Ylvainan mech."

"It will be a second-class lancer mech. Once complete, the mech burns with the fire of our faith as it impales its spear through the bodies of the fallen and the wicked. Piloting this great mech will be an honor to any believer."

"SHUT UP!" Ves blew up! "Don't think I don't know what you're doing! You're implanting suggestions in my mind so that I will subconsciously grow accustomed to your suggestion to the point where I will actually design it! This is nothing more than a manipulative psychological trip to turn your remark into a self-fulfilling prophecy!"

"Believe what you will, but the design choices you make in the future are impeccable. Your lancer mech design will be a work of that will become a legend!"

The prophet spoke so much nonsense that Ves tired of this discussion. He automatically disregarded what James said and turned to leave.

"I have work to do. The Spirit of Bentheim is slowly ramping up production of our Transcendent Punishers. Even though the efficiency of our production halls aren't high, as long as our mech technicians aren't incompetent, we should be able to fill up all of the bunkers of our flagship."

The learning curve of the GAIA production line and all of its complicated tools and equipment was very formidable. When utilized to its fullest, the formidable production line could probably put together a Transcendent Punisher in 2 days!

This was incredibly fast!

A normal second-class production line needed at least 5 to 8 days to complete so much work. A heavy mech possessed a lot more components, so more time was needed to fabricate them and assemble them. The Transcendent Punisher design was also very complex as it incorporated at least three different weapon systems and a very comprehensive internal architecture.

If not for obtaining twenty top-of-the-line GAIA 3D printers and other high-quality mass production-oriented equipment, Ves wouldn't have been able to obtain the initial batch of Transcendent Punishers within a week!

To be honest, Ves wasn't sure whether the Spirit of Bentheim would be able to occupy all of her bunkers upon departure. If the learning curve was steeper than what his production crews could handle, then they might have to work while his fleet transitioned into FTL.

As Ves considered whether he should pay a visit to the production halls in order to instruct the mech technicians in person, James called out a warning.

"One more thing, Bright Martyr. You may want to sharpen your defenses. I sense turbulence on the horizon. Old hatreds are coming together to finish their grudges once and for all. Your heart will be burdened by regret if you leave without settling your bonds of karma."

Ves stopped his tracks and turned around. His eyes bore into James' well-meaning gaze.

"I have three points to say to you." He raised a finger. "First, so many people hate me that I am always under threat. Telling me there's danger on the horizon is as useless as saying that stars are hot and that entering a black hole is a one-way trip."

He raised another finger. "Second, who says that grudges have to be resolved? I have formed plenty of grudges and have made a lot of enemies. I've outgrown most of them. This star sector is too small to make me care about the issues that bothered me in the past. People like Carlos and Patricia have become so insignificant that I don't really hate them anymore. They're sad, pathetic space peasants who will never amount to anything in their lives."

Ves raised another finger. "Third, I don't have much of a heart anymore. It's largely been subsumed by my Jutland organ. I never regret anything as I consider every mistake to be a valuable lesson. Also, that karma doesn't exist except in the delusions of certain religions. I don't care at all if a mountain of karma is weighing down on my shoulders. My daily workload is a much more telling burden."

With that, he strode away while shoving everything James had said aside. Rather than worrying about vague and unsubstantiated predictions, Ves would much rather think about progressing his mech design projects.

He ascended up the decks and moved all the way back to the design lab.

Once there, Ves loosened up as he had returned to his home ground. The sanctity of the design lab was far more comforting to him than any temple.

He threw a brief glance at Maikel. Ever since the kid found his passion, he acted like a man possessed.

With his high Intelligence score and even higher Concentration score, Maikel quickly absorbed the basics of mech programming and moved on to more advanced textbooks!

"Keep up the good work."

After glimpsing at the work of some of his design teams, he reached the area reserved by the lead designers and returned to his wife.

"Miaow!"

Clixie looked up from the desk as she smelled his arrival. The cat squinted in pleasure as Ves ran his hand over her soft and lovely fur.

"That's my cat, Ves." Gloriana swiveled her chair around. "Where is Lucky?"

"He's on shift. By the way, now that we're married, Clixie ought to be mine as well now, right?"

"No!"

"Miaow!"

Gloriana quickly grasped her furry pet and held her protectively against her chest. She planted a kiss on Clixie's forehead. "She's my baby!"

They chatted a bit before they moved on to the state of a couple of their projects.

"The Bright Warrior IB design is going along well." Gloriana called up a projection of the current iteration of the design. "Since you are prioritizing it so much, we have spent the most time on it. Many of the design choices and solutions we've applied to the original, the IC, are still valid when translated to a second-class frame. It's just that we can't copy our work straight away without making targeted adjustments."

"Have you tried our new ship AI yet? Our new ASTERA AI core is already proving to be incredibly helpful. I can simulate thousands of different solutions in a matter of seconds and pick out the best ones. We don't have to waste so much time on theorizing and performing manual calculations. We can just employ a brute force process that will automatically allow us to pick the most optimal solution while we do something else."

Gloriana frowned. "That's a lazy approach, Ves, and you know it. Without understanding the theory and the steps we have to take to solve a problem, how can we ever understand our mech designs? If we want to fabricate a masterwork mech, we need to be as familiar with our mech designs as possible. We can't take shortcuts."

"I don't necessarily disagree with you, but Bygul is a very helpful resource. We shouldn't waste its formidable processing power."

The two still differed in opinion regarding this. While Ves wanted his designs to be as good as possible, he didn't see any conflict. As long as they didn't go overboard with relying on their AI core, they could still end up with a good product that was fully in their grasp.

"If we utilize Bygul more often, we might be able to accelerate the completion of this project." Ves predicted. "Once we reach the optimizing and bug-fixing phase, much of the work is processor-intensive."

"We'll see."

The other mech that he wanted to talk about was a project that Gloriana and Ves were quite interested in. The design project codenamed Devious was a Hexer stealth mech intended to facilitate sabotage, infiltration and assassination.

This was the first time that Ves designed a true stealth mech. The Hexer stealth tech that he had access to and the knowledge on stealth technology that he had obtained had significantly raised his proficiency in this field!

Gloriana frowned and petted her cat. "The Devious is shaping up to be a fine mech, but I haven't heard anything about its proto-god so far. Have you made any progress?"

"I have a plan in mind. I intend to create a new design spirit, but in order to do so, I have to gather the right ingredients. That is proving much more troublesome than I thought."

Chapter 2598: Devious

Stealth tech always fascinated Ves. Having fallen victim to it plenty of times, he always desired to harness this tech for his own purposes.

The problem was that Ves had a hard time accessing books on stealth tech. While Aisling's library helped to supplement his knowledge, he didn't feel as if they were fully up to date.

The most current and effective stealth applications were never publicized in any textbooks or teaching material. Instead, they remained hidden within the databases of secretive research bases.

As long as these applications became accessible, they no longer provided a strong advantage!

undefinedAfter all, as long as someone was able to figure out the principles behind a stealth system, they could easily target its weaknesses and develop a counter!

This meant that while Ves was able to design a stealth mech, it simply wouldn't be good enough to fool powerful enemies. He could forget about dispatching a stealth shuttle to infiltrate a government base or the headquarters of a powerful organization!

All of that changed once Gloriana chose to design a Hexer stealth mech. She personally lobbied the Hegemony to design such a mech for the state and completed a deal that granted the Design Department access to specific stealth systems and stealth components along with the requisite knowledge to integrate them in a mech design.

This was exactly what Ves needed to design an effective and modern stealth mech!

Theory had to be paired with the right component licenses. If Ves only possessed the former, then he would have to develop stealth systems from scratch, which would take years. If he only possessed the latter, then any mech he designed would never possess cohesive stealth abilities.

Now that he obtained both, he didn't have to struggle with this dilemma anymore. Ves just needed to devote some time to study the provided literature and manuals in order to advance his understanding by leaps and bounds. He even felt as if his understanding of stealth tech had shot up all the way to Journeyman-level!

Together with Gloriana, they enthusiastically came up with a basic but promising stealth mech concept. In the past two months, they slowly built it up until they ended up with an incomplete mech design that could perform multiple stealth-related roles.

The Devious Project centered around a landbound light mech that featured minimal defense, low offense and fairly good mobility.

It was not a front-line combat mech. As long as it exposed its whereabouts to the enemy, even a single rifleman mech could take it down after landing just a couple of hits!

With a budget of around 200 million hex credits, the light mech was supposed to be as affordable as possible while still possessing effective stealth capabilities.

This was a very difficult project. It would have been a lot easier to design a mech that could keep its presence hidden from the enemy if his budget was three times higher!

As long as he could make use of more expensive materials, he could design a mech with much better stealth capabilities!

Unfortunately, the Hegemony preferred to obtain a more frugal mech design. Ves guessed that DIVA and the other intelligence agencies wanted to perform a lot of stealth missions without burdening their strategic materials reserve.

If any of the stealth mechs got caught, then their loss wouldn't hurt the Hegemony!

"These Hexers expect too much from my glows." Ves shook his head. "Glows can't single-handedly hide an entire mech from plain sight. They're too big!"

Gloriana placed her hand on his arm to reassure him. "The government doesn't expect you to do that much. The stealth tech incorporated in our Devious mech should be good enough to evade most forms of detection. Only high-powered directional scans and continuous active scanning will cause it to expose some flaws. Mech pilots and operators normally don't perform these scans too much because it imposes a heavy burden on their sensor equipment. What the government truly wants is a mech that can reduce the vigilance and suspicion of enemy mech pilots and other personnel."

"I know. I'm just not too certain whether it will be useful."

The Devious was supposed to possess a glow that cast a spiritual veil over the mech. The goal was to make the enemies around it more complacent, but the range of the glow was too short to cover too much ground.

Of course, Ves could also employ the directional glow channeling method of the Valkyrie Redeemer, but that only took care of one person at a time.

Any mech pilot who wanted to utilize the Devious mech needed to exercise precise judgement under high-stress situations.

Ves was afraid that the Hexer mech pilots assigned to pilot this mech wouldn't be up to the task.

"You're worrying too much, Ves. Hexer mech pilots are the best in this star sector! While I admit that the Fridaymen come close, the Hegemony trains its mech pilots well! The Devious will succeed. I know it. You just need to figure out how to create your new proto-god."

To be honest, Ves wasn't too worried about the technical challenges either. Even though Ves and Gloriana didn't possess much experience in designing stealth mechs, starting with a fairly low-tier one meant that the Devious design wasn't too complex.

In fact, if not for the fact that both of them had to spend a lot of time on bringing their proficiency in stealth tech up to standard, they probably would have been able to complete its design in four months instead of longer!

Yet the most important component was still missing. Out of all of his existing design spirits, nothing seemed to be fit for the purpose.

Gloriana suggested that he employ the Superior Mother, but slanted towards the dust phase of existence this time.

It wasn't enough. The dust phase was one of the most passive and less intrusive glows of the Superior Mother, but its effect was very subtle.

To the Hexers, dust was trivial. Dust was forgotten. Dust was silent. While it sounded as if these traits fit well with a stealth mech, in practice it mostly on other Hexers.

Whenever non-Hexers experienced this aspect of the Superior Mother, they experienced a small but noticeable sense of nihility and despair!

It was as if they began to recognize their insignificance! The galaxy and the multiverse were infinitely larger than any individual!

Just the Superior Mother alone was able to treat Fridaymen like dust!

This was an odd, weak but very noticeable effect. Pairing it with the Devious defeated its purpose. At best, it could hide its presence among other Hexers. Against the Fridaymen, such a glow would only serve as a giant proximity alarm.

Therefore, Ves had little choice but to resort to another design spirit. With nothing suitable in his collection, he eventually concluded he had to make a new one from scratch. He could pair with the Superior Mother for the Devious design in order to combine their useful traits.

However, after losing a convenient source of spiritual fragments in the form of Nyxie, Ves had very few sources to create what he wanted.

So far, the most reliable source of spiritual energy was his other design spirits. As long as he didn't bleed them too often, it was okay for him to ask them to make a donation.

However, Ves hadn't found the attributes he wanted. He wanted to obtain a fragment taken from a source that excelled in hiding.

Finding this source was his biggest headache so far! While Ves had ordered a bunch of strange exobeasts and biological products that possessed excellent hiding capabilities over the past two months, none of them possessed spiritual potential. They were just creatures of flesh and blood that held no value in his eyes!

As Ves explained this problem to his wife, she frowned.

"What will you do if you can't find what you seek? Will you be able to make your proto-god without the right ingredients?"

"I don't know." He shrugged. "I can form images, do some pre-processing and conduct a ceremony, but that will only result in a mediocre design spirit. If we want to obtain the best, then we should really obtain an appropriate ingredient."

"Do you have any solutions other than buying random exobeasts?"

"We still have a couple of months left before we reach the deadline. According to our current schedule, we will probably arrive at the Life Research Association in Majestic Teal around at that time. The LRA is a regional leader in developing biological products. They have invented artificial creatures that we can't even imagine! They should definitely have what we want and more."

In fact, if there was enough time left, Ves didn't mind harvesting the spirits of more spiritually active exobeasts. The LRA was famed for setting up expansive reserves. Many of them were even open to recreational hunting, attracting lots of tourists who were eager to harvest trophies and expand their prestige.

All of these hunting planets offered regulated hunting environments that were officially recognized by the Galactic Hunting Club.

Since the LRA was a second-rate state, its hunting preserves were several times more dangerous!

Gloriana began to look upset. "A lot of overconfident hunters die in those preserves. Are you thinking about heading back into danger again? You just got out of the Nyxian Gap!"

Damn! She caught on to his scheme! Ves rapidly readjusted his plans.

"Nonono! I'm not heading down there in person, honey! I'm a mech designer and a clan leader, remember? I think it's much more appropriate to dispatch a bunch of clansmen to these hunting preserves and tell them to retrieve some noteworthy exobeasts. We can just sit back and relax while our mech pilots and soldiers complete their missions."

She softened up when she heard this answer. "That's better. You're learning, Ves. You don't have to take part in these silly hunts anymore. With all of your design achievements, the prestige you can earn from hunting a challenging animal is really trivial!"

Ves didn't quite agree with that. There was something visceral and exciting about confronting a dangerous exobeast in its own territory. He wasn't stupid enough to voice these desires.

"It'll be hard to obtain the right exobeast this way." Ves warned. "The biological products that we can buy straight away tend to be tamer and less ferocious than the animals that are specifically made for the hunt. It's unlikely that the former possesses the right strength. We need to hunt down formidable creatures that have proven themselves to be strong enough to overcome several hunting teams. What is even more troublesome is that I need to obtain these animals alive!"

This was a lot harder than the hunt for the Crown Cat that he had previously participated in on Felixia I. When Zeigra finally died, Ves had to act quickly in order to salvage his dissipating spirit.

If Ves wasn't on the field at the time a spiritually powerful exobeast died, all of the creature's spirituality would disappear by the time the hunting team brought the corpse back to the Larkinson fleet!

Gloriana wasn't interested in hunting, so she didn't express much interest in his problems.

"Our soldiers and mech pilots aren't average. Have some confidence in them. I'm sure they will be able to bring the animals back alive. The Swordmaidens are supposed to be quite good at hunting ferocious exobeasts if I recall."

Ves reluctantly nodded. "That's true, but they are mostly interested in decapitating or bleeding their prey to death. I'm not sure they will be able to show enough restraint during the hunt."

Well, he would figure it out when he reached the LRA. The Swordmaidens may have been pirates once, but their discipline and obedience was quite good. They were not prone to losing control.

"By the way, our stealth mech is a light mech. Even if it doesn't have any flight capabilities, we should bring in Juliet to this project. She can definitely improve the mobility of the Devious by another notch."

"GET LOST!"

Chapter 2599: Flatter Crystals

Aside from needing to create a new design spirit, the Devious Project did not present any significant obstacles. Gloriana eagerly tackled all of the challenges as if they were personal. Ves also enjoyed the process of designing his first proper stealth mech.

There were two major shortcomings of the Devious that Ves didn't like

First, the Devious was limited by its relatively stingy design budget. This limited its effectiveness and increased the danger to the mech pilots.

Second, the Devious was a landbound mech. It was a lot easier to design a landbound stealth mech because of its flatter profile and its simpler internal architecture.

undefinedStealth mechs with flight capabilities had to incorporate miniaturized flight systems or alternative means of traversal in order to prevent their energy signatures from lighting up like a torch in the dark!

These mechs also generated a lot more heat due to their increased energy consumption. Every process generated heat due to inherent inefficiencies, and making mechs fly tended to build up a lot of heat during flight!

What was even worse was that the stealth mech's energy reserves drained even faster during flight. Not only did it have to provide power to its energy-hungry flight systems, it also had to maintain all of its active stealth systems, which wasn't light in terms of power draw!

The challenges of minimizing energy consumption, increasing efficiency and preventing any heat from leaking out were already enough to drive Journeymen crazy!

Even Ves and Gloriana didn't have enough guts to design a spaceborn or aerial stealth mech at their current stage. Perhaps only proper Seniors were good enough to tackle these advanced projects.

"It's okay." Gloriana reassured Ves as he voiced his frustration to her. "We can design something suitable in the future when we really need such a mech. For now, I don't think the Black Cats are required to perform any sabotage."

"You're right." Ves loosened up as he idly petted Clixie's furry back. "I'm just being envious. Having a spaceborn stealth mech in our lineup would definitely be handy and give us more options, but we don't strictly need it in order to survive."

"Once we finish the Devious Project, we can make use of it ourselves. That will give us at least some solutions."

"You're right."

This was the best part about this project. The Glory Seekers and the Larkinson Clan could make use of this mech as well. Even if the Hexadric Hegemony refused to extend that right to them, the experience of designing a stealth mech was already valuable in itself.

With the immense amount of money at his disposal, he could definitely find some way to obtain the necessary permissions to make use of stealth systems and stealth components elsewhere.

He could also make a deal with a different state in the Yeina Star Cluster. As long as the Devious Project succeeded and the Hexers made good use of his stealth mech, other states would definitely want to get their hands on something similar.

In fact, the LMC already received inquiries from different states! They offered various interesting conditions such as money, territory and even noble titles in exchange for designing a mech with a glow that met their requirements!

Many of the people or institutions that approached the LMC with these offers were quite savvy. They recognized the advantage of LMC mechs and showed a lot of sincerity in order to gain the same advantages that Ves had bestowed to the Hexadric Hegemony.

It was a pity that Ves simply couldn't design so many mechs. He had way too many mech design projects on his to-do list to entertain these commissions.

There wasn't a big hurry either. As long as Ves designed more mechs that made an impact in the Komodo War, his value would definitely rise. Second-rate states were unimaginably wealthy and powerful. The people who worked for the government weren't stupid either. As long as they wanted something bad enough, they would definitely bring out something that was precious and relevant to the Larkinson Clan!

In fact, Ves was patiently biding his time. He wanted to generate more demand and drive up the value of his services in the hopes of obtaining another capital ship or receiving a batch of strategically-important resonating materials!

The fact that the LMC's commercial catalog was already on its way to generate a monthly income of 1 trillion hex credits was already a testament to his design prowess!

After he made this realization, Ves underwent a gradual shift in mentality. He raised his evaluation of his own value and considered his time to be much more precious than before.

It was a pity that he didn't have enough time! The biggest problem he faced once he reached a certain level of success was that his output was limited by the amount of time he was able to invest in his work.

Knowing that he could obtain an unimaginable amount of wealth and power but being unable to get more than a fraction of that due to his limitations was painful!

There was no way for him to increase the amount of time he was allotted per day. He had to tackle this problem from a different angle. The answer he came up with was delegating some of his workload to other mech designers.

"The Design Department is not sufficient anymore." He murmured. "I need to raise more Journeymen in order to lead more projects. I should hire a lot more assistants as well in order to set up more design teams. As long as I obtain more help, I can devote my precious time to the work that really matters to me. I can spend more time on developing my specialty as well, which should accelerate my progression."

He missed the days where he designed an entire mech by himself, but it was simply too inefficient. Of course, he had to be careful not to let his technical design abilities grow rusty. It was best to start some passion projects every now and then and work on it from the ground up in order to ensure he was still able to design a mech by himself. Master Willix had already advised him to do so in order to prevent himself from becoming dependent on others.

Aside from the Devious Project, Ves also devoted a significant time on the Bright Warrior Mark I Version B and the Ferocious Piranha Mark I Version B projects.

Both were powerful second-class mech projects that Ves wanted to add to his clan's common mech roster as soon as possible. The former was a versatile mech model that could fulfill most of the roles his mech forces needed to fulfill.

"I need the Bright Warrior IB to replace our cheap commercial second-class mechs as soon as possible!"

As for the latter, the Ferocious Piranha IB would definitely become a killer against most enemies. The Version C of this product line was already in the process of sparking a revolution in the regional mech market. Once the second-class version came out, the results would be so astounding that Ves was too afraid of selling it to the public!

"Our clan is too weak and the LMC doesn't have a solid foundation in the second-class markets of this star cluster. We can't rock the boat too much." He muttered.

There were massive interests involved in the second-class mech markets. Each market leader possessed enough wealth and power to ambush the Larkinson Clan in order to get rid of any market disruptors.

At most, Ves would only be able to get away with selling Ferocious Piranha Version B's through private sales. He did not even dare to put up his mech design for licensing, so he would probably be confined to producing the second-class Ferocious Piranhas in house.

Fortunately, the Spirit of Bentheim was more than up to the task. As long as his expeditionary fleet obtained enough Transcendent Punishers, Bright Warrior Version B's and so on, he could switch the factory ship's purpose from servicing the needs of the clan to producing high-quality mechs with high markups.

It didn't matter if the profit from private sales paled in comparison to the profit generated by the LMC's business operations in the Yeina Star Cluster. Ves wanted to diversify his income so that he and his clan would be able to survive the collapse of any revenue source.

Due to prioritizing the mech design projects that were of immediate use to him and his clan, Ves was not able to allocate as much time on his other design projects.

Fortunately, they weren't too complicated.

The Hexer supportive mech designed to debilitate enemy expert pilots by 'blinding' them with the Illustrious One's glow had to be as economical as possible.

As a mech designed to confront expert mechs without being able to threaten them in any serious way, it was destined to be utilized as cannon fodder. To the Hex Army, this meant that it should be piloted by boys. It didn't help that the design codenamed Blinding Mech was meant to be deployed in greater numbers.

After a lot of considerations, Ves set the Blinding Mech's design budget at just 145 million hex credits. This was 55 million hex credits less than the Blessed Squire, though the Blinding Mech did not incorporate sophisticated energy siphoning and energy transfer systems.

Instead, Ves stuffed it with third-class luminar crystals. Due to the fragility of these crystals, Ves incorporated them in the shield and frame of a defensive landbound knight mech.

"Mobility is not important for this mech. It doesn't have to be fast, nor does it require any flight capabilities."

Ves equated the role of the Blinding Mech to the Doom Guard. Both mechs were designed to counter specific enemies in very particular ways. Because they were geared towards defensive deployments, he could focus their designs to excel in their narrow roles.

In order to ensure adequate defensive capabilities while keeping costs down, Ves piled up the Blinding Mech's design with a lot of heavy bulk armor. The alloy formula of its armor system was made up entirely with low-grade exotics and other readily-available materials.

While this essentially slowed the Blinding Mech down, Ves considered it to be an acceptable tradeoff. The only annoying part was that he couldn't go too far with this. Unlike the Doom Guard, the Blinding Mech had to take part in at least some offensive operations.

These requirements essentially limited the defenses of the Blinding Mech. While it possessed plenty of armor to resist a decent number of ranged attacks, Ves did not expect it to last long against an expert mech.

A sardonic smile appeared on his face. "Well, it's not as if doubling its budget will help much either."

Expert mechs were unreasonably powerful. Their attacks were always capable of slicing or punching through most standard mechs. Ves just had to put enough armor onto his Blinding Mech design to prevent it from falling over after getting hit by a casual attack.

"An expert mech still has to expend a bit of effort to take one of these machines down."

That was the best that Ves could hope for. The Blinding Mech did not need anything else as it was only meant to create opportunities. It was designed to fight alongside other Hexer mechs that were much more suited to launch follow-up attacks.

As Ves tinkered with the relatively uncomplicated knight mech design, he became especially proud of the crystal array he sandwiched in the thick and bulky shield of the Blinding Mech.

Normally, the shield resembled a typical solid slab of metal. However, once the mech pilot issued a command, the surface layers retracted in order to expose the flat, gleaming crystals embedded in the middle!

While luminar crystals classically came in a diamond or oval shape, Ves knew it was possible to synthesize or cut them in other shapes as well.

In order to prevent the shield from becoming too bulky, Ves intended to embed flatter, block-shaped luminar crystals into its interior.

While this design choice significantly reduced the bulkiness of the shield, the efficiency of the crystals dropped as a consequence. For some unknown reason that Ves couldn't fathom, making the crystals flatter reduced their efficiency and output by up to 25 percent!

Though this was a rather painful tradeoff, Ves still considered it worthwhile. By covering the entire interior of a tower shield with blocky luminar crystals, the effect should still be very significant!

"I'm not sure how effective the Blinding Mech will be against expert pilots, but it will definitely have an effect on regular mech pilots as well!"

Chapter 2600: Giant Killer

The more Ves spent time on the Blinding Mech Project, the more he became interested in its performance.

The supportive knight mech depended so much on the Illustrious One's glow that Ves had basically turned it into a sacrificial vessel.

If Ves disregarded its design spirit and its luminar crystals, the Blinding Mech did not have much going for it anymore. It was far worse than the Blessed Squire in this regard.

His first Hexer mech design at least possessed enough utility and armor to be an asset on the battlefield without relying on the Superior Mother.

undefinedThe same could not be said for the Blinding Mech. It possessed inferior armor, bad mobility and just a simple sword as its only weapon. It also didn't provide any further utility to justify its presence in battle.

All of ths meant that Ves was basically making a huge gamble. At this point in the design project, he didn't know how effective the Blinding Mech could channel the Illustrious One's dazzling properties.

If Ves miscalculated somehow, then he essentially wasted six months of his precious time on a project that resulted in a piece of trash!

"I can't even use the Crystal Lord Mark II Version C as a reference."

The new third-class laser rifleman mech was supposed to be an excellent premium product. However, all of the hype surrounding the Ferocious Piranha Version C basically sucked out all of the oxygen for the other mech.

While the Crystal Lord IIC did sell at brisk amounts, it was simply not as attention-grabbing. Its glow was not focused towards the Illustrious One's blinding effect at all, so the strengths of this model weren't as apparent.

At the very least, there were too few anecdotes, battle footage and battle reports to make any solid conclusions. Any incidents where enemy mechs fumbled in front of the Crystal Lord Mark II could also be chalked up to other reasons.

The LMC did not plan to market the new Crystal Lord model at this time either. Unless it was able to generate hype on its own, it was better to focus on maximizing the sales of the Ferocious Piranha Version C.

"Well, I have enough confidence in my product. It has to work. The Illustrious One isn't a useless bum after absorbing the essence of the Blinding One."

Ves no longer worried so much about the Blinding Mech's viability and focused on completing his designs.

Aside from that, he also spent a decent amount of time working with Juliet on the first LMC mech exclusive to the Penitent Sisters.

The purpose of this project was to design a mech that could punch above its weight and pose a threat against powerful mechs.

While that sounded similar to the Blinding Mech, this was different. The Blinding Mech was a landbound mech that was suitable for large-scale battlefield conditions. It was meant to be piloted by relatively expendable male Hexer mech pilots and did not possess any inherent offensive capabilities.

In contrast, the project codenamed Giant Killer was meant to deliver a mech design that not only complemented the Penitent Sister battle formations, but also leveraged the skill and fervor of its mech pilots to leapfrog their battle strength!

Therefore, the Giant Killer simply wasn't compatible with the Hex Army or the Glory Seekers. Even if other Hexer mech pilots got their hands on some Giant Killers, the mechs wouldn't be able to exert their full strength.

This was because the power of the Superior Mother played a pivotal role in empowering the mechs and mech pilots.

So far, Ves did not disseminate the power of his battle networks and battle formations. As far as he was concerned, he wanted to keep this feature as a trump card for his Larkinsons. He didn't even intend to share it with the Glory Seekers despite how much the Giant Killer could increase the overall security of their combined fleet.

In the beginning stages of this project, Ves and Juliet puzzled which mech type they should adopt.

The obvious solution was to start off with a lancer mech, but Ves had already ruled out that option beforehand. Against powerful second-class expert mechs or just a single first-class mech, attempting to swarm them with melee mechs was too costly!

"It has to be a ranged mech." Ves insisted. "The mech has to possess enough firepower to deplete energy shields and punch through solid armor. It also has to possess enough mobility to adapt to numerous different circumstances. It also needs enough defenses to last on the battlefield."

"That sounds like an expensive mech." The Penitent Sister designer noted.

"The Giant Killer must be powerful enough to give it a chance against second-class expert mechs or very basic first-class mechs. I don't expect it to win a duel against powerful opponents, but I expect to obtain some results as long as we are able to deploy at least 200 mechs."

There was no other way to defeat a significantly superior mech without investing a lot of money and resources.

Fortunately, due to the law of diminishing returns, the total value of Giant Killers deployed in the field did not have to exceed the value of a small number of powerful mechs.

As long as the Penitent Sisters piloting the Giant Killers enjoyed a decisive numerical advantage, they should already have the grounds to win such a clash!

The offensive power of the mech was key. The Giant Killer didn't have to be as well armed as the Transcendent Punisher, but it had to be able to pierce through the toughest possible armor.

That was not an insurmountable problem for a heavy landbound artillery mech, but it was an entirely different matter when it came to a medium spaceborn rifleman mech!

The advantage of the Transcendent Punisher was that it was able to output a lot of damage and make use of the cover provided by the bunkers of the Larkinson Clan's starship.

However, these conditions also limited the Transcendent Punisher's versatility. Its firing angles and its mobility were so limited that it was too difficult to take advantage of its firepower in certain scenarios.

The biggest disadvantage was that the Transcendent Punisher was not suited for offensive operations!

The Giant Killer was supposed to fill up this gap. It didn't have to match the firing rate or the damage output of the Transcendent Punisher, but it had to be armed with the most powerful ranged weapon that could be fitted onto a relatively mobile spaceborn mech.

Since Ves was willing to invest a lot of money in the Giant Killer, he set its overall design budget at 800 million hex credits. That was very expensive compared to his other design projects!

It was worth it though. With an allotment of 800 million hex credits, Ves could make use of excellent lightweight armor systems, powerful flight systems, efficient power reactors and high-capacity energy cells.

Setting a lavish budget also allowed him to incorporate miniaturized components, thereby freeing up precious capacity that opened room for additional parts and modules.

"Still, all of these aspects are secondary to the weapon system. In a battle against a powerful enemy, you can't allow them to live long enough to destroy all of our mechs. As long as the battle revolves around attrition, our losses will be horrendous regardless if we win or lose." Juliet remarked.

Ves leaned back in his chair while stroking the physical projection of a glowing electronic cat. "You're right. We shouldn't get caught up in stuffing as much goodies in the Giant Killer design as possible. All of these features are secondary to the firepower of the mech. Bygul, can you search for ranged weapons that meet the criteria I am about to set? Make sure the weapon model is accessible and fits the framework of the Giant Killer concept.

[Mew.]

Bygul served as an adequate substitute for Lucky. What Ves particularly liked about the ASTERA AI Core's virtual avatar was its adaptability. Bygul learned so quickly that he adopted many of the characteristics that Ves liked to see in cats.

If there was one downside about Bygul's propensity for change, it was that the cat didn't possess a strong and unique character. Ves had to command him to curtail the learning routine in order to solidify his personality.

The AI core instantly performed the task that Ves had assigned to it. The core split up a portion of its processing power and began to access numerous databases. It also accessed the galactic net and explored several different weapon catalogs for suitable weapon models.

In the span of just a few seconds, Bygul not only collected information about thousands of suitable weapon models, but also ranked and categorized them in a very clear and user-friendly format.

A new projection appeared in the design lab that listed all of the potential choices.

Ves smiled and rubbed the head of the electronic cat. The physical projectors built into the design lab compartment made sure that Ves felt as if he was petting a real cat!

"Thank you, Bygul."

The projected cat looked up at him with cute, glowing eyes. [Mew mew mew!]

The only disappointment was that Ves didn't feel any emotion from his new cat. No matter how good Bygul emulated the joy and love of a living animal, without the life that gave these emotions heft, it was all fake.

Ves sighed. "Lucky is still better."

Still, the convenience provided by the Spirit of Bentheim's AI core was incomparable. Ves and Juliet only had to examine the list of results for ten minutes before they settled on a choice.

Ves pointed his finger at a large cannon.

"The Samheim VVK-11C is one of the most powerful gauss cannon that can be fitted on a medium mech frame. It's cumbersome and impractical, but not too much."

Juliet detected a complication. "The Samheim gauss cannon isn't designed to fire standardized rounds. Instead, it can only be loaded with proprietary, ultra-heavy rounds."

The Xcordon gauss cannons utilized by the Transcendent Punisher were capable of firing several different standardized projectiles. This made it easier to supply it with ammunition.

In contrast, the weapon developer of the Samheim deliberately made it difficult if not outright impossible for the weapon to be loaded with commonly-used rounds!

This meant that every customer was forced to make use of proprietary Sarun rounds. Naturally, if anyone wanted to produce these rounds, they had to license the projectile model from the same company.

Ves did not necessarily get upset about this. In some cases, forcing a customer to utilize a single brand of ammunition was nothing more than a scam.

However, he did not believe it was the case at the moment. When he agreed to pay billions of hex credits to license the Samheim gauss cannon and its accompanying Sarun round, he studied the complete design schematics and technical parameters.

"This is still a worthwhile weapon to pair with our Giant Killer. The Samheim makes use of some special methods to increase its muzzle velocity that requires specific adaptations on its rounds. What's even better is that the Sarun round is even better able to pierce through shields and resilient armor due to its peculiar design and high-quality materials."

That was assuming that Ves and his clan had enough money. Neither the Samheim nor the Sarun round were cheap. Not a single mercenary corps would want to make use of this extravagant weapon system. There simply wasn't a way to earn enough profit!

Ves was different. He and his clan were swimming in money. This was why he unscrupulously set the Giant Killer's budget at 800 million hex credits. He could afford paying for quality!

Juliet "If we pair the Samheim gauss rifle with the Giant Killer, then it won't be a rifleman mech anymore. It's more apt to describe it as a cannoneer mech."

"You're right. It does look like that. It even has the relatively limited ammunition capacity due to the size of the rounds and the energy needed to fire them all. This is not a mech with a lot of staying power!"