Chapter 401

They entered the end sprint.

Ves personally accompanied the modified prototype to the newly erected testing grounds a fair distance away from the Mech Nursery. He witnessed each test in person and made his own observations about the prototype's performance.

From what he saw so far, his rifleman mech design performed up to expectations. It weaved nimbly around the obstacle, showing hardly any signs of slowing down. As a fast and nimble medium mech, the prototype demonstrated both speed and resilience.

Even the people who supervised the tests couldn't help but let out admiring gasps when the prototype finally revealed the power of the chest crystal.

After being hit by a number of laser beams, the crystal started twinkling in white. After the test pilot sent out a command, the chest crystal unleashed a powerful but controlled beam of light with almost the same properties of a conventional crystal, but with a lot more oomph behind its power.

"The beam is at least twice as powerful as a standard laser cannon!"

That wouldn't change any paradigms anytime soon, but it sounded impressive nonetheless. The capability to unleash a laser beam twice as powerful as a cannon should come as a nasty surprise to the rifleman mech's opponents.

It was too bad that the crystal couldn't be charged in any other way than firing lasers at it, not if you wanted to be safe. The crystal also didn't hold its charge for very long and fizzled out rather quickly, throwing up a lot of excess heat into the vicinity as a result.

"It's still a gimmick." Carlos noted at the side while Ves engrossed himself in studying the data readouts. "I really don't see this feature being very useful. Sure, it's impressive for a mech of that size to be able to unleash a powerful beam, but it won't have many opportunities to show off that feature. It can only be charged if it's shot at. Even if it carries a decent amount of armor, I don't see any mech pilot volunteering to go out in a laser storm."

Ves grunted. "You're right, but the crystal can be charged in other ways as well. It doesn't discriminate between sides, so there's no problem with asking other mechs to shoot at its chest crystal."

"As if anything like that will happen. It's more efficient if those laser rifleman mechs don't waste their battery packs on tricks like that."

Ves did not believe it was as straightforward as Carlos made it out to be. He could figure out several potential advantages to pre-charging the central crystal. He did not worry about the center crystal lacking any applications.

Although the crystal technology still hid a lot of secrets, Ves was pleased by the value it added to his design. Perhaps in the future he'd be able to bring out its full strength.

The testing grounds continued to grind away at the prototype. Ves gathered a lot of data on the soundness of its construction and the performance of each of its components. He paid a lot of attention to the targeting system, which turned out to be snappy and responsive, though it wasn't very accurate at longer ranges.

The further away his mech was from its target, the more effort it had to expend to break past the enemy mech's ECM. Against skirmishers which specialized in taking out ranged mechs, this effect could become very pronounced.

A skilled enough pilot stopped relying on external aids anyway. AIs and processors always glitched out and failed at the worst possible moments. Mech pilots had been taught to rely on their own skills instead of the comforts provided by their mechs.

A mech pilot was there to pilot his mech, not the other way around.

From the fifth day onwards, the testing grounds started to subject the prototype to more demanding tests. This mostly involved subjecting it to extreme conditions. They had to find out if the design delivered all of its promises in terms of survivability.

It was at this time when a very important piece of news spread throughout the Republic. The Mech Corps sent out a formal message to millions of mech designers.

Within the LMC, only Carlos received a notification from the Mech Corps. It arrived in his comm with a special sound that his comm normally never released.

Both Ves and Carlos looked at each other with dismay.

"I knew this would happen." Carlos sighed and raised his comm to read the message. "I've been drafted."

Both of them saw it coming, though Ves always hoped that the Mech Corps would somehow overlook his friend. After all, despite graduating as a mech designer, he never did anything of the sort. He had no designs to his name. He didn't even publish a single virtual mech.

"When do you have to leave?"

"They already booked passage for me. I'm to board the next convoy from Cloudy Curtain to Bentheim. That's in two days."

"That's not a lot of time."

"The Mech Corps doesn't wait for anyone."

Now that the first wave of mech designers got called up, the war would probably enter a heated state very soon. The cautious probes and occasional raids that characterized the majority of the battles between the two sides would make way for harrowing battles in space and on the ground.

Ves accompanied Carlos and they went through the paperwork. This ensured that Carlos would seamlessly be able to return to the LMC after his service ended.

"How long do you think the war will drag on?" Carlos asked as they ate a meal in one of the Mech Nursery's restaurants.

"If it's the same as the last ones, then it's going to last for four to six years."

That meant that Carlos might end up a very different man after the Mech Corps released him. The thought of what low-ranking mech designers had to go through during the war freaked him out.

"Hey!" Ves reached out and grasped his friend's shaking hand. "Working near or at the frontlines can be bad, but it's also a fantastic learning opportunity! As long as you listen to the chief technicians in charge, you won't get lost, I promise you."

"Wise words from someone who had seen it all?"

"You can say that."

What he experienced on Groening IV and the Glowing Planet changed his life and built his character. Ves might have encountered a number of close shaves, but he also came out stronger after he conquered every challenge in his way.

Over the course of their dinner, Ves proceeded to tutor Carlos on how to survive his coming tour of service. He enthralled his friend with tales and cautioned him to always watch his back.

"A crisis can happen at any moment. No one will watch out for you when all hell breaks loose. The only person who cares about your safety is yourself and no one else."

Carlos frowned. "Geez. That sounds really pessimistic. Is it really that bad?"

"It depends on where you end up, but even if you are assigned to the rearguard, you shouldn't relax too much."

"With my background, I don't have any chance of landing a plushy posting." Carlos said with a rueful smile. "It's straight to the frontlines for me."

Even Ves didn't hold out hope for Carlos to be sent somewhere far away. The Mech Corps was not a completely incorruptible institution. Ves grew up long enough among the Larkinsons to hear about how they really worked. When he studied mech design at Rittersberg, he heard other stories that confirmed all those tales.

The truth was that low-ranking mech designers with backing and connections always seemed to end up in the rear. As for mech designers who enjoyed nothing of the sorts, they somehow never ended up more than a stone's throw away from all of the action.

The only thing that Carlos had going for was that he worked for Ves, who in turn enjoyed a modest amount of backing from a Master Mech Designer.

Still, the connection between Carlos and Master Olson was nonexistent. No one believed that Carlos enjoyed any protection from someone who held an important status in the Friday Coalition. At best, Carlos was an extension of the LMC and Ves.

Despite his great strides in recent times, Ves knew that his prestige hadn't reached the level where people could recognize him on the streets or where the Mech Corps took special care of him. Carlos had to fend for himself at the frontlines.

"I don't blame you, Ves. I'm much better off than when I previously worked a dead-end job in quality control. My design skills have improved a lot, and I'll be able to offer a lot of help to a crew of mech technicians."

Ves nodded reassuringly. "I've kept an eye on your progress. At your level, you should be capable of modifying mechs."

Mech technicians couldn't make any significant modifications to existing mechs without locking them up. Most of the time, they overlooked something critical that led to the emergence of fatal flaws or compatibility issues. Only someone with a mech design background could safely perform major modifications such as adding extra armor to a mech.

"That sounds like a good idea. I can stand out in this way."

"Don't forget to check in with the chief technician before you do anything drastic. Just because a mech technician tells you something is okay doesn't mean he knows what he's talking about."

"You're always telling me to establish a rapport with the chief technician. Why is he so important? Shouldn't I be buttering up my superiors?"

"Who's going to be your superior? Most of the time, it's another mech designer! It would be great if your boss wants to be chummy with all of his subordinates, but from what I've heard, that never happens. Don't forget that you're competitors as well!"

Carlos started to get it. "If I perform better than my boss, he'll probably try to squash me down, is that right?"

"That's what all the Larkinsons told me back when I was young. The mech pilots seem to view conflicts between mech designers as an amusing distraction. It might be funny to them, but it's awful if that happens to you."

"What can I do then? Will I have to keep my head down forever? How will I be able to get a promotion out of the frontlines then?"

"That's where the chief technician comes into play. You see, all those mech designers sent to the bases are there to help with the repair and maintenance of all of the mechs of the Republic. You and all the other mech designers are the guests there. The true person in charge will always be the chief technician on the base."

Ves made a lot of sense. Carlos nodded like an eager chick as Ves continued his explanation.

"Nothing happens in the mech stables and the workshops without the approval of the chiefs. All of them are career servicemen without exception and have the power to ruin the lives of any mech designer that doesn't play by the rules. They hold all the actual power there."

"I see! So even if they aren't all that high up on the totem pole, they're still more important than the base commander, is that right?"

"For you, yes. Base commanders don't have any reason to pay attention to you. Chief technicians do. They treat their mechs like their own children and hope that mech designers like you do so as well. In order to earn their acknowledgement, you have to demonstrate that you care."

"Isn't that a given? I'm a citizen of the Republic, of course I care!"

"Platitudes aren't enough. My uncle and aunts told me that chief technicians often blow up in front of mech designers who still can't get over the fact that the Mech Designers took them away from their comfy workshops and plopped them in the middle of a war zone. Even if you want to get out, don't do it in a way that disrespects the people who fight the good fight."

Ves graced Carlos with many other tips like that. Unlike somehow who had no clue what the Mech Corps wanted with all of these low-ranking mech designers, Ves heard a lot from his uncles and aunts who participated in the last war.

Both sides often targeted each other's mech technicians. As the war dragged on, the Republic and the Kingdom might experience a shortage in technical personnel. For that reason, the Republic didn't hesitate to rope in all of the marginal mech designers who barely eked out a career in the private sector.

"Mech designers like you are spares in their eyes."

Chapter 402

Too many people tried to make a living as a mech designer. Due to a low barrier of entry combined with substantial capital requirements, most people who graduated with a degree in mech design managed to to get one foot through the door.

That did not mean they immediately became full-fledged mech designers. Getting the other foot through as well took an extraordinary amount of effort. Without talent, wealth or connections, most mech designers turned into overqualified mech technicians or marginal businesspeople who only sold two mechs a year or so.

Obviously, these low-ranking mech designers really didn't do anything useful, so by and large they wouldn't be missed if they were pulled out of their current jobs.

Like any state, the Bright Republic faced an abundance of mech designers and a shortage of technical personnel. Using an abundance of one resource to make up for the scarcity in the other made a lot of sense.

The truth was that low-ranking mech designers used up a lot of resources that could have been spent more productively. For example, property prices in Bentheim reached insane levels due to the sheer amount of mech designers setting down their workshops on the same planet.

Bluntly said, without culling them every once in a while, the Bright Republic's mech industry would eventually turn into a stagnant and lethargic environment.

Due to his upbringing, Ves understood some of the opinions policy makers held towards mech designers. After enlightening Carlos with what he knew, his friend fell silent.

"So they're treating us as a nuisance, is that right?" He asked.

"It's not so bad. In the previous wars, many mech designers died, but those who thrived during the chaos went on to reinvigorate their careers after the war. Don't see it as a burden, but instead, look at it as a precious opportunity to polish your abilities under the most ruthless training program imaginable."

While neither the Bright Republic or the Vesia Kingdom ever admitted it, the Bright-Vesia Wars invigorated the states and ceaselessly improved their military might. The cost was great, but the consumption of less well-performing assets gave ample room for things that worked better.

This applied to both mech pilots and mech designers. States that rarely engaged in war always lost their edge over time as their underlying inefficiencies spread through their ranks like an incurable disease.

"You sure see the bright side in everything." Carlos chuckled. "If you ask any other mech designer, they want to do everything they can to avoid being sent to the frontlines."

While Ves believed in what he said, he mostly wanted to console his friend and shift his mindset to a more productive mindstate.

"That's the difference between you and the rest. Mech designers should never stop improving their skills. Every challenge is a valuable experience that can enrich your skills and your design philosophy. I hope that by the time you return to the LMC, you can assist me in designing its next mechs."

Carlos immediately perked up. "Is that a promise?!"

Haha! I knew that would catch your attention." Ves smiled and retrieved a small box before passing it to him. "It's not a promise, but a possibility. As long as you can show you've progressed, then the LMC will open its doors to your design input."

That meant a lot to Carlos. He knew more than anyone else how much Ves obsessed over the quality of his products. Ves always took control over the entire design process because he trusted no one else to do a good job.

"What's in this box?"

"Open it up."

Four shiny pills rested in the box. They glimmered in yellow and it appeared as if they had been shaped by the sun.

"Wow! What are these?"

"They are special pills meant to give you a boost in mental capacity. They're extremely rare and very hard to get a hold of. It's already generous for me to supply you with four of them. Make sure to read the instructions carefully and ingest them in the right order."

What Ves gifted Carlos was in fact a handful of Intelligence Attribute Candies. He spent a significant chunk of his limited reserve of DP to acquire four of them at once. The System conveniently tailored them for Carlos too, so there shouldn't be any incompatibilities.

While Ves wanted to boost Carlos' Intelligence all the way to 2.0, it would have raised too many flags if that happened.

Increasing his Intelligence by 0.4 should give his friend enough of a boost to unearth his potential during his tour of service without attracting too much attention.

After sending Carlos off, Ves took a brief rest before throwing himself back to work. After the Mech Corps processed the low-ranking mech designers, they would certainly call up the next tier of mech designers. Ves did not have much time left to publish his second original design.

The LMC's testing grounds never stopped putting the modified prototype to its paces. Day and night the operators worked in shifts to explore the range of capabilities that the rifleman mech offered.

Especially in the last days, the mech continued to get beat up by a combination of physical force and energy attacks. Even then, its frame remarkably held up even as its compressed armor started to peel apart. His second design inherited a portion of the resilience of his first design, which would make it one of the more durable rifleman mechs at this weight class.

Weaknesses still remained. Though the mech could operate for an extensive amount of time with the fuel-based Trailblazer engine, heat management remained an issue during intensive combat.

This was a mech that performed best in low-intensity battles that dragged out over time. It did not excel in short bursts of combat such as duels where mech pilots demanded peak performance and immediate impact out of their mechs.

Ves did not set out to design such a mech in the first place. At its current configuration, his rifleman mechs neatly complimented his Blackbeak offerings. Both mechs fulfilled different roles but could go on the same missions without worrying about a mismatch in capabilities.

As one test operator put it, they shared a very deep bond. "They're like brothers and sisters."

Ves held an ambitious dream of filling up the LMC's catalog with an entire family of mechs that all shared the same core traits. However, the coming war and the demands of the Republic put a wrench in his plans. He'd be lucky enough to complete his current design before the Mech Corps called him up.

The issue worried him to such an extent that he broke from his estrangement with his grandfather and sent him a call.

"Ves, this is not a good time for me to speak to you." Benjamin Larkinson answered gruffly as he scratched at his collared neck. "You're lucky you called me during a recess in a conference. I don't have much time."

"I just wanted to ask you if you can tell me when the second wave of mech designers are going to be called up. I'm in the middle of finishing my second original design, but I still need a couple of weeks."

His grandfather grumbled underneath his breath. "You know I can't tell you that. Even if I knew, the Mech Corps will scorch me over a fire if I leak out the date. All I can tell you is that you better hurry up."

After Benjamin hung up, Ves nodded in satisfaction. He knew that his grandfather couldn't explicitly tell him the date, but he was better off after the call. The hint at the end told him enough.

"I can still make it in time."

The testing grounds accelerated the final tests and brutally treated the prototype like a disposable piece of metals. The mech eventually succumbed under all of the damage, turning most of its internal scrap to be sent for recycling.

Ves gathered all of the data gathered by the testing grounds and used them to spot out any remaining flaws in his current design.

At this stage, he largely smoothed out the major flaws in the designs. Most of the data only indicated that the design contained a number of issues that would be very difficult to resolve. Most of them already consisted of compromises that Ves had made in order to achieve a balance between different priorities.

Swinging one way or the other only solved one problem while making another one worse.

"It's too difficult to optimize this mech any further."

He only made a small number of tweaks, ones which he was sure wouldn't affect his mech in an unpredictable way. His focus on haste meant that Ves couldn't afford to make any additional design choices. A drastic change that affected the integrity of the entire mech demanded the construction of another prototype.

His grandfather told him to hurry up, so where would Ves be able to find the time for another round of tests?

Ves felt rather bad about leaving his design in its current state. It wasn't quite the perfectly polished machine he was hoping for. Its limited weight and volume capacities combined with the complexity inherent in rifleman mechs meant that his design required a lot more time to perfect.

"I'm running out of time."

Once he reached the point where he no longer found a way to improve his design in a short amount of time, he was ready to enter the final stage.

"It's time to give you a name." Ves spoke out, addressing both his nearly-complete design and the spirit of the crystal golem resting in his mind.

In the past few months, as he worked to bring his vision into fruition, Ves constantly thought about the appropriate name for his rifleman mech. His heart told him that his second original design required a lofty name to do it justice.

Since he constantly channeled the spirit of the crystal golem when he designed this mech, he came up with a simple but succinct name for his design. It was one which he had been weighing over together with the crystal golem. Eventually, the spirit gave out its stamp of approval.

"From now on, you will be known as the Crystal Lord."

The name not only described the mech, it also harkened back to the roots of the crystal golem which would soon inhabit the design. Ves did not forget about the crystal garden and the corpse of the alien leader which he retrieved from that magical but fallen place.

Something seemed to have changed when he uttered the name. Speaking it out loud somehow infused it with some weight, as if it had gained a life on its own. Ves felt as if he was at the cusp of making history in the field of mech design.

He certainly looked forward to the end product. He had a very good feeling about his second original design. Working with a spirit derived from a powerful being of the past was a very novel experience, and one that would certainly impact the X-Factor in a powerful way.

"Will I finally break into the B grade with the X-Factor?"

He was about to find out. Ves looked around in a conspicuous manner, even though nobody else was present on his private workshop floor.

After scanning his surroundings, he turned to his comm and activated his Privacy Shield before engaging the Superpublish option.

[Are you certain you wish to Superpublish the Crystal Lord CL-A-01 design?]

[Superpublishing in progress. Please wait...]

[Design Evaluation: Crystal Lord CL-A-01]

Model name: Crystal Lord CL-A-01

Original Manufacturer: Ves Larkinson

Weight Classification: Medium-Light

Recommended Role: Mobile Rifleman Mech

Armor: B-

Carrying Capacity: D

Aesthetics: C+

Endurance: B

Energy Efficiency: C+

Flexibility: B

Firepower: B

Integrity: B+

Mobility: B

Spotting: C+

X-Factor: B-

Cost efficiency: D

Project involvement: 100%

Original component composition: 18%

Overall evaluation: The Crystal Lord is a speed-oriented third-class rifleman mech design that, like its knight mech predecessor, excels in lengthy conflicts. The crystal technology embedded into the frame and the rifle of this design is novel and can be an asset to the design in certain circumstances.

[You have received 1,000 Design Points for completing an original design that has no other equivalent.]

[You have received 1,000 Design Points for designing a mech with a substantial presence of X-Factor.]

Chapter 403

The System provided a very flattering evaluation of the Crystal Lord compared to its usual conduct. It always graded his designs in comparison with similar models which competed in the same market segment, so Ves always got a good picture on how his designs would fare in the market.

The most important take from the evaluation was that the X-Factor finally broke through the ceiling! This immediately prompted Ves to whoop in excitement.

"I did it! Hahaha! Finally!"

The moment he Super Published the design, the spirit of the crystal golem finally left his mind and began to inhabit the abruptly improved design. This lifted a huge weight off his chest, allowing Ves to breathe easy for the first time in months. He hadn't realized how much of a burden the crystal golem represented.

Its mental strength had actually grown by a fair margin! Ves just never realized the change because it happened gradually.

"I hope you enjoy your new home!"

While Ves had no idea what kind of difference it made, it was still a cause for celebration. He looked forward to seeing footage of the mech in battle and seeing whether its mech pilots drew strength from the X-Factor.

After he got over his jubilation, Ves sobered up and started to study his design from a more sober perspective. What has the Superpublish function accomplished? The System promised that the function would comprehensively improve his design by ten percent.

"What does ten percent actually mean?"

It was like claiming to improve a piece of art by ten percent. How could you quantify the improvement in an objective manner? Was it a straightforward boost in specs, or would the System work in a more indirect manner? Ves was very curious about its methods, so he quickly dove into the results.

He turned his attention back to the evaluation.

"Hm. It's kind of a muddle, now that I see it. That's not very great."

While a lot of criteria scored rather high, some of them fell short of his expectations. Even with the power of the Superpublish effect, the System could only do so much to boost the inadequacies that he left in his design.

His design received a lot of scores in the B range, which meant the Crystal Lord performed better than average in those criteria, but not to the extent of becoming a compelling selling point.

His design also came with two very impactful weaknesses that Ves hadn't fully taken into account before he published his design.

First, the carrying capacity of his mech was rather dismal for its mission profile. Mechs expected to be deployed for many days or weeks needed to carry its own supplies. As big, independent war machines famous for their ability to operate under difficult conditions without excessive requirements, having a rifleman mech that could hardly carry its own supplies was a big demerit.

"It's like a ship geared to traverse long distances but only having the fuel capacity to complete half of it. There's a mismatch between possibility and reality."

Still, his customers should be able to get around this problem by passing the burden on mechs with greater carrying capacities. While that sounded like an excuse, it happened all the time with regards to light mechs.

Larger outfits even relied on dedicated transport shuttles or cargo mechs to carry their supplies during deployments.

So while the Crystal Lord's carrying capacity looked disappointing, it wasn't anything fatal.

"The cost is another matter."

Despite using much less expensive compressed armor plating than the Blackbeak, the cost of the Crystal Lord actually surpassed the knight mech. The difficulty in reproducing the crystals embedded in the chest jacked up the price by quite a lot. Once he improved the crystal synthesizer, Ves expected to bring down the cost by a decent amount.

Still, even if he solved this issue, that didn't mean he wouldn't be able to charge an affordable price for his rifleman mechs. Even with a hundred percent success rate in producing the crystals, the fact that it gobbled up a lot of pricy exotics added up a hefty amount to the total price tag.

"It's not cheap to implement these gimmicks." He frowned as he looked at the breakdown of the production cost of a single copy of the Crystal Lord.

The gold label mech with a full-sized chest crystal cost 10 million credits more than a mech that left out this boondoggle.

The cost became much more generous if Ves shrank its size as he planned to do with the bronze and silver label versions of the same model. The extra costs would only amount to 4 to 5 million credits.

The total estimated production cost was hard to determine due to the constant fluctuation in the price of raw materials. For the gold label Crystal Lord, Ves carefully estimated that it cost around 45 to 50 million credits to reproduce a single copy.

Ves couldn't help but wince when he finished his calculations. "This is already more than the Blackbeak."

Many people would scratch their heads if they saw the difference in costs. Rifleman mechs always cost less than knight mechs. Only rarely would the reverse be true, especially with models that shared so many commonalities with each other.

"Well, the Blackbeak is a basic mech that looks beautiful on its own while the Crystal Lord needs a big fat jewel in order to feel appreciated."

The Blackbeak product line competed in a fairly niche market segment. The competition wasn't as intense, allowing Ves to focus on its fundamental attributes and rely on them to drive its sales.

The Crystal Lord faced a much more brutal environment. It was not enough to compete on an even playing field. It needed a step up in order to stand out from the dominant models in the market.

Ves relied on several unique advantages to increase the appeal of his Crystal Lords. "The specs, the gimmicks, the X-Factor and my Mastery should all be powerful draws in unison."

He didn't let his design's shiny toys distract him from his core goal to deliver a well-performing design.

As the System's evaluation attested, the performance of his rifleman mech by and large surpassed its equivalents by a modest margin. As Ves called up the Superpublished design and compared it to the pre-published version, he spotted various subtle but ingenious improvements.

"It's truly worth it to Superpublish this design!"

If he hadn't gone for this extra step, then he wouldn't be able to justify the prices he planned to charge for his mech. His own thoughts combined with the consultations he held with the Marketing Department allowed him to come up with a tentative pricing scheme that would slightly put the Blackbeak to shame.

"The bronze label variant should cost 65 million credits while the silver label will still look appealing if I charge 75 million credits for it. As for the gold label Crystal Lord, only a price of 90 million credits will do it justice."

The premium he charged for the bronze label version that the LMC would rely on third-party manufacturers to produce looked very reasonable. It cost a bit more than a Blackbeak, but its performance combined with the value that the gimmicks brought to the table should lead to a brisk amount of sales.

The LMC mass produced the silver label version in-house, therefore they cost a fair bit more. In exchange, buyers would receive a Crystal Lord with the same crystals as the bronze label versions, but activated with the help of the crystal cube.

"Anyone else can reproduce these crystals given time and effort."

When the LMC would inevitably bestow some licensing contracts to a couple of third-party manufacturers, they would receive detailed design schematics that lined out how to create the crystals.

Ves never expected to keep its secrets to himself. Due to the MTA's enforcement of licensing structures, Ves would still be able to benefit in case some other company pirated his innovations, but that still allowed his competitors to flood the market with imitation models.

Being an innovator meant you had to spend a lot of money and resources to invent something new. While this allowed you to release a product on the market that enabled you to recoup your costs, it also enabled rivals to copy your finished product and release their own versions without those burdens.

"This is why the licensing scheme exists."

The MTA knew that designs could never stay confidential and that competitors constantly stole from each other. The licensing scheme existed to moderate these tendencies and to encourage innovators to keep on inventing new stuff.

To Ves, it didn't always work, but at least it tried. "It's better than nothing."

The activated crystals which enjoyed a significant boost in power compared to unactivated crystals allowed the LMC to protect itself against the inevitable outbreak of imitation models.

When those competitors tried to copy what Ves had achieved, they would quickly find out that they lacked an essential ingredient. Without it, their imitations would have no appeal compared to the original models.

Still, despite his many justifications for putting those high price tags on his products, it remained to be seen whether the market could stomach them. In a mech market where most premium rifleman mechs sold for around 40 to 45 million credits, asking buyers to cough up at least fifty percent more money to buy a slightly higher-performing model wasn't easy.

"It's up to the Marketing Department from now on."

Unless they convinced consumers that the Crystal Lord had the merits of its features, the LMC wouldn't be able to charge a fair price. This would definitely be a herculean challenge for his up-and-coming mech company.

"We had a lot of help with the introduction of the Blackbeak. This time, we're on our own."

The LMC released the Blackbeak with a lot of fanfare because it was his first original design. That was something special and a milestone to any mech designer.

In comparison with the abundant amount of publicity attracted to any debut designs, a second original design from the same mech designer hardly roused any interest. Buyers and publications both considered those kinds of product releases routine.

"It's going to be hard to attract the attention of a lot of publications and build up hype for the Crystal Lord."

The problem was exacerbated by the fact that Ves might very well be absent at the upcoming press conference that would introduce the model to the galaxy. Right now, Ves has a lot on his plate, and very little time to clear it up.

"I best finish the rest of my to-do list."

Ves proceeded to move quickly. In order to pass the MTA's validation process for each new original mech design, he needed to deliver a physical copy for them. He therefore went up to the fabrication floor and reserved the Dortmund production line for himself.

In the next three days, Ves carefully reproduced a flawless copy of the gold label Crystal Lord. Though he wanted to rush its fabrication, Ves forcefully pushed down his impatience and adhered to a slower pace that minimized the risk of slipping up.

He paid the most attention to synthesizing and activating the two crystals that would accompany the mech. He also capped off the finished product by personally affixing the label and one of Lucky's best gems in the cockpit of the mech.

When Ves stepped back, he joined the mech technicians standing to the side. They all practically worshipped the first production mech as if it was a god come to life.

What struck Ves the most at this point was that he could feel the impact of its powerful X-Factor in his heart. The mech radiated a sense of pride and threat in equal measure.

Ves could not forget about the alien race's lamentation for being so small. By fulfilling the dreams of the crystal golem of being put into a massive war machine that towered over most people it would come into touch, it carried a sense of completion that Ves had never encountered before in his other mechs.

The Crystal Lord hadn't just come to life. It also enjoyed its return to the living.

Chapter 404

A lot of publicity accompanied the release of every new original mech design. Throughout the galaxy, millions of different mech models appeared on the market each day. How would consumers be able to make sense of the deluge in new designs?

In practice, due to resource limits, license limits, and regulatory restrictions, most mech models competed solely in the state it originated from. While this cut away most of the competition, it still left Ves with thousands of competing designs that fought over the limited attention span of their potential buyers.

This time, Ves wouldn't be able to enjoy the advantage of making his debut. Fortunately, the LMC of today was a lot bigger than when he published the Blackbeak design. Back then, he still based his company back at his old, cramped workshop.

Right now, the LMC not only owned three production systems, it also expanded its payroll by several times. Many problems that seemed difficult to Ves to solve by himself could easily be handed off to the right departments in the company.

Gavin was his contact person in the Marketing Department, which had been tasked with the challenge of making the Crystal Lord a success. Even before Ves completed his design, the Marketing Department already laid out the groundwork for the upcoming release.

"The MTA will be done with the validation of the Crystal Lord in two weeks or so. How soon can you arrange a press conference to introduce our latest product line to the Republic?"

Gavin quickly referenced a data pad. "We are working with all hands on deck right now. In principle, we can hold the press conference at any time, but we're still having trouble with inviting a sufficient amount of publications. Some of these news and media empires are really tough customers."

People interested in buying mechs rarely browsed the public catalog and sorted through the huge number of available models. They researched what they wanted on the galactic net and listened to advice from sources of authority.

News portals and mech portals formed particularly powerful influences that could collectively make or break a new mech model. The key to making the market aware of his new product was to push it to the public consciousness through a combination of promotion and news coverage.

"Now that I've published my design, your progress in this area should go much faster, am I right?"

"That's right! It always helps to have a concrete example to show off!" Gavin eagerly nodded. "I do have to say it's a really smart idea for you to add such an attention-grabbing gimmick to your latest product. That already makes the Crystal Lord ten times better in terms of marketability."

"Added to that, its premium price point and its similarities to the Blackbeak line should also help with giving the Crystal Lord a boost."

Gavin looked a bit more hesitant at that. "The close relations between the Blackbeak and the Crystal Lord will definitely be an asset, considering that your first design is already so prominent. In the right circumstances, we can definitely enable the Crystal Lord to piggyback off the reputation of the Blackbeak. It's only..."

"The price?"

"Yes. The price. Even for your vaunted gold label masterpieces, charging 90 million credits is price gouging even to me. Everyone in the Marketing Department is skeptical whether you can get the Crystal Lord to take off with such a greedy price point."

Ves shook his head. "I don't agree. You have to be aware that the Mech Corps will call up the second wave of mech designers very soon. The number of gold label Crystal Lords on the market will definitely be a fraction of the gold label Blackbeaks currently in existence, and those already have a very magnanimous resale value."

"That resale value trended upwards over time. It's something that happened organically. You can't prematurely declare that your next product will instantly be worth the same."

"It's a high price, but I think it's more than fair considering what it brings to the table. The Crystal Lord is packed with value. In my opinion, the high price also serves as a symbol of its worth. If I charge any less, then the market won't take my product as seriously."

"They might not think so highly of the Crystal Lord, but at least they can afford a copy." Gavin retorted.

"If they want a more affordable copy, they can set their sights to the silver and bronze label Crystal Lords. Sure, their chest crystals will only be half the size, but it still retains much of the capabilities of the gold label version."

"Even if they're a little cheaper, it still won't be easy to push them into the hands of our customers. Only you would think that there are buyers ready to snap up rifleman mechs valued at 65 and 75 million credits."

"Leaving the gimmicks aside, charging such a price is still reasonable if you think about how I've integrated a substantial amount of compressed armor into its design. Most other armored rifleman mechs are only partially clad with the same kind of armor!"

"Alright, enough!" Gavin sighed and rubbed his eyes. "You don't need to convince me of the appeal of your new design. I just wanted to make you aware that most of the market will react the same as me when they first get to know our new product."

"I'm sure that you already have a plan to address those issues." Ves pointedly stated. He already let the Marketing Department know of the overall specs of his design as soon as he completed his draft design. If they hadn't figured out how to overcome these issues, then what was Ves paying them for? "All I need to know is your overall strategy. Do you have anything solid?"

"Well, the Crystal Lord is actually a great product for the spoiled brats segment. Think about it. The models are all expensive high-spec machines with cook gimmicks that make it a natural hit among the rich kids that want to pilot something distinct."

Ves curled down his mouth. "You mean people like Vincent Ricklin?"

"Exactly so. Laser rifleman mechs are universally popular in the mech market. A lot of potentates default to piloting these kinds of mechs because that's all they've trained for. We found out there's a decently strong demand for premium rifleman mech models that's expensive, easy to show off and easy to pilot."

That caused Ves to nod and frown at the same time. "The Crystal Lord definitely fits the first two criteria. As for being easy to pilot, well, according to the test pilots that put the prototype to the test, my design is definitely one of the more difficult rifleman mechs to pilot. I've always designed the Crystal Lord to meet the needs of professionals, not the so-called spoiled brats who shy away at the first sight of blood."

He made many design choices that increased the performance of his mech at the cost of adding to the burden of the person in the cockpit.

Mechs designed to be easy to pilot often took a lot of decisions out of the hands of their mech pilots, thereby simplifying the control interface to a manageable level.

This might be acceptable to the casual potentate that never piloted a mech out of simulations, but a skilled mech pilot that relied on his machine to stay alive demanded more control. Through his recent Mastery experience with Alven, Ves learned how important it was for him to be able to fine-tune every possible action made by his mech.

Alven might be a religious nut, but his skill in piloting mechs was very real.

The explanation came as unwelcome news to Gavin. As a norm and someone who never really bought into the mystique of mechs, he wasn't aware of subtle but impactful details like this. "Oh. That is going to be a problem then. While I'm sure there are a couple of rich kids out there who know what they're doing, I guess we can't go through with our original plans."

They continued their discussion for a bit. Ves emphasized that the Crystal Lord fared best when piloted by someone skilled. Just like with the Blackbeak, the Crystal Lord was not a toy to be shown off to friends. Ves designed it to endure the rigors of war, and he was determined to see it thrive in the coming battles.

"Well, there's one more group who this mech should appeal to." Gavin suddenly remembered something. "All of those gangs and mercenary corps that returned from the Glowing Planet and received their rewards are still flush with money. Although many of them have already placed new orders, it's impossible for them to run out of money soon. I bet there are a couple of mercenary commanders and gang leaders who are willing to spend a little extra to obtain a prestigious mech."

That sounded like a much better target audience. Ves quickly nodded. "That's the right approach. You can even approach the Whalers and sound them out if they are interested as well."

After Ves became reassured that the Marketing Department was on the right track, he left them to complete their preparations while Ves returned underground. He couldn't afford to slack off in what might be his last month with the LMC.

First, he began designing the bronze and silver label variants of the Crystal Lords.

With the Blackbeak line, the different labels mainly resulted in cosmetic differences. Principally, their performance should be equal, though in practice differences in familiarity, skill and equipment resulted in substantial differences in performance.

Ves couldn't do the same for the Crystal Lord, mainly due to the difficulty of synthesizing and activating the huge chest crystal. Fortunately, Ves already took into account that he might have to downscale the chest crystal, so he easily modified the original design to accommodate much smaller crystals without overhauling the entire schematic. It only took a couple more days for him to verify the soundness of his changes in the simulations.

"I don't have the time to fabricate a physical copy and test the bronze and silver label variants for real."

He decided to dump the problem on the lap of the Production Department and let them fabricate the variants and bring them to the testing grounds on their own. If nothing surprising happened, both of his variants should be able to pass muster. In that case, the LMC could submit the designs to the MTA for certification before putting them into production.

Due to his impending absence, Ves helplessly delegated a lot of the responsibility of bringing all three labels to the market to his subordinates. Inevitably, the board of directors would have a say in the decision making as well, though Ves planned to ram through a couple of new regulations that curbed their power even further.

Lawyers in the service of the Larkinson Estate drew up much of the LMC's articles of incorporation. In hindsight, Ves made a mistake by relying on these people to draw up the governance structure for his company. The lawyers made sure that minority shareholders such as the Larkinsons retained a measure of power without being too obvious.

"As much as they're family, I can't let them run the LMC in a way that runs counter to its mission."

Ves did not rely on the Administrative or Legal Department to come up with the amendments. Pretty much everyone who worked there reported to Jake, who in turn was a Larkinson loyalist through and through. Putting them in charge of this matter would be like putting the fox in charge of the henhouse.

Instead, he consulted an external corporate lawyer based out of Bentheim behind the backs of his entire company. With the help of the corporate lawyer's advice, they managed to formulate some changes that patched the most egregious loopholes in the corporate charter.

In this way, even if Ves wouldn't be able to attend the board meetings, the rest of the board still wouldn't be able to decide on things willy nilly.

Chapter 405

In order to make sure the LMC wouldn't be wracked by rudderless leadership, Ves made it so that he could appoint an agent to make decisions on his stead on the board.

The only problem was he needed to appoint someone he could trust with an incredible amount of power. After all, the LMC was a growing multi-billion credit mech manufacturer with bright prospects. It only took one power-hungry madman to topple everything that he built in the past two years.

As Ves tried to wrack his brains for possible candidates, he started to get a headache. "Carlos would have been a perfect agent for me."

He knew his friend inside and out and knew that he didn't enjoy the backing of anyone else. As someone who benefited hugely under Ves, Carlos could certainly be trusted to value his interests over those of the other Larkinsons.

A significant shortcoming of Carlos was that he never excelled in any of the business courses, so he probably wouldn't be able to steer the LMC as well as Ves.

Naturally, a bigger problem was that the Mech Corps already snatched Carlos up along with a deluge of other low-ranking mech designers.

After he ended up in the clutches of the military, Ves hadn't received any word from Carlos since. His friend completely fell off the radar, which was to be expected.

The military took communications with the outside galaxy very seriously. Even taking the time to say hello to your parents through the galactic net could leak out an enormous amount of sensitive data to any eavesdroppers.

Thus, even remotely, Ves could not expect Carlos to be available to act as his agent.

"Who else can I turn to?"

As the temporary chairman of the board, his agent held the power of life and death over the LMC. That was really something that could not be belittled. Ves himself was too busy to revel in the amount of power and wealth at his fingertips, but that did not mean he was unaware of their deathly allure.

He mentally went through several candidates, but he found to his dismay that most of the people he knew shared a connection with the Larkinson Estate. Even Chief Cyril, who knew the most about mechs in the company outside of Ves, never hid his roots as a retainer.

After going through more than a dozen different names, Ves ended up with two possible candidates. Each of them possessed their own merits and shortcomings. If he picked the wrong person, the consequences for the LMC would be very dire.

The first candidate who Ves tentatively took into consideration was Melkor. Although he was a Larkinson as well, his youth and his inexplicable estrangement with the Mech Corps ensured he didn't fall into the established factions of the Family.

"In a way, he's kind of a failure, or the Larkinsons would have never let go of him to serve as my bodyguard."

Putting Melkor in charge of the board, if only temporarily, would make it clear to the rest of the board that Ves still kept a pulse on what went on there. Melkor possessed a firm but understated personality that would likely lead to a restrained atmosphere in the board. After all, from what Ves gathered from his cousin, Melkor brooked no nonsense.

The downside to putting a mech pilot in charge of the board was that Melkor knew nothing about designing mechs or conducting business. He possessed no relevant knowledge that allowed him to make informed decisions, or understand the topics being discussed in the meetings.

Another problem with Melkor was that he would have to put his foot down in front of their grandfather. Despite his job as a military advisor, Benjamin always took the time to be present at the board meetings. As the temporary chairman, Melkor should be able to hold more sway than their grandfather.

"Will Melkor be able to stand up to grandpa, though?"

That was a very pertinent question. Benjamin Larkinson enjoyed a vast amount of prestige in the Larkinson Family. Not only did grandpa work for the influential Ministry of Defense, he also used to be an expert mech pilot. Practically the entire younger generation of the Larkinsons worshiped him as one of their gods.

From what Ves gathered of Melkor, his cousin did not enjoy a close relationship with the rest of the Family. Neither did he seem like someone who revered their grandfather.

Still, Ves always had the sense that Melkor hid a lot about himself to everyone. He never showed anyone his true nature. His habit of wearing a big visor that covered the entire upper half of his face made it extraordinarily difficult to read his expressions.

In the end, Ves could never pin down where Melkor stood. He may be a disaffected Larkinson looking to spread his wings outside of the umbrella of the Family. He might also be a hidden Larkinson loyalist who had secretly been assigned to keep an eye on Ves and push him in the right direction once in a while.

"I've already entrusted him with some responsibility. What does it hurt to add a little more to his plate?"

Ves already tasked Melkor with leading and expanding the Avatars of Myth. That reminded him to arrange some matters for his personal force as well. He still needed to hear back from Captain Silvestra and make plans for expanding their fleet.

Compared to picking a mech pilot like Melkor, Ves found the alternative to be a little more attractive.

During the early stages of his business, Ves relied on Gavin and Calsie to do a lot of things on his behalf. As the LMC formally came into being and hired hundreds of professionals, the role these two former students played in the company became less and less. That did not mean that Ves had sidelined them entirely.

It was easy for Gavin to adjust and change his role. Not only did he let Ves keep tabs on what the Marketing Department was up to, he also acted as his personal assistant in many other areas. If not for his current responsibilities and his strange opinions in some areas, Ves would have no qualms about appointing Gavin as his agent.

"Calsie might be a better choice."

She was a dutiful worker who possessed a deep understanding of the local issues. Ves always relied on her reports on the local situation to keep himself abreast of what went on in Cloudy Curtain.

Ves honed in on her law background. While that didn't turn her into an expert concerning mechs or business, she should be able to possess a sufficient understanding of the discussions in due time. She also wouldn't be vulnerable to clever wordplay or dirty tricks.

If Ves put someone like her in charge of the board, then she wouldn't flinch from anyone, including his grandfather. She would be able to understand very well how much power she held in her hands and how much responsibility Ves had thrust in her. Since she didn't possess any relationships with the other members of the board, he could trust her to avoid any favoritism.

"She's still awfully young though. She's also related to the Pioneers."

Calsie never hid her inclinations for the Pioneers, and believed that the LMC should seek ways to collaborate with each other. Ves was not a fan of political entanglement.

He couldn't forget how the Pioneers revealed their true faces to him long ago.

Even if they turned a new leaf with their change in leadership, a leopard could hardly change its spots.

In this case though, it was not as if Calsie would be in a position to do a lot. It would be really obvious if she changed the direction of the company in a way that favored the Pioneers.

Instead, Ves worried more about her youth and lack of experience. Would she be able to handle the responsibility and stand up to a bunch of professionals who surpassed her in every aspect?

"She doesn't need to be an expert. She only needs to hold her ground."

To act as his agent meant it would be sufficient for Calsie to understand the broad strokes of every proposal.

Ves decided to go with Calsie instead of Melkor, because he thought that the influence of the Larkinsons was already bad enough. If she subsequently attempted to benefit the Pioneers, then at least they would be able to play as a counterbalancing influence within the internal politics of the company.

He activated his comm and called Calsie to his office. After a moment, she arrived at the top floor of the office and sat down on the other side of the imposing office.

"I have a job for you. I don't know if you are interested, but how does it sound like to take up the post of temporary chairman of the board?"

He subsequently explained the details of the job and what he expected of his agent. As expected, Calsie looked floored by the responsibility.

"I-I-I'm just a local girl. Boss, this job is way too big for me! I'm not qualified to be the chairman of anything!"

"Nonsense. The job isn't as hard as it sounds, and since you are taking charge in a temporary capacity, you don't need to know all the ins and outs. Still, I suggest you study some basic textbooks about mech design and how to run a mech business whenever you're off-duty. It's important for you to master the general gist of what goes on in the company."

Ves diminished the daunting nature of what it meant to be his agent by breaking it down into manageable chunks. She only needed to assume a limited amount of responsibilities at the start. Once her knowledge caught up, she could slowly expand the range of decisions she would be able to affect.

Naturally, Ves made it clear that she should never act in a unilateral manner in any proactive decisions. Basically, he wanted Calsie to act as a gatekeeper for every major suggestion proposed by others. Her job was to say no to any ideas that went against his interests.

"If you put it like that, the job doesn't sound so hard." Calsie's frown started to ease. "I still don't get it. Why me? Why not Gavin, or someone else you trust. Am I special in your eyes?"

She looked at him with a mix of bewildered accusations. Ves did not enjoy being stared at in that way, and quickly held up his hands.

"It's not that I trust you over anybody else, but out of every other candidate, you are the only one I know who doesn't work directly for anyone else. Your ties with the Pioneers is of little concern to me. You would be the only person on the board who comes from Cloudy Curtain. Maybe all that's needed to keep the LMC in the right direction is a local touch."

In the end, Ves had to put his faith into Calsie and hope she did not disappoint. To her credit, Calsie did not appear to be duplicitous in her loyalties, and Ves had a good feeling about her. After a little bit more persuasion, Ves managed to get her to agree to become his agent.

As Ves introduced her to her upcoming duties, Calsie quickly frowned when she got her hands on the amendments that Ves was about to propose at the next board meeting. "I can see why you want to close all of these loopholes, but the other directors are going to be pissed."

He shrugged. "I don't need to care about their opinions."

"Disaffected board members can do a lot of damage, you know. The worst thing that can happen is if they enter into an accord with your enemies or competitors."

"I already thought about that. In exchange for allowing these changes to come to pass, I'll agree to let the LMC issue a modest amount of dividends. I'll also throw in some stock to them so that they enjoy a direct benefit."

Bribing people always worked wonders. Ves mainly resorted to this method because he couldn't think of any other way to keep the board members somewhat on his side. After all, the amendments he was about to suggest would definitely impact their ability to influence the direction of the company.

After wrapping up the matters concerning the board of directors, Ves sent Calsie out of his office and worked through the list of things he needed to arrange.

"I still need to fabricate a couple of gold label Crystal Lords. I still owe a copy to the Oodis Mudriders, while the Avatars of Myth needs a bunch of them as well to form a strong nucleus of mechs."

Ves especially placed a lot of importance on the latter. It would be a shame for his own personal force to rely on inferior silver label products. Due to the growth nature of the X-Factor, it wasn't efficient for the Avatars of Myth to get accustomed with mechs that Ves intended to replace with superior variants at a later date.

The only problem was that Ves lacked the time to fulfill the needs of a force that numbered at least 40 mechs.

"If I want to meet all of their needs, I'll have to fabricate at least ten gold label Crystal Lords and several more gold label Blackbeaks."

That sounded impossible to fulfill in a short amount of time. Even if he planned to quickly wrap up his other work and spend the rest of his days as a free man fabricating the mechs, he shouldn't expect to finish more than four or five handcrafted mechs.

"The Avatars of Myth will have to make do with what they can get." He shrugged.

Chapter 406

Ves had to arrange a lot of stuff before his impending departure. Over the next week, he accomplished a lot of things.

He held a board meeting where he introduced Calsie and rammed through a couple of changes in the corporate chapter.

He kept himself up to date with the Marketing Department's plan to roll out of the Crystal Lord models.

On some moments, Ves squeezed out the time to visit Lucky. His gem cat meowed weakly at him whenever he visited. It seemed that Lucky still needed a couple of months to get back into shape.

"I'll be going away soon. According to the regulations of the Mech Corps, I can't bring any possession along with me. You'll have to stay behind."

"Meow..."

"Just keep an eye on the Mech Nursery, alright? Hang around Calsie and Melkor if you can, and scare away anyone who issues threats to them. They're my two most influential agents and I can't have them succumb to any outside coercion while I'm away.

"Meow."

"I'll be sure to arrange for a steady supply of choice minerals and exotics. You'll never starve as long as the LMC exists."

"Meow..."

He hugged and played with Lucky for a couple of times, but he regretfully kept these tender moments brief.

"There's one more thing I need you to take care of." Ves said and slowly detached his trusty comm from his wrist. He subsequently bound it to Lucky's neck. The comm's advanced construction quickly shifted into a locked configuration. "Keep my comm on you at all times, and never let anyone grab a hold of it. Got it?"

"Meow?"

"Yes, it contains the System."

"Meow!"

"I know, but I don't have any other choice! The Mech Corps take security very seriously. I heard that any incoming mech designer will be stripped of his possessions and be issued new ones instead. I can't have this comm falling out of my sight and into someone else's hands."

This not only applied to his comm, but also his shield generator and all of his anti-grav clothes, which he planned to stash in the vault.

Spending a long time without the System daunted him a little. Ves admitted to himself that he became dependent on having the possibility to spend DP at any time to get out of a fix. Being forced to forgo his safety rope unsettled him more than he thought.

"I couldn't have made it this far without the System."

On the flipside, this would be a rare moment in time where he could prove that he could make do without the System's many conveniences. True mech designers built up their careers by themselves. Though many of the successful ones benefited from a lot of outside help, Ves figured that no one enjoyed a leg-up as much as him over the same period of time.

From a talentless hack to a rising young star, Ves owed the System more than he could ever repay. The thought constantly lingered in the back of his mind. One day, a reckoning might come where he may have to pay an awful price.

For now, it was not as if Ves lost a lot of capabilities. It would be impossible for him to earn a lot of DP while he worked for the Mech Corps.

"Added to that, the Crystal Lord is a Superpublished design. In exchange for elevating its quality, I lost the opportunity to earn any DP from its sales."

That would affect him a lot, he knew. The handsome trickle of DP he earned from the Blackbeak alone was very substantial. Once the LMC allocated some of its production capacity to the Crystal Lord, his DP income would be cut in half at the very least.

Therefore, losing access to the System for a time wouldn't affect him too much. This made it a little easier for Ves to stomach going without this aid.

For now, he made do with a generic comm that contained nothing important.

As he went through his to-do list, he also spoke with Captain Silvestra. She thought highly of the Trieste TRLC-343 light carriers. However, his suggestion to put her in charge of the starship contingent of the Avatars of Myth met a surprising objection from the female captain.

"Thank you for thinking so highly of me, sir, but I'm not qualified to hold a multi-ship command." She replied over the comm. "In both the mercantile and mercenary navies, it's something of a taboo to thrust a junior captain like me in a position of leadership over multiple fully-fledged ships. It takes decades of training and experience to become a senior captain or fleet commander. They are the only ones competent enough to keep track of multiple vessels and effectively command them in battle."

This posed a problem for Ves. "I don't know any senior captains and I don't know a thing about running a fleet. Can you assist Melkor in finding a good and trustworthy senior captain that can crew and run the two Trieste-class light carriers that I'll be ordering soon?"

"That won't be a problem." The captain of the Barracuda smiled. "I know a handful of former mentors who may be interested in commanding over a fleet of state-of-the-art light carriers."

The price tags attached to the Trieste-class vessels drained the majority of his personal fortune. In return, the Avatars of Myth gained an incredible amount of capability with regards to interstellar mobility and spaceborn battles.

The two purpose-built ships could not be compared to the deluge of cheap, clunky converted carriers which always risked coming apart at the slightest touch. These consisted of improvised rust buckets converted from outdated cargo haulers that had reached the end of their service. The only reason they had been made space worthy again was because the shipyards replaced the FTL drive and a handful of other essential parts during the conversion process.

Naturally, in the race to offer the cheapest converted carriers, the more dubious shipyards often cut a lot of corners. The amount of accidents these converted carriers suffered each year in the Bright Republic alone could fill up a book.

According to Captain Silvestra, fleet commanders with the right qualifications rarely accepted the invitation of a random mercenary corps to command their ramshackle ships. Attracting the services of these venerable spacers who enjoyed a supreme status in the mercantile and mercenary navies required a lot of effort.

"Hmm." Ves mused. "So will it be difficult for us to attract a qualified commander?"

"There's no problem at all. They all salivate at the possibility of commanding over two proper light carriers. In addition, working under a mech designer is a cushy job. Unlike working for a mercenary corps, you always seem to have a lot of money to spend, and you don't go out to dangerous regions nearly as often."

Many mech pilots thought the same. Ves understood her point after he made that connection. "While I'm gone, I'll be sure to set aside a lot of funds in order to crew and maintain the ships. Just to be sure, every major spending decision needs to be cleared by Melkor. He'll be having the ultimate say over everything that happens in the Avatars of Myth. Will that be okay?"

She nodded. "Sir, this is nothing unusual. The outfit commander's words are law. It's up to us ship drivers to bring his mechs to the right planet at the right time."

It used to be the other way around. Admirals, fleet commanders and ship captains with the power to scorch entire planets used to reign supreme. The so-called ground pounders that formed the landbound contingent of the armed forces often endured mockery and abuse by the elites that ran the warships.

Nowadays, the Age of Mechs placed mech pilots in a position of primacy. Outfits always pushed their mech commanders in a position of leadership. It was unheard of to let a ship captain be a figurehead, even if that person commanded over a starship that was ten times as expensive as all the mechs in the outfit put together.

After his talk with the captain, Ves looked at his schedule and saw that he addressed every pressing issue. The only item on the agenda of importance was the upcoming press conference.

"For now, I should fabricate as much gold label Crystal Lords as possible."

In order to spice up the press conference, Ves planned to bring along a handful of gold label Crystal Lords and auction them after the grand reveal. Just the hint of it would attract a horde of collectors, thereby boosting his new product line's exposure.

His hard work in elevating the status of his gold label offerings allowed him to cash in on it at this crucial moment. A fair number of mech insiders knew that any product that carried this label would have an extraordinary amount of value. The X-Factor alone helped a lot in reinforcing their emotional impression of his mechs.

"I can always count on collectors being suckers." Ves smirked before he furrowed his brows. "Yet I can't base my business model around serving their demands."

Milking the cash cows known as collectors required a fertile field for them to feed on. Without building up the status of his regular production models, he had no leg to stand on if he wanted to charge a huge premium for his top-tier mechs.

Therefore, Ves and the Marketing Department did not count on collectors alone to hype the Crystal Lord. They needed to reach their intended market segment which would be responsible for the bulk of their sales.

"We've got to find a way to make our value proposition relevant to the private sector."

This was not a matter of delivering a certain amount of performance or including an innovative new gimmick. At the heart of it, mech designers like Ves produced machines of war that aimed to meet the needs of those who relied on them to do their jobs.

What kind of mech pilots did his mech appeal to the most?

The elites. The commanders. The talents. The Crystal Lord wasn't called a Lord for nothing. Both its price and performance elevated the model past most of its peers. Potential customers ranged from outfits that nurtured promising talents, or mech commanders that wanted to make a bigger impact on the battlefield.

The LMC's Marketing Department worked with this premise and started priming the local media environment with teaser ads of the new model. With the help of Marcella who knew the market inside and out, they found the best ways to spark some interest in the upcoming press conference.

All of this cost a lot of money, of course. The LMC already lost some cash by issuing dividends, and now it spent even more to fund an advertising campaign for a product that hadn't even been sold yet.

The increased spending delayed the acquisition of more production lines, but Ves believed his company would be better off in the long run by investing so early in marketing the Crystal Lord.

In the meantime, Ves slaved away his time by churning out mechs after mechs from the Dortmund production line. A constant rotation of mech technicians stood at a distance and observed his every move. They needed to learn how to fabricate a copy of the Crystal Lord on their own after Ves was gone.

Though the Crystal Lord used up less materials than the Blackbeak, its fabrication process was a lot more complex. From the HRF armor to highly intricate mechanisms, this mech required a lot of finesse.

At best, he could complete one Crystal Lord in a little more than two days. Perhaps over time, he and his mech technicians would become more familiar with the process, but the time savings wouldn't be too much.

"This is a mech that's difficult to mass produce."

Ves did not consciously design the Crystal Lord to be so troublesome to fabricate. The cramped volume and lack of space reminded him of his troubles with the Caesar Augustus and the Mark II. His vast experience with those two outdated designs taught him how to handle situations like this, but that did not mean his employees could go over these bumps as well.

"Being difficult to produce isn't necessarily a bad thing. At least it will cut down on the imitations."

Chapter 407

Over the course of several weeks, Ves fabricated eight gold label Crystal Lords. Together with the first production model, the LMC would be able to show off nine of them at once at the looming press conference.

A while ago, Ves tentatively settled on holding the press conference in a couple of days. Though the announcement didn't leave much time for everyone else to arrange their schedules, he believed that a lot of people still planned to attend.

"Interest in our new model has peaked." Gavin spoke as he reported the matter to Ves in his private office. "The teasers have done their job, but without showing anything more solid than a silhouette, it's extremely hard to generate new fans."

"We'll make do with what we have. How many confirmed guests are we talking about?"

"We've roped in over two-dozen local publications. None of them are major players, and only a couple of them have state-wide reach."

Ves frowned. "Nothing bigger has shown any interest?"

"No. We tried our best and even offered a substantial amount of bribes, but those huge publications that are followed by people throughout the Komodo Star Sector hardly pay attention to Apprentice Mech Designers. You have to be an extremely talented Journeyman Mech Designer in order to rouse their interests."

Though he found it disappointing, Ves did not expect anything else. It had already been an extremely rare occasion for a publication such as the Rimward Star Herald to do a feature on him. Even that got quickly ignored and buried underneath all of the major news that popped out shortly afterwards.

"Have you gathered any more intelligence about the second wave?"

"According to the latest rumors circulating in the mech industry, the Mech Corps has almost finished settling the first wave of mech designers. They'll likely call up the second wave early next week."

"Ves tapped his fingers. "Hm. I've done what I can in Cloudy Curtain. The Barracuda arrives in orbit tomorrow morning. We'll depart for Bentheim to prepare for the press conference. Make sure you finish everything that needs to be done on this end before you go."

"Will do, boss!"

As Gavin left his office, Ves contemplated how the LMC would fare in his absence. Right now, a lot of tiny mech workshops and mech boutiques shuttered their doors by the thousands. Hardly a day went by without reading up on the doom and gloom among the tiny mech manufacturers.

These marginal companies only managed to cling onto solvency as long as their only mech designer remained in charge. The sudden absence of a vast majority of mech designers caused most of these businesses to shutter their doors, sometimes by the founders themselves.

This in turn disrupted plenty of supply chains and caused a deluge of unemployed people who used to work for these small mech manufacturers to end up on the streets.

Fortunately, the LMC remained steady throughout all the turmoil. With two currentgen product lines in its catalog, the company would be able to remain relevant for at least eight more years without any further input by Ves.

"This is a good time for my company to grow and accumulate more wealth."

Unless someone else published a design that competed directly against his mechs, the LMC should be able to sustain a regular cash flow. It mattered little whether Ves published more designs or not. His current two designs already covered a decent swathe of the market.

Ves spent his final day in Cloudy Curtain meeting his people one more time and saying goodbye to them. He even took a shuttle trip downtown and visited Dietrich to get in touch with the Whalers.

Ever since they helped out in repelling the Vesian raiding force, their prestige enjoyed a substantial boost. Their rule over Cloudy Curtain had solidified and couldn't be shaken anymore.

Dietrich obviously looked like he was having a good time. Ves entered a recently constructed night club that the Whalers had demolished and built from the ground up with all the bells and whistles. It made heavy use of wide-area projectors to cast an illusion of walking among the stars.

The view disoriented Ves somewhat, but he slowly got used to walking in the middle of space. Comets zipped by while stars emitted light and heat. He eventually reached Dietrich who nursed an expensive drink.

"Are you off to join the war?" He asked with a bit of alcohol on his breath.

"In a way. I'll likely be allocated to a design team."

"I heard about that! My mates tell me that they'll gather a hundred or so mech designers and put them in a single base in some forgotten corner of the Republic and let you guys sort things out from there."

"It's not quite as simple as that. Mech designers like me will be joining the existing design teams as extra manpower. They can never have enough mech designers to do all of their grunt work."

Most of the time, people like Ves would be granted the privilege of running loads of simulations or repetitive computations. Some jobs could be left to AIs while other jobs required a lot of creative judgment. Mech design was both an art and a science, after all.

Ves hoped that publishing the Crystal Lord design would enhance his status just enough to avoid the lowest level of grunt work. It remained to be seen whether the Mech Corps took note of his work, but it couldn't hurt to try.

Ves ordered a light drink and sat on the opposite side of the table to Dietrich, who dismissed his hanger-ons. As Ves enjoyed the imported liquor, he turned to an important topic.

"What's in store for the Whalers in the next few years? You guys are expanding like crazy. Cloudy Curtain alone won't be able to hold you all."

"Hahaha!" Dietrich burst into laughter. "It's that obvious? Well, since you already guessed, there's no need for me to hide. We're planning on branching out, but not in the way you think. All the neighboring star systems in the Bentheim region is spoken for. The gangs who occupy these systems all have backers just as troublesome as Monty the Beheader. We can't just fob them off without provoking a lot of formidable existences."

"So you're looking for places further ahead?"

"Exactly! Right now, we're eying a quiet star system that's closer to Rittersberg than Bentheim, but not too close to make things difficult. You know what everyone is saying about this war. There's always a chance the Vesians might accomplish the impossible and conquer the Bentheim System. Having a few fallback options ready would be really handy."

"The chance that the Mech Legion actually manages to break through is small. They first have to crack Fort Havensworth before they can even think about moving further inward, That's never happened before."

Both of them nodded. Neither appeared to seriously entertain the thought of a Vesian upset. Walter's Whalers only made some preparations in order to calm the nerves of its own people.

"So what are you here for, really? I doubt you visited to sample our drinks."

Ves nodded and put down his half-empty glass. "In truth, I wanted to ask some favors from the Whalers. Basically, I want you guys to watch over the LMC and take care of them if it's convenient for you guys. I hope you can help my company out again if the Vesians for some reason try to raid the Mech Nursery again."

"That's difficult for me to promise, you know. We're in the middle of our transformation. Our combat effectiveness isn't all that great right now."

"At some point, your rookies will stop being inept. I'm confident the Whalers will become a force to be reckoned with. At that time, I hope you haven't forgotten about me and my company."

"That won't happen! You can count on us!"

They subsequently discussed more concrete matters. In exchange for explicit support, the LMC would occasionally supply the Whalers with silver label mechs. Though they could still afford to purchase these mechs at market prices, Dietrich never turned down free stuff, especially mechs of this caliber.

"Great! It's always troublesome to order a homegrown mech of yours. Sure, we can place our orders to another company, but we'll only be able to get our hands on the crappy bronze label mechs. Getting them directly from your factory will save us a lot of trouble!"

For the rest of the evening, Dietrich showed him around the newly erected bases erected by the Whalers. Gone was the stink, the rusting walls and overgrown ground. The new bases looked every bit as formidable as the smaller bases maintained by the Mech Corps.

Even if the Vesians returned in greater numbers, the Whalers would still be able to hold them off with these new bases.

The next day, Ves packed his luggage, which wasn't much, and boarded a shuttle to the temporary spaceport set up just outside of Freslin.

Strictly speaking, with the self-destruction of the old spaceport in Orinoco, Ves did not have to make this detour. He could have chosen to lift off into orbit directly from his doorstep.

It would be bad form to do so, though. Traffic heading up into orbit or down to the surface would become a chaotic mess without a spaceport acting as a central hub. They also played a vital role in inspecting ships and cargo for any untoward surprises.

Only smugglers and other criminals ignored spaceports. If Ves followed suit, he would be painted in the same brush as them. Therefore, Ves endured time being wasted on this side trip.

Once his shuttle finally lifted off into space and docked next to the Barracuda, Ves along with Gavin and a handful of key personnel boarded the corvette and made themselves at home.

"Set course to Bentheim and depart whenever you're ready."

"Aye aye, sir!" Captain Silvestra responded curtly from the bridge.

Ves headed up to the tiny observation room at the uppermost deck of his ship and looked down on the grayish globe that represented Cloudy Curtain.

He was leaving Lucky, the System, his shield generator, the Vulcaneye and his anti-grav clothes behind. Ves felt awfully vulnerable without these possessions.

Only the Amastendira remained by his side. The System granted Ves the option to store the high-grade laser pistol into his Inventory. Surprisingly, Ves was able to store and retrieve the Amastendira from the Inventory even without the System.

This was very good news to Ves. While he didn't expect to resort to the weapon at all, he still found it reassuring that he could count on at least one way to get out of a crisis.

The Barracuda quietly engaged her thrusters and joined the convoy of cargo haulers making for the nearest Lagrange point. Among other cargo, they also held eight of his Crystal Lords. The first production model had already reached Bentheim long ago and recently finished its validation trials.

There was no suspense at all. The Crystal Lord design passed with very high marks. The MTA even generously valued its licensing contract at 5 billion bright credits, which was 2 billion more than the Blackbeak!

The high value attached to its licensing contract would certainly help burnish its credentials. Right now, the MTA kept the news confidential to anyone but Ves, but he could certainly imagine everyone's surprise the moment he revealed the sum.

"I'm not just an average Apprentice Mech Designer anymore." He smirked as he turned away from the view of the shrinking planet.

He already set his sights beyond the Crystal Lord. At this time, Ves thought about the years ahead of him. Mech designers never stopped learning. Getting drafted into a design team shouldn't be an excuse for him to stop his progression.

"Even without the System, I can still find a way to become a Journeyman Mech Designer."

With his abundant amount of Skills, Ves more than satisfied the knowledge requirement to advance to Journeyman.

The other two requirements set him back. He lacked experience in designing original mechs and he was still in the process of developing his design philosophy.

In a way, Ves could still work on those two requirements as part of a design team, but he could only do so if he was entrusted with greater responsibility.

"Mindless work won't cut it for me. I've got to be in a position where I can truly contribute to the designs in development."

Ves already imagined the challenges he would face. With Senior Mech Designers calling the shots, a junior like him possessed no status at all. Right from the start, he faced an uphill battle trying to earn everyone's acknowledgement.

"I'll see how I can proceed once I get there. I can't completely rely on second-hand stories to form my plan. I have to see how a design team is run with my own two eyes."

Chapter 408

Once they arrived at Bentheim, Ves and the people he brought along went to work. They booked one of the better convention halls in the center of Dorum to hold their second product this time.

It took a lot of effort to secure a booking on short notice. Coincidentally, a mech manufacturer that previously booked in the same period had shuttered its doors due to recent events.

"The ongoing war is making a lot of people concerned." Marcella explained as she met with Ves at the entrance of the enormous hall. "Business is going well for now, but a lot of influential people have started moving away from Bentheim."

That meant less customers and less demand. Ves hummed at the news. "Hm. Will it affect our opening?"

"You'll be seeing a lot less movers and shakers in the crowd. Instead, they're sending out their representatives. Therefore, take note in your presentation of who you are talking to. To reach the people holding all the money, you have to appeal to them through their reps."

The recent raids by the 3rd Imodris Legion terrified the entire Bentheim region. Magnates and wealthy families that contemplated moving out all pulled the trigger and left the volatile planet behind. This reordered the local power structure and disordered the local economy even further.

Still, despite all the doom and gloom pervading throughout the streets, life went on, and so did the mech industry. Press conferences continued to be held all the time for the mech designers that remained to introduce their new designs.

Not every mech designer got called up to serve. The Bright Republic knew that they would cripple their entire domestic mech industry if they did so. In general, they left aside those who contributed enormously on their own and those who already served in the previous wars.

Thus, even if most of the younger generation of mech designers disappeared from the market, the mech industry as a whole would still be able to stay aloft.

As they toured the empty hall, Marcella began to explain the recent situation. "This is a time of war. Though most of the news is kept from the public, the Republic is extremely concerned about Lady Amalia's legion. She hasn't shown up since the raids and that's a huge concern. The threat she poses is a lot more damaging to our confidence than actually showing up to attack a star system."

"In other words, she's hanging the 3rd Imodris Legion over our heads like a sword of Damocles?"

"Exactly so. Some mech manufacturers are thinking of winding down, while others are starting to stockpile rare resources. Prices have gone up by ten percent since the raids."

This was only the start. As the war progressed, prices would continue to skyrocket, bankrupting over half of the mech manufacturers based in the Bright Republic. This happened in the previous war and the wars before that. Ves knew that his company was in better shape than most. He deliberately set a high profit margin on his products in order to absorb a substantial spike in costs.

He could afford to do so because the LMC exclusively produced premium mechs. Though Ves recently developed an ambition to enter into the ultra-cheap bulk mech market, he wouldn't be able to keep up with the razor-thin margins as of yet. His company wasn't geared to compete on that level yet.

They finished touring the hall and Ves nodded in satisfaction at the open spaces. A high-end convention hall like this not only provided ample space to show off multiple mechs, it even offered a small-scale arena space to show off the live combat capabilities of their mechs.

Gavin met the pair near the arena. "Boss! This arena doesn't offer a lot of space, but the security screens are powerful enough to endure a full-powered blast from the Crystal Lord's chest laser! Why don't we hold a live duel?"

"A duel isn't the best way to showcase the Crystal Lord's strengths." Marcella retorted. "Just like the Blackbeak, the Crystal Lord is a mech that excels in battles of attrition. Let's not repeat the near-disastrous design duel that happened last time. The stakes are higher now."

The mech broker had a point. Laser rifleman mechs and the Crystal Lord in particular only showed their true value if they had time to wear down their opponents. Besides that, the arena barely provided a ranged mech like the Crystal Lord enough space to show off its mobility.

"This is the downside to booking a convention hall in the middle of the city. There are other halls in the outskirts that offer much more room to maneuver."

"Hm, what's done is done. We'll have a lot more trouble trying to attract people to attend our product reveal if we hold it in the outskirts."

They decided not to display the prowess of their mechs in a duel. Instead, they planned to show off some of the features of the Crystal Lord through target practice and live demonstrations. The arena offered just enough space to do so safely.

Throughout the rest of the planning sessions, they also formulated how to conduct the rest of their product reveal. They needed to awe the crowd in more ways than one in order to justify the sticker price of their mechs.

Marcella laid out their priorities. "Our main job is to convince the crowd that the Crystal Lord brings enough value to the table to make the prices seem reasonable. Forget about the pricing schemes for the silver and gold label mechs, the 65 million base price for the bronze label Crystal Lords will definitely be met with ridicule."

Getting laughed at would be the worst thing that Ves could face in the upcoming press conference. He worked hard to earn some credibility in the business. Botching this presentation would ruin all that he worked for and land the LMC in a difficult position.

As they drew up some concepts and brainstormed some ideas to illustrate the Crystal Lord's appeal, a siren started to ring outside the streets. Their comms quickly started beeping in unison.

"It's an alert!"

"Are we under attack?!" Ves quickly asked.

"No." Marcella quickly shook her head. She was much more familiar with the local sirens than Gavin and Ves. "This is the secondary alert. It means that a star system nearby is being attacked at this very moment. The sirens are meant to bring us up to readiness in case the attack spills over to the Bentheim System."

Everyone turned grim at the news. "Is it the 3rd Imodris Legion?"

They all checked the news on their comms. "Information is scarce. The Republic is keeping a tight lid on the news. All they are saying is that the Coscos System is facing the combined might of two spaceborn mech regiments."

"The Coscos System!" Ves uttered in shock. "Isn't that the place where most of the high-grade fuels are refined?"

Marcella nodded. "It hosts a vital strategic fuel refinery that processes the rare materials from several rich gas giants. It's essential to the Mech Corps and they are usually guarding it tightly."

"Perhaps. But will it be enough to repel two Vesian spaceborn mech regiments at once? And what is the rest of the 3rd Imodris Legion doing?"

The worst possible news could be that this might all be a distraction for a larger move. This was why Bentheim sounded out those sirens. The authorities tasked with guarding them didn't have a clue where the Vesians struck next.

"Don't fret too much, Ves. The Vesians don't have the numbers to threaten Bentheim. The odds of an attack here are rather minimal. Without spaceborn mechs, the remainder of the legion can only strike lightly-defended planets with only a basic garrison of spaceborn mechs."

Ves already knew that. He fretted not because he thought that Cloudy Curtain happened to form one of those lightly defended systems. If Lady Amalia chose to do so, she could easily send out an entire regiment to overwhelm the rural planet's feeble mechs and turn all of its industries into ash and smoke.

The only reason why he hadn't fallen into a full-blown panic was because he knew that Cloudy Curtain was too small-time for the Vesians to bother to commit to such an attack. It didn't make too much sense to risk an attack on a planet that hosted only a single medium mech manufacturer.

They spent a couple of hours in relative silence. Ves and the rest of the workers continued to plan out their press conference, but they toned down some of the fanfare. It would be in poor taste to hold an upbeat press conference right after a major attack.

News began to trickle out after more than half a day of silence. The Vesians had been repelled, but some of the refinery complexes that orbited the gas giant suffered grievous damage.

The Mech Corps muffled everything else. No one knew how many refineries sustained damage and whether the Republic could salvage them in a short amount of time.

Though the Bright Republic sourced its fuels from many sources, the Coscos System happened to be one of the biggest and most developed sites due to its proximity to the Bentheim System. Crippling it would certainly disrupt the supply of fuels to mechs and ships.

This was bad news for Ves and the LMC, as both of their product lines ran on fuel instead of energy cells.

"The demand for fuel-based mechs won't collapse overnight." Marcella consoled Ves. "It might be a little more difficult than usual to convince buyers to opt for your mechs, but this is a temporary condition."

The Bright Republic wasn't stupid. Even though it invested heavily in the refineries at the Coscos System, they established many smaller refineries in other star systems. Furthermore, they also spent a substantial sum to import them from states blessed with an abundance of fuels.

Ves kept up with the news even after they finished the planning session. At night, he stayed up late browsing the news portals for any scrap of information they could squeeze out.

The news sounded pretty bad, but at least it hadn't gotten worse. The Bright Republic estimated it could bring back its refineries to full capacity within half a year. Of course, this only held up if the Vesians didn't attempt to strike them again.

In order to guard against another attack, the Mech Corps quietly considered whether they should allocate some of their forces to the Coscos System.

Through news like this, Ves understood what the 3rd Imodris Legion was really after. "They weren't serious in destroying the fuel refineries at Coscos. They want to exploit the current shortcomings in the defensive strategy opted by the Mech Corps."

This wasn't anything complicated. The Mech Corps could never spare the mechs and manpower to defend every desolate star system that fell within the Republic's borders. Instead, they chose to concentrate their mech regiments in a handful strategic star system, and deployed some of their forces to reinforce a nearby star system that fell under attack.

There was much to be criticized about this lackluster strategy. Though well-defending systems like Bentheim enjoyed an abundance of protection, many other star systems like Cloudy Curtain needed to rely on gangs or a handful of volunteer militia to keep out the troublemakers.

Reinforcements often came late or not at all. In the previous wars, many star systems burned due to the lacking response of the Mech Corps.

Still, as bad as it sounded, adopting other strategies would inevitably lead to worse outcomes. The danger of spreading out forces increased the odds of letting them be defeated in detail. It would be trivially easy for the Vesians to concentrate their invasion fleets and stomp the inadequately defended star systems one by one.

The Mech Corps constantly grappled with this recurring dilemma, and even though they sustained a lot of criticism over the years, they never budged from their stance.

It was not as if they resigned themselves to being a punching bag. During the previous wars, they sometimes raided the Vesian star systems in return, thereby exploiting the same gaps in their defenses.

Still, that had nothing to do with him. All Ves should be concerned about at this moment was to find a way to push his product onto the market.

"In two days, the market will get to know of my new product."

Chapter 409

On the day the LMC unveiled the Crystal Lord design, the tense situation in the Coscos System cast a shadow over Bentheim. Underneath the gray, overcast streets of Dorum, fewer people walked by as everyone worried about their jobs, their safety, and whether the Republic could repel the Vesians yet again.

Ves looked down on the streets from Marcella's office.

"The public is getting more uncertain these days." He spoke. "The Bright Republic fought against the Vesia Kingdom for how many times? And never have we succumbed to their onslaught."

"There's always a fluke. The Vesians might have called up an ally, or the Mech Corps may have screwed up at some point. You know the Vesian nobles keep trying to invade the Republic because they hope they'll eventually get it right and blow past our defenses."

That was the awful thing about living in a state entangled in a generational war. The only reason why the Vesians haven't permanently instituted a state of war against the Brighters was because they didn't have the resources to sustain their aggression.

"Did you fight in the previous war?" Ves suddenly asked. "You obviously haven't started out as a mech broker."

The woman shrugged. She softly caressed her artificial limb. "I took part in the previous war, aye. It's not a pleasant experience and I don't really want to talk about it. I was too young back then. Young and stupid. I still needed five more years to graduate from the mech academy, but the Republic instituted accelerated training programs that attempted to cram everything we needed to learn into a span of only two years."

Ves understood. When the war dragged on and pilots began to grow scarce, the Republic tended to scrape up the young and the old.

These days, it took eight years to turn a fresh potentate into a barebones mech pilot, but they could barely pilot an industrial mech in the basic academies.

In order to gain more advanced fighting skills, the mech cadets also needed to spend some years at an advanced academy. The most well-rounded programs often ran for six years. Therefore, the best and most qualified graduates spent at least fourteen precious years in the academies.

They not only learned how to pilot a mech, but also how to work as a team and how to kill an enemy mech. At the advanced academies, they stopped learning the basics of each mech archetype but chose to specialize in a single role to their utmost.

Practically every state in the human-dominated parts of the galaxy adopted this mech training model. It originated from the galactic center where first-class mechs would also be extremely complex to pilot, but it spread out to the rest of the galaxy as academies in poorer star sectors lacked the resources to provide effective teaching.

Marcella continued her story. "In truth, I only experienced the end of the last war. They put a handful of prematurely graduated mech pilots like me into battle-scarred units where the only mech pilots who survived are those who are the toughest and most resilient men and women I have ever met."

"Did you enjoy your time with them?"

"I sure did. Most of my friendships today can be traced back to my service time. Those who survived formed a bond. We fought and watched each other's back even as missiles rained down on us and took out a hapless colleague. They taught us not to blink and keep on marching forward."

"Your luck must have ran out at some point."

"Yup. It happens to the best of us. The war began to wind down at that stage. The planet we fought over was bombed to hell and back. There was hardly any area in sight where the soil hadn't been disturbed by passing mechs or spent ordnance. Just when I thought I could make it through the end, the Vesians pulled off their final offenses. I barely got into the cockpit of my mech before a surprise attack punched right through the chest of my machine. That was the closest to death I've ever been."

Ves could imagine the horror of getting your cockpit breached by a mech-scaled weapon. "You survived, obviously."

"I was one of the lucky ones. Supplies ran short and the doctors became overwhelmed by the sheer amount of wounded that poured into their treatment facilities. Did you know that mechs are horribly lethal? Anyone facing a mech directly in battle will rarely get away unscathed unless they have their own mechs. It takes many tons of armor to endure a casual attack by a mech."

Both of them fell silent after that. As a young man who never experienced the previous war, he only heard about its horrors from the second-hand stories his aunts and uncles were fond of repeating.

Naturally, most young kids at that age hardly understood the cynicism acting as an undercurrent to their tales. Kids like Ves only focused on the glory and heroics of piloting mechs.

Now that he grew older, Ves felt a little more ambivalent about war. He disliked it, but as someone who designed and sold mechs for a living, his entire business model revolved around conflict.

Without war, who needed mechs?

"Sounds like it hasn't been a pleasant experience for you. Why did you enter the mech broker business then?"

"Well, my ability to pilot a mech has fritzed up due to the wounds I suffered back then. Due to the backlog of wounded, by the time a medical bot arrived at my side, I lost the opportunity to regrow my arm. I didn't understand the weird the science stuff the stupid bot spoke out, but I knew by then that more than ten years of my life is wasted. Think about it. What was I supposed to do with all my years of learning how to pilot mechs?"

"So you continued to get involved with mechs, just in a different way."

Marcella nodded. "After the war, everyone tried their best to forget what happened. The new generation of mechs swept through the galaxy and people needed to make sense of the new designs that rolled out of the mech factories. That's where people like me come in. Just because I can't pilot them anymore doesn't mean my mind has turned stupid. I studied under a mentor at first. I learned all of my business acumen from him. After that, I branched out on my own."

"Mechs have a way of persisting." Ves remarked with a rueful smile. "Now that I think about it, there are many possible careers for veterans such as you to pursue. There is still life after war."

"A lot of mechs get trashed after the war. Salvagers eagerly strip the battlefields and recycle them down into usable resources. Together with the onset of the new generation of mechs, everyone wants better mechs. It's become somewhat of a clockwork pattern for us."

"Ah?" Ves picked up a doubtful tone in her voice.

"It's as if there is a conspiracy behind it all. There's this thing called the military-industrial complex. You heard of it, right?"

"Sure I did, but people always tell me there's no truth behind it. The military-industrial complex is a silly conspiracy theory!"

"Are you sure about that?" Marcella pointedly asked. "You might be thinking that you've joined the big boys now that your mechs sell by the hundreds every month, but you're still a small-time player to the true rulers of the Republic."

"Even if they exist, it's not as if they can do anything about the Vesians. At the heart of it, it's the Vesians who are constantly prodding for war."

Marcella pointed her finger at him. "That's because their version of the military-industrial complex is a lot more simpler than ours. They don't even bother to hide in the shadows. What do you think those greedy nobles are really after? Do they want to help the royal family conquer the Bentheim System? Hah! Even if they lost millions of men and many thousands of mechs, they still accomplished their goals! The Vesians aren't out to conquer our territory in the first place!"

That came as something of a surprise to Ves. For what reason drove the Vesians into such a persistent pattern of war against the Republic? "What's their true goals then?"

"They want to cling onto their power! Just think about it. Without war, how much of our populations would explode over time? Every planet would become an unlivable mess after a hundred years or so of uninterrupted growth. Even with the boundless number of planets in the galaxy, it's too expensive to settle them all!"

What Marcella said sounded vaguely familiar to Ves. "Isn't this one of the justifications people bandy about when they question the MTA and CFA's role as protectors of the human race?"

As the two most powerful trans-galactic organizations, they potentially held the power to end all internal conflicts throughout human-occupied territories.

However, just because they held the power to stop all wars didn't mean it was a good idea to do so. From what Ves heard about the two powerful organizations, they lacked the confidence to impose a unified human order over so many star sectors.

"Is the MTA and CFA in on it?" Ves asked.

"Sure! Why not? They know as well as we do that too many humans are born each years. By the time I end this sentence, another billion or trillion or so babies are born right at this moment. The other alien races liken us as locusts who only know how to reproduce, and I can say they hit the nail on the head. With the growth rates maintained by every state, it's inevitable for planets to become cramped."

"Therefore, states needed to engage in war in order to cull their population?"

It sounded excessively brutal and needlessly convoluted to Ves. "Why not lower the birth rate?"

"Haha!" Marcella laughed. "That's easy to do, but would any state want to? It's fiendishly difficult to crank up the growth rate after generations of cultural brainwashing. And besides, it doesn't help if only a single state institutes these kinds of restrictions. Their neighbors will quickly swell in population and manpower and treat them like a poor and easily exploitable territory."

"How does this relate to the so-called military-industrial complex?"

"Well, the most powerful authorities of our race have collectively decided that mechs are good and need to be spread as far as possible. Wars between states form the most convenient way to sell a lot of mechs, and curb the excessive growth in people as well! This exists in every layer of human society, from the galactic level to the level of an individual state. No matter how big of a scale the complex turns out to be, they all want to profit out of death and misery."

It sounded like villainous aspiration, but Ves felt like they made the right decision. The top influences that held sway over human society reigned the fate of their entire race. They could not be soft-hearted nor show any weaknesses to the aliens that lingered at their borders.

The military-industrial complex actually sounded like a bunch of people that Ves could get along with. Where could he sign up?

Marcella read the look in his eyes and signed in disappointment. "You're a mech designer, so of course you take their side. All I can say is that you'll definitely change your tune by the end of this war. It's going to be a very long slog and there will be plenty of times when you get to witness the devastating consequences of war."

"I'm not a sheltered person, you know. I've witnessed first-hand how far a battle can go. I'm also a Larkinson. I've heard many tales about the previous wars."

Ves and Marcella didn't quite see eye to eye on this issue. Mechs gained prominence over four-hundred years ago and would continue to be relevant for centuries to come. Designing mechs and selling them was a noble profession in these times.

"When you step up to the podium this afternoon and show off your new creation, think about what you are introducing to the market. Will your mech be used to destroy, or to defend? You are responsible for how your war machines will be put to use. The blood that your customers are spilling with the help of your creations will inevitably stain your own hands."

Ves tried hard not to think too much about the misuses of his products. Ever since Vincent Ricklin took his Marc Antony Mark I and laid waste to the upper echelon of his own family, Ves stopped paying attention to what his customers did with his mechs.

He only provided the mechs to those that needed it. His responsibility for his mechs ended as soon as they arrived in the hands of his customers.

"I think the crowd will eagerly wish to own a copy of my new mech."

Chapter 410

Ves left Marella's office and boarded an armored shuttle that conveyed him towards the convention hall. Along the way, he tried but couldn't quite get Marcella's words to disappear from his mind.

On a whim, he activated his comm and performed a few casual searches on the galactic net.

The cursory search revealed a statistic that Ves had always overlooked. "Casualties as a result of collateral damage?"

He knew what collateral damage meant. Backlash against it arguably ended the Age of Conquest, which some people referred to as the Age of Warships. With the onset of the Age of Mechs, mass extinction and widespread slaughter ceased to happen, but that didn't mean it stopped happening entirely.

Missile barrages notoriously inflicted wide swathes of devastation. With the effectiveness of ECM these days, over eighty or ninety percent of missiles never hit their targets. Instead, they veered away and flew a bit further before exploding upon the first obstacle they came across.

Many cities hollowed out and collapsed this way.

Cannons also frequently pleaded guilty to this, but surprisingly the humbler laser rifle took the crown. Their ubiquity, availability and low cost per discharge meant that mech pilots who piloted laser rifleman mechs frequently showered their opponents with laser beams.

Ballistic rifleman and railgunner mechs exercised much stricter trigger discipline because they couldn't afford to waste their ammunition.

Therefore, Vs got a completely different conception of laser rifleman mechs. Who knew that the humble straight and narrow laser beams actually resulted in more deaths and collateral damage than more explosive weapons?

"This is mainly the fault of the mech pilot."

If these laser-happy mech pilots exercised the same trigger discipline as their ballistic and kinetic counterparts, they wouldn't let this statistic balloon.

"This isn't my responsibility."

By now, over a thousand Blackbeak mechs circulated throughout the Bright Republic and elsewhere. Ves did not keep tabs on what their pilots did. Someone could have crashed their mech through a school full of children and Ves wouldn't know. Even if he did, what did it have to do with him?

"People don't blame a shuttle manufacturer if some madman took their shuttle, hacked all the safeties, and crashed it into an office building."

The only reason he would check up on his products was to see whether their X-Factor aged and developed unique flavors. Right now, it would be too early to tell, so Ves planned to wait a couple of years before performing an in-depth study of the effects.

Once the shuttle arrived at the convention hall, Ves went inside and oversaw the final preparations of the product reveal. This time, the LMC went for a more elaborate concept that transformed the entire hall into a projected battlefield. It all looked impressive and lifelike as Marcella's brokerage supplied the advanced equipment to turn the illusion into a hyper-realistic simulation.

The experience went beyond spectacular visuals. Ves felt the vibrations from the footsteps of a Crystal Lord as it walked by. He could hear the sharp tang of a laser rifle discharge as another projected mech fired its weapon at a distant enemy mech.

For the battlefield, they picked out a sprawling ruined urban landscape. Rubble and debris littered much of the abandoned city, as months of fighting turned every street into an unlivable mess.

"This is what happens after every battle."

Seeing the awful state of the buildings and the remains of abandoned vehicles strewn about put everyone present in a somber mood. In light of the recent attack on the Coscos System, Ves opted to color his presentation in a serious tone. He nixed the original plan which involved excessive cheer and exuberance.

Not everyone supported this last-minute style change, but Ves knew that they needed to be tactful in order to avoid public condemnation.

"Are all the props and projectors in place?"

"We installed and tested every prop yesterday. Everything works as planned, boss." Gavin answered as he studied a data pad that contained all of their planning. "All nine mechs are shipped in place as well, with the first production model standing in the place of honor."

"How about the permits? Did we receive permission from the convention hall and the authorities to activate all nine mechs?"

"We only managed to do so after Marcella's brokerage greased the wheels. It's harder than usual for the LMC to do business in Bentheim because we aren't based here. We only have a branch office that's in charge of marketing and after-sales support, and it's too small for us to cultivate important relationships with the people in power. If not for Marcella's deep connections, we wouldn't have been able to get away with this plan."

Ves nodded as if he expected the outcome. As the LMC grew up from a one-man operation into a medium mech manufacturer, he gradually realized that many rules could be overcome with a sufficient amount of power and influence. Nothing was impossible, and only very few rules turned out to be absolute.

While the prohibition on activating mechs was a very sensible one to limit the chances of disaster in the middle of a densely-populated city, too many people flouted these rules and got away with it. "It's like an unofficial tax."

A few hours went by as Ves prepared and rehearsed his presentation. He couldn't delegate the responsibility of introducing the Crystal Lord design to anyone else. Mech designers needed to show their pride at their own products. Therefore, even if he wasn't the best public speaker in the company, he readily accepted the responsibility.

In the meantime, the entrance to the hall opened up and let in the first attendees. The journalists and representatives of various publications and organizations arrived first. They blinked past the omnipresent projections of the ruined urban landscapes and the silhouettes of the new design skulking in the shadows and claimed their preferred spots to record the upcoming press conference.

Batches of collectors arrived next. Some of them previously showed up to the Blackbeak's reveal event as well, but for many of them, this would be the first time they got to see Ves up close.

The mech industry as a whole started to take note of the LMC due to the spread of the Blackbeaks. While the poorest mercenary corps eschewed the expensive models entirely, many of the better-off outfits started to take a shine on the models.

It came in three slightly different flavors with varying levels of pricing and availability, so everyone with money could take their pick. As these influential forces started using the Blackbeaks, their benefits became evident as well.

Besides their performance, the Blackbeaks also became renowned for their ability to accommodate mech pilots particularly well. Whether in terms of ergonomics or the elusive 'feel', the Blackbeaks stood out for their excellence in making pilots feel as comfortable as if they returned to their mother's wombs.

Now, with the rumored introduction of a second model which inherited most of the traits of the Blackbeak, some of the industry insiders wanted to see what the fuss was all about. As they milled forward and took their seats, they started guessing what the LMC had in store for them. This time, news of their development hadn't leaked out, which was a minor accomplishment in itself.

"You're up in five minutes." Gavin reminded Ves as the hall became increasingly packed.

"I know. I'm ready to go at any moment."

"Be careful of the hecklers in the crowd. Since we opened our doors to bystanders, you can bet on getting challenged on the spot."

The massive convention hall would appear to be too empty if they held the press conference in front of a modest gaggle of invited guests. In order to make the reveal event appear more successful, they advertised the event to the people walking past the convention hall. Anyone could enter for free once they registered their identities.

Despite the gloom on the streets, they managed to fill up the hall just enough to make the place seem packed. Naturally, it also led to a bit of chaos as bored teenagers and crying babies added to the noise.

They quieted down once a massive projection appeared that introduced the LMC and its recent history. The introduction was meant to build up some hype before the actual event.

Moments later, someone sent a signal to Ves. "That's my cue."

As Ves appeared on the podium, a modest round of applause rang out. He confidently strolled to the front and beheld his audience. "Welcome to the Living Mech Corporation's second product reveal. As the founder and chief designer of the LMC, it is my mission to offer people like you the option to purchase a mech that's different."

He extended his hands which caused a life-like silhouette of the Crystal Lord to loom behind him. The mech was no projection this time, but an actual physical copy piloted by a real mech pilot. Clever use of lighting caused the mech to be obscured to the point where the audience couldn't spot its laser rifle.

The mech hadn't even revealed its visage, but already the crowd became subjected to a formless pressure that originated from its X-Factor.

"Our new design is an extension of the philosophy that underpins the Blackbeak. Much like the knight design, our latest offering is a tough, enduring and well-balanced machine. After months of development, we have managed to succeed in designing a mech that translates all of these strengths into a different archetype."

"Is it another knight mech?" Someone from the press suddenly asked out loud.

Ves smiled at the reporter. "It is not. While the LMC is known for its history of publishing knight designs, we are not exclusively focusing on a single type of mech. Instead, our latest design adopts a very different role on the battlefield. I am sure that you will be astounded by the features we've packed into our latest design."

Ves meandered a little with his speech as he talked around his new design without revealing it. Anticipation built up in the crowd as they got entranced by his words. It didn't help that their surroundings grew increasingly busy as the simulations took to life by depicting a lifelike battle.

"We at the LMC are committed to offer our customers an alternative to the dominant models of the market. We pride ourselves on delivering quality and uniqueness. Rather than tread the path of my colleagues, our next design is sufficiently distinct that we can say with some confidence that nothing like it has ever been released in the Komodo StarSector!"

Everyone's anticipation had reached the peak. Ves quickly watched for cues from Gavin who stood unobtrusively at the side. His assistant passed on a signal that indicated that he already spent more than enough time on sidestepping around the main event.

Ves bowed and moved on with the revelation of his new design. "Introducing our first range of rifleman mechs, the Crystal Lord!"

Lights banished the darkness obscuring the frame. For the first time in history, the Crystal Lord entered into the view of the public.

Gasps sounded out as everyone beheld the unusual-looking design.

"It's a rifleman mech! Medium weight class, armed with a laser rifle, carrying an external backpack module."

"What a small and compact laser rifle! It's as small as the rifles wielded by light mechs!"

"Look at those sleek curves. This is a mech that's optimised for speed. How fast can it run?"

"It's not only fast, but tough as well. Look at the texture of that mottled brown exterior. That's the same compressed armor utilized in the Blackbeak design."

"What? The LMC put knight armor onto a rifleman mech design? How crazy is that!"

"I don't know what this mech does, but I absolutely want a copy no matter the cost!"

"Me too!"

The guessing game started immediately upon the reveal. Everyone's first impressions were tinged with shock. They felt shocked not only because of its unusual traits, but also because the X-Factor continued to influence their impression of the mech.

It was as if they admired the statue of a god. The Crystal Lord somehow inspired a lot more awe and worship than other mechs.

Ves discretely smiled as he watched the effect play out in front of his eyes.

Chapter 411

"Wait a second! What's that huge transparent material embedded into the chest?"

"That looks like a glass-like composite. Is that a cockpit window or something?"

"Don't be ridiculous! This mech is obviously built to fight. Incorporating windows in those kinds of mechs is one of the stupidest things you can do!"

The chest crystal sparked another round of speculation. Ves let the crowd go on for half a minute before he resumed his speech.

"Introducing the first generation in the Crystal Lord product line, the CL-A-01 is exquisitely designed to meet the needs of the men and women who are burdened with defending the Bright republic for years on end. It's a mech designed to last for ages, and is designed from the ground up to maximize its longevity."

Ves spent the next ten minutes going over the basic specs of the mech. He showcased its speed, which was very important for all mobile rifleman mechs. He also reintroduced the Veltrex armor system and its particular properties that made the Crystal Lord a lot more resilient than many other rifleman mechs.

Naturally, he also couldn't forget about the crystals.

"On top of the amazing level of performance offered by our design, the Crystal Lord also makes use of a feature derived from technology recovered from alien ruins. Let me introduce to you the benefits of the two crystals embedded into each copy."

The Crystal Lord at the front unarched its back a little, giving the crowd a better view of the giant diamond-like crystal.

"The crystal at the chest is not a decorative component. It is a core weapon in the Crystal Lord's kit that delivers a powerful blow under certain circumstances."

As Ves laid out its properties, someone in the crowd rudely yelled out. "What nonsense is this?! Absorbing energy attacks? Shooting them back out? This is just another useless gimmick that's only good for marketing!"

Ves did not take offense at the latest hackler. Instead, his smile turned into a grin. "Seeing as how many of you are skeptical, why not witness it in action? We have prepared a secure stage where you can see this feature in action with your own two eyes."

The Crystal Lord walked towards the arena stage that's been cordoned off since the start of the reveal. The audience eagerly approached the sides of the arena and milled close.

Opposite to the original Crystal Lord stood another copy. Once both mechs took their places, one of them started winding up its laser rifle and began to fire a high-powered laser beam that burned for seconds at a time.

The more knowledgeable people among the crowd looked impressed.

"Look at the power behind that beam! That's not what you see every day from a rifle that size!"

"Is this laser rifle really a light model? Many medium-sized laser rifles don't pack that much of a punch!"

"Hey, instead of watching that rifle in action, why not look at the mech that's being hit. Its armor is still unscatched!"

At this distance and with both mechs standing still with their ECMs turned off, it was impossible for the shooter to miss. Every laser beam landed squarely against the crystal, which sustained minimal damage but instead devoured every bit of energy sent in its way.

The level of absorption demonstrated by the Crystal Lord only applied to the gold label versions of the mech. The chest crystals needed to be really large and activated by the crystal cube before it could withstand the full might of a full-powered laser rifle.

Furthermore, only hits directly to the chest and onto the crystal would have their damage negated. Any laser beams that glanced to the lower chest or the neck and shoulders would only have a fraction of its energy negated.

No matter the truth, Ves would be a fool to inform the crowd of those shortcomings. He wanted to introduce his new design in the best possible light, so he regarded this product reveal as selling a fantasy.

"As you can see, the chest crystal is capable of tolerating high amounts of energy damage and can absorb them inside as well. If you look at the readouts to the side, you can clearly see that we haven't curbed the power output of the laser rifle in any way. What you are seeing right now is what the new custom laser rifle for the Crystal Lord can output in a sustainable manner!"

"Where can we buy this rifle? It's lighter and more powerful than anything I've seen!"

Ves laughed a little. "We have no plans to produce and sell a standalone laser rifle except to replace a broken sample. This weapon works best with the Crystal Lord, which is highly tailored to this specific rifle model."

"How come this rifle is so powerful?"

"That's because we incorporated a smaller version of the Crystal Lord's chest crystal into the mechanism of the rifle. Its many wondrous properties allow us to substitute much of the conventional components that add a lot of bulk to the rifle. It's smaller and lighter, but still delivers the same amount of damage of a full-sized rifle."

As Ves elaborated on the crystals, the chest crystal quickly reached its saturation point. It could no longer continue to absorb more energy.

"Don't think this crystal is limited to absorbing energy. What comes in must also come out."

To illustrate his point, the saturated crystal instantly discharged a thick white beam against a target prepared to the side. The white beam burned through multiple layers of armor plating, demonstrating the awesome power behind the cannon-like beam in a direct fashion.

"That power!"

"Look at the energy readings! It's more powerful than a laser cannon!"

"Hah! More powerful, but is it useful enough? Don't forget that the crystal absorbed a lot of laser beams. How many mechs will stand still on the battlefield and how many enemies will conveniently aim at their chests? I stand by my words! This is nothing more than a marketing gimmick!"

Some people still remained sober, to which Ves could not resist. It wasn't as if they distorted the truth. The utility of the crystal was much less than what the mechs depicted.

Still, the overall reaction of the crowd looked encouraging. Ves still managed to sell the idea that the crystals held a lot of utility.

Ves walked back to the podium. The two mechs in the arena followed suit, as did seven other identical mechs.

A strange effect emerged as nine gold label Crystal Lords stood side by side as if they made up a single cohesive squad of mechs. Ves used this trick before and back then he already managed to shock the crowd into silence.

This time, the X-Factor in his design had reached another level. Although Ves wasn't sure of the difference, he knew that it would definitely deliver a bigger impact on the crowd. Multiple auras blended together and amplified each other. Some of the people rubbed their eyes, while others forgot to blink as they stared at the nine exquisite mechs.

It was as if the Crystal Lords came to life. They collectively radiated a sense of pride and threat. Their dark coloring and strange head shapes added to the sense of mystery behind these mechs.

"The Crystal Lord is more than a product. It is a mech. Not just any mech, but one that will grow on you. This is a mech that can be a lifelong companion to any mech pilot looking to invest in their future."

The projections around them started to depict the Crystal Lord in battle. The simulations crafted a vision where the Crystal Lord endured constant battles, only to be patched up and sent back into battle again. The sequence highlighted its robust construction and its resilience against wear-and-tear and the test of time.

The battles also showcased the fights that best suited the Crystal Lord. It excelled in longer engagements and was suitable to be used in extended deployments.

"We hereby announce the Crystal Lord is available to order from this moment onwards. At the end of this press conference, five of our exclusive gold label Crystal Lords will be auctioned out. The silver label versions of this mech will immediately begin production, but take note that supply is very limited for the time being. Bronze label Crystal Lords will soon enter the market after we have completed negotiations with the appropriate third-party manufacturers."

Sensing the end of the presentation, the crowd and in particular the press started bombarding Ves with questions.

While Ves could have opted to leave the stage, he chose to remain and answer the questions. Despite the risk of facing difficult questions, answering them increased the Crystal Lord's exposure.

"Your new design sounds very impressive and all, but I can't help wondering, how much does it cost?"

Immediately, the reporter asked the one question that everyone wanted to find out. The crowd of bystanders might know nothing about mechs, but the people sitting closer to the front knew much more about mechs. What Ves had introduced so far about the Crystal Lord was overwhelmingly positive and definitely outperformed the mainstream rifleman mech models that dominated the market.

"The Crystal Lord is a premium mech design positioned at the upper end of the local market. The base price for the limited-quantity gold label prestige models is 90 million credits."

That caused pretty much everyone to gasp.

"I can buy two good-quality rifleman mechs with that much money!"

"Forget about those overpriced mainstream junk, I'd rather buy four or five budget models instead!"

Ves continued on as if he didn't hear the outrage. "The silver label Crystal Lords will soon be made available for 75 million credits, whereas the bronze label Crystal Lords will be sold for 65 million credits."

The fact that even the cheapest version came at a more expensive price than the Blackbeak caused everyone to become perplexed. Certainly, the mech was powerful, but did Ves have to be so greedy?

If not for the nine mechs standing in a row behind him, the crowd would have been more vocal in their outrage.

"Absurd! This toy is too expensive! I'm out of here!"

"I don't know. It's expensive and all, but we can afford to buy one. It's a pretty good mech if you only want quality."

Another reporter put forth a question. "Mr. Larkinson, your Crystal Lord looks very impressive. What we want to know is, did you design this mech by yourself?"

"I worked on this design from the beginning of the design process. Only at the very end did I consult an anonymous mech designer. That entity who shall remain nameless generously tweaked my design and optimized it further."

"So it's not your own work!"

"I have meticulously logged the design process to the MTA to back my words. Much of the Crystal Lord's DNA is still my own work. The anonymous contributor only smoothed out some inefficiencies."

Some people looked skeptical, while others showed a more understanding expression. Those familiar with his history automatically assumed that Master Olson had lent a hand.

Most people didn't care. They only wanted to see or get a hold of a good mech. The fact that Ves accepted help only added to the soundness of the Crystal Lord design.

"The quality of the Crystal Lord is acknowledged by the MTA as well. Those who wish to acquire an open licensing contract of the Crystal Lord design will have to pay an upfront sum of 5 billion credits."

As soon as he revealed the figure, the crowd turned numb yet again. Five billion credits was an extremely impressive number for an Apprentice Mech Designer. Most designs only held a value of 500 million to 2 billion credits.

The skeptics grew less skeptical as they quietly referenced their comms. The moment Ves mentioned the figure, he knew that some of the attendees wanted to confirm his words. Therefore, he arranged for the secrecy around his design to be dropped at that moment.

Everyone could browse the MTA's public database and call up the entry for the CL-A-01. Ves hadn't lied. The info page prominently displayed the license valuation at 5 billion bright credits.

"A design worth 5 billion credits! That's unreal!"

"Who validated this gimmicky design? The MTA should investigate whether the people who tested this mech have slept on the job. There's no way it's worth 5 billion credits!"

"Maybe this mech has something going for it. I don't know, but the MTA has never been wrong."

The credibility of the MTA formed a powerful cushion which stopped the skeptics from spreading any falsehoods. Ves had tactfully left the MTA's valuation at the end of this product reveal because he needed to counterbalance the negative sentiment that emerged when he detailed the sticker prices of his mechs.

Right now, the 5 billion license valuation overshadowed the earlier event entirely. Every mech insider spoke with glowing words as they discussed the awesome sum among themselves. In this light, charging well over 60 million credits for a single Crystal Lord didn't sound so crazy anymore.

Chapter 412

Ves managed to raise the expectations of his potential customers. This was good for him, but not so good for others. This would be the perfect time for someone to spoil the party.

"I have a question!" A thirty-something year old woman with curling blond hair and a stylish beret stood up and asked.

The way she spoke with force and gravitas somehow pulled everyone's attention to her. Ves instantly recognized the training in the manner she modulated her voice. She meticulously trained to achieve this effect.

"Go ahead." Ves replied simply, trying to appear as unruffled as possible even as he recognized he faced a tough customer.

"I do not doubt the craftsmanship of these admittedly impressive copies, but they are from your top-of-the-line label, are they not? How many of them will be made available, and what are the differences between these mechs and your readily available offerings?"

Ves may have been able to dazzle most customers, but the woman spotted the loopholes in his presentation. Against this line of questioning, he had no choice but to tell the truth.

"The Living Mech Corporation's gold label mechs all come with a guarantee that they have been handcrafted by myself. Therefore, they are only available in limited quantities. Of the nine mechs you see before you, five are made available for auction while the other four are reserved for internal use. For the time being, the LMC will not be releasing any gold label mechs, for obvious reasons."

The mech insiders nodded in understanding. Many mech designers already disappeared from Bentheim, making it a much less livelier place. Once the Mech Corps called up the second wave of mech designers, the only ones who remained would be the elderly and the special cases.

With regards to the limited quantity of gold label Crystal Lords, the news benefited the collectors the most. The rarer the model, the more valuable their investment, though they also had to be prepared to bid high in order to get their hands on a copy.

"There are differences between the three labels." Ves continued. "The gold label version is the most complex design in this product line and features the largest chest crystal that has received special treatment that makes it more effective. The silver label Crystal Lords that my company produced in-house is nearly identical to the gold label version, but incorporates very small amounts of simplification in its construction and will also host a smaller chest crystal, but will similarly benefit from special treatment."

"What's the performance difference?!"

"Both the silver and bronze label chest crystals are unable to hold as much energy, so they will reach their saturation at roughly half the amount. Their output will be similarly affected by the same proportion."

This put a slight damper on everyone's enthusiasm. A single beam with twice the power of a laser cannon was very impressive because it outputted a very high amount of thermal energy at once. This helped a lot in terms of penetrating heavily-armored opponents.

With a half-strength beam, this effect would be much less pronounced. Unless the mech pilot possessed supreme control, it would be impossible for two half-powered laser beams to hit the same spot on a moving target. The damage would certainly be spread out over a wider surface area.

Therefore, even if they outputted the same amount of energy, the effective damage differed remarkably. On the battlefield, these differences could become a matter of life and death.

"What's the use of this gimmick then?"

"Do not forget that it offers a remarkable amount of defense against directed energy weapons. The beams unleashed by the bronze and silver label Crystal Lords are still extremely powerful and can deliver a sucker punch to any opponent regardless of the expenditure of their laser rifles."

Ves thought about this problem and before and delivered a prepared response without any hitchups. Since most of the Crystal Lords made available consisted of lesser quality mechs, it was important for the LMC to highlight the usefulness of the smaller crystals.

In any case, Ves mainly spoke to the mech insiders in the crowd. As long as he won them over, he achieved his goal.

Sadly, the woman wasn't done. "Do you have a physical copy here so we can compare their differences?"

"We do not have one on hand, but we can provide something even better." Ves replied and snapped his fingers.

A large number of carrying bots emerged from a back entrance. They all carried high-quality portable simulator pods supplied by Marcella's brokerage. The bots brought over a hundred of these pods at a time.

"Any potentate here is free to try out the virtual copies of each version of the Crystal Lord for fifteen minutes at a time! You may opt to test out the mech in a number of prepared scenarios, from empty sandboxes to complex battlefield environments."

A substantial portion of the crowd lit up at the appearance of the simulator pods. Though they only worked for potentates, a significant part of the crowd actually consisted of active duty or retired mech pilots.

"Is there any multiplayer available, or will the simulations serve us with AI-controlled bots?" The woman asked.

This was important, because the LMC meticulously placed the setpieces in the simulations to bring out the Crystal Lord's potential. Allowing the attendees to bring the Crystal Lord design in an online competitive environment might lead to awkward situations where the design failed to demonstrate any value.

As a design that thrived in longer engagements, the Crystal Lord did not favor the high-intensity combat inherent in mech duels.

"From tomorrow onwards, the LMC will release all three labels of the Crystal Lord onto Iron Spirit and other virtual games. Those present here will be allowed to experience our new products in a variety of situations."

Ves admittedly dodged the issue, but did it in the best way possible. People would still be able to test out the Crystal Lord in more dynamic combat situations, they just needed to wait another day.

In fact, Gavin proposed to delay the release of the virtual mechs by a single day for several reasons. First, it stopped the naysayers from pointing out that the LMC lacked confidence in their own designs. If the female heckler continued to ask, Ves could easily put out an excuse that they delayed the release due to technical or legal reasons.

Secondly, a delay of a single day might not sound like a big deal, but it would be way too late for the reporters who raced to publish their pieces on the press conference by the end of the day.

The news portals all prided themselves on delivering up-to-date news. It made no sense for them to wait another day just to test out the Crystal Lord a little more. After all, Ves already brought out a sufficient number of readily available simulator pods. Who cared if he manipulated the scenarios?

The reporters that attended the press conference came here to cover a product reveal. Reviewing the mechs could be done by specialists at a later date.

The woman very obviously looked unresigned. Ves made ample preparations this time. The previous instance where Ves allowed himself to get caught up in the moment when Michael Dumont challenged him to a design duel wouldn't happen again.

Ves couldn't read any hesitation in her eyes, but he figured that she might be adjusting her plans right now.

"Fair enough." She said, "Yet you still have all of these working, physical copies on display. Why not showcase their capabilities in a live duel?"

That caused the crowd to swing back in her favor. Her argument sounded very compelling. No matter the benefits of experiencing a simulation, they all lacked the raw, visceral impact of real mechs fighting against each other in front of their eyes.

"The Crystal Lord is not a dueling mech. It's a high-mobility premium rifleman mech that maintains its strength for hours at a time whereas many other mechs might reach their limits at that time. Unless we reserve the largest arena on Bentheim and let the duel format stretch for hours, you won't be able to appreciate the Crystal Lord's true value."

A lot of people looked disappointed. Suitable or not, everyone loved to watch a mech duel. They found it rather disappointing that Ves did not plan on showcasing the power of his mech in any duel.

His answer also precluded any challenges. Cowardly as he might seem, Ves left little means in which others could challenge him to a design duel.

Ves figured that the woman who asked the questions might be a mech designer. Otherwise, she wouldn't have been able to hone in on the holes in his presentation. He smirked minutely at her, as if he was confident he could defeat all of her tricks.

Right now, the only thing that could lead to a lot of trouble is if someone insisted on a duel. In fact, it looked like the woman still possessed a means to pressure Ves.

"I have a friend who is a mech designer. He happens to have designed a similar mech in terms of performance. Why not accept a challenge from my friend?"

"Hahaha!" Ves laughed. "Does his mech sell for upwards of 90 million credits? Has he incorporated an energy-absorbing light crystal in its chest? Is his laser rifle as light as mine? I doubt it unless your friend is a Journeyman Mech Designer!"

Not a lot of mech models sold for 90 million credits in the first place in the Bright Republic. They mostly consisted of customized designs that incorporated a rudimentary level of resonance.

His retort left the woman with little openings to pursue her challenge. Whether her friend was at the same level as Ves or not, the chances of coming up with a mech that was similar to the Crystal Lord was minute.

Although the crowd would still enjoy a duel between mechs of different configurations, it didn't serve that much of a point in the context of a design duel.

An ordinary mech duel tested the skill of the mech pilots and the qualities of their machines. It was primarily a contest between the pilots. The designers played second fiddle in that regard.

A design duel on the other hand tested the skill of the mech designers in designing the best mechs possible. If the mechs shared little in common, then the influence of other factors such as the matchups between different types of mechs and the skill of the mech pilots became more relevant.

Such duels still went on, but the person being challenged would generally be regarded as a genius or a fool.

The woman appeared to open her mouth once again, but Ves forcefully forestalled her words by holding up his palm. "There are other guests who want to ask a question. Let them have their turn."

Raising his palm in this way was actually a signal for someone backstage to muffle the woman's words. As she attempted to utilize her compelling voice yet again, no sound escaped her throat. Hidden machines embedded into the convention hall dampened the sound of her voice just as they left her mouth, preventing anyone else from hearing her voice.

This was one of the benefits of renting an upscale convention hall. The cheaper ones lacked this convenient feature, forcing organizers to resort to more disruptive means if they wanted to silence a troublemaker.

Still, many mech insiders recognized what went on. His solution had been fairly discrete, but the smart ones in the crowd couldn't help but lower their impression of Ves and the LMC. As acidic as the woman might have been, she asked a lot of questions that they should have brought up in the first place.

Ves didn't care.

As Ves continued to answer questions from others, the earlier harsh questioning became less acute in everyone's minds. That was not to say that the reporters didn't challenge him on certain points, but they obviously didn't care whether the Crystal Lord succeeded in becoming a hit.

All they wanted was more material to add to their articles, and Ves largely obliged.

Chapter 413

Once the first attendees exited from the simulator pods, they shared their remarkable experiences to the people waiting in line.

"Remarkable! It's so lifelike! This is the best mech I've ever piloted!"

"I can't believe how much at home I feel when I pilot the Crystal Lord! I tried all three versions and the gold label mech is by far the most sublime!"

"The cheaper bronze label model is no slouch either! Let me tell you, my mercenary corps already owns a silver label Blackbeak. Piloting a bronze label Crystal Lord is almost the exact same experience!"

Their subjective experiences and lack of technicalities that they could point out as issues led to a growth in positivity. Everyone focused on the good points of his design, and those who tried the models out in the simulations came away with a strong desire to pilot the mech again.

"Fifteen minutes is too short! I can't wait until tomorrow to pilot this virtual mech again! I need the real deal!"

"When will the auction start? Let me get my hands on a copy as fast as possible!"

Ves deliberately arranged the simulator pods to be placed in the vicinity of the nine gold label Crystal Lords. He also allowed the guests to approach the mechs and touch their cool metallic surface. This way, the vast majority of the attendants became exposed to the mutually amplified auras radiated by the mechs.

It was difficult to describe their effects on the people who neared the mechs. Everyone gazed at the machines with reverence. Some even lowered their heads in respect. As they discussed the Crystal Lord design among themselves, their thoughts and words would unconsciously be colored by their altered moods.

Nobody showed any awareness of this effect. As far as Ves was concerned, he achieved the same effect as outright drugging them into liking the Crystal Lord design.

The thought of it caused him to smirk, and as he continued to make himself available for questioning, he radiated supreme confidence in his work.

Under the intangible but near-oppressive might of the Crystal Lords, no one dared to affront their dignity by mentioning any shortcomings. Most of the crowd subjected those that raised any critical points with dirty looks. Under this strong social pressure, troublemakers found little means to raise another ruckus.

Of course, Ves and the LMC did not leave everything over to fate. After answering another question, Ves briefly excused himself and walked to the side. Gavin greeted him with a nod as he kept his eyes on his data pad.

"How many troublemakers have been carted away by security?"

"Twenty-five and counting." Gavin answered. "Since they only tried to heckle you, Sanyal-Ablin isn't able to hold them back and question them. We haven't been able to trace whether they attempted to stir up trouble on behalf of others and who their employers might be."

"Don't count on finding that out even if we held them in custody. These professional agitators are smarter than that." Ves grunted. "Still, Sanyal-Ablin is surprisingly effective in rolling them up before they could make a scene."

Gavin raised his head and grinned. "That's what you get when you hire the best. SASS has a lot of experience in crowd control. It makes sense when you consider how obsessive the Konsu Clan is about conformity. The AIs they employ are keeping a close watch on every attendant at once. The moment they attempt to raise their voice, the sound dampeners immediately silence their throats."

"Too bad they didn't catch that woman." Ves frowned. "Why hasn't security stepped in?"

"They couldn't silence her at the time because she took the place of an invited guest and sat close to the front. By standing up, she called out a lot of attention to herself while making any attempts at silencing her really obvious. Her voice also carried a strange property that inserted doubts in the AI."

That was something else he wanted to know about. "Who is she, anyway? How come she's in our guest list?"

"Her name is Mellie Neverland. She's actually a cousin of Andar Neverland. She's a mech designer as well, though she works at one of the larger mech manufacturers in Ansel. According to her record, she doesn't have a lot of designs under her belt. She only contributed a small part of a couple of larger collaborative projects."

He somewhat understood her background now. "She's a graduate of the Ansel University of Mech Design, isn't she?"

Gavin looked down at the data pad. "You're right!"

An outsider like Gavin might not be fully aware of the influence of the AUMD. Ves guessed that Mellie had been tasked by someone from the AUMD to drag down the perceived value of the Crystal Lord as much as possible.

"Could it be Mr. Neverland who is behind Mellie's attempt?" Gavin spoke out.

Ves shook his head. "It doesn't make any sense for him to do so. He's earned a sizable fortune by mass producing the bronze label Blackbeaks for the domestic market. Sure, his Elemental Mech Engineering isn't suited to produce the Crystal Lord, but that is no reason to risk his current licensing contract with us. The mastermind is likely someone else connected to the AUMD."

As for why someone from the AUMD wanted to spoil his party, Ves could think up a lot of reasons. It might be due to animosity against those with foreign ties, or an attempt to diminish his value in front of the Mech Corps so that he wouldn't take away a plump assignments from their graduates.

"I don't get it, boss. Why does the AUMD feel the need to put you down?"

"They feel threatened by someone like me. I studied at Rittersberg, a place filled with spoiled brats descended from decadent billionaires and poisonous politicians. A small number of mech designers who graduated from my school act all high and mighty once they enter the industry. They compensate for their lack of talent and ability by bullying everyone aside with their connections or their wealth."

"I thought the mech industry is an extremely competitive field." Gavin replied with puzzlement. "Shouldn't those rich kids make fools of themselves once they publish a couple of designs?"

"Ordinarily, their lack of talent is exposed in very short order. You're right in that the market won't be fooled by a bad design. However, those with means have other tricks available to them. The easiest way is to hire or coerce a more capable mech designer into designing mechs in their stead."

"I see." Gavin nodded. "So these good-for-nothings stay in business far longer than they ought to. Still, isn't it easy to expose them in that case?"

"Hahaha." Ves laughed in a low tone. "Who would dare go against their influence by challenging their competence? Anyone who sticks out their head won't gain a lot of rewards, but instead piss off a powerful influence."

"Still, you don't seem like one of those spoiled brats you're talking about. Unlike them, you've demonstrated your actual skill several times in public."

"That's even worse. Since the graduates of the AUMD can't take out their frustration on those spoiled brats, they train their firepower on schmucks like me. Even though I enjoy some backing as well, they can't help me out in this area."

"Why not? You're a Larkinson and an apprentice of a Master Mech Designer. That should scare loads of people off."

"Those influences can deter a casual bystander, but they don't look so scary to those in the know. We Larkinsons are fairly famous in the mech pilot circles, but we don't have any influence in the industry other than myself. As for my Master, she's many light-years away from the Bright Republic. I'm just a nominal disciple, so how much does she really care about me?"

The few times she met her, Ves in fact felt as if Master Olson genuinely cared about him, if only a little bit. Perhaps she might have ulterior motives and perhaps she saw a use for him in the future, but Ves never got the impression that she regarded him as dirt.

Still, as busy as she was, Ves never fooled himself into thinking that he registered high in her list of priorities. A Master Mech Designer wielded enough influence to affect the entire Friday Coalition. She probably spent most of her time on developing her own enterprises.

"Besides catching people who wanted to make a fuss, Sanyal-Ablin also caught a couple of armed people outside the steps." Gavin spoke in a serious tone.

"How many?"

"Only three, but all of them had been kitted out with stealth gear. Regular security companies would have been fooled by these measures."

"These guys aren't much of a threat even if they managed to sneak inside." Ves waved away the threat. "Whoever sent them is too small-time for us to track them down. Tell Sanyal-Ablin to deliver them to the local authorities and let them handle the thugs as they see fit."

The high-class convention hall hid an abundance of defenses. Before anyone could pull out a gun and shoot into the crowd, a large number of solid plates would emerge from the ground to block his line of fire.

Anyone with a bit of know-how should know about this and more. That a bunch of stealthed assassins or saboteurs attempted to cause a major incident anyway showed their lack of importance.

"Have any more people entered the hall since the end of my presentation?"

"A fair amount of people are constantly coming through. In fact, it's starting to become a problem. Too many people are entering, and not enough are going out! By now, Sanyal-Ablin is forcing the people outside to queue up and wait their turn."

"This is a good sign." Ves smiled. "The men and women clamoring to come inside must have heard about the event from a broadcast or through word of mouth. What they heard about the Crystal Lord must have been extremely positive as well. Otherwise, they won't be coming in such great numbers."

"A lot of mech designers are attempting to enter as well. Per your orders, the guards refused them entry."

"Good." Ves nodded.

Mellie Neverland and a handful of other mech designers only got to attend this product reveal because of their relations to him or the LMC.

Ves did not look forward to getting challenged to a design duel, so he straightforwardly forbid entry to other mech designers. Perhaps he might be pissing off a lot of fellow colleagues, but he wouldn't be the first mech designer to do so.

He found it more important to retain complete control than to please potential troublemakers.

Once he took a look at the contents of the data pad, Ves nodded to Gavin and patted his shoulder. "Keep up the good work. Try and find a way to get people to leave. I want as many people to witness my mechs as possible today."

"That's going to be really hard. Look at their faces. Do any of the attendees look like they want to go?!"

"Figure something out with Sanyal-Ablin. They should be good at this as well."

Around ten minutes later, Ves saw a result. He didn't know how, but Sanyal-Ablin managed to set up a rotation. Aside from the invited guests, everyone else could only linger in the hall for a limited amount of time.

Time went by and Bentheim's sun fell over the horizon. By the end of the local day, tens of thousands of citizens and tourists visited the hall and got a close glimpse of the nine impressive mechs.

The auction held in the evening went great as well. The collectors and representatives all stewed underneath the combined auras for hours at a time.

Such a strong and pervasive exposure to the effects from the X-Factor of the mechs inured them to its influence. However, even if they got used to the charm of the mechs, they still couldn't think about parting from their presence.

The representatives of different collectors who hadn't decided to attend all did their best in convincing their bosses to bid on the gold label mechs. Some even managed to pull their collectors from whatever they were doing in order to attend the auction in person.

This led to a raft of eye-watering bidding. The most expensive mech auctioned for 134 million credits while the cheapest one went for a respectable 122 million credits.

While the winning bids hadn't reached the level he had hoped, Ves could still call this day a success.

"Still, even if I manage to woo the crowd, I don't know if the rest of the market will be so easily convinced."

Without seeing the mechs in person, others wouldn't be drugged by their auras. Will the Crystal Lord models still appeal to them? Ves could only wait until tomorrow to find out.

Chapter 414

After a successful day of presenting the Crystal Lord, Ves patiently slept and waited until the next day to find out the public's response.

As he ate breakfast in his hotel room, Gavin came up to him and provided him with a brief report.

"Almost every publication who attended the press conference wrote glowing praise about the Crystal Lord! We succeeded in wowing them and transferring their enthusiasm in their reporting!"

Ves accepted the data pad and skimmed through the articles they published in the morning. Some delivered unfiltered words of admiration, while others looked more restrained, as if the editors of the publications forcefully leashed their over-enthusiastic reporters.

Nonetheless, getting that much was more than sufficient for the LMC. Interest in the Crystal Lord obviously spiked upwards and millions of people started looking up the mech on the galactic net after just a few hours of exposure.

"What about the negative articles?"

"There are a lot of other publications who are trying to throw shade on the Crystal Lord. Some of them are excessively negative while others express some doubts at its value proposition. I don't believe that all of these news portals are following someone's orders. They just don't buy into the hype."

"Hm, that's to be expected." Ves nodded gravely as he sipped a cup of coffee. "Even though the Crystal Lord looks impressive when you see it in person, it's hard to convey its value onto a spec sheet. It's unusual for an Apprentice Mech Designer like me to publish such an expensive design."

"The main point the skeptics are raising is if it is a product looking for a market. Most rifleman mech models in this price range are designed by Journeyman, and all of their products are a notch above your own in terms of value for money. The only wildcard is the amount of value your gimmick can bring to the table."

Ves smirked. "That's exactly why I kept working on this feature that all of you thought was a big waste of time. I never intended it to be a game-changer in a battle. As long as people think it's useful enough to justify its price, it's accomplishing its mission."

The virtual models of the design appeared on the different simulation games as well, allowing the public to explore their strengths at their own pace. The first reviews already reached glowing levels as many of them became affected by the X-Factor of the virtual mechs they piloted.

As Ves read through the reports, he got a sense that this effect became a lot stronger than compared with the Blackbeak. Anyone who piloted the virtual version of the offensive knight design came away with much less enthusiasm.

Perhaps that was one of the main differences between B and C-grade X-Factors. The responses of the early adopters sounded no different than those who piloted any of his mechs in person.

This happened to have formed a powerful boost for the newly published Crystal Lord. The overwhelmingly positive feedback elevated the virtual models to a whole new level. As they gained in popularity, they also became more prominent in the virtual marketspace, leading to more curious players trying them out.

"It's too bad that it's a fairly demanding mech to pilot." Gavin noted sullenly. "It's classified as a 5-star virtual mech in Iron Spirit, so not a lot of people are qualified to purchase and pilot it in the first place."

Right now, the higher-league player base of online games like Iron Spirit had plummeted due to the war. These working men and women needed to focus their full attention on surviving the war. They had no time to waste on games in simulations that didn't cut it as a professional training tool.

Ves still smiled. "The more exposure, the better. Great things start from small steps. Building up some grassroots popularity for our new design is never a bad thing. The more the laymen talk about it, the more the professionals take note. Word will spread, and eventually interest will blow over to the people in charge of procuring mechs."

"Actual sales are still very modest. We may have received a lot of orders for the silver label Crystal Lord, but we aren't getting any further orders except from those who attended the conference."

They both knew that the Crystal Lord might be off to a rough start. Ves already thought about it extensively and believed that the situation might change once people start to convey their experiences with piloting the mechs in circulation. "These things take time. It's normal for potential buyers to hold back on purchasing an expensive mech. They want to avoid being scammed, so they'll only start to move once we receive some positive feedback from the first wave of customers."

"Yeah, about that, we're kind of in a tight spot with regards to production. I don't need to tell you this, but the Mech Nursery is bottlenecked by the fact that it only runs three production lines. That was already insufficient with the silver label Blackbeak and now with the silver label Crystal Lord on top, their waiting lists have reached an insane proportion."

This was one problem that the LMC couldn't easily solve. "We already went into debt in order to finance the acquisition of two additional Benson production lines. Do we have to dig a deeper hole?"

"You can always have the company issue more stock. The LMC is obviously on the rise, so its stock is really hot right now."

"No. Absolutely not." Ves quickly shook his head. "I haven't changed my mind on this stance. The other shareholders don't want to dilute their ownership. Personally, I don't feel desperate enough to sell my own shares either."

The LMC currently faced a paper loss resulting from missed opportunities. That was entirely different to sustaining real losses by spending much more money than they earned from their revenue streams.

Basically, the company was already in a pretty good spot, but everyone wanted to move over to a better position. They just had to pay a price in order to do so.

Ves already relayed his opinion on the matter to Calsie, and tasked her to coordinate with the board and the Finance Department to find out a solution that made everyone happy. With the LMC's financial growth prospects, taking out another loan shouldn't be difficult, but the sticking point was the amount of investment they wanted to make.

A conservative expansion entailed acquiring two second-hand production lines on the cheap, while more ambitious plans called for diving deep into debt in order to finance a whopping amount of six new production lines.

Though Ves did not look forward to saddling the LMC with debt, in the long run it paid off. The only worry was that something drastic happened in the meantime that might disrupt the company's future profit streams.

In these uncertain times, it became increasingly harder for mech manufacturers to obtain loans at favorable rates. One of the most awful consequences of the earlier mass raids by the Vesians was that banks suddenly hiked all of their interest rates overnight. It was a lot more expensive to owe money to them after that point.

This was why the question of financing a further expansion required a lot of consideration. Even after they made a decision, they might spend a month or two on negotiating the best possible terms with the banks they wanted to go to bed with. Once they finally managed to acquire the production lines and get them up and running with an expanded crew of mech technicians, at least half a year might have gone by.

All the while, demand for the Crystal Lord piled up.

To placate the urgent demand, the LMC pretty much had to resort to relying on third-party manufacturers yet again. This was something else that Ves had delegated to Calsie and the rest.

"What kind of third-party manufacturers are expressing interest in producing the bronze label Crystal Lords?"

"Well, first off, you've got Vaun Industrial." Gavin began. "They are remarkably open in their intentions, despite not earning as much from their Blackbeaks as they hoped. Bronze label Blackbeaks only make up a tiny portion of their total earnings, so it's rather unusual for them to be so forward about licensing the Crystal Lord. I get the idea that if not for the steep 5 billion credit price tag for the standard contract, they might have already signed it instead of coming up to us."

Ves nodded. "Vaun Industrial is a big player, and they excel in volume and precision. I don't really like to go into business with them though, but it's hard to refuse a partner once they have a foot in the door."

Unspoken was the fact that despite the lack of passion in their production methods, they did a really good job in fabricating his mechs. They matched the design schematics to an almost obsessive level of precision, and no one ever reported any major defects from the mechs that rolled off their sophisticated production lines.

"I don't know why you're so hung up about Vaun. They're our best partner by far with regards to the Blackbeaks. They're a lot better than Neverland's EME, which still needs constant monitoring from us in order to avoid any slip-ups."

"It's difficult to explain. It's enough for you to know that I would rather work with companies like EME with all of its troubles than Vaun. The latter see mechs as commodities while the former knows there is more to quality than mechanical perfection."

Someone like Gavin wouldn't understand, so they quickly moved on from this point. They discussed some other matters, such as the company's liquidity and how much they needed to spend on promoting their new design.

"We should keep the hype alive by running occasional ads." Gavin suggested. "Once the hype dies down completely, it's hard to bring it back to life. We should spend at least 100 million credits a month on this, and that's the bare minimum. Once Vaun Industrial and other partners crank up their production lines and produce the Crystal Lord by the hundreds, we can really ramp up our promotion by then."

"Even if we're in the process of acquiring more debt, don't skimp on the promotion. The first month after publishing a new design is the most crucial period of all. We can't afford to neglect the importance of shaping everyone's first impressions of our new mech.

Gavin dutifully noted all of his words and would send them off to Calsie later. In the meantime, Ves finished his breakfast and allowed some attendants to brush up on his clothes and appearance. He adopted a couple of smiles until he settled on one that seemed modestly polite.

"How do I look?" Ves asked.

"Confident, but not arrogant. It's the right look for a mech designer who's talented and is aware of it. You don't want to widen that smile, or else you might come across as unhinged."

The reason why they went through the trouble of brushing up his appearance was because they scheduled a whole host of interviews for today. While they hadn't gotten any major publications to come and talk to Ves, they did garner the interest of many smaller local news portals.

Though they didn't reach a very wide audience, they formed an influential voice in certain communities. A mosquito's leg still contained meat, so Ves filled up his plate with as much of them as possible in order to substitute for a single chicken drum.

It was grueling work, though. Ves needed to maintain a constant veneer of poise in front of the recorders.

"Boss, don't think about how much the interviews will tire you out. Instead, think about what you get out of this. You only have to endure a single day of suffering."

"I don't know. I feel kind of desperate accepting all of these interviews from hack publications. For example, I don't even know why you invited The Mech Conspiracy. They're a bunch of crazies!"

Gavin laughed. "Crazy as they are, they are actually some of the most loyal customers you can have as long as you make them like you. Just study their latest conspiracy theories and find a way to portray the LMC in a good light."

"That's impossible. These people believe that half of the MTA has been taken over by bots, and that every mech is secretly brainwashing their mech pilots into worshiping some unknown lizard-like race."

"It's a good thing you don't look like a lizard."

"Haha."

Chapter 415

Despite all of the work that Ves put into promoting his new design, the effect was hardly noticeable, but every little bit helped. He had no doubt that once they finished setting things up with the third-party manufacturers, people would have much more to talk about as more of them got exposed to his mechs.

Throughout the next week, Ves participated in several promotional events in a row. The reason why he filled up his schedule with these activities was because this might be his last opportunity to put in a good word on his newly released design.

After returning back to his hotel room, he felt tired to the bone. Even though his mind and body reached a transhuman state, the amount of activities he took part in almost crushed him into a worm. His spiritual exhaustion had reached a peak.

"I can't do this any longer. I'm not cut out for this line of work."

As the lead designer of the LMC, it was extremely important for Ves to get his face out and shape his audience's impressions of his new mech. Still, the company relied too much on him to do everything. While he worked to shift some responsibility to others so that it wouldn't collapse in his absence, Ves realized he overlooked one key player.

The LMC needed a spokesperson.

"Gavin?"

"Yes, boss?"

"Who will take over as the face of the company when I'm gone?"

Unlike Ves who did all the work, Gavin only stayed on the sidelines and arranged his schedule. He still looked relatively fresh and looked eager to freshen up his boss so that he could drag them to another promotional event.

The moment Ves asked the question, his assistant looked pained. "Calsie isn't suitable for this role, and neither am I. We're too young and we don't understand mechs the way you do. The best we can put forth is Jake Altern."

Jake was an old man and single-handedly expanded the LMC from a small-scale mech workshop into a proper medium mech manufacturer. The COO knew more about the business side of the company than anyone else, including Ves.

Still, did the LMC benefit from putting forth an old geezer who couldn't get into the nitty gritty details when it came to discussing the intricacies of mechs?

"Jake is too old and doesn't have the expertise to answer industry-specific questions." Ves concluded.

"True. A young company such as ours needs to present a dynamic image. Most of our customers are mech pilots or mech commanders who are looking for alternatives to the most conventional options on the market. Presenting a stiff and old-fashioned image goes against our positioning."

"Well said, Gavin."

The only problem was that this left no one qualified to represent the LMC in public.

"Boss. If we can't use an insider, why not adopt an outsider?"

"Hm. I was thinking about that as well."

Not all mech designers wanted to show up in front of a recorder and have his face projected throughout the entire state. They put up different kinds of as their surrogates, and over time this experimentation has led to a number of best practices.

The most popular solution was to put forth a mech pilot as their public voice.

Though not too well-versed in the technical design and construction of a mech, they knew all about the stuff that customers really wanted to know. Mech pilots understood other mech pilots the most. This common level of understanding helped a lot in roping people into becoming their customers.

The only problem was picking the right person. Ves did not want to put up Melkor or anyone else from the Avatars of Myth. Being a spokesperson was a full-time job these days and mech pilots who chose to take on this role needed a lot of grooming to present a knowledgeable but authentic image in public.

"If you don't have any other suggestions, why not let the LMC sort this problem out on its own?"

Ves would have liked to select his own spokesperson, but he had a feeling he would be gone very soon. "Very well. Put it on their agenda and make sure they select someone by the end of this month. Once the bronze label Crystal Lords are beginning to appear on the market, we need to be more active in our promotion."

They didn't discuss anything else that evening. Ves was too tired and hit the sack soon after. The next day, a fateful message arrived at his comm.

It was the message that portended his next step in life, for good or ill.

"The Mech Corps is calling."

Ves briefly checked the galactic net and saw that a lot of other mech designers received the same message as well. The Mech Corps formally called up the second wave of mech designers to fight for their state.

Despite knowing that this day was long in coming, Ves still felt uneasy about it. He heard so many second-hand stories about mech designers in the Mech Corps that he didn't know if he should believe them all. He also didn't know if the Mech Corps valued him enough to assign him to a meaningful role.

"There's no use dragging this moment out."

Although the message granted its recipients a generous amount of time before they needed to report to the Mech Corps, Ves wanted to get in early. He learned that tip from a classmate in school.

"Arriving early demonstrates your dutifulness and shows you care."

The Mech Corps constantly kept watch over its mech designers. Those who showed signs of disgruntlement and dragged their feet in their work tended to be transferred away from a research base and be sent straight to the frontlines.

However, before he submitted himself to the Mech Corps, Ves planned to make one final visit. He raised his comm and called up Melinda.

"Hiya Vessie." Melinda greeted him, though not with a smile this time. "I heard about what just happened. You're joining the war, aren't you?"

"Yeah." Ves nodded. "Don't worry about me, I'm not going to be picking up a weapon anytime soon."

Melinda still looked worried. "You should still watch out for yourself. The Mech Corps looks strong on the outside, but it's made out of countless cliques that fight over every scrap of resources they can get. That's one of the reasons why I opted to join the Planetary Guard. It's much simpler here, since we're only responsible for defending a single planet."

The burden of defending more than a thousand star systems at once fell heavily onto the shoulders of the Mech Corps. It was a difficult job to juggle at the best of times, but once you factor in the limited amount of funds and resources it had at its disposal, then internal fights often broke out.

Mech pilots being what they were, it wasn't unheard of for them to punch each other in their faces. Even upper echelon would sometimes be guilty of this, as they all used to be mech pilots themselves. They learned their entire life how to develop their aggression and channel it against their opponents.

Learning how to compromise came much later in their careers.

"Since I'm going to be cut off from everyone very soon, I'd like to pay a visit to you. Are you free for today?"

"Hm, it's all hands on deck at the Planetary Guard right now, but we recently stepped down from the highest state of readiness. As long as I ask around for some favors, I can probably clear up a couple of hours in my schedule. Is that alright?"

"That sounds great!"

A couple of hours later, Ves arrived at a stately-looking condominium in the middle of Dorum. Melinda's current apartment was actually one of the rewards he dangled out for her in exchange for piloting the Blackbeak in the duel against Captain Vicar's Havalax.

As far as condominiums went, the place Melinda lived portrayed a lot of quiet elegance. It was probably a huge hit to women, but others might like it as well for all the peace and quiet it radiated. The inner spaces contained a lot of gardens and minimalistic artwork. Together, they provided residents with a rare moment of serenity in an otherwise busy planet.

Once he reached the top of the condo, Ves stepped inside the penthouse, which commanded a sweeping view over Dorum.

"Welcome to my place!" Melinda waved from a sofa.

"Looks like you are doing well for yourself."

"Heh, ever since the duel, I can't even show my face in public anymore. Even though a lot of time has passed, hardly anyone forgot about that fight. I beat down a captain of the Mech Corps! Hardly anyone else can claim they can do the same!"

As Ves took a seat on the opposite sofa, Melinda blabbered on about how everyone treated her with more importance. The Planetary Guard started grooming her into an officer while her fellow mech pilots constantly slapped her back for showing that they could measure up against their military counterparts.

Ves smiled at her stories. If not for her current career, she would have made a perfect spokesperson for the LMC.

"What do you think about my new design?"

"I followed your press thingie while I was out on patrol. Don't tell my captain I did so." She winked at him. "All in all, if you weren't my cousin, I would have smacked your mouth. Really now, do you really have to charge so much for a rifleman mech? It's insane!"

"It's not meant to be a mass-production model. The Crystal Lord offers several enhancements over the mainstream models."

"Hah! Sure, but who would want to buy a single overengineered mech when they can get two normal ones instead?"

"My product doesn't cater to the average consumer."

"I'm telling you, each time I see you, your mouth is getting bigger and bigger. You're greedy, Ves. It's gotten to the point where it's blowing over to the rest of the Larkinson Family. Last time I visited Rittersberg, all they talked about was stocks and dividends and how much money you're going to shovel in their pig-like throats."

Ves laughed awkwardly at that accusation. "Everything's easier with money. Do you think a fancy place like this can be bought for a couple of credits?"

"That's not the point I'm trying to make. You used to be small and cute, you know? Just like any other munchkin at the Larkinson Estate."

"I'm a grown person now. My innocence is long gone."

"I get the feeling you lost a lot of other things as well along the way." Melinda spoke with a low voice. "Meeting you again has made me realize you're turning into something else. The Ves I used to know is slowly making way for a different kind of person."

"What kind of person are you talking about?"

"You're turning into one of those stereotypical mech designers you see in the dramas. Not the losers who are barely keeping their workshops afloat, but those successful ones who let their achievements grow their egos blow through the roof."

Ves knew what she was referring to. The mech designers portrayed in those stories tended to be the ruthless sort who fought and cheated their way to success. They didn't hesitate to order a hit on their competitors if they could get away with it. They treated their own subordinates like furniture and their customers like sheep.

In the dramas, mech designers like that often showed up as conceited villains who thought they could get anything they wanted as long as they threw enough money at it. They treated their existence as if they had been descended from gods, and they openly behaved as if the galaxy revolved around their whims.

As Ves momentarily reflected on himself, he had to admit he changed from two years ago. "Even if I'm a different person now, I hardly walk and talk like one of those stupid caricature. I only changed because this is the way that business is done. The true mech industry is hardly cutthroat to the extent where I dress up in stealth clothing and sneak into the bedroom of my rivals to assassinate them in person."

The convoluted stories the entertainment industry came up with regards to mech designers boggled the mind. Though they also broadcasted other stories where mech designers played the hero, it was far too common to see them in the role of ruthless mech magnate.

Melinda didn't appear to be convinced. She stared hard at Ves as she stood up and walked close to him. Once she reached his position, she extended her hands and grabbed his cheeks, only to pull them apart.

"I know the old Ves is still there! Come on out!"

Chapter 416

Ves spent a couple of hours at Melinda's place. They reminisce about the past and exchanged their thoughts about the war.

Unlike most Larkinsons, Melinda didn't seem so eager to distinguish herself in the great conflict. "I'm not so hungry to earn acknowledgement from our uncles and aunts. What's the use of making a name for yourself when you end up in an early grave?"

"You should be careful with such talk. Others might think you're a coward."

"So what if they did? I'm my own person. I don't need anyone's acknowledgement. Besides, I've more than earned my chops in the Planetary Guard and that stupid duel."

"What will you do if the war reaches the surface of Bentheim? It could always happen."

"Pah." Melinda dismissively waved her hand. "The Vesians never managed to set foot on Bentheim before and they won't do so for the foreseeable future. They can't break the Republic all by themselves."

"It can always happen. No one can be certain of how this war will progress."

"Even if the Vesians arrive at my doorstep, I'll continue to do my duty. There's no question about that." Melinda stated with conviction. "Just because I'm not eager to earn for glory doesn't mean I'll run away at the first sign of trouble. I merely don't buy in the glory that the other Larkinsons are talking about. I must be lacking those genes."

No one truly believed the Vesians could succeed in breaking through. They feared the possibility, but hundreds of years or unending failure insured everyone to the status quo.

Ves faintly found that attitude to be wrong. Maybe it was because he experienced these tumultuous times for himself, but his intuition told him that this time would be different. The problem was convincing others of the gravity of this current conflict.

"By the way, have you gotten in touch with Raella?"

Mentioning the current black sheep of the Larkinson Family sank Melinda's mood to the bottom of a pit.

"She isn't accepting my calls. From what I can gather, nobody else has managed to get in touch with her. She's completely involved in her own little world. From the intelligence that the Planetary Guard has gathered, she's become something of a champion pilot to the Blood Claws. They parade her out whenever they need to fight a mech duel."

"That sounds dangerous."

"I won't argue that. Raella's got as many balls as any Larkinson serving in the frontlines. Mech duels that take place in official arenas are already dangerous enough, but the underground arenas are ten times worse. It takes a real survivor to make it out alive from there."

Both of them looked a little worried, but Raella made her bed. If she thought she could handle it, then Ves couldn't do anything about her reckless choice.

"How influential are the Blood Claws? Are they a big deal?"

Melinda snorted. "Hah! Big deal? They're massive! They just hide it well. They control roughly a third of Bentheim's seedy underbelly. Nothing happens on their territory without them knowing about it. They're a violent bunch and the aftermath of their fights are always a hell to clean up. The only reason why they aren't mopped up is because we can never stamp them out and the cost would be too much for us to bear."

This was a familiar refrain that every authority figure repeated when someone asked why they hadn't mopped up the gangs.

"What are the Blood Claws good at?"

"Hm. They don't have any specialties as far as I know. They've dipped their fingers into gambling, extortion, stimulants, pirated mechs and more. Whatever you can think of, they probably have someone doing it. That's what makes them so pervasive."

"They sound like swell guys."

"They used to be worse. They only cleaned up their act once they couldn't expand anymore."

He enjoyed his time at Melinda's, even if he couldn't stay for long. It was inconvenient for him to travel to Rittersberg, so talking with one more Larkinson besides Melkor reminded him he was a part of the Larkinsons as well. Blood was thicker than water, and Ves had a feeling he needed to count on them sooner or later.

"This might be the last time I see you for several years." Ves said as he stood at her doorstep. "I hope you take care of yourself, and keep an eye on my company as well."

She shrugged. "Will do, though it doesn't look like your company needs it. Your new mech is catching a lot of attention."

"I'm glad to hear that."

Ves checked the updated status report on the exposure of the Crystal Lord. Interest in the mech grew significantly, mostly because several pilots tried them out in simulators. Their good impressions translated into glowing praise, which attracted their friends to try a hand at piloting the mech as well.

Even with the positive word-of-mouth, the amount of orders hadn't grown by much. Buyers still wanted to hear more experiences from those who owned and piloted the physical copies of the mech.

"They'll have to wait for a long time, since as far as I know, every bidder who won a mech at the auctions are pure collectors."

These types of people cared a lot about the condition of their mechs. The newer, the better. It would be best if the mechs hadn't been piloted at all since they passed their testing phases.

It would be impossible for them to show off their new purchases by sticking a pilot into their cockpits and increase the wear and tear of the mech by skipping around.

In any case, Ves wouldn't have to deal with these issues very soon. Instead, he needed to report for duty.

He entered an armored shuttle and directed it to bring him towards a processing center of the Mech Corps in the outskirts of Dorum. After a short amount of time, the shuttle and its escorts settled down onto a massive parking space that hosted hundreds of shuttle.

As Ves exited the vehicle, he took in the din of conversation and realized that he hadn't arrived as early as he thought. Many other mech designers had already packed their bags and waited for the moment the Mech Corps called up the second wave.

His comm beeped as it received an automated message from the processing center. They sent him a map of the processing center and his schedule for the next couple of days.

"Looks like I've got a lot of inspections to go through."

Ves sounded a little worried because his body and mind was nothing like a baseline human. Even though the Bright Republic must have noted down his abnormalities, it would still raise some eyebrows with the Mech Corps he thought.

At this stage, a lot of mech designers already arrived. Ves took a casual glance of the people disembarking from their shuttles and air cars and guessed that most of them consisted of Apprentices and Journeymen.

Ves easily distinguished the latter from their attitude, body language and privileges. They treated obvious Apprentices like air and only held an equal conversation with other Journeymen.

To be sure, Journeyman Mech Designers enjoyed a lot more prestige because it was at this point that the mech industry regarded them as fully competent mech designers. Before advancing to this rank, mech designers still possessed a lot of holes in their knowledge base and couldn't fully guarantee the soundness of their designs.

In contrast, regardless of the person involved, any Journeyman Mech Designer who received formal recognition from the MTA could be counted on to deliver battle worthy mechs. Their designs covered every base, and often carried something extra in order to distinguish their products from others.

This was why even if the LMC reached the point of selling thousands of mechs, the industry still regarded it as a small-time player. His low rank hobbled the reputation of his designs. He could forget about conquering a significant share of the mech market as long as his status remained the same.

"I still have a lot of work ahead of myself in order to reach their heights."

Most Journeyman Mech Designers looked to be in their middle ages, though it was hard to guess due to the use of age-prolonging treatments. Many Journeymen enjoyed enough success to be able to afford the most preliminary suite of treatments that stretched out their aging process. They couldn't get back their youth, but the time of their natural deaths could still be extended by at least a century.

People who enjoyed age-prolonging treatments couldn't be distinguished from a baseline human unless they exhibited some characteristic traits. Most of the time, their behavior could be described as wearing a young skin, but acting like an old person.

Ves only rarely saw so many people who behaved in this manner before. Age-prolonging treatments was something that was out of the hands of the general public. Even the Larkinson Estate couldn't afford to provide any treatments to their most famous family members such as Grandpa Benjamin or Uncle Ark.

This was also one of the shortcomings of age-prolonging technology. Ves didn't understand the science behind it all, but it was generally known that it took a lot more effort to extend the lives of a potentate or mech pilot.

Their brains operated in a different manner from the brains of baseline humans. Theirs was much more active and in fact wore out a little faster. Age-prolonging treatments needed to be calibrated very specifically to accommodate the unique brains of every mech pilot.

The higher their rank, the bigger the challenge.

The Bright Republic at its current state simply couldn't afford to subsidize any age-prolonging treatments for their expert pilots. This actually led to a lot of them to pack up their bags and emigrate to the Friday Coalition or some other powerful state in a different star sector. The number of expert pilots who stuck with the Bright Republic was very little.

Naturally, these expert pilots wouldn't necessarily have a good time in their new homes, and it wasn't as if the Mech Corps possessed no means of retaining some of them. Usually, they signed contracts with talented pilots that stated that if they happened to advance to expert pilot while in active duty, that they still needed to serve the end of their terms before they could go.

This illustrated the disparity in treatment between different ranks. Even if the Bright Republic didn't possess enough means to please all of their talents, they sure tried their best to accommodate them. Ves witnessed the differences first-hand.

Whereas Ves only received a message on his comm and a projected AI as his guide, junior officers personally received every incoming Journeyman. They would quickly be led to a smaller building off to the side that nonetheless looked more luxurious.

"Some day, I'll get the same kind of treatment." Ves shrugged and continued to follow the blinking projected ball that led him across the parking area and towards a large hangar-like structure.

Inside the cavernous walls, large amounts of mech designers lined up to report for duty and to go through their first inspections.

Despite the enormous lines, Ves moved forward rather quickly. The Mech Corps didn't choose to conduct their business inside this giant hangar for nothing. Once Ves arrived at the front, a bland-looking serviceman checked his identity and signed off on a whole stack of virtual documents.

"Sign here to acknowledge that you understand the rules and regulations of the Mech Corps, and that you cannot use ignorance of these regulations as an excuse."

"Sign here to confirm you agree with the secrecy clauses. The Mech Corps takes confidentiality and information security with the highest level of importance. Report immediately if you carry any electronic or biological implants, no matter how small or unrelated they might be to spying activities."

Ves dutifully noted some of the abnormalities in his body, most notably the Jutland organ. Even if the Mech Corps likely knew all of this before, he couldn't afford to slip up right at the start.

"Note down the possible conflicts of interest that might occur during your service time. Be as detailed as possible, and include both foreign and domestic influences."

"Sign here to consent to invasive health checks. The Mech Corps reserves the right to unilaterally operate and modify your body and its physiological functions without needing to adhere to any medical justifications."

"Sign here to state that during your service, you will put the interests of the Bright Republic over the interests of any other state or comparable entity. In case of a conflict of interests, you should immediately report it to your superiors."

Chapter 417

By the time Ves biometrically signed the twenty-odd documents, his fingers almost cramped up. Some organizations were content with scanning the DNA or the pupils of a person, but the Mech Corps adhered to a much more rigorous standard.

The sheer amount of actions Ves needed to do to sign each document was a struggle in itself. The Mech Corps was determined to prevent any mech designers from committing fraud or misrepresenting the truth.

Ves understood why, of course. Mech designers primarily designed mechs, but were capable engineers as well. They used to pull off all kinds of tricks, from hacking the devices that held the virtual documents and changing their clauses, to putting forth a remote-controlled android to serve in their stead.

The most extreme example actually consisted of a spoiled brat who ordered the kidnapping of another mech designer. Gruesome surgery turned the victim's body into a clone of the spoiled brat, while extremely brutal brainwashing slowly turned his personality into a passable imitation of the mastermind.

The entire scheme actually stood a good chance of working because the Mech Corps didn't perform invasive inspections back then. The doppelganger dutifully pretended to be someone else and while some may have held some suspicions, no one realized the truth.

The only reason why it fell through was because the spoiled brat showed himself in public when one of his parties went out of control. People quickly started to scratch their heads why this good-for-nothing mech designer could be in two places at once. Wasn't he working on debugging mechs in some isolated research base?

"Go on ahead and wait for inspection."

Ves moved on and followed the guide to a closed-off modular clinic. Throughout the rest of the day, he went through an extensive amount of tests. Due to his abnormal body, he enjoyed increased scrutiny and had to endure a lot more tests despite the existence of records that told the exact same story.

"We just want to be sure we got the right person." A doctor muttered when Ves asked why.

The Mech Corps wasn't interested in the potentially miraculous effects of his Jutland organ. Instead, they held a lot of concern about its unknown functioning and the intentions of its creator. Who knew what kind of biological programming it contained.

Ves came across the first obstacle then and there.

"You'll have to stay back, Mr. Larkinson." The doctor said as he furrowed at the inconclusive results in the reports. "We can let you go through the next steps of your initiation until we have received some assurances that you aren't carrying anything that might prove to be a detriment."

Ves expected that something like this might happen. "I can refer you to Master Olson's representative. He can vouch for me."

"That will help a lot!"

In cases like this where the Mech Corps lacked the means to resolve the issue, they would normally hold back the mech designer in question and dither on their assignments. Ves wanted to avoid such an awful fate, so he already prepared something beforehand.

He raised his comm and sent out the contact details for Horatio. "This is the contact for Master Olson's steward. He takes care of all her administrative issues and knows about my situation."

The doctor retreated and corresponded with Horatio. Ves couldn't eavesdrop on their conversation, but he had no doubt that the most contentious issues would be waved away.

After all, Ves was not the only mech designer here with connections to a foreign state. The Friday Coalition was a behemoth compared to the Republic, so the latter had no choice but to swallow every pill served in its mouth.

Some time later, the doctor returned and wordlessly nodded his head at Ves to move onwards.

"Thanks."

Although the experience was a little awkward, and the Mech Corps would never fully trust him, Ves knew that he had cleared the most essential hurdle.

He went through a final inspection where some bots stripped all of his clothes and belongings and issued him a bland, gray replacement outfit along with the most primitive comm he had ever seen.

"This thing doesn't even have a single app installed besides a clock."

After that, Ves reached a dormitory area where a handful of mech designers bunked inside small modular rooms erected for the purpose. He entered a room only to meet three unfamiliar faces.

"Look at what we have here! The latecomer has arrived!"

"Took you long enough!"

"You missed dinner, but we saved some for you."

Ves smiled and went inside and took a seat at the square table in the middle. "Thank you, I'm starving."

Dinner in this case consisted of nothing more than a bland, stale nutrient pack along with lots of water to hydrate his stomach.

"Is this it?" Ves frowned. "It looks rather... bare."

Even prisoners got to enjoy reconstituted food that used nutrient packs as raw materials. Serving the dry bars of unidentifiable biological matter without any processing was jokingly considered as a borderline war crime. He introduced himself as Morgan Hollenfield.

One of the three mech designers sighed. He was a middle-aged man with dark brown hair and looked a lot older than the other two.

"The Mech Corps wants to show who's boss around here. We only get to enjoy the nutrient packs as breakfast, lunch and dinner until we go through what they call their lightest version of boot camp."

Everyone frowned at that. As a rule, mech designers were nerds and geeks. What did physical fitness have to do with how well they designed their mechs?

"It's another way to put us down!" A younger man burst out. "Those jumped-up mech pilots always think they are in charge, and want to drive in the point that we are their slaves!"

Morgan quickly pressed the young man's shoulder. "Calm down, Jim! The Mech Corps is always listening in! You can land yourself in a lot of trouble if you talk like that!"

"As if I care! I had a good career lined up and several designs in the works. I wasn't supposed to be called up!"

Morgan awkwardly laughed at Ves and the other mech designer. "Don't mind Jim too much. He's a scion of the Ronan Family."

That caused Ves to widen his eyes a bit. The Ronan Family owned a lot of asteroid mining operations. They weren't a big player in the resource market, but carved out a niche spot for themselves.

Jim probably enjoyed a lot of benefits if he was related to that Ronan Family. His company would be able to incur much less costs to produce a mech if it took advantage of raw materials being sold to it at cost price.

However, to Ves, Jim didn't look as if he enjoyed that much success. He looked a bit pathetic compared to the final mech designer.

The young man noticed the inquisitive stare and held out his hand to Ves. "Bartholomew Yi. Apprentice Mech Designer. Just call me Bart for short."

The man's appearance only showed a hint of asian characteristics, so that side of his bloodline must have thinned out a bit through the generations.

"Ves Larkinson, also an Apprentice Mech Designer."

All four were obviously Apprentices with their own pride and accomplishments, so nobody treat each other as anything but equals. Ves may have designed some great mechs and enjoyed the backing of an influential Master from the Coalition, but the others didn't lose out too much in their own careers.

As Ves gradually consumed the nutrient packs, he got to know his three new roommates.

"I've designed fifteen original designs in my career." Morgan proudly boasted. "Though they haven't won any awards, all of them turned out a handsome profit."

"What type of mechs did you design?" Ves asked as he tried to swallow another bite of dry nutrients.

"Oh, they run the gamut from light mechs to medium mechs, skirmishers to knights, landbound mechs to aerial mechs. The only kind of mechs I can't design are spaceborn, aquatic and heavy mechs."

"That's... a really wide range of mechs." Ves said, a little stunned.

It wasn't unheard of for mech designers to design a broad sweep of mech types. However, Ves always learned that mech designers needed to apply some focus, especially in the formative stages of Novice and Apprentice.

Scattering too much at such an early phase risked stalling a mech designer's development in developing his own style and design philosophy.

From the askance looks that Jim and Bart directed to Morgan, they must have thought the same.

"I know what you're thinking." Morgan replied, demonstrating his self-awareness. "Your reactions are just like everyone else who hears about my record, but hear me out. What if I'm on the right track, and you guys are dead wrong?"

"That's impossible!" Jim erupted after smacking his palm against the tabletop. "Who's ever heard of an Apprentice advancing to Journeyman by designing every type of mech in the galaxy? Even if you have the lifespan to complete all of those designs, your focus is so diluted that there's hardly any style to speak of!"

Ves nodded in agreement. He held the same opinions as Jim, blunt as he might be.

"That's where the entire mech designer community is wrong." Morgan grinned and crossed his arms while leaning back. "Admittedly, some of you may advance to Journeyman in the next decade or two. That's okay. Mech design is not a race. Just keep in mind that you'll regret it for the rest of your lives if you move on so fast without rounding out your experience."

"Why so?"

"Because mech design is all about reaching the pinnacle in mech design! Think about it. How can you reach the top when you skimped out in your foundational stages? The moment you advance to Journeyman after designing only five to ten or so mechs, you are progressing on top of an unstable foundation."

"What constitutes an unstable foundation?" Bart furrowed his brows. Unlike Jim, he appeared to be more interested in Morgan's theory. "My mentor has taught me that a good foundation consists of a comprehensive understanding of the sciences related to mech design."

Morgan raised a finger. "That's only one part of the equation! Don't forget that to become a Journeyman, you need to be more than a good learner. The other two requirements are to design several original mechs and to develop your own design philosophy. In truth, the design philosophy is connected to the other two criteria. It's the goal that every Apprentice is aiming for, and it happens to be the part which everyone is trying to rush through!"

"That's nonsense." Jim retorted. "Most of the Master Mech Designers today are geniuses who advanced rapidly through the ranks. The faster they reach Master, the brighter their future! Anyone who took more than a hundred years to reach that exalted rank has no future at all."

"You're wrong! Rushing through the Apprentice stage is as if you are building a starship with no FTL drive! Sure, you can still build a decent ship without it with fully functional power reactors and thrusters. This is enough to drive the starship from planet to planet within a single star system. However, the moment you want to jump into FTL in order to reach a better star system, you will suddenly find yourself coming up short, because you forgot to install the FTL drive during the construction phase!"

The analogy sounded really compelling, but none of the other three designers looked convinced.

"Mech design isn't anything like building a starship." Ves calmly replied. "As Jim has said, many Master Mech Designers seem fine even if they only spent a couple of years as Apprentices."

Enough hard proof existed on the galactic net to prove his assertions.

"Oh sure, those Masters all seem impressive trying to outrace each other." Morgan waved their accomplishments away as if they were nothing. "To me, they're like toddlers running around in the sandbox. Is Master Mech Designer the end point of our careers? No! Above Masters, there are Star Designers!"

Star Designers! These were the true pinnacles of mech design in the galaxy. Legendary figures like the Armorer and the Polymath worked with the most cutting-edge technologies available to humankind in order to push the envelope of what mechs became capable of achieving.

"What do Star Designers have to do with your theory?"

"If you've read their biographies, then you should know that none of them started out as geniuses. Except for the Polymath, but she's a weird one. Aside from her, everyone else started off like you and me. Average. They were dullards even. They lingered in the Apprentice phase for decades before they advanced to Journeymen. Instead of regarding those periods as their lowest point, perhaps they are actually the secrets to their success!"

Jim and Bart looked stunned at Morgan. However, Ves did not appear to be convinced. "There's a very big hole in your theory. The other Star Designers might have stalled in the Apprentice stage, but they haven't branched out in their design work."

Chapter 418

The hierarchy among mech designers looked like a very fat and short pyramid. Novices were as abundant as red dwarfs in the galaxy.

Only a fraction of them reached the Apprentice-level, but anyone could advance to this stage as long as they studied hard and received some opportunities.

Reaching Journeyman Mech Designer was a watershed. Many tried but failed to reach this rank despite all the effort they put in their development.

Ves did not have a good clue what it took to reach Senior and Master-level, but it must have been accompanied by extremely stringent demands, because less than one per mille of mech designers in the preceding ranks managed to break through.

As for reaching the rank that went beyond Master, most people didn't dare to dream about it. Even though enough Masters existed in the galaxy to fill up an entire planet, only the MTA only recognized seventy-or-so Star Designers.

Perhaps a few more Star Designers existed who hadn't made themselves known, but by and large there shouldn't be more than a hundred of them across all of humanity.

Their power and influence transcended states. At that stage, even the first-rate superstates treaded lightly around them. Many Star Designers renounced their former loyalties and became independent entities that worked for the common good of mankind.

It could be said that Star Designers transcended their former bonds and shackles and have reached a level of existence on par with god pilots. Both types of humans formed the absolute best of what humanity had to offer and were worshiped by trillions of humans.

Low-ranked mech designers like Ves, Bart and Jim constantly thought about how to reach Journeyman-level. It was way too soon to even think about advancing to Star Designer, but Morgan amazingly already thought about a strategy to reach this supreme existence.

Although Morgan's theory sounded logical, Ves read the same biographies as well. They were mandatory reading in school. Every mech designer should have read at least a dozen different biographies.

"Star Designers emerged through chance, opportunity and coincidence." Ves explained the common understanding of Star Designers. "Many geniuses who have quickly reached the Master stage have never been able to touch upon the threshold to the next rank. Although we don't know why that is so, no one has ever told us it's due to a supposedly 'bad' foundation. Besides, if the only way to get a good foundation is to linger in the Apprentice stage for hundreds of years, then the galaxy would be flooded with Masters right now."

Morgan instantly shook his head. "Ves, my friend, I thought you looked smart, but you fell into this trap as well. Just think for one second about the biographies you've read. Is all of it true?"

That caused everyone at the table to blink. Certainly they told the truth, right?

"Why would they lie?"

"Why won't they lie? Those biographies read like fairy tales or adventure novels! Do you really think those Star Designers went through all that nonsense and transformed into strange existences that have turned them into something special? It's all drivel fed to the masses in order to keep the upper echelon in power!"

Morgan continued to rant about his assertions for a couple minutes. Ves, Jim and Bart all looked at each other with perplexed smiles.

Ves couldn't take it any longer. "It's all well and good to state that the biographies are fictional, but what are their true stories? Just because the early days of those Star Designers don't conform to what is being told in the books, that doesn't mean they adhered to your theories either. You have no proof."

"That's because they're keeping it all a secret! It's a conspiracy against nobodies like us!"

The man could claim all he wanted, but nobody else bought his shtick. After finishing his bland dinner, the rest of them tried to move on from this topic. Ves got to know about his other two bunkmates.

"I've never gone to any universities or institutions." Bartholomew Yi began. "My father is a mech designer as well and he believes he can teach me a lot better than any school in the Republic."

"So you learned everything you knew from your dad?"

"Correct. I even joined his design team and assisted in developing a couple of his models. They all worked out well. The experience gave me enough confidence to design my mechs."

"Did you start your own company or are you working for dad?"

"The latter. There's no point in starting up a seperate company if I'll eventually inherit my dad's existing company."

Bart's story sounded fairly typical. A small but substantial portion of mech designers learned the craft from their parents. Such a teaching method was even more intimate than apprenticing to a Master, because one's father or mother always taught their descendents with utmost care and attention.

That said, the mech industry as a whole looked down on homeschooling. Mech designers who learned from their parents and no one else often ended up as pale imitations of their parents. They knew the theories and could replicate a past work, but when it came to applying their knowledge to develop new designs, that was where most of them fell short.

Ves didn't say anything about that to Bart. He didn't want to piss the homeschooled mech designer off.

"How many mechs have you designed?"

"Not much, only four. Like my father, I specialize in spaceborn mechs."

"That's more than me. I only have two original designs under my belt, and my second design only came out recently. What about you, Jim?"

"Hm, I only designed one original mech, a nice little light mech. I'm still taking it slow."

It turned out Jim's design hadn't caught on in the market. The disappointing sales figures burdened his company with losses, which forced him to crawl back to the Ronan Family for some money to tide his company over.

Naturally, Jim didn't sound so pathetic when he meandered through his story, but Ves was sharp enough to pick out the truth.

"What were you working on as your second design?"

"It doesn't matter anymore." Jim sighed. "This war has made everything moot. My company will certainly be shuttered without my presence. I'll have to figure something out once the Mech Corps releases me."

Out of everyone in this room, Jim appeared to be the least successful mech designer. Ves got the sense that he had barely made any progress since reaching Apprentice.

Even Morgan possessed a better track record, though that could also be accounted to his age. The older man truly designed a substantial amount of mechs, each one better than the last one, though none of them ever sold more than a couple of thousand copies each.

As they got to know each other, they realized that besides their rank, they had very little in common.

Morgan possessed the most experience by far, but his insane theories caused him to stall in his progression.

Jim achieved the least success, but he could draw on a lot of help from the Ronan Family, either through paying less for raw materials or through direct cash infusions.

Bart grew up in a comfortable environment, having everything handed to him with a silver spoon.

As for Ves, though he only published two designs, he built up everything on his own, though he conveniently left out the role the System played in his rapid ascension.

This caused the group's dynamics to shift. Jim's perpetual resentfulness made him a hard person to befriend, while Bart's easygoing ways reflected his lack of struggle.

Morgan shifted to become their unofficial leader in a way. No matter what they thought about his beliefs, it couldn't be denied that he really designed over a dozen different original designs. Such an accomplishment deserved recognition.

As for Ves, he fell somewhere in the middle. He was actually the youngest of the group and possessed very little practical experience compared to the others. Yet even Bart spent years to advance from Novice to Apprentice whereas Ves only took a couple of months.

Out of the three young men in the room, Ves burned the brightest and held the most potential. The only reason why the others didn't regard him higher was the fact that he possessed a complicated backing.

In truth, Ves got the sense that everyone felt envious of him for catching the attention of a Master Mech Designer. It made them regard him as a competitor more than a possible friend.

The distance suited him fine. Ves held many secrets, and he wasn't eager to let anyone get too close. Not when he couldn't protect himself in the event he slipped up.

"What's it like to apprentice under a Master?" Morgan asked with some curiosity in his face. "My mentor is only a local Senior Mech Designer, so I've never seen a Master in the flesh. Are they truly magical?"

Ves thought back on the Leemar Open Competition that took place so long ago and refreshed his impressions of the Masters that sat on those tall pedestals.

"They are every bit as impressive as you think. They look human, but inside they are biological weapons dedicated solely to designing some of the best mechs in the galaxy. You simply can't relax around any of them at close proximity."

When Ves personally met with Master Olson, he felt as if he entered a zone in which his judgment became a little fuddled. Back then, he hadn't noticed any discrepancies, but looking back on it made him suspect that being in the presence of a Master affected him in many subtle ways.

He couldn't really tell what kind of influence Master Olson exerted around her, so Ves somewhat doubted whether it was simply a combination of apprehension and admiration at seeing a Master up close.

Morgan sighed. "I wouldn't have the guts to try my luck in Leemar. The Friday Coalition looks down on mech designers that arrived from the boonies. It's truly unfair for us."

"That's the way the galaxy works." Jim added with a bit of sageness in his voice. "People who are born in the galactic center have it best. Anyone else are country bumpkins in their eyes. Even the rulers of the Friday Coalition are nothing more than a bunch of ants in front of a lowly security officer from the galactic center."

This was the eternal sorrow for those born in the galactic rim. The circumstances of their birth sealed their fate before they could even learn their first words. The galactic center was unimaginably dense and wealthy, but it couldn't afford to subsidize the development of the outer galaxy.

Ves found this turn of conversation to be too depressing. "Our starting points are different from the mech designers who enjoy an abundance of privileges that they take for granted. However, the galactic rim isn't too far behind in pumping out Masters. It takes more than wealth to improve."

That gave them a ray of hope again, though Morgan looked about to repeat his theories on maximizing the chances of reaching Star Designer. Everyone else quickly raised another to forestall his story, thereby avoiding another crisis.

After a couple of hours of relaxing and occasional chitchat, they retired for the night. As Ves tried to lie comfortably on his stiff, cold bed, Ves thought back on Morgan's explanation.

Despite clashing with most of the contents of the biographies of Star Designer, his theory looked like it made a lot of sense.

"Am I walking down the wrong road right now?"

The mech industry placed a lot of attention on talent and potential. Those who advanced faster than others would be considered talents, while those who muddled through and reached Journeyman-level in their fifties were regarded as people who would soon reach a dead end.

The reason why the mech industry placed so much importance on speed was because it indicated that this person had a lot more in store. It was extremely expensive for influences to nurture a Master, and it might not even work!

"Should I change my plans?"

Previously, Ves thought about doing the bare minimum in his Apprentice stage. Once he designed three more mechs, he'd be able to tick another box.

No matter how many times Ves tried to dismiss Morgan's ranting, he mind constantly drifted back at some of his assertions. The older mech designer's belief that you need to design more mechs than five to develop a proper foundation sounded very attractive to Ves.

Well, it wasn't as if he'd be able to design a mech while he served in the Mech Corps. "I'll think about it later."

Chapter 419

The next few days, the Mech Corps began to perform a lot of tests. They wanted to know everything about the capabilities of their mech designers.

Physical tests only formed the start of it. Due to his endowments, Ves breezed through examinations that sought to test his strength or endurance. However, once he moved on to examinations that tested his coordination and how well he played certain sports, he fell flat on his face due to a lack of practice.

His strange performance instantly distinguished him among the crowd of hundreds of mech designers in the training unit. Even his bunkmates had to reassess his existence.

"Why are you such a freak, Ves?" Bart asked with goggling eyes.

"Bad luck from a mission gone wrong at the frontier."

"Wow, if you can call that back luck, then you are more than welcome to pass it over to us!"

"Haha! I wish. It's mostly my own fault for accepting the mission in the first place."

Besides finding out their physical limits, the processing center also stressed out their cognitive limits. The entire training unit went from examination to examination where they needed to perform specific actions such as memorizing as many pages of a random book in a short amount of time.

While performing a single test wasn't that big of a deal, the Mech Corps seemed keen on carting them off from test to test without any time to rest. This quickly led to a lot of protests from many mech designers.

"Our treatment here is outright disrespectful!"

"Are we training to become commandos or something?! I'm almost falling apart at the seams!"

They mostly complained of empty air, as the Mech Corps never sent out any human faces to conduct the tests. Instead, they relied on bots and projections to corral the mech designers as if they were guinea pigs.

The strange methods all added to the illusion that they somehow ended up in a prison instead of a training center.

A lot of mech designers carelessly uttered their frustration at the inane treatment they received. Many of the Apprentice Mech Designers who got called up in the second wave all enjoyed a certain amount of success in their careers.

They expected to be treated with a measure of respect. Instead, the processing center went out of its way to make their lives more difficult.

A lot of mech designers attributed this behavior to the mech pilot-centric focus of the Mech Corps and the wider society.

Only a handful of people such as Ves knew the truth. As a Larkinson, Ves already possessed a lot of awareness on how the Mech Corps worked.

The grumbling of the mech designers couldn't compare to the harsh training every mech pilot endured before they were allowed to enter the cockpit. To Ves, they acted like a bunch of babies.

Out of his bunkmates, only Morgan appeared to be aware as well. "They want to break us down and shave off some of our egos. Who among us doesn't possess a net worth of at least a couple of hundred million credits? It would be hell if they put us all in a base without attempting to adjust our attitude."

Ves nodded. "It's more than that. It's pretty clear that Journeymen are receiving different treatment from us. They're probably being groomed in a different way, possibly to lead over juniors like us."

Even if they knew what went on, it wasn't as if they could become immune to the constant manipulation. Humans didn't work that way. Attitude and behavior came from the mind and body. Both could be manipulated in a million different ways.

If some smart alecs thought they could endure the annoyances without becoming affected, they had another thing coming.

Over the next couple of weeks, Ves and the others finished their tests and moved on to actual training. Each mech designer trained together but received individual goals they needed to achieve by the end of the training session.

Failure to comply led to very severe punishments.

Ves pretty much fell into the illusion that he went through a boot camp. The exercises pushed him harder than anyone else. Whereas one person only needed to lift a boulder the size of a child, Ves had to lift a boulder the size of an adult.

The training program also sought to push the limits of his cognitive functions. His exercises would be ten times harder than anyone else. Sometimes, the disparity would be even wider.

His superhuman intelligence caused him to excel in brute force cognitive functions such as memorizing a raft of texts or performing mental calculations that might have stumped an average mathematics professor.

Ves also seemed to excel in more creative aspects such as sketching out a mech described in a single page that was filled with abstract words. His ability to visualize a mech from vague and fanciful concepts actually caused others to look like him as if he was a freak.

"Ves Larkinson is a monster. He simply isn't human!"

"Don't get close to that freak.A single handshake of his will break every bone in your hand!"

"Do you think he prefers tall women? Drat, if I knew a hunk like him was here, I would have undergone a treatment to shorten my stature!"

It came without saying that Ves did not enjoy all the attention he was getting from the training unit. While some of the mech designers exhibited exceptional cognitive functions, they couldn't be compared to his own abilities. On top of that, he also possessed an abnormally strong physique.

As his performance became increasingly exceptional, his bunkmates started to distance themselves from him. No longer could Ves walk up to them as an equal and talk about what they thought about mechs.

Even Morgan admitted his inferiority in front of Ves. In his mind, though he would certainly be having the last laugh, he should do his best to keep his head down while he was weak.

"It must be really nice to have a Master looking over your development." Jim sullenly said after a brutal round of training one day. All of them felt physically and mentally exhausted. "She must have stuffed you with all of the latest genetic boosts. How many did you get?!"

Ves frowned as he lay on top of his bunk. He was in no mood to argue. "I only got one. As I mentioned before, all of my other changes are a result of my own actions. There are many wondrous things in the frontier. It's dangerous to wander outside of human space, but that's exactly where the last treasures of the galaxy reside."

"You're hiding something!" Jim burst out and pulled himself into a sitting position on his bunk. "I heard from the others that you shouldn't have even passed through the first inspections! You only got through because you ran to mommy for help!"

"Now that was uncalled for!" Ves barked back. Using that particular word in that manner wore down his patience. "I won't deny your words, because it's true, but what does it matter? I came here to do the same thing that everyone else is doing. I am here to serve the Republic."

"Hahaha! Keep your stupid drivel to yourself! All I'm seeing is someone who is better than us trying to act like he's one of us. Let me tell you, it's useless! You trying to fit in with us is like a wolf pretending to be a sheep among a herd. The only ending that's in store for us is you putting all of us down!"

Ves did not get angry at Jim's outburst. Everyone was tired, and some even held a lot of accumulated resentment. In these kinds of situations, people often said things they didn't really wish to express if they possessed a sober mind.

His mother taught him to avoid such arguments by not getting into them. Therefore, Ves merely rolled around in his bunk and tried to go to sleep.

Unfortunately, Jim took that as an affront. "Are you ignoring me, Ves? Answer me! Why are you here!?"

His raised voice caused the other two bunkmates to add their own voices.

"Shut up, Jim." Bart wearily frowned. "Ves is on a different level than us. That's got nothing to do with us."

Morgan held a very different opinion. "You know, maybe Jim is on to something. I keep thinking why Ves is slumming it out with mortal men like us. Then I realized the truth. He's not an Apprentice Mech Designer. He's a Journeyman!"

His outburst caused the other three to jump. What?!

"Think about it! In every single exercise that the Mech Corps is subjecting us to, he's head and shoulders above the rest. He's beating us up so badly that even our mothers can't recognize us anymore! A monster like Ves fits in more with Journeymen than Apprentices!"

"B-B-But-But-But Ves only started designing mechs two years ago! How could he jump from Novice to Journeyman in that time?!"

"Do you really need to think about it? A Master Mech Designer is capable of doing anything as long as she's willing to spend a lot of resources. My take is that Ves has a 'special' relationship with Master Olson, if you know what I mean."

"That's slanderous!" Ves retorted back to Morgan. He felt obliged to defend Master Olson's honor. "My relationship with my Master has always been cordial and proper!"

"Says the boytoy!" Jim taunted Ves. "I don't know how a hick like you got lucky and caught the old hag's eyes, but you aren't a real mech designer! All your achievements are due to the gifts you received! You never accomplished anything by yourself!"

This impacted Ves a lot more than he thought. He felt deeply affronted by the way that this loser of a mech designer accused him of having everything handed to him. Even if he benefited from the System his father had left him, the thing hardly allowed Ves to breeze through the ranks. He worked hard to get to this point!

"Really, it's obvious now that I realize it." Morgan uttered as he pointed an accusing finger at Ves. "The only reason why the people upstairs are placed here is because you're here to stir us up! Smearing all of our faces with your inhuman level of performance is another form of torture to us!"

Jim cursed and jumped to his feet. "Bastard! Go back to your masters and tell them to sod off!"

Before Ves could utter a defense, Jim bolted towards the bunk where Ves was resting on with remarkable haste. His exhaustion didn't seem to be a factor as his outburst lent him a lot of strength.

"Get off me!"

Jim started to punch, kick and claw at Ves. It might have been very severe if not for his pathetic amount of strength.

His attacks did nothing to Ves. His body was like a sponge that absorbed Jim's mindless attacks as if it soaked up water.

Though Ves really wanted to punch Jim in the face, he withheld his body and remained on the defensive. He already knew what would happen next.

A loud tone sounded out in the room. Moments later, a massive electric shock ran through all four occupants. Even Ves became paralyzed, in part because the shock mainly targeted his nerves, which still remained fairly vulnerable.

The shock succeeded in stopping Jim from lashing out. His body shook and shivered as his body completely went out of control.

Half a minute later, the door opened and a couple of black-coated armored bots hovered in. They clawed at Jim who was sprawled on the floor and hauled him out like a sack of meat.

The door closed and locked after the departure, leaving the remaining three occupants to deal with the after-effects of the shock attack.

Ves was really beginning to hate this experience. He had a feeling Jim wouldn't be the last designer to be carted off.

Chapter 420

After that day, reality started to sink in the mech designers. Even the most ignorant among them learned that the Mech Corps did not care about their status and their achievements. No matter how many mechs they designed or how many pilots used their products, everyone started from scratch.

The ongoing pressure from the exercises and the inhuman way the processing center treated the mech designer really took a toll on everyone. No one had the time to smile and chat with each other. They needed to conserve every available moment to rest and regain their strength.

This suited Ves fine. By now, his alienation among the other mech designers reached the furthest point it could go. The only reason why his status as a pariah didn't bother him was because the mech designers didn't treat their closest friends that differently. The constant frustration and exhaustion sent everyone into a pit of self-wallowing isolation. Everyone was too numb to do anything more.

It was at this point that the training regime started to move beyond senseless exercises. They entered classrooms which served them with images of the Bright Republic.

A pair of bedraggled mech pilots leaning against a wrecked mech.

A city bombed to oblivion, only to be rebuilt anew.

An enormous fleet carrier surrounded by a flotilla of combat carriers orbiting around a glittering planet.

Throughout the inspirational visuals, it repeated a constant refrain.

"We are the bastion of reason."

"We are the torch that lights up the end of the galaxy."

"We are all that stand in the way between freedom and tyranny."

In their tired states, most mech designers soaked up the message without resistance. Ves on the other hand possessed a much more potent recovery speed, so he remained very aware throughout these indoctrination sessions.

Frankly, he didn't know what to think either. Most of the footage sounded inspirational, but to Ves they largely fell flat. He already possessed a lot of attachment to the Republic and hardly needed any reinforcement in that area.

Along with indoctrination, the mech designers also started to learn other necessities. They memorized the hierarchy of the Mech Corps, how they should behave among themselves and to the servicemen of the Mech Corps, and what they needed to do if they ever fell into a precarious situation.

It became clear to Ves that the Mech Corps explicitly didn't train them to be servicemen. They didn't fit in the usual hierarchy. Instead, mech designers took on an auxiliary role that existed apart from any existing bureau.

They weren't taught how to handle a weapon, nor did they need to salute any officers. Instead, they learned how the design teams of the Mech Corps worked and in what place they fit in. They learned the many different roles mech designers played and how their work impacted the regiments that made use of the designs.

"The war between the Bright Republic and the Vesia Kingdom is a conflict that is fought with mechs. It is vitally important that the mech pilots fighting on the frontline have access to the latest designs. Each mech model possesses their own strengths and weaknesses. Once a vulnerability is known by the enemy, that model loses its advantage on the battlefield."

Regiments constantly demanded new designs to replenish their wrecked mechs and become less vulnerable to the known faults of their current designs.

"Your only role is to assist the lead designer and his main assistants in optimizing their designs. It is not your responsibility to suggest new features or perform additional changes to the design."

The lessons hammered home that as Apprentices, they possessed no right to speak in front of a room filled with Journeymen and Seniors.

Ves really chafed at that restriction. The lessons obviously aimed to turn them into obedient cogs in a giant design machine. Instead of being able to design a part or suggest some modifications to an existing design, the Mech Corps only expected them to perform grunt jobs.

He distinctly felt his competences should have elevated him to a greater role. Too bad no one cared.

Two months went by in this vein. The training program superficially molded them in a way that allowed them to seamlessly slot into any working design team.

After the end of their training program, hundreds of mech designers assembled into neat ranks at an open area. As Ves discretely glanced around, he found that many mech designers looked as if they lost their spirit.

Even the likes of Morgan and Bart adopted the same numb expressions. Both of them dealt with the pressure in slightly different ways. Morgan developed a tendency to mutter to himself to sleep while Bart often needed to pace around in their dorm before collapsing into sleep.

Throughout it all, the mech designers hardly spoke with each other in whatever free time the schedule granted them. Ves hadn't spoken anything aloud in weeks.

At this moment, they heard footsteps. A pair of hard boots clattered forward as a uniformed officer of the Mech Corps strode to the front of the assembly.

"Mech designers of the Republic. Your two-month training program is at an end." The man immediately began. "Seventeen of you have been declared unfit and are now serving out their penalties."

The crowd cared little about the likes of Jim and a couple of other mech designers who broke down and went crazy. They just craved to return to a somewhat normal society. The arrival of another human being actually provided mental succor to the deprived mech designers.

"The war waits for no one. Although your training program should have been much more extensive, the fighting at the frontlines has heated up. The Republic needs you to serve your state. Are you willing to bear the torch?"

Everyone automatically raised their arms as if they held up a torch and roared a resounding cry.

"Good." The officer nodded. "Your new assignments await. I bid you good luck and hope your work will help save the lives of our pilots at the front."

After that, they enjoyed their first period of rest and relaxation in a very long time. With no expectations being thrust upon their shoulders, they looked around with clueless expressions.

Moments later, they received a new set of documents in their military-issued comms. Ves activated the device and skimmed through their contents.

They turned out to be his new orders.

"Is that it? Is this really the end?"

Some of the mech designers broke their stoic exteriors upon realizing that they no longer needed to go through what they considered to be the equivalent of torture. They were more than ready to move on from this horrible place.

Ves couldn't blame them. He felt the same.

None of the designers shared where the Mech Corps sent them off to. Even though their comms projected the documents before their eyes, it could only be read by them and no one else. The contents also carried a confidential label, which they learned should not be spread without an express order from their superiors.

Ves didn't know where Morgan and Bart would be sent to next, but his current assignment came as something of a surprise.

He'd been assigned to the design team of the 6th Flagrant Vandals Regiment. This wasn't an unknown regiment. In fact, it enjoyed a lot of fame or notoriety depending on who you asked. It was the last regiment of the 3rd Tarry Division, which mainly garrisoned a lightly populated region in the extreme 'bottom' end of the border between the two states.

Ves blinked in surprise at the assignment because the 6th Flagrant Vandals Regiment was a tried-and-true spaceborn regiment. To someone who dealt exclusively with landbound mechs, he was like a fish out of water if his assignment forced him to work with spaceborn mechs.

"What is the Mech Corps thinking?"

He quickly thought about the Flagrant Vandals. Though the public didn't hear too much about this regiment, Ves heard more than enough stories from the Larkinsons who served in the previous wars.

The Vandals didn't call themselves this way for nothing. They served as a dumping heap for problematic mech pilots. Any Larkinson who had the pleasure of fighting alongside the Vandals all mentioned how much they hated the ill-disciplined brutes.

"They're a bunch of thugs. I'm ashamed they are a part of the Mech Corps! They should have been cashiered en masse!"

"Don't think for a minute that you're safe with a Vandal. They'll cheat, scam or coerce all your wages from your bank account. Watch yourself well, and don't ever end up alone in a room with a Vandal."

"Scoundrels, they are all scoundrels! Ever since Colonel Lowenfield took over the reins, it's gone downhill over there!"

Ves never heard anything good about the Flagrant Vandals. To him, who hoped to be assigned to a more renowned frontline regiment such as the Infernal Hellhounds or the Fire Fists, the news came as a huge disappointment to him. His performance should have entitled him to better treatment.

"Is it because of my complicated situation?"

Perhaps the Mech Corps didn't trust or expected much from him. To a basket case like Ves, it was much more convenient to dump him to a design team attached to one of the most expendable regiments in the Mech Corps.

As Ves went through the motions and let a bunch of bots guide him and the others towards a swarm of waiting shuttles, he started to recall more stories about the Vandals.

Though they apparently carried a bad reputation, they also possessed a lot of ferocity. Nobody accused them of cowardice. This was because the Vandals were one of the few regiments that took up the responsibility of raiding Vesian space.

Whereas almost every mech of the Mech Corps operated within Republic space, the Vandals eagerly snuck past the stretched southern border between the two states and reveled in causing havoc in star systems the Vesians thought would never suffer an incursion.

The more Ves thought about it, the more he realized that it might not be a misdemeanor for him to join their design team.

"It's not like I'll be stationed aboard their combat carriers as they pass through the border."

Ves felt better about that. The only thing he needed to figure out was how he could adjust his skillset to accommodate the peculiarities of spaceborn mechs.

It wasn't that simple for him to design a spaceborn mech without any prior experience.

As the shuttle lifted off from Bentheim, Ves looked around the cabin and figured that they wouldn't be sent to the Vandals. They probably had their own assignments.

Of all the faces seated in the chairs, Ves only recognized Morgan. The man happened to turn around and their eyes suddenly met.

"Nervous?" Morgan asked out of the blue.

"No. I'm excited."

A few seconds passed before Morgan spoke again. "Look Ves, I did some thinking in the last month, and I realized I went too far that day when Jim let his frustrations take him over. Thinking back on that time, it's pretty stupid of me to accuse you of being someone's tool. Can you forgive me?"

Ves did not know what to say to the other mech designer. While he felt indignant about it at the time, he long pushed the matter to the back of his mind.

"I won't forgive you, but I'm willing to let matters go." He eventually replied. "Don't be so quick to believe in conspiracies next time."

"Thanks." Morgan nodded and turned back around.

Naturally, Ves didn't believe that Morgan would change his ways. That man still believed that he needed to design every possible mech type in existence before he advanced.

While Ves didn't ascribe to that theory, he found the logic behind it to be too compelling to dismiss it entirely. Perhaps Morgan spoke some truths about the consequences of rushing through the Apprentice stage.

At this moment, he was still undecided about the matter. He didn't know if he should delay his advancement and absorb more experiences or continue his fast-faced growth and break through to Journeyman as fast as possible.

It was a good thing that Ves had plenty of time to choose. "I'll get back to this when I reach the point where I can advance."

Ves leaned back in his chair as the shuttle broke through orbit and zipped towards a floating military station. A whole mass off military transport ships moored alongside the station. One of them would probably bring Ves to the Tarry System or somewhere close.

Chapter 421

After a number of transfers, Ves entered an old-model transport ship. While a large number of bots filled up the ship's cargo hold with containers of supplies, Ves and two other mech designers entered a nearly-empty passenger compartment.

The compartment offered enough space for thirty passengers, though space was at a premium and the amenities left much to be desired. The yellowing white-paneled corridors and the faded and worn furniture made it clear that the vessel wasn't well-maintained.

"This is where you mech designers will stay for the time being." A crewman assigned to guide them said as he chewed some sort of stimulant that would have seen him cashiered aboard a properly-run ship. "Once you enter, the main hatch here will lock so you won't wander off and disturb the rest of the crew."

"We have to stay here for the entire duration of the trip!?" The only female mech designer among them spoke out. "There's barely anything inside!"

"You can always stay within your bunks and go back to sleep. There's a cabinet of nutrient packs along with a food recombinator, so you won't starve. If you want some distraction, we left you some data chips that contain some of the games we play in our off time."

Ordinarily, Ves could at least browse the galactic net if he wanted a distraction. However, ever since he received his military-issued comm, he started to get around the fact that the Mech Corps would never let someone like him with a sliver of access to the rest of the galaxy. The local networks plainly refused to let his comm access the galactic net.

The spacer quickly went through some obligatory safety instructions before letting the mech designers stew inside their empty but cramped abodes.

A couple of seconds passed by as the three looked at each other awkwardly.

"Let's claim our bunks before the others arrive."

"Good idea." The young woman nodded.

They each split up and entered some of the available cabins to claim their preferred sleeping spots. Ves stayed within the cabin and started to rearrange his thoughts. Ever since he learned he would be joining the design team of the 6th Flagrant Vandals, he dredged up every piece of knowledge that pertained to spaceborn mechs.

While spaceborn mechs didn't look very different from aerial mechs, they actually operated under very different circumstances. An aerial mech could operate in space in a pinch, but would only be able to express eighty-or-so percent of their strength.

Spaceborn mechs on the other fared much worse in atmospheric conditions. Some didn't even carry a strong-enough flight system to let their mechs remain aloft under standard gravity conditions.

Compared to landbound mechs, spaceborn mechs predominantly carried a notch less mass around. This was because it took a lot of energy to move these mechs around in space. The heavier the mech, the more energy it took to get it to move and make it come to a halt once it reached its destination.

Therefore, spaceborn mechs consisted of a much higher proportion of light mechs, though plenty of medium mechs existed as well. Besides the space knight mechs, every other medium spaceborn mech tended to mass at the lighter end of the medium weight class.

The decreased mass allowed these mechs to accelerate and decelerate rather quickly with more efficient but less powerful flight systems. It wasn't unheard of for spaceborn mechs to be able to last an entire standard day in space.

"They're smaller and lighter, but they're also more fragile."

The emphasis on speed and agility and the vast room for maneuvering in space shifted the design of spaceborn mechs away from a reliance on armor. While the existence of Space Knights and the like still proved that armor played a role, in space, speed, or rather acceleration was king.

The higher a mech's ability to accelerate, the better it would be able to dodge incoming attacks. Fast, unpredictable dodging patterns threw off the aim of enemy pilots.

For this reason, ballistic weapons were a tad bit less popular in space, though they still played a huge role when it came to attacking ships. It took far too long for lasers to carve through the hull of an enemy combat carrier.

Melee mechs played a role as well. Light skirmishers generally boasted excellent thrust-to-weight ratios, allowing them to close the distance to elusive ranged mechs and carve them up from up close.

"Still, the lack of any cover in space makes ranged mechs the dominant types of mechs in space."

Many battles took place in orbit or in the middle of an empty patch of space. Only rarely did battles erupt in asteroid fields or any other area where lots of objects floated nearby.

The lack of any cover for mechs to hide behind heavily favored ranged mechs. Even though their targets were easily capable of dodging most enemy fire, as long as a squad of mechs coordinated their fire, they could trap their target in a cage where they would get hit no matter where they dodged.

"In short, it's a numbers game as well."

Spaceborn mechs therefore tended to be rather cheap and disposable. Their lighter construction meant they got damaged more easily and needed more frequent repairs or replacements. Fortunately, they rolled off the production lines in great numbers.

Only their mech pilots couldn't be replaced. Although spaceborn mechs skimped out on a lot of areas compared to landbound mechs, the one component they left intact would always be the cockpit.

"This way of combat still sounds really wasteful."

The nature of space combat meant that skirmishes started and ended quickly. Whoever won the fight received the opportunity to salvage the wrecks and recoup the costs.

When Ves finished sorting out his knowledge base, he realized he still possessed a couple of holes in what he acquired up to this point.

"For spaceborn mechs, it's important to know how flight systems work and how to compartmentalize the interior of a frame to the point where every separate compartment was airtight.

The most complicated variable related to space combat was definitely heat management. Without ground and air to transfer much of the heat generated by mechs, mechs mostly radiated out their heat like the ancient practice of toasting a bun.

This was far too slow compared to the amount of heat a mech built up during battle, so mech designers did everything possible to extend the time a spaceborn mech could fight without becoming too hot.

The Bright Republic didn't have access to a lot of means to improve the heat management of their mechs. Therefore, the Republic's spaceborn mechs tended to be built according to endurance and efficiency rather than peak performance.

That was one area where Ves happened to know a lot.

Ves reluctantly concluded that he should be able to understand most spaceborn mech designs. He could even design a mech on his own, though it would be a lot more inefficient compared to what was available in the market.

Someone knocked at the door of his cabin. It was one of the guys who initially boarded the ship. "Mr. Larkinson? Can you come to the common room? We should talk."

"Coming."

Ves jumped to his feet and smoothed down his standard-issue clothes. The Mech Corps stocked the dressers in the cabin with a simple green uniform that carried a patch of a half-designed mech. This was how a working uniform looked like for mech designers called up during the war.

The mech designers that formed the true core of the design teams wore the same uniform, but boasted a couple chevrons that denoted their higher stations.

As Ves exited his cabin and approached the common room, he took a seat at an oil-stained table. He looked around, and besides the young man and woman who arrived aboard the transport ship together with Ves, no one else was there.

"Is this it?" Ves frowned.

"I believe so."

Bentheim held an enormous number of mech designers. Ves only saw a couple of hundred mech designers in the processing center where he went through training, but the Mech Corps erected a lot of other processing centers elsewhere. All those mech designers should have finished their training by now and boarded their ships today.

"Maybe we finished sooner than others."

"I just checked the panel near the hatch." The other man said. "It projects the estimated departure time of this ship. She's disembarking from the military station in less than fifteen minutes. It's safe to say that other passengers won't be joining us."

This really startled Ves a bit. "Truly? I thought that design teams needed at least fifty mech designers or more."

During his training, Ves learned that design teams typically employed around full-time mech designers. During wartime, these design teams needed to accelerate the development of new designs, so the Mech Corps supplied them with a lot more mech designers.

The reinforcements consisted of one or more Journeyman Mech Designers accompanied by at least fifty Apprentice Mech Designers.

Hearing that this transport ship would depart with only 3 Apprentice Mech Designers was a whole other thing. Neither of the two other mech designers had a clue why their ship was empty of passengers.

"Maybe the Tarry System already received a batch of mech designers, or maybe they are aboard a different ship."

"Don't kid yourself." Ves interjected. "This is the only transport ship that's headed to the Tarry System. It's not because their needs are already met, but because one ship is sufficient to supply the Vandals."

"What?!"

"Do you know what the 6th Flagrant Vandals look like?"

Both the male and female mech designers shrugged or shook their heads.

"They're a bunch of rogues." Ves began, and proceeded to bring his fellow mech designers up to speed with their reputation.

"They sound like pirates!"

Ves found that description to be particularly apt. It actually led him to believe that the Flagrant Vandals used to be a pirate gang that went legitimate.

The table fell into silence once again. Both the other two mech designers shuffled around their chairs with discomfort. They took part in the same training regime as Ves, so they still looked at him with apprehension.

"I'm not going to bite you all." He sighed. "I'm a Larkinson. Have you ever heard of them? I'm no different. I just chose to be a mech designer instead of a mech pilot."

That helped calm them down a little. The Larkinsons were known entities to the two designers, so associating them with Ves turned him into a somewhat more relatable person.

"Let's start with the introductions. You already know who I am, so let's move on to you two. Who are you?"

The woman started first. "My name is Laida Nnvist. I'm an Apprentice Mech Designer."

"Where are you from?"

"...Haston."

That caused Ves to take another look at Laida. The woman looked young and rather timid, completely unlike the stereotypical assertive hags that often came from this low-class city on Bentheim.

"That's... interesting." Ves quickly turned to the other guy in the room. "And you?"

"Pierce Yuvalis." The man spoke in a low tone, as if he was affected by the presence of Ves as well. "I came from the Friday Coalition."

If Laida's peculiar background raised some eyebrows, then Pierce's origins absolutely floored Ves.

"Which partner do you hail from?"

"The Gauge Dynasty."

Both Laida and Ves stared at Pierce as if he was an alien. How in the hell did a mech designer who hailed from the most powerful partner of the Coalition ended up in the clutches of the Mech Corps?

"Tell us more."

Pierce provided some context. "My father is a mech designer from the Republic who emigrated to the Gauge Dynasty and married a local there."

Though Pierce was a little reticent, Ves applied a little pressure in order to get him to open up. It turned out that Pierce was the oldest among three children. He was also the least talented of the three.

Whereas his younger siblings excelled early in their studies, Pierce turned out to be a tad bit slower in being able to understand the fundamental sciences that every mech designer needed to learn.

His father, angry and disappointed at Pierce's performance, pretty much banished the lad to the Republic.

Ves didn't know what to say about that. It must have been a crushing letdown to be sent away by your own father. Moving from the most prosperous part of the Friday Coalition to the backwards Bright Republic would have pushed most mech designers into ending their own lives.

Hearing their stories and matching them with his own made him realize that they were outcasts.

Chapter 422

The transport ship sluggishly separated from the military station and fell into formation alongside a convoy of vessels heading in the same direction. Most of the other transports would drop out along the way as they reached their destination star system. Only one ship was scheduled to reach the Tarry System, an important but fairly isolated defensive border system.

In the standard territorial depiction of the Komodo StarSector, the Bright Republic and the Vesia Kingdom were situated at the northwest portion of the map. Any ship that traveled further northwards reached the borders to the vast frontier.

The Tarry System was located at the southern portion of the border between the two warring states. It anchored a vast stretch of low-value star systems with scarce resources and even scarcer population. The Tarry region therefore held limited value even for the Vesia Kingdom, because they would need to allocate far more mechs to garrison the region than what was economical.

This didn't mean that the Vesians ignored the border region entirely. Sometimes, desperate nobles shied away from the heavy fighting at the center of the border. On paper, the Tarry region only held a couple of mech divisions, so it should have been an easy target.

The truth turned out to be different. Located far away from Bentheim or Rittersberg, the Tarry divisions sat at the far end of the supply lines. Nevertheless, they learned how to make the most out of limited resources. The sheer amount of distance from the political and economic centers of the Republic granted the Tarry divisions a lot more leeway on how to operate their mechs, and they did well in adapting to the circumstances.

"From what I heard about the Tarry divisions, they form their own faction within the Mech Corps." Ves explained in front of Laida and Pierce. The strength he displayed during the training sessions elevated him to the forefront of their little group. "They're often the last divisions in line to receive new upgrades or additional resources. I think this is the case for us as well. There's no getting around the fact that we are the least desirable mech designers of our batch."

Somewhat surprisingly to Ves, the other two designers accepted his assertion without any challenge. Both Pierce and Laida encountered many disappointments in their lives.

"Let's make the best of things. At least we aren't being accompanied by some Journeyman Mech Designer that wants to boss us around. We can relax throughout the journey."

Ves studied the appearances of his newly assigned colleagues. Pierce looked similar to what Ves looked like before his various enhancements. Though he appeared rather skinny, his eyes reflected a very keen and measured mind. He possessed a black mop of hair not too different from Ves, though he let the grooming bots style his hair in a very neat and slick fashion.

As for Laida, Ves felt as if he faced a timid cat. The young woman's body language displayed her lack of confidence that shouldn't be present in Apprentice Mech Designers. She possessed dull light brown hair which was styled in a plain and boring bun. Her standard green uniform added a bit more sharpness to her body, and if not for her slouch, she would have looked moderately attractive.

Ves met a handful of female mech designers in his life. Those who achieved some success always held their heads up high and asserted themselves in some way.

For example, despite being just a Novice back then during the Leemar Open Competition, Miss Barakovski acted like she was a queen among peasants.

Patricia on the other hand acted in a more enigmatic fashion. Both at Rittersberg and at Leemar, she acted as if she was no one special, but her stellar performance made it impossible for anyone to dismiss her presence.

Therefore, Ves really didn't understand why Laida put herself down like that.

Through some prodding, they got to know each other a little better. Ves expected that they would be working together from now on, so it was important for him to establish a good rapport with designers of the same level.

Ves shared some of the history with the two designers. What they found most impressive with Ves was his willingness to partake in dangerous expeditions.

"I don't have the guts to do the same." Pierce admitted with a rueful expression. "Mech designers aren't meant to be out in the field."

Ves understood the sentiment. "That's true in the strictest sense, but sometimes you won't be able to achieve your dreams without putting in some extra effort. With so many mech designers out there doing the same things over and over, it takes a lot of inspiration and a unique perspective to stand out from the crowd. The rewards are also good as well."

"It's too dangerous. Sorry, but I don't agree with you. Better designs come from hard work. As long as you study hard and apply your knowledge well, you should be able to achieve more solid results."

That only worked up to a point, Ves thought, but he didn't argue the point. Instead, he asked the other man a question. "You're an Apprentice as well, right? What kind of work have you done since you graduated?"

"I worked at a major mech manufacturer and joined their design teams. It wasn't as large as the ones where we are heading into. The lead designer did most of the work and assistants like me only played a role in the debugging process."

"How good is the lead designer?"

"Oh he's really good. He's old but he's a very seasoned Journeyman Mech Designer. He often stopped by to teach some points to us. I really benefited from his tutelage."

Unmentioned by Pierce was that the Journeyman Mech Designer likely held an ulterior motive for doing so. The way Pierce spoke about the leader designer didn't carry a lot of endearment.

Likely, the Journeyman wanted to catch the attention of Pierce's father.

There was nothing wrong with that in his eyes. Both Pierce and the lead designer benefited from such an arrangement. The only problem was that it didn't look as if the lead designer succeeded in his goal.

"What kind of mechs have you worked with?"

"I have an extensive amount of experience in working with several different types of landbound mechs. I've taken part in the design process of at least eight different types of mechs."

That sounded very impressive, though it was easier to do when you spread the workload over multiple designers.

"Sounds like you have a lot of experience working in a team." Ves nodded. "I only worked on my designs on my own. I've never really collaborated with others when it came to developing an original design."

While Ves admired Pierce's experience in working on many collaborative projects, the other two mech designers expressed their own admiration to him for relying on himself to develop a functional design.

Pierce let out a weary sigh.""Even with my experiences, I only ever attempted to publish a single original mech. I couldn't get the lead designer to release the funds for me to fabricate a prototype. It wasn't a commercially attractive product, he said."

It wasn't easy to make the jump from taking part in a collaborative project to designing mechs on your own. Ves only managed to do so by acquiring years worth of knowledge with the help of the System.

"If you want to design your original mech, there's no substitute for learning the theories on your own. Teaching can only go so far."

"I know. I have access to plenty of reading materials, but the things I need to learn are too much or too hard."

"Even so, at least you have access to them. THat's a lot better than what most mech designers enjoy."

After learning just enough about Pierce, Ves turned to Laida, who had been listening quietly all this while.

"What about you? What's your story?"

"I graduated from the AUMD."

It turned out she excelled in school in Haston and succeeded in applying to Ansel on a scholarship. This was extremely impressive for someone who grew up in Haston.

Still, Laida didn't talk too much about her experiences in the AUMD. She skimmed over her years in school and skimmed through her graduation.

"After that, I found a job at a design studio. I chose to specialize in designing aerial mechs, so I became involved in all of the designs that could fly."

"How many designs have you contributed to?"

"Over twenty different designs."

"That's a lot."

"It's not that impressive. Design studios work differently than mech manufacturers. We developed as many designs as possible, and many of them consisted of variants that shared a lot of things in common. Only one out of ten of our designs are licensed. The rest end up collecting dust in an archive."

Even so, Laida must have gained a lot of experience in working with different mechs. This was the norm for mech designers that worked in a team.

Though Ves still thought he had the edge in terms of independent design, he probably would fare a little worse if he ended up in a situation where he had to work together with others.

"I have one question for you, Ves." Laida blinked at him. "Why did you choose to stay in the Republic? With your opportunities, you could have made a name for yourself in the Coalition."

Ves and Pierce both shrugged their heads.

"The Coalition isn't so easy to establish a foothold on. There's more money to be made there, but there's a lot more competition there as well. The best and brightest of the Komodo StarSector all flock to Coalition space in order to take advantage of the higher spending power and more abundant resources. What they don't realize is that as outsiders, they are already on the back foot compared to the locals."

"Oh."

"I'm doing fairly well on my own here in the Republic. My company has grown fast and I've already published two original designs. I would have never been able to achieve this much if I tried to do business in the Coalition."

The Bright Republic was also his home and the root of the Larkinsons. Ves felt at home here in a way the Coalition could never provide. Their cultures different too much for Ves to ever grow comfortable in that prosperous second-rate state.

Pierce knew a lot about this as well. "There are too many foreigners in Coalition space. The Carnegie Group is the most attractive destination for them as their institutions accept the most outsiders. What these foreign mech designers don't realize is that the Carnegie Group only picks out the best. The vast majority of foreigners aren't able to accomplish anything except to become saddled with mountains of debt."

"What happens to those with debt?"

"They hire themselves off as slaves, basically." Pierce answered grimly. "The Coalition doesn't call them that, though. They instead employ extremely restrictive hiring contracts that run for a period of fifty or even a hundred years, depending on which coalition partner you are dealing with. A mech manufacturer from the Konsu Clan can even get away with a contract that lasts for your entire lifetime."

"Who would ever accept that kind of contract?!"

"A lot more mech designers than you think. You have to realize that it's extremely expensive for someone from a third-rate state to live in a second-rate state. The price of everything you buy is a hundred times more expensive. That goes for rent and tuition as well."

In short, staying a single year in Coalition space costs as much as living a hundred years in an average third-rate state like the Bright Republic.

"Why don't they declare themselves bankrupt and start anew?"

Pierce shook his head. "The laws of the Friday Coalition only extend that right to its own citizens. Foreigners like you and Ves won't get away that easily. They'll put a metaphorical gun against your head and force you to sign a contract of indentured servitude. Don't think that you will end up designing mechs after signing such a contract. You'll mostly be used as human calculators that need to do jobs that require human judgment."

"Therefore, the Friday Coalition isn't that good of a place to go unless you are supremely confident in your talent." Ves added after that. "And in most cases, they won't even consider employing a mech designer who graduated from an institution from a third-rate state. We're too low-class for them to take us seriously."

Laida looked crestfallen at the news. Ves figured that she might have held some hopes for starting elsewhere, but the truth was often brutal.

Chapter 423

It took three weeks for the convoy to meander through Republic space, dropping a couple of ships off at every star system along the way, before it reached the Tarry System. By then, the convoy only consisted of a handful of ships.

The three mech designers noticed none of that. The crew kept them in their assigned compartment and never issued any notifications except to warn them of FTL transitions.

As a group of outcasts, none of them shared much in common, nor did they speak too much about their background beyond the basics.

The restrictive passenger compartment contained nothing but furniture and food. The few projectors they found couldn't be turned on to display a news feed or outdated dramas.

Thus, with nothing else to do, they shifted to talking about the only thing they had in common.

"What are the nuances of designing aerial mechs? What do you have to take into account?" Ves asked as he sat across the table from Laida.

"Aerial mechs are designed specifically according to a range of gravities. Most designs work best at 1.0 g, the standard gravity of Old Earth, because most states prioritize terraforming planets that closely match this gravity."

"Not all planets feature standard gravity. A significant number of planets have gravities that range from 0.5 g to 2 g."

Though the woman was rather shy when it came to her personal life, she carried herself with a bit more confidence when it came to her expertise.

"That's why a mech that's designed to operate at 1.0 g will always lose against a mech designed to operate at 0.6 g on a 0.6 g planet."

"Why is that so?" Ves furrowed his brows. "A mech that's rated to fly at 1.0 g carries a much stronger flight system. I can understand why it won't be able to perform as effectively in a 2.0 g environment where gravity is twice as strong, but if the gravity is forty percent weaker, shouldn't it be forty percent stronger?"

"You landbound mech designers are all the same." Laida rubbed her head. "You have to realize that aerial light mechs devote up to half of their volume and carrying capacity to their flight systems alone. I can't say too much about medium mechs, but for light mechs, every cubicle centimeter is as precious as exotics. Space that could have been used to strengthen the mech's armor or firepower instead has to be dedicated to powering the flight system or shunt away its heat."

"Ah. So it's a matter of priorities. So if I understand you correctly, an aerial mech that's designed to fly in 0.6 g will allocate less capacity to support the flight system?"

"Correct." Laida bobbed her thin head, causing her bun of hair to bob in a cute fashion. "You can say that such a mech is becoming less of an aerial mech and more of a landbound mech. In extreme cases, such as small moons or large asteroids, an aerial mech could theoretically make due with a handful of anti-grav modules for three-dimensional propulsion, though the lack of atmosphere in those environments is better suited to spaceborn mechs."

"What's the difference between spaceborn mechs and aerial mechs?"

"Early on, there wasn't any difference. Mechs with flight systems did double duty because it was more affordable to design and produce a single model that could do both than dedicate two separate models entirely. It's only later that the two classifications came into being."

"Because of specialization?"

"Yes. A mech designed to operate in space doesn't need to accommodate gravity. Instead, they have to be designed to withstand a lot of g-forces and rapid changes in course. As for aerial mechs, they need to be able to retain their balance in the air at all times. Their flight systems are also tweaked to be highly efficient in counteracting the force of gravity that is being exerted from below."

Laida freely explained all of the nuances behind designing aerial mechs. Ves heard about some of these maxims, but never in such detail and accompanied by the personal insight of a mech designer who knew what she was talking about.

Of course, Laida didn't explain her insights for free. Among mech designers, an exchange of this nature required Ves to put up knowledge of equal value.

As Laida finished providing Ves with a general overview of aerial mechs, she began to ask her own questions. "What do you need to pay attention to when you design an original mech on your own?"

"A lot of things. There's too much to mention. Leaving aside the material requirements such as possessing the right licenses and having access to the production equipment, designing a mech is mainly a test of your vision."

"Vision?" Laida frowned as she pursed her lips. "What is vision?"

That caused Ves to stare at Laida as if she forgot to wear a helmet on a spacewalk. "You studied at the Ansel University of Mech Design, right? Don't they teach you the importance of vision in their classes?"

Laida still looked clueless. "They primarily focused on teaching the sciences to us. The school calls it setting a firm foundation. Without knowing the math and science behind designing mechs, there's no chance of becoming a qualified mech designer."

Through their talks, Ves found out that Laida was indeed fairly competent in that area. Her intelligence couldn't be underestimated and it was impressive how well she grasped the mechanics of designing an aerial mech.

However, Ves found it really strange that her school neglected to teach the artistic side to mech design.

"Designing mechs is both an art and a science. Building up a foundation sounds good and all, but that doesn't prepare you to design a mech on your own. Did they even teach you the steps you needed to follow to develop an original design?"

"...No. Many graduates of the AUMD are expected to learn these lessons after graduation. A lot of promising alumni take in the most promising graduates and teach them the ropes."

Despite her talent in learning, Laida fell outside their scope. Her hometown of Haston did not fit in the elite society of Ansel.

She was lucky that other employees still valued her AUMD degree. She reluctantly joined a design studio as a junior assistant and enjoyed a first-hand glimpse on how the designers of the studio created new aerial mech designs.

However, the design studio's generosity had limits. the senior designers never seriously groomed her into becoming a senior designer in their studio.

Perhaps that was why Laida radiated a lack of confidence.

"Laida, designing an original mech is not that hard." Ves said softly. "It comes from the heart, not the mind. True, a mech is a technical product that can be broken down in a set of parameters, but if everything can be solved with numbers, why don't we leave the job of designing mechs to AIs?"

Creating a complex war machine the size of a building opened up an endless amount of possibilities. Its design could take on countless shapes. Some of them might be better than others, but none could claim to be perfect. Even the strongest processors in the galaxy would never be able to derive the perfect mech design.

Because it didn't exist.

"Rittersburg might not be the most renowned institution in the Republic when it comes to mech design, but the method they taught me has served me well in my career."

Ves understood why the AUMD took a different approach. For Novices and Apprentices, it was indeed important to accumulate as much knowledge as possible. Someone who didn't know the answer of one plus one could forget about designing a mech.

For the next half hour, Ves conveyed her with a brief introduction of the basic approach on how to design an original mech.

It started with setting a vision. Without a solid clue on what you wanted to design, your work wouldn't be constrained by any rules. Mech designers who forgot about vision often strayed from their initial intentions and let their designs be affected by feature creep and disharmony.

Only after a designer established a vision for their mech could they begin to follow the other steps. Ves briefly explained what she needed to pay attention to when she moved to the draft stage.

"The specifics aren't very important. A good draft design is flexible enough to accommodate a number of different component licenses. Don't set anything in stone, or else you will limit yourself to components that turn out not to fit with your design."

After that came feedback, the initial design phase, the initial simulation phase, the prototype testing phase, and depending on the amount of time, manpower and resources available, the design process might loop back into a second round of designing and testing.

"That sounds exactly like how we work at the design studio." Laida nodded once she realized she came back to familiar territory. "Designing mechs is a very iterative process. Involving more designers allows for more directions to follow. Sometimes, the lead designer of a project changes after each new iteration. The studio takes the original design and publishes it while the design team that's in charge of the project is already developing a new variant."

Ves nodded in understanding. Adopting such a development cycle enabled the design studio to come up with a large number of variants, each of them carrying unique traits due to the change in lead designers.

"When you work on your own, you don't have the luxury to iterate all that much. Up to now, I only went back to the design board after one or two rounds of testing. Due to practical constraints, I couldn't spend more than a couple of months on each of my original designs."

"That's still an impressive achievement!" Laida softly praised as her eyes grew a little more worshipful at him. "I could never finish an original design within a year."

"A year is too long. If it takes you that long to get a design together, then you aren't ready to embark on this venture."

"How can I speed up my work, then?"

"Think long and hard about your plan. When I designed my mechs, I could have spent a lot more time on modeling the performance of my design. Yet I only spent a month or so on this at most. Do you know why? Because the tradeoff wasn't worth it. I could have spent another month crunching the numbers, but it would have only improved my work by one percent or less."

Granted, many people cared about that one percent. The whole point of the Mech Corps drafting so many mech designers was to provide more manpower to operations that only achieved something substantial as long as it involved enough people.

It was a very brute force way of solving a problem, but as long as it worked, the Mech Corps did nothing wrong.

Laida needed some time to realize this point. "I learned never to let go of an opportunity to improve the design, no matter how slim the parameters grow. It's hard for me to adjust my thinking into letting these opportunities go."

"Trust me, when you run your own business, you need to get used to balancing costs and priorities." Ves chuckled in amusement at her struggle. He felt as if he threw a cat in a bathtub full of water. "When designing your mechs, you should never lose track of your vision for your design. Parameters are important, but I'd rather let go of some percentage points of performance and adhere to my vision than the other way around."

Ves truly provided a different perspective to Laida. Though his approach to mech design didn't sound very complicated, it differed substantially from everything she learned from the design studio. None of the senior designers there talked about a vision. The only thing that resembled a vision was a list of demands that their designs should meet.

A different voice spoke out from the side. "You're wrong, Mr. Larkinson."

They both turned around to see Pierce, who had just finished taking a shower.

"Why am I wrong?"

"Your method is too rigid. It's all well and good to visualize your end goal at the start of your design process, but designing a mech is a very fluid process. The more you flesh out your design, the more you start to reconsider the choices made at the start. You always know more when you are in the middle of designing your mech than when you started on the draft."

"The iterative cycle is meant to accommodate a mech designer's desire to change his choice."

"That's different." Pierce retorted. "It's like putting a box of rusting bolts from one side of a storage room to the other side of the storage room. The correct decision here would be to take the box away from the storage room entirely."

This was a very different mindset from what Ves had encountered before.

Chapter 424

"Why do you say so?" Ves asked Pierce.

Though the other mech designer looked a little uncomfortable at voicing his thoughts, as a mech designer he had his own way of doing things. "Well, from what I've learned from my father's admittedly brief tutelage, your method is best suited for beginners who aren't always able to control their impulses. Sticking to a well-defined concept formed at the start is very helpful in preventing the project from going out of control. Yet it's not the way an ambitious mech can be designed."

Ves thought about it a bit. Pierce had a point. "If you are designing something experimental, then I can see why you would want to keep your options open, but it sounds too much as if you are starting your design with no idea what will happen as a result."

"The people I worked with think that designs that can be imagined from the start of a project aren't good enough to be developed. A great design is a product that is only revealed at the end of a lengthy journey of exploration."

"Is that how it goes in the design team of a large mech manufacturer?"

Pierce nodded. "The mindset among the older, more experienced designers is that they need to be more unconstrained in their design process. The best designs they came up with are often the result of long periods of experimentation. The fewer the limitations, the higher the odds of creating something remarkable."

This was a completely different perspective from what Ves had learned. "How can mech designers keep control? It sounds really chaotic to me if nobody on the design team has a common vision on what their end product should look like."

"That's exactly the merit of this approach. Because everyone has a different picture in mind for the design, everyone has the opportunity to test out their insights. This way, you get the most options possible and allows the lead designer to pick from a wide range of possibilities."

"So the key here is the lead designer."

"Yes. The lead designer is the only person on the team who needs to retain some semblance of control. In some design teams, he acts as a herder that guides the mech designers under him in the right direction. In other teams, the lead designer takes the role of the composers, and imposes a bit more order in the process. THe most important factor however is that the design team should be set up in a way that takes advantage of each member's creativity."

Ves understood the point of such an organizational structure when Pierce mentioned creativity. It allowed every member to contribute, thereby effectively making the most out of the design team's creativity.

In other words, it compensated for the lead designer's lack of imagination.

"I can see the advantages in such an approach." Ves replied. "Yet it sounds awfully wasteful and inefficient. Many ideas will be tried without any chance of ever getting incorporated in the main design. An incoherent vision will also do the design no good when it ends up with a lack of harmony."

That last point was difficult to explain. Ves really wanted to say that his method of fostering the growth of the X-Factor in his designs wouldn't work if he didn't hold on to a strong and predetermined vision.

All three mech designers argued about the merits of both approaches. Ves was a strong proponent of previsualisation, while Pierce thought that such an approach was only suitable for inexperienced mech designers.

"What do you think, Laida?"

"It depends on your goal. Although it sounds simple and limiting, the approach from Ves sounds the best if you are designing an original mech on your own. As for exploring many different ideas at once, it's only suitable if there are lots of mech designers working on the same project."

In the context of a design team, the two methods determined whether the lead designer wanted to take a top-down or bottom-up approach to mech design.

"The latter approach only makes sense if the design team consists of a gathering of equals." Ves stated. "In nearly every other case, the design team will be better served if the lead designer exerts control."

After a bit more back-and-forth, they couldn't come to an agreement on this topic. To Ves who valued mechs for their intrinsic identities, he knew the importance of defining a mech's existence from the start. However, he couldn't convoy this argument because it touched upon his trade secrets.

Ves prized his secrets above everything else, so he willingly let the argument end with a tie. Laida still looked a little confused, but she appeared to be getting around the idea of developing a vision for her design.

Throughout the rest of the journey, they discussed other matters related to mech design, and each designer came away with learning something new.

From Laida, Ves learned what he needed to pay attention to when he designed an aerial mech. From Pierce, Ves became enlightened to the different methods used by mech designers in the Gauge Dynasty. From both, he also learned how to work in different design team environments.

This was essential knowledge to him because he desperately lacked experience in this area.

As Ves happily soaked up knowledge and gave out some of his own in return, the transport ship finally reached the end of the convoy route. The weathered transport transitioned out of FTL at the edge of the Tarry System.

For the first time in weeks, the outer hatch opened up. A crewman popped his head inside. "We've reached the Tarry System. A shuttle is on its way to take you to another ship."

Ves looked up at the news. "This isn't our end destination?"

"Not from what I heard."

Perhaps the Vandals maintained their bases elsewhere. The mech designers shrugged at the news and waited to be picked up.

With their arrival to the Tarry System, some of the restrictions to their comms had been lifted for some reason. They gained access to a highly limited network that nevertheless proved to be a treasure trove of information.

"A number of battles have already occurred in the Tarry System."

The reports made available to them didn't specify the number of mechs involved or how many of them got wrecked. They didn't even mention the units involved either.

The only special thing about the reports was that they detailed the designs of the mechs involved and analyzed their strengths and weaknesses after the fact. This granted Ves and the others a pretty good picture of what kind of mechs saw use on this part of the frontlines.

Ves quickly came to a conclusion after skimming through the reports. "When it comes to both ground and space warfare, the mechs here are smaller and lighter. Pitched battles are rare, but skirmishes and raids are the order of the day."

The others agreed, though they stayed silent. Their reading and comprehension speeds couldn't keep up with Ves.

"Have the Vesians ever committed to an invasion?"

"They overwhelmed some border systems at the outbreak of the war, but hadn't moved forward since. They are still consolidating their gains and haven't made a major move since."

The Vesians took the slow approach in the Tarry region. With much less mechs and resources allocated to this front, the Vesians moved at a snail's pace. Yet despite their languid pace, they proved impossible for the Tarry divisions to dislodge.

As they read the reports, the transport ship quietly reached a midpoint in the System, whereupon the mech designers suddenly had to leave the passenger compartment. Without much ado, they entered an airlock which extended out an enclosed ramp onto the hatch of another ship.

Once they walked across and entered the airlock of the other ship, they entered a metallic grey corridor of a small and cramped corvette.

"Mr. Larkinson, Mr. Yuvalis and Miss Nnvist, right?" An easy-going spacer greeted them as they entered the ship. The man looked like he could use a good shave, and his red-colored uniform could use another wash. "Your cabins are already prepared. It's a little tight here, so you're going to have to bunk with the crew. Apologies for that."

Ves and the others looked at each other. Nobody had a clue what went on. "Lead the way."

The spacer guided them to their cabins as he casually chewed a stimulant, something which the Mech Corps strictly forbid. "You guys came at a swell time. Professor Velten has been ringing the Mech Corps for extra manpower for years now. It finally took the outbreak of the war for those stingy bastards to send some of you out to the Vandals."

"Who is Professor Velton?"

"That's the boss man of the research base you're about to go to. I can't tell you where it's located, it's all hush hush and such. All I can say is that the Vesians will never be able to pin it down."

They reached the cabins where their bots dropped off some of their luggage. Ves continued to ask some questions from the crewman. "Is this ship part of the Vandals fleet?"

"She sure is! She's called the Bloodless Dagger, born and bred as a Vesian but taken as a prize by us a couple of years ago. We sure taught those bastards a bloody lesson back then!"

The three mech designers looked shocked at the spacer. "The war didn't even start until more than half a year ago!"

"Hah! It's not like we need a declaration of war to stir up some trouble. We Vandals are all about taking opportunities. The Vesians have always been our enemy. Peace with the Vesians is a big fat lie. We've raided their systems and trade routes plenty of times and they have done the same to us. The only difference now is that we don't have to go through the trouble of camouflaging ourselves as pirates."

The more the spacer blabbed on about the previous actions of the Vandals, the more they sounded like pirates!

"Why all the raids?" Ves couldn't help but ask.

"Because we're the 6th! Those fancy ponces over at Rittersberg and Bentheim never send out adequate supplies to us! Our division is at the end of a long supply chain, and the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th regiments get their turn first before leaving the leftovers to us! Hah! By the time we receive our supplies, everything has been siphoned away."

This happened a lot in the Mech Corps, but Ves never realized that the 6th Flagrant Vandals had it so bad.

"So the Vandals have resorted to stealing from the Vesians to gather their supplies?"

"Yup."

"How do you get away with it?"

The spacer grinned. "It's all thanks to Colonel Lowenfield. Ever since she took charge of the Vandals, we're no longer begging the others for fuel, parts and other supplies."

This colonel must be a remarkable leader if she was able to control this bunch of ruffians.

The Bloodless Dagger didn't stick around the Tarry System for long. She headed towards a nearby gas giant's Lagrange point and smoothly transitioned into FTL.

As the three mech designers spent their time aboard the corvette, they quickly learned that the crew didn't make any attempts at keeping them under control. Besides restricting their comms, they allowed Ves to go outside their cabins and explore the tiny ship, not that they saw all that much. It was still a corvette.

Though the crew acted a little casual around the mech designers, they still showed some discipline in their normal operations. They at least still showed signs of being a part of the Mech Corps in the things that mattered. The Bloodless Dagger was well-maintained for a captured ship and none of the spacers appeared incompetent. It showed that the corvette had definitely taken a lot of risks.

"You know, maybe it's not so bad to be assigned to the Vandals."

Chapter 425

The corvette entered a lifeless star system with no known settlements. Ves and the mech designers weren't allowed to know where it was located, which underscored the importance of this seemingly empty system.

After another day of coasting towards the inner system, they stopped by a vast asteroid belt that ringed around the dull yellow sun. From there, Ves expected to enter some sort of secret asteroid base, but instead the corvette came face to face with one of the largest industrial ships he had ever seen.

"Is that a factory ship?"

"That, and more. You're looking at the one and only Wolf Mother."

The so-called Wolf Mother was imposingly large. Larger than a fleet carrier, even though both her hull and armor couldn't compare to a ship dedicated for battle.

As a factory ship, the Wolf Mother was basically a manufacturing complex compressed in a single hull with some thrusters and an FTL engine slapped to her. The Wolf Mother's design looked rather crude, displaying many gaps in the hull that led to empty cavities that hadn't been filled since her commissioning.

"So this is where the Vandals design and produce their mechs?" Ves asked in a weird voice.

"That's right."

"That's not possible! A ship of this size can't service an entire regiment's worth of mechs!"

A normal regiment fielded around two-thousand mechs at a time, but that didn't take into account the spare parts and spare mechs that would be necessary to keep the unit at full strength.

Despite its massive size, only a tiny portion of the factory ship could be dedicated to the production lines. Each production line expended an enormous amount of power and resources, so Ves estimated that the Wolf Den only held two production lines at most, and that would be straining the ship.

To that, the spacer sent a cheeky smile at Ves. "Who said we need to rely on our own mechs to fight?"

"Oh."

Ves forgot about the usual conduct of the Flagrant Vandals. They were so cut-off from conventional supply lines that they needed to steal or scavenge everything for themselves. This also applied to mechs.

The imposing manner of the Wolf Mother only grew as the tiny corvette approached one of her docking spaces. The factory ship looked so immense that her hangers even offered enough space to let in the Bloodless Dagger, not that they did so this time. The Bloodless Dagger didn't require any servicing.

"How old is the Wolf Mother?" Pierce asked.

"She's over thirty years old. She's actually a product of the previous war."

Ves didn't know whether he should feel afraid or reassured at that fact. The vessel definitely looked like she had been through a war. Much of her armor looked like a patchwork construction where different holes and battle scars had been covered up by any available armor plating the Vandals could get their hands on.

This led to a very shabby appearance. If not for her size and solidness, Ves would have mistaken the Wolf Mother for a floating junk heap.

The interior of the ship looked a little better compared to her exterior. Once the Bloodless Dagger docked with the factory ship and let out the mech designers, Ves felt as if he entered a cross between the Mech Nursery and a fleet carrier.

The Wolf Mother was completely geared towards logistics. Massive grinders and other processing equipment broke down asteroid chunks and extracted every useful material from the remains. Elsewhere, mighty production lines churned out part after part for both mechs and ships.

The brief view he got as a guide led them across the corridors and made it clear that the Wolf Mother had been built in a piecemeal fashion. She started small, but the Vandals tacked on more compartments over time, until she eventually reached her current size.

This haphazard method of expansion might have suited the Vandals well, but it left little room for protection. Even a much smaller combat carrier would be able to endure more damage than this tough-looking but fragile-shelled logistics ship.

After passing through a maze of corridors, they reached a large out-of-the-way compartment. "This is your stop. Professor Velten is expecting you."

They entered what appeared to be a design lab. Rows of terminals connected to powerful processors stood ready to perform any number of simulations. Further ahead, Ves spotted areas which facilitated the design process in many different ways.

For example, one open space contained a table that supported minifab. This tiny 3D printer only worked with a handful of materials, but through the application of different treatments, it was perfect for fabricating tiny models that could help with the visualization of the design.

The newcomers entered an office to the side. Professor Velten looked up from the data pad he studied and smiled. "Come on!"

The Professor was a short and aging woman. She obviously enjoyed a couple of age-prolonging treatments, but they didn't seem to be of very great quality. Nevertheless, her status alone forced the three arrivals to show a measure of respect before taking their seats, because the professor turned out to be a Senior Mech Designer.

"Ah, it delights me to see new chickens have come." The professor smiled in a slightly creepy manner. "You are the fourth, fifth, and sixth mech designers to have arrived from the inner regions of the Republic."

The old woman spoke no further but eyed them as if they were exotics.

"Ahem, Professor," Ves began. "What are our responsibilities?"

That forced the absent-minded professor back into the present. "There is much that needs to be done! You may have realized that we are very short-handed. Even if we cut back our projects, we are barely able to keep up! There are a total of three Journeyman Mech Designers under my wing, and each of them lead a small design team of around three Apprentices."

That didn't sound like an impressive team at all.

"Due to... the difficulties in securing a sufficient amount of time, money, resources and manpower, I have restricted the development of new and improved designs to three different mech lines."

A typical design team with over a hundred mech designers working together could easily support the development of a dozen designs at the same time. Professor Velten's team barely managed to scrape by with only three designs.

Like a lonesome granny who only saw her grandparents once a year, Professor Velten treated Ves, Pierce and Laida like they were precious treasures.

"Three Apprentices have already arrived from the Rittersberg region. Along with your arrival, that makes six fresh faces. Sadly, that's the extent of their generosity. They haven't even sent us some much-needed Journeymen!"

After ranting a bit about the lack of concern from headquarters, Professor Velten returned to the topic at hand.

"It's best if the three of you split up and each take part in one of the three projects in development. It is not as if the addition of three extra Apprentices to a single project will make any difference compared to sending only one. It takes at least ten more mech designers for the synergy to become apparent."

The professor didn't let them choose their assignment. She briefly read their profiles and track records and arbitrarily added them to the teams that best matched their skills.

"Miss Nnvist, you will be joining the design team that is working on the Inheritor spaceborn skirmisher design."

"Mr. Yuvalis, you shall be joining the design team that's responsible for improving the Akkara heavy mech design."

"As for you, Mr. Larkinson, you will fit wonderfully with the design team that is developing the successor to the Hellcat spaceborn hybrid knight design."

What? A spaceborn hybrid knight design?

Before Ves could puzzle over the extensive challenges behind designing a hybrid knight with enough capacity to support a flight system, Professor Velten pushed them out and ordered them to meet with their respective design teams. The professor unceremoniously shooed them away from her office.

Once the hatch locked, they all looked at each other.

"The professor is a little senile, is she not?" Ves remarked.

Neither Laida nor Pierce dared to comment on Professor Velten's mental state. She was a Senior Mech Designer after all. Even if they left her presence, she could still be listening in through the countless bugs embedded in this compartment.

Ves sighed. As someone who met a Master Mech Designer in the flesh, the prestige of a Senior Mech Designer hardly fazed him. He even found the professor to be a rather pitiful person. Perhaps her erratic mind was the reason why she led the design team of the Vandals.

After consulting their comms, they split up and entered different compartments. Ves entered a sub-lab area where three other Apprentices sat behind a row of terminals performing various simulations and microadjustment of the latest iteration of the Hellcat design.

The other Apprentices stopped their work once Ves entered the compartment. A thin man with a towering height in his late thirties looked up from the schematics of a power reactor and turned his attention to Ves.

"Have you come from Professor Velten?"

"Yes, sir. These are my orders."

Ves passed over a data chip to the Journeyman, who slipped it into his terminal and read the contents.

One tidbit caused the man to stop his perpetual glower for a moment. "You're a Larkinson? Are you related to..."

This was a familiar refrain to Ves. "Yes, I'm part of the Larkinson Family."

A few seconds passed.

"Very well then." The Journeyman nodded and resumed reading his records. "It says here that you have experience in designing hybrid knights."

"Not exactly, sir. I haven't designed a hybrid knight from scratch. I developed a variant of an existing model."

"Which base model?"

"The Caesar Augustus."

That caused the tall man to scowl. "That piece of crap?! Why did you waste your time on that bloated mess?"

"I didn't have any choice. I received its production license from a generous grant."

After making it clear that Ves didn't deliberately choose to work with the Caesar Augustus, the Journeyman calmed down. "Very well then. Despite your limited track record, at least you know your way around with hybrid knights. Do mind you, a spaceborn hybrid knight is a radically different creature from a land bound hybrid knight, so don't think you have the edge over your fellow Apprentices."

The Journeyman bobbed his head towards the three young Apprentices who sat attentively as they studied Ves.

"My name is Alloc Brandstad, and I'm the only Journeyman Mech Designer that lasted more than five years under Professor Velten's supervision."

Alloc spoke those words with an exhausted shook his head and returned Ves his data chip. "Keep that chip safe. Otherwise you'll get in trouble with the Wolf Mother's security contingent."

"Understood, sir."

"Let me apprise you of the role of the Hellcat within the Vandals."

The 6th Flagrant Vandals used to be supported by a team of over fifty mech designers. That was only half as much as any other regiment, but it was more than sufficient to the undersupplied Vandals.

For some reason or another, the design team diminished to its current state. Professor Velten needs to make a brutal choice and cut back the active number of designs in development. She chose to retain the most essential designs that formed the core of the Vandals.

The professor's choice of retaining the Hellcat in active development turned out to be very controversial.

"Hybrid knights are difficult to design at the best of times. Spaceborn hybrid knights are almost impossible to design even if you put over a hundred mech designers to the task. Nevertheless, both Professor Velten and Colonel Lowenfield put down their feet. The Hellcat is an essential mech that enjoys a place of honor among the Vandals."

Much like the Caesar Augustus, the Hellcat was a versatile mech meant to be piloted by leaders. The Vandals fielded less than twenty-five Hellcats at a time, mainly because they couldn't scrounge up enough mech pilots that could make good use of a hybrid knight.

"Make no mistake." Alloc said with emphasis. "Despite the small number of Hellcats in existence, they have served as the linchpins of the Vandals in every single battle in space since their inception. The hellcat is more than a single design. It is a symbol."

Chapter 426

Developing and improving the Hellcat design required an enormous amount of effort. Yet the Hellcat design team only consisted of four permanent mech designers with two temporary additions, of which Ves was one of them. Professor Velten supervised the entire effort and occasionally stepped in to solve some difficult issues, but she was too busy to spend all of her time on a single design.

"Professor Velten isn't as spry as she used to." Alloc said in an emotional fashion. "A couple of decades ago, she could easily keep track of dozens of concurrent designs, but now... she's barely holding it with three concurrent designs."

Any mech designer who advanced to the rank of Senior was a formidable person. No one ever reached this height by being stupid. Professor Velten must have been an intellectual force at her prime.

Ves barely knew anything about the 6th Flagrant Vandals or Professor Velten. Both diverged so much from how the Mech Corps usually organized their units that Ves wondered what lay at the heart of their difficulties.

"Sir, I've just arrived and I'm not very familiar with the Tarry region or the Vandals. Can you give me a rundown on the mech regiment?"

Alloc sighed and released a weary breath. "The Flagrant Vandals look kind of bad, don't they?"

Ves nodded.

"That's because the Vandals never quite fit into the Mech Corps."

Alloc briefly explained the origins of the Vandals. It used to be set up by an ambitious general over sixty years ago. The general tired of the constant defensive attitude of the Tarry region divisions, so erected an additional mech regiment with the express purpose of giving the Vesians a bloody nose.

"The only problem with the Vandals is that the Tarry region is poorly endowed. It can barely field whatever forces they already possess. Burdening the regional headquarters with a full regiment of mechs and everything that came with it pretty much broke the budget."

Other problems also became apparent. Entering Vesian space was a perilous ordeal and while the Vandals achieved some early successes, they occasionally ran into a prepared opponent that decimated their raiding forces. The regiment used up a lot more mechs, mech pilots, ships and supplies than originally projected.

"So what changed from the start?" Ves asked.

Alloc shrugged his head. "Headquarters came up with a new order for the Vandals that's never been recalled. The 6th Flagrant Vandals need to be completely self-sufficient. They have to fabricate or procure their own mechs and ships and they need to recruit and train their own mech pilots."

This completely cut off all of the support that was necessary to sustain a mech regiment. Maintaining the mechs alone drained a lot of money, but supporting all of the ships was even worse.

If Ves didn't know anything better, then the Tarry region's regional HQ wanted to dissolve the Vandals by starving it to death.

"It's a good thing that we're more resilient than that." The Journeyman Mech Designer grinned. "We slimmed down our ships and mechs, all of our mech pilots have taken pay cuts and steal everything we need from the Vesians when we're short on something."

Still, financing an entire mech regiment through raiding planets and trade ships could only stretch so far. Most mech regiments would have collapsed eventually from the burden.

"Our budget declined year after year. Nothing we did could have changed our downward slide. The biggest burden by far is the cost of replacing aging mechs and ships. Even if we're able to recoup most of the costs by recycling them, we are still bleeding a ton of money this way."

"Were?"

"That's right. I didn't misspoke. Ever since Colonel Lowenfield took over as our regimental commander some time ago, she has made a clean sweep of our regiment. She cut down costs to the absolute minimum by trading away our only fleet carrier, letting go of as much support personnel as possible and shutting down all of our bases. Under her urging, we've completely transitioned into a nomadic fleet."

Relying on logistic ships such as the Wolf Mother factory ship formed the core to their strategy. Though it cost a lot to maintain their operations, their ability to move with the fleet meant that the Vandals never had to worry about stretching their supply lines if they ever went deep into enemy space.

Ves felt a little nervous after hearing this. "You mean the Vandals bring the Wolf Mother along whenever they cross the border?"

"Exactly! She spends more time in the Vesia Kingdom than the Bright Republic even. We know the Kingdom inside-out and while the Vesians have caught us out a few times, we've always been able to get away."

"Has the regiment lost any logistic ships over the years."

"A handful of smaller vessels have succumbed to the enemy in recent times. They didn't last very long under enemy fire."

Great. When Ves imagined serving in the Mech Corps as a mech designer, he always thought he would be put in some secret base deep underground. Serving aboard a moving factory ship was an entirely different matter altogether. The Vesians must be hunting for the Wolf Mother all the time.

Alloc briefly looked at the time. "That's enough about the Vandals. We've got to get back to work. Ves, since you're new, you should study the design files of the Hellcat first before you do anything else. The Hellcat is an exceedingly complex design, and were it not for your prior experience, I would have given you a refresher course instead."

Everyone turned around and went back to work. Alloc passed around a weathered data pad to Ves before he returned to debugging some piece of software.

Ves didn't disturb the design team any further and sat down at a sofa pushed into a corner. He activated the data pad and began to study the confidential documents held within.

"So this is what the Hellcat looks like."

The Hellcat's humanoid frame looked bulky but powerful. Its head was shaped like a lion, but that was the only reference to its name. The rest of the design evoked pure power due to the thickness of its armor and how many weapon systems it carried.

One arm carried a saber and the other arm carried a kite shield. The kite shield wasn't all that thick and didn't provide full coverage, but that lessened some of the weight concerns of the knight. The Hellcat compensated for the deficiency in the shield by bulking up its armor to the very limits of what was expected of medium mechs.

The Hellcat's second weapon system consisted of a pair of wrist-mounted nail drivers. A nail driver was a rather exotic weapon that didn't see much use. However, they packed a substantial kinetic punch without demanding too much space. Mech designers referred to them as the poor man's railgun.

The pair of nail drivers wouldn't be very accurate if fired from the arm of a hybrid knight, but they granted the Hellcat a potent close-ranged punch that would be useful in a variety of situations. The only downside to the nail driver was that it only carried three nails in its tiny magazine. Along with the nail in the chamber, a Hellcat could only output 8 nails in total before needing to reload, which turned out to be a massive pain for the mech pilot. Changing magazines in the thick of battle was impracticable at best.

Much like many other hybrid knights, the Hellcat also carried a pair of missile launchers on its shoulders. As a fairly low tech weapon system, it hardly looked special in his eyes. The true worth of a missile launcher lay in the missiles themselves.

Surprisingly, the Hellcat's tube diameter diverged from the standard used by the Mech Corps. Each state used their own standards in order to prevent the enemy from using their own munitions against them. If the Vesians ever captured a couple of containers worth of missiles, they were better off recycling them than trying to modify them to fire out of their own missile tubes.

Adopting the enemy's technical standard on a mech that was supposed to be the standard bearer of the Vandals said a lot about the regiment.

"The Flagrant Vandals can't afford to ship Republic-standard missiles, so they're getting them from the Vesians instead."

It sounded crazy, but on second thought it was a brilliant design decision. The Flagrant Vandals spent a lot of time in Vesian space and frequently replenished their supplies by raiding enemy trade routes.

Since the Vesians loved to employ a lot of missiles, many of these convoys would be carrying tons of mass-produced missiles. Rather than destroy the shipment or recycle them down, the Vandals were better off if they made them. This became especially attractive after months of moving behind enemy lines.

The only complication was that these missiles implemented safeguards that prevented them from exploding in the Mech Legion's faces. The Vandals needed some time to crack these safeguards before they could put them into their own launcher tubes.

"A saber for close-ranged combat, a pair of nail drivers for close-to-medium ranged burst attacks and a pair of missile launchers to provide long-ranged suppression."

The weapons might be different, but the Hellcat pretty much adopted the weapon patterns as the Caesar Augustus and the Marc Antony. Many other Hybrid knight designs copied the same pattern to the point where it became a standard in the industry.

The Hellcat's flight system was the last thing that grabbed his attention. Ves became impressed and concerned at its sheer size. It was about fifty percent bigger than any other flight system he had seen on a medium hybrid knight. It took a lot of power to keep them running for a decent stretch of time.

Ves turned to another file that detailed the internal architecture of the design.

It looked completely different from what he imagined.

Ves expected a crammed up interior where each part tried to squeeze out its neighbors. Much like the original Caesar Augustus, mechs needed to accommodate a lot more components if it wished to support so many weapon systems.

The internal architecture of the Hellcat turned around his expectations. The internal components took up much less space than he thought, which allowed the design to feature a high level of redundancy and compartmentalization.

The Hellcat was unimaginably tough. Its armor was thick enough to take a good beating, but its internals extended the durability of the mech by a significant amount.

Inside and out, the Hellcat put the original Caesar Augustus to shame.

How did the design team do it?

The secret quickly became evident.

"This is a really expensive design."

Ves performed some mental calculations. He took note of the material composition of the mech and ran the numbers on their cost. The raw materials required to fabricate a brand new Hellcat cost as much as 350 million credits at market prices!

That was as expensive as a heavy mech!

"This is a prestige mech!"

The Hellcat was a marvelous design that hid a lot of ingenious tricks and nuances that Ves didn't fully understand. Professor Velten was a legitimate Senior Mech Designer, so the Hellcat's design contained an invisible strength that brought out strength beyond what its materials should have been able to bring out.

Nevertheless, cheap materials could only be elevated up to a certain point. In order to meet the Hellcat design's insane demands, Professor Velten resorted to powerful exotics that did more with less.

That came at an enormous cost. In fact, when Ves compared the performance of the Hellcat to an average heavy knight, he could hardly justify its existence.

"Why do the Vandals treasure the Hellcat over more practical designs?"

Heavy knights provided a lot more impact on the battlefield. Sure, they were too unwieldy to be used in space, but that was not a reason to develop an expensive boondoggle like the Hellcat.

The files failed to list any information that could satisfy his curiosity. Ves had enough of looking at the schematics. He needed to see some footage of the Hellcat in action.

Chapter 427

When Ves asked Alloc to see some footage, the Journeyman immediately agreed to provide him with some footage.

"The footage is stored in the restricted archives, so you can't access it from your comm or from the terminals in this room. The proper procedure would be to apply for access to a secure terminal in an isolated chamber. Normally, only Professor Velten can weigh on your request, but she handed me a lot of leeway in these matters."

Alloc quickly prepared a code and access pass for Ves. After pointing out where he could find the isolated chamber, he returned to work.

He used the pass to unlock the secure hatch and enter the barren but highly restricted chamber. A very visible laser turret constantly tracked his movements as he walked to the middle where he sat down on a stiff, metal chair.

After supplying the code into the terminal, the projector began to expand and run some footage of a battle that happened around four years ago. At that time, the Bright Republic was at peace and Ves was still studying at Ritterberg.

No one had a clue that a handful of combat carriers of the Flagrant Vandals penetrated the border and crossed several noble domains until it reached the interior of Vesian space.

Their target? A massive refinery complex in an otherwise quiet star system midway between the mines and nearby industrial planets. The complex orbited a rocky, broken planet that suffered numerous asteroid impacts hundreds of millions of years ago.

Most of those asteroids turned out to be made out of several exotics. These materials reacted with the minerals buried beneath the surface to produce a strange new substance that made for extremely flexible armor plating that performed well against kinetic impacts.

The footage started with the raid already in progress. The Railguns and lasers flew in each direction as several companies of the Vandals assaulted the defenses of a massive depot in a head-on collision.

What struck Ves the most was that the attackers hardly looked any different from the defenders! Much of the mechs used by the Flagrant Vandals actually consisted of a hodgepodge of distinctly Vesian designs!

The battle went well for the Vandals. They scoped out their target and gathered as much intelligence as possible before committing to the raid. They brought more than enough mechs to overwhelm the defenders.

Although the defenders possessed enough mechs to put up a stiff fight, they were chained to the refinery complex in orbit. Their static turrets fell like dominoes and their defensive positions started to crumble from the sheer amount of fire being thrown in their way.

The Vandals primarily made use of ballistic and kinetic weaponry. Though they wouldn't be able to outlast a force that fielded mechs with laser weapons, their damage output was extremely high so long as they didn't run out of missiles.

Just as it looked as if their mechs would easily break through the defensive line, more than one-hundred Vesian mechs popped up from behind.

"Enemy reinforcements from the rear!"

"Where did they come from?!"

"We've got to get out of here!"

The Flagrant Vandals deliberately chose to attack a privately-owned refinery complex defended by nothing more than a company security force. The lightly populated star system shouldn't have been able to support any other mech force, so the appearance of over a hundred additional mechs unsettled the Vandals.

"Calm down." A clipped and clinical female voice broke through the chaotic chatter. "They outnumber us, but won't be able to match our grit. Gather the Hellcats!"

The woman began to issue a rapid set of orders that split them into two. Most of the Vandals continued to press against the complex, while a smaller portion of mechs looped around to face the incoming horde of mechs.

As the reinforcements came closer, the Vandals learned their makeup. Three-fourths of the incoming mechs consisted of frontline mechs while the remainder consisted of cheap melee mechs.

Facing them were twelve nearly identical Hellcats. All of them were piloted by officers or elites. Pulling them out of the assault on the complex risked delaying the breakthrough, but the Vandals had no other choice.

"Your orders?"

Colonel Lowenfield spoke for the first time since the start of the footage. "Meet the enemy reinforcements and smash them apart."

Her orders sounded simple and to the point. As Ves watched and listened to this record of past events, this was the first time he heard Colonel Lowenfield's voice.

To his ears, she spoke without the usual force and gusto of mech pilots when they were on duty. She sounded like an office worker instead of a commanding officer.

Nevertheless, the lack of weight in her voice didn't detract from her gravitas. The Vandals followed her orders without question, as if they had absolute fate in her leadership.

What Ves couldn't understand was why she felt so confident about her Hellcats. Even though their performance was extremely good, sheer numbers always had a way of negating any advantage in quality.

"The disparity in quality is not enough to make up for the deficiency in numbers."

That was what Ves concluded if he applied the conventional maxims. Any other commanding officer would have allocated at least thirty mechs against the incoming reinforcements.

As the fresh wave of Vesian mechs neared the battle site in orbit, the dozen hybrid knights prepared their missile launchers. The protective ports retracted, allowing the missiles to escape from the launchers and arc out into space.

The missile launchers carried by this older iteration of the Hellcat used larger mech-sized missiles. Each Hellcat only released twelve missiles each. Therefore, they only unleashed 144 missiles in their only volley.

Nevertheless, these missiles packed quite a punch. The reinforcing mechs must have recognized their own missiles because they quickly halted their forward acceleration and entered a defensive posture. Numerous lasers started firing from their formation in an attempt to shoot the missiles down.

It was tough going for the Vesian mechs because these large missiles incorporated many elements that made it more elusive.

For the most basic-level mech pilots that piloted the frontline mechs, their abysmal accuracy ensured that the chance of knocking down a missile was low. The only thing the reinforcements had going for them was their sheer weight of numbers.

More than half of the missiles got shot down by the sheer spread of fire, but that left a lot of missiles alive. The Vesians barely had time to brace their mechs before the missiles impacted their frames.

"That was a good volley!"

"I love flinging their missiles back to them!"

None of the missiles carried enough force to destroy a mech outright, but all of the impacts succeeded in throwing the Vesians off-balance.

"Charge!"

The hybrid knights accelerated forward in a sluggish manner. Even though they carried proportionally huge flight systems, it took some time to get them going. However, once they built up a reasonable amount of speed relative to the Vesian formation, the amount of force they could produce upon impact was extremely serious.

Meanwhile, the Vesians just recovered from the missile salvo. The missiles outright disable four or so mechs while heavily damaging ten or so more. Every other mech only suffered scratches from the flying debris.

"Hellcats, charge formation!" The highest captain of the Hellcats ordered.

The hybrid knights adjusted into a V-shaped formation as they neared the Vesians. Both sides accelerated into each other, so the time before impact wouldn't be very long.

The Vesians might have gotten an inkling of what they planned. Their legless spaceborn frontline mechs frantically opened fire at the incoming Hellcats. Many shots went wide but those that hit only added a couple more scratches to their armor and shields.

"Ready the nail drivers!"

The hybrid knights adjusted the grips of their sabers and shields and extended out the barrel of the nail driver poking out of their wrists.

"Aim at your designated targets!"

The captain transmitted a series of targeting instructions that focused everyone's fire on a handful of important-looking mechs.

"Fire!"

The nail drivers emptied out their chamber, releasing a long and sharp nail that flew forward until it met the Vesians. Every mech that the captain targeted suffered a lot of damage. Many mechs flung backwards upon getting hit, and all of the nails that hit had been able to punch through their flimsy armor.

The Vesian formation fell into disarray yet again. The lead Hellcat officer successfully managed to take out the mechs that carried the officers in charge of the reinforcements.

Though the surviving officers of the Vesian reinforcements quickly imposed order, the damage was already done. Though they managed to reassert their formation, they hadn't been able to retaliate as effectively.

The Hellcats spent the rest of their time on approach by emptying out their magazines at the enemy. Most of those nails hit as the fire hadn't been concentrated on any single enemy mech. Instead, the scattered fire was meant to disarray the enemy formation and prevent them from bracing against the imminent collision!

"Bring it on!"

"Vandals Ever-burning!"

"Three, two, one, impact!"

"Yahoooooooo!"

Twelve spaceborn hybrid knights simultaneously tore through the mechs of the Vesians. The difference in mass proved to be decisive. The Hellcats bullied through several mechs with their kite shields held in front.

Though the shields quickly got dented, the Vesians completely didn't know how to handle the sudden intrusion. They aimed their barrels at the hybrid knights in the midst of their formation but hesitated in pulling the trigger. Their formation was too packed. While that added to their cohesion, once the Vandals entered their midst, they risked missing the intruders and damage one of their fellow mechs instead.

"They're dispersing!"

"It's too late!"

The commanding officer of the Vesian reinforcements decisively ordered his mechs to split, but it was far too late for that. The Hellcats moved in unison as they mowed down mech after mech.

The Vesian frontline mechs never lasted more than a second up close while the Vesian melee mechs only delayed their destruction by a couple more seconds.

Mech after mech got cleaved apart by the brutal sabers wielded by the Hellcats. As the Vesians belatedly dispersed, the Vandal elites split up into two squads. Six mechs went high while the other went low.

Though splitting up into two squads of six wouldn't allow them to catch all of the Vesian mechs, they still exhibited strength beyond what their numbers suggested.

"Hybrid knights are shock weapons." Ves realized as he watched the Hellcats make a mockery out of a Vesian force that outnumbered them.

Though this force was fairly shabby, Ves still found it impressive that the Hellcats managed to route the mob without sustaining any losses.

"Very interesting."

After smashing the reinforcements, the Vandals easily broke through the orbital complex and stole all of its inventory before breaking it up and sending the pieces into an inescapable descent to the rocky planet below.

The key takeaway of the footage was the way the Vandals used the Hellcats. Though they would usually be dispersed among the rest of the Vandals, whenever the commanding officer needed it, he or she could easily order them to form up in a single group of Hellcats.

Several Hellcats working together was a lot stronger than he thought. Naturally, much of the victory was achieved due to the disparity in quality between the two forces. The Hellcats didn't fight against the Mech Legion. If Ves had to guess, the reinforcements looked a lot like mercenaries.

This was also why the Hellcats proved to be so effective. The Vandals mainly raided enemy infrastructure. They weren't meant to go toe-to-toe with the Mech Legion, the Vesian premiere mech force.

The Mech Legion was famous for their high morale and their willingness to fight to the death, but the outfits that did business in the Kingdom's private sector were made out of much less sterner stuff.

"It's much more efficient for the Vandals to attack their morale. As long as the Hellcats deliver a sufficiently great shock, they'll be able to rout any number of inferior mechs."

Outfits in the private sector never fought to the death. As long as they glimpsed a hint of defeat, they wouldn't hesitate in running away.

Chapter 428

Ves only needed to witness a single battle to understand the characteristics of the Hellcat design.

Even though its design appeared to be a little scattered, in actual fact it prioritized one capability above all others.

"The entire frame is built to deliver a devastating collision attack."

The schematics and material composition prioritized sturdiness and shock resistance. It ensured that even if the hybrid knight built up a lot of speed, it wouldn't fall apart as soon as it collided with another mech. Even the shield that looked a little small for a knight hid a surprising amount of resilience.

The additional weapon systems facilitated this mode of combat. They were meant to soften up the enemy and disrupt them from meeting the Hellcats in a prepared formation.

"That's why these Hellcats don't carry much ammunition around. They're only designed to deliver one big wallop before they close in with their shields and sabers."

Still, for a highly advanced mech that incorporated many ingenuities, its design was also surprisingly one-dimensional. Its strengths were evident, but that only magnified its weaknesses.

The biggest and most egregious fault spoke for itself. "The Hellcat is too heavy."

Spaceborn mechs relied on speed and acceleration to move around in the vast void of space and to dodge most of the attacks fired in their direction. An exception existed for knights, but usually mech designers exerted their utmost to minimizing their weight.

The less they weighed, the easier it was to change their direction on the fly.

Right now, the Hellcat resembled a transport ship in its movement characteristics. It weighed a lot and though it possessed a larger flight system compared to other medium mechs, the increase in propulsion force couldn't keep up.

"This mech is as heavy as a Caesar Augustus."

The same weight on a landbound mech like the Caesar Augustus played to its advantages. Locomotion on land demanded much less of a mech. The weight might slow it down, but it also added weight to its movements and allowed it to anchor itself into place whenever it received a mighty impact.

In space, this weight came with much more downsides. The amount of time needed to adjust the Hellcat's inertia was at least twice as long as a conventional space knight. This difference was quite massive when it came to fast-paced battles such as smaller skirmishes in space.

Essentially, this meant that the Hellcat excelled in larger battles where they faced company-sized forces and more. "It's not a duelist mech, that's for sure."

The second major downside to the Hellcat design was its lack of staying power. Every part in its design cranked up as much power as they could possibly unleash without degrading their longevity by too much. Even with light and careful use of this mech, it would eventually by itself within a decade.

The Hellcat simply demanded too much out of itself.

Naturally, the upside to this was that the mech pilots could be assured of the best performance possible whenever they committed to the battle. Before that, they needed to carefully conserve their Hellcats in order to prevent them from running out of steam before the decisive moment came.

Mechs designed to stay in reserve and exert their full power in a single maneuver had always existed, but they never went to such extremes. The mech industry had a moniker for mechs like that.

"A prestige mech. It's the parade horse of the regiment."

What Ves meant by that was that the Hellcat served a dual purpose. It broke through stalemates and reversed unfavorable situations not only through its objective performance characteristics, but also through shaping everyone's perceptions.

The Hellcat was a standard bearer and the trump card of the Flagrant Vandals. Every mech pilot that fought alongside a Hellcat would receive a boost in morale. On the opposite end, enemies that recognized the Hellcat and everything it represented must be feeling a little suppressed.

In truth, the Hellcat's ability to boost friendly morale and damage enemy morale was much more important than the material damage it could unleash.

By delivering an overwhelming impact in a single moment, it exceeded the limit of how much enemy pilots could deal with.

If the Hellcat exhibited a more gradual performance curve, while it would be able to last much longer in a battle, the shock to the enemy wouldn't be as potent.

Ves understood the challenges faced by the Hellcat design team. With only five Apprentices and one Journeyman working full-time on this design, hardly any progress could be made. The Hellcat's design was simply too complex.

After returning to his team, Ves began to integrate himself with the team. Over the course of several days, Alloc taught him his responsibilities and what kind of expectations the design team shouldered.

"The Hellcat is not a fixed design like you see with private sector mechs." The Journeyman patiently explained. "Mechs in the military can come in many different variants. You can see it as a cross between updating an old design and modifying an existing design. For minor changes, we don't bother fabricating new mechs, but apply them to existing mechs. This way, we can be sure that they possess the right configuration to deal with their upcoming missions."

"How many brand-new mechs are fabricated in a year?"

"Not as much as you think. The Flagrant Vandals have learned how to be frugal. You'll have to take that into account when you do your work. You need to incorporate some tolerances and account for the most common cases of wear and tear. This is because our mech technicians reuse as many old components as they can get away with. Professor Velten is watching out for this so you don't have to be too concerned."

Alloc also explained the nature of the work being sent in his way. Predictably, the Journeyman didn't think much of Ves and his abilities. After hearing that Ves excelled in physics and was passable in a couple of other areas, the seasoned mech designer dumped some trivial assignments onto his lap.

"Our design team is short-handed and the Hellcat needs tons of tweaks. Whenever Professor Velten and I introduce a major change in the Hellcat's design, the knock-on effects are numerous. Many components are affected, some for the better and some for the worse. Your responsibility as an Apprentice is to record and quantify these effects, and whenever possible provide a suggestion on how we can mitigate the detrimental side effects."

While Alloc sounded solemn and made his task sound important, Ves knew he was being pushed aside to the kids table.

Still, Ves had only just arrived. He wasn't arrogant enough to believe he could outmatch an actual Journeyman who was deeply familiar with the design in question.

He adopted a humble posture and did his best to reign in his arrogance. "Understood, sir. I'll get right on the job."

Ves spent the next couple of weeks keeping his head down and doing what he was told. To be frank, the makework he received required hardly any thought at all. Most of the time, he inputted some settings in a mathematical model and let a portion of the Wolf Mother's immense processors simulate the outcome.

Someone less knowledgeable than him might need hours to come up with the right settings and determine which models to use, but to Ves that was as easy as breathing air. He even showed some initiative by adjusting some of the math behind the models to best suit the exact conditions of where the Hellcat would be deployed.

The nature of his work meant that Ves mostly waited around for the processors to spit out their data. He idled around and looked at the others who worked with utmost concentration on their own assignments.

As the new kid on the block, the other Apprentices didn't know what to make of him yet. In their off-time, they were usually too tired to socialize a lot. A complex design like the Hellcat required at least twenty mech designers to achieve a stable amount of progress. All of that work that should have been carried out by twenty Apprentices was actually being shouldered by only five Apprentices.

Ves did not downplay his abilities, but neither did he call out too much attention. He merely accepted every task sent in his way and completed it a little bit faster than anyone else could manage. The only reason why he couldn't solve the problems instantly was because he couldn't do anything to speed up the simulations.

The processors only provided so much processing power to him. The massive factory ship needed to reserve the bulk of her calculations to her other operations.

Still, Ves believed his performance exceeded expectations. He hoped that Alloc would notice and entrust him with more meaty tasks, but he was all out of luck in that regard. Alloc was fully preoccupied with his own responsibilities for the moment, and until he finished his current assignments, he wouldn't pay attention to anything else.

All of the other Apprentices in his design team were too self-absorbed in their own work, so the only people Ves could really talk to were the other Apprentices from Bentheim.

One day, Laida, Pierce and Ves gathered in a canteen adjacent to the labs. As they filled up their stomachs, they talked about their work.

"The permanent mech designers don't take us temps very seriously." Pierce complained. "It's not our fault we haven't spent years obsessing over a single mech model line!"

Laida agreed with the sentiment. "They don't expect very much from us. The mech designers who arrived a little earlier from the Rittersberg region are in the same boat. They're even keeping secrets from us!"

That was the most annoying fact about their work. The design teams expected them to understand the designs they worked with and become familiar with their characteristics. However, while they had access to the top-level schematics, they couldn't access the details to the proprietary systems.

For example, Ves couldn't find out the exact material composition of the armor and the internal support structure. Neither would he be able to study the designs of key components such as the engine and power reactor in great detail.

The software he worked with treated these elements as black boxes. Ves was allowed to work with them as a whole as part of modeling their performance, but he wasn't allowed to tinker with their internal makeup.

"It's understandable why they chose to compartmentalize their proprietary knowledge." Ves responded neutrally. "We're newcomers and we won't be sticking around for long. Compared to careerists like them who have volunteered to serve the Mech Corps for decades, conscripted mech designers like us are unreliable."

That depressed the mood at the table. None of them like to waste their time here. Working in a design team of the Mech Corps was both an obligation and an opportunity. They could not only access a lot of textbooks and teaching materials depending on their merits, they could also play around with the immense amount of proprietary technology developed in-house.

Many of the implementations used by the Mech Corps would not show up in the MTA's catalog of licenses because the Mech Corps didn't license any of their advancements. Sure, much of what they developed could be replicated with a similar enough license, but a standard solution from the market would not be tailored to the exact situation at hand.

"We should try to make the best of things." Ves said. He spoke the same words to Carlos a few months ago. "At the end of our service period, what did we get out of this unique time in our lives? I don't want to look back and conclude that we missed out on treasures that we can only obtain in our time here."

While Laida and Pierce both expressed their frustrations, they didn't possess the spine to assert themselves. Not that Ves was anything different at this point, but his ambitions would eventually drive him to greater things.

His words served as a reminder to them to not be content with their current status and miss out on the benefits that they could grasp. Certainly, every temporary mech designer needed to play the long game here and work themselves into the system without stepping on everyone else's toes.

"Did you hear? The Wolf Mother is almost done with harvesting the asteroids in this system. It's about to rendez-vous with the main fleet of the Vandals."

Chapter 429

Life aboard the Wolf Mother did not seem so hectic to Ves. He spent most of his time in the compartment assigned to the design department. This only took up a fraction of the space aboard the massive factory ship.

The factory ship was like a city compressed into a capital ship. It housed thousands of servicemen and devoted caverns of space to the industry of keeping the Vandals afloat.

A lot of responsibility rested on the shoulders of the Wolf Mother. While it wasn't unheard of for vagabond outfits to pursue a nomadic lifestyle aboard their ships, in the Komodo StarSector, it was rarely seen on this scale.

From the basic information that Ves received on the factory ship, she used to start off as a smaller logistics ship. After some time, the voracious demands of the Flagrant Vandals necessitated further expansion.

Modules kept being added along her hull. The rising demand for services caused the Vandals to expand the capabilities of the logistics ship to a reckless extent. More asteroid breakers, more refineries, more alloy forge, more repair bays.

The expansion never ended, though it slowed down at this point due to physical constraints. The shipwrights among the Vandals did their best to accommodate the expansions. They strengthened the hull, overhauled the internal structure and sized up the essential components such as the power reactor, the thrusters and the FTL drive.

Ships of the Wolf Mother's current size were hardly seen in the Komodo StarSector. Further expansion necessitated an essential upsizing to her FTL engine, something which could not be done in a third-rate state like the Bright Republic. Only the Hexadric Hegemony and the Friday Coalition could afford to field capital ships of that scale.

In truth, it was cheaper to maintain a single base on an asteroid or an abandoned moon. Running a ship came with its own costs, and a vessel that ballooned to such a size must be using up an enormous amount of power and fuel each day.

Yet that was also the genius of it. The capability to move their main logistical base around gave the Vandals unparalleled flexibility in their deployments. From the stories he heard, the Vandals became famous even before the outbreak of the current war for their deep raids. They struck Vesian star systems situated well within the Kingdom's interior and fleeced their complacent industries to the bone.

While this sounded impressive and commendable, not everyone in the Mech Corps thought so. People would hardly be able to distinguish them from pirates, and their conduct of sneaking around to attack the weakest parts of the Vesians was seen as dishonorable.

While the warrior culture of the Mech Corps allowed for clever tricks and strategies to defeat an enemy force with ease, the Flagrant Vandals took it too far. The shamelessness in which the Vandals avoided standing battles against the Mech Legion led to their estrangement from the conventional military order of the Republic.

A mech pilot of the Vandals regarded themselves as Vandals and not as a serviceman of the Mech Corps. This was a problem, because the mech pilots who served in any other regiment held loyalty to both without any conflict.

Occasionally, Ves heard some talk of that nature whenever he ate in the canteen. Mech designers only made up part of its clientele. A lot of crewmen working in the nearby compartments ate their meals in this canteen.

"We're Vandals, not soldiers."

"Leave the heavy fighting for the big boys."

"I heard they're downgrading our paychecks again. As if they couldn't get any lower!"

"Damn, what are the field marshals up to? They're letting the Vesians intrude upon our territory for the umpteenth time. When will they ever have the guts to hit them back?!"

"Hah, we're the only ones who give a damn about that. We might as well be an alien species to the big chiefs."

Talk like this was a bad indication of how far the Vandals became estranged to the Republic. The Tarry region was already isolated enough, and this undercurrent of resentment posed a lot of risks to the Mech Corps.

Maybe it was the Larkinson within him, but no one else shared his concerns. Outsiders like Pierce and Laida didn't know anything better, but for Ves who grew up with the Larkinsons, some of the talk sounded outright mutinous.

"You know, won't things be better if we just pack up and go?"

"Whadda ya mean?"

"Think about it. What has the Republic ever done for us? We built up the Vandals all by ourselves without a single credit from the state. We worked hard to pay for what we got, so how are we any different from a mercenary corps? If you think about it, we're actually worse than mercs. At least they get paid, whereas we get nothing at all!"

"That's not entirely true. We still have access to their facilities and their database. We couldn't have gotten this far without all of the advanced technology at our fingertips."

"I still think we should make a getaway. It would be easy as pie. We aren't anchored by any planets. Those with families who live on the surface of one can just take them along for the ride when we leave Republic space."

"It does sound easy. Getting cut off from the data banks will hurt us hard, but the Wolf Mother has a lot of life in her yet."

This was merely a sample of the talk that sometimes popped up from the lowest ranks of spacers. It did not mean their officers or the mech pilots fostered the same ideas. Without a better exposure of life among the Vandals, Ves couldn't make any definite conclusions.

It still looked bad though. The canteen was surely monitored. Why hadn't any officers come and reprimanded the spacers?

"Maybe they don't care."

The crewmen aboard the Wolf Mother could be extremely dedicated to the Vandals and did their utmost to keep the Wolf Mother running. Yet they could also be extremely lethargic when it came to the rest of the Mech Corps.

The only person who could make or break this regiment was the elusive Colonel Lowenfield. Despite her name popping up everywhere in every important event in the last few years, Ves still had no clue what made her so respected among the Vandals.

"Did you hear? The colonel has recalled all of the detachments. We're almost done with our repairs and resupply."

"Oh, finally! I'm bored to tears staying in this noname star system. I want to see some action!"

"Me too! There's always a good score to be found when we shear the wool off the Vesian sheep. I'm broke and need more money!"

Ves shook his head and finished his meal before returning to the labs. He returned to his terminal only to see that the simulations in the queue needed another hour to complete.

He still had some free time on his hands.

He was pretty much the only person who enjoyed this privilege. A less capable mech designer would have spent a couple of hours trying to get the settings right or spend many late nights on interpreting the data.

The workload put into his lap could not keep up with his capabilities. If not for Alloc's current preoccupation with getting the software right for the Hellcat, then he might have been more attentive to how fast Ves completed his work.

Ves quietly sighed. He looked around and saw that one of the mech designers had left.

While everyone except Ves constantly faced a mountain of work, it was important for the mech designer to keep in touch with how the mechs performed for real. Occasionally, Alloc assigned a mech designer to liaise with the mech technicians and the mech pilots that worked with the Hellcats. They mostly gathered feedback and measured the state of the existing Hellcat mechs.

He wanted to come into contact with the mechs as well, if only to get out of this tiny corner of the Wolf Mother. Ves had never seen a true Hellcat mech and that hampered his work somewhat. Other mech designers might be fine with a bunch of technical documents, but much of what made his work great was his feel for the intangible qualities of a mech.

Within a day or two, the Wolf Mother finally moved. She first exited the asteroid belt and headed towards the border of the lifeless star system with a couple of escorting combat carriers in tow. Once they reached the edge of the system, they transitioned into FTL.

The entire factory ship bucked and groaned while Ves momentarily lurched when that happened.

"Oof!"

The other mech designers laughed. "The first time is always the worst!"

Ves rubbed his head for a bit. The moment the factory ship entered FTL, Ves felt as if a nail had been driven through his skull. "How come it's so painful? Is it safe to be aboard the ship when it enters FTL?"

"This is normal to us." Alloc answered gently. "You have to keep in mind that the Wolf Mother expanded in an ad-hoc fashion. There was hardly any planning involved. Slapping modules onto her hull without restraint has made the Wolf Mother rather unstable. The Wolf Mother's FTL drive is barely rated to carry along a ship of her size and mass. Some kinks are to be expected."

In other words, the FTL drive could barely cope. The worst case scenario was that it might eventually break from all of the strain.

Bad things happened when FTL drives blew apart, especially when the ship was still in FTL.

Only a handful of times did ships drop out of FTL after their drives became inactive. Most of the time, something freaky would happen and the rest of the galaxy never saw the ship again.

"How well is the FTL drive protected?"

"Oh, the Vandals aren't unaware of dangers posed by a faulty FTL drive. They've put their best engineers in to keeping it in shape. There's also a lot of security surrounding this component. Nobody can wander in and do what they want with this critical part of the ship."

That might protect the FTL drive from boarding troops and internal sabotage, but it did not help the Wolf Mother's inherent vulnerability to outside attacks. She was not a ship meant for battle.

Therefore, the recent orders concerned Ves a bit. Heading deep into Vesian space was a perilous matter even in times of peace. There was always the risk of getting tracked down by a dogged Vesian task force on its way to the frontline.

Ves did not know whether to see it as a good thing or bad thing, but it was undeniable that he would be able to grasp a lot more opportunities in that case. His time with the Vandals might stretch for years, so he would have plenty of time to ingratiate himself with the crew.

"Ves, are you available?" One of the young men looked around for help and saw that Ves was basically daydreaming behind his terminal. "I need some help with this stupid equation. I followed all of the instructions according to the handbook but the simulations are getting out of whack."

"Show me what's the problem."

This was the first time someone asked him for help. The three permanent Apprentice Mech Designers often consulted among themselves and never asked Ves or the other designer from Rittersberg for any input.

Vse took a look at the model and spotted the problem at first glance. "It's no wonder your simulation delivers such a nonsensical result. There's nothing wrong with the equations or the model. It's this bad set of data that is at the root of the problem. This is a typical case of garbage in, garbage out. Look at the input data. Do these measurements seem correct to you?"

The mech designer worked with actual measurements taken from a previous visit to the mechs. Whoever took these measurements made a mistake somewhere down the line.

Once Ves pointed out the problem, the mech designer could handle the rest. The young man nodded at Ves with a modicum of respect this time.

As Ves wandered back to his terminal to go back to his daydreams, he smiled in satisfaction.

"It starts with small steps."

Chapter 430

Every time the Wolf Mother transitioned in and out of FTL, the entire deck lurched and a nauseous feeling overcame Ves. He never really got used to it, but the other mech designers in the design department shrugged it off like they got sprayed by mist.

The Wolf Mother already transitioned over seven times. From this, Ves could infer that either the range of the Wolf Mother's FTL drive was really short, or they traversed a huge distance.

The Vandals didn't release a lot of information to someone low in the totem pole like Ves. He learned more from eavesdropping the spacers in the canteen than in the pathetic amount of documents made available to him. The most he knew about the layout of the factory ship came from contingency plans in case of disaster, and they only outlined the most direct path to the escape pods.

What he did learn from listening in on the crew was that the factory ship's exhibited an onion ring-like shape. The original logistics ship that formed the core had already been changed beyond recognition, but most of the central functioning of the Wolf Mother was buried here. It contained the databases, the processors, the combat information center and many more goodies.

Tacked on to the top, bottom, port, starboard, bow and stern of the original structure were many other modules. For example, the compartments that were made up of engineering took over the entire rear end of the Wolf Mother. Those who entered this section in person described it as a chimera of ship components that kept the factory ship up and running.

One day, Professor Velten called up every mech designer in the department for a general meeting. Ves filed into the conference room after the others and sat on a random chair in the rear. The room could have housed over a hundred mech designers.

With only sixteen people present, the place had obviously seen better times.

"It is the time for our monthly update. For the six of you who transferred in recently, this meeting serves to bring us all on the same page." The old woman nodded to Ves and the other temps. "Let us begin with everyone's work. Journeymen, please present your progress."

The Journeyman Mech Designers who led their individual design teams walked up to the front and projected their results. Ves watched keenly as he got to see the details of the other two actively developed designs.

The 6th Flagrant Vandals started up as a spaceborn mech regiment in order to raid Vesian shipping lines. Only later on did they acquire the capability to field mechs on land.

Still, spaceborn combat remained the norm among the Vandals as most of the time they couldn't afford to stick around a star system long enough to go through the trouble of descending and ascending from orbit.

The most widely-used design in active development was therefore the Inheritor line of spaceborn light skirmishers. Their small stature enabled the Vandals to fabricate them fast and cheap from the Wolf Mother's own production lines. Their simple nature also lowered the burden of training rookie pilots into becoming proficient in piloting these mechs.

"We failed to find any means to reduce the weight of the cockpit by zero-point-three percent while retaining the same level of protection. I have personally tried to vary different shapes and sizes, but the current iteration is already highly optimized. Tweaking the ratios of the alloys used to construct the cockpit has led to a minor amount of weight savings, but will also weaken the cockpit by a disproportionate amount."

As the Journeyman in charge of its development reported on his team's progress, Ves understood more of the nuances of its design. The Inheritor aimed to be fast. It had to be nimble enough to turn on the fly and powerful enough to accelerate to a great speed. The Inheritor relied on these strengths to close the distance quickly and tear apart vulnerable ranged mechs with its twin knives.

This was extremely hard to accomplish on a light mech which needed to devote a substantial amount of internal volume to its flight system.

"How much progress have you accomplished in decreasing the size of the Inheritor's flight system?" Velten asked from the side.

"We accomplished a little bit more in that area. The Mech Corps recently released new formulas for alloys and composite materials. I've selected the formulas that are most compatible with the Inheritor's flight system and tried to simulate what would happen if we substitute the old formulas with the new ones. Most outcomes didn't come out in our favor, but I've tasked my team to tweak the design in order to provide a better fit for the new formulas. These results look more promising, as you can see on this projection."

Ves paid a lot of attention to this particular topic. He lacked first-hand experience in working with actual flight systems. Working with outdated flight systems for virtual mechs didn't count in his eyes.

He noticed that every other mech designer paid a lot of attention as well. In a way, this was a valuable opportunity for the Apprentices to listen in to the insights of a Journeyman Mech Designer.

As Ves learned more about the development process of the Inheritor, he found out that the current state of the Inheritor was in a very good place. Its relative lack of complexity made it easier to tweak some of its elements without throwing everything else into chaos.

Of course, the mech designers faced many limitations as well. They weren't allowed to exceed the Inheritor's mass and volume, no matter how much of an improvement they achieved. This truly frustrated the designers who worked on the Inheritor because they accumulated a list of over a hundred easy changes they could implement if only the Vandals relaxed the restrictions.

"To sum up my report, I truly believe it will benefit the Vandals if we can convince Colonel Lowenfield to agree to a two-point-five percent increase in mass and three-point-seven percent increase in volume for the Inheritor design. There are so many new innovations just waiting to be implemented."

Professor Velten nodded gently. "I will take your words under advisement in my next meeting with the colonel."

In other words, nothing would change and the status quo persisted. The Journeyman must have realized it as well and looked deflated as he returned to his seat.

Another Journeyman went up to report on the work done on the Akkara line of heavy landbound mechs.

The 6th Flagrant Vandals predominantly used Vesian mechs, which was very unusual for a mech regiment of the Republic. They didn't buy these mechs from the market and neither did they fabricate them in-house.

Instead, they stole the brand-new machines by raiding mech manufacturers or scavenged damaged ones from battles. The Vandals had become so adept at sourcing mechs in this manner that they stopped ordering mechs from the Mech Corps entirely.

There was only one downside. They couldn't get their hands on any heavy mechs.

Only a proper military force fielded heavy mechs. To the Vandals, they could only obtain Vesian heavy mechs by raiding military bases or attacking proper Vesian mech regiments.

The Vandals would be crazy to do so. The losses they'd sustain in any single assault wouldn't make up for the acquisition of a couple of heavy mechs.

So, as burdensome as it sounded, the Vandals had to continue to develop their own heavy mech design.

"We've finally solved the air intake issue for cycling the heat build-up. It turns out that the filters we placed to protect the mechanisms aren't coping too well when it comes to moisture in the air."

Compared to the more polished state of the Inheritor design, the Akkara appeared to be a lot less refined. The development problems outlined by the Journeyman sounded a lot more basic and impactful. They weren't dealing with a highly optimized design. The Akkara was still a work in progress.

"We are still unable to determine whether it is better to stick with the older targeting system that is relatively reliable or the newer one that is made available by the Mech Corps."

"What are the issues with the new system?" Velten asked.

"The newer targeting system isn't interfacing properly with our design. We don't know why, but I think it's because the Akkara possesses a lot more gun tubes than it can cope with."

The Akkara heavy mech was a landbound mech that weighed so much that the Vandals never moved them from beyond their landing sites. As the only heavy mech of the Vandals, the Akkara distinctly served a defensive role.

On land, the Akkara's moved on four legs to provide a stable firing platform. Dozens of rapid-fire laser and ballistic cannons dotted its spider-shaped torso, allowing it to bombard anything that approached from the ground and air.

A special feature of the Akkara was that it served as a weapon platform in space as well. Its heavy design incorporated some of the traits more often seen on spaceborn mechs.

This allowed the Akkara mechs to stay relevant in space battles as well. Every Vandal combat carrier incorporated special bunkers that enabled the Akkara to anchor its four legs into the bunker structure and fire out its weapons from the well-placed slits.

"We've experimented with changing the layout of the cannon barrels, and have come up with three alternatives that should better balance out the stresses placed upon the mech whenever it fires off its ballistic cannons. One solution is better for land and the other is better for space."

Balancing out the Akkara's performance on land and in space demanded a lot from its design. Ves didn't envy their design team, because optimizing the mech for one environment often compromised its performance in the other environment.

Once the Journeyman listed out a bevy of solutions, Alloc finally made his way up to the front.

"My team has not made any significant improvements to the Hellcat design."

With those words, Alloc laid out the reasons why, though Ves already predicted them. The spaceborn hybrid knight incorporated too many systems. Thereby, a change in one system affected the performance of the others, often in a detrimental way. This was a classic reason why hybrid knights hadn't become more prolific.

"Lately, my work on drawing out more strength from the Hellcat design through tweaking its software has met a wall. I've already worked extensively in this area and most of my progress in the last few months represents the easy solutions. Any further improvement requires an exorbitant amount of time to dig up."

Velten honed in on this remark. "So you believe it is no longer worth your time to work on the programming of the Hellcat?"

"It is not cost-effective. All the bugs that I could think of have been squashed or circumvented. Any further improvements demand lots of research. My time is better spent on other things."

"Very well then. If you believe there is no further merit to put your attention in this area, then you may change your focus. What do you have in mind?"

"We are still working on strengthening and miniaturizing its oversized flight system. Our core issue with the flight system is that it generates a large amount of heat, something which our hybrid knight has never really learned to cope with. I'd like to take a stab at improving its heat management systems."

The professor nodded in approval. "Research our options and present them to me in private. I'll derive a change in the Hellcat's design according to the data that you present to me. Continue on with the report."

The rest of the report sounded familiar to Ves, as he worked on them himself or helped his colleagues solve some of their conundrums about them. The Hellcat design still hid a lot of secrets, but Ves already understood the broad strokes.

After Alloc finished his presentation and returned to his seat, Professor Velten went up again and made an announcement.

"Pardon the secrecy that is hanging over the department. We needed to make sure that Colen Lowenfield's plans for the Wolf Mother hasn't leaked."

Everyone looked at each other in a worried manner. "Ma'am? Where are we right now?"

"That's a good question." Velten smiled. "The Wolf Mother has just arrived at the Tomalin System. There is nothing special about this star system. It is an out of the way location in the Tarry region. The reason why it is our focus is because we are about to meet with the Vesian rebels."

Everyone was taken aback at the news. They were actually collaborating with rebels this time!

Chapter 431

"As you may have heard, the 3rd Imodris Legion inflicted substantial damage to the Bright Republic's morale. Although the Republic can cope with the material damage of their raids, it is much harder to restore the hearts of our citizens. The Mech Corps therefore expects the Flagrant Vandals to pay back the Vesians in kind. Colonel Lowenfield has therefore decided to pay back the 3rd Imodris Legion in kind by striking at their dukedom."

This alarmed Ves and some of the others because Imodris was a prosperous dukedom situated in the interior of the Vesia Kingdom. The Vandals would not only have to cross the border, they also needed to hop from star system to star system without revealing their presence inside Vesian space.

That was almost impossible to accomplish.

The moment the Vesians detected their presence within the border, they would surely dispatch a hunting party to the Vandals. Owing to their territorial advantage, the Vesians have an easier time to surround the Vandals than the latter slipping the noose and returning to Republic space.

"In the short but illustrious history of the Flagrant Vandals, our regiment has deployed to Imodris several times. Each time the alert garrisons of Imodris detected us quickly, sparking harrowing fights where we broke through the blockades at heavy costs. While the colonel does not intend to flinch from Imodris, neither can we afford to make the same bull-headed approach."

Therefore, the Vandals cultivated some relations among the rebels.

"With the help of the so-called Vesian Revolutionary Front, Colonel Lowenfield is confident we can circumvent the strict Vesian monitoring in their desolate star systems and approach a highly industrialized planet without any forewarning."

In other words, it was like breaking into a heavily defended mansion by bribing the butler into letting them in. The risks and perils of such a move could be imagined.

Perhaps the ultimate plan was a little more elaborate, but from what Ves heard so far, many things could go wrong.

The first and most important thing they should ask was whether they could trust the rebels to keep their word.

Professor Velten didn't reveal too much about this. "The colonel is handling it. We have collaborated with this group of revolutionaries before, and they have been proven to be reliable as long as they are handsomely paid. Admittedly, this raiding expedition can't compare to the minor border incursions we collaborated on before."

From Professor Velten's description, the VRF didn't sound like much.

As a monarchy in a time where humans advanced to a point where they settled half the galaxy, their existence was very controversial.

Those who grew up in the kingdoms and empires usually took their existence for granted, but those who grew up in Republics and other forms of non-hereditary governments thought of monarchies as backwards.

This last point was a generalization, not an absolute. This meant that not every Vesian believed in letting a bunch of spoiled and entitled nobles and royals dictate every facet of their lives.

A governance system where a small number won big would always present a lot of losers. Those who suffered directly from the injustices within the kingdom eventually formed several resistance groups.

True to their chaotic nature and their rejection of strong authority, they couldn't manage to form a united front. The VRF was one of the only rebel groups that still worked to unite the different resistance movements together. They achieved limited success in this area as many groups only paid lip service to this ideal.

Nevertheless, it could not be denied that the VRF was well-connected. However, this also increased the risk of cooperating with them. The Vandals not only needed to trust the VRF, they also had to put faith in their ability to persuade the local rebel movements into facilitating this risky operation.

"As of now, the Wolf Mother will enter into an elevated state of readiness. Contact with the outside galaxy will be even more restricted than before, so our database will no longer receive any updates from the central database maintained by Mech Corps. Keep this in mind when you work on the designs. You will not be able to rely on recent innovations to solve your problems."

Half of the mech designers in the room groaned. Quite a few of them managed to solve long-standing problems by applying something that wasn't possible before. Cutting off the updates to the database forced them to revisit old methods and try to get them to work. This was extremely slow and frustrating work.

"Professor?" Someone asked. "What kind of tweaks do we have to make to ready our mechs for the coming battle?"

"Good question. While I am unable to inform you of our target, I am still allowed to relay some conditions. First, the star system is heavily defended from space, but the Vesians pulled half of the defending mechs to reinforce the frontlines. What remains of its garrisons consist of reserves, much of them recruited from the local population."

This was an important detail.

"The planet in question isn't being run very well. The nobles in charge are decadent and the planet has been running a deficit for years. The planetary administration is forced to skimp on their services, which has made much of the underclass very mad. It's a breeding ground for rebels, and the VRF thinks they can convince the local rebels into disabling some of the local defenses in orbit and letting us in."

This time, Ves raised his hand and asked a question. "Ma'am, why would the local rebels agree to let their home planet suffer? Won't we be making things worse for them by raining down death and destruction?"

"That is a valid point to make." The professor nodded, yet waved her hand dismissively. "We have made the appropriate precautions. We are more than aware of the risks and we know more about the Vesia Kingdom than most of their citizens. Almost everyone in this state has a bone to pick with someone else. This is nothing new for us."

The Flagrant Vandals hadn't run amuck in enemy space without learning a thing or two about their enemy. Although most of the time they operated alone, sometimes they cooperated with the local factions if they needed access to a sensitive area.

Although Professor Velten didn't intimate anything of the sort, Ves read more from her answer and the way she chose to answer it than she wanted to reveal.

If Ves wasn't wrong, one of the major reasons the Vandals stayed afloat up until now was because it also collaborated with the noble factions!

Though Ves kept his expressions neutral, inwardly he felt shocked at the audacity of it all. He would bet that no one in high command even knew about this! What would the Mech Corps think if one of their mech regiments collaborated directly with a faction of the Kingdom?

The news alone would shock the entire Republic!

Professor Velten couldn't blame his level of observation. Ves heard many stories about some of the murkier deeds of the Mech Corps from his father and the other Larkinsons. Even then, none of those tales matched the brazenness in which the Vandals shook hands with the Vesians.

Ves guessed that the Vandals only cooperated in an opportunistic fashion. The rivalry among the Vesian nobles was legendary, and the Vandals probably presented themselves to discontented nobles as a convenient way to ruin their rivals.

As the meeting wrapped up, Professor Velten called up the Journeymen to hold a more private discussion while letting the Apprentices enjoy a rare break.

Ves, Laida and Pierce gathered around in a corner turned into a makeshift lounge area. A couple of comfortable chairs and sofas provided an oasis of calm during the most frustrating moments of work.

Pierce looked at Ves and Laida with a questioning pair of eyes. "Have you two been getting overwhelmed by the work they pile up on your desk?"

Laida nodded. "The Inheritor design is frustrating. Nevermind that it's a spaceborn mech and that I only specialize in aerial mechs, but the Inheritor is showing its age. There is hardly anything we can improve without drastically overhauling its design."

"So it's a legacy design?"

"It's not old to the point to be called a legacy, but it's design originated from the first half of this current mech generation. We are now late in the cycle and there are several major advancements in current gen technology that we are missing out on for the Inheritor because the effort required to transform every Inheritor mech in existence is too much."

The Inheritor mechs serve as the workhorse of the Vandals. It was one of their most common mechs, and highlighted their preference for close-ranged combat against other mechs.

"Ves, what do you think about the Inheritor?" Laida asked him in a way that made it hard for him to withhold his answer.

"I don't know. I've never seen the Flagrant Vandals in action besides some incidental battle footage. To me, the Vandals are living at the edge of the moment. It's true that fielding lots of light mechs is cheap and easy, but that lack of weight will cost them dearly if they are ever forced into a position to fight against a proper Vesian mech regiment. For example, any of the 3rd Imodris Legion's regiments can smash them into pieces."

"That's counterbalanced by the fact that they are easier to pilot and excellent in overtaking supply convoys."

This was why the Vandals regarded the Inheritor so highly. The Vandals faced a lot of difficulties in recruiting capable mech pilots. Any recruit with promise would be snapped up by the more desirable regiments. The Vandals mostly received the dregs of the service. They couldn't do much against mech pilots with attitude problems, but those with lack of talent in piloting could still be brought up as cannon fodder inside an Inheritor mech.

Compared to Laida, Pierce faced a very different problem with the Akkara.

"Heavy mechs are different from light mechs. There's much more leeway in their design. Even though it's rather old as well, its internal architecture changed so much over the years that I can hardly call it outdated. My team has done well in updating it to the latest standard. The only problem is that our implementations fall short."

"Because there are too many systems inside a heavy mech, am I right?"

"That's right. My father once taught me that it is a heavy commitment if you wish to embark on designing a heavy mech. The Akkara design is a basket case of incompatibilities. There is hardly any optimization done because the Wolf Mother's processors would crash if we threw too many things at it. Heavy mechs should be designed in proper research bases, not aboard a factory ship."

Lack of manpower and computing power slowed down the development of the Akkara design. It was a very unsubtle mech and required brute force to solve many of its problems.

"Is your design team biting off more than they can chew?"

"That's an understatement!" Pierce huffed. "In my eyes, while the Akkara design fills an important gap in the lineup of the Vandals, we can't keep up with the complexities of this parade horse."

Ves could have said the same. Though the problems with the Hellcat didn't sound so extreme as the Akkara, a hybrid knight came with its own bag of issues.

"All three designs developed internally by the Vandals have one thing in common." Ves remarked as he put his mind on them. "They're products of pride."

"Pride?"

Ves shrugged a bit. "Maybe you can call it stubbornness. If the Flagrant Vandals wanted to, they could have borrowed a ready-made design from the central database. I'm sure the Mech Corps developed a raft of highly-optimized designs of a light skirmisher, a medium hybrid knight and a heavy cannoneer."

"Why stick to the current designs then?"

"Because every mech regiment prides their own identity. Only rarely will a mech regiment borrow a design cooked up by other design teams within the Mech Corps because that would be admitting that they can't wipe their own butts."

"That's crazy." Laida murmured as she shook her head. "We're not like any other mech regiment. Our design team is less than a fifth the size of any other team. We can only cope with developing one design at most."

No matter how much they think the current policy was stupid, none of it could be changed. Ves sighed and sank down into his sesat. "This isn't the only area where the Vandals are sticking to their guns. These guys have taken self-sufficiency to an unprecedented height for a mech regiment of the Mech Corps. It's baked into their DNA."

That has served the Vandals well so far, but how long could they go on in the same manner? Eventually, they would hit a wall.

Chapter 432

Ever since Ves embarked on the path to become a mech designer, he progressed at a rapid pace. He liked to think he learned to see things others didn't. Though his place among the Vandals only allowed him to observe a tiny part of their functioning, what he derived from it worried him a lot.

Ves placed his hand against the surface of the bulkhead and felt its cold metallic touch. The Wolf Mother traveled through a succession of star systems. Each time the ship exited FTL, the entire ship underwent a minor upheaval. It spoke much about the haphazard way the Wolf Mother grew to her current form.

Yet despite this side effect, nothing suffered any ill effects. The resourceful crew of the Wolf Mother timed their most critical operations around the schedule of transitions. They made sure that the production lines didn't work on something delicate whenever the ship entered or dropped out of FTL.

"You're tougher than you look like."

Much of what made the Vandals survive up to now came down to their ingenuity. They scraped by with a fraction of the resources that a proper mech regiment enjoyed. Though he found their design development plans to be perplexing and the legality of some of their actions a little iffy, he had to admit that the Vandals was the top regiment in the Republic in terms of resourcefulness alone.

Having lived among them and observed them up close made Ves a little sympathetic to their cause. Despite their outward displays of cynicism, they still retained a core of discipline and duty.

With regards to his work, his routine remained the same, though Alloc finally started to notice that Ves finished his work faster than others. Now that he ceased to be preoccupied with tinkering with the software of the Hellcat, Alloc finally spent more time watching over the mech designers working under him. Compared to the other Apprentices, Ves stood out in how relaxed he approached his assignments.

At some time, Alloc pulled Ves aside into a private office.

The Journeyman Mech Designer stared at the younger man with a penetrating stare. "Ves, according to the logs in your terminal, the speed at which you are nailing down the right numbers is a little frightening. It's so out of bounds that I've been testing you with a number of different problems. The way you work with math and physics is frankly frightening for a mech designer of your age. Who are you?"

"I'm Ves Larkinson, no one else. As for how I got to be so good, didn't you read my record?"

"I've seen nominal disciples to Masters in action before. None of them have rocketed upwards as fast as you." Alloc frowned as he tried to crack the secret behind Ves' ascent. "Though I don't specialize in Physics, the ease at which you solve complex issues related to this field surpasses what I'm capable of. Are you an alien or something?"

Ves laughed a little. "Sir, though my genes are kind of mixed up right now, I'm still a human in heart and blood. My life experiences are a little different from others."

One thing that Ves was most afraid of was eliciting Alloc's jealousy. It would be extremely depressing if his direct superior wanted to squash Ves down due to being unable to tolerate someone younger being better than an actual Journeyman.

It appeared that Ves did not have to worry about that account. As much as Alloc enjoyed his own status, the dire state of the 6th Flagrant Vandals and the Hellcat design team had left Alloc in a state where extra talent and manpower should be cherished.

"You're an anomaly, Ves." Alloc concluded with utmost seriousness. "I can't quite put my thumb on you. Nothing in your record makes only way to explain it is if some unknown influence is cultivating you."

Ves could say nothing against that. He couldn't mention anything about the Mech Designer System and how it had been a massive aid to his mech design career. He would rather let Alloc make his own conclusions.

After some time, Alloc nodded and smacked his fist against his palm. "I understand why the Mech Corps sent someone as promising as you to the Vandals. Unlike headquarters, we don't care about your allegiances at all. You're aboard the Wolf Mother just like the rest, so I hardly believe you would do anything that would go against our interests. We are literally on the same boat in that regard."

Though Ves felt a little pissed that Alloc casually questioned his loyalties like that, he was smart enough not to make a fuss about it. This was a critical moment for him. Opening his mouth would just ruin his chances.

"I've decided now. Since we're so short-handed, I'll let you pick your own assignments. I'll increase your privileges so that you can access the planning and the list of issues for the Hellcat design. I don't have the authority to unlock the entire design schematics for you, but you should have plenty to do with the access you already have."

"Thank you, sir! You won't regret your decision!"

"You better not slack off, Ves. The Flagrant Vandals have already joined the main fleet, and we have already crossed the borders. While I can't predict how much time it will take to reach the Imodris Duchy, try to present some solid results within a month. Any longer and we won't have the time to implement any improvements you've made to our existing Hellcats."

Ves promised to respect the confidentiality of the information made available to him. Satisfied, Alloc delivered on his promise and raised the amount of files Ves could access.

Among the miscellaneous documents that Alloc unlocked for Ves, the most important piece of information was the succinct list of issues and problems facing the Hellcat.

They consisted of observations made by the mech pilots that handled the Hellcats and the problems foreseen by the mech designers themselves. All of the problems amounted to a very long list, though most seemed rather trivial.

Still, for a perfectionist like Ves, he became dismayed when he finally realized the extent of the imperfections.

"This is only the tip of the iceberg."

Many more problems wracked the Hellcat design. They just hadn't been observed yet.

"Let's forget about the problems out of sight. The visible ones alone are more than enough to keep me busy for years."

Alloc took a chance in increasing the privileges enjoyed by Ves, but unspoken in that move was that his superior expected more things. Ves needed to prove his chops and repay Alloc's trust.

Not everyone responded well to his increase in responsibilities. Something like this couldn't be hidden from the other Apprentices.

"Sir! I protest! Mr. Larkinson is just a temp! He's the last person among us who should be handling all of that sensitive information!"

Alloc happened to have a very effective response to that argument. "Tell that to me once you can outsmart Mr. Larkinson."

No one dared to make that claim. In the previous weeks, Ves painstakingly demonstrated his competence, which must have surely damaged their confidence. Though he was an outsider who only joined the Hellcat design team due to the war, his presence had already improved their efficiency.

Though the Apprentices didn't look resigned, they could only keep their opinions to themselves. They stared enviously as Ves browsed the expanded database in a leisurely manner.

"What shall I tackle?"

Ves had no time to pay attention to everyone else's stares. Alloc expected great results from him, so Ves needed to pick something impactful that fell within his capabilities to solve. Not a lot of problems met this criteria.

He flicked through each and every problem on the list. Even if he rejected most of them, it was still valuable for him to read this list. "Hmmm... software again, not my cup of tea. Increasing the actuation speed of the legs sounds more interesting, but that's hardly consequential for a spaceborn mech.

"Enhancing the power of the wrist-mounted nail drivers... that sounds interesting."

The nail drivers served a small purpose to the Hellcat design, perhaps too small. Due to weight and space constraints, the nail driver only accommodated four nails in total. This was highly limiting and only really gave the Hellcat an extra lifeline in certain situations.

"Can I increase the power of the nail driver or overhaul its internal mechanisms?"

He already thought of a couple of tweaks, but a bigger solution remained elusive. Professor Velten must have gone over this problem plenty of times and this time was no different. The nail drivers enjoyed her personal attention for a time and she optimized the nail drivers to the point where she couldn't come up with more gains.

As Ves studied the schematics of the nail driver and some other components, he also perceived the flavor of Professor Velten's design philosophy.

It felt a bit strange.

Since the Hellcat was a collaborative project, the purity of its design was rather muddled. Still, Professor Velten's imprint stood head and shoulders above everyone elese's, including the minor work that Ves imparted on the design up to now.

"Ves found it difficult to describe Professor Velten's design philosophy. "Perpetuance? No. "timelessness, enduring, fading."

One of the hidden dangers in the Hellcat design was that Ves faintly sensed some weaknesses seeping into the heart of its design. For some reason, Professor Velten started to lose her love for the design.

Ves couldn't blame her. The Hellcat's numerous demands tore it apart. It needed to fly, use up three weapon systems at once and it needed to be well-protected as well. It was enough to hear his heart out!

Though he didn't think well of the Hellcat, the way the Vandals made the most out of the design made Ves realize that not all mechs had to be technical masterpieces.

"A good mech isn't necessarily the one with the best specs or the strongest X-Factor. The best mech is the machine that gets the job done.

In this regard, the Hellcat made a definite impression on the enemy. Therefore, Ves found it regretful that Professor Velten started to slide.

"I can't let this downward trend go on. Whatever is going on with Professor Velten, she can't leave her own work in the dust like this. It deserves more."

In choosing where to start first, Ves no longer relied on the data included in the reports. Instead, he closed his eyes and started to commune with the design on a spiritual level.

It was hard, incredibly hard. In order to understand the nucleus of this mech, Ves needed to cut through all of the interference. Too many people used to work on this design. Their mixed sentiments polluted the design and made it harder for Ves to get a read on the design.

Ves continually refined his methods, but they only amounted to a limited amount of improvement.

What Ves got out of the Hellcat design was decidedly mixed. He perceived conflicting emotions from two unknown designers that nonetheless left a huge mark on the design.

"Seems like Professor Velten hadn't designed this mech after all. She inherited from other Seniors."

The imprints of those two echoes were so strong and distinct that they couldn't be anything else but Senior Mech Designers. Though Ves couldn't get a solid read on the design itself, Ves figured he could infer some of its core traits by interpreting the imprints from the Seniors.

This was a very fascinating experience, and despite appearing like a lazy idiot in the presence of the other mech designers, Ves cheerfully plunged into the depths of the two distinct flavors.

"Interesting!"

Much of the issues surrounding the Hellcat design could be traced back to its original designers. They possessed very distinct outlooks and wanted to pull the Hellcat into two seperate directions.

One designer favored defense, and possessed a lot of experience in designing knights. The other designer emphasized versatility, and must have possessed a substantial amount of experience in designing hybrid and multipurpose mechs.

Both of them somehow ended up working on the same project, and from the looks of it, neither of them possessed authority over the other. They had been forced to cooperate on equal terms.

"What a tragedy."

Whoever ordered them to do so didn't know anything about mech design. With no obvious lead designer in charge of the project, the Hellcat grew in scope and its features ballooned to its present bloated state. Though they did a remarkable job in slimming down its internals, the interconnectedness of it all hadn't aged the Hellcat very well.

"It's a design that's difficult to update."

Chapter 433

As a spaceborn hybrid mech design, the Hellcat had been stretched into two opposite directions right at the onset of its conception. In the eyes of someone like Ves, he would argue that the Hellcat lacked a unifying vision that could have guided the design to better straits.

"It's as if two stubborn kids wanted to play with the same doll and stretched it out between them as they tried to claim sole ownership over the toy."

The consequences to this could be imagined. The Hellcat, with its incongruous tiger head and substantially armored build looked like a cross between two very different mechs. The addition of the nail drivers and the missile launchers seemed more like gimmicks tacked on as an afterthought rather than a mainstay that the mech could rely on to save the day.

"At least the Caesar Augustus can rely on its miniature laser cannons to take out targets just out of range of its sword."

The Caesar Augustus was a much inferior mech in terms of specs and scope, but the mere fact that it had been designed by a single mech designer who knew what he wanted made it a more coherent design.

Compared to the first work of an Apprentice Mech Designer, the Hellcat incorporated many advanced techniques and applications. Even after studying the additional documents made available to him, Ves hardly understood how the original designers managed to stuff so much capabilities in so little space.

Nevertheless, the current foibles with the Hellcat design underscored that technical prowess couldn't compensate for a lack of vision.

"It's not that it can't be done, but this is just a case where the original designers didn't leave any leeway for the future."

Ves found it sad that such a promising design had been born with what effectively amounted to a deformity. It didn't become very evident at birth, but as it grew older, the design started to crack and show its weaknesses.

Therefore, the responsibilities piled up on the shoulders of the Hellcat design team was too much for them to cope. Even Ves couldn't steer away a ship that was determined to travel right into the sun.

Sadly, even if Alloc and Professor Velten were aware of this critical fault, they couldn't convince the Vandals to replace their prestige mechs with a different design. Organizational inertia meant that the design team needed to stick with this creaking product no matter how much it fell apart.

"How depressing."

This important realization put his role into perspective. He shouldn't attempt to do anything too ambitious. With his current level of skill, he had no chance in revamping the design to a healthy state.

The best he could describe its situation was that the longevity of the design was running out. Rather than extending its useful lifetime, Ves could only improve some minor performance parameters in order to let the Hellcat make the most out of its final years of active use.

Ves had no doubt that the Vandals would eventually be forced to drop the Hellcat design during this war. The Vesian mech designers faced a lot of pressure in improving their own designs, and if the Hellcat failed to keep up, its end would come sooner or later.

"That's something that will happen at least a year from now on. For now, the Hellcat is still a viable mech."

He returned to the list of problems and decided to tackle an issue that was challenging but one he could also complete within a month. It concerned a very persistent problem regarding the energy efficiency of the mech.

The Hellcat's high performance metrics and ability to make an immediate impact on the battlefield came at a cost. The power draw was enormous and the heat that it built up was very problematic for a mech in space.

When the design originally came into being, the original designers already mitigated these issues. However, as the years passed and the design kept being tweaked to keep up with the current times, the old optimisations in terms of power draw and heat dispersal ceased to work as effectively. The design had strayed too much from its old lines, and the introduction of new components complicated the internal architecture in ways that made it much less efficient.

It all sounded boring to a bystander, but the veteran mech pilots that have piloted the Hellcat for years became increasingly frustrated at this downward trend.

The report on the problem came with a quote from a very pissed off mech pilot.

"Why is it that the Hellcat keeps getting worse? I don't care about faster flight systems and more lethal nail drivers! I just want a mech that can last an entire fight! Hell, it won't even last a short skirmish sometimes. Fix this issue immediately or roll back the design to an older version!"

The problem had obviously brewed for an extended period of time. The Hellcat design team should have been more responsive on this issue, but for some reason they kept on holding to the same course.

In all honesty, solving this issue required a multi-disciplinary approach. Ves wasn't sure if he possessed the right breadth and depth of skills to be able to provide a solution to this problem. After all, neither Alloc nor Professor Velten had done anything about it, though that might be because they had bigger things in mind.

"In any case, this is a useful starting point to prove my worth. It's a very legitimate problem that needs solving anyhow."

Ves began to dive into his work by investigating the evolution of the design in recent years. He wanted to trace back the changes to specific changes in the design so he could come up with localized solutions.

All of this was boring and tedious, but Ves never lost his motivation. Several weeks went by in a fog as Ves single-mindedly focused on this sole issue alone. He made a substantial amount of progress, but the sheer amount of changes left him a little fatigued. It was too much work to establish the consequences of every single change to the design.

To be honest, he was being stymied by the sheer level of interconnectedness of the design. His inability to understand the Hellcat down to its roots also didn't help. There was a level of depth and complexity to each of its shapes.

Ves felt like he was a toddler looking at a painting and ruining it by dabbling his fingers through paint and raking them across the canvas. Ninety-nine times out of a hundred, his solutions only made things worse.

Still, at least he made some progress, however sluggish it turned out to be. Any progress was better than no progress at all, but it defied the high hopes he had started with. Ves grossly underestimated the actual challenge of reshaping an already completed design at the Senior level.

"My progress is too slow." Ves muttered as he furrowed his brows. Several weeks into his task, and he only completed a fourth of what he should have accomplished.

A lack of understanding lay at the heart of his inability to progress. He couldn't do much to advance his understanding of the higher-level concepts that made Journeyman and Senior Mech Designers unique. Short of breaking through himself, Ves would have to accept that his perspective would be limited for the time being.

He could still advance his understanding in a different direction, something which he already did quite well.

Therefore, one day, Ves put down his work and marched up to Alloc. "Sir?"

"What is it, Ves?"

"I'd like to request an opportunity to witness the Hellcat in action. I've spent a substantial amount of time with its design, but I still only have a vague idea of how this mech is supposed to perform in action."

Alloc frowned and turned away from his work. "A mech designer is supposed to be content with the design schematics alone. There shouldn't be any need to see a real Hellcat."

"Respectfully, that's not the way I work. The best I can describe it is that I design my mechs from feeling. Without a feel for a design, I can't work with it as well as I ought to. The Hellcat is at least ten times more complex than anything I've ever worked on before, so it is even more vital for me to get a handle on the mech action."

"I'm not inclined to grant your request. I'm under orders to keep temps like you in one place. It's going to take a lot of effort to convince Professor Velten to grant an exception for you."

Ves already expected something like this, so he provided an immediate response to that argument. Ves waved his hand, causing his comm to transfer his work up to now. "Look at what I've accomplished. This is only a fraction of what I am able to do."

Curious, Alloc turned to his terminal and studied some of the solutions that Ves came up with. They weren't anything groundbreaking, nor did they improve the performance of the Hellcat by a substantial amount. Nevertheless, it was already impressive for an Apprentice Mech Designer to lessen the problem of excessive power draw by a fraction of a percentage point without negatively affecting anything else.

"Hm." The Journeyman quickly processed the solutions Ves came up with. "These solutions don't seem half-bad. We'll need to perform a lot more simulations in order to verify their soundness, but you have made a substantial contribution to our design team."

Ves sensed a caveat there.

"This does not mean that I can allow you to run off to the mech pilots and pester them to show off their Hellcats to you. You have to realize that there is a time and place for things. We do not allow anyone to come into contact with a Vandal."

In the end, Ves did not receive approval and had to go back empty-handed. Why didn't Alloc grant his seemingly reasonable request?

One possible explanation stood out.

"There must be something going on that can't be leaked."

Ves thought back on what the recent announcements were about. The Colonel Lowenfield intended to sneak the 6th Flagrant Vandals all the way to the Imodris Duchy from the border.

This was a daunting task for any mech regiment that hailed from the Kingdom's mortal enemy. The only way the Vandals could get this far without detection was if they enlisted the help of the local rebels.

"Have the Vesian rebels already rendezvoused with the fleet?"

The idea was frightening, but sounded very real. Perhaps the Vesian Revolutionary Front hadn't come with a handful of emissaries, but brought a couple of carriers and mechs along for the ride as well.

This basically meant that a mech regiment of the Republic willingly joined hands with an element of the Vesia Kingdom!

It did not matter if the Vandals struck a deal with the rebels, the mere fact that they owed their allegiance to Vesia, if not for the Kingdom, was a huge affront if news ever leaked!

"Why would the Vesian rebels accompany the Vandals with their own war assets?"

It didn't make any sense. The 6th Flagrant Vandals might not be very impressive compared to the rest of the Mech Corps, but it was a proper mech regiment at its core.

Ves tried to wrack his brains but couldn't come up with any satisfactory explanation except for one.

"What if they lied to us?"

This was a very serious accusation to make, and a tenuous one as well since Ves based this conclusion off a series of very wild conjectures. Still, it reinforced his impression that something shady was going on with the Vandals right now. Perhaps their presumed mission of penetrating deep into Vesian space in order to raid their industrial planet wasn't so simple after all.

"All of this is wild talk without evidence."

Without confirmations, his ideas remained ideas. Although he had a very overactive imagination, sometimes the truth often turned out to be simpler than he suspected.

Still, Ves wasn't comfortable with staying put. If nothing else, he had a duty to follow the leads and see where he ended up. "There's too much at stake. I can't afford to be negligent."

Chapter 434

Ever since he started questioning the motives of the 6th Flagrant Vandals, Ves regarded his posting in a different light. The undercurrent of discontent and the general apathy towards the Mech Corps may not be confined to the lower ranks. What if the underlings merely reflected the honest attitudes of their superiors?

Sitting behind his terminal, Ves turned around his head and regarded Alloc and the Apprentices in a different light. Besides the temp sent from the Rittersberg region, the others all had a couple years of service under their belt.

Curiously, not many mech designers in the design department of the Vandals stuck around for more than half a decade or so. Alloc happened to be one of the few exceptions due to being mentored by Professor Velten. Everyone else seemed to have been sent to the Vandals as punishment or exile.

Could he talk to them about his concerns?

"No."

Ves did not kid himself that he could find a place aboard the Wolf Mother without any form of monitoring. Having left his personal comm with the Privacy Shield behind on Cloudy Curtain, he no longer possessed any means of blocking any electronic ears and eyes pointed in his direction.

"Besides, where do their loyalties lie?"

Not every mech designer entered the private sector and started a business to sell their own mechs. Some wanted an easier path in life, so they applied to established mech manufacturers or design studios to exercise their craft.

Naturally, only those with promise received the best job offerings where they could actually be involved in the design of a mech. Average mech designers stood no chance in obtaining an important position, and would always devolve into glorified technicians.

In fact, a large number of chief technicians graduated with a degree in mech design, only to be relegated to a job in the mech stables or mech workshops.

The same pattern persisted in the military. The Mech Corps relied on many different mech designs, and they needed a huge number of mech designers to keep their mechs fresh and up to date.

Working in the Mech Corps formed a particularly attractive prospect to most mech designers. The pay was bad, but the benefits were good and every mech designer assigned to a design team received varying levels of access to the central database, which not only contained lots of designs and exclusive technologies, but also contained a library of very valuable textbooks.

All of this made working for the Mech Corps a good starting point for any mech designer that lacked the confidence to dive into the cutthroat competitive private sector. Once they served for twenty years or more and retired from the service, they would be in a much better position to enter the market.

"Since the mech designers in the service value their time here so much, why don't I see any older ones?"

While the Apprentice Mech Designers aboard the Wolf Mother varied in age, they tended to be in their thirties or younger. What Ves really paid attention to was that none of them had been in the design department for long.

"Where are all the veteran designers?"

Had they been transferred out or cashiered, or did something else happen to them? Ves tried to approach the topic in an oblique manner when he conversed with some of the Apprentices during mealtime.

"Say, our teams are awfully short-handed." He said in a casual manner as he ate his soup next to a colleague. "Why aren't the higher ups increasing their effort at expanding our teams?"

The tired man munched on a meat pie for a bit before he answered. "No one wants to come and work for the Vandals. We're the refuse pit of the Vandals. You don't volunteer to work for us, you get sent here. And while the Mech Corps loves to dump all their problem cases in our laps, they'll be accused of committing war crimes if they did that to every mech designer they don't like."

They both chuckled a bit at that.

"It's not so bad here. Sure, the Vandals are a little shabbier than most, but we still have plenty of room in our three design teams. My question is why are we so chronically undermanned? This isn't a new phenomenon."

"I don't know what to say." The other mech designer shrugged, though he seemed a little more reticent this time. "There used to be some mech designers in our team that are senior to me. They served for a couple of years but their exhaustion continued to grow. They would have collapsed sooner or later."

"Did they?"

"Professor Velten approached them before they got to that point. The professor offered to transfer them to a new, exciting and secret design team far away from the Wolf Mother. I don't know all the details, but from what I've seen from the faces of the mech designers who accepted, they all looked ecstatic."

"Did every mech designer accept the transfer?"

"Yup. You'd be a fool not to. While I appreciate the chance to contribute to the Hellcat design, it will ruin you if you try to work with it for more than a handful of years. There's something very corrosive about this design that grates at your sanity. I don't know how to describe it. All I know is that I'm already feeling that my limit is within sight."

This sounded very strange to Ves. He put down his spoon and faced his colleague with open eyes. "Why is the Hellcat design so damaging?"

"I asked Alloc one day, and he said that the Hellcat is a design that incorporates transcendent concepts that only Journeyman Mech Designers and higher could handle. It's always said that Apprentices aren't mature in the field of mech design, and I guess this is one of the most important reasons why."

Ves believed this statement. It explained much of how the mech industry worked. He only heard an inkling about it during his studies, probably so that the professors could shield them from the truth, but it might indeed be the case that advanced designs possessed such an effect.

He even figured that it might be related to the intangible qualities of a mech, but that shouldn't be it. Ves did not perceive anything damaging during his own investigation of the Hellcat.

It was likely the other mech designer was right, and that it was a case of overstraining the mind when dealing with concepts beyond the means of understanding. There were plenty of secrets hidden in plain sight, and Ves might eventually go crazy as well if he dove too deep in the design nuances of the Hellcat.

After Ves finished his dinner, he left on his own accord. For the next several days, he broached the same topic to a couple of other mech designers. Ves wasn't close with any of them so didn't receive any good answers, but he figured that they believed that nothing sinister was at play.

The key takeaway from his questioning was that the story he heard possessed an element of truth. Mech designers indeed needed to get away from a design that was slowly driving them insane.

What Ves wanted to know was where they went. As far as Ves was aware of, the 6th Flagrant Vandals did not maintain a separate group of mech designers. So where did those people work? Was it another mech regiment, or something shadier?

Ves ended up with more questions than answers, but he did not believe he achieved a fruitless result. While he couldn't follow up on his details, he believed that it might be very important down the line.

"That still begs the question that I haven't been able to answer."

He came no closer to finding out what the Vandals planned to do. This frustrated him to no end, which slowed him down when he was on duty. He wasn't in the mood to improve the power efficiency of the Hellcat when all he could think about was whether the Vandals committed treason.

There was a difference between breaking some rules and committing outright treason. His initial impressions of the Vandals painted a picture of a tragic and neglected mech regiment. Now though, Ves wondered if the Mech Corps might have a good reason to keep the Vandals at arm's length.

"The Mech Corps isn't in the habit of fooling around unless it concerns internal rivalry."

It was obvious that the Flagrant Vandals fell outside of the dominant factions in the Mech Corps. They stood on their own and had no one powerful to back them up. Even their own division pushed them aside.

It couldn't be helped if the Vandals became disillusioned at being kept on a leash. The only problem was that every mech designer was confined to a small part of the massive factory ship. Besides those who liaised with the mech pilots and mech designers, no one had gotten a glimpse of what happened at the heart of the Vandals.

Ves supposed that he could have tried to pry some information from Alloc and Professor Velten, but he didn't dare pull off any tricks in their presence. Both were not only busy, but they could also be remarkably perceptive if they directed their full attention to him. The only saving grace was that they prioritized their own work over looking over the shoulders of their subordinates.

"Am I in a dead end?"

He was unwilling to let his inquiry end so soon without grasping even a hint of the truth. Though everything seemed fine and nothing might be wrong, he would never feel at ease among the Vandals as long as his questions remained unanswered.

"I need an opportunity."

So far, he failed to receive any dispensations from Alloc, but Ves did not intend to give up now. Perhaps he needed to work a little longer in order to appear dependable enough to be sent on liaison assignments.

For now, the key was to excel in his work. After squaring away his doubts and uncertainties, Ves dove back into his work. This time, his results improved, and Ves managed to optimize the Hellcat design in a marginally better way.

Just before the start of Professor Velten's next conference, Ves handed over the final set of solutions to Alloc. They were less dramatic than he hoped, but all of his solutions should be sound.

Alloc only briefly skimmed through his work. "I'll take them up to the Professor the next time I see her, but you did a good job."

"Thank you, sir. I was hoping for better, though."

The Journeyman released a cynical smile. "We all do, but the Hellcat does everything in its way to thwart our efforts."

In the end, Ves grudgingly received Alloc's approval to continue working at his own pace. This was important to Ves because he would be able to continue to pick out the best assignments.

At the next conference meeting, a routine of sorts had already settled. The Professor made some inconsequential announcements while the Journeyman walked to the front to mention their latest excuses why they hadn't made any better progress.

Professor Velten appeared to be paying serious attention, but Ves questioned whether her mind was even present. Sometimes the old lady doddored off.

After the conference, Professor Velten suddenly turned around and called up Ves. "Mr. Larkinson! Please come with me!"

For a moment, Ves thought he had been caught. Yet no one really paid any attention to the call besides Laida and Pierce. With some reluctance, Ves filed into the Professor's private office and sat down in front of the Senior Mech Designer.

She immediately broached the topic as soon as he sat down. "It has come to my attention that you are a relatively successful mech designer."

Why did she ask him that?

"Success is a difficult term to quantify, but arguably yes, I do believe I have done well."

"When your records first came into my view, I did not think much of your prior experience. An Apprentice with only two original designs under his belt is barely a genuine mech designer. So it is a surprise for me to hear that you are one of the primary mech designers of a design that's been all the rage in the market right now."

"Huh? Ah, what I mean is, which design is selling well?"

"The Crystal Lord, your landbound rifleman mech design."

Chapter 435

Ever since Ves entered the clutches of the Mech Corps, he became isolated to the outside galaxy. In an age where spying and leaking sensitive data was trivially easy, the military organization undertook extreme measures in order to keep their rank and file from revealing anything they shouldn't have.

While the Flagrant Vandals might not see eye-to-eye with the upper hierarchy, they happened to be in total agreement with regards to operational security.

As a mech regiment that regularly invaded Vesian space, any incautious leaks might even devastate their numbers. Therefore, access points to the outside galaxy were extremely limited and heavily monitored. The moment Ves revealed a hint of propriety, his entire terminal would shut off.

Thus, over the past couple of months, Ves had no idea how the LMC fared in his absence. In truth, he didn't really worry about their fate. The company was in decent hands and it offered two solid original designs in its catalog.

The Blackbeak medium knight already proved to be an enduring seller. Even if the market for offensive knights started to become somewhat saturated, demand for the LMC's homebuilt silver label editions was projected to remain high for at least a couple more years.

Ves was much less certain about the newly-introduced Crystal Lord design. Though it carried over much of the qualities of the Blackbeak, the different type and the range of improvements he incorporated in the design made it an unquestionably more promising mech.

The Blackbeak was meant to compete in a niche, while the Crystal Lord had been designed to challenge the dominant mainstream mechs that was responsible for the bulk of the sales for rifleman mechs.

It had a lot of things going for it. The premium licenses and materials allowed it to outperform cheaper models and Ves had Super Published the design on top of that. Its current performance parameters fit well in a multi-year conflict with the Vesians.

More crucially, the Crystal Lord was the first design that broke into the coveted B-grade for the X-Factor. While Ves did not truly understand what this new height of X-Factor meant, he bet that the mech pilots who got to pilot a Crystal Lord must be feeling very privileged about piloting such a smooth machine.

Lastly, the Crystal Lord also incorporated some gimmicks based on alien crystal technology. Though it was hardly anything groundbreaking compared to the heights that humanity had reached, crystal technology like this was rare in a backwater state like the Bright Republic. It should perform particularly well against mechs that predominantly relied on lasers.

All in all, the Crystal Lord possessed all of the elements to be a breakout success.

Yet even as Ves had high hopes for his second original design, the mech market for rifleman mechs was extremely competitive. Realistically, all three labels of the Crystal Lord should have priced themselves out of consideration for most potential buyers.

Therefore, it came at a surprise to him that Professor Velten indicated otherwise.

"May I know how well my Crystal Lord design is doing?"

Though Ves faced heavy restrictions in terms of how much information he could get in touch with, the Senior Mech Designer faced no such constraints. She easily answered his question.

"The Crystal Lord has been something of an anomaly when you first released it onto the market. They didn't know what to make of it, and sales have stayed modest for the first month. Expert opinions about your design are decidedly mixed, with many of them recommending their audience to stay away."

To an outside pundit who had never seen a Crystal Lord in person, its value proposition seemed like a bad deal. Rather than break the bank by buying a single overpriced rifleman mech, it was much more efficient to buy two affordable rifleman mechs for the same amount of credits.

"What has changed since then, professor?"

She eyed him with a curious look. "The early adopters of your models discovered two advantages that aren't present in many other mechs. First, your gimmick is a lot more useful than anyone has thought. Wielding a lighter laser rifle and possessing more advanced defenses against energy weapons on the chest helps keep the mechs alive during the most intensive engagements."

"The Crystal Lord has seen action?"

"Vesian raids have intensified. They have likely been emboldened by the daring raids of the 3rd Imodris Legion. The pressure we are facing back at the home front is immense. Mercenaries are forced to repel small raiding parties that have sneaked through the gaps in our defense lines."

Though Ves paid the most attention to the Crystal Mech, he couldn't help but feel a little reassured from the way Professor Velten spoke about Republic space. At least outwardly, she still displayed kinship with their state.

"The Mech Legion fields a substantial number of mechs armed with laser weapons. Against these mechs, your Crystal Lord has stood out as the mech with one of the highest rates of survival. Normal rifleman mechs regularly get trashed, that's why they are so cheap. Yours is a little more effective than usual in keeping it and its pilot alive, and that ends up amounting to a substantial amount of cost savings."

Ves nodded in a modest manner. "That is also my intention, ma'am. The Crystal Lord is supposed to be a long-term investment. Its true value will manifest over the years. You mentioned a second reason for the surging demand for my mech. Can you tell me what it is?"

Her eyes grew a little sharper at that, and she tried to peer into his soul through his eyes. Ves carefully maintained his posture and met her gaze with a neutral look.

"Every mech pilot that has ever piloted a copy of the Crystal Lord has turned into its raving fans. It has garnered a die-hard following that is continuing to grow the more people get in touch with it, no matter the shape it comes in. Bronze label, silver label, gold label, every edition of your mech exhibit the same concerning trend. Even the virtual copies of the Crystal Lord are distressingly effective in converting people into your fans."

It should have been good news for Ves, but instead he started to sweat inside. Had he overdone it? During the early testing, the X-Factor never exhibited such radical effects on a mech pilot's psyche. "Are people accusing me of brainwashing my pilots?"

Fortunately, Velten shook her head. "This is not a repeat of the Farund Affair, if that is what you are worried about. Even though the pundits can say whatever they want, the truth is that the Mech Trade Association validated your design. This carries a lot of weight among us. To be sure that your company and its partners haven't been producing mechs that deviated from the official design, the MTA has dispatched some investigators and inspected their premises. All of the companies involved have been cleared."

Ves knew that he was innocent, but the MTA didn't know that. They needed to verify his company's products and their operations on their own in order to determine the facts.

"I take it no one believes my company has tampered with the neural interfaces?"

"Yes. The controversy has died down after several critics have attempted to dismantle the neural interfaces. In hindsight, their exuberance can be attributed to how extensively you've met their demands. You possess an extremely keen understanding of what mech pilots seek from their machines."

Was Professor Velten probing him whether he benefited from a Mastery?

Ves instinctively moved to deny the implicit suspicion, but quickly hesitated.

The reason why he would want to keep it under wraps is because he wouldn't be able to explain how he got to enjoy this exclusive privilege that Master Mech Designers only reserved for their prized direct disciples. As someone who fell outside that coveted category, Ves shouldn't have received so much nurturing.

Yet did that matter if Professor Velten very likely wouldn't find out the truth? Mastery was a sensitive topic at best, and those who experienced it already showed its benefits through their work. Velten had no reason to follow up because she could already access his top level design schematics from the MTA and see for herself.

His response to this situation was critically important and might govern the rest of his stay with the Vandals. There was a risk that the truth might leak out that he gained his Masteries through a more dubious source. Yet Ves deemed the risk to be acceptable in the face of what was at stake.

His investigation into the truth of the Vandals had come to a screeching halt due to the restrictions he faced. This was a chance for him to loosen some of those restrictions and grant him wider access to the secretive mech regiment.

"This is supposed to be a secret, but my designs are benefiting from the fact that I have gained two Masteries, one for knight mechs and one for rifleman mechs."

Velten did not respond with any surprise. Instead, she raised a single eyebrow. "How curious. If the Mech Corps knew what kind of mech designer you are, they would have never pushed you into our hands."

"It's not something I wish to advertise."

She grinned. "Indeed. Well, one mech regiment's misfortune is another blessing to the Flagrant Vandals. You've demonstrated through your work in the private sector that you deeply understand the demands of those we serve, the mech pilots who bravely pilot their mechs into the most dangerous situations imaginable. Out of all three of the design teams under my wing, no mech designer can say they have acquired a Mastery. Not even I have enjoyed such a privilege..."

Velten sounded somewhat regretful about that. Ves felt it was a shame as well. At her age, her design philosophy had already taken shape. She missed out on a lot during her formative years. As talented as she was back in her youth, if she acquired some Masteries at that early stage, her career would have skyrocketed, and there was a very real chance that she could have advanced to Master.

"What do you have in mind for me, professor?"

"Mr. Larkinson, I see now that your talents are grossly underutilized. The success of your Crystal Lord is the strongest proof of your abilities. Did you know that your company has shook hands with over five third-party manufacturers, and they still can't keep up with demand?"

Hearing that almost frightened Ves out of his chair. What was Calsie doing?! Didn't he tell her to pick her partners carefully? Going in bed with five different mech manufacturers so soon was too fast! How would the LMC be able to control the quality of their output?

"I did not know that. I feel rather troubled, actually."

"Plans change. I can't tell you much about this, but I believe your company is on the right track. That is all you should know. The Mech Corps maintains a policy of isolating its mech designers from the news of their own companies. You are working for us, not the market."

"I understand." Ves nodded. That made a lot of sense.

"In light of your newly unearthed strengths and your diligent work ethic you've shown up to this point, I plan to elevate your position under this department in order to best take advantage of your unique talents."

"What will my new position entail?"

"You are to be appointed as our permanent liaison to the mech pilots that utilize our homegrown designs. As someone who knows mech pilots the best, you are eminently suitable to understand their specific wishes and convey them to our design teams. Take the rest of the day off. You'll start on your new assignment tomorrow."

"Thank you, professor!"

This was exactly what he wanted to hear! Though the manner in which he gained this assignment was a little strange, he nonetheless escaped the cage the Vandals set among most of its mech designers.

Staying in this cage for months on end seemed like torture to Ves. Though he loved to design mechs as any other designer in the teams, he would have gone crazy if he worked with numbers and figures all day.

Ves was a very hands-on designer. Without seeing a mech in the flesh, he would never be able to understand it as deeply as he wanted to. Now, he finally got the chance to see what the Vandals were really like, starting with the mech pilots that formed the core of the regiment.

Chapter 436

The Bright Republic truly transitioned into a war footing by now. Spending on consumer goods decreased while spending on all things related to war ballooned. Prices of basic goods already started to rise as everyone started to stock up on basic goods.

Food, water, weapons and more began to be sold at greater quantities. This came at the cost of luxury goods, whose manufacturers found it increasingly difficult to convince the citizens to spend their money lavishly.

"Will luxury be able to feed me when our planet is blockaded? Will the most fashionable pair of shoes around be able to defend my children if the Vesians want to take them away?"

Most of the newer companies started to go bust while the older, more conservative companies endured. They had gone through this rodeo many times before, and squirreled away lots of liquidity and resources beforehand. This largely mitigated the economic impact on the Bright Republic's economy, though a downturn in activity was inevitable.

Although the Republic did not suffer a lot of material damage in the opening stages of the war, the damage to morale was more significant. Public confidence had taken a large nosedive ever since the 3rd Imodris Legion stomped their boots all over the Bentheim region.

While the aggressive Vesians didn't have the guts to attack a stronghold, their strategy of attacking many lightly-defended targets succeeded in harming the spirit of the citizens who lived on those same rural planets.

That the Mech Corps never caught up to Lady Amalia's legion before it successfully returned to Vesian space really struck as a blow to the Mech Corps. The will of the people was a very ephemeral entity. It could swing up and down depending on the most notable events.

Right now, everyone went about their lives with their heads bent a little down. Ever since the war broke out, the Vesians had marched through tons of border systems. While the Mech Corps achieved some victories here and there, the larger trend made the Vesians seem as if they were on fire.

The veterans and the elderly knew that this wasn't anything unusual. The Mech Corps purposely drew back their lines and consolidated their defenses. Their counterattack would come sooner or later after the Mech Legion ran out of steam. The Vesians always had a tendency to overextend.

"You ain't seen nothing yet, son. The Vesian bastards don't move as one. Their nobles are a bunch of jackals who only think for themselves. Just you wait. They'll split up eventually."

In the meantime, many planets increased their defenses and started to recruit more militia from the populace, even if they didn't possess the right aptitude to pilot mechs.

Though it was a generally accepted fact that a non-mech force would never be able to defeat a force of mechs, norms still played a vitally important role in many areas. Besides acting in a support capacity, regular humans also fought as infantry or in manned vehicles such as tanks and aircraft.

After all, a mech force was good at destroying things, but they weren't too suitable in occupying conquered planets and couldn't reach everywhere.

Infantry, tanks and aircraft might not play the main role, but they provided an effective form of support to any mech force.

However, recruitment was heavily stymied by the fact that it wasn't very popular to join these branches of service. Pretty much every action drama that has been broadcast in the last four-hundred years depicted them as easily-beaten foils to any enemy mechs that wandered along.

If the citizens wouldn't volunteer, then the state just had to push them along. Already, several waves of conscription swept the populace. They mostly picked up the unemployed youth and young adults who had been laid off when the companies they worked at shuttered their doors or downsized their operations due to the difficult economic conditions.

This further depressed the general mood in the Republic and made it seem awfully empty at times.

On Cloudy Curtain, Calsie watched over the premises of the Mech Nursery. The white-faced office structures blended harmoniously with the trees planted in their midst. They also neatly hid the ugly forms of Sanyal-Ablin's defensive turrets.

She looked a far cry from the college graduate from before. She underwent a minor makeover that made her appear more mature, though the wisps of youth were still present under her makeup. She wore a white power suit that mentally stiffened her spine. She sorely needed all the help she could get in order to browbeat the different interest groups involved with the LMC to comply with her directives.

Somehow, she managed. Running a company as its temporary boss wasn't easy, but she enjoyed plenty of help.

Under her tentative leadership, the company largely followed the same trend as before. The Living Mech Corporation had just expanded its number of production lines from three to five. This allowed the company to produce the silver label Blackbeaks and Crystal Lords without excessively neglecting either of the two highly sought after mech models.

The doors to the penthouse office suddenly opened, allowing Melkor to enter the expansive space. The maturing Larkinson was the only other person besides Calsie who possessed unfettered access to the office that used to be occupied by Ves.

"How is the training coming along, commander?"

"The 'rookies' we've recruited have started to show signs of advanced coordination, ma'am. They've always been ready for battle, since we only signed up experienced mech pilots, but it's hard work to get them to unlearn their previous routines and get them to adopt our own."

"Will the Avatars of Myth be able to repel a company of the 5th Vavulan Chasseurs if they come again?"

"Not quite, ma'am. The Chasseurs are battle-hardened mech pilots with centuries of tradition to guide them. They aren't pushovers and they won't be cowed by the current state of my men. It will take years of training to get to that point. The only edge we have is our advanced mechs."

The Avatars of Myth employed the Crystal Lord in greater numbers than anyone else. Not only did they possess four exclusive gold label copies, they also fielded a whopping twenty silver label Crystal Lords.

Fabricating them all out of the LMC's own pocket cost the company a lot. Almost the entire board of directors howled when Calsie and Melkor came up with the plan, but they pushed through regardless of the pain. At least Grandpa Benjamin remained ambivalent about the matter.

Naturally, the LMC also spent itself broke by expanding their number of production lines. They had no choice but to go further into debt, with the excuse that the company would be better off with the extra defenses.

Though the LMC's mountain of debt had ballooned, the production lines had been put to good use. Mechs started flying off the premises as fast as they could produce, and the extra per-unit licensing fees streaming in from the third-party manufacturers did much to reassure the frazzled Financial Department.

"Do you think we've moved too fast?" Calsie asked as she turned away from the window and its marvelous view. "I've taken the company into a direction that won't make Ves very happy. We're knee-deep in debt and heavily reliant on our partners to keep the sales volume of our product lines high."

Melkor dismissively huffed. "Ves is a little too selfish for his own good. He expects everything to dance at the palm of his hands. I'm not an expert in business, but from what I see, the faster we get things done, the better we're all off. We needed those mechs in our hands as fast as possible."

"Why so? Are the Vesians winning?"

"Not as such. Simply think of it as a contingency. It's better to go into debt and have the mechs ready than the other way around. The previous raid on the Mech Nursery has made that more than clear to me. What does a healthy balance sheet mean against the Mech Legion? No matter how exemplary the LMC handles its finances, it's of little use when civilization gets thrown out the window in order to make way for war. The only thing that counts in a fight is how many mechs and weapons we possess. That's the true measure of wealth in my eyes. Ma'am."

"Excellently,'' said, commander. Money that's sitting in the bank is of no use at all when the Mech Legion comes again. Only money that is spent on increasing our strength can make a difference during wartime." Calsie replied with a smile. She always felt uneasy about her decisions, but Melkor's reasoning provided her with the mental crutch she needed to alleviate her guilt. "I'm sure that Ves won't be pleased if he returns from his tour of service with the Mech Nursery in ruins."

Compared to this piece of mind, dealing with difficult and pushy creditors hardly seemed like a bother to her now. "Why have you come? Our next scheduled meeting is in three days."

"It's about the Crystal Lord. I've finished my own investigation about its... effects."

"Oh? Do tell me the results."

As the mech pilot of one of the coveted gold label Crystal Lord mechs, Melkor possessed a unique opportunity to experience the best of what Ves had fashioned into being.

"Piloting the Crystal Lord is an entire experience. There is nothing routine about this mech. Everything I enter the cockpit and before I even engage the neural interface, I feel as if my mech is already welcoming me home."

"What do you mean? Are you saying that the Crystal Lord is running an AI even in its active state?"

"Nothing like that, ma'am. It's... hard to describe. I can feel from my heart that I belong to my mech, and my mech belongs to me. Even now, I can't bear to be away from my precious mech."

"That sounds unhealthy. Have you checked with the doctors?"

"We have performed more than enough tests to rule out any explicit brainwashing. In that, our investigations concur with the ones done by the Mech Corps and any other pundit who have tested this out."

"Then I don't see what the problem is. Certainly, the reason why you feel addicted to your mech is because it's a really good machine, right?"

"Right. Something like that. My apologies, ma'am. I'm not the best with words."

"No need to apologize. You are doing good work as the commander of a company-sized outfit."

The two discussed a little bit more about the Crystal Lord. Since the Avatars possessed the largest amount of Crystal Lords, they gained a lot of practical insights about the model. Melkor conveyed what they learned to Calsie so she could use the information to tweak the marketing of the product or introduce some other changes.

As they spoke, they kept a respectful distance from each other, both physically and status-wise. For whatever reason, Ves chose to appoint Calsie at the helm, so she took precedence over the mech pilot.

Melkor didn't mind. As long as Calsie did a decent job and avoided steering the LMC into disaster, he wouldn't mind taking orders from her. Of course, he constantly kept his eye on her in the event she took the wrong turn.

"How is the ship component of the Avatars doing? Your force is about to receive the first Trieste-class light carrier from the shipyard, if I recall. Are you prepared?"

"To be honest, no." Melkor shook his head. "We're having difficulty recruiting competent and reliable spacers to staff a single ship, let alone two. Fleet Commander Rofane is doing his best, but the hiring market is practically dried up. Anyone with the skills to serve on a spaceship have already been snapped up by companies and outfits left and right."

"This doesn't sound very good." Calsie frowned. "Can't we hire from abroad?"

"I'm not very keen to hire foreign spacers. The chance of something going wrong is unacceptably high. I'd rather keep the light carriers in a depot collecting dust than rush them into use while they are riddled with hidden threats."

"What does Rofane think?"

"The fleet commander is less than enthused by my opinions. In his view, spacers are spacers. Once they sail the endless night, they have renounced their ties to the land. He's a true-blooded spaceborn ship driver, that's for sure."

Fleet Commander Rofane had been recommended to lead the ship contingent of the Avatars by Captain Silvestra. He was an old but boisterous barrel of a man who worked for several mercenary corps in his lifetime.

Though he was highly competent and his record was straight, he possessed rather strong beliefs about the superiority of spaceborn humans over their landbound counterparts. Keeping the outspoken fleet commander in line was very troublesome to Melkor.

Chapter 437

"On some days, I regret accepting Rofane into the fold." Melkor continued. "He's constantly pushing me to lift the restrictions on recruiting foreigners so he can hire more spaceborn spacers. I don't want to make the problem any worse than it is right now with him alone, so I've been fobbing him off."

"I'm not sure if Ves will mind too much if you recruit some people who come from another state. As long as they aren't Vesians and are willing to commit to the Avatars, they should be fine and dandy."

Melkor shook his head. "I can't take the risk, ma'am. Although Ves explicitly set up the Avatars of Myth to serve as his personal force, true loyalty can't be bought. We are much more like a mercenary corps in that regard. Nationality is the only thing we have in common. Once I throw that away, the Avatars would have nothing else to bind them all together."

As much as Melkor wanted to loosen the reins, he resisted the temptation. It was better to solve the problem over time rather than commit to an irreversible course of action.

"For now, we have no need for you to deploy the Avatars elsewhere, but that might change in the future."

For now, the Avatars of Myth had been tasked with defending the Mech Nursery. The lack of ships didn't affect their operations as long as they stuck to this mission.

Still, circumstances changed, and if a crisis ever happened in a different star system, the Avatars would be forced to rely on others to transport their mechs to their destination. This took way too much time and money, and transport services generally refused to convey a shipment of mechs into danger. This highlighted the eventual need to own a wholly-owned carrier fleet.

Now that he was here, Melkor might as well get some other things off his chest. "By the way, though I try to stay out of your business decisions, aren't you intertwining the LMC a little too deeply with Cloudy Curtain?"

Almost as soon as Ves entered the Mech Corps and dropped off the grid, Calsie implemented a fairly significant policy change within the company.

Under the reign of Ves, the LMC had always stood aloof from local politics and society. Besides settling on the planet, pushing some marketing and paying some taxes, the company didn't make itself felt.

Calsie changed all of that. She rejected the premise that the LMC benefited best if it took on a completely neutral stance. Instead, she firmly pushed the LMC into a path of greater integration and cooperation with local stakeholders.

This policy of engagement took on many forms. For example, as deep as the LMC was already in debt, it spared some cash to subsidize the underfunded mech academies of Freslin. The institutions all praised the LMC for the much-needed rain of funds.

On a higher level, the LMC also started to support some of the initiatives of the newly emboldened Pioneers, mostly by putting in a good word for the business-friendly activists. With the Greens and the White Doves suffering from an unprecedented amount of indignation, the Pioneers were at the cusp of taking over the thoroughly discredited Planetary Assembly.

To Melkor, the growing relationship between the LMC and the Pioneers started to reek.

"I don't have to justify my decisions to you, but if you must know, a company can't settle on a planet and pretend it's a silo. The LMC is the most prominent company on Cloudy Curtain. How can it not give back to the community that has welcomed it with open arms?"

"I wouldn't exactly describe it in that way, ma'am."

"Then let me rephrase it in a blunt manner." Calsie spoke. "The politics are rather turbulent right now. While the Republic's investigators ultimately failed to find the culprits of the self-sabotage incident, everyone and their dogs know it's the White Doves who are at fault. While they can still rely on the support of hardcore pacifists, average people have left their side in droves. This is the time the Pioneers need to make their case. As long as we can help them overcome this hurdle, the LMC will be rewarded with countless benefits!"

"I take it you will receive some benefits as well?"

"This isn't about me." Calsie shook her head. "This is about the future of the LMC. The company can't ignore politics, and the Pioneers can't achieve their aims without some help from local businesses. Only through combining our strengths will we both be able to achieve our goals and better everyone's lives. This is called corporate social responsibility."

The woman sounded so slick when she said those words that Melkor could hardly think of a retort. Melkor knew that Calsie had always been connected with the Pioneers, but the way she flagrantly defied Ves in keeping the LMC neutral was something else. She made a very persuasive case why this was the best decision.

"Don't take it too far. When Ves returns, he'll have some words to say to you."

"I am aware of the consequences, commander. However, may I remind you that Ves didn't put a bot in charge of the LMC. He wanted a human to represent his wishes because he needed someone who could think in this position. From a logical perspective, there are way too many reasons why we should get in bed with the Pioneers and not enough reasons to stick to ourselves."

"If that is what you think, ma'am."

Melkor couldn't argue any further because the unofficial partnership paid a lot of dividends. They already got a lot of things done, the most important of which was to steer the decision to rebuild Cloudy Curtain's spaceport at Freslin instead of Orinoco. This provided a lot of convenience to the LMC as it constantly shipped in raw materials and shipped out finished mechs.

As Calsie and Melkor discussed some other matters, life went on at Cloudy Curtain.

One of the more impactful ways the LMC intruded into the sphere of the local inhabitants was that it took over or set up various businesses in Freslin under an LMC-branded investment group.

They mainly took on the form of sports and social clubs, as culture was something that Cloudy Curtain had always been lagging behind. The LMC also took over the faltering businesses of local craftsmen and entrepreneurs who offered something unique but never gained enough exposure and market reach.

The city of Freslin lapped it all up. The entire local region experienced an upsurge in interest as the LMC single-handedly brought up its educational, cultural and business standards.

"That mech company is the best thing to grace our planet since our founding!"

"Mr. Larkinson is a hero to us! Even as he's gotten rich, he hasn't forgotten about the little man!"

"We should kick the White Doves off our planet! To think they want to deprive us of all of these benefits. When I think back on how I supported them in the past, I should have deserved a kick in the head!"

While Freslin experienced an upsurge, the nominal capital of Cloudy Curtain suffered from a worsening sentiment. None of the cheers from Freslin had managed to reach as far as Orinoco. As the rescue services excavated the corpses and the construction companies cleaned up the ruins, the city was at a crossroads on how to proceed.

The average citizens started to lose faith in the ruling coalition, and that was really bad, because the people in Orinoco used to be their strongest supporters.

The Greens began to distance themselves from their bosom buddy. Although the Greens and the White Doves were often mentioned in the same sentence as if they were a single entity, in truth the Greens believed in somewhat distinct ideals.

This was why they also escaped much of the blame that had befallen the White Doves. Pretty much everyone in Orinoco believed they had been behind the bombs that exploded the spaceport and headquarters of several important businesses in the city. Though they full-heartedly denied the accusations, public opinion did not care for the absence of proof.

The White Doves possessed the right motive, and that was enough to establish a link.

"Look at how Freslin is partying every day. Why can't we get some of that love?"

"As long as the White Doves are in charge over here, there's no way in hell the LMC will think about us."

"Maybe it's time the White Doves take a hike and build a hippy enclave in the wilderness. There's plenty of open space on our planet. They can pack up their stupid beliefs and take them away from here so we can finally enjoy some economic development!"

"Let's kick out the Greens as well! They love their forests so much that they can build a city in the trees!"

As much as public sentiment had turned against the established powers, change was rather slow in coming. Cloudy Curtain was still coming off a state of emergency, and a war raged in the wider Republic. For now, the ruling coalition earned a grace period which they could use to shore up their falterning support.

In the background, the representatives of the two dominant farming consortiums looked at the changes being wrought on Cloudy Curtain. Their expressions didn't look happy.

"We have been hiding our claws for far too long. Whoever among us who predicted that the LMC would stay a small and niche mech manufacturer has obviously missed the mark."

"How can I know that this devilish Mr. Larkinson is such an abnormally good mech designer?! The speed in which he progressed is inhuman! Don't forget that all you initially dismissed him as a threat early on!"

"Now, now, settle down. This is no time for recriminations. Despite the worrying trends happening on our planet, it is not a given that we should make a move."

Someone from the Luvon Consortium stood up. "We can't stand by and let the White Doves collapse on itself!"

"We can and we will." A powerful voice from the Raleigh Consortium interjected. "No matter how much we dislike the direction that Cloudy Curtain is heading, we should adapt to the times. Our previous posture of total isolation is a mistake."

"You are sounding dangerously like a Pioneer."

"Pioneer, Green, White Dove, these are all labels. What matters is keeping our Consortiums relevant. As much as the LMC sucks up all the spotlight right now, the farms of Cloudy Curtain will always be its main export product."

The conference fell to a momentary silence. Tension ratcheted up between the Raleigh Consortium, which favored the Greens, and the Luvon Consortium, who supported the White Doves.

Eventually, someone from the Luvons spoke. "We are not willing to let our political enterprise fall like that. To that end, we have prepared a plan that can reverse our setbacks and return the planet to the old order."

"What are you cooking up?"

"Something drastic. I'm afraid I can't say. Leaking the details would be devastating to us and our cause. Let us take care of everything. I can guarantee you that the LMC will cease to exist when we enact our plans."

The conference ended with those ominous words. The Raleigh Family exhibited a lot of worry about the plans of their historical allies, but without any further information, they could do nothing but stand from the sidelines.

"The Luvons talk big, but they are the ones who let the LMC grow from a cub into a tiger."

"These long years of peace on our planet have ossified their minds. Maybe we should seriously consider the overtures from the Pioneers from now on."

"Let us not act too hastily. I'm not sure what the Luvons intend to do, but it shouldn't concern our interests. No matter who comes out on top, we should wait until the outcome is clear."

"As much as the alliance between the LMC and the Pioneers is growing in strength, the Raleighs and their White Doves are stronger than they appear. It's not a given that they will lose. It depends on how much strength they want to reveal to the galaxy."

Chapter 438

At the border regions, the war raged on. Occasionally, the Vesians pushed forth hard, leading to battles that engulfed thousands of mechs at once.

The outcomes of those battles were decidedly mixed. Most of the time, even if the Brighters repelled the Vesians, they sustained just as many losses. Both sides would be economically ruined if they continued to lose so many mechs at once, so after the initial pushes, the Vesians slowed their pace by a little bit.

Nonetheless, the Vesian aggression could not be contained. The need for the nobles to one-up each other and distinguish themselves in battle led to grueling back-to-back battles in some of the hotspots of the border regions. Planets like Citadel Havensworth became littered with so many wrecks that neither side could afford the time to salvage them all.

It was said that during a war, the true facets of man would be revealed. Many mech pilots who thought themselves heroes turned out to be the first to eject. Others went through life without challenges, but measured up in the face of adversity, such as Ghanso Larkinson of the 1st Volari Starhawks.

Most mech pilots didn't exhibit any differences. They knew their calling in life and signed up to pilot a mech knowing that they would face the Vesians in battle. Even someone who disdained the war such as Melinda Larkinson resolved to do their duty.

Despite their noble striving, the war did not go in the Bright Republic's favor. The Vesians scored several important victories that brought strategic star systems into their fold. Each star system that fell paved the way for deeper incursions into Republic space.

One remote star system close to the border faced a small but determined assault from a Vesian mech regiment known as the 3rd Kallas Carabiniers.

The Carabiniers heavily favored medium rifleman mechs in their mech lineup. Versatile and deadly in great numbers, they trained extensively and came up with many advanced tactics to maximize the potential of their ranged mechs.

Right now, the Herendal System which held a modest amount of mines suffered an invasion by this regiment. The Mech Corps only stationed a couple of mech companies on the planet, and none of them were line units capable of facing the Vesians in a head-on clash.

The only way the defenders of the only inhabited planet of Herendal could keep their grip on the system was to employ a large number of mercenaries.

Several large-scale mercenary corps answered the call. Though the mission entailed a lot of risks, the payoff was big so long as the Vesians didn't invade.

With regards to missions, every mercenary corps hoped to spend some months in quiet, boring patrols. Though they earned their living from their battle capabilities, fighting the Mech Legion was a daunting prospect.

In general, the Mech Legion did not often bother to invade small, unimportant star systems. Mercenary commanders relied on this fact to gamble on their missions. If they lucked out, they enjoyed a nice vacation while earning lots of pay to boot. If their luck fell short, then they'd be forced to back up their commitments and do their best to fight off the Vesians.

Barras Swan happened to have chosen badly. As the commander of a medium-sized band of mechs called the Orange Liskers, he chose to gamble on a quiet posting to the Herendal System. Though the star system was a little closer to the frontlines than he liked, the Liskers needed the pay as it went deep into debt to replace its previous battle losses.

"I should have never bought this mech! Though if I did, I would have never experienced this beauty either!"

The reason why Barras was so desperate to earn a large reward was because he impulsively ordered a copy of the Crystal Lord.

Even though he only purchased the bronze label version of this line of mechs, the expenditure almost broke the Liskers, with many of the rank and file grumbling why Barras spent so much but only kept the best for himself.

He was guilty. The truth was that Barras felt tired about piloting another subpar rifleman mech that cost around 20-30 million credits. He thought about buying a new mech in the price segment above that figure, but when he heard about the amazing capabilities of the Crystal Lord, he settled his eyes on the ominous-looking model as soon as possible.

Some days, he regretted his purchase, and on other days he felt thankful about it. For now, Barras felt both as his battered Crystal Lord continued to run through the brownish forest of this terraformed planet.

Barras panted inside the cockpit of his Crystal Lord. "It's been two days already! How can they still be in pursuit?!"

The swift and nimble mechs of the 3rd Kallas Carabiniers landed on Herendal with a splash. They immediately smashed apart the mech companies of the Mech Corps before turning their firepower to the mercenaries that tried to come to the aid of the defending mechs.

All hell broke loose. The critical fault that brought the defenders down was that they consisted of many different outfits. The Mech Corps occasionally bossed them around, but they lacked convincing power due to their limited numbers.

Right now, the Carabiniers succeeded in smashing hundreds of mechs at a time by defeating the different outfits one by one. They actively shied away from larger concentrations of mercs, and only engaged when they outnumbered their prey.

It was a very despicable way to fight, but it worked. The Carabiniers moved fast and managed to hit the outfits before they finished their preparations. Right now, they employed their considerable edge in speed into hunting down the stragglers that split in every direction and ran for the hills.

"Goddammit, I should have never given in to my greed!"

A scattering of laser beams struck from behind. The raking fire briefly added another scorch mark to his Crystal Lord's back. Yet remarkably, the rear armor largely held up. The thin layer of Veltrex armor proved to be highly effective in absorbing short bursts of energy weapon fire. As long as Barras immediately jinked his mech, he could make sure that no single spot on his mech suffered from a sustained burst of fire.

"At least I'm getting my money's worth!"

The combination of armor and speed on the Crystal Lord allowed for unexpected synergies. It performed extremely well against laser weapons, which happened to be the mainstay weapon of the Kallas Carabiniers. The Crystal Lord lasted much longer against them for that reason alone.

Still, that hadn't been enough to turn the tide in the opening battle of the Orange Liskers. Barras had to witness first-hand how each of his trusted comrades-in-arms faltered due to the disparity in discipline and battle spirit. Some of them managed to eject, while others breathed their last on Herendal.

Tears began to well up in his eyes, but Barras quickly shook them away. Everyone who took up the mercenary life accepted the risks that came with this vocation. It was a rough and dangerous life, but one which mech pilots also enjoyed a lot of freedom.

Thoughts of vengeance percolated in his mind. Barras checked his fuel and battery reserves and noted that both were critically low. Even if his mech provided him with an amazing amount of endurance, two days of constant chasing took their toll.

"I can't run any further without shaking off my pursuers."

The Crystal Lord slowed down in its steps as Barras prepared his exhausted mind for yet another battle, which might be his last this time.

The pursuing mechs emerged from the trees, and as soon as they got a clear view of the Crystal Lord, they fired their laser rifles at it without hesitation.

Some of the laser fire raked the crystal embedded in the center of the chest, while the rest of the energy splashed harmlessly against the armor of the premium mech, though some sections of plating started to get dangerously thin.

Barras ignored incoming fire and aimed carefully before shooting a high-powered beam from his surprisingly slim rifle. The laser hit one of the Carabinier mech and burned a nasty gash at its leg armor. Though the laser failed to penetrate the internals, another hit might finish the job.

As Barras waited for his rifle to cycle away the heat, he immersed himself in his mech and moved nimbly between the trees. Though the tree trunks looked substantial, they could not be used as cover as most laser beams instantly burned through them. Barras mainly took the presence of the trees as mental comfort.

"Three opponents. They've been running for a while as well. They don't look as fresh as before."

The Carabiniers had split up their forces in order to mop up the routed defenders. While the models of the Carabiniers couldn't rival the longevity of the Crystal Lord, they regularly rotated the mechs on the field by deploying transports in the air. The fact that they secured orbital and aerial supremacy meant that they could shuttle around their mechs with near-impunity.

However, they still needed to be cautious in the presence of an enemy ranged mech like the Crystal Lord. Barras almost managed to burn through the armor of one transport that strayed too near.

"If my estimates on their timing is correct, then this trio should have been switched out in an hour. This is the best time for me to thwart their pursuit!"

Barras hated himself for getting away when many of his men and women got killed or captured by the Carabiniers. He channeled his fury through his mech, who seemed to be as eager for battle as him. Several strange insights started to flow past his mind as his mind studied the terrain and his opponents for any potential opportunities.

"There!"

Barras drove his Crystal Lord back, which sprung like a gymnast as it turned around and ran towards a certain destination. The three Carabiniers jumped in pursuit.

The Crystal Lord didn't need to run very far before it reached a rushing river. Barras hesitated for a moment, but jumped his mech knee deep into the waters. A large bout of steam escaped from the lower surface of the mech as the persistent heat it built up started to dissipate into the cold, rushing water.

The Carabiniers caught up again and started to fire at the Crystal Lord. Due to being in the water, its mobility had become affected, leading to serious damage. Some of the internals even started to get exposed!

That was when the Crystal Lord unleashed two laser beams at once. It bracketed the Carabinier with the damaged leg from two directions. Though the mech dodged away from an incoming beam, it did not expect the other beam to be released from the Crystal Lord's chest. It got hit in the leg!

"Yes!"

Barras quickly adjusted the aim of his rifle and managed to compound upon the damage to the leg of the faltering mech. Its momentary slowdown proved fatal as the laser beams finally burned past the thin leg armor and wrecked the internals.

The Carabinier mech collapsed onto its knees.

Barras had no time to finish it off. It kept wading through the waters, moving away from the immobilized mech while the other two Carabiniers focused on taking down their persistent prey.

"Hahahaha!" Barras laughed as he saw the chest crystal getting charged up again. Though its capacity wasn't very great, it fired off many times more than the crystal of a gold label mech.

Again, Barras repeated the same trick that snagged another Carabinier. This time, he hit the mech in the chest, which didn't amount to a lot of damage.

"Damn!"

It took a couple of successive hits to finally penetrate its chest armor. At this point, the Carabinier who piloted the mech fell back. It had no choice but to do so, because one more hit would have disabled or destroyed the mech.

"Now, there is only one."

The only problem for Barras was that his laser rifle's last battery pack was spent. "Tch! If only they didn't destroy my backpack module!"

The Crystal Lord kept all of its spare battery packs in its backpack module. That worked fine most of the time, but in a running engagement like this, it had been one of the first things to be destroyed.

"I can only put my faith on this crystal."

After making a decision, Barras resolutely turned around his Crystal Lord and charged the remaining Carabinier. The Vesian mech had seen two of its fellow mechs falter in succession against this supremely tenacious mech, and its mech pilot was starting to feel the pressure.

Laser beams raked the Crystal Lord in a chaotic manner. Only some of it hit the exposed internals, while the rest splashed against the mostly-intact sections of armor.

A significant amount of energy channeled into the chest crystal as the laser beams kept comping. Once it had reached saturation, it unleashed a tight but potent laser beam that Barras aimed straight at the enemy's laser rifle.

The weapon got hit, and promptly malfunctioned. Both sides lost their primary weapons and resorted to their backup knives. The Carabinier started to back away, but the Crystal Lord wouldn't have any of it. Barras was fully engaged in the fight and wanted nothing more than to dish some hurt onto his pursuers.

A brief but brutal exchange took place. The Carabinier mech was of worse quality than the Crystal Lord. Its uncompressed armor allowed the Crystal Lord's weak knife stabs to enter after a couple of sustained stabs.

Barras screamed as the Crystal Lord's knife slipped through the cockpit of the enemy mech. The Carabinier mech futilely tried to stab its knife through the exposed weak points of its adversary, but Barras constantly kept his mech moving to avoid getting pinned down in such a manner.

Eventually, the Crystal Lord hadn't let him down. The mech stood over the fallen Vesian mech, worn and almost out of fuel. Barras laughed ruefully at himself as he looked at this situation.

"This is both the best and worst purchase I have ever made."

Chapter 439

Georgia Lyall turned to the main recorder of the news program. "In our next segment, let us talk about the latest mech model that has upended the upper segment of the rifleman mech market."

"Are you talking about the Gizlin Mark IV?" A fat pundit who proudly referred to himself as Osmon the Mech Sage probed.

Another pundit on the panel shook his head. "That's the wrong price segment. We're not talking about that cheap piece of trash that falls whenever it encounters a breeze!"

"Professor Marklen is right." Georgia nodded. "The mech model I'm referring to is the iconic-looking Crystal Lord!"

A projection of its design and some key specs started to appear from the table in the middle of the studio.

"Designed by Ves Larkinson, this premium rifleman mech model comes in three different variants, and are mainly distinguished by quality. The so-called gold and silver label mechs are produced by Mr. Larkinson's own Living Mech Corporation, while the more affordable bronze label mechs are left to various licensed manufacturers."

"I do have to say that the bronze label Crystal Lord is barely representative of this excellent design!" The Mech Sage interrupted in a brisk manner as he swigged a glass of beer. "I've seen all three labels in person, and the only mechs worth a damn are the ones produced by the LMC and no one else!"

"Ahem," Georgia tried to wave the Mech Sage down. "As I was saying, the Crystal Lord entered the market with a minor stir due to its extreme features, many of which have elicited a lot of arguments over the galactic net."

The news anchor proceeded to list the notable traits of the Crystal Lord, from its lightweight but resilient construction for a medium mech to the strange gimmicks incorporated in the chest and rifle of the mech. Lastly, she addressed the pricing of the mech.

"As of this moment, the gold label Crystal Lords are nearly impossible to obtain. As a variant that is prized for its exquisite quality and excellent performance in battle, the main reason why they are so hard to obtain is because it bears the privilege of being handmade by Mr. Larkinson."

"A Larkinson, you say?" The Mech Sage popped up again. "Any relations to 'those' Larkinsons?"

"Ves Larkinson is indeed related to the famous military family. In fact, his grandfather is none other than Benjamin Larkinson!"

"Splendid! No wonder his mechs are so fantastic! The Larkinsons know their mechs, that's for sure! Did I ever tell you how I made a bet with Ark Larkinson back when we were in boot camp? We bet on who could last out in the cold out in the dark at night at our desolate training camp the longest! The winner would get all of the porridge the both of us received from the mess hall for a week. Did you know what happened?"

Georgia sighed inwardly, but she maintained her smile because she knew the mech nerds that watched her program lapped up these kinds of stories. The Mech Sage wouldn't have been a mainstay of her news portal otherwise.

"What happened?"

"The drill instructors immediately put a stop to our bet, but afterwards immediately kicked us out in the cold for the rest of the night! We shivered and shivered and hugged each other's bodies to keep ourselves warm! It was one of the most miserable nights I've ever spent in my life!"

Imagining the famous Colonel Ark Larkinson as a scruffy young mech pilot spending the night out in the cold with nothing but another buddy for warmth must have sent the audience cracking. Georgia possessed a thin implant over her eyes that indicated that her audience indeed reacted positively to the anecdote.

Sometimes, she wondered why she ever agreed to host a broadcast program about mechs.

Still, lots of people watched those shows, and the pay was good, so Georgia maintained her smile and pressed on. "That's interesting to hear, but let us get back to the Crystal Lord. Initially, the models entered the market with a whisper. The specs looked attractive, but the pricing scared many people away. The initial sales came from those who attended the product reveal. All of them we've interviewed were ecstatic about the Crystal Lord models."

"Who can blame them?" Professor Marklen interjected this time. "This dangerous line of mechs possess a powerful capacity to manipulate the judgment of any person that comes near one of these dangerous mechs. They are an abomination and should have never passed validation! I don't know what the MTA is doing these days, but whoever validated this monstrosity of a design should be executed for treason!"

Georgia knew she had to intervene. "Now, now, professor, let us not cast any blame upon the MTA here. The fine folks that keep human space in check are nothing if not thorough."

Marklen obviously disagreed, but he received a quiet signal that he should firmly shut up about this topic. He had no choice but to comply.

Professor Marklen was another regular guest to the program, though he didn't appear as much as the Mech Sage. He was a bona fide mech designer, but was merely an assistant professor to a small institution on Bentheim. His main value in the program lay in the fact that despite holding the title of professor, he possessed a lot of eccentric thoughts.

"I still think the LMC has the ethical duty to pull the Crystal Lord from the market." Marlken persisted, this time making sure he didn't involve the MTA in his argument. "While by all accounts the neural interface is a bog-standard reproduction of a standard model that is prevalent in many designs in the Republic, we can still constitute that everyone who has ever piloted a Crystal Lord or came into viewing distance of it became strangely affected."

The Mech Sage slammed his meaty palm against the table top while letting out a burp. "Maybe they just appreciate a good mech! With so many crappy designs being published these days, the young Larkinson's latest work is a breath of fresh air."

Georgia nodded, seemingly in agreement. "There are even rumors percolating over the galactic net that the Crystal Lord design is even eligible to be nominated for the Best Mech Design of the Year in the Junior category. What do you say about this possibility?"

"It's outrageous!" Marklen screeched. "Safety studies have barely started on the Crystal Lord, and already the mech industry wants to elevate it onto a pedestal? That is highly irresponsible! There are too many oddities with this mech, from the alien-derived crystal technology to the way it assimilates everyone it gets in touch with. I want to reiterate that I want to see this design banned!"

The Mech Sage laughed again. "Hahahaha! That's the funniest thing I've heard in a week. There's no way the Crystal Lord will be taken off the market. You'll have half the market rising up in protest. For better or worse, the Crystal Lord is peaking in popularity. Everyone wants a piece of it, and the mech manufacturers aren't pumping them out fast enough."

"Why has the Crystal Lord become such a remarkable success despite its tepid introduction? If you take away the magnetism of the mech and look at the numbers on the spec sheet, the mech provides poor value for money."

"Ah, that is what everybody thought, but they were wrong." The Mech Sage waggled his fat finger. "Some of the features of the Crystal Lord don't sound very impressive on their own, but taken together, they are actually able to reinforce each other. For example, cladding a fast mech with a thin layer of compressed armor normally doesn't do too much, but the Crystal Lord is really, really fast."

"Does that make any difference?"

"It makes a huge difference! The faster you move, the more damage you can spread out over your entire frame! The speed of the Crystal Lord is really unreal for a medium mech. It's almost like a light mech in a sense. Though its agility is a little worse, it's fast enough to prevent any ranged mechs from focusing their fire on a single component of the Crystal Lord. That massively improves its survivability on the battlefield."

Professor Marklen did not agree, or rather he was not willing to let the Crystal Lord become more attractive in the eyes of the audience. "All of that sounds great, but you are overlooking two important factors. All of that running around will wear out the Crystal Lord. For a design that is prized for its endurance and longevity, its parts can't keep up with extensive use. Already we are hearing stories about some parts fallen off the Crystal Lord after surviving a stressful engagement."

"That's only the case with the bronze label variants! None of the silver and gold label Crystal Lords have reported any excessive wear and tear!"

"Not yet, but the designs for the three labels are functionally the same, barring a few exceptions. It's impossible for this problem to be absent in the more expensive versions of the Crystal Lord. As I was saying, the problem of accelerated wear and tear is compounded by the fact that this mech is really expensive to maintain. Much of the value from this design comes from its premium materials. Repairs on the field are impossible to perform because the components of the Crystal Lord require a whole laundry list of raw materials to reproduce."

This was a problem that some ecastic owners of the Crystal Lord had just begun to encounter. From the Trailblazer engine to the crystals, from the Veltrex armor system to the HRF armor system, Larkinson's design utilized too many different raw materials in its construction.

Mech technicians already started to hate the design for being so difficult to repair in the field.

"You know, back when I was making a name for myself in the previous war, a lot of repairs are improvised patchworks. Even the mechs that are designed in-house can't be restored to their original condition on any battlefield environment. The mech designers leading over the mech technicians have always made do with whatever they could get their hands on. Sometimes, to patch a hole in the armor, they even resorted to plain steel!"

"That does not disprove my original point." The professor persisted. "Even in times of momentary peace, it's a strain on logistics to supply all the raw materials to fabricate replacement parts. That reminds me, the second reason why the Crystal Lord is a burden to any outfit is the fact that it's much-praised Trailblazer engine only accepts medium-density mech-grade fuel."

"It's a fuel-efficient engine design from the Friday Coalition!"

"Just because it comes from the Friday Coalition doesn't mean it deserves an automatic seal of approval. The Trailblazer engine is not an engine design that has been formed by one of the Coalition's famous equipment designers or manufacturers. It has instead come from the hand of a single mech designer. It is inevitable that his biases have affected his design. The Trailblazer engine might be efficient if used in the Coalition, but here in the Bright Republic medium-density fuel is getting harder and harder to obtain."

"The refineries are still up and running." The Mech Sage sullenly said.

"For how long? Fuel refineries are the number two or three highest priority targets that the Mech Legion always aims to destroy. If past trends hold true to the present, then we can expect the price of medium-density fuel to double or triple in the middle phase of the war."

That was something that the Crystal Lord design couldn't do anything about. Every customer that bought the Crystal Lord for long-term value would eventually start to wince when they received their fuel bills."

"Is this enough to take the Crystal Lord out of contention for Best Mech Design of the Year?" Georgia asked, spotting an opportunity to get back on the foreground of the discussion.

"This isn't a possibility. It's an ironclad fact." Marklen confidently spoke. "The Crystal Lord may be enjoying its time in the spotlight right now, but sooner or later the public will shake away the brainwashing and wise up to the truth!"

Georgia smiled as she received another bit of news from the producer. "Well, I'm afraid you'll have to be disappointed, because word has just come in. The Bentheim Mech Court has just announced their shortlist of nominations for the Junior category of Best Mech Design of the Year, and Mr. Larkinson's Crystal Lord is in the list!"

A groundswell of astonishment spread throughout the audience that watched the program. Other news portals and mech portals quickly released the same news, confirming the rumors that the Crystal Lord was in contention to receive a prestigious award!

Chapter 440

The true worth of a mech designer lay not in their skills or experience, but in the quality of their designs.

One did not necessarily lead to the other.

Even if a mech designer possessed a genius-level intelligence and enjoyed extensive tutoring from renowned Masters, his products might still end up lackluster and without inspiration.

This often happened in high-pressure learning environments in the galactic center and the galactic rim. Their abundant wealth and population enabled many hopefuls to study mech design. Yet once they entered the ultra-competitive mech markets there, they instantly got swamped.

They learned in the most brutal fashion that to be a successful mech designer, they needed to be more than technically adept. They needed to have a sense of art and craftsmanship.

"Mech design is both a science and an art. Among two functionally similar designs, the one which resonates more with the people will always have an edge."

Artistic sense could be trained, but only up to a certain point. It was something which could never be defined or measured in hard numbers. What one person found beautiful, another person might think of it as trash.

The key to mech design was to design a mech that appealed to a broad audience. If that couldn't be done, then it should at least be attractive to its target audience.

To be nominated to win the award for Best Mech Design of the Year, a design had to possess more than technical prowess, though that was also indispensable.

The Crystal Lord design happened to be strong at both. The product line exhibited pretty good specs and possessed a clean and mostly faultless design.

However, the main qualities that pushed it into contention to win an award was its inexplicable effect at impacting both bystanders and mech pilots alike. The mech possessed a weight to it that could hardly be seen in other mechs besides those that possessed a very special history.

Many mech designers who witnessed the copies in person and mech pilots who tried out the virtual copies in online games all puzzled over what made the Crystal Lord so special. When they compared the Crystal Lord to the Blackbeak, they noticed the same qualities, but at a weaker level.

Clearly, the Crystal Lord was not a fluke, and its compelling allure must have been a deliberate design feature. As mech designers and mech pilots puzzled over the mystery, word of mouth spread far and wide, and even foreign markets showed interest in importing the remarkable mechs.

All of this had made the powerful and influential Bentheim Mech Court take note. Besides presiding over difficult disputes and contentions in the mech industry, they also recognized the works of brilliant mech designers who resided in the Bright Republic.

That the Crystal Lord had been acknowledged by the Court was already an enormous honor. Though it only fell into contention in the lowest grade of its awards, demand had already spiked once the news leaked out.

All of this thrust the LMC into a spotlight, but sadly the mech designer who shaped the remarkable design was many light-years away from the spotlight. While his company accepted more and more accolades, Ves was cooped up in his newly-assigned office to prepare to take up his new duties.

Despite having cut off his connections to the mech industry back, Ves found it rather strange that his achievements directly led to a promotion in the hollowed-out design department of the 6th Flagrant Vandals.

He blinked and rubbed his eyes as he took a break from his reading. "The Crystal Lord must be selling like hotcakes right now if word of it had managed to reach the Vandals."

Though Ves still felt a little bewildered about it since his accomplishments back home shouldn't have affected him like this, he decided to roll with the punches.

In preparation for the new tasks Professor Velten expected him to complete, Ves needed to get up to date with various protocols and technical data. The extra reading imposed on him didn't help so much because much of the true secrets of the three actively developed designs of the Flagrant Vandals remained enclosed inside impenetrable black boxes.

Though it annoyed him to be deprived of how certain key components worked, he slowly realized that it wasn't just a matter of secrecy. The professor also wanted to preserve his sanity. Spending the last couple of days trying to digest the new information already strained his mind somewhat, though his mental fortitude was a lot stronger than anyone realized.

"The so-called higher concepts don't seem so nebulous now that I think about it." He muttered. "The main reason why they are so dangerous is because they can potentially ruin someone's design philosophy."

From the brief instructions the professor had given him, Ves needed to be very prudent with what he read. Ves remembered what she said back then.

"The process of learning is one of the strengths of a civilized race. Each generation, the human race advances a little more because they learned from the mistakes of their predecessors. Yet we spend so much of our lifetime learning from others that we risk losing the ability to think for ourselves. There are lots of dangers involved with indiscriminate learning. Besides learning faulty information, you also risk narrowing your perspective on matters. Once this transfers to your developing design philosophy, you essentially become prematurely locked to someone else's stance on mechs."

Basically, Velten wanted Ves to study up so he could be of more use, but not go too far with his learning unless he wanted to destroy his ability to cope with the unknown and design mechs that could truly be called as his own work.

Ves knew she had a point, and as much as Ves wanted to dismiss the risks, he couldn't. Though he wouldn't get confused by the higher concepts, the danger to design philosophy and artistic vision remained as potent as ever. The more he learned, the more he agreed with the solutions of the original designers, and the less he tried to figure out alternative solutions.

Designing mechs eventually needed a hands-on approach. The more successful mech designers never reached their heights by relying on learning alone. They also applied their knowledge and tested the boundaries between what they knew and didn't know if it would be possible.

Thus, as much as Ves wanted to delve into the depths of the archives, he forced himself to pull away.

"I know enough about the three designs to get the gist of them all."

He mainly read up on the other two designs developed in-house by the Vandals. Both the Inheritor light skirmisher and the Akkara heavy cannoneer served vital purposes that underpinned many of the strategies employed by the Vandals. Ves needed to become as familiar with their nuances as he understood the Hellcat hybrid knight.

The Vandals heavily slanted towards spaceborn operations.

It was obvious that they designed the spaceborn Inheritor design to be fielded in large numbers. The mech excelled at raiding fleeing trade convoys, but was pretty much useless in many other situations.

The spaceborn Hellcat design served as the big brother of the Inheritor mechs. Larger, more powerful and exceedingly more expensive, the Vandals only needed a couple of them to stiffen up a company of Inheritor mechs.

As for the dual-purpose Akkara design, it provided the Vandals with a heavy amount of ranged firepower, albit in an immobile package. By sacrificing mobility, it was able to field a lot more firepower and armor than usual.

The Akkara basically served as the semi-mobile defense turrets of the Vandals, and was a very interesting design to Ves. Its unabashed simplicity should have made it an easy mech to design, but the truth was actually opposite as the design team responsible for its continuous development often slipped up due to the sheer amount of systems packed into the design.

"The Vandals aren't too interested in fielding ranged mechs."

Ves got the sense that the Vandals treated the Akkara as a necessity. All-melee mech regiments were particularly vulnerable to being kited to death by faster ranged mechs.

Almost every mech regiment of the Mech Corps developed their own spin on rifleman mechs. Not the Vandals. They cared so little about ranged warfare that they would rather resort to Vesian mechs stolen from their targets during their raids.

From his additional reading, Ves learned the reason why. The Vandals found excessive amounts of ranged weapons to be very destructive. This was good if they wanted to obliterate their opponents, but oftentimes they wanted to preserve as much as they could in order to derive some value out of their spoils of war.

"Melee mechs can control their damage output much more precisely than their ranged counterparts."

He didn't forget about the fact that rifleman mechs caused the most amount of collateral damage out of all the different types. This was especially egregious in battles in space. An attack on a transport risked damaging its structural integrity. If the ship suffered too many attacks, it might break apart, spilling its cargo and often also ruin it all.

In that sense, almost every aspect of the Vandals was deliberately geared for raiding and raiding alone. Nothing about their mech usage suggested that they showed any interest in fighting pitched or defensive battles. They basically looked for the best way to bully a weaker adversary.

Before he went and liaised with the mech pilots about the Wolf Mother, Ves met up with Laida and Pierce in order to pick their brains. They worked extensively with the two designs and he could benefit from hearing from a different perspective.

The two other mech designers from his batch hadn't achieved anything remarkable during their time in their design teams. Unlike Ves, they hadn't been able to draw any attention to themselves. Their skills and accomplishments were too average to elicit any interests from their superiors.

This turned them rather bummed as they witnessed the sudden promotion of Ves. This made them rather cranky when Ves went up to them to hear what they had to say.

"The Inheritor design is a death trap." Laida spoke with frustration. "It's a design that kills more mech pilots than any standard spaceborn skirmisher design from the central database. It doesn't perform all that well and its armor is as thin as a datapad in some areas. Such a mech should have been abandoned at the start."

Ves did not expect such an outpouring of negativity. "Why do the Vandals place so much importance in it, then?"

"The only redeeming factors of the Inheritor are its price, ease of fabrication and speed. The most important goal of the Inheritor design was that it had to be easy to reproduce in a variety of circumstances. It tries to incorporate as little exotics as possible, and when it does require some, it would always be the cheapest or most abundantly available exotics that they could steal from the Vesians."

"So the Inheritor design is weak because that's the price the Vandals pay for the ability to fabricate them anywhere?"

"Exactly. Its many weaknesses aren't well-kept secrets. Frankly, any mech pilot would feel appalled by the lack of the robustness in its design. Even for a light mech, the Inheritor goes through extreme lengths to make them fast but affordable."

"Have you experienced the same shenanigans at the Akkara design team, Pierce?" Ves asked the other mech designer after he was done listening to Laida.

"We aren't suffering from the same problems. Not a lot of mech pilots specialize in heavy mechs, so there will always be a shortage of heavy mech pilots."

"What about the design itself? Does it exhibit any weaknesses?"

Pierce took his time to answer the question. "It's a work in progress. Every day, something changes, and not always for the better. From what I've experienced, the Vandals really don't like this big lump of a mech. I think they're even neglecting the design in some cases."

As Ves heard about the two mechs from his colleagues, his impression of their actual state worsened.

Understaffed design teams and combined with a lack of appreciation for all the effort put into the designs sounded really bad to him. He couldn't do anything about the staffing, so instead he focused on changing everyone's impression about these mechs.

Chapter 441

The 6th Flagrant Vandals only appreciated the Hellcat design due to its iconic status within the mech regiment. Even then, the Vandals hadn't actually invested a lot of resources into improving the design.

Even if the Mech Corps hardly sent any mech designers to the Vandals, couldn't they have supplemented their design teams by hiring them on their own?

Ves didn't understand why they placed so little importance to the design department. Professor Velten was supposed to be chummy with Colonel Lowenfield. Couldn't the Senior Mech Designer make a better case for her department and stop its gradual deterioration?

"Well, I'll be taking a look at another piece of the puzzle soon."

Once Ves finished his talks with the other two mech designers, he proceeded to take up his first task. This time, Professor Velten wanted him to focus his efforts towards the Inheritor design first.

"It's the most prevalent model of the Vandals." The professor told him. "Therefore, I'd like to see if there is any way you can make a contribution to its design. Even a minor improvement can save dozens of lives due to how much the Vandals depend on this design."

Therefore, his first task was to listen to the people who worked with the Inheritor mechs on a day-to-day basis.

Ves looked down at his comm and set his destination. The device flickered to life and projected a small line that led him through the confusing maze of corridors of the massive factory ship.

"I'm finally stepping out of this cage."

As he went through the corridors and took a few lifts downwards, Ves saw lots of new things. He passed by several important compartments, such as a workshop that repair broken mech components to a mineral processing area that turned raw asteroids into usable resources.

Each of these sights opened his eyes to what the Wolf Mother hosted. At the size of a capital ship, she could truly be called a mobile factory in space.

"There's so much industry going on inside this ship."

He already knew in an abstract way that the Flagrant Vandals depended on the Wolf Mother along with a couple of smaller logistics ships to keep the entire mech regiment afloat. Yet he never got exposed to the extent to which the Vandals worked to make it possible.

Besides being struck by the scale of these operations was the fact that everyone who worked in these compartments wore the uniform of a Vandal. That basically meant that they were proper servicemen and not some kind of civilian help they picked off the streets.

It made sense for the Wolf Mother to be staffed by so many support personnel, but his estimate on how many people worked aboard the ship had to be adjusted upwards by several thousand people.

"Repairing broken mechs and fabricating new ones is a massive industry in itself."

Ves genuinely admired the entrepreneurial spirit of the Vandals. Without access to external sources of funding, the Vandals managed to scrape by on their own with the help of their factory ship. And besides the whacky FTL engine, the Wolf Mother was very well put together for a vessel that the Vandals constantly worked upon. Ves hardly noticed any flaws in the structural integrity of the areas he walked by.

After a long walk, he finally reached one of the hangars where the Vandals assigned a squad of spaceborn mechs. Though the Wolf Mother always tried to stay out of fights, sometimes the fight came to her. It was imperative for the factory ship to possess some means of defending herself.

As Ves came up to the nearest hangar, he went through a security check before being allowed inside.

"Wow."

The space wasn't very big. Compared to the cavernous hangars of the Ark Horizon, the hangar he entered could only fit a squad of ten mechs and some spare machines. In order to save a lot of space, the ceiling of the hangar was kept as low as possible. This made it rather awkward to move around the spaceborn mechs as they couldn't utilize their flight systems without mashing their heads to pieces.

After looking around, he spotted a Vandal wearing the markings of a chief technician. Ves waved at the woman and approached her as she supervised the modification process of an unknown Vesian mech.

"Chief Carnon?"

The middle-aged woman nodded her robust-looking head while she chewed a stimulant. "You must be the new kid the old hag told us about. She made you out to be some kind of mech whisperer. Well, you don't look like it."

Chief Jezebel Carmon didn't look too impressed with Ves, and he didn't blame her for that. His official track record was rather thin and he was still very young to be working with designs on this level.

"Are all chiefs supposed to be acting as tough as nails?"

"It comes with the job. You try ordering around a bunch of numbskulls for a couple of years. My men will do the strangest things if I'm not around to keep them in line."

Chief technicians knew their way around with machines a lot better than the average mech technician, but their true value lay in their leadership abilities. Without their steady presence, any mech maintenance department would fall apart.

"I'm here to help with the Inheritor design. First up, can you lead me to a copy of this mech?"

"Sure. Follow me."

A couple of mech pilots milled about. With the Wolf Mother constantly traveling in FTL, there wasn't a great need to keep the mech pilots on hand. Still, in the event the fleet she traveled with entered into an ambush, at least a couple of mech pilots needed to be ready and waiting at all times in order to deploy the moment the Wolf Mother returned to realspace.

Ves imagined the mech pilots of the Vandals to be a little rowdy, the opposite of the mech pilots of the elite regiments or companies. What he actually saw were mech pilots that fell in between.

They didn't look as classy as someone like Captain Vicar, but neither did their appearances resemble the disheveled gang members of Walter's Whalers.

If nothing else, they resembled highly disciplined mercenaries.

Chief Carmon led Ves to the nearest Inheritor, which also happened to be in a sorry state. Its razor-thin armor suffered gashes to its legs and its torso. His judgment told him that this inheritor had been targeted by a single rifleman mech.

A mech pilot stood in front of his mech with a pensive face. Upon sensing someone coming close, he turned around and greeted Carmon and the newcomer.

"Lieutenant Chandis, this is Ves Larkinson, a mech designer from the labs. He's our latest liaison."

"I liked the old kid better." Chandis muttered, completely disregarding the fact that Ves stood in front of him. "That last mech designer was a good listener, and he always promised to convey my wishes to the professor."

"Lieutenant, I am not that mech designer. I'm much better than him, in fact."

The lieutenant chuckled. "Do you, now? We'll see about that."

Ves looked around and tried to change the topic. He settled on the Inheritor that the mech technicians were in the process of beginning their repairs. "What happened to this mech?"

"Our opponents lucked out during the last raid. We steamrolled a Vesian trade convoy a few months back and made it out with a handsome amount of loot. It's too bad the comrade who piloted this mech is still recovering in the infirmary.

"If this mech got damaged a few months ago, why hasn't it been repaired yet?"

"We're short-handed." The chief blunty replied, and waved her arm to encompass the entire hangar. "This is only one of several hangars aboard the Wolf Mother, and her maximum capacity pales in comparison to the dedicated hangars aboard a proper fleet or combat carrier. Hiring has always been difficult for us so we're working at our wits end sometimes. It doesn't help that the factory ship assigns most of the mech technicians to the production lines or the mineral processing machines."

"I see."

Same as the design department, it turned out the maintenance department suffered from a shortage of people as well. When Ves previously passed through the other compartments, he didn't get the idea that they suffered from a shortage of skilled workers.

Strange. Why hadn't the Vandals managed their manpower better? He would have thought that skimping out on the mech technicians led to many delays and mistakes with regards to servicing mechs. What were they thinking?!

Ves began to ask more questions about the Inheritor. He wanted to know why it looked so shot up after only suffering a couple of solid hits.

"The armor might as well not be there. It's sufficient enough to resist small arms fire, but mech-sized weapons encounter no obstacle when they strike the Inheritor."

"Doesn't it possess enough speed to mitigate most incoming attacks?"

"That's what it's supposed to do. The reality is that there are many situations where we have to slow down or stop. Just think about it. When we raid a trade or supply convoy, we have to match our speeds relative to the transport ships we're aiming to raid. The delta vee will practically approach zero when we come close."

"What about its flight system?" Ves continued his questioning. "The Inheritor is supposed to possess a very high thrust-to-weight ratio. It shouldn't be too difficult to keep jinking back and forth."

The lieutenant scoffed at that. "Jinking around like that all the time will eat up our energy cells and put more stress on the frame. The Inheritor is so fragile that there's a very real risk of breaking something important if we shift our mechs in an abrupt manner."

"You don't think much about the Inheritor, do you?"

"Yeah. Unlike the dumb recruits that trickle in from time to time, I've been a Vandal long enough to understand how badly we need to squeeze our budget. If it were up to me, I'd say we should throw away this worthless design and transition to whatever light mechs the Vesians are using."

"The higher ups already thought of that." Chief Carmon said. "They quickly decided that there's no way they can rely on raiding to supplement our mechs because we can't get enough light skirmishers. Every transport that ships over a batch of mechs always carries a hodgepodge of different designs. It's really difficult to get the type of mechs we need the most."

"That still doesn't mean the Inheritor has to be as thin and cheap as possible!" The lieutenant screamed back. This time, Ves could feel the force of the mech pilot's indignity. "We have so many Inheritors lying around that we don't know what to do with them. Why can't we invest in tougher mechs that are a little more expensive to make than what we have right now?"

"I think it's a numbers game to them." Ves speculated. "A smaller number of more capable mechs won't be able to hold out against a large number of low-quality mechs. This is very important for a mech regiment like the Whalers. They need to spend their money as best as possible."

Ves did not dare to pass any judgment on that scheme. Instinctively, it made a lot of sense, but the constant casualties and the frequency of the mechs turning into floating wrecks in space remained very high.

It was as if this had been a deliberate choice.

The lieutenant showed Ves around the Inheritor after he finished his grumbling. Chief Carmon hovered close and commented on the uncommon features of the Inheritor design.

"You see these arms here? They're one of the strongest parts of this mech, as skirmishers rely on their arms and how much weight they can put behind them to penetrate through armor. It sometimes gets really difficult to peel away the armor plating of a tough ship like a combat carrier."

Ves noticed that. Normally, it didn't really hurt if the arms were oversized, since a spaceborn mech always fought in space. As long as the design balanced out the arms to the rest of the frame, it would still be able to fly in space on a stable trajectory.

"Are there any problems with the arms?"

"Not as such, but I have a couple of pet peeves about them." The lieutenant replied.

Ves nodded as he inspected and touched the arms up close. The scarred and tarnished alloys felt cool to his touch. "Let's hear it then."

Chapter 442

Lieutenant Chandis had a complaint for practically every aspect of the Inheritor model. Much of the reason why was because its design had been tailored for what the higher ups thought was best for the entire mech regiment.

The wishes of the individual mech pilots who would have to rely on these death traps to survive in space hardly registered in comparison. Every improvement needed to be weighed against more practical concerns such as cost and ease of fabrication. If either of these two factors became negatively impacted, then Professor Velten wouldn't approve of the changes.

Therefore, much of the complaints he heard from Chandis had already been echoed by the reports he read from the database.

Still, there was a huge difference between reading about the problems from a dry and succinct document compared to hearing it from a mech pilot who had to deal with the consequences on a day-to-day basis.

Chandis probably knew about some of the concerns that played in the background, but he made a persuasive case anyway, largely by employing his emotions.

"Too many comrades have died from this inadequate piece of dung!" Chandis kicked at the plating of the mech. Despite being relatively thin in the scale of mechs, a human foot could never leave a mark on its surface. "Look, just tell your bosses to invest some more money into quality mechs. These Inheritors aren't worth the materials they're built from!"

"It's actually the opposite." Chief Carmon remarked from the side. She maintained her jaded expression throughout the lieutenant's tirade. "The Inheritor is doing a great job in maximizing the strengths of its materials. The only problem with this approach is that there's a limit on how much we can optimize their strengths and create more synergies."

In other words, it was as if the Vandals sculpted a miniature mech out of sand. No matter how exquisite they carved the model of a mech, one good kick could effortlessly blow it away.

Fiddling with the shape and dimensions of the sand model only affected its structural integrity by a minor degree. Such changes would never be able to provide a comprehensive boost in survivability.

The only way to do so was to carve the miniature mech model out of a stronger material such as stone or wood.

However, doing so demanded more money and effort from the Vandals. Ves had read the internal documents on the Inheritor, and in one of them Professor Velten brutally calculated the cost efficiency of switching the Inheritor's material composition to a stronger mix.

She concluded that increasing the costs by fifty percent would only raise the overall longevity of any random Inheritor mech by twenty-nine percent or so.

To Ves, that sounded very normal. Only at the lowest end of the mech design spectrum would the level of improvement be proportional to the increase in material costs. After that, the law of diminishing returns came into effect. Improvements became increasingly harder to achieve without spending a fortune.

In practical terms, an absolutely trashy mech that cost 3 million credits in raw materials to produce could be twice as good if the cost of materials was 6 million credits instead.

However, if a mech that cost 45 million credits got overhauled with materials that cost 90 million credits, the actual rate of improvement might only be around 10-35 percent. The range was rather large because it heavily depended on the skill and vision of the mech designer.

However, the point was clear. Every mech outfit or mech regiment needed to find a balance between their income and expenditures. Spending lots of money and resources on expensive mechs might sound good, as they often lasted longer on the battlefield, it might not be able to make up for the huge upfront costs.

The calculus that Professor Velten performed had led the 6th Flagrant Vandals maintain the current design of the Inheritor in its current state. Regardless of its performance, it was easy to fabricate from cheap exotics that were abundantly available from the market and lots of mundane materials that could be mined from practically any asteroid in any desolate star system.

Ves estimated the market price for the Inheritor at around twenty million credits. This didn't sound so bad. The Vandals basically substituted the role of frontline mechs to the Inheritor.

Yet no one ever complained about frontline mechs. In exchange for chopping off some limbs or even the heads of these mechs, they piled up on lots of cheap armor and slapped some gun barrels on it to make them effective at range. Although the abundance of armor didn't protect the mech all that well and slowed it down for quite a bit, as long as they stayed at range, the mechs would not be exposed to too much risk.

It was different for the Inheritor. The only thing it had going for was speed and acceleration. Besides that, it possessed no range at all, forcing the mech to close in to knife fighting distance in each engagement. The Vandals needed to commit the Inheritors in a single go, which was very risky as complications constantly happened on the battlefield.

All of these concerns passed through his mind in an instant. While Ves sympathised with Lieutenant Chandis and his men, Ves too needed to think about the big picture. The big shots evidently decided that they would rather sustain more losses in mechs and lives than to invest in upgrading the much-maligned design.

"I will see what I can do, lieutenant." Ves answered vaguely when Chandis expected a response from him. "Your concerns are being noted."

He felt like this liaison gig wasn't as important as he hoped. Sure, he got to see more of the Vandals, but if he constantly ended up in situations like this where he wouldn't be able to make people's problems go away, then it was difficult for him to feel happy about it. The Inheritor design was a light skirmisher that was built to be cheap. Ves could find no leeway in meeting any of the demands set by Chandis.

Nevertheless, he dutifully toured around the hangar while Chief Carmon showed him around the place. Ves spoke with a few other mech pilots and heard the same complaints. This time, he changed up the conversation a little. He heard more than enough bad things about the Inheritor. He wanted to know what made this design so important to the Vandals.

"Well, I gotta admit one thing about this mech." The mech pilot explained as he stood in a straight posture in front of his mech. "It teaches you how to pilot a melee mech in space. There's no substitute to actual battle experience. No matter how much we trained in the academy and during boot camp, there's always the realization that whatever simulations we are in are fake. Only with our backs against the wall will we be able to see if we measure up as a Vandal."

Ves thought that these words carried a lot of weight in the Vandals. Even though he hadn't spent too much time with the mech pilots, he spotted a subtle but pervasive division between mech pilots who used the Inheritor to those who used the other models.

They were rookies.

They mostly consisted of inexperienced mech pilots who had been banished to the Vandals for some reason or another. Piloting this death trap of a mech seemed like a reckless and wasteful decision as it played fast and loose with their lives, but the incredible amount of pressure they endured also seemed to polish off their rough edges.

Those that had spent a longer time with the Inheritor behaved more mature in front of Ves, while those who only transferred in a couple of months ago still exhibited problematic behavior.

One guy happened to be extremely aggressive.

"Piss off!" A man younger than Ves snarled when they approached. "I don't want to talk to stupid techies like you!"

Ves frowned. "I'm here to ask some questions. What is your problem?"

That really riled the mech pilot up. He jumped to his feet and approached them with his fists. "My problem is that I don't like your face!"

Before Ves could do anything, Chief Carmon moved with confident ease and thunked the man onto his butt with the swing of her multitool.

"Knock it off, brat! We don't tolerate roughhousing like this around here!"

The casual way in which Chief Harmon dealt with the aggressive mech pilot spoke volumes to Ves. He got the sense that outbreaks like this happened plenty of times as mech pilots unwillingly transferred into the Vandals.

While Ves wasn't in the mood to talk to a mech pilot who wanted to punch him in the face, he had a duty to fulfill. He put down his animosity and asked his perfunctory questions.

"What do you think about the Inheritor design?"

"It's dangerous. Spaceborn mech battles may revolve around speed, but there are many instances where you can't dodge everything that comes in your way. This stupid mech completely ignores that possibility. Do you know how this model got its name?"

"No. Do tell, please."

"Word around here is they're called that way because their designers hope the mechs last long enough to be inherited by my children. Hahaha! As if they will last more than a year during wartime!"

Ves didn't know if this was true, but he doubted it. Up close to several Inheritor mechs, Ves could feel the intangible echoes embedded into the frames. These mechs had been designed from the onset to be disposable products.

Of course, they should last long enough to provide enough of a return on investment to the Vandals, but beyond that nobody cared if they got wrecked.

The Vandals would mourn if a single Hellcat got destroyed. Partially due to the enormous cost in fabricating a copy, but also due to its symbolic value.

In comparison, the Vandals wouldn't blink at all if they lost ten Inheritor mechs in a single fight. That was just the cost of doing business. As long as the Vandals got more in return, the damage was negligible.

Evidently, this newcomer knew this and vented out his frustrations. "They sent me out to die here! I'm a medium mech pilot. There's no way I can master a light mech so quickly! They purposely put me here to kill me."

Chief Carmon couldn't restrain from whacking the mech pilot over the head with a light tap of her tool. "Nonsense! Larkinson, don't listen to this lad. He's just angry at himself for screwing up at his old posting. There's no way we would drive our own mech pilots into a corner."

That was true, in general. A mech pilot that loosened his restraints could be a very dangerous person. The amount of damage he could inflict when he stepped inside a mech was gigantic.

Ves actually expected the Vandals to deal with this problem already, but they let the crew and mech pilots talk smack all day. It was as if they didn't care.

Maybe the young man's words hid a kernel of truth. Did the Vandals accept every type of person the Mech Corps threw at them with open arms? With the wild personalities these troublemakers possessed, not everyone would mellow out during their stay here.

Ves felt obliged to speak some words of defense. "This isn't the best mech model that came into existence, but let's not exaggerate things here. As long as you aren't too unlucky, you'll be able to survive inside the cockpit of an Inheritor."

Talking with the mech pilots left him with a whole bunch of negative opinions to sort through. Ves didn't leave it at that and also began to question the various mech technicians in charge of defending the factory ship.

One of them was an older man, and he used to be a mech designer in his early years of adulthood. He hadn't been able to make it on his own, so he tried to find some meaning in his life by serving in the Mech Corps.

Someone with a background in mech design possessed a lot more insights on the nuances of a design than outsiders. "The Inheritor is not a difficult design to maintain. It's actually very easy. There's one downside to this mech that I'm a little more dubious about."

"What is that?" Ves said as he leaned in.

"The Inheritor seems like a derivative of a better design. A greater design. Perhaps even an elite one."

Chapter 443

The old mech technician's claim sounded very absurd to Ves. Perhaps the reason why this fellow hadn't made it as a mech designer was because he constantly came to weird conclusions like this. How could a design of a disposable mech like the Inheritor be a variant of a high-end mech design?

Ves turned to Chief Carmon. "Have you ever seen a superior version of the Inheritor?"

"Not even close." The chief shook her head. "I've been a Vandal for over twenty years and been posted on more than eight different carriers and I've never seen any other version of the Inheritor than the one we're currently looking at. I know this model like the back of my hand and there's no tolerance for improvement besides using better materials."

That caused Ves to look at the frame of the Inheritor in a different way. The design might not be all that good, but what would happen if he replaced the low-quality materials with better ones.

He performed a brief visualization of the result. His conclusions led to a similar route to the road that his Crystal Lord design had taken.

"What is the Inheritor design clad in compressed armor?" He asked. "The main advantage of the Inheritor is that it's fast even for a spaceborn light skirmisher. The downside to that is that its armor is extremely flimsy. Replacing its lightweight armor with compressed armor plating will substantially negate this disadvantage."

"That's exactly right." The former mech designer said. "You can also replace the core parts with better versions."

It would be a completely different design. The performance of such a machine would be a multitude of times more effective than the cheap hunk of alloys the Vandals relied on as one of its workhorse models.

Yet none of it mattered.

"This design you're describing doesn't exist." Ves said. "Not if what Chief Carmon said is true. It might be that the original designer had a quality mech design in mind when he originally developed a premium mech, but he never made it into fruition. Afterwards, when the Vandals commissioned him to design an affordable light skirmisher for space battles, he must have recycled some of his old work."

Every mech designer created more designs than they could put to use. They usually archived their unused designs and utilized some of its elements in other projects to save a lot of time and effort.

The more Ves thought about it, the more this conclusion resonated to him. Maybe that was why the Inheritor was a little unsuited in its role as a disposable mech.

"It sounds possible, but without any proof, we're guessing in the wind. Besides, even if it turns out to be true, that doesn't make this model any better."

Ves wanted to get the conversation back on track. He steered the conversation away from baseless speculation and turned back to his original job of gathering feedback on the Inheritor mech.

He didn't learn much new after talking with all of the mech technicians. Sometimes, they described some problems concerning the difficulty in assembling or repairing certain sections, but fixing those issues required a lot of time and didn't measurably strengthen the mechs at all.

Still, in the back of his mind, Ves could fathom the reason why the Vandals possibly utilized a heavily downgraded version of an excellent design. It made no sense. Someone as skilled as Professor Velten or any of the Senior Mech Designers that used to work for the Vandals should have been able to design an optimal spaceborn light skirmisher from the ground up.

Ves left that question to the side and concentrated on his work. He also didn't forget about observing his surroundings. He hadn't forgotten his earlier desires to figure out what made the Vandals tick.

At the end of the day, Ves returned to his cabin and summed up the feedback he received in a bland report. Ves didn't focus too much about what he put into words because they mainly echoed all of the existing problems known by the design department.

Instead, he focused on his other observations.

The main takeaway from his walk around the ship was that the Vandals acted with less discipline than they should have behaved, but they made up for it in their sense of unity and their trust in their leadership.

Besides the malcontents who piloted the Inheritor, everyone else displayed no displeasure at being assigned to one of the least desirable mech regiments of the Mech Corps.

"The Vandals maintain a true esprit de corps."

This identity that set them apart from everyone else lifted their hearts and gave them strength. Ves had seen similar beliefs in outfits like Walter's Whalers. Their esprit de corps arguably made them fifty percent stronger, if only because they wouldn't cut and run at the first sign of trouble.

This strong collective belief made it even stranger that it did not extend to the pilots of the Inheritor mechs. Their relationship to the Vandals was akin to the status of Pierce and Laida in their design teams. As temporary workers, they would only stay for a stint or two before being assigned somewhere else.

The difference between the two situations was that mech designers transferred away in peace, while the mech pilots most often had to pay for their lives.

The possible kept nagging at Ves so he called to Laida for them to meet at the canteen.

When he arrived at the place, he ordered a quick coffee and some snacks and sat down on the opposite of Laida. The young woman looked tired.

"Did I call you up when you were about to go to bed?"

"Yes."

"I'm sorry about that." Ves sheepishly scratched his head. "I didn't think about the time."

"It's fine. You wanted to talk about the Inheritor, right? I've been having many restless nights due to this design. It doesn't make sense."

Laida spoke about some of her issues. Different from what the mech pilots brought up, she addressed more technical issues.

"The root of the problem lies in the demand that the Inheritor has to meet a standard in terms of speed and acceleration. This is forcing us to design the Inheritor as lopsided as possible to accommodate these wishes. It's the entire reason why its flight system is rather overpowered for a design of that stature, and why we don't have any weight capacity left to thicken its armor. They're asking us to do the impossible, so we only delivered half of what was promised and forgot about the other half."

"So you believe it's not a deliberate choice to make the Inheritor so fragile?"

"Not really." Laida replied after a momentary pause. "It's due to helplessness from our design team, mostly. Did you know that in the last twelve months, we've only been able to increase the durability of the Inheritor by two percent? That's miniscule!"

A two percent increase in durability without resorting to more expensive materials was an impressive achievement depending on the starting point of the design in question.

Increasing the toughness of a heavy mech by two percent meant that it could withstand a lot more firepower in absolute terms.

Increasing the toughness of a thin light mech by the same proportion hardly made no difference at all. It wouldn't even let the mech endure one additional ballistic rifle shell.

So the progress the Inheritor design team had made over the past year really amounted to squat. "Has all of the potential in this design been exhausted?"

"As I said, it's mainly because of orders from the top that we can't improve this design. If you ask my entire design team, they'll say that the Vandals should have switched over to a different design a long time ago."

As Ves discussed the issues of the Inheritor design a little more, Ves increasingly got the suspicion that the Inheritor was indeed derived from a better design. Ves still didn't know the reason why, but he increasingly believed that this was a deliberate choice from Colonel Lowenfield or Professor Velten.

There was something more at stake behind this seemingly inane choice to stick with the Inheritor design.

After finishing the meeting and letting Laida return to bed, Ves retired for the night and returned to work the next day. His new assignment didn't entail documenting the same old complaints by the mech pilots. The professor tasked him with coming up with concrete improvements in the designs the Vandals developed on their own with the help of his unique strengths.

Ves had no clue how to do this after hearing about the awful state of the Inheritor.

"The Hellcat and Akkara designs are a mess, but at least they have a lot of room to improve. The same can't be said about this stupid piece of junk."

As Ves made his rounds to the other hangars of the Wolf Mother, he heard the same things over and over again. It really made him question Lowenfield and Velten's sanity for persisting with this inadequate design.

Not that any other light skirmisher would do much better, but with a minor bump in cost, the longevity of the mech would increase by a significant amount. Ves found it strange that the Vandals refused to accept this generous trade-off. After all, the law of diminishing returns didn't bite so hard at the start of the curve.

While his prospects of coming up with effective solutions diminished, he at least tried to do his best. Ves particularly took advantage of his freedom of movement to stroll through as many ship compartments as possible as he passed from hangar to hangar. He got to see how every other section of the factory ship looked like and how many people worked to keep the mech regiment running.

It humbled him in a way. He passed by a lot of enormous machines the size of a couple of mechs jumbled together. The scale of these machines caused him to fall into an illusion that it wasn't the Vandals driving the Wolf Mother, but it was the Wolf Mother dictating the actions of the Vandals.

Ves shook his head. "What kind of nonsense is that?!"

He quickly turned back to his work. As Ves met with many mech pilots and mech technicians and personally performed a deep inspection of a disassembled Inheritor mech, Ves continued to perceive the intangible qualities of the Inheritor.

"Too bad it's hardly there."

These mechs had never been truly valued since their conception. Their designers intended for them to last a couple of years at most, while the Vandals obviously didn't take any special care of them despite fielding them by the hundreds.

This led to the formation of dead or stunted spiritual existences within the mechs. With hardly anyone showing any care for these mechs, it was no surprise that they couldn't fully mesh with their mech pilots.

Most of the mech pilots Ves had questioned described the piloting experience in awful terms. One mech pilot described it as landing on a bed of nails, trying to flail your limbs in order to get out, only to suffer more injuries as a result.

"Maybe that description is a little too extreme."

After experiencing so many Inheritors through sight and touch, Ves realized its design failed to live up to its promises due to a common thread.

The Inheritor was unloved.

Seemingly no one appreciated this design. Its designers regarded it as a throwaway mech. The technicians who fabricated it en masse tried to rush the work as fast as possible. The mech pilots who had been assigned to pilot these death traps all hated spending one more second in its cockpit than was necessary.

Ves honed in on this observation and thought that this might be the opening he was looking for. Could he turn this difficult and unloved design into something that people could be proud of working with?

Chapter 444

No one appreciated a light mech except for light mech enthusiasts. It took a special kind of mech pilot to truly enjoy the rush of speed, even if it meant sacrificing a lot of personal protection.

The reason why Ves stuck to a medium weight class for his Crystal Lord design was because he did not wish to narrow its potential audience any further. An overly narrow mech design might not face much competition in its niche, but it would also be destined to obscurity.

The main issue at play with the light skirmisher archetype was that its effectiveness drastically differed on land, air and space.

Light melee mechs saw the most use in landbound mech combat. Combat took place in smaller areas and mechs on land moved slower and their weapons exhibited many restrictions in range. This allowed light mechs to approach their land bound prey with ease by taking advantage of the natural cover of the terrain.

Spaceborn combat stripped most of those advantages. Terrain on land was often complex, while space was literally an empty void. Light mechs would be as bare as they were born if they flew through this completely open space as they approached their targets.

The effectiveness of this mode of combat could be imagined.

Granted, many battles in space occurred in slightly more complex environments. Only rarely would two enemy forces meet in the middle of empty space. Most of the time, a mobile force attacked a static position, such as a mine or a space station. These fixed features afforded light mechs with sparse but effective cover.

Nevertheless, it would usually be the defenders taking advantage of available cover. This protected them from ranged fire and forced the attacking force to enter their kill zones.

Reading through the summaries of the various battles the 6th Flagrant Vandals had fought, most Inheritors met their end in this way. "Shot down in the process of closing the distance."

It was an ignoble end to any mech. Sometimes, the Vandals were obligated to attack a well-defended position. They possessed a number of knights that could absorb a decent amount of blows, the Hellcat being the most prominent one, but a charge needed to be supplemented by as many mech frames as possible in order to spread the incoming fire.

In these cases, the mech commander in charge of the assault would always accompany the knights with a horde of Inheritors. Despite being one of the most fragile punching bags in space, the Vandals evidently had no qualms in employing them as cannon fodder.

When Ves met with Laida again during lunch and told her his conclusions, she shook her head in sadness.

"It's horrendous." She spoke with a whisper. "The longer I stay in the Inheritor design team, the more I realize that none of them care. The only mech designer who still cares a bit is the temp from Rittersberg and myself, but we are growing in number every day. It's hard to prioritize decency when we are faced with constant demands to increase its cost-effectiveness."

"I thought your design team wasn't making much progress these past few years."

"That's not exactly right. It's true that we haven't been able to increase the Inheritor's performance parameters, but we did manage to shave off ten percent of its manufacturing cost in that time. Most of our efforts are spent on achieving as much cost savings as possible as opposed to actually improving the design in battle."

That sounded really crazy to Ves. The Vandals spent an enormous amount of money and resources keeping everything running. He could certainly understand if they needed to be frugal with their spending, but cheapening an already barebone mech design even further was basically starving their own hunting dogs.

"That sounds like your design team is trying to creatively cut as many corners as possible. There's no way the structural integrity of the Inheritor design can be maintained."

Laida nodded grimly. "It's a tradeoff. If you can reduce the cost of the frame by one percent by substituting one material for another, you would accept it as long as it won't weaken the mech too much. In this case, as long as the mech doesn't weaken more than a tenth of a percent, the design team will accept the change with open arms."

In other words, the Inheritor design had most likely weakened over time. A performance decrease of a tenth of a percent didn't sound so bad, but it's design team constantly applied new solutions.

A tenth of a percent turned into a half percent. A half percent turned into one percent. One percent turned into two percent.

This slide in performance didn't happen fast enough for the mech pilots to notice, but that didn't mean it was negligible. The effectiveness of the Inheritors would continue to decline and their mech pilots risked dying even faster.

The Vandals were like an abusive parent to the Inheritor design. Even as they made use of it, they constantly talked it down or starved it in order to save on costs.

Although Ves did not understand the priorities of the higher ups, he believed that their entire approach to the Inheritor design should be upended from the ground up. Rather than approach it from a perspective of reducing its burdens, they should instead seek to increase its value.

When Ves laid out his suggestion to Laida, she did not seem very hopeful at his suggestion.

"The Inheritor design doesn't have much of a future in my eyes. All the low-hanging fruit has been plucked, so it's nearly impossible to increase its parameters without increasing its cost or adding more weight and space."

"I think a change in perspective is still necessary. Your design team has been seeking ways to cut its cost for so long that they forgot to do anything else. If it were up to me, I would have expanded the cost allowance by five percent or so in order to get them to start thinking in the other direction again."

Laida remained skeptical. She believed that the Vandals couldn't be shaken out of their established impressions of the Inheritor design.

Ves wasn't willing to settle this issue like that. So when he returned to his office, he compiled a report and sent it to Professor Velten. He also scheduled a meeting with her in order to explain his thoughts in person.

He got to meet her later in the day. As he entered her office and sat down on the other side of the desk, he looked at Velten and tried to figure out if most of the demands on the Inheritor had been imposed by the Senior Mech Designer.

Though she looked like an old lady and her mind wasn't as agile as before, she still radiated a faint sensation of solidity. It was as if Ves faced a slab of compressed armor instead of a fragile human being.

The Senior Mech Designer took no note of Ves when he entered. Instead, she fixated her attention on an unknown component design projected from her desk terminal.

Ves curiously glanced at the part and tried to figure out what it did. It did not resemble any of the standard mech parts such as an engine or power reactor. His long-buried Signals and Communications Skill started to rouse itself from its sleep after he tentatively identified some sub-components that had to do with sending and receiving signals.

If he had to make a guess, Professor Velten was working on a supersized transceiver customized for a very specific design. At this power and size, the transceiver should have no problem communicating through long distances and strong jamming.

He guessed that Velten was preparing this transceiver for the upcoming grand raid on the Imodris Duchy.

"Ah. Mr. Larkinson. You are here now. Good." She spoke as her head abruptly shifted upwards. She waved a hand which winked the projection out. "I have been anxiously waiting for you to report back on your progress. To my surprise, after an entire week, the only points of note in your reports are rehashes of old problems and a rather ludicrous suggestion that we should shift our paradigms concerning the Inheritor design."

Though she sounded harsh in her judgment of his work, Ves did not immediately concede. He did not wish for his report to be filed away and forgotten by all. He strongly believed that the problems he documented and the solutions he proposed would measurably strengthen the Vandals.

"Professor, forgive me for being somewhat blunt, but the Inheritor mech has long been stagnant as an actively developed design. Hardly anything improved except for its cost efficiency, and you know as well as I do that these cost savings came at a cost. The war we are waging against the Vesia Kingdom won't end until a few years later. If the Flagrant Vandals intend to depend on the Inheritor design to carry them through the next five years, they should invest in making it stronger, not weakening it any further."

The professor looked at Ves with a small frown. She tutted at Ves and knocked her desk with a finger. "Let me ask you something. Do you know how much credits it takes to support an entire mech regiment?"

"I'm sorry, ma'am. I don't have a clue."

"There are many costs associated with running a force of over two-thousand mechs and all the logistics necessary to maintain them and to convey them across the stars. Fuel, salary, maintenance, replacements and more all form a persistent drain on our finances."

"Yet the Hellcat and Akkara designs are both expensive and extravagant in terms of features. From my time in the Hellcat design team, I've noticed that everyone is constantly working on squeezing out more performance out of the hybrid knight. They might not always succeed, but they always strove to climb the stairs. It's entirely different for the Inheritor. Everyone is walking backwards, going lower and lower until eventually they reach the ground."

The analogy succinctly illustrated his point. Ves just hoped that Professor Velten would be swayed by his argument.

Unfortunately, her face remained impassive. "The Hellcat and Akkara designs fulfill a very different role in our mech lineup. These mechs carry a substantial amount of armor and their longevity is great."

In other words, even the professor treated the Inheritor like dog poop.

"I think it's a disservice to the Inheritor design if we think of it as a burden." Ves emphasized. "I am aware of the costs involved with improving the quality of this design, but I really think it is necessary to do so, ma'am. Just give it a chance."

"No."

"Uhm, pardon me?"

"Nothing of the sort will be done." Velten spoke with finality. "Though I can see the merits in your unique perspective, that doesn't outweigh the priorities of the Vandals and the mech Corps. There is no leeway in this matter."

Ves continued his attempts at persuasion, but got rebuffed by the professor each time. He started to believe that Velten did not hold any decision-making power on this matter. She never relented on the expectations she had set on the designs she surpervised.

The issue ended without any changes to the policies set by the Vandals. Ves was deeply disappointed at this outcome. It made him feel as if he wasted the entire week.

"Perhaps it is a mistake to assign the Inheritor under your supervision. It is a very complex design that is bound to many goals." She thought of something else. "Perhaps you might need a break. It just so happens that we will soon be transitioning out of FTL to meet with a delegation of the Vesian Revolutionary Front. One of the terms of our deal with them is that they commit their own mechs to our forces. I'd like you to join Alloc as he studies their designs."

His eyes began to shine. "I'll do my best, ma'am."

After wasting his time on the Inheritor, Ves deeply wished to experience something else. Meeting the Vesians and studying their mechs up close sounded just the right kind of thing to distract him from his failures.

He also wanted to see for himself how chummy the Flagrant Vandals and the Vesians rebels acted in each other's presence. Did they consider their cooperation a necessary evil, or was there something more behind this scheme?

Chapter 445

"Have you met with these Vesians before, sir?" Ves asked as innociously as possible as he adjusted his formal burgundy uniform.

The 6th Flagrant Vandals regimental colors consisted of wine-red and black, though they mostly wore black uniforms in their day-to-day duties. The formal uniform that Ves just received would only be worn in their first meeting with the rebel delegation. After all of the pomp and ceremony scheduled for today had passed, Ves would return to his standard dark green working uniform.

"We've had dealings with the VRF before. A lot of Vesian rebel movements are localized on a single planet. The bigger players only span the range of a single duchy at most. Culture and customs differ a lot between different duchies, so it's hard for these rebel groups to find any common ground with each other. The Vesian Revolutionary Front is one of the few exceptions to this rule."

"Are they the most powerful rebel group in Vesian space?"

"They're not. In fact, groups that span a single duchy can easily mobilize ten times as many mechs and sympathizers than a broader movement like the VRF. They're too bland and distant in the eyes of the rebels on the ground."

"Then what makes them so valuable to us that we have to greet them with a formal ceremony, sir?" Ves asked with puzzlement in his voice.

"Just because the different rebel movements don't agree on many matters doesn't mean that they ignore each other. Sometimes, they want to trade a resource their duchy has in abundance with another resource that can't be sourced from the same region. To facilitate this kind of trade in a completely lawless undergrounding setting, a trustworthy intermediary is needed."

Ves got it now. "Ah, so the VRF have profiled themselves as bridge builders that can connect different groups together, but only to the extent they are comfortable with. I imagine one of the reasons why they can engender trust is because they aren't big enough to threaten the position of these regional rebel movements."

"Exactly so." Alloc nodded as they began to move through the corridors. "Regional rivalries exist in many states, but it's magnified to an extreme extent in the Vesia Kingdom. Nobles fight against nobles and it's not unheard of for the rebels that exist to overthrow them to get into feuds as well. It's like internal conflict is baked inside their DNA."

That only made it more admirable for the VRF to stay above the infighting. "So if they aren't very strong, why are they sending their own mechs to us?"

"It's one of the demands that Colonel Lowenfield has set. Though we've always cooperated with each other without issue, there's always the possibility that they might stab us in the back. Hosting some of their assets aboard our ships will guarantee us against betrayal."

"So they are hostages?"

"You can look at them in that way, yes, but they are our guests as well. We've done well with the help of the FRF so it's important to treat them cordially at all times. They'll mostly stick to themselves so you won't have to be afraid of starting any incidents with them. Just don't ask them why they joined the VRF. The reasons are often traumatic."

The pair of mech designers in burgundy spent a few more minutes traversing the corridors in silence. Due to the size of the Wolf Mother, it would take them at least fifteen minutes to arrive at their destination on foot.

A proper capital ship incorporated several aids to get people to their destination faster, such as internal trains or lifter platforms. Unfortunately, the Wolf Mother's ad-hoc expansion hadn't taken these conveniences into account, and employing devices like lifter platforms posed a potential security risk.

Thus, Ves and Alloc had no choice but to trudge their way down the decks and towards the sides of the Wolf Mother. Walking through her cavernous depths gave Ves the illusion that he was descending into the belly of the beast.

"How are you holding up in your new assignment, Ves?" Alloc asked.

"Not very good." He replied honestly. "I haven't been off to a good start. Try telling Professor Velten that the development on the Inheritor design needs to undergo a U-turn."

The Journeyman Mech Designer chuckled. "I can imagine why you would suggest that. It's not the first time such a suggestion has been bandied about."

"If the same suggestion has come up before, why is no one taking it seriously?"

Alloc sighed. "Because it's about money."

"Everyone always tells me that the Vandals are short on money, but how could they? They have the Wolf Mother! That's a portable mineral processor and mech factory! They can easily generate a lot of income by fabricating and selling a lot of mechs."

"It's not so simple." Alloc shook his head. "First, the Mech Corps isn't allowed to enter the private market. It would open up a lot of can of worms if economic interests started to interfere with purely military interests. Second, let me fill you in on a secret."

What secret did he refer to?

Alloc leaned close to Ves and whispered something in his ear.

"The 6th Flagrant Vandals is heavily indebted. I don't have an exact figure, but my estimate is that the Vandals owe around 200 to 400 billion bright credits."

Ves almost tripped when he heard that enormous sum. "Billions, sir? Not millions?"

"I didn't misspeak. It's billions of bright credits. Yet that's not the most frightening thing. The question you should be asking is who the Vandals borrowed the money from. I can tell you one thing. It's not the Mech Corps. They wanted to cut off the funding for the Vandals in the first place, so there's no way they'll even consider extending loans to us."

All of this information caused him to remain off-balance. What was wrong with the Vandals? Was a mech regiment of the Mech Corps even allowed to take out a loan?

"Sir. Are the Vandals still leaking out money?"

"Yep. It's a waterfall. Even after we got rid of our fleet carrier and built up the Wolf Mother, we still can't break even. You have to realize that raiding Vesian space isn't actually profitable for a mech regiment of our scale. Pirates don't suffer the same problem because they're mostly running a handful of ramshackle ships and crumbling mechs. They hardly spend anything to keep themselves afloat. It's different for us because we're bigger and we have quality standards."

"Even if the Vandals are heavily indebted, slimming down the Inheritor won't necessarily save a lot of money. I would argue that it actually increases the costs, since they get wrecked so often."

"Professor Velten doesn't think so. As I mentioned before, she has performed a whole raft of calculations that sets the Inheritor's current cost picture as its most cost effective position. The mech is strong enough to last a while but cheap enough that it won't hurt that much if we need to replace a copy or two."

"Still, the Vandals would only save a hundred million credits or so over an entire year. The cost savings doesn't seem to be worth it if it keeps weakening the design, sir."

"Just because the Vandals have accumulated a mountain of debt doesn't mean we are eager to raise it even higher. The main reason why we haven't been able to break even is because there's hardly any profit to be made in times of peace. If the war hadn't erupted by this time, the Vandals would have truly been forced to disband."

Ves looked at Alloc with an amazed expression. "Does that mean this upcoming raid is motivated by money?"

"Exactly." Alloc replied softly. He leaned in again to whisper something else. "I can't tell you our target, but you can bet it's a highly-populated star system that holds a lot of advanced industries. As long as we can rob it blind, we can take a huge chunk out of our debt off the table."

What Alloc revealed to Ves was a revelation. He hadn't fully appreciated how bad their financial situation affected their daily operations. Even as they showed off a lot of outward strengths, internally they barely made ends meet."

It became clear to him that the Vandals stakes a lot more than he thought on the upcoming raid. The outcome of this ambitious operation might very well decide whether the 6th Flagrant Vandals remained afloat or be swept away in the annals of history.

They finally reached their destination after another bout of silence. Heavily armored security officers dressed in dress garb or fully-enclosed exoskeleton suits checked them for any threats.

After confirming security that they were harmless, Alloc and Ves went through the armored hatch and entered into the largest hangar of the Wolf Mother. They joined a group of neatly-dressed servicemen standing in rows.

They didn't have to wait for long for their guests to arrive. A dozen mechs along with two sturdy military-grade shuttles flowed in from the hangar doors. They carefully settled down in the hangar set aside for them. The Vandal mechs that used to occupy this space had been transferred to another ship in the fleet.

They settled down one by one according to invisible instructions. The mechs arrived with their weapons bearing obvious seals, not that it would stop them from accelerating into the waiting crowd and stomping them all to muddy bits with their feet. That was why the really important Vandals such as Professor Velten or Colonel Lowenfield had been left out of the greeting party.

Instead, some captain Ves had never seen before led the delegation from the Vandals.

A few minutes later, the shuttles opened their hatches. A handful of formally but soberly dressed men and women emerged out of the Vesian shuttles, accompanied by a small host of lightly armored guards.

The makeup of the Vesians largely matched the delegation from the Vandals, only with much less people. It was as if both sides had agreed to send somewhat important people but not the truly indispensable ones from their organizations.

To Ves, such hedging defeated the purpose of taking hostages. Would the VRF truly care if the Vandals pulled out their guns and shot the Vesians dead before they could utter a word of protest?

"Mr. Meffeth!"

"Ah, captain, it is good to see you again!" A jolly-looking fellow greeted their captain with a bear hug. "It is my pleasure to be aboard your fantastic factory ship again."

Mr. Meffeth smiled and glanced at the rest of the welcoming party as some musicians started to play a martial tune. "Very uplifting. I hope to see our latest cooperation proceed in the same vein."

The captain laughed and pulled Mr. Meffeth by the shoulders. "With the help of your connections, I'm sure we'll both profit handsomely."

Ves listened carefully as the two leaders spoke about matters beyond what he should know. They never went into specifics, probably due to how many people had gathered here, but what little they revealed was very valuable in confirming what he had guessed beforehand.

Even as his ears stayed open to pick up the useful facts from the litany of empty platitudes, he scanned his eyes over the other Vesians who came out of the shuttles.

The majority consisted of friendly-looking men and women in their forties or fifties. Despite their drab uniforms, their posture and composure reminded Ves of diplomats or traders rather than partisans who eked out a marginal existence. They must be earning well for themselves as a mediator between different rebel movements.

Only a handful of Vesians carried themselves differently. Besides the guards and the obvious military types, the Vesians brought three people who all carried themselves in the same manner as Alloc and Ves.

The Vesians brought their own mech designers. And they all happened to be women as well. One older woman stood over a pair of curious-looking young women. The matron must be a Journeymen while the younger women must be Apprentices.

All three happened to be pretty as well in different ways.

Chapter 446

The welcoming party held a banquet for the visiting representatives. Though the Vesian Revolutionary Front ostensibly resisted against aristocracy and the excesses associated with them, they weren't strangers to the finer things in life.

The Flagrant Vandals pulled out a lot of stops to impress the newcomers. The dining hall was situated at the top decks that encompassed a massive transparent dome from above. Ves saw unknown stars and unknown ships orbiting around the Wolf Mother. He also spotted the red dwarf, but couldn't determine where they were in Vesian space.

"To my friend, let us toast!"

"Haha!" Mr. Meffeth blustered. "You always bring the finest wines from Rittersberg!"

For a mech regiment deep in debt, they sure held little back for this occasion. Ves recognized several exclusive dishes that must have cost a lot of credits to acquire. The cloud rice from Cloudy Curtain, the luminescent blue mushrooms from Bentheim, the finest red wines from Rittersberg and the aeliotonoc whale meat imported from Moira's Paradise served to everyone present could have afforded half an Inheritor mech.

The sheer amount of waste really boggled his mind. Though Ves lived a lot easier when he started earning loads of money, he didn't spend his money on frivolous and temporary luxuries such as good food and wine. He was way too busy to slow down and appreciate the finer things in life. Ves regularly ate simple meals reconstituted out of cheap nutrient packs.

"Alloc, who is this young gentleman over here?" The mature-looking woman asked as she daintily played with her salad.

"This is Ves Larkinson, an Apprentice who has just arrived at the Vandals a couple of months ago. He's very bright and has unique talents."

"Unique you say?" Florissa Minyn drawled out as she twirled a finger. Her eyes glazed over to Ves and he could feel the curiosity bursting out from them. "Are you talented in many areas?"

Ves awkwardly smiled. "Alloc is exaggerating. I've only entered the industry for a few years."

"Ves doesn't have much practical experience, but he's good with theory and he has a special touch for improving the piloting experience. His customers back home are rabid fans of his work!"

That caused the other two girls to glance over in his direction. A blonde who introduced herself a little earlier as Iris Jupiter asked another question.

"So you're an entrepreneur in the Bright Republic? How many mechs have you sold?"

"I don't keep track of the exact figure. If I include the sale of mechs from third-party manufacturers that have licensed my design, then it should be around three-thousand to five-thousand mechs I think."

If Ves only took the sales figures of the LMC into account, the number would look much less impressive.

All three women looked mildly impressed. The other girl, a raven-haired woman called Lucille Hornbach, blinked at him as if he was an alien.

"That's impressive, Mr. Larkinson! You must have earned an enormous amount of bright credits! Why are you even here?"

Florissa quickly bumped Lucille with her elbow. "That's not very polite!"

"Sorry!"

"It's okay, Miss Hornbach. I have nothing to hide." Ves smiled at them, even though he just said a big fat lie. "My history is a little complicated. I'm apprenticed to Master Carmin Olson. Even though I've only received a few pointers from her so far, it inevitably casts some doubts on me. I don't blame the Mech Corps for pushing me away from the frontlines."

None of the Vesian mech designers cared about that. Their eyes practically sparkled as soon as he mentioned his Master.

"You're apprenticed to Master Olson?! The genius that rose up from the Vermeer Group?!"

"Yes. That's the one."

The two girls squealed in unison in a stupendously high pitch, causing conversation nearby to be disrupted. Florissa embarrassingly hushed the two girls and waved at everyone to turn away.

"We are not aboard our own ships anymore. Please show some more decorum!"

"Sorry, Auntie Florissa." Both girls apologized while hanging their heads in a glum manner.

Their casual attitude seemed completely unlike most mech designers he had met before. If no one told him that they knew how to design mechs, Ves would have mistaken them for teenagers barely out of school.

Both of them looked pretty and young and spoke of exquisite care in their appearances. While this was normal among the young elite, the girls behaved in a somewhat carefree manner. It made Ves a little confused. Were these people even rebels? He previously imagined the resistance members living aboard shambling starships and barely having enough funds to make ends meet.

Evidently, the delegation of the VRF showed no signs that they suffered any hardships. Mr. Meffeth spontaneously held a drinking contest with the captain from the Vandals while the three women charmingly kept the conversation with Ves and Alloc running.

They quickly moved to a first-name basis, which wasn't unusual for someone from the Bright Republic but was highly unusual in Vesian culture.

"Florissa, how are your designs doing in the VRF lately?"

She smiled at Alloc. "I am doing very well so far. Although I have not published any new designs by myself, all of the collaborative projects that I'm involved in have been spread to the entire organization."

"How big is the VRF?" Ves asked with genuine puzzlement. Sometimes, he had the sense that the VRF was a behemoth, but other times it was a medium-sized organization that had been stretched out to cover the entire Kingdom.

"We're not allowed to tell you the exact figures, but it's safe to say that we can give a couple of mech divisions from the Mech Corps a run for their money."

That wasn't enough to overthrow an established Vesian duchy, but it would certainly be able to cause mass disruption if the VRF deployed them all at once.

Naturally, Florissa could have lied about their strength. Ves thought that an all-encompassing organization like the VRF should have had a few tricks up their sleeve.

Not that it was any of his business.

"What are your specialties?"

"I am a specialist in spaceborn flight systems." Florissa answered first as she glanced at Alloc. "Part of the reason why I am transferred aboard your lovely factory ship is because your design department lacks this specialty. It's a show of good faith on our part, and a sign of appreciation for all the assistance you have rendered us over the years."

Again, Ves received another clue on the closeness of the ties between the Vandals and the VRF.

"What about you two ladies?"

They both looked at each other for some reason before they smiled at him. Iris spoke first. "I'm a specialist in neural interfaces, while Lucille is a heat sink specialist."

All three of them possessed an eclectic mix of very specific specialties. Two of them happened to be very relevant to the design department. As for the specialty mentioned by Iris, Ves almost had to do a double take.

"You design and customize neural interfaces?" Ves asked with more than a bit of doubt.

Messing around with the neural interface was dangerous work at the best of times. Implemented incorrectly, and a mech could easily fry the brains of their mech pilots. The vast majority of mech designers utilized standard neural interface models that the MTA made available for free.

In general, there was little demand for customizing neural interfaces. Everytime someone messed with it, they risked upsetting some sort of limit and turned the neural interfaces into torture machines.

"It is a family tradition." Iris spoke proudly. "We Jupiters have worked on neural interfaces designs under the auspices of the MTA for generations. They've approved each product we've released over the years."

"Is that still going on?"

"Sadly not." She replied, seeming genuinely stricken all of a sudden. "A long time ago, we Jupiters affronted a relative of a powerful duke. The incident was small and nothing should have come out of it, but the duke himself moved to retaliate against our entire lineage. We lost everything within a matter of weeks. Our contracts turned invalid, our partners stopped supplying us, our employees left our research labs and our products got smeared on the galactic net."

Florissa sighed and pulled Iris into a hug. "What the Jupiters have suffered is something which happens all too often in a tyrannical state like the Vesia Kingdom. The nobility is always right. In a dispute between a noble and a commoner, we have as much rights as a pig reared for slaughter."

When Ves was young, he often heard tales of such abuses in school. He realized later on that the stories were meant to malign the Kingdom and made them out as a place of horror who would dearly bring their abuses over the Republic once they conquered it. It was the duty of everyone from the Republic to resist such tyranny.

Propaganda or not, the stories always held a kernel of truth. Hearing such an example from Iris really made it clear to Ves that the lessons he learned at school hadn't pulled those anecdotes from thin air.

"Have you adjusted yourself to living with the rebels? What is there to do with them?"

"Oh, the VRF has been good to us." Iris nodded as she wiped away her tears. "You have to know that while our rebel movement can easily get our hands on mechs from the private market, it's difficult to hide our whereabouts. We would rather buy the raw resources from the market or the other rebel groups and fabricate our own mechs. Keeping our design and production activities in-house guarantees that the mechs don't come with spying devices or software hacks."

"So it's a matter of maintaining complete control over your mechs. I can understand that." Ves replied. "Do you keep all of your designs for internal use or do you also sell your mechs to other groups?"

Florissa answered this question. "We maintain a lucrative business in selling mechs to the smaller rebel groups. It's not easy for newly established rebels to get their hands on fully functional mechs. This helps them kickstart their rebellion and allows them to cause more trouble to the nobles."

That didn't sound very good to Ves. There was no way a small group of malcontents could threaten the rule of the established powers in the Kingdom. Ves did not ask for the outcomes of these so-called rebellions. Instead, he focused on the other aspects of their stories.

"It sounds like the VRF has taken on the role of the black market."

"That's exactly what we are in Vesian space. As an organization that resists the tyrants who believe they have a birthright to do everything they want, we've suffered too many betrayals from gangs and pirates that are able to supply us with the things we needed."

"The Vesian underground scene is split into two parts." Alloc interjected. "One part consists of the regular scum of the galaxy. They don't care about nobility and politics. They even like such a system, because nobles sometimes become their best patrons."

"Alloc is correct." Florissa nodded. "In our eyes, the noble Houses are nothing more than gangs that enjoy official sanction. The two work well together whenever their interests align. It's not safe for rebel movements like ours to build a long-term relationship with the underground groups. The trust simply isn't there. That is why we have built up our own underground trading network. We are one of the few middlemen that rebels across the Kingdom can trust."

Truly, the more Ves heard about the VRF, the more his impression of them veered away from a traditional rebel group like the Bentheim Liberation Movement.

Whereas the BLM lived like cornered rats that sought refuge in the deepest depths of the planets or in the most desolate corners of a lifeless star system, the VRF merrily went about earning a handsome profit from facilitating trade between different rebel groups. They sounded surprisingly mercantile for a movement that ostensibly sought to overthrow the feudal order.

"How far along are rebel groups like yours to launch an uprising?" Ves pointedly asked.

All three ladies fell silent for a moment.

Chapter 447

The oldest among them, Florissa, recovered the quickest. "The Vesian Revolutionary Front has been planning the downfall of the nobles for decades. Unlike other movements which attempt to enact an immediate change, we have been much more deliberate in our approach. As much as we think the nobles are detestable, without convincing the rest of the commoners who are ignorant of the abuses, our rebellion doesn't stand a chance."

In other words, the VRF talked big but didn't do much to back up their words. Ves understood their position somewhat, but these Vesian rebel movements all sounded like they enjoyed their current position a little too much.

Well, it was none of his business, so he simply shrugged and moved on. "Will the three of you be helping us out?"

"That is why we have been sent. I have already corresponded with Professor Velten for the last couple of weeks, so we know what to expect. We have a lot of work ahead of us."

Perhaps Ves could make use of their presence.

"All three of our designs could use a lot of help. If I may say so, I think it's best you start with the Inheritor design. The light skirmisher is our most stagnant project and could dearly use a firm push."

"Ah, your famous Inheritor mechs. Well, we can't make any promises, but we will see what we can do. Perhaps our specialties will provide the breakthrough you are hoping for. We make no promises, though. We are restricted in the advances we can extend to the Vandals. Trading some of our prized secrets will demand an equivalent trade."

"We expect nothing less." Alloc answered for Ves. "We can compensate you for any assistance you can provide or technologies you can introduce to us through your shell companies."

As Alloc discussed the issue with Florissa, Ves learned that the VRF established a concrete presence in the Republic space. In fact, they owned a whole string of shell companies that performed various services on their behalf!

The main issue for the Vandals was that as a legitimate mech regiment, it couldn't resort to pirating designs and exclusive technologies. To make such a transaction seem proper and above board, the VRF made use of its shell companies to provide some of their transactions with the veneer of legitimacy.

It all sounded very shady to Ves, but apparently that was the way the Vandals and the rebels always did business.

As the two older mech designers engaged in their own conversation, Ves had been left with the two younger ladies. Both Iris and Lucille looked charmingly at Ves with big, blinking eyes. Ever since they associated him with Master Olson, they inched a little closer to him, though that was difficult since they sat across the dining table.

Of the two, Ves hadn't heard much from Lucille, so he decided to ask about her background. "So, are the Hornbachs a family of mech designers like the Jupiters?"

"No, nothing like that." She shook her head. "I started studying material sciences and transitioned into mech design halfway. No one in my family has ever been involved with designing mechs before. It turns out that designing mechs is a lot more enjoyable to me. After I graduated, I already had a job lined up at a major mech manufacturer."

"So did you already specialize in designing heat sinks?"

Lucille nodded. "I became famous for that immediately. I studied long hours into the night after work to increase my knowledge on heat sinks. I worked hard in the company to assist in designing the best heat sinks for their products. All of this went well until..."

"Until?"

"Until the patron of the mech manufacturer fell. I thought that the company that I worked for was an independent business. Only later did I find out that it's actually owned by a small count who fell out of favor. Once his enemies got rid of him, they took over all of his assets, including his company. That's when all the trouble began."

"Did they harass you?"

"Nothing of the sort. They simply raided the money the company had set aside to invest in new licenses and research. We needed that money to develop new mech designs. Without it, our future was bleak. Eventually the company let me go because they couldn't afford to retain so many mech designers."

That didn't sound so bad. "So how did getting fired end up with you joining the rebels? That's quite a leap, you know."

Lucille smiled a little ruefully at him. "I joined on my own volition."

Ves wanted to rub his fingers in his ears. Did he hear that correctly? "Isn't that a little premature? Not that I have anything against the VRF. It just sounds a bit impulsive to me."

The young woman sighed and brushed back her lustrous black hair. "I put my heart and soul into that company. They truly made me feel at home. Having been ripped away from them, only to see them deteriorate from lack of investment pained me more than anything. I pity those who are still left in the company trying to plug a ship that is leaking air from over a thousand different holes.

Ves somewhat believed her, even if he thought she was being a little hasty with her decision. Many companies tried to foster loyalty and commitment among their workforce. Ideally, each person who worked for the company would develop a cult-like attachment to them. It was the best formula to retain talented employees and it had worked for humanity for thousands of years.

Miss Lucille sounded like a typical dupe who had bought into the whole corporate culture.

"Are you happy with the VRF?"

"I am, though there are too many mech designers in their ranks I think. That makes it a little more difficult for me to stand out."

"I imagine it helps that you specialize in designing heat sinks. Not a lot of people pay attention to them, despite relying heavily on them to keep their mechs running."

"If you think about it, every mech is a giant heat generator." Lucille said. "Energy is converted into various movements and attacks. Large amounts of waste heat emerge from these transformations. Despite the progress that our race has made since they emerged from Old Earth, we still haven't been able to achieve perfect efficiency. Waste heat is a fact of life, no matter the race. Whether it's humans or aliens, we are all facing the same constraints."

Many mech designers treated heat sinks as an annoying necessity that they begrudgingly include in their designs because it wouldn't function without them. That was the wrong mentality to adopt. Heat sinks formed a vital function that wasn't any less important than a power reactor.

One part generated usable energy, while the other part handled the waste heat.

Ves had in fact gained a new appreciation of heat sinks ever since he won the Amastendira. The wondrous weapon that utilized some of the most advanced technologies from the galactic center utilized something which the weapon referred to as a dimensional heat sink.

It basically absorbed any waste heat within its body and shunted it into another dimension, thereby solving the problem in the easiest but also most extravagant manner possible.

Although the dimensional heat sink only worked up to a point, it was still an amazing picture of what the end point of heat sink technology looked like. Ves hoped that he could incorporate them into his own design one day.

Ves entered a brief discussion about heat sinks with Lucille. Despite his broad base of knowledge, Lucille knew quite a bit about materials science, while her insights into thermodynamics veered into a completely unknown territory to him.

It became clear that with regards to heat sinks, she was truly a specialist who was leagues ahead compared to a generalist like Ves.

Someone with her specialty was in high demand to any design team that worked on spaceborn mechs or mechs that predominantly relied on energy-intensive weapons such as lasers.

The banquet ran on for several hours until it came at an end. During this time, Ves spent most of his time learning more about what they brought to the table as mech designers. As Iris and Lucille both possessed specialties that pertained to specific components, they could potentially provide a substantial boost to the three designs that the Vandals still kept developing.

As the guests retired to their own compartment aboard the Wolf Mother, Ves and Alloc walked back to their own section of the massive ship. The corridors had dimmed down a little, signifying that it was standard night time.

Once they fell well out of earshot from the Vesians who attended the banquet, Alloc began to speak.

"Did you enjoy your time with the girls?"

"Uhm, they're very competent, sir."

"Rrrright. Competent. Interesting choice of words." The Journeyman curled up his lips before bringing them down to a frown. "Don't fall for their tricks. The VRF always sends out a couple of vixens to us. They're always easy to talk to and pleasing to the eye, but that still can't change the fact that they're Vesians."

Ves grasped the implied meaning and stopped smiling as well. "I understand. I think. If that's the case, what is the VRF after?"

"It's one of the many games they play. The VRF may not look impressive as an insurgency movement, but their influence reaches well beyond the borders of the kingdom. They have their fingers in a lot of different pies. Don't underestimate their skill in trade and diplomacy. They're always out to make a deal with you, couched in terms that sound great at first, but turn out to come with several inconvenient caveats."

"If they're so inconvenient, then why do the Vandals accept this kind of behavior, sir?"

"Don't ask me." Alloc shrugged helplessly. "I once asked the same thing to Professor Velten. She told me that it's one of the concessions the Vandals have made to the VRF. The slick-talking diplomats of the rebels have even gotten us to agree that any mech designer that wants to defect to the VRF is allowed to do so without restrictions."

That really got Ves to halt. What a ridiculous concession! "Has anyone ever taken up this offer?"

"Pff. Look at how few designers are on our design team and you have your answer."

That was impossible. There was no way the Vandals would tolerate the VRF stealing over eighty mech designers from them. Ves looked at Alloc with a suspicious eye.

"Okay, maybe I exaggerated." Alloc held up his hands. "Only five mech designers that I know of has defected to the VRF over the past decade. Those mech designers haven't been content in their current postings anyhow, so good riddance to them. The only regret that we have is that they are all rather good at what they do. The VRF mainly targets Journeyman Mech Designers. That's what Florissa is here for. She's mainly targeting me and the two other Journeymen in our department."

Though age gaps didn't count for much in this day and age, people would still form couples whose ages visibly diverged. It would be unseemly for Ves to hook up someone like Florissa.

Instead, he could look forward to the advances of Iris and Lucille. Great.

"Well, the cat's out of the bag. Now that I know, I won't fall for their tricks." Ves declared with some conviction.

"That's what they all say, Ves, but when it comes to the matters of the heart, we turn into some of the dimwitted sentient beings in the galaxy. Love makes you stupid."

Despite Alloc's warnings, Ves did not think much of the threat posed by the three women. He was a Larkinson, and a Larkinson never abandoned the Republic. He also thought of himself as a rational thinker. Though he acted on a couple of reckless impulses from time to time, at his core he believed himself to be an enlightened thinker.

There was no way Ves would turn silly because of a silly face.

Chapter 448

The design department gathered in the conference room the next day. Professor Velten introduced the three guests from the VRF to everyone.

"I expect you to treat our guests with decorum, but also be mindful of what you are and aren't allowed to say. I'll send you a detailed list after this meeting. Read it carefully and memorize what you are not allowed to tell. I don't need to remind you that the Mech Corps doesn't take it lightly if they see elements of their exclusive technologies ending up in the hands of the Vesians, no matter if they are royalists or rebels."

Once she made her point clear, she moved on to the main point. "With the arrival of the delegation from the VRF, our plans have accelerated. Our main fleet is currently on track to arrive at our target in roughly two weeks. This means there is no time to implement any major revisions for the time being. The main priority of the Vandals is to repair and upgrade every mech that still needs working on. Make no mistake. We need as many mechs operational as possible."

This was it. The first major operation of the Flagrant Vandals since he arrived. And this one was a real doozy. Though his days aboard the Wolf Mother had passed by in peace, in actual fact the factory ship and her escorts dove deeper and deeper into Vesian space.

It was actually a miracle that the Mech Legion hadn't found them out. That and the VRF did a good job securing passage for the Vandals.

One of the other Journeymen raised his hand and asked a question. "What will our jobs be?"

"Your design teams are to continue to seek every possible method of improving the performance of your designs. Our guest designers will offer their services to your teams on a semi-rotating basis. Try and get a quick fix done within a week so we can quickly propagate those fixes to the current crop of mechs that the Vandals have on hand."

After that, everyone split up and got to work. Florissa, Iris and Lucille all started to advise the design teams on how to tweak or improve their chosen specialties. No matter their motives, Ves had to admit that their specialized knowledge came in really handy.

In particular, Florissa's extensive expertise on flight systems far surpassed everyone else's grasp on this large and complex part. Professor Velten might possess a much broader base of knowledge, but even the old lady hadn't immersed herself into perfecting flight systems to such an extent.

The Vesian Journeyman practically charmed everyone with her friendly demeanor and openness to answering any questions the Apprentices asked. She rotated between the design teams of the Inheritor and the Hellcat, but due to a lack of time, the professor instructed her to focus most of her efforts on improving the flight system of the Hellcat design.

"The Hellcat is one of our best mechs, and has to be in tip top shape for the upcoming operation. We also have much less Hellcats on hand, so it will be easier to modify them all in time for the Vandals to begin their assault."

When Ves heard about the decision, he winced and shook his head. It seemed like the Inheritor could never earn a break.

As for Lucille, her expertise in heat sinks led Professor Velten to instruct the Vesian Apprentice to spend most of her efforts on improving the maximum heat capacity of the Akkara heavy cannoneer design.

"The Flagrant Vandals will be descending from orbit numerous times according to the latest plans. Since we are rather lacking in the ranged firepower department, it is of utmost importance that our Akkara mechs can produce as much firepower as possible to defend our landing zones."

With the two guest designers already veering away from the other designs, the Inheritor design was left with hardly any love. The only guest designer who remained was an odd bird who possessed a specialty that wasn't conducive to quick fixes.

Nevertheless, Ves thought he could use her esoteric qualifications as a vehicle to enact his own improvements.

The good thing was that Iris was remarkably open to his ideas. She smiled at him and touched his shoulder with her palm. "That's great! I was afraid I wouldn't be of use. The VRF has a lot riding on this operation as well, you know. Anything that can make the Vandals stronger will also make our lives easier as well."

Ves hadn't heard anything like that before.

"The Vandals aren't raiding the industrial star system on their own?"

"Of course not, silly." Iris held up a hand in front of her mouth as she giggled. "Industrial star systems are heavily protected by several garrison regiments. While not all of them are mech regiments, their combined strength is more than what the Vandals can handle even if they bring all of their assets to bear. That's why you need us."

"You mean the rebels don't have any qualms with being seen together with the Vandals?"

Something like that sounded truly crazy. Rebels working in concert with their foreign enemies was generally seen as a profound betrayal that wouldn't endear the citizens standing on the sidelines.

"That's why we aren't planning on showing up in our own colors. Our organization and its partners have already applied the coatings of a pirate organization to our mechs. Our presence will therefore be explicitly seen as a destructive one, rather than an attempt at liberating the star system. It's too early to attempt such a momentous action."

That was a devious if dishonest plan. Ves had to applaud their daring to moonlight as pirates. They could rain as much destruction as they wanted while their public mouthpieces decried the devastation and put the blame on the fat and lazy nobles that let the pirates run roughshod over their star system.

What Iris revealed to Ves hinted at the magnitude of the next operation. This was no simple smash and grab kind of raid. This was a major assault on a highly developed star system. The ensuing damage would be hard to imagine, but so would the loot the Vandals might be able to abscond.

To his eyes, the Vandals definitely played with fire this time. They took on an unimaginable amount of risk, but if their daring action succeeded, the rewards would be enough to turn around the fortunes of the declining mech regiment.

Besides robbing the abundant amount of riches that any industrialized star system possessed, a victory would also be a major boost to their reputation. Striking the Imodris Duchy a blow that they would continue to feel for generations would definitely be a feat that the Mech Corps had to propagandize as far and wide as possible.

The Vandals definitely aimed to secure a continuation of their existence.

Because the stakes were so high, Iris had been tasked to find a way to boost the performance of the neural interfaces in any way possible. Even if the manipulation of neural interfaces was fraught with catastrophic failures, Velten did not have the luxury to keep an expert on the sidelines.

Due to her strange expertise, Ves happened to be a good fit for her. His supposed expertise accomplished something similar to what Iris accomplished, but from a different approach. In the end, they both aimed to increase the compatibility of the mech pilots with their mechs.

Since the Akkara and Hellcat designs already enjoyed the attention of the two other Vesian designers, Ves steered Iris into working on the much less appreciated Inheritor design. She broke her perpetually charming smile upon hearing his suggestion.

"Is the Inheritor not a low-class design? It is hardly worth our attention."

Ves became a little angry at her casual dismissal of a design that hundreds of mech pilots relied on to stay alive. "There are many lives at stake, far more than with the Hellcat and the Akkara mechs. If you care at all about the lives of those poor pilots, then you owe it to yourself to better their chances of surviving the coming battle."

To her credit, Iris noticed his displeasure and quickly turned contrite. She bowed in front of him. "I'm sorry! That was very insensitive of me. I hope you can forgive me!"

He had mixed feelings about her sudden apology. She made a very convincing display of being sincere in her regret, so Ves couldn't do it again her. He softened a bit and nodded.

"Don't forget our creed as mech designers. We exist to serve the mech pilots and improve their ability to fight. Sometimes I think that some of my colleagues have forgotten this priority."

As someone who grew up among the Jupiters, it was impossible for her to be ignorant of this saying. Otherwise, their family wouldn't have been trusted by the MTA to work on developing new neural interfaces.

"I will take your words to heart." She pressed her hand on her chest. "Please show me around."

Ves brought Iris to the workplace of the Inheritor design team. All of the mech designers were somewhat familiar to Ves, but the presence of Iris was a novelty to them, especially since she was a very pretty girl.

However, Iris stuck close to Ves, which somehow made it impossible for the other men to approach her or pull her into a conversation. They all looked back at Ves with mixed expressions.

Ves did not have time to play any games. He immediately broached the topic of coming up with some short-term fixes for the Inheritor. "What kind of fixes have you guys been planning?"

The Journeyman in charge of the team answered his question. "You know our situation as well as I do. We essentially have nothing to suggest."

Ves expected this answer, though he still felt disappointed when he heard it from the team leader's mouth. Every easy fix possible had already been exhausted before. The Inheritor design team had in fact come up with many more solutions, but the only way they could implement them was if Professor Velten lifted the restrictions imposed on the design.

Fat chance of that ever happening.

Therefore, Ves planned to be a little creative this time. "This is Iris Jupiter. As you know, she knows more about neural interfaces than all of us put together. I suggest we allow her total leeway into seeing if she can improve the neural interface of the Inheritor and assist her in any way possible. What are your thoughts?"

No one objected to his suggestion, partially because they didn't have a direction and Ves just pointed one out for them. Even the Journeyman went along with him. Years of working on the frustrating mess that was the Inheritor design had really taken a toll on his confidence.

Meanwhile, Laida sat quietly at the side. She hadn't spoken up even once, but she regarded Iris with an ambivalent attitude. The design teams of the Vandals generally held quite a few more men than women, and the introduction of Iris to their team completely changed their dynamics.

After settling in, Iris immediately went to work. She sat behind a spare terminal and browsed all of the relevant design schematics and documents in rapid tempo. Ves sat next to her and worked on preparing his own solution.

His main issue was that it wasn't easy to foster the X-Factor in a mech. Certainly, the difficulties increased exponentially when dealing with a collaborative project that had already produced many copies of the mechh.

Ves simply didn't think about raising the X-Factor of the Inheritor all the way to a B-grade. Raising it to an F or an E-grade would be enough of an accomplishment, but only if he could find a way to achieve such a feat.

How could he bestow the X-Factor to a design that was already mature? How would he be able to achieve this without overhauling an entire mech?

Chapter 449

While Iris devoured every detail about the Inheritor design she was allowed to access, Ves practically sat motionless as he struggled to come up with an approach that worked.

Before the Mech Corps assigned him to the Vandals, Ves never truly collaborated with another mech designer on a joint design. Sure, he modified plenty of existing mechs and he briefly worked together with another mech designer during a competition, but those didn't concern true mechs.

The Inheritor design spawned hundreds of mechs and formed the backbone of the Vandal spaceborn mech contingent. Due to the constant minor updates to its design, a lot of variations existed within the mech regiment, but all of them roughly shared the same commonalities.

This also happened to include their spiritual stunting. They never had the chance to develop even a hint of life from the onset their design came into being. To someone like Ves who exhibited a basic appreciation for almost every mech, this attitude of treating them as disposable commodities irked him in a very fundamental way.

That mentality clashed squarely against his budding design philosophy.

What he faced right now was perhaps one of his greatest tests in his career. Even if no one would put him to task for failing to come up with a solution, he would still feel bad for himself for letting the Inheritor mechs be deployed into battle in their grossly inadequate states.

To find a viable approach to this seemingly impossible task, Ves needed to go back to the root of his theory on the X-Factor.

What did he wish to accomplish?

"I want the Flagrant Vandals to succeed with as few losses as possible."

"I want the Inheritor design to receive more appreciation to increase the odds of success."

"I want the Inheritor to be a mech that possesses just enough life to be of assistance to its mech pilot."

What means did he possess to engender the X-Factor into a design or mech?

"I can work on a mech in person and infect it with my focused mentality."

Ves already proved this method worked. The spiritual entity of a mech was a smorgasbord of all the emotions and thoughts of the people who worked on the mech and its design. This was why his gold label mechs possessed such a strong X-Factor and why the mechs the MTA materialized into appeared clinically dead.

As much as Ves knew for certain that this method worked, the amount of labor involved was exorbitant. There was a reason why the LMC sold less than a hundred of his coveted gold label mechs despite their enviable profit margins.

It required too much personal attention from him, and he had better things to do with his time. Forcing a mech designer to fabricate a mech in person was like forcing an architect to construct a house by hand.

"This is the dumbest solution available to me. It works, but it's not practical."

To truly affect every Inheritor at once, Ves needed to affect a change in its design, and subsequently allow it to be passed on to the mech technicians who applied his changes into the existing mechs.

Ves had never done anything like this before. The challenge daunted him because he was treading completely new ground, and unlike before, he did not have access to his precious Mech Designer System to cheat his way out.

Still, System or not, Ves had never relied on its help to progress his understanding of spirituality and the X-Factor. Everything he gained so far had been products of his own enginuity. Mostly.

He turned back to his original goal, to find a way to induce a comprehensive improvement of the X-Factor in each copy of the Inheritor. To do so, the design itself needed to acquire a measurable amount of X-Factor.

"According to my theories, all it takes is my personal involvement."

Ves possessed a substantial amount of Spirituality, far beyond a regular human being. This enabled him to imprint his thoughts onto an existing mech with some effort. The same should apply to working on an existing design.

To sum it up, it did not matter what kind of changes he made to his design. As long as he did it extensively enough to leave his fingerprints on the design, its X-Factor should definitely be contaminated by his thoughts. Perhaps enough to foster some kind of life in this deadbeat design.

All of this sounded as if he came up with a solution to his problem, but in fact Ves was no better off than before. "I can't think up a way to improve this design."

Therein lay the rub. With several Apprentices and a Journeyman working day after day on this design, its level of optimization had reached an insane level. Even if they focused on cutting costs rather than increasing its performance, so much time had passed and so much work had been done that a newcomer like Ves wouldn't be able to spot any holes in its design.

Ves turned to Iris, who tucked her coiffed blond hair behind her ear. Perhaps she noticed his stare, because she turned her head and looked at him with a questioning expression. "What is it, Ves?"

"Ah, I'm still brainstorming some ideas. I've thought of several ways to improve this design, but they can't be applied because Professor Velten won't allow it to exceed the hard limits imposed on it. I can't get around these limitations."

Not normally at least, but with the help of Iris he may be able to accomplish something. "I'd like to work together with you for something."

"Uh, what?"

"When you come up with some modifications, bundle some of mine in them as well. I'll try and come up with some ways to compliment your work so that they'll mesh well together. Then, let's serve our work in front of Professor Velten and see whether she's still willing to reject our combined solution."

"I'm not so sure about this, Ves. It sounds as if these hard limits exist for a reason. If she's as obstinate as you say, she won't change her mind just because of my presence here."

She had a point. His suggestion may not sink in to that old coot and her rigid insistence on keeping the Inheritor as light as small as possible.

"Then perhaps I can go at it in a different direction." He mused for a moment. "I think I have a way to stay within the limit. Instead of upgrading the design, I can sidegrade it. The mech won't improve, and there's a risk of introducing inefficiencies, but I think this is the right way to go."

Iris didn't agree with his assertion. "The Inheritor is highly optimized in its current configuration. A downgrade will certainly lead to unintended consequences. Without months of testing, you can' ensure that the design will take a step backwards in performance."

"Even if you're right, I still have to try."

They turned back to their work. Iris spent the first day reading up as much as she could before requesting to see some Inheritors in person. While she toured the Wolf Mother's various hangars to observe the mechs take some readings, Ves sat behind his terminal hard at work at overhauling one of the most important but also inconsequential parts of a mech.

The cockpit.

When Iris came up with her quick fix, she would inevitably demand a change to the cockpit's neural interface. This device played the main role in establishing a connection between a mech pilot and a mech.

Some neural interfaces put hard bucket helmets on the top of a mech pilot's head. Others extended alloy rods on each side of the headrest of the piloting chair. Many more did not employ a visible apparatus at all. Instead, their workings had been embedded into the seat or behind a wall panel and worked to establish a fully remote connection.

Each method came with its own advantages and disadvantages. The Inheritor employed a wireless design due to the mech's tendency to perform lots of rapid turns in space. While the cockpit's inertial compensators negated most of the g-forces applied to the mech pilot, they didn't always work as intended, especially when the cockpit sustained damage.

Therefore, light mechs predominately utilized a remote interfacing method, thereby allowing mech pilots to jostle their heads around in every direction without bumping into anything stiff.

These remote connections generally worked fine, but their reliability always came into question when fighting in an area with heavy interference. For example, fighting somewhere close to a sun or a black hole where all kinds of strange effects occur would always interfere with the signal between the mech and mech pilots.

Better technology and higher quality designs helped mitigate this problem, but even in the galactic center, nothing could beat a physical connection.

One of the ways in which Ves thought that could work was to suggest Iris to come up with a plan to switch the remote interface to a physical buckethead interface. Some mech pilots preferred the so-called buckethead interface because its reliability was without question.

Naturally, it didn't need to be shaped like a bucket. That was just a general term that mech pilots and mech designers used. The more correct term was helmet, and it could even be stripped down to a headband if needed.

No matter the size and shape, the shift from a remote interface to a buckethead interface allowed for modest weight and space savings. A remote interface came with a lot of complexity that could only be dealt with by sufficiently powerful hardware.

In comparison, a buckethead interface worked relatively straightforward. It was an old school technique that had received countless refinements over the centuries. Many superfluous aspects and parts had shrunk over the time, to the point where they only took up half the space of a remote interface.

Ves opened up a design program, loaded the file of the Inheritor design, and proceeded to draw some sketches for his changes.

The first thing that had to go was the old neural interface. He would leave the job of filling the gap to iris. In the meantime, Ves turned back to the design and began to sketch out further changes to the interior of the cockpit.

"Raise the height of the forward console by 2 millimeters."

"Change the seat leather from an organically sourced leather to a synthetic substitute."

"Four monitor projections to the left is overkill. A mech pilot often uses two at most. I can definitely shave one off."

Ves did not focus on solving the major issues of this design. Instead he homed in on the cockpit and planted a lot of minute changes that no one except Ves would notice.

None of what he suggested so far would be able to propel the Inheritor's performance to another level. The quality and magnitude of his work didn't matter as much as how much time he spent on leaving his fingerprints on the design.

The more, the better. Volume counted the most. Even if it was an inconsequential change such as shifting the chair of the pilot forward by a millimeter, it did not change the fact that the design had been affected by his intentions, however brief it may be.

Over the next several days, Ves continued on his project to overhaul the entire interior of the cockpit. Iris meanwhile followed his suggestion and worked on designing a buckethead interface to replace the old and familiar remote interface that the Vandals had always used for this mech model.

Both of them rushed to complete their work as fast as possible. Ves had in fact finished his laundry list of trivial modifications, but he still needed to spend several more days in simulating every possible thing that could go wrong.

Several things did in fact turn up creating new vulnerabilities, but it was a lot easier for Ves to simulate the cockpit as opposed to an entire mech. Ves rapidly plugged the holes as they came.

Once they reached the end of the week, Ves and Iris both stepped forward into Velten's office, ready to present their solutions. They walked close together and when they sat down on their chairs, Iris put her hand over Ves' hand, which he readily accepted.

This was a moment of truth for the both of them. Ves smiled at Iris before he turned to face the old lady.

"Well, what have the two of you achieved? I hope you haven't wasted the last week. Let's hear your proposal."

Chapter 450

No Senior Mech Designer ever made it to their rank by being stupid. Despite her slow responses and her erratic behavior, when it came to mechs, Professor Velten was as razor sharp as any mech designer.

She immediately took note of the abundance of superfluous elements in his design proposal.

"Mr. Larkinson, of all the elements of a mech that you could have chosen to work on, you focused on the cockpit. Worse, besides switching the neural interface systems, most of these changes appear to be purely cosmetic! I can understand if you've made the cockpit sturdier or increased its ability to withstand a breach, but all you have done is rearrange its interior! What do you have to say for yourself?!"

Ves held up his hands. "It's not cosmetic, ma'am! Far from it! Every adjustment I have made is needed to increase the ergonomics of the cockpit!"

In order to cover for his ability to affect a mech pilot through the X-Factor, Ves had delved into real ergonomics several times before. Just for this occasion, he brushed up on his theory by referencing the textbooks the Mech Corps made available through the central database.

"According to Leitzbritz's theory of luminescent comfort, putting more than three projectors in a row will excessively distract the mech pilot and..."

"The height of the piloting chair is set according to the average height of every mech pilot in the service more than a century ago. That's fine as a whole, but the average height of the mech lots in the Flagrant Vandals is a little bit shorter than that..."

Ves basically spun a tale of nonsense cloaked in scientific rigor. The vast majority of his adjustments had no point. They were only there so that Ves could leave his fingerprints on the design. While he changed plenty of things inside the interior, getting these changes approved was a very different matter.

After a couple of minutes of blabbering on, Ves reached the end of his prepared speech. He waited in a tense moment of silence as Velten parsed his words.

"I have no doubt that your applications are sound." She conceded slowly and knocked a gnarly knuckle against her desk. "Yet none of it seems worth it. How will any of these changes improve the performance of the Inheritor? As much as you tout the benefits of this proposal, there is an alarming lack of hard estimates on how much the design will improve. How am I supposed to approve the wholesale modification of every Inheritor in our possession, thereby wasting a large portion of our limited logistical capacity?"

In other words, Ves might have talked a good game, but he hadn't been able to justify why the Vandals should overhaul the cockpit interiors of every Inheritor. It wouldn't take a lot of time and effort to rearrange the interior of a single cockpit, but it was an entirely different story when it came to hundreds.

A mech regiment as large as the Flagrant Vandals constantly ran their production equipment night and day, doing all sorts of tasks. The mech technicians always had more things to do. Thus, convincing the Vandals and Professor Velten that his changes were worthwhile would always be an uphill battle.

Fortunately, Ves already prepared an answer to this question. He withdrew a data chip from his pocket and gently put it on the desk. "I have already tested out the changes. The raw data and the results are in the data chip. Please take a look, professor."

The professor looked at him with a little skepticism, but she didn't dismiss the data chip out of hand. As she slid the secure data device in her terminal, she began to peruse the logs and data that Ves had recorded during the tests.

This was his trump card for this meeting. During his stay with the design department, he heard many stories about Professor Velten. Everyone spoke about her ironclad rigidity on certain matters.

If she expected someone to finish a report within a day, he better well do it or he would face a reckoning.

If she said that someone should increase the performance of a specific component by a couple of percentage point, the entire design team would be forced to slave for weeks or months until they finally achieved their goal.

A mech designer like the professor was set in her ways, and she never showed any leeway in anything. That troubled Ves a lot, and he struggled to think of how to deal with this personality trait until he realized that if he played things correctly, it could play to his advantage.

While most of his fellow mech designers grumbled about Velten's inflexibility, Ves recognized that she was simply a mech designer that worked in terms of solid numbers and quantifiable results. In other words, she was a very data driven engineer.

To overcome the objections of someone who was driven by data, Ves merely had to serve up additional data that played in his favor. So in the final day before he had to report to the professor, Ves brought Iris to one of the Wolf Mother's hangars and conferred with Chief Carmon and Lieutenant Chandis.

"I have a way to renew the Inheritor." He began after pulling them aside. "Iris and I have worked on a set of minor modifications that will boost the performance of a mech pilot. The changes aren't very big, but it could potentially be the start of something bigger."

Ves proceeded to explain a summary of what he had in mind.

"What do you need us for then?" Chief Carmon asked as she crossed her hefty arms and chewed on an illegal stimulant. "I don't know if you've noticed, but we're kind of busy right now. We don't have time to spend on installing fancy frills like a spiffed up cockpit."

The lieutenant voiced his own objections as well. "My men are used to piloting with bare heads. They won't take buckethead interfaces very well. Light mech pilots really hate those unwieldy things!"

"Don't knock it until you try it! I only need one mech and a test pilot to gather some data. What will it hurt? Besides, once I can get this modification proposal approved, it might open the door to further improvements."

They both thought that this was a waste of time, but the carrot that Ves had dangled at the end sounded very tempting. If Ves could get the obstinate professor to approve of further modifications to the Inheritor design, then they stood a chance of vastly improving its survival rate.

To that end, letting Ves free reign on a single Inheritor mech was a cheap price to pay.

"Okay, you've convinced me. Go ahead, but don't change anything else!"

"Thanks!"

Ves and Iris proceeded to inspect the Inheritors in the hangar and selected the most up-to-date one because it matched the current design the closest.

After that, Ves personally worked on tearing out the old interior and replacing it with his own. He did everything in person, from fabricating new replacement parts, to assembling them into place at their exact positions.

Iris in the meanwhile worked to fabricate and install the buckethead interface system. Though Ves could have taken care of this chore on his own, he found it best to leave it to a genuine expert.

"It's best you leave it to me because I can tailor this neural interface to our test pilot." She said, "Not all neural interfaces are born the same. The best ones are made to accommodate the mind of a specific mech pilot."

So Ves left the job of installing the best neural interface system as possible on their testbed mech while Ves cobbled together the rest. He worked quickly but efficiently, helped by the fact that none of the work involved anything challenging. At his level of skill, putting together the revamped interior was a piece of cake.

All the while he worked on overhauling the interior, he focused his mind on the Inheritor in order to foster its X-Factor. Since it wasn't his own design, he did not attempt to usurp its dominant flavor, nor did he try to go directly against the intentions of the original designers.

The Inheritor's X-Factor still needed a direction, though. While he couldn't go against the mech's original intentions, he could add something small to it that nudged it in a better direction.

Therefore, when he drew up the modifications to the design, he infused it with a single, abstract idea, one that would have presence even if it was diluted to an enormous extent.

Anything more complex might not hold up because of his lack of involvement in the design. Ves had seen plenty of mechs of other designers that held some potential, but ended up with stillborn spirits. That was because even if the mech designer put a lot of his heart into his design, he washed his hands off them as soon as he completed it, and left the production of the mechs to some efficiency-driven mech manufacturer.

Thus, Ves needed to keep things simple. After a bit of thinking, he bestowed the Inheritor design with the concept of survival.

Why survival? It was more than simply wishing that it would last longer on the battlefield, though that would certainly help. Ves chose to focus on the concept of survival because it was the primary drive of a short-lived species, no matter if it was mechanical or biological in nature.

Ves likened it to humanity's place in the galaxy. Were they not like the Inheritor version of a sentient race? When humans first sprang up during the Age of Space, they were seen as weak and pathetic sentients by the alien races that ruled their corner of the galaxy. Humanity's intelligence, strength and lifespan all fell below average to the more privileged races that evolved on planets with an abundance of exotics.

Well, humanity enjoyed the last laugh. Their lack of dependence on exotics and relatively high birth rate allowed them to outgrow those stagnant and snobby alien races.

Yet why did humanity come to dominate half the galaxy while other humanoid races that shared the same broad traits wallowed in obscurity?

Many human supremacists likened their success to fate or their superior genes, but more sober-minded scholars and philosophers attributed it to their drive to survive. Their race faced constant challenges during their rise, and each time they overcame their existential crises through grit and the drive to stay alive.

Survival was one of the most primal goals that drove the human race, and Ves incorporated its purest form into the design and the mech he modified.

He felt it taking shape underneath the materials he shaped and placed according to his will. He even rejected the assistance of bots to help him carry or lift the heavier components. Instead, he did as much work by hand as possible in order to strengthen his involvement in the modification work.

His dedication to his work had not gone unnoticed. Iris paused in her work of installing the neural interface systems to ask him a question.

"You don't need to lift everything by yourself, Ves. Bots can do the same thing as well, you know? You only need to check their work afterwards if they left some discrepancies."

"It's not about efficiency. Otherwise I would have listened to your suggestion or let some mech technicians do the heavy lifting. It's about dedication."

"Dedication?"

"Yeah, it's..." Ves briefly paused his work to look at Iris. Should he tell her something like this? It hinted strongly towards one of his secrets.

He decided to keep it vague.

"It's about remaining involved through every step of the way. Without implementing my proposals by my own two hands, how can I know whether they will work as planned? With me on hand, I can instantly recognize if something doesn't pan out the way I want to. This way, I can ensure I will deliver the highest quality possible. That's the true meaning of dedication."

His words put Iris to thought, but only for a moment. While Ves spoke the truth, it was only a small portion of what he was really after. He hoped that Iris would quickly dismiss his words as wishy washy aspirations and go back to her work.

Instead, she smiled at him and spoke out her own thoughts. "You know, I've always had a feeling that mech designers don't do too much on their own. You're the first person who put my feelings into words. I always felt better about the mechs which I personally worked on. Now I understand a little. Thank you for that, Ves."

Ves wanted to palm his face. It wouldn't have been so bad if he mentioned this point to Alloc instead of a Vesian.

The more he worked by her side, the less her identity mattered. They were both mech designers who respected each other's competences.