Chapter 1951 At A Crossroads

Part of the success of his previous commercial mechs was because Ves often identified some unmet demand.

With so many different products on the market, it was hard for Ves to stand out. Yet because of his unique design philosophy, he somehow succeeded where others would have failed.

Ves fully recognized that while designing a well-functioning mech with superior performance was still important, it could still be lost in the sea of product offerings if thousands of competitors already realized the same mech concept!

Differentiation was vitally important. He did not wish to invest months in designing a commercial mech, only for his end product to be regarded as a generic entry into an oversaturated market category!

"Do you have any bright ideas, Benny?"

"Our marketers have analyzed plenty of opportunities, but most of them are fairly localized or specific to certain states. At the scope the LMC operates, it's important to offer products that possess more universal appeal."

"Send me the reports. I'll go over them later." Ves told his assistant. "Let's move on. Aside from the lack of new products, is there anything else I need to address?"

"There are plenty of problems that could use your attention, boss. Most of them are fairly minor, though, so you can address them at your leisure. There is one issue that is rather urgent. Do you remember the Tovars that comprise our first design team?"

"Oh."

Ves overlooked their situation. Miles Tovar, Cherie Tovar, Vela Tovar, Pachtold Tovar and Gilbert Tovar were all citizens of the Bright Republic!

That wasn't very special in itself. Ves was technically still a Brighter, and so were many other Larkinsons!

The issue was that half of his subordinate mech designers belonged to one of the most dominant families of a state that recently stabbed the Larkinson Family in the back!

The identities of Miles Tovar and the rest were far more complicated than that of Joshua King or any other random Brighter citizen in his employ.

They didn't just represent themselves. By virtue of their last names, they also represented the Tovar Family!

"Have they left the company and returned home to the Bright Republic?"

"Not exactly..." Gavin trailed. "Their situation is a bit more complicated. You should hear them out directly."

"Oh. I have some time before I'm scheduled to talk to Raymond and the other leaders of the clan."

The two continued to go over some issues related to the company. Overall, Ves didn't really find them to be particularly pertinent. Leaders such as Raymond already did a great job in managing the LMC through this current crisis.

It was only issues like the one concerning the Tovars that was way above Raymond's head. This was something Ves had to confront in person.

"Connect me to the Tovars. Where are they, by the way?"

"All of your mech designers are aboard the Scarlet Rose. They're needed there in order to assist in performing repairs on the Bright Warriors and fabricate new ones."

That made sense. The Scarlet Rose was a former CRC mobile supply frigate and possessed one of the most impressive ship-based mech workshops of his current fleet.

Only Gloriana's Scarlet Chaser offered better facilities!

However, Ves was not entirely comfortable about putting too many people on his latest prize ship. The Scarlet Rose was the source of all of the Breyer alloy that now comprised much of the metallic content of his Bright Warrior mechs! The ultimate source of this strategically-important material had to be kept secret at all cost!

"I need to talk to the Tovars right away."

It didn't take long for Gavin to pull the Tovars off their current duties. Because the fleet was currently travelling through FTL, they could only meet each other through projections.

Ves wanted to face his First Design Team in person. He'd be able to use his spiritual senses to glean some hints of their emotions and be able to influence them in turn.

"Mr. Larkinson." Miles Tovar's projection bowed and greeted him respectfully.

The others soon followed suit.

Their behavior was very peculiar. As the descendants of a powerful political family, Ves did not believe that Miles and the rest were nerds who were completely oblivious on how to conduct themselves!

From all of the time he spent with them, he discovered that they were always deliberate in their conduct.

Right now, the Tovar Family's ties with Ves were very problematic. The Friday Coalition probably took a very dim view on Senator Tovar's strategy to hedge his bets and foster relations with both sides.

Under these conditions, the Tovar mech designers still chose to greet Ves with respect. In fact, they displayed even more reverence towards him than before!

In fact, if the Tovars wanted to leave, they could have just tended their resignations and departed home in the last month. No one would blame them for returning to their family instead of continuing to consort with the 'enemy'!

Ves crossed his arms. "Benny has already brought me up to speed on what is going on between the Bright Republic and the Friday Coalition. What I want to know is your stance on the matter."

The Tovars each glanced at each other before their leader spoke on their behalf.

"We want to stay."

Ves blinked.

"Pardon?"

"We want to continue to work for the LMC." Miles expanded. "My fellow cousins and I have been thinking long and hard on what we want. We.. kind of like it here. While we no longer enjoy as much regard or privilege as before, there is something very satisfying about being a part of your team. The situation back home is much more complicated. We are often forced to work for our family as opposed to our vocation. I feel I have made a lot more progress in a single year of working under you as opposed to five years of trying to run my own company!"

The other Tovars expressed similar sentiments or simply nodded in agreement.

While Ves knew that every Tovar was also a politician, he could hear nothing but honesty in their words. Mech designers always understood each other the best. He readily believed that they truly wished to continue their current arrangement!

However, the current situation made that very difficult. As much as Ves wanted to keep them, their divided loyalties made it very difficult for him to continue to extend his trust to them. Who could say they wouldn't become the next Dr. Guernica someday?

"What about the Tovar Family?" Ves directly addressed the elephant in the room. "The Friday Coalition no longer allows the Bright Republic to remain uninvolved. The government has chosen a side."

"It's not as bad as you think, Mr. Larkinson. While our Tovar Family is still a part of the ruling class of the Bright Republic, we have continued to support you and the Larkinsons as we have promised. While the current political climate has made it difficult for our family, we possess a very deep foundation in the fabric of our state. We are confident that our family will be able to weather the storm. We have even undertaken many risky measures to help your Larkinson Family in various ways."

That was true. Calabast did mention that the Tovar Family and a bunch of other supporters assisted the Larkinson Family in the dark. They dared to defy the prevailing trend and incurred a considerable amount of risk in doing so! Their decision to march out of lockstep with their peers was either very shrewd or very stupid!

Ves couldn't ignore the goodwill offered by the Tovar Family. His opinion of them improved considerably. Unlike last time, the Tovars had firmly stuck to his side!

Naturally, they weren't doing it out of the good of their heart. Senator Tovar clearly wanted to form a backup plan in the event the Hexadric Hegemony won the Komodo War.

"I acknowledge the help your family has provided. However, that makes your continued presence in my employ even more sensitive."

"We know." Miles responded. "We still want to continue to work for you. If you will have us, Senator Tovar is prepared to make the situation less awkward for us by exiling us from the family."

What?!

"Are you serious?"

None of the Tovars showed any doubt. "We are. Our relatives have already given us their blessings to part ways with the family in order to offer our primary loyalty to you and the LMC. To be honest, we don't miss the Tovar Family very much. Ever since we started travelling with you, we are looking forward to seeing the galaxy and beyond. If we chose to leave the LMC and go back to the Bright Republic, then chances are we'll never be able to amount to anything more than a handful of forgettable Apprentice Mech Designers."

Miles Tovar certainly didn't mince any words when it came to his own future prospect. Working under superstars like Ves and Gloriana made it very difficult for them to hold on to any self-esteem.

While Ves was a little disappointed in their lack of confidence in themselves, he applauded their willingness to confront reality without resorting to excuses. It was easy to resort to lies and rationalizations in order to avoid hurting their precious egos.

He actually expected the Tovars to possess an inflated sense of confidence, but it appeared the Tovars were more astute than he credited them for.

Ves felt as if he reached a crossroads. The decision he made here would be indicative of how he treated his other workers.

In the context of Calabast's proposal, this decision took on additional significance because Ves was in effect contemplating whether the Tovar mech designers should be allowed to join the Larkinson Clan!

On the surface, he wasn't a fan of divided loyalties. He wanted to trust his fellow clansmen to put the interests of the clan before the interests of another faction!

Ves doubted whether Miles Tovar would be able to act against the interests of the Tovar Family in order to advance the interests of the Larkinson Clan.

Then again, such a situation was unlikely to occur for the time being. The Tovars still sided with the Larkinsons. As long as this was the case, Ves might be able to accept the Tovar Mech Designers as clansmen!

The only issue was how he could be sure that Miles, Cherie and the rest were truly invested in the Larkinson Clan. If they lacked sincerity, then Ves would only be inviting disaster!

As Ves thought about this implacable problem, he suddenly turned his gaze away from the projection and towards Nitaa.

He held out his hand. "Can you pass me the Larkinson Mandate?"

Though his silent bodyguard didn't understand why he made this random request, she dutifully handed over the book that had been braced onto her armor.

As soon as Ves held the book, he basked in its glow. Goldie's strong and lively presence greeted Ves with a cute yawn.

Nyaaa.

Ves spiritually issued a request.

"Can you check these people out and see whether they would make for good additions to the clan?"

Nyaaa?

"Just check whether they are sincere. Can you do that from this distance?"

Nyaaa!

Goldie seemed to be more versatile than he thought. The fact that they were on different ships travelling through FTL didn't seem to stop her from inspecting the Tovars.

After a dozen seconds, the Golden Cat turned away from the projection.

Nyaa.

"Really?"

Nyaa nyaa.

"Okay. Thank you, Goldie. I'll play with you later."

Nyaaaaaaa!

The answer she provided was simple, but carried immense implications. According to the Golden Cat, the Tovar mech designers were truly willing to dedicate themselves to their current jobs!

Even though they were still Tovars and would always remember their roots, they primarily saw themselves as mech designers.

The Tovar Family, for all of their support they provided to Miles, Cherie, Vela, Pachtold and Gilbert, none of them had been able to achieve genuine success in their careers!

A rich and powerful family could only provide them with some conveniences. The Tovars didn't possess a notable mech designer tradition, so they were pretty much clueless when it came to raising mech designers!

Only a mech designer could guide other mech designers! This was true since the beginning of the Age of Mechs, where the nascent Mech Trade Association already established a strong tradition of compelling established mech designers to teach the next generation of professionals!

In that context, the willingness of the Tovar mech designers to part ways with their own family made sense.

The question was whether Ves should accept them at all. While he appreciated the help they offered, they weren't particularly talented or notable. Only Miles possessed spiritual potential, and he still had a long way to go before he was worthy enough to become a Journeyman.

"This is a complicated issue." Ves eventually said. "Let me think about it. Don't be in a hurry to decide."

Though they looked a little disappointed, the Tovars tried to maintain their smiles.

"We shall await your decision."

Chapter 1952 Spiritual Monitoring System

After Ves ended his call with the Tovar mech designers, he fell into thought while Gavin dutifully remained silent.

His earlier discussion might have been simpler if Ves didn't talk with Calabast beforehand.

Her proposal continued to dominate his thoughts. It even started to color his judgement, which was very precarious because he himself didn't know his own stance on the matter!

Ves looked down on the Larkinson Mandate. The ancestral heirloom's glow had grown even stronger despite the loss of a number of connections.

He expected the Golden Cat to grow weaker or become downcast after the deaths of dozens mech pilots, but instead she looked as upbeat as ever.

Nyaaa.

Ves caressed her intangible body with a spiritual projection. The cat squinted and enjoyed his touch.

Though they didn't share any words, they conveyed their feelings and emotions in a different way.

He felt a lot less confused now that he sampled Goldie's opinion. As the spirit that represented the Larkinson Clan, Ves only had to gauge her reaction in order to determine what the clan wanted!

Of course, just because Goldie approved of a decision didn't mean it was the best choice to make.

Right now, Goldie didn't show much aversion towards the idea of adding a lot of outsiders to the clan. In fact, she even showed some eagerness at the thought of welcoming so many many Larkinsons to the fold!

The crucial difference why Goldie was a lot more optimistic than Ves was because she was a spiritual entity by nature.

Due to her central position in the Larkinson Clan, she was able to peer through the heart of every clansman.

She didn't fear adopting potential traitors into the clan because Goldie would instantly be able to detect them as long as they pledged an oath in her presence!

Once she formed a connection with the new clansmen, she would continue to keep an eye on them without their knowledge.

It was as if Ves had inadvertently designed a spiritual monitoring system when he conceived of an ancestral spirit for the clan!

Unlike electronic monitoring systems, it was a lot harder to jam or tamper with spiritual monitoring systems! The permanent spiritual connections that Goldie maintained with every member of the clan would continue to stay in effect regardless of how much his clansmen tried to isolate themselves!

This was a unique and exceptionally useful tool to ensure the loyalty of the new Larkinsons.

However, the story wasn't so simple.

Just as the Golden Cat affected the Larkinsons, the Larkinsons also shaped the Golden Cat.

While this interaction was a lot stronger in the early days, Ves ultimately designed the Golden Cat to pose as a collective representation of the Larkinsons.

For example, if the Larkinsons all lost their morals and turned into pirates, then Goldie would eventually be tainted by their poison and become a cruel and degenerate spirit.

While Ves designed some safeguards in the Golden Cat by putting more weight in the values she adopted early on as opposed to the ones she assimilated later, he could not go too far in sticking to the past.

The Larkinson Clan needed to be flexible enough to adapt to changing circumstances, and Goldie had to be open-minded enough to accept new ideas.

As a result, introducing a lot of new outsiders into the clan risked warping Goldie into a direction that Ves wasn't fully comfortable with. Just thinking about how thousands of Ylvainans would flood the Golden Cat with veneration towards Prophet Ylvaine frightened him beyond his wits!

Ves could not stand by and let Goldie transform into becoming Ylvaine's greatest fan. If he decided to accept Calabast's proposal, he had to find a way to integrate all of that diversity while maintaining the essence of the Larkinson Clan.

As he continued to mull over this issue, his meeting with the Larkinsons soon began.

A bunch of elders from the clan, ranging from Raymond Billingsley-Larkinson to Clinton Larkinson joined the conference call from various ships. The conference room lit up with various projections.

Everyone looked at Ves.

"You're awake."

"I am."

"Good to have you back, patriarch."

"Thank you."

After they were done exchanging small talk, they immediately proceeded to discuss the most critical issue.

"I'm not sure if Gavin or your girlfriend has informed you, but there are a number of clansmen who have applied to leave our clan. They want to depart as soon as we meet with Ark and the members of the old family that escaped the Republic." Raymond gently started.

Everyone was watching Ves' reaction like a hawk. They wanted to see how the patriarch reacted to such an egregious development.

Someone with very little control and quick to anger would definitely blow his top!

Ves did not do so. Not only did he have prior warning, he didn't really care about the departure of weak-minded rabble who possessed no stomach for hardship.

"We have never prohibited Larkinson clansmen from leaving the clan." Ves eventually spoke. "I would like our clan to hold the same stance as the original Larkinson Family. If at any point a Larkinson believes they no longer have a future in the clan, they should be free to part ways without any fuss or punishment."

His calm cadence quietly reassured the most influential elders, many of whom were members of the Executive Council and Larkinson Assembly.

Yet just because Ves was okay with it didn't mean that the other Larkinsons were as accepting!

"Two-hundred of our clansmen are leaving, Ves! Their selfishness will weaken us in a time where we can least afford it! They should at least offer some compensation for the harm they cause with their departure!"

The words of one of the members of the council provoked a brief but seemingly familiar argument. Ves heard both sides but did not sway from his decision.

"I agree that leaving the clan while it is in the middle of a battle or a very precarious situation is no different from betrayal. That is clearly not allowed. However, I think it is detrimental to act as strict as the Mech Corps with regards to leaving. The two-hundred clansmen who want to leave at least have the decency to wait until we reach the Sentinel Kingdom before they depart."

"That's only because they want to keep riding our ships while enjoying our protection against any potential Fridayman ambush!"

That was true, but Ves didn't really care.

"Look, it seems their departure is pretty much set in stone. What do you want?"

"We want you to talk to them and persuade them to reconsider." Raymond answered. "We tried to convince the Larkinsons who intend to leave to change their minds, but we aren't as persuasive as you. They are too taken in by the new vision that Ark Larkinson has set for the Larkinson Family. Only you have the clout to compete against an expert pilot!"

Ves frowned. "What does Uncle Ark want to do?"

"Venerable Ark wants to attach the Larkinson Family to another state. I heard that the members of the old family are considering whether to dedicate themselves to the Sentinel Kingdom. With their recent troubles, they could use the help. I even heard a rumor that Sentinel offered to elevate the old family into a noble house in return for their military service!"

"What?! That's a very big offer!"

Kingdoms generally weren't keen on inviting foreigners. The Sentinel Kingdom already possessed enough noble houses, and all of them had already carved out every piece of territory.

The old family simply wasn't set up as a noble house. They possessed no governance experience and they weren't very adept in the ruthless politics that was essential to keep a noble house in power!

Speaker Ovrin Larkinson shook his head. "That rumor isn't very credible. Ark would never in a million years allow the formation of House Larkinson. We have fought the Vesians long enough to know how aristocracy corrupts. I think that Ark is more likely to decide to leave the Komodo Star Sector entirely and find a more decent state to offer the family's services."

As someone who intended to leave the Komodo Star Sector himself, Ves didn't blame Ark for leaving.

Half of the star sector turned into hostile territory, and the other half was aligned to a state that elevated females over males. There was nowhere in the current star sector that the Larkinson Family could settle and still retain their old values and way of life.

Yet Ves believed that Ark and the old family would have to travel very far in order to find a state that was worthy enough to meet their demands.

The Vicious Mountain Star Sector worshipped mech pilots and especially expert pilots like Venerable Ark. Yet its warlords also engaged in frequent scuffles and destructive conflicts just to earn more glory!

Their interpretation of honor was a lot less about sacrifice and a lot more about padding their battle records!

As for the Majestic Teal Star Sector, political intrigue was rife there. Even though full-blown wars were rather rare there, its decadent rulers engaged in constant back stabbing and proxy wars while shifting alliances as frequently as they changed their clothes!

From the stories Ves heard about Majestic Teal, honor was just an empty word there. A lot of people from Majestic Teal liked to boast about their honor and valor in battle, but it was really just a tool to raise their reputation. Whether their honor was authentic or not was no concern as long as no one exposed the truth!

In short, the Larkinson Family would have to travel very far away to find a compatible state to offer its services!

Ves wasn't the only one to recognize this problem.

Clinton Larkinson sighed. "If there aren't any good options available, then Ark might turn the Larkinsons into mercenaries, at least for a time. They can work and keep their skills sharp as they move further and further away from our home. Eventually, they'll find a good state or star sector to settle in if they don't get ambushed or robbed along the way."

Every Larkinson in the conference room displayed some concern to their fellow Larkinsons.

No one suggested that they should absorb the old family into the clan. There was no way to persuade these Larkinsons to get over their hard feelings when they were targeted by Ves' enemies.

Even his famous Devil Tongue was probably unable to convince his own uncle to take part in his risky venture!

The discussion proceeded onwards. However, Ves continually showed very little interest in speaking with the leavers.

"I don't want to waste my energy on those who don't abide by our clan's motto." Ves firmly set his foot down. "Even if ninety percent of the clan wants to leave, I will still answer the same way because I only want comrades at my side who I can trust in battle!"

While a lot of Larkinson elders looked disappointed, they grudgingly accepted his argument.

Ves wasn't wrong by any means, but the departure of so many Larkinsons hurt the clan immensely.

"Did Calabast come to you with her proposal?"

Groans immediately sounded across the conference room as at least half of the elders showed some sort of reaction.

"Who is Calabast? What is her proposal all about?" A clueless assembly member asked.

It appeared that Calabast only approached the most senior Larkinsons with her radical proposal. This was helpful in maintaining stability. With all of the setbacks it suffered, the clan could hardly endure another shock!

However, Ves saw little point in secrecy. Besides, enough time had passed that his clansmen should be able to discuss this idea without losing their temper.

He quickly introduced Calabast's suggestion.

It didn't take long for the recently-enlightened Larkinsons elders to react!

"Impossible! Becoming a Larkinson is not a matter of changing your last name!"

"There are too many Ylvainans! Their religious expression is cute, but it's all superstition! We can't allow our descendants to turn into cultists!"

"A lot of mech pilots who risked their lives during the Battle for Kesseling VIII deserve to be honored. However, what have the civilians done for us to warrant the same treatment? Inducting them in the clan will only weaken our martial tradition! From the founding of the Bright Republic, our heritage has always revolved around mechs and mech pilots! We should keep our focus pure and avoid any distractions!"

Most of the sentiments sounded negative towards Calabast's proposal. Ves didn't expect anything different.

Since Ves wasn't sure about his stance on the matter, he didn't bother to support or reject the proposal.

"Please discuss this suggestion at the Larkinson Assembly and the Executive Council." He requested. "Don't discard it right away. No matter what decision you end up with, I hope you'll back it up with serious arguments!"

Rather than continue to wrestle over this decision, Ves just decided to wash his hands off it and let the rest of the clan decide!

In the meantime, Ves could start a new design project!

Chapter 1953 Spirit and Body

A few days went by as Ves continued to meet with different people.

He discussed the sprawling disposition of vessels with Fleet Coordinator Ophelia Kronon.

"We have accumulated a lot of carriers and other vessels, but by and large they are quite vulnerable against enemy attacks." She told him through a projection. "While we have an adequate amount of mechs to protect our fleet, there are various problems related to coordination. Some vessels belong to the Larkinson Clan, some vessels follow the lead of the Avatars of Myth while many other vessels follow the direction of the Living Sentinels."

"This isn't necessarily a problem." Ves responded as he scratched Lucky's chin. "Our combat vessels have to cover for our civilian vessels."

"That's true, but our biggest problem is that we lack fully-fledged combat vessels. Compared to the Mech Corps or the Kronon Dynasty, we are sorely lacking in armored vessels that can withstand a blow and possibly withstand incoming fire. In many naval battles in space, combat carriers and other armored ships are often needed to cover our most vulnerable vessels."

Ves grimaced. "We tried to obtain combat carriers, but with the huge demand for starships, we still haven't been able to secure an order."

Both of them knew that obtaining combat vessels just wasn't in the cards right now. The declining financial situation of the LMC also didn't help any matters. Even if Ves offered three times as much money, the shipyards still wouldn't supply him with a combat vessel!

Even though the Sand War was already nearing its end, the Komodo War continued to grow hotter. The fighting at the border between the second-rate states continued to spread like wildfire while the rest of the star sector increasingly began to feel the heat!

"We will have to intercept any enemies before they are in range to threaten our ships." Ophelia declared. "While we tentatively have the mechs to fulfill this function, our reserves are distressingly low."

"How many spaceborn mechs do we have in total?"

"After repairing our damaged mechs, restoring some of the salvaged machines and transferring some landbound mech pilots to spaceborn mechs, we can muster up around 500 mechs. Manpower is a great bottleneck, but we have picked up a lot of Kronon defectors during our flight from the Ylvaine Protectorate. As we work them into our hierarchy, we can probably expand our numbers even further."

While the amount of mechs didn't sound so bad, the haphazard fleet centered around the Larkinson Clan amounted to a lot of ships, all of which were vulnerable to attacks.

"We don't have many options available." Ves murmured as he rubbed his smooth-shaven chin. "Hardly any of the states along our route are great recruitment sites. States such as the Reinald Republic and the Council Stars of Lisv are either devastated by the sandmen or already strained for manpower."

As for mechs, that was a bit easier. While their fleet didn't possess any strong fabrication capabilities due to the absence of a factory ship, they did pick up a considerable amount of salvage.

The CRC mechs they managed to defeat at Kesseling VIII were all worth a considerable amount of money!

While it was too difficult to restore them to functionality considering the vast tech disparity, they could still be traded for mechs or recycled in order to utilize their excellent materials elsewhere.

After discussing all of these issues, the fleet coordinator bid goodbye while Ves met with various other people.

He cautiously sounded out James. The Living Prophet seemed as obnoxiously friendly as ever, but Ves didn't believe he was as simple as he appeared.

"I heard from Calabast that you wanted to join the Larkinson Clan. Do you even know what you are asking? While we respect your faith, My relatives and I are highly opposed to religion."

James smiled as if there wasn't any problem. "I am sure that you and your fellow Larkinsons are able to tolerate us. We have never compelled others to accept our beliefs. Besides, your Larkinsons and my True Believers share a lot more in common than you think. We too cherish fellowship, duty and bravery, especially when it comes to our Kronons."

While he was technically right, their fellowship and duty mainly applied to their fellow Ylvainans!

"If your True Believers ever have to choose between obeying you or me, who will they listen to? Can you guarantee that the Ylvainans working for me will recognize my leadership?"

"That is all the more reason to merge my followers with your clan." James smiled wider. "As long as a separation exists between your Larkinsons and the rest of us, tension will always exist. In contrast, absorbing us into your Larkinson Clan will truly unite us all. There will never be an instance where divided loyalties will pose a problem because both believers and non-believers are aligned! As long as your Larkinsons accept my followers in earnest, our differences will diminish."

It was impressive how James managed to turn his argument around. Ves had a feeling that there was no point in debating the Living Prophet because he was so good at it! As the clone of the original prophet, James inherited his gene donator's skilled oratory and exceptional persuasiveness!

Along with the illusion that he was able to see the future, Ves constantly felt as if James already foresaw this conversation!

Ves felt frustrated the longer he talked to James. As the Living Prophet provided a lot of reassurances that his believers would earnestly try to integrate with the Larkinsons, he eventually waved his hand.

"Enough! I'm not the main decision maker. Before you try to obtain my approval, you'll have to convince my secularist relatives why they should embrace your fanatics into the clan."

"They will come around to our viewpoint." The religious leader immediately declared. "While you and your Larkinsons are focusing too much on our differences, in time you will come to appreciate what we share in common."

"WHatever you say, prophet."

Ves ended the conversation as fast as possible. There was just something unsettling about talking to the clone.

His apprehension increased when he realized that James was channeling Ylvaine's spiritual fragment!

"The two are in cahoots!"

This was an incredibly disturbing conclusion! In his perspective, the two shouldn't be intersecting with each other.

Ves originally created Ylvaine's spiritual fragment out of a miniscule spiritual remnant he lifted from a nutrient pack wrapper.

The spiritual fragment was never meant to be a complete spiritual entity. Yet as it assumed its position as design spirit, it connected with an increasing number of Ylvainan mech pilots, each of whom developed their own impression of the Great Prophet!

The design spirit began to turn more human. All of those devout Ylvainan mech pilots inadvertently filled the holes in the design spirit's personality, essentially recreating a version of the Great Prophet in spiritual form!

That wasn't necessarily bad. Ves never wanted to restrict his design spirits. He treated them like living beings, and always benefited when they grew stronger and more sophisticated.

The problem was that the spiritual fragment was somehow colluding with the clone of the prophet!

A clone who only spewed nonsense wasn't very scary. A clone who somehow gained the assistance of a highly-compatible design spirit was something else!

He shook his head. As much as he wanted to prevent Ylvaine's spiritual fragment from getting influenced by the clone, he wasn't sure if it was possible to undo their alliance.

One of them was derived from the spirit of Prophet Ylvaine, while the other was derived from his body!

A very frightening realization suddenly struck him like a lightning bolt.

"Did I inadvertently resurrect the Great Prophet?"

The implications of these words were simply too much for Ves to cope!

He didn't believe he brought the original prophet back to life. At most, the design spirit and the clone were merely derivations of a common source. These pale and incomplete copies could never match the original.

However, that didn't mean that these incomplete copies would be able to turn into something greater than the original prophet, especially when they pooled their strengths!

What Ves didn't understand was why James wanted to become a part of the Larkinson Clan. Even if he was just half as capable as the original prophet, then he was definitely capable of branching out on his own!

Ves didn't want to devote any more processing power to this issue.

Regardless what he thought, the Ylvainans comprised at least half of his workforce, if not more. They crewed his ships, piloted his mechs and and more.

If Ves or the Larkinson Clan had a falling out with the True Ylvaine Dynasty, their fleet would instantly become a shadow of its former self!

This was not a time to provoke a schism! As long as his fleet was still travelling through Coalition-aligned space, there was always a chance the CRC would strike them again!

For better or worse, Ves needed the True Believers. Tolerating James' nonsense was a small price to pay in exchange for the protection of his loyal followers.

As for adopting them into the Larkinson Clan, Ves did not believe that the future was set in stone. Even prophets were wrong sometimes!

After conducting various meetings, Ves finally cleared up his agenda. While many issues still needed to be addressed, he merely had to provide direction to his deputies. After Ophelia, Raymond, Melkor and other senior leaders understood his priorities, they dutifully followed his intentions.

This finally freed up time for Ves to contemplate his next design projects.

Ves gathered with Gloriana at the Stellar Chaser's mech workshop.

While their cats were nuzzling their noses at each other, both of them sat in front of a terminal.

His girlfriend clapped her hand and grinned with excitement!

"Hihihi! We're finally designing a mech again! I missed this so much!"

Their Bright Warrior was their last project. So far, the design proved to be a massive success. Not only did their Bright Warrior model single-handedly beat the CRC in space, it also enabled them to create their first officially-recognized masterwork mech!

It was very difficult to top that kind of success.

Ves was still determined to try. Now that he activated Archimedes Rubal implant, he looked forward to testing how much it boosted his design work!

"I'm not sure what mech concept we should tackle next." He admitted. "I'm a bit short on ideas right now."

"Well, you already stated that you wanted to design a commercial mech model in order to invigorate the LMC. I take it that you want to present a third-class mech, correct?"

He nodded. "While I'm confident that I'm ready to design a second-class mech, there isn't a viable market in this star sector. The Friday Coalition obviously won't accept my mechs, and the Hexadric Hegemony is too hung up on my gender to do the same."

His girlfriend grinned wider. "I wouldn't be so sure about the last one. While Calabast is still finalizing the details with DIVA, there may be a possibility for you to design a mech for the Hegemony. It'll be fairly special, though."

"How so?"

"After hearing Calabast and I out, DIVA is interested in your glows. The agency is curious whether your design philosophy can be leveraged at the main front of the Komodo War. We made a very persuasive case that we can tilt the balance of all of those pitched battles in our favor due to the proven effects that your glows can affect the morale of thousands of mech pilots."

Ves looked surprised. "Even if that is so, aren't you Hexers biased against male mech designers like me? I won't agree to working under another Hexer mech designer. I also don't want anyone else to steal my credit for my work. This is non-negotiable, Gloriana."

Now that he gained a lot of recognition, he felt more confident about putting down his foot. Even if the Hexers were a bunch of female supremacists, it was impossible for them to ignore his value!

"That won't be a problem, Ves." Gloriana reassured him. "There is a very elegant solution to your concerns. DIVA wants to test the water by allowing you to design a mech. The only condition is that it should exclusively be targeted towards males rather than females!"

"What?!"

Chapter 1954 Condescending Mech Design

Mechs didn't possess genders.

Hardly anyone even thought about it. Regardless of whether a mech pilot was male or female, they piloted a machine whether its dimensions resembled a male or female form.

Most mech designers defaulted to a male form when they designed a humanoid mech because that was the optimal standard in most cases.

Of course, some mechs designed to be slim occasionally looked feminine, but that was ordinarily not a major issue to male mech pilots.

These users cared a lot more about the condition and performance of their mechs rather than their gender.

Masculine mechs were generally beefier and tougher while feminine mechs were often slammer and faster.

This was not a hard rule, though. Plenty of mech designers developed female knight mechs and a lot of light mechs strictly adhered to the masculine form.

In short, hardly anyone in the mech industry cared about the gender of a mech.

Only a society obsessed with gender differences made this arbitrary distinction!

Ves knew that the Hexers didn't forbid their males from piloting mechs. That was simply too stupid considering how they would instantly half their manpower pool!

Otherwise, Venerable Brutus Wodin wouldn't be allowed to pilot the Star Dancer in the first place!

With a rival as formidable as the Friday Coalition, the Hexers would be fools to cripple their own fighting strength!

However, even if the Hexers allowed males to pilot mechs and serve in the Hex Army, they predominantly comprise of the lower ranks!

There was not a single 'boy' in the senior ranks of the Hex Army. It was impossible for boys to be promoted to the rank of mech captain or mech lieutenant. Both male and female Hexers agreed that putting any boy in a leadership position should never be allowed!

Therefore, males predominantly comprised the lower ranks of every mech force.

The discrimination didn't end there.

Aside from blocking the promotion opportunities of the lesser gender, the female Hexers also hogged all of the better mechs to themselves!

Gloriana tapped the terminal and projected two different mechs.

"Here are two typical mechs of the Hex Army." She began. "One is reserved for boys and the other is reserved for women."

There was no question which belonged to which. The mech for boys consisted of a large but fairly low-quality knight mech.

Even though it was sizable and incorporated a lot of advanced technology, it was hardly the best representation of the strength of the Hex Army.

It was basically a budget model in second-class terms. The knight mech was still a lot more formidable than any third-class equivalent, but it was very much a mech designed to be cheap and economic!

What grated Ves the most about this mech design was how it implicitly denigrated its intended users.

"This male mech is probably designed by a female Hexer." Ves remarked.

There was no doubt in his tone.

Gloriana sighed. "That's true. In the Hegemony, regardless if a mech is meant to be piloted by boys or women, a female mech designer should always be in charge of the design project! In the history of the Hegemony, I'm not sure if the Hegemony approved of any mechs designed by a boy! You have to know that even Brutus will never pilot an expert mech designed by a fellow male! It's simply unthinkable!"

That shouldn't necessarily be an issue. Plenty of female mech designers were able to design excellent mechs for males.

However, with the mindset the Hexer females adopted, their condescension and disregard for boys was subtly evident in the design choices they made.

The knight mech design that Gloriana used as an example was designed to act as cannon fodder. It combined mediocre exotics and materials into an economically-efficient package that was meant to offer as much protection as possible.

This wasn't necessarily bad, but the defensive mech was significantly poorer in preserving the life of the mech pilot!

First, its armor layout and its internal architecture was meant to make the mech as durable as possible.

The degree of compartmentalization was very high.

Even if an enemy finally breached its armor and felled the mech, enough of the wreck should be able to survive to make it possible to restore it back to functionality after performing restoration work.

However, the degree of redundancy was rather low, and Ves noticed a distinct priority in protecting the power reactor and mech engine over the cockpit!

The meaning of this mech was very clear to Ves. Its designer valued the internal components of the mech design over its intended mech pilots!

This was a very unusual design priority!

In other mech markets, preserving the life of the mech pilot was one of the top three priorities of a mech.

No one wanted to pilot a death trap! Any mech that didn't prioritize the lives of its mech pilots would never be liked by its intended customers!

Only stupid customers purchased these kinds of mechs.

If boys actually had a say in the Hegemony, then a knight mech like this would never be allowed into the mech lineup of the Hex Army!

The female-shaped swordsman mech was obviously better. It was a premier mech that was at least eight times more expensive than the previous mech!

Despite its smaller dimensions, its high-quality armor system made it even more resilient than the knight mech!

Its lower mass and stronger locomotion made the swordsman mech a lot more mobile. If that wasn't enough, it came with integrated flight modules that allowed the mechs to hop rapidly across the battlefield or fly in the air or space with reasonable effectiveness.

Naturally, the feminine mech design also provided a lot of protection to the mech pilot. Its cockpit was clad with a hefty layer of armor. In the event of ejection, its formidable thrusters ensured that it would rapidly be able to flee to the rear intact!

All in all, the mindsets of the mech designers of the two mechs couldn't be more different.

Ves grimaced and crossed his arms. "What is the point of showing me this insulting comparison?"

His girlfriend shouldn't be blind to the differences either!

"I know how.. bad it looks, but this is what Hexer mech pilots and mech designers are accustomed to. Male mechs are designed to fulfill supportive roles in the battlefield while female mechs are meant to achieve victory. Any mechs designed for Hexers have to fit this paradigm."

She elaborated on what she meant by displaying other male and female Hexer mech designs.

Male mech designs generally consisted of relatively lower-end 'support mechs'. That translated to defensive mechs and ranged mechs that were very necessary in any force makeup but rarely stole the show in a battle.

The knight mechs were meant to anchor the enemy while the ranged mechs were meant to provide ranged support.

Both mech types had the potential to be more than a generic presence on the battlefield.

His old Blackbeak and Crystal Lord designs were excellent examples.

The Blackbeak was an offensive knight rather than a defensive knight. While its defensive capabilities weren't as formidable, its mobility more than made up for it, allowing its mech pilot to take the fight to the enemy or perform various complicated maneuvers!

The Crystal Lord was not only fast, but also resilient. This allowed its mech pilot to deploy it closer to the enemy and enable it to duel opponents with the confidence that its armor would always hold up against opposing ranged mechs!

In both cases, Ves designed the mechs to empower the mech pilot. During his various Mastery experiences, Ves learned how much mech pilots valued agency.

Mech pilots always sought to do something, but they weren't always able to follow through because their mechs limited their options!

Ves had encountered plenty of mech models where their mech designers deliberately lowered the agency of the mech pilots. Frontline mechs were pretty much centered around this premise. His own Desolate Soldier model also adopted it to some degree.

However, the intentions of their mech designers were always benign. Ves designed the Desolate Soldier to be simple in order to accommodate a very wide variety of skill levels.

Those good intentions were absent in Hexer mech designs targeted to males. To Ves, it seemed that their female lead designers deliberately infantilized their target audience, expecting them to screw up if they piloted anything more powerful or complicated.

This meant that regardless of the skill level of male Hexer mech pilots, their performance on the battlefield wouldn't differ that much because the good ones weren't able to surpass the limitations of their mechs!

When Ves described his observations to Gloriana, she at least looked ashamed.

"To be honest, I agree with you." She said. "I used to design exclusively for women, but once I took part in the development of Brutus' Star Dancer, I learned that boys can be just as impressive as women on the battlefield. Women are better leaders, of course, but when it comes to pure fighting, boys inherently possess a greater propensity for violence."

That sounded both right and wrong! Ves was glad that she acknowledged that male mech pilots were just as good as female mech pilots, but what was that about 'propensity for violence'?!

"Designing a Hexer mech is becoming even less and less attractive to me." Ves scowled. "If I have to design a mech, I want to do it on my terms."

His girlfriend did her best to reassure him. "I didn't show you these examples in order to force you to adhere to them. I'm aware your design style doesn't agree with our style of mech design. Calabast and I communicated that to DIVA, and the agency altered its demands as a response."

"What does DIVA want?"

"I already told you, Ves. They want you to design a male mech that is oriented around support. The key is the glow of the mech. It should support the Hex Army and suppress the Fridayman combatants on the battlefield. The details are mostly up to us, but DIVA did attach some additional conditions to this commission."

She sent him a list of requirements and specifications. Overall, Ves didn't have to worry about licensing any components, because DIVA would be extending its propriety component licenses to Ves for the project.

That said, the budget of the project was fairly strict. Male mech designs were not allowed to be better than their female equivalents!

Perhaps the only upside to the project was that Ves and Gloriana were able to choose the mech type of their next project themselves. Whether they wanted to design a ranged mech, melee mech, spaceborn mech or landbound mech was fully up to them! The only caveat was that their choice should fully conform to a supportive function, so Ves wasn't allowed to pick a swift light skirmisher or a flashy lancer mech.

The restrictions grated on Ves.

"Can I refuse?" He asked.

Gloriana shook her head and smirked. "Not this time. Remember that DIVA is almost about to rescue your captured relatives. The amount of effort they put in this operation is significant. They expect something in return, and designing a mech that can embolden Hexers and strike fear in the hearts of the Fridaymen is the best way to pay back your debt!"

Obviously, his girlfriend was very eager to accept this commission! She knew how much potential his design philosophy possessed, and she wanted Ves to demonstrate his strength in order to earn even more appreciation from her fellow Hexers!

For his part, Ves may not like the Hexer approach to mech design, but it seemed this was the only acceptable way for a 'boy' like him to offer a mech to the Hexers.

Ves hadn't forgotten about his determination to take revenge on the Fridaymen. Killing his relatives and ruining their lives had to be paid back a thousand-fold!

Therefore, even if it was an insult to his dignity, Ves was more than willing to grit his teeth and accept DIVA's conditions if it meant he could exact his revenge!

Chapter 1955 Anti-Crowd

"Let's put DIVA's commission aside for the moment." Ves suggested. "All of this is a bit new to me. I think I need to study Hexer mech designs more extensively in order to develop a vision that conforms to your people's demands."

The rebellious part of him wanted to subvert the commission in some way. He wanted to sneak a design past the Hexers that secretly empowered male mech pilots.

Ves immediately thought of the Adonis Colossus. Of all of his mech designs, this custom mech was the epitome of an alpha male design!

His first idea was to reuse Bravo, its design spirit, into his Hexer mech design.

Perhaps he could slowly insert some much needed backbone in the spine of those repressed male mech pilots.

It was a stupid idea.

The Hexers probably watched their boys like a hawk. Any adverse change would doubtlessly be investigated! If it turned out that all they shared in common was the mech they piloted, then Ves would get into a lot of trouble!

As much as he wanted to give those poor men a much-needed boost, the price was too much. He would get into so much trouble with the Hexers that he might ruin all of the goodwill he earned so far. Gloriana would be displeased as well, which was an even greater reason for him to refrain from messing around!

Besides, as a matter of principle, Ves despised duplicity when it came to commissions. As a mech designer, he had to be professional and design a mech that best fit the demands of his client.

Perhaps he broke or bent these principles sometimes, but generally Ves truly valued honesty in mech design!

People may lie, but mechs were always honest.

Ves didn't want to stoop to sabotaging or subverting the intentions of his clients just because he was in a bad mood. That was unprofessional and would certainly harm his reputation if his shenanigans became known.

He glanced towards his girlfriend, who offered him a brilliant smile.

He doubted that Gloriana would let him get away with any of his vile plots. While she deviated from the mold of a stereotypical Hexer, she still cared a lot about her home state! She would never do anything that harmed the Hegemony!

She stretched out her finger. "I will transfer a selection of iconic Hexer designs as well as my personal notes to you. Would you like me to pass it to your cranial implant?"

"NO! Ahem, just send it to my comm as usual. I'll peruse it in my own time."

While his Archimedes Rubal could fit an enormous amount of data, Ves was not about to fill it up with junk! How will his implant shape his thoughts when it was filled with mech designs that denigrated their male mech pilots and nonsensical propaganda of how boys shouldn't be entrusted with responsibilities?

Although the implant was typically designed to prevent this kind of bleed-through, Ves was not going to take any risks on this matter!

After Gloriana transferred the files to his comm, they went back to the original topic.

"We can tackle multiple projects at the same time." He said. "We can work on DIVA's commission at the same time as designing the LMC's next commercial mech. Let's exchange some ideas on the latter. Do you have any suggestions?"

"You want to design a third-class mech, right? Then perhaps you can design something with an eye towards our own needs."

"We already have the Bright Warrior, Gloriana. It's not just a single mech design, but a platform that encompasses four different configurations. In fact, we can even design additional configurations as long as it's not too extreme."

Gloriana shook her head. "I know, but the Bright Warrior platform isn't a solution to everything. First, demand for it heavily outstrips supply."

The availability of Breyer alloy still remained very limited, and the entire fleet only offered two advanced workshops that were capable of fabricating Bright Warrior mechs.

"Second, not all of our mech pilots are able to promote to second-class mech pilots within a year." She continued. "Some people are simply less talented or need more time to learn how to handle a higher class of mechs. In the interim, they need a serviceable mech design to perform their duties. While your Avatars and Sentinels are fine with piloting third-party mechs, I think they probably prefer to pilot mechs with glows."

He agreed with her. As a mech designer, how could he continue to rely so heavily on the products of other mech designers?

Certainly, there were cases where it was acceptable for mech designers to rely on other people's products.

Someone who specialized in a specific type or category of mechs like Ketis wouldn't be able to design her own ranged mechs.

Lack of familiarity or expertise was another reason for Ves to rely on third-party mechs. While he considered himself to be rather versatile, he possessed enough self-knowledge to know that he wouldn't be able to design a fantastic heavy mech.

Considering that his slower mech pilots wouldn't be able to turn into second-class mech pilots anytime soon, it was not a waste of time to design a third-class mech that fit their needs.

Ves came up with a set of requirements. "Since my Larkinson Clan will be roving in space, we'll have to design a spaceborn mech. It has to be able to fill a niche in our mech roster but also be commercially viable. I'm not giving up on designing a mech that appeals to the market."

"What will be the price tier of your mech?"

"Premium." He decided. "Not too extravagant, but not cheap by any means. It has to be a mech that shouldn't be difficult to field en masse, but it has to be more than cannon fodder. Our mech pilots deserve better than being treated as disposable meat shields."

He implicitly criticized the Hexer approach to mech design with that remark, and Gloriana knew it. She winced at his acid tone.

"You're in charge when it comes to mass market mechs. I'm in charge when we design a custom mech. We agreed on that at the start of our collaboration."

He was being a bit too harsh on her. Normally, she often adjusted to his preferences in their collaborations. He was being a bit more catty than usual after Gloriana revealed another ugly aspect about Hexer society.

"Let's list out some mech types." He suggested.

"Okay." Gloriana pressed her finger against her lips. "Um, our Bright Warriors already fulfill the basic functions, but the Battle of Kesseling VIII showed that we are still short on a couple of aspects."

"Such as?"

"Well, we could use a better solution against a flood of low-quality mechs. In both the space battle and the land battle, the CRC attacked us in tandem with foreign mercenaries. Since they can do so once, they can do it again. Besides, not all of our enemies are powerful state actors. What if we cross horns with a major pirate syndicate? What if we enter into a vendetta with a powerful mercenary organization? The Bright Warrior's configurations are quite good at confronting powerful mechs, but they don't possess an inherent advantage against massed attacks."

Her words had merit. While Ves didn't have the time to study the Battle of Kesseling VIII in detail yet, from what he had seen, quantity could be just as scary as quality when the numbers were great enough!

However, providing a solution was easier said than done. In the same class, no mech could mow down dozens of enemy mechs with a couple of attacks!

The only exception was expert mechs, but they were not in his consideration right now.

Some mechs offered better options than others against massed attacks.

"What about artillery mechs?" Ves proposed.

"Medium artillery mechs or heavy artillery mechs?"

"Medium, of course. Heavy mechs are generally reserved to state actors and mech militaries. It's too cumbersome for us to field heavy mechs. They require specialized knowledge to design, fabricate and maintain."

She nodded in agreement. "You aren't wrong, but third-class artillery mechs are rather limited. The reason why most third-class artillery mechs fall under the heavyweight class is because they are very demanding mechs. All of their might and firepower requires lots of capacity."

"Most of our battles are fairly short, though." Ves retorted. "We aren't invading a fortification or anything. We can make do with less capacity as long as the battle doesn't last long enough to require a resupply. Even if our medium artillery mechs are forced to return to their carriers, it shouldn't take too long to replenish their magazines and energy cells."

"Hmm, I still think they are too limited. While they are reasonably effective at a distance, they aren't necessarily good against a group of mechs, especially in a space environment. I was thinking about designing a striker mech."

"A striker mech?"

"Yes, a striker mech. You never designed a striker mech before, right?"

He nodded. "Striker mechs are on my list. I always wanted to design one. I'm not so sure that this is the right time."

"Striker mechs armed with flamethrowers can be an effective deterrent against massed attacks."

"I don't entirely agree, Gloriana. They're less effective in this role in space. The distances are greater and the formations are more dispersed. While striker mechs can still be useful in fending of light skirmishers and other thinly-armored mechs, their armaments are notoriously poor at piercing armor."

"That's not important. The Bright Warriors are already capable of defeating tough opponents. What we need is a mech that can wipe out the riffraff in the most efficient way possible. A striker mech is the obvious answer."

While Ves didn't fully buy in her argument, he couldn't provide any alternatives.

It was different for higher classes of mechs. Second-class mech design opened up a lot of options. For example, an energy rifleman mech could put its weapon in a wide-area scatter mode.

However, at the bottom class, Ves was mainly confined to specialized mechs with hardly any room for gimmicks and gadgets.

After a bit more discussion, they decided to settle on a spaceborn medium striker mech.

To be honest, due to his recent Mastery experience, Ves wanted to design a light skirmisher. While he hadn't learned as much about light skirmishers than he expected, he did pick up a handful of insights that he wanted to test in a mech design.

A new light skirmisher model wasn't as needed as a striker mech, though.

The Avatars and Sentinels already fielded decent commercial light skirmishers. They also fielded a handful of striker mechs, but they weren't as suited to counter massed attacks as they wanted.

Gloriana doodled a very rough sketch in the air. The projected lines came together to form a mech that resembled a knight mech without a shield.

"Since this mech is meant to counter massed enemies, it's mainly reactive rather than proactive. Mobility isn't as important. Instead, we should make it as tough as our budget allows."

She added a crude representation of a flamethrower a moment later.

"Cheap mechs usually skimp out on heat management. Their maximum heat tolerance is very limited, and it's very easy to overwhelm them with heat. Even if the enemy avoids the flames, they can still act as a deterrent and keep them at bay."

Ves studied the sketch and tried to extrapolate its performance if they fleshed it out.

"With our budget, it's difficult to make the flamethrower potent enough. The armor system of a defensive mech already demands a lot of money. There is hardly any money left to improve the weapon."

"That's not necessarily the case, at least when it comes to us." She grinned. "As long as the LMC gets back on track, our financial situation will improve. We can outfit our striker mechs with sturdier flamethrowers and more potent propellants. If we have to go back to saving money, then we can just switch to cheaper propellants for a time."

That.. actually sounded reasonable.

Chapter 1956 Limited Capacity

Striker mechs predominantly served a defensive role in combat. They stacked up almost as much armor as knight mechs. Sometimes they carried a shield, but usually they didn't bother with one in favor of carrying a large and powerful area of effect weapon.

Shotguns and flamethrowers were the most basic and iconic weapons associated with striker mechs. Higher classes of striker mechs even wielded more advanced weapons such as gravity manipulators or high-powered heat projectors.

Though their mobility was almost as bad as knight mechs, as long as the enemy had to come to them, these mechs formed an effective deterrent against any melee mech.

Compared to more traditional ranged mechs, striker mechs were much more proficient in close-ranged combat. They traded punch and penetration for wide-area denial.

While they were fairly decent at attacking offensive melee mechs such as swordsman mechs or spearman mechs, they were far more suited at countering light mechs.

Compared to medium mechs, light mechs possessed much less armor. Compared to other mechs, their armor might as well be as fragile as skin!

In compensation, their mobility was the highest out of all of the weight classes. They survived on the battlefield despite their paper-thin armor by evading attacks and using their superior mobility to maneuver in complex environments.

Yet for all of their fancy flight maneuvers or footwork, if their opponent was able to blast an entire area with weapons fire, how could they possibly dodge?

Tougher mechs may be able to withstand the flames or shotgun pellets for a time, but light mechs didn't have that luxury most of the time!

Ves knew that striker mechs performed differently in space than on land.

On the ground, distances were much smaller. It was much easier for striker mechs to make an impact on the battlefield as light mechs didn't have as much room for maneuver.

However, Ves and Gloriana considered designing a striker mech for space combat. This was a lot more difficult as the larger distances and additional degrees of freedom made it much more harder to deny an area.

Once light mechs got close, they could approach an enemy from the front, left, right, rear, top or bottom!

Still, any melee mech still had to get close in order to make good on their threat. The closer they got, the easier it was to narrow down their angle of approach.

Even though striker mechs were too slow to chase after light mechs, that wasn't necessarily important. As long as they deterred a melee mech from moving close, they wouldn't be able to inflict any meaningful damage!

If this lasted long enough, then the defending side would surely be able to gain an advantage because their enemies were unable to leverage all of their mechs!

The mech concept that Gloriana proposed had to do all of this, and more.

Right now, Ves agreed with Gloriana that they needed to have a solution ready to resist masses of low-quality mechs.

Even if it wasn't possible to destroy them en masse right away, just pressuring them and blunting their momentum was enough to give his mech forces a much-needed reprieve!

For this reason, they started sketching a striker mech that started off with a flamethrower as its primary armament.

"We need to reserve plenty of capacity." Gloriana explained as she sketched out a large and armored tank on the rear of their draft design. "Landbound striker mechs usually operate in standard atmospheric conditions, so their flamethrowers can draw on plenty of oxygen in the air to feed their combustion reactions."

There was no air in space. That meant there wasn't any oxygen in space.

Under these conditions, how could someone start a fire in space?

The simplest answer was to bring your own oxidizing agent. It didn't necessarily have to be oxygen. While oxygen was rather cheap, there were denser and more efficient substances available.

The same went for the propellant. When they were laced with potent exotics, the energy they unleashed in the form of heat could reach extreme levels!

The only issue was that more effective substances cost a lot more money. Operating a striker mech could get very expensive as their propellants and oxidizing agents quickly ate in someone's budget.

However, this also gave their owners a lot of choice. If an outfit had to tighten their belts, then they could settle for cheap fuel and oxygen.

If the Avatars added a striker mech to their roster, then Commander Melkor would definitely invest millions of hex credits in enhancing its firepower!

Ves never designed a striker mech before. He had seen plenty of them in action, both on land and in space, and understood how they worked and how they were put together in theory.

It turned out that they were a lot more complex to design in practice.

It wasn't a matter of complexity. Striker mechs were very simple by nature. Just like knight mechs, they weren't required to perform any fancy moves. Third-class mechs also didn't contain a lot of extra functions.

The only problem was capacity.

"There's too little room!" Ves complained as he petted Lucky's back.

"Meow!"

He looked down at the cat lounging on his lap. "No matter how many exotics you eat, it all seems to disappear in your stomach. I can't say the same for our draft design."

Even if the propellant and oxidizing agent came in a compressed and compact state, striker mechs could go through their reserves at a frightening rate!

Compounding the capacity problem was the need to manage their heat. The flamethrowers and striker mechs themselves had to channel and contain an immense amount of heat.

Even if most of the energy was projected outwards, plenty of it still washed over the mech itself.

As mechs were unable to shunt away as much heat in space than on land, this could pose a very serious problem if the design of the mech did not sufficiently cope with its own heat!

Perhaps the only mitigating factor was that the mechs usually ran out of propellant before their heat reached critical levels.

"Miaow."

While Lucky was taking a break, Clixie was cheerfully eating a bowl of freshly-prepared cat food. Gloriana's chefs weren't just good at cooking human food, but they were also proficient in satisfying the taste palates of cats!

"Hehehe." Gloriana smiled and rubbed Clixie's belly.

"Miaow!"

"Oh, sorry!"

While playing with their cats cheered them up, neither Ves nor Gloriana felt very good about their draft design.

No matter how ingenious they tried to be, striker mechs were brutally straight and simple from a design perspective.

They needed to fit in too much stuff. It was already bad enough when it came to landbound mechs, but the spaceborn versions were much more burdened in this aspect!

A lot of capacity had to be reserved for armor. As high-priority targets, striker mechs often attracted a lot of firepower.

Unlike rifleman mechs, mobility warfare was not an option due to all of the propellant, oxidizing agents, heat sinks they carried.

On top of that, their flight system also took up a substantial amount of capacity! Flight systems took up a lot of space, demanded a lot of energy and generated a considerable amount of heat!

From a technical standpoint, these weren't very complex elements. They just took up a lot of space, and there were very limited ways to mitigate this issue!

Gloriana furrowed her brows as she studied their current draft design.

Since Ves gained a bioimplant, he was finally able to keep up with Gloriana's mental calculations. Even though the projected design was just a draft, its technical precision and accuracy already reached a very advanced level!

Yet despite its beauty, the draft design didn't convey any notable advantages compared to comparable products on the market.

"Third-class spaceborn striker mechs are much more limited than I anticipated." His girlfriend pressed her fingers against her head. "No matter how much we adjust its configuration, we can't gain any additional advantages."

More propellant and oxidizing agents resulted in less armor and heat sinks.

More heat sinks resulted in less propellant, oxidizers and armor.

More armor resulted in less propellant, oxidizers and heat sinks.

Such tradeoffs were ubiquitous in mech design, but the problem was that no amount of ingenuity could offer a better tradeoff!

Gloriana was particularly annoyed with the limited tech base and material availability. She didn't shy away from the challenge, though. She knew she had to utilize her recently-improved mech affinity and the countless insights she gained from the Bright Warrior and Quint to design her most efficient third-class mech to date!

As for Ves, he was already starting to think how he could increase the value proposition of a commercial spaceborn striker mech when he couldn't rely on superior technology, expensive materials or design ingenuity.

"How good are the second-class versions of this mech type?" He asked.

"They're totally better. Everything takes up less capacity as their degree of miniaturization is much higher. They can also use more effective means of area denial such as creating localized gravity wells that don't rely on ammunition or propellants. Even if they utilize a classic flamethrower, the quality of propellants and oxidizing agents are so powerful that they can pose a threat against any melee mech, not just lightly-armored ones!"

The more advanced striker mechs even made use of dimensional storage, allowing them to carry a lot more charges than their frames allowed!

In other words, they were just like Lucky and his bottomless stomach!

Ves sighed. After designing something as fantastic as the Bright Warrior, he felt incredibly constrained now that he was back to his old haunt.

It was as if he returned from living in Gloriana's opulent mansion to his rickety wooden shack with a leaky roof.

If Ves designed this striker mech for his mech forces, then he wouldn't care that much about the budget of the mech. Any insurmountable problem could easily be solved as long as he threw enough money at it! This was exactly why the Bright Warrior performed so well during the Battle of Kesselling VIII!

Yet who could spend as much money as Ves? Not many. Mechs sold on the market had to perform their functions as efficiently as possible.

A mech that could do the same job as a competing mech but at half the cost would certainly take the crown!

When was the last time he designed a true commercial mech? Too long, it seemed, because Ves didn't feel very willing to abide by these restrictions!

He knew that this was not a good development. Third-class mech designs was his root. For years, he tried to work around their many limitations. The more he felt constrained, the more he felt pressured to innovate and develop brilliant design solutions.

If he continued to come up with expensive designs such as the Bright Warrior, Ves feared losing his efficiency edge.

In the mech market, mech designs had to be cost effective. Ves wouldn't be able to compete as effectively if he forgot how to design an inferior mech with superior value!

As long as he regained and maintained this edge, he could carry it over to second-class mech design and gain a lot more advantages over the competition!

Gloriana herself already recognized how useful it was to practice with designing these kinds of limiting mechs. How could Ves possibly fall behind his own girlfriend?

As a bona fide man, he refused to be worse than her in designing the mechs that formed his design roots!

"I don't want our upcoming product to become a forgettable addition to the mech market." Ves declared. "The LMC needs a bestseller in order to invigorate its brand and I need to prove that my previous commercial mech designs aren't outliers. I think we should increase the value of our striker mech design in two ways. First, we need to develop a good mech concept that synergizes with its glow. Second, we need some way to make its technical performance stand out. One of the two is not enough. We need both to deliver a product that can sell throughout the entire star sector, no star cluster!"

His ambition wasn't limited to the Komodo Star Sector anymore!

Chapter 1957 Deterrence

While Gloriana started to explore how they could give their striker mech design a performance edge, Ves began to explore its mech concept.

He wanted to develop a compelling vision for his mech. Its design and features had to harmonize with each other in a way that made sense.

In order to come up with a good idea, Ves began to doodle with the appearance of the mech.

Approaching the striker mech from an artistic direction rather than a technical direction was a lot more comfortable to him. His stress noticeably decreased as Ves temporarily put aside the headache-inducing capacity issues.

As a mech designed to fight against a horde of enemy mechs, the mech needed to project a very strong image.

If the enemy mech pilots believed his striker mech was a pushover, then they were much more likely to brave the flames!

This was not an outcome that Ves wanted to see.

After examining the draft design from every direction, he decided to gain some inspiration from the battle footage taken from the Battle of Kesseling VIII.

He loaded up the recordings and silently observed the brief but very intense battle in space from multiple angles.

He witnessed many heroic sights.

The handful of Deliverers put heavy pressure on the mercenary commanders.

Imon Ingvar recklessly dove into the enemy ranks.

Jannzi Larkinson's Shield of Samar came to his rescue.

The Solar Warriors held off the powerful second-class CRC mechs.

The Nova Warriors whittle away the mercenary mechs.

The Quint single-handedly destroyed several CRC mechs in its lancer mech configuration!

All in all, his Bright Warrior mechs did a marvelous job in foiling the CRC's attempt to cut off the Larkinson Clan's escape route.

Naturally, Ves also saw how many Avatar and Sentinel mechs succumbed to the flood of enemies.

If they weren't being taken out by a single attack from a CRC mech, they faltered as soon as they were being mobbed by several mercenary mechs!

It didn't matter if the enemy machines were cheaper and not as well-maintained. Aside from the Bright Warriors and the Shield of Samar, every other mech in the Avatar and Sentinel spaceborn contingent were unable to contend against this aggression!

If the Bright Warriors hadn't whittled down the CRC mechs and leveraged their superior defensive powers to sweep away the mercenaries, the battle in space might have been lost!

Could the battle have turned out better if his mech forces fielded more striker mechs?

Ves rubbed his smooth-shaven chin. He could see Gloriana's point. While the CRC mechs wouldn't be deterred at all, the mercenary mechs would have never made so many aggressive and unbridled attack passes if they had to brave a lot of flames!

Some of the mercenary corps that took part in the attack were obviously not as diligent in servicing their mechs than other outfits.

He paused the footage and zoomed in on a number of enemy mechs. On certain mechs, he spotted numerous signs of botched repairs, lack of maintenance and a lot of cut corners.

What was particularly egregious was that the armor coverage of some of the mechs was not complete!

Against a fully-armored target, flamethrowers weren't particularly deadly. The flames mostly melted the surface layers while increasing the heat level of the target.

However, the damage was countless times worse if the armor of the target contained vulnerabilities!

Striker mechs were able to inflict a lot of damage to the internals of a mech! The extreme application of heat and energy ruined lots of delicate components and machinery at a time!

A striker mech was a damaged mech's worst nightmare!

"We could have used more striker mechs." Ves concluded.

A lot more Avatar and Sentinel mechs would have still been up if his mech forces possessed an effective solution against massed attacks.

While a striker mech was only effective against melee mechs, freeing up pressure up close was vital in allowing friendly ranged mechs to fire at their targets without getting chased!

He shut down the projector. Despite the large amount of mechs, the battle didn't last very long. Ves had already seen what he needed to see, and he could always recall footage because he uploaded the files in his Archimedes Rubal implant.

His implant was supercharging his thinking speed and efficiency. Even if he didn't project the draft design, he could precisely envision it with his partially-digitized mind.

In fact, if they wanted to, Ves and Gloriana were fully capable of designing their mech in their minds!

He was a bit uncomfortable with this method, though. Visualizing his mech with his eyes was just a bit more real and substantial to him. It was hard to take a mech design seriously if it only existed in his mind.

Besides, Ves also needed to cooperate and coordinate with other mech designers. While it was no problem for him to exchange data with Gloriana, they also had to share their work with two design teams.

"Hmm.. the Bright Warriors failed to scare the mercenaries until my mechs finally crushed the CRC mechs."

The bridge mechs weren't as overwhelming as second-class mechs, but they were definitely superior to third-class mechs.

Sadly, his opponents didn't always possess a good discernment for mechs. If his enemies didn't study his mech lineup beforehand, then they could easily mistake the Bright Warriors as bog-stand third-class mechs!

Being underestimated was usually an advantage. However, the lack of deterrence value also meant that his forces would probably get into fights that could have been avoided if his enemies properly recognized their strength.

What Ves found notable about the mercenaries was that their morale at the start was very high. Likely buoyed by the rich rewards promised by the CRC, the mercenaries fought as if they would be set for life as long as they did their part!

The greedier the mercenaries, the harder they fought!

"And mercenaries are always greedy for money!"

Money translated into luxury. Money could be spent on training or augmentations. Money allowed mech pilots to buy their own personally-owned mechs, thereby freeing them from depending on their employers!

In short, as long as someone waved enough money in front of their faces, the mercenaries were more than willing to disregard a portion of their fear of death and take some risks!

His thoughts grew more focused towards manipulating morale.

This happened to be an area his design philosophy excelled in. He learned the importance of maintaining the confidence of his own men from watching how Major Verle motivated the hearts of the Flagrant Vandals.

He incorporated these lessons in his own design approach. His Desolate Soldiers and his Bright Warriors were already doing a great job in boosting the confidence of his mech pilots!

While their glows were also capable of pressuring enemy mech pilots, they didn't particularly excel in this aspect.

Ves didn't prioritize the deterrence of his previous mech designs. It had never been a major problem up until now.

"What tools do I have to enhance the deterrence value of my striker mech?"

He turned his gaze back towards the projected draft design and tried to come up ways to spice up its functional appearance.

Ves came up with two immediate answers.

First, he could shape the appearance of the mech in order to induce fear. The more intimidating it looked, the more its opponents faltered in their charge!

Second, he could compliment the mech's fearsome appearance with an equally-fearsome glow.

To generate such a glow, Ves had to empower his striker mech design with a suitable design spirit.

"Should I reuse one of my existing ones or create a new one?"

Right now, Ves wasn't in a good position to harvest one from an exobeast.

His fleet was constantly fleeing in the direction of Hegemony-aligned space, and all of the star systems they passed through were completely ravaged by the sandmen.

His second option was to create a new spiritual product. However, that was a fairly substantial effort and expended resources that Ves wanted to use as sparingly as possible.

His most preferred method was to see if he could reuse an existing design spirit!

After a bit of thought, two answers came in mind.

The milder option was to make use of Zeigra, the deceased Crown Cat of Felixia. Despite Zeigra's irreconcilable hatred against Ves, that didn't stop him from using the feline spirit to empower the Devil Tiger and the Prideful Soldier designs.

The more extreme option was to draw upon Nyxie, the ancient spiritual entity held captive in the Ancient Sarcophagus.

While Ves had already made use of several spiritual fragments harvested from the tyrannical spirit, he usually processed and sanitized them until they turned into strong and pliable spiritual ingredients.

What if Ves held back on removing their negative traits? What if he preserved much of what made Nyxie so unsettlingly scary and intimidating?

The Ancient Sarcophagus was safely stowed aboard the Scarlet Rose along with the rest of the contents of his vault, so he wasn't able to visit it immediately.

Still, in his memory, the Ancient Sarcophagus once exerted a very subtle but unavoidable pressure on Ves until it finally came to head!

Nyxie could also drive anyone in the vicinity to madness as long as they were trapped in the same chamber as the red coffin! Ves had already tested it out by using the cowardly William Urbesh as a test subject.

In short, incorporating Nyxie or some of the ancient alien's aspects was a good way to pump up the fear factor of his mech!

Yet.. Ves began to frown.

It was far too dangerous to make use of Nyxie in this fashion. Just like Cassandra Breyer, Nyxie was a hostile existence who possessed overwhelming strength but were constrained by their respective cages!

By allowing Nyxie to extend his influence outside his cage was incredibly dangerous. Ves had already suffered several times from Cassandra Breyer's interference.

Adding another threat in the form of Nyxie would probably drive him crazy!

Ves always had to be careful in deciding which entities he chose to become his design spirits.

Every design spirit earned spiritual feedback. They drew from the spiritual strength of every mech pilot and increased their strength as a result.

This interaction wasn't very apparent if only a couple of mechs had been produced.

Yet Ves didn't intend to design a custom mech or a low-production commission mech!

He wanted to design a striker mech that had the potential to dominate the market for its product category! His ambition was to match and surpass the success he enjoyed when he published his Desolate Soldier design!

If Ves was able to achieve this ambition, then he might be able to sell millions of copies of his striker mech throughout the Komodo Star Sector and possibly other star sectors!

With millions of mech pilots providing active feedback to Nyxie, Ves feared that he would not be able to stop him from gaining enough strength to break out of his prison!

"Nyxie is not a good choice!"

His emotions became a lot more stable when he turned his attention to Zeigra.

While the Crown Cat was just as hostile as Nyxie, he wasn't nearly as strong or sophisticated.

Nyxie likely used to be an alien tyrant and leader who dominated an empire in ancient times.

Zeigra was just a genetically-engineered cat who ruled an artificial jungle until Lady Miralix of House Laterna successfully hunted it down in a fair and officially-recognized Crown Hunt.

There was no comparison. While Zeigra was clearly the weaker entity, Ves was fully confident he could keep it under control even if his striker mech became popular.

"Unlike Nyxie who possesses an intelligent mentality, Zeigra is as stupid as a cat. He's only capable of displaying primal aggression and instinctual behavior."

"Meow!"

Lucky looked at Ves in anger! What did he say about cats?!

Ves looked down at his gem cat. "I'm not wrong! I doubt you're smarter than a Crown Cat."

"Meow!"

Chapter 1958 Fear Pulse

After settling for Zeigra as his striker mech's design spirit, Ves obtained a lot more direction for his mech design.

He let his imagination run wild. As he faced a projection of the draft design, he began to alter its appearance to align with its design spirit.

He didn't transform his striker mech into a tiger mech or anything as radical.

He wanted to theme his striker mech design in the same way his Aurora Titan design was themed around Qilanxo.

The humanoid mech form was still the most versatile mech type, especially in space. There was also an inherent advantage in keeping the flamethrower weapon system separate from the frame of the mech.

Due to all of the heat and energy the weapon channeled, they degraded incredibly fast. Unless mech technicians performed top-notch maintenance on the weapons, it was inevitable for them to malfunction or break down in battle.

If the flamethrower weapon system was attached to the mech, then it was pretty much impossible to repair it in battle!

If the mech merely carried a flamethrower, then it shouldn't be a problem for it to discard the broken weapon and pick up a spare one as soon as it returned to its mothership.

Besides, while striker mechs were often known for wielding shotguns or flamethrowers, they were also able to stow away their primary armaments and pull out a sword in order to fend off enemies up close!

This was an important feature of striker mechs. Since they always fought against mechs at a close distance, they inevitably had to fight off mechs that succeeded in getting close.

Ves left all of these details for later. For now, he continued to make the draft more distinct.

It was a lot like drawing concept art. It didn't matter if the exact proportions and outer components were subject to change. What Ves mainly sought was to create a powerful impression of his next mech design.

Just like the Devil Tiger, Ves coated the mech in a rust-brown shade. He took paints to make sure its shade wasn't identical to the Devil Tiger's shade.

There was no need for him to draw trouble to himself!

He played with the contours of the striker mech and turned it a bit more angular. He made sure to add his signature look to the head before surrounding it with Gloriana's hexagon.

The striker mech immediately took on a very different character with the addition of the signature looks.

Just like with his Deliverer and Bright Warriors, the third eye and the hexagon added a mysterious quality to their designs.

Normally, Ves appreciated this change, but now it looked rather incongruent with the intimidating theme of his striker mech.

"Maybe I should vary their appearances for this design."

He lifted his fingers and modified the projected appearance of the head.

Instead of keeping its third eye white, he transformed it into an ominous red-and-black cat eye. He also changed its glow from white to red!

To make Gloriana's hexagon fit, he experimented with various tones until he settled for a brighter shade of red.

Once he stepped back and studied his alterations, he became a lot more satisfied with its appearance.

The mech looked like it dipped out of hell in order to exact judgement on the living!

It's reddish coating and its intimidating red third eye conveyed a very aggressive impression.

When Ves imagined the mech wielding a flamethrower that spewed out a copious amount of flames, he believed the combination already achieved a substantial amount of deterrence solely due to its appearance!

Once he imparted it with a glow based on Zeigra's aggression and intimidation factor, the striker mech would definitely strike fear in the hearts of its enemies!

"What about the mech pilot?"

Ves remembered that he had gone rather crazy when he designed the Devil Tiger. He incorporated it with an illegally-modified neural interface that came with very loose safety restrictions.

The purpose of this design choice was to give the design spirit an opportunity to mess with the mech pilot of the Devil Tiger.

Obviously, he couldn't do that again for his upcoming mech design. His commercial products not only needed to be safe, but also had to earn the MTA's approval!

The most Ves could do was to make use of the new high-capacity neural interface model he incorporated in his Bright Warrior design.

Even then, he still doubted whether it was a good idea to deepen the connection between the mech pilot and the design spirit.

"This might be a case where it's better to keep them at a distance." He murmured.

He added a note to the draft to make sure it incorporated a more standard neural interface model in its cockpit.

Unlike his other mechs, the glow of his striker mech shouldn't contain any friendly elements.

It was only meant to be directed towards the enemy! If the glow intimidated its own side, then the mech was a liability instead of an asset on the battlefield!

"I should make sure that the glow affects the mech pilot and any friendlies as little as possible."

This required some spiritual tinkering, but Ves was confident he was able to keep its glow directed against the enemy.

Ves didn't mind that the striker mech did not possess any uplifting aspects. The Desolate Soldiers and the Bright Warriors already specialized in this role.

By imposing a lower limit on the immersion of the striker mech, there wasn't as much room for a skilled mech pilot to excel in piloting the mech.

That was fine to Ves. Striker mechs didn't possess much skill expression to begin with. As long as the enemy stayed out of melee range, the mech pilot only had to aim the flamethrower in a vague direction in order to fulfill the mech's primary function.

Striker mechs were deliberately designed to be easy to pilot. Its weapon was easy to use and while there were a lot of advanced nuances, it was completely possible for someone unused to piloting this mech type to make effective use of it. Whether they were melee specialists or ranged mechs, anyone could point a flamethrower in the right direction!

Their low skill floor was already accompanied by a relatively low skill ceiling.

This basically meant that a great mech pilot didn't perform much differently from a bad mech pilot in a striker mech.

Certainly, there were many ways to express their skill. Striker mech specialists were intimately familiar with the limitations of their mechs and weapons. They efficiently regulated their firing patterns and skillfully managed their energy and heat levels.

When an enemy arrived at point-blank range, the striker mech pilot should be able to exchange the flamethrower for a sword and neutralize the threat.

Still, compared to other mech types, striker mechs were not expected to play a starring role in battle.

Sometimes, outfits assigned random mech pilots to these mechs if other mechs weren't available!

"This is a good way to give my landbound mech pilots something to do." Ves realized. "Since I'm spending lots of time in space, it will be a shame to let all of those mech pilots fiddle their thumbs while their colleagues are doing the heavy lifting."

He already provided his landbound specialists the option to contribute to a battle in space with his Desolate Soldiers.

The problem was that while his Desolate Soldiers performed decently against the sandmen, they were very inadequate against human opponents!

Their Sandbreaker rifles exhibited a very low muzzle velocity compared to railguns and laser weapons. This shortcoming hampered their long and medium-ranged accuracy.

Therefore, their effective range was a lot lower, especially in the hands of a mech pilot who didn't excel in marksmanship!

"This problem isn't nearly as bad with striker mechs." Ves predicted.

The Avatars of Myth and Living Sentinels still separated their mech pilots by environment. Ves wanted to transition away from this division, but in order to accomplish that he needed to provide his mech pilots with much better learning facilities.

Just like second-class mech pilots, they not only had to receive excellent tutelage, but also required several augmentations that enhanced their intelligence and combat instincts.

All of this meant that Ves became more determined than ever to realize this mech design!

His desire fueled his passion. As his passion burned brighter, Ves felt the need to be more inventive with regards to his vision for his mech.

What else could he do to spice up the rust-red striker mech?

"Maybe I can add some special features."

His Deliverer achieved fame through its Guided Aim ability. His Bright Warriors possessed the very valuable Ancestral Possession ability.

Though his Bright Warriors didn't have an opportunity to display the latter, Ves had high hopes for it in the future.

His striker mech should come with a special ability as well in order to keep up with the standard of his latest mech designs.

It shouldn't be too powerful. It wasn't appropriate to make his commercial mechs too exceptional. He should reserve his big guns for his custom mechs and commissioned mechs.

Besides, with a design spirit as hostile as Zeigra, it was a very bad idea to give him too much agency!

Ves thought for a moment before settling on a possible answer.

"Since my mech is all about intimidation, why not find a way to turn it up? A spike of intimidation can be very useful in the right circumstances!"

He called it the Fear Pulse. As long as the mech pilot timed the activation of this ability correctly, it was very much possible for a single striker mech to stall the charge of an entire squad of incoming enemy mechs!

Of course, Ves wasn't sure right now how he could incorporate this ability into his mech design and how to regulate it so that it only affected enemies.

Still, as long as Ves figured out the spiritual mechanics and made sure that it was powerful enough, it could definitely achieve a very significant effect on the battlefield!

"This is brilliant!" Ves grinned.

After he added this feature to his list, he tried to see whether he could add something else to his mech.

He thought back on his intentions to experiment with imaginary mechs and spiritual networks.

Both possessed a lot of potential, but Ves didn't see how he could make them relevant with his current mech design.

"Maybe I have better luck applying them to my upcoming second-class mech design."

He grimaced for a moment. He felt rather mixed about fulfilling DIVA's commission. He didn't look forward to abiding by all of the restrictions that constrained Hexer mech designs.

In any case, considering how distinctive his vision had already become, he was already satisfied with what he came up with. As long as he realized all of its features, it would definitely sell as much if not more than his Desolate Soldier model!

When Ves returned to Gloriana and explained his vision, he received a positive reaction.

"I love it!" She smiled. "You really turned our mech into something special!"

"What do you think about the modifications to our signature looks? Turning them red was an impulsive decision on my part. Is there anything significant about turning the hexagon red?"

She shook her head. "It's fine. While the hexagon carries a different meaning, I don't think it's bad. This rendition of the third eye looks very intimidating. Combined with the rest of your visual design, there is a lot of harmony between the intent, the performance and the appearance of the design!"

It felt good to receive her appreciation. He might lose out to her in terms of technical design, but when it came to the creative side of mech design, Ves refused to relinquish his throne!

"What did you come up with while I was working on the vision of our mech?"

"Well, I was trying to see how we can give our mechs a technical edge. It's very hard to find a way to do so without exceeding the budget of our mech design, but I think I found a way to give our striker mech an advantage."

"Do tell."

Chapter 1959 Trapped in Bentheim

An enormous number of ships and mechs had gathered at the Bentheim System.

With the sudden withdrawal of the sandman fleets from occupied human space, many people believed the war had ended.

They came up with several reasons why the Sand War took such a sudden turn when states like the Bright Republic had been pushed to the brink.

The sandmen race returned to sanity.

Killing the sandman emperor caused the aliens to lose confidence.

The invasion achieved its purpose.

Whatever the case, many of the states involved in the Sand War hoped that the ordeal was over.

Sadly, the sandmen weren't done yet. With their original territories ravaged by the CFA, the invasion forces were the only sandmen left in the galaxy!

Instead of running back into the deep frontier with their tails tucked between their legs, the sandman initiated one more suicidal attack.

They concentrated all of their sandman fleets and merged them into one, humongous sand planet.

The size of this planet reached an immense proportion. Not only that, but the scout ships also discovered that the sandman forces brought a lot of valuable exotics and materials harvested from their conquests!

With the reinforcement of a considerable amount of material wealth from thousands of planets, no one had a good idea of what the sandman planet could do! Was it stronger than the capital planet of the sandman empire? Was this the final attack run of the sandman race?

Whatever the case, the entire Bright Republic readied for the final confrontation.

An enormous amount of mech regiments and mech divisions gathered at Bentheim. A lot of star systems along the suspected route of the sandman planet had been evacuated.

Various scout ships had been posted in every single star system in the vicinity of the route. If the planet ever veered away from Bentheim, the defenders would know as soon as possible!

When the sandman planet finally finished its accumulation and set off in the direction of the center of the galaxy, every Brighter held their breaths.

The Mech Corps and the Starfighter Corps in the Bentheim System both increased their readiness and prepared to fight what might arguably be the most important battle in the history of the Bright Republic!

Due to the enormous scope and the historical significance of impending battle, a lot of foreign glory hounds had gathered in the Bentheim System as well!

Vesians, Reinaldans, Fridaymen and many other foreign outfits sought to land at least one blow on the planet-sized alien threat!

Even if their contribution in the battle was negligible, they would still be able to brag about participating in this epic battle!

While the foreigners looked forward to the upcoming clash between the sandman planet and the MTA warfleet, the Brighters were less than enthused.

The foreigners didn't have a stake in the battle. Whether Bentheim got wrecked by the sandman was none of their business!

In contrast, the Brighters all knew that the Bright Republic would only become a shadow of its former self if it lost its economic heart. The sheer amount of commerce, industry and R\u0026D that took place on the main planet was immense!

For many centuries, the Bright Republic benefited enormously from this concentration. It had become one of the main trade destinations in this region of space. While the star system was often crowded with traffic, the vast amount of goods flowing in and out provided lots of opportunities for businessmen across the star sector!

Yet now, the state finally paid the price for putting most of its eggs in a single basket. Against a foe that was so overwhelming that dozens of border states succumbed to their might, the sandmen had proven to be too powerful to resist by third-rate states!

While the soldiers of the Bright Republic prepared for battle, their morale had fallen into a ditch.

It couldn't be helped. In a time where the citizens and servants of the Bright Republic had to lean together to resist the alien onslaught, their own higher-ups suddenly decided to stab one of the most stories military families in the back!

Almost every Brighter disapproved of this decision. Considering the Larkinson Family's considerable prestige and honor, they deserved better!

The Brighters weren't shy in expressing what they thought.

"Why are we letting the Fridaymen run our state?! Do our voices even matter?"

"The bright president has turned into a puppet! What has the Friday Coalition ever done for us? We're already being treated like pawns!"

"If our own government is shameless enough to betray the Larkinson Family, none of us are safe! Mark my words, soon it will be our turn!"

The disappearance of so many Larkinsons across the ranks of the Mech Corps hit the soldiers particularly hard. The reputation of the Bright Republic tanked, and with it the Mech Corps for acquiescing to their tyrannical decisions!

How could the Mech Corps retain any honor when it repaid its heroes with a stab in the back?

Colonel Ark Larkinson didn't deserve to be chased away from his own comrades.

Benjamin Larkinson made too many contributions in the previous war to be dragged away from Rittersberg in chains.

Melinda Larkinson defended Bentheim for months, yet her own surface took her into custody!

All of these Larkinsons and more set an example to the Brighters. A lot of average citizens aspired to become like them. For their heroes to be torn down like this was an immense blow to everyone's impression of their own government!

This led to a slight depression and sense of cynicism among the mech pilots and starfighter pilots, which was very dangerous when the survival of the Bright Republic was at stake!

As the sandmen planet was scheduled to arrive in the Bentheim in the next couple of weeks, almost every Brighter in the Bentheim System prepared for the inevitable clash in their own way.

Among the Brighters called to action, a young but promising mech designer aboard a military combat carrier regarded the upcoming battle with dread.

Carlos Shaw adjusted his Mech Corps-issued mech designer uniform with a sigh. He'd been pulled away from his comfortable assignment in the rear in order to bolster the mech technicians servicing all of the mechs gathered at Bentheim.

After taking part in the last Bright-Vesia War, Carlos had enough of war. After he left the LMC, he tried to set out on his own. With his bright intellect and valuable experiences, he was confident he'd be able to carve a spot in the market!

It turned out that starting his own mech company was far more challenging than he thought.

He didn't have the capital to start his own mech company! He spent more than a year trying to attract investment.

He failed. A flood of talented Novices entered the mech industry every year. Even more Novices and Apprentices constantly knocked on the doors of investors every day!

The people with money were spoiled for choice. These savvy and discerning investors never wasted their money on a mech designer with low potential! Each of them sought out the next Ves Larkinson. To Carlos, it seemed as if they treated it as a game. Every investor sought to outdo their rivals by picking out the most promising diamonds in the rough!

Compared to the prodigies and the ones with proven track records, a recently-elevated Apprentice like Carlos with hardly any mech designs under his name fell completely under the radar!

Carlos clenched his fists. "It's not fair! I'm smarter than them! My designs are better than other Apprentices!"

Yet regardless of his efforts, he just wasn't exceptional enough to stand out from the crowd.

Without money, how could he afford the money to purchase a production license? How could he fund the construction of a mech workshop? How could he market his obscure mech designs?

"How did Ves do it? He wasn't much better off than me at the start!"

Though Carlos knew it wasn't healthy, he couldn't help but compare himself to his former friend all the time.

While Ves and his rich and powerful girlfriend recently earned acclaim for becoming the youngest masterwork mech designers of the Yeina Star Cluster, Carlos had been forced to reenlist in the Mech Corps and become one of its many unremarkable careerist mech designers!

Though the Mech Corps treated him well, Carlos hardly gained any opportunities to excel in his job. His junior status meant that the military would never entrust him with any actual responsibility.

Why should his superiors put him in charge when there were thousands of eager Journeymen and numerous willing Seniors to develop the best mechs of the Bright Republic?

As hard as it was for him to admit it, Carlos threw away his opportunities when he impulsively resigned from the LMC.

The most infuriating aspect about his departure was that he did it for one of the most banal reasons of all! He left because he was jealous of Ves' success!

"I was stupid back then." Carlos plainly admitted.

He wasn't in the best state of mind back then. His recent war experiences still haunted him in many ways.

Yet that was no excuse for his selfish decision to leave his friend. He assumed that he could equal Ves' accomplishments if he had a chance to start his own mech business!

How naive he was back then. If he could travel back in time, he would beat his younger self up before he could make such a stupid decision!

He shook his head in regret. "Time travel is just a fantasy."

There was no way for him to turn back the clock. Even though Ves and the Larkinson Family seemed to have attracted a lot of trouble, Carlos still believed that they were in a better spot than him! He had full confidence that his former employer would be able to overcome this crisis.

"Ves wouldn't be the man he is today if he can't succeed."

After inspecting his appearance, he left his room to start his shift. The mech technicians needed a lot of direction to service the more sophisticated mechs of the Mech Corps!

Elsewhere in the Bentheim System, Vincent Ricklin leaned against the bulkhead of his carrier as his Adonis Colossus underwent its daily cleaning cycle.

Various bots and mech technicians meticulously dusted off every bit of space dust from its surface.

Any cracks, pits and marks of imperfection had to be fixed as soon as possible! His mech had to look as impeccable as possible in order to maintain his public image!

Yet.. lately Vincent started to question his purpose.

What was the point of boosting his fame and dancing to the tune of the government when the Bright Republic was in decline?

Regardless of the outcome of the upcoming battle, Vincent didn't think his home state possessed a promising future.

As a former rebel of the Bentheim Liberation Movement, Vincent was privy to some of the darker secrets of the Bright Republic.

He also knew the state was weaker than it tried to portray in public. When he chatted with his former rebel contacts, he learned he wasn't the only one who held this sentiment.

"There is no future in the Bright Republic." Vincent frowned.

A part of him missed Raella Larkinson. Though they only shared a casual relationship, Realla was a lot spicier than any other babe he dated!

Hardly any babe left in the Bright Republic could bring that excitement.

A part of him wanted to chase after her. From what he heard, Raella joined up with other Larkinsons on their way to the Sentinel Kingdom.

Vincent never left the Bright Republic. Yet for the first time in his life, he started to set his sights away from his home state.

What would it be like to travel to the Sentinel Kingdom? How would Raella respond if he managed to meet her again?

Would she be pleased or annoyed?

"Probably both." He smirked.

Chapter 1960 Hexer Fashion

After the Larkinson Clan fleet transitioned out of FTL, the ships cycled their FTL drives at various rates.

It would be half a day before the fleet was ready to resume its journey.

A lot of shuttles and transports ferried goods and personnel between various vessels.

A sturdy shuttle surrounded by numerous Avatar and Glory Warrior mechs departed from the Stellar Chaser. After a brief journey, the shuttle effortlessly landed in the hangar bay of the Scarlet Rose.

Ves, Gloriana, their cats, their assistants, their bodyguards and other personnel emerged from the shuttle.

As much as Gloriana wanted to stay aboard her own ship, Ves detested the Stellar Chaser. The ship was a fine vessel marred by Hexer touches.

Almost everything on the ship was hexagon-shaped. The hexagon-shaped datapads, hexagon-shaped tables and hexagon-shaped corridors quickly started to grate on his sanity!

The way the ship crew were being treated also rankled him. Ves couldn't stand the sight of women bossing around the humble boys who were stuck with doing most of the grunt work.

Though he knew it was unfair to blame it all on Gloriana, he still wanted a change of scenery.

Fortunately, his girlfriend didn't object to transferring to another ship, though she was slightly annoyed that he decided to settle on his new flagship.

"The Stellar Chaser is better than the Scarlet Rose." She petulantly complained as they departed the hangar bay. "Fridayman engineering is worse than Hexer engineering, you know! Besides, I'm not entirely comfortable that your ship's recent overhaul fully wrested away all of the controls and backdoors the Fridaymen snuck into her systems."

Ves smiled confidently. "Calabast herself directed our overhaul. This particular ship class is hardly a secret to her and her associates. We even ripped out the original quantum entanglement node and replaced it with a different one to ensure it wouldn't siphon any data to the CRC!"

"I'm still not satisfied."

Too bad. Ves wasn't about to change his mind. His girlfriend could nag him all she wanted, but his feelings mattered as well! He wasn't about to let Gloriana dictate all of his decisions!

"Meow."

"Miaow."

"See? Even our cats agree!"

"Meow!"

"Miaow!"

Both Lucky and Clixie hissed at Ves!

Gloriana looked amused as she picked up her furry friend. "It looks like you aren't being truthful, Ves."

"Don't doubt my impeccable communication skills. I'm called Devil Tongue for a reason?"

"I think the reason for that is different from the reason you are implying."

Jokes aside, both of them enjoyed their brief tour through Ves' latest conquest. The extensive overhaul transformed the former CRC ship in many ways.

On the surface, every symbol or marking related to the Friday Coalition and Coalition Reserve Corps had been removed. Instead, the Larkinson Clan's interior decorators reformed the entire interior in a pleasant bright palette livened up with plenty of markings that reflected his prestige.

The golden cat head emblem was the most prominent symbol of all. It was present in every corridor and every compartment. Ves and Gloriana couldn't help but smile as they encountered the logo of the clan.

"Every ship under my command will adopt this scheme in time." Ves revealed. "We need to impose some uniformity in our sprawling fleet. I'm not sure if we'll be able to keep everything together if we continue to grow without direction."

Gloriana glanced at him. "You know, you'd have an easier time trying to unite all of the groups together by adopting everyone in the Larkinson Clan."

"Huh?" Ves briefly halted in these steps. "Since when did you support Calabast's proposal?"

"I've discussed this topic with her several times. She made a very good case for her suggestion. As it is, our circumstances are already different from the circumstances that shaped the original Larkinson Family. Back when you Larkinsons served as cogs in the machine of the Bright Republic, you never had to worry about anything except feeding as many mech pilots to the Mech Corps as possible. Now that your Larkinson Clan set off on its own, your relatives are visibly overwhelmed."

Her explanation didn't sound very flattering. Ves couldn't help but frown. "We don't need to adopt outsiders into our clan in order to secure their services, Gloriana. Not everything revolves around family identity. So far, I'd say we are managing pretty well at the moment."

"That's only on the surface." She retorted. "Just look at the people around you. They are very attached to your organizations. Calabast described all of them as de-facto Larkinsons. You only need to take the final step in order to recognize what has already become the truth!"

Her words caused Ves to look around. The workers aboard the Scarlet Rose consisted of his most loyal Kinners and Avatars. As his new primary vessel, Ves did not allow anyone untrustworthy to step aboard.

Ves didn't look at the crew members with his eyes. Instead, he sounded them out with his spiritual senses.

Though he wasn't the best at discerning people's inner emotions, he didn't sense anything of concern from them. In fact, it was the opposite. The people around him were true comrades who he could trust to have his back.

Even so, the Larkinson identity possessed a very special meaning to him. Not just any Tom, Dick or Harry ought to be able to join his clan as a fully-fledged member! That was still a step too far for his stodgy self!

He directed a suspicious glance towards his girlfriend. "I thought you hated Calabast. Why are you carrying her water all of a sudden? Accepting her proposal means adopting her into the clan!"

She shrugged. "She's already a part of your circle, so nothing will actually change. She's a deceitful spy, but I don't think she'll betray us. She knows that you and I are her tickets to success. Turning her into a Larkinson allows us to exert more control over her actions."

"I think you are a bit too optimistic in your estimate how much control I can exert over Calabast."

He hardly had any leverage over her considering all of the blackmail materials she held in reserve. Leaking naked pictures of him doing his business in the bathroom was the least of his concerns!

They reached his stateroom.

It did not look as he expected. Instead of entering a chamber similar to the one he was familiar with before the refit, his stateroom had suddenly doubled in size!

Ves noted that the extra room came from the adjacent compartment. Two staterooms had been merged together to form a single, roomy compartment that offered far more space than Ves actually required!

"Hihi! This will be our new home for the time being!" Gloriana cheered.

She skipped forward and quickly arrived at the sumptuously large bed placed in the center.

"Miaow!"

Clixie jumped out of her arms and landed on the soft and comfy surface bed in order to luxuriate in its softness.

"Meow."

Lucky floated down and landed next to her to see what all of the fuss was all about.

"Look! Even our cats like the bed I've picked out for you!"

"Ah. I see who's responsible."

Ves did not look amused. He distinctly remembered that he never instructed his subordinates to expand his stateroom.

It seemed that Gloriana had taken liberal advantage of his month-long coma!

Expanding the compartment and replacing their bed with an admittedly superior one wasn't the only change that Gloriana pushed through. His entire wardrobe consisted of smart clothing cut in the best fashion of Hexer high society.

The moment Ves shifted through the outfits, his face grew uglier.

Different from the sober business outfits that he preferred to wear on a day-to-day basis, his girlfriend filled his closet with colorful and excessively-frilly ensembles designed to dandify their wearers!

This was the kind of clothing that Hexer women foisted upon their boytoys!

"Gloriana..." Ves said with gritted teeth.

"Yes, honey?"

"I appreciate your desire to improve my wardrobe, but I prefer to take care of my own clothing. Unless you can unlock the settings of these smart clothes, you can send them back to Brutus or something."

"How did you know I borrowed them from Brutus?" Gloriana looked shocked.

"The quality of these smart clothes is too high! The Hegemony was still too far away to ship any goods to their 's no other source you could have obtained them from except for your brother!"

"What's wrong with them? I think they will look quite dashing on you! I should know, because I tried them out on your body when you were in a coma! Let me show you the images I've recorded!"

"No thanks!"

After a bit of arguing, Ves finally managed to throw all of the flamboyant clothing out of his closet. Ves resolved to fill his wardrobe with clothes that conveyed dignity rather than ineptness.

Gloriana pouted at Ves as a bot took away the piles of smart clothing. "I thought you liked a bit of color. You didn't say no to wearing cat ears."

"That's because I wanted to convey levity. The point of wearing them was to decrease our threat level by coming across as eccentric. That does not mean I want to turn into a full-blown clown!"

She didn't understand his objections. To her, all of the males she cared about in her life wore these kinds of outfits!

Back in the Hegemony, women were fully in control of what their boys were allowed to wear. This led to a tendency where the stronger gender treated boys as dress-up dolls.

She always wanted to join this friendly competition! Dressing up a boy with the clothes a woman picked out for him was one of the most cherished pastimes for Hexers!

Ves knew that as well, so he didn't hesitate to shoot her down before she got going.

"I'll let Benny pick out a new wardrobe for me." He decided.

"Your assistant's fashion sense doesn't measure up. He's just a yokel from Cloudy Curtain? You need a professional, Ves!"

"No thanks."

She soon conceded the argument once Ves made it clear that he wouldn't budge. They both sat down on their bed and played with their cats for a few minutes.

"About our next mech design project." Gloriana spoke up. "How much time do you want to send on this project?"

"It took three months to design the Bright Warrior. While our striker mech design offers plenty of technical conundrums, it shouldn't take more time than that to present a decent product."

"The Bright Warrior lacked a considerable amount of optimization before you passed the design on to 'Mr. S.', you know. Can we rely on Mr. S. again?"

She looked almost hopeful at Ves. Sadly, the Superpublish function couldn't be used so soon again!

"No."

"Then we should reserve a bit more time to be certain. How about four months? That gives us plenty of time to iterate on the design and give us time to test the prototypes. It's crucially important that we allocate enough time to testing and optimization when it comes to commercial mechs. The market doesn't like to buy a mech that comes across as rough and incomplete."

She had a point. Besides, they might be working on another design project as well, so giving them some extra leeway in the form of an extra month was extremely helpful.

"A month longer doesn't make much difference." Ves observed. "It's not like we are operating under someone else's deadline. Four months it is, then. Hopefully, I can get a lot more work done now that I have my implant."

He didn't plan to spend all of his time on designing his striker mech, though. Aside from leading the Larkinson Clan, he also wanted to start making some actual headway into creating an imaginary mech!

He had waited so long to design a mech made out of spiritual energy, but he had always been hampered by his imperfect memory and mental visualization abilities.

Now that he installed a literal storage device in his brain, those problems no longer hampered his imagination!

Chapter 1961 Lack of Progress

After Ves and Gloriana moved to the Scarlet Rose, they were eager to commence their new project.

The next day, they moved down to the mech workshop compartment which had undergone a lot of changes.

Aside from blocking off Compartment G-13, the compartment also featured an expanded design lab with several more amenities that were useful in the mech design process.

Their two design teams awaited the arrival of the lead designers with deference. As soon as Ves and Gloriana entered the workshop, their subordinate mech designers bowed!

"Welcome back, Mr. Larkinson!"

Ves smiled and gestured them upwards. "Rise. You don't need to perform these kinds of rituals for me. As long as you perform your duties earnestly, that's all I ask of you. As mech designers, it's our work that proves our sincerity."

Once his subordinates rose, Ves observed them very carefully.

A month had passed since he last interacted with them. A lot had happened during this period, and Ves was curious whether his mech designers were still as eager to work for the LMC as before.

He already got a read of the Tovar mech designers. Because he hadn't told them whether they were allowed to remain in the company, the Tovars looked eager but nervous.

Unless they were very good actors, Miles Tovar and the rest actually looked afraid of getting dismissed!

Though Ves wasn't sure whether he should trust his judgement, the sight nonetheless pleased him. He became a bit more inclined to retain them. While they weren't the best subordinates he could obtain these days, he was very satisfied with their foundation and work ethic.

He directed his attention to the second design team.

As expected, all four Ylvainan mech designers decided to stay. Oscar, Renee, Erica and Pascal were all sincere believers in the Bright Martyr!

However, considering how extensively the True Ylvaine Dynasty infiltrated his ranks, Ves wasn't sure of their loyalties.

"Are any of you True Believers?"

"No." Oscar DiMartin answered. "None of us worship the Living Prophet. We... don't think he represents the founder of our faith."

The other three Ylvainans shook their heads as well.

"Are you telling the truth?"

"We would never lie to the Bright Martyr!"

Ves could buy that. With his near-deified status among the Ylvainans, they shouldn't be able to lie in his face!

After asking a few more questions to the Ylvainans, he turned his attention to the last two oddballs.

Mayer Torto and Merrill O'Brian no longer stood out from the Ylvainans anymore. They used to regard Ves as a very good but very human mech designer.

Now, their expressions were hardly different from that of the worshipful Ylvainans!

"I'm sorry for all of the dangers you've endured." He said.

Merrill smiled. "You don't have to apologise, sir. I've experienced worse in.. my old job."

"It's a given that the Friday Coalition wants to target the two of you after you received your Masterwork certificates." Mayer added his own voice.

The Sentinel mech designer was honest, at least. Mayer mainly stuck around because he wanted to work under bona fide masterwork mech designers!

Ves appreciated his frank reasoning. It allowed him to tailor his expectations to Mayer and avoid any unfortunate misunderstandings with regards to his willingness to remain under his employ.

Overall, he was pretty happy with his design teams. While he wouldn't shed a tear if any of them decided to quit, he would certainly miss their contributions!

"Before we announce our latest mech design project, I would like to talk to each of you in private."

As Gloriana kept everyone occupied, Ves invited the mech designers to a private office one by one. He wanted to hear how they were faring and what they thought of recent events.

He started with Miles Tovar. The Apprentice Mech Designer fidgeted in his seat once they entered the office.

Seeing him so tormented by uncertainty prompted Ves to soften his expression.

"Let me be honest." He began. "I still haven't decided whether I should retain you and your fellow Tovars."

"I'm aware that our political situation isn't very convenient." Miles meekly responded.

The disparity in status between them had grown significantly. Ves was not just an ordinary Journeyman anymore. Despite his age, he achieved something that evoked envy in almost every professional in the mech industry!

"The good news is that I don't really care about the opinion of the Bright Republic these days. I'm concerned what the government will do to your Tovar Family, though. I don't want to be the cause of the downfall of another family of our state!"

Miles offered a reassuring smile to Ves. "There is absolutely no need for concern. My fellow Tovars and I are already exiled from the family."

"That didn't stop the Friday Coalition from coming after my unconnected relatives in the Bright Republic."

"To be honest, Mr. Larkinson, that won't happen. Our Tovar Family is too intertwined with the institutions of the Bright Republic. Unlike your Larkinson Family, our removal will instantly throw the Bright Republic into chaos. The CRC can hardly provoke another mass uprising like the one that rose up in the Ylvaine Protectorate. The Fridaymen have already attracted a lot of alarm due to their recent actions. They can hardly afford to provoke more trouble for fear of getting admonished by the MTA."

Ves didn't fully comprehend how the Tovar Family would be able to avoid getting Larkinsoned. Still, Miles sounded so confident in his family that Ves might be engaging in needless worry.

"If that is what you claim, then I don't have many more objections to keeping you in my employ. Just remember that as long as you are on the LMC payroll, your primary loyalty belongs to me and my mech company. The Tovar Family's interests come afterwards, especially now that you're exiled. Have I made myself clear?"

"Crystal, sir. While I can't promise you that I will always be comfortable with that, I will make sure to bring any potential issues to your attention before they turn serious."

"That sounds good. I would rather prefer you to be honest to me up front. Do you know what I hate the most?"

"No?"

Ves leaned forward and displayed an ominous grinned. "The people I hate the most are traitors. It's unfortunate that I didn't have the chance to take care of the last person who betrayed me. He took his own life before my guards could restrain him. If not for that, I would have probably turned him into my test subject!"

Though Miles was obviously confused why a mech designer of all people required a test subject, he was astute enough to refrain from asking further.

After Ves made it clear how generously he intended to treat traitors, he lightened up and directed his attention to Miles' professional development.

"I haven't been able to tutor you and instruct you as much as I wanted to in recent times." He said. "That said, you should have still been able to manage your development on your own. How much progress have you made?"

"I study every day." He said. "While I don't have Miss Wodin's high-quality augmentations, my learning ability is well above average, or I wouldn't have graduated from the DCTI with my grades. While I'm not as fast as some, I'm very happy with how much I've been able to improve. I've even started to tackle some of the unlocked Clarion University books you've added to the library. While much of their material is too advanced to me, I'm a lot more confident in my foundation these days. My colleagues are just as happy."

Ves nodded in satisfaction. "That's good. Graduation doesn't mean your learning comes to an end. You are still close to the bottom of the mech industry totem pole. In order to make something of yourself in this business, you need to advance to Journeyman, and to do so you absolutely have to develop a certain level of mastery over the skills required to design a mech."

"I have done that, Mr. Larkinson. While I'm happy with how much knowledge I've gained, I'm still uncertain whether I have come closer to advancing to Journeyman. I could use your advice."

Instead of answering immediately, Ves quickly studied Miles with his spiritual vision. While Miles was the only Tovar mech designer who possessed spiritual potential, it didn't seem to have developed since the last time he checked it out. This signified that Miles hadn't fully developed or committed to a design philosophy.

"Take it from me, Miles. Learning alone is not enough to elevate you to my rank. Even if your knowledge is rather lacking, you can still utilize what little you know to design a decent mech. The key is to develop your own style and figure out what exactly you wish to specialize in. Developing a design philosophy is not merely about picking your favorite flavor. You need to flesh out the reasons why you want to design a certain style of mechs."

"I did that, sir! For almost ten years, I dedicated myself to designing aerial mechs! I even narrowed the scope of my design philosophy even further upon the advice of a mentor, but I still haven't made any progress!"

Ves could sympathize with Miles. Despite his rich family background, mech designers mostly had to rely on themselves to become a Journeyman.

It was impossible for someone incompetent to become a Journeyman! If he was wrong, he would let Gloriana dress him up!

"From my own understanding of the promotion process, Apprentices like you need to develop a strong conviction for your design philosophies. It's not just about knowing that your design philosophy has promise. You need to believe in it. You need to believe in your ambition."

Miles frowned. "I don't entirely understand."

"It's simple." Ves lifted his hand and tapped his temple. "It's not just about your head."

He tapped his chest. "It's also about your heart. You need to devote yourself to your design philosophy as if it's your girlfriend. Love your design philosophy. Date your design philosophy. Marry your design philosophy. Sometimes, thinking too much is detrimental to this process. You need to offload some of the processes from your mind to your heart. It doesn't matter if your design philosophy sounds daunting or that it is almost inconceivable to realize it. As long as you believe in your design philosophy, you will be in the best state to break through your current bottleneck."

Though his advice sounded earnest, Miles still began to frown.

"Respectfully, Mr. Larkinson, that.. sounds awfully close to religion. You are essentially asking me to treat my design philosophy as superstition."

Ves blinked.

"I.. can see how you can develop such a misunderstanding. It's not as bad as it sounds. There is much more to mech design than is apparent on the surface. Part of the reason why high-ranking mech designers are so revered in the mech community is because their design work transcends what is strictly possible in reality. As long as you open your mind to the possibilities, I think you'll find it easier to find your heart in mech design. Do you know Ketis?"

"I'm familiar with her." Miles nodded. "I occasionally get in touch with her in order to talk shop."

"I guided her along this method. While I didn't explain my theory to her so straightforwardly, I believe she can become a promising Journeyman Mech Designer in time. Both of you are Apprentices, but I'm much more optimistic about her chances than yours. Unlike you, Ketis genuinely possesses a heart for swordsman mechs. Unless you can develop a similar degree of obsession for aerial mechs, I'm not sure you'll be able to remain ahead despite your age."

Ketis was almost a decade younger than Miles. By all rights, Miles should be able to advance to Journeyman sooner than the former pirate designer, but right now Ves was not very optimistic!

Chapter 1962 The Meaning of Creation

After talking to each of his subordinate mech designers, Ves gained a good sense of their individual progress. He also sounded out their willingness to remain a part of his team even if Ves attracted trouble!

He underestimated their resolve. Most of the mech designers he hired weren't set up for success.

The Tovar mech designers had money, power and connections, but failed to translate these advantages effectively.

The Ylvainan mech designers mostly consisted of a mixed bunch. They were incredibly devoted to their faith, but couldn't channel that into their work.

Mayer was very bright, but he was so calm that his passion levels were muted.

Merill possessed the most interacting background and experiences of all. Despite her many ordeals with pirates, she appeared to be a bona fide rational mech designer!

The last two mech designers gave Ves a bit of a headache in terms of their future development.

The truth was that Ves did not like rational mech designers. Though Master Olson was rather decent, after encountering people like Patricia and Master Willix, he completely detested these kinds of mech designers!

Rational mech designers treated passion and emotions as liabilities rather than assets. Though they needed at least a little bit of passion and emotion in order to maintain their motivation in their profession, they treated them as if they were dangerous exobeasts that had to be stuffed in the deepest, darkest cage in their minds!

Ves thought that was unnatural. Everything about rational mech designers came across as artificial. He much preferred to work with the likes of Gloriana who was fully invested in her design philosophy to the point she was always honest when it came to her specialty!

At work, Ves never needed to think too much or doubt Gloriana's honesty. Both of them possessed different views towards mech designers, but because they knew each other's preferences so well, they often managed to achieve synergies in their collaboration works!

With rational mech designers, Ves wasn't sure he'd be able to accomplish the same degree of synergy.

While they were very adaptable, there was something very slimy and disingenuous about them. By emulating other specialties with their minds, they pushed their primary specializations to the side!

Regardless, Ves was stuck with Mayer and Merrill.

Though he supposed he could give them the boot, that was too petty for him. It wasn't Mayer's fault that he was inclined towards rationality. He was still young and Ves had plenty of time to corrupt,— ahem, guide him to the right path!

As for Merril, she was too useful to the LMC due to her abundant amount of practical experience. With his current level of fame and prestige in the mech industry, Ves could easily hire scores of talented subordinates as long as they didn't mind some excitement in their lives.

However, it was a lot harder to find someone who was smart, decent and versatile as Merrill. Ves liked her a lot and considered her just as promising as Ketis.

After sorting out his impressions, Ves realized that all of them had stagnated in their growth.

While they were benefiting a lot from his expansive library, there was more to designing mechs than expanding their knowledge.

Ves knew first-hand that while piling up on various skills increased a mech designer's options, it did not automatically result in better mech designs!

"I haven't guided my subordinates sufficiently." He admitted to himself. "I only focused on their immediate concerns rather than their greater needs."

"Meow."

Lucky floated alongside his head before landing on the Larkinson Mandate floating on his other side!

"Thank you for your help, Goldie. I'm pretty sure of my judgement, but it helps to have a second opinion."

Nyaaaa.

As a spiritual entity, the Golden Cat possessed a natural advantage in reading the true intentions of people, especially if they hadn't been trained to guard against this kind of observation.

His hand reached out to pet Lucky while a spiritual projection tickled Goldie's chin.

"Meow."

Nyaaaa.

Once he had his fill of cats, Ves rose up and left the office. He entered the design lab and faced his design teams while nodding at Gloriana.

He clapped. "Alright. I'm glad I talked with all of you on an individual basis. It has become apparent that all of you share a common shortcoming."

Everyone paid careful attention to him. They were all curious what Ves thought they lacked. Even Gloriana sat up straighter from her seat!

"I already told Miles why he isn't able to progress his design philosophy." He revealed. "What do you think a mech designer represents? What do we actually do for a living?"

"We design mechs." Merrill plainly answered.

"That's correct, but what does that actually entail?"

"We.. utilize our science and engineering skills to develop large war machines."

"That's better, but not quite enough. Are we scientists? Are we engineers?"

Most of the mech designers except Gloriana nodded as if this was true.

"WRONG!" Ves slammed the surface of the closest workstation! "While it is true that we can perform the same functions as scientists and engineers, that is not the extent of our jobs! Have you forgotten the artistic side of mech design?"

"Mech designers have to apply their knowledge in a creative and ingenious manner in order to achieve success." Mayer noted.

"Good! Those are the words I've been waiting to hear! Creativity and ingenuity are both vital traits to mech designers. I suspect the main reason why none of you managed to progress too much is because you are focusing too much on one side of mech design at the cost of the other on the other side of your profession!"

The realization stunned them! Even though they were aware of the duality of mech design, they hadn't focused too much on the creative side of their profession!

Ves didn't blame them. It was very hard to develop one's creativity and ingenuity. To most people, they were born with these traits. There wasn't really a solid way to measure their strengths, and that made it difficult to come up with methods to improve them. They were too vague!

Normally, mech designers passively exercised their creativity and ingenuity by designing mechs. The more aspects of a mech they contributed to, the greater the stress on their ability to innovate!

While this solution worked decently for independent mech designers such as Ves and Gloriana, it was different for dependent mech designers who worked in a design team.

Dependent mech designers were only responsible for a portion of a mech design. Usually, their contributions were limited and scope and trivial in importance.

In a design team, the lead designers made all of the most important design decisions. This allowed Ves and Gloriana to exercise their creativity and ingenuity to the maximum.

Their assistants didn't share this luxury. They had to make do with the mech design profession's equivalent of janitorial work and perform all of the menial jobs to ease the efforts of the more important mech designers!

This was the most standard model of a design team. Ves had no desire to change it because he truly needed the help to increase his productivity.

However, he was not blind to its exploitative nature. If the assistant mech designers continued to perform odd jobs, they might eventually lose the ability to design a mech by themselves!

This was not what Ves wanted to see. Since his mech designers each pledged their loyalties to him, it was his duty as a league to reciprocate their trust!

"Even though there are times when our projects need all hands on deck, you still have plenty of time to spend on your progression. Rather than continue to hit the books, I'd like to see you spend your time on more fruitful pursuits."

"Such as?"

"Most of you chose to increase your competences by expanding your knowledge base, but starting from today, I want to see you devote your time on applying your gains by designing your own mechs."

His subordinates reacted with surprise.

"Are we allowed to design our own mechs?"

"You are. I'm not the kind of boss who disapproves of your efforts. Just make sure you do your design work after you have completed your tasks for the day. As long as they are decent enough, we can discuss later whether we adapt your work and prep it for the market."

"You'll actually allow us to sell our own mechs through the LMC, sir?" Oscar asked with shock.

"Yes! That said, if the mech isn't too good, I'll probably sell it under a different brand. I've already extended the same offer to Ketis."

He explained some of his conditions. All of them understood the opportunity that Ves provided.

Not every employer was willing to publish the designs of assistant mech designers!

Even if their own work didn't measure up against their bosses, the option to design a mech for the market was incredibly valuable to their development!

Ves visibly saw his approval rating rise among his design teams. The Ylvainans looked at him with even more devotion than before, while the Tovars all felt vindicated by their choice to stick to their current jobs!

He smiled. "While I would like you to have fun, don't forget what mech design is truly about. It's not only your head that matters, but also your heart. One of the keys to progressing your design philosophies is to fall in love with it, for a lack of a better description. If you are just going through the motions, then you can forget about advancing any further than Apprentice Mech Designer."

Not everyone was as confident in advancing as others. Most of his assistants ranged from 25 to 40 years old. Plenty of them were older than thirty, which meant they possessed a decent amount of work experience.

It was easy to dream big when they were studying mech design at school. Yet once they entered the job market, the reality for mech designers turned out to be a lot more cutthroat than they thought!

"It's not enough to be a good learner!" Ves emphasized. "Technically, we can call ourselves engineers. However, I think it's a mistake to adopt this mentality. Mech design is more than just an engineering profession. Mech design is art. Mech design is about pushing your own vision. Mech design is about proving the entire mech industry wrong by turning the impossible into the possible! That is what a mech designer truly means to me! If you aren't committed to your design philosophy, you're just an engineer!"

His lecture made a significant impact on his subordinates. Though Ves presented a rather binary argument that wasn't fully accurate, he did so in order to drive a point!

He needed to shake the complacent mindsets of his subordinates and encourage them to see their profession in a different light!

Mayer raised his arm. "I have a question, sir."

"Ask."

"I think I understand what you are trying to tell us, but how exactly do you develop a heart for mech design?"

Ves looked at him as if he was an idiot. "Find your passion. Follow what you like the most about mechs. Perhaps it might be useful to think back on how you regarded mechs in your youth. That child-like wonder and fascination of mechs that drove you to study mech design is not something you should put aside now that you have realized your ambition to become a mech designer. Ask yourselves these questions. Why do you love mechs? What do you want to add mechs? How hard are you willing to work to realize your ambitions?"

Every subordinate mech designer looked thoughtful.

In contrast, Gloriana smiled and nodded throughout his lecture. She agreed with all of his points!

"My boyfriend is teaching you a very valuable lesson." She added. "We both encountered plenty of mech designers who are similar to you. They think that designing mechs is all about crunching numbers or drawing the most optimal mech schematic possible. That's not really mech design. The only way to become a true mech designer is to find the meaning of creation and apply it your mechs!"

Chapter 1963 Virtual Library

Ves felt a lot better after he lectured his subordinate mech designers.

He imparted some very important insights to them. To their credit, none of them dismissed his advice.

It would not be easy to develop and exercise their creativity and ingenuity. It would be even harder to develop their 'heart' for mech design!

Spiritual potential or not, Ves believed that every mech designer benefited if they approached their work with the mindset of an innovator rather than a problem solver!

A mech designer and an engineer possessed the same tools. Yet to Ves, the former distinguished himself from the latter by focusing on creation.

To create a new product, a mech designer possessed an unlimited amount of options. Each mech designer developed a unique pattern of design choices which formed their design style.

This was the mech designer's way of making sense out of the limitless possibilities.

Those who failed to develop a design style or commit to a design philosophy risked getting lost in this vast and endless forest.

In mech design, obtaining more choices wasn't always better.

This was what his subordinates were doing by spending all of their free time on studying textbooks.

This was what Ves had done in the past when he prioritized earning DP in order to exchange for valuable skills.

Yet all of that distracted from the fun side of mech design. How many kids had dreamt of designing their own mechs? How many of them were able to turn this childhood dream into a reality?

Ves observed something very interesting about mech designers. As the dreamers grew older, they became more mature. They became more focused on 'grown-up' concerns such as making a living or pleasing their bosses.

It was easy for them to set aside their silly childhood wonder and fascination.

Yet to someone like Ves, this pure and innocent adoration towards mech was one of the strongest sources of strength for passionate mech designers like himself!

To him, successful mech designers didn't necessarily have to think all the time! It was fine if they turned off their brains! As long as their hearts were strong enough to cover for their minds, they all had the potential to create novel new mech designs that broke existing boundaries!

Ves took a brief break after lecturing his subordinates. As Gloriana began to unveil their new design project, he began to reflect on his own lesson.

Even though Ves was the one who came up with these insights, he felt as if he gained a deeper understanding of his own teachings!

He was always confident about his heart for mech design. He considered it a strength derived from himself rather than the System.

While the assistance he derived from the System granted him the luxury of exploring this aspect of mech design, it was something that he could continue to improve without depending on others.

Though Ves was aware that his views on mech designers wasn't the only interpretation available. He was sure that there were plenty of other schools of thought who vehemently disagreed with his emphasis on the heart of a mech designer!

"Rational mech designers are probably disgusted with my views." He muttered under his breath.

When Ves finished his self-reflection, his girlfriend had just finished her own presentation.

"...Don't forget the central premise of this project. Our primary goal is to design a spaceborn striker mech that is able to deter incoming enemies through intimidation. It is a mech designed for massed battles and intense engagement. It also has to be commercially viable, so we need to pay close attention to our budget. Any questions?"

"What kind of glow will you put in this mech design?" Mayer asked.

"Ves?"

He answered the question.

"You've met me in my Pride of Dusk outfit a few times. The glow of our upcoming mech will largely resemble the glow from my Pride of Dusk. I'll bring it to the design lab next time so you can familiarize yourself with the glow and so you can acquire the right mood to design this specific mech. Any other questions?"

"Is this a niche product or a mass market product?"

"That's a very important question. Right now, I'm not sure yet." Ves admitted. He rubbed his smooth-shaven chin in thought. "I'm inclined towards both directions. While I would like to make my product universally appealing, it is very hard to accomplish such a level of success. The Desolate Soldier succeeded because there was a very desperate need for this kind of product. Different from then, the various crises and wars in the Komodo Star Sector did not result in a surge in demand for striker mechs. There isn't an obvious hole for striker mechs either, though I believe the value proposition of our upcoming design is enough to generate its own demand! We just have to make sure our product is reasonably well-rounded."

There were two general strategies towards mech design. They could try to make their product as well-rounded as possible while still retaining its distinctive strengths.

Ves adopted this approach to varying degrees to most of his commercial mechs. He needed to accommodate a very wide diversity of customers. While it was impossible to please everybody, he still sought to enhance the sales potential of his products as much as possible by increasing their applicability.

In contrast, a mech designer could also take the opposite approach and forget about checking as many boxes as possible.

Instead of focusing on elevating as many performance parameters as possible, Ves had also designed mechs where he focused on a couple of critical parameters and tried to raise them as much as possible!

Extreme mech designs such as the Aurora Titan and the Deliverer which focused mostly on a single aspect to the detriment of everything else were not very good sellers. Though the Deliverer came paired with fantastic special features, there was no question the mech was a niche product!

Though Ves had a lot of fun in designing these weird mechs, he recognized the importance of keeping his market instincts sharp.

He still needed to earn a lot of money!

While his recent circumstances allowed him to pursue other priorities, he hadn't forgotten about his enormous wish list of goodies he wanted to procure! Obtaining a fully-fledged second-class factory ship was just the start!

Right now, Ves recognized he was in an enviable position compared to other mech designers.

After receiving his masterwork certificate, a lot of industry insiders started to pay more attention to him. While it was hard to notice all of the regard he received due to spending all of his time on a ship, he knew his presence would probably ignite a storm among the local mech community if he landed on any occupied planet!

With all of this publicity in fame, Ves did not have to work too hard to market his next product. As long as it was noteworthy enough, the free publicity would likely be considerable!

Naturally, he also needed to publish his mech design before the mech community forgot about his recent accomplishment. That was why he set a deadline of four months for this project despite how little time it afforded for optimization!

Everyone soon began to work. Ves and Gloriana tasked all of their subordinates to browse the MTA's component library and select the most fitting publicly-available parts to licence.

Ves sat down behind a terminal and performed his own search.

This time, he didn't log into the MTA's virtual portal the normal way.

Instead, he pressed his finger on a port, thereby forming a hardline connection between the terminal and the implant in his mind!

His entire senses changed.

In one moment, Ves was sitting in the design lab of the Scarlet Rose.

In the next moment, he entered a vast and ancient library that was filled with an enormous amount of traditional hardcover books!

While his sense of smell and taste weren't working right, his sense of sight and sense of hearing had fully immersed themselves in this virtual illusion!

"Interesting." He smiled.

In this endless library of wooden shelves and wooden interior, thousands of mech designers quietly browsed its contents through various means, and those were just the people within the vicinity!

Some of them looked up the location of a physical book and walked all the way in order to pull it out of the shelf.

Others just sat down at one of the many traditional wooden desks and summoned the book by manipulating a projected interface.

Most mech designers didn't bother this charade at all. They eschewed the archaic tradition of reading actual books in favor of reading their contents directly through the projected interface!

After studying the other mech designers, he felt the latter two groups were missing out on the ritual the MTA presented.

Why did the MTA set up their virtual portal in this fashion? Were they trying to go back to the past? Were they encouraging mech designers to waste valuable time by looking up a specific book among the seemingly-endless shelves?

Ves didn't think those arguments were true.

He developed several interpretations on the meaning of this ritual.

The one he was the most sure of was that the MTA tried to make its knowledge a bit more troublesome to reach in order to drive an important point.

Knowledge wasn't free. Knowledge didn't come from nowhere. Knowledge needed to be valued.

As Ves determined the location of a specific catalog of component licenses from a nearby interface, he began to walk through the long and broad halls flanked by rows and rows of impressively-tall bookcases.

Occasionally, Ves encountered a crossroads, and sometimes he turned left or right.

He encountered plenty of mech designers along the way. These mech designers occasionally approached random colleagues and started up a spontaneous exchange.

The interior design library fostered a sense of knowledge sharing. Everyone who entered the library in this manner wanted to learn something new. This put the visiting mech designers in a generous mood.

In some cases, their moods encourage them to share some of the knowledge and insights that they ordinarily kept close to their chests!

Due to the unique virtual setting of the library, the mech designers had the option to pull their conversation partners into a private communication channel.

Even though they stood in the middle of a hall, to outsiders no sound escaped from their mouths. Their faces turned fuzzy as if they were swept up by static in order to prevent any bystanders from reading their facial expressions.

Of course, there were also those who didn't bother with hiding what they shared.

"Light mechs are worse than heavy mechs!" An old man shouted to a younger woman. "Your statement is factually wrong! Larger is better! Heavy mechs are so loaded with features that they always have a solution for every problem! As for light mechs, their capacity is so small that I can't even fit a pocket knife in their puny frames!"

The young woman smirked at the old codge. "I have one word for you. Mobility."

"So what?! Do you think all heavy mechs are slow to move?! As long as you strap a powerful enough engine or flight system to a heavy mech, they can move just as fast as their lighter counterparts!"

"What's the point of a heavy mech if three-fourths of its available capacity is occupied by a supersized mech engine or flight system? That's a huge waste of exotic materials to me! Mobility is the one area which always redeems light mechs and dooms heavy mechs!"

"Preposterous!"

As Ves walked past the quarreling mech designers, he shook his head. Their argument sounded completely silly to him. There were advantages and disadvantages to both weight classes!

Of course, there was no way to sink this conclusion in their thick skulls. Ves didn't have to study their records to realize that they were specialists in light mechs and heavy mechs respectfully.

When mech designers believed their design philosophy was right, no one would be able to convince them that they were wrong!

Fortunately, the audio of their conversation automatically cut off once Ves took a few more steps.

He smirked. "What a nefarious library."

He suddenly realized the true goal of the virtual library. The MTA just wanted to foster as many exchanges as possible. As long as these conversations took place in this setting, the Association would be able to record all of their valuable insights!

Chapter 1964 Oriental Fashion

Ves 'sat' down at one of the half-walled wooden 'desks' with a book in his 'hand'.

It was interesting to perceive a virtual setting through this fashion. The partial digitization of his mind allowed him to perceive virtual environments with much more fidelity than he thought!

It wasn't perfect, though.

Although the MTA did an excellent job, the virtual immersion still lacked some very subtle details that he couldn't quite describe.

At some points, Ves had an uncanny feeling that he was trapped in a false setting.

This kind of discomfort didn't go away. He always found at least one reason to feel disturbed.

It spoiled the novelty of his first virtual immersion experience. Ves wasn't sure whether he wanted to enter the virtual library through this method again. It was a lot more straightforward to browse the portal through a traditional projection.

He looked down and opened the book. He flipped through the pages and ignored his slightly-off sense of touch.

Since the flamethrower was critical to his striker mech, Ves decided to start his search by looking through various models of flame-spewing projectors.

In general, the fundamental mechanisms of flamethrowers weren't complicated. Each and every flamethrower model that Ves encountered in the book shared the same delivery methods.

The ingenuity in them came from how the weapon designers tried their best to make their weapons as robust and controlled as possible.

Flamethrowers had to contain a lot of potentially-volatile substances. Their ability to contain the propellant and oxidizing agent, the amount of heat they were able to bear and how well they prevented the heat from leaking to the mech all distinguished one model from another model.

Certain flamethrower models specialized in channeling the fiery output as far as possible. Others attempted to widen the flames so that the striker mech could block every approach from the front in an instant!

All of these aspects and more provided Ves with an endless amount of choice.

After browsing a few dozen different models, he gained a very good sense on what he could choose from. Aside from the weirder flamethrowers that tried to achieve something exceptional, Ves still had a lot to choose from. Many of them delivered identical performances, so he was free to choose according to his preferences.

He eventually settled on a flamethrower configured for more close-ranged action.

By default, the 34F Enison Spreader featured a wide but short-ranged delivery method that was quite good at occupying a broad front with burning substances!

While the flamethrower could be set to narrow its cone of flames, it wasn't as good as increasing the range. More specialized flamethrowers were able to reach double or triple the range, but in exchange they made a lot of punishing tradeoffs.

Ves couldn't get everything. Considering the main purpose of his striker mech as a defensive mech, he figured that range wasn't an exceptionally high priority to the mech.

His striker mech didn't necessarily have to defeat a mech in order to fulfill its purpose. As long as the enemy stopped advancing forward, that was already enough to justify its addition to a mech roster.

The large but fairly dispersed spraying pattern of the Enison Spreader might not concentrate a lot of thermal energy in a narrow area.

Still, as Ves watched the footage of the weapon in action, it looked incredibly impressive, especially to enemy mech pilots who were expected to pass through the flames!

The Enison Spreader was a fairly hefty flamethrower. It was also a sizable one. Wielding it properly required a striker mech to hold it with both hands.

All of these materials added to the cost of the weapon.

In exchange, the flamethrower not only possessed a high heat capacity, but could also resist a few hits without falling apart or exploding in the striker mech's face!

As an extra, while the maximum range of the flamethrower wasn't very great, concentrating the outward spray into a narrow beam still increased its lethality to an incredible degree!

All in all, the Enison Spreader checked all of his essential boxes and a couple of the less important boxes as well.

The only caveat was that it was a fairly expensive addition to his mech design.

"Gloriana probably won't like how I've taken such a considerable chunk out of our budget." He muttered.

He believed it was worth it. While a striker mech had to be fitted with plenty of armor due to its role and its place on the battlefield, Ves didn't feel it had to be as tough as a knight mech.

Neglecting the striker mech's offensive power in favor of increasing its defensive power was the wrong approach.

That said, armor still mattered a lot as striker mechs simply didn't possess the mobility to rely on evasion to negate incoming attacks. Their heavy reliance on capacity and their defensive-minded roles called for them to stand their ground and take the hits on behalf of more vulnerable mechs.

"Well, I can't have everything." He shrugged.

Striker mechs weren't supposed to be punching bags, but they could take a few hits. It didn't matter if they weren't as tough as knight mechs because they never acted by themselves.

The one of the underlying reasons why he wanted to design this mech was because his forces needed to address a shortcoming that their current mech rosters weren't up to the task.

In many other areas, mechs like the Bright Warrior already fulfilled the necessary functions. Adding his striker mech model to the mix would round out the Larkinson Clan's capabilities a bit further.

It was vitally important to patch one of the holes in the mech rosters in order to prevent needless deaths from occurring again!

Once Ves settled on his choice, he recorded the component license in order to discuss its merits with Gloriana.

He stretched his body, only realizing a second later that the sensations of his body were fake.

He looked down at the book. He could return it to its shelf by activating a command, but he figured he might as well see this ritual to the end.

He sought out and retrieved the book the old-fashioned way, so he rose from his chair, picked up the book and walked the short distance to the right shelf in order to put it back.

"Hello."

Ves turned around to see a well-dressed woman in foreign fashion. It resembled a robe in the so-called 'oriental' style, but with a lot of decorative elements that spoke of class and wealth.

This was not an average mech designer. In fact, those who were able to access the MTA's virtual library in this fashion were never mediocre.

"Hello." Ves answered back while studying the blond woman. "Why did you approach me, miss?"

The woman smiled. "Are you Ves Larkinson?"

"I am. Do you know me? I don't recall meeting you. How do you know my name?"

"Do you really have to ask? I watched your interview with the Rimward Star Herald. It is incredibly impressive that you've managed to obtain a masterwork certificate!"

Ah. His fame had already spread to the point where a random mech designer recognized him in a crowd!

He couldn't help but feel a little flattered. He smiled back.

"I didn't do it by myself. I had my girlfriend to lean on, and an unnamed benefactor did most of the heavy lifting."

The other woman chuckled. "You don't have to be modest, Mr. Larkinson. If mech designers could coast on the accomplishments of a Senior or Master, they wouldn't have gotten a masterwork certificate. Only when your involvement is an essential component in the creation of a masterwork will the MTA grant you credit. I'm sure you would have been able to produce a masterwork mech by yourself sooner than later."

Ves nodded. "I don't like to boast too much, but you're right. Anyway, I haven't caught your name."

"You may call me Angelique Harcourt. As you may have surmised, I'm not a native to your star sector. I hail from the Heavensword Association, which is one of several second-rate 'states' of Majestic Teal."

So his initial guesses were true! The woman came from a neighboring star sector, and a very specific one at that!

This was his first time he talked to a native of Majestic Teal in person, just like how William Urbesh was his first acquaintance from Vicious Mountain.

The star sector she called her home was rather odd in many ways. It's second-rate 'states' were rather odd in that they seem to change their territories quite very often without waging any full-blown wars. The customs there were so strange that everyone in the Komodo Star Sector simply didn't see any logic in their neighbor's territorial conflicts!

Though Ves wasn't looking for conversation, his first meeting with someone from Majestic Teal was enough to arouse his curiosity.

"Miss Harcourt, since you are here, I suppose you are a mech designer. What's your specialization?"

"I am a Journeyman like you, though my accomplishments aren't as illustrious as yours." She admitted with a soft expression. "I specialize in designing swordsman mechs. In particular, I excel at designing the fencer sub-type of swordsman mechs. Rather than rely on momentum and brute force to hack an opponent, my mechs utilize a combination of speed and finesse to inflict targeted attacks onto the enemy weak points while evading as many attacks as possible."

"Ah. So you're designing something similar to light skirmishers."

Fencer mechs were usually light mechs that performed a similar role to their more ubiquitous dagger-wielding counterparts!

Angelique briefly frowned. "Mr. Larkinson. Please do not equate fencer mechs to light skirmishers. The Heavensword Association would never tolerate your ignorance. Be careful in what you say. Fencer mechs are completely different from light skirmishers!"

The way she emphasized her last sentence hinted to Ves that he had touched a very sensitive nerve!

Ves wanted to scratch his head. Fencer mechs were identical to light skirmishers. They were fast, light, melee-oriented and fought their enemies by poking at their weak points.

The only meaningful difference was that light skirmishers often wielded dual daggers while fencer mechs made do with a single sword!

"Please forgive my ignorance, Miss Harcourt. Could you enlighten me what makes fencer mechs different?"

"Certainly, Mr. Larkinson. Would you like to sit down at one of the tables?"

"Sure."

It didn't really matter if they stood or sat down since their physical bodies weren't there, but they sat down anyway.

Harcourt stretched a delicate finger and projected one of her mech designs.

"I believe you are very familiar with light skirmishers. Please compare what you know of this mech type with the fencer mech I've projected. This is one of my latest works, and I'm particularly proud of it. I'm curious to hear what an exalted masterwork mech designer has to say about my efforts."

Harcourt's fencer mech design certainly looked impressive. The second-class mech was largely a landbound mech, though it featured a light application of internal flight modules that allowed it to make large leaps or hops or fly in the air at a lower speed. It could also fly fairly proficiently in space.

Still, it was obvious that the mech's main focus was to fight an opponent on solid ground. The machine immediately screamed dueling mech to Ves due to its focus on peak performance over endurace.

Even though the mech only possessed a limited uptime, it was able to outshine other comparable light mechs! Its speed, strength and most of all precision were unparalleled compared to the likes of the Fliskin, though the comparison wasn't entirely fair since latter had to carry a flight system.

Even so, Ves envisioned the fencer mech as a terror in the mech arenas! As long as the mech pilot was skilled enough to dance around his opponent, he could strike when the probability of suffering a counterattack was low!

Still, Ves didn't see why this mech was any different from a light skirmisher aside from its weapon.

He didn't want to reveal his ignorance, though.

"This is a very well-put together mech." He said. "Though I'm able to envision how it performs in battle, won't you mind sharing some footage with me? Seeing it in battle will help me in evaluating your work."

"Certainly! While I've only released my product a short time ago, it has already attracted a following. Let me browse my database to find the most representative battle footage..."

Chapter 1965 Skill vs Technology

"Fencer mechs are capable of outdueling any melee mechs by themselves." She said. "As you can imagine, my Heavensword Association is incredibly obsessed with swordsmanship. We have developed millions of styles, and many of them revolve around defeating a superior mech with an inferior mech. True glory isn't earned by bullying weaker opponents. It is only attainable to duelists if they can vanquish against a mech that is twice as expensive as theirs!"

Angelique Harcourt conveyed her true feelings on the matter. Her design philosophy centered entirely on fencer mechs, with a particular focus on empowering finesse-based fighting styles.

Ves heard this kind of argument many times. In particular, swordsman mech specialists and mech designers who specialized in designing offensive melee mechs always liked to harp on the merits of centering mech designs around facilitating the skill expression of the mech pilot.

Personally, he possessed a more neutral stance on the matter. While he agreed that it was often best if the mech did not constrain the skill expression of the mech pilot, there were many instances where individual skill just didn't matter.

The hierarchy of mech pilots was shaped like a very broad pyramid. Only a handful of truly skilled mech pilots sat at the top. The majority consisted of a very fat portion of mediocre mech pilots and an even greater number comprised an extremely broad base!

What this effectively meant was that designing mechs around enabling skilled mech pilots to perform their fancy tracks was all well and good, but this market only consisted of 1 percent or less of the entire mech market!

Most general-purpose mechs focused much more on winning the battle through their base performance parameters and individual strengths imparted by their designs.

This was the orthodox approach to mech design. Even in a second-rate state like the Friday Coalition or the Hexadric Hegemony, plenty of mediocre mech pilots existed who despite all of their advanced education and augmentations were still barely good enough to pilot a basic mech!

Therefore, to most people in the mech community, they had to base their decisions around 'average' mech pilots who always needed help from their mechs in order to increase their effectiveness in battle!

As Ves faced the passionate mech designer from the Heavensword Association, he refrained from voicing his true opinion. From what she said so far, he would only get sucked in a pointless argument against someone who would never change her mind on a matter he held close to her heart!

He returned a strained smile at Harcourt. "I understand. Fencer mechs are completely designed to outduel any enemy swordsman mech, spearman mech or other melee mech up front. Different from light skirmishers, they possess enough strength to deflect and redirect incoming blows. Considering how much less strength fencer mechs possess compared to medium mechs, that must be pretty difficult to pull off. One misstep is enough to result in defeat!"

"That's why my customers are all swordmasters." Miss Harcourt grinned in satisfaction. "It's not easy to satisfy the needs of these exalted mech pilots. Admittedly, I have no chance of offering my products to the established swordmasters of my Association, but the younger ones are hungry to prove their skill!"

"Forgive my ignorance, miss. From the inflection of your words, I take it that swordmasters are special in your Association. Am I correct?"

The female mech designer beamed with pride. "Our Heavensword Association produces the best swordsman mech pilots of our star sector! In fact, some of our swordmasters aren't inferior to the best swordsman mech specialists of the Winged Serenade Star Sector! It takes lifelong learning and dedication to become a recognized swordmaster. Even before they start learning how to pilot any swordsman mech, they begin swinging their swords and practicing the fundamentals of their sword styles when they are old enough to hold a stick!"

The woman blabbered on about the constant and extreme training that swordmasters had to endure in order to become a master of the sword!

Whether in person or in the cockpit of a mech, swordmasters were expected to deliver a brilliant display of swordsmanship!

"The strongest and most skilled swordmaster of our time is always crowned as the Heavensword Saint. As the mech pilot who is the closest to wielding the legendary Heavensword, we believe he is worthy enough to lead our Association!"

The more Ves heard about the Heavensword Association, the less he wanted to hear. The citizens of the Heavensword Association even called themselves sword servants, implying that everyone who wasn't a swordmaster solely existed to serve this warrior class!

Ves pretended to notice the time. "Ah, I'd love to exchange my views on swordsman mechs and fencer mechs with you, but I have just begun to embark on a new design project. The deadline for it is rather tight, and the rest of my design team is awaiting the results of my selection."

"Oh? May I ask what mech you are planning to design?"

"A spaceborn striker mech."

"I see. That's a shame." Angelique's face fell. "If you were designing a swordsman mech, I would have been able to offer some advice to you. Striker mechs are.. rather detestable mechs in my opinion. They require no skill at all to pilot! It is a travesty every time a no-skill mech is capable of defeating a proper swordsman mech!"

That was the entire point. Striker mechs were explicitly designed to counter tricky and maneuverable melee mechs!

They offered a solution to mech forces that didn't possess too many high-skilled mech pilots. Without striker mechs, any formidable opponent would be able to wreak havoc in their midst!

While it sounded dishonorable to rely on technology to neutralize the advantages of skill, the history of war throughout human civilization always revolved around this dynamic.

In ancient human civilization, armies started slinging stones or shooting arrows at their opponents. Regardless of how a king or noble spent a significant amount of money and effort to train a skilled knight or man-at-arms who were deadly at close combat, a single arrow penetrating a weak point in their armor was enough to make all of that investment go to waste!

As millenia passed and humanity ascended to the stars, humanity still leaned heavily on technology to vanquish its opponents!

Relying on skill was important, but.. aside from prodigies, many mech pilots focused on deepening their skill because they didn't have enough faith in the battle prowess of their mechs.

If their machines weren't good enough because their employers were too cheap or refused to assign them something better, than honing their skills was the only way for these mech pilots to increase their chances of success in battle!

"Maybe I'll design a swordsman mech in the future. It's on my to-do list." Ves casually remarked.

"Please consider getting in touch with me if you do. Whether you just want some advice from someone who has designed mechs that excel in bringing out the strengths of different sword styles, or are in need of a very knowledgeable collaborator, I'm open to any offer!"

Ves smiled. "I appreciate your generous offer. For the time being, I have other matters to attend to. Goodbye."

"Goodbye, Mr. Larkinson!"

He pulled his digitized mind out of the MTA's virtual portal shortly afterwards.

Returning his perspective to his real body momentarily disoriented him. The transition happened suddenly without any adjustment time. However, he soon familiarized himself with his own eyes and ears again.

Gloriana was watching him carefully from his side. "How was your first virtual immersion?"

"It's disturbing how closely it mimics reality yet exhibits subtle signs of imperfection that constantly reminds me that it's just a false reality."

"The MTA probably has technology that can present an even more realistic experience." She claimed. "Back when I was residing at Centerpoint, I heard rumors that the MTA has long mastered how to make virtual immersion so realistic that no one is able to distinguish between true and false reality! They mostly keep it to themselves in order to give their own personnel an edge in training and prevent trillions of average people from losing touch with reality!"

That sounded like something the MTA would do. Human civilization may be ascendant in the Milky Way Galaxy and beyond, but their race could easily lose its dominant position if its people grew complacent!

Getting lost in entertainment and ignoring actual concerns in life for the endless pleasures of virtual reality was a common fear to many leaders.

Humans needed to maintain their edge. Growing soft led to weakness. Weakness led to disaster! No matter what, humans needed to remember that life was hard, but necessary!

"This reminds me that I still need to visit the Rim Exchange." Ves suddenly said. "I refrained from visiting its virtual portal because I still had to complete the Bright Warrior design and didn't want to become distracted, but now that I'm not as busy, perhaps I can see what this exclusive club is all about."

"Go ahead, Ves. I'm curious to see what the Rim Exchange has to offer as well. It's a shame I didn't receive an invitation."

She didn't show much remorse, though. Hexers generally preferred to keep a distance from the MTA and its organizations because they had too many males in power.

"I'll be on the lookout for any easy opportunities to earn a lot of merits, though I don't expect to find anything promising. MTA merits shouldn't be so easy to come by, considering they are the primary necessities to extend our lives."

"Before you dive in again, please tell me which flamethrower model you've selected."

He briefly did so, and she accepted his choice, though with obvious reluctance.

"Our budget will strain even further with this choice, Ves. We can invest as much in the armor system of our striker mech design."

"Offense is more important than defense when it comes to striker mechs. If I want a defensive mech, I would have designed a mech that is specialized in taking a beating!"

She couldn't argue with that simple logic, though she didn't feel so good. Second-class striker mechs were much better protected in proportion to all of its other features, but that was an entirely different game.

Once Ves finished his discussion with his girlfriend, he settled on his seat and prepared to enter another virtual immersion. He browsed the interface of his comm until he came across the exclusive virtual entrance of the marketplace of the Rim Guardian Fraternity!

Mech designers and other mech insiders all across the entire galactic rim dreamt of becoming an associate of the Rim Guardians!

Chief among their reasons was obtaining access to their exclusive Rim Exchange. Though it offered many of the same goods and services of the MTA, associates received varying levels of preferential treatment that allowed them to get more out of their precious merits!

Now, Ves would be entering it for the very first time. Though he wasn't sure what to expect, he hoped to find something that would make it easier to fulfill his ambition to become a galactic pioneer!

As his partially-digitized mind entered the Rim Exchange's virtual portal, his senses blanked out once again before depositing him at a brilliant star escape!

Stars surrounded him from every direction as his disembodied eyes floated in the middle of interstellar space!

A symbol of the Rim Guardians slowly lit up in front of his view. A starry chakram with the silhouette of a man at the side looking upwards with hope conveyed a lot of symbolism.

Once it disappeared, an android similar to Delta-Gina appeared into view.

[Welcome to the Rim Exchange, Mr. Larkinson.] The butler-like android with a metallic moustache greeted. [I am Gamma-Gamma-Hogan, your virtual concierge at our illustrious Exchange. Whether you visit our virtual portal or one of our physical branches, I shall always be present to accompany you through our Exchange and assist you in your tasks. You may dismiss me whenever you wish if you do not desire my company.]

If Ves still possessed a body, he would have twitched his mouth. It figured that the Rim Guardians wouldn't do things the normal way.

"Your name is kind of a mouthful. Can I call you Hogan?"

[You have full prerogative to call me anything you wish.]

A thought came to mind. "I'm curious. What are the most common names that virtual concierges like you are called?"

[The top names are 'Bot', 'Stupid Bot', 'Dummy', '#$\u0026#Y$ ', '#\u0026 $ #', ' #\u0026$\u0026', 'Servant', 'AI' and '#$* #$'. Would you like to refer to me in one of these popular names instead?]

"No thanks. Hogan will do."

Chapter 1966 Rim Avatar

"So Hogan, as much as I'd like to float around in a fake galaxy a little longer, I was expecting a little more from the Rim Exchange. Could you lead me to the Merit Hall and other places on the platform?"

[You are not ready to enter our platform in your current state, Mr. Larkinson.] The servile virtual android spoke. [As this is the first time you are entering our virtual portal, you must design your humanoid avatar which you will be using to interact with fellow associates and representatives of the Rim Guardians.]

Ves felt puzzled. "So I'm not going to be visiting the Exchange in a copy of my own body?"

[Correct. Here at the Rim Exchange, billions of Associates come together in one of our instanced virtual realities. Mech designers, mech pilots, industrialists and many other noteworthy people from across the galaxy are able to socialize and exchange with each other.]

"So I'll be able to encounter someone who is separated a hundred-thousand light-years away from the Komodo Star Sector?"

Hogan nodded his robotic head. [Technically, that is correct, though by default you will enter an instance that is mostly visited by your fellow associates in your star cluster. You have the option to transfer to a more cosmopolitan instance, but that is not recommended for Journeymen.]

It might be fun to talk to someone who lived on the other end of the galaxy, but the novelty quickly wore off after a time. Aside from conducting a shallow exchange, there was no point in collaborating with someone who was so physically distant.

"Tell me more about these so-called avatars, Hogan. Could you show me some examples as well?"

[Why certainly, Mr. Larkinson. Here is a random selection of Rim Avatars designed by your fellow associates.]

The android waved a hand, causing a carousel of a diverse selection of robotic, human-sized avatars to rotate past his view.

Many of them resembled androids like Delta-Gina and Gamma-Gamma-Hogan, but with much more sophistication in their designs.

Most of them were unclothed, preferring to bare their full technical brilliance to others.

Some of them adhered closely to the human form. Whether they were male or female, they looked human enough to pass off as one if not for their obvious technological appearances.

Others were a bit more creative. One looked like a robotic bear that learned how to walk upright, while another resembled a floating octopus that hovered above the ground using antigrav modules rather than its tentacles.

A substantial minority of avatars even took on the form of mechs on a smaller scale! These human-sized mechs were completely viable in reality. Aside from the lack of mech pilots, these mech-like Rim Avatars were obviously derived from the mech designed by their owners!

What impressed Ves the most about these avatars was that many owners used them as a canvas to express their creativity or send a message!

Some Rim Avatars resembled ancient, corroded relics that one might find in a centuries-old ruin.

Another brilliant avatar even seemed to have been designed according to steampunk principles, operating completely on steam rather than conventional electricity!

Ves didn't need to ask why the Rim Exchange enforced the use of these Rim Avatars.

At least in the case of mech designers, the names and appearances of their fellow colleagues weren't as important as their ability in mech design!

Showcasing their design style and design skill in the form of a personally-designed Rim Avatar provided much more information to others with just a single glance.

The avatar bodies that Hogan showed off all provided Ves with a wealth of information about their owners just by reading their designs!

Some owners were eager to advertise their full abilities. Others were more circumspect and deliberately designed Rim Avatars that revealed as little information about their identities, design styles and skill as possible!

He even encountered a few sloppy, low-effort Rim Avatars that were barely better than cleaning bots in terms of sophistication!

All in all, Ves understood that he could pick any form of Rim Avatar he wished, within certain limits. Rather than a straightforward demonstration of design prowess, the Avatars also functioned as a way to shape to other people's impression of himself.

Whether he wanted to attract attention from others or avoid it like the plague, his unique Rim Avatar would be able to facilitate either desires depending on his design choices!

"What a fun game." Ves curled his non-existent lips into a smile. "It's fitting that a platform that is mostly frequented by mech designers to adopt such a novel custom."

After Ves expressed a desire to design his own Rim Avatar, Hogan waved his robotic hand once again, transferring him to a virtual design studio.

[As a convenience, you do not need to fabricate the components of your Rim Avatar. Merely design your Avatar and its virtual incarnation will immediately appear in front of you. As a level 2 external associate of the Rim Guardian Fraternity, you have access to a slightly wider selection of materials and advanced components.]

"I'm not level 1? Is that normal? What is this level structure?"

[External associates rank from level 1 to level 10. Each new associate starts at level 1, which is the most basic level. It provides no discount on official goods and services offered by the Rim Guardians and your access to various facilities and amenities are subject to many restrictions. At level 2, you receive a 5 percent discount and gain various privileges. This pattern continues at higher levels until you reach level 10, which affords associates with a 45 percent discount on official goods and services as well as many other privileges.]

Forty-five percent! That was a massive discount, especially if that applied to fleet beyonder tickets and life-prolonging treatments!

However, Ves knew that the Rim Guardians weren't generous for nothing. Just like the MTA they hailed from, mech designers probably had to toil for centuries to reach the highest level!

"How can mech designers reach a higher level of associate status?"

[Certain critical missions offer a promotion in rank as an optional or base reward. You can also reach a higher level by advancing to Senior or Master or by making certain important achievements. The reason why you have been promoted to level 2 is because you have received a masterwork certificate. This is an achievement worthy of recognition.]

So that explained it. That was a pretty nice extra, since a 5 percent discount already shaved off 5 million MTA merits off the hefty price of a fleet beyonder ticket!

"Well, let's start."

The design interface was virtually identical to that of a mech design software suite, though with various extra tools designed to cope with the smaller scale of the robotic avatars.

Ves had access to the public library of the MTA if he needed to look up on how to build a robot, and he even had the option of contacting some people if he needed advice or assistance.

He was too proud and confident to rely on others to design his Rim Avatar. He wanted it to become an expression of himself!

He saw no need to play any games and hide his identity behind a deceptive Rim Avatar. Insead, he wanted to translate his design style, his design philosophy and his other design-related traits in the form he chose to represent himself among the associates of the Rim Guardians!

Naturally, he would hold some characteristics back, but he was not afraid of showing other mech designers his distinctive design style!

Besides, anyone who looked up his mech designs would be able to view what he could do anyway.

Though Hogan mentioned that Ves had the option of hiding his identity, he didn't see the point in that. The Rim Exchange was a virtual reality that was fully under the control of the Rim Guardians. Privacy was an illusion and everything happened under the purview of the powerful organization!

As he directed his thoughts to his Rim Avatar, Ves briefly considered his options.

He didn't feel the need to be adventurous and design something that deviated from the human form. He first started drawing a line schematic that largely resembled his actual contours.

Now that he defined the shape and volume of his Rim Avatar, he began to design its internals

A humanoid robot was incredibly simple to make. However, it took a lot of skill and sophistication to design a robot that moved as cleverly as a human and functioned just as well in diverse environments.

Ves considered it a test of some sorts. Fortunately, with his knowledge and skill, developing a robot from the ground up was not a difficult task at all, especially now that he augmented his cognitive functions with his Archimedes Rubal implant!

He quickly designed the internals of his Rim Avatar in a matter of hours. Ves did the best he could in this span of time.

Due to the smaller size and scope of his design, Ves didn't have to spend nearly as much time as he would on a mech design!

While he hadn't made any adventurous design choices with regards to the internals, he made sure to design the inner structure in a way that was robust and reliable even if Ves hadn't subjected it to a lot of optimisation!

With regards to testing and optimisation, the virtual workshop offered many advanced features that quickly analyzed and tested the Rim Avatar's performance in an enormous range of conditions.

Ves saved a lot of days of tinkering with this service!

"How powerful! This kind of assistance is invaluable in mech design!"

Once he finished the internals, he devoted a lot of time to the externals, because that was the most obvious portion that others would judge his avatar.

He decided to unleash a bit of his creativity and go a little wild with regards to its external appearance. He adopted a bronze-like appearance that resembled Lucky's original metallic look. He spiced it up by adding some white and golden accents to the mech.

The Rim Avatar's appearance went past functional and started to adopt an artistic slant. Ves spent hours on fine-tuning the visual design of his Rim Avatar.

At the same time, he also concentrated his mind and tried to realize the vision he constructed in his mind!

As an extra element to his Rim Avatar, Ves wanted to convey a bit of his specialty in it by imparting it with a glow!

Ves didn't put his full effort into it, as he was well aware that the Rim Guardians were recording all of his actions as he worked.

He merely fell back to creating an image of himself and infused it with his own spiritual energy, making extra effort to emphasize his spiritual domain!

The glow that slowly formed inside his metallic bronze avatar began to radiate a subtle aura. Ves deliberately toned it down in order to avoid stirring up a huge amount of people.

Nonetheless, anyone who got close to him or caught his attention would definitely be able to feel that they were in the presence of someone remarkable!

The unique blend of life and mechs that came from his spiritual attributes permeated his increasingly more impressive Rim Avatar like a scent that never went away!

Though an artificial lifeform like Gamma-Gamma-Hogan probably felt nothing from his bronze Rim Avatar, other people would definitely be able to sense its glow!

"This Avatar is missing something... Ah, how could I forget?!"

Ves quickly modified the bald and shiny head structure in order to incorporate a soft-glowing third eye.

Different from the third eye of his mech designs, he decided to keep it oval in order to resemble a human eye shape.

Gloriana didn't have any involvement in designing this Rim Avatar, so Ves had no right to add her signature look to his creation.

Besides, Ves was afraid that he would be mistaken for an oppressed male Hexer if his Rim Avatar paraded a hexagon-shaped eye! Hogan had already mentioned to him that the default instance he was about to enter was frequented by many associates from the Komodo Star Sector!

After fine-tuning the visual glow of the third eye, Ves finally completed his work.

It took a few hours, but Ves was pretty proud of what he came up with. The design tools provided by the Rim Guardians certainly compensated for many of its shortcomings resulting from his haste!

[Have you completed your Rim Avatar, Mr. Larkinson?]

"I have. Does my work meet the Rim Exchange's approval?"

[It does. You may use it as your primary form when you enter one of our venues. Please keep in mind that you may also take control of a physical copy of your Rim Avatar when you visit one of our physical sites.]

Of course they would do something like that. The Rim Guardians could easily materialize his work in a second and deconstruct afterwards when Ves was done his business!

"Alright, let's go!"

[Before you enter the Exchange, you must bestow your work with a name. This will also be your public pseudonym in the Rim Exchange.]

Ves was too impatient to think up something clever. He had enough with these diversions!

"Just call it Lifegiver—, no wait, call it Apollo! Now let me enter!"

A pseudonym like 'Lifegiver' veered uncomfortably close to the Five Scrolls Compact! It was better to pick something more bland like the name of a god!

Unfortunately, he hit a snag that was common to many people who wanted to register a name.

[That particular pseudonym is already taken by a fellow associate.]

"Apollon?"

[That particular pseudonym is already taken by a fellow associate.]

"Goddammit!"

[That particular pseudonym is already taken by a fellow associate.]

"You stupid bot! Call it Apollo Radiant, I'm sure that's not taken yet! Now let me in already!"

[Your Rim Avatar is officially registered as 'Apollo Radiant'. Please stand by for transfer.]

Chapter 1967 Rim Tour

Ves entered one of the main instances of the Rim Exchange for the very first time.

He emerged in the middle of a plaza. Once the bronze-like robotic form of his Apollo Radiant finished its entry into this virtual setting, he looked around in wonder through his simulated artificial sensors.

"Impressive."

The Rim Exchange simulated a city from a first-rate state. The hypermodern architecture vaguely resembled the sights he had seen when he entered the mind of Axelar Streon during a past Mastery experience.

Perhaps this cityscape wasn't anything special to the Terrans or the Rubarthans, but to the hicks from the galactic rim, this was more than enough to steal anyone's breath away at first sight!

As Ves admired the vista, he eventually noted some incongruities. Certain floating structures or structures on land looked out of place from the rest of the city. Their appearances exhibited a different style and different construction.

They ranged from ancient wooden temples, starships, alien forests and other settings!

When he concentrated on what looked like a church, a pop-up box appeared in his view.

[New Apostolicic Church of Granada Prime

Total value: 64,035,245 MTA merits

Accessibility: open to the public at all times

Message: Christ is a mech designer! Find out why by stepping inside!]

Ves had to make sure his optical sensors were working correctly. A church was allowed to exist in the Rim Exchange?

It seemed as if anyone could buy some real estate in this instance as long as they had enough merits on hands!

After he was done admiring the virtual setting, he directed to himself.

Unlike his previous visit to the MTA's public library, he didn't appear in his own body this time.

Instead, his current 'body' comprised of his Rim Avatar!

The experimentally flexed his fingers and moved his robotic limbs. His bronze-like shell held up well as he had leveraged most of his mech design expertise into fashioning himself a good artificial body.

More importantly than that, his Apollo Radiant avatar also exuded a glow that was already turning the heads of nearby Rim Avatars!

One avatar shaped like a fat, robotic walrus in a formal suit was openly gawking at Ves' much slimmer form like he was the only alien among a crowd of humans!

In fact, dozens of others who had just beamed into the same plaza were attracted to his glow as well!

"Apollo Radiant, how come you're only level 2?"

Ves' robotic face scrunched in a frown. "How do you know that?"

"You.. don't know?"

"I'm new here. This is my first time entering the Rim Exchange."

"That's impossible!" The Walrus bellowed! "You're level 2!"

"I don't need to explain myself to you. How do you know I'm a level 2 associate?"

The Walrus finally started to look unsure of his guess. "You're really new?"

"Yes." Ves said with an exasperated sigh.

"Oh. Well, you can study our details by activating one of the settings of this virtual immersion."

"How can I access the settings?"

"Your virtual concierge should tell you this, but he is probably waiting outside. Just call up an interface from your comm."

Ves did so, and saw that he had access to a lot of functions. Once he browsed the settings, he activated an overlay option.

Pseudonyms instantly appeared above everyone's head. Like a game, Ves started seeing names like 'Brozard Lakeman' or 'Master of Spears'.

In addition, as long as Ves concentrated a little, he could call up the level of the associate, and depending on the privacy setting of the Rim Avatar, the name of the associate, their location, their mech designer rank if applicable and a brief summary of their record!

Ves quickly browsed his own privacy settings and saw that it was set to the highest privacy setting by default.

Though he wasn't afraid of announcing his identity and showing off his impressive accomplishments for a Journeyman, he decided to be a bit more reserved than planned and left his privacy settings alone.

After he became more accustomed to moving his Apollo Radiant avatar, Ves began to head to the exit of the plaza.

A large amount of virtual concierges awaited outside. Gamma-Gamma-Hogan soon walked up to him. [Apollo Radiant, please accompany me so that I introduce you to the Rim Exchange. There are several essential rules and customs you need to be aware of before you proceed to make use of our platform.]

"Very well."

The two walked away from the crowded plaza while the AI began to show him ropes. He began to instruct him on how to change his settings on his comm, which he already knew.

[The instance you see here is one of many instances which may look different.] Hogan robotically explained. [Some instances are set on lunar surfaces, while others are set in the interior of an ark ship. No matter the specific setting, the structures here are divided into two categories. The majority of them are operated by the Rim Guardians. The merit hall is one of the most important structures which we will reach at the end of the tour.]

The two walked forward until they stopped in front of one of the structures with foreign architecture.

[The Rim Exchange offers certain parcels for sale to associates interested in establishing a permanent virtual presence in a particular instance. It is generally not recommended for new and low-level associates to purchase the right to build a virtual structure in the Rim Exchange due to the prohibitive cost of MTA merits.]

That was for sure! Even this small structure that was close to one of the plazas already cost more than 20,000,000 MTA merits!

A centuries-old geezer could gain an extra century of life with that amount of merits!

"I'm not interested. Let's move on, Hogan."

[Very well.]

The instance resembled a city for a very good reason. There were so many Associates here that a lot of city districts were needed to accommodate them all in the same virtual setting!

Most of the buildings were actually used for something.

The city offered virtual workplaces for associates to get some work done.

The city also offered virtual workshops where associates could collaborate or compete against each other as they designed and fabricated virtual mechs with a very high degree of realism factor.

However, Ves soon discovered that most of the buildings weren't very relevant to his interests. He just wanted to use the Rim Exchange to earn a lot of merits. He wasn't interested in hanging out here all day in order to socialize or expand his network.

Still, he did maintain some interests towards the other associates. Everywhere he went, he could see Rim Avatars walking the streets or chatting with each other.

Most Rim Avatars seemed to be traveling alone. A few had their virtual concierges by their side.

Almost everyone walked on foot. There were no vehicles available and the only way that someone like Ves could access a floating building was to enter one of the 'invisible' elevators that lifted his body off the ground at a slow and agonizing pace.

A few Rim Avatars didn't seem constrained by gravity, though. A handful of very impressive-looking artificial bodies zipped past his head with no concern for the people below!

"How come those Rim Avatars can fly?"

[Associates who are level 6 and up receive the privilege to fly in any branch of the Rim Exchange. Please be respectful to these individuals. The ability to fly is only granted to associates who have contributed significantly to the Rim Guardians.]

"I understand."

These higher-leveled people were probably Master Mech Designers or something!

What he found the most interesting about watching other associates was the way they presented themselves in the form of their Rim Avatars.

Though plenty of associates choose to hide their strengths and traits, there were still a lot of Rim Avatars who openly displayed their design talents!

His eyes were certainly opened at that moment. He encountered a diverse varieties of design philosophies, ranging from the conventional to the extreme, just by studying the way their owners designed their Rim Avatars!

One lady for example seemed to specialize in designing heavy artillery mechs. Her Rim Avatar probably reached the maximum-allowable dimensions and mass as her gun-infested Avatar had to squeeze through the extra-large doors in order to enter a building!

Another associate seemed to specialize in bestial mechs as he trotted down the street at a quick pace in centaur form!

All in all, there was a lot of gawking going around. Everyone watched everyone. Whether they only directed a brief glance or stared at someone else's Rim Avatar as if it was the most beautiful robot in the galaxy, no one seemed to be very shy about checking each other out!

Sometimes, associates interested in someone else's specialty or design style began to approach them in order to chat.

Just like the MTA's public library, this entire Rim Exchange tried to foster a lot of exchanges, friendships and cooperation!

Evidently, the MTA heavily encouraged its associates to socialize with each other. Was the Association afraid that every mech designer would turn into nerds if they weren't maintaining enough human contact?

Even Ves started to receive some interest! A couple had already approached him, mostly due to Apollo Radiant's glow!

"I'm sorry, but as you can see and hear, I'm in the middle of my introductory tour."

Rejection was fairly common at the Rim Exchange, so no one took his rejection personally. It wasn't as if there was any way to insist on a conversation. The Rim Guardians were watching them so closely that any improper or untoward behavior would immediately result in a temporary ban!

The tour took more than an hour.

Hogan first guided him to the district where the business network resided.

[For the business-minded associate, this district offers many ways to grow your business. You can sign special contracts enforced by the MTA here. You can find business partners from different parts of the galactic rim to make business deals. You can also obtain a referral if you desire a specific good or service.]

"I already know that." Ves waved his robotic hand. "Lieutenant Ferct already gave me the description on the basic services available at the Rim Exchange. What I want to know is how much merits it costs for services related to expanding my business to a different star sector."

[Without applying discounts, it costs 10,000 MTA merits to guarantee a business contract in your native star sector. It costs 50,000 MTA merits to guarantee a contract in a different star sector. It costs 100,000 MTA merits to gain access to the distribution network of the RG Logistics. It costs 10,000,000 MTA merits to gain access to the distribution network of the entire galactic rim. Please keep in mind that every contract abides by a standard structure and must be subject to approval by the Rim Guardians.]

Those were some very significant prices! MTA merits were notoriously hard to obtain in great amounts.

While access to a distribution network that spanned the entire galactic rim for just 10,000,000 MTA merits sounded like a bargain, it was in effect a lot more complicated than that. Hogan informed Ves that he would still have to pay a lot of transportation costs in order to ship his products to different star sectors and star clusters!

The greater the distance, the higher the price!

No matter what, the Rim Guardians still made sure they earned a profit from any of the business activities of their associates!

Though the merit prices for most of these services sounded reasonable, Ves was in no hurry to make use of them. Ves already learned it was far too easy to spend his MTA merits than to earn them! Before he built up his savings, he should refrain from squandering this precious resource!

One thing was for sure. These services were very popular among associates as a lot of Rim Avatars constantly entered the buildings that offered them! Obtaining the backing of the Rim Guardians was a powerful way to make sure that a foreign business partner from another star sector wouldn't renege on a deal!

Chapter 1968 Business Alliances

Granada Prime was an instance of the Rim Exchange centered around the three star sectors of Komodo, Vicious Mountain and Majestic Teal.

As Gamma-Gamma-Hogan continued to guide Ves around the stunning cityscape that would fit right at home in a first-rate state, they traversed from one end of the open districts to the other end. They paused at various notable structures along the way, each of which offered various goods and services that couldn't be found elsewhere outside the Mta!

The various venues offered dazzling offerings that focused a lot on enhancing the capabilities of mech pilots and mech designers. Ves encounter a dizzying selection of high-class implants, superior gene mod templates and even personal tutoring sessions from Masters!

His Rim Avatar's three eyes stared obsessively at some of the most valuable offerings. Certain products such as advanced gene optimization treatments, auto designer mainframes and materializers could completely transform his life and boost his productivity to insane levels!

Yet as soon as a popup box appeared in his view, he couldn't help but wince and regretfully turn his robotic avatar's head away.

"Too expensive!"

All of these products vastly exceeded his budget!

Some products were easier to obtain than others because they were priced in both credits and merits. The latter was very difficult to obtain, but the former was just a question of wealth.

As long as someone's daddy was rich enough, it was still possible to purchase a materializer without slaving away on behalf of the Rim Guardians!

"It's pointless, though."

A single materializer may be a fine machine to someone like Gloriana who specialized in custom mechs, but the cost did not outweigh the benefits.

The amount of money required to purchase the lowest-quality materializer was enough to purchase a couple of planets!

Mech designers were better off investing in a high-quality mech manufacturing complex or a well-equipped factory ship.

Other products failed to convey enough value in his opinion. The Rim Exchange may have made more of the MTA's exclusive products available to its associates, but their prices were hardly lower!

"It's all about the discount." Ves realized over the course of his tour.

The discount an associate could obtain was vitally important. As a mech designer continued to increase his value and contribute to the Rim Guardians, their associate level rose, thereby lowering the prices of the products offered by the fraternity by increments of 5 percent.

It was not that difficult to obtain a couple of levels. However, the further you rose, the harder it was to reach the next threshold!

Yet leveling up was very much worth it in the long term. The Rim Guardians offered a near-global discount on all of its products and services at higher levels of associate status.

Right now, Ves was merely level 2, but he already obtained a 5 percent discount on every offering, including the fleet beyonder ticket that he had always been aiming for since the start of the new generation!

The one caveat to the discount was that it didn't apply to goods and services offered by other associates and third-parties. The Rim Guardians generally didn't meddle with private transactions unless the associates paid a lot of merits to guarantee the contract.

This meant that if Ves got scammed, he only had himself to blame!

[Higher levels of associate status also conveys other perks.] Hogan robotically explained as they passed through a widely-frequented avenue. A lot of Rim Avatars paused and stared at Apollo Radiant's bronze-like form as they became affected by its subtle but alluring glow. [At level 2, 4 and 6, you gain access to increasingly higher qualities of exotics that you can apply to your Rim Avatar. At level 10, you may even invent materials that do not exist in reality!]

That wasn't as valuable as the discount those higher levels offered. Still, Ves could see the value in upgrading the Rim Avatar.

More expensive and impressive ones always attracted a lot of attention. Just like how great clothing could improve someone's image, a more sophisticated Rim Avatar could instantly command attention!

Ves had encountered plenty of scenes where a level 4 or a level 6 associate attracted dozens of lower-leveled mech designers!

The Rim Exchange was not just a venue for trade. It was also a platform for cooperation.

Every mech designer who was able to enter the Rim Exchange consisted of some of the best and most talented mech designers of their respective star sectors. No one who managed to earn the approval of the Rim Guardians were average!

These talented and capable mech designers weren't interested in collaborating with the riffraff of their states. They were much more interested in combining their strengths with equals!

To foster partnerships and collaborations, certain associates purchased real estate at Granada Prime and other instances in order to start a club.

These clubs adopted various forms, but Ves noted that most of them adopted a model similar to that of the Clifford Society.

The more senior members of the clubs or associations offered various rewards to the lower ranks. All the junior members needed to do was to contribute to the club.

Ves wasn't very attracted to these associations. He was very much aware that the clubs were mostly set up to enrich the associates at the top. The lower ranks were mostly treated as slaves or free labor.

Still, plenty of Journeymen and other lower-leveled associates seemed to take part in these clubs, particularly if they offered market access or extensive collaborations in major design projects.

Hogan pointed at one of the virtual headquarters at the side of the street. [Many of our associates join together to form business alliances. It is well worth it to apply to join these business alliances. If you are an entrepreneur, then the market access, opportunities for collaboration and frequent exchanges are very beneficial to your progression. According to one of our studies, associates who have joined a business alliance or comparable cooperative organization have advanced from Journeyman Senior 34.5362342332 percent higher than associates who have declined to follow suit.]

That was quite a hefty difference, but Ves knew that Hogan was only mentioning this fact because the Rim Guardians wanted him to partner up with other associates.

The more the associates worked together, the more the Rim Guardians benefited! Aside from deriving more profit out of them, partnerships and alliances also fostered more closeness to the Rim Guardians!

Though Ves saw a lot of benefits in joining these organizations, for now he reserved his judgement. A part of him felt that he could already get everything he wanted from the Rim Exchange alone.

Their tour eventually came to an end when Gamma-Gamma-Hogan guided his Rim Avatar to the foot of a tall structure known as the merit hall.

[The merit hall is the primary source of MTA merits to associates. The Rim Guardians offer many different missions, each of which reward its takers with varying amounts of MTA merits and other rewards.]

"How many merits do these missions reward on average?"

[That varies wildly between mission issuers, mission types, mission lengths, mission difficulties, level restrictions, rank restrictions, risk factors and other variables. On average, a level 2 Journeyman such as you earns 29,454 MTA merits per successfully completed mission.]

That.. didn't sound very much. His avatar's robotic face didn't hide his dismay at this paltry amount of merits.

It wasn't even enough to fill the gaps between his teeth!

If his level remained the same, then he needed to earn 95 million MTA merits in order to earn his own passage to the Red Ocean!

If he earned around 30,000 merits per mission, he would have to complete 31,667 missions in order to become a galactic pioneer!

"I'll probably be a thousand years old by the time I earn enough merits!"

By then, fleet beyonder tickets were completely moot! In fact, the galaxy would probably look completely different from today! Ves wasn't even sure whether the MTA and the Rim Guardians would still be around in the distant future!

"Can you describe the missions that my fellow associates at my level are taking?"

[Most of the associates at your level perform missions that call for designing specific mechs that have to perform well under unique and difficult circumstances. Aside from that, your peers also accept missions that task them with tutoring younger mech designers or compete at various mech design competitions.]

"I see."

None of them sounded particularly risky or challenging. Ves recalled that he received 50,000 merits from the Rim Guardians after he turned Silent William into an expert candidate.

Considering the immense difficulty of pushing any mech pilot through the extraordinary threshold, his mission was at least twice as difficult as the typical missions performed by his peers!

Of course, Ves did not intend to perform another mission like this. He needed to earn a lot of merits. Missions that only offered tens of thousands of merits were completely useless to him! The distraction would even detract from his goals!

[This ends my tour. Do you still require my assistance?]

"No thanks, Hogan. I think I'll be able to do fine here on my own."

[Very well, Apollo Radiant. You may summon me with your comm whenever you wish.]

Gamma-Gamma-Hogan soon disappeared through a dematerialization effect.

It didn't really matter if Ves dragged his robot butler around everywhere, but he felt a bit uncomfortable about being stared at by a Benny that wasn't under his control.

He entered the merit hall. He passed by various displays of great masterwork mechs and greater mech designers. As Ves glanced at the displays, the pop-up boxes helpfully enlightened him to what made them worthy to be put on display.

After passing by this display, he entered one of several enormous halls that held hundreds of Rim Avatars.

The associates had all gathered here for several reasons.

Most of the Rim Avatars were closely watching the giant projected mission boards. They keenly observed the new additions to the board like a hawk. As long as an attractive exclusive mission emerged, scores of Rim Avatars immediately tried to accept them! Only the ones with the fastest reaction time managed to obtain the exclusive mission!

Not every mission was exclusive. There were plenty of open missions which rewarded the first associate who completed them first.

The associates weren't very eager to perform these missions. They were usually difficult or time-consuming. What was worse was that there was always a chance that their hard work would be in vain as long as others submitted their results a little bit earlier!

Ves browsed the various missions on display.

[Design Mission

Design a landbound ranged mech that can resist intense electromagnetic storms.

Reward: 25,000 MTA merits]

[Exploration Mission

Accompany a second-class expeditionary fleet tasked by the Rim Guardians to explore an anomalous megaplanet in the deep frontier. Design or modify mechs that function well in this difficult environment.

Be aware that the gravity of the megaplanet is estimated to be 8.9 g. Any associate who wishes to perform this mission must prove their ability to design a mech adapted to the megaplanet's extreme environmental conditions.

Reward: 475,000 MTA merits]

[Research Mission

Take part in a research group tasked with studying and deciphering ancient alien war machines. Not all war machines are analogous to mechs.

Your reward is in direct proportion to your contribution to the research group.

Reward: 1,000 MTA merits - 100,000 MTA merits]

"Well." His Apollo Radiant avatar placed its metal hands on its metal hips. "It's just as I've expected. Earning merits is anything but easy!"

Opportunities to earn 1 million merits or more were not only rare and difficult but also locked behind restrictions!

[Design Mission

Design a complete product group of spaceborn mechs for an expeditionary fleet that is tasked with exploring the Nyxian Gap. The exact details and requirements of this mission are classified and will only be revealed to qualified mission takers.

Prerequisite: level 6 associate mech designer OR Master Mech Designer.

Reward: 4,500,000 MTA merits, 20,000 MTA credits.]

"Damn!"

Chapter 1969 Merit Hall

Contrary to his hopes, none of the missions offered by the merit hall offered him a great bargain. He wouldn't be able to cheat his way into earning lots of merits by taking advantage of one of his unique strengths to complete the missions with much less effort than the mission issuers expected.

The easier missions offered low rewards. The most lucrative missions imposed huge requirements.

The only missions that seemed somewhat interesting to him were the risky missions. Yet Ves did not feel like risking his life for months or years just to earn 500,000 merits or so. If the Rim Guardians wanted him to risk his life for riches, then they better offer him a bigger pot of gold!

His Apollo Radiant avatar grimaced even further as he rapidly scanned through hundreds of missions.

Since Ves had entered the Granada Prime instance, most of the missions took place in the vicinity of the Komodo, Vicious Mountain or Majestic Teal Star Sectors.

Some of the missions even took place in other locations such as the deep frontier or the Winged Serenade Star Sector.

Ves studied the missions that took place in the Komodo Star Sector and began to get a better grasp on what the Rim Guardians wanted to accomplish.

Hardly any of the missions involved the second-rate states or the ongoing wars. There weren't any missions that tasked associates with assisting the Fridaymen in the Komodo War or offering a new mech to aid the defending side of the Sand War.

Instead, the missions ranged from helping obscure individuals, instructing random talents and most of all designing mechs for all kinds of weird and anomalous environments.

"Looks like the MTA is especially interested in the deep frontier and the Nyxian Gap."

Both of them were explainable to Ves. Officially, the MTA's mandate ended at the borders of human space. While the MTA was still permitted to dispatch its warfleets to the frontier, that would inevitably raise the hairs of the CFA.

The frontier belonged to the CFA! The MTA officially had no business in the frontier, but the situation was anything but simple.

Even though the MTA couldn't enter the frontier itself, there was no rule prohibiting third parties from exploring the regions of space unclaimed by human civilization.

While associates like Ves were very much related to the Rim Guardians and the MTA, they weren't formally members. This freed them from the rules constraining mechers.

Still, as lucrative as these missions appeared, the risks were highly unpredictable.

On a good day, no alien space horror ambushed their fleet. On a bad day, the planet they landed on turned out to hide a horrible alien superorganism that instantly engulfed every human at night!

In addition, expeditions to the frontier also made the associates dependent on the protection of others unless they brought their own fleet!

Ves happened to possess his own fleet, but he was a bit more hesitant than before about exposing his Larkinson clansmen to the dangers of the frontier.

On one hand, he wanted to push his clansmen and harden them for the challenges to come.

On the other hand, he wanted to protect his fellow Larkinsons and prevent any further harm from befalling them. He couldn't afford to let any other Larkinson die under his watch!

"This is too difficult!"

His robotic avatar sighed and turned away from the mission board. There wasn't anything that stood out to him at the moment. Perhaps once he reached the Sentinel Kingdom he might revisit the merit hall in order to accept a mission that took place in the Nyxian Gap.

For some reason, the MTA was very interested in this anomalous space. The MTA and the Rim Guardians dispatched a lot of scouting expeditions to the frontier in order to delve its secrets or chart a new route to some of the more interesting asteroids in the Nyxian Gap.

Some missions even offered rewards ranging from 5 million MTA merits or an increase in associate level!

Ves noted that a handful of young and daring associates were eying these incredibly rewarding missions.

However, they never accepted them alone.

Many of the more difficult and complicated missions allowed for associates to complete them as a group as opposed to individually.

The merit hall therefore offered a lot of space for associates to team up and complete a mission together.

The only downside to teaming up was that the associates had to split up the rewards among themselves.

"Looking for Journeyman specialized in aerial mechs or flight systems to design a mech that can fly on a corrosive atmospheric planet! Seeking Majestic Teal mech designers only!"

"Looking for mech athletes that have won at least one sector-wide competition to test our prototypes of our upcoming competition mechs! You must be proficient in piloting both knight mechs, spearman mechs and swordsman mechs!"

"We are accepting a Journeyman to accompany us to the Faris Star Region in order to complete a mission based in the territory of the former sandman race! The CFA have already wiped out the sandman in the frontier, so there is absolutely no risk! Come join us now and earn some easy merits!"

By far, most of the Rim Avatars shouting in the hall consisted of lower-leveled associates. Most of them appeared to be Journeymen, though there were a handful that seemed to be Apprentices.

Ves assumed that Seniors and upwards had other means to pool their strengths together. The lively atmosphere at the merit hall was much more appealing to younger people.

None of these calls sounded appealing to him. Right now was not a good time to accept a mission anyway.

His avatar turned away from the crowd of Rim Avatars looking for team members and walked towards the exit of the hall.

"Apollo! Apollo Radiant! Wait a moment!"

An associate jogged over and halted in front of Ves. His form resembled a spaceborn light skirmisher, but was replete with excessive decorations.

The whole theme of the Rim Avatar revolved around a silver angel. The flight system shaped in the form of wings looked particularly striking.

It was too bad that the rest of the mech was covered with too many icons scrollwork that didn't mesh together very well.

Ves studied the popup box. It didn't reveal anything more than the associate's level, rank and pseudonym.

This fellow was just a level 1 Journeyman.

"What do you want, Holy Clarkson?"

"Your avatar is very impressive! I don't know how you are able to affect my emotions, but your artistry and ability to manipulate emotions is exactly what we need!"

Ves crossed his arms. "What mission are you trying to complete?"

"It's a Design Mission set in Majestic Teal. The mission calls for entering a prestigious design competition. We have to design a mech that is scored in two aspects, performance and beauty. The winning entries must be both strong and beautiful!"

"I'm not interested.? He said.

He had no plans of entering the Majestic Teal Star Sector anytime soon. He still had to reach to Hegemony-aligned space before he could think about traveling somewhere else, and that would certainly take a couple of months!

"You don't have to physically present at the competition site! At least one of us is already on site to represent our team!"

"How many merits does the mission reward?"

"250,000 MTA merits."

Ves raised his eyebrows. "That's a very lucrative mission for participating and winning a design competition."

"The competition involves a lot of interests, some of which are based in different star clusters. Keep in mind that the full amount will only be rewarded for winning the competition. If we take second place or lower, we will only earn a fifth of the merits."

"I see. How many people are in your team?" Ves asked the most important question.

"We already number three associates. With you, we'll be four. Originally, I planned to solicit another associate, but with your specialty, I don't think we need any further help!"

Ves instantly frowned. Splitting the reward four ways meant that he wouldn't be earning as many merits as he liked!

Even though the competition wouldn't take a lot of time, Ves didn't feel very comfortable if he wasn't in charge.

"How will the reward be split up?"

"One part each and two parts to our team leader. She's not on the Rim Exchange at the moment but I can always call her up right away."

That meant that in the event of winning the competition, Ves and Holy Clarkson would only earn 50,000 MTA merits. Meanwhile, the team leader earned a whopping 100,000 MTA merits.

While he understood this split, he didn't agree with it. He wasn't really interested in this mission to begin with. If it was up to him, he would rather take part in it by himself and collaborate with Gloriana to design his competition mech.

"I'm sorry, but I'm too preoccupied to participate in any competitions. I bid you good luck in finding an associate who can contribute to your competition entry."

"Wait! Don't go! I think you'll do great in the competition! Let me call my team leader to negotiate with you! We can chip in some extra rewards if the merits aren't enough!"

Ves straightforwardly pushed the angelic avatar aside. Holy Clarkson attempted to approach him, but he already activated an ignore function that left his entreaties unanswered.

Once he stepped outside the merit hall, Ves looked up in the simulated air and floating palaces and sighed.

He witnessed enough for one day. Browsing the missions at the merit hall revealed that earning millions of MTA merits at a time was unrealistic.

As a Journeyman and a low-level associate, most of the missions available to him weren't very attractive.

Certainly, it was very much viable to accumulate millions of MTA merits by performing low-risk mission after low-risk mission.

From what he saw, many associates favored this steady approach.

If Ves didn't have any great ambitions, then he would have followed this trajectory as well.

Unfortunately, he couldn't afford to take it slow. The Red Ocean Dwarf Galaxy continued to beckon to him, but its call only lasted for a couple of decades!

As Ves was about to log out of the virtual immersion, Gamma-Gamma-Hogan suddenly appeared by his side.

[Apollo Radiant, you have received a priority meeting request. An associate called Green Golem wishes to meet with you in a private venue. Do you wish to accept this request?]

Who the hell was Green Golem?

"Uh, no. I'm just about to leave."

[Please consider attending this meeting. Green Golem requested a meeting with Ves Larkinson, not Apollo Radiant.]

Ves paused just before he pressed the logout command. He turned to his concierge.

"Lead the way."

Hogan led him to a lively district that hosted a lot of restaurants and drinking establishments. The android guided Ves to a winehouse.

One interesting detail about this virtual immersion experience was that its fidelity was a lot higher!

Unlike the sense of falseness and incongruity that bothered him throughout his stay in the MTA's virtual library, his senses were much more comfortable at the Rim Exchange.

This not only translated to a better sense of sight and smell, but also taste and touch.

It was perfectly possible to order food and drink in this virtual illusion and still experience the wonderful blend of smells and flavors they had to offer!

After ascending a few floors, Hogan finally stopped in front of a private room.

"Please enter."

When Ves entered the drinking room, he briefly glanced at the tall windows that offered a magnificent view of Granada Prime before turning to the only occupant.

Green Golem did not look as Ves expected.

Rather than a green mech or some kind of stone monster covered in grass, Green Golem avatar instead consisted of lots of brilliant green crystals!

While Ves was unable to determine if there was some metallic components inside the crystal avatar, he nonetheless found the avatar very impressive.

"Ves. I wish we could meet on better terms. I always wanted to call you again, but with the current circumstances, I'm unable to reach out to you."

"Tristan. It's been a long time. Are you aware that it's not very wise to meet with me? I'm not exactly on good terms with the Friday Coalition anymore."

"I know. I hope it doesn't affect our friendship, though. Let's talk it out."

Ves decided to accept Tristan's proposal and sat down on the other side of the table. Tristan's avatar carefully gripped a glass of wine and poured a glass for his guest.

Chapter 1970 Opposite Sides

Even though Ves hadn't integrated any taste and digestion functions in his avatar, the virtual setting conveniently ignored that detail and allowed him to taste the wine as close to reality as the simulation allowed.

An indeterminate silence followed as both avatars sipped the wine.

"Interesting avatar design." Ves spoke up. "What is the idea behind its appearance?"

"My avatar represents my specialty. After listening to your advice in one of our previous talks, I did some soul-searching. After incorporating the lessons I learned at the trials held by the Rim Guardians, I eventually found a calling that I can call my own. I shifted my design philosophy in a direction that I'm truly interested in. While my current situation doesn't allow me to develop my new area of interest, I am still a lot more confident about my career than before."

"That sounds great. So what is your design philosophy all about?"

"As you know, Master Katzenberg specializes in material substitution. As her direct disciple, I've inherited much of her discipline, but unlike her I work better with some materials than others. After we played around with lithic mechs during our trials, I discovered that I possess a good affinity for non-metallic materials. After a lot of study and experimentation, I've settled on specializing in gems."

"What?" Ves sat up a little straighter in his chair!

"I'm not talking about ordinary gemstones, of course." The Green Golem avatar calmly continued as if Tristan anticipated Ves' surprise. "Humanity has come across countless exotic materials. The most interesting exotics to mech designers are metallic exotics and exotics that are useful in enhancing the properties of alloys. That still leaves out a lot of exotics that fall outside these categories. While not as ubiquitous as metallic exotics, gemstone exotics have their own strengths and isn't nearly as researched."

"You won't have as much competition than if you decided to specialize in metallic exotics." Ves noted. "That's pretty smart. I haven't worked with a lot of gems before. How do they actually work?"

Ves was very interested in Tristan's answer.

The Green Golem avatar smiled. "The gems that I am interested in aren't very common in third-class mech designs. In second-class mechs and above, installing precious gems on specific components can result in noticeable performance gains! The advantages of this approach is obvious. Gemstone exotics don't take up a lot of capacity, but their effects are very noticeable!"

What!? Ves was a lot more shocked than his Apollo Radiant showed.

What Tristan just described sounded very similar to how Lucky's gems worked!

"How do these gems amplify the performance of mechs?"

"You can't slap a gem in a random section of the mech. Gems have special catalyzing or amplifying properties that need to be leveraged by modifying the components of a mech in order to make good use of them. While the power they bestow to a mech is noticeable, there are many limitations regarding their usage."

"Such as?"

"Some gems last indefinitely, but most slowly wear out in time. They can last as short as a single battle or decades of constant use! One of the ambitions I've developed is to find a way to slow down the degradation rate of gemstone exotics. The other important limitation of gemstone exotics are their limited effects. Due to their size, most gemstones are only able to amplify specific performance parameters by a couple percent. There are gemstones that can do more, but their rarity and value makes them difficult to obtain!"

Ves tried to keep his shock in check by comparing Tristan's description of gemstone exotics to Lucky's gems.

As far as he knew, the gems produced by Lucky never degraded over time or with use. Some of his older mechs such as the Shield of Samar still performed at close to optimal levels.

Other mechs which Ves embedded with Lucky's gems also showed very little problems regarding their usage!

He wondered whether Lucky's gems were related to Tristan's gemstone exotic specialization at all. Despite their commonalities, they might be two completely different categories of materials!

Tristan glanced at Ves with interest. "You seem very intrigued by my new specialty. Others haven't shown as much attention as you. They usually dismiss gemstones as marginal exotics that are too overpriced and scarce to be of any use in mass market mechs."

Ves' avatar awkwardly smiled. "I think it is still a very helpful way of amplifying the performance of custom mechs. That's where they are used the most, right?"

"They show up frequently in our expert mechs. In fact, one of the reasons why the Friday Coalition is interested in securing the lesser states is to secure a greater supply of gemstone exotics. Their distribution pattern doesn't completely conform to the distribution pattern of other exotics. The frontier is also an excellent source of rare gemstone exotics. Controlling a trade route from the border of human space to the Friday Coalition has always been a priority to us. Sometimes, that obsession can lead to awful outcomes."

The conversation suddenly turned towards a touchy subject. Ves' avatar looked emphatically at Green Golem. The green, crystalline construct calmly resumed sipping the glass of wine.

"You told me that you are involved in some sort of secret research group. How much do you know about what has occurred to me in the last few months?"

"I've heard quite a bit. While I don't have access to the galactic net during ordinary times, I've worked hard to receive some dispensations. I'm only allowed to connect to the MTA's virtual portals. Once I entered the Rim Exchange, I was able to obtain some public news. You showed up frequently in many industry publications recently."

"I see. Those articles also mentioned my problems with your government, right?"

"Right." Tristan answered.

Well, at least Tristan didn't try to proclaim ignorance. Since he called Ves for a meeting, he should have been prepared to confront this subject.

"Urgh, let me be straight. I don't like your state at the moment. In fact, I hate the Friday Coalition. Going after me is one thing. Going after my subordinates is somewhat understandable. It's my fault if they died in my service. What I can't accept however is your state's decision to persecute my family members in the Bright Republic!"

"I agree that the CRC's actions went too far. If I was in charge, I would have never allowed such a travesty to take place."

Ves chuckled morosely. "I'm glad you're a decent person, but it seems the CRC isn't run by the likes of you. Before all of this happened, I always had a good opinion of the Friday Coalition. Even if I drifted to the other side of the Komodo War, my respect for your state remained intact."

"Our leaders are different from the masses. That is true in every state. The key distinction between lesser states and greater states is that there are a lot more rungs on the ladder. The more rungs in the hierarchy, the greater the separation between the leaders and the common citizens. The leaders of the partners of the Coalition are in charge of ruling over a huge amount of people, a sea of star systems and an immense amount of resources. It's impossible for them to remain in their positions if they are willing to sacrifice the needs of the state for the needs of a minority."

"And that excuses going after my family?!"

"I don't agree with my leadership, Ves! I just wanted to convey that their decision makes sense from a rational cost-benefit analysis."

Ves twitched when he heard the word 'rational'. He began to hate this word more and more, especially when it was used to justify betrayal!

He lowered his head and sighed. "What's done is done. The CRC has crossed a line, Tristan. I didn't want to get involved in the Komodo War, but it appears I'll be dragged into its vortex anyway. I'm your enemy now. I won't show any mercy to your fellow Carnegie Group citizens."

"I don't expect you to hold back, Ves. We are both participants in a war that involves interests and hatreds that are greater than us. The soldiers in the trenches of the frontlines fight and die on the whims of politicians and leaders who doubtlessly sleep like babies at night."

Both of them understood the plight of a combatant caught up in a war that was completely outside of their control. They also understood that the participants in a war had to fulfill their duty even if they didn't like it. That was the nature of duty.

The tension between them didn't disappear because of those realizations. No matter how cordial and friendly they were to each other, they were enemies now.

Certainly, they still respected each other and didn't wish the other any harm, but their interests in the war did not sway because of their past friendship.

Tristan rooted for the Friday Coalition to smash the Hexadric Hegemony and bring the entire star sector in the sway of the saner of the two greater states!

Meanwhile, Ves wanted the Hexers to crush the Fridaymen and tear apart the Coalition by demolishing partner after partner until all six of them were broken!

As long as they maintained their hostile stances, their friendship was very hard to sustain!

"Tristan. Once the war is over, no matter which side wins, I hope we can be friends again." Ves softened a bit.

"Sure. Those are my thoughts exactly. Neither of us have a beef with each other, and I doubt we would personally do anything that affronts us personally. That is one of my goals for this meeting, in fact. I'm glad you are still open-minded enough to recognize that not every Fridayman is the same."

"I still want to dance over the grave of your state, though."

"Yet you don't wish our citizens any harm, right?"

Ves nodded. "Average citizens have nothing to do with my beef against your state. As you just stated, it's the bigwigs at the top who are responsible. My main goal is to make their lives difficulties in any way I can. If any citizens suffer due to my actions, it's not intentional."

"My agency in this war is not as great as yours, so I won't bother to make such claims."

They briefly paused their conversation to finish their glasses of wine.

If Ves was a wine aficionado, then he would have appreciated its vintage even more. While Ves wasn't familiar with the bottle, it looked very classy and expensive.

Too bad Ves was more into nutrient packs than vintage wines.

"Who do you think will win the war?"

"Honestly? I have no idea." The Green Golem avatar shook his crystalline head. "I don't have nearly enough information to make a reasonable guess. There is too much going on. The battles at the front are only a part of the greater picture. Even though I always express my confidence in my own state to others, I don't have to pretend in front of you that I truly have no clue."

"Same. I'm not even a citizen of the Coalition or the Hegemony, so I have even less of an idea on how the two sides measure up in this conflict."

"The Hexers are certainly formidable. They are ferocious and united in their hatred of our state. Don't you think it would be a tragic picture if these crazy women are able dominate an entire state? Every single resident in our star sector will fall under the sway of a man-hating regime who treats men like us as reckless children!"

"I don't care." Ves flatly replied. "I'll be gone soon anyway."

"That's.. convenient. No matter which side wins, you won't be there to suffer the repercussions."

"Look, I don't have any problem admitting that the Hexers are fairly awful compared to the Fridaymen. However, my personal feelings and circumstances are encouraging me to support the Hexers, so I do that without any other considerations."

"That's a selfish mindset."

"I never claimed to be anything else, Tristan."

Chapter 1971 The Life-Prolonging Race

The two mech designers weren't in the mood to talk any further. Shortly after they exchanged their views on the war, Ves stood up and bid Tristan goodbye.

"I wish you good luck on developing your design philosophy. Gemstone exotics sound really powerful, and I haven't really heard a lot about their use in mech design."

"One of my goals with my specialty is to try and increase their practicality and decrease the costs involving their use. Their scarcity is one of the biggest impediments to widespread adoption. Not even Master Katzenberg developed more than a handful substitutes to the most common gemstone exotics. It's a completely different game to her and she can't devote too much research in this specific direction. I'm confident that I can fulfill this role!"

Ves was sure that if Master Katzenberg really wanted to, she could make incredible gains in gemstone exotics.

However, every Master had to contend with opportunity costs. Wasting valuable time on gemstone exotics would delay or hamper her efforts in pursuing her other goals.

This was also where direct disciples like Tristan came in. As long as they were raised correctly, direct disciples were able to provide more research gains to their Masters!

While it sounded exploitative, Ves considered it a fair contract. Direct disciples received some of the best resources and attention from one of the best mech designers in a star sector!

Almost every direct disciple was guaranteed success. Part of this was because Masters always selected their disciples carefully, but most of it was because of the insanely high quality of teaching they provided!

Therefore, direct disciples were generally expected to maintain close, cooperative relationships with their Masters throughout their lifetimes!

Besides, due to their excellent foundation and fantastic circumstances, direct disciples all possessed a good chance of advancing to Master themselves!

What this essentially meant was that a young Journeyman like Tristan might become a very formidable Master in a century or two! Ves would be a fool to burn his bridges with someone who possessed a small but very realistic shot at becoming an authority in his own field one day!

The fact that Tristan decided to specialize in gemstone exotics of all choices made Ves even more invested in maintaining his relations with him. Fridayman or not, Tristan Wesseling might be key to unlocking the secrets and potential of Lucky gems!

Ves even contemplated shipping one of Lucky's gems to Tristan, but he quickly discarded that idea. There was too much chance that Tristan might discover some details that Ves would rather remain hidden.

Besides, right now Tristan was still an enemy. It was not wise to get too entangled with him while they still maintained a hostile relationship on paper.

Before he left the winehouse, Ves asked one more question.

"You seem to have arrived here before me. Do you have any tips on how to make a lot of MTA merits quickly?"

The Green Golem avatar looked at the Apollo Radiant avatar in amusement. "You're a smart person, Ves. I think you should already know by now that the MTA never gives out its merits easily. The Rim Guardians are just as frugal. The difference between the two is that the Rim Guardians are a bit more keen on developing relationships with promising and powerful individuals. This is why they differentiate associates by level, and offer an increasingly more attractive discount rate for the more valuable talents."

"Do the Rim Guardians truly offer a 45 percent discount for level 10 associates?"

"Level 10 associates are almost universally Master Mech Designers, Ves. You can forget about reaching this height within a century. Even if you work day and night in fulfilling the missions from the merit hall, you'll still be around level 7 or so! To be honest, I don't exactly know how higher-leveled associates can progress any further, but it's certainly not just through fulfilling missions. Still, to many mech designers, the investment pays off. It might take a very long time for them to reach a high level, but at their ages, this discount can literally save their lives!"

"Because it's easier to afford life-prolonging treatment, is that right?"

Tristan's avatar nodded. "The first round of life-prolonging treatment is easy enough to obtain. Any decent Journeyman in the Friday Coalition is able to earn it over time. The second round.. is not that easy. Plenty of decent mech designers in our state have fallen short. They were able to earn a decent amount of merits in their two centuries of life, but.."

"It costs too many MTA merits."

"A lot of mech designers are forced to splurge their merits on improving the lives of their descendants and leave behind an enduring legacy. They failed to stay in the race. It's quite tragic, if you think about it. Every mech designer is able to live for five centuries or longer. However, only a fraction of the mech industry manages to make it to the end."

Ves nodded gravely. "Mech designers can't stagnate in their progression. Not if they want to live longer."

"The first round of life-prolonging treatment is doable for Journeyman, but out of reach for Apprentices." Tristan noted. "The second round of life-prolonging treatment is doable for talented Seniors, but too prohibitive for Journeymen. The third round of life-prolonging treatment is still within reach to Masters, but Seniors will drop before they reach the finish line. The fourth round of life-prolonging treatment... well, I heard that you can't even exchange it with MTA merits anymore."

The life-prolonging race became increasingly more punishing. Not only mech designers, but also other people had to work their entire lifetimes in order to prolong their stay in the material realm!

Ves heard a lot of stories about mech designers becoming so obsessed with obtaining the latest round of life-prolonging treatments that they were even willing to outlive their children and grandchildren!

Of course, there were also a lot of other mech designers who decided to quit the brutal race and instead spend their merits on prolonging the lives of their favored children.

Life was precious. Life was scarce. While healthy humans could look forward to enjoying 130 years free of charge, this was just a trial period! In order to gain more years, the 'customers' of life had to pay up an increasingly more expensive subscription fee!

Prolonging someone's life was very hard. If that was not so, then an oligopoly on life-prolonging treatments wouldn't have remained in place for so long.

Right now, the only parties who were capable of offering these treatments were the first-rate superstates and the Big Two. The Five Scrolls Compact definitely mastered these treatments as well, since the secretive cult had probably invented them in the first place!

Yet instead of competing against each other to capture the immensely lucrative market for life-prolonging treatments, they instead colluded with each other to keep prices high and keep the best treatments for themselves!

Ves' avatar frowned deeper and deeper. What would it be like if the technology behind life-prolonging treatments no longer remained exclusive to these powerful actors? What if Dr. Ranya became capable of synthesizing the crucial serum in her labs?

Prices would probably drop and a lot more people would be able to remain in the material realm by droves!

Depending on the scarcity of ingredients required to synthesize the serum, the entire fabric of human society might undergo an enormous shift! With many more grandparents and ancestors able to cling to life, the younger generation would feel increasingly more stifled by all of the geezers who refused to let their descendants inherit their accumulated wealth and endowments!

Maybe it was for the best that the oligopoly reserved its life-prolonging treatments to those who truly deserved an extension of their lives.

"You haven't answered my question." Ves returned his attention to Tristan. "I know that merits aren't easy to get, but do you have any suggestions?"

"Hmm.. aside from completing certain missions offered by the merit hall, you could look to attract the attention of an internal mech designer of the MTA. Some of the associates of the Rim Guardians managed to attract their attention and earn their approval. As long as they earn the trust of their patron, they can contribute to design projects and earn merits in exchange."

That sounded like a decent idea, but Ves was far too busy with his own priorities. Besides, Tristan's suggestion immediately evoked his memory of Master Moira Willix.

He would rather let Gloriana lick his face than become Master Willix's servant!

Tristan mentioned another option.

"The Rim Exchange offers many other possibilities where you can earn more merits if you know where to look. Most of them are only accessible to Seniors, Masters and higher-leveled associates, though. Perhaps one of the few activities that you can participate in are design competitions."

"Design competitions? They hold those here?"

"Of course!" The Green Golem's crystalline lips curled into a grin. "Whenever a lot of mech designers gather in a single place, a lot of egos always clash against each other. To give them a way to prove who is the better mech designer, the Rim Guardians and a number of very powerful societies often hold various design contests where they can showcase their design prowess. These contests come in various formats and forms. The most important criteria is who will pilot your work if a practical demonstration is called for. In some contests, you have to bring your own mech pilot, while in other contests the Rim Guardians will provide their own mech pilots. Other contests are concluded quickly by testing the mechs with AI pilots."

That sounded very lively to Ves. He missed the times when he took part in design competitions and put his skills to the test against other mech designers.

At his level of fame, there was no need for him to burnish his credentials by taking part in a public competition.

However, if the competitions organized by the Rim Guardians also rewarded its participants with a considerable sum of merits, then he would eagerly take part!

"How much merits can you win if you take part?"

"The prize pools are all over the place." Tristan shrugged. "Most Journeyman-level competitions don't reward very much, though. They're mostly treated as opportunities to advertise your strength and attract follow-up opportunities. If you want to want a chance at winning the jackpot, then you have to take part in the competitions that are open to Seniors as well as Journeymen! While the competition is a lot harsher, as long as you score high enough, you can still earn hundreds of thousands of merits in a week as long as you get tenth place or something."

While that sounded like a great deal, Ves would still have to defeat scores of Seniors who possessed a much deeper foundation in mech design than himself!

Though Ves accumulated a decent amount of Senior-level skills, he had no illusion that he could realistically outperform a genuine Senior!

However.. If the competition format allowed for collaborations, and if the format also depended on human mech pilots to test the competition mechs in combat, then Ves might be able to gain an advantage!

He nodded gratefully at Tristan. "Thank you. Your tip is very helpful to me. Is there anything you'd like to ask in return?"

"Yes." The Fridayman's avatar bent its crystalline head in thought. "I've always been wondering about something. Do you still respect your former Master?"

Ves frowned. "That's an unexpected question."

"Just answer, please. I am truly curious what you think."

"Master Olson has always treated me earnestly and with respect. Even though she didn't pay that much attention to me, I still owe a considerable debt to her. I'm genuinely grateful at the assistance and protection she provided to me in my formative years as an Apprentice Mech Designer."

"Thank you, Ves. That's all I wanted to hear. I'm very satisfied with your answer. I think Master Olson would be very pleased to hear that you still hold her in high regard. Remember, even if we are on opposite sides, we aren't enemies."

"I'll be sure to turn my pistol aside if I have you in my sights."

Tristan chuckled. "We're mech designers. We leave the shooting to the actual soldiers."

"I wish that were so."

Chapter 1972 Spiritual Beacon

When Ves logged out of the Rim Exchange, a considerable amount of time had passed. The design teams had already left the lab at the end of the shift. Even Gloriana had left.

"Meow."

Lucky immediately noticed that Ves had pulled himself out of the virtual immersion.

"Haha, I wasn't gone for long."

"Meow meow."

Ves stroked Lucky's back. "Yes, yes, I'll be sure to feed you a batch of Breyer alloy. That reminds me of something. I should check up on our resident mummy."

After Lucky got his fill of petting, he jumped from Ves' lap and floated in the air. Ves stood up and stretched his body before looking around.

Not a lot of people were left in the design lab. Only Nitaa and a handful of nameless Avatar bodyguards still remained on duty.

"Nitaa, you can continue to accompany me. As for the rest, you can wait for my return. I'll only be gone for a little while."

While his Avatar bodyguards didn't like his orders, it wasn't as if there were any acute threats on his own ship.

After shaking off the bulk of his bodyguards, Ves took Lucky and Nitaa to a secretive passage nearby that led straight to a reinforced checkpoint.

The guards that manned the defensive position didn't consist of Avatars. While Ves trusted his Avatars, they were not infallible.

For this reason, Ves decided to assign Kinners to man this checkpoint! Various Kinners also manned some of the other critical sections of the Scarlet Rose.

While Ves still considered their unflinching loyalty to be rather fishy, he didn't have many other options.

"Mr. Larkinson." They greeted him in a filtered voice behind their closed helmets. "Please stand still and allow us to scan you and your guests."

"Please proceed."

The Kinner guards received strict orders to inspect anyone who wished to enter Compartment G-13. No one was excepted from this rule, not even Ves himself!

The search was both thorough and invasive. The guards politely but very firmly demanded Ves and Nitaa to strip and enter a sophisticated scanning booth.

In fact, the scanning booth was more than capable enough of scanning through most of Ves' body through his clothes, but his Synthra Umbra underwear and pockets were obvious exceptions!

If Ves could fool the scanners with Synthra Umbra, then anyone else could do so as well! To be absolutely sure, Ves instituted the rule that everyone had to strip in order to pass the security inspection.

Just as Ves anticipated, the initial scans missed the implant in his head. However, finer scans focused specifically on his head finally detected the space occupied by his Archimedes Rubal implant.

The security guards didn't suspect him at all. They already carried a scan of the exact shape and position of his implant in his brain.

Of course, Lucky presented a bit of a problem as well, but because his cat was so unique, the guards easily verified his identity.

"Meow!"

"Hey, don't complain! I have to strip naked in order to verify my identity, while you are already naked to begin with! It's good to be a cat."

It took fifty minutes for the Kinner guards to complete the entire procedure. While this was very troublesome, the security measures were more than warranted considering the incredible amount of value locked within the compartment behind the armored blast doors.

Once the blast doors opened, Ves, Lucky and Nitaa entered a compartment that used to house the Scarlet Rose's escape pods.

There weren't any escape pods in the compartment anymore. All of the launch tubes that used to hold the cylindrical pods had long been shut and filled with a lot of Breyer alloy.

In fact, the entire compartment was lined with a very thick layer of Breyer alloy along with some other advanced alloys meant to block or interfere with as many scanning measures as possible!

Optical scanning, temperature scanning, vibration scanning, gravitic scanning and countless more scanning measures would never be able to figure out what went on inside this compartment!

Though Ves wasn't sure if all of the measures were enough to defeat a deep scan from an MTA or CFA vessel, as long as the Scarlet Rose didn't attract suspicion, it shouldn't attract any deep scans.

"I still have to find a better solution, though." He whispered to himself.

There was very little free space in the compartment. Most of the volume was taken up by the specialized forging machine and various add-ons.

Right now, the chamber of the forging machine was just reaching its hottest level!

At this temperature, the mummified body of Cassandra Breyer should have already turned to ashes by now. Shortly afterwards, the escape pod itself should be melting down.

Ves spent some time to inspect the process while Lucky cheekily floated to a pallet of metal bars and began to chew into one of them as if he was a kid in a candy store!

Though he hadn't been able to visit Compartment G-13 when the Scarlet Rose was still in refit, he designed its entire layout. So far, Ves was very pleased with the continuous Breyer alloy harvesting operation. The forging machine and everything else operated autonomously without the need for human operators.

As Ves continued to inspect every single element of the production loop, an escape pod suddenly appeared in the only available launch tube. Antigrav projectors immediately grabbed hold of it and lifted it inside the chute of the still-hot forging machine.

The entire process didn't last more than a couple of seconds. The escape pod practically flung into the port of the forging machine like it was a missile!

Ves didn't want to take any chances. The Longer the escape pod remained whole, the greater the chance that Cassandra managed to regain her wits and get up to mischief!

He specifically engaged his spiritual senses and began to see whether there was any spiritual activity outside of Cassandra's escape pod.

"Nothing."

So far, Cassandra remained obedient. Ves chalked it up to the minimal amount of time the production loop kept her escape pod intact.

As Ves kept scanning with his spiritual senses, he finally noticed an anomaly.

A bit of spiritual energy radiated from the forging machine.

His face began to scowl. This didn't happen before!

"What are you doing?"

Was she transmitting a spiritual signal? Was she calling for help? Whatever she was doing, Ves doubted it was good.

He attempted to stop the energy, but even though it was faint, Cassandra was far too strong for him to contend! Even a miniscule amount of her spiritual energy was enough to defeat his efforts at containing them! Ves didn't even stand a chance!

"Goddammit!"

No matter what Ves tried, he failed to stop this process. Ves was completely helpless and could only settle on letting Cassandra do her thing.

What kind of consequences would her actions lead to? He felt a bit powerless as he wasn't able to do anything to halt her latest scheme.

"I haven't forgotten about your meddling while I was operating on Silent William." He said.

That was another latent concern that worried Ves from time to time. He had no idea how much Silent William inherited from Cassandra. Hopefully, the influence was only marginal and Silent William didn't become her champion or something.

"Let's go, Lucky. I've seen enough."

"Meow!"

"I said let's go! You can eat these bars any time you want aboard this ship! You don't have to chew through my entire stash!"

"MEEEEOW!"

After manhandling Lucky out of Compartment G-13, Ves returned to the stateroom he shared with Gloriana. His girlfriend was already waiting for him inside. She had already changed into a more casual dress.

"You missed dinner."

"Sorry. The Rim Exchange was really interesting. One of their AI's forced me to go on a tour. I also met some interesting people there. I'm actually regretful that you aren't able to join me. There is a lot of interesting activities that we could do, not just for fun, but also to earn more merits."

"It's okay, Ves. Now, come sit over here. We need to talk."

Ves approached the loveseat and sat down next to his girlfriend. Both of them smiled at each other as they began to cuddle up and share their body warmth.

"Have you found any good opportunities to earn merits?"

"Not really. You can probably guess that mech designers like me have to work extremely hard or take a lot of risks to earn a sum that is greater than pocket money. Every associate is talented or capable. The Rim Guardians tailor their missions to the best of what the local star sectors are able to raise. It's very difficult to keep up with the competition."

"That sounds about right." Gloriana said while leaning her head against his shoulder. "Let's not worry too much about merits right now. We don't have the time to fulfill a mission anyway. Designing the striker mech project and fulfilling DIVA's commission takes priority. In fact, I want to talk about the latter right now. Enough time has passed for us to come up with some ideas. Now, what mech do you want to design?"

"Can we not talk about the commission?"

Gloriana scrunched her face. "Absolutely not! I've given you enough time to grow comfortable with the commission. Remember, DIVA is just about to rescue your captured relatives. The least you can do is to repay the favor and contribute a mech to our war effort!"

"I thought the rescue would have happened by now. Hasn't the CRC dispatched a ship to transfer them to Coalition space?"

"The rescue will happen. DIVA won't renege on this deal. Just be patient. Don't change the subject, Ves. I want to hear a mech concept instead of an excuse!"

"Jeez." Ves sighed. "Okay, okay. So I've been thinking about the mechs that male Hexers are limited to piloting. After studying these so-called 'support mechs', I have a good idea on what I need to design. However, before I make any other choice, I needed to determine what objective I need to pursue."

"DIVA wants a mech that takes advantage of your glow to gain an advantage on the battlefield."

"I know. I've been thinking about this a lot and I've concluded that it's best to go for a supportive glow rather than a suppressive glow. The latter is what I've already used in most of my mech designs, while the latter is something that will be unveiled with my striker mech design."

"What glow do you envision using?"

"That's the big question. If the mech is meant to be piloted for women, then the answer is obvious. However, since my mech is only reserved for 'boys', I had to be very thoughtful about my choice."

"Is the glow you've decided upon directed towards boys or women?"

"One thing I've noticed is that the morale of both male and female Hexer mech pilots are high. All of the battle footage you've provided to me show that you Hexers are very willing to go all-in. Even so, there are slight differences between boys and women."

Gloriana smiled in satisfaction. "We Hexers take our duties and responsibilities very seriously. We are fighting for more than just our lives. We are fighting for our ideals and our state. The fate of all womenkind rests upon our shoulders! If the Fridaymen win the war, our cause will collapse!"

That didn't sound that bad to Ves, but he kept that to himself.

"The loyalty and conviction of your mech pilots are not quite right, though. From what I can gather, it's a bit different from the loyalty and courage exhibited by our Larkinson mech pilots. You Hexer pilots are just doing whatever your state has spoonfed to your minds without entirely thinking everything through."

"Are you calling us stupid or gullible?!"

"No!" Ves quickly raised his hands in innocence. "Not at all! It's just.. there's something empty about how boys and women are thrown into battle without a healthy mindset. This shows when the mech pilots encounter difficult circumstances. They tend to break and go crazy. Casualties are incredibly high once this happens."

"That.. does happen from time to time, but it's not as bad as you claim!"

"Look, once the Fridaymen face a difficult situation, they don't show any qualms about retreating in good order. In contrast, you Hexers seem upset at the prospect of defeat and continue to double down on a losing battle! I think the Fridaymen are even starting to exploit this character flaw!"

"That.. that's outrageous! The Hex Army is the strongest military in this star sector! The scattered Fridaymen stand no chance in the long term!"

Ves wanted to palm his face. Gloriana suffered from the same problem afflicting the Hexer mech pilots!

Chapter 1973 Overconfidence

What little material Gloriana and Calabast provided to him had given him a shallow but very informative glimpse of how the Komodo War was being fought.

The two women didn't provide him with the doctored and heavily-edited propaganda footage that the two states tended to leak onto the galactic net.

For the first time, Ves obtained reliable snippets of raw footage where he could see what was actually going on at the frontlines.

Contrary to his expectations, the Komodo War was fought just as hard on land as in space.

Securing space supremacy was the most essential step to conquering a star system. As long as enemy forces kept entering the star system to harass the occupying elements, it was still considered to be in contention.

This was no different from how the Bright-Vesia Wars were fought.

However, different from the wars familiar to him, land battles gained a lot more importance when fought at a higher level.

This was because of the existence of specialized artillery mechs capable of shooting down elements in orbit!

No matter if it was a mech or a ship, as long as the atmospheric conditions weren't too bad when they were floating in orbit, they could be targeted at any moment from any point on the planet!

It was bad enough when artillery mechs fired at the orbital elements on the surface. It was worse when they fired from a fortified bunker or a hidden underground tunnel!

Though the mechs in orbit were often capable of retaliating at the offending shooter within seconds, the damage was already done by the time they aimed their weapons in the right direction!

What was truly menacing to orbital elements were the aquatic mechs hiding in large bodies of water!

Even to the second-rate states, it was very difficult to damage a mech hiding under a lot of water.

Aquatic artillery mechs were larger than their landbound variants. Part of it was because the aquatic environment made them more manageable. Another part of it was because they needed to be big in order to handle all of the water pressure when they dove deep.

Regardless, their immense volume provided them with a lot of capacity, which meant they mounted some of the heaviest and most formidable cannons that could be mounted on a mech!

Though the effectiveness of these artillery mechs varied, their threat level against orbital assets often made it untenable for invaders to retain orbital supremacy.

Without sufficient control over a planet, the population could just bunker down and survive indefinitely! The less important planets in the Coalition and the Hegemony often featured fortified underground tunnels and fortifications that could house the populations in a pinch.

More sophisticated planets featured entire underground cities that were almost as good as the cities on the surface! With all of the technology and wealth at their disposal, the Fridaymen and Hexers invested heavily in building up the underground societies of their planets.

The border systems were especially rife with underground fortifications!

It was not very viable for spaceborn forces to defeat all of these fortifications. In order to gain true control of a planet, the invaders had to transfer a lot of boots on the ground.

The battles for control of a planet therefore proceeded especially bloody. Sure, this didn't sound that much different from the battles of the Bright-Vesia Wars, but in the Komodo War the defenders possessed an overwhelming defensive advantage.

The centuries-long accumulation combined with the neutralization of orbital supremacy meant that the attacking force had to dispatch an enormous amount of landbound forces to the surface in order to wrest control from the fortified defenders.

These battles potentially lasted for months or even years as the defenders continually made the attackers pay for every patch of ground! Mechs continually fell and mech pilots were always forced to fight with just a minimal amount of rest. The attrition that took place during these battles was exceptionally brutal!

In these circumstances, the Fridaymen and Hexers still fought as if their lives depended on it! Ves truly admired their discipline and willingness to fight for their cause.

Yet... as much as the Hexers on the ground tried to maintain their spirits, there were eventually times when the pressure got the better of them. While the Hex Soldiers all received excellent training, they still possessed a lot of human frailties!

When the Hexers reached their limits, they often lost their marbles.

"This isn't normal." Ves insisted to Gloriana. "I may not be a mech pilot, but I've been through war. I even experienced situations where everything was falling apart. While I don't mean to equate my own limited experiences to the horrors your soldiers are going through, there is still a flaw in the way you train your soldiers."

Gloriana separated from Ves and crossed her arms. She was not happy with his criticism!

"The Hex Army is our finest military force! A long line of revered matriarchs and generals has shaped it into a war machine that is capable of fighting head-on against all of the partners of the Friday Coalition and come out ahead! I sincerely doubt that your limited experience is superior to all of the accumulated wisdom of our professional military leaders!"

Even the smartest people were stupid. Not everyone was all-knowing. The Hexers never fought an actual war after the founding of their state. They spent centuries in relative peace as they stared across the border at the Fridaymen while they were constantly theorizing how the war between their states would proceed!

As extensively as they planned out their war, the Hexers inevitably made a lot of assumptions when they outlined their war plans and formulated their doctrines.

If there was one good thing Ves could say about the Bright Republic, it was that his state learned to cope with frequent wars the hard way!

"Look, just hear me out, Gloriana. You Hexers fight well when the battles are in your favor. You Hexers fight valiantly when the battles are even. It's when your Hex Soldiers are in a disadvantage that the problems arise! Whenever I watch the uncensored footage, I can't help but compare the conduct of Hexers to Fridaymen under pressure. The differences become very clear."

The Fridaymen seemed to possess a much more sober outlook on the war. They accepted their losses with grace and always sought to retreat in good order.

Retreat was not a shame to the Fridaymen. Perhaps this was because of the history of its founding. The Friday Coalition essentially formed after the original nine partners had been beaten black and blue by the predecessors of the Hexers.

Forming their second-rate state out of a coalition of partners was a desperation move. Fortunately for them, they succeeded in blocking the relentless Hexer aggression.

With this history in mind, the Fridaymen were much more tolerant when it came to suffering a loss. The founders of their state had all adopted a loser's mentality.

Though much of their lack of confidence had faded over the centuries, the Fridaymen still treated the Hexers as a very powerful existential threat!

In contrast, the female supremacists continued to cling on the winner's mentality they acquired after they founded their state. The Hexers all thought that the only reason they failed to defeat the Friday Coalition was because the partners cheated and ganged up on them. If not for this course of events, the Hexers would have long dominated the Komodo Star Sector!

"I think the fatal flaw you Hexers suffer from is overconfidence." Ves stated. Though Gloriana reacted badly to his remark, he was not deterred! "Everytime I hear you or other Hexers talk about the war, you people seem to think the Komodo War is as good as done! However, can you really describe the current state of the war as a walk in the park?"

His girlfriend directed a puzzled look at him. "But the Fridaymen are weaker than us. Their society is flawed, their partners are fractured, their leaders are corrupt and their soldiers don't have any ideals!"

Ves was speechless. He didn't know what to say. He thought his girlfriend was clever enough to realize that the Hexers were in for a brutal war where the winner was anything but certain.

Instead, she talked as if the Hexers would surely be able to overrun the Friday Coalition

He decided to gloss past her insanely unrealistic assumptions.

"Let me tell you about the glow I have in mind for you Hexers. What you Hexers need is a pillar of support. It's not enough to fight for some abstract ideals. It's not enough to fight for their fellow Hexers. Your Hex Soldiers need a more immediate but aspirational reason to fight for. When the laser beams are whizzing past your head and the artillery bombardment is about to land on your position, almost everything apart from what is ingrained in your body disappears. The Hex Soldiers are only left with their training, their instincts and their primal emotions."

Gloriana grew impatient. "Get to the point, Ves. What is the glow that you think will supposedly cure us of our supposed flaws?"

Ves activated his comm and projected an image.

"Hexism revolves around respecting the phases of life, death, godhood, damnation, dust and women, right?"

She nodded. "At least you remember your lessons."

"It's hard to forget the details now that I have my Archimedes Rubal implant." Ves joked. "Anyway, I've been thinking a bit. Even though it's not a universally-accepted faith in your state, it's still familiar to every Hexer. I think I can find a way to adapt the core belief of hexism in a mech. It would be like a moving altar of hexism that provides emotional succor and support in a time when the Hex Soldiers most need them. I'm not sure whether I'll be able to prevent them from breaking under the pressure, but I think that offering a light in the midst of darkness can make a very significant impact during the battles that matter."

Gloriana no longer looked angry or confused. As she took in his words, she began to think how such a mech might impact a battle.

"I... think this is quite intriguing. While I can't say I support it, I'm willing to give you a chance." She said as if her approval was absolutely mandatory for Ves to proceed! "I'm concerned about leaving you in charge of forming the proto-god. Do you realize what you are doing? If anything, I should be the one who forms the proto-god!"

"You know that's not possible, Gloriana."

"Then find a way!"

That was easier said than done! Ves could do nothing else but nod, because he knew she would never budge on this matter!

Privately, Ves didn't think he had any hope to succeed. Gloriana simply didn't possess the aptitude to manipulate spirituality at his level.

"What mech type have you chosen, Ves?" Gloriana asked next. "A mech like this sounds very useful, but the Hex Army doesn't accept ornamental mechs. It has to possess more than just a helpful glow."

"This is my first true second-class mech. Considering the overall intent behind my design, I think a knight mech is the most fitting vessel of this glow. Although I often like to be adventurous, I think it's best for me to stick with what I'm best at in order to gain the approval of your fellow Hexers. I just know that you women will scrutinize every single aspect of my design in order to find some excuse to disqualify it or put it down."

Gloriana grinned. "You know us too well, Ves. We're very strict about our mechs for a reason, Ves. It's a bit unfortunate that mechs designed by males are so rare in the Hegemony. Even if our work is reserved for DIVA, You can't avoid a lot of scrutiny. That just means we'll have to do our best to design the most perfect mech possible, isn't that right? Hihihi!"

Chapter 1974 Hollow Conviction

What were the Hexers fighting for, exactly?

"Hexers fight for victory. Hexers fight for glory. Hexers fight to win the war that was robbed from their predecessors."

What about the Fridaymen?

"Fridaymen fight for survival. Fridaymen fight to preserve their way of life. Fridaymen have prepared for centuries to defend themselves and their loved ones against the tyranny of their greatest rival."

The mentality difference was stark.

It reminded Ves of the centuries-old dynamic between the Bright Republic and the Vesia Kingdom.

The latter always wanted to rob Bentheim from the former. The Vesians, used to being in the superior position, had developed a superiority complex of sorts.

Each generation, the nobles at the top of their society constantly pumped the commoners up and hyped up all of the glory and rewards they could earn if they fought against the supposedly weak and cowardly Brighters.

It worked to an extent. The opening moves of the Vesians always put the Bright Republic on the backfoot. Their incredibly high morale and boundless optimism always overpowered the Brighters in the initial stages of a war.

However, the Bright Republic wasn't weak. It knew to an extent that its rival was swelling with a lot of confidence. So much so that it always seemed to warp their follow-up strategies as the Vesian nobles grew greedy for more achievements!

The more the Vesians penetrated the Bright Republic, the greater the resistance.

The patriotic Brighters fighting in the frontlines knew from the start that they had a very difficult fight on their hands. The Bright Republic was particularly good in educating its soldiers and citizens what was at stake should the Vesians have their way.

Not only would losing Bentheim mean losing their state's prosperity, but the fall of their main economic lifeline would certainly lead to the fall of the rest of the Republic!

What would happen after that? The Brighters would all turn into Vesian commoners, and spend the rest of their lives working themselves to death for their noble overlords!

This should never happen!

To preserve the torch that lit up the darkness, the Brighters all steeled themselves for a bitter struggle and employed any kind of delaying tactics as they could as they sought to preserve their fighting strength.

Victory may be out of reach in some battles, but the war had to go on! There were times when they had to stand their ground and there were times where accepting defeat was the only realistic choice!

As the latter stages of every Bright-Vesia War attested, this stubborn mindset eventually held out better over the long term.

When the Vesian invaders inevitably ran out of steam and started to accumulate progressively more casualties, both their commoners and their noble leaders started to balk.

In most cases, the Vesians eventually lost the heart to push forward and throw themselves at the incredibly resolute Brighter defenders!

This was in effect a deliberate strategy on the part of the Bright Republic. Its goal in every war had never been to pursue a quick victory. The Brighters always aimed to hang on survive as much as possible.

In contrast, the Vesians drove themselves entirely on victory. That was fine in the earlier stages, but as the attrition and increasingly more arduous struggles began to grind their confidence down, the illusion of inevitable victory evaporated.

What was left once the Vesians no longer gained any easy wins?

They lost their primary driving factor for waging war!

This was why their noble leaders quit at that point. The lower morale and diminishing returns meant that the few intact forces they possessed would begin to bleed more than they could ever possibly gain. Why continue a war that only led to greater losses?

A key difference between the Bright-Vesia Wars and the Komodo Wars was the stakes.

Neither side set out to fight a war for profit or a couple of star systems. The Fridaymen and Hexers went all in on this war!

Unlike the Bright Republic and the Vesia Kingdom, the Friday Coalition and the Hexadric Hegemony never fought a major war after their founding.

All this time allowed both second-rate states to accumulate an incredible amount of reserves. Neither states would run out of funds and resources anytime soon!

Yet what was even more pivotal was the incredible amount of fortifications they constructed. Whether in space or beneath the ground, the defensive works may not be enough to repel an invasion force, but they were definitely able to stall and bleed any attacking force!

Right now, Ves wasn't sure which side was doing most of the attacking, but he figured the Hexers might be a little bit more eager than the Fridaymen. Their overconfidence likely translated to excessive aggression, causing them to underestimate the resolve of their opponents!

Therefore, even if Ves lacked a complete picture on the state of the Komodo War, from the few clues he managed to deduce, his confidence in the Hexers started to sink.

"Their mindset is too frail. It's only good in fair-weather conditions. The moment they encounter a storm, their baseless confidence will fade like the wind!"

It was a bit of a stretch for Ves to believe the Komodo War would swing against the Hexers due to this reasoning.

However, Ves had a hunch that the oh so wise Hexer matriarchs weren't aware of this looming issue.

Though conventionally the older Hexers ought to be the wisest of their people, Ves wasn't so sure about that. In the context of their society, the matriarchs were indeed wise.

Yet outside of their highly-distorted cultural bubble, Ves believed they weren't as smart and wise as they were cracked out to be! This was because Ves guessed that the matriarchs were in fact the most committed believers of Hexer superiority!

"It's the nature of their promotion. Biases against the Fridaymen are constantly encouraged while more honest assessments of the true strength of their adversaries will likely be dismissed as defeatism!"

What happened when one Hexer woman expressed confidence in the war against the Hexers and another Hexer woman tried to tell others that the Fridaymen were actually very formidable?

Their people would probably elevate the former to matriarch and relentlessly ostracize the latter!

"If I can think about it, the Fridaymen can surely do so as well!"

Since Ves was a Brighter, and the Bright Republic had long been stuck in a similar position to the Friday Coalition, he had a much better idea of what the Fridaymen were thinking about.

What if their strategy was to lead the bull by the horns? What if they held some of their strength back in order to allow the Hexers to crash their horns against the myriad of defensive works the Fridaymen set up? What if the Fridaymen were waiting to pounce once their foes expended much more strength than they anticipated?

"Who am I to question the wisdom of the matriarchs in charge?"

It could all be an illusion. Perhaps the Hexers were aware of the difficulty of achieving a quick victory. Perhaps the matriarchs truly knew that the Fridaymen weren't pushovers.

Yet if this was part of a deep, multilayered plan to deceive the Fridaymen into thinking they deceived the Hexers, Ves wasn't so sure the matriarchs truly thought that far ahead!

Ves didn't really care how the Hegemony was being run. However, the last thing he wanted to see was the Friday Coalition winning the war!

If Ves wanted to accomplish his revenge on the state, he had to find a way to assist the Hexers in increasing their chances of gaining an advantage in this war.

Right now, the best way he could contribute to their war effort was by designing a mech that addressed this possible vulnerability.

Besides, if the Hexers truly managed to gain the upper hand by themselves, then his mech would just be able to make them win even harder!

After Ves announced that he wanted to design a landbound knight mech that would be based around the six phases of existence, Gloriana seemed quite intrigued at his suggestion.

For a time, she paused and turned away in order to consider his ambitious suggestion. Even to her, designing a mech that revolved around the six phases sounded extreme even to her! For once, she was reluctant to agree with mech concept. It was simply too close to her heart!

While Gloriana tried to resolve her inner struggle, Ves projected a document and tried to expand his original premise.

It wasn't difficult to state that he intended to incorporate the six phases into the mech, but how exactly would he be able to do so in practice? What would its glow possibly feel like?

"It will have to be a multifaceted glow."

Ves supposed he could also opt to create six different glows, but the cost of doing so was prohibitive. Ves simply couldn't afford to do something so wasteful. He still had nightmares about sacrifices five gems at once to create a single masterwork!

As for the composition of the glows, Ves wasn't sure how to proceed.

Unlike the Ylvainan Faith, hexism lacked a concrete human figure. Ves faced the difficult task of trying to interpret abstract phases into something more relatable.

He reviewed his understanding of the six phases and wrote down the probably feel that each phase could provide.

[Life: cautious optimism

Death: minimize losses

Godhood: overwhelming confidence

Damnation: punish the wicked

Dust: worthy sacrifice

Woman: assurance of superiority]

After drafting this list, Ves gained a much better idea on how to translate these concepts into a glow.

The simplest solution was to design a design spirit that encompassed all of these facets. Ves began to envision a spiritual entity that encapsulated all six aspects of hexisms. The design spirit would possess the ability to activate one glow at a time that was most appropriate to the situation at hand.

For example, in the event of an even battle, a dose of confidence from the phase of life might give the Hexers a mental edge! However, the phase of life also emphasized the preservation of life, so they shouldn't act too recklessly.

In the event of a losing battle, the phases of death and dust would definitely be able to show their value.

If retreat was possible, then the phase of death would be able to do much to keep the Hexers focused on what was necessary.

If retreat was blocked or a sacrifice had to be necessary, then the phase of dust would help keep the doomed Hexers calm in order to do whatever they could to make the Fridaymen bleed!

"If possible, these glows should also come with a suppressive element!"

Certain phases were more helpful in suppressing the Fridaymen than supporting the Hexers. The phase of godhood mainly served to empower the Hexers while the phase of woman would be very helpful in making the Fridaymen feel as weak in front of the superior side!

His ambition for his Hexer mech grew as Ves fleshed out his vision more and more. While he started off with a modest support mech, Ves soon began to let his imagination go wild as he envisioned a full-blown aura mech!

If he could realize this vision, then it was definitely possible for his Hexer mech to swing the Komodo War in the same fashion as his Desolate Soldiers affected the Sand War!

Yet.. as Ves considered how he could possibly create a design spirit that encompassed all of these functions, his confidence faltered to a degree.

It was not so easy to create such a powerful design spirit!

Ves did not have much confidence that he would be able to create such a spiritual product.

"I need the right ingredients."

He thought back how he created Ylvaine's spiritual fragment. Back then, he obtained a spiritual remnant from the Great Prophet and managed to amplify it into something greater. The fragment fully embodied an aspect of Prophet Ylvaine to a degree that Ves could never replicate with his imagination!

With his limited and highly-flawed understanding of hexism, Ves was not qualified to create a hexism design spirit!

The only viable solution therefore was to derive the necessary faith and spiritual ingredients from an existing hexism relic.

Ves turned to Gloriana with a pleading expression. "Can I borrow one of your altars?"

Chapter 1975 No Taboo

The six-sided miniature altar floated in front of Ves' face in a wavy fashion. It slowly rotated around its axis, allowing Ves a good glimpse of every side.

Though it looked extraordinarily exquisite, Ves puzzled at the symbolism of its deep and meaningful imagery.

The phase of women was the most resplendent side of the altar. The victorious woman spreading out her arms in exaltation was the ultimate confidence booster to every female Hexer.

The phase of life on the other hand was the most modest side. A young, infantile boy meekly looked out while looking as scared as a rabbit.

If female Hexers equated every male to this young and innocent depiction, then it was no wonder they treated boys so poorly!

After fifteen minutes of inspecting the miniature altar, he pushed it away.

The altar not only failed to enlighten him of the meaning of the six phases, it also contained no spirituality worth noting.

Though Gloriana possessed a decent amount of spiritual strength, her sincere faith was not enough to bestow the altar with a noticeable imprint. It lacked the volume of worshippers and years and accumulation of Ylvaine's nutrient pack wrapper.

He pushed it away, causing it to float back to Gloriana's side.

"Is it enough?" Gloriana asked.

"No." Ves shook his head. "I doubt that any altar in the fleet can meet my needs. I need at least something to work with in order to create a suitable spiritual product to represent your faith. Right now, I see two possible options to accomplish my goal."

He stretched a finger. "First, I take a spiritual fragment from your mind. This is obviously unacceptable. I don't want you to harm you in any way. I'm still not sure what the repercussions actually are for doing this. In addition, I need you at your full strength to contribute to our two design spirits."

She nodded. She already experienced what it was like to lose a part of her spirit. It was not very pleasant to say the least. Unlike Ves, her mentality was much less resilient, and she recovered far slower from a loss than Ves, who could easily replenish his losses with the help of his Grand Dynamo.

"What's the other option?" His girlfriend asked.

He raised another finger. "The second option is to resort to the same solution I used to create Ylvaine's spiritual fragment. I take the spiritual remnant of a major relic of hexism and convert it into a complete spiritual product! The result is far superior to what I can create from my imagination or draw from your mind because it is the collective representation of the beliefs of billions or trillions of Hexers!"

As Ves finished speaking, he carefully studied his girlfriend's reaction.

She didn't greet his suggestion as eagerly as he hoped.

"Are you crazy?"

"It makes complete sense, Gloriana! It worked with Ylvaine! Look at how strong he is now! Wouldn't it be nice to do the same for your people?"

"You don't know what you are talking about! Just the thought of desecrating one of our most valuable altars or artifacts is unthinkable! My fellow Hexers have venerated the six phase of existence through relics for centuries! It is a great disservice to rob any of them of their divine strength just to further our goals!"

Ves crossed his arms. "Logically, I think it makes sense. Just think. What would you rather like to see. The Hegemony losing the war while maintaining the integrity of all of its cultural relics, or the Hexers winning the war at the cost of losing something that's invisible and unnoticeable to them? To me, the choice is clear! As long as I can obtain what I want, no one will notice the difference!"

"THAT'S NOT THE POINT, VES!" Gloriana shouted in his face. "MY FAITH IS NOT A CONVENIENCE STORE THAT YOU CAN ENTER AND TAKE SOMETHING AWAY AS YOU WISH!"

"I didn't mean any disrespect! I just think that the Hegemony might benefit if they sacrificed something marginal in order to gain something massive!"

"NO!"

Gloriana stormed away from the design lab in a fit of fury. Ves looked perplexed.

"What's the big deal?"

"Miaow!"

Clixie hissed at Ves before she sauntered after her owner.

"Meow!"

Lucky followed after the furry feline, completely leaving Ves behind.

Ves glowered at his mechanical cat. "Where do you think you're going?!"

After the abrupt end of this meeting, Ves felt a bit unsure. Was his suggestion wrong? He didn't think so. He didn't possess any inherent taboos about messing with a Hexer religious relic in order to accomplish his objective.

Yet Gloriana didn't see it that way. Her faith in hexism was truly sincere! This caused Ves to inadvertently touch her nerves with his suggestion!

"Damnit."

How could he fix this? Should he fall back to one of the other solutions?

Perhaps the most viable alternative was to construct a spiritual product the conventional method.

His usual method was to harvest a spiritual fragment from Nyxie and process it in order to remove as many unpleasant attributes as possible. Once he purified the fragment, he began the spiritual restoration process by breaking it along with his spiritually-empowered images before merging it all together to form a new spiritual entity.

There were several flaws associated with this method.

First, even if he did everything to purify the original spiritual fragment, aspects of Nyxie still suffused it. Ves lacked the ability to neutralize every influence that Nyxie possessed over an aspect of himself!

Second, the ultimate outcome depended heavily on Ves. As a foreigner, Ves did not possess a deep understanding of hexism and Hexer society. Even if he read a lot of books about hexism, he doubted he would be able to tolerate all of the biases and ridiculous assumptions the Hexers adopted to justify their gender policies.

Learning about a culture or religion from a bunch of books was incomparable to living and breathing it for your entire childhood and adolescence!

Ves would never be able to catch up to Gloriana in her understanding of hexism. Whatever Ves might think about the faith and philosophy would inevitably be out of sync with what real Hexers believed.

If he was desperate enough, he might decide to fall back on this solution anyway. While it wasn't ideal by any means, if Ves abandoned his desire to create an accurate representation of hexism, then what was the harm of spreading his own interpretation?

"Maybe this isn't as bad as it sounds." Ves abruptly realized.

Why should he copy the poisonous faith verbatim? Was it truly necessary to strive for an accurate and faithful representation of hexism when he himself disagreed with its tenets?

He felt a bit conflicted.

As a commissioned mech designer, it wasn't proper for him to distort or misinterpret the wishes of his client.

If his client was anything like Gloriana, then proceeding with this course of action would surely amount to a violation to one of his principles!

Though Ves did not necessarily have a problem with abandoning his principles, he didn't want to resort to it when other options were available.

"If Gloriana doesn't want to play ball, then I'll just turn to another Hexer."

Some time later, Ves sat alone in an office. He activated the terminal and called the leader of the Black Cats.

Calabast's face projected in front of his face.

"Hello Ves. It's rare for you to get in touch with me. Did you miss me or something?"

"Stop with the jokes, Calabast. I need something from you. It's related to DIVA's commission."

The spy became a lot more attentive. "Do tell."

Because Calabast resided on another ship and the fleet was travelling through FTL, he was aware that the connection wasn't completely secure. Ves had to assume that other spy agencies might be listening in on their conversation.

He therefore started to remind her of an incident that happened in the past.

"Remember my Transcendent Messenger design?" He asked. "What if I wanted to design something similar that is based around hexism rather than the Ylvainan Faith.

Calabast was a smart woman. It didn't take long for her thoughts to turn to some very unpleasant memories.

Ves had been arrested by the Ylvainan Inquisition due to how extreme he behaved in order to accomplish his goal! Though it somehow worked out in the end, Calabast was anything but happy with the tumultuous and hair-raising incident!

Now that Ves hinted that he wanted to do it again, Calabast immediately regarded him with suspicion!

"Don't tell me you are thinking of something stupid again."

"It's not stupid! It's just a little controversial, but I don't think there is any harm in letting me do what I want! I don't want to talk too much over our comm channel, but I think you know what I need in order to design the best support mech for the Hexers as possible. I NEED this critical element. I don't have to destroy it or mar it in any way that is noticeable to other people, so don't worry about losing something once you hand it over to me. Just give me half an hour and I'll return what you've lent to me right away!"

To her credit, Calabast didn't blow up in the same fashion as Gloriana. She still began to frown, though.

"No wonder why you aren't on good terms with Gloriana right now. While I'm not a follower of hexism, what you just suggested was very insensitive."

"I.. kind of understand, but it is really no big deal! Surely you'd be able to see that, right?"

"I do. On paper, the tradeoff you implied makes sense. It's just that it will be difficult to convince DIVA to accept it. Even if there is a large amount of Hexers who don't ascribe to hexism, we still respect it and those who follow its tenets. What you are trying to suggest will anger the entire Hegemon once they find out your plan!"

"Couldn't you ask DIVA to obtain what I need? They can probably do it quietly if they aren't able to get what I want through official channels."

"If it was up to me, I would give your proposal a lot of consideration." Calabast answered after a pause. "I'm not sure how DIVA will react. It's a diverse group that consists of women from many parts of the Hegemony."

"Will you do it, though? This is important."

"I truly can't say for sure, Ves. This is an incredibly delicate issue. Even if I manage to secure what you need, shipping it to your fleet is another risky operation."

"I can manage without it for a few months. Until my mech design is ready, there is plenty of time to send out my request."

After a bit of chatting where they glossed over some details, Calabast finally nodded.

"I understand what you need. It's not easy to obtain a good one."

"The stronger, the better! The more people involved, the better! The more significant it is, the greater the power of my upcoming Hexer mech!"

"I see." She said. "I believe you. I'll be sure to strive for the best specimen that we can obtain for you, but I won't make any promises. I need to go over this idea and find the best way to bring up your proposal without provoking a massive argument."

"Just do what you can. Please tell me quickly whether something is being done to meet my requirements. If every Hexer disapproves, then I'll just come up with something on my own. I don't think you'll like it, though."

"You don't need to warn me again. You are an authority when it comes to your own design philosophy."

Soon, Calabast ended the call. She was eager to explore what she could do to fulfill Ves' request.

Not just any mediocre relic would do. Designing the Hexer mech was his first attempt at designing a proper second-class mech. Ves wanted to do everything possible to deliver the best mech design possible in order to prove to everyone that he was fully capable of catching up and surpassing his second-class rivals!

Chapter 1976 Education Conundrums

After issuing his request, he left this project aside until he received an update from Calabast. It was relatively pointless for him to work on a mech project that was still subject to massive changes.

A tense day went by as the relationship between Ves and Gloriana grew a little cold.

They still slept in the same stateroom and on the same bed, but a very wide gap had formed in the middle!

"Meow."

"Miaow."

With all of that open space, their cats made their home in this valley. The organic and mechanical cats comfortably napped and groomed each other in the night while their owners slept at the edges of the bed.

The awkward state didn't last for long, though. This wasn't their first bump in their relationship. Both of them were very much accustomed to ignoring source of friction.

While their argument hadn't been resolved, Ves and Gloriana simply decided not to talk about it. Instead, they turned their attention to something more innocent.

"We've selected the components of our striker mech." Gloriana said over breakfast. She briefly paused in partaking her pancake to project a draft that included the components. "From what I think, our striker mech can be quite a decent performer, especially with the little surprise I plan to incorporate. What do you think?"

Ves studied the supplemented draft design with an experienced eye. He noticed that Gloriana had already fleshed out the draft in some portions. All of this work gave him a greater idea on how the end product might look like at the end of the four-month project.

As a mech that was supposed to revolve around Zeigra as its design spirit, the offensive power of the mech was crucially important.

Ves was glad that the current state of the draft design reflected its offensive focus. Though the quality of its armor system was rather lackluster and its mobility was as bad as any mech that lugged around so much mass, the mech devoted ample capacity to sustaining its powerful flamethrower.

It was no problem for this striker mech to engulf an entire region of space with hot and corrosive flames! No light mech would easily dare to cross the vast and immense sea of flames that the striker mech was able to project!

The 34F Enison Spreader model also made for a decent close-ranged finisher. Its focused channeling mode was so potent that it could even overwhelm the defenses and heat capacity of a space knight after a dozen seconds of pummeling!

Its endurance in combat was rather average and depended heavily on the frugality of the mech pilot. A skilled and knowledgeable striker mech pilot would be able to make much more efficient use of the flamethrower. They could easily last twice or thrice as long as a mech pilot who wasn't specialized in piloting this mech type!

Therefore, Ves didn't worry too much about the mech's endurance and capacity.

Of course, that was not enough to make the mech stand out from the competition. Ever since the MTA unveiled the new generation, a lot of mech designers had already flooded the market with their own interpretations of striker mechs.

Ves didn't have to spend more than a couple of seconds on the galactic net to know that tons of mech designers had already designed a mech with the same configuration.

Even if the components possessed slightly divergent properties and even if the individual designs looked different, their performance was probably similar!

The only way to differentiate their products from the competition was to rely on his own inherent advantages. Gloriana had to pitch in as well.

Fortunately, Ves had a much easier time in distinguishing his products than other mech designers. His design philosophy was practically a free ticket to success as long as Ves put in enough effort.

That was no reason to grow complacent, though. Leaning on his specialty to do all of the heavy lifting while ignoring his foundation would only lead to ruin in the long term.

In addition, just as Ves relied on his glows to give his mechs some extra oomph, other mech designers possessed their own tricks to elevate the performance of their products!

Therefore, it was never a given that his mechs would succeed! There was too much uncertainty when it came to the mech market. Ves left the predictions to the experts.

"We can proceed with this draft." Ves issued his verdict. "I have high hopes for our striker mech. Despite the capacity problems, it's not a very complicated mech to design."

Gloriana cautiously nodded. "The problems we'll be facing is of a different nature than the problems we encountered when we designed the Bright Warrior. In fact, I kind of prefer the latter. Back when we designed our modular mech platform, the potential of our product was incredibly high because we had a lot of options at our disposal. The challenge was figuring out the most optimal solutions."

"In contrast, our striker mech is so simple in nature that it is actually limiting our options. There is no easy way to engineer ourselves out of the fundamental problems related to capacity."

Without access to dimensional technology and miniaturized components, Ves and Gloriana would have to work very hard just to free up a small amount of capacity.

It was impossible to fill up a single cup with two cups worth of liquid. Sure, you could resort to tricks such as compressing the liquid or manipulating the temperature, but that was the equivalent of resorting to high technology in mech design.

Neither of them looked forward to tackling these problems over the course of their work. "Let's head to the design lab."

"Okay."

They finished their breakfast and brought their cats to the design lab. Their two design teams had already arrived a few minutes before.

After handing out some assignments, Ves did not immediately begin with fleshing out the draft design.

Instead, Ves addressed an issue that he had been ignoring for a time.

The four Larkinson seeds had grown a little taller and older the last time he had seen them. Due to all of the excitement that took place in recent months, Ves and Gloriana hadn't been able to guide them that much.

"It's been rough the past few months. How have you been faring?" Ves asked.

Maikel, Maisie Ann, Rennie and Zanthar Larkinson all looked at each other.

Eventually, Zanthar Larkinson spoke first. "We miss school."

That opened the floodgates.

"It sucks now that we are forced to attend school remotely."

"I miss my friends."

"I don't like living on this ship! I don't like any of the other ships! None of them feel like home!"

The Larkinsons were still children in a way. Ves patiently let the teenagers vent before he raised his hands.

"I understand your difficulties. Our situation is anything but ideal. We all uprooted you from your familiar lives and have been forced to live and study on ships that were never meant to be treated as homes."

"We didn't mean to complain about how we are forced to live on ships, sir."

Ves smiled. "It's okay. Your complaints are all valid. I believe that many more Larkinsons and other personnel are likely chafing about their sudden transition to spacer life. I believe that your schooling is too important to be left as is. While I didn't attend the best mech university in the star sector, the lessons I learned and the values and principles my teachers instilled in me can only be acquired by attending a proper institution in person. I've been thinking a lot about how to address your schooling issues. All of you are nearing the age where you are ready to start studying mech design in earnest. As someone who has been in your position more than a decade ago, I know how crucial it is to your future development to attend the best school possible."

The Larkinson seeds all looked eager at what Ves was about to say.

"Since I plan to travel throughout the star cluster for the next couple of years, it is quite inconvenient for all of us to drop you off at a mech design university and pick you up when you graduate. I'll have to reserve passage for you on the fastest passenger liner I'm able to afford to bring you back to our fleet. If you are willing to go through this ordeal, then there are several excellent mech design universities in this star sector that I can recommend to you. Maisie, you once asked if you could attend a Hexer mech design university, right?"

"I still want to attend one if possible." She said, to the shock of her fellow seeds!

"I've talked to Gloriana about this and she can recommend any of you to one of the Hegemony's many mid-ranked institutions. Since you aren't Hexers or second-class citizens, it's not possible to get you in the best mech design universities, but that doesn't mean the ones that rank below them are awful. They're already ten times better than my own alma mater!"

Maisie looked hopeful. "Does that mean I can start studying at a Hexer university soon?"

"It's not that simple." Ves shook his head. "If you or Rennie want to attend a Hexer university, then Gloriana and I will have to step up your tutoring in order to allow you to catch up with your future Hexer classmates. They're already learning twice or thrice as much as you in their high school years! The disparity between third and second-class citizens already begins at birth, so it will be very tough for the two of you to make up for that disparity. Fortunately for you girls, we have many means to allow you to catch up. I'm willing to let Dr. Ranya and the other specialists in my employ augment you with implants and gene boosts so that you won't be falling behind when you begin your first semester."

"Really? Yay!"

The young Larkinsons had all looked forward to augmenting themselves for years! They had heard many stories of how average students suddenly turned into geniuses after their parents paid for their upgrades!

Ves inwardly shook his head at their reactions. Even though they already augmented their genes once, they still underestimated risks and repercussions of augmenting their genes and cognitive functions. It wasn't all roses and sunshine.

"So are the two of you truly willing to accept these conditions in order to attend a Hexer university?"

"We are!"

Rennie came around quickly to the idea once she thought about it. Attending a second-rate university had been one of her greatest dreams!

"There is an extra caveat, though. Right now, the Hexadric Hegemony is in the middle of a war. Once the Komodo War swings in favor of the Fridaymen, you'll have to flee the state in a hurry. This will doubtlessly interrupt your studies and deny you your diploma for at least a year. Are you still willing to embrace this plan?"

The two girls hesitated, but they eventually nodded. "We believe in you, sir."

"Haha. I hope your faith is not misplaced."

"Uhm, sir, what about us?" Zanthar asked.

Ves stared at the young Larkinson. "Do you want to attend a Hexer university with Masie and Rennie?"

"Uhh.. no."

"I thought so. Even if you said yes, I would have vetoed your decision anyway. As far as I'm concerned, no male member of our clan is allowed to undergo Hexer indoctrination! I have a different set of solutions for you and Maikel. The first option is to attend Rawlings University. It's a top university of the Sentinel Kingdom and produces bright and promising mech designers like Mayer Torto who I've recently hired on. Rawlings is not as good as a Hexer school, though, so you'll have to accept falling behind Maisie and Rennie."

Neither boys looked pleased with that. "Is there another solution, sir?"

"Yes, but it is the most uncertain and risky solution of all. It can either work out better than what I've arranged for the girls, or it can all crash and burn."

Ves took a deep breath. He didn't feel very comfortable about this solution either, but he owed it to the boys to offer them a more promising option than dumping them at Rawlings.

"You study directly under me and Gloriana. In essence, you'll become our apprentices of a sort. While we aren't able to provide you with a traditional diploma, you'll be receiving our personal guidance to a much greater degree than before. Just because you are my clansmen doesn't mean I'll be any less strict than the Hexer universities!"

The boys only exchanged a single look with each other before turning back to Ves and nodding their heads.

"We accept!"

"Are you sure? You'll be missing out on a lot of essential experiences that define an orthodox mech designer."

"We are sure! We believe in you!"

Chapter 1977 The Battle for Bentheim

The Bentheim System. Usually bustling with trade ships and passenger ships of all shapes and sizes, in recent days civilian traffic practically dropped to nil.

No more resources were being supplied to the factories on the ground.

No tourists came to experience the hustle and bustle of the Bright Republic's liveliest planet.

No mechs and other manufactured goods were being shipped to other locations.

The star system turned into the opposite of what a prosperous port system should look like.

Part of the decrease in traffic was due to the destruction of a lot of border states.

Without a lot of secure and established trade routes, how could the bounty of the frontier and the border states be shipped towards the center of the star sector?

The loss of so many trading partners already hurt Bentheim and the Bright Republic considerably.

Yet the more important reason why commercial ships avoided Bentheim like the plague was the imminent arrival of the greatest threat the Bright Republic had ever faced!

Captain Rosa Orfan of the Flagrant Vandals sat in a waiting room next to the mech hangar of the Wolf Mother.

The huge and expanded factory ship groaned frequently even in rest. Due to the nature of her numerous additions, the ship never flew as smoothly as ships that were built to this scale from the start.

The Flagrant Vandals were still scraping by after the last Bright-Vesia War. Though the Vandals managed to build up a reputation due to their exploits in the conflict against the Vesians, the sandman invasion quickly sucked up all of the attention.

Funding started to decrease as the Bright Republic became increasingly more preoccupied with pumping as many starfighters as possible.

Due to the great losses the Vandals suffered, the mech regiment never managed to replenish its ranks to its old levels. Other mech regiments needed to replenish their ranks as well, and the higher ups began to disregard the Flagrant Vandals yet again.

Captain Orfan wasn't happy. She had already grown a little bit disillusioned with the leadership of her state, and recent events just soured her feelings even further.

"Why am I even here?" She sighed.

She looked at the empty bottle in her hand and threw it over her shoulder. It clattered against the deck of the waiting room before rolling against the bulkhead.

A cleaning bot soon arrived to take the bottle away and bring it to recycling.

"I know. The Republic I knew is gone."

She activated her comm and checked the overall state of her customized Novabreaker.

As a melee mech specialist, and a landbound one at that, she was not very pleased with her currently-assigned mech.

It was too bad that her opponent consisted of an alien race which possessed absolute superiority up close.

"I'd rather fight the Fridaymen rather than the sandmen! At least you managed to tear down some of their expensive mechs! What I wouldn't give to be a part of that fight!"

The only melee mechs allowed to fight the sandmen were expert mechs. Many expert pilots such as Ark Larkinson already proved that they could keep themselves safe while simultaneously dealing serious against their monoliths!

Captain Orfan wasn't an expert pilot, though. She was just an expert candidate, and the exact circumstances of her advancement were highly unusual.

Expert candidates hardly possessed the extraordinary might of fully-fledged expert pilots.

The only advantage that Captain Orfan truly possessed was that she broke through her human limits. This enabled her to improve at a rapid rate and learn how to pilot spaceborn mechs and ranged mechs remarkably easily.

During the height of the Sand War, Captain Orfan enjoyed so much target practice that she had become quite a decent shot these days!

"It's not the same. Ranged mechs are so cowardly. I can easily crush a dozen mechs by the time my pitiful ranged mech with its pitiful peashooter can barely defeat a single machine!"

The Sand War and the Komodo War both weighed on her shoulders despite her desire to have nothing to do with them. She was tired. She had gone through a traumatic mission in the frontier and still hadn't recovered from all of the friends and comrades she lost.

Fighting the sandmen might have been cathartic to a point, but the stupid sand-like aliens were no better than punching bags. There wasn't any fun or satisfaction in beating them up, especially when another sandman fleet arrived the next day.

As Captain Orfan continued to talk to the air, an alarm finally sounded in the waiting room.

[RED ALERT! OUR SENSOR NETWORK HAS JUST DETECTED A HUGE WAVE OF GRAVITIC DISTURBANCE!]

"The sandman planet!" Captain Orfan gasped.

It was finally time for her to move into action.

While it would probably take hours before Orfan gained a chance to test her mettle against aliens, she still stood up and exited the waiting room.

After she entered the large and cavernous mech hangar, she passed by lots of mech technicians as they ran around to ready the mechs for their impending deployments.

"Orfan."

"Captain!"

"Carry on, techs. We're depending on you all! I don't want a single mech of ours to malfunction today!"

"Don't worry, captain. We've been tuning these mechs for weeks. They're running as smooth as silk!"

The woman eventually reached the site where her Novabreaker stood ready for activation. The mech technicians had already finished prepping it for battle.

"Chief Carmon." Orphan gruffly greeted the chief technician. "How's my mech?"

The middle-aged woman in overalls nodded towards the expert candidate while chewing a stimulant.

"We couldn't implement all of your requests. There's only so much we can do to enhance the firepower of the Sandbreaker rifle. It's a weapon designed for the mass market. There is hardly any room for performance enhancements. The best we could do was to tweak its ammunition and reinforce a couple of portions of the rifle."

The chief technician also implemented some other tweaks. The Novabreaker was an excellent design. Five Ansel Seniors pooled their strengths tot design the award-winning Dawnbreaker mech that had become the preferred model in the Sand War.

Though the Desolate Soldier designed by Ves had an even greater effect on the war, its inherent fragility meant that the casualty rate of its mech pilots was several times greater than the mech pilots of the Dawnbreaker!

The Novabreaker was the militarized variant of the Dawnbreaker. Its performance in almost every aspect surpassed the base model. Though the costs had risen as well, the excellent protection it offered to its mech pilots was incredibly valuable!

After the techs completed their final checks, Captain Orfan entered the cockpit and waited in the darkness.

Nothing except a large projection of a map of the star system lit up the interior.

Right now, a lot of dots of light were interspersed through the Bentheim System.

Most of them represented the mechs and ships of the various mech regiments of the Mech Corps. The bulk of them oriented themselves towards the direction of the former Coman Federation.

Everyone anticipated the sandman behemoth to enter the star system from this direction.

Of course, just to cover their bases, the Mech Corps also stationed plenty of elements in other directions. Even if it was just a low-probability event, the military couldn't afford to get caught with its pants down!

Captain Orfan noted keenly that the Flagrant Vandals were stationed at one of these flanking positions.

Unlike the premier mech regiments, the Vandals didn't have the honor of meeting the foe at the start where all of the recorders would catch them at a good angle.

However, Orphan didn't think the premier mech regiments would have a chance to fire their weapons at all. To many Brighters, the biggest threat in the star system wasn't the sandmen.

It was the MTA.

Though not as formidable as the CFA warfleet that ravaged the sandman empire, the MTA task force with its highly-advanced fleet carriers, formidable-looking cruisers and destroyers and exceptionally nimble combat carriers made for a very impressive sight.

The MTA task force already demonstrated its prowess several times when it deployed its famed first-class multipurpose mechs in leisurely practice runs.

Situated very close to the estimated emergence point of the sandman planet, the MTA carriers were already starting to deploy its mechs.

Captain Orfan patched into a feed transmitted by a nearby scout ship in order to observe the mechs that launched from the carriers.

The multipurpose mechs were bigger and tougher than any of the mechs she was used to dealing with. Many of them were laden with weapons and modules, only a fraction of which were visible from the naked eye.

As a mech pilot who had entered a derelict CFA battleship and looted it of some of its valuables, Orphan didn't regard the mechs with the same degree of envy as her fellow comrades.

Though the CFA and MTA often acted as if they were invincible, Captain Orfan knew very well that they just happened to be the biggest bullies in the galaxy.

She even suspected that the main reason the MTA dispatched its task force to Bentheim was to make a show of force!

The gravitic disturbance grew even greater. Though her Novabreakers didn't possess the sensors to detect more than a fraction of the fluctuations, the ships of the Flagrant Vandals and the network of listening posts and other assets strewn throughout the star system all transmitted very worrying telemetry.

The fluctuations were so large that they covered the entire star system! They reached such strong levels that no one wasn't sure anymore where the sandman planet would emerge!

The Mech Corps waited with bated breath. The mercenary mech pilots who had come to take part in a historic battle also froze. The sensor readings had already exceeded anything they witnessed in their lives!

"They're coming! Wait! They haven't arrived at the front! They're knocking on our rear door!"

A surprisingly small sandman amalgamation emerged at the opposite side of the star system!

Everyone was stunned!

"This is impossible! FTL isn't supposed to work that way! All of the scout ships were sure the sandman planet traveled straight to Bentheim from Sydney Superior!"

"Wait! That's not a sandman planet! It's mass and volume are way too small! It's.. it's just a monolith!"

The fluctuations hadn't ended though. A few seconds later, a dozen different signals spiked from various edges of the star system.

More sandman monoliths emerged in a direction away from where everyone expected the sandman planet to arrive!

"There's more!"

Hundreds of signals spikes. Thousands of signals spiked. Tens of thousands of signals spiked!

Sandman monolith after sandman monolith kept entering the edge of the Bentheim System from every angle! In a matter of minutes, a huge and dispersed ring of sandman monoliths finished their transition back to reality!

A sense of horror dawn on everyone's mind.

"The sandmen fooled us! They never intended to attack the Bentheim System as a single, massive planet! They split up their planet at the final leg of the journey and dispersed back into countless smaller units!"

Even Captain Orfan lost her confidence. Before the sandman race halted its invasion, it had been doing an excellent job pressuring thousands of star systems at a time.

All of those sandmen fleets had overrun dozens of border states and put another dozen states under an incredible amount of pressure!

Now, the sandmen seemed to have eschewed its strategy of dispersing its strength. Instead, it pooled its sandman fleets together to attack a single star system, but not in the method every human anticipated!

Even the MTA appeared stumped at this new development. Even though its powerful task force was capable of deploying hundreds or thousands of first-class mechs, it was impossible for this force to cover each and every direction!

"Looks like this won't be a walk in the park after all!" Captain Orfan concluded.

As soon as the sandman monoliths returned to realspace, they all accelerated forward as an indomitable swarm!

Chapter 1978 Level Up

Battle ensued quickly. The Mech Corps stationed a lot of mech regiments at the flanks. The generals did so not just to cover every direction, but also keep the forces in reserve.

Now, the Flagrant Vandals and the other mech regiments stationed in flanks were suddenly forced to sortie sooner than anticipated because the sandmen defied their expectations yet again!

"Where is their sandman planet? Why have they broken themselves up again?!"

"Shut up! Just shoot them! This monolith isn't going down as easily as before!"

"What the hell?! Is that an energy shield?! Since when were the sandmen capable of projecting shields!?"

"Where do they get all of the technology from? Did they engulf an MTA mech or CFA warship?"

"Ahh! That's not a laser beam! That's a positron beam!"

The opening stages of the Battle for Bentheim started off explosively as the dispersed elements of the Mech Corps started to clash against the nearest sandman monoliths!

Soon, they discovered that their enemies weren't as exploitable as before. Somehow, their opponents had level up! Each and every monolith began to exhibit a lot of tricks the defenders had never encountered before!

In many cases, these surprises proved fatal as the upgraded sandman monoliths exterminated the mechs dispatched to halt their advance!

"Where are the starfighters?! We need their help! The monoliths are firing too many energy beams!"

"They're on their way! Hold on!"

"What?! You're only sending a single starfighter regiment? That's not enough? We've already lost a quarter of our mechs to take down a single monolith, and there's another one following right behind!"

The might and numbers that allowed the sandmen to pressure a huge amount of star systems at the same time finally converged on a single star system!

Not only that, but their upgraded monoliths immediately resulted in thousands of casualties in the opening minute as the defending mechs and starfighters were completely caught off guard!

Their enemy had evolved, but the human forces hardly changed!

The worst part about it was that both the Mech Corps and the Starfighter Corps spread out their regiments at the flanks. They still devoted over half of their best units at the suspected front in anticipating the arrival of a sandman planet that would come!

"Fall back! Don't fight the monoliths head-on! They're too deadly and accurate at closer ranges!"

"Damnit! What is the MTA doing?! We need the help of their multipurpose mechs right away!"

The MTA attempted to disperse some of its ships and mechs. A handful of destroyers started generating portals that led to different parts of the Bentheim System in order to rapidly relocate squads of multipurpose mechs in order to ease the pressure on the beleaguered flanks!

The arrival of the first-class mechs instantly turned the tide of the battle! Many of the mechs brought their energy weapons to bear. As soon as they aimed their weapons at a sandman monolith, the muzzles spat out bright blue bolts that instantly penetrated the energy shields carved off huge chunks of sand from the monoliths!

As powerful as the sandman monoliths appeared, they still weren't a match against even a single multipurpose mech!

Unlike the Mech Corps and the Starfighter Corps, the first-class mechs eschewed physical damage weapons in favor of energy weapons with a peculiar disruptive effect.

Each time their crackling blue energy bolts impacted the surface of a monolith, they discharged a lot of energy, some of which were completely unfamiliar to the Mech Corps!

Regardless how it worked, the disruption caused by these impacts immediately disturbed the bonds that held the individual sandman particles together!

As much as the MTA reinforcements provided some much-needed relief, they couldn't be everywhere! While monolith after monolith succumbed to the superior mechs of the MTA, more sandman monoliths pushed through the initial opposition without breaking their energy shields!

On the surface of Bentheim, billions of locals watched the footage with an increasing amount of dread.

Panic had already sparked as the citizens saw that the Mech Corps, Starfighter Corps and even the MTA failed to stem the tide!

"There are too many sandmen!"

"We're all doomed!"

"Why couldn't I get passage off an evacuation ship?!"

In the last couple of months, the Bright Republic attempted to evacuate many citizens from Bentheim. However, Bentheim was the most populous planet in the Republic.

Even with so much time, over a half of the population was still stuck on the surface!

In truth, the government could have evacuated more people. However, it was difficult to divert additional ships to address this need.

In addition, a large majority of Brighters expected the MTA to wipe out the sandmen with each, thereby making an evacuation moot!

This misplaced confidence in the MTA along with the fear that Bentheim's powerful economic engine would shut down forever caused many leaders to put the brakes on the evacuation effort!

Now, billions of Brighters started to lose their confidence as they saw mechs and starfighters dropping like flies in front of the relentless barrage of positron beams punching straight through their flimsy, low-quality armor!

Seeing as the broadcasts were doing more harm than good, the Mech Corps immediately deactivated its feeds. The local government also shut down all of the local communication networks in order to prevent any chances of the locals to patch into another channel that displayed the massacre up close!

Far from stemming panic, the communications blackout instead fanned the flames! The doom and gloom continued to fester without limit as the Brighters let their imaginations run wild!

Unlike before, no more Peaceful Soldiers patrolled the streets. No more Prideful Soldiers kept the rabble rousers in line. No more Desolate Soldiers were in place to instill duty in the minds of the frail!

Ever since Ves turned into an enemy of the state, the Bright Republic forcibly confiscated every LMC mech.

Now, this decision bit them back in the worst possible way!

Panic and mass hysteria soon erupted in Dorum, Haston, Ansel and other densely-populated cities! Due to all of the preparations for the current battle, the local Planetary Guard forces were woefully insufficient to suppress the panic!

Though the existing order on the planet quickly started to break down, none of the senior leaders were paying attention to the events on the ground.

The critical issue remained defeating the sandmen before they reached the planet! Right now, they were doing an excellent job at it as their upgraded monoliths steamrolled through various mech regiments and starfighter regiments alike!

"This shield just doesn't go down! How many times do I have to fire my rifle before I can breach this shield?!"

"AAAHHH! We just sacrificed two mech companies to take down this shield. How come the monolith restored its shield so quickly?!"

"Die sandmen, die!"

Tons of sand and broken wrecks floated throughout space as the scale of the fighting had reached an unimaginable level!

Captain Rosa Orfan was in the thick of one of those battles. She weaved her Novabreaker in various directions in order to remain mobile.

The Mech Corps and the Starfighter Corps learned early on that no amount of armor their assets possessed were strong enough to withstand more than a couple of positron beams! Many of them even succumbed after suffering just a glancing hit!

The sandman monoliths discharged so much energy at a time. It was as if the sandmen emptied out all of its energy savings in order to spread as much pain as possible as sandman race made its existence felt for the final time!

Her Novabreaker whizzed to the left just as a small but deceptively powerful beam missed the mech by a couple of meters!

The Sandbreaker rifle wielded by her mech kept pumping round after round against the monolith. However, despite her skill as an expert candidate, her contribution was no better than that of the starfighter pilots as their basic machines packed just as much punch against a large and relative massive target!

"These sandmen went all in on monoliths!" She gritted her teeth. "It's as if they knew we didn't have the firepower to grind them down!"

Their only hope lay in the first-class multipurpose mechs deployed by the MTA.

Yet as powerful as they performed, the sandmen weren't allowing their monoliths to get beat up for free!

As soon as a multipurpose mech flew in range, the monoliths immediately ignored the pesky starfighters and the mechs of the Mech Corps in favor of unleashing all of their might against the Mech Corps!

Instead of firing hundreds of dispersed positron beams, the monoliths instead concentrated their power and unleashed a single, devastating beam that blasted an entire zone around the multipurpose mech!

No matter how fast the MTA mechs attempted to dodge, they were all struck with remarkably few exceptions!

The monoliths unleashed enough power to blast apart numerous asteroids and more!

Soon after they discharged their entire power reserve, the hot monoliths silently broke apart as the sandmen that consisted of the amalgamation had sacrificed everything to launch this sacrificial attack!

It wasn't enough. Humanity's most powerful mechs were tougher than that! The megabeams not only left a single scratch on the MTA mechs, but also failed to breach their energy shields!

"Watch out! More of them are launching their attacks!

The first monolith only bought time for several more monoliths to get into range! Three of them charged their positron beams at the same time.

Perhaps smelling trouble, the multipurpose mech assigned to guard this zone immediately started to engage its powerful flight systems to rapidly build up a lot of distance!

Boosters and certain warping technology came online to accelerate its sunlight flight to ridiculous speeds!

Yet as much as the multipurpose mech attempted to gain some distance, the monoliths finished charging up their attacks too quickly!

Three bright-blue megabeams of charged particles slammed into the fleeing multipurpose mech with unerring accuracy! No matter how sophisticated their ECM systems threw off targeting systems, the sandmen appeared strangely immune to the interference.

It was as if the sandmen had transitioned from a third-class space pest into a first-class menace!

Though the three monoliths shattered and broke apart after expending their power, they managed to do their jobs.

They successfully felled the multipurpose mech!

As soon as the first MTA mech succumbed against the sandmen, the hearts of every mech pilot stilled.

Though there were many instances where the multipurpose mechs managed to destroy the monoliths, the problem was that there were way too many sandman monoliths!

The MTA task force quickly began to feel the strain as their individual mechs had to contend against half-a-dozen sandman monoliths at a time!

In order to prevent its precious mechs from getting mobbed, the MTA ordered the mechs to team up and cover each other's backs.

As the MTA mechs consolidated together, they no longer succumbed to the sandman monoliths.

However, concentrating these powerful mechs also caused a lot of sandman monoliths to slip through the gaps!

"The MTA is getting overwhelmed! Not even its warships are able to hold back the onslaught!"

Even though the sandmen dispersed their fleets in every direction, most of their elements still arrived at the front.

Though the premier mech regiments of the Mech Corps put up a good resistance, the sandmen didn't pay much attention to them. Instead, they poured their full firepower against the mechs and warships of the MTA!

Their large cruisers and formidable destroyers attracted most of their attention. The awesome firepower of their large caliber weapons broke through the shields of the sandman monoliths far too easily to be left alone!

Though sandman monoliths initially started falling in droves, they soon presented their answer to the might of the MTA warships.

They merged together!

The sandman monoliths organically melted into each other, forming larger and larger amalgamations.

Though that made them bigger targets, the shields they were able to project became increasingly more capable of withstanding the bombardment of positron beams, plasma bolts, fusion rounds and even more exotic attacks such as localized singularities and nanite storms!

Chapter 1979 Taking The Step

As the Bright Republic faced its bleakest hour, many people throughout the star sector watched the battle with intense interest.

The Larkinson Clan and Ves dropped everything in order to tune in to the available broadcasts of the disaster unfolding in the Bentheim System.

Though the Mech Corps and the government no longer transmitted any footage onto the galactic net, plenty of private outfits and other third parties still kept their individual feeds open for a time.

As MTA mechs started getting overwhelmed by numerous sandman monoliths and as the warships of the MTA started to experience some strain, all of the feeds suddenly shut off. Not a single quantum communication node in the Bentheim System transmitted any data to the rest of the galaxy!

For a moment, Ves and many other people were stunned. Why did the broadcasts stop?

It didn't take too long for Ves to guess the answer.

"The Comm Consortium shut everything down! Those bastards!" He shouted.

Gloriana placed her hand on his arm. "The Comm Consortium is operated by the Big Two to begin with. It's not that difficult to predict the CC would choose to shut off the feeds to avoid embarrassment."

No one knew what was going on in the Bentheim System right now. The overwhelming number of upgraded sandman monoliths were so powerful that they were even giving the MTA task force a hard time!

While Ves wasn't ready to count the MTA forces out, there was no doubt that the Battle of Bentheim was far more contentious than everyone initially realized.

"The MTA is too arrogant!" Ves vented. "It was a mistake to underestimate the sandmen! If the MTA dispatched even a single battleship, the sandmen would have never been able to pressure its forces to this extent!"

Gloriana didn't care about the Bentheim System. She found it curious that for all of his claims, Ves still cared about his old home.

Perhaps he was more of a Brighter than he admitted. He still possessed at least some attachment to the state that had birthed him and shaped him in the mech designer he was today.

"Urgh! What am I supposed to do? My relatives and many of my workers must be fretting as we speak!"

"You'll need to fill in the void, Ves." Gloriana suggested. "Since the Comm Consortium refuses to reveal what is happening in the Bentheim System, your people need reassurance more than ever. Go step up and address the fleet. I'm sure your Larkinsons need you at this time."

Ves sighed. "You're right. In a way, I'm glad the Bright Republic persecuted my relatives. At least they're not a part of this ongoing catastrophe."

As Ves prepared to address his subordinates, elsewhere a secret base went on high alert for a different reason!

At the start of the Battle of Bentheim, many guards and administrators started to watch the broadcasts. Even though they were all supposed to be focused on the job while they were on duty, the security arrangements of the secret base were so secure that hardly any incidents had taken place in the last couple of decades!

Some complacency couldn't be avoided. Compared to their boring jobs of watching over a bunch of defenseless prisoners, the fate of Bentheim and the rest of the Republic was far more important!

Though the lower ranks were still expected to perform their duties, the prison warden and the senior administrators took advantage of their expanded privileges to tap into the broadcasts of the pivotal battle.

At this time, DIVA finally made a move!

With the alertness level of the people base at an all-time low, numerous disguised female agents started to hack into databases, assassinate key personnel and activate their prior sabotage measures!

No explosions wracked the base. No alarms filled the corridors. No guards were hunting down intruders.

In the weeks that DIVA managed to infiltrate the secret base, its agents utilized superior technology to affect sabotage at a much greater level than the base builders had anticipated!

As diligently as Spotlight tried to keep its bases secure, it was incomparable to DIVA. The sheer tech and talent disparity was so vast that only a handful of DIVA agents were enough to cripple the base!

Even though the disguised women were more than confident enough to overwhelm the base in a matter of minutes, they opted for a slower and quieter approach.

Different sections of the secret base were surreptitiously being isolated from each other. Spoofed data transmissions took the place of authentic data transmissions. No matter what kind of chaos took place, only a small section of the base were aware of the danger!

As a pair of female guards in uniform approached the cells holding Melinda Larkinson and other prisoners, the doors authorized their entry even though it wasn't their shift.

The two men on guard regarded their colleagues with confusion.

"Wendy? Why are you here?"

The other guard wasn't fooled though. He immediately brought his rifle to bear against the women!

"You idiot! Remember the protocols!"

"Oh, damn, you're right!"

Even though the two guards had a friendly relationship with their supposed colleagues, the guards employed by Spotlight were trained to react quickly under various circumstances.

In a case like this, it was better to shoot first and ask questions later!

The two guards unfolded their helmets from their combat armor. Immediately afterwards, they fired their rifles, aiming squarely at the heads and hearts of the approaching women!

BANG!

FTZZZT!

A ballistic round and a laser beam struck each of the targets. Yet instead of seeing the women turn into a pile of burned or exploded flesh, two energy shields came to life, protecting the DIVA agents from the small arms fire of the loyal guards!

"Boys." The left female smirked. "They're so quick to attack. We haven't even said a single word."

The woman on the right shook her head. "What can you expect from boys? These Brighters think they're better than anyone else, but they're just as flawed as any people who treat boys as equals. Let us correct their assumptions, shall we?"

The two women withdrew compact laser pistols from their belts. They calmly drew their weapons at the armed and armored guards and fired a single strong beam.

Moments later, two half-burned hunks of metal and carbonated flesh dropped to the dock.

The women no longer paid attention to the fallen boys and directed their attention to the cells.

They hacked into the individual control systems of each cell, causing the energy screens that blocked the entrances to fall.

The DIVA agents were very careful about unlocking the right cells. The dissidents, rebels and other scumbags begged the agents to free them, but the women turned a deaf ear against their pleas!

Melinda Larkinson rose up from her cot as the energy screen in front of her cell fizzled out.

"Who are you two? Wait a minute.. this smell.."

As a former planetary guard officer, she recognized the faint scent in the air even though the ventilation system was doing its best to carry all of the unpleasant smells away!

"There are bodies in the corridor!"

"Smart."

"As expected of a woman."

"You.. you're Hexers!"

Both DIVA agents smiled. "Correct again. We've come to rescue you and your relatives. The Bright Republic doesn't deserve you anymore. Come with me and you'll be able to reunite with the Larkinsons that managed to slip the net."

"I'm not so sure about this.."

"It's either that, or rot in this cell. We don't have the time to coddle you to safety. You're a woman. Act like it. We'll be freeing your other relatives."

The two DIVA agents exited the cell and began to hack into the other cells. Melinda faced the open entrance with a sliver of doubt.

In truth, she didn't expect this would happen. She never imagined that someone would be able to infiltrate Spotlight's base with such ease.

From what she had seen so far, the female infiltrators were truly Hexers! Their arrogance simply couldn't be faked, and the ease in which they hacked into the cells definitely suggested that they were in the possession of advanced equipment!

Melinda slowly stood up and approached the open entrance. She halted before she stepped into the corridor.

She knew that if she took this step, she would be crossing a point of no return. Any hope of reconciling with the Bright Republic and returning to her old job would be gone.

She loved her job. She loved her career. She felt that she had found her calling in life when she marched out of lockstep with the other Larkinsons and joined the Planetary Guard as opposed to the Mech Corps.

Now, she was at the point where she would be throwing all of that away. She could kiss her career, her colleagues and friends goodbye the moment she took part in this escape attempt.

"Well, it's not as if the government values me as much as I value the Republic." She grimly muttered.

Through reasons outside of her control, her stable and steady life came to a very abrupt end.

It wasn't her fault. A part of her she still resented Ves for provoking all of this trouble.

However, different from many other Larkinsons, she possessed a good relationship with him. She knew Ves in person and was aware that he was too sweet and innocent to be at fault!

"He's just a mech designer. What can he possibly do? I shouldn't blame him for all of our misfortunes!"

In contrast, the Bright Republic revealed its ugly nature. Any remaining goodwill she harbored to her state was bleeding out by the second ever since Spotlight stuffed her in this cell.

As much as she wanted to hold on to her identity as a loyal Brighter, even she had her limits.

She made her decision. "Ves is right. I don't owe anything to the Bright Republic anymore. I can't regain what I've lost, but I can at least move forward and build a new life."

She took a step forward and exited her cell.

Many Larkinsons made a similar choice. As for the ones who were too stubborn to abandon the state they dedicated their entire lives to, the DIVA agents just left them in their cells.

There was little point in taking these Larkinsons away. Since they were so determined to stay aboard a sinking ship, then they wouldn't be of much use anyway to the Larkinson Clan.

As various DIVA agents stationed throughout the secret base dismantled the systems of the base one by one, the former prisoners were slowly being corralled to the docks.

There, a prisoner transport vessel that was ordinarily operated by Spotlight had been taken over by another crew of DIVA agents.

"Head inside and stay out of the way! We're leaving as soon as possible before the local garrison manages to get their act together! Women at the left and men at the right! Don't question our orders or you'll be shot and dumped outside the airlock!"

The escaping Larkinsons hardly knew what was going on. Though they were disturbed that they were being rescued by Hexers of all people, Melinda and the more level-headed Larkinsons knew that this was not the time to ask any questions!

"Come on, grandpa! Let's head inside the ship! We can ask them later whether Ves has anything to do with this operation!"

Hundreds of Larkinsons of all ages hurriedly walked up the entry ramp and followed the instructions of the crews. The prisoner transport ship didn't offer too much space, as it was mainly built for stealth and speed.

The moment the Larkinsons who were willing to escape had all entered the vessel, the DIVA agents boarded last. The agents retracted the ramp and closed the hatch.

Minutes later, the vessel emerged out of the asteroid base and slipped past the blind and inactive security perimeter before blending in with the asteroids.

Chapter 1980 Positron-Electron Annihilation

The Battle of Bentheim stretched on for hours, then days. The sandman monoliths kept advancing to the critical planet which the aliens seemed hellbent on reaching!

Over the course of the battle, the Mech Corps, the Starfighter Corps and the myriad of domestic and foreign outfights learned one brutal lesson.

They were wholly outmatched.

The sandmen previously posed a considerable challenge to these forces. The general consensus that humans settled on was that the sandmen were individually weak, but extremely numerous and very willing to go all out to achieve their objectives!

Against weak and numerous enemies, the Bright Republic thought it was enough to bring numbers of their own in order to reduce the quantity disparity. For this reason, the government didn't hesitate to station over half of the entire Mech Corps and Starfighter Corps in the Bentheim System!

The military should have brought more mech divisions and starfighter divisions.

"Where did these hellspawn obtain such good shielding technology?! Where are they getting all of the power needed to sustain these shields? It's as if we are attacking CFA warships instead of weak sandman monoliths!"

Before the Battle of Bentheim, no one thought too highly of sandman monoliths. While they were big and formidable damage sponges, their lack of mobility and huge size meant that it was trivially easy to bombard it with a multitude of rounds and missiles!

The conventional strategy to defeat them was to deploy a large number of mechs and starfighters and shower the approaching threat with ordnance while flying backwards. This was where all of the footage and images of the so-called 'Stripes of Humanity' came about.

No such heroic sights occurred today. Part of it was because the many clashes had grown too chaotic and hectic to allow mechs to fight the upgraded sandman monoliths in orderly formations.

Another reason was that the Bright Republic had mostly phased out the Soldier product line!

This decision was mostly motivated by politics. Now that the Bright Republic aligned itself more closely to the Friday Coalition, the LMC's products had suddenly become poisonous.

Despite their incredible value, the government simply couldn't justify the continued use of mechs such as the Desolate Soldier, Prideful Soldier and Peaceful Soldier when their patron hated the designer to the core!

"It's as egregious as piloting a mech designed by a Hexer!"

Through various excuses, the government forced the military, the Planetary Guard organizations and the private sector to trade in their LMC mechs for recycling and reprocessing.

In exchange, the Bright Republic offered these forces replacement mechs that performed mildly to substantially better.

This trade scheme wasn't just a way to get rid of all of the LMC mechs circulating in the Bright Republic. It was also a way of upgrading the comprehensive strength of the defenders of Bentheim!

Initially, protests were fairly muted. Though the mech pilots of the LMC mechs had become very attached to their machines, the mech commanders and owners of the various outfits came around faster due to the easy profit they gained.

Yet now that mechs were falling left and right due to the multitude of positron beams raining down in their direction, morale throughout the entire system quickly dropped like a rock!

"Ahhhh! Jimmy! Why did they take you?!"

"Help! Help! My escape pod is leaking air! Please rescue me! I can still pilot a spare mech!"

"Our ship! It's gone! Our home is gone!"

An incredible amount of debris started to fling into space as mech after mech got wrecked in an instant after being struck by a powerful positron beam!

Positron beams weren't as fast as laser beams, but in these circumstances, the differences might as well be negligible!

Unlike ordinary laser beams which most mechs and starfighters could resist a couple of times as long as they didn't land on the spot, positron beams were completely different in terms of lethality!

Considered the evil goatee-wearing counterparts of electrons, these tiny antiparticles were incredibly light and possessed no other remarkable properties aside from their positive charge.

It was only after they collided with electrons that they started to reveal their amazing destructive potential!

In a material realm where negatively-charged electrons were predominant, antiparticles such as positrons were extremely deadly!

This was because of the phenomenon known as annihilation. Electrons and positrons both canceled each other out when they bumped into each other. The particles and antiparticles disappeared from the material realm, but due to the law of conservation of mass and energy, a lot of energy took their place!

In truth, a single electron and positron didn't release that much energy. Just someone lifting an arm in the air took more energy than the output of a single electron-positron annihilation reaction!

Yet the positron beams didn't just contain a single positron. It was packed with an uncountable amount of antiparticles, all accelerated towards their targets at relativistic or near-relativistic speeds!

No third-class mech could withstand a blow. Hardly any second-class mech escaped unscatched. Even first-class mechs encountered significant difficulties when subjected to sustained attacks!

The sandman monoliths recklessly discharged a humongous amount of energy at their targets! By now, the energies they unleashed was more than enough to destroy the planet of Bentheim dozens of times over!

Though the targeting systems of the monoliths hadn't been upgraded as well as their weapon systems, the alien dreadnoughts still managed to kill scores of mechs and starfighters before each of them could be overwhelmed!

"We're bleeding assets at a rapid rate!"

"Hardly any mech or starfighter pilot is able to eject after being hit! The sandman positron beams are too lethal!"

"It's as if we are being attacked by the Fridaymen or Hexers!"

In the first couple of hours, the forces that met the sandman monoliths in combat lost over half of their numbers!

This was a devastating loss! The savaged mech regiments and outfits were forced to keep their distance and attack the sandman monoliths at a far greater distance to reduce the effectiveness of their targeting somewhat. Through heavy jamming and several other methods, the positron beams failed to harvest as much lives as before.

However, the increased range also reduced the effectiveness and intensity of the attacks directed towards the monoliths, allowing the aliens greater room to advance!

"What is the MTA doing?!"

"They're busy hunkering down while they attract the bulk of the sandman monoliths!"

The sandman seemed to reserve most of their ire towards the stricken and heavily-outnumbered MTA task force! With their ships being raked by positron beam after positron beam, their mechs were finding it a lot harder to achieve success!

"No! Save the Wolf Mother! Don't let her die!"

"It's too late, captain! Her engineering is gone! Colonel Lowenfield has ordered the crew to abandon ship!"

The great factory ship had no place on the battlefield. Expecting a much lower-intensity conflict, the Flagrant Vandals and many other mech regiments had made a huge mistake in bringing their logistical vessels along!

Now, the giant, venerable ship that had produced or repaired much of the mechs of the Vandals was rolling chaotically along her axis. Her entire propulsion system and engineering section had disappeared when a sandman monolith targeted the slow-moving ship and kept attacking her. Even though a swarm of angry Vandal mechs finally overwhelmed its energy shield and destroyed it shortly afterwards, the damage was done!

Without her main means of sublight propulsion, the Wolf Mother turned into a sitting duck! Floating along a very predictable ballistic trajectory in space, anyone could hit the ship with ease!

The sandmen may not always be the brightest lifeforms around, but they were still smart enough to pounce on the opportunity!

The Wolf Mother had never been designed to withstand attacks. Though her huge structure and bulk offered her a form of protection in itself, in the end it only gave the sandmen more stuff to destroy!

"Ahhh! Stop it you darned aliens!"

Plenty of Vandals lost their emotions at the loss of so many comrades. Now that their biggest pillar of support was bleeding oxygen, energy and escape pods, many of them had started to snap!

Captain Orfan had briefly joined them in her grief, but she quickly sobered up when someone told her something important!

"Major Verle said Colonel Lowenfield is out of contact! We can't find her escape pod among the ones that escaped the derelict Wolf Mother!" A communications officer hollered in the channel.

"Who's in command and what are my orders?!"

"For now, Major Verle has assumed command of the Vandals, ma'am! Your orders are to rally the remnants of the mech companies and led them back to our surviving combat carriers!"

"We can't retreat! There are too many monoliths we need to kill! Tell Verle we need reinforcements!"

"There are no reinforcements, captain! Our starfighter screen has almost disappeared and most of the other reserve forces are already confronting the sandmen elsewhere! According to the tactical situation, we don't have the numbers to stop the dozens of monoliths barreling their way forward!"

"But Bentheim!"

"Our sacrifice won't mean anything! We need to retract our lines and regroup!"

Her fist slammed against the armrest of her piloting seat!

"Damnit!"

Though she tried her best to block it out, she couldn't forget about the names and faces of the fallen. Too many of her fellow Vandals had succumbed against the sandmen!

No matter how tough their Novabreaker or other mechs were designed to resist laser beams, none of them fared well when positron beams struck them head-on! In many cases, all of those layers of armor turned out to be completely useless!

Ironically, the light mechs with the thinnest armor fared best against the sandman monoliths! Their exceptional mobility allowed them to dodge and weave through most positron beam attacks! Their lack of armor didn't matter since getting hit even once already spelled the doom of a mech unless it belonged to a higher class!

Over the course of the running battle, high command eventually ordered a general retreat. The human forces needed to concentrate their surviving forces!

However, many saw these actions as futile because shrinking the defensive circle also allowed the sandman monoliths to tighten their envelopment!

Not everyone was willing to fight on behalf of Bentheim and the Bright Republic.

"Where are you going?! We paid you to fight!"

"You cowards! I'll make sure to shame you to death by posting your flight on the galactic net!"

"Hahaha! The Comm Consortium already blocked us out! There's no way you can stop us from leaving! Sorry Brighters, but we have done enough! We're outta here!"

Without the glows of the Desolate Soldiers, the private outfits crumbled exceptionally quickly.

None of them signed up to fight a pitched battle, let alone an overwhelming struggle against an immensely powerful doomsday armada!

The soldiers of the Mech Corps and the Starfighter Corps watched with despair as the various private outfits reneged on their contracts and fled the battlefield by heading upwards or downwards from the ecliptic plane!

The sandman monoliths mostly arrived in the Bentheim System in a flat circle. While this made it unwise to go through them, there was nothing blocking the way of the mercenaries as long as they flew straight up or straight downwards!

The longer the slaughter proceeded, the greater the attraction of these obvious escape routes!

Even the soldiers in the service of the Bright Republic started to lose heart in the battle.

Why were they fighting so hard?

Had the sacrifices of their comrades accomplished anything?

Was there a point to continuing to resist the alien advance?

Their morale, which hadn't been the steadiest before the start of the battle, started to become more turbulent as the general retreat struck a huge blow to their confidence.

With the MTA task force in dire straits, the doom throughout the star system spread like wildfire!

Was this the end of Bentheim? Would the Bright Republic become a crippled state after this day?

"Watch out! There's a huge portal emerging next to the planet!"

"It's the MTA! They finally came to reinforce us! We're saved!"

An MTA destroyer in high orbit slowly began to form a portal. Its circumference much larger than anything the Brighters had ever seen before!

The portal stretched across many kilometers, providing more than enough space for a battleship to fly through!

Yet before the portal had just finished stabilizing, the sandman monoliths instantly reacted. A considerable amount of gravitic energy emanated from their giant forms, forming a cage of gravitic waves that enveloped the entire star system!

"The portal!"

The portal formed by the destroyer suddenly shook and started to destabilize! Many Brighters stifled their hopes when the portal quickly warped beyond recognition before exploding in a shower of light!

"No!"

"Our reinforcements!"

Without the ability to generate a portal, the most convenient means the MTA possessed to rapidly reinforce Bentheim had become invalid!

The sandmen succeeded in forming a blockade around the star system!

Chapter 1981 Forlorn Hope

The blockading of the star system not just prevented the MTA from rapidly reinforcing the Bentheim System.

It also blocked the fleeing outfits from transitioning into FTL!

Fortunately for the cowardly mercenaries, the sandmen weren't interested in hunting them down. The huge number of sandman monoliths instead focused on advancing to the inner system while simultaneously exerting a huge amount of pressure on the MTA task force!

For all of their advanced technology and might, the MTA's Komodo Branch was hardly representative of the Big Two's might!

Underfunded and overlooked within the huge organization, the Komodo Branch had to do more with less.

Their warships were just a bit less fully featured than the warships stationed in the galactic center.

Their multipurpose mechs were a bit less powerful due to the widespread scarcity of high-grade exotics in the galactic rim.

Most of the mech pilots and personnel of the MTA in the Komodo Star Sector also belonged to a lower caliber. Many of the local recruits came from low-quality stock in the eyes of the Pure Humans and other elitist fraternities.

Those transferred to the galactic rim from the more prosperous parts of the galaxy had effectively been exiled from the more important centers of power. They did not represent the best what the Association had to offer!

All of these factors and more effectively resulted in a case where the MTA had been caught flat-footed!

The tech required to blockade FTL travel in a star system was not something that a low-class alien civilization was supposed to possess!

With the sandmen keeping outsiders from entering the Bentheim System, the MTA forces found out to their horror that they had to resist the sandmen mostly by themselves!

Though the mechs and warships had already managed to destroy thousands of sandman monoliths, they expended a considerable amount of energy and ordnance to accomplish these feats.

The problem was that there were thousands of sandman monoliths pressing forward! The huge armada of the sandman monoliths might be somewhat dispersed at the start, but a day after the start of the battle, some of their limits started to become obvious.

Mech pilots were forced to fight intensive battles without any rest. Though their physical bodies were more than capable enough to fight for days on end, their mental fortitude was not able to keep up as well!

Their skill started to slide and their mental acuity had begun to slip. When piloting a powerful but very advanced multipurpose mech, a loss of concentration could easily result in lots of errors!

Right now, the mech pilots were making more mistakes than usual, but with so many sandman seeking to destroy the MTA carriers and warships, there was little choice but to throw them into battle once again!

The warships meanwhile were much more capable of duking it out with the sandmen. These large and resilient vessels were able to resist lots of attacks due to their powerful energy shields and very thick armor. Their firepower also wasn't anything to scoff about as their large caliber weapons fired shells the size of mechs or unleashed beams of energy that contained enough energy to punch through large asteroids!

Yet for all of their formidable offense, defense and mobility, even they possessed certain limits!

The MTA finally had a taste of the attrition warfare that made the sandman race so dreaded by humanity. While the MTA task force could easily defeat the sandman monoliths as long as it concentrated its fire, the fact that there were always sandman monoliths ready to take the place of their fallen brethren turned their momentary victories hollow.

Just like the local forces, the MTA task force found itself forced to retreat and give up a lot of space!

With the MTA occupied with fending off the bulk of the sandman invaders, the ones left to attack the Bright Republic's crown jewel were still numerous enough to overwhelm the increasingly more ragged soldiers left to hold the last lines of the defense!

As the circle of envelopment tightened, the sandmen loomed increasingly closer to the planet where billions of citizens began to lose their hope at a rapid pace!

After her fifteenth sortie, Captain Orfan directed her half-destroyed Novabreaker inside the hangar bay of the Princely Jackal.

Even with the strength of an expert candidate, she found it difficult to stay on top of the battle!

With the fall of numerous mech officers, she was forced to take more and more responsibility until she became the most senior officer in the field!

"Fix my mech!" She yelled after she turned off her mech and hopped out of her cockpit. "My men need me! I'm not done yet!"

"It's not possible, captain!" A chief technician waved a soot-stained hand at the mech she had just brought back. "Just look at the damage of this machine! It's missing an entire arm and huge portions of its internal structure! We need at least a day to restore its battle effectiveness, and that is only if we jury-rig some hasty repairs!"

"Then give me another mech!"

"We don't have any! Just look at the other mechs parked in this hangar and count how many we have left. We lost over 60 percent of our mechs! In fact, the casualty rate is higher if we don't count the orphaned mechs that have been forced to land on our ship after the destruction of the Wolf Mother!"

The Vandals were running out of mechs and mech pilots! Captain Orfan gritted her teeth. She had lost far too many comrades since the start of the battle!

A chime sounded from her comm. She noticed that Major Verle requested a private meeting with her at a conference room close to the bridge.

"I've got to go, chief. Find some way to get me a mech. I don't care if you have to take it from another mech pilot. However good the other pilot is, I'm better!"

Moments later, she entered the conference room where Major Verle greeted her alone.

"Come take a seat. I know you're eager to continue the fight, but this battle is far from over. You can afford the rest."

"Just get to the point, major."

Major Verle knew that Captain Orfan wasn't one for subtleties, so he immediately brought up his suggestion.

"Though the crew has been doing its best to hide it, I've noticed that there has been a lot of talk about.. desertion circulating through the halls."

"That's nothing new. You know how we Vandals are. We are treated like garbage by the Mech Corps on a regular basis. That doesn't change the fact that we have proven in the last Bright-Vesia War that we are willing to make the ultimate sacrifice to complete our mission. We've also fought the aliens during the entire stretch of the Sand War. We still have a lot of fight left within our bones!"

"I don't necessarily disagree, captain." Major Verle slowly responded and bent his head. "It's different this time. We can't constantly focus on our duty. We need to think about what happens afterwards."

A brief silence stretched between the two Vandal officers. Captain Orfan slowly narrowed her eyes.

"I thought better of you, Quinlist. You were always the one to keep our spirits high. If not for your leadership, we would have never been able to make it back from the Aeon Corona System!"

"This is different, Rosa!" Major Verle lost his cool and slammed his fist against the metal conference table! He quickly activated some commands that projected the current battle state of the Bentheim System. "Just look at this! Look at how many forces the Mech Corps and the Starfighter Corps lost! Look at how many sandman monoliths are still left intact. We only chewed through a third of their monoliths, and that was with the help of the MTA task force!"

"The MTA isn't down for the count. They're strong."

"The MTA forces are doing their best to survive! They don't have the luxury to assist in the defense of Bentheim! All of the assets that we have left to fend off the sandmen are our diminished mechs and the defenses installed in orbit, neither of which are powerful enough to prevent the inevitable!"

Captain Orfan couldn't believe it. Major Verle had truly gone crazy. His defeatist mindset was completely anathema to the Major Verle in her memories.

"Do I need to relieve you of your command?"

"You won't enjoy the support of the remaining Vandals." Verle crossed his arms. "I'm not saying that we should follow in the footsteps of the mercenaries, but there are times when we are asked to sacrifice our lives when the gesture is futile. From my correspondence with high command, it has become increasingly clear to me that we may soon be asked to make a last stand for a planet that is already doomed. Not only would we be asked to throw away our lives, our gesture wouldn't even shift the final outcome!"

"We're soldiers!" She retorted. She patted her piloting suit. "It means something when we wear our uniforms! The battle is far from over, major. Maybe the MTA manages to break through the blockade. Maybe the Bright Republic prepared a lot of reserves on the planet. Maybe the sandmen all lose steam once they expended their energy. There is still a chance that we can win!"

Major Verle shook his head. "I entrust the lives of our fellow Vandals on those overly optimistic assumptions. This is not about winning. This is about saving who we can and protecting those we consider comrades. The government may not like what I am saying, but I am long past the point of caring about the opinions of those who stabbed the Larkinsons in the back."

Both of them glowered at the mention of this dark incident. Captain Orfan may not have met many Larkinsons in person, but if they were anything like Ves, their honorable reputation was not in vain!

The meeting ended on an inconclusive note. Though Captain Orfan didn't want anything to do with desertion, the thought continued to linger in her mind as she wandered the Princely Jackal.

She looked at the passing Vandal crew members as they performed their duties through one of the most arduous times in their lives.

Some of them were shedding tears. Too many Vandals had died! The deaths of the mech pilots of the fallen mechs and the crew members who failed to escape from the collapsing Wolf Mother weighed heavily on the survivors.

How many more had to die? Would there be any Vandals left after this battle? Would the Bright Republic still be a hospitable home for them? All of these questions and more began to haunt Captain Orfan more and more.

"What is my duty?"

Officially, she was an officer of the Mech Corps. She took an oath to defend the Bright Republic from enemies from within and without. Defending the Bentheim System was a crucial objective to the state.

To turn her back on the planet and the billions of people living on it was unacceptable to her! In her decades-long career as a mech pilot and a mech officer, she never exhibited cowardice!

Yet.. she saw the writing on the wall just as well as Major Verle. It didn't take a genius tactician to see that the sandmen monoliths were simply too strong and numerous to be repelled by the MTA task force.

If the MTA couldn't take care of the sandmen, then how could the forces of the Bright Republic ever hope to do any better?

"Who should I protect?" She whispered to herself. "Do I fight for my people, or do I fight for my comrades?"

When she returned to the mech hangar, she looked out at the depressingly small number of intact-looking mechs. Nonetheless, the mech technicians worked around the clock in order to service them so that they could return to the field as quickly as possible!

"How many mechs will be left by the time the day is over?"

She was afraid there wouldn't be any mechs left.

Chapter 1982 Sand Storm

The MTA task force resisted the onslaught of sandman monoliths quite well.

The superior defense of their warships allowed them to withstand a continuous barrage of positron beams. Their shielding systems were exceptionally helpful in resisting the prodigious amount of positrons accelerating towards their hulls.

The advanced sunlight propulsion systems allowed the vessels to outmaneuver and outpace the large but sluggish sandman monoliths. Even the MTA feared what might happen if any of the sandman monoliths came close enough to engulf the ships!

As for the firepower, both the mechs and warships were capable of projecting an enormous amount of damage. If it was the old sandmen, the MTA would have already cleaned them by now!

Sadly for everyone involved, the sandmen of today were completely different from the sandmen of yesterday!

Against the immense firepower of the MTA forces, the sandmen simply merged their monoliths together to form larger amalgamations that were slower than their smaller counterparts.

However, what they gave up in mobility, they gained in power!

More specifically, the larger sandman amalgamations were capable of projecting much more resilient shields that could endure against anything the MTA mechs and warships were throwing at them! Even if a shield was reaching its limit, another sandman amalgamation would just fly forward and take off the pressure!

The uncharacteristically-intelligent actions of the sandmen wasn't limited to just this tactic.

More nefariously, the sandmen began to converge upon the MTA task force from different directions. It soon became clear that the sandmen focused less on the scattered mechs in order to surround the MTA carriers and warships!

Though the MTA officers could see the sandmen coming, there was hardly anything they could do to break the encirclement! No matter where their vessels moved, the sandmen matched their pace, especially when they broke up their larger monoliths into smaller but much more mobile swarms!

Though the MTA did its best to concentrate its firepower and overpower as many sandmen as possible, there were simply too many enemies!

The noose tightened more and more around the MTA task force's neck as the dozen of advanced ships began to run out of room.

No matter what tricks they utilized, they could only defeat a handful of monoliths at most! Even their most powerful antimatter torpedoes and other arsenal of doomsday weapons only slaughtered a few hundreds of monoliths at most!

Though the MTA managed to inflict more damage to the sandmen by launching these planet-cracking missiles than anyone else had achieved so far, there were still at least ten-thousand monoliths ready to take the place of their fallen!

When it came to attrition warfare, the sandman possessed no equal! The full might and numbers of the sandman race had converged on the Bentheim System to achieve victory at all cost!

The same couldn't be said for the MTA. Overburdened with responsibilities and occupied by many other priorities, the MTA's Komodo Branch refused to dispatch more than a medium-sized task force to Bentheim.

Without even a single battleship, the various cruisers and destroyers were unable to make up for the extremely lopsided disparity in numbers!

As the encirclement slammed shut, the MTA ran out of time and space.

With the sandman monoliths radiating a huge amount of gravitic interference, the ships were unable to engage their FTL systems to escape the net.

Everyone who had access to a feed of the plight of the MTA tuned in and watched with bated breath for the outcome of this titanic clash.

A myriad of lasers, rounds, missiles and more exotic weapons slammed against the approaching megamonoliths as the larger amalgamations were being called.

Though slow, their advance could not be stopped. Their size surpassed the size of a 12-kilometer long battleship and their defense was not that much worse!

The incredible amount of energy it outputted confused everybody. Even at this moment, nobody knew where the sandmen were able to generate so much energy!

The sandman race possessed a direct relationship with matter and energy.

The aliens hungered for higher qualities of exotics to empower their individual members, which subsequently translated to strengthening the collective.

The sandmen also hunger for energy, which was needed to sustain all of their activities!

It was a surprise how much of a difference a few months of retreat and consolidation made to the sandmen. Now, not even the second-rate states were capable of fending off so many upgraded sandmen!

It became increasingly more difficult to observe the dire state of the MTA task force. Everyone hoped that it held at least some weapons in reserve.

As one of the two most powerful human organizations in the galaxy, the MTA long made a name for itself for its overwhelming strength and advanced technology!

Yet even though the vessels were doing right by the MTA's reputation, it wasn't enough!

As the sandman monoliths and megamonoliths finally cornered the task force, the first ship finally got a taste of what it was light to fight the sandmen at point-blank range!

A small squad of multipurpose mechs attempted to retreat from the incoming sand storm, but the latter suddenly accelerated forward as if it received an energy boost!

Soon enough, the first-class mechs became engulfed by an increasingly denser sand storm!

"We need backup!"

"Eject!"

"We can't!"

"Aaahhh!"

Once an entire monolith formed around the trapped mechs, an incredible amount of heat and pressure slammed against their shields!

The rest of the task force lost contact with mechs soon afterwards, but the stricken mechers weren't paying attention to their lost mechs as an even greater emergency took place!

"The Splendid Archon is caught!"

The second-largest cruiser of the MTA task force failed to maneuver her way out of the approaching sandman megamonoliths. They approached from too many angles to avoid collisions!

The moment the megamonoliths touched the shield of the Splendid Archon, the sandmen began to surround it as if they were trying to glaze a turkey with honey.

More megamonoliths arrived to add more sandmen to the forming coffin. All the while, the Splendid Archon and the other ships and mechs of the MTA desperately tried to free the trapped ship, to no avail!

Eventually, the coffin had grown so big that the shield couldn't take anymore strain! It dropped, thereby giving the sandmen a golden opportunity to touch the hull of the ship!

Once they did so, the armor of the warships held out remarkably well, yet the sandmen specialized in breaking solid matter!

Hundreds of years ago, the sandmen managed to ambush and crash the Starlight Megalodon.

If the sandmen could already achieve this amazing feat so long ago, then how could a mere cruiser resist?

Even though technology had advanced a lot in three centuries, the sandmen attacking the Bentheim System weren't the sandmen of old!

"No! She's lost!"

The huge sandman megalith that formed around the Splendid Archon finally bulged inwards! This signified that the sandmen had succeeded in breaching or crushing the cruiser's outer shell!

The fall of the Splendid Archon marked a turning point in the Battle of Bentheim. While the sandman megalith eagerly enjoyed its 'meal', more were approaching from multiple directions in order to grab their own bites!

"The MTA task force is done for!"

"Bentheim is lost!"

Something unimaginable happened to the soldiers of the Mech Corps.

Some of the mech regiments started to pull out!

"Where are you going?!"

"Bentheim is lost! We need to preserve as much strength as possible!"

"Cowards!"

No matter what justifications they brought up, the soldiers and commanders of the surviving mech regiments no longer believed the battle was winnable.

After losing so many of their fighting assets and after seeing how decisively the sandmen took down the strongest defenders of the star system, many of them arbitrarily ignored their standing orders and sought to leave!

Once the initial units left the battle line, the pressure on the remaining defenders increased!

Soon enough, those overburdered mech regiments couldn't take it anymore! Having lost the majority of their fighting assets, they were hardly in a position to resist the thousands of sandman monoliths that remained intact!

More commanders ordered their units to retreat. Their actions led to a collapse that could not be stopped!

When it came down to it, hardly any soldier wanted to throw their lives away in vain!

No matter how important it was to defend Bentheim, when the mech pilots and mech commanders believed that victory wasn't possible anymore, their willingness to stand their ground evaporated!

Even the Flagrant Vandals eventually joined the ranks of the deserters.

Many of the Vandals felt ashamed for this dishonorable act. Even if their retreat was justifiable, their pride and honor took a permanent hit!

Captain Orfan wanted to continue to fight. She was not done yet with the sandmen!

Yet… her fellow Vandals weren't as eager. Exhausted beyond recognition, her comrades were unable to muster up any strength!

Even if they were able to regain their peak condition, what could they do without any mechs?

Almost seventy percent of their spaceborn mechs turned into scrap floating in space! The thirty percent they had left were far from capable of resisting the sandmen. Even though they only suffered some glancing hits, the incredibly powerful positron beams still caused the machines to suffer crippling damage!

Captain Orfan had no choice but to accept the inevitable. The Vandals fought as brave as any soldier of the Mech Corps, but it was hard to put up a fight without the weapons needed to make the sandmen bleed!

Eventually, she said nothing as Major Verle finally issued the command that every Vandal was waiting for. They were bailing out.

Perhaps deliberately, the sandmen didn't chase after the mech regiments that sought to flee their grasp. This only encouraged the remaining mech regiments to flee as well!

By now, the situation had grown completely out of control. With the formation of MTA warships engulfed by a sandstorm the size of a moon, no other source of help was forthcoming!

The citizens on Bentheim each looked up in the sky as faint shadows and flickers of lights started to grow bigger and bigger.

In the end, the people on the streets were even able to see solid objects in the skies!

Instead of the reassuring sight of metal ships and neat formations of mechs, they instead saw the face of their doom.

Bentheim experienced its first, only and final sandstorm in its history as a settled planet.

Throughout the rest of the star sector, everyone else was in the dark. Many people tuned in to the news portals in order to follow the latest course of events. The revelation that the MTA hadn't been doing so well in repelling the surprisingly-strong sandman invaders shocked a lot of people, including the Fridaymen and Hexers!

The abrupt communications blackout fueled everyone's speculations. The galactic net was filled with questions and uncertainty!

Yet despite all of the pleas for clarification, the MTA remained absolutely mum on what was taking place in the Bentheim System. Not even the politicians in Rittersberg knew what was going on in their most important economic lifeline!

Ves watched the same loop of news updates projected by his desk terminal with a numb expression.

"Meow."

Lucky pressed his paw against his forearm.

"I know, I know. I'm supposed to be working on the striker mech design. It's just.. I can't. Bentheim may not have been my home, but it has shaped my life for many years."

"Meow."

"The Comm Consortium wouldn't maintain the blockade for so long if the Battle of Bentheim proceeded well. I'm afraid.. the unthinkable has happened."

His intuition hinted that he was right. From all of the clues he gathered so far along with analyzing the quantity and quality of sandman monoliths, Ves knew that the MTA task force was way in over its head!

The supposedly primitive and backwards sandmen were far stronger than they had led everyone to believe! No one expected the barely-sentient aliens to pursue such a deep and long-running stratagem under the noses of the smartest military leaders of the star sector!

"What a surprise!" He gasped.

In hindsight, he shouldn't be surprised. If his guesses of the true culprit turned out to be true, then he should have expected the sandmen to pull off such a devious plot!

Chapter 1983 The Settling Sand

The Battle of Bentheim ended in tragedy.

No matter how much the MTA tried to hide the news, it could not shut down the Komodo Star Sector's access to the galactic net forever.

Even if the MTA tried to do so, the starships run by individual captains could just enter the Bentheim System, take a quick peek, and exit as soon as possible to ferry around the observation data to various people.

Therefore, the Comm Consortium soon decided to lift the blockade on the quantum entanglement nodes just in time for everyone tuning in to see the MTA swooping in with thunder and fury!

A much larger MTA battlefleet forcibly broke the system-wide gravitic interdiction field projected by the sandman monoliths through sheer brute force!

A portal that was more powerful and stable than anything anyone had seen before spewed out ship after ship and mech after mech!

Several MTA battleships in conjunction with an entire mech division of multipurpose mechs swept into the Bentheim System and showcased some of the might that made them so feared!

The Compliance Department invested considerably in this attack, and its local leaders did not make the mistake of underestimating the enemy again!

The sandstorms grinding every structure and life on the planet of Bentheim stopped as battleships fired some of their main armaments onto the surface from orbit!

The huge vessels showed no hint of subtlety as they pounded every concentration of sandmen with explosions that shattered entire cities and energy that was enough to glass a region!

Sure, the settlements on the surface often became unrecognizable in the aftermath, but it wasn't as if the sandmen had already done a fine job at wiping them out beforehand!

Entire formations of mechs zipped throughout the entire star system to take out the sandman monoliths that had given the previous task force so much trouble.

Better equipped with loadouts optimized for breaching the powerful shields of the upgraded monoliths, the mechs proved that the MTA still possessed the strength to dominate the galaxy!

The mop-up operation went remarkably easy. It appeared that the sandmen expended almost all of their resources and energy to winning the Battle of Bentheim.

To every other Brighter, this easy and overwhelming victory came too late. Hardly anyone celebrated the end of the menace that had terrorized the states close to the frontier for a year.

In such a short span of time, dozens of border states went extinct and trillions of humans succumbed after their planets became engulfed by sand!

The final sand storm that had enveloped the planet of Bentheim from all directions had been captured in perfect detail by many escaping mechs and vessels in the star system!

Even when the gravitic interdiction field finally fell, plenty of curious ships remained in the outskirts of the star system to capture all of the might showcased by the MTA.

Perhaps the MTA's Komodo Branch just wanted to reassert its dominance in the star sector. Their sudden and unexpected defeat was just a fluke!

Still, the damage was done. Already, the CFA were gloating at the obvious failure of the MTA to clean up the remnants of a supposedly weak and marginal alien race.

Even though the CFA's Archangel Battle Group had almost been done in by the sandmen as well, at least it didn't lose any ships!

To most citizens, the rivalry between the two trans-galactic organizations went far above their heads.

All they cared about was the immediate aftermath to their lives.

Suffice to say, the Bright Republic suffered an immense amount of damage.

The Bright-Vesia War had already taken a toll on the state, and the Sand War that followed afterwards devastated more than a third of its star systems!

Yet despite all of the losses, the star systems that fell didn't play a critical role in the running of the war-stricken state.

As long as Bentheim survived, the Bright Republic would rise from the ashes!

As long as Bentheim stood, the Bright Republic would continue to prosper!

Most of the propaganda of the state often emphasized the incredible value that Bentheim provided to everyone. As long as its economic engine could start again, everyone's lives would return to normal!

Yet now that both the sandmen and the MTA bombarded and scoured it to oblivion, almost everything that made the planet valuable was gone!

Its manufacturing complexes, its research institutions, its vibrant commercial trade hubs and its bountiful population of workers were all gone!

Though the Bright Republic had already evacuated all of the most precious people and assets from the planet as a precaution, it wasn't enough to make up for the losses!

Though the Bentheim System still retained its value as a port system, it would take an incredible amount of time and funding to rebuild it to its prime!

With the dire state of the Bright Republic, it was practically impossible for the government to achieve this within a century!

Naturally, the MTA didn't say a word about this. After it made sure to turn the sandmen into an extinct race, it pulled out its battlefleet, leaving the indigenous humans to clean up the mess.

A lot of meetings took place after the end.

Carlos Shaw wasn't important enough to be included in these meetings. Aboard one of the many combat carriers that managed to escape the Bentheim System, the Apprentice overlooked the repairs of one of the few military mechs that managed to return in one piece.

"What do you think will happen, chief?"

The gruff, middle-aged chief technician standing next to him spat on the deck. "The Bright Republic is done. It's over. Even if the Friday Coalition swoops in and funds the reconstruction of the planet, which they won't since they're occupied with waging their own war, it will take decades to regain a fraction of what we lost."

"It's not just the star system that fell." Carlos sighed. "Much of our Mech Corps and Starfighter Corps is gone as well."

"Aye. Our military is weaker than ever. Do you know how dangerous that is? The Vesians and the Ylvainans don't have to lift a finger in order to conquer our state! They can just send a couple of reserve forces to swoop in and roll over the non-existent defenses of the worthless star systems that we have left!"

It wasn't that bad, actually. The Bright Republic still had Rittersberg, New Foundation and plenty of other prosperous star systems to sustain its remaining economy.

Yet.. the state's enormous dependence on Bentheim still hurt a lot. With all of the losses the military suffered and all of the debt the government accrued, the Bright Republic wouldn't be able to recover as quickly as the Ylvaine Protectorate or the Vesia Kingdom, both of which escaped the final counterattack of the sandman race!

"It's not fair!" Carlos cursed." Why did the sandman target us?! Why not the Vesians? Why not the Reinaldans?!"

The chief technician patted Carlos' back. "Kid, there's no point in questioning the logic of aliens. The sandmen were a pretty weird bunch to begin with. If they just kept minding their own business in the deep frontier, we would have never been forced to exterminate their race. Yet they attacked human space anyway for reasons that don't make any sense to us. I think there's a lesson to be learned from this catastrophe."

"Which is?"

"The galaxy doesn't make any sense. Crazy stuff happens all the time. The best you can do is to be prepared."

The mech designer scoffed. "I already know that. If the galaxy truly made sense, then I wouldn't be here."

The two fell silent as the sound of mechs being serviced echoed throughout the workshop compartment.

Elsewhere, Captain Orfan stared down Major Verle with a piercing glance. She had just been summoned in his office aboard the Princely Jackal for a private discussion.

"Are you serious, major?"

"Flashlight's intelligence isn't wrong. There are already numerous signs that certain actors within the government are holding secret negotiations between various foreign diplomats. From what the spies have gathered, there are hints that the Friday Coalition is brokering a deal that is meant to compel the Ylvaine Protectorate and Vesia Kingdom to invest in our state's reconstruction!"

"That's impossible! Those two states are in a pretty bad shape as well! In fact, the Protectorate suffered almost just as much damage as us due to all of the rioting!"

"The Friday Coalition is pitching in some funding as well. They just don't want to do the heavy lifting themselves."

"Why not grant the money directly to the Bright Republic?"

"I'm unsure." Major Verle frowned. "I don't have the complete picture, and neither does Flashlight I believe. Whatever the case, the Friday Coalition seems determined to assign the Ylvainans and Vesians the responsibility of reconstructing much of our lost infrastructure."

"Will the Ylvainans and Vesians even accept this deal, sir?" Captain Orfan responded dubiously.

"They will. That's because the Friday Coalition may have forced our government to provide certain.. concessions to the two assisting states. Let's just say that we'll be seeing a lot of Vesian and Ylvainan influence in our state from now on. The foreigners won't be helping us for free."

Nothing was free. Even Rosa understood this concept.

Yet she believed the deal wasn't as simple as it appeared on the surface. Major Verle's concern was very obvious.

"There's more to it than that, right? What do the foreigners actually get out of this deal? How long will they actually stay and meddle in our affairs?"

"I see you recognize the potential threat in this development." Major Verle offered her a rueful smile. "Flashlight's analysts went to work and attempted to predict what will happen in the coming years. The projections aren't looking good."

"Tell it to me straight. I can take it, sir."

"In the most probable scenarios, the Bright Republic will still be an independent state on the surface. In practice, the economic and cultural influence of the two foreign states will both be deeply rooted into the fabric of our post-war society at that time! You can expect Ylvainan churches to pop up in every city. You can expect our founding families to adopt the strictures and customs of noble houses."

"This.." Captain Orfan looked shocked!

"The Bright-Vesia Wars won't occur again, because the Vesians have already conquered the Bright Republic in almost every way that matters!" Major Verle exclaimed! "Sure, they have to share us with the Ylvainans. Sure, they were denied the biggest prize in the form of an intact port system, but who cares? If you know those greedy Vesian nobles as well as I do, they'll be doing everything in their power to root their society in our state and make it stick!"

This sounded like a horror scenario to Captain Orfan! This was not only a betrayal of everything the Mech Corps fought for, but also the end of the state as she knew it! What was the point of wearing her uniform any longer if she would be starting to take orders from a Vesian noble instead of a proper Brighter commanding officer?

"I really hope your source isn't high on stimulants."

"My contacts are trying to verify this intelligence as thoroughly as possible. In the next couple of days or weeks, it will become clear what the future holds. I just wanted to inform you beforehand to provide some context for what I have to say next."

"What is it, major?"

"After corresponding with high command, I have picked up some very discouraging clues. While it's still early, I believe the Mech Corps will soon enact a comprehensive reorganization of all of its units. There are so many incomplete mech regiments that it makes sense to merge them all together in order to form a smaller, more consolidated structure. I'm afraid that the 6th Flagrant Vandals as we know it will exist no longer. The generals will probably choose to merge us with a bunch of other savaged mech regiments!"

"What?!" Captain Orfan stood up from her chair. "They can't do that! We fought through multiple wars! We earned a lot of honors! We even extended the life of that old bastard Senator Tovar!"

Major Verle calmly folded his hands. "That was then, this is now. Our strength has decreased enormously. Our factory ship and several other expensive vessels have succumbed to the sandmen. With the economy of our state in shambles, do you really think the Mech Corps can afford to bring us back to strength? Even if the Mech Corps wants to do so, it will likely opt to reconstruct the premier mech regiments such as the Volari Starhawks or the Apocalypse Heralds!"

As much as Captain Orfan tried to deny it, she was sober enough to know that Major Verle was probably right! The Vandals had never been the darling of the higher ups!

"On top of that, captain, our existence will also become a bit awkward now that our state has to become friends with our former rivals. The Vesians will probably be happy to see us gone!"

"So just because the Vesians resent us from running wild through their own space, we have to disband? That was war! We didn't do anything worse than the Vesians had already done to us in our own territory!"

Major Verle shook his head. "Reality isn't fair, Rosa. To the Vesians, we are a living stain on their honor. If the Bright Republic wants to play nice with them, then disbanding our mech regiment is an easy gesture to earn their goodwill!"

"Do our bosses have any pride?! We're Brighters! We always stood up to the Vesians!"

"Pride doesn't pay the bills. Pride doesn't fill our stomachs. Our continued existence is no longer convenient. The opposite is true in fact. Ending our existence as an active mech regiment will reap plentiful rewards to the state! If you think the Mech Corps won't stand by this decision, then just look how the government treated Ves Larkinson despite all of his combat awards. Now, we're next on the chopping block."

A short pause ensued as Captain Orfan took in this explosive news.

"What will you do?"

"I think you can guess. There is only one way to preserve the Vandals."

Chapter 1984 In Our Hearts

The fall of Bentheim not only affected the Brighters living in the state, but also those who longer lived within its borders.

The Larkinson Clan, despite its attempts to form an independent spare-faring existence, still possessed a lot of roots to the Bright Republic.

The Larkinsons and many people hailing from the state couldn't help but mourn for the losses. The catastrophe dominated the conversation in the fleet to such an extent that the leadership simply couldn't let it remain unaddressed!

Even Ves couldn't take his mind off the fall of the planet that had once been the source of much of his prosperity!

Though the memories he held of the planet would forever be stored in his Archimedes Rubal implant, he would never be able to make any new memories. The Bentheim as he knew it existed no more.

Dorum, Haston, Ansel and many other iconic cities existed no longer. The famed sights such as the popular mech arenas on the campus of the Ansel University of Mech Design were forever lost.

Billions of people died. Even though the Bright Republic at least managed to evacuate all of the valuable mech designers and other skilled personnel, all of them had to start anew to an extent.

What was lost was lost. There was no way to restore Bentheim to its former glory any longer. Even if the Bright Republic received funding from every direction, the newer version of Bentheim would lack the heritage and accumulation of its earlier incarnation!

Many Brighters, especially those who lived on the planet or had their lives affected by its existence in some way, lamented the loss of such an important facet of their lives.

Due to all of these distractions, Ves decided to make the unprecedented decision to hold a full assembly of the entire clan.

As soon as his fleet dropped out of FTL, numerous shuttles flewe back and forth, bringing every member of the Larkinson Clan to the roomy mech hangar of the Redfeather.

In order to make room for the hundreds of Larkinsons, a large number of spaceborn mechs deployed into space in order to patrol the vicinity.

Still, Ves made sure to command the Avatars to leave enough Bright Warriors behind to surround the venue with the powerful glow derived from the Golden Cat!

Every Larkinson, no matter if they remained committed to the clan or planned to leave it at the first opportunity, showed any division at this gathering.

Despite the encouraging glows of the impressive Bright Warriors piloted by their fellow clansmen, no one was able to muster up any cheer today.

The footage of the Battle of Bentheim, the sand storm that had engulfed the planet and the destructive aftermath after the MTA battleships pounded the surface with ordnance was seared in every Larkinson's minds.

None of them would ever forget what happened!

More than a few Larkinsons even felt that they should have been there to resist the sandmen! The guilt at leaving the Bright Republic when it most needed their help gnawed at their conscience and haunted them at night!

As Ves stood at the side of a broad podium, he observed his clansmen carefully while caressing the solid surface of the Larkinson Mandate.

"The mood among the members of your clan is very volatile, boss." Gavin told him. "If you say the wrong things, you can easily rile them up or turn them against you. No matter how much you tried to pull your Larkinsons away from the Bright Republic, it still exists in their hearts. I highly suggest you refrain from bashing our home state."

"Who do you think I am, Benny?"

"You're the Devil Tongue. Bashing others is what made you famous."

Ves directed an acid glare at his assistant.

"Meow."

Lucky lazily yawned as he floated besides his owner.

"Oh, shut up you greedy cat! You're overdue on your next payment! I haven't seen anything coming out of your rear end for weeks!"

"Meow!"

Gloriana touched his arm. "Hush now, Ves. Don't bully your own cat. You have more important business to take care of. The last Larkinsons are slowly taking their seats. It's almost time for you to address the clan."

"You're right." Ves took a deep breath. "I haven't even prepared a speech or anything really. I still don't know what to say."

"You don't need to say that much, to be honest. In fact, as long as you articulate yourself clearly enough, it's better to go for the raw emotional angle." Gavin suggested. "If you look at the faces of Larkinsons, they all look lost. The home they grew up in has changed forever, and not for the better. If you let these people wallow by themselves, there are bound to be problems down the line."

"I know what is at stake. If I don't manage this correctly, our Larkinson Clan will never be able to make a smooth separation from the Bright Republic."

He was not just addressing his clansmen for today. His various organizations employed a lot of Brighters who also felt as depressed as the Larkinsons at the disaster that had befallen Bentheim.

In fact, many of the people he hired came from the planet! To them, the loss struck them very deeply, as not only did they lose their home planet, but also some of their friends and family!

Right now, those Bentheimers were still in the early stages of the mourning process. In order to prevent them from entering into an irrational spiral of rage and self-loathing, Ves had to step up and make sure that they were mourning the losses the right way!

No matter what awful events had happened that affected the lives of his men, the galaxy continued its inexorable spin. It was all well and good to stand still and reflect on the loss, but life had to go on eventually.

After Ves mentally prepared himself, he stepped up to the podium with the Larkinson Mandate featured prominently in his grip.

To fit the occasion, Ves decided to don a black attire with a sharp cut but not distinguishing elements other than the emblem of the Larkinson Clan on his upper right chest.

He looked as close to what a patriarch of the Larkinson Clan ought to look at this occasion.

The crowd automatically fell silent at his appearance. Regardless of whether they were young or old, every Larkinson acknowledged that Ves was the leader of the clan!

"My fellow Larkinsons and Brighters who are watching this feed, today is a sad day. The recent news coming from our former state paint a very dire picture on the state of Bentheim. The battle that determined the survival of the planet and the people living on it has ended in disaster. Many of us have lived on the planet or possessed many memories of it. To realize that what we know and cherish in our memories is gone forever is a pain that cuts deeply in our hearts."

A lot of Larkinsons bent their heads. A few of the younger kids had tears in their eyes while the oldest generation began to look wistful.

"The Bright Republic was our home. We cannot deny that. Even though we have chosen to forge a path that has led us away from the Republic, it is still an undeniable part of our identity. To see our own home state bleed and fall into decline due to Bentheim's razing is.. distressing. I know the pain you feel in your hearts. I feel it too. Every single beat, I bleed a little more for the planet that is no more!"

Ves dramatically clenched his free hand into a fist and bumped it against his heart on top of his chest!

"It is okay to mourn for the planet that is gone and the people who have died. It is not a crime to sympathize with your fellow Brighters who survived, who have to recover from the aftermath of two devastating wars. We could all use a moment to remember what we lost and what others have lost. This tragedy will forever serve as a dark chapter in our growing tapestry of memories. No matter how much we will distance ourselves from the Bright Republic in the coming years, what has happened in our home state will always resound in our minds."

His words resonated with the crowd, and not just because of his empathic speech. Through conscious effort, Ves concentrated his mind and tried to simulate a glow that resonated with his words!

His audience couldn't help but get sucked into his speech. The Bright Warriors standing neatly at the sides all projected a glow that not only reinforced their Larkinson identities, but also resonated with his narrative!

He gripped the Larkinson Mandate tighter to his side. The Golden Cat who resided in the book watched and listened with rapt attention, and so did the other Larkinsons!

"However, this is not the end! The fall of Bentheim may have hurt all of us, but we are stronger than this! The Bentheim as we knew it may have died that day, but the Bentheim in our hearts and minds still lives on as long as we are there to carry them forward! We and many other survivors are just one of many people who can make sure that the legacy of this great planet will not be forgotten!"

If all Ves talked about today revolved around mourning, then his Larkinson Clan would never get out of its slump! Ves could not afford his Larkinsons and Brighter employees to persist in their mourning too long! Productivity had already dropped and Ves did not wish to see this pattern persist for months!

For this reason, Ves tried to grasp a possible way to turn this speech into a positive direction. He had to make sure he finished this speech on a high note!

Ves thumped his chest yet again. "Bentheim lives within us, and as long as we work hard enough, Bentheim will live again through us! As an enterprising clan, we Larkinsons can bring our Brighter values and the customs to the wider galaxy. Just imagine it. Perhaps a few decades from now, our fleet will look much more prosperous than this day. Our vast armada of tradeships and carrier vessels ply the stars in order to trade mechs and materials with local partners, hopefully within the Red Ocean Star Galaxy. Doesn't that sound familiar to you? This dream might very well come true as long as we look forward instead of backwards! The past may be set, but the future is still in our control!"

A lot of Larkinsons started to look more hopeful and sad! Their moods were already beginning to turn around!

"There is no point denying our connection to the Bright Republic." He said, trying to look at many Larkinsons in the eyes as possible. "Our home state may be bleeding and it may turn into something unrecognizable to us in the next couple of generations, but as long as we exist, we shall never allow the Bright Republic in its prime to be lost! As a fellow Brighter who used to hail from this state, I say we should do our part in reviving Bentheim in our own way! What say you? Are you with me, Larkinsons?!"

"I'm with you, patriarch!"

"We will build our own Bentheim!"

Though not everyone was caught up in his lofty fantasy, the enthusiasm exhibited by the ones who were was enough. Every Larkinson eventually joined this shared vision.

The original Bentheim may have fallen, but a new Bentheim would rise!

Ves finally began to smile as he finally managed to lift the austere atmosphere.

"No matter where the future may take us, don't forget that we are able to make our own choices now. We are no longer bound by any state or superior. Cherish this opportunity and take advantage of it to realize your own visions! Don't linger on what you could have done, but instead focus on what you can do in the future! As long as our clan stands strong, we can accomplish anything we set our minds towards! For the clan!"

"For the clan!"

Chapter 1985 Little Fellows

Before he exited the podium, Ves made one more announcement. This happened to be the best time to break the news and make sure to give his fellow clansmen something positive to occupy their minds as they returned to their ships and resumed their work!

"My fellow clansmen. The Bright Republic may have been a source of continuous bad news to us, but at the same time the Battle of Bentheim took place, we achieved at least one victory!"

The Larkinsons all paid very close attention to Ves. In the backdrop of such an enormous disaster, what could ever constitute as good news?

Ves ignored their doubts and grinned. "I am finally able to announce that the Larkinsons that the government of the Bright Republic has rounded up have been freed! Certain.. allies of mine have broken into Spotlight's secret prison and rescued every Larkinson willing to leave! As we speak, they are being safely ferried to the Sentinel Kingdom, where they can meet up with our clan and the old family!"

The moment the clansmen realized the significance of his words, they jumped to their feet and cheered!

His unexpected but very welcome announcement decisively cleared away the dark cloud that settled over their heads. Though everyone still mourned for the loss of Bentheim, the Larkinsons cared much more about their relatives!

After he successfully turned a solemn mourning event into a jubilant rally, Ves considered his work to be done. He exited the podium with a smile.

He lingered a bit in order to talk and mingle with some of the Larkinsons in person. He spoke to Clinton, Raymond, Magdalena, Melkor and other influential Larkinsons in order to sound out their stances and figure out their priorities.

Overall, the leaders in his clan were very happy about the successful rescue attempt. Ves had a feeling that he won a lot of kudos from them and redeemed a part of his image in their eyes.

Once everyone started to return to their assigned ships, Ves, Gloriana, Gavin and a couple of others boarded a shuttle that brought them back to the Scarlet Rose.

Along the way, Gavin turned to Ves and asked a presumptuous question.

"About Bentheim.. were you being honest?"

Ves looked up from the Rimward Herald article he was reading.

The established news organization had written a very insightful analysis on the repercussions of the Battle of Bentheim. They were much greater than he realized, mostly because the prestige of the MTA took a substantial hit! The Rimward Herald predicted that the MTA would become a lot more proactive in the coming years in an attempt to undo the damage!

"Why ask this question?"

"You never articulated a clear goal for your upcoming Grand Expedition. Sure, everyone knows you want to make your clan prosper and grow more powerful. However, no one is actually sure what you intend to do in the Red Ocean. Are we turning into an intergalactic caravan? Are you trying to found a new state? Will our activities center around the interests of the clan, or will we all be solely working to facilitate your career as a mech designer?"

Those were some very impactful questions. They were also pretty sensitive as well, so much so that Ves shut off the projector of his comm.

"I don't have to answer you, Benny."

"I know my questions aren't entirely appropriate, but.. I'm not the only one who holds these questions and doubts. It would do you a lot of good if you can present a clearer vision to what we are all working towards."

He was right. Gavin interacted with lots of people every day in order to serve as a gatekeeper and conduit of information. Compared to Ves who mostly spent his time in the design labs in order to tinker up a new design, Gavin possessed a much deeper comprehension of the overall sentiment of his people.

If Gavin was starting to worry about the goals that his people were supposed to pursue, then Ves might have a real problem on his hands. Maybe not immediately, but the lack of direction would surely lead to a lot of division in the next couple of months and years!

Ves took a moment to gather his thoughts and figure out the best way to phrase his answer.

"Let me begin by saying that for the foreseeable time, the interests of the clan and myself are both aligned. This is by design. I founded the Larkinson Clan to further my interests. I never kept this secret. However, the Larkinson Clan is also a means of spreading my success to my fellow relatives and employees like you. I don't demand anyone to become my slave and I am not reluctant to share my earnings."

Gavin slowly nodded. "If you put it that way, then your workers will feel much more reassured in their continued loyalty to the LMC and other organizations."

"Everyone who joins my enterprise is one of my own. While our Larkinson Clan has not become a sovereign state in its own right, I intend to lead it in a responsible direction. I want to shape the governance of my expeditionary fleet in a way that is as beneficial and equitable as possible to everyone. While I can't promise to be fair in everything, I hope to make everyone, even the lowest worker, feel pleased in their decision to stay loyal to me. That is what you all deserve. Do you understand, Benny?"

His assistant made a very bad lapse in judgement some time ago, so this implicit warning also served to keep him on his toes!

Gavin coughed. "I understand, boss. I'm glad you are still thinking about the faces in the background who don't share your surname. We might not be a part of your clan, but we are still willing to go through many lengths to support you and the clan. All we ask is that you continue to show some consideration to us little fellows."

"I never considered you to be a little fellow or a face that is indistinguishable from the background." Ves lied. "I treat all of my employees as valued assets. I am very grateful for their loyalty. In a reality like ours, that is very hard to come by. I learned first-hand how duplicitous even your closest friends and allies can be. Even family isn't exempt from this rule as one of my cousins didn't hesitate to sell me out!"

"That's a very.. cynical way to see our society." Gavin displayed a strained smile. "I'm not sure if it's healthy for you to maintain such a distrustful stance. We need you to be our bridge builder. Rather than making new enemies, you should try and make new friends instead. There are more people who want to cooperate with you as long as you open yourself up for offers."

"Oh?" Ves raised his eyebrow as he was petting Lucky's back. "What kind of offers are you talking about?"

"Ever since you and Gloriana made a name for yourselves, we have been inundated with requests for collaborations and exchanges. There are also other offers that propose more extensive cooperation such as business alliances and research sharing and the like. I took the liberty of filtering out most of these offers since they are mainly opportunistic and lack sincerity. That still leaves a lot of valid requests that might very well be worth your time."

"How many are there?"

"At my current count, there are 84 offers. According to our research, it is very likely that they are all made in good faith, so you don't have to worry about getting taken advantage of. With the unstable state of the clan and the LMC, I think it is very helpful if you start to befriend more business partners and forge more relationships. The Larkinson Clan doesn't have many friends to lean on these days."

"You're... right. We don't have another fallback point in the event our relationship with the Sentinel Kingdom or the Hexadric Hegemony sours."

"My state will never turn against you!" Gloriana couldn't help but break her silence this time! "The Hegemony is not like the Bright Republic or the Ylvaine Protectorate! We stand by our friends! Even if you are a boy, as my lover you are entitled to our protection!"

If it was anyone else saying those words, then Ves wouldn't feel very worried. Yet the notion of protecting males took on a very different connotation in Hexer society!

If the Hexer idea of protecting a boy like Ves amounted to locking him up in a gilded cage, then he resolutely rejected this offer!

"I'm sure Benny doesn't mean to accuse your state of anything ill, Gloriana." He told her before turning back to his assistant. "I don't have the interest to sort through all of those proposals. Just tell me the most promising or interesting ones."

Gavin activated his comm and projected the first proposal. "Well, since we are going to spend some time in the Sentinel Kingdom, I think it's good if we build a better relationship with one of its established factions. Remember Lady Miralix?"

"I do." Ves didn't need his implant to recall the young but ambitious noble and the Crown Hunt they participated in. He succeeded in harvesting Zeigra's spirituality at the end! "If I recall, she joined the Sentinel Army or something, right?"

"That's correct. While she's currently serving as a mech captain of the Sentinel Army, she is still free enough to correspond with her noble house. Ever since she found out that we are on our way to the Sentinel Kingdom, she has suggested a more extensive cooperation between you and her house. With your current prestige and fame, House Laterna has grown quite interested in collaborating you with a major project."

"Oh? I thought that House Laterna is mainly occupied with running their cat paradise and selling their genetically-modified cats."

"You're not wrong, but House Laterna does employ some mech designers to outfit its members and its household troops with their own mechs. The house has developed a liking for your mechs, and wants to commission you to design a line of tiger mechs."

Ves sat up straighter in his chair. Even Lucky stopped purring in order to pay attention to Gavin's words!

"Did I hear that correctly? They want me to design an entire product line of bestial mechs!?"

"At least four at minimum and eight at maximum. Well, I suppose you can hash out the exact details with House Laterna if you decide to explore this commission. Just know that as long as you perform this commission, House Laterna is willing to repay you by offering a lot of assistance to us while we are staying in the Sentinel Kingdom."

That sounded very valuable, especially since his people experienced a lot of turmoil and disruption in recent times.

Yet... "I'm not so sure, Benny. After putting my trust in the Bright Republic and the Ylvaine Protectorate, I don't want to be stabbed in the back by another state actor yet again. Sure, House Laterna shouldn't have any grudges with me, but who knows whether their opinion takes a complete 180-degree turn the next day?"

Gloriana interjected yet again. "That won't happen! Unlike the Bright Republic, the Sentinel Kingdom is firmly within the Hegemony's backyard! With me and my dynasty supporting you from behind, no one in the Sentinel Kingdom should have the courage to betray you! What happened in the Ylvaine Protectorate shouldn't be possible because the Fridaymen are simply too far away to pull off an ambush!"

"While I agree with you, the Friday Coalition isn't my only enemy. The Nyxian Gap is right next door to the Sentinel Kingdom and the pirates and other scum who reside there are a threat to everybody in civilized space. In addition, even the Hegemony isn't completely united, right? Can you really tell me that the Wodin Dynasty doesn't have any internal enemies within the Hegemony at all? What if one of your Hexer rivals decided to target me? Can you guarantee that this will never happen?"

Gloriana squirmed in her seat. She looked very awkward at the moment!

Ves turned back to Gavin. "While this commission sounds very interesting, it's a lot of work to design so many tiger mechs. I also don't want to put us in a position where we are too dependent on a noble house or any other faction for that matter. Next offer, please. Try and find something that doesn't take much time and doesn't demand a lot of commitment. It doesn't matter if the rewards are fairly meager. I only want to do enough to turn us into a known and friendly group in Sentinel space."

Chapter 1986 Do As The Rubarthans Do

The Sentinel Kingdom offered a lot of work. The turmoil emerging from the Nyxian Gap combined with the ripple effects of the Sand War and the Komodo War meant that mechs came back in high demand.

Combined with the increased need to replace obsolete mechs with new generation mechs, the market for commercial mechs and custom-tailored commission mechs had risen to a point where the mech market was booming!

Both low-end mechs and high-end mechs sold like hotcakes. When Gavin showed him the charts showing the sales trends of mechs throughout the star sector, Ves noted that there was an especially high demand for mechs that either utilized laser weapons or countered them in some fashion.

"This is the laser generation, so it stands to reason that laser weapons are more popular than ballistic and kinetic weapons." Gavin told him. "We gained a rather distorted perspective on these wider trends because the Sand War revolved entirely around physical weapons. What this means is that our Desolate Soldiers may be selling well, but many of our buyers have decided to eschew the ballistic rifles that come with them in favor of laser rifles!"

Ves grimaced. "My Desolate Soldiers aren't optimized for laser weapons. Their targeting systems won't work as well, so the accuracy and target acquisition capabilities won't be as good as dedicated laser mechs. Their energy reserves are also rather paltry and their heat management systems aren't designed to cope with too much heat generated by the weapon, so the mechs will quickly reach their limits in combat."

"Most of your customers don't care. They just slap on some extra energy cells and heat sinks onto your mech and call it a day. This is what the market wants, Ves. I think it would do your company a lot of good if you divert some time to design an official laser rifle variant for the Desolate Soldier. Call it the Energy Soldier or something."

To be honest, Ves wasn't really sure he wanted to continue to work with the Soldier product line. He was very much aware that a lot of states had already adopted it for its supportive glow.

His intention for creating the Solemn Guardian was to bolster the morale of the mech pilots on the field and encourage everyone to work for the greater good by appealing to their sense of duty.

In that, his mech had succeeded. The entire Soldier product line had become the most iconic mech of the Sand War, and he would have probably been in line to earn a lot of awards from the various states if he didn't piss off the Friday Coalition!

Still, his mech outlived its original purpose and had become an increasingly more ubiquitous sight throughout the star sector.

Ves was sure that he would be seeing plenty of Desolate Soldiers in the Sentinel Kingdom! Despite the budget model's limited application against human opponents, many customers were buying it purely due to its glow!

"From a commercial perspective, you're right." He rubbed his smooth-shaven chin. "The Desolate Soldier is not that good of a mech against non-sandmen opponents, but that can change if I realise a variant that specializes in wielding laser rifles."

Gavin threw a suspicious glance at Ves. "I know that tone of yours, boss. I sense a 'but' coming."

"You know me too well." Ves smirked. "From a designer and creator's standpoint, I don't feel like doing it. First, I think the Desolate Soldier's glow is currently being abused for purposes that aren't in line with the mech's original visio. I designed it to facilitate the defense of the Bright Republic and other beleaguered states during the Sand War. I crossed a couple of lines that I wasn't comfortable about because the necessity of the situation required something drastic. Now that the war has come to a conclusion, I don't intend to revisit this product line unless another crisis occurs."

"Desolate Soldier sales are pretty much propping up the entire LMC and by extension the Larkinson Clan at this moment." Gavin pointed out.

"I know. I don't intend to stop that. However, remember that the Desolate Soldier is a lastgen design that came out right as the MTA announced the new mech generation. If you set aside its fantastic glow, it's a really mediocre mech even if you compare it to other mechs in its price range. What's its current price now?"

"Around 500,000 to 600,000 hex credits." Gavin immediately replied. "That's roughly the equivalent to 20 million pre-inflation bright credits. The exact prices vary considerably between markets due to differences in taxes, regulation, cost of doing business and market demand. Surprisingly, unlike other lastgen mechs, we haven't been forced to lower its price, thereby keeping its product margin at healthy levels."

"Uhum. I get it. I still won't expand the Soldier product line, though. I don't want the brand identity of the LMC to revolve around this singular mech design. I'm not a Class VII mech designer who spends his entire life perfecting a single product. I have a lot of ideas that I want to bring to reality and I want to make a name for myself as a mech designer who can design anything that is in demand!"

It was a matter of principle and philosophy to Ves. He was very much aware of how dangerous it was for mech designers to tunnel vision around a single megahit. If Ves kept running back to his old wonder and continued to retread the same solutions, he would eventually lose the ability to solve new problems.

The mech industry was rife with one-hit wonders who turned from decent mech designers into lazy, washed-up losers who constantly tried to recreate the same success, with mixed results.

Though Ves definitely intended to refresh some of his older mech designs, it had to make sense both from a business perspective and a design perspective.

"By the way, you haven't accepted any of the proposals I mentioned to you, boss. Are you really sure you don't want to do anything to make your stay in Sentinel a bit easier? Gaining a patron is very convenient in states where authority is strong."

Ves shook his head. "None of the commissions sound particularly worthwhile. Now that I've become a masterwork mech designer, my value has shot up. While that isn't entirely reflected in the proposals we've received, I think it's best to move on from accepting regular commissions from random people."

"I.. understand. I'll be sure to filter them out from now on. What will you do, then?"

"There is always work for me. I'll revisit my options when I finish the projects that are currently in the pipeline. The two projects that I'm working on are more than enough to occupy me for months."

While he was technically capable of working on more than two projects at a time, his design teams couldn't quite keep up with all of the work. He would have to double his roster of subordinate mech designers if he wanted to handle multiple projects in a more efficient manner.

So far, Ves was holding off on expanding his design teams, but that might change once he reached the Sentinel Kingdom and settled down from the recent crises.

Eventually, Ves ended his meeting with Gavin without accepting any new commissions.

Later that day, he returned to the design lab of the Scarlet Rose to resume work on the striker mech design and to handle his other responsibilities.

Ever since he settled the future education of the four Larkinson seeds, the teenagers showed up to the design lab every day.

Most of the time, the seeds received basic tutoring from the members of the design teams. It wasn't necessary for Ves or Gloriana to devote their valuable time to teach basic knowledge and concepts to them. It was as overkill as using a Star Designer to teach a third grader how to multiply sums!

However, the two Journeymen made sure to devote at least half an hour to instill them with the proper mindset and principles of a mech designer. This was something that they both insisted upon because they wanted to set up the four kids up for success.

Since Maisie Ann Larkinson and Rennie Larkinson both decided to attend a Hexer university, Gloriana practically took them under her wing.

When Ves entered the design lab, he just caught a portion of her lecture.

"...Now, girls, when you arrive in the Hegemony, you must forget everything you know about 'men'. In fact, don't even use that word. 'Man' or 'men' is a taboo word in the Hegemony. If you get caught using it once, your Hexer classmates will begin to regard you as ignorant foreigners. You don't want that. From now on, start looking at every male as if they are boys. Please repeat this word to me with as much feeling as possible."

"Boy."

"Boy."

"NOT GOOD ENOUGH!" Gloriana thundered! "Don't treat the word as a joke. Treat is as if it is the literal truth! If you find it difficult to think of males as boys, just pretend that they are six to eight years old. As long as you can adopt this mindset, you are essentially half-way towards becoming a Hexer! Ah, look, Ves has just arrived! Tell me, is he a boy or a man?"

"He's the patriarch!" Rennie gasped. "I would never call him that! That's disrespectful."

"He's a boy. When in Rubarth, do as the Rubarthans do." Maisie flatly said.

Their teacher clapped her hands. "Good job, Maisie! That's exactly the attitude I'm looking for! If you truly want to ensure your studies proceed smoothly, then it's essential to play nice with my fellow Hexers! The ability to completely disregard the status, respect and accomplishments of any male is an essential skill in the Hegemony! I won't allow you to attend a Hexer university until you are completely indistinguishable from genuine Hexers in this regard!"

As Gloriana gleefully tried to turn Maisie and Rennie into Hexers, Ves wanted to step in and stop this farce.

He didn't. The two had already divvied up the Larkinson seeds. Ves wasn't allowed to interfere with the curriculum of the female seeds. Gloriana claimed it was necessary in order to prevent Maisie and Rennie from getting bullied or ostracized by their teachers and classmates when they finally began their studies.

With the girls in Gloriana's hands, Ves could only console himself by setting the curriculum Maikel and Zanthar Larkinson.

The two boys, ahem, adolescent men chose the very risky option to forgo orthodox education entirely in favor of learning directly under Ves. Whether this was a stupid decision or not remained to be seen.

As far as Ves was concerned, he took his responsibilities very seriously. When the two men finished their studies, he wouldn't be able to provide them with MTA-accredited diplomas. This would severely hamper their future job opportunities, as possessing a valid diploma was one of the most basic but most essential requirements to gain employment in mech companies!

Certainly, Ves could hand them off to any virtual university to address this shortcoming, but a diploma from a virtual degree mill was worth as much as a nutrient pack.

Ves only hoped that his growing name and reputation would be able to make up for the lack of credentials in Maikel and Zanthar's records. Once he advanced to Senior, there shouldn't be any doubts about his teaching ability anymore!

He approached the two young men who were listening with disturbed fascination to Gloriana's lecture a few tables away.

Slap! Slap!

"Ouch!"

"Why did you hit us, uncle?!"

"First lesson, don't listen to Gloriana's nonsense! What she is teaching is only reserved for women, got it?! No man under my watch will start treating himself as a boy!" Ves placed his hands on his hips. "Now, since you have decided to enroll in my exclusive mech design class, I'm going to teach you how to become mech designers MY way. By the time I'm done with you, I hope you'll be able to at least do a bit of what I can do! Let's start with the history of mechs!"

Ves did not intend to take a neutral approach to the education of these two Larkinson seeds. Unlike with Ketis where he allowed her to find her own passion, Ves decided to take a more proactive approach and turn the two seeds into his pseudo-disciples!

Chapter 1987 The Meaning of Design

Ves always found something joyful in teaching.

He knew he was good in mech design. That did not automatically mean he was good at teaching.

In fact, from an objective standpoint, Ves was even sure whether he would be able to qualify as an able teacher at all. Yet the pleasure he derived from guiding others to become better mech designers was genuine enough to make him believe that he possessed an aptitude in this aspect.

Regardless of how schools would evaluate his teaching ability, Ves earnestly wanted to prep Maikel and Zanthar for the many challenges that awaited them once they began their true studies.

"Right now, the two of you haven't graduated from high school yet, so I won't hand too much coursework to you." He announced to the young men. "Even so, it is never too early to begin shaping your mentality towards mech design. The right mentality not only ensures you'll be on the right track when you graduate from my tutelage, but also ensures you are sufficiently motivated in your studies. The two of you have recently received some lessons from Mayer Torto, right?"

Maikel nodded. "Maisie and Rennie attended Mr. Torto's lessons as well. He's very smart."

"As he should, or else I wouldn't have hired him to begin with. What did he teach you two, exactly?"

"We learned about the role of mechs in human society in the Age of Mechs."

"Ah, that's a good lesson that every mech design should know by heart." Ves smiled. "Tell me in your own words what purpose they serve in today's society. You first, Maikel."

The young man hesitated after being put on the spot so suddenly. "Uhm, mechs are war machines. They are tools used to fight and win battles. They're similar to swords, tanks and warships in that they give humans a much greater capacity for violence."

"That's.. correct, but not the answer I'm looking for." Ves leaned back on his chair and crossed his arms. "If you want to become an average mech designer, then this basic definition is sufficient to guide your approach towards your work. If you want to move beyond that and become a creator on the level of a Journeyman or above, then you will have to develop a deeper perspective of mechs. This is in essence the first step towards developing your own design philosophy!"

Both Maikel and Zanthar looked incredibly interested at that! Ves inwardly shook his head at their enthusiasm. While he liked their eagerness, it was way too soon for them to form their own design philosophies.

That said, it wasn't too early to teach them some of the precursors in order to ensure they wouldn't be going askew when they were ready to explore their own way.

"Zanthar." Ves directed his attention towards the other young clansman. "Tell me, what is the definition of a designer? What do they do, and why do they exist?"

"A designer is someone who makes.. designs?"

Ves did not look amused. "Is that the extent of your definition?"

"Uhm, no! A designer combines art and science to produce a plan or drawing that outlines the construction of a certain object or process! They are creators who use their skills and talents to provide tangible solutions to their customers or clients!"

"That sounds a bit better. I think you are still too hung up on the textbook definition of design, though. You're kind of mixing them up. Anyway, let me tell you a bit how I look at design."

He leaned forward and lowered his tone. "Design is a process of creation. The common definition of mech design or any sort of design includes both art and science for a very good reason. This is because they are both the core prerequisites to making it all possible."

"First, the science aspect. Anything more complicated than a handheld slingshot requires at least some knowledge of the sciences to design and construct. You need to know how metals work, how energy works, how processors work, how actuators work, how gravity works and etc. All of that requires a solid grasp of the natural sciences. However, it is a mistake for mech designers to think that science is all you need to become a good mech designer. What is a mech designer who is only good in the sciences?"

A pregnant silence ensued.

"I call that an engineer." Ves answered on their behalf. "Is that bad? Not necessarily. There are many positions in the galactic job market that ask for someone who is good with numbers or good in the sciences to solve all sorts of complex problems. Now, what do you call a mech designer who doesn't know any science but is very proficient in art?"

"Uhm, an artist?" Zanthar guessed.

"Ding ding ding! We have a winner! An artist is exactly the sort of person who is capable of creating beautiful designs that are completely unable to function in reality. There are many people like this as well. In fact, a lot of large mech companies run by mech designers who aren't necessarily good in this department employ swathes of artists to come up with mech concepts or are tasked with refining the final exterior appearances of their new products. Now, let me ask you something important. Why do mech designers exist? Why must they be proficient in both art and science when you can just gather a bunch of engineers and artists and lock them up in the same room to pump out designs?"

"Has that been done?"

"Certainly! Many times in fact! However, this practice fell out of fashion once mech design universities started flooding the job markets with mech designers. What distinguishes a mech designer from a team of engineers and artists?"

"They can do the job of both. Isn't that more efficient?"

Ves shook his head. "I wouldn't necessarily say so. In an age where there is far too much knowledge that we can ever learn in our lifetimes, specialization is the name of the game in personal development. On the surface, it is much more efficient to teach one person to become a good engineer and another person to become a good artist and divide the task of designing a mech between them. The artist is responsible for creating a concept and vision while the engineer digs into the nuts and bolts and tries to turn the idea into reality. This model is still commonplace in every other industry aside from mech design. Why the exception?"

Neither of the two students could come up with an answer. They were completely stumped!

Fortunately for them, Ves expected this kind of response.

"Think of the great works of Master Mech Designers and Star Designers. Think of the brilliant, superhuman feats of god pilots. Do you think they can accomplish all of their reality-defying work by abiding by any kind of normal process?"

"The expert pilots in our family are different!" Zanthar piped up! "All of the older folk always told me that expert pilots are more than human, more than mech pilots!"

"Exactly. What they are hinting towards is that expert pilots aren't completely constrained by the conventional laws of reality. Let me tell you what a mech designer is and what makes people like me different. Both expert pilots and Journeyman like me are able to go beyond what regular engineers are able to accomplish."

"How?"

"We learn the sciences because we need to be as capable as any engineer in coming up with a viable technical plan of a complex, multi-part machine. We learn art in order to expand our creativity and learn how to go beyond problem solving. The critical reason to learn both is to combine them together! A mech designer cannot be one without the other!"

The young Larkinsons looked pensive. They didn't entirely understand his point.

Ves sighed. "Look, the meaning of design is creation. We create actual working machines for a living. Creation is the keyword here. I cannot emphasize this enough. Science enables us to create a working machine, but that alone is not enough to justify the existence of my possession. It is only when it combines with art that will result in true creation! While every engineer has learnt how to 'design' something, a mech designer is expected to do more. They are expected to design a practical mech concept, build a compelling vision around it and transform it into an actual design!"

"I don't get it, sir. Isn't that something that can still be done with multiple engineers and other people?"

"Ah, that should have been the case if not for the existence of high-ranking mech designers. You see, in the early days of the Age of Mechs, the most successful mech designers back then tended to be the most enthusiastic and obsessed of this newfangled weapon platform. In later years, the MTA honored these admittedly radical visionaries as the first Journeymen and Seniors of our profession! Their early success have contributed enormously to the rise of mechs in human society and legitimizing the special status of mech designers compared to other design and engineering professions."

"That must be because their design philosophies are able to accomplish something that automation can never equal, right?"

"Good answer, Zanthar!" Ves clapped his hand. "This is a critical point to make. The discovery of design philosophies and how they enhanced the capabilities of mechs was an essential step in the popularization of mechs as the premier war machine in this day and age! I don't think I need to tell you how many benefits they can provide."

"So.. mech designers exist because they can combine their art and science into a powerful design philosophy?"

"That.. is one of the worst definitions that I have ever heard, Maikel." Ves shook his head in exasperation. "It's a gross oversimplification, but the idea is close enough. In a nutshell, mech designers can become so good in creating inspiring and innovative mech designs that they essentially bend reality! It is not wrong to consider Gloriana and I the mech designer equivalent of an expert pilot! Just like how an expert pilot is able to crush regular mechs by leveraging resonance, mech designers are able to create machines that possess powerful advantages by levering the effects of their design philosophies! No regular engineer or artist can achieve this! Only one who masters both are able to foster a powerful design philosophy!"

Both his students looked enthralled by his description! Ves had unconsciously employed the same tricks he used to manipulate his Larkinson clansmen during his previous address!

In essence, holding a speech and lecturing a bunch of studies was not that different from each other. In both cases, the speaker sought to indoctrinate his audience!

Perhaps that was why he possessed a talent for teaching.

"Now let us get back to the meaning of design." Ves tried to center his lesson back to the main point. "What exactly is a design philosophy and what exactly makes it so special? Don't answer that. You won't be able to at this stage. In fact, you'll have to reach Journeyman if you want to provide a somewhat complete answer. For now, all you need to know is that the development of your design philosophies is critical to your future success. While it is too soon to figure out what you want to specialize in, I want you to prepare the first building blocks by thinking about the meaning of design and how it will shape your future work. If you can't figure this out, you'll never become a good mech designer!"

One of the greatest shortcomings Ves had noticed in many Novices and Masters was that the schools they attended didn't emphasize the artistic and creation side of mech design enough!

Privileged mech designers such as Gloriana were able to attend excellent universities where actual Masters set the curriculum and knew first-hand the importance of creativity!

"Dare to design." Ves told his two students. "These words encapsulate my heart of mech design, and the hearts of any competent mech designer! Never constrain yourself too much by practicalities. Let loose a bit! Go a little wild! Anything is possible in mech design as long as you dedicate your entire being towards your goals! It is all up to your vision and how much you are willing to devote to realize your ambitions. When it comes to your design philosophy, as long as you commit to something, don't ever let anyone else convince you that you are wrong! Even if I tell you that you are wrong, as long as you work hard enough, you can always make it right!"

His words succeeded in inspiring Maikel and Zanthar Larkinson!

While many interpretions existed on the meaning of design, to Ves it centered around creation! He wanted to push this view on his two students in order to ensure they wouold adopt a similar approach towards mech design as him! He did not wish for them to end up as mediocre, uninspired mech designers.

If Ves had his way, he wanted to make them just as brilliant as himself!

Chapter 1988 Sweet Spot

After handing his two pupils with a pile of homework, Ves waved his hand to dismiss them. Maikel and Zanthar scurried off to their own corner in the design lab in order to start their essays on how they viewed the meaning of mech design.

He watched them go with a wistful expression. "It's not easy to adopt the mindset of a creator."

Speaking of creation, it wasn't enough to talk the talk. He also had to walk the walk.

After sorting out his thoughts, Ves turned back to his work and continued to do his part in fleshing out the draft design of his upcoming striker mech.

Since it was a team effort, Gloriana and the other assistants had already made strides in turning it from a sketch into a workable design. Much needed to be done, but their progress was quite quick in the initial days.

Most of that had to do with his new implant. The Archimedes Rubal not only increased his memory and processing abilities, but also sped up his thinking to an extent!

All of this resulted in less wasted time and far more accurate results. His productivity had effectively doubled, and this was only the start!

"Gloriana."

"Ves." She greeted.

He sat down next to her and held her hand.

Tiny electric signals transmitted between their neurons and through their flesh and skin. The moment they established a semi-hardline connection between their implants, their attention no longer resided in the material realm.

Instead, a private virtual realm formed by the efforts of their implants began to host a facsimile of their bodies. Ves and Gloriana ended up in the backyard of a magnificent mansion on a planet with two dazzling red moons lighting up the night sky.

"What an interesting setting." Ves commented.

"I can take you to the real site if you want."

Ves looked around and immediately noticed the six-sided table, the bushes cut in the shape of hexagons and other objects that shared the same distinctive design style.

"No thanks. I think we would both enjoy experiencing settings that neither of us have experienced."

Her face dropped. "If you say so, Ves."

"Let's not waste any more time on these distractions. We're here to work, not play. Come on. Show me your progress."

They soon began to work on their design in the virtual setting. Due to the very advanced capabilities of their implants, time flowed faster in the setting than in real time. Though their implants could run the virtual simulation at unimaginable speeds, their organic minds couldn't quite keep up as well!

Still, both possessed some means of raising the limit. Ves was already filled with biological augmentations that increased his brain's ability to handle strain. The CFA's gene optimization treatments were especially tailored to improve this capability!

As for Gloriana, her Erestal-015 comprehensively elevated many mech design-related abilities. Even if she wasn't able to elevate her brain's raw thinking capacity, she was able to outsource much of her thinking to the robust and extensive processors of her implant!

Essentially, all of this meant that on a good day, they could achieve five days of work in a single day!

In practice, their gains were usually lower than that. It depended on the complexity and difficulty of the problems they faced. Some problems could easily be solved as long as Ves and Gloriana performed enough calculations and deductions.

Other problems required raw imagination and ingenuity. No amount of processing power could solve these kinds of conceptual problems. The most the pair could do was speed up their subjective perception of time to accelerate their lateral thinking processes.

Whenever the two finished a mental design session, they continually impressed their subordinate design teams.

None of the Novices and Apprentices were able to work this fast!

In fact, even if they installed a comparable implant in their heads, they still wouldn't be able to reach this level of productivity!

The special nature of this method of collaboration allowed for Ves and Gloriana to directly exchange their thoughts and internal calculations with each other.

Though Ves had to get used to this method of direct data transfer, he soon got the hang of it. With Gloriana guiding his usage of his own implant, they developed an approach that took more and more advantage of the possibilities their mental design session enabled to minimize delays and facilitate their ability to synergize with each other.

The fact that they were able to get more in tune with each other's design philosophies and increase their synergies was a very big advantage!

By exchanging their thoughts directly along with some accompanying emotions in digitized form, they understood each other's perspectives on mechs a lot better than any explanation could provide.

Ves gained a much closer insight on what drove Gloriana to strive for perfection, while his girlfriend experienced his passion for the vibrancy and potential of life first-hand!

It wasn't always good, though. Sometimes, their views clashed against each other. Sharing their thoughts and emotions could easily lead to a backlash as their design philosophies strongly repelled the foreign thoughts and emotions!

To Ves, Gloriana's insistence on reaching perfection and her overall conception of the perfect vessel leaned too much towards determinism.

On a philosophical level, the perfect and most optimal mech design for a certain purpose existed. All Gloriana had to do was to become good enough to be able to make that possible!

Ves disagreed. To him, mechs were alive, and therefore subject to the whims of a living existence. Perfection could never be attained due to the existence of the cycle of life and death.

Anytime someone designed the 'perfect' mech, only a single generation had to go by for any competent mech designer to be able to design something that surpassed it in performance!

This constant progression proved that mechs were dynamic instead of static. They changed and improved over time. From the beginning of the Age of Mechs, an uncountable amount of mech designs emerged that constantly built from the accumulation of mechs published before!

Mech design had no more meaning once the perfect mech was designed. What else was there for people like Ves to do if he couldn't design anything that could surpass the perfect mech?

To her credit, Gloriana's design philosophy was slightly more nuanced than that. She based her design philosophy around designing the perfect vessel for a specific mech pilot, and that always looked from customer to customer.

Still, Ves fundamentally couldn't bring himself to accept all of her views. Life wasn't perfect, so mechs shouldn't be perfect. Simple as that. The best he could do was to strive close to it, but like Icarus flying towards the sun, ascending too high would only burn his wings!

Of course, he didn't share this analogy with his girlfriend. An enraged Gloriana was not something he ever wanted to experience!

So far, they had performed a lot of early work on the mech design. The striker mech took on a basic appearance, though much of its internals still had to be defined.

Their work was enough to form a decent expectation of the performance of the end product.

So far, Ves wasn't entirely impressed.

"The capacity problem is very difficult to deal with." He tapped his finger against his wrist. "If we try to increase its capacity a tiny bit further, the effectiveness of its armor will instantly nosedive. If we try to increase the thickness of its armor, its capacity and mobility can easily drop to unacceptable levels!"

After a lot of iteration and experimentation, the pair managed to find a sweet spot that offered a very decent balance between capacity, protection and mobility.

Capacity in this case pretty much correlated to offensive power as it determined how much energy cells and heat sinks the mech was able to carry into battle.

While finding a sweet spot sounded nice, not every one of them were necessarily good!

Some sweet spots landed at a position that sat below his minimum expectations! Right now, Ves found himself unsatisfied with the level of defense and capacity of his striker mech.

It ran out of propellant just a bit too quickly to make it through most battles.

In addition, its armor was not at a level that would allow it to comfortably confront multiple melee mechs up close. In fact, one of the best counters of striker mechs, ranged mechs, would probably have a field day pelting his striker mech with a flurry of lasers!

"This is the best we can achieve with the limitations we are working under." Gloriana told him. "I've explored this configuration extensively. I'm sure that a Senior or Master may be able to come up with something better, but.. it wouldn't be our design. To us, this sweet spot is the best we can obtain. I think we should find performance improvements through other means. We're only in the early stages of this design project. A lot is still subject to change, and we can always find other components to license if we need different solutions."

This was the only way to mitigate this difficult issue. Despite their increased affinity for mechs and Gloriana's meteoric progress of her own design philosophy, it was very hard to wiggle around with absolutes.

"I have a feeling we are approaching the technical challenges of this design from the wrong direction." Ves suggested as he studied the projection of their current project from every angle. "It's as if we are treading on a road that leads to a dead end. What we are doing right now is trying to dig a hole in the wall blocking our way forward! That's not an efficient response to a problem of this nature!"

"Then what would you have us do, Ves?!"

"In order to reach our destination, perhaps we might need to turn back to a crossroads and take a different route instead! Who knows, maybe the alternative won't lead to a dead end!"

"I understand your point." Gloriana crossed her arms and directed a stern expression at Ves. "However, this is the way that all spaceborn striker mechs are designed. Their design principles are simple, which means there isn't a lot of room for variety. In fact, I think you will find that striker mechs is one of the mech archetypes that exhibit the least amount of variety on the market!"

Ves partially agreed with her statement. Striker mechs were so simple that it was very hard to justify a deviation from the standard formula of this mech type.

There was just.. something frustrating about their current direction! If Ves stripped it of its glow, the striker mech wouldn't be able to make a compelling splash in the market.

That was not what he wanted to see! He wanted to validate his own approach towards mech design by creating an appealing product that provided value both from its basic functioning and its unique glow!

He didn't want to create another mech like the Desolate Soldier where the average and exceptional performance of his design was carried entirely by its glow!

Such an approach would slowly corrupt and invalidate his determination towards designing well-performing mechs! Ves had already started slipping ever since he resorted to throwing money at his problems.

Designing a commercial mech for the third-class mech market was a test for himself. He needed to restore his ability to design efficient mech designs that were able to do more with less!

So far, the striker mech design did not meet his standard!

"This is not enough." Ves spoke in a dissatisfied tone. Perhaps he carried over a bit more of Gloriana during their mental design sessions than he thought! "I am tempted to scrap our current progress and go back to the drawing board, because this mech is not something that I want to sell under the LMC brand name."

Gloriana frowned. "I.. don't necessarily disagree with you, but if there is one thing that you've taught me, it's that we can't allow our needs to get in the way of what is truly necessary! This is probably the best design we can come up with. There is no way we can do any better!"

"I don't believe that! There has to be a better solution! We just have to think outside the box!"

Chapter 1989 Alternative Concept

Ves held a mech figurine in his hands. He turned it around and inspected it from various angles. He threw it in the air and caught it before it could clatter against the deck of the design lab.

The current conundrum involving the ongoing striker mech project prompted him to pause his work.

He saw a need to reevaluate their current design concept. So far, it fell short of the ambitious area denial mech he imagined in his vision.

The more he worked on the design, the more he chafed at its limitations.

It didn't help that his current project was completely different from his last project. The Bright Warrior modular mech platform might be at least five to ten times more complex, but its plethora of options and generous budget enabled him to add as many goodies as he wanted in its design!

As a bridge mech, a Larkinson mech and a package of four mechs in one, the Bright Warrior proved to be a massive success!

In fact, once his fleet reached the Sentinel Kingdom and stocked up on premium missiles, the lethality of his Bright Warriors would skyrocket to another level! The CRC mechs would never be able to last as long on the battlefield when his latest mechs were finally armed with missiles that cost as much as a budget mech a piece!

He was filled with pride every time he thought about how his Bright Warrior design ended up, but he had to admit that he had been a little too loose with his wallet.

Including the ordinarily unobtainable Breyer alloy and a money-draining missile launcher system were two of the most egregious instances of using his wallet to overcome his problems!

As Ves kept turning around the freshly-fabricated mockup of the unfinished striker mech in his hands, he continued to grasp for inspiration on how to overcome his current design's capacity problem.

"It's all about volume. There's simply not enough space to reach the parameters I want."

A given mech could only carry so much stuff. Past a certain point, adding additional mass and volume to a mech would comprehensively result in a very severe drop in performance.

This was why it was important to find an optimal sweet spot where a mech's offense, defense and mobility all reached satisfactory levels.

Right now, Ves wasn't satisfied with his striker mech's offensive power. If he continued to flesh out this mech concept, he would only end up with a design that only lasted ten to fifteen minutes in battle at most, maybe even less if the mech pilot was rather liberal with the flamethrower.

That wasn't good enough. He knew quite well that the lasting power of his mechs could make or break a victory.

His striker mech was not designed for the mech games circuit where peak performance mechs were the name of the game. He designed it specifically for actual battles in space where most skirmishes in space where battles could stretch for hours in some cases.

While he didn't demand his mech carry enough supplies to last for an entire hour, he at least wanted his striker mechs to last for a decent amount of time before they were forced to return to their motherships in order to replenish themselves.

He knew that comparable striker mechs weren't necessarily better off than his current mech concept. Even so, mechs that lasted a bit longer during active engagements obviously sold better than the ones that lasted shorter.

According to market research, endurance and longevity were in high demand. They were named as one of the persistent complaints by most customers.

While there were plenty of mechs on the market that offered a lot more capacity, these models weren't very attractive due to their lackluster defense and mobility.

"Customers want it all. They want a mech that is deadly, long-lasting, touch and decently fast. Oh, it also has to be affordable!"

No mech designer was able to satisfy all of these demands at once. Ves wasn't arrogant enough to think that he would be able to do what even Master Mech Designers couldn't do! As reality-defying as their capabilities might seem, even the best weren't able to stuff twice as much mech in a single frame!

"Meow."

While Ves was trying to figure out how to solve this problem in his own way, Lucky kept floating around his hands while staring at the figurine with curiosity.

"Are you hungry, Lucky?"

"Meow!"

"You want to eat my figurine?"

"Meow meow!"

A dark expression came over his face. "Mechs aren't made to be your food!"

"Meeeeoow!" Lucky yowled in his face with his mouth stretched open. Ves could see straight through his throat!

A sudden realization came over Ves. He grabbed Lucky from the air and brought him closer in order to inspect the dimensions of his pet!

"Meweoweow!"

"Hold still, Lucky! I'm not doing anything to you! I just need to make some comparisons!"

He held Lucky in one hand and his mech figurine in the other hand. Now that he thought about it, if he pretended that Lucky was mech, his scale was similar to the scale of his mech figurine!

Ves carefully tried to envision the mockup of his striker mech design as an actual mech. He then compared it to another vision of a tiger mech fulfilling the same role!

"Hmmm.."

The tiger mech frame offered various advantages and disadvantages. They worked best on land and solid ground as their quadruped limbs offered a lot of maneuvering options, but it was not unheard of to see them in space.

"A tiger mech can actually function as a decent striker mech."

In many cases, the mouth of a tiger mech incorporated at least some ranged weapon. Ves couldn't help but recall his first tiger mech design, the Kinslayer he designed to fulfill a commission for Lady Miralix of House Laterna.

The landbound mech was a peak performance mech designed to take down one of the most formidable Crown Cats on Felixia. The custom mech succeeded in bringing down Zeigra after an arduous hunt, and part of its success was thanks to its killer move!

Ves could never forget the sight of seeing the heavily-damaged Kinslayer bite the heavily-injured Crown Cat by the neck and unleashing a sea of flames from its throat!

He shook his head. "The Kinslayer is a different mech from my current project."

Not only was its budget at least ten times bigger, the Kinslayer was also melee mech. The range of its flamethrower breath was so short that it was only effective when it bit its target!

Still, perhaps Ves might be able to adapt a tiger mech into an area denial role! A bestial striker mech might be a little more difficult to pilot, but there were several ways he could use its distinct properties to his advantage!

"Meooow!"

"I said hold still!"

Ves began to visualize various means to adapt a tiger-shaped mech into a striker mech. He quickly realized that his bestial mech would have to carry various external components in order to make it function the way he wanted.

His visualization ability was strong, but he felt the need to be a bit more hands on at this time.

He directed his gaze towards the minifab placed at the side of the design lab. Instead of standing up and walking over to the machine, Ves decided to let loose a bit and exercise his implant.

He activated the remote connectivity option of his implant, aware of the risks that this action brought. The risks were negligible though since the Scarlet Rose was completely under his control and the design lab was one of her most secure compartments.

Once he connected to the minifab, he began to prepare it for a hasty fabrication run. Using his implant, he designed a few mock components on the fly and ordered the minifab to pump them out as quickly as possible.

A handful of bots came online. They floated to the material stores and returned a moment later to feed the minifab with the necessary resources.

Shortly afterwards, the bots served up a number of parts to Ves. He took them and began to apply them onto Lucky's back.

"Meow meow meow!"

"Yes, you're right." Ves grinned. "I could have fabricated a tiger mech figurine in the first place, but why should I when I have you? In my eyes, you're the perfect model for my tiger mechs! You should feel honored to serve as the inspiration of my mechs!"

He foisted scaled-down attachments onto Lucky's back before letting him go. The aggrieved gem cat helplessly floated in the air while he tried to get used to the extra 'limbs' installed on his long and sinuous back!

The pale bronze-like plates that covered Lucky's body were usually interspersed with faint black tiger stripes.

Now, his appearance looked completely different now that he gained his attachments! It was a lot easier now for Ves to imagine Lucky as a bestial striker mech.

He activated a design program in his digitized mind and began to sketch a more viable mech in this configuration.

"Meeow!"

"Don't you dare go away! I still need to observe you a while longer to finish my sketch!"

As great of an example as Lucky served for his tiger mechs, Ves still saw a need to design a 'fatter' mech.

Strikers mechs were fairly broad and thick by default as they eschewed mobility for defense.

Ves applied the same paradigm to his new sketch as he broadened and thickened his new draft until he came up with a mech that looked a bit more.. obese than his pet.

Of course, Ves did not design an outright fat cat. An ugly product simply wouldn't sell as much as a more aesthetically-pleasing product unless the performance gains were truly phenomenal.

If Ves had to describe it, he just bulked Lucky's original cat shape up until it resembled that of a tiger, with a little extra padding here and there. The sketch took on a distinctly masculine impression due to how he placed all of the additional bulk.

This was a ferocious-looking draft design. The tiger mech he sketched consisted of a formidable-looking bestial striker mech with its main armaments mounted on its back.

Ves partially broke up the 34F Enison Spreader and incorporated two mounted barrels on flanks of the tiger mech. Doubling the number of barrels increased the cost of the mech, but Ves figured it was a worthwhile tradeoff.

He began to access the internal space of his sketch and began to draw some loose components.

Compared to humanoid mechs, tiger mechs mostly contained the same amount of internal volume, but this was not always the case.

If Ves was willing to sacrifice the agility and mobility of his tiger mech, he could increase the capacity of his mech without making it too unwieldy!

"Meow!"

Lucky rolled in the air while trying to gnaw off the mock flight system and twin flamethrower barrels mounted on his back. He eventually succeeded after rubbing his back against a nearby terminal.

"Meow meow!"

His cat angrily left the design lab after dumping the extra accessories, but Ves didn't need his cat to serve as a model any longer.

The sketch he developed in his mind was a lot more in line with his intentions!

He quickly drew himself back from his mental design space and regarded the humanoid mech figurine in his hands.

"I don't need you any longer."

He chucked the metal figurine over his shoulder, causing it to clatter against the deck. A cleaning bot swooped in a few seconds later to drop it off at recycling.

Ves already turned his attention inwards again. He completed his sketch with the power of his digitized mind and added a few more technically-accurate details after importing the components he licensed.

Though not all of the components were optimized for bestial mechs, Ves could just adapt them or replace them with something else. For now, he just wanted to see whether his idea was viable.

"I hope this alternative concept works."

Chapter 1990 Low Expectations

When Ves met up with Gloriana, he showed off his latest efforts. He handed over another mech figurine that served as a mockup of his alternative concept for their striker mech.

Gloriana looked nonplussed. "Is this what you were talking about when you stated you wanted to think outside the box? You could have at least resorted to a bestial shape that works better in space! Why not a dragon mech?"

"It doesn't matter." Ves shrugged. "A dragon is merely a mech with a large flight system and a bit more arcing in its body shape. I decided upon a tiger shape because it's already familiar territory to me. It also helps that it fully conforms with its intended design spirit. I think Zeigra always works best when he's matched with a tiger mech design."

Though his arguments made sense, Gloriana knew that there were a lot more implications that her boyfriend hadn't mentioned!

"There's not much point to quadruped mechs in space. There is hardly any solid soil for the legs to grip in. This is all wasted resources."

"I don't think so." Ves replied. "The legs make up for the lack of swords to the mech. When any humanoid mech comes close, they'll have to fend off the mech equivalent of a tiger! As long as the tiger mech is piloted by someone competent, my striker mech can be quite a beast in close combat!"

"You're talking about turning our striker mech into a hybrid mech!"

"Not exactly..." Ves shook his head. "It's not a powerhouse in melee combat. Compared to conventional tiger mechs, most of the capacity of the mech is devoted to empowering its flamethrower mounts. With the way I've configured this draft, it features the same amount of internal volume of a humanoid mech, but actually offers a lot more space for external mounts. Did you notice that my alternative concept has a decent amount of room on its back?"

She turned her gaze back to the mech figurine in her hand and touched its back."With humanoid mechs, the flight system occupies at least fifty to eighty percent of the available space on the back. It's different for tiger mechs since they are quadruped machines with more but comparably smaller legs."

The flight system and the twin flamethrower mounts only occupied around forty percent of the mech's back. While that didn't mean that sixty percent of the real estate could be used to mount external modules, his alternative concept was at least a lot better off in this regard!

Nonetheless, Gloriana immediately pointed out the critical flaw to this alternate design.

"This mech is a bit worse off in terms of defense. Compared to a humanoid mech which is able to present its entire strong side towards the enemy, your bestial striker mech can easily expose its vulnerable flight system and back-mounted components to the enemy. If the enemy attacks from multiple angles, its difficult for this mech concept to guard all of its VULNERABLE external modules."

Ves reached out to the figurine in her hands and oriented it so that its snarling maw directly looked in her face. "Its front profile is a lot smaller as a consequence. Against distant opponents who are all approaching from a single direction, it's difficult to target its broader side profile. The only way to target its back-mounted modules is if they gain a favorable angle, which won't be easy."

In most space battles, the enemy closed in from a single direction. Only when they came close enough did the distance shorten to a point where flanking maneuvers actually resulted in greater angles of approach.

"I don't know, Ves." She continued to frown as she put down the figurine on a table. "I understand what you are trying to accomplish, but an excessive amount of back-mounted modules is nothing different than exposing its internals. The point of armoring a mech is to protect the critical but fragile components that make it work. Both melee mechs and ranged mechs can easily cripple your bestial striker mech's external modules if they attack from the sides. In comparison, our original humanoid striker mech design is better off since its back is firmly oriented to the rear, which is much more difficult to reach."

She was right. Ves deflated a bit as he tried but failed to muster up a good counterargument. Though he already anticipated this problem to an extent, it was very difficult to determine whether the humanoid version or the bestial version fared better in actual combat.

"Let me think about it some more."

"No." Gloriana lifted her palm. "A lot of times, your ideas have merit. This is not one of those times. If you wanted to design a melee mech or an artillery mech, then the tiger shape makes a bit more sense. A striker mech is not as fitting. You're casting aside the advantages of a tiger mech in the form of its superior mobility on solid surfaces for marginal benefits that bring their own host of problems."

"It features a higher capacity!"

"That capacity comes at a greater cost! Unless you are willing to turn your tiger mech into a camel mech, there is no way to adequately protect its back exterior!"

The two argued a bit further, but Gloriana succeeded in gaining the upper hand. She pointed out all of the critical conceptual and practical flaws related to trying to turn a tiger mech into a striker mech.

With the requirements and limitations they were working under, Ves' alternate concept simply failed to bring enough advantages to convince his girlfriend to adopt it. To her, it was a failed experiment.

"Don't take it too hard." She said and pressed the side of her body against him. "Your mech is still viable, but not enough to pass muster. It's just that there aren't a lot of bestial mech pilots in the Komodo Star Sector, which will certainly affect its immediate market appeal. Striker mechs are supposed to be quick to learn but slow to master. Turning to a tiger mech shape will just increase the skill floor of our mech while keeping its skill ceiling just as high, if not higher. It won't be a good sell."

Ves took the mech figurine from her hands and studied it a bit further. "You're right."

If he had his way, then he would have attempted to design both mech designs and compare their actual performance through extensive testing. He could adopt the best-performing one as the definitive design while throwing the other into his archive of unfinished work.

The problem was that this entailed a lot of work. While there were plenty of mech companies and mech designers who adopted this labor-intensive approach towards mech design, the extra work and effort needed to deliver two high-quality designs instead of just a single one was not something he could afford to do. He had way too much work on his plate and doubling his design workload without yielding any obvious gains was far too wasteful!

All of this meant that Ves had to make a choice. He could choose to acquiesce to Gloriana's recommendation and drop his tiger mech idea. He could also choose to force everyone to adopt his alternative concept.

When Ves glanced at Gloriana, she looked back at him with expectation. It was as if she already knew his choice and was just waiting for him to open his mouth to issue his surrender. Nothing about her demeanor suggested that she was in the mood for any nonsense!

This situation did not sit well with Ves. He felt as if he was faced with an insanely difficult puzzle. Instead of solving it completely, Ves and Gloriana settled on a partial answer.

In a school test, the two would probably be able to gain 60 points out of a 100 points. While that sounded like a passable grade, Ves was not satisfied with his lackluster result!

He wanted a higher score! Even if obtaining 100 or even 90 points was out of reach, he still wanted to score at least 70 points, which would already put his striker mech design above most of the competition in technical performance alone!

Ves rubbed his eyes in thought. "Maybe.. We don't need to adopt a tiger mech. We don't need to adopt a humanoid mech either. What if.. we can merge them together? What if we detach ourselves from the boundaries of established mech shapes and just come up with our own?!"

"You're talking about designing an aberrant mech." Gloriana curled her mouth in distaste. "They're very difficult to design. They don't equate to any of the standard humanoid or bestial mech shapes, so we have to research all of the fundamental mechanisms concerning its unique shape from scratch. That is a lot of work, and it's not evident that we'll be able to obtain any compelling gains. If a mech designer already came up with a compelling aberrant mech concept for a striker mech, it would have already been popularized in the mech industry."

"You're right, but let's not knock this idea before we try it. Every mech designer's circumstances are different. Who knows, we might really be able to find an aberrant form that accomplishes all of the goals we set out to achieve!"

Gloriana scooted away from him and crossed her arms. "If you are really set upon this course, then by all means go ahead. I won't take part in your foolishness, though. The formula for striker mechs may be simple, but it's solid. You can't go wrong if you adopt the standard humanoid form."

After a bit of discussion, the pair eventually came to an agreement.

Ves had a week to come up with an aberrant mech concept for their current project. If his efforts failed to pass muster after a week of exploration, then he would be forced to give up his search for a better mech concept and rejoin Gloriana in designing their humanoid version.

"If it was up to me, I wouldn't give you more than a day." Gloriana huffed. "I know you wouldn't be resigned if I didn't give you enough time to ram your head against the wall. You need to experience true failure before you are ready enough to admit the futility of your current direction."

How charming of her to beat down his hopes.

"You could have wished me good luck, Gloriana."

She smirked. "When it comes to work, I'm always serious. I can't bring myself to lie to you about your chances of success. Personally, I think you have enjoyed way too many successes recently. You need to be taken down a peg, and there's no better way to do so than allowing you to try and fail to climb over an impassable hurdle."

He tried his best not to take her words to heart. Ves wasn't the kind of mech designer who gave up before he made an actual attempt. A week was a lot of time for him to explore further alternate concepts.

He already developed some initial ideas.

"We'll find out after a week."

The two separated after Ves accepted this challenge. Gloriana would continue to work on the main design with only occasional input from him in order to make sure its spiritual development was still on track.

Ves sat down behind a different terminal and began to think. How could he come up with a mech concept that possessed all of the strengths of a humanoid striker mech but offered a bit more capacity at no significant cost?

"Nothing comes for free." He whispered to himself. "I have to make some sacrifices to the mech design in order to obtain the necessary capacity."

He began anew by loading in the humanoid version into his mental design program. He snipped off the legs, freeing up a lot of space but at the cost of removing a lot of potential buffer and crippling its mobility in gravity conditions.

Nonetheless, legs weren't as critical in spaceborn mechs as landbound mechs, so it was not unusual to see mechs with incomplete limbs, though admittedly they mostly tended to be cheaper products.

"What can I do with this starting point?" He wondered.

Chapter 1991 Original Charm

Was Ves bashing his head against a wall?

He certainly felt like it after trying to come up with several alternate mech concepts. Each time, he attempted to come up with a mech shape that was able to offer better and more tailored performance compared to what a bog-standard vanilla humanoid striker mech had to offer!

"I refuse to give up! I refuse to give in! I'm a mech designer! I can work with multiple mech shapes!"

Designing humanoid mechs was very familiar territory to Ves. He almost never designed a mech that deviated from the premise of an upright machine that walked on two legs and used its two arms to wield its primary armaments.

This standard was very popular in the mech community, and for good reason.

Ves didn't need to reiterate that it was a shape that was easy to pick up and understand by his customers.

He didn't need to say that research on humanoid mechs had been done to death, so there were a lot of standard layouts that offered immediate answers on how to structure their internals and artificial musculature systems.

All of these advantages and more turned humanoid mechs into the predominant mech shape in human space. Bestial mechs took second place, but were very popular in certain states and star sectors.

Outside of these established conventions, there was still room for more mech shapes, some of which weren't inspired by the shapes of existing humans and beasts.

These days, the mech industry came up with a lot of standards and best practices. A lot of excellent mech designers over the generations experimented with what they could do. The MTA and other organizations gathered all of the results and aggregated them in order to determine which one was the best out of all of them. After a very long process, the solution the MTA chose would eventually become the most optimal standard which every mech designer had to respect!

Was there anything nefarious behind this drive towards pushing standards on the mech industry? Not necessarily. They were often the most optimal solution to most situations. It was a waste of time trying to explore other options when the existing standards were already the best!

"Still, it's a mistake to assume that the standards are unquestionably the best in every situation."

Technology constantly progressed, opening up newer options and making unviable choices more practical.

The imagination of the entire mech industry was vast, but not unlimited. The most deviant minds who weren't satisfied with the existing standards always tried to figure out if there was a better way to solve a problem!

Most attempts ended in failure, but occasionally someone got lucky. Still, their successes were usually marginal and limited to specific circumstances. After so much technological development, it was very rare that a single mech designer was able to come up with a radical solution that was good enough to overturn existing standards!

Changing the shape of a mech to suit a certain purpose was not that unusual. However, most mechs designed in this fashion still fell within the boundaries of conventional standards.

Not many mech designers chose to take it a step further and design a true deviation from the standard.

Now that Ves started to tackle this challenge himself, he found out first hand why even Seniors and Masters declined to explore this direction further.

"It's too difficult!"

He felt as if he was straining his creativity to come up with good ideas. Most of them sounded promising at first, but as soon as Ves sketched a rough draft, they turned out to be very deficient in certain aspects.

So far, many of his mechs came across as demented frontline mechs. Removing the legs and turning the arms into flamethrower mounts vastly increased the capacity and efficiency of his mech.

However, these design choices neutered his striker mech's ability to defend against melee threats. This was not something striker mech pilots liked to see. Their mech types were designed to fend off approaching melee mechs, so they were at high risk of getting attacked by enemy mechs up close!

"They'll probably equate my mech to a starfighter." Ves tiredly remarked as he mentally threw his latest draft design into his implant's trash bin.

Spaceborn frontline mechs were often indistinguishable from starfighters past a certain point. The only reason why they still fell under the category of mechs at all was because they required a pilot with the right neural aptitude to operate.

That said, which mech pilot wanted to pilot such a limiting machine? Mech pilots possessed their own pride! They spent at least eight, ten or twelve years learning how to pilot complicated, multi-limbed war machines! Putting them into the cockpit of a glorified starfighter was an insult to their identity!

After making so many futile attempts, Ves was out of inspiration. He no longer possessed the drive and energy to research alternate concepts.

"Enough!"

Ves threw his hands and decided to end this session. He wouldn't gain anything when his inspiration ran dry. Even his creativity had limits!

Even though he hadn't gained any concrete results so far, Ves nonetheless gained at least some satisfaction.

He felt he was going back to his roots. Lately, Ves had been pushing off a lot of problems to Gloriana. It felt good to tackle a technical problem by himself. Unlike the other problems, Ves cared a lot about this issue, so he was fully invested in trying to solve it in a better way than the standard formulas could achieve.

It reminded him what mech design was really all about. His design philosophy had more in common with spiritual sorcery than the nuts and bolts of creating technically-sophisticated war machines. It was easy for Ves to become more and more detached from the technical side of mech design, especially since his girlfriend was so good in this aspect.

Ves couldn't help but be reminded of a warning he received from Master Moira Willix.

"Specialization is good for gaining greater efficiency in my workflow, but not necessarily good for my development. If I keep handing off work I don't like to my girlfriend, I will eventually lose the ability to perform this work myself!"

He needed to design mechs by himself in order to keep his comprehensive design skills sharp. Right now, the challenge he accepted forced him to exercise several technical design skills that he had neglected for a very long time!

"It feels good to approach a design like I did at the start of my career!" He smiled.

Though he failed to yield any useful results, the entire process benefited him in a different way. He felt mentally stimulated in a way that caused him to discover some of the original charm he appreciated about mechs.

No matter what shape they came in, mechs represented the ultimate creative potential of the human race. The vibrant mech industry constantly produced an uncountable amount of designs, many of which contained wonderful new innovations!

Leaving aside glows and design spirits, mechs fascinated Ves because they were capable of outputting a lot of damage or withstanding a lot of attacks through their clever design and thorough destruction.

Ves rediscovered some of the childish fascination he held towards mechs. In his childhood, he didn't know any better, but that didn't stop him from admiring these great and terrible machines!

"Maybe I'm forcing the matter too much."

His latest setbacks and realizations cleansed his mind and snapped him out of his obsession. Now that he was able to look back at the past few days, he felt a bit ashamed. He was so determined to achieve the impossible that he disregarded his girlfriend's sound advice and proceeded to do exactly what she said, hitting his head against a wall.

"At least I knocked off some dust in my mind when I did all of that head bashing!" Ves joked.

He decided to take a break from work and occupy his time with other matters.

He spent some time tutoring Maikel and Zanthra Larkinson. Both of his pupils weren't ready for the real lessons yet, but that was no excuse for the two teenagers to slack off! Ves was determined to push them in order to make sure they earned their progress through blood, sweat and tears!

When the two kids whined to him that their workload was too high, Ves verbally slapped aside these arguments.

"Do you think it's easy to become a Journeyman? Do you think you can stroll your way to my level of success? That's impossible! There are so many ambitious and hard-working mech designers in the mech industry that there is always someone better! The best you can do is keep up as much as possible while finding your own strengths. You can play after you become a mech designer. Until then, I expect you to manage your time well so that you keep learning something new every day!"

He had to give the Larkinsons at least some leisure time. Ves was very careful about that. If he forced Maikel and Zanthar to study from morning to evening, they wouldn't be able to unwind and live their lives!

Ves had long developed a hypothesis that spiritual potential emerged from individuals who made the most of life. Spirituality seemed to have a very strong correlation with sentience. He guessed that clever and emotional people were much more prone to develop spiritual potential than someone dull!

After he finished checking their progress, Ves exited the design lab and wandered through the halls of the Scarlet Rose.

He couldn't help but recall the memories of the original-prefitted version of the ship and what took place in the corridors and compartments. With the help of his implant, he could call up the exact positions of the bodies on the deck and the damage to the interior.

Now, none of those signs were visible. The refit had extensively repaired the damage and wiped away the traces. Instead, the comfortable white interior was interspersed with the symbol of the LMC and the Larkinson Clan. Two different cats adorned the logos, though many people thought they were the same!

It felt very gratifying to own a ship as expensive and capable as the Scarlet Rose. It felt even better when Ves realized that he didn't pay fortune to obtain this ship!

"No wonder the pirate profession holds so much attraction! It's so easy to steal someone's pride and joy through the use of force!"

That said, Ves would be crazy if he decided to go pirate. Stealing the possessions of others was a very fast way to tanking his reputation and earning the ire of every lawful organization!

Eventually, he returned to his stateroom. Gavin stood and waited patiently at the entrance.

"Benny? Why are you here?"

"Something important has come up." His assistant answered as his eyes darted in several directions. "Let's head inside to talk."

When they entered the stateroom and took their seats, Gavin activated his comm and projected a recording of a compartment turned into a chamber of worship by a bunch of Ylvainans.

"What is so concerning about this, Benny? All I see is a bunch of Ylvainan crew members performing their daily prayers."

Gavin zoomed in the projection. "Ah, that is normally the case, but recently the Ylvainans have altered their worship rituals. Look closely at the statue placed in the back."

Now that Ves directed his attention towards it, the metal statue that usually depicted the robed form of Prophet Ylvaine was absent.

Instead, a new statue took its place! Ves studied the figure it depicted carefully and found some very disturbing aspects about it. Its face and demeanor looked very familiar!

"Is that.. me?"

"Yes." Gavin answered. "We don't quite know yet when it started, but the thousands of Ylvainans running our ships and piloting some of our mechs have all started to worship you directly! To be honest, that was already happening to some extent, but lately the Ylvainans have started to put you ahead of the Great Prophet! It's as if the Living Prophet voluntarily relinquished his central role in his own faith in favor of you! James has to be responsible for this massive shift, but the reason for it eludes us! None of the Ylvainans we've questioned can provide us with a solid answer!"

Ves looked shocked at the news! If what happened in the recording took place throughout his entire fleet, then he was basically enjoying the worship of the entire True Ylvaine Dynasty!

This was incredibly surprising because he didn't even believe in the Ylvainan Faith!

"What is that bastard James up to now?!"

Chapter 1992 Another "Benny"

Ever since Gavin informed him of the huge shift in worship pattern among the Ylvainans in his fleet, Ves felt more anxious about this group than ever.

Religious fanatics always concerned him a lot. Unlike normal people, fanatics wholeheartedly devoted themselves to whatever cause they idolized!

This compulsion could be used for both innocuous ends and destructive ends! When people turned off the part of their brains that ran on logic, they were capable of doing anything regardless of the harm to their own lives and wellbeing!

This was why Ves hated them so much. To him, reality made much more sense when people solely pursued their rational self-interests. Extremists and fanatics were some of the people who were most prone to ignoring this pattern, which made them very hard to predict and guard against!

It was already bad enough that some of his enemies consisted of fanatics.

It was worse when they counted among his allies!

The two groups that concerned him the most were the Ylvainans and the Hexers.

Even though Ves grew increasingly more close to the Hexers, he wasn't too concerned. As long as he refrained from entering Hegemony space, he didn't have to deal with their man-hating ways aside from the occasional insensitive remark from his girlfriend.

The same could not be said for the Ylvainans.

Though he left the Ylvaine Protectorate far behind, that only separated him from the 'moderate' Ylvainans.

A large portion of his fleet and his other organizations consisted of True Believers! Compared to regular Ylvainans, they were even more devoted to their faith, and they just happened to be indoctrinated in the belief that the clones of the Great Prophet actually represented the original Ylvaine!

The amount of craziness needed to believe in such an absurd premise was astounding. Everyone in the galaxy knew that clones of people did not take over their identities. Far from it. Clowns were essentially bots in human skin! Even if the less flawed clones could pass off as human, it was largely similar to AIs programmed to act like humans.

James Ylvaine was different, however. So much so that Ves demanded a personal meeting with the latest clone of the prophet. This new development obviously came from the top!

When the fleet next exited FTL, a shuttle departed from a light carrier. It crossed a short distance until it docked in the Scarlet Rose's crowded hangar bay.

Only one person exited the shuttle. James Ylvaine wearing his characteristic white robes emerged from the vehicle with a pleasant smile. The guards assigned to fetch him couldn't help but be taken aback by his natural charm!

"Please lead the way." He spoke, his smooth voice flowing like silk!

Wherever he passed, the crew members working in the vicinity all stared at him as if he was a celebrity. His regal-looking robe stood out from the functional uniforms of the Avatars and Battle Criers like a sore thumb. It was as if a pope had stepped onto their humble ship!

The pair of guards eventually ushered him in Ves' stateroom.

Aside from Nitaa and Lucky, no one else was present. Ves did not feel threatened by James as long as he was alone. It was his influence and the devotion of his followers that truly turned him into a formidable player!

"Mr. Larkinson." James greeted Ves as if they were ordinary buddies. "It's good to see you again. I'm aware that you are very busy lately. Just know that failure is a normal process that everyone has to go through. You are not strong enough to be able to fulfill all of your ambitions. That's okay. I'm sure that you will be able to revisit your goal in the future."

Ves stroked Lucky's back as his cat dozed on his desk. His lips curled into a frown. "I did not ask for your advice. Please keep these kinds of comments to yourself. In fact, cut it off with the charade. I believe the future is never set in stone! Whatever you think might happen, there is always the possibility that events will happen outside of your supposed predictions!"

"I never claimed to be omniscient, Ves." James smiled toothily at him as he comfortably sat on the chair placed before the desk. "I think you are misconstruing what a prophet is. Prophets are messengers. Prophets serve as the voice of the people or something greater. I did not wear this robe to enrich myself. I serve a greater cause."

That sounded absurd to Ves. "The records of the original Ylvaine say otherwise. By all accounts, he was fully enjoying the life of a cult leader."

It was indisputable that the Prophet Ylvaine who founded the faith was a very indulgent human. Not only did he travel on the most luxurious ships, he also married a lot of wives and fathered a lot of sons!

Was this the behavior of a humble messenger?

"Again, I am not necessarily great." James calmly retorted as if he already expected the answer. "My current incarnation is just a mortal. Just like my first known incarnation, I am just as vulnerable to the threat of death as any other human. However, even if I die this instant, I will always live on. Life is rather quirky. As someone who embodies this domain, I'm sure you know all about it. Right, Mr. Larkinson?"

How many secrets did this man know?! Ves resisted the urge to restrain him and dig through his mind!

"Stop taunting me, James. I am in no mood to play these games!"

"As you wish, Ves. I'm sure you are curious why my followers have shifted to worshipping you. I can imagine that this is a very abrupt change to those who aren't versed in our faith. I did not intend to alarm you all, but this is the right time to enact this shift."

Would Ves ever be able to hold a normal conversation with James? The Living Prophet acted as if he was answering a question that hadn't even been voiced!

Ves knew he had to take control over the conversation. This charismatic bastard would definitely be able to walk all over him if he kept getting caught off-guard all the time!

"Tell me the meaning of this change." He demanded in a firmer tone than before. "As long as I have been familiar with the Ylvainan Faith, it has always centered around 'you'. The Martyred Followers have always been treated as 'your' sidekicks. While their accomplishments are worth celebrating, it has never been in doubt that your faith revolves around Ylvaine!"

James chuckled and shook his head. "Is that what you think? I'm sorry, Ves, but you don't know us well enough. First, the faith that is named after me has never centered around me. It's only being referred to as the Ylvainan Faith in order to make it easier for my people to understand what they are devoting themselves towards. In truth, I am never the star of this show. Remember what I told you about prophets. We are messengers, nothing more. Our job is to spread our message to the people."

"And what message are you exactly advocating?"

"Do you even need to ask? My message has always been the same. A time will come when everyone will be elevated into gods. Humans or aliens, it doesn't matter. A time will come where we shall all ascend to a higher state of existence! Life, death and continuity will no longer be as absolute as before as everyone holds the potential of transcending the rules that limit our mortal existences!"

That was standard Ylvainan drivel. Ves dismissively waved his hand. "Yes, yes, yes, I'm already familiar with that nonsense. What I would like to know what this old message of yours has to do with ME! It's understandable if your True Believers keep worshipping you, but why are they starting to worship me?! I'm not a god?"

"Are you sure about that?" James retorted with a grin.

"I. Am. Not. A. God. Because. Gods. Do. Not. Exist."

"It's rather amusing how ardently you deny the obvious. Words have power. They ascribe meaning to others. You identify yourself as a mech designer. That's understandable. Yet this simple and generic-sounding description does not do you justice! You should listen to your girlfriend more. She's not as delusional as you think. In fact, from our perspective, it is you who are in denial!"

"SHUT UP!" Ves slammed his fists against his desk.

"Meow?!"

Lucky jumped in the air!

Ves ignored the distress of his cat. He was too angry right now! His patience with James was quickly wearing thin!

"Don't try to warp my beliefs or hoodwink me into converting to your nonsensical faith! While I tolerate the beliefs of your people, that does not mean I'm a part of your cult! I am not an Ylvainan. I will never be an Ylvainan!"

"That's okay." The Living Prophet gently replied. He remained completely unaffected by the ire shown by Ves! "The truth can never be changed no matter how much you deny it. Do you want to know the reason why my followers have shifted their worship towards you? It's because you deserve it more than I! Besides, this shift will do much to help our integration into your clan. We are all in this together, Ves. You're still treating us as a separate faction, and that is understandable, but your viewpoint is already outdated."

Ves looked at James in shock!

"What are you talking about? The Ylvainan Faith has always centered around you, the 'prophet'!"

"Prophets are messengers, Ves. They are agents of other entities. You can imagine them as the divine equivalent of your assistant Gavin. To put it simply, I'm your Benny, and the latest change reflects this reality!"

WHat?! It wasn't enough for James to make his followers idolize him in order to fit in with the clan. He also had the temerity to claim he was a Benny!

Ves started to develop a headache. Talking to James was always an enormous pain! He was far from an ordinary Benny in this regard!

Bennies like Gavin did his best to make his life easier. Of course, Bennies also had a very unfortunate tendency to serve another master at the same time.

The question was what ulterior motive drove James to enact this profound shift. Ves did not believe that he was doing all of this just to benefit their new 'god'! Cult leaders were always supposed to be self-serving bastards! Ves did not believe there was any exception to this rule!

"Is it even proper for you to change the tenets of your faith so drastically? The Ylvainans from the Protectorate would probably crucify you if they see how much you have warped their faith!"

"The Ylvainans left behind in the Protectorate are fallen." James sighed in a dramatic fashion. "While I respect their faith, they are too blinded by doctrine and old beliefs, courtesy of the Poxco Dynasty. The Poxcos have tried to enforce my old prophecies and sayings to such a great extent that they are stuck in the past! This is a distortion of my original intent. Faith is alive. Faith is organic. Faith constantly changes with the times. Paying attention to what I said over four centuries ago while ignoring what I am saying in the present time is completely wrong!"

If James Ylvaine was actually the original prophet, then Ves was inclined to accept his argument.

James was just a clone, though. Even though he received some help from Ylvaine's spiritual fragment, that still didn't change the fact that he was not the original prophet!

He was just a fake who had been deluded into thinking he was the same man as the one who lived over four centuries ago!

"I tire of this conversation. Please get to the point. What are your True Believers up to? What is the point of worshipping me as a god?"

The Living Prophet folded his hands and smiled. "It's rather simple, really. Our faith has always been about preparing for the Time of Ascension. How better to prepare for this epoch-changing event than to follow an actual god?"

"I told you already! I am not a god! Cut it out!"

"You cannot deny who you are, Vulcan."

"ARRRGGGHH!"

Chapter 1993 Smooth Criminal

The Penitent Sisters ships consisted largely of combat carriers with a handful of transport ships trailing behind.

The quality of their vessels clearly upstaged anything in Ves' fleet aside from the ships of the Glory Battalion!

If that wasn't enough, the Peninent Sisters weren't shy about showing off their might! Almost the entire spaceborn complement of the Sisters emerged from their carriers and formed a huge and imposing formation that silenced everyone in his fleet!

"Almost three-hundred mechs." He viewed the projection of their approach. "All second-class mechs."

Gloriana smiled as she stood by his left. She didn't look nearly as nervous as Ves! "Look closer at the individual machines. While their formation looks impressive at first, the quality of their mechs leave a lot to be desired."

He zoomed in the projection and immediately spotted the telltale marks of frequent repairs and extensive wear and tear.

"These are lastgen mechs, and not just that. They're also rather getting on in years!"

"The Penitent Sisters are meant to pilot designed by boys. Since you decided to stall on the commission, they have to make do with the Hegemony's castoffs instead." Calabast remarked as she stood by his right.

Being flanked by two Hexers made Ves a little nervous. Rather than project an image that he was in charge, he felt as if he was letting his girlfriend and his strategic partner be in charge instead!

"Meow?" Lucky crawled onto his shoulder.

"No, Lucky. You don't get to eat their mechs. Even if they are a bit outdated, they are still competitive machines. For now, we need the strength of these mechs to guard ourselves against Fridaymen aggression."

His cat didn't like that answer. Lucky soon jumped away from his shoulder and floated down to frolick with Clixie.

Ves felt he needed a boost of confidence. He turned around and stretched his hand. "Give me the Larkinson Mandate."

His silent bodyguard obediently passed over the book that was in her care.

The hefty tome landed in his grasp, directly exposing him to the life contained within the intangible space of the ancestral relic.

Nyaaaa.

The Golden Cat looked up at Ves in the spiritual realm.

"Keep an eye on the newcomers we're about to meet. If they present an acute danger to me, please warn me. I trust in your judgement."

Nyaaa. Nyaa!

Ves looked a lot more steady now that he held the book. Goldie's presence and the symbolism of the book infused his spine with a very needed boost of confidence!

Hexers always frustrated him, but he was determined to make sure he ended this meeting on a strong note! He was not about to let these women walk all over him! He was a man, and he wanted to be sure the incoming commander of the Penitent Sisters knew who was in charge!

"What are the conditions for their use?" Ves asked. "Can I organize them however I want?"

"Not exactly. There are a number of strings attached. None of them are too onerous, I assure you." Calabast reassured him. "Let me list them out. First, you have to keep them as a separate entity. That means you can't invite them into the Larkinson Clan."

That point was obviously moot! There was no way Ves would be crazy enough to invite the Penitent Sisters into his clan!

"Second, you will have to replace their mechs with ones designed by you. There's no time limit attached to this condition, but you shouldn't delay this matter for too long. The Temple of Hexism outfitted the Penitent Sisters with outdated mechs for more reasons than to be frugal. They won't last very long."

Great. The advanced state of wear and tear of the Penitent Sister mechs served as an invisible deadline. If Ves hadn't supplied the Sisters with new mechs of his own designs, they wouldn't have any intact mechs to pilot in a couple of years!

"Third, you are responsible for all of their equipment and expenses. While the Hegemony has already covered the cost of acquiring all of the ships, mechs and other equipment, the state will not subsidize the outfit on your behalf."

"That's not a problem. I think I can handle the increased upkeep. If not, I'll just work harder and publish some new designs."

Calabast nodded and raised a fourth finger. "Fourth, treat them with at least some respect. While the Penitent Sisters are regarded as sinners and criminals by the Hegemony, they are still loyal Hexer citizens. Don't mistreat them or deprive them from what they need to sustain themselves and perform their duties. Keep your hands to yourself and be professional! I'll be sure to observe your conduct with them on behalf of the Hegemony to make sure you comply with this directive."

"I'm not that kind of person!" Ves protested.

"You don't have to worry about that, Calabast." His girlfriend spoke from his left side. "With me around, Ves doesn't need another woman, isn't that right? Hihi!"

"Of course."

"Good, because I'll be keeping an eye on you anyway. Don't touch anything you aren't supposed to and I won't chop them off, okay?"

"Gloriana!"

"I was just joking, hihi!" She giggled.

Ves wasn't sure about that, but whatever.

Once the Penitent Sister fleet came within range of his own fleet, a shuttle departed from the flagship, a combat carrier called the Surly Cockatrice.

"You Hexers sure have a wicked sense of humor."

"We try." Calabast smiled. "Hexers aren't as stiff as you imagine. It's not as if Gloriana spends all of her time to think how she can repress boys like you. Mostly."

Gloriana's eyes dreamingly blinked at Ves. "I can spend hours thinking about your smooth and soft face."

"Please be serious. I don't want to give the wrong impression to our latest guest. Since I'm expected to have a working relationship with the Penitent Sisters, we shouldn't joke around too much." Ves coughed.

He had heard quite a bit about the Penitent Sisters, and nothing about their story suggested that they consisted of Hexers who could take a joke!

Ves and his entourage headed down to the Scarlet Rose's hangar bay to greet the new arrival.

Soon enough, an advanced-looking shuttle landed on the designated zone.

The shuttle was coated in a pattern of black and orange, just like all of the mechs and ships of the Penitent Sisters.

The outfit's colors also extended to their uniforms as a number of tall and athletic-looking women emerged from the vehicle!

Ves immediately recognized that these women had undergone the same type of physical and genetic augmentation as Nitaa, but to a much more sophisticated degree!

Whereas his personal bodyguard grew tall and muscled, the approaching Hexers all looked a bit more compact and feminine but by no means weaker!

The women initially marched forward with confidence, but as they recognized Ves and came closer, their steps slowed as if they were unwilling to enter his presence.

The obvious scowls on their faces made it very clear that they did not like him at all!

Ves felt a bit discouraged by the fact that the Penitent Sisters weren't even able to maintain a professional demeanor in front of their new employer.

He understood their predicament a bit, though. Not only were these man-haters forced to repent their radical views, they were also forced to obey his orders! Any Hexer would be mad at these circumstances, let alone the ones who thought that boys weren't worthy enough to be kept alive!

The emblem imposed upon the Penitent Sisters clearly showcased their lack of choice in the matter. The symbol consisted of the classic symbol of Mars in orange adorning a black circle!

The Temple of Hexism might as well have drawn the symbol directly on their faces!

To bear this mark as the representation of their outfit must feel like a supreme indignity to these Hexers! If he was in their place, he would be angry all the time as well!

In fact, Ves found it surprising that these Penitent Sisters hadn't chafed at their punishment and tried to go rogue. Ves didn't see any obvious signs of enforcers or other means of insuring their compliance.

The small group of women finally stopped before their new employer. They looked at Ves in obvious distaste, but that did not stop them all from bending down to their knees, pressing their fists against their chests and lowering their heads!

"We are the Penitent Sisters. We have accepted exile from the Hexadric Hegemony in order to serve our fellow Hexers in another capacity! We have all taken an oath to serve the boy known as Ves Larkinson! For as long as our pure and unsullied female bodies still draw breath, we shall do our best to atone for our mistakes!"

A pregnant silence stretched after this solemn declaration.

Ves sensed no duplicity in their words. They gave off a similar vibe to Ylvainans crossed with Hexers. The Penitent Sisters were absolutely serious about abiding to the strictures and tenets they believed in. Right now, their strong religious and cultural beliefs strongly discouraged them from evading their punishment!

Rather than feel disturbed at their slavish devotion to their made-up beliefs, Ves instead relaxed a little.

As sad as it sounded, Ves was quite experienced in interacting with religious nuts. He could already tell that the Penitent Sisters largely fell in this category.

"Rise." He spoke with a tone that attempted to convey as much authority as possible. "Please introduce yourselves."

The lead woman with the most impressive-looking epaulets on the shoulder of her uniform rose up first. The woman had shaved the left side of her hair and dyed the other half in stripes of orange and black.

Together with her uniform, it made her look like a giant warning sign.

"I am Commander Valerie Chancy. I lead the Penitent Sisters."

Commander Chancy looked like she was in her fifties, though it was hard for Ves to know for sure due to all of the physical augmentations she went through.

Though she hadn't spoken a lot of words, Ves immediately got a sense he was facing a veteran combat and a person who embodied discipline. She immediately reminded him of the veterans in his own family.

It was too bad the obvious disgust in her eyes and expression betrayed her true thoughts. Even though the commander of the Penitent Sisters was resolved to follow her instructions to the letters, her true thoughts on boys likely remained unchanged!

The other two women looked just as pissed as they introduced themselves.

"Juliet Stameros." A younger woman with the same hairstyle spoke up next. "I am the head designer of the Penitent Sisters. I am in charge of managing the condition of our mechs."

That sounded familiar. Ves would have felt a bit of kinship with Juliet if not for her fire radiating from her eyes!

Another middle-aged woman spoke up after that. "Commodore Abigail Evern. I command the fleet of the Penitent Sisters."

Ves and Gloriana immediately jerked as they heard her name!

"Are you a part of the Evern Matriarchal Dynasty?" Gloriana asked cautiously.

She had a lot of cause for worry! Officially, the Wodins were subordinate to the Everns! The two dynasties essentially shared a vassal-liege relationship!

As if expecting this question, Commodore Evern shook her head. "I have been cast out of the Evern Matriachal Dynasty due to my.. transgressions. Though I have retained the right to carry the Evern name, I am no longer an extension of my old dynasty."

In other words, her status was similar to that of Calabast, but not as pleasant. She obviously sounded aggrieved of this fact. Almost anyone who used to be a part of a very elite family group would feel that way after getting disowned.

All in all, Ves did not have a very good impression of the Penitent Hexers. Even though he only met three of them so far, he doubted that the thousands that made up the entire outfit were any different!

What was Ves supposed to do with these Hexers?

Chapter 1994 Aggrieved Women

The Penitent Sisters ships consisted largely of combat carriers with a handful of transport ships trailing behind.

The quality of their vessels clearly upstaged anything in Ves' fleet aside from the ships of the Glory Battalion!

If that wasn't enough, the Peninent Sisters weren't shy about showing off their might! Almost the entire spaceborn complement of the Sisters emerged from their carriers and formed a huge and imposing formation that silenced everyone in his fleet!

"Almost three-hundred mechs." He viewed the projection of their approach. "All second-class mechs."

Gloriana smiled as she stood by his left. She didn't look nearly as nervous as Ves! "Look closer at the individual machines. While their formation looks impressive at first, the quality of their mechs leave a lot to be desired."

He zoomed in the projection and immediately spotted the telltale marks of frequent repairs and extensive wear and tear.

"These are lastgen mechs, and not just that. They're also rather getting on in years!"

"The Penitent Sisters are meant to pilot designed by boys. Since you decided to stall on the commission, they have to make do with the Hegemony's castoffs instead." Calabast remarked as she stood by his right.

Being flanked by two Hexers made Ves a little nervous. Rather than project an image that he was in charge, he felt as if he was letting his girlfriend and his strategic partner be in charge instead!

"Meow?" Lucky crawled onto his shoulder.

"No, Lucky. You don't get to eat their mechs. Even if they are a bit outdated, they are still competitive machines. For now, we need the strength of these mechs to guard ourselves against Fridaymen aggression."

His cat didn't like that answer. Lucky soon jumped away from his shoulder and floated down to frolick with Clixie.

Ves felt he needed a boost of confidence. He turned around and stretched his hand. "Give me the Larkinson Mandate."

His silent bodyguard obediently passed over the book that was in her care.

The hefty tome landed in his grasp, directly exposing him to the life contained within the intangible space of the ancestral relic.

Nyaaaa.

The Golden Cat looked up at Ves in the spiritual realm.

"Keep an eye on the newcomers we're about to meet. If they present an acute danger to me, please warn me. I trust in your judgement."

Nyaaa. Nyaa!

Ves looked a lot more steady now that he held the book. Goldie's presence and the symbolism of the book infused his spine with a very needed boost of confidence!

Hexers always frustrated him, but he was determined to make sure he ended this meeting on a strong note! He was not about to let these women walk all over him! He was a man, and he wanted to be sure the incoming commander of the Penitent Sisters knew who was in charge!

"What are the conditions for their use?" Ves asked. "Can I organize them however I want?"

"Not exactly. There are a number of strings attached. None of them are too onerous, I assure you." Calabast reassured him. "Let me list them out. First, you have to keep them as a separate entity. That means you can't invite them into the Larkinson Clan."

That point was obviously moot! There was no way Ves would be crazy enough to invite the Penitent Sisters into his clan!

"Second, you will have to replace their mechs with ones designed by you. There's no time limit attached to this condition, but you shouldn't delay this matter for too long. The Temple of Hexism outfitted the Penitent Sisters with outdated mechs for more reasons than to be frugal. They won't last very long."

Great. The advanced state of wear and tear of the Penitent Sister mechs served as an invisible deadline. If Ves hadn't supplied the Sisters with new mechs of his own designs, they wouldn't have any intact mechs to pilot in a couple of years!

"Third, you are responsible for all of their equipment and expenses. While the Hegemony has already covered the cost of acquiring all of the ships, mechs and other equipment, the state will not subsidize the outfit on your behalf."

"That's not a problem. I think I can handle the increased upkeep. If not, I'll just work harder and publish some new designs."

Calabast nodded and raised a fourth finger. "Fourth, treat them with at least some respect. While the Penitent Sisters are regarded as sinners and criminals by the Hegemony, they are still loyal Hexer citizens. Don't mistreat them or deprive them from what they need to sustain themselves and perform their duties. Keep your hands to yourself and be professional! I'll be sure to observe your conduct with them on behalf of the Hegemony to make sure you comply with this directive."

"I'm not that kind of person!" Ves protested.

"You don't have to worry about that, Calabast." His girlfriend spoke from his left side. "With me around, Ves doesn't need another woman, isn't that right? Hihi!"

"Of course."

"Good, because I'll be keeping an eye on you anyway. Don't touch anything you aren't supposed to and I won't chop them off, okay?"

"Gloriana!"

"I was just joking, hihi!" She giggled.

Ves wasn't sure about that, but whatever.

Once the Penitent Sister fleet came within range of his own fleet, a shuttle departed from the flagship, a combat carrier called the Surly Cockatrice.

"You Hexers sure have a wicked sense of humor."

"We try." Calabast smiled. "Hexers aren't as stiff as you imagine. It's not as if Gloriana spends all of her time to think how she can repress boys like you. Mostly."

Gloriana's eyes dreamingly blinked at Ves. "I can spend hours thinking about your smooth and soft face."

"Please be serious. I don't want to give the wrong impression to our latest guest. Since I'm expected to have a working relationship with the Penitent Sisters, we shouldn't joke around too much." Ves coughed.

He had heard quite a bit about the Penitent Sisters, and nothing about their story suggested that they consisted of Hexers who could take a joke!

Ves and his entourage headed down to the Scarlet Rose's hangar bay to greet the new arrival.

Soon enough, an advanced-looking shuttle landed on the designated zone.

The shuttle was coated in a pattern of black and orange, just like all of the mechs and ships of the Penitent Sisters.

The outfit's colors also extended to their uniforms as a number of tall and athletic-looking women emerged from the vehicle!

Ves immediately recognized that these women had undergone the same type of physical and genetic augmentation as Nitaa, but to a much more sophisticated degree!

Whereas his personal bodyguard grew tall and muscled, the approaching Hexers all looked a bit more compact and feminine but by no means weaker!

The women initially marched forward with confidence, but as they recognized Ves and came closer, their steps slowed as if they were unwilling to enter his presence.

The obvious scowls on their faces made it very clear that they did not like him at all!

Ves felt a bit discouraged by the fact that the Penitent Sisters weren't even able to maintain a professional demeanor in front of their new employer.

He understood their predicament a bit, though. Not only were these man-haters forced to repent their radical views, they were also forced to obey his orders! Any Hexer would be mad at these circumstances, let alone the ones who thought that boys weren't worthy enough to be kept alive!

The emblem imposed upon the Penitent Sisters clearly showcased their lack of choice in the matter. The symbol consisted of the classic symbol of Mars in orange adorning a black circle!

The Temple of Hexism might as well have drawn the symbol directly on their faces!

To bear this mark as the representation of their outfit must feel like a supreme indignity to these Hexers! If he was in their place, he would be angry all the time as well!

In fact, Ves found it surprising that these Penitent Sisters hadn't chafed at their punishment and tried to go rogue. Ves didn't see any obvious signs of enforcers or other means of insuring their compliance.

The small group of women finally stopped before their new employer. They looked at Ves in obvious distaste, but that did not stop them all from bending down to their knees, pressing their fists against their chests and lowering their heads!

"We are the Penitent Sisters. We have accepted exile from the Hexadric Hegemony in order to serve our fellow Hexers in another capacity! We have all taken an oath to serve the boy known as Ves Larkinson! For as long as our pure and unsullied female bodies still draw breath, we shall do our best to atone for our mistakes!"

A pregnant silence stretched after this solemn declaration.

Ves sensed no duplicity in their words. They gave off a similar vibe to Ylvainans crossed with Hexers. The Penitent Sisters were absolutely serious about abiding to the strictures and tenets they believed in. Right now, their strong religious and cultural beliefs strongly discouraged them from evading their punishment!

Rather than feel disturbed at their slavish devotion to their made-up beliefs, Ves instead relaxed a little.

As sad as it sounded, Ves was quite experienced in interacting with religious nuts. He could already tell that the Penitent Sisters largely fell in this category.

"Rise." He spoke with a tone that attempted to convey as much authority as possible. "Please introduce yourselves."

The lead woman with the most impressive-looking epaulets on the shoulder of her uniform rose up first. The woman had shaved the left side of her hair and dyed the other half in stripes of orange and black.

Together with her uniform, it made her look like a giant warning sign.

"I am Commander Valerie Chancy. I lead the Penitent Sisters."

Commander Chancy looked like she was in her fifties, though it was hard for Ves to know for sure due to all of the physical augmentations she went through.

Though she hadn't spoken a lot of words, Ves immediately got a sense he was facing a veteran combat and a person who embodied discipline. She immediately reminded him of the veterans in his own family.

It was too bad the obvious disgust in her eyes and expression betrayed her true thoughts. Even though the commander of the Penitent Sisters was resolved to follow her instructions to the letters, her true thoughts on boys likely remained unchanged!

The other two women looked just as pissed as they introduced themselves.

"Juliet Stameros." A younger woman with the same hairstyle spoke up next. "I am the head designer of the Penitent Sisters. I am in charge of managing the condition of our mechs."

That sounded familiar. Ves would have felt a bit of kinship with Juliet if not for her fire radiating from her eyes!

Another middle-aged woman spoke up after that. "Commodore Abigail Evern. I command the fleet of the Penitent Sisters."

Ves and Gloriana immediately jerked as they heard her name!

"Are you a part of the Evern Matriarchal Dynasty?" Gloriana asked cautiously.

She had a lot of cause for worry! Officially, the Wodins were subordinate to the Everns! The two dynasties essentially shared a vassal-liege relationship!

As if expecting this question, Commodore Evern shook her head. "I have been cast out of the Evern Matriachal Dynasty due to my.. transgressions. Though I have retained the right to carry the Evern name, I am no longer an extension of my old dynasty."

In other words, her status was similar to that of Calabast, but not as pleasant. She obviously sounded aggrieved of this fact. Almost anyone who used to be a part of a very elite family group would feel that way after getting disowned.

All in all, Ves did not have a very good impression of the Penitent Hexers. Even though he only met three of them so far, he doubted that the thousands that made up the entire outfit were any different!

What was Ves supposed to do with these Hexers?

Chapter 1995 Resentful Sisters

His fleet was growing bigger and bigger. Ves felt as if he was in the process of accumulating every outcast or exile from the Komodo Star Sector!

So far, his forces consisted of outcast Larkinsons, Brighters who forsook their state to follow him to the Red Ocean, the members of the New Ylvaine Dynasty, the Battle Criers, the Black Cats and now the Penitent Sisters!

It had become increasingly more cumbersome to Ves to manage all of these disparate groups, especially since they were so distinctive and eccentric.

Fortunately, his decision to delegate most of the management to his deputy leaders has worked out so far. He no longer needed to pay any personal attention to the running of his individual groups.

The sudden addition of the Penitent Sisters didn't intimidate him once he got over their rabid anti-boy tendencies.

When Ves, Gloriana, Calabast invited the three representatives of the Hexer outfit to the Scarlet Rose's conference room, the tension between them was palpable.

Commander Valerie Chancy did not do much to restrain her dislike. As the leader of the Penitent Sisters, her open negativity did not reflect very well on her leadership.

Supposedly, the Penitent Sisters disavowed their extremist ways. Ves did not see much repentance in their eyes. Only hatred and disgust welled within their minds.

When Ves inspected them from a spiritual perspective, he saw nothing that made him doubt his initial judgement!

Once everyone sat down, everyone looked at each other in a rather tense standoff.

What Ves found curious was that while the Penitent Sisters directed most of their ire towards Ves, they weren't very happy with Calabast and Gloriana either!

A state as big as the Hexadric Hegemony always contained a lot of internal division. Different interests groups and ideologies often clashed against each other. The Penitent Sisters just happened to be part of a cult that lost a power struggle.

From the looks of it, the extremist Hexers still harbored a grudge against ordinary Hexers!

"Meow."

Lucky glanced vigilantly at the three Penitent Sisters. The gem cat obviously picked up the hostility emanating from the Hexer exiles.

"Miaow."

Clixie was the same. She rested on the conference table in front of Gloriana but her muscles were all tensed up. There was no doubt she would claw out the faces of the Sisters if they posed a threat to her owner!

Ves held the Larkinson Mandate in his hands. He felt a bit more confident and grounded when he held the book.

No matter how much the Penitent Sisters tried to glare him to death, the reassuring glow emanating from the book bolstered his defenses and allowed him to maintain the demeanor of a leader.

Nyaaaa.

The Golden Cat affectionately rubbed against his spiritual presence. The love and trust she held towards him dispelled some of his nervousness.

The others were also affected by Goldie and the Larkinson Mandate.

Gloriana held just as much affection towards the book while Calabast was oddly intrigued by its extraordinary properties.

As for the Penitent Sisters, the longer the silence stretched on, the more the book seemed to magnify in presence.

Though none of the three women possessed spiritual potential, today they became exposed to Ves' characteristic glows for the very first time!

The mechs in the Scarlet Rose's mech hangar and the Larkinson Mandate both caused the women to reevaluate their impression towards their new 'employer'.

"Welcome to my group." Ves eventually spoke once he regained his calm. "While the circumstances surrounding your disposition are unusual, I hope we can maintain a cordial working relationship."

"Let me be honest, 'sir'." Commander Chancy spoke up with her harsh and barely-restrained voice. "None of my sisters want to work for you. If it was up to us, we would rather throw ourselves at the Fridaymen in the frontlines. You robbed us of this chance to redeem our honor."

"Commander, I think you are mistaken about something." Calabast interjected as she crossed her arms. "You are on punishment duty. The opportunity to redeem yourselves is a privilege, not a right. Whether you deserve absolution or not depends on your sincerity to abide by the terms of your punishments."

Gloriana spoke up as well in her formal tone.

"Serving us is an honor in itself. My boyfriend and I are some of the most prominent young Journeymen of this entire star cluster! It is not a disservice that your Penitent Sisters are assigned to protect us. The more we can work uninterrupted, the more we can contribute to the war effort. In time, I am confident that our mech designs will be able to tip the balance in the Hegemony's favor!"

"We have already managed to do so in the Sand War. It will be no different for the Komodo War." Ves backed up Gloriana's boasts even though he didn't feel so confident himself about her assertion. "The Friday Coalition has already attacked me several times. If you are truly a proponent of the Hegemony, then you should do everything possible to protect us against every threat. With many millions of Hexers mechs clashing against Fridaymen mechs at the frontlines, do you really think your little outfit can shift the outcome of the war? Trust me, the best way you can help your fellow Hexers win the war is to allow us to design our mechs without interference!"

Obviously, his statement didn't sound credible to the Penitent Sisters. While they grudgingly respected Gloriana's ability, they held no good opinion towards male mech designers!

Perhaps in their eyes, allowing Ves to design mechs for the Hex Army was a disaster in the making! Only their oaths and other restrictions prevented them from shooting him to pieces!

While Ves was sure he could count on the Penitent Sisters to abide by their oaths, it was best not to test their limits. He didn't intend to order them around like dogs or squeeze them until there was nothing left.

While it was too much to ask to earn their loyalty, Ves nonetheless wanted to turn the Penitent Sisters into an element he could rely on. Right now, the Glory Battalion had suffered substantial losses and still hadn't replenished all of the mechs it lost at the Battle of Kesseling VIII.

With the loss of so many second-class mechs had always made Ves nervous. Now that his escorts were bolstered by the addition of six-hundred second-class mechs, he had nothing to fear now! The persistent worry that the CRC might try to catch up and intercept his fleet had disappeared now that his forces were ten times more difficult to defeat!

As Head Designer Stameros passed on some files detailing the mech roster of the outfit, Ves was very satisfied with the mechs that joined his fleet's protection detail.

While the Penitent Sisters nominally brought 300 spaceborn mechs and 300 landbound mechs, in practice both mechs were sophisticated enough to operate in any standard environment. Second-class mechs above a certain price point were almost designed to accommodate multiple environments, and this time was no different.

Certainly, on land the landbound mechs could easily crush the relatively more fragile mechs. In space, the spaceborn mechs held an undeniable performance edge against the sluggish landbound mechs.

However, even if the mechs could only exert seventy to eighty percent of their potential in a different environment, that still put them heads and shoulders above any third-class mech!

With so many formidable second-class mechs bolstering his fleet's defenses, Ves was confident he could come out on top against a third-class mech division!

The value of all of this added protection didn't just secure him against the Friday Coalition. Ves also felt much more confident about his relations with other states!

The Penitent Sisters formed a very scary deterrent against betrayal by state actors. Not only was it costly for third-rate states to overcome 600 second-class mechs, but their presence around Ves also signified that he enjoyed solid support from the Hegemony's government!

It couldn't be more clear that messing with him meant messing with the Hexers! Considering the frightening reputation the Hexers accrued over the years, Ves believed that the Penitent Sisters wouldn't even need to fight any battles.

Their presence alone was enough to scare away every opportunist!

As Ves quietly studied the mech roster, he hummed and made some noteworthy observations.

The mechs of the Penitent Sisters mostly consisted of second-hand castoffs. Ves had the impression that Hexer outfits all traded in these machines when they decided to refresh their mech lineup when the new mech generation kicked into gear.

Pretty much every mech consisted of commercial midrange mechs. They lacked the exclusive components, materials and features seen in the mechs fielded by the Hex Army, but Ves already expected that. It was too much to ask for the Hegemony to provide him with their best mechs and tech.

Even so, the Hegemony made sure that Ves didn't get too many goodies. The mechs assigned to the Penitent Sisters were quite worn and exhibited frequent repairs.

They were nearing the end of their effective lifespan. On average, they wouldn't last more than half a decade or so, though that was dependent on many factors.

He looked up from the projected list. "Miss Stameros, how long do you think your maintenance crews can keep the Sister mechs in working condition?"

Though the female mech designer didn't want to answer this question, she wasn't gutsy enough to violate her oath.

She answered his question with gritted teeth.

"I am confident that most mechs will be able to perform reasonably well for at least three or four years. After that, the decay will accelerate and breakdowns will become more frequent. If you refuse to provide us with the funding and materials required to produce replacement parts, then the mechs won't be able to perform up to expectation."

"How well can you service all of your machines?"

"Not that good, 'sir'. While we can effect a lot of repairs in the mech workshops in our combat carriers, we lack a dedicated factory ship or logistics ship. We used to possess an outdated fleet carrier, but the Temple of Hexism took her away from us when we received our latest assignment."

Juliet Stameros resented that, of course. Even a small, sub-capital fleet carrier provided a lot more servicing capacity than a cramped combat carrier that was stuffed with mechs and armor!

The removal of such a valuable fleet asset significantly crippled the outfit's ability to service all of its aging but still sophisticated mechs. None of the mech workshops of his third-class ships were capable of servicing higher-classed machines.

"I'll solve your maintenance problems in time." Ves promised. "The Hegemony wants me to replace your existing mechs with machines of my own design, and I intend to fulfill this obligation."

The faces of all three Penitent Sisters worsened. To them, forcing their mech pilots into the cockpits of mechs designed by boys was one of their worst nightmares!

Though Ves knew that their reaction was anything but encouraging, he didn't take that to heart. This was one of the explicit conditions set by the Temple of Hexism!

After going through the mechs and starships of the Penitent Sisters, Ves had to decide how to manage them. Though Ves was aware that he needed to assert his authority right away, he didn't have the time to micromanage this new outfit.

He made a quick decision.

"Once we reach the Sentinel Kingdom and have the opportunity to settle down, I'll inspect your outfit more thoroughly to enact some necessary changes." He announced. "For the time being, you take orders from Calabast here. Right now, we are still in unfriendly space and the Friday Coalition still poses a threat from us. If you don't want our enemies to have their way, then you should do your best to fall in line and adjust to your new duties. Do you understand?"

"Yes... sir." Commander Chancy practically spat.

How lovely.

"Dismissed."

Chapter 1996 Toasted Relic

The introductory meeting ended shortly after. During the entire discussion, Ves failed to make any headway in reducing hostility of the Penitent Sisters.

Commander Valerie Chancy acted as if staying in the same room as a boy was a huge affront. Her two subordinates exhibited obvious unwillingness to take orders from the male genders.

What rankled Ves the most was the obvious lack of respect he received. To them, his accomplishments and his proven ability to punch the Friday Coalition in the face earned no regard.

They ignored everything about him aside from his gender. This sole trait determined their entire attitude towards him! Ves had a feeling that no matter how hard he tried to play nice with them, he would never be able to flip their attitudes!

Since that was the case, Ves decided to treat them with decidedly less attachment than his other forces. His Avatars, Sentinels and Battle Criers came first.

After the end of the meeting, the three leaders of the Penitent Sisters silently returned to their shuttle. The vehicle swiftly lifted off and flew back to the Surly Cockatrice.

While Gloriana left the conference room in order to resume her work at the design lab, Ves and Calabast stayed a little longer.

Lucky jumped and pounced on the Larkinson Mandate placed on the table.

Nyaaa!

The Golden Cat tried to avoid the gem cat but failed!

"Meow meow!"

Intangible licks started to rake across Goldie's lustrous fur. Lucky was determined to give her another bath!

Ves smiled and watched amusingly as Lucky and Goldie wrestled against each other. Though the ancestral spirit had grown a little stronger, she was far from matching Lucky in terms of size!

"Is there something interesting going on?" Calabast asked as she carefully studied his expression.

"Ah, it's nothing important."

Unlike Ves, Calabast didn't possess any spiritual potential. Even if she did, she still wouldn't be able to observe the Golden Cat.

In some way, Ves believed it was a shame that she lacked this gift. She was already talented and capable as a mortal. How much stronger would she be if she obtained extraordinary assistance?

As Ves faced Calabast's amused expression, he changed his mind.

Maybe it was for the best that Calabast lacked spiritual potential. She would probably be ten times scarier if she possessed superhuman abilities!

"How do you think I handled the Penitent Sisters?" He asked.

"Hmm.." Calabast trailed a finger along her slender forearm. "You should have put your foot down harder. First impressions are important, and I'm not sure the Penitent Sisters realize who is really in charge. While it's understandable that you want to avoid touching their nerves, you shouldn't give them the idea that they can abuse your reticence to their advantage."

Ves dismissively waved his hand. "I don't think that's a big deal. I already have a lot of threats to worry about. I don't want to add another danger to my list."

If necessary, Ves could just treat the latest reinforcements as a temporary buffer. It wasn't necessary to earn their respect or loyalty in order to make effective use of their strength.

Sure, they probably wouldn't fight as hard as if they were truly committed to his cause, but the strength of their second-class mechs and second-class mech pilots was enough to keep him safe for the next couple of years!

Their presence bought him valuable time to transition his own mech forces to an equivalent level of strength. Each week, Ves received reports of another couple of Avatars and Sentinels promoting to a higher class.

Venerable Brutus and a handful of instructors from the Glory Battalion had kept up their tutoring sessions. Even remotely, their insights and lessons were very critical in allowing his mech pilots to recognize their own shortcomings and increase the efficiency of their training!

Five years from now, Ves assumed that most of his mech forces would finish their transition. By then, the relative importance of the Penitent Sisters diminished. Their importance would drop even further if they suffered substantial casualties.

Unlike his other mech forces, there was no way to replenish the ranks of the Penitent Sisters. DIVA and the Hegemony had no plans to dispatch any further reinforcements.

That was okay. Ves already appreciated their gesture.

Ves and Calabast began to discuss how to arrange the Penitent Sisters. They went over how to deploy them in battle and outside of battle. They determined how stern their orders should be and what kind of rules they needed to abide by in order to keep them in line.

This was not a straightforward decision!

Ves prioritized stability while Calabast emphasized control.

An argument threatened to form if Ves didn't propose a compromise.

"I'll let you do it your way for now." He said. "However, the moment we spot any signs that the Penitent Sisters are about to rebel or anything, I'll put a stop to your efforts. Is that clear?"

Calabast chuckled. "It looks like you are becoming more adept at bossing people around. You should adopt this attitude more often. The Penitent Sisters will kneel and weep in front of your feet before long!"

"Urgh, be serious, please. Now, I hope you can keep a close eye on the Penitent Sisters. While they are nominally committed to follow my orders, I'm not entirely sure whether all of the women are resigned to their punishment duty."

"You don't need to tell me what to do. I have already ordered my Black Cats to infiltrate the systems of their ships. I'll be able to observe everything that takes place inside before the end of the month."

She sounded unusually confident, and Ves had no cause to doubt her abilities. Bugging Hexer ships must be as easy as pie to the former DIVA agent.

"There's one thing I'd like you to clarify for me." He said. "What does your state actually expect from me? I doubt it assigned the Penitent Sisters to me because they want to get rid of some undesirables."

His strategic partner offered him a reassuring smile. "It's nothing you already don't know. The Penitent Sisters need to repent by serving under a boy. You happen to be the most suitable candidate, and you also happen to need some reinforcements. How you actually want to make use of them is mostly under your discretion. As long as you treat them as soldiers, you can throw them into battle and use them up as cannon fodder whenever you like."

"Does that mean the matriarchs won't fault me if the Penitent Sisters die out?"

"Ves. Killing them off is sort of the point of their punishment duty. The Hegemony government wants to get rid of them, but refrained from executing them straight away due to the considerable waste that entails. It's better to assign their 600 mech pilots to you and save the Hegemony valuable manpower that it can devote to the frontlines."

"I see. Must the Penitent Sisters die out?"

"Do you sympathize with their fate? Don't be. Their former ideology would have only led the Hexer people to their doom if it was allowed to spread. They don't have any allies. The only reasons why their punishment is a bit more lenient than usual is because their cause was always meant to benefit the Hegemony. They are well-meaning but misguided Hexers who took their extremism too far. If they dedicated themselves to a more moderate school of thought, then they would have become one the Hegemony's most dependable defenders!"

Ves didn't fully buy into Calabast's description of the Penitent Sisters. The women looked anything but 'well-meaning' and their desire to kill off every boy went far beyond being 'misguided'!

In any case, Ves felt a bit more relaxed once he learned he possessed a decent amount of leeway. He didn't have to treat the Penitent Sisters like glass or prioritize their lives over the lives of his loyal subordinates.

"Let's move on." He said. "You said earlier the Penitent Sisters have also brought something essential to me. Does that mean..."

Calabast slowly nodded. "While we were holding our meeting with the leaders of the Penitent Sisters, my agents already took the package from the shuttle. Right now, we placed it in one of the spare storage compartments. Let's go and check it, shall we?"

They stood up and exited the conference room. Ves picked up the Larkinson Mandate, much to Lucky's protests.

"Meow!"

"As you can imagine, it was difficult to secure this package." Calabast told him in a low tone. "Plenty of leaders within DIVA object to your outrageous request, but luckily for you, the matriarchs in charge of running the agency are quite far-sighted. After a lot of searching, we eventually found an object that won't be missed but still fulfills all of the criteria you've set."

"I'm looking forward to seeing what you Hexers managed to scrounge up. I hope it isn't too shabby."

"About that..."

The woman trailed off after they reached the entrance to the storage compartment. Once they entered, a number of black-clothed personnel were sweeping their scanners across a crate. They silently halted their work and drew back at their entry.

Once Calabast came close, she carefully unlocked the lock keeping the metal crate shut.

BEEP.

The crate unlocked and revealed its valuable contents.

Ves looked at the object stored inside the chair-sized crate with a perplexed expression.

"It looks rather.. burned. Is it even complete?"

"This is the only remnant of the Idol of the Superior Mother, a very famed statue that has long been one of the Temple of Hexism's proudest works. At its prime, the statue attracted billions of pilgrims every year. It was especially popular among pregnant women who want to receive some encouragement on raising their children."

"Do you have a depiction of this statue in its prime?"

"Sure."

She projected some archival footage that displayed the statue placed in front of a temple. Large crowds of women respectfully approached it and made their prayers.

It was not difficult to see why the Idol of the Superior Mother attracted so much devotion. Its sculptor managed to craft a metallic statue that shone like shiny marble. The exotics integrated in the work of art caused the statue to glitter across its surface.

To Ves, the statue was very close to reaching masterwork quality! That was an exceptional accomplishment!

The size of the statue was pretty large. It loomed as tall as half a mech.

Compared to the majestic depiction of the Idol of the Superior Mother in its prime, Ves recognized none of it in the scorched and blackened remnant!

In fact, if Calabast didn't point out the piece of debris came from the original statue, Ves would have dismissed it as junk and ordered his crew to chuck it out of the airlock!

"I see why DIVA chose to present me with this object." Ves eventually said. "Where did they steal it from, a forgotten warehouse?"

"Close enough." Calabast shrugged. "That's not important. What matters is that you should be able to find what you are looking for in this piece. Tell me, can you work with this?"

"Can I ask for a refund?"

"No."

"I thought so."

He shrugged and began to inspect the blackened piece of junk in a different fashion. He concentrated his mind and began to inspect the remnant of the relic with his spiritual vision.

Though it was rather difficult to find, Ves did spot some spiritual residue. While the original statue probably accumulated a formidable amount of spiritual accumulation, the event that destroyed the statue probably flung most of it away.

Even so, the residue left within the chunk of debris was stronger than the spiritual energy he found in Ylvaine's nutrient pack wrapper!

"I can work with this." He reluctantly said, much to Calabast's relief. "It's not exactly ideal, but.. let me see if I can adapt it into something useful. I can't guarantee a perfect result, but I should at least be able to attain my goal."

Chapter 1997 Vault Inspection

After Ves received the fragment of the Idol of the Superior Mother, he summoned a lifter bot to transport it to the vault.

Though he hadn't taken a close look at it, Ves already noticed that the fragment was constantly leaking out its spiritual accumulation. Though the spillage wasn't severe, the piece of debris probably lost a lot of spiritual energy when it lay forgotten in some kind of warehouse!

Therefore, he was very eager to process the relic and turn its spiritual accumulation into something he could use to empower his forthcoming Hexer mech.

"Is it too much to ask for another relic?" Ves asked again.

"Forget it, kid. DIVA may be eager to try out unconventional solutions to break the stalemate at the frontlines, but it isn't desperate enough to resort to something more extreme."

"Does that mean I have a chance if the Fridaymen gain the upper hand?"

Calabast rapidly reached out and flicked her finger against his head!

"Ouch!"

"Don't try anything funny, Ves! Look, Hexers are very proud about their cultural heritage. If word gets out that you managed to obtain a damaged portion of a destroyed statue, you can easily shrug off the criticism with the help of your allies. If it turns out you've obtained something more important, then the Wodin Dynasty's support won't save you from the wrath of the matriarchs!"

Ves scowled a bit. "If I had something better, I could have easily produced something greater! The Hegemony is missing out on a valuable opportunity!"

"Prove yourself first. If you manage to exceed DIVA's expectations, then it might prioritize your requests higher. For now, no one wants to commit too much to you. It still remains to be seen whether your success and accomplishments represents a flash in the pan."

"It never ends."

"That's life."

"Let's assume I managed to succeed in designing a Hexer mech. How extensively will it be used?"

"It depends. As you can imagine, the performance and the impact it achieves on the battle is the most critical factor. What complicates its evaluation is the gender of its lead designer. Your work will have to climb an uphill battle in order to gain acceptance."

"I'm sure the Hex Army will come around as long as my mech is able to make a significant difference on the battlefield."

She nodded. "I think so as well. As much as my fellow Hexers like to stick to principles, when the outcome of the war and the future of the Hegemony is at stake, I'm confident that they will become a lot more open-minded towards unconventional solutions."

Great. That meant the only way to humble the Hexers was to make them lose the war. Success only fueled their preconceived notions of female supremacy!

Regardless, it wasn't as if Ves had a very big stake in the Komodo War. He just wanted the Friday Coalition to lose, and was very willing to give the Hexers a helping hand to accomplish this dream!

"Look, there are some Hexers who believe you can make a difference." Calabast reassured him. "Gloriana's mother is very hopeful about you, as do some other prominent Hexers. While you may not be aware of it, they spent a considerable amount of political capital to vouch on your behalf. Without their support, you wouldn't have obtained anything."

"I see."

"Don't paint every Hexer with the same brush. Some are more practical than others, and even the most dogmatic Hexer is capable of making smart decisions. The Komodo War is one of the biggest gambles the Hegemony has made in its existence."

"It sounds like you still care a lot about the Hegemony." Ves pointedly remarked. "Are you sure you're independent from your former home?"

The spy reached out and ruffled his hair. "Don't think so much. I am still your supporter. That's all that matters. Right there, there are many reasons for us to cooperate with the Hegemony. My old ties and Gloriana's ties to the state are powerful channels that we can use to exchange various benefits with each other. I think this will become a lot less prominent once we leave the Komodo Star Sector."

That was true.

Once she said those words, she quietly turned around and departed from his side.

Ves continued on to the vault. After undergoing an extensive security check, he entered one of the most close-ly-guarded compartments of the Scarlet Rose.

Only Compartment G-13 was better protected than the vault!

Before Ves directed his attention to the latest addition to his collection, he made his usual rounds and inspected all of his older valuables.

His vibrant P-stones thrummed with energy. His lone F-stone still contained a lot of sharpness. His B-stone lockbox was as solid and impenetrable as ever.

He briefly paused when he encountered the mysterious vial he obtained when he took over the Scarlet Rose.

Dr. Ranya had already researched it and managed to identify its contents. His guess turned out to be right. The vial actually contained a second phase priming agent. Those looking to expand their physical body's capacity for genetic modification needed to take successively priming agents.

The first phase priming agents were relatively easy to obtain, but the second phase priming agents were a lot more difficult to find! They were rare enough to be treated as strategic goods by the Friday Coalition. Lady Aisling Curver probably carried one as a valuable bargaining chip in negotiations.

Now, it fell into his hands.

"I don't need it. I already received my dose."

He already expanded the limit of his genes a second time when he infiltrated the Starlight Megalodon and pretended to be a mech designer in the employ of the CFA.

He wasn't sure whether Gloriana needed it. Dr. Ranya didn't seem to find the vial important enough to insist on keeping hold of it, so Ves probably figured that the Wodins already enjoyed something similar.

For now, Ves just planned to keep it locked up until he needed it. Perhaps he could use it to reward a loyal subordinate for their excellent performance.

"Should I reserve it for Benny? Nah. I should keep it ready for someone like Joshua King or Jannzi Larkinson. They are much more deserving."

He put the vial back into its protective case and put it away.

The next object he inspected was the plain, unadorned wedding rings gifted by his mother. He never really looked at them beforehand because he didn't think it was time to bring his relationship with Gloriana a step further.

Even now, Ves still wasn't sure whether their relationship had advanced far enough. Before, he refrained from taking out the rings because he still needed to prove himself to Gloriana's mother.

Now that he succeeded in this objective, he had one less reason to tie the knot with his girlfriend.

"Should I..?"

He hesitated for a dozen seconds before impulsively deciding to stuff the tiny boxes containing the rings into his suit pocket.

Whether he was ready or not, a part of him wanted to be sure he carried the rings if he ever felt the need to profess his eternal devotion to his girlfriend.

"It will probably take a few years, though. Our relationship has slowed down a bit in recent times."

So far, Ves only got as far as sleeping in the same bed as Gloriana. That did not sound very impressive, and the masculine part of him felt very ashamed he hadn't made any further progress!

"No thanks to you."

"Meow?"

Lucky was floating around his pocket trying to sniff the wedding rings.

Ves pushed his cat away.

"Bad Lucky! These rings are not for you to eat!"

"Meeeeeeoooow!"

"I don't care if you can produce the greatest gems in the galaxy!"

After admonishing his gluttonous pet, he turned his attention to the most dangerous object in his vault.

"Hello, Nyxie."

The Ancient Sarcophagus radiated a low but ominous presence that slowly built up the longer Ves remained in the vault. Even now, Ves never figured out a way to isolate its pervasive influence field aside from carving out some spiritual fragments from its prisoners.

Even then, the undying spiritual entity that emerged from the body of the ancient alien tyrant was still a very big threat!

To make sure it wouldn't be up to any shenanigans, Ves inspected the red coffin at least once every few weeks. He also checked up on his spiritual products to make sure that none of the ones who were created with the help of Nyxie's spiritual fragments provided any spiritual feedback to the hostile entity.

Though his spiritual products had remained obedient so far, Nyxie nonetheless made up for its losses and grew in strength at a slow but worrisome rate.

It was as if the prisoner locked inside the sarcophagus was slowly waking up. Each time the spiritual entity woke up a bit more, a greater proportion of his power leaked out of the sarcophagus!

As effective as the red crystal kept its prisoner contained, it was probably getting on in years. Ves didn't know how many eons it existed, but like any creation, some of its structure and functions had probably decayed.

One day, the prisoner might break out of his prison, thereby unleashing a great terror to the galaxy!

The only reason why Ves wasn't worried was because he was confident that the sarcophagus wouldn't be breaking anytime soon. Machines had a tendency to break down gradually rather than suddenly. Its original builders made sure to make the red coffin as solid and enduring as possible, and their craftsmanship succeeded in keeping the alien tyrant contained long after the fall of their civilization!

"Sleep well, Nyxie. Keep on the good work."

He stashed the Ancient Sarcophagus away, lessening its intimidating presence a tiny bit.

Now that he completed his customary inspection, he finally turned towards his latest resource. He whipped out his Vulcaneye and meticulously scanned the blackened debris.

The results didn't yield anything important. The object wasn't radioactive and it didn't carry any poisons or toxins. The torn piece was exactly as it appeared.

"Some kind of huge blast must have destroyed the original Idol of the Superior Mother. After that, the Hexers must have picked up the pieces and stored them somewhere."

Nothing else had happened with the relic. No one tried to reconstruct the Idol of the Superior Mother with the remains of the first statue. Maybe the temple already built a replacement using new materials.

Whatever the case, Ves felt reassured that no one tried to mess with the object. After confirming that it was safe to handle it, he stretched out with his hand and touched the damaged piece with his hand.

The metal was cool to the touch and its surface was very rough due to all of the damage markings.

He didn't care about that. What mattered more to him was making a connection with the damaged and slowly-decaying spiritual residue locked inside its spiritual space.

A handful of decades ago, a huge amount of female Hexers paid tribute to this statue. The Idol of the Superior Mother attracted a lot of pregnant women in order to pray their hopes and dreams to a symbol that represented the Hexer version of motherhood in its purest form!

As could be imagined in a female-dominated society, mothers enjoyed a very high status in the Hegemony!

The Hexers associated mothers with wisdom, nurture, leadership and generosity.

This was why his first contact with the spiritual residue was very encouraging. Ves felt as if he encountered a spiritual remnant that gladly welcomed his company!

Its loneliness and lack of interaction had not done the spiritual remnant any good. Its constant leakage and its worsening integrity was slowly breaking it down. It had a lot of spiritual energy, making it weaker and weaker as more and more years passed. The decay also affected its spiritual attributes, causing it to become less sophisticated as it lost a lot of weaker aspects!

Though this sounded bad at first, Ves pleasantly discovered that the spiritual residue was also purer than he thought! Only the strongest spiritual attributes managed to survive up to this point, which meant that it truly captured the essence of Hexer motherhood!

Even though the relic did not fully represent all of the facets and dimensions of the six phases of existence, Ves was confident he could make good use of its attributes!

Chapter 1998 Nurturing Spiri

The remnant of the Idol of the Superior Mother was a very valuable object, even if it looked like a piece of trash.

Though Ves felt tempted to cut short the spiritual bleeding by processing the spiritual remnant into a spiritual product right away, he paused for a moment.

"This relic doesn't really fit my specifications."

His original vision for his Hexer mech design revolved around a mech based on the six phases of existence.

As its name suggested, the Idol of the Superior Mother predominantly centered around mothers. It wasn't really associated with hexism as plenty of secular Hexers paid tribute to the statue as well. Those mothers were just doing it in order to take part in an established ritual and because they wanted to gain their social circle's approval.

The mix between secular and religious worshippers shaped the statue's spiritual residue in a direction that blended both elements. Attributes related to motherhood and women strongly suffused its spiritual character, which made it very unsuitable to be adapted to mechs designed to be piloted by boys.

Or was it?

"The design spirit doesn't have to conform to the mech pilot. Not necessarily." He whispered.

He long regarded the unity between mech pilot, mech and mech designer as the only way to increase the X-Factor of his mech and improve their overall synchronization.

What if that wasn't necessary? What if there was a different way to empower a mech?

What if he took a different approach?

To Ves, the perfect outcome had always been to enable mech pilots to become more aligned with the mechs they piloted.

For example, the Aurora Titan meshed well with defense-focused mech pilots who want to protect their comrades.

The Desolate Soldier slowly influenced its mech pilots to become more and more committed to their duty.

The Deliverer's entire premise revolved around piety and devotion. Its Guided Aim ability was only available to the mech pilots who earned Prophet Ylvaine's approval!

Yet.. Ves couldn't do the same for his Hexer mech. DIVA's commission explicitly called for designing a support mech reserved exclusively for the male mech pilots of the Hex Army.

So far, he invented an entire vision around a landbound knight mech that embodied the six phases of existence.

"I don't have to scrap this vision. I'll just need to make some adjustments."

He sat down next to the remnant of the idol and began to adjust his vision.

Its mech concept didn't require any major adjustments. However, rather than embodying a generic interpretation of the six phases of existence, his Hexer mech instead adopted the perspective of a mother!

"My mech is the mother and the mech pilot is the son!"

It was a notable departure from his conventional approach to mech design. His usual goal for his mechs was to accommodate compatible mech pilots so that their effective performance skyrocketed and that anyone with spiritual potential received a greater chance of breaking through the extraordinary threshold!

Yet.. did he have to aim for the jackpot every time? So far, aside from Jannzi Larkinson's unexpected promotion, Ves hadn't heard of any instances where the mech pilots of his successfully advanced to expert candidate or expert pilot with his mechs.

That sounded quite depressing. The LMC sold millions of Desolate Soldiers, but not one of its mech pilots managed to surpass the extraordinary threshold.

"What should I expect?" He sighed. "My Desolate Soldier is a budget mech model designed for less than stellar mech pilots. Their odds of advancements are a lot lower than the mech pilots of premium mechs."

It was too bad that the sales figures of his more expensive products such as the Aurora Titan had dropped to negligible levels.

He turned his attention back to his unnamed Hexer mech. According to DIVA, the Hegemony would try out his new creation with a select number of male mech pilots.

Hexer mech pilots were not like the average users of his mechs.

Ves had to split them up in two. Female mech pilots predominantly utilized the best and strongest mechs. They also claimed all of the flashier and more offense-oriented mechs.

Male mech pilots in the Hegemony weren't prohibited from piloting mechs, but they had to abide by a lot of limitations to practice their profession.

"According to the Hexer ideology, boys are reckless and immature. It is a disaster to give them too much power."

The inherent problem with this assumption was that it risked depriving boys from mechs entirely!

The Hexers eventually opted against this policy because they couldn't let half of their manpower pool of mech pilots stay home.

That said, even if males were allowed to pilot mechs in battle, they faced constant repression and indoctrination.

According to the Hexers, the former was needed to prevent the boys from abusing the power of mechs. The latter was needed to increase their motivation to fight on behalf of the Hegemony.

"There is a contradiction between these measures." Ves noted.

Mechs were dangerous weapons that were best left for women!

Since Hexer women believed that Hexer boys were both dangerous and incapable, the performance of the latter clearly dipped. Though Ves hadn't obtained any detailed statistics that confirmed this guess, he had seen plenty of internal footage that showed that Hexer mechs piloted by males exhibited an excessive amount of restraint and timidity.

The only instances where the male Hexer mechs exhibited any aggression was when they were directly ordered to do so by their mistresses!

With such a perverse mech culture in the Hegemony, how could his mech gain acceptance in its society?

"To women, my support mech can validate them with the outward expression of my glow. To boys, my mech can provide them with positive reinforcement and encouragement. To enemies, my mech can put the fear of Hexers in their hearts!"

As Ves became more familiar with the spiritual residue of the Idol of the Superior Mother, he learnt that it was called this way for a reason!

The Hexers who paid tribute to the original statue all passed on the same spiritual attributes. Gentle notions such as motherhood and the urge to nurture children was mixed with strong notions such as the superiority and might of women!

"I can still give my mech six different facets as long as I can emphasize specific attributes."

The more he fleshed out his idea, the more he got taken in by its potential. Any spiritual product he created based off the Superior Mother would essentially take the form of a Hexer matriarch!

If Ves designed his next spiritual product well enough, it might even surpass its limited role as design spirit for a single mech design!

"I can shift the outcome of the war with this spiritual product!" He exulted!

Of course, the mech had to be good as well. If such a fantastic design spirit was attached to a mediocre mech design, then it would probably be buried!

He began to figure out what kind of ingredients he needed to augment the attributes of the spiritual residue.

"I'll need to add a bit of myself, not just to create the spiritual product, but to add some much needed male influence to its spiritual mix."

The design spirit would still be female, but he hoped that it became a bit more understanding towards boys.

Ves didn't think he was a very appropriate role model for Hexer boys.

"Unlike them, I'm a man, not a boy!" He stated! "I can stand up to women! That's something that they can never imagine!"

Perhaps that was exactly what his design spirit needed. He didn't want to coddle the mech pilots of his Hexer mech to death. They needed to show at least some spine while they piloted their machines.

Gloriana's influence was also essential. Her error-correcting ability and her strong Hexer beliefs would reinforce the spiritual product's main characteristics.

"That's two additional ingredients so far. I think it could use a third."

He needed a source of energy. Ves immediately turned his gaze to the vault section where he just stowed the Ancient Sarcophagus.

Was it time to harvest another spiritual fragment from Nyxie?

Just as he was about to retrieve his F-stone, he paused.

"Nyxie isn't my only option."

Ves suddenly recalled that Qilanxo was also a mother!

Though she was too alien and too centered around protection to make for a perfect Hexer design spirit, she was also a female!

He concentrated his mind and briefly communicated his request to Qilanxo.

She sent back a positive response. Ves guessed that she was filled with spiritual energy. Though she wasn't able to make a qualitative transformation, she wasn't lacking when it came to quantity!

"That was easy."

What wouldn't be easy would be his next step.

Now that he set his mind, he reluctantly decided to obtain Gloriana's input. Though she objected to his idea before, Ves hoped that she was a bit more tolerant this time. He wouldn't be able to proceed with his vision without her contribution!

He called Gloriana to the vault and passed the time by playing with Lucky.

"Meow."

"I don't know, Lucky. Gloriana might blow up on me again."

"Meow!"

"Hmm, that's true. This debris hardly looks like a proper relic. I don't think she'll mind that much."

Lucky rolled off his lap and floated above his head.

"Meow meow."

When Gloriana arrived with Clixie in tow, the vault instantly brightened up. Ves stood up and hugged her before breaking the news.

"Do you remember DIVA's commission?"

She immediately frowned. "What are you up to, Ves?"

"Well, DIVA managed to secure a relic for me. Before you get angry, let me show you what I'm talking about!"

He presented the blackened piece of broken metal to Gloriana and described its origins. He emphasized the fact that it had laid forgotten in some storage place for decades.

"...The Hexers would have probably melted it down and repurposed its materials if they hadn't given it to me." He finished his explanation. "Compared to erasing it from existence, I can make a portion of it live on through my mechs! What do you think, Gloriana?"

His girlfriend fell silent. Though she maintained her frown, she didn't blow up this time, much to his relief!

"I.. I'm not entirely comfortable with this idea, but.. it sounds a lot more acceptable this time." She responded. She reached out and touched the damaged surface of the piece of debris. "I think you're right. It's a shame to let the original Idol of the Superior Mother die out in such an ignoble fashion! What we can do is like giving it a second life!"

"So.. you approve?"

She slowly smiled. "I do. What you originally suggested was something that I would never agree with. This is different. I like the respect behind this decision!"

That was all he needed to hear. Ves relaxed, and so did Gloriana. The faint underlying tension between them after they had their last argument melted away.

The pair began to discuss what they needed to do to create his next spiritual product. Ves needed time to construct the most appropriate images to direct its formation.

"Let's design the mech first and wait until it's almost complete before creating its design spirit." Ves suggested. "I need you to contribute your spiritual strength to its creation. That will drain some of your spiritual energy reserves for a time."

"Creating proto-gods is never easy." Gloriana smiled and leaned her head against his chest. "I can't wait to see how she will turn out!"

The two snuggled a bit before leaving the vault. Ves carefully stored the relic in its protective crate to protect it from the environment as much as possible.

Just when they reached the design lab, Gavin waited next to the entrance.

Ves's heart sunk yet again. Whenever his assistant showed up outside of their scheduled meetings, he always brought a surprise.

"What is it this time, Benny?" He asked in an exasperated tone.

"Well… it's about the Larkinson Clan. Did you recall the proposal introduced by Calabast? Well, there has been a big discussion throughout the clan. The Larkinson Assembly and the Executive Council have both come to a consensus."

"What.. is their answer?"

Gavin breathed deeply. "There is a lot of support for the proposal. Both the Assembly and the Council are in favor of integrating outsiders into the clan!"

"What?!" Ves looked shocked. "That fast?!"

Chapter 1999 Spreading Love

The Redfeather was one of many light carriers in the Larkinson Clan's fleet. She was not very exceptional. Light carriers were unimpressive ships to begin with, and the Redfeather exhibited no pronounced strengths other than its relatively affordable price tag.

Still, the ship served as the flagship of the Avatars of Myth because the elite troop didn't possess anything better.

The crew and mech pilots aboard the Redfeather threw lots of envious glances at the Penitent Sister ships.

Their fleet predominantly consisted of heavily-armored combat carriers! Though they carried the same amount of mechs as the Avatar ships, their protection had reached a whole other level!

Capable of withstanding sustained attacks from second-class mechs, the fifteen Hexer-built vessels were collectively worth more than the total net worth of the LMC!

Joshua King adjusted his uniform and entered one of the piloting lounges.

None of his fellow comrades were present inside the compartment barring a single person.

Jannzi Larkinson sat quietly on a couch while sipping a cooling drink. A fresh scent wafted from her body as she had recently completed another intensive exercise session.

The young Brighter stepped forward until he reached her position.

"Can I sit down?"

"You may."

Joshua carefully sat besides the expert candidate, feeling very much self-conscious about the disparity between their statuses.

In the time he joined the Avatars, he more than proved his mettle to his fellow comrades. His training results were stellar and his skills kept improving.

Fending off the sandman fleets during the Sand War provided him with some needed battle experience. The constant grind and the punishing attrition forced out his potential and transformed him from an inexperienced rookie into a fully-fledged mech pilot!

Winning the Battle of Kesseling VIII in space was his proudest moment. Entrusted with the Quint, Joshua fully committed his heart and soul to the Larkinson Clan, risking his life over and over in order to defeat the formidable second-class mechs of the CRC!

He was immensely appreciative that the clan patriarch entrusted him with the first masterwork mech of the LMC. Ever since Joshua paired up with the Quint, he felt he had become more and more in tune with the Larkinson Clan. Every mech pilot who had been lucky enough to pilot a Bright Warrior mech felt the same way!

Right now, Joshua wasn't thinking about mechs. He approached Jannzi for a different purpose.

"How are you today?"

"I'm fine." She responded calmly as she drew her attention away from her inner thoughts. "I'm trying to think how our clan will change with the addition of people like you. Personally, I welcome anyone who wants to become a Larkinson."

"You sound confident that everything will go well."

Her lips curled upwards. "I have met a lot of wonderful people among the Avatars. It will be strange to change my old views about who constitutes a Larkinson, but at this point everyone is in it together."

"I'm happy that you think so. Joining the Larkinson Clan is a great honor to me. I have always admired the Larkinson Family back when I was just a mech cadet. Joining the Avatars of Myth had always been my biggest goal. Now that I wear this uniform, I have been living in a constant dream."

The two chatted a bit. They talked about work, the evolution of the Larkinson Clan and the potential threats they might face.

The mood grew more relaxed between the two as Jannzi slowly loosened up in his presence.

Joshua made his move.

"Jannzi, I.. like you. Would you like to have some fun and play some games with me? We can watch a live drama broadcast if you aren't in the mood! While there isn't much the Redfeather has to offer, I heard that some of the mech technicians configured a spare compartment into an entertainment room."

The female mech pilot blinked and directed a scrutinizing glance towards Joshua. The way she looked at her was markedly different from before!

Though an expert candidate lacked the pressure of a fully-fledged expert pilot, Jannzi still exuded a presence that already elevated her stature!

"Are you asking me out, Mr. King?"

"Yes." Joshua boldly responded. Now that he revealed his intentions, he no longer hesitated! "I like you, Jannzi. You're pretty and you're also a great mech pilot. I admire your work ethic and how you diligently train your skills even though you're already better than all of us. I.. would like to get to know you better."

A dozen seconds passed before Jannzi finally deigned to respond.

"You hardly know me, Joshua. I'm not looking for a relationship at the moment."

Joshua lowered his head.

"However.. I'm not disinterested in you." Jannzi smiled coyly. "You are quite intriguing compared to the other men I've met. I'll give you a chance."

Yes!

While Joshua reacted to Jannzi's response with exuberance, more men and women started to hook up together.

The roving fleet was filled with men and women. Ever since they departed from their homes, they abruptly had to get used to living and working on the same ship.

Though the transition was hard on many people, many Larkinsons and workers eventually found a couple of coping mechanisms to make their lives in space a little more familiar.

Forming a relationship was one of the ways to stabilize their moods. The leaders of the various organizations all came together and formed an initial policy.

As long as the relationships didn't pose a problem to the hierarchy, then the pairings were allowed!

This was a much looser rule than the one that applied to a professional military like the Mech Corps.

The circumstances of the fleet was much different than that of a mech military. The Executive Council had taken a close look at this problem and decided to see what happened when they adopted the model used by spaceborn clans.

Ever since this interim rule came into force, a lot of people started to muster up their courage and ask their crushes to go on a date.

Aboard the Scarlet Rose, Merrill O'Brian just finished her shift at the design lab. Working for workaholics like Ves Larkinson and Gloriana Wodin wasn't easy, but she learned a lot during every design session!

As she began to loosen her coat, her comm suddenly chimed as she received an incoming comm request.

She curiously lifted her wrist and read the name of the caller.

"Oh?" The former pirate designer lifted her eyebrow. "Let's see what you have to say."

When she accepted the call, a projection of a familiar-looking man appeared in front of her. Dietrich Kotz, wearing the uniform of the Battle Criers, made for a dashing figure!

"Hello, Merrill!"

"Hello, Dietrich. I haven't talked to you in a while."

"I know. You're busy designing mechs."

The young woman coughed. "Technically, I'm assisting the design process. You should be more precise with your terminology."

"Ah." Dietrich scratched his head in an affable way. "Sorry about that. I'll remember that. Anyway, I've been thinking about you. We got along well the last time we met. Would you like to go out on a virtual date?"

"...I'm too busy."

"Wait! Don't end the call yet!"

Merrill resolutely pressed the button that cut off the connection.

Now that the distraction was out of the way, she headed towards the bathroom of her cabin in order to take a relaxing bath.

BEEP!

"Merrill! Don't you want to relax every now and then? If you keep working all the time, you'll get stressed! Why not spend some time with me so that you can ease your mind? I'm sure you'll perform better at work the next day!"

This time, the woman looked a little more amenable to his suggestion. The benefits he described sounded quite compelling.

There was one problem, though.

"We're stationed aboard different ships, Dietrich." She said. "You're assigned to the Ion Tracker while I am stuck on the Scarlet Rose."

"That's not a problem. We can still meet with each other in person when the fleet is at rest. I can give you a good time even when we're apart from each other!"

Merrill didn't say no. Instead, she contemplated the offer for a time before looking back at Dietrich's projection. "Let's see if you can deliver on that claim."

While love was spreading throughout the fleet, Ves and Gloriana returned to their shared stateroom after a long design session.

Ves looked a bit more strained than before. He plopped his butt down on a chair while Gloriana immediately dove into the bathroom.

"Meow."

His gem cat floated in front of his face and gently flicked his tail against his face.

"I don't know, Lucky. I'm surprised how quickly Calabast and James managed to convince the Larkinsons to accept their proposal to invite thousands of outsiders into the clan. I expected the clan elders to resist."

They did at first according to Gavin. Yet Ves had underestimated the capabilities of the troublesome pair.

In hindsight, he shouldn't have felt so confident about the stubbornness of his family members.

While this proposal was unthinkable in the Larkinson Family, the clan was different. It was not only open to change, but also needed to expand its ranks!

Calabast and James recognized this and tailored their message to the decision makers of the clan. The two worked constantly behind the scenes to sway the opinions of the Larkinsons!

With her intelligence background, Calabast understood the Larkinson Clan better than Ves. With his predictive tendencies and amazing charisma, James never failed to persuade a Larkinson to support their proposal!

What surprised Ves the most was that the Larkinsons didn't object to the inclusion of the True Believers. Their surprising shift to worshipping Ves as a god had made the Ylvainans a lot more palatable to the clan!

Ves had scheduled a personal meeting with Raymond and Ovrin Larkinson the next time the fleet emerged from FTL. He needed to hear their opinions in person in order to determine whether they genuinely supported this massive move. If Calabast and James browbeat them into agreement somehow, then there would be hell to pay!

"Lucky?" Gloriana asked from the bathroom as the door slid open. "Could you take Clixie out for a time?"

"Meow!"

Lucky stopped swooping around Ves' head. He darted over to Clixie, who was lying comfortably on a floating cat perch.

"Miaow?"

"Meow meow."

"Miaow."

After their brief exchange, the two cats departed from the stateroom.

Shortly afterwards, the armored guards of the Avatars and the Glory Battalion filed out of the stateroom as well! Even Nitaa, who took an oath to guard Ves' life, followed the guards out while carrying the Larkinson Mandate attached to a harness on her armor!

Ves immediately became concerned. As far as he knew, aside from entering the bathroom, his guards never left his presence!

What was even stranger was that Nitaa took orders from Gloriana! That wasn't supposed to happen! The Kinner was his bondswoman!

"Gloriana?" He asked. "Why did you send everyone away?"

He smelled her approach first. An intimate scent wafted from the entrance of the bathroom. The intensity of the perfume was a lot more concentrated than the one she carried before!

A slender leg slowly emerged from the bathroom. Wearing an elegant black dress that hugged her body contours, his girlfriend slowly undulated her hips as she approached Ves with a smile.

He immediately gulped. "Gloriana..?"

Her lustrous black hair was curled up in wavy tresses that adorned her head like a crown. The makeup applied to her face not only accentuated her eyes, but also enhanced the redness of her lips!

When she reached his side, she took her hand and encouraged him to stand. Once he did so, she slowly drew him towards the center of the compartment.

"Am I beautiful?" Gloriana smirked.

"You.. are.. I mean, you look stunning!"

"Hihihi!"

When they reached the bed, Gloriana slowly pushed Ves onto it until he sat on the edge. Gloriana lowered herself afterwards until she sat on his lap.

Her face lowered onto his to exchange a passionate kiss. Her overpowering scent intoxicated Ves, causing him to feel very hot!

Once their lips parted, Ves lifted his fingers to brush his lipstick-stained lips. "What.. what's going on, Gloriana?"

"I'm tired of waiting, Ves." She replied and gently placed her palm on his chest. "We belong to each other. Your heart belongs to me, and my heart belongs to you. Tonight, let me show you how much that matters to me. Let me be your first!"

Before Ves could reply, Gloriana threw herself at him and engulfed his mouth in another passionate kiss!

Chapter 2000 Transcending Existence

"How did they find out?!" A bedraggled-looking pirate commander complained as he tried to pilot his impressive-looking mech out of the secret entrance. "I shouldn't have accepted that blasted deal!"

Though the pirate looked worse for wear, that was because he hastily entered his mech in order to escape the sprawling pirate base built into the depths of one of the many floating planetoids of the Nyxian Gap.

Just an hour before, the pirate commander didn't look as scared as now.

Known to the cutthroat pirate community as Commander Nicolas Vortan and the leader of Vortan's Blades, he made a name for himself due to his excellent dueling skills!

Before he took over his current pirate organization, he risked his life for fame and riches by dueling others to the death for the entertainment of the depraved scum of the Gap!

In his prime, he became known as the Heart Striker! He gained this dreaded moniker for his penchant to stab his mech's incredibly hardy dueling sword through the cockpits of his opponent's mechs!

Though the hard living in the Gap and his aging caused him to lose some of his excellent reflexes, Commander Vortan was still a force to be reckoned with. This was especially the case when he usurped the leadership of a sizable pirate organization in charge of an entire pirate base!

Frederick City was one of the many semi-obscure but highly-frequented pirate hideouts of the Nyxian Gap.

Situated deep enough in the anomalous space of the Gap to avoid Peacekeeper retaliation, it was also close enough to the border to civilized space to make the base a welcome stopping point for many pirates looking to raid the Sentinel Kingdom!

Having fought and dealt with the Sentinels for so long, Vortan's Blades forged an increasing amount of ties with certain allies among their supposed enemies.

The nobles of the Sentinel Kingdom and the pirate leaders of the Nyxian Gap were not as diametrically opposed to each other as the public was led to believe.

These secret partnerships resulted in a lot of profit to Vortan's Blades. The Nyxian Gap may be fairly blessed with rare exotics, but the pirates and other scum who reside in them weren't able to gain any other essential goods! Even criminals couldn't escape the need for trade to keep their mechs and ships in working condition!

For several years, Frederick City expanded and grew into an increasingly more active pirate base with the help of all the deals that Vortan Blades had cut with some of its hidden Sentinel partners.

Though the nobles never revealed their identities, Commander Vortan didn't care so long as the goods kept flowing!

"Haha! I'm finally out!" He laughed.

His brilliant-looking swordsman mech finally darted out of the tunnel. A lightless, crater-encrusted landscape greeted his mech. Complicated, radioactive rock formation surrounded the clearing his Devosh entered.

"My ride is just ahead!"

Like any pirate commander, Vortan had long prepared an escape route for himself. In fact, the attackers of his base managed to find and block three of his routes, but he had at least seven more to choose from! He only selected this route because it was the fastest way out of the chaos that engulfed his base!

"You'll pay for that, you bastards!"

Though the pirate commander was glad he managed to preserve his life and custom mech, he lost almost everything. Vortan's Blades existed no more.

The invaders were never supposed to sneak so many mechs in his base!

Commander Vortan put all of the blame on the security leaders he entrusted to keep Frederick City safe. If not for their failures, he still would have been able to lord over others!

"First, I'll take revenge. Next, I'll rebuild Frederick Base! I won't let this setback drag me down!"

He was not an average pirate! He used to be one the most skilled of the Nyxian Gap! He led a pirate organization that ran an entire base!

Yet just before his Devosh reached the hole where he stashed his escape vessel, his swordsman mech slowed down and halted.

A mech stood in its way.

"Nicolas Vortan. I knew you would take this route. I've been awaiting your arrival." The opposite mech broadcasted.

"You." Vortan hissed! "You! It's you! Why did you attack my base?!"

He was both angry and afraid! He was filled with rage due to all of the losses he suffered. He was gripped with fear as he recognized his famous opponent!

A reddish-brown tiger mech slowly stepped forward on its four legs as its form comfortably traversed the reduced gravity of the planetoid.

A large, thick tiger tail playfully swayed back and forth as the snarling head and shining red eyes of the mech pinned the Devosh in place!

"The blood of billions of innocents stains your hands. Entire cities have succumbed to the crimes perpetrated by your men!"

"Why the hell do you attack us, then?! We're just the ones who accepted the job. You should go after the masterminds instead!"

"That's the problem, Commander Vortan. I can't track the ones responsible for plotting the heinous attacks. That's why I am knocking on your doors instead. Now, please answer this question. Who gave you those Spyre Helixes? Where did they come from?!"

"I don't know! The only contact who I got in touch with was some snobby noble prick called Finlay! You know how careful those Sentinel houses are with making deals with pirates. They never expose their true identities, especially to scum like us! That's all I know, I swear!"

"DON'T LIE TO ME!" The tiger mech pilot bellowed! "I have interrogated hundreds of craven pirate leaders like you. I can smell a lie from a light-year away! You know more about your business partner than you claim!"

Commander Vortan grimaced. "I'm not afraid of you, Dark Cleaver. Your Oblivion Hand may have caught my boys by surprise, but I don't see you goons anywhere close! Did you come alone?"

The Devil Tiger nodded its huge and menacing head. "As a former duelist, I figured you deserve the courtesy of fighting one last match. Come. Let us test our battle prowess against each other!"

"Are you serious?"

"I am the Dark Cleaver. I never break my word."

"Then.. it's your funeral!"

Even though Commander Vortan hadn't dueled anyone in years, he still kept up his skills and participated in several large battles!

He didn't halt any longer. With a wordless battle cry, Commander Vortan entered his best battle condition! He drove his Devosh straight towards the infamous mech of the Black Cleaver with its sword raised above its head!

The swordsman mech closed in on the tiger mech incredibly rapidly! The Devosh was not only a mech that Commander Vortan poured a huge amount of money and resources in developing, but it was also highly adapted to the 0.76 g of the lifeless planetoid!

Compact boosters built into the back, arms and legs of the mechs flared into life as they pushed the graceful swordsman mech forward with incredible momentum!

This was one of the secret weapons of his custom mech! Commander Vortan managed to surprise his opponents time and time again by the rapid advance of his mech!

Barely a second passed before his mech reached the tiger mech. Borrowing the momentum of its advance, the Devosh rapidly reoriented its grip so that its famed sword pointed its tip straight at the throat of the hostile tiger mech!

Its chopping stance had just been a feint! The famed Heart Striker intended to stab the tiger mech from the start!

An angry roar rang through their private comm channel. The mech sidestepped out of the attack, but not in time to escape a scratch onto its head armor!

Though Commander Vortan wanted to exult over his successful hit, he felt through the Devosh's systems that its sword failed to penetrate as far as he expected!

"Your Devil Tiger is just as tough as in the rumors." The pirate commander muttered as his Devosh turned around to sustain the offensive! "I'll just have to break you down piece by piece if that's the case!"

Though the Devosh went all out in unleashing a punishing combo, the Devil Tiger was no slouch! It lifted its unusually strong paw and blocked the sword strikes with its immensely hard claws!

The Dark Cleaver was a wily opponent and one who keenly utilized the properties of the tiger mech to his advantage!

The Devil Tiger moved swiftly and managed to repel most attacks even as the Devosh sped up. Commander Vortan became increasingly more worried about the lack of progress he made in damaging the enemy mech!

The Devosh briefly darted back to pause its assault.

"It looks like I have to go all out. I'll show you the true power of my Devosh!"

Several lights began to illuminate the Devosh at certain sections. Soon enough, an illuminating purple glow began to form around the mech as it began to excite a lot of energy!

"HAHAHA!" Commander Vortan laughed as he got caught up in the rush of power of his fully-unlocked mech! "I never revealed the full power of my Devosh until now. Though you've put up a decent fight, we were never playing on the same level to begin with! Though strong, your Oblivion Hand can never match the flow of resources passing through Frederick City! I obtained some of the best exotics the Nyxian Gap can provide and used them to build a mech that transcends this standard!"

When the mech attacked next, its speed had doubled! It's acceleration was off the charts and its attacks landed with greater force than before!

The tiger mech sustained more than a few scratches this time! Its resilient armor plating actually exhibited deep cuts as a strange force field covered the Devosh's sword!

"False resonance!" The Dark Cleaver uttered with surprise!

"Yes! Not all of the resonating exotics can be found in the Nyxian Gap, but I managed to trade much of it from my noble trading partners! That's an advantage that a nomad like you can never match! I'm going to chop your mech up until I'm left with tiger meat!"

His initial success only fueled his momentum! Commander Vortan showcased why he almost never lost in the dueling ring as his mech never let up the pressure as it built up its attacks so that the tiger mech would be unable to fend off its killer strikes!

Cut after cut formed in the bestial mech's armor as it appeared incapable of fully resisting against the might of false resonance! Though immensely draining, the Devosh carried lots of high-quality energy cells that could sustain its special state for at least ten more minutes!

Just as Commander Vortan was about to land his coup-de-grace, the unbalanced tiger mech began to glow on its own!

With just a single paw strike, the Devil Tiger managed to bat aside the Devosh's next attack!

The swordsman mech's momentum broke as Commander Vortan awkwardly tried to prevent his mech from tipping over!

"What? What is this strength?"

When he directed his attention to the Devil Tiger, his eyes practically widened into balloons.

The tiger mech glowed red and brown in the same fashion as his own mech! No, it was different! The glow around the tiger mech was a lot more condensed!

Realization struck Commander Vortan. He didn't need to direct his attention to the resonance sensors to know that the Devil Tiger was a lot more formidable than he thought.

The glowing Devil Tiger began to radiate a field that put the Devosh and Commander Vortan under significant pressure! The swordsman mech began to groan a bit as some of its parts worked less smoothly than before.

This strange reaction confirmed Commander Vortan's greatest fears!

"Since when did you break through?"

"A few months ago."

The Devil Tiger wasn't standing still. Even as it continued to swish its tail, the metal debris that the Devosh had managed to carve out of the armor of the tiger mech began to fly back to the mech and fill up its gaps!

The mech was self-repairing!

"Congratulations.. for becoming an expert pilot." Commander Vortan morsely said. "I suppose your Devil Tiger is also an expert mech."

"Not.. exactly, but close enough. It's still an ongoing project."

This turn of events had completely extinguished the pirate commander's battle spirit. As impressive as his Devosh performed, it was just custom mech. The most it could do was imitate resonance. It could never stand up to the genuine article!

"Why this charade? Why give me the illusion of victory?"

"I just want to give you the fight that you deserve." Ryncol Larkinson answered. "Regardless of your crimes, I respect your martial skills. Experiencing your famed swordsmanship first hand has been worth it. Now, will you surrender?"

The Devosh stood frozen a time before dropping its sword. "I.. surrender."

The Devil Tiger was too strong!