The Mech Touch

According to Patricia, it was a lot harder to follow the path of a rational mech designer!

Those like Ves who gave in to their emotions never needed to hold themselves back!

If they wanted to pursue something, they did it wholeheartedly without being deterred by the low odds of success!

"In the higher levels of mech design, you will eventually get in touch with rational mech designers." She spoke. "The ability to control yourself is one of the hidden conditions to join the Design Department of the Mech Trade Association. This is the reason why the MTA rejects the vast majority of applicants. They don't exhibit enough control!"

"What? I never heard about that! Why does the MTA value control so much? Are they better than passionate mech designers?"

"Not exactly. In fact, we're worse in many areas. Because we have to temper their emotions, we aren't particularly adventurous or innovative. The hurdle to advancing to Journeyman is much harder for us because we often treat mech design as a chore. There are even rational mech designers who actually hate designing mechs, but nonetheless advanced to Master they have worked hard to become good at it! This is the ideal of a rational mech designer!"

Ves became stunned yet again! He had never heard of such a thing! He couldn't imagine a mech designer who hated his profession yet reached a height that most passionate mech designers would kill to achieve!

Her words prompted him to recall the time when he and Gloriana entered into low periods after expending a considerable amount of their spiritual energy.

To an energetic, passionate and creative mech designer, these low periods felt like pure torture to them! While they eventually managed to get used to this condition, they never felt comfortable remaining in this state.

It was like living with constant hunger gnawing in their bellies!

"What is the point of going through all of this torture? Is self-control even necessary?"

Patricia turned around and activated a projection of the Milky Way Galaxy. The map delineated all of the territories occupied by humanity.

"Look at this map. Human civilization spans a lot of star sectors. Each of those star sectors are filled with states that often war against each other. These conflicts generate demand for mechs, particularly mechs with powerful advantages over the competition. Put yourself in the shoes of the MTA that governs all of these activities. What do you think they see?"

He paused and thought for a moment. He recalled his earlier speculation and combined them with the hints given by Patricia.

"The MTA.. regards human space as an incubation chamber! As long as humans keep quarrelling with each other, they'll constantly develop new toys to beat their opponents!"

"Exactly. Most of the innovation that the MTA values comes from passionate mech designers who have somehow been able to overcome every hurdle and realize their design philosophy. With how large and diverse this incubation chamber has grown, the MTA never has to worry about running out of new inventions."

"I guess that there will be a lot less innovation if every passionate mech designer tries to become rational." Ves discovered.

She nodded. "Mech designers like you play a vital role in the mech design ecosystem. While your mech designs often feature very distinct flaws, their strengths are always very pronounced as well. The MTA needs these kinds of innovations to elevate the overall level of mech design."

"Why doesn't the MTA take part in this then? What is the use of rational mech designers?"

"Rational mech designers like us may not be as good in pushing the boundaries, but we are much more capable of assimilating different specialties. We train ourselves to keep an open and objective mind. Our design philosophies aren't as exclusive as others. We evaluate ourselves by a different standard for your kind. Passionate mech designers are graded by the usefulness of their specialty. Rational mech designers are graded by their ability to imitate, assimilate and combine other design philosophies!"

This was the first time Ves heard something like this! If Patricia didn't appear so credible, Ves would have thought that she was spewing nonsense!

A very ugly image started to form in his mind.

"I see now." He spoke morosely. "It's like tenant farming. Passionate mech designers are the poor serfs who toil in the fields and occasionally harvest some crops in the form of innovations. The rational mech designers of the MTA are the landholders or farm managers who effortlessly claim all of the crops while doing almost none of the backbreaking work!"

"That's the reality of the mech industry in the era of the MTA." Patricia confirmed, not mincing any words this time. "To the MTA, a good mech designer is not necessarily someone who can design a very unique or innovative mech. A good mech designer is someone who can consistently design good mechs that meets demand. Do you comprehend the difference?"

He nodded after a few seconds of thought. "Passionate mech designers are more focused on the journey. They have to expend all their time on navigating the paths and making sure they chose the correct ones. Rational mech designers are more about the end result. Their mech designs have to meet the requirements. Nothing more. It doesn't matter if they steal or borrow from someone else's specialty."

"It's a fair trade, Ves. It is not as if passionate mech designers are forced to give up their trade secrets to the MTA."

That was true. Ves already found out that mech designers who pass on their trade secrets to the MTA could obtain a lot of merits in return. With that, they could exchange their merits for all kinds of rewards, the most important of which was life-prolonging treatment!

Still, Ves felt a little sour about being regarded as a poor and dirt-crusted peasant. The snobby noble mech designers from the MTA didn't have to go into the fields at all!

Patricia noticed the direction of his thoughts. "I already told you that you aren't necessarily worse than mech designers like us. We have our own challenges. We can only make full use of someone else's design philosophy if it has been realized. Even then, we have to adapt ourselves to assimilate these specialties, which is quite challenging. At the same time, we can't neglect our own design philosophies either. All of this is very hard to do while actively suppressing our strongest emotions and impulses."

Hearing all of this made him dizzy for a bit. He no longer felt as much envy towards these rational mech designers anymore. They climbed a very different road, one in which they needed to depend on their will instead of their passion!

He really didn't agree with this approach towards mech design.

Ves always designed with his heart. He also valued the meaning of each mech design. While he understood the logic behind this alternate approach, he did not regret sticking to his current ways!

He understood now why Patricia said that both rational and passionate mech designers had their own pros and cons. One wasn't better than the other, and just because the MTA mainly hired rational mech designers did not mean that they belonged to a superior class of mech designers.

"You told me that mech designers who depend on passion and emotion risk going too far." He said. "Are there ways to.. mitigate the downsides of my approach?"

Since Patricia knew a lot of information that ordinary mech designers never got in touch with, Ves might as well take advantage of her willingness to share some of these secrets!

He had no idea why she was being so open about them to him, but he shouldn't look at a gift horse in the mouth!

"There are many ways to exert more control over yourself." She replied with a smile. "In fact, when mech designers advance to Senior and Master, they generally learn about the importance of control. They adopt various means to restrain their passion and prevent themselves from being consumed by their strong emotions."

"So they're basically trying to become more rational?"

"It's not a dichotomy, Ves. A mech designer is never 100 percent emotional or 100 percent rational. You can view it as a spectrum. For example, I tend to view myself as 80 percent rational and 20 percent emotional. This means that I'm purposefully muting my emotions by more than half!"

Ves didn't dare to guess where he stood on the spectrum. One thing was for sure. He was definitely more emotional and rational when it came to mech design!

"I think I understand your point. When mech designers continue to pursue their passion, they are probably sliding further towards the emotional side of the spectrum. If they go too far, their judgement will get more and more skewed. In order to regain their common sense and restore some of their humanity, they have to force themselves to become more rational!"

Patricia looked impressed by his guess. "That is correct. I see that you have already thought a lot about this matter. I'm sure you're familiar with the phrase that mech design is an art as well as a science. We humans are emotional creatures, but one of the reasons why we rose up as a dominant species is because we are able to suppress our instincts and avoid giving in to our emotions in order to achieve a greater goal!"

"I'm guessing there is a downside to these control methods, right?"

"Yes. Rational mech designers are naturally less prone to mood swings. It's different in your case. Reducing your emotions directly affects your productivity as a mech designer. The key therefore lies in tempering your mood when you don't need it, but unleashing it when you are actively designing a mech!"

"I understand!" Ves became enlightened. "However, it's probably not as easy as I think, right?"

She nodded. "Emotions are an indispensable part of you. It is against your instinct to suppress them. Many mech designers who live with their emotions for decades have failed to suppress them because they simply can't function without them! It is very difficult to explain their pain!"

In truth, Ves already garnered a guess about it. Such a state sounded similar to his low periods!

"So is there anything concrete that you can suggest to me at the start?"

"Hmm.." She thought for a moment. "I'm not sure it's wise for you to adopt any of the strong and systematic control methods. I believe you're better off learning to adjust your mentality through natural means. Even though they won't have a strong effect because you've already become a Journeyman, they will still help in preventing you from going over the edge!"

"Tell me then." Ves looked at Patricia with earnest anticipation.

He no longer viewed her as an enemy! Privately, Ves thought that when he initiated his hijacking attempt, he should spare her life if she was at his mercy. It was the least he could do for her generous advice!

"There are three general methods which I think are useful to you." She spoke, and raised a single finger.

"I've already mentioned the first one. You should slow down between design projects. The passage of time will allow you to regain your center and reflect on yourself."

That sounded like a huge waste of time to Ves!

She raised a second finger.

"The second method to control yourself is to develop a set of principles! As long as you impose some limits to yourself, you'll recognize when you are about to go too far and can pull yourself back in time!"

This sounded very familiar to Ves! Though he hadn't always been honest with his principles, he felt very attracted by this method!

Patricia raised a third finger. "The last method I recommend is to find a hobby that you can direct your passion towards instead! Whether it's learning how to play an instrument or tinkering with gadgets, as long as you can vent your excess passion and emotion towards a harmless hobby, it's worth pursuing!"

This sounded familiar to Ves as well. The problem was that he already attempted this before! He had no other hobby aside from designing mechs!