The Mech Touch

Regardless of the inexplicable change of heart among the Wodins, Ves welcomed it anyway.

After all, it was better for him to forge some friendships with Gloriana's relatives considering how they played a central role in her life.

It was a lot more difficult to sustain their relationship if Ves still couldn't get along with his in-laws!

Once Gloriana expressed that she was willing to call him a man, Ves believed that they had finally achieved a breakthrough!

He was glad that Gloriana managed to settle the contradiction from her end. Now that she was willing to acknowledge him as a man and no longer insisted so much on bringing him home, Ves no longer felt as constrained in her presence.

They spoke frankly about their future aspirations.

"Once I leave for the Red Ocean, I don't intend to return." He said.

"Why? I never really understood why you're so eager to leave your home. Sure, the Komodo Star Sector isn't as prosperous as the other parts of human space, but it is still our root."

Ves couldn't say he was eager to leave because the Five Scrolls Compact might be eager to get back their missing Holy Scroll!

He had to use another excuse.

"Think about what humanity has achieved. Our civilization has managed to defeat some of the most powerful alien empires in the Milky Way, and after a hiatus that has lasted for four centuries, we are finally picking up where we left off!"

Gloriana tilted her head. "I didn't think you were so broadminded about humanity's position. This isn't our fight. The Big Two will take care of everything."

"The Big Two are a bunch of bastards." Ves retorted. "Look at their track record since the outbreak of the Sand War. What have they done to help our states resist the sandman invasion? A single half-hearted decapitation strike and a tardy response to the latest movements of the sandmen inspires anything but confidence in their commitment to defend humanity! At best, they're swamped with so many priorities that their resources are spread too thin. At worst, they no longer care about common humans anymore!"

Whatever the case, Ves interacted with the CFA and MTA often enough to get a measure of their mindset. They considered the Komodo Star Sector to be nothing more than an insignificant corner of human space. Even if the sandmen scoured the entire frontier star sector of life, the higher ups of the Big Two still wouldn't care!

His girlfriend directed a scrutinizing gaze at him. "I admit you have a point, but it's not so easy to elevate ourselves to their level."

"At the very least we should make an attempt to transcend our modest beginnings. We are capable of more. I just know it. Sooner or later, we'll become Masters with very specialties. Will we still be confined in the galactic rim at the time?"

"Hmm.." Gloriana pressed her finger on her lips. "You're not wrong, but it's incredibly hard to reach Master. How many mech designers have tried and failed? The chance of success is miniscule! We should be devoting most if not all of our efforts towards progressing our design philosophy. It's best to do so in an environment that best facilitates our work."

"And you think that environment is home?"

She blinked. "Yup."

"Well for you, that makes sense. For me, not so much. Has a boy ever advanced to Master in your state?"

"Uhm.."

"Do you realize how much damage you will do to my chances of advancement if you want to turn me into a Hexer? You're more liable to snuff my future instead! This will definitely affect your chances of reaching Master as well since you're so dependent on me to design your best mechs. Considering this situation, it's in your best interest to keep me happy, and that means allowing me to decide where I want to go. I've always yearned to travel and explore the greater multiverse. The Red Ocean is a great opportunity to start my sojourn."

"What about me?" She asked.

"Are you happy here?"

"I'm always happy whenever I'm in your presence, Ves. You know that."

Ves grinned. "Then you'll be happy wherever I go, right? Do you need to return to the Hegemony and your mother to be happy, or are you content to stay by my side even if I'm heading to an entirely different galaxy?"

His words caused her to fall into thought.

"Now that you put it that way, I think you're right. I feel a lot better about my decision now. While I won't lie to you and say that I won't be happier if I can be with you at home, I don't mind if you disagree. Will you at least allow me to invite you home for a visit? It's not going to be permanent, I swear!"

He grimaced. "I'm sorry, Gloriana, but if the attitude of other Hexers is as bad as I think, I don't think I can agree."

"My mother—"

"I don't necessarily have to visit your mother. Why doesn't she visit me instead? I know it's rather inconvenient for her to travel while the Komodo War is heating up, but once it's over, will it be okay to invite her on a foreign excursion?"

His novel suggestion took her aback. Gloriana never contemplated the possibility that her mother would leave Hegemony space in order to meet her boyfriend.

On the surface, Gloriana wasn't very optimistic that her mother would agree. Hexers generally never left Hegemony space without a good reason. It simply wasn't done. The rest of the human space was dominated by states who still wallowed in their ignorance.

It was very unpleasant for Hexers to be in the company of people who treated men as equals rather than the boys they truly were! After a lot of bad experiences where Hexers futilely tried to enlighten foreigners of the falsehoods they perpetuated, most Hexers simply stopped traveling abroad!

Gloriana knew what her mother was like. For someone as strict as her to travel outside the familiar confines of Hegemony space and become exposed to people like Ves who insisted on being treated like men would not go over well!

This was especially the case when their fellow Hexers would likely look down on her mother for paying a visit to her prospective son-in-law!

Therefore, while Ves' suggestion sounded great, Gloriana did not see any way for her mother to acquiesce.

Nonetheless, she wasn't in the mood to contradict her boyfriend at this point. She worked so hard and made a very huge sacrifice to make amends with Ves. She wasn't willing to press this matter any further.

She offered Ves a reassuring smile. "My mother would definitely be intrigued. I really do hope you can meet my mother in person. I love you, but I love her as well. It would be great if the two of you can get along!"

They babbled a bit as they grew more comfortable in each other's company. Both of them shed their earlier reserve and seemingly restored their prior intimacy.

Their cats were happy they made up as well. Lucky crawled onto Gloriana's lap and turned it into his bed while Clixie sauntered over to Ves and begged for head scratches.

"Miaow."

"Oh, you missed me, Clixie?"

"Miaow miaow."

"Oh, you missed the Golden Cat you mean?"

"Miaowwww!"

"She's not your kitten, you know. The Golden Cat only inherited a tiny portion of your essence."

The Larkinson Mandate contained the marks and signatures of hundreds of clan members. Lucky and Clixie only took up two of its pages.

"Miaow miaow miaow!"

Of course, a cat like Clixie didn't see it that way. The newly-created ancestral spirit was a cat, ergo Clixie and Lucky were responsible for raising her into a proper cat!

This reminded Ves of how cat-like the Golden Cat turned out. He hadn't actually expected his latest spiritual product to adopt so many cat-like traits. His other spiritual products became a lot more ambiguous when they came into existence. They were mostly defined by their conceptual traits rather than their appearances.

Yet for some reason or another, the Golden Cat almost completely adopted the appearance and the personality of a cat! She even communicated in the same fashion as Lucky and Clixie!

Whatever the case, Clixie wasn't entirely wrong when she claimed that the Golden Cat needed to be raised like one. It wouldn't do for a cat to bark like a dog or something.

Ves also considered it a way to develop the Golden Cat's personality. Though her connections with the Larkinsons provided her with plenty experiences, none of them belonged to her. How could the Larkinson Clan's ancestral spirit possibly learn how to love and protect its members when it never lived its own life?

"Miaow."

"Oh, you want to be able to touch the Golden Cat like Lucky?" He frowned. "That's a very tall order. It's not that easy to be able to do what he can do. At the very least, you need to develop your mind."

Though Clixie looked disappointed, Ves couldn't do anything about it. Even he lost his ability to turn himself intangible after visiting the ruins of the Crystal Builders!

At the very least, Clixie needed to develop spiritual potential in order to interact with an incorporeal existence like the Golden Cat.

Was it even possible for a cat to surpass the extraordinary threshold?

The chance was probably slim for an ordinary housecat, but a Rubarthan Sentinel Cat was an entirely different beast.

In any case, if Ves ever developed the ability to stimulate spiritual potential in norms, he would definitely help Clixie out. She was one of the few entities who was capable of keeping Lucky in line!

Once they were done with fooling around, Ves stretched his hand towards Gloriana.

"Let's design a mech."

"Okay." She replied with a smile.

Both of them instantly entered familiar territory. Once they called up a projected design interface, the pair soon shifted into a work mindset.

They began with an empty file.

"Let me explain the concept I have in mind." Ves spoke and started to draft a few contours in the design interface. "The modular mech platform that I've chosen to design is meant to serve as a bridge between third-class and second-class designs. It's highly tailored towards our Larkinson mech pilots, but other mech pilots should still be able to pilot it as well."

A very rudimentary draft came into being.

"So this is the base platform?" She asked.

He nodded. "Yes. I've chosen to keep as many commonalities together as I can get away with. I have to accommodate several different configurations. The good news is that they are similar enough that I can retain most of the torso chassis as well as the legs and head. The bad news is that we have to juggle four different configurations at a time."

He drafted four separate pairs of arms and accompanying weapons. Gloriana instantly recognized the mech types that the Larkinson mech was supposed to integrate.

"A rifleman mech, a space knight, a lancer mech and a swordsman mech. That's not nearly as bad as most modular mech platforms, you know."

"You're right, but the caveat is that we only have three months to finish this design!"

She winced. "That is very little time. Even I'm not confident I can wrap up this design in such a short timeframe."

"I believe we can do it. We just need to plan our time well and make the most out of our design teams."

"It'll be difficult to complete all of our work with just two design teams. Maybe you should consider hiring additional ones."

"Maybe. Anyway, let's start with discussing what aspects can remain fixed and which aspects we need to vary between configurations."

This was a very important discussion, and Ves was very eager to hear what Gloriana had to say. Her technical fluency was a bit better than his, so she was a much better authority on what to decide to push to the base platform and what should be tailored for different configurations.

Gloriana immediately put her analytical mind to use. "Let's start with the space knight configuration. It's the heaviest and most comprehensive configuration. We should first decide whether to augment this configuration with additional armor cover. This can come in the form of a rainment or…"