The Mech Touch

The return of Ketis to the design teams was met with considerable fanfare. Despite her Swordmaiden pedigree and unusually athletic and half-alien appearance, she had already proved her design prowess to the other assistant mech designers!

Ketis knew she was good. Developing her own 'superpower' infused her with an immeasurable amount of confidence, and the greatsword floating behind her back only emphasized her strength even further!

This was a mech designer who could fight! This was the mech designer groomed by both Ves and the Swordmaidens!

No one made the mistake of looking down on her due to her irregular background!

The most peculiar reaction came from the two boys, ahem, adolescent men. Both Maikel and Zanthar gazed at Ketis with admiration and hero worship. They seemed to think they would become just as strong and competent as Ketis once they received Ves' personal tutoring!

Oh, how naive. A mech designer like Ketis was one of a kind. Besides, Ves had a very different trajectory in mind for the two Larkinson seeds!

Perhaps the only other peculiar reaction that Ves picked up was that of Merrill O'Brian-Larkinson. Due to her former pirate adventures, she knew what pirates were really like.

As a mech designer who was highly inclined towards rationalism, Ves never really knew what Merrill was really thinking. At the very least, she shouldn't be plotting anything bad considering that she successfully gained the Golden Cat's approval.

When they finished the meet and greet, Ves made some announcements.

"Right now, there are two mech designers among us who have made a lot of progress recently. After evaluating Ketis and Miles, I believe that they are within reach of reaching their critical moments. In order to facilitate their progress, I have decided to pull them out of the design teams to guide them on an individual basis. They will spend most of their time designing their own mechs."

The man and women in question stepped aside. Already they received admiring glances from the remaining assistants.

Everyone here knew that the two might very well become the next Journeymen of the Larkinson Clan! The collective design prowess of the LMC would practically double at that time, thereby turning into a truly formidable mech company at the sector level!

After handing out the daily assignments for the design teams, Ves and Gloriana both pulled Ketis and Miles aside.

"Both of you are very promising, but that does not mean that you are already set to become a Journeyman." Ves warned. "There are plenty of Apprentices who stalled despite continuing to design lots of mechs. The only guarantee I can give you is that as long as you maintain your passion, your chances of advancing will be considerable. Don't lose heart. Don't lose your motivation. Keep chasing after your ambition and don't hesitate to design something radical. Dare to design!"

"Dare to design!" The two younger mech designers echoed with fervent eyes!

Ves grinned. He was becoming better and better at motivating people.

That said, nothing was set in stone. Though his spiritual vision already revealed that their nascent design philosophies had stimulated their spiritual potential, he had seen plenty of people in the same condition. Not all of them managed to realize their potential.

The main issue was that Ves wasn't sure what conditions they needed to meet in order to trigger the formation of their design seeds. All he could do was to encourage them to design a lot of mechs, hoping that this stupid but proven method of exercising their craft would help them break through the extraordinary threshold!

In his mind, Ves already considered Ketis and Miles to be Journeyman candidates. This wasn't a common term in the mech industry because unlike expert candidates, highly-advanced Apprentices didn't generate any resonance.

Perhaps Masters possessed an intuitive ability to detect promising mech designers, but there was no technological equivalent to the reliable resonance meter!

Miles raised his hand. "I have a question, teacher. If… if we ever succeed in our advancement, what will be our role in the LMC?"

That was a very important question. Ves still wanted to make use of their distinctive specialties, but he couldn't treat them as his obedient slaves anymore.

Journeymen deserved better. As mech designers who were capable of imparting extraordinary power to their work, their value was countless times greater than an Apprentice!

If mech companies could choose between employing a million Apprentices or a single Journeyman, they would always choose the latter without any hesitation!

This was because the Apprentices were ultimately constrained by the technical limitations of the natural laws. Only Journeymen and higher were capable of designing mechs that clearly outperformed the mechs designed by AIs!

Even though both of the Journeyman candidates had pledged their loyalty to the Larkinson Clan, that did not mean that Ves could mistreat or exploit them at will.

As the patriarch of the Larkinson Clan, he owed it to the two mech designers to continue to foster their growth. In exchange, they would pay back everything that Ves and the clan invested in them by contributing back to the clan!

The real question was how much autonomy he should give them. As Journeymen, it was important for them to design their own mechs. Yet Ves feared that the qualities of their products wouldn't match the profile expected of LMC mechs.

The key qualities that every LMC-branded product had in common was their glows and their high compatibility with their target audience!

So far, Ves had mainly collaborated with Gloriana, who mostly followed his lead in most projects.

He couldn't continue this pattern. Hogging all of the pivotal design choices would only deprive his other collaborators with an opportunity to exercise their creativity.

"In the future, we'll change the way we manage our mech design projects." Ves eventually promised. "Every Journeyman should have the opportunity to design the mechs of their dreams. With more Journeymen, we can also increase the amount of projects we are working on at the same time. Don't forget that we are already recruiting a lot of assistant mech designers as well. We'll be holding some trials soon to decide the most suitable additions to our design teams."

This might possibly be the biggest wave of recruitment for some time. Ves intended to expand his Design Department considerably in order to increase the pace of development at his mech company.

The time where he would only be pumping out one or two mech designs per cycle would soon be over!

Ves already resigned himself to taking on a more supervisory role in less important projects.

Strictly speaking, he only needed to be involved just enough to imbue the upcoming mech designs with glows.

Of course, he shouldn't take it too far and lean back all the time. He still planned to involve himself more extensively in more important projects.

One thing was for sure, though. Ves had to manage his time well! There was way too much work and far too little time to devote equal attention to everything! He needed to set priorities and compromise on a lot of lesser matters if he wanted to make sure the LMC remained as productive as possible!

Ves gazed deeply at the expressions shown by Ketis and Miles.

Though both of them clearly knew that Ves and Gloriana would always maintain their primacy in the Design Department, they didn't show any signs of challenging this power dynamic.

Good. As much as Ves was willing to delegate more responsibilities to any new Journeyman, he was determined to stay on top! The LMC was still his mech company as far as he was concerned, and it should always operate in a way that facilitated his own development!

"There is a bit of a peculiarity in the mechs you prefer to design, right?" He continued. "Ketis, you still intend to specialize in swordsman mechs, right?"

"Any mech that wields a bladed weapon will do." She clarified. "My main goal is to design the best mechs for the Swordmaidens. To be honest, I don't feel any passion when I design other mechs."

That sounded fairly limiting to Ves, but at least it was better than before. While Ketis still preferred to design swordsman mechs, she could also design a knight mech if necessary!

"I'll need your help in improving the offensive capabilities of our Hexer mech project. While it isn't very strong at beating other mechs, it at least needs to hold its ground."

"Alright." Ketis nodded.

Ves turned to Miles. "As for you, our mech company hasn't produced any aerial mechs so far, but I hope we can change that. If you do well, I'll put you in charge of any mech that falls within your specialty."

"Thank you, teacher."

"Don't thank me yet. We'll revisit this topic again when you succeed in your advancement."

He only revealed some of his future plans in order to give them hope and motivate them further. As long as they heard that they would be able to lead their own design projects, they would work extra hard to shed their status as Apprentices!

Strictly speaking, Ketis possessed a lot more potential than Miles. She was considerably younger than Miles and had a good chance of becoming a Journeyman before she reached thirty years old!

As for the former Tovar family member, his extensive experience and systematic upbringing meant that his chances of advancing should be higher. However, Ves didn't expect Miles to make a lot of progress quickly because his design philosophy was a lot more muddled!

Ketis and Miles were fundamentally different people.

The former not only enjoyed an unorthodox upbringing, but also pursued her passion to the extreme! Her Swordmaiden habits along with Ves' teachings all fueled her obsessiveness to a level where she even brute-forced her way into developing her own superpower!

As for the latter, Miles was the typical example of an elite mech designer who studied at an excellent school such as Ansel or the DCTI.

Though both universities existed no more since the sandmen swept through Bentheim, the reputation and pedigree that Miles enjoyed was not something that should be discounted!

The only problem was that his systematic learning trajectory was a bit deficient in terms of daring and rule-breaking. Miles still respected the natural laws too much to imagine bending them in order to design the mechs of his dreams.

Ves needed to find a way to foster his passion and encourage him to refine his nascent design philosophy further.

"Gloriana and I will be reviewing your private designs before advising you on how to proceed. Both of you need to temper your developing design philosophies by applying the principles and ideals that you have theorized in your mind. Remember, a mech designer is not strictly a researcher! A mech designer is a product maker! Making mechs is the best way for us to improve!"

Fires burned in their eyes as they agreed with this statement.

The two candidates weren't resigned to remain in the category of low-ranking mech designers any longer! Witnessing the success and achievements of Ves and Gloriana fueled their desire to catch up to their idols!

Gloriana smiled in satisfaction. "I concur with my boyfriend. The LMC and the Larkinson Clan stands to become something greater when you ascend to our level. There are a lot more mechs we can design with your assistance! The key is to work together and pool our talents so that we can achieve the greatest level of synergy possible."

Currently, the Larkinson Clan mainly depended on Ves to remain prominent. This was rather precarious as his sudden absence would instantly cause the clan to lose its relevance!

Both expert pilots and Journeymen were vital to the Larkinsons. Only when they began to produce both in abundance would their clan gain recognition as an independent power!

The future of the Larkinson Clan did not solely rest on Ves' shoulders anymore. While he would still play the most dominant role, he did not have to carry the burden on his own anymore!