The Mech Touch

As Ves continued to design his dwarven crown, he began to think about the meaning of his work.

He was a mech designer by profession. Although he created a lot of other products lately, he never forgot his true purpose.

Even Star Designers, who famously branched out and created all kinds of other products, never abandoned the field they were best at. Designing mechs was the root of their passion and the purpose of all of their hard work.

Although Ves could not even come close to approaching the majesty of a Star Designer, his current activities put him on a similar path.

It was not unusual for mech designers to branch out early and work in other industries. Specialist mech designers often spent time on designing and building specific products or parts that had a relation to their design philosophy.

For example, Ketis mainly focused on designing swordsman mechs, but it was not a waste of time for her to focus specifically on developing swords. The gains she made after creating the Decapitator was great and not much less than if she built a masterwork out of an entire mech!

In that context, what Ves was doing should also be considered an extension of his work.

Similar to how Ketis improved her ability to design swordsman mechs by focusing specifically on swords, Ves realized that he could evolve his ability to design living mechs if he explored the depth of spiritual engineering in different circumstances.

Creating totems was one of the ways he could apply his design philosophy to products other than mechs.

Unlike designing mechs, designing totems was less ċumbersome and took up way less time. A serious mech designer never wanted to cut corners when he engaged in his primary work, but that could be quite troublesome at times.

If Ves wanted to experiment with his specialty or explore a new avenue without dedicating months of design time, then it might be a good idea for him to experiment with developing totems.

"What I'm doing right now is an opportunity to learn more about my specialty! I can try out new ideas, I can place my work in a different context and I can implement solutions I wouldn't dare to use on a mech design. As long as I don't take too much time away from mech design, it is quite worthwhile to devote my time to creating totems!"

As Ves continued to design the crown for his current client, he found that he enjoyed this process a lot. Unlike the previous times where he either developed excellent totems for himself or disposable totems for others, he began to think of himself as a true craftsman.

He had the illusion that he had become a venerated master artisan who received commissions from all kinds of powerful people. Even a dwarven emperor wished to receive his services!

"This could become a profitable side business for me." Ves murmured as his eyes shone brighter. "Not everyone is a mech pilot and not everyone needs a mech design from me. If I start to offer powerful and highly customized totems to wealthy individuals, I can earn a lot of money in the Red Ocean!"

Only the powerful and those attached to them had the qualifications to enter the Red Ocean at this early stage. Ves might not be able to compete adequately against all of the powerful Masters who had already set up shop in the new frontier, but he was pretty certain that no one could create artifacts like his upcoming crown!

A crown was not a mech and therefore had a different dynamic with its user.

Though Rion used to be a mech pilot in his past life, getting shot in the head before getting pieced back together by the MTA caused him to lose his ability to interface with mechs.

Therefore, Ves couldn't treat the intended user of his crown as an ordinary mech pilot. He had to configure his product in a way that made it powerful without relying on the strength of its wearer.

"Part of the reason why mechs are powerful is because they are a part of a greater whole." Ves reminded himself. The union between a mech and mech pilot produces one of the strongest combinations known to humanity."

This was why the Olympus Mons was so ridiculously strong in direct combat. Ves even guessed that Saint Mayorka and her ace mech could even beat up the Unending One in a direct battle!

Unlike his other clients, Ves could not impart that kind of power to Emperor Rion Aaden.

First, the resurrected dwarf was not a mech pilot anymore.

Second, a crown could not compare to a mech.

All of this meant that the crown he was trying to make would certainly pale in comparison to his mech.

There was nothing he could do about this disparity, but that didn't mean that Ves was resigned to make a weak product.

"Can a crown be as powerful as a mech? No, but I can leverage my advantages to close the gap as much as possible!"

As Ves set this goal in mind, he became more driven as he refined his crown design. He not only developed many new ideas, but also sublimated his thinking towards his own work.

"Whether I'm designing a mech or a totem, I should always maximize the value that I can provide to my customers!"

The premise of his design philosophy centered around maximizing the synergy between a mech and a mech pilot.

Ves believed he could generalize this relationship and do something similar with any product and any client.

Ves made a fairly obvious realization but one that he never explicitly thought about.

"Why should I limit myself to the properties of a mech? I don't need to rely on a neural interface to establish a bond between a mech and a mech pilot!"

Ves was quite confident that he could create a mechanism where Rion was able to 'interface' with his crown and thereby gain some control over it with his mind.

Of course, such a bond wouldn't be as good as the connection between a mech and a mech pilot, but it was better than nothing.

As long as Rion was able to bond with his crown, then he would be able to develop a friendship and a cooperative relationship with both the crown itself and the design spirit it hosted.

Ves briefly directed his eyes towards the brownish bone like material that he had set aside on a work table.

"With a prime material like Galenta Bone at my disposal, I can create a powerful living totem that is the equivalent of a prime mech!"

It didn't matter if Rion was the weak link of this three-way relationship. A weak mech pilot normally couldn't exert a lot of power when piloting a mech, but making the latter more powerful was a good way to compensate!

This was why Ves came up with an ambitious concept for his dwarven crown.

He wanted it to form a deep connection with Vulcan.

Initially, Ves wasn't that ambitious. At the beginning of this design session, he became profoundly affected by Rion's relationship with the Banner of Vulcan.

Although the banner initially started out as a weak artifact, it absorbed a lot of spiritual feedback from an innumerable amount of dwarves. Not only that, but Rion spent a lot of time bonding with it. This enabled the banner to provide powerful benefits such as miraculously restoring the memories that the dwarf had lost on his first death.

Ves could do a lot better this time. Why rely on growth to make the crown more powerful over time when he could invest a lot more resources at the start and make it powerful straight away?

Rion shouldn't have to wait half a century before his crown fully came online!

By leveraging the spiritual storage properties of Galenta Bone, Ves could infuse the crown with a lot of spiritual energy derived from Vulcan. This would turn the crown into a medium in which the dwarven design spirit could channel a lot of power and exert a lot of influence!

Rion likely wouldn't mind as his crown would gain a lot of power. Ves didn't mind either because Vulcan was effectively in control over the crown.

Anytime Rion wanted to channel a specific power, he essentially had to request Vulcan to make a move.

Also, since Vulcan was an incarnation, Ves would ultimately be in control of the crown!

Ves wondered if he could effectively influence Rion or whoever wore the crown by controlling it in secret. Even if it wasn't possible, he would still be able to extend his influence in a distant dwarven empire that was distinct from human society. This might be a great way for Ves to diversify and do business with people who usually weren't included in his customer base!

The only issue was that Ves needed to make sure that Rion didn't reject his crown design.

Though the old and wizened dwarven emperor was incredibly astute, Ves was confident that he could accomplish this much at least.

"I genuinely think this solution will provide the most value for Rion." He convinced himself.

Although the part about needing to rely on Vulcan sounded a little iffy, this was definitely a great way to empower a crown in the short term.

Ves didn't think that Rion had the patience to slowly grow and develop his imperial crown in the span of a couple of generations.

If the ambitious dwarf wanted to set up a prosperous dwarven star empire in his lifetime, then he needed to implement his masterplan quickly. He couldn't afford to lay low and build up his influence step by step, not when the Big Two continued to grow more powerful as well!

Therefore, Ves staked his entire crown design on what amounted to a devil's bargain.

Rion would gain the power he needed to unite the dwarven people. Ves subsequently gained influence over whoever wore and used the crown.

This was a win-win arrangement as long as Ves didn't abuse his access to the crown.

Ves had no intention of doing so as long as Rion wasn't malicious towards him. This was also one of his insurance policies. If Rion ever broke his promise and killed Ves after he obtained his crown, then Vulcan would certainly not be merciful!

"Saint Mayorka should be able to read my intentions, I think."

Although Ves wasn't exactly sure what ace pilots were capable of, they were all known for their incredible intuition and their ability to perceive threats and malicious intent.

Ves didn't dare to set any traps for that reason. He always set his mind to fulfilling the wishes of his client as honestly and as effectively as possible.

If the most effective solution just happened to come in the form of turning the crown into a direct of Vulcan, then that was fine as long as the design spirit wasn't hostile towards Rion!

"I'm sorry Rion, but you can't blame me for being weak. The only way I can grant you a lot of power is by borrowing it from an external source."

Slowly but surely, his design began to reach completion. Ves had spent a lot of time on expanding and refining its spiritual foundation so that it became a more excellent vehicle to channel Vulcan directly.

As a result, the crown would ultimately become a 'divine vessel' that allowed the dwarves to directly get in touch with Vulcan!

The basis of the dwarven emperor's power would subsequently be derived from his ability to invoke Vulcan and his powers!