The Mech Touch

　　These people quickly gathered together and hammered out a more complete outline for the symposium.

　　Many other clansmen contributed to the event as well. They performed vital actions such as shipping necessary goods, setting up the exhibition areas and heightening the security measures aboard the ship.

　　Thousands of Larkinsons moved back and forth. Everyone who could help with the symposium had to drop their leave or regular duties in order to ensure that the Larkinson Clan's first public event on its starship concluded in a successful manner.

　　The prestige and reputation of the Larkinsons was at stake this time! If they somehow botched this up, then not only would Ves fail to reach his primary goals, his clan would also receive a lot of ridicule!

　　That was not conducive to forming a trade consortium!

　　Two days came and went in a blur. The Larkinsons truly went all-out in order to clean up a portion of the Vivacious Wal and make it ready to receive visitors of all kinds.

　　The lack of time severely hampered their ability to hold a grand event. Dawn City remained much the same. If not for the fact that the Larkinson Clan could utilize the Spirit of Bentheim to produce a lot of props and structural components, the symposium site wouldn't have looked remarkable enough!

　　As it was, the architects and planners of the Larkinson Clan did a decent job in transforming the public parts of Dawn City into a themed event site.

　　Since the symposium was named after Vulcan, Ves ordered his subordinates to apply a unified bronze-and-red theme on all of the props.

　　As the first batch of guests stepped aboard the Vivacious Wal, they underwent a different experience from usual as they were led into spaces where the Larkinson Clan had put its best side forward.

　　Banners displaying both the Golden Cat and a stylized blacksmith hammer hung from structures or floating poles.

　　Since the Larkinson Clan went through so much trouble to organize this event, it had to take advantage of this situation by impressing the public with its capabilities.

　　"Wow! Is this what the glows of the Larkinson Clan are like?"

　　"These mechs are truly more than what they appear!"

　　"It's not just their glows that are impressive. The quality of their construction is also remarkably high. Even their mass-produced mechs are consistently good!"

　　A lot of mech designers couldn't hold back their curiosity and paid a visit to the Vivacious Wal. They consisted of both independent and working for different influences, and mostly consisted of low-ranking mech designers.

　　While a number of Journeymen and Seniors had decided to attend the Vulcan Symposium as well, their numbers were much lower.

　　Mech designers at this stage were a lot prouder of their own work. The only reasons why they bothered to attend at all was to get a good look at the unique masterwork mechs of the Larkinson Clan and see if they could gain inspiration from what they observed.

　　Still, the Larkinsons were quite happy to attract these mech designers. The more mech designers acclaimed the mechs developed for the clan, the greater LMC's future sales potential!

　　As time went by, the amount of traffic continued to increase. Hundreds of shuttles and passenger transports steadily approached the expeditionary fleet.

　　Before any vehicle was allowed to approach, they first had to stop outside of the security perimeter and await their turn to be transferred aboard a passenger vessel operated by the Larkinsons themselves.

　　There was no way that the clan would allow any foreign vessel to land directly in the Vivacious Wal's hangar bay!

　　The security checks were quite stringent, much to people's surprise. The Larkinson guards were stern in their duties and preemptively filtered out any potential troublemakers before they were allowed to go any further.

　　The Larkinsons were especially afraid of bringing sleeper agents and Crown terrorists.

　　The Crown Uprising was still ongoing even though it wasn't a major concern in the Red Ocean.

　　It was hard for Crown terrorists to pass through the beyonder gate.

　　Even then, people and organizations were much more on guard in the new frontier. Few people who managed to enter the dwarf galaxy were incompetent. Pioneers and their followers were generally of a higher caliber than usual.

　　This was why the Larkinson Clan were more on guard against saboteurs and sleepers from other rivals. Organizations like ZZR Industries might try to disrupt the symposium.

　　For these reasons and more, the Black Cats undertook a lot of responsibilities. They not only vetted every single visitor beforehand, but also assisted with the security checks.

　　One of the more unusual methods they employed was using small totems of the Golden Cat to assess the intentions of the visitors.

　　A black-uniformed inspector approached an ordinary-looking mech designer and held out a small statuette of the Golden Cat.

　　"Please stand still while I press this object to your forehead."

　　The mech designer threw a dubious look at the statuette. "What is this?"

　　"You can think of it as a special scanner."

　　"A scanner? Are you kidding? I know how scanners work. This little toy is anything but!"

　　"Be that as it may, you may only pass through if you cooperate. If you object to our methods, then you are free to turn back where you came from. You'll receive a full refund of your ticket, minus an administrative charge." The Black Cat inspector explained in a bored tone. "Once I place this on your forehead, you might sense an unusual feeling in your brain. Don't be concerned. It will only last an instant."

　　"This…. You're not irradiating my head, are you?"

　　"Our procedure is completely safe. It is based on the same glows that are used by tens of millions of mechs that have been in use for years by our customers. Now will you consent to our inspection?"

　　"…Very well."

　　The actual inspection lasted a lot shorter than the questioning. The Black Cat officer lifted his arm, pressed the statuette on the visitor's forehead and quickly drew it back again.

　　The clansman frowned for a moment. "My apologies, sir. You have failed to pass our special inspection. While this is not conclusive proof that there is something amiss, we will not take any chances. According to the terms of your ticket, we have the right to cancel your ticket and refuse your entry onto our ship for any reason. There is no recourse for you to reverse this decision."

　　"What..? You're kicking me out?"

　　"We will not allow you to proceed any further."

　　"You can't do this! I paid substantial money for this ticket! I'm an amateur reviewer with 54,000 followers! You better let me go in or else I'll write a one-star review!"

　　The man's tirade did not change anything. As long as the Golden Cat didn't like someone, then it was better not to invite them onto the Vivacious Wal.

　　Fortunately, the majority of visitors did not harbor any ill will towards the Larkinson Clan. They were genuinely interested in what the symposium had to offer.

　　As the guests were being received, Ves looked down on Dawn City from above. He was in the process of preparing for the main event where he would hold an important lecture.

　　"How many tickets did we manage to sell?"

　　"Roughly 34,252 tickets." Gavin answered. "It's less than ideal. We could have easily attracted over 100,000 visitors if we delayed the start of this symposium by a week and held this event over multiple days. Our pricing has also scared away a lot of potential customers. It's too high. Why would you charge 0.1 MTA credits for an attendance ticket when we are only charging a fraction of that price for a virtual ticket?"

　　"We still managed to collect a handsome profit without overly compromising the security of our fleet, Benny. We are not ready to receive so many visitors. The current numbers are within a range that we can control. Besides, this price is incredibly cheap considering that people will be able to get close to our masterwork mechs. You can't experience them properly by remote!"

　　Even though the Larkinsons had to refund a lot of tickets over the course of the day, this was actually an incredibly lucrative event. Together with the sale of millions of virtual tickets, the clan already covered the cost to buy land in the Financial District of Kotor City!

　　Ves became so pleased by this initial success that he even thought about holding exhibitions and symposia again. If he could turn this into a regular tour, then his clan could easily rake thousands of MTA credits per month! This was more money than selling millions of cheap third-class mechs in the old galaxy!

　　He shook his head. This was a stupid idea. The novelty of his symposia would quickly fade after a few times. It was also dangerous to exhibit the Larkinson Clan's most powerful expert mechs to so many people.

　　Even if the clan's additional security measures kept potential hostiles away, there were still plenty of other people who might one day act against the Larkinson Clan.

　　One time was enough.

　　"Has any member of the Murphy family decided to attend?" Ves asked.

　　"Let me check the database." Gavin quickly accessed his comm. "No Murphy has decided to attend in person, but we did sell dozens of virtual tickets to the Murphies."

　　"I expected as much."

　　Due to the Murphy family's internal turmoil, none of them were allowed to go out. Even if the chief ship designer and chief shipbuilder wanted to visit the Vivacious Wal in person, they could not afford to leave Gelly Murphy's side too long.

　　"Have we managed to attract any other notable guests? Master Mech Designers, perhaps?"

　　"I'm afraid I will have to disappoint you again. While we have managed to lure over mech designers who are known to work under different Masters, none of their superiors have deigned to attend your symposium."

　　Ves actually felt a bit of relief when he heard that. His symposium would gain a lot of legitimacy if it managed to draw in Master Mech Designers. On the other hand, these powerful mech designers were much sharper and more observant than usual. He was afraid they might figure out details that he preferred to keep hidden.

　　"It doesn't matter. These Masters need to keep up their reputation, I guess. It is beneath them to attend a symposium held by a Journeyman."

　　"I'm sure you will do the same if you become a Master yourself."

　　"Damn right."

　　The two talked a bit more. So far, everything was going well enough. Down below, the guests were introduced to various mechs of the Larkinson Clan.

　　All of these strangers who never came in touch with glows or living mechs in their lives began to learn about the wonders of Ves' distinctive products.

　　Numerous guests who initially weren't that impressed with the works of a Journeyman steadily revised their opinions after they experienced more.

　　Mech models such as the Bright Warrior, the Transcendent Punisher, the Ferocious Piranha and also the newly-developed Rigid Spine each possessed their own points of brilliance.

　　Of course, the Larkinson Clan didn't exhibit everything. The Stingripper light harasser mech of the Flagrant Vandals was nowhere to be seen. The mechs weren't even a part of the security patrols.

　　This was not just because the Larkinson Clan lacked the raw materials to mass produce the new light mech, but also because it was a new asset that worked best when no one learned about its properties!