The Mech Touch

Eight Journeyman Mech Designers fell into thought after Ves had spoken.

Many of them grew tempted at the prospect of gaining access to high technology.

The opportunity to study and master a small but powerful component of advanced human technology was precious!

While they were more accessible to first-raters, the secrets of high technology were still out of reach to the vast majority of the citizens of second-rate states.

There were three major barriers why this was the case.

First, high technology took far too much time to learn. They were often derived from the signature technological accumulation of powerful alien civilizations. After humanity's researchers spent an untold amount of effort to reverse engineer all of the weird and powerful alien technologies, humanity was able to convert them into its own use, if only reluctantly.

Second, those that wished to harness high technology needed to meet extremely high requirements. Unaugmented scientists and engineers could forget about ever getting started on it. They could study one course or another for fifty or a hundred years and still fall short of understanding the essence of how advanced technologies such as teleportation or portal generation could be achieved!

Third, the cost of producing anything based on high technology was probably high. Practically all of them were either based on powerful exotics and components that were extremely difficult to reproduce.

While it was not impossible to achieve powerful results using more mundane materials and production methods, the truth of the cosmos was that a more powerful foundation made it a lot easier to achieve more impressive results!

It was practically impossible for Ves to design a mech based on Breyer alloy that could defeat an equivalent mech built with Unending alloy! The huge gap in material properties gave the latter such a crushing advantage that the contest was doomed from the start!

The only flaw was that the most special and powerful materials also happened to be the most scarce. The reason why first-raters were able to monopolize the key materials needed to reproduce high-tech products was because they were able to price out everyone else from the market!

As long as the Terrans, Rubarthans and other rich parties were able to throw around a thousand times more money than second-raters, there was no way that someone like Ves could get a turn!

All of these limitations and more meant that the decision to harness high technology might not be a good development for the Larkinson Clan.

However, that didn't mean the gathered Journeymen grew discouraged. The prospect of obtaining early access to the most advanced form of first-class technology was irresistible to any enthusiastic engineer or designer!

It didn't matter if they were unable to master the tech as well as one of the top researchers of the MTA. It was not always necessary for them to understand the core principles or the entire theoretical fundamentals surrounding advanced tech.

FTL drive technology was a good example of this. There were many naval engineers who studied hard to work in the engineering departments of many starships.

None of them actually knew how to design and build an FTL drive from scratch. The knowledge they mastered with great effort was only enough for them to operate the devices and perform basic repairs on them. Perhaps the more brilliant among them were capable of performing more extensive repairs, but it was a dream if they wished to develop newer ones without help!

This was why Sara Voiken and Juliet Stameros did not say no when Ves assigned them the responsibility of familiarizing themselves with two pieces of high technology.

They only needed to gain surface proficiency in whatever high technology they could get their hands upon. While they still needed to spend a lot of time on studying, as long as they optimized their courses and prioritized using the new tech instead of understanding the fundamentals, they could probably incorporate existing applications of high technology into their mech designs a lot sooner!

Ves was not impatient regarding this. The mech designers here were all Journeymen who still needed time to develop their competences further.

They could wait until they became Seniors or Masters before they could truly begin to master the pieces of high technology they had access to. That would be the time where they could not only catch up to existing progress, but move beyond this point and develop more powerful innovative solutions!

However, this was a scenario that would only take place in the far future. Ves had no patience to wait that long. He wanted to gain more immediate benefits. He did not set his standards too high. As long as the mech designers found a way to make effective use of the phasewater collected by the Larkinson Clan, he would already be happy!

This made the current consideration important in many ways. The Larkinson Clan needed a mech designer that could master a way to amplify the attack power of mechs through phasewater.

Any of the mech designers aside from Sara Voiken and Juliet Stameros could assume this important but time-consuming responsibility.

"Well?" Ves asked as none of his peers immediately rose up to volunteer for this duty. "Are none of you eager and confident enough in your own ability to push your work to the next level by incorporating phasewater?"

His wife let out a tired breath. "We all have our own pursuits, Ves. We formulated our design philosophies and developed our skills without knowing about the existence of phasewater. I think we are all attracted by this opportunity, but if we choose to accept it, we need to realign our approach and shift the focus of our work. We don't know whether our gains will outweigh our losses."

This was not an unknown phenomenon in the mech industry or any other industries. New technologies came out all the time, and some of them were so significant that existing developers had to make hard choices on how to go forward.

They could either stick to their original plans and risk becoming irrelevant, or they could choose to embrace the new advancements only to lose all of their advantages and fall behind!

Right now, phasewater happened to be the shiny new toy in the tech circles of this generation.

The vast majority of developers simply had no practical way to get in touch with phasewater, so they had no reason to struggle.

It was people like the Larkinsons who were in a much more difficult position. They had the potential to strengthen their work with phasewater, but only after making significant sacrifices.

Ves glanced towards his wife. "I thought an enthusiastic mech designer such as you would pounce on the opportunity to incorporate phasewater technology in your perfect designs."

She crossed her arms. "Despite what you might think about me, I am a humble mech designer. I know what I am capable of. I have already planned out my progression over many years. There is no room for a subject as advanced as phasewater technology. Besides, even if I attempt to learn it, the applications that I develop may be different from the needs of our clan. I don't specialize in weapon systems."

Though Gloriana could be conceited and overconfident at times, she wasn't stupid enough to claim that she could design better swordsman mechs than Ketis.

Ves nodded. "I understand. Who else, then?"

"Tifi and I probably aren't suitable either." Janassa Pellier spoke up. "Our specialties are geared towards designing mechs that can hit harder and leverage more strength out of their frames, but I don't see how phasewater could add to that. I don't deny that phasewater may be able to help us develop more powerful systems that could be relevant to our specialty, but this is so tenuous that you are probably better off passing this on to others."

"You're right. Maybe the situation will be different after a couple of generations, but for now humanity is only scratching the surface of what is possible with phasewater."

Ves turned his attention to the remaining mech designers.

Ketis and Dulo Voiken were the two remaining candidates aside from himself.

All three of them were able to design mechs that excelled in different offensive aspects.

Before he could speak, Ketis interrupted his routine by pointing her finger at his chest.

"Why don't you assume this responsibility yourself?" She asked with a frown on her face. "You're the main developer of luminar crystal weapons in our clan. Since ranged weapons play such a big role in space combat and fights against larger opponents, it makes sense for you to find a way to enhance the firepower of our machines."

"I'm already busy, Ketis. I have already accepted an offer from the MTA to study and master luminar crystal technology. This is already a huge commitment. While I don't specialize in ranged weapons, the only reason why I have made accomplishments in luminar crystal technology is because my specialization enables me to harness it better. I am not arrogant enough to think I can immediately blend alien technology with high technology at my current level."

Ves would be lying if he said he wasn't tempted. Phasewater technology was the future and it would certainly become a powerful improvement factor to many top-level mechs!

However, he wasn't in a hurry to gain access to it right away. He could wait until he digested a sufficient degree of luminar crystal technology before shifting his focus elsewhere.

Perhaps the System could give him a hand once it finished its lengthy upgrade cycle and came online again. If Ves had the opportunity to master a specific application of phasewater technology through the Skill Tree, then he was not in a hurry to learn it the old-fashioned way.

There was also another reason why he wanted to pass on this opportunity for the time being.

"If we want to augment our ranged arsenal with phasewater technology, then we should wait until we have recruited a competent and loyal ranged specialist." He said. "We have already started to cast our net. I hope that we will be able to welcome a new Journeyman to our ranks that excels at designing ranged mechs. We can consider whether it is a good idea to task the newcomer with learning how to work with phasewater."

Gloriana and several other mech designers reluctantly nodded. With Ves out of the picture, no one in the clan was particularly suited to find ways to empower ranged weapons with phasewater.

Perhaps Zanthar Larkinson may be able to explore this field in the future, but it would take way too much time for him to become a Journeyman.

"That said, we shouldn't limit the offensive uses of phasewater to ranged solutions." Ves stated. "Our melee mechs also deserve a bit of love. Ketis, Dulo, only the two of you are left. Who of you is willing to embrace phasewater first?"

Both of them excelled in designing offensive mechs, so they were the best choice out of the eight Journeymen gathered in the meeting room.

They exchanged glances with each other.

"I will take a pass on this." Ketis eventually said while shaking her head.

"Are you sure? I thought you would be a lot more enthusiastic about embracing this tech."

"I already have my own way of making my swords sharper, Ves. I can also make my swordsman mechs stronger and more useful by leveraging my swordmaster abilities. I need to conduct so much original research that I don't have the time to study phasewater technology as well."

"I see."

That left only a single mech designer.

Out of everyone else in the room, Dulo Voiken was perhaps the most unexceptional mech designer among them. With a dazzling swordsman mech specialist like Ketis in the Design Department, every other melee mech specialist inevitably became overshadowed.

However, as everyone turned their attention to the man, Dulo showed increasingly more determination.

"I am aware that my spearman mechs aren't as strong as the works designed by Ketis." He frankly admitted. "If this goes on, my spearman mechs and lancer mechs will never be as popular. Phasewater technology can change that. Compared to swords, spears are obviously more suitable. It is much more economical to improve its penetrating power because only the tip needs to be laced with phasewater."

Dulo was right! If Ketis tried to make use of phasewater technology, then she would probably have to apply phasewater across the length of any blade.

Since the swordmaster favored the use of greatswords, this could easily add up to a lot of phasewater!

In contrast, Dulo had it much easier. The body of a polearm did not need to be anything special. As long as he incorporated a bit of phasewater in the tip of the weapon, then that would be enough to elevate its battle performance!

Ves smiled. "Alright. It's decided then. Dulo, you will be the third mech designer who will undertake the responsibility of mastering an offensive use of phasewater. I hope to see you design mechs that can impale the strongest expert mechs with their spears one day."

"I hope that day will come as well, sir."

Dulo Voiken grasped his fist. With this opportunity, he could finally earn a proper place in the Design Department!