The Mech Touch

Ves clapped. "This is quite a creative idea, Dulo. It not only makes sense to design a spearman mech to hunt exobeasts while inflicting as little unnecessary damage as possible, but you also found a way to make your product more indispensable to your target by relying on a useful glow. If Zeigra's glow can truly lower the occurrences where exobeasts have chosen flight over fight, the Huntmaster Project should be able to become an indispensable addition to any hunting team!"

This was great value! Dulo Voiken found a good use case for a mech with a glow. The best part about the Huntmaster Project was that it did not need to be too powerful and expensive in order to fulfill its role!

As long as the exobeasts weren't too powerful or difficult to fight against, the Huntmaster Project should be able to put up a decent fight against different hunting targets.

Even though Ves participated in a hunt in the past, he was not too well-versed in the issues that hunters had to deal with. He never knew that a lot of exobeasts would run away when confronted by mechs.

Given this phenomenon, a mech that could influence a beast to stand its ground was incredibly useful! The efficiency of hunting runs would skyrocket, which would not only save a lot of time, but also enable hunting teams to retrieve more prey and increase their revenue.

However, in order for all of this to work, the Huntmaster Project must truly be able to live up to Dulo's claims!

"Will Zeigra's glow truly be able to override the survival instincts of different beasts?" Ves skeptically asked.

"I think so." Ketis issued her judgment. As the resident hunting expert in the room, her input carried a lot of weight on this issue. "There are many different planets and many different environments in space. The variety of exobeasts is endless, and they all look and act in different ways. However, as long as a hunting team doesn't deploy on a life-bearing planet with too many abnormalities, the exobeasts they will find tend to possess a lot of similarities."

As huge life forms that occupied the top of the food chain, these apex creatures possessed a lot of combat power and the arrogance to match their dominance.

When confronted by another top predator, their instinct was not to run away, but to fight the challenger!

This was because the arrival of another powerful rival usually represented an attempt to take over the creature's territory!

Therefore, it was a good idea to exploit the instinct to defend one's territory by making use of the glow of a former top predator.

Even though Zeigra had undergone many changes since he had become a design spirit, the Crown Cat still retained its aggressive personality and glow!

"I think Dulo's proposal has good potential." Ketis remarked. "The hunting industry in the Red Ocean is bigger and more important than in the Milky Way. A lot of planets have already been explored by humanity back in the old galaxy. It is much different over here. There are so many planets that have never been visited by people that there are many habitats that offer new biodiversity and unique organic products. Harvesting them all is a profitable business since there are many biotech companies that are willing to pay a fortune for all of these goods."

That was interesting. Perhaps the Larkinson Clan might consider going into the hunting business as well.

The Larkinson Biotech Institute's demand for exobeasts and organic materials was quite high. Rather than buying organic goods on the market, it was better for the Larkinsons to go to the alien planets and retrieve the desired organic samples through their own efforts!

This was probably the only way for the Larkinson Clan to obtain the best of what a habitat could offer. After all, hunting teams were more likely to keep the good stuff for themselves.

"There are also many powerful and amazing exobeast species that have never been hunted before. There are a lot of crazy hunting enthusiasts that have entered the Red Ocean for the sole reason to be the first hunter of a newly-discovered species." Dulo explained.

This was probably one of the dumbest reasons to enter the Red Ocean. There were better and safer ways to build up prestige than going on hunting trips in a chaotic frontier where hostile alien warships and phase whales could demolish their fleets with ease!

That did not stop Ves from attempting to take advantage of their stupidity. If these hunters disregarded their safety and common sense to such a degree to go on risky hunting expeditions, then the LMC would be happy to sell its useful hunting mechs to these well-heeled customers!

Ves ultimately made his judgment. "Since hunting mechs are becoming increasingly more popular, then it is not a good idea for our mech company to miss this trend. If your assumptions are accurate, then this can become a popular and perhaps an indispensable mech in the hunting industry."

Even if the market for hunting mechs wasn't as big as he hoped, the utility of the Huntmaster Project was so great that it was bound to become another enduring seller in the LMC's mech catalog!

After accepting Dulo's idea, Ves looked at him to see whether he had any good ideas.

"Do you have any other proposals that you wish to pursue?"

The man shook his head. "No. The Huntmaster Project is enough for the time being. I still need to spend a lot of time on studying the knowledge on offensive phasewater technology that you have made available for me. I also intend to assist my sister Sara as her workload is a bit too much for this design round."

"You can do that?"

"We have worked together enough times to become familiar with each other's design philosophies. I can't solve the more difficult problems, but it is no problem for me to take over lighter responsibilities and save my sister a lot of time."

That was actually a good arrangement.

In fact, Ves and Gloriana could also do this to an extent. The married couple not only worked together for years but also carried each other's spiritual fragments in their minds.

If Ves truly wanted to, he could emulate his wife to such a degree that he could probably design a convincing imitation of her work!

The same applied to Gloriana!

Of course, these pale imitations were far from matching the authentic versions. The fakes were only good enough to fool those that didn't know any better.

As Ves thought about asking for Gloriana's help to lighten his workload, Dulo made an unexpected offer.

"Sir, we have one more idea that we think you should consider."

"Tell me more."

"It doesn't actually come from us, sir."

"What do you mean by that?"

"Our… former family got in touch with us. One of our Seniors has heard about your glows and is interested in collaborating with you on a line of mechs that has the potential to capture a lot of market share."

"You will need to elaborate on that. Isn't the Voiken Family led by a Master Mech Designer? Why would one of their own turn to me instead of their impressive patriarch?"

As far as Ves learned, the Voiken Family and its patriarch sided with the Preserving Order Faction of the MTA. That meant that they were arch-conservatives who would rather bury their heads in the sand than to keep up with the times!

However, Ves soon had to adjust his opinion of the Voikens after Dulo quickly explained the changes that had taken place.

"Master Barnard Solas Voiken is a better leader than I thought." Ves remarked. "He bowed down to the inevitable and allowed his Voikens to spread to the Red Ocean. However, what does that have to do with a potential collaboration between one of your Seniors and myself?"

"Let me introduce you to what one of my uncles wishes to design with you. It is one where a different glow can help with fulfilling its role."

A surprisingly detailed draft design appeared on the central projection. It turned out that one of Dulo and Sara's relatives had become a Senior Mech Designer who earned a decent amount of renown by specializing in law enforcement mechs.

"Professor Taigen Harman Voiken used to be a respected name in the Uplifting Note Star Sector." Dulo claimed. "He has been involved in the design of many unique law enforcement mechs that are precisely configured and adapted to the circumstances of different planets and cities. Many of them have gone on to become the staple models of many different Planetary Guard units."

It had been a long time since Ves last came in touch with a law enforcement mech. He remembered a time where he needed to be rescued by them early on in his career.

His most favorite cousin in the old family used to serve as an officer in the Planetary Guard of Bentheim.

All of this gave Ves a special connection to this non-lethal variety of mechs.

"Okay, I get it. Professor Taigen is not only good at designing law enforcement mechs, but also established a reputation around them." He said. "Why reach out to me? What does he want to add to his next line of law enforcement mechs that requires my input?"

"Your glow, of course. To be more precise, Professor Taigen wishes for you to impart a glow on his next products that can play an effective role in cooling tempers and deescalating any mounting conflicts. Ideally, a mech designed for peacekeeping isn't supposed to win a battle. It should prevent a fight from breaking out in the first place. We can think of nothing that can help the Planetary Guard units in calming down unstable actors than to subject them to the same glow as your Sanctuary mechs."

Ves widened his eyes, and so did several other people.

This was a good idea! In fact, this might even be a great idea!

Lufa's base glow had a powerful effect on people. It was capable of suppressing strong emotions, no matter whether they were negative or positive.

Since most criminals and troublemakers on different planets tended to lose control after experiencing a wild mood swing, subjecting them to Lufa's glow was a great way to take the wind out of their sails!

Without their anger, indignation or other strong emotions egging them on, any rogue mech pilot was much likely to regain their rationality and stop their self-destructive acts.

Even if mech pilots had good reasons to go on a rampage, the tranquility imposed by Lufa could still play a useful role in lowering the intensity of a battle!

All in all, there were few reasons why a law enforcement mech should forgo Lufa's glow.

In fact, in light of one of his recent discussions with Master Dervidian, it was even more essential to propagate mechs with this particular glow in every settlement!

This was because Lufa probably offered the best form of spiritual protection that Ves could provide to the masses!

Even if law enforcement agencies did not originally purchase these mechs with the intention of protecting them against spiritual threats, they would definitely be able to play a crucial role and protect a lot of humans if the worst had happened!

"I'm intrigued." Ves told the Voikens. "I can see plenty of potential in this collaboration, but…"

"What is the problem, sir?"

"Why should I cooperate with your uncle to begin with? Why don't we design our own law enforcement mech from scratch? Even if the technical performance of our product isn't as good, its glow will more than make up for its various shortcomings! At least we will be able to collect all of the earnings generated by my product instead of a portion of it. What do you think, Dulo?"

"I think… that law enforcement mechs are much more careful about their procurement decisions than other customers." The man carefully replied. "Working together with an established industry figure like Professor Taigen will lend a lot more credibility to your work. You should talk to him, sir. I am sure that the two of you can come to an agreement on this collaboration."

"We'll see. Give me his contact details, then. I'll talk to this professor myself."