The Mech Touch

Ves learned a lot more about what life was like for the mech designers of the Red Association.

He had already heard a decent amount of stories from Jovy, but his three friends and rivals all had their own stories to tell as they had embraced vastly different specializations.

They ultimately said goodbye to each other after a time. Everyone had a busy schedule, not all of them were able to attend the same closed sessions.

For example, Kelly Herrera had a dark blue dot that permitted her to attend closed sessions related to phasewater and phasewater technology.

Osman Carter-Tezrein had a dark green dot that allowed him entry into closed sessions centered related to biotechnology and biomechs.

Ves respected the two mech designers a lot for earning these dots. The theoretical knowledge threshold required to receive them was incredibly high by his standards.

Once they finished their neglected breakfasts, they went their separate ways. Ves intended to attend a bunch of interesting sessions related to various different topics such as cultivation, alien sociology, puelmer technology and more.

"So what do you think of my friends?" Jovy asked.

"They are... interesting." Ves responded. "They remind me of myself in certain ways. They are all as stubborn and invested in their own vision of mechs. That is admirable, though I am not sure if it is a good idea for them to go through such extremes."

"Our Association encourages exploration. I think you can deduce the reasons why. Many mech designers among the general public are so concerned with attaining quick results and meeting the more immediate demands of the mech market that they rarely take risks with their design philosophies. My cohort and others exist to compensate for this shortcoming and ensure that decades and centuries from now, the mech industry is still able to make healthy progress through our work."

It was a clever and forward-thinking strategy. It spoke to the determination of the mechers to stay ahead of the competition by willingly investing a lot of time, manpower and other resources on exploring a wide variety of outlandish design philosophies.

Even if a hundred of them eventually got nowhere, as long as one mech designer succeeded and realized his unorthodox design philosophy, then that was a definite win for both the Association and the mech community as a whole!

Ves developed a greater appreciation for the Mech Trade Association and the Red Association that splintered from it. The mechers were highly technocratic and possessed the will to make forward-thinking decisions that might not necessarily pay off in a long time.

This was especially the case when it came to the Survivalists!

The only fault was that they occasionally took their logical approach too far. The Polymath's Unity Plan made a lot of sense, but it damaged the interests of so many stakeholders in human society that she was bound to generate a lot of animosity!

Regardless, the Survivalists were among the few groups of people that possessed the foresight and determination to make the harsh but necessary choices that others eschewed.

The more time he spent among the mechers during this conference, the more he became affected by this common attitude.

It was one thing to get exposed to this ideology and approach from a single figure such as Jovy.

It was another thing to be surrounded by Survivalists who all shared the same attitudes about this kind of stuff!

Ves understood that this was one of the main reasons why the Survivalist Faction insisted on holding a conference in reality.

The associates were all getting indoctrinated by the Survivalists. This was not a particularly hidden scheme. It was obvious to everyone with greater awareness towards this kind of stuff.

It still worked regardless of whether the associates knew what was going on or not. The Survivalists did not deliberately set out to fool their guests. They were mostly earnest about converting associates into more committed supporters of their cause.

Ves continued to think about this throughout the remainder of the third day.

By the time the fourth day commenced, he thought about the long-term implications of the invention he was about to present during an upcoming secret session.

Many of the presentations and discussions that took place during the conference emphasized the need to think about the consequences of every action.

Each and every new technology produced a huge amount of ripple effects. The Survivalists were supportive of innovation, but not without limits. Not every new discovery or invention deserved to be released to the public.

As Ves checked his notes, he struggled to determine whether his Carmine System and all of the accompanying baggage truly made life better for red humanity.

He found it a bit more difficult to make up his mind about this issue.

This matter distracted him so much that Jovy had to smack a bit of sense in Ves.

"You are still a long way from becoming a tier 1 or tier 2 galactic citizen." The RA Senior spoke. "Let the leaders of our faction and Association ponder over how to roll out your Carmine System. It is not your job to set policies that affect our entire civilization. When you enter the secure chamber where the secret session is held, you go in as a mech designer, nothing less, nothing more. Just present your work without wasting your time on espousing your interpretation of what will happen. The experts on the panel are smart enough to do a much better job of projecting the consequences of releasing your work."

Jovy's advice was sound. Ves knew that he had fallen into the bad habit of overthinking the situation again.

"Thankyou for that. I needed to hear this. Let's head to the location."

The secret sessions took place in an entirely different deck and section within the Khamater Reign.

Both Ves and Jovy had to enter a security station where both had to be subjected to stringent examinations.

Any possible microscopic bugs or listening devices that had somehow gotten attached to them needed to be cleared out to the greatest possible extent!

Jovy passed through the security inspection without incident, but the security officers became perplexed as they came across a large amount of anomalies when inspecting Ves' body!

It was pretty clear that the security officers had been forewarned about this. Yet when they started to make a lot of unusual discoveries in quick succession, they could not withhold their surprise and vigilance!

"These blood test results..."

Just the presence of phasewater in his blood marked Ves as a greater security concern!

The mechers weren't afraid that Ves would abuse his meager phasewater manipulation abilities to sneak into areas that he was not supposed to be in. His coordinates were tracked at all times, and the Khamater Reign also maintained a strong warp interdiction field that prevented Ves from pulling off any shenanigans.

As the examination became more invasive and annoying, Ves started to suspect that this was a scheme for the mechers to collect detailed data on his abnormal physique for the secret session that was scheduled on the sixth day.

"You are free to proceed now, Professor Larkinson."

"It was about time." Ves grumbled as his uniform automatically zipped up again. "Where do we need to go next?"

"The Khamatar Reign will take you directly to your next destination."

Before Ves could ask what that meant, he experienced the typical feeling that preceded a teleportation event.

Both Ves and Jovy disappeared from the security station and appeared into a completely enclosed compartment that was almost completely bare!

Only a single raised table floated in the air. Seated behind it was a panel of just three Master Mech Designers.

Each of them were envoys of the faction leaders.

Ves already recognized Master Xena Wintress from his first presentation.

The representative of the Xenotechnician looked impassive, but this was probably a facade. She must have formed a strong opinion about the Carmine System based on the limited information that she was entitled to know.

Ves became a little more reassured when he spotted the friendly and more familiar face of Master Vayro Goldstein.

Although Ves had never shown any desire to join the camp of the Polymath, he believed that Master Goldstein was professional enough to show enough understanding and consideration during this secret session.

The big surprise to Ves was the identity of the envoy of the Fist of Defiance.

The grandson and the most successful descendant of a god pilot had decided to attend this session in person!

The man occupied the center of the rectangular table as if he was the chief judge whose words weighed greater than that of the two Master Mech Designers.

Ves immediately put more effort into straightening his posture and schooling his expression.

He already understood the implications of this unexpected development.

Even though an ace pilot such as the Mace of Retribution was nominally on the same level as Master Wintress and Master Goldstein, this was not the case during this conference.

The Fist of Defiance was the only faction leader who couldn't be present, so the Mace of Retribution gained all of the authority he needed to speak on behalf of his grandfather's clique!

The fact that such a high-level leader found it worthwhile to attend this small-scale secret session indicated that the Mace of Retribution possessed a greater interest in the Carmine System.

The stakes had just been raised. So long as Ves managed to win over the Mace of Retribution, he would face a lot less obstacles in his effort to gradually make the Carmine System available to the general public!

As Ves stepped forward until he stopped at a lighted circle, he bowed in front the elevated panel of three.

"Greetings. It is an honor to present one of my more fascinating works to you all. I hope that my presentation will give you a good understanding of the tech that can make a difference in the war against the aliens."

Master Goldstein smiled as he looked down at Ves. "The protocol for this secret session is not strict. Only five of us are here at the moment. You can speak freely without fear of leaks or offending the sensibilities of one of our own. We merely ask you to do what you can to explain the principles and the mechanics of your innovation as extensively as possible so that we can perform our own analyses on your work."

Ves held his hands together. "I will endeavor to offer as much clarity as possible. How much time do I have? The schedule has not made that entirely clear."

"It depends." Master Xena Wintress answered in a more neutral tone. "If this closed session proceeds as expected, we will likely remain twice or thrice as long as a normal session. We wish to get to the bottom of your work. This is one of the reasons why you are presenting your findings in a secret session as opposed to the alternatives."

The Mace of Retribution wave started to look annoyed. "Let us dispense with these superfluous questions and begin already. Professor Larkinson here is a man of action. Let us give him room to speak on his terms. If his invention is nearly as good as his companion spirit, then I do not want to be delayed any further."

This was a clear signal for Ves to begin. He briefly glanced at Jovy who gave a look of encouragement in return.

Seeing that there were no more interruptions, Ves activated a projection that displayed the Bastion, the successor of the Shield of Samar.

"Let me start from the beginning. I ended up developing the Carmine System by trying to deepen the synergy between a mech pilot and a mech beyond normal means. I have a considerable number of mech pilots in my organization that have developed a strong commitment to pilot their assigned mechs on a permanent or near-permanent basis."

This was what he always wanted to accomplish as a mech designer.

"My assumption at the time was that neural interfaces have reached their limit. I needed to find another measure that could bind the two together. Then I thought about how blood relatives are always close to each other. That is when I came up with a strange idea. My living mechs are already family to the Larkinsons. Why don't I try to reinforce this intimate relationship by forming a literal blood of blood?"