The Mech Touch

The Jupiter Project was done.

The long-awaited high-tier expert mech had finally taken on a concrete form.

Not only that, but it had become so magnificent that it had become a masterwork mech in an organic fashion!

Ves did not even have to draw out his pouch of gems from his inner pocket. His mood had remained so high during the fabrication run that he knew that he had become inspired.

Coming into touch with the theoretical framework of traditional craftsmanship and applying a part of its extraordinary methods onto the Jupiter Project had proven to be a fruitful exercise!

He learned so much by combining aspects of this ancient legacy to a completely modern craft.

Ves managed to derive so many useful insights from Vulcan's knowledge reserve. He could spot the parallels between the old and new. He could also discern a lot of differences and formulate well-reasoned theories why the Progenitors of Mechs had deliberately discarded old traditions.

He also became enlightened to how the environment shaped the dominant professions.

Traditional blacksmithing reached its peak during a time when humanity lived in an environment that was rich with the power of heaven.

Many cultivators sought to become a True God, and one of the most effective shortcuts to becoming one was to acquire the best and most exquisite artifacts possible!

Artifact cultivation became so desirable that Divine Blacksmiths commanded a huge amount of respect. They were True Gods that could not only empower their peers, but elevate others to immortality with their transcendent works!

In order to make stronger and more transcendent works, traditional artisans constantly sought to delve into the secrets of heavenly materials and derive higher truths from their associated elements.

Just as qi cultivators sought to attain godhood by developing their artistic conceptions beyond a limit, creation cultivators sought to attain godhood by exploring the properties of powerful energies through the act of creation!

Ves made a profound realization as he fabricated the Jupiter Project not just as a mech, but also as an artifact.

All roads led to the same destination.

Mech design rose up in an age where the Milky Way had long turned into an energy desert. The profession made many compromises in order to survive and thrive in an environment where the only available source of E energy were sentient lives.

Even though the rules and methods had changed considerably from the past, mech design still remained a form of creation cultivation as its practitioners sought to transcend into modern godhood through similar methods.

The difficulty of becoming a Star Designer was undoubtedly greater than any of the creation professions of the past.

The absence of the power of heaven compelled mech designers to derive the energies they needed to fuel their cultivation by making an impact on human society.

The more human lives they influenced through their works, the more feedback mech designers harvested through their mysterious design seeds.

Ves was pretty sure that mech designers could not become traditional blacksmiths and vice versa.

Although they shared a lot of overlapping concepts, their mentalities and approaches diverged too much from each other.

That said, the knowledge and methods of traditional blacksmiths were not useless to mech designers, especially in the Age of Dawn.

The reintroduction of E energy radiation and hyper materials to human society had caused the secrets of traditional craftsmanship to become relevant again.

It was a pity that much of it remained out of reach to most mech designers. Those without access to ancient legacies could only explore the possibilities of hyper technology from scratch.

While this was not necessarily bad as all of these brilliant minds could study the new phenomena from a fresher and less biased perspective, their progress would definitely be slow!

Ves on the other hand happened to have access to an incarnation that was partially following the path of a traditional craftsman.

This rare circumstance effectively enabled Ves to understand and even practice some of the methods of an ancient blacksmith with the help of Vulcan!

When Ves fabricated the Jupiter Project, he not only treated it as a mech design, but also an artifact that gained extraordinary power by harnessing extraordinary energies.

Although he did not do a perfect job in either areas, he managed to do a good enough job as both a mech designer and a traditional blacksmith to turn his new expert mech into a machine of greater value.

It did not surprise Ves nor Vulcan at all that the Jupiter Project turned into a masterwork mech.

Even as Gloriana continued to express her surprise and delight at the masterwork transformation taking place in front of her eyes, her husband studied their latest work with a more measured expression.

Now that Vulcan had engaged in a form of creation cultivation, Ves had become more capable and versatile than ever.

Teaming up with Vulcan produced such a strong synergy that it would have been a travesty if Ves hadn't been able to improve his work up to this point!

Combined with the fact that Ves had earnestly invested a lot of time and effort into the expert mech design project that was meant to empower his uncle, the probability that it would become a masterwork mech was too high this time!

Ves had a powerful feeling that he had finally managed to pass the threshold where he was truly beginning to master the art of fabricating masterwork mechs.

Even without Vulcan, just the methods and insights he gained from his external incarnation expanded his knowledge base and his toolbox to such an extent that he had managed to establish a firm grip on the second rung of Senfovon's Ladder of Craftsmanship!

While this did not mean he could fabricate a masterwork mech in every fabrication run, he knew that as long as he could exert enough control over a sufficient amount of variables, the chances of making another masterwork mech would be close to too percent!

Unfortunately, this did not quite apply to the Blood Star Mark II Project. There was so much chaos and uncertainty in its design that Ves could not exert sufficient control over its variables.

However, so long as Ves designed a more proper mech that possessed enough novelty and artistry to stoke his passion, he was bound to add another masterwork certificate to his name!

Ves should have felt incredibly pleased at the fact that he had improved his craftsmanship to this extent, but he did not feel as accomplished as he should.

Part of it was because he had only managed to gain all of his latest insights by borrowing the help of Vulcan.

Even if Vulcan was ultimately connected to himself, Ves did not quite feel that he worked for all of these gains. It came too easily because he took advantage of certain loopholes.

Another part of it was because he already made so many masterwork mechs that he hardly derived any particular satisfaction from them anymore.

His sights had already shifted to a greater state of creation. The third rung of the Ladder of Craftsmanship beckoned to him. The sight of all of those god mechs demonstrating their transcendent performance in front of red humanity had been seared into Ves' mind.

Those grand works represented far more than excellent craftsmanship. Their exquisite design and construction produced an extraordinary result that caused the god mechs to more easily surpass their physical limits and amplify the reality-defying willpower of their god pilots!

Ves no longer felt as arrogant as before. His sense of accomplishment dimmed by a large extent when he compared his recently completed machine to the likes of the Geneforger and the Ragnarok.

Those god mechs embodied the true pinnacle of mech design up to this point!

No better mech had been brought to life as far as Ves aware of. He would not be able to feel satisfied with his current level of craftsmanship so long as he was still too far away from fabricating mechs at this level!

Still, even if Ves no longer felt that the Jupiter Project deserved so much emphasis, it was still one of his best works to date.

The powerful high-tier expert mech was certainly his most powerful one given that it incorporated the latest technologies of the Hyper Generation!

The white-coated mech with the head of a lion already exuded a soft glow of light as if it was a machine carved by a divinity.

The prominent third eye surrounded by a hexagon on the forehead made it clear that the Jupiter Project was yet another brilliant collaboration work of the Miracle Couple.

As the masterwork expert mech continued to show off its magnificence in quiet solitude, Ves already began to look forward to seeing it activate for the first time.

The Jupiter Project would definitely look a lot more impressive once its lights turned on and its projected cape extended from its back!

"Amazing." A new voice gently broke the relative silence in the mech workshop. "You have outdone yourselves, Larkinsons."

It did not surprise Ves at all that Jovy Armalon had somehow managed to enter the locked underground hall without warning.

The fact that the RA Senior easily overcame the active space suppressors and anti-teleportation field did not generate any surprise.

All Ves thought was that since Jovy got here so quickly, it wouldn't take much time for the Red Association to complete the evaluation and award another set of masterwork certificates.

Ves even bet that the mechers aboard the Bluejay Fleet had been monitoring the entire fabrication run from the beginning!

Fortunately, Ves did not expose any of his truly unreasonable secrets such as Lucky's gems.

As Gloriana gradually withdrew from her obsessively focused state, she regained her composure and turned to her husband.

Though she was convinced that she had made an extensive contribution to the Jupiter Project's transformation into a masterwork mech, she acknowledged that Ves had done much of the heavy lifting this time.

"Vulcan..."

Ves quickly raised his hand. "We'H talk later, honey. Let us focus on wrapping up this project first. Ark."

"Y-Yes?"

For the first time in a long time, General Ark Larkinson had almost lost his strong and majestic voice.

The sight of seeing his beautiful mech take shape had taken his breath away!

He felt a strong yearning to hop into the cockpit and interface with his new machine. Every fiber of being told him to ignore everything else and take possession of his powerful new mechanical body that he had been dreaming about for so many years!

It took a huge amount of willpower for Ark to maintain his discipline and suppress his overwhelming desires.

No matter what, Ark was a soldier, not a beast! There was a time and place for everything, and it shouldn't take much time for him to pilot his supreme new expert mech. He could wait a few hours.

Ves could sense the inner turmoil radiating from his uncle.

"Relax. You will get your chance soon enough. Before we clean up this workshop and transfer your new expert mech to a testing site, we should settle on a name that befits this great machine. Do you have any suggestions?"

General Ark looked up at his tall, white machine that faintly looked as if it was made out of light that had taken on a physical form!

His gaze rose up until it settled on the majestic lion's head that looked as if it was exquisitely carved out of the most sublime piece of marble in the cosmos.

Ark briefly had the illusion that his destined expert mech was calling at him. It uttered a loud and guttural lion's roar that completely engulfed his body to the point where it was on the verge of getting shook apart!

A name escaped from his throat.

"The Lionheart."

The name was like the final piece of the puzzle. It completed the expert mech and finalized its identity as Ark's perfect vessel!