The Mech Touch

Different from the other floating observation rooms, this one happened to be equipped with an advanced stealth system.

This enabled the VIP booth to descend and provide its occupants with a more detailed view of the mech designers working down below.

In the past few hours since the Twin Weapons Tournament had begun, the VIP booth had been dipping close above the heads of numerous mech designers without alerting them in the slightest.

Perhaps the more sensitive or more augmented Journeymen may have felt an odd presence approaching, but the pressure riding on them meant that they were too distracted by their design work to notice anything unusual.

Among the Davutans that occupied the invisible VIP booth, two of them took up a central position in the seats.

Master Hergard Elroy looked amused as he studied the progress made by the different tournament participants. The odd rules introduced by him and his fellow teachers at the Davute University of Technology were already serving their purpose. The special demands threw so many mech designers out of their comfort zones that they all needed to exercise their imagination and design skills in a different manner than before.

None of the Journeymen were content with the demand that they needed to add an obvious weak point on the front of their mechs. They did everything possible to prevent enemy mechs from being able to exploit these vulnerabilities.

A higher-than-average proportion of designs centered around beast mechs. There were clear advantages to employing them as quadruped machines such as tiger mechs usually pointed their chests downwards.

While there were still ways for enemy machines to strike at these weak points, it almost certainly took more effort than usual to destroy beast mechs in this fashion.

Humanoid mechs on the other hand received other forms of protection to make it harder to target their weak points. Physical shields and barriers became the most obvious ones. Master Elroy had to add many different rules and sub-rules in order to prevent these cheeky Journeyman Mech Designers from going too far and defeating the original intention of this rule.

The weak points had to remain sufficiently accessible to enemies. Master Elroy and his colleagues did not care whether this rule inconvenienced many mech designers. They still had a number of options to mitigate this vulnerability. It was up to the mech designers themselves to develop more creative solutions that could successfully help their mechs survive in the arena.

"Well, Master? What is your judgment on the work of Patriarch Ves Larkinson?" A female voice impatiently asked.

"Patience, Madame Kernsk. I am well aware of your need to supply information to President Clive, but the tournament has only started fairly recently. The hybrid mech that your subject of interest is working on has yet to reveal his full plan. I cannot read minds and my understanding of the patriarch's field of expertise is still shallow."

The chief of staff of the highest political leader of Davute did not look amused. She did not want to spend three entire days on keeping an eye on a single individual.

She recognized the necessity of her task. No single individual within the borders of Davute had affected the state quite as drastically as the infamous leader of the Larkinson Clan!

If the information provided by Major Durant and the other individuals trapped in the pocket space was accurate, then this crafty mech designer was the chief individual responsible for launching a successful breakout attempt!

It was not an exaggeration to claim that Ves had played an important role in handing over a pocket space to the colonial federation.

Without his involvement, it became a lot more questionable whether the pocket space would remain whole and usable!

This made Reina Kernsk more ambivalent towards the Larkinson Patriarch. The man's influence in Davute had become too strong.

If he ever spoke a bad word about Davute, millions of people could easily lose faith in the state as well!

This made it even more important for Davute to manage its relationship with Ves Larkinson.

"We need as much information about him as you can provide to us. Nine capital ships are at stake."

Master Elroy did not expect to hear this news. "That is an excessively magnanimous prize for his services. There are larger groups than the Larkinson Clan that are not able to order as many fleet carriers at once. How many mech design commissions does he need to fulfill to win these new capital ships?"

"Every completed mech design corresponds to three fleet carriers. That is the agreement that we have forged with Patriarch Larkinson. We have received much criticism at court and in our network as a result, but we can handle the pressure. President Clive and I still possess a great amount of faith in Patriarch Larkinson's ability to adapt and overcome. That does not mean we operate on blind faith. It is better to obtain second opinions and third opinions on his capabilities so that we can properly plan and anticipate for the future."

Master Hergard Elroy understood the government's perspective. He had lived for over two centuries and worked with plenty of government institutions. He learned how to work with many different government entities and institutions in order to gain access to the exotic alien technology that he excelled at reverse engineering.

He chose to become a leading researcher at the Davute University of Technology after conducting thorough research on the people he intended to work with. He found it quite reassuring that President Yenames Clive and his administration were more than happy to entrust capable mech designers and scientists with vital projects.

It was highly unusual for the government to pay so much and make so many concessions for a mere Journeyman Mech Designer.

There were many of them in Davute. Their skills and accomplishments varied considerably, but their design philosophies and design applications were too immature to make a difference in the fortunes of states.

Ves Larkinson was a clear exception to this rule. Mech designers such as Master Elroy generally judged the competence of mech designers by how much their products impacted the lives of people living in human society.

Rank technically didn't matter. A Master Mech Designer may be able to design beautiful and exquisite mechs, but if they only ended up in the hands of ultra-rich first-class elites, then the professional in question had done almost nothing to make human civilization stronger and better.

On the other hand, an ingenious Apprentice Mech Designer may be able to design a unique mech that not only happened to solve a problem that no one else managed to address, but also sell its copies for millions, thereby changing the future of entire states!

There was no doubt that Ves had already reached this level back when he was just an Apprentice in the Komodo Star Sector.

Whether it was his commercial works or his commissioned works for the Hex Army, Davute correctly recognized that the value of this young and flamboyant mech designer exceeded that of almost every Senior in the Krakatoa Middle Zone!

Therefore, Master Elroy was neither surprised by how much Davute was willing to pay for the Larkinson Patriach's services nor thought that the boy was being overpaid.

"He is good for his age. I will give you that, Madame Kernsk." He spoke up after a time. His eyes continued to study Ves and his incomplete hybrid mech design. "I can see that he has a strong ego and passion for his work. That explains why he has been able to develop an entirely new field in mech design by himself, but it also makes him harder to work with. He will only work at his best if he respects the mech designer he is collaborating with or if he is able to take the lead in a mech design project. A young mech designer who is accustomed to being in charge and has achieved great success at doing so will not agree to be reduced to a subservient position."

Reina Kernsk frowned. The detailed study and analysis on Ves already described as much, but the colonial government still hoped that he would be more… accommodating in this regard.

"What does that mean in concrete terms?" She asked. "Our strategic advisors have formed a list of Masters that we believe may assist Patriarch Larkinson in fulfilling his mech design commissions. His previous works for another state is lacking in this assistance, and that has resulted in slightly subpar mechs in terms of raw performance. Our state wishes to avoid this and ensure that any of the mechs that the patriarch has designed for our state meets the highest standards. We cannot do that without involving Masters such as yourself."

"I understand." Master Elroy nodded. "Generally speaking, I do not object to assisting a young and promising Journeyman Mech Designer, but I am afraid that I am the exception rather than the rule. I have withdrawn myself from competition so that I can dedicate more of my time on academic research and advancing the technologies that are helpful to other mech designers. I am both a teacher and a facilitator and have long developed a more generous mindset towards the younger generation. It is regrettable that my competences are not that relevant to his commissions."

"Perhaps you can involve yourself in order to act as a bridge or a mediator between Patriarch Larkinson and our older and more distinguished mech designers."

"That can work, but… it is too much of a waste, Madame Kernsk. My other colleagues will not accept my involvement if I have little to contribute to the design. It will only insult and irritate all of the mech designers if I needlessly insert myself in their projects. You will need to convince them to let a Journeyman dictate their work, which should not be easy. However… the status problem may not be as great as I fear…"

The female chief of staff turned to the Master. "Can you clarify that, Elroy?"

The older gentleman shook his head. "It is irrelevant for the time being. Let me give you my perspective. Too many of my colleagues will either outright refuse or only collaborate begrudgingly with a younger mech designer who is only valued because he has invented a few useful tricks. That is not to say they deny the worth of Patriarch Larkinson's innovations, but they cannot accept the fact that your government values his contributions over theirs. It is not in your best interest to alienate them against your state."

Reina Kernsk looked annoyed. Cooperating with Ves Larkinson was clearly the most logical choice, but the egos of the Masters that Davute had painstakingly attracted to its side made this far more difficult than it should.

"Our advisors are eager to encourage Master Manuel Terrence to collaborate with Patriarch Ves Larkinson on a line of energy shield-based mechs. In fact, we would welcome it if Renewal Tech & Design can form a joint venture with the Living Mech Corporation to publish a comprehensive line of strong energy shield mechs that also possesses the characteristics of living mechs."

Master Elroy laughed. "Hahaha! Good luck trying to convince Master Terrence to serve as the junior designer to a mech designer as young as Patriarch Larkinson. The good Master is not the best at cooperating with other mech designers. He has a strong passion for his work, and his dogged persistence in designing mechs that primarily base their defenses around energy shields has long caused him to become more withdrawn, shall we say. Terrence will most certainly try to usurp Patriarch Ves' leadership and impose his own vision on the mech design commission."

The woman frowned. "That is not what we wish to see. We explicitly commissioned the work of Patriarch Larkinson. We already signed separate contracts with Master Manuel Terrence."

"Then my suggestion is to leave him aside. Do not start with him because it will not end well."