The Mech Touch

After tweaking the second iteration of the design, the project reached the end of its three-month deadline.

Ves was unwilling to iterate the design once more. The clock continued to tick and Ves had better things to do than optimize a mech that was already in a pretty good shape.

Certainly, there was much to complain about. Gloriana certainly had a lot to say. She continually pecked him with rants on how he was unwilling to address the obvious imperfections of the latest iteration of their design!

He didn't take her complaints to heart. He was already familiar with her whining when they completed their previous collaborative projects.

The fact of the matter was that Gloriana would always find something to argue about! Not a single mech design was perfect, which meant that Gloriana could never be sated!

Ves really didn't know how she completed her solo projects. He imagined her clients forced her to deliver her projects regardless of how much she wanted to continue to tinker with her designs.

This meant that Ves shouldn't let her have her way this time. He stood his ground and forced Gloriana to quit her ceaseless design work.

Though she hurled many complaints at him, Ves paid no mind, knowing that she was just venting her frustration.

Some part of her recognized that Ves was right. Due to the law of diminishing returns, the performance improvements became less and less significant.

When a single tweak only resulted in a 0.05 percent improvement, then it wasn't worth the time to invest in this result!

Certainly, there were situations where such performance boosts were worthwhile, but this wasn't the time!

If perfection was attainable, then it was probably unaffordable!

Ves lived in a reality where time was a scarce and precious resource. More than money, more than Breyer alloy, more than expert pilots and more than MTA merits, time was the one resource that he could never replenish!

Once spent, he could never get a refund. The most he could do was to extend his lifetime so that he could accomplish more.

Yet eventually, time ran out. No matter how long someone was able to extend their life, true immortality didn't exist. At least that was what Ves believed.

Due to the preciousness of time, Ves constantly thought on how to extract the maximum possible value out of his time.

While he didn't always succeed in optimizing the way he spent his time, at the very least he was accomplishing more than most mech designers.

He credited some of his success due to his fast pace of mech design and his conscious budgeting of his time. As a resource that was far more precious than money, Ves always sought to minimize its expenditure whenever possible!

This was strongly related to the project he was involved in. Unlike situations where Ves worked for an external employer or client, he had full control over his work.

This was both a blessing and a curse.

Without a client setting a hard deadline, it was very tempting for Ves to loosen his boundaries and delay the completion of the Larkinson mech design project.

This was a temptation that Ves had to resist.

He believed that the emotional energy he invested in the design would diminish if he removed his sense of urgency.

He also kept Patricia's advice in mind. Mech designers ought to stick to the principles and promises. If he broke his own rule, how could he ever enter into a good state of mind?

Ves explained all of her thoughts to Gloriana. Though she understood his points, she was still inclined to stick to her own guns regardless of whether they were right or wrong!

When a mech designer advanced to Journeyman, many of their principles and outlook on life and their profession had been set. Just like expert pilots, it was extremely important for them to conform to their values and beliefs.

If they didn't, then a mismatch would occur between their minds and their design seeds. Such a situation was untenable in the long term. Either the mind gave ground, or the design seed gave ground!

Ves only witnessed the latter happening once. Gloriana shifted her core design philosophy to accommodate spiritual components. That was a very special moment and one that Ves had never witnessed again.

Though Ves would have liked for Gloriana to make another fundamental adjustment, that would be cruel to her as a person and disrespectful to her as a professional colleague.

In short, he had no choice but to bear with her nagging.

"Ves!" She slapped her palm against his arm. "This isn't over yet! We can still iterate once more! Just think of the improvements we can make! The Larkinson clansmen you care so much about will definitely have a greater chance of survival if I can reduce the vulnerabilities of our design!"

Bonk!

"Ouch! Vessssss~! Why did you hit me again?" She whined and nursed her forehead.

"As the client of this project, I decide when the project is finished. Right now, I'm ready to finalize it. I won't allow you to waste anymore time."

"DON'T CALL MY WORK A WASTE OF TIME!"

"I didn't mean it that way. Don't misinterpret my words." Ves crossed his arms. "I'm just stating that the costs outweigh the benefits if we delay the completion of the project any further. This should be a concept that you should understand. Besides, just because your involvement has ended doesn't mean our design can't be improved any further."

Gloriana threw a suspicious look at him. "What are you talking about?"

He smirked. "Wait until tomorrow. I'll guarantee you that you'll be pleased!"

He managed to get rid of her soon afterwards. What he was about to do was something he was very reluctant to share with his girlfriend.

For this reason, Ves sought a quiet, locked and enclosed chamber underneath the design labs and dismissed all of his bodyguards except for Nitaa.

"Stand guard in front of this door and make sure no one barges inside." He instructed.

The tall and heavily armed and armored woman nodded. "Understood. What should I do if you don't appear for a long time?"

"I won't take too long. If I haven't left in three hours, then you have my permission to go inside and check."

He said this mostly to ease her concerns and prevent her from barging in early.

After satisfying his bodyguard, Ves entered the chamber and locked the only entrance.

As usual, both Lucky and the Larkinson Mandate followed him inside.

The Golden Cat had just returned to the book after yet another session with Qilanxo. Whatever she was doing with the older Sacred God, it seemed to take a lot out of her. Each time she returned, she practically fell into a slumber that lasted anywhere from a couple of hours to a couple of days!

Ves caressed the surface of his book. Now that the Larkinson mech project had reached this stage, it was time to bestow it with a name and instill it with a design spirit.

Yet unlike his other mech designs, he wanted to add one additional step to the design process.

He extended his hand and materialized his System comm. It had been a long time since he last held it. He didn't mind it at all as his dependence on the System had decreased these days.

Still, even though he no longer spent half of his thoughts on the System every day, he still valued its utility.

After activating the Privacy Shield, he activated it and browsed the menu until it highlighted a single, long-neglected option.

Superpublish

[The Designer module has unlocked the Superpublish ability. When completing any designs, you are able to Superpublish them. In exchange for forfeiting all your current and future rewards, the Designer will automatically enhance your design by a factor of ten percent. You are only able to Superpublish a design once every standard year.]

"I almost forgot about this." He muttered.

Previously, Ves valued his personal integrity too much to use this option. He also wanted to earn a lot of Design Points and keep this option in reserve in case of emergencies.

Another reason for avoiding this option was because Ves feared that his ownership and his emotional investment in the mech design would take a hit. Superpublishing a mech design was essentially a cheat in how it improved the quality of his mech design regardless of his actual merits.

This was the main reason why he refrained from applying it to the Transcendent Messenger. He wanted to prove something when he designed that revolutionary mech. Boosting its performance and removing some of its imperfections were not very important considering that the mechs half-functioned as ceremonial symbols.

"It's different now." He muttered. "Performance matters in my current mech design. The success of my plans truly hinges on the quality of this design!"

He didn't entirely dismiss Gloriana's arguments. Quality did matter. The main point of contention between them was the price they needed to pay to achieve any further quality improvements.

While Ves rejected his girlfriend's suggestion to extend the deadline of the project, he did not refuse the option to Superpublish his design!

Though it was a precious opportunity that didn't come very often, Ves was just wasting it if he continued to keep it in reserve for years. Since he didn't need it before, there shouldn't be any harm in expending its yearly usage this time.

There was still a price, though. Depending on what happened, he might not identify as much with his work anymore. That would spell disaster for his chances of fabricating a masterwork mech.

Yet.. this was a price that Ves was willing to pay.

"A single masterwork mech won't make much of a difference on the battlefield." He stated. "Deploying one excellent mech is not as impactful as deploying a thousand fine mechs!"

That said, Ves didn't want to let go of this opportunity.

"I'm not the mech designer I was before. I've matured as a mech designer."

One of the lessons he learned was that his own mentality partially determined the prices he paid for his various decisions.

For example, in the past he would probably feel guilty if he shot someone in the head. Now, he felt absolutely nothing at the thought of killing some random bystanders.

In the same manner, Ves no longer regarded the Superpublish function as a foreign cheat. It was a resource that could enhance a mech design in the same way as other mech designers did when they invited their mentors or Masters to make a pass at their work.

"I'm not cheating!" He convinced himself. "I'm just making use of the resources I have at my disposal! This will still be my design!"

With this conviction in his mind, he hesitated no further. He decided to pull the trigger and finalize his project in the most explosive manner possible!

First, he needed to impart it with a design spirit.

"Golden Cat! Wake up! It's time for you to bind yourself to your first mech design!"

Nya…?

The Golden Cat sleepily looked up at him as Ves prodded her with his spiritual projection.

Once she understood what she wanted, she cooperated fully with his actions. Under his guidance, he coaxed her into leaving a presence in the spiritual space of his mech design!

The mech's spiritual foundation was highly compatible with her own trait. She easily found purchase in the design and successfully became its design spirit!

The moment she formed a bond with the design, Ves sensed plenty of changes. Not only did the Golden Cat left some sort of duplicate presence in the mech design, the Larkinson Mandate also stirred in response!

To his astonishment, the Larkinson Mandate formed its first bond with a mech design! This was definite proof that the design formed an indispensable part of the Larkinson Clan!

"Excellent!"

His joy at these changes prompted him to make up his mind on how to name his work!

"From now on, my design shall be known as the Bright Warrior!"

Though the name wasn't the most imaginative one he came up with, it captured the sentiment of his design!

He designed the Bright Warrior to forge a path into the unknown and protect them against the monsters lurking in the darkness!