The Mech Touch

Ves often suspected that he obtained his mech side from his father and his artistic side from his mother.

Later in his life, he learned he probably inherited a lot more from the latter. His high spiritual perception, for example.

Ever since she seemingly came back from the death to steal his possessions and siphon away his energy, Ves had been plagued by questions concerning his mother's background.

While her mother's past wasn't exactly a critical issue to him right now, he hadn't forgotten about it either. Since his grandfather possessed some gifts of hers, Ves might as well take more time off his schedule to study her work.

Was she truly an artist? Ves recalled that in his early days, the System didn't rate his creativity very high.

Admittedly, that was also because Ves didn't engage too much in art those days. He was so obsessed with the technical side of mech design that he didn't fully realize the importance of creativity in his profession.

Only after he absorbed a lot of Creativity Candies did his imagination bloom.

Maybe his mother was the same way, he thought. Maybe she wasn't cut out to be an artist, but augmented herself in a way that allowed her to pass off as one. Did she use the same pills as he did?

Seeing how he himself turned out when he ingested so many candies, it was no wonder his mother came across as eccentric!

The day after Ves issued his request, Gavin entered his office and delivered a package.

"The Larkinson Family sent this over. They told us it came from your grandfather."

"Ah." Ves smiled. "I requested that. Just place it on the table and I'll see to it later. Let's hold our daily briefing first."

Nothing much happened during the past few days. The resupply effort continued and the clan made a lot of headway in selling their valuable scrap scavenged off the battlefield of Kesseling VIII for a princely sum.

Normally, no one would ever dare to purchase scrap that originated from downed CRC mechs, but this was the Sentinel Kingdom! The powerful third-rate state not only needed a lot of high-grade exotics to build more powerful mechs, but also enjoyed the implicit protection of the Fridaymen's mortal enemies!

"The profit we expect to make after selling all of our valuable but difficult-to-work with scrap can give us a month or three of extra time." Gavin finally concluded. "That said, the various expenditures that we are incurring eats up most of the money we've earned. Some of the supplies we are stockpiling are very useful in keeping our ships and mechs running for years, but they don't come cheap in larger quantities."

"Do whatever is necessary." Ves dismissively waved his hand. "It's better to procure too much and not need all of it than the opposite. I've been in too many situations where I was lacking critical resources. Being able to procure most of what we need is a luxury that we should cherish."

"Understood."

"How is the recruitment going?"

"Same as always, boss. Our recruiters are hard-pressed to separate the wheat from the chaff, but the people we are hiring are highly-skilled and talented for their age. Upon your request, we limited the amount of older people we are hiring."

This was not due to a desire to discriminate on the eldery. Ves merely wanted to obtain new clan members who he could invest in when they were young and reap the benefits for many decades.

While it wouldn't be possible to hire competent engineers in usual circumstances, the willingness to become a Larkinson clansman was so high in Sentinel that a significant amount of genuine talents came to Cinach VI on their own accord!

Ves knew that these valuable talents usually signed contracts with other scouters and recruiters while they were still working towards their degrees. It was very difficult to seek out a genuine talent that hadn't been locked up by some other company, but now was different! A lot of those talents were even willing to tear up their previous contracts if they could become a Larkinson clansmen!

"I think we are on track of hiring enough Sentinel ship crew to reduce our dependence on the Ylvainans." Gavin noted with a smile.

"That is good news. As much as the True Believers seem loyal to us, the extra insurance is still nice."

The mass recruitment period was a precious opportunity to address the various problems and shortcomings of their current workforce. The departure of a hundred Larkinsons and thousands of employees who refused to join the clan left a lot of manpower holes that urgently needed to be filled.

"Aside from native Sentinels, a small number of Brighters passed the recruitment tests and are slated to be inducted into the clan as well." Gavin dutifully reported. "I believe some of the names might sound familiar to you. Ever since the Battle of Bentheim, a lot of citizens fled the Bright Republic. A few of them have managed to make it all the way to Sentinel and sought to join our clan when they heard we were recruiting."

"As long as they aren't related to the scum who turned against the Larkinson Family, I will welcome any Brighter. With all of the different cultures mixing in my clan these days, a few more Brighters will help me feel a bit closer to home."

In the future, he would come to regret this statement.

"If you say so, boss. We'll look out for more Brighters in the region."

The daily briefing finally ended. When Ves made sure that Gavin departed his office, he dismissed the rest of his guards barring Nitaa.

His eyes rested on the simple parcel sent by the Larkinson Family. The box was just a bog-standard courier container. Ves experimentally tried to reach out with his spiritual senses but perceived nothing unusual inside.

Ves did not let down his guard. Anything related to his mother was either dangerous or suspect.

That also applied to himself!

He turned to Lucky. "Stay close to me and protect me if anything happens."

"Meow?"

"I'm serious!"

"Meow meow."

"What do you mean? My mother is probably the most dangerous member of my family!"

Lucky directed a mocking look at him. This cheeky cat!

"Who's side are you on?! Don't think I forgot about the previous times you sided with my mother!"

"Meow!"

Lucky rolled around in the air until his back faced Ves. His tail indolently swished as if he stopped paying attention!

Ves grumbled as he turned his attention back to the box. After a bit of hesitation, he finally opened to reveal a small, carved statuette of his mother and father.

"What a lovely piece." He whispered.

There wasn't anything exceptional about the way it had been carved and shaped. He instinctively guessed his mother probably fashioned it from a block of wood sourced from a nearby tree at his childhood home.

The statue looked remarkably life-life and accurate to reality, but he recognized plenty of smaller touches that showcased a distinct art style. If Ves had to describe it, then he would say that his mother had a preference towards realistic art, but spiced it up with exaggerated elements.

In his memory, his father and mother didn't look this handsome and beautiful!

What struck him the most about this statuette was not its appearance, but the design choices that his mother had made. From the material to the pose of the subjects, every choice was deliberate and carried some kind of meaning.

Unfortunately, Ves didn't know his mother's work well enough to analyze what most of her choices meant. He could only entertain himself with unreliable guesses.

After five solid minutes of observation and analysis, Ves had his fill with the mundane aspects of the statuette.

"It's time to find out if it carries anything exceptional."

Ves wasn't sure if his mother imbued anything special to what was supposed to be a casual gift to his grandfather, but he hoped he might be able to uncover something.

Unlike his own spiritually-empowered works, the statuette didn't radiate a glow. Yet the more he observed it with his spiritual senses, the more he thought it hid something unusual.

Ves began to exert more effort in his examinations. He strengthened his spiritual efforts and expended so much energy to seek something unusual.

"Ah!"

Suddenly, his mind flashed brightly! After his senses penetrated the statuette past a certain degree, he abruptly encountered something strange!

Though it was hidden and self-contained, Ves recognized the spiritual residue for what it was! It carried the same 'flavor' as the ghost that he encountered in recent years!

His eyes were filled with shock! "So it's true. She's my mother after all!"

He had obtained near-definite proof that the mother who birthed him and raised him was the same as the ghost who claimed her identity!

Though Ves was paranoid to acknowledge that this might be part of an elaborate ruse, it was too convoluted for him to bother. In this case, he was much more inclined to apply Occam's razor and accept the most obvious explanation!

Now that he finally found something, he eagerly studied the spiritual residue.

It was small in quantity but very high in quality. His mother probably didn't set out to empower the statuette consciously. It was just that she concentrated for hours to make the statuette that she passed on a small amount of spiritual energy during her creation process.

What Ves found peculiar was that the spiritual residue in the statuette didn't seem complete. It lacked a lot of spiritual attributes he expected to find.

That signified to Ves that his mother may have purposefully imbued the statue with her spirituality, but in a highly altered form.

When Ves inspected the attributes, he found that most of them were benign.

"Happiness, family, love, affection…"

All of these traits subtly enhanced the appeal of the statuette to someone like his grandfather.

There was one attribute that possessed a lot more presence than the other presence!

When Ves tried to identify this strong attribute, he couldn't help but be reminded of what he sensed from the previous relic he inspected.

"Motherhood!"

His eyes quickly sharpened as he inspected the depiction of his mother in a carved form. He specifically looked at her belly and realized that it bulged slightly more than usual!

"She was pregnant when she carved this work!" Ves uttered in realization!

That explained the mix of attributes she passed on in the statuette. Though ostensibly the piece was about their couple, in actuality his mother had been channeling her hopes and expectations of motherhood!

A very warm feeling engulfed his mood. Regardless of how his mother turned up these days, back then she was genuinely happy when she carried him in her womb!

"This feeling.. it's so pure and pleasant."

He almost couldn't equate the sensations he was feeling now with the ghostly mother who reintroduced herself into his life. The transition from life to death must have done much to alter her psyche!

As Ves entertained various theories, he suddenly had a stroke of inspiration.

The sense of motherhood he gained from the statue was so pure and and exceptional that it might make for a good ingredient for one of his upcoming mechs!

Having worked on the Hexer mech for months, Ves had always tried to design it in a way to make it with a design spirit derived from the Idol of the Superior Mother.

While such a spiritual product would probably turn out okay with his current abilities, he always felt as if the spiritual residue from the former Hexer relic wasn't enough.

In order to create a spiritual product that was powerful enough to influence the Komodo War, Ves knew he had to add additional ingredients to increase the dimensions of his creations!

Though Ves already planned to borrow some spiritual energy from sources like Qilanxo, adding one that revolved more explicitly around motherhood would be a great addition!

"This is a fantastic idea!" He grinned. "This is the perfect way to elevate my next mech!"

Using his own mother as an ingredient, why didn't he think of it before!?