The Mech Touch

　　"I really do want to design you from the ground up, but I have to be practical about it as well." Ves sighed as he began to work on his new variant mech design project.

　　Before he committed months of his valuable design time on pursuing this idea even further, he felt it was better to start on a smaller scale and produce a trial balloon first.

　　He could make a much more informed decision once he studied the results of his initial attempt.

　　His demands weren't too high for that reason. He just wanted to observe whether the Quint could act as a design spirit to another mech design, whether the spiritual feedback process worked properly for living mechs and whether the end users of his new mech model actually benefited from piloting it instead of a regular Bright Warrior model.

　　Still, in order to make sure that his new creation was sufficiently differentiated from the base model and adapted to its new purpose, Ves invested 3 weeks into designing his new variant.

　　This was a rather generous time schedule that would allow him to adjust the design to his satisfaction and override much of its original purpose with a new and different mission.

　　That last one was of great importance to Ves. The Bright Warrior line was centered completely around serving general Larkinson mech pilots. With the Golden Cat as its design spirit, the Bright Warrior was partially meant to serve as a way to assimilate new members and increase their sense of belonging to the clan.

　　That obviously couldn't remain if he wanted to make the mech design more universal. Although Ves still had his own people in mind when he wanted to perform this experiment, the need to avoid using Larkinsons as test subjects meant he had little choice but to turn to outsiders to validate his proof of concept.

　　"It's not a big problem."

　　He had altered the original identities of his existing mech designs before. He had made mechs that were previously exclusive to one group of people more compatible with other groups of people.

　　"This is my own work, after all. I know them like the back of the hand. I can easily unmake my own solutions and put new ones in their place."

　　The real challenge was performing these steps while minimizing any potential damage. This was much harder to do if he was working on someone else's mech design. There were so many intricacies in design choices that a single mistake could easily cascade into many other problems in other parts of a mech design.

　　He didn't have to worry about that here because he knew about almost all of the rationale behind every design choice. Though he had to refresh his memories multiple times, he still recalled why he set it up the way he did at the time.

　　"Gloriana probably won't be happy with me ruining one of our collaborative mech designs."

　　Ves chuckled. While there was indeed a chance that he might screw up her arrangements, the drop in performance shouldn't be that big.

　　In fact, he had improved quite a bit since he first completed the Bright Warrior Mark I Version B design. He had deepened his knowledge base and gained a lot more experience. He developed many new techniques and expanded his theoretical framework.

　　It was not difficult for him to apply his new gains onto the original Bright Warrior design and come up with a major revision.

　　"That will take too much time, though."

　　Ves set a time limit of 3 weeks because he did not want to get lost in all of the improvements he could make on the base model. He had a narrow goal in mind and was set on completing it within the deadline.

　　This was important because he would be finishing his Enlightened Warrior design shortly after arriving in the Pellysa System.

　　There was a bustling marketplace over there that provided Ves with plenty of opportunities to enlist more test subjects.

　　He smirked. "It'll be easy enough to get them to buy my new mech. I just have to sell them at a discount."

　　Many people loved to buy bargains! If his customers grew suspicious why he sold his products so cheaply, Ves could just state that he wanted to grow his brand and generate more word of mouth about his living mechs.

　　Of course, the effect would be rather marginal unless he sold them by the thousands, which was far too wasteful and time-consuming.

　　"I'll just stick to a couple of hundred or so. That won't take too long to produce."

　　The only problem with doing this was that Ves would not be able to disclose that his new Enlightened Warrior design was an experimental product that could potentially lead to unexpected mental changes or another case of exploding head syndrome!

　　"The benefits outweigh the risks. I am confident I can control the latter this time!"

　　He did not intend to push the envelope with the Enlightened Warrior design. That could come later when he had a more suitable audience in mind.

　　As Ves continued to work on his variant, he slowly morphed its character and identity into one that conformed with its new purpose.

　　The Enlightened Warrior revolved around several themes.

　　First, it retained the high compatibility of the original Bright Warrior. Although this design priority was the main reason why the mech model performed so mediocre in every role, right now Ves saw it as a great boon for the Enlightened Warrior.

　　Ves smiled. "The main purpose of the Enlightened Warrior is to help mech pilots improve. It doesn't have to be the strongest mech model available for sale. Since it is partially a training mech, it is actually good that it can accommodate a broad range of piloting styles!"

　　It was just like Ketis' Monster Slayer mech in that regard. The difference was that Ketis wanted to turn every mech pilot of her upcoming commercial mech into a proficient greatsword wielder, whereas Ves sought to produce breakthroughs.

　　He did not expect his Enlightened Warrior to achieve as much success as the Monster Slayer. It was extremely hard to increase anyone's chances of undergoing apotheosis. Even if his mech was good, Ves realized quite well that he might not achieve statistically significant results until years later!

　　"It's okay."

　　Ves just wanted to spread his mechs around so that he could accelerate the growth of the Quint. It would be more obvious that the Enlightened Warriors facilitated its evolution if there were more active copies in use. Just relying on 20 MTA mech pilots was not enough!

　　In order to make it easier to reach out to many mech pilots, Ves retained the four original configurations. The Enlightened Warrior would therefore be able to fight as a swordsman mech, a rifleman mech, a space knight and a lancer mech, which should be enough to cover the needs of at least 70 percent of every mech pilot in the Red Ocean!

　　He could keep everything the same though. Not only did he need to make changes in order to differentiate its spiritual character, he also had to replace its older, Hexer-developed mech parts with ones that were more in line with the current environment.

　　"Some of those Hexer parts require materials that are not easily available in the Red Ocean." He frowned.

　　Materials such as Kavenit which was ubiquitous in his home region were much scarcer and more expensive in this part of the new frontier. There were many other examples of that and in time the Larkinson Clan's stockpiles would run out. This was also why he was so eager to design so many new mechs for the Larkinson Army.

　　"In any case, the Enlightened Warrior should be made out of exotics that are more abundant in the surrounding regions."

　　Ves also had to swap out almost all of the old components of the Bright Warrior for newer, more superior ones.

　　This was not just because he wanted to upgrade the performance of his variant mech so that it could become a more competitive product in the market. He also had to replace the proprietary Hexer-developed mech parts with commercially licensed alternatives that were specifically designed to be produced with Red Ocean materials.

　　Although Ves didn't think that any Hexer lawyer would come and sue him for breaching a contract and trying to sell unauthorized Hexer military hardware to private customers, it was disrespectful to go back on his word.

　　At the very least, he would tarnish his reputation if he went through with such a disrespectful act!

　　The process of replacing components was a huge endeavor that resulted in plenty of changes, but Ves was able to minimize his workload by picking substitutes that closely conformed to the original parts.

　　Sure, the Enlightened Warrior became a bit rougher as a result, but as long as the mech worked as intended, he didn't mind if it came out in a more unoptimized state.

　　"As a proof of concept, it just needs to work well enough."

　　If he ever wanted to commercialize this mech concept properly after he concluded this experiment, then there was no way he wanted to sell the Enlightened Warrior en masse. He would start a proper design project.

　　As he continued to design his new variant, he made sure to put plenty of effort into turning it into a more helpful mech. He constantly emphasized the Quint as a design spirit and tried his best to form an environment where the masterwork expert mech was able to provide guidance to the mech pilots of the Enlightened Warrior.

　　Of course, Ves needed the Quint to cooperate on this experiment.

　　YOU WISH FOR ME TO BECOME A DESIGN SPIRIT.

　　"Yes." Ves spiritually communicated with his old work. "You'll have to assume extra responsibilities, but you'll be able to handle it. The stronger you become, the better you are able to keep up with the mechs you are connected with. The Enlightened Warrior model will become your conduit to a reality that exists outside the expeditionary fleet."

　　WHY SHOULD I ACCEPT THIS DISTRACTION?

　　"Because it will help you perform your purpose better by making you stronger. You've seen our design spirits, right? You've witnessed how Goldie has steadily grown stronger as a result of receiving all of the spiritual feedback from our clansmen. I am offering you the chance to become another Goldie. You'll not only be able to give your users the strength they need to excel in battle, but also be able to leverage the abundant experience you've accumulated from tutoring hundreds if not thousands of different mech pilots."

　　…INTRIGUING.

　　Ves grinned at the Quint. "It will help you remain relevant as well. There is less reason for me to retire you and put you in a museum if you are useful enough to keep around."

　　YOU WOULD NEVER RETIRE ME. YOU VALUE ME TOO MUCH. I AM AN INDISPENSABLE MECH FOR THE LARKINSON CLAN.

　　"You cheeky mech. Well, if you need another reason to play along, then how about this. What if I tell you that there is a possibility that you will be able to retain your existence even after your physical form is destroyed? Ever thought about that, my Quint? If you are spiritually powerful enough, I believe that you can live after death and maintain your state in an incorporeal form. You'll be able to serve your purpose further by acting as a full-time design spirit."

　　The Quint physically vibrated for an instant.

　　THAT SOUNDS TERRIFYING.

　　"Oh, come on!" Ves threw his head. "Well, how about this. If your mech frame ever gets destroyed, I'll build you a new one, alright? You can continue your existence as a living mech while at the same time performing your job as a design spirit. Does that sound good enough?"

　　…VERY WELL, CREATOR.