The Mech Touch

"Did I go overboard?"

Ves wondered whether he wasted the time he spent on modifying and upgrading his Unending Regalia.

He could have allocated his time on a lot of other productive pursuits.

For example, he could have visited the Larkinson Army and interviewed a few soldiers in order to get up to speed on their sentiments towards the upcoming war.

He could have spent his time on designing his mechs so that they would become ready when he needed their capabilities.

He could have invested more time into setting his own stamp on the Larkinson Clan's participation in the upcoming founding ceremony.

Instead of doing all of that, he holed himself up in his private workshop in his Genesis Lab working on a suit of combat armor of all possibilities.

He could not recall any instance where the protection offered by his Unending Regalia made a substantial difference.

He had only made it after his clan had concluded the Nyxian Gap Campaign. The terrifying threats and crises he experienced during that harrowing expedition had caused him to overreact and develop the strongest form of personal protection that he could make at the time.

That also happened to be the last time he came under acute personal threat.

As more and more expert pilots broke through while his mech legions grew in size and strength, he no longer became subject to any personal threats any longer.

Hardly any enemy could get through his mechs and honor guards nowadays!

In fact, his protective detail became so numerous and overgeared that assassins did not even bother to make another attempt at his life anymore!

Given all of these measures, Ves felt increasingly more ridiculous for paying such unreasonable attention to an unreasonably expensive piece of gear that would never get the chance to fulfill its primary role.

The only use that Ves got out of the Unending Regalia nowadays was to shroud himself in a martial mantle and assume a more intimidating demeanor!

If Ves wanted to pretend he was a warlord instead of a nerdy mech designer, he could have stuck with the previous version of his combat armor. The spiritually charged Unending alloy armor plating significantly enhanced his stature during face-to-face meetings!

He frowned. "I need to share my thoughts with another person. I can't keep letting my messy thoughts dictate my actions."

A sense of unease and uncertainty welled in his stomach as he cleaned up his workshop and stowed away the parts that still held a lot of value.

He then moved to the underground complex underneath the Cat Nest and headed over to a highly secure section.

A lot of signal-dampening materials shielded this part of the base from observations and eavesdropping. Ves had to go through an extensive security check before he was able to enter the branch station of the Black Cats.

After navigating through a few corridors, he entered the office where Calabast awaited for his arrival.

"Who's a good boy? Who's a good boy today?"

"Squeak~"

A plump and dappled gray exobeast laid on her lap.

The eight-legged creature had grown a lot over the years, both physically and spiritually.

A plentiful diet that did not require Arnold to hunt inside dark and dangerous tunnels allowed his young body to grow without impediment.

This allowed him to grow a little larger and more massive than a well-fed cat.

Ves found the creature's spiritual growth a lot more remarkable. Through mechs such as the Dark Zephyr and the Devious, the octopod became more intelligent and more familiar with humans.

Though Arnold's relatively small and weak organic body still constrained his spiritual development, he nonetheless managed to make a lot of progress in catching up to the other design spirits!

"Hello, Arnold." Ves smiled as he stepped closer. "How are you doing these days? Are you growing well?"

"Squeak squeak squeak!"

"I know, I know. I will try and tie you in with more diverse mech models in the future. The Hexers still make plentiful use of the Devious mech line as far as I know, so you I know you aren't short of spiritual feedback."

"Squeak!"

The eight-legged exobeast made a disgruntled alien sound before turning around his chunky body so that he wouldn't have to look at Ves any longer.

"You should do as he requested." Calabast spoke as she stroked Arnold's back. "I think the constant contact with Hexer mech pilots is driving him mad. The only reason he remains grounded is because he has developed close relationships with Venerable Tusa and the Dark Zephyr."

"Mhhmm. I will be starting a couple of projects in the future that might make good use of Arnold's strengths. I need to think more about this as your pet is mostly relevant to trickier mechs."

"My Black Cats can always use another mech that is good at subterfuge."

"Noted. That's not why I have come today. Not directly, at least. I wanted to talk to you about another matter."

"Are you concerned about Larkinsons colluding with the Davutans behind your back? I already told you that my monitoring efforts do not work on key officials of the colonial administration. Prospective President Yenames Clive is routinely enveloped by the Saint Kingdoms of ace mechs. Even if he is not, he is most definitely carrying an impressive suite of protection and anti-monitoring equipment that he or the Clive Consortium directly exchanged from the MTA. His ministers, advisors and assistants such as his chief of staff might not be as well-protected, but their personal anti-monitoring gear are just as impressive. The only way to eavesdrop on them is to break through this protection by force, but that would reveal what we are doing."

"I am not blaming you for your failures." Ves dismissively waved his hand. "I already got over your inability to discover that Ark had been making promises and commitments on his own initiative during his initial meetings with the colonial government. I hadn't been in a hurry to induct him into my clan so he was still a member of the Larkinson Family or an independent back then. Now that I have finally roped him into the clan, he can't get away with as much anymore."

Calabast leaned back on his chair while she massaged Arnold's head. "You know that won't stop him from doing what he really wants and strongly believes in, right? The downside to bestowing your clansmen a certain degree of initiative and autonomy is that their solutions don't always align with your intentions. As the new vice director of the Davute Branch, Ark can do damn near anything as long as it does not directly contradict our existing rules. In fact, there are rare situations where he can override your policies as long as he can argue that he is benefiting the clan."

One of the peculiarities of the clan was that it granted a lot of initiative to its members and leaders. Though the clan administration had implemented a lot of rules and regulations over the years, there was never an expectation that they were absolute.

Ves had seen too many societies with strict laws that completely failed when it mattered the most because the existing regulations no longer fit the situation at hand.

Rather than make his clansmen cling to useless or detrimental rules, Ves implemented a general principle that encouraged people to think for themselves and act according to the situation at hand regardless of whether it was strictly legal.

This stood in stark contrast to the old principles and customs of the Larkinson Family, which completely allowed itself to become enthralled by an uncaring and exploitative Bright Republic.

In order to prevent the Larkinsons from becoming caught like this again, Ves went in the opposite direction.

He did not regret this decision, but he understood that it also gave people who possessed radically different ideas a lot of openings to pursue other strategies.

The scenario that Calabast warned about fell into this category.

Ves strongly wanted to keep his clan as detached from states as possible.

Ark on the other hand believed the clan would gain a lot more if it entered into a mutually beneficial relationship with Davute and earn a lot of rewards in the process.

Uncle Ark's stance happened to directly contradict Ves' personal stances, but he was permitted to think and even act this way because it was another possible way to make the clan more successful.

Though Ves still did not agree with Ark's initiative, he did not want to force his clan to follow only a single vision. It had grown large enough to allow the Davute Branch to go its own way and see whether its bet on the colonial government would pay off in the end.

He sighed. "I am affording Ark the same treatment that I would have wanted back when I initially pleaded to take the Larkinson Family in a different direction. Back then, I tried so hard to persuade the stodgy elders that letting me in charge would reinvigorate the family and make it prosper at least ten times more than if it continued to follow the same direction. I only founded the clan out of helplessness. If I couldn't implement my plans with my existing family, then I thought I might as well create a new one, and you see how that went."

Calabast understood his message and softened her tone. "It is good of you to hold onto your principles. They are what keeps you together when everything starts to change around you. Besides, you haven't made the wrong choice in my opinion. Our clan's strategic shift has come in a timely manner. By letting the Davute Branch enact a different development strategy, many of the clansmen that have grown dissatisfied with spaceborn life have decisively transferred to the recently empowered side branch. This will have a positive influence on the main fleet."

She referred to the fact that those who chose to stay in the fleet overwhelmingly consisted of clansmen who believed in Ves and his vision. Dissent and hesitation were much less likely to occur because a lot of potential naysayers had already moved away.

Turning the Davute Branch into a viable alternative for the Larkinson Clan meant that Ves was able to tighten his control over the fleet he cared so much about!

"I'm not here to talk about how extensively Ark and the Davute Branch will pursue a different course from mine." He said. "I am here to talk about my concerns with the colonial government. I don't know about you, but I don't trust that constricting bastard at the top one bit. That guy is a snake. He is just good at hiding it under his guise as a businessman-turned-statesman."

The attractive spymaster directed a critical look at him. "I can see where you are getting at, but you do know that leaders at this level all have to be ruthless and pragmatic to a degree, correct? What President Clive has shown so far does not exceed the boundaries of an effective leader of a large and rapidly-changing state."

"That does not reassure me at all, Calabast. In fact, it is the opposite. I have met multiple statesmen and government leaders who ended up saying one thing, only to do the exact opposite! I swear it is baked into their professional DNA somehow."

"That... is completely illogical and a product of bias, Ves."

Ves frowned at the skepticism he received. Shouldn't Calabast be more supportive of his suspicions?

"I would rather be safe than sorry. I am more than happy to be proven wrong in my concerns, but if there is a nonzero chance that our good friend Yenames Clive has any nefarious designs on our clan, I want to know about it in advance instead of getting bushwhacked by it because I did not get any warning in advance."

Calabast raised her eyebrow. "Are you asking us to investigate the leadership of the colonial government?"

"I am not asking you. I am ordering you. I know it is difficult to penetrate their tight security perimeter, but I am not paying your Black Cats so much to develop a regular information network. Show what you are made of and find out what that snake truly thinks about our clan."

The spymaster looked upset. This was a huge request, and one that could easily backfire on the Larkinson Clan if the Black Cats got caught!

"...I need to borrow Lucky from you. He is still our best infiltration asset in our possession."

"You will have him. Lucky is still busy with digesting his latest meal, though, so it will take a bit more persuasion to put him into action.'