The Mech Touch



Though Ves stumbled a bit during his conversation with Juliet, the two did not compromise their ongoing collaboration. They were too mature and invested in their work to let their personal feelings interfere with their work. Both of them were professionals who strongly cared about finishing what they started to the best of their abilities.

Besides, Ves made up for his mistakes in the following hours. He talked about all kinds of topics with her during their ongoing design session.

None of the topics were all that sensitive. There was no harm in talking about simple matters such as Ves' children or what hobbies they were interested in. The sharing of information caused them to develop a closer friendship than before.

This put them in an excellent position to start the fabrication process.

Ves reiterated his plan to Juliet. "Good work. Our designs truly encompass both of our strengths. Before we begin, I want to remind you that I prefer to fabricate our two competition mechs as concurrently as possible. I suspect that almost all of our rivals will decide to fabricate their mechs sequentially rather than in parallel. It is easier to keep track of stuff as they only have to concentrate on a single mech at a time. We won't have that luxury when we start our own fabrication run."

Though Juliet understood his reasoning for taking this approach, she still felt it was necessary to express her doubts.

"I would be remiss in my duty if I do not warn you that we are making our jobs harder than is necessary. The more variables we have to take into account when we start to fabricate the parts and assemble our two mechs at the same time, the greater the probability of making mistakes. Are you sure you want to proceed with this risky plan?"

He took her warning seriously and went through his internal calculations once again. Ultimately, he believed that he possessed the competence to pull off this approach.

"It is worth it. This may be the first time we do anything like this, but I think it is truly essential to the Twin Soul System if we bring these two mechs to life at the same time. It is impossible to forge a strong and immediate bond between our hybrid mech and our light skirmisher if they are born hours apart from each other. The older of the two mechs would become a lot more accustomed to existing by itself rather than with a close sibling."

His overall message that the payoff was worth the considerable risk and that he would have it under control.

He also had another reason to be optimistic about his chances.

"Blinky has rested enough to be able to deploy the design network again. It might not last the entire way, but it should tide us over during the most challenging phases of the fabrication run. Shall we proceed?"

"We might as well." Juliet looked resigned. "I truly envy what you and your wife can do with your 'cats'."

"Don't worry, Juliet. I haven't forgotten about your needs and that of the other Journeymen. I should have done this sooner, but I will be granting each of you pets of your own." Ves reassured her. "You all deserve it for contributing so much to our clan. Even if that isn't the case, I still expect you all to use the advantages I bestow to tackle greater projects and accomplish even more."

That certainly perked her up! Juliet and many other Larkinsons in the know had become incredibly envious of companion spirits.

However, considering that only the people that Ves favored the most possessed this rare and special advantage, Juliet had long assumed that the price was too great for the Larkinson Clan to share the benefits on a wider scale.

She was grateful that Ves did not leave her out much longer.

This promise along with the reactivation of the design network had improved her mood to a massive extent!

She did not need to borrow Ves' enthusiasm as much as before to pepper her up and invigorate herself after many hours of non-stop design work.

Just like every other participant in the Twin Souls Tournament, Ves and Juliet had opted to forgo sleep and work all night in order to complete their competition mechs!

The superfab began to activate under their joint manipulation.

The pair of mech designers already explored the settings and the capabilities of the university-owned superfab before. They learned that it was possible to conduct multiple different processes at the same time as long as its users were fine with increased automation.

Ves and Juliet jointly manipulated their own projected interfaces. They activated different fabrication orders and took greater control whenever it was possible and convenient.

Despite the fact that there was a considerable chance that their fabrication orders might overlap with each other and subsequently get crossed somehow, their coordination remained so perfect that none of their fears came true!

The audience once again had the privilege of witnessing another impressive performance.

[The team of Ves Larkinson and Juliet Stameros is doing it again. Do you see how much in tune they are with each other? I can scarcely believe their superfab is producing so many different parts for two different mechs at the same time. The two mech designers hailing from the Larkinson Clan most certainly disabled numerous safety measures in order to make this possible.]

[Is it that special to fabricate parts of two different mechs in a single run?]

[It is. You do not realize the magnitude of how much they are flexing in front of mech designers such as ourselves. They are showing that fabricating a single mech at a time is not a real challenge to them. I do not blame this pair of Larkinson mech designers to be honest. Patriarch Ves Larkinson has 7 masterwork certificates under his name. Juliet Stameros has 5 masterwork certificates, and she can largely thank her immediate superior for earning them in the first place. Even I am envious of their proven accomplishments in mech fabrication. I am a Senior Mech Designer who has designed many more mechs than the Larkinson Patriarch, but I have yet to earn a single masterwork certificate myself!]

[The ability to make not just one but several different masterworks at this stage of his career is an unquestionable mark of a genius. This most of all is hard proof that the renowned patriarch is not a simple Journeyman Mech Designer. Let me make a prediction. If any of you are lucky enough to be alive a century from now, then you will thank yourself for watching this mech design tournament live. This is because you have witnessed a small part of the ascension of humanity's latest Star Designer!]

[That is absurd! I admire Ves Larkinson as well, but that does not mean that he is a future Star Designer candidate!]

[Let us not get overboard, please. We are living in the present and not the distant future. The Red Ocean is still in flux and anything can happen in the future. We should return to detailing the fabrication work done by the participants of this tournament.]

If Ves heard that an expert panel of mech designers thought he had a high chance of reaching the top, he would feel flattered but also make an effort to diminish his heroics.

He could not withstand the heat of being regarded as a Star Designer in the making!

Fortunately, he did not pay any attention to what the public was thinking about his current performance.

He became completely invested in fabricating the parts of his two mechs.

With the help of the design network, Ves and Juliet melded their work-related thoughts and emotions on a deeper level than before.

The two trusted each other a bit more and became a lot more willing to delve into each other's minds.

They learned a bit more about their design philosophies and how they saw mechs from their own perspective.

This sharing subsequently helped with fabricating mechs that not only carried their own signature, but also that of their partner!

It was a profoundly strange and novel experience for Ves to meld with another mech designer during the process of fabricating two mechs at a time.

The model and capabilities of the superfab helped a lot in this regard. The device was more user-friendly than normal and took away a lot of the finicky tedium that could prevent Ves from appreciating the beauty of his current workings.

As the parts started to stack up more and more, the duo finally completed the most important fabrication work!

Now, they just needed to assemble the parts into complete and functional mechs.

This did not prove to be much of a challenge either. Special mechanical arms and sophisticated machinery popped up in their isolated area. These additions enabled the two mech designers to assemble the mechs that they had envisioned for more than a day!

Anticipation welled up inside Ves and far beyond. Many more people than his clansmen began to wonder increasingly more if this remarkable pair of mech designers might be able to produce a miracle upon the two competition mechs!

[This is the ability of a sevenfold masterwork mech designer. Watch and learn, folks. What Patriarch Ves Larkinson is doing goes far beyond work. His actions and his decisions are expressing art in his own style. He is shaping life from metal and composites. He is elevating his mechs from crude and debased machines into vivid tapestries of craftsmanship. If nothing else, the Larkinson Patriarch can win many prizes if he takes up life as a professional artist! The good ones are always in high demand.]

[You may admire Patriarch Ves Larkinson for his artistry and such, but do not follow his example too closely. His distinctive design style is radically different from everyone else's and there are many good reasons for that. Those same reasons do not apply to yourself. What you need to do is explore your own preferences and mech design style and apply proactive measures to form your own style.]

[My colleague is correct. We do not broadcast this tournament in the hopes that many of you will become the next imitation of Ves Larkinson. We want to expand your horizons and give you a taste of what is possible.]

Not all of the talk was relevant to the design tasks related to Ves and Juliet. 

This was fine as they became hyper focused towards their own work. None of them exchanged any words out loud and it sometimes looked as if the two had turned into drones of the same hive mind!

The two looked a bit eerie as a consequence, but it played well with the theme they had going.

The two mechs started to look more complete and also feel more alive as a consequence.

Ves felt gratified enough to exhibit a rare smile. That was how happy he had become after seeing a strong and fully active spiritual connection between the two works in progress.

He should have been fabricating more mechs like this. The Twin Souls System was taking concrete shape and would be incredibly handy in his other mech design projects that relied a lot on teamwork.

The two mech designers slowed down a bit as they approached the end of the fabrication phase.

Ves meticulously inspected and evaluated his work. He did not make any significant mistakes as far as he could see, but he always wanted to make sure and double check his efforts because a mistake could truly ruin his chances to win the finals.

"Now these… are mechs fit for a pair of champions."

The two competition mechs were complete and most probably fully functional!

"We did it, Juliet!"

"I can see that, sir. These mechs have turned out to be better than I hoped. Whatever you have done to make them more inseparable to each other is truly giving me a special feeling about the two works. The two simply belong together. I can scarcely imagine a circumstance where they have to fight by themselves."

This was a clear sign that Ves succeeded!