The Mech Touch

Once Master Teresa Norville ended her highly interesting presentation on archetech and its potential applications in mechs, everyone who attended the session saw a lot of promise in this unconventional alien tech base.

Although it sounded like it would take around five years for the Red Association to make it practical for internal use, that was still fast enough to make it a worthwhile medium-term investment.

This was what most mechers cared about.

The associates on the other hand deeply wanted to figure out how much longer they needed to wait before they could play with archemechs as well!

Unfortunately, Ves and the others would probably have to wait a few years longer. In order to make a new form of high technology viable enough for use to the 'general public', it had to become a lot more economical and practical.

Otherwise, most mech designers and mech companies would simply skip over it because it cost too much.

They would rather spend the same amount of money for an alternate solution that provided a much greater return of investment.

That said, it was still possible for individual parties such as Ves to get ahead of the curve.

There were rumors that the Red Association planned to end the current mech generation early just so that it could publish a wide range of early tech that could help the mech industry get started on empowering mechs with E energy radiation.

Even if the Phasewater Generation made way for an Exotic Radiation Generation or whatever, it was unlikely that the mechers would add any form of archetech to their public releases.

That would only happen a mech generation later at the earliest. Who knew how long people had to wait in order to get their hands on mature and tested applications of archetech.

Ves couldn't wait that long. He possessed a strong interest in archetech. It was perfect for him as far as he was concerned. The Larkinson Army had always taken the high-end route, so the excessive costs and troublesome maintenance

He also recognized the fantastic synergy between archetech and the Carmine System.

One of the greatest downsides of the Carmine System was that it permanently locked a mech pilot to a specific mech for the rest of his or her life.

Although Ves had yet to actually test this, he knew it was an actual restriction. Venerable Jannzi outright refused to consider the idea of piloting any other mech even though she physically possessed the ability to do so without problem.

The Blood Pact was a literal pact. It was a contract and binding that went beyond the physical and acted on the spiritualities of the involved parties.

In any case, the existence of this restriction meant that it became a lot more important as well as worthwhile to prevent the demise of a Carmine mech.

If Ves could choose between a conventional metallic mech and an archemech, Ves would pick the latter over the former anytime.

While slower, an archemech was simply more durable, not only in single instances, but also over many years of service.

They were admittedly a lot more difficult and troublesome to perform deep repairs on their complicated frames, but their performance remained relatively solid when they only incurred light damage.

The fact that an archemech was also a lot more effective at protecting the life of a mech pilot was a nice bonus, even if it was not as valued in this specific case. It removed a potential weak point and gave Ves a lot more use out of a soldier that already took a lot of time and funding to bring up to standard.

To be honest, Ves still wanted to learn the secret on how to design an archemech no matter whether he intended to incorporate the Carmine System or not. Just its applicability to expert mechs and ace mechs was enough for him to drool at the possibilities.

Ves still had to wait for half an hour before he could have a chance of speaking with Master Norville in person.

It was not unusual for conference speakers to answer a lot of questions from the professionals who listened to her presentation. Master Norville might gain inspiration to tackle a problem from a new angle or meet with a specialist that could offer a lot of additional assistance.

Strangely enough, Master Norville was willing to answer relatively basic questions from the people sitting in front as well as the more advanced questions from the people sitting in the rear.

Ves got the feeling that her replies were not as useful as they sounded, though.

The questions asked by young and curious Journeymen were too shallow to be of use to a mech designer that wanted to make serious use of archetech.

The ones voiced by other Master Mech Designers were much more relevant and technical in nature, but Teresa Norville kept her replies extremely curt.

The social dynamic of these interactions caused Ves to suspect that they were secretly agreeing to meet in private at a later time in order to negotiate a serious exchange.

Jovy clearly picked up on this as well.

Unlike before where everyone had to remain absolutely silent and attentive in order to hear out the proposals from the three faction leaders, it was acceptable for people to communicate with each other.

"Are you thinking about meeting with her in private to explore the possibility of holding an exchange?" Jovy transmitted to Ves over a private communication channel.

Ves nodded. "I am, but I am not sure what I can trade for it. Archetech has become a high priority to me. It is especially relevant because my expeditionary fleet has an actual archeship in its possession. That puts me ahead of almost everyone else in this hall. It would be a waste not to take advantage of this rare and precious opportunity to learn how to combine archetech with mechs a few years sooner than normal."

The RA Senior actually shook his head at that. "I do not recommend you approach Master Norville at this time. She will not take you seriously, and that will greatly hinder any negotiations. You need to prove your usefulness first. I advise you to do well in your upcoming presentations. The more people respect and acknowledge your work, the more she will be interested in what you can offer."

That made a lot of sense. It was very difficult for the mechers to distinguish Ves from the tens of thousands of other associates who attended this conference.

Sure, Ves had his strengths, but many of the other associates who had managed to obtain the appreciation of the Survivalists were also geniuses in their own right!

Ves needed to make a splash and make sure that the Survivalists fell in love with his companion spirit fruits and other works.

He sighed. "Okay. I won't pester Master Norville right away. I will try to seek her or one of the people who can speak about this at a later date."

"Try not to wait until the seventh and final day." Jovy advised. "That is when the great vote will be held. The debate around the three proposals will reach its most intense stage on that day. None of the serious decision makers will have any attention to spare on less important matters such as an ordinary technological exchange."

That was good to know.

Once Ves and Jovy exited the hall along with the rest of the crowd, they called up the list of sessions in order to choose which one they should attend next.

Ves developed an interest in attending sessions related to phasewater, phasewater technology and transphasic products. He tried to search anything related to this new sphere, but did not find anything with enough substance.

The list only mentioned a few sessions related to phasewater technology, and many of them sounded as if they were oriented towards clueless newcomers.

"Wait a second. Jovy, are there any sessions related to phasewater that are not on the list?"

"Yes." The other mech designer confirmed. "Phasewater and tech derived from it is still a major research interest of the Association. Several sessions related to phasewater technology are starting in the next block. The reason why you cannot see them is because your badge lacks the dark blue dot."

Ves had seen dozens of figures, mostly older ones, who happened to have this dot on their badges.

He was not pleased that the Survivalists did not see fit to give him this permit.

"Don't you think it is odd that my badge lacks this dot, Jovy? Given my past experiences as well as my current schedule, I think I have more than proven my ability to work with several applications of phasewater."

"It is not that simple, Ves. The threshold to take part in these closed sessions on phasewater is high. Look at my own badge. I do not have the dark blue dot either despite the fact that I have spent years of self-study on doing my best to get up to speed on phasewater technology. You are a professor at a first-class university, correct? You should have a good understanding of what first-raters must learn in order to earn the academic credits of an advanced course on this subject."

The Survivalist Faction did not allow any random mech designer to attend its closed sessions. These were much more sensitive and strategic gatherings that often strained into restricted and confidential subject matter.

Ves did not feel resigned by this, though. He was a bit upset that he was only getting a glimpse of all of the wonderful sessions taking place within the Khamatar Reign.

"There ought to be a way for me to earn additional dots. Is there a testing center where I can update my badge?"

"There is. I can take you there if you are confident in your ability."

The Survivalists initially assigned these dots based on the information in their possession. It was conceivable that their expansive intelligence-gathering efforts missed a few details from people's lives.

As such, they had to give people an opportunity to correct any oversights, or else a lot of people would grow angry about being left out of the truly useful sessions!

It took fifteen minutes before Jovy led Ves to a rather busy department on the ship. Several halls became filled with mech designers and other professionals who appeared to be doing nothing.

They were all preoccupied with completing difficult exams in a virtual setting.

The application to earn an additional dot was simple. Ves had to approach a projected menu and made his selection out of a surprisingly extensive list.

A dark green dot represented that its bearer possessed a notable amount of expertise in biotechnology.

Ves really wanted to earn this qualification, but he was afraid that his rather basic grasp of biotechnology would cause him to waste his time in vain!

"Let's start with phasewater technology, then. People don't know a lot about it in the first place, so it shouldn't be too hard... right?"

Less than 10 minutes later, Ves left the exam hall with a dejected expression.

Jovy did not look surprised at all as he stood a short distance away from the entrance. The RA Senior had not even bothered to move from his spot. He expected this result!

"I told you. Whatever sporadic or ad-hoc learning you have received on this subject is not as rigorous as we demand. The fact that you were disqualified so soon means that you have been unable to resolve the more basic exam problems. You need to be able to speak with true authority if you want to earn a dot."

Ves let out a sigh. "I get it, I get it. I guess there is no way to add more dots to my badge."

He at least learned what many of the colors represented. An orange dot was related to sociology and psychology while a pink dot was related to intelligence and covert operations.

The only dot that was not on the list was a black one. He had only caught this particular variation a handful of times. Only the most distinguished and high-ranking mech designers boasted this unassuming color.

Ves already formed a couple of guesses about what this was all about, but he did not bother to think about it any further. The probability that he could earn this super-exclusive dot was pretty much zero.

Jovy softly patted Ves on the back. "Don't think about it too much. Focus on what you can do. There are already plenty of other sessions that enrich your understanding."