The Mech Touch

Ark and Benjamin gained a thorough enough understanding of the Jupiter Project and the Blood Star Mark II Project.

They became amazed at all of the amazing tech and dazzling promises. The two new designs possessed so many features that they exceeded the scope of a typical high-tier expert mech.

This was an expression of Ves' love and affection towards his family. He wanted to equip Ark and Benjamin with the best possible mechs that the Larkinson Clan could supply at this point.

All of the additional months and all of the resources committed to these two expert mech design projects would eventually pay off in spades.

A part of him couldn't wait to realize these two fantastic machines and enable his two older relatives to truly take off in their respective careers as mech pilots!

After so many years, Ves would finally be able to complete one of his long-held aspirations as a mech designer.

His father already made use of the Devil Tiger.

Once his uncle and his grandfather received their own powerful living mechs, Ves would gain a lot of satisfaction knowing that his work would be responsible for protecting and realizing the dreams of his older blood relatives!

The sense of satisfaction that he could gain from this was far greater than selling millions of mechs to random customers.

As much as he derived a sense of accomplishment from becoming a commercially successful mech designer, nothing could beat the happiness of meeting the needs of his own family members.

He understood a lot better now why Ketis cared so much about designing mechs for the Swordmaidens.

As the lengthy explanation session came to a close, General Ark asked a seemingly simple question that actually touched upon a surprisingly convoluted subject.

"Which of these expert mechs are stronger?"

Both Ves and Gloriana exchanged glances with each other.

"It is not easy for us to answer this question." Gloriana replied first. "Our approach for the Jupiter Project is based on a solid idea and vision. We have access to a large amount of current information about your piloting style and so on. You also have strong and well-defined ideas on what you seek from your expert mech and what you expect to do with it. Based on your role as a command-oriented expert pilot that prefers to lead from the front, we developed the Jupiter Project to maximize your well-known strengths to the greatest extent possible. It is a design that has relatively few mysteries. We have a high degree of confidence in the predictions that we have made about its performance."

Much of this had to do with the fact that Gloriana was in charge of this project from beginning to end. Though Ves contributed substantially to this expert mech design, he respected the voice of his wife and deferred to her whenever they disagreed on a contentious design choice.

"The Blood Star Mark II is the opposite in this regard." Ves spoke next. "Grandpa, you have retired from the battlefield for more than half a century. While we can still listen to your old war stories and access old archival footage of some of your battles, so much time has gone by that it is not a good idea to put so much weight on all of this old stuff. You have gained a fresh start, so your expert mech should take that into account and present you with a blank platform where you can formulate a new fighting style that fits your present circumstances a lot better."

Venerable Benjamin adopted an understanding expression. "Is that why my expert mech is lacking in explosive equipment?"

"Yes. We could have supplied your Blood Star Mark II with more powerful weapons like a plasma sword. I could have attempted to add more key resonating exotics to your Blood Star Mark II as well, but I think it is best to start with a strong foundation and leave a lot more room for growth and exploration. This is why Dennissium Maximum is the only powerful resonating exotic that we have added to your machine. Venerable Zimro Belson has good experiences with the ability for the Phobos to charge and amplify his weapon. It should be enough to give your expert mech a chance to inflict a strong attack without limiting the options of your mech. You can employ this resonating ability on any weapon, no matter whether it is a sword, a spear or even a shield."

Venerable Benjamin was compatible with many different resonating exotics, but Ves chose to settle for one that he had already added to the only expert stealth mech of the Larkinson Clan.

The performance of an offensive space knight was relatively balanced, with a moderate emphasis on defense.

This meant that its attack power was not exceptional if it was unable to build up momentum.

The Charged Weapon resonating ability should be enough to give the Blood Star Mark II to unleash particularly powerful blows whenever it was truly necessary.

The downside was that every attempt would impose a significant burden on his grandfather, but this was not as big of a problem in this case.

Unlike Venerable Zimro Belson who was still a low-tier expert pilot at this time, his grandfather's resonance strength had recovered to the level of a high-tier expert pilot!

There was a massive gulf in strength between the two tiers!

So long as Benjamin did not suffer from any notable problems, it shouldn't be a problem for him to unleash a dozen or so Charged Weapon attacks at a significantly greater magnitude.

The power boost would become even more exaggerated if Benjamin broke through and became an ace pilot!

"I truly cannot say with any confidence how the Blood Star Mark II will turn out." Ves admitted to his relatives. "It is practically a mystery box to me. While I have attempted to make various predictions, there are just too many points of uncertainty for me to narrow down the range of numbers. First, there is the second generation Carmine System that is doped with my own blood. Second, there is all of the new and untested hyper technology. Third, there are the added possibilities of the Energy Weaver System. Fourth, there is grandpa's own reaction to piloting his first actual expert mech in decades. No one can predict how these variables will play out in isolation. When you combine all of these uncertain factors together, you will end up with a giant question mark. It is pointless to try to simulate or predict the holistic performance of this expert mech."

The cyborg expert mech was too innovative and experimental for its own good!

Ves did not hold back in his attempts to integrate new technologies and features into the expert mech of his grandfather.

This was one of the other reasons why he did not overload the Blood Star Mark II with any fancy weapons or modules. He had already exceeded his risk tolerance for the expert mech design project!

"My new mech can be as weak or as powerful as I want to be. Is that a good description of what you have been trying to do?" Benjamin queried.

"It is more fitting to say that the Blood Star Mark II is designed to accommodate your own needs and conditions." Gloriana replied. "The design hides a large amount of potential that can be tapped in many different ways. Depending on how you think about it and how you fight with it, the living expert mech will change and grow that will reinforce your contemporary approach towards combat."

A lot could go wrong with the Blood Star Mark II. As confident as Ves may be in his various improvements and innovations, he could never determine with complete certainty that his work would live up to its promise.

This was why the new expert mech needed to be handled with great caution at first. The Blood Star Mark II was an experimental creation that implemented a lot of ideas on where Ves should take his work going forward.

Seeing that no one had any further questions, the explanation session finally came to an end.

All that was left was to wait until they commenced the fabrication runs.

"As we have mentioned before, we will fabricate the Jupiter Project first." Ves briefly said. "Gloriana and I will construct it with Alexa playing the role of an assistant. We are working with less people this time, but the first-class production machines here are quite impressive, so we believe we can finish this powerful expert mech in five to six days depending on whether any complications occur."

"Is there anything that we should take note of?" General Ark asked as he frowned in worry.

"Not that much aside from one matter. I am sure that you have heard that we have adopted an unusual approach towards our fabrication runs. We like to form a design network and keep it up on a continuous basis so that everyone involved in the production of a mech can share their relevant work processes and feelings directly with each other. You will have to become a part of this network as well in order to produce the strongest effect."

"Is this what you rely on to create so many masterworks?"

Gloriana ruefully shook her head. "A design network can contribute to the formation of a masterwork mech, but it is not a silver bullet. My husband and I are confident in the Jupiter Project. Its quality, complexity and performance is unsurpassed by any other high-ranking mech that we have designed up to this point. Even if we cannot fulfill your wish right away, the second generation god body method that I have applied to your design will enable it to evolve into a masterwork mech in a relatively short amount of time."

While that may be the case, Gloriana was worried that the Red Association would refuse to grant her another masterwork certificate.

She took great pride in enriching her record with tangible accomplishments. She would definitely become upset if all of her hard work in this expert mech design project did not bestow her the payoff she desired!

"Don't worry too much about whether it will become a masterwork mech or not." Ves told his uncle. "The Jupiter Project already possesses a lot of advantages. It will become an unparalleled machine in your hands. Masterwork is icing on the cake as far as I am concerned."

"It would still be better if my new mech does not fall behind to the Mars."

It was not surprising that Ark frequently compared the Jupiter Project to Reginald's powerful ace mech.

The Mars was the strongest mech of the Warborn Mech Division and made a profound impact on all of the soldiers.

Not even an experienced and mature high-tier expert pilot such as General Ark Larkinson was immune to envy!

Patriarch Reginald Cross proudly showed off the might and strength of his Mars so often that Ark's patience had reached a limit!

If his Jupiter Project ended up as a disappointment, then his heart would definitely break!

Fortunately, Ves and Gloriana had done their best to ensure that would never happen.

Several hours passed by as the Larkinson mech designers thoroughly set up the upcoming fabrication runs.

They made sure that the superfabs and the other workshop machines were fully calibrated and ready to go. They inspected the stock of raw materials that they had prepared a long time ago. They also inspected their schedules and made sure that they had no pressing obligations for the next week.

One of the reasons why it took a little longer to set up for the fabrication run was because Ves had to dismantle the original Carmine mech that he had hastily built for his grandfather.

The Carmine System that was responsible for forming a permanent and lifelong Blood Pact between man and machine had to undergo a comprehensive upgrade.

Ves had to be extremely careful with treating the organic parts that made up the Carmine System. He could not afford to make any mistake that would cause all of this artificial tissue to perish!