The Mech Touch

Over several practice sessions, Ves obtained a decent baseline on the basic performance of the Quint.

While he hadn't subjected the masterwork mech to any comprehensive exercises of mock battles, Ves was more than satisfied with what he learned.

The gems were all working as advertised, though only one of them was active at the same time.

The only exception was the Accumulation of Spirit, which rested silently in the cockpit of the base platform. Ves imagined it as a spider sitting in the center of a vast web. The gem's ultimate purpose went far beyond just a vessel for spiritual energy!

As Joshua continued to get accustomed to the Quint, his entire mood and demeanor lit up. He became increasingly more appreciative of the masterwork mech and cherished any opportunity to pilot it around.

More than once, Joshua requested for the mech to be brought up in space so he could put it through its paces in the environment it was designed to operate in! The Quint was primarily a spaceborn mech, so piloting it on the surface of a planet was a huge disservice to the mech!

"It's not time yet." Ves ruled out the possibility. "Moving the Quint onto a ship will expose it to a significant portion of the crew. For now, the mech stays here."

Aside from supervising the Quint, Ves also spent some time at the production sites tasked with producing the initial batch of Bright Warriors.

The gold-and-black coated mechs that rolled off the production line in the next few days were all distinct from the Quint.

Unlike the first copy of the Bright Warrior design, the subsequent copies already came in one one of the four configurations.

The decision to leave the modularity aspect of the Bright Warrior aside was a decision made out of necessity.

Currently, the LMC was being bottlenecked by the limited supply of Breyer alloy! The Battle Criers were only able to 'supply' a given amount of Breyer alloy every so often.

It was impossible to fabricate hundreds of Bright Warrior and provide each of them with their own sets of configurations!

To save both time and money, Ves instructed the LMC to pretend that the Bright Warrior was a product line that encompassed four different models.

The first batch should go to the Avatar mech pilots who were uniquely suited to adopt one of the roles of the Bright Warrior.

Over the course of ten days, Ves worked to replace the old mechs of the 1st Spaceborn Mech Company of the Avatars of Myth with forty brand-new gold label Bright Warriors!

While Ves didn't have the time to fabricate the mechs in person, he regularly visited the local manufacturing sites. He corrected the spiritual foundation of the mechs in the making to ensure they met the standard of a gold label mech!

This was fairly exhausting work, and drained a considerable amount of spiritual energy from him, but it ensured that the first adopters of the Bright Warrior piloted the best edition of his new design barring the Quint!

Ves cared a lot about the first batch. For the times to come, these mechs would serve as the standard of his fighting forces!

Was there enough Breyer alloy to kit out all forty mechs? Yes. He could even begin producing the next batch, but there wouldn't be much materials left after that!

"The production loop is pretty fast, but it's not fast enough to meet my needs." Ves rubbed his chin.

The Breyer alloy expended in the last week expended a huge chunk of the stockpile that the Scarlet Rose accumulated in the last three months.

Ves already maximized the speed of production. It couldn't go any faster because there appeared to be a set time when the cockpit reappeared in the escape tube. While this time varied a bit due to random factors, there was no point installing a second forging machine or furnace machine in Compartment G-13.

At the current pace, Ves would probably have to wait for a year or so to supply a thousand Bright Warriors to the Avatars and Sentinels!

This was a very long time, but Ves believed it was worthwhile to do so. In time, this decision would pay off as many of his mech pilots developed a closer bond with the Larkinson Clan and the Golden Cat.

What concerned Ves the most was that he might not have the time to supply his forces with so many mechs.

While his Avatars, Battle Criers and Sentinels already fielded serviceable mechs, the exceptional defense and superior performance of the Bright Warriors could make a huge difference on the battlefield!

Comprehensively upgrading his mech troops by adopting the Bright Warrior as the new standard would definitely deter a lot of potential threats!

Considering the hot water that Ves and Gloriana dove into recently, improving their security situation was an extremely high priority!

With a bright but turbulent future ahead of them, Gloriana went to work as well after she recovered from her marathon fabrication session.

Once she got over the excitement of becoming a masterwork mech designer, she began to handle their correspondence with the MTA as well as their relations with various parties, ranging from the Wodin Dynasty to the Ylvaine Protectorate.

Though Ves questioned whether Gloriana was the right person to be in charge of their public relations, she turned out to be adequate in this role. She was able to reign in most of her eccentric aspects and present a dignified demeanor to others.

Of course, she was still a Hexer, so she didn't exactly come across as normal.

Ves didn't mind this. In fact, he was banking on it! The more unhinged she came across, the better!

The two of them needed to explain how they managed to defy the odds and fabricated a masterwork mech. Presenting a crazy facade was something that Ves had found useful many times.

As long as other people believed that they managed to luck out due to their unorthodox beliefs and crazy approach towards mech design, then they weren't inclined to investigate them any further to see if they relied on any secrets!

Therefore, Ves freely gave permission to Gloriana to battle about 'proto-gods', domains and a couple of other concepts, because he knew that she would just confuse her audience!

The fact that she genuinely believed in these concepts was a massive advantage!

When Ves met with Gloriana at the Austen Estate after a long day of work, he was surprised she brought her relatives this time.

Both Ranya and Brutus joined the dinner table and enjoyed the varied dishes cooked by Dr. Lupo and the chefs.

As they ate, Gloriana shared some of the latest developments.

"The local MTA branch in Kesseling is too small to evaluate the Quint. The branch director referred our case to a larger branch, which decided to dispatch a delegation to our current star system. The envoys are already on their way and are scheduled to arrive in a couple more days."

"We'll have to be on our best behavior in front of these envoys." Ves remarked as he sipped his soup. "Did the MTA tell you what kind of people will make up their delegation?"

Gloriana shook her head. "They refrained from telling me, but given other cases, the delegation will certainly consist of at least one mech designer and one mech pilot. The former is needed to ascertain whether our mech is truly a masterwork, while the latter is needed to test the mech to see if there aren't any problems with the mech that a thorough inspection hasn't revealed."

"I see."

"Mind you, this isn't set in stone. Different branches adopted different policies, and our case is rather special. When I visited the local MTA branch to discuss our applications, the branch director was extremely shocked. I expect the local MTA presence to attach a considerable amount of importance to our claims."

"So they'll definitely send a larger-than-usual delegation." Ves concluded. "How long will they stay?"

"Not long. Strictly, they should only be here long enough to verify that our mech is a masterwork. However, they'll probably try and stick around longer and request to see the Quint in action."

"We can't reveal the Quint at this stage."

"The news will leak eventually." She retorted. "I think it's not bad to keep the MTA fascinated. As long as they are preoccupied with examining the Quint, we are under their implicit protection. Don't you think this is a good opportunity to undergo your implant surgery?"

The suggestion surprised him. "Shouldn't I be keeping the envoys company?"

Gloriana grinned. "I can do that in your stead. You already trust me, right? Don't forget that I'm the second lead designer of the Bright Warrior! I have a right to represent our product! Just let go of your worries and go install that implant of yours. You've been waiting for this for a long time. Let me tell you that working with a cranial implant is a completely different experience! Your productivity will soar since you'll essentially be able to use your mind as an internal computer!"

He was very attracted towards the possibilities that the Archimedes Rubal might bring. He could barely stand the thought of stalling the implantation surgery yet again!

"Dr. Ranya, how prepared are you to perform the surgery?"

"We can begin the operation at any time." The woman replied. "Just give us a few hours of preparation to make sure you are in a sound condition to integrate a cranial implant. Once we verify your actual state is good enough, we can proceed with the main operation."

"How long will I stay under, as it were?"

She shrugged. "We can't make any guarantees. Due to your complicated physical state and abnormal brain structure, the chance of complications and other issues are considerate. By my estimates, it will take a week at minimum for you to regain consciousness, and several more weeks to supervise the integration process."

"So I'll be out for a week?"

"We aren't sure. In the best case scenario, your self-healing and adjustment abilities might be powerful enough to cut this period short. It might also be that your body exhibits a stronger than usual rejection towards the implant. In that case, we will need to keep you under treatment continuously in order to train your body to accept the implant. Due to its sensitive placement and nature, we cannot allow you to remain conscious during this delicate period."

As Ves continued to pepper Ranya with questions, her answers followed the same trajectory.

Nothing was certain about the implantation surgery. The outcomes varied wildly depending on two major variables.

The first variable was how well the surgeons performed the procedure.

The second variable was how his half-alien body decided to react.

Both had the potential to mess up his recovery!

"You shouldn't be too concerned, Ves." Ranya tried to reassure him. "Gloriana has informed us of your latest deeds. We have been deliberating among ourselves and we have also been in touch with my aunt."

Ves widened his eyes. "Did you tell Gloriana's mother about our latest accomplishment?!"

"Not exactly." Gloriana quickly replied, knowing how much Ves might overreact if they told him the wrong answer! "We were very careful in our communications. We utilized a specific code that represented that you have made a massive contribution to our dynasty. This code is only known to my branch. My mother is smart enough to interpret the message I'm trying to convey."

"..What is her response?"

She offered Ves a brilliant smile. "The challenge she issued to us? We passed! She finally declared that she approves of our relationship, hihi!"

"What?!"

"It's true! Even though we didn't exactly meet her terms, what we have done at our ages is enough to bring us glory! My mother has promised us that the Wodin Dynasty will immediately move to support you! Congratulations, Ves!"

For some reason, Ves felt anything but happy. While he managed to pass a huge hurdle that prevented him from deepening his relationship with Gloriana, why did he feel so ambivalent?