The Mech Touch

On the eve of the wedding, many Larkinsons departed from the base on the surface of Cinach VI and flew to orbit. There, they boarded various ships in order to prepare themselves for the greatest event in the history of the clan since its founding.

Ves decided to gather several of the most important Larkinsons for a relatively private and subdued dinner. His choice of venue? The resplendent and recently-repaired dining hall of the Gravada Knarlax!

Having met with many foreigners lately, Ves found it comforting to be surrounded by his own people this time. He hadn't even invited any actual Hexers this time in order to make himself and his fellow Larkinsons feel at home.

It didn't matter. Gloriana had invited her own circle over to one of the Wodin Dynasty's capital ships in order to hold her own soiree.

Still, he couldn't snub every woman with a Hexer background.

Seated further away, Ranya Wodin talked in low tones with Juliet Stameros of the Penitent Sisters. A number of other Penitent Sister officers kept to themselves. Their controversial history prevented them from smoothly integrating into the Larkinson Clan.

Ves remained unbothered by that. The conversion of Ranya Wodin proved that the Larkinson Network was able to mellow out any Hexer no matter how much they looked down on boys.

The only concern was that thousands of strong-minded Penitent Sisters joined the clan at once. Though they lost hundreds of mech pilots and many more support personnel during the Nyxian Gap Campaign, they still had plenty of women to constitute a faction within the Larkinson.

In fact, though the Larkinson Clan was already large, the addition of thousands of Hexers would definitely influence the Larkinson Network just as it changed their views. The Penitent Sisters became Larkinsons, but the Larkinsons also became a little more sympathetic towards Hexers.

Oh well. So long as the changes were mild, Ves did not believe the Larkinson Clan would suddenly put women ahead of men. That was too drastic of a change.

"Meow~"

Lucky squinted with pleasure as he ate from a bowl of medium-grade exotics. Ves specifically picked a bunch of energetic but relatively soft materials from the Strategic Materials Reserve.

Though Ves initially wanted to feed his cat with some Unending Alloy, the gem cat still had nightmares about this infernal exotic. Even when Ves made sure it was flushed from every trace of the dark gods, his cat still rejected it. The time it took for Lucky's digestion system to process the input was too excessive!

When Ves studied Lucky's properties, he felt his cat hadn't been making the best use of all of the Unending alloy he ingested. While Lucky's exterior form had become a lot more resistant to damage, it fell short of the actual material.

Perhaps Lucky was too underdeveloped to process first-class materials to the fullest extent.

That said, the gem cat still managed to retain some of the most powerful effects of every exceptional material that passed through his stomach.

Right now, his cat possessed a part of the regeneration factor of Rorach's Bone, the sensor-blocking properties of the Cadisis and other stealth materials, the hardiness of Breyer alloy and Unending alloy, the spiritual storage capabilities of P-stone and Unending alloy and a small degree of resistance against spiritual energy of B-stone.

The fact that Lucky managed to incorporate all of these properties, if in a diminished form, in a single composite metallic exterior was nothing less than miraculous!

Ves stared greedily at his own pet. As long as he was able to skin Lucky of some of his incredibly valuable exterior, he could use the composite material to take his Unending Regalia a step further! It would become the ultimate protective suit against both material and spiritual threats!

In fact, if Ves treated Lucky as the cat version of Cassandra Breyer, he could continually harvest a small but precious quantity of 'Lucky alloy'!

As long as this went on for a couple of years, Ves would eventually accumulate enough Lucky alloy to build an entire mech!

Should he utilize Lucky alloy to build Venerable Joshua's expert mech?

Maybe not. While Lucky alloy was a very good all-round material, Ves didn't quite feel it was appropriate to use it up in a humanoid mech.

"If only I still have access to my magnum opus." Ves muttered.

Out of all of the mechs he designed over the course of his career, he still considered the Devil Tiger to be his best work.

Though Ouroboros should technically hold the crown, Ves didn't actually feel any sense of ownership towards that accidental work. He never intended for the one-off hero mech designed for duelling purposes to mutate in its current incarnation as an ace mech. At best, he gave birth to the Terran mech before subsequently giving it up for adoption.

Instead, a material as remarkable as Lucky alloy should actually be used to uplift the Devil Tiger, or maybe even used to design an entirely different tiger mech!

As Ves began to entertain various interesting tiger mech concepts, Lucky paused his chewing and shuddered.

The unsuspecting mechanical cat turned around.

"Meow..?"

Ves drew his mind away from his ideas and gently stroked Lucky's tiger-striped exterior. Its smooth and hardy surface was pure value in his eyes.

"It's nothing. Just go back to enjoying your meal. Grow stronger. I don't mind if you use up your entire meal to strengthen yourself. Don't stop upgrading, okay?"

"Meow." Lucky shrugged and went back to crunching his teeth through the soft but delectable exotics.

As everyone slowly partook their sumptuous meals, they spoke with each other about the future of the Larkinson Clan.

People regularly came to talk to Ves to explore his views on the Red Ocean.

If the Larkinson Clan ever reached this exciting new frontier, what exactly were they supposed to do? Would they be roaming through the new galaxy without ever settling down? Would they depend entirely on selling mechs to go by, or should they be diversifying their income streams?

Previously, Ves simply brushed aside these topics because they were too distant. Let alone gathering a proper fleet, the Larkinson Clan was still extremely far away from earning passage through the inter-galactic beyonder gate!

It was different now. The Red Ocean had already become within reach. With almost 40 million MTA merits, the Larkinson Clan could easily join forces with other pioneers and enter the Red Ocean as soon as it traveled to the right system!

For better or worse, Ves had to show at least some semblance of a plan to his fellow Larkinsons. They didn't want to enter a completely new environment without any further directions!

"Prospecting for phasewater is too distant for us. Other pioneers will eat us alive as soon as we step foot out of the protected star systems." Ves replied to Raymond Billingsley-Larkinson. "We should instead take it slow and focus on setting up an industry while steadily acquiring the ships and mechs we need to resume our expedition."

"That is prudent. We are only allowed to bring up to twenty capital ships to the Red Ocean. Such a fleet is wholly inadequate to venture into dangerous territory. We will have to acquire a hundred if not more combat carriers to restore our fighting strength to its peak. It's a pity we'll have to discard most of the ships we're about to receive from the Hegemony."

Ves casually waved his hand in a brushing motion. "The second-hand Hexer combat carriers are only transitional vessels. They're good enough for the galactic rim but wholly inadequate for the Red Ocean. A few years from now, our financial might will grow to the point where we can acquire much better vessels. Rather than wasting time, effort and resources into upgrading those disposable ships, we might as well purchase newer ones that incorporate some of the tech and materials of better regions."

That was going to cost a lot. Raymond did not need to remind Ves that the LMC had to keep a lot of mechs in order to realize this plan!

"At least we won't be starting from nothing." Ves smirked. "Our capital ships will form the foundation of our main fleet. Starting from our factory ship, we'll be acquiring additional capital ships to expand and round out our capabilities. I'm already on track to hire a young but talented shipwright to assist us in these endeavors."

"I've heard. Vivian Tsai is not what I had in mind for our chief ship designer. Still, in the absence of any better, I suppose she will do. We still have to rent a drydock everytime we want to construct a ship, though. I do not think it is realistic for us to establish a shipbuilding industry. Our clan doesn't possess a foundation in this sector."

Ves frowned. "What are you trying to say?"

"Some of us Larkinsons, especially the older ones, think we should find a place to settle down. We're too old to take part in wild adventures. There are families with us who would doubtlessly enjoy their better life if they resided on an open planet rather than some floating coffins."

"The Red Ocean is too dangerous to think about settling down." Ves forcefully replied. "We have suffered not once, but twice from the consequences of betrayal. Founding a colony or living on someone else's planet will just tie a portion of us down. Any enemy of ours can easily prepare a devastating strike on us. Don't you agree?"

"Ves, some of us are willing to take that risk. None of us have gotten used to living on starships. Most of us grew up with enough space to run for hours. With soil underneath our feet and open skies above our heads, we grew up in the classical human fashion. Don't deprive us of this opportunity. Personally, I believe you are being overly paranoid about the risks. Not every planet is as prone to attacks as you claim. As long as we build a strong settlement and ally ourselves to a greater community or alliance, we'll enjoy plenty of cover."

"Feh. Allies are no better than fair-weather friends. They'll be glad to associate with us when times are good, but once we suffer a mishap, they'll be gone in no time."

Raymond let out an exasperated sigh. "You're too paranoid for your own good, you know that? The galaxy isn't out to get you, and we can't explore the Red Ocean without making friends."

"We'll see. Depending on the circumstances, we might be forced to change my plans. However, my stance is always clear. We should rely on ourselves as much as possible."

Seeing that this talk wasn't going very well, Raymond changed the topic.

"How is my grandson doing?"

"He's a fine expert pilot. As the only light mech specialist of his rank, Venerable Tusa will play an indispensable role."

"What of his expert mech? I have not received much word about it. How difficult is it for you to supply one to Tusa?"

We're still working on that. You should know how complex and demanding they are. We can't speed up this process because we don't have a foundation in expert mech design. Just tell him to be patient."

"That is rather difficult for him. He's not the most patient mech pilot."

"Don't worry about it. He will be the first of our expert pilots to receive an expert mech. He's at the top of our list."

"That's good to hear. Do you need any assistance in gathering the materials, licenses or other necessities to design his expert mech?"

"Ah, I don't have a good idea yet of what we need to begin this project. I'll have to discuss it with Master Willix."

Raymond was very excited about the fact that an MTA Master Mech Designer would work on his grandson's expert mech. Even though Master Willix wouldn't be contributing much beyond the minimum, her involvement still suggested that Tusa should be very happy with his upcoming expert mech.

As long as he received a high-quality mech, Tusa should be able to progress quickly!