The Mech Touch

As Ketis elaborated on the properties of the Second Sword, it became clear that the spaceborn swordsman mech design had the potential to accommodate the most skilled swordsman mech pilots!

Its skill ceiling was ridiculously high, which meant that the Swordmaidens could potentially use the Second Sword to defeat ten times as many melee mechs in battle!

Of course, a lot of conditions had to be met before this could happen. Highly-skilled mech pilots with excellent combat instincts were essential.

The truth of the matter was that the Second Sword wouldn't perform as well as the Bright Warrior in its swordsman mech configuration if the pilot wasn't good enough!

If the female-only mech legion ever lost all of its mech pilots, then there would be no one left to pilot the Second Swords that remained.

Even if the Swordmaidens went on a massive recruiting spree, the new additions needed to undergo at least a year of intensive training to obtain the minimal qualifications to pilot this highly-advanced swordsman mech!

"This is the difference between a mech designed by Ketis and a mech designed by a normal mech designer." Ves observed.

Ketis knew how to fight. That instantly gave her an advantage that almost every other mech designer lacked!

Ves seriously doubted that someone as impressive as the Polymath could exceed Ketis in pure swordsmanship skill.

Although the Polymath was doubtlessly able to design a vastly superior swordsman mech by relying on her vast quantities of impressive design solutions, it did not change the fact that she was not a warrior by nature!

Due to Ketis' uniqueness, she honed in on piloting skill to a much greater extent than other mech designers. She used her deep background in this area as one of the selling points of her work.

One of the key elements that ensured that the Swordmaiden mech pilots continually improved their handling of the Second Sword mechs was the sword style that Ketis imbued in her work.

"Just like my Monster Slayer, my Second Sword design stands out in the same two areas." Ketis explained. "First, its greatsword is tougher and sharper. Its higher design budget allows me to invest in quality materials for its weapons. Since we have no idea what kind of powerful or absurd enemies we will face in the future, I wanted to make sure that my Second Sword will not be found wanting. A sharp sword will always have the potential to cut through stronger opponents."

The parameters of the Second Sword's primary armament were excellent. As Ves studied the specifications of the mech design, he could immediately tell that Ketis allocated a disproportionately high amount of resources into strengthening the greatsword!

This was also necessary to increase its sharpness and cutting power as much as possible. Ketis' design philosophy didn't have much to work with if the materials of the weapon weren't good enough.

Once Ketis was done with boasting how her Second Sword could cut through the toughest armor, she moved on to explaining the second highlight of her mech design.

"Since my Second Sword model is meant to be piloted by skilled Swordmaiden mech pilots, I did not imbue this work with a beginner sword style. I spent weeks developing a learning package that condenses all of my core insights on the Swordmaiden greatsword style and tweaked it so that it is relevant to advanced mech pilots. Although my Second Sword isn't as active in training its users as my Monster Slayer, it is still able to guide my fellow sisters into taking their swordsmanship to the next level."

"To what extent can the Swordmaiden mech pilots improve with the help of your Second Sword?" Ves curiously asked.

Ketis smirked. "Much higher than what they accomplish with the Monster Slayer. While my Second Sword isn't able to hold the hands of its mech pilots, it is still able to pass on a number of key lessons that many swordsmen need to learn before they can break through. If there are Swordmaidens that have developed their swordsmanship to an extreme, then they could theoretically execute the handful of extraordinary techniques that I included in the Second Sword."

Not everyone was aware of the significance of this statement, but Ves knew what this meant!

What Ketis was suggesting was nothing less than a mech pilot displaying some of the powers of an expert pilot in advance!

This roughly corresponded to the strength of a sword initiate in traditional swordsmanship. Ves was unable to figure out if this turned the Swordmaidens in question into expert candidates.

From what Ves had learned, extraordinary techniques required a lot of support in order to pull off. Those that trained their swordsmanship to an extreme and managed to breach the boundaries of what mortals were capable of definitely had a lot of similarities to expert candidates!

This was also why Ves was skeptical whether the Second Sword could truly guide its mech pilots to this level.

It was incredibly difficult for mech pilots to advance to expert candidate even if they had the benefit of spiritual potential.

There was no need for him to express his doubts, though. He wasn't sure about this possibility himself and the best way to know the truth was to see the Second Sword in action.

Speaking about that, the upcoming testing session would definitely become a grand affair!

There was no point in the Larkinson Clan's history that it had the opportunity to introduce so many exclusive mech models!

Once Ketis ended her presentation on her impressive mech models, Ves took the word once again.

"This concludes our fourth round of mech design projects. I am proud of what we have all accomplished. Of the fourteen mech design projects that we have embarked upon in the past half year, we have successfully completed thirteen of them while the remaining one got stalled due to regulatory problems."

Ves still needed to meet the MTA's demands before he could resume development on his expert mech killer. He had already given up on completing his Fearless Project in the foreseeable time. It was better to shove it to the next design round so that he could work on it properly!

His wife crossed her arms and snorted. "You know we don't have enough room in our fleet to accommodate the new models, right? This is a consequence of poor planning and foresight. Since we will still be stuck with our existing mechs for the time being, we could have spent most of this design round on designing a large quantity of commercial mechs. If we did that, we could have expanded the income of our clan a lot sooner. Selling our Monster Slayers is not enough to whittle down our debt!"

"You just want an additional excuse to buy more handbags." Ves rolled his eyes.

"VES!"

"Anyway, despite the mismatch in needs, our mech legions will definitely be grateful for all of the work that you have done. Showing them that we care and providing them with the models that can comprehensively strengthen their performance will bind us all deeper to our clansmen. Mech designers exist to serve mech pilots, and in our case that goes double for our Larkinson soldiers. Their willingness to fight on behalf of the clan is what gives us the foundation to stay alive in the Red Ocean!"

This was one of the reasons why Ves wasn't in a hurry to design a lot of commercial mech designs. He needed to strengthen his base before he could venture outside.

Although Ves hadn't been able to provide the Larkinson Army with the 21 exclusive mech model that he envisioned, he had made a lot of progress in doing so even if he left out the custom mechs!

There was no hurry in designing the remaining exclusive mech models.

Ves turned and stared into the eyes of each of the four new additions to the Design Departments.

"Sara, Dulo, Janassa and Tifi. Although you are new to our clan, I am fully satisfied with the quality, performance and direction of your completed mech designs. As I have stated earlier, you are no longer probationary members. From today onwards, you will enjoy virtually the same treatment as our other lead designers."

Dulo Voiken raised his hand. "What do you mean by that, sir?"

"It means that I will extend greater trust to you all." Ves answered. "Basically, I am allowing you to set your own schedule, start up your own solo projects and side projects, cooperate with external mech designers or organizations and represent our clan as one of its preeminent members."

"It means you have all earned the authority and recognition that you deserve." Gloriana clarified with a smug expression. "Just remember that you should still look up to those that are more senior than yourselves. If Ves isn't around, you listen to me, do you understand?"

Her firm tone warned everyone that it was not wise to question her words!

Gloriana might just be an 'ordinary' lead designer in the hierarchy of the Design Department, but her status as the patriarch's wife granted her a lot of informal power and influence!

Ves coughed. "I do not intend to start our next design round immediately after we have finished this one. I still have to complete a number of other projects and I am sure that you can find something to do as well. I am not sure when I am ready to start our next round. It depends on how busy we will be in the Garimel System. If everything proceeds normally, I will probably be ready to start the next round in a month."

A month was not an excessive delay. This was enough time for the mech designers to enjoy their breaks, resume their studies, engage in their personal research and develop new ideas for the upcoming design round.

"As I am sure you are all aware of, our next batch of mech design projects should primarily be centered around commercial products. Whether we design them in partnership with external organizations or market them ourselves, the mechs must possess enough commercial viability to make them profitable."

Ketis raised her hand.

"Yes?"

"Do you want us to focus on designing commercial mechs for the Red Ocean, the old galaxy, or both?"

"Both." Ves answered. "Ah, not all of you have PPs based in the Yeina Star Cluster, so only a few of us should consider designing mechs for the old galaxy. In any case, I have a few ideas on how we should approach our original market. I will tell them to you later. In any case, I do not intend to neglect the Red Ocean either. We are still newcomers here but I intend to turn the LMC into an established brand in this dwarf galaxy. I have a lot of confidence that we can accomplish this goal with the potential that we have all shown in this completed design round. We might not be able to succeed in a single year, but I hope we will be able to occupy our own niche in the regional mech market within a decade!"

At the very least, his living mechs should become a common sight in the Krakatoa Middle Zone!

As long as the LMC was able to succeed in this zone, it was not that difficult to expand its business activities to the other middle zones!

"Before you go, let me remind you that we are about to enter an energetic blue supergiant star system. I can't predict what we will encounter over there, but given how active these star systems tend to be, I am sure our troops need technical support. Be ready to provide as much assistance as you can. Whatever projects or jobs you want to work on will never take priority over protecting our fleet and helping our mechs succeed. That is all. Dismissed."

Ves let out a deep breath as the design round finally came to an end. His mind was already occupied with what he needed to do next!