The Mech Touch

Chapter 6177  More Swords

As Ves explained his hopes and explanations to Ketis, the swordmaster appreciated what she heard.

It felt good to hear that Ves, the mech designer that she looked up to the most, was willing to trust her with his back.

As a Swordmaiden who was born and raised in the frontier of the old galaxy, she knew how precious it was to earn such unreserved trust.

She only shared this sentiment with the original surviving members of the Swordmaidens such as Venerable Dise.

There was no need for Ves or Ketis to say too much about this subject. They understood each other implicitly. The times they spent together in the past still caused them to maintain a bond of trust.

"I will try." Ketis said as she sounded a little more motivated. "I will consult Commander Casella and others to figure out what I should do next. I am not as eager to take charge as before, but I will do it if it is necessary. However, there are many talented and capable officers in the clan. They can do this job a lot better, and don't require a lengthy learning process like myself."

"I am sure you are clever enough to figure out the answers. Aside from learning how to command troops which is a useful skill to have for any leader, you will also be able to take charge of an entire wing of our growing clan. It's impossible for me to control every aspect of the Larkinson Clan. Instead of trying to do the impossible, I would rather delegate responsibility to trusted people like yourself. Don't underestimate the value of acting as my agent. Once the clan grows big enough, you will have a massive amount of people and assets at your disposal. You can pursue a lot more goals once you are in charge. I don't mind what you do with your power as long as it is not too disruptive."

Ves crossed his arms. "That is true, but I don't know them in person. Perhaps I can rely on their professionalism and sense of duty towards the Larkinson Clan to obey my directives, but I am afraid they choose to reject my orders during a critical time. I don't want to bear this risk. These folks can still issue orders and such, but I want to place people on top of them to make sure my troops remain under my control. You can be one of them, Ketis."

"What do I get out of this?" The swordmaster skeptically asked.

"I am sure you are clever enough to figure out the answers. Aside from learning how to command troops which is a useful skill to have for any leader, you will also be able to take charge of an entire wing of our growing clan. It's impossible for me to control every aspect of the Larkinson Clan. Instead of trying to do the impossible, I would rather delegate responsibility to trusted people like yourself. Don't underestimate the value of acting as my agent. Once the clan grows big enough, you will have a massive amount of people and assets at your disposal. You can pursue a lot more goals once you are in charge. I don't mind what you do with your power as long as it is not too disruptive."

That sounded like an invitation for Ketis to become enfeoffed noble within the clan. Did Ves wish to develop her into a prominent leader that could act as his loyal vassal in the future?

If this was the case, Ketis did not have a strong reason to reject this invitation. She learned enough from Ves that if she truly wanted to gain control over her life, she needed to be in charge of a group that was powerful enough to fight for her interests.

When she thought about her ambitions, she became more determined to give wartime leadership another shot.

As a swordmaster, she was able to read the trends of the Red Ocean well enough that conflict would only grow more severe in the future.

The times of relative peace that humans enjoyed before the Great Severing was already a thing of the past. If Ketis was not able to make the most out of the turbulent times to come, she would not be able to take advantage of all of the opportunities that could help her grow into a Star Designer as well as a sword god.

Seeing that Ketis already started to pull herself out of her depression, Ves changed the subject.

"By the way, Ketis. The expert pilots and most of the troops should travel straight back to the Bortele System to reunite with the expeditionary fleet, but you should take a detour to the New Constantinople System. I already informed you in the past that I need to talk to you in person. The subject is a little sensitive, so it is best to avoid any mention of it over insecure channels."

The female mech designer did not look pleased. "Can it wait? Just because I am not eager to take responsibility does not mean I want to stay away from our soldiers. I want to support them, even if I can do little more than to raise their morale like an expert pilot."

"Visit New Constantinople VIII first. This truly cannot wait. You will understand once you get here. There are several important matters that we should talk about. As my confidant, you can't go around acting as my agent if you don't have a good idea of what you need to do. It is not a waste of time for you to come to my location."

Though Ketis felt frustrated by his refusal to share anything specific, she eventually nodded.

"Fine. I will pay a visit to you. I truly hope that you make this diversion worthwhile." She said in half-resignation.

Ves grinned. He was absolutely confident that Ketis would not regret this decision.

This was because he finally intended to expose the Mech Designer System and invite her to become its second user!

The two mech designers proceeded to chat about a few other subjects.

One of them was the next iteration of the First Sword.

"The Design Department is not ready yet to start the upgrade project for the First Sword. Once we have upgraded the Amaranto and the Riot and observed their subsequent performance, we can finally turn our attention to the First Sword. Have you already formed ideas on what Venerable Dise's expert mech should obtain aside from all of the standard upgrade package?" n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

The standard upgrade package consisted of all of the expected improvements. This included quasi-first-class, phasewater technology, hyper technology, archetech, second generation god body method, Ultimate Module, Solus Gas integration and more.

It had been a long time since the First Sword came to life. Her last update had also taken place several years ago. Technology advanced so much during this interval of time that the standard upgrade package actually translated into a gigantic leap in performance!

And this was just the mandatory improvement that Ves imposed onto every old expert mech!

Ketis did not look like it, but she was actually really excited about most of these upgrades!

She understood the benefits of phasewater technology and hyper technology quite well. The fact that the First Sword never enjoyed their full benefits for so long was a mistake!

She also learned the value of Solus Gas, even if she hated what it wrought onto her forces. It was a terrible material when utilized by the enemies of the Larkinson Clan. This was why she felt it was all the more important that the First Sword as well as other Larkinson mechs firmly utilized this advantage!

As much as she heard about the benefits of the other improvements, Ketis still found it difficult to understand and accept the weirder stuff such as archetech and Ultimate Modules!

Still, the Dark Zephyr Mark III served as physical proof that the latest innovations of Ves and Gloriana delivered on their promises.

Venerable Dise would definitely benefit from piloting a mech that incorporated both advanced technologies.

"I have come up with a few ideas I want to implement in the next version of the First Sword." Ketis answered. "I have been working on additional improvements for a while now. My design philosophy can do a lot for swordsman mechs, but previously I was only able to provide a handful of benefits. I couldn't do much aside from making their blades sharper and imparting their weapons with one of my swords styles. Not all of my research has produced good results, but I think I can apply at least one major improvement to the First Sword."

"Oh?" Ves immediately grew more interested. "Would you like to share more about what you have been working on, or are you still working on the details?"

The swordmaster and Journeyman Mech Designer hesitated for a few seconds. She was not as innovative as Ves, and had yet to develop as many design applications as him. She was afraid her own work might not meet his standards.

For the sake of the First Sword, she decided to share her thoughts. If it turned out to be bad, then she would at least hear about it sooner rather than later.

"Very well. I will share my ideas with you. Please do not be too harsh on me. One of them is based on your most recent work. It is more speculative than anything. I intended to discuss with you on whether it is feasible when we are finally ready to design the upgrade project for the First Sword, but I may as well bring it up now."

"Oh? You have my curiosity."

Ketis' physical projection sat down and began to pet Lucky who was lying comfortably on her lap.

The enormous distance between their locations didn't matter with the help of physical projection technology. The simulation was not entirely perfect, but it was good enough to get the job done.

"My first proposal is to add living fey to the First Sword."

"Living fey!?"

Out of all of the possible suggestions that Ketis could make, Ves never expected her to develop an interest in the characteristic living spurs that turned the Fey Fianna line into one of the bestselling mechs of the LMC!

"What, you don't think Dise is capable of controlling fey in combat?"

"No. That is not it. If a high-tier expert pilot is unable to employ a set of 4 or more living fey in combat, then how are ordinary pilots supposed to do any better? I responded like that because I never pegge Venerable Dise as an expert pilot that bothers to use other weapons aside from her Decapitator…"

Ketis gave him an understanding expression. "I can see why you would think this way, but I can assure you that Dise is not as rigid as you think. She is disappointed at how she failed herself during the last two missions. She has taken a good look at herself and concluded that she needs to fight like an expert pilot as opposed to a swordmaster or… something else."

She did not elaborate on the latter, but that was not important.

"How do you expect this to work, Ketis? Is Dise willing to let go of her 'no ranged weapons rule' that you Swordmaidens insist on following?"

"Not quite. For now, I think it would be useful if the First Sword could be accompanied by a set of defensive and auxiliary fey. Think about additional azure energy shield generators and space suppressors. If that is too uncomfortable for Dise, then we can pair her with sword fey instead."

Ves adopted a dubious expression.

"Drones mounted with sword blades don't exactly have a good reputation…"

"You are not wrong. They indeed perform terribly compared to their ranged weapon equivalents. I think I can do better. Much better. The other mech designers do not understand swordsmanship as much as I do, so they are still blind to the greater possibilities. Give me a chance. I will flesh out this proposal and give you a more detailed explanation at a later date. This is really exciting, but it is admittedly difficult to realize."

Her aura grew stronger and brighter when she brought up this topic. That meant her full proposal was bound to be amazing. Ordinary fey would never be able to make her so eager.

Ves looked forward to meeting her in person even more. He already anticipated that their confidential talk at that time would change both of their lives forever. Once he opened up the System to Ketis, there was no turning back. He really hoped that he did not misjudge her loyalty.