The Mech Touch - Chapter 6815 Future Research Directions
Now that Ves gained a much more complete understanding of Zanthar’s FadeBurst Round, he began to evaluate whether it was ready for widespread use.
He eventually shook his head.
“You have given me an interesting presentation, Zanthar. Your breakthrough is completely justified. You have demonstrated a good amount of ingenuity. What is most commendable is that you made clever use of the resources that you have available. It is not a mistake for you to rely on Alfred and the smart AIs to solve a puzzle that had frustrated you for many months. So what if you cannot fully explain the theory behind the conversion process? Mech designers are not scientists, though we usually act like them whenever it is convenient. We are both engineers and artists. In order to design our ideal mechs, we are willing to rely on expedient methods. As long as the mechs work, you have done a good job.”
His encouraging words fed into Zanthar’s pride and vanity. It felt good to receive praise from the best Senior Mech Designer in the Red Ocean.
“Thank you, teacher!”
“That said, your evaluation of your own work is not wrong. Your FadeBurst Round cannot constitute a complete product. Not yet. As a proof of concept, it has brilliantly fulfilled its purpose. The testing of the prototypes shows that your work has successfully nailed down the essential mechanisms. From the combination of hypers that can produce a focused burst of water energy, to the mysterious conversion process that is derived from your companion spirit, you have successfully put all of the essential pieces together. They are just really crude and badly made for the time being. You need to spend a long time refining and optimizing what you have made.”
Ves reached out with his hand and ‘pulled’ one of the projections that displayed the FadeBurst Round.
He then began to alter it in real-time. The projectile length grew longer. He increased the proportion of hyper materials, but altered the shape of the exterior so that it retained most of its rigidity. He then began to substitute the low-grade hyper materials for other ones that possessed many of the same properties but also contained their own unique qualities.
Ves was only casually messing around. These changes might cause the FadeBurst Round to produce much weaker results than before. The only way to know for sure was to test it out in reality, which was tedious and time-consuming.
Still, the demonstration inspired Zanthar. He had already thought about many of the changes that Ves made, but a few of the proposed solutions opened his eyes.
“What is your plan going forward, Zanthar?”
The younger mech designer already had an answer ready.
“I have three different goals in mind. On the one hand, I need to study a lot in order to become a Journeyman that you can depend upon. I want to become a first-class mech designer just like Alexa Streon and Kelsey Ampatoch. Seeing the two at work makes it clear that second-class mech designers are too far behind. I don’t want to become an invisible fly to you and the rest. I want you to think of my name whenever you need a mech designer that can perform magic with kinetic weapons. I want to play the same role as Lord Richard Brownstone did when he collaborated with you on the legendary Swarm Project.”
Apprentices could generally get away with relatively shallow education. Discover hidden tales at My Virtual Library Empire
That was no longer the case for Journeymen.
Once a mech designer reached this rank, he had to perform at a higher standard, and that can never be done if he was lacking in knowledge.
Ves leaned back on his office chair. “It is understandable for you to think about this. Learning additional theory can indeed help you with refining your mech designs as well as your EEE Munitions. However, you told me earlier that you read a lot of high-level academic articles. I believe your head is already filled with knowledge, especially relating to hyper technology and E-technology. This has contaminated your mind and caused you to partially lose control over yourself. You are fortunate that it has worked out this time, but that does not mean that you should push your luck. What you need the most at this time is a vacation.”
The younger man vigorously shook his head when he heard this suggestion.
“That is unacceptable to me, sir. I cannot rest. I do not want to relax while many people are fighting and dying as we speak. If I can’t study, then I at least want to improve my EEE Munitions. The current iteration of my FadeBurst Round may be useless in all situations aside from trying to damage weak alien phasefighters, but it has lots of room for improvement. This is my second goal. I cannot stand the thought of leaving it half-finished.”
“That is a good goal to pursue.” The older mech designer smiled. “Your proof of concept is successful. Now you need to bring your FadeBurst Round to maturity. Your unfinished product is not powerful enough. You can address this problem in two ways. You can either use more expensive materials, or increase the efficiency of the various processes that take place when your projectile hits an energy shield. I suggest you explore both solutions.”
“I do not like to spend my time on developing more expensive versions of my FadeBurst Round. Making it more expensive to the point that it is unaffordable goes against my vision for this product.” Zanthar objected.
“You don’t need to develop a product for the market. You can try to develop a superior round for the sake of exploring the depth of your new tech. You can also develop projectiles that our mech pilots would love to use. There are several machines in our mech roster that are armed with kinetic weapons. The recently released Karma Cutter comes to mind. While its Null Rifle is primarily designed to fire Null Rounds, you can develop a modified FadeBurst Round that is compatible with our proprietary weapon system. The combination between the Karma Cutter and modified FadeBurst Rounds may produce interesting combinations on the battlefield.”
Zanthar looked a little dubious after he heard this suggestion. “I have been thinking about developing second-class and potentially first-class FadeBurst Rounds that are compatible with gauss rifles.”
“That is also a good idea.”
“Aside from that, I do not want my specialization to produce only a single product. I developed the FadeBurst Round out of necessity, but I do not want my entire career to be based around this single product. I want to explore other ideas. There should be other hyper materials and other combinations of E energy attributes that I can exploit. I want to expand my catalog of solutions so that I eventually have a product for every situation.”
“This is a good strategy over the long-term, Zanthar, but do not be in a hurry to spread yourself out right away. You need to do way too much stuff at this time. You should focus on finishing your FadeBurst Rounds first before branching out. If you don’t complete your initial work, then your subsequent ones will retain many of the same flaws. Ideally, you should also study a lot in order to increase your theoretical foundation, but this is not a good time for you to do so due to earlier missteps.”
Zanthar frowned. He still found it difficult to avoid any deliberate study. It was exactly because he read a lot of advanced theories that he managed to create his FadeBurst Round.
“Do I really have to follow your recommendation?”
“No.” Ves shook his head. “Do not misunderstand. I feel responsibility towards you, but I have no interest in imposing my own ideas and design style on you. As far as I am concerned, you are free to arrange your schedule and pick your activities based on your own judgment. If you insist on studying Journeyman-level textbooks, then you can do so. Perhaps this may result in pleasant surprises. However, I sincerely believe that studying so intensely after immersing yourself in theory for so long is detrimental to your mental health and progression. This is why it is better for you to engage in more practical work and experimentation.”
This was not entirely ideal as Zanthar would still be exerting a load on his brain, but at least it shouldn’t be too heavy.
“I have high hopes for you, Zanthar.” Ves said. “Do not be in a hurry to perfect your FadeBurst Rounds. They may be useful against the native aliens, but it is no silver bullet. Even if you optimize it so that it becomes 5 times as effective than before, it can only help our mechs shred enemy phasefighters with greater ease. It is difficult for me to imagine that your FadeBurst Round can be effective when employed against warships. Their hulls are too thick and their prodigious volumes make it difficult to concentrate the power of your special round. It can only be used to free up mechs for assaults against enemy warships.”
This could make a considerable difference in the Red War.
Being able to kill enemy phasefighters faster should allow for mech forces to attack enemy warships with less concerns.
However, whether FadeBurst Rounds could truly enable such a strategy remained to be seen.
What Ves wanted to convey was that it was not necessary for Zanthar to make his FadeBurst Round more effective against enemy warships, especially larger ones.
His produce should instead focus solely on eliminating small craft. If he wanted to develop a solution that was more effective when used against warships, then it was better for Zanthar to develop a different type of EEE Munitions.
Ves and Zanthar continued to chat for a while. The latter had many questions that the former was willing to answer in one way or another.
While Ves conscientiously sidestepped the matters that Zanthar would get to learn during his pilgrimage to the Red Association, he freely dispensed advice on many other subjects.
Just like the Seniors and Masters that Ves had met throughout his career, he now felt a solemn responsibility to guide the younger generation of mech designers.
A lot of mech designers could avoid a lot of mistakes and detours if they received sage advice.
“When you are ready to start learning again, I can offer you an EdNet quota if you want.” Ves offered to his student. “Of course, I will only offer it when red humanity’s borders become stable. As long as you are willing to remain absent for 4 years in the main universe, then you will come out much more competent than before.”
Zanthar clearly felt tempted, but he reluctantly shook his head. “I think I can catch up with my studies pretty quickly due to how much my memorization has improved after practicing an auxiliary qi cultivation method. I think I can manage to stay afloat. I really do not want to miss the events that are taking place during these months and years. I feel as if I am witnessing real human history unfolding in front of me. I don’t want to look back on this period and get reminded that I spent much of the most critical periods of our race in virtual reality.”
“I see. I think you have made the right choice.”
“Would you like to travel around like Journeymen are supposed to do?” Ves asked next.
“To be honest, I haven’t made up my mind on it. I feel tempted to go, but I don’t want to leave the Design Department and explore unfamiliar terrain.”
“I won’t make your decision for you, but I think you can benefit a lot from traveling to different locations and learning the local customs. Seeing new and amazing stuff in person can inspire you. Perhaps you will generate an idea that can serve as the nucleus of your second type of EEE Munitions.”
Zanthar looked interested. “This is certainly on my mind, but I still need to pick the destinations that I wish to visit.”
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