The Mech Touch - Chapter 7443 Bound Interests

Chapter 7443  Bound Interests

The rest of the presentation offered no further surprises as far as Ves was concerned.

Once Master Laila Rebecca Devos had completed her exposition on grand subjects such as the Green Belt, she went back to providing a basic technical overview of the many variants of the Arboreal Project.

The mech design project possessed a massive scope that was far beyond Ves had initially envisioned.

He had started out with working on his Woodsap mechs by conceiving of a single base model before imagining a couple of variants.

Evidently, that was far from enough to the Terrans. They wanted to develop a complete system of solutions that could fill in the well-defined roles of their existing armed forces.

Ves found this approach to be a bit contradictory.

First-raters loved their first-class multipurpose mechs, which had been designed to function adequately in most conventional combat scenarios.

Despite the dominance of this design approach, the first-raters still recognized the strategic value of specialization.

Perhaps it was better to look at first-class multipurpose mechs as multidimensional platforms that just so happened to possess a single strong focus or advantage.

That seemed like a silly approach to Ves, but then again he did not start out as a first-class mech designer.

From the perspective of a third-rater or second-rater, the first-raters were simply designing their mechs in a similar fashion, only they insisted on cramming lots of unnecessary and redundant miniaturized weapon systems into their mech frames.

The only reason why this approach hadn’t been deemed stupid was because first-class technologies truly achieved massive leaps on miniaturization.

Mechs could do a lot more while taking up a lot less capacity.

While Ves felt it may be better to dedicate even more space to a couple of weapon systems at most in order to maximize their effectiveness, most first-raters evidently believed that it was worthwhile to trade that away for versatility.

Ves could not argue against this common standard. The Premier Fleet definitely enjoyed the universal applicability of well-designed first-class multipurpose mechs such as the Dracoloids and the Omega Threshers.

In any case, the Terran mech designers had taken responsibility over designing the specific variants of the Arboreal Project. Ves knew from the start that he was outmatched in this aspect. It was better to let his clients decide on the specifications of all of the variants. They certainly had the design talent to spare.

He actually found it refreshing to collaborate with Master Laila Rebecca Devos and other highly competent mech designers. They regularly outclassed him in many useful specializations such as weapons systems and biotechnology. He could always count on them to develop elegant solutions for the Arboreal Project.

Of course, that also came with downsides such as loss of control and bouts of secrecy. He still felt sore about being kept in the dark about the elven initiative.

Though Ves did not feel as much ownership over all of the eclectic variants developed by the Terrans, he did not mind it too much.

He lacked the time to supervise all of these sub-projects on an individual basis. He had to force himself to let go and trust in the competence of his Terran collaborators.

From what he could surmise so far, his partners did not disappoint him in the slightest. Although they still could not quite make heads and tails of the Woodsap System and many of the traits associated with his design philosophy, that did not stop them from treating his design solutions as modules that they could build around.

Ves felt a strong sense of validation when he saw that the Terrans mech designers respect his work and make proper use of his solutions.

Their mature and rational approach towards his living mechs indicated that his works not only helped to further the advancement of the mech industry, but also had a good chance to become a central fixture in their national strategy in the times to come.

Perhaps this was what would truly help him become a Master Mech Designer.

It was not enough for Ves to design amazing mechs. It was only when they became good enough to achieve widespread adoption at this scale that he felt that it had been worth it to pursue his grand ambitions.

Perhaps other mech designers may already feel pleased by achieving a fraction of his current accomplishments, but that had never been enough for a holder of the Mech Designer System.

Though he had not been born a first-rater, Ves believed he had been given a much better chance of achieving greatness in this field.

He could not hold himself to the same standards because that would be no different from betraying his own expectations.

Not too long after he obtained the Mech Designer System and gained a decent idea of its amazing potential, Ves had always compared his progress to an imaginary mech designer that possessed comparable or even identical conditions.

Was he making enough progress to keep up or outpace his self-defined benchmark? Was he making proper use of all of the features available to him? Was he wasting the advantages granted by the System?

Though there had been many times where his questioning resulted in disappointing answers, Ves still believed that his progress stayed ahead of his benchmark.

Though he had deliberately impaired his progress by insisting on limiting his dependence on the Mech Designer System, he believed that it had been for the better as he had come up with many ingenious innovations that could have never been realized if he remained overly dependent on external assistance.

It took true ingenuity and risk-taking in order to develop revolutionary solutions such as the Carmine System and more recently the Super-Destroyer System.

Ves believed he gained an increasingly better grasp of the essence of what constituted an ideal mech designer.

So long as he combined systematic learning, unbound creativity and an eye towards practical usage, he believed he was well on his way to becoming a Star Designer!

Of course, Ves still had a long journey ahead of himself. He still needed to worry about becoming a Master Mech Designer.

At least the progress he and the Terrans made so far signalled that the Arboreal Project was pretty much a done deal.

The Woodsap mechs still needed to complete a large-scale field trial in order to be absolutely certain that they were good enough for mass production, but Ves did not think that they would expose any massive flaws at this point.

Ves had confidence in his work, and the Terran mech designers definitely knew what they were doing.

They only wanted additional assurances because they held themselves to a higher standard and because they made use of a lot of experimental technologies. It made sense to prudence, especially for biomechs that had been chosen to become the Terran Alliance’s latest flagship products.

Once Master Laila Rebecca Devos concluded her lengthy talk, she granted the guests an opportunity to approach and speak with one of the many participants of the Arboreal Project.

These included mech designers and scientists who had contributed to the development of Woodsap mechs to the test pilots who had been chosen to pilot the latest batch of prototypes.

Ves had already met the most important mech designers and developers of the Arboreal Project in prior meetings. He did not have much interest in rehashing his conversations with these fellows.

He instead decided to approach the pilots and hear what they had to say about his works.

Before he could reach one of them, a pair of elves accompanied by Terran bodyguards found him first.

“It is an honor to meet you, Professor Larkinson.” A male voice with an ethereal quality greeted him. “We wish to express our gratitude to you for making our transformation possible. Though you are not directly responsible for creating our race, you have bestowed our civilization with the goddess that made it possible and the biomech that justified our existence.”

Ves blinked at that. The Terrans had made an effort to downplay his involvement in the elven initiative. The Second Elf’s words made it much more difficult to spread this narrative.

This had to be deliberate on his part. Ves was not naive enough to believe that a scion of a Terran Ancient Clan could be so oblivious.

That did not reassure him. The Terrans must be a lot more divided on the Terran matter than he expected.

The best thing that Ves could do was sidestep this issue as much as possible.

“It is good to meet you, Mr. Shuku.” He plainly responded while shaking the elf’s slender hand. “To be honest, I do not direct much thought on racial matters. The Age of Dawn has kicked off a wave of transhumanism that cannot be avoided. It is inevitable for every red human to evolve and change into forms that deviate significantly from what we were accustomed to in the Age of Mechs. Since that is the case, it is better to take control of the process. Since it is possible for us to convert people into human phase lords, it is not that far-fetched to engineer elves into existence.”

The brief moment of contact granted Ves a better understanding of the Second Elf’s condition.

The man’s body possessed a strong source of vitality, yet had been tainted with a more destructive force. Interesting.

The First Elf spoke next. “It is reassuring for us to hear that you harbor no fear or resentment towards our creation. We had faith that your tolerance was broad enough to bless our existence.”

Ves frowned in response. “While I am involved with numerous religious organizations, I am not a man of faith myself. I do not think my approval or disapproval grants your race any concrete strength or advantages.”

“My apologies, professor. It is not our intention to impress our own beliefs onto you. We elves are more intricately tied to the goddess that you have woken up. We… cannot help but view our own reality through the lens of faith and belief.”

“I couldn’t help but notice that you are a member of the old Aduc Family. How are you guys doing these days?” Ves changed the topic.

The tall female elf smiled. “Your aid has given us a golden entry ticket into Terran society. We have met many like-minded individuals who respect what we have done. With their aid, we have reformed into a Terran-style clan. Our dedication towards Gaia has granted us the right to be at the forefront of the creation of our race. With luck and patience, we may eventually secure one of the 5 quotas to become an ancient clan.”

That was still a thing, apparently. The Terrans did not go back on their word with regards to the Red Ocean Promise that they announced years ago. Even though much had changed since then, they still needed to attract a lot of ambitious pioneers in order to develop their limited territories further.

“I see.” Ves remarked. “So your chances of becoming a proper Terran ancient clan depends on how well you can make a difference for your adopted colonial star empire.”

Yenya Aduc nodded in acknowledgement. “We cannot deny that our future is intertwined with the success of the Arboreal Project. The elven race’s fate is tied to how well the Woodsap mechs can serve the Terrans. This is why we are grateful for your work and hope that you can continue to improve on what you have built. The more you invest into the subsequent development of Woodsap mechs, the brighter our own future.”

That sounded troubling to Ves. He did not like it that the elves had built up such a strong association towards one of his key accomplishments. Their controversial existence added a lot of unnecessary baggage to one of his key products.

“My attention is split between many different design projects and research directions.” Ves responded in a neutral tone. “I have already directed a great amount of time and effort into the initial development of the Arboreal Project. Once it is declared complete, I intend to direct my attention to other advanced Carmine mech design projects. I have already made commitments with other major partners, you see. It will largely be up to the Terrans themselves to design additional Woodsap mechs, though I am aware that it will be difficult to do so without my direct involvement.”

“Yes. You have yet to realize your design philosophy.” The First Elf sounded very regretful about this fact.

“And I won’t be able to do so for quite some time. This is why it is important for me to work on other projects. I won’t be able to progress my design philosophy all that much if I keep iterating on the same mechs. I need to tackle different challenges and explore a greater variety of different ideas. The good news is that I am already certain about my path to advancement. I can assure you that the more advanced Carmine mech design projects that I complete, the closer I am to becoming a Master Mech Designer. This is why it is to your advantage that I work on those other projects.”

Both elves nodded at that. They accepted his argument and knew that it was best to let Ves do as he wished.

“Then we hope that your other… collaborators will prove to be as helpful to you as our own people. Please inform us if they impose any… unwelcome delays to your work.”