The Mech Touch (Web Novel)

The four Journeymen had all grown a bit numb at this point.

This was far from the first time they fabricated a masterwork mech. In fact, when it came to expert mechs, half of the ones they made had climbed the second rung of the craftsmanship ladder.

A success rate of 50 percent was unprecedented among Journeymen as young as them! Each of them was sure that the galactic mech industry would become shocked if they learned about this explosive accomplishment!

Ves even suspected that this was why Master Willix and her faction within the MTA weren't in a hurry to issue another batch of masterwork certificates to the Larkinson Clan. Their success was too astonishing. Journeymen simply weren't supposed to be able to make so many masterworks in a short amount of time. They definitely shouldn't even be able to make masterworks out of expert mechs, which was supposed to be a much harder challenge!

While a single unexpected success could easily be dismissed as a fluke, a string of three masterwork expert mechs was definitely a pattern! Even the stupidest humans would be able to figure out that the Larkinson mech designers grasped a secret method!

Ves needed to have a good talk with Master Willix after this. He could not allow the public to know that the Larkinson Clan possessed three masterwork expert mechs, which was more than most small states possessed!

When Ves and Joshua floated out of the cockpit, the remaining three mech designers didn't exactly know what happened inside.

Alexandria's design network was still in effect, but the connections had become a little frayed after maintaining it for so long. The two 'blood brothers' also didn't feel the need to share their inner thoughts to the others.

However, that wasn't important at the moment. All Gloriana cared about was that she had succeeded in making another masterwork mech!

From what she had observed from the outside, she already figured out that Ves used a gem to push the Chimera Project across the masterwork threshold. She had expected him to do that when she noticed that the mech suddenly grew stronger and more cohesive all of a sudden.

While Venerable Joshua ignorantly looked on as the Chimera Project comprehensively transformed in a different and less familiar sense, the four mech designers kept all of their senses focused on the expert mech as it fully settled onto the second rung of the craftsmanship ladder!

This was the sixth time that Ves witnessed such a profound change. The more he elevated his work to this level, the deeper he came to understand the nature of mechs and what it took to make them more exceptional.

He was already familiar with some of the subtle changes. He had already studied them before and figured out as much as he could at his current level of perception and understanding. There was no need for him to waste further time on observing these known processes.

Ves instead focused his attention on the other subtle changes that he could only sense at this special time as recordings were never able to convey the complete picture after the transformation had taken place.

What he was particularly interested in was determining how his design philosophy affected the quality of a mech.

What Joshua had done earlier provided him with greater evidence that improving the spiritual design of a mech directly increased its overall quality!

The implication here was that Ves might be able to pump out masterworks on a regular basis if he could impart each of his mechs with better spiritual foundations.

In fact, this rule didn't only apply to himself. This was probably the case for many other mech designers whose design philosophies enabled them to inject their own intangible elements to a mech or mech design.

As long as these mech designers figured out how to improve the application and utilization of their design philosophies to a certain degree, the quality of mechs would automatically rise and thereby allow them to climb the second rung of the craftsmanship ladder over and over again!

This was a much more reliable and systematic approach than striving for greater mechanical perfection as was the case for some of his earlier successes. This was a brute force method of making masterworks that could only be achieved through luck and serendipity.

"I see. I understand."

Each time he created a masterwork mech, his eyes opened a little more. Ves had already created more masterworks than many Seniors and even Masters had been able to make throughout their entire lifetimes.

The ability to make a masterwork mech did not depend on purely piling up a lot of knowledge and skill. Experience helped, but the true factor that allowed mech designers like Ves to make strides in this area was to increase the utilization of his existing craftsmanship abilities!

Designing a good mech wasn't the end of a mech designer's work. Only by realizing it into a concrete form would a new mech design truly become complete.

Knowing how to produce a better machine and how to maximize the potential of an abstract design rounded out a mech designer.

It turned out that Ves had reversed cause and effect.

His mech affinity did not increase because he made a masterwork mech.

Instead, it was more accurate to state that his exceptional efforts in trying to improve his mech craftsmanship naturally increased his affinity for mechs!

Each substantial increase improved a given mech to such an extent that they turned into a masterwork.

Mech affinity was ultimately a reflection of how much he intuitively understood and mastered the true nature of mechs. Perhaps other mech designers had other means to advance this personal trait, but Ves had always managed to increase his affinity by trying out new solutions.

After six successive increases, he was vaguely able to sense that he was approaching an invisible point.

Although it was still too far for him to figure out anything more, Ves was able to guess that if his mech affinity continued to improve, he would eventually be able to undergo a metamorphosis in terms of his own mech craftsmanship!

During all of this time, Ves had constantly gripped the handle of the Hammer of Brilliance.

Just as he was able to derive numerous new insights from the Chimera Project's masterwork translation, Vulcan was also watching the marvel of craftsmanship reach a more transcendent state.

Vulcan's perception and outlook towards mechs was different from that of a human. He was much more attuned to the concept of craftsmanship and was able to derive completely different benefits from witnessing this precious occurrence.

Finally, the masterwork transformation came to an end. The Chimera Project had not only come alive in the truest sense of the word, but also reached a transcendent level of quality that already turned it into one of the most special mechs of the Larkinson Clan!

Venerable Joshua felt inordinately pleased that he had the privilege of piloting the best living mech that Ves had developed up to this date!

"It's truly complete now." Gloriana stated while hugging her oblivious baby against her body. "Aren't you impressed, Aurelia? Mommy and daddy managed to make another masterwork mech this time!"

"...buuu…"

"Oh, you're so precious! You're much cuter than a masterwork!"

Now that the excitement had died down, everyone was thinking about their latest harvests. No one was in the mood to do anything further, so Ves instructed everyone to reset the mech workshop and stow the completed expert mech until they were ready to hold a testing session.

While everyone wearily shut down all of the active machinery and cleaned up the loose equipment and materials, Ves slowly walked up to Venerable Joshua.

The man of the hour and the recipient of this great success had never strayed too far from his new machine. Even now, Joshua was communicating and getting to know his exclusive living mech. Ves even had the illusion that a sense of harmony had already emerged between the two fated partners.

"Joshua?"

The expert pilot turned around. "Yes, sir?"

Ves gestured towards the impressive expert mech. "The Chimera Project needs a proper name. What do you think we should call it now that it has come to life?"

The expert pilot turned back to his expert mech and seemed to discuss the matter amongst themselves.

Though the Chimera Project was a brand-new existence, it was not an ignorant and unknown living mech. Four Journeymen as well as a single expert pilot had all invested their energies as well as a piece of themselves in the expert mech, allowing them to shape its personality and outlook in a certain range.

The living expert mech possessed the highest degree of intimacy towards Venerable Joshua, as it should. It was natural for the new machine to discuss its own identity with its human partner.

"Everchanger." Joshua eventually said.

Everchanger. It was an odd name and one that conveyed a surprising amount of meaning.

"..Who came up with this name?"

"We both did." Joshua responded. "Originally, my mech was fine with calling itself the Chimera, but I thought that sounded a bit boring. It's an impressive mech and deserves to be known as such. After a bit of brainstorming, we settled on a name that it can carry with pride once we grow stronger."

Ves was afraid that Joshua and his new mech would copy Venerable Dise's naming sense, but fortunately that wasn't the case.

Although Everchanger was a name that carried an unusual flavor to Ves, it truly had the potential to become as legendary as the Ouroboros one day.

Although the Ouroboros was ahead by a century, the Everchanger started off with a much more impressive foundation. Ves believed it was not impossible for the latter to catch up to the former given enough time!

When Ves shared the new name to the other three mech designers, no one had any objection to Joshua's choice.

From today onwards, the Everchanger became a permanent part of the Larkinson Clan's heritage of masterwork mechs.

The Quint, the Amaranto, the Shield of Samar and now the Everchanger became the crown jewels that cemented Ves' rule over his own people!

As the Journeymen prepared to leave the workshop and enjoy a long and well-deserved rest, Ves looked questioningly at Venerable Joshua.

The happy expert pilot only had eyes for his new battle partner. "I'd like to stay here if that's okay. We both enjoy each other's company and there is so much we can learn from each other. I've waited so long for this. Please allow me to enjoy this moment."

Ves reluctantly nodded. "You can stay, but don't activate your new expert mech just yet. We need to follow all of the safety protocols and minimize any chance of accidents. While I am sure the Everchanger doesn't mean any harm, we can't predict what will happen if you interface with it for the first time."

"We understand, sir. We're not in a hurry."

It was quite remarkable how the Everchanger was fully conscious and active even if its systems hadn't come online. Its powerful and highly-structured spiritual components had fused into a living entity in its own right, and did not need to rely on the support of the physical frame of the mech or a connection to a mech pilot to maintain its existence.

Ves even suspected that the Everchanger's existence had moved closer to that of Qilanxo.

If the physical mech ever got destroyed one day, the spiritual entity known as the Everchanger might be able to transcend its mortal limits and become a design spirit!

Of course, that was just a guess. Ves didn't think about it any further because he didn't want to lose any of his higher order living mechs! Only when they remained intact would they be able to provide the greatest possible value to him and his clan!

Most of the lights in the mech workshop shut off, leaving only a single pool of light that illuminated the Everchanger and Venerable Joshua.

The two belonged together.