The Mech Touch

What he had just heard from the MTA Master forced him to reconstruct his entire perspective and conception of mechs. The nature of his work had become a lot more comprehensive now that he had gained the context that had always been missing.

The Kingdom of Mechs was the most crucial and central missing link to his conceptual model of mechs.

It was the origin of the extraordinary and spiritual nature of mechs, mech pilots and mech designers.

Its existence was so powerful to humanity that it had single-handedly defined the current age of human history.

It was the primary reason why the Mech Trade Association came into existence and rose up to become one of the dominant organizations of human civilization!

Everything could be traced back to the existence of this super-powerful 'kingdom'!

As Ves processed all of these massive revelations, he generated more and more questions in his mind.

"You look confused." The Master that inducted the newly promoted Senior to this enormous secret said. "Feel free to ask your questions. I may not be able to answer all of them as you are not yet authorized to learn about secrets above a certain classification level."

That was natural. Ves was 'just' a Senior Mech Designer, after all. He would probably have to become a Star Designer before he could finally learn the full story.

"Tell me more about the nature of the Kingdom of Mechs." Ves said. "Is it an extraordinarily powerful physical location that exists in reality? Is it an intangible site that exists in a higher dimension? Is it a place where people like us can step foot in, or is it more of an abstract concept that does not have a concrete form? Why settle on this specific name and not anything else such as the Totem of Mechs or the Garden of Mechs?"

Master Goldstein chuckled. "Not many mech designers pay attention to this aspect of the Kingdom of Mechs. Let me go through your questions one by one. First, the Kingdom of Mechs is not a physical location. It is also not a more mystical location that exists in a dimension that is too high for us to normally reach. Mech designers such as ourselves cannot literally occupy and traverse it as if we live in an actual state, but we are constantly connected to it in a manner that I am not allowed to disclose. This connection works both ways. We contribute to it, and we draw power from it in turn. This is similar to a citizen's relationship with a state, so we felt it was apt to call it a kingdom."

"I see."

"The word kingdom has greater significance than that. You see, every feudal state is characterized by a strict stratification of noble titles. Just as a human kingdom is divided between commoners, barons, counts and so on, the Kingdom of Mechs provides different treatment to low-ranking mech designers and high-ranking mech designers. A similar scheme applies to mech pilots as well."

That sounded logical. Ordinary mech designers and mech pilots did not deserve to hold so much influence over such an important existence!

"What difference does it make to attain a higher rank in this kingdom?" Ves curiously asked.

"The answer can be long and different. Entire branches of secret studies have been devoted to this topic. Suffice to say, you can equate a higher rank to holding greater shares in a company. Anyone can buy a couple of shares of a publicly traded company, but that does not mean much. A miniscule amount of shares will not grant a person any significant voting power, and they will not earn much dividend either. It is only when they acquire more shares that their status will gradually change."

This was a simple analogy, and one that Ves could easily understand.

"I get it. The smaller shareholders are largely inconsequential. They are barely tied to the Kingdom of Mechs. It is only when mech designers advance to Journeyman and Senior that their relationships to it becomes more meaningful. The higher their ranks, the more they contributed to the company. At the same time, they also earn progressive more dividends due to their efforts."

Master Goldstein liked it when people comprehended his lessons. It saved a lot of time.

"If we continue with this analogy, then advancing to Master is similar to acquiring enough shares that you gain the power to materially influence the running of the company. For example, you can push the company to produce more household bots instead of industrial machines. They can primarily induce these changes upon the moment they realize their design philosophies. The first contribution is the most important. The greater your introductory gift, the more the Kingdom of Mechs will reward you in turn. This is of great importance to making further progress, so you must never take this matter lightly."

That explained why more talented and promising mech designers received so much attention from the mech industry!

"So mech designers who do not contribute that much when advancing to Master don't obtain as much help from the Kingdom of Mechs?"

"Simply put, yes."

"Is there a way to make up for this deficiency?"

"That is complicated. It is better to do well at the start than try to play catchup. If you have the ambition to become a Star Designer, then you must never slacken off. That is all I can say for the time being, Mr. Larkinson."

Ves wondered how this affected the future careers of different mech designers of his own clan. Would a number of them eventually hit a wall where it was difficult for them to make further progress due to the choices they made in the past?

One thing was for sure, though. Ves would definitely fall into the category of powerful Masters who made massive contributions to the Kingdom of Mechs upon his rise! His design philosophy and many applications were just too impactful!

"What are Star Designers, then?"

"Star Designers enjoy administrative authority over the Kingdom of Mechs." Goldstein immediately replied. "They are its greatest contributors and beneficiaries. While they can technically leap out of its confines and expand their works beyond the category of mechs, they are too attached to mechs to leave it entirely. Star Designers continue to keep one foot in the kingdom. This grants them the power to decide on how the Kingdom of Mechs should change or develop. Their voting power is proportional to the value of their contributions."

Administrative power!

If this was the case, then the Star Designers were comparable to the dukes or the royal ministers of a feudal state!

Ves grew curious whether anyone actually sat on the throne of this so-called kingdom.

"Is there… a literal king that holds the highest authority over the Kingdom of Mechs?"

Master Goldstein shook his head. "There is no such individual in the Kingdom of Mechs. No one wears a crown that bestows ultimate authority. Do not think too much about this. Kingdom has more of a figurative than a literal meaning in this context. If anyone deserves to be called in this manner, it is the thirteen Progenitors of Mechs who founded it. Their power, hopes, ideals and love towards humanity is the foundation of the kingdom."

Ves felt relieved by this answer. The importance of the Kingdom of Mechs was so great that it would probably be a disaster if a single person could impose radical changes to its functioning!

"Can aliens access the mechs?"

"No." Goldstein replied with certainty. "The kingdom was made for humans for the express purpose of helping humankind. It does not adhere to a strict definition of humans, so it is not solely restricted to baseline humans. Deviations as radical as heavy gravity variant humans and highly developed designer babies can still access it so long as they consider themselves to be human and a member of the human race for the most part."

"So the mentality of the individual matters more than his physiological properties, is that right?"

"That is how the Kingdom of Mechs is currently configured. The rules do not allow aliens to gain access to it. Half-alien hybrids may access it as long as they fully identify with our race. Humans that have been captured and raised by aliens can only barely gain access and have no hopes of advancing deeper so long as they are undermining our race."

It sounded like the Star Designers implemented a thorough set of usage and access rules. This was the benefit of having a lot of incredibly smart people in charge of this mysterious kingdom.

If all of this was true, then that explained why aliens had never made any strides in imitating mechs.

The basic technological principles of mechs were not that complicated. Any technologically advanced race could reproduce a simple mech through original research or reverse engineering.

Yet even if they accomplished this, Ves had never heard of any Saints or Master Mech Designers among the aliens.

If the Kingdom of Mechs remained closed to aliens, then that effectively meant that humanity's enemies could never catch up in this area!

Master Goldstein grinned as he deduced what Ves was thinking about. "The Kingdom of Mechs is one of the greatest cornerstones to our survival. Do not forget how humanity rose in the ages of the past. When humans started to travel the stars, they discovered that their technological progress is too far behind compared to the surrounding aliens. They rapidly managed to overcome this disparity by obtaining powerful pieces of alien tech and reverse engineering them all so that they can reduce the gap. If this can happen for our race, it can happen to alien races as well."

Ves was reminded of the rumors about massive technology leaks in the ongoing war against the indigenous races of the Red Ocean.

Even if the cosmopolitans and other human traitors passed on their own tech to the natives of the dwarf galaxy, they couldn't do anything about mechs, at least in theory!

"Understood. I take it that the aliens of the Milky Way and the Red Ocean really hate our kingdom, right?"

"That is partially correct. We believe the indigenous aliens of the Red Ocean will largely remain ignorant about it for many decades, but our old enemies in the Milky Way are well aware of our current advantages. It is the latter that we must guard against. They have tried to infiltrate, sabotage or undermine the Kingdom of Mechs for several centuries. One of your responsibilities as an increasingly more capable mech designer is to guard against such attempts. At the very least, you must not do anything to facilitate these harmful activities."

"I would never help the aliens gain access to the Kingdom of Mechs!" Ves seriously vowed. "I will defend the interests of the human race to the best of my ability!"

He figured that this was a great way to ingratiate himself to a core member of the Survivalist Faction.

"Good man." Goldstein smiled in satisfaction. "That is what every human must do. It is a pity that not all of us have retained the same consciousness. Too many people have become pampered by the safety and the prosperity of our current age. We have hoped that the opening of the Red Ocean will remind more humans of the ever-present threat that aliens pose to our civilization, but the results have been less than stellar."

As an avid mech designer, Ves already developed a strong attachment to the Kingdom of Mechs.

This was strange as he only heard its descriptions from a single source. He had yet to obtain hard proof that it actually existed or that it worked the way that Master Goldstein claimed.

Nonetheless, the more he thought about it, the more he felt that it was true.

A Senior Mech Designer like himself had already become thoroughly intertwined with the Kingdom of Mechs!