The Mech Touch

She was one of the mech designers who pulled him into the orbit of the MTA in the earlier stages of his career.

Despite the huge gap in rank and status between the two, Ves never had the impression that Master Willix looked down on him. The generous mecher taught him, advised him and even bent the rules in his favor.

It made Ves feel as if he was being mothered by her. It was a profoundly odd experience to a man who had grown up without a female parental figure for much of his childhood.

Unfortunately for him, he had fallen out of touch with Master Willix after he departed for the Red Ocean.

They had ended their collaboration on the design of the first six Larkinson expert mechs years ago. On top of that, Master Willix also notified Ves that she was about to spend years on closing herself off in a secret MTA site in order to conduct vital research.

"Is it even possible to form a communication channel to her current location?" He wondered.

His concerns turned out to be overblown as Master Willix eventually became available.

The two mech designers situated on the opposite ends of human space came into contact once again!

The female Master curled her lips in a modest smile. "I did not misjudge you, Mr. Larkinson. The results that you have produced over the years have exceeded my expectations. You are a leader among your generation and a credit to our common profession."

Ves blinked. "Thank you for your praise. I still have a long way to go before I can become worthy of my status as an associate to your faction."

There was a sense of intimacy between the two that was lacking in Ves\' interactions with Master Vayro Goldstein.

Master Willix was the first MTA Master that Ves opened up to. She had also collaborated with him on numerous projects, so it shouldn\'t be too much of a surprise that he felt closer to her than Master Goldstein.

Ves and Willix continued to chat with each other. Neither of them were in a hurry to address business.

"It is regrettable that your Shield of Samar has been destroyed in battle." Moira Willix said. "You have recently completed a replacement expert mech for young Venerable Jannzi Larkinson, correct?"

Ves smiled and nodded. "That is right. My new Dullahan Project shares numerous similarities with its predecessor, though I collaborated with Master Benedict Cortez instead of you this time. Our new expert space knight still relies on GT-535 as its key resonating exotic. This should help Venerable Jannzi control the immediate area around her new machine to a greater extent."

"I am curious to examine how you and your fellow mech designers have managed to integrate my work into your new expert defensive mech." Master Willix looked thoughtful. "I am afraid that it will not be enough without my personal intervention."

"I am aware of that, but Master Benedict brings his own specialties to the table. The Dullahan Project is able to last considerably longer on the battlefield and won\'t have to worry about raising its energy consumption too much."

"If you need my expertise to inspect your work, you only need to transmit its design. I should have enough time in my schedule to make a single pass."

"That will not be necessary, ma\'am."

Even if the MTA already stole the design files of his Dullahan Project, Ves did not want them to spread around any further than necessary.

This was especially important when the Carmine System gained a lot more significance than before!

"Now that I have become a Senior, I have become a bit more aware of the true nature of resonating exotics." Ves eventually said. "I have always wondered what it takes to develop a new resonating alloy. What is it like to develop a product like GT-535?"

The distant Master shook her head. "Developing resonating alloys is not an activity to be taken lightly. You first need to ascertain whether it is necessary for you to spend your time and effort on it. You must first ascertain whether your needs are already met by natural exotics or alloys developed by your peers."

"What is the next step?"

"If your investigation has not revealed anything amiss, then you must choose whether to develop a resonating alloy yourself or outsource much of the work to a qualified specialist. You must have a deep understanding of materials science as well as the fields that are most relevant to the nature of the resonating alloy that you wish to form. This is anything but suitable for a beginner. You must study matter and the properties of exotic materials to an extensive degree. Even then, your chances of developing a viable new resonating alloy that can exceed the alternatives are slim."

That indeed sounded difficult. It looked like that it was unlikely that Ves would be able to develop his own resonating exotics anytime soon.

"Does that mean that most mech designers will have to depend on experts in materials in order to obtain what they need?"

"That is correct. High-ranking mech design is a branch of our profession that is constantly obsessed with pushing the limits of our technology. Resonating materials are the most powerful materials that you can add to an expert mech. There may come a time where you wish to empower your clients to the best of your ability, but cannot adequately do so because you lack the right material support. This will not happen to you for the time being, but once you become a Master Mech Designer and wish to elevate your work according to your design philosophy, then you may not have any better options."

In other words, Ves should stop thinking about this and leave it for later. It was still too presumptuous for a mech designer as young as him to think about developing his own resonating alloys!

They continued to catch up with each other by discussing a number of other topics, but Ves eventually had to bring up his request and the main reason why he called Willix for the first time in years.

Surprisingly enough, Master Willix already had an answer ready.

"I have already learned what you have obtained from both Dervidian and Goldstein. I predicted that you would come to me and make a similar request. I shall transmit my referral letter immediately."

Ves received a notification that informed him that he had just received his fifth letter!

"Wow… I do not know what to say, ma\'am…"

"I am aware of what you are capable of. Your history and your entanglements may be complicated, but your passion and your love for mech design are real. Combined with your proven results, I see no reason why you are not deserving of my recommendation. I expect much from you now that you have become a Senior. At this stage, it is not only important to make progress in the research that you are most hopeful about, but it is also imperative for you to expand your vision beyond yourself."

Ves was still basking in the joy of obtaining his third MTA Master referral with remarkable ease. It even gave him the illusion that he was actually a mecher all along!

"Can you expand upon the latter, ma\'am? Several mech designers have already told me about the importance of passing on my knowledge to the younger generations. Master Goldstein also told me how I can gain from this, but I don\'t think I have the complete picture."

Master Willix\'s projection stared deeply at Ves. "You are likely correct. You are still a fairly young mech designer, and you are at a stage where you can make substantial progress in your design and research projects by relying on yourself. It is not too pressing for you to raise your own inheritors and help them mature to the point where they can make progress in research that you are unable to explore due to the choices that you have made."

"You mean…"

"There will come a time where you will encounter an obstacle in your work that you cannot overcome by yourself. This can hinder your progress for several decades, a century or more."

Ves understood her angle. "So you are telling me that having a fresher and younger pair of eyes by my side might help me overcome a bottleneck in my work."

"That is indeed possible. Granted, the amount of time it takes to mentor a mech design student and wait for him to advance to a high enough rank to be of use can take a large amount of time. Nonetheless, it is better to have an additional option available to you when you have worked on your problem for six continuous decades without making any substantial progress. The student that you have educated may have grown into a skilled and knowledgeable Senior Mech Designer at that time. Having a capable assistant and relevant expert by your side will facilitate your work much more effectively than the alternatives."

That explained much of the reasons why so many mech designers wanted to teach a class of first-class mech design students!

Compared to their second-class equivalents, the first-raters were much smarter and had access to much better resources and knowledge reserves!

It was natural for them to gain the qualifications to explore technological angles that second-raters simply weren\'t qualified to get in touch with. This meant that the same design philosophy could be expressed in much stronger and more varied ways!

Just as how third-class mech designs were heavily limited by technological and budgetary constraints, second-class mech designs suffered from similar issues!

Ves\' eyes burned brighter. He deeply needed to get hired by a genuine first-class mech design university!

Once Ves learned a bit more why it was important to teach the best possible students, the call neared its end.

"I must return to my research once again." Moira Willix told Ves. "In order to maximize the probability of succeeding in my research, I will be cut off from outside contact for extended periods of time. I may not be able to talk to you in the next months or years, but you can rely on Master Goldstein to handle any issues that you cannot solve through your own means."

"Oh. How long will you remain in isolation?"

Master Willix closed her eyes. "Several decades at the very least. A century or more if I suffer too many setbacks. Progress does not come quickly even for Master Mech Designers such as myself. It takes a deep love and commitment to mechs in order to make an attempt to leap beyond what is possible and conceivable."

It was quite clear that Willix had strong ambitions to become a Star Designer. Not many Masters actually managed to pull it off, but that did not deter mech designers who advanced to their current ranks step-by-step over the course of their lifetime.

Ves recognized the heart of a pure mech designer in the older woman. It did not matter that she was a rational mech designer. Her suppressed emotions did not affect the sincerity of her work.

Once the call finally came to an end, Ves had already gone through a majority of the names on his list.

He knew a few more Masters, but he wasn\'t confident at all in his ability to squeeze a letter out of them. It was a bit far-fetched for him to ask this favor.

Still, in the interest of getting accepted in a first-class mech design university, he owed it to himself to make an attempt.

So what if he was shameless?

It was better to ask and receive a rejection than to remain silent!

Ves took a deep breath before he sent a message to the next Master on his list.