The Mech Touch - Chapter 6831

Ves needed more mech designers like Alexa Streon and Klaus Robar-Fulton.

They both wanted to design living mechs, but they wanted to approach their work from a different angle.

Alexa and Klaus sought to develop living mechs in slightly different directions.

This only benefited Ves as their work added greater variety to the spectrum of living mechs.

Ves wholeheartedly welcomed their initiative and hoped that they would be able to make serious attainments in their future works.

Of course, it would probably take many years for their living mech designs to truly showcase their advantages.

Even if Klaus did not develop any exceptionally good works in the coming years, his mech designs should still have a place in the Larkinson Clan.

His specialization should be especially compatible with ranged mechs and more importantly support mechs. Ves could easily come up with a dozen different mech concepts that could make excellent use of a large E energy reservoir.

After Ves asked a few more questions to Klaus, he waved the eager new recruit back.

Two more Apprentice Mech Designers hoped to present themselves to their former teacher and current employer.

Ves turned to the other young man. "I remember you as well, Kalister Devos. You have earned better grades, which is not that much of a surprise considering your superior augmentations and background. Is the Devos Ancient Clan fine with letting you defect to the Larkinson Clan?"

"I would not be here if I did not receive the personal approval of Master Laila Rebecca Devos." Kalister respectfully said. "The Devos Ancient Clan is not short of mech designers who have learned from you. It is by far the greatest direct and indirect employer of all of your former students. I believe that you are aware of how many Devosans have attended your Introduction to Living Mech Design course."

As the founder and owner of the Eden Institute of Business & Technology, it was trivially easy for the Devos Ancient Clan to place its own descendants into his courses.

Other ancient clans tried their best to sneak their own students into his courses by concluding backroom deals with the Devosans.

Ves did not have a good grip on all of these shady deals, but he did not really mind this sort of stuff.

It was inevitable for the rulers of the Terran Alliance to put its own descendants ahead of other people.

Ves had even met with Master Laila Devos to make sure that the classrooms did not entirely get filled by highborn brats.

He liked it more when his classes contained a variety of different people. The common folk who lived in the Terran Alliance tended to have special qualities. They wouldn't have been able to keep up their studies at the Eden Institute if they were not as competitive.

Of course, Kalister Devos was completely different from a commoner like Klaus Robar-Fulton.

As a scion of the Devos Ancient Clan, he enjoyed superior conditions from conception.

Since he was a designer baby, his starting genetic makeup was only inferior to the main branch members of his ancient clan.

Combined with the superior education and training provided by the Devosans, Kalister Devos was already set up to become a good mech designer.

However, Kalister uncharacteristically deviated from the path set by his clan.

"If I recall, you have always earned high grades during my fabrication classes." Ves said. "Your craftsmanship stood out compared to many of your peers. You not only demonstrated greater mastery of the use of superfabs, but have also begun to inject your own passion and vision into your crafts. It is really unusual to see a mech design student who has become so proficient in artisanship."

Kalister Devos smiled with pride. "I avidly played with Mekanos and similar toys in my youth. I prefer the feeling of putting a mech together with my hands as opposed to working with a virtual design suite. While the supervisors of my ancient clan did not approve of my interest in manual fabrication at first, their opinions changed once I managed to earn your praise in your classes. Even after I passed your Advanced Mech Fabrication course, I continued to practice and refine my fabrication skills. I am nowhere ready to produce my own masterwork mech, but I am proud of the quality of my handmade mechs."

"Can you show me your works?"

"Certainly. Please excuse the flaws of my work. I am trying my best to make them as precise and even as possible, but I am still lacking in experience."

When Kalister started to project the mechs that he had fabricated in the past, Ves grew quite impressed.

As a member of an ancient clan, Kalister had much easier access to superfabs and the materials he needed to fabricate his mechs.

While his designs were not too special at his level, his skills and practical intuition were considerably better than the norm.

Ves was quite impressed by the quality of his works!

When Kalister was a Novice, his works already reached the quality expected of an experienced Apprentice.

When Kalister became an Apprentice, his mechs could easily match the quality of mechs produced by Journeymen!

As Ves continued to study the projected mechs, he began to narrow his eyes in suspicion. He briefly glanced at Gloriana, and couldn't help but notice that she looked pleased at Kalister.

"Your works look quite interesting. What is your vision for mechs? How do you treat your living mechs?"

Kalister already anticipated this question. He clearly had an answer ready.

"I have studied your living mechs. They are marked by a design style that is relatively volatile and individualistic. Each living mech of the same design possesses a common starting point, but can evolve in wildly different directions depending on many variables. I can appreciate the logic and the philosophy behind this strategy. It is not how I would choose to design my own products."

The former Devosan waved his hand.

Two new projections appeared.

One of them showed a line that continued to form many different branches as it moved upwards.

The other projection displayed a single thick line that went straight up and took no detours.

"This is how I visualize the differences between our design philosophies." Kalister said. "This tree-like diagram is a model of how your living mech can evolve. It can follow a relatively straight direction, but it can also deviate further from the norm and follow one of the many branches according to how it is being used. The result is that once many mechs of the same model have grown for multiple years, they will continue to diverge unless they have almost become separate species."

The young mech designer gestured towards the other projection that was much simpler.

"This is my model. What I want to design is a living mech that is similar to a clockwork in both a tangible and intangible form. I want there to be no mutation in how the living mech develops over time. Its E-technology must remain completely consistent with my original design and layout. Over time, mechs of the same model will all remain highly identical to each other. The only major variables that can set them apart are their ages and how long they have been put to use. My living mechs should otherwise greatly resemble each other so that it is difficult to set them apart."

What an original idea!

Ves never imagined that Kalister would form such an interesting design philosophy that largely contradicted his own design style!

How refreshing!

"What is the reasoning behind designing living mechs that develop along the exact same trajectory?" Ves pressed the younger mech designer. "You should be aware that all of my living mechs have always been well-received because they are designed to adapt to their mech pilots. If I try to emphasize consistency and uniformity, then none of the living mechs will be able to adapt themselves to individual mech pilots. This may result in deteriorating performance."

Kalister remained confident in his work and philosophy.

"I am not surprised that you would ask this question, sir. My vision of living mechs is that they are one and the same. As long as we can gather many of my living mechs in a small area, I believe that they can inherently combine forces with each other. I theorize that they should be able to fuse their strength together and become powerful enough to defeat phase lords by themselves."

Ves raised his eyebrows. That sounded similar to what he attempted to accomplish with his Energy Weaver Mech Ecosystem.

Unfortunately, the results were a bit too weak to make a difference in high-level confrontations.

Phase lords were too powerful for tricks like these to work.

He thought hard about the reasons why his works underperformed in this aspect.

Perhaps his mech ecosystem needed more refinement.

Perhaps the living mechs needed to experience a lot more growth to leverage this function to the fullest.

Perhaps a medium-energy environment simply couldn't sustain stronger manifestations.

Whatever the case, Ves could add a fourth reason to why the Energy Weaver Mech Ecosystem underperformed.

The living mechs weren't consistent enough.

So long as they experienced a year of growth, they already evolved in unique directions depending on what they witnessed in the field and the personalities of their pilots.

It was impossible to keep all of the living mechs the same!

Ves had always regarded this pattern of divergence as an advantage. Every customer that made use of one of his living mechs would experience the feeling of piloting a custom mech.

While all of that sounded nice, Ves had neglected to think about whether his customers were better off relying on living mechs that did not show the slightest sign of mutations!

"Have you been able to test your assumptions with real results?" Ves critically asked.

"Not yet, sir. My research has yet to advance to this stage." Kalister responded.

"Well, you should definitely gather enough empirical data to back up your conclusions. Everything you have described may be completely wrong. You do not want to find out later that your negligence has caused you to overlook small but extremely serious flaws that can break out at the worst time."

The Apprentice Mech Designer nodded. There was no way he would ignore the guidance of his former teacher.

"I shall do as you say, but I am confident that the results will validate my assumptions." Kalister said. "I believe that living mechs that remain uniform during their growth can one day combine into a juggernaut! My machines will not only be able to form a combination juggernaut by merging with each other, but also be able to merge their souls so that they can temporarily or permanently form a powerful fusion that can bring great power to my work! You may think that my claims are implausible, but I am willing to devote a great amount of time and work into making this dream come true."

Ves could respect such a passionate stance.

Kalister Devos certainly did not set his sights on smaller and more attainable goals. His ambition was great, and he had the background and the talent to succeed in his more challenging endeavors.

"Thank you for your encouragement, sir. I have long wanted to hear your opinion on my work. I feared that you would not be able to appreciate my design philosophy."

"I do not hate your work, Kalister. Your design philosophy is just too interesting to me. I welcome diversity in thought. Your unusual research direction should be able to expose new rules and mechanisms that can enrich my own work on living mechs. I truly do not care whether your orderly living mechs are better or not. In the unlikely event that you overtake me one day, I would still applaud your progress because we are all committed to popularizing living mechs. Only a narrow-minded mech designer would take issue with a research direction that is opposite from their own."