Ves felt better and better as he completed his stalled mech design projects. While the minor design projects didn't provide him with as much satisfaction as completing his prior projects, he still felt his design seed churning at the visible progress he made.
The Crystal Lord Mark II, the Sanctuary and the Chiron each contained several new innovative features that Ves had not implemented before!
This made his design seed very happy. His design philosophy advanced considerably faster after just a few months in the Nyxian Gap than several years in civilized space!
"Of course, I'm not stupid enough to stay." He muttered to himself.
He had gained a lot of progress but suffered progressively worse losses further into his journey.
The deaths of 60 percent of Task Force Predator's mech pilots dealt a heavy blow to him. Losing Nyxie, his Grand Dynamo and the high-grade serum all at once permanently hampered his ability to create spiritual products.
Nonetheless, Ves would gladly trade away these external enhancements to improve his core abilities. The knowledge he gained, the extraordinary events he witnessed and the battles he experienced all enriched him as a mech designer.
To him, it wasn't enough to design mechs from the comfort of a lab before proceeding to see them in action from a remote location.
He would rather experience his mechs up close! Not just him, but also his Braves gained a greater understanding of mechs. They learned what aspects mattered and what kinds of mistakes to avoid. They saw for themselves which theories held up in an actual battle and which myths turned out to be untrue.
Mech designers didn't learn these kinds of lessons as poignantly if they remained averse to battle. Ves ultimately believed that despite the inferior intellectual capabilities of his Braves, the mechs they designed on their own should definitely be more practical than the fancy products developed by the Eridutes!
"If the two of them work together and contribute their own strengths to the mech design, then that's even better!"
This relationship pretty much applied to the Miracle Couple as well. Ves never expected Gloriana to follow him on every adventure. In fact, he didn't want to subject her to any risk at all. She had no need to sharpen her superior technical design prowess by pursuing extremes. fɾeeweɓnѳveɭ.com
Any shortcomings she might have for being a relatively sheltered mech designer shouldn't impact their collaborative mech designs as long as Ves compensated for this weakness. This was just one of the many benefits that their synergistic relationship produced.
The prospect of marrying Gloriana made Ves feel both excited and apprehensive.
"That reminds me, I should complete our wedding bands before I return."
He developed several new interesting ideas to make them special, but he wanted to wait for the right time before he made them. He wasn't entirely confident he could pull off what he wanted. He wanted to flex his spiritual abilities a little bit more before he tackled this small but crucially important project.
After all, if his mech design projects failed, he would only lose a lot of potential income.
If he botched the wedding bands, then Gloriana would definitely grow furious with him, and that was an outcome that Ves had to avoid at all costs!
"Well, I'm definitely on track to return in time for the wedding, so I don't have to worry about that anymore."
The pirates were nowhere to be seen as any scum that haunted the route taken by the Wodin Warriors had already gone on an extended vacation.
The Hexers weren't vegetables!
Bored with the lack of activity, Colonel Alexandria Wodin granted her mech pilots permission to form hunting packs that ranged further ahead from the fleet.
Typically gone for at least half a day, these roving Hexer mechs eagerly tracked down any presence of nearby pirates and ruthlessly blew up their mechs and ships regardless of their threat level!
Once this happened, a very broad corridor formed within Wreckage Paradise. No sane pirate gang wanted to be anywhere near this corridor until the Larkinsons and Wodin Warriors had finally left their space!
In the meantime, Ves took a brief break from his design marathon to perform some of his other responsibilities. He spent some time tutoring his two students before turning his attention to Ketis.
His first student had not been idle in the past few weeks. After significantly revising and refining some of her personal designs, she quietly completed her first original work.
Now, she drew on the stockpile of salvage and materials of the fleet to fabricate her work in person.
Since this was such a pivotal moment for her development, Ves had to be there.
As he entered the mech workshop of the Scarlet Rose, he remained quiet as he calmly studied the mech she was assembling.
He frowned a bit as he recognized what mech she chose to produce first. The large and thick mech lacked some of the nimbleness of more classical swordsman mechs.
Oriented towards defense, Ketis' first work stood out for its default armament. Two thick and broad swords that were not too long were already placed to the side. Their sharp edges gleamed in the light. While Ves did not have to employ much imagination to conclude the heavy swords were capable of slicing through a lot of armor, he was still skeptical whether the entire mech concept worked in practice.
Still, this was what she chose. Whether she was right or wrong, she would gain something from the experience regardless.
As soon as Ketis put the final piece of the puzzle together, she paused.
An unprecedented feeling swept over her. The satisfaction of completing her first actual mech was indescribable!
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