The Mech Touch novel Chapter 3373

Chapter 3373: Borrowing Power

The Shield of Samar was almost being completely renewed from inside out. The mech designers only intended to retain a few inconsequential parts of the current prime mech.

Naturally, they also planned to reshape much of the Unending alloy armor plating. The contours and physical dimensions of the prime mech and expert mech versions of the Shield of Samar differed substantially. New techniques, more refined methods and different physical requirements demanded a complete overhaul of the structure of the entire mech.

This presented Ves and the others with an interesting challenge on how to actually reform the mech.

In order to keep it alive, they had to keep the existing expert mech as intact as possible. On the other hand, if they wanted to upgrade it as comprehensively as possible, they had to swap out as much of its components.

These conflicting goals could only be solved by only partially disassembling the Shield of Samar. Just like the Ship of Theseus, the Journeymen chose a cumbersome approach where they did not completely disassemble the entire prime mech but kept parts of it whole at all times.

This was a time-consuming and labor-intensive endeavor that imposed higher demands on the mech designers. Yet this was the only way that Ves could think of to retain the original identity of the Shield of Samar while slowly elevating it to the standard of an expert mech.

During the planning stage, Gloriana and the others didn't fully understand why Ves insisted on working in such a roundabout manner.

The most thorough and efficient way to perform a complete upgrade and refit of an existing mech was to disassemble it completely.

It was only when Alexandria's powerful design network allowed Ves to convey a part of his perspective to the others that they understood why he cared so much about keeping the Shield of Samar as whole as possible.

They truly understood now why Ves insisted that his mechs were alive. Though this special quality was a lot more flexible than organic life, they agreed that it was best to treat it as close to a living body as possible.

This resulted in a change in mentality where Gloriana, Juliet and Ketis each approached their work as if they were doctors attending to a heavily-injured patient. The change in mentality and the greater care they showed towards the Shield of Samar was remarkable and something that Ves hadn't expected.

Together with the influence that Gloriana's design philosophy brought to them, all four Journeymen collectively treated the Shield of Samar and the parts they were fabricating with great respect.

Maow.

Alexandria proudly and contently rested on Gloriana's shoulder as she continually maintained her powerful design network. She might not be able to get the better of Blinky or Lucky in a scrap, but none of them were capable of boosting the effectiveness of mech designers like her. Any mech designer would be lucky to have her attention!

As her upturned tail continued to swish in contentment, she continued to regulate and filter the transmissions that flowed through her network. It was quite amazing that she was able to maintain the strong spiritual bonds much longer than any of the other spiritual networks that Ves had made.

Part of it was due to the strong mental and spiritual strength of the people participating in the network. Another part was due to the limited number of connections for this session.

However, it was undeniable that Alexandria's own strengths and talents played the biggest role in making it all possible! Gloriana adored her new pet so much that she regularly reached out her hand to caress the red cat's back and head.

"You're so cute, Alexandria."

"Such an amazing cat."

"I'm so lucky to have the best cat in the multiverse."

"You could probably win the best awards if you participate in one of those Rubarthan cat shows."

"Are you hungry, Alexandria? What do you eat, anyway?"

"I should get Ves to design a collar for you as well."

Although her constant fawning of her new companion spirit was a bit annoying to the others, everyone who was a part of the network could not deny that Alexandria had boosted the quality of their output by a noticeable degree.

What was even better was that Gloriana's mood continued to rise as she became more entranced with Alexandria's incredible value.

She was definitely right about one thing. Other mech designers deeply wished they had access to Alexandria's greater design network! With this amazing feature at their disposal, they could combine the strengths of different mech designers in a much more integrated fashion. Not even Masters would be able to resist such a killer advantage!

All of this was thanks to Ves processing half of Aisling's design seed into a new spiritual life form. Gloriana grinned as she reminded herself that she gained this capability by stealing the essence of one of her enemies.

She even entertained thoughts of hunting down other mech designers in order to add more useful cats to their collection!

Fortunately, Alexandria did not transmit these irrelevant thoughts throughout the design network, or else Jannzi would have become horrified at Gloriana's immoral attitude!

In any case, Gloriana's growing optimism and contentment not only led to a noticeable improvement to herself, but also to others as the design network was also capable of spreading her positive emotions.

The other three mech designers were able to block this input if they wished, but they chose not to. Everyone was aware that a better mood could substantially improve the outcome of this upgrade session, so they eagerly embraced Gloriana's rising sentiments.

Ves did not think that this and other emotional factors was enough to turn the Shield of Samar into a masterwork, though. None of the four had entered into an inspired state or any other special mood.

In this case, the only chance they could make a masterwork was to rely on other, more controllable factors. Ves drew on his recent insights on craftsmanship and thought about all of the innovations that he and the others integrated into the expert mech design.

This caused him to gain a strong sense of purpose towards the Bulwark Project. With everything that he and the other Larkinsons invested into it, Venerable Jannzi's mech possessed all of the opportunities it needed to reach a greater tier of quality.

They just had to find a way to push through the barrier and realize everyone's dream for this unique mech.

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