The Mech Touch novel Chapter 3400

Chapter 3400: Entrenched Mech Designer

The days after bringing the Everchanger to life brought a much-needed time of rest and relaxation.

The Design Department had mostly turned from an active workplace to a study hall as most assistant mech designers showed up in order to learn.

The eager students exchanged their Larkinson merits to borrow valuable textbooks or receive personal instruction from one of the Journeymen. They exchanged ideas with each other or challenged their rivals to brief and simplified design duels.

Ves spent a bit of his time on the people he had neglected as of late. His all-consuming focus on his expert mech design projects had caused him to fall out of touch with the current situation of the Design Department.

More than half a year ago, a large batch of Apprentices joined his ranks. Each of them hardly had the opportunity to get in touch with the lead or head designers, but that was not a problem as they mostly received guidance from the earlier batches of assistants.

So far, none of the mech designers stood out from the pack. Miles Tovar, who Ves had designated as a Journeyman candidate, had made no appreciable progress despite his best efforts to progress his design philosophy.

The aerial mech specialist even went out of his way to exchange his precious Larkinson merits to receive repeated instructions and advice from Juliet Stameros. Despite the fact that she was a Hexer, she knew more about aerial mechs than any other Journeyman in the clan.

Though Miles benefited considerably from Juliet's expertise, Ves could clearly see that his spirituality had remained virtually the same. It did not improve in quantity or quality.

Whatever he was doing, it wasn't working.

"Strange." Ves commented.

He talked a few times with Miles to figure out what was wrong.

The former member of the Tovar Family of the Bright Republic might have enjoyed a privileged upbringing, but he knew the value of hard work. He hardly took any breaks and consistently spent his time on deepening his foundation, designing new aerial mechs and even went down to the lower decks to try his hand at fabricating and repairing mechs.

Nothing worked.

His lack of progress stood in stark contrast to Ketis, who used to be a Journeyman candidate alongside him. Ever since she broke through, she fully shed her marginal role as an assistant and turned into a worthy and equal contributor.

Though her accumulation of knowledge and experience still fell behind her peers, she had proven herself to be worthy enough to become the definitive authority on swords and sword-wielding mechs in the Larkinson Clan!

Ves found it to be a pity that his clan did not gain any other Journeyman in the last year. Despite employing over 150 assistant mech designers, of which 25 of them possessed spiritual potential, none of them rose above their station.

The only progress that Ves had observed was that 5 more Apprentices developed spiritual potential since he last surveyed them. He had no idea what caused them to become spiritually active one day, and that frustrated him a lot.

Without deciphering the trigger or underlying reasons behind their subtle transformation, he was unable to perform targeted research into replicating this process.

In any case, even if the assistants gained spiritual potential, that didn't necessarily mean they were guaranteed to become Journeymen.

Ves thought back on his own breakthrough and also what Ketis had gone through to obtain her own chance.

He came up with a tentative theory why Miles and possibly many other promising mech designers in the Design Department stagnated.

It was enough of a reason for him to call over the struggling Apprentice Mech Designer.

"What do you require, sir?"

"Sit down for a moment." Ves instructed and waved to the chair beside his workstation.

When Miles attentively sat down while maintaining a proper posture, Lucky glided down on his lap and asked for pats.

"Meow."

As the man relaxed a bit, Ves began to share his theory.

"I can feel how badly you want to become a Journeyman. You certainly have the drive and diligence to become one. Your knowledge base is solid enough and your dedication to our profession is undeniable. It's just…"

Miles looked uneasy as he petted Lucky's metallic back. "Just what, sir?"

"I can only speak anecdotally, but… you need to stop acting as if you're working in a normal office."

"Pardon?"

"Mech design is more than engineering. It's also a creative art. Do you understand what I am trying to convey?"

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