The Mech Touch novel Chapter 3717

Chapter 3717 - Better Tools

After the Larkinson mech designers who took part in the Minerva Project repeatedly confirmed that the final design was acceptable to them, they all boarded a shuttle that brought them out of the Spirit of Bentheim.

Each of them were on their way to the Cyclical Engine. The reason for traveling to the Cross Clan's factory ship was that Professor Benedict had graciously offered his high-end workshop to fabricate the Minerva Project.

This was not an easy offer to accept. There were pros and cons to accepting the decision.

The biggest upside was that Benedict's workshop was much more powerful and capable than the ones aboard the Spirit of Bentheim.

It couldn't be helped. The production machines used by Ves and Gloriana were still Hexer goods that used to be adequate back in the galactic rim but not any longer in the Red Ocean.

Ves had personally visited the Cyclical Engine not too long ago and confirmed that Professor Benedict's workshop was filled with much better equipment.

They could not only handle and process all kinds of additional materials, they also perform their work at a higher pace and degree of consistency than inferior machines.

The downside was that the learning curve was higher. The machines that Professor Benedict had picked out for his own work were not aimed for beginners.

If the Larkinsons hadn't already practiced with the specialized production equipment in virtual simulations, Professor Benedict wouldn't have agreed to let them use his workshop!

Still, Ves hesitated whether it was a good idea to fabricate the Minerva Project in a new and foreign workshop.

He was not concerned about leaking secrets. Professor Benedict participated in the design of the expert command mech from the beginning and was familiar with almost all of its weaknesses.

Ves didn't think that the man would ever abuse the sensitive knowledge he possessed on the Minerva Project.

The Larkinsons and the Crossers had grown close and Ves had also progressed his friendship with the Senior Mech Designer.

So what if the Cross Clan was familiar with the ins and outs of the Minerva Project? Soon, Ves would be in the same position as he would soon take part in the design of the Mars Project, which was a much more important mech to his counterpart!

The actual concern he was grappling with was whether he and his fellow Larkinson mech designers were able to work fluently enough with Professor Benedict's high-end production machines.

Even if he read the manuals and operated their virtual equivalents to gain proficiency, he still lacked real experience.

Ves knew quite well that these little details could disturb him and the others during important moments when they were fabricating the Minerva Project.

He did not forget that he had managed to fabricate three masterwork expert mechs with the help of his trusted old workshop equipment. He knew the settings and properties of the ELKINE production line inside-out and had tweaked their settings exactly to his liking.

More importantly, he had used them enough times while channeling his passion that a part of him had rubbed off on the equipment he used.

This had unintentionally imparted them with a bit of life of their own. While Ves wasn't sure whether this could make a difference at all, he at least managed to develop a greater sense of intimacy towards the machines that had helped him secure numerous fantastic achievements.

A part of Ves held the mindset of 'if it ain't broke, don't fix it'. His familiar workshop had yielded him plenty of success and there was no reason to think that it would disappoint him this time.

However, another part of Ves wanted to move onto better equipment. The original Hexer production equipment might have been amazing to a mech designer who had recently escaped from a bunch of third-rate states, but as a leader of the Larkinson Clan, he deserved better!

Ves only needed to spend the equivalent of Gloriana's single handbag in order to get his hands on better gear. 120 MTA credits roughly translated to 22.8 billion hex credits, which sounded like a huge sum a few years ago but was not an excessive price for him to pay these days!

He was reluctant to upgrade his current workshop, though. Anything he could get for 120 or 1200 MTA credits would be substantially better than the ELKINE production line, but would still fall far short from a superfab.

Obtaining a superfab was one of his medium-term goals. To do that, Ves needed to raise tens of thousands of MTA credits, which was not easy considering the Larkinson Clan's debt burden and large expenditures.

Still, Ves was confident that once he completed a bunch of commercial mech design projects for the next design round, the Larkinson Clan's finances would look a lot better!

At that point, investing 30,000 or 40,000 MTA credits in a decent superfab was not impossible!

He planned to stick with the superfab that he would buy at that point for the long haul. He even wanted to look for a model that was more modular so that he could upgrade it more easily over time.

Wouldn't it be great if he used the 'same' superfab over many decades of his career?

Perhaps he might even learn enough about fabrication technology that he could design upgrades for the machine himself!

Combined with investing it with life and imparting it with a touch of Vulcan, the superfab was bound to turn into a remarkable life artifact!

Ves just needed to be patient and earn enough money to reach a starting point. The superfab he intended to buy shouldn't be too shabby, so he disdained purchasing the cheaper second-hand goods that were usually sold for at least 10,000 MTA credits.

All of that was still too far away. For now, it was already good that he and his fellow Larkinsons obtained an opportunity to make use of Professor Benedict's high-quality workshop.

Although his relative lack of familiarity with the Cross Clan's production equipment was definitely a constraint, the potential rewards were much higher.

There were always limitations to tools.

It was a lot harder to cut down a tree with a butter knife as opposed to a woodcutter's axe!

Verify captcha to read the contentVerify