The Mech Touch novel Chapter 5174

Ves and Master Goldstein actually had a pleasant chat about teaching.

Just like any other high-ranking mech designer, Vayro Goldstein spent a lot of time on teaching students as opposed to designing mechs.

He did not see this responsibility as a diversion, but saw it as an addition to his life and progression.

"You have reached a stage in your career where you will encounter more and more obstacles to work." Goldstein sincerely advised the relatively young associate. "You may be of the opinion that your relatively fast progress and frequent successes does not require you to depend on others at all, but that is not correct. As brilliant as you may be, you are only one mech designer. Have you faced situations where you wish to pursue an interesting new research project or develop the urge to design a new mech design, but ultimately choose not to do so because of your existing obligations?"

"Yes."

"I am not surprised. You are being confronted by a problem that plagues almost every mech designer at your stage. Mech design is a discipline that offers endless possibilities. We are plagued by choice, and this problem becomes more and more severe as you go deeper. You can only choose to pursue two or four directions of research as most. You do not have the time to take on any further projects. This is where carefully selected apprentices and proteges can relieve your growing burden."

Ves nodded in agreement. "I already understand the benefits of spreading my craft. I am not opposed to taking on apprentices, but it will take a lot of time for my teaching efforts to bear results. I haven't actually experienced too many years as a mech designer. 1 find it difficult to wait for years or even decades for a younger mech designer to become a Journeyman with a related design philosophy."

Goldstein smirked. "Ah. This is the downside of rapid progress. Your vision is still directed towards the present. Your perspective on time is still skewed towards the short term. That is not necessarily a fault, but it can indeed cause you to grow impatient when other factors are not progressing as fast as you. Be patient, Professor Larkinson. The further you go, the longer you have to wait to see your efforts bear fruit."

When Ves thought about how Maikel and Zanthar were taking their sweet time figuring out their design philosophies, he couldn't help but grow frustrated and impatient.

It was not fair to fault his two former students for making as much progress as other Apprentice Mech Designers, but there were times when he wanted to smack their heads and tell them to stop dilly-dallying around.

"Not every young mech designer can advance up the ranks as fast as you." Goldstein said as if he knew exactly what Ves was thinking. "It is not uncommon to wait for three or five decades for a young student who has benefited from your teachings to finally reach the stage where he or she becomes useful to you. At least your former pupil managed to succeed in making progress. There will be cases where they will continue to disappoint your expectations without any indication that they will change. That is when you need to learn to let go and invest in other hopefuls."

The older mech designer's advice ultimately helped Ves a lot. Mech designers already had a lot of experience with the selection, teaching, supervision and management of apprentices. It was a good idea to take a closer look at their best practices and copy their methods.

Once Master Goldstein was done with providing friendly advice, he soon turned to more relevant matters.

"I will first need to update your badges."

The green badge attached to Jovy's chest and the teal badge affixed to Ves' own chest began to gain a few more additions. They looked like differently colored dots that clearly contrasted strongly against the dominant colors.

"What is this all about?" Ves asked as he tried to decipher the meaning of these extra symbols.

"They are visual shorthands that can quickly communicate your expertise and whether you are permitted to discuss or attend closed sessions on certain topics. The red dot is the most important one. It signifies that you possess useful expertise on E energy radiation and that you are qualified to exchange with others who possess the same recognition."

That was actually a clever system. Ves would know whether another mech designer was worthwhile to talk to about a specific topic by glancing at the dots on their badges.

"What about the purple dot?"

"That identifies you as an expert on 'traditional psionic power manipulation'. Some of my colleagues along with a small number of associates will hold many closed sessions related to this topic that may or may not have massive implications to our society. I highly advise you to attend as many of them as possible since it is strongly related to one of your core competences."

Ves had to admit that he was incredibly interested in what other people had to say about cultivation science.

He was also a bit disturbed by how well the Survivalists knew about his past entanglement with cultivators and their practices.

"I will keep that in mind. Do you have any recommendations?"

"Not per se." Goldstein said as he tapped his own badge. He had a lot more dots than Ves and Jovy, but none of them were in purple. "My expertise lies in different areas. You can decide on your own. Pay close attention to the rules and attitudes of the lead speakers. There should be enough open-minded researchers who are more than willing to enter into a debate or discussion, but there are also less impatient professionals who will not have the patience to do the same."

"Understood. I will pay close attention to that. What about my own presentations?"

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