The Mech Touch novel Chapter 6899

6899 Superdimensional Archetech

"The Riot Mark III Project is progressing slower than we prefer. We apologize for that, Rosa. New technological possibilities have presented us with unforeseen complications."

Gloriana's design lab possessed a different ambiance.

Ves liked to make his own design lab feel like home. It was the place where he spent most of his time. As an important source of productivity, he liked to decorate it with pictures of his family and snapshots of his living mechs in their most glorious moments on the battlefield. _{freewebnøvel.coɱ}

He also decorated his desks and work tables with mech figurines that he casually made when he needed to think or yearned for a distraction. Many of them turned out to be masterworks due to his craftsmanship and the love he placed in their construction.

He also was not that strict when it came to cleaning up after his messes. He liked to conduct multiple small research projects at once and often let his machines run concurrently.

Anyone who took a look at his lab instruments would know that he had lately spent a lot of time on researching superdimensional matter. Multiple different samples of different grades were strewn about. Ves had cut many different pieces from the original bars and subsequently beat them up, placed them into freezers, attempted to melt them in a furnace and subjected them to high concentrations of gamma radiation.

Ves was sure he violated a few lab safety rules when conducting his experiments, but he did not really care. So long as his expensive machines did not blow up or threaten the safety of anyone that visited his lab, he occasionally chose to make use of shortcuts.

His time was precious. It was not in his style to follow redundant rules that were solely designed to prevent idiots from making beginner's mistakes.

Although even experienced mech designers like Ves could make mistakes from time to time, he accepted the risks of messing up. He could fully bear any accidents if they happened.

Overall, Ves believed that he succeeded in making his workplace reflect his personality. His design lab conveyed an informal atmosphere that made it easier for people to let down their guard and speak their true thoughts.

His wife liked to do things differently. She was much more sensitive about how she was perceived. As the director of the Design Department, her design lab turned into a vessel in which she imposed her authority over her subordinates.

Her workplace remained mostly clean and devoid of too many personal touches. Everything looked professional. The instruments were all perfectly placed and Gloriana tolerated absolutely no form of clutter.

She was a stickler for rules and insisted on following the safety regulations that she learned back when she was studying at Kelma University in the Hexadric Hegemony.

Gloriana also showed off her Hexer heritage in not-so-subtle subtle ways. From 6-sided tables to installing a shrine of the Superior Mother against a wall, she had made it abundantly clear that she still saw herself as a Hexer as well as a Larkinson. There was little contradiction between the two identities as far as she was concerned.

In order to 'balance' the religious display within her design lab, constructed a shrine dedicated to the Golden Cat against the opposite wall.

Ves had a feeling that the respective ancestral spirits felt amused more than anything.

They never rejected worship, but they did not see themselves as gods, or at least that was what he hoped.

Ves designed them to serve as guardian spirits. He liked to think that they had conscientiously fulfilled their original missions.

While it was hard to say whether the Superior Mother or rather his mother developed a literal god complex, he at least possessed enough assurances that the Golden Cat remained approachable.

That did not have any influence on Gloriana's preconceptions. She was raised from birth to treat entities such as the Superior Mother and the Golden Cat as gods.

With the rise of the priest profession, Ves was afraid that more and more people would adopt the same attitude.

Times were getting tougher. When folk had no other option, perhaps only faith could give them hope.

People no longer ridiculed those who sank to their knees and prayed to actual god pilots for salvation.

Ves inwardly shook his head. He did not visit Gloriana's design lab to muse about his concerns about the spread of faith.

He paid attention to his wife as she explained the primary reason behind the delays that affected the timeline of the Riot Mark III Project.

"Superdimensional technology is at the root of the problem." She patiently explained to Venerable Orfan. "Archetech is an alien tech base that is inherently good at assimilating many different materials. It is inherently compatible with phasewater due to evolutionary reasons and it has also played nice with hyper materials as long as we follow a new set of rules. Unfortunately, superdimensional matter has introduced a new set of problems."

She gestured towards an enclosed cube where a sample of archemetal rested in the center.

It was one of Gloriana's many attempts at incorporating superdimensional matter in an archemetal component.

The reason why she regarded it as a failure was clear on the surface. The archemetal component became affected by spatial instability and displayed minor cracks and warping.

Even if the damage was relatively light, it was already enough to turn this piece of archetech invalid.

Venerable Orfan frowned. "I did not realize that the problem was this big. I thought that superdimensional tech had a lot in common with phasewater tech. The former is supposed to be a souped up version of the latter."

This rankled the director of the Design Department, but she had no choice. Venerable Orfan needed to get back into action. It was in the best interest of the Larkinson Clan to prioritize expediency over perfection.

Her enthusiasm for the Riot Mark III Project therefore became a lot more muted. She never really considered the expert spearman mech as her favorite.

As innovative as the Riot Mark III may turn out, she would much rather spend a few extra months to smooth out the kinks and refine the combination between superdimensional tech and archetech further.

Ves and Venerable Orfan were much more okay with the expected outcome. They would rather have a 'mediocre' mech at their disposal today than a 'perfect' mech several years later!

"Are there any other problems related to my upcoming expert mech?" Venerable Orfan asked.

"Yes." Ves responded. "As you know, we have long reserved a tier 3 Destroyer spear for the instance you turn into an ace pilot and develop enough willpower to contain its volatile nature. What we did not anticipate is for superdimensional weapons to steal the crown from Destroyer weapons. The previous bout between Saint Dise and the Wind of Destruction clearly proves that this is the case. The value of the tier 3 Destroyer spear has plunged as a result."

Venerable Orfan frowned. Any choices related to weapons had a very large influence on her combat effectiveness.

"Isn't it possible to combine the two together like you are doing with the armor system?"

Gloriana tentatively nodded. "Theoretically, what you say is plausible. We are aware that the Devos Ancient Clan and other Terran groups are already conducting research to address this need. We believe that their efforts will eventually bear fruit, but it may take a year or several years for the Terrans to succeed."

"That leaves you in an awkward position." Ves spoke. "We can either draw upon our reserves of high-grade superdimensional matter to fabricate a spear that can match the performance of a Saint Piercer weapon, or you can choose to wield the 'outdated' tier 3 Destroyer spear. What do you prefer, Rosa?"

This… was a difficult choice.

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