The Mech Touch

While he wasn't in his best state, it hardly affected the fabrication of mechs. Just thinking about how each gold label Aurora Titan sold for 150 million credits a piece was enough to motivate him into working faster.

Even if the quality of his work slipped a bit, the difference was within his tolerance. Ves really wanted to finish this commitment as fast as possible so he delayed his journey to Centerpoint System until he emptied out his backlog.

The only minor complication was that Ves needed to spend some time to design a customized look for each of the fifteen gold label Aurora Titans. With his current design ability, this wasn't a challenge, but he had to admit that he wasn't in the most inspired mood right now.

Working while he was in a spiritually-depleted state annoyed Ves a bit. He realized that he had become quite dependent on his Spirituality in order to perform at his best.

"It's not wrong to depend on inspiration, but I should really learn how to manage without it. A mech designer shouldn't be rendered helpless just because they're in a bad mood."

Ves treated Spirituality as a stimulant. He was addicted to it like Axelar used to be addicted to his formulas.

Just like the privileged Terran, Ves didn't want to stop his addiction.

"The difference between me and a junkie is that my addiction is productive."

He began to see the silver lining behind his suboptimal condition. As long as he could train himself to bear with this handicap, then his consistency would grow. No matter if he was in a good mood or a bad mood, he'd be able to put out consistently good work.

Just waiting for the times he was inspired or fired up was a rather unreliable way to approach his profession. While Ves was quite proficient in getting into the right mood, who knew if he failed one day?

Time began to pass as Ves seriously started to explore how he could cope with his work during his low periods.

While it wasn't easy, Ves persisted in it, knowing that he was dealing with his condition a bit better every day.

One area in which he didn't make any progress was his relationship with Lucky. The cat only allowed himself to be pampered by Ketis lately!

"Come on, Lucky. Who's your owner, me or Ketis?"

"Meow!" Lucky turned his head and flipped his tail.

"Don't you think you're being too excessive here? When will you finally forgive me for feeding you that nutrient pack wrapper?"

"MEOW!"

Lucky jumped from his perch and phased through the wall, leaving Ves behind.

"Damn." He muttered. "I better order a more expensive batch of exotics. He can't stay pissed at me forever."

During his off time, Melkor visited him to inform him of a major development.

"Do you remember when I told you that the Larkinsons plan to set up shop on Cloudy Curtain? Well, they've just started constructing a new compound in Freslin."

"I'm aware." Ves sighed. "I don't think it's necessary for them to build a second retreat here. I don't want to involve the family in the running of my business too much."

"Your importance and the importance of the LMC to the Larkinson Estate is way too significant for the rest of us to ignore. Even if you haven't attended any of the steering committee gatherings lately, your shadow still looms over them. More and more Larkinsons believe that devoting the family solely to the Mech Corps is not enough anymore."

Ves knew he couldn't do anything to change this trend. The Larkinsons used to be satisfied with their lot because they didn't possess any exceptional entrepreneurs in the family. Now that a cash cow like him came along, the ambitions of the family finally found fertile ground to grow.

Expert pilots may be powerful, but their service to the Mech Corps meant that they didn't actually earn any money! It already cost the military billions of credits to develop and maintain an expert mech for each of them. The privilege of piloting an expensive mech that was tailored to their needs was pretty much the extent of their remuneration!

Mech designers faced different circumstances. Although they didn't enjoy as much privileges and protection, they could make all of that up on their own due to their ability to generate lots of revenue.

When Ves was still an Apprentice, the Larkinsons still held out their judgement on whether he'd be able to survive in the long-term. Now that he advanced to Journeyman Mech Designer, most of that uncertainty had been cleared away.

Not only would Ves be able to earn vastly more money, but he would definitely get to live long enough to provide steady shelter to the Larkinson Family for the next two centuries!

"There's more to this decision than providing a common home for all of the Larkinsons joining the LMC or the Avatars." Melkor continued. "Right now, the family is completely dependent on you to prop up the LMC. What happens if something happens to you? While the elders want you to find a girlfriend, they want backups in place in case something happens to you and your offspring."

It was never a good idea to put all of your eggs in one basket. Ves understood this point, so he could pretty much predict what Melkor tried to say.

"The family wants me to help raise more mech designers, right?"

"Yup. They know it's very hard to raise a proper mech designer who can survive in the business, so they've been combing through the younger generation of Larkinsons for promising seeds. They've already identified a few, and they've been putting some of the money they've gotten to good use by prepping them to study mech design."

Was it difficult to study mech design? Yes. Was it impossible, no. As long as someone with a decent degree of intelligence put enough time and dedication in their studies, they could gain a sufficient amount of mastery in the fundamental sciences required to design a mech from scratch.

Yet there was so much more to mech design than learning the sciences.

The top schools for mech design such as the Ansel University of Mech Design and the Dorum Center for Technology and Innovation went far beyond theory. They placed most of their emphasis on practical lessons. The ability to design depended a lot on both practice and proper guidance by teachers who knew what they were talking about.

It sounded like the Larkinson Family was aware of this difference.

"What does the family expect of me? Babysit a bunch of brats?"

"That's essentially what they want." Melkor confirmed. "It will take some time to finish the construction of the new compound and to arrange the relocation of the promising seeds and their families. Once everything is set up, the family would really like it if you can let some of the kids follow you around while you do your work."

The prospect of his peaceful design sessions being disturbed by the nagging and antics overactive teenagers did not sit well with Ves.

Even so, he did not completely reject the offer. He needed to build up a design team, and it was better to hire a mech designer who he shaped from the beginning.

Ves only started mentoring Ketis for a couple of years and the results already satisfied him. Repeating the same process at an earlier stage with his family at least gave him a lot more confidence in their loyalty.

Whereas other subordinate mech designers might eventually decide to leave the LMC in order to start their own companies, the LMC would always remain as the definite home to Larkinson mech designers.

"How many seeds does the family want to foist upon me, Melkor?"

"Not much. Two to four. No more. We don't have a tradition of studying the sciences in our family, so our choices are limited."

That sounded manageable. If nothing else, Ves could apply his usual solution to something he didn't want to be bothered with by foisting the brats to someone else, which in this case would be Ketis.

The thought of Ketis mentoring a bunch of impressionable Larkinson kids sent a shiver through his back for some reason. Who knew what kind of lessons they would really learn from her tutelage!

If only he had someone saner like Carlos. Too bad Ves hadn't heard a word from him in months.

"Alright, I can accept that. I'll make sure to give them some guidance, but that's it. I won't pamper them or hold their hands. Mech design is a tough profession and everyone who aspires to be one has to put in their earnest effort."

Melkor nodded in agreement. "The family knows. Otherwise they wouldn't be dealing with such a limited selection. The elders aren't expecting you to bring up someone as talented and exceptional as you. It's enough to turn them into decently mech designers who can sustain your legacy and keep the family involved in the mech industry."

The Larkinson family firmly decided to pivot their focus in this direction. Ves was uncomfortable with this change because a part of him didn't want to change the family. They were doing just fine before he came along.

Now, he felt as if his very existence corrupted the family into chasing after wealth and powers.

"Is that all you want to inform me about, or is there more?" Ves wearily asked.

"Well, it's not directly related to you, but there's discussion among the elders to give some of the retired Larkinsons who want to move into the new compound something to do. A proposal has come up for some of our retired mech pilots to work as mech instructors at Freslin's basic mech academy."

That sounded very significant. "I don't know if that is going to work, Melkor. The quality of mech cadets from Cloudy Curtain is very low."

"That's why our mech instructors will likely be very welcome at the local mech academy. There's even another proposal on the table that suggest we outright take it over!"

"Whoah there! Take it over? Are the elders back at Rittersberg crazy?! Running a mech academy is a big responsibility!"

Melkor smirked. "I think we can do it. A lot of our mech pilots who retire from the Mech Corps often move on to become mech instructors or mech tutors. An instructor with the Larkinson name is very popular, you know. It's just that most of the Larkinsons only get to work for others in this capacity. It's a nice change to be able to set their own curriculum and teach the mech cadets according to their own methods."

These proposals hint at something greater to Ves. He narrowed his eyes in suspicion at Melkor. Unfortunately, his cousin's huge visor always made it difficult to get a read on him. Ves even thought of wearing one himself seeing how useful it was in throwing other people off.

"This sounds to me as if the family is intending to entrench themselves on Cloudy Curtain." He eventually said. "A mech academy isn't particularly profitable, especially in a desolated place like this planet."

"Times are changing, and the family is changing as well. The New Larkinson Family is just as stagnant as the Ylvaine Protectorate. It's time we crawl out of our shells and make something of ourselves."

"That's a very unfortunate way of putting it, Melkor. The New Ylvaine Dynasty degenerated into terrorists and extremists."

"If the family wants to get ahead, we're bound to take some risks. It's no different from what you are doing."

Ves had to admit that his cousin got him there.