The Mech Touch (Web Novel)

"Buu..bubububuuu…"

Ves smiled warmly and planted a soft kissed the top of Aurelia's head. "Oh you cutie. Papa loves you so much. Are you comfortable?"

"Mwu..muwuw…"

Ever since Aurelia came into his life, Ves gained so much joy every day that he felt much more fulfilled than before.

Parenthood could completely change the outlook of someone's life. Ves was no different as his strong love and care for his daughter caused him to develop a much greater appreciation for certain matters.

Some of his changes had a direct impact on his work. Not only did he gain a measure of joy from the wonder of life, but he also began to see his mechs and mech designs as his children.

Although they were incomparable to Aurelia in terms of importance, Ves still possessed a strong emotional bond with each of his past works.

For example, the upgraded version of the Shield of Samar was currently one of his favored children. As a masterwork mech, Ves had invested a considerable part of himself in it, allowing him to reach out to it and increase his familiarity with the expert mech in a way that was unthinkable for other models.

The same applied to the Quint but to a lesser degree. As a standard mech, the Quint possessed a much lower base and a smaller foundation. Ves actually found it a bit of a pity that its growth was constrained by its limited ceiling.

As Ves rocked his baby to sleep, began to think about how he should 'raise' his children.

Both of the aforementioned masterwork mechs were very different children that each possessed their own merits.

The Shield of Samar was a powerful expert mech that was completely customized and tailored to Venerable Jannzi. The degree of fit between the expert space knight and its sole expert pilot was so high that not even Venerable Joshua should be able to interface with it anymore!

"Well, it's never a good idea for any expert pilot to interface with someone else's expert mech."

He had seen it happen once before early in his career. The results were not encouraging. Part of it was because of the mismatch in fit with the general design. Another part of it was the lack of compatibility between the expert pilot and the resonating materials of the expert mech. A third reason was because the customized neural interface of the machine did not play well with other people's minds.

Part of the design work that Master Willix conducted on the Larkinson expert mechs was modifying and customizing the high-end neural interface models that were specially developed for the purpose.

Without a good neural interface that could safely channel the increased data flow between mind and machine, it was impossible for an expert pilot to control a complicated expert mech so easily!

All of these extra additions and complications fundamentally put the Shield of Samar at a much greater height than the humble Quint.

Yet despite the clear difference in strengths between the two masterwork mechs, Ves did not look down on the weaker child. He even thought that he had been neglecting it for a while.

"It's too wasteful to let a masterwork mech become obsolete over time. Their growth potential is greater than other mechs so it is very much worth it for me to make sure it can keep up with the times."

In fact, it wasn't necessary for him to do all of the work. He could leave this job to his wife who was much more proficient in this kind of work. He could also choose to delegate lesser upgrades to his design teams.

Although the latter was not an ideal solution, Ves was already thinking in the long term. According to the current trend, the Larkinson Clan would eventually possess an abundance of masterwork mechs. Each of these machines that climbed up to the second rung of the craftsmanship ladder were treasures in their own right and were worth a fortune in the mech market!

"Living mechs are strongest when they have grown older, and masterwork mechs not only have greater potential, but provide much greater ȧssistance to their mech pilots."

The problem was that their upkeep was also higher, especially if Ves wanted to retain them from generation to generation. He couldn't possibly perform all of the necessary work to keep them effective by himself. It would take too much time off his schedule and prevent him from engaging in his true passion, which was innovating and creating new solutions.

"I need to raise a whole batch of ȧssistants who can do what I can do." He muttered.

That was not an easy endeavor either. Ves would have to teach a whole class of people and bring them up to a sufficient level where they could competently work on all kinds of high-value living mechs.

"Well, this is a long-term plan. I should probably wait until I've reached Senior before implementing such a plan."

Seniors were all professors, after all. Ves did not think this was an empty title. There was definitely a great benefit to passing on knowledge at that stage.

As Ves continued to think about managing his expert mechs, Gloriana finally returned to their grand stateroom after conducting another fruitful testing session of the Shield of Samar.

"Mommy's here." She softly said as she accepted Aurelia from her husband.

Gloriana happily checked her sleeping baby before embracing the little girl against her ċhėst.

"I've been looking for playmates for our daughter today." She softly said.

Ves looked confused. "What? Aurelia is less than a month old. It's way too soon to think about this. Besides, the situation of our clan will drastically change once we enter the Red Ocean."

"I'm just making preparations in advance. Is there anything wrong with that?" His wife furrowed her brows. "My own mother did the same for me. In her recent call to me, she especially reminded me to pay attention to this issue. Friends have a major influence on how children grow up. If you surround a child with the wrong sort of people, the outcome will never be good. I don't want to leave everything up to chance so I've been looking for suitable candidates who are qualified to become Aurelia's companions. It is best if they are the children of high officials. That way, they can grow up to become our daughter's power base in the clan."

Although the idea sounded decent, Ves did not like where this was going.

"I don't think it's necessary to control who Aurelia befriends to this degree. Just let her be a kid and make her own friends among the children who grow up on this ship. We're all Larkinsons here. It shouldn't matter whether the parents of her friends are senior officers or sanitation engineers. True friendship knows no boundaries."

Gloriana disagreed and looked down on Ves' opinion so much that she didn't even deign to refute it. Her disdainful expression conveyed enough of a message of what she thought about the idea of Aurelia becoming friends with the offspring of a glorified plumber!

She carefully hugged her baby tighter and planted kisses on the head. "Don't worry, little Aurelia. I won't let a boor like your father ruin your life."

This wasn't the first time that their different outlooks resulted in disagreements. Gloriana's controlling streak had become worse after the birth of her daughter.

To someone who enjoyed a looser and more casual upbringing, Ves thought she was going way overboard. He simply couldn't fathom how anyone growing up in such a strict regime could handle all of the pressure and lack of choice!

When they were having dinner, Gloriana already began to talk about the potential playmates she scouted.

"It's a pity that the most prominent Larkinsons that are already close to us don't have any babies at this time. General Verle is unmarried. Ketis and Venerable Joshua haven't even proposed to each other. The other expert pilots don't appear to be in a relationship either. The only noteworthy rumor I've heard is that Calabast and Novilon have sporadically begun to see each other."

Ves looked shocked as he heard the last part. "Calabast is dating someone?!"

He knew that Calabast used to have a fling with Venerable Dise, though she claimed it was only a smokescreen to get rid of Gloriana's suspicion. Over the years, it was no longer necessary to maintain this deception, so the spymaster stopped with the pretense.

From what Ves knew about Calabast's personal life, the former Hexer dressed attractively and wasn't shy about flirting with other people. She didn't seem the type to commit to a serious relationship though, so hearing that she had hooked up with someone was quite an unexpected surprise.

"I think she hooked herself as a promising fish this time." Gloriana smirked. "Novilon Purnesse is a rising star in the clan. Not only does he hold the second-highest office in the clan administration, he also comes from a family which used to be part of the upper echelon of a second-rate state. They also belong to the same generation."

"I would have thought that someone like Novilon already has a spouse."

"Apparently, he's available. Even if he is not, it is not a great concern. Divorces exist for a reason."

Ves grew troubled at the implication of this relationship. If the two were just playing around, then there was no reason for him to waste his time on this pairing. If the two became serious about starting a new family, then that was a serious matter.

Officially, Calabast was the director of intelligence and the commander of the Black Cats. That put her in charge of one of the most sėnsɨtɨvė parts of the clan. She also learned a substantial amount of secrets about Ves that could deal enormous damage if she revealed them to the public.

As for Novilon Purnesse, the man was one of the most competent and capable administrators in the clan. His upbringing and education was better than almost anyone else in the clan, which was why Ves acquiesced to appointing him to his current position.

From what little he knew about their political views, the two didn't belong in the same camp.

For various reasons, Calabast was a strong and loyal supporter of Ves. As long as he remained successful and didn't make too many stupid decisions, his strategic partner would always have his back.

The same could not be said for Novilon. Ves always had the feeling that the members of the former Purnesse Family tried to steer the Larkinson Clan into a different direction. This wasn't something he was comfortable with as the Purnessers were definitely looking out for their own interests.

What was Calabast doing by hooking up with one of the most prominent Purnessers in the clan? Was she trying to infiltrate this sub-group, or was she looking to fortify her own power base? Did she truly like Novilon Purnesse, or was she just trying to gain benefits out of this relationship?

Ves needed to have a good talk to her. There was definitely something fishy behind this development!

He cleared his throat. "Even if Calabast and Novilon end up marrying, they won't have kids for a while."

"I know, but nothing says I can look for playmates for our second child, hihi." Gloriana giggled. "Aurelia shouldn't have to wait too long to play with a little sister as well."

"What about a little brother?"

"Let's discuss that later."

Gloriana continued to mention other viable candidates. Ves didn't really know any of their parents well. In that regard, it was a bit of a pity that the people he personally knew such as Gavin, Melkor, Casella, Imon and so on hadn't married and produced any children.

"Maybe I should enact a policy or something.." Ves muttered.